[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 listens with the same focus he'd given all his advisors over the years, knowing they knew more than he, and when Alain finishes, he nods. "I understand."

He meets that stare of Cuthbert's with a level, steady one of his own: a man who has faced giants and monsters and the murderous intent of his own family and not backed down. "So. Do you still tell me to stay away, and leave what may come tomorrow to you?"

[sai_delgado]

Cuthbert holds his gaze for a second longer, then nods a quick assent. "No. Given the givens, I'll not stand in the way. But if Susan chooses otherwise, then that's how it'll be."

[the_seafarer]

"Quite," Caspian says, in a chilly voice that adds obviously.

He supposes, wearily, this may be the end of attempting to get Cuthbert to like him for himself, and not only tolerate him as a strange fancy of Susan's, one that might – ideally, no doubt, for the gunslinger – be temporary, but he's not certain he can find the energy to care overly much.

[sai_delgado]

Cuthbert settles a little more easily in his corner of the couch, still studying Caspian closely. Alain glances back and forth between them, then addresses Caspian.

"What about yer mouse-knight? Ye'd not suggest he come?"

[the_seafarer]

Caspian's glance tracks over to where Reepicheep, on the bar, appears to be animatedly relating some tale of adventure, and his mouth softens, crooks into a rueful smile. "I would trust Reepicheep with my life," he says. "And have, in the past. And he'd do anything for Susan, without question or hesitation. But this is nothing he can do battle with; not with sword, or even honorable words."

He shakes his head. "But he helped her today, too. If Susan wishes him there, I'd bring him with a will. You'll never find a more loyal friend or a more valiant knight."

[sai_delgado]

Alain opens his mouth, but Cuthbert beats him to it. "Does he know?"

[the_seafarer]

"No."

It'll break his heart when he does, Caspian knows. "Susan hasn't told him yet, and I'll not speak of it without her say. If she wishes him there, and if she wishes him to know, I will tell him. At the moment, he knows only that something is gravely amiss, though not what it might be."

[sai_delgado]

"Ah." Alain shakes his head. "I'd not think it wise, then. It's as I said before, about so many of those who care for her here."

[the_seafarer]

"As it happens, I agree with you," Caspian murmurs. Reep is still doing what he can to cheer Susan, he can tell, and his heart aches to see it. "For both their sakes."

He hasn't even yet had the will to tell Reepicheep about his wife, his son.

[sai_delgado]

“Then it’s settled,” Cuthbert says, firmly. “We keep this among the three of us, and Eddie and Susannah.”

He glances at the bar, then back to them. “If we’re not to tell her tonight to avoid Sai Mouse hearing, then in the morning, early. Alain and I’ll meet you both in the stables after dawn.”

[the_seafarer]

"All right," says Caspian, who can recognize an olive branch when he sees it. "I'll ride out, afterward, to ask the tree-sisters' permission, though I don't think they'll object. If you like, one of you could come with me, and we could arrange things beforehand, make it ready."

[sai_delgado]

"Probably best I do that," Cuthbert suggests. "Alain can help Susan with the stable-work while we're gone."

Alain slants a speaking look at him, but nods agreement.

[the_seafarer]

Caspian studies him a moment, but he has to admit that if they're going to have this out, better they do it in the woods and away from where Susan might hear them.

"All right," he says, again. "Thank you, Cuthbert. I'd appreciate your company and your help."

[sai_delgado]

He figures he's as unsure of that as he thinks the other man is about him, but he can take it on the face of things. Susan's what matters, and on that at least they're agreed. Cuthbert nods to him, then tips his head back and catches Eddie's eye.

"He'll send her back over in a few moments," he says, easily.

[the_seafarer]

"Fine."

He smiles a little, seeing Reepicheep and Susan and Eddie all together. "If you like," he begins, meaning to offer an olive branch of his own, "if you'd rather Eddie and Susannah were there, I'd help find someone to take the shifts."

The faint edge of his usual humor steals into his smile. "Perhaps Reepicheep could tend the bar for a night."

[sai_delgado]

Alain makes a small choked sound at that image, but Cuthbert laughs, bright and ringing.

"I tell you what, I'll talk to Eddie, and we'll see."

[the_seafarer]

He laughs, too, relaxing a little. "Don't count him out," he warns. "I've never seen Reep fail at anything he'd attempted."

Mostly because Caspian didn't allow him to, for example, enter into single combat with a dragon, but his point stands.

[sai_delgado]

She can hear their laughter as she approaches, and in that moment Susan's smile is as bright and shining as it was earlier in the day.

"What mischief are the two of thee up to?" she teases, setting the tray with its tea down on the table and putting her hands on her hips.

[the_seafarer]

"Mischief?" Caspian gives her a mock-betrayed glance. "You wound me, madam. What slander is this?"

He looks to Reepicheep. "No word of support for your king?"

The Mouse only shakes his head, disapproving – he still dislikes teasing of all sorts – and hops back up onto the armchair near Alain. "Include me not in your jests, Sire, I beg," he says, pained.

[sai_delgado]

Cuthbert attempts an innocent look. "Now, ye know me, Sue," he says.

"Aye, she does," Alain puts in, dry. "Why she asked, I wot."

Susan shakes her head, golden hair falling forward over her shoulders, and gives them a mock-stern look of her own before she starts pouring out tea for them all.

[the_seafarer]

His smile for her is warm and sweet as he accepts a cup of tea. "Thank you," he tells her. "This will be just the thing."

[sai_delgado]

She beams back at him, then passes the next cup to 'Bert, and then to Alain, each of who thank her in turn before Alain gives it a curious look. "Not had this kind before."

"It's something called 'Earl Grey,'" Susan tells them, with a final small cup for Reepicheep before she settles back on the couch beside Caspian. She gives him a quick look to confirm. "That were the name, aye?"

[the_seafarer]

"Aye," he confirms. "Thoughtful of you, Su."

It is, very, and his glance for her is fond before he turns to Alain. "The Pevensies drink it all the time, I suppose I've rather caught a taste for it because of them."

[sai_delgado]

"Ah." Recognition and understanding, both, pass through Alain's expression before he takes a sip. His eyebrows rise. "Good."

"Not quite coffee, but it'll do," Cuthbert puts in. Susan wrinkles her nose at him. "I asked if ye wanted coffee," she reminds him. "But I misdoubt Eddie would've given ye more anyway. He said ye'd be 'jittering and jiving' if he did."

Cuthbert blows out a sigh. "New York."

[the_seafarer]

Caspian wonders if New York is anywhere near London, but doubts it. Eddie's accent hadn't sounded anything like the Pevensies'.

Which leads him to the thought of another potential olive branch. "I suppose you know Peter, Cuthbert?" he asks, after another sip of his tea. "Being as you're both security for this place."