cribellate | narnia au;

Aye, I know who I can trust there. Can your maid find food for us?

[Water they can get on the way, and George can take some stores from the barracks if he needs, but people tend to be on higher watch there.]

I think so. I will tell her to pack sturdy things, and give them to you later.

[They are both smart, and Narnia is a tender country, where the land welcomes its rulers fondly. That will help.

She thinks a moment.]

I have some coin here, I'll take that as well.

Yes, and I'll take what I can as well.

[He doesn't have much, but he has enough for a few days travel.]

I'll gather everything and have horses saddled a half hour before sunrise. Can you meet me at the stables?

Yes.

[If there's one thing that Lucy can do, it's sneak out of Cair Paravel.]

You must tell my guard something.

[George is their Captain; in Narnia she rarely has more than two or three men assigned to her detail, but still George has to explain something.]

[She's right, of course. And that will be harder. His men trust him, but they love their queen, and they have ears. They've heard the rumors.]

I'll tell them tonight that with the queen indisposed, they've been given the morning off. I'll give them wine to celebrate.

[They're good men, but they work hard, so they drink harder.]

[She kisses him.]

Yes, all right.

[She kisses him again, and touches her mouth.]

I will write a letter. For my family, so they do not panic.

[He smiles faintly against her lips, pressing his forehead to hers.]

Leave it with your maid, to be delivered after we are discovered missing.

All right, yes.

[She feels a slight burst of fear, but also of excitement. They're getting married. they'll marry soon. They will travel to do it, but they will do it.

She reaches and puts her arms around him.]

[George pulls her close against his chest. The exhilaration of adrenaline and endorphins flooding through him has him torn between joy and fear.]

I wish it wasn't happening like this, but...I am glad to marry you.

I am glad beyond reason.

[She feels warm, happy, despite everything.]

You are the most glorious thing that has ever happened to me.

[When she agrees with him, he laughs, pressing a lingering kiss to her temple.]

As are you, mo chridhe. And I will be proud to be your husband.

[They can't spend the night together, but it doesn't matter. Lucy and her maid pack, and it's mostly simple things, but they manage to slip a nicer dress for her to get married in.

The morning comes, and Lucy wakes and sneaks out, and she meets George as agreed as they slip out of the stable. No one stops them, and she thinks they have a few hours before they're found missing. They go for hours before Lucy nudges him to stop.]

We ought to eat something.

[George delivers the good news to the queen's guard and sees them stocked with ale and wine as much as they could want. He enlists the stable boys in securing horses for him to take the queen on a private hunting excursion in the morning. Hopefully that will keep them from suspicion even after they're discovered missing.

When they're on the road the next day, he rides them hard but is careful not to overtax the horses. It's only when Lucy nudges him that he remembers she's not a Shadowhunter.]

Aye. I'm sorry. I should have thought...

[He's been so distracted with planning to run and getting as far away from Cair Paravel as the could that he hasn't been able to focus on anything else.]

[She doesn't seem to mind, but they stop in a small glen, after walking the horses for a time. Lucy might be a queen but she knows how to take care of her own horse. They're sitting, then, and she only takes a moment before she settles against him.]

Do you mind, terribly, that you will have no title?

[When Lucy settles against him, he relaxes a little, the first time since they left. One arm curled around her, he lays his cheek on top of Lucy's head and laughs softly.]

I'm not marrying you for a title, mo chridhe.

Yes, but-

You ought to have a title. I ought to take your name.

[Lucy Lovelace. It seems - strange. But comfortable.]

I know you do not marry me for the prestige, or the gold, or the titles. Or land.

[That is why she is marrying him, after all.]

[George thinks Lucy Lovelace sounds lovely.]

You may give me whatever title you wish, but I don't need one. It's enough to know you'll be my…my wife.

[A smile creeps unbidden onto his face as he says the word.]

[She beams, and reaches for him, and kisses his face.]

Your wife. Yours, yours, yours.

[She laughs a little.]

My husband.

[He laughs under her kisses.]

That's all the title I need, mo chridhe.

[She presses her fingers to his temples.]

We should not linger. The trees will be calling for me, soon.

[But she wants another kiss.]

[He kisses her, lingering despite her warning.]

And there's miles to go before we sleep, aye.

[One more kiss, and then he pulls back.]

Come on, my love.

[She gets up, back on her horse, and they ride again.

It is not so short a ride across Narnia, but they reach Telmar in only days, their exhaustion forgotten by the determination. They are not pursued, but Lucy sees the dryads whispering to each other, and she knows they are sending word back to Cair Paravel.

Lucy has never crossed the border into Telmar, but their first night there they find an inn, clean, and well priced, and Lucy thinks that it is luck beyond measure that they have found even this.

She lets George handle the arrangements as she curiously looks around, as she tucks into his side. She is not afraid, but she does not know how to act. When they head up the stairs, she whispers:]

I have never been in an inn before.

[George is wary, across the border. Relations with Telmar are friendly enough, but with Calormen an enemy, he can't forget that he is still the queen's guard. However much Lucy may be dressed like a maid, she still carries herself like a queen, and George stands out wherever he goes.

The inn seems friendly enough, but he's glad to have Lucy tucked so close against him.]

Then it'll be an extra adventure for you. And we'll have a hot meal and a bath on top of it.

[It had been a bit more for the bath, but he suspects Lucy will appreciate it after days on horseback.]

[She presses right against him, until they're in a room, and it's clean and serviceable and simple, and Lucy already finds herself very fond of it. It reminds her of homes inside of Narnia - when Lucy travels, she doesn't stay at inns because the people of Narnia, the badgers, the beavers, the folk who live in the small towns - are always happy to open their homes, and Lucy can't bear to turn such generosity down.

She looks bright, pleased.]

Are you going to help me with this bath, then?

[She's laughing, giggling, even, pleased.]

[George takes a quick moment to check the security of the room before answering with a smile.]

In the absence of your maids, I think it falls to me, yes.

[She's so pleased, he can't help laughing a little as well.]

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