#leaf incident

I legit closed my eyes and went: no Paddy STAHP

YASSSSS the best reaction and the one I was hoping for

this is at the end of a chapter btw

the draft that's currently available online which was a 14k Narnia fanfic, has the chapter ending with smth like this:

Do Not.

I literally wrote you a post as to why you SHOULDN'T

So! Buckle in, we're in for a RIDE.

In Charian (the land they live in), there is a certain groundcover (I picture it something like mallow in height, though the leaves are different and more abundant), which is favoured by the alyen.

It has mildly hallucinogenic properties, among other things. It can trick the one who consumes it to believe that they are more capable and able than they actually are. Taken to excess, it has long-term health issues, especially as relates to various senses. Its short-term effects are liable to happen at just about any consumption level, unpredictably.

For reasons known only to themselves, the alyen promote it as a healthy substance to feast off generously. Of course some of the tairen also eat it, but in general more sparingly. It is severely frowned upon, especially under Sheba's leadership, and is akin to calling the Darkness (the dragon who they are preventing from being resurrected/released) the Queen, as a taire.

Now we come to how this affects Paddy and leads to the actual leaf incident. He's very much the sort who will follow all the really important tairen dictates, and make a noise about doing so as well. So when he has a chance to impress a newcomer (who he is about to deliver safely to the tairen since she is such a danger to their cause), he talks up how he never does anything Sheba truly doesn't want him to do, et cetera, et cetera.

Then along comes a band of alyen. Paddy sees this as a good opportunity (spy/scout that he is) to get information from them, especially as regards Taira and whether they know Taira exists yet. So he tells Taira to hide, which she does. She hides where she can see him.

Unfortunately, they were just approaching the largest patch of the leaf (it doesn't have an actual name yet; does it need one? feel free to suggest names to me) in the area, with the express intention of harvesting plenty to keep dosing the alyen with. Of course, while harvesting, they may as well have a blowout feast of it.

They're understandably suspicious of Paddy himself. He's acting all breezy and correct and they're not entirely trusting him. So some of the others begin to harvest. Paddy, of course, is wildly outnumbered, and hence absolutely cannot let them suspect him, or he's dead. He manages to keep out of the harvesting with some excuse, and keeps talking to the others.

(Taira, still and silent, is watching from the undergrowth. Oh, and at this point she's covered in mud, so she's not particularly visible.)

But the time comes when they stop harvesting and start feasting. They notice that one (1) of their members isn't touching it, and that's Paddy. They push him to eat some.

Given how much most of them have literally just been eating, and the assortment of animals, and Paddy's position in the group at present, at this point he could cut his losses and make a break for it. There's a 99% chance that he'll escape, and Taira will be able to sneak out after him later.

However, Paddy, being his usual sometimes arrogant self, believes that the leaf won't affect him too much. He wants to show up to his new friends - because even though they are different sides of the war, he wants to feel accepted there too. He believes he can handle it, so when somebody asks him if he wants to try some (he claims health problems in childhood made him unable to digest it), he responds, Don't mind if I do, and instead of just taking one leaf, voluntarily consumes a large bunch.

Taira, watching, feels shocked and betrayed, especially because he promised her he wouldn't go too far with it. Eventually, the alyen fall asleep, as does Paddy. He, however, rises earlier than any of the others, and intends to find Taira and sneak away. He did not account in his plans for the fact that his smell and taste are entirely gone, and his other senses are significantly worse than they were (they recover in time, but not for at least several days). Since Taira has shifted position, he cannot find her. He goes to and fro begging her to forgive him and show herself and come back. (That particular section is inspired by the excellent and heartwrenching scene in the film The Silver Fleet, in which the main character pleads with his wife to let him in, if she loves him, and she resists him. Taira does a very similar thing.) He gets very close to her, but she manages to elude him.

I forget exactly what happens next (and with the addition of new characters since I noted all this down, it may change), but it ends with Paddy bound in captivity by the group of alyen, and Spry leading Taira back to safety with the tairen, who will come and rescue Paddy. Except Spry isn't actually a taire, and has secretly told the alyen about her existence (maybe that's why they suspect Paddy?) and takes her to them, so that she is captured too. Originally I had her trying to free Paddy and thereby being captured, but I like this better.

Spry then, leaving Taira and Paddy in the clutches of the alyen, goes and informs the tairen that Paddy has been captured. Paddy is unaware of Taira's capture, and it is at this point that the flying wombats come into play to save Paddy.

Some of this needs better plotting out, but that's the basics of what's going on with the leaf incident, anyway. And that is where the earlier excerpt regarding treason - I think the first I shared on here, and should be under the tag paddy, and possibly sheba as well - comes in, when Paddy faces Sheba, because he essentially lost Taira to them, by sharing food with the alyen.

I would love to know your thoughts, you and/or anyone else. Originally, this was written as a reference to Bree's arrogance, in The Horse And His Boy.

Excellent!