AN: I wrote this one shot to wrap up a thread lingering in my mind. This is the completed sequence that is faintly mentioned in And the Sky was Torn Asunder. I needed to write this so my mind would clear up and I could concentrate on the next story in And the Sky was Torn Asunder. I've already written the next chapter but in an effort to not have an obnoxious amount of cliffhangers I'm going to write the chapter after it so there can be more resolution to the story.
Also I just really wanted to finish this and post it. I rated it higher because you can read a lot or a little into their relationship. And since there is that lee way room, it seemed prudent to post it higher. I hope you enjoy this singular one shot. Let the story unfold…
Disclaimer: I don't own them; I only own my back brace.
Susan stood there in the center of Cair Paravel. She stood in the center of her home. Not time or distance would ever change that again. She had lived a full life here once and it still haunted her memories. It was like a shadow that she couldn't seem to lift. Oh how she had fought the return to Narnia. She had refused to be taken in again. This was a dream although pleasant that would some day end.
She didn't think she could bear to leave all over again. She reasoned in perfect Susan logic that if she held back her heart then she wouldn't hurt. She wouldn't die a little when she was taken from this world again. She would be able to live without her home. She wouldn't miss Narnia quite so much. She thought that if she hid her heart behind a stone wall then it would all be ok. She would be able to move on with the business of living when the dream ended.
Oh how she didn't want to wake up again. She didn't know if she could bear it again. For one must have clearly seen that she had lost the battle. Narnia had woven itself into her being all over again. It was dancing on her skin, it was moving through her blood. Narnia was everywhere in her and around her. She was herself again in a way she hadn't been in what seemed much longer than a year.
She wasn't quite her ideal age but that was something to be quibbled over another time. She looked out to the brilliant morning sun rising on her home. The gardens of Cair Paravel were as magnificent as ever if still a bit wilder than they had been in her time. The walls of her home surrounded her and the sun swept through the both of them. The wind lifted her curls and made them lithe as the wood nymphs.
She was wearing one of her favorite gowns. It was a light sky blue as brilliant as the sky above her. The dress was thin and swirled with her slightest movement. It was tied at the sleeves with dark blue thread and the bodice fit to her silhouette snugly. Her feet were bare on the stone. She lifted her face to the sky laughing for no other reason than the pure joy rushing through her.
She spun on her heel as she heard approaching footsteps sounding on the stone. He walked towards her a smile lit across his face. She was grinning back at him as he reached out to take her hands in his. He stepped closer to her and his eyes locked with her own. Oh how she loved those dark brown swirling orbs. How she could have spent a lifetime looking into them.
She would never have admitted it to him but she loved everything about him. She loved the way his hair fell in shaggy disarray. She adored how his skin was such a darkened tan in such deep contrast to her own porcelain skin. She thought his face the most handsome she had ever seen in either of her lifetimes. She had often been courted when she ruled so long ago. But none of them could have compared with him and most certainly the boys of her own world could not hold a candle to him.
He grasped her hands in his as he stared at her with such awe that it humbled Susan every time their eyes met. His voice was soft as silk, "Good morning, my love." She grinned at the term of endearment. "Good morning to you too sleepy head." He let go of her hands as he clutched his heart in mock protest of her comment. "My lady, we can not all rise with the sun."
She swatted at him and he deftly caught her hands in his own. She grinned as he pulled her flush against his body. Susan's cheeks had become a light pink color reserved only for him. He took a great deal of pleasure at making her blush. He kissed the tip of her nose while still holding her captive. His voice was light as he asked her, "So what does the lady have planned for such a fine day? Or are you going to leave with the High King?" Her voice was playful in response, "Well as I have already seen all of Narnia I don't see much reason for tramping about with Peter and the others. I suppose I'll be staying here with you."
His grin only widened as he let her wrists go. "Ahh that seems like a most acceptable arrangement. What does the lady wish to do with her day and how may I oblige her?" She smiled at him and his playful mockery of such formal things. Susan drawled out her response to him skipping further from him. "I suppose the Prince could accompany me down to the sea." He grinned at her following her further into the garden. "And how pray tell does the gentle queen plan to escape from the castle."
Her smile was full as the sun beat down on her and the wind played with her hair. She mocked him with her next words a playful jab, "Of course by a passage way she made sure was rebuilt during the work on Cair Paravel. A passage way only a handful of people know about." She skipped away from him in response and his eyebrows rose at her words. He had often wondered what she had spoken so intently to the carpenters about.
She almost danced to the north east part of the gardens. He had never seen an exit that way. It was only an area dedicated to her favorite flowers. The ground there was covered in white and red flowers. They were the most similar to the roses from her own world he had been told. She had had them planted to always remind her of her own world. Susan had stopped before a particularly thick patch of crimson edias. He could see the stone walls surrounding the garden rising up to meet the morning sun. He could even see where the edias all but covered the wall.
She swept away a handful of the edias and he was amazed to find a doorway hiding there. She turned to him half invisible beneath the fountain of flowers flowing about her. "Is the Prince coming or not?" He followed her eager to see where she was leading him. They slipped through the wooden door and he found himself outside of his own castle. There was hardly an indication on the seaward side that any such door existed. The dwarfs and other creatures had taken great care to in lay the stone to the wood to cover it.
The door itself seemed to disappear once more into the great wall of the castle as if it had never existed. She smiled at him and reached her hand out to him. He took the small porcelain thing in his own. They walked hand in hand down a pathway that had long since given way to wildness. But it seemed as if the land had never completely forgotten where the path once lay. His voice was light as he asked her, "So where pray tell is the gentle queen taking me?" Her voice was almost sad in response, "I want you to see a part of what was once my Narnia."
He squeezed her hand with his own a small sign of comfort. He often knew that she struggled with the loss of so many loved ones. He couldn't fathom coming back to a world he had once ruled thirteen hundred years later. They were now walking into the woods and the path seemed to lose itself in the woods that had grown up so much since her time. Susan had no doubts about the path she took. She had already retraced her steps one late afternoon by herself.
Caspian took the time as she led him through the forest to unashamedly stare at her. He loved to watch her. She always amazed him with her beauty, with her grace, and with even her fierceness. The dark curtain of her hair was moving as she walked. The graceful swish of her skirts implied sincere practice with them. Susan glanced back at him as they neared a break in the woods to their northeast. He was wearing a white tunic and sturdy riding pants. He also wore boots that ended almost to his knees. He looked so handsome to her and she could hardly think of him as any less than prince charming.
She led him to the break in the woods but stopped just shy of it. He couldn't see out of the woods just yet. She turned to face him her hand still in his. "Now you have to close your eyes. Promise no peaking." He nodded solemnly and promptly shut his eyes. He let her take his other hand as she tugged him along. Caspian felt the rays of the sun on his skin as they stepped out of the dark woods.
He felt the change in the ground itself. This ground was no longer the soft springiness of the grass in the wood it shifted and gave more. He imagined they were on the northern coast of the Great Sea. He felt the wind billow about him wild and free. He could taste the salt in the air. He had taken a half dozen more steps when Susan stopped. She let go of his hands and he heard her move to his side. "Now look."
Caspian obeyed and opened his eyes. He was awed by the scene before him. The shore stretched out in white waves to meet the most beautiful water he had ever seen. It was clear and shone in the sun. The sea seemed to go on forever and to meet with the sky in the east. They seemed to meet so far away becoming one and stretching on together till Aslan's land. He saw the great cliffs to the west of him rising up above the small section of the sea. He could see that to his south the wood had grown up so much it blocked much of this portion of the sea.
He looked at Susan to speak to her but thought better of it. She was staring out into the sea as if lost in some memory. He reached behind her to grasp her waist and she leaned into his chest relishing in the feeling of being so near him. She felt the tickle of his hair as he leaned his head into her shoulder and whispered in her ear. "It's almost as beautiful as you." She laughed at his remark shaking her head slightly. She turned in his arms looking up into those dark pools.
She slid a hand to his neck and pulled him down to kiss him. She was drowning in that feeling. She was drowning in the soft press of his lips on her own. She could feel the hard press of her body against him and she shivered at the feeling. When they both finally pulled back for air he smirked at her. His face was shining with a mischievous purpose. Her eyes were wary as he latched his arms around her. She shrieked his name as he picked her up in his arms swiftly.
He raced to the sea and splashed forward unceremoniously tossing her into the water. Susan bobbed to the surface of the water and proceeded to splash at him profusely. It began an all out war of splashing. They played in the mid morning sun frolicking together. They finally stopped sometime later. Susan stood there laughing furiously at him. His hair was soaked and messy. She also noticed that his shirt and pants both were matted to his body showing off every muscle he had.
He was laughing as hard as her their laughter mixing and flowing on the wind. She rushed at him in one head strong movement knocking him into the shallow edge of the water. She was lying atop his chest as the waves rolled lapping at them. She lay laughing at him but his laughter had ended. Hers faded at the look in his eyes.
He reached a hand up to tangle in her hair pulling her into a searing kiss. Susan felt her eyes close of their own accord as she kissed him back. Their lips pushed and gave way to each other. Her mouth opened to his and she relished the feeling of him being so close to her. She felt her stomach tighten in a delightful way. Caspian felt like she had lit a fire that was burning through his skin through his very being. He rolled her so that he was pressing lightly into her body. In the mid morning sun they were one like the sea and sky stretching on forever together.
Sometime later as the sun began to begin its descent into the western sky they walked back through the forest hand in hand. They gave a final glance out into the sea where sky and water met as one. The sun had begun to set and tinge the water a darkened hue along the shore. They walked back to the castle in perfect silence just enjoying the feeling of being together. His eyes hardly left her and she was awed at him as they snuck silent peaks at each other in the darkening wood.
Neither would ever forget that day at the sea. It was a memory burned into their being somewhere deep that would be forever untouched by time. Susan knew that when the dream ended she would at least have the memories. She knew that when the time for waking came she could perhaps say to herself this, "If this is the end, I have no tears, no sadness and perhaps most of all no regrets."
AN: well I hope you liked it. As always review at will.