Title: Beginnings
Fandom: Swallows and Amazons/Chronicles of Narnia
Rating: G
Length: 1028 words
Content notes: set just after Prince Caspian, and after the Swallows and Amazons series.
Author notes: Fills the 'Crossover' square in my Trope Bingo card. There was supposed to be more about archery in this, but it got lost along the way somehow... I made my best guess at what form Bridget and Susan (both around 14) should be in, but please tell me if it's wrong, the upper-lower form numbering system confuses me a little.
Summary: On her first day at Saint Finbar's, Bridget Walker meets the Pevensie sisters.


It was the first day of the summer term, and Bridget Walker sat outside the office at Saint Finbar’s, waiting impatiently for her mother to finish her meeting with the Head. They had come early in the day, so that Mother could meet with Miss Merrill, and Bridget was eager to be free to explore. She wanted to get her bearings in her new school at least a little before all the girls should arrive. She was looking forward to meeting her new schoolmates too, though it was strange to be starting over again. She’d miss Redhaven and her old friends, of course, and she was sorry Miss Gillard had decided to close down, but it was exciting too. For once, she’d be just Bridget, not Bridget-Susan-and-Titty’s-little-sister. She’d be standing entirely on her own.

She tapped her feet restlessly on the floor as she waited, sitting on one of the chairs outside the Head’s office. What could possibly be taking so long? She was sure her last report from Redhaven couldn’t be too bad, apart from the usual comments about ‘misdirected enthusiasm’; they’d pored over the school prospectus before deciding on it, so Mother couldn’t have that many questions… It wasn’t as if she were a baby who’d be boarding for the first time, either.

Just as she thought that, two girls turned into the corridor, one of whom was quite likely a first-time boarder from her size. The other girl was surely her sister, or at least a cousin, Bridget thought; their features were similar, though the elder girl - who was the most beautiful schoolgirl Bridget had ever seen - had hair as black as the younger’s was golden.

“Are you waiting for Miss Merrill?” the elder girl asked, seeing Bridget.

“Yes, Mother’s meeting with her, and they told me to wait outside,” Bridget explained.

“Oh, I see. We’ll come back later then,” the girl said, placing a hand on the other’s shoulder as if to lead her away.

Bridget leapt up. “Oh, don’t go! At least you needn’t, Mother can’t possibly be much longer, and I’d love it if you’d stay. It’s frightfully boring waiting out here by myself. I’m Bridget Walker, by the way, and I’m new this term.” This last, she realised belatedly, was probably unnecessary unless the other two were new themselves, but by the time she thought of it she’d already said it.

“In that case we’ll join you,” the other girl said with a charming smile, suiting words to actions and taking a seat on the chair opposite Bridget’s. “I’m Susan Pevensie, and this is my sister Lucy.”

“It’s my first term too!” Lucy said with all the excitement of a first-time boarder, and Susan laughed.

“I think Bridget’s more likely to be in my form than yours, Lu. Do you know which you’ll be in?”

“Lower Fifth, at least to start with; it’s the one I was in at Redhaven, my old school. It’s your form too?” she asked, and grinned as Susan nodded. “Oh good! I know someone already then. Susan, did you say? How funny, my eldest sister’s called Susan too - but she’s grown up now, and a nurse.”

“Why did you leave your old school?” Lucy asked.

“It was damaged in an air-raid at the end of last term,” Bridget explained. “No one was hurt, luckily, but the damage was too bad for us to be able to start up again in the same building, and Miss Gillard - that was our Head - decided to close the school for good.”

“I’m so sorry, that must have been dreadful. I suppose she felt it was too much responsibility, keeping students safe in wartime,” Susan said thoughtfully.

“That’s what Mother said, and said she quite understood how Miss Gillard felt.” Bridget replied, surprised by Susan’s comment. She hadn’t thought of that side of it herself until Mother had brought it up. Privately, Bridget had thought the old teacher lacking in nerve, and still did a little despite Mother pointing out the other side of it. However, she had too clear a sense of schoolgirl honour to even thinking of letting Redhaven down like that that before her new schoolmates!

Susan smiled at her. “Well, I hope you’ll be happy with us! Saint Finbar’s is a jolly decent school, if I do say it myself. And… do you like archery or swimming by any chance? I’m on the teams, and we can always use new people.”

Bridget looked at her in astonishment for a second, then burst out laughing. “Those are just the things I’m most looking forward to! I grew up around boats so I love swimming, and I’ve been dying to have a proper shot at archery - sorry, I didn’t mean that for a pun!” She finished with a groan.

“Susan’s the best in the school,” Lucy chimed in.

“Lucy! You can’t say things like that!” her sister exclaimed, going scarlet.

“Well, you are,” Lucy insisted. “You’ve won all those prizes.”

“What about you, Lucy?” Bridget quickly intervened, hoping to save the young girl from further lecturing - she’d been sat upon by her elder siblings often enough herself to have plenty of sympathy for Lucy.

“I can’t swim, but I suppose I’ll learn this term.” Lucy seemed to pause for a second, as if weighing Bridget up, then continued. “I learnt archery from a centaur a long time ago, but I’ve forgotten.”

Susan - still blushing a little - looked at Bridget sharply, as if worried the new girl would laugh at her sister. But to Bridget, who had grown up with ‘do-you-remembers’ that were often of events from her babyhood, a youngest child forgetting what the others recalled was nothing strange. As for centaurs… she leaned forward, eyes sparkling. “An Amazon pirate taught me how to pull a bow, on the shores of a pathless sea.”

Lucy’s eyes sparkled back as she heard it, and Susan relaxed again in her chair.

The door of the office opened then and Bridget was called in, ending the conversation for the time being. But she knew for a certainty, as she flashed the Pevensies a parting grin, that she’d made two fast friends today.