Disclaimer: I do not own fire emblem

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"Thoughts of jealousy"

Joshua sat by the campfire staring jealously at Knoll and Natasha sitting just opposite to him. He had lost interest in almost everything. Having a duel with Marisa, practicing with Artur and even gambling with his comrades. "I'm just not in the mood" he reasoned. Not even the dance of the charming Tethys could take his eyes away from the two. He was watching them through the dancing fire. His eyes focused on Natasha. The touch of light on her face brings out her fairness and her golden hair, a perfect match to those tired deep, blue eyes which had caught his attention when he first saw her in Serafew.

He so wanted to impress her, to be the only man for her. But as their group increase, so does his rivals. There's that cavalier with his sissy bag. Joshua just couldn't figure out why Natasha seemed to be impressed by such a thing. It's nothing compared to his bag of coins. Then Seth, who should just stick to his princess and away from Natasha. How he regretted not killing the paladin back in Serafew when he had the chance. But of course, he could'nt, for he was weak back then, he admitted to himself shamefully. Then that wyvern guy, who tried to act all sweet, using some injured kitten as his props, or so Joshua thought. In fact, Joshua was pretty convinced that Cormag was the one who actually injured the defenseless creature.

And now, that shaman, Knoll. At first he thought the mage would'nt be a threat. Just yesterday on the battlefield, he saw him talking to Natasha and he heard him say that they are 'Incompatible'— but whatKnoll meant was their disciplines

"Incompatible?!" Joshua scoffed at the thought. "You call that incompatible?!" his eyes began to glare at Knoll, who in the moment, was talking to the cleric.

Joshua can't hear them, since the music "Tethys" was playing while Tethys dances in front of Gerik who was sitting beside him.

He bit his lip as he saw Natasha reach for Knoll's hand.

"So that's why you hated visiting our temple" Natasha said with sympathy.

"Not just your temple, all Temples!" Knoll retorded "that's the same reason why I never thought of joining those clergymen. I was afraid that because of my name they'll make me ring bells or sound a knell every funeral" he sighed "I don't want to be a bell ringer"

"Nobody does. Oh, but it's not your fault Master Knoll"

"Yes I know. So I thought if they were to make me sound a knell then I'd rather be a mage" he said in a serious tone. "As I've said before, you divine worshippers think that we mages are merely fools blinded by dark arts. But being a mage enlightened me. By acquiring Knowledge I found another meaning to my name"

"What is it?" she asked anxiously.

"Eminence" he answered proudly. His fist clenched tight in the air "Loftiness, fame, high repute and…" he paused. Pride vanished from his face "…a small round hill"

She blinked "Oh..."

Knoll felt a sudden shiver. He looked around to see what could've caused this awkwardness, and then he saw Joshua, giving him the Death glare. Knoll smirked in reply. This came as a challenge in Joshua's side, for then he saw Knoll took the cleric's hand. Now what is he doing? Is he… proposing?! Joshua's jealousy reached his head that it formed a lot of imaginations and he couldn't decide which of them was true. If he could only stop the music so he could hear them ...but where was it coming from? He looked around and mysteriously, he found nothing. No musicians, just some of his comrades enjoying the night. Freaky.

"See that line? That means your mom is a girl. I can also see in this line that you got your golden hair from your parents" he said confidently.

"Isn't that the obvious?" she gave a soft laugh.

"You finally smiled. I'm sorry for what I've said earlier. I got…emotional" he smiled "Am I that bad in palm reading?"

"No, you were very precise actually"

Feeling hopeless, Joshua took a deep breath then laughed pathetically at himself. No one had made him feel this way before. For him, emotions were a hindrance to work. Maybe gambling will snap him back, fooling Innes seemed to be a good Idea. So he went back to his tent and took his bag of coins. As he was halfway out he saw Natasha heading toward her tent. He immediately approached her.

"Hi Natasha"

She smiled at him "Hello Joshua...gambling again?" she asked when she saw the bag of coins.

"What? Oh this? Nah… I-uh… Just a sec" he pulled out his lucky coin from his pocket

"Let's make a bet"

"Oh, but Joshua I'm afraid I don't have that much money with me"

"No, no. I don't want that. We bet on other things. Let's say, uh… If I win, you spend some time with me by the campfire. We'll talk about stuff and maybe gamble some more and…" Then he noticed the surprised look on Natasha. He blushed then he cleared his throat "Heh, the others… got tired gambling with me" which he knew, was not true "So, are you in?"

Natasha took a moment, then answered "I guess so. I have a day off tomorrow so staying up late is not a problem"

Joshua turned away to conceal his happiness. YES! he screamed in his head. He faced her again "so what will it be? Heads or--"

"Whatever are you two doing?" L'Arachel interrupted. "Are you gambling? Oh such abomination. Natasha you're a cleric, you must know, gamble is a boil on the skin of mankind! You must resist it!"

"Really?" the cleric asked.

"What?! No! Natasha come here let me cover those ears" and so he did. Then he faced L'Arachel "You! You tell us those things but you keep gambling with me!"

"Oh but that's only in the name of righteousness. Which reminds me, since you already have that coin of yours, let's have some of that coin toss again" she said without a trace of shame.

"Now? But I--"

"Of course now! Come! I'll bet this white gem if you like" the woman persisted.

He looked at Natasha who suddenly smiled at him. "It's alright Joshua. At least there's still others who would like to gamble with you. Besides you'll be able to win more from them than from me." Then she told them good night and disappeared in her tent.

"Come now, Joshua" L'Arachel then headed towards the others.

Joshua stood there still. Looking down at his with feet His eyes, soulless. He remembered the last words on the clerics lips then he murmured silently…

"But you're the prize that I want"

Thanks for reading. Leave a review please. This is my first Fic and I'm planning to add another chapter. So go ahead and tell me what I need to know, wrong spellings, grammars, use of comma, and other things. Thanks.