[au] Narnia and the North

[the_seafarer]

There's a chill bite to the air, these days. The horses have been growing out their winter coats, and they look shaggy and plump as Caspian turns them out into the paddocks. Behind the stables, in the makeshift woodshop he'd cobbled together, the sleigh from his drawings is starting to come together. 

He hopes he'll have it finished by Christmas. With a little luck, and maybe some assistance, he thinks it should be possible. The tack, he's largely left up to Susan's devices, though he'd commission Gimli the dwarf for the various buckles and other metal pieces they'll need.

Once the horses are turned out, he gets to his other morning chores with a will, whistling cheerfully as he does. The stable stays strangely quiet around him. It takes him the better part of an hour to realize the strangeness is because he's become accustomed to Susan's cheerful presence working alongside him, talking or humming or simply working in companionable silence. 

Caspian pauses in his task – refilling the grain chest – and looks around. Susan's nowhere to be seen, and when he later wanders through the stables, checking each stall and outside, he can't find her there, either.

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[sai_delgado]

“Thankee-sai,” Susan calls after him. She doesn’t let herself draw a deep, shaking breath until he’s out of sight.

There’s a bowl in the bathroom, along with the promised salve, and her hairbrush and comb. Susan fills the bowl with water as hot as she can stand and takes it to the low table near her sofa, then brings everything else.

It helps, to have something to do to keep her from thinking.

[the_seafarer]

Reepicheep hurries from the staff quarters and leaps onto the bartop. "Clean cloths, I beg," he requests. "Soft, for bandaging wounds."

The bar complies by manifesting a basket of soft, clean muslin cloths, which Reepicheep takes. He thanks the Bar and jumps to the floor, then makes his way back towards Susan's rooms, rapping politely on the door and announcing himself before letting himself in.

[sai_delgado]

Susan looks up as he enters. She’s seated on the sofa, both sleeves rolled up, soaking one hand while she tries to clean out the scratches and small cuts. The tangled golden mass of her hair is shoved back over her shoulder as best she can manage, and her gaze may be shadowed, but it’s clear and steady.

“It’s kind of ye to help so,” she tells him. “Truly it is.”

[the_seafarer]

"A small enough kindness in return for that which you've shown me." The Mouse sets the basket of cloths next to her, then studies her for a moment before winding the tip of his tail around the comb and climbing to the back of the couch. "Allow me to assist you with untangling your hair, madam."

He's well aware of how being well-groomed can affect one's mood and outlook, and her poor hands look far too sore to comb out her snarls herself.

[sai_delgado]

“All right,” Susan says, soft, and picks up the top cloth. She dips it in the water and goes back to cleaning her hands.

“I’ve been a great deal of trouble to everyone this morning, I kennit. I truly am sorry, Sir Reepicheep.”

[the_seafarer]

"Please don't apologize, Daughter of Eve."

Reepicheep begins the work of untangling her hair with his clever paws before attempting to work the comb through the snarls. "I expect if it were one of your friends who was frightened and hurt, you would not want them to apologize for needing help, would you?"

[sai_delgado]

"Ye have the right of it, say true." His touch is gentle and deft, and she does her best to hold still and not disturb him.

And she sees the point he's making, aye, she sees it very well. "But they're all much braver than I am, I wot, and it seems foolish to take on so over a - a silly dream."

[the_seafarer]

"Oh, no, lady," the Mouse says, seriously. "Not foolish at all. Indeed, I think you're far braver than you believe."

He works at a tangle in her hair for a moment, then continues. "Has His Majesty ever told you of the Dark Island we encountered, during our voyage on the Dawn Treader?"

[sai_delgado]

Susan frowns. "Is that where Eustace became a dragon?"

[the_seafarer]

"Nay, madam. This was further in our travels."

As he works at a particularly tangled snarl, his voice falls into a soothing cadence of storytelling. "It wasn't rightly an island at all, that I could tell. We'd had nearly a fortnight of fine weather and good sailing when King Edmund sighted what he believed to be a land mass off the port bow. But when we made for it, it seemed to be only a darkness like a mist rising from the water."

[sai_delgado]

Her hands still in the bowl and a faint shudder runs through her. "Like smoke?" But nay, that's not right, he'd said mist. Susan orders herself to settle, shoving aside memory.

"Or fog, mayhap, that tricked the eye?"

[the_seafarer]

"From a distance, it appeared to be mist," the Mouse confirms. "But when we came close to the border, it seemed instead that all the color had been leached from the sea and sky. And a few meters beyond that, a darkness impenetrable to the eye."

The tangle somewhat subdued, he lifts the comb to run its teeth carefully through the long golden lock of her hair. "Our captain, Drinian, advised we not proceed. But I, in my desire for honor and adventure, shamed the King into ordering us ahead and into the darkness."

[sai_delgado]

She turns her head just enough to look up at him. "I misdoubt he'd say it so," she points out.

[the_seafarer]

"Ask him and see," Reepicheep tells her, setting the newly-combed lock over her shoulder and setting to work on another. "Either way, in we went. Even with lanterns lit, we could barely see past our whiskers, once we rowed forward into that darkness. And it seemed we traveled for an age, and time seemed to have lost all meaning. Finally, we heard something: a cry of anguish, horror, fear – it hardly sounded human.

"I leapt forward and called out: 'If you are a foe we do not fear you and if you are a friend you enemies shall be taught the fear of us!'

"And the voice cried 'Mercy,' and begged us to take them aboard. His Majesty called for the ship to halt, and a man swam to us. Thin, haggard; he looked like a wild thing, beset by what, we did not know. And he told us to fly, for this was the island where dreams came true."

[sai_delgado]

Fog-gray eyes go wide with shock... and sudden horrified realization.

"Ye'd stumbled upon the Lord of Nightmare's realm?"

No wonder Caspian had startled so when she'd mentioned what had happened here, all those months ago.

[the_seafarer]

"I don't know," Reepicheep admits. "The castaway we found only called it the place where dreams came to life. There was a bit of ribbing about that, as sailors do, joking about the dreams they hoped to see, but the castaway was adamant that it was not daydreams but dreams. The next moment, there was a great rush and scramble as all headed for the oars."

The Mouse flicks his ears, clever fingers nimbly working out the next snarl. "I admit, I didn't not understand the fear that gripped our crew. But even King Caspian himself said there were some things no man could face.

"It seemed we might be trapped in that darkness forever, until a spark of light appeared – an albatross, high in the sky. By the grace of Aslan, it led us out and into the good clean air once more. We found, then, that the man we'd rescued was none other than Lord Rhoop, one of those His Majesty had set sail to find. But I never forgot it: the power dreams have over one's mind and fears. And so I don't believe you've been foolish at all."

[sai_delgado]

"He must have been so grateful," Susan murmurs, as she pats her hands dry. "Yer Lord Rhoop. It were brave and bold of ye to venture so into such a place."

She sighs, a little wearily. "Ye are very kind, Sir Reepicheep. But it's not -- it's not as though -- I'd not deny the Dream-lord's power, do'ee ken? For oh, he's of the Seven, and beyond any mortal ken, for all that he's been kind to me. But this were different, and I'm shamed that I took on so for something I ken full well is over and done, say true."

[the_seafarer]

"Perhaps he was," comes Caspian's voice from the door. He'd arrived mid-way through Reepichee's story and chosen to wait outside, listening, until now. He steps through the door, taking in the bowl of water, the cloths, Reepicheep working through Susan's tangled hair. "Rhoop, that is. But the truth of it was that his years on the Dark Island had hollowed him out into only a shell of a man. I'm not sure there was enough left of him to be able to feel gratitude."

He comes across the room and kneels at Susan's feet, then takes a cloth and gently lifts her hand from the water so he can begin cleaning her cuts. "Well, Su, you've heard how Reep has shamed me, in the past. Sir Reepicheep, do you say sai Delgado has acted without courage?"

"Never, sire!" the Mouse replies, aghast. "If I did, may I throw myself from this window in disgrace."

[sai_delgado]

Her glance flicks past Caspian to the door for a moment, looking to see if the others have followed him, before she turns back to them.

"Thee are both kind, then, I wot," she insists, with a spark of her usual spirit. "But 'twere still foolish of me. I thought only to spare thee worry, and here I've caused it instead."

[the_seafarer]

"You've given us something to do with our day," Caspian says, easily. "I'm sorry, Su. You shall simply have to put up with our worrying, and worry over us in return another day."

[sai_delgado]

She gives him a searching look, then visibly decides to leave it be. Susan sits still between them while they both fuss over her, one with her hair and the other with her hands, and considers for a moment or two.

"What happened to him?" she asks, at last. "To Sir Rhoop, I mean."

[the_seafarer]

"We left him for a while on Ramandu's island," Caspian tells her. "Ramandu offered him a dreamless sleep, which was all the poor man wanted. He joined his former comrades, Lords Argoz, Revilian, and Mavramorn, already in the enchanted slumber, and we continued on to the east. When we returned, the lords woke, and we brought them with us back to Narnia."

[sai_delgado]

This time her sigh is more wistful. "Such a wonder, that journey of yours," Susan murmurs. "And to come home to Narnia at the end of it. The stories are true, oh aye."

[the_seafarer]

"Aye," he agrees, carefully blotting her sore hand dry, then picking up the other. "After all our voyaging, it warmed out hearts to see Narnia once again."

His sea-gray gaze flicks up to her face, a hidden smile warming his eyes. "Would you like to see it, too?"

[sai_delgado]

Susan blinks at him, uncomprehending. “Aye, of course, but how ever could I?”