# [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.

Comments

[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."

[onthewillowsthere]

That certainly makes sense. "Those are different kinds of experiment," not quite a question.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Precisely," with warmth, as they reach the door to her room. She hesitates with her hand on the knob. "Do you fancy a cup of tea?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes, please."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

During Dark, Susan had relocated one of the electric kettles to her room, for the afternoons that felt too oppressive to go see just how few supplies were left in the cafe or kitchens or her favorite parlor. It's still there, with resupplied tea. She's found a small icebox to keep milk, too, and some small snacks.

The last time Galahad came by her room, Lancelot had a pair of shoes by the door and a few items of clothes in the closet. Now, there's much more of his stuff, neatly organized and interspersed with her things. There's a second reading chair by the window, and a few more mugs on the sideboard.

She deposits her armful of books on the desk and gestures for Galahad to do the same. As she bustles over to flip the kettle on, she says, "You may sit wherever is most comfortable." In addition to the bed and the reading chairs, there's a couch in a little alcove, and two dining chairs at the little table by the sideboard.

[onthewillowsthere]

Galahad chooses one of the dining chairs and settles into it to watch her. He can tell that the room is, like his and Claudius', a room that contains two people now, and there's something pleasant about that, even besides the knowledge that Lancelot has settled into this place and made a home here, just as Galahad has.

[quote_gentle_unquote]

Susan bustles around for a moment, gathering mugs and teabags and setting them next to the kettle so they'll be ready when the water is, and then she takes the seat across from Galahad. "Do you know what a microscope is?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"Yes. Claudius has one. He showed me how to use it."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Oh! Splendid. We've got one here, then?" Susan hadn't spotted any during her regular inventory searches of the Mansion and its grounds, but then again, she doesn't make a habit of looking into spaces claimed by individuals. She'd just been assured of her own ability to make the mansion generate the things she requires, now that it's not Dark anymore. "I was thinking we might look at some dirt once it warms up."

[onthewillowsthere]

"He doesn't mind when I borrow it. It's in our room."

[quote_gentle_unquote]

"Very good," says Susan, not bothering to blunt her pleasure at this news. The kettle is boiling, and she rises again to pour the water into the mugs. "Do you take milk or sugar?"