Lorelei stormed down the front steps leading down the path of the courtyard to the forest. How dare the twit have the nerve to speak to her in such a manor! Even though she was full of anger, Lorelei couldn't help but wonder if there was some truth to her words. A king like Peter surely wouldn't want a peasant girl. She was an orphan for crying out loud! Chewing her lip, Lorelei contemplated ways to avoid her new admitted crush and spare herself the embarrassment and pain of a broken heart.

As she pasted through a denser part of the forest, she passed a dark cave hidden in the foliage. There lived Trumfin, an unusually tall troll who possessed a great amount of strength. It was known throughout the land that this dark haired troll was a force to be reckoned with. On this particular evening, he had invited some fellow ill-tempered trolls such as himself over for a game of bridge and rum drinking. Unfortunately, they were focusing more on the rum part and less on the game. The trolls had ventured to the front of the cave to smoke pipes and caught a glimpse of Lorelei's slim frame walking by.

It had been a while since any of the trolls had been with a woman. The rum gone to his head, Trumfin decided to show his friends once and for all why he believed himself to be the best troll.

"Oy, mates," he slurred out. "Do ya see that pretty lil flower ova there?"

"Aye, Trum, we see 'er. Heatin' our loins, she is," a particularly dirty troll named Henri confirmed.

"Bet ya your finest keg of Archenland rum that I can get her."

The trolls laughed heartily. They all agreed to the bargain, and without so much as a rustling of leaves, Trumfin was after Lorelei.

Usually a cautious person, Lorelei was so wrapped up in her thoughts about what to do about Peter, that she didn't realize the troll's presence until he was on her.

Without warning, Trumfin exploded from the tall leaves, and latched himself on Lorelei's knees. With a shriek, she hit the ground and rolled over, her back feeling the pain of the path's uneven, jutting rocks. Trumfin wasted no time, and proceeded to try and knock Lorelei unconscious. He hit her blow after blow, all the while she trying to scratch his eyes out and squeeze his thick throat. Lorelei flayed to and fro and didn't even realize her inching upon a huge boulder embedded in the middle of the grass. Trumfin, however, spotted it and decided to use it to his advantage. Grabbing her face, he raised her head up and brought it down on the boulder, not hard enough to cause permanent damage, but hard enough to render her unconscious.

Lorelei saw stars as her head exploded in wave after wave of pain. The last thing she saw was an extremely angry Peter grab her attacker by the throat and haul him off of her before she closed her eyes and was met by the darkness.

Lorelei awoke to extreme pain. Letting out a groan, she opened her eyes and saw she had a soft, thick cloth underneath her aching head. Slowly she sat up and looked around. She saw a now unconscious Trumfin being tied to the base of a towering oak tree.

Sensing her movement, a red faced Peter turned around and saw her staring at him with wide, unfocused eyes.

"Ah, I see sleeping beauty has awakened. I was showing Trumfin here what happens when someone attacks a fellow citizen of Narnia. The guards will be here for him in the morning," he said with his ever-present smirk.

Walking towards her, he held out his hand to help her up. Feeling angry, Lorelei swatted his hand away, and tried to stand on her own. As soon as she was on her feet, she knew it had been a bad idea. Her head swam and she would've made an unpleasant reunion with the ground if it weren't for the pair of strong arms that engulfed her small frame and pulled her to their owner's chest.

"Easy there, Lore," Peter chuckled in her ear, sending stray hairs dancing about her face. "You get suffered a concussion. Standing up so fast isn't a very bright idea.

Lorelei's body grew stiff with anger. She was already embarrassed by being defeated by a simple troll and here he was making fun of her. He probably thought her a weakling and sought to gain his own pleasure from her pain.

As if reading her mind, Peter stated, " Now don't be so hard on yourself. Trumfin is a formidable opponent and had an unfair advantage. I don't think there was much you could do."

Pulling herself out of his grasp, Lorelei sneered.

"Well it's a good thing you showed when ya did, my oh so shining knight in stately amour." Her every word dripped with sarcasm. "What were you doing following me anyway? Shouldn't you have been entertaining a certain princess?"

"I was making sure you were okay. And if you mean Jeanette, well she left shortly after you did. No one went out of their way to stop her. She's not well favored here."

"Serves the little hussy right. Someone had to make it known that she can't go prancing around laying claim on men that don't want her affections."

Peter let out a hearty chuckle and Lorelei felt her heart skip a much-needed beat. By the gods, he was beautiful.

"Well no one warned her that you're a force to be reckoned with. The poor girl, all her efforts are in vain. For my fancy's been caught by another girl."

Lorelei gulped and raised her silver eyes to his blue ones. Once again, she was caught off guard by his beauty. The moonlight casted a pale glow across his face bringing out the undertones of green in his eyes causing them to swirl. She couldn't look anywhere else. He seemed to move closer to her without her knowledge and seemed to be searching her face for some sign. She nervously licked her bottom lip and watched as Peter's eyes followed the path of her tongue and stayed focused on her mouth. Slowly, his mouth seemed to move closer. Unconsciously, Lorelei raised her hand to her locket. She couldn't find it! Panicking, she searched all across her neck.

"Peter, my locket!"

"What?" he questioned her, not understanding her panic.

Lorelei gripped his shoulders. "My locket, Peter. The one with my mother's picture; the only picture of her I have. It's missing. We have to find it."

"Lorelei, I think it's best if we wait till tomorrow. You just almost cracked your head open."

"I'm fine" she lied, even though it felt like she would pass out at any moment from the plight of dizziness evading her senses. " Please, Peter, we have to find it. It's… it's the only thing I have to remember her by."

Peter sighed, knowing if she asked for anything he'd go out of his way to give it to her.

"Fine, but we're only looking for a little while."

With a quick thank you, Lorelei immediately kneeled down as fast as she could in her current condition and began searching among the tall grass. Peter did the same except he found a different location. The two searched for what seemed like hours, but to now avail; they couldn't find the locket.

Lorelei stood up with her face buried in her hands. She couldn't help it; she began to cry.

"Hey now, whattha cryin' for?" a loud, squeaky voice called out.

Fearing it was another troll, Peter stood in front of Lorelei and yelled out, " Who are you? Show ya self. The high king Peter of Narnia demands it."

"No need to yell, I'm right here. Ova' by the boulder."

The two looked towards the boulder. Standing on his hind legs was a small ferret looking creature. He had a fluffy white coat that was covered in black spots. His face had a black pattern resembling a mask. Wrapped around his thin waist was a satchel that was larger than he, and a small sword. He had his arm extended and in his small paw was Lorelei's locket.

Lorelei slowly reached out and grabbed her locket from the animal's paw, almost afraid that he would keep it.

"Who are you?" Lorelei questioned, staring at him in awe. The animal climbed on to her lap.

"My name's Petewidgeon. But all me mates call me Petey so you two can call me Petey too. Ohhh, I like your hair. You're pretty. Can we be friends? Oh, oh, can I come home with you?" Petey shot out question after question with his squeaky energetic voice quickly jumping from subject to subject.

Lorelei laughed. She decided that she enjoyed this little creature's company. "My name's Lorelei. I like your hair too. Yes, I'd love to be your friend and wouldn't have a problem taking you to my humble home. Tonight you could go swimming with Aslan with me."

"Whoa, no one is going swimming tonight. Lore, you're in no condition to even go home. You'll be stayin' at Cair Paravel tonight. Aslan will understand."

"Thanks, doctor Peter, but I think I can manage."

All of sudden, the Narnia skies seemed to cloud over and thunder began. As lightning flashed across the night sky, Peter saw Lorelei flinch and clutch Petey harder to her chest. Her face seemed stark with fear.

"What's wrong?" Peter asked as another crash of thunder sent her into shivers.

"I know Narnia weather must be different from where you're from, but it's not unusual for a spring storm to come out of nowhere."

"It's, it's nothing. I just have a bit of a fear of thunderstorms is all. Don't get me wrong, I like light summer rains, but back at the orphanage," she suppressed a shudder at memories of 'incidents' that happened during the many power outings and bad storms. "Well, let's just say they don't leave to fond of a memory."

Just as she finished her words, the storm began to pour down its tears. It seemed as the sky itself was trying to down every living thing. Lorelei just sat there trembling as Petey tried to squirm in her shirt to keep himself dry.

"Come on," Peter roared over a loud clap of thunder. "I know of a cottage a bit from here. We'll spend the night there, or at least until this storm calms down and you feel better."

He offered her his hand. This time after a bit of hesitancy, she accepted it and he helped her up.

As they began walking as swiftly as they could in Lorelei's condition, Petey yelped out

" Ohhhh, are we going somewhere? I like going places. One time I went somewhere, but then I got lost and I couldn't find my way to my cave until the morning. I ate berries for breakfast that day. I like berries. Do you like berries?"

The poor dog might as well have been talking to himself for all Lorelei could think of was the fact that she was going to be alone in a cottage with her crush.