Welcome back and thank you! The whole first 2/3 of this chapter were done for a while and I cut and edited and massaged and thought, you know, people really aren't going to be that interested in this. Song_smith has just been beating me over the head about this, but there it is. Regardless. the reverse culture shock is exactly what is going on. Ultimately, it is not the Pevensies who will change, but that England will change around them. It will become the place it is today where chicken tikka masala is the favorite dish. The Empire Windrush will arrive in a few short years, the immigration and citizenship laws change and unlike the US, England never prohibited inter-racial marriage. Yes, there is prejudice there, and that colonial past is so wrong for so many reasons. But, there is also this amazing, wonderful side and the Pevensies are discovering that you do not have to go to or be Narnian to experience this.

As I'm working through Peter and Susan's discussions, the issue of beauty as a woman's weapon is coming up again -- in follow up to some of Susan's experiences in Washington. I had not thought of Lucy's dilemma in the way you pose it and it's very thoughtful and I thank you for it.