Wow! A lot of Caspian fics were posted on the 18th of May, but mine's an OC! Shocking, I know. Enjoy, and Review por favor!
Arranged marriages were customary in Narnia, or at least among the royal factions it was.
"Come now my lady! This marriage must be consummated so that the truce can be solidified between our peoples. The Telmarines have much to offer us-"
"But I want to be free." Lyana, the whisperer of the unicorns and protector of the Daytarian people frowned through her long white hair out over the cliffs at the ruins of Cair Paravel, where she often came to consort with the unicorns of the forests.
It's not fair. I don't want to be tamed.
"It's your duty to merge the Daytarians and the Telmarines. This is not negotiable."
The inflated gall of that man. If not for me, we wouldn't have the power the unicorns bestowed upon us before they became endangered by the White Witch. Now no one knows of the unicorns… and they're still too afraid to be seen.
Lyana let silent tears cascade down her porcelain cheeks. She'd never known parents or family; only the unicorns- the ones that had brought her forth as a child from the forest to her people who now worshipped her like a deity. Unrightfully, she thought.
And now those same people were giving her and the magic up as a peace offering to the powerful conquistadors at Telmar. She would be separated from her horses, her friends.
All I do is speak to them, nothing more. They are the only ones who understand me, the unicorns.
With unbridled magic potential, Lyana was to be harnessed and tamed at the Telmar Keep where she would await her marriage to the infamous Prince Caspian X.
On the day that Lyana was prepared to leave, she fastened her hair up into small braids to keep it out of her face, allowing the rest of her unimaginably long, frost colored locks to trail behind her like a morbid wedding veil.
A herd of the meager remaining unicorns had gathered clandestinely before the send off, flocking to their keeper and hoping they chose to take them to Telmar where they could keep watch over her. She politely declined, giving each one of them a stroke on the muzzle and a pat on the flank before she mounted up into a practical riding saddle.
She despised saddles. Saddles meant the animal was obedient and bound by slavery, but according to her advisors, it was the practical way to do things.
"You don't want to look like a barbarian in front of your future husband, now do you?"
Lyana responded with a dark nod. She would see her friends again. The Telmarines would not keep her captive for too long… she hoped.
Hiding the disappointment that was inevitably showing through her crystalline blue eyes, Lyana gave a fleeting glance back at the forest where her herd was waiting before shoving off with her escort towards Telmar where an uncertain fate awaited her.
**
"One, two, three, and feint- very good your highness," the royal fencing coach beamed at his pupil, who had quickly brandished and sheathed his sword.
"I will see you tomorrow then," Caspian the Tenth, Prince of Telmar waved off his fencing instructor before allowing his councilor and uncle, Miraz, to join him in the courtyard.
"Ah, my prince, you are improving with each day of practice," Miraz flattered, bowing slightly before his nephew and then composing himself to read off the 'royal schedule' for the day.
"Before any of this royal business, how is your wife, uncle? I heard she is due anytime now," Caspian observed, blowing his swooping brown bangs out of his eyes and wiping the sweat from his dark skinned brow with the sleeve of his tunic.
"Ah, she is well for now, thank you for asking. So on to more important matters, your meeting with the full council will convene in approximately half a candle mark and the Daytarians are arriving later for the feast tonight, where you will meet your bride to be."
"Yes, I seem to recall such an arrangement." The prince sighed. It was normal for royalty to be roped into such despicable negotiations that involved loveless marriages, but Caspian desired more. His lover would be suited perfectly to him; flawless with heart felt blue eyed stares that kept him awake at night and reminded him of the beautiful Narnian waterfalls.
He was also a bit tense about the meeting. The Daytarians had always been a weak faction of the original Narnians, but this girl he was to marry… he'd heard stories. She was born of the forest, wild and revered. The circumstances of the marriage were queer to say the least. Because there was no heir to the Daytarian chieftain, the land became part of the forest, and as such, only a union of the forest dwellers could give Telmar the power over the land.
He'd also heard strange rumors of her calming whole unsteady herds of horses, silencing howling wolves, and even petting a savage bear.
She is a tamer of wild beasts. I wonder what kind of woman she is, Caspian moored unsteadily in the quaking waters of his inner mind. The meeting would be memorable, that much he was sure.
"My liege, your guests have arrived," one of the gate attendants informed Prince Caspian later that evening after the sun had been driven behind the horizon by the rising moon.
"Show them in," the Prince commanded, taking a seat at the head of the table and awaiting the arrival of his wife-to-be, who, as it was customary, was to sit at his left hand during the feast.
Lyana had been briefed, pampered, groomed, whatever you may call it until she was utterly undistinguishable from the dull listless faces at the Telmarine court. Much to the dismay of her own counselors, her white-blonde mane was a grievance that made her stand out, but it couldn't be helped.
When Lyana made her grand debut in the great hall at Telmar, all eyes were on her. With waist length, billowing hair that was almost unheard of in this distant land, gazes were distracted by it's sweeping beauty as well as a pair of eyes so blue that some say shown like the mystical waterfalls in the valley of Narnia.
"Welcome to Telmar, my lady, my lords. Make yourself comfortable during your stay and we will deal with matters of the wedding tomorrow," Miraz promised, much to Lyana's dismay. The Talmarine efficiency was disgusting. Were they really going to cast her off to this complete stranger? This Prince Caspian-
When Lyana's blue gaze locked with Caspian's, her breath was taken away. The people of her village had always revered and avoided her due to her hierarchal standing and subjugated holiness, so she had never before been allowed opportunities to meet with members of the opposite sex.
The counselors at Daytaria feared that if Lyana, their great goddess were to lose her virginity, that she would lose her divine power to control the forest and siphon the magic into the protective defenses of their village. Daytaria's major incentive to have Lyana wed Caspian was for the shear reason that they didn't want to have to rely on the unpredictable lady of the unicorns any longer. With the protection of Telmar at their disposal, the hocus pocus earth magic of the unicorns would become obsolete.
Lyana was enraptured by Caspian. She was unaccustomed to his people's features: brown skin, which only hinted at his Hispanic ancestry and deep, dark eyes that looked almost black in the grim light of the grand fireplace.
"Welcome to Telmar, my lady," Caspian greeted his fiancé wearily, taking Lyana's pale hand and distributing a kiss on her outstretched fingers. The only romantic relationships that the girl had ever known were of the unicorns that mated for life and never spoke of love. What was love anyway?
There was no way that this could be a coincidence, Caspian was thinking as he sat down at the table. She was the yin to his yang; short and petite, pale skin, long blonde hair and those blue eyes… no, this was certainly not a coincidence. Her outward appearance was more ethereal than he'd imagined, and certainly there was none among his court with her caliber of beauty, but until he got to know her, he would make no promises.
After the usual banter at dinner, Lyana's counselors retired leaving her alone with Caspian.
"Will it please you to see your room now?" Chivalrously, Caspian offered Lyana his arm, which she took uncertainly. She'd never been allowed to touch skin other than that of the unicorns and horses (and the bark of trees she conversed with certainly didn't count), so holding onto Caspian was a new experience. Different from a horse, his flesh was smooth and unmarred like that of an animal's, and of course covered in the cloth of his tunic, but the sensation was still there.
She is uncomfortable around me, Caspian deduced at the tense grip that Lyana had formed around his forearm. He recalled earlier his meeting with the lords of Telmar about her possible demeanor.
"She was raised by wild animals! I'll be surprised if she even eats with a fork!" one of the generals had scoffed. Caspian only rolled his eyes at the comment. Surely no one was that barbaric?
And he had been right. She was graceful, elegant, and the embodiment of beauty, but she didn't know of court life. She was raised in a village surrounded by forests, and forced to come here for the good of her people.
"Why are you agreeing to this marriage?" Lyana shot out abruptly, catching Caspian's attention as they stopped in from of her chamber door.
"Excuse me?" Not many people questioned him, and not so blatantly.
"I don't mean to make you feel… uncomfortable, but you are going to be the king of the strongest principality in the land! Why would you agree to marry someone like me? Surely, as king you could wait for love? Besides, the village I protect has nothing to offer your great kingdom! This is why I question you so." Although Lyana truly wished to return to her ungrateful village, she was curious.
"This is a complicated question. As prince or even king, I am bound by law, which decrees I cannot fully annex your land unless I conquer it, or am given it."
Lyana paused, absorbing everything briefly before refuting.
"I'll gladly give you the land," Lyana offered meekly, looking for respite in Caspian's dark eyes.
"Unfortunately, your land has no deed, which automatically gives the forest dwellers the rights. However, you are the last of them. When your village agreed to this, I had no idea you were unaware-"
"It's alright… I'd rather do this than have you invade…" Lyana trailed off, her blue eyes dropping to the floor. Honestly, she'd love to have the greedy villagers removed, but if the Telmarines occupied the forest, the unicorns would be lost.
"I'm sorry for posing such an intrusive question, your majesty. It wasn't my place to-"
"When we are married, we will be equals. I will want to know what is on your mind."
Lyana was shocked at his answer. Normally, her ideas were shot down as nonsensical by the village elders who cast her off as an ignorant child. Now she was being treated as an equal… and she liked it.
The girl's shocked reaction came as a surprise to Caspian. In his society, women were always held very highly. They were, after all, the givers of life.
"Um your highness?" Lyana offered quietly, not really sure how to address him. Caspian inclined his head.
"Thank you. I… I feel strange being here, and you're… you're making the transition very bearable." Once the words came out of her mouth, she regretted it. She didn't want to sound ungrateful or hard to please… but it did come out that way.
When Caspian saw her physical regret upon using the word bearable to describe the more than extravagant treatment Lyana had received up to now, he chuckled. He knew what she meant, but it was funny to see her struggle.
"Well, tomorrow I hope we can graduate from bearable to tolerable. Goodnight my lady."
With that, Lyana was left to her own devices for the night. A long, restless night.