deepest_magic | the second occasion

deepest_magic

House. Wardrobe. Coats.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

neverbeatme

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

From:

charning

"Is that how you address a queen?"

From:

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."

From:

charning

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

From:

neverbeatme

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

From:

charning

"Explain."

From:

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."

From:

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."

Edited Date: 2014-06-21 06:27 pm (UTC)

From:

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."

From:

charning

"Not at all. Come along now."

From:

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.

From:

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.

From:

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.

From:

charning

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

Edited Date: 2014-06-21 06:39 pm (UTC)

From:

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."

Edited Date: 2014-06-21 06:55 pm (UTC)

From:

charning

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

From:

neverbeatme

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

From:

charning

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

From:

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.

From:

charning

"A faun! What is the faun's name? How unkind of him to leave you all alone lost in the woods."

From:

neverbeatme

"I didn't ask," she murmurs. Technically true. "I was really surprised. They don't have fauns where I'm from, just humans. But I guess things are different in magic forests."