eachdraidh | .001 Action | Video [ Open to All ]

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[It was a long walk to Caer Glaem. Fortunately, Susan was close enough that that the road to it was fairly safe. She would feel better about this whole thing if her brothers and sister were here, or if she had her bow, or even her horn. Instead she was wearing her school clothes, and they were none too clean at this point. Still, Susan was hoping for a better explanation, and from what the friendly fairies and townspeople had to say the castle was the place to get it.

She was hungry. Fruit trees and handouts didn't do much in the way of assuaging hunger when one was walking all day. She hoped there would at least be food in the castle; it was looming large in her vision now and she hoped to get there within the end of the day. It was a good thing, too. She'd bathed in a stream that morning, but--

"Lawkamercyme!" cried a high pitched voice, and Susan turned her head just in time to see a small, green-tinted fairy fall into a faint. A dark shadow globbed its way towards the fairy, Susan was sure it had foul intent. Dark shadows with gleam of teeth almost always did. She wished for her bow more than ever, but didn't hesitate to pick up a large stone at her feet. She was frightened - how did one fight a shadow? Oh, she hated to fight - but she wasn't about to just stand there and watch. She shouted, "You! There! Get away from that fairy!"

The shadow did not seem much impressed. And so Susan threw the stone with impressive aim, clipping the beast right in the mouth. It hissed and abandoned the fairy, heading towards her instead. She bent to pick up another rock.]

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[For a long moment, the locket shows a beautiful face with a furrowed brow, staring intently at its own reflection. Susan has never seen anything like this before. She is at the castle now, clean and clothed and fed, so her image doesn't look quite as dire as it had earlier that day, and her dark hair is swept back neatly in a braid.] Ah - so it does work! At least, I assume it does, and this is a message going out all over the lockets and not just some sort of fancy mirror.

[In either case, she's beginning to feel a little self-conscious. She reaches for easily remembered dignity.] I don't mean to intrude, but I have heard that this is something which happens often. And I wonder, is there anyone from England here? [She misses her family; two weeks of walking among strangers in a strange land was more than enough alone time for now, thanks.] Or even [marked hesitation] Narnia?

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Her eyes widened a little bit at his vulgarity. She knew words like 'bloody' and 'bugger' existed, of course, but back in Finchley they weren't exactly said around children, let alone young ladies.

"Well, I hardly intended to be out here. I've been walking towards the castle for weeks."

Susan always got along well with animals, and hearing that the creature had a fondness for girls made her want to thank the dog. She bent down gracefully and extended a hand, inviting it over. "I'm guessing you don't mean 'fondness' in terms of tea parties."

The leash was long enough that there was room for the hound to cover and sniff her hand. Despite Gendry thinking that to be a bit of rubbish, he didn't put as top to it. Instead, he looked away to check if more of the little beasties about. Largely he was just antsy to get back and wasn't feeling terribly patient about whatever business brought this girl to the castle. After all, he had no notion she was meant to be a shardholder.

"No, not likely. You'd best come with us, unless you fancy meeting another. We'll get you to the gates."

Susan and the dog got on rather well, actually, as he appreciated a good scratch behind the ears and she let him go before he managed to find it an affront to his dignity. There was something solidly reassuring about the animal, and for a moment she wished it could speak... though of course if it had, it likely would have submitted to even less petting. Reepicheep had barely allowed her to hug him at the end of the battle.

She missed him.

She missed all of her family and friends, and that reason was even more compelling than the fear of the shadow creature. "I'd appreciate that. Thanks."

She'd been mostly by herself for too long, and even though the castle was less than a day's walk, she was glad of the company.

He looked back to her and the dog and decided that she was rather pretty, even if she was dressed very strangely for someone traveling alone. It wasn't quite like the fashions from the Station, but it did seem similar and that alone made him curious.

"I'm Gendry," he announced after he'd started walking and leading the way. "Ser Gendry."

He did not often clarify he was a knight because he felt no particular pride in it. But he felt it would perhaps better explain why he was out and about leading a hound around than explaining he was also a blacksmith.

"My name is Susan." What kind of a name was 'Gendry?' She couldn't place it. And 'Ser' - very much like 'Sir,' she thought. That would explain the sword, and she gave it a quick glance. Susan was not the sword expert that her brothers were, but she had learned in her reign how to distinguish good work... and swords usually needed to be well out of their scabbards for that. Still, the pommel seemed practical, rounded and with a vaguely fox-shaped hilt. She wondered if he was a knight. They didn't usually go around in patched tunics and blue jeans, in her experience, but... this was a strange world.

"I'm very glad you happened to be taking your dog for a walk. Does he have a name as well?"

He shook his head. "No, he ain't my dog. He belongs to the kennelmaster and he didn't give me no name for him. That bugger what attacked you isn't the only one. There's more of them scattered all over the place. So we was checking outside the walls to keep more from sneaking in."

For a moment, Gendry stopped walking and looked back to her. "If you see another, say lawkamercyme. I know it sounds like bollocks, but it seems to weaken them. Do it enough and they vanish."

"That sounds like what the fairy said right before she fainted," Susan observed, still a little disoriented by Gendry's cursing. Most knights she knew didn't talk like that either. "I thought it was just - an expression of some kind."

You know. Like bloody, bugger, and bollocks. Goodness.

She gave a serious nod, "Thanks for the tip."

Of course, his information only raised more questions. What were the creatures? Why were they attacking everyone? Why were they trying to sneak in - and sneak in to where, the castle? And of course, what kind of kennelmaster didn't name his dogs?

"Do you know why they're attacking everyone?" That seemed the most pertinent question.

He shrugged as he began to lead the way agian. "A fairy told me it was on account of what happened with the stars. Mostly they're attacking women, though. Don't really know why. They must figure you easier pickings."

Not bothering to disguise his frustration, he gestured vaguely to their surroundings. "But it's the sort of thing what happens when there's magic bleeding everywhere."

Ah, if they were mostly attacking women that explained why he thought she shouldn't be outside. She couldn't say much about why the creatures were attacking women, though. They wouldn't be the first sort of creature to make that mistake. She wished she had her bow.

All that was processed in the back of her mind, however, what stood out to her most was, "What happened with the stars?"

When things happened in the stars, at least in Narnia, it was best to pay attention.

He turned back around to look at her, skepticism written all over his expression.

"What, you don't remember seeing it? There were nights if you stared at them, they'd get all blurry, like the way things do when it's really hot. After that, they seemed to be trying to speak to us." Though he was not sure if that was unique to those with shards. He'd never thought to ask anyone about that.

Susan didn't feel patronized by his question. Gendry seemed genuinely confused. There were two possible explanations for this, and the fact that magic had somehow mucked about with her memories was far more frightening than the other. Still, she was concerned enough about it that it reflected in her tone when she asked about the second possibility.

"Just when did this all happen, exactly?"

"No more than a month ago. Are you sure you don't remember it?" He paused and remembered Cothromach and it made sense to him. "Oh, you were underground, weren't you?"

"No..." although she was curious as to why he'd think that. What a colorful history it seemed this place had! And in just under a month? "But that does explain it. I've only been here for about two weeks now."

"What do you mean when you say here?" Despite the question, he already had an idea of what she meant. "Did you dream about fairies two weeks ago?"

"Not exactly dream..." There had been the station in London, and the beautiful lagoon, and Narnia... and then there had been the fairies, holding out their hands to her, imploring. Explaining the doorway between the worlds was somewhat beyond her, however, because she didn't really understand it herself. She wasn't sure you could understand Aslan's kind of magic. "But yes, something like that is what happened. I went towards them and I ended up in a valley, here."

"Bad luck, that. Most folk arrive at the castle for the feast." Of course, most complained the feast was no proper compensation for being drawn into a conflict. But most people didn't appear to be peasants starving in the Riverlands either. Food had been a fine way to earn his loyalty, such as it was. "Still, that makes you a shardholder. They'll fetch you a decent meal, if they're not busy being eaten by shadow beasts."

She gave him a quick grin, "Well, I'd rather not be eaten by shadow beasts. And I am hungry."

Fruit and handouts gleaned along the way were not exactly filling when one was walking all day, and Susan had her priorities straight: Food. Not becoming food. New shoes. A longer bath. New clothes. Oh yes, she had a list.

As a point of fact, he realized he was getting rather hungry himself, because he had not eaten anything but a dried up roll that hadn't got any tastier from rolling around in his pouch. There had been crumbs in there, but the fairy would probably eat those now. He wasn't sure if the dog was hungry either, because it had sunk its teeth into a half dozen lawkamercymes, but he wasn't sure if shadows were particularly filling. "Then I'll show you the kitchens. If you've got a shard, you'll be living in the castle." A pause. "Do you think those shadows have any meat to them?"

"I would think that things with meat in them would respond a little better to being beaned in the eye with a rock," Susan said, not a little wryly. She was good at archery, good with her aim, and she hated having to fight; she shut down completely when she did. The fact that such a small creature hadn't been the slightest bit affected by her attack was a little - embarrassing, frustrating, frightening, take your pick.

She didn't understand why the hound's attack had such a more definite affect. It had to be magic.

"What's this about a shard?" The fairies had, of course, mentioned it. But it didn't make much sense to Susan, and she'd been a bit confused when she'd come through.

He nodded and decided that seemed sound logic to him. It would mean he would be sure to get the hound some sort of treat as reward for a job well done. Sausages, perhaps. Gendry liked sausages.

But not to be lost in the longings of his stomach, he fell into step beside her and tapped on his chest. "I don't really know, but we're said to have them. They belong to something bigger, I think. The Seelie and the Unseelie are fighting over who has the most. So they treat us nice like to keep us all on whichever side recruits us first." It was not a particularly glamorous situation or noble, but it was what it was. It seemed no stranger a reason for conflict than what was raging in Westeros. "I thought it was bollocks before, but I've felt my shard. I've felt it burn and I've even learned to use it a bit. I know it don't mean much to look at me, but I'm a bit stronger than I look."

Of course with his thick arms from hard labor, he looked strong already. Which was his point, because he'd already figured himself plenty strong enough already.

Susan was able to follow this relatively easily. It wasn't the first time she'd been magically recruited to fight in someone else's war. But Narnia was different - Narnia had very quickly become part of her blood, and even the air of Narnia did strange and wonderful things to her, making her feel as if she belonged, as if she was welcome and wiser and stronger and home. It had felt the same when she returned and she almost felt she still carried it with her. Susan of Finchley would have had a difficult time walking all day every day for two straight weeks. Susan of Narnia was only a little sore.

But there was a difference - or perhaps a similarity - there as well. He could 'feel' the shard? It made him stronger? Susan's gaze lingered on Gendry's arms in simple assessment. No, he wasn't one she'd like to fight up close.

"You felt it burn?" Magic. It had to be magic. "And what do you mean, 'learn how to use it?' It's not a... tool of some kind, right? I mean, they are inside us."

"I went to learn from another shardholder. One who had been in this world for many years already. Ser Reynard taught us how to draw strength and speed from our shards. There's power in them and it's not just for the kings and queens to use, but we can do the same." Gendry had admittedly learned it slower than the others, because he had been learning more about the sword than the shard inside him. But he'd picked up enough. "In the end, though, he tried to betray us. He near murdered us all just to get our shards. It's the only way to get them out of us. We have to die to lose them."

He frowned as he stared at his feet. "In any case... I think Ser Reynard lost his shard once. But he replaced them with others. He gutted other people to fill himself with as many as he could. When he showed us the scar, I felt my own shard inside me. It burned, like it wasn't supposed to be there, like it wanted to join all the other bits he'd already taken. I think it wanted to be whole. Or close to whole as it could be."

...that was a little frightening. Or more than a little frightening, really, to think that there was something inside her wanting to get out, longing to be with other parts of itself. Subconsciously, her hand went over her heart, as if to keep it in.

"That sounds... horrible."

Suddenly she was very glad that her sister and brothers were not here. She knew well what it meant to be used for someone else's advancement, although not as well as Edmund. She'd seen how it was when Peter had confronted Jadis. She remembered how special Rabadash had made her feel... when she was in Narnia.

He hadn't meant to frighten her, even if it was perhaps just as well that he did. Having learned all this now, he felt warier than he had been before when it came to being away from the castle. He was carrying the most important currency to be had in this world and the only way to be free of it was to lose his life. It was a poor exchange for being able to draw a little extra power from it.

"You just need to be careful, is all. The castle is as safe a place as you'll find, never minding the pests it has now and then."

That was the extent of comforting advice he had available.

Susan nods, her brow still furrowed. "I don't suppose anyone's mentioned... how the shards have managed to come inside us in the first place?"

If there was a 'why me' in there, it was at least mostly hidden under practicality. After all, there had to be a reason, a start to all of this. Her hand returned to her side with an effort of will, though the fingers flexed, as if plucking a bow string.

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