[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]

Caspian gives her a half-wry, half-amused glance and smoothly dismounts from Destrier as Wimbleweather visibly thinks through Susan's response. Eventually, the giant arrives at an understanding of her thanks, and smiles beatifically at her.

The Bear, meanwhile, ambles through the fallen apples, picking carefully through them with one paw while sucking distractedly on the other, like a baby with a pacifier.

[sai_delgado]

She can tell when it sinks in for Wimbleweather what she'd meant, and beams back at him. Susan dismounts and leads the mare to the side of the little clearing, where there's plenty of grass and shade, and piles up several apples for her. Once she's contentedly munching, Susan leaves her there with a pat and comes back to join Caspian.

"How goes the day?" she asks the Bear. Susan's not entirely sure of what sort of conversation they'd like, but that'll not stop her from trying all the same.

[the_seafarer]

The Bear sits heavily in the shade of another apple tree and mumbles something impossible to decipher around the paw in its mouth. Caspian clears his throat, politely gazing up at the sky, and the Bear whips its paw out of its mouth and puts it behind its back guiltily.

"Oh, fine, fine, Daughter of Eve," it tells her. "Though it may rain to-night."

"It looks clear thus far," Caspian opines, and the Bear nods comfortably along. "Yes, yes it does. It does look clear. So perhaps it won't, after all."

[sai_delgado]

Laughter sparkles in her glance at the way Caspian so gently and deftly manages the Bear, but she keeps it inside, not wanting to offend the dear creature. Susan bends down and scoops up a particularly nice apple, which she offers to Caspian before she observes, cheerfully, "Mayhap not. But rain helps the apples grow, so it'll all be to the good any road."

[the_seafarer]

"And flowers," Caspian agrees, accepting the apple with a twinkle in his eye. Destrier is moving from apple to apple on the ground, munching away, and Susan's mare seems to be equally enjoying herself. "Which is good for the bees. And therefore, for the honey."

The Bear brightens. "What a good point, sire. Daughter of Eve. Aren't you clever. I do like honey. And apples."

[sai_delgado]

"I knew someone once who made a mead of apples brewed with honey," she muses. "It were always welcome at the Fair-Days."

[the_seafarer]

"Oh, that does sound nice," the Bear muses. "I shall have to tell the Dwarves. They'd like that, very much."

"I'm certain they would," Caspian agrees, then points out a wandering honeybee that's alighted on a crushed apple and is sipping at its juice. "I suppose you could try following that bee, if you'd like to find some honey."

[sai_delgado]

While Caspian's pointing out the bee to the Bear, Susan peers up at the giant, who's alternating between looking down at them and watching out over the trees into the distance. "Is there something to see, sai Wimbleweather?" she asks, politely.

[the_seafarer]

The giant looks down at her, then shakes his head. "But it's worth looking."

"It often is," Caspian agrees, and catches Susan's glance with his own merry one. "Well, Su, shall we leave them to their apple-picking and go tour the castle?"

[sai_delgado]

She beams a sweet smile at him in answer. "Aye, let's do."

[the_seafarer]

He waves farewell to the Bear and to Giant Wimbleweather, then clucks to Destrier, who lifts his head from an apple and jogs over. "We're close enough to walk," he tells Susan. "But we may want to bring the horses with us anyway."

[sai_delgado]

“He’s trained a treat,” she approves, even as she nods agreement with his suggestion. “Such a beauty!”

Susan goes to claim her mare’s rein for a lead, picking up a few more apples on the way to stash in the saddlebag.

“Which way?”

[the_seafarer]

"He had to be, for battle."

He collects the stallion's reins and follows suit with a few apples of his own, then bites into the one Susan had given him. It tastes crisp and sweet and juicy and for a moment he's transported back in time to those first harvests in Narnia after the Telmarines had been driven out. "This way," he tells her, tipping his head toward a path that leads away at an angle from the spot where they came in.

[sai_delgado]

"Aye, and he would," she agrees. "Like Boukephalos."

Susan draws the mare to one side, a little, so she can walk beside Caspian. "Yer friends are nice."

[the_seafarer]

"Aye," he agrees, affection and amusement mixed. "They weren't the most effective soldiers, but they're good folk. Both the Bear and Wimbleweather were Marshals of the List when High King Peter dueled my uncle, you know."

[sai_delgado]

She makes a curious sound, and gives him a look that's equally curious, at that. "What would'ee have marshals for, in a duel? Not that I ken duels much, save for Anthy's, and it's not - that were before--"

She's a little flustered as she tries to explain, and leaves off.

[the_seafarer]

He gives her a quizzical glance, but answers easily. "They stand at the four corners and the mid-points of the field," he tells her. "To ensure no rules are broken, and that no duelist cheats."

[sai_delgado]

"Oh." Susan considers that for a second, then gives a small shrug. "Seems practical, mayhap?"

And she catches that glance, indeed she does, and determinedly sets herself to try to explain. "As I said, I've not had knowing of such things. Except for when Anthy were the Rose Bride, and that were different, I wot. Did'ee ken all of that?"

[the_seafarer]

"Traditional, anyway," he says, and shakes his head at her question.

"Nay. I think it must have been before I arrived. I'm afraid to say I don't even know the lady in question."

[sai_delgado]

"Thee will when thee see her," Susan says, confident. "She has purple hair, and glasses."

[the_seafarer]

"I shall be certain to look for her," he promises. "But it's certainly no bad thing to be unfamiliar with duels."

[sai_delgado]

(everything the way of the Eld was not)

Her smile is a little wry, but warm. "Thee say true, and I say thankya. But that doesn't mean I'm not interested in yer stories, do'ee ken?"

[the_seafarer]

He looks over at her, a little surprised. "I never thought that, Su. We may be from different worlds and different backgrounds, but that just means there are so many more stories to share, doesn't it?"

[sai_delgado]

She reaches to catch his hand, twining her fingers with his, and smiles up at him, warm all through at his easy acceptance and how it's clearly never occurred to him to think otherwise. "Aye, it does."

[the_seafarer]

He smiles over at her, sweet and warm. "I always enjoy hearing your stories, too."

The orchard paths are beginning to widen, and above the trees they can now see the white outer wall of the citadel, gleaming in the sun.