Story [Narnia-Magician's Nephew] A Daydream of Narnia (Polly and Diggory Oneshot)

Title: A Daydream of Narnia

Fandom: Narnia.

Timeline: Set after Magician's Nephew during one of Polly's visits to the countryside as described at the end of the book.

Genre: General; Friendship; Fluff; Mush; Drama.

Characters: Polly Plummer; Digory Kirke.

Summary: On a beautiful summer day in England, Polly and Digory daydream of Narnia.

Author's Note: Written for @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha's Springtime Meadow Challenge "Daydream Reverie." Thanks to @WarmNyota_SweetAyesha for the inspiration for this story!

A Daydream of Narnia

Polly and Digory perched on rocky promontory at the peak of the tallest mountain on the edge of the property Digory’s father had inherited upon the death of Digory’s Great-Uncle Kirke. Polly had taken the train down from London to visit Digory for several weeks when she was free from school during the summer holidays.

The mountain might have been the highest on the expansive land that now belonged to Digory’s father, but it was still so small compared to the ice and snow crowned summits Polly had seen in Narnia. Towering mountaintops of snow and ice that had glistened like diamonds in the new sun of Narnia. That she had flown among on the strong back of Fledge, the First Flying Horse of Narnia, with Digory beside her as she helped him fulfill his Aslan-appointed mission. How she wished she was on a Narnian mountain now instead of an English one. The English one of her present reality seemed so crushingly disappointing in comparison to the Narnian one of her eternal memory.

“It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” Digory asked. It was indeed a beautiful day. The perennial gray cloud cover of England had broken, so that the summer sun shone hot on their faces, and the air around them was pure and clear even if not so pure and clear as the fresh Narnian air that had promised new life and hope with every inhalation.

“Yes.” Polly nodded. If she squinted into the sunlight, she could see acres of verdant parks and pastures stretching into the distance. Brown woodlands and rivers that looked like blue ribbons strewn across the ground from this height divided the uneven squares of the patchwork landscape below them. She wondered if this view was anything like what God saw when he stared down at England from the heavens. Everything looked so perfect and peaceful from above. Yet the niggling thought remained that it wasn’t as perfect and peaceful as Narnia remained and demanded to be voiced. “Not quite as beautiful a day as a Narnian one.”

“Narnia was a young world.” Digory’s sigh echoed her own longing, her own daydream, to be back in Narnia if not for another adventure than to just wander through the woods and sprawl in the flowered meadows, staring up at the mountains so far above. “Our world isn’t so young.”

“No, it isn’t,” Polly agreed. For a long moment, she was silent, remembering the rhythm of Fledge’s wings flapping beneath her in the new air of Narnia. Then, she asked the question that had bubbled at the back of her mind since their return from Narnia, “You had in your hands an apple that could’ve let you live forever if you’d eaten it. Do you ever wish you’d eaten it?”

She recalled how tempted Digory had been by the worming words of Jadis, but he had seemed tempted by the chance to heal his mother, not to be immortal himself.

“No.” Digory shuddered, and she knew that he had to be remembering how Jadis had tempted him as well. “I wouldn’t want to live forever. At least not like that. It’d be a corrupt, monstrous life because like Aslan said length of days with an evil heart is only length of misery. A miserable person wouldn’t be able to soak in the beauty of a summer sun on a mountain peak, and what would be the point of being immortal if you couldn’t appreciate the summer sun on a mountain peak? It’d be life with no meaning, no value.”

Narnia felt like the ultimate life and meaning to Polly. Being away from it made her heart break at same time the memory of it beat with endless, unstoppable hope inside her. “Do you think we’ll ever see Narnia again?”

“I don’t know.” Digory shook his head. “Or, that is to say, I don’t know if we’ll ever go back to Narnia again in our lifetimes, but I believe that if we hold onto the unfading memory of it in our minds and our hearts, it’s mark will be upon us forever, and we’ll be able to see it again whenever we close our eyes. Whenever we daydream.”

“Whenever we wish to remember,” murmured Polly, shutting her eyes along with Digory and allowing herself to drift into a reverie of Narnia as if she were floating on a gentle ocean current.

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha As always, thank you so much for commenting on my Narnia fics! I'm so glad that you found this to be a wonderful use of the word daydream, because as soon as I saw your daydream prompt, I knew I wanted to write something inspired by it because daydreaming has always been something I enjoy indulging in. And since there is something so wonderfully imaginative and fantastical about daydreaming, I found my mind drawn to Narnia and the Narnian characters. I really did want to capture Polly and Digory's longing to be back in Narnia, because one of the things that struck me in Last Battle was how attached to the memory of Narnia Polly and Digory still were. It was clear that their time in Narnia had left an enduring impact on them so it was nice to sort of explore that impact when they were younger and getting used to life back in England after their adventures in Narnia. The last time I re-read The Magician's Nephew it really struck me how Aslan talked about how length of days with an evil heart basically amounted to misery and suffering, showing how longed for immortality could be corrupted into something terrible if it was pursued in Jadis style. I like to think that would have an impact on Digory especially as he had more time to reflect on that lesson and everything else Aslan taught him in his time in Narnia. And one of my favorite things about The Magician's Nephew is that Aslan does give Digory the apple to heal his mother. I always get tears in my eyes when I read that section. Because Digory does want it for unselfish purposes--to save his mother--and I think that is why Aslan rewards him with the apple and acknowledges how Digory has worked so hard for this fruit. What a beautiful and profound moment.

@pronker Thank you so much for commenting!I'm so glad that you found this story to have a nice mood since I was hoping to achieve that vibe and that you could feel their intense longing for Narnia in the memories that they shared. I do think in time the children will be able to both treasure the memories of their time in Narnia and appreciate the beauty and joy of their lives on Earth even if Earth isn't the same as Narnia!

@amidalachick Thank you so much for your kind comment! It makes me so happy that you found this to be a lovely use of the prompt since I thought it was such a beautiful one when I read it. I really was striving to capture that feeling of poignancy and wistfulness that can be hard to express in writing in this story so it makes me so pleased to know that you felt I was able to accomplish that with this piece. Like you, I can definitely relate to feeling a sort of disappointment or let down after returning home from traveling. Wherever I traveled will always feel so wonderful and new that home can sort of feel boring and bland, but, truthfully, home is still a place I very much love and appreciate. It's just there can be a feeling of such adventure and excitement exploring some place new. Narnia is literally a whole new world to Polly and Digory so of course they will miss it when they return to England. The line you highlighted was probably my favorite one in the entire piece so it makes me so happy to know you found it both beautiful and true. And it is awesome to hear that you loved the ending because I did indeed want to show how Narnia has changed and shaped these children so they'll always carry the memory of Narnia in their minds and hearts even when they do settle down into their everyday lives back in England.