Narnia:

When Children Cry

Part III

DISCLAIMER: I give up. No, you're right, don't own Narnia.

Wow! Thank you all for your lovely reviews; I really didn't expect to be getting any. You've all given me hope as a writer. I LOVE YOU ALL!

For avalon88 and in case anyone else is wondering: No, this is not supposed to be parallel to LOTR. (Tell me, however did you come up with that? I can't see anything like it... except the battle, maybe...) I'd probably not be too good at that, this is pure Narnia (plus a little bit of a dream I had about Lucy and Tumnus that inspired me to write this... Is it normal to have dreams about your fanfics? Anyway, that dream will be up in a chapter soon enough.)

I don't especially like the way I depict Aslan in this chapter, I'm sorry. I could've done so much better, but I'm a lazy ass. I don't deserve Aslan... or Tumnus... oh, this is so depressing. This chappie's not quite as Christian-like as I wanted it to be... oh, well. Here it is:

Chapter Thirty-Three

What Was Learned

What was it? It was like summer, but not quite. Like happiness, but better. Oh, how perfect: golden and comforting, unlike anything before. Such a feeling!

Tumnus opened his eyes, wanting to know what the beautiful sensation was. At the sight, he gasped and tried to sit up straighter, but was met with a pain in his side, so he relented his attempts.

'Sir,' he gasped. 'What are you... how can... where am I? I can't be... not dead.' The Lion did not answer. 'Well... meaning no disrespect, Aslan sir, but... Why are you here?' Tumnus stammered.

'I have come to breathe on you, Tumnus, which I have. You needed to be wakened, and little else could have done that.'

'What...' Tumnus moaned at the dizziness shrouding his head, and laid his head down on the pillow again. 'What happened?'

''Tis a long story,' rumbled Aslan. 'How far back can you recall?'

Tumnus twisted his face with pondering. '...Well, I remember fighting the minotaur... no, then there was Lucy, and something was going to happen...'

'Something did happen, Tumnus, and it was something great.'

'She was going to be killed!' said Tumnus, gasping as the realisation came.

Aslan gave what might have been a Lion's smile. 'Yes, Tumnus, and by love, she was not. You should know the whole story. Do you remember the armoured woman?'

'Yes!' said Tumnus. 'She was... Aslan, I saw her eyes! ...But she can't have been... Jadis?'

'She was, Tumnus, an evil resurrected. It was she who led the army under the title "The Winged Empress". It was her head general, the Black Dwarf Reslev, who sabotaged your friendship with the Queen Lucy.'

Tumnus would have said something very nasty indeed had it not been Aslan before him. He recovered, asking, 'Please, sir, what happened? I remember fire, the heat...'

'Yes, there was that. Tumnus, whether you recall it or not, you were given a choice to make. Either you chose, it was a sacrifice to yourself and to Narnia: you were to let the Queen Lucy live, or give Jadis the cordial.'

'I chose Lucy,' whispered Tumnus. 'I remember that.'

'It was a difficult decision, Tumnus, one not made easily. You were torn between love and the defence from hatred; you chose love, and for that, you should not be ashamed.'

'Then what happened?'

'Patience, faun. Jadis drank the cordial, as you knew she would. But it wasn't something for her to touch.

'Each wound not only leaves a cut on the skin, but it also leaves a scar in the heart. The cordial treats both wounds. By this, Jadis was met with, not only the strength of skin, but was struck with healing of the heart. Tumnus, you saved Lucy because you love her, which made the impact of the cordial even more great. Jadis, with all the hatred and selfishness in her heart, could not bear the love that met her lips with the cordial.

'The cordial was made from juices of the fireflowers that grow upon the mountains of the sun, a concoction that, in small quantities, does not harm, but heals the flesh. She had no injury about her, making the potency all the more dangerous. That was the purpose for the fire, Tumnus. Yet fire such as this inflicts no wound, only pain. To save Lucy, you endangered yourself to the flame. The fire you felt was enough to take away your consciousness, but you'll see no burn on your skin.

'Tumnus, it wasn't the fire that killed her. She burned, oh yes, she burned greatly, but she was killed by love.' A significant silence passed before Aslan said more: 'Those who drink the cordial out of hatred are met with the fire that doesn't kill. The love kills, but it is compensated for after death. Their burning never ends.'

'Aslan, please, what do you mean by that?'

The Lion did not answer, but instead picked up something on the floor in his mouth and placed it on Tumnus' bed. Tumnus stared at it incredulously, then at Aslan.

'I shall breathe on you again, Tumnus, and you will forget what happened to the cordial. All memory about the event with the Empress shall be forgotten, both by you and the Queen.' Tumnus frowned and was about to say more, but was met with the feeling again: a perfect, beautiful feeling that filled him with drowsy joy.

As his eyes closed, Aslan said, 'No one ever need know.' With that breath, Tumnus slept quietly for months, not stirring, not waking, not moving for ages. Weeks passed, months, and still he slept.

No one knew afterwards, not even Tumnus, that the Lion had come.