Chapter 16: Period of Adjustment

The days following the battle of Beruna witnessed the melting of the remaining snowcaps throughout all of Narnia, including the palace where the White Witch resided. Where the abode of the tyrant last was, now stood a deep lake, one the Pevensies will later know as the Gladius Lake.

With the death of the White Witch, most of her soldiers had surrendered unconditionally to Aslan and the Pevensies, but the remaining of her most loyal troops were driven to seeking refuge in the deep into the Northern Marshes and the Owlwood, where they would now lie in waiting, waiting for a time where they could take their revenge.

But that, would be a story for another time.

Narnians from across the magical land took relief in the arrival of spring and the liberation from the tyranny of the White Witch. While the sorrow of the many lives lost for this freedom hung in the air like the heavy clouds of the monsoon season, Narnians took into their hearts the currents of joy as the prophecy of Two Sons of Adam and Two Daughters of Eve came true. After a century of harsh winter, the people of this recovering land needed a cause of celebration to remember the lives of their ancestors, prior to the Winter.

Ten days after the battle of Beruna, deep inside the castle where the Kings and Queens of Narnia would reside, a small committee headed by none other than Mrs Beaver was beside herself with the preparations of the coronation of the Kings and Queens.

And on this day, there was much to do, as the first spring rain in a century had drenched the coronation cloaks that were laid out for sun-drying, much to the horror of Mrs Beaver.

From atop the second highest tower of Cair Paravel, Peter listened to the monotonous tapping of the rain from his place inside a dark room. His ears cocked as he vaguely heard the voice of Mrs Beaver yelling inaudibly but his eyes never left the still figure on the bed.

"Peter?" Susan's voice successfully drew his attention away from the bed. His sister entered the room with a tray of toast and two glasses of milk. "How is she?"

Peter rubbed his eyes tiredly and nodded gratefully as Susan handed him a glass of milk. He finished the glass thirstily in a single draught before reaching for the toast. "Still the same."

Susan placed the tray on a nearby table and knelt down beside the bed. She reached for her brother's shoulder and wrapped her arm around him. "How are you?"

Her brother's reply was the same as he appreciated his sister's hug with a squeeze of her hand. "Still the same."

Susan watched her brother's tired profile and struggled internally, wondering if she should let known her observations. Eventually, she decided to keep her thoughts to herself.

"Get some rest soon, Peter," Susan sighed before leaving the room.

Peter did not reply his sister. Instead, he nodded mutely, returning his gaze back onto the elf on the bed. As he heard Susan exit the room, he reached out and brushed fiery strands of hair away from the ashen face. It wasn't long before his fingers lost their way; the tips of his fingers ran down the contours of the face he was so familiar with, brushing past her eyes, her cheekbones and finally remained stranded at the pale, dry lips.

"It's been ten days, Leia." Peter whispered as he touched Leia's lips gently. "Won't you wake up?"

There, the future King of Narnia reached for the hand of the Ruben Phoenix and held it to his lips, planting a gentle kiss on the soft yet cold skin.

"My dear lady."

Ten days ago

Chaos broke loose the instant he pulled the crystal out of Leia's body. Hot blood sprayed across the faces of all the Pevensies, Susan and Lucy shrieked in pain as the hot temperature of the blood hurt their face and the latter dropped the bottle of healing cordial onto the field.

Leia screamed in pure agony, a painful sound that stabbed deep into Peter's heart. As she fell limp against his hold and slipped into unconsciousness, Peter pressed a hand to her wound in a bid to stop the bleeding. The blood was uncomfortably hot, but Peter ignored the discomfort. He shook her frantically, calling her name over and over.

"LEIA!"

It was Edmund who picked up Lucy's cordial and held the bottle onto Leia's lips. He was so calm, so composed; Peter almost couldn't believe this young adult before him was his younger brother.

Edmund uncorked the magical cordial, his hand steadily tipped the potion and shook three drops into Leia's mouth. There was a short pause before Peter felt a change. Beneath his fingers, he could no longer feel the movement of hot fluids from the open wound. It only took a moment more before he felt smooth skin where the gushing wound used to be.

"It worked!" Susan cried, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. Edmund collapsed onto the floor, tears streaming steadily from his brown eyes, his hands now trembling with relief, his lips silently repeating Susan's words over and over again.

Joy rippled through the four siblings, but did not touch the eyes of the majestic lion standing quietly beside them. And it wasn't long before their happiness was extinguished when they realized, while Leia's wound was healed and her bleeding stopped…

She never woke up.

Even after Lucy had returned after feeding all the statues with her healing cordial.

Even as Aslan led the victorious troops back to the camp.

Even as he led the Pevensies to Cair Paravel the next morning.

Even as Peter gently laid her onto the bed in his new room.

Even as days past.

Edmund visited her most frequently, often taking his place on the other side of the bed, almost a mirror image of Peter himself as he sat quietly, his brown eyes never leaving the elf.

It was about a week after the battle has ended when Aslan paid his first visit.

It was also then, he revealed to them the last veils of the mystery surrounding the elf.

"A hundred years ago when I found her, she was stabbed by the Gladius crystal in the exact same place. It was a fatal wound as the crystal has stabbed elfin heart. Leia was supposed to bleed to death, but she was very much alive. Unconscious, weak but alive. It wasn't Jadis' nature to leave a survivor, neither was it in the eyes of Nature for her to be alive having such a wound. Leia's life was unnatural. Only when she woke up, months later, did I understand why she survived."

Peter could not forget the deep, quiet anger that flashed in the amber eyes of the lion as he continued his story.

"Ruben elves were beings of fire. They were immune to the temperatures of winter, natural or otherwise, simply because their blood was warmer than every creature in Narnia, a blessing for them as they help Father Christmas each winter."

"But when Jadis healed Leia, she used the essence of winter; the wind, ice and snow. While it did stop the bleeding, it also literally froze her veins and vessels. No creature in Narnia, not even Jadis herself, and especially not an elf, was able to live long with veins and vessels that were the temperature of ice."

"Jadis knew that, so she bound Leia's life to her own. She wanted Leia to live as long as she does."

Aslan need not elaborate further.

"Was she in pain all along?" Edmund asked quietly.

Aslan was silent for a long moment and his silence was the answer Edmund needed.

"When will she wake up?" Peter asked.

"It is no longer the question of when, but will," Aslan answered, staring at Peter's eyes as he did. "Leia never had the will to live after the death of her people. She never hoped to live any longer than to witness the death of Jadis. She lives only by the spell cast by Jadis. She will only wake if she could find the will to wake."

"Can't you just blow on her face and make her wake?" Lucy asked innocently, not quite understanding Aslan's grim words.

"Not this time, my dear Lucy." Aslan shook his head sadly. "Not this time."

"She will wake," Peter spoke up. He took his place beside Leia and held her hand. "She will."

"You will wake," Peter spoke loudly, deliberately, continuing from the ends of his memory, as he held Leia's hand to his face. "There's so much more we haven't done together yet. There's so much more we haven't seen together yet."

"There's so much more I don't know about you; so much more I haven't told you about me," Peter continued.

"Leia, there's so much more I want you to know; I haven't told you how much I love seeing your eyes sparkle, or how much I love hearing you laugh, or how much I love just being with you."

Even as he said these words, he knew it was true. For reasons beyond his comprehension, he knew deep within him, he cares for Leia more than words can ever describe. He loved her laughter, her smile, her tears and even her inane stubbornness. Mature as he was, Peter was still thirteen years old. Eventually, he would come to understand this feeling stemmed from within his heart; eventually he would come to understand differences between the love he had for his siblings and the love he had for this woman. Eventually, he would understand why everything about Leia affected him so.

But as of the moment, amidst the myriad of feelings that confuses his mind, Peter knew there was only one thing he would be sure of. As he tucked Leia's hand under the warm blanket, he remained on one knee and leaned towards the sleeping elf. Remembering Leia's kiss on his cheeks as clearly as though it happened only yesterday, Peter smiled faintly and repeated the action. As his lips left Leia's cheek, a sweet, delicious warmth spread from the contact to deep within his heart.

"Come back to me, Leia…" he whispered to her ears. "Please."

"I need you."

She was pretty sure she was no longer at Beruna.

As a matter of fact, she was pretty sure she wasn't even on mainland Narnia.

It wouldn't need a genius to figure that out, considering she was cast adrift in the vast waters with only two oars by her side. It seemed perfectly natural how at one moment she was at Beruna and the other moment a boat adrift in the ocean, in the middle of nowhere.

No sooner had she thought that, her sharp, elfin eyes caught sight of a shoreline in the distance. Rowing with all her strength, Leia landed on the shoreline in minutes, or seconds even. She was rather unsure about the flow of Time. Especially now as she found herself at awe with the rising tidal waves that stood before her.

These waves were not natural, Leia thought to herself. There's absolutely no way waves could remain standing in the middle of a beach. Curiosity overtook her sense of logic as she edged closer to the rising waters. Her ears twitched as she heard voices calling from behind the wave, voices she would never ever forget.

The voices of her people.

Right before her, the wave split open into a passageway. She was only a split second from running towards the passageway when another voice called out to her.

Stop, Leia.

"Father?" Leia whispered in disbelief.

It is not your time, Leia.

"Mother…" she breathed, recognizing the gentle, melodious voice of her mother.

Go back, Leia.

"Father! Mother!" Leia could not stop her tears from running at that moment. She yelled into the passageway. "Where are you?"

We are proud of you, my daughter. Her father and mother's voice echoed from the passageway.

"Father! Mother!" She yelled as she ran towards the voices.

Don't live for the dead, Leia.

"Reico?" Leia was thunderstruck when her feet were suddenly, magically, frozen in motion, two steps away from the watery passageway. She tripped and fell heavily, spitting out the sweet-flavored sands of the beach from her mouth.

Leia looked up in utter and complete shock as a shadow of her parents and childhood friend stood before her; in the passageways of the wave, but not crossing the thin border between the water and the sands of the beach.

Go back, Leia. Reico smiled, bringing more tears to her eyes. You shouldn't be here.

"No… This is where I should be." she whispered, understanding dawned into her mind as she finally realized where she was.

Her family smiled gently and the colors of their shadows faded just a shade.

"No!" Leia shook her head as she struggled to move forward, her tears now incontrollable. "Don't go. Papa! Mama!"

Peter needs you.

"Come back to me, Leia."

Leia's eyes widened in shock and disbelief as Peter's voice echoed from behind her. She looked back, and it was all that was needed. The shadows of her father, mother and Reico disappeared with the ghost of a satisfied smile etched on the latter's face and the passageway was once again filled with water.

But she never noticed any of these. There was only one thing in her mind, and that's the voice of the boy she loved echoing endlessly in the beach.

"Please. I need you."

"Peter…" Leia whispered the name of the boy who took up the place in her heart, feeling her heart pounding loudly in her chest, pumping strong emotions for the human boy. The instant Peter's name left her lips, the wave and beach whirled into a blur around her. Leia shut her eyes tightly and curled into a foetal position as she felt the world around her spinning.

Live for yourself, Leia.

It was the last thing she heard before she lost consciousness. And it would be the only thing she remembered when she opened her eyes again.

The room was dark and cool. There was a weight upon her left arm. The air was soaked in the aroma of fresh rain. These were the first few thoughts that ran through her mind and she took a deep breath, feeling a strange and yet familiar sensation of warmth spreading throughout her fingers. It was a long, long time ago since she felt this warm. It was a long, long time ago since she felt no pain from within her.

Her mind was clear yet strangely blank, with only the memory of a familiar voice, the voice of Reico. She attributed the memory to a dream, a dream she had of hearing and seeing her parents and Reico for a last time.

Her arm was uncomfortable and she shifted the weight away. A soft moan from her side caught her attention as she looked down to her left side, just in time to look into a pair of aquamarine eyes belonging to one Peter Pevensie.

She smiled, even as he widened his eyes in apparent shock and disbelief. She watched him reach out to her uncertainly and she raised her right hand to meet his. Their fingers interlocked with each other.

"Good morning, Peter Pevensie."

The next thing she knew, Peter had his arms around her, hugging her tightly, burying tears of joys in her hair. Leia returned the hug and closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath of the familiar scent of the boy and enjoyed the warmth of his hug.

"Good morning," he whispered as he pulled away after a long moment, his eyes shone with unshed tears as he looked deeply into the rose-golden eyes. His voice was deep and raw with emotions as he planted a kiss on her forehead.

"My dear lady."

Author's Note:

Well, as of this particular note, I'm pleased to announce I've finished with the actual write up of the story, and also started on the sequel, currently titled: Golden Age of Narnia: Coming of Age. By the time I've uploaded the remaining few chapters to this story, I should have a pretty good storage of reserves for Coming of Age. (Whee~)

That title's unlikely to change. If I may say so myself, I'm pretty pleased with that title. ^_^

There's one particular scene in this chapter that showcased the barrier to Aslan's Country. This little bit of detail was added in after I (finally) purchased the Dawntreader DVD. Seriously, Edmund is getting too cute for me not to put him into the limelight. But I'll get there. There's still Prince Caspian to re-write. ;)

For someone who's never touched the books and only gathered the necessary information on Narnia from the Internet/movies, I interpreted Aslan's Country as the afterlife, sort of the equivalent to Heaven in the Christian teachings. In this case, I wrote it specifically as that, and whoever chose to embark on that journey (like Reepicheep in Dawntreader) is essentially on a one way journey to end their life. Although not necessary in the negative context that might suggest. Hence I suppose it is only right that when Leia was there, and met with the most important people of her life.

Clichéd, but essential.

Lastly, thank you for the reviews, story alerts, author alerts and favourite story clicks. You guys are brilliantly awesome.

Love

Rainremember