The Faded Portrait of a Bygone Era

Once a King or Queen

A/N: Okay, so I was never 100% satisfied with the way this chapter turned out the first time. I have updated it, for anyone rereading who may be confused. It still pushes it a bit on realism, but I'm much more pleased with this version. Thanks!

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The years passed more easily this time, for the most part. Margaret knew in her heart that she would return to Narnia, and that knowledge sustained her, through the loneliness and separation.

Of course, that was not to say that those years were without hardship of any kind. But they were in no way comparable to the desolate hopelessness that had filled the last four years.

She finished school, and tried to search for a place to apply for secondary education, though nothing felt right, and so she stayed at home, with her grandmother.

Through it all, her grandmother had been a constant in her life, especially upon that tumultuous first return that had devastated her so. Her grandmother gave her hope for her next return, and encouraged her to continue drawing her memories of Narnia.

Margaret drew the How, and the Telmarine castle. She drew the river spirit, and Aslan. She drew Glenstorm's solemn face, and Peter, mid-duel with Miraz. And, more than once, she sketched Caspian. The details of his face would never leave her, that much she knew.

He lived in her heart, and on the pages of her diary, his face furrowed in concentration, bright with a smile, gentle with love...

With every drawing, she detailed all that she could remember about Narnia, the events, the people, how she had felt in each moment. It was her way of committing all of that world to memory.

Near the end of the third year, her grandmother's health began to fail. Old age, and nothing more, but it still brought grief to Margaret's heart.

Here, sitting at her bedside in the hospital, it didn't quite feel real.

"Such a sad face," her grandmother murmured. "All things have their time, my dear, you know that... My time has come, that's all."

Margaret laughed softly, sniffling despite herself. "That doesn't make it hurt any less... It seems as though I'm always losing everyone I love. I'm so tired of saying goodbye..."

"Oh, darling, this isn't goodbye, not really..." she said with a weary smile. "We'll see each other again. When the stars rain down from the heavens, at the end of Time."

Margaret's eyes widened, and she stared at her grandmother in surprise at the Narnian farewell. The exact farewell she had given to Peter and Susan.

"How do you--"

Granny gave her a knowing smile that bordered on mischievous.

"Who am I, Margaret?"

Confused, she slowly answered, worrying that perhaps her grandmother's mind was leaving her first.

"You're... You're my grandmother... I--"

"My name, Margaret... People seldom think of their grandparents by their names, I know, but you know what it is."

"Of course..." Margaret said slowly, still not quite understanding. "Your name is Susan Halloran..."

Granny's eyes glimmered, and it was then that Margaret realized.

"Su... my Susan?"

It seemed impossible.

"When I met your grandfather, I thought it was funny, how his name was Halloran. But I didn't think it meant anything. That is, not until your father... my son... introduced his father and I to your mother, I was struck by how familiar she seemed. You look just like her, you see." She chuckled softly. "I could swear you didn't inherit a thing from me." Then, she sighed. "But I had let myself forget Narnia, you see, prioritizing foolish things over the truth, until you returned from that first time. That was when it all came back to me..."