Disclaimer: I own only the suitors. Obviously.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, and thanks for everyone's enthusiastic reviews; I've been busy on an original story of mine, not to mention schoolwork. I won't promise that I'll get another chapter up fast, but I will try.

It was growing late. The watchman from the eastern tower called out the late hour, and the party began to dwindle. When the guests from other parts of Narnia—fauns, dryads, centaurs and unicorns—had paid their respect to their lord and king and gone their way, Peter escorted Prince Falan to his room. Edmund was left to take care of the two young ladies.

Don't bother to ask me whether or not it was out of pure cruelty that the Just put them in the same room: I simply couldn't say. He just did, and we'll leave it at that.

As he led them down a long passageway to their room, he noted that they were abnormally quiet. He put this down as the fact that they were probably being choked by their conflicting perfumes. With some misgivings he showed them into a beautiful, airy room with windows that faced East, hoping against hope that the women wouldn't stay long enough to leave their scent. "My elder sister's room," he explained.

"Where will she sleep?" Vindora asked. Not that she really cared, but at least she made a pretence of being polite.

Not to be outdone, Delphina ground her thin, high heel into the Calormene's toe and repeated in a higher pitched voice, "Yes, where will she sleep?"

"Oh, she sleeps in the stables most nights."

"Oh." That was Delphina.

"She does what?!" That was Vindora.

Edmund shrugs. "Sleeps on the barn floor. Says it's more comfortable there. Is there something wrong with that?"

"Um…yes!" Lady Delphina.

"Wrong?!" Lady Vindora. "How-how-barbarian!" And she ran out of the room to tell her brother all about it.

"Sister?"

Susan paused in directing the servants in the cleanup of the banquet hall and looked over her shoulder at Lucy. "Yes?"

"Talisman asked me to tell you that your little blue roan, Azure, isn't feeling well and would you please go down and look at her?"

Susan straightened from picking up a fallen wine glass and frowned. "What's wrong with her, do you know?"

"Strained muscle, I think," Lucy replied vaguely. "He didn't say, really."

"That's odd: Tal usually tells me personally when something is wrong." Talisman was the Talking Cat in charge of the Royal Stables, and quite a loyal beast he was.

"Oh, it's just that he's so busy," Lucy interjected hastily. "He would come, but I volunteered to tell you, since I was coming over here anyhow."

Susan was satisfied with the explanation, and, after giving the servants some unneeded direction, she left the hall.


Falan's lip quivered and his small, squinty eyes filled with tears. "She-she does…what?" he wailed.

"She sleeps on the floor! In the straw, no less!"

Falan whimpered and moaned and paced in obvious disbelief.

"I told you that you were marrying a complete barbarian!" Vindora continued. "But do you ever listen to me? No, of course not! Even though I'm a full half-an-hour older than you."

"Oh hush," Falan cried piteously. "I don't believe it."

"Pfft," Vindora replied heartlessly.

"She simply wouldn't do such a thing," Falan continued.

"Nonsense," was the scornful answer.

Prince Falan lost it. He cried, "Oh wiffle!" and went running from the room to see for himself.

He got lost twice on his way to the stables and had to be redirected by the guards, who watched him warily as he ran across the courtyard in the dark. Not that he noticed, though. He didn't even realize that a Talking Leopard and a Mouse were following him at a good distance, careful to keep to the shadows and watching where he went.

As he charged into the stables, such a sight met his teary, shocked eyes. The gentle Queen Susan was kneeling in the straw by a horse's front leg, bending down as though to stretch out on the dirty floor. It could mean nothing but that Vindora had been correct. He let out a shriek, jumped three feet in the air (it would have been farther, but his head sort of caught on the door frame), whirled around and ran from the stables. A startled Susan heard yet another agonized yelp of terror as the prince ran into the two animal guards.

When the poor man had gone, the leopard and the mouse came running in to see what the commotion had been all about, and to protect their queen if need be. "My lady!" the mouse shrilled. "What has happened here?"

Susan blinked up at them from where she sat in the straw. "I was checking on Azure's legs: my sister told me they were sore. Do not ask me to explain what sent that man howling away, though; he must have seen something that startled him." She stood up and brushed the straw from her face. "I'm alright."

The guards escorted her back to the chamber she was staying in and there bid her good night, then went off to guard the halls and laugh privately over Prince Falan's exploits.


"Move over!" Delphina kicked.

Vindora kicked back. "You move over," she snarled. "Imagine going from being a princess in your own land to sharing a room with the daughter of a pig."

"For your information, I happen to like pigs."

"That would be because of the kinship between you."

There was silence in the dark room as Delphina pondered that. Vindora thought maybe she would stay quiet now, but before ten minutes had passed, there came an anguished squeal from the other side of the bed as the insult sunk in, and Delphina shrieked, "How could you?!"

Vindora groaned and smacked her with a feather pillow. She thought about smothering the other woman with the same pillow, but, evaluating her chances of getting the High King to marry her then, she thought better of it and only rolled her out of bed.

She hit the ground with a mighty thump.

She got back up with a mighty squeal.