I don't like this chapter much, it isn't very Narnia-like, either. I hope you enjoy, however.

My first phanphic, so be merciful, I beg of you!

SUMMARY:

Part One: Basically, Tumnus' story of his friendship with Lucy.

Part Two: Their friendship after Lucy becomes Queen Lucy the Valiant of Narnia.

Part Three: Lucy and Tumnus reunite many years later, and how their friendship progresses into love.

Disclaimer: I don't own Lucy, Tumnus, or anything, really, in Part One. I get to own more stuff as the book progresses... but for now, I own nothing; I am simply a phanphiction hobo.

Chapter Five:

Friend and Foe

In the next month, Tumnus reflected in thought that the meeting had been naught but a dream. For how else could he have possibly met a Daughter of Eve, and remain unpunished by the White Witch? Oh, if she knew of the girl, Jadis would've surely done something terrible. Saw off his horns, perhaps, and sever his tail, pluck out his beard (what little of one he had), or wave her wand and change his lovely cloven hoofs into horribly solid hoofs like a horse's. And, supposing she was especially angry with him, she might turn him even to stone!

Tumnus shuddered, now safely in his own home and comfortable chair. But she hadn't found anything out about it, praise Aslan, and it had been an entire moon since Lucy had come and gone. And it hadn't been a dream, for Tumnus still kept in his possession the handkerchief which Lucy had bestowed to him.

On occasional occurrence, Tumnus would get a blast of guilt for letting the idea so much as enter his head to turn her in to the White Witch. He'd try to ease himself by playing his own flute, but that reminded him most dreadfully of lulling the poor child to sleep, and he grimaced and put down his flute.

Since he couldn't rid himself of the all-present feeling in him, he reasoned with himself that the feeling would fade over time. He supposed his life would go like this: He would spend perhaps another week feeling regretful, then come up with some witty proverb that would make him feel all right. That would leave him to remembering the short friendship with the girl and the token of her handkerchief. He supposed he would one day lose the handkerchief, and then he'd have nothing but memories, but those would fade, too; for life was meant to be lived joyfully in the present, and not to dwell on what has been, and the Long Winter would continue.

But you and I both know quite well that life never goes as planned, and certainly not in this case, for we both know that Tumnus did not live his life like that, and the Long Winter absolutely did not continue for too long of a time. And Tumnus, too, became aware of that, not a month after he'd met Lucy.

She came to knock on his front door.

It was only a normal day for Tumnus the Faun, for the sun had not yet reached high noon. He'd thought nothing of Lucy yet that day, and was living in each moment.

When there was a knock on the door, Tumnus answered it, jolly as Father Christmas himself, without so much as knowing who was on the other side.

'Lucy!'

'Hello, Mr Tumnus,' said Lucy, smiling. 'I do hope I haven't interrupted anything–'

'Why, not at all!' Tumnus let loose a grin larger than he ever had. 'Please come in! What a pleasant surprise.' As Lucy stepped one booted foot through the doorframe, Tumnus searched nervously outside to see if any of the Witch's spies were about. There were none to be seen, and thus he closed the door.

'Sit down, sit down,' he offered to Lucy. 'I was just getting some tea ready. Is chamomile quite all right with you?'

'It sounds wonderful.' Lucy sank into the chair reserved specially for friends as Tumnus busied about getting another cup and saucer.

When the tea had been prepared and they were both sitting comfortably eating butter cookies, Tumnus observed Lucy's apparel and exclaimed, 'Why, Lucy! your wearing your dressing gown!'

Lucy looked down. 'Oh yes. I suppose I am.' She laughed out loud, and Tumnus gave a slight chuckle as well. 'I'm sorry for that, it's just that . . . well, it's nighttime where I come from.' Lucy frowned, and Tumnus suspected there was something else on her mind than wearing her nightclothes.

'What's the matter, Lucy?' Tumnus said in what he hoped was a gentle tone.

The girl sighed. 'Oh,' she said fretfully. 'So many things.'

'Would you tell me?'

'Yes.' Lucy pondered. 'I suppose the best place to start would be by saying that War Drobe is not a city, at least, it isn't one where I come from.'

'Oh dear,' said Tumnus. 'Pray tell, what is it?'

'It's . . . sort of like a closet.'

Tumnus frowned. 'You live in a closet?'

'No, that's not what I mean!' Lucy moaned in frustration. Tumnus gave her time to collect herself. 'I'm sorry Mr Tumnus, I shouldn't have shouted. It's just that so many things are going wrong. I had to leave my home and my mother and stay in a big empty house with a Professor whom I haven't even met yet. And the wardrobe is, as I said, like a big closet. I was playing a game and went into the closet to hide, except . . . Except I came to Narnia instead. I don't know any other way to put it. There wasn't a back to the closet, I just kept walking and Narnia was there instead of a wall. Does that make any sense?'

'Sometimes,' Tumnus said, smiling 'The things which make the most sense are the things which shouldn't make sense at all. Keep going.'

'All right. Well, then I came and met you and had a lovely time, but then I went back to my world, and my brothers and sister didn't even notice I was gone. And I looked at the clock and noticed that even though I'd been in Narnia for hours and hours, not even a second went by while I was gone!'

Tumnus's eyes widened. 'Surely, it must have been a trick your siblings played on you.'

'No, it wasn't. And I told them all about Narnia and you, and they still didn't believe me. So then I brought them back to the wardrobe so they could come and see that I wasn't lying, but then . . . I don't know, Narnia wasn't there anymore. There was a back wall in the closet instead of just walking into the woods. And Edmund, my brother, was the worst of it. He keeps making fun of me for seeing things, but I didn't, Mr Tumnus, it was all real!'

'Of course it was,' said Tumnus rationally. 'But people don't always believe what they hear. They have to see it for themselves to believe it.'

'And I had to make sure it was real, so I'm sorry for bursting in uninvited, but I had to.'

'You're always welcome in my den, so long as you don't go wandering too far to places you don't know. The Witch's spies are everywhere; you ought to be careful.' Tumnus's face went very white at the thought.

'Are you all right, Mr Tumnus?'

'Lucy, I'm sorry. I still haven't forgiven myself for . . . for kidnapping you. After all this time, I still feel awful. Are you quite sure you still want to be friends?'

'Yes, I do,' said Lucy firmly. 'And it wasn't such a long time ago, as you're making it out to be. Just a day.'

'A day?' Mr Tumnus frowned. 'No, Lucy, I haven't seen you for nearly a month.'

Lucy scratched her head ponderously as she thought. 'I reckon it might have something to do with a time difference,' she said at last. 'How I'd been here for hours, but no time had passed when I went back. Do you imagine it could be something like that?'

'It could, I'll say nothing against that,' said Tumnus. 'In fact, that sounds perfectly correct.'

'I think–' Lucy began, but her words were lost to the large yawn that overtook her. She ended the yawn and shook her head. 'I'm sorry, Mr Tumnus, I'm just so tired. It's very late back in England and–'

'Perhaps you should go home,' Tumnus said with the tiniest trace of reluctance that he allowed to seep into his words. 'I've kept you for quite some time. Would you like me to see you to the lamp-post?'

'No, that's all right.' Lucy stood. 'Thank you for the tea, Mr Tumnus. I had a splendid time.'

Tumnus stood and held the door as she left. 'I'll come back as soon as I can, Mr Tumnus.'

'I'll look forward to it.' Tumnus watched her retreating form plod onward through the snow, then turned back inside and closed the door behind him.

Not more than an hour later, another sound struck hard on the brass doorknocker. Tumnus, hoping it was Lucy, opened the door as cheerily as before, but his face fell as the true reality hit him.

A trio of wolves, snarling and baring their yellow fangs faced him. Tumnus was frozen in fear and could hardly react when they all lunged menacingly for him. The faun jumped back and gave a hearty push to the oak door (which was meaningless, as they were already in the foyer) and stumbled into his parlour. The beasts leapt onto tables and chairs, biting and clawing them to splinters just to see Tumnus's terrified expression. He couldn't deflect his vision from them, nor could he turn and run for his own life, and he was in this way backed into corner after corner in pure and utter fright.

One wolf, who appeared to be the leader growled particularly loudly and hissed, 'Enough of this!' He attacked the faun head-on with such force that they both fell to the floor. Tumnus shouted in pain as the animal's claws dug into the skin over his bare chest, trailing deep gashes, and his head felt heavy and dizzy from the knock to the ground.

'You are hereby arrested in the name of Jadis, Queen of Narnia,' rumbled the wolf, and Tumnus's eyes rolled back into his head. His head solidly fell to the carpet as his mind fell into an unconscious void, and the wolves dragged him into the snow.