narnia / year 1001

word count: 707

"bb animals" requested by emily

xXx

"Just in here, your Majesties," said the badger waddling ahead of all four young royals as it turned through the arched doorway of a chilly sitting room.

Snowy countryside stretched on beyond the glittering frosted windows, the hearth black and empty and unused, and nine-year-old Lucy hugged herself with a tiny shiver as Edmund stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"What is your purpose, Badger?" asked Peter with a hint of golden laughter. "I see no one here save yourself and perhaps a few dust bunnies. We do not usually employ this wing of the palace, do we?"

"No, your Majesty is quite right," said the snuffly creature as it waddled across the cold stone floor to the hearth, "it is quite intentional, quite intentional you see, mindful we needed a room no one would want warmed."

The badger stretched up onto its hind legs and pulled a poker from the iron stand, banging three sharp raps against the hearthstone.

Edmund furrowed his brow.

For a moment nothing happened. And then a squeak and a squeal echoed high up the chimney, and next moment a thump heralded a burst of ashes as some tiny creature tumbled out from the fireplace, followed by a second thump and then a third, three small squeaky things shaking themselves and tracking soot out over the pale grey floor like living lumps of coal.

Susan gasped, and Lucy cried "Oh, Mice!"

"That we are, your Majesty!" cried one with a delighted chirp, sooty and disheveled but instantly recognizable by its round ears and long tail as it bounded up to the monarchs, black eyes shining and pink nose quivering.

"What on earth were you doing in the hearth?" asked Susan.

"We wanted to make a surprise!" chirped the second mouse as it gave up trying to clean itself and bounded up beside the first. "It is our first Christmas, you see, as Aslan only made us Talking Mice a year ago, and we hear it is a very important thing!"

"Yes, yes," squeaked the third, "we have heard all about gifts, and we want to give a very good gift to your Majesties! We want to do it right, you see."

"We have also heard," said the first mouse, leaning in as if whispering a secret, "that the Queen Lucy has been rather concerned, of late, that Father Christmas does not come down the chimney here in Narnia—rather impractical, it would seem. The faun Tumnus informed us that your Majesties' traditions in Spare Oom were a bit different from those in Narnia, so we have endeavored to make it feel as much like home as we can!"

Lucy laughed and clapped her hands. "Oh, you lovely things! You didn't have to climb up the chimney just for my sake!"

"Oh but we did, we did! And here is your gift!" The head Mouse offered up what looked like a tiny black ball in its delicate pink paws, and Lucy bent down to accept it carefully into her fingers.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a walnut with golden hinges and a latch, and Lucy opened it with no care for the sooty stains it left on her fingers, revealing the hollowed out nut to be stuffed full with shiny black seeds.

"Seeds?" asked Edmund from over Lucy's shoulder.

"Apple seeds, your Majesty!"

"We've been learning our history, you see! We are very proud to be Talking Mice of Narnia, and we've heard all the old tales of the great apple tree which once protected our land before the Witch."

"These are only common apple seeds," squeaked the smallest mouse, "but we thought the symbology might not be amiss!"

Lucy beamed. "They're wonderful! Look, Su, how precious!"

Peter grinned. "Thank you, dear Narnians. We will keep them safe until the palace folk can help us decide where to plant them."

The mice chittered and chirped gleefully, practically quivering with happiness as Lucy declared "Why, it's the best Christmas present I ever got!"

Edmund very sensibly kept his mouth shut about the cordial and the dagger. But Lucy's giddy bounce and tiny squeal as she turned to show Peter made him wonder whether her statement had actually been any exaggeration at all.