A Meeting with Many
Editing is happening, albeit slowly, but I'd rather get chapters out before I start going over everything...
Thanks for all of you who reviewed, too.
REVIEW, please! Make me feel wanted! As usual, may be slow at updating, all belongs to C.S. Lewis (the majority of the dialogue, characters, plot and I'll give you a shout out if you can spot what else!) 'cept my cry-baby of a ten-year-old, Lizzy, who I have big plans for. Now, I also "own" the regal Quiron, mysterious Cheiron, cheeky Prometeo, thoughtful Castor, not-so-thoughtful Pollux and bold Hilaria, wonderful Migwin, marvellous Arion, proper Lattiar and Bowing Panther, Nigel as well as Rover, Rozinante and Dapple. I'm creating quite a cast here, aren't it?
I apologise for the mix-up and time difference of the last chapter for anyone who didn't really follow it. I did explain in my AN, but I suppose those who asked didn't read it. That hasn't happened yet and, if you don't like it, it won't (though, I have to say, I am loving that part.)
Nadine was absolutely not impressed when she caught sight of Elizabeth sneaking down the hall in the direction of her room, rubbing at a stain of black which was most definitely not there when she had left it for the second time this morning. With a huff, she excused herself from the other naiads and nymphs all speaking next to a painting of a lake and started to follow her mistress. Elizabeth, she noted, was not very good at sneaking. She walked too loudly and not carefully or gracefully and when she peeked out from corners, she leaned so far out that she may of well simply ran out, screaming. So it was very easy for Nadine to follow Elizabeth without needing to hide herself because the girl was making enough noise to cover for the naiad. Upon reaching the room, Nadine watched as Elizabeth threw off her dress onto the loveseat and clumsily slipped on a yellow one with dark green vines climbing up from the bottom hem. They wrapped themselves around her waist and delicately folded into a dark green ribbon which Elizabeth was having some difficulty with. Sighing, Nadine rolled her eyes and tied it quickly into a perfect, symmetrical bow. Elizabeth blushed maladroitly upon seeing her handmaiden and stammered out an apology which Nadine most certainly did not accept. Instead, Nadine made sure to check with Elizabeth for her plans for the day. She didn't want to have to come back to the room to ready her mistress again.
Elizabeth, still blushing, watched as Nadine huffed and flew from the room. The young girl stood in the middle of the large room and shook her head once more. Her mind was far, far away dreaming of the dinner and what she would say and how she would act and what she would wear and how she would do here hair... Elizabeth decided that it would truly be better to stay out of any firing range for the remainder of the day and instead she dragged her loveseat awkwardly out onto her balcony and then settled down upon it, watching the hustle and bustle of the Narnian country side. At one particular point Elizabeth looked closer towards the South and the beginning of some small coastal towns to see a large grey cloud of smoke rise from the beach, followed by very, very faint cheering. Some Narnians from the city and surrounding forest made their way down towards it and Elizabeth finally realised it was a bonfire. Gasping in happiness she jumped up and ran for her travelling cloak, only to realise that she had already made other plans for that night, plans that couldn't be rescheduled. Instead, Elizabeth huffed and settled herself back onto the loveseat, watching the bonfire go on without her and rested her head on her knees.
Shortly after sunset Nigel sashayed into her room—without an invitation, she noted—and blocked her view over the fading greenery.
"Elizabeth," He drawled. "Dinner is being served with the royals very shortly. I have been told that you will be joining them."
"Yes, Nigel," Elizabeth muttered to the panther, "I will be."
"Well?" The panther asked after a pause.
"Well, I'm going," Elizabeth huffed, standing up from the couch and putting her cloak away. She started to make for the door.
"You're wearing that?" The panther asked suddenly. Elizabeth blushed darkly, and looked over at her shut trunk.
"What else should I wear?" She muttered.
"Well, anything really," Nigel drawled as he left the room. Elizabeth waited until he had turned the corridor's corner before slamming her door and ripping open her trunk. Elizabeth tore through her clothes, creating a large pile on her bed and only ended up more confused. She didn't know what on Earth she was supposed to wear around royalty. It wasn't like she strolled up to the Queen at home and enjoyed tea with her. Don't worry, she told herself, Nigel's wrong. You look perfectly fine in what you're wearing now. Elizabeth caught sight of herself in the mirror and was very unhappy with the way she look.
"They're your friends, remember!" She scolded herself. "You don't need to dress up for them." A knock sounded on her door. If she was going to change, she'd have to make the decision now. "Oh, um, just a minute!" She called towards the door.
"Okay," The girlish soprano of Lucy replied. Elizabeth quickly grabbed a light gold dress with silver patterns on it. It looked very majestic and Elizabeth thought that it would be a fine choice. She quickly stripped out of her dress and put on the gold one. She ran across to her door afterwards, swinging it wide open to see Lucy, and standing in the dress she had worn today. Elizabeth let out a puff of air; she could have worn the dress Nigel had disliked.
"Lucy, what are you doing here?" Elizabeth asked, quickly walking out into the hallway. She didn't want Lucy to see the mess on her bed.
"I thought we could walk down to dinner together. That dress is lovely!" Lucy explained, grabbing Elizabeth's hand. Elizabeth blushed and nodded.
"Thank you, and thanks for waiting, as well."
"It wasn't a problem," She sung. "So, what did you end up doing for the rest of the afternoon?"
"I relaxed in my room," Elizabeth admitted. There was a slight pause in the conversation. Elizabeth wasn't sure if she was supposed to have asked her back, or if she was supposed to have said something more eloquent. "The Narnians—" Elizabeth stammered, wanting to change the subject, "They're having a bonfire down on the beach. It looks like so much fun."
"Oh, it sounds like so much fun, too. Maybe Peter will let us watch it after dinner," Lucy suggested.
"Won't we be allowed to go down and join in?" Elizabeth asked. She wanted to experience Narnia properly, and she had thought that maybe there would be people there that she would know, or even befriend.
"Well, it would be very dark, and it would be wiser to stay up here and watch," Lucy reasoned. Elizabeth found herself scowling at the answer, but quickly composed her face before Lucy could turn around and see it.
"I guess so," She ended up whining. Lucy shot Elizabeth an incomprehensible look and started to hasten towards the end of the corridor. The two girls eventually made it down to the big hall after much small talk about Narnia and what it was like being a Queen. When the two entered the hall, Elizabeth glanced around to see that there was certainly less people in it than she had thought there would be. They must be at the bonfire, Elizabeth sulked, hiding her emotions from Lucy again. It appeared that only important military men and advisors and other stuffy people had turned up to the dinner; some fawns and a pair of minotaurs were making their way past the two girls and excited the castle's main doors. Elizabeth pouted at the heavy wooden doors, closing on her sunset and the excitement outside the castle walls. Lucy grasped Elizabeth's wrist and the two danced around the table to find their seats.
Peter, Susan and Edmund were already sitting regally at the end of the big banquet table. Peter had his head held up high and was smiling happily at the people still entering the ballroom. He was wearing a deep blue, Susan and Edmund sitting on his left, equally as regal as the oldest Pevensie, but both wearing substantially lighter colours than their brother. Susan gave a polite nod to Elizabeth as they sat down while Peter gave her his most stately smile. While she knew that these gestures were supposed to comfort her and greet her, Elizabeth felt more awkward by them. She gave a wobbly smile back. She was sitting next to Lucy and, she looked to her right, Nigel. Without meaning to, Elizabeth let out a noise of displeasure, only to receive a glare from the panther.
"I see you took my advice," He snapped.
"Yes, well. I suppose it was good advice," Elizabeth muttered distantly, trying to bury the deep feeling of dread and embarrassment swelling up in her stomach.
"It was, wasn't it? Perhaps, next time, you'd be able to manage to change shoes as well." Elizabeth blushed scarlet and surreptitiously glanced under the table to see that she still had her green and yellow slippers on, and they went horridly with her dress. Looking down to hide the tears welling up in her eyes, she tried to adjust her feet so the dress hid her shoes from everybody else. Nigel, noticing the scrunched up look on the face of the child sitting next to him huffed and rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, that dress suits you well enough to assure that no one was looking at your feet." Elizabeth's head shot up. Nigel had just insinuated that she was pretty. A smile slowly grew out from the corner of her mouth, her face relaxing once again. The dread in her stomach was now in competition with a buttery, bubbly feeling now trying to consume her being. The dread managed to get a decent advantage when Peter turned to her and spoke.
"So, Elizabeth," Elizabeth's head snapped around and Peter tried not to laugh at the girl's 'caught in the headlights' look. "I take it you're enjoying Narnia so far?" Elizabeth nodded violently, rattling her head to try and think of something appropriate to respond with. The pause was, obviously, too long and so the High King took over the conversation again. "Are you very interested with the politics here?"
"Not at all," Elizabeth snapped before she could think about her words or her tone. Her face went a deeper red. "I-what-that is-I-what that I meant to say, is that I dislike the boring—no, not boring. I just...I prefer the outdoors, is all." Elizabeth never wanted to speak ever again. She could see the plain amusement on Edmund and Peter's face and the plain dislike and shock on Susan's. Lucy and Nigel were both holding in giggles and chuckles respectively. She wanted to run. Elizabeth wanted to run up to her room, snatch a handful of clothes and just run far, far, far, far away from Cair Paravel, all the way to the very border of Narnia. Elizabeth bit down on her tongue and dug her fingernails into her palms scrunched up into her lap, willing herself not to just break down into tears right here and now. Edmund, starting to recognise the slight tightness of his friends neck, and the familiar pout she adorned right before the burst into hysterics, quickly mentioned something about chess and wanting to play a game after dinner. The attention of all who had heard Elizabeth's stammers immediately went to Edmund, and all agreed to watch the two kings verse each other in a round after dinner. She cries too much, Edmund thought snidely to himself, still trying to keep the attention off of his friend. And too easily. He kept an eye on her, but tried to steer all conversation from her in the meantime.
A few minutes after the main meal was served onto the table, Peter tried to converse with his siblings' friend again.
"So, you said you prefer the outdoors, Elizabeth. What else do you prefer?" He meant it kindly, but Elizabeth could only see his want to embarrass her by bringing up her blunder again.
"Oh, um," Elizabeth tried to answer but couldn't understand what he wanted to hear.
"Reading," Nigel hissed from besides her, annoyed at her hesitance.
"Reading," Elizabeth said, making an attempt at being bright and bubbly, like Lucy. She covered up her confusion and hesitation very well, she thought. "And I enjoy walking outside," She repeated what Nigel was muttering to her. "I'm also very good with colours, and helped establish parts of the castle before your arrival, your majesty." Nigel smiled proudly. She had delivered his sentences like a proper lady. Elizabeth, however, did not see this as she was still facing the royal family. The others were pleasantly surprised by her response and didn't notice Nigel's smirk. Susan, however, who was very interested in the panther as she had never really seen one before, not even in the London zoo, had been glancing at the panther for part of the night and had noticed how he hadn't been muttering to anyone in particular. Susan glanced at Nigel again and noticed his smirk.
For the rest of the dinner, Susan felt very hesitant. She was sure that Elizabeth was a lovely girl, and the other three liked her well enough, but she didn't really seem to...fit, here. Susan thought it might be better if the others had focused on their duties and had settled in first before making friends with this girl so that they could then do the same. It would be an awkward situation, trying to bring this up with her family, but Susan felt like it would be better for Narnia's foreign matters if they had perhaps let Elizabeth do her own thing. Susan couldn't say that she respected the girl, but if she was in Narnia, Aslan would have a reason that she was here. She decided on just tolerating the girl, but she wouldn't allow her to any functions if she couldn't control her tears. Susan had noticed the expression, Lucy had worn it often enough when she thought she had discovered Narnia in the professor's wardrobe, and didn't want the girl to be effecting the diplomacy of Narnia. Soon enough, dinner was over and the Pevensies, the council of advisors and some of the more important men were going to retire to the parlour down the corridor to observe the kings verse each other in their chess match. The royals rose up (with the rest of the hall, as was proper procedure) and began to get out of their chairs, getting ready to leave. Once the royals were a decent foot from their dining chairs, the important men followed their actions and then finally, the entire room was mingling about, having wine served to them all on gold platters. Edmund went over to Elizabeth immediately, a big grin on his face. Elizabeth smiled happily up at him and gave him a small wave.
"Come on, if we leave now you should be able to get the best seat to see me beat Peter," He suggested happily. Elizabeth didn't really feel like sitting in a room with strangers, watching anything. She really just felt like walking along the beach or hiding in her room. Nigel, however, continued to be the night's saviour.
"Unfortunately, your majesty, the lady Elizabeth has other business to attend to before she can attend the recreational activities of the evening," Nigel interrupted, bowing at the king.
"Really?" Edmund asked, put out by his friend's other plans. "What sort of business?" Elizabeth panicked. It was her meeting to discuss her travel plans with Quiron and such. Edmund didn't really know about her wish to travel, or how she had turned down the opportunity to stay at Cair.
"None of your business," She ended up snapping at him. He looked affronted, but Elizabeth couldn't apologise, because she knew that he's say something along the lines of, "I'll forgive only if you tell" and she didn't want him to know. Instead, she spun around on her feet and ran out of the room.
Edmund stared at his friend, hurt and confused. He was asking because he was curious, he wasn't trying to be nosy or anything. Fine, he thought moodily, she doesn't have to tell me. Edmund frowned and suddenly realised that Nigel was trying to gain his attention.
"I must apologise sincerely for the lady, your royal highness, she's been under quite a bit of pressure and was very nervous about the dinner tonight, as you might have gathered from her first attempt at speaking," Nigel droned. Edmund huffed and stormed away from the panther, making his way out of the hall as well and towards the parlour. There, he began to set up his chess set and snap at Elizabeth in his head. She didn't have to be rude. Or mean, he told himself. She's acting horridly, and that isn't my problem. I hope Nigel puts her in her place. She can't just waltz around and talk to people like she owns the place. I tried to help her at dinner, as well, and I didn't even get so much as a thank you from her, either. Edmund slumped down into a chair and glared at the little gold men ready to go into battle. He stared at them for so long that their shapes blurred and melded together so there was nothing but a collection of gold fuzz with a reflection of flames. Hearing loud voices, Edmund snapped out of his trance and looked immediately to the door. The white and golden wood swung open to relieve the loud laughter of the dinner guests as well as him family members. Everybody gathered around and found themselves a comfy seat before paying attention to the strategic game of the two brothers. Edmund shook his head, clearing away all thoughts of hiss infuriating friend.
Elizabeth had ran in the opposite direction than Edmund after running out of the hall. It had taken her a while to find the room she needed to be in, but eventually she made it to the war room. Standing casually against a table bending over a map was Quiron. Elizabeth immediately hugged the big, old centaur before remembering herself and taking a step back. Without waiting for an explanation or an apology, he started illustrating the route she would take on her travels.
"Here," He started, not glancing at Castor and Prometeo when they entered. "This is the most recent map of Narnia since the war," He began. "This is where we are now, Cair Paravel, and these are the surrounding countries." Quiron's hand circled the map pointing to places as he said their names.
"Seeing as it's spring now, and we don't want you dying of ice, we thought you'd take a northern route," Prometeo jumped in, happy to explain along with his father.
"You'll start here, and move north to some of the seashore towns along the coast before beginning to move east across the top of the country. You'll be travelling equally through the forest, dipping in further than others to see certain sights and to collect more supplies, and also along the bottom of the mountain," Castor stated, coming to join the other three around the strategy table. "Then, when you reach the east, you'll start travelling down south-south-west in an almost straight line, all the way down and out of the country."
"This is for one reason and that reason alone. It is extremely dangerous and I wouldn't want anyone visiting it if the need was not dire," Quiron boomed stoically. "The king," He sighed," has requested to meet you, and we agreed. It will be a short, very short, dignitary trip and you'll catch a ship from their port all the way back up to a town a few days from this very castle. It will be a most enjoyable trip, milady." Elizabeth had felt excitement and the lust for adventure course through her bones throughout the meeting and after hearing her route (especially the dangerous new country part) she felt as if she couldn't contain it. She wanted to sing and dance and yell, but Castor and Prometeo launched into explanations of supplies and protection. Once she heard that she needed to be taught how to horse ride and how to shoot and arrow from a bow, Elizabeth had tuned out from boredom. It took a few hours of what felt like meaningless chatter among friends for Elizabeth to fall asleep and have her head bang noisily on the hard table.
Elizabeth had lost her senses and was feeling perfectly warm before a sharp pain in her head made her snap to attention. She sat up and immediately grasped her head in both hands. Her friends sprung to attention, trying to discover whether she was alright or not but the young girl simply shooed them away, trying not to cry. She gentle lifted her head once they had left the room and had sat there managing her tears until she felt well enough to stand. After getting use to the sensation of a light head and walking while feeling extremely dizzy, Elizabeth began to walk out of the room. She quietly (with a hand against the wall to steady herself, not that she'd admit that to anyone ever) made her way back to her room. By the time she had gotten there, the castle's candles had all been blown out, so moodily and trying not to think of things that she was scared by in the daylight, she stripped herself of her fancy clothes, threw her shoes across the length of the room and collapsed onto her bed. It had not been a good day overall. First thing in the morning, Elizabeth decided, I'll go to Arion and ask him about teaching me how to ride.
I just want to share this with you guys quickly, but this story is now officially exactly one hundred Word pages long, making it my longest story ever and longer than anything I thought I could ever write! Thanks for the support and love of everyone!