Incipere
Latin: To begin
"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard."
~ Psalm 19:1-3
~o*o~
"The report from the spy, Loki, has just come in," Martin said, "There are some very important issues you might like to address."
Flavis picked up the letter and cleared his throat, "Greetings from Loki and Eustace. Very interesting news. There is an Archenlander in the Witch's court at this moment, his name is Lord Bar…"
"I told you!" Edmund exclaimed.
"You did at that," Peter said, "Please continue, Flavis."
"Definite steps toward taking over Archenland are being taken and Calormen is almost certainly involved. Eustace advises you to arrest Lord Bar the moment he returns. Also the witch has dispatched a spy to Archenland. Its exact nature is unknown to me, but you must take careful precautions. Most respectfully yours, Loki."
"King Lune must be told at once," Peter said.
~o*o~
"Lord Bar," King Lune said slowly. "Would he do such a dastardly thing?"
"Our information is from a very reliable source," Edmund said.
"Oh, I believe you," King Lune said, "It's just hard for me, you see, Bar and I grew up together."
~o*o~
"It's pretty good," Lucy said worriedly, holding it up.
"It's very good," Deidre said, "I'm impressed at how well you both have been progressing."
Susan ran her hand over their careful embroidery. It was the flag of Narnia, a red lion, rampant on a green ground. It was completed; it was beautiful, though not perfect.
"Someday you'll learn that the most beautiful things in this world often aren't perfect." Deidre said. "Now, do you want to go to the library?"
"Why would we?" Susan asked.
"Well why not?" Deidre said. "You said your brother missed his birthday due to coming here, what's a better present then his own flag?"
"What would we find in the library?" Lucy asked.
"We have a book of symbols and what they mean," Deidre said. "You'll want to choose one of them."
They went to the library. It was a wonderful place; the walls were lined with bookcases, from floor to ceiling. A rolling ladder was attached to a bar on the ceiling so that people could even reach the top shelf. At the top of the ladder was a lady with an armload of books.
"That's our librarian," Deidre said as the lady came down the ladder.
"Hello dear," the librarian said, looking at Deidre, then turned to Susan and Lucy, "And who are you?"
"I'm Lucy and this is Susan," Lucy said.
"I've heard a lot about you," the librarian said, "I'm Carla."
"We're very pleased to meet you," Susan said.
"Well, so darlings," Carla said, "What can I do for you? I've a new book on agriculture just come in and I've some on…" she looked down at the books in her arms, "Suits of Armor, Warts: a complete handbook, The History of Forks, Philosophy as Looked at by Stormrunner and one named Calormene Culinary Delights."
"Hmm," Deidre said, "I'm afraid we're not suffering from warts at this moment, but if we are, we will tell you. What we want is your book on coats of arms and symbolism."
Carla came down the ladder, dropped her books on the closest chair and dashed to the shelf. She ran her hand over the spines of the books until she pounced on one lengthy tome.
"Here it is!" she said, "Symbolism: as seen on coats of arms, heraldry and other insignias, by Sir Enigma Hedgehog."
She looked up and handed the book to Deidre, "there's an empty table over there, dear, and don't forget to pick up some candy on your way, that delightful little fox Treve just brought it."
They put the book on the table and poured over it. Lucy soon was tired of it and walked to the shelf to look at the books. She ran her hand over the titles… Contemporary artists…Consequences of history…Company: proper table settings…
"Bear," Susan murmured, "symbol of resurrection because of hibernation during the winter."
"Doesn't sound like him," Deidre said.
Complete History of Narnia, by Stormrunner…Communication: history…
"Bell," Susan murmured, "symbol of freedom."
"No." Deidre said.
Lucy reached out and pulled down Complete History of Narnia, by Stormrunner. She sat in one of the big armchairs with her prize and opened it. On the first page was a beautiful painting of the sun rising on five people.
"Deidre," She said suddenly, "How did Narnia begin?"
Deidre looked up, "We never told you, did we? Do you want me to tell you now?"
Lucy looked at Susan.
"I'd like to hear," Susan said. "If you don't mind."
"Well," Deidre said, "The very beginning of Narnia is filled with mystery. Our only available accounts are from the writings of King Frank, the first king of Narnia. Aslan did not create Man. Man came by magic from another world.
"In the first year of time, five people and a horse appeared in Narnia, before Narnia even existed. There was an evil sorcerer named Uncle Andrew, an even more evil witch named Jadis…"
"Jadis was here before the dawn of time?" Susan exclaimed. "How is it that she is still alive?"
"All in due time," Deidre laughed, "As I was saying, there was an evil witch named Jadis and there were two children both of whom are extremely mysterious. One was Lady Polly and the other was Lord Digory. The last was King Frank and of course his horse."
"His horse was there too?" Lucy asked, giggling.
"No one knows why." Deidre said. "They watched the first sunrise in Narnia. King Frank said later it was as if the stars themselves were singing. They were standing in the west on what is now the border between Telmar and Narnia. It was then that Aslan himself appeared. He sang the world into existence. He sang the grass and the trees; King Frank described the world as being alive. Not alive as you would usually think, but the ground was alive. When coins fell out of the Uncle Andrew's pocket they grew into trees and up in the west there is still a forest of gold and silver trees. A piece of metal that Jadis threw at Aslan grew into a very strange object, the very same lamppost that you yourselves saw when you first entered Narnia."
"I did wonder why there was a lamppost in the middle of a wood," Susan said. "It just wasn't practical."
"You would wonder," Deidre laughed, "Anyhow, Aslan created the Animals in the oddest manner. The Lord Digory at first thought the earth was boiling, but a few minutes later the bubbles burst and animals of all kinds climbed out of the earth."
"Were they all talking?" Lucy asked.
"No, not yet." Deidre said. "Aslan gathered all the animals in a circle about himself and picked two of every kind to be talking beasts. King Frank's horse was one of them."
"It was at this time," Deidre continued, "that Aslan sent the Lord Digory and the Lady Polly on a most extraordinary journey. He put wings on King Frank's horse and called him Fledge, then Lord Digory and Lady Polly mounted Fledge and flew away. Their destination was a garden on a tall, smooth green hill in the west. There, Lord Digory plucked an apple from a special tree; it was a tree of life. Anyone who ate of that tree would live forever. While he was there he was confronted by Jadis, no one knows what was said, but she ate one of the apples and tried to make him do the same. He would not, and carried the apple he had plucked back to Aslan."
"So that's why she's still alive." Susan said.
"Yes." Deidre said. "That's why she's still alive."
"If she'll live forever," Lucy said. "What's going to be the use of trying to kill her?"
"Only Aslan knows." Diedre said. "The Lord Digory and the Lady Polly returned with Fledge from that far away place. Lord Digory gave the apple to Aslan and Aslan had him plant it near the Lamppost. Aslan explained that since the Witch had eaten an apple against his will, the tree that would grow from the apple Digory had planted would be loathsome to her and it would be a protection, for she would never venture near Narnia while the tree grew."
"And the tree blew down a hundred years ago." Susan finished.
"Precisely," Deidre said. "And she invaded a hundred years ago…ninety nine years, actually, it will be a hundred years this spring."
"I've found the perfect symbol for Edmund!" Lucy exclaimed.
Deidre and Susan looked up and found that she had flipped to near the back of the book.
"Where you listening to anything I said?" Deidre asked, laughing.
"Of course!" Lucy said, "I was just looking here too."
"What did you find?" Deidre asked.
"Unicorn," Lucy said, "symbol of wisdom, calmness and a whole bunch of other things that are too long to read."
"But that's perfect!" Deidre exclaimed, "We'll embroider a unicorn on your brother's flag!"