Voyage of the Dawn Treader 5/?
Title: Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Summary: Lucy and Edmund are not the only Pevensie children to return to Narnia after all.
Characters/Pairings: Caspian/Susan; Peter, Edmund, Lucy, Eustace, etc.
Rating: K+ // PG-13
Chapter Five:
Eustace was not getting along with the crew at all.
He kept claiming that the ship was going to go under, that the ship was unsafe and much too small, that Caspian couldn’t be a King because he’d never heard of him, and that Susan and Lucy shouldn’t have such a large room to themselves because Alberta - his mother - said that doing special things for girls was actually lowering them.
Needless to say Eustace was quickly voted least favorite individual on board the Dawn Treader. Despite the fact that they had only been on board for one day, Eustace had managed to annoy everyone on board.
Susan had quickly taken up the mantle of peacemaker, soothing all of the feathers that Eustace ruffled. Caspian seemed grateful, but he had yet to speak to her. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that.
She did, however, know how she felt about her brother’s reactions to Eustace.
At the first available opportunity Susan pulled Peter into the room she and Lucy now shared.
“What is wrong with you?” she asked impatiently.
“What do you mean?” Peter asked, genuinely confused.
“About Eustace,” Susan said.
“Oh. That,” Peter said, his expression darkening. “He’s being very ungrateful.”
“He’s twelve!” Susan said. “And he’s probably never even read a fair story, much less heard one. This is a completely foreign concept to him. Don’t you remember what it was like for us the first time?”
“He hasn’t been told that he’s going to have to save all of Narnia from a tyrannical witch,” Peter said. He sighed, all of the anger going right out of him. He sat down on the small bed and looked up at Susan. “He doesn’t realize the gift he’s been given. And maybe I see it that way because we weren’t supposed to come back.”
“I understand that, I do,” Susan said. “But he was raised very differently than we were. You can’t expect him to take this as well as we did.”
“Well, we didn’t exactly take it all that well,” Peter chuckled. Susan smiled at that. “Alright. I’ll be nicer to him. But there’s only so much whining I can take.”
“All I ask is that you don’t snap at him every time he opens his mouth,” Susan said. “Well, we should get back to Eustace before someone tries to kill him.”
Little did she know how true that statement was about to become.
Day two on the ship dawned bright and clear. Caspian still hadn’t spoken to Susan and as the day progressed it seemed that he would continue in that vein.
That isn’t to say that he wasn’t looking at her. She frequently found that his eyes were on her. She frequently found that his eyes were on her, causing her to quickly look the other way to cover a very annoying blush.
Aside from Caspian’s apparent desire to stalk her, Susan decided that day two was in general a success.
Granted, she did decide this before dinner.
The crew and royals had gathered in the galley for their evening meal. The few men who were needed to remain on deck would eat later. Everything seemed to be fine until Eustace ran in, hollering about something.
“Calm down, Eustace,” Susan said. She grabbed the hand that the boy was cradling and examined it. There seemed to be small drops of blood gathering.
“That little brute has half killed me!” Eustace shouted. “I insist on it being kept under control. I could bring an action against you, Caspian. I could order you to have it destroyed.”
“What did you do to Reepicheep?” Peter asked.
“Eustace, this isn’t England,” Susan said. “You can’t do any of that.”
Reepicheep came into the galley at that point, his sword drawn. Despite the fact that he was clearly agitated he was exceedingly polite.
“I ask your pardons, all, and especially you, your Majesties,” he said, bowing to Susan and Lucy - an amusing thing to see with a drawn sword. “If I had known that he had taken refuge here I would have awaited a more reasonable time for his correction.”
Eustace had done a very Eustace-like thing up on the deck.
Reepicheep enjoyed sitting just beside the dragon figurehead, singing the song that had guided him his whole life. Eustace had seen the Mouse’s tail dangling down and grabbed it, swinging Reepicheep around and around by his tail. Everything was going according to plan until Reepicheep stabbed Eustace twice in the hand.
Eustace dropped Reepicheep and the Mouse darted about in front of Eustace, waving his rapier around.
When Reepicheep finally deduced that Eustace did not, in fact, intend to duel with him, the Mouse began to leap upon Eustace, smacking the boy with the flat of his blade. This was all, of course, very new to Eustace as his school had no corporal punishment.
The boy bolted to the assumed protection of his cousins, but was sorely disappointed to find that they intended to do nothing and actually took the idea of a duel very seriously. The boys began discussing the lending of swords and handicaps. Edmund said that Eustace should be given one because he was so much larger than Reepicheep, but Lucy pointed out that Eustace had never held a sword before. Peter and Caspian discussed whose sword the boy should use.
Only Susan seemed to see the trembling boy who still had no idea that he was not on Earth. He had been raised in another environment, one without fairy stories and fantasy. He was trying to quantify and evaluate the world he found himself in and it wasn’t working.
Only Susan could see the near terror radiating out of him and the shock that someone had actually struck him coupled with the fact that it was a mouse that had done it.
She could see the dawning realization that they were all serious. They meant for him to duel a creature one third his size that had been studying swordplay for nearly all of its life while he had never touched a sword in his own life.
Susan stepped over to him.
“You’ll have to apologize, you know,” she said quietly. “If you don’t you’ll have to fight.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Eustace mumbled. “It’s a mouse.”
“Yes, but this mouse can think for himself, Eustace. And Reepicheep will win.” She paused, letting that sink in. “Come. If you apologize I’ll look after your hand.”
<
Next>>
Summary: Lucy and Edmund are not the only Pevensie children to return to Narnia after all.
Characters/Pairings: Caspian/Susan; Peter, Edmund, Lucy, Eustace, etc.
Rating: K+ // PG-13
Chapter Five:
Eustace was not getting along with the crew at all.
He kept claiming that the ship was going to go under, that the ship was unsafe and much too small, that Caspian couldn’t be a King because he’d never heard of him, and that Susan and Lucy shouldn’t have such a large room to themselves because Alberta - his mother - said that doing special things for girls was actually lowering them.
Needless to say Eustace was quickly voted least favorite individual on board the Dawn Treader. Despite the fact that they had only been on board for one day, Eustace had managed to annoy everyone on board.
Susan had quickly taken up the mantle of peacemaker, soothing all of the feathers that Eustace ruffled. Caspian seemed grateful, but he had yet to speak to her. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about that.
She did, however, know how she felt about her brother’s reactions to Eustace.
At the first available opportunity Susan pulled Peter into the room she and Lucy now shared.
“What is wrong with you?” she asked impatiently.
“What do you mean?” Peter asked, genuinely confused.
“About Eustace,” Susan said.
“Oh. That,” Peter said, his expression darkening. “He’s being very ungrateful.”
“He’s twelve!” Susan said. “And he’s probably never even read a fair story, much less heard one. This is a completely foreign concept to him. Don’t you remember what it was like for us the first time?”
“He hasn’t been told that he’s going to have to save all of Narnia from a tyrannical witch,” Peter said. He sighed, all of the anger going right out of him. He sat down on the small bed and looked up at Susan. “He doesn’t realize the gift he’s been given. And maybe I see it that way because we weren’t supposed to come back.”
“I understand that, I do,” Susan said. “But he was raised very differently than we were. You can’t expect him to take this as well as we did.”
“Well, we didn’t exactly take it all that well,” Peter chuckled. Susan smiled at that. “Alright. I’ll be nicer to him. But there’s only so much whining I can take.”
“All I ask is that you don’t snap at him every time he opens his mouth,” Susan said. “Well, we should get back to Eustace before someone tries to kill him.”
Little did she know how true that statement was about to become.
Day two on the ship dawned bright and clear. Caspian still hadn’t spoken to Susan and as the day progressed it seemed that he would continue in that vein.
That isn’t to say that he wasn’t looking at her. She frequently found that his eyes were on her. She frequently found that his eyes were on her, causing her to quickly look the other way to cover a very annoying blush.
Aside from Caspian’s apparent desire to stalk her, Susan decided that day two was in general a success.
Granted, she did decide this before dinner.
The crew and royals had gathered in the galley for their evening meal. The few men who were needed to remain on deck would eat later. Everything seemed to be fine until Eustace ran in, hollering about something.
“Calm down, Eustace,” Susan said. She grabbed the hand that the boy was cradling and examined it. There seemed to be small drops of blood gathering.
“That little brute has half killed me!” Eustace shouted. “I insist on it being kept under control. I could bring an action against you, Caspian. I could order you to have it destroyed.”
“What did you do to Reepicheep?” Peter asked.
“Eustace, this isn’t England,” Susan said. “You can’t do any of that.”
Reepicheep came into the galley at that point, his sword drawn. Despite the fact that he was clearly agitated he was exceedingly polite.
“I ask your pardons, all, and especially you, your Majesties,” he said, bowing to Susan and Lucy - an amusing thing to see with a drawn sword. “If I had known that he had taken refuge here I would have awaited a more reasonable time for his correction.”
Eustace had done a very Eustace-like thing up on the deck.
Reepicheep enjoyed sitting just beside the dragon figurehead, singing the song that had guided him his whole life. Eustace had seen the Mouse’s tail dangling down and grabbed it, swinging Reepicheep around and around by his tail. Everything was going according to plan until Reepicheep stabbed Eustace twice in the hand.
Eustace dropped Reepicheep and the Mouse darted about in front of Eustace, waving his rapier around.
When Reepicheep finally deduced that Eustace did not, in fact, intend to duel with him, the Mouse began to leap upon Eustace, smacking the boy with the flat of his blade. This was all, of course, very new to Eustace as his school had no corporal punishment.
The boy bolted to the assumed protection of his cousins, but was sorely disappointed to find that they intended to do nothing and actually took the idea of a duel very seriously. The boys began discussing the lending of swords and handicaps. Edmund said that Eustace should be given one because he was so much larger than Reepicheep, but Lucy pointed out that Eustace had never held a sword before. Peter and Caspian discussed whose sword the boy should use.
Only Susan seemed to see the trembling boy who still had no idea that he was not on Earth. He had been raised in another environment, one without fairy stories and fantasy. He was trying to quantify and evaluate the world he found himself in and it wasn’t working.
Only Susan could see the near terror radiating out of him and the shock that someone had actually struck him coupled with the fact that it was a mouse that had done it.
She could see the dawning realization that they were all serious. They meant for him to duel a creature one third his size that had been studying swordplay for nearly all of its life while he had never touched a sword in his own life.
Susan stepped over to him.
“You’ll have to apologize, you know,” she said quietly. “If you don’t you’ll have to fight.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Eustace mumbled. “It’s a mouse.”
“Yes, but this mouse can think for himself, Eustace. And Reepicheep will win.” She paused, letting that sink in. “Come. If you apologize I’ll look after your hand.”
<
Next>>