Not A Man's Country

by lurkisblurkis

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"It's not a Man's country (who should know that better than me?)
but it's a country for a man to be king of."
Trufflehunter, "Prince Caspian"

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"Hadn't we better all quiet down and get right down to things?"

It was the fourth or fifth time Lucy had tried to make herself heard, and by now her voice was strained and anxious and obviously wasn't doing anything to help. The mermaids continued laughing and splashing. Lucy's dress was soaked through and the rock on which she was sitting—specially sanded and positioned for her comfort though it had been—was beginning to give her a cramp in the legs.

"How are we supposed to discuss anything if you all keep at it?" She threw out the question into the middle of the activity and got no response.

Lucy groaned. If these were the political representatives of the mer-population, she couldn't begin to imagine what the rest of the less "dignified" folk would be like. Mermaids, she'd always thought, were solemn, beautiful, noble, certainly very merry and gay, but not insubordinate.

"All right, I'll just throw out ideas to you lot, then, and you can flap your tails or something if you disagree," Lucy said in exasperation. "Otherwise I'll take it as a yes, and it'll be your fault if you don't like it. Right! What do you think about irrigation—do we take water directly from the great river or not?"

One of the mermaids dove in an arc over another and down into the waves again, and all of her companions laughed loud and long, but they seemed oblivious to the presence of their queen.

"You just have to learn to live with them," said Tumnus to her afterward. "They might not really be paying attention at all, but you never can tell with mer-people."