Into Telmar - for bedlamsbard

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Title: Into Telmar
Author: tantella (Avia Tantella Scott)
Recipient: bedlamsbard
Rating: K+
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: None
Summary: The origin of Telmar, as seen through the eyes of a particularly grumpy pirate suffering the effects of too little palm wine, as well as one of the first children.
Author's Notes: This was originally to be a short piece largely focused on pirates and palm wine, but the decision to add an epilogue prompted the whole story to run away from me. I hope you enjoy it! Elements in Part II are heavily borrowed from Avia Tantella Scott's "What the Elephants Forgot."

Into Telmar

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"Many years ago in that world, in a deep sea of that world which is called the South Sea, a shipload of pirates was driven by storm onto an island. And there they did as pirates would; killed the natives and took the native women for wives, and made palm wine, and drank and were drunk, and lay in the shade of the palm trees, and woke up and quarreled, and sometimes killed one another. And in one of these frays six were put to flight by the rest and fled with their women into the center of the island and up a mountain, and went, as they thought, into a cave to hide. But it was one of the magical places of that world, one of the chinks or chasms between that world and this… And so they fell, or rose, or blundered, or dropped right through, and found themselves in this world, in the Land of Telmar which was then unpeopled." – Aslan, Prince Caspian, p. 217

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PART ONE

The sun was bright and oppressive, but it was always bright and oppressive here. The white sand certainly didn't help much - it was scorching hot if he moved his feet and stung his eyes when the sunlight reflected off its surface - but it was sure as hell better out here on the beach than in that stifling jungle. Here, there was a breeze, at least, and the crashing waves that made Ned long for the open sea. Even after five months stuck on this island, he couldn't stand how still it was in there. He also couldn't understand how Alohilani could love it so much, but that was the sailor in him talking.

He congratulated himself again on remembering her name properly. The girls here had so many syllables to keep track of. It had taken him at least a week to realize that those sounds were supposed to be her name, and a few more to figure out how to pronounce it himself in a way that didn't make her and the girls around her erupt into giggles.

From his left, he heard a shout, followed by a louder retort. They were fighting again.

Since the wreck, relations had been strained amongst the crew. They had stuck together as a fighting force long enough to deal with the hostile savages who had been so very unwelcoming to the bedraggled and half-drowned men of fortune, but the camaraderie ended abruptly when the last native man of fighting age had been run through. Everyone, it seemed, had someone to blame for the loss of the good Celestina, though Ned reasoned that it was the cyclone, more than any bad orders or badly-tied rigging, that had caused her to smash her hull to smithereens on the submerged rocks that protected this bay. She was of little use to them now, half-sunk a half-league out to see, and fate had marooned them all on this godforsaken island with only their irritable, ragged selves and a few quiet and wary native women and children for company.

At least there were women. After the men had been killed, the women were largely divided up among the twenty-seven crewmen who had survived the wreck. Some went willingly, competing amongst themselves for the handsomest or strongest pirates, while others were claimed by force or somehow found themselves attached to one sailor or another eventually. Ned had won Alohilani, or rather the right to woo her, such as he could, from the bosun in a lucky hand of cards. She was pretty enough, quiet and sweet, and he tried his best to be good to her. They still couldn't communicate much in the verbal sense, but he had to admit it was a nice change having a woman sharing his makeshift bed in place of the two dozen snoring, smelly men with whom he'd shared sleeping quarters aboard the Celestina.

At least she didn't come with any children. No one had exactly been looking to become a father overnight, but at times it came with the territory. Jon, who used to man the crow's nest and had been the most light-footed of them all up in the rigging, had taken to a woman whom he later found out was mother to two boys. He hadn't been able to rid himself of her after, but to ease the shock of being a new father Jon had acquired a second wife, a pretty girl who couldn't have been more than seventeen.

Ned reached for the bottle to his side, a cloudy glass container with a half-broken neck that had washed up on shore a couple of days after he had. He had to be careful when taking a swig of the palm wine lest he cut his lip (again), but the bottle served its purpose. He was thankful every day for the wine these natives made; it wasn't ale, but, like the bottle, it served Ned's needs well enough.

The shouting was growing louder, and Ned was hoping that he could drown it out with a combination of a drunken stupor and the crashing waves. He'd had enough fighting, at least amongst the former crew of the Celestina. Regardless of whose fault their predicament was or who was to blame in any number of the quarrels that erupted daily amongst the crew, they were all stuck here now and Ned supposed they might as well learn to live with it. He just hoped he wouldn't have to dig another grave today.

It would be nice when the bullets ran out. Not like there was much hunting to be done, anyway.

He took another swig, cursing aloud when he nicked his lip on the sharp edge of the bottle's broken mouth. That wouldn't have hurt as much if he had been as drunk as he wanted to be. He poured another long swig into his mouth, taking care to avoid touching any part of the glass. The sweet wine was embittered by the metallic taste of blood.

The first shot almost made him jump, a sudden crack that cut through the sound of the breeze and the surf. Another swig of wine immediately preceded a second shot.

I need to start drinking faster.

There were more shouts now, and a woman was wailing. Ned cast a casual glance over his left shoulder and caught sight of the rabble. He couldn't make out much of what was going on; it was all milling bodies too far away to distinguish, and at any rate the sun was making him half-blind. He was about to turn back to the surf when he saw a small group break apart from the larger crowd and sprint toward him.

A few gunshots followed them, as well as some more members of the rabble and a seemingly slower pace. Ned was just beginning to contemplate whether he should move out of the way – the last thing he needed was the fight to come to him – when the little fleeing group began to splinter apart. Some dashed headlong into the jungle, while others reached the makeshift camp and began to hurriedly gather items. There were a few native women scattered amongst the crewmen, Ned noticed, and one was shrieking words he didn't understand. It must have been names, because soon enough a couple of children came crashing out of the surf where they had been playing. It was then that Ned recognized the shrieking woman as the elder of Jon's wives. She frantically gestured the children to her and hurried them off into the jungle, following the rest of the fleeing group.

"Nid! Nid!"

He didn't see or hear Alohilani until she was almost directly in front of him, but something about her wild eyes and breathless calling of his heavily-accented name brought him to his feet.

"Nid!" she cried, and immediately reached out and grabbed him by the wrist. Unfortunately, it was the same wrist whose hand was grasping his wine bottle, and the fervor of her action brought palm wine sloshing out to drench his boot. "Nid!" And then she babbled something in that language that he infuriatingly still couldn't understand, all the while pulling on his arm like she wanted to drag him into the forest.

"What is it?" he demanded, glancing beyond her to the melee on the beach. Ned could make out the captain now; his face was cold and hard, and he strode at the forefront of the larger group. His rifle was at the ready, and trained first on one of the fleeing pirates and then another.

"Kiele!" Alohilani repeated in distress, gesturing wildly with her free hand toward the pirates and their women who were ransacking the camp and disappearing into the jungle. He vaguely was able to match the name with a girl's face. Wasn't she Alohilani's sister? At least a cousin… Someone important, and wasn't she the one that had taken up with Hawkins…? His native wife continued babbling frantic words that he couldn't hope to understand.

Ned found himself being pulled, step by confused step, toward the camp. He saw Hawkins, fingers flying as he tied up a rucksack, with the woman that Ned assumed was Kiele pulling on his arm and screaming as she watched the captain's posse coming closer.

"Hawkins!" Ned barked, looking for some sort of explanation.

The man's head shot up, and he met Ned's eyes. "Cap'n's gone crazy, Ned. I didn't see the start of it, but the cap'n's aimin' to put an end to it. All of it. Already got ol' Jack, and Rob's shot clean through the gut. A few of us're bein' chased out, and it looks like yore woman wants you t'come along."

Kiele and Alohilani were holding each other, rambling in their native tongue and shooting frightened looks over their shoulders at the advancing mob.

"Y'comin'?" Hawkins asked quickly, straightening and tossing the rucksack over his shoulder and knife in what was left of his belt. He gestured to Kiele, who came to him, dragging Alohilani by the hand. Alohilani's eyes were pleading, and she again called his name.

Ned thought about the beach, with its sunshine and cool breeze, and he thought about trekking miles through the still, thick air of that awful jungle. He thought about snakes and giant insects and the chance of missing a rescue, if by some miracle one ever came. There probably wasn't much chance to go back after leaving; the captain's face was pretty clear on that.

It was her eyes that won him over in the end. He could follow those eyes, find a cool cave somewhere and spend his days in the company of his woman and maybe a few others, or he could spend the unknown months they'd be awaiting rescue drinking to drown out the squabbles of so many hot-tempered men. Ned discovered that his hesitations had vanished.

It wasn't love, but it was close enough. He nicked a chipped dagger from someone's effects and followed Hawkins and the women into the jungle.

o0o

There were fifteen of them in all: six former men of fortune, six women, and three children ranging in age from seven or so to a babe in his mother's arms. Jon was there, with his two wives and new sons; and Hawkins with Kiele; Old Walter and his quiet, much-younger woman (was her name Ahonui?) and her baby girl; the repulsive master gunner appropriately called Fat Ben, who had yet to find a woman willing to warm his sandy bed; and Cass, whose girl was already showing tell-tale signs of pregnancy. They made a rag-tag crew, but aside from Ben, Ned didn't mind their company much.

He did, however, mind the jungle. The sun was high, not that you'd know it from the way the trees almost completely obscured the light of day, but it was hot enough to be midday. Sweat poured off his body, and the air was thick with humidity and hard to breathe. The elder of Jon's wives was leading the way; Ned hoped she knew where she was going. The rigger had a better ear for languages than Ned did, and supposedly he understood from his woman that she was leading them to a cave that would offer a certain amount of protection, should the captain change his mind about their exile and decide to rid himself of their neighborly presence.

Alohilani walked by his side, seemingly unaffected by the stifling heat. He wondered at what it would have been like to grow up in a place like this, rather than a boatbuilder's shack beside a stinking canal as he had. She seemed content enough, and he realized that she also hadn't seen as much of the world as he had in all his years as a sailor. He'd spent almost as much of his life on the water as he had on dry land.

Looking around and trying to ignore the heat for a moment, he was able to reluctantly admit to himself that there was a kind of beauty to the forest. I suppose I ought to get used to it, he thought. Unless there's another beach waiting near that cave, this is home now.

Fleetingly, he wondered if the women they'd brought with them knew the secret to making palm wine. His bottle had long ago run dry. Jungle hiking was a thirsty business.

They had been following a little stream for a while now, and Ned noticed that the ground had begun to slope upward. He found himself at the base of one of the mountains that formed the island's backbone. He and some of the crew had wondered if the mountains weren't old volcanoes, as they were roughly conical in shape and the native people seemed to have a particular fascination with fire. The rounded tops were all grown over with trees and vegetation, though, so if it was a volcano they were beginning to climb, it had long ago fallen dormant.

Malana, as he had learned the elder of Jon's wives was called, continued to lead them as the incline grew steeper. Her oldest boy walked slightly before her, following his mother's occasional direction and helping to clear the way with a native machete that seemed far too big and heavy for his seven-year-old frame. Nevertheless, he wielded it as if he'd been born doing so, and Ned found himself wondering which of the natives they'd killed five months ago had taught the boy to use it. Ned sometimes forgot that the women and children who had become such a fixture in his and his crewmates' lives had once had other men in theirs.

The going became harder as their path became steeper, and even the women who had chattered amongst themselves in the beginning had fallen silent hours ago. The only noise now came from the jungle around them, Ahonui's fussy baby, and the gurgling stream, which was tumbling over rocks and mud in a series of little waterfalls down the mountain's slope. It was slippery, and treading on the wrong spot of wet, muddy leaves could send you to your knees as your feet went backward under you. The sailors, of course, had a harder time of it; Fat Ben was brown from head to boot from where he'd come crashing down like a great felled tree on more than one occasion.

Malana's younger boy skipped along with the boundless energy and sure-footedness of a child of four, and Ned found himself shooting the child a glare as once again he had to put out his muddy hands to break a fall.

They ate as they walked from the fruits and roots that the women foraged along the way, all of it welcome but none of it particularly filling. Perhaps here, Ned hoped, deep in the jungle and away from the human noise of the beach, they might be able to someday find something to hunt.

By late afternoon, they had made it a good distance up the mountain, a fact that Ned might not have realized had they not come upon an outcrop of black rocks and stepped out onto it for a rest. The beach was obscured, but the ocean stretched on forever beyond the sea of green treetops before them. The first real glimpse of the sun in hours showed that it had descended about halfway toward the western horizon from its midday zenith.

"Malana says we're close to the caves," Ned heard Jon announce as he took a swig from the coconut Alohilani offered him. "They'll offer us some protection, though I doubt the captain would bring the boys all the way up here."

Ned certainly hoped not. One flight into the jungle was about as much adventure as he needed, and he wasn't keen on being cornered in a cave by the remaining members of the Celestina's former crew.

He squinted to the west, where the sun was quickly sinking behind some rather ominous black clouds. He hoped they would arrive at the cave before the storm broke.

No such luck. Within an hour, they were caught in a full-fledged tropical thunderstorm.

Ned didn't see the cave until he was practically inside, his head having been bent against the pelting rain and his eyes straining to make out secure footholds in the steep, rocky path at his feet. Thunder seemed louder on this island than anywhere he had ever been, as if Alohilani's gods were angrier than any others. Ned supposed that, given what his crew had done to the native men, they probably had a right to their fury.

One moment he was being soaked by sheets of water, and the next he was creating a miniature lake at his feet and could finally raise his head to peer into their new home. The storm continued mercilessly as the last of their new tribe stepped into the cave's gaping mouth. It was wide enough at the entrance for ten men to stand abreast, and continued into darkness ahead of him like a long, rocky tube. The walls weren't of earth, as he might have suspected, but rather a black, dusty rock. In places, it seemed to have splintered off, revealing shattered planes of shiny black glass.

"This place is very special," he heard Jon explaining. Malana was saying something in her language and had a hand pressed against the black glass of the wall. "Liquid fire flows through here, and this is one of the many doorways that the gods use to visit the earth. She says that they will protect us if we do not stray too far into the tunnel."

Malana looked awfully certain, and the other women were smiling, but Ned wasn't so sure. These gods hadn't done much to protect the men of this island five months ago, and he figured they'd be even less concerned with looking out for some of the invaders who had killed them.

At any rate, it was better inside than out. The deluge was showing no sign of letting up. It certainly rained with everything it had here, as if it would never get the chance again.

There was no dry wood for a fire, but it was hot enough without it. Everyone had settled into making themselves at home: packs were unshouldered, wet clothing – the outer bits, at least – were stripped off and spread out in a futile attempt to dry them, meager food stores were collected and inventoried. Ned kept his eye out for any vessel that might contain some palm wine. He grumbled that no one seemed to have made that a priority.

He was just settling into the least uncomfortable spot he could find when a commotion began. Malana was scolding her oldest son, it seemed, and from what Ned could see the boy was trying to explain himself. He kept gesturing back into the darkness of the tunnel, which caused his mother's voice to rise higher and higher in both pitch and volume. Ned grumbled again as the racket reverberated off the stone walls and assaulted his eardrums from all angles.

Alohilani, who had been dusting off a bit of flat rock to take a seat beside him, was watching the exchange intently. When she turned to him, her eyes were concerned.

"Inoke," she said, as if that was supposed to explain everything.

"Ahh," Ned replied, with a nod of understanding that was anything but sincere. "Inoke." And then she said something else that was unintelligible.

More voices were being added to the din as a passionate discussion began, mostly between the women. It seemed that the argument was moving too fast for Jon to understand, because Ned saw him shake his head and shrug when Hawkins asked him something.

"Would the lot of you shut up!" Fat Ben grumbled, though not loud enough for any of the women to hear him over their squawking. The big man was sitting against the outer wall of the cave, washing out the broken, angry blisters on his feet with his ragged shirt. He looked about twice as irritable as Ned felt.

Ned closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall, moving to avoid any bits of jagged obsidian that stabbed into his skull. His whole body was tired from the day's trek, and all he wanted on this godforsaken earth, other than a barrel of good ale, was to sleep.

Suddenly, he felt a splash of water on his cheek. He opened one eye to find that the wind had shifted, and was now sending sheets of rain almost sideways into the cave. The first hundred feet of so of the tunnel sloped downward ever so slightly into the depths of the mountain, so the rainwater that collected on the floor was quickly forming a little river that flowed back into the cavern.

Cass approached him with a hand outstretched to help Ned to his feet.

"Have to move further in," the sailor said as he pulled Ned up. "There's a pond forming just there; I think the ground slopes up on the other side. Better to be dry, eh, even if it's a bit dark? Plus, the younger boy's gone missing."

Inoke. Ned knew he'd heard those syllables before.

"Brother seems to think he's gone exploring further down the cave. Can't have gone far in that dark, but apparently the women are dreadfully worried about him getting too far in and displeasing the gods. Jon said something about them fearing that the gods would snatch him right out of this world and into another, but I think the kid's more likely to fall into a pit and break his neck. Nevertheless," Cass said with a pointed look and a bit of a sigh, "We could use your help for the search party."

Just what I wanted, Ned thought to himself, Another walk. But he nodded with as tiny of a grumble as he could manage. Grabbing what few things he had, Ned followed the group off into the darkness.

At first he thought he had dozed on his feet, because his body suddenly lurched in the way that happens just before one falls asleep. He had the peculiar sensation of being lifted into the air by a force that grabbed him somewhere around his stomach, and then he was falling and falling quickly, the wind rushing by his face and whistling in his ears. All he could see was darkness, a blacker night than he had ever known and certainly much darker than the dimness of the cavern, and he felt a chill shoot right to the very core of his being. He didn't even have time to cry out, because as suddenly as it came upon him the sensation abated, and the coldness in his body was replaced by a warmth that had nothing to do with the heat and humidity of that wretched island. And then came the roar, a sound that threatened to deafen him, that enveloped him body and soul. And still he was falling, falling…

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PART TWO

"Mary!"

Someone was calling her name, but she wasn't Mary today. Today, she would only answer to Noelani, the name her mother had given her against her father's wishes and still called her in secret. She knew it meant a slap or two if she didn't turn back, but Noelani had been promised an adventure. Mary was not an adventurer; she was an obedient daughter, quiet and polite like her father's elder wife, Malana. Noelani, on the other hand, favored her mother. Leiko was the younger of her father's wives: bright and capricious, full of plans and secrets and the very best stories.

It was Mary who was being called, and so Noelani kept running. Soon, the sound of her father Jon's voice, which was growing angrier by the moment, faded in the distance. The forest was thicker here, with evergreen trees interspersed among the stately oaks and graceful beeches. She leapt lightly over small rocks and around giant boulders, her flight slowing only once as she had to clamber over an enormous tree that had fallen across her path.

Suddenly, someone was running beside her. He was bigger than she was by half a head, and for all that they were of the same clan they were as different as a cactus from a fern. Caspian had the golden blond hair of his father, Cass, with a smattering of light freckles across his straight and rather pointed nose. Noelani, on the other hand, favored their mothers' people. She was small, with bronze skin, hair six shades darker, and almond-shaped eyes that were browner still.

"About time you caught up," she said as they both slowed their pace.

"I was giving you a good head start," Caspian puffed in reply, bringing his hand to his side where he must have been nursing a stitch. "Your father is calling you."

"They're calling Mary," she replied with an impish grin. He barked a laugh as they emerged from the cover of the trees and into a large open meadow. The yellowish grass grew almost to her waist and rippled in the summer breeze. "Are you sure it's there?"

"It was last night," Caspian replied. "I saw it when we were out setting snares."

"Did Inoke and Ano see it too?" she pressed him. Her half-brothers, older than her by six and nine years, respectively, hadn't mentioned anything when they had returned last night.

"No, just me."

"Why didn't you show them?" she stopped suddenly, turning to Caspian with an accusatory look. "Are you three playing a trick on me? If you're lying, I'll tell your mother it was you who ate the last of those berries she was saving." She considered a minute, and then seemed to decide that the original threat wasn't strong enough. "And I'll hit you."

Caspian kept walking, unfazed. "I'm not lying. I didn't tell them because Ano had been teasing me all day and I didn't want to show him."

Noelani studied his back with a piercing, critical look, but eventually seemed to decide that his answer was genuine. Jogging to catch up, she posed her next question. "What if it moved?"

"I think it's pretty old. It wouldn't have gone far if it did."

"And it talks?"

"I heard it. It said something to another of its kind, as plainly as I'm talking to you right now."

She was quiet for a moment, considering, as Caspian led her in turning slightly to cut across the huge meadow at an angle. They walked in silence for a few minutes before Caspian squinted into the distance, then raised his arm to point.

"There! There it is! Do you see it?"

Noelani saw nothing but the tall grass, a few scattered and spindly trees, and a few huge gray boulders in the distance. "I don't see anything."

"There!"

"The big rocks?"

"Those aren't rocks," Caspian replied with a small smile.

Noelani opened her mouth to retort, but no sound came out. One of the rocks had just moved. And then another. Actually, she realized, almost all of the rocks were moving in some form or fashion, whether from one location to another or in a slight side-to-side motion.

"What are they?" she breathed, feeling a little frightened for the first time. Caspian had said that the creature he'd seen was big, but he had failed to mention just how big. She found that her steps were slowing, and felt Caspian's hand grasp hers and give a gentle tug.

"I don't know," he replied honestly, pulling her forward. "But I know I heard one of them speak. Look; we'll hide there among those trees and boulders. If we keep quiet and low in the grass they won't see us. Their eyes are very small."

Noelani chose not to voice the thought that that the creatures' eyes might only appear small in relation to their giant bodies.

They continued forward, bent double so as to better hide themselves in the rippling wave of the meadow. Caspian's fair hair blended in with the grass, but Noelani felt as exposed as if she had been painted bright blue. She kept her eyes carefully trained on the gray shapes before them, which grew steadily larger until she could distinguish wrinkled, leathery bodies, enormous ears, and curved tusks on either side of long, flexible noses. There were about fifteen in all, most of them massive but with a few young ones as well.

Caspian slowed their pace as they reached a tiny outcropping of real boulders and two or three scrawny trees. He didn't dare to speak, but pointed quickly to the nearest of the creatures. It seemed older than the rest, more wrinkled and moving a little more slowly through the grass. It was flapping its ears lethargically, though she couldn't tell if it was fanning itself or warding away bugs. Whatever it was doing, Noelani assumed that this was the creature Caspian had spotted yesterday.

They crept up to the boulders and peered over them, watching as the animals moved through the grass. Noelani guessed that the biggest ones would have been taller than her head if she sat on her father's shoulders. They were silent, though, and she wished she could ask Caspian when one of them would say something.

The oldest creature was moving slowly, carefully watched over and half-supported by a younger-looking animal, and the trees were beginning to obscure Noelani's view. Wordlessly, she crept out from behind the boulder, ignoring Caspian's attempt to catch her arm and stop her. Bent double, she tiptoed toward the nearest tree, realizing a little too late that it was thinner than she had originally thought and would not provide as much cover as she was hoping. There was a branch, if she could get to it, that might support her weight; it wasn't as thick as those she usually favored when climbing trees, but it was low enough to the ground that she figured she could test it first. Keeping a careful eye on the lumbering creatures, she reached up quickly to grasp the branch and give its strength a hurried test. It wavered slightly when she tugged it, but not enough to cause her alarm.

She glanced back at Caspian, who was shaking his head with a mixed look of horror and anger. Throwing him an impish grin, she turned back to the tree, braced a bare foot against the bark, and used it to propel herself upward as she reached out for the branch. She had climbed a hundred trees a hundred times apiece, and knew that she could quickly and quietly pull herself up into this one for a much better view of the creatures.

That's when it happened; her foot slipped and her fingers barely grazed the branch as her whole body came crashing to the ground. She gave a little squeak of alarm, which, coupled with the force of her body's impact and the subsequent cloud of dust that sprang into the air, was more than enough to give away her position to any beast no matter how large its eyes.

The great, wrinkled, hairy head of the oldest animal swiveled toward her. Noelani leapt to her feet in panic and scrambled behind the tree, but it provided very little cover and she knew that unless the animal was completely blind there was no chance she hadn't also been spotted.

"Come out from there, Human," a thunderous voice boomed, accompanied by a trumpeting noise that seemed to come from the animal's long nose.

For a brief moment, Noelani thought about running, but knew she didn't have a hope of reaching the cover of the forest before the long-legged giants caught up with her. She had very little doubt that a single stomp from one of their enormous, wrinkly feet would kill her instantly. With a glance into Caspian's frightened eyes, she squared her shoulders and stepped out from behind the boulder. The elderly creature was slowly moving toward her now, its head turned slightly to better glimpse this intruder on its solitude.

"I had heard that Humans were small creatures," the same voice continued, "But I didn't think they were so very small as you are."

Noelani was trembling, but somehow found her voice. "They're mostly not; I'm still growing."

"A Human Calf," the beast observed. "Are you alone, little one? You have no cause to fear us unless you have come to do harm to the Herd. Elephants and Humans have long been friends, ever since Aslan first called us up out of the earth."

Noelani couldn't resist a glance to her right, where she again met Caspian's eyes. His fear appeared to have abated, and his look now was something akin to furious. He came out, though, and took a place beside her in front of the Elephant.

"Another Calf?" the Elephant asked. It had stopped moving forward and now stood only a few paces from the two children, leaning slightly upon the younger beast beside it. The others of their kind were beginning to congregate around them, looking on.

"I am Caspian, son of Cass," he answered. He bowed his head and shoulders to her in a sign of respect.

Had the situation been different, Noelani might have laughed at him for his display. There wasn't much bowing done among their people, and she had never seen Caspian act so formally. Instead, taking his cue, she responded with a similar bow, and added, "And I'm Noelani, daughter of Jon."

With a great nod of its hairy head, the Elephant replied, "I am the Matriarch."

"What's a Matriarch?" Noelani asked.

"I am the eldest of my kin, and the leader of them. Every Elephant you see before you is a daughter, a granddaughter, or a great-grandcalf." The eyes with which the Matriarch was studying them were sharply intelligent and almost hidden under long, wiry lashes.

"Aren't there any male Elephants?" Noelani wondered aloud. Her comment must have been amusing to the rest of the Herd, because they began making a snuffling sound and Noelani got the distinct impression that she was being laughed at.

"But of course there are, little one. They are here and there, but do not travel with the Herd."

"Oh," Noelani replied, and had just opened her mouth to ask another question when Caspian's elbow hit her sharply in the ribs. She shot him a glare, but the Matriarch continued.

"We had not heard that Humans had come into the Western Wild. There have never been Humans here, for as long as an Elephant can remember. And that," she said proudly, "is a very long time. Have you come from Narnia? We had heard that there are no more Humans there, either, since the disappearance of the Four."

Noelani didn't know where Narnia was, but she was fairly certain that she had never heard the name before. If it was the name of the Other Place, the place from which her parents had come, no one had ever called it such.

"We came from the west," she answered. "And before that from a place that everyone just calls the Island. I don't think it's in Narnia."

"We have only just arrived in this land," Caspian put in. "We walked east for days to get here. There was a drought, and no food."

"But our parents came from Somewhere Else before that," Noelani repeated. "From the Island. Caspian was the first one to be born here, and that was eleven years ago."

"Brought from another world… Rather like the old stories," the Matriarch commented with a nod of her great head. "No doubt the Narnians would love to know about you."

"Please," Noelani couldn't help interrupting, "Where is Narnia?"

"It is far to the east, little Calf," the Matriarch answered. "It is the land from which we Elephants have come. My mother, who was Matriarch before me, loved the old stories of Narnia. We promised her we would return after her passing, but you can see that we have three little ones who couldn't possibly make such a journey. We still tell them the stories, however."

"Are they good stories?" Noelani asked. "I would very much like to hear one, if it's not too much trouble."

Noelani couldn't decide if the trumpeting sound the Matriarch made was laughter or indignation. "My dear," she said, "Elephants only tell good stories, and there is nothing we like more than telling them."

The rest of the Herd, upon hearing that there was to be a story, moved even closer until Caspian and Noelani were quite surrounded. The littlest ones, the wrinkly and adorable Calves, stood close to their mothers and allomothers and seemed to tremble with excitement. The Elephants all remained standing, but Noelani and Caspian found a space among the rocks and sat down, settling in for a long tale of this far-off, mysterious place called Narnia.

Then, the Matriarch, leader of the Narnian Elephants in exile, began her story.

Original Prompt that we sent you:
I have a dream of seeing a noir-ish sort of mystery starring Maugrim and the Secret Police set during the Long Winter. :) Or anything about gray loyalties, where it's hard to tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys -- during the Long Winter, the Telmarine period, whatever. Or something set during VotDT involving the merpeople and the Dawn Treader. Or historical crossovers -- did famous missing people or groups of missing people (Amelia Earhart, Roanoke Island, etc.) end up in Narnia/Archenland/Calormen/the expanded Narnian world? Just how confused were the first Telmarines when they showed up in proto-Telmar? I enjoy action, friendship, gen, plot, and snark. Alternately, go hog-wild and write something that really makes you happy. :)

Prompt words/objects/quotes/whatever: elephants, dragonfly in amber, this image/quote: http://flic.kr/p/9oGvGK, Yggdrasil, this image: http://www.redbubble.com/people/ceeveem/works/5528378-the-prophet-on-self-knowledge

Comments

[canttakeabreath.livejournal.com]

dkshofksdjfojdkfjdkf this is so fabulous i don't even know what to say so so so so so fabulous everything about it--the details, the names, the language, caspian. i had chills by the end.

this is everything i never knew i needed in narnian backstory, thank you so much and i'm so sorry i couldn't more coherently leave you feedback ♥

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love this! Thank you so much, mystery writer! Everyone feels so very real -- Ned and his bad situation, the women and their practicality (and their great difference from the stranded pirates, poor things -- the women, I mean, not the pirates), the setting of the tropical island that is so very alien to Ned, and the mysterious cave and its secrets. I'm fascinated by the second part, brave and stubborn Noelani, and the first Caspian (!), who seems to have that ambitious streak that will eventually make him (or his descendant) Caspian the Conqueror. And the elephants in exile! Telling stories! Thank you again!

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

This is wonderful and unique and I have never, ever seen such a wonderful story before. It beautifully fits with canon yet also expands the gaps left behind. The pirates and the women and the crazed captain who drives them to the cave that is also a door is wonderful and vivid. You so feel so very much for Ned -- not sympathy, exactly, but empathy. The women who lead and the men who follow right into the other place and then the elephants in the second part is just terrific. I love how they address Noelani who chooses to not be Mary and Caspian. I got just a thrill reading it. And, delightfully ironically, Bedlamsbard wrote a story of Caspian the Conqueror coming into Narnia last year for the NFE. These two stories fit together wonderfully, one written by Bed and one written, all unknowingly for Bed. I love Avia's elephant story and so when we got to that part I just was so delighted -- OH! This is where the elephants went!

Thank you for a very special story.

[tantella.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Ruth! I was rather hoping you'd like it, particularly the second bit, because I knew that you had enjoyed "What the Elephants Forgot." Ned was a fun character to write, straddling that line between lovable curmudgeon and lawless pirate with blood on his hands. I'm glad you felt you connected with him! Thanks for pointing out the coincidence of subject matter between Bedlamsbard's story last year and mine here; I definitely have to read it now, and am glad that they ended up being complementary. And, of course, it was fun to write the Elephants again :)

Thanks again for your wonderful review!

[edenfalling]

This is amazing! I like how you have made Ned an understandable character, if not exactly sympathetic, and the way even through his POV it's obvious that what the pirate crew have done to the islanders is reprehensible in all kinds of ways. I am very impressed by the strength and practicality of the women, and also that they're the ones who save the nearly useless men when the captain tries to hunt them down. In the second part, I like how Noelani balances between her parents' cultures, which are clearly still distinct though presumably in the process of melding, and how she and Caspian seem to see each other as equal partners in their adventure. And the idea of Talking Elephants in the Western Wild, telling stories of Narnia to strangers newly arrived in their world, is lovely. It makes me wonder if this first contact is what, years later, led some of the Telmarines east in search of Narnia rather than some other country.

[tantella.livejournal.com]

Thank you!! I'm glad that you liked Ned; he certainly grew on me as the story went on. It was a definite challenge deciding how to portray the women and determining how they would interact with pirates who had annihilated their husbands, brothers, and sons. I am glad the end result worked for you!

Great point about this initial contact being the reason the Telmarines sought out Narnia rather than continuing to wander. I must admit that I myself am curious about what happened after this initial contact was made and would love to see those dots connected!

Thanks again for reading and taking the time to leave such a lovely review!

[runesnspoons.livejournal.com]

This was so, so good. Unbelievably wonderful. (As soon as you introduced Cass, I was sort of going, "I wonder if his name's longer?" The Caspian thing is great. Really great.) I loved not-Mary, and the POV of our introductory drunk was perfect. I loved it. Bravo.

[tantella.livejournal.com]

Thanks, and great name, by the way! So happy you liked the story, and that you picked up on the Cass hint right off the bat! I appreciate your review.

[pencildragon11.livejournal.com]

Oh oh oh oh oh oh ohhhhhhhh. At last.

The origins of Telmar have been written. I have wanted to see this story written for so long. Thank you thank you THANK YOU.

Part One has a flavor of Treasure Island, with the pirates and the brawling and the drinking and the hiding and the blinding sun-on-sea. I love that you named one Fat Ben--in my mind they've always been a fuzzy group of Generic Pirates, and this makes them real. The island women with their naaaaames, and the language barrier, and the children, and the PALM WINE (I never noticed it in the original quote, but there it is) and the broken bottle and the rabid cap'n and the jungle and the thunderstorm, and the CAVE BEING A DOOR OF THE GODS AND OH WE MUST BE CAREFUL NOT TO FALL INTO ANOTHER WORLD THIS IS AMMAAAAAZZING. Of course. Of COURSE they would say that. And then they "fell, or rose, or blundered, or dropped right through."

Part Two has long grass, and rocks, and mountains, and trees and I can see the landscape. And there's Mary, and Noelani, who are two different people, and Caspian, and ELEPPHHAAANNNNTTSSS. aslfkhd sigh.

Favorite. Backstory. Fic. EVER. Thank you.

[tantella.livejournal.com]

We've already chatted about this, but an official thank you for your fantastic review :)

[pencildragon11.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. Let me know if/when you post it on FFnet and I will squeal and flail and sigh all over again. :-D

[the_rck]

I love this backstory. The pirates definitely weren't expecting to stumble into another world. It's hard to tell what the women were expecting-- They seem to have had stories about the cave. The children meeting the elephants was fun to read. I'm very curious as to what the matriarch has to say about Narnia.

Thanks for writing!

[tantella.livejournal.com]

Thanks, therck! Perhaps someday I'll go back and rewrite this from one of the women's perspectives... I'm curious myself as to what they were thinking as they dragged the pirates through the jungle or wandered into the cave. Or maybe I'll recount the Matriarch's tale, though I have a sneaking suspicion it might involve quite a bit about the importance of the Elephants in early Narnia.

Glad you enjoyed the story!

[lauraandrews.livejournal.com]

Pretty much I can echo everything PencilDragon... well, everyone, really, has said. It was a wonderful story! Truly :D I loved the women's names, and how the pirates couldn't really communicate very well with them. I had never seen the palm wine reference in Prince Caspian, but I loved it here. It was a very good story! And I loved the Elephants; they were awesome. "Elephants only tell good stories." Which is apparently true of you, as well ;D Thumbs up!

[tantella.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Laura! It's funny that you and PencilDragon both mentioned liking the women's names... My boyfriend will be happy to hear that my research paid off; he got a little concerned when my Google Chrome tabs all were titled "Polynesian baby names" and the like!

Glad you liked the Elephants, as well. The Narnian Matriarchy has a special place in my heart, and it's nice to visit them again.

Thanks again!

[autumnia]

Fantastic story! I love how we see the pirates were living here in our world, and they are the crew of a shipwreck! The details, the visuals and really, all the local "flavor" of palm wine, the island women and children and the mad captain were just wonderful. And so they stumbled through a portal into the Western Wild and with the children (love Caspian and Noelani who is sometimes Mary) comes their first meeting with old Narnians that just happen to be a herd of Elephants.

[tantella.livejournal.com]

Thank you muchly! I'm so happy that the island seemed to be very visual for you, as it certainly was in my head. It was a fun scene to paint, as we really don't get much of it from Lewis. Glad you liked it!

[snacky]

"My dear," she said, "Elephants only tell good stories, and there is nothing we like more than telling them."

OH YAY, THE ELEPHANTS AND STORY TIME!

I really liked this fic! I liked Ned at the beginning and the story of the pirates, and how very piratey they were, with their drinking and killing and raping and pillaging! And how they found their way into another world. I loved how Ned was cranky the whole time. :D

And then the second part, with the first Caspian and Mary/Noelani meeting the Elephants! I loved Noelani running off from her father and justifying it because he was calling the wrong name. :D And what a delightful ending!

[tantella.livejournal.com]

Thanks, snacky! I'm glad the pirates were appropriately piratey for you :) Ned has become one of my favorite OC's... I guess I have a thing for the cranky ones, and I can definitely relate to his despair at running out of wine.

Mostly I'm glad you liked the second part, as I did feel rather remorseful for sneaking it in at the eleventh hour. Thanks for your patience, as well as your review!

[cofax7]

Bravo! That was very fun! Or, if not fun, precisely (because I felt very bad for Aholani and Malana and all the other women who had so little choice about living with murderous pirates), definitely fascinating. Also vivid and terribly human.

I loved Ned's obsession with palm wine and his complete inability to learn Polynesian, and the obsidian walls of the cave, and that Malana named Noelani even if her father called her Mary. And that she was just as adventurous as Caspian, and skilled at climbing trees, and not really afraid of the Elephants.

Well done! I would love to read more about the early days of Telmar.

[tantella.livejournal.com]

Thanks, cofax! I'm so pleased that the story resonated as very real for you, and that the characters came across as so very human. That was exactly what I wanted; not a fairy tale, but a real picture of what it must have been like for two disparate groups with a brutal shared history to fall into an unknown world together. I found the whole concept fascinating, and I'm glad you did too!

Thank you so much for reviewing!

[(Anonymous)]

This is one of those stories that makes me wonder why no one has written it before! I also just get really excited when we encounter animals that Lewis doesn't mention in the chronicles. Somehow I never thought about elephants in Narnia but then it seems so natural. I love how this story is so unique but still could seemlessly fit into the rest of the chronicles.
-Ruan Chun Xian

[tantella.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Ruan! I've always had a soft spot for the Elephants, and also always wondered about where all those Animals went after The Magician's Nephew. I'm so glad that you felt this little attempt at a gap-filler was so congruous with canon. Thanks!

[lady_songsmith]

Great story! I especially like Mary/Noelani and her fluid conception of self; today she is Noelani, tomorrow she can be Mary. And the transition to Narnia/Telmar was really well done.

[tantella.livejournal.com]

Thanks, song! I'm happy that so many people had a positive reaction to Noelani, as she was a lot of fun to write. I appreciate you reading and reviewing!

[ilysia-039.livejournal.com]

Oh, this is fabulous. Lovely, lovely backstory for those who became the Telmarines. Thank you so much for sharing!

[tantella.livejournal.com]

Thank YOU, Ilysia, for taking the time to leave such a sweet review. I'm so glad you liked the story!

[animus-wyrmis.livejournal.com]

This was so great! I love this backstory, and Noelani is so totally fantastic, and I really like that while Ned isn't completely unsympathetic, he's also not a good guy. And this fits so smoothly into canon-great job!

[tantella.livejournal.com]

Thanks, animus! So glad you liked it, and I'm happy that the main characters worked for you!

[linneasr.livejournal.com]

Ah, wonderful! What fun to hear about the elephants again! They don't seem to appear very often in Narnia after MN, and they are such great creatures.

Very nice understanding of the Telmarine arrival into Narnia (such as it is). I think you've hit the archetype so closely, that it's almost exactly as the story has been constructed ephemerally and very intangibly in the back of my mind. Congratulations!

[tantella.livejournal.com]

Thank you muchly! The fact that the Elephants disappear immediately following MN was always an intriguing point for me, so I couldn't resist giving them more of a story! I am so glad that the backstory worked for you and fit in so well with your head canon. Glad I could give it a very humble voice :)