If Shezan tells her fellow Tolkheeras and Tolkaars (aka, the other high priestesses and priests), they promptly decide not to tell the Tisroc or any other secular powers. Instead, they set a few of their own temple guards to catch and kill the Eagle when she comes to rescue Marigold Beaver... but don't use any extra chains, because that would send the message that they don't trust in the gods' power to keep a demon under control. Shezan doesn't let go of the chain (it would be too obvious a move, and also her colleagues have reinforced the half of her that thinks the sacrifice must be made), and both Marigold and the Eagle die dramatically.
Everyone is focused on the altar, so Axartha is able to stop Rabadash without anyone noticing. The crowd is restive, though, so Shezan steps forward and claims the whole thing as a sign from Achadith. Without the goddess's voice, she can't make as dramatic a statement as in "Out of Season," but she says something about how turning on each other is abhorrent to the gods and Calormen must look outward rather than inward for its foes. Which leads, after much argument, to Axartha persuading Rishti to send Rabadash to Narnia as part of an embassy demanding repayment for the attempted disruption of their holy rites.
This gets him out of Tashbaan, but he has no intention whatsoever of courting Susan. Ilgamuth comes to make his apology, but Shezan is feeling more shaken and morally compromised than in "Out of Season" and therefore doesn't make a courting overture; they simply strike up a slightly closer friendship. The Calormene embassy manages to wring an extremely vague apology from Narnia, but nothing more, and the two countries start the same trade embargo and proxy war as in the first scenario. When Rabadash returns, he agrees to postpone killing his father -- it will work much better if he lays political groundwork for his own accession and rule rather than just taking over by fiat.
In this scenario, Shasta, Bree, Aravis, and Hwin actually follow the canonical plot of HHB until they reach Tashbaan, at which point things derail because the Narnians aren't there to snatch Shasta from the street. Instead, they get safely through the city and across the river, then swing westward until they reach a standard caravan route. This one (not the Great Oasis route, incidentally) deposits them in southwestern Archenland, where they promptly have a massive debate over whether to reveal themselves as refugees or continue undercover all the way to Narnia. Shasta just wants to stop hiding, and Hwin is sure Northerners will be sympathetic, but Bree remembers that the humans who captured him were also Northerners, and Aravis is quite aware of the historic enmity Archenland holds toward Calormen. So they continue incognito all the way into Narnia, whereupon they are directed to Cair Paravel, that being the only place really set up to handle situations like theirs.
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Date: 2015-01-08 02:58 am (UTC)Everyone is focused on the altar, so Axartha is able to stop Rabadash without anyone noticing. The crowd is restive, though, so Shezan steps forward and claims the whole thing as a sign from Achadith. Without the goddess's voice, she can't make as dramatic a statement as in "Out of Season," but she says something about how turning on each other is abhorrent to the gods and Calormen must look outward rather than inward for its foes. Which leads, after much argument, to Axartha persuading Rishti to send Rabadash to Narnia as part of an embassy demanding repayment for the attempted disruption of their holy rites.
This gets him out of Tashbaan, but he has no intention whatsoever of courting Susan. Ilgamuth comes to make his apology, but Shezan is feeling more shaken and morally compromised than in "Out of Season" and therefore doesn't make a courting overture; they simply strike up a slightly closer friendship. The Calormene embassy manages to wring an extremely vague apology from Narnia, but nothing more, and the two countries start the same trade embargo and proxy war as in the first scenario. When Rabadash returns, he agrees to postpone killing his father -- it will work much better if he lays political groundwork for his own accession and rule rather than just taking over by fiat.
In this scenario, Shasta, Bree, Aravis, and Hwin actually follow the canonical plot of HHB until they reach Tashbaan, at which point things derail because the Narnians aren't there to snatch Shasta from the street. Instead, they get safely through the city and across the river, then swing westward until they reach a standard caravan route. This one (not the Great Oasis route, incidentally) deposits them in southwestern Archenland, where they promptly have a massive debate over whether to reveal themselves as refugees or continue undercover all the way to Narnia. Shasta just wants to stop hiding, and Hwin is sure Northerners will be sympathetic, but Bree remembers that the humans who captured him were also Northerners, and Aravis is quite aware of the historic enmity Archenland holds toward Calormen. So they continue incognito all the way into Narnia, whereupon they are directed to Cair Paravel, that being the only place really set up to handle situations like theirs.
(comment split for length, tbc...)