*DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN CHRONICLES OF NARNIA! I do, however, own my original characters. I would just like to point out right away that in this chapter there is a little bit about boats and I just wanna say that I know nothing about boats or how to secure them or what not, so just bear with me on that part. So anyways, enjoy :)


Lily was always the type to have very clear dreams, dreams that one would be able to recollect in perfect detail, down to specific faces and names. However, this dream was different. It was vague and blurry. The images were swirling so fast that she could barely distinguish one from another. The sounds she heard were meshed and inaudible, coming from all different directions and putting her head in a whirl.

To say that this particular dream was of great importance would be a lie, but to say that it didn't mean anything would be one as well.

The dream continued until it was interrupted by a thud. Lily's eyes flew open (an automatic movement that she much regretted) and were shut tightly once again due to the blinding light. She re-opened them, slower this time, as the blurry images she saw became clearer.

Once her eyes had adjusted enough she realized 3 things. One; that they were indeed on land, two; that everybody was exiting the boat, and three; that she was stupidly still lying on the floor of it. She looked up to see her sister giving her a playful annoyed look as she offered her hand, "come on, get up."

Lily took her sister's offer as she pulled herself to her feet, still squinting from the light. "What's going on?" She asked, covering her mouth as she yawned. Serena gave her a look that said, "Are you serious?"

She fixed Lily's hair (a few curls had escaped from their rightful places) as she said, "Wake up Lily, sleeping's for nighttime." With that she left her sister and went over to help Trumpkin pull the boat onto the sand.

Lily sighed, figuring that Serena was right. She began to exit the boat when, on top of being sluggish, she managed to miscalculate the depth of the water, causing herself to fall forwards. She covered her face, preparing herself for the impact, but it didn't come. She did hit something though, but it wasn't wet and cold, it was soft and warm.

"Whoa there, are you ok?" Edmund asked the girl who he had just skillfully saved from falling. Lily flinched a little bit when she realized that it was a person she had hit. She looked up at the boy, and saw that it was Edmund. She blushed at the idea of falling in front of a king, but managed to hide her embarrassment the best she could, "yeah I'm fine."

She tried to steady herself, managing to get upright, but then slipped again on a rock, only to be caught once again by Edmund. He laughed, "Haha what have you been drinking?'"

He helped her get onto the sand, one arm around her shoulders and the other steadying her. She looked sheepishly at him "I'm just tired." She didn't really want his help, but was glad that she got it. "Yeah I know; I never knew my leg was so comfortable." Edmund laughed and let go of her as they both got onto dry land.

Lily put her hand over her mouth, mentally slapping herself for falling asleep on the past King's leg, "O I'm so sorry I-" "No It's fine," Edmund interrupted as he shook excess water off his boots, "I mean I may be emotionally scarred but ya know, I'll get over it." Lily stopped straightening out her dress and looked at him horrified. "I'm only joking!" Edmund laughed. The girl's face softened as she smiled, "o, ya I knew that."

"Of course you did." Edmund joked as he went to help his brother with securing the boat. Lily giggled as she walked over to her sister, who was busy chatting with Susan.

"Where were you?" Peter asked when his brother suddenly appeared next to him. "Helping Lily out of the boat, she had just woken up and was kind of out of it." Edmund answered as he helped his brother.

Trumpkin, who was making sure the small boat was completely on dry land heard them say Lily's name, and started listening to the boys' conversation.

The two had been quiet for a few moments when Peter whispered, "I want you to keep an eye on her."

"What?" "I don't trust them, they don't seem..." he stopped and eyed Trumpkin, who quickly looked down and started moving around to look preoccupied, as he bent down a little closer to Edmund, "They don't seem normal."

Edmund looked at the ground, remembering the oddity of them being at The Ruins and suggesting to join them, as well as the other abnormal things he had observed them doing. To be honest he really hadn't thought much of any of it, they were in Narnia after all. He supposed that they did seem odd, but he didn't think they were dangerous.

He was about to question his brother again when he heard Lucy loudly say, "Hello there!" Everyone looked up at the girl and saw that she was speaking to a very large brown bear.

"It's alright." Lucy continued as the bear began to acknowledge her presence, "We're friends!"

The small brunette began walking towards the creature as it made loud grunting noises. "Don't move your majesty!" Lucy turned around to look at Trumpkin, confused by this warning, as the bear began to charge towards her. Peter grabbed Serena and Lily and pulled them behind the boat, causing Serena to yell at him to let her go.

Lucy ran back to her siblings as Susan pulled out her bow and yelled, "Stay away from her!"

As Lucy ran, she tripped and fell to the ground, the bear closing in on her. "Shoot Susan shoot!" Edmund yelled as he, his brother, and the two girls came out from their hiding spot; the situation becoming a little too dire to continue concealing themselves from.

"No wait!" Serena and Lily yelled as Susan held her bow at the ready. Serena tried to get passed, but Peter stuck out his arm and wouldn't let her by.

Lucy screamed as the bear roared and stood on his hind legs, ready to strike. When all of a sudden, the creature was shot with an arrow and fell to the ground. Lucy looked over her shoulder to see, not Susan, but Trumpkin holding a freshly shot cross bow.

"Why wouldn't he stop?" Susan asked, both happy and upset that she couldn't shoot it. "I suspect he was hungry," Trumpkin answered bluntly as he walked passed her towards the now dead bear.

The remaining five ran towards Lucy, who was still on the ground, shocked by what had just happened. Peter pulled the small girl up into his arms, while still holding a sword to the creature. Lily stared at the dead animal in horror, while Serena had a blank expression, but bits of irritation were coming through. Trumpkin went up to the bear and poked it, making sure it was dead.

"Thanks."

Trumpkin turned to Lucy and grunted his 'you're welcome.'

"He was wild" Edmund said, he was utterly confused by the non-domesticated nature of the animal before them. "

I don't think he could talk at all." Peter added remembering how all the animals in the Narnia he remembered could speak.

"You get treated like a dumb animal long enough," Trumpkin started, hoping this would open their eyes to the new state of things, "That's what you become."

The Pevensies looked sadly at him as he took out his knife. "You may find Narnia a more savage place then you remember." He cut into the animal to get his arrow back, causing Lucy to cringe and bury her face in Peter's chest.

Once Trumpkin had gotten his arrow, he suggested they get a move on and get to their destination. They agreed, and had gathered together to decide which way to go, when they realized that Lily and Serena weren't with them. They turned around to see the two sisters kneeling over the dead bear. Their eyes were closed and they had their hands on the creature. Their mouths were moving, but no audible words were coming out.

The children looked at each other in confusion, but Trumpkin understood what they were doing and mumbled, "Just give them a minute." He should have known better before killing that bear in front of them.

"What are they doing?" Susan asked. More to herself than anyone else, but still looked to the other's for an answer.

"You see," Trumpkin started, causing the Pevensies to turn their attention to him. "Where they're from..." He was making sure to word it right, this had been an excuse he had rehearsed before, but he was still not great at it, "it isn't...preferred to kill animals for any reason…and they have to pray for anything that is killed…."

Everyone accepted this excuse, everyone except Peter.

After a few moments, the sisters opened their eyes, removed their hands from the bear, and found themselves greeted by 4 staring eyes.

"What? We care about wildlife, why is that so weird?" Serena said, annoyed at their stares.

They all looked down at their feet embarrassed for a second, before continuing their mini journey. They needed to find Caspian, and Trumpkin had stated last seeing him at the Shuddering Woods, so Peter, being Peter, decided to lead the way.

Serena noticed him going in the wrong direction, but decided not to speak up about it, hoping to see the young "king" humiliated when he got lost.

Trumpkin on the other hand, pointed this out to Peter, but was only ignored, and to be honest, he wasn't exactly in the mood for a fight with the old High King

As they started following Peter, Edmund decided to find out more about what he had just witnessed, and get a firsthand account.

"Hey Lily," he said tapping the girl in front of him on the shoulder, his finger grazing one of her soft necklaces as he did so.

She turned around, "Yes?" "What were you doing, with the bear I mean?"

Lily slowed her walking so that she would be next to Edmund. "Well," She began, actually feeling the strange need to decide whether or not she should lie to him, "you see, where my sister and I come from, all living things, good and bad, are important. And… we believe that all creatures' lives are important, so whenever we see something killed, we must pray for it-"

"But what about that Telmarine soldier? He got killed." Edmund interrupted, remembering the man Susan had skillfully shot. "The other one took the body, we weren't about to jump into the water and pray for him with the other one right there. We may be religious, but were not stupid." She said this a little too quickly, but added in a small laugh to cover it up.

"O, that makes sense," Edmund started, "and, if you don't mind my asking, where are you from? I mean like, where is it that you practice this?" Edmund changed his question, making sure it didn't seem like he was prying.

"Um well it's not really from a place exactly, it's just something we've always been taught." "And who taught you this?"

Lily looked at Edmund, he seemed so trustworthy and nice, but then she eyed her sister.

"My mother," She lied, "from my mother." "O? And where is she?" Edmund looked down at Lily and instantly regretted asking this.

"She's no longer with us." Lily responded, looking at her feet.

Edmund looked at her sadly then looked away and mumbled, "I'm sorry." He was never good with consoling people, "how'd she die?"

"Of a broken heart." Lily answered still looking at the ground, her lower lip underneath her upper teeth. She answered a little too quickly again, but that was honestly just to get the conversation over with. Since, even if you say 'I don't want to talk about it,' the other party will always find out eventually, and sometimes it's easier to just flat out answer them then to have to go through all that.

Edmund turned to her, now this was an answer that intrigued him. He had never heard of anyone actually dying of a broken heart before. He considered that she was lying, but the look on her face said otherwise. However, he still had to ask, "What do you mean 'died of a broken….never mind." He trailed off and stopped himself when Lily looked up at him, she clearly didn't want to talk about it anymore. Edmund scolded himself for never saying the right thing.

They stayed silent for a few minutes, periodically stepping over rocks or dodging branches. Lily couldn't stand the quiet, "So what was it like to rule Narnia?"

Edmund was taken off guard by this question, "Wait so you believe us?" Lily gave him a look, "Should I not?"

"No it's just, your sister," Edmund motioned to the blonde girl ahead of them. "My sister has a hard time trusting people, you get used to it." Edmund nodded and answered her question, "Well anyways, ruling Narnia…"


Edmund told Lily all about his life as King of Narnia; however, he managed to strategically leave out anything that happened before their coronation. And somehow, during his stories, the two became fast friends.

Edmund was currently telling a funny story about Susan, when a familiar voice called out, "Lily can I ask your opinion on something?"

"That's my cue," Lily sang to Edmund as she ran to answer her sister's call.

"What is it?"

"Do you recognize this as a way to the Shuddering Woods?" Lily looked around the unfamiliar wood, she hadn't even realized where they had been going, "Uh, no."

"You see?" Serena said smugly, looking at an irritated Peter. His arms were crossed and he looked as though he would murder the girl in front of him if she said anything else. "We're going the wrong direction!"

He glared at her.

Lily decided she didn't want to get involved in the obvious fight at hand, and managed to sneak her way back to Edmund. She passed Susan as she said, "You know, I actually don't remember this way either."

Peter turned his head and joked to his sister, "That's the problem with girls," he eyed an annoyed Serena, emphasizing the word 'girls' as he did so, (winning him an eye-roll) "They can't carry a map in their heads." Serena scoffed at his comment as Lucy said, "That's 'cause our heads have something in them." Susan and Lily laughed. (At this point Edmund and Lily had stopped their conversation and were now listening to their bickering siblings, plus Trumpkin).

"I wish he'd just listened to the DLF in the first place." Susan said to Lucy. Edmund, who was standing on a rock just above, overheard them and asked, "DLF?" His sisters looked at each other and giggled, "Dear Little Friend."

The DLF stopped walking and sarcastically said, "That's not at all patronizing is it?" Edmund and Lily laughed, "Aw Trumpkin," Lily said stepping down and putting her arm around the small ginger, "you'll always be my DLF."

Trumpkin rolled his eyes and playfully pushed the girl's arm off his shoulder. Lily laughed as Lucy turned around and asked her, "Hey how do you and Trumpkin know each other?"

Lily, Trumpkin and Serena stopped walking and looked at each other. Lily looked up to her sister who had wide eyes that said, "Be careful!" Everyone stopped and looked at the girl. The four Pevensies were all very interested in finding this out.

Lily searched her brain for an appropriate answer, "You could call him… a family friend." Lily smiled, praying they'd accept this.

"Yepp," Trumpkin chimed in, confirming her statement, "I am a close family friend. I knew them when they were just little babies." He lowered his hand towards the ground, indicating their size. Serena stared him down after this comment.

Trumpkin caught her glare and added once again sounding grumpy, "Now, even though these connections are truly fascinating, if you don't mind, I think we should continue trying to find Caspian don't you?"

"Then let's get a move on it." Everyone whipped their heads around to look at Peter, who was standing on top of a slight hill. The look on the boys face clearly read that he wouldn't be content until he proved that he was going the right way. Serena and Trumpkin looked at him, never being so thankful for this in their lives.

Lily left Trumpkin's side and returned to Edmund's, asking him to continue his story. Trumpkin and Serena decided that it would be best to stop arguing with Peter for now, as everyone began following the blonde boy again.

It had only been a few minutes when Peter walked into an open rocky area. He didn't quite recognize it, but he was determined to know where he was going, "I'm not lost."

He said this more to himself, but he received a "yeah right" from Serena and a more direct, "No, you're just going the wrong way" from Trumpkin. (Not arguing didn't exactly work out) Peter turned around and glared at the dwarf. "You last saw Caspian at the Shuddering Woods, and the quickest way there is to cross at the River Rush."

Trumpkin rolled his eyes, "Well unless I'm mistaken there's no crossing in the parts."

Peter stepped towards him and stated, "That explains it then, you're mistaken." The two glared at each other before Peter continued walking his way.

About 10 minutes later the group, led by Peter, was walking down a steep hill to where they thought the River Rush was. In all actuality, the river in question was still there, it was only about 30 feet further down then they had expected. Susan pointed out that it was due to erosion, awarding her an irritated "shut up" from Peter.

"Well," Lily started, looking down at the river below her, "It has been quite some time you know."

"Is there a way down?" Edmund asked Trumpkin, hoping the man would know of some secret way to get across, "yeah, fallin'."

"Well we weren't lost..." Peter said defensively, although it was clear that he knew this statement was only technically true.

"Well it doesn't exactly help us now does it?" Serena added walking in between her sister and Peter. The boy glared at her once again as Trumpkin suggested another way to get there, this one however, involved swimming (which Susan pointed out was better than walking). They started to follow Trumpkin when they heard Lucy cry out, "Aslan? It's Aslan over there!"

The group turned around to see the excited girl pointing at something across the gorge. "Don't you see he's right…there" The others looked to where the Lucy had been pointing and saw nothing. "Do you see him now?" Trumpkin was getting very annoyed of all the interruptions.

"I'm not crazy," Lucy stated, defending what she saw, "He was there; he wanted us to follow him."

Peter looked at his sister and tried to let her down gently, "I'm sure there are many lions in this wood, just like that bear." "I think I know Aslan when I see him!" Lucy angrily replied.

"Look," Trumpkin started, he was getting very annoyed with these children, "I'm not about to jump off a cliff after someone who doesn't exist."

"The last time I didn't believe Lucy," Edmund began, drawing everyone's attention to him. He hoped his point would mean something to them, "I ended up looking pretty stupid." Lily looked at him, realizing that he had conveniently left out that part of his story. He met her eyes then looked away towards his little sister who was giving him a grateful look.

She then looked back at her older brother as he asked, "Why wouldn't I have seen him?"

"Maybe you weren't looking." Peter thought about his sister's response, once again getting the same feeling he got in the Treasure Room. He didn't want to believe it, "I'm sorry Lu."

He turned away from Lucy and started to follow Trumpkin, who had already begun to leave the site. Lucy glanced back across the river, hoping she would see Aslan again, with no luck. She turned back around to see Edmund giving her a thoughtful look and tipping his head telling her to come on.

They left Lily and Serena standing near the ledge. Serena was staring intensely at the place across the river, her face expressionless.

"So Aslan is real. You see, Louis was right!" Lily smiled at her sister, as she walked up next to her. Her smile disappeared, however, as Serena spoke, "Just because some little girl says she saw something, doesn't mean it was Aslan."

Lily made a noticeable following of her sister's gaze, "Then why are you acting like you believe her?"

Serena moved her eyes to look down at her sister; she hated how easily she could read her.

"Why is it so hard for you to admit that he might be right about something?" Lily asked Serena, annoyed at her sister's constant denial.

Serena laughed and turned away from the place she had been looking, "Because, I don't admit things that aren't true."

Lily was about to object when she noticed that their group was almost out of sight. Serena had apparently noticed this too, because she grabbed her sister's hand and began to speed walk to catch up with them. As she did so she muttered, "Come on, we have to make sure they're going the right way."


A/N Yay I'm finally done with this chapter! These beginning chapters are the hardest to write because I have the middle so planned out in my mind that these beginning chapters seem so tedious. P.S. I'm trying to keep the characters in character the best i can! BTW school is starting soon so I will probably not be able to update as frequently, but I will try my absolute best!

So what do you think? Like it? Hate it? What did you like/hate? Tell me!:D