narnia / year 2312

word count: 844

au in which caspian and lucy have married and now reign together in narnia (ages here are 23 and 26)

xXx

King Caspian strode leisurely into Cair Paravel's towering great hall, the evening world already pitch black beyond the steep windows as a sea of candlelight flickered against the glass from every table and chandelier and winding pillar draped and dripping with wax, as if the clustered pinpricks of flame were living creatures sprawling and climbing over every surface in the hall.

"Ah, there you two are!" he called, catching the telltale glow of Queen Lucy's brilliant red hair flickering in the wild light, cascading in a waterfall of curls over slender shoulders and the puffy white sleeves of her gown. "I was just coming to find you. The Lady Gwendolen would like your opinion on the dance. I thought it ought to be later into the evening, so there might be some chance of starlight, but my queen ought to have the final say on such matters."

"Oh, Caspian," she breathed as if she hadn't heard a single word, "he simply loves the candles."

Caspian reached her side just as she turned and bounced the baby on her hip, Rilian's strawberry blond hair flopping as he stared around the room with big blue eyes, shining and identical in every way to the eyes of the girl who watched him with equal wonder.

Caspian grinned fondly and brushed his son's chubby cheek, leaning in to plant a kiss on his wife's forehead. "They're probably all he can see in here, my love."

"Oh, shush." She smiled up at him in spite of her chiding tone. "I think they must look like great big twinkling stars."

"That or I'm raising an arsonist," he muttered. "A risk I did not thoroughly enough account for when combining our bloodlines."

"Well, that was silly of you," giggled Lucy. "Especially if he's got even a fraction of your curiosity."

"Or your rashness," lilted Caspian in return.

"Oh, dear," came Drinian's teasing voice, announcing his presence a few moments before his hand clapped down on Caspian's shoulder, "have you created a monster?"

Caspian shot him a dry look and Lucy gave a sharp tsk.

"No offense, my queen," he added with a wide grin, "I speak only from experience."

A tiny yellow ball of energy crashed into Drinian's leg with a squeal, and he gave a dramatic show of stumbling before he leaned down to haul his curly-headed daughter into his arms, planting a kiss on her cheek as she pointed to a pillar of twinkling candles.

"Pa, look, 's the lights."

"I see them, love," he chuckled, "nigh a million of them in this place." He glanced at Caspian, his own handsome olive face contrasting sharply with his toddler's pale arms as she wrapped them snugly around his neck. "Have you gotten an answer about the dance? Cornelius thinks it will snow."

"Ah, bother," said Caspian, "no stars, then."

"Why not hold it indoors?" asked Lucy, bouncing baby Rilian gently, his wide eyes still fixed, mesmerized, on the glittering world around him. "We've got enough candles for it. Those are near enough to stars."

"That would seem to be the consensus," laughed Caspian, glancing between Rilian and the girl in Drinian's arms as his friend shrugged in good-natured concession.

"Gwen will be happy not to bring the twins out in the cold, anyway."

Caspian smirked, catching the eyes of the man who might as well have been his brother. "When did we get this old?"

Drinian scoffed. "Beats me, but it sure snuck up on us, didn't it? By the Lion, I sound like my father."

Caspian laughed, and Drinian grinned.

"I'll tell the Lady, then," he said, and gave a short bow to Lucy as he hiked the little girl higher into his arms and turned back the way he'd come, presumably in search of Gwendolen, their golden child in tow.

Lucy threaded delicate white fingers through Rilian's silky curls, leaning into Caspian's chest and gazing at the baby as intently as he gazed into the lights. "You don't mind the dance indoors, do you?" she murmured as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"Certainly not." He leaned for a moment against her fire-colored hair, breathing in her rich sugary scent that told him she'd been taking their son through the kitchens not so very long ago. "And in any case, my love, you shine just as brilliantly by the fire as you do by starlight."

Lucy scoffed. "Oh, Caspian."

He smirked and kissed the side of her head, and little Rilian made a noise halfway between a cough and a giggle.

"Oh, indeed," said Caspian, "fire it is, my Lord, your wish is my command."

Lucy laughed. "If he does now grow up to set the palace alight, I fear we may still be raising a terribly pampered prince. He is already Lord of all the castle and he is not yet four months old!"

"That, my dear," laughed Caspian as someone across the hall struck up a tune on a warbling panpipe and the torches crackled like woodland bonfires even within the palace walls, "was unavoidable."