Legends

Chapter VII- Yeah, We Wrote Our Own Story (1)

Kayla had begun to move back into her manor house near Dancing Lawn, after she had cleaned it up and restored it. She invited Adila to move in with her.

"Adila, now please don't contradict me on this, but you're safer with me rather than your father. Don't tell me I'm wrong."

"You're not wrong, my lady."

"And please, no formalities with me. I hate formalities. If you haven't noticed, even when it's required, I don't address the royals of Narnia by their titles. I address them by their names, and the same goes for myself and Ivar."

"But you're betrothed to Lord Ivar."

"That's beside the point, Darlin'. We were calling each other by our first names even on the day we were crowned. It shows humbleness in my opinion."

"What are you to the Pevensies?"

"In this world or the other world?"

"Both."

"In this world by blood, I am their aunt and their cousin. I'm their aunt because their mother Princess Alainnabh God rest her soul, is my half-sister. We have the same Athair. I'm their cousin because their father Eadbhárd is my Mamaí's brother, God rest their souls. In the other world, we all grew up together, and they became like siblings to me. At one point, I did see Ivar as a brother, but my heart and mind grew out of that months before we came back here, and I'm talking about the first time. By the time Ivar and I were around ten and eleven years old, there was already this tension between us. Not a sexual tension, mind you, thank God, but some kind of tension. Next thing I know, we're engaged."

"So, what is my role here in your house?"

"Darlin' you're here as my companion. You are free to do whatever you want, to come and go as you please. You will not be held under lock and key here. I requested that you be my handmaiden to get you out from underneath the thumbs of your father and your brother."

Lucy and Susan rode up to the manor house, wanting to help Kayla out.

"How are things going?"

"I didn't realize I had a time limit, Susan."

"She has a point, Su."

"Are there any love stories from the other world?"

"Oh, too many to list, Adila."

"Which one is your favourite?"

"Again, too many to list. But my absolute favourite would definitely be the one of my parents, not just because they're my parents. Momma has dual British and American citizenship, because she was born in the British Virgin Islands. They met when Daddy was on vacation with his family in the US Virgin Islands. Daddy's mother didn't take kindly to Momma at all, because Momma's Jewish. And Susan and Lucy, if you say their love story is like Romeo and Juliet, I will scream so loud I will be heard from the otherworld."

"We know you hate Romeo and Juliet, so would we say that?"

"I know how you two are, Susan. Anyways, Momma came to America on a student visa. She went to the same college Daddy did, Indiana University. They began dating, and Daddy's mother was furious. She tried to break it up, but Momma would not leave daddy's side. They married not long after they graduated college, and then Daddy got a job with the US State Department."

"Doesn't Ivar have a house in the Marshlands?"

"The Marsh-Wiggles have a wigwam for him, but that's it. I built this house cause there was no residence here. The times Athair brought me here as a child, I would always run to Dancing Lawn. Mamaí and Athair both knew I was safe here."

While the others were still inside her house, Kayla went outside to a spot at the edge of Dancing Lawn where there were six certain old stones. The birth years on the stones said 159, 179, 180, 182, 185, and 185. The death year was the same, 210. The names on the stones read, 'Aibhistín, Princess of Narnia and wife of Aslan. Faoiltiama, Princess of Narnia and daughter of Aslan. Ábhartach, Prince of Narnia and son of Aslan. Iarflaith, Prince of Narnia and son of Aslan. Alainnabh, Princess of Narnia and daughter of Aslan, wife of Prince Eadbhárd of Terebinthia. Eadbhárd, Prince of Terebinthia and husband of Princess Alainnabh of Terebinthia.'. Kayla knew who these stones belonged to when she first found them, back during the Golden Age. They were the graves of her family.

"Kayla! Where are you?!"

"I'm over here!"

"What are you looking at?"

"Why don't you come over here and see?"

Kayla pushed away the leaves and vines on the headstones so the names could be read more clearly.

"Kayla, this stone says Alainnabh."

"Yes, it does."

"And this one says Eadbhárd."

"As in my uncle Eadbhárd, your father."

"These are our parents!"

"And your grandmother Aibhistín, Aunt Faoiltiama, and Uncles Ábhartach and Iarflaith."

"How long have you known that they're buried here?!"

"Since the Golden Age."

"And you didn't tell us?!"

"I discovered them the day before we went hunting for the White Stag. I was going to tell you that day, but I never got the chance."

Kayla walked to the centre of Dancing Lawn and started to call for the Dryads.

"Creatures of the trees, creatures of the flowers, creatures of the leaves. I need your help to bring this beautiful land to life again. You are the best gardeners that I know of."

The chief Dryad Laevis came out of a tree to answer Kayla's call.

"We are your service, my lady."

"Would you be so kind as to bring me a dwarf who is the absolute best with masonry? I don't trust humans when it comes to masonry anymore. And I need an undertaker."

"I believe all of the Dwarves are helping rebuild Cair Paravel, my lady."

"Oh, that's right. Maybe we can get Archenlanders to help."

"What are you thinking of, Kayla?"

"I want to turn Aslan's how into a royal cemetery. Though, I am surprised Uncle Eadbhárd's remains weren't cremated. That is standard with Terebinthian royals, especially the queens."

"So that means when you die, you will be cremated?"

"Yes, though the Jewish side of me is already screaming at the thought."

"Though knowing how your fiancé is, Ivar will want to be burned with you."

"He always said he wants a standard Viking burial. Imagine, both of us on the same longship, while the archers light it with flaming arrows. No doubt our corpses will be holding hands as they go down in flames."

Susan and Lucy planned to be back the next day, with their brothers, Ivar, and Caspian to show them the graves of their family. They were honestly very thankful that it was Kayla that was guarding them. Their family had been desecrated enough, why should their graves be?