Disclaimer: I do not own Narnia or the characters. They belong to C.S. Lewis.
Lucy Pevensie couldn't quite believe that it was Christmas, that she was a Queen of Narnia, that she was standing in the entrance hall to Cair Paravel with her brothers and sisters, and that Father Christmas was standing in front of them, having just given them their presents. One might have thought that Lucy, as a Queen of Narnia, would have been used to having Father Christmas visit on Christmas Eve, but it was only her second Christmas in Narnia, and the first as a Queen of Narnia, so it was only natural for her to feel such things.
Edmund was in the process of saying thank you for his gift. Lucy smiled, watching him, and remembered that this was his first time meeting Father Christmas. He seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the experience and she was very happy for him. She was in a happy mood in general. After all, it wasn't every day (or, as she knew, every Christmas) that one got to meet Father Christmas. She sighed.
A vague memory of another Christmas, celebrated somewhere else, came to mind. A Christmas without a visit from Father Christmas, although Lucy had been told by her parents that he visited when all the children were asleep. And now, looking at the very same man standing in front of her while she was very much awake caused her to wonder. As soon as Edmund was done thanking him Lucy stepped forward and all eyes were on her.
"Father Christmas, sir," she said, feeling shyer than she had in a long time, "may I ask you a question?"
"Certainly, dear Lucy," said Father Christmas, his eyes twinkling.
"Did you…ever visit where-where we came from? In Spare—I mean, England?" The name 'England' sounded more foreign to her than 'Spare Oom' did, and this realization startled her. Could she really have forgotten her home so quickly?
Father Christmas looked serious now as he considered her question. "I did," he said, after a few minutes' thinking. "A long time ago, I did." He gazed upon her and her siblings, sadly. "Unfortunately, not in any of your lifetimes."
"So, when our parents told us of you, you weren't real?" Edmund asked. "At least, not in our world?"
It was an odd question, but everyone seemed to understand what Edmund was getting at. "No, I have not been a reality in your world for a long time, longer than even your parents have been alive, or your grandparents," Father Christmas explained.
"But when you were, did you greet everyone as you do here in Narnia? Or," Peter said, "Did you do as our parents told us and waited until everyone was asleep?"
"I greeted everyone," said Father Christmas. "Of course, sometimes I would arrive late and the family would be asleep, in which case I would leave the presents for them to find in the morning. For the most part, I tried to deliver presents with a personal greeting. As I do here."
The Pevensies exchanged a look. There was still that one unasked question that they all wanted to know, and at the same time they weren't so sure they did. Lucy had enough courage to actually ask it. "Father Christmas," she said, her voice much more quiet now. "Why didn't you come back?"
Father Christmas looked very sad, and this made the Pevensies feel very sad. "I cannot go back," he said, "because there are forces that don't allow me to."
"Like Jadis' magic?" Edmund asked, his voice sharper than perhaps he intended.
"Not necessarily," said Father Christmas. "Rather, it is something found in the human heart. The same thing that causes humans to kill one another, to hate one another, to be greedy rather than be generous. It encompasses all that is not good that can enter the heart. Because, you see, people want less and less to believe in someone like me. Your world has become so corrupt that the things that are the ultimate good become less and less believable, less and less wanted even, because they remind people of how bad things normally are, and they cannot believe that it will ever be good again. People have come, and will continue to believe that only they are capable of taking the world out of corruption, when in fact they are corrupting it more. They have lost faith in everything else; they can only see themselves."
"That's terrible," Lucy said, her voice small. She felt so sad that she could have wept, for even though she was in Narnia it was her old home that they were talking about, where her parents still were. Her sadness was reflected in the face of each of her siblings. She was quite shocked to see that they actually looked as if they were taking this worse than she was.
"It is terrible," Father Christmas agreed. "It happens in whole worlds, or parts of worlds, or to certain people. As for your world, it happened that at first I could no longer visit the adults. Then even some of the children. And soon an overwhelming majority of the world had lost its faith. There are still some…who are open to these sorts of good. But they are too few and far in between."
"Lucy," Edmund said. Lucy turned to him with a curious expression when he said nothing more and he explained, "Well, Lu, you have to be one of those people. Even in England you believed in Father Christmas, no matter how much…I told you he wasn't real."
"True enough," said Father Christmas, "you may have been one of those people."
"Wait," Peter said, thinking. "Isn't there anything that can be done?"
"It would be hard," said Father Christmas. "A majority of people, as I have said, have lost their faith. Here, in Narnia, most have it. In your world, there is so much more hurt and war and hatred that the change would take a long time, perhaps even more than your life time, and it would be a lot harder than it was here. But if the change did happen, it would not only be me that people would let back into their lives. There is the One who is much greater." And he looked very grave and the Pevensies knew who he was referring to.
"Isn't there anything we can do?" Lucy asked. "We are from that world, after all."
Father Christmas smiled down at her. "I cannot yet say," he told her. He then looked up at the others. "I do not know the future, but if there was any hope of you changing your world than I'm sure that you would change it. Just as you have changed this one."
Lucy smiled too—the words filled her with an incredible hope, and she could see it in each of her siblings' faces. Father Christmas took up his sack, which he had put on the floor, and said, "I'm afraid that will be all the conversation I have time for this Christmas. I must go now and visit others. In the mean time," his smile widened, "Happy Christmas!" And then he was gone.
Lucy turned back to her siblings, and found them all looking pensive. "Can you believe that?" she asked. "We can change our world as we have changed this one!"
"Do you think we'll ever go back?" Susan asked, frowning slightly.
"I do think that if there was work to be done there," said Peter, "Aslan would send us to do it. Just as we came here."
"I would like to go back," Edmund said. "You know, I think we should, if we can, go back if the opportunity arises. We don't know if it will, or if we even can effect change, since our world is so much larger, but if we could…I would very much like to. Lion knows our world needs change."
"It does," Peter agreed. "And I'm sure Aslan knows. But there is good thought. Can we change the world?"
"Well, we can try," said Lucy. "We could certainly start something."
They were silent for a time, and then Lucy yawned, which brought the time of night to their attention. They were all suddenly very sleepy.
"There's no point in thinking this out now," said Susan. "I'm sure we'll know when the time comes, if it comes at all. For now, we should concentrate on Narnia."
"True, Su," yawned Peter. He took her arm, and Edmund took Lucy's, and they began to walk upstairs.
"You know?" Lucy said, as they neared her room. "I really think we could do very good things there."
Edmund smiled and ruffled Lucy's hair. "You already have," he said quietly.
All four siblings stopped in front of the door to Lucy's room, which was the first they had come to. They each hugged and kissed her goodnight before sending her off to bed with wishes of "Happy Christmas".
In the dark, Lucy let her thoughts wander to London and her parents and old Christmas memories.
Lucy whispered two words before she fell asleep, and she meant them for Narnia and her own world, even if they would only be heard in her room. "Happy Christmas."
Author's Note: This would be, I guess, my Christmas story, even though it isn't even Thanksgiving yet. But I was inspired by a few things, which would include ABC Family's insencent airing of Christmas movies, a commercial for the Prince Caspian DVD, and reading C.S. Lewis' 'Out of the Silent Planet' and thinking about certain things in that book, along with the Pevensies (even if they aren't in that book). I hope you've all enjoyed it. And all I can really say is Happy Very Early Christmas!