The Weaver of Narnia

Chapter 2: A Friend

Disclaimer: see chap 1

Note: I may have gotten some facts wrong, and if I did, and you notice, please tell me and I will try to change it asap.

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"Who, who, who are you?" Penelope managed to croak out. The lion did not answer but simply stared at her. The fur of his paw rubbed smoothly against her glowing palm. It felt finer than any silk or smooth fabric ever made. Suddenly she seemed to shrink, or maybe the lion became bigger. She was not quite sure which.

But she was aware that suddenly the lion was below her and his paw squeezed her hand. If she did not know better, she would have said it was to reassure her against the fear growing inside her. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath, 'It's ok! Teenage girls hallucinating about flying in the air through worlds and a talking, friendly lion is a perfectly normal thing. Yeah right. Oh just calm down!' She told herself, and to some extent, she did.

The lion tugged at her and she flew downwards. It was almost a cross between flying in the air and in the water. Or maybe it was very porous water, or maybe it was wet air. But then they broke into pure air and she gasped as she tumbled onto the ground.

The lion was in the middle of a dry ditch beside her. Unlike her though, he had landed on his four feet, she had landed on her butt. Penelope scrambled up and dusted the dirt off her already dirty jeans and t-shirt. Surrounding the hole on all sides and as far as the eye could reach were little pools of water and trees dotting an endless expanse of green grass. Amid the thick silence, her breathing sounded harsh and rapid; although she was not breathing hard.

"What is this place?" Her whisper seemed to crack across the still air and she clapped her hands over her mouth. The lion gave a low rumble that was his equivalent of a chuckle. Penelope turned and stared at the lion as if she had never seen one before. And in a sense, she never had, none like this one at any rate.

The lion turned his great shaggy head towards her. He spoke in a voice that was no less deep than the last time he spoke to her, but seemed to have grown melodic to the still air and wove into it so that his voice did not shatter that peaceful equilibrium of silence as hers had, "My child, this is a place where all worlds are connected to and grow from. Each pool is connected to one world and is the gateway to that world."

"How did I get here?" Her voice was still to loud.

"What was the last thing you touched child?"

Penelope thought for a second and then said, "Oh! The dust! It made my hand glow!" She held up her right hand that was still glowing slightly. "All of the sudden I was here! Or rather up there," she pointed upwards. "Excuse me, but who are you? And how can you talk? You won't eat me will you?" 'Man, I must be hallucinating.' She hated how her voice rang out and shattered the silence.

The lion said simply, "You are sane. I am who I am. I have many names, but perhaps the one you should use is Aslan." He then paced around her, staring outwards at the serene landscape, "I am in need of your help Penelope Weaver. Will you help me?" He stopped in front of her and bent down to look her in the face. It was only then that she realized he was taller than her; the top of her head came to about his shoulder.

She considered, and then said suspiciously, "With what?"

"Daughter of Eve, I asked you; will you help me?" Aslan asked again, no less loud or harsh, but his voice seemed not to mesh as well with the silence and so his voice cracked like a whip across to her. Penelope gazed at the lion, the ground, then the woods, and then at the lion again. He asked her one more time, ""Will you help me child?" But this time his voice was quiet, gentle, and calm. He leaned down and she breathed in the sweet scent that he gave off. Finally, she worked up the courage, and she thought that scent may have had something to do with that, and sighed and shrugged, "Alright, I'll help, although I don't know what I can do." Her voice was quiet and seemed to break the silence less.

The lion smiled at her and while you would not think that a full-toothed animal grin would be encouraging, much les kind and nice - it was. The sight of all those rows of predator's teeth did not make her nervous, in fact it helped her to square her shoulders and get enough courage to look at him. Then he opened his mouth, for a split second she thought he might eat her, but she immediately dismissed the idea. Then he breathed on her.

She would never forget how that breath seemed to make her feel. The warm air seemed to sink to her bones and she reveled in the feeling it brought. The warm and golden feeling sunk into her and she seemed to feel alive for the first time. She let out a pent up breath and grinned at the lion.

Then she looked at her glowing hand again, "Why did touching the dust in the box send me here? And where is here?"

"The dust is dust from this world. But there is no such thing as dust as you know it here. But dust here is from the pure mix of vapors of the world pools. A magician once made the air condense into this form of dust in the box. Since the mix of air up there is pure, every grain of dust has a part of each and every world in it. The dust first collected was pure and untainted. But the dust is not pure as it once was. It has mixed with your dust and is much less pure. If it had been pure you would have come out at the very top of this place, where the air is pure and the vapors of the worlds mingle together. As it is, you came into this land between where the vapors of worlds are pure and mixed together way far above us, and the air that is untainted by any world's vapors down here near the ground."

"Untainted?"

"Yes, the air you are breathing now, is untainted of any world, either of the pollution from your world or of the goodness from others. It is pure, innocent, and untainted."

"But why is my hand glowing?"

"Each world is special. When all the worlds are put together in such a form, they glow and thrum."

"That is why my hand is glowing and tingling? Because the glowing and thrumming dust is on my hand?"

"Yes."

"How can I get rid of it? It won't come off?" she rubbed her hands together to show him.

The lion let loose a rumbling laugh. "Yes, it will not come off that way. Let me help you." He leaned his head near the ground and opened his mouth. Two large shining drops of saliva fell to the dirt and formed a small patch of mud. "Rub your hands in the mud and together."

Penelope paused incisively but bent down and did as she was told. She dug her fingers into the mud and wriggled them around. Then she rubbed her hands together spreading the little bit of mud all over her hands. When she straightened up, she started to brush her hands off on her already dirty t-shirt and jeans, but Aslan stopped her, "Stop, clean your hands in my mane."

"But you'll get dirty! And you're so beautiful!" Penelope regretted the saying of the word, she sounded like a three-year-old. But the word was appropriate here, he did. He was radiant, glowing, strong, lithe, and powerful in a hidden sort of way. She did not want to take the word back, but she wished there was a better way to describe him.

Aslan stared at her so hard she thought he could penetrate into her mind and read her thoughts, "Thank you daughter of Eve." Penelope still protested but at his growl did so. When she pulled her hands away, both of them were glowing now. But it wasn't the splotchy glow like before; now both of her hands were glowing, front and back. She stared at her hands and then looked up into the warm, golden eyes of Aslan.

"Um, excuse me, but that didn't make the glow go away." The Lion get forth a soft growl that sounded like his version of a laugh, "Of course not daughter! You will have need of those glowing hands before the end!" Suddenly he bounded out of the hole. She realized that his mane was not at all in the least bit dirty by her rubbing her dirty hands off in his mane. But her hands looked cleaner than if she had been washing them all day.

The teenager stared after the animal for a second before sighing and mumbling under her breath about loony people following talking animals while climbing out after him. She failed to see Aslan turn and give her what almost appeared to be a wry look.

Once she was out she walked to where he stood by a tree near the hole they had come out of. She could see farther now; not that there was much of a difference. The pools of water were still broken occasionally by an empty hole, some deeper than others. The trees lay interspersed between the pools of water. The trees looked extremely well kept and trimmed. The leaves kissed at parts, but no more than that, the branches did not touch at all or even come close. She wondered if there was some gardener wandering around trimming the trees or if the trees grew that way.

"Daughter of Eve, look here." He tapped the tree with his paw. Penelope looked at the tree. She tried to figure out what the tree was, but her knowledge of trees was severely limited and she was not sure what it was at all. But she was sure she had never seen one like it before.

"This tree is attached to that empty pool we just came out of. Look at the top of the tree child, see how there are more leaves on this tree than the trees with pools around us? When a world dies, the worlds' tree absorbs the water in the pool and the leaves of the tree grow bigger, brighter, and more abundant than the other ones."

"Almost like the dust, where it becomes bright and thrumming?"

The lion looked at her intently, "Yes child, exactly like that."

"I can't hear the thrumming, is it because we're to far down? Or do you have to touch the tree to hear it?" Penelope leaned forward and touched the trunk. Suddenly, overlaid on top of her view of the woods was a view of a different place.

It looked to be inside a castle and many Lords and Ladies were dining at the table. They were drinking and eating merrily. The laughter and happiness in the party of people was evident. She could not hear or touch them, but she could see their richly, adorned ghostly appearances. She gasped and jerked backwards.

She was back in the still woods and the bright golden glow that was the lion was right beside her still. She gulped in air and turned to Aslan, "What was that!" She gasped, her hand clenched at air to support her. As soon as her roving hand neared the tree and she veered away from it. Suddenly the lion was beneath her arm and she leaned on him.

"The glow in your hands allows you to pass between the worlds, not only into and from the pools but also to and from the tree worlds." The lion looked at her almost worriedly, "Now it is time for you to go back to your own world. You are not quite ready to help me yet. But you will be, you will be."

Suddenly he turned and she was engulfed in those large gold eyes of his, just as her arms were in his thick mane. Next thing she knew she was on her hands and knees on the attic floor. A cloud of dust engulfed her and she realized she must have set off a bunch when she fell to the dusty floor. The dust cleared and she was the box of dust in front of her. It was closed and lay upright on the floor, unharmed.

The chaotic thoughts roiling in her mind were suddenly interrupted by her mom's anxious voice. "Penny? You alright?" but Penelope could not answer the worried call. She was staring at what looked like a large lion peeking out from behind a flower with large petals. He looked strongly like Aslan.

Next thing she heard pounding feet on the attic ladder steps and a head popped up into the opening. A british accent cut through the rest of her roiling mind, " 'ello?"

She tore her eyes from the box and turned to look at a boy she had never seen before with shaggy dark brown hair. He shook his head and the hair flew out of his purple eyes. The two stared at each other, both at a lost of what to say. Abruptly the boy leaped into the attic and helped her to her feet. "You all right miss? You're not hurt are you?" he asked. Penelope noticed that he was a native here right away, the way he spoke gave it away. And she was sure hers would as well as soon as she spoke, and it did.

"I'm fine-" Penelope started to say, but she broke off and swooped the box up into her arms, "I am perfectly well thank you, now could you please-" Penelope started to ask him to go back from wherever it was that he had come from, but stopped when she saw something moving on the box out of the corner of her eye. The lion was growling and roaring at her.

"-tell me your name." Penelope recovered, and squashed the box to her chest as to not look at the angry face again.

The boy grinned and swept off his gray cap. "I'm Derek! I live just down the road aways. I came ta ask ya if you needed any help cleanin' or movin' things here. I know this place has been lyin' empty for years collecting dust." He looked around and grinned, "Apparently, I was right."

Penelope looked the boy over; he seemed to be about her age, 16. Besides the gray cap he wore a plain, heavy-duty but worn cream-colored shirt and brown pants. His brown shoes were obviously well worn in. But she really liked his grin; it was full of life and happiness. He was constantly shaking his head to get the hair out of his eyes. Although the cap kept back most of his shaggy, dark brown hair, locks kept falling into his strange eyes.

He grinned when he realized she was gazing at his eyes, "Me mum says I have the only purple eyes in the world, tho' I doubt it." he grinned again. Penelope found herself speaking without thinking about it first, "I'm an artist, and I haven't seen many eyes like that. They're very interesting. By the way, my name is Penelope."

"Hi and thanks! Don't mind if I call you Pen do ya?" Before she could answer, Derek said, "Great! Oh! Your mum will be wonderin' if you're dead or not. We better be gettin' down there." She held out her hand to him and he gripped it and shook it firmly, if a bit too vigorously. But everything about him seemed to be enthusiastic. He seemed like the type of person that would fall down, get up and laugh about it.

"Um, ok." And the two headed down. As Penelope waited at the top for Derek to get low enough down the ladder that she could start down she looked at the box. She saw Aslan smile in Derek's direction. When she glanced back at the box from Derek, she could not see the lion anywhere.

'Was that all a big dream? Or did that really happen?'

"Come on Pen!" Derek called up. She looked down and saw he was at the bottom of the stairs.

'Well, here goes nothing.' And she started down the ladder one arm wrapped protectively around the wooden box.

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Well, that's the end of chapter 2! The chapter is a bit long, sorry, but I wanted to fit a lot in here. If you think any of this is weird please tell me. I am a bit worried that Aslan may be OOC, any thoughts? What do you think of Derek? All books of Narnia have a daughter of Eve and a Son of Adam so I wasn't about to change that! But review and tell me what you think! Any thoughts would be great!

I have absolutely no idea where to go now, so you may end up waiting a bit before you get chap 3, whatever it is. Any ideas would be great! You can either review and tell me or e-mail me. I've got some basic ideas but nothing too solid, so... yeh. We'll find out where this goes together. Also any ideas you have for plots or twists and turns you think should be thrown in or characters liked and not liked, tell me! You can either tell me in a review or in a e-mail: I only have the ending somewhat-fuzzily figured out, and other than that I don't know. I don't know if old friends will be popping up or new ones instead or both or what! But any thoughts would be great! Thanks!

I am trying to figure out the right amount of descriptions to put in and yet not babble on. I think I may be going too fast. Tell me if you think I am going fast or slow or too much or too little descriptions please! Any help you can offer on my writing skills is greatly appreciated that is mainly why I am on I am certainly NOT going to be a writer, there are many other faboulous writers out there and I am not one!

OH! Explaining the dust a bit more: Uncle Andrew had to get the dust into usable forms that were reliable to get to the Wood between the Worlds. I'm viewing the rings as the yellow were the mixed air from above the world between – because the yellow got you into the world between. But the green is the untainted air that wants to mix, and so it pulls people into the worlds themselves. But Pen doesn't have the rings, so when she touched dust that was both pure and mixed, that's how she got lost inbetween worlds and Aslan had to come rescue her. That doesn't quite make sense, but then again, there are always mysteries of life we don't quite understand! (lol yes I'm a slacker...)

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Thanks/Responses to Reviews:

kylie606- Thanks! Thanks for your thoughts on the descriptions. I agree, I wish there was more. I hope the plot is interesting too! ;) I really haven't thought much on future chapters; I have an end goal, after and before that, who knows! >shrugs thanks for the well-written comment, it really helps.

I think you should do resident of Narnia during the Golden Age (The High Kings and Queens time - Peter and the rest) that would be a cool story! I would definitely read and review it! But then again, I am partial to those stories!

Kitty- Thanks! Thanks for the compliment. It really helps since I don't believe I am. When I am able to get goose bumps to rise on someone's arm then I will be a good writer. I was really feeling down today and that really cheered me up!

SilverFoam – Thanks for the tip! I went through and fixed that, hope I caught everything! Thanks for the compliment!

lilmissmcgarity – hmmm.. interesting thoughts... you actually reminded of this other plot bunny I had for Narnia that I may try to incorporate into this.

Techy El Nerd – thanks for noticing that! I must've missed that... Right now, it's too hard to try and go back and change things I've based a bit too much on the house, someday I may go back and revamp it though.

Holly – I'm sorry but she won't enter the world between by the pools. The whole situation with Pen is different than all the others. THE point is that Aslan needs help, but the kids can't come the same way the others did, by the rings, or the wardrobe, or by Aslan himself – but something different. So, we'll see where it goes.

Niffum – thanks! I'm glad it sounds good!

Forge – Wow... thank you so much for that compliment! I went through and change it so it probably doesn't seem quite the same, but thank you so much!

Hope you liked the story, again, (you must have if your reading this).

Kit ;)

REVIEW PELASE!

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