"Wipe your tears, Enna. It's really not as bad as you think."

Enna lifted a trembling hand to her face, drying her damp cheeks with her already-wet sleeve. "'Not as bad'?" she said with a weakly disdainful snort. "Really, Aramir?"

He gave an understanding smile and gently touched the end of her ragged plait. "Really. With all that blood, I'd have thought you were seriously hurt…but I suppose I should have known that Aslan is better than that."

Enna didn't answer at first, too afraid of seeming foolish after all her denials and tears. After it had been cleaned up a bit, her shoulder had turned out to look no worse than if she'd tripped and skinned it. "I suppose I owe you an apology, then," she said after a few silent moments had passed.

Aramir sighed. "It's all right. You didn't know…"

Enna looked over at him, folding her hands in her lap. "It was no excuse for being so cruel to you. And I'm not just saying that because a beast called me 'wicked', either. I…I am sorry, truly."

Looking instead at his feet dangling off of the infirmary cot he was seated on, he gave a twitch of the lips. "There's no need to apologize, Enna. You've been through so much."

"But you've experience much, yourself," Enna protested. "And yet A…Aslan directed his wrath towards me. How am I different than you?"

"Our experiences are similar," Aramir replied. "But they are not the same. My past is much more barbarous than yours, I think."

"Is that possible?"

"Quite." Aramir gave a dry laugh. "You perhaps have observed this, but the captain of the Seacharger is none other than my brother. You might imagine what my childhood with him was like. He once had my sister lashed to the mast of his ship for four nights and three days with no water, when she refused to entertain his sailors."

Enna was stunned—Aramir shared the same last name as that horrible beast of a man? Her head spinning, she held both hands to her burning face. "Oh, Aramir…you poor, poor man! And he beat you!"

His freckled cheeks red, he shrugged. "Our past experiences don't affect Aslan a whit."

His tone was light, but Enna could see the grief in his stormy eyes, and her heart gave a poignant wrench. A strong desire to protect this poor wretch filled her chest, and she wrapped her good arm around him as best she could. "But if our past experiences don't affect A…Aslan a whit, why did his wrath flare so at me?"

She could feel his warm breath puff against her hair, but he didn't answer.

A few long minutes passed in silence, Enna clinging to Aramir with mixed emotions and a whirling mind. She'd been wrong about Aslan's existence…what else could she be wrong about?

"See to your king, son."

She sat up quickly as Aslan entered the room and addressed Aramir, who had also started at the sudden entrance. But the doe-eyed youth nodded and got to his feet, leaving the way Aslan had come in. Enna was alone with the tawny beast.

"Has your discomfort been eased, child?" he asked, coming closer with footfalls that whispered softly against the cold stone floors.

"A bit," she squeaked, fright burning in her throat. She held a hand to the bandages on her shoulder.

Aslan looked at her with deeply golden eyes. "You have many questions, do you not?"

Enna laughed nervously at this direct observation. "Questions…it depends on how one defines 'questions'."

"Doubts," he said. "Confusions? Dubiety?"

"A bit," Enna answered, after a bracing clench of her fists.

Aslan didn't answer, only looked at her, his great, tawny head turned slightly away.

Guessing that he wanted her to voice these hesitations, Enna took a shaking breath. "I was wrong about…about your existence, Aslan, and for that…I suppose I'm very sorry." She looked down at her feet and kicked them back and forth. "But…Aramir said that…that…you 'direct our paths'. Is that…was he telling the truth?"

"Yes," Aslan answered mildly, a seemingly simple answer to such a complex question.

Enna bit her lip in frustration. "What I mean is, do you really? Do you really decide what we're going to do, in our whole life?"

"Yes," Aslan repeated.

"But you're…you're a lion," Enna protested. "Lions can't do that!"

"I am no ordinary lion," Aslan said with an eloquent twinkle in his eye.

Enna shut her mouth, a bit vexed.

"For example," Aslan said, "I am fully aware that you are not in love with the high king, as you say you are."

A hot flush rose to her cheeks, but she didn't answer, too awed.

"And I know that your paternal uncle has caused you much pain," he went on. "And he continues to do so."

Enna stared.

"And I know that, if given your own way, you would leave Narnia and sail north."

Great Gale, Enna thought, horrified. If he knows that, then what else—

"And I know that you just swore by the name of an ancient Galmanian king, one whom I gave rule over the land that I brought into being. And that the high king of Narnia is standing outside the door and trying not to overhear our conversation."

Blushing, Peter entered, looking a bit like a young boy who's been caught doing something naughty. "Forgive me, Aslan," he murmured, lowering himself to his knees and bowing his head reverentially.

Aslan nudged his shoulder with his nose. "Forgiven and forgotten, my son."

Enna couldn't bring herself to raise her eyes to meet his. Had he overheard that she was not in love with him? Oh, Gale forbid he should ever learn it. She did not love him, but she was fond of him, and shuddered to think of causing him any sort of distress.

She was brought back to reality by the warm touch of his hand on her knee. "I shall not keep the lady for the very long," Aslan was saying. "But I desire to meet with you after she and I are finished with our talk."

Enna forced herself to glance at Peter, whose warm blue eyes softened when she looked up at him. "Aye, Aslan," he said, continuing to gaze at her until she had to look away for shame.

As soon as the door shut behind him, Enna let out a tortured sigh. "You were right about…about how I feel about the high king, Aslan."

The great lion blinked slowly in understanding.

"But…I don't…" Enna stopped and growled in frustration. "I need…I need…You claimed to know those things about me, but…those things could be learned by anyone."

"You want a sign, don't you?" Aslan said, gently.

Enna nodded.

"Very well," Aslan replied, and Enna's heart leapt. "In this very month, the following things will happen to you.

"One—you will fall ill. Two, someone will step on your frock and tear it. And three, the seas will melt and bring with it unspeakable fear."

Enna held her hand over her pounding heart, struggling to keep a rein on her dismay. "And these things…"

"In the space of thirty days," Aslan replied. "Now go, and think on these things."

"Yes, Aslan," Enna said faintly, and got to her feet. Unspeakable fear? Illness? Oh, Gale…