So...new story. Hope everyone enjoys it. I've wanted to write one of these for a long time.
Please ignore the spelling mistakes in the speech, it's meant to be there to emulate the way they speak.
Chapter 1
She'd always found walking home in the dark frightening but tonight just felt worse. It was the middle of November and freezing cold; even her fluffy cardigan and thick coat couldn't make her warm up. Although dance class finished at 6, it was dark by the time she was halfway home during winter. Shivering, she pulled her coat tighter around herself, contemplating stopping and getting her scarf and hat out of her bag but soon deciding that it wasn't worth stopping her quick trot down the road. Breathing out as she stopped to look up and down the road, she quickly went to cross over.
She didn't even feel it happening.
When she woke up, she was in a forest. That confused her straight away - there wasn't a forest anywhere near her home. Pushing herself up off her front, she looked around as she slowly climbed to her feet. The weight of her bag - something she hadn't expected to feel - threw her off balance and she fell back to the ground. Groaning, she turned her head so she was no longer eating grass and instead of getting up again, she turned herself so she was sitting cross-legged before pulling her bag off her back so she could find her phone and hopefully discover where she was. Looking once again at her surroundings as she did so, she gulped as she thought about how she ended up wherever she was - had she been kidnapped? The last thing she remembered was walking home. But she still had her bag? Wouldn't any kidnappers take that? She didn't know. Her next thought was perhaps that she was dreaming - maybe her mind was just playing tricks. Surely that was more plausible.
Deciding that she should still check her bag, no matter what she was currently thinking, she situated it in front of her and quickly opened it, pulling out, first of all, her little bag of toiletries - she preferred to shower after dance class - which she chucked on the ground next to her and doing the same with her towel. Her dance clothes were pulled out next - a high waisted skater skirt and a baggy vest (they had been doing a rehearsal)- as well as her fluffy scarf and beanie hat, which had been rolled up in the smallest ball to fit in her bag and put them on top of her towel. She sifted through her water bottle, a small notebook, her shoes and a small assortment of snacks before reaching the bottom of her bag. Her phone wasn't there. Checking the front pocket, she only found some pens and a tangled ball of hairbands. Letting out an annoyed sigh, she went through her bag again. When she didn't have it after that, she decided to put more thought into the idea that she had been kidnapped - it would make sense if kidnappers took her phone, right? She pulled a face at the thought.
Quickly packing her bag together again, she sighed deeply, looking up at the lightning sky. It had been dark, the last she remembered. It seemed to be sunrise now. Deciding this was as good a time as any to explore, she scrambled to her feet, swinging her bag onto her shoulder as she quickly decided to go away from the sun - hopefully this way she'd get as much sunlight as possible, as she wasn't sure how comfortable she felt going through the woods in full daylight, let alone at night.
By the time the sun was high in the sky, she didn't know if she had chosen the right path or not. Not that it could really be called a path - it was a mud walk slightly cleared of branches she had found about an hour ago. She'd tripped twice already though, on the rocks littering the forest. But she wasn't sure if she would encounter worse things if she had gone a different direction - she hadn't seen any animal, besides a few birds, yet, something she was very grateful for.
It was another few hours later that she reached what seemed to be a small grove, with a large, funny shaped rock in the middle. There was smoke coming out of the top of the rock and, narrowing her eyes, she slowly approached. As she neared, a small, door-like feature in the rock became apparent, even though it was hidden behind well-placed shrubbery. Suddenly nervous about approaching, apprehension clouding her mind as the thought about what, exactly, would be living in such a dwelling. Her quick gulp sounded loud in the silence. So did the sudden banging of the exact door she was staring at.
She stared wide eyed at the little man standing in the doorway, bearing what appeared to be a bow and arrow at her. Too shocked to do anything but stare, she watched at the little man - dwarf, she supposed, as he appeared fully grown but was very, very short - slowly lowered the arrow, although his gaze never strayed from hers and the arrow stayed fully notched.
"Who 're you?" He asked gruffly.
"My name is Lydia."
He didn't react except for to blink.
"Can you tell me where I am? I seem to be a bit lost?"
"You don't look like a Telmarine."
Lydia blinked, arching an eyebrow in confused question.
"Telmarine...?"
"Where are you from?" He didn't seem keen to give up any information. Well, neither did she.
"Where am I?"
"You know where you are, Telmarine."
"I'm afraid I don't know what you are talking about." She said as primly as she could, straightening her back so she towered over him.
"Honestly, Trumpkin, what is going on out here?" A cultured voice spoke out, getting closer to the door. Lydia couldn't believe it when a badger walked up behind the red headed dwarf.
"Oh dear." The badger said when he saw her. She felt the same way. "Why are you here, girl?" He was kinder than Trumpkin, as he had called the dwarf.
"I'm a bit lost. I'd just like to know where I am" She tried to be less confrontational, but she was getting annoyed at the lack of answers now.
"Well, you're in proper Narnia now. Fairly far from Telmar, I'm afraid."
"Narnia? Telmar? Which country is this?"
"Narnia. Honestly." The dwarf interjected, huffing slightly.
"Narnia? I'm from England!" She could feel hysteria setting in, the days events catching up to her and seeing a talking badger and finding out she was in a place she'd never heard of was just the straw that broke the camel's back. Taking a wobbly step backwards, she caught her foot in a stray branch and fell back towards the ground. Tears had already started pooling in the corners of her eyes and try as she might, she couldn't hold them in. All she wanted right now was her mum.
Instead she got a kindly badger and a grumpy dwarf.
"Oh, come here dear." The badger bustled up to her, putting a short arm around her shoulders as she shook. "Trumpkin, come help me get her in the house."
With a bit of grumbling, the dwarf moved to help the badger and together they were able to get Lydia through the short door and into a cosy room, setting her on a rug in front of a roaring fire.
"I'll go get you some soup." The badger once again bustled off, this time around a small corner. She could hear the clanking of pans.
"You don' look Telmarine." The dwarf said again, studying all he could see of her from where she was curled up on the floor.
Not getting an answer, Trumpkin wandered off after the badger, although he made sure he could still see the strange girl.
"I do not think she is a Telmarine, Trumpkin. She is too fair."
Trumpkin nodded reluctantly. The girl, Lydia, was light blonde with pale skin and blue eyes. He had never seen a Telmarine like her.
"Trufflehunter, what are you gonna do wif her?"
"Well, she appears to be in shock and a bit of warmth should help with that. And then... well, I guess we'll see."
With that, he moved past the dwarf, bearing a full bowl of soup and a wooden spoon, which he quickly delivered to the girl. She took the bowl with shaking hands and after staring at the liquid for a little while, slowly started taking spoonfuls of it.
"Thank you." She said a little while later. "It was really nice."
Trufflehunter smiled at her, taking the bowl when she stopped eating.
"Come on dear, I'll show you a spare bedroom. You can stay with us as you find your footing."
Trumpkin let out an angry grunt that Trufflehunter ignored as he led Lydia off to a side room. Letting out a sigh, Trumpkin collapsed into the arm chair in the corner of the room, still unsure about the blonde girl.
Trumpkin and Trufflehunter saw neither hide nor tail of Lydia until fairly early the next morning. The two native Narnians had woken up not too long ago and were still waking themselves up when Lydia ducked into the main room.
"Oh. Hello." She said awkwardly, shuffling closer to the little kitchen.
"Morning dear. Would you like some tea?"
"Oh, if it's not too much trouble."
Trufflehunter was quick to pour her a cup of tea, putting it on the small table they had.
"The milk and sugar are on the table dear." He said "I've just started breakfast as well."
"Oh, you don't have to do that."
She carried on towards the table, reaching out for the cup of tea the badger had placed on the table and searching out the milk and sugar. Still a bit unsure, she was slow to make the tea to her liking. Taking a sip once it was done, she was surprised at the taste - it was very similar to the tea she was used to back home.
"Thank you" She said, surprised, when the badger placed a plate of food in front of her before doing the same to Trumpkin. Looking down at her plate, she noticed toast with butter and two eggs, as well as what looked a bit like fish. Her stomach grumbling, she remembered that she couldn't remember the last time she had eaten and hastily dug in, for the first time not feeling awkward.
Trumpkin did the same and Trufflehunter watched as the two enjoyed the meal, feeling quite proud of himself for it. They were all finished with their meal soon enough though and they all knew that it was time for a talk.
"I think I'm pretty far from home. I've never heard of a place called Narnia before. I grew up in Bristol, England."
"I've only heard of England once and even then it's only in stories. It's said that our kings and queens of old hailed from this 'England', from a place called 'Spare Oom'." The badger replied.
"I've never heard of a place called 'Spare Oom' either..." Lydia trailed off. "I think I need to find a way home. Do you know of anyway I can do that?"
"You look enough like a Telmarine, if a weird one, to be able to travel through Narnia with little disturbance. We cannot help you much though. You see, the Telmarines persecute us Old Narnian's and most believe us extinct. We have to keep hidden and cannot venture into Telmar. They avoid the woods, though, so we may be able to help you with that." The badger got up suddenly, disappearing for a few moments and returning with a scroll. He opened it on the table carefully and Lydia was soon gazing down at a map.
"This is Narnia."
Lydia was amazed. It was so large! There were so many different lands that comprised Narnia - Archenland, Calormen, the Lone Islands... How was she going to find her way home if there were so many places to search?
"We are here." Trufflehunter pointed at an area in a large wood, not too far from what seemed to be a river. "You can take this map with you if you want. It may help you on your journey."
"Thank you, Trufflehunter, Trumpkin." Lydia said gratefully. "I think I must be going soon."
"Of course. It is your journey to make. I'll gather you a few provisions." Trufflehunter left the table first to go searching through the cupboards and after a quick glance at Trumpkin, who was rolling the map back up, Lydia left the table to got to the room she'd slept in the night before. Her bag was in there, fully packed. Picking it up, she traversed back to the kitchen where Trufflehunter had procured a small selection of foods, including a jar of jam and a loaf of bread.
"Here." He handed it over. "And take this." He pressed a small cloth bag into her hand. "It's not much, but it will help you."
Lydia could tell what it was as she shook it slightly and almost gave it back, but the look the badger gave her stopped her from doing so.
"Thank you so much." She told the badger and Trumpkin once again.
It took her a few more minutes until she left the cozy home and she was almost reluctant to do so. She had never been one for adventuring and she had spent a lot of time in the middle of the night thinking of what she should do. In the end, she decided to go with instincts - to look for a way home, to explore. She knew that, somehow, she'd be alright.