deepest_magic | the golden age

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

alicornucopia

Acorn nods and goes with her.

His oath is short and sincere and not particularly elegant, but the pin accepts it. He pins it to the strap of his cornucopia.

From:

neverbeatme

The pin is very bright and beautiful and official-looking.

"Welcome, Sir Acorn," says James.

From:

alicornucopia

Sir Acorn bows.

From:

neverbeatme

James nods to him. She has a very good regal nod, suitable for honouring valued subjects.

From:

alicornucopia

Sir Acorn is very impressed! He bows again and then runs off.

From:

neverbeatme

And James brings the staff of knighthood back to Cair Paravel with her. She likes to have it on hand at all times, so she can check up on her knights and give and receive important news.

From:

alicornucopia

In June of that year, the cartographer-knight centaur Starfall of the Order of the Lily advances farther overland to the southwest than anyone in regular touch with Narnia proper has previously ventured.

From:

pythbox

And there she finds a winged horse drinking from a stream.

He hasn't noticed her yet; he is busy slurping up water.

From:

alicornucopia

Huh.

"Good afternoon," she says.

From:

pythbox

He yelps and rears and flaps his wings in startlement, causing considerable disturbance to the water and nearby greenery.

"Oh my goodness!" he says. "You're a centaur! Are you a centaur? You look like a centaur. You don't have any wings, so you can't be a winged horse." Over the course of this somewhat confused pronouncement, he calms down enough to get all four hooves on the ground and his wings folded neatly on his back.

From:

alicornucopia

"...I am a centaur," agrees Starfall. "My name is Starfall. I'm on an errand for Their Majesties mapping the continent. I didn't know there were winged horses here, but that's the sort of thing I'm meant to learn."

From:

pythbox

"Oh. Well, there are!" he says. "Mostly up in the mountains, but we've been coming down more since the Long Winter ended and there's things growing down here and all. Who's Their Majesties? Are you from Narnia?"

From:

alicornucopia

"I am from Narnia!" says the centaur. "Their majesties King James and Queen Isabella were appointed to govern it by Aslan Himself when he was here defeating the White Witch."

From:

pythbox

"Oh my goodness," says the winged horse. "That's very exciting! I should go tell everyone! Do you want to come? Oh, but you can't fly. I don't know a good way up into the mountains by hoof. Well, are there more things to tell?"

From:

alicornucopia

"Well, I'm sure their majesties would be pleased to meet an envoy of your people," says the centaur. "I'm just here to make maps. I can see if King James is available to talk with my pin of knighthood, though? In case she wants to send a more detailed message."

From:

pythbox

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

From:

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."

From:

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!"

From:

alicornucopia

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

From:

neverbeatme

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

From:

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!"

From:

alicornucopia

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

From:

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?"