Living Through You || Caspian X

Chapter 10- Boating Days

And now the purple dusk of twilight time
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart
You wandered down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by
Sometimes I wonder how I spend
The lonely night
Dreaming of a song
The melody haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you
- Stardust • Nat King Cole

It was the next day, and a sense of contentment filled the air. All of the conflicts and insecurities had been resolved, and everything seemed well. For once, everything was good.

     As everyone continued with their days, James and Lucy sat side by side on the steps. The siblings were busy as the younger adjusted her coat by hand, and the elder was fixing one of his boots. It wasn't exactly what he wanted to be doing with his day, but with tears of experience, James knew what he was doing.

     It seemed to have taken a while for Lucy and James to have quality alone time in Narnia. Their time had been very squashed and busy: this was their first real chance to relax.

     "I don't know if you..." James had said, part way through their conversation. "I'm really sorry for how... for how I reacted yesterday. You shouldn't have had to see me like that."

  "It doesn't bother me." Lucy smiled, with care.

  "But it should."

  "But it doesn't. Your my brother," she grinned. Nothing she said was insincere. That was the most confusing thing. "No matter who you are, or what you do, I'm never going to see you differently."

  The blonde shook his head, almost laughing. "You're too good."

  Before more could be said between the Pevensie siblings, there was a hearty chuckle. James looked to see Tavros guffawing at Eustace. Poor, uneducated, unfortunate Eustace. "He's talking to birds!"

  The man beside him laughed in the same way. "He's mad as a loon that one."

  "Yeah!"

     Only a short time later, James was finished sewing up his boot, and so put it on his foot. With a smile, he did a little jig. It had been quite some time since he'd had to fix a shoe; and this was thrilling.

    Glee in his eyes, the blonde Pevensie bounded over to where Caspian was, on the higher part of the ship. The King greeted him warmly, holding James as tightly as he was allowed. He breathed in the scent of the younger King, knowing that time couldn't be spent better than whenever it was spent with James.

  "Hello." Caspian spoke softly, a tender hand upon James' scarred cheek. However, this embrace quickly changed as the blonde King pushed his lips against those belonging to the Telmarine.

     There was a fury, a hunger, an undiscovered passion lying dormant. Though Caspian wished to explore it, a boat was certainly not the place. Or, if it happened to be, then certainly not in plain sight for the sailors to witness. The tender moments which transpired between James and Caspian were for them, and for them alone.

     With a certain amount of reluctance, Caspian pulled himself back. Instantly, he missed the taste of James, a familiar sweetness, but knew the time was not now.