A/N: It's been a long time since my mind palace could gurgle another story. I've been assaulted/harassed, none of my friends believed me, then got diagnosed with Post-trauma. So all the stories I was spinning and lovingly creating in my head turned into nightmares. It's fading now. I hope. I'm glad I am now able to write again.

PS: Text apparently retains Onenote formatting, but didn't show in the publishing side. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

Disclaimer: I do not own Narnia. But if C. S. Lewis had lived a little longer and wrote more, you would have been spared by my pen.

.oOo.

Once upon a time, there lived a girl who was covered in ash. Her mother and father died and she was left to the care of her cruel stepmother and step-sisters.

They made her clean the house and sweep the floor.

"Cinders are worthless! Cinders are worthless!", the stepsister would tell her.

And her skin was dark from the ashes of the fireplace. Even her eyes were as dark as her skin. Yet those dark globes held their own beauty.

One night, because her step-mother had beaten her more badly than usual, she went towards the seashore, near a cave to weep. In ashes she wept. And that was why she her name was called Ashweeper.

That's when she noticed a glisten inside the caves. At first, she thought it was just the moon come to reflect a surface. Then she stepped closer, deeper and deeper into the cave, it was something more.

For on one of the chinks and chasm inside the darkness of the rocks, there was a light like a diamond. As Ashweeper stepped closer, the chink became bigger and bigger until it was no longer a chink, but a small passageway. And inside the passageway, wonder! A sunny forest. A forest whose leaves were red and orange crisp from the sun, yellow ones and heathy green ones all at once. So she went hither to the land that lay between the rocks, and very soon she found herself being in that country. Which was more large than she imagined. And it was light and sunny here just as it was dark and cold where she came from.

Then from the heathy pasture galloped a horse towards her.

The prince, who had grown up being taught to take care of his subjects both high and low, immediately held out his hands to offer her a lift.

"Fair maiden, whence hast thou come from? May I offer you a ride back to your house?"

But before she could reply, the slave-traders came and captured them both.

"This boy and girl will fix a good price," said the slave-trader.

The prince, who was quite educated in the ways of being tied down, placed himself near a sharp rock behind him and slowly rubbed his bound hands against it.

Ashweeper on the other hand, sang a song and two mice went to her to nip her chords away, so that when the slave-traders were finally sound asleep, she was already free. She gestured for the mice to save the prince also, and in the thick of the night, they, both of them galloped away.

Even by this, Ashweeper knew not that the boy she saved was the prince. And they parted ways when the prince let her down his horse near the cave. Ashweeper went back to her stepmother's house.

The next day, a big consort of the king's soldiers came, captured the slave-traders and charged them with high treason against harming the prince. The slave-traders pleaded that they did not know he was prince that's why they captured him.

The king replied, "What you do to my least of subjects, you do also to me." And so they were put to jail.

Now there came a time that the prince could not forget the girl who had saved him. In his attempts to find the girl did he open the palace wide. A proclamation was made that every men and maiden be invited to a grand ball. The ball that was to commemorate the year of the coming of Aslan, by whose blood all Narnia was saved, wherefore he has broken the old law where all traitors had to be put to death, or else all Narnia would be overturned.

At the same time, in Ashweeper's world, there was also a ball. And their household was to come.

But the stepsisters said, "You are all in ash! You cannot go to the carriage with us, it will all be covered in cinders!"

"But what if I wash my face really hard? The ash will come off," said Ashweeper.

"It won't, it won't!" said the evil step-sisters.

She went into the cave again. Then the old willow tree outside the cave, took pity on her and there fell a golden citrus fruit from a tree high up onto Ashweeper's hands. She scrubbed it all over and her skin shone again from the ashes. And the grime went away and her hands shown like diamonds. But when she shew herself to her stepmother, the stepmother gazed at her beauty, and was afraid. For if she be with them, her daughters will become plain. So she broke her dress and bid her not to come.

She ran to the cave again, and cried in the old willow tree near the cave. Then the willow tree came to life, and said, "dear girl, come hither. I will give thee a dress of golden leaves spun in dreams."

"Then must I go to the ball."

"Nay! 'tis no place for thee. Come thee with me, for we are all invited to the palace of Cair Paravel. For in Cair Paravel, all people are invited."

"But is it not that only fair people are invited?"

"Silly girl, in Narnia, all creatures are fair. Aslan made it so! Did not Aslan visit your world also?"

The birds took with them golden threads in their beaks. And the mice came and gave her firestones. And the old willow tree spun it all together using the thin fabric of dreams. Up from her arms came the intricate vine and flower patterns, then all over her body. The leaves sprung themselves into a gown. Then atop it all, she was finally covered with the thin fabric, so soft, you feel that it would melt if you touch it with your hands .

And so Ashweeper went with the talking Willow tree with her dress spun in dreams. The willow tree got her a horse and she rode swift into the night to Cair Paravel.

The palace was a marvel! Intricate tapestries and chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Flowers of different colors decorated each vases. And everyone was dressed beautifully. Her own dress herself, was like cotton and silk, and the little children would want to hold it just to see it flow out of their hands like soft water.

When the prince saw her, he recognized her at once. He went to her, and took her hand, and they danced and danced.

Then when midnight came did Ashweeper become anxious to leave because her dress were only spun by the fabric of the dryads and they dissolve when dreams start to take form. She ran away from the castle. The clock ticked behind her and her clothes dissolved like dust as she rode the wind with her horse. She got back to the passageway in the cave into her world.

The step-sisters were come from the ball and was desirous to gaud her for not going.

"We are real women," said they. "for we go to balls!"

But when they went home, did they see Ashweeper sing songs and sway from music. They were not happy to see her not sad at all. For, she must feel the pangs of not going.

So they asked her, where have you been?

And she said, why to the ball, of course! There were tapestries and tapestries all spun with gold, and the Dryads and the Naiads come and we were all a-merry!

And so they understood and laughed. Ashweeper had not gone to the ball! said they. She imagined herself away because of her extreme sorrow and despair.

Meanwhile, in the kingdom of Narnia, the prince made a search all around the kingdom for the mystery girl.

The older step-sister saw Ashweeper leave the house. Ashweeper sang to the old tree and in it fell the silks of the birds and clothed her with splendor.

The stepsister called, in her mother's voice, "Ashweeper, come hither, for the chimney needs a-sweeping, and the floors need a-scrubbing. And the clothes need a-mending." So Ashweeper turned, and the dress didst dissolve around her. She ran back to the house.

The step sister, knowing Ashweeper's secret, sang her song. The old willow tree, thinking it was Ashweeper, did he clothe the girl in splendour also. The stepsister took an axe to cut the golden fruit tree.

Ashweeper went back to the cave. She called, and called but her dryad friend did not answer. Finally she saw the golden fruit tree hacked by an axe. The Dryad had died. The dryad living on that tree lay dying on the glade, an axe on his tree.

The older step-sister saw the passageway. She carried with her the ash girl as her form of revenge, thinking, nobody would recognize her for she do not have anymore of the golden citrus fruit to bear her true appearance. She was full of ash.

Both of them went beyond the passageway, then the royal guards found her. The step-sister wore the golden dress spun in dreams. Thinking that the stepsister was the girl dressed in diamond splendour, she was carried into the palace, where she was treated with sherbets in flagoons ("Calormene food, your highness", said one of the fauns.) and turkeys, and pomegranates.

When the carriage came bearing the prince's bride, the prince was overjoyed and went out to meet it.

There in the palace, Ashweeper tended to the geeze.

The prince questioned the fake stepsister about everything Ashweeper and him had done and she answered them all as if she was the same person. Though there was a faint gnawing in his heart that something was amiss.

While he, the king and the stepsister was discussing about the wedding, the prince caught sight of something in the fireplace.

"A lion!" says he. "I saw a lion in the fireplace."

"My prince," said the step-sister with a bit of shaky voice. "There are a lot of figures that can be seen in the fire. Why, I see a rabbit and a faun also!"

"Nay, my princess. Tis Aslan's face I saw no doubt."

He went nearer into the fire but the evil step-sister accidentally tipped a glass of water in the fire, and it died down to its embers.

The prince searched the castle for another fireplace. Finally, he came to the kitchen, whereupon he found Ashweeper sweeping ashes into the hearth covered in cinders. The prince looked into her eyes and recognized her at once. For though her skin was as dark as ashes, her eyes shone like diamond.

Ashweeper and the stepsister were brought before the king. Both Ashweeper and the step-sister could answer all questions of the king, so the king knew not what to do.

At last, Ashweeper said, "By your majesty's leave, set two firewood circle outside one for each of us. Whoever's firewood hath fire by Aslan's will, let it be declared as the real princess.

And so the king said "If Aslan wills it, so shall it be done." Two firewood was set up.

Then the stepsister said, "Let oil be poured to my firewood a thousand over!" and so it was done.

Then Ashweeper said, "Let water be poured to my firewood a thousand over!" and so it was done.

The evil stepsister called first. She called Aslan for help. For fire to come down from the heavens. But nothing came.

Then it was Ashweeper's turn. She gracefully danced around the fire while singing,

"Aslan, Aslan, Aslan,

Come hither to my aid

Show my true identity,

Even as the serpent forbade."

Her skirt, black though it may be, glided with her like a Dryad in midsummer. And while she danced, cinders slowly shook off from her body. After she finished her song, she stopped, and stood aside to watch her firewood.

Then the firewood burst into a glorious fire! And all the Narnians looked in wonder, for it burned gold into their hearts. The prince took her hand and they danced around the fire. Very soon, the Dryads and the Naiads, and the fauns and the beavers, and the humans joined in and they danced and danced.

The prince and Ashweeper was married that very night by a Centaur named Grimstone. And they lived happily for many springs and winter.