Sorry for the long wait! Thanks for the review. :p This story is quite long, so I'll probably split is up into two different stories

This from is Part the First. Enjoy! Reviews make me ubber happy. =] But you probably know that already.

Chapter 2: Tour

A little while later, Katriana was down in the kitchen again, this time marveling at its efficiency. Mrs. Beaver ran a tight schedule, and she did it well. The maids did their jobs like clockwork. Katriana began to sweat again. She wasn't sure she could do this. She wasn't used to this body yet, and even if she was, who knew if she would be clumsy or graceful!

Mrs. Beaver saw her and came waddling over. "Oh, good! You're all cleaned up! Now, I need you to help out Alia with the potatoes, and then she'll show you to the sewing room. It's my favorite room in the whole castle, I must say!" twittered Mrs. Beaver as she pointed to another girl in front of a large pot.

Katriana walked over to the girl, not quite sure of what she should do. She was shocked when she saw that the girl was dark skinned. What was a Calormen doing here in Narnia? She recoiled, and the girl noticed. She smiled anyway, and said, "Hello, I'm Alia. You must be Katriana. Mrs. Beaver has been going on into what a fine seamstress she's going to make you into. It'll be nice to have someone my age working with me." She kept on peeling potatoes as if she'd done it her whole life. She didn't even look at her hands! "I usually don't help in the kitchen, but there's to be a large party here next week, and a couple of the cooks took ill, so they needed the extra hands. I'll show you what we do after we get done here. There's a knife over to your left," said Alia as she motioned with her head. Katriana picked it up and looked back at Alia. The girl nodded, and Katriana picked up a potato. She watched closely to Alia's hands as she peeled, and then started to peel hers. It was very awkward and slow going at first, but soon she had the hang of it, and felt more comfortable. They finished not too long afterwards, and after washing their hands, left the kitchen for the sewing room.

As they walked, Katriana became brave enough to ask a few questions.

"How long have you worked here?"

"Oh, only about half a year," said Alia as they turned a corner. "But I like it very much. You will too. The kings and queens are wonderful."

Katriana paused before her next question. "They are so young, yet they seem so…experienced. Did the lion give them that ability?"

Alia looked at Katriana as she answered, "Aslan, you mean? I don't think he gave them that directly. I think they've just acquired that through their years of governing."

Katriana toyed with this thought in her mind for a bit. "Are they always so nice?"

"Oh, yes! Well, Queen Susan is very particular about some things, so she can get…frustrated at times, but yes, they are always kind and understanding." She said this as she opened a door that led to a large room filled with bolts of the finest clothe and sewing machines. There was a rack on one wall filled with hundreds of spools of different color threads, and there were mannequins with half-finished outfits in the corners. There were several windows, which let in plenty of light. There were a few other creatures in there; a faun, and older woman, and a badger.

Alia held out her hand to the others in the room. "Everyone, this is Katriana. She is the new seamstress. Katriana, this is Klyle, Ellana, and Mrs. Badger. They have been here for quite some time, so if you have any questions when I'm not here, you can just ask them." The others nodded at her and smiled. Katriana gave them a small smile back.

Alia smiled and shook her head. "Don't worry, they won't bite." She then turned Katriana towards all of the things on the wall and began explaining what each of them were and what they were used for. After a little bit Katriana's head began to swim. Alia noticed, and kindly asked if she would like to take a short break. Katriana nodded thankfully. Alia took her back the way they had come, and in the kitchen she grabbed a few things for them to eat.

They sat on the stairs that led to the kitchen while they ate. After a few moments of silence, Alia turned to Katriana.

"Would you like to see the rest of the castle?"

Katriana was taken completely by surprise. "Can we do that?"

Alia smiled at her. "Yes, it's perfectly all right. Their majesties aren't all uptight about things like that."

Katriana blinked as she sat and thought about that for a moment. "I'd love to," she said.

Alia finished off the bread she was eating and stood up. She offered her hand to Katriana. "Come on, then!"

They made their way throughout the castle. Katriana was amazed at the beauty of the place. Not one detail had been left out. Gold adorned almost everything. The archways from hall to hall were made of marble and were carved out into intricate patterns of vines and flowers. There was a large lion carved out at the top of ever arch. For a long time they didn't see anyone except an occasional faun or dwarf, who would quickly hurry past them with a simple nod of their heads.

Eventually they came out to a place that seemed to be a large hall. There were more windows in this room, and several of them led out to small balconies. Alia led her over to one of them, and as they looked out over one of the courtyards, Alia said,

"Look up!"

Katriana did, and it took her breath away. The sky was a perfect blue, with the sun shining down on the tops of the castle's main dome. It reflected off onto other parts of the roof, and it made for an enchanting effect. The iridescent glows made the castle look almost… heavenly. Alia tugged on her arm then, and they went back inside. The rest of the castle was just as wonderful. They even got to look in the throne room! Alia took Katriana up to the dais, and as she stood at the bottom of the steps, Katriana shuttered.

Alia looked at her. "What's wrong?"

Katriana shook her head. "I would hate to think what Narnia would be like if those thrones were really empty," she whispered.

They stood there in awed silence for a few moments, looking at the sun shining through the stained glass. Then Alia tugged on Katriana's sleeve, and they turned to leave.

The last room that they came to was her favorite. There were, again, many windows, except these were long, thin, spindly windows. There was a short platform at the back, and the on it was a piano. This piano would have been strange looking to us, but not to a Narnian. It was made out of oak, and there were carvings all along it, and on the lid was a circle with a giant face of a lion inside of it. She gasped as she drew closer. It was covered in pure gold. The white keys were made of ivory, and the black keys were made of gold as well. She reached out her hand, but then drew back. She didn't dare to touch something so beautiful. She turned when she heard Alia's voice.

"You can play on it if you want."

"Are you sure?"

Alia nodded, "Yes, I've fooled around before. Lots of us have." Here she laughed. "Most of us are no good. We don't play at all. Do you play?"

Katriana turned back towards the piano so that Alia could no longer see her face. Dare she say anything? Was it safe yet? She hesitated for what must have been forever, then managed,

"Yes."

"You should try the piano then! It's beautiful!"

Katriana swallowed. She allowed her fingers to brush against the cool keys. Her heartbeat quickened. Everything inside of her screamed for her to sit and play her heart out, but her fear kept her standing there.

"Katriana?"

She bit her lip. She sat down on the bench, but it was against her better judgment. She began to sweat. She felt a bead of it slip down her upper lip. She licked it away as her hands hovered, quivering, above the keys. The silence in the room pounded silently in her ears. Without even thinking her fingers made contact with the keys, and she began playing a song. If you had been there you would have sworn an angel was playing.

The song went on for several minutes, but once it ended you would have wished it to go on forever. After she was done, she sat there for a moment, trembling. Silence filled the room again. She wished Alia would say something. She heard a noise, and turned around. What she saw made her jump up so quickly that she almost knocked over the bench. King Peter was there.