FicWad

Then Aslan turned to them and said, "You do not yet look so happy as I mean you to be."

"We're so afraid of being sent away, Aslan," said Lucy. "And you have sent us back into our own world so very often."

"Children," said Aslan very gently. "I will send you back to your own world one more time. But do not despair," he said as their faces fell. "When we meet again, you will have come to stay forever. But for now, you must return to the Shadowlands. There is one final task you must perform there."

"Please, Aslan," said Eustace. "What is it?"

"You will know when you have found it," said Aslan. "I shall send you help."

Then everything began to fade before their eyes, and the solid shapes and bright light around them became a blur of shifting colors.

oo0oo

The first of Peter's senses to return to him was Hearing. Voices were speaking - beautiful, musical voices in languages he did not know, and occasionally in English. Then came Touch - he was lying on his back in a soft bed and seemed to be wearing something very like a long nightshirt. Next came Smell - his sheets were fresh and slightly fragrant. Last came Sight - he blinked and opened his eyes.

The people standing about the room and hovering over his bed were so noticeable that for a few moments he could look at nothing else. They were like human people and yet were not. The beauty of their faces and voices reminded Peter a little of the Mer-People he had once known in Narnia, only these people reminded him more of starlight and sunlight and less of white-capped ocean waves. They were all tall and slender and had long, flowing, beautiful hair and wore long, flowing, beautiful robes.

"This one wakes!" said one of the Beautiful People in English, and Peter found himself suddenly surrounded by a small crowd of them.

"Get back, get back, and leave the boy room to breathe!" scolded one of them - a lady with bright silver hair and sparkling blue eyes. She must have been a person of some authority among them, for they all scattered at once.

"And you," said the lady. "You must be King Peter of Narnia."

"Well, yes I am," said Peter blinking. "But who are you, and how did you know who I was?"

"Earwen is my name," said she. "But that, of course, will mean nothing to you. As for how I know who you are, my husband, who is the master of this house, foresaw your coming and caused the house to be made ready for you. Your brothers and sisters and friends are all about you."

Peter looked around and saw that the room he was in was really more like a healing ward such as there had been in Cair Paravel, and there were several other beds to his left and right, as well as against the opposite wall. He caught a glimpse of Jill's curly red hair against the pillow of the bed nearest him. The people who had been crowding round him a few moments before (mostly women, but a few men) were moving in and out among the beds.

Peter turned back to the silver-haired lady Earwen. "How long have you cared for us?" he asked.

"Not for long," she said. "We found you lying side by side under the trees that surround our House maybe an hour ago, though of course no one can tell how long you lay there before that. We did not think you were hurt or ill, but we wanted you to be comfortable."

"I can't speak for the others, of course," said Peter. "But I'm all right. Thank you for your hospitality."

Earwen looked at him closely, and then leaned forward and asked almost in a whisper, "Is it true that you have all been sent hither by - by the One Himself?"

"If by the One you mean Aslan, the Lion, Highest of all High Kings," said Peter. "Then yes, it is true."

Just then, someone stirred in one of the other beds, and Peter sat up to see who it was. It was Lucy, and one of the women was already stooping over her and greeting her in much the same fashion as Earwen had greeted Peter. And after that it was not long before the others (Digory, Polly, Edmund, Eustace and Jill) began to wake up too.