Thanks to all readviewers!

Kestral: oh goody! Honestly with the theme of minor characters, I'd meant to write something specifically from Kidrash's perspective in the first half and Lune's in the second, but then Aravis was like "hmmm what if me instead though."

Machina: I'm glad you liked it! I figured that since Frank at least was already Christian, he and Helen probably connected the dots to Aslan pretty quickly, and drew on their memory of English services when crafting a Narnian version.

Prompt: "[...] sometimes a moment might be short, but it's long enough to illuminate a lifetime."

There is a world where blasphemy was spoken, and thunder and earth rolled, and that final warning availed naught but the hardening of a heart that would bring about the ruin of all.

But it is not this world.

"Anyway, he never does turn up, you know," said the sly Ape to the timid Ass. "Not nowadays."

BOOM!

Thunder clapped like the snapping of a giant's whip just above their heads. Beneath their feet, the earth tossed in waves. They were both thrown face-first to the ground.

Puzzle was the first to struggle to his feet. "There! It's a sign, a warning!" he panted, long ears quivering in fear. "I knew we were doing something dreadfully wicked! Take this wretched skin off me at once!" He pawed ineffectually at the ties around his hooves and tossed his head back and forth, trying to shake loose the lion's head.

The Ape lay still.

Puzzle was not as hopelessly foolish a creature as Shift often claimed, but neither was he particularly bright. What with the frenzy of fear and attempting to escape the skin, it took him a little while to notice that his friend had not moved. But he did notice at last.

"Shift? Are you all right?

There was no response except a sort of low groan.

Puzzle stamped fretfully at the grass. He made as if to nudge the Ape with his nose, but then suddenly pulled back. "No, no, you've told me what fragile bones Apes have, I might make it worse. Oh, you must have broken something very badly! Stay right there. I'll go and fetch your medicine bag. Though I don't know how I'll find it, I can't climb trees, but perhaps one of the dryads..."

He clopped off as fast as he could in the lion skin.

Shift remained on the ground. He was bruised, but that was not what kept him prone. The thunder and quake had shaken more than just his body—they had jarred something loose in his mind. All his choices of the last sixteen years rose up before him: from the first sly joke shared with Prince Karzath during a diplomatic visit to Narnia, to the offer of covert assistance to Karzath Tisroc in exchange for personal immunity, to the plans he had so lately held for Puzzle and the lion's skin.

"Oh," moaned the Ape. "Oh, oh, oh...what have I done? What have I done?"

Puzzle had found Shift's treehouse and was trying to describe the appearance of the medicine bag to the helpful Hawk perched on the roof, when Shift came loping through the forest and into the house himself.

"Shift! Are you—"

"Yes, yes, I'm well, or well as might be," came the hurried reply from inside the house. There was a crash as something fell over. "No doubt I'll be all over bruises tomorrow, but there's no time for it. I must leave at once—at once!"

Puzzle and the Hawk blinked at each other. "I think my services are no longer necessary, friend Ass," said the Hawk with some amusement, and flew off.

"Thank you anyway," Puzzle called after him. "Oh dear, oh dear, what's gotten into Shift now? First this lion-skin and now a mad rush off somewhere..."

The Ape stuck his head out the window. "It's not what's gotten into me, Puzzle, as what's gotten out. And speaking of getting things out..." He zipped down the tree with a pair of scissors. In a twinkling, the ties were cut and the skin slipped off Puzzle's back.

"But I thought you said—" Puzzle began rather dazedly.

"What I said was, if you'll pardon the term, asinine," Shift called over his shoulder as he scampered back into the house and came down again with a small pack on his back. "Now, Puzzle, if I'm not back in a month, everything in the house is yours. I expect the king will want me to stay a very long time indeed, but I must speak to him as soon as possible. There are important things he must know."