I do not own any character in this story (except Adelaide). I don't own the Bible from which some passages were taken, just so ya know ;) This story takes place the Christmas Eve after Prince Rilian's abduction. It's a short story based on The Silver Chair and my other fanfic Disenchented. If you haven't read Disenchanted it should still be pretty easy to follow. Hope you enjoy! :D Merry Christmas and God bless!

This is my first Christmas Eve spent in a castle living the life of a pampered princess. Under the tree there are more presents than I have ever seen in my life, most of them are for me. Father Christmas is surely on his way to bring more. I should be filled with more glee than any child ever was, but on this most blessed of nights, I am the saddest girl in the whole of Narnia.

For you see, I am Adelaide, the daughter of Lord Drinian who was killed by a snake earlier this year while searching for the lost Prince Rilian. Rilian was one of my dearest friends before the death of his mother. He was so angry and distant after her death that I don't believe he considered anyone except maybe his sword as a friend. He and Father would still speak at times, but that ceased when the prince was abducted. The queen was the closest thing I ever had to a real mother, as mine died when I was a baby. To make matters even more dreadful, my aunt, with whom Father had left me, passed away. I have no family left. My only saving grace is King Caspian. Had he not taken me in as his own, I would be in an orphanage somewhere, or maybe desperate for food on the streets. I owe him my life.

Indeed, it's been a hard year for all of Narnia, and even Christmas, though it is a sacred day, has not escaped its gloom. Though the castle appears vibrant with decorations and seems to be waiting in quiet anticipation for the arrival of Father Christmas, there is an unrest about it, a sadness within its walls. The joy is gone. The life is gone. For Christmas is a time to be spent with family at one's side, and the royal family is no more. There is only King Caspian, and what's left of him is broken, therefore Narnia is broken. This is not a joyous day. This is not Christmas.

Father always told me I was old for my age. He worried that I was becoming too cynical. Having no mother I suppose I grew up too fast. I've tried to act my age and be a child, but I can never seem to do it. I can't help feeling the weight of the world on my eleven-year-old shoulders this night. There is too much sadness in the world to find that childlike joy. There is no peace. I know I should be at rest, fast asleep for the arrival of Father Christmas. But in all honesty, I don't want Father Christmas. I want my father. I begin to weep and let my tears saturate my pillow.

Moments later there is a gentle knock at the door. I cannot answer for my sobs.

"Adelaide?" calls King Caspian as he opens the door. "Dear, are you all right?"

"No."

"Come now. What's the matter?" he asks as he sits at the foot of my bed.

"This isn't Christmas! Father's gone! Rilian's gone! Queen Lilliandil is gone! How can we bring ourselves to celebrate on this day when so much has happened?"

"Your Father and Lilli are certainly celebrating. They're in Aslan's Country, where there are no tears... and we needn't mourn for them." Caspian's words are true but he sounds as though he himself is having trouble believing them.

"What about Rilian, and the fact that we're still here without those we love? How could Aslan let all this happen?"

Caspian is silent for a long moment before he finally speaks. "Rilian's fate rests with Aslan. Only He knows where my son is at the moment... or if he's even alive. But we must trust that Aslan has a plan and knows how to bring it about. Aslan is our only hope for finding true peace, dear. Aslan will take care of us... and Rilian wherever he may be."

I sniffle. "... He would've been seventeen today."

Caspian sighs and I can see he's fighting back his own emotions. "I know... I do wonder how he's spending his birthday..."

"Where do you think he is?"

"It's painful to think about. But wherever he is, Aslan has him, I'm sure of it. And I'm sure Aslan has a reason for allowing him to be where he is right now."

"How is it that your faith is so strong even whan your sadness is so great, Caspian?"

The king looks as though he is about to speak and then appears to change his mind. "I'll show you. I'll be back in a moment." He leaves the room and returns moments later with a thick book in hand.

"Do you know what this is, Adelaide?" he asks as he carefully places it in my hands.

"It's a book. It must be hundreds of years old," I say looking at its weathered pages. Its cover appears to be leather with golden writing on it and the its pages are trimmed with gold. I can hardly make out the title of it because the letters are so worn. "'Holy Bible,'" I finally read. "What is it?"

Caspian smiles, a rare sight since the death of his wife. "It's the book that's kept me going since I was a little boy! It's the very reason for Christmas!"

"What do you mean? How can a book be cause for a holiday?"

"Adelaide, what do you know of the origins of Christmas?"

"It's a holiday celebrated in the world from which King Frank came. Something about a special baby, and candy canes and Christmas trees, I think."

Caspian smiles at my apparent ignorance. "You're correct about the baby and about King Frank's world. This book belonged to one of the first Telmarines in Narnia. This book contains the true story of Christmas. My professor found it and gave it to me when I was a young lad. Our people came from the same world as King Frank. And so this story and his story of Christmas are one and the same."

"But what bearing does an ancient storybook from another world have to do with us here and now?"

"Oh everything, dear. It has everything in the world to do with us."

"How so?"

"Let me explain. Do you remember all the stories I've told you about my voyage with the kings and queens of old? How I sailed to the world's end with them?"

"Yes..."

"Well there at the edge of the world, when it was time for them to go to their home, Queen Lucy was on the verge of tears. She feared she would never see Aslan again. And He told her something which I will never forget. He explained to her that He was in their world as well, but He had a different name."

"Aslan in other worlds?"

"Yes! Isn't it amazing? And this book! This book I'm certain is the true account of Aslan's interactions with that world! It's incredible!"

"But how do you know it's about Aslan?"

"Because I know Aslan. Something inside me comes alive at the mention of His name. Deep down, whether one admits to it or not, every man knows when he is faced with his Creator."

I gaze in amazement at this book of wonders. "What did Aslan do in this other world?"

"He made it, just as He made our own. He created a people who rejected Him. They turned from His ways to follow their own flawed desires. The sin of their hardened hearts kept them from Aslan. But they were made for Him, and so they longed for Him. And He longed for them. Mankind was faced with a problem, you see, because one cannot serve two masters. They could not follow their hearts and pursue the evils of worldly pleasures, and have Aslan. Aslan is just and will not tolerate wickedness among His people."

"What did the people do? Surely they couldn't have enjoyed a life without Aslan! That would be misery! They must have tried everything to get back to Him"

"Oh they did. They tried to keep His every command. They made sacrifices. They honestly tried to be good. But they found it simply impossible, as we all do."

"Impossible... But if goodness is impossible how could they ever get back to Aslan? Were they forced to be seperated from Him forever? Seperated from Hope itself?"

"No."

"But how is that? Aslan couldn't - Aslan wouldn't just lay aside His justice and allow such wickedness to go unpunished! That would be like you releasing every criminal in the royal dungeon and allowing them to do Aslan only knows what to all your people."

"Aslan didn't lay aside His justice, dear one. He, better than anyone, knew what the people needed, for He made them and knew their hearts intimately. The people couldn't rid themselves of their sin, for it was too great. They needed someone to do it for them, someone who was greater than their sin. The only one who has always been greater than sin and never fallen to temptation is the Great Lion Himself.

"And so Aslan, Creator of all the worlds, perfect in all His righteousness, the Great Lion, came down to that world, called Earth, where the hearts of men were filled with depravity and every kind of evil."

"What did He do? He must've shattered them all and started over. Surely being among all that wickedness was sickening to Him in His holiness!"

"No, dear one. That is not the heart of Aslan. He heals. He redeems. He saves. And that is what He came to do, to save them. He not only came to their world, he came as one of them."

"What?"

"Aslan came to earth to be born of a young woman. He came in the form of a human baby. He was fully God, yes, but he was God made human, just like you and me."

I stare in amazement for a moment but I am still filled with questions. "He came as a baby. That is awe-inspiring, but what could a baby do for a sinful people, and what has that to do with us in Narnia?"

"As I said earlier, dear, it has everything to do with us. As for what one baby could do for such a people, an angel visited his parents and informed them of the divine plan. Open the book, Adelaide."

I open the book and begin to read from the passage Caspian indicates.

"'And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.

"'Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

"'Behold, a virgin shall be with child, shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.'"

"And that is exactly what He did, Adelaide, exactly who He was. He saved them from their sins. He was God with them. A God who loved them even when they fell. A God who came down to them and felt their hurts with them. He felt pain, and sadness, and illness, everything you can imagine - just like we do. While He walked among them He healed their sick, He taught them His ways, He even raised their dead, but toward the end of His time dwelling as one of them, He did the most blessed and selfless thing ever to be done."

My eyes widen in awe. "What did He do, Caspian?"

"You remember I told you the people made sacrifices to try to make up for their sin."

"Yes. Isn't that where you take something, like a lamb, and kill it hoping that it's blood will satisfy God?"

"Yes, dear. You see, all sin always comes at a high cost. The punishment for sin was death. When someone sinned, someone had to die. 'Twas the law."

"Like the Deep Magic written on the Stone Table in the days of old."

"Yes, exactly like that. And so this Jesus did what they could not do. Jesus took their sin upon Himself. Read right here, Adelaide." Caspian opens the book to a different passage and I read.

"'Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

"'And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

"'To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

"' Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.'

"What does it mean, Caspian?"

"It means that God wanted to be with mankind so much so that He died for them. He became sin, and took the punishment for them, though He had done no wrong, He gave His life. He took away the sins of the world. He made a way for them to be with Him when they couldn't do it themselves. The people were no longer slaves to their evil desires. They had the freedom to be with Aslan and to abandon their old ways. He changed the hearts of those that wanted to change so that their hearts desired the things of Him rather than the things of the world."

"Just like what Aslan did for King Edmund the Just... The Deeper Magic from before the dawn of time."

Caspian gives a wide smile. "Yes, Adelaide! The Deeper Magic! It is wonderful indeed. And there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for another. Aslan loves all His people with the deepest love imaginable. And yes, yes we go through times of great sadness, we face hardships. But doesn't it give you hope to know that Aslan is never distant in those times. He's been human. He knows our hearts and in doing so, He knows our hurts! We never walk alone, Adelaide. For He is Emmanuel!"

"God with us..."

"Yes. God with us."

"This is the story of Christmas then," say I. "The Great Lion coming as one of us, to know us, to feel our pain, to take our sin... and to save us. To let us know that no matter how lonely or sad we feel, we are never alone. He is always, always with us."

"Indeed."

"Caspian?"

"Yes, love?"

"I can see why this is your favorite book, and why it's cause for a holiday. Do you think maybe I could hold onto it for the night?"

"You know, I was planning to give it to Rilian when I passed on, but why don't you hold onto for him until the day he returns?"

I feel a wide smile spread from one of my ears to the other. "I would love that!"

"You and I can read it tomorrow if you wish. But tonight you'd better get some rest. I do believe I hear sleigh bells in the distance."

Upon the realization that Caspian is correct I quickly lie down and cover my head with my blanket. I am fast asleep before Caspian even reaches the doorway.

My hour has come upon me and with it my sanity slowly returns. I am... Rilian... I am... seventeen years old today... My father is... Caspian. My mother... my dear mother, Lilliandil... dead. Father is alone, and I am a prisoner on this night, Christmas Eve, my birthday.

I would give anything to see my father again. I would be a slave in his house if only I could see him again and tell him I'm sorry for abandoning him, for abandoning Narnia. How could I have fallen victim to a witch? I should've known better! I did know better. But I went against everything that I knew in favor of being with her. She seemed so innocent, so harmless. And now here I am, in her Aslan-forsaken hole! I may never see my father again. I may never see the light of day again.

I've turned away from everything right and pure and good, and now I belong to a witch. For a fleeting moment I believe that if this was my fate all along perhaps it's best that Mother died before she could see it come to be.

"Aslan." I whisper into the silence of the empty room. "Aslan, I know I've fallen far. I know I've done wrong in your eyes, and I know I am here by my own fault, but could You please have mercy on me and set me free somehow. I know I don't deserve it, but please, please. I need to go home. I need to tell Father how sorry I am. I need-"

"With whom are you speaking, my prince?" The witch enters the room.

I look around the room, ever colder and darker. Aslan isn't here. "No one," I say, finally.

"You were speaking to that Lion again weren't you?"

"Yes."

"And did He speak with you this time?"

"No."

The witch sighs. "One day, my prince, you will realize that I am all you have, and I am all you need."

"Aslan wouldn't abandon me!"

"It was you who abandoned Him, my prince. You rejected Him when you chose me, and with me you will stay until the end of time! There is no hope for you outside of me. You left the Great Cat! You rejected Him and now you belong to ME!"

"No! I don't belong to you! I don't belong here! Let me go home to Father! I'd rather die than be with you!"

"Home to your fool father? Ha! You abandoned him when you abandoned Aslan! You have nowhere to go. You are here by your own choices and here you will stay. Aslan cannot hear down here, and your father wouldn't want you. You are alone but for me!"

Everything in me wants to belive her words are false, but they seem so true. I begin to weep.

"I will come back for you when you've come to your senses, my prince." Her voice is soft again with a hint of maternal concern in it. It sickens me.

I've never felt so helpless as I do on this night. I should be home, sitting around the fireplace with Mother and Father while reading from Father's Bible. I close my eyes and try to recall the story.

"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.

"'Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,

"'Behold, a virgin shall be with child, shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us"

Save His people... God with us...

"Jesus..." Could it be? Aslan, please. Will You save me from my sin?

"Emmanuel..." I feel a peace beyond my understanding come over me. Somehow I know that this will all come right in the end. Aslan is with me.