Originally published 12/26/15
Guys, this story is almost at 100 reads! Whoop whoop! (Baby steps, baby steps.)

Lucy reached out her arms to Peter, who helped her dismount the horse. She curtsied to the creature. "Thank you, Mister..." She trailed off, realising that she did not know the name of her mount.

"Fable, Miss Fable," came the reply, and the horse tossed her mane.

"Oh! Pardon me, Miss! Thank you for the ride." She beamed, watching as Fable inclined her head and galloped away. Peter had wandered over to where Edmund was standing, and Lucy took the moment to drink in the beauty of the forest. She closed her eyes, smiling to herself.

Inhaling deeply, Lucy could smell the sweet scent of flower pollen and dew on the leaves, the dirt and the grass, all blending into one scent which she could only define as heavenly. Lucy felt at home. She opened her eyes slowly, admiring the way the wind gently tossed the wonderfully coloured leaves every which way, noticing how the sunlight streamed beautifully through branches of the trees.

The peacefulness was very calming, a serene scene- although it wasn't completely silent. The sounds of the forest inhabitants going about their daily lives was ever present. She could hear birds chirping to one another, and she imagined that they were a huge family of birds, all making plans to meet up. Leaves and bushes rustled as small animals scurried about their business, and larger animals, some of them Narnians, could be heard communicating and interacting with one another.

Hearing a noise to her left, Lucy turned and caught sight of a faun chasing after a tree nymph a few dozen meters away. The nymph, giggling, turned into a beautiful cherry tree with a 'pop!' and the young faun wasted no time in wrapping his arms around it in a hug, then planting a kiss on its bark.

Lucy giggled to herself at the sight, then went to join her siblings. They had convened at a large tree, and Peter and Susan seemed to be discussing which way to go.

Edmund, bored, looked to be on the verge of wandering off on his own and finding his own way, without his bickering elder siblings.

"No, Su, I think we should go off the trail. What's going to hurt us? No one here wants us any harm."

"Peter, you know that's not true!" Susan frowned, lowering her voice. "There are still followers of the.." she glanced around to be sure that Edmund wasn't paying attention. "...her followers are still around."

"No," insisted Peter stubbornly. "Susan, I will not stand by and let that dictate our lives and actions. This is our Kingdom now, and we have to continue to fight for it!"

"Peter, calm down!" She shushed him, motioning towards where Edmund was standing at a creek-bed.

"I'm right here, you know. I can hear everything you're saying." Edmund mumbled to himself a bit, pulling out his sword and poking at a stick that drifted in the water.

Lucy had joined him, and was eagerly pointing out the fauna and fallen leaves as they floated by.

"Oh, alright," sighed Susan, still reluctant but not in favor of an argument in the middle of the woods.

"We're going this way." Peter patted his unicorn, and started off on foot. Susan rolled her eyes and unslung her bow, following. Lucy grabbed Edmund's hand and tugged him after their brother and sister, looking around at all the flowers they passed along the journey.

She followed, not exactly paying attention to the direction they were headed in and instead focusing her attention on the treasures of the wood, the shapes of the pinecones and the colours of the surrounding foliage. Her feet shuffled the leaves as they walked, her skirts swishing around her ankles.

She walked into Susan and nearly fell down into a riverbank below them. Edmund grabbed her arm to steady her, rolling his eyes.

"Watch where you're going, Lu!" Susan scolded her, then turned away. Lucy noticed where they'd stopped and let out a small gasp of amazement.

"It's..."

"Beautiful." Peter took another step carefully, as though afraid that the sight before them was a fragile mirage that might slip away at any second.

It was beautiful. In front of them, the forest melted into a clearing of bright green grass that seemingly went on forever. In the near distance, the land sloped off somewhat suddenly to a lake, sparkling brilliantly in the dull daylight.

A large, misshapen rock stood its lonesome a few hundred metres from the lake, and some smaller animals had taken dwelling in its eaves for the season.

Lucy approached with Peter, her eyes wide as saucers trying to take in everything before them.

"Wow," Peter breathed out again. Lucy slipped her hand into his, and he glanced down at her with a smile.

"Ed, you've been holding out on us," he poked teasingly, turning to his younger brother. Edmund rolled his eyes.

"Have not, you know as well as I that this is the first any of us have wandered out here!"

"I'm only joking, Ed, I know that."

Susan was scanning the area, seemingly memorizing its features so that they could return without trouble.

"It is beautiful," she agreed, "but I think we had best be going back to the castle now, we're losing daylight and we can come back another day and do some more exploring."

She was right, the sky was dimming and insects could be heard coming out for the evening, and so the four trooped back to where they'd left two of the horses to graze, waiting for their third mount to return from his wandering.

Lucy looked behind her as Peter rode away, imagining. There was something rather special about the place they had discovered, but what she couldn't tell.

She sighed, wrapping her arms around her brother's waist so that she wouldn't fall, and closed her eyes to doze. Lucy's last thought before drifting off was of the book which she had stashed away earlier in the day, and what adventures it could possibly hold for the future.