The sun woke her up in the morning. Actually, she wasn't sure if it was morning or later in the day, because she did not know if her window pointed east or west.

Despite the tight schedule that King Peter had discussed with her during the night, she decided to stay in bed for a while, thinking about what had happened. When Peter had told her that her father was named Aslan, someone he had later titled the Great Lion, millions of questions had popped into her head.

"If my father is so powerful, why did he send me away?" was the first question she had uttered.

"Because he feared for your life", Peter had answered. "He had so many other responsibilities; this world has been in a complete chaos for the last few decades and this is not the only world that he is a part of. When he left you with your adoptive parents he swore to come and see you."

"I think I would have seen if a lion had wandered into my room", she had muttered.

"He might not have been a lion at that time", Peter had pointed out. "Once, when Edmund and my sister Lucy met him, he was in the shape of a lamb. He could have been there without you knowing it."

He had then moved on to discussing the fact that Aslan was currently in Narnia, waiting for her so that he could tell her more of what she needed to do.

"We will head to his camp in the morrow", he had finished. "Until then I suggest you get some rest."

And, well, she did feel rested, though still confused. She had always been Lucy Diamond, but here everyone referred to her as Freedom. With a groan, she leaned back against the pillows.

The sound of someone falling over outside her door, followed by a series of curses and apologies, made her sit up straight once again. One moment later Mandy came into the room.

"I just ran over a large mouse posted by your door", she remarked.

"What?"

Lucy swung her legs over the bedside and rushed out into the corridor in her nightshirt. And sure enough; outside her door stood a mouse, reaching up to her knees when he straightened. He bowed deeply towards her.

"Good morrow, my noble Lady", he said. "I am Reepicheep, Knight of Narnia, and I have come with your father, the Great Lion, from his kingdom in the East and West to assist you."

Lucy stared at him openmouthed for a while, before she realized how rude that must be and quickly regained her composure.

"You've got a knight?" Mandy said and pouted. "Why can't I have one?"

Lucy didn't answer; instead she headed back into her room and fell down onto her bed with a groan.

"This is getting too confusing."

"Come on", Mandy said and smiled. "You know, I always had the feeling that we were extremely different from our parents, and now here's the answer; we were adopted."

"How can you look at it so… indifferently?" Lucy asked. Mandy shrugged.

"Life's an adventure, you've just got to live it", she answered and rose, walking over to the closet. "Now, let's get you into some clothes and then get you down to get some breakfast. By the way, this castle is full of strange people, not only talking animals like Reepicheep. There are half-goats, half-bulls, sometimes there are leaves that shape themselves into a human…"

While she talked, she pulled out clothes from the gigantic wardrobe, studied them and hung them back until she had found a match that she was pleased with. Lucy wished that she could just wear her new Hogwarts-uniform.

"There", Mandy said, finishing up her creation by adding a black belt with golden details. Lucy grimaced; basically everything that Mandy had chosen for her had somewhat golden on it.

"It matches your hair", her sister pointed out. "You've always been gold and I've been silver, it's been easier that way. Come on, get dressed; I'm starving!"

Lucy sighed and reluctantly agreed. A short while later she was wearing a pair of dark pants, a light-blue blouse with golden vines on its shoulders, black boots and a dark cloak with golden seams, along with the black-and-golden belt.

"Pleased?" she asked.

"Yep", Mandy answered. "Wish they had another color for your shirt, though; blue's my color, not yours."

Then she headed out through the door again.

"Reepicheep, will you join us for breakfast?" she asked.

"I would be delighted", the mouse answered and lead the way through the corridors.

"How come you just seem to know everyone in this castle?" Lucy hissed as Mandy kept greeting the people that they met.

"Well, I couldn't sleep much in the night so I went exploring", Mandy answered. "You won't believe what stories they have told me!"

"Those we can talk about later", Lucy muttered.

"You woke up in a foul mode today?" Mandy asked with a raised eyebrow. "Not like you to be like this on the first day of school."

Lucy didn't respond; her sister obviously found this a lot more exciting than she did.

In the Great Hall of Cair Paravel were several tables filled with royals. It seemed like everyone was wearing some sort of crown. At the end, though, there was a table with fewer thrones than the others; Lucy counted eleven chairs, but three of them were empty. In the others sat four Queens and five Kings, two of those were Peter and Edmund. Edmund was the one to notice them and rise, waving at them to come forward.

"You're dining with us", he said and helped first Lucy, then Mandy get into an empty chair each. "Hope you slept well."

"Reepicheep, you may use my husband's chair", a woman with glistening hair and skin said, gesturing towards the last empty chair at the table. The mouse bowed.

"My noble thanks, Your Highness", he said and climbed up, seating himself on the armrest as to be able to reach over the side of the table.

"I suppose that I should be the one to introduce everyone", Peter said and rose. "This is my sister, Queen Lucy the Valiant."

The brunette next to him smiled.

"Then there's my cousin, King Eustace, and Queen Jill, and further down to my left you can see King Digory and Queen Polly, the first two to venture into Narnia."

He then turned towards the pale, glistening woman, who was sitting at the edge of the table to his right.

"And this is Queen Lilliandil, the Daughter of the Stars and the wife of King Caspian, who, unfortunately, is absent at this table."

"Why is he absent?" Lucy asked and turned towards the pale Queen.

"Since my husband found the sea-road leading to Aslan's Kingdom he has been bewitched by the wonders of the ocean and the Far East", Lilliandil answered.

"I'm afraid, Your Highness, that while I travelled with Aslan back here we did not meet His Highness King Caspian", Reepicheep said solemnly. "Though, as we travelled to the Grey Havens, we might have missed him by that cause."

Lilliandil nodded and looked down at her plate of fresh food.

"How long has he been gone?" Lucy asked silently.

"Five months and two days", Edmund answered. "It is the longest journey he has made so far, which is why we are all concerned about the fate of him and his crew."

Lucy shivered, as if from a cold.

"Are you cold, my Lady?" Reepicheep asked. "I can ask someone to fetch you a blanket."

"No, Reepicheep, I'm fine", Lucy responded and managed to smile. Though she didn't feel hungry anymore and pushed the plate away. Peter cleared his throat.

"Well, let us all finish up our breakfast and head west", he said. "I have a feeling that the sooner we reach Aslan's camp the better."

"I agree, Peter", Queen Lucy said and rose as well. "I'll see to that we have horses ready for us."

The ride to Aslan's camp took them little over an hour. The gloomy mood created during breakfast stayed with them and no one spoke much during the ride, until they halted up on a hill to gaze down on the camp. There were around fifty tents of various sizes, all of them red with golden details and flags portraying a lion flapping from their roofs. Peter led the way down, being greeted as an old friend by different members of the camp. He greeted them as well, but it soon became obvious how worried he really was.

"Oreious", he said as they halted by the largest of the tents, which stood by itself at the edge of the camp. The black centaur made a bow in the King's direction.

"An honor to see you again, my King", the centaur said in his deep voice. "Aslan has been waiting for your arrival."

His dark eyes looked at Lucy for a while, before he turned back towards Peter.

"The two girls may enter, along with the High Kings and the High Queen."

Peter and his siblings immediately dismounted, as did Mandy and Lucy. Lucy kept her gaze on the ground as they walked closer to the tent, her heart hammering in her chest.

The red cloth fell down behind her and shut out the noise of the camp.

"Oh my God", she heard Mandy whisper and when glancing at the dark-haired girl, she saw how wide her eyes were. Quickly she followed her gaze and saw what had been so shocking; in the other end of the tent stood a male lion, as high as a smaller horse. His fur shone like gold while his mane was like bronze and his eyes were of a deep, dark-blue color.

"Aslan", Queen Lucy said and walked forward, kissing the lion in the face with deep affection. The lion let out a rumbling, low laugh and leaned into the woman's embrace, before his gaze turned towards Peter and Edmund. The two Kings bowed deeply.

"You have done well, my sons", the lion said.

Then his gaze shifted towards Mandy and Lucy, who stood somewhat behind the royals. For a moment his shape seemed to tremble when he watched them, then he walked forward.

There was such a familiarity in the movements that Lucy felt like crying and laughing at the same time. Mandy followed his steps with just as much curiosity, though for some reason Lucy thought that the other girl looked slightly afraid.

"Dear children", the lion said in his deep voice. "Welcome home."

He turned towards Mandy before any of them had answered.

"You will find your family further south, my child, but your true home will always lie in the North. Therefore you must be ready to harden yourself. Can you do that?"

"I hope so", Mandy answered, her voice trembling.

Then Aslan did something that Lucy had not expected; he breathed out on her friend, who closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, and when she looked up again the fear was gone from her eyes.

"Thank you, my lord", she said. Aslan bowed his head in her direction, before he turned towards Lucy. His shape trembled yet again and for a moment, Lucy thought she saw a man and not a lion in its place. It made her frown.

"My child", he said, his voice low. "My child, do you remember me?"

Lucy looked at him for a while and noticed a new emotion in his blue eyes; there was fear. Almost as if he was afraid that she would resent him, throw him aside and not acknowledge him. Slowly she took a step forward and placed a hand on the side of his head, tangling her fingers with his mane. It felt vaguely familiar; almost as if she had done this a long time ago.

A memory blasted through her head and she looked up at a man with bronze-colored hair. He was cradling her in his arms and tears were falling from his blue eyes.

"I love you so much, Free", he whispered. "Please, please forgive me for doing this."

Then he let her go.

She snapped back to reality and saw the same kind of tears falling from the lion's eyes, and his mane had the same color as the hair of the man in her memory.

"Father?"

Her voice was barely a whisper, but Aslan heard it and turned his head towards her.

"You remember me?" he asked. She nodded, biting her lip to keep the tears from coming. She failed; while the tears started to fall she threw her arms around the lion's neck and hugged him.

In that moment he seemed to change; his body trembled under her touch for a few moments before it stopped and she felt a pair of human arms wrapping themselves around her back, holding her close as their owner cried. The gasp from the others in the tent told her that the change really had occurred and when she pulled back stood the man from her memory there instead of the lion. Also now he was crying, his blue eyes glistening, but through this he was smiling.

"Oh, how I've longed for you, Freedom", he whispered and embraced her again.

And in that moment she knew that that truly was her name.