narnia au;

[illuminescent]

how did you get here? through a wardrobe, or through death, or maybe a portal gone terribly astray. a ring. the roar of a lion. in the bottom of a cup. because you were looking for something, or missing something. no matter how you got there, this is where you belong.

Comments

[curlytop]

No, but if I smile for you here now, I may forget and smile for you another time, where he can see.

[Name of the Angel, how did he get to a place where he has to defend himself against smiling?]

[illuminescent]

Oh no.

I will not let you.

I will be most serious when he is about. I will scowl. Like this.

[She makes a terribly hilarious face, a scowl that no human would ever agree to.]

[curlytop]

[She's worse than the children in Tashbaan who make faces behind his back and scatter when he turns around. It catches him by surprise, and he snorts out a quick laugh before he can stop it.]

May you never come to Calormen, majesty. You'd put me out of a job.

[illuminescent]

[She laughs then, and claps her hands.]

Oh! I am so pleased!

[She's laughing again. His laugh is beautiful.]

You have a beautiful laugh.

[curlytop]

[He catches the laugh, but he's still smiling, if mildly. His gaze flicks back to the castle as though someone might be watching him from there.]

I haven't laughed in a very long time. Thank you.

[illuminescent]

You're welcome.

[The waves crash, and she's heading for the end of the bay. The party continues above them, but Lucy isn't going to go back right now. She doesn't want to go back, yet.]

You have accepted so much of what has been done to you.

[curlytop]

[George follows her but keeps a safe distance, close enough to protect, not so close as to be accused of anything improper.]

He didn't take me last week or anything. I fought it, at first.

[illuminescent]

Yes.

Anyone would.

[She watches him, carefully. No one would accuse him of impropriety out here, the distance he's keeping.]

And still my heart breaks.

[curlytop]

[The tarkaans are jealous of their women, and George might be a barbarian, but he's a beautiful one.]

I'm hardly the only slave in Calormen.

[illuminescent]

Yes.

I mislike it most greatly.

I have done my best to try and convince my council to place more pressure on Calormen to make it illegal, but we are a small country with little power in that regard.

[She lifts her skirts a little.]

Can you hold my elbow? I wish to wade into the ocean.

[curlytop]

[George pauses a moment, watching her, thinking about his life before Calormen, about sneaking out of a party with a girl to play in the ocean. He looks back toward the castle briefly, and he makes a decision.

Whatever reason Raziel sent him here, he is a Shadowhunter. Alone and cut off from the Clave maybe, but still a Shadowhunter. He steps forward, decisively, and takes hold of her elbow.]

Something tells me you don't need an escort to wade in the ocean.

[illuminescent]

[She laughs a little, and she lifts her skirts at she toes her shoes off, and lets the waves hit her toes.]

You are most right. I am quite capable on my own.

[She looks over at him, and maybe she's doing this on purpose.]

But I do like to have an escort. Everything is more fun with another person.

[curlytop]

[There's a faint gleam of mischief in George's eyes as he pulls off his soft leather boots to feel the wet sand beneath his bare feet. He sighs in satisfaction. The sand in Calormen is always hot, always dry.]

Fun. Is that a thing people still do?

[A tilt of his mouth upward is the only sign he's joking.]

[illuminescent]

[She's beaming now.]

Oh yes.

But it seems that they do not do it in Calormen. It is no wonder everyone in the prince's party looks so dour.

[She keeps her skirts up nice and high.]

[curlytop]

Everyone in the prince's party is worried the barbarian queen and her barbarian siblings will ensorcel [he holds up a hand and wiggles his fingers] the lot of them into talking bears.

[He rolls up the legs of his canvas breeches and steps out far enough for the waves to splash up to his knees.]

[illuminescent]

They should be so lucky to be talking bears.

[She laughs, though, at the thought of them being afraid of being turned into something like talking bears.]

You are not worried we will turn you into a speaking animal?

[curlytop]

Of course not. I'm a barbarian myself.

[A brief flash of his teeth, white in the moonlight, before his face settles back into passivity.]

And I know a bit about ensorcel...ment?

Magic.

[illuminescent]

[He's smiling. She loves it.]

I should say you're a Narnian, and we have every right to keep you.

[She turns a circle in the water.]

What do you know of magic?

[curlytop]

[George digs his toes into the sand as he watches her.]

In my home, at my school, one of my teachers was a warlock.

[What he wouldn't give to see Ms. Loss right now and have her portal him home.]

[illuminescent]

A warlock?

[Her eyebrows go up, and she starts to step out of the ocean.]

Can you use magic yourself?

[curlytop]

Oh no, not myself.

[He holds up his hands, taking a step back, in case she's had bad experiences with warlocks.]

She taught us history.

[illuminescent]

[She shakes her head.]

How fortunate for you.

George-

[She hears someone say her name, and she looks up and sees a party of Narnians coming down the beach; Edmund, Susan, and Radabash are all there as well. She comes out of the water, and looks puzzled, as Edmund comes close. Are you mad? he asks, and Lucy starts a fight, tight and close to Edmund, about how she was fine, of course she was. Susan is pulling in, and Lucy is being scolded now, as though she's a child, and she is not.

We do not know him, Susan says, and Lucy argues that she is fine, and she can feel herself losing George's attention, she can sense his fear, and she hates it as they go back.

Suddenly she is terribly afraid for him.

The party ends with everyone coming back up to the castle, with the last dances early in the morning, with Edmund practically sitting on top of Lucy to make sure she behaves, and Lucy distracted and unhappy about the entire affair.

It is after, after her maid helps her out of the dress and after everyone is asleep, Lucy goes to try and find where George might be, a minotaur with her. He's there outside of Radabash's apartments.]

George-

[She looks up at the minotaur.]

You can stay here while we speak?

[The minotaur nods, agreeable enough.] His ears are swiveling in case someone comes by.]

[curlytop]

[George could kick himself for getting so caught up in the moment, in how easy it was just to talk to Lucy, to smile and joke. By the time he sees the party coming, the damage is done. He races for his boots, pulling them on and yanking the legs of his breeches down.

Rabadash is livid, George can see, but the prince doesn't dare beat any of his retinue here in the palace. He's courting Queen Susan the Gentle, so there can be no obvious violence here. Threats are made, of course, and George worries for whomever it is Rabadash decides to take it out on once they're back in Calormen, but he has no worse than a few bruises, tucked away under his leather breastplate where they will not be noticed.

The threat is castration, the same as it was the first time George had smiled at a girl in Tashbaan. George is far more valuable in tact, no one takes a eunuch warrior seriously, but if he destroys his value by filling the young queen's pot with his slave's seed then Rabadash will have no choice.

George has never figured out what he's supposed to do when royalty asks him to accompany them alone. He's not allowed to say no, but he's punished for saying yes.

When Lucy finds him, his face his schooled back into its fierce expression, and he holds his arms crossed over his chest.]

My master would prefer it if I did not speak to you, your majesty.

[illuminescent]

Your master is ten kinds of fool.

[Lucy is scowling now. She couldn’t say exactly why this matters so much to her, except that it does. This serious young man deserves more than his lot. And Lucy is young, but she has the power to change it.

The minotaur snorts in agreement.]

He thinks to endear himself to my sister by feigning protection of my virtue. He mistakes me for someone who is overly concerned with reputation.

But no matter.

Do you wish to be free?

[curlytop]

[George snorts right along with the minotaur.

He looks Lucy over seriously, taking in her size, her determination, remembering her laughing in the ocean. The question isn't really whether he wants to be free. Every slave in Calormen wishes to be free. The question is whether he thinks Lucy can give him that freedom.

He nods.]

I do, but I would swear myself into your service if you asked it of me.