InsaneJournal

Caspian hadn't gotten a particularly good look at who he was offering a seat to, as he'd been far more preoccupied with his food, but when he did, it was a struggle to keep his eyeballs in his skull. He'd seen a lot of things in his day, but never a woman dressed as this one was, with so little covering her, and seemingly no worry about it at all. But still, the effect was quite beautiful, and he couldn't help but blink at her a couple of times before he could get his brain and his mouth to connect again.

"I know a few that might amuse you," he admitted with a grin, moving around the table and scooting the bench opposite his out a bit, offering his hand to help her into her seat. Ogling her or not (which he was really trying to stop doing) he had still been raised to be a gentleman.

Once she was seated, he returned to his own bit of bench and smiled. "I am Caspian," he started out. Might as well get the formalities out of the way before he regaled her with his life and the tales of his homeland.

He kissed it, as was custom, just brushing his lips across her knuckles before releasing her hand and picking up his goblet, taking a sip, as apparently he was going to be doing a great deal of talking. "It's lovely to meet you as well, Miss Gabrielle." He laughed lightly at her question and shrugged. "I never thought to ask," he admitted. "I'm the last in a long line of Caspian's. The tenth, as it were."

"Let's see, a story..." he mused, wondering which to tell her. There were so many, after all. Perhaps one that didn't involve himself, so that he wouldn't come off as pompous and arrogant. He chewed on a grape as he thought and then nodded.

"A thousand years before my land was as I knew it, Narnia was under the control of a White Witch," he started. "Aslan, the Son of the Emperor Over the Sea, brought four children from another land, to right the winter that had plagued our land for over a hundred years. Their names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, and though they were siblings, they were as different as any could hope to find." He smiled fondly, distantly, as he thought of his friends, and took another sip of water.

"With the help of the talking animals and spirits of Narnia, a great battle was waged, with the children at the spear point, and, with the help of Aslan, they restored Narnia to the land of peace and prosperity that it had once been. For years after, the four Pevensies ruled over the kingdom as kings and queens, until they disappeared, quite suddenly and without warning, leaving my land and returning to their own."

"Yes, that's where I'm from. Though my ancestors were from Telemarine, and from there, the same world that the Pevenies came from," he shrugged. "Time in my world moves differently than others. For the Pevensies, the time between their first visit and their second was thousands of years to their one, but when Edmund and Lucy came back a third time, it had only been three years for me." Confusing, yes, but it worked.

He went back to eating while she spoke, and smiled at the end of it. "The Greeks were very smart soldiers," he said, clearly impressed. He wondered if there'd ever come a time for him to use that trick. Not likely, but it was still something to keep in mind. "That might have been useful in the battle to regain the throne from my uncle, now that I think about it," he mused.

"When I was only a couple of years younger than I appear now, my uncle, Miraz, was the Lord Protector of Narnia, until I was old enough to take the throne," he explained. "At least, that's what he wanted everyone to think. Then he had a son of his own, and his plans changed. I was warned by my tutor, and managed to escape before he had me killed, and I disappeared into the forests, where I found a few of the remnants of Old Narnia - the talking beasts and such that I told you about - that had almost entirely been wiped out by my ancestors."

"The Pevensies returned, and with their help, and quite another epic battle, they and Aslan regained me my throne." He smiled a bit and shook his head. "I still think that I was too young to rule, but I did it anyway, for fifty years, until my death," he shrugged. "And then I ended up here."

Caspian nodded at her recap and smiled. "I lived it and I'm not entirely sure how it works," he shrugged, giving a little laugh. He sobered when she did, though, and nodded. "Battle is generally so needless, even when there is no other course of action," he sighed. "I was never much of a fighter." Alright, that wasn't entirely true. It might have been better said that he didn't particularly enjoy the fighting that he did do, but for Caspian, it was much the same. His heart wasn't in it, so he didn't consider himself very good at it.

It didn't matter. Caspian laughed at her opinion and shook his head, waving off her apology. "I said the same thing," he assured her. "But apparently the fact that I did not feel ready to rule meant that I was," he shrugged. "Something along the lines of my ego not getting in the way, I'd assume." Which really, made sense. He could have very easily turned into a ruler like his uncle had been, but his hesitation kept him from being a tyrant. "I still would have gladly passed it off to someone else, but my father, and any of his friends that would have taken my part, were long gone. Either killed by my uncle or sent far across the sea." He smiled fondly. "I found most of them, later in my rule. That was a fun trip."

Caspian swallowed a piece of cheese he'd popped into his mouth and nodded. "Just Caspian, please, and yes. Dwarves, centaurs, naiads, dryads, common animals of every sort you could imagine, fauns and satyrs...And all sorts of not so nice things as well...One of my most loyal friends was a badger, and another a mouse," he smiled. "Reepicheep stood about this high," he said, holding his hand about three feet off the ground. "And was as brave as a lion," he laughed. "You'd not find a more valiant-hearted warrior in all of Narnia, I assure you."

Caspian nodded. The lords he'd gone in search of hadn't been his friends at the time, but one or two of them did become so after finding them and proving who he was, in word and deed. But still..."You're right, Lady Gabrielle. Without my friends, I truly would be nothing." As a matter of fact, he'd be dead, a lot earlier than his rather natural death as an old man.

"A princess?" he asked, wondering why she hadn't said something sooner. Caspian felt remiss in his duties, but to try and make up for it now would be too little too late. He'd just have to remember in the future. "Tell me about your land, and of the Amazons?" he asked with a polite smile, interested in anything that could have created such a lovely woman as Gabrielle.

"My friends from the other world said the same. Animals don't speak there. But in Narnia, they have spoken since the moment of creation. There are beasts that have gone native now, that have reverted back to their natural ways and are completely wild, but most..." he smiled. "Most speak. And far more intelligently than most humans."

"You would love it," Caspian assured her with a nod. "And were it possible, I would no doubt take you there, m'lady. But I cannot return, even if we find our freedom from this land. In Narnia, I would be nothing but a ghost."

Caspian listened to her story, leaning his forearms on the edge of the table and shifting toward her slightly, his posture indicating extreme attentiveness. "I believe the Narnians and the Amazonians would have quite a good deal in common, were they to meet," he said with a decided nod. After all, his people had been oppressed and all but wiped out at one point.

"I don't know of any here," Caspian laughed lightly, "But if I run into one, I'll be certain to let you know." He thought about her question and smiled. "Some are just as you would expect, I'd imagine, and some would take you greatly by surprise. They are - well now - accepted citizens of the land, and they maintain homes and trades just like the Telemarines do," he shrugged. "I'm not sure that their viewpoints are much different from our own, though there are always a few that view themselves a great deal higher in class than the rest. In truth, I'm so accustomed to them that I don't even notice anymore. Though it was a great shock the first time an animal spoke to me," he laughed at the memory. "They were all in hiding for a very long time prior to that."

Caspian nodded. "A ghost. Perhaps in the other world as well, though I'm not certain. I died there, of a blissfully old age, and so to return...I wouldn't exist. But here..." He reached out and brushed his fingers against her own. "I'm very much alive."

Caspian sighed. This was going to apparently take some explaining, and even he didn't really know how it worked, only that it did. With his free hand, he popped another piece of fruit in his mouth in order to give himself a moment to think, and then sighed.

"I was born sixty-six years ago," he told her softly, as if lowering his voice would somehow lessen the blow that that information carried. "I grew up, I became King, I travelled, I married, and I had a son. I lost, I gained, and I lived. A full life. Then I died. Right after my death, I was brought to a bridge between worlds, and Aslan brought me back to life, restoring me to the form that my friend Eustace - who was there at that time - knew best, as he'd known me as a young man," he said, gesturing to himself. We had one last battle together," Caspian said with a little smirk and a shake of his head. Some battle. "And then I was meant - I believe - to go to Aslan's Country, your Heaven, I suppose," he said, remembering a term used by the Pevensies once. "But I ended up here instead. But in my land, I died, and I assume there was a funeral and the like. So there, I would be a ghost," he shrugged.

"I think so," Caspian nodded in response to her question, nudging his plate just a half an inch to the side, indicating that he was done, knowing that a goblin would be around before long. "At least, that's the way it was made to sound when explained to me."

"Actually," he chuckled. "Lucy, the little girl from the stories? Apparently she wrote down some of the adventures we had," he shrugged. "At least that is what I was told at the ball. A young lady there knew my land because of it and, I believe, who I am, though she was attempting to be discrete."

Caspian frowned and picked at a rough spot on the table with his free hand. He hadn't thought about that, and he didn't like the idea much. Sure, he was adjusting quite well to this new place, but eventually, wouldn't he want to move on? And where would he go if Aslan couldn't even stop having Caspian ripped from His side? "I suppose it matters what sort of life I am able to build here," he said after a moment. "But I've been given a chance to restart mine. I'm not about to squander it."

"The Elysian Fields? Tartarus?" Caspian repeated, clearly never having heard of either of those places, if the confused look on his face was any indication. "What are those places like?" he asked, interested.

He smiled a bit at her enthusiasm over the possibility of the books, and shrugged slightly. "It would be worth a shot," he admitted. "Lucy Pevensie is her name, though I don't know, she may have married before writing them," he shrugged. "Miss Hermione said something about The Chronicles of Narnia, so that may help you in your search." For himself, he didn't particularly want to read them, even through the eyes of a child. Living the events once had been enough.

Caspian nodded and reached out to squeeze her fingers a bit in thanks for the comforting thought. "Well, if this is a chance to start over, perhaps a walk is the best way to begin?" he offered, noting that neither of them were eating any more. Standing up, Caspian offered his hand and a smile. "Would you like to take one, m'lady?"

Caspian listened to her, his eyes widening a bit, but otherwise, he took it all in stride as best as he could. "I hope that you end up in the Elysian Fields then," he offered with a smile.

When she took his hand, he lifted her to her feet and then turned his hand under hers so that her fingers were laying along his own, escorting her properly. He was finding that the longer they talked, and the more she graced him with her sunny smile and cheerful disposition, that he liked her all the more.

Which, lead him to ask a rather embarrassing question that made Caspian feel as if he were really the age he represented physically. "Are you spoken for, Gabrielle?" he asked in a quiet, serious voice, watching her face for any sign of offense.

Caspian smiled softly. "I find when we're at our lowest, there's always someone to vouch for our worth," he offered kindly, putting a finger under her chin, tilting her head up so that he could smile down at her. "Everyone has their demons, m'lady, but I think that overcoming them weighs a lot more heavily than the demons themselves."

"I'm sorry for your loss," he said with a sad shake of his own head, mirrored pain evident in his very posture. "My wife was taken, years ago," he said with a little nod. "It's not something that you move on from easily."

Something in her tone told Caspian that perhaps it was better let go. "Well, far be it for me to break up such a wonderful friendship," he smiled. "Tell me of her? What sorts of things to do the pair of you do together?"

"Thank you," he said quietly. "She was the daughter of a star, and was bitten by Jadis, disguised as a snake," he said with a shake of his head. "There was nothing any of us could do. My son sought to kill the creature, to avenge his mother, but he was taken...gone for many years." Surprisingly, he was smiling. "An old friend of mine found him, and brought him home to me. I had just moments with him before I died, but I truly died happy."

Smiling then, Caspian lead Gabrielle through the faire grounds, looking at things idly while she talked, raising his eyebrows about this supposed God of War character. He'd never heard of him, but clearly, he'd never experienced a great deal of things that seemed commonplace to others. Even the electric lights in this place were a mystery to him.

"She sounds very impressive," he praised with a little grin and a nod. "There were few women of such ability in Narnia, but the ones that would take up the mantle of a soldier, to me, were the ones most worthy of fear and respect."

Caspian hummed for a moment, trying to decide what to tell her. "There are a great many lush forests, clear streams and rivers, tiny towns and magnificent castles..." he smiled. "The trees dance, wading through the soil like a child wades through water. There are festivals and forest dances under the moon, births, deaths, and everything in between." He smiled fondly. "It's a good place, a happy place. And it didn't used to be."

Caspian looked at her sympathetically, but decided to let the subject drop. After all, what was in the past was in the past, and it didn't make the present any brighter to dwell on fading pain. Or not so fading, as the case might be.

"Susan and Lucy?" Caspian asked with a laugh. "No. Susan had considerable skill with a bow, but even then, Peter - the High King and her brother - and I kept her away from the vast majority of the fighting. And Lucy..." Caspian smiled and shook his head slowly, fondly thinking of the little girl. "She was a child. We all were, but her especially. She was our light, in a great many ways. The most faithful, the most sure. She kept the darkness out. And there was so much of it."

"So do I. But without it, Narnia would have never been restored, I can promise you that," he said, shaking his head and frowning a bit. The necessity of war bothered him, even though - or maybe because - he'd been raised for so long to be the leader of an army, not the ruler of a land. "Still, there is peace now, and we remember the darker days and vow to never repeat them."

Following the graceful line of her finger toward the dancers with his eyes, Caspian smiled softly, watching them for a moment. "That's not unlike a favourite dance in the Lone Islands," he finally said with a barked laugh.

"M'lady," he bowed with a little smile playing over his lips, and then took her hand in his, the other going to her waist, bounding over to join the dancers in their circle.

Caspian supposed that, talking animals aside, his world wasn't too far unlike the worlds that lay outside it. People still loved music, they still liked dancing, and any excuse to be in close quarters with a pretty lady was one to be taken up willingly.

She was a good dancer, and true to her word, she picked up the steps quickly. Caspian grinned as they moved around with the other dancers, switching partners as the turns called for it, and always coming back to Gabrielle with a genuine happiness to see her.

Finally, the dance ended, and Caspian twirled her one more time before bringing her back in against his chest, smiling. "Well that was a time! You're a very graceful dancer, m'lady," he praised, dropping one hand from her waist and turning the other in his, linking their fingers as he lead her over to a refreshment table. He got them both some water from the pitchers provided, and toasted her silently before taking a sip of his. "Anything else you'd like to do?" he asked, looking around.

Caspian laughed and nodded, taking another sip of his water before he spoke. "I know exactly what you mean," he admitted. "When I was younger, it was one fight after another. And then being king..." he trailed off and shook his head, running a hand through his long black hair, letting out a sigh. "One audience after another. Treaties to plan, wars to fight, messengers to send and see..." Part of him was glad it was all over and done with. It made him tired just thinking about it.

"You know...there is something," he admitted, and then set down his glass and waited for her to finish with her own. Then he lead her away from the stands and the lessons, away from the hustle and the bustle.

Taking off his cloak, Caspian spread it out on the grass and then sat down, extending a hand to help her if she needed it before laying back and closing his eyes. "I haven't had time to just lay in the sun since I was...fourteen years old," he said with a quiet little chuckle. "I used to fall asleep in the castle gardens and not wake up until the sun drew shadows against the turrets."

He liked that she thought so, and his smile said that without him having to, as Caspian thought it might be a bit egotistical, to admit just how much her praise pleased him. Laying there in the sun, with Gabrielle at his side, was the best thing he'd done all day, and Caspian kept his eyes closed, listening to her speak, trying to picture the things she was - and had been - speaking of.

"No, just myself," he said with a small shake of his head. "My mother died bringing me into the world, and my father was murdered not long after," he explained. "I would have liked to have had siblings, life was rather lonely as a child." He smiled faintly, remembering the days when he'd tried to make the castle animals speak to him, just so he could have a friend.

Opening one eye, Caspian found Gabrielle's hand and lifted it to his chest, idly playing with her fingers, investigating the shape of them with his rather rough ones. "What sort of things did you do as a child?" he asked quietly, his eyes closed again and a little yawn tapering off the end of the question.

Caspian smiled softly. "I think, that if we had been children together, I would have tugged your curls," he admitted. Then he smirked a bit. "And then beat up any other lad that so much as tried."

He listened to her, and despite the fact that he felt it was unendingly rude, started to drift due to the sound of her voice alone. She had a very soothing presence, after all, and he'd had his fair share of anxious nights of late. He was a tired young man.

"What sort of books?" he asked sleepily, and before she was done answering that question, no doubt, Caspian would be fast asleep.