Aslan rests an enormous paw on her shoulder; it's heavy enough that she has to lean hard on her scepter to stay upright, but she does so. "Come, both of you, and I will show you a far-off sight of the castle where you are to be King and Queen."

He unpaws Bella and leads them both to the eastern edge of the hill and shows them, in the evening golden light from the sunset behind them under rosy clouds, miles of the most gorgeous landscape, punctuated - where a great snake of a river meets the sea - by a shining castle. The light is glinting off all the glass of its windows and it looks like a star come to rest, all glory and spectacle.

"That," says Aslan, "is Cair Paravel of the Thrones of the rightful rulers of Narnia, in which you will sit."