PETER:

"Father..." a trembling voice said softly into the blackness of my dreams. "No... no, no, no... I'm sorry, I..."

"Sorry doesn't put money on the table!"

"It was just a bad day, it was rainy and everyone wanted to just go home to their families-"

The heavy thunk of a bottle being slammed against a tabletop followed. A chair screeched against tile. A second one followed, much slower.

"I'm sorry, I can look again for another job tomorrow to go along with the newspapers, so that-"

"So that what, you spoiled brat? You can go to school?"

The girl was silent. I recognized her voice, shaky and timid and scared, somewhere in the recesses of my mind.

"No, Father, so you can get better, I know I can't go to school until-"

"I DON'T NEED TO GET BETTER! I NEED YOUR MOTHER AND BROTHER AND SISTERS, NOT... YOU!"

Quiet crying and the sound of bare feet running met my ears.

"Get back here! You bloody failure, come back!"

I heard the soft running footsteps getting louder and louder. Glass shattered as if the bottle had been thrown to the floor. A monstrous roar filled my ears. A door slammed. Heavy footfalls followed in pursuit.

They stopped.

"If you think you can get away from me that easily, you have another thing coming!"

Like a curtain dropping from my eyes, the blackness of my dream vanished to reveal a man, obviously toned and hardened from the war, with a long scar across his forehead. His green eyes flickered angrily. With a violent jerk, he yanked a gun from its place above the mantle and rushed out the front door. Its slam behind him jerked me awake.

🦁

The room was completely black save the spluttering candle in the corner, which only illuminated the door frame. As my eyes adjusted, I realized Ruth's bed was empty. I quietly crawled out of the comforting warmth of my bed and pulled a cloak over my clothes.

Ruth was on the same porch on which I had spent so many hours anticipating her return. I shyly approached her side, not saying a word. We stood shoulder-to-shoulder, hands nearly touching on the ledge, watching the slow ascent of the sun, which had just peeked above the horizon and was flooding the world with a faint rosy hue.

I looked down at our hands out of the corner of my eye. Her right pinkie and my left were only an inch from each other. I slowly moved a bit closer, focusing my eyes on the horizon again.

If she noticed, she did not comment.

"Couldn't sleep?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"How long have you been up?"

She shrugged, shaking a honey-colored curl loose from her shoulder and allowing it to tumble and fall against her cheek. "Since before the sun was."

"Aw, Ruth, why?"

She shuddered, inching her right hand a fraction closer to mine. Our pinkies were a millimeter apart. "Nightmares." She looked up at me from behind her shining curl with green eyes dull from exhaustion and pain. "Why are you up so early, Peter?"

"Same here," I admitted.

She nodded slowly in understanding before glancing at our hands.

"I missed you," I whispered.

She looked up at me in surprise. "I missed you too."

I continued sheepishly. "We used to stop by on this same porch every day, you know... usually a couple times a day... just waiting for you to come back." I resisted the urge to say "come home."

"That's sweet." She pursed her lips as if unsure of whether or not to continue, facing back toward the sunrise. "When my father worked selling newspapers, we never knew when he'd get home. Sometimes people would just want to get home and the streets would be vacant before sundown, and other times he'd be back so late at night Mum would be practically dragging us to bed by the time he finally opened the front door. But we'd always be waiting for him, sitting on the back of the couch. Well, the younger three would, at least. I usually had to help my mum. But I used to do that. I started the tradition."

I smiled. I couldn't help it. I was amused by her story.

We lapsed back in to a comfortable silence. I looked back down at our hands. Slowly, carefully, gently... agonizingly slowly, carefully, and gently... I rested my hand over hers.

I heard a soft gasp. I glanced at her face quickly, afraid I had made a mistake. The tips of her ears were a bright cherry red, but a slight smile tugged at her lips. I relaxed.

Her right eye twitched. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. After a moment's consideration, she said, "It looks like it'll be a pretty day today."

I nodded.

"After such a dark day yesterday, I'm sure everyone will be glad for the sun."

"Definitely," I agreed. The only sunshine I want to see is your smile, Ruth, after everything you have been through, I found myself thinking.

"Why did Susan not get sick?"

"She didn't eat any of the poisonous leaves. Lucy ate the most. I don't know how many I ate... I was preoccupied."

She nodded. "Tumnus told me of the events of the past couple of days. I cannot blame you." Ruth sighed. "I've had a busy couple of days as well, believe it or not." And with that, she plunged into the story of her time spent away from Narnia. I listened with rapt attention as the rosy sky turned to gold, then a soft baby blue.

"You have had quite the adventure," I remarked with a grin when her story was over.

"I suppose," she said with a giggle. "It has been a whirlwind."

Footsteps approached behind us.

"Oh, there you two are!" Susan exclaimed, her eyes immediately going to our hands, still touching. "I've been looking everywhere. It's breakfast time."

"We'll be right there!" Ruth said. As Susan walked away, Ruth slowly extracted her hand from beneath mine and stretched her back. "I haven't eaten anything since I left. I'm ravenous. Let's g- Peter? Are you alright?"

"Hm? O-Oh, yes. I just... the thought of food, after last night, is a little, a little..."

"Ah, I understand." Ruth wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. I hugged back, resting my cheek against the top of her head. I felt a new strength flood through my body. "Don't worry, Peter. We will not allow anything like last night to happen again. And even if something does happen, we have the vial now."

I nodded as we dropped our arms. "You're right. Thank you."

She beamed. "Of course. Let's go eat."

🦁

"Did you see any unicorns, Ruth?" Lucy asked excitedly, having fully recovered from the night's peril.

"No, but I did see lots of beautiful horses!" Ruth replied.

Susan leaned over and explained, "It just occurred to her that we're in a magical lands, meaning that unicorns and dragons and the like aren't out of the question."

"Ohh." Ruth threw her head back and laughed. "That never occurred to me! We should go searching for unicorns sometime, Lucy!"

"Okay!"

I chuckled. "I'm sure Tumnus and the Beavers could help you figure out where to look."

"Oh, oh, Ruthie, do you think they can talk?" Lucy squealed, bouncing in her seat with delight.

"Probably! All other Narnian animals can."

"Ooh! I'm sure they can all sing beautifully."

"We'll have to find out!" Susan agreed. "If you don't mind me going with you, of course."

"Definitely not!" Lucy replied. "Peter and Edmund should come too!"

I glanced over at Edmund, who blinked and looked back at me with sad eyes. "What? I'm sorry, I wasn't listening, I..."

"It's okay, Ed," Ruth said quickly, cutting him off. "Once everything at the castle is cleared up, we want to see if we can find a unicorn. Would you like to come, too?"

"S-Sure," he said, a small smile flickering across his face before disappearing.

A soldier appeared at the doorway. "Sorry to interrupt," he began. "But we were thinking you would like to know that we captured another dwarf."

"Oh!" I said, jumping to my feet. "Thank you. I'll be right there."

The soldier nodded and disappeared. I saw Edmund run from the dining hall out of the corner of my eye.

"I'll take care of him," Ruth whispered, following my gaze. "Go!"

🦁

"You! You're supposed to be dead!" the vicious dwarf snarled, futilely fighting against the soldiers pinning his arms to his sides.

I shrugged and smiled. "My bad."

The soldiers bit back laughter. I drew my sword and held it inches from the dwarf's nose.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?"

His eyes grew wide, fixated on the tip of my blade. "Nobody and nothing."

"Nice to meet you, Nobody," I said flatly. I moved the blade closer. "Try again."

"I was sent here to kill you."

"Who sent you?"

"Nobody."

My sword inched closer.

"The White Witch!" he cried.

"She has been defeated!"

"Her body, yes, has been slain, but her magic remains."

"Explain."

He shut his mouth, as if he had said too much.

"Explain," I repeated, touching his nose with my sword.

He remained silent. I sighed and dropped my sword.

"We'll try again later," I said to the soldiers, throwing the dwarf over my shoulder and ignoring his kicks and punches. "In the meantime, I think he will be enjoying the dungeon. Where was he found?"

"Wandering in the forest. So that makes three dwarves so far."

"Okay, thank you. Thank you for capturing him, too."

"Our pleasure," one chuckled. "We haven't had so much fun in ages. It's always so boring back home. Nothing like a good old scouting and hunting mission."

I smiled. "Well, I'm afraid there is still more action to come. I'm considering planning a meeting to discuss our action plan to make sure nothing like last night happens again."

"Good plan, Your Majesty. See you then."

"See you then."