Mist and Mystery at Calormen's Grove

The Voyage Stopped

3. The Voyage Stopped

"This is ridiculous," Susan muttered under her breath as she walked behind her sister up the stairs to the upper deck. She tugged on the dark pants and grimaced. "These pants are too tight for me."

"They're just tight in comparison to your old dresses, they're not actually tight. You look beautiful, Su," Lucy assured with a mildly irritated sigh and glanced back. "Stop pulling on them!"

"I just hope I don't burst a seam," Susan breathed in jest. She had to agree, the child's pants did fit her surprisingly enough but were still tighter than the fashion she was used to both from old Narnia and back home in England. They were an inch too short, however, which Susan thought made for a rather amusing image. The baggy shirt with its loose sleeves ended just beneath her behind and she'd even found a blue belt that she wore atop of the blouse to try and fit in with the seafarer look. The blouse itself had a low v-front, but with two strings that Susan had tied together for a more covered look.

As opposed to herself, the seafarer look seemed to come naturally to Lucy. The pants the young girl wore hung quite loose on her smaller frame, Caspian was obviously taller and more muscular but still quite slender meaning it didn't look very absurd. The wide belt Lucy had found to wear on top with the reddish vest completed the look and made it look as if she belonged in the crew.

The upper deck was a quite large, simple area behind the ship's wheel, with a small portion on the starboard side of it intended for councils. There was a table there now with a large map of the known world spread out atop of it.

At the moment, Peter and Caspian stood leaned over the map; both dressed in dry clothes as well. Peter wore a pale brown shirt, that matched his hair, with a short-sleeved leather jerkin atop, pants as dark as Susan's and a wide belt around his waist. Caspian in turn wore a blue shirt and dark pants with knee high boots and his shoulder length hair, which still hadn't dried, pulled back into a messy knot. On the other side of the table stood three men the sisters recognized as the advisers who had bowed to them earlier - all of them wore white shirts, vests and baggy pants.

At the very back of the upper deck stood Edmund with a telescope binocular, facing the open sea with it in hand. He wore a simple white shirt and slimmer fitting pants than the two other kings as well as a wide belt and low boots. By his side stood Reepicheep who seemed to be pointing out directions for the Pevensie boy to look and explaining things to him about the journey.

All the men seemed oblivious to the two girls' presence even as they walked up behind the steering wheel. The mouse, in fact, was the first to notice them and bowed deeply. "My queens," he greeted and the others, at last, turned in their direction. "The seafarer look suits your majesties."

"Thanks," Susan said with a slight grimace as she crossed her legs, still a bit self-conscious about the look.

"Reepicheep is right, the looks does become you," Caspian said and cleared his throat. He pointed with his hands between the girls' pants. "You... are aware, though, I meant for that to be the other way around?"

The sisters shared a look. "Yes. We know," the elder beauty sighed and tucked a stray of her long, dark locks behind her ear.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" the Telmarine king breathed as he looked down and noticed their bare feet. He pointed beside them to the floor by the steering wheel where there stood two pair of boots. "Those are for you to wear."

The sisters grabbed a pair each and sat down to put the boots on as Caspian's gaze remained on them. The younger girl finished lacing on her low boots before her sister and walked over to the table to properly greet her old friend. With a smile she hugged the Telmarine king, who brotherly returned the embrace with equal fondness.