Edmund chuckled, nodding. "That's what I thought."
He found himself looking once more at Al, as the young man looked down and loose wisps of golden hair curled around his face and shoulders. He was beautiful and didn't even know it. Beauty was easy to come by, though. An honest, pure soul like Al's...
"Of course. Looks, impressions, hunches...all these have very little to do with one's true innocence. Actions, history...these are the only sure thing."
His voice dropped to a soft note of approval. "You have served Narnia faithfully through the whole Winter, haven't you, Al? Through the leanest of times and the most dangerous of days? There are not many who can say as much. It...speaks very well of you."
For all his flirtatious exterior, Edmund recognized and appreciated character just as much if not more than his brother or any of the others. He'd had time to do some thinking since Al's frank rejection of his advances. He hadn't wanted the bareness of friendship when more than that dangled right in front of him, but... "I could do worse than to have such faithfulness in a friend."
The way he spoke it, there were perhaps not so very many such people in Edmund's life.
He shrugged and looked back towards the darkened sea at Al's insinuation, and his hand ran idly through his hair, ruffling it even more than the wind had already. "Reports can be greatly exaggerated," he said with a dry archness, as though he wasn't sure it would help his case to confirm or deny the rumours.
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He found himself looking once more at Al, as the young man looked down and loose wisps of golden hair curled around his face and shoulders. He was beautiful and didn't even know it. Beauty was easy to come by, though. An honest, pure soul like Al's...
"Of course. Looks, impressions, hunches...all these have very little to do with one's true innocence. Actions, history...these are the only sure thing."
His voice dropped to a soft note of approval. "You have served Narnia faithfully through the whole Winter, haven't you, Al? Through the leanest of times and the most dangerous of days? There are not many who can say as much. It...speaks very well of you."
For all his flirtatious exterior, Edmund recognized and appreciated character just as much if not more than his brother or any of the others. He'd had time to do some thinking since Al's frank rejection of his advances. He hadn't wanted the bareness of friendship when more than that dangled right in front of him, but... "I could do worse than to have such faithfulness in a friend."
The way he spoke it, there were perhaps not so very many such people in Edmund's life.
He shrugged and looked back towards the darkened sea at Al's insinuation, and his hand ran idly through his hair, ruffling it even more than the wind had already. "Reports can be greatly exaggerated," he said with a dry archness, as though he wasn't sure it would help his case to confirm or deny the rumours.