She wasn't one to stray too far from camp.
She had decided on a whim to take a walk a few days after the battle at the port. She needed calm. She needed to release the heavy weight on her chest without the eyes of everyone resting upon her every move. Corrin's time in Nohr taught her to keep things bottled up until she was about to burst. Ever since that encounter with the Nohrian mercenary, Inigo, her mind had been plagued with visions of some other place. They haunted her. Those pictures...they were filled with pain and stress.
Corrin sought solace from the forest, the only place she had ever been able to relax. It had always been the place she had turned to when the strains of life corroded her harsh exterior. Walking among the leaves, feeling the grass under her feet...it made her feel able to breathe again. She wandered aimlessly, her only goal to walk and walk until she could forget the terrible pressure on her shoulders and mind.
The brunette froze when she heard something else moving in the path ahead of her.
Her hand immediately reached for her dragonstone, ready to fight and demolish whatever small band of intruders could be on their way to her camp. She stalked along, crouching low to the ground and ready to pounce. She stopped her approach and cautiously looked beyond the bushes, scanning the source of the noise.
Her head started to hurt when she realized it was Inigo again. Of course she would find the exact thing she wanted to forget.
Corrin wanted nothing to do with him. He had caused her so much mental pain that she still could feel her ears throb days afterwards. Those memory flashes she experienced? She hated them. They made her emotions twist like a whirlpool until she wanted to throw up from the strain. Worse yet, she could do nothing about them. She couldn't tell a single soul about them, no matter how much they hurt. If they knew...what would become of her? It was certain that they would see her as mentally unsound. Memories that never belonged to her...what a foolish thought.
The young royal considered turning away and leaving. It would save her so much pain. She was about to look away when a fluttering stabbing sensation filled her chest. She winced and clucthed at her armor, agonized over the emotions she had no control over. Anger flashed in her mind when she looked up. He was still here? She had told him to go home! Something forced her to march forward and confront him.
She broke through a small barricade of thistles and bushes to find Inigo dancing. She paused and stood, baffled by this revelation. She watched him as Inigo made careful and graceful steps, moving freely in a sweeping, circular sort of way. The man with light brown hair lifted his head with a smile before stopping as if a deer found by a hunter. He stood still, his eyes staring straight at his unexpected audience. Corrin contemplated running away before taking things with a strong and indifferent lift of her chin.
Inigo raised an eyebrow and stood straight. "A little lost, aren't we," he asked, almost chuckling.
Corrin narrowed her red eyes. "And shouldn't you be home, back at whatever land you came from?"
He gave her a smile that was obviously forced. "I'm a retainer," he stated bluntly. "I cannot just leave my post."
She gave him a scowl that made him want to flinch and hide. "You cannot just break promises, either."
Inigo sighed. It was obvious by the look on his face that he wanted to speak up, that he wanted to say something but was somehow unable to. Instead his chocolate eyes looked around before he looked back to his guest with a fragile smile. "Dance with me," he said.
"Excuse me?"
"Dance with me," he insisted. "You interrupted me, after all. If you're going to stay here, why not dance with a handsome young man such as myself?" Inigo's eyes gleamed as he held out a hand. "Your years in Nohr must have taught you some form of dancing."
The royal with dragon blood in her veins folded her arms across her chest and crinkled her nose in stubborn disgust. "I would rather dance with a horse," she spat.
The retainer looked away before getting a cheeky smile on his face. Before his sudden change of expression could be questioned, he mockingly put a hand above his eyes, as if he was trying to look at something very far away. He then scouted the area, complete with a fake look of surprise on his face. He eventually turned back and gave Corrin a slight shrug.
"It appears there is not a horse to be found," he told her. Corrin's face melted into a baffled mess. Inigo instead gave her a warm smile. "It appears I will simply have to do."
Corrin stared at him in silence. "...You smug scoundrel."
The man took a bow a chuckled. "Why thank you." He offered his hand again. The royal stared at him before sighing and reluctantly taking his hand. Smiling, he took a single step back and quietly led her through the same sweeping motions he had been taking when she arrived. Corrin stared at her feet as she copied his steps.
"This is not a Nohrian dance I'm familiar with," she grumbled.
"Who said this was a Norhian dance," he asked teasingly.
"You claimed that the time I spent in Nohr would make me a relatively decent dancer." Her red eyes lifted from the ground to find Inigo with a distant look in his eyes.
"Decent in skill, yes. I said no such thing of this being a Nohrian dance."
"You are quite irritating," she grumbled.
The young man closed his eyes and shrugged. "I get that quite a lot," he replied casually. "However," he continued, "I am certain that if you were to spend more time with me, you would find me quite endearing."
"Please," Corrin hissed. "The more time I spend near you, the happier I am I left Nohr."
Inigo's smile flattered before he forced it back on his face. "Is that so? I wouldn't be too certain of that. I have had plenty of others say the same thing in the past and they all changed their minds."
Corrin's eyes narrowed as she felt a sharp pain in her chest that had no reason to exist, a throb that seemed to not even belong to her.
"I won't."
Author's Note: now I'm writing fluff? sorry folks I'm all in with this one.