[...or maybe you're in ours...]

[whynot]

penknife's doing a TV Tropes Wiki challenge, guys, for both fic and meta. SIGN UP DO IIIIIIIIIIT. Also, I have so many fics to rec to you all! But first, here is mine!

Also, where is all the Glozelle fic? My 'glorified cameos' interest has never felt so plain to me until now.

Anyway.

Try this year, too/To live alone in the long summer
Chronicles of Narnia. Edmund, Lucy, Caspian, Peter. No sex or violence at all. Title is from 'Do Not Accept' by Yehuda Amichai. Much thanks to boogalooed for the beta.
On the way to Aslan's How.


When Caspian returns the sword to Peter, Edmund glances at his sisters to see if they’ve also noticed that things will not go so smoothly after all. Lucy is still beaming at the sight of the Old Narnians, and Susan is avoiding Caspian’s gaze. Peter gives Caspian one more sulky look before they all, man and beast, continue through the forest as one. Sort of.

On their way, the Pevensies are besieged on all sides by questions, some excited, some angry, some merely curious. Where did they go? What have they been doing? Why hadn’t they said goodbye? Et cetera. Their answers aren’t satisfactory, but true Narnians are nothing if not faithful. Edmund knew they would still fight under the banner of their Kings and Queens of old, but perhaps now their faith is tempered by - if not worry - then wariness. Except Reepicheep, of course, who reminds him of Peter, though he can’t decide whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.

That night, Edmund returns from sentry duty and finds Caspian and Lucy talking softly as they sit against a great oak tree.

Lucy says, “Ed, is that you?” and Edmund puts a finger up to his lips: shh.

He squats before them so he is level with their faces. “Why aren’t you two in bed?”

“I’ve got the watch in a bit,” Lucy replies. “Oh, Edmund, Caspian has been telling me some wonderful stories!”

“About what?”

“About ourselves!”

Edmund chuckles despite himself. “Weird.”

“My professor has told me many stories of Old Narnia,” says Caspian. In the dark, Edmund can’t see his expression. “They’re wondrous stories too, because they seem to me of another world, bound by another kind of law. And yet here you are, in my world.”

“Or maybe you’re in ours,” says Lucy.

“What kind of law,” Caspian begins hesitantly, “do you think we are meant to follow now, now that the two worlds are one?”

Edmund ignores the question. “So, what stories have you heard about us?”

Caspian chuckles. “I wouldn’t know where to begin.”

“What’s your favorite?” Edmund asks, getting into the spirit of things. “Go on, then.”

“Watch that your head doesn’t inflate and float away, Ed,” says Lucy, not without a touch of amusement.

“You’re one to talk, bothering this one for stories about you in the middle of the night.”

“Excuse me, but what do you think you’re doing right now?” she demands.

In a diplomatic move befitting someone of his rank, Caspian changes the subject. “My professor talked often of you, Queen Lucy. He commends your faith. Your sister was just telling me this afternoon that you have already seen Aslan.”

“Not that anyone believed me at first,” Lucy grumbles.

“Where did you see him?” Caspian asks.

“On a cliff, where we used to be able to cross the river. And I saw him once in a dream.”

“What was he like?” Edmund asks, for the opportunity has never come up for him to ask her. “What did he say to you?”

“He was big,” Lucy replies, and her whisper is full of wonder. “Really big, bigger than the last time we saw him. And he was so golden. He said everything grows. He said–”

“Hey.”

All three look up: Peter stands over them, returned from sentry duty. They all scrabble to their feet, and Edmund wonders how long his brother has been standing there, hidden by the shadows.

Peter says, “The next round of sentries have already stationed themselves. Lucy, aren’t you supposed to be with them?”

“Yes, I’m–”

“Well, hurry up, then,” he snaps. “Just because Aslan’s watching over you, doesn’t mean he’s watching all the rest of us.”

Caspian starts, “Your Highness, I–”

“You should be asleep,” Peter interrupts, and looks at Edmund. “Both of you.”

Lucy calmly slings her bow around her shoulders and says to her brother, “You know, this is probably why you haven’t seen Aslan yet.”

And she walks off into the woods.

There appears to be hesitation in Caspian’s form, but he nods his head stiffly at Peter. “Your Highness,” he says, and also leaves.

Edmund doesn’t say anything, because he doesn’t usually have anything to say when Peter gets like this. Susan can calm him sometimes, but she’s asleep, so Edmund just walks away. When he thinks Peter isn’t looking anymore, he glances over his shoulder and sees his brother still standing in the same place, shoulders drooped, leaning against the oak tree.

Edmund settles himself between a Wolf and a Leopard, and in the few seconds before sleep claims him he sees his brother disappearing once more into the forest.





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