Ugh, I really need to get used to updating sooner. :P I'm on summer break now, so hopefully I'll be able to get a lot more chapters in, my long-term goal is to finish this story before summer ends, wish me luck! Anyways, here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Chronicles of Narnia or any of the characters.

Lucy sat on the small step at the bottom of the Stone Table. She had her cordial out was fingering the bottle lovingly like it was some ancient treasure, which it was. She looked up when she heard footsteps and the sound of centaurs galloping towards the entrance of the How. Hurriedly, she slipped her cordial into its pouch and rushed toward the entrance. She emerged from the cave and ran up the slope to overlook the field. She saw a small line of Narnians trickling through it towards the How, far less in number than the group that had left the previous night. Trufflehunter looked up at her sadly and they both knew that it had not gone well. Peter was approaching and to say he looked angry would be an understatement, he was absolutely furious!

"What happened?" Lucy asked sympathetically. Peter glared at her.

"Ask him," he spat bitterly, jerking his head back at Caspian.

"Peter," came Susan's gentle voice

"Me?" Caspian asked in surprise, anger evident in his own voice. "You could have called it off, there was still time."

"No there wasn't because of you," Peter replied turning to Caspian and taking an intimidating step towards him. Caspian stayed where he was. "If you had just stuck to the plan, those soldiers might still be alive right now."

"And if you had just stayed here like I suggested they definitely would be," Caspian retorted, his anger growing more intense.

"You called us, remember?" Peter asked rhetorically.

"My first mistake," Caspian muttered.

"No," Peter said while shaking his head, "your first mistake was thinking you could leave these people." He began walking towards the How.

"Hey!" Caspian yelled after him. Peter whirled around on his heal to face the young prince. "I am not the one who abandoned Narnia."

"You invaded Narnia," Peter said, pointing an accusing finger at Caspian. "You have no more right to be here than Miraz does." Caspian pushed by the High King and started stalking angrily into the How. "You, him, your father!" Peter called after him, "Narnia's better off without the lot of you." Lucy saw Caspian's face grow from anger to absolute hatred. He let out a blood-curdling yell as he drew his sword on Peter and pointed it at his neck. Peter did likewise.

"Stop it!" came Edmunds voice. The two boys looked over and lowered their swords slightly. What Lucy saw horrified her. Edmund was holding the limp body of a red dwarf who was near death. He was setting him down with Susan's help when Lucy rushed forward between Peter and Caspian, the latter lowering his sword to allow her passage. She knelt beside Trumpkin's body as she took out her bottle of cordial. Trufflehunter, who had miraculously appeared beside her, looked on hopefully as she slipped a drop of the liquid into the red dwarf's mouth. For a brief moment, the world held its breath in anticipation. Lucy wondered if it would still work after 1300 years. Tears welled up in her eyes as fear gripped her heart and in that moment she realized how much Trumpkin meant to her. She let her breath out in relief when she heard him gasp for breath and saw his eyes flutter open. She smiled happily at the DLF.

"Well what are you all looking at," he said harshly to everybody staring at him. Lucy smiled; he was going to be alright. "The Telmarines will be here soon enough." Lucy stood up to follow the rest of the Narnians back into the How. "Thank-you," she heard Trumpkin say. She turned back to him, "pretty little friend." Lucy smiled, wondering if Trumpkin knew just how much that meant to her.

She walked back into the How and wandered through the tunnels absentmindedly. Boredom overtook her as she saw everybody had something to do. She strolled into the armory and looked at all the different weapons and wished that Peter would let her at least practice with them.

"Strange to see a lady who's interested in weapons," a friendly voice behind her said. She jumped in surprise and turned to see who it was. She smiled when she saw Trufflehunter.

"I've always been the odd queen," she admitted cheerfully, feigning a smile.

"Does that bother you?" he asked, a sympathetic look on his long face. Lucy's brow furrowed in surprise.

"Of course not," she said hurriedly. The badger just nodded submissively.

"My apologies, you just seem troubled."

"Trufflehunter," Lucy said guiltily, "don't feel bad, there is nothing wrong with seeing how a friend is doing."

"And if I am your friend, you'd be honest with me wouldn't you?" he asked. Lucy raised her eyebrows in surprise; she did not expect to be backed into a corner by a badger of all beasts.

"Of course," she said timidly.

Trufflehunter stared long and hard at her. "Does being the odd one bother you?" He asked again. Lucy sighed in defeat. She sat down on a nearby bench and Trufflehunter jumped up next to her.

"It's not that I don't like being me, I just wish I was more like Susan," she began. Trufflehunter looked at her intently. "She was always so beautiful and got so many callers and I was just Lucy. They pretty much invented a new adjective to describe me. I actually heard some Narnians say something along the lines of 'that was so Lucy of you to do that' on more than one occasion. I was the one who couldn't be described, I was so dreary. I was a tomboy, going to battle and mastering the use of daggers and swords, but sometimes I felt like people just saw me as the little girl who gave people drops of red juice that made them feel better, I was always the child and was never really taken seriously. I guess it's just a drawback of being the youngest. But through all that, I couldn't help but wonder if I would be treated differently if I was more like Susan, if I looked more like her, if I behaved more like her, and if I spent as much time looking in the mirror as her. I love my sister, but sometimes I can't help but feel jealous of all the attention she got and she still gets. All the boys flirt with her back in England and everybody just ignores me. I know I'm only twelve there, but still, I've seen girls younger than me who have boyfriends. I'm too strange and dull for everybody." She looked down at her hands folded in her lap as tears threatened to spill over the brims of her eyes.

Trufflehunter reached out and place a comforting paw on her shoulder.

"If you ask me," he said, "I would say it's impossible to be dull and strange at the same time. And if you were to ask me again, I'd say strange doesn't exist. There's only unique, and it's good to be unique because if everybody was the same it would be a very dreary world. Aslan made you different, always remember that. By saying you don't like being different, you're pretty much spitting in Aslan's face." With that, he calmly hopped off the bench and left the armory, leaving Lucy dumbstruck that there was such a simple solution to her problem: be content.

Trufflehunter's words echoed through her head. "By saying you don't like being different, you're pretty much spitting in Aslan's face." She had never thought of it like that and the very thought brought her to tears. She bolted out of the room before anybody saw her and fled to her private quarters. She shut the door behind her and fell facedown onto her bed and cried into the pillow.

"Oh Aslan," she wept bitterly, "I'm so sorry I've been so ungrateful. I didn't know I was 'spitting in your face' as Trufflehunter says. Please help me be content so I don't do that to you anymore." She continued to cry, but something changed in her. She felt a calmness she hadn't felt in a very long time. Then she remembered, it was how she felt when she first heard Aslan's name. It gave her comfort and contentment, and she was happy once again.

"Don't doubt your value," she heard the voice of Aslan whisper. She looked up and examined her room, but there was no lion. The words still gave her consolation; she didn't doubt her value, for now. She lay on her bed a few minutes more, but then she got up and started walking to the Table Room. She didn't know why, something was just calling her there. She felt like there was something evil in the air and it seemed to be coming from that room, she didn't like it.

She finally arrived at her destination and what she saw horrified her. Peter was fighting a hag and Edmund was fighting a werewolf while Caspian just stood there reaching out to… She couldn't believe it! It was the White Witch! She rushed over, intending to push Caspian out of the way, but she stopped when she saw Nikabrik over Trumpkin with a dagger out. She pulled her own out and knocked the rusty weapon from the black dwarf's hand. She wrapped her arm around his neck and held her knife to his throat as Trumpkin looked on it complete and utter shock. She pressed harder into Nikabrik's neck, slowly choking the life out of him. Then something awful happened. Lucy didn't know how it did, but she found herself sprawled out on the floor with Nikabrik nearing her with her own dagger. She tried to get away, but she was cornered against a crumbled pillar.

This is it, she thought. Her life flashed before her eyes as fear gripped her heart and squeezed the life out of it. She never imagined this was how she would end, killed by a former ally with her own dagger. But then she heard a terrible noise: the sound of a knife piercing human (or in this case dwarfen) flesh. Nikabrik's eyes went wide and he gasped for breath before he fell to the floor, revealing Trumpkin to be behind him holding the knife Nikabrik once threatened him with. Lucy was breathing hard, feeling very relieved. Trumpkin rushed over to her.

"Are you alright your highness?" he asked worriedly. Lucy nodded, unable to speak. It took her a moment to notice that all their enemies had been defeated and Peter had tackled Caspian to the floor before he made the biggest mistake anybody could make.

"Get away from him!" Peter shouted at the White Witch, as if she could move, she was after all frozen in a gigantic wall of ice. She drew back her hand she had been holding out to Caspian.

"Peter dear," she said as sweetly as she could, "I've missed you." She shoved her hand through the ice once more. "Come, just one drop. You know you can't do this alone." Peter lowered his sword as he looked up at the witch, looking mesmerized.

"Peter, no," Lucy whispered to herself. Trumpkin was looking on in horror as he watched the High King succumbing to temptation. Then something happened that surprised them all. A sword came out of the ice from the other side, having pierced the White Witch's belly. She gasped for breath and looked down in surprise. The ice began to crack.

"No, no," the witch muttered over and over. She tensed up everywhere in pain before letting out one final and painful "No!" as the whole wall shattered and chunks of ice flew everywhere. Trumpkin held his hand in front of Lucy in protection as they both looked on at the amazing sight. Out of the five people in there, they had the best view. Lucy smiled when she saw Edmund's figure standing there with his sword in the air, having stabbed the witch. She was sure he was glad to have defeated the thing that had haunted him all his life. Caspian finally stood up next to Peter and they both looked at the young king.

"I know," Edmund said, looking at Peter, "you had it sorted." And with that he walked away. Lucy looked towards the entrance of the room and saw Susan standing there glaring at Caspian. He looked back at Susan and guilt swept over his face. She glanced over at Lucy, angry that Caspian would put her in danger. Caspian looked down sheepishly, realizing the terrible mistake he had made. Susan shook her head and stalked out of the room angrily. Lucy shot up like a rocket and bolted after her.

Well I hope that wasn't too long, but I didn't want to make it super short like my recent chapters. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this, the conversation between Lucy and Trufflehunter was totally improvised, but it has got to be some of my best work and I'm really proud of it. I really hope you liked this chapter because it's probably one of my favorites to far. Anyways, I'll try to update soon, sometime next week hopefully, so until then, don't doubt your value and have fun with life. :D (I'm so deep!)