Tales of the Golden Age ~ Narnia one shots

Harvest Ball

"Susan's going to kill us when we get back, you know that right? She's definitely noticed that we're gone by now." Lucy said, dark, cinnamon brown colored dress flowing gently behind her as she walked, dry leaves shuffling with each step.

"Yeah," came the reply from Edmund as he reached up with a small jump, snatching an apple from one of the low-hanging branches. "But it's worth it. I'm convinced this is the best way to spend an evening. Plus, we still have time before we need to be there anyway."

"Ed!" his sister scolded after he'd taken a bite of the dark red honeycrisp with a crunch, pausing her walk to look at him.

"What?" he asked with a mouthful of apple.  "I'm hungry."

"Those are for the Narnians to store for the winter, and we're gonna have food at the ball." she told him.

"Lucy, the trees are full of apples this year, they're not going to starve because I ate one."

Sighing, she continued in the direction she had been going. "But you were right, it is worth it, even if we have an unhappy sister to deal with later." she laughed, looking around at her surroundings. The wood they had been making their way through was covered in yellows, oranges, and browns. Golden leaves danced through the air with every gust of breeze that passed through, making her shiver and pull her warm cloak around her tighter. It truly was Narnia's prettiest season. And the crisp air had a freshness to it that Lucy noticed with every breath. When she looked to her right, something intrigued her.

"Let's go this way," she pointed with a short, happy gasp. It was a narrow, dirt path where the trees grew closer together, making it look like a sort of tunnel. It wasn't much, but it sparked her curiosity, and she wanted to know where it led to. So her and Edmund made their way along the trail, ducking and moving branches out of their way, until they finally reached a clearing, and when they saw what was in front of them, they were both glad Lucy had wanted to go that way. 

"Oh, Edmund... it's gorgeous." Lucy whispered, causing Edmund to smile at the awe in his little sister's voice. But she had reason to be amazed. It was as if they had entered an enchanted forest that you would have read about in fairytales. As if little pixies had flown through, sprinkling their magic dust to make it shine all the more. Rays of sunshine shone through cracks in between the branches, onto the leaves that would later turn into the slush of gray when the November rain came, and the red dots of the apples hanging freely in the trees were the perfect accent to everything else.

"Funny how something can look so beautiful when it's dying," Edmund commented thoughtfully after a moment of silence.

"Funny's not the word I would pick." Lucy replied as she gave him a look, but when she saw him she let out a laugh.

"Ed, you've got leaves stuck in your hair." she chuckled, reaching up to pluck a small orange one out of his raven black mop.

"What?" he asked with a surprised smile, running his hands through his hair, pushing the little things out. "It's 'cause you made me walk through that crowded place back there."  he said, glancing back over his shoulder.

"But it was worth it," she lilted playfully, quoting what he had said earlier.

"Yeah, you're right." he admitted. "We should probably head back now, Lu. It's getting closer to the time the ball starts, we've been gone for a while." he added after another while of exploring. 

"Okay." Lucy answered, not wanting to leave the section of the woods, but she was looking forward to the ball.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh, we're late, Ed!" Lucy moaned when the gates of Cair Paravel came into view and they saw Narnians and other creatures– some possibly even from Archenland, who knew who Susan had invited– making their way to the door and inside. "Susan's going to be angry!"

"Good thing she can't kill us twice." Edmund muttered, and Lucy gave him a "not helping" look.

The King and Queen walked through the main entrance, warmth hitting their skin and sinking in, a contrast from the cold outside. They entered the ballroom and Lucy took it all in for a moment. She had seen it earlier, but there was something about all of the creatures together combined with the setting that seemed to make it more magical.

Two long polished wooden tables on each side of the huge room, decorated with pine cones, candles, centerpieces, and foods that blended in with the reds, browns, oranges, and purples of the rest of the room perfectly, little plates and napkins sitting in stacks by the treats. Lucy could almost taste the pumpkin pies and the cinnamon cookies, along with the hot chocolate and apple cider. There was soft music, fauns playing their flutes, accompanied with the faint crackling of fire in the background, and the distant smell of hazelnuts filled her nostrils, making her smile.

They spotted Peter after a moment of standing there, golden crown resting neatly on his head as he greeted the people coming in.

"There you two are," he said. "Finally. People have been asking where you were."

"Sorry, Peter. We were out walking in the woods."

"I figured."

"How's Susan?" Edmund asked hesitantly.

"Not happy with either of you." Peter answered. "Although, luckily she can't exactly commit murder in front of her people, so you're safe until the ball is over. Make most of the time you've got left."

"Yeah, thanks. Great knowing you," his younger brother replied sarcastically.

"You too." Peter laughed.

Lucy glanced around the room, looking for Susan to let her know they were here, and saw her older sister talking with Tumnus across the room. Walking over there, she got Susan's attention by putting a hand on her shoulder.

Susan turned around, and let out a relieved sigh. "Where have you been?" she asked quietly.

"Out in the woods with Edmund. We really didn't mean to be that long, Su, we just went a little further away than we realized."

"You shouldn't have gone in the first place." the older queen responded with a sigh.

Lucy gave her an apologetic look, and then turned back to Tumnus. "Hello, Tumnus," she greeted cheerfully.

"Your Majesty," the faun replied with a bow. "Care for a dance?"

"I'd love to." She took his arm and made her way to the middle of the room where couples had already begun to dance.

So as she danced to the rhythm of the music with her friend, other people joining in one by one, Corin dancing with Susan, and King Lune drinking punch off to the side, the smells and the colors and the music all coming together, she realized how lucky she was to have moments like these. Everything was utterly perfect, and she didn't think she could have imagined a better night.
**************************************************************************
Hey guys!!! It has definitely been a WHILE since I published anything (sorry), but here's something I wrote a couple days ago! I also wanna say/let you guys know that I'm still very active on here and will be for years to come, I have friends that write fanfictions on here that I read, I just don't publish things that I've written very often. I normally don't have motivation or ideas, sometimes I write but don't put it up here, whatever (but if you guys ever have any requests feel free to tell me). I also need to work on self criticism 😅 I am very active on Instagram, however, so follow me on @_narnian.magic_ to see my Narnia edits. Anyways, I'm kinda proud of this one so please let me know what you thought of it! ❤️