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

[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."

[nerves_of_ice]

He winces at Caspian's first observation.

Visibly so, even.

[the_seafarer]

"Oh, forgive me," Caspian says, seeing that wince.

"I hadn't meant to bring up uncomfortable memories."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Not your fault," he promises. "It was mine, at the time. But I wasn't trying to screw things up around here, if that matters."

[the_seafarer]

"I believe you," Caspian says, sincerely.

"Those I had in mind certainly were trying. They came with malice and mischief in their hearts and wrought as much damage as they could, with no remorse at all."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Uh-huh." Bucky studies him. "They're gone now?"

[the_seafarer]

"Yes, thank the Lion."

At least, he's seen no sign of the mischief-makers of his own past. "The place seems quite as peaceful as I've ever seen it."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Good." Bucky goes back to sanding. "I'd rather not be stuck in chocolate again. Or whatever."

[the_seafarer]

"I beg your pardon," Caspian says, taken aback.

"Did you say 'chocolate'?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"I did." In contrast, Bucky sounds dour, although he doesn't seem upset. "Guessing you missed the Slenderman ruckus a while back? I don't remember seeing you around then. Did you hear anything about it?"

[the_seafarer]

Caspian shakes his head, looking more wryly resigned than truly surprised.

(He is perhaps recalling multiple instances of non-consensual glittering, dyeing, and other Bar-related shenanigans.)

"Nay, not a thing." He nods to the boat. "Here, help me turn her keel-up. And by all means, regale me."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky shifts so that he can take the majority of the boat's weight as they move it, leaving Caspian to guide it into place how he wants it.

"It - he? He," he decides, "was some kind of old dark forest god, I guess." Bucky turns a flat stare on a particular area of the woods, just for a moment, beyond where lies a hidden cave. "Got his kicks feeding on pain and fear, and set out to get as much of that as he could from people before he was stopped."

He shakes his head, bracing the boat. "I got taken out of it right before the end. Turns out he'd managed to get a kind of influence over the bar's cleaning crew. There were five of them, I think; they hit me with some kind of dart. I woke up, if you can call it that, frozen inside a giant bar of chocolate."