Lina started. Her own name sounded strange in her ears, for she had not heard it for many years, and had forgotten it. She curiously looked in but stayed in the shadow of the door. The room was beautifully furnished, and hanging from the ceiling was the silver globe of light. At one end of the room sat an old and beautiful lady.
"Come in, Lina," the lady said again. How strange it was for Lina, having forgotten her own name, and now, in this strange place, to hear it pronounced so kindly! But she just couldn't go in.
"Lina," the lady said again, "did I not tell you that you would want me? And in that day to come to me, for I would accept you when others wouldn't?" With that the old woman stood up and suddenly she was the beautiful woman that Lina had seen the night she turned into a beast.
The beautiful lady put her hand kindly on Lina's back and led her into the room.
"Do not fear, Lina," the grand princess said comfortingly. "The water will not reach us up here."
Lina allowed the beautiful lady to lead her into the room, then stood awkwardly in the middle of the floor, not sure of what to do next. The princess took her seat again and looked over Lina. Her gaze was piercing, seeming to go straight through Lina, seeing all her many faults and her few good deeds.
"Give me your hand, Lina," the lady said after a pause. Lina did as she was told. The princess took the great paw and was silent a moment. Then she set it down.
"You are still a beast," she said sorrowfully. "Oh, Lina."
The princess gazed at the beast again, with so much sorrow in her look that it pierced straight through to the small section of Lina's heart that was still human, and in that moment Lina was so sorry for all the wrongs she had ever done that she wept and lay at the lady's feet in repentance.
She did not know how long she lay there, sorry and repenting, but after some time the princess reached down and touched her paw again. She smiled, satisfied, and looked down at Lina with love.
"You must stay here with me, Lina, but the time will come when you will be of service to another. Do not worry, for you are only a beast on the outside, now. I promise you, it will not be that way forever."
Lina stayed with the princess, serving her and loving her, looking forward to the day when she would no longer be a beast. And one night, the princess sent Lina outside, though she would not say why. And so, out she went, and in not too long she saw a boy walking along. She watched him, and saw that the housekeeper would not let him enter. So, she walked up behind him, and barred all her teeth at the housekeeper. When the woman left, shrieking, Lina walked over to the boy and lay her head down by his feet, for somehow she knew that this human was a friend of the lady. The boy dashed off into the house, and Lina followed, though he did not know it.
And so, Lina met Curdie, and was sent to serve him. Time and again she risked her own life for his, and before long they were the best of friends. And finally the day arrived when she would no longer be a beast.
Saying goodbye to Curdie in one look, Lina had disappeared into the fire of roses. It hurt her terribly, for a time, but after a few moments she found herself standing in a forest. She was human again! Before she leaped into the fire the princess had given her instructions. She was to stay in the forest the rest of her life, taking care of the other creatures there and keeping a watchful eye on the villains who had been taken there, tied to the backs of the creatures when they left Gwyntystorm. And Lina obeyed the instructions, sometimes being visited by the Queen Irene herself, and in the forest Lina spent the rest of her days, but she never forgot all that had happened to her.