Chapter Thirty
Kings and Queens of Narnia
Everyone was in full rejoicing, the White Witch was destroyed and today was the day that Narnia had been waiting a hundred years for. Two Sons of Adam and three Daughters of Eve would finally be crowned Kings and Queens of Narnia. Even the mermaids were rejoicing as they danced in the water in a race towards Cair Paravel where the coronation would take place. The empty castle on the edge of the hill would finally have inhabitants within as the Kings and Queens would live there.
There was one individual who was not rejoicing along with everyone else. Elizabeth stood in front of a mirror in an upstairs room which she was told would become her own bedroom. The room itself was huge, the rooms of the castle were made years ago and to Elizabeth had an eerie feeling considering they had been empty for so long. Of course, the rooms had just been freshly refurbished so they were up to date with fashion, but never the less the feeling still lingered to Elizabeth. She didn't know how she felt about the gigantic bedroom that was supposedly hers. Fresh light poured into her room as a whole side wall to the room was strictly a window that stretched from one wall to the other and belonged to a balcony that opened up and allowed one to overlook the beautiful beach below. The room was bigger than her bedroom back in the real world but only by a little, but she wasn't used to living in such a large space since living in Narnia. She had been living in a tent for the past sixty years so now standing in such a large living space was a bit overwhelming for the girl.
As she stood in front of the mirror she was overlooking her new status. Oreius sister, Lilith, did all the cosmetics to Elizabeth as well as fixing her hair and dress. When Elizabeth examined her figure in the mirror she didn't even recognize herself. Her bright blue eyes popped with the eyeliner and natural eye shadow. She hardly even had any makeup on and the makeup she did have on was in natural colors so to convey her natural beauty more than redesigning her face. She had never seen her face in makeup before though so she didn't even recognize the girl who was looking back at her. Lilith had pulled the girl's beautiful blonde golden hair into a gorgeous bun that wrapped around the base of her head. In her hair, the centaur had pieced tiny little golden decorative hair pins to help hold Elizabeth's hair in place but to also stick out. Elizabeth wore a stunning red dress with a hint of gold around the top and in a band around her elbows. She wore soft white flats to go with the dress but the dress came all the way to the floor so no one could actually see the shoes. No one else was in the room so Elizabeth was alone.
She practically wasn't breathing as she looked over herself. Who was this girl? Who was this blonde staring back at her? It certainly couldn't be her. She wasn't meant to be crowned ruler over Narnia, certainly not. Ever since Aslan first told her she would gain the crown of Narnia she didn't want it. Up until today, nothing had changed. She still didn't want the crown. She didn't deserve the crown. What had she done that was worthy of ruling an entire country? Sure she had the Pevensies to help her since they too would be crowned rulers of Narnia, but that didn't truly make Elizabeth feel any better.
"What are you thinking?" A voice called out from the entrance to her room and Elizabeth turned to find the voice that was speaking to her. She was greeted with a dark black haired boy standing at her double doors that were wide open. Lilith must have left the doors open when she left, or even perhaps Susan and Lucy when they had come in a moment ago to check out Elizabeth's dress to see how it compared to their own. But she didn't expect this visitor.
"I'm not really sure if I'm being honest. Kind of a mixture of things I suppose," Elizabeth said with a small smile as she held her hands in front of her lap and looked back at herself in the mirror as she bit her lip. "I don't even know who I am."
Edmund smiled as he entered her room and sat down on the edge of her bed. "Well, I think you look beautiful," he said happily as she turned to face him with a bit of an annoyed look.
"You're just saying that because I look like this right now," she sighed at the boy but Edmund gave her a confused look as he furrowed his eyebrows.
"I think you looked pretty before," he said and Elizabeth felt the heat rushing to her cheeks as she looked at the boy. Edmund stood off the bed and walked over to her and looked into the mirror while Elizabeth continued to look at him. "You don't need to be all dressed up like this to look beautiful to me."
Elizabeth felt her heart beat faster as she continued to look at Edmund standing next to her. Was he serious? She couldn't quite explain it but for some reason, she felt like she was experiencing synesthesia as she looked at Edmund. She felt like her heart was tightening and she was brimming with happiness, stupid happiness, as Edmund stood beside her. What was happening to her? She never acted or felt like this. Was something wrong with her?
As she looked at Edmund she began to squint at his hair. The way the light was shining on it, made it look . . . different. "What?" Edmund asked, feeling her stare at him and turned to face her. Elizabeth's face blushed big time when he looked at her and quickly looked away from him.
"Um nothing," she exclaimed as she looked back at herself in the mirror beginning the redness in her cheeks to go down.
Edmund stared at her with a smile forming on his face while he waited until she finally turned back to face him and she motioned to his hair. "Um . . . you have . . . brown hair," she said as she looked at his hair. "I've never noticed before."
Edmund let out a gentle laugh as she said this and Elizabeth gave a small smile when she heard Edmund laugh. She felt like she was smiling so crazily that her face was going to crack. When she was with Edmund she felt so happy. Even though she was just standing next to him, she felt like nothing could have been better than this moment, just standing with him.
Aslan entered the room and cleared his throat so that Edmund turned around and he and Elizabeth were looking at the lion. "You should probably head downstairs and help Peter get ready," Aslan told Edmund with a smile.
"Of course," Edmund said giving the lion a small bow as he turned to Elizabeth and picked up her hand. "Your Majesty," he smiled at her as he pulled her hand to his face and gently kissed the top of her hand. She blushed all over again as Edmund then turned and left the room to join his brother.
"What's up with you?" Aslan asked as he walked over to the blonde and Elizabeth shook her head with a frown as she turned back towards the mirror.
The two stood quietly for a moment until Elizabeth let out a sigh and turned back to Aslan. "I'm not ready for this," she finally breathed out as she looked at Aslan with a heavy face.
Aslan too let out a sigh with her response and he slowly shook his head. "Eliza—" he started but she cut him off.
"No I don't think you understand, I'm really not ready for this. In fact, I may never be ready for this. I don't get why you think I'm ready to be Queen. I don't even want to be Queen," Elizabeth let out as she held her hands to her chest and collapsed into a bench in the room and hung her head down.
Aslan was quiet for a moment as he sat down and watched Elizabeth. "Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight—"
"At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more—" Elizabeth said as she looked back up at the lion.
"When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death—" Aslan continued.
Elizabeth then smiled up at him as she finished the prophecy. "—and when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again."
"Do you know how long ago that was told?" Aslan asked her.
Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows as she thought before shrugging her shoulders. "Probably sometime after Jadis first conquered Narnia."
Aslan nodded his head as he stood up taller. "Do you remember the rest of the prophecy?"
" When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone,
Sits at Cair Paravel in throne,
The evil time will be over and done. "
Elizabeth said easily, she had only heard the prophecy numerous times and to recall the words was like recalling how to ride a bike.
"What about the rest?" Aslan asked and Elizabeth frowned not remembering.
" Once the Witch will slain, her family that remains,
A Daughter of Eve, will be whisked away,
Until the time is right, to rise up and fight,
And shall replace the missing crown, back into its place. "
Aslan finished for her and Elizabeth let out a sigh. "You were meant to be Queen long before anyone knew who you even were. Ever since you came to Narnia and the Narnians figured out you were the one the prophecy spoke up they have wanted nothing other than to have you sitting on that throne. I believe you are ready. In fact, the fact that you don't even think you are truly ready is what lets me know you are. No one will be one hundred percent ready for anything." Aslan then stood up from where he sat and Elizabeth remained quiet from where she sat and Aslan let out a sigh. "You doubt your value, stop running from who you are," he stated before he left the room.
Elizabeth stayed in her room as she thought about what the lion had told her. Perhaps he was right and she was truly ready for this. Perhaps she really was meant to be Queen. Elizabeth wished she had her friend Malaki was here to encourage her and convince her that everything was going to be fine. She hadn't heard from Malaki since he left the camp about a week ago on Aslan's mission. Since he hadn't returned after the battle with Jadis, Elizabeth feared the worst.
Elizabeth continued to sit in her room lost in thought until Lucy ran into her room to tell her it was time. When Elizabeth arrived downstairs with Lucy and saw the other three Pevensies, she quickly realized that she didn't quite match the siblings. The Pevensie's all wore different shades of blue, with Peter wearing a dark navy blue while Lucy wore a light almost white blue. Elizabeth stood out from the others with her red dress and she begins to feel a bit self-conscious. Aslan was also in the room along with the beavers, and Mr. Tumnus. The beavers each had dark blue pillows that carried the kid's crowns on them.
There were three golden crowns and two silver crowns. Two of the crowns, one gold, and one silver, were both resembling flowers on vines across the crown. Two other crowns, one gold, and one silver, were more regal looking with leaves on them. The last crown was a mixture of the two flower crowns and the two more regal ones. This crown was gold with leaves like the regal ones but with diamonds and had small flowers as well. The crowns very clearly depicted which crown belonged to whom. With Lucy and Edmund having the silver crowns, Lucy with the flower like one and Edmund with the regal one. The older siblings would get the gold crowns, Susan with the flower like one that resembled Lucy's and Peter with the regal one resembling Edmund. Elizabeth would receive the golden crown that was a mixture of all the crowns.
Elizabeth took a deep breath as she looked at the crowns. This was really happening. When she looked up she saw that Edmund was looking at her and giving her an encouraging nod. She gave him a smile of thanks as Mr. Tumnus cleared his throat at the group.
"All right!" He beamed at the group as he grasped his hands together. "I need Lucy to stand on my left, your right," Lucy nodded and got to where Mr. Tumnus was motioning. "Edmund, you will stand on my far right, your left. Peter, I need you to stand beside Edmund on your brother's right. Susan, you will stand beside Lucy on her left." While the siblings got into place, the faun then turned to the blonde girl and gave her a big smile as she stopped to look at her for a moment. Like Elizabeth, he could hardly believe this was actually happening. It seemed like it had been thousands of years that he had waited for this moment to come true. Who would have thought that the girl who had once come into his home to learn magic was now having her coronation and he would be there to celebrate with her?
Elizabeth gave the faun a smile as she then looked at his scarf and let out a soft laugh with a hint of confusion and surprise. "You're not wearing a red one?"
Mr. Tumnus gave her a gentle nod as he looked down at his scarf and then back up at her. "I decided, that today you should be the only one to wear red," he explained and Elizabeth gave a big smile when he said this. He probably didn't know how much that meant to her. "Elizabeth, you will stand in the center. The five of you need to stay in this line as this is the way the thrones are ordered as well. Just stay behind Aslan and follow his steps."
The five took deep breaths as the giant double doors opened into the long hallway of the throne room, the room Elizabeth had first stepped into when she first arrived at Cair Paravel. Nothing had changed in the room, apart from the fact that now there were thousands of creatures here to whiteness the coronation. The trumpets blared upon the group stepping into the room. To the five's surprise, the room was very quiet apart from the trumpets as everyone stared in awe at the group. Aslan lead the group through a hall of knights with their swords out saluting their future Kings and Queens. The five walked in perfect sync through the tunnel of armed centaurs behind the lion. Lucy stared in awe with her jaw open at all the people in the room while Susan and Lucy smiled big as they looked at everything in wonder. Peter and Elizabeth were more expressionless as they marched through. Peter because he was trying to look regal while Elizabeth was more so out of fear. Her heart beat faster as they got closer to the five thrones underneath the large glass dome. This was really happening.
Elizabeth had been taught the ways of a royal a long time ago, so perhaps that was why she was able to hide her fear so well like she was able to do the day the Witch arrived at Aslan's camp a few days prior. She felt that if she just hid all her emotions then no one would actually know how frightened she was. When they almost made it to the stairs, Elizabeth caught one of the knights on the end to her left staring at her. She turned to face the centaur and found it was Oreius who gave her a warm smile as he watched her. Elizabeth couldn't help but smile back as she saw Oreius. He gave her a boost of encouragement and Elizabeth felt much better as they reached the base of the stairs.
Just five stairs, a platform, and five more stairs to the rest of their futures. Aslan stood still and the five stood beside him in awe as they stared at the platform before them. This was the rest of their lives displayed in front of them. Just five chairs and five crowns. It seemed so simple yet so difficult. Could this really be it?
Each throne contained a cushion. Two red ones on the thrones on the ends, two blue ones on the two beside the center throne, and a purple cushion for the center throne. As they stood staring at the thrones they were about to sit in, Elizabeth stared at her throne in the center of the five. Her throne was seated higher up than the other four as it sat individually in the middle. When Elizabeth examined the carving etched up to the head on her throne, she finally understood what the carving represented. The pair of hands held together with animals, flowers, stars, fire, and water flowing from the hands represented Elizabeth's hands. Her ability to produce magic was represented on her chair, what used to appear to be bizarre to her now made perfect sense. In fact, all the chairs emblems etched into the thrones represented each child individual. Elizabeth had just never realized it until now.
Edmund's chair on the far left with a red cushion, had the sword shattering Jadis' wand and a pair of balancing scales. Beside Edmund's was Peter's throne with the blue cushion which contained the sword given to Peter from Father Christmas. Then Lucy's throne with the other red cushion, had her healing cordial etched into the chair. Susan's throne beside Lucy's had the blue cushion like Peter's with her horn etched into the throne. Then, of course, Elizabeth's in the center. The five chairs told a story of the five children of what they had done or were going to do during their rule.
Aslan then advanced on the first five steps to the first platform before turning to face the five children and giving them an encouraging nod to continue. The lion then marched between Peter and Elizabeth as the five continued to advance on the final five stairs until they reached the top platform where the five chairs stood. Without even realizing it, the Pevensie children all turned to Elizabeth to follow her lead. She took a deep breath as she stood tall and marched forward to her throne, with the siblings following behind and doing the same. As Elizabeth stood in front of her throne she then turned to face the audience and the Pevensie's followed her same motions as they scanned the crowd staring up at them. As Elizabeth actually stood underneath the beautiful glass dome and light glimmering all around them with the Pevensie's, she felt comfortable. Elizabeth felt that this was where she was meant to be, and as she stood there realizing this, she gave off a small smile as she stood there overlooking the crowd in front of her.
"To the glistening Eastern Sea, I give you Queen Lucy the Valiant," Aslan announced as he turned to look at the girl with her adorable curly locks.
She let out a sweet little giggle when Aslan announced her title while the beavers finally made it up the platform with Mr. Tumnus behind them. The three of them were marching behind the five children but stayed a good distance from them so not to advert the attention from them. Mrs. Beaver held the girl's crowns on her blue cushion while Beaver held the boys on his. Mr. Tumnus gave Lucy a huge grin as he picked up the small silver flower crown and brought it over to Lucy. As Lucy tilted her head forward, Mr. Tumnus placed the crown upon her head. When Lucy looked back up at him with a big smile she noticed that Mr. Tumnus looked like he was about to explode with happiness as he simply nodded to her and walked back over to where the beavers stood beside Aslan to grab another crown.
"To the great Western Wood, King Edmund the Just," Aslan said as he then turned to Edmund with a smile as Mr. Tumnus placed the silver regal crown upon Edmund's head before running off to fetch another. "To the radiant Southern Sun, Queen Susan, the Gentle," Aslan continued as Mr. Tumnus placed the golden flower crown on Susan's head. Susan had to actually bend down since she was practically the same height as the faun. "To the clear Northern Sky, King Peter, the Magnificent." Just like Susan, Peter had to bend down for the faun to place the golden regal crown upon his head before the boy stood up tall as before.
Elizabeth furrowed her brows as she looked to the beavers pillow cushions and quickly realized that they didn't have her crown like they did earlier. Her crown was missing. Her heart began to race as she stood front in center completely confused but Aslan either didn't know or wasn't worried because he didn't pause a beat and continued.
Aslan stood up straighter and held his head up higher as his face turned proud and serious towards the crowd. "And to the exuberant Faithful Stars, I give you Queen Elizabeth . . . the Extraordinary," he announced with a smile on his face at the end.
While Elizabeth stood there slightly confused, Mr. Tumnus began to walk over to her while there was a pitter patter of light steps heard coming up the stairs on the opposite side of the beavers beside Aslan. When Elizabeth turned towards the noise, she saw a coat of red and white with black paws advancing the steps towards her. The blonde's eyes grew wide and a huge smile erupted on her face as she watched Malaki strut towards her. The fox held the golden regal flower crown in his mouth and Malaki looked up at her with pure enjoyment in his eyes while Elizabeth shook her head in amusement at the fox, of course, he would be the one to stay hidden and expose himself at a moment like this. As much as she wanted to be mad at him for not seeing her before them she couldn't hide her happiness upon seeing her friend again. After Mr. Tumnus took the crown from the fox, Malaki gave Elizabeth a big smile and a bow before turning and standing beside Aslan on the opposite side of the beavers.
Mr. Tumnus took the crown in his hands and as Elizabeth curtsied for him and tilted her head, the faun carefully placed her crown perfectly upon her head. When she stood back up in front of him, she saw that Mr. Tumnus was smiling at her but he had tears in his eyes. Elizabeth couldn't help it but she pulled the faun into a tight hug. He was surprised at first but then hugged the girl back before retreating back to his spot on the steps. As the five stood proudly, the faun and beavers bowed towards them. Malaki gave Elizabeth a wink before bowing as well.
The Pevensie's then all averted their gaze towards the blonde in the center who gave them all and encouraging smile before advancing her four steps to her throne and sitting down. The four siblings then copied her steps as they took their two steps and sat upon their thrones as well.
Aslan turned to face the five with a big smile on his face. "Once a King or Queen of Narnia, always a King or Queen," Aslan explained as he was greeted with five huge smiles. "May your wisdom grace us until the stars rain down from the heavens." The great lion then turned to the crowd as they all begin to chant for their new Kings and Queens.
"Long live Queen Lucy!" The crowd begins to cheer. Malaki let out a gentle laugh of merriment for the royals as he stood beside a lioness that had two circles around her eyes made to look like glasses and a funny looking mustache on her nose. When Edmund saw the lioness he let out a cheerful laugh of remembrance as he turned to Elizabeth who laughed with him at the lioness. "Long live King Edmund! Long live Queen Susan! Long live King Peter! Long live Queen Elizabeth!"
The crowd then erupted into cheers and roars for the Kings and Queens. The five looked at one another in a fit of smiles and merriment. They had made it. They had done it.
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A/N:
I'm so sorry that this chapter is published late!! On the bright side, I think it turned out pretty fantastic and it was a wonderfully packed chapter that was worth the wait!! I'll be honest I haven't really read through it so I'll be sure to edit it soon!
You can't deny how awkward Elizabeth and Edmund were together though.
But I can't lie, my favorite part of this chapter was totally when Malaki just came out with Elizabeth's crown. I just wanted to jump up and scream I was so happy!!!!
What was your favorite part? Let me know by leaving a comment! :)