Disclaimer: The Chronicles of Narnia belong to C.S. Lewis, not me.
A Different Kind of Evil
Joyfully anticipating a visit to Archenland on the morrow, the Queen Susan kissed her siblings good night and danced into her chambers. The sound of girlish whispering caught her ear when she reached her door but she ignored it; her new ladies maids were ever laughing over something and she had learned to ignore it when it was nonsense and join in when it was sensible. They had grown more and more excitable in the last week, but she had disregarded it; they were often excitable. She was caught off guard at the sudden silence which followed her entrance, however; they had always at least attempted to include her in their silliness. She came upon them and smiled, inclining her ear toward them.
There were the dryad sisters Alka and Orala, their heads together, giggling quietly. Vina, the only Human among them, was a year younger than Susan. She was smirking, her own head inclined toward the sisters as she tried to halt her laughter. Madalee, her little Goldfinch maid, flitted around them, humming.
Susan stared around at them all, perplexed. "Ladies?" she asked, confused. "What have I missed this night?"
"Oh nothing," said Orala, leaving her sister's side to dance up to Susan with the Queen's nightdress. She was the only one who looked at all ashamed. This made Susan wary, as Orala was the only one not predisposed to absurdity.
"Nothing!" cried her sister. "Orie! How can you?" She twirled up to Susan, too. Orala frowned but a little smile darted across her features, and Susan stepped back.
"Well if you're all going to be ridiculous I'm going to bed."
"Bed?" said Madalee, "Oh, please don't! I don't understand their proposition but it's eating at Alka and Vina and if they don't tell you we'll none of us get any sleep for their laughter."
Vina pushed her away. "Don't be silly, Mada." She smiled winningly at Susan, who stepped further back.
"Oh do let's tell her!" said Alka happily. She was still spinning around Susan, who was becoming dizzy.
"Tell me what?" asked Susan, faintly annoyed, as she tried not to smile at their antics. She sat down on a velvet pillow, her ladies crowding around her.
"I don't know… I don't think we're supposed to…" said Orala, but Alka burst in front of her, imploring Susan, who sighed. They continued arguing about it until Susan fell asleep.
NNNNNNNNNN
Susan had thought she'd heard the end of it, but in the morning the Narnians' party was accosted on its way to Archenland. Peter and Susan were caught unawares by their own people; they were taken aside and disarmed while the others fought. A gaggle of ladies, human and otherwise, from what appeared to be every corner of the earth, had quickly surrounded them.
Susan recognized her maids among the kidnappers and stared at them, appalled. She caught the eye of her little Goldfinch friend and her mouth dropped open. "Madalee, how could you?"
Vina shushed them all and stood before Peter and Susan, smiling from one to the other.
"See here, Lady," began Peter, but he was interrupted; Vina could not hold her peace.
She looked at Susan. "We think you should marry the High King!"
Susan flew up off the rock she had been shoved onto, aghast. "What! Never!"
"We know you've been looking for a husband…"
"He's dreadfully handsome!"
"I do wish I had caught his fancy."
"It had to be you. Aren't you lucky," sighed a Dryad Susan had never seen, looking as though she'd like to hurt Susan instead of smile at her.
"No one's caught my fancy," said Peter. He had managed to free himself while they were all plaguing Susan. They all turned to stare.
"Peter!" cried Susan. She ran to him, anxious to get away from her silly kidnappers.
Orala looked embarrassed but the others were delighted.
"But you look so adorable together!" crooned Alka, sighing as Peter folded his crying sister in his arms and freed her as well. (Their captors were not much for binding royalty.)
"Think of how it will feel when he touches you!"
"I would melt if it were me!"
"What?" said Susan, leaping away from Peter. "He's my brother! That's wrong!"
"This is Narnia! Anything goes here!" crooned the ladies. The Naiad who seemed to be the ringleader turned to Susan. "Isn't he handsome, milady?"
Susan looked horrified and turned bright pink. "What? He's my brother!" she repeated.
"Please? Won't you just consider it?" said Alka, looking as though she might faint at the thought.
"No," said Peter firmly.
"Absolutely not!" said Susan. "Aslan would never approve."
"Oh, him," said Vina, frowning. "He's just an old sourpuss. Who cares what he thinks?"
Peter stood up to his full height, blocking his sister from view. His eyes flashed. "How dare you speak of him in that manner? He is your King!"
"Oh no, milord, you are my king!" said the strange Human girl who appeared to be the ringleader, bowing before Peter.
"Get up," shouted Peter, backing away. "I am subject to Aslan as are you all, and I will not have you insulting my sister. Now stop it, all of you. Begone!"
But the gaggle of matchmakers only came closer, shrieking and smiling and closing in on them until they were almost choking the King and Queen. The Pevensies had the sudden realization that none of the ladies in the current assembly had been in Narnia more than a year, and that some had eyes which looked decidedly like those of the remnants of the White Witch's army. Susan had wondered why she had suddenly been given these particular maids.
"Infiltrators!" she whispered.
"Aslan, help us!" cried Peter, struggling to fight them off.
"No one can help you now!" cried Vina. Her eyes were suddenly crazed. "We will surely kill you if you deny us the pleasure of seeing you wed!"
"Why are you doing this?" Susan cried as she fought off a Naiad. "What pleasure does it give you? To wed my brother would be a great evil!"
The ringleader turned to Susan, looking possessed. "There is no such thing as evil. We all want the High King for ourselves, but it is you who look so striking with him. You are the most beautiful." Her eyes were wild now. "You must tell us what it is like to be taken by the High King!"
"What?" asked Susan, confused, but Peter blushed.
"No!"
He was ignored as the girl continued to yell. "You must allow us to live vicariously through you!"
Susan began to despair. "It would be evil," she repeated in a whisper.
"Aslan can always help us!" whispered her brother, and she felt a bit stronger. "Don't listen to them, Sister," he added. "I would never dishonor you so." She leaned into him again out of necessity; Peter deflected the fiends magnificently but the siblings were running out of room. "You don't want to marry me, do you, Su?"
"Never," said Susan. "I love you, Peter, but the very idea is, is-" She tried to find a word vile enough, but could not. "Sickening. I don't care what they say; it goes against everything Aslan stands for. I do want to be married, but not to my own flesh and blood." She stopped, and all the blood seemed to leave her face. "You- you don't want to marry me, do you?"
Peter pulled her closer as the throng began to scream at them. "Nay, Sister. My very soul rebels against it. You are right, Aslan would never approve. And even if we gave in to spare our lives-" They now saw that Alka was holding a rather large spear- "I fear that to make you my bride would bring a fate worse than death upon Narnia." Alka pushed through the crowd with her spear and Susan clung to Peter. "Hold fast, Sister. They will not kill you while I have breath." He shoved her out of the way of a shrieking Human. "Perhaps if we both cry to Aslan, he shall come!"
"Aslan, help us!" they cried together. "Do not allow us to be taken in by such evil!" added Peter. He did not tell Susan but he could see that the crowd was pushing them toward a garden. It had been quickly and shoddily arranged and did not at all resemble those of the Narnian fashion, but he knew what it was: a marriage garden. "Help!" they cried again.
At that very moment a great roar was heard through the countryside, and Peter and Susan breathed great sighs of relief. "Aslan!"
The mass of shocked female spectators was immediately thrown into disarray and banished to a rather dim island full of unfortunate banished princes on the breath of the Lion.
Peter and Susan flung their arms around him, burying their faces in his mane.
"Oh thank you Aslan!" said Peter, and Susan only cried.
"You have done well, children," said Aslan. "Evil is very real, and you were right to stand against it. Now go and rejoin your party." He smiled. "I think you will find that they have won their skirmish."
And indeed they had; what remained of the attackers was a sight to behold. Peter, Susan, and the rest of the Narnians implored Aslan to stay, so he came with them to Archenland, where the story was spread far and wide. And never again was it suggested that any siblings should marry in Narnia.