Title: The Gentle Mother's Soul

Author: Schwann

Disclaimer: I am not C.S. Lewis, great imaginationer of Narnia.

It was very hard to feel much of anything negative when in Aslan's Country. Why, it was the most marvelous thing, there was no pain, no suffering. Negative thoughts and anger just drifted away, making it the most peaceful existence.

Boring, too, if you asked some.

But it was agreed upon that the thing that every person in the Real Narnia looked forward to was newcomers.

It was reunion! It was the making of a new friend, because you know in your heart that any friend of Aslan is a friend of your own. It was learning what has happened, catching up on life, because even in death, there are rules to adhere to – such as never knowing the destiny of another.

But it had been so many years, and these newcomers were beloved by so many people that the entryway was crowded.

The High King Peter and his sibling companions, King Edmund and Queen Lucy had arrived with others. Why, fine stories would be told over this!

And so on it went, this tearful and cheerful reunion, as hugs were given and arm clasping took place among many bows and curtsies.

Eventually, to the most impatient person all of Real Narnia, enough was enough.

Prince Corin of Archenland had been holding back a question all evening (or was it all year? Longer? He had lost track of time again – that happened all too often, in Aslan's land) and, after some consideration, finally pulled King Edmund aside.

"I'm sure you've been asked this quite often lately, but…?"

Edmund sighed, it was a rueful sound that seemed to echo disappointment in Corin's heart. "Susan?"

"Peter would tell you…" Here, Edmund wet his lips, and Corin bounced in place in his impatience, "That Susan is no longer a Friend of Narnia."

It made him go still.

His vision tunneled, Corin failed to notice another coming upon them; his voice, sharp as steel, bit out: "So the High King says. And what say you? Is this the voice of Aslan himself?"

"I-"

"I don't believe it!" Corin burst out.

At this, curious gazes drifted their way, and Edmund ran a hand through his hair. Corin had gone through the trouble to corner him, and now privacy was soon to be a thing of the past.

Another interruption solved Edmund's dilemma. "She's been lost a long time." Lucy's voice spoke up.

"But I would never believe my sister to be lost forever." Edmund finished.

Corin let out a gusty sigh, and could feel his muscles trembling from strain. "What happened?"

Edmund frowned, because he could see Peter approaching, judgment upon his brow, and with a bit of clever thinking, pointed Corin at him.

Corin went, brimming with a need to know – and listened with disbelief at what was coming out of the High King's mouth.

Cares only for herself?

Susan?

There was some agreement and embellishment from a few people he did not know (heroes though they were greeted as) – a silence from King Edmund and Queen Lucy, which hurt almost just as much, and then just as Corin could feel himself falling apart, that other man spoke again, as reasoning as King Edmund.

"Is that The Truth, or just your truth?"

Sparks flew in High King Peter's eyes, "I tried! She denies Narnia! It has been her decision to give up on it!"

"So you left her alone?" Corin asked, suddenly deeply sad. He was just as Lucy, a vibrant spectrum of emotions, who felt anger and sadness of equal depth. High King Peter pressed his lips together.

Silence was his answer, and in a snap, Corin seemed to grow in size. "I bet you just did was she wanted! You all forgot that you were dealing with Susan, the Gentle Queen, and just treated her as Susan. She dodges confrontation and gets more stubborn! Tell me, did you ever think of how you could get her back by letting her be more than just Susan?"

Anger broke out among them, ever so rare, and some wondered why Aslan had yet to intervene.

"How would you have dealt with it! You've been dead centuries!" Peter spat.

"How would I deal with it?" Corin asked rhetorically. "Stop and think, for once – you're asking me, 'How would I deal with my Mother!' Well! I'd LET HER BE A MOTHER!"

Lucy let a hand on Corin's shoulder, which has shaking in his fury, his deep grief. "She was my mother…! That was what let her be… Gentle…" His emotions overcome, he sobbed right here.

Murmurs broke out, as some sympathy arose for the Archenlander Prince, and more so because it made him remember such things of Queen Susan.

Peter himself was pale, equally drained and trembling.

It was and odd experience, to be able to feel passionate in Aslan's land. Afterwords, everyone just feels like it's this sudden emptiness in you, but it doesn't eat at you, it's more like a dam broke and everything is rushed out, but it's coming back to what it should be in these little trickles of peace.

For those most effected, though, some thoughts do linger. For Peter, Edmund and Lucy, they felt regret at their failure to help their sister, for Corin was right about that. The blame was not truly theirs – indeed, Aslan would have chided them for such thoughts – but Corin had put forth such an obvious solution that would have kept their sister.

What hurt most though was that it was beyond their power to do anything now. Their bodies had died once and for all.

As things drained between all of them, the soft padding of paws drew near. It was Aslan himself, fixing his gaze upon all of them.

"Would you hear me of Susan now, Children?"

Some thoughts:

I never regarded Susan as irredeemable. Actually, I got into an argument once with someone… he was so judgmental over someone he hadn't even read, just saying that 'the way he heard it was that Susan was all the folly of selfishness and forever barred from heaven' or some such.

Anyway, the thing is, Trinian… when he asks where Susan is, it always struck me that Edmund and Lucy are silent. It's Peter being hotheaded and judgmental as is his folly, and three people who don't really know her – Eustace, Jill and Polly. Met, heard of, spent time with… nothing in exchange for really knowing.

Next, Corin. In the books, Susan says something along the lines of 'we have been such good friends since your mother passed' and of promises to his mother. I always rather thought that it was a combination of illness and grief that made King Lune's wife die, and that it was relatively young for Corin at that.

He's only just thirteen in The Horse and His Boy, Susan was of marrying age, beautiful and renowned, so I would guess that she probably met when she was fifteen or sixteen and Corin maybe seven? He's fiercely protective of Susan, and I honestly thought him to have substituted her as his mother.

So I can't see a crazy protective Corin giving up at what little Peter, the only one who spoke out against her, in the everafter

Cheers,

Schwann.