Forever Praying

It wasn’t a shock to anyone but Candide that the man was King Caspian. No one else seemed to understand the excitement that the young woman was experiencing at the moment, although she did her best to hide it. She didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of the man she had wanted to meet for most of her life.

After the initial shock, that she had no time to recover from, they started to head towards King Caspian’s castle. They were now approximately sixty men plus Candide, but instead of being stuck in the middle of the army once again, only being able to see horses and armour, she was allowed in front with Caspian. Christopher was right behind them, and he was far from happy. Every time he needed to speak it came out as grunts and Candide had a hard time refraining herself from laughing. Alexander was also with Caspian and herself, which was nice. He hadn’t been especially happy that she’d snuck off, but he had laughed it off and everything went back to normal between them.

Candide couldn’t help but be completely mystified when he spoke, drinking his words like she was dying of thirst. He was probably the most interesting person she had ever met, although it wasn’t as if he talked all the time. The man was impossibly polite and quite charming also, not to mention incredibly handsome. He seemed almost perfect, but Candide didn’t believe it. Even if she had admired Caspian for years, she knew he couldn’t be without fault, and she was intent on finding out whatever secret he had. But for now, she was fine with just talking to him.
Conversation never died down, or got awkward between them. It just flowed smoothly, never forced or anything of the sort. The chemistry between them was unmistakable and Candide was sure that was one of the reasons why Christopher seemed so ticked off.

“King Caspian, may I ask you a question?” she asked. They had stopped for lunch, and the men were scattered around the small field they had chosen, which gave Candide and Caspian much more privacy, even more so now that Alexander had gone to sit with the rest of the men.

“You can just call me Caspian, if you want too, Princess. And of course you can.”

“Thank you, Caspian. You have to call me Candide, though. Also, for my question, do you believe Aslan is real? I mean, I don’t believe I know anyone who’s ever met him. What do you think?”

Caspian looked up from his meal, a smile on his lips that sent Candide’s heart into a frenzy. She didn’t think she’d ever get used to it, no matter how long she’d be in his company.

“In fact, I do believe in him.” Those words started a tale that Candide had a hard time believing, although she knew it must’ve been true. It had to do with a curse and the Penvensie siblings. It almost sounded like a fairytale, and honestly there were only two reasons Candide believed him.

One, her father had been quite stressed some time two years ago, and for some reason he hadn’t shared the reason with her, making that a first. She had always wondered about it, and it matched quite well with the story.

Two, Candide didn’t believe Caspian would lie to her. Or, at least he wouldn’t lie to her about this particular thing. The young woman didn’t think Caspian would ever lie to her, she felt it in her heart.

By the time Caspian had finished telling his story, they were on the road once more and Candide was completely shocked. When he finished, he turned to see her expression and a grin spread across his face once he saw that her mouth had fallen open.

“That’s amazing! I wish I’d been there!” she exclaimed, ignoring the glare Christopher was sending her way. At that, Caspian let out a heartfelt laugh.

“I wish you had, Candide. But now, we’ll be able to have adventures of our own.” He said, smiling at her and she couldn’t help but repeat the action.

That was everything she had ever wanted to hear and she couldn’t have been happier.