[au] an early snow

[the_seafarer]

It's only mid-autumn, as the Bar-year reckons, but one morning Caspian wakes early to find that the light coming through his window has that particular muted quality to it that only comes from sifting through clouds and a veil of snow.

And snow it is indeed, when he comes outside: it crunches pleasantly beneath his boots as his breath freezes in the air and his cheeks turn pink with the cold. Snow; and still it falls, silent and light.

He heads to the stables with the intention of finishing his chores quickly so he can let the horses out to frolic in it, whistling as he goes.

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[the_seafarer]

The tree-woman turns, slowly, and now Caspian is astonished there was ever a time when he didn't see a face in her branches and bark. A faint breeze rustles her leaves as she solemnly bows in return.

Welcome, comes her voice on the air. Welcome.

[sai_delgado]

“Yer gardens are lovely in the snow, say true,” Susan tells her. “And so clever to have them all year round at once!”

[the_seafarer]

Pleasure from the tree-woman. It is not time to sleep, she tells them. Not yet.

Caspian smiles at her. "We'll have a bit more warmth yet, I wager," he says. "Is it difficult, to keep this enchantment going?"

Amusement. Saplings, the birch-woman says, fond. This is my work.

[sai_delgado]

“When it is, we’ll be sure to see ye in the spring to follow,” Susan tells her. “Do ye and yer sisters sleep all at once?”

[the_seafarer]

Not all, the tree-woman whispers. There are those who prefer the deep woods, who stay awake in the cold. Pine, cedar, spruce, holly.

[sai_delgado]

“Then we’ll come see them too.”

Susan looks to Caspian. “Won’t we?”

[the_seafarer]

"We certainly shall," he promises, and reaches to lace his fingers with Susan's. "May we walk in your garden a little while, lady?"

[sai_delgado]

Enjoy, saplings, she tells them. We enjoy having you here.

Susan beams at her and squeezes Caspian’s hand. “Thankee-sai.”

[the_seafarer]

You are always welcome, the birch-lady tells them, and rustles her leaves, pleased, before gracefully gliding towards another part of the garden.

[sai_delgado]

She turns to Caspian, smiling. “Do’ee want to walk in the snow here? Or in another season?”

[the_seafarer]

"You might be dressed too warmly now for spring or summer," he laughs, reaching with his free hand to adjust her scarf. "We'll need to bundle you back up again."

[sai_delgado]

She leans into his touch, smiling at him. “Easy enough.”

[the_seafarer]

He smiles back and leans in to kiss her gently. "Very well, then," he says, and tugs gently at her hand, coaxing her towards one of the warmer parts of the garden, unwinding the scarf from around his own neck as they go.

"This must be the opposite of how Lucy felt when she first came to Narnia," he muses. "Have you heard that story?"

[sai_delgado]

She shakes her head, sending her braid swinging against her back. As if reminded, she pulls off her hat and stuffs it in a pocket. “I’ve not, not yet. Will thee tell it?”

[the_seafarer]

"If you like."

He lets go of her hand only long enough to take his gloves off and unbutton his coat, then takes it again. "Lucy was the first of the Pevensies to find Narnia. They were playing a game, a hiding game, on a stormy day in the house where they were staying, and she hid inside a large old wardrobe. But it was the strangest thing; there didn't seem to be a back to the wardrobe at all. She pushed the coats and furs aside and kept moving back, looking for the end to the wardrobe, but instead, she stepped into Narnia."

[sai_delgado]

She uses the opportunity to do the same, as well to unwrap her scarf, then gives him a puzzled look.

“It were - there were a secret door? Or passage, somehow?”

[the_seafarer]

He shakes his head. "I don't know," he admits. "I've never known how the ways opened between their world and Narnia. And according to the Pevensies, this one disappeared when Lucy came back and tried to show them what she'd found."

[sai_delgado]

Susan frowns, considering. “That’s not how the doors Roland and Eddie and Susannah ken work, or the Manni’s stories, but there’s stranger in the worlds, I wot.”

She shrugs it off and smiles at him again. “And thee said before, it were always winter in Narnia when first they came.”

[the_seafarer]

"They're fickle, true enough," he says, sounding wry.

"And aye; poor thing, she hadn't a warm coat or boots or a hat when she first walked into the Hundred Year Winter."

[sai_delgado]

Susan shivers at the thought, remembering how cold she’d been just that morning.

“What did she do?”

[the_seafarer]

"She met a faun," Caspian tells her. "Tumnus. He brought her to his home for tea to warm her up, then helped her find her way back again."

And he spied for the White Witch as he did so, but what choice did the poor fellow have?

[sai_delgado]

“That were kind of him,” Susan declares, as they step from winter into a cool spring meadow.

[the_seafarer]

"Things were hard then," Caspian murmurs, "even for a creature so innocent as a Faun."

He lets go her hand once more at the edge of the flowers and grass so he can take off his heavy winter coat and leave it and his scarf and gloves in the sweet-smelling greenery.

[sai_delgado]

“Oh, that’s a good idea,” she observes, and does the same.

Or mostly. As she pulls her scarf from her neck, Susan flips it over his head and tugs both ends, coaxing him to her.

[the_seafarer]

He laughs and goes willingly, his hands finding her waist as he leans down to kiss her.