Wendy walked through the woods, the soft leather of her boots thudding into the dirt. She carefully stepped over some flowers and pushed through the lush, green undergrowth that stood in her path, soft and inviting. She imagined that if she laid down at the moment, she would fall asleep soundly to the sounds of the birds that chirped and whistled songs of the morning. The sunlight streamed through the tall canopy of the trees and warmed Wendy's face. She went up on her toes restlessly and bounced lightly as her heels came back down to imprint in the dirt an outline of her small feet.

"I know you're out there," Wendy said, turning around. She crossed her arms and tutted as a sheepish-looking Van poked his head out, paws pressed together, from behind a tree. Wendy could clearly see the head of Chanyeol pop out and then duck back out of sight.

"I just think that maybe we should wait for the Kings and Queens," Van suggested slowly. He tentatively walked towards Wendy, who despite her short stature, still very much loomed intimidatingly over his badger height.  When Wendy gave no reply and just continued walking away, he shouted after her, "Fine! See if the others will pay you any mind! You might just go and never come back!"

"Maybe I'll come with you," Chanyeol added. Van opened and closed his mouth several times, fumbling for words as he and Chanyeol trailed Wendy several feet behind. "I want to see you try and explain things to the minotaurs."

Wendy stopped, causing Chanyeol to bumble straight into Van with a low grunt. She needed to make sure she heard correctly.

"Did you say minotaurs? They're real?"

"With very bad tempers," Van said, face contorted as if remembering something he wasn't so fond of.

"And they're big, mean, tough-" Chanyeol paused and looked Wendy straight in the eye. "-huge."

Wendy thought for a moment. "What about centaurs? Do they still exist?"

Chanyeol snorted, drawing a disapproving glance from Van. "Oh, do they."

"Ignore him. He's just had a couple of bad interactions with them."

"A couple? It's been more than a couple, okay, Van, and I think-"

"As I said," Van interrupted, placing a warning paw on Chanyeol's shoulder, "ignore him." Van turned back to Wendy. "Anyway, the centaurs will probably fight on your side, but who knows what the others will do. You are a Telmarine after all and," Wendy was about to protest," even though you are different, I suppose, you are still a Telmarine to them."

Wendy's jaw closed as Van shut down her protest. She stopped walking and asked another question. "What about Aslan?"

Van and Chanyeol stopped in their tracks, a few feet ahead of Wendy. The two looked briefly at each other, unsure of how to proceed, as they faced the curious princess who looked at them with a sense of wonder.

"What about him- Oof!"

"Aslan has not appeared for many years," Van said carefully with a smile, eyes still trained on Chanyeol, who held his stomach and glared at the badger. Wendy looked uneasily between the two and just nodded. That badger sure packed a punch.

"I see." Wendy pushed a branch out of her way, unaware of it snapping back until Chanyeol yelped as the branch smacked him in the face.

"Holy mother-"

"Language!" Van silenced the dwarf, who then muttered to himself what Wendy imagined to be a string of colorful curses directed at her.

"Sorry!" Wendy quickly apologized, running towards the dwarf.

Chanyeol threw a hand up to stay her away, stopping Wendy as she rather terrifyingly came bumbling towards her. Chanyeol flinched back as Wendy reached a hand out, and he quickly reacted.

"Ow!" Wendy cried, jerking back her reddening hand. She looked at Chanyeol in disbelief. "Did you just slap me?!"

"Yeah, what about it?" Chanyeol shot back at the scandalized princess, rubbing his face. Several red scratches ran across his cheeks.

"I am a princess! You can't slap a princess!"

"Says who, huh? It was just your hand, princess."

"Shut it, you two," Van warned. "You might be a princess in the castle, but let us remind you that you are not a princess here." Chanyeol sniggered, and Van quickly continued, "And you, Chanyeol, should know better as a creature of these woods. Your immaturity is astounding."

"I am not-"

Wendy just gave Chanyeol a look that said, Told you so, prompting Chanyeol to stop talking and pull his mouth into a tight smile. Wendy smiled back that same smile, and the trio started to walk again in the dull silence that had overtaken them when a crossbow bolt thudded dangerously into the thick bark of a tree only several inches from Wendy's head. She scanned the perimeter and saw soldiers run towards them, crossbows and swords in hand.

"Still think it's so great an idea to go traipsing through the woods to your death?" Chanyeol asked sarcastically. He and Van had told Wendy their concerns about wandering through the forest, she had brushed them off, and now they were going to die.

"Not the time, Chanyeol!" Van yelled, sprinting his way through the bushes that kept blocking his path. He pushed a branch out of his way and it smacked Chanyeol in the face again.

"What the hell, Van!"

"Sorry!" 

Suddenly a bolt whizzed through the air and hit Van in the shoulder. Van cried out in pain and fell among the underbrush of the woods. Wendy skidded to a stop and turned back, rushing to Van's side.

"Go on without me," Van said weakly, attempting to push Wendy away. "My time has come." Van put a paw to his forehead and dramatically lay his head down, awaiting the end.

Wendy looked at the soldiers, looked at the apparently dying badger, and looked back at the soldiers.

"Oh, bullocks." Wendy threw the badger over her shoulder and ran for dear life.

"Hey!" Wendy heard a soldier yell out. She turned just in time to see his body land on the ground, lifeless. His comrade paused in his shooting, lowering his crossbow to check on the fallen when he too found himself with his back in the dirt before losing himself to the black spots that dotted his vision. Several other soldiers fell within minutes of the first two, all crying out and finding themselves with their feet swept out from beneath them before having their lives snatched away just like that. Wendy looked around wildly as more soldiers fell, leaving just one man standing, trembling in his boots, before he yelled and threw his crossbow up, his body disappearing among the plants soon after.

Wendy felt her body tense up as the bushes around her shook, signaling some kind of movement but the assailant was nowhere to be seen. Was this some sort of ghost? Maybe some other invisible force of the Old Narnia that she had conveniently forgotten about, leaving her dumbfounded as how to proceed? Was she going to die right there? Before she could experience worldly things such as what it was like to drink beer, go for a swim, or have a first love?

You'd think she would've had a beer or gone for a swim before, but castle life had been incredibly restrictive. She'd had wine before, but never beer, and going for a swim was just a no. It's not like there was any safe place for a young girl to go swimming anyway. And for a first love... Well, Wendy didn't want to think about it. Maybe she didn't want to experience heartache, heartbreak. But she also didn't think that it would be proper to die with