Disclaimer: Lucy Pevensie and all the characters and situations in the Chronicles of Narnia belong to C. S. Lewis and not to me.

LULU

Lucy sat down on a fallen log beside the cool, rushing waters of the river. It had been barely dawn when she had crept out of her bed at Cair Paravel, dressed swiftly, and snatched up the knapsack she had packed the night before. Now, judging from the sun that glinted on the water and beat upon the canopy of leaves above her, it must be close to noon. She heard a tiny growl and put one hand over her stomach. Yes, it must be about lunchtime.

She shrugged out of her knapsack and heard the growl again. That wasn't coming from her stomach, but from the pouch itself. She set the knapsack on the log beside her and opened the flap with a flick of her dagger, ready for something to spring out. Then, with a laugh, she put the dagger back in its sheath.

"Hello. Who are you?"

A very small brown-tabby Kitten with blue eyes and a white chin sat blinking at her. "I didn't mean to growl."

Lucy smiled at the piping little voice. "It's all right. Did something scare you?"

The Kitten shook her head. "That metal thing keeps poking my tummy."

The 'metal thing' was the set of panpipes Lucy had borrowed from Mr. Tumnus. She didn't know how to play them, and she didn't want to embarrass herself (and invite teasing from Edmund) by trying them out at home, so she'd packed them away with her lunch, a good book and a clean handkerchief and set out to enjoy some time alone.

"Well maybe," she told the Kitten, "you should come out of there so you'll be more comfortable."

The Kitten smiled, displaying a mouthful of tiny white teeth, and Lucy set her down on the log next to the knapsack.

"You're awfully little to be out by yourself. Won't your mama be worried?"

The smile drooped into a pout. "I'm not so little. I'm big enough to be on my own. My brothers and sister always go 'sploring now. I don't know why I can't."

"But shouldn't you have told someone you were going? So nobody would worry about you?"

"But, Queen Lucy, you didn't tell anyone you were going. Won't somebody worry about you?"

The big blue eyes were round and innocent, and Lucy couldn't help smiling. "Well, yes, probably. But I didn't want anyone fussing over me or anything. If I told my brothers or sister, they'd have insisted I take one of them with me. Or the General. Or a squadron of Black Bears and Wolverines. They don't think I can do anything on my own."

The Kitten sighed. "I know. My brothers and sister are the same way. They think because I'm the littlest I have to be looked after all the time."

Lucy sighed, too. "But, on the other hand, if we worry everyone too much, they'll want to baby us more than ever. Maybe we'd better have lunch and then go back home. Would you like to share some of my food?"

The Kitten ducked her head and looked up through her long lashes. "I– I already tasted some of it."

"You did, did you?"

Lucy tried to look stern, but couldn't quite manage it. She found the little bundle of food she had brought was already partly opened. The cherry tart was still there and the green apple and the bread and cheese, too, but only one of the sardines was left.

"They smelled awfully good," the Kitten explained and then she put one white-tipped paw over her mouth, covering the tiniest, most delicate belch. "And I didn't have time to eat breakfast before I left this morning."

Lucy held up the last little fish, wondering how so tiny a Kitten could have eaten so many sardines. "You may as well finish it off."

The Kitten's eyes widened, and now she put both forepaws over her mouth. "N-no, thank you."

With a giggle, Lucy rummaged through the food she had left and made herself a nice little meal. When she was done, she carried the Kitten with her to the riverside.

"We'd better wash up and then go back home. Lady Emily will be wondering where you are."

"But–" The Kitten turned her head to one side. "How do you know she's my mummy?"

"Oh, I've heard all about you and your brothers and sister. I've heard about Petie and Suzie and Eddie, so that has to mean you're Lulu."

Lulu grinned again, wider than before. "We all gots names like yours. Daddy says's a honor. I guess you're very proud we were named after you." She leaned confidentially closer. "But I think we're proud, too, even if Mummy says we need to remember we're named after Kings and Queens and shouldn't do anything to 'barrass you."

"I'm sure you would never do that," Lucy said, dipping her handkerchief into the cool water. "Now come along and get washed up. You smell like sardines."

Lulu closed her eyes and drew a deep, satisfied breath. "Isn't it scrum'shus?"

It wouldn't be polite to laugh, so Lucy turned her attentions to her own ablutions. Afterwards, she packed everything besides Lulu back into her knapsack, including the unused panpipes. She'd have to get away some other day if she were ever to give them a try unobserved.

"All right," she said, standing and slipping her arms through the straps on her pack. "We'd better go back. It'll be almost suppertime before we get there, but if we hurry, maybe nobody will have noticed we were gone."

Without further protest, the Kitten leapt up on her shoulder and they hurried back towards the Cair. Once they reached the edge of the forest that opened up onto the castle lawns, Lucy stopped and peered around a tree. Everything seemed quiet.

"We've made it," she whispered to Lulu. "We'll just hurry over to that little gate. It leads into the garden, and it's never locked during the daytime. Nobody will mind if we've been playing in the garden all day."

Lulu's eyes sparkled with mischief. "I guess we got to do some 'sploring after all."

"Don't worry," Lucy promised. "We'll do some more exploring before long. Just don't tell– Peter!"

Her oldest brother was standing just inside the garden gate, dressed for riding and fully armed. He was not smiling.

"Don't tell Peter what?"

"We're not s'posed to tell you we were 'sploring by ourselves," Lulu piped.

Lucy winced.

"I see." Peter's mouth was pressed into a hard line. "And did you know, little one, that your mother and father have been looking all over the Cair for you?"

Lulu blinked her blue eyes.

"And your brothers and sister, too?" Peter added. "Just like Queen Lucy's brothers and sister have been searching for her?"

"I didn't want them to worry, King Peter," Lulu said, her little mouth turned down in a pout.

"Queen Lucy shouldn't have taken you away from the Cair," he said, as near to scolding as he ever got. "Not without getting permission from your mother and father."

"But she didn't," Lulu protested. "I hided in her lunch until it was too late."

Peter's stern expression wavered and then was overwhelmed by his sunny laugh. "I suppose it couldn't be helped then, but you mustn't let it happen again."

"Aww, Peter." Lucy looked up at her brother with her own big blue eyes and her own persuasive pout. "Can't we ever go out into the forest?"

"No," he said, his face stern again.

"But Peter," she pled, clasping his hand in both of her own.

Once more he melted. "Now, Lu, you know you can. Any time. Just make sure you have your guard with you. And probably Oreius. And me and Ed, too. Just to be sure."

Lucy sighed. "All right."

Peter wrapped her tightly in his arms, and she had to admit it was a very nice place to be.

"I just wouldn't ever want anything to happen to you." He pressed a kiss to her hair and then tapped the Kitten on the nose. "Or you, little one. Now, you'd better get back to your mum and dad. They're worried."

Lulu ducked her head. "Am I in trouble?"

"Not too much," he told her. "But they'll be happy to know you're all right."

Lulu gave him a coy glance and batted her eyes. "You can come see us any time you want."

"All right, sweetheart," he said, giving her the warm smile he generally saved for the littlest of his subjects and the littlest of his sisters. "Now hurry along. They're waiting for you."

She waved one tiny white-tipped paw until they turned into the side corridor that led to the quarters of Sir Elliot Pouncepaws and his family.

"He's nice," Lulu said. "Petie said he was nice, but he didn't say how very nice he is."

Lucy giggled. "He probably thought you'd already heard it from everyone else."

Once more the Kitten's little mouth turned down. "I just wish we could go 'sploring again. It was fun."

"Don't worry," Lucy said. "We will."

"Really? But King Peter told us not to."

"That only counts for a week or two. By then Edmund will give him something else to worry about, and we can explore all we want." Lucy winked as she knocked on the Pouncepaws' door. "As long as we let someone know where we'll be."

Author's Note: And so, in honor of International Cat Day, here at long last is the elusive fourth episode of The Pouncepaws. Many, many thanks to Lady Alambiel for helping me figure out what to write. Please let me know what you thought about it. I haven't had much time to play in Narnia lately, but I hope to write more in the future . . . if anyone wants to read it.