School boy | Prince Caspian

25

Otto settled into his new life in Narnia with surprising contentment. As time went on he began to realise that there wasn't much he actually missed about England and the 1940s. Not including the Pevensie siblings. Not having Peter or Edmund at his side made him ache at the loss of their friendship and their easy presence. He missed Lucy's cheerful personality and Susan's kind smiles. He didn't regret his choice. Even when he missed them, when long nights of nightmares had him curling up feeling like a unwanted outsider. He would be greeted by Caspian and his new friends in the morning and those feelings would vanish.

Narnia seemed to grow on him more as the months went by. The palace servants all organised the castle, running it like a well oiled machine. The telmarines all seemed to accept Otto as their king as easily as the Narnian's did. He was glad to discover that they were a simple yet loving culture. A history of greedy kings leading to most of the tension between them and the narnians. But with Caspian and Otto bringing about change, the telmarine people relaxed and integrated the narnians into their lives. Both previously separated societies quickly blending together.

Caspian. Otto was unsure where he and his fellow king stood after the kiss. It had happened over two months ago and yet they hadn't seemed to have talked things over. More kissed had happened. Stolen moments between council meetings or before and after meals. Their busy lives making it harder for them to steal any more time together, much to both their annoyance. Were they dating? Was it more? Otto didn't know. The shared role of them both being kings, and the lack of any courting rituals happening  was confusing him. Caspian had taken on the brunt of the kingly duties and was extremely busy with reorganising the kingdom. Otto had been spending his time in lessons with Dr Cornelius, Caspian's old tutor, learning about the history of narnia. The man was kind and nurturing, for which Otto was glad. He rapidly realised how much he had to learn. Everything from Telmarine culture to manners within court, the lands around narnia and their allies and enemies, to the magic of the world. It was a lot but Otto dived in with a panicked eagerness. However, despite his enjoyment, he still wished he and Caspian had more time.

Sometimes the narnian council members helped. They would appear during his lessons to offer advice. Caspian had demoted all the previous council. His new councillors were a mix of narnian and human. Representatives of the main narnian species and a few chosen human associates. Trumpkin was the new leader of the dwarves. Him and others such as Glenstorm, Trufflehunter (a badger with interesting threats) and a few others all held places on the council. Reepicheep had been stated as captain of the royal guard, a position which he took very seriously. Caspian and Otto held a council meeting once a week to deal with any kingdom issues. It was tiring but Otto found a satisfaction from the work which he didn't get from school.

One day, the day of the week he got off from lessons, he was awoken by a knock in the door. He blinked in the sunlight. The summer still clinging on in early autumn. Marie had obviously been in earlier to open the curtains. He had requested her as his only maid when he had been moved to the royal quarters. The motherly woman quickly growing on him. With a yawn, Otto rose from bed and pulled on the clothes from the day before. They weren't too dirty, so they'll do.

The knock came again as he was messing with the laces of his shirt. A month had him finally learning how to dress himself but he was still slow. He stumbled to the door and opened it with a creak. Caspian stood on the other side. He lit up at the sight of Otto, face splitting with a blinding grin. He was dressed in casual clothes. Dark trousers with a off white shirt overlaid with a dark brown tunic. Half of his long dark hair had been tied back with a leather cord. Stray strands falling round his high cheekbones.

"Caspian", Otto blinked at him slowly, eyes still crusty with sleep. He rubbed them self consciously then made an effort to tame his bed head. He had shaved down the back and sides of his hair once it got too annoying. But the top still grew long and dark. The sun adding gold highlights to the ends.