![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedlamsbardRight, about an hour after I posted that I never wanted to think about Peta again, I finished writing the scene I stopped in the middle of. And it's kind of interesting. (Also, I think I may have lied about the emotional plot being "home.")
Three days later the bridge at Beruna is completed and the entirety of Telmar’s army settles into position on the Red Plain, scarce a league away from the How. Peta takes the news grimly and says, her face sober, “Well, it could be worse. They could have set up shop right outside our front doors and we wouldn’t be able to go outside without getting shot at.”
“It’s only a matter of time,” Edmund says.
“Yes, because clearly I need someone to keep informed of the bright side at all times,” Peta says. “How are we on food?”
“We’ll hold.”
A week after that they learn that Miraz has been crowned.
“He says you’ve gone over,” Susan tells Caspian, and puts her hand over his, her face kind.
Caspian pulls his hand away. “You mean that he says I’ve betrayed Telmar.”
“Well, you have,” Lucy says matter-of-factly. “So he is right about that. I mean, not that it makes you all that much less eligible for the throne; every country has some story about younger princes or mad uncles or whatnot that run off to go find an army in some other country, and about half of them actually succeed. Well, not every country; I never heard the like about Narnia, but everywhere else, yes. It means that you can still take the throne if you win.”
Peta, coming into the table room with a mug full of tea in one hand, squints at her. “You are aware that we are actually fighting this war to take our thrones back?” she says.
“What?” Caspian says, startled.
“Peta, I don’t think Aslan wants –” Lucy begins.
“I don’t care what Aslan wants,” Peta says viciously. “I’m going back to England over my extremely dead body, and I don’t particularly feel like playing general for someone else. Narnia is our country; I’m not just going to leave it like this.”
Lucy leaps up from her seat. “You can’t defy Aslan!” she exclaims. “If he wants us to stay –”
“Don’t,” Peta says dangerously, “bring Aslan into this, little sister. No one has seen him in thirteen hundred years.”
“I saw him –”
“You saw the reflection of light off my sword-hilt,” she says, her voice ruthlessly. “Sunlight in the trees. A shadow. You didn’t see Aslan.”
“Peta –” Susan begins as Lucy’s eyes go wide in surprise.
Lucy cuts her off. “This isn’t our Narnia, High Queen,” she spits. “Cair Paravel’s dust and tumbled stone and ruins. There aren’t four thrones anymore! There’s nothing here left for us. We’re here because Aslan brought us here to save Narnia, not to rule it. You and I and Su and Ed all know we can’t possibly be staying. You can’t make it happen just because you’ve found someone to warm your bed –”
Peta takes two steps toward her, raising her hand, and Edmund catches her wrist as he comes up behind her. “Think about what you’re doing, Peta,” he hisses in her ear as she goes still. “No one can see the future. Whatever the reason is that we’re here, that’s why we’re here. We have to win this war before we can worry about what will happen afterwards.”
“There’s a damned reason we’re fighting this war, Ed,” Peta snaps, turning towards him. “I’m not fighting it to put some fucking tyrant on the throne that neither the Narnians nor the Telmarines are going to listen to; I don’t want this country to rip itself apart the way it must have done when we left. This is my gods-damned country; I’m not fucking turning it over to someone else, not again. I’m not leaving again. I’m not abandoning Narnia again.”
“No one’s asking you to, Peta,” Edmund says. On her wrist, his grip is so tight that his knuckles are white. “We don’t know why Aslan brought us here. You just have to trust –”
“Trust what?” Peta snarls. “All that’s happening is that I’m fucking up all over the place! I’m not fighting this gods-damned war only to lose everything I’m putting my life on the line for, not again.”
“This isn’t about you!” Lucy shouts back. “You always think it’s about you and it’s not, it’s never about you! This is about Narnia, about what’s best for her; you and Narnia aren’t the same damned thing!”
“And what’s best for Narnia is turning her over to the Telmarines and these – refugees – to be squabbled over and picked at like a piece of meat?” Peta demands. “We can win every damned battle we want, we can win the war, but that’s not going to get us anything unless we can keep Narnia in one piece, and that’s not going to happen here, not without us. You know that. You know it, Lucy, fucking say it. There’s no one in Narnia now who can do what we did!”
“How would you know? You’re too busy being the gods-damned High Queen of Narnia to let anyone else have a try; you’re too blind to look around and see what other options might be available!”
“Lucy!” Susan says sharply. “You two both need to stop!”
“Shut up, Su,” Peta says without looking at her. “And take your hands the fuck off me, Ed. The reason I’m the High Queen of Narnia is because Aslan named me so. He didn’t say, ‘Peta, High Queen of Narnia on alternate Tuesdays,’ he said, ‘Peta, High Queen of Narnia over all Kings and Queens of Narnia,’ of which you are one, although I damned well don’t see you acting like it.”
“Just accept it!” Lucy yells at her. “Why can’t you just accept that our Narnia is gone? Why don’t you just see that everything you knew, everything we knew, is dead and gone and that we can’t get it back! You’re not her! You’re not the woman that Aslan named High Queen, not anymore, because things have changed! You can’t change the past, and you can’t see the future just because you want to. Things change, everything changes! Just look at us.”
Peta’s face crumples suddenly. “Go to hell, Lucy,” she says, and wrenches her arm free of Edmund’s grasp before she storms out of the room.
Lucy stands still, fists clenched at her sides, and breathes hard. She doesn’t look like a child anymore, Caspian realizes. And Peta – Peta had looked, at that last moment before she left, very, very young.
“Things change,” she repeats softly to herself, and looks around at the carving on the wall, the firelight flickering around it and illuminating it. “Everything changes.”
Susan starts forward, reaching for her, but Lucy walks straight past her outstretched hand out of the cavern.
Edmund rubs his good hand over his face and looks at his sister. “Well,” he says, “that went well.”
So what do you all get out of that? *curious*
Three days later the bridge at Beruna is completed and the entirety of Telmar’s army settles into position on the Red Plain, scarce a league away from the How. Peta takes the news grimly and says, her face sober, “Well, it could be worse. They could have set up shop right outside our front doors and we wouldn’t be able to go outside without getting shot at.”
“It’s only a matter of time,” Edmund says.
“Yes, because clearly I need someone to keep informed of the bright side at all times,” Peta says. “How are we on food?”
“We’ll hold.”
A week after that they learn that Miraz has been crowned.
“He says you’ve gone over,” Susan tells Caspian, and puts her hand over his, her face kind.
Caspian pulls his hand away. “You mean that he says I’ve betrayed Telmar.”
“Well, you have,” Lucy says matter-of-factly. “So he is right about that. I mean, not that it makes you all that much less eligible for the throne; every country has some story about younger princes or mad uncles or whatnot that run off to go find an army in some other country, and about half of them actually succeed. Well, not every country; I never heard the like about Narnia, but everywhere else, yes. It means that you can still take the throne if you win.”
Peta, coming into the table room with a mug full of tea in one hand, squints at her. “You are aware that we are actually fighting this war to take our thrones back?” she says.
“What?” Caspian says, startled.
“Peta, I don’t think Aslan wants –” Lucy begins.
“I don’t care what Aslan wants,” Peta says viciously. “I’m going back to England over my extremely dead body, and I don’t particularly feel like playing general for someone else. Narnia is our country; I’m not just going to leave it like this.”
Lucy leaps up from her seat. “You can’t defy Aslan!” she exclaims. “If he wants us to stay –”
“Don’t,” Peta says dangerously, “bring Aslan into this, little sister. No one has seen him in thirteen hundred years.”
“I saw him –”
“You saw the reflection of light off my sword-hilt,” she says, her voice ruthlessly. “Sunlight in the trees. A shadow. You didn’t see Aslan.”
“Peta –” Susan begins as Lucy’s eyes go wide in surprise.
Lucy cuts her off. “This isn’t our Narnia, High Queen,” she spits. “Cair Paravel’s dust and tumbled stone and ruins. There aren’t four thrones anymore! There’s nothing here left for us. We’re here because Aslan brought us here to save Narnia, not to rule it. You and I and Su and Ed all know we can’t possibly be staying. You can’t make it happen just because you’ve found someone to warm your bed –”
Peta takes two steps toward her, raising her hand, and Edmund catches her wrist as he comes up behind her. “Think about what you’re doing, Peta,” he hisses in her ear as she goes still. “No one can see the future. Whatever the reason is that we’re here, that’s why we’re here. We have to win this war before we can worry about what will happen afterwards.”
“There’s a damned reason we’re fighting this war, Ed,” Peta snaps, turning towards him. “I’m not fighting it to put some fucking tyrant on the throne that neither the Narnians nor the Telmarines are going to listen to; I don’t want this country to rip itself apart the way it must have done when we left. This is my gods-damned country; I’m not fucking turning it over to someone else, not again. I’m not leaving again. I’m not abandoning Narnia again.”
“No one’s asking you to, Peta,” Edmund says. On her wrist, his grip is so tight that his knuckles are white. “We don’t know why Aslan brought us here. You just have to trust –”
“Trust what?” Peta snarls. “All that’s happening is that I’m fucking up all over the place! I’m not fighting this gods-damned war only to lose everything I’m putting my life on the line for, not again.”
“This isn’t about you!” Lucy shouts back. “You always think it’s about you and it’s not, it’s never about you! This is about Narnia, about what’s best for her; you and Narnia aren’t the same damned thing!”
“And what’s best for Narnia is turning her over to the Telmarines and these – refugees – to be squabbled over and picked at like a piece of meat?” Peta demands. “We can win every damned battle we want, we can win the war, but that’s not going to get us anything unless we can keep Narnia in one piece, and that’s not going to happen here, not without us. You know that. You know it, Lucy, fucking say it. There’s no one in Narnia now who can do what we did!”
“How would you know? You’re too busy being the gods-damned High Queen of Narnia to let anyone else have a try; you’re too blind to look around and see what other options might be available!”
“Lucy!” Susan says sharply. “You two both need to stop!”
“Shut up, Su,” Peta says without looking at her. “And take your hands the fuck off me, Ed. The reason I’m the High Queen of Narnia is because Aslan named me so. He didn’t say, ‘Peta, High Queen of Narnia on alternate Tuesdays,’ he said, ‘Peta, High Queen of Narnia over all Kings and Queens of Narnia,’ of which you are one, although I damned well don’t see you acting like it.”
“Just accept it!” Lucy yells at her. “Why can’t you just accept that our Narnia is gone? Why don’t you just see that everything you knew, everything we knew, is dead and gone and that we can’t get it back! You’re not her! You’re not the woman that Aslan named High Queen, not anymore, because things have changed! You can’t change the past, and you can’t see the future just because you want to. Things change, everything changes! Just look at us.”
Peta’s face crumples suddenly. “Go to hell, Lucy,” she says, and wrenches her arm free of Edmund’s grasp before she storms out of the room.
Lucy stands still, fists clenched at her sides, and breathes hard. She doesn’t look like a child anymore, Caspian realizes. And Peta – Peta had looked, at that last moment before she left, very, very young.
“Things change,” she repeats softly to herself, and looks around at the carving on the wall, the firelight flickering around it and illuminating it. “Everything changes.”
Susan starts forward, reaching for her, but Lucy walks straight past her outstretched hand out of the cavern.
Edmund rubs his good hand over his face and looks at his sister. “Well,” he says, “that went well.”
So what do you all get out of that? *curious*
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-11-28 05:17 pm (UTC)It pretty much just doesn't come up; Aslan never shows.