"Ettinsmoor? Is that what we're calling it now?" Imira asked.
"Better than 'the northern lands the Ettins inhabit' don't you think?" Peter asked in return.
"I suppose it's catchy," she agreed. "So what do we do now?"
Peter looked around the room...
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The wind was cool but Susan welcomed it. Alone, on the Splendour Hyaline's deck, hands braced on the bannister, with a yellow silken shawl wrapped around her hair and the taste of the sea in her lips she looked at the dark waves illuminated only now and then when the clouds parted enough to let the moon shine through.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, embracing the smell of the ocean, the sound of the waves, and the flapping of the sails and flags. It brought welcomed memories of home and pleasant times. Of trips to the Lone Islands with Peter; of swimming in the caves under Cair Paravel with Lucy, Imira, and the mermaids; of riding on the beach before sunset with—
Susan gasped, "No," for the wind had stripped her shawl away and left her head and shoulders exposed to the stiff breeze.
She reached out a hand after it but all she managed to grasp were the ends and watch as it slipped from her fingers. Watch as it flew across the deck until it was intercepted halfway across the deck stairs by a hand.
With a slightly crooked smile, Peridan descended the stairs, shawl in hand. "It's a bit late to be out here,"
"Are you following me?" Susan asked, head high, shoulders back, a brow raised in question.
Peridan halted. "I—"
"Because that was perfect timing," a smile spread across her lips and Peridan released a breath he didn't realize he had been holding with a nervous chuckle.
Susan took a couple of steps towards him and he descended the last step and continued forward until he stood no more than a meter away from her.
"I needed some fresh air," Susan looked up, for he was a head taller than her. An answer to his unspoken question and an unspoken question of her own.
"I couldn't sleep until I was certain we are not being followed," Peridan explained, holding up the shawl wrapped around his hand.
She slipped it off his fingers without taking her eyes off his.
"You're worried?" she frowned.
"I'm cautious,"
She looked down and swallowed before meeting his eyes again. "Do you think they know?"
Peridan looked south. "If they don't already, they will very soon,"
Susan wrapped the scarf around her and sighed through her nose. "I should have never agreed to visit Calormen," she stared at the dark ocean, arms crossed as they walked towards the bannister. There was a stack of wooden crate boxes and some fishing nets and rope resting on top of a few of them. What was loaded in those boxes, only the sailors knew.
He rested his forearms against the polished wood. "You couldn't have known,"
She looked at him. "That he was awful? I should have. Everyone else knew. I can already hear the I told you so's,"
