# [closed post]

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan has devised another activity to occupy her days. By the calendar's reckoning, the start of spring is roughly a week away. Between her and Tress, they've got the outline of a plan for the next Dark, and Susan is happy to rely on people who've got greater interest in and skill for growing things insofar as agriculture goes. But the growing season here shall be longer than usual, and Susan should like to have some idea about what that might mean for the ecosystem,

This is her flimsy excuse to pardon the latest stack of books she's currently carrying out of the library. There is a marginal off-chance that preparatory reading on soil biota could, potentially, be useful. Perhaps she might even talk someone else into reading on the subject as well, so that they might discuss it.

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[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan shan't rush him - it's clear Galahad is a thoughtful sort, who gives full consideration to his choices - but she does add, "Obviously we can't do immediately. There are other tasks that take priority. I am hoping, though, that more animals emerge with the turn of the season."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I hope so too." He permits himself, for a few moments, to imagine turning rocks with Susan, looking at what's beneath and cataloging it, understanding it. He would be happy, he thinks, to do something that would have made Percival so happy. It feels like Grantaire's sketchbook of his friends, a way to honor the lost.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I know nothing about soil or its biota," Susan admits then. "But I felt rather helpless, during Dark. I mightn't be as good at growing things as your Claudius or your friend Magnus, but I believe I could learn some other useful things."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I believe you could too."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Thank you," pleased. She starts making her way up the stairs, shifting the books to one arm so that she can rest her other hand on the banister.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad follows her, something he feels very comfortable doing. He likes Susan's practicality and straightforwardness; it's easy to know what she means, because she says it, and her questions all make sense to him. He's checked his watch, and he has at least an hour before he should go bake with Laertes for the café.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Was your friend Percival's favorite animal the unicorn?" Susan asks - she's dredged up the memory of their earlier conversations about him by now, and this seems a less fraught question than one about Camelot or the Grail.

[onthewillowsthere]

"It wasn't his favorite. He loved all animals. They loved him."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"My sister was like that, too."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Will you tell me about her?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Certainly," says Susan, after the briefest moment of reflection - she gets the sense that, if she weren't willing, Galahad wouldn't push, and this makes her more inclined to say yes. "What would you like to know?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"What was she like with animals? Why did they like her? Was she quiet?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh, not at all. Lucy was very reactive. She'd gasp, she'd coo - but she was careful with them nonetheless. She'd treat everything like it was new and precious and exciting and magical." Susan pauses. "In Narnia, most of the animals spoke, and they were charmed by her. By the time we returned to England, she'd acquired more gravity, and I suppose then she took enough care for the dumb beasts to feel comfortable with her, as well. --That's their official designation in Narnia, you know; any animal that wasn't a Talking Beast was a Dumb Beast."

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad frowns just a little. Dumb beast is just an accurate description for a non-talking animal, but something in it seems disdainful. "Percival says animals can't always tell you aren't going to hurt them, even when you're being as gentle as you can be. He says it's all right if not every animal understands what you intend. But they all liked him anyway."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"In ethological practice, we remain at a remove from the animals," says Susan. "So as to reduce the risk that we shall affect their behaviors while we're observing them." She does still, in truth, believe that she's better at a distance. In archery, in this, and - yes, still in many social interactions. "Lucy was the one with the knack for getting close to them."

[onthewillowsthere]

That makes sense. Galahad nods. "What would you like to study here?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"The assortment of animals here is so jolly queer, I haven't the first idea where I might get started."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes. I think they are from different places, but I don't know whether they are from different worlds."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"What I find most curious is the proportions," says Susan, as they reach the top of the stairs and start off down the hall toward her room. "There are plenty of little deer, but nothing I'd characterize as a 'herd.' There are flocks of birds I'd imagine to be more solitary, and singular animals I'd expect to come in packs. It's really quite queer."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Is it because there's no enough land for families? Or is it something else?"

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"I'm not sure," Susan admits. "I can't imagine we haven't got the space for at least smaller groupings. ...I do wonder how they arrive here. Is it the same as with... us?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"If we surveyed them, we would know when new ones come. If there was a pattern, we might see it," he says, understanding.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Yes," Susan agrees. "Do you know, I can't believe that hadn't occurred to me till now."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Magnus could help with that too," he says. "He talks to them."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Can he! Isn't that convenient," says Susan. "Imagine telling my old ethology professors that." When she'd been studying, of course, she'd forgotten the Talking Beasts of Narnia were more than figments of childhood storytelling. "That would be very useful for a census. Less useful, perhaps, for studying behavior. All creatures tend to change their actions when they sense they're being observed, you know."