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[called_lioness]

She slept late--well, that's half true. She woke when Caspian did, because he tripped over Lavender getting out of bed and knocked half the nightstand over.

It involved a minor fire (his pants), a slight burn to the fingers (hers), and entirely too much excitement before tea was had (for either), in Lucy's opinion. And no chocolate at all, thank you. Which isn't something that she's going to stop thinking about in the next few days, Lucy thinks, and is vaguely irritated by this.

But she's the blessing of not needing to rise so early as he, so she'd taken the chance to go back to bed, after fires were put out and burns tended to.

And she's not precisely grumpy, but Lucy finds she could use some peaceful moments after a morning starting like that, and so she's found herself a mug of tea and gone out to walk by the lake. Corella will likely be taken for a ride, later, but for the moment it's nice to stretch her legs.

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[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"All right," she agrees easily.

Horses are less scary than just weird, really.

[called_lioness]

"Do you want to now? I should feed her, anyway. If not, there are other days," she finishes, cheerfully.

But her smile's a bit wider since Yuna's agreed.

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"Let's go!" she agrees, excited laughter burbling in her voice.

[called_lioness]

"Come on, then," she grins and grabs Yuna's hand as they go.

The stables aren't so very far away, and when they reach them, Lucy leads Yuna towards Corella's stall, whistling a little. "This is my darling. Hullo, Corella. I've brought a friend to meet you."

Corella snuffs a greeting and eyes her human patiently. She knows there's sugar to be had if she waits long enough.

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"Hello," Yuna says shyly, inclining her head and drawing her hands into a circle.

"Can they talk?" she whispers to Lucy.

[called_lioness]

"Nay, not these horses." She glances at Yuna's hands curiously before back at Corella. "It's not--it's not rare, exactly, to ride a Talking Horse in Narnia, but they offer, you don't ask, and they are not your horse. Though sometimes I think I'm as much Corella's as she is mine, anyway. This is Yuna," she informs the horse, who merely snorts again.

"She was a gift from my brother," she adds.

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

She puts out a hand cautiously to let the horse smell at it, trailing yards of white and orchid sleeve.

"She's beautiful."

[called_lioness]

"She is," Lucy agrees, as Corella sniffs a bit.

Still not sugar.

Not fair, the horse thinks, but Lucy tends to be prepared and so she sets the mug down and then digs in her pocket before offering a hand to Yuna.

"You can give her some sugar, if you like."

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"All right," she says, holding out a hesitant handful.

It has teeth.

"Oh! It tickles!" There may be giggling.

[called_lioness]

"It does," she laughs and leans over to kiss Corella, gently.

"She'll be your friend for life, now that you've given her that."

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"I'm sure we'll be great friends to each other," Yuna corrects, stroking the animal's muzzle with only slight hesitation.

It's just like petting a big dog, she tells herself. Or a goat.

[called_lioness]

"If you should ever like to try and ride one, she's--well, she's not saddle broken, but I think one of the others would be available to try, if you'd feel better with that."

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"Oh!" She pauses, stock still. "I don't know. I can't even ride a chocobo, not properly."

[called_lioness]

"Well," Lucy muses, and glances over towards the end of the stable where the birds are, "I could see if you could try riding one of those instead, here, if you like."

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"It might be a...more appropriate use of my time," she says, half-apologizing. "It's just. Even with time stopped, while I'm here, I'd feel guilty learning to do something I could never use in my world."

[called_lioness]

"Duty," Lucy says, and it's not a question.

"Then I shall ask Caspian about the use of the chocobos."

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"Would it be all right, if we saw them for a little bit now?" she says, wistfully.

[called_lioness]

"I don't see why not," Lucy says, after a moment, and leads the way over to the birds. "As I said, I've no idea who they belong to. I've not seen anyone ride them."

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

Yuna holds a much more confident hand out into the box, although the chocobo's beak is at least as sharp and strong as a horse's teeth. The bird seems pleased to have any attention, and leans its head against her hand; she scratches the feathery crest over one eye.

"They look a little different from the breeds I know," she says. "But they're chocobos, all right."

[called_lioness]

"Mayhap from a different island than Besaid?" she hazards and stands a little behind Yuna, looking at the birds.

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"Maybe so," she agrees. "Do you want to meet him? I've never seen one fed a sugar cube, but the ones of the boat like sweet things--they give them molasses treats."

[called_lioness]

"I would," she agrees, and approaches carefully, fingers smoothing feathers best they can.

"He's a dear, isn't he?"

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"Well, I just met him," she laughs. "But he seems friendly enough, after being neglected by whoever owns him."

The bird chirps at Lucy inquisitively.

[called_lioness]

"The stablehands try to care for them, I know." She giggles, a bit, and offers a bit of sugar.

"I'd wondered if they were simply ostriches of some sort."

[night-hibiscus.livejournal.com]

"I think they might be related," Yuna agrees. "But chocobos are much faster, and tamer, and they live all over Spira."