The Dawntreaders.

“I cannot think of a time I’ve had cause to doubt anything you’ve said.”

Drinian grinned toothily at this, raising an eyebrow. "This confidence is flattering, sire. And tempting. I shall do my best not to abuse such knowledge." He was silent a moment before adding, "Much." That Drinian would ever willfully deceive -- and maliciously -- Caspian was unthinkable. That he could actually do it was likely impossible. Drinian had skill in oratory and rhetoric, but the ability of artifice was far beyond him. Drinian grew flustered easily when telling a fib; his conscience failing to gel with his ability to think quickly.

Drinian always thought long and hard about possible transgressions and misdeeds he might commit. So much so that when the time came to executing them -- stealing a baked good from his kitchen; telling his mother he had, in fact, seen to daily correspondences before his morning walks -- there were too many thoughts in his head to allow real words to come out. The thoughts in his head -- what he oughtn't to be doing, what he hadn't done, how he hoped to get around it -- would end up coming out instead in the form of a confession.

It was all very vexing to a boy who wished that, for all he was adventurous, he was a bit more wily in order to pull off his mischief.

Caspian now spoke a bit about the creatures in the forests; Drinian's eyebrows raising even further and trying to keep from laughing. "Sire, I hope you will forgive me in saying that the only fawns you are like to see in the forest are the sort we shall eat for dinner as veal." Deer, yes. Goat-men, no. Drinian was unable to keep the mirth from his voice and he chuckled. "I, too, doubt you'll have the chance. Not for lack of exploring, though. But there's only one way, I suppose. We shall have to explore to see if we can find your fun little woodland friends."

He curled his leg beneath his chin, resting it upon his knees as he thought. "After your afternoon tea, I should think, would be a good time. We're supposed to have lessons then, but . . ." He shrugged before smirking even more broadly. "We can convince the Professor that it is 'applied' learning. If he truly has been telling you all that much about it." Drinian would never suggest skipping lessons; far from it. Drinian knew Cornelius to be a valuable ally in shenanigans and petty rebellions that young boys were known to commit from time to time. He'd likely expect a full report at the end of it. It was not so uncommon as to be dangerous, yet not so common as to truly detract from the prince's learning.

A cool breeze ruffled Drinian's curly head of hair and he squinted to the east, towards the forest they were anticipating visiting. In the grey of dawn, the forest looked blue, with pockets of fog lingering between the trees, purpling them.

“Now what exactly am I watching for?”

Drinian shook his head wordlessly and pointed across the forest. "This!" The sky, suddenly, seemed split by a streak of gold on the horizon which began spreading rapidly over the forest treetops, turning all to gold. Even an alighting bird, pressing itself off from the leafy branch of a fir, seemed bathed in light, its black coat singed with solar fire as it gleamed in the sun.

Drinian's face was serene and supremely happy. He had begun watching the sunrise with his father from a young age from the retaining wall of Bernal. Then, when he had left home to study with Caspian and be his companion, he had kept the tradition from homesickness, knowing his father would watch the same sun rise, three days ride away.

And then his father had died. And the sunrises meant more than ever. It was the only time his father ever came to him, and as he felt sun on his hair through the cool of the morning mist, Drinian did all he could not to think of his father too much, in order to keep his eyes from stinging or his nose from reddening.

Usually, he was alone. He enjoyed it most alone. There was no shame there, and it was only he, nature, his father, and the Sun. But to share with Caspian was to share something of him. He wanted him to see. He knew Caspian could not see the same things in the sunrise that Drinian could, but he wondered what he might see through it.