Hey guys, as always, I apologize for how long the chapter took, this time I don't blame anyone but me, and my inability to write. However, it's finally here and I hope you all still enjoy this story as much as I do. Happy Be-lated Valentine's day, here is your gift. And thank you E for the great Beta

Chapter 6: Torva

I watched King Edmund as he led us through several sets of confusing corridors, back towards what I thought was the room we had been staying in. He and his brother led the way, their sisters chatting as they followed, leaving my siblings and me to follow behind carefully.

Well . . .Jarid was being careful. I was more curious then anything else. Throughout our time in the castle, I had grown more and more curious about the Narnians, from their way of life to their kings and queens. No one had tried to hurt us yet, and not even the servants treated us as lower than they were treated, which was actually quite well. It was almost as if they actually cared about us.

I hadn't voiced my thoughts to my older brother. It was strange, keeping quiet about something such as this, but I didn't think that he was ready to accept that these people might not be so very bad. I couldn't blame him either, not with all we had been through. Trusting someone meant they could twist you any way they wanted.

I glanced at Jarid, offering a smile to negate the frown he had been wearing since this morning. That had been when Queen Lucy had reminded us of our impending meeting with our nursemaid. I wasn't really sure what a nursemaid was, exactly. I knew Jarid didn't either, but he seemed to take the promised meeting more as a threat then anything else. I wondered if it truly was something to fear, this person called nursemaid. The way the Kings and Queens smiled it wasn't, it was something to be looked forward to, a blessing we had never been able to touch before. I wanted to believe their smiles, wanted to let the hope fighting to get out a chance, but I was reminded with a nagging uncertainty of the Tarkaans by whom we had been owned. They were the ones who smiled as they hit someone, the ones who laughed when their slaves let their fear show. I wanted to think that wouldn't happen again, but the new, the unknown, frightened me.

"Here we are," Queen Susan spoke, her smile kind as she turned towards us. All of them were smiling, something I wanted to hope was a good sign. I looked towards the door of the room we had stayed in the past several nights. Whatever was behind there was a nursemaid, an unknown person who was supposed to become something to us. I hadn't found the courage to ask King Edmund what a nursemaid was.

"What. . ." I asked quietly, unable to finish the statement, the unasked question hanging in the air. King Peter's smile seemed to grow, and he motioned to the door. I took a deep breath, my hand finding Jarid's despite my best intentions to seem brave. He tugged me closer, and led the way into the room, and to whatever a nursemaid was.

In front of me, more realistic and larger then I had ever imagined one, stood a Tiger.

It was orange and white, and utterly breathtaking as it stood there, watching us. It had great paws, large enough to easily dispatch any of us, and I was sure there were claws to match. I had heard stories in Carlomen of tigers ripping people apart, that they were vicious and bloodthirsty. Of course, I had also heard stories of Narnia being a land full of dark magic and evil intents, and I had seen nothing but kindness since we had set foot upon the shore. Despite the fact that everything I had ever heard of Narnian tigers said to be afraid of them, I wasn't. I couldn't find the fear or the will be on guard. Something about this creature was utterly calming.

"You, are my new cubs?" The Tiger spoke, and I heard Cole gasp softly, while I almost jumped out of my skin. After living in a world where Animals did not talk, to meet the ones that did was a constant surprise. I wasn't sure who should speak first, who should answer the question, and so I remained very silent, a defense mechanism ingrained into me after our parents had died.

"I. . . excuse me?" Jarid finally managed. I could feel the monarchs behind us, watching with amusement, but didn't turn. If this was some kind of test, a chance for us to prove we were more then slaves, I was determined to pass it with flying colors.

The Tiger padded forward, coming closer to us. It was Cyrus who first reached out to touch Torva's fur, clutching a handful of it as though it was a security blanket. Now that I was closer, I could see the fur, and it looked like the velvet of fine clothes to me. The colors were richer up close, the orange giving way to the white, the two colors blending together perfectly. Jarid bit his lip, and I could see the indecision to pull Cyrus away warring in his eyes. Did he trust that the monarchs meant us no harm and let Cyrus do as he was, or did he pull our little brother back, protector once more? I wondered if he ever got tired of playing our constant protector. I knew I was tired of always being scared.

The Tiger nuzzled Cyrus, knocking him back a step from the force of the nudge and making him giggle. "My name is Torva, and you are my new cubs," she -it was defiantly a she- introduced herself.

"It is nice to meet you Tor-" my older brother started, but he never finished greeting her. I cut him off, suddenly unable to bear the unknown any longer.

"What's a nursemaid?" I felt everyone's eyes on me, but I didn't look away from the Tiger. . . Torva. She turned her gaze to mine, and I almost felt as if she was smiling as she stepped away from my younger brother, closer to me. Her eyes were full of life, a deep gold in color and warm with kindness and. . . could it be love? I paused, studying the emotion I saw, but was so hesitant to name, comparing it to the emotion I knew I saw when I looked into Jarid's eyes.

They weren't the same emotion, but when compared to one another they were close. Jarid loved me, I knew he did, he had told me countless times before. Therefore I knew the emotion in his eyes could be classified as love, and was comfortable doing so. There was something about the look in Torva's eyes, that made it eerily similar, and yet completely different from the one my brother had. I felt as though I had seen it before, a long time ago. I bit my lip in thought, trying to place that emotion that look in her eyes. I strained for the memory as it dangled, just out of reach.

"A nursemaid, means I take care of you, protect you. You become my cubs. My cubs will also protect you," she explained, her gaze never leaving mine, and I felt as if her smile was growing.

"That's. . .not so bad," I murmured. She chuckled.

"Vede," Cole said, speaking for the first time in the presence of people other then her siblings in a very long time. Jarid and I glanced at her, awestruck by her naming. In that moment, the memory I had been grasping surged to the front of my mind.

My mother, smiling warmly as she motioned to Jarid and I to go play outside, her eyes full of the same emotion Torva's were. That motherly emotion, a mother looking at her children and feeling proud, knowing they were hers, a mother's love.

"Vede?" she repeated curiously.

"Vede, is the name of the Calormene Goddess of Mothers. She is one of the lesser Calormene Deities. In the culture, her name is often given as a nickname for mothers," King Edmund answered, and I turned my eyes to him. He smiled at me, and I felt myself smile in return.

"Yes, she is," Jarid nodded, and my smile grew as he put an arm over my shoulder. Maybe we could find a place here in Narnia after all.

The idea of belonging to someone again, demanded attention. According to Calormene law I had belonged to many people, most of them great Tarkaans who called me their slave. I belonged to the Calormene and Narnian governments, I belonged to my brothers and sister, and once upon a time, I even belonged to my parents. The concept of belonging to someone again, of belonging to Torva however, did not frighten me. Her very presence seemed to put me at ease, and with a start I realized something that would become a vital part of what would shape me in years to come.

I did not belong to anyone, save if I allowed them to have me. I might be traded and paid for, kicked around and talked down to, but in the end it was me, and me alone who decided to whom I belonged. And looking into Torva's eyes, I could not help but hope, just a bit, that she truly wanted us, truly desired to give us a home. To be desired again, as more then property, made me feel as though I could fly.

I glanced away from Torva to look at the monarchs who stood behind us. If a Tiger could want us minutes after meeting us, could want us and desire to give us a home, then perhaps these kings and queens wanted us too. It was possible, just possible, that they really did care, and if that were true, then maybe we were finding our place in this world.