𝙸𝚁𝚁𝙸𝚃𝙰𝙱𝙻𝙴. ➪ 𝙴. 𝙿𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚎

𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚛

Phillis felt like they'd been walking for hours. Her feet were sore, her bruised eye stung with every blink and she was cold. "I don't remember this way," Susan sighed.
"That's the problem with girls. Can't keep a map in their heads," Peter replied.
"That's because our heads have something in them," Lucy replied, making Phillis laugh.
Peter lead the way, claiming he knew where he was going. The three girls walked close together in the middle. And Elmer, Edmund and Trumpkin lingered behind. "I wish he'd just listen to the DLF in the first place," Susan said.
"DLF?" Edmund asked.
"Dear little friend," Phillis replied, sighing slightly.
"That's not at all patronising, is it?" Trumpkin murmured.
As Phillis rounded a corner, she heard Peter mutter, "I'm not lost."
"No. You're just going the wrong way," Trumpkin replied.
"You last saw Caspian at the Shuddering Woods and the quickest way there is to cross at the river rush," Peter said.
"But unless I'm mistaken, there's no crossing in these parts," Trumpkin said.
"That explains it then - you're mistaken," Peter snarled.
Phillis rolled her eyes at the boy's arrogance and selfishness, biting her tongue as to not say anything to get into an argument with him. She wasn't in the mood.
After walking for years and years and years and years, they arrived at a steep ravine, with a rushing river below. Brilliant. Fantastic.
"You see, over time, water eroded the earth's soil, carving deeper into the-" Susan began.
"Oh, shut up," Peter snapped.
"Is there a way down?" Elmer asked.
"Yeah, falling," Trumpkin said, causing Phillis to giggle, but a glare from Peter soon shut her up.
"Well, we weren't lost," Peter began.
"Oh, just be quiet, will you? Things change over time, especially geography. Just because you don't know your way around a place, hundreds of years after you last visited, doesn't make you a worse King," Phillis snapped, sighing.
Peter looked away, cheeks growing red.
"There's a ford near Beruna. How do you feel about swimming?" Trumpkin asked.
"I'd rather that than walking," Susan replied.
"Aslan? It's Aslan! Over there! Don't you see? He's right..." Lucy trailed off after realising he wasn't in fact where she previously thought she'd seen him, "there."
"Do you see him now?" Trumpkin asked.
"I'm not crazy," Lucy snapped. "He was there. He wanted us to follow him."
"I'm sure there are any number of lions in this wood. Just like that bear," Peter said.
"I think I know Aslan when I see him," Lucy sighed.
"Look," Trumpkin began, "I'm not about to jump off a cliff after someone that doesn't exist."
"The last time I didn't believe Lucy, I ended up looking pretty stupid," Edmund spoke up, glancing at Phillis.
Phillis smiled at him sweetly, shocked at how mature he was being.
"Why wouldn't I have seen him?" Peter asked.
"Maybe you weren't looking," Phillis rolled her eyes at the boy.
Peter turned back to his younger sister. "I'm sorry, Lu."
He, Elmer and Susan walked away. Lucy glanced back at the other side of the ravine a final time. When she turned back, Phillis and Edmund were waiting for her. As they followed the older ones, Lucy lent into Phillis' embrace, treasuring the Opal girl with everything she had, for Phillis seemed to be the only person that ever believed her.