#athelor

[bookshelf-in-progress]

A Guide to the Stories Posted On This Blog in 2024

Retellings

After Midnight

Retelling of: Cinderella (science fiction)

Word Count: 577 words (unfinished)

Premise: A young girl on another world struggles to provide for her stepsisters.

The Beggar's Door

Retelling of: King Thrushbeard

Word Count: 855 words

Premise: After a princess refuses all her suitors, her father vows to marry her to the man of his choice--but forgets to account for an old tradition.

A Daughter's Gift

Retelling of: Beauty and the Beast

Word Count: 660 words

Premise: A young woman learns the truth behind her father's disappearance and his last gift to her.

For Love of the Princess

Retelling of: Sleeping Beauty

Word Count: 2,689 words

Premise: When a curse dooms a princess and all in her palace to sleep for a hundred years, her ladies-in-waiting and a young guard stay and face the curse with her.

A Garden of Wishes

Retelling of: The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Word Count: 8,459 words

Premise: A garden boy falls in love with a princess and works to solve the magical mystery surrounding her and her sisters.

Good Rich Earth

Retelling of: The Secret Garden

Word Count: 894 words

Premise: After a childhood spent on a military space station, Mary is sent to live on a devastated Earth and becomes obsessed with finding the secret garden planted by her guardian's late wife.

Jack and His Wife

Retelling of: Jack and the Beanstalk

Word Count: 967 words

Premise: Jack's wife follows him up the beanstalk, and learns he might not be the hapless fool she'd believed him to be.

Marks of Loyalty

Retelling of: Maid Maleen

Word Count: 4,404 words

Premise: After seven years of imprisonment in a tower, a woman struggles to survive in a war-torn land, and tries to learn what has become of the prince she loved.

The Nightingale Returns

Retelling of: The Nightingale

Word Count: 743 words

Premise: A former opera singer is summoned to the deathbed of the man who once loved and abandoned her.

The Other Option

Retelling of: Rumpelstiltskin

Word Count: 214 words

Premise: When a magical creature demands a woman's firstborn as payment for help, the woman decides to save herself.

Reflection

Retelling of: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Word Count: 2,317 words

Premise: An aging, appearance-obsessed queen tries to destroy the beautiful, innocent princess she views as her rival, but may end up destroying herself.

The Unseen Soldier

Retelling of: The Twelve Dancing Princesses

Word Count: 544 words

Premise: A former soldier struggles to find a way to break his curse of invisibility.

A Wise Pair of Fools

Retelling of: The Farmer's Clever Daughter

Word Count: 4,337 words

Premise: A peasant girl outwits and captures the heart of an arrogant, overeducated king.

Original Fantasy

The Return of Queen Emma

Word Count: 933 words

Completion Status: Complete

Genre: Portal fantasy/magical realism

Premise: After ruling as queen of a fantasy world, a girl rejoices to return to an ordinary childhood on Earth.

Daughter of the House of Dreams

Word Count: 755 words

Completion Status: Standalone fragment

Genre: Secondary world fantasy

Premise: Going to the dream shop on Faraway Lane, you'll encounter some fantastical wonders.

Honors from the King

Word Count: 2,172 words

Completion Status: Complete

Genre: Portal fantasy

Premise: After slaying a giant, a young girl plans to ask the king of a fantastical realm to help her get home to Earth, but learns the story is not as simple as she thought.

Queen of the Fairies

Word Count: 1,769 words

Completion Status: Complete

Genre: Historical fantasy

Premise: In Victorian England, a young girl captures a flower fairy and meets a scientist who studies them.

A Feast in the Lanternwood

Word Count: 2,031 words

Completion Status: Complete

Genre: Secondary world non-magical fantasy

Premise: An enemy soldier begs for food at a festival held by a peaceful forest community.

Heartsong

Word Count: 558 words

Completion Status: Complete

Genre: Magical realism

Premise: A woman struggles to find her soulmate in a world where soulmates are identified through song.

Shadowstruck

Word Count: 871 words

Completion status: Incomplete, plans to continue

Genre: Secondary world fantasy

Premise: The death of a girl's mother reveals secrets about her life.

Shadowstruck, Part Two

Word Count: 783 words

Completion Status: Incomplete, plans to continue

Genre: Secondary world fantasy

Premise: While trying to escape the country, a girl receives unexpected help from a mysterious stranger.

Sylvia

Word Count: 398 words

Completion Status: Complete

Genre: Space fantasy

Premise: A woman must decide whether to board a ship and sail to the moon to find the brother who left the family years ago.

The Waters of Time

Word Count: 1,164 words

Completion Status: Complete

Genre: Secondary world fantasy

Premise: A mermaid librarian travels to the past to retrieve a stolen book and finds herself entangled in a web of intrigue.

The Memory Garden

Word Count: 1,091 words

Completion Status: Complete

Genre: Original fairy tale

Premise: The gardens of a castle have a strange relationship with time after dark.

From the Other Side of the End of the World

Word Count: 4,196 words

Completion Status: Complete

Genre: Secondary world fantasy/time travel

Premise: A young woman writes letters to her time-traveling sister who works as a nurse in a historical war zone, and starts a correspondence with one of her patients.

Stolen Moments

Word Count: 745 words

Completion Status: Complete

Genre: Original fairy tale

Premise: At a masquerade ball, a princess encounters the husband who betrayed her.

Instructions

Word Count: 196 words

Completion Status: Complete flash fiction

Genre: Secondary world non-magical fantasy

Premise: In a fantasy kingdom, a rider is sent out with an important message.

Original Science Fiction

Warning Signs

Word Count: 189 words

Completion Status: Complete

Premise: A man having lunch at a seaside cafe receives a strange warning from a time traveler.

Beyond the Legend

Word Count: 1,097 words

Completion Status: Complete, part of Arateph series

Premise: The long-lost prince of an alien world encounters an alternate-history film about his life.

Jules and Vern

Word Count: 456 words

Completion Status: Complete, part of Jules and Vern series

Premise: On a time-travel cruise, a poor academic encounters a world-weary heiress.

A Jules and Vern Christmas

Word Count: 1,543 words

Completion Status: Complete

Premise: A poor academic offers a gift that helps a jaded heiress to appreciate the Christmas season.

[fictionadventurer]

When Emma stepped through the shining door in her palace's library, there was a blaze of light, a roar of wind, and then she landed on her hands and knees on the wooden floor of a suburban bedroom. She recognized the horse pictures on the wall, the stuffed animals on the bed, the yellow curtains fluttering in the window. She was smaller, thinner, lighter, and felt as though a world's weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

A woman's face appeared in the open doorway; every curl of her short hairstyle was familiar. "There you are, Emma!" she said cheerfully. "I've got your dressed washed for church tomorrow. Now come on downstairs. It's almost time for supper."

Behind Emma, the doorway had become an ordinary closet, cluttered with clothes and toys. The clock read twenty minutes past five. She'd been away only ten minutes.

A moment ago, she'd been the powerful queen of a vast realm whose rule had brought a golden age of prosperity and peace. Now she was twelve years old again, in her familiar old bedroom, safe with a mother that she hadn't seen in thirty years.

Emma wept for joy.

*

Emma's bookshelf contained one new volume--an exquisitely-bound brown leather book, with a tooled and embossed cover, containing a beautifully illustrated account of all the tales of Emma's reign. Her cousin Tessa--as good as a sister--was enchanted by it, and believed Emma without question when she told her that the stories were true.

"Don't you miss it?" Tessa asked, one night a few months after her return.

"Sometimes," Emma said. "But I'm glad to be home."

"You like it here?"

"Why not? We have chocolate here. And giraffes. And shooting stars. Our world is just as amazing as Athelor."

"In Athelor, you were a queen."

"Here, I'm not," Emma said. "Do you know how nice it is to wake up in the morning and do things that don't affect the fate of an entire nation?"

"But isn't it disappointing? In Athelor, you knew you were important."

"Who says I'm not important now?"

*

Emma told her mom about Athelor often. Mom thought Emma was just making up wonderful stories.

That was all right. Because the stories were wonderful.

*

After school, sometimes Mom would take Emma out for pizza. Emma would climb into a carriage that moved with a heart of fire, to a room bathed in enough light to make the night as bright as day, where she ate the cuisine of a far-off realm, and then rode home singing along with minstrels whose voices had been captured long ago and far away.

Emma always marveled that she lived in a world with such magic.

*

Emma grew. And matured. It came with different milestones here, and happened slower, but it had its share of struggles.

On nights when she felt small, helpless and afraid, she remembered that she'd once led a host of warriors--human, animal, and elfin--into battle with a horde of monsters and come out victorious.

She might not be in Athelor, but she was still a queen.

She could fill out a college application.

*

Emma was leaving the campus library with an armload of books when a sparrow spoke to her from a branch above her head. Emma looked up and saw at once it was an Athelorian sparrow.

"Iprit!" Emma cried. The sparrow had been the most devoted of the queen's messengers. "How glad I am to see you!"

"My queen," Iprit said, bowing her head. "I have found you at last."

"Is Athelor in danger?" Emma asked, suddenly fearful.

"She is well and at peace. Berna rules well in your stead."

"As I knew she would," Emma said with a smile. Emma had spent years choosing her successor. Her elfin advisor, though young, was bright and brave and loved Athelor with all her heart.

"But she rules as regent only. She would not take the crown until she knew what had become of you."

"Now you see that I am well," Emma said. "Alive and well and happy."

"Will you not come home to us, my queen?" Iprit asked. "The door stands open to you. Take up the crown and rule your people once more."

For a moment, Emma's heart yearned for it. Athelor called to her, a bright, beautiful dream, a wondrous adventure.

A gust of wind swirled in the branches over her head, sending a crimson shower of leaves down upon her. She gazed out across the campus, at a world she loved. She thought of her mother, Tessa, her classmates, her studies, her friendships, and the future she was building here.

Where was her duty? Here or Athelor?

Another wind came, gentle yet brisk, and Emma knew it for the wind that had taken her to Athelor and brought her home. It lifted her spirits and cleared her mind so she could hear the voice that had never led her wrong in her years as queen.

Emma met Iprit's gaze. "Berna may take up the crown with my blessing. I have done what I must for Athelor. Another world needs me now."

Iprit bowed in a bird-like way, spreading out one wing. "As you wish, my queen. But what shall I tell the scribes? How ends the reign of Queen Emma the Wise?"

"As all good stories should," Emma said. She shifted her voice into the melodic cadence of the best of the palace storytellers. "After many years of good and faithful service, the queen found her way home, where she lived happily all the rest of her days."

[inklings-challenge]

Inklings Archive Dive: 2022 Portal Fantasy

Welcome to the Inklings Archive Dive! Today, we’re exploring the portal fantasy stories written by the members of Team Lewis during the second Inklings Challenge. In 2022, writers used at least one of the following seven Christian images in their stories: light, tree, water, wind, bread, wine, and/or fire. If you’d like to read some of the stories you might have missed, or revisit any favorites, you can check them out with the links below.

2022 Team Lewis Portal Fantasy Stories

Dear Future Me by @phoebeamorryce

Finally Home by @frominsidetheblanketfort-blog

Fire-Heart by @incomingalbatross (unfinished)

The Firewall by @ashknife

The Guardian by @clarythericebot

Letters from Athelor by @fictionadventurer (unfinished)

Light of the World by @fictionadventurer (unfinished)

Lions, You & I by @ellakas

Megan All the Way Down by @cygnascrimbles (unfinished)

Mirror Image by @called-kept (unfinished)

The Tiffany Problem by @lady-merian

Tree of Life by @secret–psalms–saturn (unfinished)

Untitled by @rowenabean (unfinished)

Where Grace Begins by @maltheniel

A World Unfamiliar by @anipologist (unfinished)

If you read and enjoy, let the author know with a reblog or a comment! Now go forth and read!

[bookshelf-in-progress]

Even though the story itself is short, I did have some vague ideas for a series' worth of stories about the children in Honors From the King.

Eleanor, or Nora

Was roughly sixteen when she was whisked away to Athelor, and arrived at the moments of its creation.

She was declared its first queen, and although she's a historical figure, the first monarch of the kingdom, she's also a legendary figure whose story is much more mythological than that of her siblings.

She had very close ties to the land and the creatures within it; some say her touch could heal and bring life to the land.

Thanks to certain life-giving properties in the land so close to its creation, her lifespan was vastly extended. Estimates of her time spent in Athelor range from 350 to 1000 years--it's difficult to get an exact count thanks to the nature of time so close to creation, but the best estimates put it somewhere around 725 years. During that time, she traveled and came to know every part of Athelor's landscape intimately.

Although she served as a mother (or as her siblings would say, bossy big sister) to millions of people in her lifetime, she never wed, and thus began the tradition of Athelorian monarchs remaining unwed so as to devote all their attention to Athelor.

She was aware that her other siblings had been whisked away to Athelor. One of her most prized possessions was a magical book that came to her not long after her arrival. The pages were mostly blank, but every so often, a page or two of text or illustrations would come into focus, showing her a glimpse of Athelor's far-future history, specifically moments involving her younger siblings.

After returning home, this book came with her, now filled in with all her siblings stories, thus creating one of the most complete records of Athelorian history in existence.

Benedict, or Ben

Was about 15 when whisked away to Athelor.

Landed with Claire at a moment fairly late in Athelor's timeline, where they were pulled into some kind of treasure-hunting quest in a dark forest.

Within a week or so of his arrival, found himself whisked away to a much earlier era of Athelor's history, probably somewhere within Eleanor's reign.

He then found himself pulled involuntarily through time, sometimes staying only hours in one place, rarely any longer than a week. Sometimes, he was pulled into situations that required him to undertake some heroic action--slaying a monster, helping to end a war, etc.--and he quickly fell into legend as the mysterious Wanderer who would appear in times of need.

He often found himself near one of his siblings, to provide information, help, and moral support. He was the one who informed most of them about the rules of Athelorian time--that they would be returned home to a time only minutes after they left, with all their aging reversed, no matter how long they spent in Athelor.

Though he, from his personal perspective, most likely spent the least amount of time in Athelor among all his siblings (likely no longer than two years), he has experienced the broadest range of its history.

Jane

About fourteen years old when she arrived in Athelor, about seven hundred years before any of her other siblings except Eleanor.

Was taken in by kindly centaurs and elves on the Skyveil Plains.

Trained in combat and riding, became beloved member of community.

Took to traveling, became a bit of a wandering knight--defender of the weak, slayer of monsters, seeker of lost lands. Had a vibrant, joyful approach to life and adventure.

Discovered places that had not been seen by Athelorians since the days of Queen Eleanor.

Had a special bond with the talking beasts she encountered on her travels and has a special bond with them.

Claire

About thirteen when she arrived in Athelor.

Landed with Ben at a moment fairly late in Athelor's history, and undertook some kind of perilous treasure hunt quest in a dark forest.

Was unexpectedly left alone when Ben was whisked off to other points in time. Is very, very nervous about this.

Ben will randomly return at different points on her quest, but she's frustrated by the fact that he can never remember what's going on--things that happened only hours ago for her might have happened weeks or months ago from his perspective, so she has to repeat a lot of information.

(I had some kind of idea that events could transpire that take her down a dark path so she becomes a big, bad, world-threatening villain that her siblings have to team up to defeat, but as fun as that idea is, I don't think it's as fun as the possibilities that could come later from all seven of them teaming up).

Amelia, or Mia

Eleven years old when she arrived in Athelor.

Landed in a peaceful eleven village in the Southern Forest. Immediately taken in and taught by kindly elves.

After nine months, her village was attacked by a giant. Despite having no combat experience, she was forced to take up a sword she found and join in the defense. One lucky strike with a legendary sword brought down the giant.

Afterward, she met her younger brother Danny--now the middle-aged king of all Athelor. He adopted her, taught her, and eventually named her his heir.

About five years after her adoption, Danny was whisked away back home. She had some difficulty adjusting to life alone, but she got some support from a visiting Ben, and eventually became a beloved peacetime queen continuing Danny's work.

Daniel, or Danny

Ten years old when he arrived in Athelor. Helped out by some friendly trolls.

Met an extremely old Thomas within a couple weeks of his arrival, who was able to tell him about the Athelorian flow of time. Thomas was unable to take Danny in--due to extreme age and the fact that he was being sent home soon--but he brought him to the attention of the king, who took him in as a page and later squire to one of his knights.

Daniel proved himself well on various battlefields, and was eventually named the king's heir.

As soon as he became king, he started a project to build a great library--with a motive to learn more about his other siblings scattered through history.

After the successful end to the wars in the reign of his predecessor, his reign was one of peace, ushering in a cultural golden age unlike anything seen since the days of Queen Emma.

Thomas

Landed among the trolls of the Northern Mountains. Trained as a smith and became an unparalleled master craftsman.

Undertook dangerous quests in his youth to discover new materials, techniques, or long-lost legendary weapons.

In his age, retreated to the mountains to focus almost entirely on his work. He was a respected member of a community of craftsmen, but rarely sought the outside world--which instead came to him seeking his legendary skill.

Some say some of the materials he worked with retained some of the life-giving properties of the land in Queen Eleanor's time, and extended his life so that he lived to the age of 130 with a somewhat weakened, but still very active body and mind.

I have an idea that after they returned home, they were all able to integrate back into life pretty well, but they loved sharing stories of their time in Athelor and looking over Eleanor's book about it.

Then some malicious agents managed to steal the book, travel to Athelor on their own power to a point fairly early in its history, and try to use their knowledge of the future to reshape Athelor to their own ends.

They thought it seemed like a great plan. They didn't realize that doing so would put them up against the combined might of seven of the greatest figures within Athelorian history.

[bookshelf-in-progress]

8

8. if you had to write a sequel to a fic, you’d write one for…

I'd like to write some kind of follow-up to "Honors From the King", showing Mia dealing with being queen after Danny gets to go home to Earth and getting some help from a time-traveling Ben.

Actually, there are several snippets in this universe that would be fun to write across multiple time periods, if I could come up with moments that are vivid enough for flash fiction.

[bookshelf-in-progress]

@isfjmel-phleg

There'd be roughly one hypothetical book per sibling. Because of Ben's odd timeline, he'd mostly weave through other people's books, and be most prominent in Claire's (though maybe he could have an episodic book about some of the adventures he got up to that didn't relate to the other books' plots). Danny and Mia's stories would overlap, but Danny's story would cover his pre-Mia reign, and "Honors from the King" would serve as an early scene in Mia's story.

Part of me wants them to know Emma in the real world, but it makes their world seem smaller if she lives nearby. Perhaps they meet her by chance some years after they return home and recognize her as a fellow Athelorian.

Emma's reign was long before Danny's and came after Nora returned home, so the only sibling she possibly overlaps with is Jane--but jury's out on whether their timelines actually intersect. She definitely met Ben at least once--he helped out at that battle mentioned in her story.

[bookshelf-in-progress]

Honors From the King: A Short Story

The sword felt strange in Mia's hand. It fit perfectly in her grasp, but it still seemed impossible that it was hers. A few days ago it had made her into a hero, but in the confusion of the battle, she barely remembered making the lucky blow that felled the giant who had terrorized the Southern Forest for ten years.

Now she, an ordinary eleven-year-old from Iowa, was the hero of a fantastical realm, waiting to receive honors from the king himself.

Elbera bustled around Mia in the antechamber-turned-dressing room of the village hall. The elf woman—barely taller than Mia—had served almost as a mother to her since the strange wind had left her in the elfin village. "Now, my dear, as you're being honored for valor in battle, it's right for you to carry the sword, but you must never put the point toward the king. If you're nervous about it, you'd best sheathe it."

Mia sheathed the sword before Elbera finished the sentence.

Elbera continued, "Since you've slain a well-known terror, it's customary for the king to offer a boon. If he offers up to half his kingdom, don't take it—it's only a polite phrase. Best to ask for something useful—perhaps a sum of gold to rebuild the bridge outside the village."

From what Mia had heard of the king, he'd do that anyway. No, if Mia was to get a boon, she would ask for only one thing.

She wanted to go home.

For nine long months, she'd been stuck in Athelor. The cheerful, dainty elves had been kind to her—sheltering, feeding and teaching her without complaint—but they weren't her family. Her parents had to be frantic about her. And her six siblings—what had they done when that strange summer wind took her away from them? An entire school year would be gone by now. If she stayed away much longer, she'd be so far behind, and it would be harder and harder to fit back into ordinary life.

The elves had been unable to provide any suggestions about how to get back home; they only told Mia to wait for the wind. But the elves had sung praises of King Edonniel's library, spoke with awe of his scholarly works about Athelor's history. If anyone knew how to get her home, the king would.

The door to the chamber opened, and a palace guard escorted Mia into sunlit wooden expanse of the main hall.

At the room's far end, the king stood among his guard. Though over fifty, he was tall and fit, with a reddish-gold beard and a noble bearing, resplendent in royal armor. He was like the good king in every fairy tale Mia had ever read, like her father, and she forgot to be afraid of him. The king was a great man—warrior, poet, scholar, diplomat—but Mia knew in an instant that he was kind enough to help a lost girl.

The assembled crowd—all the elves and talking beasts from the village—cheered as Mia approached the king. Mia tried to ignore them, instead focusing on the king’s kind face.

The king stared at her. He stood frozen for several moments, then stepped toward her. “Mia?”

Mia stumbled to a stop. "Yes?" This seemed an informal greeting from a great king.

In a blink, Mia found herself in the king's arms, crushed in a warm embrace.

"I can't believe it." The king's deep voice sounded right next to her ear. "I thought I'd never see any of you again, not here."

Mia tried to push him away. King or not, this was too weird to put up with. "Any of who? What are you doing?"

The king pulled away and looked into her face, drinking her in. "I'm sorry. Of course you don't know me. Mia, I’m Danny. Your brother."

*

In the privacy of Elbera’s good parlor, Mia sat alone with the king. Her brother. Her ten-year-old brother. Who she never in a million years would have connected with the great scholar, warrior, and king the elves, in their musical accents, called Edonniel.

She couldn’t doubt that he was Danny. He remembered their parents, their farm, all their family, even the dinosaur village she and he had created two summers ago. With only a year and a day between their ages, they had often been mistaken for twins, but Mia had always reveled in her superior age. Until now.

Danny seemed so dignified; he made Elbera’s soft chair look like a throne. His eyes had wrinkles around them. His red-gold beard hung down to his chest. He sat so steady, so still, gazing at her like she was his long-lost child—instead of the sister whose hair he pulled when she beat him at Mario Kart.

As Mia sat across from him on Elbera's other chair, the only thing she could think to say was, “You’re older than me.”

The king guffawed. “I’m older than Dad. But you—you don’t look a day older than when I last saw you. How long have you been here?”

“Nine months.”

“It’s been forty-eight years for me.”

Mia’s head spun at the idea. “How?”

“The wind that carried us into a different world carried us into different times. I landed on the shores of the Beryl Sea forty-eight years ago. Ever since I became king, I’ve made a study of Athelorian history, trying to find the rest of us.”

“Us?” Mia had been with her siblings when the wind had taken her, but she’d assumed they were back home in Iowa. “How many of us are in Athelor?”

“All of us,” Danny said with surprise. “Didn’t you know?”

Mia shook her head. “I couldn’t see much.”

“And when you landed here alone, you had no reason to guess that we weren’t all safely at home,” he said, understanding.

“Is anyone else here?” Mia asked, half-hoping another brother or sister would pop out from behind the furniture.

“I crossed paths with Thomas not long after I arrived, but you’re the only one I’ve met in person since. Everyone else, I’ve had to track down in history and legend.”

“You met Thomas?”

“He landed among the trolls of the northern mountains,” Danny explained. “Became a master smith—the greatest in Athelorian history. He forged that sword you carry. I have no idea how it got into the elves’ hands; I’ll bet there’s a story there.”

Danny never could stick to the point of a story. “Where is he?” Mia asked in frustration.

“He was a very old man when I met him,” Danny said. “A hundred and twenty-seven, by some counts. Some say his life was extended by working with the stones from the heart of the world.”

Was? Her little brother had been only six years old when she’d last seen him. He couldn’t be—

Mia sank back into her chair, stricken.

Danny, caught up in his story, didn’t seem to notice. “Jane lived among the centaurs and elves of the Skyveil Plains seven-hundred years ago. Became a legendary warrior and explorer, defender of the weak. Beloved by all the beasts. First to step foot on the Daybreak Isles and meet the talking mice.”

Seven-hundred years?

“Now Ben,” Danny said with a laugh, “has popped up all through history. Rarely seen for more than a day or two, but he always has some dramatic effect. Some scholars speculate he’s extraordinarily long-lived, but my theory is that time is playing with him in a different way than the rest of us.”

He said it all so calmly!

“Nora?” Mia dared to ask about their oldest sister.

Danny’s gaze turned dreamy, his voice hushed and reverent. “The legendary Queen Eleanor, present at the waking of the world.”

Danny was talking about Nora—bossy Nora!—like he was in awe of her.

Her sister—all her siblings—had become legends. They weren’t waiting for her at home. They were long dead, had been dead ever since she’d arrived, which meant they were gone forever, and there was no way home—

Mia burst into tears.

Danny reacted about like how she’d have expected him to react. He sprang up from his seat and hovered awkwardly over her chair. “Mia? What’s wrong?”

Through tears, despair, and frustration, Mia blubbered something that included the words, “They’re all dead!”

“Dead?” Danny asked. “Who said they were dead?”

Mia wiped her tears on her sleeve and glared up at him. “You did! You said Thomas was ancient, and Jane lived seven-hundred years ago, and Nora’s as old as the entire world!”

“That doesn’t mean they’re dead.”

“I’m not stupid! No one can live that long, not even here!”

Danny crouched down next to her chair. He placed both hands on her shoulders and looked straight into her eyes. “Mia, look at me. I’m telling you: they’re not dead.”

Before his fatherly gaze—even with the beard, he looked a lot like Dad—Mia’s sobs became mere sniffles. “Then where are they?”

“They’re home. Safe. I promise. The same wind that brought us here brought them back home after their adventures were over.”

Just like the elves had said. But when Mia had thought she’d have to wait to go home, she’d thought it would be a few years at most, not—

“You said Thomas was more than a hundred years old.”

Danny said, “I’ve done a lot of reading about people like us. We’re not the only people who’ve come here from Earth—or gone home. The stories all say the same thing. No matter how long we spend here, the wind takes us back home to a time only minutes after we left, and we’ll be just the same age we were then. Reunited from across history, as young we ever were. A foretaste of heaven.”

His voice had gone dreamy again. The elves had said he was a poet.

Mia dried her face and sat up straight. “We’ll all be together? At our normal ages? Like we never left?”

“Exactly.”

“You and me and Thomas and Ben and Nora and—“ Mia realized something. “You never said where Claire was.”

“She’s the only one I haven’t found in history yet. That means her story’s probably still in the future. Maybe we’ll run into her someday.”

That did sound exciting, but Mia didn’t like the idea of waiting decades like Daniel had.

“How long do you think it will be? Before we go home?”

Danny stood and walked toward his chair. “I can’t say. Whenever the wind blow lately, I get the strangest feeling that I won’t be here long—maybe five years.”

Five years—half her life—not long?

“For you,” Danny continued as he sat down, “I can’t say. But I have a feeling that your adventures are just beginning.”

“I don’t want more adventures,” Mia said, as another tear dripped. “I want to go home.”

“I know,” Danny said, his voice husky with sympathy. “The first year is the hardest, and you’re so young.”

The idea of Danny—Danny!—treating her like a little kid! “I’m older than you!” Looking into his very-much-not-a-kid face, she amended, “Well, I should be.”

“You will be again, one day. But until then...“ Danny leaned forward, his hands on his knees, and suddenly sounded more like an American kid than he had all day. “This sounds so weird, but if you like, I can adopt you. You can live in the palace under my protection, and I can show you everything about Athelor. Maybe name you my heir if you like the whole royalty thing.”

He was planning a whole life for her. Plotting out a future. Here. Even without the weirdness of Danny acting like her dad, it was too much.

Danny noticed her hesitation. “You don’t have to, if you don’t want to. I know we’re all called here for different purposes, and I don’t want to keep you from your intended mission.”

“I thought the giant was my mission.” Mia had constructed such a tidy tale—and now it was unraveling. “I came here, I slayed the giant. The story should be over. I should get to go home.”

“It will always be waiting for you. Until then, you have Athelor.”

“Athelor isn’t home!”

“It can be,” Danny said. “It’s been a good home to me. It can be a better one, now that you’re here.”

Mia suddenly realized how old her little brother was. How long he’d been waiting, searching for his family through books. And now she was here, after all this time.

Maybe that was her mission. To help this great king while he was here caring for the people of Athelor.

“I guess I can try,” Mia said. Even if she had to stay a long time—well, Danny had managed to do some amazing things, and she couldn’t let her little brother outshine her. “When we do get back home, I don’t want you to have a better story than me.”

Danny grinned—and for just a second, he looked a little like the kid she remembered. “Mia,” he said, “I think you’re going to be fit for legend.”

[bookshelf-in-progress]

The Return of Queen Emma: A Short Story

When Emma stepped through the shining door in her palace's library, there was a blaze of light, a roar of wind, and then she landed on her hands and knees on the wooden floor of a suburban bedroom. She recognized the horse pictures on the wall, the stuffed animals on the bed, the yellow curtains fluttering in the window. She was smaller, thinner, lighter, and felt as though a world's weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

A woman's face appeared in the open doorway; every curl of her short hairstyle was familiar. "There you are, Emma!" she said cheerfully. "I've got your dressed washed for church tomorrow. Now come on downstairs. It's almost time for supper."

Behind Emma, the doorway had become an ordinary closet, cluttered with clothes and toys. The clock read twenty minutes past five. She'd been away only ten minutes.

A moment ago, she'd been the powerful queen of a vast realm whose rule had brought a golden age of prosperity and peace. Now she was twelve years old again, in her familiar old bedroom, safe with a mother that she hadn't seen in thirty years.

Emma wept for joy.

*

Emma's bookshelf contained one new volume--an exquisitely-bound brown leather book, with a tooled and embossed cover, containing a beautifully illustrated account of all the tales of Emma's reign. Her cousin Tessa--as good as a sister--was enchanted by it, and believed Emma without question when she told her that the stories were true.

"Don't you miss it?" Tessa asked, one night a few months after her return.

"Sometimes," Emma said. "But I'm glad to be home."

"You like it here?"

"Why not? We have chocolate here. And giraffes. And shooting stars. Our world is just as amazing as Athelor."

"In Athelor, you were a queen."

"Here, I'm not," Emma said. "Do you know how nice it is to wake up in the morning and do things that don't affect the fate of an entire nation?"

"But isn't it disappointing? In Athelor, you knew you were important."

"Who says I'm not important now?"

*

Emma told her mom about Athelor often. Mom thought Emma was just making up wonderful stories.

That was all right. Because the stories were wonderful.

*

After school, sometimes Mom would take Emma out for pizza. Emma would climb into a carriage that moved with a heart of fire, to a room bathed in enough light to make the night as bright as day, where she ate the cuisine of a far-off realm, and then rode home singing along with minstrels whose voices had been captured long ago and far away.

Emma always marveled that she lived in a world with such magic.

*

Emma grew. And matured. It came with different milestones here, and happened slower, but it had its share of struggles.

On nights when she felt small, helpless and afraid, she remembered that she'd once led a host of warriors--human, animal, and elfin--into battle with a horde of monsters and come out victorious.

She might not be in Athelor, but she was still a queen.

She could fill out a college application.

*

Emma was leaving the campus library with an armload of books when a sparrow spoke to her from a branch above her head. Emma looked up and saw at once it was an Athelorian sparrow.

"Iprit!" Emma cried. The sparrow had been the most devoted of the queen's messengers. "How glad I am to see you!"

"My queen," Iprit said, bowing her head. "I have found you at last."

"Is Athelor in danger?" Emma asked, suddenly fearful.

"She is well and at peace. Berna rules well in your stead."

"As I knew she would," Emma said with a smile. Emma had spent years choosing her successor. Her elfin advisor, though young, was bright and brave and loved Athelor with all her heart.

"But she rules as regent only. She would not take the crown until she knew what had become of you."

"Now you see that I am well," Emma said. "Alive and well and happy."

"Will you not come home to us, my queen?" Iprit asked. "The door stands open to you. Take up the crown and rule your people once more."

For a moment, Emma's heart yearned for it. Athelor called to her, a bright, beautiful dream, a wondrous adventure.

A gust of wind swirled in the branches over her head, sending a crimson shower of leaves down upon her. She gazed out across the campus, at a world she loved. She thought of her mother, Tessa, her classmates, her studies, her friendships, and the future she was building here.

Where was her duty? Here or Athelor?

Another wind came, gentle yet brisk, and Emma knew it for the wind that had taken her to Athelor and brought her home. It lifted her spirits and cleared her mind so she could hear the voice that had never led her wrong in her years as queen.

Emma met Iprit's gaze. "Berna may take up the crown with my blessing. I have done what I must for Athelor. Another world needs me now."

Iprit bowed in a bird-like way, spreading out one wing. "As you wish, my queen. But what shall I tell the scribes? How ends the reign of Queen Emma the Wise?"

"As all good stories should," Emma said. She shifted her voice into the melodic cadence of the best of the palace storytellers. "After many years of good and faithful service, the queen found her way home, where she lived happily all the rest of her days."

[bookshelf-in-progress]

Potential Christmas Inklings Stories

Time travel story told through a child's letters to Santa (as she and her time-traveling parents are in various time periods across centuries)

Through a time-warping mishap, a woman from today gets transported to a spaceship far in the future and has to hitch a ride with a family going back to Earth for Christmas while dealing with their disdain for the "barbaric" past

Christmassy portal fantasy

A married couple rescues a time traveler. Turns out that the husband is from the past and several years ago made a Hallmarky decision to move to the future to be with his wife. Time traveler gives them a chance to go to his time period for Christmas, but they wind up bouncing around time and working out some issues with their relationship along the way.

Athelor story about Thomas (now more than a hundred years old and firmly, firmly ensconced in his life) meeting his terrified newly-arrived ten-year-old brother Danny and having to introduce him to Athelor while being reminded of a home he hasn't thought of in decades.

As you can see, some are more developed than others. All have at least some hold on my imagination, but I'm not sure which will stick out enough to lead to a completed story. Opinions (which one is most intriguing?), comments, thoughts about story directions, etc., all welcome.

[bookshelf-in-progress]

To illustrate my point about the vast potential of second-person narration, here are all the stories that I've written in second-person:

A Daughter's Gift: Past-tense story written as an explanation/apology

A Garden of Wishes: Present-tense story where the narrator tells the story to his love interest

A Wise Pair of Fools: Past-tense story where the narrators are telling their story to a listener who's in the room with them

Daughter of the House of Dreams: Future-tense story written as instructions

The Memory Garden: Future-tense story written as a warning based on the narrator's experiences

Stars and Shadows: Future-tense story that casts the reader in a fairy tale

The True Story: Epistolary story (mostly) involving three letter-writers

Letters from Athelor: Unfinished epistolary story--mostly first-person narration in a diary, but starts with a letter in second-person that implies a history between two characters

[fictionadventurer]

🖋️, 🖍️, 🖊️, 📚 , 📘, and 📙, for the Inklings Challenge asks, please?

🖋️Which team are you hoping for?

It'd be fun to get Team Tolkien and complete the set, but I've also got Team Lewis and Team Chesterton ideas that I'm excited about.

🖍️Which of this year's theme/s do you find most challenging/least likely to try and incorporate?

"Warn the sinner" is the only one that I don't have a specific story idea for.

🖊️ If you’ve previously participated, has your preferred team changed? Or would you rather always end up on the same team?

The Team Chesterton genres have changed, which have changed my thoughts about the types of stories I'd write if I wound up on that team.

📚 If you’ve previously participated, have you ever been excited by which team you’ve ended up on?

I was hoping and praying and desperate to get on Team Lewis in 2022 because I was so excited about and so attached to a story idea I spent September developing--only to struggle through several different drafts and finally post a fourth draft that was only, like, a page or two that barely introduced the premise.

📘 If you’ve written multiple stories (finished or not) for the challenges, which is your favourite?

After The True Story, Fable is the most complete story, though I go back and forth about how I feel about the finished project (I'm currently very fond of it). Letters from Athelor might get second place; it remains an extremely intriguing opening, and I loved the story that would have been written. Unfortunately, at this point, I'm so unlikely to actually write it that I stole the name of the nation for a different fictional universe.

📙 If you’ve written multiple stories (finished or not) for the challenges, which is your least favourite?

I'm kind of embarrassed that I posted the unfinished draft of "The Sylph in the Storm" last year, and can't even bring myself to read it.

[bookshelf-in-progress]

For reference, links to the stories:

The Dust That Falls From Passing Stars: Fantasy set in a city where the rich gain wealth from fallen stars.

The Christmas Card Caper: If P.G. Wodehouse wrote a Christmas mystery

Letters from Athelor: Epistolary portal fantasy where a king from a fantasy world asks a woman from our world to protect his sister during war

Light of the World: Two students at a university that studies alternate universes find an uncharted pocket universe to explore

The Tawny Mouse: Post-WWI historical fantasy where a traumatized psychic teams up with a shapeshifter who lives in the form of a mouse

[bookshelf-in-progress]

Team Chesterton! The one team I wasn't prepared for! The other teams had one idea that was The One, while this team has lots of half-baked ideas.

My options include:

Continuing "Letters from Athelor" from last year (which might work better as Team Chesterton)

Reworking scenes from my Island-verse or my post WWI mouse-shapeshifter ideas into short stories.

Writing my "Tattercoats" retelling, because focusing on "clothe the naked" has given me an idea for how to solve some of my problems with the opening (though I'm afraid this breaks the no-fanfic rule)

84, Charing Cross Road but it's about a shop selling books from an alternate universe

Superhero story involving "visit the imprisoned"

Really wishing I could turn my vibes for an autumnal magical-realism rom-com into a story

Writing something for adventure because I really want to add to this genre except I have no ideas jumping out at me.

Right now, I'm half-panicked that I'll never be able to develop any of these half-baked ideas into finished stories in time.

As far as the other teams go, if anyone on Team Tolkien could write something involving fantasy politics and/or arranged marriages, you'd be my new favorite person. (My Team Tolkien idea didn't incorporate those, but they were on the list of things I had wanted to explore with that team).

The Eagle and Child: Opening Day

The Inklings Challenge has started! You’ve received your team assignment, the creative juices are flowing, and you’re either brimming with ideas or desperately trying to find some. Like the original Inklings, this Challenge needs a place to discuss writing, so roughly-weekly posts (named after the famed Inklings pub, of course) will give people a chance to talk about their progress through the Challenge.

On these opening days of the challenge, let’s discuss how it’s going. If you like, you can share things like:

Which team are you on?

Which genre are you considering tackling?

Is this similar to what you usually write?

Do you have a story idea yet? If so, care to share anything about it?

Which themes are you considering incorporating into your story?

Are any other story sparks–pictures, events, genre, themes, etc.–coming to mind as something you might want to use to inspire your story?

Are you excited? Nervous? Terrified? Confident? Some combination of new and exciting emotions?

Are there any ideas/types of stories that you'd like to see from the other teams? Care to share any ideas/suggestions/wish lists?

This is purely for fun, so share whatever you feel like sharing, or keep your secrets to yourself. However you feel like engaging.

Welcome to the Inklings Challenge! Have fun!

[bookshelf-in-progress]

Story List

Fairy Tale Retellings

The Beggar's Door: King Thrushbeard

A Daughter's Gift: Beauty and the Beast

A Day Late & A Christmas Alone: Beauty and the Beast

Beneath the Surface: The Frog Prince

For Love of the Princess: Sleeping Beauty

A Garden of Wishes: The Twelve Dancing Princesses

The Golden Shoe: Cinderella

Jack and His Wife: Jack and the Beanstalk

Length of Years: Rapunzel

Loving Memory: East of the Sun, West of the Moon

Marks of Loyalty: Maid Maleen

More Than All the Gems on Earth: Diamonds and Toads

The Nightingale Returns: The Nightingale

The Other Option: Rumpelstiltskin

Purity of Mind: Bluebeard

Reflection: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Those Who Sleep: Sleeping Beauty

The Turning of the Year: Cinderella

The Unseen Soldier: The Twelve Dancing Princesses

A Wise Pair of Fools: The Farmer's Clever Daughter

Without Words: The Six Swans

Woven Together: Clever Anait

Fantasy

Daughter of the House of Dreams

Fable: A Portal Fantasy

A Feast in the Lanternwood

From the Other Side of the End of the World

Heartsong

Honors From the King

In Chains

Instructions

The Memory Garden

The Return of Queen Emma

A Song of Starlight: A Starfall Story

Stars and Shadows: A Fairy Tale

Stolen Moments

Sylvia

Queen of the Fairies

The True Story: An Epistolary Novelette

Warning Signs

The Waters of Time

Science Fiction

Christmastime Again

Beyond the Legend: An Arateph Fragment

Beneath the Surface: An Arateph Story

Good Rich Earth: A Retelling of "The Secret Garden"

Jules and Vern

A Jules and Vern Christmas

Until Death: An Arateph Fragment

Unfinished

After Midnight: A Cinderella Retelling

The Dust That Falls from Passing Stars: Part 1

The Christmas Card Caper: Part 1

Letters from Athelor: Part 1

Light of the World: Part 1

Shadowstruck: Chapter One

Shadowstruck (previous edition): Prologue, Chapter 1

The Sylph in the Storm

The Tawny Mouse: A fragment from a post-WWI historical fantasy

Fragments

Arateph Fragments: One, Two

Cinderella Retelling

Small Wonders: A Thumbelina Retelling

The Star That Stays

Time Travel Story Idea

[bookshelf-in-progress]

Letters from Athelor

This is the portal fantasy that I had intended to be my main story for @inklings-challenge​. I would still like to finish it in some form. It may be vastly different from what I have here. But after two years of saying I was going to write an epistolary portal fantasy and then writing something else, I’d like to prove that I was trying to write this story, even if it hasn’t yet come together. So here’s a very, very, very rough fragment that introduces most of the main characters. Let me know if it’s worth continuing.

1. A letter from King Justan Ibrien of Athelor to Amanda Zegler of Earth

Amanda,

Forgive me for writing. I wouldn’t force a letter upon you if it weren’t a dire emergency, but I have nowhere else to turn.

Athelor is at war. Five of the outer provinces have rebelled, spurred on by several of the princes who objected to my crowning and wish to claim pieces of Athelor for themselves. I couldn’t give them the power even if I wanted to—I’m tied to Athelor as a whole, and splintering this connection would make Athelor decay into a barren wasteland—but they value their own power over the good of the land. I became king to nurture Athelor, but that same love drives me to defend her.

But first, I have another duty to care for. My sister Miralie has been my ward for the last four years. You remember her as a two-year-old child, the miracle of my parents’ advancing years. She has matured into a bright and responsible girl of twelve, but I can’t expose her to the dangers of battle. If I leave her behind, she becomes a target for anyone who wants to use her against her as a hostage. The only way to ensure her safety is to send her somewhere far beyond the reach of our enemies.

When I found that you hadn’t severed the connection of our letterbox, I had to reach out. Miralie would be safe on Earth—not even my enemies would breach the barrier between worlds—and I trust you to care for her. Could I send her to you? I understand that I have no right to demand such service from you. This war could last for days or years, and only God knows if I will even survive it, but I have nowhere else to turn. I have vowed to keep Miralie safe, and I ask you to help me keep that vow.

I have idea what kind of life you live now, or if you wish any contact with Athelor or with me. If helping us is impossible, please tell me so and I will trouble you no more. But for the sake of the friendship we once shared, I beg you to respond.

Justan, King of Athelor

2. Excerpt from the diary of Amanda Zegler

After I finished reading the letter about seven zillion, four-hundred and eighty-thousand times, of course I brought it to Lauren. After all the adventures we shared there, my sister deserves to know about anything related to Athelor. I think I ran through at least ten red lights driving from my apartment to her house. She read the letter by her kitchen table.

“Are you sure it’s from him?” Lauren asked me at least ten times. As though a letter in Justan’s handwriting and marked with Justan’s seal that arrived via my magic interdimensional mailbox could be from anyone except Justan.

“It’s from him,” I said, due to all of the above.

“What are you going to tell him?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said.

Lauren just about fell out of her chair. “Are you serious? You’re going to take in a child from another dimension?”

“It’s Justan,” I said. “I can’t say no.”

“You’ve said no before.”

I let that one drop. “She’s a child who needs help.”

“And you’re going to help her?” Lauren said.

She tore into me for a solid five minutes. If I took in the child, she’d be my responsibility. We didn’t know how long we’d have to care for her, or if Justan would even survive the war. I couldn’t run off on trips when I got bored. Lauren had enough to take care of with her own kids, and with Kevin gone, I couldn’t expect her to pick up the slack for me, etc., etc.

I think I deserve sainthood for putting up with that. Listening to Lauren, you’d assume I was a deadbeat teenager who had never done a responsible thing in her life. I like adventure, but I’ve built a life that can accommodate that. I hold jobs. I’ve never missed a rent payment. I think living on more continents makes me more responsible. It isn’t like Lauren would have the first idea what to do if she were in South America living out of a backpack.

I’ll admit I’ve been wanting that adventure for a long time now. Living back here in Green Valley with Lauren, going to work every day, living out of my normal apartment in a normal city with the same normal routine every day has made me itchy. But when that letter came, I realized that maybe the adventure I really need is to let the adventure come to me. I’ve never had someone from Athelor on Earth before. Who else could say they hosted a kid from another dimension? No matter how long she stayed, that could never get boring.

I argued about our duty to Athelor, the need to protect innocent children, our debt to the king who’d been our friend through so many of our childhood trips to his nation. I told her that of course I’d take care of the kid, and she didn’t have to even see her. And Lauren took offense at that and said she wasn’t heartless and of course she’d help, she just wanted me to know what I was getting into.

The thing is, we don’t know what we’re getting into. And that’s what makes it an adventure. Lauren thinks I run off on adventures to get away from problems. She doesn’t understand that it’s not really an adventure until there’s problems. There’s nothing like being out somewhere and knowing you can rely on nothing but your own skill and wits. And having a kid from Athelor here is certainly going to require a lot of that.

I think I convinced her. At least, she didn’t argue when I took a piece of her printer paper and wrote a letter back to Justan.

Paige came home from school just as we were finishing the argument. When we told her we were discussing Athelor, she rolled her eyes and walked away.

“Were we like that at fourteen?” I asked Lauren.

“We were too busy wrangling gryphons and hunting for undersea treasure,” Lauren said.

You’d think that interdimensional travel stories like that would get me some cool points with the teenagers. I wonder if Paige believes we just made up all these stories about Athelor. She’s just dense enough to come up with a complicated rational explanation rather than accepting the obvious, irrational one.

I’ve wondered why Lauren never brought the kids to Athelor--we can still access the paths. I’d have offered to do it, but I try not to travel to lands where I’ve antagonized the king.

Then again--he did write that letter. Maybe he was never my enemy at all. He wouldn’t send his sister into the care of someone he hated.

What am I saying? Iread the letter. He said it himself--he only contacted me because his world is literally ending. He had no other choice. I was better than total annhililation. But it’s not like he’s forgiven me.

It doesn’t matter if he does. This is bigger than either of us.

I’ve sent off the letter. I hope I don’t regret it.

3. Letter from King Justan Ibrien of Athelor to Amanda Zegler

Amanda,

I don’t have the words to express my gratitude or the time to write them. Time grows short. I will send her to you with the next sunrise.

With thanks,

Justan

[inklings-challenge]

2022 Team Lewis Story Archive

Portal Fantasy

Dear Future Me by @phoebeamorryce

Finally Home by @frominsidetheblanketfort-blog

Fire-Heart by @incomingalbatross (unfinished)

The Firewall by @ashknife

The Guardian by @clarythericebot

Letters from Athelor by @fictionadventurer (unfinished)

Light of the World by @fictionadventurer (unfinished)

Lions, You & I by @ellakas

Megan All the Way Down by @cygnascrimbles (unfinished)

Mirror Image by @called-kept (unfinished)

The Tiffany Problem by @lady-merian

Tree of Life by @secret--psalms--saturn (unfinished)

Untitled by @rowenabean (unfinished)

Where Grace Begins by @maltheniel

A World Unfamiliar by @anipologist (unfinished)

Space Travel

and the darkness comprehended it not by @ravenpuffheadcanons (unfinished)

Connection by @lydiahosek

Gained in Translation by @psmithereens

New Creation by @frangipani-wanderlust

The Opening Door by @rowenabean

Tree of Life by @secret--psalms--saturn (unfinished)

Waving Through a Window by @magpie-trove

Yohan by @challenger2013