Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.
In autumn of the first year of creation, when Frank I was High King of Narnia, it occurred to an otter to ask his sovereign, "Sire, the fish that I hunt die for my nourishment, just as the trees and flowers seem to die now with the waning of the year."
"All things must pass," the King agreed wisely.
"Shall you die, sire? Shall I?"
At that moment, King Frank understood for the first time that his subjects, innocents newborn of a new world, had no understanding of death and ending. In this world, that was knowledge belonging solely to the King and Queen and to the White Witch, wherever she had fled. Even the changing of the seasons was novel to Narnians. The High King thought and finally answered, "I shall age, which means to change with time just as the seasons change, and I shall die, when the time is right in the winter of my years. You shall as well. But it not something to view with trepidation. Aslan appoints a time to die for everything, after our purpose in life has been served."
"What is the purpose of life?" The otter asked, mystified by this new knowledge.
"That I cannot tell you, for that is a magic I do not know. The purpose of every life is unique and understood only by the Great Lion and the Emperor Beyond the Sea."
The otter was silent for a time but then spoke again, "Sire, you say a year is like a life, with a spring of new birth, a summer of growth, an autumn of aging, and a death of winter. But there were storms in summer that brought down trees which now are already barren, as you have previously told us all trees will be in winter. Do storms happen in life as well and cut it short? What is the meaning of death?"
The king was at a loss as to how to respond but remembered a teaching from the Other World of his birth. "Storms do come in life, otter, and their burden can be heavy. But Aslan does not allow a life to end before its appointed time. A life will be tempestuous when a creature turns from Aslan's teachings, and they may die because of it, but all things work together for good for them that love him and are called to his greater purpose, and that is the deepest magic. Those creatures who follow Aslan will be fulfilled in life and will be rewarded with perfect summer bliss forever when they leave to be with Aslan after they die. Do not see the winter of the year or of your life as an ending. Rather, be transformed by the renewal of your mind and your heart so that you will better hear the will of Aslan and can leap to his purpose for you with the coming of spring."
With that, the otter was reassured. He grew in wisdom and spread his understanding to the other animals, so that when storms and winter came, all remembered the words of the king and were not afraid.
—Excerpt from A Book of Tales for Children by Mrs. Dolly Fauna, presented to Prince Frank III on his fifth birthday.
It was the year 150, in the rule of High King Frank IV, and a prince and a princess were lounging in the shade of the Tree of Protection. It was late spring, and the tree was blooming, yet still a soft scent of its precious silver apples somehow lingered in the air. The royal children often came here when seasonal wanderings of Narnia's itinerant court visited the Lantern Forest. It was a comforting spot cherished by the royal family ever since Frank I, the children's great-great-great-great grandfather, was crowned king beneath the spreading branches.
"Tell me about Mommy?"
Prince Frank closed the Book of Tales he had been reading to his little sister. "What do you want to know, Helen?"
"Was she beautiful?"
Frank laughed gently at her question. "You always ask that. You know she was. She was so beautiful the Naiads would keep their meres extra still after she looked into them, and the image of her reflection would stay for ages."
"A year and a day!"
Frank grinned. "That's right."
"But what did she look like?"
That was a harder question for Frank to answer. Queen Swanwhite had vanished six years ago, when Frank and his younger brother Henry were young children and Helen only a baby. It was hard to remember, and every artist who had tried to paint the queen's portrait had given up in despair of their own ability. "Well, Helen... she was very fair. She was part Naiad, and well-loved by her cousins in the wells. The Naiads in the Fords of Beruna once said her skin glowed like the pearls they find there, and it was true. She had a warm light in her, I think. Her hair was long and soft and... dark, I think. I don't remember. And she was tall, taller than Father..."
"Was she kind?"
"Yes, she was. She was the kindest person I knew, and she loved us very much."
"Do you think she'll ever come back?"
"...I don't know, Helen. I miss her and I wish she could." He smiled at his little sister and gave her a hug. "But don't worry, we'll see her again. In Aslan's Country. And if she is there already, then you know she is happy, and she is waiting for us."
"Right. I know."
Author's Note: So this was basically a prologue to set the mood. I do promise, this fanfic is pretty well-planned and going some interesting places. The story premise: where did the Stone Table come from? Except for the White Witch/Jadis, who becomes very important for obvious reasons, and Swanwhite who gets a brief mention in The Last Battle, all of these are OCs, because we are set in the early days of Narnia, the first dynasty. Also, because this is an origin story for an important piece of Narnian mythos, and Narnia was basically Christianity fanfiction, there will be a lot of references to Judeo-Christian theology. Updates will be unpredictable, sorry.