"𝐈 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐰,
𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭."
━━ 𝐍𝐎𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐏𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐘 • In which Telmarines and Narnians finally live amongst each other in peace. Except for...
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• C H A P T E R • F O U R • A FISHERMAN'S DAUGHTER, A KING'S SON
"I'VE NEVER SEEN A map in such bad shape as this one."
A chorus of collective sighs was the only thing in response to the statement they had somehow all expected from the only woman in their midst. They came from the most important male figures present at Cair Paravel, men and creatures that made up the Narnian government, different in most aspects, but all very much annoyed to no ends by the Telmarine who claimed to know a great deal about seafaring.
"Lora," came the stern voice of King Caspian, the only one who hadn't given in to her tactics yet. "You're drifting again."
The smirk that was thrown his way caused them all to roll their eyes at her. Even the Narnians with whom she had developed an understanding over the past few days were beginning to tire of her neverending commentary and unwavering stubbornness. Trufflehunter sat slumped down on his chair, Reepicheep was shaking his head at her and even Doctor Cornelius had taken his round glasses of his nose to rub his face.
"I'm just saying," the thief shrugged her shoulders, biting back another smile as she challenged his serious gaze, "you could be more considerate of where you're putting these."
"Please enough of this already," sighed Drinian from where he stood at the table. He was rubbing his hand over his -bald, Lora liked to emphasize daily-forehead, an annoyed look on his face. "We've been sitting here for two hours, trying to get you to tell us something useful." He gestured with his hand over the map. "And all you've done is blabber on about old maps, mermaids and your room."
"Hmm," she mused in between his frustrated remarks, "maps and mermaids are just the topics I thought you would like. And my room-" she shot Caspian an unamused side eye. "Can you blame me? It is really dirty in there. You would complain too if you were never allowed to leave it outside of these boring meetings."
"Who are you calling boring?" Reepicheep mused from the sideline, just when things were getting off track again, causing the whole room to start arguing with her again.
Meanwhile Caspian was pinching the bridge of his nose. He, like everyone else, was well aware of Lora's ability to sidestep real issues. She'd been avoiding their questions all afternoon, like she had been doing all week. And perhaps he had deserved it. After all, she was right. Not about the mermaids, or the dirty room-he was certain that it was cleaned thoroughly most days and she'd be the one responsible if it was 'filthy'-but about the fact he was only letting her out whenever they were having a counsil meeting.
She detested it. Hiding behind smart comments and joking around she made it appear to be all a big part of her plan, but Caspian had seen what happened each time he'd escort her to the tower. Her smirk faltered and her remarks lessened with each step.
The worst part of it all was locking the door behind her.
Caspian had heard enough of her big talks to know they were just that, talk. Each time he had escorted her back to her temporary room-which hadn't been all too often seeing his guards and friends were being rather careful-he had watched how a flicker of panic infiltrated those fiery eyes.
