"Ettinsmoor? Is that what we're calling it now?" Imira asked.
"Better than 'the northern lands the Ettins inhabit' don't you think?" Peter asked in return.
"I suppose it's catchy," she agreed. "So what do we do now?"
Peter looked around the room...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Following his disastrous conversation with his brother, Dean decided he had to take matters into his own hands.
He thought things through before going to sleep and he though things again when he woke up. It was a difficult decision, but he couldn't return to Datram empty-handed.
"Brother, come join us," Darren said cheerfully. He was having breakfast with Danielle's parents.
Of all the odd things Darren had been doing since last he saw Dean, this was by far the strangest. At least to Dean's eyes. He had never EVER seen his brother having breakfast with the parents of a girl he was seeing. Luckily, Dean was great at controlling his expressions.
Danielle's parents stood up and her father turned to greet him.
"Your Highness, we have heard so much about you. It is so good to finally meet you,"
Dean glanced at them and nodded. "I'm sure it is," he said a bit curtly and then turned back at Darren. "A word, brother,"
"Anything you need to say, you can say it here," Darren said, much to his brother's annoyance.
"Have you broken up with her yet?" Dean asked in old Narnian, a pretty much dead language only he and his cousins spoke anymore.
"No," Darren replied, slightly amused by his brother's witty tactic. "And I won't, so why don't you drop it and come meet her parents,"
Dean approached the table, glanced at them for a second, and reached for an apple. "Not likely," Dean said, taking a bite. "You've got one last chance, brother. I'm going back to Datram, and I am going to give you one more chance to do what's right. If by the time I get there you haven't broken things up, it's going to be James who comes knocking next time," he threw the apple at Darren, who caught it easily. "And he doesn't ask," He placed his hands behind his back and strolled out after sparing Danielle's parents one last look.
"Send him my regards," Darren called out, always wanting to have the last word.
Oh, but leaving wasn't Dean's plan.
"If you're not going to fix this," Dean said to himself, "Then I will. With or without you,"
He had come to Narnia to fulfil a purpose and nothing and no one was going to stop him from fulfilling it. Not even Darren.
No, he had to take matters into his own hands. However, for that, he needed help.
He didn't wish to do it, but he felt like he had to. If taking had failed, then other measures would need to be taken. There weren't many he knew and trusted in Narnia that would endorse his plan, and with his cousin gone, there was only one person he could turn to.
"Forgive me, Your Highness, but this... this is mental," Lord Stryder said.
"Unusual, yes," Dean said. "Drastic? yes. But mental?" he shook his head. "Mental is Darren going through with it. Do you know what he said to me back in Datram?" he waited a second before answering his own question. "He said he was tired of her and that he was going to end things in order to pursue other women. He said she had gotten too clingy and needy and that it was hardy fun anymore. He said he had started finding her annoying. Am I suppose to think he changed his mind as soon as he got here and decided he's going to wed her? Now that is mental,"
