Author's Note: Tumnus's song is the beginning of the pipe section of The Snow Queen: Gerda on the Bridge.
Chapter Twenty-Four: A Castle of Wonders
The slide, enclosed by a tall, intricate wooden railing, looped around only three times before Aria found herself plopped on the floor in a tangled pile of soft white skirts. Carefully prying them away from her legs, she slid herself away from the slide's exit, calling up to Susan that she was safe for a trip of her own. Reaching down to massage her injured ankle, which had taken a small, and uncomfortable bump upon landing, she looked up to find Lucy standing in the middle of the room into which the secret slide had deposited them.
There was another fireplace next to the slide, which Aria assumed used the same chimney system as the one directly above it. The stacked stone hearth was nowhere near as grand or extravagant as that of the library's. However, it featured a thick mantle made of sturdy wood what was just as intricately carved with Narnian figures. It was also, Aria noticed with a small sniffle, quite dusty.
The wood plank of the mantle extended past the width of the fireplace to create a sturdy shelf on either side, under which stood a pair of large cabinets made of the same wood. In front of the raised hearth sat several pieces of furniture. Or, at least, what Aria assumed to be furniture, as each was draped in cloth to protect whatever lay beneath from the thick layer of dust that had accumulated.
When Susan had also been deposited into the room, she immediately got to her feet, and admonished her sister for scaring her. Instead of apologizing, Lucy asked, "Where do you think we are?"
Sighing, Susan looked around the room. "We don't seem to have gone very far. "She reasoned. "I think we're still only just below the library." She stepped around the slide, which looked more like an intricately carved wooden column now that they were outside of it - likely why the older girls had not been able to see anything beyond the slide itself from the room above.
Walking around it, she suddenly stopped, her expression growing even more inquisitive. Then, reaching out, she released a thick, woven cord that's end had been tucked into a cunning hook on the railing. After considering its origin for a moment, the other two girls watching her avidly, Susan carefully tugged at the cord. Above them, they heard the heavy click of the secret door being closed shut once more.
"Fascinating." She mused, returning the cord to its hook and rubbing her hands together to rid them of lingering dust. Frowning at the state of them, she nevertheless offered a hand to Aria, asking if she was all right. Confirming with a nod, Aria took the offered hand and allowed Susan to pull her back to her feet before continuing to explore the room.
In truth, apart from the fireplace, there really wasn't that much to look at. The room, lit only by a pair of small-paned windows high up on the walls above the mantle shelves, simply looked forgotten.
"Here!" Lucy suggesting, pulling at the dust cloth of one of the bulkier objects. When she began to have some trouble with it getting stuck at the far end, Susan moved to help her. Carefully, Aria stepped to one of the smaller fixtures and, remembering her promise, pulled at the cloth only with her good hand. Releasing a cloud of dust that the girl waved away from her face, the dust cloth slipped off rather easily, revealing an old armchair, it's dark leather slightly cracked from previous use.
A larger cloud of dust wafted through the air as the sisters revealed an overly large couch carved entirely from dark, heavy wood, that looked serviceable, if not comfortable. They continued, a few more clouds of dust uncovering another armchair, a large, low table, a couple of skinnier chairs, and a small round dining table. All of which were haphazardly placed around the small room with only a modicum of thought as to their layout.
Bright eyes squinting through the dust, Lucy cleared her throat before stating, "This is wonderful!"
A coughing Aria paused her waving momentarily to glance at Susan, wondering if she was alone in missing the wonder of the room. The mirrored bewildered expression on her friend's face told her she was not, though it was interrupted by a rather violent sneeze.
Recovering, Susan ventured, "It's not much to look at, Lucy." She shook her head, smiling sadly at her sister, echoing Aria's earlier thoughts.
"I think it's cozy." Lucy suggested. "Just think about it! If there was a fire going, and we had a nice tea! Aria, you could be sitting here - reading-" She pulled Aria back to one of the armchairs and indicated for her to sit. "Susan and I could sit here and - play cards or something." She skipped to Susan and pulled her down onto the hard, wooden couch with her. "And Peter and Edmund could play chess over there!" This time, she indicated the round table in the corner. "It could be a secret hideout!" She finished, grinning widely at the older girls with excited hope shining in her eyes.
Aria had not sat down when prompted, as her lovely white skirts were already streaked in gray dust that Pristine would absolutely be disappointed in her for. However, Lucy's vision was infectious. If they moved the furniture around the hearth a bit better, added a rug or two for the cold flagstone floor, and definitely brought in some cushions for that horrid-looking couch - well, cozy might not be too strong a word after all.
Susan was starting to look excited as well, though it was tempered with her usual logical eye. "It'll take a bit of work, Lu." She said, and then grinned. "But a secret hideout does sound like fun!"
Lucy bounced up off the couch, sending another spray of dust into the air. "We could start right now!" She said, "The chairs should probably go near the fire, and-"
Coughing and trying wipe new dust particles out of her eyes, Susan stopped her sister. "Let's at least wait for the dust to settle a bit, Lucy." She argued. "Then the first thing we'll have to do is clean!" To which Lucy frowned, then sneezed so hard that the pretty tuft of cornflowers flew out of her hair and into the pile of dust cloths. Wiping her nose, she bent to retrieve them, and tucked them into her belt as a concerned hum came from the oldest among them.
"Has anyone noticed," Aria asked as the other two turned to her. "That there aren't any doors?"
Susan frowned at her. "That's impossible." She said, turning about the room. "There has to be-" But there wasn't.
There was not a single door anywhere.
Aria and Susan looked at each other for one, shocked moment, before panic set in. Aria's first thought was, very inexplicably, that perhaps the slide might turn into steps. With this in mind, she moved back to the column, and removed the woven cord once more, pulling at it again to - to flip another mechanism - something. But, of course, nothing happened.
Susan had moved to the fireplace. Her logical mind, apparently working far better than Aria's, thinking that, as the switch upstairs had been located in the fireplace, that one might be located in this one as well. However, this also proved useless, as none of the carved figures had any protruding limbs to move.
Lucy, however, calmly examined the ceiling above them, and then stepped in the opposite direction. She seemed to consider the wall carefully, along which were spaced a few empty, cobweb-endowed candle sconces. Starting with the one nearest her, she reached up and yanked on it - to no effect. Undeterred, she moved to the next one at her right, reached up, and pulled once more.
This time, a grinding sound echoed from the wall, freezing the older girls in their tracks. A moment later, the stones in the wall separated, unlatching a large - and very well-hidden door. Lucy, clapping her dirty hands together with utter delight, turned to watch the other two in triumph, and was met with twin expressions of utter disbelief.
"How - " Aria started, her jaw feeling slightly slack. "How did you know to do that?"
Lucy's hands met her hips as she shook her head with pity. "Don't you know that it's always the candle holders?" She pointed out, grinning from ear to ear.
Susan began to smile at her sister as well. "Just like it's always the library, Lu?" She asked.
"Exactly." Lucy confirmed. "Besides, if you think about the library being just up there," She pointed to the ceiling. "Then, the hallway is in this direction." But, before she could continue basking in her first passage find, she sneezed again. And Susan, who had put up with quite enough dust at this point, took Aria's arm and ushered them all out of the room before another word was spoken.
As Lucy had predicted, they exited into the hall from under a large, heavily woven tapestry. Aria pulled the hidden door closed behind them, finding that there was a clever latch set into it in place of one of the stones. As the tapestry fell into place once more, the entrance was completely covered, and none passing would have thought that anything of importance might lay behind it.
This particular wall hanging featured a large centaur teaching a very young centaur how to shoot a bow and arrow. All three girls recognized it, as this was the closest tapestry to the main staircase.
"Come on." Susan ordered, pulling Aria along with her. "Our rooms are just this way. We can at least wash our hands and faces to get rid of some of that grime before we continue our search."
"Mine's closest!" Lucy offered, taking Susan's other hand and skipping as much as her sister allowed. "You have to see it, Aria! It's so pretty!"
The two led her past the grand staircase, and down a hall that she had not yet explored. Stopping at a pair of intricately carved square doors of rich, ruby-brown wood that shone with the sunlight from the large windows of the hall, Lucy grinned and pushed against them for entry.
They opened upon a very short, curving hallway that led to a similar pair of doors. Instead of smooth whitewashing, each of the individual stones in the walls were painted a different color, almost reminding her of a patchwork quilt. The sun from the hall behind them lit the colors like brilliant gemstones, washing them with a golden sheen.
Lucy bounded ahead, pushing open the second set of doors to her drawing room. As Aria followed, gently extricating herself from Susan in wonder, her first impression was of an enchanted forest. The wash of gold and green and blue completely capturing her. The entire exterior wall of the room was lined in arched, ivy-laden windows, broken up by columns encased in climbing flowering ivy as well - inside the room. This was met near the ceiling with dripping tendrils of ivy that had been wrought from gold and sparkled in the light from the bright windows.
Opposite the windows, the walls also sported columns, and these were also wound with golden ivy. Between the center two columns sat a fireplace, the elegant over mantel stretching up to the mosaic-carved ceiling. The tall stone of the protruding mantel was stamped with four panels, each a scene depicting different Narnian revelries. One of fauns dancing around a campfire, another of nymphs draping a maypole, the third of dryads splashing within a river inlet, and the fourth of a group of gryphons swooping happily along a gust of wind.
The shortest wall, nearest the entrance to accommodate for the short hallway, was furnished with a wide green and gold couch, over which arched still more golden vines. The wall behind the couch was mirrored, it's glass etched with delicate, though richly colored trees and birds.
The room was not overly large, otherwise furnished only with a couple of armchairs near the fireplace, and a small round table. This was accompanied with a very comfortable-looking chair, and seemed to serve as a desk for the young girl. The top of this table was inlaid with a lacquered mosaic depicting the same tree that Aria had seen in the library, it's branches enveloping all kinds of Narnians and creatures beneath it.
"Come on!" Lucy broke into her exploration, catching Aria's hand with excitement lighting her face. "You haven't even seen the best part!" And now, she was pulled through another set of carved doors and into Lucy's actual bedroom.
It was slightly rounded at one end, giving the illusion of a tower rather like Aria's. The walls were paneled with dark wood that matched the doors of the room, each with a painted scene of joy, revelry, and Narnian nature. Each sported elegantly carved subbase molding around hip-height, a few of which had benches settled beneath them in lieu of actual table surfaces.
Within the roundest part of the walls were nestled two nooks. The leftmost area had a wooden wardrobe opposite one such bench, and a deep window seat under another ivy-laden window. The right held Lucy's bed, which was sunk behind the wooden walls to create a comfy hideaway. The bedclothes were a lovely golden green in color, and looked incredibly soft and welcoming.
The arched ceilings, however, were the best part of the whole room. The sweeping ups and downs of the stones had been smoothed and painted over in a creamy shade, before an artist had set to work on a masterpiece. Sweeping vines were merely the basis of the design, as birds flew, animals peeked, and flowers danced. Here and there, the outline of a dryad could be seen, or the snout of a fox, the hoof of a faun.
In one word, the rooms were, quintessentially, Lucy.
"Oh Lucy." Aria breathed, draping her arms around the little girl's shoulders from behind, both heads searching the ceiling for its hidden treasures. "It's beautiful."
Allowing the two girls to continue their awe of Lucy's ceilings, Susan ducked into yet another room, it's door much smaller than all the others and tucked into a corner of the room. When she returned, she balanced a wash basin and pitcher, with a few soft towels draped over her arm.
Setting it down on one of the benches, she poured water into the basin and soaked each towel in turn, wringing them out and passing them around. Aria released Lucy and thanked her friend as she received hers, pressing the cool cloth to her face and feeling an instant relief to her dust-irritated eyes.
When they felt sufficiently back to normal, she also ran the cloth over her neck and collar bones, even squeezing the end of her unravelling braid to get rid of the few dust bunnies that lingered. While scrubbing at her hands, she peeked at her inner sleeve for signs of red, and tested her wrist, judging the soundness of her injured arm to still be just fine.
"Well," Susan started, folding her towel neatly and laying it on the bench alongside the basin. "Now that we've searched the library," She was interrupted with a chirped "Successfully!" from her little sister before she rolled her eyes and continued. "I think we should start downstairs."
Lucy frowned crookedly. "But we didn't search the whole library." She protested. "We didn't even search the books. There's always a book with a switch that opens a wall. That's just the rule, Susan."
Susan also frowned, not missing the way Aria's face split into a grin at the thought of returning to the room full of rows upon rows of stories. "We are not going to the library again." She argued. "And we are certainly not looking through the books. We already persuaded our bookworm here to let one go, I doubt we'd be able to do so again." Her tone was final, but she did smile at her new friend when she'd finished.
"But, that's the most obvious place." Lucy said. "Can you think of another?"
"Well, not quite as obvious, no." Susan confessed. "But, if we think about this logically, and search room by room, we're bound to find them. I was going to suggest that we start on the ground floor, in the main rooms, and then work our way up through the castle."
"It sounds awfully methodical." Lucy complained. "More like a chore than an adventure."
Aria smiled. "I like it." She ventured. "Searching like that, for a while at least, means that we probably won't miss any rooms. And," She leaned her elbow on Lucy's shoulder. "You can also show me the rest of the castle, since I haven't really explored anything yet, and will have no idea where I am otherwise."
Lucy's eyes widened. "Oh, right!" She exclaimed. "You didn't get to look around yesterday! You were too busy with Peter."
Aria shrugged slightly, shaking her head. "And not being allowed to run up and down flights of stairs."
"Which she's still not supposed to do." Susan reminded Lucy firmly, taking the damp towels from both of them and giving them a similar treatment as her own. "Which is another reason why staying on one floor is probably the best idea."
Aria freed Lucy's shoulder, tossing her braid back behind her and brushing at one of the streaks of dust on her skirts. "So," She asked. "Where did you want to start, Susan? In the entrance hall?"
Her friend shook her head, brow furrowing in thought. "No," She said. "I can't really see the logic in finding one there. There's nowhere that you'd wish to get to that doesn't already have a door or hallway."
"The banquet hall, then?" Aria guessed, partly because it was just off the entrance hall, and partly because it was the only other room that she'd been in.
Susan nodded, smiling. "Precisely." Then her smile faltered a bit, her eyes becoming concerned as they gave Aria's injuries a once-over. "Do you think you're up for another set of stairs yet? Or do you need to rest for a while first?"
When Aria's insistence that she was fine came far too quickly for Susan's liking, the eldest girl was met with her friend's trademark expression of deep skepticism. The sudden tilt of her dark head, pursed lips, and raised eyebrow all told Aria that her assurances were neither convincing nor acceptable.
Sighing with defeat, Aria lifted the hem of her skirts slightly and stuck her slippered foot out from beneath them. Carefully, she rotated it in full view of Susan's watchful gaze before dropping it back to the floor. It still felt just as good as it had that morning, and she said so.
Finally satisfied, Susan smiled brightly once more as Lucy burst into renewed giggles, and ushered them all out of the room.
A few minutes and one flight of stairs later, they were once again back on the ground floor. The trip down those stairs had been far more awkward than their trip up, as Lucy had decided to provide Aria's support. And, as she was so much shorter than the injured girl, the result had been far more comedic than truly helpful.
Giggling heartily, the trio entered the banquet hall through the great wooden doors. A few of the banners from the night before still remained, but they had largely been removed as no one seemed to plan on using the room while those on tour were away.
Immediately, Lucy exclaimed that she would check the musician's gallery, and skipped up the small roundabout set of steps in a flurry of yellow skirts. The older girls shared expressions of exasperation before moving to opposite walls of the hall.
Checking each of the stones in the walls for signs of movement, Aria could not help but think that Susan's reasoning against searching the entrance hall might also apply here. There didn't seem to be anything of true interest to suggest a secret passage. 'Although' She thought, tilting her head at an unlit sconce. 'I suppose that's the point of a secret passage.' She tugged at the protrusion, then attempted to twist it this way and that - but it didn't budge.
She continued down the wall, pushing stones and pulling sconces, lifting tapestries and prodding molding. She ducked under the thick rope holding up one of the great chandeliers, very careful not to touch it or its anchor. Eventually, after a thorough search, she made it to the dais, behind which sat a wall of windows that were highly unlikely to hold any secrets within them.
Susan joined her a few moments later, just as unsuccessful, and was about to insist Aria sit in one of the chairs when Lucy clattered down the staircase once more. "No luck, Lu?" She asked, judging from the lack of excited outbursts that her sister had also found nothing upstairs.
Shaking her head, Lucy suggested moving on, and they followed Susan's lead back out of the hall that, for all its grandeur, had been rather disappointing when compared to their initial triumph in the library. Opening a door quite near the dining hall revealed yet another sunny, mosaiced hallway. As the heavy door was opened, however, the faint sound of an expertly played pipe floated into their ears.
"Mr. Tumnus!" Lucy cried, her face near splitting in two with the enthusiasm of her grin. Not for the last time, she bolted down the hall ahead of her companions, not waiting to see if they would follow. The little girl disappeared behind another door as the flute music stopped, and Susan indicated that Aria should precede her down the hall as she gently closed the hall door once more.
When she entered the small room that Lucy had run into, it was to find rather few furnishings, and a grand multitude of musical instruments - most of which she had never seen before. The floor was covered in rugs, each laid over the other haphazardly to cover the stone floors; and the walls were hung with large, heavy tapestries. All seemed an attempt to soundproof the music room to the outside so as not to disturb others with the sounds within.
In one of the more comfortable looking chairs within the room sat Mr. Tumnus, who sported a fine blue scarf this morning. Next to his chair sat a sturdy music stand, the lined pages held on it only half-full of freshly penciled notes. His pipe lay across his lap as his attentions were now solely affixed on his friend, who was excitedly expounding upon their adventures of the morning.
He smiled a greeting to Susan and Aria as they entered, the latter being very good and sinking into another of the chairs before Susan could even raise an eyebrow at her. She even kicked her foot up onto a stool that was probably there to help musician's steady some of the larger guitar-like instruments as they played.
Satisfied that her friend was keeping to her promise to be a model patient, Susan decided to forgo playing chaperone, and instead began perusing the many instruments within the room; picking up a flute here, strumming a cord on a violin there. When she came to the large harp in the midst of the room, she trailed her fingers over the carved wood with obvious appreciation for the beautiful instrument.
"Lucy had mentioned that you played the flute, Mr. Tumnus," Aria commented once Lucy had finished telling Mr. Tumnus of the Dining Hall's disappointing lack of secrets. The little girl sat back on her heels at his feet, finally drawing breath. "But she didn't tell me that you wrote music, too."
Mr. Tumnus flushed slightly, glancing at the sheet music next to him with a wry smile. "My father was once a great musician." He explained. "He taught me a- a long time ago." He faltered slightly, his smile falling at the memory of his father. "It's been quite some time since I felt like writing anything myself."
Aria smiled at the Faun, hoping to encourage his own once more. "But you are now." And she was rewarded with her goal, his eyes crinkling.
"Is it going to be about anything in particular?" Lucy asked, peering at the notes upon the page.
Mr. Tumnus studied them, too, eyes narrowing slightly as if looking at a puzzle he wished to solve. "I'm afraid it isn't much of anything yet." He explained. "But I do hope I might have something ready for the coronation."
"Oh, would you play it for us, please?" Lucy begged; her wide eyes fixed on her friend. Mr. Tumnus paused, biting the insides of his lips in thought before he nodded, and picked up his flute once more.
Pressing it to his lips, he breathed deeply before the sweet sounds of his pipe washed over them all once more. The notes seemed to dance upon the air, and Aria could almost see them - a little girl twirling, flower petals falling around her, dancing with her on spring air. The notes swelled for a moment before petering out, the Faun coming to the end of what he had created so far.
When the last note had ended, three sighs accompanied it. "It sounds wonderful, Mr. Tumnus!" The little girl at his feet exclaimed.
"It sounds like Lucy." Susan admired, and Aria nodded her agreement, thinking that it also sounded like pure hope. And all agreed that even this small beginning was absolutely beautiful, and told the Faun so. To which he blushed rather profusely, his smile crooked and gleaming.
"Well," Aria prodded, getting up from her chair under Susan's watchful eye. "I think that we should continue our exploration elsewhere, and give our resident musical genius some space to create his magic. Don't you?" She asked this last of Lucy, specifically, who looked quite ready to sit at her friend's feet for the rest of the afternoon. She hid a smile of triumph at no longer being the only one to be distracted from their goal.
Lucy frowned for only a moment before climbing to her feet with a renewed smile. "We're going to have lunch by the fountain in the hedge maze." She offered. "You could take a break, if you'd like, and come and eat with us!"
Mr. Tumnus nodded with his own grin. "I would very much enjoy that." He agreed. He and Lucy settled on a more exact time as Aria rose to her feet, her fingers shoving loosened hair back behind her ear. Bidding the Faun luck with his writing, the three girls left the room, shutting the door quietly behind them.
With the music room now firmly set aside for another day, Lucy led them further down the hallway to a second door, flanked by a pair of elegant tapestries. This opened onto a comfortable-sized drawing room, it's color scheme rich Narnian red and silver. The tall stone mantle of the fireplace sported a carved heraldic shield with Aslan's fighting figure, painstakingly painted in an elegant red.
The furnishings around the room were all carved of dark, rich wood, and upholstered in the same red tones. The decor was a bit sparse, but rather theatrical - heavy candlesticks and large vases in heavy, dark silver. The vases, Aria noted with a smile, were mostly filled with Pristine's prized Hope rose. and engulfed the room with a sweet scent. She drew one out of the vase nearest her, smelling it's petals gently, and then sticking it behind her ear in an attempt to keep her unravelling hair from falling heavily onto her temple.
The walls around the room were tiled in grandly detailed mosaics, and each of which seemed to depict a different Narnian landmark. Aria recognized the Tree of Life, of course, but there was also the Stone Table, the gleaming waterfall that had crashed down upon them during their journey, and Cair Paravel itself, high on a cliff overlooking a beach and the sparkling ocean.
With unspoken synchronicity, each girl chose a different wall to begin inspecting - forgoing the wall to the hallway, of course, as the thought of a secret door leading to the same location as the main door was extremely uninteresting. Lucy took the portion of the room with the fireplace, Susan the far wall depicting the Stone Table, and Aria began with the mural of Cair Paravel.
She studied it carefully, deciding to forgo the notion of pressing each of the individual stones as she had in the Dining Hall. Going by Susan's logic from the library earlier, there were simply too many tiny tile pieces for one of them to be some sort of trigger - or so she hoped.
Whilst awaiting some sort of inspiration to strike her, her attention was drawn away as she saw Susan stumble out of the corner of her eye, hissing softly with surprise. Moving to her side, she asked her friend if she was all right.
"I'm fine." Susan replied, rubbing her toe and frowning at the floor in front of her. After a second, she froze, her head tilting with a sudden idea. Releasing her stubbed toe, Susan carefully placed the ball of her foot on a stone in the floor that was just slightly taller than those around it, and deliberately shifted her weight onto it.
The stone pressed down into the floor, and the mosaic in front of the girls grated as it opened before them, revealing the top of a set of stone steps.
"Well done, Susan!" Aria congratulated as the girl's face broke into a triumphant grin. Lucy joined them at the passage entrance, her arms flung around her sister's waist with excitement.
"What do you think is down there?" Lucy asked, still hanging on to Susan, but leaning towards the doorway with palpable intent.
Studying the stairs, Aria leaned against the wall, poking her head into the entrance with caution. "I can make out a - hallway? I think?" She scouted. "Wherever it goes, it seems pretty well-lit down there." She frowned slightly as the light flickered. "Which is interesting, considering it's underground."
"What are you waiting for?" Lucy cried, eyes shining. "Don't you want to go down?"
Aria tilted her head at the little girl, crossing her arms for a moment before a warning twinge at her elbow made her think twice. "I would have thought that the fearless Lucy Pevensie would prefer to bound down them first without someone limping their way along ahead of her."
At the challenge, Lucy grinned and launched herself away from her sister, only barely heeding Susan's caution to use the railing as she went, as the unfamiliar stone slabs might be slippery. Again, Aria offered to allow Susan to follow her tempestuous sister into the unknown first, and, as there were no books in the room to tempt anyone away from the goal of the day, Susan smiled and accepted, disappearing through the doorway as well.
When Aria had at last descended, feeling great satisfaction at being allowed to maneuver a flight of stairs by herself for the first time that day, she was greeted with a long, straight hallway of dark stone. It's monotony broken only by lit torches along the walls. At the end of the hall, she could make out another set of stairs, leading up and, assumedly, back onto the ground floor of the castle. "Shortcut somewhere?" She mused aloud as she followed the others down the passage.
"We're under the Dining Hall." Susan answered, gazing up at the stone ceiling as they went. "I suppose the torches remain lit so that the castle staff can use it regularly." To which Aria nodded her agreement.
At the end of the hall, Aria was again allowed to use the stairs by herself, although Susan did insist on following her up in case her ankle gave out. When they reached the top, Lucy had already opened the door using a latch set into the stone much like the one installed in the door to the secret living room under the library.
As they entered the hallway beyond, they were greeted with a gasp of surprise that sounded more like a rushing of wind through trees than air rushing into lungs. Peering around the door, Aria found out why, as they caught the Dryad coming down the hall shifting from her more physical form to airy leaves on the wind, the stack of linens she had been carrying toppling to the floor as she no longer had hands to hold them.
Lucy immediately bent to pick up the fallen items, peering at the swirling leaves closely. Cautiously, the wind carrying them formed a more human-like shape, causing the little girl to smile up into her ''face'. "Evere?" She asked, and was treated to a nod.
A few moments later, the wind and leaves formed themselves together, and the Dryad shifted into her physical form once more, quite over her shock at their sudden appearance. Her skin was the silvery gray color of the bark of birch trees, and her wildly curling hair was black with a very slight green-ish tint to its shine. The leaves that she had shifted into were captured within the multitude of curls, as well as on the silvery strips of dress that the wind billowed around her calves. Her large eyes, which still held the expression of surprise, were the bright, shining green of lush treetops.
With a bright, breathy smile, the Dryad dipped a graceful curtsy to the trio. "Your Majesties, My Lady." She greeted. "I see that today's search has been fruitful."
Lucy grinned and hugged the sheets to her chest. "This is our second!" She beamed. "Well, fourth, actually, if you count actual doors, and not just rooms." She then took a breath and looked around them. "I don't think you showed me this part of the castle yet. Where are we?"
Evere, who Aria was quickly coming to realize was Lucy's handmaiden, smiled sweetly at her charge, her expression warm and indulgent. "Oh, it isn't anything special, truly." She explained, her voice light and wispy. "This is merely one of the smaller servant halls. Back there is a storeroom for often-used cleaning supplies, and just ahead is a room with a few warming ovens, meant for smaller meals and winter bedpans." She pointed a finger behind herself, then over Susan's shoulder to indicate the respective rooms.
"I don't think that there's much of interest in either room, but I'm sure that you're more than welcome to explore them. Although," Evere continued, her eyes shining and hair shifting in a sudden breeze. "It's good that I found you, as the lunch you ordered this morning is almost ready for you. They're just taking the basket out to the garden maze now. Madame Luvris instructed that whoever saw you first during your exploration should tell you that she wrapped the cider in cold cloth three times, so it should stay cool for you if the sun isn't too hot today."
Aria felt her mouth begin to water. A cold drink sounded absolutely delicious after their dusty encounter. As if determined to make her desire known to the world, her stomach gurgled impolitely. Blushing, she placed a hand to her abdomen and shushed it as Susan chuckled next to her. "I think that now is the perfect time for a lunch break." The younger girl said. "We can get some fresh air and show Aria the maze, then brainstorm where some more passages might be while we eat.
Beaming at this new venture, Lucy passed the linens back to her handmaiden, and the Dryad breezily led them all back out into the Entrance Hall. The little girl then took Aria's hand in hers, quite happy that her plans were coming together, and began to pull her down the familiar path they had followed the evening before.