Rose and Beauty
Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or the Pevensies.
Rose watched as Hannah and Edmund laughed with Ruby and Phillip while feeding them apples and sugar. She snuck into the stables and slid down the wall to land on the ground and bury her head in her knees. Her head shot up upon hearing a voice ask, "Is something wrong?"
She looked around to try to identify the speaker. Upon seeing no humans, it took her a moment, even after 3 years in Narnia, to remember that talking wasn't exclusive to people. She looked at the horses and saw one looking at her rather expectedly. "Well? Is something wrong?"
"Sorry. I was looking for a human."
"That's quite all right, dear. Now, would you answer my question? Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," she muttered.
"You don't sound fine."
"Well, it's just that… Hannah and Edmund both have Horses, talking ones, mind, that adore them. Me? All I have is Lightning, and he's a dumb horse. And horses have always been my favorite animal, and it just doesn't seem fair that Hannah, who liked horses all right but wasn't always her favorite like me, has a Talking Horse who allows her to ride her and I don't."
"Sounds to me like you're jealous of your cousin and of the king."
"Well, I guess I am, a little. But, oh, I don't know. I just wish I had someone who was willing to be my friend."
"Lady Rose, if you were a bit less jealous and a bit more content, you might just have a friend."
"I'm not trying to be jealous! And I try to be content, but it's hard."
"Did you even have a dumb horse in your world you could ride?"
"No. I did when I was little, but it was pregnant when I tried to ride it and bucked me off, so my dad sold her."
"Ah."
"I know, I know. You're trying to make the point that I should be grateful for what I do have. Well, I wish you would try to understand, instead of criticizing me!" Rose leaped up from the ground and ran out. I'll never speak to her again! She is so infuriating!
But a few days later, the knight was back, talking to the Horse, whose name, she learned, was Beauty. "Even Faith has befriended a taking Koala, her favorite animal. It's still not fair."
"Lady Rose, I would think that after seeing Narnia under the Hundred Year's Winter, you would understand that life is not fair."
"Yeah, I know. I'm just lonely."
"But you have your cousins and the kings and queens; how could you be lonely with the 6 of them loving you so much?"
"I don't know. I haven't really thought about it."
"Maybe you should try to think about it."
"It's bad enough that Hannah and Peter try to boss me around; I don't need a Horse doing the same thing!" Their conversation once more ended with Rose racing out of the barn. Never again!
However, she dragged herself back the next day, and the next, and the next. Every time, she wound up storming out of the stable in anger, vowing to herself that she would not go back. Nonetheless, she always came crawling back to speak to Beauty. After a little more than a month, on her birthday, Rose entered the barn, but, as she opened her mouth to start complaining, Beauty cut her off. "Can you ride bareback?"
"What?"
"Can you ride bareback?"
"I don't see-"
"Answer the question, Rose."
"OK, yes, but why-"
"Get on."
Rose blinked. "What?"
"You heard me. Get on."
Rose cocked her head, trying to guess what game the Horse was playing. After a few moments of contemplation, she realized that she ought to mount up before the Horse changed her mind. The girl walked over to stand beside Beauty, jumped, and threw her leg over the Horse's back. "Comfortable?"
"Yes… Beauty, what is going on?"
"Hold on!"
"Wait, wha- whoa!" Rose gasped as Beauty started to run. Her pace slowed upon reaching the woods, but not by much. She leaped over a fallen log and a small stream in quick succession. Rose ducked underneath the tree branches that threatened to scrape her face. Leaning low over Beauty's neck, she asked, "Where are we going?"
"Wait and see," was the Horse's response. After several exhilarating minutes, Beauty slowed and then stopped. "Whoa," the knight breathed as she looked over the landscape from the hill the Horse had halted on. The beautiful forest stretched out before her, the Stone Table and Cair Paravel in the distance.
"Wow."
"I agree."
Rose halfway turned to the Horse. "Why did you bring me here?"
"Don't you like the view?"
"Of course I do, but why me?"
"Well, I might kind of like you, despite the frequent whining."
"Hey!"
"Can you deny it?"
"I wish. But no, I can't."
"Exactly."
"Well, shall we return? I guess we have to get back before Hannah and Susan send out search parties to find us in time for my party tonight."
"Would you like to do this again soon?"
Rose smiled and wrapped her arms around the Horse. "I'd love to."