Accidentally Falling | Narnia

44 | summons

The Great Hall, previously full with music and laughter, was now silent as a grave. A needle could have dropped by the double oak front doors of Cair Paravel and you could have heard it all the way to the Hall's glass window behind the thrones of the Kings of Narnia.

Susan stood frozen in her spot, her breathing almost in pants. She couldn't make her voice to call out to Caspian as he ran out the castle's door. She couldn't turn her head to look at his retreating back.

She didn't even notice Lucy running towards her, Peter, and Edmund and stopping just a few feet from them. She couldn't even look back at Edmund in front of her as he stared at her sympathetically.

Peter didn't make a move to touch her but his gaze was unwavering on her back. He looked at her as her shoulders started to shake with sobs yet he didn't attempt to comfort her.

To say that Peter was shock of what Susan did-- or said-- was an understatement. His world literally froze the moment he heard his name. He hadn't even comprehended fully that Caspian walked out, that there were stinging pains in his jaw and nose, and that Aslan was perched between the two thrones, looking down upon them with a sad expression on his cat eyes.

There was just her. And her voice saying his name resounding over and over in his head.

"The goes your decision," Aslan said, his voice gentle and soft yet it seemed to vibrate loudly around the vast room.

Peter, Edmund, and Lucy raised their heads to look at the Lion, who was looking as majestic as ever, with his back on the Great Hall's enormous glass window and Narnia's half-moon.

"Do you mean--" Lucy started, eyes wide, her gaze flitting from Aslan and Susan and back again.

And it was in that moment that Susan's senses came back to her. She looked up and met Aslan's gaze. The tears in her eyes seemed to blur everything in her line of sight -- except the Lion.

"That--" Susan said slowly. "is the--"

She couldn't help but chuckle loudly, finding what Aslan was implying as silly, ridiculous, and impossible.

"Do you mean, Aslan, that that is supposed to be the decision that will save Narnia?"

"Or destroy it," the Lion said

Every person in the Hall gaped at the Lion. Edmund and Lucy's eyebrows were scrunched in confusion as they stared up at him. Peter's brain was swirling in his head. And Susan's chuckles died in her throat.

"How will it--" Susan started, her mind racing.

"I think it's best if my father himself explains this all to you," Aslan said, walking down slowly the steps from the thrones to stand by closely to Susan.

"Your father?" Peter asked, his voice surprised and slightly coarse on his throat. "But Aslan, His Grace cannot leave his country."

"He can't, my son, yes." Aslan nodded. "That's why I'm taking you to him. He wants to see the both of you." The Great Lion looked at Peter and Susan.

Whispers broke out from the crowd. It was the first time they ever heard the Emperor being mentioned in matters of the state. Even back when the Witch first invaded Narnia, the Emperor had not involved himself in the war, making the Narnians think that he never really existed in the first place.

Now, hearing his own son mentioning him and that he was summoning the prophesized daughter of Eve and a King of Narnia to his country alarmed the Narnians and the guests.

Then there was a flash of bright light that engulfed the Hall. And when it seemed like time itself stopped, the light dissipated-- taking with it Aslan, Peter, and Susan.

***

Peter and Susan found themselves in an enormous room (if you could call it a room; the entire Great Hall of Cair could fit snugly inside it) a split second later.

In an enormous room, with the enormous windows thrown wide open into the balcony and into the star-patterned night sky, with an enormous pool in the middle, emitting a bright bluish light (a light that neither Peter nor Susan knew where it originated from since there were no moon shining outside the window) that bounced off the walls.

A wave of dizziness washed over Susan and she stumbled on her feet, her vision slightly spinning.

"Su," Peter moved to take her arms but she raised her hand.

"Just don't," she whispered.

Peter stopped for a moment, looking at her as she bent her hips forward to regain her senses, eyes closed. He heard voice screaming his name in his head again. He withdrew his hands and turned his gaze away from her.

On the other side of the pool, Peter saw a man standing on the balcony, his back to them. As if sensing his gaze, the man turned around and revealed a wise, old face with a heavily wrinkled forehead and white beard.

He fixated his blue-eyed gaze on him and Susan, kind and serious at the same time.

Peter and Susan was both speechless, feeling mesmerized, star-strucked, and honored to be on the Emperor's presence. One might think that Susan was too new in Narnia to know about who and what the Emperor really is to the land, but she had lived long enough to know that the Emperor was basically a God to Narnia and its people.

Peter and Susan both got down on their knees.

"Father," Aslan spoke behind them, his paws treading silently on the tiled floor as he stepped forward.

"Aslan, my son," the Emperor spoke, his rich voice vibrating around the room. He regarded the Lion with a nod of his head and a small smile. "Welcome back."

The Emperor turned his attention back to the two humans that were still on their knees, heads bowed. "Rise, Peter and Susan, Protectors of Narnia."

The King of Narnia and the Daughter of Eve rose slowly on their feet and looked at the Emperor.

Both of them didn't really knew what to expect of the Emperor since they rarely hear his name. But they didn't expect him to look like that. So normal. So human. Though they both know that the Emperor is far from normal and even far more from being human.

"I brought them here, just as you requested." Aslan said.

"Yes, yes, and I am very thankful for that, my son." the Emperor replied, smiling. "If it weren't for my curse, I would have gone to Cair Paravel myself but alas, it is impossible."

"Curse, Your Grace?" Susan spoke, mentally cringing at the slight tremble of her voice. Though, in her defense, it was very hard to speak normal when in the presence of a powerful and godly entity such as the Emperor.

"Oh, we'll get to that later, my dear," the Emperor said, walking towards them and stopping by the edge of the pool, its blue light illuminating his face, making him look godly as ever as he looked over to them. "But first, I have to tell you everything. Everything that is a mystery to you both. The White Witch, the prophecy, and--" the Emperor stopped, fixing his gaze on the blonde-haired King of Narnia. "--Peter, the Magnificent."

Susan couldn't help but look at Peter beside her for a few seconds, eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

Peter's heartbeat seemed to stop.

"M-me?" he asked.

"Yes, dear one," the Emperor said. And the warmth in his face when Peter first laid his eyes on him seemed to slowly dissipate. "It's time that you know who you really are."