Blue


"What can it mean?"

Peter slowly walked around the odd gift. It was a tree, and a somewhat large one to make a delivery of. Why, it was nearly as tall as Edmund, who stood grinning nearby. But someone had managed it, or else it never would have appeared in the great hall of Cair Paravel. It grew up out of an ornamental pot, which was inset with small gems of cerulean blue. Its gray branches were young and slender, but sported many long green leaves, and even a white blossom or two. There was a note tied to the base of the trunk, and Peter was reading it for the third time.

To the clear Northern sky.

"What can it mean?" Peter repeated, mostly to himself.

"It means it's yours," Edmund said matter-of-factly.

"Well, yes, Ed, of course it means that," Peter said, trying not to roll his eyes. "But what can I possibly have to do with a tree?"

"It's probably a gift from some royal damsel somewhere, to gain favor," Edmund chuckled. "It's not the first gift you've ever been given, you know."

"But a tree, Ed? Who on earth ever looked at a tree and said: 'yes! That would be the perfect gift for the High King of Narnia.' "

"Why not?" Edmund shrugged. "Girls can be unpredictable like that."

Peter shook his head and blushed. Trust Edmund to make it about girls. "It's been nearly two years," he mused, "and still, being popular is hard to get used to. We used to be nobodies from Finchley, and now…"

"Don't muddle your head over it," Edmund gave him a playful punch on the arm. "It's not like you're a king now or anything."

That would have been the cue for a brotherly wrestling match, but Lucy's quick footsteps coming downstairs put an end to it before it even began.

"Ooh!" Lucy gasped, leaping down the last two steps of the grand stairwell and running to join her brothers. "What a beautiful tree!"

"Yes, it is, isn't it?" Peter muttered, hoping his face wasn't too red.

"Look Susan!" Lucy exclaimed happily, "it even has leaves! And flowers!"

Susan, who was coming down the steps behind Lucy in a far more calm and ladylike manner, raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I can see that." She reached the bottom of the stairwell and stood skeptically assessing the foreign object that stood on the courtyard floor. "I'm guessing there's a reason for there to be a tree in the castle?" she asked, her gentle voice distinctly amused.

"It's a gift for Peter," Edmund grinned. Peter shot him a disapproving glare.

"Well well," Susan laughed, shaking her head. "And who sent it?"

"I don't know," Peter sighed. "There wasn't anything in the note to say."

The four of them read over the note again together.

"Well," Lucy said slowly, as if making up her mind, "it's an odd gift, and we can't be sure who sent it. But it's such a pretty little tree. I think we should keep it."

"Oh do you?" Peter laughed. "Well, I suppose it'd be a shame to let such a nice tree go to waste. What kind of tree do you think it is?"

Edmund stepped up to inspect the tree more closely, walking round and round it until Peter was almost dizzy watching. "I think it's an apple tree," he said at last.

"Oh, jolly good! Are we to put it in the garden, then?" Lucy looked up at her brother with bright eyes.

"I don't think so, Lu," Edmund chuckled. "It'd grow too big eventually, and blot out the sun for the other plants."

"What about the northern plot?" Susan suggested. "Past the gate? We haven't put much up there, and it wouldn't bother anyone if it grew too big."

"I think that's a splendid idea," Peter nodded in agreement. The north gate. To the clear Northern sky….

Lucy jumped up and down and clapped her hands in excitement, then dragged Edmund off to go choose the exact spot they'd plant it in. Susan went to follow them, but turned to look back over her shoulder when she realized Peter was lingering. "Coming, Pete?"

"Yes, in a moment," Peter nodded. He was still looking pensively at the tree.


They set it in the grounds just beyond the North Gate. It looked lonely, but the children agreed that soon they would get some companions for the little apple tree and turn the area into a great orchard. It was odd, thinking how they could have their own orchard if they fancied it. But they were kings and queens, after all, and could do what they liked.

Susan was the first to go back to the castle, wanting to have the ornamental pot washed out so they could use it for other things. Edmund and Lucy went back together to track down the groundskeeper and work up plans for the orchard. But Peter stayed just a little longer, mulling over the brief note in his head. It made him recall his coronation so vividly, when Aslan had spoken those same words. Hearing them now seemed to bring Him closer somehow. Peter thought back over the past; to the Battle of Beruna, his knighthood, and the wardrobe. It had all been the beginning of something greater for him; far more so than he could ever have pictured. That was the way of the Lion, he supposed. Aslan had great plans for you, but you couldn't become great unless you started small. Like a little tree. Like a boy from Finchley.

"To the clear Northern sky," he murmured, looking up past the hopeful little sapling to the great blue expanse above him. A slow smile spread across his face.

And somehow, he knew that Aslan was smiling back.