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When I'm writing on a time limit, sometimes I just throw my hands up in the air and say "this is not what I was trying for, but at least it's finished."
Prompt: Contradict Yourself. Contronyms are words that are their own antonyms. Choose one from the list [on dailywritingtips] (or find one you like) and use both its meanings in your work. (I chose "give out")
"Close the door softly behind me," said Aravis Tarkheena, and fled into the night.
So Lasaraleen did—and then her knees gave out, and she promptly collapsed in front of the gate, shaking. It was some time before her heart stopped beating wildly and she could make her terrified way home alone, stumbling through the dark halls of the old palace, trembling like a leaf in fear that she would be caught. The next morning, she gave out to the slaves that she was ill and was not to be disturbed apart from meals, and spent the next three days in bed. If she caught them rolling their eyes, she pretended not to see it.
There were other things on her mind.
She had been very badly frightened. She was avoiding Kidrash Tarkaan, and the three men who had been in that room. And she was doing a lot of thinking.
That Aravis should be so set against Ahoshta that she would prefer death to marrying him—well, Aravis had always been strange. That Prince Rabadash should be so besotted with the barbarian queen that he should go off in mad pursuit of her—well, it was the way of men in love to be daring and reckless, as well she knew from her own courtship. That the Grand Vizier should be flattering or slyly ambitious by turns—well, such was the way of powerful men. That the nobles of Calormen earnestly desired to have Narnia as their own—well, that was only simple fact.
But knowing that the Tisroc she loved would order her dead in an instant, should he ever discover she had overheard him? That he cared no more for the life of his eldest son than one might care for last year's slippers? That the Grand Vizier should be complicit in this? That the first impulse of Rabadash himself had been to slaughter all the Narnian royalty besides his desired bride, before his rage had been tempered?
She had thought the Tisroc dear and kind. She had admired Ahoshta. She had adored Rabadash.
She did not think she would ever look at any of them the same way again. No, nor feel safe in their company.
And so Lasaraleen Tarkheena made a choice.
Being all taken up by clothes and beauty and gossip and parties and mad jokes may have made her silly, but it did not make her stupid. She had overheard one dangerous conversation. She might well overhear more in the future. She wished to conceal that she had ever heard any such things, but she had no desire to leave behind her fun, so she simply would not. She would continue on being herself, and perhaps be herself even more loudly than before.
Having decided thus, she rang the bell to summon a slave and demanded a lemon ice.
Years later, she would receive an invitation to assist at the Calormene-flavored wedding of "Lady Aravis of Calavar" to the crown prince of Archenland. She would be delighted to both stand as Aravis' trainwinder (and her groom's, an innovation on the Calormene ceremony that Lasaraleen found fascinating)...
...and to have a most stimulating discussion with Archenland's master of intelligence.
For after all, who would ever suspect such a silly girl of spying?