Of Courtship, Chimneys, and Cordials for psyche29

[nfe-gremlin.livejournal.com]

Title: Of Courtship, Chimneys, and Cordials
Author: lauraandrews
Recipient: psyche29
Rating: K
Content/Warnings: None.
Summary: Susan leaves the castle to Peter, Edmund, and Lucy. Of course, things don't go quite as planned.
Author’s Notes:This is an extended Golden Age AU. Also, there is fluff.




Of Courtship, Chimneys, and Cordials



"All right, boys." Susan tied on her hat and turned to look at Peter and Edmund. "Here's the list ... where's Lucy?"


"I think she went to find Corin."


"Well, then, you can show her the list when she gets back." She handed several sheets of folded paper to Peter. "Have you seen Lune?"


"He's in the west wing. Sitting room, I believe," said Edmund. "And that reminds me. Peter?"


"Right. Su, Ed and I wanted to go ... talk to Lune. Just a few minutes."


She raised her eyebrows. "Why?"


"Oh, you know. Just talk about you and him and be certain of some things."


"Now? But we're leaving in half an hour!"


"It won't take us that long. Come on, Ed."





Before Susan could say anything else, they were gone. She sighed and shook her head. Though she had never thought of Lune as a suitor before he came to win her hand, it felt very right somehow. Perhaps because she already felt like a mother to Corin, or perhaps because, though there was a ten year's age difference, they were so much the same in interests and opinions. Regardless, she knew that she was as close to being in love as she had ever found herself, and that was enough for her at this time.




Peter and Edmund reached the west wing and found Lune pulling on his boots.


"Ah, your majesties," he said with a wide smile. "Hast come to tell me of some mischief my son has done?"


"No," said Edmund. "Just to ... well, you tell him, Peter."


"Thanks," Peter murmured with a glare. He turned back to face Lune. "It's about Susan..."


"Is she well?"


"Oh, yes. But it's just that she is... well, that you are." His face reddened. "What we are trying to say is, are you sure that you should be courting Susan?"


Lune looked a bit puzzled. "Hast any objection to my suit?"


"Not particularly. Only that she's very young compared to you."


"And yet full grown to womanhood."


"Yes, I'm not saying she isn't, but you are quite a bit older than her."


"King Peter, are we not brothers? Speak plain; is it against thy will that I should court the Queen Susan?"


Peter and Edmund looked at each other helplessly. Finally, Edmund said, "No. No, it isn't."


"I love the Queen Susan," said Lune. "She is no longer a child, and by the day she fills more the place which I had thought forever empty in my heart. And I think also that she herself may be willing to take that place. Perhaps I read too much into her smiles and her words, but in Archenland, where she hath no queenly duties to distract her, I shall learn much as I converse with her."


"Very well," said Peter, breaking into a smile. "I think we've done our duty. Come on, Ed. We'll take our leave of you, your majesty, in the courtyard."


They left the room as quickly as could be deemed dignified and wandered down the hall. Peter scanned the first page of the list.


"Not too hard," he muttered. "Supervise banquet preparations."


"I do that all the time, anyways," said Edmund.


"If by that you mean, snatching morsels from every dish then yes, I agree. Dispense wages to all castle staff. I didn't know Susan did that. I though you did."


"Where have you been? She's done that for over two years now. Ah, and there is Corin, the little scapegrace. Where did you find him, Lucy?"


"Having a conversation with Redtooth on the merits of sniffing out prey with one's nose." She tried unsuccessfully to suppress a laugh.


"You look wretched, Prince Corin," said Peter. "You'd better run off and get cleaned up quickly or your father will have something to say to you."


Corin dashed off and Peter showed the list to Lucy.


"Oh, I've already looked it over," she said. "I have a copy of it in my room, with our initials beside each task. Did I hear something about dispensing wages? That's your job. Edmund will be in charge of sending off invitations for the banquet; his handwriting is the best of us three. I'll supervise the banquet itself as well as making sure guest rooms are prepared."


"Is that all?" asked Edmund, eyeing the several sheets of paper.


"No, there are a lot of smaller things. For one, Susan and the dryads made quilts to take down to the hospital. She wants them delivered by one of us because it shows them that we care."


"All right then. Let's go down and see everyone off."




The next morning Lucy was out of bed at dawn. As her lady-in-waiting fixed her hair there was a knock on the door.


"Come in!"


Peter pushed open the door a crack and looked in. "Awake already, I see," he said with a smile.


"I usually get up around this time," Lucy said. "Good morning!"


"Good morning to you! Has Edmund been around?"


For a moment Lucy thought he was serious, but then she laughed. "I think I can hear him snoring all the way down the hall."


Peter laughed too. It was a joke between him, Lucy, and Susan about Edmund's unwillingness to wake up before nine in the morning. "I'll roust him," Peter said. "And I'll have your horse waiting for you."


"Thanks."


As soon as she was ready, Lucy went down to the courtyard and mounted up. A light wagon, filled with the quilts and other comforts that Lucy had prepared, followed her. The morning was cool and the sun was still rising as she made her way to the hospital, which had been built several years ago.
The patients were tended to by Stormwatch the Centaur and his wife Clearsky, the best physicians in all of Narnia. Lucy had been studying under them for over two years.


When she was little, she had thought that when her cordial ran out, Father Christmas would be sure to give her another, and she had used it willy-nilly for some time on everything, even minor cuts and scrapes.


Then Peter had told her to keep it only for serious injuries and illnesses, and though she waited up several years in a row she never saw Father Christmas come and couldn't ask him if he would give her a new cordial when she had used up the first one.


When she was fourteen the hospital was built and she had gone to visit it every week to do what she could for the patients, until Stormwatch suggested that she study medicine. It had been exactly the thing that suited her, and she had progressed so far as to perform several surgeries without either of the Centaurs present.


The hospital came into view and she saw Clearsky waiting outside for her.


"Lucy," she said, with a slight dip of her head. "Good morning."


Lucy smiled and slipped off her horse. "Good morning. I've brought some things for the patients. Soup, quilts from Susan, and these." She pulled out a large, cheerful potted plant. "There are eight of them, two for each ward."


"That was very kind of you, Lucy." Clearsky nodded to two fauns, who helped Lucy bring the gifts in. The young queen then proceeded to distribute the quilts to those who needed them. After that she and Clearsky administered medicine and saw to the new patients.




Two weeks passed and things went fairly smoothly. Winter was coming on at a quick pace and Peter and Edmund were kept busy going over the castle, inspecting everything to make sure it was ready for the cold weather.


"Let's look at the fireplaces," said Edmund. "I know last year someone," he looked pointedly at Peter. "didn't make sure of it, and we had a devil of a time keeping the fires going."


"If you remember, I was ill at the time." Peter glared at him. "So you should have done it."


"Well, I'm doing it now. I'm the smallest, so I will just get up inside them and have a look."
"Just be careful. Some of these chimneys are narrow."


All afternoon Edmund climbed up into chimneys while Peter made notes of the repairs needed. The younger king was completely covered in soot by teatime.


"Aslan's mane, you look awful. Run down and get washed," said Peter. "I'll have them wait the meal on you."


"Let me do this last chimney, since we're here already." Edmund got up into it and called down, "It looks like we'll need several new bricks for this one. And what's this?" Peter could hear him struggling to do something. "Blasted birds. Hang on! There ... AH! Ow!"


"Ed? What's wrong?"


"Spider bit me. Nasty big thing. Ow."


"Come on down and let's have a look at it."


"All right, I'm coming." A few seconds passed, then, "Oh bother. No, Aslan, don't let this happen."
"Ed?"


There was no reply for a minute then, reluctantly, "I'm stuck."


Peter groaned. "Just stay there for a minute. I'll get help."


"I don't want to be late for tea!" Edmund called after him.




Peter ran into Lucy on the way.


"What's the hurry?" she asked with a smile.


"Ed's been bit by a spider and he's stuck in a chimney."


Lucy didn't know whether to laugh or be dismayed. "Stuck in a chimney? How is he going to get out?"


"Probably by knocking the whole thing down." Peter was in no mood to laugh. "At least it isn't in a room we use much."


"Maybe we could have a gryphon drop him a rope, and he could hold on and then ... achoo then he could be pulled up. Don't the chimneys widen near the top?"


"Good idea, Lu. I'll see what I can do."


Lucy smiled, then sneezed again. "I'll make sure that tea doesn't happen without either of you."
"Oh, no, go on and eat. This could take a while."


"By the way, we've got a letter from Susan." Lucy pulled it out and showed it to Peter. "We'll read it when Edmund is... achoo! in a more convenient position for the reading of letters."




It took a while to find a gryphon and quite some time to figure out how to get Edmund out without scraping him against all the bricks on the way up. First they tried pulling him down through the chimney, but he yelled that his shoulders were stuck. “Ow! No!”


So the gryphon lowered a small faun down, and the faun tacked cloth all around the inside of the chimney just above the trapped king. A rope was lowered, Edmund grabbed onto it, and the gryphon pulled with all his might.


"Harder!" gasped Edmund. "Ahhh, ow, come on!"


Peter and Lucy waited in breathless silence. Finally, they heard Edmund yelling as the gryphon, gathering all his speed and strength, gave a mighty tug on the rope. The king slid up the chimney until he had just reached the edge. The gryphon came back and waited for Edmund to climb on his back and then flew him down, to the cheers of everyone watching from the courtyard.


When Edmund landed, he collapsed, bruised and exhausted, and was carried away to his room. It was then that Peter remembered. "A spider bit him! Lu, we'd better check on him. It could be a poisonous spider."


Edmund's hand was swollen and purple. "It hurts," he mumbled. "A lot."


"I'll get my cordial," Lucy said, running off to her room.




When she reached her room, she realized instantly that something was wrong. It was in a complete state of disarray. Drawers had been pulled out and lay on the floor among their contents, doors hung open, clothing was scattered in crumpled piles, books were tossed everywhere. She remembered that she hadn't seen her guard outside the door either.


"Oh, not now!" She began frantically searching through the chaos. "Where are you?"


The table on which she usually kept it had been completely cleared, and a sickening feeling rose in her throat. Supposing the cordial had been broken and even now its precious juice was soaking into the floor? There was no sign of it, however, so she ran back to Edmund's room.


"My room's been ransacked," she panted, "and the cordial is gone."


Peter sprang up and followed her. "Lion's mane! Who could have done this?"


"I don't know, but I'm going to summon Stormwatch. He knows about poisons, and I haven't studied them much yet."


"And I'll get the guards to start searching for the thief." He shook his head. "We've definitely missed tea."


"And dinner by the time we get this taken care of." Lucy tried not to let it show, but she was not only annoyed, she was worried as well. "Something has happened to my guard as well. I hope he's all right."


"Me too. I will have them looking for him." He smiled encouragingly. "We'll sort this out."




Stormwatch galloped to Cair Paravel, took one look at Edmund, and became very grave.


"This will take all of my skill to heal," he said. "Everyone out of the room, if you please."


Lucy had been doing what she could to stop the spread of the poison, and she looked up at the Centaur. "I'll stay. I need to learn more about this sort of thing."


"Very well, your majesty."


For a long time Stormwatch bent over Edmund, describing what he was doing as he worked. Lucy listened and realized what a serious case this was. Edmund could die, really and truly die.


"We can save his life, can't we?" she said, amazed at how calm she sounded.


"Aslan helping us, yes. I believe that the poison has stopped spreading, but we still need to get it out of his system altogether."




Peter had the stealthiest spies and trackers on the scent of the thief. The Dogs said it seemed to be a Dwarf, but the scent was a bit confused. They lost it in a knee-deep stream and went nosing up and down both banks for a long time. Then a report came in that Lucy's guard, a young Leopard, had been found in an empty room, all four feet tied together, muzzled, and under the influence of a heavy sleeping draught. He was very groggy when Peter approached him.


"Do you know who did this?" he asked.


"N-no," stammered the Leopard. "Came... from behind. Saw nothing."



"I... don't remember. My head..." With a long sigh, the Leopard sank down and began snoring gently.


"Well, at least he's not hurt," Peter growled. "I always look on the bright side of things." And he kicked a nearby chair. He could see by the looks in everyone's eyes that they wanted to scatter, but he kept them anyways. This had started as a Day of Some Inconvenience, and seemed to be ending as a Very Bad Day, and he needed someone to vent to. Edmund was out of the question, obviously, Lucy was helping tend him, and Susan was off being courted. I wouldn't say I haven't faced worse, but... I've missed tea and dinner, Lucy's cordial is gone, and Edmund is dying of a spider bite. Better get to work, then.


"Right," he said aloud. "I'm going back to find the thief. You lot can go have your dinners." His stomach grumbled at the word. Remember what Aslan told that first king? Something about laughing the loudest over an empty plate? Yes, I remember. But there's nothing to laugh at when the plate is full but I can't even eat it. Come on, Peter. You're the high king. Be magnificent! On an empty stomach? Oh, good grief. As if you haven't gone hungry a hundred times before. This is nothing. You're safe here in the castle, Edmund will most likely recover, and you can grab a late night snack. Most likely. And if he doesn't? I'll never forgive myself, letting him climb up in chimneys when we have plenty of others more suited to the task. Blast it, what would Mum say if she knew about it? Mum's not here. And you've grown up now, so act like it. If Susan were here, this wouldn't have happened. Oh yes it would have. And if she were here, you can be sure she would be chewing you out by now. This is daft, arguing with myself. What am I, a two-headed Centaur? Shut up.


He had hardly reached the courtyard when the Dogs descended on him, all talking at once and tumbling over each other in their eagerness.


"Sire, sire, sire! We found him!"


"You did? Where is he?"


"Well, well, well!"


"Well?"


"We chased him for ever so long: ages and ages! And then, then, then! He was trying to cross into the Telmar wasteland! And so we caught up and jumped all over him! He was scared." All the dogs made baying sounds of laughter. "And we pinned him down, and one of us. Which one of us?" They argued for a moment about which of them they were talking about. "Blue! Blue it was! Blue went off and fetched someone with arms. And when he came, we ran straight here to tell you!"


"Very good, my faithful Dogs. And did he have the cordial with him?"


"Oh, yes, yes, yes! But we don't know why!"


"It looks as if I can ask him myself right now."


A soldier cantered in with a dwarf tied on behind him. The man stopped and, none too gently, pulled the dwarf down to the ground. Peter stood over him and said, "Where is the cordial?"


"Here, sire," the soldier carefully brought it out and handed it to the king.


"Have it taken post-haste to the Queen Lucy," Peter said. Then he turned back to the thief. "And now for you."




Lucy and Stormwatch had done all they could, but the poison had begun to spread again. Lucy let several silent tears slip down her cheeks as she watched Edmund laboring to breathe.


"I'm sorry, Lucy," the Centaur said. "I will fetch your brother."


She nodded wordlessly and sat down on a stool beside the bed. Just pretend he's one of your patients at the hospital. Sing. So she sang. She had a good voice, and years of practice with the mermaids had paid off as well.




Run, river, run, down to the sea


Flow, river, flow away


Under blue sky, under gold sun,


Flow, river, flow away.




Blow, breezes, blow, fragrant and soft,


Twining about the trees,


Through meadow green, through forest dim,


Twining among the trees.




Fall, nighttime, fall, turn from the day,


Stars twinkle one by one.


Moon shining bright in velvety night,


Turn, nighttime, turn from day.




She knew that a song often helped ease the pain by taking the mind off of it; but she wasn't sure whose pain she was most trying to ease.


"Aslan, please," she whispered, not for the first time. She had been saying it in her mind the whole time.


Almost as the words left her lips, the door burst open and a soldier came in, holding out...


"My cordial!" she shrieked. With shaking hands she took out the stopper and let one drop fall into Edmund's mouth.


No matter how many times she did this, she always found herself tensing up for a moment as the cordial did its work. What if one time it failed? What if one drop wasn't enough, and she found out too late? But Edmund drew a deep breath and opened his eyes with a smile. Why do I always worry? Father Christmas promised it would heal anything. "Hello, Edmund." She hugged him tightly and then stepped back and examined him. "I haven't said anything to either of you yet, but ... what in Aslan's Country were you doing in a chimney?"


"I thought I was in Aslan's Country there for a few minutes," Edmund replied.


"Your own fault!"


"How was I to know that a deadly spider awaited me there?"


"You know that wearing gloves is a sensible thing to do. Besides, a faun or small Animal could have gone up and done whatever you were doing."


"Where's Peter?"


"I don't know. Stormwatch went to get him when we thought you were dying."


"Bother. I'll never live this one down. The whole castle saw me yanked out by a gryphon, didn't they?"


"Yes, they did."


"Definitely not one of my finer moments. By the way, I'm starving. I told Peter not to let me miss tea."


"Dinner is long over. It's nearly seven." Lucy looked out the window at the darkening sky. "I really should make you wait until breakfast."


Edmund sighed. "I'm still feeling weak," he said. "The cordial never seems to do anything about that."


"And serves you right!" She headed for the door, then looked back at him. "I'll have something brought up."




Peter glared. The dwarf was cowering, not daring to look up at the wrathful king.


"So," Peter said at last. "I assume you have a reason for tying up and knocking out my sister's guard, ransacking her room, and stealing one of the most valuable things in Narnia?"


"Of course I did," the dwarf muttered.


"And the reason?"


"Money." His tone implied that Peter was stupid for not knowing that. "What else? Hard times for my clan, and what better thing to sell to the Calormenes than a healing cordial? The Tisroc could really live forever then!"


"Which is exactly what we don't want him to do, you fool. And do you really think that the most powerful ruler on this continent would pay up? He'd have the cordial, and if you made a fuss he would have you working in the desert mines for the rest of your treacherous little life.In fact, maybe he could do with a few more workers. What do you say, dwarf? I make a reasonable offer to the Tisroc, and your whole clan is shipped off to the mines, just like that." He snapped his fingers. "No more worries about money. He'll feed you, clothe you, shelter you." His tone was dead serious, and the dwarf looked up in startled fear.


"No, your majesty!" The dwarf threw himself down, clutching at Peter's ankles.


"Oh, get off me. On your feet and stop groveling. It's disgraceful." He waited for the dwarf to stand. "Do you really think that I would sell my own people to the Tisroc? However, punishment is in order." Breathing heavily, he nodded to a guard. "Lock him up. I'll deal with him tomorrow."


He went back into the castle and ran up the stairs to Edmund's room, where he found his brother eating buttered bread and thick soup.


"I see you're none the worse for wear," Peter grumbled.


"You let me miss tea," Edmund replied, tearing off a chunk of bread and dipping it into the soup. "That's a very important meal, and it's going to affect me adversely for a very long time."


Peter smiled. "Glad to see you all better!” He was about to slap his brother on the shoulder, but refrained for fear of jostling the soup. “Now I'm off for my own meal. But no soup for me. I want nice, thick slabs of ham, a pile of beans, and a salad." He shut the door on Edmund's protest that he would prefer that as well and to please bring him some.




Dear Lucy and boys,


I trust you are well. Lune and I have been having a very pleasant time together, but it is strange to do almost nothing all day, at least compared to what I usually do. I have done a good deal of reading. Lune likes to hear me read to him, as does Corin. Cor does as well, I suppose, but being the crown prince he is often away. He is so much more grown-up than his brother, which is strange seeing they are the same age, and also that Cor was raised as a rough fisherman's son. He will make a good king, one day. But I hope that day is far away. Lune and I have grown very close these last two weeks. I hesitate to say more, but perhaps things are happening that I never dreamed might happen. I am very happy.
Love,
Susan




"Well," said Peter. "It sounds like we might be losing our sister permanently."


"Oh, rubbish," Edmund said. "She'll live just over the border, a day’s ride away. The only reason we haven't gone to visit is because they want privacy. When she marries him we'll visit every week, and so will she."


"I don't know." Lucy sighed just a bit, so quietly that neither of her brothers noticed. "She'll have her own duties there. You know how busy she is running Cair Paravel." The thought of not seeing Susan very often made her want to cry, though she wanted her sister to be happy.


"There, there, Lu," Peter said. "Edmund's right. It won't be the same, but we'll make it work. Besides, you know that Lune and the princes visit here often, so of course Su will too."


Lucy furtively brushed away a tear. "I suppose we should start planning for a wedding banquet, then."


Up until then, she had not taken seriously the thought that Susan might actually go away and get married. Now it seemed to be almost a sure thing. She excused herself and went up to her room, where she had a good cry and then berated herself on being selfish and cried some more.


"Maybe I'll marry Corin after all," she said, remembering how he had proposed to her once when he was ten years old. "But no, that would be ridiculous. That would make Susan my mother-in-law, and Peter and Edmund would be my uncles." The thought made her laugh and cheered her up a bit.




Five days later they heard that Lune and Susan were returning. Everything was made ready, and Peter, Edmund, and Lucy stood in the courtyard waiting. As the carriage drove through the gates, Lucy twisted her hair and then chewed on a fingernail. Lune stepped out first, and then handed Susan down. The king of Archenland was smiling broadly, and Susan had a shy, lovely smile on her lips.


"Queen of Archenland and Narnia," Edmund whispered. "I wonder who else has ever had that opportunity?"


Susan ran towards them and threw her arms around each in turn. "I've missed you," she said. "And I have so much to tell you!"


"Now in truth we are brothers," said Lune, pounding Peter and Edmund on the back and then kissing Lucy's hand. "And thou art my sister, dearest Lucy."


"So it's settled then," Peter remarked. "When is the wedding?"


"As soon as is convenient. We thought perchance a month, during which we will of course stay here."


"A month seems... reasonable," said Edmund. "We thought this might be happening, so we've made a lot of the necessary arrangements."


Susan smiled. “And here I thought I would have to use a whole month just to rebuild the castle, but it looks like everything went smoothly.” She did not notice the looks that passed between her brothers and sister.


Corin was next. He grinned up at the kings. "You're my uncles now!" he said. "Though, truth be told, you've always been rather like uncles to me. Almost as fun as grandfathers, but sterner." He looked at Lucy. "And you are my aunt. You'll still go riding with me?" At sixteen, he still had that charming boyish look to him, but underneath Lucy thought she could detect a longing. She winced. Perhaps he still held hopes that some day they might be married. That wasn’t likely. But she smiled. "Of course. We'll go after tea."




Lucy looked across the table at Lune and Susan, who sat side by side and every now and then looked at each other with a secretive smile. There was a pang in her heart. This is for real. In a month she'll leave and it will never be the same again. She and Susan had spent so much time together; they had become so very close. Although Susan had been a mother figure to her, they had been the best of friends as well and had shared almost everything. Now it was changing. She wondered if Susan would miss her very much; she seemed so happy. Now, now, Lucy. Of course she will miss you. But things don't always stay the same, and aren't you glad they don't? If they had, then you would still be in London like you wanted to be when Mum sent you to the country; Narnia would never have happened. Changes often bring good things with them, even if we can't see the good before the change. Stormwatch often said things like that; and she knew it was true. But that didn't make it any less hard.




Susan knocked on Lucy's door and heard,


"Come in."


Even at the castle doors, she had noticed Lucy's sadness, though her sister had tried to hide it. But with the sharp eye of a caring older sister she had seen the little tell-tale hints: the jerky movements, the longing glances, the picking at her food, the too-casual tone.


She entered the room and saw Lucy brushing her hair. "Come here, Lu," she said.


Lucy approached, and Susan held out her arms. A moment later, she and Lucy were in a tight embrace and the younger queen was crying her heart out.

"It's all right, Lu," Susan said. "Go on, cry. You'll feel better." She wiped away tears of her own and then sat back on the bed. "If you will believe me, after Lune asked me to marry him, I ran up to my room and had a good cry too."


"I didn't mean to ... I'm glad for you, Su."


"I know."


"But it seems so selfish."


"It's not. You've had me with you for so long, and now someone comes along and takes me away.” Her face became thoughtful. “But life is like this all the time. You gain something, and you have to give up something else in return."


"I know," said Lucy again.


"I wasn't talking about you, Lucy. I was talking about me. It isn't easy to give up my life here, with you and Peter and Edmund. But I do love Lune, and you and I will never be far away from each other. You can come to visit as often as you like. We will always have a room ready for you to stay a day or two, or longer."


Lucy smiled through her tears.


"And who knows? One day you may have little nieces and nephews that you can run about with and tell stories to. With Cor and Corin you're coming in a bit late as an aunt. You are more like an older sister to them."


"Or a potential wife, in Corin's case." Susan laughed at this, and Lucy joined in. It felt good to laugh; she hadn't felt very merry the last few days.


"Well," said Susan. "We have a month. And I promise I will spend as much time with you as possible, starting with a ride right now. You and Corin are going, right? Then I will act as chaperone."


"Oh, Susan," Lucy said with a laugh. "I'm not going to marry him. At least, I’m not planning to."
"No, but he might marry you."


"Your head is full of romance right now. When it's a bit clearer you will see all the problems with that."


"I'll go anyway." Susan gave Lucy another hug and they went down to the stables.



THE END



Original Prompt that we sent you: I find I will read damn near anything, so long as it’s well written. I tend to prefer stories that use the Pevensies as main characters, and don't care too much if it's all of them or one of them or any combination of them. This is my first year here, so I am wide open to most anything, whether it's clean and sweet, dark and emotional, or even dirty porn. Or any combination thereof!! I'm not being helpful, am I? I tend to prefer happy over angsty, but again, well-written trumps everything. Romance is always welcome, though I'd be equally happy with simple sibling fic. Pairings I like include Eustace/Jill and Lucy/Tirian. Peter/anybody is always fun to read, as is Edmund/anybody. Peter and Edmund sibling fic trumps Susan and Lucy sibling fic. But definitely please use a Pevensie - more, if you wish! - in this fic. And Aslan is always welcome.