Star Husband, Chapter 4, Further Up Further In, Part 1

[rthstewart]

Woops. I posted Chapter 4 of Star Husband. When we last left that story, Jill and Eustace, summoned by the High King, were haring back to England from Nova Scotia, with everyone having terrible dreams of the end of Narnnia.  The chapter was getting really long, so I decided to post the first half of it, which really annoyed some readers.  I find chapters in excess of 12K or so to be really hard on readers but wow seriously misjudged that.  Anyway, the final chapter should go up this weekend. 

The Star Husband (32543 words) by rthstewart
Chapters: 4/5
Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Polly Plummer, Lucy Pevensie, Eustace Scrubb, Jill Pole, Digory Kirke, Peter Pevensie, Susan Pevensie, Edmund Pevensie
Additional Tags: Native American/First Nations Culture, The Problem of Susan, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Series: Part 9 of The Stone Gryphon
Summary:

There are two new tags, Problem of Susan and AU-Canon Divergence.  To explain just how much of a Problem of Susan it isn't, I went ahead and posted a number of excerpts from earlier stories where Susan (and Edmund, and Tebbitt and even Asim) all use Narnia as code for espionage. You can read excerpts to refresh if you interested at Not Just A Silly Children's Story. 

And so, this chapter finally brings me full circle to plot development 10  years in the making.  I posted the chapter Lion's Business in Part 1 where I created the Narnia as a "silly children's story" in April 2009.  So finally seeing those words come back, was actually pretty emotional for me.  I'm not sure it delivered.  Maybe the final chapter will do that.  Not sure.  Or maybe it's just too long and .... trails off to drown in ocean of self doubt.   

Anyway, long week, it's up, it's done and my thanks. 
 

Comments

[writerkit]

Yay! I'm so pleased, and I love how *we* know immediately what's happening but everybody else gets it wrong because they don't quite know it. And the whole thing comes down to... for someone who's sleeping with *Mary* of all people Peter is really quite parochial; you just know Mary would be 100% behind what Susan's actually up to if she knew about it-- woman succeeding in male-dominated thingie! Heroic dashing adventures!

(Also you notice how it never occurs to Jill and Eustace to wonder *why* Susan needs a false identity card to go to parties with her boyfriend or why one that says she's *married* is letting her go around with her boyfriend, or where she got one that's really well made.)

[rthstewart]

Thanks so much!
Oh Peter. He's not coming across very well here. When I get around to doing this all from his POV, hopefully that will rehabilitate him a little. In the back of my mind is this exchange between Peter and Susan:

ooOOoo

Well if no one else would say it, Susan would.

"You are certainly true to form, Peter. Tall, blonde, long legs, and older. Married, however, is a first for you."

"I am older than she is," Peter replied curtly.

"And here you are, the common man of the people, yet reasserting a most royal prerogative."

That merited a glare and a Most Royal Frown. "Susan, please find another target for your wit. Given our relative positions here, there is nothing remotely royal about my seeing Mary at all."

"But it is! Do you not see? The King takes the woman of the house as his mistress and the husband keeps his silence and accepts the compliment! Of course, Richard has to stay silent as he cannot speak!"

Peter slammed his hand down on her vanity, sending the bottles rocking and sounding more High King than she had heard in years. "That is enough, Sister! You will not speak so of Richard or of Mary!"

"Don't try to intimidate me, Peter. If I do not speak this truth, no one will. You are party to the breaking of a woman's marital vows and you have to own up to that."

Her brother flinched and lowered his eyes. "I know," he muttered. "There is no good reason and so many bad ones. I just wanted it. I wanted Mary for myself."

"Stop with the hang dog shame!" she snapped. Really, he had made the decision and had to accept its consequences. "It is the first selfish act you have ever committed, my brother." Susan softened her voice and took his hands in her own. "It would have been preferable if you had chosen a less spectacular demonstration of self-interest. It is, however, a start and with practice, perhaps you might become more adept at considering what you want from life, rather than what others want for you."

ooOOoo

In this vision, Peter persistently lets the needs and wants of others drive his own actions. Not a bad thing -- he's dutifully selfless, but it does mean he spends a lot of time being unhappy and not especially attuned to how to pursue his own interests without making a mess of it. He didn't get the message in the summer of 42. He will, eventually, get the message only after failing spectacularly to meet the expectations of others.

There's also the whole privilege associated with him -- who he is and who he was. Being with the common ROs, enlisted with the Ox and Bucks, does help with that but once he's demobbed, he goes back to the same path as before.

He's also always been very uncomfortable with espionage -- as many are -- even in Narnia, where he was much more likely to look the other way and just let Susan and Edmund deal with it, while still enjoying its fruits and taking advantage of it.

He and Susan have legitimate differences of opinion, both on using the rings and on the morality of espionage.

And yes, poor Eustace and Jill just don't have enough information to put it all together. They are so upset about Caspian -- or, well Eustace is and Jill on his behalf (in the previous chapter, Eustace admitted that Caspian was his first crush). There's a line in TLB too -- Polly I think -- about Susan rushing to get ahead to the silliest part of her life and play grown up and that's part of where/why I used the fake IDs.

And, of course, Susan could have just sent Asim away but it's such a passive aggressive thing for her to do -- SEE, I'M SUFFERING TOO, ASIM, I'M BEING THE GOOD SOLDIER, DON'T YOU FORGET IT.

Thank you again!