When you believe

Chapter X: "Visitors"

The lady was sitting on a bench in the stables, hands neatly folded over her lap as she waited. A basket with food and a glass bottle was by her side. She sat there perfectly still, with her back straight and her eyes set on some random spot on the wall. She was like a scuplted figure of a poised deity, serene and patient as time went by. No one was there to keep her company, not even servants were at the stables at the time.

"Cara!"

She turned around only to find an ecstatic Fevian rushing towards her. Her stoic serenity vanished in a second and genuine emotion sparkled in her eyes as she smiled warmly at the sight of him.

"I am terribly sorry to be late" the prince said apologetically.

"You are here, that is what matters" she replied with a soft voice, forgiving his lack of punctuality.

"Shall we?" Fevian smiled and offered his arm to the lady. She took it gladly and picked up the basket before they went to their horses. 

They rode and left Cair Paravel behind, heading to a small clearing they always visited when Cara was in Narnia. It was a tradition of sorts for them, a place they used to go to since they were kids. They went to play there most of the times when they were younger, but as time went by they started going to their clearing just to share a meal. Or simply to lay on the grass and talk about what they had done during those months they hadn't seen each other.

"How is life Telmar?" asked Fevian, just when they finished setting everything for the picnic. "Good, I hope."

"It is fine, I suppose" she simply said as she lowered her eyes, looking to the piece of cheese she held in her hand.

The prince's eyebrows rose, waiting for her to say more. She didn't, but continued to avoid his gaze. After so many years he knew her well enough to know there was something she wasn't telling him.

"Hey" he said softly, raising her chin up with his hand so she would look him in the eyes. "You know you can be yourself around me. With me you do not have to pretend to be the perfect lady or the perfect daughter..."

Cara smiled bitterly. When they were younger she once told Fevian about the distant relationship she had with her parents. Fevian was well aware of the way in which Lady Eilana and Lord Bazar treated their daughter. He knew of all those high expectations they always had for her and how she did what she could to meet them. Cara had to perfect all the time. She was raised to be the perfect lady, to become a perfect wife and later a perfect mother. It was all a young woman like her could aspire to become.

Lady Eilana was a quiet woman and very polite. She had the temper of the Telmarines, of course, but still she was submissive to her husband, sometimes she was merely a shadow standing next to him. In turn Lord Bazar was quite a serious man, hot-tempered and liked his word to be law. Cara had told the prince that her father had never spent much time with his family and at this point in life, she felt like the relationship she had with him was that of strangers at best. There was also the issue that he always wanted to have a son, and that was one expectation of her father that Cara just couldn't comply.

She noticed the way Fevian was looking, those dark eyes seeing past her façade. She rolled her lips, hesitating for a moment. The prince of Narnia was the one person with whom she could always speak openly, without the pressure of expectations and without judgment. That wall of propriety and ladylike poise that always stood around her dropped in a second and she showed true emotion to him: she looked sad and scared.

"My father's relationship with King Leovan is not as good as it used to be. You know how they have always been the closest of friends, right? I mean, I even grew up with Princess Riava and Princess Nalena as if they were family" she began to fiddle with one of her rings as she spoke. She abrutly let go of it and folded her hands together over her lap. 'Ladies do not fiddle with their jewels' her mother would say, so she controlled her hands.