Not sure of how she should react to almost being assassinated, Angelina walked through the gardens trying to get her mind off the fact that she might have died. It's not every day a stranger with a knife plots to attack you for no particular reason. She understood that she would have enemies, but she didn't even do anything to the man personally, why would he try to kill her? All she knew was the white witch was powerful and could turn even the purest of hearts into the worst merciless killers. Her blood boiled. She had to do something about it.
"Are you alright?" She heard Peter's voice and turned around. He embraced her tightly.
"I am fine, did Edmund tell you?" She asked, not able to breath from his tight hug.
Peter let go, "tell me? He screamed at me. He was furious, I felt like I was the one trying to assassinate you and he was giving me a piece of his mind."
"Oh my, he shouldn't have reacted in such a way," Angelina turned away from Peter and sat on the stone bench.
"It's okay, he cares about you, very much. I am terribly sorry that you experienced such a thing." He joined her.
Angelina sighed, it's not like she wasn't warned by Aslan that she would have enemies. The assassination made the fight for good much more real to her than it was before. She had a duty and many wanted to see her fail as the keeper of light.
"It was bound to happen sooner or later. I am a controversy." She admitted more to herself than to Peter.
His features softened, "aren't we all? Think about it, some of the Narnians forgot about Aslan, the witch is the most powerful right now. We still follow Aslan. I am as much of a controversy as you are, they should assassinate me too. And believe me, they have tried. It's not easy being the high king of Narnia."
Peter was right, they were all a threat to the witch's regime. She didn't want them to show her people hope in a better world and a better way to serve, she wanted them to keep believing that there was no truth. The worst part was that most of the Narnians didn't acknowledge her as much as they didn't acknowledge Aslan. The best trick the devil ever pulled was letting the world believe he never existed, well Jadis was the devil of Narnia. Although some have seen her, they took her as a mere object of their imagination. Peter tried to explain that as best as he could to Angelina.
"I don't understand how they can't see the obvious truth! We are even fighting wars with her!" She didn't understand.
Peter sighed, "technically we are fighting with her armies, armies who believe that she still exist, not her."
"But I saw her on the battlefield! She made me sleep, she made Edmund forget. I still don't understand how she did that, she didn't even come anywhere near him." Angelina tried to run the scenes in her head to remember.
"Well maybe she didn't make him forget then," his skepticism gave her an idea.
"What if she didn't!?" Angelina almost leaped up from her seat from excitement.
Peter furrowed his eyebrows, "but then who would, I mean only she knows the power of deep dark magic."
"There must be someone else who knows! It doesn't seem like her to do such a thing, besides as you said, she is a ghost, she is limited on this plane. Aslan is from another dimensions right? Well what if she is also from another dimension? A ripple in the plane, a ghost...A shadow!" Angelina paced around the garden.
"But she made you fall asleep and dream of a totally different world?" Peter knew that her logic was leading her somewhere and tried to help.
Angelina put her finger into the air, "yes! Only a part of her spirit was in me, haunting my very being. However, Edmund woke up before me, he forgot me because of something completely different, because I remembered and he didn't."
"I'm not sure where you are going with all this, but continue, I think you are onto something." Peter tried to analyze the things she was saying to understand himself.
"I'm done hiding from her, I am not afraid of her. I want to fight the white witch." Her expression changed and Peter feared it was for the worst.
He stood up from the bench, "you can't defeat her, only Aslan can."
"Then I can help Him, I am the keeper of light for some reason. I have His power!" She started walking back to the castle.
"Where are you going Angelina?" Peter called out from behind.
"The library, I have to talk to the librarian." She remembered the old man who managed to sneak the book of Narnia into her backpack, in the beginning of it all.
Sure of her purpose now, she stormed into the library with anger. Wondering why all these things were happening to her, why did she go to Narnia, why was she the keeper of light, she slammed the door. The librarian was nowhere to be found and she fell onto the floor, the tears threatening to leave her eyes. From the corner of his eye, the old man could see her quietly sobbing. He wasn't sure of what to do and confused about how he should react. He was only the messenger, the keeper of secrets. The one she needed most was Aslan. So, the old man did what he does best. He picked up the book of Narnia and gently slid it across the floor to her, hoping that she wouldn't notice and take his act as a pure chance and miracle. He didn't know which page she would turn to, hoping that Aslan would do the rest and guide her to the answers she seeks.
When she slowly looked up and wiped her eyes, Angelina skeptically picked up the book. There was no way she could magically turn to the page she seeks, but she wanted to try. Flipping through the pages she closed her eyes and imagined a great forest. She looked down at the green grass, noticing a Lion's mighty paws standing in front of her.
"Have you forgotten the battle you are fighting, my keeper of light?" Like a wind, his voice gushed through her ears, "You have to be stronger than the story, don't let your doubts blind you."
"I don't have a certain answer, in fact I am not certain of anything anymore. It's all my fault, you shouldn't have picked me. I am not the right person to do this job!" Angelina shook her head.
The Lion smiled, "have you such doubt that I would make a mistake? You are not the right person to do this job, you are the only one who can. Or have you forgotten child who's power you have in your soul?" The Lion knew more than she did, and Angelina acknowledged it.
"I'm just so frustrated with you! You never show up to help, you let me fight in the darkness alone!" Screaming at the Lion she turned away from him.
"Light shines the brightest in darkness. I have not forsaken you, never forsaken. I have been by your side all this time, fighting. You just never saw me, because I was living in you. Why do you think you have my powers, to do your work and not my own? Mortals cannot fight the dark magic, only I can. It's not that you have my powers, it is that my powers have you." He did not disappear, did not leave when she screamed at him. Aslan took it in and listened.
"Then show me how to use your power, show me how to see you!" She now turned back to the Lion who, she realized, was the only way.
He smiled, "be kind, like the birds in the sky. Be gentle like the fox in the forest. Be brave like a wolf in the night. Persevere, never forget. And above all, love. Love with all your heart, without expecting love back. For when you love, that is when your heart is most open to my ways. I saved Edmund Pevensie because of love, accepted Caspian because of love, forgave Lucy Pevensie because of love. I opened my ways to you, because of love. Everything we do, we do because of love. Even the bad things sometimes. But when you follow me, when you trust me, you do things for the right reasons."
She looked at the ground, understanding what the Lion wanted from her. Fearing that she was not strong enough to endure, she knew that it was her choice. Which path she would take, only Aslan knew. Somehow, she knew that if the Lion who cleansed the heart of a traitor, could surely cleans hers to shine his light. It hit her, the reason she couldn't control it, was because she didn't use it for his greater purpose. The light was not her own, she was merely its keeper.
Smiling, Angelina opened her eyes to the old man standing in front of her with wide eyes. "You slid the book my way didn't you?"
"I was hoping you could find the answers you seek in there." He looked down at the book.
"I did." She let a tear fall down her face.
"And why is the keeper of light crying now?" The old man asked.
Angelina smiled, "because I finally am sure of my purpose. Really sure! Not sure like I was before, but sure sure." She picked herself up from the ground. The assassins whom the witch sent didn't scare her anymore. It was not her power against the witch, it was Aslan's power in her. Although she knew the Lion somehow mysteriously used her to do His will, she still thought she might fail sometimes. But those fears were overrun by the new confidence He gave her.
The only other person who was more worried about her was Edmund, so she went to the archery room where he usually trained and watched him flick his sword around, preparing to strike anyone who threatened her.
"My hero," he heard her say and laugh. Edmund smiled and turned around.
He approached her, "Peter told me you think the witch is using someone else to do her dark deeds."
She nodded, "yes, but enough about the white witch. I want you to know that nothing can hurt me, it was Aslan's plan for me to have this purpose, and nothing can stop Him."
Nodding, Edmund put down his sword, and sat down on the cold floor, and she joined him. He was scared that his strong love for her clouded some of his judgement, but she was there to remind him that he wasn't the only one who loved her. Aslan's plan was in motion, and no one could stop the Lion of Narnia who created it.
"Ed, what are you thinking of?" She asked, hovering her hand over his shoulder.
He smiled down at her, "I remember, we introduced ourselves to each other when I forgot you, I told you that you could call me Ed, somehow it sounds more wonderful when you say it."
Rolling her eyes she smiled, "do you even remember my nickname?"
"Yes," he snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her down to the ground, "Angie."
"Eddie," she teased, running her hand up and down his cheek. Edmund furrowed his eyebrows, he didn't want to be called by such a cute name, it didn't suite his serious demeanor.
"No! That sounds too childish!" He protested, but she wouldn't stop laughing. "Eddie," she repeated over and over again until he gave up and laughed with her.