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         THAT NIGHT, DOROTHY stared into the fire of the lit candle on the side table near her side. Lucy slept beside her while Susan slept in her bed across from them. Dorothy couldn't sleep without thinking that Narnia was real or not. So, she sat up, pulled the covers off her, and slipped on a robe and a pair of boots. She grabbed the candle, walked out of her room quietly, and headed towards the room with the wardrobe.

Dorothy entered the spare room and slowly walked over to the wardrobe. Hesitantly, she opened the door and instantly felt a cold breeze that blew out the fire from her candle. The young blonde girl smiled widely before entering the wardrobe to get to Narnia and ran off to find Mr. Tumnus' house. Once she reached his house, she gently knocked on his door.

"Who is it?" She heard Mr. Tumnus from inside.

"Mr. Tumnus, it's me! It's Dorothy Pevensie!" Dorothy replied with a huge smile.

She heard the hooves of Mr. Tumnus coming towards the door. When he opened it, he looked down at her. "Why have you come back?" he asked her confusingly.

The young girl smiled up at the faun. "I came to see if you were alright. After all, you are mine and Lucy's new friend," she replied.

After looking around to ensure no one was watching, Mr. Tumnus let the youngest Daughter of Eve enter his house.

"Would you like some tea?" Mr. Tumnus asked politely.

"Yes, please," Dorothy replied, sitting on the chair she sat in the first time she and Lucy visited Tumnus.

Bringing over a tray of tea, Mr. Tumnus asked, "What made you decide to come back, Dorothy Pevensie? Where's Lucy Pevensie?" all the while, he poured himself and his friend a cup of tea.

Dorothy smiled as she replied, "Oh, Lucy's still asleep. I decided to come by myself. We told our other older siblings about Narnia, but they wouldn't believe us," she explained.

"You have other siblings?" Mr. Tumnus questioned curiously, handing a cup of tea over to her.

"Yes. There are five of us. Peter is sixteen and the eldest out of all of us. He's very bossy but also very protective of us all. After our father left for war, Peter took over as the father figure in our family, " Dorothy explained, and Mr. Tumnus motioned her to continue. "Susan's the second eldest, fifteen years old. She's very logical but can be very gentle when needed. And she has taken over as the mother figure in our family since Mummy's always working .

Then there's Edmund, who's fourteen, and he's the middle child. When Daddy left, Edmund became cold and cruel to us and Mummy, but we still love him because he is our brother. Lucy's the next one after Edmund, and she's twelve. Lucy's very kind and never tells lies. She and I are the closest since we're the two youngest. Then, there's me, Dorothy Pevensie. I'm 11 years old, and out of all my siblings, I'm very quiet but can be loud sometimes." The young girl finished, smiling at the end, and sipped tea.

Mr. Tumnus smiled at her, taking a sip of his tea. "Your siblings all sound very wonderful, Dorothy."

"Yes, they are. Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Dorothy asked her friend.

"Not at all," Mr. Tumnus beamed.

"Yesterday, you mentioned someone called the White Witch. Who is she?"

Mr. Tumnus seemed to tense up a bit, probably scared of telling the young girl who the White Witch was. Making up his mind, Mr. Tumnus looked over at the blonde girl.

"The White Witch was the one who made it winter here forever. She calls herself the Queen of Narnia, but she isn't," Mr. Tumnus carefully explained to the youngest Pevensie. "She's very evil. When you come here, please look out for her. She's usually driving in her sleigh and looking for humans."

"Don't worry, Mr. Tumnus. I'm small, so there's no way she would see me," Dorothy joked, causing them to laugh.

After calming down, Mr. Tumnus looked out the window, seeing it was late. "I think it's time for you to go. Will I see you tomorrow?" he asked as he escorted her towards the door.

Dorothy nodded, smiling up at the faun. "Yes, of course. And I'll bring Lucy with me next time." Catching him completely off guard, Dorothy hugged Mr. Tumnus. He hesitated but slowly hugged her back. Dorothy smiled at him once more as she pulled from the hug. "See you tomorrow, Mr. Tumnus."

"Goodbye, Dorothy," Mr. Tumnus smiled at the young girl.

After their exchanges, Dorothy quickly ran down the path that led to the wardrobe. She stopped, seeing a figure standing in the snowy forest. Once she got closer, she realized it was the back of her youngest older brother's head.

"Edmund?" At the sound of her voice, Edmund turned around, and Dorothy ran to him excitedly, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Oh, Edmund! You got in, too! Isn't it wonderful?!"

Edmund pushed his youngest sister off him and stared down at her. "Where have you been?" he asked her in concern.

"With Mr. Tumnus. He's fine," Dorothy replied, not realizing that Edmund was wiping a white, powdery substance off his face. "The White Witch hasn't discovered anything about him meeting Lucy and me."

"The White Witch?" Edmund asked with guilt, but his sister didn't seem to notice.

After looking around, she leaned closer to Edmund and replied, "She calls herself the Queen of Narnia, but she isn't." She noticed how awful he looked and furrowed her eyebrows, "Are you alright? You look awful."

"Well, what'd you expect?" Edmund retorted, rubbing his arms for warmth. "I mean, it's freezing. How do we get out of here?"

"Come on," Dorothy replies, grabbing his hand and pulling him forward. "This way."

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As soon as Edmund and Dorothy made it back, the younger one of the two ran to the room her brothers were sharing. She burst through the door and jumped on Peter's bed, shaking him awake.

"Peter, Peter, wake up! Peter, wake up!" The youngest Pevensie shouted, shaking her eldest brother awake. "It's there! It's really there!"

"Shh," Peter shushed, turning over and asking Dorothy tiredly, "Dorothy, what are you talking about?"

"Narnia! It's all in the wardrobe like Lucy, and I told you!" Dorothy replied happily, just as Susan and Lucy came in. "Lucy, it's there! Narnia's really there!"

Lucy smiled happily. "Really?!" she asked, making her younger sister rapidly nod.

After giving a disappointed look to Lucy, Susan looked over at Dorothy. "You've just been dreaming, Dorothy," she sighs.

Dorothy looked up at her elder sister from her spot next to Peter. "But I haven't! I saw Mr. Tumnus again! And this time, Edmund went too," she finished, causing everyone in the room to look toward Edmund, who noticed everyone was staring at him.

"You. . ." Peter trailed off, looking between his only brother and youngest sister. "You saw the faun?"

Edmund silently shook his head as Dorothy stood up and looked at Peter.

"Well, he didn't actually go there with me. He..." Dorothy started to say, only to trail off, wondering why Edmund was there in the first place. She looked over at him. "What were you doing, Edmund?"

Everyone looked back at Edmund, and he rolled his eyes, sighing. "I was just playing along." Dorothy looked back at Peter as Lucy and Susan shared looks as Edmund continued to speak. "I'm sorry, Peter. I shouldn't have encouraged her, but you know what little children are like these days." Dorothy began to tear up as she stared at Edmund, who looked smugly at her while he sat down on the chair beside the doorway. "They just don't know when to stop pretending."

Not being able to hold it any longer, the fragile girl sobbed before running out of the room, with Lucy quickly following after her and glaring at Edmund as she did so. Susan and Peter sighed before getting up to run after them, but not before Peter shoved Edmund onto the bed.

Dorothy ran through the mansion's halls, not looking where she was going, which made her suddenly crash into someone. Looking up, she noticed an older man wearing glasses, looking down at her with concern as he noticed her crying. Dorothy knew that this was probably Professor Kirke that Mrs. Macready mentioned, and without thinking, she wrapped her arms around the man's waist as she continued to cry.

A few seconds later, Lucy, Susan, and Peter appeared but stopped when they saw their youngest sister hugging whom they might think was the professor. The professor looked back at them with his arms out, not knowing what to do.

"You children are one shenanigan shy of sleepin' in the stable!"

Everyone turned, seeing Mrs. Macready enter the hallway, tying her pink robe, and her hair was down. She looked up in shock once she saw the professor standing there with four out of the five siblings.

"Professor. I'm sorry," Mrs. Macready apologized and gave the older children a look. "I told them you were not to be disturbed."

"It's alright, Mrs. Macready. I'm sure there's an explanation," Professor Kirke reassured and looked down at Dorothy, who was still crying silently, and he handed her over to Mrs. Macready. "But first of all, I think this one requires a little hot chocolate."

Nodding to the professor, Mrs. Macready wrapped her arm around Dorothy. "Come along, dear."

"Can Lucy come as well?" Dorothy sniffed, looking back at her older sister.

"Yes, dear," Mrs. Macready smiled softly before turning to look at Lucy. "Would you like some hot chocolate, too?"

"Yes, ma'am," Lucy replied as she walked over, taking Dorothy's hand in hers, and together, the three walked off into the kitchen.

Peter and Susan turned to leave until they heard the professor cough, making them turn to him with nervous looks.

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"You seem to have upset the delicate internal balance of my housekeeper," Professor Kirke said, placing some tobacco in his smoking pipe and sitting in his chair.

"We're very sorry, sir," Peter apologized, grabbing onto Susan's arm, about to pull her out. "It won't happen again."

Susan pulled her arm away from Peter and looked down at the professor. "It's our sister, sir. Dorothy."

"The weeping girl."

"Yes, sir. She's upset."

"Hence the weeping."

"It's nothing," Peter reassured and looked at Susan with a look. "We can handle it."

"Oh, I can see that," Professor Kirke said sarcastically. "At least she wanted comfort from the other girl."

Sighing, Susan looked back at the professor. "They think they've found a magical land." Professor Kirke smiled at the girls' imaginative minds until Susan continued, "In the upstairs wardrobe."

That caught the professor's attention as he looked at the elder siblings with wide eyes, standing up from his chair. "What did you say?" He placed his hand on Susan's back and guided her to sit on the couch in his office as Peter followed.

"Um, the wardrobe upstairs," Peter confirmed as he and Susan sat on the couch as the professor sat across from them. "Lucy and Dorothy think they've found a forest inside."

"They won't stop going on about it," Susan added.

"What was it like?" Professor Kirke asked with a hint of sparkle in his eyes.

"Like talking to lunatics."

At Susan's response, the professor shook his head. "No, no, no, not them. The forest," he corrected them.

Peter and Susan shared a surprised look before they looked back at him as Peter said, "You're not saying you believe them?"

"You don't?" Professor Kirke questioned.

"But of course not," Susan replied, shaking her head. "I mean, logically, it's impossible."

"What do they teach you in school these days?" Professor Kirke mumbled to himself.

"Edmund said they were only pretending," Peter informed.

"He's usually the more truthful one, is he?"

"No," Peter sighed. "This would be the first time."

"Well, if they're not mad, and they're not lying, then logically, " Professor Kirke explained, looking over at Susan as he emphasized the word logically, "we must assume they're telling the truth. "

Professor Kirke then placed his smoke pipe in his mouth and inhaled the smoke afterward.

"You're saying that we should just believe them?" Peter questioned.

"They're your sisters, aren't they? You're their family," Professor Kirke stated, causing Susan and Peter to share guilty expressions as the professor continued, "You might just try acting like one."

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Edited on 5/18/2023