A/N: This was originally meant to be a drabble for the challenge at the caspiansusan community at livejournal (prompt: feast), but the muses kind of ran away with me and it's now turned into a one-shot.

Disclaimer: Full rights of The Chronicles of Narnia and it's characters lie with C.S. Lewis and Disney. No copyright infringement is intended.

Not Exactly A Feast

The party made their way home, slowly and silently. Most people had sustained injuries and several limped as they walked the path towards Aslan's How. But not one of them complained. For every discomfort was insignificant to the terror and despair that their brothers in arms must have gone though when the gate had shut, cutting them of from the rest. Cutting them off from survival and hope. Locking them in with a ruthless enemy that would show no mercy.

The quietest and most rejected ones of all were walking at the front. Neither High King Peter nor Prince Caspian looked very much like royalty right now, and Susan couldn't blame them for it, but couldn't they understand that this army needed their High King now more than every. Didn't they understand that this was the moment they needed their Prince to boost their morale? Susan missed her little sister now more than ever, who had plenty of faith and hope and never seemed to fail in her attempts the raise people's spirits. Despite her heavy heart, Susan did what she could in her sister's place to lift the spirits and encourage the warriors. She quickened her step to catch up with her eldest brother.

"Peter!" She said. "Peter, we need to rest. They are hungry and tired and injured."

Peter turned to look at her with hollow eyes. "We're nearly there, Su. We can rest at the How."

"Peter, look at them!" Susan insisted, and both Peter and Prince Caspian looked behind them at what was left of their army. "They need to rest. They have wounds that need attending to."

Peter looked at Susan again before looking at the ground before him, continuing his stride without a change of pace.

"Peter!" Susan hissed, annoyed now with her brother. "You're High King! It is your job to take care of your men. You can't abandon them simply because you're feeling guilty!"

From the way Peter set his jaw Susan could tell her remark struck home, but he continued to ignore her. Susan had half a mind of grabbing his elbow to physically bring him to a halt when unexpectedly Prince Caspian stopped walking and turned to face the gloomy crowd.

"Gentlemen! We are taking as rest here. Those who have no injuries search the woods for berries and roots. There is a clear spring of water a little further down the hill."

The men obeyed immediately and Susan shot Caspian a look of surprise and gratitude. Caspian met her eyes briefly, but then turned a nervous eye on Peter. Susan understood why; as High King, Peter had supreme authority. And Prince Caspian had just openly defied him.

Peter shot a vile look at Caspian and strode off to a nearby tree where he sat down alone. Susan bit her lip as she watched him go. High King though he may be, it doesn't stop him from being stubborn as a mule. She then looked back at Caspian who was still standing by her side.

"Thank you." she said sincerely, and that was all she needed to say. Her eyes communicated everything that she was grateful for, and Caspian understood. He shot her a small smile that temporarily lifted the sorrow from his face.

"You're welcome."

They stood side by side and watched the Narnians search for soft patches of grass to rest, dry timbers to use as firewood, or dig the ground or edible roots and mushrooms, but Susan's eyes quickly strayed to the shape of Prince Caspian next to her.

There hadn't been many humans in the Narnia that she knew, other than her siblings, and she'd liked it that way. Though she told everybody that she preferred to sit by herself because she liked to be left alone, the real reason was that people intimidated her. They were loud and obnoxious and cared about little else than their own prosperity. With the Narnians this had never been a problem, for none of them acted like the humans that she knew. But now there were plenty of humans in her realm. Humans that acted very much like the humans back home with their cutting down trees, and fighting for land, and hunger for power. But Caspian had done none of that, and this fascinated her.

Her eyes travelled over his form. He had nice features, Susan admitted to herself. He looked older than her, but in fact he was younger; even if she didn't count the 1300 years; many of the years Susan had lived did not show on her face. Her eyes travelled further, from the shape of his lips to the nape of his neck. Further down she looked at his torso, strong arms…

"You're hurt!"

Caspian looked around as Susan unexpectedly broke the silence. "It's nothing." He muttered, but Susan didn't listen and grabbed his arm. Sure enough, there was a small but deep wound in his right upper arm. Susan knew the damage of an arrow when she saw it.

"That has got to hurt."

"It's nothing." Caspian repeated, but flinched when he shrugged. Susan rolled her eyes.

"You are as bad as my brothers. What is it with you men? Wounds that go untreated will infect." She grabbed him by his good arm and pulled him into the shade of a particularly mighty oak. "Now sit!" she ordered. "And I'll get some water…"

By the time Susan had returned with a bowl of clean water and clean cloths, Caspian had gathered an impressive amount of berries, nuts, roots and mushrooms and he has started a fire. Susan looked at him with a raised eyebrow before she put the water down. "Didn't I tell you to stay seated?"

"Yes, you did." Caspian replied, and there was a tug on the corner of his mouth. "Are you always like this?"

"Pretty much, yes. I have to, with brothers like mine…" She moistened the cloth in the bowl of water. "Now, roll up that sleeve." Instead to following her direction, Caspian did nothing and Susan looked up to see a pair of very pretty startled eyes starting at her. "What's wrong?"

Caspian shook his head and blinked. "It's just… strange to hear you talk about High King Peter and King Edmund like that." He rolled up his sleeve to expose the wound of his uncle's arrow, but he was still staring at Susan.

Susan chuckled. "High King Peter the Magnificent and King Edmund the Just to you, maybe. But to me they're just Peter and Edmund. And despite everything those history books might've told you, they're far from perfect. Believe me, I know." The wound in Caspian's arm fortunately was relatively clean, and Susan used the wet cloth to wash away the scab on the edge of the wound as gently as possibly. If it hurt him, he hid it well, because Caspian didn't flinch once. She then used a second, dry cloth to cover the wound, and tied it with a ribbon from her hair. "There. That should do until we can get to Lucy."

"Thank you." This time it was Caspian's voice that rang with sincerity. Susan looked up at him and smiled brightly.

"You're welcome, Caspian." Caspian's face broke into a smile, the first real smile, as she mentioned his name, and Susan quickly broke eye contact. Instead she looked down at the food Caspian had gathered. "Now, about this…"

"Yes," Caspian's wide smile made way for an apologetic one. "Sorry, it's not exactly a feast, but it's all I could find in a short time. I seem to remember someone expected to see me sitting when she returned." He added with a glint of amusement in his eyes, and Susan flushed slightly at the tease.

"No, actually I'm surprised you found this much. We've—Peter, Edmund, Lucy and I—have been living on nothing but apples until we arrived at the How. So, compared to that, this is a feast. Where did you find all this?"

"It's not difficult to find food in the forest, as long as you know what to look for." Caspian said as he roasted a few nuts.

Susan popped a berry in her mouth and enjoyed the sweet flavour on her tongue. "I never had to live from the woods. All our food was taken care of in Cair Paravel." She admitted, slightly ashamed to have been spoiled like that.

"Neither did I." Caspian said. "But my Professor—Professor Cornelius that is," Caspian nodded at the elder man sitting a few feet away from them among a group of fauns, "taught me well. I'm grateful now that he did."

"So am I."

They ate in silence for a while. They took the nuts out of the fire when they were almost out of berries, but they were still too hot to eat, so instead they started on the roots. They had a sweet and bitter taste that was strange, but not unpleasant. It wasn't perfect, but it was a whole lot better than apples.

"He's angry at me, isn't he?" Susan looked up confused when Caspian suddenly spoke up, not understanding who he was talking about. She followed his gaze to find he was looking at Peter, who was still sitting on his own, baking a freshly caught fish. Caspian then looked at Susan. "What I did was stupid."

"Yes, it was." Susan said honestly, knowing he was referring to his confrontation with Miraz, and Caspian looked a little hurt at her words.

"He blames me for all the men-" Caspian was confused, trying to look for the right word, "people… that died today."

"It was stupid, Caspian, but it was understandable." Susan said, leaning backwards on her arms. "Peter understands it too. I think he would've done the same if it was him. He'll turn around. He just feels bad about having to leave his people behind."

Caspian brightened a little. "High King Peter would have done the same?"

Susan looked at her brother's hunched figure, and nodded. "I'm positive. The two of you are equally stubborn." She said with a chuckle. And though she didn't see his face, she knew that he'd smiled at that last bit.

"So, I'm just like your brother…" Caspian muttered, pleased that he was being compared to the High King.

Susan sneaked a look at his face again through the curtain of her hair. No, she thought, you're not like a brother to me at all…