Arlise Pevensie

"*To the shimmering Glasswater Bay, I give you Queen Arlise - The Gracious.*"
—**Aslan**

**Arlise Pevensie** was one of the Queen Consorts of Narnia, as the wife of King Edmund Pevensie. Arlise was known for her love and and graciousness she freely gave to all Narnians, but especially to children, having adopted three. Arlise's mother died when she was only thirteen, leaving her and her sisters to live with a violent and unsupportive father. Together, the three learned many useful skills of survival, including hunting, trapping, gardening, and foraging. When Arlise was fifteen years old, her and her sisters devised a plan to escape their abusive father, but Arlise was caught during the escape and violently beaten. After two months, her father let up on the beatings long enough to let her bruises on her face heal, so he could sell her to a band of rogue Telmarines for ten lions. On the auction block in Telmar, Arlise was purchased by Princess Seroreah Naerion, to use for a plot for the Naerion family to secure an alliance with the Pevensie family. This is how she came to meet Edmund.

During The Golden Age reign, Arlise became known for her love and compassion of children, having adopted three of her own with Edmund, and helping her brother-in-law Peter and sister-in-law Rayne adopt one of their own together. She renovated Walsingham Children's Center, after it had been left to fall in ruins during The Age of Winter and fought for better treatment of orphans throughout the Known World. Her work soon extended into the care and treatment of mothers, and she fought for all mothers to have the right to a tended birth, and fair treatment after birth. She also donated considerable sums of money to these causes, and set up the Boleyn House for New and Expecting Mothers. Her love for children and mothers, and efforts to give them all a better life left Arlise sainted as the Saint of Mothers and Children.

During the First Cair Paravel Massacre, Arlise quickly plotted various ways to get her family out of Narnia and into the safety of Telmar, Archenland, and Terebinthia. She broke the family up into sections and sent some on horseback, some on ship, and some via barge with the hopes that some might make it to safety - and fully knowing that the chances of her entire family making it out alive were slim. She made sure her sister-in-law Rayne left quickly, as Rayne was quite far along in a pregnancy and would soon find it hard to travel. Arlise stayed behind until she knew everyone had left the castle, and then fled into Archenland herself, meeting up with her brother-in-law Rhett, her daughters Essence and Lavina, and her niece Penelope, with a rough an dangerous journey that led to Rhett's death. Arlise was pregnant herself during the journey, and Essence became gravely ill during the journey and was left in the caring hands of King Lune Stoneshire and Queen Elayne Stoneshire with Penelope for company.

Arlise formally styled herself as **Queen of Narnia, The Gracious Queen, Duchess of Lantern Waste, Countess of the Western March, and Knightess of the Noble Order of the Round Table**.

## Personality

Gracious and passionate, Queen Arlise possessed the strength and fire of true nobility. She was a true leader, from her ability to work under pressure to her skill of rallying her subjects.

Upon arriving at court, Arlise was amiable yet fearless. She faced every obstacle with strength and courage. During the First Cair Paravel Massacre, Arlise plotted to get the family out to safety through various methods, and was able to work calmly and quickly under pressure.

As time went by, Arlise never let the heartbreak of the events following the Cair Paravel Massacre and overthrowing of Narnia to harden her heart or soul. These events shaped the rest of her life, and when she was kidnapped by a small band of Tashbaan outlaws that were behind the ousting of Narnia, Arlise was able to bravely fight for her and Rayne's lives and showed remarkable grace during her murder.

## Biography

### Early Life

Arlise Riordan was born in *Dancing Lawn*, and grew up there until she was fifteen. Arlise had a very happy childhood growing up with her fraternal twin sister Jacquetta, and later her younger sister Meadow. Her mother, Natalia, was very skilled at hiding their father Cason's violent outbursts and abusive tendencies from the children. Natalia always tried to hide the darkest aspects of the world from her children, knowing they were far too young to face those dark realities just yet. But the children were aware of their father's ever growing drinking problem. Natalia spent a lot of time with her children, and because of this Arlise is filled with happy memories of swimming in the Archen River, dancing amongst the trees, and reading while tucked snugly into bed.

When Arlise was just thirteen years old, Natalia was found dead in the forest surrounding Dancing Lawn. Her death appeared to be mysterious to the children at first, and the three theorized that rogue bandits might have killed her. Natalia's death did not appear to have an affect on Cason, and when Arlise and her siblings tried to talk of their mother with their father, he would often appear bored and unwilling to discuss her - let alone grieve her. For the first four months, things went on well enough - though the kids had to start to learn how to fend for themselves when it came to food, because Cason would often spend all of his money on his drinking and rarely bring food home for his children.

Then Cason lost his job as a river boatsman. Without a job to go to daily, and without money, Cason quickly went into withdrawals and he started to physically abuse his children. Soon, after Cason found a new way to secure alcohol, his drinking increased tenfold, as did his abuse. Finally, the children had realized the truth of what happened to their mother, and why their father had seemed so indifferent to her passing. Things became desperate in the Riordan household, and Arlise and Jacquetta would often cause distractions at the market so their younger sister Meadow could steal small amounts of food so they could survive. It was then that the twins realized they had to learn how to take care of themselves, and they learned the precious skills of fishing, gardening, and foraging for food. For the next two and a half years, the siblings planned their escape, building up their skills and waiting until they had enough food stocked up for their long journey. Their main concern was getting Meadow away from their father, who was too young to bear his brutal beatings.

In the late spring of 1005, Arlise, Jacquetta, and Meadow started their escape from their father. Arlise and Jacquetta had made the tough decision beforehand that they would both carry a basket of supplies, and that they would take turns carrying Meadow. If their luck turned, whoever was carrying Meadow would stick to their escape plans and flee, while the other would lead their father (or whoever else might be trying to stop them) away and hope to meet up at a later point. They were headed for Archenland.

Cason, in a drunken rage, started after the girls in the forest, guessing what the trio were up to. Jacquetta was carrying Meadow, and Arlise threw herself in the opposite direction, turning to make sure she held her fathers attention so her siblings could escape to safety. Arlise stumbled through the woods for nearly a mile with her father in pursuit, before they came upon the raging section of Archen River. Unable to cross or find another path in time, Cason caught Arlise and dragged her by her hair the entire way home, roughly letting her hit into trees, rocks, and bushes. After the pair arrived home, Cason delivered his most brutal beating on Arlise yet, and violently anally raped her.

For the next two months, Cason gave daily beatings to Arlise, sometimes multiple times a day, and rarely fed her. He kept her locked inside the house so she would not be able to escape again - though she was too weak to attempt one. One day, Cason stopped the beatings on Arlise, and went through great efforts to divert his violence elsewhere. Arlise knew something was going on, but couldn't figure out what - the most she could assume was he was going to attempt to marry her off.

A band of rogue Telmarines had slipped into Narnian soil, looking for treasures to take back and sell in Telmar. As far as these Telmarine were concerned, people counted as treasure - easy to sell, especially if they had a pretty face. Sell to slavery. Once Arlise's face was healed, Cason sold her for ten lions.

### Telmar

**1005-1007**

Arlise's journey to Telmar was rough, as she was tied up and placed in the back of a wagon with the others the Telmarines had managed to get a hold of. Upon reaching Telmar, Arlise found that the auction block was large and incredibly filthy, and was surrounded by sweaty men who were missing many teeth.

Arlise watched as both items and people were sold. Arlise watched as a dark haired girl who was younger than her be placed on the block, turned this way and that, and showed off in the most disgusting of manners. The men made this girl smile. Arlise watched as a middle aged male eagerly bought this girl, and noted the dark, hungry look in his eyes and shuddered. She knew she would never forget the face of that girl.

When Arlise's turn came, she was roughly placed on the block, standing precariously on a wooden crate, with a knife blade digging into her back. She, too, was forced to smile. A bidding war commenced, with many men with darkness in their eyes dragging the price up. Arlise was sold for 200 lions and 50 trees. As Arlise was escorted towards her buyer, she noticed that it was someone tucked into a very large cloak, obscuring their view and hiding their identity. Arlise's buyer silently lead her towards a waiting carriage, and only once they had safely left the view of the auction block did they let their cloak down.

Princess Seroreah Naerion of Telmar sat opposite Arlise, having been her anonymous buyer. The Naerion family had purchased Arlise to try and secure an alliance with the Kingdom of Narnia. The Naerion family wanted to marry Seroreah, their only daughter, to King Edmund of Narnia and secure an alliance through marriage. Seroreah, however, had a lover and the Narnian ambassador objected to sending her, an unpure princess, to marry his King.

Most of Telmar was involved in the great plot devised by the Naerion family. The plot was to purchase an untouched girl from the slave auction and pass her off as their youngest daughter, who was shy and kept away from the Narnian ambassador when he was at court. With nearly the entirety of Telmar supporting the plot, it looked like the chances of it convincing the ambassador were high.

Without wasting any time, the Naerion family took Arlise from poverty to royalty. In a surprising turn of events, Arlise found that she got along very well with the entire family, and they all soon saw themselves as family.

For nearly two years, Arlise lived at the Telmarine court, being raised as if she was a born Naerion. She was taught everything a princess should know, and for the first time in her life Arlise had access to any book she could want, and was rigorously taught the history of Telmar, Narnia, and Archenland. During her two years in the Telmarine court, Arenella and Jorero, and even Seroreah and Henri came to love Arlise, and see her as a daughter or sister figure, and Arlise came to see them as parental and sibling figures herself. Though she would never stop longing for her sisters to be by her side.

### Narnia

**1007-1025**

When Arlise was seventeen, the Naerions took Arlise to the Narnian court. Arlise voiced her nerves, stating that she had never been a good liar. Seroreah tried to ease her, exclaiming that Arlise's natural grace would have no trouble winning over the younger Pevensie King. The Naerion's made sure Arlise was dressed in crimson red, to reflect the crimson red found in the flag of House of Pevensie, with golden accents - a mark of good gesture from House of Naerion.

Upon arrival, the plot appeared to have worked. Arlise met with King Edmund, and it was love at first sight for the pair. But when Arlise attended a private meeting with Queen Susan, who had suspected something was amiss, the plot was unfolded. Arlise quickly admitted everything to Susan, and never once tried to privately lead her astray. Because of this, the Narnian Court displayed forgiveness to the Naerion family. When Arlise asked Susan to consider an alliance with Telmar, sharing what the family was like privately, Susan agreed that Narnian would enter into an alliance with Telmar, so long as the Naerion family would behave themselves going forward.

Despite the Telmarine plot having been discovered, the sparks still flew between Arlise and Edmund, and it was agreed that the pair would enter into marriage with one another. Arlise had one request before her marriage would take place - that her sisters be found and brought to the Narnian court. It was no easy task, but King Peter and Edmund sent a small army to Archenland, and they scoured the land until they located Jacquetta and Meadow, in a small hut they had managed to secure for themselves, alongside a young woman named Brianna May, who introduced herself as Jacquetta's partner.

After their arrival at the Narnian court, it was agreed that Jacquetta would serve as a handmaiden to Queen Rayne, until Queen Lucy married herself, and then she would serve as a lady-in-waiting to Lucy's queen. Jacquetta and Meadow were to be given the titles of Ladies after Arlise's marriage took place. Meadow was to be tutored until she came of age. Brianna was to become a handmaiden for Susan, and if she married Jacquetta in the future, would be promoted to lady-in-waiting.

In late 1007, the marriage of Arlise and Edmund took place in Cair Paravel Cathedral, and was presided over by Aslan himself. The wedding was attended by all of the Narnian court, lords, ladies, honored guests from ally countries, and the Naerion family. Following the ceremony was a great wedding feast at Castle Cair Paravel, and the night ended with the bedding ceremony.

To celebrate their marriage, Edmund took Arlise to Archenland for two months as a honeymoon. Upon their return to the Narnian Court, a coronation ceremony was held for Arlise with Aslan in attendance. Here, she was crowned by Aslan as The Gracious Queen.

## Quotes

### Quotes about Arlise

**Caius Winslet:** *"What happened to your mother was a tragedy. But this is a tragic world. You cannot live your life in fear... Or you will forsake the best parts of it."*

**Essence Pevensie:** *"I have no desire to live in fear. Only solitude."*

**Caius Winslet:** *"Such a lonely prospect."*