queen of narnia

[charning]

Jadis is enraged. Aslan, back! Confirmed by the deputy of her own Maugrim, who died on the sword of the very child she thought she'd caught! Maugrim, dead. She paces. She comes too close to Winter for her liking on one of her passes through her throne room and rather than turn an instant before she means to she backhands him out of her way into the nearest wall. She paces and fumes and roars.

Finally she spins on her toe to face Winter, who may still be on the floor in his careless way but has surely recovered from the blow by now. "You," she says, "must go to the lion, and tell him that I desire safe conduct to treat with him on a matter of as much importance to him as to me. Go peacefully, I do not mind if you alarm the pitiful creatures who side with him but do not harm them while I seek parley. Do you understand, my Winter?" She bends to crook her first two fingers under his chin to turn his head up for frigid eye contact, inspecting him, thinking furious thoughts to which he's only an accessory. "I think the lion may be unnerved to see you. We will see."

Comments

[alicornucopia]

They reaaaally don't seem to want to talk directly to Winter.

[jackfrostbite]

"Are you going to be like this the whole way?" he inquires, not particularly expecting an answer.

[alicornucopia]

Such correct expectations. Gold star.

[jackfrostbite]

"It'll be a lonely trip, then," he says. "Lucky for me it's not much longer."

And there, indeed, is the castle. Not far to go.

[alicornucopia]

The leopards slow down, noticeably, in sight of the witch's house.

[charning]

But that doesn't matter, because she strides out to meet them. She looks expectantly at Winter.

[jackfrostbite]

He bows to her.

"Your majesty, the lion grants you safe conduct on the condition that you leave your wand behind at the great oak that stands between here and the Table, and he has sent these two easily intimidated leopards to watch and be sure that you do."

[charning]

...The leopards shift but don't say anything.

"Very well," says the queen, and she calls out a few servants who she will trust to guard her wand, scritches Winter's hair, and proceeds towards the hill. She sheds both wand and servants at the oak in question, and proceeds, with Winter and leopards, to the Stone Table.

[neverbeatme]

Meanwhile, back at the Table—

"Delaney Hammond, huh?" says James, sheathing her sword, as soon as she judges Winter well out of earshot. "Makes sense."

[deepest_magic]

"I guess if you aren't going to come back out again time has to keep going without you," muses Bella. "I wonder what happened to him, though?"

[neverbeatme]

"I'll just bet he came in and met the witch queen," says James. "And didn't have any friends for her to entice. So she did - that to him, instead."

[deepest_magic]

"And he still knows his old name but he doesn't like it. It's peculiar."

[neverbeatme]

"I'm not sure whether that reaction was offended dignity, or... something else," she says. "But my money's on something else, even if I don't know exactly what. And I definitely don't advise saying it to him again. I'm pretty sure he would've tried to kill you on the spot if he hadn't held back at the last second for the sake of diplomacy."

[deepest_magic]

"Oh, yeah, I'm not going to repeat the experiment."

[neverbeatme]

James smiles.

[deepest_magic]

"Your sword seems really helpful."

[neverbeatme]

"Yeah. It's sort of - compensating for the fact that I don't know how to use it, teaching me as I go along."

[deepest_magic]

"Oh, it's teaching you, too? Nice."

[neverbeatme]

"Yeah," she agrees. "It's a pretty great present."

[charning]

And then the Queen arrives.

She approaches Aslan quite steadily. (There is a chill in the air at her approach, though the wand is gone.)

"You have," she declares, "a traitor there, Aslan."

[jackfrostbite]

(Does he? That's interesting.)

[neverbeatme]

(Does he? Who?)

[deepest_magic]

(Huh?)

[alicornucopia]

"It is a tenuous accusation," says Aslan. "And her offense was not against you."

[charning]

"Have you forgotten the Deep Magic?" asks the Witch.