Fic: Do Mice Fall In Love?

[gmtaslash]

Title: Do Mice Fall in Love?
Author: gmtaslash
Fandom: Narnia, VoDT
Rating: G
Notes: Written with the prompt "Reepicheep and Caspian, aboard the Dawn Treader, discussing the nature of love, on the way back to Narnia with the star's daughter aboard". Caspian/Edmund hinted at, Caspian/Ramandu's daughter.




Caspian sat on the fo'c'sle, staring out gloomily at the moonlight-capped waves lapping at the bows of the Dawn Treader. There was a scuffling behind him, and then;

'And who are - Oh. Your Majesty.' Reepicheep the Mouse swept Caspian an elegant bow, and then peered at him. 'Forgive my impertinence, your Majesty, but you look as if something troubles you.'

'Do mice fall in love, Reepicheep?' asked Caspian, attempting to sound nonchalant.

'Certainly we do, my lord. Fiery, passionate love, full of grandeur and sacrifice, when we do. But that is the Mice for you; we seek adventure in all that we do.' The Mouse sat down companionably next to his king. 'Would my lord like to hear a famous tale of Mouse love?'

'No thank you, Reepicheep, although it is kind of you to offer.'

Reepicheep fell silent for a few moments, then ventured tentatively, most uncharacteristically for the valiant Mouse; 'Does the topic of love perchance trouble my King?'

Caspian sighed. 'It does not trouble me so much as confuse me, Reepicheep. May I ask your advice? For I am all at sea.' He looked out over the bows again, and smiled wryly. 'In more ways than one, it would appear.'

'I am at my lord's service,' said Reepicheep earnestly.

'You are aware that I have asked Ramandu's daughter to be my Queen, I am sure?'

'I am, my lord, and the entire crew of this fine vessel wish you both much happiness.'

'She is a fine creature, beautiful and kind, and I profess myself to regard her with much admiration and fondness, even after so short a time as I have known her. I feel I could come to love her very much. And in truth, Reepicheep, and let this go no further than you and I, I find myself sorely in need of a noble, intelligent woman with whom I can provide Narnia with sons of my blood to guide her into the future. But...'

'Sir?' asked Reepicheep, for Caspian's face had taken on a faraway expression. 'Sir, I understand that young men embarking upon their nuptials are often plagued by questions and doubts, but this is normal; why, even young Mice find it so.'

Caspian, yet again, sighed. 'Reepicheep, how may I love her with all the devotion that she deserves when my own love has lately been given to another? Another who is utterly unsuited for the role of my Queen, I must add. They differ so greatly, my Queen-to-be and my absent lover. I cannot reconcile it in my heart, and it cuts me to have to lie to her.'

Reepicheep thought deeply for a while, as the sound of waves slapping at the bows wove itself around them.

'My lord, perhaps it is best thought of in this way: simply put, there are many kinds of love. I can divine no lack of affection in your tone when you speak of either the daughter of the star, or of your previous love. Perhaps one need not replace the other in your heart as you seem to think they must. The love of Narnia and the love of my tribe are both strong in my heart, and yet neither diminishes the other.' Reepicheep got to his feet. 'I sincerely hope my words have been some small comfort to you, Caspian.'

Caspian blinked, puzzled, for Reepicheep never used familiar forms of address, and just for a moment, he thought that the disappearing shape of the mouse, wending its way through coils of tarred rope and furled sail canvas, was a lot larger, and that his tail, held proudly out behind him, was longer, and more golden, and capped with a tuft of fur ...

'Aslan!' Caspian breathed, snapping awake, just as a sailor made to shake his shoulder cautiously. The sun was rising astern. Ahead, Ramandu's Island was visible on the horizon.

Comments

[ineptshieldmaid.livejournal.com]

oh, I'd forgotten how much I loved this... *sighs*

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

:D

[miss-morland.livejournal.com]

Aww, your Reepicheep is perfect, and what a great way to reconcile Edmund/Caspian with Caspian/Ramandu's daughter.:-) Lovely fic!

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[sedri.livejournal.com]

Aw, cute. You know I'm not a slash fan, but still cute. I would have liked to think that Reep could have said all this too, though... That sounded like a complaint. It wasn't! This is sweet. *hugs Trojie*

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

Thank you :D It means a lot to hear that you, my non-slasher friend :)

[sedri.livejournal.com]

I mean every word. *bows*

[elvenpiratelady.livejournal.com]

I adore Reepicheep, and he's just perfect here! Well done!

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

Thanks :)

[chelonianmobile.livejournal.com]

D'awwwww ^_^ The world needs more Reepicheep. Lots more Reepicheep.

Reminds me, he has to visit the OFUR. We've already got Jack (the eponymous bunny reaper of a certain webcomic) dropping in for poker night with Anubis and Nick Lucifer (from Mr Jacques' other book "Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales" - which is also the source of the Grimblett and thus endless tentacoo wape jokes).

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

Reep would be hilarious at OFUR :) Reep v. Sues ... eheheheheh.

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

*warm fuzzies* This reminds me of a line I just read in an essay. Paraphrased: "the God who made and loves variety in all things." The writer was referring to sexual orientation and gender identification.

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

*flattered* That's a nice line. And I'd agree, if I believed in God. Why blame people for something you believe God gave them? Or, at least, gave them the potential to be?

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

God being Aslan, here, of course.

And, yes, I'm with you entirely, though I do believe in God, by whatever name or designation people choose to name that Power. It's from a book I just began reading about the scandals and crimes of the "ex-gay" movement in (fundamentalist scary-people) Christianity.

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

EX-gay? WTF?

Yes, dear old Aslan. That manipulative bastard of a kitty-cat :P Although I firmly believe that Aslan as Lewis wrote him would have been TOTALLY DOWN WITH teh gay, even though Lewis himself probably would deny that. But Aslan was all about the love. Not about the condemning of people who don't believe in the literal interpretation of ancient mistranslated books.

[agenttrojie.livejournal.com]

That's ... quite disturbing. *shudders* I mean, really. Horrifyingly disturbing.

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

Yes. Yes, it really is.

[hsavinien.livejournal.com]

Well, it's primarily a U.S. phenomenon, driven by the fundamentalist movement, wherein religious groups claim to be able to "de-program" or famously "pray away" Teh Gay. They encourage especially gay men, but lesbians as well who are Christian/Saved/Whatever in the belief that not only is anything other than heteronormativity sinful and 'chosen' to at least some extent, but that they can become straight and shun their sinful ways through prayer, study, and (usually) heterosexual marriage within the faith community. They have an unsurprising number of people who break with the programming, and a large quantity of former poster-boys with boyfriends. Unfortunately, there's an alarming suicide rate among people who just can't take lying to themselves any more.
It's sickening, really. There are "deprogramming camps" for young adults, whose parents can commit them there against their will.

Same here. God is love, period, full-stop. Aslan would totally be cool with it.