A/N: Thanks for the reviews for last chapter!

PurpleDucks5: Hey, glad you liked the chapter! In answer to your question, Lucy = mostly Nina, but also Amber and kind of Alfie but not really, Edmund = definitely Jerome, but a little bit of Patricia and Eddie, Susan = Mara, Fabian, and kind of Joy, Peter = Mick, Nina, and kind of Fabian. Thanks for your review!

CHAPTER TEN

Talking Beavers

"This is going to be so great," Nina babbled to Amber, Fabian, and Eddie. Eddie rolled his eyes, trying to tune his babbling twin sister out. "We're going to have the best time. I'm sure Mr. Tumnus will invite us in. He lives in this sort of cave - but it's a nice cave," she added hastily, noticing Amber's alarmed expression. "Really, it's got comfy chairs and everything." Amber didn't look convinced.

"And he makes the best tea," Nina continued. "Then again, I haven't really had much experience with tea...we never had it in America, you know, but I thought it was great. And maybe he'll bring out the sardines again, I didn't have many last time on account of-"

"Nina." Fabian interrupted, and Nina turned to look at him. "You're rambling."

"Sorry," Nina blushed, and Fabian just smiled at her. "I'm just excited. It was terrible you know, having no one believe me...but now everything is okay! Now we can go to Mr. Tumnus's house and have fun and he'll light a fire and there will be food, and-"

Suddenly she stopped, causing Eddie, who was right behind her, to slam into her, nearly toppling her over. But she hardly seemed to notice. The others came crashing to a stop behind them, confused. "Are we there yet?" Mick called. Nina didn't answer.

"Neens? What's wrong?" Amber asked, her eyebrows knitted with concern.

Without warning, Nina bolted forwards. "Nina!" Fabian shouted, and the others quickly followed her. She ran towards what looked like a giant rock at first glance, until Fabian noticed a gaping hole in the middle with a wooden door smashed to bits and hanging off its hinges.

Soon, the others had stepped inside the gaping doorway, and gasped. Glass and wood and paper were strewn all around the cave. All the lovely descriptions Nina had been telling them about were gone, and it looked as if a tornado had blown through the whole cave. Worst of all, Mr. Tumnus was nowhere to be seen. Joy and Patricia exchanged wary glances.

Nina stood in the middle of the wreckage, crestfallen. "This is all my fault," She whispered to herself inaudibly. Mr. Tumnus had saved her life, knowing he could be punished. And it looked like he had been.

As Jerome scanned his surroundings, he felt the room begin to grow increasingly hot. He shifted back and forth on his feet, a giant lump on his throat. Accidentally, he stepped on something beneath his feet. He looked down to see a picture of an older looking faun - or at least, what was left of it. It looked as though the picture had been slashed with a calw. That's probably Mr. Tumnus's father, Jerome thought. He stepped away quickly.

"Look," Amber said softly, pointing to a piece of paper pinned to one of the stone pillars of the cave.

Fabian stepped forward and ripped the paper off. He cleared his throat and began to read aloud, "The faun Tumnus has been arrested for high treason -" Mara and Patricia exchanged glances, "- against her Imperial Majesty, Jadis, Queen of Narnia, for comforting her enemies, and fraternizing with humans. Signed, Maugrim, Captain of the Secret Police." Fabian sighed. "Long live the Queen." He set the paper on the ground and ran a hand through his dark hair.

"Wait...I'm not sure if I get it." Amber said loudly, breaking the silence.

"It sounds like Mr. Tumnus was arrested for talking to humans," Alfie explained in a low voice, as if he didn't want Nina to overhear him.

"Alright," Joy said aloud. Everyone turned to look at her. "I'm not trying to sound insensitive or anything, but maybe we should go back. Sorry, Nina," she said as she noticed her incredulous look. "I mean don't get me wrong, this was a fun time and all, and otherwise, I would've wanted to stay...but if this Queen or whatever arrested someone for being with a human, what do you think they'll do to an actual human?"

"I've been saying we ought to go back this whole time," Patricia agreed, rolling her eyes. Mara bit her lip, but slowly nodded in agreement.

"But what about Mr. Tumnus?" Nina cried.

"Well, if he was arrested for being with a human, then I don't think there's much we can do," Mara said gently, looking at Nina apologetically.

Nina stared at everyone. "You don't get it, do you?" Everyone exchanged confused glances. "I'm the human! The White Witch must have found out that Mr. Tumnus helped me somehow!"

Jerome swallowed and suddenly became very interested with the glass-strewn floor.

"Maybe we should call the police," Amber suggested.

"These are the police." Patricia pointed out.

"Well, soooorry," Amber said defensively. "They could've been more clear about it."

Patricia rolled her eyes. "Stupidity leak," she said, tapping Amber on the head.

Fabian turned to Nina. "Don't worry. We'll think of something, alright?" He smiled at her hopefully, and Nina couldn't help but offer a tiny smile back.

Patricia was about to interject, but Jerome cut her off. "Why?"

Everyone turned to face him. He stood off in the corner by himself, looking awfully ridiculous in the furry coat that was too big for his skinny frame. "I mean, he's a criminal."

Nina was about to give him a piece of her mind when the robin sitting outside chirped loudly. "Why don't we ask the bird what to do?" Amber suggested.

Everyone stared at her. "Ambs, have you lost your mind?" Mick asked, arching his eyebrows at his younger sister.

"What? Aren't robins usually good birds in storybooks and what-not?" Amber asked.

"Amber, birds can't talk." Patricia rolled her eyes again.

"We just walked through a wardrobe into a magical snowy land. I, for one, would not be surprised if a bird began talking to me. Unless someone else has a better idea?" No one did. "Right then. Let's go ask the bird if he knows where Mr. Tumnus is."

Sighing, everyone followed Amber out of the cave and into the bright sunlight. The robin chirped again, and the hopped from the branch it was perched onto one that was a little lower.

"Excuse me?" Amber said. "Do you know what's happened to Mr. Tumnus?"

In response, the bird chirped again, and hopped to the next tree. Amber followed it, and the others went behind her, groaning. Amber repeated her question, and the bird cocked its head to the side, chirped, and hopped to the next tree.

"Ambs, I don't think this is working," Mick sighed.

"Don't be daft, Mick. Don't you see? He's leading us to Mr. Tumnus," said Amber.

"It looks more like he's just hopping from tree to tree," Mick disagreed.

"Wait, hang on." Nina said. Everyone turned to her. "Did anyone hear that?"

"Hear wh-"

"Shh!" The ten children stood there in silence. A loud psst! sounded from the far left. The ten teenagers whipped to face the noise, but were met with nothing. They heard another psst!, this time coming from the bush in front of them.

"I wasn't the only person that heard that, right?" Alfie asked. Quietly, everyone nodded. "Well, that's good. At least I'm not going insane."

Slowly, the ten children formed a tight group and slowly moved towards the bush, gripping each other's arms and hands. Psst! Psst!

Suddenly, a fairly average-sized beaver appeared from the bush, padding into view. "It's - it's a beaver," Patricia said in surprise.

Nina suddenly realized she was tightly gripping Fabian's hand. They both yanked away, blushing profusely.

Mick stepped forward and began to approach the beaver cautiously. "Here, boy," He said softly, clucking his tongue and whistling. He stooped down and held out his hand close to the beaver's nose. The beaver stared at the hand warily while the others watched them with bated breaths.

"Well I ain't gonna smell it, if that's what you want."

Mick leapt backwards, surprised, and everyone's eyes widened. Mara practically collapsed onto the snow.

"It's a talking beaver!" Alfie cried.

"Er...um...sorry," Mick muttered lamely, backing away from the beaver.

"Nina Martin?" The beaver asked curiously.

Nina, who had previously been laughing, suddenly became very serious. "Yes?" She asked cautiously, approaching the beaver. He held out a hankie with the initials N.M. stitched on them.

"Hey, that's the hankie I gave to Mr. -"

"Tumnus," Mr. Beaver cut her off. "I know. He gave it to me just before they took him," he said, sounding choked up.

Nina's eyes widened. "Is he okay?"

Mr. Beaver looked around cautiously. "Further in," he hissed, beckoning them. Then he dove behind the bush again. Nina, Amber, Fabian, and Mick obediently stepped forward to follow them, but Patricia and Mara quickly yanked them back.

"What on earth do you think you're doing?" Patricia hissed.

"Finding out what happened to Mr. Tumnus!" Nina insisted.

"But how do we know we can trust him?" Alfie demanded.

"Yeah. If he really wanted to tell us, why couldn't he just do it here?" Jerome demanded. "What if he's leading us into a trap or something?"

"Because, it's not very private here," Nina replied.

"What are you talking about? There's no one here but us!" Joy cried in a loud whisper.

"It's the trees," Nina explained, looking above them warily. "They're listening."

Patricia gaped at her. "Wow. You really are insane, aren't you?"

Fabian just sighed and turned to Alfie. "The point is, do we have any other choice but to trust him? Anyways, he said he knew the faun."

"Are you kidding?" Mara cried. "He's a beaver. He shouldn't be saying anything!"

"Oh, c'mon, Mara. Where's your imagination?" Alfie said, good-mannerdly punching her gently on the shoulder.

"Alfie! Who's side are you on?" Jerome cried incredulously.

The beaver poked its head over the top of the bush. "Everything alright over there?"

"Yeah," Amber called unconvincingly. "We were just...talking."

"That's better left for safer quarters," the beaver hissed, and then disappeared again.

Nina shot Patricia a look. "Told you so," she declared, and turned to follow the beaver into the woods. The others sighed and reluctantly followed her.

x.X.x

The ten children walked silently, forming a tight group, Mr. Beaver taking the lead. Fabian, Amber, and Nina were at the front of the group, right behind him. Briefly, Nina wondered where Eddie was - probably trying to annoy Patricia. She glanced over her shoulder - nope, he was walking by himself. Oh right, she thought to herself. I forgot that they got in some huge fight last week or something.

Nina rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. If she was being honest, she was sort of angry with Eddie. It wasn't like he'd ever been the best brother in the world, but Nina had hoped that he'd at least be on her side through this whole mess. After all, they were family. But he hadn't even wanted to find out what happened to Mr. Tumnus.

Someone nudged Nina in the shoulder, startling her out of her thoughts. He was smiling at her, looking a bit concerned. "Are you alright?" He asked softly.

Nina nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine."

Fabian raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

She glanced back at Amber, trying to see if she was listening to their conversation, but she was busy laughing at something Alfie was telling her. Nina turned back to Fabian and sighed. "Well, I'm just naturally upset about...you know." She was whispering, but she still didn't want to talk about Mr. Tumnus out loud, afraid of being overheard. "And I don't know...I just feel like Eddie's been siding with Patricia this whole time instead of me, the girl that he claims to hate. And we all know she hates me."

"Oh, come on, she doesn't hate you." Fabian coaxed. Nina shot him a doubtful look. "Okay, maybe she does a little bit. But you know, she's Patricia. She's like that to everyone."

"Well, it seems to me that she especially hates me. And Joy, too," Nina added.

Fabian lifted his eyebrows. "Joy, really? What makes you say that?"

Nina rolled her eyes. She'd picked up quite a while ago on why Joy seemed to hate her so much. "You really are clueless, aren't you, Fabian?" Fabian cocked his head to the side, perplexed. Nina sighed. "Nevermind."

"Well, if it's any consolation..." Fabian said, rubbing the back of his neck almost awkwardly. His ears were turning pink, again. "You're kind of cute when you're upset."

Nina blushed and ducked her head down. "Really?"

Fabian smiled, his ears turning pinker. "Really." He said, nudging her.

"Thanks," Nina said, smiling wider. Fabian smiled back. The two of them didn't stop smiling for the whole time they were walking.

A/N: Hope you liked the chapter! Fabian and Nina are just too cute omg. This chapter was a little longer than I anticipated it would be, but that's because I'm trying to merge a bunch of chapters together because I feel like the story is moving too slowly and whatnot.

QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: Favorite HOA ship? For me, Jara is definitely my very favorite ship ever. Like I ship it so much it's actually unhealthy, they're so good together I could just cry. I love Moy too, though, and the fact that Bobby as Mick isn't going to be in season 3 literally makes me want to go lie on my bed, curl in a ball and cry because I think the prospect of Mick and Joy having a relationship was definitely the thing I was looking most forwards to for season 3 BUT NOW THEY CAN'T HAVE ONE BECAUSE BOBBY ISN'T COMING BACK

anyways

Thanks for reading and please review! It would make me super happy! Thanks! :)