the bright → narnia

[ 001 ] the countryside.

THE BRIGHT.

chapter one, the countryside.
[ before narnia ]

WHEN ROSE PEVENSIE WAS NOTHING BUT A CHILD, SHE DREAMT.

She dreamt of a kingdom, a magical land, creatures, witches, a great lion.

But now, in the awful time of the war against the Germans, the children in Great Britain are being evacuated for their own safety.

Rose and her four siblings are being taken to a home in the countryside. It's home to a professor, with rolling hills and a shining sun, they've heard. It'll be nothing like they're home here in the city. The city is full of rain and people who litter, it smells.

They now stand in a crowded train station that's full of other parents, mainly their mother's, sending their children off to safer places.

"If Dad were he wouldn't make us go." Edmund says with the roll of his eyes.

Rose looks over at her younger brother. There is a glare in her eyes. Peter, her only older sibling, speaks up, "if Dad were here, it'd mean the war was over."

"You will listen to your brother and sister, won't you, Edmund?" Their mother, Helen Pevensie, asks. Rose glances at her from where she stands beside Lucy, her youngest sister's hand clasped within her own.

She makes a move to embrace him, but Edmund flinches away from her touch. A look of hurt flashes across their mother's face. Only the two eldest see it as she quickly regains her composure for the sake of her children.

Shs then moves to Peter. He does not move away from her touch. In fact, he leans into it. She says to him, "promise me you'll look out for them."

"I will, Mum." Peter agrees.

The two separate. This allows their mother to move to her eldest daughter. Rose's eyes scan her mother's face. She can see the fear and sadness in her eyes. She doesn't want to send her children away. She doesn't want to have to fear for her husband's life every single day as he fights the Germans in this war. But, war is inevitable. He is fighting for the good, not the evil.

Rose lets go of Lucy's hand and embraces her mother. Helen hugs her back. "Be safe, Mum." She whispers to her.

"Of course." She says back.

When they pull away, Helen brushes a piece of Rose's nearly brown hair away from her face. "Look after them, my Girl. Even Peter."

"I will." She nods.

Helen bids farewell to Lucy and Susan. After saying goodbye to her youngest two daughters' she watches with saddened eyes as they walk into the train and into a compartment.

And when the train finally starts to roll away from London, all the siblings can do is stick their heads from the window and wave goodbye to their mother.

─────────

The Pevensie siblings are the last on the train. When it comes to a screeching halt, Rose looks up fron where she'd been toying with the ring around her middle finger. Her eyes scan thre land outside of the window. There is a platform, and a large sign. The sun shines here.