Author's Notes

I hate having to explain that I may use names for characters that aren't used in FE13. :p But disclaimer I must!

Noble Traits

Strength. A useful trait to possess. Arden possessed it in spades. The sheer force of his blade was enough to dent almost anything.

Aira learned that the hard way when the two of them first met.

The situation was this: Arden was tasked with disarming the swift swordswoman so Sigurd could pass her and capture Genoa; he was chosen for the task because of his durability. When Arden approached from the side of the castle, Aira confidently rushed him, hugging the wall to hit him from the side. This is easy, she thought. A Sword Armor? Give me a break. I'll slice him where he stands. He'll never have enough time to react.

That over-confidence proved to be her downfall, for Arden indeed saw it coming. He was directed to position himself near the Verdane forestry, which forced Aira to either attack at a severe disadvantage within the trees, or attack from the castle's edge, and Aira chose the latter.

So Arden knew exactly when to hammer his blade down against hers when she attempted to launch her devastating Meteor attack.

The colour drained from Aira's face as Arden completely immobilized her from any sort of movement; their swords were completely deadlocked, except Arden was the one who controlled the situation due to his vastly superior strength. If Aira held her ground, she was stuck, but if she attempted to escape or change positions, she risked hurting herself from her attacker's sword or from twisting her body in an unnatural way. So for the time being, she simply stayed put, waiting for a miracle.

That miracle never came. In fact, the opposite happened.

Her blade snapped in half from the stress Arden was exerting against it.

"Aaaaah!" she cried out, and she fell onto her rear from the force of Arden breaking her weapon. Even worse, her wrist had broken instantly, and it was in tremendous pain. There was no way she could effectively use a sword with such an injury, even if Aira could somehow steal Arden's.

What a bad way to go, she lamented in her mind, unsure of what was going to happen next. Of all of the enemies to be defeated by, I'm taken down by literally the slowest soldier you could find in an army...

As she pondered her fate, an armored glove outreached toward the swordswoman, and she looked up in surprise at the armor knight as he smiled gently to her. What was she supposed to do? Accept the gesture? Ignore it?

"I'm sorry I had to do that," the knight apologized, and with his other hand he rubbed his head awkwardly. "I couldn't have you attacking Lord Sigurd while he charged the castle..."

"Charged the... castle..."

Her eyes widened.

"There he is now!" Arden cheerfully exclaimed, and in the distance they could see Sigurd approach the castle gate with a purposeful look on his face. When he unsheathed his sword from his side and it gleamed in the sunlight, with fresh blood dripping from it that belonged to the now-dead gatekeeper, Aira gasped.

Her nephew was the only one left inside that castle.

"Shanan..."

When Sigurd opened the gate and charged inside, something inside her snapped.

She had to get inside that castle.

Even if it killed her.

"Shanan!"

She prepared to sprint to the castle, but Arden assumed she would bolt, so before she could go anywhere, he grabbed the swordfighter and held her against his armor, making sure she was fully restrained.

"NOOOOOO! LET ME GO!" she screamed, and she did everything she could to escape Arden's clutches, but he was simply too strong. She could do nothing to stop the knight. "Please, I'm begging you. My nephew is the only one in that castle, and you saw that man pull his sword out, right? He's going to kill Shanan! I have to stop him! I don't even care if you kill me after, just let me..."

"Please don't worry," Arden replied, and while he felt shame at holding back such a distraught woman, he knew everything would be fine. "We heard one of the soldiers talking about how you were fighting against your will. But just as a precaution, we had to lure you away from the castle because we knew you wouldn't believe us. So now, Sigurd can simply take the castle, find your nephew, and..."

A deafening scream cut him off, and Aira stopped struggling.

That scream came from the castle.

"No..."

Aira couldn't believe it. Her nephew was dead... and she was powerless to stop it.

Arden couldn't believe it either. His lord actually killed an innocent child... how could he do such a thing? That wasn't part of the plan at all...

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Arden released Aira, and she crumpled to the ground in a sobbing mess. While she was normally a strong, confident woman, nothing could stop her from letting everything out as she cried out her emotions. Shanan was gone. Not only was he the last hope for their kingdom of Issac, but he may very well had been her last living relative.

And now, he was dead.

And although Arden didn't know any of this, he was the one that caused tremendous pain for this woman, and he was the one who could have prevented her nephew's death.

There was no denying it.

He had to take responsibility for his actions.

So he stood in front of Aira, placed his sword in front of her, and threw his helmet to the ground. When she eventually looked up at him, he uttered two words:

"Kill me."

Aira couldn't believe the situation. Her nephew was just killed... and now, the knight who held her back from saving him was offering to forfeit his life.

How could such a change of events occur?

"Kill me," Arden repeated, this time with more force in his voice. "The plan was to rescue your nephew... but either my lord was lying for some reason, or something else happened in that castle. Whatever happened, it's my fault your nephew's dead. I don't deserve to live."

With tears still stained on her face, Aira was unsure on how to respond to the knight's plea. Sure, she could get revenge on this man; even with using her non-sword arm, she knew she could get a clean head slice. But what would be the point?

She looked over the man briefly, as this was the first time she could see his face. He certainly was rough-looking, but maybe he himself was a father, and regardless of what his family situation was, the man clearly had high moral values. Could she really kill this man?

"What about... your family..." she breathed.

"I have no family, I won't be missed," Arden answered, and his face became stern. "No wife or kids either. I'm ugly, I'm intimidating, and no girl would want me. So it's fine. I couldn't live with the guilty conscience anyway."

Aira weighed her options in her head, though it didn't help that tears were still falling as she stood in front of Arden. Again, what would be the point in killing him?

But... if he really wants me too...

"...I'll do it."

Aira readied her sword and held it in a prepared stance so that she could strike at any moment.

"I'm sorry..." she whispered softly, and Arden smiled in understanding.

She closed her eyes, and pulled back her sword, ready to slice...

"Hey! Auntie! What are you doing?"

Aira opened her eyes, and looked down beside her.

Her nephew was standing beside her, completely oblivious at to what was going on.

"What in the world are you..."

"Shanan!" Aira gasped, and she dropped the sword onto the ground before she fell on her knees and hugged the boy with immense force. She could not contain herself; somehow, some way, Shanan had survived. "You're alive..."

"Of course I am," he replied, and he looked at her like she had grown a second head. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"But... that man..."

"Oh! You mean Lord Sigurd? Turns out there was still a guard in the castle, and he killed him! And he made this really loud scream when he died for some reason! Hey hey! You don't need to hug me so tightly..."

"Are you alright?"

The new voice was unfamiliar to Aira, and it turned out the voice belonged to none other than Lord Sigurd himself, who towered over the two Issacians. "I am Lord Sigurd, and I see you two have reunited. Do you need help?"

Sigurd helped the swordswoman from the ground, and while he explained everything that happened, Aira looked around for Arden.

He was nowhere in sight.

"Where did... where did he go?"

"Who? Oh, you mean Arden?" Sigurd asked, and Aira assumed that Arden was indeed the sword armor she nearly decapitated. "Was he here? He was supposed to be. I'll have to ask him later what happened."

Aira said nothing.

Aira eventually found the knight sitting with two cavaliers; one clad in red, the other clad in green and sporting a turban; at the kitchen tent, though they weren't eating yet because the food was still being cooked. As she walked toward the table, she could tell that while Arden's two companions were happy that their friend was safe and sound, Arden himself looked quite down. "Cheer up, Arden. The child was okay. Nobody got seriously injured. Sigurd's even going to give you a metal for your bravery," the red cavalier said, and he patted Arden's shoulder thoughtfully. "I know you feel guilty, but you don't need to be anymore."

The other knight was not nearly as sympathetic: "Yeah, Noish is right. But never mind that now! Someone said you got to hold on to that girl for a while... Aira, I think Sigurd said her name was. Bet she was fine. Feel any goodies? I heard that all female swordfighters have big..."

"Pervert."

The three men looked up at Aira glaring at the green cavalier, who shut his mouth when he realized he was the source of her anger. "Hey hey," he attempted to reason, "that's meant to be a compliment. See? Now that I can look at you for myself, it turns out I was right about your body! And that's a good thing! You should be proud!"

Aira wasn't in the mood to play games at that point. "...can I borrow someone's sword?"

"I'll be leaving!" the social knight declared, for he quickly got the hint, and he ran away as fast as he could. He dropped his turban on the way, yet he didn't risk going back to pick it up.

"You'll have to excuse my friend," the red knight said, now deciding that it was a good time for him to add to the conversation. "Alec may like women more than he should, but you can always trust him to watch your back."

"I figured that," Aira smirked, but it didn't seem like either Arden or Noish understood the unintended joke. "Can I speak to Arden for a moment?"

"Certainly," Noish replied, and he calmly got up from his seat as he offered it to Aira. "My name's Noish by the way. Welcome to the group. I'm sure you'll get along just fine with us. Enjoy your day."

The two remaining soldiers watched Noish leave and grab Alec's turban on the way out, and Aira sat down where Noish was sitting, which was directly across from Arden. "...you have interesting friends."

Arden nodded in agreement, although they may have agreed on different things. "I trust them with my life, though. The three of us, plus Sigurd... we've been through lots together."

They kept silent for a while. Even after the whole situation with Alec, Arden still looked down in the dumps for some reason, and Aira couldn't let the situation stay that way. "...I owe you an apology."

Arden glanced at her in surprise. "For what?"

"...well, I just assumed the worst," she explained, and she stared at him with determination. "Of course, I had every reason to, but I didn't realize it until I thought about the situation... that you had my best interests in mind that whole time, didn't you?"

No response.

"You helped me up after I fell to the ground. You attempted to reassure me when I tried to follow Sigurd into the castle. You... even granted me a form of closure by offering your life when you thought Shanan's death was your fault. Not just any man would do that," Aira clarified, and she smiled. Despite her confident demeanour, her smile was quite sweet. "It takes a special person to do that. I don't see how a woman wouldn't find such nobility attractive."

Arden's cheeks reddened at the compliment. Did she try to tell him something with that statement?

"Your strength is incredible, too," she noted, and even Arden could tell that the moment had passed, brief as it may have been. It was nice to fantasize, though. "I was overconfident, assuming you were just a slow knight that was easy pickings. But you proved me wrong. If you were an enemy, I could have been dead. Now I know to be more careful. I'm going to need a new sword, though. I've never seen a sword snap in half before!"

Aira continued to chat with the knight for a few more minutes, and just as the dinner bell began to ring, the rest of the soldiers started to arrive at the kitchen tent to eat a well-deserved dinner. "Can I sit with you while we eat? I'd like to spar with you, if possible. I think we can learn a lot from each other regarding our fighting styles."

"Sure, I'd love to eat together with you!" Arden replied enthusiastically, and while he never noticed that he was clearly overeager in his response, Aira chose to ignore it. "I just got lucky anyway. In a normal fight I'd have lost for sure. I could use some help fighting beautiful swordfighters like you!"

And with the obliviousness of a sloth, Arden got up from the table and walked to the food line to pick up his dinner, with no indication that he even understood the implications of his comment.

Aira noted that it was the first time someone had ever made her blush.

THE END

Author's Notes

I broke my schedule again? NO WAY

Yes, I know I was supposed to write my next chapter of A Glimmer of Hope. However, I've been replaying FE4 since my 3DS is still broken, (on my Super Famicom cartridge!) and I've been enjoying it so much that somehow I got the idea to write this fic, and I couldn't ignore it. Even though I'm playing it in Japanese, (obviously, the cartridge was made in Japan lol) I still know what the vast majority of the weapons do based on the stats and sprites, and I can always look up the script or a walkthrough if needed, so I've been doing fine.

I've always thought of Arden as an interesting character. He's a tank, but he isn't particularly amazing, at least until promotion. He isn't the best father either, since the only skill he passes is Ambush, or Vantage as it's called now, and his growths aren't the greatest. Plus it's hard to train him. However, I'm pairing him up with Aira in my current playthrough, as his decent HP, strength, and defence growths will actually benefit her children, and Ambush actually will work with the Meteor skill. Although, I guess it's called Astra now, though it was originally the Shooting Star Sword in FE4, whereas FE5 is where it was called Meteor. Sorry for the long history lesson!

Arden always seemed a bit oblivious to me, and really, he can get away with it too because he would be honest about it. I hope everyone was in character here, especially Aira, since the majority of the time I depicted her when she wasn't herself. And considering Arden's actions too, I honestly believe if this had occurred, he would have done the noble thing. Or at least I hoped to convey it as something believable. This story also went through three titles and a few different scenarios before it was penned (er, typed) as it is now. I originally wanted it to be a humour fic, but then I realized that I'd rather have it more serious, so there you go!

Cormag had once told me that almost all FE women swordfighters have large chests, so I jokingly referenced that in Alec's comment. While I obviously haven't played every Fire Emblem game, (yet) I've noticed that the majority of the female swordmasters do indeed have at least a decently sized chest if not bigger. :D Wow, I need to focus my mind on other things...

...like A Glimmer of Hope! I definitely have to write the next chapter now. However! After that, I'm breaking my schedule again... for what type of fic, though? I'll explain more in the author's notes for my next AGOH chapter when it's posted!