Thank you to all of my reviewers! You all are awesome!
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Ali sat up, blinking her eyes against the dazzling evening light streaming in through the window. She looked around herself in awe. This certainly wasn't her room. The last time she checked, she didn't have a four poster bed draped in red silk or have an enormous wardrobe, or her own bathroom. She got up out of the enormous bed and sank down in the crimson plush rug.
"I definitely didn't have this rug at home. Or those curtains. Or that bureau. Heck, my room wasn't even shaped like this. And why am I wearing a dress? What kind of a dream is this, anyway?"
She wandered around the strange room and pinched herself a few times, attempting to wake herself up, but apparently she was already awake.
There was a knock on her door and she said "Come in" absentmindedly.
"How do you like your room?"
Ali turned around and saw Edmund standing in the doorway. She suddenly remembered everything that had happened and started stuttering. "A—oh. Erm, very nice, th-thank you. I, um, I'm sorry about before. Being so rude and all. I'm not very good with strangers, you see, and I'm very nervous around them and I really didn't know you were a King, otherwise I probably would have been more polite, but finding myself in wherever I am disoriented me a bit and—" She suddenly stopped, embarrassed, realizing that she had been rambling, which she always did when she was nervous.
"It's quite all right—I understand. It was a bit of a shock to find myself in Narnia too, but you do get used to it. It really is a lovely place."
There was a silence, which Ali found extremely uncomfortable. Finally, she said, "Did you want to, um, tell me something?"
"Oh, yes. My sister Susan will be in soon. She wanted to meet you. Peter had business to attend to and Lucy is out riding."
"Didn't that…horse thing say something about a hunt? Shouldn't you be on that right now?"
"The hunt? For the White Stag?" Ali nodded and Edmund frowned. "That was two days ago."
"Two days!" Ali shrieked, causing Edmund to wince. "I've been out for two days?"
Edmund merely nodded.
"Ugh! I've never slept for more than ten hours straight! Impossible! I could have been doing something resourceful. Oh, sh—Uh, I mean, oh shoot!" She kicked herself for nearly cussing in front of a King.
"Well, I'll leave you then. Susan should be here soon, and then you can join us for dinner later.
"But first, I don't believe I caught your name."
"Alexis. Alexis Scottson. But you can call me Ali."
He smiled. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Ali. Hopefully I will see you at dinner later."
He bowed and Ali returned it with an extremely clumsy curtsy which caused her to blush. Edmund merely grinned and left.
"Oh! Crud! Curses! What an idiot!" Ali mentally buffeted herself for making such a fool out of herself. First insulting a King and his talking horse, then passing out and then nearly falling over while trying to be polite and courteous.
"Hang it all," she grumbled as she collapsed back on the bed. "What am I doing here? And where is here anyway? This must be a dream. A dream is all it is. I really just fell asleep in the tub and this is all a dream. Or…did I really die? Can dead people pass out? Oh, this definitely isn't normal."
She closed her eyes, feeling a bit overwhelmed. Perhaps she wasn't dead and she really was in…Narnia. But how could that be possible? She had always loved fantasy and mystical lands, but now that she was in one, she was a bit frightened. And how on earth did she get here?
Ali heard the door open and she opened one eye. A girl a few years older than her stood in the doorway, looking at Ali curiously. She had long dark brown hair that reached her waist and deep brown eyes. She was extremely pretty, and made Ali feel even plainer than she already was.
She sat up and, noticing the golden circlet on the girl's forehead, immediately stood up.
"Your Majesty," she said, curtsying in the same clumsy manner as she did earlier.
"Please," the queen said, laughing, but not unkindly. "You may call me Susan. And who are you? I don't really think it would be polite to call you by some random name."
"Oh, my name's Alexis Scottson. You can just call me Ali though."
"Well then Ali, you have already met Ed, of course, and I apologize that Lucy and Peter aren't here to greet you, but they both are busy."
"Oh, that's alright. I was just hoping that I wasn't too much of a burden, staying here and all. But do you happen to know how I, uh, got here?"
Susan looked at Ali questioningly. "You don't know?"
Ali shook her head. "No. One minute I was in my bathroom with my parents yelling at each other downstairs, and the next thing I know, I'm being hauled out of a lake in who-knows-where."
"How odd…how very, very odd. Well, I suppose only Aslan can tell you how you got here, but Ed said he thought you were an Archenlander who had gotten lost. He thought you were drowning."
"Well, even if I was an Archen-person, I wouldn't have drowned. I know how to swim." She realized a second too late how snappish she had sounded, and immediately switched the subject. "Anyway, who is this Aslan person? Your brother mentioned him a bit, but he didn't say much."
Susan walked over to the wardrobe and threw open the doors. "First off, we'd better find you something to wear to dinner later. You aren't going in a nightgown." She sifted through the hanging dresses as she began talking.
"Aslan is the creator of Narnia, which is where you are now (specifically Cair Paravel). He created it about a thousand years ago, and only a few years ago, my siblings and I defeated the White Witch. She had put Narnia under a hundred year winter. He's really the King of Narnia, and he comes around very rarely. In fact, I've only seen him once since our Coronation. And—"
"Look," said Ali. "I'm very sorry to cut you off, but is he…human? I've seen talking horses and half-man, half-horse things and now I'm not sure what to expect."
Susan raised her eyebrow. "Human? Never! He's a lion, of course."
Ali coughed. "What? A lion? Does—does he talk too?"
Susan pulled a few dresses out of the wardrobe. "Of course he does. What kind of ruler doesn't talk at all? It would be a funny way of ruling a land if you couldn't talk. Now, go try these on. Hurry now, dinner will be soon." The Queen pushed her towards the bathroom and shut the door behind her.
Ali sighed and looked at the dresses distastefully. "Dresses," she grumbled. "There's no escaping them. No matter where I go, there'll always be these cursed dresses…"
At once she bypassed two of the four, both of them being pink (the only color she despised) and looked doubtfully at the third one. She highly doubted yellow was "her color", and it was too elaborate anyway. She put on the last dress, a simple dark green one that fit her nicely and as she exited the bathroom, Susan looked at her, extremely pleased.
"Perfect. I thought that color would look best on you. Now come on, it should be time for supper already."
Susan took Ali's hand and led her down the mazes of hallways and stairs until they came to a pair of massive oak doors.
"Now," Susan said, "this is our Dining Hall, where we, obviously, eat meals every day. I can give you a full tour later."
Susan pushed the doors open and Ali nearly tripped as she walked into the magnificent Hall. The marble floor gleamed in the evening light that cascaded in through many stained-glass windows and the ceiling rose high above the two. Pillars of marble stood at frequent intervals around the room, and there was a large table in the center of the room. Ornate carvings adorned the ceiling and pillars and Ali was totally blown away by the room.
She stood there for a minute, staring up with her mouth gaping and widened eyes, taking it all in. Only did she come to her senses when someone cleared their throat near her. She looked around in confusion then uttered a shocked "Oh!" when she realized that along with Susan, Edmund and two other people were in the room. She blushed madly and muttered hurried apologies, but Susan cut her off.
"No need to apologize, Ali. Many people are the same way when they come. Obviously, you know Edmund. I'd like you to meet my sister, Queen Lucy—" A girl of aboutthirteen smiled warmly at Ali, "And my brother, the High King Peter." A young man of eighteen also smiled.
"Welcome to Cair Paravel," the High King said. "My brother has told me about what happened the other day. I do hope you will stay here for a while."
"Umm…" Ali looked at Susan. It's not like she would really have a choice, anyway. If she didn't know how she got to Narnia, how would she be able to find her way out? "Sure…" she said timidly, and it came out more like a question than a statement.
The four siblings sat down at their appointed seats and invited Ali to sit on Lucy's left side. She couldn't help feeling slightly uncomfortable as the family passed around trays and bowls of food. She had barged into some random country and was now staying in a royal castle with four Kings and Queens.
What have I gotten myself into?
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That chapter may have seemed a bit pointless. Sorry! I'm working on trying to make it more interesting.Perhaps I'll have a ball for Lucy's fourteenth birthday or something.I'll probably be getting into the main plot in the next chapter or two.