chatelaine of cair paravel

[charning]

In the wood, near but not too near the Lantern, drives a sledge, drawn by a reindeer under the whip of a Dwarf, and carrying a woman, of sorts. She is taller, and paler, and somehow - grander, more terrible, colder even than the deep winter through which she rides. The furs are decorative; she wears nothing over her ears, which, were she human, would spell frostbite given how long she has been on this ride.

The harness-bells jingle tinnily.

Comments

[alicornucopia]

"I have never seen a confection like what you were eating before today," says the Specter.

The Badger sobs quietly.

[pythbox]

"Guess I'll have to ask the queen, then," he says serenely.

[alicornucopia]

The Specter nods, relaxing.

"Son of Adam," says the Unicorn. "As you value your life - you must fly from this place -"

The specter reaches in the unicorn's direction, and does no visible thing, but the Unicorn screams softly and falls silent, backing away as far as her chains allow.

[pythbox]

"Ooh, what was that?" says Winter.

[alicornucopia]

"I am not most often a giver of tours," says the specter mysteriously, and he leads Winter out of the dungeon.

The Badger sobs some more.

[pythbox]

"No, really, what'd you do?" says Winter, tagging along with a grin like sun on snow.

[alicornucopia]

"Only a little nightmare," the specter says modestly.

[pythbox]

"Nice," says Winter. "So is that your job? Nightmare people until they do what Jadis wants?"

He seems very impressed by this!

[alicornucopia]

"Occasionally. I have also seen use as a spy," the specter adds. "Being insubstantial helps. Her Majesty finds me useful."

[pythbox]

"I bet!" says Winter, gazing at him admiringly.

[alicornucopia]

The Specter smiles. "I am called Wisp," he adds.

[pythbox]

"Nice to meetcha, Wisp," says Winter. "I'm Winter, but I guess you heard."

[alicornucopia]

"Yes. Her Majesty must favor you to call you that."

[pythbox]

"Guess she does!" he agrees. "Think that means she'll give me more jellybeans?"

[alicornucopia]

"Possibly. Or she may dispense them only as a reward when you have done things she particularly approves."

[pythbox]

Winter giggles.

[charning]

It turns out that jellybeans are dispensed partly according to random whim, but mostly as rewards - never as a whole jar all at once, but handsful and occasionally only one or two at a time, if his teachers (ogres, wolves, dwarves, all manner of vicious beasts teaching him to kill, occasionally on live captives) praise his quickness with a knife, or if he says something that amuses her over dinner, or if she finds his smile particularly charming.

Jadis treats him much like a useful, working pet - her sheepdog, or perhaps her hunting falcon. When she is present with him at her side he does not have such a thing as personal space; she arranges him for her comfort as readily as she arranges her own limbs, and sometimes hand-feeds him the jellybeans.

[pythbox]

He eats up the jellybeans and drinks in the lessons and kills on command and laughs at strange moments and purrs like a kitten when she touches him.

And he develops a habit of wandering into the treasure room and touching the magical barrier.

[charning]

That is quite all right. He will never get through it; his recreation is his business. The other minions will tease him about it - and will also tease him if he solicits nightmares from the specter or anything of that nature - but they are conscious of his favored status and mostly note it quietly for later rather than making a scene about it.

He has been in her service for a year, and managed to kill a number of creatures for her who have been informed on by the Secret Police but proved too inconvenient to haul to the castle for stoning, when she says:

"Winter, I should like to retain you for a good bit longer, and Sons of Adam are so ephemeral, so I should like it if you would go to a place which I will describe for you, and go into it, and take an apple and eat it, and then I can keep you as long as I please."

And she calls for a map, and indicates the path to a certain garden.

[pythbox]

"Okay," he says cheerfully. "Wow, that's a long way off. When do I start?"

[charning]

"Today," she says. "And it is quite a long way, so bring whatever companion you like, except for the core of my Guard, who I will need here, and ensure that you pack well for it. I would give you a few jelly beans to content you on your way, but you would only eat them all at once, so instead I will give you a large number when you come back, and that will have to do."

[pythbox]

Winter laughs. "It's a deal, your majesty."

[charning]

"There may be some writing around the garden," she adds, almost as an afterthought. "Don't trouble yourself about it. I have eaten one of the apples myself."

[pythbox]

"Okay," he says, grinning up at her. (The difference in height between them has shrunk in the past year; he comes all the way up to her shoulder now, a little more when his hair is running particularly wild.)

[charning]

She smooths said hair and plants a chilly kiss on his forehead. "Go, prepare for your journey, and you will be back all the sooner, and be my eternal Winter."