I entered the kitchen after getting lost a lot of times, I might add. I had to ask for help and directions, but it looked like people were still surprised that I was in Narnia. They continued to give long looks when I walked by in the corridor. Some would smile back at me if I smiled at them. I wasn't exactly a Narnian, now was I?

"This castle is huge!" I told Nina as I entered.

"Oh dear, I thought of writing down directions but I was expecting the King to help you. Who knew that he was going to spend his day with the Professor?" She asked as she started to put out plates for lunch.

I helped her and she didn't stop me. I was a stubborn person and people had to get used to it. "I saw the Professor, though." I said as I leaned against the counter with my hands crossed across my chest. Old habits die hard.

"Did you, now?"

"He seemed really sweet."

"He really is." She smiled.

I heard the hint in her voice but decided to remain silent about it. I ate lunch in the kitchen where everyone introduced themselves to me. The people working in the kitchen were the King's most trusted. They had his good graces and that was as it should have been. 

Nina told me to spend some more time wherever I had been before and also informed me that she was going into town to buy groceries that time as she couldn't in the morning. She was going to go with Evelyn, who was only a few years older than me. Her family had been working for the royals for ages and she was happy to follow their footsteps, though she had other plans as well.

I offered that I join them but I should've told her that I wished to go to town instead. "Oh, that's no problem, Sophie." She said. "I shouldn't have to trouble you. You are our guest."

I really wanted to go into town but I think she was waiting for the King's approval. Man, monarchy was hard! "Nina, where can I find Mr. Trumpkin?" I asked while helping her clear the plates.

"Trumpkin? What for?"

"I wanted to learn how to fight."

She looked at me in doubt. It was certain that ladies didn't wield a sword that often. "Why is that?"

I had already lied to her about my sleep. I couldn't do it once again. "I am a fighter, Nina. I got into trouble in school all the time because of it. Besides, I think it's better than I know how to fight. Don't you?"

"But won't you be going back, Sophie? How will swordsmanship help back in the Other World?"

That's when I stopped breathing. People assumed that I would be going back. Of course they would assume that, silly girl. I couldn't live in a fairy tale forever even if I wished that I could!

"What if I don't want to go back?" I asked as I fiddled with the ring on the necklace that I was wearing that day. 

It was the same necklace that I made sure was safe when I first came to Narnia. Apparently it was the only thing that my birth parents had left me. The necklace was made up of silver and the ring looked like it was made of gold. There was a face of lion engraved on the inner part of the ring. The outer side of the ring had what looked like Norse runic engravings. I tried finding what it meant but I couldn't find anything.

Nina looked at me and gave me a polite smile. "I'm sure that the King can find a place here for you." She said and I hugged her from behind.

"Thank you so much for your hospitality and kindness, Nina." I don't know what it was about her, but Nina made me start to feel at home. It was foolish of me to think so because of my anxiety but it was true and nothing I would say to convince myself otherwise was going to change it.

She held my chin in her hand and hugged me as well. "Narnia would be blessed to have a beautiful soul like yours living here." I knew that we didn't know each other well but it was an unspoken bond between us that didn't need to be explained by words.

I was getting teary-eyed. "I'm not so sure about that."

"Whatever is the case, I'll get you some dresses as well while I'm gone like I told you." She said. "Now, off you go." Just before I left the room, she said, "Trumpkin spends his time down at the first stables, down from where you were painting."

I thanked her and hurried back to the spot I was in. The climate became a little hot then but the breeze was cool and the trees were giving me shade. 

As I started painting, I kept an eye out for Trumpkin but unfortunately, he never showed up. Then, I tried looking around for Reepicheep but he was nowhere either. 

I gave up and climbed down the steps to the stables myself and found nobody there. I was expecting someone to stop me because my heart was beating out of my chest. I was in a new land and in a new place. Someone was surely going to stop me in my way.

I thought of waiting for someone to came but I went inside the stables anyway. My curiosity got the better of me. I looked at the horses and brushed some of their manes. From inside a stall on the far end of the stable, there came out a small weak neigh. I walked further inside and saw a small black horse struggling to sleep there. But he was not as healthy as the other horses.

"Oh no." I gasped.

I asked a man named Henry about it, who was the stable keeper, and he told me that the horse was like that since birth. He was an elderly man with salt-and-pepper hair who took care of the horses along with his nephew, Malcolm.

"It's a miracle that Thomas has survived so long." The horse's name was Thomas and he kept to himself. He didn't mingle with the other horses. I felt really bad for him but he kind of reminded me of myself. "He doesn't like to eat, he doesn't sleep and he doesn't like coming out of the stable." 

It was evident that Mr. Henry adored the horses and that he was very about Thomas. "There must be a reason for it, right?"

"Nobody knows." He shrugged. "We've tried getting him all the help that we could find." He said. "If I'm being honest, it actually looks like he is awaiting someone. He cries out throughout the night. It's very painful to hear it. We've brought doctors from all around the country but nothing seems to calm him down."

I made a decision to talk to the King about it when I got the chance. It was so sad that I couldn't help Thomas because obviously, I couldn't stay in Narnia. That would be too much of me to ask of the people.

I climbed back up the steps and sat down in my spot. I continued to paint until the moon appeared across the evening sky. I had finished my work by the time the last rays of sun completely disappeared.

I trotted to my room with the painting and my kit, pulled out one of my notebooks and tore a page out from the middle. I wanted to write a letter to the King. I gave it a long thought while I walked. I framed the words in my head and thought and re-thought what it was that I wanted to say.

Your Majesty,
This painting is a token and a gift from my side. I want to thank you for letting me stay in your castle and for all the kindness I'm receiving. The reason I'm writing this is so that I could express my gratitude and apologize for my untimely appearance in Narnia. I wanted to do it in person but I know that you are busy governing your kingdom. Nina has been of great help in this situation.
Hope everything is all right and I hope that you like the painting.
Yours truly,
Sophie Adams

I wanted to write it a little longer but I didn't want to sound creepy. I rushed to the kitchen with the painting and the letter in hand. "Sophie!" Nina exclaimed. "I was just about to come and call you for dinner."

"Nina, I need your help."

I handed her the painting, which I had rolled up with the letter. "What is this, dear?" She opened it and gasped. "This is beautiful! Did you make it?"

"Yeah." I blushed a little bit. It was not often that I was praised.

I told her who it was for and asked her where his chambers were so that I could slip it under the door. She told me that he was still in the library and silently sneaked me to a corridor on the opposite side of the castle. I slipped the painting and the note under the door and just prayed that he wouldn't take it the wrong way.