Meanwhile, back at Cair Paravel, a meeting discussing the war was being conducted. Mr. Tumnus, Oreius, Edmund, Peter, The Beaver's, and several other Narnians were discussing what was to take place. "You are sure that this war cannot be prevented?" asked Edmund.
"I don't know if it can be, but I think that fighting is inevitable," said Peter, searching for the right words, but trying to sound like he knew what he was talking about at the same time. Everyone in the meeting sat with their thoughts for a moment before anyone came up with anything to say.
"What do we know about the war so far? Do we even know who we are fighting?" asked one of the Centaur Generals attending.
"We know that we have already been the recipient of several attacks, and that the war is not just against rebels, but powerful and dark magic as well. Magic that makes the war also partially against the witch." Peter realized that he had just released information that for him seemed a given now, but had not been even thought of by most of the other's in the room. His speaking was met by several gasps, and followed by whispers.
"What do you mean by this?" asked a bobcat, after quite a bit of disorganized chatter. Peter had to think quite a bit about what he really meant, and in the end, it was Edmund who spoke up.
"What we mean to say is, the witch left herself behind using magic when she "died." She is in a way possessing 11 beings of Narnia, and we have no idea where any of them are, or really how to defeat them. In case of a battle, the army we fight would probably be similar to that of the witched from the last battle held here." Edmund did quite a good job of explaining the situation, and some of the facts to the audience, which was now silent with shock, and confusion.
"Ed, thank you very much, that was a very accurate telling of the situation. We will have to battle against the White Witch's Army once more in order to save Narnia." Peter was becoming more and more concerned about his lack of qualifications as leader, and about the mystery, and secretive state of the war. He didn't know how the magic worked, he didn't know why it worked, and he didn't know its power.
"Have we any proof that there is actually going to be war? Could this all be one giant misunderstanding? We just fought!" shouted an enraged dwarf.
"Yes, yes, we know that we have just fought, and we know that it is not the desired course of action in most cases. However, in this case, there is nothing else that can be done to stop this magic from taking hold of us all, or releasing the witch again when we are weak." Oreius jumped in to save Peter the hit of the unsure subjects he was serving. Telling them wisely that this was the only way to go might calm them down, at least a little bit. Narnia was familiar with Oreius, and didn't question his assurance of the necessity of the war.
"And what of Aslan? Will he be joining us in this fight?" asked the dwarf.
"I, I don't know. We have not yet heard from him, which means he either knows not of the war yet, is not coming at all, or is coming, but hasn't been able to contact us. We hope that he will stand beside us in our fight," Peter had had the great lion on his mind a little bit earlier, but had no idea if he was coming. Inside, he hoped that he would. He didn't really think that he was ready to lead Narnia to war. The last time this had happened, he had only been there for one battle, that wasn't a war. Can this be done without him? Peter wondered to himself, asking the same question that was racing through the minds of everyone in the room.
"We need to get to a business more then questioning the legitimacy of our leaders, and our decision to go to war. It is no the time to focus on the action that must be taken in order to win this war. Everyone must always be on their guard, magic is a powerful thing, and we wouldn't want it to surprise attack you. Also, we must somehow fond a good time to attack, where they will not be expecting us, and we need to be prepared to be attacked all of the time." Oreius was filling people in on some of the things that were necessary while Peter was alone with his thoughts of war and Rebecca.