THE PRODIGAL

I hit a bit of a snag with this story. That's another one of the funny things about being a writer: you write and you write, and you're on a roll, until suddenly you stop. You can go no farther.

But I got the mule out of the mire, and I'm ready with another chapter! This is where we find out what Selena is up to, where she and Tumnus have a much-needed talk. You could say she's like the other brother in the original parable. I plan to write at least one more chapter after this, possibly two; so we're not quite to the end yet!

Characters (with exceptions) © C.S. Lewis and Disney/Walden Media

Story © unicorn-skydancer08

All rights reserved.

Part 8

"Selena!" Terence called, as he searched the castle anxiously. "Selena! Selena, where are you?"

For some strange reason, the girl was nowhere to be found. Terence couldn't even find her in her own room. When he investigated that room, he found it to be neat and tidy, not one thing not in its proper place—and completely uninhabited. Everyone Terence asked said they hadn't seen Selena since that morning.

When Tumnus discovered his daughter was missing, he ordered for the feast to be put on hold, until they could find her, and he and Oreius and a few others joined Terence in the search.

Eventually, Terence raced out into one of the vast, moonlit courtyards of the castle. There, he discovered a solitary figure standing under a ripe juniper tree, watching the moon. When he realized it was Selena, the young man went to her swiftly. As soon as he reached her, he said breathlessly, "Selena—there you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!"

Selena didn't say anything as she turned to her godfather, but her expression was cold and hard.

"Come on," Terence urged her, reaching out an arm to her.

But Selena only stepped back, her normally amiable brown eyes narrowed and glittering.

"Selena?" said Terence bewilderedly. "Selena, please come on. We don't want to eat without you."

"Just go away, Uncle Terence," said Selena, in a voice that resembled solid ice.

Taken aback at his goddaughter's unusual behavior, Terence knitted his brows at her. "Selena?" he repeated, taking a tentative step closer. "Honey, are you all right? What's wrong?"

Selena scoffed at him. "As if it isn't obvious!"

"Selena, please," Terence entreated her, "why are you so angry? Why are you standing out here, in the dark? Why don't you come into the castle, where it's warm and well lit?"

"Why bother? No one else cares if I'm there or not, anyway. No one bothered to tell me about this stupid party. I had to ask Oreius what was going on, when I noticed the commotion. And no one, not even Father, bothered to inform me that my brother was even home in the first place!"

Turning her back on Terence, Selena ordered, "Leave me alone, Uncle Terence. Go back to the festivities. I'll stay out here, and not encroach upon everyone else's happiness."

"But, sweetie, we're all waiting for you. Your brother is very anxious to see you. And your father is worried sick."

"Why should my father worry about me?" The harshness of Selena's tone made Terence flinch. "Now that he has his precious Puck back, what need is there for me to be around?"

"Selena…" Terence began solicitously.

But the girl was only getting warmed up. "All my father cares about is Puck!" she burst out savagely. "For three stinking years, it's been nothing but Puck this and Puck that, wondering where Puck is, hoping that Puck is safe. Well, what about me? My father hardly knows I even exist! All of his love and attention centers entirely on his son—his wayward, dishonest, untrustworthy son, I might add, while his good, loyal, and dependable daughter remains shut out in the shadows. Never mind what I do, or what I say, it doesn't matter. None of it matters one bit! Puck is the star of the family, and always has been. Both my father and my mother love him far much more than they will ever love me!"

Terence backed away at her shouting, as if fearing she would fly out at him and strike him. The look on his face could not have been more stunned than if the harsh words had been directed at him. When he had finally recovered his tongue, when he could form proper words again, he said in a hushed voice, "Selena, that's ridiculous! Of course, your parents love you! Of course, Tumnus cares about you…no less than he cares about Puck. He is your father, for pity's sake."

Selena glared at her godfather, and Terence didn't know whether the shimmering in her eyes was a mere trick of the moonlight. "Please, Selena," he continued, opening his arms beseechingly to her, "don't do this. Your father has been hurt enough already. If you truly love him, surely you won't want to hurt him more by refusing to welcome your brother home."

"If my father wants me so badly, go tell him to come for me himself!"

But it turned out there was no need, for Tumnus was already there. The elder faun stood right behind Terence, and judging by the look on his face, he had heard everything—or, at least, enough to know what was going on. When Terence noticed his mate, he said nothing, but meekly stepped aside, knowing Tumnus should take it from here.

"I am here, Selena," said Tumnus softly.

Selena was startled at first to see him, but she quickly got over her surprise, and her eyes narrowed even more ominously, were such a thing possible. Terence saw one of her hands clench into a rigid fist, as if gripping something so tightly she was unable to let go. "Selena, please," Tumnus pleaded, looking and sounding close to tears, "don't stay away from us on such a happy occasion. This is a time for all of us to be together, as a family. I can't bear to be separated from either one of my children. Please, darling, please come join us."

Terence looked repeatedly from his mate to his goddaughter, silently hoping that Selena would soften toward her father, if no one else.

But when Tumnus opened his arms, Selena, instead of moving forward, only stepped further back.

"Oh, now you're so concerned about me, Father," she said, sarcasm dripping like poison from her words. "Now you come right out and say you actually want me around."

Tumnus looked like someone had hurled a stone into his face. "Of course, I want you around, Selena," he said, a noticeable crack in his voice. "You are my daughter, and I love you."

"You love Puck," Selena countered. "He's always been your favorite."

"How can you say such a thing, darling? How can you even think it?"

"All my life, Father, I strove to be a good daughter to you. I always did what I was told, and I never rebelled or complained in any way. Unlike Puck,"—she spat the name out like it tasted foul—"I was always responsible. Not once did I betray your trust. But it didn't matter, did it, Father? My feelings and my concerns never counted for anything, did they? You never came right out and told me you loved me, or at least that you appreciated me. You never gave a feast for me, never gave me so much as a shilling so that I could celebrate with my friends."

She stopped only long enough to draw in her breath; it seemed to Terence she had been dying to say all of this to Tumnus's face for ages.

"All the time that Puck was gone, you still had me. But all you ever did was mope around the castle, moaning endlessly about the loss of your son. That's all you cared about. You were so wrapped up in your own grief and self-pity that I could have easily taken off myself, and you would never have even noticed the difference!"

Tumnus stood where he was the whole time, never once interrupting his daughter, never once cutting into the tirade—although he winced at her words, and his long ears quirked lower and lower. When Selena got to the part where Tumnus would not have noticed she was gone, genuine tears sprang to the elder faun's eyes, and he looked ready to crumble.

"Now Puck shows up, out of the clear blue," Selena continued to vent. "He, who has wasted every penny of his inheritance, broken all the rules in the book to pieces, committed just about every offense imaginable, never kept in touch with you for years, comes crawling back to you. And what do you do? You treat him like a king; you rally up the whole castle to celebrate—and you don't care about me enough to let me know Puck was home to start with!" By this time, Selena's emotions had caught up with her.

Unable to go on any more, she turned away from her father and her godfather and dissolved into bitter tears, bringing her hands up to hide her face as she did so.

Terence felt his heart break for her as he watched her and listened to her sobbing, while Tumnus was left burdened with guilt. Tumnus waited for about one more minute, before he slowly approached his weeping daughter at last. The tears that had sprung up spilled freely down his own cheeks as he reached out for his poor little girl, and pulled her gently into his arms.

Selena did not try to resist him this time, but she wouldn't look up at him, and only sobbed all the harder.

"I'm sorry, Selena," Tumnus told her softly, his voice weak and quivering. "I'm so sorry…"

He tightened his arms around her and wept with her, burying his face in her raven mass of hair. The two fauns stood like that for a time, Selena crying inconsolably, Tumnus embracing her and kissing the crown of her head while the tears ran down his face. Terence stood by the whole time and watched, though he was compelled to brush away more than one tear himself.

"Forgive me, Selena," Tumnus implored, when he and his daughter were looking at each other properly again sometime later. "I…I had no idea you felt that way. If I have failed to show appreciation, I am truly sorry. I never meant to make you feel inferior to your brother, or anything of the sort." With one hand, he lightly brushed a stray tendril of hair from Selena's face, and he kissed her once more on the forehead before continuing. "I do love Puck, truly I do. But I love you too, sweetheart. You and Puck are my children. You two mean more to me than anything in the world." He paused a moment, before finishing meekly, "And…I'm sorry if I ever made you feel that my love was something you had to compete for."

Selena just sniffled, and Tumnus drew her close for another hug.

This time, she returned her father's embrace, wrapping her arms around him as far as they would go, clinging fiercely to him.

"Forgive me, darling," she heard him whisper into her ear again. "Please, forgive me…"

They remained in each other's arms for a few minutes more, and Selena felt all of her anger and resentment toward her father drain out of her like water.

She even felt embarrassed, and deeply ashamed, of the way she had behaved earlier. "I'm sorry, Daddy," she said contritely, her face buried in his neck. Terence was moved to hear her address Tumnus as "Daddy"; she hadn't called him that since she was six. This touched a chord with Tumnus as well, and he clasped his daughter all the more fervently to his breast.

When they finally relinquished their grip in the end, Tumnus wiped Selena's tears for her, before he asked her one more time, "Do you forgive me, dear heart?"

Selena nodded, and meant it. "I'm sorry," she repeated.

"Don't be sorry, Selena," said Terence, as he moved in to join them. "We all had one big misunderstanding of each other."

"Will you come in with us, and join us in the party?" Tumnus solicited.

This time, Selena agreed. "Of course," she said. "Of course, I'll come to welcome my brother back. It will be wonderful to see Puck again."

She hesitated briefly. "And—and I'm glad he's home, that he's all right. I've missed him too…far much more than I would have believed possible."