Groaning at the pain in her head, Nimueh rolled over. When she opened her eyes, her vision was momentarily a blank white, the sky so bright that she had to close them again. Reaching up to rub her head, she felt a warm breeze wash over her.

"Are you alright, my child?"

She looked up to see the Great Lion standing over her. "Yes, Aslan." Sitting up, Nimueh swept her eyes over the body ridden landscape. "Is it over?"

"Yes, dear one. Now, let us get your head seen to. Can you stand?"

Nimueh, though shakily, got to her feet, her head spinning. Following Aslan, she breathed in the faint, metallic scent of blood and armour on the quiet air. To her right, she spotted the lifeless body of the White Witch. The sick feeling in her stomach settled ever so slightly in the knowledge that she was gone forever. A small figure was scurrying about the battlefield, kneeling down next to the bodies of their fallen soldiers. When the figure looked up at Aslan, she immediately hurried over.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, Lucy. Though I did hit my head pretty hard." Sitting down on a nearby rock, Nimueh let Lucy gently pull her hair back and drip a drop of the fire flower liquid onto the cut on her head. "When did you arrive?"

"Just before the Battle ended. Aslan saved Mr Tumnus and all of the other creatures who had been turned to stone. Then Aslan killed the White Witch and her army gave up."

Slowly, the pain slipped from her head. Her sickness faded and she felt the strength return to her limbs. "Thank you."

Lucy curtsied to her and Aslan before hurrying back to healing the remains of their army. Nimueh stood from the rock and bowed to the Lion. "I shall return to the campsite and begin the preparation for a feast tonight."

"An excellent suggestion, child. You have done well today."

"Thank you, my Lord." Sweeping back through the bouldered hills towards the campsite, her mind wandered to Elijah. Though she hadn't known the dryad for very long, she was family, and Nimueh desperately hoped that she had returned to the camp safely.

Levi stood outside a tent at the edge of the campsite. Poking her head inside the tent, she saw about seven dryads huddled in the blankets and cushions. "It's over. You can come out now." The beautiful women rose to their feet, cheering airily. "There is to be celebratory feast. Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"You must rest, Nimueh," Elijah gave her a hug. "Jonah has fixed up your dress. Go and lie down for a little while."

The dryads hurried past her, muttering amongst themselves excitedly. Nimueh took Levi's reigns and led him over to the horse pen. Removing his bridle and saddle, she brushed him down and fed him a couple of apples. The clinking of armour reached her ears as the army began arriving from the battlefield. Glancing up, Nimueh squinted at the sunlight bouncing off armour, shields, swords, and sweat-glazed skins. She wrinkled her nose at the vague scent of battle in the air, she decided to return to her tent and get cleaned up.

Though she had only gained a few bruises, and the head wound that Lucy had cured, Nimueh still winced slightly as she unlaced her leather armour. Stripping off the rest of her clothes, she gently touched the patches of skin on her left side and right shoulder that were fading into a blackish-purple. She took a piece of cloth, dipped it into a jar of clean water and wiped herself down from head to toe. Then, after braiding up her hair, she lay down on her bedspread, closed her eyes and tried to rest.

"Lady Firesong? Lady Firesong?" The faint calling brought Nimueh out of a dreamless sleep. Unsure as to how long she had slept, she pulled the blankets around herself, just in case the voice's owner peeped into her tent.

"What's the matter?"

"The feast is ready." It was Oreius. "You should come and have something to eat, my Lady."

"Yes, of course. Thank you. Give me a few minutes."

"Of course, my Lady."

The dress in which Nimueh had arrived in Narnia had been fixed and folded neatly on a pile of cushions on the other side of her tent. She couldn't deny that the familiar softness of the silks felt so much better than her Narnian clothes. Clasping the metal closed around her neck and upper arms, she freed her hair of the plait and let her curls fall wildly over her shoulders.

The sky was dark when she exited her tent, the grass cold and dewy against her bare feet. A great fire had been stacked in the largest grassy area in front of Aslan's tent. The heat of the flames and the scent of roasted meats brushed over her face as she approached the party, but before she could get anything to eat, her wrists were claimed in the grasp of two dryads, who dragged her through the crowd of laughing creatures and into a ring around the fire that was filled with dancing fauns and nymphs.

At first, Nimueh blushed with embarrassment, but her feet soon remembered the steps that she had so many times danced, however many years ago. She was passed form faun to dryad to hamadryad to faun, closing her eyes and letting her body run with the music that rose in the air like the smoke from the fire. Someone took hold of her waist and threw her into the air; she opened her eyes and laughed loudly when they caught her.

Soon the song came to an end, and Nimueh once more remembered how hungry she had been. Exhausted from her wild dance, she collapsed on a patch of grass in the ring of creatures sitting around the campfire, laughing whole-heartedly as the nymphs and fauns continued their folly around the flames.

"That was quite something." Peter sat down next to her.

Nimueh's face was already flushed from the dancing and the heat of the fire. "It's been a long time since I've done that."

"When you were previously in Narnia, I assume it was under better circumstances."

Nimueh shrugged. "It had its ups and downs, though I am pleased that say that there were more happy experiences on my part. Never have I been here in such dark times." But she allowed herself to smile. "Well, it seems now that the darkness has passed."

"Here." Peter held out a plate with some meat cuttings and an array of sides.

"Thanks." She took a piece of meat and bit into it. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you during the battle."

Peter smiled broadly, and she had to look away. "Are you kidding? You were amazing! When you went down, I don't think I've ever been so afraid in my life. Well, maybe once."

"When?" Nimueh didn't mean to pry, but she wondered what could possibly be more terrifying than almost certain death.

"Well, I thought being sent away from home during a war was the worst thing that could happen, but then I lost my brother in a world I knew nothing of." Peter dropped his head, fiddling with the grass. "And you got him back," he said, smiling, though still not looking up.

"You can thank Aslan for that."

"Yes, but I want to thank you."

"Well, if you insist, you're welcome." She plucked a piece of bread from Peter's plate and tore it in two. "Do you dance?"

Peter raised his head, laughing to himself. "No, I certainly don't."

"Well, you're going to have to learn, with all the balls you'll be attending once you're the King. Or are you still 'not up to it'?"

"Are you going to stay? Or will you be off for another three hundred years?"

"I was brought here to serve Aslan, and the High King. So as long as the King needs me, I will stay."

"Then you'll be here as long as I'm King."

Nimueh could have sworn that her heart leapt. As much as she valued her pride, she shifted her body so that it was facing Peter. "You mean it? You want me to stay?"

"You vowed to stand by the us, didn't you? I'm not going into battle without you."

She hoped he couldn't see the glistening threat of tears in her eyes at the sight of his boyish grin. To be needed, to be wanted, that was everything she had ever wished for in all her years, both in Narnia and on her lonely Island. Of course, she had her family of Firesongs, and though they had taken her in and she would forever be grateful that they had done so, she had begun to get the feeling that she had relied on them for long enough. She was ready to move forward. And the hear that she could have a new home, a place where she belonged, that was far greater than anything she could ask of anyone.