And why would that stop you from coming to me?

[nevertame]

Is your faith shaken? Do you need to do some soul searching? Just want a listening ear?

Feel free to dive into action threading here. Just tag with any location of your preference and Aslan will come to you in some way, shape, or form.

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I think I saw your airplane in the sky tonight

[oshutup]

This hour of night the woods are dark against a darker sky. Approaching, the High King isn't sure he entirely expects to meet anyone, and he won't presume to say this is the same as giving that being a chance. In a way, he knows he comes to this place just for a moment of peace. It's selfish, and he knows that too. He should be at home, at the house, where Lucy and Susan are, where everyone else is. Then again, they are all more grown up than they look, and capable of taking care of themselves. Having told them he was going for a walk, he trusts that they know he won't do anything foolish. Truth is, he only went to the Hall to ascertain what they all already knew, but rather than go home, he came to this place, and little guess as to why.

Deeper into the wood, he pauses, one hand pressed flat to the side of a tree, fingers spreading then tapping once each, a singular rhythm that doesn't quite finish, a tone of waiting.

You know I'm here, he thinks, and it is his own weakness, likely, that keeps him from saying that out loud.

I think I saw your airplane in the sky tonight

[nevertame]

Oh he knows. He knows very well.

It doesn't mean he'll make an easy announcement. There is a rustling of heavy leaves, of the trees speaking in a language that might be familiar in that other place but likens itself only to the wind in this one. Then a sharp crack sounds and a shadow springs from the widest branch to the forest floor, massive paws narrowly missing Peter Pevensie. His highest knight on high. Aslan turns to face him down, golden eyes reflecting as only a cat's would except there's no other light source here save for the moon and the stars. His eyes need no explanation.

I think I saw your airplane in the sky tonight

[oshutup]

Maybe he should have come here first, instead of the Hall.

That's his initial thought.

It's followed quickly by: but I would have checked both anyway, does it really make a difference?

The fact that it's not a question he dares let past his lips is telling enough, but he stands with his own pride and strength, on which and from which he has built many things and defended others. All stillness and replying silence, there is eventually only the modest inclination of his head, an arguably poor replacement for kneeling or a bow, but there is something to be said for subtle authenticity and an honest if understated respect. Before him, the great lion knows, of all creatures, how Peter ultimately feels toward him, as a symbol, as an entity, and though more distant and never tame, a friend--though this last only, perhaps, when the High King is at his most needy and vulnerable. This is not one of those times, though it borders on similar territory.

The last time I came to you because my brother was lost, you--- But he doesn't finish.

I think I saw your airplane in the sky tonight

[nevertame]

It isn't the slight incline of head but the way Peter averts his gaze that the lion accepts as his bow, his fealty. For now it will do; he knows the whys and hows very well. He too can make exceptions, if one will call this that. The great cat sits back on his haunches and requires no looking up to actually look at the High King.

"These things are not meant for us to know before they happen, Peter," he speaks quietly but no less bold in tone nor less deep in chest.

"Save your apologies," the lion nods his head once. He does not need to hear them on the wind to know they exist. Neither does Aslan need to ask if the Englishman questions whether this might be punishment for the Just or not. He knows better. He must.

Paws that have stepped into the light of the moon in reflective pools and blood spilling in rivulets on stone pad along a forest path that bends for them and them alone. He doesn't ask Peter to walk with him. This too is a given.

I think I saw your airplane in the sky tonight

[oshutup]

Rather than say the first thing that comes to mind in reply to that suggestion, Peter bites his tongue, maybe swallows some pride. He doesn't need to be invited or told to walk forward, and his steps are smooth, even ones, upstanding in a subdued fashion. Already aware that this place without a proper name holds no reason or rhyme, or very little, he does not think that Edmund's departure has much of anything to do with anyone's dues or not, but he still wonders why, as people are inclined to do. Why now? Why him?

And will you come backSelfishly, he hopes so, but he keeps that to himself as well, arms carefully staying at his sides, shoulders squared to remind himself whose presence he is in and the sort of strength with which he is supposed to handle these kinds of things, if he can. While they walk, blue eyes move sideways from time to time, never staying too long on present company, but looking often enough to clearly state an attentive nature, however wordless. If Aslan has something else to say, Peter knows he doesn't need any

I think I saw your airplane in the sky tonight

[nevertame]

As if on cue, the lion speaks again without looking at the blond at his side. He can feel when the bluer than blue eyes do fall on him. But Peter ought to know this too. When he stops it's at the edge of a modest field, full of right earth and low grass. The wind that acocmpanies him makes the blades ripple under pale moonlight. It is the same one the High King and a Telmarine visited much earlier. Whether Aslan knows this or not he doesn't say, meaning he probably does.

He does.

"Whether or not your brother returns to this world, don't forget what I said that day," the lion sits again before craning his thickly maned neck to look at Peter.

You two are. At least, I think he means you two.

He does mean that.

I think I saw your airplane in the sky tonight

[oshutup]

Forget? How could he ever, even for a moment, forget?

He can't, of course.

So he says the only thing he trusts himself to.

"I remember."

Other things, he will not speak to, but if he thinks them--and he does--he has a feeling the lion as good as knows these too, that in his mind what Peter says is that there are many ways to be okay and to not be okay, ways that leave you whole enough for another journey but fractured all the same. That isn't to be taken for granted, however, and he is aware of this, glad for knowing his brother will be physically kept safe, and likely, if this world is consistent in anything, even with the rest of his family. Existing here and there simultaneously still makes no sense to Peter who only knows of traveling through worlds and leaving others behind, but he supposes anything is possible at this point, forcing back a sigh that could betray everything else he wants to keep to himself, at least as much as he can. For all that he misses Edmund already, feels his absence like a ripple of winter where only

I think I saw your airplane in the sky tonight

[nevertame]

"Then you know," Aslan nods once more before turning tawny eyes to survey the field.

"Twice now you've come to learn what it means to live a lifetime in one moment," he continues, not even mentioning that by all technical terms he has experienced this phenomenon in the City as well. Edmund? Moreso than Peter if one counts his previous visit to this world. "Your brother is not below that privilege," says the lion, his manner still calm yet never tame.

Another moment of silence passes before the great cat speaks again.

"It isn't wrong to miss him," but you cannot want wrong things will have to wait.

I think I saw your airplane in the sky tonight

[oshutup]

The thing about being technically one age, and technically another, is that sometimes things get muddled, some more deeply than others. Feelings are the worst of those things. They get caught up in each other anyway, whether a person is one age or several, and they have a tendency to tell one too many things at the same time, like too many people giving their opinions on things, but it's worse, because it's all actually just coming from the same place. Part of him turns with youth and irritation at being told he knows, because isn't that just the obvious thing? Another part just as quickly admonishes the first, telling him he should be wiser than that by now. Still some other part, not quite younger or older, reminds him that just because it isn't wrong to miss his brother doesn't make it a good thing, doesn't make it right to want him back. This isn't where any of them belong after all, and they know it.

But, again, it's no one's fault. That thought sticks, skips, repeats. Looking out at the field and then up to the sky, Peter

I think I saw your airplane in the sky tonight

[nevertame]

Like you yet not like you at all. There is a reason for why being a Son of Adam or a Daughter of Eve is an honorable thing, be he or she Narnian, Archenlander, Calormene, Telmarine, or from Finchley

I think I saw your airplane in the sky tonight

[oshutup]

For all the seriousness, the lion has humor as well, and when Aslan's most recent words reach him it is all Peter can do to keep himself from sputtering like an idiot. As it is, his brow still furrows and his mouth quirks to the side as if he is trying very hard not to say yes, but not three or four or something equally childish

I think I saw your airplane in the sky tonight

[nevertame]

Wise thoughts on separation and the breaking apart of things, but that is why he was crowned High King to the clear northern sky, and why he is once and always king above all other kings. There is no doubt in the lion's heart or mind that what Peter Pevensie has he has earned, wisdom, experience, and otherwise.

As for humor... well he ought to know, having never been punished for threatening to turn Mr. Beaver into a hat. Come now. Regarding those pictures, be glad Aslan doesn't sing a melody in the Telmarine's sleep to inform him of his opinion on the matter. And Peter's thoughts? Well make no mistake Aslan already knows his feelings on the click of a shutter, click after click after click after click after... you get the idea. It's something he doesn't push and in fact responds with the equivalent of a lion's smile.