413: Sunday evening

[vkandis_son]

Karal was hungry. He never did have breakfast after his ride this morning, and he'd been so engrossed in reading, lunch had passed him by without him noticing

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[notqueenyet]

Aravis looked up from where she'd polished off another brownie, and smiled. "Hello! I've not met you, have I?"

[wannabe_pan]

"Me? No. Um..." Andrew decided to keep his distance for the moment, despite Karal's reassurances. There had to be some reason he felt compelled to say that she wouldn't hurt him. "I'm Andrew."

He took another bite of his brownie.

[notqueenyet]

"Aravis," she said pleasantly. "Actually, Lady Aravis of Archenland, but everyone's been calling me Lady for two weeks and I'm damned tired of it so please just call me Aravis. I barely use the title anyway. It's very nice to meet you."

Aravis broke off another piece of her third brownie, smiling happily all the while.

[wannabe_pan]

"It's very nice to meet you, too," Andrew responded warmly. "So where is Archenland? Is that like a British place? It sounds British."

[notqueenyet]

"Nooooo, but everyone always thinks I'm from England. Seely says I sound it but I don't think I do." She did. "But no, it's through the woods. It's another world, actually. And really I'm from Calormen originally but I ran away and live in Archenland now. Where're you from?"

Aravis never talked this much, but for some reason she didn't find it the slightest bit odd that she was now.

[wannabe_pan]

"Oh, another world! That's awesome. I'm from Sunnydale, California. That's right here on this planet, just on the other coast. I didn't go back there for Christmas, though. I went skiing with my boyfriend, Neil. Do you know him?"

Andrew finished off the brownie and reached for another. He had no problem talking lots.

[notqueenyet]

"I don't think I do but what is skiing?" she asked, sounding out the unfamiliar word and giggling. Skiiiiiing. It was a fun word.

[wannabe_pan]

"Skiing? It's, um, a sport type thing on the snow. You strap these things to your feet, like planks, and slide down a snowy mountain side." Andrew knew he wasn't doing the best job explaining this, but he thought she should be able to get the general idea. "Some people can go really fast. Like, voom, fast! I just went really slow. And I fell over a lot."

[notqueenyet]

"That doesn't sound very fun at all," Aravis decided, laughing. "But I think I might try if I get the chance! Did you mean to fall over? Is that part of it?"

[wannabe_pan]

"No, falling down is pretty much what you don't want to do. Sometimes the skis come off when you fall down. They're supposed to, at least, but when they don't, when they stay attached to your feet, it's impossible to get back up. And look!" Andrew pulled up his sleeves to show his well bruised forearms. "I ran into a tree -- a couple of them."

He smiled. "You don't want to do that either."

[notqueenyet]

She winced sympathetically. "Those look painful. Do you know Gavin Darklighter? He falls down a lot too and I quite imagine his arms looked the same the first time he went riding. And the rest of him, really. He fell off his horse because he fell asleep. But he did not crash into any trees, if only because there aren't lots of trees in the desert."

[wannabe_pan]

"Gavin Darklighter, Gavin Darklighter..." Andrew pondered. "It's possible, but the name isn't ringing any bells. Ding, ding!" He laughed.

"But I know about horses. I haven't fallen off of one, but I met Trenor. Karal let me ride him. The horse."

[notqueenyet]

"Isn't Trenor lovely? You didn't fall off him though, did you? I suppose Karal wouldn't let you if you were under his car. He's very gentle," Aravis said, nodding. "Trenor is, I mean, but Karal is also, but I meant Trenor. I like horses a lot. I know talking ones!" She laughed, because it seemed funny.

[wannabe_pan]

"You know talking horses?" Andrew asked, eyes wide. "What do they talk about? Do they tell stories?"

[notqueenyet]

"Yes, they're just like humans except not human," she explained helpfully. "Hwin and Bree. They speak just like people, and tell stories and laugh and joke and they're very nice. I thought my dog might be a Talking Dog, for awhile," she noted, gesturing to the rather large dog at her feet, "but Ata's not. He's just a dog."

[wannabe_pan]

"Do all the animals where you come from have the ability to talk? Or at least, some of every kind of animal? Because that would be really cool. I would like have a conversation with a llama."

Andrew squatted down and reached out a tentative hand towards the large dog.