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]

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

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

[alicornucopia]

Huh.

"Good afternoon," she says.

[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.

[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."

[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?"

[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."

[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?"

[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."

[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!"