In Stone

16: "Hello again, Caspian."

16: “Hello again, Caspian.”

Caia didn't own a black dress. She didn't like wearing black, personally seeing the color as depressing and boring. She also didn't own any outfit that wasn't a dress. She liked dresses best, enjoying the way that they fluttered around her legs and how pretty they were.

Because of that, she couldn't dress up for the occasion, though she dearly wanted to. Instead, she had to wear one of her bright sundresses colored purple, blue, and silver which was the closest she had to black. In terms of being understated, it was not. Especially not when she added her waist chain and a pair of purple mary-janes with big white bows across the top.

Caspian had sent her dark looks as she fluttered around her house wearing it. She had even put on make up and tied back her hair with a purple bow and flower. It wasn't dark or camouflaged at all, but it was the best she had.

She modeled for Caspian, but he only stared hard at her, his arms crossed. “You might as well take that off, because you're not going.”

Caia giggled and twirled around to make the skirt flare out. “Of course I am. You're not going by yourself. You may as well eat now because we're not stopping on the way there and you'll need your strength. I can make something.”

“I told you after whatever you made last night that you're never cooking again. I think that's actually the first time that I ever had food poisoning.”

“Oh, it wasn't that bad,” Caia laughed. “You barely threw up at all.”

That was more of a force of will than his stomach not rolling around violently in his gut, protesting whatever it was that she had fed him. He couldn't even recognize it. It had been a strange colored mass of...something in a bowl. It wasn't quite solid, but it wasn't quite liquid, and the resulting bite that he had taken had been nauseating.

She was dancing in place now, completely oblivious to the destructive power of her cooking. She had eaten more than a few bites before Caspian had managed to take it from her and pour it in the garbage outside. He had fixed them something bland and easy on the stomach, which had helped him but Caia had frowned at the loss of her witch's brew.

Caspian stood up and grabbed her shoulders to force her to remain in place. “You can take me down there, but you're not going in.”

“As I am the only way you can get down there, I would like to point out that I get to decide if I have fun tonight too.”

“It's not fun,” Caspian snarled through clenched teeth. They had been having this argument ever since she had announced her decision to follow him to Rowan.

Caia's next day off after their day at the carnival was three days later. The morning after their date, she had declared that she had decided to go with him to avenge his parents. She had had a dream, she told him with a smile, and now she wanted to do it with him.

It was nonsensical logic, it went against her previous beliefs and ideals, and it might very well be dangerous. Caspian couldn't allow her to put herself into harms way for so stupid a reason. He didn't know how Rowan would react to seeing him again. He was scared that he would find himself turned back into a statue.

His plan for this encounter was to fight Rowan without actually touching her. He had to run her through with his sword, which he was cleaning before leaving, without letting her get near him. She could turn him back into a statue with a touch and he doubted he would be able to count on Caia or anyone similar again.

Caia was being foolish by demanding that she go with him. She was treating it like some kind of elaborate game and the only reason he couldn't tell her off was that he needed her to drive across this city and the space between to the next. They needed to leave soon so that they could reach Rowan's house by dark and he was trying to get her to change her mind.