Like Falling Water - Chapter One

"Kal! This way!"

"Leeli-" Kalmar sighs in exasperation as he rolls his eyes, picking up his pace to jog after his sister. "We need to get home or Janner is going to go crazy if he can't find us."

"In a minute!" She pauses, turning to give her brother puppy dog eyes. "Please?"

"Fine. Five minutes and then we're turning around!"

"Yay!" She cheers, taking another step forward when her crutch hits a rock at an angle. It causes Leeli to begin to fall, Kalmar reacting quickly and catching his sister. Unfortunately, he takes the wrong step, a sudden gap in the earth below as the two plummet into darkness.

When they wake, it's somewhere on the forest floor. Above them are four children, leaning over the two in concern.

"Where are we?" Leeli asks.

The others share a look. "I'm Susan," one begins gently. "And you’re in Narnia."

Leeli and Kalmar share a confused look.

"Narnia?" Kalmar repeats. "I don't... think I've heard of that."

One of the others nods his head, satisfied, before turning to a different girl. "Guess you were right, Lu."

The thus-dubbed "Lu" makes her way to Leeli's side, the first of the group to react accordingly as she offers her hand to help Leeli up. "Hi," she greets. "I'm Lucy. We found Narnia by walking through the back of a wardrobe. How did you get here?"

Leeli winces as she leans on Lucy. "Leeli," she introduces, "and we fell down a hole."

Lucy's actions had caused the rest to shake from their minor stupor, the one stranger who had yet to speak coming to help Kalmar up. "I'm Edmund," he offers.

"Kalmar." The boy in question reluctantly accepts Edmund's hand before offering his own to Leeli, glancing around on the ground as he does so. "Do you see your crutch?"

Leeli shakes her head, and apparently Kalmar comes to the same conclusion as she. "It's back in Anniera."

All in all, waking up in a different land, as it seemed the others had done as well, wasn't the weirdest thing to happen to the two Jewels of Anniera present in Narnia. They accepted it easily, hoping to find a way home, but the more pressing issue was finding a way for Leeli to get back so they could do the former.

The yet-unnamed stranger of the four steps forward, concern etched on his face as he offers his forearm. "Are you experienced with riding?"

"Do giant dogs and sea dragons count?"

An arched eyebrow that quickly reverts to neutral. "I genuinely have no idea how to answer that."

"Come off it, Peter," Edmund jokes. "Just because you’re High King doesn't mean you have to speak fancier than everyone else."

Peter rolls his eyes but cracks a smile, opting to not respond as he helps Leeli into the saddle of one of the horses. "This is Susan's horse," he explains. He nods to Kalmar. "You can ride with me or Ed."

Phillip pipes up. "Absolutely not. I've already got enough weight to deal with."

"Thanks," Edmund deadpans.

"...so we've been rebuilding since then, taken a trip or two back to the Green Hollows but tried to stay in Anniera, and then were exploring today and fell down a hole."

There's silence after Kalmar finishes the story he and Leeli had tag-teamed in sharing. Lucy is the first to break it. "That's... crazy." She glances at her siblings, who are watching the duo carefully, before facing the Wingfeathers once more. "I believe you."

Peter jolts as he turns to Lucy. "What-" Pausing, he glances at the groups' guests. "Would you excuse us for a moment?"

It's not a request. Kalmar stands, picking Leeli up in a piggyback position, as they have yet to find a replacement crutch, and head out of the room to wait in the hallway.

Inside, Peter and Susan have whirled on their younger sister, who is stubbornly sticking with what she has said. "I believe them," she protests at Peter's most recent attempts to change her mind. "And I don't believe Aslan would lead us to them if they weren't telling the truth."

Susan throws her hands in the air. "Maybe he wanted us to capture them because they were coming do something! Maybe it wasn't even Aslan, someone just made up something!"

"We saw Aslan as we rode. And I know what I saw," Lucy responds defiantly.

"So do I." Edmund, who hasn't spoken since the Wingfeathers began their story, finally does so, standing. "Lucy is right. Or have we forgotten what happened the last time we didn't believe her?"

The oldest two Pevensies share a look but deflate at the trump card. "Fine," Peter grits out. "They can stay. But only," he holds up a finger, "so we can watch them. The second either of them does anything suspicious-"

"We get it," Lucy agrees, patting Peter's shoulder as she passes him to make for the door, "you have minor trust issues."

Edmund just laughs at his brother's face as he follows his younger sister to the hall to inform their guests of the decision.

SHINING ISLE OF ANNIERA

"Uncle Artham!"

The man in question makes his way over at Janner's call, coming to stand by his nephew and instantly noticing the object in the young Throne Warden's hand.

He gently takes the crutch from Janner, eyes growing grim as he scans the area around them, knowing that his other niece and nephew wouldn't have left it behind.

"They’re gone," Janner whispers, staring vacantly at the nearest trunk.

"We're going to get them back," Artham reassures determinedly, placing a claw stop the other's head in a comforting gesture. He doesn't know who the comfort is for--Janner or himself--but refuses to dwell on it. "We're going to get them back."