[AU] to find all you seek

[the_seafarer]

It is hardly unusual that the door opens. 

It is slightly unusual, perhaps, that it opens seemingly on its own, onto a warm green land bordered by a calm, gleaming sea that smells of salt and something like lilies.

With such a view, anyone glancing out the door might be forgiven if they did not see the individual for whom it opened – not unless they glanced down.

And then down some more, where a mouse – a Mouse – stands on its back legs, studying the room before it with a soldier's practiced eye. It is about a foot high, darkly furred, and a scarlet feather nods rakishly from a golden circlet it wears about one ear. 

Apparently making up its mind, the Mouse enters, and the door closes. 

(One story ends, and another begins.)

The Mouse scurries – er, climbs – to the top of a seat at the Bar and lifts its small, impatient voice. "Hey there!" it calls. "Who is master of this alehouse?"

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[sai_delgado]

She draws her fingers through his hair. “The moon were pink,” she whispers.

Susan presses a gentle kiss to the crown of his head. “Don’t thee worry about that, Caspian, say true.”

[the_seafarer]

He shivers as she runs her fingers through his hair and makes a soft sound at the kiss she places there, his arms tightening around her.

"I ought to have told him just now, I suppose," he murmurs. "But I couldn't bear having to explain it to Reepicheep. He'll be crushed."

[sai_delgado]

“Thee did nothing wrong,” she assures him, carding her fingers through his blond locks. “There’s time to figure out what to tell yer friend, and how, and when.”

“‘Bert kens something’s amiss, aye, but he were only concerned. He’ll not press thee.”

[the_seafarer]

He nods. "So there will."

He flattens his hand against her back, gentle. "Thank you, Su. For giving me a way out. And for coming to see me now."

[sai_delgado]

“Thee are welcome,” she says, gently. “I wanted to.”

[the_seafarer]

He shifts his head on her shoulder and leans up to press a kiss to her neck.

"You are kind," he murmurs.

[sai_delgado]

She shivers and holds him a little closer.

“Thee very dear,” she says, oh, so softly.

[the_seafarer]

Caspian leans back to look up at her, lifting one hand from her back to tuck a lock of golden hair behind her ear.

"Stay a while?"

[sai_delgado]

Susan tips her head into his touch and smiles at him.

“Gladly.”

[the_seafarer]

He leans up to kiss her gently, then pulls away with a small smile.

"Good," he murmurs.

[sai_delgado]

She rests her arm around his shoulders and brings her other hand back up to frame his face again.

“Thee must have been happy to see yer friend here, aye?” she coaxes.

[the_seafarer]

"Very," he says, and there's something approaching a real smile on his face as he looks up at her.

"I've never been so surprised in all my life."

[sai_delgado]

She smiles back. “He thinks the world of thee, it’s plain.”

[the_seafarer]

"My most loyal knight," he murmurs, his smile crooking. He draws his fingers gently through her hair.

"I know he can be a bit... intense. He is very valiant, but doesn't have much of a sense of humor."

[sai_delgado]

“I weren’t expecting him to defend me so,” she admits, tipping her head to let him make free of her hair.

[the_seafarer]

"He cannot abide any insult to a lady, actual or only perceived," he says, a little wry.

"And you were kind to him. He likes you. And he hates teasing, because so many have teased him in the past."

[sai_delgado]

She links her hands loosely around his shoulders, her fingers brushing the nape of his neck.

“People can be cruel. He’s very fierce, and very sincere.”

[the_seafarer]

"He is both those things. I have never known him to tell a falsehood of any sort," Caspian tells her, shivering as her fingers brush against his skin.

"But I can't have him challenging everyone at the bar to a duel every time he thinks an insult's been laid down. It won't happen again... I hope," he admits, wry.

[sai_delgado]

“Thee were very firm with him,” she agrees. Susan draws her fingers over his nape just as lightly, but with a deliberate touch, having noticed his shiver, oh aye.

“I’ve not seen thee quite like that before, but I kennit.”

[the_seafarer]

His quick smile flashes at the deliberate way she chases that shiver, even as he shivers deliciously once more.

"That's how he knows me best," he murmurs. "As his commander. I hope you didn't mind too much."

It's not exactly the side of himself he shows most often here, where he is simply Caspian.

[sai_delgado]

“It startled me,” she admits, “but I didn’t mind, Caspian, say true.”

She frees one hand to pull her hair forward over both shoulders, then leans forward so she can drape the golden locks over his.

“It’s as ‘Bert said. Thee never met Roland.”

This seems to make perfect sense to her.

[the_seafarer]

He leans back and coaxes her with him, looking up at her with her hair a golden veil around them. "I don't know how that follows," he admits, "but I'm glad it wasn't too alarming."

Caspian slips his hand into her hair and pulls, lightly, asking her to bend down to him for a kiss.

[sai_delgado]

“He were the dinh of the ka-tet of Nine, and of Nineteen,” she tells him, letting him draw her closer. “He would have been the Lord of Light of Gilead, if it hadn’t fallen. He were the last of the gunslingers for years upon years.” Something very rueful and wry passes over her face, just for a moment. “And he’d speak sharp when he thought it were needed, and more.”

Susan shrugs, and smiles at him. “So aye, I kennit.” She leans down at his coaxing, and her kiss is sweet and willing.

[the_seafarer]

"Hmm," says Caspian, but he's more than willing not to talk of Roland right now, while she's so sweet and warm in his arms. Her hair is a golden cloud around them and he sinks his fingers into it to draw her down for a deeper kiss.

[sai_delgado]

She makes a soft sound against his mouth and presses closer to him, kissing him back.