Chapter Text
"What's on the other side of this sea?" Lucy asks suddenly, even if she had been enjoying the cozy silence the same as her companion.
"Nothing," the sea girl murmurs against her throat, sleepy from the sun beating down on them where they lay; she isn't used to this much sun, but she could learn to love it if it meant more of all this with Lucy.
"Nothing? That can't--are you sure?"
The girl sighs as she sits up to frown at the confusion in Lucy's gaze. "My people sent expeditions out in all directions in the past. To the west, they meet your lonely islands and have seen the shores of unending land. To the north and south, they have found great reefs and icebergs. But to the east? There is nothing. One group traveled east for three months and still found nothing. So, it is as I said. There is nothing because otherwise my people would have found it."
Lucy frowns, looking up at the blue heavens that stretch on into forever. "It's said that Aslan's father lives out here. The Emperor beyond the Sea. That's why Caspian has brought his people out here... are you sure there is nothing out there?"
"Nothing," she says, pauses, and then speaks again. "Except for a great sandbar, but it only appears for a few short hours. Your ship will run itself aground upon it." With a shrug, she flops back down against Lucy's shoulder. "If you are lucky, the high tide might push you free and then you will come back here. When that happens, you'll find me here. You'll see."
Lucy is quiet as her companion curls against her, and tries to think. Was Caspian's continued voyage really for nothing? What if there really was nothing out there? Reepicheep would be devastated, but what could be done? Should she tell the others, or let them find out for themselves on the off chance that maybe they would succeed where the sea people hadn't?
And why didn't she feel all that upset by the idea that they would just be coming right back this way shortly if what her companion said was right?