[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]

Reepicheep sips at his wine, curious at the pale gold of it, and Caspian sets one ankle on the other knee and lays his free arm along the back of the couch, smiling to see Cuthbert's affection and Susan's ease.

They're trying what they know. Is it their fault what they know is so unlikely to help?

Difficult to say if they'll listen to him. But Susan had told him not to stand apart, and that's as much of an invitation to offer his opinion as he needs.

But not now, he thinks. Why bring it to Susan's mind, when it'll be lingering there soon enough? "A shame the two of you didn't come," he says, easy and warm. "You might have enjoyed the dance."

[sai_delgado]

"Were we invited?" Cuthbert drawls, and Susan swats him on the wrist. "Stop teasing him," she scolds. "Besides, he's right. Ye'd have liked it."

"Ka-mai," Alain points out, dry as sand. "Might as well ask the sun to stop shining."

[the_seafarer]

"Next time," Caspian says, unbothered by Cuthbert's comments. The gunslinger knows well enough why he'd brought only Susan, this time.

[sai_delgado]

Cuthbert draws back his hand, pretending to be wounded, then promptly uses it to tug playfully at a lock of her hair. When she sniffs at him, he winks at her and leans forward to pick up his own drink again.

"Next time, yar," he offers, and takes a sip. "Interesting."

He's glad beyond words to see Susan smiling and happy rather than the bruised and shadowed way she'd looked that morning. But tomorrow still lies ahead of them all, and it's not like they've got a lot to offer in the way of dances and distraction for it, only their company.

[the_seafarer]

He settles more comfortably back into the couch and watches as Reepicheep animatedly chats at Alain, the quiet gunslinger appearing to listen with tolerance, if not outright good humor. The drink improves as the ice melts into it, and he feels it as a pleasant warmth in his chest and head as the level slowly drops.

But it doesn't dull his consciousness of Susan becoming slowly quieter and more preoccupied, listening more than speaking. Not quite morose, but the clarity of Aslan's country seems to slowly drift away from her – that, or the shadow of Reap-Tide is re-settling itself on her shoulders.

[sai_delgado]

She loses interest in her root beer halfway down the glass and leans forward long enough to set it on the low table, then sits back on the couch, curling a little into Caspian's side after a glance at his face to be certain he'd not mind it.

Mayhap it's only to be expected that she'd be tired at the end of such an eventful day. At least, she hopes that's all it is, and even as the thought occurs she wants to weep at the suspicion that it's not.

Susan leans her head against Caspian's shoulder, absently listening to the others talk, and watches the light through the lake window shift as Demon Moon rises outside.

[the_seafarer]

He puts his arm around her as she curls against him, and trades a glance with Cuthbert over Susan's golden head; the gunslinger looks as grim as he feels at the change that's stealing over her. Caspian sets aside what's left of his drink and lowers his head, keeping a steady smile in his voice.

"Are thee tired, Su?" he asks, using her own trick of speech in a murmur, the way she's started calling him thee, ever since they became more to one another than friends.

[sai_delgado]

"Hm?" She blinks, drawn back from her drifting thoughts to herself. Susan looks up at him, then around at the others in mild confusion that shifts to weary realization as she catches the swift look 'Bert and Alain trade with each other. She tries a smile, a little overstrained mayhap but there, but as she does she can almost hear the star-queen's gentle words.

(let them love you as they will)

"Mayhap a little," she admits, letting the smile fade. "I shouldn't be so distracted, though." Her glance shifts to Reepicheep. "Cry yer pardon - I lost track of the tale ye were telling."

[the_seafarer]

"No pardon is necessary, Daughter of Eve," Reepicheep promises her. In point of fact, he'd been telling a story she already knows, that of the sea-monster that attacked the Treader, so he'd been focused more on the gunslingers than on her.

But there's a worried look in his bright eyes as he glances at his King; Caspian gives him a slightly wry one in return. "After such a full day, no one could begrudge you some weariness. If you'd care to rest, I will happily escort you back to your rooms."

[sai_delgado]

Pressed as close to his side as she is, there's no way for Caspian to miss the sudden tension that whips through her at Reepicheep's gallant offer, nor the way her hand tightens hard on the fabric of his shirt as if afraid he'd vanish and be lost. But in the next instant, Susan summons determination born of pure nerve and lets go of him to sit up straight, shaking her head at the Mouse.

"Nay, I'm not quite ready for that yet, say true, but mayhap a moment's movement'll clear my head. Besides, I've not yet given Eddie a greeting." She braces herself and smiles around at them all. "I'll take the glasses back to him - can I bring ye aught?"

[the_seafarer]

His arm tightens around her in reflex, and he casts a quick glance down at her, at the way her hand tightens in his shirt. But then she sits up, holding herself straight, and Caspian's heart aches at her bravery, her determined cheerfulness.

"A little tea wouldn't go amiss," he tells her. Little as he wants her to be away from him, he knows now he must speak with the gunslingers. "Reep, won't you go and help her?"

"Of course, Sire." The Mouse bounds from the armchair and stands nearby, politely waiting for Susan.

[sai_delgado]

"Ye might as well bring a pot's worth," Alain tells her, and she almost wants to cry at the kindness in his eyes. Susan's smile trembles for an instant, but she firms it and gives him a nod. "Aye, then I will," she says. "'Bert, will'ee have the same, or would'ee rather coffee?"

"Tea's fine, Sue," he promises. "We'll wait right here for you."

She takes a deep breath and quickly gathers the glasses onto the tray before she stands up with it and looks down at the Mouse. "Lead on, an'ye would," she says. "That'll keep the way clear."

[the_seafarer]

Caspian smiles back at her, but it fades as she picks up the tray and follows Reepicheep back across the room toward the bar, where Eddie is wiping down another glass.

"Well, fellows," he says, on a quiet breath out, and looks to Alain and Cuthbert. For the first time, though he doesn't think of it that way, as though they're on equal standing. "Things are easier in Aslan's country, and clearer, too, but I think we can all see that hasn't lasted as long as I might have hoped."

[sai_delgado]

"Not your fault, I wot," Alain murmurs. "We'd all hoped with ye it'd be enough." His speech patterns shift back and forth between the speech of Gilead and the Mejis dialect with thoughtless ease.

"But it's not." Cuthbert picks up the thread from Alain seamlessly. "So that brings us to the matter of what we're going to do about it."

[the_seafarer]

"I know you've had some thought on that," Caspian says. His anger with Roland hadn't abated, but some part of it has been replaced by a deep, oceanic grief for Alain and Cuthbert.

Roland had been their – their High King. Even if they'd wished it, they couldn't have returned for her. And now he's gone, but all the scars of his presence are still here. "Eddie spoke of it, a little, when I asked. But I'd hear of if it on your own words, if you will."

[sai_delgado]

"Did he." Cuthbert throws a swift glance Eddie's way, then sighs and turns back to them. "Well, since we're not like to have much time, I'll make it quick. Alain and I are going to take her into the forest tomorrow."

There's a hint of challenge in his tone and in the set of his jaw. "It's said if you go far enough in, you'll reach the Dream-lord's realm. Either way, we'll go as far as we can, and keep watch with her until dawn."

[the_seafarer]

"I asked him," Caspian says, as easily as he can. "For it needn't be a secret from me, I hope."

Cuthbert will, he thinks, always push at him. He supposes that has to do with Roland's loss, as well – someone must step in as commander. "It'll be a cold night in the woods, this time of year, don't you think?"

[sai_delgado]

"Don't see how it could be," Alain puts in, easily. "Considering."

Cuthbert nods to him, but doesn't let his gaze waver from Caspian. "Aye, it will, but we're prepared for it."

[the_seafarer]

"Are you?"

Cuthbert and Alain are desperate to keep her safe, to keep her here with them, and so is Caspian, but he's not haunted by the mistakes of the past, by having failed her once before.

But he's been a commander, himself, and it won't hurt Cuthbert to push him back, just a little. "What will you do, if a frost comes? Build a fire?"

[sai_delgado]

Cuthbert's eyes narrow sharply. Seeing this, Alain cuts in. "Pretty sure ye ken why that wouldn't be the best idea."

His tone is mild.

[the_seafarer]

"I do," Caspian tells him. Tells them both. He considers them: Cuthbert with his tight jaw, Alain with his lazy voice and keen glance. Both of them trying their best.

He'd have deferred to them, before. But no longer. Though they may not stand ka-tet, still they're in this together. "I'm also not certain a night spent out in the forest, dwelling on the past, will help as much as you hope."

[sai_delgado]

"Better than the alternative." His jaw's so tight it's aching, but Cuthbert Allgood keeps a grip on his temper as well as he can. This man means something to Susan, and he's done for her today what she desperately needed. They owe him for that. "Either of them."

[the_seafarer]

Caspian nods. "Yes," he says, because he can give the man that much, and more. He suspects Cuthbert would prefer to spit in the face of his sympathy, but he feels it all the same. "But there's another alternative."

He looks back and forth between them. "The tree-sisters' garden."

[sai_delgado]

Alain sits back in his chair and gives a finger-twirl as he studies Caspian. "Say on."

[the_seafarer]

"It's a place she knows, where she feels safe."

His glance flicks up to find Susan, where she's chatting with Eddie, Reepicheep up on the bar beside her. "That's where I found her this morning. Nothing can get into that garden that the tree-sisters don't wish to be there. And the seasons are slower there. It's still warm as early summer."

He looks from Cuthbert to Alain and back again. "The tree-sisters understand grief, and loss. They know what's required for healing. They'd take you in. All of you."

Caspian takes a quick breath. "All of us."