[AU] bright is the morning

[sai_delgado]

There are days, say true, when restlessness runs deep in her blood. If she were to be at home, it's at times like these when she'd saddle one of her da's horses and take a long ride on the Drop, oh aye, but here at the end of the worlds it's not to be.

Instead, Susan Delgado rises with the sun and comes to the stables that are her charge, to care for the horses and other creatures there, and tells herself it's enough and more then.

(Mayhap it is, and mayhap it isn't. Ka's a fickle thing, say true.)

Comments

[the_seafarer]

When Caspian arrives, the sun has lifted well above the horizon, and he brings with him the scent of fresh air and lakewater. He's already been out on the Hope, out beneath the calm dawn, and he looks it: refreshed and relaxed and just a little windblown.

He whistles to himself as he comes into the stables, and draws a small paper bag of apple chunks from his pocket as he does, going first to Corella, her golden head and dark eyes watching him with interest. "There, my lady," he tells her, and offers out a piece of the fruit.

"And a fair morning to you."

[sai_delgado]

Laughter floats from the other end of the stables, where Susan's busy grooming Ravenscourt the thestral, wiping him down with soft cloths and making sure he knows he's cared for.

"Ye treat her well indeed, Caspian, say true," she calls. "Ye'll spoil her, I wot."

[the_seafarer]

"And so what if I do?" Caspian laughs, running his hand along Corella's neck beneath her mane. "A lady like her, why shouldn't I?"

He digs in his other pocket and strolls down through the stables to where she's working with Ravenscourt, and holds out his hand, sea-gray eyes sparkling as he uncurls his fingers to reveal a whole fresh russet apple, all for her.

"Don't worry, Su. I wouldn't forget you. Here, let me take over with him; have a little breakfast."

[sai_delgado]

She beams at him, delighted and surprised all at once. "Why, Caspian! That's kind of ye indeed, it is, and I'm not ashamed to accept. Thank'ee for it."

Susan takes the apple from his hand, her fingers brushing lightly against his palm, and passes the cloth over to him as Ravenscourt snorts. "Hush now, ye silly," she scolds the thestral, although there's fondness in it to be sure. "Ye'll not go wanting."

[the_seafarer]

It lifts his heart to see her smile so, to hear the warmth and delight in her voice. Susan, the bright and shining; Susan the golden – he'd fain see this than the grim sorrow or worry that has been dogging at her footsteps since she returned.

"He'll not," Caspian promises, and takes over, running the cloth in long firm strokes over Ravenscourt's coat, humming to himself as he does.

[sai_delgado]

She finds herself a seat on a hay bale and takes a bite of the apple with a sharp crunch.

"Some people are afeared of him," she observes. "A pity it is, and not his fault at all."

[the_seafarer]

"They fear what he means, I expect."

Caspian runs the cloth over the thestral's withers and back. "And you have to admit he looks rather alarming."

Coming back along the thestral's body, he strokes his hand over Ravenscourt's long, bony nose. "But he can't help that. Can you, my friend?" he asks, and the thestral snorts and noses at him. Caspian grins and smiles over his shoulder at Susan. "Not all of us have looks that so match our hearts," he tells her, a hint of courtly flattery behind the words.

[sai_delgado]

She tosses her head and beams a bright smile at him. "Oh aye, and ye'll not have to worry about that yerself, as handsome as you are," she teases. "Nor should he, for his looks are right for himself as 'tis, and fond enough of him we are as he is for it."

[the_seafarer]

"Would I argue with thee, lady?" he laughs, though his chest tightens pleasantly at her words, a queer tug deep past his breastbone familiar from the night they sat here and he'd taken her hand.

He has argued with her, of course, and will again, but if he can play the jester now, win her smiles and her laughter with his mischief, he'll do all that he can. "There is nothing so terrifying about you, old fellow," he tells the thestral.

It can't be easy, being a death omen.

[sai_delgado]

"Aye, an' ye would," she tosses back, amused and smiling. Susan slides to her feet, apple core in hand, and comes to stand by Caspian, where she offers the core on her palm to the thestral. "Now I know ye're fonder of meat than aught else," she coaxes, "but this'll do ye no harm and be nice besides."

[the_seafarer]

"Slander," he tells Ravenscourt, who doesn't care and who sniffs at the apple with faint disdain.

"And me a poor honest stable boy – "

[sai_delgado]

She nudges at him with her shoulder, laughter in her smile and her glance both as she gives him a coy sideways look.

"For shame," she scolds. "And who's to say a stable boy couldn't argue, hm?"

[the_seafarer]

She's as bright and sweet as a daisy and her hair gleams in the morning light that seeps into the stable, and Caspian, looking down at her, can't help but smile back.

"Not this one," he teases, deliberately not arguing back, and unhitches one of the leads from Ravenscourt's halter. "Shall we turn them out, Su? It's a fine morning."

[sai_delgado]

"We should, at that," she agrees. Susan takes the rejected apple core and goes to feed it to Kiseki, who's not so picky as Ravenscourt. "They could do with all the good weather they can get, as we head into the fall and the winter beyond."

A shiver runs through her at the very thought of it, and she pushes it away firmly.

[the_seafarer]

Without thinking, he puts his hand, warm and gentle, on her back at that shiver.

(Always winter.)

"That reminds me," he says, easily, when he lifts his hand away again. "I'll need to haul the Hope out soon and bed her down for the cold months."

The lake never freezes over, but it'll soon be too raw and cold for him to sail without being bundled up to the point of discomfort.

[sai_delgado]

A hint of surprise runs through her at the touch, but it's a comfort all the same and far from unwelcome, and she leans into it.

"Will'ee need help settling her? I ken more about horses, of courses," she smiles, teasing him with the old joke, "but I'm willing to help if there's aught ye need, Caspian, say true."

[the_seafarer]

"You needn't know much to help with this," he says, smiling at her. "I'll pull her ashore and mayhap you could help me with the sails and mast and rudder and such."

He slaps Ravenscourt's shoulder fondly. "Would that we had any draft or cart horses in amongst this lot," he adds, amused. "It would make hauling her up off the beach a sight easier."

[sai_delgado]

"I could try to convince Boukephalos," she says, albeit a little doubtfully. "And mayhap Tequila, too."

[the_seafarer]

"Good God," Caspian says, taking down the other lead and beginning to walk Ravenscourt out towards the entrance of the stable, "if Boukephalos got it into his head, he'd drag my poor boat all over creation – or stomp it into splinters."

He looks thoughtfully at the other horses. "Corella's pulled a cart before," he says. "Could be she and Tequila could manage it."

[sai_delgado]

"Mayhap, but he's a good horse," Susan tells him. "But aye, Corella'd be a help, I wot."

She goes to the near end of the stalls to retrieve Moondancer. The routine's familiar enough, and after much maneuvering they've found a good balance between which horses should be in which stalls next to each other.

"And Mal's Tequila's a solid one. Steadfast, unless ye touch his scars."

[the_seafarer]

The thestral prefers his stall over the sunlit paddocks; Caspian leads him to it and goes to find his breakfast, wrinkling his nose at the coppery scent of the raw meat. "Aye. Tequila's a stout lad."

He's thinking now as he works, mulling the question over. "If I built a small cart to put her on," he muses, "with wheels. That would make it easier on the horses."

[sai_delgado]

"Where are ye thinking to winter her?" she asks. "That empty stall? That'd work well, I'd wager."

Hopefully Caspian knows he's welcome to it, but if not, she'll make sure of it.

[the_seafarer]

The glance he gives her is pleased and a little surprised. "If you think we'll not need it," he says, but casts a critical eye over the stall in question.

"I'd far sooner have her here, where it's dry."

[sai_delgado]

"Then here she'll be, and welcome," Susan says, stoutly and with certainty.

[the_seafarer]

Caspian's smile is as quick and warm as a flash of summer sunlight over shifting water.

"You're a treasure, Su," he tells her. "I'll take your offer and gladly."

A thought hits him, and he chuckles. "At least she'll not need feed or care while she winters here."