Story [Narnia] Tales of Majesty and Stardust (Caspian Pentathlon for the 2023 Summer Olympics)

Title: Tales of Majesty and Stardust

Author: devilinthedetails

Fandom: Narnia

Genres: A variety of genres.

Characters: Caspian; Liliandil; Rilian; Aslan; Doctor Cornelius; Lord Drinian.

Summary: A compilation of stories written for my 2023 Summer Olympics Caspian Pentathlon.

Index of Entries:

Stardust: 110 Word Hurdle. Caspian, Liliandil. Romance; Fluff; Mush. Post #2.

Fatherhood: 200 Freestyle. Caspian; Doctor Cornelius; Rilian; Aslan. Post #4.

Chosen King: 400 Word Cross Country. Caspian; Aslan. General; Angst; Hurt/Comfort; Drama; Spirituality. Post #7.

Leading the Hunt: Equestrian Cross Country. Caspian; Rilian; Drinian. General; Family; Friendship; Drama; Action/Adventure. Post #9.

The How: Fantastical Fencing. Caspian; Aslan; Lilliandil; Rilian. Fantastical; Angst; Hurt/Comfort; Family; Friendship; Spirituality. Post #12.

Pentathlon completed on 6/16/2023. Thread always open for comments

 

Title: Stardust

Characters: Caspian; Liliandil.

Genres: Romance; Fluff; Mush.

Event: 110 Word Hurdle

Summary: Caspian, Liliandil, and the stardust in their veins.

Stardust (110 Word Hurdle)

“You are the daughter of a star,” Caspian murmured. Nuzzling against the pale, warm neck of his wife Liliandil. The beautiful bride he had brought back with him from the ends of the earth. The last island before Aslan’s Country. The realm ruled by Aslan’s father, the great Emperor Across the Sea. They were not sailing now but curled together beneath the thick blankets of their four-poster bed at Cair Paravel. “You have stardust in your veins.”

“We all have stardust in our veins.” Liliandil laughed as her fingers rippled through Caspian’s hair like waves in a placid ocean. “Everything in this world apart from Aslan is made from stardust.”

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha As always, thank you so much for reading and reviewing my Narnia stories! I'm so glad that you found this to be a gorgeous exchange about stardust. I wanted a sweet romantic moment with a bit of a philosophical undertone to it, and stardust seemed perfect for that, especially since Caspian's wife is the daughter of a star. And I couldn't resist having some lovely snuggling to warm my heart as well

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Title: Fatherhood

Characters: Caspian; Doctor Cornelius; Rilian; Aslan.

Genres: General; Drama; Angst; Hurt/Comfort; Family; Friendship.

Event: 200 Freestyle

Summary: Caspian fears he will be a cruel and inadequate father to Rilian.

Fatherhood (200 Freestyle)

Hours after a red-faced Rilian had entered the world bawling, Caspian sought out Doctor Cornelius. His once tutor and present trusted advisor.

“I don’t know how to be a father,” he confessed. Cheeks stained more scarlet than Rilian’s. Realizing this should’ve occurred to him before he got Lilliandil pregnant. At least Doctor Cornelius was accustomed to Caspian’s awkward, muddled way of doing things.

“Model yourself on Aslan,” suggested Doctor Cornelius. Gentle as ever. “He is the ultimate father.”

“I could never be like Aslan.” Caspain thought that sounded like the ultimate presumption.

“Hmm.” Doctor Cornelius was quiet for a moment. Then ventured, “I always loved you and viewed you as a son. Ever since you came under my tutelage.”

“Growing up, you were the closest person I had to a father.” Uncle Miraz had definitely not slotted into that role, Caspian noted with inner bitterness. He swallowed all the choking vinegar memories of Uncle Miraz shouting at him, boxing his ears, or beating him with a switch for the most trivial or imagined offenses. “I hope one day I’m at least half the father you didn’t have to be.”

“You’ll be twice the father I am.” Doctor Cornelius hugged him.

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha As always, thank you so much for reading and reviewing my Narnia works!I'm so glad that you thought this piece was excellent! I agree that Caspian's misgivings are understandable (especially given his history with Miraz) but Dr. Cornelius is indeed very reassuring and a great guide and mentor for Caspian to model himself on as a father. And he also has the example of Aslan to guide him in how to be a good father. I agree that warm, loving mentors and role models have a very important role to play, but it also felt so real to me that Caspian would have his doubts and fears about imitating Miraz. Though I think we will see in future entries in this story that Caspian does indeed become a loving and supportive father and not at all like Miraz. So Caspian will triumph over his past in that way!

@pronker Thank you so much for reading and commenting! The peaceful tone in the first piece was exactly what I was hoping to achieve, and I'm thrilled that shone through for you! I also agree with you that Caspian has the makings of a fine father (and even him worrying about what sort of father he will be indicates that he has a sincere desire to be a good father and a genuine concern for the welfare of his offspring that augers well for him being a gentle and loving father) and I think he will settle into his role with confidence as more time passes. So I think Caspian will indeed make a great father, and we will get to see him interacting more with his son later on in the story!

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Title: Chosen King

Characters: Caspian; Aslan

Genres: General; Angst; Hurt/Comfort; Drama; Spirituality.

Event: 400 Word Cross Country

Summary: Caspian puzzles over why Aslan chose him to be king.

Chosen King (400 Word Cross Country)

“I still don’t know why you chose me,” Caspian admitted to Aslan. Boots crunching along the pebbled path where he walked beside Aslan through the maze of palace gardens. “To be king of Narnia. To be your servant and friend. To be anything.”

“It was not I who chose you, Caspian.” Aslan provided one of his many paradoxical answers. “But you who chose me.”

“What do you mean?” Caspian was baffled. Adrift in an ocean of fathomless depths.

“I mean–” Aslan gazed steadily at him. Comfort and challenge mingling in his face. “I call everyone to come to me. To serve me. To fill the role I planned for them when I sang this world into being at the dawn of time. You chose to heed my call. To follow me. To live and breathe the rich fullness of the destiny I have planned for you. Not everyone chooses to listen to my call. To come serve me. To live the life I have appointed for them. Some choose in their pride to resist me though it leads to their perdition.”

Caspian shivered though the sun was high in the cerulean sky flecked with white wool clouds and the breeze was soft as lamb’s fleece. The word perdition had that sobering effect on him. It was the worst fate that could await any living creature upon their death. The eternal rejection from Aslan’s Country. The endless exile from his company.

“You do call all to serve you?” Caspian pondered the far-reaching implications of this. Uncovering more mysteries he would never understand in the process. “Even my vile Uncle Miraz?”

“I did not call him to be vile.” Aslan rumbled. Shook his glorious, radiant mane. “He chose to be vile against my will. To disobey my commandments without repentance and thus earn my wrath. He set himself against me. Made war against my creatures. I honored his choice though it brought him to ruin.”

Caspian bit his lip. Reflecting on his uncle’s destruction. “Is that the only difference between my uncle and me? That I chose to serve you and he didn’t?”

“It’s the only one that matters.” Aslan’s paws tread silently and silkily over the pebbles. “The only one that has any power to save you.”

Caspian felt a cold stone settle in his heart. Recognizing that but for the grace of Aslan he could share his uncle’s grim fate.

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Thank you so much for reading and commenting on all my Narnia stories! I'm so touched that you found this entire piece to be full of the deepest and most essential truths because I do want to remain true to what I see as the spirit behind the Narnia books! And Aslan is at the core of what matters in Narnia, so I wanted to have this story focus on him explaining to Caspian that double-edged gift of free will that humans are granted and the inevitable consequences of the choices people make either to serve Aslan or to resist him.

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Title: Leading the Hunt

Characters: Caspian; Rilian; Drinian.

Genre: General; Family; Friendship; Drama; Action/Adventure.

Event: Equestrian Cross Country.

Summary: Caspian wonders whether his son has shoulders strong enough to carry the hopes of a nation.

Leading the Hunt (Equestrian Cross Country)

“You will lead the hunt today, my son,” Caspian proclaimed to his lone offspring and heir as he watched the nine-year-old boy scramble into the saddle. Climbing onto the mount the stable lads had prepared for him. Not a Talking Horse, as that would have been an insult to Talking Beasts everywhere, but a clever and loyal animal all the same. One that could be trusted to carry the prince of Narnia without him coming to harm.

It would be hard for Caspian to let his son lead the hunt this morning yet he knew in his bones that he had to do so. That it was important for Rilian to be given the chance to grow. To stretch his wings.

And it was important for Caspian to be able to step back. To relinquish control. To allow someone else to take the reins. A king, Aslan had cautioned him in the past, must know when and how to follow as well as when and how to lead. Caspian suspected that the same principle held true for fathers. However concerned those fathers might be for their son’s safety.

Today, Caspian told himself sternly as if he were a cavorting dog being brought to heel, he would teach his son how to lead by following himself.

“You think I am ready, Father?” Rilian asked. Gazing at him with eyes that were ocean-wide with a mixture of excitement and fear. Wonder and terror at being cast into this unexpected leadership role.

“You must be.” Caspian remembered how it had felt to have the burden of leadership thrust upon him. How he had struggled not to buckle and break under that pressure. Resolved to teach his son how to absorb that pressure. How to grow in wisdom and experience so that he could carry that burden of leadership without breaking. “You will be king after me. I will not always be here to rule Narnia or to guide you with my gentle hand.”

“Yes, Father.” Rilian bowed his head. Fair as his mother’s. Accepting the weight and the import of those words. That sentence of leadership being laid upon him. Then his chin lifted. Telemarine determination radiating off him like starlight. “I won’t fail or disappoint you.”

Caspian smiled at the gravity of his son’s pledge. Assured him with all the love and joy brimming from his proud paternal heart, “You never have, and you never will.”

Rilian seemed to grow even brighter in the light of this confidence. This fatherly faith.

He called out in a strong, young voice that rang with such authority none thought to question from whence it came, “We will ride out at my command, gentlemen!”

At Rilian’s command, the boisterous, jocular party did indeed ride out on a tide of friendly jests and boasts. Each hunter with his bow and quiver of arrows slung over his shoulder for easy aiming and firing.

They cantered across the castle green. Leaping over a fence into the woods in pursuit of game that didn’t talk. Game that could be used for feasting and revelry at that evening’s courtly entertainments. Once transformed into spiced and delicious dishes by the deft hands of the cooks in their kitchens.

The woods thickened into a forest. The sunlight streaming through the green canopy overhead thinned to sharp spears. Soon, they would reach a gorge. A chasm they would have to cross with Rilian in the lead. A gap Caspian couldn’t close for his son.

Caspian reined in his horse. Slowing his galloping pace slightly so he could ride beside his trusted councilor Lord Drinian, who had once captained the Dawn Treader on Caspian’s great voyage to the end of the world. “You are Rilian’s confidant and friend as you are mine, my lord.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Drinian gave one of his grave nods. “It is my honor and pleasure to be that.”

“What do you think of my son?” Caspian asked. Craving both comfort and honesty. Wondering if the two could ever truly be combined. A question for Aslan during their next conversation, perhaps. “Will he be ready to rule after me?”

Drinian paused. Answered at last, “Only the strongest shoulders can carry the hopes of a nation. Don’t crumble under that weight, sire.”

“Are you speaking of me?” Caspian lifted an eyebrow. “Or my son?”

“Both, Your Majesty.” Drinian’s eyes were keen. His smile sharp. “You each carry the hopes of the country on your shoulders in your own way, and you must each find a way to be strong enough to carry that burden.”

“Ah.” Caspian urged his mount forward. Not wanting to fall too far behind his son as they approached the gorge. “But I am only this country’s present, while he must be its golden, glorious future. That is the harder burden to bear. So his shoulders must be the stronger.

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Thank you so much for reading and commenting! I'm so glad that you found this story to offer a wonderful bit of fatherly assurance and wisdom from Caspian. It was a joy to write Caspian as the excellent father he is, and not only someone who is nervous about becoming a father as in previous installments. Rilian is definitely being well-prepared for future leadership by the words and actions of his father as you say. Trust given and earned is indeed the best way for Rilian to grow and mature into the heavy responsiblities of kingship to which he is appointed! I'm so thrilled that you loved Drinian's candor and support of both Caspian and Rilian in this piece. I really imagine Drinian as that best and most faithful sort of friend who will always find a way to be both honest and supportive

@pronker Thanks so much for reading and commenting! It is indeed a most serious conversation that Aslan and Caspian are having. One of many serious conversations that I can imagine Caspian and Aslan having throughout Caspian's long and faithful life. I picture Aslan as explaining on more than one occasion his ethics to Caspian's questioning mind. To me, that is one of the signs of the close relationship that Caspian had with Aslan throughout his life. And I really loved that quote so I am so pleased that you felt I could integrate it into this story so perfectly! It really inspired the whole piece!

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Title: The How

Characters: Caspian; Aslan; Lilliandil; Rilian.

Genre: Fantastical; Angst; Drama; Hurt/Comfort; Family; Spirituality; Friendship.

Event: Fantastical Fencing

Summary: Caspian visits Aslan’s How.

The How (Fantastical Fencing)

After his beloved wife was murdered by the great serpent’s venom and his precious only son disappeared, Caspian went on a pilgrimage to Aslan’s How. The place where the golden Lion had shed His blood to save Narnia from the White Witch’s tyranny. Where Aslan had suffered and died so many centuries ago to free Narnia from the stranglehold of evil laid upon it by the White Witch’s dread sorcery.

He did not ride from Cair Paravel to Aslan’s How alone but rather was accompanied by a squadron of mounted guards and his dear friend Drinian. The guards waited for him outside the How, fanning out to secure the structure’s periphery in a ring. Drinian, however, walked with him inside the How.

Joining him on his journey the way, hundreds of years ago, Lucy and Susan–before they were crowned Queens of Narnia–had walked beside Aslan on that dark night to the Stone Table where the White Witch was to slay Him. Making the Lion’s walk a little less long and lonely.

There would have been no building then. No How. Only a narrow path through a thick woods that would have emerged in a clearing dominated by the Stone Table. A Stone Table surrounded on that blackest of nights by the foulest of creatures. Hags. Warlocks. Werewolves. All those vile beings sworn to eternally serve the White Witch.

He and Drinian, their footsteps echoing as they progressed down the otherwise empty corridors of the How, were approaching the chamber where the Stone Table stood in everlasting honor of Aslan and His sacrifice. Once they reached it, Drinian fell back. Standing just outside the doorway as Caspian alone stepped across the threshold.

Crossed the chamber on oddly tentative feet. Came to kneel on creaking old bones before the Stone Table. Folding varicose hands together in a supplicating posture. As if he were a humble subject petitioning the mightiest of kings. Couldn’t keep his voice from cracking like his old bones as he begged to know why his wife and son had both been taken from him.

The Lion appeared before him then. Not in radiant majesty as at a coronation but bound and shaved on that Stone Table as he had been on that night Lucy and Susan had witnessed his murder by the White Witch’s knife.

“The Emperor-Across-The-Sea promises nobody a life devoid of suffering, Caspian.” The Lion spoke. Eyes full of sympathy and sorrow. “He sent His only Son to Narnia to be the innocent victim Who would die a traitor’s death on the Stone Table so that time might flow backward, and even death itself might be reversed.”

“Why?” Caspian’s voice broke like his once happy family. Wondering how any loving father could manage to send a dear son into the world to suffer and die.

“You know why.” Aslan rumbled like a thunderstorm from the Stone Table where he had died and rose again. “To save Narnia.”

“Will my son save Narnia too?” It seemed a terrible blasphemy to compare Rilian to Aslan in any manner, yet Caspian needed to believe there was a reason–a transcendent plan–behind Rilian’s disappearance in order for it to make any semblance of sense to him. In order for him to be able to find any sense of peace and comfort even in this sacred space of ultimate sacrifice. To regain a feeling of order and stability after being lost for so long. Adrift in a swelling ocean that threatened to drown him even as he struggled to stay afloat.

“He might.” Aslan’s tone revealed little though He knew all things. Had known all things at the moment of creation when He sang the world into being. Had been there at the Dawn of Time and even before that. As unfathomable as that was for Caspian, whose mind was so limited by the fettering constraints of time and space, to imagine.

“Is that why he is lost to me forever?” pressed Caspian. Eager for enlightenment. A glimpse behind the shadowing veil.

“He is not lost to you forever.” Aslan’s reply was stern but somehow still soothing. “You will meet again whether in Narnia or in the Country Across the Sea. The Country where My Father will reign even beyond the end of time. Past the last crack of doom.”

“Your Country.” Caspian felt his heart begin to lighten as he spoke of the peaceful land across the sea. Start to sing and dance in his chest like a court jester in a banquet hall. “Where Reepicheep waits for me. Where my wife waits for me.”

Reepicheep, whom he had sailed to the end of the world with years ago when he was a young man with bones that didn’t lodge a heated complaint every time he knelt. Reepicheep, who had rowed on through a sea that smelled of flower petals, to behold the mysteries and majesty of Aslan’s Country. Reepicheep, whom he had wanted to join on that great journey, but had been forbidden most gravely by Aslan to do so.

His wife, the shining daughter of a star, whom he had returned to after sailing to the edge of the world. Who had ruled in Narnia beside him and born him a handsome child. Whom he had loved even after death parted them.

“Yes.” Aslan’s voice was a purr now. Like a kitten’s. He could make Himself sound like a kitten when He willed it, though He was never a tame Lion as any Narnian with any knowledge of Aslan was well aware. It was one of the myriad impenetrable mysteries of His ineffability as far as Caspian was concerned. “Where Reepicheep and your wife now dwell in peace. Where you will one day join them if you have hope and keep your faith in me. Hope in the bright future I have planned for you and faith in me is all you need to have the strength to finish the race.”

“The race?” Caspian repeated. Bewildered.

“The race every man runs.” Aslan’s answer was clearest truth and cloudiest enigma all at once. “The race against himself and the temptations that would seek to keep from trusting in Me and My will. The Will of the Emperor-Across-The-Sea.”

 

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Thank you so much for commenting all throughout this pentathlon and all my Narnia works

I'm so glad that you found this piece to have a fascinating structure since I wanted this piece and Caspian's interaction to have a bit of a different feel to it than some of the other works in this pentathlon, and I'm so happy that you found this to be a poignant pilgrimage, because I always felt that Caspian losing his wife and having his son disappear in such quick succession would be such a painful thing for Caspian to deal with that he would naturally need a special interaction with Aslan to come to terms with what he has to endure. So it felt important for me that we see Caspian older and wrestling with the heavy burdens of the loss of his wife and son. But at the same time we do know that Caspian will be reunited with his son in his final moments (at the end of the Silver Chair) and that Caspian will ultimately persevere in his faith in Aslan until the end.

I am so glad that you found that moment and quote so gorgeous and profound because I spent a long time trying to find the words to express my ideas for this story. It was definitely a moving one for me to write but also one where every word represented time and effort to try to craft it in just the right way because there was so much I wanted to say here. So much Caspian and Aslan needed to communicate.

And I am so flattered that you adored that section and that it was able to touch the core centrality of why we're here for you, because I so wanted to be true to the spirit of what C.S. Lewis intended with the Narnia books here and in all my Narnia works

Thank you again for the kind words and being such a faithful reader of my Narnia fanfics!

@Seldes_Katne I am with you in being woefully behind on all my commentingThere is just so much great content being posted for this Olympics, and nothing could thrill me more as a hostess!

Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a fantastic Narnian adventure and features some fabulous Narnian characters, so it was wonderful for me to visit their lives in this pentathlon. Reepicheep will always have a large spot in my heart, and Doctor Cornelius is one of my favorite mentor characters.

This pentathlon provided me with a wonderful opportunity to explore Caspian's evolution and growth as a person from the doubts of his early kingship, to his concerns about being a father to his guiding his young son in the ways of kingship and to him as an older man on a pilgrimage to Aslan's How. The idea that doing good or ill is always a choice is to me a message that I think C.S. Lewis would very much agree with and one I wanted to be at the core of this pentathlon, and I'm so glad that theme shone through for you. And I also very much wanted to show and suggest the consequences of doing each. Because again I think that was something C.S. Lewis wasn't shy about showing even in children's books. I also did want to have Caspian struggling especially in the final piece with the reality that much of what happens to us in our lives are beyond our control (even if we can choose our actions and reactions) because even a king must face his essential helplessness. Since that is a big part of the human experience even if it is a painful and unpleasant one.

One of my favorite things about the Narnia books is that C.S. Lewis isn't afraid to tackle the question of suffering and why bad things happen to good people, and even when characters meet Aslan, they don't have all their questions answered. Aslan keeps some things a mystery and also only tells people their own stories (as he phrases it in Horse and His Boy, which I finished re-reading recently). And I think the proof that C.S. Lewis wasn't shy about asking the big questions was his adult books like The Problem of Pain and A Grief Observed. Whether people find his answers convincing or not, he was certainly asking those important questions in a very honest and open way. So, that is probably one of the reasons I am such a C.S. Lewis fan. He speaks his truths without sugarcoating things, and he does so with a lot of humor and heart. I just love the way he writes in Narnia and beyond it.

Liam Neeson did a wonderful job giving Aslan that stern and gentle voice that few could have managed (he also gave us Qui-Gon Jinn, another magnificent and wise character).

I wanted to have Aslan appear bound in this story as a sort of throwback to and reminder of how the Witch and her minions bound her to the Stone Table, but I think you are also right that Aslan is not in a sense free to do whatever he chooses. He owes an obedience to his father, the Emperor Beyond the Sea. I think we see that in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when Susan suggests that he could work against the Emperor's magic about a traitor being owed death on the Stone Table, and Aslan frowns at her, and is like, "Work against the Emperor's magic?" And nobody dares to suggest anything like that to him again.

I'm so glad that you enjoyed these stories immensely and thank you so much for the kind and thoughtful words