A Royal Reunion

1

Aslan paused in the song. "Lucy, I will finish this. Take Annie for a walk in the woods below. When I am done, I will join you in the far clearing."

Lucy and Annie collected Annie's pack and climbed down the hillside into the forest below. As they went, they were passed by numerous animals and people of all the many types who were climbing the hill. Annie heard the song resume behind her, but now her thoughts were both clearer and far more confused than before. Nonstop since she had seen the Lion, her mind had returned to a movie she had seen the previous winter with her sunday school class, one that was based on a book she and her mom had read. "Lucy...?"

The other girl stopped and looked at her puzzled. "Annie?"

Annie didn't hear her. "Lucy... Lucy... Lucy Pevensie!"

Now it was Lucy's turn to be shocked. "How... who... We've never met before today... have we?"

Annie's brain was picking up a head of steam now, and didn't register the other girl's confusion. Annie grabbed Lucy's shoulders staring at her with great intensity. "Am I in Narnia?"

A look of deep sadness came over Lucy's face. "No Magic, Narnia is no more. But this world you have helped create has much of what made Narnia special to me. I stand by my pledge to watch over this land as my family once did Narnia." Curiosity wiped the sadness from Lucy's face. "How do you know me?"

"The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" by C.S.Lewis. My Mom and I read it when I was little. I spent the next year opening every closet in the house looking for magical lands, looks like I finally found one." Annie flashed Lucy a quick grin. "Last year they made a really good movie. Of course the girl they got to play Lucy doesn't look much like you. For one thing, she had really dark hair."

"Lewis? Oh, the nice old man Digory introduced us to after our first adventures. I'd forgotten, so he actually did write our stories?"

"Well, some of them. There are seven books, Mom and I cried and cried when we read The Last Battle. We felt so sorry for Queen Susan. She may no longer have been a friend of Narnia, but to have lost her entire family..." a strange thought began tickling at the back of Annie's mind.

"Well, my sister decided she had a different path to follow, one rooted more deeply in the world from which we came. I have come to accept her choice, and I look forward to the day when she rejoins us."

"If you were all on the train, how did Lewis get the story?"

"Aslan told him."

"Oh, okay." Annie was still puzzled by the answer, but her recent encounter with the Great Lion eased the doubts.

They continued their conversation with lighter subjects, the weather, what this or that cloud resembled, the beauty of this new world until they reached the clearing. On the edge of the clearing were three perfectly positioned rocks. Two at the height of chairs and the third at the perfect height for a table. They each took a seat.

"So Magic, tell me more about your world." Lucy began.

Annie pulled the strange grey box out of her backpack. "How about I show you instead!"

She set the box on the table rock so that they both could see it. Working a catch on the front, Annie opened the box, but instead of fine jewelry, as Lucy had originally expected, the surface was covered with a flat typewriter.

"What's this?"

"Oh, it's my laptop. I keep all my pictures in here... Soon as it boots up, I'll show you!" Annie hit the power switch. "My Mom gave it to me when she got a new one. It's slow, but it's mine! I think I'll take some shots while we wait." Annie then pulled out the silver box with the strap. Opening a flap in the front, a black cylinder extended.

"Here, stand beside me." Annie put her arm around Lucy's shoulder, held the box at arm's length and pushed a button on top. There was a quick strobing flash. "Done! Here, take a look!"

Lucy stared at the small picture on the back of the camera in amazement.

"It's digital. No film, the picture displays on the screen." Annie reached into the pack. "Or, using this wire, I can move the picture into the laptop and keep it there." She proceeded to demonstrate with the now booted laptop, dumping the entire contents of the camera into a folder labeled with the days date (or at least what she thought the date was). Annie brought up the picture. "Hey, you know, we look kind of alike."

"We do don't we." Lucy grinned, Annie's enthusiasm was infectious.

"I'll start with my house... and the Mall." Annie selected a folder and began a slide show, describing the various pictures. Her bedroom, Mom, Daddy the yard, the neighbor's puppy, her bestest friend, the shops in the Mall.

"Right now, I'm staying, well I was staying at Mimasu's house while my parents are out of the country." She selected another folder. "This is my favorite picture from there so far."

Annie pulled up the picture of the house from across the valley, with the sun glinting on the windows. Lucy stared at the image on the screen. "In a strange way, it reminds me of Cair Paravel."

"That's funny, that sounds like the name of the road Mimasu lives on, Paravel Drive. Here's a view of the valley between."

"Your Mimasu lives in an enchanted place. From what I remember, there weren't many in your world."

Annie brought up the next image, a beautifully framed shot of Mimasu on the ridge with the house behind her. "And this is Mima..."

"Susan!" Lucy exclaimed.

2

Annie stared at Lucy like she was crazy. "This is my Great Grandmother. Her name's Mimasu."

Lucy's look bored deep into Annie's eyes. "Your Great Grandmother?"

"Yes..." Lucy swept Annie into a huge hug, bursting into tears at the same time.

"Annie, Annie, Annie, you really are Magic!" Lucy's tears transitioned to laughter. "You should put more belief into those fortune cookies of yours as well!" She pulled the fortune out of her pocket. "Lost relations are returning to you!" Lucy began dancing Annie all over the clearing.

"Whoa, hang on, let me catch up."

Lucy stopped dancing and stood there with a huge smile.

"Explain this to me slowly. Who is Mimasu?"

"I'd know her face anywhere. Break down the name. Mi meaning My. Ma for Grandmother. Su for Susan! Your Great Grandmother is my sister... Queen Susan!"

"Wha, huh, I'm a Pevensie? Does that make you like my great grand aunt?"

"I think I prefer cousins. It's easier to say, and definitely not so stuffy. Do you have more pictures? I haven't seen her in so so long."

Awed, Annie led Lucy back to the computer. Lucy oo'd, oh'd and ah'd at each new picture of her long lost sibling until they reached the end of the folder. "Do you have any more?"

"Well there might be some in the pictures I downloaded from the camera a little bit ago." Annie was beginning to accept that she might actually be related to Lucy. "Does this mean I'm a Narnian Princess?"

"Well, if Narnia still existed you would be, but based on what happened when you got here, I'd say you are more than 'Just a Princess.'"

Annie absorbed that as she brought up the last folder. "Got the pictures."

"She still does Archery!"

"Oh yeah! She was teaching me yesterday! It's fun! Although I'm not really any good."

"Yet! After-all, you are Susan's great granddaughter!" The picture advanced while Lucy was looking at Annie. "Wait, go back to the last one." Annie backed up the slide show. "Where is this?"

"Oh, It's Mima...Susan's special room in the house."

"It's the Cair Paravel Throne Room." Lucy stared at the picture.

Annie advanced the slide show through all of the pictures she had taken before falling in the chest. As each shot came up Lucy began sobbing and sobbing harder and harder. When the computer reached the pictures of the tapestries, Lucy let out a wail and threw her arms around Annie. "What's wrong Lu?" Annie stretched an arm into her pack and came out with a package of tissues. "Here, not quite as permanent as what you gave Mr. Tumnus, but who wants all that goop stuffed back in your pocket anyway."

Lucy dried her eyes, blew her nose and took a couple more rasping sobs. "She remembers! Everything about that room is designed to remind her of our life in Narnia. She hasn't forgotten, which means she still believes! Peter and Edmund will be so pleased! Susan is still a friend of Narnia!"