Okay, after such a good response on the first oneshot and the sudden inspiration of this, I have decided to continue and do various oneshots of symbolism that I find throughout the stories as I read the books and watch the movies. This one was inspired by the movie companion book and a comment on how much like the characters each crown was. So I decided to do this one with Peter. So, please review, also please, please point out character flaws, I hate to misrepresent characters, so please point out anything out of Character. Otherwise, enjoy:
Peter lounged in his throne, still dressed from that days work. As he worked at an ink stain on his finger, he wondered about maybe going for a hunt tomorrow. The last few days had been full of paperwork and busyness; it would be good for them all to get out. It had been fifteen years since they had been crowned, their reign had been long and prosperous; many called it the Golden Age of Narnia.
It was late, very late, all the stars were out, and the hall was dark except for a few small bits of moonlight that shone through the long windows. It was eerie how peaceful it all looked. He enjoyed sitting there in the Great Hall late into the night. It had become a rare pastime over the years, a moment when he could be in his thrown and not have to make a decision. Instead he could just think and not feel like the fate of the kingdom rest on his thoughts.
Slowly he removed his crown, the weight so familiar to his head; it seemed that with the weight of the crown came the weight of the kingdom. He sighed deeply, feeling the stress from that day roll off of him. Carefully he twirled the crown in his rough, battle worn hands, watching as it glittered in a thin stream of moonlight.
He took a moment to really look at it, like he had done so many times before. He looked at it carefully, tracing every leaf with his hand, watching the glare on the single gem on the front. He thought for a minute of it and what the crown itself symbolized as the head of state, head of country, commander in battle. He knew that with this crown came many responsibilities, but why it was designed how it was designed was past him.
Peter was so lost in thought that he barely even noticed when Mr. Tumnus slipped in with a candle scurrying about, looking on the ground. It was only after Tumnus had started at seeing the Kings feet did both of them realize the other was there.
"Dear Tumnus, what is your business in the Great Hall?" Peter asked in a whisper that seemed to echo in the empty hall.
"Many Excuses your Majesty, I'm terribly, terribly sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you." Mr. Tumnus said bowing repeatedly, as he attempted to slowly slide over to the door and disappear. His candle constantly threatened to blow out as he bowed and spilled wax on the floor.
"I must ask what you are doing here now."
"I am terribly sorry, your Majesty, but I was just simply…looking." Mr. Tumnus said rather embarrassed and not willing to give any more information. Although he trusted the faun, especially after fifteen years of faithful service, Peter still felt it his business to know what his subjects were doing, especially if he could be of any service to them.
"Looking for…"
"If you must know sire," Tumnus whispered softly, "I was looking for the horn tips that Queen Lucy gave me at the Coronation those many years ago. You see they were bothering me rather terribly during the Ball last week and so I took them off and left them at a window nearby, but well, I forgot them. Now Lucy keeps asking me why I haven't been wearing them and I really do not like lying to her, so I have been looking for them ever since."
Peter couldn't help but smile as he whispered, "Fair friend, the dear Lucy been asking because she has the tips. My royal sister found them at the Ball, and having thought they were accidentally lost by you, she has been keeping them to be returned. She did not wish to assume that you have lost your horn tips, but having already had the tips for several days and not seeing you with yours she has thought to perhaps ask as to where yours are. Per chance they were not yours, but another fauns.
Tumnus visibly relaxed at the knowledge that his tips were not lost, and even managed a stifled laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. "Well then Your Majesty I shall go to Queen Lucy in the morning and speak with her about my horn tips." Tumnus said with a bow to leave.
"An excellent idea, Mr. Tumnus." Peter said, ready to return to his musing when he remembered how much of a scholar Mr. Tumnus was, being an educated faun. "Indeed, Mr. Tumnus, perhaps you could satisfy the interest of a rather old friend?"
The faun turned with a smaller bow "I shall tell you all I can of anything you wish, Your Majesty."
"Very good, come, sit with me," Peter said moving to the top stead to the dais, so as to speak with Tumnus, not down to him, as seemed fitting for such a conversation. Tumnus came and sat a step below him, not wanting to overstep any boundries. Peter promptly slid down a step to be beside him and asked, "If you would, share with me all that you know of this, our royal crown and why it was constructed as such?"
"Certainly, your Majesty. All four crowns were made by red dwarf smiths many years ago, before the white witch's winter, shortly after the prophecy was made, or so it is said. There is little evidence for this, but it has been accepted into the history of the crowns. Some say the prophecy wasn't made until during the winter, so then the dwarves couldn't have made it until after the war and they had returned to our side. Others say that dwarves made them at the beginning of time from the original gold and silver trees from which the King Frank and Queen Helen's crowns were made. What is the truth, only Aslan knows, but most agree that it had to have been of dwarf hand, for none can make anything as exquisite and delicate as the queen's crowns but a dwarf." Mr. Tumnus started before he finally took the crown from Peter's hand to show him everything he was talking about.
"As for your particular crown, it is obviously pure gold, in some cases white gold for some of the inlay. The ruby was chosen first for its color, red. Red is for sacrifice and Martyrdom, but also for a Warrior for the Kingdom. The stone itself is a ruby, chose for it's symbolism of peace and royalty. It is set in the sun, the symbol of Aslan and the Emperor-beyond-the-sea, that they may ever be before the head of him who wears the crown.
"Apple leaves intertwined with Oak leaves are positioned around the crown, apple is for peace and charity, used mainly in remembrance of the first protection of Narnia, the Great Tree that kept the witch at bay. The Oak leaves are used for great age and strength.
"The acorns around the center of the crown stand for antiquity and strength. In many ways things were chose for their artistic value, but also for their meaning. Dwarves have been known to produce many beautiful things, but nothing, save the King Frank and Queen Helen's crowns, has as much meaning as these."
"If you would like I could continue to explain the Queen Susan, Queen Lucy, and King Edmund's crowns also."
"No, No, that is more than enough, Mr. Tumnus. Thank you." Peter said to him, softly meditatively. He had lost himself so much in thought of the crown. He had taken it back from Mr. Tumnus at his offer to explain the other crowns, and was watching it in the moonlight as he spun it around.
Mr. Tumnus silently slipped from the room as Peter remained, still watching his crown thinking. He stopped when the ruby came into sight, seeing it, the mark of a warrior in his crown, and his crown only. The High King of Narnia to lead every battle and fall back last, in the most vulnerable position of his army. The first into battle and the last to leave are the one's that are more likely to be killed, he had learned that in during many campaigns, watching too many good soldiers die beside him. But it also meant peace and royalty. Although he was a warrior he was also a king and had learned how to balance negotiations and war, to keep a peaceful kingdom, but a feared kingdom by all surrounding them. The ruby was set in a sun, in Aslan and his father, they would protect the greatest warrior no matter wear he went, and guide him though every council and negotiation. They would sit as a mark on his forehead for him to always remember, as Peter had always tried.
He spun it counting the acorns, there were fifteen, three between each point. They were antiquity, to be remembered, to go through history, it had been fifteen years since the crowning, this year would be one for each acorn, but the year would end, and another begin. He looked at the points with three Leaves on each point, alternating between apple and oak. Apple was for protection, he was now the protector of Narnia, and had done his best, for Aslan. Finally the Oak was for great age and strength, he still possessed strength, and now age had caught up to him. Fifteen years since the first sat on this throne and accepted responsibility for all that it represented.
He had done well and worked hard. He had lived up to the crown on his head, despite his ignorance to that which it represented. His reign was a good and memorable one many credited him with the prosperity of Narnia, but he knew he would have never done it without the help of his brothers and sisters. They all deserved to have a small break from work; he would suggest that hunt tomorrow. That morning Tumnus spoke with Queen Lucy and got his horn tips, and also told the four monarchs of the sighting of the White Stag.
So these two Kings and two Queens with the principal members of their court, road a-hunting with horns and hounds in the Western Woods to follow the White Stag. And they had not hunted long before they had a sight of him. And he lead them a great pace over rough and smooth and through thick and thin, till the horses of all the courtiers were tired out and only these four were still following. And they saw the stag enter into a thicket where their horses could not follow. Then said King Peter (for they talked in quite a different style now, having been Kings and Queens for so long) "Fair Consorts, let us now alight from our horses and follow this beast into the thicket; for in all my days I never hunted a nobler quarry."
"Sir," said the others, "even so let us do."
So they alighted and tied their horses to trees and went on into the thick wood on foot. And as soon as they had entered it Queen Susan said,
"Fair friends; here is a great marvel, for I seem to see a tree of iron."
"Madam," said the King Edmund, "if you look well upon it you shall see it is a pillar of iron with a lantern set on the top thereof."
"Marry, a strange device," said King Peter "to set a lantern here where the trees cluster so thick about it and so high above it that if it were lit it should give light to no man!"
"Sir," said Queen Lucy. "By likelihood when this post and this lamp were set here there were smaller trees in the place, or fewer, or none. For this is a young wood and the iron post is old." And they stood looking upon it. Then said King Edmund,
"I know not how it is, but this lamp on the post worketh upon me strangely. It runs in my mind that I have seen the like before; as it were a dream, or in the dream of a dream."
"Sir," answered they all "it is even so with us also."
"And more," said Queen Lucy, "for it will not go out of my mind that if we pass this post and lantern, either we shall find strange adventures or else come some change of our fortunes."
"Madam," said King Edmund, "the like foreboding stirreth in my heart also."
"And in mine, fair brother," said King Peter.
"And in mine too" Said Queen Susan, "Wherefore by my council we shall lightly return to our horses and follow this White Stag no further."
"Madam," said King Peter, "therein I pray thee to have me excused. For never since we four were Kings and Queens in Narnia have we set our hands to any high matter as battles, quests, feats of arms, acts of justice, and the like, and then given over; but always what we have taken in hand, the same we have achieved."
And so were the last recorded words of High King Peter in Narnia in the fifteenth year of his reign before he entered through the wardrobe and returned to England.
Note: I forgot to mention before but decided to add, there are acorns on the center of the crown the exact number is unknown, the idea of fifteen came from the fifteen points created by the three leaves on the five tips. So it is not completely fabricated, just twisted from what was original and used in a bit better way. I felt like a liar not saying that so I decided I'll clarify.
Also, I am assuming the red stone in the front is a ruby, I cannot be certain. I have scoured the internet for a decent picture of the crown, and have only found what I have said. Their may be some disputes as to the meanings of the symbols on the crown, but I chose what I thought fit the best in light of the circumstances.
In addition, I did alter this from its original content due to inaccuracies in speech, typos, (in my opinion) a weak ending, and the need to be betaed. If anyone is interested in Betaing the upcoming chapters or any other of my works, please private message me, I do not finish things very quickly unless suddenly hit by an idea, and do like to have things checked up to three times depending on how much alteration I make to a piece. It would be greatly appreciated if you did contact me. Thank you and don't forget...REVIEW!!