The Finale

I am Alap and I am Tau, The First and The Last, The Origin and The Fulfillment.

~Rev. 22:13 Aramaic Bible in Plain English

Lucy found herself sitting next to Peridan in a sort of parlor, but not like a parlor she had ever seen. The ceiling was a dome of glass and opened to the brilliant sky as it was lit with constellations, stars and those bands of light she had already seen. They seemed somehow close to the sky and looking up, Lucy could see faces on the sparkling stars and cities where she had once looked for constellations.

The room was perfectly square and there seemed to be a window set in every wall. Lucy turned to look at them and they seemed to come out to her, or perhaps, she was going into them. Were they windows or pictures? They seemed so vivid, so marvelously real. There was a stunning brightness coming from them and singing so beautiful it made her spine shiver.

"Aren't they lovely?" Maev asked Lucy, surprising her by her voice. Lucy looked around and came back into the room, a room that suddenly seemed dull and dreary compared to the things in the pictures.

"What place is that?" Lucy asked, looking back and feeling herself almost fall into a limitless depth.

"They are paintings of Aslan's own county," Maev said quietly, "and as unlike it as black and white photographs are of your world."

"I want to go there," Lucy said and with such longing in her heart as she had never felt before.

"The next time you see that place, you will be there to stay," Maev said.

Fairies came forward, bearing platters of sweetmeats and drinks. First came some that were dressed in the airy garb of the Calormens, bearing coffee and spiced cake. Others in embroidered silk with bamboo parasols from Catai, brought tea and more from Telmar, in furry caps and tall boots and skirts so large they barely fit through the door, brought candy and sweets. Lucy ate until she could eat no more.

"Now," Maev said at last, "The time has come for me to ask why you have come to us."

Lucy stared at her, suddenly frozen. It was very well to come all that way, but to ask for a magical stone?

"I heard," she began slowly, "that you have a stone that shines as bright as the sun."

"I do," Maev said and smiling, she bade one of the fairies to fetch the stone. It was brought in an ivory box and as the box was opened, shafts of light cut through the air like spears and nearly blinded Lucy with their brilliance. Quickly Maev reached out and the brilliance was dimmed.

The stone itself lay in Maev's hand, glimmering softly and no larger than a robin's egg. It was mostly clear, but needles of golden light seemed to be permeated through it. It was beautiful.

"This is Koh-i-Noor, the brightest of all the Noors," Maev said, turning it this way and that, flashing rays of light over Lucy's face.

"I want it to shine on a cliff at night," Lucy suddenly blurted, "like a lighthouse. So many people have died…"

"But what will you give me in return?" Maev asked quietly, her slim fingers tapping the stone.

Lucy's heart chilled inside of her and she looked down at herself, "Nothing, I have nothing."

"Nonsense, of course you do."

"My most precious possession…" Lucy paused, "My cordial, I could go get it."

Maev made a dismissive gesture, "what would a fairy want with a heeling cordial? It is the humans that are always falling down and hurting themselves. No, I want something else. Something a fairy does not have; your courage perhaps, or your wisdom…or even your foolishness. I would take any of those in exchange."

"I – I would give up anything," Lucy's voice was very low and she sought Maev's eyes and held them, "That stone will save so many lives…take what you want."

Gently, Maev reached out and took Lucy's hand, her fingers firm. She held up the stone, glimmering, and slowly pressed it into Lucy's palm. It flashed, then lay quiet.

"The stone is yours," Maev said, smiling, "I will take nothing in return but the memory of you."

~o*o~

Lucy woke with a start. Sunlight was creeping through her window with golden fingers on the floor. She could tell from the way it shined that there were no clouds in the sky. Thoughtfully, she sat up. She had had a curious dream last night, very curious, yet no matter how she tried, she could not remember anything of it but light.

As she moved, something bumped against her arm and she looked down to see Peter's compass, bright in the early morning sunlight. Suddenly it all came back to her in a sickening rush. Had it not happened at all, then? She wondered and the thought hurt so much that her throat pricked in sorrow. It had seemed so real! So real.

With a sob, she buried her face in her hands and wept, wept her heart out. The door opened softly and Susan came to put her arms around her little sister.

"What is wrong?" she whispered. "What happened?"

"My dream!" Lucy gasped, "It's all gone!"

"Oh Lucy!" Susan said, brushing the hair out of Lucy's face.

"It was so real! I really thought it happened!" Lucy gasped, "I must have wanted it too much."

~o*o~

Lucy lived through that day in a daze. She sobbed anew when Peter told them about the new ship that had been wrecked on the black rocks and she stood little and silent while the others worried about her and asked her if she were sick. She said she wasn't, but she was sick, sick at heart.

She barely heard the argument that the others were having, the argument about the King of Archenland and how he had sent word that he was coming and was going to arrive the next day.

"Why didn't anyone tell me this?" Peter had asked.

"Oh, didn't I?" Edmund looked blank, "I thought I did. I arranged it."

"So I now discover," Peter said dryly.

"The King and Queen of Archenland coming for Christmas!" Susan exclaimed, "How lovely!"

Lucy slipped away and sat under the Christmas tree, tears running in rivers down her swollen face. She felt that she had cried every last tear there was to cry, yet still more came.

"Oh Aslan! Why?" she whispered.

She must have fallen asleep under the tree, but no dreams came to plague her and Peter stopped to look down at her when he finally found her. Gently, he reached out and shook her shoulder. She came awake and looked up at him blurry eyed, her face crusted with the tears of waking and sleeping.

"Lucy?" Peter said quietly, "There is a curious fellow in the entrance hall. Says he has something of yours."

~o*o~

Peter had to run to keep up with her. Instantly, she was wide awake and on her feet, her face lit with hope.

"Lucy!" he called as he chased her down the hallway, "What is it?"

"My nutcracker!" she cried.

Peter was only in time to see her throw herself at a young, dark-haired man who stood nervously on the black and white marble floor of the entrance hall. His face lighting, he swung her around, then set her down.

"Then it wasn't a dream!" they both cried at once.

"It wasn't! It wasn't!" Lucy sobbed, hopping up and down.

"You forgot something," the young man said, slowly he opened his hand, shafts of light slicing between his fingers. Peter looked down to see a small brilliant thing lying on his palm.

"What is it?" Peter asked, agape.

"It's a Noor, Koh-i-Noor to be exact," Lucy said, taking it and holding it aloft. "I went last night for it, to shine on the cliff at night so no more ships would be wrecked."

"Went? Where?"

"East of the sun and west of the moon," Lucy said quietly.

"Oh my brave little sister," Peter said, picking her up off her feet.

~o*o~

In the darkness of the sea and night, a ship rose and fell on the waves. A little golden haired boy slept fitfully in a hammock, his mother watching him in the twilight of the cabin.

"Oh Aslan," she whispered, "be a light onto our path and a lamp unto our feet."

The timbers of the ship groaned and whimpered and the eyes of the ship's cat glowed as green as the wreckers' lanterns. On deck, wrapped in a dark cloak, the golden haired man paced the deck, soaked with freezing spray. The bowsprit rose and fell, painting dark circles on the sky and faintly, glimmering through the rain and sleet, there glowed a golden light.

"It must be land!" the man said and hastened aft. He reached the captain and caught his arm, bellowing to be heard above the storm.

"There's a lighthouse over there!"

"I see it!" the captain cried, he poked the steersman, "change of course! There must be a reef or rocks in front of us! Due north!"

~o*o~

The little boy was asleep when he was carried ashore. The ship rested quietly at anchor in the harbor behind him and he saw the stones of a castle through sleep dimmed eyes.

There were voices, talking; people were walking around and he heard his father laughing and his mother saying his name.

"Corin, Corin."

He opened his eyes, seeing gold light streaming though his eyelashes. Four people stood before him, all smiling.

"Prince Corin," one of them said, bowing, "I'm Peter."

"I'm Susan," another said, looking at him the way someone might look at a baby chick.

"Edmund," Edmund said.

The last person was a girl, very old she seemed to Corin and he looked at her seriously.

"It's not true," he stated, "You are somebody much."

~o*o~

"Did it really happen?"

For some time, Caspian's eyes had been closed and for a bit, his nurse had thought him asleep. Now he looked up at her, searching her face.

"What do you think?" Nurse asked, tucking the coverlet more firmly under his chin.

"Were no more ships wrecked after that?" he asked.

"No more were wrecked because the Koh-i-Noor shined like the sun through the storm to guide the ships on their way."

"I'd like to see it someday," Caspian said quietly.

"A stone that shines is nothing," Nurse said, "but someday you will see Queen Lucy and King Peter, King Edmund and Queen Susan and best of all, Aslan himself and when that time comes, you will not think of a stone."

"Very soon?"

"All time is soon," Nurse said, smiling.

"I love the sea," Caspian said, as if wrenching something free. All his life, he had heard fear and horror whenever anyone spoke of the sea, yet when he looked out across the surging, ever-changing depths, his heart seemed to throw itself loose of him and reach forward to an unknown star.

"I know," Nurse said, leaning down to kiss him, "I can see it in your eyes when the sun rises over the ocean. Now my little seafarer, let me give you your sailing orders."

"Sailing orders?" Caspian asked.

"Your bed is a galleon, a ship with a huge, bellying sail. Keep the moon dead on your bowsprit end and you'll reach the land of nod where it drifts among the stars." Nurse said.

"Will you come with me?" Caspian asked.

"No, this voyage you must make alone," Nurse said, "but tomorrow, when I come to wake you, I will find your bed safely moored next to your dressing table and my little seafarer, an old salt with a thousand wonderful tales."

Caspian was adrift already and Nurse's voice seemed to fade astern as his vessel gathered speed, the sail drawing. He could hear the water surging past her planking, could almost feel the tiller in his hand. The figurehead was a dragon…a dragon.

"Sweet dreams and Aslan's blessings upon you," Nurse's voice came from across an ocean.

The End

Some stories are true that never happened.

~ Elie Wiesel

Author's note: Koh-i-Noor means 'mountain of light' and the Koh-i-Noor is among the crown jewels of England. I imagine the Koh-i-Noor to look like a piece of rutilated quartz.

According to Horse and his Boy, Cor was kidnapped the same year that the four children arrived in Narnia (and the Tisroc began his beneficent reign in Calormen (may-he-live-forever);) I made Corin a little older then Lewis possibly intended.

Merry Christmas!

~Rose and Psyche

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