I quite honestly don't know of a piece that was so easy or so wonderful to write. Somehow this one is my very soul and, while I hold a little trepidation in letting you in so close, I'm also incredibly honored to let you read it. And that, my dear friends, is all I will say on the matter :)

"What are you doing here, child?"

"I couldn't sleep."

"But why should this night be different? There have been many nights when you couldn't sleep."

"How do you know that, sir?"

"I know everyone's story, child. I am the comfort of many in the darkness. Will you let me comfort you in yours?"

Then Miri understood who this huge, tawny creature was, that she'd met in the Chapel off the Great Hall. "You're the Great Lion, aren't you, sir. You're Aslan."

There was a rumble that seemed to shake the very floor beneath her feet as he purred a catish laugh. "Yes, child. Well guessed."

The girl took a step back, remembering stories of his prowess in battle now that she was faced with his size. But then she recalled Lucy's stories of riding his back over hills and the softness of his mane when Lucy had finally dared touch him the first time, and Miri found the strength to take the step toward him instead. "I-I never thought you'd be so very large," she whispered.

Another rumble and Miri sank to her knees between paws that were much bigger than any she'd seen before. "I am as large as I have need to be, dear heart. Sometimes I am much larger than this, to fight off the giants in the north. Sometimes I am smaller, to offer comfort, where comfort will be taken. Someday, child, you will see me fly."

Miri couldn't imagine a lion flying, but she supposed that if Aslan wished to fly, then there was really nothing in the world that could stop him. "Please, sir...but what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to meet you face-to-face, dear one. I have known you all your life, but you are only just learning who I truly am. Do you now understand me better?"

"I-I think so."

"Then I will ask again, child, why are you here? There are others you have gone to before me, when nightmares wrack your soul."

"These nightmares were different."

"How so?"

Miri had never seen a lion cock its head; she thought it looked rather odd on such a large creature. But when Aslan did so, his mane shifted not unlike a fountain of gold, Miri thought. "Don't you know, sir? Lucy says you know everything."

"And Lucy is right. But I wish for you to tell me."

An odd request of an all knowing lion, but she had the idea that it was for the same sort of reason that Edmund had her tell him the nightmares. So Miri shifted ever so slightly closer to the Great Lion and almost unconsciously reached down a finger to hover inches over the golden paw beside her, hardly daring to imagine that he would let her touch him. She closed her eyes tight and clenched her teeth, reliving her new frights.

There was then a light pressure against her knee and she opened her eyes to find Aslan had slid his paw closer. Her mind was still full of nightmares, but a warmth filled her to the brim, a peace she had before known must exist but was only now experiencing for the first time.

"Oh, Aslan," Miri whispered. "It wasn't my master at all. It wasn't Myriadd or the dark hold or anything like that. It was only the Four, turning me away. I wandered all alone for so long, before I stumbled across them and many other Narnians, all slain in a field. But I didn't know who or what had slain them and I...Oh, Aslan, I didn't know what to do!" Miri began to cry, burying her face in her hands. Somehow she suddenly felt terribly heavy, as though the very weight of her nightmares rested on her shoulders, though the peace the lion had given her still smoldered in her heart.

"My dear child. Very few ever know what to do in such a place."

Heat, fur, the scent of spring surrounded Miri as she was enveloped in a lion's hug. She clung to him, no longer afraid of touching him, sobbing into the golden mane. "Please," she cried. "I-I think I kn-know what to do now."

A great purr filled her ears and his voice, soft as velvet, whispered, "What is it you wish to do, child?"

"Can I give it to you? You can take the nightmares from me and they can't scare me anymore if you have them."

"Oh-ho!" Aslan suddenly stood, drawing Miri almost off her feet as she came up with him. She continued to cling to him as he laughed, filling the small chapel with echoes. Miri was almost afraid that someone would hear and coming looking for the noise. Perhaps they'd wake her from what was surely a dream.

"Never fear, I'm no dream, child. Not tonight. Of course I will take them for you. Very few ever ask me to do such a thing. I am well pleased, dear heart." Aslan sobered then and looked at her with huge, dark eyes. "But you understand, I cannot let you stop having them. I can only take them when you are finished and leave in their place peace when you call on me."

"Yes, Aslan." Miri gently unwound her fingers from his mane and sat once more on the floor, wringing her hands in her lap. "But please. Sometimes I'm too scared and forget that I can go to Edmund. I don't want to forget I can go to you."

"Ah, dear child." He breathed on her then, a powerful gust that seemed to hold a magic of its own, for it left her feeling even warmer than she already did sitting in Aslan's presence. "I am already with you, even when you forget, even when you didn't know me." His voice faded away to an echo. Miri looked up, but the Great Lion was gone and the dawn sun was shining through the stained glass of the eastern wall.