𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝑨𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐑, peter pevensie

𝒙𝒙𝒙𝒗 . . . sad beautiful tragic

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘'𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐄𝐍 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐈𝐌𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐋𝐘 through what Charlotte thought at first to be the Shuddering Woods, but when the surroundings became a foreign sight, she wasn't so sure. Peter was having a lovely time pretending he knew where they were going as he led them further into the woods. Charlotte and Susan were trailing along behind the blindly wandering King, giving each other the occasional odd glance.

After another unfamiliar turn down the winding dirt path, Susan spoke her mind, "I don't remember this way at all." She'd stumbled forwards but regained her balance, as did Charlotte when she tripped over a collection of low tree roots crawling over the ground. Peter looked back to check they were okay, then said haughtily, "That's the problem with girls, you can't carry a map in your heads."

Charlotte would've made a snappy comment in reply to him, but she was too preoccupied with pulling the hem of her dress out of a bramble, thus the task fell onto the shoulders of Lucy, who snarked back, "That's because our heads have something in them."

Trumpkin and Edmund, who were walking along the back of the group, tried not to laugh, the red dwarf being far more successful in his attempts than the Just King. Charlotte did however, leading to Peter facing her and giving her an exasperated look.

Susan turned to Lucy and Charlotte, after rounding another boulder along the twisting path, saying, "I wish he'd just listened to the DLF in the first place." The girls nodded their heads in firm agreement. Edmund stood by a tree on the small raised hill coated in red dust, venturing to ask, "DLF?"

"Dear Little Friend." Enlightened Lucy, giggling. Edmund jumped off the small hill, smiling at the glaring Trumpkin, "Oh that's not patronising at all, is it?"

Peter had gone ahead of the others, only to come to a dead end composed of tall, grey slate boulders surrounding him. He was stood on the large flat rock in the middle looking around him when the five others stared up at him. Charlotte hopped up onto the rock next to him, and said, "Why can't you just admit that you're lost?"

"I'm not lost!" The ever-determined Peter tried to reason, but is sounded like he was trying to convince himself, rather than the others.

"Well," Charlotte stood with her arms folded, "Tell me where we are then." She was trying to be tactful in her approach, but, Trumpkin on the other hand, made it his mission to sound as scathing as possible, "No, you're just going the wrong way."

"You said you last saw Caspian in the Shuddering Woods, and the quickest way there is to cross at the River Rush."

"And unless I'm mistaken, there's no crossing in these parts."

"That explains it then. You're mistaken." Peter gave Trumpkin one last look of disdain, and pushed through a gap he caught sight of in the rocks. The others were hesitant, until Charlotte followed after, catching up with him first. "Why is it so difficult for you to just listen to him?"