Peter Pevensie sometimes thought that being High King was a pretty good job; he was certainly the most respected human in the land of Narnia. Then there were other times, like this, when the other three looked to him for his advice and wisdom, and he realised that maybe the responsibility wasn't worth it. It wasn't like he'd been trained for the job after all; one stupid game of hide and seek and he'd somehow been flung into this other world. Still, at least he wasn't entirely alone, he thought, looking at his brother and two sisters, who were looking at him patiently, waiting for his thoughts on the matter at hand.

"Well, what did the fauns say about it?" He turned to his youngest sister, Lucy, stalling for time.

"They said she just appeared, out of nowhere," Lucy replied. "But you've heard all this already, Peter."

"I know, I know," Peter agreed. "I just wanted to get it clear in my own mind." And I thought you might have some ideas of your own…

"I don't understand how that can happen though," his other sister, Susan, pointed out. "For her just to appear out of thin air… that's ridiculous!"

"And walking in through a wardrobe is normal?" Edmund raised an eyebrow at his sister. "You're forgetting how we ended up here, Su."

Susan frowned at him. "Of course I'm not forgetting," she insisted. "But that was different, we walked in. This girl just… appeared."

"Allegedly," Peter added hastily. "We don't know for sure that's what happened. I mean, with all due respect, Lucy, fauns have never been the most… honest of creatures." A touchy subject in their family.

"Well I believe them," Lucy glared at her older brother.

"I think we should wait for the word from the unicorns," Peter decided. "Or at least until the girl gets here."

Emma stared at the creature in front of her in amazement. It was like nothing she'd ever seen before, except in picture books, and even then, it had looked nothing like this. It was like a horse, but so much bigger and brighter and more beautiful than a horse as to make it nothing like a horse. It was pure white, and didn't even have any of those grass stains on it that white horses at home seemed to have. Its mane was long and flowing, but didn't even have any leaves or knots in it, neither did its tail. Emma was sure if she touched it, the hair would feel like silk, but she didn't dare. Something in its large dark eye, which looked at her extremely proudly, suggested that it wouldn't let her touch it until it was ready. And she wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of that horn.

It had looked at her for a full five minutes, or even longer. Emma was already becoming aware that she was losing track of time. It could have been days since she'd found herself thrown onto the grass here, or only minutes.

Now the creature turned away from her and leaned in towards another creature, who looked like a very hairy man with… she must have imagined it, but… hooves? And if she hadn't known better she could have sworn that the two creatures were… talking?

The unicorn finally turned back to look at her and Emma nearly passed out when it said, in a soft clear voice, "Daughter of Eve… I trust you have a name?"

Emma made an attempt to answer. "Em… Emma."

The unicorn flared his nostrils slightly. "Em-Emma. Interesting." He twitched his tail and then drew himself up to his full height, sticking his chest out and tossing his head back. "I'm to take you to Cair Paravel."

Emma raised her eyebrows. Something of her usual confidence came back. "Yeah?" she said doubtfully.

"Yes." The unicorn nodded, but his proud stance slackened a little. "By order of Peter the High King," he added, as if to qualify his statement. He glanced at the man-like creature next to him, seemingly for support. The unicorn twitched his ears and then turned back to Emma. "So… so you're to come."

Emma frowned. "What? Where though?" She wasn't stupid enough to just gamely follow a (she couldn't believe she was even thinking this) talking unicorn, to some fantastical place. This just didn't happen. Where in God's name was she, this was a world away from Oxford Street, London in the June of 2004. One second she'd been walking across the busy road and then wham! She found herself falling, thrown down onto a soft carpet of grass. Barely had she recovered her breath, or her stomach, when all these creatures had come out of nowhere. And now one of them wanted to drag her off to who knew where. What did unicorns eat anyway? They may look like horses, but there had to be a reason to have a horn that big and sharp-looking. It would probably try and eat her, knowing her luck. No way would she just wander off like this.

The unicorn was clearly taken aback by her reluctance to join him. He shifted his weight from hoof to hoof uneasily, like a small child who was in trouble. Emma wondered how it honestly expected her to take it seriously when it was clearly so unsure of itself.

"I already said," he said, whinnying slightly. "Cair Paravel."

"Maybe it might be an idea if you explained yourself a little better, Raanda," the man-creature next to him suggested in a stage whisper.

"Yes." Emma could have sworn that badger just spoke. "She's clearly not from Narnia is she?"

"Well of course!" Raanda the unicorn snorted. "Obviously." He fixed Emma with as fierce a glare as he could manage from his deep liquid eyes. "Cair Paravel is the castle on the eastern sea… the home of the kings and queens of Narnia." Before Emma could interrupt, and after a sharp look from the badger, he added hurriedly, "Which we're in. This is Narnia."

Emma looked at all the creatures slowly. As well as Raanda, the man-creature and the badger, there were two horses, a cow, three rabbits, a squirrel, three more of those man-creature things, two stunning and willowy looking women and a robin. They were all looking at her intently like she was an animal in a zoo. Her head suddenly hurt and she put her hand to it gingerly. Blood came away onto her palm.

"She's bleeding!" one of the women exclaimed.

"I'm fine," Emma insisted. The blood on her forehead was already congealing. "I've just hit my head, it's fine." She'd done worse before, like when she'd somehow broken her arm in two places from slipping over in the kitchen at home. A cut head was nothing.

"She should be sitting down!" the badger insisted. Okay, so maybe she wasn't as fine as she thought if she was imagining badgers talking.

"Raanda, you made her stand up this whole time!" one of the horses, a huge but gentle looking brown mare. "She could be seriously hurt!"

"Well how was I to know?" Raanda asked huffily. He again shifted his weight anxiously. "Will… will you be okay to travel?"

"To Cair Paravel?" the brown mare looked at him incredulously. "That's miles away! It's a good day's trek from here!"

"But High King Peter was very specific…" Raanda attempted to justify himself.

"Oh, come off it, Raanda!" the first man-creature rolled his eyes. "Did you even speak to him yourself?"

"Well, no…" Raanda looked down at his feet, nearly knocking several people out with his long horn. "I… I was asked to come by…"

"Your father?" the second willowy woman suggested in a softer voice.

Raanda nodded miserably. Emma couldn't help thinking that he should be more careful with the two foot spike on his head.

"I'm fine, honestly," Emma said again. "Look, I'm not bleeding anymore, I'm fine. If I'm to go somewhere, I suppose…"

"She can't possibly walk that long way," the cow insisted. "You'll have to give her a lift, Raanda."

"What?" the unicorn squealed indignantly. "But you know we unicorns never get ridden, we're not like common carthorses you know!" He looked at the two horses defiantly. When they returned his look with two wry stares, he became even more annoyed. "Well, we're not!"

"Oh, come on now," the other horse, a grey stallion, who looked like he'd been through a few wars, said. "Would it really kill you to give the poor girl a lift?" He descended into grumpy mutterings, of "Calls himself a unicorn! That horn's barely a lump on his head!"

The first willowy woman took pity on the disgraced unicorn. "Come on, Raanda, just this once," she said gently, stroking the unicorn's neck. "She really can't walk all that way, and you're much faster than anyone else."

Raanda twitched his ears thoughtfully, before finally raising his head again. "Alright, I suppose," he said sulkily. "But we need to go now."

"Great," Emma nodded. "But I've never ridden a horse… I mean, a unicorn before," she corrected herself hurriedly when Raanda looked like he was about to throw a fit again.

"It's simple," the brown mare insisted, giving her a gentle shove with her nose. "And Raanda will make it as smooth as possible, won't you?"

Raanda, who had clearly had some high jinks in mind, nodded dolefully. "I'm going to have a drink first," he said miserably, trailing off to the stream running behind them all.

"He's only young," the mare said quietly to Emma as he walked away. "He doesn't mean any harm really. He's a nice boy, he'll be good company for you."

Emma really wasn't sure what she was getting herself into.