the golden age

[deepest_magic]

When the party has died down, Isabella, for one, is well and truly exhausted. She explores the palace until she finds a room with a bed in it, and into this bed she flops, still in her clothes and holding her staff and carrying the cordial in her pocket. She sleeps late, because the party kept her up so late and she hadn't really slept the night before; but around noon, she stirs, and gets up, and goes looking for James and wherever her backpack may have got to. The backpack she finds in the great hall where the principal mass of the party was; some enterprising creature took both bags from the battlefield at Beruna up to the castle for them, and she only wishes she knew who it was. She takes her bag to her room and carries James's with her and continues looking for her friend.

Comments

[pythbox]

"What's a pin of knighthood?" he wonders.

[alicornucopia]

"I'm a Knight of the Order of the Lily - King James restored some old orders of knighthood," explains Starfall, showing off the pin where it's attached to one of her bags. "It lets me talk to her from anywhere as long as she's holding the - I don't think the object was ever properly named, but there's an object that can talk to all the pins."

[pythbox]

"Oh my goodness," he says. "You're a centaur from Narnia with a magic pin that talks to kings! I think that's the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me!"

[alicornucopia]

Starfall giggles. And addresses her pin. "Your majesty? I found a winged horse."

[neverbeatme]

"Did you now," says the pin. "That's interesting. Where does the winged horse live?"

[pythbox]

"Oh my goodness oh my goodness!" exclaims the winged horse, dancing excitedly in place. "Um, I live over there in those mountains! I guess the king probably can't see the mountains. But they're there, and I live in them!"

[alicornucopia]

Starfall describes her current location in terms of the last time she reported in, consulting her map-in-progress.

[neverbeatme]

"All right, I've found you on my magic map," James says after a moment. "And I can see the mountains on it too. How many winged horses are there in them?"

[pythbox]

"A hundred or so, I think," says the winged horse. "Is that a lot? It seems like a lot."

[neverbeatme]

"It's definitely more winged horses than we've found anywhere else. Up until now, I wasn't sure there still were any."

[pythbox]

"Oh. Well, there are us!" he says. "My name's Flit, I forgot to say! This is all very exciting! I should go tell everyone all about it, what should I tell them?"

[neverbeatme]

"You should tell them that the White Witch has been defeated, her creatures have fled, Narnia is prospering again, and the king invites them to send an envoy to Cair Paravel to see it all in person and talk to people and learn things."

[pythbox]

"Okay, I will!" he says. "Goodbye, exciting centaur! Goodbye, exciting king!"

And he leaps up into the air and - flits away, with surprising speed for such a large horse.

[alicornucopia]

"Do you want me to stay around here for the time being to give the envoy directions or lead them back to Cair Paravel myself, your majesty?" asks Starfall.

[neverbeatme]

"That would be very convenient, and I would appreciate it," she says.

[alicornucopia]

"Then I will," says Starfall. She proceeds to set up her camp right where she is so Flit will know where to find her.

[pythbox]

And several hours later, just as night is falling, Flit comes back. He lands next to Starfall's camp.

"Exciting centaur! I forget your name, I'm sorry! I told everybody about Narnia and things and they said I should go be an envoy because I'm adventurous!"

[alicornucopia]

"I'm Starfall," Starfall says. "I can lead you to Cair Paravel starting tomorrow, or I can just point you in the general direction if you'd rather fly."

[pythbox]

"I'd rather fly, I think! How far is it? Which way? How will I know when I get there?"

[alicornucopia]

"Cair Paravel is east-northeast of here and it's a big castle where the biggest river meets the sea. You can ask anyone, if you land within Narnia proper and find someone to ask."

[pythbox]

"Okay, thank you!" And he bounds into the air and starts flying east-northeast, because he is much too excited to go to sleep just yet.

[alicornucopia]

It's a very long trip; he won't get there in one evening.

[pythbox]

That's true. It takes him a few days. A very exciting few days, full of interesting new sights.

But at last he arrives, and lands near the castle, and looks around for any creatures who can tell him what to do next.

[deepest_magic]

Well, there is this teenage girl in a crown who is sitting under a tree out front of the castle while a dryad braids her hair and she writes in a notebook.

"Good morning!" she says. "Are you Flit? I am Queen Isabella."

[pythbox]

"I am Flit! Hello! What sort of a creature are you, besides a queen? You're not at all horselike! Very few creatures are at all horselike, it turns out."