Lily had been raised to never question what would come next. Being a general in the Narnian army exposed her to the caprice of the world and left her without a hope for good. She was on the front of so many battles in a war against slavery that she was hardened, she felt like a shell of a human being. King Peter had entrusted her to win this war and that she would even if it killed her. She was not going to let the five Kings and Queens down even if it meant her soul burning down to ash, with nothing left all to be blown away in the wind.
Smoke wafted through the air as the Narnians retreated. Lily was in the middle of the mess ordering the retreat, she knew a loss when she saw one. The enemy may be exhausted and sick but they still outnumbered the Nanians.
“Fall back,” she shouted atop her horse as the arrows continued to rain down around her. She maneuvered between the armies and ordered her troops away. Her only thought was to keep as many of her people alive, so they all could go home.
“General!” a fawn shouted to her, “the dwarves! They’re still rushing on the enemy,” she followed his outstretched index finger to find it true.
She muttered a few curses under her breath as a cannonball landed a few feet away from them. “Get everyone else out of here, get them back to the castle! If I don’t get out, tell their majesties what we saw here. The war has reached its resolution,” she shouted before tuning he hose and galloping back into the action.
Atop the hill Orieus, Trumpkin, and the fawn watched in horror as their leader ordered the dwarves to retreat. She slashed at an enemy who went for her horse. The horse reared in anxiety, then, as if in slow motion, the three watched an arrow pierce though her lower abdomen. She groaned in pain as the momentum knocked Lily off her horse and onto the ground, unconscious.
“Orieus, go,” the dwarf commanded the centaur to go after their fearless leader. He took off, grabbing Lily and darting out of the battlefield, towards the castle with most of their army, thanks to her.
At the castle, the kings and queens grew impatient to hear from the front, Peter especially as he yearned to be out there with Lily in battle. They were the ones who had put their heads together for war strategies. Upon the announcement of the army’s arrival, they all took off from the throne room to greet them. Their faces turned to ones of confusion upon seeing the army’s somber face.
“What happened?” Lucy asked the three who watched General Lily Anatole tango with death.
“While sick and weak, their numbers are still greater than ours, majesties,” the fawn answered.
“Why didn’t Anatole order a retreat?” asked Edmund.
The centaur looked up at the five of them, “she did, she went back for more troops.”
“Why isn't she answering any of these questions?” Peter demanded.
Trumpkin looked up at them and then sidestepped for the centaur that stepped forward carrying her body.
“My God,” Susan gasped.
“Is she...” Caspian trailed off.
“No,” Orieus looked down at her, “just unconscious but, extremely injured.“
“Take her to the medical wing,” Peter ordered a female centaur. “You three,” he gestured to the fawn, centaur, and dwarf, “with us.”
“Peter,” Susan warned.
“I want to know what happened for our best general to be taken out like that,” he snapped, storming inside.
Lucy and Susan took turns tending to Lily’s wellbeing. The wound itself had gone deep, but, thankfully, did not hit any major areas. She had been knocked unconscious by the hard fall to the ground which resulted in a concussion. What few people knew was when Peter would sneak in in the early hours of the morning to watch over, sometimes reading to her, other times just holding he hand, in hopes she would wake up soon.
When Lily did wake, she was greeted by white and the familiar, identifiable smell of the medical wing. Her head felt as if it had been split in two, she had to blink several times to regain her bearings and adjust to her surroundings.
“Good afternoon,” Lucy greeted with a smile.
Lily tried to speak only to find her voice hoarse from lack of use, “your majesty,” she managed out.
“Lucy is fine,” she grinned as the door opened and closed behind them, “you took quite a hit. How are you feeling?”
“Been better,” Lily shrugged, “not the worst thing to happen to me though.”
“Good,” Peter announced his presence to the girls, whose heads turned, “you can be back in the battle soon then.”
Lily sputtered for a moment before nodding, “yes your majesty.”
“Peter,” Lucy shot up from Lily’s bed, “she nearly just died saving you army.”
“Generals,” Lily broke in, “they’re supposed to do everything they can to save as many people as they can. But, with all frankness your majesties, as large as the opposing army may be, many of them were ready to drop. They are sick and ready to return home to their families. If I may be so bold, I daresay a treaty may not be an entirely bad idea. Their army, just like ours, is made up of people and creatures who are ready to go home.”
“And answer me this,” Peter towered over her, “when did you learn so much about politics?”
“Enough, Peter,” Lucy snapped, checking her brother, “she’s seen their country, she can be very useful in the negotiation process.”
Lily looked between sister and a changed brother who were locked in a silent battle. A few moments passed before Peter cracked and looked back to Lily, “very well,” he conceded.
On the week the treaty was signed, Lily took her first venture outside since her injury. She was walking with Lucy and Susan in the castle grotto, smiling as the friends talked about anything but the horrors Lily has seen on the front. She was grateful to be treated as a normal human. Her normally tied back hair had been let down into loose waves and her armor had been traded in for a marigold dress with lace sleeves falling down her arms.
“Do you remember anything from the medical wing? You were there quite a long time, you could have had a spark of consciousness,” Susan asked curiously.
“I remember someone reading,” Lily’s eyebrows furrowed, “from what I remembered it was a wonderful story, but I can’t remember who was reading it to me for the life of me.”
As Lily shared what she remembered from the book, Susan and Lucy shared a knowing look. “What?” the general asked.
“I think you should go to the library,” Lucy suggested with a coy smile, “I think someone there could help you find what you’re looking for.”
Edmund, Peter, and Caspian sat in the library, each in his own world until the door opened to reveal Lily. They all took in her changed appearance, she had looked more delicate than any of them had seen her in a long time.
“Oh,” she flushed under their gaze as Peter stood, “I apologize. I’ll just-”
“Nonsense,” Peter cut her off with a familiar gentle smile, “what is it you need, Lily?”
“Lucy and Susan suggested I pay the library a visit to try and find a book that was read to me while I was on bedrest,” she replied with a kind smile.
“Let me show you around,” Peter offered his arm in his old ways shining through again, she took it gladly.
Once they were out of earshot Ed whispered to Caspian, “did you see that?”
“There’s something going on there,” Caspian whispered back.
Peter led her directly to where he left the book last and handed it to her. “It was you?” she smiled with a small laugh.
“It’s one of my favorites,” he grinned sheepishly.
And in that instance, all of Lily and Peter’s old feelings returned as their hands brushed in the passing of the book. Their eyes locked as sparks coursed through the both of them. Lily was the first to look away as a blush crept up her neck.
“You have...” Peter trailed off brushing hair out of her face and tucking it behind he ear. The sparks returned as his hand passed over her cheek.
“Thank you,” she whispered with a short curtsey and walked out of the library.
The three stared at the door where Lily had just exited. “Wow,” Ed whistled as Peter stood frozen
“There is something there,” Caspian grinned.
“She is something wonderful,” Peter grinned to himself.
“Lily,” Susan scoffed, “do you honestly think we want you to leave?”
“I’m a general, not a princess. I don't belong here.”
“Where will you go?” the queen asked. “Your home was burned to the ground.”
“I don't know. Susan, you all have been very hospitable, but as one war ends another begins. I don’t have time to be comfortable,” Lily sighed looking out the window.
“What about him? You may not see it, but you changed him back to his old self,” Susan reached for her hand. “You have put a bright, sparkling light in his life and you’re going to leave?”
“I’m his general. A general with no prospects. My home is gone, my family is dead, I have nothing to offer.”
“What about love? Lily, I’ve seen the way the two of you look at each other dinners when you think the other isn't looking. You two love each other,” Susan cocked her head to the side. “Isn’t that enough?”
Before Lily could reply, the door burst open with Peter entering the room. “General Anatole,” Peter greeted formally, “might I have a private audience with you in the garden?”
As much as she wanted to refuse him because her head screamed against it, a smiled played on her lips, “who am I to refuse the high king?”
As the birds chirped in the oak trees, and the wind rustled the flowering berry bushes, Lily and Peter walked side by side in the garden. They laughed as they conversed like the old friends they were when Peter stopped and looked her dead in the eyes.
“What? What is it?” she softly smiled.
“Just,” he brushed her windblown hair behind her ear. “You‘re so beautiful,” he whispered to her.
“Peter-”
“Lucy mentioned you leaving. Please don’t. Stay here, with us, with me. I realize last time we did this I sent you to war, but you don't have to be a general, you can be the lady you were destined to be. You can join the court. Lily, you have made me feel more like myself than I have in a long time. Please, stay,” he begged.
It was then Lily began fighting her own war, it was a Civil War against her heart and her head. One telling her to stay, the other to run. But, when she leapt into his arms it became clear which one had won out. “I had wanted you to say that since you sent me away.”
“I sent you away to war because I was afraid. But now, I don't want you to leave my side,” he smiled before connecting their lips.
Buscamos a Edmund Pevensie y a Eustace Scrubb para trama de Narnia. Susan, Peter, Lucy y Caspian están ya en un tema de rol en que necesitarían a ambos, principalmente al primero, para estar todos los hermanos.
Si estás interesado en encarnar al Rey Edmund, el Justo, pasa por nuestro foro o por la búsqueda de la Reina Susan, y solicítalo, o ponte en la piel del mimado primo de los Pevensie, Eustace, en su primer viaje a Narnia, que podría cambiar su vida y su visión del mundo.
“And ya got the gall to complain about the noise the bugs make--?” the then-thirteen Elian asks, once more walking through the Deep Woods. The mud and blood have now been cleaned off him, his wounds healed, and the cut on his left cheek healed over into a scar still present on the adult Elian.
But this time, he’s not alone on his excursion, as Nania interrupts his ranting. “It’s piercing-- c’mon, Elian-- and c’mon, it’s my first time outside the city. This is all really new to me. It’s exciting.”
They both pause, looking up at the sun filtering through the tree branches.
“S’true,” Elian concedes. “Barely anyone goes into the woods, but there’s a reason for that, y’know.”
