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]

[He sits on her bed to watch.]

I'm happy to learn at any time you'll teach me. Unless you'd rather I asked your maids for lessons?

[illuminescent]

I think they would be too shocked to be of any help.

[She tugs her overdress on and starts tying up the laces of the bodice.]

[curlytop]

No doubt the giggling would cause distractions.

Come here.

[He gestures her closer.]

I think I could manage that.

[illuminescent]

[She comes over to him, and she laughs a little, smiling as she hands the ends of her laces to him.]

They already like you. They would find you completely charming.

[curlytop]

[George has tied many, many laces of several different kinds in his life. He's never taken as much care as he does with Lucy's.]

Would that all of Narnia were like your maids, he smiles at her, my love.

[illuminescent]

All of Narnia would love you, if they knew you.

[She watches him lace her up, and then watches him tie them, and she takes his hand to kiss the palm.]

[curlytop]

[George cups her cheek in his hand and bends to kiss her forehead.]

Perhaps.

[He's unconvinced, but it's hard not to judge Narnia by Calormene standards sometimes.]

Where do you want to go, majesty?

[illuminescent]

The beach?

[She beams a little.]

It would be a glorious thing. It is a beautiful day.

[curlytop]

Aye, let's go to the beach.

[He grins. The beach is one of his favorite places, mostly because it's where they went on that first night, when his whole life changed.]

[illuminescent]

[They head down, and no one looks at them twice; there is a benefit to George being hers in more ways than one, and it's that wherever Lucy goes, of course George follows. The beach is abandoned today, even thought it is a warm day, and Lucy is already tucking her skirts up into her bodice, wanting to keep it up out of the sand and the sea.

She waits a bit to dip her feet in the water, the sand rocking over her toes.]

The first time I brought you here, you looked as though you had never smiled in your life.

[curlytop]

[George peels off his boots and sighs as he wiggles his toes in the sand. He rolls his breeches up above his knees and straightens, watching Lucy a moment before he says anything.]

Before Calormen, people would say I looked as though I'd never frowned.

[Sometimes he remembers what that was like, but even his memories feel like they happened to someone else.]

[illuminescent]

Truly?

[She knows that he does not wish to go home - he has said it himself, to her - but she wonders if he would have been happier, there.

She walks a little in the frothing waves.]

I should like to imagine such a thing.

[curlytop]

Truly, my queen. I did not know so much of the world then.

[He steps into the water, letting it lap at his calves. The sea here smells like the sea at home, and it makes him feel grounded, somehow.]

I'm smiling more now, am I not?

[He smiles now, soft and affectionate.]

[illuminescent]

You are. Mostly in my company.

[She reaches a hang for him, so that he can hold her hand.]

But so many think you are gruff and unobtainable. The ladies of the court fan themselves and think how serious and devoted my guard is.

[curlytop]

I am unobtainable.

[He laughs, taking her hand.]

And serious, and devoted. The ladies of the court may fan themselves as much as they like.

[illuminescent]

Yes, they do just so. They imagine how romantic you could be.

They imagine how romantic it would be to woo you, how fierce you would be to love, and gentle.

[She beams when their hands meet.]

I am drugged by your touch. I love it so.

[curlytop]

And am I? Fierce and gentle and romantic?

[He interlaces their fingers.]

My touch is yours whenever you would command it, my queen.

[illuminescent]

You are.

But they cannot know it. They never will.

[It's Lucy's secret, Lucy's personal, private, and most intimate relationship. No one else gets to see him like this.]

[curlytop]

[George tugs her hand gently to his lips, kissing her fingertips and pressing his lips to her palm.]

No, my queen. That is all for you.

[illuminescent]

That is unfair. So much of you is only for me. What part of me is only for you?

[curlytop]

Perhaps it is, but you are a queen. Every part of you is for Narnia.

[illuminescent]

[She looks up at him, and her heart breaks just a little.]

You understand so much, and yet I still wish I could give you more.

You have given up so much for me. No marriage, no child, no privacy, no truth. I have given up so little for you.

[curlytop]

[George brushes the backs of his fingers over her cheek.]

You gave up your heart. That's everything.

[illuminescent]

Is it?

[She smiles a little, and winds their fingers together.]

I want so for you to be happy.

[curlytop]

I am happy with you.

[He smiles as well, keeping hold of her hand and splashing the water a little with his feet.]

When you smile, my heart feels lighter.