Chapter Text
Ron had thought he had seen some strange things in his fifteen years of life. The last four years in particular had shown him a life-sized chess set, giant spiders, friendly werewolves, and various dragons. Yet he had taken them all in stride, aside from the Aragog episode, but he had to draw the line somewhere. For all his adventures, though, he would never have expected an entire magical kingdom within a wardrobe.
Yet here he was. Seated at a dinner table, sharing scones and tea with a talking badger, a squirrel, a hare, and a Dwarf. “If only Luna and Ginny could see me now,” he muttered to himself, thinking of all the pretend tea parties he had, unwillingly, participated in growing up.
As he enjoyed his tea, the badger, Trufflehunter, and the Dwarf, Trumpkin, were talking to him about the kingdom around him. Interesting though it was, Ron’s mind kept drifting to one simple question. During a lull in the dialogue, he felt he needed to ask.
“So, why am I here?”
The conversation halted. Stilled as if waiting for an answer from the ether.
Trufflehunter broke the silence first. “I don’t know, lad. But if you were brought here from another world, then Aslan must have a good reason for doing so. I’d bet my stripes on it.”
“Well said, sir, well said.” Basil the hare spoke up. In the meantime, may I suggest going south to Cair Telmar. Perhaps their majesties can shed their own light on the subject.”
“A sound plan, Sergeant. It’s too late to start tonight. You’re all welcome to stay until morning.
As the occupants of the tree began cleaning up, Ron found his size made him a hindrance rather than a help in this situation, so he stole himself outside. It was well into the night as he walked away from the rowan tree. Looking up into the night sky, he was met with the dazzling sight of thousands upon thousands of stars. Even on the clearest nights in the Astronomy Tower, he had never seen such magnificence before. But as he tried to find the constellations he knew, Orion, Taurus and the like, he couldn’t. He could see one or two that looked familiar, but trying to see the familiar shapes was a wasted endeavor. “This truly is a different world.”
“I suppose they don’t have stars like that where you’re from?”
Ron turned to see Trumpkin had followed him. Nodding, he turned back to the stars. “Not like this. It feels like these ones are…I don’t know. More alive, somehow.”
“That’s ‘cause they are. Stars up there, they watch down on the world. Sometimes, when a star gets too old, or too restless, they’ll come down and walk the world a little while. They’re too far off to hear the songs, but even if we could, we couldn’t understand what they were saying. They’ve been up there, looking down on us since before there was a Cair Paravel. Before there was a Telmar.”
“Before there was an Aslan?”
“No, not that. Aslan’s the one who made the world. Stars included. ‘Course, they were some of the first he made, weren’t they. Be bad planning to make a night sky and not have anything to put there.”
For a while, the two redheads stood together. Silently watching the stars. Eventually, Trumpkin tired of just standing and slapped Ron on the back. “Come on in lad, we’ll give you the big bed for tonight. If we head out bright and early, we may have lunch at the castle.”
Although the day had been oddly short for Ron, he found himself falling asleep easily. A combination of the Narnian air and Trufflehunter’s special tea blend. As he slept, though, he dreamed. This was no ordinary dream, though. Not one of him flying on his broomstick, or snogging a particularly beautiful girl, no, he felt this dream was…more.
In his dream he was back at the lamppost. In the clearing, he saw a figure like a lion. To call him a lion, though, would be a poor comparison. As he stared in awe, the lion spoke to him, the voice filling every gap that Ron knew.
Son of Merlin, you are needed. Go North. Go where others cannot tread. Free the Valient One and the Brave One. But do not tarry long in the snow. The time is not yet right. Victory will come, but not yet. Go, Son of Merlin. Find your courage, Knight of the Lion.
Ron woke with a jolt.
“Ah, there you are, boy. Come along, we have a lot of ground to cover today.” Basil’s voice rang out sharply.
“I have to go.”
“Yes,” Trumpkin said, slowly. “That’s what ‘Come along’ means.”
“I have to go North.” Ron clarified. He quickly made sure he had his wand, and put on his shoes to prepare to go.
“North? No, Cair Telmar is to the South. Why would you go North?”
“I had a dream. A lion spoke to me and told me to go North.” Ron stood facing his four companions, almost willing them to contradict him.
A moment of indecision passed, every one of the Narnians understanding clearly the implication of his statement. After the moment had gone on long enough, Sam the squirrel spoke first.
“North it is, then. If that’s your only direction, we’ll head to the outpost just north of here.”
“Capital idea, young Sam. Still, though, someone should head south to report.”
Trufflehunter, realizing it was his decision to make as the head of the house, looked around.
“Well, Basil and I will head south. Trumpkin, you lead Sam and Ron to the northern outpost. Shouldn’t be more than a day’s journey for you.”
Trumpkin began grumbling, more on principle than on any actual merits. “Why should I be the one to go, then? Why not yourself? You just want the whole castle to yourself, you do.”
“If you want to go and give a report to the Royal Council, be my guest, but were you complaining not a full day ago about how bored you were. Go, you contrarian. Have a brief adventure, then come back.”
As this seemed to be the final word on the matter, Sam and Ron exited the tree, with the rest of the group behind them. Sam led the way north through the trees, Ron following behind, and Trumpkin bringing up the rear. Ron didn’t know what to expect in the north, only that he was off on another one of his adventures.
What he wouldn’t give for his friends to be here with him.