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Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance Fan Fiction
Genre: general, character study
Character: Soren
Rating: G (K)
Word Count: roughly 400
Summary: Soren has been acting strange since the Greil Mercenaries foundered in Goldoa. It has nothing to do with the past; it is the present that most concerns him now. FE9 - Soren
Notes: Before I got his B/A supports with Ike, I wanted very desperately to know why in hell Soren was acting so odd—from Goldoa all through Begnion and the desert where Muarim is. To be honest? I'm somewhat disappointed with how Soren got played out.
There was a presence behind him, and it felt of spice and rich-hued wood.
It smelt of salt.
"I know what you feel. Too familiar, isn't it?" Nasir tried to wrap his dark, wide hand around Soren's, but the mage neatly released his grasp on the shipwood and dropped his hands into the safe harbor of his robes. He could still see a blurry white splotch where his hand had been, and he wondered just how long he had been staring.
Especially when there was nothing to see.
But there is something to hear – and there had been for some time, for Nasir had long been gone, taking with him his spicy, resplendent pulse and replacing it with forest and stone.
"Nasir said you might be feeling nauseated because of the boat travel, so I thought it best to look in on you." And Ike was all business, as per usual. "He says that standing up might help with the seasickness, because you'll feel the rocking less. …Er. You do look a little paler than usual.
"I suppose it'd be best if I left you alone." I will leave you alone.
"That…won't be necessary," Soren said, finding this voice. It felt thin and dry and cracked, in deep contrast to the swell of thick, wet air he forced himself to breathe in. "Did you need me for anything?" Will you want me?
"Not at the moment; the Goldoan prince helped us break free from the coral, so unless we run into any more laguz, it should be smooth sailing until we hit Begnion. …Right?" Uncertainty laced the last word, and Soren knew it was not because Ike had any doubt; it had everything to do with the look on his face.
"You have been acting strangely of late." But that was as far as Ike's prying took him, for Ike had an overzealous respect for the firm wall that separated concern and over-intimacy (Soren wished he didn't). What made it worse was that Soren knew it was out of courtesy for his privacy (he wished it wasn't).
"Maybe some fresh air would help."
He nodded. "Indeed."
But he is already drowning.
fin