[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

[the_seafarer]

Destrier is clearly glad to see his master once again, and stretches out willingly, Caspian low over his neck with the wind whipping his hair, but the mare's lighter frame and Susan's exceptional riding are both boons for their rivals as the speed and distance begin to tell on his old mount. The stallion reaches with each stride, but the cloud-dappled mare nudges first a nose, then a head, then half a length ahead.

[sai_delgado]

Sand sprays from under the mare's hooves as they thunder onto the beach, and Susan laughs. She draws her back to a canter, then an easy trot, and finally down to a walk as she circles back to Caspian and Destrier.

"She's swift as a swallow and no mistake," she calls, pleased.

[the_seafarer]

He pulls Destrier up and moves the snorting stallion into a walk, laughing. "She's that and more," he agrees. "A fine race, well run."

His eyes dance with merriment as he walks the stallion closer. "What boon would you have of me, lady?"

[sai_delgado]

Susan pats the mare on the arch of her neck and gives Caspian a mischievous look. "Might I think on it for a bit?"

[the_seafarer]

"Of course," he says, gallant, and turns his glance to the end of the beach, where rocks rise into a hill that overlooks the sea. And atop the hill, banners waving bravely in the brisk breeze, gleams the many-towered citadel of Cair Paravel.

"And look where we've come."

[sai_delgado]

The sharp breath she draws is filled with wonder. Susan reins the mare in close by Destrier and reaches out to catch Caspian's hand in hers.

"I've never seen anything like."

[the_seafarer]

He takes her hand in his, then lifts it to kiss her knuckles. "Beautiful, isn't it?" he murmurs, looking up at the castle.

"It looks now as I've always imagined it did in the Golden Age of the Pevensies."

[sai_delgado]

"Can we - oh, thee'll think me silly, I wot," Susan says, blushing a little.

[the_seafarer]

"I doubt that," he says, his smile warming. "What is it?"

[sai_delgado]

"I wouldn't want to intrude," she demurs. "Or be aught of trouble to anyone who's there. But oh, I'd love to see inside."

[the_seafarer]

At her soft admission, his eyes light and his smile shifts from warm to brilliant. Ever since they'd arrived, the years that sometimes cloud his eyes had fallen away, but now he truly looks like the young King Caspian who had set sail from this very beach all those years ago.

"I'd like nothing more than to show you," he promises. "Come. We'll take the path up from the shore."

[sai_delgado]

She squeezes his hand, and clicks her tongue to the mare to send her along beside Destrier.

[the_seafarer]

He lets go her hand to guide Destrier along the familiar beach toward the path that clambers up the slope. As they climb, he points out things here and there to Susan.

"When I was a boy – and later a man – this whole area had been washed away by erosion, and the castle stood on an island in the Great River Delta, not on this hill."

[sai_delgado]

Susan blinks in surprise. "However did thee make it into a hill, when it were an island before?"

[the_seafarer]

"Only imagine what clever engineers Talking Moles are," he points out. "And we had a few giants to lend a hand. But what we built up didn't quite look like this, either."

[sai_delgado]

"They must have been trig as anything, to transform it so." Susan considers the area around them, then looks back at Caspian.

"How did it look different?"

[the_seafarer]

"Because we built a city over it," he tells her, cheerfully. "So most of this became part of the citadel."

[sai_delgado]

“Oh, and that would be a change indeed, say true,” she giggles. “Did they call thee Builder as well?”

[the_seafarer]

"Not that I ever heard," he laughs.

The horses clamber up over the rise at the edge of the path, and he looks around, then points. "Over there – the North Gate. There should be an apple orchard we can wander through."

[sai_delgado]

“It’s been a long time since I did that,” Susan murmurs, patting the mare’s neck. “Did ye hear that, beauty? Would’ee like me to bring thee an apple?”

[the_seafarer]

The mare doesn't speak, but she understands the tone well enough and snorts in response. Caspian directs Destrier towards the North Gate, smiling. "I think they both deserve one after that race, don't you?"

[sai_delgado]

"Mayhap even more than one." She settles comfortably in the saddle, as if born or grafted there, and keeps the mare to pace at Caspian's side.

"Orchards thee mentioned before, but I didn't realize thee had them so close to yer home."

[the_seafarer]

"There are others, closer to the Western Woods," he tells her, riding along easily by her side. "This one was, I think, planted by the Pevensies during their reign. It expanded quite a bit after they went missing."

[sai_delgado]

"There were apple orchards north of Hambry," Susan says, and though her voice is soft with memory, a slight smile curves her mouth. "Sai White, Jake White, saw to them. But we had windfall-rights, for the horses, of courses."

[the_seafarer]

"Of course."

Destrier lifts his head and sniffs the air, scenting the sweet fragrance of apples. "That must have made for several pleasant outings."