A/N: Thanks for the reviews, everyone. I hope this makes a few things clear...the rest will be explained in the last chapters.

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Journey Home

Peter took a deep breath. "Once upon a time," he said, his voice chafingly ominous, "there was a spring day more beauteous than any other. On that day, in different households, two baby girls were born, as alike to one another as two blossoms. Their names were Princess Esmerelda Elfreda Eloise, and Lidia Lilith Elisha Rose, also known as Lidia of Lettham. One was born in a palace, the other in a garden in the middle of a forest - that same garden you see out the window.

"Anyhow, these two girls grew up not knowing of each other's existence. Strangely, the one born in the palace turned out to be a tomboy and a despiser of convention, while the one born in the forest secretly pored over court etiquette and longed to belong to the upper class. Lidia and I were always quite close: although she was forever fantasizing about life in the palace, she was otherwise a very nice girl. She possessed a beautiful silver butterfly brooch which she loved to just look at, even though she was not permitted to pin it on until her sixteenth birthday. But when she was only eleven years old, she disappeared - and so did the jewel.

"We scoured the surrounding countryside for any sign of her, but without any results. My foster cousins, Gilbert and Jeremy, joined the Starcastle Musketeers specifically to find her...they even went on a diplomatic mission to Mindia. Perhaps you remember them - they mistook you for her that day we first met. Father also went off looking for her, several times, and Mother did some skilful detective work - but all our efforts led to nothing. We became resigned to the fact we would probably never see her again.

"Last spring, a few days before your birthday, I read a jewelry specialist's article about a silver butterfly brooch from the palace that was supposedly one of a kind, and I began to wonder. I asked Mother about it and, although she did not tell me the whole story, I gathered enough to piece together what I have just told you. Until that day I had never known of the similarity between you and Lidia. I further questioned your brother, Redmond, and Prince James. You see, I knew them from...well, I just knew them. They told me all about you, and Jimmy showed me a picture of you he had. All the same, when I finally met you, I was struck by the likeness you bore to Lidia. But I knew it was you and not her because, to be frank, Lidia never learnt how to ride a horse...and you were in the saddle when I first saw you.

"Two identical girls, two identical butterfly brooches. I realised there was something uncanny about the theft of your brooch, on the day you were, like Lidia, supposed to pin it on for the first time. I thought it strange that Prince James, of all people, could be disguised as a peasant and found with a stolen jewel in his pocket. Elf, I began to suspect foul play.

"But it was not until a few days ago that I realised how deep the currents ran. I went to Starcastle upon urgent summons from an undercover contact, and there I discovered that Princess Esmerelda had apparently been found in a little town - Dancy, I think - and was back in the palace. You see, with you effectively out of the way, there was nothing to stop Lidia from claiming her rights as the Daughter of the Throne. Her plan is, sadly, succeeding to the very last detail.

"...Which brings me to Jimmy's sentence. He was offered forgiveness, on one condition: he would have to marry Princess Esmerelda within half a year of the trial. Of course, Jimmy accepted - I mean, what could be dearer to his heart than marrying you? He is staying at Starcastle Palace now. That the current Princess Esmerelda is an impostor, he does not know. I have tried to tell him, but he won't believe me...in fact I was very nearly thrown into the palace dungeon for my audacity. Elf...I'm very sorry, but...the wedding is tomorrow."

"I don't believe you," I said flatly.

"It's true!" he said, indignantly.

"This is just another of your stories. You're making it up. Everything. And Redmond! You evil wretch, trying to make me believe he's dead!"

"But he is!" He raised his baby eyes towards me, so sincere, so innocent - but I knew he was acting - acting, as ever.

"He can't be," I said, shaking my head, drawing a deep breath. "If Redmond was really dead I would know it. I would feel it inside me. I don't feel anything. My heart beats on still."

"But - Elf - it was in the papers - I'll show you the papers - "

"Peter, I don't want to know, I don't want any more of your tricks!" I was beginning to get angry.

"Elf, do you seriously believe I could lie to you on such a serious subject? Do you really think I would try to make you believe your brother was dead if he wasn't?"

"Alright," I said, "then you are simply mistaken. And I'm going to prove it!" I went up to the door and gave the handle a healthy pull, but it was locked. Desperate, I exited via the window.

"Elf, what are you doing?" trailed Peter's voice behind me.

"Peter, give me a horse, and that's an order."

"We don't have a horse," he protested, leaping through the window after me.

"Then get me a donkey."

"We don't have a donkey either."

"What do you have? Goats? Chickens?"

Peter paused. "We have a cheetah."

"Where did you get a cheeeeetah?" I called to Peter, who was seated behind me on the back of the said animal. The roaring wind almost drowned my voice out.

"My f-father brought it from M-mindiaaa," explained Peter's voice, fluctuating with every leap of the large cat.

"When did your f-f-father get baaack?"

"Ye-e-e-esterday!"

"O-oo-ooh!"

"Eee-e-e-elf?"

"Ye-e-e-ees?"

"Do you ha-a-a-ve any e-e-experience riding cheeeetahs?"

The question remained unanswered: at that moment, the animal balked, catapulting us into the air. One minute, I knew what it was to fly - and the next, what it was to fall.

A long, droning sound. The cheetah was purring. Its olive eyes surveyed us contentedly as it stood there, under a chestnut tree. And then it disappeared into the undergrowth.

"I don't think I like cheetahs as a mode of transport," said Peter, groaning as he heaved himself off the ground.

"Me neither," I said, brushing my fur of leaves. And then I stopped, realising something...

"Father will be furious," said Peter, groaning again. "It was a gift from the Maharaja..."

"Peter," I said, slowly.

"It'll probably kill off all the local wildlife...and my parents are conversationists..."

"Peter!"

"What?"

I crept up to him on all fours. My hands and feet resembled the clawed paws of a dog, and it was strangely easy to walk in the manner of one. "Get on my back," I said.

"What? Your back? But Elf..."

"I'm a beast, aren't I? Well, it might just come in handy..."

"I'm not sure about this, Elf," said Peter, hesitantly, as he mounted me like a horse.

"Well I am," I said firmly. "Hold on." With that, I took a triumphant leap over a root, and we bounded off towards Starcastle.

We arrived at the palace early the next morning. It was still dark: lights flickered in the servants' quarters, showing they were busy preparing for the wedding. The air was chilly; I could faintly distinguish the spring flowers growing in the palace gardens from where we stood.

"Well, here we are," I whispered. Peter did not respond; the sound of soft, regular breathing from on top of me told me the boy was asleep. Gently, I let him down off my back onto a cushion of moss. For myself, I could not sleep, perhaps due to my five-month long nap. I pawed my way around the palace walls, then returned to our hilltop to observe the sleeping palace. In the royal family's wing, only the light in my window shone: Lidia, it seemed, also could not sleep. Or perhaps, I thought with a shiver, Jimmy was in there with her.

Nightmarish images swept through my mind: Redmond burning at the stake, Jimmy in an intimate embrace with my look-alike, then Redmond again, silently screaming - a cheetah with a dead squirrel in its jaws. Cyril flirting with me in the Yellow Ram, surely part of the plot also. And then my own visage crept up on me, and I saw those sad green eyes, that coarse brown hair, that face of an animal again.

And then, eventually, the sun rose above the clouds, and its silvery rays threaded their way down to earth. It was the morning Lidia of Lettham was to be married to Prince James of Emereldom, in my place.