Trevelyan

The fox never found a better messenger than himself.

~ Irish Proverb

"Did you ever hear the story of how bear lost his tail?"

Lucy was seated high, her hands buried in golden brown fur.

The Bear was Bruinhild, a great, beautiful creature with eyes as soft as the morning sky and teeth like daggers. Night was settling in and she had quickly decided to take them to a safer place.

"Our next contact is a badger in the Tanglewood," Oakheart had explained. "We were supposed to reach him tonight."

"I can contact him as soon as you are safe," Bruinhild said calmly. "And you are safer with me than with a badger. Wolves would never dare venture into a bear's den… and the ceilings are higher." She added, glancing at Peter.

At last they had agreed. As she pointed out, her den was not far from Earthdigger's burrow and Susan only wanted somewhere warm where she could have a look at Peter's arm.

"If she was white, she could be a polar bear," Lucy had said rather dreamily.

"But there aren't any polar bears in the south," Edmund had reminded her. "And we're going to the South Pole, remember?"

"Did you ever hear how bear lost his tail?"Bruinhild asked again, jarring Lucy awake.

"No, I never did." Lucy said. "I didn't know that bears had tails."

"Once, bear- the first Bear- had a tail," Bruinhild's voice was very low and smooth, as smooth as her easy lope. "It was a beautiful tail, long and furry as any tail in the world and Bear was very proud of it. 'Don't you think my tail is beautiful?' Bear often asked and the other animals always agreed with him, because they were afraid of Bear's temper and great claws.

"But one day, Fox, who was a troublemaker, thought he would play a trick on Bear and when Bear came down to the pond one clear wintery day, Fox was waiting for him, surrounded by shining fish. Bear was hungry, so he asked Fox where he had got all the fish.

"Fox looked at him out of the corner of his eye, 'I caught them, friend.'

"Bear was shocked, 'you caught them? How did you catch so many? You haven't anything to catch them with.'

"Fox chuckled behind his paw, 'I used my tail.'

"'Your tail?' Bear cried.

"'Aye, my tail,' Fox said. 'The finer tail you have, the more fish you'll catch. Would you like to try it?'

"Bear wanted to and Fox led him down to the ice, instructing him to break a hole. 'Now lower your tail into the water. You feel when a fish bites and you can pull it out.'

"Bear sat down on the edge of the pond and lowered his long, beautiful tail into the water, telling himself that he would catch many fish. Bear sat very still and thought about fish jumping onto his tail. He counted each one. It was very tiring. He fell asleep.

"It became very cold and started to snow and Fox went back to his house, taking his fish with him. A few hours later, taking pity on Bear, Fox came back to the lake, but when he returned he laughed and thought to play one more trick. 'Bear! Bear! There is a fish on your tail! Can you feel it?'

"Bear woke up with a fright and felt a sharp pain in his frozen tail. 'I can feel it!' he shouted, leaping to his feet, but alas, his tail had frozen and when he moved, it snapped off.

"And that is why bears have no tails." Bruinhild finished.

Lucy laughed. "It's sad and funny all at once. Is it really true?"

"Of course it's true," Bruinhild scoffed. "You can see it in the stars. The great Bear never lost his tail and we can always look up and remember how ours once looked."

"You're ten times better than Baloo," Lucy whispered, lying down on Bruinhild's neck. If she turned her head, she could see the sky stretching above her in a great, clear cold emptiness, flashing with stars. The gilded western horizon still glimmered through the trees like fairy light, but she could see the stars very clearly now.

~o*o~

Trevelyan fidgeted.

He fidgeted on account of the fact that he hated school and now, as he sat in front of the fireplace in the den with his tail curled around his paws, he had to answer geography questions about his native home in Narnia. His mother had made him learn every inch of Narnia by heart even though she knew he had never set foot there. Every Narnian child, for that matter, had to learn the map. It was told that someday, with Aslan's help, they would invade Narnia and take it back and it would be ruled over by four people from a prophecy. That prophecy had been told long ago and the present Prophet, Equus the great centaur, had said that it would be fulfilled soon.

Of course nocreature knew when 'soon' was supposed to be.

Treve had always longed to meet Equus and even more, Martin, the general over the army of Narnia. Though the Narnians had not set foot in their homeland for a hundred years, the army had not been disbanded and was paramount in Archenlandish defense.

Treve yawned and pricked his ears towards his mother's voice, honestly attempting to concentrate as she explained his history lesson. Today it was on King Frank and Queen Helen, the first monarchs of Narnia, the first monarchs of anywhere for that matter. Aslan had brought them in at the Dawn of Time when he first created the world.

The Witch also, had come at the dawn of time from a different world, it was said that two children brought her in because they didn't want her in their world. "Rather poor sports, them," Treve had said with disgust.

At last Treve's mother stood up and stretched, looking down at her daydreaming son fondly, "You're done," she said. "You can go and do want you want now, just not anything dangerous."

Those were the words Treve had been waiting to hear all afternoon; he was done with schoolwork!

With a happy shout of joy, Treve lept into the air and shot out of the den as his mother shook her head and wondered if she should have named him 'arrow'.

Winter days were short and Treve found that the sun was already beginning to go down, it didn't bother him, red foxes were mostly nocturnal. He decided to go have a look at his ice den and see if any snow had fallen in it.

He had built his ice den earlier that winter, it was supposed to be a snow den, but then it rained and it had become an ice den. He had built it in the woods in a clear spot where part of the pass had once been.

The pass.

It had fallen into disrepair and almost forgotten by most creatures, but Treve had lived there all his life. The first part of the pass was quite obvious and Treve followed it until he came to a little hole in the snow bank and disappeared down it.

Blue light filtered down on Treve; he loved his den. He had heard that shades of blue that intense were supposed to make you go crazy. The den gave him a quiet place to think and he loved to think, about heroes mostly. Treve had never been a hero and he longed to try his paw at it so, he sat in his den thinking about heroes and heroic things, honestly hoping some of it would rub off on him. He dreamed of adventures and glorious quests, he'd even tried doing some of them. Once he tried to rescue a damsel in distress, but the damsel got sick of waiting and by the time he got there she was gone.

He didn't feel heroic.

Mesmerized by the blue and the faint calls of heroes ringing in his head, he rested his nose on his paws and drifted to sleep. He dreamed he was a great warrior and all the land knew his name and asked him to do great deeds. Dragons, damsels, giants, knights in shining armor…

He could hear hoof beats, the ringing sound of hard wrought steel on sparking ice. It grew louder, reverberating in the den until it seemed to be the very thumping of Treve's heart. He sat up suddenly and still heard it, steady and magnificent.

Adventure hung heavy in the air.

Treve clawed his way out of his den and was startled to see three Centaurs with Hawks coming towards him. Two of them were bundled up for winter, but the third, a red Centaur, wore nothing, not even a leather pad to protect him from the talons of the Hawk on his shoulder like the others wore.

"Hello there," one of the Centaurs stopped and looked at him. He had curly black hair. The hawk on his shoulder eyed the young fox with a look bordering on contempt. "Do you know an easier way to get though the pass? It's got a lot of ice blocking it up."

Treve was petrified.

Heroic Centaurs and Hawks were asking him, Trevelyan, a way though the pass?

"Yes sir," he gulped, "a bit sir, a much easier way, sir, this isn't the way actually, it's over there."

"Really now!" the black Centaur exclaimed. The other two Centaurs swung around and caught sight of Treve where he crouched in the snow. The Hawks blinked with far-seeing yellow eyes, scrutinizing his every hair.

"What?" Martin asked.

"This young chap says he knows an easier way through the pass," Flavis explained, glancing at him.

"Trust you to ask about an easier way," Martin muttered, stamping a hoof.

"Can you show us?" Equus asked, turning to Treve.

"I'd be- I'd be honored!" Treve exclaimed.

"What's your name?" the Flavis asked. "I'm Flavis, by the way."

"Treve…" Treve said, then, "Trevelyan actually."

"Trevelyan," Flavis repeated, "how did you get such a long name? Flash it by Martin, he likes long words."

Martin snorted.

"My mother thought it sounded dignified," Treve explained. "She named me after an eagle that saved her life once."

"Really?" Flavis said, "Forgive me for asking young sir, but are you a Narnian?"

"Oh, yes sir!"

"I thought so," Flavis said, "It's the accent."

"What about this easier way though the pass," Equus reminded them, glancing up at the glowing sky, traced of with the rivers of evening light. "Time is passing."

"Hang on Equus," Flavis said, "we don't even know if this young chap's parents want him to gallivant down an icy pass in the middle of the night."

"Sir?" Treve asked.

"Yes?"

"Why are yougoing down the pass?" Treve asked, "Are you going to Narnia?"

The centaurs looked at each other, then back at Treve.

"We have no time to waste, Flavis," Martin said impatiently. "If he can send us in the right direction it will be enough."

"I can take you," Treve said eagerly. "I really can. I'm quite certain that my parents won't mind. I've been all over the pass."

"Oh," Flavis shifted uncomfortably. "Very well, let's go."

Treve's tail puffed up twice its normal size. He felt immensely important; he, Trevelyan, was going to show three great, lordly Centaurs- not mentioning the Hawks- over the pass to Narnia. Of course he'd have to come back as soon as he was done showing them. He hated the thought. What an adventure it would be to go into Narnia with three great, lordly Centaurs! Then he started to wonder why three great, lordly centaurs were going into Narnia in the first place…

Treve led on, his tail straight up, the white tip bobbing proudly in the falling light. The path was at first hard to find, so overgrown was it, but as the land started rising and the cliffs grew steeper it became clearer until they were on a very high ledge, many feet above the ground. The centaurs' hooves slipped on the ice and pebbles went bouncing down the cliff to their left, to vanish into the snowy bank.

As night came swooping down on them like black silk, the cold penetrated deep; even Treve could feel it though his thick winter coat. The Hawks fluffed up their feathers and muttered about the weather. Only Martin seemed impervious.

As they rounded a rocky pinnacle that stretched giant-like into the sky, Narnia suddenly spread out in limitless silver; moonlit snow banded with the stretching shadows of trees. They could see a line of dark woods in the distance and very far away, black and glittering as onyx, was the sea.

"This is far enough," Flavis said, coming to a halt. "We can find our way from here. You should return now, Treve."

Treve glanced up at him; Flavis' voice had lost its joking tone and was now deadly serious. Flavis glanced down at him again and his face softened. "Sorry, it's just that this is the first time any of us, except perhaps the Hawks, have been in Narnia. It's like treading on sacred ground."

Treve was silent. He had never told his parents that he himself had been in Narnia many times. It was, in their opinion, too dangerous.

"We have never been in Narnia," Jafa, the Hawk on Flavis' shoulder corrected, "we have only flown over it."

"At least you've breathed Narnian air," Flavis said.

"Which we ought to start doing now," Elah announced from Martin's shoulder, "if we are ever going to find those children."

"Breath air?" Flavis asked inquisitively.

"No," Elah said, fluffing his feathers indignantly, "Fly over Narnia."

"At night?" Ergo, the third Hawk, squawked. "Not on your life! Wouldn't be able to spot a thing."

Children? Treve's breath starting coming in gasps, as he stared up at them and unbidden, the question slipped from him before he could catch it, "not the children from the prophecy?"

The three Centaurs looked at each other, their faces still in the moonlight.

"Do you promise on your honor not to breathe a word of it to anyone?" Flavis asked, bending down to look Treve in the eye.

"Yes sir," Treve gasped, "I promise!"

"Well," Equus said gently, "it's high time you headed back to your den, before the night has grown too old."

"Yes sir…thank you sir…very much," Treve almost wagged his tail, then they watched as he turned and trotted away the way they had come, his white tail tip bobbing in the moonlight.

"He's a good pup," Flavis remarked.

Production Notes: The Once and Future King is officially over budget. Fortunately Edmund says there are some extra diamonds hanging around in the Cair Paravel treasure chamber that are just collecting dust anyway.