Alliance

Chapter 38- Officium

Officium

Latin

Duty

-

but as for me,

Eros leaves me no time for resting

and,

bursting with the fires of lightning

-

Susan's blood ran cold as she read the letter.

'To the most respectable and dearest of Queens,

I, Prince Rabadash of Calormen, write this letter with the singular intent of inviting her Majesty Susan of Narnia, to a stay at our palace in Tashbaan. My sincerest hopes that the unfortunate matter with your respected sister-in-law, the High Queen of Rihaaya, has been forgotten or dealt with, and that your feelings towards my personage is as strong as ever. And, perhaps, you have even given some thought to my proposal all those years ago? A man cannot wait forever, after all.

I crave that the letter replying to this has an acceptance of my benevolent invite. If it does not have so- well, that would be extremely rude and discourteous, wouldn't you say? Certainly not the kind of behaviour one should show to their allies- and we are allies, remember.

Yours most devotedly,

Rabadash'

She had hoped he had forgotten. There had been virtually no contact between Rabadash and she since he had been driven out of Cair, and she was extremely grateful for that. She didn't ever want to see him again.

But she knew that she had to accept the invitation. She had to. She knew that her entire family would say 'no', and they would be right in not wanting her to go to that- to that vile abuser's house, but she had to accept. They couldn't invite a war into Narnia- not now, not when the Giants situation was back to being precarious and explosive again. For Narnia, she had to accept.

And for Narnia, she had to send her reply before telling her family.

Sighing, feeling deeply troubled and horribly anticipating, Susan sat at her desk and dipped her quill in ink.

--

"I have something to tell everyone."

Lucy looked up at her sister's worried face, and asked, before their brothers could make a joke, "What is it, Su?"

Susan took a deep breath. Oh, she just knew she would be yelled at for this, even though she was doing it for their own good.

"I'm going to Calormen."

And she wished she could take Toni with her, but she knew Toni wouldn't want to go- and besides, no one knew about Toni and she's affiliation. Three years almost, and they had yet to be found out. It was rather impressive, was it not?
She yearned to tell her family sometimes. But she feared, too. Partly because she was not sure what she would say.

"Absolutely not."

"No, Susan!"

"I'll lock you in your room."

"Why?"

Edmund, Lucy, and Peter stared at Sanya in consternation.

"Why?" Peter, who had threatened her with the room lock-up, asked incredulously. "Why does it matter why?"