"Ettinsmoor? Is that what we're calling it now?" Imira asked.
"Better than 'the northern lands the Ettins inhabit' don't you think?" Peter asked in return.
"I suppose it's catchy," she agreed. "So what do we do now?"
Peter looked around the room...
A dozen smells and a dozen voices trying to overpower one another resonated through the markets of Tashbaan. Anything you wanted, if you knew where to look, you could find there.
The streets were loud and hot, people bumping into one another, flies swarming about, sweat dripping down necks, cats roaming for scraps, children begging for a coin, and the Narnian lords and servants looking to purchase supplies for their trip and hire entertainment for a party that would never be.
"For tomorrow night. At the docks. Look for the Splendour Hyaline," Lord Ansoul said to the juggler while Lord Launce inquired as to where he could find some musicians. And while Lord Iames purchased wine and Lords Peridan and Percheval secured provisions for the voyage back, Susan finished composing the letter where she'd be inviting Prince Rabadash onboard their ship the following evening.
The packing was still undergoing in the house when Edmund returned from talking to the Captain.
"Ready?" he asked Susan as he entered her chamber.
"I have the letter," she said, holding it up.
"You haven't sent it?!"
"I wanted to show it to you first," she handed it over and Edmund began to read, nodding halfway through.
"So?"
"It should do," he folded it back and gave it to his sister. "The packing?" he asked.
"Almost finished, your majesty," one of Susan's ladies answered for her.
"Good. Good," Edmund looked around, noticing all the gifts Prince Rabadash had given Susan laid displayed on a table and looked back at her, eyebrow raised.
"I can't very well accept those now, can I?" she said as she sealed the letter and gave it to Mr Tumnus to hand to a Calormene servant.
No, you cannot, Edmund thought. "Where are the princes?"
"Should they dare come in here I'll punch them in the nose and send them tumbling out the door," Corin said to the twin princes of Narnia, punching an invisible enemy.
"And I'll shoot them with my bow straight through their eyes," Edward said, drawing a very real bow––though with no arrow in charge–– and releasing the chord with a satisfying twang.
"As terrifyingly gratifying as the image of you three taking on the Calormen might be," Edmund said from the door and the three princes smiled at the comment, "you should be busying yourselves with packing. We've got to leave," and he grabbed a grape from one of the many fruit bowls in the room and popped it into his mouth.
