Warning: In this chapter, we see a bit of a darker view of the Telmarine Age of Narnia. There are strong references to past abuse and trauma.

Chapter 3

"Would you like some more?" Susan asked. "There's plenty of it."

"Oh, no thank you. I'm fine now. It…" Lena paused as she looked over to where Meri and Sara were playing with a couple of Narnians. "It's just been a while since I've been able to eat like this."

"Oh? Were you in the forest long before Peter found you?"

"No, not very." Lena had to force herself to focus on her conversation with Susan and Peter. "I don't know. I was never good at tracking time like that. Ed tried to teach me, but I never had the mind for it. Meri did, however."

Lena's attention drifted back to her daughters. They were playing with what appeared to be younger versions of the goat-like creatures she saw in the forest. "I'm sorry, but what…what are those things exactly?"

"Things?" Susan asked.

"Those…creatures…playing with my daughters. What are they?" There was a rumbling of low growls issuing from the Cheetah and a large Lynx standing behind Peter and Susan.

"Peace, Jagar," Peter said. "Remember, she is not from here. They are Faunlings, my Lady." Lena's back stiffened; Peter noticed but continued as though he hadn't. "Their parents assist around the castle in various means. One of them helped prepare your meal today, along with a Dwarfess and two Dryads."

Lena looked down at her empty plate where not even a crumb was left. For half a second, she felt sick to her stomach and she tried to recall every good thing she had heard about Narnians; her recollection was short, as she never cared for Cuore's Narnian tales. Peter and Susan grew quiet. Lena looked over to see them sharing a look.

"And are…are they safe?" she asked. There was more growling.

"I'm not entirely sure I like what you are implying with that question," Peter said pointedly.

"I think I would agree with you, Brother," Susan added.

Lena closed her eyes and tried to calm her temper. "My apologies if I have offended, it's just that…Fauns are…" unnatural, she wanted to say but restrained herself at the last minute "…not in the world we came from."

There was a slight pause before Peter said, "I assure you, you and your daughters are quite safe in the presence of any Narnian here."

"Peter…the Peter I know," Lena corrected, "has never lied to me before. If you say they are safe, then I will believe you."

Peter nodded. "They are safe," he repeated. Lena let out a slow exhale. The Cheetah and Lynx resumed a slightly less aggressive stance.

"So, you call him Ed then?" Susan asked, trying to change the subject. "Our Brother, you call him Ed?

"Mostly, yes, in public at least. Why?" Lena asked.

"That's usually a name—"

"—he reserves for family," they finished together. "He prefers it to Little King," Lena continued.

Peter laughed quite unexpectedly. "Yes, I imagine he would."

"The two of you have a similar laugh, did you know? When he's rapturously happy, he laughs like that."

"Is he rapturously happy often?" Susan asked.

"Oh yes, especially when he's with them." Lena nodded to her daughters. "He adores them and they him. They're always off on one of their adventures; be it the wild moors of the north or a grand vessel on the open seas."

"And where do you fit in on these adventures?" Peter asked.

"I've had my fill of adventure; I mostly sit them out, but together the three of them can be quite…persuasive."

1957, Isle of Wight

"Vieni, Mamma! Giochiamo!" Meri called.

Lena looked up from her book and down the beach to where Meri and Sara were playing at the water's edge with their Babbo. They were all flagging her down.

"Jo'camo! Jo'camo!" Sara shouted.

"Mi Amore! Vieni!" Cuore called.

He shouted a few more love-sick phrases and something about needing to rescue a pirate princess from the sea serpent. Really, the boy didn't know the meaning of quit. Lena slid her bookmark into place and made her way down.

"So, what am I? The princess or the sea serpent?" she asked.

"Mamma! We the princesses!" Sara giggled.

Cuore looked at her and shrugged. "If it's any consolation, you're a very pretty sea serpent."

"Oh, I'm the prettiest," she replied with a sly grin.

They played for quite some time, splashing in the water and skipping lunch. Their adventure ended not with the death of the serpent but with her transformation into a beautiful princess who fell in love with the Pirate King. After which, the girls ran up to their blanket for their sandwiches. Cuore kept Lena at the water's edge, his arms wrapped around her waist.

"Ti amo, luce mia," he whispered.

"E ti amo, Cuore."

They shared a brief moment together before Lena pulled away to join the girls; he was insatiably relentless sometimes. Lena looked over her shoulder at him as she walked; she could never get enough of his smile. His love, his hope, and his joy fading into fear were the last things she saw before the world spun around her.

"Ileana? Ileana!"

Narnia

"Ileana?" Peter repeated her name, drawing Lena's attention back into the present.

"Are you all right? You went somewhere else for a moment," Susan said.

"Yes, sorry. I…I was just recalling our last trip to the beach," Lena replied. Her eyes became moist as she recalled the last look she ever saw in Cuore's eyes: sadness enough to crush a man's spirit. Lena dabbed at her tears with her napkin. Meri seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to Lena's emotions, especially as of late; she looked over at Lena with a question in her eyes.

"Sto bene, Topa," Lena tried to assure her. "Continuare."

"What language is that?" Susan asked.

"It's familiar, right?" Peter said. "I can't figure it out, but I believe it's from that other place."

"Is it Latin?"

Lena smiled softly; she and Susan often mixed their languages in conversations to make it harder for others to follow.

"Latin isn't used as its own language anymore, except among some elite who like to showcase their abilities. However, it is the foundation—"

"—foundation for many of the modern languages used today," Susan finished in a faraway voice as though remembering something from long ago.

"So, if not Latin then what is it?" Peter asked.

Lena hesitated for a moment. How much did she delve into now? "Italian is the closest thing that world had to my native tongue, so I took it as my own. I can speak others too; French, Spanish, a bit of German and Russian."

"What is your native tongue?" Susan asked.

Lena paused a little longer before answering, "Telmarine."

"You're…you're a Telmarine… from Telmar?" Peter asked, surprised and perhaps a bit wary.

"But how did you get to that other place?" Susan asked.

Lena shook her head. "No. Not here." That was something she wouldn't get into now. "Meri knows many of Babbo's tales from Narnia, but I have a few of my own that she does not know about, nor shall she. There are some dark cruelties of this world that she is too young for."

XXX

Peter looked over at Susan while Lena poured herself another glass of ale. They had moved to a more private setting after their lunch on the terrace, while Meri and Sara were being shown around the castle and its grounds. Peter was weary from his journey and thought they could wait a day or two, or at least a few hours, to hear Lena's story, but Susan insisted on doing it now. It wouldn't do any good though if Lena was too drunk to tell her story.

"Perhaps we should tame our consumption; overindulgence will benefit none," Susan wisely suggested.

Lena scoffed. "For this tale of woe, consumption is a necessity." She took a hearty sip from her cup. "Mmm, I am unfamiliar with this drink; is it Doornish Ale?"

"No. It was made locally by some Dwarves," Peter replied.

"Oh." She looked at the cup curiously before setting it down. Then she glanced warily to the wall behind Peter and Susan where their guard stood watch. Peter thought her reaction a bit unsettling. It was clear she was uncomfortable around Narnians and Narnian made things.

"Do…do they have to be here?" she asked.

Peter looked at Susan.

"Yes," Susan replied gently. "You may claim to know us, Ileana, but we cannot say the same about you. Try to see it from our perspective. Would you leave your daughters in a room alone with someone you did not know without any sort of protection?"

Lena watched the Narnians for a bit more before nodding. "Point taken, Susan." Then she sat back in her chair. "So, shall I start at the beginning then? I am Ileana Maria Pevensie formerly Bellariu of the house Labugia," she began with a deep breath. "And I was born in Bridgetowne."

"Where is Bridgetowne?" Susan asked. "Somewhere in Telmar?"

"Not quite," Lena replied. "It's in New Telmar, better known as Narnia in my day."

"There is no such land hold in Narnia," Peter said firmly. He did not like the sound of Narnia being referred to as New Telmar.

"Not yet," Lena replied. "But there will be. See, I was born in the year 2287, almost thirteen hundred years from now."

"That's not possible," Susan said logically. She and Peter were in agreement on that.

"It would seem, that in Narnia the impossible is possible," Lena said. She eyed the discarded cup of ale and decided to go against her reservations as she picked it up and took another long sip.

"I understand this tale may be…difficult to hear, but I assure you it is no better to have lived it," she said. Then she took a deep breath before continuing.

"In Telmarine society, a woman's worth is measured by how many sons she gives her husband. I was my mother's first failed attempt; by her third…she was Mother no more. They told me it was an accident, but I'm not sure I believed them. I was my father's only living child and he had no use for a daughter. So, he sent me to Padrona Labugia, where the other unwanted daughters were sent.

"At the House of Labugia, young girls were…trained, polished and poised, wrapped in pretty packages. Every few months or so, men came by and selected from among the…blossomed girls. But a man didn't go to Labugia to select a wife; he selected his mistress."

She took a drink.

"I was chosen by some small Lord. He held no great power, but he had a place at the castle and he had friends who liked to make occasioni, or…bargains, trades. They'd give him money, land, favors, and in return, they'd get a night with me, sometimes longer depending on the value of the occasioni. And a small Lord with no great power soon had great power."

She took another drink.

"That's terrible," Susan said. "Your father let this Lord do that to you?"

"My father never cared. When he sent me to Labugia, he took home a mistress of his own. I'd heard later that he'd had the son he always wanted so he made his mistress his wife and took a new mistress. Telmarine men can be very…crude."

"To say the least. Our dealings with them have been unpleasant, but I never imagined they could be that unpleasant," Peter said. "Please, continue your story."

"Our King was dead and so was his Queen. The Prince was too young to ascend, so we were governed by his uncle, The Lord Protector. When his wife was with child he sought a new mistress; god forbid he actually sleep with his own wife again. He'd heard of my…skills—I was very favorable among the Lords of the castle—and my small Lord was happy to accommodate the Lord Protector. But when my small Lord sought an occasioni too high in return, well…he was lord no more and I was free for the taking.

"Being a mistress to the Lord Protector did afford me some small privileges. I was reserved for his use alone and untouchable by all others. Even his wife could not touch me. Now, his child with her did not take; so, he went back to her and did his Lordly duty, but I was the one who kept his bed warm at night, even after he usurped the throne from his nephew and became King."

Lena finished off the last of her ale. Then she looked over at Peter and Susan; they looked a little pale she thought. So, she poured them each a glass of ale, as well as another one for herself, and they all drank in the silence together.

"How…how old were you when this happened?" Peter was the first to regain his voice.

"I was fourteen when I left the House of Labugia and nearly seventeen by the end of it."

"How could something like this have happened here?" Susan asked. "We would not permit this."

"And how could you have stopped it? It happens thirteen hundred years from now. You and Yours are gone. Even we Telmarines had been ruling for a few hundred years before I was born. And it…it was a very different sort of Narnia. There were fewer… Fauns and Centaurs, hardly any talking Beasts anymore. And the tales that were told of them, dreadful things."

"Tales?"

"Young children were told of monstrous creatures, some who were half-man-half-beast, who…" She sighed deeply. "Who used to roam the land freely. They were said to have lived deep in the forests with the ghosts, but every once and a while, when a child misbehaved, they would come out of hiding. They would steal the child from their beds at night and take them into the forest where they would roast them in stews, pick their teeth with their bones, and wear…"

"I've heard enough," Peter said with finality. There was growling from behind him; he waved down the Cats.

"That explains your aversion to the Narnians then," Susan said, a bit of understanding in her voice.

"I try to fight it, but it is difficult," Lena said eyeing the Narnians in the corner with unease.

"How did you escape this Lord Protector? How did you come to leave Narnia?" Peter asked.

"Escape? I've never escaped him. Mi Tesera, my treasure, that's what he called me. I was his and his alone. One day, the young Prince rebelled against his uncle. He rallied what was left of the Narnians; there was a great battle.

"Miraz, the Lord Protector, he…he liked putting me on display so he took me to the war camp with his army. While he was off fighting, I ran from my guard; men cannot run as well with their pants around their ankles. It was stupid, I know. If I had been caught, the things they would have done to me, I… But I no longer cared. At that point, death would have been better than life. But, I wasn't caught, not by any Telmarine at least."

"What did happen?" Susan asked gently.

"It's strange, even thinking back on it now I can scarcely remember it." Lena's gaze grew distant and her voice took on a lighter air as she remembered that day. "I must have imagined it, surely, but I…I thought I saw this lion, but he… He wasn't a normal lion. I can't explain how I knew, it was just a feeling I had if that makes any sense."

"It makes a good deal of sense to us," Peter replied. "It could only have been Aslan you saw."

"Aslan." Lena repeated softly. "I've heard Ed use that name before. He's your…your God, I suppose is the best word to use."

"He is…the True King of Narnia, above all others, myself included. He created this world we live in. He is life. He is hope. He is joy."

"He is a lion?"

"But He is no normal Lion."

"Ed never mentioned that bit of information."

"Are you surprised that a land of Talking Beasts should be ruled by a Talking Beast?" Peter asked.

"I… I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by anything anymore, and yet the great wonders of the world often do."

"What happened next? After you saw Aslan in the woods, what happened? Did he speak to you?" Susan asked curiously.

"Speak? No, I…I just looked at Him and He looked at me. Then I was in this whole other place, on a beach with smells and sounds that were foreign to me and Caterina was there."

"Caterina?"

"She's my…" Lena paused for a second. Just how did she describe Caterina to them? "She became someone very near and dear to me. She became my friend. She took me in, gave me shelter and food, and perhaps best of all a bed of my own. Our languages were similar enough that I could adapt hers as my own. Caterina knew the sort of cruelties I was running from, and when Meri came along, she knew just what to do."

"So, wait, Meri isn't Edmund's? I thought he was her father."

"Meri…Meri was given to me by Miraz. I didn't know I was pregnant until I was already with Caterina in the other place, but Ed is her Babbo and he has never treated her any differently than he's treated Sara who is his by blood."

"What you faced in this…future Narnia, well, there aren't words to describe how vile and repulsive it is to Us, and you have Our deepest sympathies," Peter said. "But your story of Edmund doesn't add up. How can you meet him in that other place if he is here?"

"Because we… we go back," Susan said softly before Lena could even begin to consider how to reply. "Peter, I believe her." The Queen Susan stood with Royal authority. "Baja, Jagar, did you sense any dishonesty from Ileana?" Susan asked.

The great cats looked at Lena and studied her carefully. "Fear, discomfort yes, but honest as well, my Queen," the Lynx replied.

Peter turned to look at the Cheetah. "She speaks truthfully," Jagar said.

"Thank you," Susan said. "Now, please, leave us. Set a perimeter; we are not to be disturbed, and you are sworn to keep what you may hear to yourself."

She waited a moment for the Narnians to leave. Then she turned back to Peter. "As I said, Brother, I believe her. And I think now we have the meaning behind my dreams." Susan looked back at Lena. "Our Brother and Sister do not know this, Ileana, but about a month ago I began to have a reoccurring dream of a different life when I was younger. I am never any older than Meri is now, but they all seem to occur in the other place."

She turned back to Peter. "I think it is time to face the truth, Peter. Our time here is coming to an end. Ileana's arrival, her life, and her daughter's lives are proof of another life we live away from Narnia. We must begin making preparations, a contingency plan to protect and care for what is Ours in Our absence."

They both looked at Lena then, and she had the unsettling feeling that she was disrupting their delicate sense of peace.

*Translations

Vieni, Mamma! Giochiamo: Come, Mamma, let's play

Ti amo, luce mia: I love you, my light (light of mine)

E ti amo, Cuore: And I love you, (my) Heart

Sto bene, Topa… Continuare: I'm fine, Topa…continue