Happy and covered in sand, Nancy loped down the beach to where her friends were splashing each other in the surf. She nimbly avoided the water Edmund sent flying at her with an irate yowl and watched as he paused and stared at the cliffs behind her.

"Where do you think we are?" he asked.

"Where do you think?" Peter laughed. "Look at Nancy, she's a cat again!"

"Well, yes," his brother replied, "but I don't remember ruins in Narnia."

Peeking out from the cliffs behind them were a cluster of stone buildings and structures. After some investigation of the foot of the cliffs, they found a small staircase of roughly hewn steps. The climb was hard for the Pevensies but not so much for Nancy. It was almost like the past year had not happened and she scampered up the steps with ease. When the Pevensies reached the top, panting and sweating under the hot sun, they found her crouched on top of a broken column and purring loudly.

They laughed at her and hurried into the ruins; not quite understanding why she was purring. A Cat purred for comfort; either they were in comfort or they needed it. This time, Nancy needed comfort terribly. There was something very wrong with the ruins. They felt familiar in a way she could not quite put a paw on.

She jumped down and crept through the overgrown grass to where the Pevensies were gathered around Susan. There was the remains of a stone table in a slightly cleared part of the ruins and she jumped up onto it.

Lucy stopped and stared at her. "I don't believe it... it can't be..." she said. She pulled each of her siblings to the area in front of Nancy. "Imagine columns, and a glass roof, and where Nancy is sitting - a dais. She liked to sit there a lot..."

They looked around, realisation dawning.

"Cair Paravel," Peter said sadly.

"I thought I recognised it," Nancy said. "The air feels familiar."

They spent more time exploring the ruins. With a kind of nostalgic delight, they found an apple tree in what had been a courtyard and remembered planting it. Apples were picked and handed out and suddenly it was pointed out by Susan that they had nothing to give to Nancy. Their sandwiches had unfortunately been left on the train station platform and apples didn't exactly form a major part of the feline diet.

She assured them it wasn't a problem. These ruins were probably full of things she could hunt. Lucy and Susan looked unconvinced but the boys nodded and continued on their exploration of the ruins.

Nancy followed Edmund as he walked along what had once been a beautiful terrace. He stopped and placed his hands on a large boulder sitting on the remains of the slabs.

"What is it?" Nancy asked.

"It's from a catapult," he said with a frown. "I don't think Cair Paravel was left to Time alone. I think the citadel was attacked."

He looked at her. "How were our relations with the other nations when we left?"

"Nothing that would warrant an invasion," she said. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Honestly," she said , a tad crossly. "My spies assured me."

Peter was examining the wall by them. He placed his hands on a certain part and pushed. The entire wall slid back to reveal a wooden door. The Treasure Chamber, Nancy remembered. It had been her idea to have the sliding wall in front of the door. It would create a secret sanctuary in case the citadel was breached. She severely hoped they wouldn't find the remains of anyone who had fled there with that in mind.

With the crunch of rotten wood, Peter broke off the lock and the door swung open. Susan and Lucy joined them as Peter tore a strip from his school shirt and wrapped it around a stick.

"Don't suppose you have any matches?" he asked his brother as he secured the knot. Edmund smiled.

"No but I have this if it helps," he said and pulled an electric torch from his satchel. Peter grinned as his sisters and Nancy giggled.

"You might have mentioned that a bit sooner!" he laughed and threw the makeshift torch aside. Edmund descended into the darkness of the Treasure Chamber and the others followed.

When they reached the bottom of the steps, all four of the Pevensies rushed for their respective chests and eagerly opened them to see their belongings again. Nancy however stayed on the very last step. The air down here was thick and heavy and she could almost taste the emotions of the last people down here. Fear, fear permeated the room like a heavy perfume, and she could also sense desperation and a dying hope. She began to tremble. What happened to Cair Paravel?

"When Aslan bears His teeth, Winter meets its Death," Peter said, breaking her out of her reverie. He had drawn his sword, Rhindon, and was staring at the inscription running the length of the blade.

"And when He shakes His mane, we shall have Spring again," Lucy said, finishing the verse. She looked like she was about to cry. "All our friends... the Beavers... Mr Tumnus... they are all gone..."

A coldness went through Nancy's heart at her words. Oreius, her Guv; her mentor, the leopard Lady Perchuhi; a funny little wolf named Conall she had been grooming as her second-in-command; all her spies and informants. Everyone she had known here was now gone. She shivered as the fear in the room closed around her again.

"We have to find someone. We need to know what happened here," Peter said.

"We should probably change into some Narnian clothes," Susan pointed out. "We'll get nowhere in our school things."

"But what are we going to do with our uniforms? We can't just leave them here, my pinafore is new!" Lucy said.

Nancy remembered her sister's coat with a start and yowled in outrage. They all looked at her. "My sister's ruddy coat!" she explained. "She only leant it to me for my interview and I've gone and bleedin' lost it, ain't I? Dot's gonna kill me if I don't get it back!"

Lucy giggled.

"Well, it's not a coat, but this is in my chest," Peter said. He held out her gift from Father Christmas. Her collar with its tiny shield. She stared at it.

"Put it back," she said. "We don't know what we are going out into. I might need to play dumb at a moment's notice and it would be better if I had nothing on me to identify me as a Narnian."

She turned and began to climb up the stairs, missing the looks Pevensies exchanged.

The ruins above were quiet and still. She crept through the long grass and slowly remembered every lesson Lady Perchuhi taught her. There was a rustle to her right and she pounced.

"SKEEEEEEEEEEE!" the mouse in her claws screamed.

"Common tongue or you are a meal!" she snarled. There was an etiquette to hunting and it was considered dreadfully rude to attempt to eat another Talking Animal.

"SKEEEEEEEEEE!" the mouse repeated. With a regretful sigh, she quickly killed and ate it. It was necessary, she told herself. She needed to eat. When she was done, she sat back and gave herself a damn-good wash. A bath could never compare to the feeling of cleanliness one got from washing. Out of everything, it was the one thing she had missed the most in her last year.

Hunger momentarily sated, she knew what was next. She sat up straight and wrapped her tail over her feet. This was the most basic pose of Feline Meditation; a powerful method of retention known to Cats only. They had a reputation as a lazy species, a stereotype they were happy to perpetuate, but nothing could be further from the truth. Cats slept so much because Feline Meditation was enough to completely tire them out. A proficient meditator could remember the smallest detail; a passing scent on a breeze, a flash of colour in a window, a sound echoing in the distance.

Nancy had tried it a few times in London but it was almost as if her mind could not focus properly in a human body. Now, back in her feline body, the stance worked and her memories unfolded like words on a page. She fell into them gladly and began to investigate. She looked at the paths she walked, the faces she knew, everything until she was certain she knew everything she had known about Narnia once more.

She opened her eyes as she heard her Kings and Queens ascend from the Treasure Chamber in their Narnian clothes.

"Let's go," Peter said.

Nancy jumped and slung herself around Lucy's neck.

Time to find out just exactly what had happened to their beloved country.


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