♘

         DOROTHY SAT WITH Edmund in the back of the boat as Peter rowed it. Her sisters were in front with the dwarf, who they found out was named Trumpkin. She had her eyes set on the trees and was sad that they weren't dancing like they used to.

"They're so still," Dorothy spoke softly, breaking the silence.

Trumpkin glanced towards her before glancing up at the trees as well. "They're trees. What'd you expect?" He questioned as the rest of her siblings looked up at the trees as well.

Sadly, Lucy responded, "They used to dance."

"It wasn't long after you left until the Telmarines invaded. Those who survived retreated to the woods," Trumpkin explained as the siblings looked at him. "And the trees, they retreated so deep into themselves that they haven't been heard from since."

"I don't understand," Dorothy sadly says and continued to look around. "How could Aslan have let this happen?"

"Aslan? Though he abandoned us when you lot did."

Peter stopped rowing the boat as the Kings and Queens stared at the dwarf with guilty expressions, especially Dorothy. It was her fault they left and her fault the trees wouldn't dance anymore. Noticing his younger sister's sad look, Edmund wrapped an arm around her as she her head against his shoulder.

"We didn't mean to leave, you know?" Peter muttered after a moment of silence.

"Makes no difference now, does it?" Trumpkin retorted back.

"Get us to the Narnians. . ." Peter snapped softly as he continued to row the boat, ". . .and it will."

♘

As they reached a shore, Trumpkin hopped out of the boat and grabbed the anchor as Dorothy climbed out of the boat with the help from Peter. As Trumpkin and their older siblings pulled the boat to shore, Dorothy and Lucy wandered away from them and looked around. Their eyes gazed around her surroundings until they landed on a bear a little further away from her and drinking from the pond.

"Hello, there," Dorothy greeted with a smile, thinking the bear was a Narnian. Her voice caught the bear's attention and he stood on his hind legs as the others looked over, seeing their sisters walking closer towards the bear.

"It's all right. We're friends," Lucy smiled reassuringly.

The bear got on all four paws as Trumpkin looked over, his eyes wideneding. "Don't move, Your Majesties," he warned them.

Confusingly, the girls turned to look at him but looked back when they heard growling. Their eyes widened as the bear was charging towards them and they quickly turned around to run back towards their older siblings, holding each others hands tightly.

"Stay away from them!" Susan warned as she aimed her bow towards the bear while Edmund and Peter quickly grabbed their swords.

"Shoot, Susan! Shoot!" Edmund shouted when Dorothy and Lucy tripped and fell over.

The girls let out a loud scream as the bear stood up on his hind legs and roared at them. Just before the bear could attack, an arrow was shot at him and plunged into its fur, causing the bear fell to the ground, dead. The girls turned around on her stomach to see that it wasn't Susan who shot at the bear, but Trumpkin.

"Why wouldn't he stop?" Susan asked with furrowed eyebrows as she lowered her bow.

"I suspect he was hungry," Trumpkin replied calmly, walking towards the bear.

Peter and Edmund quickly ran over to their sisters, who were both shocked and paralyzed to move. Edmund grabbed Dorothy and pulled her up, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulder as Peter did the same with Lucy, both pointing his sword at the bear as they backed away.

"Thanks," Lucy thanked Trumpkin quietly for both her and Dorothy.

"He was wild," Edmund spoke up as they watched Trumpkin poke the bear with his sword.

Peter looked towards his younger brother. "I don't think he could talk at all."

Trumpkin inspected the bear as he glanced between the two kings. "Get treated like a dumb animal long enough, that's what you become. You may find Narnia a more savage place than you remember," he explained, taking out a knife before skinning the animal.

Dorothy winced as she watched before turning to bury her head in Edmund's chest, sobbing softly while Edmund rubbed her shoulder comfortingly.

♘

"I don't remember this way," Susan called out to Peter, who was leading the way through the forest. Dorothy was with her sisters in the middle of them while Edmund and Trumpkin were behind them.

Peter smirked, glancing back at Susan. "That's the problem with girls. You can't carry a map in your heads."

Lucy smiled mischievously, "That's because our heads have something in them," she retorted back, causing Dorothy to giggle with Susan.

"I wish he'd just listen to the DLF in the first place," Susan muttered to her younger sisters, who both nod in agreement.

"DLF?" Edmund questioned as he walked on the rocks above the girls.

Dorothy glanced up at him before sharing a smirk with her sisters. "Dear Little Friend."

As her sisters continued to walk, they heard Trumpkin mutter something to Edmund. Peter stopped in his tracks and looked around his surroundings as the DLF and his brother and sisters caught up to him.

"I'm not lost."

"No," Trumpkin said loudly, catching Peter's attention. "You're just going the wrong way."

"You last saw Caspian at the Shuddering Woods, and the quickest way there is to cross at the river rush," Peter explained through his teeth, scaring Dorothy a little.

She's never seen Peter this harsh before, even after they left Narnia. However, as time went on, Peter became more and more distant with his siblings. Dorothy was worried for him and she could tell her other sisters were, too, because they looked at each other with the same expression Dorothy had.

Trumpkin rolled his eyes as he glanced up. "But unless I'm mistaken, there's no crossing in these parts."

"That explains it then. You're mistaken."

With one last hard glare, Peter walked forward as Dorothy shared another look with her siblings before they and Trumpkin followed after Peter.

♘

The Kings and Queens of Old and the DLF all looked over an edge of a cliff. Down below, water was rushing through the gorge and it was at least 50 feet below them.

"You see, over time water erodes the earth's soil, carving deeper--"

"Oh, shut up," Peter interrupted Susan with annoyance laced through his voice.

"Is there a way down?" Edmund asked Trumpkin quietly, trying to ease up the tension.

Sarcastically, Trumpkin nods. "Yeah. Falling," he replied.

"Well, we weren't lost."

"There's a ford near Beruna. How do you feel about swimming?" Trumpkin asked the siblings as the four older ones began to turn around.

"I'd rather that than walking," Susan replied, giving Peter a pointed look.

Before Dorothy followed the others, looked back across the gorge. Her eyes widened when she noticed the golden lion standing on the other side, giving her a small smile.

"Aslan? It's Aslan! It's Aslan over there!" Dorothy smiled excitedly, turning to her siblings and Trumpkin as she pointed across the gorge. They looked at her questioningly and she continued to smile. "Don't you see? He's right. . ." She turned back to look but her smile dropped when Aslan disappeared. ". . .there."

"Do you see him now?" Trumpkin sarcastically asked the courageous queen, earning a look from the other kings and queens.

Dorothy turned around to look between her siblings and Trumpkin. "I'm not crazy. He was there and he wanted us to follow them," she explains carefully.

Peter glanced across the gorge and back down at his youngest sister. "I'm sure there are any number of lions in this wood. Just like that bear," he says softly.

"I think I know Aslan when I see him."

"Look," Trumpkin spoke as he rolled his eyes, "I'm not about to jump off a cliff after someone who doesn't exist."

"Dorothy never tells lies, so if she saw Aslan, then I believe she did," Lucy says, standing up for her younger sister and grabbing her hand softly.

"The last time I didn't believe Dorothy and Lucy, I ended up looking pretty stupid," Edmund said quietly, remembering what happened the year before.

Dorothy gave both Lucy and Edmund a soft smile, thankful that they both believed her. She then looked up a Peter, who looked across the gorge again.

"Why wouldn't I have seen him?" he asked Dorothy softly.

"Maybe you weren't looking."

"I'm sorry, Dot."

Peter then walked off with Susan and Trumpkin behind him. Dorothy looked back across the gorge to catch a glimpse of Aslan again but she didn't. Sadly, she turned around to see Edmund and Lucy both waiting for her. Edmund nodded his head softly towards the others and Dorothy walked in front of them, following after the older siblings.