THE PRODIGAL
Gee, this has proven easier to write than I thought! Only two days, and already we're halfway done! I never meant to make this a very long story, anyway. Well, here is the next bit, where we see how Tumnus and everyone else are faring while Puck's out and about. If you pay attention, there are subtle indications that Lucy may still be living in Narnia. I figure she's out there somewhere, doing something, being a figure of royalty and all that. Or, something could have come about her and her siblings. I couldn't say. Again, Tumnus and his kids are the primary focus of this story.
Characters (with exceptions) © C.S. Lewis and Disney/Walden Media
Story © unicorn-skydancer08
All rights reserved.
Part 4
"Tea time, Father," Selena announced as she stepped lightly into Tumnus's study, carrying a silver tray in her hands. The tray was laden with all the fixings for an exquisite tea, and Selena made sure to include the fried sardines her father always loved. She found her father sitting at his desk, as she expected.
Tumnus was bent forward at the time, one hand resting against his forehead, the other scribbling away at a piece of parchment with a loaded quill. Tumnus looked up after a moment, and smiled weakly at his daughter. "Thank you, Selena," he said softly, as she placed the tray onto the edge of his desk, "but that'll be all right. I'm not really in the mood for tea right now."
"But it's your favorite," Selena protested. "I even added extra honey to the tea, and I made Mother's special sugar cookies just for the occasion."
"I appreciate the gesture, sweetheart," said Tumnus gently, "really, I do. Thank you, but no thank you."
Selena's shoulders drooped in disappointment, and she sighed.
Seeing the look on his daughter's face, Tumnus relented. "Well…maybe just one cookie, at least," he said with a slight smile, and he reached for the pile of sugar cookies and selected the one on the very top. "Especially if they're anything like the ones your mother makes," he added, just before sinking his teeth into the warm cookie and taking a bite.
Selena smiled a little herself, but inwardly, she was still troubled.
Ever since Puck left them, her father hadn't been the same. He ate very little, and seldom talked with anyone. Even Terence was lucky to get more than five words out of Tumnus at a time.
At night, Tumnus often awoke gasping from terrible nightmares in which Puck's lifeless body lay in some cold, dark, remote place, beaten and bloody, while ominous birds of prey circled overhead. Just the mention of Puck's name was enough to bring tears to the elder faun's eyes, and choke him up. Whenever Tumnus wasn't rushed off his hooves with too many responsibilities in the palace, he often spent his time shut up in his study, or in his private chambers. More than once, Selena caught her father engaged in fervent prayer—whether it was at his desk, or at the side of his bed in his room. He hardly ever said anything aloud, but Selena would know he was praying about Puck, pleading with Aslan to send him back home safely.
Once, Tumnus had even gone out into the garden to pray, and he stayed there for nearly three hours straight.
But it had been nearly three years since Puck's departure. By now, Selena was coming to the conclusion that her brother was not coming back.
Though she was almost as devastated as her father was to have Puck gone, a small, stubborn part of her insisted that Puck deserved whatever he got.
Since he was so ridiculously convinced he would make it through on his own merits, that he didn't need anybody, then let him go, and good riddance!
In addition to that, Selena also couldn't help feeling some jealousy toward her brother. Sometimes it seemed to her that Tumnus cared more about Puck than he cared about her. Sometimes it seemed that both her parents loved him the most, and favored him above all else, including her. Puck's wishes, Puck's needs, always came before her own.
There were times, such as now, when Selena felt more like excessive baggage than an actual member of the family.
At least she knew for certain that Terence had always cared. He was never too busy to be with her, no matter what he was doing.
After Puck ran away, Terence never failed to be there for Selena, to comfort her, to talk to her, or to listen to her talk, or to simply hold her in his arms while she cried.
"Are you all right, Selena?" Tumnus could somehow perceive his daughter's thoughts, could sense something was gnawing away at her heart and soul. "Is there something you wish to tell me?"
Selena longed to tell her father everything she was feeling inside, but she didn't know how to put it into proper words, so she only shrugged and said, "Oh…I just miss him, is all."
Tumnus didn't need to ask whom she meant by "him", and he sighed and put the half-eaten cookie aside for the time being.
"So do I, sweetheart," he said quietly, his expression grave. "More than I ever would have believed possible."
"He's been gone a long time," Selena admitted. Then, unable to help it, she blurted out, "Sometimes—sometimes I think he's never coming back, that none of us will ever see him again!"
Tumnus rose to his feet at that, though he took his time doing so, and his voice was sad yet gentle as he spoke. "We can't lose faith, Selena. Puck will come back to us, one day or another. That's my hope, anyway. And, you know, we really shouldn't make Puck's decisions for him. If he wishes to leave us, and live his own life, we should love him enough to let him go. Someone very wise once said that if you truly love someone, you must let them go; if they love you in return, they'll come back to you in the end."
"Puck's probably way too happy and far too busy wallowing in his own precious wealth to even be thinking about us," said Selena, speaking with a slight but noticeable hint of bitterness. "He's never even kept in touch with us, Father. In all the three years that he's been gone, we haven't received so much as one meager message from him."
Tumnus closed his eyes at that, looking almost like he might break, and Selena immediately regretted having said such things.
But when Tumnus spoke again, he said softly, "That is true. To receive a letter from my son every now and again would have made his absence at least a little more bearable, for me." He opened his eyes once more, and continued, "It is not our place to determine how Puck feels, or what he thinks, Selena. You cannot judge a person's heart. I am more than convinced that Puck hasn't forgotten us, that he probably misses us as much as we miss him. Let him go, let him live his own life…and, if it be Aslan's will, may he return home to us soon, safe and sound."