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song: the night we met ~ lord huron
Peter shoved the oar onto Edmund's lap for what seemed like the third time in the past few minutes, wringing out his hands with a grimace painted over his features. Trumpkin had the bright idea to use the same boat he'd just been tossed off of to take the river down to the How. Well, to be fair...he hadn't actually wanted to go at all, muttering something about the kings and queens of old being not very old at all.
"Yer just babies," he'd grumbled. "What can you do about the Telmarines?"
"I'm the same age as them." I sighed, ignoring the fact that not a single one of the other present parties knew who or what the Telmarines really were.
Trumpkin clicked his tongue. "Not true. You're older than everyone here put together, at least."
"They'll help more than you know, Trumpkin. You trust me and I trust them. Besides, Caspian's looking for them."
So there we were, crammed into the slightly-too-small canoe the guards had gifted us, rowing down Glasswater and listening to Lucy pester Trumpkin with questions about what had happened to Narnia.
As grumpy as he always ways, I was beyond glad to let him do all of the talking. The time between all of us stretched so far I could barely see the end, and I just couldn't seem to find anywhere to start. How is one supposed to explain the grieving process of your fianceé and family, the invasion of your world, aging 3,000 years, and the rise of a new king over a nice afternoon boat trip?
You don't.
Edmund huffed. "If you need me to row, Peter, you can just ask." His older brother picked the oar back up forcefully and sliced it through the water.
"I'm doing fine on my own, thanks." That was something about High King Peter hadn't changed: his overwhelming sense of toxic responsibility.
Susan and Edmund laughed silently over their brother's obvious distress, and Edmund caught my eye. Surprisingly, I found myself looking away, toward the water. My cheeks were burning, and I could feel his eyes on the back of my neck.
This makes me want to tear my hair out.
Seeing him again was more than I could've ever wanted, something I'd tried to stop hoping for, the one thing that'd been keeping me going all of these lifetimes, but now...it almost felt... Anticlimactic?
He cleared his throat, shifting a bit closer to me. "So...how've you been?"
I let my eyes close for just a second, the darkness behind them cooling me down. Why was one question so infuriating? It was simple, but that didn't mean I had any idea how to answer it. I'd imagined this moment over and over again in my head, but now that he was finally home, I had absolutely no idea what to say to him. Seeing him brought back so many memories, but it felt like we were strangers.
