✩.･*:｡≻───── ⋆♡⋆ ─────.•*:｡✩
🏝️Aslan's Table🏝️
✩.･*:｡≻───── ⋆♡⋆ ─────.•*:｡✩
Once the ship anchored at Ramandu's Island, the ship crew wasted no time in preparing the boats. Eustace soared ahead of them with his shadow looming over their heads, eager to take rest on shore after an exhausting journey. On his back sat Lucy, Charlotte and Reepicheep, leaving a vexed Edmund behind to row boats with Caspian.
Nonetheless, Edmund was satisfied that the dragon ride had lifted Charlotte's mood from their heavy conversation earlier, hearing her joyous laughter above. When he arrived, the girls simply giggled to themselves.
"Thank you, Eustace, you're so thoughtful," Charlotte gently stroked his scaly snout, snorting at Edmund's unamused frown.
Eustace growled in a hearty manner as he nodded, a smile accompanying his dragon features. Edmund could tell his young cousin enjoyed gaining some attention from his favourite Queen, just to spite him.
"You'd think he'd ferry his own cousin over," Edmund remarked resentfully with an eye roll.
"You might get a lift if you play nice with him," Lucy suggested.
"I saved his life from you lot, even when Charlotte was ready to strike him, I consider that being nice," he shrugged, switching on his torch before they headed into the darkness.
They followed Edmund's lead, treading past the ancient infrastructures of Ramandu's Island that seemed uninhabited for centuries. Vines decorated the grounds and entwined around raven statues like hair, and leaves were planted all over the grounds.
Eventually, they encountered a large table, filled with an abundance of fruit, meat, and bread. Immediately upon its glorious sight, their mouths began to water, and their minds recalled their starvation after an exhausting voyage.
"Foood..." Tavros was enchanted by the buffet laid before him, rushing forward to grab an apple.
"Wait." Drinian ordered sternly.
The Kings and Queens circled around the table for a closer inspection. They approached the end of the table, analysing the perfection of every dish and cutlery laid out.
Edmund turned his torch a slight left, only for its light to shine upon a corpse sitting at the table's end. It was trapped in thousands of vines, almost shielding its physique. He gasped and stretched out his sword, grabbing the attention of others.
His torch waved in all sorts of directions, before he realised that two other corpses sat with the first body. Upon noticing the lifeless bodies, everyone else followed suit, positioning their swords readily. Caspian leaned forward, noticing their accessories.
"Lord Revilian, Lord Mavramorn, Lord Argoz..." Caspian deduced their identities.
Lucy pushed strands of hair out of Lord Argoz's face, only to withdraw her hand with a gasp. Caspian heard a faint sound emitting from the frozen lord, and frowned in perplexity as he leaned in for a closer examination.
"He's breathing," he noted, appalled by their circumstances.
"So are they..." Edmund added on, shining his torch on each Lord respectively.
"Why are they... Alive, yet dead?" Charlotte's eyes widened in horror as she gestured with her index finger. "Their eyes are open."
"They must be under a spell," Edmund hypothesised.
Everyone pondered in silence, attempting to make sense of their circumstances.
"It's the food!" Caspian panicked with hysteria, and he raised his palm out as a warning to Tavros, who brought the apple towards his mouth.
Tavros immediately dropped the fruit in shock. Edmund examined the food on the table, scanning through every item. Then, he spotted a knife out of the ordinary, sitting amongst them. He recognised its intricate design, and his eyes widened, concluding their location.
"Hey, it's the stone knife," he pointed out, "this is Aslan's table!"
Caspian searched through the vines wrapped around the three Lords, noticing their weapons entangled amidst them.
"Their swords..." He mellowly said, pulling one out hastily. "On the table!"
Edmund and Lucy followed suit, pulling the other two swords out. They laid their acquired possessions on the table on his command, stacking them on top of each other.
"That's six," Edmund noted.
"Still missing one," Caspian sighed.
The swords began to glow with a bright blue hue, which caught everyone in a trance. That was until Lucy glanced upwards.
"Look!"
Everyone's heads whipped towards the open sky, where the stars sparkled brightly like millions of fireflies. Lucy pointed to one in particular that outshone the rest. The bright blue star began its descent towards them, glowing brighter by the second. Caspian positioned his sword, wary of the star burning brighter with blinding lights.
As it descended, it morphed into a silhouette, before appearing clearly on the ground before them. The star had apparently morphed into a human being. She was a lady donning a dress of snow, radiating with a glow, greeting them with a kind smile.
"Travelers of Narnia, welcome," her voice was sophisticated, almost hypnotic like a siren's sound. The crew immediately got on their knees, bowing in respect to her.
"Arise." She cued them, and they rose to their feet on her command. Silence diffused across the room as they all processed such an ethereal sight.
"Are you not hungry?" She questioned.
"Who are you?" Edmund questioned back.
"I'm Lilliandil, daughter of Ramandu." She took a few steps forward, "I am your guide."
"You're a star?" Caspian came forward, enthralled by her effulgence.
She nodded in response.
"You are most beautiful," he complimented.
"I— If it's a distraction for you," she struggled to find the words, "I— I can change form—"
"No!" Edmund and Caspian responded hastily in unison.
Caspian and Lucy eyed Edmund with vexation. Charlotte raised her eyebrows at Edmund's impulsive response. She cleared her throat, which was accompanied by a growl. Edmund immediately turned to her, but her attention drifted to the vines hanging from the trees, avoiding eye contact. He reached for her hand, only to withdraw in pain when she squeezed his hand harder than he had expected.
"Please, the food is for you." Lilliandil encouraged, lifting her arms.
Instantly, the candles at the table lit. Whispers wafted among the crew at the magic unravelling before their eyes. Some of them were eager to devour the food, with their hands already stretching out towards the tabletop.
"There is enough for all who are welcome at Aslan's table, always. Help yourselves!" At her assuring tone, they began wolfing down the fruits and bread sitting before them.
"Wait!" Edmund called out, gesturing to the three Lords sitting like vegetables. "What happened to them?"
Lilliandil followed the direction of his pointed finger, examining the three Lords.
"These poor men were half-mad by the time they reached our shores, they were threatening violence upon each other," she explained, addressing the whole group, "violence is forbidden at the table of Aslan, so they were sent to sleep."
"Will they ever wake?" Lucy clarified.
"When all is put right," Lilliandil confirmed, gesturing the royals to follow her. "Come, there is little time."
Caspian and Lucy shared a glance, and brisk-walked after her.
"Hey," Edmund began, "I didn't me—"
"Not now, Ed." She abruptly cut him off.
Leaving him behind, she sprinted in their trail, catching up to Lucy and Caspian. Edmund sighed, trudging along their path. After all, bigger issues took precedence.
Lilliandil led them to the edge of the island, where a familiar island sat a distance away.
"The magician, Coriakin, told you of Dark Island?" She queried.
"Yes," Caspian confirmed.
There, they observed the island before them. It was surrounded by dark waters. The skies around it were consumed by dark blue hues, with only a glimpse of twilight barely floating above the horizon.
"Before long, the evil will be unstoppable," she warned them. "It had been growing for many years, ever since Queen Jillian's prophecy unravelled."
They all stood still, processing her words. Charlotte shook her head in disbelief. She refused to be associated with her aunt, who evidently had fallen trap to evil in the past. She finally could make sense of the lady's distant behaviour — it would have been shameful to tell stories of such crimes that she committed. Furthermore, knowing that she was a cause of a catastrophe in Narnia would have taken a huge toll on her.
"What did she do?" Charlotte prompted, hoping to find some answers from their guide.
Lilliandil turned to her, smiling kindly. "On her journey to seek more in protecting Narnia, she proved that human nature is as such. Sometimes, they lose to temptations."
"Coriakin said to break its spell, we lay the seven swords at Aslan's table," Caspian raised to her.
"He speaks the truth," Lilliandil vouched, adding on, "but the dagger of Queen Jillian is to be laid on all seven of them, to finally put an end to what she started."
"Not to worry, the dagger's in Caspian's possession," Charlotte assured her.
"But we only found six," Edmund chimed in, "do you know where the seventh is?"
Lilliandil raised a finger, and they all followed the direction it pointed at, their eyes landing on Dark Island. "In there."
"You've got to be joking," Charlotte shook her head in disbelief.
"You will need great courage," she said, turning to them, "Dark Island is where the Tenacious Queen of Narnia was corrupted by evil."
"I suppose you refer to Queen Jillian..." Charlotte presumed aloud, as her fingers began trembling. "But how?"
Lilliandil only smiled, conveying her hope and faith in them.
"Aslan gave you your unique titles, such that they define your strengths," she encouraged, toggling her gaze between them, "if you trust in Him, and trust in your strengths, you can conquer not only the evil in Dark Island, but also the evil within."
They pondered over her words of wisdom, but Charlotte was still drowning in uncertainty.
"Didn't Queen Jillian know her strength?" She clarified.
"She failed to trust in Aslan," Lilliandil expressed with crestfallen features, "as the Tenacious Queen, she was firm and determined in all that she did, until her fear of the prophecy outweighed her faith in Aslan, and the path she took only sealed it."
She turned to the rest of the group. "Don't give in to the temptations."
"We'll... Try... I suppose..." Lucy suggested, failing to convince herself.
"Now, waste no time," Lilliandil warned them, "once your crew have restored their energy, you must retrieve the last sword immediately."
"I hope we meet again." Caspian said, catching her attention.
With a smile, she nodded in his direction. "Goodbye."
The two shared a last smile, before her glow amplified from within. In a split second, she reverted to a ball of white light and floated towards the skies, landing among the stars.
They all exchanged glances, washed over by mixed emotions.
"Well, er," Lucy began, "we should eat too, perhaps."
"Agreed." Caspian nodded.
The two glanced in Edmund's direction, hinting towards the elephant in the room with their eyes, and left without a word. Edmund tugged on Charlotte's sleeve.
"Hey, about earlier," he began, " I should'n've responded that way."
"Yeah, what happened back there?" Charlotte tilted her head in confusion, "I assumed that you... That we..."
She was almost certain that he must have meant all those gestures of affection. Then again, perhaps boys of his age were simply not ready to commit themselves to one lady in particular. After all, they were not exactly courting, which meant that Edmund was not bounded to her. Charlotte felt like a fool for not clarifying their relationship before.
"Oh, I understand..." She feigned apathy behind a chuckle. "Suppose I had it all wrong — my apologies."
"No, I'd— I'd never throw away what we have for any other lady," Edmund corrected her. "It'd never happen again."
"What exactly do we have, Edmund?" Charlotte scrunched one side of her nose, displaying clear confusion on her face.
"We have something special." Edmund reached for her hands. "I'd never part with you just like that."
He sighed at his poor choice of words, already anticipating Charlotte's rebuttal. Charlotte broke her hands away from his grasp. "Yet you wish to part with me for Earth..."
"No, this is different, it isn't healthy," Edmund shook his head definitively, failing to catch himself from blurting further, "I want to be with you, but I can't watch you live in a fantasy for an eternity."
Charlotte's heart sank upon hearing his words that seemed to be digging a deeper grave on their relationship. She turned away from him, and spoke before walking off. "Suppose you might as well find happiness with another on Earth, Ed, because I don't think I'd find that anywhere but here."
Edmund exhaled a frustrated sigh, barely recognising her. Charlotte had always been attached to Narnia, but he never would have guessed just how difficult letting go of it would be for her.
But she would not actually go to such extremes, would she? Surely, she would decide to be with him, and they could live a normal life together on Earth.
Edmund nodded to himself, convincing himself with his thoughts. Unfortunately, his heart could not rest at her intransigence.
*****
A/N: So glad that this part is done and dusted. I can't believe I brainstormed so much just to plot around Edmund simping for Lilliandil PLSSS. That being said, I'm satisfied with the final cut and the plot progression 🥹