Caspian X | at the stables, in the bar

[the_seafarer]

It has been some time since his last sojourn here at the end of the Universe, but when Caspian enters from his cabin on the Princess Royal, the place looks quite the same as ever. 

A few new faces, and the lack of some old ones, but that same warm feeling is as present as he recalls.

And it's spring – better still. Moments after he arrives, he makes his way to the stables, where he spends a good deal of time cosseting his old friends. Who is managing the place now, he's not certain, but the horses and creatures seem well cared for. It gives him a pang to see Susan Allgood's once bustling stables so quiet and still, though, and he makes himself a promise that he'll come back more frequently to care for them as they deserve.

The horses he turns out, letting them stretch their legs in the warm spring sun as they frolic around the paddocks. Once they're set, he turns his attention to the problem of the Hope, waiting patiently in the stall where he'd set her to winter. The little boat needs plenty of work, but it'll be hard work to move it out into the fresh air by himself. He draws open the stable doors as wide as they can go, then begins setting wooden rollers on the ground.

Later, towards the evening, he may be found at the bar proper, a cup of tea at hand as he pens a letter.

... it is passing strange, to look about this place and not see those I expect. It feels rather as though they are simply just out of the corner of my eye, waiting for me to look at them so they can tease me for my long absence. And, of course, it is not the same without my raven girl, wind in her hair and the spring sun shining down upon her. The wildflowers are blooming, Marian. I wish you were here to see them.

Do come say hello.

Comments

[the_seafarer]

"A good many of the Narnians of the time thought so as well," Caspian agrees. He glances over and smiles.

"Well done. That's looking much better, Bucky, thank you."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I'm enjoying myself," Bucky tells him, with a slight sideways smile. "So thank you."

[the_seafarer]

"I'm very glad to hear that," Caspian says, pleased, and moves to a spot at the stern before plying the sandpaper once more.

"This new life of yours, I hope you're enjoying that, also."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I am," Bucky says, with absolute certainty. He moves to the bow of the Hope and starts working again on a spot there.

"How about you? Yours everything you hoped it would be?"

[the_seafarer]

Caspian looks thoughtful at that, but nods.

"Yes, I should say it is," he says. "Not that I had any great vision for it, mind. But I have family and companionship again – things I thought lost to me forever. A place to call home, also, and a purpose to drive my days and keep me busy and content."

He turns a clear-eyed glance on the other man. "There are far worse ways to live a life, are there not?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Much," he agrees, a little fervently. "There's a lot to be said for having friends and family in your life."

[the_seafarer]

"There is indeed."

He's all the more grateful for it when he thinks of his own unhappy childhood. "I miss Narnia, of course, but the world I live in now is quite nice, and of course I can come back here nearly whenever I like."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Oh?" Bucky looks up from his careful study of the bow at that. "You moved worlds entirely?"

[the_seafarer]

"I had little choice," Caspian murmurs. His gaze is on the little boat, but there's shadow in it. "My time in Narnia came to an end with my life. That door closed forever. But I went back, once more, to aid my kinsman in battle."

Smoke and burning ash float through his vision; screams ring through his hearing. "The last great battle of Narnia. And at the end, Aslan appeared. He sang the destruction of the world as he had once sung it into being, and as we watched, the seas boiled away, the earth cracked, and the stars fell from the heavens. Narnia is no more."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky breathes a near-silent curse in Russian, staring at him. To die's one thing. To be summoned to fight at the literal end of the world -- and to see your world end, helpless to stop it--

"I'm sorry," he whispers, at last. "I'm so sorry."

It's not enough, but it's all he's got.

[the_seafarer]

He comes back to himself with a deep breath and meets Bucky's eyes, his own rueful but clear. "All things pass away," he says, and gives the man a wry smile.

"We can only make merry while we can, and be grateful for having had them, even only for a little while, once they've gone."

[nerves_of_ice]

It takes him a few seconds longer than that to snap out of the shock. Bucky shakes his head, visibly forcing himself to deal with it.

"You're a hell of a lot more calm about it than I think I'd be," he says, after another moment. "How long ago was it?"

[the_seafarer]

"Some years, now," Caspian tells him. "Both by Bar-reckoning and not."

He shakes his head, his hands falling idle. "If I am calm, it is only because I know what lay beyond the end of the world; another, brighter one. I have seen it and walked its green fields and swum in its clear waters. Narnia is gone, but the her truth, her peoples, the dryads and hamadryads and fauns, the mermaids and Talking Beasts and all the rest, they all live on there, with Him."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Okay," Bucky says, after another moment to absorb that. "I can see how that'd help. Both things. I'm still sorry, though."

[the_seafarer]

Caspian's expression softens, and he nods. "I thank you for your sympathy," he says. "It is kindly given."

He exhales through his nose and turns back to the task at hand. "And now – aye, I live in a new world. In my first year here I befriended a young woman, Amy. We grew so close that we soon considered ourselves brother and sister. I live now in her world, as does another dear friend, the Lady Marian."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky smiles a little at that, and himself returns to sanding the bow.

"This place is good for that kind of thing," he observes. "Crossing worlds, crossing lives."

Maybe he should leave a letter with the Bar for Ysalwen, he thinks. Just in case.

[the_seafarer]

"Oh, it is, aye," Caspian agrees, whole-hearted. "Some of the dearest friends of my heart are those I met when I arrived here."

[nerves_of_ice]

He nods. "I know the feeling." Although his closest friends are from his own world, there's no question that those here are near and dear as well.

[the_seafarer]

"I expect most who come here feel the same way," he says, and looks a little wry. "... Most."

There are some he's known who made more enemies than friends, but he finds little enough sympathy for them.

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky looks up from his work again at the undercurrent in that final word.

"Sounds like there's a story there."

[the_seafarer]

"More than one," Caspian admits.

"Not everyone who comes here has friendship or peace on their minds or in their hearts."

[nerves_of_ice]

"That's the way of things everywhere, I guess."

Each word is as dry as desert sand.

[the_seafarer]

"Aye, but... "

(neutral ground)

"Somehow it's worse to see it here."

[nerves_of_ice]

"You've got a point," Bucky concedes, sanding away. "It does seem like here should be different, doesn't it?"

[the_seafarer]

"Nowhere is neutral," he murmurs, remembering how Susan had flashed at him in her grief and anger over losing Meg. "Not even here. But aye, it does. Perhaps because so many are so determined to make it so."