[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]

"Fear not," the girl says, with gentle amusement. "I could never think ill of so loyal a friend. I knew him for a very long time, you see."

[sai_delgado]

"He loves ye dear, say true." Each word is clear and certain. "And he loves Caspian, too. He'd only ever wish joy for ye."

[the_seafarer]

"And I him."

Some old sorrow touches the girl's eyes. "He blamed himself for the loss of our son. But he has always been a true friend and loyal companion. I hope he finds peace of his own here."

[sai_delgado]

"Rilian," she murmurs. "He were lost for long, but restored in the end, lady-sai, if ye'd not known. We were able to tell Drinian that, too."

[the_seafarer]

"Lost to my sight, as well," she murmurs, and smiles, the sorrow still clear in her eyes but the curve of her lips soft and warm.

"I thank you. For both."

[sai_delgado]

She squeezes the girl's hand, trying to comfort, trying to reassure. "Ye needn't," she says, softly. "I'd do more, if I could."

Susan draws a careful breath. "I'd not ever wish to see ye hurt."

[the_seafarer]

Liliandil smiles again, more warmly.

"You have a kind and a gentle heart."

[sai_delgado]

Susan shakes her head, just a little. The star-queen's kindness is as lovely and gracious as the lady herself, say true.

"Lady-sai," she murmurs. "Lady star. Ye kennit, I wot, but I've need to say it all the same. I'd never meant to - to come between ye and Caspian, in any way improper--"

(I'm surprised you know the meaning of the word)

She flushes a little, but makes herself continue all the same. "Nor would he ever, ever do aught such, ye ken that as well. And if I've - ye've said it already, that I've caused ye no offense, but I'd... I'd wish ye to know that I'd not thought of matters so, until-- until today. But if ye see it differently, I'd have ye tell me now."

[the_seafarer]

The girl lowers their clasped hands and covers Susan's with her own. "I love the man I married," she says, in her clear voice. "Never did I have reason to believe he did not love me in return. And we lived well and happily together."

She wets her lip, thoughtful a moment. "Let me ask you this," she says. "You loved, before. Would you begrudge your love happiness with another? Or celebrate that he had found joy once again?"

[sai_delgado]

"Celebrate." There's no hesitation.

(go with my love)

"I'd wish him all the joy he could find, ever, ever, if ka would allow it."

And oh, but she understands the point the other is making, and her voice trembles for all that she tries to keep it steady.

"I kennit, I do. But I - I had to ask."

[the_seafarer]

The girl looks down at their linked hands, and a few long, rippling locks of her hair fall past her face. "If it were you," she murmurs. "There'd be a little sorrow in your celebration, like as not. The thorn of the rose, the bitterness that brings out the sweetness of wine."

When she looks back up, she smiles, as sweet as rose or wine could ever be. "But it would be such a small thing beside all the rest. Have joy, Daughter of Eve. I do not begrudge the time you have with him, as you do not begrudge the time I had. For I would have him have every good thing all the worlds have to offer."

[sai_delgado]

"Ye say true," she murmurs, thinking of Irene Tassenbaum and the time she'd spent with Roland. "And I say thankya for it, I do."

She smiles in turn, then, and impulsively leans forward to hug the slender starlit figure. "And he'll be here again with thee in time."

[the_seafarer]

The girl laughs and embraces her. "All times are soon," she says. "All places are here, in the end. I am glad, very glad, to have met you, Susan, Daughter of Eve."

[sai_delgado]

"We're well-met indeed," she agrees, as she sits back. Threads of light from the stars overhead pour down around them, causing all the world to gleam a faint silver. A breeze stirs, tugging at their hair and carrying the clean, sweet-smelling scent of grass and trees and the distant sea.

[the_seafarer]

"We are."

She sits back, also, seemingly enjoying the breeze that lifts her hair and Susan's and the gleaming starlight all around them. "Remember that, the next time you feel alone in the dark. Only look up at the sky to find a friend."

[sai_delgado]

"I'll remember," she promises, and her sudden smile is quick and bright as sunshine. "I've a friend who sails a ship among the stars in his world, who feels much the same."

[the_seafarer]

There's a glimmer of girlish amusement in the star-woman's glance as she looks over. "Should he ever wish to stop and converse with some," she says, serenely, "he ought. Stars can be quite fond of conversation."

[sai_delgado]

"I'll be sure and tell him." Susan can just imagine the expression on Wash's face, oh aye. "Mayhap he's never thought of it before."

[the_seafarer]

The girl doesn't laugh aloud, but it dances in her eyes. "Do," she says, and breathes deep of the sweet night air.

"Is there anything else you wish to know, Daughter of Eve? Any other questions I can answer to ease your mind? For if not..."

She nods to the vale. "I would not have you miss the merriment."

[sai_delgado]

"Ye've been very kind, lady-sai Liliandil," Susan tells her. "I've no more questions, save one."

Susan tips her head toward the sounds of distant celebration, and her fog-gray gaze is warm and hopeful. "Would'ee come with me?"

[the_seafarer]

This time, the girl nods, and smiles. "I will," she agrees. "For a little while."

[sai_delgado]

Susan beams at her and jumps to her feet, then holds out a hand to help her up.

[the_seafarer]

The girl takes her hand and rises gracefully to her feet, then walks with her back in the direction of the celebration.

[sai_delgado]

They pass near-silently over the soft grass as they climb the little rise to its crest. As they start the descent into the vale below, Susan looks around, trying to spot Caspian.

[the_seafarer]

The dance has gotten even more lively, and the vale is full now of Narnians of all sorts: Dwarves, Fauns, Dryads, Naiads, Centaurs, Talking Animals. And among them all, hair bright under the starlight, Caspian talks and laughs and embraces them as old friends.

Nothing bad could happen to Susan here, and he knows better than most that sometimes Aslan's Country provides that which could not be found anywhere else; both in the form of comfort and answers.

So when he looks up and sees the two girls standing together, hand in hand, one drenched in starlight, one bright as the morning sun, his heart gives a glad leap and he smiles as he lowers his head to them both.