Disclaimer: I own only the character Raxie and the plotline that proceeds after Ramandu's island.
Lucy sat in the cabin Caspian had given her, writing on a piece of parchment, penning a letter to Caspian to find once she was forced to return to earth when a knock sounded on the door. Quickly Lucy hid the letter before pulling out a map of the islands she was working on.
"Come in."
Caspian entered as Lucy continued to work on the semi finalized map. It was a chart of the island they had encountered since leaving the Lone Islands behind. Lucy's heart ached at the knowledge that Caspian would have to finish the map without her help.
"Are you okay Lucy?" He perched in a chair diagonal from her that was placed beside the desk she was working on.
"Yes, I'm just trying to sketch out the islands for our return trip, making the mapping go a bit easier." Lucy replied as Caspian leaned across the desk to peer at her drawings.
On several sheets of parchment, that fit together as if they were a large puzzle laid out, each piece contained a map of each island, their landmarks, rivers, lakes and streams with suitable campgrounds marked out. It was an amazing feat to get such accuracy in the Narnian world, so Lucy relied on her knowledge of Earth components to lay out directions and locations relevant to other locations on the maps. Lucy felt quite proud as Caspian muttered the names of each of the islands they had passed.
"Dragon Isle, Deathwater Island, Dufflepud Island and Starhaven Island. These are remarkable Lucy, I never knew that you knew how to map and chart." Caspian's voice was filled with awe and a touch of respect.
"Court centaurs and the animals taught me land mapping, and the merfolk taught me sea mapping." Lucy corked the ink bottle before facing Caspian. "Those were the best thirty years of my life."
"Thirty?" Caspian leaned back in his chair. "The historians make it sound much longer."
"No. Aslan warned us that if we were to stay in Narnia a day longer than we did we would never be able to return back to Earth." Lucy sighed as she rubbed her arms. "At times I wish we would have stayed, but then we wouldn't have met."
"Have you spoken to Aslan yet? Time is running short" Caspian asked referring to the fact that he had learned what the conversation was really about right before they were hit with that massive storm before reaching Dragon Isle. Lucy wondered how he found out. Did Edmund tell him? Or was she being obvious in the fact that she didn't want to leave, so obvious that even Caspian and the crew could see it?
"Yes, but not about whether I can stay or not." Lucy looked down at her hands, guilty about the fact that she almost gave in to the spell in the book dealing with beauty. "I'm not certain if I should ask him. Perhaps I'm supposed to go home when this is over."
"Lucy." Caspian sighed
"I know that if I leave I won't be able to come back, I can feel it." Tears welled in her eyes but she refused to let herself cry in front of him.
"Never come back?" Caspian's voice was pained. "So I won't be able to see my friends ever again?"
"That's Aslan's law. Peter and Susan already cannot return." Lucy stood to look out the bay of windows at the gently rolling seas. "Reep believes that if I stay there will be a second Golden Age of Narnia."
"Second golden age?"
"Reep may not seem it, but he's a romantic at heart." Lucy laughed, trying to ease the tension in the room. "I'd have to be crowned to reinstate a Golden Age."
"What?" Caspian gasped.
"You know how loyal Reepicheep is to me, and he told me once that I should stay and have a new Golden Age Renaissance." Lucy shrugged, trying to bury her fondest hopes beneath the harsh truth of reality.
"What did you day to Reep?"
"I told him that it would be nice, but I would need a king to be a queen." Lucy shook her head with a small smile. "Lord love Reepicheep."
"A king?" Caspian made a strange sound, something between a groan and a gasp, making Lucy turn to look at him. Being fair skinned Lucy saw that Caspian had gone pale with two flags of color on his cheeks.
"Caspian?" Lucy moved quickly to his side. "Are you okay?"
"Do you have a king in mind?" He rasped, eyes a strange mix of fear and worry.
"No." Lucy laughed to hide her pain. "I still don't know if I'll be able to stay in Narnia." She shook her head. "Don't worry, you crown is safe."
"Is it?" Caspian asked, his expression turning suspicious.
"Of course. Even if I do stay I'll simply be a living ancient relic of an older day and time." Lucy replied, knowing Caspian's fear of repeating his father's fate. His fear of being destroyed for a title. Caspian remained silent after her explanation, fracturing her hopes even more. Finally she had enough.
"You know me Caspian. I never lie when it comes to the people of Narnia. I may not be Narnian, but they are still my people." She sat down and once again resumed sketching, fully intending to ignore Caspian for a good long while until he could get past his irrational fear, but a knock sounded on the door.
"Lucy, Caspian, come up top, you have to see this." Edmund's voice penetrated the wood.
Once above deck Lucy looked about seeing nothing remarkable. But slowly it all began to make sense. The sun was brighter and bigger than before but burned the skin no more than it normally would on a hot summer day. The sea had changed as well. Whereas before it was clear on top but murkier deeper down, it was now absolutely clear. It was so clear and crisp it looked as if they were sailing on liquid diamonds that sparkled in the bright sunlight. Reep dipped a cup into done of the buckets a crewman had hauled up to wash the deck with, suspicious of the water. Taking a sip he proclaimed that the water was fresh and sweet, not salty or briny.
"'Where the sky and water meet, where the waves grow sweet, doubt not Reepicheep, for all you seek, there is the utter east.'" Reep recited as Lucy and the others drank for the cup, the liquid tasting like pure spring sunshine to Lucy. They were coming ever closer to the eastern end of the world, Lucy's time slipping away inexorably and there wasn't anything she could do about it. Distantly she heard Edmund and the others speculating on what it would be like when they reached the end. Would it be like a giant table or would they be caught in a whirl pool and circle the world forever? No one had the answer.
"But beyond all else, there is Aslan's country." Reep amended.
Aslan's country, the end of my time here in Narnia. Lucy signed inwardly. I must speak to Aslan soon.
"Lu? You okay?" Eustace asked, breaking her contemplation. Caspian, Reep, Edmund, Eustace and Drinian were all staring at her as if she were ill and they had no idea how to make her better.
"I'm fine. Just wandering what Aslan's country will be like." Lucy had developed an extremely bad tendency to tell half truths to cover up her true feelings as she fell harder for not only Caspian but Narnia as well. Later, as they all milled about above deck, Lucy taking a rest from her mapping, Ritz brought something to Drinian's attention. Ahead of the Dawn Treader loomed a swath of what appeared to be ice with no end and no beginning that anyone could see along the horizon. The sunlight glinted blindingly off the white substance, leaving spots in Lucy's vision.
"Ice?" Ritz questioned.
"It's not ice." Drinian replied slowly, confused by what he was seeing.
"Then what is it?" Caspian asked, arms crossed over his chest, a frown upon his handsome face.
"We'll find out soon sire, we're headed right towards it." Drinian replied as he began barking orders for men to stand up front and report what they saw.Everyone braced themselves for an impact that never came as the Dawn Treader plowed its way into the white substance.
An answer was found soon enough. As the men hauled up buckets of water to clean the planks they also brought up snow white lilies by the bucketful. Apparently there was a huge network of saltwater lilies growing in that part of the sea, making a huge Silver Sea of flowers. Entranced Lucy climbed down to the main deck to scoop up the lilies by the handfuls, pressing the soft and fragrant flowers close to her heart. She'd always had a weak spot for lilies, ever since her first journey into Narnia. Their delicate scent filled the air, swirling magically around the ship and its crew.
"They're so soft and fragrant." Lucy called up to Edmund and the others. Laughing Edmund joined Lucy, followed by Eustace, Caspian, Rynalf, Drinian and Reepicheep. Reep took a lily that Lucy offered from where she was kneeling on the deck, mouse and girl at eye level. Using his inquisitive nose Reep sniffed the blossom, tail swishing. He looked at her with his bright eyes before bowing graciously.
"I shall cherish it always, my Queen." Reepicheep's voice rolled over the ship.
Lucy blushed at the mouse's words, cheeks flaming. She leaned over and kissed Reep's nose, feeling a coolness touch her skin. She then laughed when Reep's tail and whiskers twitched crazily, his fur darkening in the area of his cheeks. The others laughed as well.
"C'mon Lu, get up before you get completely soaked." Edmund laughed.Lucy stood, leggings dripping wet, arms full of lily flowers. Glancing at Caspian she saw a strange expression in his blue-grey eyes as he gazed at her. Lucy's skin suddenly felt too tight, hair tingling.
"Just let me go change." Lucy blushed, heading below deck, feeling Caspian's eyes following her. Once in the cabin Lucy used thread from a spool of thread she found in one of the drawers in Caspian's desk to hang the lilies from the rafters, allowing them to dry slowly. The lilies would also remind Caspian of her long after she was gone. With that done Lucy quickly changed her leggings before racing back on deck.