None of the stablefolk he speaks to have seen Susan; nor have any of the patrons awake at this early hour. Reepicheep stoutly promises to seek her out and hurries away before Caspian can call him back, and a knock at her door gives no answer.

Fear, sour and sharp, spikes through him. If he'd been with her the night before –

But worrying about choices he didn't make does little enough to help him in the here and now. He returns to the bar, where he meets an exasperated Reepicheep. "Sire, I could glean nothing from the squirrels and chipmunks at the forest edge," the Mouse tells him, fully willing to throw himself onto his own sword for his failure. "None of the animals here speak, or even seem to understand me when I do."

"Peace, Reepicheep," Caspian counsels, though his stomach seizes with worry. "Thank you for trying."