the rapport between water and sand - for pencildragon11

[nfe-gremlin.livejournal.com]

Title: the rapport between water and sand
Author: kitsuneasika
Recipient: pencildragon11
Rating: G
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: none that I can think of
Summary: Cair Paravel is full of strangers that night, fine men in fine clothing who do not quite belong in these halls usually filled with Talking Beasts and dwarves and all sorts of other Narnians. [Takes place about a month or two after the Pevensies become Kings & Queens of Narnia.]
Author’s Notes: The title was taken from a line from Andrew Zawacki's Credo. This was originally going to feature King Lune and his wife, but the story got away from me. Still, I hope you're satisfied with this, mystery recipient!

The prompts I ended up using were: Lucy being inept at homemaking/sewing/cooking | "We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves" —Goethe | "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength."




the rapport between water and sand

Cair Paravel is full of strangers that night, fine men in fine clothing who do not quite belong in these halls usually filled with Talking Beasts and dwarves and all sorts of other Narnians.

Susan feels awkward and ill at ease. She does not see how she fits here, for all that she's dressed in clothing both more beautiful and more fine than anything she's ever seen, let alone worn. Here, she is surrounded by adults, men and women who have ruled or spoken for their countries for years, and she cannot help but feel the lack of every one of her own years despite it being Aslan himself who declared her fit to rule.

Before, when she had stood in her room and looked at herself in the looking glass, she had felt beautiful, adult, confident, in all ways a Queen of Narnia. Now, she can only smile and hope that the people around her do not see her falter.

Peter does not share her fears, it seems. He speaks to their guests boldly, and what he lacks in dignity he makes up for in confidence. Edmund is quieter, but he is confident in his own way as well, his voice steady and sure when he speaks. As for Lucy—

"Are there not four of you?" one man— an ambassador, she recalls, although she cannot remember the name of his country at the moment— asks her.

"Yes," she says, with all the dignity she can muster. "We have another sister, Queen Lucy. She should be along shortly."

It is then a centaur announces Lucy's arrival. Susan smiles at the ambassador and turns to the entrance, beginning to feel gracious and adult for the first time the entire evening. Wondering where Lucy has been this entire time is only an idle thought.

The smile slips straight off of her face when she sees her. She herself had helped Lucy dress to make certain that she be presentable before she had gone to get prepared herself. Yet Lucy's dress, once a beautiful, airy thing made of some light green cloth neither had recognized, is clearly rumpled, with an odd dark-colored stain around the hem. Tendrils of hair fall wildly from her carefully crafted hair. Lucy takes a step forward, and Susan cringes as the folds straighten out to reveal a sizeable tear.

"Queen Lucy?" the ambassador mutters to his companion in an undertone that Susan thinks that she was not meant to hear. She flushes, bright and hot.

As soon as she can extract herself from the conversation, Susan makes her way to where Lucy is speaking to another one of those men from that country whose name she still can't recall, although she's quite certain it began with a 'C'. She makes their excuses as well as she's able, and pulls Lucy to the side.

"By the Lion, what were you thinking?" Susan asks through her teeth.

Lucy looks up at her, unabashed. "I thought we were supposed to talk to our guests," she replies.

"Not that," Susan says. "What took you so long, and whatever happened to your dress?"

"Oh, that." Lucy checks over her dress for a moment, before shrugging and looking back up at her. "I only wanted to go visit some friends in the forest; I didn't mean to take so long. I know I got my dress a little dirty, but is it really so bad as that?"

"Your dress is torn and wrinkled! And what is that awful stain?" Susan exclaims, her voice pitched low. She can imagine that she feels the stares boring into the back of her neck, but when she glances back over the room, most of the attention of the various ambassadors and rulers seem to be directed towards Peter and Edmund, not she and Lucy. She catches a few curious glances, but they are just that— glances.

"Tree sap," Lucy says, as though it were self-explanatory, and Susan's attention snaps straight back to her sister.

"Tree sap?" Susan echoes, half in disbelief.

At least this time Lucy has the decency to blush. "Well, I ripped my dress when I was getting down from a tree, and a nice dryad offered, and I thought that since it was sticky that it might work like glue..."

"Glue," Susan repeats, her voice flattening. "Lucy, you mend tears with needles and thread, if anything. You don't glue them together and you most certainly do not smear them with tree sap!"

All traces of embarrassment are gone now. Lucy lifts her chin. "I don't see why you're so bothered," she says, stubborn. "We can always wash it, and it's not like this is my only dress." In her eyes Susan can see the queen Aslan saw, the girl who hid besides her and mourned as they watched Aslan die, who went up to the wounded and dying after that awful battle and healed them without flinching.

The queen that no one around them can see, hidden as she is by a ruined dress and the baby fat of her cheeks.

Susan lets out a breath, her irritation gone as if it had never been. "Because you're a Queen of Narnia now, Lu," she says, her voice gentle. "We have to make these people here believe that."

Lucy blinks up at her, eyelashes dark against rosy cheeks. "Why would that matter?" she asks. "We are Kings and Queens of Narnia. Aslan said so and Aslan crowned us, and nothing that anyone here thinks will ever change that."

Susan's breath catches like a frog in her throat. It does not seem as though it could truly be so simple, but Lucy's words ring of conviction. She cannot help but think of Peter and Edmund, both just as confident in their own ways and just as incomprehensible to her. Is it really so simple?

She recalls, just for a moment, Aslan's breath, hot against her face, and how his fur felt, entwined in her fingers.

"You're right," she says softly, and if Lucy hears the wonder in her voice, she does not take offense.

It really is that simple.

Susan smiles, offering her hand. "Come. We have kings and queens to charm."

Lucy takes her hand with a delighted laugh, and together they step forward, bright and confident and beautiful.

Original Prompt that we sent you: What I want: Any or all of:
- Lune/Susan
- Narnia before the Winter
- Telmarine Narnia before Miraz
- what was the "poor little kangaroo" doing in the Witch's house?
- Swanwhite's reign as a sort of pre-Golden-Age golden age
- Jadis playing off of the legend of Swanwhite to gain power
- courtly speech,
- British Schoolchildren being Awesome,
- Lucy and a dragon
- Lucy being inept at homemaking/sewing/cooking--perhaps using glue to hold up the hem of a dress.
- Susan and Corin
- Susan and Mrs. Lune
- Caspian and Ramandu's Daughter
- Marshwiggles.

Prompt words/objects/quotes/whatever: Any or all:
- magic, wonder, idyll, adventure, knights-errant, quiet love, feasts and hunts and dances,
- "She walks in beauty, like the night."
- "These are the generations. . . . "
- "Peace hath her victories / No less renowned than war," (Milton).
- "Peredur stood and likened the exceeding blackness of the raven, and the whiteness of the snow, and the redness of the blood, to the hair of the woman he loved best, which was black as jet, and her flesh to the whiteness of the snow, and the redness of the blood in the white snow to the two red spots in the cheeks of the woman he loved best," (Culhwch and Olwen).
- "We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves," (Goethe).
- "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength."
- "'Marilla,' she demanded presently, 'do you think I shall ever have a bosom friend in Avonlea?'" (Anne Shirley).
- "Here, it is different. Here, one cannot kiss the princess until one has broken the enchantment."
- "However," [Eeyore] said, brightening up a little, "we haven't had an earthquake lately," (Milne).
- "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid."

Comments

[elfgirljen.livejournal.com]

Oh I loved this

[canttakeabreath.livejournal.com]

oh this was lovely--the difference between susan and lucy--so well done. especially:

Susan lets out a breath, her irritation gone as if it had never been. "Because you're a Queen of Narnia now, Lu," she says, her voice gentle. "We have to make these people here believe that."

Lucy blinks up at her, eyelashes dark against rosy cheeks. "Why would that matter?" she asks. "We are Kings and Queens of Narnia. Aslan said so and Aslan crowned us, and nothing that anyone here thinks will ever change that."

♥ thank you for sharing!

[ilysia-039.livejournal.com]

Very nice! I quite like the contrast you show between the way Susan and Lucy look at being queens, though I can't help but wonder if Lucy's not being a little harsh on Susan- if Susan may not be at least partially in the right. All the same, Lucy's approach to Narnian queenship works well here.

[hutchynstarsk.livejournal.com]

This is lovely! :D I like how you wrote the girls, and the party, and how they are who they are however they look.

[edenfalling]

I really like how you show the differences between Susan and Lucy, and how they love and care for each other despite their disagreements. I'm glad Lucy was able to share her confidence with Susan (though I can't help thinking Susan also has a point -- it's wonderful to be so sure of who you are, but it's an awful lot easier to finesse the rest of the world than to charge headfirst against people's assumptions).

[snacky]

Aw, this was very sweet! I liked how Susan felt ill-at-ease, and then when Lucy showed up, all a mess, she was worried even more, but in the end, it was Lucy that gave her the confidence to remember that they were both Narnia's Queens, by Aslan's command.

[lauraandrews.livejournal.com]

Awww, what a sweet little fic :D It's rather hilarious that not only would Lucy think that /tree sap/ would fix her dress, but that a dryad would as well. I do like how Lucy isn't about impressing people and that she's just confident that she is a queen because Aslan made her one. Good job :D

(Though I do agree that Lucy may have been a tad harsh on Susan; I'm a Susan myself in some ways :D But I still liked the story a lot!)

[pencildragon11.livejournal.com]

What a delight, to come back from a weekend away and find this little tale waiting for me. It's darling.

The prompt was born way back in January when I was fitting a ball gown and wondered aloud if the duct tape stains would come out of the hem (I actually went to a ball a year and a half ago with the hem of my gown taped up. Red duct tape.) WillowDryad and I bounced the idea back and forth, and decided that there was a story in there, about Lucy, her ineptitude at sewing, and the time she went to a ball with the hem of her gown glued up. I never got around to writing it, dropped it in the prompts--just for grins--and you ran with it. Tree sap? TREE SAP?! YOU WIN.

I love how you worked in all the tension with these four school-children who were handed a throne and left to sort out all the international politics, with all these foreign kings and queens who were humans and ever so much older than the children. And Susan's feeling the stress, while Lucy's content to play among the Dryads and patch her dress together as best she can. It's lovely.

*huggles story* Just what I wanted! Thank you!

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

This is a delightful story, about both Lucy and Susan and the young leading the elder and the elder trying so very hard to be perfect. Susan and Lucy are both right in their own ways. Susan's finesse and diplomatic skills are important but Lucy shall always be Lucy and tree sap for mending is a terrific and wonderful idea. A delightful story that I enjoyed very much. Thank you!

[the_rck]

Very nice! I liked the sibling dynamics and that both sisters were right in a way.

Thanks for writing!

[lady_songsmith]

Oh, that is lovely, and rather true -- people do respond to your own self-confidence. Or in other words, fake it til you make it! :D

[aurilly.livejournal.com]

This was really lovely. I adored Lucy's innocence and the way Susan is practical but still incredibly sweet. You made her have realistic, worldly reactions but not in a way that made it seem like that was 'bad'. Bravo!

[linneasr.livejournal.com]

Lovely! I very much appreciate how you capture both Susan and Lucy: Susan at that horribly self-conscious moment of puberty, when whatever anyone else things matters so much, and Lucy, still the girl, still having only one way of looking at things that is totally heart-centred and pure. Thank you!

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

Oh, this was great! What a good way to mark their differences.