Caspian wasn't sure why Peter had asked him to go and find Susan. He pointed out that Edmund was lounging in the library and probably had a better idea of where his sister might be. Peter still insisted. Caspian reminded him that Lucy had been dying to explore the castle and a search and rescue would be the perfect opportunity. Peter declined.
"Edmund and Lucy are resting. Besides, I'd much rather leave this task to you, my friend." And with a smirk, the High King trotted away after a few ladies of the court, his shaggy blonde hair bouncing with every step. Caspian sighed, his protests dying in his throat. For a minute all he could do was linger in the marble hallway. He considered going and sloughing the job off onto the younger Pevensies despite Peter's wishes. It wasn't like he didn't have his own business to attend to. His coronation was to be held in a few day's time, and there were preparations to be made. Already there had been a few mishaps. The missing Gentle Queen was one of them.
Caspian sighed. It was the fifth time she'd disappeared since they returned from Beruna. One minute she'd be sitting quietly in the corner, watching and listening to conversations or debates. The next it seemed she had vanished into thin air, leaving no clue or trail to where she had flitted off too. Usually Peter could find her right away. There were certain places the eldest brother knew where to look for her. The grandiose fountain in the courtyard, the archway of the Royal Gardens, the absolute labyrinth that was the castle library. Today she had not been in a single one of those places and she had put Peter and Caspian in a tight spot.
Well, now only himself, Caspian thought. He did not dread the thought of finding her, at least not in a bad way. Perhaps a better word for how he felt was nervous. They had met under dire circumstances and that made it far easier to speak with her despite his growing attraction. Now, in the calm after the storm, Caspian more often than not found himself without an intelligent thought in his head when Susan was present. His newly gained confidence as King-To-Be rapidly evaporated into sweat beads on his forehead and his clammy hands. His tongue became perfectly tied, and no amount of stumbling or stuttering could untangle the knot.
He set off down the corridor thinking about where to look first. With the usual places off the list, there were hundreds more to consider. The stables were not far, nor were the kennels. Caspian nodded determinedly. He would check there first. His stride echoed off the walls as he turned right and jogged down the spiral staircase towards the bottom level of the castle. A left at the end of the stairs would take him towards the keep. Just before the door, another right through a heavy wooden door and he would be inside the musty tunnel that led to the back tack room of the stables.
Once there Caspian pulled aside a scrawny boy mucking an empty stall. The boy bowed only slightly, his eyes open in shock, as the Prince turned King questioned him.
"Have you seen the Queen Susan today? At all?" Caspian inquired. The boy, still deep in surprise, scratched idly at his greasy brown hair.
"No your Majesty. I haven't seen hide nor hair of any lady, let alone a Queen." Caspian thanked the boy and left him agape in the stall, jogging lightly to the kennels.
The kennel master was equally flabbergasted at the question.
"Queen Susan?" Caspian held back a sigh of exasperation.
"Yes. I am looking for her. Have you seen her?" He repeated. The kennel master shook his head, his jowls jiggling beneath his dim smile.
"Oh, no, your Highness. Doubt she'd have much to do down here, what with the mutts and the like."
But Caspian was not deterred. If not in the stables or kennels, she might be out on the promenade enjoying the street entertainment and perusing the merchant's wares. Now that the battle had ended and the rightful heir had been brought back alive and well, The vitality of the castle had returned as well. Shopkeepers were quick to restore the bright flags of reds and oranges and purples to their wagons. Dancers and magicians rolled out their woven mats and dusted off their instruments. From the embattlements it was a wonderful sight. Perhaps it had caught her eye.
After what had only been an hour but seemed years to Caspian, he gave up his hunt in the rambunctious crowd. He barely got past the first few wagons before a raucous shout proclaimed is presence. A few gasps turned into a roar of applause and praise. Surely if they reacted to him in such a manner, the Queen would have received the same treatment. She would not have gotten very far indeed. He turned around and back into the castle.
The journey encompassed her rooms, the Council Chamber, the kitchens, the bathhouses, the broom closets, even the freshly cleaned dungeons and keeps. Caspian sighed and lightly banged his head against the door of his own bedroom. Half an afternoon had already gone by and still he was at an impasse. He was just about to give up, to go and find Peter and tell him that Susan had eluded him, when there came voices from around the corner. One Caspian clearly knew as his former tutor, Dr. Cornelius. The other voice accompanying his was delicate and feminine and he knew in an instant whom it belonged to.
"Queen Susan!" He called out as he came out into the long, windowed hallway. There she was, walking abreast with Dr. Cornelius, a gigantic, dusty red book clutched to her chest. She looked up, stopping short, the loose waves of her chocolate hair falling over her shoulders at the sudden movement. Her crystalline blue eyes stared at him curiously, the inky eyelashes batting once or twice. The dress she wore today was a deep burgundy and spilled like wine from her blooming curves. For a minute, he forgot all about why he had been searching for her in the first place, and was content to revel in the final result.
"Is there something the matter, your Majesty?" His tutor asked, a confused frown spreading across his jolly face. Caspian broke from his daydream and blushed.
"The High King was looking for you." He managed. Susan sighed, deflating a bit it seemed at his words. Cornelius noticed as well as he. The stout man stepped away from Susan's side with as deep a bow as he could muster.
"I'll leave your Grace in the Prince's care then."
"Oh, but your book." Susan said softly, holding the huge object out towards him. But Dr. Cornelius shook his head and gently pushed the book back towards her.
"Keep it for as long as you like, my Queen. Please, I insist." He took his leave then, but in passing by Caspian, he gave him a soft elbowing and a glaring wink of one of his bespectacled eyes. Caspian looked back at him as if he had just grown horns. Before he could open his mouth to say anything, he realized Susan was now staring at him as she walked towards him.
"I hope I haven't caused too much trouble. I just get a little bored listening to politics sometimes." She said with a sheepish smile. Caspian thought about telling her of the hoops he had to go through to find her and of what he could have spent the time doing instead, but the idea promptly fell out of his head when she smiled in full. "Dr. Cornelius took me to his study to give me this." And she held out the book in question. Caspian took it from her silently. The words 'The Golden Age of Narnia' were sprawled across in fantastic, faded gold script. He recognized it instantly as his favorite bedtime story given to him from his nurse. If memory served him right, he could still recite the entire story word for word.
"Why would you need such a book?" He asked. After he said it, he wished he hadn't. His tone had been all wrong. The Queen would take offense to his remark. He was sure she would think he thought her silly for wanting a book about a time she had brought about and lived in. But Susan only smiled. She gave a motherly kind of laugh, the tinkling putting him at ease and making him anxious simultaneously. Her hand grasped his and she tugged him over towards a nearby bench set beneath one of the exquisitely crafted windows.
The view from the window was magnificent, but Caspian only had eyes for the young woman before him. Her grin was radiant as she once again took the book from him, cracking it open in her lap and gingerly turning the aged pages. He found himself watching her as she delved inside, enamored with the way her teeth bit into her full bottom lip, the loose curls of deep brown falling over her pale skin, her eyebrows knitting together in adorable concentration.
"Here it is. Tell me, what do you see?" Caspian quickly looked down towards the picture she was showing him. It was of a tall and handsome man in gold and silver armor and mail. He was a shaggy blonde with a full beard and a chest puffed full of confidence. In his right hand he held a sword nearly as big as he, and it shone in the artificial sunlight. At the bottom of its hilt was a roaring lion.
"High King Peter." Caspian stated bluntly. He looked up into Susan's face blankly. She looked back at him and it was obvious she was holding in her mirth. "What? What's so funny?" He inquired, a small smile forming on his own face.
"That's not Peter at all!" She busted. Her laughs came quickly. She nearly dropped the book. Caspian took it from her and looked more closely at the illustrated Peter.
"But it says it is." He said confused. Susan shook her head and gave her covered knees a smart slap.
"Oh, it does. I'm not sure where they got their information from, but that's not what Peter looked like at all. First of all, he could never grow such a beard. A moustache sure, maybe some chin fuzz, but that? It looks like he attached a Golden Retriever to his face." She grabbed the book back and pointed at the sword. "Second, you've seen Rhindon. It certainly is not that long, nor that big. No man alive could wield such a weapon."
"What's a Golden Retriever?" Caspian questioned. Susan shook her head dismissively, already turning to Edmund's section.
"Peter would never admit it, but when we last were here Edmund was taller than him by a few inches. Here he's much shorter, and not nearly as gallant. That's a terrible lie. Edmund did much of the ambassadorial visits, he was a true and perfect gentleman. They make him seem like he was merely second fiddle." Caspian stopped her before she could turn the page and go onto another rant.
"You know, my nurse read me this every night before I went to bed when I was little. The part about you and your siblings was my favorite." He brought the book over to his own lap and paged to her section. Susan was quiet as he traced the outline of her picture.
"No wonder we weren't what you were expecting." She muttered under her breath. Caspian sighed.
"No, you weren't. Everything I thought about you came from this book. So I assumed when I heard you were coming that a seven foot tall High King Peter would greet me with a firm handshake, that a diminutive King Edmund would argue and pound out battle plans, that Queen Lucy would organize the troops of Narnia with a rallying speech." He paused after that sentence, gazing down at the illustrated Queen Susan. The real thing watched him anxiously.
"And what did you expect of me?" She asked quietly. Caspian lightly tapped the picture. It was of a profoundly beautiful woman. Her hair was so brown it seemed black and it curled in perfect spirals all the way down to the floor. The gown she wore was modest but teasing as well, for there was no hiding the feminine curves beneath the skirts and fabric. She was dripping in pearls and diamonds and rubies and emeralds, but despite all the finery, she stared out towards the viewer with absolute calm and a small but utterly stunning smile.
"I assumed Queen Susan the Gentle would be the first among the wounded, tending to the sick, and soothing the frightened. I thought she would be the most beautiful woman I had ever set eyes on." He couldn't stop himself. It came out before he knew what he was saying. But there was no going back. Timidly, he reached out and touched her hand, nearly swallowing his own tongue when he looked up into her eyes. "In that, I was right." Susan was leaning closer towards him and he gulped as her eyed her lips pursing together. She wanted him to kiss her. And oh, how he wanted to oblige. He leaned forward as well and felt the faintest touch.
"Oh, you found her! Excellent. Come on Susan, we've got some business to attend to." Peter rounded the corner, a smudge of pink on his cheek, and beckoned for his sister. The two pulled apart so fast Caspian almost dropped the book on his lap.
"Caspian and I were just in the middle of a conversation, brother dearest." Susan replied, a bit of bite to her tone. Caspian closed the book and handed it back to her before standing from the bench.
"I, as well, have much to do, my Queen. I trust we can continue our discussion at a later date." He bowed before her, his eyes gazing down at her slippered feet. When he raised them, he could feel the disappoint radiating off of her and saw it in her ill concealed pout. Peter nodded towards Caspian.
"See, at least he's got a sense of duty. All you've been doing lately is causing trouble. Be productive for a change." Caspian took his leave, bowing once more, and looking back for one last glance before turning the corner of the hallway. Susan was watching him, the book clutched once more to her chest, a sparkling in her eye. Then he saw Peter who was smiling at him like a mischievous school boy.
He wasn't sure why Peter had asked him to look for her at first. Now he was pretty sure, and he walked away feeling dually embarrassed and extremely elated.