TWO OF A KIND

I am proud to present the second chapter of this story, after an almost three-month delay. What you're about to read is pretty dang sad, so brace yourselves. This chapter sort of reflects how I'm feeling right now about my most recently departed friend, the one who died from cancer. Like I said, I was seeing this coming, but the fact that she's finally passed on somehow hasn't quite completely sunk in.

I know she's in a better place, and that I'll one day see her again…but I still miss her all the same.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this, despite its sad nature, and I expect to receive your feedback.

Characters (excluding Terence) © C.S. Lewis and Disney/Walden Media

Terence and Story © unicorn-skydancer08

All rights reserved.

Chapter 2

Three days later, Lucy invited Tumnus to come stay with them at Cair Paravel, at least for a while, in order to recuperate. Tumnus's loneliness and grief over Terence was starting to get the better of him, and it was showing. The dark circles under his eyes that Lucy had been noticing lately were getting more prominent, and every day the faun seemed paler and gaunter than ever.

Even at the Cair, however, Tumnus was hardly any better off than before.

He seldom talked with anyone, save for Lucy and her siblings; even then, he wouldn't speak unless they spoke first. Despite his growing thinness, he ate very little at his meals. Sometimes he refused to come for a meal at all. He spent most of his time shut up in his private chambers, and Lucy would check in on him from time to time to find him either lying on his bed, standing by the window with his arms folded in front of him and his head bowed to his chest, or else slumped at his desk in his personal library with his head in his hands.

Lucy was at a loss of what to do. She tried to take Peter's advice, and treat Tumnus with love and friendliness. But her kindness seemed to do very little good, if any.

Lucy's siblings were at an equal loss. They now understood what Lucy had been talking about; Tumnus was indeed wasting away, almost literally dying of grief.

Even when they were looking at him directly, they barely recognized him.

As for Tumnus, the faun knew he shouldn't be living this way. But he couldn't seem to help himself. Food had all but lost its taste and appeal to him; anything he put into his mouth tasted like sawdust. Everything else that had been so important to him at one time, somehow, didn't matter so much anymore.

Every night and day, the faun would get down on his knees by his bedside and pray for forgiveness, though he honestly didn't know just what he was asking to be forgiven for. Maybe it was for the indeterminate ills he may have caused Terence in the past…or maybe it was for his own impotence, his inability to get over Terence and resume the normalcy of his life.

All he truly knew was that there was an emptiness within him, and every day he was only scraped all the more hollow.

One day, sometime after lunch, Lucy headed quietly into the royal library. She wasn't really in the mood for reading, but she felt the need to be somewhere where Terence's memory did not linger quite so much. Being a unicorn, and therefore lacking hands and literacy, Terence had never really had the use for books and scrolls.

Lucy wandered aimlessly among the rows of books, letting her fingers run over the countless volumes.

Suddenly she jumped a mile, having heard a strange sound just at that moment. Pausing where she was, listening carefully, the teenage queen realized someone else was in that same library. To her great distress, it sounded very much like someone was crying. And Lucy was sure she could guess who that very "someone" was.

Tentatively, she wove her way around the many shelves, until she came across a lone figure sitting in one of the special crimson armchairs. Just as she suspected, it was Tumnus. He didn't seem aware of her, or of anyone else in the room, for he had his head down and his hands held against his face. He was weeping freely into his palms…as though his very heart would break. His devastated sobs touched Lucy's heart, and she didn't hesitate to go to him. Moving around and kneeling down on the floor in front of him, she said softly, "Tumnus?"

He neither spoke, nor looked up from his hands. So she placed her hand on his furry knee and repeated, a little louder this time, "Tumnus?"

This time, she knew she'd gotten his attention, for Tumnus slowly lifted his head, revealing his dripping face. His face looked so incredibly, devastatingly sad, it almost made Lucy want to cry herself there and then. "Oh, Tumnus," she said solicitously, reaching immediately into her pocket and fishing out a handkerchief, her special white one trimmed with eyelet lace, the one that always carried the fragrance of fresh roses. "What is it, my dear Tumnus?" she implored as she held the little cloth out to him, even though she already knew what his answer was going to be.

Tumnus did not speak right away, but only took the handkerchief from her and used it to daub at his wet eyes. When he managed to bring himself to look Lucy in the face again, he croaked, "I'm sorry, Lucy. I'm sorry I'm always…like this. I don't know what's wrong with me. You must think I'm a sappy, mawkish, overemotional fool."

"Oh, no," she quickly interjected. "No, Tumnus…I don't think anything of the sort." Her fingers brushed lightly through the soft, thick brown fur that covered her faun's leg, separating the strands.

"I know you're missing him," she said empathetically. "I miss him, too."

"He was my best mate," Tumnus groaned, sinking his head into his hands once more, his despair so sharp and evident that it ran through Lucy like a knife. "He was one of the few true friends I'd ever had. More than a friend, he was my brother. Oh, Lucy, where can he be? What could I have done to make him abandon me?"

The insinuation of Terence deliberately abandoning Tumnus was too much for Lucy, and she rose up from the floor and took a seat next to Tumnus on the armrest. "Oh, Tumnus, don't say that!" she protested, pulling him against her breast. She held Tumnus tightly, rocking him back and forth, as if he were a child. When Tumnus began to shake with fresh sobs, she took back the damp, wadded handkerchief and gently wiped his tears herself. "Don't say that," she repeated. "Don't even think it. Terence would never do such a thing. He loved you, I know he did."

"But where is he?" Tumnus agonized again as he peered up at her, barely able to see through the relentless stream of tears. "Something must have happened to him; I can just feel it. Maybe he's been captured, or maybe some hunter has slain him for his horn. Maybe he's lying dead somewhere, with nothing to mark his grave…"

"Hush, now," Lucy quieted him. Her fingers played in the faun's unruly tangle of curls. "Don't worry, Tumnus," she whispered tenderly, "I am sure he's all right. Terence is a clever unicorn, with a strong heart and a strong will. He knows how to look out for himself. Maybe he is just off exploring somewhere. You know how he's always going wherever his feet take him, how he hates to be tied down or held back. Perhaps right now, this very moment, he's racing across a wide, grassy plain, as wild and free as the wind."

Despite himself, Tumnus had to smile just a little as he pictured the magnificent white stallion racing against the wind, his mane and tail streaming behind him like silver banners, his majestic gold horn shining dazzlingly in the sun. But then Tumnus's weak smile disappeared quickly from his face as a fresh stab of pain and acute longing smote him.

He shut his eyes and buried his face against Lucy's front, feeling his tears seep into her dress and stain the expensive fabric.

But Lucy paid this no mind and only hugged him closer, and Tumnus felt her sweet hands fondle his hair and caress the back of his neck.

"There, there," Lucy soothed, "it's all right, Tumnus. It's all right…it's going to be all right…"

She threaded her fingers gently through the honey tendrils that curled over the nape of Tumnus's neck, inwardly thinking the faun could do with a bit of a trim. Tumnus never said another word, only wept profusely into Lucy's dress, until he couldn't weep anymore, until he couldn't shed another tear or choke out another sob without getting sick.

When he had settled down at last, and managed to pull himself together, Lucy lifted his chin and suggested kindly, "Why don't you go out for a little walk, Tumnus? It's a lovely day; go get some sunshine and fresh air. While you're out, I'll make us some tea and toast, and my famous gingerbread. Goodness knows you could do with a little nourishment."

Tumnus understood Lucy was trying her very best to help him feel better, and he didn't know what else to do with himself, anyway.

He was weary of idling about the castle, worn out from all this crying and grieving. With all the tears he'd shed, he was amazed he hadn't shriveled up by now.

So he nodded submissively, and murmured, "All right. Perhaps a walk will help me get my mind off Terence…at least for a while."