Author's note: Thanks, reviewers, for your encouragement. This is part one of two set during the Dawn Treader's halt at the Lone Islands.

HAIL THE CONQUERING HEROES COME

Any hope he might have had that his return to known waters be accomplished without fuss, Caspian acknowledged gloomily, had been scuppered before the Dawn Treader's keel had skimmed the first and most treacherous of the sandbars known as the Doorn Shoals. First there had come, tinny across the waves, the sound of bells pealing; then the raucous blare of a trumpet. Before the royal galleon was straightened on her new course, running due north for the harbour at Narrowhaven, a welter of small boats, gaudy as so many gilded insects with their festival banners flying, were scudding from every cranny and cove of the jagged shore toward her.

"Hang it all!" he muttered between clenched teeth, even as his hand raised in a regal acknowledging wave. "Now I shall have to play the King again!"

"They're only curious to see a real, live Emperor," said Eustace, hanging over the taffrail to wave enthusiastically at the first holiday party to catch onto the great ship's wake.

"And you've said yourself, they're rare birds in these woods," added Edmund, stretching to catch one of the bright garlands of flowers being tossed at the ship's sides. "I say! These are Aslan Roses, aren't they, Lu?"

"Also called Emperor's Roses," his sister agreed, sniffing the sweet, heady scent with relish. "We had ropes of them decorating the Throne Room at Cair Paravel for our coronation, Ed, remember? How ever did they manage to find this many so quickly? You don't suffer from hay fever, Eustace, do you?"

"Not that I know of." The ship was surrounded by little boats now, and if the enthusiasm of the natives for their Emperor was cheering to Caspian, it was proving a disconcerting experience for the crew.

"Obstacles enough in these waters," grumbled Rhince, who had dashed to the main deck to assume personal charge of the sail-handling parties. "Squawkin' lubbers in small boats! Shouldn't be bloomin' let loose! Erlick! Stop luffin', you incompetent rogue, or I'll lay the lash to yer back with me own fair 'ands!"

Eustace sniggered. Lucy and Celesta directed frightened stares to the man who stood, impassive, at the helm. Drinian winked.

"He'll do no such thing, Your Majesties," he announced cheerfully, though his smile faded at the clunk of a rowing boat striking his galleon amidships. "Though if he chooses to flog the blast - blessed fool who did that, I shan't be the man to stop him! Enthusiastic welcomes are well and good, but they ought to be confined to dry land - aye, and wide roads, too!"

"Doubtless you'll have the ship repainted whilst we're ashore; any slight damage shan't be visible for long," said Caspian, only half in jest. Drinian chortled.

"Certainly not! I'll have her emptied out and beached, her keel cleaned off. The painting can wait for Galma, being a matter more of show than substance."

"Oh, no!" groaned Edmund. "We don't have to drag her ashore and scrape off the barnacles again, surely? We did that back on Ramandu's island!"

"More than five months of hard sailing ago," Caspian pointed out, though his face had fallen at the prospect. "And anyway, there are shipwrights enough at Narrowhaven to carry out the work; if not to supervise it, which I dare not hope our Captain will leave to another man."

"Your Majesty entrusted me with the management of your ship," said Drinian - not for the first time, Lucy thought. "And I promised the crew I should see them safely home. I'll not risk my honour (Lion bless me, I'm starting to sound like that confounded Mouse now!) on the careless workmanship of a Narrowhaven shipyard boy."

"Have it your way, my Lord," said Caspian, adding in a stage whisper to his friends: "What he means, of course, is he should sooner be sweating and swearing in the dry dock with his crew, than playing My Lord of Etinsmere at the castle!"

"Aye, there's that to it as well," agreed the gentleman good-naturedly. "Blast these boats - begging your pardon, Lucy - Ma'am. Stand ready, fore and aft! Rhince, reef and furl! We'll moor her under the castle's guns."

"Aye aye, Cap'n!" The shouts of compliance came from across the ship, and, as the sailmen scrambled to gather in and secure the great purple sail to the yards, two anchors were cast out, sploshing through placid waters to catch in the seabed and stop the Dawn Treader in her tracks. To three cheers from the crowds gathered on the quay, and the boom of the fortress's guns, the ship swayed idly, resting at last.

"Gun crews, return salute!" shouted Drinian. "It's all right, Ma'am," he added to the startled Celesta. "The guns are unshotted; they'll make not half the din they do in anger."

Sheepish, the Star's Daughter removed her fingers from her ears in time for the popping of the forward gun to prove Drinian's point. "I say!" said Edmund admiringly. "I didn't see the gun crews getting ready."

"Standing orders for entering any friendly port, Your Majesty; be ready to return any salute offered. You'll be wanting to go ashore immediately, Sire? That's the Duke, I think, three points off the forward bow."

"I wish you'd use landsmen's directions, Drinian," sighed the King as five pairs of eyes scanned the wharf for the point implied.

"Wish you'd recall the mariner's terms come more easily to me, at that. Rhince! Lower the boat, Their Majesties will go ashore."

"You ought to come with us, Drinian." It was less a suggestion than a Royal Command, and from his grimace, Drinian knew it as such. "Why! We cannot instruct our host on what - precisely - is required for our ship and her company."

"Rhince, you have the ship." The courtier in him rising to conceal the sailor's irritation, Drinian followed his passengers down the poop ladder to the main deck, where, amidships, the boat had been dropped over the side, her crew assembling to race down and man the oars. "Grant the fellows their tot; and have a watch maintained; I'll send back instruction before dark, if I cannot return myself."

"You won't," muttered Caspian. "My Lords Argoz, Rhoop, Mavramorn and Revelian! Come, you must greet your old shipmate; he will be the more delighted to see us, discovering friends he thought long dead among us. Down you go, Lucy; we must be ship-shape, and have the senior officer aboard last over the side!"

They were cheered all the way to the low pier, and as Caspian stepped ashore men and women alike knelt in homage, pulling their wide-eyed infants down as the cries went up, bringing a tear to every Narnian eye (even Drinian's). "Long live King Caspian! Aslan preserve our Emperor!"

"My Lord Bern." Caspian extended his hand to the richly-robed gentleman at the fore of the crowd, as composed as if he had been expecting this reception (so different, Lucy thought, from that of Pug and his rabble on the journey east). "It gives us great pleasure to see your Lordship again."

"Your Majesty! To see you is a greater joy," declared the first Duke of the Lone Islands fervently. "Your subjects have turned their thoughts east, in the Dawn Treader's wake, each day since you sailed from us last year."

"We have experienced many wonders, my Lord; but we shall talk of them later. For the present, allow us to present these gentlemen, your former shipmates."

Bern, raising his eyes for the first time beyond the master who had guided him from his knees, positively goggled. "Argoz?" he croaked. "And - by Aslan, Revelian, old friend! Mavramorn! And - and - Rhoop?"

"When I was worthy of a name, that I bore," murmured the shattered wreck stooped between Argoz and Mavramorn. "You were wise to remain here, Bern. The horrors I have seen…"

"My Lord Duke," cut in Caspian, who had heard those horrors recited so often even he was losing patience with them. "Together with these three of our father's friends, at the island that marks the beginning of the end of the world, we came upon this lady, who is returned, at our plea, to rule beside us as Empress and Queen. My Lady Celesta; bid you welcome, to your own dominions."

"Lady." Bern knelt again, to kiss the hand extended, at a nudge from Lucy, toward him. "In the name of all the islanders, your faithful subjects, greeting! We and all we have are at your service."

"Your Lordship is most gracious." Now the test was come, and Celesta rose to pass it with all the effortless grace of her blood. Caspian looked fit to burst with pride. "My only wish is to show myself worthy of the great honours my Lord the King bestows on me."

"Small risk of your failing in that," murmured the King, bestowing upon her a look of such tenderness that the women in the throng sighed and swooned. "Tell us, my Lord Duke; what is the condition of these islands now? Has the strain of restoring our good Narnian government here been excessive? You look to be bearing it well enough!"

"We have a stout people, Sire, who have risen royally to the proclamation of their ancient liberties under Your Majesty's protection," said Bern, conveniently overlooking the fact that Caspian's protection had been absent for the last year. "Will Your Majesties - my Lords - come with me to the Castle? All that we can offer you and yours, we shall give you freely."

"Your shipwrights may repent of that generous offer, my Lord Duke," said Caspian with a grin. "I fear our Dawn Treader has undergone a year of trying labour in our service; her captain will, I dare swear, have a list of requirements to test your generous hospitality!"

"Our shipyards are at your disposal, my Lord Drinian," said Bern expansively. "Orders will be given that all their men are to consider themselves under your instruction, or that of your doughty deputy."

"But we must insist, my Lord, that you grant yourself at least some little respite from labour," added the King.

"I'll take some shore leave, Sire; and grant at least ten days together to each of the men, with your permission."

"Granted," agreed Caspian instantly. "Now, my Lord Duke, we have discovered a nest of villains lurking in the eastern bays of this island; send out your forces to settle Master Pug for once and all; but not today, this is a day for celebration! We would have you proclaim this day a public holiday for our good subjects. The Dawn Treader is in home waters at last; and come, you must have countless questions for your old comrades! To the castle, friends!"