A/N: Guys, I am so sorry! Both for the lateness of the chapter, and for the crummy update. I had no choice but to update from my phone, like I did for chapter 4, but apparently something went wrong. Here's the proper chapter. I hope you'll enjoy it!

Chapter 5:

Previously:

Lord Bern - whom Caspian and Edmund had found in the dungeons during their imprisonment - presented Caspian with a sword, an old Narnian sword, seven of which had been entrusted to the seven Lord they sought.

Meanwhile, Drinian and another sailor walked up and presented Lucy with her dagger and Susan with her beloved bow. She gratefully took it from them and immediately slung it over her shoulders.

Not long after that, they set sail again, having been given all the provisions they needed. Apparently the leader of the slavers had hidden quite a cache in his house, and so it was evenly distributed.

Susan was glad to be back aboard the ship. While the Lone Islands were beautiful, now that Lord Bern was back in charge, it didn't feel like home. The Dawn Treader, for all that they'd only been aboard her for a little under two days, felt much more comfortable.

Eustace had managed to procure a notebook of sorts in Narrowhaven, and had taken to hiding away and writing in it incessantly. Everyone else was just happy he kept out of the way. Lucy spent most of her time with Edmund, and while she swore she was fine, Susan felt like her sister was hiding something from her. There was nothing to it than to wait it out with Lucy. The girl was stubborn, but she always broke down eventually to tell Susan what was wrong.

For her part, Susan tried to help where she could, but she was no sailor, so she was mostly in charge of rationing the food and keeping an inventory of their resources. Which, in turn, meant reporting to Caspian.

After their moment of understanding in Narrowhaven, things were… less awkward between them. Like they'd mutually decided to simply be cordial towards one another, and nothing more. At least on the outside.

Susan still found herself blushing like a young girl too often, and every once in a while, she would catch him staring at her. There was this unspoken tension between them, which they both steadfastly ignored.

That matter aside, though, they were making good time. There was a strong wind, and a cheerful sun all through their first day of sailing. On the second day, Eustace was caught stealing an orange from the provisions, but Reep taught him a lesson. Their match was quite a sight to behold, and Susan laughed as hard as any of the men when Reep knocked the poor boy down. The only reason she didn't intervene was because she knew Reep meant well, and because the mouse kept shouting advice on swordsmanship throughout their duel.

As it ended, though, Eustace knocked over what Susan had thought was an empty basket. Which shrieked as it fell.

Everyone instantly grew tense, and several men had hands on their knives. But as soon as a little girl emerged, they let go of their weapons, though the tension in the air remained.

It was the girl from the island, the one whose mother had disappeared. "Gael?" her father, Rhince, asked, stepping closer. He eyed the crowd apprehensively, but gestured for his daughter to come to him. She did so gratefully, probably having been scared by so many men looking on unhappily.

A stowaway was generally speaking put in the brig, but Gael was only a little girl who didn't want to lose her father.

Drinian made his way through the crowd then, and everyone waited with baited breath. It was up to either him or Caspian to decide what to do with a stowaway, and should Susan disagree with his decision, there would be little she could do but argue her case with Caspian. But Drinian was not an unreasonable man, and he could plainly see that Gael was just a little girl who wanted to be with her father.

"It seems," he said, in that serious way of his, causing Gael to shrink further into her father's arms, "that we have an extra crew member." Then he smiled - Susan raised her eyebrows at that - and offered the girl the orange Eustace had stolen. The girl probably hadn't eaten since the previous day, so she took it gratefully.

The men all smiled and dispersed to go back to their work, leaving Rhince, Gael, Lucy and Susan still standing there.

"Hello there," Lucy said, smiling at the little girl.

"Your majesty," Gael said, dropping into a clumsy curtsy.

"Call me Lucy," she replied. "Come on, we'll get you settled."

The girl instantly smiled at Lucy, and Susan was a little envious. She'd never been able to get people to trust her that easily; she had to work at it and be charming. For Lucy, all it took was a smile.

Regardless, Susan followed the two girls down below decks. Caspian was actually in the room when they arrived, looking over naval maps of the area surrounding the Lone Islands. His eyes landed on Susan right away, before flicking down to Gael, who hid behind Lucy.

"I see we have a guest," he said, smiling gently. Gael blushed. Susan could relate.

"We were just going to see about getting her settled," Lucy explained, glancing at the bunk she and Susan had been sharing. "But…"

"I'll sleep in the hold, Gael can sleep in here with Lucy," Susan said, already reaching for the few things she'd need.

"The hold is no place for a Queen," Caspian protested, stepping away from his maps.

Lucy looked a little uncomfortable. "I think I'll take Gael on a tour of the ship first," she said, and then quickly led the little girl away.

Susan turned back to Caspian. "It's no big deal. I've slept among the men plenty of times in the past."

Frowning, Caspian took another step towards her, as if to stop her from gathering her things. "That's different, I'm sure you had your own tent, then."

"Usually, but not always. We'd camp under the open sky from time to time. Besides, Lucy and Gael are too young. I'll just sleep in a corner, and change in here with Lucy and Gael if I have to." She wasn't exactly sure how to explain that men sometimes looked. Not usually in a uncomfortable or sexual manner, but Lucy and Gael might not know how to deal with it. Susan, on the other hand, had plenty of experience dealing with men of all sorts. Prince Rabadash came to mind.

The King frowned, and suddenly Susan had the feeling that if she'd tried to explain, he'd understand. "Then I'll be right beside you. Just in case."

She couldn't help smiling at him. "Well, just in case, I'll be happy to have you there." She was well aware of how that sounded, but she couldn't make herself care, especially when she noticed the faint blush on Caspian's cheeks. Turnabout is fair play.

"I'll go make the necessary arrangements, then," he said, and quickly stepped out of the room. Susan allowed herself to grin widely. Perhaps she could make a sport of this? Getting King Caspian to blush would be awfully amusing…

/*/

The first night Susan spent in the hold was… interesting.

It was a lot noisier, which she had expected, but she was less intensely aware of Caspian's presence than she'd thought she would be. The hammock was somewhat less comfortable than the bunk in the captain's quarters, but it wasn't terrible. There was, of course, also the smell, but Susan did her best not to think about it.

"Can't sleep?" Caspian whispered, long after Susan had thought he'd fallen asleep.

"That obvious?" she whispered back, readjusting in the hammock. If she lifted her head, she could see him, but for now, she was content to just speak into the darkness.

She heard a soft chuckle. "I had trouble sleeping my first night down here, as well. The captain's quarters are somewhat more comfortable."

"That they are," she agreed softly.

They lapsed into silence, and though Susan had the urge to fill it, she didn't know what to say.

"Do you ever miss it? When you're here," Caspian asked suddenly.

Susan did prop up her head then, looking at him curiously. "Miss…? You mean England?"

He mirrored her position, and she could just make out his dark eyes in the faint light. "Your home, you family…" he trailed off. He looked curious, but also a little abashed at his question, like he hadn't meant to ask it aloud.

Sighing, Susan looked down, her free hand finding the locket she wore. It was an old one belonging to her mother that she'd received before travelling to Cambridge. It wasn't special in any way, aside from the family picture inside, but it was a connection to home. "Sometimes. It's hard, missing home when you have all of Narnia to explore. Even when we came here the first time, and stayed for so long, it… at first we simply didn't have time to miss home. We had a war to win, and then a Kingdom to set to rights…" she trailed off, thinking back to that time. "Peter and I were of an age that we didn't really need our parents anymore, Edmund had always been very independant, and I suspect Lucy came to see me and Peter as surrogate parents of a fashion. Occasionally, all of us would get a bout of homesickness, but it was much worse when we were in England, missing Narnia, to be honest," she replied frankly.

"I love England, I do, and our world has its own beauty, but… Narnia is our home. Being away from it is…" She struggled to find the words. "Unpleasant," she settled on eventually.

Caspian looked thoughtful in the dim lighting. "It's strange to think of you in a different land… What is it like?"

Susan couldn't help a chuckle at that. "It's only one country, our world is… At least as vast as this world. England itself is nothing like Narnia. It's colder, and the people are more private… no centaurs or fauns or talking beasts either, only humans." That made Susan think. "I wonder if they ever talked back home…"

"It sounds like a strange place," Caspian replied softly.

Finally feeling herself get tired, she nodded sleepily at him. "The strangest."

/*/

Over the next few days, Susan told Caspian a little bit about her home world each night. One time, she swore she heard Eustace commenting under his breath, but that didn't deter them. They whispered to each other under the cover of darkness, regaling one another with tales. Susan told some fairytales from her own world, and Caspian managed to remember some legends she had not previously heard of.

She knew, she knew, she was only setting herself up to be hurt even worse by getting to know him even better, but she couldn't help herself. It was like the dark inside of the ship was a different world, one where she could pretend that this could last forever, that she wouldn't have to leave.

But inevitably, she would fall asleep and dawn would break, and Susan would do her best to stay away from the King. For his part, Caspian took it in a stride, as if the moments down in the hold were as precious to him as they were to her, and he didn't want to lose them either.

Lucy, however, had no problem voicing her displeasure with the elder girl, no matter the subject. It was as though the usually cheerful Queen automatically turned sour when faced with her sister. And what was worse; Susan was fairly certain the entire ship knew about it.

"Susan, hi."

It seemed Edmund had drawn the short straw.

Susan looked up from the book she'd been reading - another one she'd filched from Caspian's quarters - to narrow her eyes at her brother. "Good morning," she replied, suspicion practically dripping from her words.

Edmund looked a little uncertain, which was something Susan hadn't seen on her little brother since before they'd returned to Narnia the previous time. She sighed and put her book down. Chalk it up to sisterly instincts, but she couldn't bear to see him squirm like that.

She'd been sitting on the aft deck again, since that's where the least activity was, and she was able to stay out of everyone's way. Only Drinian would occasionally impede on her privacy to give instructions to the navigator. As it was, she scooted over so Edmund could sit beside her. "Alright, out with it," she said. "Who sent you, and what has them concerned this time?" she asked with no small sense of resignation.

Luckily, Edmund knew her too well to try to act innocent. "No one sent me," he said frankly. "It's more that everyone on the ship can sense your… detachment and they're worried about you. Not to mention that seeing you and Lucy at odds is putting everyone on edge. I'm just the logical choice for this."

She frowned at him. "Then who's gone to talk to Lucy?"

"Reep, of course. Who else?" he replied with a grin.

Sighing and rubbing her forehead, Susan decided that she would never again join a quest if the main adventure was to be had at sea. She hated living in close quarters like this. "I'm not sure what Lucy's problem is, she won't talk to me about it. All she does is get angry."

"But only at you, though," Edmund interjected. "She's her perfectly happy self with everyone else on board."

That comment only served to anger Susan, but she reigned that emotion in. None of this was Edmund's fault. "As I said; I'm at a loss. Go talk to her yourself if you're so eager to find out," she said, perhaps a little more shortly than she'd intended.

But Edmund just nodded and took it in a stride. He really had grown so much in the last few years. "Alright, then why not tell me what has you so withdrawn?"

She frowned at him. "I'm not withdrawn. There's not much I can help with here on the ship; I'm a terrible cook and I know nothing of sailing. What would you propose I do?"

Edmund shrugged, once again letting her snappy response slide off him. "Interact with people, perhaps? All you do is read and stare out at the horizon. People are wondering whether you want to be here or not."

"Well, perhaps I don't want to be here!" she hissed under her breath, still aware of the dozens of men going about their business on deck. "Has that ever occurred to you? Aslan made a mistake in sending me back here. He said himself that when we left Narnia, it was supposed to be my last. I wasn't even supposed to be at our aunt and uncle's house!"

"But aren't you glad that you could-"

"Could what? Could come here, have to see how magnificent Narnia is, to see all its wonders and feel the thrill of adventure, only to go back to England and be a proper little lady who keeps her mouth shut and does what she's told?" Susan interrupted angrily, though she still made sure to keep her voice low. In her agitation, she couldn't bear to sit still any longer, so she pushed off the railing and took a few steps away from her brother. She felt like she was being suffocated. Why couldn't everyone just leave her alone? Her eyes automatically scanned the deck, and landed, as they were wont to do, on Caspian as the King talked to Drinian.

"This isn't just about Narnia, is it?" Edmund asked, and Susan was startled to note that he'd come to stand at her shoulder and she hadn't noticed.

She sighed, unable to tear her gaze away from the King as he grinned and joked, despite the First Mate's ever stoic composure. "It's everything combined," she whispered.

They stood in companionable silence for a while, before Edmund spoke again. "Look, I'm not going to pretend to know exactly what you're going through… but as for the leaving Narnia part to go back to England? That I can understand. We all can. Just because Lucy doesn't show it, doesn't mean she's not devastated every time we have to leave. And I know Peter had a hard time accepting it, too. Bloody hell, Su, you know what a mess I am back home," he said.

Susan bit her lip. Yes, her siblings had it hard as well, but it wasn't exactly the same. Caspian suddenly looked up and locked gazes with her. His smile dimmed, and even from this distance, she could see the concern written on his features. He'd really have to learn to get a better poker face in the future. She turned away from the sight.

"Should we really shut ourselves off from the possibility of gaining fond memories for fear of the pain that will come after?" Edmund asked. "Because I, for one, would rather enjoy what time I have here to the fullest than live with regrets later on."

Susan mulled that over for a moment. "How do you know it's worth it?"

Sighing, Edmund put a hand on her shoulder. "You don't. But look at it this way; you're going to have to go through that pain either way. Isn't it better to do it without regrets than to have all those what-ifs in your mind?"

Edmund had a point. "I suppose," she whispered. "When did you become so wise?"

"That made sense to you? Great, because I didn't know what the hell I was saying," he replied, a cheeky grin on his face. Susan could tell that he was joking, he knew exactly what he was saying, because he knew at least partly what she was going through.

"Well it's a good thing I'm smarter than you then," she teased mildly.

"Oi! That hurts!" But his wide grin belied his relief that she seemed to be doing better. And Susan did feel better. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed someone to talk things through like this. She'd had Caspian to talk to during their nightly conversations, but… this was something to which the current King could not relate.

"Thank you, Ed."

"Any time, Su."

A/N: Please leave a review (you know, now that you can actually read it...)