Watching the Stars

The next day, Caspian was forced by his Uncle (who had been told by Cornelius) and his professor to apologize for his un-princely behaviour to the young girl and her mother.

“I am greatly sorry for the actions I have caused that have delayed your lives,” Caspian exhaled the apology that he had memorized before the trip to the village.

“We accept your apology, Prince.” Estella and her mother nodded and curtsied towards Caspian.

Caspian grinned. Beside him, The Doctor rested his palm on the prince’s shoulder, “Perhaps Caspian can help you out for a little while. I will be taking a trip elsewhere and his studies shall discontinue for at least two weeks...”

Caspian turned to his professor. “What?! Where are you going?”

“It is of no importance,” Cornelius replied softly, “Are you willing to accept his aid?”

Estella’s mother, Beatriz, smiled widely. It was an honour to have Prince Caspian, the future King of Telmar, even right beside her. So to have her daughter perhaps make friends with him would be amazing. It was an offer that never came along, so she best have taken it. And she did.

“Yes,” Beatriz accepted, all smiles, “Caspian would be a great friend to Estella.”

“Mother!” Estella whined. “I do not wan to befriend a liar, and even if he is a prince, he surely wouldn’t make a good king.”

“Estella!” Beatriz scolded her daughter, “You do not say things like that to the Prince.”

Already, Caspian’s pride was hurt. All his short life, he was taught to think that he was the best, the greatest ruler that Telmar would ever see when his Uncle Miraz stepped down from the throne. But now, his confidence was reduced to nothing, all thanks to this little girl.

“Caspian, I leave today. Perhaps Beatriz could show you around and you and Estella could be friends, hm?” Cornelius proposed. This would be a great excuse for King Miraz; at first he didn’t approve of Doctor Cornelius taking a leave. But now, if Caspian would be busy, it’d give the professor time to do... more important things.

“All right,” Caspian pouted, watching his professor’s back as he walked away. Not only was Caspian’s ego deflated, but he would now have to hang around the person who destroyed it.

* * *

A while later, Caspian was helping Estella with lunch. He would’ve gone back to the castle for some fancy lunch, but that would’ve been with his uncle. Sometimes Caspian hated the time that he spent with his uncle. His uncle always spoiled things, like the fantasies that he used to have as a child. Caspian’s old nurse told him of talking animals and magical creatures, but she was sent away and he was told that they weren’t real. That was one of the biggest reasons that he disliked his uncle.

He always disliked his aunt as well. Her name was hard on his tongue, especially in his younger years. But Caspian always found that she never liked him back either, so he just chose not to like her as well.

“So what’s it like, being Prince?” the inevitable question escaped Estella’s lips, and Caspian let out a sigh. He liked being prince, but it’s not like he could have described it to a poor girl.

“It’s... all right,” Caspian half-lied. It was wonderful. He didn’t have to work, like this (well, now he did). His breakfast got served to him and he didn’t need to prepare it. His bed was huge and comfortable, not little and hard like Estella’s was. And, he lived in a grand castle, so what was bad about that? Nothing.

But he felt slightly guilty about describing all that to Estella. So Caspian tried to change the subject, “Well, at least I get to miss lessons.”

“Lessons, really?” Estella asked, placing some plates on the little dining table, “I don’t get lessons. I have to help around here. So, what do you learn?”

“Grammar, a lot of boring stuff... wait, you don’t get lessons?” Caspian asked.

“No,” Estella smiled. She couldn’t be mad that she never had lessons, because she didn’t know what they were like. Every child just wanted to play, and that didn’t exclude Caspian, so he dreaded learning every day. But Estella had the freedom to not learn at all.

Caspian inquired, “How do you learn things then? How did you learn to talk?”

“It’s easy,” Estella laughed. “I learned the way that you probably learned. It’s just the extra stuff that I don’t know, like the history of Telmar. The kings and queens, the parts of the country that I’ve never seen...”

The void that Estella caused before by deflating Caspian’s ego grew bigger. He couldn’t help but feel guilty, a drop of a good gene in his blood, and he didn’t know how to hide it. Guilt was never a thing taught in the castle, or in lessons.

Later that day, when Caspian left, he’d found out that Princes weren’t just special; they were more special than all of the people in Telmar.

So the next day before heading to Estella’s house, he tucked his grammar textbook under his arm, with the idea to teach Estella some grammar.