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Knock on All Doors and Enter Nowhere by Signe [G]

Fandom: Narnia
Author on LJ: oxoniensis
Author website: grooves as spirals


Why this must be read:

I love this story. I love it because it makes you think about what must have happened after they came back, after the Pevensies reverted to children again, how traumatic that must have been. Lewis, bless him, glosses over this at best, and brutally ignores it at worst, only beginning to touch on the great vastness of the knowledge lost in Price Caspian. He gives his characters a blessing of sorts in their ability to forget, but then takes that away by giving them the memories once more, leaving them to greet that loss all over again. That is the greatest tragedy in the books, I believe firmly. More so than any other thing, the cruelty of a life lost is heartbreaking.

In this story, Signe carefully puts a lens on each of the characters to flesh out more fully how Narnia changed them all, and how they recovered from being returned to England. It is as close to my own understanding of the characters as I have ever found in a Narnia story, and for that I'm reccomending it to you.

Peter says he felt cool air on his face: it must have been his beard disappearing. Occasionally Susan catches him rubbing his chin, as though he's not sure if he has a beard now or not. No one teases him about it.

Edmund says it was like losing something inside, and when pushed, just shrugs and says he can't put it any better than that. And he doesn't need to, because Susan understands.

Lucy won't talk about it at all, not without crying. Susan thinks it must be hardest for her: she's gone through the wardrobe three times now, more than any of them, and each of the previous times she'd had the hope of going straight back. But Susan's seen her coming out of the wardrobe room, and she knows Lucy's been trying to get back again, even though the Professor said it wouldn't work like that again.

Susan doesn't say much about that moment, midday between worlds, either. But she can still feel what it was like, returning to a child's body. Even though she can't quite remember the exact moment when her breasts became merely half-formed and her hips straight, all the same, it's too awkward for her to speak of, to the boys at least.

Knock on All Doors and Enter Nowhere