Royal Mail
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
To His Royal Majesty King Edmund the Just, from Brickit, Chief Smith of the Blue River Smithy, greetings!
Sire, we are in the hopes this letter finds you well despite your troubles and it is our great desire that you will grace us with your presence as soon as you are able. Your witty companionship was a welcome diversion after years of the morose demeanors and long faces of my kinsmen, and your skills as a smithy are only just blooming and need proper tending and care to come to full flower. We are at your convenience for the time of your return.
Respectfully,
Chief Smith Brickit
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Chief Smithy Brickit –
Run out of beer, did you?
Blooming? Flower? Witty companionship? Respectfully? Are you unwell, good my Dwarf? If I remember aright, on that sad day I met you, you said I wasn't even big enough to be called a tadpole. You wasted two weeks calling me 'Spawn' until you finally figured out I wasn't responding and learned how to pronounce my name. Pray contact me immediately if you need the assistance of the court healers. I fear for your health and sanity.
Let me know when the time is least convenient and I'll be sure to darken your doorstep most gracefully then. Until our happy reunion, I remain
Your favorite King,
Edmund
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
King Edmund,
Fie! If my good manners are to be mocked by an upstart brat, so be it, the favor will be returned! No time is convenient and the sorry sight of you will only cause me to lock the door. And our supply of beer is as well stocked as ever, thanks to my brother!
Chief Smithy Brickit
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Chief Smithy Brickit,
You've installed a door in an open air smithy? I must come see this engineering marvel with mine own eyes. Sadly, you will be denied my effervescent demeanor and short face until such time as my elder brother (Peter, remember? The High King? The one you called 'Nancy' until my elbow taught you how to distinguish Sons of Adam from Daughters of Eve?) returns from adventuring into the Western Wild in order to break the enchantment presently making my life interesting. Until such time, pray accept these casks of beer so that you will recognize what the refreshment is supposed to taste like, unlike the poison that you've mistaken as beer. In sympathy I remain
Your favorite King,
Edmund
P.S. Would that be the same brother that thought he could smoke sausages over a coal fire? If so, that explains a great deal about the 'beer.'
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Edmund,
Favorite? You are no more my favorite anything than you are welcome west of Cair Paravel. I was under the impression that kings were supposed to be courtly in their manners and speech. Clearly I was wrong, but there is a first time for everything and Aslan teaches us we must be patient with poor, dumb beasts and boys.
We drank the so-called beer you sent. It explains a great deal about your taste in food and clothes and aspirations to manners, all of which are lacking. The stuff the Queens sent us for suffering your miserable presence was better.
Chief Smithy Brickit
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
My dearest Brickit –
Aslan, his blessings upon you who need them the most, teaches us a great deal. I was always touched by the patience your brother displayed towards you throughout my stay and tried to emulate his conduct where you were concerned. When next I come to prune and fertilize my smithing skills, I shall endeavor to introduce you to another refreshment enjoyed by civilized beings from Calormen to Harfang, known commonly as wine, since you seem incapable of recognizing the same beer you drank before. Until that enlightening day, I remain
Your most favorite and beloved King,
Edmund
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Spawn,
The WINE will be most welcome.
Chief Smithy Brickit
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
My dear and faithful Brickit -
Alas, good my Dwarf, the wine cannot bring itself to you regardless of how hard you may wish it could be so. Neither yet may the gifts my dear sisters the Queens were intending to bestow upon your most unworthy smithy. They will be disappointed but resolved to your rejection of their favors. As I unpack their generous gifts, I remain
Your esteemed soverign and King,
Edmund
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
King Edmund,
Not so hasty, now! I know what store females place upon packing! You've great potential for this noble craft and I would hate to see it wasted or, worse, corrupted by the likes of those that should stick to wood and stone and leave metals to the experts. I want your word you'll not fall under the sway of any of those ruddy eastern 'smiths' that spread over Narnia like poison ivy.
Brickit
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
My dear and faithful Chief Smithy -
I'm grateful to see your tendency towards self-service is as healthy as ever and your low opinion of everyone but yourself hasn't altered. It's rather refreshing in some strange way which I can't be bothered to explain.
I hereby swear to you to turn a deaf ear to any smith who would speak craft to me so long as you promise not to speak ill of Poison Ivy. Like you, they can't help what they were born and unlike you, some of them are quite nice once you get to know them.
Your most beloved and generous King,
Edmund
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Spawn,
Are all Sons of Adam as arrogant and obnoxious as you?
Your favorite and most talented Smith,
Brickit
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
My dearest Son of the Earth -
No, not all Sons of Adam are arrogant and obnoxious, only the ones foolish enough to befriend Dwarfs.
Your beloved King,
Edmund
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
King Edmund,
Ha! I thought as much. I haven't seen that brother of yours trying to befriend any Dwarfs.
The finest smith in Narnia,
Bricket
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Dearest Brickit -
Peter is no fool.
Your beloved King,
Edmund
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Edmund,
I'm glad to see you're not following your brother's example in this, at least.
Will you just come in the spring?
Brickit
P.S. And bring the wine!
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
I smirked at the post script as I folded the parchment up again. Brickit was grouchy and suspicious, but I knew he was also very proud of his relationship with me and for all his sour words he was a true friend. He was also remarkably patient for a Black Dwarf and likable in his own abrasive way. I liked that he was so self-assured that he neither fawned nor scraped and could insult me in a letter and expect the same back. I looked up at the little brown Bat hanging from a tapestry on the wall, drying the raindrops from her wings and resting from her long flight.
"So what did he say when he opened my last letter?"
She let out a small, shrill laugh that produced a howl and a few exclamations of pain from Animals passing in the hall. "The usual, King Edmund. He cursed and shouted and waved his arms and spent about an hour trying to think of a suitable answer."
I chuckled. "Why don't you go rest, Queel? I can answer this tomorrow."
"Majesty." She bowed and fluttered off. Still smiling, I opened a drawer in my desk and dropped the letter in, the latest in a long and entertaining correspondence. Then I stared at the blank parchment before me and almost without thinking I lifted the Gryphon-feather quill and began to write:
Dear Peter,
It seems foolish to write you a letter I'll never send and you'll never see, but Cheroom says at times there's great wisdom in foolishness. I suppose that makes me the wisest person alive.
I miss you, Peter. I miss you terribly. More than even that. More than I've told Lucy or Aslan. I'm trying not to feel lost without you but I don't think I'm doing a very job of it. I keep waking up and expect you to be in the room. Last week I sat down to lunch and waited for you until I remembered you were gone. You left six weeks ago and I can't shake the feeling that something bad has happened to you. Aslan says you're alive, but held after a fashion. Exactly what that means I can't figure out, but he promises that you're alive and I really can't ask for much more, except your freedom and safe return and to be looking back on this time from about ten years down the road. Not too much to ask for.
I can't begin to tell you how I feel about all this. I suppose because I'm not sure how I feel myself. I'm amazed you're doing all this for me. You wondered how to thank me for the knife? How on earth do I ever thank you for saving my life? You just rode off so confidently. I know you can do this, I just wonder if I can.
It hurts. Every breath hurts. It's like a nasty stitch that goes straight through me. I tried to keep our old schedule, but I couldn't and now Oreius won't even start training until eight o'clock, and I usually meet with Cheroom after dinner to make up time in lessons. I'm always tired all the time anyway and I've started to get headaches. I suppose it's the pain talking. Still, I keeping up with the training for now and I hope you are, too. You're going to need it since Kanell started me with two swords. I think I'm hiding it pretty well from the girls and most of the palace. Martil and Silvo help cover for me, too, Aslan bless them.
Where are you, Peter? Have you gotten very far? I wish I had sent some Bats with you so they could report back. Is Phillip well? Be careful, he can be very protective. Did you know that he set the Dogs on all the horses in the stables? As I said before you left, we can't even run our own lives.
I would give anything to be with you right now and I would give even more to have you safely home. There are a thousand things I thought to tell you after you left, so I'll write you now and I promise I'll find a way to tell you when you return. I love you. I look up to you. I wish I was half as good a person as you are. I'm sorry I was such a prat for all those years. I was jealous and angry and just being a beast as I tried to knock you off the pedestal I set you on. I wasn't fair to you or Lucy or Susan. I expected the world from all the people around me but I didn't feel obligated to return the gesture. You never gave up on me and for that I'm grateful. I need you. I want you to be part of my life forever. I know you will be, just because you're you.
I told Aslan I need to become a judge. I want to be a judge, but I also need to be one. You really don't know what justice is until you've experienced injustice. I've known both, and I want to see everyone treated fairly. Even myself.
I miss you. Keep safe, keep in one piece, and hurry back.
Love,
Edmund
I closed and sealed the letter without reading it over again. I sat for a few moments and watched the raindrops on the windows of my bedroom, following the drops as they were dyed every color against the stained glass. I felt better for having written out my jumbled thoughts and feelings.
Finally I stood and tossed the letter into the fire. I watched as the parchment burned and curled, revealing my words for a few moments before blazing up bright and hot and falling down as ash.