Disclaimer: Same as last time.

Elenie left her friend to go back to work around noon. Lucy retreated into the silence of her room and paced up and down impatiently, finally deciding to pull some royal strings and find out more about the servant girl's background.

The youngest queen sat at her writing desk and began composing a letter to the Narnian ambassador in Tashbaan. It asked the ambassador to send out some of his men to inquire about a white child sold some years before. The slave traffic in that area was very extensive, so traders tended to keep excellent sales records. Also, barbarian slaves were quite rare, making it possible to track one with the help of the records. Lucy had high hopes that whatever information the ambassador might acquire could help her learn about Elenie's past and perhaps lead the way back to the girl's family.

The letter was sent with the fastest messenger Narnia could offer. Lucy soon received a polite return note and, more importantly, copies of the slave records in the years she had requested. She was not that interested in the sums and figures that had been transcribed, but each documentation of a sale included a physical description of the slave and the name of the original salesperson. Lucy skimmed through the papers, finally pausing on one notation. It described a girl of four years from Archenland with white blond hair and blue eyes. The person who sold her to the trader was named Midwife Nona Fletcher. Lucy's heart leapt in triumph as she grabbed the sheet and rushed to find Elenie and Ambassador Borin.

All of the ambassadors and the older kings and queen of Narnia were conferring in the scarlet meeting chamber, poring over documents on the table. Their heads jerked up as Lucy burst in, dragging Elenie by one hand and waving the record in the other. Ambassador Jazkar arched an eyebrow in a maddening mockery of politeness. "Have you no respect, High King?" he asked smoothly, striding over and grabbing Elenie's arm. "That your Queen should act like my slave is her own charge?" The servant girl veiled her eyes behind thick lashes as she bowed before her master with her face to the floor.

"I do not think that Queen Lucy is stealing your servants, Tarkaan," said Bor, stepping around the prostrate child and plucking the manuscript from Lucy's hand. His face shone suddenly as he read the names on the sheet. Wordlessly he turned and handed it to his brother, pointing. Borin's eyes glittered as he bent and gently helped Elenie to her feet. Jazkar sprang forward and snatched the record from Bor's hand, scanning it briefly before sneering, "So my slave has some relation to you, my lord, does she not?"

Before Borin could react, the Tarkaan took Elenie by the wrist and pulled her away. She strained against the iron grip of his dark fingers, tears streaming from her sky blue eyes. Finally she stopped, looking like a limp porcelain doll held by a greedy child.

"You would not return a missing daughter to her father, my lord?" said King Edmund, stepping forward suddenly. His dark brow was furrowed in anger as he glared at Jazkar. "A daughter who has been missing for almost eight years?"

"I purchased this girl," said the Tarkaan icily. "If I am to release her, she must be bought and paid for, like any other slave, daughter or not."

"Name your price," said Borin, his eyes like flint. His hands were curled into fists at his tubby sides.

"One hundred crescents," Jazkar said delicately, tapping a finger to his thin lips. "No less."

Borin's hard eyes widened. An ambassador's salary only went so far, and this was far beyond the mark.

King Peter leapt to his feet. "My lord Tarkaan," he growled, his voice low and deadly, "you can not have bought Elenie for more than fifteen crescents in the first place."

"A profit must be made," answered Jazkar. "She has certain value, being the only fair one of all my slaves."

Peter said softly, "We are a nation that treats animals like people. We will have nothing to do with a nation that treats people like animals."

Susan rose quietly, her eyes filling. She gently pulled off her earrings and set them on the table in front of Jazkar. They were fine gold tinted pearls, worth a month of the average farmer's wage.

Lucy removed the gold chain hung with diamond and sapphire drops from around her neck and placed it by the earrings. Peter pulled a small knife inlaid strapped with jeweled red leather from his belt and lay it on the other offerings. Edmund seemed to be undergoing an internal struggle. Finally he slipped his signet ring from his finger and flung it on the table.

Even Jazkar looked surprised as he lifted the ring and examined it. It was a heavy gold piece with the Narnian crest, a lion within a crown, inlaid into the metal in every kind of the finest gemstone. Emerald vines branched off from the crest and spiraled around the band, alight with bejeweled blossoms. Edmund had received the ring at his coronation as a thanks for breaking the Witch's wand during battle. He treasured it lovingly, for it reminded him of the first time he had truly won the trust and affection of the Narnians.

The worth of all the Narnian riches equaled well over a hundred crescents. Jazkar scooped up the jewelry and stormed from the castle, his flock of attendants at his heels. The Archenland ambassadors, their hosts, and all of the other courtiers leaned out the windows to watch as he left, cheering silently to finally see the back of him. Afterwards, Edmund said that seeing Borin embracing Elenie and taking her home was worth all the signet rings in Narnia and beyond.

The End