Chapter 4: Lucy

Aslan's advice was good, but where should I start my search? Not Edmund. At least, not first. I barely knew Peter and Susan, and had no idea where Oreius was. That left one person. Lucy.

A smile spread across my face at the thought of the sweet human child. It was so easy to love her, the little bundle of energy. Not only was she so cheerful all the time, but she never remained angry for long. She was so ready to forgive, so ready to trust.

I set off to find her, wandering the field, and when I didn't find her there, I continued my quest to the tents. It didn't take long to find her with her three older siblings, surrounding the youngest boy and showering him with question after question.

I stood in the tent's entrance, simply watching them talk and laughing, happy to be together, when Edmund unexpectedly looked up and saw me. I regarded the Son of Adam carefully as he took in a slow, deep breath and swallowed hard. A haunted look crossed over his eyes, along with a bit of pain, fear, and guilt.

Wait. Edmund was afraid of something? I quickly tossed the thought aside and assumed the fear was of the White Witch, and that I reminded him of Her. Of course his fear is valid, anyone who has met the Witch and been her prisoner will come to fear her. But did this fear have anything to do with all of the… the blood I found on the dungeon floor? Probably.

Edmund opened his mouth to speak, but I spoke faster. "Lucy, if it isn't a bother, do you mind talking with me a while? I have some questions for you."

Lucy gave each of her older siblings a quick look before nodding. As I led Lucy out of the tent I watched Edmund from the corner of my eye. He had snapped his mouth closed and lowered his head into his hands.

"Edmund, what's wrong?" I heard Peter asked. If Peter received an answer, I missed it.

"Mr. Tumnus!" Lucy said brightly, giving me a quick hug. I accepted it, a small smile pulling at the edges of my lips. "Are you OK? Did that Witch hurt you? I never had time to give you a proper check-up," Lucy said, eyeing me carefully.

"I'm fine, dear Lucy," my smile grew on my cheeks. "I have a question for you. More than one, actually."

"Go ahead and ask, Mr. Tumnus!" Lucy said cheerfully.

How did I want to say this? I couldn't just ask this little girl if we could trust her older brother, who had nearly died less than an hour ago. Finally I settled on a question that seemed to be a safe place to start.

"What was Edmund like in Spare Oom, before you entered Narnia?"

A small frown came across Lucy's face. "Maybe you should be talking to Edmund right now, instead of me," she said slowly.

"No, no. I need you to answer this. I'll talk to your brother later, I promise."

"Well, I'm kind of little, so I don't remember that much about England," Lucy began, deep in thought. "When I was even littler than I am now, before I turned 5 or 6 at least, Edmund was really nice. He was quiet, and smart, and didn't have many friends, but the friends he did have were the best friends a person could ask for! I was his best friend of them all!" Lucy said proudly.

"So what happened? If you were so close, why did he…?"

Lucy sighed softly and sat down on the grass. She patted the ground and I sat down beside her. We both leaned against the boulder behind us and Lucy continued to speak.

"I told you Edmund was shy, and also very smart. When he started to go to boarding school, a place he stayed with other human boys to learn about arithmetic and English and a great many other things, the other students were awfully jealous of how smart Edmund was. The mean bullies started picking on Edmund, and it got so bad that Edmund stopped talking to anyone," Lucy let of another quiet sigh and I spoke up.

"Anyone? He didn't speak at all?"

"Not without being spoken to first, or to anyone besides an adult. Eventually he didn't speak to me or Peter or Susan unless we made him angry, or he made us angry, or to say something sarcastic. I don't think anyone but me really knows how many times those bullies beat him up, because he hid them all really well. Sometimes I think he hid them too well."

"Anyway," Lucy said. "there is this great war in our world, and many, many countries are fighting against each other. Our father was sent to fight in it- I already told you that. If Edmund wasn't doing well before, watching Father leave made him feel worse. Peter tried to help Edmund, but Edmund began to get in more fights at school. He never told anyone what the fights were about, no matter how many times Mum and Peter and Susan would ask. I think I'm the only one who knew."

"Are you still the only one who knows?"

"Well, I don't know about that. I suppose Peter and Susan are smart enough to guess, if they really thought about it. I'm not sure what Mum knew, but she probably would've said something like 'It doesn't care what Jeffery did, or said, you shouldn't have punched him!'"

"Why did he fight them?"

Lucy gritted her teeth and looked at me. "He made me promise not to tell. Peter and Susan wouldn't understand, and the fact that he trusted me enough to explain all the bumps and bruises and split lips is something very special to me. I won't betray that trust."

I looked at my young friend in wonder. Her brother had nearly gotten her killed, and she was still faithful to him. I wished he could hear that and I could see his response, though I had no idea or guess to what it would be.

Lucy looked off into the distance, seeing something happening in another world at another time. "One day, our town was attacked. Mum found me crying in my bed as buildings burned all around us, and loud booms echoed across the sky. I hope Narnia never has a war like the wars our world is able to cause. Mum pulled me out to our safe house. Edmund, Peter, and Susan followed us outside, trying to hurry to safety. Right before we were all inside safe, Edmund stopped, turned around, and ran back into the house."

I could see everything happening like I was there. I turned back to Lucy. "What was he thinking? He could've been killed!"

Lucy nodded, still looking at nothing, and continued. "Peter ran after him to drag him back to the safe house. He tackled Edmund to the ground right as a window nearby burst into pieces. Edmund grabbed what he had been after and allowed Peter to haul him back to safety, crying the whole way."

I frowned, still trying to figure out what mattered so much to a young boy that he would risk his life to get it back.

"Peter tossed Edmund into the safe house and slammed the door once he had gotten in. He was breathing hard, both of them were, and they were both scared and trying to pretend like they weren't. Peter had been scared Edmund would get hurt and hiding it behind anger, while Edmund had been worried we would leave him behind and hiding it by pretending he was tough."

"Leave who behind?" I asked.

"The thing Edmund had been after was a picture. Of our father. The last one we had of him before he left us. Edmund didn't let it go all night long, even when he was asleep, despite the fact that the broken glass must've been uncomfortable."

I tried to wrap my mind around this. Edmund loved their father so much he was willing to risk his life for a picture of the man?

"Mum decided it wasn't safe for us to stay at home with her and asked a friend to take care of us until it was safe for us to return. I can't really say we treated Edmund the way we should've. We might've been able to save him so much pain…" Lucy's voice died down as she shook her head and looked over at the tent her siblings were in.

I pondered over what Lucy had said. Edmund seemed like he was just a scared, hurt little boy trying not to be hurt by hiding his pain- which only harmed him more. A wicked circle he probably felt he couldn't escape from.

Even knowing this, I decided it wasn't the time to make a decision, and even if I had come across a conclusion I knew this wasn't the entire story. What had happened to Edmund after I had been turned to stone? And before?

"Lucy, one more thing before you go," I said.

"Go ahead," Lucy said curiously.

"The White Witch arrested me, you know that," I paused and gathered my thoughts.

Lucy frowned. "Because you released me. I am sorry for that."

"No, Lucy! Don't apologize! I'd do it again if I had to!" I exclaimed quickly.

Lucy gave me a bright smile. "So what is your question?"

"The White Witch told me that Edmund had betrayed our secret to her. Do you know what that is about?"

Lucy nodded, and understanding slowly spread across her face. "I get it now! We knew Edmund had found his way to Narnia. When I returned home after visiting you the second time I found him trying to find the wardrobe. When I mentioned the White Witch he got rather quiet and seemed uncomfortable. I asked what was wrong, but he claimed it was just the cold. I wonder if the White Witch met him before I found him," Lucy mused out lout.

I shivered. That probably hadn't been a pleasant meeting. But did he betray me on purpose or on accident? I still didn't have an answer, and I needed to figure it out. How could I serve him if I didn't completely trust him?

"Thank you, Lucy, this has been a great help. I really appreciate it."

"No problem!" Lucy smiled and jumped to her feet.

"Lucy!" Susan called from the entrance of the tent. "Lucy, could you please come here?"

"Coming, Susan! I guess I should get going," Lucy said, turning to me. "I hope you find what you're looking for!" She said before skipping off to join her other siblings."

"I hope I do, too," I murmured, watching her leave me in the shade of the boulder.

I'm baaaack! Sorry for the extremely late update. My computer has been in the shop for over a week now, and so I've finally been able to borrow a computer to update. Soooo… *glances around curiously* What did you think? Hate it, like it, confused? Review with any advice you have! The only thing I can't (or rather, won't) change is the pace of the story. If you think it's getting boring, I apologize, but the action is coming later on, I promise. This story is completely devoted to Mr. Tumnus trying to find answers (duh, it isn't called 'Finding: Answers' for nothing!) Though I can't say I'm not nervous for how people enjoy this story, as I write this A/N it's completely written.

Well, let's all give a warm *cough, cough* welcome to Lililtu the she-wolf! Lililtu's name means 'of the night'. What did you think of her? Again, review! And, for those of you worried that I'll create a boatload of OC's that'll confuse you, Lilitu's the last one! OC's are completely written and introduced right there. Unless you get Lilitu and Abaddón mixed up (which would be awfully disappointing, as there's only two of them) you should be able to follow the characters well enough.

Review!