With Saber's bottomless despair wrapped around her, flaying herself for her failures, the last thing she expected was the warmth and kindness of that kiss. She blinked in surprise, some of that weight lifting off her for the moment, and she just looked at Aslan.

How could he even bear to give her such affection? Knowing that she - the one all those kings and queens of Narnia emulated - was nowhere close to the grand legend left in the wake of her end... Not only that, but corruption clung to her, taint that turned her even more from that shining legend. It was a part of her now and would never go away, for it let her see reality as it was, not through the visor of that silver knight, of that golden king she'd been when she gave her life and emotions away in exchange for an ideal that only brought about her own suffering.

If the woman she loved couldn't accept the hatred and rage inside of her, how could this grand lion?

Nodding in response to the invitation, she fell into step with the lion. "I should not have said all of that, Aslan. I go by another name here, one well-known, and would prefer you to not repeat that which I have foolishly divulged."