The wind off the sea was warm and smelled of clean salt, but Prince Aidan shivered all the same and pulled his rich, gold-threaded cloak closer around his shoulders. Normally the sight of Cair Paravel's shining towers and fair ivory roof would fill him with joy, but on this voyage he could only feel a faint sensation of dread and apprehension as he wondered what he would find there. The prince was slim and small, and far too serious in manner for his age for his fifteen years. His eyes were agate-gray and thoughtful as he watched the Narnian shoreline; he had a straight nose and generous lips which curved down slightly as he caught sight of the foreign banners aloft beside his father's from Cair Paravel's towers. Although he had the king's countenance and striking red-gold curls, he had the easy grace and soft speech of his tree-nymph mother, who had whispered tales of the early days of Narnia and the golden reign of the High King Peter and his brother and sisters over Aidan's cradle, and had taught him the ways of the talking animals and river-gods and nymphs during his boyhood. The queen had died last spring, while Aidan had been learning horsemanship with his kin, the royals of Archenland, away in Anvard; the Narnian court had just ended its period of mourning.
No sooner had the black flags been taken down from Cair Paravel's cracked and venerable turrets than Aidan had received a summons from his father, King Evrain, calling his son home from Anvard with unseemly and unexplained haste. Now Aidan could see why—the banners of the uncouth and barbaric Telmarines from beyond the Western Wild flapped now in the wind beside the red-and-gold lion pennants of Narnia. The prince watched them coldly as his ship, the Clearwater, glided like a swan into the shipyard near the castle.
Nearly all of the court waited on shore to greet him, including his father the king: Evrain had been a great, imposing man once, fire-haired, broad-shoulders, with a deep laugh; now the years had worn him down to a quiet, gray man, with weary circles beneath his once-bright eyes. He welcomed his son solemnly, planting a king's kiss on both of Aidan's cheeks, then gestured for the prince to walk beside him on the path back up to the castle.
"The Telmarines are here?" Aidan hazarded after a moment.
Walking with his hands clasped behind his back, Evrain nodded. "They have been at Cair Paravel these last three weeks," the king said with a sigh. "They claim they have come to sue for peace, but in all this time there has been no forward movement in writing the treaty. How infuriating they are!" Evrain clenched his jaw, and they went a little while in silence. "The Telmarine representative is their Crown Prince, Velaz…he has brought his son, Caspian, who is your age. I trust that you shall be courteous enough to show the boy around?"
Aidan nodded shortly, but was secretly doubtful and disgusted. However, as coarse and uncivilized at the western Telmarines might be, a prince of Narnia was expected to be civil.
No sooner had the black flags been taken down from Cair Paravel's cracked and venerable turrets than Aidan had received a summons from his father, King Evrain, calling his son home from Anvard with unseemly and unexplained haste. Now Aidan could see why—the banners of the uncouth and barbaric Telmarines from beyond the Western Wild flapped now in the wind beside the red-and-gold lion pennants of Narnia. The prince watched them coldly as his ship, the Clearwater, glided like a swan into the shipyard near the castle.
Nearly all of the court waited on shore to greet him, including his father the king: Evrain had been a great, imposing man once, fire-haired, broad-shoulders, with a deep laugh; now the years had worn him down to a quiet, gray man, with weary circles beneath his once-bright eyes. He welcomed his son solemnly, planting a king's kiss on both of Aidan's cheeks, then gestured for the prince to walk beside him on the path back up to the castle.
"The Telmarines are here?" Aidan hazarded after a moment.
Walking with his hands clasped behind his back, Evrain nodded. "They have been at Cair Paravel these last three weeks," the king said with a sigh. "They claim they have come to sue for peace, but in all this time there has been no forward movement in writing the treaty. How infuriating they are!" Evrain clenched his jaw, and they went a little while in silence. "The Telmarine representative is their Crown Prince, Velaz…he has brought his son, Caspian, who is your age. I trust that you shall be courteous enough to show the boy around?"
Aidan nodded shortly, but was secretly doubtful and disgusted. However, as coarse and uncivilized at the western Telmarines might be, a prince of Narnia was expected to be civil.