Author's Note: Thanks to the people who have reviewed for your kind comments; you have spurred me on to write this chapter. There's no JillxEustace, even though I'm quite fond of that relationship, because they're only nine years old. It's still bookverse, even if there is a movie reference (it seems like a fairly plausible possibility to me, though). Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up before Christmas, seeing as it's very suitable for the festive season.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Narnia.
Jill's house was a modest affair, little more than a cottage sandwiched between two much larger and more impressive constructions. There was a quaintness to it, however, that endeared it to all five children. Snow made a faultless carpet across the front garden, but the path had been swept very neatly. Snowflakes rested on the ivy that covered much of the house. A Christmas tree twinkled through one of the windows, and a wreath adorned the door.
"It's rather lovely," commented Lucy. "Like a little part of the country, right here in London."
"Frightfully small, though," said Eustace.
"Eustace," Susan chided gently. "We shouldn't judge ..."
"Shh," interrupted Peter, and he knocked three times on the door.
It was opened by a middle-aged woman with a lined but pleasant face, and more than a few grey hairs. She smiled up at them.
"Hello, dears. What can I do for you?"
"My name is Peter Pevensie," said Peter, "and this is my brother Edmund; my sisters, Susan and Lucy; and Eustace, our cousin. We're here to see Jill."
"Oh, of course," said the woman. "Your mother telephoned yesterday. My Jill is quite excited; she never gets visitors, you know."
At this moment, Jill herself came hurrying into the hall. "Oh, Scrubb! You came!" she exclaimed, coming forward. "I didn't think you would!"
"Of course I came," said Eustace awkwardly. "These are my cousins." He introduced each of them in turn.
"Invite them in, Jill, don't leave them standing in the cold," said the woman, but without anger. "I'll be around if you need me, dear." She kissed Jill on the forehead and disappeared into one of the rooms coming off the hallway.
"I think we'd best go to the sitting room," said Jill uncertainly, when she had closed the door. "In summer I would take you to the garden, of course, but it's rather cold there at the moment, and my room is too small. I'm sure Mother won't mind." She led the way through a door on the left into the room with the Christmas tree, where a fire crackled in the grate. Lucy noticed that there were very few presents under the tree, but said nothing.
Peter and Susan settled themselves into two of the armchairs, and Jill insisted that Edmund take the third. "I'm quite all right on the floor. I hope you two don't mind," she added to Lucy and Eustace. "We don't have visitors very often."
"No, not at all," smiled Lucy, kneeling down in front of Edmund's chair. Eustace and Jill sat down in front of the fire.
"How are you, then, Pole?" asked Eustace. "Have you any plans for Christmas?"
"No, not really," said Jill. "It's been very quiet, really - it usually is, though. It will be just the three of us."
"Don't - don't you have relatives, or something?" asked Susan hesitantly.
"Oh, yes, but they all live too far away. We come from Devon, originally, but we had to move to London because of Father's job. We exchange cards, though," she added, as though this quite compensated for the lack of company, although Lucy thought this unlikely. She caught Peter's eye and he nodded.
"Well, then, you must come and spend Christmas with us," he said. "Our people would be very happy to have you, and your parents, of course." (This wasn't presumptuous of Peter; Mrs Pevensie herself had suggested that they might like to invite the Poles. Christmas at the Pevensies' was a social affair.)
"Oh!" Jill blushed deeply. "Are you sure? I mean ... that's frightfully decent of you. I shall have to wait until my father arrives home tonight, though."
"Of course," said Lucy. "We should be so glad to have you!"
Jill was not used to this kind of treatment from people she had only just met. The Poles had kept very much to themselves since they had moved to London (they had left the country most reluctantly), and her interactions with people outside her family had largely been limited to Experiment House.
"Has Scrubb told - do you know ...?" she began uncertainly.
"Yes," said Eustace. "I thought it best, you know. But I didn't tell them your parts."
"Yes, and we're dying to hear," said Lucy.
Jill relaxed. Narnia. She could talk about Narnia. She imagined herself there again, with Eustace and all their friends, and realised that this need be no different.
"Where do you want me to start?" she asked.
"From the beginning," said Peter. "Parts of it are still a little muddled for us. Eustace here has a - well, an unusual style as a storyteller."
Eustace scowled, but otherwise ignored this. Jill began, a little uncertainly at first, but she was a much more accomplished storyteller than Eustace (having read more of the right sort of books), and the Pevensies were utterly engrossed. Peter questioned her closely about the Northern Giants and wondered when Harfang had been built; Susan was eager to hear more about Trumpkin and Caspian, and requested a detailed description of Rilian; Edmund was greatly interested in Aslan's signs, and wrote them down in a little notebook that he took out of his pocket; but Lucy just sat there, drinking it all up, her eyes dancing.
Eventually the conversation slowed and finally stopped. All six of them sat there happily for some time, thinking about what they had heard (for Jill had insisted that the others tell of all of their own adventures, as the tales she had heard from Eustace had been rather fragmentary). Finally, Jill spoke.
"I suppose we ought to do something. There are some games in that cupboard over there."
"Oh! Yes," said everyone, coming out of their daydreams. They followed Jill over to the little cupboard, and peered over her shoulder.
If you have ever had to decide what kind of game to play when you have visitors, then you will not be surprised that no one seemed to have any particular preference, and that they all deferred to each other. Jill said that the others were guests, and that they should choose; Eustace protested that she was the hostess, and she knew which were the best games, anyway. Eventually, Susan settled the question.
"Perhaps we could use the dictionary?" she suggested.
Everyone else quickly decided on Snakes and Ladders.