In time, the girl and the faun came to a large clearing in the forest where the side of a cliff loomed before them. For a moment, Lucy thought they were going to walk straight into the wall of black stone, but as she got closer she saw a little door that blended in well with the cliff side and was hardly noticeable. She thought it looked rather cute.

"Well, here we are," Mr. Tumnus announced as he fumbled with some keys and opened the door, allowing Lucy to step in first.

For a cave, it was surprisingly cozy and well connected with irregularly shaped rooms, antique furniture and even a small fireplace.

As Lucy looked around the house, she passed by a dresser where a small painting of a much older faun than Mr. Tumnus sat on a little stand. She curiously picked it up to get a better look, as her host shook off his umbrella and locked the door behind them.

Upon noticing what Lucy was looking at, Tumnus smiled fondly. "Ah, now that… that was my father," he subtly indicated the painting with a nod.

"He has a nice face," Lucy observed and then added with a grin, "He looks a lot like you."

Tumnus grew stiff at her comment, and hesitated before muttering quietly, "No, I'm not very much like him at all really."

Lucy didn't seem to notice her host's sudden coldness and carefully set the painting back down to its original position, her voice coming out a bit sad, "My father's fighting in a war…"

Warmth returned to the faun's eyes as quickly as it had left, and he gazed at Lucy understandingly, "My father went to war too." But as soon as he said it, he quickly waved the thought off dismissively. "But that was long—that was a long time ago, before this dreadful winter."

"Winter's not all bad," Lucy said, running her fingers along the spines of several books on one of the Mr. Tumnus' shelves and smiling at some of the odd titles: Is Man a Myth?; The Life and Letters of Selinus… "There's ice skating and snowball fights… Oh! And Christmas!"

"Not here," Mr. Tumnus replied sadly as he brought a plate of tea and deserts from a nearby kitchen and set the treats on the coffee table next to the fireplace. "No, we haven't had Christmas in a hundred years."

"What?" Lucy's jaw dropped open in horror. "No presents for a hundred years?"

"Always winter, never Christmas," the faun repeated, shaking his head in dismay. "It's been a long winter." He sat down in one of the two chairs by the coffee table and motioned for Lucy to sit on the other, handing her a cup of tea when she did. "You would have loved Narnia in summer. We faun danced with the dryads all night, and you know, we never got tired. And music! Such music…" he exclaimed, a dreamy glaze in his eyes.

Lucy smiled and took a sip of tea before looking into the hearth where a warm fire crackled and snapped.

Mr. Tumnus followed her gaze and then asked cautiously, "Speaking of which, would… would you like to hear some now?"

"Oh, yes, please!" the girl said, bringing her cup to her lips again.

Another look of hesitation flashed across the faun's face before he reached onto the shelf above the fireplace and took a little wooden box from the top. Inside was a shiny wooden flute that fit Mr. Tumnus' hands perfectly. "Now, are you familiar with any Narnian lullabies?"

"Sorry, no," Lucy answered truthfully.

"That's good," he reassured, "because this probably won't sound anything like one." Before Lucy could question his odd choices of word, Tumnus brought the flute to his lips and began to play a soft and slightly eerie tune.

Lucy appreciated the music, and let out a relaxed sigh as she stared at the flames in the fireplace again.

A burning log snapped, sending a cloud of sparks flying upwards, and the flames seemed to change form as the girl gazed at them: a centaur rearing up on his back legs, a stag running from hunters, a human shape battling a giant serpent, fauns and dryads dancing around and singing.

Before she knew it, Lucy's eyelids drooped sleepily and the teacup she was holding in her lap fell and shattered as it fell to the ground. She fell into deep sleep.

Mr. Tumnus' cave house was oddly dark when Lucy finally woke up, blinking the sleep out of her eyes. The fireplace was burned dry, no candles were lit, and through one of the windows near the door, Lucy saw that the woods were dark. The room was horridly cold and her host was nowhere to be seen. Judging by the darkness outside, she might've been sleeping for hours. Getting up from her chair in a hurry, she whispered to herself, "I should go."

"It's too late for that now," said a feeble voice in the dark corner that led to the kitchen. Mr. Tumnus was on the floor curled up and sobbing quietly. "I'm such a terrible faun."

Tilting her head in confusion, Lucy walked over to her friend, "Oh no… you're the nicest faun I've ever met." Considering she had never met another faun, that wasn't really saying much, but the girl just wanted to comfort him. Taking a handkerchief from her pocket, she bent down to his level and handed it to him kindly. "You wouldn't have done anything that bad."

Tumnus gratefully took the handkerchief and wiped his eyes, "But there is something I've done, Lucy Pevensie. It's something I'm doing."

"What are you doing?"

He made a slightly choking noise before admitting softly, "I'm kidnapping you."

A gasp left Lucy's lips and she instinctively backed away a little, her eyes wide.

"It's the White Witch," the faun explained, "she's the one who makes it winter, always cold. She gave orders. If any of us finds a human wandering the woods, we're—we're supposed to turn them over to her…"

The girl tried to stay calm, but the betrayal and hurt she felt was clear on her face. "But, Mr. Tumnus, you wouldn't."

There was a long pause, and Mr. Tumnus refused to meet Lucy's eyes as he sniffled and wiped his nose.

Horror washed over Lucy. "I thought you were my friend."

Tumnus brought himself to look at Lucy with eyes full of sorrow but also hard with resolve. He knew what he had to do.

In the darkness of night, Mr. Tumnus and Lucy stumbled through the deep snow together, the faun gripping her wrist tightly. "Now, she may already know you're here," Tumnus spoke fearfully, as he helped Lucy over a fallen tree branch. "The woods are full of her spies. Even some of the trees are on her side!"

Paranoia made Lucy immediately glance around at the trees they passed; she had thought they added to the wonder of the wardrobe when she first saw them, but now they appeared ominous, their claw-like limbs jerking in the cold winter wind.

By the time the lamppost came into view again, lighting up a small patch of the dark woods, both Mr. Tumnus and Lucy were panting from running. The faun turned to Lucy and asked urgently, "Can you find your way back from here?"

"I—I think so," she nodded nervously, but she instantly felt bad leaving him all alone perhaps at the mercy of the White Witch. "Will you be all right?"

Tumnus gave a sad but genuine smile and ended up having to use the girl's handkerchief again. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he whispered and then stuffed the soft piece of fabric in Lucy's hand. "Here."

"Keep it," Lucy said almost immediately. When Mr. Tumnus looked at her questioningly, she beamed, "You need it more than I do." It was meant to be sort of a joke to lighten the tense mood, but the best both of them could do was chuckle anxiously.

Grasping Lucy's hands in his, the faun spoke slowly and earnestly, "No matter what happens, Lucy Pevensie, I am glad I have met you. You've made me feel warmer than I've felt in a hundred years. Now, go!" He released her and made shooing motions after her as she ran back in the direction where she had first come.

Not looking back, Lucy crashed through the trees near the wardrobe and was relieved to see the old coats among the branches. Around her, the prickly pine needles soon turned into soft furry fabric. Before she knew it, her feet no longer made crunching noises as they hit the ground but the hard clack of the soles beating on the wooded floor of the wardrobe. Stumbling out of the door at last, she didn't pay attention to the daylight that streamed in through the windows in the spare room, and only thought of reassuring her siblings that she was all right.

"One hundred! Ready or not, here I come!" Peter's voice echoed as Lucy ran through the halls near the spare room.

"It's all right!" she shouted, running past the draperies she and Edmund had fought over before. "I'm back! I'm all right!"

Edmund stuck his head out from a gap in the draperies, wearing an annoyed expression as his eyes landed on Lucy, "Shut up! He's coming!"

Before the dark haired boy could retreat back into his hiding place, Peter turned a corner down the hall and saw them, making Edmund sigh irritably that Lucy had caused him to lose. The eldest Pevensie regarded Lucy with slight confusion, "Lu, I don't think you have quite got the idea of this game."

Upon hearing this, Lucy's expression matched Peter's. "Weren't you wondering where I was?"

"That's the point!" Edmund drawled sarcastically, looking at Lucy as if she was a lunatic. "That's why he was seeking you."

At that moment, Susan heard the commotion and arrived in the corridor where Peter, Edmund and Lucy were. "Does this mean I win?" she asked, not picking up on the atmosphere.

"I don't think Lucy wants to play anymore," Peter informed.

At this point, Lucy noticed how bright it still was outside, as if no time had passed at all since she started the game of hide and seek. "But, I've been gone for hours." The remaining three siblings exchanged suspicious glances, and Lucy could tell that they weren't buying it, but she insisted—there was no way what happened with Mr. Tumnus was just imagination. "I was hiding in a wardrobe," she explained desperately, "and there was a whole forest in it! I met a faun called Tumnus, and we had tea and—"

"You're sure it wasn't just your imagination, Lu?" Susan asked, though it was clear from her tone of voice that she was just humoring Lucy a little, not really taking her seriously.

"It wasn't!" Lucy argued, her voice going a bit shrill. "Come on! Come on! You have to see!" Deciding that it's better to show them than to try and convince them, since she herself might not have believed it either if someone else told her, Lucy instantly turned and ran back to the spare room with her siblings trailing behind her slowly.

Once they were all in the spare room, Lucy ran up to the wardrobe and tugged the door open with a big smile on her face, "Go on. Go in! It's through here."

None of the other Pevensies moved at first but at last Susan rolled her eyes and gave in. She entered the closet and pushed aside the coats to get to the back of the wardrobe. Quickly, she found herself facing the plain wooden back panel of the large storage space and even knocked on the wood a few times, finding nothing extraordinary.

Edmund didn't go in but went to where the wardrobe met the wall of the room, rapped the wood a few times in response to Susan's tapping. The wardrobe seemed normal.

While Lucy stood near the door and smiled excitedly, anticipating her siblings' reaction, Peter, Susan, and Edmund inspected the wardrobe further until finally, Susan came out of the closet. "The only wood in here is the back of the wardrobe," she announced monotonously, causing Lucy's grin to fade quickly.

"One game at a time, Lu," Peter said, his tone coming out colder than he intended. "We don't all have your imagination."

"But I wasn't imagining!" Lucy shouted at them, halting them in their tracks as they were moving to leave the room. "I wouldn't lie about this," she was nearly shrieking as tears welled up in her eyes at how little faith her siblings had in her.

"That's enough, Lucy," Susan said sternly which only made Lucy's small body shake with rage even more.

"Well, I believe you," Edmund stepped forth, shocking everyone else in the room.

Lucy stopped crying for a second. This was unexpected. "You do?"

"Yeah, of course," he looked at Susan and Peter, unable to keep a smirk from twitching onto his lips. "Didn't I tell you about the football field in the bathroom cupboards?"

Edmund's poorly timed joke was all it took to turn Peter and Lucy's surprise into anger again. Peter took a threatening step toward his younger brother, his calm voice quickly growing in volume. "Will you just stop? You just have to make everything worse, don't you?"

"It's just a joke!" Now Edmund was agitated too at how intolerant Peter was.

Narrowing his eyes at Edmund, Peter shook his head, "When are you going to learn to grow up?"

Something inside Edmund snapped as soon as those words left his brother's mouth. "Shut up! You think you're Dad, but you're not!" he shouted in Peter's face before turning violently and storming away out into the hallway.

When he was gone, Susan sighed irritably at Peter. "Well, that was handled nicely," she said sarcastically. Giving the boy another smoldering glare, the girl left the room also, leaving Peter alone with the sniffling Lucy.

A moment of silence passed before Lucy tried one last time in a small voice, "But, it really was there…"

Peter looked at Lucy for a long time with a flat expression. "Susan's right, Lucy. That's enough." Then, he too exited the spare room.

Lowering her head, Lucy slowly walked back over the wardrobe and closed its door gently, feeling sudden hollow and cold.

Lucy stared at the flame of a candle next to her bed that lit the dark sleeping chambers, fingers fidgeting with the ring she had found in the snowy woods. What with her siblings not being able to go through the wardrobe, Lucy's own faith that her time with Mr. Tumnus was real started to wane, and she felt a bit uncertain herself.

Was I really just imagining? Her eyebrows knitted together, and without hesitation she lifted her blankets and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. After feeling around the cold wood floor, Lucy's feet found their slippers, and the girl threw on a pink robe, dropping the silver ring into one of the pockets, before picking up the candle to light her way. Silently, she left the room and began making her way back to the spare room, but she was so occupied with not being detected by her sleeping siblings that she failed to notice that Edmund was missing from his bed.

Remembering the way to the spare room clearly, it didn't take long for Lucy to find the wardrobe again. At first, she hesitated in front of the door but finally gathered her resolve and reached for the knob.

A breeze of cold winter air blew from inside the wardrobe, putting out the flame on Lucy's candle, plunging the girl into what would have been darkness if not for the blue light also streaming from beyond the rows of coats.

Lucy smiled, relieved that Narnia was really there and that she wasn't crazy. Not bothering to look to see if she was being followed, she eagerly stepped inside the closet and did not notice Edmund coming into the spare room just as she allowed the wardrobe door to click shut behind her.

She remembered the way to Mr. Tumnus' house well despite having only been there once, and going to make sure nothing has happened to the faun was Lucy's first priority. Hugging her robe close to her, she hiked through the snow with a sense of apprehension at whether or not she will find Mr. Tumnus at his cave home.

Before long, Lucy arrived at the doorstep of the faun and tentatively knocked on it. No one answered for a long time, but at last the door cracked open an inch, and Mr. Tumnus' appeared, looking out from the crack.

When he saw that it was Lucy, the faun's shoulders relaxed and he let out the breath that he was holding. But almost instantly, he realized that the girl being here wasn't good. "What—what are you doing here?" Mr. Tumnus asked, his brow furrowed with worry.

"You're all right!" Lucy's face broke into a smile, and she surged forward and hugged him around the waist, nearly knocking the faun over.

Mr. Tumnus made a squeaking noise of surprise and hesitated in hugging Lucy back, his arms frozen in the air as he contemplated what to do. At last, his eyes darted toward the woods around his house quickly before he cautiously returning the girl's embrace.

"What's the matter? Aren't you happy to see me?" Lucy questioned hopefully when she pulled away and saw Mr. Tumnus' somewhat uncomfortable facial expression.

"Why of—of course," the faun reassured, biting his lip with uneasiness. "B-but—but, quickly! We shouldn't talk out in the open." He ushered Lucy into his house and closed the door with a sigh of relief before looking at her with serious eyes. "You really shouldn't be here, Lucy Pevensie. You'll be in danger if the Witch—"

"But how could I leave you here on your own after what you did for me?" the girl interrupted defiantly, holding the faun's gaze. "I just wanted to make sure you were still safe," she added in a softer voice.

Mr. Tumnus gave a defeated smile at Lucy's kindness, but there was still something sorrowful about it. "Well then, how about some tea?" he offered sincerely, waving at his cozy sitting room next to the crackling fireplace.

Nodding eagerly, Lucy bounced to the place where she sat during her previous visit and sank into the comfortable chair. While Mr. Tumnus was busy in the kitchen with the tea and snacks, the girl warmed her hands at the fire and glanced through the windows at the world of white outside. "Say, Mr. Tumnus, do people come to the woods often?"

The faun looked up from measuring tea leaves, intrigued that Lucy would ask such a thing. "No, not very much," he admitted, "asides from the occasional woodland creatures."

Lucy toyed with the ring in her robe pocket a little before pulling it out and examining it next to the light of the fire. "Do you know if there might be anyone who could have lost this ring?"

Finished with pouring hot water onto the tea leaves, Mr. Tumnus set the teapot down and lifted the entire tray with him as he made his way to where Lucy was sitting. He put the tray down with care and sat across from the girl with the little table between them.

Lucy handed the faun the simple silver ring before helping herself to one of the cups of tea prepared for her.

As Mr. Tumnus studied he small piece of jewelry, the crease between his eyebrows deepened, and he suddenly seemed fascinated with the ring. "This isn't a Narnian ring," he concluded, "at least it's not like anything I've ever seen before. Narnian jewelry has a more elaborate style—this ring is far too simple. I wouldn't know who could have lost it." With a shake of his head, he dropped it back into Lucy's outstretched hand. "Where did you find it?"

The girl shrugged, "It was on the ground when I left the wardrobe, and I picked it up. I supposed there's no way of finding the owner, is there?" Slipping the ring back into her pocket, Lucy picked up a little cookie from the tea tray.

Mr. Tumnus dropped a few sugar cubes into his own tea and sat back in his chair. "Now then, was your trip back to Spare Oom all right the other day?"

"The other day?" Lucy frowned, "That was less than a day ago, Mr. Tumnus!"

"No—no, I'm quite sure it was a couple of days ago," the faun insisted, a look of confusion crossing his face. "Are you feeling well, Lucy Pevensie?"

Staring at her tea with concentration, Lucy remembered how it seemed like no time passed in her world when she was with Mr. Tumnus the first time, and how at the moment Narnia was experiencing daytime while on the other side of the wardrobe, it was the middle of the night. It was far too difficult to figure out exactly how or why, but at least Lucy could determine that there is not a common timeline between the two sides of the wardrobe, so she should really just drop the topic with Mr. Tumnus.

"Oh well, whatever the case, yes, I got back all right, Mr. Tumnus. Thank you for your concern," she replied with a smile which then quickly turned a little sad, "But my brothers and sister didn't believe me when I told them that I've been here. They think it was just my imagination, but I knew it wasn't."

Mr. Tumnus blinked with puzzlement, "Now, they're your siblings. Why wouldn't they believe you?"

"Well, Peter doesn't really have much of an imagination, and Susan looks at everything logically, and Edmund—Edmund just doesn't take me seriously in general—"

"Wait a moment," the faun's eyes were wide and even a bit alarmed as he froze while drinking a sip of tea. "You—you have two brothers and one sister?"

"Yes," Lucy nodded, resting her head on her hand with her elbow propped up on the armrest and pouted slightly and failing to notice Mr. Tumnus' change in expression. "I'm the youngest, and Peter is usually nice to me, but sometimes he just…" she trailed off, and Mr. Tumnus waited politely for her to continue. "But still, there's no way I could ever hate any of them, even though sometimes they could be a bit mean."

"I never had any siblings," the faun said, giving a weak smile. "My father went to war when I was just a little one, and taking care of just me alone was already tiring enough for my mother."

"Oh…" Lucy couldn't imagine being an only child since she had been surrounded by siblings her whole life, and she suddenly felt bad for the faun, thinking he must have been lonely growing up. "If my brothers and sister ever come here, I want you to meet them, Mr. Tumnus!"

Mr. Tumnus chuckled lightly at Lucy's excitement, and they continued eating their snacks and drinking warm tea until the girl again thought of a question she had wanted to ask.

"Mr. Tumnus?"

"Hmm?"

"Who did you say it was that makes it to where it's always winter, but never Christmas here?" Lucy asked carefully, for she recalled how much the thought of the woman upset Mr. Tumnus.

At first, Mr. Tumnus paused, his face becoming hard, but in the end he set his finished tea down and responded evenly, "I think you mean the White Witch?"

Lucy nodded, "Yes, who is she?"

"Well, she—she," he lowered his voice and leaned closer so Lucy could hear, "she calls herself the Queen of Narnia, the ruler of this land, but she's not the rightful queen. She overthrew the true royal family of Narnia a long time ago, and placed this curse of winter as punishment for all Narnians who had opposed her when she first took power."

"Is she truly that awful?" the girl asked with disbelief. "And there's no one who has the power to stand up to her?'

Mr. Tumnus shook his head at her last question, "We—we did have a few with the power to oppose her—for example, the rightful ruler of Narnia and maybe the Lionhearted hunter—but one has been gone from Narnia for a long time and the other's sacred weapon has been stolen by the Witch. The best we can hope for right now is to not give the Witch reason to harm us."

Narnia had been a magical and perfect world to Lucy when she first arrived, but now the girl knew that even this amazing and extraordinary place had problems of its own, and that thought made her lower her eyes sadly. Now she was sorry she had even brought up the topic since it had made the mood of their teatime so much darker. In an attempt to bring back the jovial atmosphere, Lucy smiled sunnily and changed the subject, "Enough of that, then. What have you been up to since I last left, Mr. Tumnus?"

The faun smiled at her effort to cheer him up and replied animatedly.

Several minutes later, the tray was cleared of all of the tea snacks and the tea pot was halfway empty.

"Would it be all right if I visited you again sometime, Mr. Tumnus?" Lucy was saying as she dusted off her nightgown and got up from her chair, following the faun to the door of the cave home.

Hesitating for a split-second, Mr. Tumnus' face was a perfect mask of inner confliction, but he really couldn't bear to say no to the little girl when she was gazing at him with such large round eyes. The faun himself truly enjoyed their time together, and perhaps it wouldn't hurt if she came again as long as they were careful about it. "Of course, Lucy Pevensie," he agreed with a sigh and gave her small hands a warm squeeze. "Good-bye now."

"Good-bye, Mr. Tumnus," Lucy returned before starting her trek back to the lamppost, occasionally looking back and waving at the faun until his home was out of sight. She felt especially light and happy as she partly skipped back in the direction where she came, and just as she was about to pass the lamppost and go back to the wardrobe, her eyes caught something further a short distance away in the woods.

It was another person, and a rather familiar one from what Lucy could see from the back. Her leg instinctively brought her closer, and she called with a mixture of delight and uncertainty, "Edmund?"

The boy spun around with alarm, but instantly relaxed when he saw it was just Lucy.

"Oh, Edmund!" Joy lit up her face, and the girl ran to him and hugged him around the waist, burying her face in his chest. "You got in too! Isn't it wonderful?"

Hastily peeling her off of him, Edmund subtly wiped the corners of his mouth with his sleeve and demanded irritably, "Where have you been?"

At this point, Lucy was so happy that she didn't even allow herself to be affected by Edmund's sour mood. "With Mr. Tumnus!" she exclaimed. "He's all right. The White Witch hasn't found out anything about him meeting me."

Suddenly, Edmund looked uneasy, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "The White Witch?" he asked hesitantly.

Lucy glanced around them to make sure no one was spying, and then she lowered her voice and leaned closer, "She calls herself the Queen of Narnia, but she really isn't."

If it was possible, Edmund began acting even stranger, fidgeting nervously and refusing to meet his sister's eyes but this time, Lucy noticed.

"Are you all right?" she asked, studying his face with a frown furrowing her brow. "You look awful."

"Well, what did you expect? I mean… It's freezing!" If being defensive wasn't so common for Edmund, Lucy would have been suspicious of his hasty response. The boy rubbed his arms to emphasize how cold he was, "How do we get out of here?"

"Come on," Lucy grabbed Edmund's hand, pulling him along. "This way."

Susan and Peter were snapped out of their sleep when the large door of the bedroom chamber the Pevensies all shared slammed open and the blindingly bright overhead lights flicked on accompanied with Edmund and Lucy running in loudly.

"Peter! Peter, wake up!" the youngest girl shrieked as she jumped on said boy's bed and bounced on it to wake him up as if he could possibly sleep through her shouting. "Peter! Wake up! It's really there!"

The eldest Pevensie flipped over on his bed and spoke groggily with a small frown on his face, "Lucy, what are you talking about?"

Despite the fact that her brother was already awake, Lucy kept on shouting, unable to contain her excitement, "Narnia—it's all in the wardrobe like I told you!"

"You've been dreaming, Lucy," Susan grumbled dismissively, sitting up in her bed.

"But I haven't!" the younger girl continued to shriek. "I saw Mr. Tumnus again and this time, Edmund went too!"

Edmund froze in the process of taking off his robe as all eyes in the room turned to him. He had been keeping quiet and hoping no one would notice him, but now he cursed his little sister for dragging him into the picture too.

"You saw the faun?" Peter asked half-jokingly.

Edmund shook his head, and it was the truth. For a moment, he thought that maybe he was off the hook as long as Peter didn't ask any more questions.

"Well," Lucy drawled with a sheepish smile as she climbed off the bed, "he wasn't actually there with me. He…" she frowned with genuine uncertainty and turned to face the dark haired boy. "What were you doing, Edmund?"

Oh great. Edmund stood in silence under his siblings' gazes for a long time, conflicted over how to handle this situation while keeping his pride intact and not letting slip that he met a lady who may potentially be the White Witch. At last, he made his decision which he thought was the least troublesome of his options. "I was just playing along," he said as if it was the most obvious assumption in the world. "I'm sorry, Peter. I shouldn't have encouraged her."

Quickly realizing that Edmund was betraying her, just like before, Lucy's eyes began to water and tears started streaming down her face uncontrollably.

"But you know what little children are like these days," Edmund continued, giving Lucy a smug look. "They just don't know when to stop pretending."

Lucy sniffled loudly and fled from the room.

Peter and Susan exchanged aggravated glances before both of them ran after Lucy. On the way out of the room, Peter shoved Edmund away so violently that the smaller boy fell onto a nearby bed.

"Ow!" Edmund complained, but Peter didn't stay long enough to hear him. Anger flared up inside the younger boy so quickly that it would have scared him if he had not been so preoccupied with how much resentment he felt toward Peter at that moment for being a hypocrite about making Lucy upset, for always favoring Susan and Lucy and constantly berating Edmund, for a lot of things. Suddenly the idea of having all of his siblings as servants when he is Prince of Narnia became even more appealing than before.

Meanwhile, Lucy sobbed as she ran through the halls of Professor Kirke's large house. Because she had her head ducked, she failed to watch where she was going and ended up running straight into something warm. A squeak of surprise left her mouth as she stopped in her tracks and looked up to see that she had bumped into a tall man with white hair, a big beard, and glasses who was looking down at her with concern.

Lucy wasn't sure who he was, but she was really in need of comfort at the moment, so she hugged him tightly and wept into his coat.

Seconds later, Peter and Susan arrived and froze when they saw who they had ended up disturbing.

Then, before any of the four people could say anything, angry footsteps came from somewhere behind the old man, and Mrs. Macready appeared with a look of pure outrage in her eyes. "You children are one shenanigan shy of sleeping in the stables—" she abruptly cut off her shouting when she saw the man and lowered her voice in apology, "Oh, Professor… I am sorry. I told them, you are not to be disturbed."

"It's all right, Mrs. Macready. I'm sure there's an explanation," Professor Kirke said calmly, making no move to force Lucy off of him.

The little girl blinked up at the old man with wet, hopeful eyes and hiccupped.

"But first of all," the Professor gently handed Lucy over to the housekeeper, "I think this one is in need of a little hot chocolate."

Eager to follow her employer's instructions, Mrs. Macready's foul mood changed into concern and motherly care as she put an arm around Lucy's shoulders and led her away, "Come on, dear…"

When they were out of sight, Peter and Susan began to head back to their rooms but stopped when the Professor cleared his throat at them.

Lucy sat in a large chair facing a window while Mrs. Macready worked in the next room over to make her some hot chocolate. She had managed to stop crying and only sniffled once in a while, rubbing the silver ring between her fingers as she looked out at the estate through the glass.

"Here you are, dear," the housekeeper whispered gently, walking into the room with a mug of hot drink and offering it to Lucy.

The girl put the ring down on the low table next to her chair before accepting the hot chocolate with a meek "thank you." She blew into the cup to cool the steaming liquid before bringing the mug to her lips.

Suddenly, Mrs. Macready gasped loudly, startling Lucy so much that the little girl nearly choked on her beverage. The housekeeper was looking at the ring with wide eyes like she had seen a massive cockroach or something. "Where did you find that?" she demanded breathlessly, pointing at the ring.

A little scared of the woman, Lucy timidly replied, "In one of the wardrobes upstairs…?"

Mrs. Macready looked at her as if she didn't believe her at first, but then her eyes softened as she picked up the ring and turned it in her fingers. "I—I haven't seen this ring in nearly twenty years…"

"Is it yours?" Lucy asked hopefully.

"Oh, no," Mrs. Macready shook her head as if it was a silly question to ask. "This was the Professor's. When I first started working for Professor Kirke, someone broke into the mansion, stole this ring, and got away; or at least that was what I thought." The woman let out an exasperated laugh, "To think it was in one of the wardrobes all these years."

"Would—would you like it back?"

To Lucy's surprise, Mrs. Macready shook her head and the smile faded from her face. "No, dear. You keep it," she pressed the ring into Lucy's small hand. "When it first went missing, I didn't know what to tell the Professor since it was a family heirloom, so I couldn't bring myself to say anything. Who knows when was the last time he checked that ring box—he may not even be aware that it's been gone all these years, and returning this to him would only bring to his attention that it's been missing for well over sixteen years. No, dear, you keep it, please."

Lucy nodded slowly and put the ring back into her robe pocket, feeling jittery at having not told the whole truth about where she found the ring, but she decided that it was too late to bring up that she found it buried in the snow in the forest inside the wardrobe instead of just in the wardrobe. The housekeeper's story, however, made Lucy think that whoever the thief was must have gone into Narnia through the wardrobe too then, and this thought made her feel instantly better that there were others besides only herself and Edmund who have been in Narnia.

Before long, Mrs. Macready snapped back to her usual stern and harsh behavior after having actually revealed some human emotions, telling Lucy to finish the drink quickly and get back to bed without causing any more problems for Professor Kirke.