111 SIXTH AIR WAYS

Susan smiled slightly. "I've done something of the sort myself," she admitted. "There's this man - another professor, actually - who I've been exchanging letters with, and I might have let slip a few things. Heaven only knows what he'll make of it all."

"Probably nothing," Makalaurë shrugged. "As the 'fairy' fiasco shows, even those who know a great deal of the truth can still get the facts dramatically wrong." He frowned, and nodded at her. "Well done - you almost distracted me from my question. But not quite. Who is 'He'?"

Susan bit her lip. It was silly, really, avoiding the Name. It wasn't like He was listening to her - and if He was, He already knew she was talking about Him. But over the years, the Name had become a symbol to her, of all the childishness she rejected in her siblings.

But they were gone, now, and here she was, sitting in a forest miles from anywhere with an honest-to-goodness elf. Perhaps a bit more 'childishness' would be a good thing.