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         ON THE JOURNEY to Mr. Tumnus' house, the faun explained more about what Narnia was like to Lucy and Dorothy. They turned a corner and noticed a tiny little door built on the side of a mountain. Lucy and Dorothy stopped in their tracks as Mr. Tumnus kept walking.

Noticing the two had stopped, he turned back to face them and said, "Well, here we are. Come along."

Lucy and Dorothy both shared smiles before following Mr. Tumnus to his house. Mr. Tumnus opened his door, letting in the blonde, brunette, blue-eyed sisters.

"After you," he says with politeness.

"May I help you with that?" The sisters both asked, grabbing some packages out of his hands.

"Thank you very much."

Lucy and Dorothy entered Mr. Tumnus' home, staring in awe at his place. Behind them, Mr. Tumnus closed his door, shaking the snow off his furry legs (or hooves?). The girls walked over to a table, placed their packages in their arms, and noticed a picture of another faun who looked exactly like Mr. Tumnus. Dorothy picked it up to get a closer look at the look-alike picture of her new friend and examined it as Lucy looked at the picture over her sister's shoulder.

Mr. Tumnus, noticing what the girls were doing, chuckled nervously. "Now, that... that is my father."

Both girls looked over at Mr. Tumnus in shock and looked back down at the picture.

"He has a nice face," Lucy commented, glancing back at the phone. "He looks a lot like you."

"No," Mr. Tumnus said softly. "No, I'm not very much like him at all."

Dorothy sighed, placing the picture back down on the table. "Our father's fighting in the war," she says softly, and Lucy wraps a comforting arm around her.

"My father went away to war too," Mr. Tumnus said, making the sisters look at him. "But that was a long, long time ago," he added quickly, preparing the tea for his new friends. "Before this dreadful winter."

"Winter's not all bad," Lucy said as she and Dorothy examined the books on the bookshelf. "There's ice skating and snowball fights," she listed, and Mr. Tumnus let out a small chuckle.

"Oh!" Dorothy beamed, turning to Mr. Tumnus. "And Christmas!"

"Not here. No. No, we haven't had a Christmas in a hundred years," Mr. Tumnus explained as he set the tray of tea and toast on the table.

Dorothy and Lucy both looked at him in shock as Lucy asked, "What? No presents for a hundred years?"

"Always winter, never Christmas. It's been a long winter." Mr. Tumnus continued to explain as he sat down in a chair while the girls sat beside each other and across from Mr. Tumnus. The faun picked up two plates with tea cups sitting on top and handed each one to Lucy and Dorothy. "But you would have loved Narnia in summer." He laughed as he grabbed the teapot and poured tea into the girls' tea cups; he said, "We fauns danced with the dryads all night, and, you know, we never got tired. And music. Oh, such music!" Mr. Tumnus smiled as the girls both beamed up at his stories. As they began to take a sip of their teas, he asked, "Would... would you like to hear some now?"

"Oh! Yes, please," Lucy and Dorothy replied excitedly.

Mr. Tumnus gave them a small smile, grabbed a small box on a shelf near him, and took out what looked like a flute. "Now, are you familiar with any Narnian lullabies?" he asked.

After taking a sip of her tea, Dorothy sheepishly replied, "Sorry, no."

"Well, that's good," Mr. Tumnus reassured, setting the box back on the shelf and preparing himself to play his instrument. "Because this. . . probably won't sound anything like one."

Mr. Tumnus then cleared his throat and began to play a soothing tune. Lucy and Dorothy smiled as he played before looking towards the fire in the chimney.

As they stared into the fire, it suddenly became a creature galloping, and Dorothy gasped as they looked back at Mr. Tumnus. Mr. Tumnus followed fire Lucy, continuing to play, and the sisters both looked back into the fire. The fire changed into a deer, and they heard the noise of a horse, caused by more galloping.

Then, it changed into a bunch of fans dancing and having a good time. As Mr. Tumnus continued to play his song, Dorothy and Lucy both began to feel sleepy. They tried to keep themselves awake, but it didn't work, and they both closed their eyes, falling asleep.

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When Dorothy woke up, the first thing she noticed was that it was dark out. She looked across from where Mr. Tumnus had sat, only to see he was gone. She then looked next to her, seeing that Lucy was still asleep.

"Lucy," Dorothy whispered, shaking her older sister awake. "Lucy, wake up."

Once she woke up, Lucy also noticed that it was dark out. "Oh, we should go, Dottie," she stated, standing up from their chair.

"It's too late for that now," They heard Mr. Tumnus' soft voice, and they turned to see Mr. Tumnus curled up in a ball on a small flight of steps. He looked guilty of something they didn't question him. " I'm such a terrible faun."

Lucy and Dorothy slowly walked toward him. They both were standing in front of Mr. Tumnus, who wouldn't meet their eyes. Lucy said, "Oh, no. You're the nicest faun we've ever met."

"Then I'm afraid you've had a very poor sampling," Mr. Tumnus replied sadly.

"You can't have done anything that bad," Dorothy says, taking out a handkerchief that had a 'D' woven into it and handed to Mr. Tumnus. "Right?" she added, kneeling, smiling at the faun.

"It's not something that I have done, Dorothy Pevensie," Mr. Tumnus replied, using the handkerchief to wipe his teary eyes. "It's something I am doing."

"What are you doing?" Lucy asked him confusingly.

"I'm kidnapping you," he replied in a whisper. Both let out a gasp in shock as they backed away from him. "It was the White Witch. She's the one who makes it always winter, always cold. She gave orders. If any of us ever find a human wandering in the woods, we're supposed to turn it over to her."

"But, Mr. Tumnus," Lucy replied sadly, grabbing Dorothy's hand. "You wouldn't."

"I thought you were our friend," Dorothy says softly.

Mr. Tumnus looked up at the two girls with determination in his eyes.

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"Now, she may already know you two are here," Mr. Tumnus said as the three ran through the forest, holding each other's hands. "The woods are full of her spies." They slid down a small hill as Mr. Tumnus continued to explain, "Even some of the trees are on her side." Finally, they reached the lamppost and stopped in front of it. "Now, can you find your way back from here?"

"I think so," Lucy replied as Dorothy nodded.

"All right," Mr. Tumnus crouched in front of the sisters, grabbing each other their hands with his.

"Will you be alright?" Dorothy asked, concerned.

Mr. Tumnus gave a small laugh before wiping away his tears with Dorothy's handkerchief, and he started to cry, feeling deeply ashamed of what he had almost done to his new friends.

"Hey, hey, hey," Lucy and Dorothy tried to comfort him, rubbing his arm and calming him down.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Mr. Tumnus apologized and held out Dorothy's handkerchief to her. "Here."

Dorothy gave him a small smile. "Keep it. You need it more than I do."

Mr. Tumnus returned her smile and looked between her and Lucy. "No matter what happens, Lucy and Dorothy Pevensie, I am glad to have met you both. You've made me feel warmer than I've felt in a hundred years. " He gave them each another smile and poked their noses. "Now go. Go!"

With hesitation, Lucy and Dorothy grabbed each other's hands, and they both ran back to the wardrobe, leaving their new friend behind in the new land they had found.

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With a loud grunt, Lucy and Dorothy fell out of the wardrobe into the spare room. They quickly got up and ran to the door, and Lucy opened it, letting her younger sister run out first before she followed after her.

"It's all right! We're back!" Dorothy shouted as they ran out of the spare room.

"We're all right!" Lucy added, stopping in front of the curtain that Edmund had taken from them.

"Shut up!" Edmund exclaimed, poking his head behind the curtain and glaring at his younger sisters. "He's coming!"

Lucy and Dorothy gave him confused looks just as Peter was about to pass by until he noticed his younger siblings and walked towards them. Sighing, Edmund stepped out of the curtains and glared at his sisters more, who ignored him.

"You know, I'm not sure you three have quite got the idea of ​​this game," Peter stated, looking between his sisters and brother.

"Weren't you wondering where we were?" Dorothy questioned confusingly, looking up at her older brothers.

"That's the point," Edmund said sarcastically. "That's why he was seeking you."

Suddenly, Susan appeared next to Peter with a smile. "Does this mean I win?" she asks.

Peter turned to her and said, "I don't think Dorothy or Lucy wants to play anymore."

Lucy and Dorothy both glanced at each other before looking up at their siblings as Lucy said, "We've been. . . gone for hours."

The three older siblings looked at their two younger sisters in confusion at her statement. Without saying anything, Dorothy grabbed Peter's hand while Lucy grabbed Susan and Edmund's hands, and together, they dragged them to the wardrobe and explained what they saw. Susan stepped into the wardrobe while Edmund examined the back of it to see if what Dorothy and Lucy said was true.

"Lucy, Dorothy, the only wood in here is the back of the wardrobe," Susan told her sisters, stepping out of the wardrobe.

"One game at a time, Lu, Dot," Peter added. "We don't all have your imagination."

Peter, Susan, and Edmund all turned around, about to leave the room, but Dorothy's voice stopped them.

"But we weren't imagining!"

They stopped and turned to face the other two with frowns.

"That's enough, Dorothy," Susan scolded her motherly.

"We wouldn't lie about this!" Lucy added as tears threatened to fall from her's and Dorothy's faces.

"Well, I believe you," Edmund perked up, causing his siblings to stare at him.

"You do?" Lucy and Dorothy asked, hopefully and uncertain.

"Yes, of course," he replied and turned to Susan and Peter.

"Didn't I tell you about the football field in the bathroom cupboards?"

"Oh, will you just stop?" Peter warned, causing Edmund's smile to falter. "You just have to make everything worse, don't you?"

"It was just a joke!" Edmund defended himself.

"When are you gonna learn to grow up?"

Angrily, Edmund got in Peter's face. "Shut up! You think you're Dad, but you're not!" he shouted and stormed out of the room.

Susan looked at Peter with one of her looks as he looked back at her with regret and guilt.

"Well, that was nicely handled," she scolded coldly before running after Edmund.

"But. . ," Dorothy's small voice caught Peter's attention. "it really was there."

"Susan's right, Dorothy. That's enough," Peter says softly before walking out of the room.

With sad expressions, Lucy and Dorothy both turned to the wardrobe, shutting the door. Together, the two sisters walked out of the spare room, upset that their siblings didn't believe them.

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Edited on 12/4/2022