Beneath the light from Aslan's Country, here at the top of the world, her eyes are clear as glass and her hair shines like polished gold. Caspian lifts her hand and steps across the threshold, breathing deep the sweet-scented air like a longer sleeper just now awakened. "Welcome, Daughter of Eve," he tells her, and even his voice sounds richer, deeper, more full of joy than before. "Come further up and further in."

The land outside the bar always seems real, but stepping into Aslan's Country, one begins to feel that every other world is but a poor, faded imitation. The grass is a more vibrant green with a sweeter, fresher scent; the air is so clear that things far off in the distance look as clear and real as if they were standing next to them. Caspian has brought them onto a gently rolling hill, but there are mountains climbing into the sky along the horizon on one side and a dark mass of forest on the other. And ahead, far, far ahead, is the calm, sparkling expanse of the sea.