For Narnia

[kittyjane]

i suppose i should post a teaser first...

nia's just your average girl. she was a childhood friend to the pevensies and was recently orphaned and sent to professor kirke.

when she and her familiar, toulouse, accidentally breaks a sculpture, they hide in a wooden chest, and emerges into a new land, where she learns of her lineage, a prophecy about her, and her duty to keep narnia from civil war.

set one year into the Golden Age... peteroc

[kittyjane]

DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to C.S. Lewis, except for Nia, Toulouse, Helaena, and Nicodemus.


CHAPTER 1: The Wooden Chest


“Nia Evenshire, are you even listening to me?” Mrs. MacReady’s indignant voice roused Nia from her reverie. She couldn’t be blamed for daydreaming, really. The professor’s house was extremely interesting, with all its historical artifacts, suits of armor, marble busts of some philosopher… The house was as large as her father’s mansion in Kent, and much older.

“Yes, Mrs MacReady.” It was Nia’s first visit to her mother’s friend, Professor Kirke, and she would live here and study in the nearby school until she turned 18.

“And don’t even think of touching those historical artifacts!” Mrs. MacReady said. “They’re worth more than you are.” Nia knew this wasn’t true. Nia’s parents had been the Duke and Duchess of Kent. But that was before they died in an air raid in London two weeks ago. They were on their way to a Parliament meeting in Whitehall. Needless to say, they didn’t make it to the meeting. Now, Nia was the Duchess, thanks to the new law that allows females to inherit the title and the estate if they were first-born, except that her Uncle Nicodemus had taken over the dukedom as regent until she comes of age. Uncle Nicky was a very kind man and thought it would be best for Nia to be with the late Duchess Helaena’s friend. But still, a Duchess was a Duchess.

“I won’t.”

“Now, you must behave yourself when you’re in this house. No running in the halls, no swimming in the stream…” There was a stream at the back of the house, which was a pity because it was such a hot summer’s day and Nia felt she could really do with a nice bath.

They had reached the second floor landing now, and were proceeding to Nia’s room.

“You’re lucky to have a room to yourself,” Mrs. MacReady said, as if she wanted to strip Nia off that privilege. “Now, there are four other children in here, and you must behave accordingly with them.” Nia took this to mean that the housekeeper wanted her to act like a Duchess in front of those other children. And she was determined to do the exact opposite and be friends with them. Nia didn’t grow up in the ducal estate, anyway. She grew up in Finchley as a commoner, with her mother staying there with her and her father visiting at least once a week. “Now remember,” Mrs. MacReady said, “not to disturb the professor.”

Once Mrs. MacReady had left, Nia opened her suitcase and a black Burmese cat tumbled out of it.

“Toulouse!”

“I know, I know,” the cat said. “I stowed away. Again” Nia wasn’t alarmed to hear her cat talk. She had grown used to it. Toulouse was her mother’s cat, and Nia couldn’t find out why he talked. Her mother didn’t know he did – as far she Nia knew, and Toulouse talked to her, and only her, and made her promise to keep it a secret or else he’d up in some freak show or something. Toulouse had a very annoying habit of stowing away.

Toulouse made a show of examining the room critically. “Not bad, you know, but your room in Aunt Maeve’s house in Virginia was so much better.” At the age of ten, Nia and her mother were sent to a relative in America to protect them from the war. That was four years ago. She’d returned with her mother six months ago, and her father wasn’t exactly pleased.

“I like it,” Nia said. “I mean, look at all the historical artifacts! And this place looks more like an 18th century mini-palace than an actual house!”

“You are such a nerd, which is probably why one of those Finchley friends of yours, Piper…”

“Peter,” Nia corrected. “And I know what you’re going to say. I am a nerd, and Peter didn’t like me because I’m much too boring.”

“Never mind. You know you’re anything but.” Toulouse licked his paw. “Besides, he was only, like, eleven when you left. You couldn’t expect the guy to like you at age eleven.”

Nia bit her lip. Back in Finchley, there was one boy she had a crush on. Only the boy had been one of her best friends and she couldn’t tell him and risk ridicule. Not that Peter Pevensie would even think of ridiculing her. And she couldn’t tell his younger sister, Susan, who was closest to her. She’d tell him. Sad to say, she lost contact with them when she went to America.

“I mean,” Toulouse was saying, “you’re very clever, and you’re full of surprises, and you look beautiful as well.”

“You’re only saying that to flatter me,” Nia said. Nia thought she was quite plain, with her rather unruly light brown hair, which fell just past her shoulders, and her face was perfectly ordinary, with no poetry in them. But her eyes, people said, were one of the most beautiful they’d ever seen. It was a warm, chocolate brown, full of life and expression. Her mother had been a very beautiful woman, and as a child, Nia would always slink away at gatherings so she couldn’t be compared with her mother. “Now, it’s Su who’s beautiful.”

“I’ll say,” Toulouse said, very eager to change the subject, “where are the other children?”

“Mrs. MacReady said they’re outside playing cricket.”

“Well, then,” Toulouse said, jumping out of the bed and padding towards the door. “Shall we?” This meant he wanted to go on exploring. He and Nia did it whenever they were in a new place. “This place is huge, and it isn’t like that crone you spoke to told us not to explore. She only told you not to run, nor touch the historical artifacts, nor swim in the stream, nor ride the horses, nor…” This went on, and Nia had to laugh. She really wasn’t listening to Mrs. MacReady earlier and considered herself lucky Toulouse was there to listen and remember for her.

Nia opened the door and they walked along the corridor, side by side, until a ball smashed through one of the windows and hit the suit of armor in front of them, sending it crashing down the floor.

“Run!” Toulouse bolted down the corridor.

“It wasn’t our fault!” Nia gasped, struggling to keep up with him, bumped into a glass bust of Plato, and watched in horror as it broke into a million pieces. Toulouse stopped. “And where the heck are we going to hide? There are lots of doors in this house!”

“Now it’s your fault!”

Nia tried every door in the floor and found one that was unlocked. “This must be the professor’s study."

Indeed, it was. And it looked like one of those old-fashioned offices, grand and full of oak and carpets and bookshelves. Nia, who was quite the bookworm, stared at the room.

“What’s going on there?” It was Mrs. MacReady.

“Quick!” Toulouse said, motioning towards a large wooden chest in the corner. “In there!”

Nia opened the chest and eased herself inside. Toulouse jumped in as well and she closed the lid.

“Nia!” Mrs. MacReady was calling her name. She sounded angry. Nia held her breath. “Narnia Evenshire!”


Nia waited some time until Mrs. MacReady’s voice faded away, and counted to one hundred. Then, she opened the lid.

She was still in the trunk, but she wasn’t in the Professor’s study anymore. She stood up.

“Whoa,” Toulouse said. They were in a forest of some sort, and it was one of those forests that made you forget about wolves and panthers. It was one of those forests that reminded Nia of the stories of a magical land her mother used to tell her of. The land that, Helaena Evenshire said, was her namesake.

“Where are we?” Nia asked.

“Narnia Evenshire,” Toulouse said in a strangled voice, “welcome to the land of Narnia.”

END OF CHAPTER

[NarnianPrincess]

WOW! Good job! I can't wait for more! :D

[Aslan'sFriend410]

this is cool!

[NarnianPrincess]

Post more SOON!

[Narnian1]

come on and post more, this is really good.

[Yoo1029]

WOW! pretty good, but I'm confused
Narnia was named after this girl who came to Narnia after the pevensies? and if she did come after them, wouldn't peter be there studying at Prof. Kirke's? (See Voyage of DT CoN #5)
...in English time, when would it be?

[kittyjane]

okay, so let me get this straight...
in movieverse, the pevensies were playing cricket (or croquet, whatever that is) outside the professor's house ... while they were outside playing, nia entered the house to stay there... in chapter one, nia saw the ball the pevensies were playing tith hit the suit of armor and ran from the crime scene...

i'd say nia entered the Trunk a split-second after the pevensies entered the Wardrobe

[kittyjane]

CHAPTER 2: The Lost Princess


“Excuse me?” Nia was pretty sure her jaw had dropped as far as it could. “What do you mean, ‘the land of Narnia’?”

Toulouse sighed. “This is definitely going to be harder than I thought. Nia, everything you see from here up to Cair Paravel in the great Eastern Sea is Narnia.”

“But Narnia’s just a setting for several bedtime stories Mum used to tell me!” It was true. Nia was even named after the magical Land of Narnia. Sure, as a child, she wished Narnia was real - in fact, she still thinks of Narnia from time to time to comfort herself during the past two weeks – but it was only a fairytale! A story Nia’s grandmother (whom she’d never met, her Mum being an orphan) told her Mum to keep away the monsters under the bed!

“Well, did it ever occur to you that those stories about the ‘fairytale’ land of Narnia are based on true stories?” Toulouse said. “And please, do shut up… I’m sure Lena told you about tree spirits? They’re real too, and I’m sure they’re laughing at you. It’s almost embarrassing…” Lena was her mother’s, Helaena Frank-Evenshire’s, nickname. It sort of differed her from Mrs. Pevensie, whose name was Helen and was called “Aunt Lenny.”

“But that would be almost like saying the Land of Oz is real, too!” The Wizard of Oz was her favorite non-Narnian story.

“For all we know, it could be.”

A million questions flooded through Nia’s mind, but she narrowed it all down to one.

“You’re Narnian, aren’t you? Mum told me enough to know about Talking Beasts and the like.”

“Well, of course!” Toulouse said this with an extremely proud air that gave Nia an urge to hit him. It was also illogical, so surreal… But still, deep in her heart, Nia knew she believed this was real. “Lena sure knew how to make such seemingly ordinary facts interesting enough for good storytelling.”

At the mention of her mother’s name, Nia was jolted. The reality that her parents were dead had come crashing back to her… But somehow, it didn’t feel so bad. Somehow, Nia knew they were watching her now, from a better place. Nia wasn’t particularly inclined to a religion, but she did believe in a “better place,” whatever that is. But… Another question popped in her mind.

“And Mum… She knew you could talk!”

“Oui,” Toulouse said. “Of course she did. She’s Narnian!”

“She’s Narnian!” Nia exclaimed. Wonders never cease! “How come she never told me? I would’ve believed her!”

“And then, you’d grow up and think she’s a lunatic to claim that she came from a fairyland. Besides, you’d have told your father, one way or another.”

Nia bit her lip. Her parents loved each other so much… She couldn’t bear to think there was little trust Mum had to her Dad. “But… They loved each other!”

“Of course they did!” Toulouse looked affronted. “Narnians only marry if they love the person they’re supposed to marry in the first place. It’s insulting to think… But then, I see you point.” Here, he paused to lick his paws. “But then, if you were your father, how would you react if your fiancee tells you that she comes from another world?”

“I… I would think she’s a raving lunatic!”

“Exactly.” Here, Toulouse turned away from her. “Now, shall we? I wish to visit a friend, and then I’ll tell you how Lena and I got here. I’m really surprised the Great Winter’s over…”

“Which means the prophecy must’ve some true,” Nia said, following him as he trotted ahead through the magical forest.

Toulouse looked back in surprise. “What prophecy?”

“You’re Narnian, aren’t you? Isn’t it about those two boys and two girls from our world who’re supposed to kill the White Witch, bring the Great Winter to an end…”

“I see Lena told you that much. I expect you’d feel as if you’ve lived here all along soon enough.”


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They walked on and on until they came to a small door placed on the base of a cliff. Nia thought they must’ve walked for hours, but although she did feel a bit worn, she didn’t feel as tired as she should’ve been if she were back in England.

“Now, behave yourself,” Toulouse said. “This is the house of the Faun Memnus, who fought in the War against the White Witch. He’s a hero, and everyone knows this. And if he calls you by title, then say politely that you don’t know what he’s talking about, okay.”

“I know very well how to behave properly! Aunt Maeve taught me manners!”

“See? You get indignant easily.”

Nia kept her mouth shut as Toulouse called out, “Memnus, most honorable faun, it is I, your good friend, Toulouse. Would you please open your quaint home to me and my friend?”

They waited for a few seconds, and then, a rather shy-looking Faun opened the door. Nia’s eyes widened. It was the first time she’d ever seen a Faun, and all she could do was gape.

“You were looking for my father?” the Faun said politely. “Come.”

“Oh, do stop gaping,” Toulouse whispered as they entered. “You look like an idiot!”

Nia found the Faun’s home very cozy indeed, and saw various bookshelves, and books with titles like “Is Man a Myth?” or “How Aslan finally triumphed over the White Witch.”

“The White Witch’s dead!” Nia exclaimed. Her mother told her the White Witch still ruled over Narnia.

“Of course,” said the Faun, who’d been saying to Toulouse that his father was dead. Then, as if noticing her for the first time, he gaped at her. “A Daughter of Eve!”

“Of course I am,” Nia said. “I’m Nia, by the way. Nia Evenshire.”

“Where are you from?” the Faun was looking at her queerly. Nia began to feel rather uncomfortable. He must’ve noticed this and said, “I’m Tumnus, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Mister Tumnus,” Nia shook his hand. “I’m from England.”

“That’s the country where They who rule at Cair Paravel came from! I’m honored to have met a fellow countryman of Their Majesties’.”

“How could Memnus be dead?” Toulouse demanded. “He was only a young Faun when I left Narnia thirty years ago!”

“But here in Narnia, you’ve been gone for almost a hundred years,” Mister Tumnus replied.

“Time must flow differently among the worlds,” Nia mused. “How long has it been since the White Witch was killed?”

“Little more than a year ago. Hang on, I’ll make tea. You must think I’m a very bad host.”

“Oh, not at all,” Nia said, standing up from the plush armchair to look at the books again. She found one about a Queen who was so beautiful that even the stars descended every night to woo her and claim her for their own. It was very familiar to her since her Mum told it to her often. She took the book back to her chair and opened it. The book opened to a beautiful painting of a very beautiful woman with long black hair. Her eyes… They stood out among her perfect porcelain complexion.

“That’s Queen Swanwhite,” Toulouse said, just as Mister Tumnus came by to pour tea into their cups.

“It’s funny, really,” said Nia, “bit Queen Swanwhite… Her eyes… They’re just like Mum’s!”

At this, Mister Tumnus looked sharply at her. “I beg your pardon?” He grabbed the book and looked intently at the picture, then looked at her, as if drinking her in.

“Please stop that,” Nia said after a few awkward seconds. “I’m not accustomed to getting looked at.”

“You’re Toulouse the Royal Cat, aren’t you?” Mister Tumnus asked Toulouse.

“Well, of course, I was just a kitten back then…”

“Hang on,” Nia said, bewildered and feeling out of place between the two Narnians. “Toulouse’s name is familiar to you? Why is that? What have you got to tell me, Toulouse? Why are you looking at me like that, Mister Tumnus? And why does Mum have Queen Swanwhite’s eyes?”

“You see,” Mister Tumnus, “there were Kings and Queens in Narnia before the White Witch’s reign… And the last Queen was Queen Swanwhite.”

“And what does it have to do with me?”

“Queen Swanwhite and her husband, His Majesty, King Thorn,” Toulouse hesitated, “are your grandparents.”

[kittyjane]

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“They’re my what?” Nia couldn’t think clearly. She was in shock.

“When the White Witch attacked Cair Paravel at the onset of her reign,” Toulouse said, speaking fast now, “she left no one at Cair Paravel alive – and that includes Their Majesties. But then, your Mum, who was a young girl of eight at the time, Her Highness, the Princess Helaena, was away visiting her old Nurse at Beaversdam with some centaurs and me. The tree spirits passed the message of the White Witch’s attack to her immediately… But then, Lena was young – have I mentioned she was only eight at the time? – and inexperienced. The White Witch had eradicated her immediate family and blocked the Archenland-Narnian border, cutting her off from her distant relatives. She, together with her Nurse, a beaver, and me fled to the most remote parts of Narnia and lived in hiding.

“A year after that, the native Narnians had a sort of last stand. Your Mum played a great part in that War…”

“My father Memnus fought in that War, too!” Tumnus interrupted, but was silenced from making further comments by Toulouse’s annoyed glare.

“I,” the cat said, “do not appreciate the interruption. So, I was saying, Lena rallied the trees – she was nine, then – to join their side. She was a great debater and stubborn as a mule, refusing to give in to the other side…”

Nia had to smile inspite of herself. She remembered that day six months ago when she overheard her mother talking to Aunt Maeve about returning to England. Nia bawled and screamed and had been a total baby, but her mother was adamant. Because Nia couldn’t bear being parted with her mother, she stowed on the ship and only showed herself when they were already on the dock in England. Her parents had been both exasperated and delighted. Mum told her about the War in Narnia, too, but only as a storyteller, not as a witness.

“But then, they lost to the Witch,” Toulouse continued. “So, your Mum went back the live in hiding. One day, she went against her Nurse’s wishes and went out to look for some food. Some of the trees had joined the Witch’s side, and reported news of her to marauding wolves. When we heard the wolves’ howls – I was with her then, a rather fetching kitten I must say – we ran through the forest until Lena tripped over a large root. We thought it was the end of it, until we heard someone said, ‘Don’t you think it’s a bit late to play?’ And when we looked, it was an old man – not that old, but probably in his late forties, which was old enough. Well, the long and short of it is that we found ourselves in London – I don’t know how, but we did. The man was a professor named Digory Kirke…”

“Digory Kirke? The mysterious professor?” Nia couldn’t believe it. “Uncle Nicodemus said he’s a lunatic, and Mrs. MacReady made him sound like this sinister old bachelor…”

“We’re staying at Kirke’s?” Toulouse looked at her incredulously. “But last I heard, his house was in London.”

“He sold it,” Nia said. “Then, he stayed in that country house he inherited from his father.”

“He’d been in Narnia before. I’m sure you heard of the story of the Creation of Narnia…”

“So, he was the Lord Digory who went to the Western Wild and planted that magical Tree to prevent Jadis from returning to Narnia in the foreseeable future!” This was getting weirder and weirder.

“He took us in, educated Lena with your English ways. So, Lena graduated from Oxford with a degree in Classical History, met and fell in love with fellow graduate Henry, and married him. They had you. The end. Finis.”

“So?”

“So,” Tumnus gave a small laugh, “Nia, don’t you see? You’re now a Princess of Narnia!”

“Narnia Evenshire,” Toulouse said solemnly, “the Princess of Narnia.”

“Your name’s Narnia? It certainly is a great honor for you to be named after this country!”

“I can’t be a princess,” Nia objected. “I mean, what about the They who rule at Cair Paravel? They deserve to rule. I’ve done nothing to prove my worth. Besides, I would do so horribly at it. Trust me. I’ve always hated politics. And what would come of my announcing it?”

“We all thought Princess Helaena was killed,” Tumnus mused. “But now it seems as if she hadn’t been killed at all.”

“Well, she was killed in the War in our world,” Toulouse said. “Oh, please, stop looking so shocked, Tumnus. It happened two weeks ago.”

“You have to come to Cair Paravel,” Tumnus said to Nia. “You have to meet Their Majesties.”

“You think they’d be pleased to see me? A contender? Oh, honestly.” Nia shook her head and sipped her tea. She certainly did NOT want to be a princess. Nia had seen enough politicking in her father’s dukedom to know she’d never, ever get herself involved.

“Well, I was going to go to the Castle, anyway,” said Mister Tumnus, “Their Majesties are troubled, what with wolves and giants and dwarves and condors rebelling against them, and Calormen having conquered Archenland in the South. But then, they’d be happy to see an English girl’s face, I suppose…”

“Well then, I guess I’ll go with you after all,” Nia had to admit she was rather curious about these people of “Adam’s flesh and Adam’s bone” who’d rescued Narnia from the White Witch. “Just don’t tell them Swanwhite’s my Gran.”

“That’s pretty easy, really,” Tumnus replied. “Just as long as you don’t go near a portrait of her. Except for the hair, the complexion - she’s rather pale, isn’t she? - and the face shape – yours is oval and hers is sort of heart-shaped – you might just as well have been twins.”

END OF CHAPTER


AN: Thanks to all the reviewers and readers who'd taken the time to read the fanfic. Isn't Will Moseley simply fetching? For those who may be confused, Nia entered the trunk a split-second after the Pevensies entered the Wardrobe. And yes, Nia has serious self-esteem issues. Updates will be on a weekly basis, so, RnR!