"I told her I'd tell you myself," he replies. "I didn't want her to keep my secrets from you... I ought to have told you both the story before now, I suppose."

But he hadn't wanted to, for more reasons than just the pain and grief that come hand in hand with it.

Around them, the path is slowly shifting, as it had before: there's a hint of green to the leaves, and the scent of flowers on the air. "I think you're right about the effect, too. The Lion is the only real connection I know of between my world and yours."