Room 203

[kitchen_maid]

The Ordinary Princess is sitting on the windowsill, knees drawn up to her chin, staring out at the lake, and ignoring her tea. "Does it get easier? Being here?"

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[the_seafarer]

Caspian's gaze flicks to the room across the hall, before giving Gilbert a very close look.

He seems to like what he sees, though, because he nods after a moment, and steps back to lean against the wall, looking at Amy's door thoughtfully.

"I'd appreciate that," he says, with a small smile. "I'll be in and out fairly often, but my job here takes up much of my day, and I don't live in the bar-provided rooms, but in the House of Arch, and it'd be a comfort to know there's someone close by I can trust."

Gilbert may not know just how critical that trust is, but Caspian's level gaze and straight shoulders may provide some of the answers. One can't truly hide one's true nature, after all, and Caspian was king for a very long time.

[kindred_spirit]

Gil may not understand all the details and the levels -- he hasn't had to interact with much royalty yet -- but he understands that point of the matter, and stands up a little bit straighter. "Of course. If I ever need to find you, what's the best way to do that?"

He's still not wild about the idea of this man being in and out of Anne's room, though.

[the_seafarer]

"Leave me a note at the bar," Caspian says, with a smile, "or come out to the stables. That's where I work, and, truth be told, it gets a bit dull with no one but the horses to speak to. I'd appreciate the company, anyway."

He looks thoughtfully at Gilbert, and, in an attempt to move the conversation onto a topic the other is more familiar with, decides to ask about Anne.

"Your friend, now," he says, "Miss Shirley. I only met her last night, but she's a good friend to Amy, and I appreciate it. She seems..." he searches for a word, before soming up with "...exuberant?"

[kindred_spirit]

"Anne is . . . a dear friend," he says, and his tone is not hostile by any means, but not quite friendly, either.

"I need to find the stables at some point," he says, directing Caspian away from Anne. For now and forever, preferably. "I understand you have pegasus."

[the_seafarer]

Caspian raises an eyebrow at Gilbert's tone, but drops the subject. For now.

"Aye, we do," he says. "One belongs to Helen of Troy, another to Valentine Wiggin. There are any number of creatures there that some find amazing, but mostly there are horses, like those that belong to my friend Susan Delgado and my lady, Lucy."

The last he adds almost casually, but watches to see if the other man relaxes. He's seen that look before, you see. In a mirror.

[kindred_spirit]

And Gil does relax. Because he really doesn't have any claim on Anne, and so he can't exactly say something, but knowing Caspian's affections are otherwise engaged is nice.

"Helen has been very kind to me, as I've been settling in. Do you know her?"

[the_seafarer]

Caspian's expression does not change, but he relaxes a bit inside. After all, he's quite glad to know that this young man wouldn't be one he'd have to look out for about Amy. So the feeling is quite mutual.

"Only a nodding acquaintance, I'm afraid," he replies. "I think I know her pegasus a good deal better than I know her, but she seemed a gracious and kind lady, indeed."

[kindred_spirit]

It's all ever so much more relaxed.

"I'm sorry. I still find it odd, well, I'm not exactly from a world with Pegasuses," he says the last word uncertainly. Is that actually the plural?

[the_seafarer]

"There was only ever one winged horse in Narnia," Caspian tells him, "that I know of, anyway, and he was a legend and long gone when I lived there. And yet the world that Lucy and her brothers and sister came from had no such creatures. Doubtless your world is one such as that."

[kindred_spirit]

"Plain old Earth, I'm afraid," he says, a little amused, and a little wistful. "Not very glamorous, by the standards of this place, but home. A little town called Avonlea, on Prince Edward Island, in Canada."

[the_seafarer]

The wistfulness in Caspian's eyes might take Gilbert slightly by surprise, then. "I thought you might be from there," he says with an odd smile. "You have that look about you, even though you seem from a different time than Lucy and her family. You are Bound, I think? I am truly sorry. Yours is a world that I have always longed to see more of."

[kindred_spirit]

"Yes, Anne and I are Bound." The "Anne and I" is the important part, in Gil's opinion.

"Are you not from Earth, then?"

[the_seafarer]

"Nay," he says, shaking his head. "When I was mortal man, I was Narnian born and lived there my whole life. I did catch one glimpse of your world, though, and it was quite an experience."

He pauses, thinking.

"I was sorry to hear that Anne was Bound when Amy told me, but now I think it well she has such a friend here with her," he says, carefully. "My first days and weeks here would have been hard indeed if my dearest friends had not been here when I arrived."

[kindred_spirit]

"I can appreciate that," Gil says, thinking about the fact the he marched right past the wonders of Milliways to get to Anne whe he arrived.

"And what did you do in . . . is it Narnian?"

[the_seafarer]

"Narnia," Caspian corrects, with an almost-amused smile.

"I was king. For a good fifty years, or so." Best to let this man know everything up front, he decides, liking Gilbert a great deal.

[kindred_spirit]

Gilbert blinks, not sure what to address first.

"Fifty years? King?"

[the_seafarer]

"Aye," Caspian says, watching Gilbert curiously.

"I won my throne while still a boy, and ruled until my death, at the age of three-score years and six, when I was restored to youth and health by the gift of Aslan."

[kindred_spirit]

"Oh," says Gil. "And Aslan is . . . ?"

[the_seafarer]

"Aslan is King over all Narnia," Caspian says seriously. "He is the great Lion, the son of the Emperor-over-the-Sea."

[kindred_spirit]

Gilbert doesn't quite understand, but suspects that explanations are only going to get more confusing. "Kind of him to do that for you then."

[the_seafarer]

"Aye, it was," Caspian says with a grin. "Bit of a surprise for me though--one minute I'm sixty-six years old and dying, and the next I'm seventeen again and in a completely different place. Quite a shock, really."

[kindred_spirit]

"I would imagine," Gil says, grinning himself. "I found it disconcerting enough to try to go onto Anne's porch and find myself here. I can't imagine changing ages and dying at the same time. At least, I assume I'm not dead."

[the_seafarer]

"Disconcerting, aye, it's a good term for this place, I think," Caspian agrees. "It's been a great comfort to me, though, to meet with friends I'd thought never to see again, in any world. And from what I've heard from your friend, and Amy, and what you told me yourself, I would be very much surprised if you turned out to be dead. Sometimes doors simply lead here, and no one really knows why."

[kindred_spirit]

"Anne mentioned something about it meaning that you needed to realize something." Gil actually sounds oddly hopeful, about that.

"Good to know that I'm probably not dead," says Gil, although the absurdity of the statement makes him smile. "Is Amy? And, is it considered polite to ask?"

[the_seafarer]

"I've heard that, as well." Caspian looks a bit curious, at Gilbert's tone. "There are many here who do not truly understand who they are, or what they want, I think. You don't strike me as one of them."

And there's a question there, yes, that he is perhaps too polite to put into words.

"And I believe it is a necessity to ask, at times. Some of my friends have begun to include in their introductions, just to save time, in fact." He grins, wryly.