Princess Swanwhite lit a candle in her dark room. The soft, yellowish light lasted a moment, and then blew out. She groaned in irritation. This was the fifth attempt to light this small, excessively used candle.
In the darkness, she fumbled through the drawers in her dresser trying to find more candles to light up her room. She tried all the ones she found, only to notice that their wicks were, too, completely used up.
" ' I will make sure your stay here is welcoming and hospitable.'" Lilly said, mimicking Jadis' voice. "A few good candles wouldn't be such a bad idea either!"
"Need a light?" the sudden deep voice startled Princess Swanwhite and made her turn to where the voice came from. It was the Prince, standing in the doorway. His face lit up by a small flame on a dark-colored candlestick.
She managed to grin. "You always know when I need something don't you?"
"It comes with being the Emperor's son." He said with a hint of a laugh, handing her the candle.
"Thank you."
The maiden walked back to her dresser and placed the candle on top of a gold dish that, judging by the piles of different color wax which rimmed its curved edge, was used for holding the wax sticks. The new light illuminated the entire room in an orange, blurry glow.
Aslan could now see her a bit better with the illumination. She had changed from her beautiful light blue dress from that morning into a silky, pure white night gown. Nothing revealing, I can assure you, but with the candlelight shining against the fit of the gown, it was quite a complimenting silhouette.
"You're still in your regular clothes," She observed, as she shut an open dresser drawer. "Did you plan on sneaking out in the middle of the night? Leave us all here to endure with the mad Jadis?''
His soft chuckle made her skin tingle. "I would never leave you all to suffer the discomfort I have brought upon you with the Princess of Charn."
The maiden asked him to sit with her on a sofa that was placed beside two arm chairs and a short, gilded table. "You say that like what you did was a bad thing." She noticed Aslan seemed distracted. His eyes were staring deep into something that was not present in the room.
"Is something bothering you?" She asked with concern. Her hand gently rubbed his strong forearm, which finally caught the Prince's attention.
"Would you mind taking a walk with me in the courtyards?" The Prince requested in a way that seemed rather unexpected and quick for his nature. The reason why he was still in a doublet and wearing his silver circlet seemed much clearer now.
"At this hour?" Lilly asked with a raised brow.
"I cannot sleep," it was partially a lie, but he continued with an honest statement. "And, I would be glad of the company for awhile."
That giggle of Lilly's lingered through the air as she rose from her seat and stood in front of the Prince.
"Sure."
The night was cool, and every now and then a breeze rushed through, slightly swaying the oil lamps which lit the stone path.
"Here," the Prince said handing her his cloak, once he noticed that Princess Swanwhite had her arms folded around her chest to preserve the warmth her dress was deficient in.
"I should have changed into something warmer," She muttered as she draped the thin, but cozy cloak around her shoulders like a blanket.
There was a silence between the two of them for awhile as they walked along in the quiet of night. There was no noise except the sound of their shoes hitting against the stone pathway and an occasional squeak from the lamps when a breeze rolled by.
Princess Swanwhite looked up to the sky for a moment. The moon looked so small against the dark shroud of night. The stars themselves, were barely visible. She felt small under the distant eyes of the heavenly bodies. To them, she probably looked like a pebble among a garden of boulders. Barely noticeable.
"It looks so far away," She murmured, her eyes still pointed up.
Aslan followed her gaze. "Farther than Mohthelieum's moon anyway," He said unemotionally. The Prince had traveled to many lands over the course of his young life, he had grown immune to how different many of the places he visited were compared to his beloved island home.
"Do you remember, when you, Charon, Xavier, Tom and I were younger; we decided one night we were going to try and touch the moon?" She recollected, a wandering tone to her voice.
"Of course, I do." Aslan replied, making the memory seem to be one that was completely unforgettable. "We set up our base behind a pig pen that belonged to the town's butcher. We brought anything we could carry and made a tower of it right there by the fence."
"And once we finished?" She went on, testing if he could remember what happened next.
"We did rock, parchment, sword to see who would go first. I lost. I climbed about half way up and the tower of junk toppled over and I fell into the mud pile a couple pigs were sleeping in. Then I cursed so loud it woke the butcher up. He thought we were robbers and came out with a steak knife in his hand. I could never step near that house again for months."
The memory broke off into laughter.
"You looked hilarious covered in that pig filth." She remarked between breaths.
"Not as hilarious as you did the time when that sheep frightened you into that pond." He mentioned, laughing fairly hard as he recalled the occurrence in his mind.
"It was charging at me! What did you expect me to do?"
"I don't know, I was laughing too hard to think."
The two talked on further of these sort of accounts. The ones that would make one laugh if told, but make them red in the face and cry from how humorous it was back then. All the trouble they almost got themselves into, all the secret jokes that they only knew circled around them.
The talk once again slowly transitioned back to silence.
The two spotted a tree a few yards away from the paved road they were standing on. A huge, thick branched tree that would dwarf even Mr. Burr, one of Mohthelieum's largest trees.
"What tree is that?" The Prince asked to his foliage genius.
"Not sure," She said, squinting her eyes to try and get a more detailed look. "But I want to find out." In moments, she had left his side and started walking toward the towering tree. With a long exhale and a shake of his head, Aslan decided to follow after her.
"Ah, I can recognize this bark anywhere." She stated competently as her hand ran up and down the dark wood of the tree. She followed this statement with its breed name. A name that I, myself, cannot write down because the name was rather long, sounded to have many accents, and was very difficult to spell. The Prince didn't even ask how she could do that. How she could immediatley name a plant, flower, bush, or tree by the texture of the bark or by the shade of green on the stem or any other way that appeared unusual. He never asked because it grew onto him. He could recognize plants almost as good as her. However, she still was the best at it.
"Come on," She pressed as she pulled herself up onto a low hanging branch. Sitting on it as if she was sitting on a horse. "I want to try and touch the moon again."
"I hope you fall like I did," He called jokingly as she pulled herself up to another branch above.
"You are too nice to let me fall." She replied along with a playful green stare that was very similar to the stare of a wild, wood nymph. "Come on! Unless, are you afraid of getting a rip in your nice leather vest?"
"Very funny." He wouldn't allow her to say something like that and not do anything about it. He climbed up after her.
This was a sport both of them were gifted in since they first met each other. Climbing trees, I mean. Both made it a little over halfway up the tree in minutes. Where as it would take a less experienced person probably a good twenty minutes to get where they were.
The Prince heaved himself up and over a large, thick branch. He looked down seeing Swanwhite still climbing up after him. "Here's good. " He called below. She reached out her hand, and he pulled her up with little hassle.
This spot had a spectacular view of the palace. No other leaves and branches obstructed the quiet, dreamy scene. The castle was a dark blue in the shadow of night; with dwindling candle lights in distant windows of sleeping royals. The bright lamps which lit the path the two were just walking on looked like tiny orange specks that outlined every curve in the stone road. They could see hedge borders that cut the large courtyard into smaller, organized gardens. Not a soul was out. No servants, no guards, no other prince and princess that decided they wanted to go for a walk as well. It was only Princess Swanwhite and Prince Aslan.
"Well, can you touch it from here?" He asked her as his eyes blinked toward the tiny, far off moon.
She closed her right eye and lifted up her hand. She held the soft, silver sphere between her thumb and pointer finger. "Perfectly." Then with a loud, crunching noise, the moon disappeared as her thumb and finger pressed together. The two laughed softly. It wasn't every night someone was close enough to the moon to be able to fit it in their hand and were able to squeeze it like a grape. A mere gardener just accomplished it.
There was a silence again. Princess Swanwhite pulled the ends of the cloak closer to her body as a cold breeze rushed past. She looked down at the piece of clothing for a moment. It was so warm, so soft. It had this scent to it, a smell that was sweet and inviting, nothing, not even the beautiful aroma of flowers compared to it.
"You seem to have a fondness of my cloak?" He said with a gentle laugh, noticing how she was sniffing it as if the smell was irresistible.
"It just smells very nice, that's all." She stiffened as she rose her head from the fabric, her cheeks turning red.
A soft hmpf hummed through Aslan's smile, which faded into a serious frown. Despite the distance of the moon, its light hit the maiden's face like a spotlight. The elegant outline of her profile was bordered in white, as if she was glowing like the stars in the heavens. Her eyes pale as the image of the grey crater danced in her pupils. Her skin as creamy as the ghostly light.
She looks so beautiful.
"Aslan, can you answer me this honestly?" Lilly asked as she slightly inched closer to him.
"Don't I always?" He replied gently, noticing the troubled look in her eyes.
Swanwhite swallowed hard. He was praying that she was trying to get out the words he so desperately wanted to hear.
"Why did you invite me here?"
His gold eyes met the bough of the tree. Not exactly the words he thought would come out. What do I say? What else you idiot! You have to tell her.
Swanwhite waited patiently for her Prince to give an answer.
"Why would you think I wouldn't?" He asked, seeming to be trying to avoid responding to the question directly.
"Aslan," The maiden said as her inquiring eyes blinked into a more serious and demanding stare. "Never before did you ask me to come along on those trips you take so frequently. You've taken Charon and them, once even took Helen with you, but never me. Even the time when I decided to tag along you weren't very 'pleased' of me coming."
"You're still not holding that against me are you?" The Prince asked with a raised brow. "I told you why I was upset."
"No, I know," She sighed slowly. "I got over that a long time ago. It's just-"
"'Lil?"
She closed her eyes when she heard how caringly that sweet name came from his mouth. Her inhale was caught somewhere in her throat. Her chest rose up to swallow the air down. He had her cornered with her own question.
She felt her heart beating so fast, it was like someone was punching her from the inside her ribcage. Was it supposed to be this difficult? This painful to explain? This part seemed so much easier in those fairytales of old, where the three words came off the tongue as if it was normal conversation.
"I haven't gotten over that night six years ago." was the quiet and timid whisper. "The night where we were about to kiss."
Lilly felt the touch of something warm on her arm. The Prince's hands had taken her elbows and pulled her closer. In the moonlight, the simple silver crown around his head looked like a halo that rimmed his messy, blonde hair.
An angel. She thought blissfully. My saving grace.
"You wish to know why I invited you to come with me?" He asked in almost the same tone as her, except he lacked the defeat and insecurity.
She blinked her answer. Yes.
His golden eyes were soft and filled with a heavy emotion that, at the time, she was too afraid to say out loud herself. "Why do you think things happened the way they did that night? And the night before that one, when we were sitting together under that tree on the hill? Why, over these years, we've come to known every single detail about each other? And why everyday I go down to the gardens just so I can talk to you? It's because...because-"
One of his hands reached up and began combing through her smooth, wild curls.
"I love you." He murmured to her.
The words came out unhurried and low. The short silence that followed allowed the two of them to drown in the release.
The tenseness that went all throughout Swanwhite's body suddenly fell limp in the Prince's arms. Her green eyes gleamed in a way that would have made the bright, yellow sun jealous. He felt one of her hands run up his chest, the sensation causing him to take in a long inhale.
"I love you too." She whispered breathlessly as she felt his hand holding her neck.
Their eyes caught each others. The anticipation of the moment caused the Prince to breathe faster. He brought her face closer, she didn't resist. He felt both her hands ring around his neck as both their foreheads touched. His mind blurred out, he couldn't think for there was nothing to think about. He couldn't hear for it was absolutely silent. He couldn't see for he had already closed his eyes. All he could do was feel. Feel the warm, soft, wet touch of her lips against his own. Feel one of her hands as it started to stroke the edge of his face, her fingers gliding over the short, golden stubble of a immature beard. Feel the silk of the dress as he put his hands around her waist.
They were caught in their moment, for what seemed to be like hours. It was like they were transported somewhere where time did not exist. Where time couldn't be gracious and let something go by slowly or where time was torturing and let something go by fast. Life had been paused, and only did it resume when their lips broke away.
"So, the Lion fell in love with a Swan?" She finally whispered intriguingly, her nose tenderly rubbing against his own.
He opened his eyes, seeing her face in a much different way than before. She looked more dazzling now, almost heavenly. Like it was too good to be true that she was sitting there right beside him. He could feel a giggle trying to rise in his throat at the sight of her, but gulped it down just in time. The giddiness, the love drunk stupor was thick in the air.
Aslan kissed her again. " I think that shall be the simplest way to put it." He replied.
/!\ : I recently got a review from someone who has said that my story has been too focused on the romance. I could not send a private message to the reviewer, so I will explain myself here. I was just trying to develop the pairing into its final outcome, which if you read, is now accomplished. The Dark vs. Aslan theme has just been put on hold for that purpose. I apologize for that, I have realized I may have gotten a bit carried away with it. I promise, Dark is now going to be in the story more frequently now. If I left anyone thinking that the antagonist hasn't been getting the attention he deserves, I'm sorry. He's going to be getting it from here on out.
And one more thing, may reviewers have asked if Aslan will be turning into a lion in this story. The answer is YES. Just be patient, he will turn into his fuzzy, golden, lion self soon. More things just need to occur before we get to that step.
Thank you for reading, and don't forget to review!