"WOULD YOU like some soup, child?"

I look up from fiddling with the sleeve of the dress I've been lent and offer the badger a polite smile. "No, thank you. My appetite is quite small with this headache."

"Ah, but this will help!" He insists, holding out the small bowl.

Internalizing my sigh, I accept the soup from Trufflehunter with a grateful nod. He spent all morning preparing enough food for me and Caspian, much to Nikabrik's annoyance. I spent that time trying to convince them of the prince's importance to the Narnian cause. Trufflehunter readily believes me, while his companion does not, vehemently insisting that they kill him instead.

Despite my pounding headache, I manage to empty the bowl in record time, my growling stomach betraying my hunger. I place the emptied bowl on the table, complimenting the badger's cooking before excusing myself to go check on Caspian. Being hit on the head twice, it's no wonder his recovery is taking longer than mine.

I sit on the corner of the small bed Caspian's unconscious figure rests upon, the low whispers of Nikabrik and Trufflehunter's conversation still reaching my ears. The dwarf's opinion remains unswayed: he wants Caspian dead.

With a quiet sigh, I lean forward to rest my elbows on my knees, my face in my hands. Even though I slept until after sunrise, I feel exhausted. My bones and muscles ache, and my whole body is tender with the bruises I acquired the previous night.

Caspian makes a quiet noise, causing me to look up. His eyebrows furrow as if in pain and then he tenses, eyes shooting open in a panic. He sits up, staring at me in wide-eyed confusion.

"Who are you?" He asks. "Where am I? What happened?"

Of course he doesn't recognize me.

I hold my hand out in a calming manner. "Caspian," I murmur in my fake Telmarine accent. "It's me."

I take a deep breath, steeling myself against the wave of pain as I change my appearance, trading my wavy red tresses for dark brown, softening the angles of my face, enlarging my nose and exchanging my freckles for caramel skin.

Startled, Caspian lurches from the bed in search of his sword. "Shapeshifter!" He cries angrily. "Who are you!? What have you done to Sefi!?"

"It is me, imbecile!" I hiss. "We grew up reading the old tales together in my father's library, your favourite is the Battle of Beruna and mine is the Russet Sea Hawk."

Caspian's fear ebbs away and his eyes narrow slightly, analyzing my appearance for evidence of any trickery.

I continue. "Every maths lesson we would put oil in my father's inkpot and he'd pretend not to notice because it always made us laugh. And you once tried talking to a beaver because you wanted to be like the Old Kings."

The prince's face softens in realization.

"And I tell everyone the professor adopted me after my parents died of sickness when the truth is they left me on his doorstep and fled. And I told you that the day after you told me you wished you weren't in line for the throne."

Releasing a pent up breath, his shoulders sag in relief. "It is you?"

"Yes." I rub my face tiredly and change back into my preferred form. "I'm sorry I had to keep this a secret, I couldn't risk exposing myself and the professor. I wasn't sure how you would react, either."

I stand from the bed, wincing from the movement. "My real name is Arryn," I explain softly. "I'm a chimæra. My parents did leave me with the professor when I was a child, they were old friends. Every time Cornelius told you my 'cough' flared up and you couldn't see me, I was off sneaking around, spying on the council, or practicing my transformations in the woods." I push my hair back to reveal the purple bruise spanning the side of my face and into my hairline. "I was the hawk last night. I followed you and took out a few guards until you hit me with that blasted horn."

Caspian grimaces. "I'm sorry," he says, lifting one hand to touch the bandage wrapped around his head injury. "I know the feeling." His brown eyes take in his surroundings more carefully now that he's calmed down.

Gesturing for him to follow, I head back into the kitchen, which serves as the main room of the tiny, treestump home. I'm short enough that I don't have to duck to avoid hitting my head on the low roof, but Caspian is not.

I notice him tense up at the sight of the two Narnians staring at us, no doubt having heard everything due to the close quarters and utter lack of walls.

"Hello," Trufflehunter greets happily, spooning soup into a clean bowl. "I hope you're feeling better; I made some soup that should help." He sets the bowl on the table, turning to Caspian with an expectant smile. "I am Trufflehunter and this is Nikabrik." He gestures to the dwarf, who only offers a quiet scoff in greeting.

Caspian nods and kneels down at the table. "Thank you, I appreciate everything you've done. I am Prince Caspian the Tenth."

"We know," the dwarf mutters.

I pipe up from my place in the background. "I told them everything."

Caspian gets right to it. "Then you know I have no intentions of harming you."

"So we've been told," Nikabrik muses, clearly still not convinced. Trufflehunter sighs and shoots me a defeated sort of look.

Caspian sets down his soup. "My own people would not be trying to kill me if I was like them," he states pointedly. "And I would not have left without reason."

The dwarf raises a bushy eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.

"Lord Miraz will claim the throne and there will be no one to stop his cruelty. Narnia will be razed to the ground in the name of progress."

"We know," Nikabrik repeats harshly. "And what good will having a murderous Telmarine on our side do?"

"You overthrow Miraz now and another like him will take his place," I interject, acid painted on my every word. "The Lords of the Council are just as despicable, and they will not hesitate to claim a position of such power and wage war."

Caspian nods. "The throne is mine by blood," he says. "If I can claim it, I can stop all of this and return this land to the way it was. Nobody will have to hide anymore." He sighs. "But I cannot do it alone."

"You are not alone," the badger declares softly. "We will fight with you — all of us."

"Have you lost all sense?" Nikabrik demands in disbelief. He jabs a distasteful finger in the prince's direction. "What makes you think they'll follow him?"

"Because." The badger lifts Queen Susan's ivory horn from the table for everyone to see. "He's meant to save us."

Caspian doesn't bother to conceal his confusion.

Trufflehunter is shocked by his lack of understanding. "Don't you know what this is?"

And then just like the night before, it hits me with a start. "Wait," I blurt. "You blew it?"

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author's note

so I actually have all of the Narnia books and read them like six years ago and I loved all of them up until the last two. idk why but they were hella boring lol all I remember about the last battle is a donkey wearing a lion skin pretending to be aslan and the whole end of narnia thing. and sometimes I forget the silver chair even exists lmfao. I'd question whether I ever read it, but I vividly remember being bored out of my mind staring at the cover trying to finish it so I know I did I just can't remember a thing about it haha magician's nephew was my fave tho i crushed that in like two days.

so yeah, lol apologies for the short chapter but the next one will feature some familiar faces and a cute first meeting between our girl arryn and you know who!