the second occasion

[deepest_magic]

House. Wardrobe. Coats.

Comments

[neverbeatme]

This time, she is here to verify that something is going on with that wardrobe. So she came prepared.

She has a backpack with some snacks in it, because hopefully she won't run into Tumnus again but she still plans to stay in Narnia for a while. She has three watches - one to leave behind and two to take along, digital and proper clockwork in case Narnia disagrees with the digital one. You never know. If she'd found a second clockwork one, she'd be leaving that behind too, just in case. In case the time difference runs the other way on this trip, she makes sure to tell Chris when she leaves, and specify that she's going to have a look at that old abandoned house; when she sets the extra watch on the floor in front of the wardrobe, she tucks a note under it explaining that she thinks there might be a secret passage in the back of the wardrobe and that is where she went if anyone comes looking. This at least adds up to a reasonable chance that somebody might find their way into Narnia after her if she's gone for too long.

In she goes, taking one of the shorter coats with her. It has an unpleasant dusty smell and the wool is slightly scratchy, but fits her without dragging on the ground, and the sleeves aren't too long but there's pockets to tuck her hands into if they get cold.

Coats, coats, coats, coats... trees and snow.

Now to check her watch - the clockwork one is ticking along normally, good - and sit under a tree and wait for a good hour or so. Better do it away from the lamp-post; it would be too easy for someone to find her there. She makes sure to pay close attention to where she's going, so she won't get lost on the way back.

[charning]

After she has been sitting for a while -

there comes a sleigh.

The person on the sleigh notices her at once.

"Stop!" she calls to the dwarf driving it for her, and the dwarf stops the reindeer.

And the extremely tall woman on the sleigh peers down at Elizabeth.

[neverbeatme]

Elizabeth looks up at the woman curiously from her cozy spot next to a snow-laden pine.

(Crap.)

[charning]

"And what, pray tell, might you be?"

[neverbeatme]

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you mean," she says politely.

[charning]

"What are you? Are you a human?"

[neverbeatme]

"Um, yes," she says. "Am I not supposed to be?"

[charning]

"Is that how you address a queen?"

[neverbeatme]

"It is when I'm confused and don't know that you're a queen," she says. "I'm sorry, your majesty, I didn't mean to be rude."

[charning]

The queen snorts. "And how did you come to enter my domain?"

[neverbeatme]

"That's one of the things I'm confused about," she says.

[charning]

"Explain."

[neverbeatme]

"Well, I was in an abandoned house and it was summer, and now I'm in a forest and it's winter," she says. "I didn't know that was a thing that could happen."

[charning]

"Hmmmm," says the Queen, and then she smiles a little. "You have a coat, but are you quite warm? If you will come up here I will give you something hot to drink."

[neverbeatme]

"I'm... a little chilly," she concedes. "But I'm okay. I wouldn't want to impose, with you being a queen and all. You probably have lots to do that's more important than me."

[charning]

"Not at all. Come along now."

[neverbeatme]

Damn.

"Okay," she says doubtfully. She gets up and brushes snow off her coat, and considers bolting, and decides the risks outweigh the benefits. Up she goes.

[charning]

The queen wraps a corner of her fur around James and tips a bit of liquid into the snow; it turns into a chalice full of some steaming liquid, which the dwarf fetches up to Elizabeth with a bow.

[neverbeatme]

"Thank you," she says, sounding slightly startled.

There is no opportunity to avoid drinking the drink. But - as far as she can tell, going on limited information, it would be more dangerous not to. So she sips it tentatively.

[charning]

"You're welcome, child. Were you lost before I found you?"

[neverbeatme]

"A little," she says. "I know where I am and where I came from, but I don't really know where anything else is."

[charning]

"And you have met no one but me here?"

[neverbeatme]

"Well, there's him," she says, indicating the dwarf.

[charning]

The queen laughs, not particularly genuinely. "And no one else?"

[neverbeatme]

If she keeps dodging, it's going to be obvious that she has something to hide.

She - tries to shake her head and say 'no'.

What comes out instead is, "Just a faun."

It feels and sounds like a reasonable thing to say. If she wasn't paying attention, if she was letting herself be swayed by the warm sleepy feelings induced by the magic drink, she might not even notice. But it is definitely not what she meant to say - the opposite, in fact: it's what she meant to hide.

Elizabeth rapidly reevaluates her policy on dodging vs. lying. And does her very best to continue looking warm and sleepy and unalarmed.