A/N: Finally, some Magvel fic, some Seth/Eirika! I picked up the game again and played this chapter - the one in Eirika's story where they're at Caer Pelyn the first time - and this basically wrote itself. I am out of practice with these two, though, so please let me know what you think. I tend to write them more affectionate towards each other than would be proper... I guess because I'm assuming they both know they love each other, just can't do anything serious about it. Oh well. Enjoy, it's just some mindless fluff! With a slight hint of a love-triangle, if you squint.
Words: 1268
Characters: Seth, Eirika, Saleh
Time: Chapter 12 of Sacred Stones (Eirika's Path)
Genre: Friendship
Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to Nintendo, not me.
Saleh led them to the biggest house in all of Caer Pelyn, a two-story cottage that looked homely and inviting, if a little bleak. The stone walls could have been carved straight from the mountain behind it. Seth would almost have preferred a bedroll under the starry sky to this forlorn-looking rock, but he knew Eirika needed a soft bed and a roof over her head tonight.
"The altitude takes some getting used to," Saleh told the princess gently. "A little weariness is nothing to be ashamed of."
"I'm fine, truly," Eirika said, right as her trembling legs caused her to stumble over the threshold. Seth caught her by the arm just in time.
"My apologies, princess," he said as he released her; he hoped he hadn't grabbed her too tight.
Eirika smiled at him, that exasperated smile he knew so well, the one she wore whenever he did something so undeniably knightly that it would have irritated her if she hadn't become so used to it. "Thank you, Seth."
As they climbed a set of narrow stairs, he followed Eirika closely, just in case she were to miss another step. Saleh glanced at him strangely – knowingly? - but Seth ignored him. He focused on Eirika's back – he intended to watch her feet, but her swaying, tangled hair and her hips gently rocking with every step distracted him somewhat.
Eirika's steps were all steady. As Saleh opened the door at the top of the staircase for her, Seth made to follow, but the mage coughed gently. "These are to be Princess Eirika's chambers, sir, are you…?"
"I will not leave my lady's side while she is ill," Seth growled.
"I'm not ill, I'm just a little tired," Eirika said, whipping her head around to glare at him. Seth only shrugged, keeping his face determinedly grave. Eirika huffed and turned around again. "I don't need... ohhhh," she said, her eyes falling on a thickly blanketed bed. "That looks wonderful…"
Without even taking off her boots or her sword, Eirika collapsed onto the sheets. Saleh bowed behind them and said, "I will go now and fetch you a tea that will help with the altitude weakness, Princess Eirika. Please make yourself comfortable."
"Ahh," Eirika breathed, hugging a small pillow to her chest. "I never thought a straw mattress and rough linens would ever feel so fine."
Seth smiled. "Are you going to take off your boots and your sword, milady?"
"No," she mumbled, her face now buried in the pillow.
"You really should do so," Seth said, but when she made no move to listen, he gently pulled her boots off her feet himself and set them neatly at the foot of the bed. In the process, his hands brushed against the cool, bare skin of her ankles; his heart tightened briefly in his chest. "Princess, your sword… I cannot…"
She wore her swordbelt swung low across her hips. The way the buckle fell now, as she lay there on her side, it would be most improper for him to try and remove it. One of Eirika's eyes opened and glanced down at her waist. "Oh," she said, and undid the clasp herself. Seth took the belt from her with a nod of thanks; he hung it on the bedpost quite within her reach. Eirika shifted onto her back, watching him through weary eyes. She smiled a little when Seth pulled the blanket up to her chin.
"Thank you, Seth," she said. "Truly. Thank you. This reminds me of old times… when I was little, you, my constant escort, would tuck me into bed at night, if my papa was gone. I still remember."
Life was so much simpler then, when you were little, Seth thought. He longed to reach out to her, to smooth the tangles in her hair as he once did, and he was on the verge of doing so, unable to resist her wide, clear eyes…
"Here is your tea, Princess." Saleh entered with a steaming cup in his hands. He knelt by the bed so he could hold it to her lips. "It does not taste as sweet you might prefer, but… it will help your head pains and your breathing."
Eirika made a face at the bitter liquid, but she still said, very kindly, "Thank you, Saleh."
"Think nothing of it." The mountain mage didn't move, the cup hovering near her lips as if he meant to stay. Seth found himself unaccountably irritated with Saleh's presence, kind and helpful as he was.
Carefully Seth took the cup from the other man's hand. "Thank you," he said curtly, a discreet dismissal. Saleh gave him that odd look once more before nodding to both of them and leaving. He paused awkwardly by the door, as if unsure whether to close it or leave it open. He settled for halfway.
Once the sound of Saleh's footsteps on the stone had faded, Seth heard Eirika laugh slightly. She pulled her arms out from under the blanket so she could take the tea and drink it herself, still laughing a little between each sip.
"What makes you smile so, may I ask?" said Seth.
"Nothing," she said, but her eyes twinkled. "If another woman were here, she would understand." Setting the half-finished cup aside, Eirika's grin faded. "That tea really does taste foul. I wish… I feel weak, Seth, savoring this bed, stumbling in my steps, barely able to catch my breath… I do not like feeling weak."
"You are not weak, Princess," he said firmly, sitting down in a roughly hewn wooden chair. "The mountains tire us all. The air is colder here. It does not fill your lungs with each breath. You are more tired because you have worked harder than any of us. On a good day, I can only keep up with you in battle because I am ahorse – here, you fly ahead of me on the perilous paths, and I struggle to match your pace."
Eirika stared up at him. "Truly?"
"Truly," said Seth solemnly. "You are the spirit of this army. You deserve this moment of peace, however brief."
"I could not do it without you, Seth. You should find a bed to sleep in tonight, too. Saleh said there would be beds enough here in Caer Pelyn here for all of us. You can ask him - "
"I will not ask him for anything," Seth said. "I will not leave you unguarded, Princess, no matter where we may be."
This time the smile that graced Eirika's face was almost sad. "I knew you would say that." Her hand found his. "Promise me, then, that even if you stay in that chair the whole night through, you will at least close your eyes and try to dream. I need you to be rested. I rely on you."
Her words were to his heart as drink was to his mind. "I promise, Princess."
She squeezed his hand. "Thank you."
She fell asleep like that, her fingers intertwined with his. As the mountain evening came on unnaturally fast, the light that illuminated her face shifted from sunlight to moonlight. Each served only to highlight her beauty all the more. If not for his promise, Seth felt he could have stared at her lovely face through the entire night, her hand warm in his. But sleep stole over him at last, his head dropping onto the bedpost.
He dreamed of her, a familiar occurrence. He dreamed of racing her through the hills, and she won every time, waiting for him on the windy crest of every knoll, always just out of his reach.