Narnian Princess - Caspian

Chapter 12

After waking up from a horrible nightmare, Caspian found himself walking through his ship. The young king knew that he wouldn't be getting any more sleep that night, so he had sent the sailor on watch to get a few hours of rest.

He sighed, raking a hand through his hair and rubbing his eyes tiredly. Everyone on board was tired nowadays, it was impossible to have a restful sleep. Nightmares where getting worse all around and more than a handful of sleepwalkers had been dangerously close to falling overboard, that's the reason why sailors patrolled the ship every night.

As he walked, the king thought about his father. Both his parents, in fact. They seemed to be the protagonists in most, if not all, of his nightmares. Caspian wanted to think that they'd be proud, that they'd think he'd done good. But his nightmares had been amplifying the insecurities he had.

The young king smiled as he thought of a conversation he had a few days prior.

He was looking out at the sky with Diana, it was a beautiful sunset that night. Caspian wasn't sure why, but he felt so comfortable around her, as if he didn't always have to have his walls up.

"-Lucy and I met. It wasn't long before I knew Edmund too."

"School sounds different here than where you all are from."

The girl only chuckled, "Everything is different here than where we are from."

"Yes, I suppose so." And Caspian couldn't help but wonder how his life might have been different if he was not a king of Narnia but a normal boy.

Diana looked at boy beside her, she had noticed the dark bags under his eyes a few days before, but that day he didn't only look tired but sad as well. "What's wrong?"

Shaking his head slightly, the young king looked at Diana. "Nothing. I'm okay."

"Caspian," Diana said gently, a hand on his shoulder, "You can talk to me."

For a moment, the young king remained silent. He wasn't sure how to explain to her what he was feeling. The girl leaned her head on his shoulder, "You don't have to tell me, but if you ever need to talk to someone, I'm here for you."

Caspian put an arm around her shoulder. In the short while he had know her, Diana had become a very important person in his life. He definitely considered her a close friend, just like Edmund or Lucy.

"It's just the nightmares."

The girl nodded, "You know the nightmares have been feeding off of insecurities and regrets, right?"

He nodded and Diana continued, "Whatever is out here is playing with our heads, using our weak spots against us. Don't let it get to you, Caspian. And I know that really is a lot easier said than done, but just know that the nightmares you are having have to intent to drive you mad."

"What if there's some truth in them?"

Diana thought about his question for a moment, finally she shrugged. "There might be, but like you said, some truth not the whole truth."

Neither had said much after that, and even though her answer hadn't been what he expected, it comforted him nonetheless. That was one thing Caspian liked about Diana, she was honest. Like the rest of the crew on the Dawn Treader, she said what she thought, and not only told Caspian what she thought he wanted to hear just because he was the king.

He hadn't been walking long, but it had helped him clear his head. The memory of the nightmare was fading and his heart rate had finally slowed down.