First Impressions

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

~ Jane Austen

The next occurrence that drastically shaped the lives of the tetrarchs arrived a week later, at Cair Paravel, while they were away from the castle visiting a seaport in the north.

"What on earth?" Eva leaned over the parapet staring into the distance at a ship of lateen rig, "Lord Eustace, is that a war ship?"

She had been walking on the battlement, taking the air after a very long go of cleaning Lucy's chambers. She felt she deserved a rest and as she stood looking over the harbor, she had seen the ship. Eustace had happened to be coming the other way when she'd seen it. A moment more and two other ships of similar build were sailing after it.

"I say, yes it is!" Eustace peered at the strange ships, wishing he had a pair of binoculars, "They come in peace, as they fly white flags, but I can't make out the device on the banner above them. It looks like some sort of spider…"

"It does look like a spider…" Eva said, "Black on a red ground, though it could be a dragon. It seems to have more than four legs…"

"Well," Eustace said calmly, "Here comes Flavis; I'll send him out with a troop to meet them."

"You've seen it, Eustace?" Flavis asked coming up the steps to where they stood, leaping eight steps at a time.

"I have," Eustace said, "Would you mind taking a troop of centaurs and meeting them?"

"Certainly," Flavis said. "I'd be delighted."

"Better you than Martin," Eustace said, grinning.

Flavis leaped back down the steps and in a moment more, was out of sight, but they could still hear him as he thundered towards the guardhouse.

Looking back towards the harbor, Eva saw that the arrival of the strange ships had gathered people like a magnet. A great crowd had assembled on the wharves watching as two of the frigates in the harbor got underway to intercept the stranger. If it came to a fight, it would never do to have anchors on the bottom and no sail made.

The troop of centaurs Eustace had sent out cleared the wharves, putting up red tape and keeping the vendors that had shown up with the crowd from setting up in the shipyard. Slowly and majestically the Narnian frigates hove to near the flagship of the strange fleet and one lowered a dingy. The watchers at the castle could see the oars rising and falling like the legs of a water bug. Presently, it came alongside the flagship and the lieutenant that the Narnian captain had sent was climbing up to speak to the Captain of the flagship. Not long after, he was climbing down again and the dingy cast off from the ship.

Eva watched the steady flash of the oars as the dingy approached the shore, it was tied up at the wharf and one of the centaurs broke from the group and made all speed back toward the castle.

"Here he blows," Eustace said, "We'll know in a minute what it's about."

"I certainly hope they're not unpleasant." Eva said, watching while the gate opened slowly, letting the centaur in.

"I wish the others were here," Eustace said, trotting down the steps from the parapet to meet the centaur.

"Lord…Eustace…" the centaur gasped.

"Catch your breath, man," Eustace said quietly, "The news can wait."

The centaur stood for a moment, legs splayed, gasping. Galloping at thirty miles an hour up a switchback road on a slope nearly a half mile long is an impressive feat.

"Lord Eustace!" The centaur finally exclaimed, "It's a Calormene embassy! They claim that they said they were coming, but as far as I know we have not ever received communications from them."

"A Calormene embassy?" Eustace exclaimed, "Why?"

"The crown Prince of Calormen is here to sue for Queen Susan's hand!"

"Never!" Eva exclaimed.

"Well," Eustace said, "I suppose we'll have to allow them to land."

They watched the stern of the centaur disappear from view as he turned the corner at a breakneck speed.

"What will you do?" Eva exclaimed hurrying after Eustace as he set off towards the palace.

"What I'd do with any other embassy." Eustace said calmly. "Come along, I'll need your help."

~o*o~

Eva didn't really help at all; she spent most of her time staring out the window as the Calormene vessels carefully felt their way into port and were tied up at the wharves. The unloading of the horses was the most fascinating thing, watching the tiny legs on some straight as toothpicks, thrashing on others and just dangling limp on most.

The cavalcade of tarkaans and tarkheenas came next, the tarkheenas all carried down the gangplank on litters. The Tarkaans themselves mounting their steeds once they reached dry land. It was more than obvious that none of them had gotten their land legs back. Even the horses seemed to find the earth more precarious then usual and walked with all legs splayed.

Eva's maid whisked her away from the window and poured a green silk dress over her.

"Lord Eustace says that you are to be presentable." The maid said pleasantly, "He wants you there when he greets the Calormens."

"I'm probably late already," Eva said, snatching herself away from the maid and dashing out the door. Eustace would probably greet them in the throne room, because that was where most formal greetings were held.

The closer she got, the surer she was that she was late, so she took a short cut and dashed through a little used side door.

She found herself in the Throne Room, looking upon Eustace standing just before the dais. In front of him stood a tall, dark and young man, impressively flanked by tarkaans, one of which had just rolled up an impressive scroll and Eva imagined that it contained all of Prince Rabidash's names and several paragraphs of greetings.

Eva stood by the dais, not wanting to walk to where the other ladies and gentleman of the court stood and attract attention. Flavis looked around and caught her eye meaningfully, and Eva full well knew that she shouldn't have been standing by the dais. With sudden shock, she realized that she had used the entrance reserved for the kings and queens.

How could I have been such an idiot? She wondered as she stood there uncertainly wishing with all her heart that she could sink into the floor. The young man looked around and caught sight of her, with a smile; he strode over to her and bowed very low over her hand. Eva snatched it away as if she had been bitten, panic rising in her throat. She wondered what would happen if she started running and never came back.

"Ah! You must be the gentle and exceedingly beautiful Queen Susan!" he exclaimed.

The tarkaans around him made faces and the people of the court sighed with horror. Eva was incensed. How can this man possibly, possibly dream that I'm Queen Susan? Ugly little me? How dare he?

"My dear young man," Eva snapped, "I'm not beautiful, I'm not gentle and I'm not Queen Susan!" she stood there glowering at him and suddenly grabbed a lock of her hair and waved it in his face, "what color do you think this is, anyway? Queen Susan has black hair, not red hair! Or are you colorblind?"

Eustace slowly closed his eyes and the tarkaans around the young man were rolling theirs. The young man himself gaped at her and as Eva's head began to clear it suddenly occurred to that she had stood there and insulted the royalty of another nation.

"Sorry." She whispered and wildly wondered why throne rooms weren't equipped with hidden trap doors for people who made total and complete idiots of themselves at regular intervals.

Flavis, who was standing on the other side of Eustace, stamped his hoof, and Eustace, drawing strength from Flavis, cleared his throat and said:

"I am Lord Eustace, the seneschal of the tetrarchs; I welcome you to our land and trust that you will enjoy your stay here. The tetrarchs are currently in the north, but all haste will be made to enlighten them of your arrival."

The young man, now hiding a smile, bowed again, "We thank you from the bottom of our heart."

~o*o~

"Eva…Eva…Eva…" Eustace paused, struggling with the depth of his feeling, "do you realize that what you said could have caused war between us and Calormen?"

"I really am sorry!" Eva exclaimed, "I didn't realized until after, just what I'd said!"

"Maybe you should try realizing beforehand," Eustace suggested.

"Please don't be mad at me!" Eva exclaimed.

"I won't be," Eustace said, then smiled evilly, "I'm just going to tell our dear rulers."

"You wouldn't!" Eva exclaimed.

"I would."

"I thought you were my friend!"

"And I thought you were mine."

A/N: Bear with Eva, she's a little strange. She's been in existence since even before the first movie came out. So, to me at least, she's almost as old a character as the Pevensies. If you want to know what strange corner of the earth was concealing something like her, read The Enchanted Isle.

She's Rose's creation, but I think we both had a hand in her development.

~Psyche