Comfort Me With Apples for thedreamisreal

[nfe_gremlin]

Title: Comfort Me With Apples
Author: snacky
Recipient: thedreamisreal
Rating: Teen and up!
Summary: After his time with the Witch, Edmund loses his taste for sweets, but he learns to love apples. Character study, and cookery lesson!

Comments

[edenfalling]

Dammit, now I'm hungry -- for the Beavers' dinners, actually not apple pie, but there you go, sometimes one is just in the mood for savory rather than sweet. *shakes tiny fists of indignation in your general direction*

On a more serious note, I like that while Edmund has accepted Aslan's gift and is not hung up on Jadis or winter, that doesn't mean he's untouched. The idea that the magical Turkish Delight ruined his ability to enjoy other sweet things, and that the craving lingered for years even after Jadis's death, is really neat. I also like how you used Pomona, giving a bit of life and context to a named character we never learn much about, and that of course everything revolves around apples, because this is Narnia and it's always about apples. If anything were going to make the transition from Narnia to England (at least without Aslan's direct intervention, as in SC), it would pretty much have to be apples.

[heliopausa]

"It seems a waste of the gift given to him to wallow in regret and shame" yes!!!
But the damage is till there, something to live with. I really like Edmund in Narnia, dealing with this on his own, as his own story, dealing courteously with being offered sweets, not rebuffing people, but trying to go easy on himself, too. And lovely! that he falls in love with an apple-tree dryad, and learns from her to lose the memory of Turkish Delight and the Witch. I really liked the way this recast the importance of the orchard in Prince Caspian, and especially liked that you brought apples home for Edmund to plant. (Was he always carrying some with him, while he was there, or was the fact that he found some in his pockets a gift, to complete the healing of the Witch's harms?) Thanks for this story

[ruanchunxian0]

This is a wonderful, warm and hearty dish to end the exchange with! (Yes I just said that! :P)

I adore the subversion of "winter=depressed Edmund" trope, and that it's sweets that gives him trouble, not snow. Makes sense though, it's the sweets that drew him in and bewitched him. It's beautiful how he's also healed by the taste of sweet,this time more subtle through the fruit of a Dryad. It's the natural fruit of Narnia that releases him from the hold of the magical food of the Witch. Wonderful symbolism there.

It's wonderful that you mentioned Digory at the end, too, because their stories are linked, and they are linked more still here by the apple tree.

[lauraandrews]

Wow, very delicious fic :D You're writing style reminds me very much of my own; I liked it ;) I've always been annoyed when people make a big thing of Edmund being haunted by the Witch for his whole life, or being afraid of snow, and things like that. This makes a lot more sense. I loved all the sensory descriptions. They made me hungry! Also, thanks for the pie recipe. I'll have to try it :D