Queens Don't Cry

Lucy sat with her arms crossed on the windowsill, staring glumly out of the rainy window. A sweet, aching longing pounded near her heart, just as it always did on days like this. Days when she couldn't help but remember the fateful rainy day that had led her into Narnia. She sniffled and the corners of her eyes stung. The years she had lived in Narnia outnumbered the years she'd lived in her own world, and yet she could still feel the royal grownup-ness trickling away from her more and more each day. She had already cried many times.

Queens don't cry, she kept telling herself- yet she cried anyway.

"Lu?" she felt Susan's hand on her shoulder. Her sister could always tell what was bothering her. "Come on, it'll be alright." She said soothingly, giving Lucy a hug. "You remember what Aslan said. I'm sure we'll get back in someday."

"Maybe…but it feels like everything is gone forever." Lucy sniffled, rubbing her eyes. She laughed sheepishly. "I'm acting like a child."

"You are a child, goof." Susan said, tickling her sister. Lucy laughed and tried to squirm away in vain. "And just think: when we get back to school, we'll be ahead of all the other students!"

"In everything but history." Lucy agreed. It was true: they'd all been tutored in mathematics and literature, the finest Narnia had to offer.

"I was thinking more along the lines of the boy front." Susan said mischievously. "We've been through it all, haven't we?"

Lucy laughed. "They don't stand a chance. What boy our age could be worse than Prince Rabadash the Ass?"

The thought of the donkey-man set them off giggling, and soon Lucy felt a lot better.

"Thanks, Susan." She smiled. "You always know how to cheer me up."

---

I found this in a notebook while moving out- it's amazing the things you find when you're moving. I wrote this little ficlet two years ago, when I participated in a stage production of Narnia. I grew so attached to the world of Narnia after being in the play- we had to immerse ourselves in that world for a few months. I can't describe the feeling to you- after awhile, we really started to feel like we were there, especially as the costumes and props were created, and as people started getting into character. Ah, I remember the cast sleepover…Maugrim saved me from a psycho dryad, and Aslan strummed on his guitar as a faun got WAY too hyper and kept everyone up till 3. ((sniffle)) good times, good times.

Anyway, when it was over, I felt really forlorn, you know. I can honestly say I felt how the children must have felt. I missed everyone, and I missed how normal the bizarre had become. I guess this sort of came from that feeling.

-Tokichic