I've taken some liberties in describing how dryads work in Narnian world, so I hope you don't mind. This story correlates to one of my other stories, The Mercenary, although it starts earlier than that one. I'll try to not make them too redundant with each other for anyone who's reading both. As always, please review!
Heads up, I purposely made the main character somewhat an annoying character (goody two shoes, etc) at the beginning, but then she changes significantly during the story. So if you don't like her character at first, just hang in there and she'll get more interesting.
Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Narnia.
Once upon a time, for that is how stories begin in Spare Oom and War Drobe, there was a dryad princess, Princess Aiyanna, the eldest child of dryad King Ahiga and dryad Queen Amitola, and sister of dryad Prince Yuma. She was born during the evil reign of the White Witch. Her parents, being the King and Queen, they were naturally the most powerful and practiced at woodland magic. Those surrounding them, the dryad nobles, were also masters of magic. Therefore, they had enough magic to keep the seasons regular where they lived and keep away the influence of the White Witch. As long as they chose to not interfere with the Witch, she left them alone, unsure if she would be able to defeat them. And the nymphs, the dryads and naiads, may not want the Narnians to die, but their long quarrels with them made them unlikely to want to help. Others dryads who were not so fortunate to have been born with their tree in that area chose to either follow, or pretend to follow, the Witch's reign or draw into themselves to eternal sleep.
One day, after hearing rumors for days of the appearance of the four Children of Adam and Eve, Aiyanna heard two young voices in the trees.
"How do you talk to the trees? Just randomly talk to a tree?" a voice asked.
Another, younger voice, said, "I'm not sure, Su. I guess we try that since we don't have any other choice."
"Seems a little silly to talk to a tree in eternal sleep," Aiyanna said, approaching the two girls. "Who are you? I am Aiyanna, crown princess of the dryads."
"Oh! Then hello, your highness. I'm Susan and this is Lucy. We're Queens of Narnia, according to, well most everyone who's told us we are. Or will be," the elder one said.
Aiyanna swept a well-practiced dryad curtsy and said, "Your highnesses. For what errand did you wish to speak to a tree?"
"Aslan's dead," the younger one said in a hollow voice.
Aiyanna gasped, "Impossible!"
The elder one nodded, "The Witch killed him on the Stone Table. You can come look and see if you wish, to prove that we're telling you the truth."
"Nay, I believe your word, your graces."
"Can you send someone to tell our brothers? They're expecting Aslan for the battle tomorrow!" Lucy cried, grabbing onto her arm. She quickly agreed and tapped into the magical nature of the Stone Table to use a dryad spell to travel as leaves. Aiyanna could have sent someone instead, but she was rather interested in seeing these legendary human kings for herself. She shifted into leaves and blew herself to where she had heard Aslan's camp was.
She found a tent that seemed fit for human kings and crept under. She flew about, letting a few of her leaves brush the boys' cheeks before assembling into her humanlike form and passing along the message. The elder boy at first reacted in shock, but quickly seemed to trust her, his gaze not leaving her even as she left.
Afterwards, the young princess went to her parents in hopes of rallying troops to fight alongside Aslan's army. Even though the dryads tended to care little for the affairs of humans, Aiyanna hoped that a new Narnian rule would bring the other Narnians and the nymphs – dryads and naiads – closer.
"Nay, we shall not fight if Aslan will not be there, my daughter. For without him, surely Narnia will fall," my father said gravely.
"Nay, father, I implore you, let us be what tips the scales in favor of the Narnians. With us, there is still a chance. Without us, the White Witch will get a secure grip upon all Narnia by wiping out her enemies at once and then our spring power may no longer be enough to protect us whence she can concentrate on fighting us."
"My daughter, you are too youthful to comprehend such things as battle," her father said, dismissing her. Aiyanna, ever the dutiful – too dutiful in fact – daughter, bowed her head and left.
Princes Aiyanna, along with Lord Liwanu and an assortment of other dryads attended the coronation of the kings and queens as ambassadors. At that time, King Ahiga and Queen Amitola believed their sovereignty to be autonomous from the rest of Narnia and refused to acknowledge the kings and queens as their superiors, especially such young children, but rather viewed them as rulers of a separate state. The Naiads felt similarly, preferring to follow the river gods. The nymphs all did respect them however, and the leaders found it appropriate to send ambassadors. Lord Liwanu became the official dryad ambassador to Cair Paravel.
"Hi! Um. Ah, would you care to dance? Milady?" the High King said awkwardly, walking up to Aiyanna.
"Your majesty, although I would prefer to not contradict a High King, the term is 'your highness' for a princess," she responded methodically. "And yes, your majesty, it would be my pleasure."
Peter wasn't sure what to make of her response, but led her out to the dance floor anyways. He supposed the other Narnians had been right when they warned them that the dryad nobles tended to be serious and unfriendly. Not to mention the older ones were apparently manipulative and conniving. But Aiyanna seemed like she was forcing her distant attitude, as though she knew it was expected of her as the dryad princess, so Peter held out hope that he could convince her to become friendlier.
"Your majesty, no offense, but are you quite sure you are thinking of the correct dance?' she asked, for he was missing almost every step. She had to find a way of saying it politely though, but she was well-practiced in the ways of court.
"It's alright Princess, you can say it. I'm horrible at dancing. I've never done this sort of dancing before," he explained. "Anyways, I asked you to dance because I wanted to thank you for delivering the message from my sisters, mil-your highness."
"You could have done that without embarrassing yourself on the dance floor, your majesty," she pointed out.
"You don't have to use my title if you don't want to, princess," he said suddenly.
"Then I suppose you need not use mine either," Aiyanna said, surprised. Dryad nobility was always very formal with titles except during their wild forest dances, but she was young enough to not yet care about titles and pomp and such as much.
"Excellent. Does this mean we're friends then?" he said with a genuine grin.
"I've never been friends with anyone who's not a dryad before," Aiyanna shyly confessed. Her parents generally looked down on other creatures, and Aiyanna hated letting them down so she minimized how often she had to consort with other creatures.
'Well, there's a first time for everything,' he said cheerfully while attempting to twirl her around. Somehow she ended up stuck in his arms, unable to twirl either way. He frowned, trying to figure out what to do from there.
"Uh, really sorry about this," he said awkwardly.
"How about we just sit down and partake in the delicious refreshments?" Aiyanna suggested, pushing his arms off of her gently. They walked over to the refreshments together and spoke for quite some time, mainly him asking questions about how the dryad realm work and her trying to deflect questions with potentially useful information without him realizing she was avoiding answering some of his questions.
"May I ask you a rather touchy question?" he asked. She frowned, but nodded her consent.
"Do you think there's going to be issues? Between the dryads, and naiads, and other Narnians?"
She stayed silent for a few seconds. He got nervous at the silence and backtracked, saying, "I'm sorry if that was an inappropriate question. I'm not quite used to this ruling this yet."
Aiyanna laughed. "Nor at dancing either so it seems. But yea, that was an inappropriate question. I should not answer it. But that does not mean I will not. I will say that you have a good reason to be worried. But let us not speak of such things now. Today is your coronation, a time for celebration. There will be much time for such worries and so little time for joyful days such as this one."
"As you wish, princess," he said, grabbing her wrist to lift her hand to his lips to kiss it. "I hope that you will visit often." Aiyanna was surprised by his forwardness, having only experienced the much more formal, much less friendly dryad nobility.
"I hope I can too. And you simply must visit the trees as well. But… you may want to learn how to dance better before joining in the wild woodlands dance," she smiled to soften the insult, but he was already laughing. She then joined in with a light laugh, glad to avoid the dangerous topic of the sedition that she was well aware was forming.
Three years later, Aiyanna counted the Pevensies as being on her very limited list of friends. Well, mostly Peter. Edmund seemed to tolerate her but she could tell he was bored when around her. But Lucy was always a dear. Susan annoyed her often, but she still considered her a friend. Susan always wanted to have "girl talk" and prod Aiyanna about what males she was interested in. Did the queen not realize that royalty must marry the suitor that advances their political interests the farthest? Romantic interest hardly mattered, if at all. But Susan was the only female she felt comfortable complaining to when males annoyed her and such. And Peter she felt was genuinely her friend, which wasn't something she often felt about others. At first she was a bit annoyed that he always sought her out, but over time she grew fond of him and began finding reasons to visit Cair Paravel.
She was at the age where crown princes and princesses in the dryad realm would travel to another court to learn their ways. Naturally, she begged her parents to allow her to travel to Cair Paravel. But she would have never imagined her parents would twist her year into one of their underhanded schemes.
"I'm sure you have heard rumors of the anger dryads have with the human king. He is far too young and inexperienced to rule. He has interpreted his title as 'High King over all Kings of Narnia' to mean sovereignty over the monarchies of the nymphs. We the king and queen of the dryads and Queen Maji, queen of the Naiads are much grieved by this grave insult," her father began.
"Father, I hardly think he has. Each time I have spoken with him he has been eager to please and wishes for peace in Narnia. He comprehends and emphasizes with our wishes of independence. If there is some insult, he may not know his actions were interpreted as such and an audience with him may clear confusion," Aiyanna said, daring to contradict her parents for the first time.
"He is two-faced," Ahiga said, growing angry that his ever dutiful daughter would contradict him. "He shows you, my daughter, a face very different than who he truly is. But that is to our advantage. The dryad council has noticed the Narnian King's affection towards you. Other than his sisters, you are the female he speaks with the most and with the most interest. He has sought you out even while he tries to evade other suitable females, and this is a weapon we can use to our advantage."
"I know it is not my place to contradict my father and king, but I hardly think so. We are friends and our relationship as friends works because we do not have emotions such as that of romantic love to complicate how we interact."
"But it may be just that which attracts him to you and makes your company preferential over other females," Queen Amitola said. Aiyanna briefly wondered if that had been the case of her parents. But she quickly dismissed the thought, knowing her parents had married for political reasons as had every dryad monarch before them.
"It pains me to see you so close to a man I do not approve of for my precious daughter. But with war on the horizon, as king, my duty is first to the dryads, as it is your first duty as my daughter and heir."
Aiyanna gritted her teeth. She did not want to displease her parents and the dryad council for they were right about it being her duty, but she was not eager to go against one of her very few true friends. "Of course I am loyal to the dryads and will do my part in ensuring our success if war is indeed inevitable."
"Daughter, you must do thus. Make the High King so utterly entranced by you that his attention to the war falters. A young boy enamored by his first infatuation has no business leading an army, which will make it easy for us to conquer and take back our right to our independence."
Aiyanna knew she'd probably regret speaking up, but felt she had to anyways. "But Father, is the High King not Aslan's chosen? Would we not be turning our back on the Great Lion who created us and holds all of us in his paws?"
King Ahiga frowned. "We do not seek to displace the king, only to keep our independence. As long as we do not try to dethrone him, we will keep our loyalty to the Great Lion."
"Mother and queen, what say you? Do you agree with my father's plan?" Aiyanna asked, hopeful that her mother's general silence meant disagreement.
"While I dislike using you as a weapon, I do not disagree about our need to fight back and it is my duty to let my daughter, the crown princess, defend her people in any way possible. For that reason, I fully support your father's plan of action, although I wish there was another way."
"Then I relish the chance to demonstrate my loyalty to the dryads and do my part in ensuring our success," Aiyanna said proudly, raising her hands and tossing her leaves.
"Well spoke, my daughter. And whatever passes between you and the Narnian king, remember where your true loyalties lie. He is two faced and is not truly in love with you. It is merely a lustful infatuation. You must not truly have any feelings towards him," her father warned.
"I have no romantic feelings towards him. I cared for him as a friend, but if he is indeed two-faced as you have said, then he has only befriended me with one of those faces, knowing I would despise the other, and therefore I shall not call him a friend any longer," Aiyanna said decisively. She still had her misgivings, but if both her parents said this course of action was best, then they must be right for they were much older and wiser than she was. Besides, her first duty was always to the dryads. Friendships simply got in the way.
"Friends," King Ahiga said, speaking the entire council. "Now that we know we will have my daughter working inside the castle, let us plan our next steps of war. Daughter, you are dismissed. Prepare yourself for your stay at Cair Paravel."
Aiyanna curtsied and left. She knew what she was: the crown princess of the dryads. She could not, would not, let her friendship with Peter hinder her from doing what was best for her people.