𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐃 | ❝Hope is good, Hope will never disgrace, but make no mistake, Hope will hit you in the face!❞
In which the Just King becomes betrothed to a princess from a neighboring kingdom, only to fall in love with the prin...
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NIGHTFALL COULDN'T COME SOONER. After wandering through the skeleton that was Narnia from dawn until dusk, Hope was ready to sleep for a long, long time.
A fire blazed on as they settled in for the evening. It crackled in their ears, a lullaby for the travelers. The journey of navigating the Black Woods and crossing the gorge was a long one, and they'd used up all of their energy before they knew it. Hope melted into the soft green grass she laid upon, her eyes locked onto the twinkling constellations in the sky. It had been so long since she last saw a sky as clear as Narnia's.
Though her body was weary, her thoughts ran rampant as she attempted to recall the day's details. The hours blurred together into a tangled mess. It baffled her to think that just this morning, she awakened in London, where her life was meaningless and boring. Part of her wished she still felt that way about her life, but another part of her knew she would always yearn for the realm hidden in her dreams. But then again, were chaos and loss better than a bland, monotonous life? Ignorance might be bliss, but it was also blinding.
She was restless thinking about Odette. All she could think about was their fights as they navigated the woods all day.
"Can't you take any accountability for screwing up, too?"
Odette was right. She was so focused on what Odette had done wrong that she was neglecting the fact that she screwed up, too. None of this would've happened if Hope had just minded her business, did her job, and kept away from Edmund as much as humanly possible. Everyone would be alive, Narnia wouldn't have lost the war, and Wysteria would've been saved.
Well, in theory, at least.
But Hope meant it when she said that their current predicament could be seen as a good outcome. She just wasn't sure what the "good" in this narrative was. After all, Wysteria was gone, the Pevensies (aside from Edmund) had barely spoken to her all day, and Narnia apparently despised her. All of the servants she once considered her family were gone, too, and Odette was left an orphan princess without a kingdom to call her own anymore.
There had to be a positive in this nightmare. There had to be. The world wasn't only filled with darkness. It just wasn't feasible. Darkness cannot exist without light, and light cannot exist without casting shadows. Surely, there was at least one outcome where someone was happy. Was it how the Pevensies' youth was restored? Was it how Hope and Odette got to spend a year together, free of any royal or societal pressure? Maybe it was how every ounce of the truth had spilled, leaving not a single secret to remain. That sounded right to her, but she wasn't sure if those were good things, especially the last one. After all, the truth hurts.
