It took me a couple of hours to transcribe this but here’s what I wrote today, a musing on Hector and Lilina getting resettled after Lyn’s death. (I was in a melancholy mood).
Flow – Lanonima – Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi | Fire Emblem: Binding Blade [Archive of Our Own]
I’m still trucking along. 1,513 words
It was the park they went to, and Sue’s happy intake of
breath at seeing such ‘wild’ greenery was enough to tell Lilina she had made
the right choice. Well, that and the fact that hardly anyone came here.
The park had been a hunting reserve at one point, but none
of the lords of late had cared much for the sport. At least as far as Lilina
had been told. Certainly much of the meat on her tables came from here, and
certainly there was a bit of poaching among the servants to help out family
members who didn’t have cushy castle jobs, but there were no more great hunting
parties, and hadn’t been in decades.
Instead, Lord Hector had given control of the park to Lady
Lyndis, who had turned it from a slightly wild ‘tame’ forest into something
hardier and more sustainable, and something a great deal prettier too.
Something that just felt right in a
way that cultivated land never did.
“You can come here whenever you want,” Lilina said. “It’s
safe to ride too, at least as safe as anywhere is.”
“I will,” Sue said. “I didn’t realize there was such a nice
place here.”
“Mother did it,” said Lilina. “She spent a lot of free time
here.” They meandered through the park side-by-side. There was plenty of space
to cover – the park was no mean, scraggly patch of trees. It was large enough
that it supported plenty of deer and boar, in addition to smaller forest
dwellers.
“It’s a good place to come listen,” Sue said. “Nature’s
voice is very strong here. To have a place to be close to mother earth and
father sky, well, any Sacaen would want that.”
“Even Lycians need it,” Lilina said. It did seem easier to
breath out here, for all that the trunks of oak, elm, and ash pushed just as
closely as the castle walls, and their interlacing branches formed a ceiling
nearly as solid as the castle roof. “I should have come out here before, to
clear my head. I’ve just been so angry lately.
I don’t like it but I can’t seem to make it go away.”
“Because of Roy?” Sue asked. She finally settled down on a
fallen tree trunk and Lilina fell into place beside her, not at all concerned
that it might ruin her dress.
“He started it, the other lords finished it.” Lilina could
not keep the bitterness out of her voice, and didn’t even try. Sue was safe to
talk to – she wasn’t involved in politics, had no strong ties to any other
region but Sacae. “They’re trying to turn Ostia into a dog – collared and
controlled and Etruria’s hand on the leash!” She dug her fingers into the trunk,
and bits of bark and moss crumbled under her grip. “And General Cecilia! As if
I should be batting my eyeslashes and saying ‘you’re my hero Lord Roy!’ like
some simpering moron. And she scolds me as if I’m a child throwing a tantrum.
Ha!” Lilina pulled her hands away from the trunk with difficulty and rested
them on her lap instead, tangling her fingers in her skirt. “Ostia won’t end
with me, I swear it by St Elimine, aye, and by mother earth and father sky too!
She’s my charge, my birthright, my legacy, and I’ll restore her to her place if
it kills me.”
“The arrow that does for rabbit won’t do for elk,” Sue said,
in Sacaen.
The proverb took Lilina by surprise even more than the shift
in tone, or language. “Ah…mother used to say that too,” she said.
“Yes, the people of Sacae are very wise.” Even Sue couldn’t
keep a straight face for that. First, she smiled – an expression just as
subdued as the rest of her, but no less nice. Then she laughed a little and
suddenly they were both laughing – a touch hysterically, but real laughter.
Lilina couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed like
that, laughed so much she was wiping tears from her eyes as she stopped. She felt
lighter, as if some invisible load had been lessened. “I won’t tangle with the
other lords without being prepared,” she promised. “And there’s still Bern and
Etruria to consider, before I can do much of anything at all.”
Sue was rubbing at her eyes as well. “Still, I admire you,
Lilina. If I was half the warrior you are…”
“What happened? In Sacae?” Lilina’s tragedy was plain
enough, she couldn’t have hidden her losses if she wanted to. But Sacae was far
away, and Sue was so private a person, and Lilina only had a faint idea of what
had transpired.
Sue stared at the ground as if willing it to talk for her,
and sighed. “The clans of Sacae took a stand against Bern, all but one. Those
traitors attacked us, along with Bernese troops they’d given access to the
plains.” She scowled. “A hunter I am but a warrior? I was sent with the other
women and children, only to find that we’d ridden into a trap. I did what I
could but in the end…all I could do was flee with nothing more but my horse and
my bow. Lord Orun gave me safe lodging, until he was murdered.”
Lilina did not want to give Sue an empty ‘I’m sorry’ like
the ones given to her, and she couldn’t say nothing. “Bern has a lot of lives
to answer for,” she said, instead. “Lives lost and lives ruined. But that kind
of greed can’t possibly stay locked up quietly behind those mountains. And the
next time they cause trouble…”
“I won’t run, this time,” Sue said. “Some of my people might
still be alive, or captured. Vengeance solves nothing and violence solves
little, but I’ll rebuild my home too, however I must.”
“I’ll help, if there’s anything I can do.”
Sue nodded, and silence fell between them, for once not
awkward but comfortable. It was nice to sit outside on a beautiful day and
listen to birdsong and watch the ever-changing patterns of sun and shadow as
the light changed. It was nice to do those things with a friend, and even that
thought thrilled Lilina just a little bit. She was not a girl with many
friends, perhaps none outside of Roy, and now Sue.
But the light was changing,
and it was nearly time for dinner. She stood up and shook her skirt to free it
from the bits of moss and wood she had scattered liberally around.
“We should get back. Until I find a new seneschal, I don’t
have much free time.” She offered Sue a hand, which was accepted, and pulled
the other girl to her feet.
“Seneschal?”
“A lord’s right hand, someone who takes care of the little
details. Father’s seneschal, Lady Marian, was a treasure, but Leygance saw to
her during his coup.” Lilina set off back towards the castle, but she couldn’t
help moving slowly still, unwilling for this brief respite to end. “I’ll need
to have one found and trained before I can think of joining forces with Roy
again.” She sighed. “And tomorrow I need to ride out and start making rounds of
the tenant farmers outside the city proper, and I need to check on Bors and his
new guard recruits, and talk with the housekeeper and the butler about filling
any servant positions that need filling.” She stopped there, even though the
list went on and on. Her father had tried to prepare her to rule, but the
amount of work still took her by surprise. Where, in this wave of minutiae,
would she find time to fight Bern or the other Lycian lords?
“Can I help?” Sue asked. “Leading here is more complicated
than doing so in Sacae, but if I need to regather my clan it’s something I must
continue to learn.”
Lilina paused as they neared the gated wall that separated
the park from the rest of the castle estate. The sun was setting behind the
park, throwing long, twisted shadows from the wall and gate across the
perfectly manicured lawn. A good representation of how she felt – as soon as
they crossed that threshold she was Lady Ostia again, with all the
responsibilities and problems of the country firmly on her shoulders once more.
Lilina had always known who she was, what she was destined
for, and she had wanted it. But she’d never wanted it like this. Never wanted
to claim it from death and despair. Even so Ostia was hers, and it needed care
and keeping. She pushed the gate open.
“I can’t refuse any offer of help right now,” she told Sue.
“I’m sure we can find something that will be useful for both of us. And…well,
we do have one of the best training arenas in all Lycia. Perhaps we can spar
together sometime? We have to keep up on that
as well.”
Sue smiled her elusive smile again, and closed the gate
behind her. “I’d like that, very much.”
All this and I’ve still only gotten through a chapter and a half. I have a lot to say. 1,316 words.
Lilina traveled back to Ostia alone. Roy was to remain in
Pherae to oversee the beginnings of the new Lycian Alliance Army. He offered to
send an escort back with her, but Lilina refused. She pitied the bandit who
thought to mess with her in such a black mood.
It almost seemed like an insult that nothing untoward
happened. The sky was clear, the sun was bright, and the roads were relatively
peaceful. She returned to Ostia in one piece, though the sight of her home did
little to soothe her spirits.
“Oh, Lady Lilina!” said the guard at the gate. He was one of
Roy’s people, a young archer named Wolt. “Didn’t expect to see you arriving
with so little fuss, my lady.”
Lilina reigned back her horse. The black palfrey snorted at
the command and shied away from the gate. No matter how Lilina worked with her,
the mare remained liable to startle. There was something to be said for Sacaen
horses, no matter how scruffy they were. They tended to be more ornery than
skittish. Lady Lyndis had tried to breed their stubborn practicality into the
Lycian bloodlines, but the program had ended with her death.
Lilina brought the mare completely to heel before she spoke.
“Wolt, please gather all the members of the Lycian Alliance army and have them
meet me in the throne room in an hour. There are changes you need to be aware
of.”
“Lady Lilina,” he said, offering her a quick bow. “If you
don’t mind asking…it’s not Bern again is it?”
“It’s not Bern,” she said. “At least, not yet.”
An hour was not much time to see to her horse and to make
herself presentable, but Lilina had been doing both of those things for as long
as she could remember. She managed. She always did.
She pulled on the first bliaut that came to hand – one made
from soft violet wool and stitched with designs in thread-of-gold. She didn’t
bother with jewelry or a veil, but pulled her hair back into a thick braid.
That was enough finery for Ostians. It would have to suit the others.
There were less of them than she expected. Roy had taken
only two dozen men with him to Pherae, but the remains of his army did not even
fill up her throne room. She knew that without Etruria’s intervention, Ostia
would have fallen. Given a choice, she might have even made the same one Roy
did. Acknowledging it didn’t make her any less angry. She hadn’t been given a
choice. He could have at least told her.
Lilina mounted the dais steps and settled into the throne.
Like most other things about Castle Ostia, it was no nonsense, a simple
high-backed chair carved out of gleaming ebony. Geometric patterns were carved
into it, making it quite beautiful up close. From afar it seemed solid and
severe. That had suited Ostia, when it was the most powerful region in Lycia.
Now it almost seemed more pretentious than even the gaudiest of gold and gem
encrusted monstrosities common elsewhere.
She took her time, studying the men and women in front of
her. They waited in patient, if not entirely respectful, silence. She had lost
most of her castle guard in the rebellion, and these people had taken over
those responsibilities admirably. Sending them away would weaken her again. But
it might be worse to keep them around, where they could so easily spy on her
defenses and report them to the rest of Lycia. Which was more important,
physical security? Or political?
Lilina considered these questions as she considered the
people. There would always be spies in Ostia. Perhaps it was better for them to
be spies you knew, rather than those you didn’t. But those spies she and her
father knew before, well, none of them had been in martial positions. And that,
in this time of war and unrest, might be the most important thing of all.
Finally, she addressed the gathered soldiers. “Lord Roy has
been officially named as Lycia’s general,” she said. “The army is being
reformed. If any of you have commissions, they are renewed. You will report to
him in Pherae at the earliest possible opportunity. If you wish to join the
army officially, you may enquire with him. Those who have no wish to continue
fighting are free to return home.”
“And that’s it then, is it?” said one of the innumerable
mercenaries Roy had recruited. “You’re just tossing us out, just like that?”
“As for the mercenaries among you,” said Lilina, “I
understand that most of your contracts were with my father. But he is no longer
the general and Ostia no longer has any ties to the army, or its treasury. If
you want to renew your contracts, you’ll need to speak to Roy. I will ensure
that your bills of service get to him.”
It was petty, that. Childish, even. Hector had made the
contracts, and Ostia most likely should be footing the bill. But if Pherae
wanted to be the power in Lycia so badly, they could learn to deal with what
that entailed.
It seemed to satisfy the mercenaries, at least. They left
first – their time was too valuable to waste it here. The soldiers followed,
leaving singly or in groups, but none questioning her orders.
“Bors,” Lilina called.
He had been standing at the back of the room. Now he hurried
forward and dropped to one knee. “Yes, my lady?”
“You’re now the highest-ranking knight left in Ostia. I’m
naming you knight commander,” she told him. “I understand this unexpected
departure will put a strain on you. However I trust you to fill the gaps with
worthy Ostians. I will expect a list of potential guards on my desk by the end
of the week.”
Bors paled slightly, and Lilina felt bad for throwing the
responsibility at his feet. But she knew he was up to the task. “It will be
done, my lady.” He bowed slightly lower before climbing to his feet and
trailing after the retreating soldiers.
That left only two people waiting in the throne room:
General Cecilia, and Sue.
“It’s a poor ruler who makes decisions in bitterness,”
Cecilia warned.
Lilina just looked at her. What could she say? That she
wasn’t bitter? That she was doing her best? One was a lie, the other a sure
sign of weakness. But Cecilia was still waiting for her response. “I will do
what is best for Ostia, lest you have any objections.”
“Only,” said Cecilia, “a warning. Don’t take any paths you
might regret, later.” So saying she left the room, going through the opposite
door than the soldiers had, the one that led to the private suites.
That left Sue.
“And what of you?” Lilina asked her. “Will you go back to
the plains?”
Sue shook her head. “There’s not much there for me now but
graves. I was thinking…” but she trailed off, the way she usually had when they
were children.
“What?”
“I thought I might stay here, for a while,” Sue said. “Roy
has been kind enough but he doesn’t understand. Not what we’ve been through,
not who we are.”
Lilina leaned back into the throne which was imposing, yes,
but also damned uncomfortable. Like everything else about her life these days. “To
be honest, Sue, I could really use a friend.”
Sue stood awkwardly, twirling a lock of dark green hair
around her finger. “Do you want to go somewhere and just…talk for a while?”
Lilina looked at her, thinking about how improbable it was
that they would become friends, now,
which is what their parents had wanted all along. They’d never got on before,
but maybe they just weren’t trying hard enough. She stood up.
“There’s nothing I’d like better. And I know the perfect
place to go.”
I’m very angry about Lycian politics. 1,849 words.
If anyone had asked, which no one did, Lilina would have
said she had already had enough. She had lost her mother, her father, her home,
and many of the staff she had trusted in all her life. Surely that was enough
to make up for any wrongs she had committed. Surely the great cosmic scales
were now balanced. If anyone had asked, that is what she would have said.
And she would have been wrong.
After Etruria’s intervention, Bern’s activities subsided to
a low murmur. Peace became the order of the day. And then the message arrived.
Roy came to find her in her father’s office.
It was a bittersweet place to spend time. Lilina remembered
playing on the floor while her parents ran their country, bickering good
naturedly until an acceptable course of action could be found. She remembered
later, when it was just her father and her, seated side-by-side while he taught
her what she would need to know. The office was very large, and very, very
empty. Still, Ostia needed to be run and Lilina was still the one to run it,
and this office was still the most convenient place to work.
General Cecilia had little desire to involve herself in
Ostian affairs and left most of the managing up to Lilina. During the day this
made Roy’s actions more palatable. It was still Lilina behind the massive
hardwood desk, still her name on the orders, still her that the people looked
to. At night, however, Lilina could admit to herself that she resented being
turned into a puppet ruler of her own country. Parroting Etrurian orders,
however infrequent, left a sour taste in Lilina’s mouth that only fed her
growing anger and malcontent.
She had mostly avoided Roy since General Cecilia had
arrived, citing work as a reason. He respected her enough to stay away from her
office, until today.
Lilina did not look up from the contract she was reviewing
when someone knocked on the door. She merely said, “Enter!” and kept reading.
She only looked up when Roy spoke.
“This came for us today, Lilina.” Roy slid a rolled up piece
of parchment to her across the desk and Lilina put aside her current work to
look at it.
The message was short, but brief. “Your father is calling a
Lycian council?” she asked, though she could read the scroll as well as anyone
else.
Roy shrugged. “He is the largest power left in Lycia now
that-”
“Now that my father is dead and Ostia is delegated an
Etrurian plaything,” Lilina said flatly. She was too tired and too bitter to
play those kinds of games.
“Lilina…”
Lilina stared at him, and Roy stared back. He really had
changed, he was calmer now, more decisive. He understood, certainly, that his
actions had hurt her, but he didn’t regret them. If he did, he would have
looked away. If he wanted her forgiveness, he would have looked away.
So that was the way it was. Lilina sighed.
“It’s reasonable for Lord Eliwood to call a meeting,” she
said. “Many changes have happened. And given his illness, it is reasonable for
him to ask us to travel to Pherae rather than hosting them at Ostia as we
always have before.” Although, she added to herself, we both understand that
Etruria’s involvement is more pressing than either of those things.
“If you don’t mind,” Roy said, “I thought I would see to
preparations. We can leave the bulk of the army here. It should be an easy
enough ride with only a small force as escorts.”
Lilina waved a hand. “Do what you think best. We can make it
in good time if we leave the day after tomorrow.”
Roy inclined his head and saw himself out. Lilina returned
to her contract, but she couldn’t concentrate. She could only think about the
upcoming council meeting and what it was going to mean.
Castle Pherae had changed very little in the past few months
since Lilina had been there, but she had changed so much it seemed different.
The white stone walls that had once felt so bright and happy now felt
impersonal and cold. The colorful banners and tapestries that had fascinated
her as a child now looked garish and out of place. Roy, changed from his war
gear to a finely woven short bliaut and parti-colored hosen looked odd and
unfamiliar.
Lilina too had dressed up, in a tightly fitted bliaut, with
some of the expensive jewelry her father had gifted her draped around her neck
and a lace veil over her teal hair. The face that greeted her eyes in the
mirror seemed just as unfamiliar as the castle, or Roy, or anything else these
days.
All of the men Roy had picked to escort them were of Pheraen
birth. But even those few men she had come to know looked different here. They
had put off the practical clothing of war for their ceremonial garb. Perhaps
Lilina should have insisted on having something to do with the preparations
after all – she now felt her lack of allies clearly, as she should have all
along.
Everything was bright and gay and utterly at odds with
Lilina’s increasingly black mood.
The no-nonsense conference room with its plain oaken table
came as a relief, though the other lords, just as fancily dressed as anyone
else present, undercut that effect slightly.
Lord Eliwood was already seated at the head of the table.
Once each seat had been filled, he opened up remarks. “I think you all for
coming,” he said, looking to each of the attending marquesses in turn. “I
called this meeting to address all of the recent changed to our fair
city-states. First among these is the lost of our dear friend, Lord Hector of
Ostia.”
A low murmur rose in the room and Lilina felt the eyes of
everyone in the room turn to look at her. She kept her eyes fixed stubbornly
ahead, gazing at Lord Eliwood. He seemed as calm as he ever had, but as Lilina
continued to gaze at him, she saw he was more tired and drawn than even his
illness could account for. He was far more changed than he should have been,
after only a few short months apart. She remembered that Lord Eliwood had been
her father’s best friend, and that Hector’s death must have affected Eliwood
almost as much as it had affected her.
“Lord Hector wished his daughter to succeed him to the
throne,” Eliwood said. “I see no reason to dispute that. All of my sources
indicate that she is doing a perfectly admirable job managing the region.” For
this, Eliwood did not give anyone time to dispute his claims. Lilina did not
quite breathe a sigh of relief – it would have been far too obvious. But she
did feel as if a weight lifted off her shoulders. She had been afraid that the
marquesses wouldn’t support her claim, especially now with Etruria muddying the
waters. She remembered, too, what her father had told her. Most of the Lycian
territories resented Ostia for its power and for its attitudes towards more
common Lycian traditions. This would have been a perfect time for the other
lords to attempt to bring Ostia to heel. With Eliwood backing her, though,
Lilina at least could feel as secure as possible.
Later on, Lilina would think unkindly on her optimism.
Eliwood continued, oblivious to Lilina’s thoughts and to the
few marquesses signaling to be recognized. “Much more troubling is the death of
Lord Orun. He did not leave any heirs to govern Toria and it would be less than
kind to leave his steward to manage everything. We will need to send someone
trustworthy to oversee the area.”
Clamor broke out immediately after those words, loud enough
to cover Lilina’s sharp intake of breath. Uncle Orun too? Lilina remembered,
vaguely, hearing the news, but somehow it had not sunk in on top of everything
else.
She watched the lords squabbling for the right to take
Toria.
All things considered, Toria was an offshoot of Ostia,
having belonged to Lilina’s grandmother since her first marriage. It was a
gesture of goodwill on Ostia’s part that the land retained its independence,
rather than being included in the bridal properties when she married Lord
Ostia. With Orun’s death, the lands should have gone to Hector, and then to
Lilina.
She would not sue for her rights in this case. Toria was a
small territory but no less of a prize – good enough to have distracted the
lords from the assertion that she should remain in control of Ostia. If Lilina
tried to rightly claim Toria, it would be like putting meat in front of a pack
of hungry dogs.
Angry she might be, but she was hardly a fool. She kept her
silence as Marquess Araphen emerged from the fracas triumphant.
That done, Eliwood began again. “There are other matters to
think of as well. Lord Hector was both the head of the Lycian Alliance and the
general of her army. These are positions that will need to be filled anew.”
This time there was no clamor. There was absolute silence,
but not a peaceful silence. It was the silence of the forest when the wolves
are hunting, the heavy silence right before a wild summer storm, the silence of
some dozen lords now realizing they had been handed the tools to strike Ostia’s
death blow. She had lost her lord, her independence, her sister state, and now,
at last, was a way to take every last vestige of power from her.
Lilina balled her hands up in the soft velvet of her skirts
and said nothing. Ostia had ruled Lycia for nearly as long as there had been a
Lycia. Even her father, not so much older than she, had taken place as the head
of the Lycian Alliance with little struggle. But then, he had just made an
advantageous if controversial marriage alliance with Caelin, and had Eliwood’s
support.
Eliwood had no intention of backing Lilina in this, she
could see it. His gaze was fixed on Roy, and his eyes gleamed with the same
predatory light being exhibited by all the lords around the table.
They would take this from her, all of them, and they would
do it with smiles on their faces. Eliwood had backed her control of Ostia. But
what was Ostia, after all, stripped of power, dignity, and autonomy?
But Lilina they underestimated. This would not be the end
for Ostia. She made a promise, to her father and mother, to her people, to
herself. This was not the end. Ostia was not finished as long as Lilina was not
finished and one day soon all of these men would come crawling back to Ostia’s
conference room to beg her forgiveness.
Even as Eliwood took Lycia as a jewel for his crown, even as
Roy took the army, even as these lords bickered and plotted and cut Ostia to
shreds, Lilina smiled.
Anyway I’m starting this year on the same bullshit I left the last year on. More of me letting Lilina be very angry and stressed. 2,291 words.
Durandal’s blade was thirty-nine inches of perfectly balance
steel, as sharp as the day it was forged. The hilt, wrapped in leather and
inset with designs of silver and gold wire, was comfortably sized to be used
two-handed or one-handed. Roy left well enough alone until they returned to
Ostia Castle at which point he could no longer contain his excitement. Ostia
castle boasted a first class practice arena, and that was where Roy went as
soon as the party arrived.
Lilina had never seen the weapon out of its sheathe and she
too had her fair share of curiosity. She followed Roy to the arena and watched
the blade glitter in the sunlight. She had no feeling for swords, but even she
could tell this one was beautiful.
Roy was used to one-handed swords, but Durandal was a weapon
of high caliber and he picked up its use with little trouble.
At one point he stopped and held the blade straight up,
examining the polished steel with an admiring glance. “It’s lighter than I
expected,” he said.
“It would have to be,” Lilina said. “If one is fighting
dragons, I imagine speed is important.”
“Just that it’s such a big sword. A proper warblade,” Roy
said. “Even a divine weapon like this, you think it would be heavier.”
A clatter of boots on stone drew both their attentions to
the door. Merlinus burst into the arena, disheveled and out-of-breath. Merlinus
had always been fussy and meticulous, but now he did not even pause to straighten
out his tunic before speaking.
“Lady Lilina! Master Roy! A squadron of Bernese flying knights
is outside the castle!”
“They’re here already?” Roy asked, and slid Durandal back
into its sheathe.
“Blast!” Lilina said. “I had hoped they’d give us slightly
more time to pick an appropriate battlefield.” In fact, she had not wanted to
return to the castle at all. All of the same issues raised in the previous
meeting still applied, but she had been overruled. The soldiers needed a place
to rest, a place that would have enough provisions to feed all of them. They
could not, and would not, tax the ordinary citizens of Ostia in such a manner. When
Lilina brought up the fact that they had been planning to go into the
countryside anyway, and they could hunt their food, Merlinus replied that there
were still many supplies needed that could only be purchased in a large city. And
so to the castle they had returned.
Neither Merlinus nor Roy responded to her comment. They were
already headed for the front entrance. Lilina picked up her skirts in one hand
and followed after them, making sure to snag a spell book from the chest near
the door as she did so. If it came to a fight, she would be ready.
Roy and his soldiers had talked about the dragon knights.
Merlinus had talked about dragons too, what he remembered for them childhood
misadventures of their parents.
No amount of stories could have prepared Lilina for the
truth.
The dragon knight at the head of this squadron was nothing
at all like the wyvern riders behind him. Wyverns were intimidating in their
own way, with sharp fangs and long claws, but they were common, domesticated,
and no larger than an average horse. The wyverns facing them held patiently
still, waiting for their master’s commands, but exhibiting little initiative of
their own.
The dragon was massive, twice as large at least as the
largest of the wyverns behind it, wyverns that looked like mere playthings.
Each scale on the beast gleamed like a jewel in the sunlight, each claw glowed
like polished ivory, and there was fire in the dragon’s eyes that was never
seen in its lower kin. Each line of its body radiated wildness. This was not a
tame creature, not by any means. It tolerated its rider, but this was a
creature that knew its own mind.
The man mounted on the dragon flipped his golden hair with
one hand and sneered down at the small force gathered by the gate.
“So you’re Roy, are you?” he asked. “I must thank you for
getting rid of that idiot Leygance for me. But now be a smart little boy and
hand Ostia over to me!”
Lilina clutched her spell book to her chest and put her free
hand on her hip. “Ostia isn’t his to give. And I would never hand my country
over to the likes of you!”
The dragon rider only laughed. “And what? You intend to
oppose me with this pathetic little rabble?” He slid a sword out from its
sheathe and pointed it at them. “Fine with me! I’ll crush you just like I did
with that fool Hector!”
Lilina’s breath caught in her throat, and her fingers curled
more tightly around the tome she was gripping. Before she could act, however, a
new voice cut into the fray.
“That’s enough!”
Everyone turned to see who approached.
In front of them, a Bernese wyvern soldier wormed his way to
the front of the pack. “General Narcian! Etrurian troops have appeared!”
“I can see that you idiot,” the dragon rider snarled. He
raised his sword, as if to smite the hapless soldier, but he didn’t get a
chance.
A legion of mounted knights approached from the west, armor
and weapons glinting in the sunlight, banners marked with the Etrurian crest
fluttering high above. The two riders at the front of the legion stopped, and
their followers did likewise, all moving in perfect harmony with each other.
One of the riders was familiar to Lilina from her infrequent
trips to Etruria, the other was much more familiar as the woman who had tutored
both her and Roy in their younger years. Generals Percival and Cecilia, two of
the highest-ranking people in all of Etruria.
Percival spoke first. “I am Knight General Percival of
Etruria. We received a petition for aid and as of now, Ostia is an Etrurian
protectorate.”
“What?” General Narcian didn’t seem to believe what he was
hearing.
His reaction perfectly expressed what Lilina herself was
feeling. Ostia as part of Etruria? This was the first she had heard of it. She
stared at General Percival, but he seemed in earnest. General Cecilia looked
likewise unperturbed. Lilina glanced at Roy. He seemed pleased, and not at all
surprised. A sudden flower of anger and suspicion bloomed in her heart.
General Cecilia crossed her hands on her lap and stared up
at the Bernese General, serene as ever. “You seem unsatisfied by this news. You
can, of course, still fight us for control. But do your men stand a chance
against our numbers?”
Narcian was nearly incoherent with rage. He levelled the
sword at Cecilia and Percival. Magic crackled along its length, blindingly
bright. “You! You-”
Cecilia paid no attention to the obvious threat. “I am
Sorcery General Cecilia of Etruria. Ostia is now under our protection, and we
will fight for it.”
In all this commotion the wyvern rider had not moved from
his commander’s side. “General Narcian please control your temper!” he said
now, urgency apparent in every syllable. “We might be able to fight one
Etrurian general but Percival and Cecilia together? We’ll be slaughtered!”
Narcian snarled again, nearly as feral as his dragon. Then
he slammed his sword back into its sheathe, its light extinguished as quickly
as it had appeared. “I know! But this isn’t over. You better watch your backs
from now on, generals.” With that he
kicked the dragon solidly in the side and it launched itself into flight. The
wyverns followed their brethren, leaving the ground empty except for the
Etrurian army and the sad remnants of the Lycian Alliance.
Once they were gone, Lilina turned on her so-called-friend.
“You gave Ostia away? It isn’t in your power to make such a decision, Roy!” She
spat out his name, one syllable, a reminder that she was the power here, not
him.
Roy raised his hands defensively. “You have to understand
Lilina! The Lycian army was devastated! Lord Hector was killed, you were
kidnapped, and Bern was menacing our borders! We didn’t feel like we had any
other choice.” He caught her free hand in his own, and met her eyes with his
own, bright blue, shining with sincerity and good will. In that moment, Lilina
hated him more bitterly than she had ever hated anyone. “I would have done
anything to rescue you, to keep Lycia safe. But we didn’t have the numbers to
do it on our own.”
Lilina had been trying hard to keep her losses at arm’s
length, to be strong and resolute like her father had been. She had seen him
grieve, and keep moving forward. He had no other choice. She had no other
choice either, but more than that, she wanted to be like him.
This was too much.
This was her home, the only thing she had left, that Roy had
passed off so casually. Everything crashed back in on her all at once – all her
losses, all the stress and danger, all of the small, subtle slights,
intentional and otherwise.
One tear rolled down her cheeks, hot as dragon’s fire, then
another and another. The tears did nothing to diminish her anger. “You could
have told me! You could have said ‘hey, Lilina, I gave your home away to
someone else, just wanted to let you know’!” She jerked her arm out of her
grasp and raised it to her eyes, letting the soft wool of her bliaut soak up
the tears and block her view of Roy’s face all at once. “Do I mean that little
to you? Or you think so highly of yourself that you can do as you please?”
Footsteps sounded across the grass, and someone cleared
their throat uncomfortably.
General Cecilia said, “I’m sure General Roy did not mean to
cause you any distress, Lady Lilina.” She put a hand on Lilina’s shoulder. “We
are only here to help, not to take control of Ostia away from you permanently.
When this is over I will see to it that it is returned to Lycian control.”
Percival joined in. “General Cecilia is quite fierce when
she needs to be. She argued with the king to be allowed to come here at all and
won. I am certain that with her here Ostia will be in good hands during these
trouble times.”
Lilina’s tears had slowed, if not stopped completely. She
scrubbed at her face with her arm and looked up the Etrurian generals,
determined to make the best of this horrible situation. She did not think that
Etruria would be so eager to give up a foothold into Lycia, but she curtsied.
“Thank you, General Percival. It would be rude of me to refuse your aid as you
have travelled so far to help us. Would you like to come inside and rest?”
Percival shook his head. “I appreciate your offer of
hospitality, Lady Lilina, but I must be going. Etruria needs her generals, you
understand. I will leave you in Cecilia’s capable care.” He offered a bow both
to her and to Roy. “I do hope that when we meet again, it is under better
circumstances.” He returned to his horse and swung up into the saddle with
practiced ease. At his signal, half of the soldiers fell out of rank and
followed him back to the west, heading for Etruria once again.
General Cecilia gave a wan smile. “How about we take this
conversation inside?”
Lilina dried her face again and nodded. Fortunately, her
tears had subsided, but the outburst had only increased the sullen pit of anger
simmering in her soul. “Yes, I think we have quite a bit to discuss.” She tried
to sound calm and in control as she had so often seen both of her parents pretend
to be, but her heart was not in. The words came with an undercurrent of malice.
Cecilia ignored the tone with practiced ease. “In truth,” she
said as they walked through the wide double doors leading into Castle Ostia’s
great hall, “Roy has done us a favor of sorts by asking for our aid. You
shouldn’t be too angry at him.”
Lilina could not think of a polite way to respond to that,
so she said nothing.
Roy was walking to Cecilia’s left. “I don’t understand, I
thought this was a favor for us?”
“Bern’s actions have been something of a concern to us,” Cecilia
said. “But they have made no moves against Etruria, and we have no active
alliances with Lycia. When Roy asked us for aid, he gave us an excuse to show
our displeasure.”
“You mean to declare war on Bern,” Lilina said flatly.
Cecilia inclined her head. “As you like. But I assure you,
again, that we have no intention of claiming Ostia permanently at this time.
Our goal is merely to remind Bern of her place in the world.”
“At this time,” Lilina echoed. Then she shook her head.
There was nothing more to be done about this for the time being. She could
hardly challenge Sorcery General Cecilia and all of her troops over what was
essentially an inheritance dispute. She could not challenge Roy over actions
undertaken, supposedly, in order to save her life. And, of course, there was
still Bern to consider. “So,” she said, swallowing her vitriol, “what do we do
now?”
Roy gave her a small, awkward smile. “Now, with your
permission, I would like to call a council of war.”
“Very well,” said Lilina. “I believe the throne room is
clean by now. It should be large enough to seat everyone.”
I’m at it again. Lilina’s got some shit to work through and man, part 4 is gonna be so good. 1,271 words.
Ostia was large, as far as Lycian territories went, but even
so the shrine of Roland could be reached with only two days of easy riding. The
remnants of the Lycia Alliance Army were not taking an easy ride. They pushed
themselves to a frantic pace, turning what Lilina remembered to be a relatively
calm and scenic country road into a nightmare of anxiety. The bright sunshine
and warm weather was at odds with the snorting of the horses and the clink of
armor and weapons.
The faces of the villagers they passed were drawn and
frightened. Lilina wished she could stop and talk to them. Why were they
afraid? Was it Bern? Her father’s death? The coup, or the army now racing
through their land? All of the above? There were still so many things she didn’t
know about Ostia and her people, things she had to learn quickly. For one
moment Lilina felt the full crushing weights of despair and obligation. The
change in mood startled her horse, and the black palfrey dropped out of a
canter, mincing her hooves and shaking her head. It was enough to drag Lilina
back to the present and give her something to do as she regained control of her
delicate mount.
The remaining army streamed around the pair, except for Sue
who slowed. Next to the sleeker Lycian palfreys and coursers, Sue’s scruffy
brown Sacaen horse looked ridiculous. Next to the shining steel plate of the
Lycian armor, Sue’s own breastplate of bronze scales looked just as odd. But in
this case, the unusual came across as a breath of fresh air.
Lilina straightened from soothing her high-strung mare as Sue
approached.
“Lilina,” Sue said, “do you need to stop?”
“No, I’m alright,” Lilina replied. She sighed. “There’s just
a lot happening, isn’t here?”
Sue inclined her head, and her dark hair gleamed emerald in
the strong sunlight. She didn’t seem to want to say any more.
Lilina stopped herself from sighing again. Sue was always so
quiet, she’d never been able to understand the other girl and that hadn’t
changed in the years they’d been apart. “There’s not really time to stop, is
there? No time to enjoy all this.” She gestured around, to the open countryside
that the army had disturbed by their passing. “Certainly no time for weakness
on anyone’s part. I have to be stronger.” She kicked her mare firmly on the sides,
and the palfrey jumped into a startled canter, following after the army that
had passed them by.
Sue caught up quickly. The horses of Sacae possessed a
uniquely ground-eating gait that made them the equal of any of their larger,
Lycian kin. For a moment, the two rode side by side in silence. Then Sue said, “No
sense in pushing too hard either. Everything is harder and more dangerous when
you’re stressed.”
Lilina looked over at her, eyebrows raised. “With all that’s
happened, with everything I’ve lost and everything we could still lose, you
think I can just…not be stressed?” Her words came out with more anger than she
intended, but Sue seemed less upset by the anger than by any of Lilina’s
previous attempts to be polite and courteous.
“We need you,” Sue said bluntly. “We need every strong
person who is able and willing to fight. Everyone who is brave and true.”
Lilina flushed nearly as red as her mantle. No one had said
they needed her before this. Certainly, Roy had not been unhappy to have her
once she made her opinions known, but he never would have asked for her to
come. None of them would.
“I-”
“But I know,” Sue said, continuing as if Lilina had not started
to speak, “that sometimes being strong and brave means being able to ask for
what you need.”
There was no time to reply. They had caught up to their
comrades. The Lycia Alliance Army had arrived at the Shrine of Roland.
Roy moved back towards her, the army parting around his
white courser like water around a rock. In his brand new armor and mantle he
looked every bit like a war leader and nothing at all like the fifteen year old
boy Lilina knew he was. “Lilina,” he said. “I’m glad you caught up. This is the
cave right? What can we expect inside?”
Sue’s comments were forgotten as Lilina turned her attention
to the problem at hand. She followed Roy back through the ranks of the army and
to the entrance to the cave. “This is right. It’s a volcanic cave, so it’ll be
hot and difficult to traverse.” She paused. “There’s no point brining the
horses, or most of the army. Only take a few who can help.”
“I’ll go,” Sue volunteered, riding up behind them.
Roy looked at Lilina and she shrugged.
“That’ll be fine,” he said. “I’ll go pick out a few others.
Try to remember what you can about the Shrine.”
Lilina slid down from the saddle in a swirl of crimson and
maroon. She took off her mantle and rolled it up. She pulled a spell book out
of one of her saddlebags and stuffed the mantle into the empty spot. The fine
wool of her kirtle would be warm enough in a lava cave without adding a full
cloak to it.
“There’s not much to remember,” she said to Roy as he
rejoined her on foot, followed by a few of his knights and fighters. “The
Shrine is at the back of the cave. The route is narrow and the floor is
treacherous. We’ll need to be careful.”
One of the knights, a man named Alan, if Lilina remembered
correctly, spoke. “Please allow us to proceed ahead of you and clear the way my
lord, my lady.”
Roy nodded, and the chosen few streamed into the cave. Roy
walked more slowly, next to Lilina. Sue moved up just ahead of them, but kept
her bow held loosely in one hand.
“Are you alright, Lilina?” Roy asked. He, too, had noticed
her falling out of the army earlier.
Lilina shrugged again. With one hand she raised her skirts
to jump over a small crack in the floor. Small wisps of smoke rose up from it
and similar cracks all the way through to the shrine. Lilina had only come here
once before, and then her father had lifted her up over all the worst of the
dangerous parts. Lilina shook her head and blinked a few times to discourage
any tears. “I’d be lying if I said I was fine, but there isn’t time for
mourning. I have to be strong for the sake of Ostia.”
Roy offered her a small smile. “Good for you, Lilina.”
Lilina clearly heard Sue snort from her place ahead of them.
Roy heard it too, but misunderstood. “Is everything alright,
Sue?” he asked.
Sue turned around as if to reply, but the sudden clamor of
metal on metal interrupted her. She whipped back around and broke into a run,
pulling an arrow out of her quiver as she did so.
“It must be bandits!” Roy said, drawing his sword from its
scabbard. “Do you think they’ve taken Durandal?”
Lilina’s grip tightened on the spell book. “Only the worthy
can remove the sword from its rest. I think we should give these bandits the
bad news.”
“Lilina…” Roy said.
Lilina didn’t respond. She just started running to catch up
to their comrades, to reach a place where her actions would make a difference,
where, for a little while, she could forget everything but the moment right in
front of her.
A follow-up to this. Takes place right before chapter 8x. As always, heavily Lano Canon ™ (though maybe not as much as the first chapter honestly). 1,835 words.
Roy was holding his conference in the dining hall. Perhaps
the throne room would have been more appropriate, but it had yet to be cleaned
from the signs of battle. Ostians were more frugal than most other Lycian residents,
but Ostia Castle had long been held to be unimpregnable. Comfort and confidence
had allowed for the collecting of no few items less than easily cleaned or
repaired, and a few things that would need to be replaced entirely.
Lilina had spent all the previous day and most of this
morning overseeing the clean-up. It was not until Sue excused herself to attend
Roy’s war meeting that she realized one was being held at all. His lack of
inclusion stung, all the more for the fact that they had shared the same early
training in matters of war. His audacity at holding such a meeting in her own
home without so much as consulting her stung even more.
Lilina intended to make sure he did not forget her again. She
had washed the signs of captivity, battle, and labor from her features, and
dressed in a crimson mantle and a kirtle of finely woven maroon wool, and wore
only minimal ornamentation – nice enough for Lady Ostia, practical enough for
travelling the realm. The Sacaen cut tunics and trousers that her late mother
had favored would have been even more practical, but Lilina knew that she must
remind those in the castle of her status – and she would not do that by emphasizing
her slightly foreign blood.
She opened the double oak doors leading into the dining room
without bothering to knock. It was, after all, her castle. Everyone present –
no small number of knights and mercenaries as well as the merchant Merlinus and
Sue, the sole Sacean representative, looked up in surprise. Roy’s first look
was irritation at being interrupted, but at the sight of her it changed to
acute embarrassment.
In the past Lilina might have smiled at that expression. She
did not because she remembered her surrounding and injured dignity. This time
Roy was not a young boy caught stealing cookies before dinner, but a military
commander holding a meeting without his host’s consent. Childhood friend or
not, Roy had overstepped his bounds and he was well aware.
“What, then, are our plans for the immediate future?” Lilina
asked as she inserted herself at the head of the table, right next to Roy. Sir
Marcus was gallant enough to make room for her, even if his master was not.
Roy got over his embarrassment quicker than he would have
even a few months ago, no doubt a benefit of being in charge of a large force. “The
Lycia Alliance Army has to make a stand against Bern somewhere,” he said. “A
fortress like Ostia would be useful, but I don’t like the idea of fighting near
so many civilians.”
Lilina nodded. If they stayed here, the castle’s very imperviousness
would work against them. Bern could simply trap them. The castle could hold out
for an impressive amount of time, if it came to a siege. But it would be harder
to stand by while the invading army took out their whims and frustrations on an
innocent populous. That Ostia would be a battleground, Lilina had already
accepted. It came from having the most available land. But the fewer of her
people were on it, the better. “What are we facing? What are their numbers?”
Roy paused for a moment, a slight hesitation that Lilina
would not have noticed had she not known him as well as she did. “It would be
safer for you to remain here, to hold Ostia for us while we lured them away.”
“I am not staying behind,” Lilina said. Once before she had
allowed herself to be persuaded in such a way, and due to that she could not
even be with her father when he died. She had many reasons for wanting to go,
but that was the one that was likely to get the result she wanted. “They
murdered my father, Roy.” Her use of her father’s memory was meant for
manipulation, but that did not make her grief or rage any less real, and Roy
knew it.
His gaze softened somewhat. “I’m sorry,” he said, as he had
said twice before.
“I don’t want apologies,”said Lilina. She placed her hands
on the table and leaned forward. “I want revenge. I want to build a monument to
my father. The largest funeral pyre Elibe has ever seen.”
There could have been an awkward silence there, but Marcus
stepped in before it could begin. “Spoken like you father would have, at your
age,” he said, and inclined his head in a brief bow as an apology for interrupting.
He may have been amused, or dismayed, or reproachful, but none of that showed
on his face. Marcus was as ever a true knight, and never allowed his personal
feelings to color his work. “Too, we could use your abilities. Our forces are
heavily bent towards physical attacks.”
Roy took the exit Marcus had provided him. “If you truly
wish to come, we’ll be glad of your help. Ostia is the best military resource
in Lycia and we’ll need that to equal Bern.” He hesitated again. “But it will
take more than mere numbers or skill to turn the tides. They have dragons on
their side, real dragons from all we’ve seen and heard.”
“But how could that be?” Lilina asked, all political
maneuvering temporarily fleeing from her mind. “We defeated them a thousand
years ago!”
“That is not entirely true,” said Merlinus, inserting
himself into the conversation for the first time. He had always been slightly
stuffy and self-important, and Lilina had largely ignored him. Now, from the
way that everyone turned to face him with surprise, everyone but Marcus, she
could tell she wasn’t the only one.
“Do you know something about the dragons?” Roy asked him. “Something
more than what you told me before?” Lilina heard an echo of her own discontent
in Roy’s voice and realized, for the first time, that perhaps she was not the
only one being shut out by those who thought they knew better.
The merchant offered and apologetic shrug. “It is not
something your parents wished you to know, and so I have kept my silence all
these long years,” he said. “Now, however, I believe it is wiser for you to
know. When they were not much older than you, Lord Eliwood, Lord Hector, and
Lady Lyndis fought and defeated a dragon that was summoned here from elsewhere.”
A wave of shocked murmurs rose almost involuntarily around
the table. Marcus stepped in to stop the meeting from straying into chaos. “Merlinus
and I were both present for that venture, close enough to see how it very
nearly ended in failure. At the time your parents had the help of several
divine weapons. To go into battle against dragons with less would be foolish.”
“Lord Hector mentioned the divine weapons to me, but he said
nothing of that,” Roy mused. “In fact that was why we turned to Ostia in the
first place. He said there was a weapon to fight dragons here.”
Lilina did not waste time wondering why her parents had
never told her about the dragons. Thinking over things they had told her she realized
that, in a way, they had done their best to prepare her – making sure she got
training and practice not only in running Ostia but also in fighting, and
making sure she was well-versed in the lore of both Elibe as a whole and Lycia.
“Ostia is the home of a shrine to Roland, a shrine that
contains his holy sword Durandal,” she said. “It is located not far from the
capitol. That must be the weapon he mentioned.”
“I remember,” Marcus said. “Lord Eliwood once used that very
sword.”
“Then we should retrieve it, first thing,” said Roy, taking
charge of the meeting again. “I will want a fuller briefing on what happened in
those days later.”
“I would like to be present as well,” Lilina said.
Roy nodded. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I don’t
suppose you know where the other divine weapons are?”
“Not exactly,” Lilina admitted. She tapped her finger
against her lips in a gesture that anyone who knew her would take as a sign
that she was thinking. It only took a moment for her to consider what she knew.
She shrugged. “The divine weapons were used by the eight heroes. It’s likely
that each nation has custodianship of one. At the very least there are no more
in Ostia.”
Sue spoke, for the first time from what Lilina could tell. “There
is one such weapon in Sacae, but it’s far away and likely possessed by the
traitors who attacked my clan.”
Roy frowned. “Then we’ll have to deal with that, as well as
the others, later. We should make Durandal the priority. Only then can we turn
ourselves to researching the remainder.” He turned to face Lilina. “How soon
can you be ready to lead us to this shrine of Roland?”
“I’m already packed,” Lilina said. She had anticipated
having to follow the army rather than being accepted as one of them. Now she
was grateful for her foresight. “I can leave as soon as you can.”
“And the sooner the better,” Roy said. “We’ll leave at dawn.
Make sure everyone is ready to move.”
That was the end of the meeting. The members of the rag-tag
Lycia Alliance were well-used to working together by now. They immediately
scattered to attend to their own needs.
Roy caught hold of Lilina’s sleeve as she back to rise, so
she settled back and waited for them to be left alone.
“I’m sorry,” he said, again. “I didn’t mean to leave you
out. I just wanted to protect you.”
Lilina smiled and patted his hand where it rested near hers
on the table. “I’ve had enough of being protected. I don’t want to wait at home
to learn whether I’ve lost any more people I care about.”
“I’ll be happy to have you with me,” said Roy. “I mean that.
All of this…it’s so much sometimes, I don’t know how I’ll pull it off. Having
your support might make it more bearable.”
Lilina rose from the table and offered her hand to him. Roy
took it and allowed her to pull him to his feet. “You’ll always have my
support, Roy,” she said. “As long as you remember to ask for it.”
“And,” he said with a laugh that was no less genuine for its
undercurrent of strain, “if I don’t remember to ask, you’ll make sure to remind
me.”
“Indeed. Is there anything I can do to make the departure
smoother?”
“As a matter of fact-”
They left the room together, talking as if nothing, not
doubts, not politics, not death, had interrupted their long friendship.
Aka part 1/? of my just rewriting FE canon to make Lilina the main character (and also Sue). There’s a lot more I have planned but idk when I’ll get to it so I’m putting this up now.
Takes place at the end of chapter eight. 898 words.
At first Lilina didn’t believe her eyes. What would Sue be
doing here, in Ostia, so far away from her home? It was entirely improbable
that a girl Lilina had not seen since she was eight years old would suddenly be
here, leading a horse through the long hallways of Ostia Castle, but that is
what it seemed. She hurried to catch up.
“Sue?”
The other girl turned around. Improbable or not, it was Sue.
She looked oddly the same as she had last time, though a good deal taller. “Lilina…I
didn’t expect to see you.”
Despite what had happened, Lilina almost laughed. “This is
my home,” she said instead, although she knew that Sue had not been to Ostia
before, and wasn’t even certain if Sue knew, really, who she was.
Sue shrugged awkwardly, causing the bronze scales of her
armor to clink together. She said nothing.
Conversation stalled, and an awkward silence formed. It had
always been like this between them. They were not naturally compatible,
perhaps. Or maybe Lilina was simply no good at making friends. In the past,
they had merely separated to play their own games while their parents talked.
Now though, Lilina refused to give up.
“Strictly speaking, I don’t think my…I don’t think father
would have appreciated horses in the halls,” she said, gesturing to the elaborately-tacked
horse by Sue’s side. It was a joke, of sorts, ruined by an up-welling of
emotion. Not that she was particularly good at making jokes anyway.
Sue gave an embarrassed glance at the horse, which was
currently eyeing a nearby wall-hanging with suspicion. “I am sorry about your
father,” Sue said. “He was a great warrior.”
“He was,” said Lilina. Of course Lord Hector was a great
warrior. Was. Had been. It hadn’t helped him in the end. Her mother had been a
great warrior too, for all the good it did.
Lilina scowled. It seemed everyone in Roy’s hodge-podge
force had expressed their condolences. But she did not want to think about her
father, or his death. She wanted to be doing
something. No one seemed to realize that, not even Roy, who knew her better
than anyone.
Sue rubbed a hand on the back of her neck. “Can you show me
the stables? I don’t know where they are.”
“Oh! I can do that! It’s-” Lilina paused, trying to think of
the most horse-friendly route. “I think we should go that way.”
Ostia castle was not in good shape, and Lilina despaired
slightly as they walked. She had studied battles, and fighting, and strategy,
but she had never seen one in person before. Blood she might have anticipated,
but not the sour, metallic smell of it soaking in and clinging to everything.
Nor the other smells of death, or the persistent buzzing of flies already
finding their way to the dead. There were scorch marks from magic, chips in the
stone from metal weapons, and in one case a wall had been knocked through
entirely. Rooms were standing open, precious items had been burgled.
To be fair, Lilina was not in much better shape. Her bliaut
was wrinkled from days of captivity, and now soiled and torn in several places
from the fighting. She had lost her headband, and her hair was in desperate
need of a brushing. Utterly unsuitable for Lady Ostia. Utterly unsuitable for
going with Roy.
Lilina looked back at Sue, but whatever words she was going
to say died in her throat. Sue was paler than she should be, and clung to her
horse’s reins as if they were the only think keeping her upright. The horse
snorted and tossed his head, eyes showing more than a bit of white.
The easiest route to the outside was the same one which Sue and
the others had fought their way through, not so long ago.
“Over here,” Lilina said, simply, taking a side hall that
would be longer and more inconvenient, but also less gruesome.
They walked in silence for a short while, with only the
muffled clopping of hooves on carpet to accompany them.
“It’s different, when you’re fighting,” said Sue. “Mother
Earth and Father Sky, all those people…all those lives. Not at all like shooting rabbits.” She paused. “I dislike it but…I’m done running. I shall fight for
my people.”
“I knew them,” Lilina said. “The guards, I mean. I knew them
all. They served my family for so long…how could they do this? Why did they-” a
few tears ran down her cheeks and Lilina scrubbed at her face with one arm to
get rid of them. There wasn’t time for tears now. Whatever the reason, the
betrayal had happened, and now she was left alone to pick up the pieces. That
word, alone, kept surfacing in her mind no matter how many times she quashed
it. “There’s much to do before we leave, isn’t there?” she said, forcibly
turning her thoughts to the many, many tasks that awaited her. Tasks she needed
to get done quickly, if she was to go with Roy when he left. She had no
intention of being left behind again.
“Do you want help?” Sue asked.
“Help would be appreciated,” Lilina said, pulling up short
next to an unassuming wooden door. “But first, the stables.”
Sue nodded her assent as Lilina opened the door. They
stepped together into the sunlight.
No one really wanted 1,500 words of Lyn and Hector and Sacaen wedding traditions but I don’t care.
Headcanon heavy and also super embarrassing.
I’m reblogging this because I still really like it.
“Miss Florina!”
Florina looked up from where she was repairing a gash in her
saddle with quick, even stitches. Ninian was walking towards her across the
open ground. Florina gave a small smile and waved.
“You have good timing, Ninian. I need to thank you.” Florina
gestured to the ripped leather under her hand. “If it hadn’t been for you, this
would have been in me or Huey instead of just my saddle.”
“Oh!” Ninian put her hand to her chest, as if she was
surprised. “But…that isn’t right….”
“Huh?” Florina put down her needle. “What do you mean? I
never would have seen that assassin in the dark like that…it was only you
sensing danger that let me get out of the way.” Florina smiled again. She had
taken it upon herself to protect the dancer on the battlefield, but it had
worked out the other way – Ninian had ended up saving her countless times and
Florina had done little other than keep her company. “You really are amazing,
you know?”
“No…” said Ninian. “I mean, I came to thank you.” She dipped into a quick half bow.
Sunlight glinted off her pale hair in the same way it did off the snowy fields
of Ilia. “You’re so kind, and so strong too. You’ve made me feel stronger than
I was before. I want to protect people important to me too, like you do. I want
to protect Nils, Lord Eliwood and his friends….and you too, Miss Florina.”
Ninian straightened up, and she was smiling, but it didn’t
reach her eyes. In fact, despite the smile, she seemed more melancholy than
usual.
“What’s wrong, Ninian?” Florina asked. “Is something going
to happen?”
Instead of answering, Ninian looked up, studying the
cloud-studded sky with an intensity that it didn’t deserve. “I wish….I wish I
could have been on the mountain to meet you that night, Miss Florina. Maybe
things would have been different. I would have liked that.” She turned then,
and hurried away.
“Ninian, wait!” Florina tried to stand as well, but was
burdened by the cumbersome saddle. By the time she set it aside and stood up,
Ninian had vanished among the hastily set-up tents of their makeshift camp.
Florina stared after her. She wasn’t a seer like Ninian, but she couldn’t shake
the feeling that something terrible would happen at their next battle. “I won’t
let it,” she said quietly to herself. “No matter what…I’ll do my best to
protect you.”
Lanonima Tumblr Backup 