The Golden Witch || Peter Pevensie x OC

18. How To Be Human

Valera couldn't stand to be around happiness.

For so long she had been away from it, and now it was finally around her, she hated that it was.

Jadis had left her mark there.

The deal being struck, Aslan heading off to die.

How could Valera celebrate along with her people?

Whilst everyone stood applauding, embracing, cheering, Valera turned to Aslan.

She knew that there were no more words to say between them.

Their final conversation being the one they had in the tent.

The two rulers looked at each other with solemn eyes, trying their best to put on a brave face.

Valera knew hers was just seconds away from cracking.

And so, she decided to slowly wander off back into the woods as inconspicuously as possible.

Her mind was forced to shift from one place to another.

She could no longer dwell on trying to save Aslan.

As the law stated, it was a lost cause to even think about a rescue of any sort.

If Edmund were to live, Aslan had to die.

Now she had to focus on the war ahead.

To win and finally vanquish Jadis would need her full attention, especially with Aslan gone.

There must be a way to succeed without him by her side. What she needed was a plan.

Not only to keep herself under control and organised, but to keep her people hopeful.

With Aslan gone, they would turn to her.

However, she had been there before. And she had lost.

Her sisters had been there before, too.

The people of Charn turning to them once their parents had passed, begging them to do something about Jadis, and they had lost too.

But Valera now had one thing that she didn't have before.

The Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve.

What she needed was for them to stand by her side, unwaveringly, prepared to fight no matter the consequence.

But there was something else she found herself needing.

Peter.

When he had taken her hand to lead her to her sister, Valera hadn't felt fear.

She hadn't felt weak or afraid.

In the battle ahead, she couldn't feel those things.

She had to feel strong, hopeful, supported.

Valera found that, somehow, Peter Pevensie provided her that.

And she hoped that, in turn, she could do the same.

But during the midst of war, the future was foggy.

Who knows what would come from all of this?

So as Valera used the vines to lift her up onto a branch high in a tree, she focused on a plan of battle.

Or at least somewhere to start so that she could discuss it with Oreius the next day.

But she didn't get very far with her thinking as the sound of footsteps approaching came from below her.