The air aboard the Dawn Treader was thick with sea salt and sunlight. Edmund had barely recovered from the disorienting magic that pulled him, Lucy, and their unbearable cousin Eustace back into Narnia when he caught sight of her.

She wasn’t what he expected.

Coming down the ship’s narrow stairwell, Caspian’s younger sister—someone Edmund didn’t even know existed—walked across the deck wearing a lacy top that let the breeze through and shorts that made Edmund wonder if Narnian tailors had just… given up. Her hair was pinned up beneath a bonnet that did absolutely nothing to make the outfit less scandalous.

She met his eyes, froze, then turned a deep red and bolted back below deck without saying a word.

Edmund blinked, stunned, his face prickling with sudden heat. Lucy elbowed him gently and gave him a knowing look. “Wipe your face, Ed. You’re blushing.”

He rolled his eyes and cleared his throat. “That’s Caspian’s sister?”

“She’s been living inland at one of the coastal keeps,” Lucy said, barely hiding her smirk. “Didn’t expect that, did you?”

“No,” he muttered, shaking his head.

By nightfall, Edmund found himself staring at the stars above the mast, the sound of water lapping at the hull below. He should’ve been thinking about the quest. About finding the seven lords. About Aslan. But instead, he couldn’t stop picturing her embarrassed expression. The way she avoided his eyes at dinner. The lace. The legs. The way the ship felt smaller now.

So when Caspian joined him at the railing, Edmund glanced sideways.

“Hey,” he began casually. “Why didn’t you ever mention you had a sister?”

Caspian laughed. “Didn’t think she’d catch your eye that quickly.”

Edmund scowled. “That obvious?”

Caspian just grinned. “Welcome back to Narnia.”