What with my miraculous return from the dead... I started playing Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken (a.k.a Fire Emblem 7 or just plain Fire Emblem) again, and got addicted...mainly after photobucketing the official art. It is SOOO pretty. Anyway...what with me loving to write... I thought about some of the characters and their pasts and what-not...and then got around to playing Fire Emblem: Fuuin no Tsurugi (Fire Emblem 6. The one with Roy in it) and saw Sue and Shinn, Clarine and Klein, Fir, Lugh and Rei, Hugh... the children of the FE7 people...and found myself drawn mostly towards Rath. He is not mentioned at all as Sue's father, though everyone knows it. (Sue is the granddaughter of Dayan, the Silver Wolf. Rath is the only child of the Silver Wolf. Go figure. ) I would have loved to write something for Canas, but... the story: 'Shadows Under the Oak Tree' by someone who's pen name eludes me, was way out of my league of writing so... I'd rather not disgrace myself writing something about Canas. Raven became out of the question, due to 'Zornhut'... but Rath was fair game! And hey, he gets married to Lyn in the end. So... I hope you enjoy this...
Note: I do not own Fire Emblem. Nintendo does. And if I did own Fire Emblem, Roy and Eliwood wouldn't suck so much. And the art for Fuuin no Tsurugi would be much nicer... oh and Rutger would actually get all of those 89 critical hits.
I've defaulted for 'Mark' as the tactician's name.
The sun was setting and it was growing cold. A strong wind blew through the tall grasses. Combined with the golden shine of the twilight, the plains seemed a veritable sea of fire.
"It's beautiful," whispered the young woman stopping in her tracks. Her two companions, a tall, serious-looking, young archer and the younger swordsman stopped a few steps behind her.
"It's good to be back home!" sighed the swordsman stretching.
"Hey Rath! Why don't we camp here for the night?" said the boy eagerly.
The archer remained silent; instead, he merely began to unpack their survival gear from their one horse.
The young woman used a hand to hide her laughter as the braided boy began to grumble his discontent about acknowledgements, trees, rangers and old men.
Lyn of the Lorca tribe stared out at the wide open plains in front of her. She hadn't been back here in so long…It was a nostalgic feeling.
She heard the boy call her name, and she rushed to help set up their camp.
By the time they had set up their small hut-like tent, night had already fallen and the bitter cold of winter had settled in as well.
The three of them sat around within their shelter, crowded around a warm fire, sharing a pot of stewed rabbit.
"You're amazing Rath!" exclaimed the boy, his mouth half full of food. "Where'd you learn to cook like this?"
"Guy! Don't talk with your mouth full!" admonished the young woman kindly.
The boy swallowed guiltily.
"Sorry Lady Lyndis…" said the young swordsman blushing. She really could sound like his mother sometimes…
"I've told you hundreds of times already! Here, I'm not Lyndis, or Lady Lyndis. On the plains I'm just plain Lyn," scolded the girl playfully.
Guy nodded and returned to his soup, muttering clearly to himself.
"You've never had Kent and Sain chasing after you for 'lack of respect…'"
Lyndis, or Lyn, chose to ignore that comment, and instead, helped herself to seconds of the stew.
"Guy does have a point though," she said as she took a bite. "Rath, this is delicious!"
The nomad archer merely closed his eyes in acknowledgement that he'd heard the comment.
Lyn gave Guy a look of world-weariness. "Are all Kutolah men like this?" she asked.
"Not true!!" exclaimed Guy, coughing on a mouthful of hot stew. "I'm not like that!"
Lyn smiled. "Of course."
"AH!! You just thought otherwise, didn't you!!" shouted the plainsman pointing accusingly at the Lady of Caelin.
"Of course not!" she said, with feigned hurt, when in reality she was struggling not to laugh.
Guy was such a funny young man. He was, at the most, only fifteen-years-old, and had seen a great many terrible things, yet still, he managed to keep that childish aspect of himself that was ever so endearing.
Finally, Lyn could no longer contain her mirth and burst out laughing.
He really was so funny! Just like the little brother she never had. The idea that one of the fastest and most skilled swordsmen she'd ever seen was still half-a-child!
"ARRGGH!!" growled Guy in frustration, standing up. "If you weren't a girl, I'd challenge you to a duel!!" he shouted pointing at her.
Lyn forced herself to stop laughing and adopt a look of utmost seriousness.
"What? Afraid you'll lose to a girl?" she asked mockingly.
Guy stomped his foot and shook his head. Just like any six-year-old.
"Master Karel taught me! I can't lose!!"
That's right…thought Lyn. During their journey through Elibe with Eliwood, they'd come upon the world's most feared sword master, Karel the Sword Demon. Thankfully on their side, the dark-haired mad-man from Sacae had, after a while, warmed up to and began giving lessons to the young Kutolah boy…though they'd apparently stopped after Karel threatened to kill Guy if he learned anymore.
Lyn didn't know the true extent of the boy's skills. She'd mainly been irritated at the early lesson times, during which there was far too much shouting at the crack of dawn.
She supposed that Mark had known Guy's potential…The tactician had been amazing. Though hardly remarkable in terms of looks, the brown-haired youth had eagle-like vision for talent and the fastest mind in Elibe. He also…had a rather blunt streak. Especially in his attitude towards those he saw as…weak. In fact, his bluntness about one's skills was almost at par with Karel's disregard for anyone weaker than himself, and thus, not worth killing.
For example, before they'd gone to Laus, Mark had put up with Serra's attitude and quirks to have a healer on the front lines. But as soon as Priscilla and her skills with magic staves became apparent, the tactician had shipped Serra to the back lines, much to the cleric's displeasure.
In comparison to his dealings with Marcus and General Wallace, Serra's temper tantrum and subsequent argument was nothing.
When the two older men had confronted the tactician about their positions near the rear, far away from both Lords Eliwood and Hector, and Lyn, herself; Mark simply up and told them that they were 'useless, and weak.' When they'd begun to protest violently, Mark, much to Canas's despair had slammed one of the shaman's heavy books on crypto-paleontology over their heads, ending the dispute…for a while.
After that General Wallace didn't talk to him or Lyn for a whole week, and Marcus tried to get Lord Eliwood to help him convince the tactician…Eventually resulting in an all-out shouting match, which Lord Pent had to eventually break up with a spectacular Thunder spell.
Suddenly the entire tent began to shake.
"By Mother Earth and Father Sky!" exclaimed Lyn peering outside.
"Snow?!? Here?!? Now??!" shouted Guy in shock. "Why's it snowing!!?"
"It's winter…" said Rath softly by the fire. The other two Sacaeans turned towards the ranger.
"We should wait for the storm to pass," he said, stirring the pot and adding more lumber to the fire.
Slowly the other two sat down as well.
They sat in silence for about two hours, listening to the wind howl, and the tent shake, until Guy, who had been fidgeting all the while, finally stood up.
"I'm going to sleep!!" he declared just as Lyn said:
"Let's play a game."
The young swordsman looked at her.
"Is this one of those stupid girl games?" he asked suspiciously.
The forest green-haired plains woman shook her head.
"No this is one of Mark's games."
Guy nodded unsurely.
The fifteen-year old myrmidon had great respect for the tactician…even though he thought the other boy half-mad sometimes.
"We sit in a circle, and tell a story about ourselves," explained Lyn. "But if someone lies, and everyone finds out, they have to do a dare."
"That IS a stupid girl game! Liar!!" shouted Guy accusingly. "Mark never made a game like that!!"
"Yes he did," said Lyn. "He made us all sit in a circle and talk about ourselves. Don't you remember?"
Guy shook his head. He didn't…
"Oh right!" said Lyn, tapping her palm with a fist, in realization. "That was when you had gotten lost and Rath had disappeared to go find you…"
"S-Shut up!!" he yelled blushing furiously. He remembered now…He'd run off when he saw everyone staring at him. On top of that he'd showed up at a rather awkward moment. Pent and Louise had been talking about themselves. The mage general of Etruria and his wife had been staring into each other's eyes and…yeah, it had been awkward…
"Come to think of it…Rath, Guy…you're both part of the Kutolah Tribe…How is that you don't know each other?" asked Lyn.
"Don't change the subject!!" shouted Guy, before sitting down. "Yeah, she's right. I never saw you before until I joined up…though I heard that the Chief had a son called Rath…" said the boy, looking at the silent archer critically.
Lyn gave Guy an incredulous look before turning back to the archer.
"So Rath, who are you?" asked Lyn.
The archer was silent, merely staring into the flames.
"I'm sure you told Mark, cause he always had this smug look on his face when I asked about…" started Guy.
"Priscilla?" smiled Lyn, unable to keep it away from her face.
"Yeah! I mean no! NO!!" exclaimed the green-haired boy indignantly, blushing furiously.
"I asked Mark about Rath!! P-Priscilla has nothing to do with this!!"
Lyn had to laugh. Guy had developed a crush on the pretty red-haired troubadour, and everyone had known about it. He'd asked everyone in the camp about her, and had the utmost misfortune of having to explain to Raven why he was asking about her.
Unfortunately for Guy, Priscilla turned out to be in love with Heath and blissfully unaware of Guy's affections for her. All in all, it turned out better for the Sacaean swordsman. Having Raven as a brother-in-law might not have been the greatest thing ever.
"Mark knew about everyone…" said Rath finally. "He listened. Never asked questions, didn't judge…just…listened…"
It dawned on Lyn that Rath had gone to Mark to confide his past and problems with the tactician…a practice that Lyn and many of the others had done themselves. There was probably a lot of things the tactician knew about everyone…
Though Mark had never asked anyone to confide in him, they just did.
In comparison to Mark's passive listening, Lyn and Guy were just being nosy about this.
Rath was still staring into the fire when he spoke again.
"The storm will take a while to bow over…and before we reach the tribe…it's best that you know…" he said softly.
"I am Rath of the Kutolah. Son of Dayan, the Silver Wolf," he said in his quiet deep voice, looking up at them.
"You're the Chief's son?!?! The one who disappeared…" started Guy flustered.
"I was exiled," continued the normally silent archer, going right over whatever Guy was saying.
"There was a prophecy, and I was exiled…" he said growing silent.
"What kind of prophecy?" asked Lyn, encouraging him to go on.
"That a great danger was coming, and I'd be able to help stop it."
"But…that makes no sense…" said Guy, confused. Rath shrugged at that.
"At the time I was less than four, without even the means to survive. I wandered, not knowing right from left ...The people of other tribes laughed and ridiculed me."
"What happened out there?" asked the girl, interested.
"It's a long story…"
"And you were never much of a talker," she finished, smiling at the archer. "We've got time. Tell us Rath…"
"…I had just turned four and a diviner had come to the tribe…"
8.8.8
The little boy peered around his father, to see where the horse was heading. He was a serious-looking little boy, with sharp piercing eyes, and the dark-green hair of the people of Sacae.
"Father, where are we going?" he asked quietly. When there was no response, he repeated his question.
"Father? Where are we going? Why have we gone so far from the camp?" he said, louder this time.
The horse drew to a halt, and the boy's father dismounted, helping his four-year old son down as well.
He set the boy down on the plains of Sacae.
"Rath, from this day forth, you are no longer of the Kutolah," said the man seriously.
"What? Father..?" said the child confused.
"You are no longer Rath of the Kutolah. From now on, you are just Rath of Sacae."
"No!" said the little boy confused and angry. "I'm Rath of the Kutolah, son of the great Silver Wolf and going to be chief!!" he said, repeating what his father and mother had told him many times before.
Dayan, the Silver Wolf shook his head sadly.
"No Rath…you have a different fate in store for you…"
The little boy looked at his father with his piercing dark-green eyes.
"To stop the burning…" he said softly, remembering the words of the mysterious diviner the previous night.
"So you understand…" sighed his father with relief.
"NO!" shouted Rath shaking his head, and covering his ears, as if to block out any words his father said.
"I don't understand!!" he said. "I don't want to leave!!"
His father crouched down to his son's level and stared at him for a long moment, before standing up.
"Come back when you're a hero…" said his father, mounting his horse and riding away.
The boy stood in shock for a moment. It took only a few moments for his child's mind to understand his abandonment.
"F-FATHER!!!!!!!" he screamed after the rapidly disappearing rider, his childish voice echoing throughout the vast and empty plains of Sacae.
Liked it? If so, review. Please? Reviews do make me feel better, and give me incentive...especially if the fic is one of my better written ones...like this one.