Alerei was asleep. Her short, blond hair was tanged and matted, her arms clutched her pillow, her blanket was twisted around her skinny legs. Iva glanced at the sky through the window that was right above Alerei's ear. The sun was high. It was time.

"Alerei."

Alerei slept on.

"Alerei, wake up."

Alerei stirred. "No, mother," she mumbled.

Iva smiled. "It's not mother," she said. "So you might as well open your eyes and see what I've brought you."

The words had their desired effect. Alerei opened her eyes and stared. "Parchment?" she asked, sleepily.

"It's a letter," Iva said. "A letter from the king."

"The king!" Alerei jumped up and hit her head on the pillow that was attached to the ceiling. The bed was quite high (in order to be close to the window) and Alerei tended to jump at exciting news, so after several unhappy encounters with the ceiling, Alerei's mother had attached a pillow to the unlucky spot.

"Yes, the king. Now if you will get up and get properly dressed, I will let you read it."

Alerei jumped out of bed, pulled off her night shift without a trace of modesty, grabbed the first dress she saw and pulled it on backwards. "I'm ready," she said.

Iva chuckled and handed her the letter. Alerei read it while Iva reread it over her shoulder.

Rilian, King of Narnia, to the Lady Iva, Greeting

My lady, I was humbled to find that this young Alerei held me so high in her esteem that meeting me would be her biggest wish. Tell her that I would be honored to visit her home on the first day of the month of Greenroof. And I ask that you tell me what Alerei would like to receive as a gift from me on my visit. If it exists in Narnia, I will have it.

Rilian, King of Narnia

"Dancing dryads!" Alerei breathed. "He's coming here."

Iva nodded.

"Mother!" Alerei hollered. "He's coming here!"

Alerei's mother entered the room. She was a tired woman with a long blond braid that was almost all gray and weary green eyes. Her eyes drifted to Alerei, then away, then back to Alerei. "Who is coming?" she inquired.

"The king! The king is coming to our house!" Alerei stopped jumping up and down for a moment. "I suppose this means that I'll have to tidy up my things, doesn't it?" she said resignedly.

Iva smiled at that. Then she handed the letter to Alerei's mother. "I'm sorry, I didn't ask you first," she said. "But I really didn't think it would do any harm and I was afraid that Alerei might hear us talking. I didn't want her to know at first."

Alerei's mother read it. She looked up. If there was any gratitude in her eyes, Iva didn't see it. "First day of the month of Greenroof? That's very soon," she said. Then, with another painful glance at Alerei, "But I suppose it's for the best."

And she left the room.

Alerei frowned. "I don't understand how she can be so quiet about things!" she said. "And you! Aren't you even a little bit excited for me?"

Iva's smile was wider this time. "I am. Tremendously excited. But I didn't want to excite you."

Alerei whooped. "You showed me this and you thought I wouldn't get excited?" She shook the letter in front of Iva's face. "It doesn't matter anymore if I get excited or not though. The doctor said it made no difference." A shadow passed across her face for a moment, then, she flicked it away almost like a pesky insect. "What gift shall I ask for?" she wondered with a dreamy smile.

"You'll have time to think of a gift later. Put your dress on right and it's time for lessons."

"Can you teach me a new song?" Alerei asked, as she reluctantly fixed the dress.

Iva pressed her lips together. "First, we need to review some history."

"Well, I don't feel like reviewing history." Alerei pouted. "Mother would let me do whatever I wanted."

"That is true but I won't," Iva said firmly.

Alerei paused. "I'm glad," she finally said. "I hate the way mother never stops or scolds me anymore, even when I do something really awful. I just hate myself sometimes…but she doesn't say a single word."

"She's letting you figure out what's right and wrong for yourself," Iva suggested.

"No, that's not it at all. She just feels sorry for me because I am going to die. So she can't bear to scold me."

Iva never ceased to feel that tightening in her throat whenever Alerei referred to her death, oh so casually, as if she was talking about the upcoming harvest.

Alerei had an illness that was commonly called night-fade. Every night, Alerei felt pain in her chest and had trouble breathing. Every night she got red spots on her cheeks and her forehead grew hot and dry. During the day, aside from being easily tired, she seemed like any other child. During the day, you could almost forget that she was dying.

"Time for history. Who ruled Narnia while King Caspian sailed to the world's end?"

"Trumpkin. Can't you teach me something new?"

"Alerei, we've studied everything from King Frank and Queen Helen's reign up to King Rilian's most recent negotiations with Calormen. Do you suggest that we study the future?"

Alerei grinned through her freckles. "Can we?" Then growing serious, "Cerus does that, you know. He studies the stars and learns about the future. It must be exciting."

"I'm sure that at times it's exciting and at times it's dull, just like history," Iva said. "Now tell me the names of the seven lords that King Caspian journeyed to find."

"Um...Argoz, Bern, Rhoop...I want some breakfast." Alerei stood up and hollered, "Mother, I want some breakfast!" Then she turned to Iva and said, "Join me for breakfast! And we can discuss King Rilian's visit."

Iva sighed and gave in.

In the end, they didn't have lessons at all that day. After breakfast, Alerei insisted on practicing a song that she wanted to perform for King Rilian when he came to visit and after that, she wanted to decide what she should wear and just as she was trying on a green and yellow gown, she glanced out the window and shouted, "Cerus! It's Cerus!"

Cerus always arrived differently, sometimes galloping, sometimes going slowly, collecting presents for Alerei on the way. The presents were not the sort of gifts one might expect a regular young girl to take pleasure in, such as flowers, but Alerei was not a regular young girl. Cerus brought her snails and withered leaves and long sticks that might be used for playing war. Alerei loved war games with a passion that Iva found hard to understand, but perhaps, she thought, those games were the only time Alerei felt strong and powerful and victorious. Cerus himself did not particularly care for these games, but he played them to oblige Alerei.

Cerus was a centaur-boy with a shiny chestnut body and tail and reddish-brown curls. He was very solemn, as all centaurs tend to be, but he was also a child and laughed easily. When he entered the house, he stopped and stared at Alerei in surprise.

Alerei looked down at her green gown, then smiled and curtsied. "Good morning, sire," she said. "How find you this day?"

Cerus smiled and bowed his head slightly. "I find it hot. Have you a drink for a weary traveler?"

Alerei ran to fetch him a drink, tripped over her skirt and sprawled on the floor. Cerus sprang forward to help her up. Alerei got up with as much dignity as she could muster and got Cerus a drink. Cerus held the jug carefully with one hand while keeping the other gently closed.

"Well, what have you brought me?" Alerei demanded as he drank.

Cerus opened his other hand. Alerei gasped. "A caterpillar! I love caterpillars! Do you know what sort of butterfly she's going to be?"

"It will be a Goldenred," said Cerus. "I'm quite sure."

Alerei turned to Iva, who had been standing quietly near. "Iva, why don't you teach me anything about butterflies? It's always history, history!" But her complaining was playful. She turned to Cerus. "You wouldn't believe what happened this morning!"

"What happened?"

"Guess."

Cerus sighed. "You found out that your father was coming home?"

"No. Guess again."

A less mild-mannered boy might have grown impatient at this but Cerus sighed again and took a good look around at the clothes draped over the bed and floor. "You found out that you're going to have a visitor of some sort?"

Alerei gasped. "That isn't fair! Who told you?" She turned to Iva in accusation. "Did you tell him?"

Iva shook her head. "Your friend is smarter than you give him credit for, Alerei. He saw all of your preparations and realized you were having a visitor."

"Ah but who? Who is my visitor?"

Cerus' patience had at last evaporated. "I'm not guessing any longer," he said.

"King Rilian is coming to visit on the first day of the month of Greenroof!"

Cerus frowned. "Alerei, don't jest," he said.

"It isn't a jest!" Alerei pulled out the letter. "Look at this!"

Cerus read it. As he read, a smile began to grow on his face, even as his eyes still looked disbelieving. "But why…why is he coming?"

"What do you mean, why? Iva invited him!"

Cerus tried to amend his question. "I mean…" then suddenly he met Iva's eyes and at once, understood. "Oh."

Alerei turned to Iva and frowned. "Why is he coming, Iva?"

Iva looked back at her and fought the urge to drop her eyes. "Because…because you will not have another chance to meet him, Alerei."

And Alerei understood. "He's coming because I'm going to die?" she asked. "That's why he's coming?"

Iva nodded. "That's why he's coming."

For a moment all three of them sat still, Iva and Cerus fearfully waiting for Alerei's reaction.

Then Alerei smiled. "I hope he will stay long enough to watch the caterpillar turn into a butterfly."