DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH

I feel Oreius doesn't get enough love around here, and one of my fans asked me to write a story about how the centaur rescues Edmund from the White Witch.

I decided that while I was at it, I could add in a little moral about learning to not judge other people, at least unfairly. Sure, why not?

Story © unicorn-skydancer08

All rights reserved.

"Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"

~ St. Matthew 7:1—3 (KJV)

"My lord?" Oreius spoke up quietly, as he tentatively approached Aslan.

The Great Lion, who had his back facing the tall black centaur at that time, promptly turned at the address. "Oreius," he acknowledged. "Peace be to you."

"And to you, my lord," Oreius replied, stopping a few paces short of the Lion, and bowing his head respectfully.

"What is it you would have of me?" inquired Aslan, his intense, amber-colored eyes gazing steadily into Oreius's cinnamon-brown ones.

For some reason, Oreius found he couldn't bring himself to look into those eyes, and the general dipped his head again and focused instead on the sun-dappled grass on which they stood.

"My lord," he said, in a voice that was soft and surprisingly meek, "I have come to ask for your forgiveness."

"My forgiveness?" Aslan repeated, somewhat incredulously. "Whatever for?"

"For what I have said before…concerning Edmund."

Oreius was thinking back to the time when they'd first met with Peter, Susan, and Lucy Pevensie, the destined king and queens of Narnia, their coming a fulfillment of the prophecy of old.

There were supposed to be four of them, but Edmund Pevensie, the youngest of the two boys, and the third eldest of the group, had been stuck with the White Witch at the time the young future monarchs arrived at Aslan's camp. When Aslan inquired of Edmund's whereabouts, and it was revealed that Edmund had willfully betrayed his siblings, Oreius had said angrily, loud enough for all ears to hear, "Then he has betrayed us all!" He'd nearly stirred up a riot on the spot, but Aslan quieted them all at once, and ordered Oreius to hold his peace.

Even as Oreius remained quiet, however, he continued to resent Edmund in his heart, thinking unpleasant thoughts about the Son of Adam.

Then, just the day before, Aslan had sent Oreius and a small band of their men out to retrieve Edmund from the White Witch.

Oreius obeyed, though he wondered why they should waste their time with this, why they ought to risk their own necks for a traitor.

They arrived at Jadis's camp in the dead of night, where they found Edmund tied to a barren tree with strong, coarse ropes, looking thoroughly beaten and bruised, cold and miserable, and utterly frightened. Ginarrbrik, a crude, vulgar dwarf who was Jadis's subordinate, was just about ready to slit Edmund's throat by the time Oreius and his men showed up. In a brief yet intense mêlée, Oreius's men fought and slew all who stood in their path, and they cut Edmund free from his bonds and tied Ginarrbrik up in his place, gagging the dwarf for good measure.

Oreius had the honor of hurling the dwarf's own knife at him, though he only skewered the dwarf's cap.

Then he turned to Edmund to find that the young human boy had already collapsed onto the ground, lying as one dead. One of the fauns who accompanied Oreius fled to his side immediately. He knelt and gathered Edmund gently into his vambraced arms, examining him carefully. For one terrible moment, they feared the worst, but the faun proclaimed in the end that the boy was not dead, only passed out. The bruises on Edmund's face and the deep cut on his lower lip testified of the horrific abuse he underwent with the Witch, and he appeared seriously pale and thin, as if he hadn't eaten properly for ages. As Oreius looked at the child, in his pathetic state, the centaur felt all of his feelings of resentment, bitterness, and dislike melt away in an instant. He couldn't find it within himself to hate the boy; he even felt guilty for ever harboring such sentiments in the first place. All he could feel for Edmund now was pure, simple compassion. Without hesitation, he knelt and very gently scooped Edmund's limp body into his own strong arms, and carried him all the way back to Aslan's camp himself.

It was not until dawn, when they finally returned, that Edmund began to come around. He was somewhat bewildered when he awoke to find himself lying in the arms of a centaur, but Oreius only shushed him when he began to speak and gently bade him to be still, before carrying the lad to a private tent, where a small group of nymphs took him in and cared for him.

The last Oreius had seen of Edmund, the Son of Adam had been engaged in a private discussion with Aslan himself. Oreius knew this was solely between the two of them, that this was a matter for Aslan alone to deal with, so he went on his way. Now that Edmund was somewhat recovered, and joined up with his siblings, Oreius decided that now was a good time to come to Aslan, and make a proper apology for his rash judgment beforehand. Regardless of what Edmund had done, Oreius knew he was hardly any better off himself.

Aslan understood perfectly what Oreius was talking about, and the Lion said, with a hint of a smile, "Yes…I had the feeling this matter would be brought up again, sooner or later."

"Forgive me, my lord," Oreius humbly entreated, with his head still bowed. "It was not my place to criticize the boy, to jump to a hasty conclusion about him. Forgive me."

Aslan's face grew genuinely serious as he replied, "You are forgiven, Oreius." He added, "But remember, from here on, that we must be fair in our judgment of all people, that we must not be so quick to condemn others for their sins…for within ourselves may lie an even greater sin. All of us err at one point or another in our lives, Oreius. But simply because someone does something amiss, that doesn't mean they cannot change, does it? You must be careful to not focus so much on someone's faults that you fail to see the good in them, too."

"I will, my lord," Oreius promised. "I shall do well to remember."

"I trust you will," Aslan said, now smiling again, and Oreius looked up and had to smile himself.

Later that same day, when Oreius was teaching Edmund and Peter how to properly duel, Oreius could clearly see he had been wrong about Edmund. When it came down to it, Edmund was not so terrible, after all. Rather, Oreius found him to be a bright, vivacious boy, eager to learn, and willing to do his part when he was taught how.

True, the lad had made some very serious mistakes that cost him dearly, but he was obviously learning from those mistakes.

And Oreius knew that he too could learn from the mistakes he, himself, had made. The centaur made a silent pledge there and then that, from henceforth, he would make sure to get to know someone properly before forming a legitimate opinion about them—for underneath the rough could very well be a precious diamond, just waiting to be discovered and unearthed.