Responding to Queen Rebecca - the forum is at forum/Adventures-in-Narnia/228951/ and I'm sure the others won't mind if you join the Encore two or three days late, even though it's only seven days in length! I'm glad you liked the story so far... and if you haven't guessed it yet, I'm not going to give away the secret. :D

I hope everyone who is reading it is still enjoying the story! I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw today's prompt. Much easier than the other days', although requiring some thought. In fact I had no idea what I would do until I was a few sentences in, and then it hit me, and I couldn't resist.

Prompt #3: Rainbow. Something has unexpectedly changed color. What and why?

It is said that he is a Lion, and I am afraid of Lions, but somehow I do not think I shall be afraid of this one, if I ever meet him.

Hooves made a regular, staccato beat against the ground as Taira cowered backwards further into the log, feeling the brush of dirt against her hind legs. The hooves stopped, and a snuffly, deep sort of voice said sharply, "Paddy! Why are you here and not at your post?"

"Something came up, Leafchewer," began Paddy in a conversational tone.

The owner of the voice snapped, "My name is Akicuter—as you well know, Wanderer."

Paddy made a snuffling sound halfway between amusement and annoyance. "Honestly, Aki, I have to get back to base. Why are you here?"

"To check up on the mission. Why are you needing to get to base? I can take a message, and I'm far less killable than you," Akicuter sneered slightly.

"I haven't died yet."

"So? What do you need back at base, Pads?"

Paddy hesitated for a second, and Taira felt her heart rate go up still more. Did Paddy not trust this Akicuter? She continued to back down the log at increasing speed, and at the same moment as she noticed light streaming in from behind her, the heavy scent of muddy water hit her nose.

There was a single petrified moment as the flimsy wood underneath her hind feet broke and she fell, before choking and struggling in a thick patch of sludge. It was all around her, coating her and covering her nose. Frantically, Taira thrashed around, not caring about the noise she might be making, as her whole being was focused on the desperate need to breathe.

Then a hoof collided with her side, quite hard, and she was shoved onto land, sneezing as she tried to catch her breath.

"What's this, Paddy?" asked Akicuter, amusement clear in his voice. Taira rolled onto her side and shook her ears to get some of the mud out of them.

"This is why I need to go to the base," said Paddy seriously.

Akicuter sobered, and his voice held a hard edge as he replied, "It's still alive?"

"She's tairen, Aki."

"I thought there weren't many tairen Rabbits—any, round here."

"Akicuter, she's a literate, tairen, dreamer Rabbit."

"Dreamer?"

Taira blinked the mud out of her eyes and finally got a good look at Akicuter, who turned out to be a large Stag, just as imposing as the one she had met earlier. He was staring down at her in disbelief.

"That's why I'm personally escorting her to make sure her family doesn't come after her. They kicked her out."

"So?"

"She changed her name from Alya," he snarled the name as if it was a foul taste in his mouth, "to Taira, and her father in a moment of fury ordered her out. I don't think he thought it through, because the alyen would really be served by having her. And she's a white Rabbit, too."

Akicuter cast an appraising look at her. "She looks like a perfectly ordinary Rabbit, actually."

"That's because she's covered in mud," replied Paddy blandly. "I think we'll keep it that way. Taira, stop it."

She paused in her grooming and gave him a reproachful look.

"That won't help."

Taira sighed and straightened herself out again. "If you were a Rabbit, Paddy, you wouldn't be making me do this. This is torture."

"It's an excellent disguise," he said soothingly. "We're less likely to be picked up for it. Anyway, Aki, we really need to get going."

"Why don't I just take the little one?"

(Taira tried to bristle, but her small stature and general air of cuteness destroyed the impression.)

"It would mean I could run at speed instead of going at her pace."

"But if an alyen saw you they would know she was very important, because only tairen do this. With me, she's a little less conspicuous."

Akicuter scoffed. "A Rabbit traveling with a Fox? Don't kid yourself."

"She might fall off your antlers," Paddy tossed back.

"You think so? If you had antlers, yes, that would be a real concern, but as it is there is no concern to be had. I know how to handle my antlers, thank you very much, Paddy."

Paddy snorted at him. "You haven't convinced me yet. Taira, which would you prefer?"

She glanced between them. It was clear Akicuter had been sent for a specific job and was going to do it, whereas Paddy was fulfilling his job by guiding her back.

"It makes more sense to continue with you, Paddy."

The Fox rubbed his muzzle, looking pleased. Akicuter shrugged with an elaborate air of disdain. "Certainly. Whatever you wish. I'll keep on my way, then, and you go yours. Lion be with you." And without pause, the Stag loped away, his hoofbeats fading.

The once-white Rabbit, and the still-rusty Fox, looked at each other. "Let's keep going," said Paddy, his stance a little tense. "Aki will be reporting in on our progress, so we can't stop at all. Otherwise it might be judged that I jeopardised the mission."

"Surely they wouldn't do anything to you?"

"Well, if I lose you, a literate white Rabbit, to the alyen, my hide might be strung from the ceiling," he retorted, softening the words with a smile. "I'm joking, I promise. Maybe. Come on, Taira, let's keep going."

They went on in silence for a few minutes, before Paddy scented the air and said worriedly, "Alyen up ahead." It was a strange contrast to his earlier fury when he first met her.

"Should I hide?" She glanced around rapidly, wishing for the safety of a good burrow like hers had been.

"Yes—no—I don't know. I'm not sure what's best, because if they find you hiding, they'll know."

"How d'you know they're alyen? Can't you pretend to be alyen, just for a minute?"

He shot her a glance. "Can you?"

Taira was silent.

"Some alyen eat a very distinctive plant, which they believe enhances their mental processes. It's h-hallucinogenic, in reality, and poisonous, but its aroma is very distinctive. This is a whole crowd of poisoned." His nose wrinkled. "It's—an earthy sort of scent, with a certain sharpness to it, and a hint of sweetness. Even smelling it for too long can affect you."

With his description, Taira finally picked up on the scent he was referring to.

It had always hung around her father.

She stopped dead, shocked. At Paddy's question, Taira explained, "My father used it. I've always smelt it but didn't know. It's—it's poisonous? Does that mean I'm stunted?"

Paddy sighed. "I don't know. You seem a bright little Rabbit—as Rabbits go, of course," he teased her. "I've known about three other tairen Rabbits, across Narnia, and you seem about on par or a little above. The intellect degrades as a Rabbit ages, though."

"Great," snapped Taira, still reeling from the discovery that her father had consumed a poisonous plant for as long as she had known him. Perhaps it had contributed to his irrational behaviour in ordering her out, despite the value she had in the schemes of the alyen. "Good to know. But what do we do now?"

"Pretend, unless they say something we really can't agree with, I'm afraid. And under no circumstances can you show you're a white rabbit."

"I just look like a rabbit covered in mud, and surely that's a bad thing?"

"Hopefully they won't notice." Paddy suddenly glanced around him. "Actually, you head from a different direction. We don't want to be seen together. Just in case they recognise me as me."

She had only gone a few dozen metres away from him when she spotted the alyen. It was a motley crowd of animals, Dogs, Cats, and various others, along with a few Dwarfs. All looked angry, a sour twist to their lips.

"Who's there?" shouted a Dwarf suddenly, in a cracked voice. "Who is it?"

"Only me." Paddy strode out from behind a tree, his stance positively dripping with confidence. "I could smell you, friends."

The Dwarf laughed and pulled some leaves from a pocket. "Want some?"

"Thank you, no." Paddy shouldered his way into the pack. "Where are we going?"

Hoping to be unseen, Taira hopped nearer, staying crouched as she waited for the answer.

"Towards the land of the Rabbits," said the Dwarf in a lower voice. "We're almost there, comrade! All we need is the white animal. Even if we must train up a young Rabbit to read, in order to participate, we will do it!"

"For the good of Narnia!" cheered a Cat.

"I have heard," said Paddy, "that there is a Mouse of such colour to be found near Cair Paravel."

"What? How?" called someone else.

"I have ears everywhere," said Paddy mysteriously. "Do you recall the legend of Moonwood the Hare?"

Several nodded.

"There are others with his abilities."

"Such as yourself?"

Paddy merely smiled, then looked past them and directly at Taira, with a very slight shake to his head. She backed away a little, confused by his actions. A minute ago he had been concerned about joining with the alyen, now he seemed to want to join them.

"Shall we go to Cair Paravel?"

"To Cair!" shouted three Dwarfs and a Dog.

"To Cair!" the rest took up the chant, and turned around and began to march, Paddy at their head after a little jostling, repeating it over and over again. "To Cair! To Cair! To Cair!"

At nightfall, Taira was tired and hungry, glad that the alyen, and Paddy, had stopped for the night. She longed to forage, since it was her natural time, but she was also exhausted by very little food and sleep in the last—however long it had been.

She had lost track of time already; there was only 'before' and 'after'.

Eating was a relief, although she discovered she was swaying with exhaustion, nearly falling over once, before a dark shape slipped out into the night beside her.

"Taira," whispered Paddy, his voice as gentle as the wind.

She looked sideways at him, silently questioning.

"The tairen need information," he answered, "otherwise the alyen might prevail. And I'm in a perfect place to be doing that."

"Okay," she whispered. "What do I do?"

"Trail along after us, if you can. I'll try and get them to stop for more breaks tomorrow, I'm sorry." His eyes shone with sincerity. "If you can't, keep going along this line as much as you can, and avoid everybody. But if any tairen see you, say that Paddy and Akicuter sent you questing for Cair. Now I have to go, before they wonder at my absence." Paddy slipped silently from her side and back to the firelight, immediately filling the conversation with jokes and laughter.

Creeping as far into the bushes as she could and still see them, Taira lay down, the dried mud making her fur prickly to lie on. It was a surprisingly effective colour changer, and at a distance (though not up close, of course), Taira looked like a brown Rabbit.

Despite her weariness, the discomfort of her fur kept Taira awake, tossing and turning for a long time. At last she was dropping off, when voices rose in the alyen camp. Like any Rabbit, Taira bolted upwards and listened.

"Come now, Paddy, you can't be serious!" A Cat's sharp laughter set Taira on edge.

"Oh, I can," he said, with a lazy confidence Taira had not yet seen from him.

"Have some," offered the Dwarf, and held out the same handful of leaves Paddy had refused earlier. "Don't be shy. Just a couple of leaves, and it makes you so much cleverer."

He did not tense at all, did not shy away, and Taira's veins seemed filled with ice.

"Don't mind if I do," said Paddy, and swallowed the entire handful.

Acicular is the technical term for leaf, so I modified it, because I could, for the Stag's name, which is why Paddy refers to him as Leafchewer—a nickname between the two of them.

Any further guesses on the terminology, or on the quote that inspired this?

I hope you enjoy, and please review! Tell me what worked and didn't.

Ah, I was hoping to be first in today, but the time I took worked against me, and once again, BrokenKestral beat me! (And then SouthwestExpat, too, because I had lunch before posting.) Tomorrow, perhaps.