TERENCE AND TUMNUS 100 CHALLENGE

Since today is Christmas, I figured I'd start this off with a little Christmas tale. It's basically a story of how Terence encounters winter for the first time, with some pretty humorous results.

Throughout the entire series, Terence seesaws between man and unicorn. On occasion, Lucy and her siblings and others will make an appearance; but on the whole, all of these stories focus mainly on Terence and Tumnus. And these stories are not written in any particular order; I simply write them as they come to me. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

I hope you enjoy this, and merry Christmas!

Terence © unicorn-skydancer08

Tumnus and Narnia © C.S. Lewis and Disney/Walden Media

All rights reserved.

Any copying or reproduction of these stories in any way whatsoever without expressed permission is prohibited. Your honesty is sincerely appreciated.

STORY ONE:
WINTER WONDERLAND

"Mr. Tumnus! Mr. Tumnus, wake up!" Lucy squealed as she darted into Tumnus's chamber and all but pounced onto the bed, waking the sleeping faun up at once.

"Wha—?" Tumnus gasped aloud as he bolted upright and glanced rapidly about the room, his china-blue eyes bulging with alarm. When he saw it was only Lucy, he relaxed and allowed himself to breathe more freely. "Oh, Lucy…it's you. What is it? Are you all right? Is everything all right?"

"It's snowing, Mr. Tumnus!" said the young Daughter of Eve excitedly. "It's snowing!"

Looking toward his window, Tumnus saw that she was right. Giant flakes of fluffy white snow were cascading steadily from the gray-laden skies, pushed helter-skelter by the wind.

"So it is," the faun mused. "Then again, it is only about a week or so until Christmas."

"Come on, let's go play!" insisted Lucy, who was already dressed for the day.

With a groan, Tumnus flopped back against his pillows, covering his eyes with his arm. "Oh, Lucy…can't this wait until later?" He was still feeling quite drowsy, and he had just been in the middle of a perfect dream when Lucy jumped on him. Besides, he was reluctant to head outside into the cold, when he could stay in his nice, soft, warm bed.

"Oh, come on," Lucy persisted. "Please, Mr. Tumnus? Pretty please?"

Upon hearing this, Tumnus uncovered his face to look at her directly, and she stuck out her lower lip at him, as she often did when attempting to butter someone up.

That puppy-dog look won Tumnus over, and he said with a great sigh, "Oh…all right."

Lucy's entire face lit up, and she cried joyously, "Oh, good!"

"But first," said Tumnus, with a slight indicating nod of his head, "would you mind letting me up, please?"

Realizing she was still perched on Tumnus's lap, Lucy quickly hopped off him, saying somewhat apologetically, "Oh! Sorry, Mr. Tumnus."

Throwing his blankets aside and standing up on his hooves, Tumnus said, "Go bundle up, Lucy, while I take a minute to freshen up a bit; and then we'll be on our way—"

But Lucy had already bolted out of the room, even before the words had entirely left her friend's mouth. Tumnus was taken aback for a moment, and then he couldn't help smiling and laughing a little.

"All right, then," he said amusedly to the void around him.

He took a minute to stretch himself out, getting his whole body to wake up, and then he filled the basin of his washstand with warm water, where he washed his hands and rinsed his face thoroughly. He was just drying himself off on the towel by the time Lucy came back, all wrapped up from head to toe. "I'm ready, Mr. Tumnus!" she proclaimed proudly.

"So I see," he answered with a chuckle, as he finished drying his face and folded his towel neatly in half. "All right, Lucy, I'm coming."

He then added, using one of Edmund's choice phrases, "Keep your boots on."

Soon, Tumnus and Lucy were outside Castle Cair Paravel, with Tumnus's thick red scarf wrapped stylishly about his neck and shoulders. Now that the evil White Witch was gone, and now that winter came only at its appointed season, and now that Lucy and her siblings were the legitimate rulers and defenders of Narnia, winter seemed a much more enchanting and beautiful time—at least, in Tumnus's eyes, it was.

Together the two friends playfully pursued one another from here to there, darting from one spot to another. "You can't catch me!" Lucy called cheekily over her shoulder, when it came Tumnus's turn to come after her.

"Yes, I can!" the faun called back to the little queen, with genuine enthusiasm in his voice and countenance.

Lucy was so caught up in getting away from Tumnus, and in her own laughter, that she did not pay attention to where she was going; and she ended up inadvertently slamming into something big and white, something that was neither snow, nor a snow-covered tree or rock or bush…but rather a living creature. The unforeseen impact caused Lucy to lose her balance, and she ended up toppling backwards into the soft snow.

"Whoa—hey!" a startled voice cried out. "Watch it!"

Seconds later, Tumnus's anxious face appeared above Lucy.

"Lucy!" he gasped. "Are you all right?"

Blinking in astonishment, Lucy answered bemusedly, "I…I guess so."

Tumnus sighed in relief, then he bent down and very carefully picked the girl up from the ground, setting Lucy gently on her feet. He helped to brush the snow off her, before pulling her into his arms and hugging her close. With her face nestled against the faun's bare chest, Lucy smiled. Tumnus's hugs always felt warm and good, and always made her feel secure. In his arms, it was as if nothing in the world were frightening, or overly important.

When Tumnus let her go, they both looked to see just what it was Lucy had plowed into. At first glance, it appeared to be a white horse—but when the beast shook itself to get rid of the snow that had fallen onto its body, and when it turned its head to face them properly, Tumnus saw it was his friend Terence, the unicorn.

"Terence!" Lucy squealed happily, upon recognizing the stallion.

"Hey, there, mate," Tumnus greeted his old four-legged comrade.

"Would you kindly watch where you're going?" Terence asked them. "Or, at least give a little warning, will you?" He was not angry, but it was obvious that the young stallion was irritated.

"Sorry," Lucy apologized. "I didn't realize you were there."

And it was no wonder, Tumnus knew. With Terence's brilliantly white coat, and luminous mane, the unicorn blended in almost perfectly with the winter wonderland around him. Were it not for his bright blue eyes and dazzling gold horn, Tumnus and Lucy would have hardly been able to distinguish him from the snow at all.

Terence relented. "It's all right, Lucy," he said, lowering his head and touching Lucy's cheek with his soft muzzle, as a sign of love and reassurance. "You just startled me, is all. What are you two doing here, anyhow?"

"Just playing in the snow, is all," said Tumnus.

"Snow?" The unicorn repeated the word like it was foreign. "What's that?"

Tumnus stared at his friend in disbelief, as did Lucy. "Are you serious?" Tumnus asked, after a minute or so of stunned silence. Gesturing at the flurry all around them, the faun went on incredulously, "Haven't you ever seen snow before, Terence?"

Terence shook his head, swishing his long silver-white forelock back and forth. "Nope, never."

"Never?" Lucy echoed.

Again, the unicorn shook his head and repeated, "Never."

"I can't believe it!" Tumnus cried. "You mean to tell me you're a hundred years old—well over a hundred years old—and this is the very first winter you have ever experienced in your whole, entire life?"

"You got it, mate."

"I don't believe it," the faun said a second time. "What kind of world are you from, anyway?"

"Back at my old home, mate, all we ever had was spring. Nothing but green trees and green grass…and there were flowers all over the place, all the time. It was all I had ever known, my whole life, up until now."

"Then you don't know what you've been missing!" Lucy told the stallion, reaching up to catch a falling snowflake in her palm.

Terence glanced around bemusedly at the white flakes that danced about him in the wind.

"It's all right," Lucy reassured him, "the snow won't hurt you." And to prove it, she threw herself down into the snow and lay flat upon her back, moving her arms and legs around to form an angel-like shape. When she leaped to her feet a minute later, she proclaimed, "Look, a snow angel! What do you think?"

"That's wonderful, Lucy!" said Tumnus approvingly.

Terence looked at the imprint Lucy had left in the snow. He then lowered his head and sniffed tentatively at the white powder that surrounded his own hooves. He stuck out his tongue and licked up a small sample of snow, which instantly melted to water in his mouth. The flavor was as sweet and pure as any spring or stream the unicorn had previously drunk from.

When Terence looked up again, he questioned, "Where does all of this come from?"

"It's water, really," Lucy explained, "only it's been frozen." Her young face lit up as she went on, "Snow is great fun to play in! You can make snow angels and snowmen, and there's also snowball fights, snow forts, and all kinds of things!"

"Which reminds me," said Tumnus, with a shrewd glint in his eye. And, so saying, he touched Lucy on the shoulder and declared, "You're it, Lucy!"

With that, he gleefully whirled and dashed away.

"Hey!" Lucy protested. "No fair, Mr. Tumnus!"

He merely laughed, and kept going. Lucy pouted for a moment, but then she couldn't help herself and started laughing also, and she launched herself after the faun.

What they were doing looked like fun to Terence, and so the unicorn joined them.

Once Terence discovered winter, once the unicorn became accustomed to the snow, it all turned out to be perfectly glorious. The cold, brisk air and the flying snow as the stallion galloped along made his spirits soar and his heart sing.

Soon, he was whooping and cheering every bit as loudly and exuberantly as his friends, if not more so; and his enthusiasm only added fuel to Tumnus and Lucy's enthusiasm.

At one point, Terence charged across a tall ridge at high speed, leaving a plume of scattered snow in his wake. With nothing between him and the sky, the unicorn felt like he was actually flying, like he had wings rather than hooves. In sheer joy the young stallion gave a loud, penetrating whinny and flung his head skyward, tossing his long mane, drinking in hungrily the chill winter breeze that washed over his face like water.

He was so thrilled that he failed to watch where he was going, and the thick snow obscured the fact that he was rapidly heading for a steep edge.

Before he even realized what was happening, he completely lost his footing—and ended up taking a rather nasty drop downward. The very next thing Terence knew, he was skidding and sliding downhill, at a considerable speed. "Whoa!" he yelled out in a loud voice, half excited, half terrified as he went sledding along the sharp slope, unable to stop or control himself.

Way down below, Tumnus and Lucy had just barely arrived at the premises.

Tumnus was the first to notice his mate careening down the hillside, with snow spraying wildly in all directions all around him, and the sight stopped the faun dead in his tracks.

"Hey, what the—?!" he exclaimed.

Lucy stopped at once as well upon seeing Terence riding the snow in their direction. Her eyes widened at the sight, and her jaw dropped.

In an attempt to slow his momentum, Terence stuck out his forehooves in front of him and threw his weight backward.

But it was no good, and it was too late.

As the unicorn passed them by, Tumnus and Lucy simultaneously flung up their arms to shield their faces as an enormous sheet of snow rolled over them both. When Terence finally reached the very bottom of the hill and was at long last able to stand on his own four hooves, he glanced over at his friends to see them both coated from head to shoulder in a generous layer of white. There were even bits of snow on the ends of Tumnus's leaf-shaped ears, and clinging to his curly beard.

Tumnus and Lucy merely stayed where they were and looked at Terence, Tumnus's ears flattened slightly in irritation.

"Whoops," said Terence sheepishly. "Sorry about that, you two."

Lucy was the first to brush the snow away.

As Tumnus swiped the snow from his own honey-brown curls and unshorn face, he inquired of the stallion, "What did you do that for?"

"I dunno," Terence countered, feigning innocence. "Looked like fun, I suppose."

"Oh, yeah," said Lucy, somewhat amusedly. "Lots and lots of fun, I take it."

"Perhaps a little too much fun," Tumnus muttered, as he plucked a chunk of snow from his ear.

Later, as the threesome were loitering leisurely around a frozen pond, Tumnus suddenly got the idea to play a trick on Terence. "Say, Terence," the faun said ceremoniously, "I'll bet you I can do something that you can't do."

"Oh, really?" said the unicorn, pricking up his ears in interest. "And what is that, mate?"

Gesturing at the pond before them, Tumnus proclaimed, "I can walk on top of the water!"

Terence stared at the faun incredulously for a minute, then broke into a smirk. "Ex-cuse me?"

"Sure, I can," Tumnus insisted.

"Yeah, right," said Terence, shaking his head in disbelief. "You can't do it, Tumnus."

"Yes, I can," the faun repeated self-righteously.

"No, you can't."

"Can."

"Can't."

"Can."

"Can't."

"Can."

"Can't, can't, can't."

Placing his hands on his sides and cocking one eyebrow above the other, Tumnus declared, "Oh, yeah? I'll bet you I can make it clear to the other side of this pond without sinking!"

"Okay, then, wise-goat," Terence retorted. "Let's see you try it."

"Okay, then," Tumnus replied, in an uncannily accurate imitation of the unicorn's tone, "I will. Watch this!"

And he promptly leaped out onto the surface of the pond, landing perfectly on his feet—but no sooner had his cloven hooves touched the ice than they immediately slipped out from beneath him, and his goat-stag legs went flying wildly in all directions.

"Whoa!" Tumnus exclaimed in surprise and terror, as he felt himself slide uncontrollably about.

He veered sharply to the left, then to the right; then to the right, and then to the left.

He glided this way and that way, for a good several minutes or so, eventually making it successfully but not flawlessly to the other side of the pond—right into a giant bank of snow.

Both Terence and Lucy cringed when they saw the faun crash into the snow. Lucy's hands flew up to cover her eyes, while Terence merely shut his eyes and turned his head to the side.

"Ooooh," they muttered, at the same time.

The very next thing Tumnus knew, he lay spread-eagled upon his front, half-buried in the snow. The faun lay still for just a moment, before rising to an upright position, his face and hair once again covered in white. He spit some of the snow and ice out from his mouth, before turning to face Terence on the other side and calling, somewhat triumphantly, "You see, mate? Nothing to it!"

Lucy now clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle, while Terence just rolled his eyes.

That same afternoon, as Terence was passing beneath a tall tree, an ice-cold drop landed on top of his nose. With a start, the unicorn drew to a halt and looked up to see a big, beautiful, sparkling cluster of crystal-clear icicles suspended from a thick bough, just above his head. Water dripped downward from the pointed ends.

When Terence stuck out his tongue, a few drops landed on it, crisp and delicious.

Delighted, Terence stood perfectly still for a minute with his eyes closed, his head up and his mouth open, enjoying the sweet taste of the water as it dripped steadily onto his tongue.

Then, on an impulse, the unicorn decided to taste the ice itself.

And so he therefore gave the biggest icicle one great big lick—but then when he tried to pull away again, his tongue was stuck! Startled, Terence wriggled his head about, but it was too late. The icicle was firmly attached to his tongue, and he could not get away.

Whinnying in protest, the stallion tried desperately to loosen his tongue, rocking his head every which way, swaying his whole body from side to side.

For one terrible minute, he feared he would be stuck in this spot forever.

But then, with an almighty wrench of his head, there was a sharp crack, and Terence succeeded in breaking the icicle—completely free from the branch! Terence was free, but now he had an enormous chunk of ice wedged in his mouth. He could not talk at all, he could barely make a sound, and his sensitive tongue suffered dreadfully from the severe cold.

Knowing that Tumnus and Lucy would soon find him and see the stupid thing he had just done, Terence stood very tall and straight, holding his head aloft, and walked with dignity, as if he were actually proud of the piece of ice lodged painfully in his mouth.

When he passed by Tumnus and Lucy, who were walking quietly and peaceably along together, the faun and the human girl stopped abruptly upon seeing the unicorn, and stared. As his mouth was full, and as his tongue was temporarily unusable, Terence could not speak a word; but he jauntily pranced past his friends, arching his neck and tossing up his long tail pompously, acting just as though he had planned the whole thing the whole time.

"What in the world—?" he heard Lucy say.

Tumnus merely watched his best mate, who continued on his merry way without once looking back, and then the faun closed his eyes and audibly clapped a hand over his face, shaking his head from side to side in both exasperation and amusement.

Only when Terence was sure he was well out of his friends' sight did he stop and proceed to work the icicle free from his tongue. It took a good five minutes or so, but the unicorn was ultimately able to free himself completely, and he spat the thing aside and sighed immensely, his aching tongue lolling from his mouth like a limp sausage.

"What's going on, Terence?" Tumnus's voice spoke from behind just then.

With a start, the unicorn wheeled around to discover the faun standing right there, with Lucy stationed by his side as usual. Tumnus had his arms crossed in front of him, and he regarded Terence with a knowing look in his eye, one eyebrow cocked slightly higher than the other.

"It'th nothin', Tumnuth," Terence insisted, even though it hurt to talk, and his encounter with the icicle had clearly affected his speech.

"You sound funny, Mr. Terence," Lucy commented. "Are you all right?"

"It'th nothin', Luthy. I'm fine. Everythin' ith perfectly fine."

"You don't thound fine to me, Mithter Terenth," said Tumnus, in a rather droll imitation of his mate. "Ith thith the way unicornth talk nowadayth? And how about that big ithicle you—"

"Okay, okay! Tho I wath thtupid enough to lick a piethe of ithe, and my tongue got thtuck," Terence snapped at the faun. To both his companions, he demanded, "You thatithfied?"

"Depends on your definition of 'satisfaction', mate," said Tumnus smoothly, now in his regular speaking voice.

Lucy shook her head bemusedly at Terence. "You silly unicorn," was all she said.

"Don't worry, mate," said Tumnus. "This is not the first time you have done something stupid before in your life, and I am more than convinced that it shall not be the last."

Terence leveled off his ears and merely grumbled, "Very funny, Tumnuth."

Changing the subject, Lucy announced to her friends, "Come on, everyone; let's head back to Cair Paravel for some hot cocoa and cookies."

Tumnus nodded wholeheartedly. "Sounds like a plan to me, Lucy!"