Disclaimer: Some of these characters/places don¹t belong to me (small wonder isn¹t it?) and they belong to C.S. Lewis. Um...yeah...that¹s basically it. Read on... :)

She stretched her legs and sighed, another day of boring summer. "It is better than the endless winter though," her mother¹s voice echoed in her head. She sighed again and climbed to her feet. They always talk about the "endless winter" and I¹m sick of it. I was never there and I don¹t care about that. I¹m here now, and what happened before doesn¹t apply to me, she thought. Ambling outside their latest shelter, Kaleigh saw the sun start to climb into the sky and peep out behind the horizon. She was always the first to rise and the last to need sleep. Her family had just settled down, for a few weeks, in a shady spot underneath some sugar maple trees by the sea. A small stream ran down, always gurgling, and joined the waves. Kaleigh liked this spot best, out of all the places they¹d lived. Kaleigh and her family were nomads though, and don¹t like to stay in the same place for a long time. Herds are always like that, something that had always bothered Kaleigh. She felt that all the moving around was useless and wasted time. She secretly hoped they would stay here the longest, maybe even stop moving around. She felt that she had seen every little piece of Narnia and wanted to settle down. She wouldn¹t dare tell her parents though, she wasn¹t supposed to be thinking like that.

Scratching a quick note to her parents saying she would be out for a run, Kaleigh left. She started walking up a steep hill to the flat level plain sitting above their shelter and the sea. She broke into a fast run and flew across the meadow. She loved running, it made her feel free and like she could outrun her problems forever. Kaleigh ran for hours until her growling stomach made her legs head back for her shelter. She ambled in to find her mother gathering breakfast and her father stepping out from behind the bedding area for her parents. With his hair tousled and his eyes heavy, he looked like he¹d been up all night. "What¹s wrong with you?" Kaleigh asked her sleepy father.

"I haven¹t slept at all. It¹s these strange..." he fell silent looking down at the ground.

"Strange what?" she pressed, hoping for an answer.

"Oh, it¹s nothing," he replied, still looking at the ground, "Just nothing." He walked over to her mother and planted a quick kiss on her cheek. The family ate their breakfast in silence. Kaleigh was thinking about what her father was hiding and her father was thinking about a nice, soft, uninterrupted sleep when a knock broke them out of their thoughts. Her father¹s friend had come so they could walk to the Castle together. They were both warriors for the kings and queens, and had a lot of work to do. Rumors were going around of an enemy hiding in the forest and the warriors would have to see to it. Sightings of a strange creature had spread these rumors like wildfire and King Peter had decided to check it out to make sure they were not true, or that the monster was taken care of. Giving her mother and her a quick hug, her father stepped out and ran off with his friend.

Kaleigh helped her mother clear and wipe the dishes they¹d used, and then went for a walk by the sea to collect shells. She loved to collect all kinds of unique and colorful shells, as there are a lot of them in Narnia, and she did so when she wanted to think. Running her father¹s words over in her mind just made Kaleigh more confused. What was he hiding from her!? Her and her father had always had a close connection, more so than was normal for a fifteen-year-old. They could talk about most anything and he had always told her everything. Why then, would he change the subject on something so trivial as what was keeping him awake?

Frustrated, Kaleigh kicked at the waves, splashing her leg with cold water. Looking down at her sopping wet leg, something shiny in the sand caught her attention. A perfectly smooth and round object was gleaming in the morning sun. Picking it up, Kaleigh wiped the sand off of it and looked at the curious object. Strange marks glittered and shifted as she turned the coin (as she guessed it was) over in her hand. The surface changed and melted into strange forms and twisted into an unimaginable language. Silvery colors drifted in and out of sync. Blues, greens, reds, yellows all melded into a dance of swirls and patterns. Completely mystified as to the origins of the strange coin, Kaleigh looked around almost as if she expected someone to come and claim it. Seeing no one, she ran back for home to rinse it off in the spring and to look at it more clearly.

Kaleigh could see nothing different as she laid under the sun in the meadow. The coin¹s surface still changed and shifted. She sighed, another mystery to solve, she thought.

Turning over, she settled into the sweet grass. The sun warmed her dark brown haunches and her long mahogany hair. It was her pride and joy, her hair, it shimmered and fell to her small waist perfectly straight until the edges where it curled in ever so slightly. It matched the color of her shiny brown rump and smooth legs. Curling her haunches underneath her, she sat up. Brushing grass off of her legs, she then stood up and stretched. Kaleigh looked like her father in a lot of ways, everyone always said so. They had the same hair color and the same full, curving mouth. They shared green eyes, although Kaleigh got their almond shape from her mother. Kaleigh¹s mother had coal black hair and a beautiful smile. She had a laugh like the glitter of bells and was kind to everyone. She had given Kaleigh her high cheekbones and her petite sculptured face. They even shared the small dimples when they smiled. Kaleigh had a long beautiful neck that sloped into small round shoulders. Her tiny waist melted perfectly with dark brown forelegs and delicate hooves. She had a small, but strong back that curved into the powerful haunches of a horse and a jet black tail. Being as there were not many centaurs in Narnia, she always considered herself lucky to be one of the few.

Galloping back to her shelter, she clutched the coin and walked under the canopy of leaves. Her mother turned as she came in and smiled at the bits of grass she had not managed to brush off. "Laying in the meadow again?" she asked with a knowing smile.

Kaleigh giggled and wiped off the last clinging stalks. "Yep, I just needed to think."

Her mother gave her a curious glance, "Think about what? Anything I can help with?"

Kaleigh shrugged, "I don¹t know. It¹s just that I was wondering about what was keeping Dad awake last night because he wouldn¹t tell-" Her mother took in her breath sharply.

"Now there will be none of that. It is not my place to tell you if your father won¹t do it himself. Now, unless there is anything else, we¹re finished here." She went back to raking out stray leaves and wouldn¹t look at Kaleigh.

"Well, there is something else I wanted to ask you," Kaleigh mumbled.

Her mother turned back and her look sharpened. "Don¹t worry, it¹s nothing about Dad." Kaleigh added quickly.

Her mother¹s face softened, "Okay, what is it?"

"Well, I was down by the sea looking for shells when I found this." Kaleigh pulled out the coin and showed her mother. The same swirling colors and markings shifted and her mother put down her rake.

Her mother stared at it, "I don¹t have any idea what that is. You¹d best not show that to just anyone. Be careful with it. For some reason I sense that there is something not quite right with that, that thing. I don¹t know what that is. We¹ll have your father look at it tonight when he comes home." She went back to raking the leaves and left Kaleigh with a sense that their conversation had just been ended. Kaleigh stuffed her coin into a small bag and hung it over her shoulder. Grabbing her quiver of arrows and her bow, she stepped outside and set up her target to practice her aim. She could not wait for her father to come home, maybe he could figure out what it was...

She practiced hard and went inside after she had done twenty shots and twenty bulls eyes. Being a centaur, she had learned archery since she could hold a bow and had gotten very good at it. After putting her bow and arrows away, she went and explored for a while. Her mind wandered and soon she realized that she had gone as far as the old lamp post while she daydreamed! She had taken a shortcut and had arrived only after about an hour of steady trotting. Suddenly, the bag over her shoulder started to feel warm. Throwing it off, she dumped out it¹s contents. The coin raged a fiery red color and heated up the palm of her hand. Curious, thought Kaleigh, Very Curious...