[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]

He nods, unsurprised and unfaltering. "Cuthbert and Alain will meet us at the stables a little later," he tells her, lifting the hand at her cheek so he can tuck the fall of her hair back behind her shoulder. "Could you eat a little breakfast before then, do you think?"

[sai_delgado]

She's not hungry, but she's also under no illusions that Caspian won't worry if she refuses a second meal in a row.

"If thee will also," she says, instead, and tries for a smile. It wavers a little, but it's there, and mayhap that'll have to do.

[the_seafarer]

"Happily," he agrees. "Shall I fetch something from the Bar, or shall we get up and make ourselves presentable enough for a little food?"

[sai_delgado]

It's early enough yet that there's not like to be many people in the bar, and especially not those who'd be most like to notice were anything wrong, which helps decide her. "Might as well begin as we mean to do," she says, practically. "Hiding from this day'll not make it pass quicker. Let's go out, if thee'd not mind it."

[the_seafarer]

"Not in the least," he assures her. "And you're right, of course."

Hiding would only make it go slower, he knows that well. So, in the face of her practicality, he must be practical, too. "Su... tonight. Do you wish to be alone with your tet? Those who are left?"

He curls his fingers around hers and smiles, wanting only to support. "I'll not be hurt if you do."

[sai_delgado]

Her own little smile, that she'd managed with such effort, fades entirely. Susan searches his face, and there's uncertainty in the fog-gray eyes.

"What do thee mean, Caspian?"

[the_seafarer]

"You knew Cuthbert and Alain were planning something."

Quiet as they'd tried to keep it, he knows she'd known about it, if not the details. "I'll let them tell, when we meet them. But the crux of it is that they plan to sit up with you tonight."

He folds his hand under hers and lifts it to press a kiss to her knuckles. "If you wish me there, I'll come. And if not, I'll be waiting here for you in the morning."

[sai_delgado]

She fights back her first impulsive words, sawing the rein on her tongue, and makes herself think, and that carefully, while whispers from memory stir fierce and sharp in the deep corners of her mind.

("I'm to stay at the hut while you and the others go."

"Will you? Will thee?")

Finally, she looks up at him, willing herself to calm. "I told thee before thee needn't hold yerself apart," she says, soft. "But I'll not ask thee to do what thee'd not wish, either. What would'ee choose, Caspian?"

[the_seafarer]

"I'd come," he says, clear and soft and without hesitation.

(No offense – )

"I know I wasn't there..."

(whatever she's told you... it's not the same as having gone through it.)

"... but if it would not give you more pain, I'd come, Su." He curls his fingers around hers. "I promised to stay, after all."

[sai_delgado]

"They weren't either." Quiet enough to be a mere whisper, but clear as window-glass and with no hint of blame. "They rode to deal with Farson's men, all of them, and the oil they'd taken, while I waited. Things would have been different otherwise, I wot, but they say in Gilead ka has neither heart nor mind, and they're not wrong. They kennit, though, for what Roland saw in the glass." Sorrow, now, in her voice. "I told thee it were an evil, cruel thing."

Susan squeezes his hand, and meets his eyes with a clear and steady gaze. "Thee won't cause me pain, Caspian. I'd not hurt thee again like I did this morn, but thee'd never hurt me, and well I kennit. So I'd have thee stay, if thee would, and I'd be glad of it."

[the_seafarer]

"Then I will."

The sorrow in her voice aches at him, and he's certain it won't be the last time today. Her sorrow and pain and fear, the gunslingers' guilt and grief; he can only hope the garden will be enough to soothe it, even a little.

Leaning forward, Caspian kisses her, very gently, then squeezes her fingers before letting go. "Now – a little breakfast, Su, if you can."

He pushes back the sheets and gets up, uncaring of the skin he bares.

[sai_delgado]

This time her smile is bright and without any effort at all. He's beautiful, and completely unconscious of just how he makes her feel.

Susan leans to the side to snag the fallen nightshirt from the floor, laughing a little as she shrugs into it. Best to avoid temptation, she thinks. "I'll need a change of clothes before that," she observes.

[the_seafarer]

He runs his hands through his hair, trying to tame the wild, rumpled curls and waves of it, then turns to her. "Shall I fetch you something?" he asks, and grins at her. "You're welcome to any of my things, of course, but they're hardly what you usually wear."

[sai_delgado]

She slips from the bed and crosses over to stand in front of him, smiling as she reaches up to comb her fingers through his hair and set it to rights for him.

"It's kind of thee to offer," she says, amused at the idea of him picking out her clothes. "But I'll just wear what I wore yesterday long enough to get back to my room, and change there."

[the_seafarer]

He ducks his head to let her tidy his hair as she will, feeling a little thrill as he remembers how she'd clenched her fingers in it the night before. "As you will," he says, happy enough to let her choose.

His grin shines again as he reaches to tug at the nightshirt. "Though you look very sweet in my borrowed clothing, I must say."

[sai_delgado]

Susan laughs. "Well, then, if thee has a shirt thee'd want me to wear, I'd not mind it," she offers.

[the_seafarer]

He chuckles and kisses her fondly. "That might raise more questions than you want to answer today," he points out. "So I think I'll escort you to your room, instead."

[sai_delgado]

She wrinkles her nose at him, but he's right and she'll not argue it. Susan stretches up to kiss him back.

"Just let me get my things," she says, practically, once the kiss breaks. "And then I'll be out of yer way while thee gets ready."

[the_seafarer]

"Go on, then," he tells her, though it's hard enough to let her go. And he's happy to tease her a little, to win as many of her smiles as he can today, on a day when he has no doubt they'll be in short supply.

But if he can offer her a little safety and comfort and happiness – well, one never knows what might do the trick, at balancing out the call.

So he holds onto her just long enough to show he's teasing at not letting her go, then releases her to do as she wishes.

[sai_delgado]

She beams a bright smile at him, and ducks into the bathroom to collect the little bundle of her things she'd made the night before. Susan carries it with her back out into his room and over to the end of the bed. "Go on, then," she tells him, as she lays out her clothing.

[the_seafarer]

He hadn't had the chance to wash up the night before after all, so he has a bit more to do this morning. Still, he does so quickly, and is out again, towel-drying his damp hair, in as few minutes as he can manage.

Retrieving clean clothes of his own, he dresses and finger-combs his hair into something resembling neatness, then comes back to her, taking in the color of the shirt she'd worn yesterday. "That really is a lovely color on you, Su."

[sai_delgado]

She finishes smoothing the bed-linens into place, the bed neatly made now and set to rights as best she can manage it. At its foot, the clothes he'd worn the night before are neatly folded and stacked on the corner, with the nightshirt she'd borrowed likewise folded atop them.

Susan straightens and turns to him as he comes to her, and looks down at the wild-rose color of her shirt then back up to him with a warm smile. "It's the color of the wild roses that grew on the Drop," she tells him. "I were always fond of it."

And it's a far, far better shade of pink than the poisonous glow of Rhea's glam, as far as she's concerned.

[the_seafarer]

"It's lovely," he tells her again. "And so are you."

Caspian holds out his hand to her, smiling as he sees how she's set his room to rights. "Shall we?"

[sai_delgado]

She gives him a sweet smile at the compliment and twines her fingers with his. "Best begun's soonest done."

As she pulls the door open with her free hand, Susan thinks to add, "I'll not mind it the way I did last night, I expect. 'Twere silly of me to do so in the first place."

[the_seafarer]

"Not at all," Caspian says, as he walks by her side and closes the door behind them both. "Better not to have forced yourself inside, I think. Otherwise perhaps those rooms wouldn't have lost their horror for you. A little space was probably just right."