Young Apprentice

Caspian considered Naomi's face as she looked after the departing apprentice. Something she'd once said to him echoed in his thoughts. Her mother had sent her away to 'seek her fortune, or a husband.' 

Obviously, she'd done the latter, as he could attest. But now, her thoughtful glance after the girl who'd done the former when her parents sent her to Klain gave him pause. 

Did Naomi now wish she'd tried that instead? 

Her brow was furrowed, and he began to worry. It was true that if she'd found someone to take her on as an apprentice in Klain, she never would have been nearly drowned, or snatched by a gargoyle, or dragged against her will into another world… or married to him. 

He searched her expression for regret, and she turned to look at him. Worry suddenly creased her face, a mirror of his own. 

"What were you thinking of, just now?" He asked, unable to stop the question from tumbling out. He would rather know, than wonder. 

"How different my life would have been," She glanced over at Simone again, "if I had made different choices." 

"Better?" He hated himself for not being certain. 

"How could you ask me such a thing? I cannot imagine a better life than what I have now." She touched her necklace, the symbol of their marriage, with her right hand as she reached over to take one of his hands in her left. "Do you doubt my happiness? My love?" 

The guide suddenly saw someone he knew and needed to speak with, stepping away silently to leave the couple with a moment of privacy. 

Caspian lifted her hand and pressed her fingers to his lips, not daring to show more open affection than that in a foreign public place.

"It is still new–and strange," He admitted. "It feels like a dream sometimes." 

She nodded, but said nothing more on the matter. He wondered if he'd hurt her feelings, and regretted asking her about her private thoughts. It was natural for anyone to wonder how different things might have been. 

He kept her hand in his, intertwining their fingers to keep her close as they continued their tour. Her interest in books and stories remained in the back of his mind as they toured the rest of the main city areas. 

The guide led them back to Finn's house just as evening was beginning, offering to show them the remaining parks and residential areas another day, if they so wished. The city was simply too large to see it all in a single day. 

Caspian deferred to the Council's schedule for his stay, knowing there was much he needed to do besides enjoy the sights in his wife's company. His mother had high expectations for his time with these people, and he did not want to disappoint her. 

Edmar had done more than enough disappointing for the both of them. 

Finn had prepared the evening meal with Jacqueline's help, and Naomi joined in to set the table before the girls were called inside from playing to eat. 

"How was the tour?" The hostess was asking as Caspian brought in an armload of firewood from the outdoor pile. Just because he was a diplomatic guest did not mean he would be useless to his cousin's wife. 

"It was wonderful! There are so many things in Klain," Naomi gushed. "The library is beautiful." 

"The public library is amazing. I have spent many hours there, and in the one where the older, more fragile government books are kept." Finn smiled. 

"There are MORE books?" Naomi was normally fairly subdued in her responses to most situations, but her voice rose in surprise at this revelation. 

"Oh, yes, many more. And further books elsewhere. There are the book shops, of course, but I have often wondered what records are kept in the tunnels beneath the city as well. I stumbled onto a room full of genealogies down there before, but I bet there are untold other records down there as well." Finn brushed a lock of hair back from her face and took a pot of stew off the stove to move it to the table. 

"Genealogies?" Caspian asked. 

"Oh, yes. I was able to trace my own lineage back to the founding of Klain. I'm curious… in my research, I found the origins of Rhone and when it splintered off of Klain, but I don't believe I've seen anything in my reading about the origin of your people. Would you mind telling me, if you know? Girls, wash your hands!" She added the last sentence as an aside as Victoria and Quilina scampered inside. 

"Dr. Sherman has been feeling a bit neglected, so Victoria is going to spend the night here so that he can have some alone time with Mrs. Sherman," Finn confided to Caspian and Naomi. "I also thought Quilina might continue to sleep better if she had a friend to stay with her." 

"That was extremely thoughtful of you, on both counts," Naomi complimented, and Caspian nodded his agreement before answering her earlier question. 

"I'd be happy to tell you what I know. My knowledge is not as comprehensive as my mother's, but I was drilled rather thoroughly along with my brother about our people's history." 

"Wonderful!" Finn beamed at him. "Please don't leave anything out. Even mythology can't be discarded as fiction these days." 

Caspian blinked and nodded slightly, though he didn't completely understand her meaning. He knew Klain had not believed in other worlds or magic of any kind until recent years, but had they reduced all matters of that sort to mere mythology?

Of course, the Cetoans had not known of magic in particular, only of the Leviathan and the fact that there were other worlds to visit. He supposed every nation had gaps in their knowledge. 

They all sat down for dinner, the babies nearby on a blanket on the floor, cooing and wriggling, trying out their tiny limbs and muscles. Finn gestured for Caspian to begin when he was ready, and the table full of ladies eagerly turned to him for his tale. 

It was a bit odd, if he were honest. He was far more used to being in the company of primarily men. The ships, of course, were always solely male-occupied. His house growing up had contained only his mother for feminine presence. Even the dog they had kept through his childhood had been male. 

"The Cetoans moved to the sea, if legend holds, at the time when a great Sorcerer created and ruled the known world," Caspian began. He wasn't a well-known storyteller among his people, but he warmed to the role when Finn dropped her fork and was instantly enthralled with his tale. 

"It is said that he ruled justly, and kindly, but the world resisted his will. People broke his laws, and so the world became broken. The fractures of creation reverberated, and fissures between worlds began to form. As the world of humans saw the pieces fall away, Cetoans, in pursuit of the wholeness that once was, moved to the sea: the place where the fissures were thinnest, and the pathways between worlds the shortest. 

"Our people learned over generations how to harness the Leviathan, to sail through the portals, and to return home again. It has been our way of life ever since." 

He took a bite of the stew, chewing on the food as his audience digested the information he'd given them. Finn had not yet picked her fork back up. 

"What else of the Sorcerer? Does he still live? Are there other legends of him?" She asked eagerly. 

Caspian slowed, and thought, reviewing his mother's bedtime stories in his mind. 

"He was said to have created and ruled all, but after the Fracture, left and only revealed himself in times of dire need. The children's tales promise his return one day, and that he will heal what has been broken." The tales had been comforting to him as a child, but he had not thought of them in a long while. 

"When will he come back?" Finn's questions were far too intense for idle curiosity or academic research. 

"I… he won't? It's just a story." Caspian assured her. He didn't want to worry his hostess over a children's fairy tale. 

Serafina had so far been the picture of grace and welcome since his arrival. The irritation on her face now startled him slightly. 

"The Rhone were just a story to Klain, did you know? Before the war, that is. And the halflings were just a story. And magic. And the Sorcerer. All stories, until they weren't." She snapped at him. "Please don't patronize me, Caspian. I won't have it. Your 'story' just now is the best new information I've heard on the Sorcerer in a very long time, and it will be easier if you don't dismiss any of it offhand as ridiculous." 

He blinked at her several times, and she appeared slightly chagrined at her outburst. 

"I apologize for my tone," Finn lowered her voice, "but I must know. Is the Sorcerer coming back, and when?"