Shadow Monarch in Another World

Mr. Tumnus

Lucy Pevinsie is hiding behind the lampost as she has just seen something extraordinary and it scared the heck outta her, well, at least at first. She looks at the strange being hiding behind a tree and walked forward from her hiding place and started to pick up the fallen packages of the strange being while looking at it in confusion.

"Were you hiding from me?"

"No. Uh well. I just i-uh-uh-i- I was just um. I just didn't want to scare you heh."

"If you don't mind my asking, what are you?"

"Well, I'm a... [sighs]. Well I'm a faun. And what about you, you must be some kind of beardless dwarf?"

"I'm not a dwarf! I'm a girl! And, actually I'm tallest in my class."

"You mean to say that you are, a Daughter of Eve"

"Well, my. Mom's name is Helen."

"Yes, but you are in fact, human?"

"Yes... Of course."

"What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was hiding in the wardrobe in the spare room and..."

"Uh-uh, spare Oom? Is that in Narnia?"

"Narnia, what's that?"

"[chuckles] Well, my dear girl, you're in it. Everything from the lamppost, all the way to castle Cair Paravel on the Eastern Ocean. Every stick and stone you see, every icicle, is Narnia."

"This is an awfully big wardrobe."

"[Scoffs] War Drobe? I'm sorry, please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Tumnus."

Lucy stuck out her hand. "Pleased to meet you Mr. Tumnus. I'm Lucy Pevensie." She saw Tumnus' confusion on seeing her outstretched hand so she clarrified. "Oh, you shake it."

"Uh...why?"

"I... I don't know. People do it when they meet each other."

Tumnus reached out and started to squeeze her hand then swing it around to make Lucy laugh.

"Well then, Lucy Pevensie from the shining city of War Drobe in the wonderous land of Spare Oom, how would it be if you came and had tea with me?"

"Well thank you very much, but I....I probably should be getting back."

Mr. Tumnus saw her reaction and stated hurriedly at first. Yes, but it's only just around the corner. And there will be a glorious fire w-w-with toast, a-a-and tea and cakes and perhaps we'll even break into the sardines."

"I don't know."

"Come on. It's not everyday I get to make a new friend"

"Well, I suppose I could come, for a little while, if you have sardines."

"Heh, by the bucket load."

(Inside Tumnus' Cottage)

Lucy is looking at a framed picture of an older faun. Tumnus sees her looking at it and says it is his father. Lucy looks at it.

"He has a nice face, he looks a lot like you."

Mr. Tumnus gets somber as he says. "No, I'm not very much like him at all really."

"My father's fighting in the war."

"My father went away to war to. But that was a long, long time ago. Before this dreadful winter."

"Winter's not all bad. There's ice skating, and snowball fights, ooh and Christmas."

"Not here. No, no we haven't had a Christmas in a hundred years."

"What? No presents for a hundred years?"

"Always Winter never Christmas. It's been a long Winter. But, you would have loved Narnia in summer, we fauns danced with the dryads all night, and, you know, we never got tired. And music. Oh, such music. Would....would you like to hear some now?"

"Oh,Yes, please."

Mr. Tumnus grabbed a reed Pan flute off the mantle and got ready to play it.

"Now, are you familiar with any Narnian lullabies?"

"Sorry, no."

"Well, that's good, because this probably won't sound anything like one."

As the lullaby was playing, Lucy looked into the fireplace and saw many shapes appearing. She gasped at first and looked towards Mr. Tumnus who simply nodded his head as if to say it's okay. She saw a centaur running, a man on horseback chasing a stag, and a group of fauns dancing around in a circle. She then fell asleep as the lullaby continued to be played. As Mr. Tumnus looked into the fire he saw the head of a lion and it roared in anger. This caused him to stop playing the lullaby and for all the candles to be blown out.

Lucy awoke several minutes later and saw that it was dark outside, and Mr. Tumnus was not in his chair.

"Oh, I should go."

Off to the side you could hear Mr tumnus speak. "It's too late for that now. I'm such a terrible faun."

Lucy saw Mr. Tumnus sitting on some stairs in the corner and he had tears in his eyes.

"Oh no, you're the nicest faun I've ever met."

"Then I'm afraid you've had a very poor sampling."

Lucy brought out her handkerchief and handed it to Mr. Tumnus while saying "No, you can't have done anything that bad."

"It's not something I have done, Lucy Pevensie, it's something I am doing."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm kidnapping you."

"[Gasp]"

"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 around in the woods w-w-w-we were supposed to turn it over to her."

"But, Mr. Tumnus you wouldn't. I thought you were my friend."

(Mr. Tumnus and Lucy running through the forest)

"Now, she may already know you're here the woods are full of her spies even some of the trees are on her side!"

Mr. Tumnus brought her back to the lamppost. "Can you find you way back from here?"

"I think so."

"Alright."

"Will you be alright?"

They had stopped and Lucy could see that after her question Mr. Tumnus was crying.

"Hey, hey, hey."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Mr. Tumnus handed Lucy back her handkerchief.

"Here."

"Keep it, you need it more than I do."

"No matter what happens, Lucy Pevensie, I am glad to have met you. You've made me feel warmer than I have in a hundred years. Now go. Go!"

Lucy ran back the way she came before and went back to tell her family what she had found. And Mr. Tumnus headed back to his cottege Little did either of them know that their interactions while in the forest were seen by a young man who was hiding in stealth close by.

[Hmm. Well that's interesting. Was she one of the one's from the prophecy? If that's the case then they will be needing a lot of help.]