At The Blood's Perimeter
I do not own Fire Emblem or any of its characters.
A post-FE4 story. Features a galaxy of Gen 1 and Gen 2 pairings, both "onscreen" and offscreen, some within the bounds of canon (Celice/Rana, Oifey/Fee) and some... not. Explanations to follow. If you feel so strongly about FE4/5 pairings that an undesirable coupling makes you ragequit a story, you might not like this one.
Then again, you might.
Chapter One: Messenger
Chalpy, Gran Year 801
The imminent arrival of their guest sent Lady Fee into a tizzy; her pleasant voice turned sharp and childish, strands of her short hair floated every-which-way, and even her earrings seemed off-kilter as she rushed about the estate making preparations.
"Calm down, Fee," said Chalphy's lord as he watched his wife's fluttering antics. "You act as though Thracia were sending an army after us instead of a diplomatic party."
"That's not funny, Oifey."
"No? Well, it wouldn't be if we were facing Thracia's army. But I can assure you we're not." This time, he mentally added.
"Oh, I guess we aren't," she admitted. "But why did King Leaf have to send Fenian?"
"He can fly."
Certainly it was more efficient for the Thracian ruler to send over his nephew on dragon-back, rather than his niece in the company of her Lanz Ritter. But Fee still had a pegasus rider's distrust of dragon knights, and truth be told, Oifey wasn't too fond of the idea either. Given the choice, he'd readily welcome Princess Oona and the entire Lanz Ritter over Prince Fenian and even a handful of the dragon knights.
Fenian only brought three of his knights along; Oifey and Fee saw their dark shapes on the horizon shortly after the sun began its afternoon descent. Three knights, Oifey reminded himself, was but a tenth of what was needed to overtake a kingdom. Not that Thracia was in that business anymore, not under King Leaf's rule. But no amount of rational thought could entirely quell the tension one felt on seeing those great green beasts with their vicious claws and lethal whip-tails.
Fenian and his men brought the dragons down at a respectful distance from their hosts; Oifey watched as the Thracian prince leaped down to the ground. A tall, slim youth of eighteen years, Fenian lacked the flamboyance of the dragon knights of an earlier age; his azure hair reached only to his collar. Unconsciously, Oifey's eyes drifted from his approaching visitor to the formidable lance strapped to the side of Fenian's dragon.
Forty-four years. What a terrible string of events brings us all to this moment.
"Welcome again to Chalphy, Prince Fenian," Oifey said aloud, with a warmth to his voice that masked his inner feelings.
"My lord, I bring you greetings from the court of Thracia. His Majesty sends his fondest regards to you and Lady Fee."
Oifey studied the top of the youth's bowed head as Fenian spoke; something in the prince's voice again sent Oifey back four decades. Then Fenian glanced up, and Oifey looked into the brown eyes of the holy line of Nova.
His eyes are almost like Lord Cuan's... but with no warmth to them at all.
But now Fee descended upon the prince in a flurry of hospitality, even kissing Fenian on the cheek as though he were a well-loved kinsman coming home. Oifey withheld all his questions as he let his wife handle their guest and his attendants. Whatever message Fenian brought to them, it could wait a few hours.
-x-
Fee had arranged for an intimate "family" dinner, without Fenian's men or any of Chalphy's own knights present. With the heir of their house off at the Academy in Barhara and their daughter visiting Silesia, only the three of them were present at the table. Fenian had dispensed with his armor and wore the severe dress popularized by Thracia's Great General- a black tunic edged in broad bands of white, relieved only a little by a deep-blue mantle. This ensemble only emphasized the cold look of the prince's natural coloring. Fee tried to set the boy at ease with a friendly stream of questions about his uncle, aunt, cousin, mother, and sister, but Oifey didn't think he was imagining the chilly defensive aura around Fenian, and so Oifey was relieved to get down to the essential business of this visit.
Fenian's own shoulders seemed to rise in a visible expression of relief as he related his story.
"Her Majesty the Queen has experienced visions foretelling a great calamity, one that will shake the foundations of the Empire. King Leaf, mindful of the kinship between our house and that of Chalphy, wished to warn you."
"Warn me of what?" Oifey replied to this bizarre message. "Floods, fires, earthquakes? Of what manner is this... catastrophe?"
"Rebellion, my lord. A new inheritor of the light will rise from Verdane and strike at the peace and security we all enjoy under Emperor Celice."
"Inheritor of the light," repeated Oifey. "Is this another heir of Narga?"
They all should have been identified by this point... unless Lady Linoan of Tahra has borne a child in secret and smuggled it away to Verdane.
"I cannot say. I've repeated the message exactly as Her Majesty related it to me."
Oifey mulled this over in silence for a few moments. Linoan seemed the most likely source of any strife, he thought; she had deep ties to those foci for trouble that called themselves the line of Dain. But why Verdane?
"And what do you think of this prophecy, Prince Fenian?"
The boy's dark eyes widened just a little.
"Her Majesty's visions are not to be discounted, my lord. Those who ignore them... appear to do so at their own peril."
He truly might be ice on the inside.
"We thank you for this warning, Prince Fenian, but without more to go on, I can't at present imagine how we can head this threat off."
"I am sorry, my lord. I can only assure you that if His Majesty did not believe the news worthwhile, he would not have sent me."
-x-
"But how can any inheritor of light be against Emperor Celice?" asked Fee once they'd retired for the night. "What good would come of shaking up the Empire?"
"I can't imagine, Fee."
"Right! It doesn't make sense. And why are we paying attention to anything the Queen of Thracia says anyway? She's his granddaughter."
"Fenian had a point in that Queen Sara's premonitions have startling accuracy."
"Oh, she didn't predict that incident with the Gae Bolg, not really. The curse on that thing is older than dirt. I can't imagine how Princess Oona can even bear to touch it."
"I can't either, Fee." Nor did Oifey really want to think about it. "It does seem, though, that certain of us... can't fully escape the chains of the past. That the same tragedy does play out again, and again, with only brief interruptions. Perhaps this 'inheritor of light' will be another such case..."
"You know what doing the same bad thing over and over again is called? Crazy, that's what. And the Thracians are crazy. King Leaf for marrying that Sara girl, Princess Altenna for doing what she did... and I think the boy is as crazy as the rest of them."
"He's so much like his father that it hurts," Oifey muttered.
"Crazy," Fee repeated. "All of them."
To be continued...
Yeah. So, this is meant (in part) to catch up and deploy a whole slew of Jugdral headcanon bits- kind of like gathering up butterflies and then pinning them. And hopefully to have a bit of fun along the way. In the epic, continent-destroying sense of the word "fun," naturally. :D
Right, so one chapter in and we're already dealing not just with Oifey/Fee (it's not crack!) but with Leaf/Sara (yes, Manfroy's granddaughter) and some Finn/Altenna offspring. And it just might get weirder from here. Stay tuned.