Why do you lot make it so hard for me?! There's a certain, very specific situation that if the prompt is to do with that, will break my story.

This took some real thought!

I considered going to the prompt before I fixed the cliffhanger, but I figured that was both cruel and also we don't probably care enough about our little Rabbit to be on the edge of our seats all that time; it would only work really once a character has been around for several chapters.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this.

Prompt #2: Tell a tale directly related to Cor and Aravis' wedding.

I am sure my father did not intend for me to see that letter, but I did, and I think it was then that everything changed.

The fox loosened his grip, stepped away and looked Taira in the eye. She quailed, shivering under his steady gaze. "Tairen," she whispered faintly.

"You know," said the other animal, almost conversationally, "I think I believe you."

Taira's eyes widened. "Y-you do?" She was waiting for him to retort, "No!" and attack her again, but he did not.

"I know exactly what true alyen Rabbits squeak when I come upon them," replied the fox with a murderous look in his eye. "They just say, 'No! No!' You, on the other hand, claiming to be tairen instead, are something different. Rabbits don't think on the spur of the moment in situations like that. What they say is what they really mean." He sneered faintly, as if that kind of honesty was somehow below him, and contemptuous. "However, why are you traveling here?"

She still shivered, but got enough of a grip on herself to answer, "I got kicked out of home."

"So? Why?"

"For changing my name."

The fox raised an eyebrow. She didn't think they could do that.

"I was given the name Alya."

He snarled.

"I changed it to Taira."

The fox unexpectedly chuckled. "Subtle as a brick, aren't you?"

Taira shrugged a little defensively. "It was the best name I could come up with."

The fox shrugged back at her. "Anyway, you'll be wanting shelter somewhere? There are no other tairen Rabbits within a long way of here, so if you can bear to travel with me for a while, young Taira..."

She looked gratefully at him. "I can, sir, but what is your name, please?"

"Paddy." He shifted backwards and Taira relaxed a little. "We'd better get going, then. I'm sorry we can't stay and sleep, but a crisis has come up and so we need to get you out of this area—either by escort, if you are with us, or straight to Tash's Country, if you are not."

Taira flinched, but began to hop alongside Paddy, despite her instincts protesting. "Why me?"

"You're a white Talking Rabbit."

"So?"

"How much do you know of the whole debacle?"

"Very little. My family wasn't exactly forthcoming. They just wanted to educate me into remaining alya."

"Of course they did. The perfect weapon."

"I don't understand." Taira tripped over her own feet and Paddy paused until she was up again.

"They want to return to power. Do you mind me asking, are you literate?"

Taira felt a rush of pride, though tinged with sadness, as she answered, "Yes."

"Ah. You are the reason this whole mission was sent out. We had rumours of a white Talking Rabbit born a few months ago, in the most heavily alyen area of Narnia."

"I still don't understand."

"They need, for best results (although it isn't strictly necessary) a white animal."

Now she was still more puzzled. "Then why did they let me go?"

"Could you tell me in more detail what happened when you left?"

She detailed it, stumbling over her own feet several times throughout. Near the end she knew, through a fog of exhaustion, that she was rambling.

"I think they were just too angry to think through the consequences," said Paddy gently, his voice coming from far away. "I also think you need to sleep, whatever else happens." A pause, during which Taira became aware that she had stopped moving. "Come here." Paddy's nose nudged her carefully forwards, and as soon as Taira realised she was inside a small, dark burrow, she succumbed to exhaustion.

"Sire, something has happened." The voice came from far away, and it sounded frightened.

"What is it?" A tall, blond young man came into focus as he swung impatiently around to stare at the Talking Mouse who had first spoken. "What is it that can disturb my wedding day?"

"There are reports of alyen gathering, with... hopes."

"What kind of hopes?" His voice was still impatient, but now threaded with fear rather than roughness.

"They have found the scroll penned by Her hand, sire. We tried to protect it, but were betrayed by a spy."

"Oh? Why was it not destroyed the moment you saw it?"

"I needed to read it, sire," said the Mouse valiantly. "To know what we must prevent them from doing. However, it was stolen before I had even finished the first side of the page. I am sorry, my King."

"Whatever is wrong, Cor?" called his young Queen, hastening towards him.

"They have lost the scroll found yesterday to the alyen, practically handed it to them," shot back Cor, anger visible in the tight line of his jaw. "A betrayer took it."

"And fled, sire," supplied the Mouse gravely. He drew his small, yet strong sword, and offered it to the King, his meaning clear.

"No, friend Mouse; not yet, at least. It was not your doing. And when was it stolen?"

"During the festivities, my lord King."

Cor covered his face with his hands and groaned aloud. "What a thing to have happen! Aravis, I am sorry."

"Were it not for our wedding," Aravis realised suddenly, "the alyen would remain ignorant, because it would have been destroyed before it could be stolen."

"Oh, for King Edmund to be here!" uttered Cor. "He would know what to do in the situation. Can we not snatch it back, and destroy it?"

"We were trailing the traitor, sire, but we lost him for half a leaf-shadow, and after that he no longer had it. We almost captured him, but he—" The words faded, as if reluctant to be voiced. "Has gone to Tash's Country."

"Aslan have mercy," said Cor quietly. "So we do not know where the scroll is."

"No, sire."

The last word broke and twisted, the brilliant scene whirling into the darkness of a small scrape as Taira woke.

"Among tairen, are dreams normal?"

Paddy paused to look at her in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I dream, a lot. About different people, and times, and—and things I shouldn't be able to know about."

"Such as?" He sped up a little, and Taira shifted into an all-out run, still a little weary but mostly refreshed.

"Well, yesterday, I dreamed—I dreamed of the Four, in some strange place."

He stopped and Taira crashed into him. "Explain." Paddy's voice held a hard edge that frightened her.

"I've been dreaming about them, individually, for a while; ever since I first discovered Aslan."

"And when was that?" His words were clipped, bitten off as if excessively eager to hear her answer.

"When I was a tiny kit, I saw something while my family was asleep. I'd just started to learn to read, so of course I read it. And it mentioned Aslan, and I just sort of knew about him."

"It is ever thus," said Paddy, voice softening. "So, explain the dreams."

"I got snippets—flashes, you could call it. Of someone laughing, or saying something. An old man, or children, sometimes an old woman too. Sometimes I could hear them, and sometimes not. It's been gradually intensifying, only two nights ago for the very first time I saw all four together, and I heard their names at last. They called each other Peter, Su, and Ed, and the youngest girl wasn't named. When I realised who they were, the dream burst, and I told my parents, so they kicked me out."

"Told them about the dreams?" he asked, sounding extremely worried.

"No, about my name. I haven't told anyone about the dreams."

"If they knew, you would be doubly marked," Paddy informed her. "A white Talking Rabbit, who is literate, who has tairen-leaning dreams! What was this last one's about?"

"There was a man, tall, blond and bearded, and a dark-skinned beauty, whom he had married that day. She called him Cor. There was a Mouse, reporting the loss of a scroll to the alyen."

Paddy began to jog-trot again, and Taira matched him.

"You are Lion-blessed, then," said Paddy slowly. "Every side will want you, even the alyen. If they knew everything I now know about you, they would not kill you."

"Why did the Four disappear?" She knew it was abruptly changing the topic, but it was something that had bothered her ever since she discovered their existence and subsequent disappearance.

"Nobody knows. It is said that the Faun Tumnus had an idea that they returned from whence they came, since he was the first to meet the Royal Children, and their horses were left near the Lantern's Thicket. And your dream shows that wherever they are, they are safe."

"Perhaps Aslan took them to his Country."

"Perhaps," agreed Paddy. "To hold them until we need them again."

"That's another thing I was wondering. Why not let the alyen succeed? Surely then the Four would return and defeat them all, and reign once more, a safe and united kingdom?" She let out a squeak of alarm as Paddy pinned her to the ground and snarled scarcely a leaf's thickness from her face.

"If I did not know you were tairen, I would execute you on the spot for such words!" he hissed. "It is not safe. Speak not such things again, Taira, lest others hear of it! Too many tairen have fallen prey to that belief already, and taken the first step towards becoming alyen. The alyen are terribly good at persuading people."

Taira struggled free, heart racing wildly. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise," she whimpered. Paddy shot her one last glare and continued to lope along.

"You're forgiven this time, but be very careful with how you speak of alyen."

Taira sighed. Already, her paws hurt from running for so long nonstop, and her eyes hurt from the brightness, and her stomach hurt because she was hungry, and her heart hurt because everyone she knew and loved had rejected her, and even Paddy was angry with her now.

"Paddy," she said at last, timidly, "could you explain the circumstances of my last dream? The one about the scroll, and Cor, and Aravis?"

"First, it's King Cor and Queen Aravis to you, young Taira, even though they are long gone. And second, that scroll was a great loss to our side, though they were Archenlanders. It represented the moment we lost undisputed control of Narnia; now, those who rule are far more ambivalent, and there are threats from every direction. It is not only outside we must fight against now, it is inside. We are our own worst enemies, and don't you forget it. It is sad that so soon after their disappearance, the legacy of our rulers has been corrupted as it has been, and always on the edge of collapse." Paddy froze and scented the air. "Someone is coming." He glanced rapidly around. "Into that log, now, if you value your freedom!"

Taira bolted into the damp, yet thankfully empty log and crouched down, wondering why Paddy thought the one approaching was such a threat, as cold fear clawed at her.

Cliffhanger again, not sure why but it seemed to work.

I busily wrote this for about 300 words, then got sidetracked into listening to Amira again—and once one starts on that rabbit hole, it's quite hard to get out of. So alas, this chapter wasn't out as early as it could've been otherwise. Also it took rather a long time to formulate how on earth I could get it to work with the prompt.

I don't feel this chapter is really up to scratch. Does it make sense, and all? Does it deliver on the premise created last chapter?

I hope you enjoyed this, and please review! The more specifics you pick on in a review, also, the better my writing becomes. Thank you!

Do you have any more idea than yesterday, what those four words (alya, alyen, taira and tairen) signify? Also, if you were wondering why the varied capitals/not of the words, it's distinguishing between them as names and as descriptions. Does that give you any more of a clue as to what they mean?

Bonus points if you can also identify the specific (Narnia, of course) book quote that inspired me to explore this whole concept.