Aravis and Cor have never seen snowfall before. Corin has.
Just a short friendship scene between Aravis and Cor, after they've been at Anvard for a few months. Can be seen as backstory for my other Narnia story 'The Brothers of Archenland', but it stands on its own as well.
First Snow
It was white. All of it. And Aravis didn't know what had happened.
Well, she did, because everyone had been talking about it. But she'd never seen anything like it before. Or felt the coldness seeping into her toes and biting her fingers. She knelt down in the fluffy carpet and it crunched, adjusting to her figure. It was almost deep enough that she could disappear if she ducked her head.
And it was still falling, catching in her hair. A speckled mane.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" said Shasta, breathless.
He crouched next to her, holding his hands towards the sky to catch the flakes.
They were in the middle of the field nearest the castle and Aravis could hardly believe how quickly the whiteness had obliterated all the greenery. It even clung onto the trees in geometrically shaped mounds. Every now and then, it would get too heavy and some of it would slip off the branches and leaves to fall in a pile at the base of the tree.
"It's snow," said Aravis.
A fragile, powdery substance that couldn't have been more opposite to the landscapes she'd grown up in. Sometimes she thought she was adjusting well to living in Archenland, but then she'd see a picture of a curved sword and she'd get a funny feeling in her stomach.
"It's cold," said Shasta, pulling his furs around himself.
He was adjusting too, but he seemed to do it more easily, possibly because this life was much better than his old one. When they'd first arrived, Shasta would flinch away from his father when Lune was angry or frustrated, until he'd realised the man wasn't going to lay a finger on him.
Aravis prodded his chest.
"Haven't you put on any weight yet?" she said. "We've been here for months."
"I'm trying," said Shasta. "It just doesn't stay."
"Hmm," said Aravis. "Maybe you have a fisher boy's soul."
He crossed his arms over his chest.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"That you're utterly charming and you save people from lions," she said.
He grinned.
"Really?"
"Yes," said Aravis. "I wouldn't say it if it weren't true, would I?"
"Yesterday you said I was an ass," said Shasta.
"My point stands."
Shasta nudged her. She nudged him back and a fire lit in his eyes. Aravis' muscles tightened and not a moment too soon, because he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her down into the snow.
"I am not an ass," he laughed. She laughed too, trying to push him away.
Flakes flurried under her cloak and she gasped as ice cold prickles melted on her skin. She caught a handful of snow and swept it towards his face. He squeaked.
"Maybe a mouse," said Aravis, managing to push him off.
"You are so cruel to me," said Shasta, clutching his chest and sticking his tongue out as though he were dying.
Aravis prodded him in the ribs and his leg jerked.
"You are not very convincingly dead," she said.
"People's legs can jerk when they're dead," said Shasta.
"And can they hold a conversation as well?"
Shasta bit his lip, then sat up, a shiver running through his body.
"It really is cold though," he said, brushing a large chunk of compacted snow off his shoulder. He was wearing a tunic and jacket underneath. Aravis was wearing Archenland's chief tailor's take on Calormene trousers, but she was beginning to regret it, because they were designed to keep heat out, not in.
"Maybe we should go back inside," said Aravis, as the wind ruffled through her hair, dislodging snowflakes, only for them to be replaced a moment later by the sky.
"Not yet," said Shasta. "We haven't built a snowman."
"Hmm," said Aravis. "What about a snow ass?"
The fire was back, but she was ready for it this time.
Pushing herself to her feet, she stumbled away across the snow. She would have done it more gracefully, but her legs sunk into the powder in an irregular rhythm. Shasta got up as well and chased after her. And he had all the advantage, because he wasn't the one being slowed down by carving a path.
He reached out a hand to catch her cloak, but she shifted sideways and he overbalanced, but managed to catch himself before he toppled. Then he came after her again and she let him catch her this time, mostly because he was smiling and instead of trying to drag her down, he pulled her into a hug.
His body was warm and he smelt like horses. Probably because he spent way too much time in the stables, but she didn't mind, because she spent way too much time in the stables with him.
"Aravis, can I tell you something?" he said, burying his face in her hair – lucky him to have a companion with such warming capabilities, because his hair was too short to use as protection from the wind, though she did try.
They were still about the same height and sometimes it felt like that would never change, though Lune had promised Shasta would outgrow her eventually. Aravis had protested that her family were quite tall and she was quite proud of it, but Lune had gestured to his own height and then the courtiers around them and Aravis had realised that Archenlanders were on average quite a bit taller than Calormenes.
Which meant Shasta would be a lot taller than her one day.
"Of course," she said. "But if you're going to confess to being an ass, I'm already aware of it."
He huffed and the fur on his cloak ruffled in the wind as though in agreement.
"Well maybe I won't say it now," he said, though he was still holding her against him.
"Say what?"
"Tell me I'm not an ass," he said.
Aravis rolled her eyes, even though he wouldn't be able to see it.
"Fine, you're not an ass."
"Well if you say it, it must be true," said Shasta.
She rolled her eyes again.
"What were you going to say, Shasta?"
She felt his smile against her cheek.
"You're one of the best friends I've ever had," he said and her stomach twisted.
She tried to be a good friend, but she still felt bad about treating him so awfully the first time they'd met. It was even worse that he'd done so much for her since. Letting her stay in his father's castle, gifting her books and listening to her stories, and running at lions to help her. She'd tried to return the favour, by helping him with his weapon lessons, though sometimes he got huffy when she knocked him on his backside too much.
Shasta nudged her cheek with his nose, the cold tip sending ripples along her skin. She could barely feel her own nose anymore, or her toes for that matter and her hands were beginning to freeze inside her gloves, but he was radiating enough heat to convince her not to go inside just yet.
He nudged her again.
And again.
"What?" she said.
"Aren't you going to say it back?" he said.
She moved back and studied his face. Ice-blue eyes and dimples where he was smiling. Sentimentality was one of his great weaknesses, but she liked that about him. He raised his eyebrows and she clasped his face with her puffy-gloved hands, pushing his mouth out like a fish.
"Shasta of the asses," she said. "You are one of the best friends I've ever had."
She let go of his face and he grinned.
"Not an ass," he said.
She smiled and then something heavy clunked into her side, spattering white flakes in all directions.
She twisted her head to see Corin picking up a clump of snow a few metres away. He wore his cloak almost fully open, like he didn't mind the cold so much and he was grinning from ear to ear.
"Did you just throw something at me?" shouted Aravis.
He nodded, pressing his hands together. Then he took aim and a ball of snow flew through the air and smacked into Shasta's shoulder.
"Hey," said Shasta.
"Well, if you're going to stand there like sitting ducks," said Corin, picking up another clump of snow.
Aravis and Shasta shared a look, then sprang apart as the next projectile whistled through the air. It smashed into the ground between them.
"We could take him together," said Aravis, scooping up a handful of freezing snow.
"I heard that," said Corin.
"Then you'd better run," she shouted back.
He threw a projectile. She dodged.
Then with barely-bitten smiles, Aravis and Shasta ran towards the younger prince.
Might turn this into a series of winter-themed or snow-themed one-shots, if people are interested. I just thought it would be cute to write something from when Aravis and Shasta are still young.