And the other thing is...

[flemmings]

I really should go back and read Narnia again to see just how much it's surreptitiously influenced my reading of 12 Kingdoms. This realization brought to you by a sudden flashback to Caspian's tantrum in Dawn Treader that I'd forgotten about, though I could quote you chunks of it verbatim- "Talking beasts, yes. I said nothing about beasts that never stop talking"- and its odd echoes of a tantrum that En'ou throws in Second Taiki.