i.
The first time they'd met, she was but a gangly girl hiding behind the floral skirt of her elder sister, clutching at the hems of her sleeve. She had a mousy profile, her short hair revealing ears that were far too sharp to be human and large eyes that were odd shade of red, a trait, he realises, that was not shared among the other royal siblings. The young princess squints at him suspiciously, and Silas realises he'd been staring for too long, retreating his eyes to his father's feet beside him. In the corner of his eyes, he sees King Garon surveying him carefully.
Both princesses were called out to the fortress's main foyer to meet with the neighbouring Duke Elias, at the king's behest. He'd visited to make official his plans to send his best and brightest boys and soldiers to train under the great knight Gunter – that which included his youngest son, Silas.
"I expect he will be under good care, Majesty," the Duke motions Silas forward, and the young boy bows in practiced motion. Princess Camilla follows suit and curtsies, ignoring her little sister's hands that tugged at her skirt.
"You have nothing to fear, my lord. I give you my word," she says with a curt smile, and the Duke nods simply.
Silas remains bowed and gulps nervously when he hears the footfall of the king approaching him. With a gauntleted hand, King Garon pulls the boy into an upright position and takes his chin to look him in the eye. Silas winces at the touch of the cold and sharp gauntlet, but remains rigid, avoiding the king's hard gaze entirely to look at the floor. After a short moment, the King lets go of the boy abruptly with a shove.
Silas quickly bows again. "Your Grace," he tries to say with confidence, but his voice cracks and his unease is evident. He knows it would not do to retaliate or complain; he'd heard stories of the King's harsh punishments to his subjects and he would remain bowed until the king has left the room, just as he was taught. Even if his back would ache, he would act with discipline. His father had told him that this was the only way to survive in the fortress.
"We will make a good knight of him yet," he hears the king say and Silas braces for his life ahead of him.
At the display, the young princess frowns in disapproval and sneaks away, much to the chagrin of her elder sister.
ii.
It was only after a few weeks of his stay and training that he'd begun to feel comfortable and at home. After King Garon's leave back to the capital, the place seemed a little less rigid, a little more relaxed - as if a heavy burden had lifted from everyone in the fortress. The maids were far more lenient for one – once, when they caught him sneaking around in the kitchen, they let him off with a pinch on the cheek and some leftovers. Sometimes he'd see guards completely leave their posts ("Just for wee bit!" he'd heard one of them say), only to see them scramble back whenever Gunter was in the vicinity.
Silas learnt a few things about the royal family in that time, mostly through the chatters of the retainers and soldiers. One that intrigued him the most was about Princess Corrin – the fact that she was being raised separately from her sibling, who'd often visited from the capital on occasions. In rare moments they'd be in the same room, she would neither speak nor smile. During breakfasts, the princess would sit as far as possible from him and cling desperately to her sister, before being whisked away by her retainers for tutoring or some other business. Sometimes Silas would catch glimpses of her during his breaks in the day, but whenever he'd have enough courage to approach her, she'd always completely disappear by nightfall.
Asking Gunter about her whereabouts during training only earned him 20 laps around the barracks. Sometimes, after training, he would have the company of Princess Camilla, who doted on him like a big sister. Silas had no luck at making friends being the only nobility out of all the young trainees, so he felt comfort in her presence. He'd ask her about Corrin then, when they were out for a stroll in the fort's small, humble garden.
Plucking out the petals of a white daisy, she sighs and begins sadly, "Do you know the east wing of the fortress – with the tower?" Silas nods. He remembered the odd placements of guards posted there each night, but they always dispersed by the time daybreak came. "She's locked in that tower at nightfall and only allowed outside in the morning. Sometimes… when Father is around… she's not allowed outside at all."
"Why?"
"It's for her safety. Sweet Corrin is rather special." There's a pang of regret in her voice that Silas can't quite grasp as he watches her flick the empty stem to the nearby pond. Yet still… he wanted to know more.
"Why?" He asks again, earning a hearty chuckle from the princess.
Camilla picks at another daisy and kneels down to ruffle his unruly hair, smiling radiantly at him. "My, you're a curious one, aren't you? Do you want to be her friend?"
Did he want to be her friend? The thought never really occurred to him. He didn't have anyone he could talk to comfortably besides Camilla – and her stay at the fortress was only temporary. It would be months before she returned from the capital. After thinking it over, he looks the princess in the eye and says with firmness, "I want to be her friend."
And with that, she tucks the daisy in the breast pocket of his grey tunic and pecks his cheek. Silas turns beet red – his prior thoughts mulling in his head were gone in an instant. "Good. I'll see what I can do."
iii.
Silas finds the young princess alone in the library, crouched amongst wooden, painted blocks. No doubt Camilla had asked her retainers to end Corrin's tutoring session early so he could catch her during his break. With her back turned, she hardly notices him at the doorway and she jolts when the wooden floorboards creak under his step. She turns to him and frowns, trying to hide her embarrassment at being jittered so easily.
"Hello, Princess Corrin," he greets sheepishly.
"Hi," she mumbles, and it's the first time he'd ever heard her speak. She turns back to continue stacking her coloured blocks and thoroughly ignores him. Silas moves to get closer but stops halfway – clearly her display meant that she didn't want him here… or something. Was she being shy? Did she hate his presence? Having very little social skills as it is, he didn't know what to make of it. She was the king's daughter, was she not? It would be much easier for her to order him away and orders were what he was used to.
She probably didn't like him very much for invading her space, he concluded.
Feeling slightly awkward and defeated, Silas sighs before moving to leave. He stops in his tracks when he swears he heard her mumble from behind him, and he snaps his head back in surprise that she'd chosen to speak again.
"I said, sorry," she says a little louder and looks him in the eye. Annoyed at his bewildered look, Corrin offers a red wooden block and beckons him to join her. He gleefully accepts the block and settles down next to her, a little too joyful for her comfort. She peers at his triumphant face and shoves more blocks at his direction, as if asking him to help her build more walls. "Why are you so happy?"
"I thought you hated me," he says absentmindedly as he stacks one block on top of another. "But you talked to me so now I think you don't."
"That's dumb," she mutters, blowing a stray strand of hair from her eyes. "You don't even know me."
"Yeah," Silas simply shrugs in defeat. "How old are you?"
"Nine. How old are you?"
"I'm going to turn nine in three months."
"Okay."
The two continued on like this for the next hour, asking each other questions about each other whilst attempting to recreate the fortress with the blocks. When they were done, they stood up to admire their handiwork, pride swelling at their chests.
When she turns to face him, he realises that she's a little taller than him and his pride almost deflates entirely. "Will you visit me again tomorrow?" She asks and Silas widens his teal eyes in surprise.
"I… I'll try."
For the first time ever, her mouth quirks into a faint smile and there's a bubbling warmth in his chest that makes him grin uncontrollably for the rest of the day.
A/N: In kamui/corrin's support with Gunter, he says they used to be a withdrawn/reserved kiddo... so that's why I made Corrin in this story act the way she does.
And on the note of Silas/Cyrus – I'm pretty sure he has no siblings after reading the supports (seems like he was a loner too?). But whatever - I made him to be the 'spare' of the family with the least claim to inheritance, so he's sent away to become a knight. It didn't really make any sense for a noble of Nohr to defect so easily to Hoshido just for his best friend, so it works out quite nicely.
Edit: It's a multichapter fic! More to come later!