(So I like Fire Emblem and I like Fantasy like D&D, Mistborn, Warcraft and LOTR. I realise they pretty much go in hand in hand because y'know all that magic stuff that goes on in it. I've decided to take up writing because I think I'll like it, feel free to tell me how much you love or hate whatever swill I put out.
So I'll lay it out that's it's going to be an adventure / action sort of story. Very LOTR point A to point B for Reasons X and Y. Will be romance, Will be action with real violence. Stabbing a guy is a brutal thing to see, I will describe it like a brutal thing. This isn't power rangers, sparks aren't going to fly off the dude. Don't know about Sex, I might do the lead up then the after without the details because there's much better ways to jack/jill off than fanfics. Just Google boobs or something.
Kana is a girl even though Corrin is female, fight me.)
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These frilly ones really annoyed him the most.
His water wrinkled hands pushed the loose lace against the clean metal of the washboard, splashing up the rolled sleeves of his outfit with each slosh of the basin he was using. The cold pale hair of his fringe was beginning to cling to his forehead with effort, His eyes still shadowed by his hair even on the beautiful day that is all around him.
The stream he's washing beside tickles his ears with its movement, relaxing him in his arduous task of washing his parents, his Liege's and his Liege's subordinates clothing. He was almost done and in nearly record time too, no doubt due to his lineage. The spawn of two high ranking servants in the Nohrian royalty doesn't have many prospects besides servitude to Nohrian royalty but he enjoyed his tolling and scrubbing for all he complained.
Pushing his fringe out of his eyes again for the 3rd time in the last few minutes he set his sight onto his surroundings, He could just make out the top of Queen Corrin's castle where she stayed during her time outside of Valla, It's towers Nohrian inspired sloping into slated points at the top was all he could glimpse over the pink dashed trees of the Sakura blossoms.
Truth be told it's not really even a castle. It was once an old fort on the Hoshidan / Nohrian border. Renovated to be styled like Nohr on the outside and Hoshidan on the inside to welcome both nations countrymen.
Lady Corrin left her daughters here, the true occupants of the fort but when Corrin did visit many of the veterans of the Great War and their children show up for feasts and parties to see their old commander.
He hated it.
Not that Lady Corrin comes back; she was a kind and thoughtful Liege. She never woke him with meaningless tasks or poked him into action when he was being particularly lazy. She even invites him to the parlour for tea sometimes to ask how he's doing, events she's attended and about his parents, particularly mistakes they make, because heavens forbid if Jakob or Flora makes a mess of something and tell their Queen about it, His favourite part of her visits is when she scolds his father for his strictness. Lady Corrin is a true blessing.
No, Dwyer didn't like her visits because of the workload. More people means more dust and scuffs of carpet. More drunken dinners mean more spilt spirits on shirts and skirts. More bed covers to straighten. More dishes to clean. A lot of the retainers tried to help out a lot which was a god send before Lady Corrin proclaimed we were all friends first in her castle, No one is Liege nor Retainer.
Most of the retainers were perfectly fine with this, except Father and Mother of course. These were their shining moments after all, to show they are the fastest and most well respected servants in all three kingdoms. Auntie Felicia volunteers but Lord Leo usually gets her to drink some Ale and forget about it. She's actually has more poise inebriated, though she gets a bit more handsy.
These things usually didn't last long though, a weekend at most. They were busy people after all, countries and counties don't rule or lord over themselves. Nohr was especially struggling for a while with their divisions, a few of the royalty's retainers left one day leaving a hole in which several areas of Nohr needed new management. Not that he paid much attention to that sort of thing.
"Man, I'm glad I'm not a retainer. That'd be way too much work for me." He said out loud to no one in particular. Collecting himself from the break his thoughts gave him he reached over to the nearly empty basket to begin washing the next article of clothing. His prize in this lottery was some under garments and started scrubbing them against the metal wash board before noticing something. Some of the fabric was slightly loose around the hip. Using his well trained servant eye he spotted the broken seam and dragged over his sewing kit from behind the tree.
He brought his sewing kit whenever he did laundry in case of these garment emergencies after Forrest gave him the idea, Him and Forrest got along okay but Dwyer couldn't deny the prince's skill with the Needle was unparalleled.
Putting his hands through the bottom to feel for any roughness, lords forbid his mother finds out he's done a bad job with his Lady's panties. Holding them in his palm he felt no shame coursing through him, no thrill like most men.
Not that he was as indifferent as he'd like to be with the opposite sex. He was still a man like any other after all. He too like all the other male visitors glanced at Lady Camilla's and Ms. Charlotte's top heavy curves as well as the long legs of the Hoshidan diviners, He especially wondered how Ophelia's dress worked in general without spillages of flesh...
But this was different, this was a numbed feeling. He had been washing lady's garments like this for years, as a younger boy he was embarrassed by the teasing his father gave him about it but now he's learnt better. Dwyer held them aloft towards the sun, looking them over once more.
"W-wait Avel! Listen to me! Not that way that's the- WHOA!"
A grey blur flew past him of the back of a familiar horse and landed in the water with a splash and a splutter. The blur emerged from the water with its fringe stuck over its eyes.
"AVEEEEEL! Why!? I thought I'd mastered you!? UGH." She spoke smacking the water with clenched fists.
"Truly you're a master of beasts, Lady Sophie. I admire your natural talent." He sarcasmed from his spot under the tree, Avel started to wonder a few trees down to reach up for some apples on the branches.
"D-Dwyer? You uhh... Didn't see that did you?" He saw a faint hint of red under his Lady's tresses as she climbed out of the water.
"That is up to you Lady Sophie, I am but your servant I remember what you want me to remember." Grabbing onto her armour to begin helping her up.
"Heh, I'm alone Dwyer no need to put on the 'Faithful Servant' act. You know Kana and I don't like it anyway."
"Joy." He said as he let go and dropped her halfway.
She lay there on the ground for a second before sighing and pushing herself up. "Y'know now that I think about it I think I prefer 'Faithful Servant' to 'Lazy Bum.' I eat less dirt that way."
"No takesies backsies. Besides I've seen you eat plenty of dirt because of Avel, you're practically a champ." He slouched back into his seat against the tree and began to scrub anew for the second time.
"Pfft, you can say that again. He's truly an awful horse." Dragging her hair into a tight ponytail to keep the wetness off her back. "You got anything dry for me? Or have you been slacking with the laundry too?"
"For once you are wrong, my slackery has not reached the laundry yet. I am getting sleepy though. But to answer your question, no. Nothing is dry yet."
"Give me your shirt then." Dwyer's eyes shot open in their own lazy way and drifted over to his Liege's daughter. "You're serious."
"Consider it payback for making me eat dirt and all the sarcasm." She held his stare with her own, channelling her own inner feral horse to shrink her servant with her eyes.
Dwyer wasn't afraid of horses though, nor the eyes of a feral one. "No." He put simply.
A slight lift of Sophie's lips came after before clasping her hands in front of her chest.
"Oh Mr. Jakob, Dwyer was q-quite mean to me today..." She pouted at him.
"You wouldn't."
She wouldn't. She's too noble. Especially for a Noble!
"As I was riding hard through the forest I found him sleeping in the middle of the road, G-going as fast as I was I-I had to veer quite hard. I fell off into the r-river and was nearly hurt Mr. Jakob..."
She would.
"You can't just expect me to-". Cut off again by her sad speech she continued.
"T-then he wouldn't even help me out the w-water! Hic! Even after I said please! He called me a Lazy Bum!"
Oh god his father would genuinely kill him. "Fiiiiiiine okay! Just don't say that to him, I'm probably already in trouble."
Sophie turned back into her normal self with a victorious smile, "Hehe, Thank you Dwyer. Why are you in trouble though?"
He stood up slowly from his basin to start undoing his overcoat, "I don't know if I am yet, but knowing him he's found some dust on a windowsill only he can see in one of my areas of the Castle that I've already cleaned. It's a regular occurrence."
"Your dad is quite mean, not like my Daddy! He's always nice."
"Well whenever you want to trade you're welcome to take him, I think Lord Silas would let me sleep in any day I choose." He dropped his over coat down to the ground and started to tug his dress shirt out of his black butler pants.
"You? Being Vallite royalty? Dwyer, you can't even wake up to serve breakfast how would you be the Vallite King one d-day..." her stuttered slightly as Dwyer's shirt crept up towards his next, his build firm and lean like a swimmer from his constant day to day labours. There were even slight curls of hair across the top of his chest and just below his belly. He was a bit lanky and gaunt but she decided she didn't mind that.
Set into his stomach were indeed some kind of muscle, while not as pronounced as someone like Rinkah's they look like they have some dedication woven into them, probably at the behest of his father.
Sophie has been around a lot of well defined men, their personal castle guard spar in the courtyards, slick and sweaty with moisture. She recalled sitting starry eyed watching beads slid down smooth torso.
This was kinda the same thing.
"If I was Vallite King I wouldn't have to wake up to make breakfast. Here take it." Dwyer gestured, shaking her out of her revelry dangling the white shirt in front of her.
"R-right. Thank you, Y'know Dwyer you can be pretty cool sometime-"
An almighty smash stuns her into silence as she spins on her heel to watch a large boulder hitting the sloped apex of the Nohrian Fort she calls home, the tower collapsing under the stony mass of the rock, ripping shingles from the glue that held it the tower started to crumble just as she heard the alarm ring.
She turned to Dwyer that had donned a damp shirt from the wicker basket, looking at the tower with hardened worried eyes before flicking to her and nodding slightly.
She felt herself frown, Time to Act. Not watch.
"Avel!" In an instant the Horse was right beside her leaning down on one side. With a mighty hop her leg cleared the large mound of the horse before extending her hand. Dwyer clasped her hand before stepping up onto the stirrup and jumping up like the rider.
Instantly Avel was swerved towards the path and galloped at full speed back towards the castle.
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"Are you awake now Lady Kana? Refreshed?".
She was honestly, She had been restless in her sleep. Blurred water coloured images of great beasts and evil deeds followed her during every sleeping moment, she had woken twice in a cold sweat. She was no diviner so she didn't put much thought into the matter, dreams are nothing too special.
She couldn't help shake this rotten feeling though, warm and sickly and weighty. Sat in her stomach like bad pudding. Sour. Even in the relaxed environment of her own bedroom, greeted by the warm morning sun looking at her though the window next to her.
The morning bath had helped, the soaking made the muscle stress flee but the mental stress was still slightly present. She felt distracted and aloof, She'd been called such before by her father. Her mind was always fleeting. Dressed in her calm pink nightie she scrunched her hands in knowing pain as the maid pulled layers of her hair into the braid, Barb was always a bit rougher but she was used to it. Such soft hands but such strong grip. This thought prompted her to look at her own hands, they weren't very dainty for a princess, least yet a magical princess. She traced the callouses around where she usually gripped her sword, then around the other. Ambidextrous just like her Mother.
She didn't get to see her much anymore, Valla was still quite the treacherous place and until it was mapped by Mother and her army it was considered to dangerous for her and her sister.
Staring back at her hands again she thought of her sister, Taller and more skilful than her younger sister. Granted she had many more years of training and experience but it still burned her in a way she felt guilty for.
"Something the matter madam?" asked Claudia who was down at her feet, applying the fainted touch of black to her nails.
She'd rather avoid the current topic of her thoughts, jealousy didn't suit a princess.
"Wondering where Dwyer is. Usually he says hello to me in the morning." It was true, usually the tired boy would pop his head around at least once during the mornings. Often at order of his father at first, but after the first few pillow fights, he started to enjoy the morning skirmish.
"He's an unreliable one that one is. If he wasn't the Head Butler's son he wouldn't have a job."
It kind of stung to hear that about her friend but she forced down her response, it was true. He was a layabout, but she'd probably be a layabout too if she had a job like this.
"I understand that though, Don't you two feel like spending mornings in bed?"
"Of course we do madam, but the world doesn't stop for us unfortunately and if I want to keep this amazing job with an amazing lady I'm going to have to make sure Head butler doesn't catch me napping." Claudia smiled as she patted Kana's leg.
She'd not met many other people with servants but the way the Maids talk you'd think most were tyrants. None of her family were tyrants. Except her Grandfather. And Adoptive Grandfather.
Might have to think more about that one.
Kana and the maids felt into a lull after this, nothing was heard except comb through hair and the calm breathing of the women.
Until a crash shattered the silence, The force resonated through the walls as the window burst open scattering glass through-out the room. A horn is heard from outside that the cry of men charging. Claudia and Barb are shrieking near she but it's faded and dim.
Barb recovers first shaking her, "Lady Kana! We must leave come-" she stopped gasping loudly as she starred at Kana's face.
Kana felt numb, adrenaline had not given her her orders yet. Fight or Flight was still being determined. She starred at Claudia and Barb looking at her in shock, looking at her face. Or her cheek rather? A hand she realised was her hand stroked alongside the cheek before hitting something sharp. Dragging her hand up too her eye she saw blood.
The oil that was entrenched in her veins burst into explosive energy. At once she was back grunting then pulling the object in her face with gory red hands, eyeing the shard of glass before tossing it to the side. Jogging to a nearby table being careful of the glass on the floor, deftly avoid it with her bare feet she pressed the cloth there into her cheek.
"Claudia. Barb. Please go get my armour and weapon please." she said as she scanned herself in a mirror, plucking a smaller shard out of her forehead.
The two maids sat there for a second stunned before turning and flinging the cabinet holding the armour open.
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Kana was dressed in record time. Her Nohrian armour felt thicker and heavier today that it ever did before. The maids scurried to clasp the clips and clip the clasps, each click locking her within the steel, tighter and tighter like a lead corset. It was a comfortable uncomfortable, a sickly squeeze that pushed her lungs up and her stomach down.
No sooner as she was strapped in did a ladder swing into the window frame. Kana and the Maids stared at in for a second because it started to vibrate to weight as something began to climb it. Claudia screamed as Kana rushed towards the window attempting to push it off the window, staring down at a burly man snarling at her. He stilled and pushed his weight onto the ladder before shouting over her shoulder to motion some soldiers.
Kana's eyes darted towards the other soldier, and heard the clicks of a crossbow being wound. Ducking behind the wall as a bolt snapped across her vision before sticking diagonally into the ceiling. Another scream from somewhere.
"Out the room! Lock the door!" Kana hurried her maids out before trying to dig into Barb's pocket, her armour fingers to thick to grip the small metal object.
"K-kana?!"
"The Key Barb! Lock the door!" Realisation flashed on her face before scrambling into her pocket, digging for a gold saviour.
Fiddling with the small key Barb's shaky hand tapped the key against the lock tap-tap-tap trying to find the recess, guided by Kana it entered and gave a firm click.
Glancing down the long stone corridor she remembered...
"The study! Claudia lock the study quick! Go!" The pale maid shuddered with shock before rushing down and flinging the next door open. Kana inhales were deep as she chased her maid into the next room, heart firmly in her throat as she watched her maid disappear into her bedrooms conjoining room.
A distinct scream resonated around the corner alongside a deep thud of a boot against door, Kana watched as the snarling man had burst through the conjoining door and floored her small maid to the ground, a firm hand around her small throat.
Acting fast Kana rushed towards the man and delivered a resounding plated cleat to his temple pushing him directly off the gasping maid. She wasted no time down her rapier and ramming it through his thigh, his cry made her eyes shudder with it's volume. Catching something out the corner of her eye she saw another soldier climbing in the window and with a war cry barrelled towards the door only to be met with the heavy door of the study door that locked with a click.
Kana's back burst forward as she felt the man's kick through the door bend and warp the wood.
Barb had picked the gasping Claudia up and away from the man clutching his leg as sticky red dyed the carpets and followed Kana back out towards the corridor. She started to run southwards.
"W-what next my lady?" questioned a pale Claudia who was openly scared behind a Barb who was attempting to keep herself together. These were not royal maids, they didn't know combat like Felicia or Flora. A battle of sponges not swords.
"Kitchen, we need to get you two out through the servant's exit." She said sternly. Holding a hand up to silence Barb as she came to argue. "You two don't know how to fight like Flora... Let me save you. Please." grabbing onto their hands and she talked.
"But Ms. we can't just abandon our Princess."
"You aren't abandoning me, you're being dismissed."
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