Whisked Away

19. Establishing Narnia and Other Things

Shifra's POV
After the kings and queens of old had left we were kept very busy, for not only did we have laws to write and alter, we had to establish Caspian's leadership over the land. To do so, we made a weeklong trip around all of Narnia. It would have been longer, but there was still much to do.

Unlike when Peter was king, there were more people who would want to infiltrate Narnia, so we divided up the land and placed lords over them all. The lords reported to Caspian and kept a watchful eye on the goings on. We also chose chefs of each of the different creatures in Narnia from the different animals to the dryads and even the people. Caspian was the chef of the humans, but only by request of his people.

Like I had predicted, everyone came to love him as dearly as they had loved the old kings and queens and even myself. Everything in Narnia was established in a years time and we moved on to bettering it. I trained troops and was also a chief advisor. Caspian spent his days in the throne room speaking to people and trying to solve the issues.

At the same time we were conducting a small battle against the Calormens in the dessert, but that was soon over. We also had a bit of fighting with the giants, but that too was soon a thing of the past. When a full two years had passed since Caspian's coronation, we began to teach Narnia to sail again and while our ships were nothing like the old ones, Caspian had still been making very beautiful ones.

It was during this year that Caspian and I finally got to rest slightly for we had been working on and on steadily for two years. I was just finishing some planning for a feast with Archenland when Caspian came into my study. I had requested one apart from my chambers for I did not like having them in the same room. "Hey Cas," I greeted with a tired smile.

"Hey Fra," he replied, sitting on the desk in front of me.

I laid down my paper I had been looking at and turned my attention completely to him, rolling my eyes. "You know I hate that name."

He shrugged and replied, "You gave me a nickname, why can't I give you one?"

"But I gave you an actually good one, yours sucks," I countered.

"It does not!" he retorted.

I rolled my eyes again and exclaimed, "Yes it does!"

With a grin spreading across his face, he changed the subject, "So, Fra," I glared at him, but he paid me no mind, "I need to talk to you about something." I rested my chin on my hands, showing him that I was listening. "You need to take a break."

Tilting my head to the side, I replied, "Caspian, there is far too much to do! You have no idea how much harder it is to look after Narnia with one royal instead of four."

Cas chuckled and replied, "I'm sure it is, but because of that you have been working every moment since the coronation."

"So have you!" I retorted.

"Yes and I'm saying this as much to myself as to you. Let's just go and take a walk through the woods and maybe stargaze like we used to before I became king," Caspian suggested.

"But..." I started.

"Nope," Caspian interrupted, "We are going, end of story."

He turned to walk out of the room, but I stood and retorted, "Cas we can't."

Turning around with something like playful frustration on his face, Caspian began to smirk evilly and replied, "I hate to pull this card, but you forced me to it. I, King Caspian, am ordering you to do as I wish."

"Caspian!" I exclaimed in mock fury. He turned back to me and shrugged and walked away with a happy grin on his face. "Unbelievable," I muttered, grinning. When the time finally came, I was not altogether unhappy to get a little break. Caspian had a basket in his hands as we walked and we soon reached a good clearing for star gazing.

We laid out a blanket we had brought and laid out the food on top of it. It was just some bread, cheese, and apples, but Caspian and I both were not high maintenance. We would have been fine eating this same meal for the rest of our lives. That night, the stars shone brighter than ever before and as I looked at the stars and at Caspian I realized something.

"Cas?" I asked, neither of us had spoken much. He let out a slight hum to tell me he was listening, "Do you think you will ever marry?"

"I don't know," he replied, "I would hope so, but I don't know for sure." After a pause he continued, "There's this one girl that I like. I'm not certain if she loves me like I do her, but I know that she did at some point. You see she was nervous that she wouldn't be able to dance properly so I danced with her. She sang and it was then that I fully fell in love with her, but when we pulled away I remember seeing her blush and what an adorable blush it was."

A smile broke over my face as he spoke. For the last two years Caspian and I had danced over the fact that we loved one another, but this was the first time we had ever talked about it. With a slightly teasing tone, I asked, "And this girl, you see her much?"

A deep chuckle came from Caspian's way. "Yes I do. I see her everyday, and you? Do you have some special guy you set your eye on?"

My voice full of teasing I replied, "Well I guess, but he's kind of annoying. He tries to order me around even though I'm much older than him, and he gives me the worst nicknames. I think he's just mad that he can't think up good ones like I can." Caspian gave me a playful scowl and could not keep it up so he ended up laughing as much as me.

After a pause he said with a more serious tone, "I'm tired of dancing around how I feel." I turned to look at him and saw that he was already looking at me. "Shifra," he started, turning to lay on his side, "I would like to start some kind of courtship with you because I-I love you."

A smile broke over my face. I did not need to reply, for Caspian could see my response written on my face. I stared at him and felt the urge to do something, but I was not entirely sure what. I saw his eyes glance from my eyes to my lips and I saw him lean forward. We both turned our heads slightly to the right and closed our eyes less than an inch from one other and our lips met.

I will not lie and say that fireworks exploded around us, but I felt something I had never felt with anyone before. My heart was racing and my mind was swimming, unable to process what was happening. I felt Caspian's warm hand cup my right cheek and my wing wrapped around him and pulled him nearer. Our lips moved at a passionate and slow pace, and when we broke for air Caspian and I were struggling to catch our breath.

We had shifted our position slightly and now both my wings were wrapped around him and they were long enough that they wrapped around myself as well and were still quite loose. Caspian's hand was still on my right cheek and both my hands rested on his chest. I suddenly felt very shy and buried my face in his chest while a blush dusted my cheeks and a bundle of nerves built in my chest.

Caspian began to brush his hands through my long hair and the nerves broke down and I felt myself begin to be drowsy. Soon I had fallen asleep in the arms of the man I had loved for two years.