Waltz

one: in which one steps forward

To General Ike of the Crimean Royal Army:

Your presence is requested at the annual Begnion Summer Ball hosted by Her Holiness, Apostle Sanaki. Please be at Mainal Cathedral on the second full moon of summer. Proper attire and demeanour is expected.

Sincerely,

Sephiran, Duke Persis, Prime Minister of the Begnion Empire

"This is absolute rubbish," a certain blue-haired young man said indignantly, throwing the elegant letter down onto his already cluttered desk. He had, admittedly, never really handled paperwork – he let Soren handle all of that back with the mercenaries. After all, when your profession was supposedly just hack, slash, dodge and the occasional shock recovery, what use was paper?

But this – and other such things – was beyond his control. At such a time in Crimea's history, he couldn't really say no to helping out, not to mention he couldn't really say no to Queen Elincia, which is why he had stayed on as the Crimean army's general anyway. He had expected the paperwork, though perhaps not this vast quantity, and he had expected the court formalities. Yet the same thought was now running through the young general's mind incessantly: another dance?

Ike needed air.

He walked out of his suite of rooms into one of Castle Crimea's many impressive hallways, over paths he had trod before whenever he had felt the need to escape the tedium of deskwork. In his mind, a general should be out on the field, commanding battle, instead of locked in a castle shifting papers like he was in his current predicament.

Of course, with the fall of Mad King Ashnard and other such recent events, the need for a general to lead an army was not exactly present. But the reconstruction was fragile, so Elincia had requested that he remain as general in case anything should happen. He never went so far as to think that he actually wanted another war just so he could get his sword swinging again, but he did miss the old life. Almost no papers, no formalities, and certainly no dances.

Passing by a window, Ike poked his blue-topped head out to admire the beautiful cerulean sky. The city of Melior bustled a short distance away, while the fields and gardens of Castle Crimea called out to him from below. Oh, it wouldn't hurt to swing by for a few moments, he thought. Ike may well have succeeded, too, if it were not for the fact that the queen had also chosen to take a stroll along the hallways of Castle Crimea, presumably from her own set of papers. And it was another stroke of luck that brought them to the same hall.

"My lord Ike," she began politely. "What brings you out here?"

"Elincia." He paused, trying to think of the right words to say. "I was trying to get some fresh air, that's all."

"Isn't there a window in your room, my lord? Does it not please you?"

"No, it's just that the breeze wasn't blowing in that direction today," Ike bluffed. Well, it was true that the breeze wasn't blowing that way… "But please, Elincia, no titles."

"Very well… Sir Ike," Elincia continued, and to Ike's slight annoyance she had tacked on a 'sir', "are you sure it's not just because the Melior streets look that much more appealing to you on a day like this? The weather is quite fine today, after all." She walked up to the window he was at and took a look outside as well, the wind gently rustling her hair. "I wouldn't mind a walk down there myself, but I probably shouldn't. The papers on my desk will just stack up…"

Ike wasn't sure whether this statement was simply a sympathetic lament or an attempt to guilt-trip him back to his desk. Whatever it was, though, he found himself considering walking back to his deskwork all of a sudden.

"I should probably get going," he said. "I guess I should work on my papers too…" Somewhat dejected at having lost his opportunity to slip off, and to the queen of all people, he slowly took a few steps backward to see Elincia off. However, Ike failed to notice a jut in the stone floor, causing him to trip and promptly fall backwards. Elincia's proximity only meant that she got kicked down when Ike's feet slipped out from underneath him, so that her face landed neatly on Ike's stomach.

"Ouch…" Ike was about to get up when he felt the sound thump of Elincia's head. Instinctively, he reached down to rub where it hurt, only to stop at the touch of… hair.

Elincia's hair.

"Goddess!" he muttered. "I'm sorry, Elincia. I probably should have watched where I was going." Ike waited until Elincia had safely gotten up, then pushed himself up off the floor. He felt his face heat up; whether it was from shame or embarrassment, Ike wasn't sure, though he was willing to bet that it was some combination of the two.

"You caught my fall," Elincia replied. "You have my thanks, Sir Ike." She smiled, though her cheeks also had a reddish tinge.

Ike was about to insist that he was the one who had initiated the fall to begin with when Elincia's face suddenly lit up like she had remembered something.

"Oh, Sir Ike! Did you get the letter from Duke Sephiran?"

"What letter – oh, that letter." Ike didn't try to hide his sigh. Elincia knew his stance on such things. "Yes, I received it."

"Have you sorted out your wardrobe or deportment yet?"

"Elincia, you know I don't do those things. This ball is just like all the other ones that I've been invited to. You can tell me how many of them I've gone to." Ike was happy to tell himself mentally that the answer was zero.

Elincia wouldn't take that for an answer, he knew.

"This is the Begnion Summer Ball," she stressed. "Stories tell of terrible consequences for those who do not follow through on invitations. They're based somewhat on true fact; Begnion does not look kindly upon the families of those who have rejected. Plus, the invitations are hand-picked by the Apostle. Do you really want Empress Sanaki to get personally offended that you chose not to show up?"

"You're exaggerating." Ike knew she was not. Begnion was, in his opinion, just sometimes a little off of its theocratic rocker.

"Therefore," Elincia continued, almost as though she had just ignored Ike's interjection, "you are going to learn how to dance. Unless, of course, your real talents were not revealed at the victory ball?"

Ike didn't need Elincia to remind him of his performance at the banquet celebrating Elincia's ascent to the throne. Secretly, it was partly the reason he never went to formal balls and such – who would purposely go somewhere to publicly humiliate himself? He could feel himself redden once more, though this time for a different reason.

"Me, dance?" Ike raised an eyebrow. "Elincia, there is no way on Tellius that – "

"You are going to learn how to dance," Elincia interjected, "and I shall teach you."

Ike blinked.

"You?" he asked incredulously. The queen was going to take time out of her ridiculously busy schedule to teach him? This ball obviously meant a lot, if Elincia was going to be this insistent.

"Well, if you do not wish for me to teach you, I could hand the task over to Geoffrey and Lucia instead…"

"No, no…" The last thing Ike wanted was Elincia's two hands descending on him and expecting him to hold up the glory of Crimea and slave-driving him. He already had sneaking suspicions that Geoffrey had something against him for reasons he didn't know of, and Lucia just scared him sometimes. "I have no objections."

"Very well," Elincia said, sounding quite pleased with herself, "we shall start tonight. Meet me in the ballroom at the ninth bell."

"… tonight?"

"It's better the more time we have to teach you, yes?" Taking his silence as agreement, she said, "I will see you at the ninth bell, then," and walked off down the hallway, leaving Ike to watch her as she left.

Ike still wasn't quite sure whether Elincia was genuinely concerned for his dancing skills or if he was still lacking some fresh air. Elincia would never be this pushy…

I haven't written anything in a really long time, whoo. This is an idea of mine that's roughly two years old; this part feels a little disjointed because I kind of dug it out, even when I tried rewriting it, so I don't know how I feel about it. I do know, however, that basically I wanted to write happy!Ike/Elincia that was also potentially timeline canon, so... yeah. Yay?