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]

"Not long, and yet far too long," Caspian answers. "Some days, the first time; only a few hours the second. But for Rilian... ten years."

[nerves_of_ice]

"That must have been one hell of a curse," he murmurs.

[the_seafarer]

"The witch renewed it daily."

Caspian grips the line more aggressively than necessary, remembering all that Rilian had told him. "She bound him to a silver chair for the single hour each night during which he remembered himself, before the enchantment would take hold and bury him once more."

[nerves_of_ice]

His head jerks up and he stares at the other man in horror.

Bucky remembers, clear as crystal and sharp as the edge of a blade what it had felt like to realize what Zemo was doing, and what was going to happen. To go through that every night for ten years--

He doesn't say anything. He can't speak.

[the_seafarer]

Caspian looks up to meet the man's horrified, haunted gaze. It cuts as deep as a knife, and Caspian's old anger evaporates as he bows his head before it.

"Forgive me," he says, quietly, pained to have caused distress. "Forgive me."

[nerves_of_ice]

"For what?" Bucky asks, startled into words. "You haven't done anything wrong."

[the_seafarer]

"For causing you pain," Caspian answers. "I would not have meant it for the world."

[nerves_of_ice]

"You didn't," Bucky tells him. He scrapes at another plank, careful and steady.

"This witch sounds like a real piece of work. She's been dealt with, right?"

[the_seafarer]

"Hacked to pieces," Caspian says, with grim satisfaction. "By none other than Rilian himself, and two of the friends who rescued him."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Good."

Sometimes he wonders what he'd do, if he saw Zemo again. Zola'd be worse, but Zola's long dead - Steve had assured him on this point, and Bucky believes him. He scrapes off another long curl of paint.

"And the one that got you?"

[the_seafarer]

"She has not been seen here for many years," Caspian says.

Truthfully, he's not certain what became of the creature that called itself first Blodwen Rowlands and later Anghared of Northgalis. He can only hope that her mischief might finally have been more permanently stopped.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Just as well, I guess." He sounds grim about it. "I'm not a fan of someone who does stuff like that, as you can probably guess."

[the_seafarer]

"I imagine not," Caspian says, and gives the man a wry glance.

"Dear me, I am no very merry companion today, it seems. I beg your pardon."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Not your fault," Bucky promises him. "Seriously, don't apologize. If you do, I'll start, and we'll get stuck going in circles. Tell me about your boat or something instead. Or ask me something."

[the_seafarer]

Caspian laughs, warm and bright. "Sensible fellow," he says.

"As you will. Tell me about this goat you're planning on bringing. If you'll forgive the observation, you don't strike me as a farmer."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Oh, I'm not," Bucky assures him. "Either sensible or a farmer. I just look after a few goats right now. Six. A friend here helped name a couple of them, and I promised to bring one by for a visit."

[the_seafarer]

"And how, pray tell," Caspian asks, "does a man who is not a farmer come into the possession of six goats?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Easy," Bucky says, lightly. "They're not mine. I'm just supposed to take care of them for my hosts."

[the_seafarer]

"Part of this new life of yours, I expect," Caspian observes. "I would enjoy hearing about it, if you're willing to tell."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Sure," stalls Bucky, trying to think how to begin while still being a - how had the other man put it? A 'merry companion'. He takes a moment to study the planks in front of him, then shifts to the other side of the bow.

"Well, a couple of years back, after I, uh, got out of what I was doing," he starts, "I spent some time trying to stay out of sight, because I didn't want to get any of my former friends in trouble. Turns out there was someone out there who had other ideas, and caused some trouble of his own, framing me for it."

[the_seafarer]

"The blackguard," Caspian says, in rapid condemnation. "I hope he was caught, and soundly punished?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Eventually," Bucky says, as lightly as he can. "Not sure about punishment, but he's in prison, so that counts for something. Anyway, during all the mess, I lost my old arm - "

He taps the vibranium prototype with the side of the scraper. "Er, the metal one before this, I mean, not the original, that was back when I fell. So given that and a few other things, my hosts offered me sanctuary and aid in their homeland. So part of what I do there is take care of goats."

[the_seafarer]

"Well," says Caspian, slightly at a loss.

"That certainly sounds... peaceful."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I think that's kind of the point," Bucky admits, as he scrapes the next patch. "For me to learn to do things that aren't what ... er, what I was doing before. Better things."

[the_seafarer]

"I suppose that makes a deal of sense," Caspian says, thinking of the time he spends with his nieces and nephews, and with Marian, all of them perfectly content with the simpler pleasures of their lives.

"What other sort of things do you do?"