The Naiad Trilogy
Part 1: The Naiad Within
Chapter 6
The sun was just beginning to rise over the horizon, flooding the How and surrounding field and forest with a warm golden light. A summer breeze brought a gentle sway to the trees who once danced majestically. All was quiet around the sacred hill. No birds sang, no squirrels chattered, and no Dwarf hammered. All were asleep. All but one.
Ava sat outside on one of the stone ledges of the How, her bare feet dangling over the edge. Her hair, which had been let out of its tight braid and reformatted into a more comfortable style by the young Queen Lucy, danced freely in the wind along with the skirt of her dress; she had not yet put on her apron. After telling her story, the Kings and Queens had not reacted as Ava had feared, but rather had accepted her whole heartedly. They confessed that they were as confused about her strange beginnings as she and her father were, but they rejoiced in the fact that it had been Dr. Cornelius who had found her. Lucy even went as far as to say that it was Aslan's doing that he should find her but not the Narnians.
Ava let out a contented sigh as a particularly gusty breeze sent her hair flying. For the first time since she had begun working at the castle Ava felt free.
A sudden sliding of rocks made her look quickly to her right. Ava was enraptured by the figure she saw standing near the entrance. Caspian had just stepped out and onto the ledge on which Ava sat. His clothes were simple and worn, showing signs that he had been in them for days, but in no way did they diminish his appearance. The sunrise behind him cast an enchanted glow on his features. His hair floated as freely as Ava's did in the breeze. His sorrowful eyes were deep and penetrating as they looked upon her, and they were a far cry from the joyful eyes she'd looked into a few days ago when they first met. Though really, it was when he first met her; Ava had seen the Prince several times before, around the castle. She had found him attractive even then, but he was the Prince and she was just a servant girl; she would not delude herself into thinking otherwise.
"I'm sorry. I did not mean to disturb you," Caspian said solemnly; his voice rocketed through Ava and brought her back to her senses. She jumped to her feet and curtsied before the young Prince.
"Forgive me, Your Majesty. I did not mean to dishonor you." Ava spoke to the rocks at her feet.
"That's alright, you did not dishonor me. I startled you, and for that I am sorry. I will leave you be."
"No, Your Majesty, it is I who should leave." When Caspian did not respond, Ava chanced a glance up at him. She could not distinctly read his expression, but he almost appeared to be hurt. Ava took his silence, however, as a hint for her to leave, and so she began to inch along the wall towards the entrance with her head still down. She passed within inches of him. She was about to turn into the entrance when his voice brought her to a screeching halt.
"Why do you dislike me?"
Dislike him? Her feelings toward the Prince were far from dislike. "Your Majesty, I—I hold no ill feelings toward you."
Caspian could hear the earnestness in her voice, but he turned to see it in her face. Her eyes were still trained on the ground beneath her feet though, and he could see nothing. This greatly puzzled Caspian. Why did she act so differently around him?
"I apologize, Your Majesty, if I gave the impression that I disliked you. It was not my intent. I actually rather like you. I mean I—I believe you will be a good King."
"You do?"
"Yes, Sire, I do." Again, Caspian could hear the earnestness in her voice, and it gave him a bit of courage. "Might I ask something?" she asked warily
"Yes, you may."
Ava took a deep breath before continuing, "Where should I look when I speak to you, Your Majesty?"
"Where should you look? Well I—I'm not really sure. Do you usually look at the ground, as you are now?"
"Well, your Uncle has made it very clear that servants should never look upon royalty, but King Edmund has said that they prefer to look 'eye-to-eye' with whomever they are speaking with."
"Then, from henceforth it shall be the same with me."
Ava let out a sigh of relief and smiled as she lifted her head to look at the Prince. "Thank you, Your Majesty. It is quite painful to go about with one's head down all the time."
"Well, I should never want to cause you any discomfort."
A warm blush spread across Ava's cheeks and brought a smile to Caspian's lips.
"Would you care to join me? It looked like you were enjoying it out here, before I interrupted."
"Yes, I do find the fresh air to be rather enjoyable."
"Then come, and sit with me. If you desire to that is."
"I would desire it greatly." Ava smiled and gracefully walked over to where Caspian was now standing by the ledge. She took his offered hand for help as she took a seat next to him. They sat in silence for awhile, both soaking up the warm Narnian air. Caspian was the first to break the silence.
"If you did not dislike me, then why have you been so hesitant to speak with me or even look at me? Has it really just been because my Uncle treats his servants as slaves and has them so fearful, or is there more?"
"I must admit, Your Majesty, it has been slightly more on my part."
"What was it then?"
"Well, I suppose I felt a little uncomfortable around you because before Father was arrested we had an argument, over you."
"Over me?"
"Yes. I—well I, it's a bit embarrassing actually. I was jealous, Sire."
"Jealous?"
"Not because you were a Prince, or anything. Please do not think that I envied you for all that. It was more over you and Father. You see, before he was your tutor he was my father. We were all each other had. And to suddenly find out that I had to share the only thing that was truly mine with a prince, well it's rather a difficult thing for a seven year old to comprehend. I managed it all rather well at first, but as I grew older my list of chores grew longer and my time with my father grew less."
"But my time with him grew more, as my lessons became more intense. I never desired to take him from you."
"I know that, Your Majesty. I have always known that on some level. I had a moment of weakness, and I succumbed to fears. We all have our moments of weakness at some point."
"Then you have heard of mine?"
"I do not know what you are talking about, Sire." Caspian of course was referring to the moment when he listened to Nikabrik and almost resurrected the White Witch, but Ava had been sleeping at the time and knew nothing of the incident and it had not been mentioned since.
"I…" Caspian was about to inform the beautiful maiden beside him all about his flaws, but decided he'd rather not have her know just yet. "Never mind."
Ava could sense that the Prince was about to tell her something rather important, and she could tell how much it hurt him to think of whatever it was that he had done. Ava felt that she wanted to comfort him, but did not know what to say. Suddenly the words of Chérie sprang to mind and she thought they were quite appropriate for the moment.
"'If you are truly sorry, Aslan will forgive you.'"
Caspian did not respond immediately, but the silence that followed was not uncomfortable. Ava saw the edges of his mouth rise in a small smile and she took that as a positive sign. It was several minutes later before Caspian spoke again on a new, lighter topic. They carried on in conversation easily, and before long their soft laughter rang through the air as the sun continued to rise.
"How is it that we did not meet before that fateful day?"
"I am very good at my job, Sire, and that is to obey orders. My orders are typically to clean, but always to remain invisible. It is not customary for me to change bed linens."
"Well, I wish you could have been assigned to change bed linens sooner."
"Then Isabel should have fallen ill sooner." The moment the words were out of her mouth, Ava regretted them immensely. She clapped her hands over mouth in utter disbelief. "Forgive me, Your Majesty. I did not mean… I could never wish such a thing upon a person."
Caspian couldn't help but to laugh at Ava's panic. "It is alright, Ava. I know what you meant and I promise I will not speak a word of this to anyone."
"Thank you, Sire." Ava looked up to see Caspian smiling down at her. Their eyes locked and their gaze became so intense that Ava was forced to look away and duck her head to hide the warmth spreading across her cheeks.
"Ah, there you two are. I have been looking for you for some time now."
Ava's head spun around to look at the entrance once more and her smile lit up. "Father!" she exclaimed as quickly jumped to her feet; Caspian was surprises by her remarkable agility.
"Good morning, Father," Ava said as she embraced Dr. Cornelius and placed a kiss on his cheek.
"Good morning my dear. And good morning to you, Caspian," Cornelius replied.
"Good morning, Professor."
Ava looked carefully between her father and the prince; her eyes darting back and forth between the two before she finally spoke, interrupting the silence.
"Well, thank you for allowing me to sit with you, Your Majesty, but I believe I shall take my leave now and allow the two of you to speak privately if you wish."
"Wait, please stay, Ava. I feel I enjoy your presence," Caspian said.
"You do not need to leave, my daughter," Cornelius added.
Ava bit her lip. "I know I don't, Father, and I wish I could, Your Majesty, but…" Ava looked over the edge at the ground. "The grass has been calling to my feet for quite some time, and I feel I cannot resist the urge anymore. I simply must rush down and feel the grass with my toes at once."
"Oh alright, I suppose you must go if the grass is calling you," Cornelius chuckled. "But be careful, Ava."
"Of course, Father. I shall not even pass this side of those ruins there." She pointed out to where the ruins sat in the field just before the How. "Good day, Father. Your Majesty." She kissed her father's cheek again and curtsied to the Prince before heading inside and making her way to the lower entrance.
XOXOX
Within moments Ava was standing outside on the stone walkway leading into the How. She glanced up to find her father and Caspian watching her. She smiled before leaping of the walkway and landing in the grass. She relished the feel of it beneath her toes. When she was younger, she never wore shoes while she was in the garden, but in the castle she was never without them. It had been many years since she had felt the soft green under her feet.
Ava closed her eyes and held her arms out as she spun in circles. She didn't care who watched her now; she just danced freely, jumping and spinning as she had in her dream. Her hair and her dress flew freely as she spun while the brightest smile she'd ever had graced her face. She opened her eyes and watched as the world danced with her and the sky slowly became lighter. The world continued the dance even after Ava collapsed gracefully to the ground, her arms still spread wide. Ava watched the clouds move lazily in the sky as she caught her breath again; her fingers and toes brushing over the grass still. Slowly, Ava began to feel the pulse of the ground beneath her; the heartbeat of Narnia.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Ava smiled contently.
Thump.
Thump.
Clink.
Thump.
Thump.
Clink.
Ava furrowed her brows together. What was that strange metallic sound mixed in with the steady thump?
Thump.
Thump.
Clash.
The sound was louder that time. Ava sat up quickly. Since when did the ground have a heartbeat?
Thump.
Clash.
Neigh.
Ava turned to look at the forest beyond the ruins. A line of silver figures was approaching the How steadily. It was not the heartbeat of Narnia which Ava felt, but the steady march of the Telmarine Army. Miraz had arrived with his war machines.
Is it just me, or does the conversation between Ava and Caspian seem a little awkward? I mean, it's supposed to be little awkward because they don't really know how to act around each other yet, but is it too much? Please let me know.
So I usually like to wait until I have two extra chapters written before I post, but chapter 8 has been going rather slowly for two reasons. One, I finally got inspired to get around my writer's block on Scars (yay!) so I should be posting chapter 11 for that soon. Second, I've been trying to write scenes down as they come to me and over the last few days I wrote out a scene that takes place between Ava and Caspian in the 3rd part of this trilogy. I think it's a rather good scene and it makes me very excited to get there.
Thanks for all the reviews/favorites/alerts! And please, let me know what you think about Caspian and Ava in this chapter it really worries me a bit, but that might be because I've already written scenes where they aren't awkward around each other. Thanks again!