Helena Pevensie (Caspian Love Story)

1. The Friends of Narnia

Helena could not help feeling rather restless on that particular summer morning as she worked her way through some paperwork and the sound of distant instruction and musical trills reached her ears. She glanced at the clock. Four o'clock. Beginning to bounce her knee, she tried to focus her attention back on her work. The hour passed dully and Helena glanced up at the clock more times than she could count. At long last, the clock struck five. Springing to her feet, Helena moved toward the door. 

Helena Pevensie had changed much in the seven years since her last adventure in Narnia. Her long hair, which had once reached her waist, now hung no lower than her shoulders. But the most striking change was her change in employment. After a few more years at Experiment House, Helena had left the school to begin her own ballet school. It was from this she came on this bright summer afternoon. Glancing around, Helena quickly spotted the dark blue car she had been looking for. 

"Helena!" a voice called. Turning, she saw Peter rushing towards her with a wide smile on his face. Accepting her embrace, he asked, "Are you ready?" 

"Of course," Helena said cheerfully. The twins had remained closer than ever in the past seven years. Peter had even become the doctor Helena recommended her students to in the case of an injury. The two got in Peter's car and they were off. 

. 

Eustace approached the dark oak front door before him and knocked. There was a long pause during which he could hear some kind of shouting from inside. After another moment, however, the door opened and a middle-aged woman appeared. 

With a bright smile, she said, "Ah, Eustace. How good to see you. Here to pick up Jill?" 

"Yes, Mrs Pole," Eustace replied. 

"I'll call for her," Mrs Pole promised. It was only another few minutes before Jill arrived at the bottom of the stairs. After some more conversation with Jill's mother, they left and the door was shut. 

"Are you excited?" Jill asked brightly. 

"Oh yes," he replied. "I haven't seen my cousins in ages, not to mention the professor and Aunt Polly." 

"Me neither," Jill said. 

. 

Polly Plummer was the first to arrive that afternoon at the now small home of Professor Digory Kirk and she and Digory greeted each other with wide, fond smiles as the oldest of friends only can. After her came Eustace and Jill, then Edmund and Lucy, and finally Peter and Helena. The moment they were admitted, Helena embraced Edmund, who had gotten the door, with an excited exclamation. Breaking away from him, she embraced Lucy, Eustace, Jill, the Professor and Aunt Polly. 

It was a happy dinner party and they were soon all seated at the table, enjoying a meal of chicken, asparagus, and warm rolls. The Professor and Aunt Polly began with a retelling of their adventure in Narnia, one that Jill and Eustace had never quite heard from start to finish in which Narnia itself began with Digory and Polly there to bear witness. After they spoke began the much longer business of discussing the reign of Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, although, of course, Susan was not present. 

They were just beginning to discuss the reign of Miaz when suddenly something changed. They had just finished their meal and were listening eagerly to what the current speaker, Peter, was saying about the state of affairs in Narnia at that time. But suddenly, several things happened at once. Eustace, Jill, and Lucy jolted to their feet, staring at the far side of the table with pale, scared faces. Aunt Polly drew in a sharp gasp and Digory made a sudden jolt of his hand, knocking his wine glass off the table. Edmund was very still and a little pale but other than a small start, he had remained completely still. Helena, who hadn't seen it yet, saw Peter's face turn very pale. 

Turning her head, she drew in a sharp gasp, her eyes wide. Peter was clenching his fist very tight. At the far end of the table had appeared the figure of a man in what must have once been marvellous clothes. He was bound to the tree behind him at his chest, waist, and ankles. He was staring directly at them and suddenly the man seemed to realize that they could see him as well as they could see him. 

Peter, his fist still clenched, said tensely, "Speak, if you're not a phantom or a dream. You have a Narnia look about you and we are the eight Friends of Narnia." The man's mouth opened and he seemed to be crying out quite desperately, but no sound left his mouth and none of them could guess what he was trying to say. Peter rose to his feet, his fist still clenched as he said, "Shadow or spirit or whatever you are. If you are from Narnia, I charge you in the name of Aslan, speak to me. I am Peter the High King." 

"Look!" Edmund cried, pointing. The image was fading. 

"It's vanishing," Lucy said. Several more spoke, but soon the image was completely gone. They were all silent for a long time, still staring at the spot where the man had appeared. Helena, who had throughout the interaction been keeping a death grip on the back of her chair finally loosened her fingers and turned to look at the others. 

"He was certainly Narnian," Edmund said. Those who had sprung up reclaimed their seats. 

"Yes," said Peter in a distant voice. He was thinking. 

"Perhaps this is why I felt as though I needed to gather you all," Digory said. They all looked up in surprise. "It was a feeling I had, that was all."