Disclaimer: Cair Paravel belongs to C. S. Lewis as does Lord Peridan, Aslan, and the Four. All other characters are mine. I actually didn't steal anyone this time!

The first thing Ariella was aware of when she regained consciousness was a steady pressure on her face and hands. She started to feel her face only to find that her hands were thickly bandaged and that it was difficult to move. A hoarse sound escaped her throat as pain shot through her hands. There was the sound of tapping hooves and then a gentle voice was speaking over her.

"Easy, now, Madam. It would be best if you were not to move. I am Tranton, a faun and your physician. You were badly burned and are now bandaged against further injury. Hush, my lady," the faun continued as Ariella tried once more to move, "be still now. You need to sleep again. Here, drink this, it will help."

Ariella felt an arm slipped under her head and she was eased to a sitting position. A smooth cup was lifted to her lips and she sipped at the liquid in it. She coughed and would have thrust the bitter drink away, but it was too hard to move and the cup was once again lifted to her lips.

"Drink, my lady. It is bitter but it will help with the pain and help you sleep."

Too weak to argue (and it was nearly impossible as well with all the bandages wrapped around her face) Ariella drank the bitter tea and was eased back to the bed. The hoof beats trotted away and she dimly heard the faun's voice speaking and another voice answering.

"I've brought the queen's cordial. Will you be needing it?"

"No, Lord Jaer. She will recover. Captain Stormpaw was fast enough that the burns were not too deep. She will be scarred for life though. And I'm not sure I can save her sight."

"Do we use the cordial then?"

"Only if one of the sovereigns commands it. You know that the High King has commanded that it be kept only for great emergencies."

"I know but it seems such a shame…"

The voices disappeared as their owners walked down a hall and sleep claimed Ariella once again. Some time passed in a similar manner before the faun took the bandages off the lower part of Ariella's face and she could talk again. Her first words sounded harsh even to her.

"What happened?" Ariella winced. What had happened indeed. Where had her beautiful voice gone?

"You fell into the fire, my lady. Captain Stormpaw and Lieutenant Shadow were able to get our out before any serious harm was done but I fear you lost your hair and your face will be scarred for life."

"Scarred? How so? Why did you not make it so that there will be no scars?" Ariella panicked as the Lion's words began to sound ominously in her mind. That which you fear most will come to pass. "And where are my maids? Why do they not attend me?"

She heard rather than saw Tranton's grimace. "They are not here, my lady. I fear they disappeared on the same day in which you were brought here."

"But how? Why? I must be gone, my lands, my ladies," Ariella struggled to sit up but felt two strong arms restraining her.

"Rest easy, madam. You are in the home of Lord Peridan of the Four's court. Naught will harm you while you are here," someone said.

Slowly Ariella leaned back and the arms released her. "How did I get here?" she asked weakly.

"Captain Stormpaw carried you here from the Cair. We did not consider it wise to keep you there after Aslan's words and the consequences of diso…."

"Jaerin!" A third voice entered into the conversation. "Do not chide the lady so. I beg your pardon, lady, we came only to see if you were better and, if so, to carry word back to the Cair of your condition."

"She is better, my lord Jaer, but will be better still once you two have taken yourselves off elsewhere. Get ye gone!"

Ariella heard footsteps hastily exiting the room and hoof beats drawing nearer as the two young men left and the faun hurried to her side.

"Relax, madam. You'll not be leaving this house until you are fully healed. Do not trouble yourself about you missing servants; you will be well cared for by the house of Peridan by the orders of the Four."

That was one good thing, Ariella thought dimly as silence fell in the room. If she was to be cared for by the High King's orders, then perhaps hope still remained. One hand slowly reached up to feel her face and then jerked away again. What had once been perfectly smooth skin was now rough with scars. Slowly she reached up to her head and, to her consternation, felt skin and not hair. Her lovely thick hair was gone, replaced by rough stubble.

Ariella's hopes, temporarily raised, dropped back to the ground once again. Hope was lost. If she, when beautiful, had failed to capture the High King, how could she hope to when ugly? No, she would not stoop to begging for his hand. She would return home as soon as the physician said she could and then, perhaps, the king would one day look back and wish that he had chosen otherwise.

But even that dream seemed dim and week. High King Peter had shown no signs of wishing to marry her when she last spoke to him. He had spurned her! For the first time in years (yes, Ariella has not always been as we now see her), Ariella found herself wondering if her conduct had been as perfect as she thought. Had she erred somewhere and thus brought about her rejection? The inward beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit. The king's words rang in her ears and Ariella wondered: was there a possibility that, perhaps, the High King was right to say she lacked that?

The days slipped by as Ariella healed and all the bandages, save those around her eyes were removed. In that whole time, she had only two visitors that were not also physicians. Every day at least one of the two Peridanson brothers came by to check on her condition and take word back to the Cair. The elder of the two, Jaer, came most often and would occasionally stay to talk with Ariella for a time before returning to the castle. On the day when she was first allowed to stand again, he was there to guide her and Ariella found herself missing the young man when he did not come.

Two days after she was allowed to walk, Tranton, the faun physician, came trotting in. "My lady, today comes the real test. I have done all that I could, but it may not have been enough. You must not blame me if aught is amiss."

"Whatever do you mean, Tranton?" Ariella asked. A wave of worry washed over her for she had not forgotten the half-heard conversation from the day she first awoke.

The faun sighed. "It is your eyes, my lady. I think they were open when the flames struck them. I have done all that is in my power to save your sight, but it may not have been enough. Today, I take off the bandages and we will see if you can see."

"Does this mean you will consider me well enough to travel?" Ariella said, deftly changing the subject. Despite the comfort in which she lived and the pleasure she found in Lord Jaer and Lord Jaerin's company, thoughts of home and of her errant maids plagued her constantly. For once, she was thinking about someone other than herself and she found it a semi-pleasant occupation.

"My lady?" stutterd Tranton in response.

"I cannot stay here forever," Ariella said with exasperation. Honestly, as much as this faun seemed to know about medicine, he could be unbearably dense about some other things. "I wish to return home."

"The lady has not heard?"

"Heard what?" A strange tightness crept into Ariella's voice though she tried to keep it light and she reached for something, anything, to hold on too.

"The kings sent out a search party to find you missing servants; they found only their corpses. When the detachment followed the path of the marauders, it led to your castle. It has been claimed by a lord of Calormene in your absence and he refused to give it up again. The soldiers did not attack because there were not enough of them and they did not have orders to do so. I fear your castle and lands have been taken."

Ariella sat down on the bed, hard. Her castle, gone? Her wealth, stolen? Her servants, dead? "Take off the bandage," she said.

"My lady?"

"Take off the bandage you foolish faun!" Ariella cried. "Do you think things can get any worse for me than they are? Take off the bandage!"

"Yes, lady." Tranton slowly unwound the many layers of bandages that had protected Areilla's eyes for so long. "Now," he said as the last layer fell away. "Open your eyes and tell me what you see."

Ariella stiffened and slowly opened her eyes, or she thought she did. She closed them and rested a finger by her eye as she opened it to insure that she was actually opening her eyes. It was no use. The room remained as dark as before.

She was blind.

And penniless.

And ugly.

That which she feared most had come to pass.

A/N—I hope this will help make up for the lack of chapters for the past month. It is amazing what you can do when you take a computer with you to baby sit and start writing when the kids are all asleep!

Look for Cannon Keepers VII or VIII by JealousOfTheMoon wherein Jaer and Jaerin apply for access to the C. S. Lewis cannon!

Chapter next: True Sight, Beauty, and Wealth