Blame Be_The_Moon -- Egotistical Meme

[rthstewart]

So my whining in the previous post generated a Harold and Morgan Plot The Narnia Census comment fic courtesy of autumnia  keeperofqkeys and min023 I burned the dinner but it was fun.  On the plus side, thanks for the lovely comments.  I'm at 7,337 words, of which I'll probably use most of it, and I'm not half done, so that means probably another two parter.  The problem is

Comments

[rthstewart]

You are alive! How is Greece? How is your computer? Are you doing this from an internet cafe or is all well again?

Queens of the North was the final part of my Aravis/Cor/Archenland/Calormen trilogy. It was strange that having relied so much on the Trickster to move the action along in The Horse, His Boy, the Rat and the Trickster, and then his continuing meddling (under Aslan's watchful eye of course) in "Cor and Aravis Take A Trip," there really wasn't any room for the Trickster's pranks in Queens of the North. In the end, that was appropriate for the Trickster's power really wanes in the North as belief in Aslan strengthens, in the same way that Aslan's influence over Calormenes is less because they do not open their minds and hearts to him. Aravis is not terribly comfortable with the Trickster in her life, but he has chosen her, and it is part of her heritage -- an uneasy relationship to be sure. It does help that the Trickster co-exists more peaceably with Aslan than she thinks -- Aslan certainly appreciates the Trickster's humor and just eats him when he gets out of hand.

I did not expect the Lune/Susan thing to come up -- the man of course was devastated at the thought that Aravis and Cor really were taken by pirates and lost forever, and with Corin dead, well, his despair was understandable. The set up fell, I'm afraid, more into the hurt/comfort convention than I usually prefer. Certainly of all of them, Aravis was the most help to Susan in negotiating the tricky family reactions, for she very much understood the (potentially) successful dynamic of the older man and younger woman. All that time further South and with a Tarkheena under his roof influenced Lune more than he thought -- something which Aravis saw more clearly than the Northerners. As for Frida's profoundly felt role, for all that she's been dead for years, I know it struck readers as weird to have a third party figure so prominently in the relationship. However, Lune and Susan really could not have had it any other way. Their mutual love for Frida was a big part of their bond.

I hope all is well with you!