[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.

Comments

[sai_delgado]

She gives him her hand with a will and lets him help her to her feet, then laces her fingers with his and smiles at him.

"About the snow. I'd like to see more of it."

[the_seafarer]

"Then see more we shall," he says, gallant, and strolls with her back towards the horses and their abandoned winter clothing. "One warm day will melt it all away, so we'll have to indulge ourselves now. Who knows when our next chance will come?"

[sai_delgado]

"Winter," she says, mischief in her glance. "Or so I'd wager, anyway."

Susan draws to a stop as they reach their neatly-folded clothes and leans down to pick up Caspian's scarf. She flips it around his neck and smiles, running the ends of it through her fingers.

[the_seafarer]

"Aye, so I'd guess," he laughs. As she puts his scarf around his neck, he sets his hands lightly on her hips and leans in to kiss her, still smiling.

[sai_delgado]

She kisses him back, sweet and lingering, then reaches up to brush her fingers lightly over his cheek once it breaks.

[the_seafarer]

He smiles down at her, then reaches for her own scarf and puts it around her neck, tucking it snugly in against itself.

"Besides," he says. "We need to give that big fellow some exercise, don't we?"

[sai_delgado]

“He’s been very patient,” she agrees. “And he seems to like the snow.”

She gathers up the rest of their things and parcels them out, making sure Caspian’s as bundled up as she is before they get the horses.

[the_seafarer]

"He does, doesn't he?"

He offers her a boost into the saddle and then swings up into his own, reining Corella back toward the path. She snorts as the temperature changes, but her winter coat has come in thickly, and the snow hardly seems to bother her at all as they move back out into it.

[sai_delgado]

As the white flakes start falling again, Ghost tosses his head and kicks out a hoof, nearly prancing. Susan laughs and gathers him in.

“He does like it,” she calls.

[the_seafarer]

Corella snorts and minces along the path until Caspian nudges her forward; he laughs, too. "Corella is still getting used to it, I think," he tells her.

[sai_delgado]

“I kennit, lady-sai,” Susan tells her. “But ye’ll come to like it well enough in time.”

She shakes her braid back and looks to Caspian. “Where would thee next?”

[the_seafarer]

He clucks to Corella and brings her alongside Ghost, humming thoughtfully.

"There's a rabbit warren round about the other side of the lake," he says. "Shall we go see how they're taking the snow?"

[sai_delgado]

Susan gives him a suspicious look. “The demon rabbits?”

[the_seafarer]

"Nay," he laughs. "At least, they don't look that way. Cute and fluffy and seemingly alive, I swear it."

[sai_delgado]

“Aye, then,” she agrees, and reins Ghost back.

“Lead on, if thee would.”

[the_seafarer]

"With a will, lady."

One she's out into the snowy paths, Corella forgets her sulkiness and trots towards that path that leads around the lake – and, coincidentally, away from the beach where someone is building a base of sticks and straw for a bonfire.

AS they ride, Caspian mulls the problem over: is there a way? Is there somewhere, somehow, he can bring her to distract her from the season? He considers it as the arc of the lake comes into view, slate blue beneath the early winter sky.

[sai_delgado]

Once the path widens, opening down toward the water, Susan brings Ghost up beside Corella and Caspian and beams a smile at him, unaware of his thoughts.

"How did thee find the rabbits to begin with?"

[the_seafarer]

"The same way one finds anything here, I suppose," he laughs. "By wandering about until one stumbles on something unusual. In this case, I'd been sailing and hauled into shore for a bit on the far side of the lake."

[sai_delgado]

“It must have surprised ye both,” she teases.

[the_seafarer]

"They did bound fairly rapidly away," he admits, amused.

[sai_delgado]

The thought of the small, quick moving creatures reminds here, and she asks, “How is sai - Sir - Reepicheep? I’ve not seen him in a bit.”

She’s not sure exactly how long, come to think of it. Time is a face on the water, and more so now than before.

[the_seafarer]

"Very well, or so I believe. He's been spending a good deal of time with Gimli the Dwarf."

He nudges Corella when she begins to slow; she snorts at him but obeys. "I wonder how long he'll stay. He's a Mouse who longs for great adventure, you know. I've no doubt he'd happily rush through the door to visit another world. He may even go back to Aslan's Country to explore further there, too."

[sai_delgado]

“He’s a darling,” she tells him, smiling. “I can just see him, off on some adventure with one of those he’ll meet here. Mayhap Wash’d like to meet him, or Mal, or Kaylee or River.”

[the_seafarer]

"I think he'd like Wash a great deal," Caspian agrees. "Kaylee, too, and River."

He considers for a moment. "The chances are good Mal would say something that would make Reep challenge him to a duel, though."

[sai_delgado]

“Oh, surely not,” she protests, shifting with Ghost as he sidesteps a larger rock. “He’d never mean to insult him!”