Episode Eight Coming...Sometime in the Possibly Distant Future!

See, Sam and I are coming up on finals, and we have an English project, and I have a book signing, so Episode Eight may be a while in coming...hopefully not four months like Episode Seven! But maybe. Who knows? Anyway, it's going to be called 'Paper Treasure,' and will feature Sarah Pittner and Sam Temple, so you can think on that one until it comes out :)

The Sea Dodecagon of Love - Episode Seven

At long last, it's finally here! And it's LONG. Enjoy!! :)

Episode Seven 

Istalya

Vanessa                                           

She couldn’t believe how lucky she was - she was on a ship with Captain Jack Sparrow, the greatest pirate of them all and Vanessa’s favourite fictional—or not-so-fictional—character of all time! And he was captaining the ship just like in the movies, giving orders and thinking he owned the place! It was a dream come true for Vanessa Talydon, even if you didn’t include the other ten characters from her favourite movies and books. The Pevensies! Sam Temple and Caine Soren! Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner! Vanessa felt she had died and gone to Heaven. Could life get any better, honestly?
    There was only one thing she was worried about…Right before she and Skandar had been snapped into Istalya, Vanessa had subconsciously created someone in her mind, someone who knew Istalya like the back of her hand and owned the waters like a jealous parent. Vanessa was relieved that nothing had come of her last-minute creation, for she knew that Sarah Pittner might have been a problem, had she been snapped into existence like Istalya had been only a little while ago. Vanessa didn’t want anything or anyone to ruin this fabulous new existence with her favourite people, especially not a fake person from her mind.
    So as Vanessa cheerfully helped Sam and Peter fish with the fishing poles that she had snapped into existence, she was so happy she thought she might burst.

Skandar                                           

Skandar Keynes was having a blast.
    She had struck up an immediate—and unlikely—friendship with Caine Soren, and in the six days that they had been in Istalya, Skandar could think of nowhere she would rather be in the entire world—or worlds. Not only was she on a ship that looked like it was straight out of a movie and surrounded by beautiful, blue waters, but she also had some of her favourite characters of all time on the same ship with her! She and Vanessa shared a love of Narnia, Pirates of the Caribbean, and GONE, so to get to live with the actual characters themselves was an amazing, mind-blowing experience. Who would have thought that a purple rock in Vanessa’s backyard could give them all this?
    Skandar’s wings—also given to her by that rock—were growing stronger with each day. Caine had taken it upon himself to help her learn to fly, and he was a surprisingly good teacher. Sometimes when she struggled to land well, he would use his telepathic powers to gently lower her down so that she didn’t hurt herself. Caine told Skandar that his powers had been reversed—meaning that if he aimed at something to lift it, he would have to turn around and face the other way—which Skandar thought very odd, but she was glad that he had his powers at all; without them, she might have had some very rough landings.
    Skandar could fly about six feet off the ground now, and she could stay in the air for two or three minutes, which was a vast improvement from her wimpy capabilities when she first got her wings. She practised every chance she got, and it became a common sight to see her hovering a few feet off the ground on either the deck or the head of the massive dragon prow, which could be difficult because of the waves, but Caine told her it was good practise, so she did it still. Sometimes Peter and Lucy would climb up and watch her practise, which made her feel important; imagine getting to have a king and queen—albeit they be rulers of a fantasy land—watch you fly!
    Skandar wished that Edmund would come watch her too; already she had a massive crush on him. While seeing him in the movies was great, it definitely wasn’t the same as seeing him day after day in real life, and Skandar had decided she liked him a whole lot more in person than in the movies.
    It was rather funny to her, however, because it seemed to her that everyone now had a crush on someone—or that they were leaning in that direction. Skandar was unsure if most of the people were aware that they liked someone else, but from watching how everyone behaved around each other, she was pretty darn sure who was liking who: she knew without a doubt that Caine liked Lucy, but Lucy liked Sam. Caspian, of course, still loved Susan. Edmund, sadly, seemed to like Elizabeth Swann, and while Skandar had to admit that the nineteen-year-old was very pretty, she wished that Edmund would like her instead! Elizabeth, oddly enough, seemed to prefer Peter to Edmund. Susan didn’t seem to like anyone, and Will Turner was still in love with Elizabeth.
    Skandar laughed silently to herself as she hovered a few feet above the gilded dragon’s head.
    Caine was lounging nearby, leaned against one of the dragon’s horns. Skandar didn’t know why they were such good friends; perhaps because she knew all about him and still thought he was very cool.  Caine didn’t talk much at first, but now that he and Skandar were better acquainted, he chattered quite a lot, though only around her. Whenever anyone else came around, he would clam up immediately and glare at whoever came over until they went away. He was still as haughty as ever, but Skandar didn’t really mind; that was how he was in the book.
    Caine still didn’t believe he and Sam were from a book. He said he would have known if they were, and while Skandar had tried to convince him for a while, eventually she had given up and let him think what he wanted. After all, she knew the truth; what did it matter what he thought?
    She had talked to Lucy and Will about it too, and while Lucy had come to accept it and was fine with the idea that her world wasn’t real, Will was like Caine—he didn’t believe it was possible. Skandar assumed that since Lucy was used to travelling worlds, she was probably more capable of understanding such a thing; Will and Caine, on the other hand, had never had any experience with transferring worlds and such.
    Skandar touched down slowly, her Converse scraping the dragon’s head as she did so, and a moment later as she stood silently looking out at the waves, Caine said, “Good; your landing was better today.”
    She smiled at him. “Thanks. I’ve been working really hard on landing; it’s such a pain.”
    Caine smirked and said nothing more.
    Skandar returned her gaze to the blue ocean before her, breathing deeply and filling her lungs with the tangy sea air.

Sarah                                           

She lowered the telescope from her eye and frowned, partially intrigued, partially suspicious. Sarah hesitated a moment, and then she returned her spyglass to her eye and peered through it again.
    It looked to her that a girl with wings was standing on the prow of the other ship. Great white wings sprouted from the girl’s back, and then to her amazement, the girl began to flap her wings and rise a few feet off the ground, hovering above the dragon’s head for a few minutes before touching back down shakily. The girl then looked back at something and said something with a smile, and when Sarah followed her gaze with her telescope, she saw a dark-haired boy lounging nearby…a very handsome dark-haired boy.
    Sarah pursed her lips, her interest growing. She had seen this boy once or twice over the past few days, but he was elusive and hard to her to find. But how had she missed the winged girl? Perhaps it was because she was so far away and had only recently come close enough to see any details of the people’s faces. There was a blonde boy that she very much liked watching, but other than that, the people were fairly boring. The ship would be easy to take, she decided as she closed her spyglass and wrote down another tally on the sheet of paper next to her. She was keeping track of how many people she had been able to see, and now with the winged girl, her tally was up to twelve.
    Twelve against one….The odds were not too favourable, but then, they didn’t have the power that Sarah had. She could beat them all easily with her power, and it would not take very long at all.
    She smiled; now all that needed to be done was getting on the other ship and making sure everyone trusted her.

Lucy                                               

Lucy Pevensie wasn’t totally sure what to think of the two new girls. She liked them both pretty well so far, but they were so strange she really wasn’t sure. They were both very happy and cheerful and always willing to help, and it was very nice having Vanessa on board, as she could snap anything they needed into existence immediately; Lucy knew they would never have to worry about provisions again.
    But how could they get back home? They had been in Istalya for almost two months now—or, Lucy, Sam, Caine, and Caspian had—and she was getting awfully anxious about getting home, even though she knew that time was going much slower back in their world. Perhaps they would get back to Narnia and find that no time had passed at all; she certainly hoped that that would be the case…if they ever got back.
    Although…if they went back to Narnia, Lucy wouldn’t be able to see Sam anymore, and that would be terrible. She really did like Sam Temple quite a lot, and Lucy would hate it if she could never see him again. She knew it was rather silly of her, to like a boy that wasn’t even from the same world as her, but since they were stuck together in the same world for the time being, she might as well let herself like him.    
    She was startled out of her musings by Peter, who had been up in the crow’s nest, calling down to the others: “Ship ahoy!”
    There was a moment of silence on board the ship, and then Will, Caspian, Edmund, and Sam hurried to the starboard side and peered out at the blue waves. Lucy stood slowly, suspicious and curious about the ship that Peter had seen. Had Vanessa snapped someone else into Istalya too? She waited breathlessly for the boys’ verdict.
    Jack Sparrow called from the helm: “How far?”
    Peter was silent for a moment as he calculated. “Less than a hundred meters,” he said eventually.
    Lucy sucked in her breath; so close! She wondered if the ship’s occupants were going to be friendly; if not, they were sure to have an interesting adventure soon.
    Vanessa came up from below deck then, and, seeing everyone crowded around the starboard side of the ship, she hurried over and demanded, “What’s everyone doing, standing over here? What’s going on?”
    Will turned and told her grimly, “Peter’s seen another ship, less than a hundred meters from here, and she’s coming in fast.”
    To Lucy’s surprise, Vanessa paled at the sight of the incoming ship, and she suddenly looked nervous. “Oh…crap,” she said a moment later.
    “What is it?” Sam demanded.
    Vanessa sighed, rubbing her forehead tiredly, and said, “Nothing…I just hope the person on that ship is friendly.” Lucy watched the new girl carefully, wondering if there was more to her strange behaviour than she was telling.
    “The person?” Will asked. “How do you know there’s only one person on that ship?”
    Vanessa shrugged. “Just a guess…”
    “Listen,” Caspian said firmly. “If there’s something you need to tell us about that ship and who’s on it, I suggest you do so now. If there’s any danger at all to any of us, you have the responsibility—as the creator of Istalya—to tell us about it.”
    Vanessa looked uncomfortable for a moment, and then she shrugged again and said, “Well, I accidentally created someone when Skandar and I came to Istalya, and while I don’t know for sure, I think that’s her…I doubt she’ll be much trouble, but she’s pretty aggressive.”
    Sam frowned and asked, “You created her when you came to Istalya? Why?”
    “I don’t know. It was kind of involuntary.”
    Caspian asked then, “Why didn’t you tell us sooner, Vanessa? You’ve been here for almost two weeks, and you’ve never once mentioned this girl. Why?”
    She shrugged meekly. “I didn’t see any reason to mention her; I wasn’t even totally sure if she was real.”
    Lucy felt slightly panicked at Vanessa’s words; so another girl had been created when Vanessa had created Istalya? How was it even possible? As far as Lucy knew, Aslan was the only one able to create new people and places, but here it seemed that Vanessa could as well, but how? And if she could create new people and places…what else could she do with her strange powers?
   “Lucy,” Edmund said beside her, and she looked at him. “Did Vanessa say that she created a new person and ship?”
   “I think so,” she affirmed, worried about the situation. But as long as this new person didn’t have a crew or any strange powers like Sam, Caine, and Vanessa, Lucy supposed everything would be okay.
    But how she longed for the complications to end so that they could go home! Lucy was sure that Drinian and Trumpkin were doing a fine job controlling the chaos that was surely enveloping Narnia because of the disappearance of their kings and queens, but she wanted to back in that magical land again; it was a far more beautiful and comfortable place than Istalya, where there wasn’t even any land! She hadn’t seen land in over a month, and Lucy had decided that she was permanently sick of water.
   As the new ship drifted closer, she could see that it was of very fine make, and the rails and prow were trimmed with silver. A huge purple sail, much like the one on the Black Dawn, waved from the mast. The ship was nearly the same size as the Black Dawn, as well, and from what Lucy could see, it was well-stocked with numerous crates, barrels, bags, and boxes of provisions and the tools needed for living at sea, and though back in Narnia, the ship would have required a large crew to man it, here it appeared to simply be moving itself, much like the ship they were standing upon. Its pace was slightly faster than the Black Dawn’s, and the ship seemed slightly menacing to Lucy, if only because it was unfamiliar.
   The closer it came, the more details Lucy could make out, and one of the first she noticed was that there was a girl, who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, standing on the poop deck, a spyglass in hand. She had long, blonde, curly hair that bounced against her back as it was tugged by the ocean winds, and she was wearing clothes similar to Vanessa’s and Skandar’s, only hers looked somewhat more medieval, more like a mix between the Americans’ clothes and the Narnians’ clothes, perhaps. Either way, the girl looked like she belonged in Istalya.
   “Is that her?” Lucy heard Caspian ask Vanessa, and curious, she looked over at Vanessa, who nodded in response to Caspian’s question.
   “Yep … that’s her.”
   “Is she dangerous?” Peter queried, gazing out at the girl and her ship, his brow furrowed.
Vanessa shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think so, but like I told Caspian earlier, she’s sort of aggressive.”
   He frowned, obviously displeased with her reply. Captain Sparrow, however, commented from the poop deck, “That…is a very fine ship. Know you her name?”
   “No, sorry!” Vanessa answered distractedly, focused more intently on the girl on her approaching ship. In fact, the new ship was beginning to pull up alongside the Black Dawn, and the rough sloshing of the waves below met Lucy’s ears as she and the others waited to see what this new girl would do.
   The girl hurried down the ladder from the poop deck and ran across the main deck until she was standing next to the railing of her ship. She waved excitedly, a wide smile on her face and her curls bouncing against her back.
   “Hey!” she called. “Hey, I’m Sarah!”
   Lucy, along with rest of those on board with her, were taken aback by Sarah’s excited greeting, and there was a momentary silence before Caspian stepped up to the Black Dawn’s rails and answered her, “I’m Caspian. Where are you from? We haven’t seen anyone else in this place before.”
   “Me neither!” Sarah exclaimed, still sounding excited to see them. “I was beginning to think I was the only one alive here! As far as I know, I’m from this place, Istalya. Where are you from?”
   Caspian started to answer, but then Jack cut him off: “Bring the lass on board!” Everyone looked at him, still uncertain about the whole thing. Lucy wondered if bringing Sarah on board would be wise; hadn’t Vanessa said she was very aggressive? So far, Lucy has seen no evidence of that, but then, they barely knew Sarah.
   “What?” Jack demanded defensively. “She’s been by herself on the seas for who-knows-how-long; believe me, that’s not good for a person.” His kohl-lined eyes were dark, and Lucy could tell that he must have had experience with such a thing.
   “We should,” Susan agreed. “We can all sit down and try to figure this whole thing out.”
   Caspian glanced at her, held her gaze a moment, and then turned back towards Sarah. “Will you come over here?” he called. “We want to talk to you and see if we can figure this place out.” He looked briefly back at Vanessa and instructed in an undertone, “Don’t say anything to her about who she is yet. Let’s see what she knows first.”
   Vanessa nodded, looking solemn.
   Sarah, oblivious to the fact that Vanessa had snapped her into being, agreed happily, “Sure! Can you toss a rope across?” Lucy pursed her lips and watched anxiously as Will and Caspian freed one of the ropes that had been tied to the rigging and put a loop in it for Sarah.
   “Vanessa,” Caspian said as he knotted the rope, “can you make a hook of some sort to put on the end of this, so I can throw it across?” Will and the others watched Vanessa curiously as Caspian gave his request. Lucy wanted to see if Vanessa could really snap things into existence, like she claimed she could; if so, she truly would be astonished, for she had never seen anyone who could do such effortless and powerful magic. What could its source be? Lucy wondered. Perhaps she’s been gifted by Aslan…he would be the most likely cause. But even so, what purpose could he have for giving someone such a powerful ability?
   Vanessa hesitated, and then whispered something softly to herself, and snapped her fingers.
   A mere second later, a large tri-hook, the perfect size for both throwing and for the rope Caspian had, appeared a foot or so above the ground, and it clattered to the deck with a dull clang. Everyone took a step back, as if it had been a snake that had appeared from the air, not a hook. Someone gave a startled gasp, but Lucy wasn’t sure who. She was excited, however; since Vanessa could, in fact, snap things into existence, could she perhaps create land for them? Or even send them back to Narnia?
   However, as Caspian bent down to pick up the hook, Lucy’s mind returned to the potential problem at hand: the strange girl who had come from nowhere, Sarah. Glancing back at the girl, who was waiting patiently at her ship’s railing, Lucy frowned slightly. She heard Peter say softly to someone, probably Edmund, “Do you think it’s a good idea? Bringing her on board? We don’t know anything about her.”
   Edmund replied, “I don’t know. I guess if Vanessa doesn’t think she’s dangerous, it’ll be all right…”
   “She may not know everything about Sarah.”
   “Yeah…but she seems all right, so far.”
   “So far,” Peter said grimly.
   Lucy started to protest her brother’s comment in Sarah’s defence, but she was distracted as Caspian launched the weighted rope across to Sarah’s ship. It landed solidly on the deck, and Caspian pulled it taut so that it was wedged between the rails. Sarah came forward, tucking her spyglass into her vest, and she loosened the rope so that she could swing back across. Lucy saw her skilfully un-knot the hook from the rope’s end, and she fashioned a sort of stirrup for her foot. Standing then and positioning herself atop the railing of her ship, Sarah hesitated only a moment before jumping and allowing herself to swing towards the Black Dawn. Sam happened to be the closest to where she landed, and he reached out and pulled the girl to safety. Her momentum knocked them both over, however, and Sarah and Sam fell sprawling against the deck.
   “Oh!” Sarah exclaimed as she untangled herself from him, “sorry!”
   Lucy felt a prick of annoyance as the two of them picked themselves up, but she knew she shouldn’t; Sarah didn’t even know Sam.
   The group gathered around Sarah, and Caspian came forward to kindly help her up. “Thanks,” Sarah said, and ran a hand through her curls. Lucy saw now that there was a streak of Sarah’s hair that was purple, the same colour as the sails of the two ships. Curious, she wondered why so many things in Istalya seemed to be purple.
   Sarah looked around the group excitedly, her green eyes shining. “Hey!” she said happily.  “Nice to meet you all! Wow.” She straightened her mussed clothing, suddenly seeming self-conscious. “How many of you are on this ship?”
   “There are twelve of us,” Caspian informed her. “I’m Caspian. This here is Will Turner, Sam Temple, Peter Pevensie, and Susan Pevensie.” He gestured to each of them in turn. “And over there, that’s Elizabeth Swann, Skandar Keynes, Edmund Pevensie, Vanessa Talydon, Caine Soren, and Lucy Pevensie.” He glanced over his shoulder at Jack, whose eyes were on the sea, not on the scene on the deck below him. “And that’s our captain, Jack Sparrow.”
   Sarah grinned. “I love all your names! It’s probably going to take me a while to remember who’s who, but I’ll get eventually.” Then she looked back to Skandar and her face lit up. “You have wings! Can I see them?”
   Skandar looked pleased with the attention, and stretched out her snowy wings to their extent. Caine stood beside her, a veiled, slightly smug expression on his face. Sarah hurried over to Skandar and reached out a hand to touch her wings, a look of awe on the newcomer’s face. “They’re so beautiful…” she commented, and Skandar appeared flattered.
   “Thanks,” Skandar replied proudly. “Want to see me fly?”
   Sarah’s eyes got wide. “Yes!” she exclaimed.
   Skandar backed up a few feet, as did everyone else. Sarah took the hint and scooted back as well, her eyes riveted to Skandar. The winged girl pumped her wings slowly at first and then faster, and in only a few moments, she was about six feet off the ground, her great white wings buffeting them with air as she flapped.
   Sarah clapped her hands in delight. “Amazing!” she said happily, and Skandar grinned. She then let herself touch back down to the deck, and she folded her wings against her back. Caine smirked at her, and Skandar smiled back.
   “Sarah,” Caspian said then, drawing the new girl’s attention back to him. “We want to discuss some things with you, if you don’t mind.”
   She nodded amiably. “Yeah, sure. Sounds good.”
   Caspian gave a small smile. “But first, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?”
   Sarah pondered for a moment, glancing once back at her ship, and then she shrugged. “There’s not a lot to tell, really. I’ve been on that ship for several months now, and I’ve been looking for land, but haven’t found any. As far as I know, we’re the only people in this ocean…maybe in this whole world.”
   Caspian frowned. “Where were you before you were on the ship?”
   Sarah started to answer, and then cut herself off, looking puzzled. “I…Now that you mention it, I don’t really remember.”
   “You must remember something. Your parents, your home, how you got on the ship in the first place.”
   She shook her head slowly. “Not really…No, I don’t remember any of that.”
Caspian and Will exchanged a look, as did Sam and Peter. Lucy could tell they thought Sarah must be lying, and she had to admit that Sarah’s lack of memory seemed very suspicious and a little disturbing. But even so, the girl did not seem confused or strange, and Lucy rather liked her.
   “Perhaps she just doesn’t want to talk about it,” Lucy said to Peter softly, and he looked down at her, considering. “I think she would just say so and not pretend she doesn’t remember anything, Lu,” he replied, not unkindly.
   Lucy pursed her lips and said nothing more, knowing his point was a valid one. She didn’t know what reason Sarah could have for hiding herself from them, but perhaps she just didn’t trust them yet. Maybe she would tell them in time, once she knew she could trust them.
   “Well,” Will said then, “you must be hungry. When was the last time you ate?”
   Again, Sarah looked a little puzzled. “Uh…well, I’m not sure. I think it’s been a pretty long time.”
   Caspian nodded and motioned to Lucy. She came over to him and faced Sarah with a smile, which was returned. “Lucy can get you some food, and some new clothes, if you want.”
   “Oh, yeah, that’d be great. Thanks,” Sarah said warmly.
   “I’ll come too!” Skandar volunteered brightly, and Lucy smiled affectionately at the winged girl. Though Skandar had spent most of her time with Caine since she had come to the ship, the time that Lucy had spent with her, she had found Skandar to be a very nice girl, and one that seemed as if she belonged in Narnia rather than in the strange, futuristic world that she, Vanessa, Sam, and Caine were from. Skandar evidently respected Lucy and her siblings, and she was very kind to all of them. She always seemed happy to help Lucy with whatever maintenance was needed to keep the ship clean, which Lucy greatly appreciated. Of the five girls on board the Black Dawn, Lucy was the only one who seemed interested in doing a girl’s work; Elizabeth was constantly helping Will, Sam, Caspian, Peter, and Edmund with the rigging and manning the sails, Susan was content to merely watch the men work and look pretty, and Vanessa preferred to stay near the captain at nearly all times—him, or Will, which Lucy was sure both them found annoying.  Caine kept to himself or near Skandar … except when she was helping Lucy. She was saddened that Caine had alienated himself from her since the other had come, but there was nothing she could do about it to get him to start being more friendly. She talked to him and was kind to him at all times, but he seemed rather flustered around her and often excused himself at the nearest opportunity. Of the twelve of them, Caine puzzled Lucy the most.
   Skandar flew herself over to where Sarah and Lucy were standing, and the dazzling of the sun off of Skandar’s great white wings startled Lucy back into the real world, away from her musings and ponderings.
   “Could I get some new clothes, too?” Skandar asked curiously. “I’m tired of these jeans, and I really want a dress like yours, Lucy; it’s beautiful,” she added, her voice full of admiration.
   Warmed, Lucy told her assuringly, “Of course, if there are enough. I don’t know how many dresses are left in that trunk Caspian found.”
   “Well, just some pants and new shirt would be fine; this t-shirt’s getting kind of ratty.”
   “I’ll see what I can do, then.”
   She beckoned to Sarah and Skandar with her hand, and they followed her below deck, whereupon she guided them to the captain’s quarters. The blank maps and books still lay scattered about it from when Caspian had been rifling through them, and Sarah went forward and looked at one curiously, tucking a wayward curl behind her ear as she examined the blank book before her. She flipped through a few pages as Skandar came to join her.
   “It’s empty,” Sarah said in surprise, looking back at Lucy as if for an explanation. She shrugged, wishing she knew why the books and maps were bare. She knew that Caspian had already discussed it at length with Will and Peter, but that they had been unable to come up with any answers about their strange predicament.
   “We can’t figure out why, but yes, all the maps and books seem to be blank,” Lucy explained. Skandar looked at her with wide eyes, but Sarah seemed troubled.
   “So you don’t know anything about this place …? Nothing at all?” the new girl asked softly, still flipping through the pages.
   Lucy started to say something about Vanessa and her role in Istalya’s existence, but then remembered Caspian’s warning not to mention it, so she held her tongue. “Nothing,” she confirmed. “I think Caspian was hoping you might know something.”
   Sarah shook her head sadly. “Nope. I’m just as clueless as you all are.”
   Skandar then chimed in, “Well … I’m sure we’ll figure out more about this place the longer we’re here—”
   Lucy couldn’t stifle her dismay at the thought: “Oh, but I do hope we’re not here for months or years! My brothers and sister and I need to get home to Narnia! I can’t imagine how confused and worried all the people are …” Her gentle heart was torn with the thought of poor old Trumpkin and Drinian trying to run the country by themselves.
   Sarah frowned now. “Narnia? Where’s that?”
   Lucy waved her hand tiredly. “It’s a rather long story, I’m afraid. I’ll tell it to you later; right now, I suppose I had better obey Caspian and get you some new clothes.”
   Sarah looked down at her clothes in bemusement, as if she hadn’t really noticed them before now. “Oh …” she said vaguely. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”
   Lucy smiled at her and Skandar, and then pulled the trunk out from where Caspian had stored it under a smaller chest that contained more blank maps. Setting that aside, she flipped up its ornate iron latch and lifted the lid, not expecting there to be more than one or two articles of clothing left in it; after all, she, Sam, Caine, Caspian, and Susan had taken some new clothes from it and there was sure to be little left. But to Lucy’s complete shock, a few pieces of clothing, which had been balancing precariously on top of a stack of folded clothes, tumbled out as soon as the lid was partially up, and they fell into Lucy’s lap. The chest was brimming with clothes, so stuffed that Lucy wondered how it had not burst. Gasping, she sat back on her heels. Where had all of these clothes come from? They certainly had not been there earlier! In fact, as she began digging through the stacks and examining all of them, she found that there were at least five sets of clothes—even nightclothes!—for every person on board the Black Dawn … including Sarah!
   “Oh my goodness,” Lucy cried. “Where did they all come from?”
   “What is it?” Skandar asked in confusion.
   “These clothes! There were only two or three shirts and pants in here a few days ago …” she explained dazedly.
   “Really?” Skandar asked, sounding amazed. She came forward quickly and picked up some of the clothing that had fallen out of the overflowing trunk. Turning them over in her hands and running her fingers over the embroidery on the shirt she was holding, Skandar breathed in awe, “These are absolutely beautiful …” She then gazed up at the chest. “How many sets of clothes are in there?”
   “Five sets of clothes for every person on board,” Lucy said, “even Sarah!”
   Skandar shot her a look of disbelief, and Sarah protested, “That’s impossible! I’ve only been on this ship for, what, fifteen minutes?”
   Lucy shrugged. She had never seen magic like this before, but she was very thankful for it; it could have been a very miserable journey if everyone had had to live with only one set of clothing. Thank you, Aslan! she thought fervently, and smiled. “Well, however this happened, let’s make the most of it. What do you think of this one?” She pulled out a green dress that was draped with delicate blue lace, and both Skandar and Sarah ohhed.
   “That would look gorgeous on you, Lucy!” Sarah commented, her eyes sparkling, and Lucy grinned, standing and holding it against her body. “Do you think so?” She twirled around once, the dress’s skirt swirling around her.
   Skandar clapped her hands in approval, giggling happily.
   For the next hour or so, the girls dug through the vast amounts of clothing—separating the boys’ clothing out from the plethora of dresses—and chose their favourites. It seemed to Lucy that there was a set for each person that reflected their owner’s personality and likes, such as the fact that Vanessa’s set contained no dresses, only pants and billowy shirts, as did Elizabeth’s. Skandar’s set, which contained a myriad of brightly coloured clothes, had one beautiful, pale blue dress that seemed like it could be worn to a ball, but she had pants and shirts similar to Vanessa’s for everyday wear—Lucy concluded that it was probably because it wouldn’t be smart for Skandar to wear a dress while she was flying about the ship. Susan’s set had only pair of pants, which Lucy highly doubted her sister would ever wear unless absolutely necessary, and Sarah’s had one or two dresses that seemed to fit her partially delicate, partially rugged appearance. In Lucy’s set, she found that she also had only one pair of pants, and she thought that that fit her style pretty well; she was accustomed to skirts and dresses, and pants had always been rather uncomfortable to her, anyway. 
   “How are we going to explain this to Caspian?” Skandar asked a little while later, adjusting the new blue shirt she wore as she looked over at Lucy.
   Lucy pursed her lips thoughtfully. “We’ll just tell him the truth, I suppose. There’s really no other explanation. Maybe he and Peter and Will will be able to make something of it; Peter knows quite a bit about magic.”
   Skandar wrinkled her nose. “You really believe in magic?”
   Surprised, Lucy regarded her curiously. “Well, what else do you call what happened? Those clothes didn’t appear because of anything we did.”
   “Do you think Aslan did it?”
   Lucy was astonished Skandar knew who Aslan was, but then, the Great Lion had said he existed in Skandar’s world, just by another name. Perhaps Aslan had revealed himself to her, as well. “I suppose so; Aslan is the one who makes all magic happen,” Lucy said. “I don’t see why this should be any different. Perhaps he knew we needed some more clothes and provided some.”
   Skandar smiled now, and Lucy felt that her answer had been satisfactory. “That would make sense.”
   “Who’s Aslan?” Sarah asked curiously.
   Lucy sighed happily and twirled in her new dress yet again. “He’s the king of Narnia; he helped my brothers, sister, Caspian, and I defeat the White Witch and the Telmarines, Narnia’s enemies. He’s very powerful but very kind. He died so that my brother Edmund could live, and in doing so, he weakened the White Witch.”
   Sarah appeared fascinated, and her green eyes obtained a faint sparkle of excitement. “He sounds wonderful.”
   Lucy smiled warmly at the new girl. “He is; I hope you’ll get to meet him one day.”
   Sarah then appeared confused, but she didn’t get the chance to say anything more, for just then, Sam came down the stairs. He stopped suddenly when he saw the three of them, as if he hadn’t expected to see them there.
   “Oh, hey,” he said, “Caspian is looking for you; he wants to get everyone together and have a talk.” He thrust his thumb over his shoulder, gesturing back at the stairs.
   Lucy smiled warmly at him, glad to see him. “Thanks,” she replied. “We’ll be right there.” She faced Skandar and Sarah again, and her smile widened mischievously. “Let’s clean all of this up, shall we?” she asked, and Sarah and Skandar grinned and began to help her pick up the scattered dresses they had been trying on.
   “Want some help?” Sam asked a moment later, and Lucy realized he was still there, watching them. She glanced up at him.
   “We’ve got it; thanks, though.”
   Sam dipped his head, a small smile creeping over his lips, and then he turned and jogged back up the stairs. Lucy paused to watch him, her blue eyes following him until he was out of sight. Then she blushed slightly and continued to gather up the clothes.

 Sarah

As Sarah followed Skandar and Lucy up the stairs, she smiled satisfactorily, her green eyes taking on a harsh tint.
    So easy, she thought smugly, already revelling in her victory.