Chapter Fourteen: Complicated
{XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX}
~ Narnia ~
Caspian departed the decks long before Lucy or Gavan, his thoughts exhausting him. He wondered at this new turn of events, and prayed that it would not worsen. He hoped Gavan had the sense to make sure nothing further did happen, but from what Arran had told him, he worried. Besides, Peter had entrusted Edmund and Lucy to his care, he did not think he would be doing a responsible job of the task given him if he allowed Lucy to be hurt by the Star.
The next morning, he rose early. Walking up to the deck, all his thoughts from the night returned, burdening him with their added weight. As he stood there, on deck, watching the waves rise and fall in the distance, and then sweeping by, he noticed Susan standing by the rail, looking down. He smiled slightly, before walked over to her.
"And what is my lady studying so hard?" He asked, smiling crookedly as he slid his arms around her.
"Nothing I suppose, just the ocean," she replied softly, leaning back against him.
"It is beautiful." He agreed, following her gaze and watching the early morning sun dance across the crystal blue waves.
"The color, it, it reminds me of Rilian's eyes. So blue." Susan whispered, smiling to herself, as only a mother could.
"Like his mother's," Caspian answered, looking at her.
"You could charm a mermaid the way you give compliments! Continue to do that and it will go to my head." She jested.
"But I cannot deny what is true," Caspian whispered in her ear. "Besides, you are worth my every attention and deserve all the complements I can give."
Susan was about to reply, when from behind them Arran called out. "Caspian, I was waiting for you. I believe there is a matter we need to discuss, from last night?" The pirate looked at him expectantly after Caspian turned from Susan's side.
"Yes, Arran, of course." He answered. Giving Susan a parting kiss, he walked over to Arran, who proceeded to go to the chartroom. Apparently whatever they had to talk about was not something they wanted her to hear, Susan decided, before going off to see if either Rilian or Lucy was awake yet.
~:|Xo0oX|:~
Edmund laughingly followed Serene to the top deck, joking about some random thing or other. Serene commented on the sharp, warm wind and the good time they must be making before Edmund noticed Gavan leaning against the mast, staring off thoughtfully. Serene stopped talking and came back to him when she noticed he had stayed behind.
"What gives you that speculative air Sire?" She asked lightly, her voice falling and rising with mirth.
"Gavan does. I wonder about him Serene, and his brothers. Always keeping to themselves, unlike the Stars I used to know of." Edmund murmured thoughtfully, before casting his eyes out to sea.
"Well, this is no longer the Golden Age, and many things have changed. Among them Stars. They are a quiet people now; no longer do they visit Lumea so often or sing at the palace. I fear that Gavan and his family are the last of the teren-bound Stars." Serene said quietly, her voice losing its gaiety.
"Was it really that long ago? It feels like I have slept for a night, and around me the world changed. I do not know this Narnia; I can no longer keep up with her. The painful truth is, she has changed, and no longer welcomes me." Edmund replied, anguish in his tone as he spoke.
"No Edmund, she never ceases to welcome you, she only tells you when she no longer needs you, she only tells you goodbye. All must do it, all must say it. But in goodbye, there is a secret, it is good. For goodbye does not mean farewell, it only means stay in good company, until we next meet again." Serene soothed softly, smiling up at him as the wind combed through his hair, and swirled hers around her shoulders.
He smiled sadly down at her, knowing what she meant, and though it pained him, he agreed. Narnia was indeed telling him goodbye, she no longer was in need of the Pevensies of Finchley. She had a good king in Caspian, and a united country once more. Something told him that this was his last great journey in Narnia. Now it was time for someone else to take up the task of defending her, and Lumea. He just wondered who.
"Come, now is not the time to think of such painful things. Rejoice in the time you do have, else you will waste it longing for things that cannot be." Serene said softly.
"You're right, of course. I believe we were on our way to breakfast before I stopped, weren't we?" Edmund said with a small smile, his countenance brightening somewhat, though his brown eyes did not.
"Yes, let's go see if you family is awake yet!" Serene laughed, her merry attitude once again picking up. He laughed as well and walked after her.
~o0o~
Lucy woke with a start, remembering the night before as it came back in detail. She blushed as she thought about it. Dressing quickly, she started for the door as Susan came in. The queen smiled at her sister, glad that she was up, before moving to check on her baby. The little boy stared up at her silently, causing his mother to smile. "Aren't you quiet this morning!" She said, picking him up.
"Can I stay and help you dress him?" Lucy asked, recalling the time when she and Susan had helped Amalia with Lucian and Lilianna so many years ago.
"Why not? You are his aunt," Susan said with a smile, as the little boy let out a piercing squeal. Lucy giggled, covering her smile with her hand as Susan winced slightly, though Rilian looked quite proud of himself.
"Not so quiet after all, are you?" Susan murmured, running her fingers through the boy's matted hair. Rilian merely smiled and pulled on the end of her braid. Lucy laughed as she got some clothes for him.
"He's energetic, not at all like Lucian, is he?" Lucy commented as they walked out on deck minutes later, Susan carrying the baby.
"No, and I think that has something to do with his parents." Susan admitted, looking rather rueful.
"Well, at least he has wonderful parents!" Lucy replied with a laugh. Susan just shook her head in amusement as they walked to the galley. Lucy noticed that Edmund and Serene were already there, eating and talking with several of the sailors who were having breakfast as well.
"Sleep well?" Serene asked, looking over at them as they sat.
"Surprisingly, yes, though I think it was in part because Rilian was so tired he slept the whole night." Susan said, causing Serene to smile knowingly.
"Let's hope tonight is fair as well, so Rhince can finish his story! That is one tale I'd like to hear finished!" Didon, a faun, cheered.
"I wonder, do Stars have any power over weather? If they did, well than, we could be sure of a calm evening!" another sailor asked.
"I'm afraid there are very few who have such power, if any!" Arran's voice suddenly announced, as he and Caspian entered the room. Susan waited for Caspian to sit beside her, before she asked what they had been discussing. "Nothing, just the voyage," he replied quietly. She looked away, wondering what he was not telling her, and why.
~o0o~
Eustace had detested the breakfast fare when he saw it. If there was anything better, he was going to find it! Slipping away from the area where everyone was eating, he entered the kitchen, or, what called for a kitchen on this toy boat. Sifting through the foodstuffs, he came across a small basket of oranges.
"Probably carrying all sorts of diseases, but at least it's better than that horrid stuff they were eating." Eustace muttered, slipping the orange inside his shirt.
"Are you aware, stealing rations is a capital offense at sea!" A voice said, somewhere to his left. He looked around wildly, wondering who it was. "Up here!" The tip of Reep's tail touched his shoulder, pointing him in the right direction as Reepicheep made his presence known. Eustace grabbed the Mouse's tail, saying as he did so; "Look, I've had quite enough of you!" But, as he spoke, Reep's long, thin rapier was brandished in his face.
"Unhand the tail. The great Aslan himself gave me this tail, and no one, repeat, no one, touches the tail, period, exclamation mark." He whispered threateningly. Eustace backed up, falling into some crates. "S-sorry," He stuttered nervously.
"Now, I will have the orange, then satisfaction!" Reep shouted, waving his blade inches from Eustace's nose.
"P-please, I don't believe in fighting and I don't have a sword, I'm a pacifist."
"Do I understand," Reep said sharply, withdrawing his sword momentarily, "that you do not intend to give me satisfaction?"
"I don't know what you mean," Eustace stuttered once more, "If you can't just pretend you never saw me, than I shan't bother my head about you."
"Come now, I demand satisfaction, even if that means merely giving you a wallop!" Reep said, chasing after the boy, blade waving in the air as he ran nimbly after an unsteady Eustace. The boy quickly covered the deck, and ran into Caspian, Susan, Edmund, Serene and Lucy who were talking with Drinian and the Stars. "That blasted Mouse means to fight me!" He practically shouted.
"You don't have a proper blade, do you? Where could we obtain one that their owner would not be partial to if it's lost?" Edmund asked, not realizing who this was, just the fact that Eustace wasn't equipped for a duel.
Arran, realizing that this might be a way to be rid of the brat, spoke up, sounding more amiable than the situation called for. "You can use mine!" He said, pulling the sheathed blade from his side and holding it out. Reepicheep was still in hot pursuit, shouting from the foredeck as he ran, "We're on a boat you know, you can't just run away!"
"How 'bout this one?" Gavan said, tossing Arran a bulky shortsword, used for cutting and splicing ropes. Arran tested the blade with his finger, grinned, and tossed it to a startled Eustace, who, without putting much thought into it, caught the blade at the same moment Reepicheep arrived. Eustace stared down at the object in his hand, unbelieving that they were entirely serious about this.
"Aha! We shall have ourselves a duel!" Reep cried energetically, running after Eustace, who was dodging out of the blade's path. Gavan and Arran laughed uproariously as the two figures ran about the deck, Reep trying to get in a swordsmanship lesson at the same time as a duel. The Mouse jumped up onto a barrel, finally standing face to face with Eustace once more.
"Look, can't we just discuss this?" Eustace nearly begged. But Reep was past taking any of his blustering. With a swipe, he cut a small rift in Eustace's shirt. "That was for stealing," he cut another while Eustace seemed too stunned to move, "That was for lying, and that," Reep jabbed his sword into the ripe orange and pulled it out, smacking Eustace across the face with it as he did so, "was for good measure!"
Eustace grit his teeth, shifting the blade in his hand, wanting to just bushwhack this rodent into next year.
"We do indeed have a duel!" Reepicheep shout, smiling ever so slightly. "Come on, take your best shot," The Mouse encouraged, mostly bent on teaching him a bit about swordplay than disciplining him now. Eustace lunged wildly, and Reep dodged easily. "Was that it? Come on now!"
Arran jumped up onto a barrel himself, to watch the fight, and laughed at the antics of the boy and his 'teacher', looking more like a pirate than ever. Several sailors stopped what they were doing to watch, knowing this wasn't going to be as great as the two king's fight, but just as interesting.
"Come on boy, that's it, come on," Reep shouted, as Eustace stared lunging at him left and right, but, slowly looking more confidant. "Come on; stop holding your arms like a drunken pelican. Pose! Lead with your foot. No, not your left your right!" Reep muttered, hitting the flat of his blade against Eustace's legs as he spoke.
"Aha! Come on, hit me!" The Mouse encouraged, jumping onto the rail. Eustace lunged hard. "Oh, oh no!" Reep cried, losing his balance and seeming to plummet over the side. Eustace, suddenly horrified to think that he had killed the mouse, annoying as he was, leaned over the edge to see if he could catch a glimpse of the mouse. But, what he could not see, the others could.
Reep had climbed up the rigging while Eustace had been looking in the water. Gently tapping on Eustace's shoulder, he caught the boy off-guard, and with that small ounce of uncertainty, Eustace was thrown off balance by the pitch of the boat, so Reep easily toppled him into several baskets on deck. Eustace gave a small shout of surprise, but it was the little girl's squeal that made everyone jump to their feet.
Crawling slowly out of the felled basket, a little girl with dark hair and a pink dress looked around, standing on shaky legs. "Oh Gael!" Rhince said in dismay, coming to pull her into his side. Drinian walked forward, looking somewhat stern and grave. Suddenly he smiled. "Well, it looks like we have an extra crew member," he said kindly, handing her the orange that Reep had tossed him. The little girl smiled hesitantly back at him as she took the orange.
Drinian knew that she would be another mouth to feed, but, she reminded him of his niece on Galma, so he couldn't find the heart to be sharp with her. Rhince smiled at his captain gratefully, but Drinian just nodded in understanding, giving him a friendly clap on the shoulder, before shouting for the men to resume their business.
"Lucy, go get the girl and bring her here, out of the way of the men." Susan whispered, smiling at her sister. Lucy nodded, having thought of the idea herself. She walked down the stairs and came up to the girl.
"Hello there, welcome aboard," she said softly, as Rhince moved away to return to his duties, nodding his head at the queen in respect as he went.
"Oh, Your Majesty." The little girl said in awe, staring up at her.
"Please, call me Lucy. Come on now." She encouraged with a smile, holding out her hand for the girl to take. After a few minutes of Gael silently debating it, she held out her own hand and placed it in Lucy's. She took the girl back up the steps, where Susan waited holding Rilian. When they arrived, Susan led the way to the cabin she and Lucy shared.
Meanwhile, Eustace picked up the shortsword he had dropped in his ungraceful fall. Walking back to where Gavan and Arran were standing, intending to return it, Reepicheep spoke up from his left.
"Good match, I'll make a swordsman of you yet."
Receiving praise from someone other than his parents made Eustace react almost kindly to the Mouse, before he returned to the sour attitude from earlier. "Yes, well, if the playing field were a little more even, it would've been an entirely different result."
Reep, delighted to see the change come over Eustace even for the brief second, just smiled and leaned back against the rigging. "Indeed," He murmured, shaking his head.
Though, now he knew the boy could be reached, but one had to treat him carefully, like someone he'd known several years ago. Someone he had never intended to meet again in a thousand lifetimes, but this voyage had brought him face to face with once more; Arran Greenwood. He did not think the pirate captain remembered him, but, there were times when he wondered. No, he dismissed the thought with a sharp shake of his head, the Star did not even think him familiar, he was long forgotten. The incident with Mezelzaz was far behind the captain. As it should be with him, too.
~o0o~
Lucy walked quickly up the stairs from below deck, having gone to ask Eustace if he was feeling all right, since he had disappeared after the sword match. She looked up and stopped moving just in time to avoid walking into Gavan, who was also not looking where he was going. Hearing her footsteps on the wood however, he stopped as well and stepped back several inches when he saw her. Frowning, looking away slightly and running his fingers through his hair, he tried to think of something to say.
"I'm sorry, I should have been paying attention to where I was going," Lucy said quickly, sounding nervous even to her own ears.
"No, no, it was my fault, I should've been thinking about what I was doing." He said hurriedly, nearly running over her apology. She looked at him expectantly, without knowing it; she was waiting for him to say something more.
"Well, I'll be going then," He said, helpless for anything to say that would fill the empty gap between sentences.
"Yes, I s-suppose I should too." She stuttered, her heart sinking for some reason she didn't understand. She walked quickly away, but did not know that he watched her go.
"Well, that was really just priceless Gavan," Arran jumped down from the rigging, startling his brother. "She stands there, waiting for you to do something, to act on what she's not telling you, can't tell you, and you just mutter some gibberish about walking away!" Arran crossed his arms as he talked, exasperation coating his voice.
"You're one to talk," Gavan hissed, glaring at his brother. " 'You're smart, you'll think of something' 'Gavan maybe you weren't meant to be a Star, perhaps you were supposed to live on earth'. That was just marvelous advice, for one with so much experience!"
"I did not know you two felt this way about one another! I thoug-"
"You thought it was just her power that drew me, didn't you? As it drew you and Zephyr. How was I supposed to understand this, this attraction to some mortal?" Gavan cut in sharply, clearly confused about what he was feeling for Lucy.
That had been what Arran had thought, though he had never said anything. The idea that his brother might be drawn by something other than the girl's power had not even occurred to him. He suddenly felt very harsh and unfeeling. Durken would've guessed at this long ago. But he was slow on learning or noticing, and he always had been.
"I must ask your forgiveness Gavan, I never meant for this to become so complicated. I could try to help, but all I really can say is, do what you think is right, and, when it feels as if it goes against something you believe, stop. I don't have to tell you to respect her, for, I know you will. But, watch out for angry relatives. Caspian knows, and that is all I will tell you on that matter. Just, be careful and don't do anything I would do." Arran said slowly, realizing this was probably the most thoughtful speech he'd ever given.
"I'm sorry for losing control Arran,"
"Don't be, I'm no help, that was true, and this is confusing, I don't know how you can care for her, besides the magic. That's all that ever interested me." Arran admitted. Gavan smiled slightly, Arran had never put himself down so much before and he'd never acted so much like Durken either. Arran turned and walked away, leaving Gavan with his thoughts.
~o0o~
The day wore on, and everyone's anticipation for the evening grew. There was at least one good tale that would carry over from the night before, and perhaps more interesting songs to be sung. To an ordinary person, songs and tales might become boring after a time, but to sailors, these were lessons and entertainment both. They might not have been scholars or men of science, but anyone could tell a good story, all it took was an idea and the courage to speak it.
A/N: And that is chapter fourteen! I beg forgiveness from all my readers for not updating in so long! But, my new interest in lotr has kept me away, and I have been taking a repose from heavy writing for a while to enjoy life and a slower pace. Now, however, I am interested in continuing this tale and starting the next one!
Now, for explanations as to why this chapter may/may not be very detailed:
1. I am having to work on studying both book and movie plotlines, so I was also doing that on my break time, to keep the good parts of the movie as well as the good parts of the book.
2. I am coming out of a period of writer's block (which many of you know and helped me work my way out of) so I have written as best I could with what little I had.
3. I DO NOT want anything lotr-y to get into the elements of this story and quintet plotline! I have been trying to be good about that, but it wasn't working, so I had to relax and throw myself back into a Narnian way of thinking (don't know if it worked, you tell me :).
Author's Secret: I became interested in lotr because of the plot for the following book in this series, where Tolkien's books are mentioned. I figured I had better get some dirt on the book series, so I didn't look totally stupid, and what better way to do that than watch the films and read the tr- no, wait, Tolkien didn't want the series to be called a trilogy (what do I call it then?! Oh dear!).
I didn't like the way Lucy introduces herself to Gael on the ship in the film, well, I should say, I didn't really like the acting, there was something about the style that was too energetic and bouncy, considering she's talking to a little girl who doesn't even know her and is still probably terrified.
Well, I don't know what else needs to be explained, except that yes, Arran and Reep have crossed paths, and yes, you shall discover what Mezelzaz was. I have tried my best, so tell me your opinions!
ILoveFanfiction:
I saw your review to 7s7l, thanks, I'll work on fixing it, and cool that you like lotr! I learn something new every day! I hope you like this chapter too, ~ W.H.
Again, if there is anything I missed, {explanations, punctuations, grammar, misspellings, plot-that-doesn't-make-sense, something that I failed to clarify on, etc...} Please tell me so I can fix/tell you about it in a PM/Author's Note.
Happy reading, ~ W.H