Once a Queen

White Witch

The Pevensies' laughter rang through the trees, carried by the slight breeze that made them pull their coats tighter around themselves as Lucy led them further into this strange land to meet Mr. Tumnus. As they came closer and closer to the beloved faun's home, Lucy began telling her siblings about what they might expect from this trek.

"...we'll have lots and lots of lovely food, and lots and lots of-", she broke off quickly, barely suppressing a gasp as she, Elise, Peter, Susan and Edmund stared in shock at the broken door hanging off its hinges.

Peter looked at his youngest sister bewildered. "Lu?" he said, reaching out to grab her shoulder just as she dashed forward towards Mr. Tumnus' house.

"Lucy!" Elise called out, following quickly after her sister.

Once they were all inside, they could see that the damage was major. There was broken crockery and glass littering the floor that Elise tried to delicately step around, snow had blown in through the broken door, and the room was extremely cold, no sign of a fire recently at all. If Elise had to guess, she would say that no one had lived in the house for several days, possibly a week.

"Who would do something like this?" Lucy's shaky whisper reached Elise, and the latter shook her head slowly, her mind reeling.

Elise was simply horrified by the threatening tone that hung in the air, and she wasn't expecting it. Lucy had described Narnia as a magical place with good people, or creatures, rather, and had never mentioned anyone with ill intent. With a glance over at her youngest sister, she couldn't help but think that maybe Lucy had withheld things she had learned about this place, picking it apart and sharing only the good stuff. However, that thought quickly vanished as Elise knew that Lucy was intelligent for her young age, and if there had been any chance of danger, she would not have brought the rest of them.

The sound of more glass breaking drew Elise's attention, and she watched as Edmund picked up a picture that seemed to be Mr. Tumnus and an older faun, presumably his father. The way Ed looked at it, Elise knew that he was thinking of their own father, back home and fighting in a war.

"The Faun Tumnus is hereby charged with HIgh Treason against her Royal Majesty, Jadis, Queen of Narnia, for comforting her enemies and fraternizing with humans.

Signed Maugrim, Captain of the Secret Police.

Long Live the Queen,"

Peter read from a parchment that he had ripped from the wall where it had been previously pinned.

"Alright, now we should really go back," Susan prompted, fear and worry evident in her voice.

Aghast, Lucy turned to Susan. "But what about Mr. Tumnus?" she protested gallantly.

"If he was arrested just for being with a human, I don't think there's much we can do," Susan argued.

That gave Lucy pause. She glanced down briefly, clenching her hands as she looked back up at her siblings, addressing all of them.

"You don't understand, do you? I'm the human! She must have found out he helped me!" she cried. Elise could feel the guilt wafting off of her in rather large waves.

"Maybe we could call the police?" Peter uselessly tried to propose.

Susan, having enough of the silliness, wrenched the parchment out of his hands and waved it around. "These are the police," she said.

Elise put her hand on Lucy's shoulder, squeezing it briefly, hoping to comfort and placate the younger girl. She knelt down in front of her and grabbed Lucy's hands in hers, saying, "Don't worry, Lu. We'll think of something."