Sorry for the delay, everyone: exams etc. I'm sort of focusing on my original writing at the moment, so updates will probably be about once every two months or so. Anyway, hope you enjoy this.

A Letter

"What is going on?" Aravis rushed out of her room and Cor mentally checked her off his list. She was safe, not in the mountains.

"Have you seen my brother today?" he said. "Since we last spoke."

"No, why?" Her gaze travelled the length of his muddy clothes. "Shasta, you look awful. What's happened?"

He ignored her and rapped his knuckles against the door again.

"Corin, I swear if you do not come out right now, I will have this door forced open."

The door remained firmly shut. Cor smashed his shoulder into it, as though it could work as a battering ram, but the sharp pain that stabbed through his muscles as his body collided with the door said otherwise.

"Whoa, hey," Aravis grabbed his elbow. "What are you playing at Shasta?"

He looked up at her, eyes frantic. Then he realised "I have the keys." He slapped a hand to his forehead.

Of course he had the keys. He was the highest ranking person in the castle, now that his father was gone. His eyes stung, but he ignored it and yanked the keyring off his belt. Selecting each key methodically, he tried them in the lock. The fifth one was good and the lock clicked open.

Cor registered a few things as he pushed back the door to his brother's room. The first was the tidiness – it looked like someone had meticulously put every item in the room its place. Even the painting of the Winding Arrow by the window had been set straight. Cor's stomach churned.

He moved around the door to get a look at the bed and the worst possible sight greeted him. A carefully made set of sheets and no Corin. Cor's knees gave out under him and he stumbled towards the bed. Aravis caught him, propping him up so he didn't smash his face into the floor.

He tried to wave her away and moved towards the bed, slumping onto the mattress. As he sat, a crinkling sound, like paper being bent out of shape, reached his ears. A piece of parchment stuck out from under him.

"What's that?" asked Aravis.

Cor extracted the paper, heart beating too fast, and unfolded it. Text in black ink. Even, without reading it, Cor recognised the messy scrawls from his tutoring. This was his brother's hand, but Corin was no great writer. He had never kept journals the way Cor had and had even mocked him on occasion when he found them. Cor's eyes strayed to Aravis, then back to the paper.

Dear Cor, read the first line.

"Shasta, what's going on?" said Aravis.

"It's a letter," said Cor, but instead of answering her questions further, he read the text.

I have gone travelling. I want to find myself again and I don't think I can do that here, because I no longer feel like I fit. At first, I had intended to ask your permission, but I know you wouldn't have allowed me to leave, so I have written you this and hope it finds you before you become too worried.

Yours,

Corin

Cor turned the paper over, hoping for more, but that was it. Just a few lines. To the point. Aravis flopped down on the bed next to him, trying to read over his shoulder.

"What is it?" she asked and he handed the letter to her, unable to look her in the eyes.

She scanned the lines a few times, tugging at a strand of her hair. Cor still couldn't bring himself to look at her, instead scrutinising the folds in his brother's bedcovers as though Corin would rise up from them at any moment.

Aravis placed a warm hand on his shoulder and stroked his back and he almost leant his head against her shoulder, but...'Sooner or later you'll decide to fall in love, and then I'll be left behind.'

Ashamed of his thoughts and desires, Cor shrugged Aravis' hand away, but couldn't face her when he did, for fear that her expression might puncture his heart further.

"What do I do?" he asked, at last.

"I don't know," said Aravis. She rested her hand in her lap, as though the words in the letter were heavy.

"I can't just let him leave like this," said Cor.

"He's already gone."

Cor shook his head, blonde hair ruffling.

"No," he said, getting to his feet. "No, I won't let him leave like this. I have to find him."

"How?" said Aravis, also getting to her feet so that she faced him.

"I'll…" Cor floundered, glancing around at the spotless room and the painting of the Winding Arrow. "A search party. I'll order a search party."

He nodded vigorously to himself and hurried out of the door. Aravis chased after him as he took the stairs two at a time.

"Shasta, you're not thinking straight," she said, slightly out of breath. "Do you think he wants you to send a search party out after him?"

"Of course, he does," said Cor. "He just wants to see that I care about him."

"Then why did he leave in the middle of the night?"

Cor skidded to a halt at the bottom of the stairs, and she nearly crashed into him.

"He wants me to love him," said Cor, spinning around, muscles tensing, preparing for an argument. "He doesn't want me to leave him behind."

"And yet he's left you behind," said Aravis. "If he wants his freedom, let him have it. Let him go out into the world and travel a bit. There's no harm in it. He'll come back when he's ready."

"Aravis," said Cor, as calmly as he could. "I am ordering a search party."

"No." She gripped his arm. "Don't be so block-headed, Shasta."

Cor's cheeks flushed and he pulled his arm away. "It's your fault," he said.

"Excuse me?"

"It's your fault he ran away," said Cor. "He thinks there's no place for him with me, because of you."

"Because of me?" Her eyebrows cinched together. "How dare you? Need I remind you, Cor, that I knew you first. Don't try to blame me for your brother's behaviour, hell for your own behaviour."

She spun on her heels and marched back up the stairs, avoiding his hand, when he tried to catch her arm. A pit opened in his chest, a cruel emptiness that sucked away the anger shielding his heart.

"Aravis..."

He moved up onto the first step, not sure what to do. Before he could decide, Aravis had reached the first floor and spun back to him.

"What?" she said.

But his mouth was as dry as the desert north of Calormen and the words wouldn't come. His emotions all tried to get out at once and they got stuck. Anger, frustration, sadness, desperation. He gulped.

"You know," she said, fists clenched. "I'm beginning to think Corin had the right idea."

Cor winced, but she didn't see. She turned around and retreated down the first-floor corridor, curly hair bouncing furiously to the quick pace of her footsteps, until she disappeared completely from sight.

Cor just stared after her, heart contracting, body numb. What in the lion's name was he doing? Corin had run away and now he'd be lucky if Aravis spoke to him for another fortnight. The pit in his chest grew larger.

Even though he didn't want to think about Aravis' words, they swirled in his mind. Maybe he should just let Corin go travelling. Cor clenched his fist. How could his brother desert him like this, when Cor needed him most?

Maybe Aravis was right. If Corin wanted to be selfish and abandon them at a politically precarious time, then so be it. Snowy mountains flashed in front of his eyes and although he shook his head, he knew he couldn't ignore it. He needed to send out a search party. No matter how annoyed he was at his brother, he didn't know what kind of danger Corin was heading for.

Cor rushed down the steps and out of the front door. He would have turned straight towards the stables, but a horse came into view on the path beyond the entrance to the courtyard. The rider wore a long robe in the colours of Archenland, even though his trousers suggested a Calormene.

It took Cor a few moments to place the round face and red cheeks – Archenland's Calormene ambassador, but he wasn't expected to return from Tashbaan so soon, particularly not at an important time like this, when Archenland needed to cement its friendships again.

This was a really tough chapter to write, so please let me know if you see any room for improvement. I don't know if I'm entirely happy with it, but I've kept you all waiting for so long, I thought I ought to post it.