Betancourt teleported up to deck. "Arr...this be the best I've felt in years!" He grinned, taking a deep breath of Narnian air. Then his smile faltered a little and he seemed to hesitate in saying something. "...uh...not to be a killjoy, but...yer mates - Machia and Fish - who says they're back in Narnia? Well, I suppose all we need to do is figure out if Saruman came back, and chances are yer mates are with him, but...how do ye even know then?"
IOWW bit her lip and looked down at the deck. "And what's more... We were on earth for...what, two years?" She glanced at the map in her hands, and then back up at the shoreline. "Arr...but the map - and my memory - serves to tell me that grassy fields only dotted with trees should be along the countryside. Yet...I see a forest, denser than any other I remember..."
Aravis shook her head. "A forest can't be grown in a mere two years. Arr...I remember the stories of old had somethin' o' this. The High King Peter and his brother and sisters went back and forth to Narnia. They then wrote about how a lifetime in Narnia past no more than a second of Earth time, but then, perhaps a minute of Earth time passed 1000 Narnian years. It was never the same... Who knows how many Narnian years have passed since we went back to Earth..."
"So, then," Betancourt began slowly, "hypothetically speaking, let's say...500 Narnian years passed since you all - including Fish and Machia - were last here. Then let's say that Saruman and your two mates came back to Narnia...a week before we did. Perhaps when they arrived in Narnia, only...I don't know...400 years had passed. So, even if they are - or were - here, would they - or could they - be elderly? Or have even died of old age?"
