Chapter 8 – The Meeting
Disclaimer: Right now there are so many things in front of me on my desk that I could say I own… Wow, I really need to clean off my desk!
Author's Note: Finally, it's here… I know that it's been forever since I've updated, but don't hate me, people… Because I love you! Especially if you review!
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Narnia – March, Year 1008
-During the time in which Peter was 21, Susan was 20, Edmund was 18, and Lucy was 16.
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Yeilya took her time scampering down the path to Cair Paravel. It was very early spring, and quite chilly out, and she didn't want to catch cold. There was still about a mile to go until she reached the castle.
Yeilya the Rabbit had been chosen out of all the Talking Beasts in her community to be a representative present in today's meeting at Cair. The meeting was one that was called by High King Peter and his royal brother and sisters at the beginning of spring each year to discuss how the various Narnian communities were doing, if any new laws or rules needed to be set down, so on and so forth. It was a high honor to be chosen to attend.
Darting along the path towards the castle, Yeilya thought of how exciting it would be to meet the Kings and Queens of Narnia. She had never seen the monarchs in person, except for at a very, very far distance, and just to be in the same castle as them was thrilling. They sounded like such very wonderful people.
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The only Talking Beast that Yeilya knew that had ever met the monarchs was old Mr. Beaver and his wife, who had been good friends with Yeilya's mother even as long ago as during the Long Winter, before the four children had even entered Narnia. The previous night, before Yeilya had left for Cair Paravel, she had spoken with Mr. Beaver, so that maybe she would know what to expect when she got to the castle. She knew that he ventured there frequently and that he was on quite high terms with the Kings and Queens, and so maybe he would have some advice that would help her from making a fool of herself while she was there.
"Tell me about them, Mr. Beaver," she had asked.
"Yeilya, you've heard this story countless times," the old Beaver had replied, but with a smile on his face all the same.
"Oh, but Mr. Beaver, I never tire of it!" And it was true. Yeilya had heard the story of how Mr. Beaver and his wife had brought the four children to Aslan's Camp so many times, but she always loved to hear it again.
"Alright, then…" Mr. Beaver said, taking off his glasses. Yeilya settled in for a long story.
"Well, this story takes place many, many years ago, back when you were only a young bunny, so you may not remember..."
"Mr. Beaver, it was only eight years ago."
"Ah, yes, that's right… Well, it seems like a much longer time to my old bones. I was a young Beaver then, you know."
"I know, Mr. Beaver," said Yeilya with a smile.
"Now, let me continue. A long, long, time ago — er, well, eight years ago — in a land far, far away—"
"It was only as far as Lantern Waste, dear," Mrs. Beaver piped in from the corner where she was doing her sewing. "That's only a few miles."
With a sigh, Mr. Beaver said, "How many times are you ladies going to make me repeat the beginning of this story?" After a moment, he began again. "Eight years ago, a few miles away in Lantern Waste, a young human girl entered Narnia from a mysterious land called Spare Oom…"
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Yeilya paused in front of the castle when she arrived. Oh, how excited she was! As she stood there on her hind legs, taking in the marvelous sight of the castle of Cair Paravel, all the glorious stories she had ever heard about the Kings and Queens of Narnia rushed through her head.
Yeilya had been quite young when the four children were crowned as the monarchs of Narnia, and she had grown up hearing all about them. Now the day had come when she was finally going to be in close proximity with them, in an actual meeting with the Kings and Queens of Narnia! Her little tail shivering with excitement, Yeilya scampered through the huge doors into the castle.
She was directed into a large, very formal room with a long table and many chairs set up in the middle of the room. At the front of the room were four ornate chairs set higher than the rest. Yeilya figured that this is where the monarchs would sit when they arrived.
She was right on time; everyone else was just starting to arrive. She took the seat at the long table that the Centaur that led her to the room gestured to and waited for the arrival of Kings Peter and Edmund and Queens Susan and Lucy.
As more and more Talking Beasts, dwarves, satyrs, fauns, Centaurs, and even several humans entered the room, the excited chatter got louder and louder. However, Yeilya didn't participate in any of the conversation. She was too excited to talk!
Sitting quietly in her chair, waiting for the monarchs to arrive, she thought about all the stories she had ever heard about King Peter, Queen Susan, King Edmund, and Queen Lucy. She allowed her favorite stories of them to play through her mind.
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High King Peter the Magnificent was always told in the stories as a tall, broad-shouldered, very handsome man with a deep voice and a hearty laugh. He was chivalrous and knightly, brave and strong. He always did what was right for the citizens of Narnia, and he had never been known to make a mistake. It was said among the Talking Beasts that King Peter could do no wrong. And while Yeilya had heard many stories of King Peter, her favorite was a tale she had been told about him during the war with Calormen in the second year of his reign.
It was looking bleak for Narnia.
High King Peter's army was far outnumbered by Calormenes, and the Archenlanders were thinking of backing out of the war. Many had been hurt or killed on both sides.
King Peter was in a bind. He knew that Narnia couldn't surrender to Calormen, or they would be deemed as weak and surely would be conquered by the blood-thirsty Calormenes. However, he didn't see how the war could possibly be won.
All of his advisors told him to surrender, despite the consequences. They said that there was no other option, and one more bloody battle would persuade the Archenlanders to pull out of the war and become neutral. After all, it was a rather hard time in the country of Archenland – their King had just died, to be replaced by his son Lune, who was quite young and new to the throne.
But King Peter would not give up. He knew that it was not what the Great Lion would want. He knew that Narnia needed to fight for its freedom.
And so he sent his army out for a surprise attack on Calormen.
The battle was long and fierce, but Narnia's ambush gave them the lead at the beginning. It was said that the battle continued for three days and two nights, and King Peter never stopped to sleep or eat. Instead he continued to sweep through the enemy lines with his sword Rhindon, defending his country with every swipe of his sword.
And this battle, The Battle of Sandstorm Plains, won the war for Narnia, all because of High King Peter the Magnificent's difficult decision and heroic fighting.
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Queen Susan the Gentle was, first and foremost, always described as the most beautiful woman Narnia had ever seen. She had long, dark, spiraling hair that reached to her waist; big, bright blue eyes; rosy pink cheeks; and full, red lips. She was said to wear the most beautiful dresses to ever have been made in Narnia, and she was regal and elegant in everything she did. She had a voice like a bell and was generous and kind.
Yeilya's favorite story about Queen Susan was one from a birthday party that had been celebrating the Queen's seventeenth birthday.
It was February the fourteenth, Valentine's Day.
There was a positively magical celebration transpiring, all for the Queen's birthday.
The celebration was taking place at night, and the ballroom was lit up by candlelight. An orchestra was playing and couples were dancing everywhere, the men in their best tunics and the women in their fanciest dresses.
The life of the party was, of course, Queen Susan. She lit up the room the moment she walked in. And as she blew out the seventeen candles on her birthday cake, paper confetti hearts fell from the ceiling.
Anyone who was lucky enough to be invited said that the party was amazing, but even more amazing than the actual birthday party was the birthday girl – Queen Susan.
It was said that she was so gracious, and so generous, and so considerate, as well as the most beautiful girl there, by far. Every man invited to the party dreamed to dance with her, and she would dance with any man who could get up the courage to ask her, no matter who he was.
The party was the best thing that had happened to Queen Susan in a long time. The past few years had been hard on her, they said, because what with the war, and weeding out any remaining creatures of the Witch's army, and establishing peace and rule into Narnia again – she just couldn't handle all the stress. After all, she was a very gentle woman at heart.
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King Edmund the Just was said to be rather tall and lanky, all though shorter than his older brother. He was dark – he had dark hair, dark eyes, and a much less social personality than any of his siblings. He was a much quieter person, and when everyone spoke of him, they tended to do it in whispers. Because, it was said, there was no other way to speak of the crime that he had committed to Narnia.
Yeilya didn't like the story of King Edmund's betrayal, and at sometimes she wasn't quite sure that she believed it, despite how much she trusted Mr. Beaver. She couldn't believe that the wise, caring, moral person that he was described as now could ever betray his own siblings to the White Witch.
Mr. Beaver said that he had changed completely, and Yeilya hoped that it was true.
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Queen Lucy the Valiant was Yeilya's favorite of the four to hear stories about. She was lively and vivacious, pretty and talented. She was sweet, and kind, and caring, like her elder sister, but it was said that she didn't care so much for fashionable dresses and parties and balls as Queen Susan. She was usually described as a 'little girl,' yet she was still so valiant in all the stories Yeilya had heard about her – her favorite being one that took place during the great battle against the White Witch.
Queen Lucy was just a little girl, but she knew that size was no barrier. Even the littlest creatures could make the biggest differences.
At eight years old, she was ready to fight. She was ready to fight for Narnia, even though she hadn't spent more than a week in the country.
She truly was fit to be a Queen of Narnia.
However, little girls weren't meant to be in wars, and Aslan the Great Lion knew this.
The day after his resurrection from the dead, after the Deep Magic was turned backwards and he rose from the Stone Table, he took Queen Susan and Queen Lucy with him to the White Witch's castle.
And while Queen Lucy was not allowed to fight, she stuck by Aslan and helped him find all of the poor creatures that the Witch had frozen so that they could fight in the war.
But most valiant of all, this little girl helped to heal all of those injured by the White Witch Jadis' army. At just eight years old, she witnessed all the gore of war and she helped to fix it with her magic cordial, the one that was said to be made of diamonds.
And two years later, she was old enough to fight, and she did, and she fought valiantly at that.
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At this point, Yeilya was brought out of her thoughts, to the moment she had been waiting for. In walked the four monarchs and they took their seats on their thrones.
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Immediately, Yeilya could tell that King Peter was everything that all the stories portrayed him to be. Not only was he extremely handsome, but she could tell just by his air that he was a magnificent type of person. She automatically believed all the stories that had been told about him as soon as he started talking, because the way that he treated the Narnian representatives present showed him to be the High King that he was described as. The glorious image that she had always had of King Peter had turned out to be completely correct.
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Queen Susan was just as beautiful, graceful, and poised as she has always been described. She was also just as benevolent and kindhearted as Yeilya had always heard. However, watching Queen Susan and listening to her as she talked to the beings of Narnia that were at the meeting, Yeilya realized that her title of Gentle meant so much more than just that she didn't like violence and that she was a mild person. Gentle took on a whole new meaning when one knew Susan – Gentle summed up all of the compassion, all of the caring, and all of the general kindness that she showed to everyone. While Yeilya had heard Queen Susan's gentleness described before almost as if she was just too softhearted, she now realized that it meant so much more.
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King Edmund was everything that Mr. Beaver had said and that Yeilya had hoped. He was very quiet, but he also seemed exceptionally trustworthy, very fair, and exceedingly considerate.
During the portion of the meeting where new laws were to be established and old ones revised, King Edmund's title seemed to come very much into play. He dealt with recording all of the laws and calmly reasoned with anyone who disagreed with what everyone else had decided was for the good of Narnia.
Yeilya smiled, watching King Edmund portray his title. King Edmund the Just was certainly a fit name for him.
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Queen Lucy, Yeilya discovered, fit into her title of Valiant in a very different way that she had expected.
Queen Lucy turned out to be the bouncy, bubbly, vibrant girl that she was always described as. However, while Yeilya figured that the stories of Lucy's valiance in wartimes were all true, now that Narnia was in a time of peace her title took on a different meaning.
She tried to help the Narnians with any of their problems that came up, and if there was something that needed to be said but no one else was brave enough to say it, she would. It was obvious that she would do anything for her family and for Narnia.
Now that she knew her better, Yeilya loved Queen Lucy even more than she had before.
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As the meeting continued that day, Yeilya learned even more about the four monarchs and their ways. She was surprised at how well their titles fit them, even after hearing all the stories told about them.
That evening, as she hopped along home, Yeilya thought of all that she'd learned about her Kings and Queens that day. She had learned about magnificence, gentleness, justness, and valiance, but even more than these things she had learned of compassion, of caring, and mostly of all, of love.
Love, which was what Kings Peter and Edmund and Queens Susan and Lucy had for not only each other, but for Aslan, and for Narnia, and for all of her inhabitants.
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Author's Note: This chapter was kind of hard to write because it was so different from all the others, and it ended up straying a lot from where I had originally planned on taking it. But I actually really enjoyed writing it, and I hoped that y'all enjoyed reading it. Hope the end wasn't too cheesy.
Well, let me know what you think, and tell me your suggestions and ideas for Chapter 9 if you have any.
This chapter is to be dedicated to youcantseeus, who gave me the idea for this chapter. Thanks sooo much!
And to the anonymous reviewers – thanks sooo much to Rachel, Rosebud, Lady of Narnia, and my ever-loyal Samantha.
And I hope that the little story about Peter filled in the blanks for those of you who were left wondering at the end of Chapter 2. It was a bit of over-glorification, but I feel like that's how the Narnians would tell a story about their High King. ;) Oh, and I hope no one's too mad about Edmund's situation in this chapter…