𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐃 | ❝Hope is good, Hope will never disgrace, but make no mistake, Hope will hit you in the face!❞
In which the Just King becomes betrothed to a princess from a neighboring kingdom, only to fall in love with the prin...
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THEY WALKED IN SILENCE, though the tension between them was unbearably loud.
Hope was insistent on ignoring the princess as much as she possibly could; however, she had somehow forgotten that Odette was the biggest blabbermouth on the planet. It was probably more difficult defying gravity than it was getting her to shut up. Every time Odette tried to speak, it resulted in more arguing. Over and over and over again, they bickered until Odette eventually realized it'd be in everyone's interests if she just kept her mouth shut.
The longer they hiked through Narnia, the more Hope questioned the note of advice Edmund once gave her a lifetime ago. She was certain Cair Paravel lied in the most eastern point of the kingdom, but which way was east again? Does the sun rise in the east and set in the west, or does it rise in the west and set in the east? Perhaps it was north? No... south? Oh, who knows! Who cares? Honestly, all Hope wanted to do was lay down and scream for an hour. Or ten.
Nonetheless, relief greeted her once the ground turned into an ocean of white. Grains of hot sand clustered together, subduing the dirt and grass. They'd arrived at the beach, so that must mean they'd been going in the right direction, after all. Now that they were near the Eastern Seas, locating Cair Paravel shouldn't be too difficult. As much as Hope didn't want to go back, it was their only other option. They were starving, exhausted, and their injuries probably needed further inspection by a professional.
A narrow cove escorted them toward the bay. An archway made of the earth stretched overhead, providing them with shade. The breeze shot through the opening, bringing chills down Odette's flushed skin. She sighed, weary from this morning's antics. She wasn't used to traveling this long, never mind on foot, with countless injuries, and on an empty stomach. The circumstances were far from ideal, to say the least. But for that moment, Odette allowed herself to relax. Her eyes fell shut as she walked forward, only to loudly gasp when she walked directly into Hope's back.
"Oof, hey!" Odette groaned, stumbling backward. "Why'd you stop walking?"
Hope's eyebrows were pinched together as she pointed to something in the sand. "Look."
Littered across the sand were crumbled up articles of clothing. They were tossed aside carelessly, falling in such a way that they created a direct pathway to the shoreline. Footprints were stamped in the sand, too. Odette only stared at the ground for a few seconds before irritably asking, "You stopped walking because of some clothes?"
Hope rolled her eyes. "Look at them. What Narnian or Wysterian would wear that?" she emphasized. "They look like they're from London."
She was right. The clothes looked like something she'd find in an advertisement for school uniforms. There were shoes, socks, a navy newsboy cap, and even a scarf with some sort of logo embroidered into it.
