Love, It's An Interesting Thing

Chapter 3

"They fled to the Lone Islands. No one has heard from them since." He says with a heavy sadness in his voice.

"How dreadful..." I respond sadly.

"So you think something has happened to them?" Edmund asks.

"Well, if something has, it's my duty to find out." Caspian moves his hand over mine on his shoulder and gasps it for comfort. I squeeze his hand, a signal letting him know that I'm there for him.

"Well, what's East of the Lone Islands?" Lucy asks.

"Uncharted waters. Things you can barely imagine. Tales of sea serpents and much worse." Capitan Drinian says.

I tense up at this and Caspian can sense it. He squeezes my hand, just as I had squeezed his and my body relaxes at his gesture.

Lucy notices and gives me the all-knowing 'I know you like him' look. I blush and look away from her.

"Sea serpents?" Edmund asks with disbelief.

"All right, Captain. That's enough of your tall tales." Caspian says, letting go of my hand and grabbing an apple.

We all exit the room and I find myself looking over the edge of the boat at the crashing waves. I listened to the sounds of the water and tasted the salty air that blew through my hair.

I don't know how long I was standing there but I didn't care. The waves brought me peace. Being on this ship that I dreamt of brought me peace.

"Be careful, I don't want you to fall in." I hear Caspian chuckle behind me.

"Would you rescue me again if I did?" I ask with a smirk, not looking over yet.

"Yeah, I would, there wouldn't be a second thought. I couldn't let the world lose an amazing woman." He says. I turn to him. "And I'm also sure your family would kill me if I didn't." He adds and I laugh.

"Lucy told me to ask you about how you all arrived here." He questions. I smile and chuckle.

"It was my painting, my dream painting as I like to call it. It's a long story." I say.

"I have time." He tells me, sitting us both down on some boxes, facing each other.

"There was this one night, I had a dream that I was on this island and I was stranded. Night after night in my dream I would make fire signals and messages with rocks when finally out in the distance, I could see a ship. It was so beautiful... I loved it so much that when I woke up the next morning, I wrote down all I could remember about the ship on a piece of paper. I wrote down all of the features and colors and even the dimensions. I kept adding to the details every time I had that dream. Eventually, after feeling that I could no longer write anything down, I gave the paper to my friend, who's a really great painter, and she painted it for me. She did it perfectly...The painting brought me comfort because it was my saving hope in my dream, it helped me escape the island I was stranded on. It makes me think that maybe, in real life, I can escape from my parents and what they are trying to do. I want to escape and be authentic... Are you ready for the shocking part?" I chuckle.

He nods his head and slides ever-so-slightly closer to me.

"It was this ship, Cas, in my dream. It was the Dawn Treader that had saved me. We arrived here after it exploded in my room and water went everywhere. The room filled up and then disappeared completely! When we swam to the top--" I say turning to face him.

"I found you and your family." Caspian finished for me. "So you dreamt of the Dawn Treader here in Narnia before you even knew about it?" He asks with a smile.

"Yeah, I guess so." I chuckle.

"Maybe you're meant to be here. Aslan brought you here for a reason. He's the only way you could've gotten here." He tells me. I smile and nod, not knowing what to say.

"Well, whatever the reason, I'm glad you're here." He tells me with a smile.

And then I feel it. The feeling that people get when they're safe with that one person and they can be themselves with them. The feeling of joy and quirkiness... I feel wanted... and it feels nice. I don't know how to explain it fully...

"What did you mean by escaping your parents and what they're trying to do?" Caspian asks me.

"They want to marry me off to some rich guy so that they can have money. They have repeatedly tried to pair me with a certain guy but I've always managed to avoid it." I respond.

"Oh, I'm sorry, well you don't have to worry about that as long as you're here." He says to me with a smile.

"Thanks, Cas." I tell him, mirroring his smile.

"I like that nickname, you should use it more often. And also, we are going to test your sword skills tomorrow so be ready!" He tells me, his smile growing bigger.

I chuckle and someone calls for him. He bid me goodbye and leaves, leaving me to deal with the blush on my cheeks.

I look back out to the ocean and I see something in the water. Mermaids... made out of water... extraordinary...

I see the sun setting and the exhaustion of the day sets in. I got brought to a new land, met a great and handsome guy who just happened to be a King, ended up on my dream boat, found out my cousins are royalty, and discovered a talking mouse and lots of creatures... Yeah, I think it's time to rest.