let us go on and take the adventure that shall fall to us.
Susan didn't mind most of the inconveniences of living away from the compound. The walk back and forth for necessities wasn't as bad as one might expect; exercise was a good thing, and the weather was usually pleasant enough in any case. It was lovely to be near the ocean. Shadow was becoming a very good swimmer and seemed to like the surf even better than she had the snow. It was a good deal closer to Summerfell than the compound, and Susan loved living near her favourite neighbors, Pam and Jim. All in all, the move to Green Arrow Estates had turned out well.
The one thing Susan utterly despised about the arrangement, however, was hauling laundry to the compound. She did it anyway, of course, as doing it was preferable to having dirty clothes and linens, but it didn't mean she didn't grumble under her breath a bit every time she did it. It was one of those chores that felt like once you were done with it, it immediately needed doing over again, a neverending cycle of busywork. This particular day she was almost glad of the excuse to get out of the house, because the large wardrobe lurking in the corner unnerved her more than she was willing to admit even to Lucy. It was a silent and constant reminder of things she thought she had put behind her, and it made her uneasy and nervous. She would not dare say so to Lucy, for she did not want Lucy to worry or feel she was responsible for it in any way.
While Susan waited for the laundry to finish, she decided to poke through the clothes box to see if there was anything interesting. The warm weather was back with a vengance, and with it the need for suitable clothing that didn't leave one totally bare. She rummaged through the box, picking out a few items to take back with her but tossing the vast majority back into the box for being either too garish, too small, too tight, or too revealing. What she didn't toss back, however, was a bundle she found at the very bottom of the box. The minute her fingers touched it, she realised what it was, and her hands shook as she drew it out of the box and spread it across her lap. It was a beautiful dress of rich dark purple with a lighter purple underskirt and sleeves and trimmed with cloth-of-gold, the petticoats beneath so soft they barely made a sound as she unfolded them. A pair of matching shoes tumbled from the fabric as she unfolded it, along with a thin gold necklace - and a delicate golden crown, worked in a design of daffodils and starflowers.
The very clothes she'd worn her last day as Queen Susan of Narnia, the day they had hunted the White Stag all the way to the lamp post.
She could remember so vividly then, what it had been like to turn in an instant from a grown woman of twenty-seven, a Queen of Narnia with everything she could desire at her fingertips but happiness most of all, to plain twelve-year-old Susan Pevensie in a drab woollen jumper; fifteen years of all she held dear, a majority of her life up to that point, melting away to nothing in an instant. The flood of memories, small recollections and details of fifteen perfect years came back to her with such sudden force that the crown slipped from her nerveless fingers into the puddle of purple fabric.
Susan could not stop to wonder why these things had appeared in the clothing box, nor could she put out of her mind that last beautiful day, the last day before coming here that she could remember being truly and completely happy. No matter what happened to her here, no matter how happy she was or how much she never wanted to leave, there were some parts of her life in Narnia that she would always miss with a deep and painful longing.
I miss it so much, she thought to herself, as tears welled up in her eyes and blurred out everything around her.
[ooc: Susan finds her second item: the clothes she wore her last day as Queen Susan, including her crown. This upsets her even more than the Wardrobe did. Margaery finds her and cheers her up a little; Susan tells her about Narnia and they talk about those from Westeros here, including Jon. Robb, Sansa, Edmund, Jim, Pam, and Ygritte also find her and they all let her vent, wibble, and commiserate; and they are all comforting in their own ways.]
The one thing Susan utterly despised about the arrangement, however, was hauling laundry to the compound. She did it anyway, of course, as doing it was preferable to having dirty clothes and linens, but it didn't mean she didn't grumble under her breath a bit every time she did it. It was one of those chores that felt like once you were done with it, it immediately needed doing over again, a neverending cycle of busywork. This particular day she was almost glad of the excuse to get out of the house, because the large wardrobe lurking in the corner unnerved her more than she was willing to admit even to Lucy. It was a silent and constant reminder of things she thought she had put behind her, and it made her uneasy and nervous. She would not dare say so to Lucy, for she did not want Lucy to worry or feel she was responsible for it in any way.
While Susan waited for the laundry to finish, she decided to poke through the clothes box to see if there was anything interesting. The warm weather was back with a vengance, and with it the need for suitable clothing that didn't leave one totally bare. She rummaged through the box, picking out a few items to take back with her but tossing the vast majority back into the box for being either too garish, too small, too tight, or too revealing. What she didn't toss back, however, was a bundle she found at the very bottom of the box. The minute her fingers touched it, she realised what it was, and her hands shook as she drew it out of the box and spread it across her lap. It was a beautiful dress of rich dark purple with a lighter purple underskirt and sleeves and trimmed with cloth-of-gold, the petticoats beneath so soft they barely made a sound as she unfolded them. A pair of matching shoes tumbled from the fabric as she unfolded it, along with a thin gold necklace - and a delicate golden crown, worked in a design of daffodils and starflowers.
The very clothes she'd worn her last day as Queen Susan of Narnia, the day they had hunted the White Stag all the way to the lamp post.
She could remember so vividly then, what it had been like to turn in an instant from a grown woman of twenty-seven, a Queen of Narnia with everything she could desire at her fingertips but happiness most of all, to plain twelve-year-old Susan Pevensie in a drab woollen jumper; fifteen years of all she held dear, a majority of her life up to that point, melting away to nothing in an instant. The flood of memories, small recollections and details of fifteen perfect years came back to her with such sudden force that the crown slipped from her nerveless fingers into the puddle of purple fabric.
Susan could not stop to wonder why these things had appeared in the clothing box, nor could she put out of her mind that last beautiful day, the last day before coming here that she could remember being truly and completely happy. No matter what happened to her here, no matter how happy she was or how much she never wanted to leave, there were some parts of her life in Narnia that she would always miss with a deep and painful longing.
I miss it so much, she thought to herself, as tears welled up in her eyes and blurred out everything around her.
[ooc: Susan finds her second item: the clothes she wore her last day as Queen Susan, including her crown. This upsets her even more than the Wardrobe did. Margaery finds her and cheers her up a little; Susan tells her about Narnia and they talk about those from Westeros here, including Jon. Robb, Sansa, Edmund, Jim, Pam, and Ygritte also find her and they all let her vent, wibble, and commiserate; and they are all comforting in their own ways.]