Awaiting Old Friends (Caspian/Hannai)

[Harbor]

The house in which Hannai actually slept was also one for which Hannai cleaned. She enjoyed cleaning this house more than others because of both its unique challenges and its accommodations—the original owners had had hooks and pulleys installed hidden behind picture frames and under ceiling tiles so the very tallest windows and crannies could be cleaned without the use of ladders or threatening the safety of those who cleaned them. But the hallways here were wider than normal, and Hannai had to stretch all the way out with her toes on one wall and her hand braced against the other to do the cleaning. The maids and lady of the house had all shrieked when they first came upon Hannai climbing and cleaning that way, but Hannai had been diligent about maintaining the same level of strength as she’d had as an acrobat, and such efforts were of little concern to her. Eventually they stopped jumping when they saw her up there.


”What’chu always up here looking for, Hannai?” the housekeeper asked one night when she found Hannai on the roof, gazing once again up at the sky, craning to see in all directions.


Hannai tugged her necklace over her head and held out the brown marble so the housekeeper could touch it and Hannai could show her a picture of Caspian’s dragon from the underside, as she’d seen her more than once before, and hoped to someday soon see again.

”You’re looking for dragons, chit? Whyever you want dragons back in this city? Seems we’ve got enough of our own already.” She cast a wary glance toward the walls of the city.


Hannai shook her head and offered the marble again, showing Sephora landing this time, and Caspian unbuckling his legs from the saddle, and turning to smile at her. They’re my friends, she said, and the housekeeper gave her a knowing smile and a slow nod.


”You’re a little young for a boy toy, aren’t you?”


But Hannai knew she was only teasing, and just rolled her eyes. It was nice, this. Talking to people. Having friends. She wished she’d worked up the courage to do it sooner.


She spent a lot of time with her head thrown back on her off days too. It seemed the longer they were gone the more she looked for them. She felt bad mostly missing Caspian, since she knew now that Sephora could think for herself the way other lizards couldn't, but she hadn't spent as much time with or talking to Sephora. With the two's ability to listen to her thoughts without the aid of her marble it was certainly less cumbersome speaking to them than anyone else, but Hannai felt she didn't share quite as many similar interests with Sephora. She couldn't empathize with having fur stuck in her teeth. 

I wonder if you have the same struggles as Sephora, she thought to a lizard she found on her way out of the city one morning on her day off. It was unseasonably warm, which was probably why the lizard had been out in the first place. But it had gotten its tail crooked under a wagon wheel or a horse hoof, and she felt bad for it. Most people screeched when they saw lizards though, so she waited until they were far enough behind her that they couldn't tell what she was doing, then used a wide piece of ribbon she'd found in one of the noble houses she cleaned and used it and a twig she peeled of bark to hold the crooked part straight. Probably the only reason the lizard was holding still was because she was warm and he was not, but she didn't mind. She tucked the bandaged reptile into a pocket of her periwinkle apron that didn't move as much when she walked, and that was closer to her body heat, and continued walking, wondering when she'd get to see her friends again. 

[Emiryal ♕]

Four months and a few weeks had passed since they'd last seen Hannai. Aside from Sephora she was the only one he felt so close to. If it hadn't been for the riders reforming he wouldn't have had to leave her side. But they'd insisted on his training and had him and Sephora fly to Vroengard and later the elven lands. They probably would've kept him there for years to train but he wasn't going to have that. He didn't exactly want to be a rider, it hadn't happened by his choice but Sephora's.

Sephora had been pushing herself the past couple of days to get back sooner to Uru'baen. She'd spent more than one night flying without stopping to rest. Caspian knew she was tired and at first had argued with her to rest, he didn't want her exhausted but she'd have none of it. Secretly Caspian was grateful that she did it. She was doing it for him, she knew how much he wanted to find Hannai again.

After the war with the Varden he'd discovered his father alive but the rest of his family was dead. His father hadn't been the most welcoming either and he hardly knew him so Hannai and Sephora were really the only ones that mattered to him now. "Can you see Uru'baen yet?" he asked Sephora.

"No, you're getting even more impatient now," Sephora chuckled. "Do you have a crush on Hannai? I know how much you want to see her."

Caspian frowned but his face flushed a bit red. "It's not like that!" he protested. "You know that, besides she might not even remember me." He went a bit quiet on the last part. What would he do if Hannai didn't remember him? What if she'd forgotten. "What if she's not even in Uru'baen?" he asked.

Sephora sighed. "You worry to much, she wouldn't forget us. And if she isn't there we will keep looking until we find her," she said. Caspian nodded but wasn't completely convinced. Every day he had trained he'd thought of her. He had on more than one occasion drawn a picture of her and wished he could see her again and tell her everything like he did Sephora. He'd attempted to teleport things to her before, drawings, notes, flowers, gems he found but the distance was too far and he had ended up getting sick from using too much magic the four times he'd tried it.

But finally he didn't have to do that, he could see her himself. It had been four months could she have changed much during that time? He hoped not. Though how could a person not change with time? He had, he was more toned and muscular from all the training for one and perhaps a bit more confident.

He yelped when suddenly Sephora rolled and dove. He clung to her neck. "What's wrong?!" he said looking around for danger. "You," she said turning her head to look at him. "Relax and stop worrying okay. You're acting like a lost puppy. Besides we're almost there I can see uru'baen." Caspian signed. "Why do you always make sense," he complained. Sephora just did a playful loop in response.

"What of that Detrier?" Sephora asked. Detrier was Caspian's horse, she didn't really like the horse that much but never said so to him. "I...forgot about him," Caspian admitted. "I hope Hannai still has him." He'd left his horse with her when he'd left since he hadn't trusted anyone else to take care of him. He'd been so caught up in worrying that Hannai wouldn't recognize him he'd forgotten about his loyal horse.

Suddenly he realized Sephora was starting to descend. Uru'baen was below them now and she was flying over the city looking for Hannai. Caspian cast out his mind trying to find her, it wasn't hard to recognize her mind even with thousands and thousands in the city. "There," he said out loud to Sephora pointing north-east. Sephora angled that way and the moment Caspian saw Hannai he started to unbuckle himself from the saddle.

Sephora's golden scales gleamed in the light as she landed. Caspian jumped off her back only to fall. He'd been riding so long he didn't exactly have his land legs yet. He'd left his sword on Sephora's saddle so at least he hadn't fallen on that. Sephora's eyes danced with amusement watching him. Caspian got up but more slowly while he got his balance and land legs back. "Hannai!" he said excitedly. He was a bit too in shock of actually seeing her to think of anything else to say.

[Harbor]

Hannai sighed as she saw, as usual, nothing out of the ordinary in her sky. Even if dragons were real she’d never consider them part of the ordinary world, but she’d gladly accept them there if they were all as pleasant to talk to as Sephora was. Plus she was pretty, and there was no harm in having pretty things in your life so long as they didn’t kill or hurt you.

The lizard in Hannai’s pocket fidgeted, squirming, and she tucked her hand into the pocket to warm it, wondering if that was what it wanted or if it just didn’t care for being in her apron. It bit her and she frowned at it, then frowned at the two-dozen tiny teeth marks it had left in her fingernail, though curiously her skin was unbroken. In case it was hungry—and since it evidently had such strong teeth—she crouched, careful not to squash her pocket, and found a slow-moving beetle, dropping it into her pocket and flattening her hand over the top so it couldn’t escape. The lizard scrambled, she opened her pocket, and the beetle was gone. She grinned.

A shadow passing over her made her jump, as it moved too quickly to be a cloud but was too large to be a bird. When she saw the familiar underside of the only dragon she’d ever made the acquaintance of she grinned, hastily standing and sprinting in the direction it looked like they were going to land in, feeling as though a tree was sprouting in her chest as her ribs expanded. She kept one hand in her pocket to limit the amount of bouncing the poor lizard did. Caspian—at least she hoped it was him, she couldn’t really see details well until she was close to them—stumbled out of Sephora’s saddle nearly before she’d properly landed and Hannai felt the laugh in her chest but didn’t hear it—they were always silent.

Assuming he could mentally hear her—as she’d given him permission ages ago that he could peek inside her head if he was just trying to have a conversation—she called back to him with equal relief, finally reaching him and leaping, one arm outstretched.

I’ve missed you! she said emphatically, right hand still awkwardly and protectively cupped over the reptile in her pocket. You’ve grown. She held her fingers spaced above the top of her head to express the difference between where his chin used to be and where it was now. I got a job. What have you been learning? Hello, Sephora. There’s a river— She showed her where in her mind, hoping she was listening too, or at least that Caspian would pass along her message. Sephora looked tired. Flying must be an exhausting endeavor. For Hannai at least it always had been, but it had been a wonderful, burning kind of exhaustion. Not the gray and wet-soot kind.

I found a place for Destrier, she showed him next, flickering through her worry the first few days as she sought places that would take him. But one of the nobles among the Varden had loaned her some money to find a stable with an attached pasture for the horse, and she’d spent all afternoon comparing numbers in her head—numbers she could do, even if she couldn’t read. She liked to go sit with the horse in his pasture on her off time or when she was done for the day. Sometimes she and he walked through the market, him walking behind her with his head hanging over her shoulder, because she imagined for such a well-traveled horse as he he probably got tired of just seeing the pasture every day. He followed her well, for which she’d been relieved, because she didn’t have the confidence to try to convince him to follow her.

[Emiryal ♕]

Caspian grinned and caught her in his arms when she leaped for him. He already had reached out to listen to her the moment he had spotted her. While he'd been away for so long it was almost by instinct that he reached out to her so they could talk.

"I've missed you too," he said. He was relieved that she remembered him, at least he hadn't been gone long enough to ruin what they had or worse forget each other. He glanced at her hand to see what she was talking about and nodded. "I guess I have grown and-" he said trailing off. He took her hand in his and put her hand to his cheek. It wasn't smooth any more. He had some slight stubble there now. He'd not bothered to use any magic to get rid of it like he usually did since he'd been trying to get back quickly.

"Learning? Everything, it's exhausting. The riders didn't want me to leave, but they said once I mastered a particular spell I could have a break and come see you...they want me to go back though," he said sadly. He didn't want to go back. He was content to stay here with Hannai forever if he could. "A job? Where at and do they treat you well?" he asked thinking of the first time he'd met her.

"Thank you," Sephora said to Hannai then she came a little closer and nudged Caspian to get his attention. She wanted the saddle off. Caspian looked confused and then walked over to her and started unbuckling it. He paused hearing her mention Destrier and looked a bit guilty. "Destrier? I um forgot about him, thank you for looking after him. I can pay you back for it. Can we go see him sometime?"

Sephora stretched once the saddle was off then lowered her head to Hannai's eye level and looked at her. "I wish I could give you, your voice," she said. Dragon magic wasn't something she'd ever done before but Caspian had asked her when they learned about it if she'd do it for Hannai's voice. But she didn't think she could. "That lizard in your pocket is injured isn't he," she added. "Have Caspian heal him and I think he wants to sunbathe, he's been complaining to me ever since I landed."

She took a step back not waiting for her answer, though if she replied unlike with a voice it would reach her until she flew to far. She flapped her wings hard sending gusts of wind over the pair but was careful not to hit them with her wings or her tail as she took off before going in the direction Hannai had shown here the river to be.

Caspian watched her go and seemed a bit reluctant to be separated from her even if it wasn't for long or far. He glanced at Hannai confused. "What did she tell you?" he asked. Sephora hadn't let him in on it and had only spoken to Hannai. He was slightly worried that she'd said something he'd regret. Maybe something embarrassing for him.

[Harbor]

Hannai was glad he was quick enough on the uptake to catch her, as she wouldn’t have trusted anyone else to do so. Just because she had the confidence to ‘talk’ to people now didn’t mean she necessarily had close friends yet. But someday maybe. She soundlessly laughed when she felt the prickles on his cheek. Vagabond, she teased, patting said cheek. She wanted to know if he planned on growing a beard, and mimed stroking a beard from her own chin. Even though she was surrounded by words every day it still felt unnatural to her to express herself in sentences. She’d never really done it before, and certainly not often enough to get in the habit of it.

While sad to hear that he wasn’t yet back to stay, Hannai was glad that he didn’t seem to dislike his studies, as tiresome as they apparently were. What spell? His face fell, and she wondered if spell-learning was more wearing than she’d thought when he briefly described what he’d learned before. She tugged on his shirt. She wanted to know if he didn’t want to go back because he didn’t enjoy it there or if he was just lonely. She vastly appreciated their giving him a vacation—how long was he allowed to stay?

”Do they treat you well?”

She grinned, glad to be able to give him good news, and proud of herself as well. She showed him flashes of the handful of houses she did the ‘high cleaning’ in, with her uncommon skill of being able to climb virtually anything. She showed him the dubious housekeepers and butlers, and the maids and ladies of the house who let out shrieks when they first saw her stretched between walls so she could wipe cobwebs from the ceilings, fifteen feet high and perfectly content. The footmen and men of the house jumped too, but tried not to, and had to hastily smooth down their beards and mustaches when she startled them like that. They all jumped less now though, and she was sad because of that. But the housekeeper of the house she ate and slept in looked out for her. They all knew her name. This was important to her. She was speaking to people. They spoke back.

Sephora diverted Hannai’s attention and she looked beyond Caspian as he worked on unbuckling her saddle, into one of Sephora’s glittering gold eyes. They were very pretty eyes. She was surprised by Sephora’s wish, and appreciated it, and smiled. She hoped Sephora was still listening so she could know that Hannai was happier now than she’d ever been before—she almost didn’t need one, but she was glad Sephora cared. She liked having friends.

Of course, she said to Caspian’s wish of seeing his horse again, wondering why he looked uncertain. She showed him the last time she’d seen the horse, happily cropping dandelions and eyeing a mare he’d made friends with over the last few weeks. The mare didn’t like him back. He didn’t seem to mind.

Hannai raised her eyebrows with surprise when Sephora referred to the reptile she still held protectively in her pocket, and tugged him out. He sat placidly in her palms, wide-eyed. He can complain? Did all animals have thoughts, then? Could the lizard speak like Sephora could?

Hannai pursed her lips and lightly whistled, and Caspian turned. Hannai held out the lizard with the ribbon-wrapped tail, replaying the part of her conversation in which Sephora had said Caspian could repair her broken lizard. She hoped he wouldn’t think the ribbon she’d used to hold his tail straight was silly. If he did she’d tie it to his saddle when he wasn’t looking. Sephora would be on her side.

Hannai tugged Caspian’s hand and pointed at a copse of trees, wondering if he’d want to leave Sephora’s saddle and his belongings there or carry them—she wanted to show him a closer offshoot of the river Sephora had gone to, more of a brook really. If he wanted to carry his belongings she would help, and he did not get a say in that matter. But there were frogs and turtles and tadpoles this time of year, not to mention all the bugs and odd plants clustering around the stream’s rocky, mossy banks. The water was deathly cold but it was shallow too, and unlikely therefore to cause death unless one decided to sleep in it.

[Emiryal ♕]

"Vagabond? Really?" Caspian asked but he was laughing to. He watched her motion a beard and shrugged. " I don't know, do you think I'd look good with one? the riders don't want me to grow one. The stubble is just because haven't shaved like I usually do since I was in a hurry to see you." He had been around her enough that he didn't think about it when she didn't exactly speak but showed him stuff or acted something out. That in a way was something he liked about her. Words could easily get in the way sometimes and cause misunderstandings. He never felt like he misunderstood what Hannai was trying to communicate. Well not any more it had taken getting used to at first.

When she asked him what spell, Caspian glanced around as if looking for something but apparently not finding it. "I had to be able to call out the true name of an item and manipulate it," he said. "They do treat me well but they push me pretty hard sometimes. They said for being human and only being with Sephora for a short time, that my skill in magic is rather exceptional. So they keep pushing me onto more advanced stuff. I actually couldn't do the spell they wanted I only got part of it down, they finally compromised that half of it was good enough to give me a break if I promised to keep practicing it."

When she started showing him how she cleaned the house he grinned and started laughing before he suddenly hugged her. He let go pretty quick tho realizing that was maybe a bit awkward. "I'd love to have been there when they saw you like that! You probably are the only housekeeper to ever clean like that! I'm glad you've found a place."

Caspian smiled seeing the glimpse of his horse through her. It seemed like everyone, even his horse was finding a place they liked. At least the war was over now so none of them had to worry about that. He watched her curiously though when she whistled and pulled the lizard out of her pocket. He had known it was there since he'd opened his mind to her and had felt the lizard when he did. But he hadn't thought anything of it.

He grinned seeing the ribbon and seemed somewhat amused by it. He wasn't going to say anything but it did look kinda funny on a lizard. And while Sephora wasn't a lizard he figured she'd probably hate wearing a ribbon like this. She was nice but she could be pretty vain sometimes. He gently untied the ribbon and dropped it on Hannai's head teasingly before taking the lizard from her and covered it with his other hand. He closed his eyes and stood still for a long moment concentrating. He didn't say anything but there was a light glow between his hands and when he opened his hands the lizard's tail wasn't broken. He gave it back to her but he looked a bit tired now. "They made me swear to practice casting without speaking while I was gone," he explained. It was rather dangerous and sephora wasn't happy about that part of their deal. But Caspian at least usually got it right, at least for simple spells. He didn't dare do any dangerous ones yet without using words to direct it.

He glanced at the trees and nodded. "We can leave it there, it's not like anyone can get near it without me knowing," he said and started moving the saddle to the trees. "How come?" he asked not sure why she wanted him to leave it there. He didn't know she was going to bring him near the river.

[Harbor]

Well, he was scruffy. Vagabonds were scruffy. The rest of him looked fine though, like he had someone who looked out for him. Sephora took good care of him. He did look older now though, and for reasons she didn’t understand that made her just the smallest bit sad. She still looked and felt like a wispy child, but here he was learning how to take care of other people, nearly an adult already. However he still looked uncertain sometimes, like when he talked about magic. He still seemed off even when he said his teachers said he was good at magic. She wondered why that was, and lightly poked him just to make sure he was paying attention at the right times, in case his mind had wandered.

Hannai heaved a sigh when she saw his face upon his seeing the ribbon, and swiped it off her head when he put it there, folding it up and tucking it back into one of her smaller pockets. Caspian didn’t speak as he had when he’d fixed her hands the night she met him, but then he explained why, and she nodded. She’d never used words to direct her breezes, but she still only rarely did that. To help her keep the dust from going awry, on dry days, but it still wasn’t something she felt the need to use on a daily basis, like her hands were. She smiled, and internally laughed as the lizard scrambled up Caspian’s wrist, over his elbow to his waist and down his leg, disappearing into the grass.

”How come?”

She tugged his elbow, pointing a little north of where Sephora had flown. The stream there had all sorts of things growing in it, and she wanted to show him. Plus she just liked the stream, and might just go visit it today whether or not he came with her. She liked the bugs and turtles especially. She wasn’t quick enough to catch much of anything there, but mostly she just liked to see them. Plus the moss was pretty. She liked moss more than the average person even thought about it.

Hannai jogged toward the stream, which was known to split and braid among these hills once you found it, and leaped onto a rock in the middle of a narrower place, only about as wide as she was tall, tucking in her dress so it wouldn’t trail in the water as she crouched. A few small fish darted by, and she could see a nervous frog hovering under his clump of grass on the other side.

{Sorry for shortness—low must at the moment.}

[Emiryal ♕]

(no problem that's understandable. Mine will be short since I'm being rushed right now.)

Caspian grinned watching the lizard scramble up his arm and down to the ground. He held still so as not to make the poor lizard fall in his attempt to get down. He had been pretty distracted watching the small creature and looked confused when she asked him how come. Huh?" he said snapping back to attention.

Seeing her take off he followed her, it wasn't hard to keep up with her and it was a pleasant jog. The day wasn't too hot at least. He stood on the bank of the river. He would've jumped to the spot she was at but it was pretty narrow and he didn't think there was enough room. He'd end up knocking her into the river if he tried to jump over probably too.

"It's peaceful here," he commented looking at the river. He held a hand out over the water and a large bubble of water rose up at his command and hovered a few inches from the river. There were a couple of fish in it, they seemed started and swam around not sure what had happened. He watched them curiously. The water bubble abruptly dropped back into the water with a splash as Caspian became distracted. He was suddenly looking up the stream intently. A moment later a glitter of gold scales came into view. Sephora was flying towards them. She landed on the opposite shore that Caspian was on.

[Harbor]

Of course it was peaceful, that was why she liked it. But it was peaceful in an active way, as opposed to a still way, like a lot of noble houses were. They didn’t always have children still in the house and their receiving rooms, then, were generally quiet unless they had visitors. The servants’ halls were always abustle, but they weren’t supposed to be troublesome in the front areas of the house, so there was little to listen to there. Then outside the houses was always busy, at least during the hours Hannai felt comfortable outside on her own.

But this place was nice, and she imagined, if she weren’t afraid of the dark, it would be nice at all hours. The stream had its constant conversation with itself, the birds and frogs and toads with each other, the insects whirring and creaking, the trees shifting, leaves tsking as though she’d snuck out of the house, and it weren’t her day off. Plus it was always changing and somehow managed to stay the same. The rocks didn’t move around but new things grew and receded or reseeded and the toads and frogs were never what in the same place twice. She didn’t even try to catch the fish however, not with her bare hands. She’d made a leaky dam with rocks once, and caught one, but it had seemed so confused to find its way block that she knocked the dam down and watched it go.

Hannai grinned at the orb of water Caspian lifted, and leaped back to his side so she could look at it closer, lightly running her fingertip through its edge. A fish nibbled at it. The minnows were skittish though. Silt swirled in among them. Caspian dropped the orb and its contents swam hurriedly away, but she moved on downstream to see if there were any turtles lurking under the log lodged up against the bank there—they usually saw her first and disappeared, but they didn’t tend to go far. When Sephora landed she waved. ”Do you ever catch and eat fish?” she wondered to Sephora, visualizing the small fish she was used to seeing escaping between Sephora’s wide teeth. It didn’t seem a very fruitful way to hunt. Something moved along her hairline and she tugged a *gray ladybug out of her hair. Grinning, she returned to Caspian’s side and put it on the back of his hand to show him. She’d never seen a gray one before.

{*The gray ones do exist, as it so happens. I found that out just this year!}