The Deeper Magic

The Beavers

The Pevensies needed to go a little farther this time to meet Mr. Beaver.

You see, while Lucy's two meetings with Mr. Tumnus had set the whole thing off and alerted the inhabitants of Narnia the first time, so the trees knew that the prophecy had begun to be fulfilled and Mr. Tumnus had almost kidnapped her in the first place and the animals had started to buzz with the news, none of that was the case now. 

This time, there was only whispers. Narnia knew something was different, but it couldn't quite figure out what. Did these humans mean something? Or where they just unfortunately misplaced souls who had wandered within Jadis's realm, destined to never again wander out?

However, even in this version of the story, Mr. Beaver and Mr. Tumnus were still great friends. Shortly after the fawn's arrest, the beavers had come to know of it, along with the fact that another something had been the cause of it, which poor Mr. Tumnus's didn't even know of. (He had yet to fraternize with a human in this timeline, and so since he had spent his entire life trying to stay out of it, he could barely guess how he might've entered the Witch's wrath.) 

And so, even in this version of the story, Mr. Beaver had been on the lookout. 

 While Lucy had been busy keeping quiet and troubling about Mr. Tumnus and Edmund had been trying to keep his stomach down and spirit up, (he was still trying to come to the terms that he would shortly be in for a stay with the White Witch once again), and Susan was wrapped deep in her thoughts of concern and worry and annoyance, Peter had been focusing his eyes ahead.

They had been walking for a good few minutes now, edging east and farther and farther away from Mr. Tumnus's cave. Caspian had already disappeared into the south, and Peter found himself pleased with the new determination and the sure, wise demeanor their Telmarine friend had gained in such a short period. He was no longer the hasty and slightly naive prince they had fought with last time, which was an especially important difference since they had no time to spare saving him from his ill-turned side quests. (If you remember, Caspian had foolishly deviated from their plans on multiple occasions, and though his intentions had been pure, his actions  had ultimately led to many deaths which might have been preventable.) And, they needed all the assistance they could find, and Caspian was now certainly a very important asset. Peter wasn't exactly sure of the viability of their thin plan, but it was currently all they could do, and if they couldn't, every one of them knew there wasn't a single person in any of their two worlds who could. There was a certain lion, of course, but they had to get to him alive first.

So far they'd all been rather quiet, for two reasons. One, it was a very wise idea to not make much sound when you were in such a terribly big forest with no control over who you might find or who might find you. And number two, all of them were thinking about so many things, and whenever you had so much on your mind it was simply easier to say nothing at all.

This turned out to be a good thing, however, because as Peter was about to lead his siblings down a reasonable slope, he was able to hear the crackling of dry twigs and dead brush over to their right. 

"Everyone," he whispered, holding out his hand to stop them. "Be quiet."

Which, they were doing before he had said so, but it got the point across. 

The snow covered bushes rustled and swayed and loose powder fluttered off and dusted the ground with a new, flaky layer. 

Peter kept his chin high, but deep down inside where everyone kept their truest thoughts and opinions, he was praying to Aslan that it was who he was hoping it to be. 

Susan and Lucy stiffened behind him and Edmund took a few curious steps forward and Peter shot him a beastly glare, which told him that he better quit it real quick or prepare to deal with the consequences.