Author's Note: Okay…leave me alone. I watched the Prince Caspian movie over again, and I was sooo tired of writing about Edmund for a while xD I just decided I loved Caspian too! LOL. I really wanted to write this…hehehe. =)

"The stars seem to glitter even more than usual tonight, don't they, Professor?" Caspian gazed out in wonder at the sky through his spyglass.

"Yes, my prince, it does seem so," the Professor smiled at him.

Caspian chuckled slightly, looking towards the moon. He was marveling at the brightness of the moon, when suddenly, a small noise entered into his mind. A soft, noise. He didn't know what it was. But it was beautiful. Soft, tender, touching his ears and entering his heart. He turned his spyglass to the forbidden forest, and spotted something. An eerie lightness to the darkness of the woods.

The beautiful sound he heard became a mumble of unrecognizable words.

"Soshite itsumo akirameteta yakusoku mo hatasenakute kakureteta yami no naka de kimi ga tooku naru kono mama ja mada owarenai…"

His eyes lingered on the figure. He tried to focus it into his spyglass. Something was extremely eerie about this…thing. He continued to watch it. And it became more and more clear. Bright eyes, full lips, long hair, and what seemed like a flowing dress, stained with the essence of earth and leaves. It was a beautiful young woman.

Caspian looked again. Was he dreaming? Suddenly, the girl turned and seemed to look right at him. A jolt shot through him. Such an eerie beauty…

"I did not realize there were stars on the ground."

He jumped back, dropping his spyglass. Caspian looked at Professor Cornelius. He shook his head, and looked back to the woods. Whatever had stood there was long gone.

"I just thought I saw…" Caspian started. The professor looked at him. Caspian sighed and shook his head. "Nothing."


That had been the first night he'd seen her. Every night since then, Caspian went out 'stargazing'. He saw her stand there every night and he heard her sing. She looked at him sometimes, but mostly, she just stood by the trees and sang. Caspian watched her quietly, subtly, trying not to let the Professor realize that he'd been looking at the ground the entire time instead of the stars. But to him, she was a star. Next to the dark woods, she glistened. At the end of every night, he saw her turn and head back to the woods. He wondered many times about it. But he'd come to tell himself that she was just a beautiful dream. Perhaps even a ghost, but not a real person. How could a person live in those cursed woods?

One night, he couldn't take it anymore. He had to know. He got up from his bed, pulled on his armor, took his sword, and went out of the castle. Caspian snuck past the guards at the bridge and crossed when it was lowered to let a messenger out.

He made his way on foot to the woods. He didn't dare go in, however. He went and waited by the spot he saw her at every night. Caspian seemed to wait for hours. Just when he decided he must go home again before he fell asleep by these wretched woods, he saw her. She looked shy and timid. She was hiding behind a tree. When he took a step toward her, she nearly fled.

"N-no! Wait!" he called to her. She stopped, and looked back at him. He blinked at her. "Are you a ghost?"

The girl smiled at him. Taking slow steps toward him, she seemed curious. This time, it was Caspian who stepped back. He was slightly afraid now. She knew this. It made her smile. She took another step towards him. He stayed this time, his hand on his sword. Reaching out her hands, she touched his face. She smelled of earth and her fingers touched his face as light as butterfly wings brushed skin. Her touch made him both shiver and flinch.

"The young Telmarine boy should not be so far away from home," she whispered to him. Her voice seemed just as beautiful when she spoke as it did when she sang. The girl traced her fingers over his eyes and nose. They came to a stop at his lips. Caspian's eyelids grew heavy and he felt sleep coming on. He reached up to pull the girl's hand away, but he seemed to have no strength. The sudden sound of a woman's cry made him jump awake again.

But this time, he wasn't by the woods or even outside. He was in his room, sleeping soundly in his bed. He opened his eyes, and saw Professor Cornelius standing above him. He yawned and realized everything had been a dream. He was tired, and he wanted to go back to the dream of the beautiful girl.

"Five more minutes," he muttered to his Professor.

"You will not be watching the stars tonight, my Prince," the Professor told him sadly. Caspian sat up slowly in bed. The Professor looked at him. "Your aunt Prunaprismia has given birth…to a son."

All the worries of not stargazing and seeing the beautiful girl were gone as the realization struck him. He followed the Professor into the secret tunnel behind his wardrobe.


Serafina stared at the boy that lay in her bed. She did as she once did, and traced her finger along his face, starting at the spot between his brows down to the tip of his nose to his lips. A feeling tingled through her. He was a beautiful young boy. His long hair was dark as tree bark. His face was sweet and solemn as he slept. His lips were full and Serafina longed to touch them. Thinking of this made her laugh at herself. She laid the wet cloth on his forehead and brushed his cheek. She'd seen him watch her the many nights before. She'd let him.

"Enjoying the view?"

Serafina turned and saw Nikabrik glaring at her. She pouted, and pulled the cloth off the boys head.

"I am," she admitted to Nikabrik. He scoffed at her.

"Well, don't get too comfortable," Nikabrik scolded her.

"Nikabrik, did you have to hit him so hard?" she sighed. Lifting his head, she wrapped a new cloth around his bruised head several times.

"Of course I hit him hard! He's a Telmarine!" Nikabrik shouted. Serafina shushed him. He scoffed again. "I don't know why you are being so tender with him."

Serafina simply smiled at him and stood up. Ducking under the tall doorway, she walked into the kitchen and helped Trufflehunter to prepare the soup for the Telmarine boy.


The sound of soft whispers awoke Caspian. He blinked, and attempted to sit up. His head throbbed. When he reached up, he felt it had been bandaged. Looking around him, he saw that he was in a small, low room made of earth and wood. Around him were many make-shift pieces of furniture and he was laying on a slightly small bed of cheap linen and animal skin sheets.

"This bread is so stale!" a loud voice complained.

"I'll just give him some soup then," another softer voice said. "He should be coming around soon."

Caspian realized they were talking about him. He pulled the cloth bandage from around his head and tossed it aside. Quietly, he made his way to the small opening of the room. There were no doors. So he peeked around the corner and listened to the voices.

"Well, I don't think I hit him hard enough!" the loud voice shouted once again.

"Nikabrik, he's just a boy!" the softer voice rose.

"He's a Telmarine, not some lost puppy!" the louder one countered. "You said you were gonna get rid of him!"

"No, I said, I'd take care of him," the softer one said.

As Caspian peeked around the corner, he nearly gasped. A old, stout man with a long beard and a badger that stood on his hind legs were the ones who were speaking. Narnians. Caspian panicked. Fear shook him, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop shaking.

"And we can not kill him now. I only just bandaged his head," a new feminine voice said. "It would be like murdering a guest!"

This voice seemed vaguely familiar, but Casipan was too afraid to think of it. He couldn't look out again. Too much was going through his mind. How was he going to get out?

"Oh, and how do you think his friends are treating their guest?!" the small dwarf shouted again.

"Trumpkin knew what he was going," the badger replied quietly. "It's not the boy's fault."

"Oh!" the badger exclaimed as Caspian sprung out from behind the corner and knocked him over. Caspian grabbed the poker from the fire and met it with the dwarf's sword.

"Stop it!" the badger yelled as the dwarf swung at Caspian. Caspian dodged, and swung back. "Stop it!"

"Stop!"

A new blade came in. It knocked the poker from Caspian's hands and moved the dwarf's sword away from Caspian. Both the dwarf and Caspian looked at the young girl. Caspian didn't know whether to be thankful or afraid once again, as the girl met her own sword to his neck.

"I told you we should have killed him when we had that chance!" the dwarf shouted to the girl and his animal friend.

"You know why we can't!" the girl shouted back at him.

"If we're taking a vote, I'm with her," Caspian said. The girl looked at him. It was then that Caspian realized who this girl was. It was the beautiful girl from the woods that he'd seen every night and had even dreamt about. She was real. Standing right before him like this. She didn't seem as eerie though, in the fire's light. More real.

As if just realizing that he was staring, she looked away, and pulled the sword away from his neck. She bent over and picked up the poker from the ground. She put it back in its place beside the hearth.

"We can't let him go! He's seen us!" the dwarf swung at Caspian again. He stumbled back. The girl intervened again.

"Enough, Nikabrik!" she shouted at the dwarf. Nikabrik growled at her.

"Serafina! Step aside!"

"I shall not!"

"Serafina!"

"Enough, Nikabrik!" the badger shouted. "Or do I have to sit on your head again?!"

Nikabrik made a disgusted face before putting away his sword. Serafina sighed and went to the back room and sheathed her own sword. Then, she hung it back up on the wall and looked back at the badger, who was scooping up the soup that Caspian had spilled.

"You," the badger scolded Caspian. "Look what you've made me do. I worked all morning on that soup."

"I'll go get some more," Serafina said softly, looking at Caspian from below her lashes. Caspian stumbled to his feet. The girl disappeared into the kitchen. Caspian looked from the badger to the dwarf.

"What are you?" he asked, trying to calm his trembling.

"You know, it's funny you should ask that. You'd think more people would know a badger when they saw one," the badger, Trufflehunter, sighed.

"N-no, I mean…" he stuttered. "You're Narnians. You're supposed to be extinct."

Nikabrik, the dwarf, scoffed. "Well sorry to disappoint you."

The girl, Serafina, came back from the kitchen. She set the soup on the table and ushered Caspian to sit. When he didn't move, she sighed and walked over to him. Nikabrik made a face of disgust as she smile softly at Caspian and took his hand. She pulled him to the table.

"Come," she said. "You should eat while it's still hot."

"Since when did we open up a boarding house for Telmarine soldiers?!" Nikabrik snarled.

"I'm not a soldier," Caspian interrupted. "I am Prince Caspian."