[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.

Comments

[sai_delgado]

"I will," she promises, petting her again. "Ye can set yer watch and warrant on it."

Not that a horse or even a Horse is likely to have either, but a saying's a saying all the same.

[the_seafarer]

One by one, the Horses begin to wander off, some nosing at the grass and nibbling on it, and the gray stallion tosses his head. "Well, better to be off while the sun's still high. If we see any dumb horses, we'll send them your way."

"Thank you," Caspian says, politely. "It was a pleasure, Rhin."

[sai_delgado]

"Go yer course in peace," Susan agrees, lifting her hand from the mare's neck as the horse moves off to join the others. She herself shifts sideways a step or two, coming to stand beside Caspian.

[the_seafarer]

He takes her hand in his as they watch the herd shift almost as one into a trot, then a canter, until they're thundering over the high meadows once again.

"They're a beautiful sight, aren't they?"

[sai_delgado]

"They are." She sighs it out on a wondering breath as she watches them race over the grass. "Oh, Caspian, look at them."

[the_seafarer]

"Dreadful gossips, Horses," he murmurs. "News of us will be all over, soon."

He smiles over at her. "Did you like them?"

[sai_delgado]

Susan wrinkles her nose at him. "Could thee not tell?"

She shoves her braid back over her shoulder with her free hand and considers. "I'd not ever have thought of horses as gossips, but I can see it."

[the_seafarer]

"Chatterboxes, the lot of them," he laughs, and coaxes her to start walking with him again. He lifts his free hand and points toward the gleaming sea. "Do you see that shining point there, where the sea meets the shore?"

There's a gleam as off white marble, brilliant as a star. "There sits the castle of Cair Paravel."

[sai_delgado]

Susan stops walking, and her hand tightens on his. "Oh," she breathes, staring at the shining glint of light.

For a moment, what she's seeing now blends with a flicker in memory of the sending Alain had gifted her, the stained glass and brilliance of the Castle o'Barony, the gleam of the filament-lights in the Westr'd Hall, the only time she's ever seen such in life or after, say true.

"The castle thee told me of before? Where the Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve were kings and queens?"

[the_seafarer]

"Aye," he confirms. "Where the kings and queens of the first Golden Age sat and ruled, and then the Pevensies. It fell into ruin in the time of my ancestors, but in my reign was rebuilt into a great and thriving port city."

[sai_delgado]

Susan looks away from the distant castle and up at him. "Thee truly must have been a great king." She's absolutely serious, and deeply certain, even as she smiles.

"Oh, I kennit that I'm no expert on such, but still - I'm sure I'm right in this."

[the_seafarer]

"I hope I was a good king," he admits. "I suppose history will weigh my faults and victories as it does any other. But rebuilding Cair Paravel was a dream of mine, and I was glad to see it completed within my lifetime."

He smiles down at her, then coaxes her to start walking with him again. "It's my hope Rilian and his sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters will have long and happy lives there, now."

[sai_delgado]

"Practical of ye, for I'd expect there's histories and tales passed down for children in their lessoning - at least in places less removed than Hambry were, but even we had knowledge of some of what were done at the Seat o'Barony. I can't think Narnia'd do any less."

She swings their hands a little. "I hope so too, and the castle all filled with their laughter and joy."

[the_seafarer]

He smiles, as much at the ease in her voice when she speaks of her home as at the image she paints for him. Every mention of Hambry lately has been laced with stress and strain, and it's like night and day to hear her speak of it now.

Before he can respond, another set of hoofbeats sound, and his grin flashes. "I think the Horses have sent us mounts."

[sai_delgado]

"That were quick as quick," she says, pleased, and turns to look in the direction of the sound. It's not a herd entire, she can tell that much from the drumbeat of hooves, and evidently Caspian's able to do the same.

It's two horses only that come over the grassy rise and canter toward them, one of which is a cloud-and-grey dapple that veers toward her.

[the_seafarer]

The two horses that appear are clearly not of the Talking variety, and yet Caspian stares anyway, letting go of Susan's hand to run forward with a shout of joy, for the other animal is his own old Destrier, saddled as he used to be and calling a deep-chested whickering whinny as he jogs towards his old master.

[sai_delgado]

"There now, thee proud, thee beauty," Susan soothes the dapple mare, letting her get the scent of her and acquainted with her voice.

"Caspian, thee recognizes him?" His surprise and happiness are wonderful to see.

[the_seafarer]

"It's my old Destrier," Caspian tells her, half in wonderment, half a laugh of joy. He catches the war-horse's reins and can't refrain from pressing his face against the old beloved mane, his arm around the stallion's neck. "The horse I had when I was a boy. He was my loyal friend through the first years of my reign."

[sai_delgado]

"And is still," she laughs. "For it's plain he knows thee just as thee do him." Indeed, the stallion's nudging against Caspian's side in welcome.

She looks Destrier over with a horsewoman's assessing glance and beams. "Oh, he's a beauty true, that he is -- and aye, so are ye," she tells the mare. "Ye needn't worry."

[the_seafarer]

He leads the stallion – a darker gray, the way Caspian remembers him, not the nearly white he was when he finally passed on – over to meet Susan, his eyes sparkling with delight and some deeper emotion.

"It was on this horse that I fled my uncle," he murmurs. "Doctor Cornelius had him saddled and ready. I rode him to all my first campaigns."

[sai_delgado]

The mare snorts but doesn't shy, content to stand and whuff at Susan's shoulder as she holds out her hand to Destrier. "Strong and proud and brave all three, then," she says, coaxing and soft. "A good friend ye are to Caspian, aye?"

[the_seafarer]

"The very best."

The tall stallion lowers his head to sniff at Susan's hand and up along her arm, and Caspian grins again, bright as sunlight. "Well! With such mounts as these, how could we say nay to a ride?"

[sai_delgado]

"Thee'll be hard-pressed to find a time when I'd not be willing to ride," Susan laughs. She waits until Destrier turns his attention back to Caspian, then pets and praises the dappled mare as she checks her over before swinging into the saddle.

"But I'll let thee choose the way."

[the_seafarer]

Once more, he lifts into the familiar saddle and view the world from Destier's back; once more he taps his heels into the sleek flanks and the war-horse moves forward, eager.

"Toward the castle, then," he decides, and slants a mischievous smile at her. "Shall we see how fleet your mount is, lady?"

[sai_delgado]

She guides the mare a few steps with a touch of her knee and a small shift in weight to take her measure, and is delighted to find how responsive she is. Susan tosses a brilliant smile back at Caspian in answer to his teasing challenge.

"Aye," she laughs, "and let the winner claim a forfeit of the other!"