[Open Post] ..like the bird that you can't see..

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot is in a very good mood indeed. He feels settled, assured. He feels as he did, he thinks, back when he first found his feet at court -- he is someplace he belongs, he can be assured that people will treat him with respect, if not kindness or welcoming. He lets himself revel in it, a little, as it's been a long while since he felt anywhere near as nice as this.

The weather is good: sunny, crisp, the familiar feeling of autumn as winter is hovering close by. He goes to his own room and fetches his sword. He runs his usual drills, though with a kind of ease and almost carelessness he hasn't had since he was young. (Perhaps he is young enough, still. He can't be sure. He has already lived past the age his father was when he died, but that means almost nothing. His father died in battle and Lancelot is, now, no longer likely to ever see such a fate.)

Afterwards, he showers and decides he might as well find breakfast. So he's now heading toward one of the kitchens, looking cheerful for once.

Comments

[lanselos_du_lac]

He watches her, his gaze warm and bordering on adoration, and says, "Oh, my lady, I do not doubt it."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Well then! Until lunch," Susan says, and moves busily away so that he might not glimpse her sudden blush.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot chuckles, watching her go appreciatively.

He carries on about his morning, feeling light, and once he reckons it's lunch time he makes his way to the café, on the lookout for Susan.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan, for her part, finds the book she's selected to read to-day utterly unbearable. Oh, it's well-written, but the subject matter! Infuriating, unconscionable.

She loses track of time, fantasizing idly about how things might've gone if anyone in charge had any common sense, and then realizes she's on the verge of running late to lunch. Luckily, it's easy enough to find a draughts board - there's one in a cabinet in her favorite parlor - so she liberates it and wanders off to find Lancelot.

"Ah! Convenient," she says, when she realizes they've arrived at essentially the same time.

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I had thought it well timed," with humor.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"So I'm not terribly late," Susan says, satisfied. She holds the draughts box aloft. "And I've accomplished my end of the bargain."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"I would never accuse thee of lateness," grinning, "and I never doubted thou wouldst come through."

He gestures toward the room, "Where seems best?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan peers inside. There are a couple of other residents scattered here and there inside, but there's a nice largeish table suitable for a meal and a game off to one side. She nods at it. "There?"

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Aye, I think so." He takes her hand and heads in that direction.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan settles the box onto the table, and then leads Lancelot to the little self-service area. Today there are sandwiches and some lovely little pastries - a little guiltily, she recalls that she hasn't yet followed through on her promise to Enjolras of making biscuits to add to the selection. Tomorrow, perhaps.

[lanselos_du_lac]

Lancelot selects a sandwich and several pastries, and then settles in at the table, though he waits for Susan to get settled and start eating before tucking into his own meal.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Innocently, she nudges her foot against his under the table. "I've been thinking," she offers, still a little caught up in everything she'd been reading that morning. "About governance."

[lanselos_du_lac]

He gives her a little grin. "Is that so? Say on."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I think it just gets stupider over time," she admits. "Narnia seemed ever so much simpler than the stuff the world seems to go through in my future." She shakes her head. "We needn't discuss it. The book I selected this morning was... bracing."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"What was it about?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"French Indochina, which is in the far East, foreign interests, and war. Not pleasant lunch-time conversation, I'm afraid."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Ah, no," as he sorts his way through her description. He finds he has questions for her about war -- is there less of it, in her time? It must be different from how things are in his own -- but her indication that this is unpleasant means he keeps them to himself. Instead, he asks, "Is there still a king? In your Britain?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Yes, George VI," says Susan. "He's ill, though; there is speculation that soon his daughter Elizabeth will take the throne."

[lanselos_du_lac]

He looks a little puzzled but after a second he says, "A queen regnant?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Yes; we've had several."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Oh," then another moment's thought, and he says easily, "Now and then, yes, there have been others. It's not the usual expectation, but I see the sense in it."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan laughs. "Perhaps it should be the expectation," she says.

[lanselos_du_lac]

He smiles, "I'll not argue. I've as much respect for women as for men, it's only that-- I suppose it's that we get bound up in what we're used to."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Tell me about what you're used to?" The look Susan is giving Lancelot is a soft one. "I wonder how much overlap we've got."

[lanselos_du_lac]

"Well-- I suppose there have been Queens Regnant in Britain before my time, but it would not be usual for a woman to hold the throne. She may act as regent. The way things are now, at home, I cannot imagine the petty kings would allow it. The High King has enough trouble, and he is well-established." He considers, then adds, "The crown can pass to sons, under the law, but not to daughters. I would have been a king, myself, except that my father's lands were lost, despite his allies and their efforts. And so I went in service to Camelot."