[Fic] "As through a Glass, with Joy" -- Chronicles of Narnia

[edenfalling]

Summary: When the Dawn Treader turned and began rowing west, Caspian thought he would never recover from the piercing sweetness of the uttermost East. (325 words)

[ETA: The AO3 crosspost is now up!]

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As through a Glass, with Joy
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When the Dawn Treader turned and began rowing west, Caspian thought he would never recover from the piercing sweetness of the uttermost East. He would go home to Narnia and rule as wisely and well as he could: would defend her borders, judge her quarrels, bind her many fractious peoples together into a new and stronger whole. But he would never again be whole himself, for he had seen the stars that shone beyond the walls of the world in Aslan's Country, seen the shining wave tumbling for ever into the unknown. And who could return to normal life from that?

But as they rowed west, back through the carpet of lilies to the open sea, the light and the memory of light began to fade. Soon the water grew salt once more, and his limbs remembered tiredness, and he could no longer stare into the heart of the sun. In his mind and heart, the green hills and winding rivers of Narnia took shape once more, unhidden by the glare of eternity.

Caspian had thought returning to life would be a struggle, would be a weary war he would fight for all his remaining days. But to his surprise, life was sweet.

"It is ever so, with those who draw close to the other world," said the Lady Tarazeth when the ship returned to her father's island. "We are made of flesh and bone as well as spirit, and the call of this world to the body is strong. And it is meet and fitting that it should be so, for life is a joyous gift, one which would be great folly to cast aside as dust and ashes."

"As you say, my lady," Caspian said as they walked together along the heathery shore. "Now that the enchantments are broken, I would dare to ask if you might share that gift with me, in the country I call home."

The Lady Tarazeth placed her hand in his, and smiled.

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Inspired by the 9/14/14 15_minute_ficlets word #203: struggle

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That was not remotely what I expected to write for that word, nor was it an area of canon I ever thought I'd deal with, but hey, I'll take it. *wry* I picked this name for Ramandu's daughter years ago, when I had a notion to write a story in which the Lady of the Green Kirtle conspired with Queen Prunaprismia to conquer Narnia while Caspian was away on his voyage, but I never had any reason to use it until now.

Comments

[branchandroot]

It's awfully sweet, though, and a point that really needs addressing. I mean, how /do/ you come back from whatever kind of Heaven without going nuts?

[edenfalling]

Yay, I managed sweetness! :-)

And yeah, I did always wonder about that a bit. I can handwave the issue for Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace -- they get magically carried back to their own world, and that kind of passage does seem to have "reset" effects in most of the books -- but Caspian and his crew are another question. They've spent the entire story traveling into the numinous, but you can't stay on that border and if you're not going to cross over, how DO you go back?

[rthstewart]

I really like how you try to deal with the issue of what must be Caspian's enduring sadness. There is so much loss in his life. I adore the idea of LotGK and Prunasprismia conspiring. Whoa. That's all kinds of awesome.

[edenfalling]

Thank you! Yeah, Caspian's life is... well, it was probably pretty good for a few decades in the middle, but it starts off badly and then he has a decade or two of terrible grief at the end (depending on how long one thinks Rilian's imprisonment was, which I suppose depends on whether one thinks the LotGK kept him from ageing along with her other enchantments). But I think he would have been happier NOT bound to Narnia. As Corin said, it's princes who have all the fun. Kings have duty instead, and that's not a good mix with a person who really just wants to be out exploring the entire world.

I was going to write that Prunaprismia & LotGK fic for Femgenficathon in, I dunno, 2010? 2011? A while ago. It never got past the opening scene, with Prunaprismia stewing in the small regional castle in which Caspian had politely placed her under house arrest. I do think about it sometimes, though, and maybe someday...

[autumnia]

I love your take on how Caspian learns to adjust back to the mundane and mortal ways of the world after his experiences through the Silver Sea. It would definitely not be easy, especially since he also had to say farewell to such dear friends there.

[edenfalling]

Thank you!

Yeah, Lewis is... not the greatest at dealing with the implications of his endings, shall we say? I mean, VDT is one of my gold standards for how to write a "journey into the numinous" story, but the return to the everyday world is equally important (except for Reepicheep, obviously), and he has no apparent interest in the "and back again" part. (That is one point where I absolutely think Tolkien did things better, as opposed to just doing things differently.)

[hungrytiger11.livejournal.com]

Delightful!

[edenfalling]

Thank you!