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

[deepest_magic]

There is considerably more of that in the days that follow, sprinkled in with all their usual activities, behind closed doors; they do wind up telling Viridian the wardrobe-nymph, as well as the two senior housekeepers who'd be likeliest to stumble on them and Mr. Tumnus who is likeliest to need to explain their whereabouts, for convenience, but otherwise remain quite discreet.

[jackfrostbite]

Meanwhile, on the very outskirts of the kingdom, Winter is trying to kill himself.

He has tried throwing himself on a bonfire (his meltwater put it out) and beheading himself (it grew back) and putting a sword through his heart (it fell out, after an unknown amount of time spent frozen, dreaming vague frosted dreams). He has tried drinking molten lead (the worst part was cutting it out of his stomach after it cooled) and impaling himself on a fixed vertical spike, in case gravity helped keep it in place (evidently it didn't help enough), and crushing himself under the biggest rock he could arrange (he spent a long, long time being very, very uncomfortable until his successive icy healings produced a pile of crushed ice uneven enough for the boulder to roll off). Around the turn of the year, he tries building an oven and shutting himself inside, reasoning that at least this way his meltwater won't put out the fire. It drowned him instead, which didn't work either. After about a day, he gave up and climbed out.

He still gets thirsty. Perhaps he could die of that.

So he finds himself a remote little cave, as dry as possible, and curls up inside and resolutely does not go out to find snow to eat or water to drink.

[alicornucopia]

He is quite alone there for a rather long time.

Until a rat in boots and a knitted tail-cover scurries in to seek shelter from the first storm of February.

Winter might recognize this rat.

[jackfrostbite]

...Winter does recognize this rat. Winter wishes he didn't recognize this rat. Winter wishes the rat had found a different damn cave.

[alicornucopia]

"Eternal Winter," breathes the rat, almost reverently.

[jackfrostbite]

"Bristle," says Winter. It comes out hoarser than he means it to.

[alicornucopia]

"What are you doing here? How have you not already found - well, it doesn't matter - come with me! There are more of us, we are regrouping!"

[jackfrostbite]

He hesitates.

He doesn't really want to—there's nothing left for him among Jadis's creatures, without Jadis—but no, there is one thing. Jadis's creatures will speak to him. Jadis's creatures will not flee him in terror or turn him over to the Aslan-blessed human rulers of Narnia.



"Lead me there," he says at last.

[alicornucopia]

"It's this way," says Bristle. "Perhaps you could carry me - I was only ducking into the cave for a bit of a rest."

[jackfrostbite]

"Very well," he says, smiling slightly despite himself. He scoops up the rat.

[alicornucopia]

The rat sits quite contently in his hands and points out the path to where the rest of the remaining Witch's creatures are gathering.

[jackfrostbite]

It's such an incredible relief to be among creatures again, any creatures, that he almost doesn't mind which creatures they are.

[alicornucopia]

The creatures are all very glad to see him and flock around him like he's a flag. They have barely-there and not-even-slightly-consistent plans for an assault on Cair Paravel, which they are more than happy to share with Winter.

[jackfrostbite]

He is drawn into the conversation, corrects some blatant foolishness, organizes them a little better, listens to everything they tell him about Narnia's restoration and the King and Queen who rule it. He doesn't really mean to encourage them like this, but... he can imagine what they would be like if he said he'd really rather get back to killing himself.

[alicornucopia]

Certainly they would not be nearly as pleased as they are now.

[jackfrostbite]

Indeed not.

While he's here... he inquires if there are any smiths among them, and if such a smith might be willing to make him something, just for his personal amusement.

[alicornucopia]

There are dwarves! They don't have access to a proper forge under the circumstances, but could possibly make something rough and simple.

[jackfrostbite]

That should be fine. He describes what he wants, leaving out its intended use. Let them think he plans gruesome torture. It's the natural thing to think, when Eternal Winter asks you to build a sort of little open cage with a strong metal spike through the middle, never mentioning that the measurements he requests and the unusual design of the lock are all so that he will be able to lock it in place with the spike through his own heart. Perhaps that will be suitably permanent.

[alicornucopia]

The dwarves agree, none too clear on the current dimensions of either the King or the Queen, and get to work on his request while the other creatures solicit his assistance in their plan of attack.

[jackfrostbite]

He gives it. Reluctantly, but he gives it. It is foolish to attack Cair Paravel in the first place, but if they are determined to do it, they may as well do it as directly as possible from the most advantageous position he can suggest, and get there along a route that will offer minimal delays and minimal chance to be spotted too early.

In hardly a day, the plan takes shape. Over the course of a few more, he gets them moving, sending the most careful and stealthy scouts ahead to check their path.

And he appoints Bristle leader - because, he explains, he has a secret errand to run. He does not expect it to take very long, but he can't put it off another day. If he has not returned by the time they arrive, they must go ahead without him.

He takes the smiths' contraption with him when he goes.

[alicornucopia]

Well then.

They will go on ahead.

[jackfrostbite]

And Winter—will abandon them, to find somewhere even more remote to see if this time he can finally die. Probably they'll all be killed or captured. Probably a lot of creatures will die or be hurt. But he can't really think of a way to avoid that. And he would rather go back to failing at suicide than stay with these creatures who expect things from him that he doesn't want to give - who expect him to be someone he's not sure he is anymore. It's been painfully obvious since Bristle first showed him to their camp. He can't keep on like this, not even if these are the only creatures in all the world he can keep company with.

[alicornucopia]

The creatures wait until the appointed time, and then, obedient to Winter's instructions, proceed in his absence.

[pythbox]

High above, a mere speck in the sky at this distance, Flit is out for an afternoon flight.

He circles closer, curious about this odd arrangement of creatures.

[alicornucopia]

There are some dwarves, and some dryads, and a variety of animals - rats, wolves, one vulture - a small but definitely unpromising assortment of creatures.