Chapter One: Polly and Digory
Polly Plummer had never imagined, not even in her wildest dreams, that she would ever attend the coronation of a king and his queen. If she had imagined such an occasion, she certainly wouldn't have pictured being surrounded by talking animals or that the ceremony would be performed by a lion. And she would never have believed that after the coronation, the lion would then turn to herself and her friend Digory Kirke and decree that they were now Lord Digory and Lady Polly of the Royal Narnian Court. But this was exactly what had just happened.
King Frank had decided that the Court would need a castle. So all the males were currently working on the plan for building one. Queen Helen had gathered the females and they were sat together doing what they could to create furnishings for the castle. Helen and Polly were weaving threads a talking spider had provided them with.
Polly had the idea to plant some of the threads. She did so, and, as she had predicted, a tree grew instantaneously from the ground. Spider silk dangled from the branches. Investigation proved that the leaves were also made of silk. Queen Helen was fascinated. Polly explained to her new queen about the new world allowing things to grow that would not under normal circumstances such as the fudge tree. She took the lady to see the lamp post that had grown from the witch's iron bar.
"How long will this last?" Helen questioned Polly. Polly realised she didn't know.
"In that case," stated Queen Helen, then raised her voice to address the gathered women. "Ladies, let us plant as many thing as we think will be useful as we possibly can. We can create a Glade of Useful Trees." The females jumped up and rushed off to do as their queen commanded.
Whilst the other Ladies of the Court were occupied, Lady Polly and Queen Helen made their way over to the menfolk to see how the plans progressed. They arrived as the meeting broke up and made their way over to King Frank and Lord Digory Helen explained about the Glade of Useful Trees then Frank showed them the plan for the castle.
"It looks beautiful my love. But what shall we call it?"
It was Polly who answered the Queen's question.
"How about Cair Paravel?"
It took over a year to build the castle and longer still to make it habitable. No one minded too much as everyone had built their own shelters in the woods.
When Aslan had created Narnia, he had made a male and a female of each type of animal and by the time the castle was complete most of the animals had had children. Queen Helen had already given birth to a son. The King and Queen had named him George. Prince George would one day be the second king of Narnia. Frank and Helen's second child, who would one day rule Archanland, was on the way.
It didn't take long for King Frank, Queen Helen, Lord Digory and Lady Polly to forget England. They had originally based the structure and traditions of the Royal Court of Narnia on their knowledge of Medieval England and had practiced speaking as if they were in a Shakespeare play. By the time England had been forgotten, this manner of speech and their noble attitudes had become habit to them.
Polly was fourteen and Digory a year older when he asked her to marry him. The wedding took place on Polly's fifteenth birthday. King Frank gave Polly away, since her father was not in Narnia. She couldn't remember her father anyway. The King and Queen had become surrogate parents to the young lord and lady. Lady Polly doted on the young Princes and the Princess who she had had a hand in raising. Young Princess Victoria was Lady Polly's bridesmaid for the ceremony.
It was the first wedding that took place in Narnia and the Narnians made a great fuss over it. The wedding was to set the precedence for all the future weddings of Narnia. It was a beautiful ceremony, presided over by Aslan, and a wonderful party.
At the end of the evening the Lord and Lady retired to the chambers they would now share. Nobody saw them for a week after.
The first tragedy of Narnia was the death of King Frank. All of Narnia grieved for their king. Aslan returned for the coronation of King George. He also made George's younger brother Albert king of Archanland. Princess Victoria split her time between her two brothers. Queen Helen did not last long without her husband.
Lady Polly and Lord Digory were nearing the age that King Frank had been at his death, when they both mysteriously vanished. Princess Victoria made it her solemn mission to find the missing couple but she never could. Victoria managed to follow their trail as far as the Great Tree of Protection but then it seemed to vanish completely. No one in Narnia would know what had happened to the Lord and his Lady for many, many years.
Polly sat up and looked around her in confusion. There was no room in Cair Paravel that looked like this one. In fact, it didn't look like anywhere she had ever been in Narnia, and Lady Polly was sure she'd been everywhere in the Kingdom.
"POL?" her husband's voice sounded different. It was younger, she realised; Digory's voice sounded like it had yet to break. Turning to look at him, Polly sucked in a breath.
"Thou art so young!" she exclaimed.
"As art thee," pointed out Digory. Polly looked down at herself and realised Digory was right. She seemed to be around the same age that Digory appeared to be and was wearing a dress that was not at all Narnian in style. In fact, Polly thought it looked rather English. Then she wondered what 'English' meant. It was on the tip of Polly's tongue to ask Digory if he knew what 'English' meant when it all came flooding back to her; Uncle Andrew and the green and yellow rings; Jadis and the dying world; Aslan and the birth of Narnia.
"By the Lion," Polly breathed.
"What is't My Lady?" questioned Digory before letting out a gasp as he too remembered the events that had taken them to Narnia in the first place.
"Tis England," the couple stated together.
"Mother," cried Digory as his memory of why he lived in London hit him.
"Isn't yond an apple from the Great Tree of Protection," questioned Polly, noticing what her husband held.
"Aye t'is," responded Digory as he looked at the aforementioned fruit. "Perhaps it can cureth Mother." Polly nodded.
"Let us maketh haste," she told Digory. He made a nod of his own and the two stood, unused to their short stature, and made their way out of Uncle Andrew's attic and down to Mrs Kirke's room. Polly, used to doing the thinking for both of them, slipped down to the kitchen to fetch a knife and plate, whilst Digory went in to see his mother. When Polly returned with the knife and plate, Digory cut the apple into bite sized pieces and bid his mother eat it. Mrs Kirke seemed bemused by Digory's old fashioned way of speaking and questioned whether the pair had been reading Shakespeare. That was when they realised how strange their speech and mannerisms would appear to everyone else. After that they made a conscious effort to appear completely normal.
As soon as Mrs Kirke ate the Narnian apple, she began to recover rather rapidly from her illness. The doctor could not explain it.
When she was well again, she and Digory moved back to the big house in the country where Digory had lived before London. Polly was a frequent visitor.
When they were old enough, Polly and Digory got married once again. They had never stopped considering themselves married but since no one else in England had known that, there had to be another wedding. Once the wedding had happened Polly moved into the big house in the country permanently.
Polly and Digory never forgot their lives in Narnia or Aslan but neither thought they would ever go back again. They were wrong of course. Polly and Digory Kirke would always be friends of Narnia, and Narnia would always need its friends.