Chapter I – Bliss

Azura had never been one for large crowds.

It was eight in the evening, the sun simmering on the horizon as it sank slowly out of sight, the gentle whoosh of the breeze tickling the ears, with the teasing slosh of the waves begging to be answered.

Azura stooped to place her fingers in the water, feeling its tendrils dance harmlessly through her hand, as though it weren't there. She glanced up towards the skyline, the red-orange hue of the sunset seemingly enveloping everything in sight. The tender fall of the Sakura petals amused her, as they hung, seemingly frozen in time, in mid-air, before graciously swaying in the wind as they fell to the ground in slow motion.

Azura began to hum the tune of a song taught to her by her mother. Her mother… Nohr… Azura quickly banished the thought and stopped humming, slumping back from her haunches to her backside as she plonked down on the bank. Closing her eyes, she fell backwards to lie down on the yellow-green grass, letting out a low sigh as she did so. Hoshido was her home now. It was a better home – she was far more welcome here than she ever was in Nohr, and she was treated like a daughter by Queen Mikoto before she… Well, she liked it here. She had no reason to dwell on the past. Did she?

She started upon the sound of approaching footsteps. She shot up to her feet and spun towards the source of the sound, automatically reaching for her lance as a reflex before realising that it wasn't on her back. After clawing at thin air, she gritted her teeth and formed fists at her sides, letting out a low grumble as she tried to identify the cause of the disturbance.

She immediately released all tension in her body as she saw Corrin, arms out in front of him as if to repel an attack, eyes closed tight. She muttered a near-silent curse before grabbing hold of Corrin's arms and rapidly apologising for her mistake. Corrin laughed nervously and lowered his arms. Though he seemed to have forgiven her, he seemed to keep at least two metres distance between them at all times as they strolled to the water edge.

"So, what brings you out here, Corrin?" questioned Azura, as the pair sat down on the bank.

"Nothing really," began Corrin, "I just wondered if you were OK. You're becoming a sneaky one, nowadays. One moment, you were at the festival with the rest of us, the next you were gone. It was pretty creepy, to be honest, like you were a ghost or something."

Azura simply shook her head in amusement, before a small smile spread across her face.

"You worry about me too much, you know? I can handle myself now." she said, looking down at her reflection in the water.

Corrin sighed. "I know that, but…" He slowly tailed off, realising he wasn't going to win a battle of words with Azura. She was a lot of things, but docile was not one of them. Knowing better than to make any more of it, Corrin moved to stand up and head back to the festival.

As he turned to leave, however, there was a tug at his arm, holding him back from leaving. He turned to see Azura, her arm outstretched to grab his sleeve, her face still angled down at the water.

"No…" she started, "Just… stay a little longer." At this point, she slowly turned to look up at Corrin's face. Seeing the bewildered expression plastered across his face, she turned back to the water and exhaled slowly.

"Please."

After a moment of silence, Corrin drew out a breath, before shaking his head and sitting back down alongside Azura. They sat for a minute in complete silence. But this wasn't an awkward silence, rather a comfortable one. Neither said anything, because they knew nothing needed to be said. Corrin, though he wouldn't admit it, enjoyed these moments of pure bliss with Azura. Even if she didn't look up at him, he knew she was smiling, and the prospect of bringing happiness to Azura made Corrin unreasonably gleeful. He didn't know why, nor would he openly admit that fact either, but he just knew that making Azura happy was what he wished to do, and so he would do it however he could, even if it was just a series of these little moments – the pair side by side on the bank, staring off into the distance, wondering what could be on the horizon for them and those they cared for, whether what was to come was to be feared, or embraced. Neither knew the answers to these questions, but when they were together, the answers didn't really seem to matter.

N.B. Hey, I haven't written anything in a long time. I'm back with this little thing now. Might make it into a story, depends if you guys like it or not. Let me know your thoughts and everything in the reviews.

Cheers,

Inferno