Prompt #24: The Magician's Nephew:

"The box was Atlantean; it came from the lost island of Atlantis [...] the Atlantean box contained something that had been brought from another world when our world was only just beginning [...] Only dust. Fine, dry dust. Nothing much to look at [... but] every grain had once been in another world—I don't mean another planet, you know; they're part of our world and you could get to them if you went far enough—but a really other world—another Nature—another universe—somewhere you would never reach even if you travelled through the space of this universe for ever and ever."

"Now we don't have time to unpack all of that," but we can take a stab. Choose some point of the history—when Andrew's fairy-godmother (who was shut up in prison at the end of her life) had the dust, when it was in Atlantis, before it came to our world, what turned it to dust and what it was beforehand, while Uncle Andrew was studying it, when it was turned into rings—choose one point of the history and write a story about it or about the people who had it.

† Exposure †

LONDON, ENGLAND
19 DECEMBER 1899...

Andrew stood behind the lectern and smiled haughtily at the crowd before him. The Council of Magic and Sorcery was all gathered in the old church, their listless eyes fixed on him.

"Look alive, gentlemen! A magical dust from another world. A tiny pinch of it, and whatever it lands on will go into oblivion! Watch as I take this guinea pig and send him to worlds unknown."

The crowd murmured things of "Teleportation?" "That old rot?" and "Like we haven't all seen that before," but he ignored them. He lifted the lid off the box and took a tiny pinch of dust, lifting it high like a trophy—

There was a cramp in his hand and a spike of pain, and the dust fell out of his fingertips. He scrabbled at it and hissed, "Good Lord!" as a wisp of dust landed on his suit.

There was a sudden gasp from his mouth and a flurry of laughs. His face went taut with horror, and he realized that he was very cold...

CAIR PARAVEL, NARNIA
24 SEPTEMBER 1000...

"By George!" said Peter. "You mean he was stark naked?"

"Not entirely," said the eagle standing next to the tea cosy. "He did have his spectacles. And there was a podium in front of him."

A round of giggles filled the drawing room.

"I say, Fletcher! You do have the best classes. Mr. Tumnus said we wouldn't have to take any notes, and he was right. I'm going to remember it all."

The eagle kept looking composed, but the gratitude in his eyes was unmistakable.

"Well, I know I've learned my lesson," said Edmund. "When you have a box of magic dust, bring another change of clothes."

"True enough, but I do get what he's driving at," said Peter. "A chap can have all the titles in the world and be as clever as the dickens, but he's got to have a humble heart. Sooner or later, something's going to bring out the worst in him, and it's going to reveal him for what he is. That's why you ought to live like Aslan wants, so that when everyone sees what you really are, they see Aslan."

Fletcher smiled proudly at him, then turned to the Four and spread his wings. "And may that be a lesson to us all."

CAIR PARAVEL, NARNIA
17 OCTOBER 1015...

The High King frowned as he lowered himself onto the chair. "And what are we doing here, exactly?"

"Surely you of all people would know," said the leopard dully. "It was in this drawing room that Fletcher gave you your lessons."

"I'm well aware of that. But why did you want me here?"

"I hoped that being back here would put those lessons in your head."

"Juma, I have better things to do than remember the past. Fletcher has been dead for fifteen years."

"And everything he taught you seems to be dead. I say, if Fletcher saw you now, he'd think all those lessons were for nothing."

"I remember what he taught."

"But you aren't living it. You are breaking the laws of Aslan, just to uphold this wretched treaty."

" 'Wretched'? Once this treaty goes through, we will have access to wealth and power beyond anything we've imagined."

"Obviously you don't know your lessons. If this goes through, Taresh Kazan will invade Narnia and take everyone captive. They did it to the nations around them, and they will surely do it to us."

Peter sighed and lowered his head into his hands. "Juma, there are some things a King has to do to protect his country. It is a royal prerogative, but it is not for my interest alone; it has always been and will always be for Narnia. I don't expect you to understand it now, but when the treaty goes into effect, you will look upon what we've done and you will thank us."

Juma kept giving him a look of disgust, and a grim smile went up his muzzle. "The man has no clothes."

Peter grew unnervingly stern. "What did you say to me?"

"You heard me. I always saw you as something more, something better than all the nations around him. But this alliance with the Tareshans has shown me what you really are: a schoolboy, a silly child, squandering his possessions on wicked boys who have no right to be called his friends. Clearly this is what you want, and obviously I can't speak any sense into you. This is no longer my country, and you are no longer my king."

"Juma, look here—"

"You will receive my letter of resignation in the morning." The leopard began to turn away, but he stopped without warning, and he lifted his head over his shoulder. "Enjoy your high and lonely destiny...Peter."

The High King pursed his mouth shut to keep his words from spilling out. He felt his face burn with anger as he watched the leopard slink out of the drawing room.