The evening was one of bliss. The lost rulers had returned, bringing a happiness to their king that everyone had been hoping to see in the weeks that had passed by since the Third Battle of Beruna. Only hopes and prayers could be made for this to not change.

Caspian and Sophie met each other at the top deck, careful to not meet anyone's eyes to create suspicion of them sneaking out now that they were in a closed chambers of the Dawn Treader. There were a lot of things to be said and a lot of things to be heard.

"Hey," Sophie said, entering the empty room where barrels of drinkable water was being stored.

Caspian turned around and hugged her once again that day, holding her close to him longer than he usually did to make sure that she wouldn't fade away. He couldn't believe that she was back, although this was the best feeling - being with her. 

He sighed as he let her go. "How are you?"

"I'm great. Now." They sat down leaning against a wooden board while facing each other. "How are you?"

"Same answer."

Sophie smiled. "Caspian, I am very sorry-"

"Don't you dare apologise."

"But I have to! I left the castle. I betrayed your trust! I betrayed everyone! I didn't know what I was doing and you were right! I wanted to face Jadis. I wanted her to know what she did to me. I did think about the consequences but I made a hasty decision."

"You did no such thing. I understand why you went to face Jadis. All of us do." He held her hands as she looked at the floor. "You are free to make your own decisions, Sophie. I never want to hold you back from that. Ever."

"I don't deserve you."

"Sophie? Will you promise me something?"

She looked up at his deep eyes. Oh, how she had missed them! "Anything."

"Never say that again. The last time you said it.....you know what happened." 

Sophie zipped her mouth. "I promise."

He kissed her forehead and lingered for a few seconds as both closed their eyes in the ache that they were feeling that was slowly going away. "Thank you."

"How is everyone?" Sophie asked after a moment of silence. "Nina, Rumira, Sahil, Evelyn, Alexandre, Mr. Zahair.....Oh! Cassie and Thomas!"

Caspian laughed. "All are well. Thomas answers to me as well now, which is probably because of Cassie because they have become even better friends now." A sigh escaped him. "I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw you today. I worried that being on uncharted waters for so long was starting to do something to me like the tales usually say."

"I'm alive. I'm here and I'm never leaving."

"I hope you don't," he said, rubbing circles with his thumb on her arm.

Sophie rested her head against his shoulder and told him what happened the night that she left to face Jadis. She told him about how Jadis had taunted her and tried to kill her. She also told him about the secret passageway. "Secret passage?" He interrupted her for the first time.

"Yes, behind a boulder. The one on the Table's right side." And then, she continued the story. "It started raining and I was brought back to life."

Caspian was disturbed by the fact that she had almost died that day. What would have happened if rain hadn't come and he hadn't found her? He would have never figured out that there was a secret passageway and....he didn't want to think about that possibility. "It was a good thing that Thomas came to me at the field and brought me to you."

"So that's what happened." She smiled silently, always wondering how Caspian reached the valley on top of the How so quickly. It made sense that Thomas had left her to get him. Oh how she loved that horse so much!

"What happened afterwards?"

"I let go of your hand because I didn't want you falling as well and when I did.....I found myself on the other side, facing a small pond."

"The rain caused the pond." He realised what had happened.

"And my necklace....." She showed it to him, wearing it grudgingly to remind her of the truth. "It was glowing. I think it is magic."

"If we decipher the engravings on it, we can find out if it is." 

"What happened afterwards? What happened with the Council and the woman?"

"We found her son alive."

Sophie's eyebrows furrowed together but in a relieved way. "Jadis didn't kill him?" It seemed highly unlikely that she would spare an innocent. There definitely was a catch behind this.

And there was. But that's not for you, my reader, to find out in this book.

All in good time.

"No, she didn't. The hag said that she would kill him and the woman thought that she would. But we found the boy, Samar, among the captives that her army held in the How. He was pretty shaken up by the time we got to him but he is recovering. His mother and he are staying at the castle. She is working there and Samar is....well, the Professor wants him to take up apprenticeship. He needs some time to understand what happened. He was happy to be in Narnia. It seemed to be a big dream of his to stay here."

"I'm sure that they are and it is all because of you. I want to meet Samar. I want to talk to him. Maybe I can be to him what the Professor is to me."

"I think he would like that. He seems to mingle well with me or Evelyn or Rumira when we try to talk to him. And you are being modest. This was possible only because of you."

"It's definitely not! You are a wonderful person, Caspian, and I am grateful to know your love."

"And I'm just grateful to have your love in return."

She smiled. "You still haven't mentioned the Council yet." 

"I didn't?"

"Really?" She smiled at his attempt to change the topic.

"Alright," he said. "The Council tried to remove me from the throne."

"What!" She shouted, lifting her head up in the process. "Sorry. Continue." She placed her head on his shoulders once again. She had never hated the Council more in her life. But oh how wrong she was! This was only the beginning.

"Do you remember the lovely Duke Nathan Jeremiah?"

Sophie nodded. She had danced with him at the Annual Ball.

"Well, the Council believes that his heritage lines with mine and that he should be on the throne. He seemed to be quite happy to hear that the politics was favouring him too."

Sophie clenched her fists, which surprised Caspian. He hadn't expected her to take this news so seriously. He closed his hands around hers. "I am going to kill him."

Caspian laughed. "You don't have to do such a thing. He abdicated the throne, which was a bigger slap for the Council. It's getting harder and harder to control them. I threatened to remove them from the castle, and Narnia itself, if they ever tried to go behind my back again. When they tried to suggest that our relations with the Fae was in jeopardy, they also seemed to hint that I should marry Lady Freida."

Sophie's eyes widened. Lady Freida was the second High Fae to be a part of the Council, coming all the way from the realm of Swetana in Archenland. She was gorgeous as she was, but the thought of Caspian being forced into a marriage made her furious. She averted her eyes and looked directly ahead.

"I ordered them to wait until after I found the Seven Lords. But of course, I was still going to reject their suggestions. I was going to search for you with the Professor's help after this." Caspian nudged her arm, seeing the invisible fumes coming out of her ears. Whether that was of anger of jealousy, he loved her all the same. "Sophie?"

"I'm going to kill them."

"That would be treason."

"You can give me a pardon. I can give myself a pardon." Sophie sighed. "Oh Caspian....we are a broken pair, aren't we?"

He pushed a loose lock of hair behind her ear. "Well, you did find me after all this time."

"I never stopped looking," she revealed. "I'm really curious to find out more about myself."

"I have a feeling that we will."

"I like that word 'we'. And 'our'."

Caspian put his arms around her and pulled her closer to him. "Where were you all my life?"

"I was here only. You were the one in a different world." She joked. "I wish we hadn't lost this time."

"I wish that as well." He rested his head against hers. "But you are back now and that is all that matters." He took her hand and kissed it. "Actually we have no reason to be worried about the Fae. Lady Freida has talked to Queen Liliana about this. She seems really interested here, wanting to be a good representative for Archenland. The Queen wants to maintain this peace and so do we."

Sophie nodded. "Do you think that....never mind."

"Tell me."

"Do you think that we could rule together? Instead of all this political nonsense, we could rule together." She looked up at him. "As King and Queen."

Caspian smiled a mischievous smile. "Do you have the power of reading minds now? Apart from controlling water, of course." He chuckled. "I sent word to the castle right before I came here where I requested for two sets of throne in their rightful place. That occurred to me as well. The people will be happy since I will be on the throne."

"And the Lords will be happy that I will be on the throne. Oh, Caspian!" She pulled him into a bear hug, knowing clearly what she wanted. She wanted to be with him. She wanted him....and them....and a future that wouldn't be stolen away or written for her. They would rewrite the stars if that's what it took.

And just as he interrupted the two all the time, Reepicheep entered the room. "Oh, Your Majesties!" He looked flustered, having interrupted them for the countless number of time.

"Hey, Reep." Sophie waved at him, letting Caspian go.

The mouse bowed to them. "Dinner is ready."

"Shall we?" Caspian asked, offering Sophie his hand.

"We shall." She smiled, taking it.

The Dawn Treader was a masterpiece and a beauty indeed. It took almost two minutes to get from one place to another and more than three minutes to get from one side of the ship to another. Sophie wondered how the sailors differentiated between portside and starboard. "That's where the shroud comes in place." Caspian told her. "Whichever side the second layer of shroud faces, that is port."

"Makes sense." Sophie could feel that Reep was feeling a little lonely and so, she spoke with him. "How have you been, Reep?" She asked as they headed towards the middle deck where everyone ate.

"I have been good, Your Majesty."

"Reepicheep is the Defense Spokesmanship of Narnia," Caspian revealed.

"That sounds so cool! How are you finding it?"

"It is not as fun as it used to be since we have to give details to every information but I love it anyway," he stated. "We're here."

As they entered the middle deck, the sailors present inside the room turned around to look at Sophie and when she knew what they were going to do, she stopped them. "Oh, please continue. I'm another traveller like yourselves."

There was a clinking sound of a toast from the table on their right. "Hail, King Caspian and Legacy Sophie!" Drinian, the captain of the Dawn Treader, raised his mug of water in the air.

"Hail, hail!" The other crew members chorused and toasted as did Lucy and Edmund.

Caspian nodded at Drinian, who was clearly pleased with Sophie's return. "Drinian is a true believer of legends," he whispered to Sophie as they sat down with the Pevensie siblings and their cousin.

"That explains the toast. Hey." She wished everyone as she sat next to Lucy.

"How are you feeling now?" Lucy asked.

"All good, thanks to you."

"It was my pleasure."

"It turns out that you are not the only one who gets seasick." Edmund pointed to Eustace.

"I only got sick in the first place because I am somewhere that is not England and normal people don't go on voyages!" Eustace was grumpy as usual. He was a lot more grumpier because of Reepicheep's company. He couldn't believe that he had let a mouse challenge him into a duel and he had lost! What would this mean when he went back to England! He was going to have a word with the English Counsellor about all the ravagers!

"What do you mean by 'normal'?" Reepicheep asked him.

"Well, I mean, looking at how we live in England, there is no time to go on voyages." He elaborated, but it was clear that he was enjoying himself more than he was letting on. After all, this was the journey that would change his life forever.

Sophie turned to Lucy and when they looked at each other, they knew that they were on the same page. They were even in the same library. Eustace had been pretending all this while and knowing Reepicheep, they were going to witness something revolutionary.

"Would you like to eat?" Caspian asked. "For the reference, I did not make the soup."

"Do you cook?" Edmund asked him.

"He makes the best lasagne ever," said Sophie, taking a sip of the water that Lucy poured for her.

"Well no, that would be Sophie," replied Caspian.

"Not at all. I cook what I learnt from the book I read through."

"She is being modest," he told everyone else. "Her soup cured my throat pain."

"That was Evelyn's concoction."

He looked at the others. "Modest." 

Once they finished eating, right on cue, the crew members started playing music. They had brought instruments with them on board the ship to pass the time when they were not working, knowing that they wouldn't be seeing their home for months. It was a small effort to bring the mainlands into the seas that they would be travelling.

Caspian and Sophie turned to face each other and the same thought ran inside. He cocked his head in the Pevensies' direction and Sophie smiled. "Lucy? Would you like to dance with me?" He asked her, offering his hand while Sophie offered her hand to Edmund. "Ed, you have to dance tonight."

"No, no, you are not making me dance!" He started to ramble but Sophie took his hand and Lu forced him out of his seat. "I would love to dance with you Caspian." She gave him her hand.

Sophie pulled her brother into the dance floor, dancing for a few minutes and the crew played a tune that made it fun to dance along to. The beats kept changing and the dancers had to keep up to it. Ed made a face at Sophie but smiled as well. "I don't dance!" He shouted over the sound of the music.

"I don't care!" Sophie shouted back and they improvised the steps to the classic Narnian folk dance.

Caspian and Lucy were waltzing country-style and were laughing as he spun her around and dipped her to the ground. After a couple of songs got over, Sophie pulled Eustace to dance as well. Reepicheep threatened to kill him if he didn't and even in that fear, Eustace looked genuinely happy.

It was a beautiful night that I'll always carry in my heart.

Lucy waltzed with her brother next while Sophie danced with Eustace. Edmund threatened to never talk to Sophie if she made him dance again, and then, the night had to come to an end.

"Would Your Majesties like to waltz?" Rhince asked Caspian and Sophie.

Caspian looked at Sophie. "Why not?" She answered.

Sophie thanked everyone personally when the time came to go back to their respective stations and they pledged their duty to Narnia in return. In the end, once everyone went to sleep, Caspian and she slowly danced with each other once again at their new spot. There was no need for music because the entire ship resonated through them.

"I've missed you so much." She rested her head against his chest.

"Never let me go." He gently pressed her hand against his chest and his head rested on top of hers, locking her with him. "You have my heart, love. It's yours and always will be. I never want it back."

Sophie smiled, letting her energy resonate with his. "Did you tell everyone that I was back in the letter? I should have asked this earlier but the thought didn't cross my mind until later."

"I haven't. But I did write that there is a surprise waiting for them once I return."

"That is probably driving Trumpkin mad." She chuckled at the thought of imagining him losing his mind while thinking about what it could be that Caspian would send message away so soon.

Caspian spun her around slowly and reeled her in slowly, resting his forehead against hers. "Maybe he is thinking that I'm going to bring back chests of gold."

She frowned playfully. "Even Thomas and Cassie know that money doesn't matter to you."

Caspian's heart melted. Having been accused of being a gold digger by someone at the Council, hearing this from Sophie was a relief. "You paint me very modestly." He joked.

"Wait!" Sophie exclaimed as she stopped in the middle of the step. "We haven't gotten our paintings done yet! How am I realising this only now? And why am I realising this only now?"

He laughed at her childish voice. "Do you want to get a portrait done together?"

"With you, I am willing to travel to the end of the world." She said, trying to be a little flirty. "But I guess since we are doing that....."

"People should change that phrase."

*****

Hope you're liking the story so far!

I wish I could keep her smiling like this

Cast

Gary Sweet as Lord Drinian