the second occasion

[deepest_magic]

House. Wardrobe. Coats.

Comments

[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.

[charning]

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

[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."

[charning]

"Did you tell the faun that you are a human, too?"

[neverbeatme]

"I think so. He asked me if I was a daughter of Eve and I didn't know what he meant. My mom's name was Samantha."

[charning]

"Did you meet him near here?"

[neverbeatme]

"I think so."

[charning]

"How interesting. Back in your country full of humans do you have any brothers or sisters or little friends your own age, I wonder?"

[neverbeatme]

"I know some kids my own age. Not a lot, because I live in a little town. I don't have any brothers or sisters."

[charning]

"I would very much like to meet your friends. You could bring them all to my palace, and there would be feasting and dancing and such excitement over the Daughters of Eve and Sons of Adam."

[neverbeatme]

"I'm sure they'd be very impressed by all that," she says. "I bet lots of kids would be excited to meet a real queen and go dancing in a real castle. It sounds amazing."

[charning]

"I would imagine so! Will you invite them for me? I can tell you where my home is."

[neverbeatme]

"Yes, please, your majesty," she says, carefully ambiguous.

[charning]

"Look, that way, you can see two hills rising above the trees. My house is just between the two. You should bring your friends, as many as you can convince - it's no good coming alone, but if you bring a few other little girls and boys with you I shall make you a Princess and your friends can be dukes and duchesses. Would you like that?"