The Four Elements of Narnia

Chapter Four - Acceptance

Peter had tried to clear his mind but had not yet had much luck. He found himself once again in the apple orchard trying to calm himself down, his efforts clearly ineffective due to the force of the wind whipping around him.

"Peter." Susan's gentle voice somehow carried through the wind and he turned to find her behind him. "You need to calm down and you need to have more faith in Lucy." At that, for the second time that day, Peter snapped. "SHE IS MY LITTLE SISTER AND SHE IS PUTTING HER LIFE IN DANGER! SHE COULD GET HERSELF KILLED SHE'S JUST A CHILD... SHE'S MY RESPONSIBILITY!" during his rant he had turned his back on Susan, he spun round expecting to see her disapproving look she used whenever she went into her mothering mode. Instead what he was greeted with was eyes flashing and fire growing from Susan's palms. The queen, whilst gentle was also fierce when she wanted to be. Peter, slightly taken aback by his sister's violent look stopped mid-rant. Susan took the opportunity to begin her own. 

"A – Lucy is far from little and has been taught by one of the best fighters in the kingdom!" Susan threw a fireball at Peter, which he just managed to deflect with a gust of air, when it looked like he was going to interrupt her. "B – You know how much she's been through, how much we've all been through these past 10 years and Lucy is the bravest of us all. C – She is 19, an ADULT and can be responsible for her own choices. Finally, she isn't a little girl anymore and you need to stop treating her like one, she is amazing and valiant and doesn't deserve to be shunned by her over-protective older brother for wanting to learn to protect herself!!" With each point she made Susan had taken a step towards her brother, a fireball thrown with each one. Peter was shocked. He had never seen his sister so angry and it started to make him re-evaluate his point of view. He thought about he would have felt in Lucy's shoes, the only one of four that didn't know how to fight. Suddenly the gale around them stopped and with that the fire in Susan's hands diminished. "I know you love her" she said quietly, "but you've got to understand her reasons," and with that his wise sister turned on her heels and left the orchard.

As Susan left the orchard a wave of stress came over her and she looked down at her hands to see sparks of fire dancing across her palms. When she was out of Peter's sight, she stopped, closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. She wasn't one to give in to large displays of emotion and it was a sign of how furious she was that she had actually fought with Peter. However, she wasn't just cross with him, she was cross with herself as well. Lucy shouldn't have had to train in secret, she should have spoken up when Peter refused to let her learn to fight. When they had first come to Narnia, Susan had fallen into the roll of mother to her siblings, even Peter. She kept a clear head and tried to protect them from danger. It was that mothering personality that had caused her to agree with Peter that Lucy should not train. She couldn't bear to see her little sister hurt. She frowned to herself. What a hypocrite she was. Ever since she had entered Narnia she had been on the battlefield with her bow and arrow putting her life in danger alongside Peter and Edmund. To Lucy it must have seemed that she was the odd one out. And what if Susan had died on the field. Then her siblings would have no mothering voice to take care of them. She had the sudden realisation that her fight with Peter had not just been about the way he treated Lucy, but the way she had treated her sister as well. Her younger sister was no longer a child. Susan had had to grow up fast when they arrived in Narnia and she hadn't wanted the same for her sister. It turned out that her sister had to teach herself how to grow up instead. Susan sighed, ashamed of her actions. She conjured a fireball and stared at the dancing flames in her hand for a few seconds as she thought. She then curled her hand up into a fist, extinguishing the fireball, she had an apology to make.

Peter was sat on the training field cross-legged with the dryad Helena in front of him. Helena could control the air and so took the lead in Peter's training. Peter was still conflicted over Lucy's actions and his fight with Susan and had decided to train to take his mind off it. He was currently focusing on how to control his power with more ease as sometimes it resisted him, which wouldn't be great in battle when he would need to call on it in a split second.