Chapter Three

Her own little section was added to Gorbak's home within the same day, and before long, she was sleeping and actually feeling comfortable there. Two days passed without notice, and Sarasael took that time to learn more about the world that she found herself in. She looked at maps and realized with a shudder that the place she had appeared first in…the old ruined castle…once belonged to the person that Twitternut had called the White Witch. The Witch had died hundreds of years ago and her castle was abandoned, and no one had been in there since. The Witch had been a horrible wicked tyrant with great magic, which was why everyone had been terrified when Sarasael appeared wearing her mantle, thinking she was the incarnation of that vicious person, or so Rowan told her.

Narnia wasn't the only country here, she learned. There was a place to the south called Calormen, but they all assured her that she didn't want to go there, for it was an awful place full of dark-skinned people who worshipped a fearful god called Tash, and was ruled by a man called the Tisroc. There was a nicer land called Archenland just before Calormen, and they all told Sarasael that she should visit there someday. To the north…further north, past the Witch's castle, was Ettinsmoor and the Wild Lands of the North. Most of it was unexplored, except for a ruined giant city and the giant's stronghold, Harfang. But Harfang wasn't very important; nothing had been done there as far as anyone could remember. The giants just lived there and bothered no one, and everyone said it was best to avoid them anyway.

Narnia was a large land and had a lot of history behind it, despite having only been around a little longer than Tahalset was. She wanted very much to go find a library somewhere and read more on its history, but the only library nearby, she was told, was in the great city of Cair Paravel. The monarchs of this land…King Caspian and his queen…lived and reigned there. None of Sarasael's companions had ever been to Cair Paravel but were determined to make it there someday.

Five days later, Sarasael decided for the first time to venture further out of the woods and onto the plains beyond it. She wanted to see what sort of plants this world had, and which ones, if any, she could use. It was only two weeks of course, but it would be good to know.

The first thing that caught her eye was a small oak tree that was planted seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It was an oak, just like most of the ones in the forest, except separated from the rest. Sarasael reached out to pluck several leaves off of a branch, then sat down underneath it.

She sat down and took off her belt. She took a small bowl that she had brought with her and sprinkled just a little of her generic powder into it. She ripped the leaves in pieces and set them on top of the powder for the moment until she could get a fire going to dry them out. It wouldn't take that long, just a little experiment to pass the time.

She reached out to take the bowl, when suddenly a loud crashing sound was heard above her. She threw herself to the side just in time for a large branch to come crashing down on her bowl, followed by someone else falling after. The person landed on the branch and her bowl, on his back, letting out a loud and undignified, "Ow!"

Sarasael sat up, narrowly avoiding a shower of dead leaves and bugs.

"Er…" She said, peering curiously over at the person who had fallen.

"Ow. Ow, curse this tree, there's a huge branch in my back…"

Sarasael stood up, brushing the worst of the mess off of her. She looked over at the person who had fallen. He had covered his face with his hands and was in what looked like a painful position on the ground.

"Need a hand?" Sarasael offered, holding her hand out.

"Thanks," the man took it and she helped him stand. He winced, rubbing his side, then turned to her.

The first thing Sarasael noticed were his eyes. They were a light, clear blue, foreign and sharp. He was really average looking, besides that, with high cheekbones and light hair that hung down to his shoulders. Really, he looked…at least to Sarasael…a thousand times nicer and better than the boys from Mayharran Boys' School. Nicer, yes, but…but similar. He obviously wasn't a dwarf. He looked more like a person from Tahalset than anyone else she met, though granted, she hadn't met many people.

He shook his head vigorously and then looked at the fallen branch again. Then he looked back at Sarasael, who was still covered with branch material. His eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh…by the Lion's mane, I am so sorry!" He exclaimed. His voice was light and pleasant. "I really didn't meant to…well, to fall out of the tree like that. In fact, I had no idea that you were sitting underneath it. People usually don't do that. Sit under the tree, I mean…not fall out of it. Well, people don't usually fall out of it either, but you know, I wasn't expecting anyone to be underneath the tree when I fell, but I wasn't expecting to fall either. Am I making sense? At all?"

Sarasael couldn't help but grin. She liked this man straightaway, he reminded her vaguely of Hylaea, and this other fellow she had met once at a dance. Only he seemed nicer and had this way of talking that sounded a lot like her own when she got really nervous. "I actually understand you." She answered.

"Well that's good at least. I just ask you to accept my apology for my rude interruption and any harm I may have caused…are you hurt at all?"

"No, I'm fine." She replied. "But you look hurt. You look like you landed in an awkward way."

"Ugh. Yeah. A bit." He rubbed his back. "Landed hard, I think I've gotten too big for this tree. I always climbed it when I was younger and it held my weight. I think I hurt my back or something. But you're alright, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine." Sarasael insisted.

"Will you accept my humble apologies, then? For…"

"Dropping in on me like this?"

"Yeah. Sorry. And that was a rather bad joke."

"It was," she agreed.

"But bad jokes or not, this was very rude of me, so I must apologize." He bowed to her, and it was the first time in her life that anyone did.

"Oh, don't do that!" Sarasael exclaimed, waving her hand. "Bowing. That's just weird. I'm just a Mayharran schoolgirl, okay?"

He straightened up again. "Well, it's the way I've always been taught to apologize. We have to be honourable, chivalrous and good. It is the way of a prince of Narnia."

"A prince!" Sarasael took a step back. At home, the monarchs of Tahalset were many miles and cities away from Mayharran. Sarasael had never seen them, they were always distant figures that one heard about on the news but never actually met. Tahalset did have a prince…at least she thought they did. Might have had two, but she never paid attention.

Sarasael dropped to her knees and bowed her head, holding her hands over her head in what looked like a praying position. "My lord," she said.

The man blinked. "What are you doing?" he asked, bewildered.

She looked up. "Giving you my respects."

"Oh, don't!" He waved his hand in the air, dismissing the bow. "I'm Narnian, and Narnian princes associate with their subjects all the time. We're not horrible and cold like those Calormene Tisrocs or whatever they're called."

Sarasael stood up, and of course now her whole skirt was covered in mess. The prince held out a hand.

"My name's Rilian," he said. "Son of King Caspian, tenth of that name, king of Narnia, and his queen from beyond the eastern edge of the world." That was a lengthy title. Sarasael had never met anyone with a title that long. Especially not someone who was nice.

"Sarasael Inari," She answered, taking his hand and shaking it. "With nowhere near a title as impressive of yours. I'm a second year student at Mayharran Girls' School, in Tahalset. That's nowhere in Narnia, before you ask."

"Really?" He actually looked interested, which was weird too, because Sarasael always had the idea that nobility weren't interested in anything that common people had to say. "From another world! Like the High Kings and Queens of old. Are you from their world?"

"Where's that?"

"I don't know. My father knew all the old kings…Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve, from the world of men. Are you from there? That would be marvelous."

"I don't think so," Sarasael answered. "I'm just a citizen of Tahalset." She didn't want to tell him that she was an enchantress, remembering other people's reactions to that.

"Oh. Too bad. I've always wanted to meet a Son of Adam or Daughter of Eve, like my father did. Maybe someday, right?"

Rilian winced again as he turned.

"Well, maybe you will…oh, you look very much hurt, why don't you sit down there?" she pointed to a spot close to the trunk of the tree where no debris had fallen. She had put her belt there and thankfully the tree branch hadn't hit it.

"I think I will." Rilian answered. He walked over and sat down on the grass, and Sarasael sat next to him, taking her belt. "I definitely landed wrong. Sorry about that."

"You've apologized three times already. And you're a prince and I'm a commoner, so just to let you know, it's really weird to have nobility apologize to me. They don't do that back at home."

"Your home must not be a very nice place," Rilian said with a frown, but then realized his mistake when Sarasael turned her head away. "Did I say something? I'm sorry, for whatever I just said."

"Four times," Sarasael answered, holding up four fingers, then turning back to smile. "No, I'm sorry. I really am not supposed to be here, in your Narnia. Some sort of magical accident took me out of my world and put me here…I don't know what it is and no one back home does. I'm going to contact them again soon and by that point they'll probably be able to bring me home. But it really is a nice place, where I'm from…Tahalset. It's warmer and there's lots of palm trees and lagoons."

"Ooh, palm trees. That does sound nice. Very tropical."

"It is tropical." Sarasael took her belt and began rummaging through the pouches. "You're still hurt. Hold on a minute."

"Why, what are you doing? Are you a healer?"

"No, but my friend and I have gotten ourselves in enough trouble for the headmistress to allow me to make…ah, here." She opened the pouch that contained a sparkling red powder. "This. I oughtn't be using any of these right now…but you really do look hurt, and I feel bad about that. Plus it is my duty as a commoner to honor nobility, no matter where they are from. Turn and face me, okay?"

It was now Rilian's turn to be bewildered. "Why, what are you going to do?"

"You just have to trust me. We do this all the time back home, it's nothing to be worried about." Rilian obeyed, turning to face her. "Hold still." She ordered. She took a little of the red powder in her hand. "I'm going to throw this at you and say something. After I say something, breath in really hard."

"Very well…" Rilian still looked confused, but shrugged. She looked like she knew what she was doing.

Sarasael took the powder and blew and spoke the words. Rilian breathed in like he was told, and held his breath for several seconds, which was even better because it gave the powder more time to take affect. That was smart of him. When he released his breath, he looked back at her with a look of surprise.

"I feel better now!" he said. "I don't feel hurt anymore. And certainly not like I fell out of a tree. That's not…you didn't do witchcraft, did you?" he added suspiciously, for even though this girl didn't seem to him like the witchy type, he was always taught to be cautious.

"I'm not a witch!" She exclaimed in frustration. "And it's not witchcraft. I ought to just go around with a sign hanging around my neck saying that or something. I'm an enchantress and that just regular magic. Healing magic, that was my healing powder I used on you. And I'll ask you not to call me a witch again, it's a very insulting term from where I am from."

"Oh! Goodness, I am sorry, I didn't mean to insult you." And what got her most of all was that he sounded honest and genuine about it. He looked a lot like someone from Mayharran but they usually weren't that nice…odds are, if she said the same thing to a Mayharran boy, he'd argue right back and it would end in a loud fight and someone coming to separate them…hence why there was a Boys' School and Girls' School in Mayharran. Boys never apologized. Yet here was this person…a prince of all people, being all chivalrous and polite and generally challenging everything Sarasael ever learned about both royalty and boys.

"That would be five." She said, closing the pouch. "And you really should stop apologizing."

"I'm just being polite. Polite, that's all. And redundant."

"Very redundant," she agreed.

There were a few exclamations and shouts from a ways off. Sarasael peered around the trunk to see several men on horses playing some sort of game. They looked like they were having a lot of fun.

"What's that?" Sarasael asked.

"What's what?" Rilian leaned over to see, then caught sight of the men. "Oh, that's just some friends of my father. I'm riding with them today." He sounded quite proud of that fact. "My father never…well, he let me ride with them before but it was always when he was there, or my mother was there. He let me go with them myself, and we've traveled over almost all of Narnia. I'm seventeen now and my father wanted me to see the entirety of the lands for myself." Now he looked extremely proud of himself.

"Oh. Well, that's good."

"You sound puzzled."

"Well…" she figured might as well be honest. "I have absolutely no idea where Cair Paravel is."

"Oh!" He exclaimed. "Of course you wouldn't. You already said you're not from Narnia…here, let me show you. I've got a map on me somewhere…I've been keeping it for the whole ride. We've finally made it here to the Shuddering Wood, we're going to stay with the centaurs tonight." He began rummaging around his person, searching for a map. "I totally have a map here, I'm so disorganized, just great…" finally he located the map, and took it out, unfolding it. It was a carefully crafted map of Narnia, and he spread it out on the ground so he could show her. "We're here," He said pointing to the Shuddering Wood. "And Archenland is just beyond here. There's a pass into Archenland here. And tonight, my father's friends and I are staying with the centaurs here."

"Right." She looked closely at the map, trying to memorize it as much as she could so she'd know her way around.

"Past here…further north is the dancing lawn, you should visit there someday. It's a great place where the fauns and the dryads come out during the summer and they dance all night…I went a few years ago and it was really exciting. There's also Aslan's How…my father hid out there when he fled his wicked uncle Miraz who was going to kill him. Up here is the Great Wood…there's the Great River, too, and here…Cair Paravel!" he pointed to a large drawing of a city on the coast.

"That is far from here," Sarasael noted, looking at the vast distance between the Wood and Cair Paravel. "Why'd you travel so far? And how long did it take you?"

Rilian shrugged. "Took us awhile. We stayed at Beruna one night, and in the Great Wood another, you know. Just all over, until we came here. I'm not sure if we're going to visit Archenland or not. I wanted to see more of Narnia by myself, you know? My father had a very adventurous youth and he would rather have me stay closer to home or with him and mother where I won't have to worry about much until I get older. But now that I'm seventeen, he figured that I'd better see the rest of Narnia for myself, so that when I'm king, I'll know the lands and the people."

"Oh." Sarasael's eyes traveled further up the map until she saw the place where the ruins of the Witch's castle was marked. It was even further than Cair Paravel…she had come a long way. A really long way. "Your father…you keep talking about him. He must be a really important king. More than most kings, that is. Most kings are really boring and we have to learn treaties they made and stuff." It was the worst part of history. Names. Dates. Treaties. More names, more treaties…

"He did a lot. It would take forever for me to tell you all of the things he did…that happened to him…but he's king of Narnia right now and that's what's really important. But he did a lot. Everyone knows who he is…Caspian the Seafarer, they call him. He's such a kind and wise king and has traveled so far and seen so much of the world…he sailed all the way to the eastern end of the world, almost into Aslan's country."

Sarasael had no idea what Aslan was or really anything that Rilian was talking about. But his father did seem really important, especially if Rilian kept talking about him. A lot.

"That's really great, you know. To have a father like that." She replied. "But…that must be awfully hard for you. Because…he was just so great and stuff. You must have a lot to live up to." The words just kind of came out and she regretted them almost immediately. That was the sort of thing she'd say to Hylaea at night, after light's out, when they'd whisper to each other stuff that they'd normally never say in public during the day. It wasn't the sort of thing one said to random royalty, under a tree.

Rilian clearly thought so, too, because he gave her a very surprised look. "I guess so." He answered, his voice light and startled. He paused a second before saying, "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. It's…it's…you know." He shrugged uncomfortably. "It is a lot. My father did a lot and I guess…a lot of people expect that from me, too. By the time he was sixteen…only a year younger than me…he was already tangled up in this web of politics with his uncle and the Old Narnians and…yeah. It's complicated and you'd be bored if I told you about it now. But when he was sixteen he was all up in this secret rebellion thing. And…well, I'm just kind of…here. Being his son. Just, Rilian, son of Caspian. That's it. That's the only notable thing I ever did, and really I didn't even do anything." Then he got the same look she had a moment ago, and stopped talking immediately. Because that was the sort of thing that one kept to themselves and didn't go blurting out to random girls they just met when falling out of a tree.

There was a long awkward moment. Sarasael looked down at the grass and pulled up a few stalks, and Rilian looked up at the tree. "Um." Sarasael said. She hated uncomfortable silences…who didn't…but couldn't think of anything to say.

"I hate uncomfortable silences," Rilian said.

She turned to look at him in amazement. "I was just thinking that."

He blinked. "Were you really? Wow. That was…"

"Strange?"

"Yeah."

There was another pause, and Sarasael looked down on the map. "Um…Ettinsmoor," it was the first name she saw when glancing back at the map. "Is that part of Narnia?"

"Sort of," Rilian answered, and the awkward silence was broken. "It's technically part of Narnia, but not really. It's the wild lands of the north…we have no idea what's there. Just Harfang, the giant's city, but no one ever goes there. Harfang giants are nasty. They eat people…and Animals."

"Ew. That's wrong, how can anyone eat people? Or Animals?" She thought of the Animals she had met and couldn't ever imagine doing something so despicable.

"That's the giants for you. Harfang is horrid and uncivilized…I'm definitely not going there."

"Yeah, don't, it doesn't look like a nice place to go at all."

"Definitely. Say…that powder you threw at me…it healed me, right? What exactly is it? I've never seen anything like that before."

Now this was something Sarasael knew. She could explain all about the workings of Tahalset enchantress magic, and…well, she rather wanted to. It was something that she knew and he didn't, and she could stop being the one asking all the questions.

"It did heal you. Here, I can explain it…just give me a minute." She took out her reference book, which was in a separate pouch. It had all the ingredients and instructions for making most of the powders that were used. "Let me get my book here and show you. Ah…it's…here." She flipped through the pages until she got to the one for healing powder. "It's one of the more difficult ones to produce."

"Produce?"

"Yeah, in Tahalset we use powders to do all our magics. It's kind of like…"

But she was interrupted by a loud call from one of the men. "Prince Rilian!" A deeper, older voice called. "Where are you?"

"I'm here! Hold on a minute!" Rilian called back. "That's one of the men…he wants me for something…I'll be right back,"

"Sure. You want me to wait?"

"Could you?"

"No problem."

"Thanks." Rilian ducked out from under the tree. Sarasael watched him go, and wondered what in Yarrin's name just happened. He was high nobility, the prince of this land, heir to the throne. Nobility like that were cold and distant and didn't associate with common people like her, yet here he was, doing just that. And he wasn't cold and snobby, he was really nice and it was just…well, strange, to say it yet again. She really liked him and she wasn't supposed to like nobility. But he was nice to her and he was just so easy to talk to, and he must have thought so too, telling her what he did. Rilian…it was an odd, foreign name, didn't have the same lightness and trill that most Mayharran names did. But she didn't mind that either.

"Sorry," Rilian said, pushing aside the leaves and coming back to sit next to her. "We're leaving really soon. He wants to make it to where the centaurs are by nightfall so we can stay with them. They're all ready for us, I think one of them is going to explain to me some of their astrology."

"Astrology…we have that, too. I was born under the Snake, that's my starform."

"Your what?"

"Starform…anyone who is an enchanter can transform into the animal that they were born under. My best friend Hylaea can shapeshift into a cheetah, and myself, a snake. Just a little green snake, and I'm not very good at doing shapeshifting yet."

"Well shapeshifting is odd…I've never seen anyone do it. Can you show me?"

"Sure!" She stood up, but then one of the men called for Rilian again.

Rilian sighed. "They definitely want me to go now. Say…you know, that whole shapeshifting thing sounds really interesting, I've never heard of that before. Are you going to be here long?"

"What, here in the Wood?"

"Yeah."

"Um…for a little longer, yeah. In just over a week I have to contact my people again and they're going to bring me home. Why?"

"Well, I wanted to stop by and see you again before we head back to Cair, or wherever else we're going after the centaurs. I want to see your shapeshifting, and you still have to explain your magic to me, and…I'm going to want my map back." He added.

"Here," she said, slightly lost, handing him the map.

"No, keep it for now. You've never been to Narnia and have no idea where anything is. So you might as well keep the map for now and study it. I'll come back and get it and by then you'll have learned about Narnia, and in return you can tell me about Tahalset. Then I can know something about another world, too. Something that my father doesn't know." There, he did it again. Why was he telling her this, she wondered?

"Thanks," She said, folding the map and putting it in the pouch with the book. "Thank you. Really, you're all too kind here in this world, I am going to sort of miss it when I go back. It's really interesting."

"You'll just have to learn more before you go then, right?"

"Right!"

"Rilian!" a voice yelled again.

"I'm coming!" He shouted back. "Yeah. They're a bit impatient. Just nervous, they don't want anything to happen to me. Not that it would, Narnia is free of all evil right now. So…um…I think we're heading back in a few days, because we'll spend some time with the centaurs. Will you be here in three days?"

"Same time? And under the tree?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, I will." She replied, nodding. "I definitely will. I'll wait for you."

"Thanks!" And he grinned at her, and looked even nicer when he grinned. His eyes sparkled, too…she noticed that even more now than she did before. "I'll see you then." He turned and left, before the men could call for him again.

Sarasael stood up and walked around the tree, leaning against it as she watched him ride off with the others. In only a few days she was transported to a new world, met the magistrate (even if it was only through a fire), lived in a dwarf's house, and met someone that had to be the nicest person she met since Hylaea. He wanted to see her again and she wanted to see him too, and she couldn't help but think that this was definitely the strangest week in her entire life.