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𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐒𝐊𝐘 𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐃 𝐀 𝐅𝐄𝐖 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐒 lighter as the sun began to rise. The waves washed ashore in an endless rhythm of pushing and pulling as not even the unexpected cold could freeze over the tides of Narnia. Though the silver-golden sand grains of the beach always used to sparkle in the moonlight, the layer of snow created an even more spectacular landscape as its white colour seemed surreal.

Mina knew she should probably get as much sleep as she could since they would journey to Aslan's How in a few hours. However, even after nearly freezing to death, Mina felt far too restless as the unfamiliar atmosphere of the castle caused her mind to whir continuously. Whereas the poltergeist Peeves could ravage through Hogwarts at night and the enchanted harnesses would follow the students with their invisible eyes, this Cair Paravel had neither of those things, yet there hung another sort of magic in the air all around them.

When the room Mina shared with Elodie, Ella, Giulia and Vittoria became light enough to distinguish the furniture without difficulty, Mina decided to get up. She didn't care it was early; if she had to toss and turn in the bed one more time, she would scream from frustration.

The fire in the hearth had turned into a smoldering heap of ashes and wood, and Mina shivered when her bare feet touched the marble floor. She changed into the clothing given to them by Caspian ─ or should she say the King? ─ as fast and silently as she could. It consisted of two pair of black trousers (one thinner than the other so that she could wear both), warm woolen socks with supple boots, a vest, two long-sleeved shirts, a jerkin, and a thick fur cloak for outside. Mina knew wearing layers was important during temperatures below its freezing point, but still, she felt a few pounds heavier after she was fully dressed. She did love the warm yellow undertones in her clothing, though.

Mina observed her dark silhouette in the mirror, wondering how it would be to carry a sword like the otherworlders, but then she set course towards the door. Her foot hit the wooden leg of Ella's bed in the process though, and Mina swallowed back in her painful groan threatening to leave her lips. She didn't want to wake the others, but she couldn't do anything about the shallow thud that seemed to be ten times louder in the silence.

Ella yelped when the vibration of the collision shot through the mattress and she sat up straight within a second. Her dark hair pointed in all sorts of directions and her heart beat unevenly in her chest from the unexpected awakening. The heavy blanket fell off her shoulders and Ella let out another shriek when she noticed the figure near her foot end, not realizing in time it was Mina.

Giulia, Vittoria and Elodie shot awake as well, the hands of the former two reaching for the wands under their pillows in an instinct, despite the fact they couldn't produce any magic in this world.

'What is happening?' Elodie mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Giulia, however, waved her wand through the air in a threatening manner, her brown eyes ablaze. 'By Salazar's serpent! Who dares to disturb my slumber?'

'Sorry,' Mina said with a snicker, making her apology rather unbelievable.

'Why are you up? And why are you dressed?' Ella asked while Giulia and Vittoria hid their wands again.

Mina shrugged. 'I can't sleep anymore. I'm going to check out the castle.'

'Don't be ridiculous,' Vittoria began. 'You can't just go and wander through a strange castle. You'll get lost.'

'If I have managed to go from one classroom to another with ever-changing staircases for seven years, I'm pretty sure I can handle a non-magical castle,' Mina argued.

'But─,' Vittoria began before crossing her arms in defeat and letting out a huff.

'Still, it would not be wise to go alone. I'll come too,' Elodie said, pushing the blankets away and getting out of bed as well.

'You're serious?' Mina asked with raised eyebrows.

'Yes,' Elodie answered as she hopped around on one feet to get into her trousers. 'Once I'm awake, I cannot go back to sleep.'

Ella and Vittoria hesitated for a moment, but then they stood up as well.

'I guess it would be nice to do some exploring before we go trudging through the snow again,' Ella said, but Giulia shook her head and pulled the blankets back over her face.

'Nope, count me out. I value my sleep─,' Giulia's voice cut off with an oof when one of her boots got thrown onto her stomach.

'Come on, Giulia,' Vittoria said, holding the other boot in her hand and her eyes twinkled with a spark of mischief. 'Where's your sense of adventure?' she quoted the Slytherin from when they first entered Narnia.

Giulia grumbled something incoherently from under the blankets. 'Fine,' she gave in, throwing the blankets away and standing up. She grabbed the boot from the bed with an expression that could kill, and pointed with it in Vittoria's direction. 'But I will not apologize for my morning mood.'

Ella giggled as she fastened her purple jerkin with the small leather belts. 'I bet you could melt the snow outside away with all that fury boiling under your skin.'

'Your humour astounds me, as always,' Giulia said sarcastically.

Ella released her breath with another chuckle. 'Definitely not a morning person,' she whispered to Elodie, but still loud enough for Giulia to hear.

After they were all dressed in somewhat similar clothing (Elodie dressed in red tones, Giulia in green, and Vittoria blue), they left their sleeping chamber. The torch near them flickered in the chilly breeze traveling through the hallway, and Vittoria lifted it out of its standard. Dozens of stained glass windows decorated the wall in front of and though they let through the faint light of the early morning, Vittoria felt more comfortable with a source of light in her own hands.

'So, which way are we going first?' Ella asked with a soft voice as she could hear some distant snoring coming out of the other chambers nearby. The others were still vast asleep.

'Left,' Mina answered, and together with Vittoria she took the lead. Elodie, Ella and Giulia walked closely behind them, and even Giulia could shake off her sleepy state as they came across beautiful tapestries and stained windows that depicted events of the Narnian history.

From the door knobs to the window sills, the eye for even the tiniest of details could be found everywhere. Roses painted in gold decorated the foot and head of each column while the stems and ranks had been actually sculpted in the stone.

The grey-veined marble floor lit up in flashes of silver as the sun rose higher, and when the girls descended the stairs towards the main hall after an hour of wandering, a delicious smell floated towards them. Their stomachs rumbled instantly and they speed-walked towards the dining room.

'There you are,' Fernrose said when they entered. Everyone was already there and by the look of Ron's and Phoenix' plate, the two of them had been unable to wait for the five other girls to arrive.

'I told you they would show up sooner or later,' Ron said, his mouth still half-full, and Fernrose rolled her eyes with a scowl of disgust.

'We were worried when all of your beds were empty,' Nevada said.

Mina and the others sat down around the table loaded with breakfast dishes.

'We wanted to take a look around the castle,' Mina explained, filling her plate with two slices of toast and pulling the bowl with scrambled eggs towards herself.

'It's a beautiful castle,' Ella said with a dreamy expression. Hogwarts was more of a gothic castle, with its dark walls, high arches and heavy architecture, but Cair Paravel reminded her of the Mediterranean. It was light, colourful like flower beds, and exotic. She loved it.

'Yes, you did a wonderful job with rebuilding it, Caspian,' Lucy said, and the King inclined his head towards the youngest Pevensie.

'Thank you, Lucy. It felt like the right thing to do. You and your siblings mean everything to me and the Narnians. But now, let us follow Ron's, Phoenix' and Mina's example, and eat. We have a long journey ahead of us.'

Mina almost dropped the knife with marmalade on her plate when she realized she had started without thinking it through. A blush crept towards her cheeks, but the Kings and Queens didn't mind her boldness at all.

Ella wanted to steal a slice of bread off Oliver's plate, but something suddenly jumped next to her on the table. With a scream she pushed herself backwards and almost fell with the chair and all on the floor.

'Rat!' Ella yelled, her appetite disappearing at a sudden, and the others choked in their breakfast from shock as well.

Though it was definitely an animal that had jumped on the table, Ella also realized it was a rather curious one now that she observed it a bit closer. It carried a small sword and a leather belt, and a red feather stuck out of a golden ring around one of its ears.

The rat slowly turned around towards Ella, and it had an offended look in its eyes ─ Ella reasoned she must be seeing things.

'Rat?' the creature spoke, and this time, Mina's knife did drop.

'I have never been this insulted in my life. I am a mouse,' the animal scolded Ella. 'The name is Reepicheep.'

Ella's jaw dropped as did those of many others.

'You can talk?' Elodie asked, the wonder of it amplifying her French accent.

Reepicheep focussed on her and bowed gracefully. 'I can indeed.'

Elodie laughed in amazement. 'Narnia is getting more interesting by the minute.'

'My Lady is too kind,' Reepicheep said. 'I am also an advisor to the King. If I may, Your Highness,' the noble mouse addressed King Caspian. 'I apologize for the interruption, but the centaurs fear there's another snow storm coming this way.'

Caspian frowned and crossed eyes with Peter and Edmund. 'How long before it's here?'

'Two days, my King.'

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𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓'𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆:

𝑰 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒔𝒌 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒄'𝒔 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒆𝒂𝒑𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆, 𝒔𝒐 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕!

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𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓:

𝑴𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒌𝒔𝒉𝒊 𝑩𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒚 RockingGirl06
𝑬𝒍𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕 𝒃𝒚 @ 𝒎𝒆
𝑬𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒉 𝑹𝒐𝒔𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒈 𝒃𝒚 -MoonlightRose-
𝑮𝒊𝒖𝒍𝒊𝒂 𝑨𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝒃𝒚 GwynethStarks
𝑽𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂 𝑭𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆 𝒃𝒚 gracelikeaWave-
𝑭𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝑭𝒐𝒙𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒚 dash-of-clarity
𝑷𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒙 𝑻𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒐𝒓 (𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚) 𝒃𝒚 Avengers14
𝒂𝒏𝒅
𝑵𝒆𝒗𝒂𝒅𝒂 𝑺𝒏𝒂𝒑𝒆 𝒃𝒚 roaringsuns

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