A/N: I can't believe that I wrote this story four years ago! If my stories can be considered my children, this one would be my favorite ;)
I've fixed some spelling and grammar errors, as well as a consistency error pointed out by one of the reviewers, but it's still the same story. Enjoy, and don't forget to R&R!
The Golden
She slowly padded up the silken red carpet, eyes trying not to look up into the faces of the creatures around her. The young wolf was covered in a thick pelt of dark brown with a slight coppery sheen, although it hung loosely about her joints. Her ribs were visible beneath her skin, and golden eyes peered nervously ahead.
A heavily built, bluish-gray centaur glared at the she-wolf and stomped a leaden front hoof. The young wolf shied away and cringed, slinking close to the velvet designs of the carpet.
This was a bad idea. She knew it had been a bad idea from the very start, but another side of her knew it had to be done. Before the sun had fully risen in the east, the wolf tried to wash all the grime and dirt from her coat in a freezing creek, but she had not been fully satisfied. She knew she looked like a filthy rat. The disgust on the palace subjects' faces told her everything.
Why did this carpet have to be so long? It might as well be a road lined with prickly bushes. She twitched her tail and tried to grin at a trio of dwarves, but they responded with grunts and growls. Copper ears lowered against the silky fur on the she-wolf's skull. They would never accept her for who she was, for they could only see the wolf they hated.
This was useless! Useless and stupid. There was no way the king would accept her, especially if his friends had already looked down and spit on her.
Chancing another look upwards, the she-wolf almost stopped her walk when she realized how close she had gotten to the four thrones. Cautiously, the copper wolf took a few more steps and halted. Her eyes widened with fear and wonder. The two kings and two queens of Narnia sat before her, the very four that had been told to her in stories. How she had loved those stories. But her family labeled her as a traitor for hating the White Witch. They cast her out and swore to kill her if she ever tried to return. Not that she wanted to.
"Please, make yourself comfortable." The tallest of the four, the she-wolf presumed was the High King Peter, spoke to her. Feeling suddenly queasy, the brown and copper wolf sat down and tried not to pant. The kings and queens were younger than the she-wolf had expected, but then again, wolves age faster then men.
"Who are you, and why have you come here, to Cair Paravel?" The High King's voice was kind, and not at all harsh or like a tyrant. But still, the young wolf was high-strung. She gulped nervously before speaking.
"M-my name is R-Ryhenna, and I come to C-Cair Paravel to join N-Narnian forces." The she-wolf, Ryhenna, was grateful for the fur guarding her now brightly flushing cheeks. They must take her for a fool. But as long as they were unaware of her father's name…
King Peter was about to speak, his mouth fully open, before the large centaur who had stomped his hoof at her spoke in a loud, rumbling voice. "You wish to join forces with Narnia?" He snorted and turned to face the thrones. "You must not allow this, this," he glared at her while thinking of a word to describe her obvious hideousness, "this vile monster to even set foot on Narnian country again!"
The kings and queens frowned with confusion until the eldest sister, Queen Susan, asked, "And why, Astrum, should we do such a thing? Ryhenna has not done any of us a single bit of harm!"
"It is not what she has done, but what she will do! It is in her despicable blood, for her father was no other than the White Witch's captain of her corrupt secret police, Maugrim!" The creatures standing in the throne room burst into snarls and shook their fists or bared their teeth at Ryhenna.
Ryhenna clenched her teeth and shut her eyes tightly. Now that they knew, they would surely kill her.
"Maugrim?" The youngest brother, obviously King Edmund, glared at the she-wolf. "Is this true?"
"Yes." Ryhenna whispered. Death could not be far, and as she listened to the shocked murmurs of the Narnian creatures, the young wolf knew that even if she was not killed on this day, there would be others waiting for her head.
"But just because she is Maugrim's daughter does not mean that his personality will show through Ryhenna!" Defended the youngest of them all, Queen Lucy.
The copper she-wolf was grateful for the young queen's support, but would her word be enough?
"Maugrim took Mr. Tumnus under arrest! And that was because he refused to kidnap you, Lucy!" King Edmund stood up from his throne.
Queen Lucy also jumped from her throne to face her older sibling. "That's ridiculous! Ryhenna did not-"
"PEACE! Edmund, Lucy, sit down." The High King Peter stood taller than both of them. He glared when they failed to seat themselves. "Now." He emphasized. When his youngest siblings lowered themselves into their thrones, King Peter turned to Ryhenna.
The she-wolf cowered beneath the High King's gaze.
Peter turned his head to face the large centaur, Astrum. "Can you prove to us that this wolf is relative to the Witch's captain?"
Ryhenna looked back to the ground. The King had not used her name this time. Surely it was a clear sign the she had lost his favor. The young wolf cursed her father's spirit. May all things vile and horrid disturb your resting place, she growled in her mind.
"I can!" The centaur boomed. Some of the smaller creatures around his hooves had backed away for fear of being stepped on. "My people may live long lives and are said to be wise, but I, who have lived for hundreds of years, am considered even more wise."
The High King's brow was furrowed while he thought on the centaur's words. When Astrum paused, Peter nodded for him to continue.
"I was in the Narnian search party that had been sent to look for King Edmund," the younger king shifted uncomfortably in his seat, "and when we charged into the Witch's campgrounds, I remember seeing the mate of the beast, Maugrim, crying for her fallen mate and obviously heavy with pups escorted into the darker part of the forest." Astrum glared down at the copper she-wolf and continued to speak. "I have no doubt that she was born a few days after the war had been won."
The eldest King seemed to be thinking hard, and a few moments passed before he spoke. "And you agree with Astrum that Maugrim is indeed your biological father?"
"…Yes." Ryhenna looked up into the king's face. He did not look angry, maybe a bit suspicious, but no hatred showed on his face. And she felt none for him, either, her father's killer. "My mother would always speak of him to us." Copper Ryhenna paused, and then thought it may be for the better to keep on speaking. "There were seven of us in all, although the last two were born lifeless."
"A curse" the centaur grumbled.
"I had three brothers and one sister, but I never truly felt like I… Belonged…" The young she-wolf felt embarrassed, maybe she should not have revealed so much. But did it truly matter? They would kill her anyway.
A clacking sound caused the copper wolf to glance up, and her eyes widened at the small figure slowly making his way to her. "The eyes of Maugrim, the White Witch's captain, were full of loathing and a desperate lust for fresh blood." He had stayed in the corner, somewhat behind the chair of Lucy. But the faun could keep quiet no longer. "The eyes of Ryhenna share not cruelty and greed, but selflessness and the wish for the goodwill of others." The clacking of the faun's cleft hooves ceased when Tumnus stopped before the creatures, his arms folded behind his bare back. "Beast and man alike can learn a thing or two from studying the eyes of another."
Every creature had focused on the now legendary faun. Ryhenna felt a mixture of disbelief and an unknown emotion. Could Tumnus the faun be so forgiving, even after what her father had done to him?
"Are you sure about this, Mr. Tumnus?" King Peter questioned.
"I am very sure. In fact, I believe whole-heartedly that Ryhenna will prove to be an invaluable part of Narnia." The faun smiled at copper Ryhenna, a twinkle appearing in his eyes. Ryhenna was only a few steps away from the faun, and even though the young she-wolf was sitting on bony haunches, her head came higher than Tumnus' waist.
"How can you say this, even after-" Astrum began to shout, but was cut off by the small faun.
"I can forgive because that is what Aslan would want me to do." Tumnus glared at the blue-gray centaur. "He would rather we be kind to the fellow beasts we share this world with. No matter how dull," he shot another glance at the centaur, "or wise they are."
Astrum snorted loudly, obviously struck into silence. He gruffly folded his arms over his bare chest.
Tumnus the faun turned around, his back to Ryhenna, and asked the four rulers of Narnia, "Well?"
Peter looked at his three siblings, soon to be known as, Susan the Gentle, Edmund the Just, and Lucy the Valiant. They gave him either a slight nod or smile, any doubts about the young wolf erased from their minds by the brave Mr. Tumnus. Peter knew what he had to do.
"Ryhenna," he paused, waiting for the wolf to look up. The king stood and turned to pull his sword from its protective sheath. It was the same sword that had killed the she-wolf's father only four years past. Peter walked slowly to the copper splashed wolf, and when he looked into her eyes, the king knew everything Tumnus had said was true. Peter raised the magnificent sword above Ryhenna's skull.
The she-wolf closed her eyes tightly, and her nose pointed once more to the decorative carpet when that glowing weapon was raised above her. Her limbs shuddered with fear. And you think you can be a true Narnian by cowering beneath this sword? Ryhenna opened her golden eyes and gazed into the benevolent ones of the High King's. From this moment on, I will act like a true Narnian.
On that spring day, the she-wolf, Ryhenna, would be dubbed Ryhenna the Golden by the High King Peter of Narnia. She would earn this title not from the flecks of copper in her dark chocolate pelt, but from the warmness in her kind yellow eyes. In later years, she would also be known as Ryhenna the Guardian from her life-saving work as a Narnian healer and herbalist.
She also forgave Astrum the centaur when he apologized for his outbursts. In the end, they became partners, even good friends, in teaching others the art of healing.