Cauldron Pool
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The best word for the spot where you stand would probably be.. grandiose. To
the west is a roaring waterfall, where (presumably) a river from somewhere in
the western wilds falls over Narnia's western border-cliffs to create
Cauldron pool. You are standing on a path that forks three ways - east, to
follow along the bank of the Great River (which begins here!), north, fording
the relatively small 'river' and continuing into the forest homes, and south
where it curves around the pool and to an opening in the cliff.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Lulunan leans in very close to the water and pokes his reflection.
Myrd slips along the water’s edge, carrying a makeshift waterskin in one hand and holding a child, appearing to be approximately a year and a half old, with his other arm. The boy prattles happily, pointing out all of the sights to his father, who appears to be less enthralled with the scenery. He finds them a relatively shallow spot at the edge of the pool and lowers the child into the water so the boy can splash happily.
Lulunan rolls his head in the direction of the noise, scratching the top of his head as he studies the pair from his sideways angle. He grins idiotically and claps in approval of the child’s antics.
Myrd eyes the monkey, all the while keeping the boy out of trouble. Tristran manages to get more water on his father than he gets on himself.
Lulunan lopes a few paces closer, tilting his head ninety degrees in the other direction as he continues to study them. He snickers shrilly as the water flies.
Myrd sputters a little as he wipes the worst of the water from his face. The child lets out a rather peircing laugh and then points at the monkey, tugging at his father’s drenched sleeve in case Myrd could have possibly missed it.
Lulunan laughs gleefully in return as he ducks his head in closer, making a crooked face at the hoofless, furless cub.
Myrd pulls his son back from the water’s edge when the youngster’s still precarious balance threatens to topple the boy right over into the water. Tristran claps his hands together in an imitation of what the monkey did earlier, clearly seeing this as a new game.
Lulunan nods his head violently up and down, grinning broadly and clapping again in return. “Ee-ee-oo, cub plays too!”
Myrd holds the slippery youngster steady as the boy flaps his arms, trying to get a closer look at his new simian friend. “Careful there, youngster”, Myrd drawls. He mutters something else just low enough to make it difficult to hear.
Myrd mumbles “Thank … emperor … ain’t … of … ruddy …”, to Myrd.
Lulunan hoots, “Ruddy muddy duddy buddy!” but otherwise ignores the father’s mutterings in favor of his much more interesting son. He spreads his arms wide and rises up on his toes, still hunched over, then ducks down and turns a circle around himself on all fours, tail held high.
Myrd smirks when his son babbles right back at the monkey at the top of his voice. What Tristran lacks in sense he more than makes up for in volume.
Lulunan screeches his approval, prancing forward and backward on his forelegs. “Oo-ee-oo, got words too!”
Myrd snorts. “Ain’t heard the half of them. Trick is getting him to stop.” Tristran replies with a word, lisped in his childish voice, which is certainly unfit for polite company.
Lulunan chuckles loudly, mouth open. He lowers his head and raises his tail-end. “Pop says stop! Cub not drop!”
Myrd keeps the youngster from grabbing the exposed fur of their new friend. Tristran keeps up a steady stream of words, held comfortably in his father’s arms.
Lulunan repeats some of the words, followed by mostly nonsensical rhymes and foolish contortions of his face.
Jana approaches the pool from the direction of the populated part of the forest.
Myrd balances the boy to keep him from getting any more wet than he already is. Tristran lets out a high-pitched squeal and tries to grab the monkey’s tail, the current object of his fascination. “That’s enough, youngster”, Myrd drawls.
Lulunan snickers cheekily and scampers out of reach, back toward the tree line, then turns back to look at them expectantly.
Jana comes up to join her husband, her face asking the questions which she doesn’t voice.
Myrd gives his wife a slightly guilty look when he spots her approaching.
Jana asks, “What’s going on?”
Lulunan tilts his head on its side, watching the three of them impatiently.
Myrd shrugs a little in answer. “Youngster’s found himself a new friend.” Tristran claps his hands excitedly and begins to tell his mother all about it.
Jana asks, “The pool?”
Myrd looks guilty again as Tristran begins babbling excitedly about the water--and the monkey--and then the water again.
Jana raises her brow.
Lulunan chortles at the cub, prancing back and forth in front of one of the trees.
Myrd replies, “Reckon you can’t keep the boy away from water, and we’ll have a fire soon enough. Ain’t going to take any harm.”
Jana looks unconvinced but not completely put out. “Who’s the monkey?”
Myrd gives her a wicked smirk. “Reckon you ought to ask them yourself”, he drawls.
Jana rolls her eyes. “Who are you,” She amends.
Lulunan laughs shrilly, scampering back toward them a bit and bobbing his head in answer to nothing really. “Lulunan, lu-lu, Hoofless!”
Jana says, “Aha.”
Myrd barely surpresses a low laugh, his frame shaking with the effort. “Reckon he’s got you pegged, Darlin’. Ain’t a single hoof in sight.”
Jana asks, “What?”
Myrd tries to hush their son when Tristran keeps repeating the monkey’s name over and over, louder each time.
Lulunan nods emphatically again, grinning proudly at this assessment of his cleverness. “Hoofless and No-Fur! And cub makes more!”
Jana points to Myrd’s scruffy beard, “What do you call that?”
Lulunan ambles closer, peering at it and scratching the top of his head. “Fur fell out!”
Myrd snorts in amusement. “I call that ‘irresistably handsome’, Darlin’”, he drawls.
Jana says, “Yeah, that ain’t surprise me.”
Lulunan inspects his own thick fur proudly and intently.
Jana holds her arms out for the little boy. “Why don’t we get this one near a fire.”
Myrd drawls, wrapping the boy in his own, relatively dry cloak before extending him towards her, “Ain’t no point in you getting wet too, though the fire’s a good idea.”
Lulunan makes faces up at his friend.
Jana looks a little softened toward the idiotic monkey for the way it makes Tristran giggle.
Myrd smirks at the change in her expression, looking more than a little pleased with himself.
Lulunan looks highly gratified by all the giggling, throwing his head back and grinning.
Jana asks, “Should we go back to camp, or does someone have a fire nearer by?”
Myrd replies immediately, “Back to camp. Had about as much company as I care to for one day--”
Jana nods.
Lulunan chatters, “No-fur no-care!”
Myrd snorts. “Monkey’s got brains. I’ll give him that.”
Jana shivers, “Come on. Reckon we ain’t want Tristran catching nothing.”
Lulunan grins proudly and ridiculously at this praise.
Myrd loops an arm around his wife, which probably doesn’t add much warmth given that he is still slightly damp. “What are you waiting for, then, Darlin’?”
Jana walks in the direction of camp.
Lulunan scampers up into one of the nearby trees and follows after them for a little distance, swinging between branches and waving and screeching to the cub.
Myrd’s black look lightens a little when Tristran laughs again at the monkey’s antics.
