A/N: This is a story that I've been playing around with, mostly because I'm a canon-freak, and I was always looking for an explanation for the different romances in Narnian fandom. It was a way to make sense of the big gaps of storyline in the books (and include all my favorite pairings). After much research and calculating, this was the result. I hope you like it and I would love to hear any criticism or comments on discontinuity.
Disclaimer: Narnia and all its beloved characters and places are the copyright of C.S. Lewis Pte. Ltd. This story is fan-written for no profit, and no infringement is intended.
"A hidden connection is stronger than an obvious one."
- Heraclitus of Ephesus
This is not a story to reveal secret romances or betrayals of trust, though there were many of those. I won't be telling the details of every courtship or how they came to be in each other's arms. This tale I will tell is to bridge the gaps of silence in the Chronicle, for did you never wonder that the Great Lion had planned for the bloodline of monarchy to be unbroken to the end? Even as the song of life passed from his lips, he had intended for the tradition of ruling to pass from generation to generation, even across realms. For as he knew the greatness to be accomplished, he knew the sins to be committed, and the love to be stolen or given, and the Hand of Time was already in position to turn upon destined decisions. Right from the beginning, when he established the first thrones, he had meant that none but their bloodline could rule over Narnia.
King Frank and Queen Helen reigned in glory, and their children and their children's children that married wood nymphs and river-gods had glorious reigns after them. The tradition was passed down in ages of plenitude. Names and generations have been argued, but it was their second son, Prince Col, who became the first King of Archenland. Hundreds of years after the creation of the world, when the Tree of Protection was torn down, it was in Col's line in which the blood survived.
It happened like this. The reign of the King fifteenth in descent from those first sovereigns was marked by a winter harsher than any alive could remember. Icy tendrils of frost crept up its massive branches in a silent, deathly struggle. When at last the silver melted away, that Tree that had been sown by a child from another world continued to protect. But it did not bear fruit for that summer or any summer after it. No Narnian was troubled, for in the eras of peace not one looked after it with the care of their ancestors, and its sacredness was forgotten. Finally, in their ignorance the Tree was struck down in the power of the White Witch, whom no more knew as Jadis of Charn. The Witch came out of the North, and severed the bloodline with her cold knife of stone. With the death of Helen VII, last to bear that name, came the Endless Winter to the land.
The prophecy that foretold the end of the Winter was fulfilled a hundred years later, when Lucy Pevensie stepped from a Wardrobe into Narnia. Only the Lion himself knew the connection that drew her there: She was the daughter of the son of King Frank's sister, who had also been a cabbie in London. Her blood and the blood of her sister and brothers followed the lineage of that King, and so they arrived to conquer the Witch and free Narnia. Years later, when the four children were grown-up kings and queens, the bloodline continued itself. A noblewoman of Archenland, who had been descended of the third son of King Col, came to the court at Cair Paravel. Both her name and rank have been disputed among the great historians. She has been called Katherine, Saedra, Rina, Lily, and Morgana, and described as a Princess, Lady, Duchess, Countess, and Temptress, but it is certain that she married the High King Peter. She loved them both, the High King and his brother. She fled when the monarchs disappeared to their own world, carrying the child of King Edmund within her.
Lady Katherine and her child flew south of Archenland, and took refuge with a nomadic tribe wandering the Great Desert. Her line continued for a thousand years, migrating through the Desert, and the Oasis, and into Calormen. The secret of her affairs with the kings was whispered from daughter to daughter until it was faded and forgotten. And it was Katherine's thirty-fifth descended daughter who was enslaved as concubine by the leader of the Telmarines, who came out of their famine-raged land into Calormen. She was held captive as they trampled over the Desert and through Archenland, and then into Narnia. And it was in her rightful land that she bore the forced child of Caspian I, who had conquered Narnia.
And of course, that is where history picks up. The line of Caspian lasted until the end of the world, seventeen descendants to the Last King. But there is a second story that very few, or none at all have heard. A second surfacing of ancient blood. Most sources wholly deny even its possibility; that Caspian X, also called Caspian the Seafarer, used the gift horn belonging to Queen Susan, later to be called The Lost Queen, to summon her sister the Queen Lucy to his bedside. She bore his child in secret before returning to her world, and the child, Rilian, was made to believe his lineage was of the Stars.
Another tale, that tells of relations between Rilian and Jill Pole, is entirely false and is a thing meant only for bedtime stories.
So did the line of monarchs continue to Tirian, who saw the destruction of Narnia. The Seven Friends of Narnia, all reborn from the Shadowlands, were summoned to bear witness. Upon the closing of the Great Door, Tirian was welcomed into Aslan's country before his entire family line, tracing back all the way to the First King and Queen. And that bloodline, passed on, twisted, turned back, and crossed-over lives still within that land that lies to the East, beyond the sun, part of the never-ending story. The Great Story that continues on, that none will know till they get there and see it for themselves. For even as I finish the telling, the legend of connection goes on; goes on forever.
A/N: Did anyone catch the reference to The High King, the Duchess, and the Secret by TastyAsItGets? I absolutely love that story, so I thought a shout out to Saedra would be cool.
If anyone's interested in the backstories and pairings mentioned here, I've got a blog about this "Narnian family tree" over at my website (the link can be found in my profile). Also at my website there is a blog addressing the various charges of dishonor and blasphemy that several reviewers have accused me of.