queen of narnia

[charning]

Jadis is enraged. Aslan, back! Confirmed by the deputy of her own Maugrim, who died on the sword of the very child she thought she'd caught! Maugrim, dead. She paces. She comes too close to Winter for her liking on one of her passes through her throne room and rather than turn an instant before she means to she backhands him out of her way into the nearest wall. She paces and fumes and roars.

Finally she spins on her toe to face Winter, who may still be on the floor in his careless way but has surely recovered from the blow by now. "You," she says, "must go to the lion, and tell him that I desire safe conduct to treat with him on a matter of as much importance to him as to me. Go peacefully, I do not mind if you alarm the pitiful creatures who side with him but do not harm them while I seek parley. Do you understand, my Winter?" She bends to crook her first two fingers under his chin to turn his head up for frigid eye contact, inspecting him, thinking furious thoughts to which he's only an accessory. "I think the lion may be unnerved to see you. We will see."

Comments

[jackfrostbite]

Winter rubs his eyes and looks up. His eyelashes are frosted with tears.

His eyes find James - he shivers. Bella - he flinches. Aslan - he cringes away, tearing up all over again.

[neverbeatme]

James holds her breath. She can tell something important is going on in there; she just can't tell what, or why, or how to affect it.

[alicornucopia]

A low, soft growl starts in Aslan's chest.

[jackfrostbite]

With a half-choked sob, he scrambles to his feet and bolts.

[alicornucopia]

Some creatures start forward, but Aslan holds up a paw.

"Let him go. Perhaps in the absence of his Queen he will learn other ways. He was once Adam's Son."

The creatures stop starting.

[neverbeatme]

"I hope so," sighs James.

[alicornucopia]

"Time will tell," advises Aslan. "Now. We have all had a long day, and it is time for tea. I believe there is a certain Rabbit who has been doing a dangerous task for many years now, and perhaps he could be induced to provide his services now. Is he here?"

A rabbit, wearing a cornucopia over his shoulder and neck like a bandolier, creeps forward, and finds a clear spot on the field, and takes the cornucopia off and pours from it a great assortment of food and drink, some far too large to have reasonably come from the mouth of the horn but managing it anyway, and he goes on like this setting up a grand picnic until there is enough of everything for every creature and then he bows before Aslan and to each of the humans.

[deepest_magic]

"Oh, it was you with the cornucopia - you've done such a wonderful job," says Bella earnestly. "Making sure everyone was fed."

[neverbeatme]

"Thank you," James adds, nodding agreement.

[alicornucopia]

The rabbit bows to them again, looking very bashful and fidgeting with the end of one of his long lop ears. "Thank you."

And everyone sits down to eat.

[neverbeatme]

Food. Food is so awesome.

[deepest_magic]

It's so awesome. The cornucopia makes really good food. Bella shares out her candy, which all the creatures find very exotic.

After their picnic, the day is over, and they sleep where they are, and in the morning everyone gets up and travels in a leisurely disorganized company to Cair Paravel, along the riverbank to the sea where the river spills into it, and up into the castle itself, made of alabaster and ivory and hung with peacock feathers and cloth-of-gold. There are four thrones, but Bella and James are ushered to the center pair, where Aslan crowns them King James and Queen Isabella.

King James's crown is a solid golden circlet, peaked at the front but quite high on all sides, decorated with leaves and vines of silver, and Queen Isabella's is like a silver ring of vines tangled together artfully around her head, wrapped in their own golden leaves and flowerbuds. Someone has come up with a few trumpets and these are played to deafening shouts of "Long live King James! Long live Queen Isabella!"

And Aslan says this, when the shouting has quieted enough that anyone could hear him: "Once a King or Queen in Narnia, always a King or Queen. Bear it well, Son and Daughter of Eve!"

And then there is the most tremendous party. There are singing mermaids, there is feasting, there is dancing, there is the honoring of various creatures who have been especially of service - the cornucopia-bearer, Isabella's unicorn, the hound who first caught the scent, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, and a number of others who are remembered and nominated forward for honor by the new King and Queen. The reveling goes on long into the night.

[neverbeatme]

It's a very nice party, and James has a lot of fun. But she doesn't stop being herself while she's at it, so she notices pretty quickly when a few hours have gone by and suddenly Aslan is nowhere to be found.

She doesn't say anything, though. She was half expecting it. They hardly need him anymore now, do they? And he must be a pretty busy lion.

[deepest_magic]

Bella notices too, but though she catches James's eye, she doesn't mention it aloud either. Aslan's the King and probably wouldn't have crowned subsidiary monarchs if he didn't have other things to do.