Sorry for the delay! This was all I could do for now. I'll try and put up a longer chapter next time. =/
Thank you all for the well-wishes! I'm feeling much better, though my face is still messed up pretty bad. I'm hoping to be back at 100% this time next week.
Disclaimer: I own Alice. Everything else belongs to C.S. Lewis (originator of the series) and Mark Johnson (producer of the movies).
A soft gasp escapes her freezing lips, and she quickly reaches back inside to grab a fur coat. Her adventurous spirit that thrives on the unknown surges with this unexplainable mystery. The coat slips quickly over her shoulders, and she wanders out into a small clearing. In front of her is an old fashioned, black metal lamppost, glowing softly against the heavy reflecting snow.
Her hand reaches out gently to touch the ancient, yet somehow familiar thing, and she barely notices half-fresh fingerprints nearer to the base. A second later, she's leaning against it, as though exhausted from accomplishing some great feat. She glances around, trying to discern where she is. Her legs feel stiff and cold since she had decided to wear a knee-length plaid skirt that day, with a black short-sleeved blouse, which seems a foolish decision in retrospect.
"There must be some kind of portal in the back of the closet… that's the only explanation." She thinks distantly, trying to decide if she should move on from the lamppost or go back to her own world. She walks back towards the small path she had taken earlier, and still seeing the fur coats in the back of the closet, decides to press forward.
As she moves past the tall light, a small sound catches her attention. "Someone's here." Her instincts tell her as her head whips around to look into the brush. Her Elvish eyes attempt to pierce the darkness that shades whoever hides in it, and she discerns a masculine face.
"Come out now, and I promise I won't hurt you." She says, cautiously approaching the form, feeling the weight of her folded up butterfly knife hiding in the pocket of her skirt.
Out of the corner of her eye, she notices a dropped package. It hasn't sat there long, as there's hardly any snow on top of it. She picks it up, and suddenly the form emerges, trying to stop her but too frightened to really do anything. She reaches out to hand it to him.
"Is this yours?" She asks him as he slowly reaches to take it from her.
"Uh, well, uhm, well, yes, it is." He says, his voice quivering a bit. She takes in his appearance, noticing firstly that he's holding an umbrella and isn't wearing a shirt. "Isn't it a bit cold out for that?... IS THAT FUR?" She tries very hard not to gasp in shock as she notices that from the waist down, he seems to have the appearance of a… goat. Along with monstrous ears.
"Were you hiding from me?" She questions, trying to be polite and not stare at his strange appearance.
"Uh, uh, well, uhm, no, no, uh, I just, uhm, didn't want to scare you." She stifles the giggle that attempts to come out, pushing out the thought that, for a half-goat, he's rather cute. Especially with his British accent.
Suddenly, a memory comes rushing back. Just yesterday, Meg had been studying for an exam in her Greco-Roman Mythology class. When Alice had asked what the strange creatures in a picture she saw in Meg's book, the younger woman explained that they were a satyr, a faun, a nymph, the Hydra of Lerna, and Cerberus, with the river Styx in the background. A small gasp, barely audible, escapes her lips.
"What is it?" He asks, suddenly afraid, glancing around as though expecting an enemy to appear.
"You… you're a… you're a faun!" He snorts.
"Of course I am! What else would I be? And what are you? Some kind of short Elf from beyond the Far West?" She attempts to glare, and decides that maybe playing along for the time being would be wise.
"Half, actually, and yes." He tries to reign a chuckle.
"Oh? Half-Elf? Then what's your other half?"
"Human, of course. Where do you think I get the short side from? The Dwarves?" The smile dropping off his face warns her that she's said something wrong.
"Two humans in two days…" He mutters quietly to himself, though she hears it anyway. "What are you doing here?" He asks her with a strange tone.
"I… I'm lost, actually. I came from inside a wardrobe-"
"You mean from Spare Oom? Do you know Lucy Pevensie? She's also from that land. I just met her yesterday, though she left in that direction." He indicates the way she just came from. She glances that way, and then looks at him strangely.
"Yes…" She answers slowly, "Though I haven't seen her in a very long time, and as I said, I'm quite lost. Could you tell me where I am, Mr…?"
"Oh! Pardon me, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tumnes." He says with a small bow, and she feels compelled to curtsey like Arwen once taught her.
"Mae govannen, Mr. Tumnes. My name is Alice Greenleaf." She tells him, borrowing Legolas' last name. She wished she could take it as her own in matrimony anyway, so what could it hurt?
"And to answer your question, you're in Narnia." He uses his umbrella to gesture to the lamppost. "From that lamppost all the way to the castle at Cair Paravel, every stick and stone, every rock, every icicle… is Narnia." He says the last part a bit wistfully, and Alice can tell that he loves this country, wherever it is. She wonders if it's the same size as Rohan or Gondor. "Would…" He stops, and licks his lips as though unsure, "Would you care to join me for some tea?" She looks indecisive, and he quickly tries to come up with more reasons, "We'll have tea, and cake, and sardines," he notices her blanch, "What? Don't like sardines?" She immediately tries to come up with a reasonable excuse, and one quickly forms in her mind.
"Elves don't eat meat." It's an outright lie, but it'll suffice for now. Mr. Tumnes is immediately apologetic.
"Oh! I'm so sorry, if only I had paid more attention as a young faun I might have known such a thing. No sardines, then. We'll have toast instead." He smiles at her, and she still seems a bit unsure. "Come on, it's not every day I get to make a new friend, especially not twice in a row." His adorable smile makes her heart ache, and she finally agrees. She accepts the offered arm, and helps him carry his load as the two set down a path she hadn't noticed before.
One quick note, I shoulda put this up as 'book' not 'books' on the summary, as I'm only intending to do the first book. Oh wellz. ONTO THE REVIEWS!
Luna - Technically 7, but like I said, I'm just gonna do the first since it's the only one that deals with the war against the White Witch (weird, I wanted to type 'White Wizard', LOL!) and the entire Pevensie family. Thanks, I am feeling better now. =)
CherryBlossomTrinity - I'm just gonna start calling you CBT now, cuz that takes wayyyyy too long to type out. Thank you!
hoove-print-on-your-heart - Haha, I do, too! I was so happy when my voters chose Narnia to do next. =D
Don't forget, ya'll, there is a new poll up on my profile. You have to go read the summaries for the HP stories I'm considering to get what I'm talking about. Oh, and also don't forget to review. ;)
Next time, on Alice in Narnia:
Alice has entered the strange land known strictly as 'Narnia', encountering an even stranger creature. Will Mr. Tumnes be an ally or an enemy? Who is Lucy Pevensie, and how does she know Mr. Tumnes? What is 'Spare Oom'? Find out next time! (... or just go read the books... that works, too)