Nightfall
The problem being that trust and sacrifice often go hand in hand.
Fandom: Fire Emblem 8
Pairing/Characters: Innes and Vanessa, with guest appearances by Tana, Gerik and Lute
Genre: Ambiguous, psychological, and...hesitatingly gen.
A/N: Written as a Christmas gift for mark_asphodel.
x x x
(The story ends, as most comedies do, with a marriage.)
Soon after the Second War of the Sacred Stone was over – they use the singular now, since Rausten's Stone is all they have left – the task turned from the relatively simple, routine dealings of war with the supernatural to the immense job of reconstruction. When they emerged triumphant from the Darkling Woods Renais was still smouldering, Jehanna's royal family was a bloodstain on its throne, and Grado was in complete and utter disarray. It immediately fell on them to rebuild the entire world from near nothing.
"All Renais needs is time and money," Innes says, looking out from his bedchambers' balcony towards the green fields that are Frelia. To anyone stuck inside the castle without news from the outside world, it might have seemed as though nothing had transpired at all, and that their prince and princess had gone on a merry little hunting trip for the span of a few months. "That's all, really."
Tana is behind him, in his room, looking through his closet for the right suit. "And faith," she sends back. "The people trust Eirika and Ephraim – having a leader you have faith in is, after you lose everything, what keeps people from banding together and revolting, right? Try this one on."
He tries the suit on. He'd rather wear his light blue set, which he thinks makes him look rather sharp, but Tana insists that it looks too much like his hunting gear, and besides he's worn it at least thirty times. She favours the dark grey suit edged in hunter green. She says it brings out the colour of his hair and his eyes. He thinks it makes him look like some sort of mossy rock.
When the royal procession heads out for Renais, it is flanked by a retinue of Pegasus riders – and a single knight mounted on a wyvern.
x x x
"Nice suit," Gerik says, at the post-wedding reception. "Sister pick it out for you?"
Innes grimaces but nods. "Not another word."
Gerik laughs, and takes another swig of his beverage. "Hey, when I say something, I mean it."
The sound of women laughing draws their attention. Across the hall, Tana, Lute, Eirika and L'Arachel are engaged in some sort of animated conversation. Tana, Innes admits to himself, looks lovely in her dress – Eirika's bridesmaids are all dressed in teal, to distinguish them from L'Arachel's maids dressed in green. The women seem to be engrossed in some sort of animated conversation comparing Eirika and L'Arachel's dresses. Though her dress is slightly homelier, Innes thinks Eirika looks much more beautiful, and he will not divulge that thought to a single living soul.
"It will be good for Renais," he says instead, ignoring his drink. "Rausten's coffers and L'Arachel's spirit will certainly aid their reconstruction."
"I always thought Eirika would end up queen along with her brother, but..." Gerik allows the statement to tail off, in case he's hit a nerve.
Innes almost smiles. "I was originally worried about that fool brother of hers, you know."
"Aah, but some women like to write their own fairy tales."
Innes has to admit that they looked happy together, Lady Eirika and Lord Seth, King Ephraim and Queen L'Arachel. He would know. He was involved in every step of the marriage arrangements.
x x x
"Titania."
"Senil," Vanessa says, with a lopsided smile.
"Ah."
"Titania's with another knight, now. Want to give his chin a skritch? He likes that."
Lute does, and the beast gives a throaty purr when she strokes its scales. "Frelia isn't known for its wyvern riders."
"It happened during the war. We had Tana and Syrene flying Pegasi, and Cormag flying a wyvern, and I was up for a promotion. And, well, Senil here –"
"—You're blushing."
"—Am I?"
"...Senil, huh."
x x x
It's a still night, hot and dry, and when Moulder shakes Vanessa awake she's momentarily confused, because it isn't her turn for the night watch. Immediately she makes a grab for her lance, but he places a hand on hers, telling her that Prince Innes has asked for her. She tries not to think of what it means for Prince Innes to single her out, to call her to his side in the dead of night, as she hurriedly dresses and splashes water on her face by the light of Moulder's torch. She should know better than to imagine he's called her out to make good on his promise to get to know the 'other' side of her, but, well – Prince Innes is standing by the makeshift stables, using the trunk of a tree as a table to scribble notes on a map. He turns at the sound of her footsteps – one can never sneak up on any normal archer, much less Prince Innes – and she's startled by the dark circles under his eyes. Was it a trick of the wavering torchlight, or had she simply never noticed until now? "Vanessa," he says. He rolls up the map, sets it in a canvas bag with four others, and reaches into his pocket. "Come here." She does, heart pounding. He produces an Elysian Whip. "You make a fine Pegasus Knight," he says. She nods. The bottom of her stomach stirs, and she feels light-headed. "Thank you, Prince Innes." "Our army – if it can be called as such, really – has two ranks of flying mounts – the Pegasi, which excel at absorbing magical damage, and the wyverns, which are speedier and whose riders are capable of dealing greater damage to the enemy. Do you follow?" (Only barely.) "Yes, Prince Innes." He sighs, and for a single moment, she can see that his decision weighs heavily on him. "We recently captured a wyvern from the enemy, which seems willing to be mounted by one of us. Now do you follow?" She does. She can't help but let her face drop, because she knows then, and it's her will versus Tana's, and who is Prince Innes really more willing, at the end of the day, to send to the front lines? "Yes, Prince Innes." "Come, then. Bring the whip. The brute needs a name, too, if you can think of one." He takes her hand – it's a startlingly intimate gesture, for Prince Innes – and leads her into the stable. It was her fault, really, for thinking that this was some sort of group jaunt into the wilderness, some sort of deal, or test, or chance to fall in love, or something fated. This was war, where nothing mattered but skill and chance, and Prince Innes was trying to get through it with the least casualties possible.
x x x
After the dust had settled, Titania had been given to a squire, and Vanessa was left riding an enemy mount. She can't do daily exercises with the rest of the squad anymore, not when the creature she flies on is of a different size and speed than the rest of them, so she watches from the ground. She trains on her own, at night.
The night after the wedding, instead of taking him into the regular Frelian airspace, she takes him over the forest west of the castle. She hadn't had the time, with the ceremony and the banquet and the festivities, to feed her mount.
She doesn't mind Senil – he's lean and powerful, and fast enough to make her head spin if she edges him on enough, and he seems to enjoy their lonely moonlit escapades. She's learned through necessity how to hunt, because he certainly won't be fed on the rations of carrots and lettuce provided by the castle, but she sometimes wishes he'd not make so much of a show of it when he's tearing some cute little bunny to shreds. It spooks the other Pegasi.
They soar just feet above the treetops. The forest is a dark green against the dark blue, and she thinks it's beautiful – almost like an ocean beneath them. They are suddenly the only two people – animals – in a very quiet and peaceful world.
Senil suddenly shifts, his nose twitching, and folds his wings in. Vanessa hoists her javelin as they dive-bombs toward a very unlucky stag –
– And it's dead before they land, two arrows embedded in its flank.
Senil growls angrily as he screeches to a halt two feet in front of the stag, almost bucking Vanessa from his back. She unclips herself from the harness and dismounts. Only visible by the light of the moon, a slightly bewildered Innes appears into the clearing out of the woods. She gapes. "P-Prince Innes!"
"Ah." He reaches down and pulls the arrows from the stag. "I couldn't sleep, and – I've no need for it. Senil can have it."
Senil grunts. She shrugs. "He won't eat anything we haven't killed ourselves." It skulks off into the woods for a mouthful of mice, or a squirrel, or something to that effect, leaving Vanessa alone with Innes and the carcass. He seems tired in a way that no amount of sleep would ever help. She wonders if the wedding had anything to do with it. She wonders if she has been waiting for an apology.
They stand there, admiring the moonlight, until he suddenly speaks.
"There was an earthquake in Grado today," he says.
The public had yet to be informed. "Was it –"
"The one that drove Lyon to...what ends he saw fit." He sighs, and runs a hand through his hair. "Even the initial reports say that the damage is catastrophic. Rausten is tied up with affairs in Renais. It falls on Frelia to lend aid to Grado."
"So you're sending us in, Prince Innes? To bring food and water?"
"– I will not send a single one of my troops into Grado until we've assessed the situation," he says, almost snapping. "When it's been decided whether we need food and water or we need weapons, then –"
"Send me in, then!" He turns to her, somewhat shocked; she's silent for a moment, having startled herself with the force of her words. "I can fly faster than the other knight – send Senil and I to do this assessing, Prince Innes. We can be there and back faster than anyone."
He presses his lips together tightly. For a long moment he seems torn. Finally, he shakes his head. "I sacrificed you once, Vanessa. Not again."
"What are you –" Senil appears out of the woods with a smug expression on his face, his mouth bloodied. "– Prince Innes. This isn't about making sacrifices, this is about saving people."
"Don't make me regret that decision any more than I do now, Vanessa."
Her eyes darken. "And don't treat me like I'm special just because of one decision you made. I'm a knight, not some sort of – you gave me Senil because you wanted me to be on the front lines, not at the back. Won't you let me go through the enemy lines one more time?"
"Vanessa, I –"
She places a kiss on his cheek, turns back to Senil, and that, as far as she is concerned, is her final answer.
x x x
(He never sees her again.)