Till We Have Faces

The sight of Psyche unnerves Bardia, who warns Orual that it might be a wraith. At the same time, he tells Orual that, as the bride of a god, Psyche is now a goddess and they need to take care when dealing with her. However, when Psyche calls her Maia like she used to, Orual dismisses Bardia’s warnings and, at Psyche’s invitation, crosses the river to join her in the valley.

There, they sit on the grass and talk. Psyche is dressed in rags and, while offering Orual food and wine, gives her berries and water from her cupped hands. Orual is amazed to find her alive and asks her how she escaped. Psyche tells her the story from the beginning: she was drugged by the Priest before she was taken to the mountain and chained to the tree. She tells Orual that the King seemed to look at her for the first time then and started weeping, which made her afraid. Orual asks her to skip this part of the story, but Psyche insists that she tells the bad part as well as the good.

Left alone on the mountain, thirsty and afraid, Psyche began to cry and pray to the gods.