(no subject)

[treading_dawn]

The night is cool and clear, stars twinkling above, reflected cleanly in the lake below.

And in that soft light there is another light, brighter, if more contained.

The Lion is here, pacing out of the forest.

There is something solemn about him tonight.

Solemn, and perhaps a little sad.

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[the_seafarer]

"I have heard, Sir."

Quietly.

"Nothing is lost. I learned that the day I awoke on the mountainside, when you bled for me."

He hangs his head, a little.

"You are right. I am sorry, Aslan."

[treading_dawn]

"There need be no sorry between us, not in this, child."

His breath is sweet, and warm, voice rumbling deep in his chest.

"It is a hard road you walk, Caspian, and it may yet be a long one. But I will walk it with you, and it is not only children that may ride on my back when they are weary."

[the_seafarer]

"I used to be so angry," Caspian admits. "When Peter and Susan and Edmund and Lucy had to leave. I wanted them to stay. And I wanted to go with them. It was impossible. I thought it wasn't fair--I wanted them to be stay so much."

He takes a deep breath, and when he stands, the king is barely taller than the Lion. The moonlight touches on rough golden mane and on wild golden hair, and Caspian's forehead gleams for a moment as if there were a crown set there.

"They never really left, did they. Like you."

[treading_dawn]

"To be King or Queen in Narnia is to be King and Queen for always. And yet it would have been the same had they been only ordinary men and women."

He watches the King, and he sees the crown, and even in the moonlight the Lion shines with his own brightness, warm as the sun.

"I tell you this now so that you will remember it, as your heart remembers things that your mind does not."

[the_seafarer]

"I won't leave her again."

It's certain, and quiet, and it's a promise.

"And I'll remember."

[treading_dawn]

"You will."

Aslan's voice is quiet but deep, like the tolling of a great bell.

His words are less promise than truth.

No one is forgotten in Aslan's country, or in the country of the Emperor Over the Sea.

[the_seafarer]

Caspian nods, and he holds himself a little straighter, and his eyes look a little older.

"I'm ready."

[treading_dawn]

"It is well. But walk with me a while longer."

Aslan's mane brushes against Caspian as he passes, tailtip flicking gently at the king's arm.

"Some nights are not meant for solitude."