Dignitas
Latin
Title
-
the time
for the river-watered quinces
in the gardens of the chaste virgins
and
for the blossoms beneath the shady vine shoots
to burst is
Spring
-
Sanya could swear that the water was moving.
She fixed her eyes on one particular still spot of seawater, and focused all her might on it. She might usually forget about her powers, but she did want to be able to hone them, at least a little. She cocked her head up, her concentration still on the water, and she swore that a few water droplets jumped up into the air.
She had not been practicing for a while- first with the pregnancy, and then the baby, and then with the fact that she and Edmund had finally (forcibly, though they had complied quite easily) had a long-overdue honeymoon. They had left their two adorable children at Azraq, under the care of her parents- no, she and Edmund did not consider Peter to be good babysitters for the little Prince and even littler Princess- and had spent almost a month at the Spring Palace in Rihaaya. It had been the most blissful time for the two of them, full of love and laughter and lust, and she knew that they both shared the thought that it had been something like paradise.
Though they had missed their babies very much.
She looked away from the water and to her hand, wondering if using her fingers to simulate control would be easier.
"Hello, my child."
"Oh, Heavens!" Sanya almost had a heart attack, forgetting all about her practice and using her hands, as she looked beside her and saw a BIG lion sitting on His front paws on the sand. A LION. "I- I- Aslan, I assume?" She asked, once the heart palpitations had died down.
"You assume right." The Lion said, nodding as she bent her head low in respect. "You seem to forget that we've met before."
"When? Oh-" She remembered, it was all so long ago, "oh, but that was a dream."
"Just because it was a dream doesn't mean it wasn't real." Aslan spoke thoughtfully before laughing- if holy Lions could laugh- at her confused face. "I see that I've befuddled her Majesty?"
"A little." She admitted honestly, biting her lip. "I didn't expect You to ever come and speak to me, quite truthfully."
"Queen Sanya the True."
"Excuse me?" She asked confusedly, taken aback.
"I am here to apologise, I must tell you." Aslan said, looking ahead at the sea, the setting sun casting a red glow all over the pristine aqua water.
"Uh, it's alright- wait, why?"
Her parents definitely hadn't expected her to be talking with a mystical Talking Lion when she'd been married off and sent away, had they?
"I wasn't here when you were crowned King Edmund's Consort. I ought to have been there and Titled you like I Titled the other Narnian Monarchs but-"
"I wasn't a real Monarch of Narnia then, I was just Edmund's wife and the Princess of Rihaaya." She dared to interrupt, not feeling scared as she probably ought to be. She looked down at the sand, and remembered how she'd thought she didn't deserve to be a Princess. Nothing had really changed, apart from her being Queen now. "I don't deserve any titles."
"You're not meant to be arguing with me, but accepting whatever titles I bestow upon you."
"But-"
"Perhaps Queen Sanya the Argumentative would be a better title?" If Aslan had any eyebrows to raise, they would be raised high right now. "Kneel, child."
Sanya knelt, deciding to obey. It didn't help that she was on a beach, and her knees kept sinking into the soft sand, but oh well.
She bowed her head again, as the Great Lion started speaking, "To the Western Flora and Fauna, I give you Queen Sanya the True."
She felt a heavy furry paw rest on her shoulder and then her head for a moment, and a feeling of pure peace and fearful joy trembled through her body.
When she raised her head to look at the Lion and ask Him why exactly was her title 'the True', she found that Aslan was gone and she was all alone again.
Huh.
Mystical AND mysterious.
--
"How was everyone's day today?" Lucy asked, just as she dove into her supper of stew and potatoes.
"I spent all day trying to convince Lune's envoy that Rabadash's retreat from Anvard doesn't mean that he'll attack some other part of Archenland." Susan shrugged, before continuing in a flat tone, "I did manage to convince him in the end and send him home, but it wasn't my words which did the trick."
No, she had not slept with him- she could not stomach even the thought of being close to a man like that again- but she had had to use her sensuality and womanliness, still.
Peter and Edmund made gagging sounds and disgusted faces.
"Selene went to sleep early." Jem piped up, playing with his fish cutlet and greens. "So she not disturb Mumma and Daddy tonight."
"He means our sleep, nothing else." Edmund said quickly, knowing quite well what his brother would say.
His left arm was slung across the back of his wife’s chair, and they shared a little grin, because how could they not?
“Sleep is quite difficult to get with a baby, you know, we don’t even think about-”
"Please. No vile talk at supper." Lucy interrupted, and made a face at them all.
Sanya, for her part, winked at her husband, because they certainly did think about the very satisfying activity he had almost spoken of. They did much more than just think about it, in fact. They had spent almost their entire honeymoon doing more than just thinking about it.
The Valiant went on, "No relationship talk at all, please."
"Hear, hear, Lu." Peter said, raising his goblet to her. Ever since Susan had spoken to Aura in the Library, all she did was interrogate him about the nurse and it was getting on his nerves. "Well, I had a rare day off today, so I didn't really do much except go riding- oh, and I sparred a little."
"Aslan visited me while I was on the beach today." Sanya spoke next, her tone so casual she might as well have been talking about the weather of that day.
"What?"
"What?"
"What?"
"What?"
"Who Aslan?"
"A very big and holy Lion." She decided to answer her son's query first before looking at her husband and in-laws. "Aslan came to- He- er, how did He put it? Oh, yes- He Titled me."
"Titled you...?" Susan asked, looking a little confused.
"Like I'm the Valiant and you're the Gentle." Lucy grasped it first, as she always did with any Aslan-related matters.
"What's your Title, then?" Peter asked, deciding to get over his shock too.
"Oh, uh, I'm the True."
"True?" Edmund's question almost came out in a squeak, his mind instantly going to the words the Sphinx had spoken to him that dark dawn.
You will love true, Just, and grieve true, Edmund.
Was it- was it not love true as in love genuinely and honestly, but love True, with a capital letter, as in love the True, as in love Sanya?
As in grieve Sanya?
She was going to die before him? Or- or he was going to lose her? He couldn't- he wouldn't-
"Yes, True. As in, in accordance with fact or reality, genuine, real, accurate, loyal, honest etc." She shrugged, and then looked sheepish at their incredulous stares. "I pored over some dictionaries looking for official meanings. Did you know, Peter, that one of the meanings of 'magnificent'- the meaning which shows up first, actually- is extremely beautiful? I always thought that would be Susan, but I suppose you're passably attractive too."
Edmund forgot worrying for the moment, instantly driven to roaring laughter at both his wife's words and the horrified and appalled look on Peter's face.
"Aslan doesn't make mistakes, but if He did, this would definitely be one of them." Lucy said, seeming thoughtful. "High King Peter the Gentle....hm, there's something about that, isn't there?"
"Peter, being a giving and kind person, I say that you can borrow my Title any time." Susan played along, trying not to laugh like Ed was because that would spoil everything. "I dislike being called beautiful, but Susan the Magnificent doesn't sound half-bad-"
"Oh, SHUT UP, you all- stop laughing before I throw the gravy boat at you, Ed!"
"Remember there's an actual child at the table before you act like children yourselves?" Sanya had NO wish to break up this entertaining scuffle between the siblings, but she had to set a good example for her Jem. Sighing inwardly, she reflected that parenting really wasn't fun at all.
"You mean the child who has drowned his fish cutlet in his juice and is stuffing his vegetables in his boot?" Peter asked annoyedly, just realising that it was his sister-in-law who started the entire thing.
Lucy and Susan's eyes widened, whether with worry or amusement it was unclear.
"Seriously?"
"Even I don't hate vegetables that much-"
"I-"
Sanya and Edmund both looked at their son, whose face was a picture of 'uh oh'.
"He can't even act innocent." Edmund lamented as he fished out the cutlet from Jem's goblet, orange juice dripping from it.
"It'll help in his teens." Sanya shrugged, pulling one boot off Jem's tiny foot, and upending it, a rainfall of green leaves and beans falling out consequently.
"When you two are done parenting, I think we should talk about this matter in detail." The High King said- it was still so weird to think of Ed, his brother Edmund, as a father.
"About you changing your Title from Magnificent to Gentle?" Edmund asked teasingly, and narrowly dodged a side plate thrown at him.
--
"I think we should stop these lessons." Aura said, as soon as she entered the Library and saw the High King lounging on the sofa.
He immediately stood up and raised his brows at her. "Well, that was out of the blue."
"Yes- I'm sorry, Peter," oh, she would have to get used to calling him, 'Your Majesty' and only 'Your Majesty' again, "but that's what I think would be best."
His eyebrows went up even higher. He felt far too disappointed- these lessons and interactions with Aura were the highlights of his days. He did not tell anyone so, of course, because unrequited feelings were a terrible phenomenon, and he hadn't really known her very long. "Might I ask why?"
She shook her head, her brown cheeks reddening.
"I think it would be best, for both our sakes, if we stop seeing each other. Not- not seeing each other, I mean, more like- oh, sod it, I'm making a right mess of things."
"Maybe if you tell me the truth, it'll go easier." Peter nudged, her words giving him the scarcest bit of hope.
After taking a huge breath, Aura started (she'd often wondered how, if the occasion arose, she would tell Peter how she felt, so it came easy), "Our relationship is that of a teacher and student, and of an employee and employer."
"That's not-" Or was he getting the wrong end of the stick completely?
But she was not to be deterred, now that she was saying it, she was going to say it all. "But I want another sort of relationship with you, and I know you wouldn't want that- how could you?- so I think it's best if I stay away from you, and the little association we have be terminated."
Peter stared at her, not speaking.
After what felt like an eternity for Aura, he sighed and said, "Oh, you goose."
Aura blinked. "What?"
"You changed your hair a while back. It used to be always braided but now it's unbound and curly and it must fall into your hair while working, because you wear a headband nowadays. Your eyes are grey, but they look brown, unless you're in sunlight. You prefer wearing pinks or blues, whenever you aren't wearing your uniform. You don't blush easily, but when you do, your cheeks go as red as apples. You're stern and you're no-nonsense at work, but when you're off duty, you're the life of the party. And you have a slight betting addiction, and I know you won the bet about when my brother's vow renewal would take place. I know you're awful at combat, but you like to pretend like you're a great warrior. I know all this, and so much more about you that I've noticed." Peter's voice was soft and low as he went on, his determined navy eyes boring straight into Aura's shellshocked and panicked ashen eyes, "Do you know why I've noticed all this?"
"You're secretly a stalker?"
She should have her tongue cut out.
Peter, damn him, laughed.
"No, Aura." He moved towards her, his confidence building with each step. "It's because I want the same relationship with you that you want with me."
"Seriously?"
"Yes."
"No, you're joking."
"I am not."
She swallowed. "I think- I think perhaps you should elaborate, because honestly, I really doubt we're thinking about the same thing-"
In a moment, Peter had swiftly closed the gap between their bodies, and in another instant, the gap between their lips as well.
Once they had pulled away- Aura had gone into shock for a few seconds, before she'd responded more eagerly than she'd ever done anything- Peter asked teasingly, his hands around her waist, "So? Were we thinking the same thing?"
She half-wanted to scowl up at him, but she decided on a far better alternative, and kissed him again.
--
"Lucy! What's going on?" Susan rushed across from the Gardens to a section past the Training Grounds when she saw her little sister locked in combat with a human soldier, and the sort of combat which wasn't for practice but for channelling aggression and hatred.
"He challenged me!" Lucy's eyes blazed through the gap in her visor, raising her hand to her competitor for a respite. "Years, YEARS, I have been dealing with this, and I have stayed silent for all that time, I've never said anything, but I have had enough! I am a warrior, and quite an able one, I've won most of the duels I've participated in, Orieus himself has said I'm one of his best, and these bastards need to get it into their skulls that just because I'm Queen and small and a woman, doesn't mean that I'm weak or less skilled than them."
"Lucy, violence isn't the answer-"
"Shove OFF, Susan, this is my battle." Lucy growled, turning back to the duel. "Come on, Aeseus, let's get on with it."
The competitor, Aeseus, looked at her, before looking at Susan. "My Queen, I had no wish to offend Her Majesty, it was just a simple joke-"
"A simple joke that the only reason I've ever won a fight is because people went easy on me? That wasn't a simple joke, it was simply cruel." The Valiant said, fixing herself in a fight stance and steadying her sword. She preferred daggers, or even a bow before a sword, but she was handy with a sword too.
Susan fixed a cold blue-eyed stare at Aeseus, who was looking beseechingly at her, and said clearly, "Lucy, when you're done winning, I wanted to ask if you'd take a walk?"
"Of course, Su." Lucy was smiling under her visor, and she knew her sister knew that.
"I'll wait nearby the Gardens then." Susan waved at her, before asking, "Unless you want me to watch?"
"I'd love it." Her sister said, the smile in her voice obvious, and the Gentle crossed her arms and watched them.
"I really am sorry, Your Majesty-" Aeseus truly regretted what he had said, and it was a joke, and he completely understood why the Queen was angry with him, but he had to let her know he was sorry.
"Shut up and fight already." Called a voice, and the two turned to see another soldier standing there, rolling her eyes. "I have to go for training, soon."
"Are you referee?" Aeseus asked, dismayed. Possibly, he might have been trying to show off to the beautiful half-fae when he'd cracked the joke which might cost him his life.
"No, it's just funny to see you be embarrassed and absolutely humiliated by a girl. You think that it's just her who has to face gender discrimination? Quite a lot of the army is female, and it's about bloody fucking time that you male entitled cows- actually, I know far better cows than you lot- get your comeuppance."
Susan coughed.
The soldier instantly turned to the elder Queen, her hard demeanor instantly disappearing, "Oh, holy- I'm sorry, my Queen, but I can't lie, quite literally, being half-fae. And besides, I am right."
"Oh, I know, I was just-" trying to hide my laughter, "I have a cold."
She looked at her disbelievingly- she had always thought that the gorgeous Queen was a better liar.
"If you say so." She said, before their attention was taken by the sound of swords clashing.
The duel had begun.
Lucy clearly had decided to pull back no punches, and her strikes were relentless and intense, and they came one after one, giving Aeseus hardly any time to block them, let alone attempt to get in a hit.
"Is it to the death?" Susan asked, after one of Lucy's strikes resulted in her sword slicing open the skin on his bare neck.
"No. Till he surrenders." The soldier spoke, flicking away a lock of purple-black hair away from her face. "Which, if I know Aeseus, will be soon."
And not a moment had passed that Aeseus backed up from Lucy so far it seemed he was going to run away and he fell on his knees.
"I surrender! I surrender, my Queen- my fellow soldier- I was wrong."
Lucy pulled off her visor, her braided hair tumbling out and her face sweaty. She may have won, but it was a hard workout.
"I wasn't actually going to hurt you, or embarrass you- that's why I had this away from the training fields." She said kindly, holding out her hand. "I just wanted your acknowledgement that you were wrong."
"And you have it." Aeseus bowed his head, before accepting her hand and being pulled up. "Never again shall I ever infer anything like that- to you or any other woman." He added, inclining his head towards Susan and the other soldier too.
"Thank you. I'll let you have the rest of the day off. If you could tell your regiment captain that Aeseus will be absent today, please-" Lucy looked towards the tan soldier.
"Of course I will- oh, and it's Tree."
"Tree?" Susan asked, taken aback. Tree was a name?
"It's Tritonia, actually." She rolled her narrow eyes a little. "But I hate that name, and hence- Tree."
"No, no, it's a nice name. Tree. Toni would be better, though, I feel." Susan said, shrugging slightly.
"Hm- Toni- I never thought about that, Your Majesty."
"Just a thought."
"Walk now, Su?" Lucy asked, unsnapping the chains of her armour, letting it fall off and depositing it safely in a cloth bag.
"Are you going to carry that sack with us?"
"I can take it back to the castle, if you like, Your Majesty." Aeseus said at once. "I can ask a maid to keep it in your room."
"Oh, I couldn't ask you to do that-"
"I insist." He partly felt bad and wanted to make up, but partly he wanted to curry favour in front of Tree.
"Oh, then, here." Lucy handed the bag to him.
"It should make its way back to her room, all in proper condition and unscathed." Susan said threateningly, foreseeing many situations indeed where the armour might be harmed or messed with.
"Of course." Aeseus bowed his head again low, before setting off.
"I'll leave, too." Tree said, dropping into a curtsey before the Queens before turning around and leaving, her dark ponytail swinging behind her.
Susan linked her arms with her sister's, and said admiringly, "Lu, that was marvellous."
Lucy glowed.
--
"She's so beautiful."
"She is your daughter, after all." Sanya said as she smiled softly up at her husband.
Edmund looked up from the sleeping Selene in her bassinet, and smiled back. "Did you just call me beautiful?"
"Oh, does it hurt your manly ego to be called what is usually a feminine adjective?"
He took her hand in his, and brought it up to his lips to kiss it.
The moment his wife started blushing, he said softly, "My love, you can call me anything and I'd adore it."
And she was called the True. The True.
You will love True, Just, and grieve True, Edmund.
He knew there was no point worrying. It wasn't a proper prophecy- and even if it was, he knew that prophecies never came about in the straightforward sense. They were always twisted, unfolding in a way no one would've foreseen, not even an Oracle.
Edmund and Sanya would not lose each other. They would not. He could not even fathom the thought of it.
Sanya replied in a very unromantic manner, almost as if she had not become weak in the knees hearing his beautiful accent speak softly.
"Prat."
Her husband laughed out loud, "Except that, that's my loving nickname for Peter."
"I'll stick to husband and darling, then?"
"I see nothing disagreeable with that."
"I meant for Peter."
"Why, you..."
Sanya giggled and he put his arm around her, and they looked down at Selene again. Long lashes, cream-toned (a little darker than her father's) skin, wavy dark hair and a button nose, she absolutely was Edmund's daughter and her mother was extremely happy with that. Selene was, and would be, an extraordinarily beautiful Princess. Looks didn't matter, but Sanya wanted her to be beautiful, for the simple reason that she would have less insecurity and self-hatred than she herself had had. She never wanted her daughter to hate herself and how she was.
"Jem is going to sleep here tonight, isn't he?" Edmund asked, turning his head back to look at the six-year-old, who was sprawled across their bed, his mouth open and snoring.
"He snores like you." Was Sanya's answer, as she was still caught up in looking at their daughter.
"I do not snore! That's slander, that is."
"Oh, darling, I was just joking." She chuckled, and he looked most affronted.
"You snore when you have a cold."
"You're sleeping in Jem's room for the rest of the year."
"Ah, you'd miss me too much." He murmured, sliding his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder. "Aslan, you're short."
"I will personally stab you in the eyes with your own swords, gouge them out and make you eat them and after I kill you by whatever gruesome and torturous technique I come up with, I'll feed you to Philip." She was most certainly not short.
"Horses don't eat meat." He retorted, although he wasn't certain about that fact... Then he wrapped his arms around her, and twirled her around- only upon hearing her giggle, did he concede, “Oh, alright, you’re not short. You’re taller than Lucy, at least.”
"Hm, I'll take it." It would be so easy to kick back at him with her foot, he was right in front of her, but she was twenty two now, and an adult, in addition to being High Queen. Kicking people was a more seventeen-year-old thing.
Then again, she hadn't kicked him when she had been seventeen, either...
No. No kicking Edmund. Only kissing him.
Kissing him was a very good alternative.
"Selene is beautiful..." Edmund said softly, though his eyes were turned towards his wife. "She looks rather lonely, though..."
"You think she should have more stuffed animals?" Sanya asked worriedly, looking down. Jem had absolutely refused to have any stuffed animals apart from his beloved (and bedraggled, his father would always add) Dolphy, and they had compensated for that by getting at least twenty six plushies for Selene, most of which surrounded her as she slept. To both her parents' chagrin (Edmund had some residual trauma towards wolves and they had gone rather low on Sanya's list of favourite animals after being attacked by that werewolf), her favourite one was of a wolf, and that is what she clutched to her chest right at that moment.
Sanya had also had very many stuffed animals growing up. They had remained on her bed or scattered around her bedchamber until- actually, they were probably still there. She was fairly sure her parents or Ishita had not had them thrown away- she would exile them if they had.
"No, I think she should have a brother or sister." He murmured, kissing the side of her neck. "Make another baby with me?"
Sanya blushed, sure it was just his way of seduction and not him actually wanting another child, and turned around, putting her arms around Edmund's neck.
"You want to have sex here where both our children are sleeping?"
"That's not a no to another baby, my wife..." He replied with a teasing half-smile.
Despite her blush, she managed to scowl, “It’s not a yes, either! I was just pregnant last year, I would like to wait before undergoing that again!”
Oh, but another baby of theirs would be adorable, as their first two babies are. They did rather like being parents. And perhaps- perhaps they could adopt again, someday. Someday.
“And if you think we’re fucking here right now-”
“Jem has an empty room.” Edmund suggested- he was, truthfully, unsure if he was just riling his darling wife up, or if he really meant his words. It was probably both. He loved teasing his wife- in multiple ways- and he also loved to make love with her. “Selene’s nursery is empty too.”
"You think I'll have sex with you in our daughter's nursery?"
"I think you'll have sex with me anywhere."
Sanya scowled at him, and stalked away towards the door behind which the passage towards their children's rooms lay.
"So is it the nursery or Jem's room?" He called as he followed after her.
--
Jamie Chung as Tritonia
Austin Butler as Aeseus
-
-✧･: °*✧*°:･✧-
-
I hope these manips help in envisioning the scenes and characters, that's why I make them 🌚
And Edmund is actually very right, Sanya WOULD have sex with him anywhere 🤷♀️
And, as always, I humbly and unashamedly ask you to vote (and hopefully comment) on the chapter, please.