Author's note: What, I've added something to this long-past fic challenge anthology? Yep. I did.


There's magic in the air. That's what he heard any number of times every Christmas. More than that, he knew it for himself. There was the ordinary sort of magic that came with warm hearts around a warm hearth. There was the common magic of music and singing. Magic was inherent to his coming, to his sledge and reindeer and sack of gifts, to himself even. He knew better than almost anyone about Christmas magic, so called.

There's magic in the air. He still felt it, smelled it, fought it, the magic of the Witch. Magic that had kept his coming at bay. Magic that had frozen over Narnia with nary a Christmas all those long years. But it was a magic that could not ever really, truly, fully quell that Christmas magic within its own borders. Magic that now quailed and faltered, enough for him to enter in.

There's magic in the air. He breathed it in. It wasn't new, not at all — he always smelled it, always felt it, whether it was Christmastime or no. He knew better than almost anyone about that magic. But here, back in Narnia at long last, it pierced the stone-cold magic of the Witch like a blade, blew through the rend fresher, wilder, more alive than ever before.

There's magic in the air. There was work to be done. There were tidings to tell, gifts to give, services to render. Time was short. All these years of preparation, and only a few short hours in which to act upon it. The weather was warming, the crocuses were blooming; winter meets its death and we shall have spring again.

He heard the call to battle, and his heart rose to answer it. His fervent duty drove the reindeer to gallop over the last of the snow. The bells of their harnesses jingled more merrily than ever, and he laughed the heartier with them. He grinned ferociously at every icicle that fell, embraced every heart that broke with joy. He had seen it, smelled it, felt it all before. He knew it all better than nearly anyone, but now he loved it more than ever before.

There's magic in the air, because Aslan is on the move.


Merry Christmas, all!

Prompt: Air

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