A/N: I came up with this while reading Meldahlie's lovely story To an Unknown God, which I highly recommend you read first (it's not very long). This could be considered Part 2 of that story.
XXX
Gwen heard the tidings race through Cair Paravel.
"King Caspian has returned! King Caspian has returned!"
It was morning. The sun was rising up from the eastern end of the world. She ran barefoot all the way to the docks, in the company of many others, but she paid them no mind. Rhoop. Caspian has come back with Rhoop. How she knew, she could not tell; but she knew. Her hair whipped around her face, pulled loose from its moorings by the sea breeze. There was the Dawn Treader, making its way, its slow way, to Narnia … to her. She stood and watched and waited, with her heart pounding out a familiar rhythm. Rhoop. Rhoop. Rhoop.
Moments passed like hours. At last, the ship pulled into the quay and a great cheer went up. There was pushing and shoving. Gwen's view was blocked by taller people; she became almost frantic. She must see. She must, she must.
"The king! The king!" they shouted, but she heard nothing. The world had suddenly gone silent.
As the crowd parted to let the voyagers pass she strained to see. There was King Caspian, tall and fair, greeting his subjects with a smile; beside him was a woman lovelier than anyone Gwen had ever seen; behind them came four men, one with a young woman on his arm. Gwen's heart skipped a beat for a moment; where was Rhoop? Three of the men were hale and hearty, though their hair and beards were gray; but none of them was Rhoop. The fourth, though, was thin, painfully thin. He had no beard, but his hair was white. As he came closer, Gwen studied him. He was not old. He turned his face and she knew him.
"Rhoop!" she cried. The name sprang from her lips in a rush of wild joy. She pushed through all the obstacles surrounding her. He heard her voice and stood still, not knowing where the voice came from. She saw the look of surprise turn to hope, and from hope to joy, as she flung herself into his arms.
He clasped his arms around her waist as if he would never let her go. The long years melted away like mists before the sun.
"Gwen," he murmured into her hair. "Gwen. My Gwen."
She felt his tears on the top of her head, and her own soaked his doublet.
"You came back," she whispered.
"You waited," he whispered back.
When, after long moments, they came back to the world, they realized that they were surrounded by Narnians, Narnians who were cheering … for them.
Gwen clung to Rhoop's hand, and he clung to hers. The sun shone on the world and everything was bright.
Finis
