"You'll be fine," she promised, pulling him to the big bonfire on the beach. They had to dodge the sweaty, gyrating bodies around them, which was not made easier for Peter because all he could do was keep his eyes pointed up to the stars to avoid accidentally gaping at the nude party-goers around him. Honestly, the autumn bacchanals were going to seem tame in comparison after this, what with some of the selkie couples not doing a great job of finding private places to canoodle.
"That," he grumbled, as he got elbowed in the kidneys by an overenthusiastic gent who then got chased away from a young lady by the beachmaster. "That is all well and good for you to say. I'm the only one who refused to take his trousers off."
She laughed and he almost forgot his discomfort--two years ago, she'd been too withdrawn and sad to smile, even after they had her marriage annulled and her husband jailed. The year and a half she'd been in Narnia had done much to help her heal, but tonight was the happiest he'd seen her since he asked her to marry him last month. The excitement on her face drove home how worth all the trouble it'd been to talk to the Narnian selkies into letting her join their celebrations--the Galmian selkies exiled her for the loss of her pelt, but Narnian selkies could never harden their hearts to a mistreated lady--or refuse such an earnest request from their high king.
"You will be fine," she repeated again as she finally deemed their proximity to the great bonfire good enough and rearranged his hands on her so they could dance. "And," she added, "if you are having second thoughts about the trousers then let me tell you, I certainly wouldn't mind if you took them off."
On the other side of the fire, the drummers started a new song and a cool ocean breeze blew through, reminding him that the best way to stay warm tonight would be to dance. Setting aside his embarrassment, he let her pull him into the wild dance and said "all I ask is that if I do mess something up tonight, don't tell Ed and the girls about it."
She laughed and he knew that it was all definitely worth this for that grin alone.
Suddenly, a wild Peter/selkie story appears!
---
Peter is not a fool and, despite nearly ruining relations with Galma that one time, he was not a bad diplomat. But he was certain he was going to offend someone tonight and all he could hope for was that it wouldn't be his fiancée at least.
"You'll be fine," she promised, pulling him to the big bonfire on the beach. They had to dodge the sweaty, gyrating bodies around them, which was not made easier for Peter because all he could do was keep his eyes pointed up to the stars to avoid accidentally gaping at the nude party-goers around him. Honestly, the autumn bacchanals were going to seem tame in comparison after this, what with some of the selkie couples not doing a great job of finding private places to canoodle.
"That," he grumbled, as he got elbowed in the kidneys by an overenthusiastic gent who then got chased away from a young lady by the beachmaster. "That is all well and good for you to say. I'm the only one who refused to take his trousers off."
She laughed and he almost forgot his discomfort--two years ago, she'd been too withdrawn and sad to smile, even after they had her marriage annulled and her husband jailed. The year and a half she'd been in Narnia had done much to help her heal, but tonight was the happiest he'd seen her since he asked her to marry him last month. The excitement on her face drove home how worth all the trouble it'd been to talk to the Narnian selkies into letting her join their celebrations--the Galmian selkies exiled her for the loss of her pelt, but Narnian selkies could never harden their hearts to a mistreated lady--or refuse such an earnest request from their high king.
"You will be fine," she repeated again as she finally deemed their proximity to the great bonfire good enough and rearranged his hands on her so they could dance. "And," she added, "if you are having second thoughts about the trousers then let me tell you, I certainly wouldn't mind if you took them off."
On the other side of the fire, the drummers started a new song and a cool ocean breeze blew through, reminding him that the best way to stay warm tonight would be to dance. Setting aside his embarrassment, he let her pull him into the wild dance and said "all I ask is that if I do mess something up tonight, don't tell Ed and the girls about it."
She laughed and he knew that it was all definitely worth this for that grin alone.