Big Bang Fic: To Every Thing There Is a Season, part 1

[narniabb_mod]

Title: To Every Thing There Is a Season
Author: Elizabeth Culmer (edenfalling)
Rating: PG-13ish?
Characters: Ilgamuth Tarkaan, Prince Rabadash, many OCs, several named canon characters who might as well be OCs, and various horses
Disclaimer: The Chronicles of Narnia is the intellectual property of C. S. Lewis and his estate. No money is being made from this

Comments

[rthstewart]

Oh Ilgamuth. I adore him. I adore his youth and how he uses poetry, POETRY! to develop a plan of war. Like his companions I wonder at Rabadash -- I don't know -- is the Prince a complete fool? or is Ilgamuth still too young and naive to see the truth? I adore his relationship with his horses, his bookish nature, his ability to see though still through the filter of youth. As always, too, your worldbuilding is superlative -- what he has brought with him, the gods and their altars, the role of poetry, the sport, the meals. Everything you write is wonderfully evocative.

And Ilgamuth is such a terrific construct and foil to the vain Anradin and rash Rabadash.

[edenfalling]

Thank you! The fragments of poetry were such a pain to write, but absolutely necessary both to create general atmosphere and to illustrate Ilgamuth's character. The horses kept assuming more and more importance as the story progressed -- initially because if I was writing a story about cavalry, I wanted to remind myself that horses are living creatures, not mechanical conveniences, and later because once they had a noticeable presence (and names!), Ilgamuth kept paying attention to them and I like that about him

[rthstewart]

The part in chapter 2? where Ilgamuth sends the mare back toward the approaching army with a kick and prick made me very sad. He wants to know her name. HOW he names his sullen mare is wonderful. I didn't comment on that, but I really did enjoy the horses and his relationship with them. Ilgamuth's attachment to the horses was a lovely part of his character and nice worldbuilding for Calavar -- isn't that where Aravis' family is from? So that explains her love of horses. Oh wait. Is her brother lurking somewhere in this story?

[edenfalling]

I was sad writing that part. Poor horse. :-( I like to think the Rachegrenes didn't kill her, though, and she went on to live a long and happy life serving one of Zubidah's supporters. Bree assures us that Calormenes value trained warhorses quite highly, after all

[snitchnipped]

Ooooh, such rich, rich world building here. Love the game of halgah, the folktale of Hareena, the tradition of three horses, etc.

Ilgamuth certainly does not have the easiest of first days here. Especially when dealing with a temperamental prince as Rabadash is. There definitely seem to a few good potential friends, though! And Corradin has a great sense of humor!

And off to his first battle, which becomes a secret mission. Ilgamuth has really put himself on the line with his suggestion! My concern is that if they were to succeed, Rabadash would have Ilgamuth’s glory, but were they to fail, Rabadash would have his head.

On to part 2!

[edenfalling]

Thank you! World-building is as much fun as storytelling (if not more so!), so I'm always pleased when people notice and enjoy the background details. :-)

I think any first day around Rabadash would be unlikely to remain entirely good, if only because he's just that temperamental. I'm glad you like Corradin's sense of humor -- I needed at least one character to be lighthearted, to provide a contrasting note to the generally serious tone of the story.

Yeah, Ilgamuth put his neck out with that plan. Then again, what else could he do, faced with Rabadash's point blank question?