✧ 𝑀𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟 | 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚 ✧

Seven ✧ Best-est Friends

⋆ . * •°⁎✧⁎°• * . ⋆

THE NEXT MORNING, THE DAWN TREADER'S CREW bustled about like normal, everyone going about their respective jobs.

     I was pretty tired, having had trouble sleeping because of the nightmares of you-know-what, so I decided that I would go through with what I internally suggested to myself yesterday - confiding in the Captain about what happened when I disappeared.

     So, I went to find him. It didn't take me long, as he was stood on the stern beside the wheel, which was being handled by another crewman.

     I ascended the stairs and looked up at him. "Captain? May I speak with you? Alone?"

     "Of course, Lass," he replied, sending his crewman a nod before walking to the far corner of the stern deck. "What did you want to tell me?"

     Feeling my nerves go into overdrive again, I wrung my fingers together and bit at the skin of my lip. "You remember what one of the men in the crowd said when I was put on the pedestal?" I asked hesitantly, avoiding any eye contact I could.

     His eyebrows furrowed, and he leaned on the banister. This wasn't something he expected to hear. Had something happened? "Yes, I remember what he said. It was disgusting. Did something happen?"

     Swallowing thickly, I nodded. "Well, I-.... Knowing what kind of trade it was, I was already terrified of possibly being killed when we were attacked in the bell tower when we were first found, and then what could have happened if you and the others hadn't arrived when you did..." I trailed off, pausing for a moment as I wiped my clammy hands on my clothes. "I went to hide somewhere so I could get a moment to calm down away from the chaos, but I guess he followed me. He-... he grabbed me, tried to drag me away." I was sobbing in between words at this point.

The Captain knew I wasn't finished speaking, so he continued to listen with a hand securely on my shoulder to know he was there and would stay.

"I-I screamed when he grabbed me, and then Caspian tackled him and kicked his head and knocked him out. He calmed me down and took me back to everyone else." I took a moment of silence to rub my eyes with the heels of my hands. "I... I thought that man was going to take me away forever. I didn't know what... he would do to me, and-... and I couldn't see anything but him, even when he was unconscious and Caspian was blocking him from my view.

"I already thought... that I was going to die when we were fighting those traders, but then I thought I was going to-... to suffer for the rest of my life with that vile man." I was sobbing uncontrollably, now, the heels of my hands still buried in my tear-soaked eyes.

Drinian felt anger bubble up inside him at the news, but he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into an embrace where I stood and cried for several minutes.

Caspian, who had emerged from the lower chambers where the hammocks were, walked toward the stern to discuss plans with the Captain. He then saw me bawling in Drinian's arms, and his mind immediately went back to the evening before.

Unsure if he should go up there or remain down here and wait, he thought about the possibility that I had sought out the Captain specifically to tell him what happened. Why else would I be crying in his arms like this?

Caspian decided to wait and let us have our moment. He would come to me and briefly talk to me and then discuss plans with Drinian after. So, he went and sat on a nearby chair to talk with Edmund, who'd been silently reading a book he'd found.