Words We Don’t Have - for athousandwinds

[nfe_gremlin]

Title: Words We Don’t Have
Author: venilia
Recipient: athousandwinds
Rating: PG
Possible Spoilers/Warnings: If you’ve read The Magician’s Nephew, you’re good.
Summary: “Digory,” Polly says one day as Digory steadies her on her back in the water, teaching her to float. “I don’t want to marry you. I’m saying this right now so you won’t make any plans.”

Comments

[rthstewart]

I adored this story. Polly is so beautifully done and I love how you took the prompt, hiraeth, and built a whole story around untranslatable words. This is gorgeous and so creative. There is humor yes, and Polly is so sadly broken. This is a lovely companion to the Polly & Digory story of two days ago in which the roles are reversed and it is Digory who is broken and Polly who heals. Read together, these stories paint a gorgeous portrait of a very, very special friendship.

This is just lovely and I am so happy for Polly's healing.

[vialethe]

Very creative and wonderful use of a prompt.

Poor Polly - I was reading along and thinking what a happy and lovely story it was, and then I realized the time period...*sigh* Her grief was portrayed very well, not too over the top but very real and palpable at every moment afterwards.

I also love the way the theme of untranslatable words goes with Polly and Digory's relationship, one that's in the grey area between just regular friends and lovers which you don't see a lot, especially in that time period.

[autumnia]

Lovely. You've given Polly a life that filled a void that Lewis left in his books. I liked Freddy a lot and it's a shame he was lost to the War. And even without Narnia, there are still reminders of that adventure at different points in her life. Of course, the one constant is Digory, who was there with her in Narnia and will be with her when they have their last great adventure in this world.

[edenfalling]

I really liked this! I love the way Polly and Digory are always there for each other, and how clearly Polly's relationship with Freddy is something different -- not less, of course; just different -- because seeing a woman with a close male friend AND a lover is something sadly rare in fiction. I liked how close Polly is to all of Digory's family. The way you tied Polly's art first into signs for the suffrage movement, then maps for the war, and then into travel guides was lovely; I love that she has a career and adventures

[anonymous]

OH, how lyrical this story is. It's like gentle music, swelling to a crescendo and then subsiding into something quieter but just as lovely. I could see it coming, but I still felt very sad when Freddy was presumed dead. Also sad for Digory in his scratchy uniform. It's funny how, like Rth says, this story stands like a twin to The Exhaustion of Dawn a few days ago, but also feels different at the same time.

I love people who, like Polly's father or Mrs. Kirke, know how to heal what ails thee. It's no wonder that this Digory is strong in himself.