Chapter 26- The Narnian Moon quest goers' rest stop

The Narnian Moon's surface

While the Garden of Youth quest-goers continued their journey to their destination on the land, FAR above that area and higher even than Asgard Sky City and the surrounding areas often referred to as the Skylands, all this forming the Sky Domain, the quest goers whose ingredient to retrieve was the lunar mushrooms from the dangerous Forbidden Cave of the Treasure of Vanity which resided in one of the deserts of the area, had arrived at their destination, the surface of the Narnian Moon. Unlike our moon which was a barren sphere that orbited our world, Earth, the Narnian Moon was a biosphere with a variety of creatures, both Talking and non-Talking, living on it. However, it still travelled around the 'glass dome' of the Narnian world and stood in as the main light of the night much like our moon. Higher above the Narnian Moon was the very edge of the Narnian world enclosing the world itself, the Celestial Domain which was home to the Star People and Aurora Sprites and other magical beings associated with the area. Some of the creatures that lived on the Narnian Moon were the obvious Grey Men, Little Green Men who were Martian's species and Blue Men who were very tall, sported cyan or blue skin and cat-like features including tails. These Blue Men resembled the blue creatures that lived on a lush moon of a giant gas planet from another universe though they had a few key differences from those creatures. One such difference was the lack of the black 'hair' on the Narnian creatures, their head hair instead being blue hair. The blue hair was longer on the females than the males and sometimes, they kept their long hair tied into styled ponytails and plaits. This female had hers tied into a large blue ponytail using the fibres of a moon plant as the tying material. Like the inhabitants of the Land Domain, these alien-like creatures had their own ways of life and many were loyal to the Great Lion Aslan, whom they had their own names. The Little Green Men referred to Aslan as the Untameable Cat with the Fiery Mane in their language while the Grey Men called Aslan the Golden One and the Blue Men, the Lion with the Blinding Fur of Gold, and these names for Aslan certainly fit him well. Other Narnian Moon species included the Moon Viscacha and Baku (Elephant-like creatures who dined on dream clouds that floated high above the Narnian Moon and caught by dream processors using dream catcher nets and then processed into dream concoctions to be used as food or in dream distribution up and down Narnia including the Land and the Sea Domains). However, I digress.

The Lunar Mushroom quest group which included Beaver, Woody, Straw and Brick the Pigs and grandsons of Trotterhoof the Pig who had been one of Alexandrite and Padparadscha "Paddy's" carers when these two Nekomata had been kits during the Age of Winter; young Centaurs Cyllene and Beni and some Rabbits, were having a meal in one of the Grey Men villages with a group of Grey Men and two Blue Men, a male and a female. These Grey Men and two Blue Men had met Beaver's group as they arrived on the Narnian Moon after a long and rather rough ride through the Bifrost and had taken them to this village to prepare them for their perilous trip to and into the Forbidden Cave of the Treasure of Vanity. On their way to here, the group had been UTTERLY awed at the view of Narnia far below. However, they knew they didn't have time to stop and stare at the landscape and Sky Domain below and had to stay focussed on their main task. The Grey Man Chief, the leader of the little grey aliens had been notified by Martian of the group's arrival and he had sent this group of escorts to meet them and prepare them for the last leg of their journey to the dangerous cave. The group's meal included moon cheese, an exclusive type of cheese that was harvested from the cheese wells formed from the Narnian Moon's geological activity. Though moon cheese tasted just like 'regular' cheese, it was not counted as a dairy product as it did not originate from the milk of certain animals such as cows and goats (of the dumb sort only; Talking Cows and Goats were NEVER milked as it was like eating the eggs of egg-laying Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures).

As the group ate, Beni uttered delighted murmurs as he relished the slice of the tasty Moon-exclusive product on his toast, that slice of cheese coloured bright orange or vivid green, another trait that distinguished it from dairy cheese made back on land. Beaver's group had brought some food from the land to here though they also ate some of the food and products exclusive to the Narnian Moon and it WAS a COMPLETELY different assortment here. The crop products were also bizarre and one such product was the moon corn. It resembled the corn of the land but was coloured silvery and metallic sky blue and was one of the staple components of the diets of the Blue Men.

"I have NEVER tasted moon cheese in my life," said the male young Centaur after swallowing a lump of it, before his face slightly fell from a bit of disappointment, "But I'm surprised that it tastes no different from the cheese we make from the milk of dumb cows back on land."

"I guess it's one of those bizarre coincidences that our cheese tastes so similar to yours," said one of the Grey Men, Asgard who was one of the higher officials of the Grey Men inhabitants and a trained lead escort. He was initially a clan leader but he had retired from the role, handed it to his younger brother and had taken up the role as lead escort instead.

"Indeed," said a female as she took away a small stone slab the Grey Men used as plates, "Some of us still find it fascinating how you make and process your type of cheese from the milk of your animals."

This female Grey Man, also called a Grey Woman, had fewer silvery patches on her skin than the males present such as Asgard and she and the other females with her were shorter.

"Our cheese is formed from the solids of the milk," said Cyllene, "I've been learning how to milk non-Talking cows and have learned where our cheese comes from when I was a Centaur-Kid."

"Two similar products with VERY different origins," said the Grey Woman with a smile of intrigue. The other Grey Men and Women nearby nodded and uttered agreeing murmurs and Beaver's group showed their agreement. Then Asgard turned to the two Blue Men as they set up a crystalline screen (similar to the screens used on the land) and prepared for the presentation. Both these individuals had golden catlike eyes, a long prehensile tail and blue skins. The male was taller with blue skin slashed with darker blue stripes while the female was shorter with cerulean skin and darker cerulean stripes, like a tiger. The female (called a Blue Woman) appeared to have some sort of belt around her waist and attached to this belt was an assortment of bottles and pockets including a dagger pocket and what looked like a medical bag. The male also had a belt around his waist but the accessories attached to his belt were mostly weapon and tool hilts such as daggers. These two blue alien-like creatures had come armed with weapons and a medical kit in case the group had to deal with any wild non-talking animals that lived on the Narnian Moon and there were quite a few of them present in the Forbidden Cave Desert. One of these was a creature called the Arrow-Tongue and it was a deadly ambush predator but we'll get to this later.

"How are the preparations coming, Adonis and Cerula?" Asgard asked. The Blue Woman with the plait, Cerula, looked up at the Grey Man in response.

"Jus' 'bout ready, Asgard," replied she with a smile. The Blue Men also had quite an odd accent and some often missed the initial vowels of words beginning with these sounds and sometimes certain consonants of words preceding the words beginning with the missed vowel. Nonetheless, many were quite fluent in the 'human' languages such as English and Latin.

"Hopefully, our safety presentation 'bout the Forbidden Cave of the Treasures of Vanity will be underway shortly," said the male named Adonis.

"Excellent," said Adonis before he turned back to the others sat at the table. A nervous look formed on the three Pigs' faces.

"That Cave is incredibly dangerous isn't it?" asked Straw. A dark look formed on Asgard's face.

"It is, VERY," said the lead escort seriously, "In fact it is one of THE most dangerous caves on the Narnian Moon."

"It is the very embodiment of greed and vanity as it contains ALL the most valuable sort of treasures imaginable, sort of like the treasure-stuffed den of a non-talking Dragon but FAR bigger and more diverse," said a Grey Woman, "But that treasure is INCREDIBLY deadly. It has been purposely set up to test resistance in the visitors and how they may react, whether they may pick up a piece or not. One deliberate touch of ANY of the treasure is enough to spell certain doom."

"The Cave itself is also actually alive," said another Grey Man, "The Cave's entrance is the Cave Guardian and he always monitors the visitors within him to ensure that they do NOT touch the treasure. That is why we call it the Forbidden Cave of the Treasure of Vanity."

"Indeed and as we will discuss in the safety presentation about the Cave," said Asgard, "you will see how important it will be to stay on your task to retrieve some lunar mushrooms for the Nine-Realms Potion and antidote to your High King back on the land."

Beaver and the others nodded and finished their meal. After this, Adonis called for everyone to leave the table and gather around the crystalline screen while two Grey Women came and took away the food slabs to wash.

As the group gathered around the screen, Beni gave Beaver and the three Pigs a sour glare as he observed some certain individuals in the group.

"I really wish those Rabbits had strayed home back on the Land, Beaver," the young Centaur male whispered, "Some of them are nothing but trouble."

Cyllene then came in and glared at the group of Rabbits, one of them named Dandelion as they grouped together to prepare to watch the Forbidden Cave presentation.

"Exactly," she put in, "Some of them are troublesome like their parents and poorly disciplined by them. You remember how some of their parents and grandparents almost got themselves and Kushanku caught by that Father Christmas imposter Krampus when they were younger?"

"And furthermore," added Beni, a distasteful scowl at the Rabbits, "They can be thieving liars also like their parents. The uncle of Dandelion who has a job as a royal servant at Cair Paravel had scammed a visiting group of Talking Gryken out of their money through lies that he had a visitor of his own come to his house and that he needed money to buy that visitor some food and supplies. The Gryken fell for it bait, trap and cage and gave him a LARGE sum of money which the Rabbit then gleefully ran off with and spent on possessions for himself."

"Yes, but he was a few days later found out, sacked from his job and the Gryken group apologised to and their lost money refunded by the Rabbit which cost him half of his possessions, including all the possessions he had brought with the money he scammed from them," said Beaver, "But don't forget, you two, not all the descendants of Faline the Rabbit are troublesome. The Kits of Fluffy-Cotton who is another of Faline's daughters, are well-behaved. Fluffy-Cotton had learned a VERY important lesson when she and several other kids foolishly let Belladonna loose when they were in Gandalf and Seresute's base which caused the subsequent events and the early Exodus of herself and thousands of other creatures to Archenland."

Beni and Cyllene then looked up and saw a Grey Man discuss with Straw, Brick and Woody about the Rabbits, the Grey Alien clearly concerned about them.

"I can see that Grey Man is untrusting of those Rabbits coming with us to the Forbidden Cave," said Beni with no surprise, indicated by his folded arms.

"This is an INCREDIBLY perilous quest, you know," said Cyllene. Beaver continued to gaze at the three Pigs and the Grey Man as they continued to talk about the Rabbits, Dandelion staring off into space nearby, the three Pigs assuring the Alien that they were willing to help High King Peter. However, they could not quell the Grey Man's uncertainty about Dandelion and the other accompanying Rabbits except a few. Then Beaver, Cyllene and Beni heard Adonis and Cerula call everyone to the crystalline screen.

"It's time for our safety presentation," said Beaver and with that, he darted off to join the crowd. Cyllene and Beni exchanged gazes and turned them to the Rabbits as they also joined the others to prepare for the presentation. Sighing, the two young Centaurs also joined the group.