Alternatively titled Rhys and Ulki support conversation B. (And therefore the sequel to Babble - Personally I'd read that one first, but I guess it's not THAT important if you don't want to)

And I'm back. Again. With more Rhys and Ulki because FlamingDoritos was threatening to send her cartoon pen- Actually, you know what, it's not important.

Rhys, Ulki and anything else Fire Emblem related belong to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems. You know the drill.

Rhys wasn't sure why he did it, not after his embarrassing encounter with the hawk a few days previously, but he did anyway. Besides, everyone – laguz or beorc – deserved to know when they were doing a good job, right? Admittedly, he'd been looking for a good time to apologize for their earlier conversation, but thus far one had failed to present itself and he'd been forced to make his own.

"Ulki!" he called as he approached.

The hawk turned. He didn't look impressed. "Oh," he said, "the sickly beorc." Rhys' stomach did a little, nervous flip. Was that all Ulki remembered about him? Well, it was better than nothing. "Hello."

He was always so serious; it was hard to get a proper read on him. Determined not to make a complete fool of himself this time, Rhys said, "I had the honour of seeing you in battle the other day! Your three hundred and sixty degree loops were extraordinary!"

Ulki blinked. "...I did a loop?" he asked.

Rhys nodded. "And right after that," he continued, "you circled many times and then dived at that soldier... BLAM!" He paused and allowed himself to giggle at the memory. "Hee hee! Oh, you're something else!"

"Well... I suppose," Ulki said slowly, looking thoroughly uncomfortable with the situation.

"Oh, how I wish I could soar though the air like that!" Rhys said, a dreamy look in his eyes.

"Er, yes. You mentioned that." The way Ulki said it suggested the unspoken words 'among other things' at the end of that sentence.

Rhys didn't notice, once again lost in his dream of flight. "On sunny days, I'd take to the skies and land on a high mountain peak, then gaze down at the villages below..." He grinned stupidly. "Just thinking about it makes me so happy! Ahhhhh..." he sighed. "Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh..." his eyes misted over as he retreated further into the fantasy.

Ulki coughed once and looked around, clearly wondering just what he should be doing about the zoning cleric. "Er...yes. I suppose flying could also help you take care of injured people"

Rhys gave his head a shake as he snapped back to reality and Ulki's words penetrated his brain. "Hey, that's a great thought! I could just zoom over and treat the victim! I'd love to do it!" He grinned at the thought. Helping heal people – being useful, really – and flying, it was more than he'd dare to dream of on his own. It was a shame that it could never happen. His face fell ever so slightly.

"Hmm..." Ulki's brow furrowed as he mulled something over. "Well..." His wings flapped slightly in apparent agitation causing a slight – and very pleasant – breeze to brush Rhys' face. "Do you want to...give it a try?"

Rhys stared at him, uncomprehending. "Huh! But h-how!" And he'd nearly made it through this conversation without stuttering. At least he wasn't talking his head off about Ashera only knew what this time. Yet. "I don't have wings or anything..." He trailed off as Ulki's wings twitched, almost like the hawk was trying to draw his attention to them. Rhys looked from Ulki's face to his wings and back. Then, he did it again. Realization hit like a lance through the gut. "Oh, wait..." It couldn't be. Ulki couldn't really be offering to... And yet, that was exactly what it seemed like. "Are you serious!"

Ulki remained silent. For a single terrified moment, Rhys feared he'd gotten it completely wrong. Maybe Ulki hadn't been offering his help. Maybe the hawk was mad at him now. Maybe...

Ulki nodded once. "Yes."

Rhys felt relief flood him. "Ulki, that would be amazing! Thank you!" He made a move as though to hug Ulki, but thought better of it and ended up making an odd jerking motion instead.

Ulki gave him a strange look.

Rhys looked away and shuffled his feet awkwardly, choosing to nudge the ground with the toe of his boot. He coughed and muttered, "...Ground's a bit uneven here. Might want to watch out for that... Could trip you up..."

The hawk chuckled at that and Rhys looked up at him. A silence stretched between them and Rhys nearly clapped his hands over his mouth to keep from lapsing into another pointless, incoherent conversation as he had upon their first meeting.

"Rhys," Ulki began, "do I make you nervous?"

The priest spluttered. "I...well...It's just that... And you're so..." He cleared his throat, and asked, "Why would you think that?"

"I am...no expert when it comes to beorc, but you appear...uncomfortable around me. Do I frighten you?"

"No!" Rhys said, perhaps a bit too forcefully. "No, not at all! In fact, I quite like you."

The hawk appeared rather taken aback by this. "You do?" he asked.

Rhys nodded enthusiastically. "Yes, I do!"

Ulki pursed his lips together as he appeared to mull this over. His lips twitched into a smile and he placed a hand on Rhys' shoulder, squeezing gently. "Thank you."

The priest reached up to clasp the hawk's hand, giving him a nervous grin.

"I am glad," Ulki said after another few moments. "This would not work if you were frightened of me."

Rhys couldn't quite hide his smile. "If we all want to get out of this war alive, we need to trust each other." He gave Ulki's hand a small squeeze. "I trust you." He paused. "As horrible as this war is, I think I can see good things coming out of it."

"Mmm?"

Rhys felt his cheeks heat with a blush. "If beorc and laguz can put aside their differences and work together like we are, surely it means that relations might finally begin to improve. And... And we'll be able to live in peace with each other as the goddess intended." He realized too late just how childish something like that might sound to Ulki. If what he'd heard through the camp was to be believed, the hawk was over a century old. How many times would he have heard the idealized vision of a perfect world, maybe even believed in one, only to see reality dash all hopes away?

"Well, I mean..." he began, "Elincia holds laguz in high esteem, and we've helped the apostle with her attempt to completely abolish slavery – that's how we found Reyson. And Leanne."

Ulki nodded once as he withdrew his hand from the cleric's shoulder. "Yes," he said, "I know."

Rhys smacked his forehead with his hand. "Of course you do. That's how we met. Well not really, it's how you met our group, but we didn't really get acquainted until a few days ago." If talking his head off about nothing could be considered 'getting acquainted' with anyone. "Though I feel like you know everything about me and I don't know much about you at all."

The comment drew a slight smile from the hawk and Rhys inwardly cursed himself. It was the same expression Ulki had worn when he'd gone on his babbling tangent, the expression that made it infinitely harder to shut up. Did the laguz enjoy seeing him get flustered? Surely that couldn't be it.

Rhys briefly wondered if his difficulty in dealing with Ulki stemmed from the fact that he was a laguz, or something else. Like his intimidating looks.

Whatever it was, he was going to have to get past it if he wanted to train with Ulki. It wouldn't do to talk his ears off every time they got together to practice. That would be nothing short of humiliating. Rhys felt his cheeks heat at the mere thought.

Ulki chuckled and the sound snapped Rhys back to reality. How long had he been thinking? Had he said anything stupid while he wasn't paying attention? Had Ulki said something that he'd now missed? He didn't know. Surely he would've heard if the laguz had said something, but... Rhys did the only thing he thought would possibly save him from making an idiot of himself. He abruptly changed the subject.

"How about that weather, huh? Sure is cold in Daein this time of year." He looked up at Ulki and asked, "Are you going to be warm enough? I know back home in Crimea the songbirds often head south for the winter so they don't freeze to death."

The hawk's expression flickered and it seemed he was scowling – more than usual.

Rhys bit his lower lip, realizing that he could've quite easily just offended Ulki. "N-not that I think you're just like a songbird. I mean, you're a person just like anyone else." He ran a hand through his hair. "That didn't come out right."

"So it would seem."

"I just meant..." Rhys pulled a face. "I don't know what I meant. But not that." He felt his cheeks burn. "I...um... I think I should probably go. Mist was hoping I might be able to give her a few more tips about using physic staves."

The hawk nodded. "Go ahead."

Rhys backed away a few steps before turning to head back to camp.

"Rhys?"

He stopped and looked over his shoulder at Ulki, wondering what he could want.

"We start training together tomorrow?"

He couldn't hide his grin, relived that clearly he had not actually offended Ulki too badly, if at all. "Yes!"

"See you then." Ulki actually smiled before taking to the air with a few pumps of his powerful wings.

Rhys watched him go, and it was with a much lighter heart that he went to find his protégé.

Man... I have so many ideas for these two... It's almost awful. Almost. But not really.