A/N: HEEEYYYYY! My lovely reviewers, I'm back! Thank you so much for being so patient with me... I'm really sorry for being gone so long. I hope you'll forgive me. ;)

SPECIAL NOTICE: We've made it to 52 reviews! Thank you guys for reviewing so faithfully! I couldn't have done it without you. *heart*

Okaaay, so I've gotten so many reviews from the last chapter that I'm going to be taking a break from answering reviews. Just for this chapter, and then I will be back to answer your reviews next time, 'kay? Sorry 'bout that, but I want to upload this chapter as soon as I can, plus answering 7+ reviews would take up a TON of space here. :D

God bless and enjoy the chapter!

Feathers light as stardust, Soaring to the heavens,

Built on wings of doves, Set to the melody of the air,

Gliding up, Swooping down, Sailing on the breeze,

Near to angels, Close to God, Flying over the tranquil seas...

I cracked my eyes open, the last few remnants of a beautiful dream escaping my mind and burying themselves away into the darkness. Funny... I know that poem sounds familiar, but I can't seem to remember who wrote it...

I squinted around slowly, realizing that it was still mostly dark; Only a small amount of light sneaked through the thin, red fabric that covered the tent.

I glanced over at Susan and Lucy and saw that they were still sleeping peacefully, tightly curled up in their blankets. I might as well get up. Maybe somebody has breakfast fixed already! Hopefully it's something other than Mrs. Beaver's tree-mush bread. Although it was strangely filling...

I quickly shifted one foot out of the hammock, and then the other, trying to be quiet so as not to wake the two Pevensies. I straightened up, and tip-toed over to the wooden chest that Susan had opened last night. There had better be a dress in there that fits me, 'cause I really don't want to spend the day wearing dirty clothes. Plus, I don't especially want Susan staring at me like I'm an alien.

I unlatched the lock on the chest, and then pulled the top up carefully, wincing as it squeaked. I looked down into it and rummaged through the different dresses until I came to one that looked about my size.

The long dress was dark turquoise, and had beautiful silvery embroidery on the front. The material was soft, but strong, and I highly doubted it would tear easily. A good thing too seeing as, for some strange reason, Narnia seems to amplify my clumsiness... I draped it over my bed for later and pulled the tent opening back, glancing behind me to see if either of the girls had awoken. Good, still asleep. Now for the problem of finding a decent, unpopulated place to wash.

I slipped out of the tent, and looked around. Surprisingly few people were up, only a couple of fauns and one Oreius the centaur. I looked around, scrutinizing the area. Now where did that stream run off to?

I jumped as I heard a voice from beside me say, "M'lady?" I whipped my head around and came face to face with none other than Kiremnus, the faun that I had met yesterday. I shook my head, rolling my eyes and running my hand through my hair nervously, something I sometimes do when caught off guard.

"Funny, I kinda got a sense of deja-vu about this... Except that you don't have your sword pointed at me this time." I said sarcastically, but in good humor.

Kiremnus slightly tilted his head to the side, obviously not understanding the concept of "deja-vu", and the sudden image of my neighbor's dog popped into my head. I giggled, and Kiremnus raised an eyebrow. With his head tilted like that he does resemble a puppy a little bit... Except that I've never seen a dog with such green eyes before...

I shook my head again, trying hard to dislodge the ridiculous image of Kiremnus crawling around on his knees with his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

"Do you need anything, my lady?" He asked with just a hint of annoyance in his tone. I nodded, guessing he still didn't trust me entirely, and motioned over towards the woods behind the tent.

"I, erm, need to get cleaned up, and I was looking for that stream I saw last night. I seem to have lost it though. " I told him, and then quickly added, "And I might possibly need a towel too. If it's not too much trouble."

Kiremnus nodded, half an inch of a sigh escaping his mouth, as he pointed to the left of me. "The stream is straight that way. Go on ahead and I will get you a towel."

"Sure, thanks." I turned around and walked towards where he had pointed. I crept slowly past the two tents in which the oblivious Pevensies were slumbering, and into the shade of the woods.

Tiptoeing amongst the fallen leaves, I looked around curiously. This was the first time I had been able to really look at Narnian nature, and I gazed in fascination at the graceful trees, the little flowers that blazed with a million different colors, and the birds that chattered in the sky above me.

A few seconds later, I reached the stream. Walking barefoot towards it, I mentally shouted with joy when I saw that the part I was at was surrounded by a nice patch of trees. Good! I don't relish the thought of someone spying on me. In fact, if I did catch someone doing that, I would...

A twig cracked loudly from behind me, and I started, nearly falling into the water. Instead, I landed on dry ground and looked over my shoulder to see who was about to attack me.

It was only Kiremnus, standing there with a towel slung over his arm, looking at me with a face as expressionless as the stones in the stream.

I blinked. "You know, you don't have to scare me out of my wits every time you come near. You could just..." I sighed, seeing the hopelessness of my tirade. "Nevermind." I pulled myself up off the ground and Kiremnus stepped closer.

"Here is your towel, miss. Do you need anything else?" He asked me, looking hurried to get back to the other manly soldiers and away from wimpy me. I took the towel from his hands.

"Look, you don't have to call me 'miss', alright? It sounds unnatural. Please, just call me Eden." I asked with a small sigh.

"If you wish for me to." He replied, and the look on his face seemed to say that he really didn't care. I stuck my nose in the air for a moment, getting a bit impatient, and then I glanced at Kiremnus expectantly.

"So um, could you, like, leave now so I can, you know... wash?" I stumbled over my words. Argh! Why does this always happen when I talk with him? Maybe all fauns are like this... I'll have to ask Lucy if she caught stutteritis when she met Mr. Tumnus.

Kiremnus nodded, "As you wish... Eden." I watched as he walked away and then called after him:

"Bye, Westley!" He glanced back at me and then continued to walk away, shaking his head. I grinned widely and turned back to the stream.

After putting my towel on the shore where I could easily grab it, I walked over to the lazily flowing water. I glanced around to make sure nobody was hiding in the trees or bushes, then cautiously dipped my toe in. Perfect temperature!

Not hesitating a second, I rushed into the river and let the cold water wash over me. After throwing my outer clothes on the shore, I scrubbed myself all over, not leaving a speck of dirt, and then swam over to the shore and picked up the towel. Wrapping it around myself tightly, I walked cautiously back towards the camp – in nothing but a towel and my underclothes. I would simply die of embarrassment if someone saw me walking around like this... Why didn't I just bring the dress with me?

I reached the girls' tent and sneaked inside, changing quickly once I made sure that Susan and Lucy were still sleeping. I did up the last button on the dress, and started rummaging in the chest of clothes for a brush. Oh please, let there be a brush! I can't NOT brush my hair when it's like this!

After a few moments of frantic searching, I finally found one and brushed out my hair, putting it into a messy braid and tying it with a bit of string I found in the trunk. Hooray for brushes... Couldn't live without 'em.

I sighed and stepped out of the tent. Now to search for some breakfast, my stomach thought. But my brain was pulled towards the woods, It'd be sooo much fun to go exploring!

I mentally scratched my head, but soon decided to go exploring and wait till Peter, Susan, and Lucy were up to eat (Don't mistake my meaning – I wasn't talking about eating the Pevensies, I was talking about eating with them).

I quietly walked through the woods, stepping carefully over fallen logs and trying not to trod on anything particularly sharp; Somehow, I had a feeling that I had done that before, and I didn't want to repeat the process.

I had been walking for a few minutes, when I came to a medium sized clearing. I stared at it in awe as a few rays of golden sun shone down through the trees and illuminated the area. It was simply overflowing with all types of flowers: crisp white daisies, soft pink carnations, deep purple violets, and sapphire blue lilies. I stepped gently into the clearing, not wanting to mess up any part of this miniature paradise. I bent down and picked one of the lilies to look closer at it. It was almost the same as an Earth-lily, but it's petals were rimmed with a slightly shiny, golden color and the leaves were thin and very smooth. I reached down and picked another one.

These would make a gorgeous bouquet! I leaned over to gather some more, when I heard a soft rumble come from behind me. I froze and straightened up, slowly turning around.

My eyes widened in surprise when I saw who it was, but I let out a small sigh of relief.

"Aslan! I mean, sir...Um, w-what are you doing here? I mean, well..." I trailed off nervously; talking to a king – who was a lion! – was not something I was particularly good at. But for some reason, I felt sure that he was someone I could trust and respect: the kind of stranger that you could listen to without wondering why.

He smiled understandingly and walked up next to me. "I am here because I wish to talk with you, Katherine."

My jaw dropped to the ground and my stomach with it. "Y-you know my name?" I stammered out, my eyes the size of my cat's (Whose are, coincidentally, HUGE).

He just looked at me, his golden eyes twinkling. "Yes, child, I know your true name. This knowledge was given to me by my Father, the Emperor-Over-the-Sea. But that is not why I am here to speak with you."

I picked my jaw up from its seat on the ground (It had gotten quite comfortable, so I had to pull pretty hard), and adjusted my eyes to their normal size. Then I asked, "So, why do you want to speak with me?" I wasn't quite sure if that was too frank or not, but I couldn't think of any other way to put it.

Aslan replied calmly, "Because you are unsure as to why you are here."

I was once again surprised. How does he know this stuff? Can he read my mind? Or am I just that transparent... I mentally blew that thought away and started to explain. "Yeah, that's for sure." I half-laughed. "I just don't understand... Did I come here for a reason? Am I supposed to do something, help someone? Or did I just come here by chance? Just a mistake, a fluke... I dunno." I heaved a sigh and looked toward Aslan. He was calmly listening, and I felt like he really did understand. I just hoped he could answer my questions.

"If you wish to know, dear one, all you have to do is ask." He said, looking me in the eye. Suddenly, I felt so completely seen, like he knew every single thing, good AND bad, about me. The feeling was a little scary, but also... it felt good. Like he knew me, REALLY knew me! Like he was one of my best friends, even though I'd only known him for half a day. I smiled slightly, my heart lighter than before.

"Well... why am I here?" I asked, twisting the ring that always sat around my middle finger.

"You are here for a single reason: Because I have called you here." He told me calmly, and my mouth had once again hit the floor with a bang. But even though I had one answer, it brought on a whole lot of other questions.

"You brought me here? Why?" I asked him, totally confused to why he would bring a clumsy, crazy, annoying, Narnia-freak to... Narnia. I mean, Mr. Beaver HAD mentioned the possibility, as had Crevan, but I wasn't absolutely convinced that they had been right. Now it looked like they were!

He looked up at the clear blue sky for a moment, and then back at me. "Because if you were not here, things might have been very different."

That was a cryptic response if I ever heard one. I frowned at my own befuddlement, and determined to find out what he meant. "How would things have been different? Would the Pevensies have gotten here faster? Would the beavers have more food left in their lodge? Would..." A sick feeling filled the pit of my stomach as a thought came to me. "Would Edmund have stayed with his family?"

Aslan's golden eyes stared into mine. "That is not for you to know yet." He told me firmly. "But that is not the only reason I brought you here. There are things you will learn in Narnia that you will not learn in your world. Things that cannot be learned in books or schools, but things that must be learned through the heart."

I sighed through my nose, letting his words wash over me. I had one more question. "But why did you bring me here if you have the Pevensies? They're the ones going to rule Narnia; they're the ones who are going to defeat the White Witch! Why do you need me?"

Whoops, I guess that was two. Anyways...

"We all have different roles to play, dear one. If one person decided not to be content and do the job that they were given, then this world would fall out of balance. It is best to trust the judgment of the One who gave you that role, and fulfill it the best you can." Aslan explained to me, and I realized that maybe I had not really thought about actually having my own part to play in Narnia instead of just being along for the ride. I suppose that's something that needs to change, isn't it?

I thought hard for a moment. Was I going to shirk my role and be a coward? Or was I going to do my part to help Narnia win its freedom – however small my part may be?

EASY!

I would do my part to help Narnia, because even though that part might be small and seemingly insignificant, it was the part I had been given and I would do my best to fulfill it!

I turned to Aslan, "Thank you for talking with me. I feel a lot better about things now." He smiled and our eyes met again.

"I will always be here for you, Katherine." He whispered to me. And in the deepest part of my heart, I knew he was right.

A/N: OH MY GOODNESS! I finally got another chapter done! *screams* This chapter was originally going to be a TON longer, bordering on 4,000 words, but I didn't update the document in a while so the chapter got deleted *frowns at Document Thingy*. But anyways, I was rewriting it when I decided to stop right here and write the next half in a different chapter... I'm not sure if that was a wise decision or not, but I figure you guys deserve another chapter, so here you go! :D

On another note, I just realized that this is the first chapter I've finished without a cliffhanger-ish scene... I'm not sure if that's good or bad... You tell me!

Also, I'm just curious, but did anyone get the "Princess Bride" reference? I love that movie. XD

And YES, my real name is Katherine, but the characters in my story will continue to know me as Eden, Ed, or Eddie, so you can keep calling me those as well! :D

Anyways, thank you all so much for being such wonderful reviewers! I hope you will continue to review for me, because without you all, this story would never be finished. :) You all are my greatest motivation!

I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can! God bless!

'Ed' eden54