In which Christopher Robin can't fall asleep.

[nowwearesix]

Christopher Robin couldn't sleep. He lay in bed for a while, staring up at the moonlight filtering through the house's roof. Pooh and Piglet curled next to him on the little bed, both looking content

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[nevergrowsup]

Peter still hadn't found Tink, but he wasn't about to give up. Nighttime was the best time to look for fairies, anyway, that was when they were having their dances.

Sword out, he walked the winding paths around the island, keeping an eye out for fairy lights. His stomach was growling, but he ignored it. Peter would make-believe a splendid dinner later, maybe.

He stopped when he saw the boy. "Hello. Have you seen any fairies down this way?"

[nowwearesix]

Christopher Robin looked at the boy, and thought about it a moment, and shook his head a little sadly. "No," he said politely. "I'm sorry, I haven't. Did you lose one?"

[nevergrowsup]

He nodded. "She seems to have flown off the minute we got here, an' I haven't found her yet." Peter didn't like to think about the idea that Tinkerbell hadn't come through with him at all, even if she certainly would have found him by now if she were here.

Peter looked at Christopher Robin closely for the first time. He looked like Michael, and no end of other boys with other names. "Hello. Are you Lost, by chance?"

[nowwearesix]

"Well," Christopher Robin said, "if I see her, I shall certainly tell you where to find her." He cocked his head, about to tell the boy that he wasn't lost at all, that he lived in that little house right there, but there was a certain emphasis to Lost, where you could almost hear the capital L just in the way he said it.

So he asked instead, "What do you mean?"

[nevergrowsup]

"I mean Lost. Boys who slip away while their parents are distracted, an' then they're never found again." It was an easy enough explanation, and Peter was well-acquainted with being Lost. He was practically an expert at it.

"Most of the ones I've met lately seem to fall out of their perambulators on walks," he added helpfully.

[nowwearesix]

"Oh." Christopher Robin thought about this, his face getting rather serious. "I suppose I am," he said, "although I haven't been small enough for a perambulator for quite some time. But I was in the forest with Pooh, and we slipped off to do Nothing for a while, and then we were here."

[nevergrowsup]

Peter nodded. That seemed like a very likely way to get Lost, even if the perambulator was (sadly) left out of the story.

"I'm a Lost Boy too an' I always have been." That was not quite the truth, but close enough. "If you want, you and Pooh could be part of my band of Lost Boys. We will have lots of adventures."

He hadn't considered forming a band of Lost Boys until just this moment, but it seemed like a good idea even if he couldn't fly just yet.

[nowwearesix]

"Well," Christopher Robin said, "I do like to have adventures. I'm a Knight of Narnia, and a deputy Police Officer, and I may still be a postman. Would being a Lost Boy get in the way of all that? They don't take much time, I mostly still go exploring and play Pooh-sticks." He smiled brightly. "By the way," he added, "I'm Christopher Robin."

[nevergrowsup]

Peter paused for a moment, thinking about it before he shook his head. In truth, he didn't quite know what a postman did, but didn't want to admit it. "I don't think so. As long as you aren't a pirate or an Indian, it shouldn't make any difference at all."

He smiled, and put his sword away so they could shake hands. "I'm Peter Pan."

[nowwearesix]

Christopher Robin only knew what the sort of postman from back in England did. The one on the island seemed to wear odd hats. "It's very nice to meet you. And I'm not a pirate or an Indian," he promised, shaking Peter's hand. "There are pirates, though. They have a ship down off the south part of the island."

[nevergrowsup]

His eyes lit up in a way that was fierce and not altogether the usual expression for a boy's face. "Pirates! Oh, that's excellent. I shall have to go scouting out for them soon. Do you know anything about their captain?"

[nowwearesix]

"Only a little." Christopher Robin was quite pleased to have information that Peter so clearly found useful. "He's usually with the ship--it's a very pretty ship, by the way, all black with a lady's head at the front. And he has very long hair and walks oddly. Do you fight pirates?"

[nevergrowsup]

A black ship with a long-haired captain. That sounded vaguely familiar, but then Peter had known about a great many pirates.

"Oh, yes, I'm a famed pirate enemy," he said with a nod. "I just got James Hook a couple days ago, an' he was Blackbeard's bosun."

[nowwearesix]

"Oh! That's exciting," said Christopher Robin admiringly. "I've heard of them. Horatio used to fight pirates, too," he added proudly. "He has very good stories."

[nevergrowsup]

"Really? I do so love a good story, especially if they're about pirates." Peter, of course, didn't realize he had acquired a great deal of pirate stories on his own. "Who's Horatio?"

[nowwearesix]

"One of the people who takes care of me," Christopher Robin answered. "He used to be in the Navy, they fight pirates all the time! I wish I could. Although," he added, "there was a bed once that washed up on the beach and I thought it made an excellent pirate ship."