Having spent the week worried sick and desperately trying not to show it, Aravis was deeply relieved by the note she'd gotten in the mail that morning.

Not so relieved that she hadn't gone down to the weapons locker and gotten her scimitar as well as the knife she'd been given for Christmas, of course. Not better.

She'd taken the blades back to her room, and was carefully polishing them. It'd been awhile since she'd done so, and if she had any say in the price those so-called angelic creatures would pay, her sword would need to be so shiny they'd see the reflections of their own destruction.

Aravis was perhaps a bit ambitious.

[for the roomie.]

When Aravis woke Wednesday morning, it was due to a coughing fit. She'd woken in far more pleasant ways, and due to much nicer causes, certainly, but it was nothing to get worked up over. Just a coughing fit.

One that wouldn't cease, actually, and now that she was awake she was more aware of the itching along her arms and torso, but that was probably just her nightdress, or something. No reason to worry.

She moved to get out of bed and was nearly bowled over with the headache and change in equilibrium, and decided perhaps she'd just stay in bed today. Coughing. Not that anything was wrong, oh no.

[for the roomie yay!]

Aravis had had a poor night, what with the awful radio thing and those people. She was making it better by sitting on her bed and eating chocolate, which she had found to be the best thing about the stupid holiday that she wasn't allowed to call stupid.

Chocolate made everything better.

[for the roomie, but open if you like!]

With Karal home and Aravis worried about him (not that she'd be particularly willing to admit that -- he didn't need the extra worry of her worrying about him), she'd done her best to find ways to occupy her time.

Granted, that had meant not sleeping much, walking around a great deal, working with her scimitar, and tending to Trenor and Ata to an almost ridiculous degree.

The end result was that when Wednesday evening rolled around, Aravis's door was open, and to the casual passer-by, it may have looked as though she was reading. In reality, she'd fallen asleep with a book on her face, and Ata curled up on her feet.

She'd deny it if she was discovered and woken up, though.

[open, if you want to bother the totally sleeping girl. except not because now it's nws in the comments.]

The hilly, lush greenness of Archenland was a stark contrast to the burning gold of the desert they had just crossed, but the reprieve was nonetheless welcome.

They'd been greeted at Castle Anvard by King Lune and his other son, a very distressed Corin who thought he should have gotten to go as well, and Aravis was immediately tended to by a nurse and sentenced to bed rest until her wounds healed up.

Bree and Hwin departed for Narnia, their families likely worried about a routine visit to their friends turning into a week-long venture.

The other guests were left to their own devices for the most part. The castle, grounds, and city were theirs to entertain themselves.

[for the rescue crew duh, and still NFB. OCD coming up!]

Aravis waited until the timing seemed right, then tried to catch the eyes of her friends. She leaned forward to murmur a quick warning to Hwin, then gave a sharp whistle and drew her scimitar as they turned on the guards trailing them.

( A change of plan )

[Part two of this post. THIS IS THE LAST PREPLAY OMG I PROMISE I AM DONE SPAMMING YOUR FLIST until I put up the actually-live-played post tonight. Freaking Narniaverse time, condensing a week to two days! As with all the others, NFB, NFI, OOC = woo.]

Aravis's body ached with Hwin's every step. The past few days' pampering had done nothing for her sore muscles or bruising, and the tight, opulent clothing that she had been dressed in for the trip wasn't helping.

Neither were the guards making up half their party.

Aravis was just praying that the plan had spread through the group, and fingered the hilt of her scimitar, tucked securely under her skirts and behind her legs.

She hated riding side saddle, but it did have at least this one advantage.

( The trip back home )

[SECOND TO LAST PREPLAY POST YAY. Continued here.]

Aravis had shed her veil and was curled up in a chair at the end of the hall with her second glass of wine. It wasn't helping her relax at all. Probably had to do something with the fact that she'd done everything in her power to not be married at fifteen, and yet she was sitting next to her shiny new husband.

It was nice to see her friends, though. "How did you all even get here? Horses, I know, since apparently Gavin can't manage to sit on one."

( In which there is exposition, and Aravis's friend hits on everyone )

[NFB, NFI, sugar-free, no MSG, not tested on animals, etc.]

Aravis had spent the night with Seely, but Saturday morning found her sneaking back to her own room to feed Ata and Maggie if nothing else.

She found Karal and Altra still asleep when she tiptoed into the room, and quickly slipped into the bathroom to change into her nightgown and dressing gown. No reason to make him think she'd slept elsewhere when pretending she'd simply gotten in late was an option.

Then she checked her voicemail.

Aravis momentarily studied Karal after she hung up, then quickly disappeared out to the common room for a few minutes. She returned with a pot of hot water, and quietly set to making the weak tea with honey she'd always liked when she was ill as she waited for him to wake.

[for the roomie, obviously, and great SP justice as I'm stuck at a hellhole called "work" for the rest of the day, ew.]

Since Aravis didn't have any workshops, she could devote her time to playing with her new puppy.

Who still did not have a proper name.

"Do you have a name?" she asked for what seemed like the thousandth time. The puppy wagged his tail and sniffed at her skirt.

"...is your name Skirt? Are you trying to tell me that?" The puppy made a soft whining noise and went up on his hind legs, pawing at her legs.

"Was that your name?" Aravis leaned down and picked him up excitedly. "Could you say it again?"

The puppy licked her chin.

Aravis sighed.

[for roomies both human and feline, but open to others as well!]

Aravis was sitting on her bed, composing a letter home -- if she could ever contact them -- asking for more clothing, or at least a good way to get pink out of things.

She'd cracked both her window and door, though, so as to enjoy the nice weather.

[will be a linkdrop when I feel up to it, otherwise open yay.]

Aravis had found Karal's note upon waking up, and had been to the stables twice today to check on Trenor. But now, without workshops or a reason to go pester the horse, she was left with not a whole lot to do in her roomie-less room.

It had been a long time since she'd had actual time completely alone and to herself. At the moment, she was using the time in a very constructive way: looking out the window to see if there were people to drop amusing things onto.

What? She was bored.

[for the idiot boy, please. Posted early for great timezoney justice and also pie.]

Aravis was snug and warm in her bed.

It was really unfortunate how she'd gotten in somewhat late, and missed the extra body in the room. Or, well, not missed exactly, but she had been discreet enough not to wake everyone with a poorly timed "What's all this now?"

Sadly though this meant that Aravis had no idea why it was, then, that when she opened her eyes, she saw a horse. She barely refrained from shrieking, and only because, well, it was a horse. She liked horses.

"...I'm going to kill him," she murmured into her pillow. "Karal, there's a horse in our room. Worry not, I know someone who can change it back into a pillow or book or whatever it was, and then I'll go take care of the person who put it here."

[for the roomie, natch, and great SP justice!]

After the Whatever workshop, Aravis went back to her room for a bit, pondering a nap that didn't feature a common room. She had a hell of a sugar hangover, still. Never again, seriously.

She left the door open, in any case.

[For Rikku and their thread is locked, but open like a thing otherwise!]

Aravis was very pleased to be back in the dorms. She'd liked the cabins, certainly, but there were advantages to having a room to yourself and one other person. (And in this case, a cat as well.)

She'd enjoyed herself in the cabins, however. She had tried ice cream, which had evidently been an emergency situation, and laughed at Gavin and Luke and Rikku and Seely.

She'd gone on patrol with Mel and learned the truth about chocolate cows. That confrontation had somehow turned into her telling her story, though she was still not sorry for having told him.

And last night, she'd visited a final campfire, and met quite a few people.


Now, bit tired, she flopped onto the bed she'd already claimed as hers and idly started doodling in a small book. It may have been plans for getting a cow into a dorm room. It may not have been.

[open, especially for roomie!]

Aravis prepared for bed in the privacy of her alcove, happy to be rid of her layers. Tomorrow she would leave the veil. It was hardly necessary. She pulled a ledger and considered a letter home.

And then paused. How would it get there?

With a frustrated sigh, she fell back against her pillow, and shut her eyes.

She'd met both her her roommate and a rather charming boy. Then she'd traveled to the cabins, where she had met Sokka the slightly dim but likely well-intentioned, Naminé the quiet and helpful, and Raphael, the...large turtle.

Later in the afternoon had brought the greatest surprise of all, of course. High King Peter of Narnia was here. And only a mere two years her senior. She still didn't full understand it, but it was far too late for her to dwell on comprehension.

Instead, she rolled over and made her best attempt at sleep.

['stablishy, unless you want to wake her. I wouldn't really advise it.]

After she'd checked in and relinquished her sword (she'd be back to check on it later, of course), Aravis made her way up the stairs and found a room marked 413. She had no idea who this Karal person was, but hopefully she'd be kind and accomodating.

Aravis set her things upon one of the bare beds - much less lavish than she was used to, but hardly unwelcome - and pulled off a few of her layers with a sigh, starting with her veil. It was much warmer here than she'd anticipated, and for some reason, the air was much more...damp than she was used to.

She fell onto the bed with a long exhale, shutting her kohl-lined eyes. It was early in the day, and already she was exhausted. And she didn't even get to rest here for long, as there were evidently cabins.

Being a diplomat was hard work.

[for yay roomie, or anyone else passing by.]