We are cruelly separated from one another, my brothers, my sister, and I.

I am laid out in the snow.

Father is only a little ways off.

At first I can hear his sobs and whimpers but then...

He is silent.

I don't blame him,

I cannot bring myself to make any sounds either.

Lost in the blackness, my aching body and frozen skin becomes numb.

Then there is a voice exclaiming above us.

I don't care who it is as long as it isn't her;

as long as it isn't Jadis, cruel enchantress of my siblings, destroyer of my family, false consort of my father.

Anyone else, be they good or bad, are welcome to me now.

What does it matter if I am about to die at the hands of a ruffian?

Or a robber?

Or a wild beast?

(Though this creature does not sound dangerous; more polite and fussy than anything else)

I would forfeit my life to anyone at this moment.

Anyone that is, except Jadis.

I don't want her to get me, too.

She doesn't deserve to win anymore than she already has.

I want to live, not for myself, not even for my lost siblings, but simply to spite her.

My eyes open a crack.

And my sight meets with a pair of goat hooves that I somehow know do not actually belong to an ordinary goat.

A faun, I realize, that's what the creature in front of me is.

Many fauns-most of them, I think-are loyal to my father; he has always been a kind ruler over them, they love him.

I'm not afraid of this one, then.

I let the startled fussy little goat-man lift me up and carry me off.

Then, once in his arms, I black out again.

I really must do something about this dreadful habit of constant fainting-it's getting rather aggravating not knowing what's going on while it's happening.

When I awaken, I am in a comfortable little cave with reddish-walls; one of which is lined with books.

I am in a little wooden cot filled with soft woolen blankets placed by a warm, roaring fire in what I assume is the living room.

I climb out of the cot-my head throbs and aches a little but I force myself to ignore it.

I stumble over what must be the kitchen because I can see the faun preparing for a light tea in it now.

I want to speak to him but it takes me a while to find my voice.

By the time I manage to clear my throat, he has already loaded up a little tray with some food and drink and is turning to face me.

"By the mane!" The faun exclaims, looking greatly relieved. "You're awake."


The faun who had found Susan passed-out in the snow by the lamppost, was called, Tumnus. He lived in a part of the Lantern Waste only a little ways off from where he'd discovered the exhausted princess. As quickly as possible, making sure to load up a plate with the finest things on the tray and hand it over to Susan while he spoke, Tumnus explained that he had taken her into his home in hopes of saving her from what ever it was she had been fleeing or at the very least, reviving her to some level of health.

"I couldn't just leave you there." He explained sort of quietly. "Even if I hadn't known you were one of the princesses."

"How did you know who I was?" Susan asked him, fighting back a shiver and scooting her chair a little closer to the fire.

Tumnus shrugged his shoulders and seemed to be blinking back a round of tears. "Your hands are exactly like your late mother's, she was an old friend of mine, I remember some of her features." he blushed and chuckled uncomfortably. "Silly, I know." He paused for a moment, letting that sink in before adding, "and of course when I saw the king beside you, I was pretty sure anyway."

Father! Susan's heart gave a sudden thump of fear. Where was he? Didn't Tumnus take him in, too? Was he in another room somewhere? With a sickening thud striking her like a cold smack across the face, she thought she knew even if she couldn't bring herself to admit it; to admit that he might be-probably was-must be-but no, he couldn't be...could he have...died?

"Your lord, King Frank, he-" Susan stammered, her eyes filling up with tears as she took in the weary expression on the face of the faun sitting across from her.

"He didn't make it, your highness." Tumnus told her gravely, his shoulders heaving just a little as if he was holding back a good cry in an attempt to avoid overwhelming her. "He's...gone..."

Now that she knew for certain, and the horrid image of her father laid across the snow-covered ground, his face a sickly, dark blue colour came to her mind, despair washed over Susan and she thrust her face into her hands and wept. She cried for Peter, Edmund, and Lucy because they were all swans now, she cried for her father because he had died and all he'd ever wanted was to protect them, she cried for Tumnus and for all the subjects like him who had lost their king, and she cried for herself because she was left behind.

She didn't speak to Tumnus again until the next morning when he made her some more hot tea and some eggs and heated up a few cold sausages, urging her to eat.

"You must keep up your strength." Tumnus reminded her with an affectionate hand on her shoulder. "Starving yourself wont make things any better."

Susan would have protested but, being such a practical person by nature, she knew that Tumnus was right and forced herself to swallow a few mouthfuls. While they ate, she told him her whole story of all the harm Jadis had done to the royal family.

Sadly, Tumnus clicked his tongue. "That's bad, your majesty, very dangerous."

"Not anymore." Susan whispered, taking another sip of the tea but not really tasting or feeling it as it rested on her tongue and rolled down her throat. "She's succeeded, turning them into swans."

"You're not a swan." Tumnus pointed out, the slight traces of a smile forming at the corners of his mouth.

"But Peter is." Susan reminded him, shaking her head as though shuddering could rid herself of frightening thoughts. "And he's the crowned prince. With him and father out of her way..." She couldn't finish her sentence; a sob rose up into her throat again and her eyes filled with tears.

"Ah, but the witch is not a daughter of Eve, Narnia will reject her now that your father-may the Lion rest his soul-has passed on, she's powerful, but she will not win all of Narnia." Tumnus spoke in a low, comforting, almost-parental tone. "Thus as long as you are alive, there will always be hope in Narnia." Noticing that Susan's facial expression was less than thrilled he added, "Better still, your siblings-if what you described is in fact accurate-are only suffering under an enchantment, not dead. Enchantments can be broken, you know."

All winter long, Susan drove herself to near madness trying to think of a way to help her siblings. The first thing she had to do was find them, but she didn't even know where to look. The weather was freezing and Cair Paravel was at war with Jadis, trying to over-throw her, so she couldn't go back there. And of course, there was the horrid thought that perhaps which ever one of her siblings it was that had flown off alone without the other two, might have gotten shot down by hunters-or worse-plagued her mind night and day.

Then, the very night before the first day of spring, Susan had a strange dream. In her dream, a beautiful white swan with a cap of silver upon his head stood on hill-top somewhere just a few miles away from the Lantern Waste, with Aslan himself. The Lion was whispering something to the swan-so low that Susan could not hear what it was he said- but somehow she knew it was not her ears that were meant to hear it anyway-and the swan was nodding, listening carefully. You could tell form the expression on the bird's face that this was a conversation he would never forget no matter how long he lived. After they finished talking, the Lion led the swan down towards a beaver's dam and planed a gentle lion-kiss upon the side-tip of his beak in a reassuring fashion before two other swans, a large one and a little one, landed a few feet away from them. They looked to the Lion awkwardly as if they were not sure what they were supposed to do.

"Here is your brother." Aslan told them, motioning over at the other swan. "And there is no need to speak to Edmund about what has passed. What's done..." He paused for a moment, fixing his dark golden eyes very intently on the swan that had been Peter, not unkindly, but a little sternly. It wasn't exactly a warning stare; all the same, it wasn't a gesture to be taken lightly either. "...is done." With that, he padded away from them, leaving the three of them alone together.

At that moment, the sun that had been hovering low over the horizon started to dip below the earth and set. The swans blinked and wore a strange, slightly uncomfortable, expression on their faces for a moment before, magically, wonderfully, they were not swans anymore, but three beautiful royal children still wearing the horrid embroidered white shirts as if the change had never taken place at all. Without being told, Susan could tell they were not free, that they were still under the witch's curse, but at least she could see their real faces now-even if it was only a dream.

Lucy happily threw herself into Edmund's arms, forgiving him instantly and unconditionally. "I missed you, you didn't have to go away like that." She murmured, clinging tightly to her brother.

Peter's expression was a little tighter, more uncertain. He looked like he very much wanted to forgive his brother for betraying them but there was a clear struggle written all over his face that made Edmund cringe and shrink back just a little bit. This was probably the right thing for him to do because as soon as Peter saw the that look on his younger brother's face, his own face softened and even before he said anything at all, you knew just by his look, that he'd forgiven Edmund already.

Edmund, however, seemed unable to look him in the eye and so he missed it and thought himself to still be a traitor. Perhaps Peter would never speak of what had happened, but surely he wouldn't forget about it, it would always be there somehow, in the very back of his mind.

"It's late," Peter said suddenly, his voice a little cold even though he wasn't actually angry anymore. "and you look tired."

"I am tired." Edmund mumbled to his feet, biting his lip and willing himself not to cry.

"Get some sleep." Peter told him.

"Alright." He nodded deeply, his head still hanging very low, and headed for the beaver's dam where Peter and Lucy had evidently been staying over the winter.

"And Edmund?" Peter called after him.

At that moment he gathered his courage and forced himself to look up into his brother's face. "Yes?"

"Try not fly off when you turn back into a swan." Peter managed a small, forgiving smile. "Lucy's been missing you terribly all winter."

Edmund smiled back. "I wouldn't dream of it."

Peter's smile remained and widened just a little. "Goodnight, Ed."

To Susan, this was becoming so real and so very vivid that she felt certain, dream or not-that all this had really happened; how she was witnessing it in her sleep-a fair amount of miles and days away from the actual event, she didn't know, but she didn't care either. She was just too happy to see them all together again and to hope that she, too, might be reunited with them soon. She smiled at their images in her head as they faded away into a dreamless sleep, giving her the rest she'd been lacking all winter.

Little did she know that her little vision-dream was not to be the full extent of her joy; as it happened, Tumnus had gone out for a walk shortly before sun-set and was standing near the lamppost when he saw a marvelous sight. Three gorgeous swans came flying towards him, swooping down below to land on the ground on the opposite side of the lamppost.

And what happened as they landed and the last rays of the sunlight began to vanish below the horizon, turning late afternoon into evening and night? Why, they weren't swans anymore but the three royal siblings of the Princess Susan who had been moping about his cave winter day in and winter day out aching to see them!

"Your majesties!" Tumnus exclaimed happily, rushing towards them with his hands held out.

Cheerfully, Lucy took his hands and shook them heartily, giving him a friendly smile by way of greeting. "Hullo."

"Good day," Peter said politely.

"Er...um, hi there." Edmund blurted out.

"Oh, where are my manners!" Tumnus gasped, shaking his head very hard as if trying to shake a bit of sense into himself. "My name is Tumnus."

"Pleased to meet you Mr. Tumnus." said Lucy, letting go of his hands. "I'm Lucy." She didn't mention being a princess because their royal heritage seemed to be common knowledge to the faun anyhow. "These are my brothers, Edmund and Peter."

"Please, sir, I mean, Mr. Tumnus," Edmund amended a little nervously, taking a step forward. "Have you by any chance seen a lady perhaps a year or so younger than my brother, with long black hair wandering about these parts?"

It took all the excited faun had in him not to jump up and down and embrace both boys tightly, making a great scene, and announce at the top of his voice that he knew who it was they were looking for and that if they wanted, he'd take them to her at once.

He lowered his voice a little and whispered to them that he had found their sister and taken her in and that she was quite safe and well. They were of course very eager to see her after all this time and so they followed Tumnus all the way to his home and entered into the cave. They found Susan asleep in her cot, a smile on her lips (This was because she had just been dreaming about them and now all seemed right with the world), and a restful look about her face.

"Should we wake her?" Edmund whispered to Lucy and Peter.

Peter shook his head. "Let her sleep, we can talk to her when she wakes up."

"Look!" Lucy whisper-shouted, motioning over at the cot again. "I think she's waking up on her own now."

Susan turned a little and her eye-lids srunched tighter and then relaxed as though they were just about to open. She blinked twice in the candle-lit cave, at the three figures hovering over her, casting shadows on the walls and blocking little spurts of yellow light. At first, she thought she was simply seeing them in her mind again but then the corner of her wrist brushed against one of Edmund's fingers which had been dangling near the edge of the cot.

"Edmund!" She cried happily, sitting up now and reaching over to feel her other brother's arm and Lucy's side to see if they were really there, too. They were. "Oh, Peter! Lucy!"

This was followed by a good deal of hugging and crying and explaining. First, Susan learned that the dream she'd had, had indeed happened for real though they couldn't imagine how on earth she had come to know of it. Then Peter, Lucy, and Edmund were told about their father's death and now all four of them mourned for him together.

"You wont all fit in the cot." Tumnus decided, noticing that the four siblings seemed to have no intention of leaving each other alone after all this time. "You'll all take my bedroom for tonight, there's a reasonably large bed in there, it'll be a bit of a tight fit but I'm fairly certain it'll be big enough."

"But what about you?" Susan asked, feeling rather uncomfortable taking his bed when she'd been staying in his home and eating his food and crying all over his shoulder all this time. She had to draw the line somewhere, didn't she?

"I'll take the cot." Tumnus told her, in a kind voice that was also very no-nonsense in tone. "Now off to bed all of you."

So the four royal siblings said goodnight to the faun (Susan and Lucy both kissed him on the cheek as they used to do to their father at night before he'd passed away) and walked over to the cave's bedroom. They all laid down together on it, snuggling close to one another, feeling quite comfortable. They continued to talk to each other until they all fell asleep and their mouths stopped moving.

In the morning, the sun rose in the sky and a small trickle of sunlight poured in through a little window in the cave-bedroom, waking Susan. She blinked and rolled over to look at her siblings. She saw three swans, fast asleep, with their beaks tucked under their wings.

"Oh! That's right," said Susan to herself, sighing deeply as she sat up in the bed. "I'd almost forgotten."

AN: I hope you liked the chapter. Please review.