Holy…. Cow. That's all I can say. I am blown away from all the reviews I have received; they are just so uplifting, I have no words to describe it. Thank you all so much, THANK YOU THANK YOU! Alas, I haven't enough time to reply to all of you, but just know that this whole story is dedicated to all you guys. I think I'm going to cry now. In happiness, I mean. Yay.
Arrele: So touching. We don't own any of this, and if we did, we would be frolicking in the snow right now. But since we don't, all we are stuck with is freezing rain.
Previously…
Miserably the Faun turned and watched as the shades of gray and white became stained with crimson. The statues, now made of scarlet stone, began to melt at his feet. Tumnus knew there was nothing he could do. Desolately he closed his eyes and waited for the end.
"Thomas? Silly boy, quit thrashing around and wake up!" A familiar voice floated down through the bloody snowflakes to him, making him take his hands away from his face and look up towards the heavens in confusion. Where was that coming from? Was it back in War Drobe? It seemed so far away from where he was.
"Do I have to do everything myself around here? WAKE UP!" The world around him jerked dangerously, knocking him to the ground and into the dark abyss below.
Tumnus opened his eyes, taking in a trembling breath, almost afraid to look around and see where he was. He needn't have worried, for Mrs. Macready was solid proof that he was back in the realm of the waking.
"For goodness sakes, were you trying to wake up the whole mansion?" The woman was dressed in a flowery nightgown and a huge nightcap, hands on her hips and face a mask of intolerance.
Tumnus sat up and tried not to look at her, since she was almost as scary as the nightmare he had just endured. "No, Lady, I did not mean to yell and create a fuss. It was a nightmare. I'm sorry."
He sounded so tired and melancholy that even Mrs. Macready had to warm up to him just a tiny bit, even if he did still wear that ridiculous goat costume. "Well, in that case, since you won't be going back to sleep anytime soon, I guess I'll have to supervise you. I can't have you wandering around in the middle of the night with all those valuable artifacts of the Professor. Come with me."
For a moment Tumnus was hesitant to follow her, but he decided it was better than staying in bed and succumbing to his nightmares. Carefully he slipped out from underneath the light bedcovers and ambled over to her, aware of her disapproval of his appearance. It was like she had never seen a Faun before, the way she stared at him. Weren't there Fauns here in Spare Oom? He would ask that later. Now he had to concentrate on not losing her in the dark halls of the house.
"Come on now, hurry up, and keep those hooves of yours from making too much sound; if the Professor or the children wake up at this time of night I'll hear no end of it." Mrs. Macready, candle in hand, didn't even bother to look behind her to see if he was following or not; she could hear him treading on the hardwood floor behind her.
Tumnus suppressed the irritated comment he was about to make about the hoof silencing. He couldn't control that as much as she could control the noise she made when she talked to him. It seemed that she could only talk in one volume and tone: loud and stern.
He suddenly picked up on the meaning in her orders and felt a jolt of surprise. Children? Could it possibly be Lucy and the others? It was almost too delicate to ask, for fear that if he did ask it would be some other children and not his friends he so desperately wanted to see again. But if he did not ask then he would never know, and this was something he had to know.
"I'm sorry, but did you say children?" He asked, trying to whisper loud enough for her to hear but not loud enough for her to yell at him again.
Mrs. Macready turned to look at him as they went down a flight of stairs. "Yes, I said children. Clean out your goaty ears and listen. We're almost there."
The two midnight wanderers finally arrived in the kitchen, where Tumnus suddenly found himself forced to sit in a chair at a well washed wooden table while the housekeeper busied herself at the stove.
The Faun watched her for a moment, wondering what she was doing, and then asked, "Does the Professor have children? I mean, are they his children, or are they-"
"No, they are not his children. The four Pevensie children have come to live here because of the air-raids in London." She frowned at his confused expression. "Don't tell me you haven't heard of the air-raids in London."
Tumnus looked at the table. "Well, actually, no, I haven't. I have never been to London, nor have I heard of these aire reads."
"Good grief, where have you been? Don't you know anything about the current events?" She didn't wait for a response. "Yes, sometimes I feel sorry for those children when they aren't destroying the valuable artifacts. Why are you so interested in them?"
Tumnus wondered if he should tell her that he was friends with the Pevensie children. So far the woman at the stove made no indication that she was aware of Narnia, and telling her about his meeting with Lucy might lead to strange questions. He was beginning to doubt that he was anywhere near Narnia anymore, since he had only seen humans here and could not feel that magic that was ever present in Narnia. No, he would not tell her the whole truth yet, until he could think of a way to explain the whole situation.
Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he said, "No reason. I was just curious." This was said with as much innocence as he could muster.
Mrs. Macready stared at him critically for a moment. "Very well." She picked two mugs off the counter and carried them over to the table, handing one to him and keeping one for herself. Tumnus sniffed the steaming brown liquid suspiciously.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, Thomas, it's just hot chocolate. Drink it." The woman took a sip of it herself and glared at him over the rim of the mug.
The Faun took a drink and immediately cheered up at the warm, chocolatey taste. "Thank you." He said, closing his eyes to revel in the small comfort.
"Well, you looked like you needed it." She leaned forward a little, glasses reflecting the overhead light. "Now, tell me what is troubling you, goat boy. And don't lie to me, I can tell that something is upsetting you."
The Faun slowly lowered his mug and wrapped his hands around it, biting his lip. He didn't want to trouble her with his problems, but she did deserve some kind of explanation. And her glare made it hard to say no. "Well, I've been having these nightmares…" With that he told her of his dreams, replacing Lucy and the others with people that were of no importance, making it seem like he had just had a few bad run-ins with nightmares.
Mrs. Macready listened silently, nodding every once in a while, keeping her eyes on his. There was something different about this boy, she thought, and it has nothing to do with his goat fancies. She would figure him out sometime before he left, she resolved.
"It seems you have an over active imagination, Mr. Thomas." She said ignoring the annoyed expression she received when she said the name.
"Pardon?" Tumnus almost choked on his hot chocolate. That was the last thing he had been expecting.
"You heard me. You need to learn how to stick with reality and get your dreams straightened out. If you don't get a grip on real things you won't get a wink of sleep." She stood, taking their empty mugs and rinsing them in the sink. "Now, off to bed with you, and no more imagining things, you hear?"
Tumnus stood and nodded. "Okay. Thank you for listening." He wasn't sure what the whole point of this little midnight adventure was, but at least she hadn't whacked him again with the umbrella. His head was still sore.
((Sorry, sorry, but I have to interrupt to say that…. IT'S SNOWING! Okay, I'm sorry again, but it's just so…. Fantastic. We never get snow here. I guess I own Narnia now, lol!))
The rest of the night was nightmare free, and in the morning Tumnus was almost skeptical of his visit with Mrs. Macready in the middle of the night. It was hard to believe that the unyielding woman would be kind enough to offer him hot chocolate and a person to talk to when he had upset her earlier with the chase throughout the mansion.
Stretching, he walked over to the window and looked out, happy to see that there were plenty of trees in this land with plenty of sunshine. Well, at least that was the same as Narnia. For a while he could pretend that he wasn't in a strange house with odd people.
Then he remembered what Mrs. Macready had told him about the Pevensie children, and he grinned. Maybe they were awake now, and he could go and see them! Cheerfully he left his room and started down the hall, thoughts of seeing his friends on his mind.
And that is how he became lost.
Since he had come through the wardrobe, Tumnus had not had enough time to actually explore the mansion and figure out the layout. Pausing in his excited walk, he tapped his chin thoughtfully. Where exactly was he going in the first place? He had been so thrilled to see Lucy in this strange place he hadn't considered on where she was.
He was still standing in the hall when Mrs. Macready found him. All warmth towards him was gone, and she marched straight up to him and pulled his ear, saying, "Where do you think you're going, Mr. Thomas?"
Tumnus hollered in pain as his ear was yanked on. "Let go! Ow! Ow!" His poor head hurt more than ever, all thanks to Mrs. Macready.
He was sure his ear was going to be ripped off when he heard a startled gasp from behind him, and him and Mrs. Macready turned to see Susan standing in the hall, a look of surprised amusement upon her face.
"Mr. Tumnus! What are you doing here?" She ran up to hug him but stopped and said to, "Mrs. Macready, what are you doing?"
"This young man was about to go wandering about the house alone; probably to steal some valuable artifacts and such. I was about to take him to the Professor."
Susan looked at Tumnus oddly, as if she was about to ask something more, but instead she said, "Well, I can take him for you, if you don't mind."
"But I do mind." The woman said stubbornly, still holding onto his ear. At first she had been sure that the ear was fake so she didn't have any problem holding onto it, but as she tugged it became more and more apparent that it was indeed real. Not only was this unsettling but it was also intriguing. In addition to this interesting bit of information it seemed that Susan knew him as well.
"Please, Mrs. Macready, he won't be any trouble. In fact, I was going to see the Professor right now." Susan pleaded.
"Ah, child, you are relentless! I'll be happy when you all leave the house in peace. Fine, fine, take him! But if there are any broken statues, you'll be in big trouble." Tumnus suddenly found himself free of the woman's iron grasp.
"Thank you, Mrs. Macready!" Susan said brightly, taking Tumnus by the hand and leading him down the hall. Once they were out of sight the girl hugged him and asked, "Mr. Tumnus, how did you get here? When?"
"I- I don't know. I just arrived here yesterday." He looked at her in a mixture of bafflement and delight. "I was looking for Lucy in the forest near Cair Paravel, and then I ended up here. When did you get here?"
"Yesterday. We left Cair Paravel in the middle of the night, although why we don't know. It seems that we all just woke up here, and now we can't go back." She looked very sad as she said this.
"But why can't you return to Narnia?" Tumnus asked, not understanding.
"The wardrobe won't let us. You do remember it? It's sort of a… portal between this place and Narnia. It's only open at some times." Susan patted his arm sympathetically.
None of it made sense to Tumnus, but it was all lost when they entered the study of the Professor. There Peter, Edmund, Lucy and Professor Kirke were seated and talking in quiet voices. As soon as Susan and Tumnus set foot in the room it went silent, the children staring at the two in astonishment.
"Mr. Tumnus?" Lucy asked, her expression changing from sober to jubilant. "Mr. Tumnus!"
Tumnus let go of Susan's hand and scooped up Lucy in his arms, feeling as it he hadn't seen her in a million years. Peter and Edmund stood to welcome the Faun. Professor Kirke just smiled.
"Mr. Tumnus, how did you get here?" Edmund asked.
"He arrived the same way we did." Susan said.
"So he can't go back like us?" Peter inquired.
"I don't know." Susan said, looking at Tumnus. "Have you tried to go back?"
"No, I haven't. I can go back, can't I?" He was beginning to become worried again. Sure, it would be nice to explore Spare Oom a little with Lucy and the others, but he did miss home.
"Well, let's try!" Lucy said excitedly, taking Tumnus by the arm and pulling him out the door. Soon they were in the spare room, staring at the wardrobe hopefully.
"Well, go on, give it a try." Edmund said, motioning for Tumnus to go up to the magical piece of furniture.
Tumnus nodded and walked uncertainly up to it, putting his hand on the doorknob. He could feel the anxiety in the room, as if he was their only hope of reopening the portal. Would he do it? Or would he be stuck here with the others? This was the time to find out.
Uh oh, looks like I must stop. Sorry folks! I will type as fast as I can and update soon! Thank you for all your support. I hope that I answered some questions. Some I can't answer without giving stuff away, sorry. Bye!