The Star Husband, Chapter 2

[rthstewart]

It has taken all summer but I have finally written a thing. And with this thing done and hopefully my long hiatus over, I can move on to and back to other pressing things, including the NFE and Remix.

The Star Husband (16004 words) by rthstewart
Chapters: 2/3
Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Polly Plummer, Lucy Pevensie, Eustace Scrubb, Jill Pole, Digory Kirke, Peter Pevensie
Additional Tags: Native American/First Nations Culture
Series: Part 7 of The Stone Gryphon
Summary:

There are many stories about the love between humans and stars told in the folklore of the Mi'kmaq, a First Nations people indigenous to Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec. Over 30 years and three visits to the Fossil Cliffs of Joggins, Nova Scotia, Polly, Lucy, Eustace and Jill all hear the Mi'kmaq tale of the Star Husband. As happens, each hears the same story and takes away a different understanding.

Part of the Stone Gryphon story cycle.

 

This story began after a visit to Nova Scotia and a visit to a museum in Halifax where I learned about the Mi'kmaq story of the Star Husband. This chapter was supposed to be a thin little thing with Asim musing, as he does, that a magician cannot overpower God. But, the experience of the Chinese in Liverpool has been a part of Stone Gryphon for years. It was the reason I introduced Liverpool and Kwong Lee and Lin Kun's daughter in law and grandson in AW. And that story took on immensely poignant significance this summer as family separation became the official policy of the US Government. Again. Added to this, in-story, were my musings in Flee From Memory that Lucy might have left a daughter behind in Narnia. I still don't answer that here. Did she? This author has had a hard time crossing that bridge and burning it behind her.

And for people of faith, how do you cope with such profound evil and still trust in a benevolent God? And what of people, like me, who are just tired of fighting the same fights over and over, who are depressed and despairing, because resistance is such hard work. What do you do about the bears?  As Lucy learns from Rita and Asim, it helps immensely to have friends, good food (chocolate), drink, and to let others bear the burden for a time. (Meds and therapy can help too, if you have access to them!)

And then you get up and try to keep doing what others have been doing long before you and will continue to do when you again tire.  The Prophet's instruction is a good guide for all.  Feed the hungry, visit the sick, free the captives.

The road to writing this has been tortuous and there were many, many resources. If I got something wrong please, kindly, tell me. Sources include but are not limited to those identified at the story's end:

• The deportation of the Chinese sailors from Liverpool after the War are here and here among others. I've had the halfandhalf.org site bookmarked since about 1996.
• The history of the US government removing indigenous children from their families is summarized in numerous sources. You can start here. 
• The Magdalen Laundries are here, among other places.
• There are many excellent resources about the Residential System in Canada (and the US, though not part of this story) that was, essentially institutionalized abuse and pedophilia of aboriginal children and erasure of aboriginal culture. Sources include here and here. 
• In Australia, the practice of removing indigenous children from their families and institutionalizing them is referred to as the Stolen Generations. Sources include here, and here.

Comments

[gingicat]

Thank you for writing this. I can’t write a proper comment without succumbing to the bears right now.

[rthstewart]

All in good time, or no time at all. I had hoped it ended more hopefully. The playful banter at the end of the second part was key for me -- lots of authorial projection in this.

"My point being," he added, "that you are courageous, valiant, in everyday life, but it requires a very special steel to go back and fight again, even knowing you might very well lose."

"Isn't that the definition of madness?" Lucy asked, with a bitter smile.

"To that I can say only that, Lucy, you know full well it can't be helped going among mad people."

Lucy's smile was brighter, recognizing the well-loved quote that was well-used amongst them. "We're all mad here, aren't we?"

"No, it's not madness," Rita injected before he could say something else she disapproved of. "It's hope."

Hope and joy, in times of resistance, are radical acts. HUGS.

[autumnia]

Yay, you wrote a thing! I started to read the latest chapter but decided it might be best to start back at the beginning since it's been a while and I can't remember what came before. (Also a good excuse to re-read fic again!)

Comments to come shortly. :-)

[rthstewart]

Thanks so much!

[psyche29]

I have read it. I've had it open in a tab since you posted it. I haven't found the right words yet. Though that's not at all due to you or the story, so don't apologize.

And for people of faith, how do you cope with such profound evil and still trust in a benevolent God? And what of people, like me, who are just tired of fighting the same fights over and over, who are depressed and despairing, because resistance is such hard work. What do you do about the bears?

One begins to question the existence of said god. I shouldn't be so vague. That's where I started. I was with Eustace SO. HARD. "It doesn't make sense. Either Aslan's good and doesn't have the power to stop the bad, or he's not all good because he has the power and doesn't use it."

And from there, I've really morphed more towards agnosticism. Wait, a spade is a spade - full stop agnosticism, with really strong leanings toward atheism. I cannot accept that a higher being who loves me, who loves us all, would let us steer this effing planet off a damn cliff. It is completely contradictory. And unacceptable. So, maybe the bears, a little bit. They do not keep me from doing what must be done. But they are there, and partly because I want there to be something better, and am a little bit shattered that I now believe there likely is not.

And then you get up and try to keep doing what others have been doing long before you and will continue to do when you again tire. The Prophet's instruction is a good guide for all. Feed the hungry, visit the sick, free the captives.

And that's where I am now. I cannot do more than I can do, beyond aiming for higher ideals, learned from ordinary people. Whoever wrote that song from American Tail: "Hope for the best, work for the rest." The Prophet (maybe you for your story, I haven't read anything on Islam, except what you've taught me through your works: "Feed the hungry, visit the sick, free the captives." Wil Wheaton: "Golden Rule: Don't be a dick." JK Rowling: "We're all human, aren't we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving."

I love you, Rth, no matter where you're at in your journey, and no matter what you write or don't. ♥

[rthstewart]

I don't know if said this in one of many comments written to you today but I've come away believing that hope is a radical and subversive act. it also takes enormous energy. And that's just so damned hard. And yet, nevertheless we persist.

Something else. We need love and light. Not everything needs to reflect our times. I'm not betraying the severity of things in trying to find hope in myself and then write more hopeful stories.

I love you too, friend. We've been here, on this road, a long time, found through the community of fic. That's a very, very good thing.