Author's Notes

This is something completely new that I wanted to try: a poetry fic! And why not do it with my OTP, Ephraim and Myrrh? The poetry doesn't start until partially through the fic though.

This can certainly be read as a standalone fic, but it's actually a sequel to another one of my EphraimxMyrrh fics: Sunrise, Sunset. You don't need to read that fic to understand this story, but I certainly welcome you to read that fic too, even though it's one of my earliest (and therefore lowest quality) fics on this site.

How to Tell

It was Myrrh's turn to tuck in their firstborn daughter, Fayette, into bed that night.

As she waited for her to brush her teeth, Myrrh wondered where the time had gone. It had been around fifteen years since marrying her Lord Ephraim, therefore their daughter was fourteen. Even still, Fayette still wished for her parents to tuck her into bed, and they both saw no objections to it. Their half-dragon daughter was only young once, after all. Magvel half-dragons matured faster than many other types of half-dragons, but Fayette was still growing slower than any fourteen year old human child.

"Mom... I'm done... brushing my teeth..." Fayette announced from the other room, and she entered the bedroom in a bit of a daze due to her tiredness. Myrrh's daughter resembled her in many ways, mainly in her physique, which matched her mother's in petite-ness. Her indigo eyes matched her mother's as well, and it seemed like the only trait that she inherited from her father was his turquoise hair, and her hair was kept as short as his was, except for her longer than normal bangs. Myrrh always wondered how her daughter could see through them. However, Fayette was also shyer than Myrrh ever was, though, which was a hard concept for even Myrrh to grasp. "I don't... understand... my chest... it grew again..."

There was one aspect of her mother's traits that Fayette did not inherit. Unlike Myrrh, whose bosom had never really materialized and never would, even after thousands of years, Fayette's chest was growing quite rapidly, especially for a girl of her stature and age in dragon years. At this point in time, she was on track to outgrow her aunt, Princess Eirika, who although wasn't full-chested by any means, was certainly larger than any female Magvelian dragons that Myrrh had known in the past. Myrrh would have do some research later. That wasn't something that her husband, Ephraim, could make heads or tails of, that's for sure.

"It's okay, it's normal..." Myrrh reassured her daughter, and Fayette decided to no longer think about the issue and instead crawled into her bed and pulled the covers over herself. "Did you... want to hear a story tonight?"

Despite being tired, Fayette always enjoyed a good story, and she perked up considerably. "Can you read... the poem... that Forde wrote?"

"About when I was first... pregnant with you, right?" Myrrh asked, and Fayette nodded excitedly. Myrrh formed a rare smile. Although Fayette had heard this poem many times, she still enjoyed it more than any other stories she had heard before. "Okay then... I think I've memorized it, since I've read it to you... so often..."

Our little Myrrh, she had some worry, you may say,

Over the wonderful news she learned of today.

Because of it, she was anguishing how to go,

And tell her husband dearly so,

That she was pregnant with his child,

And say it in a way so that he smiled;

For who knew how he would react,

And how much of their lives would it impact?

As we all know, little Myrrh is shy.

How could she just walk on by,

And mention to Ephraim on a whim,

That a bun was in her oven thanks to him?

She certainly was not upset, oh no,

It made her love for him increase just so

Much that she could easily bet

That her life now had absolutely no regret.

But, how could she gather up inner strength,

When she had no courage of any length?

Perhaps the answer lied with Ephraim's friend, Forde,

Who upon hearing the subject, would lay down his sword,

And maybe even skip his nap,

To solve little Myrrh's problem with a snap.

Forde had said, "my little Myrrh, don't worry."

He promised to solve the problem in a hurry.

After leaving to retrieve his painting supplies,

He handed her a brush and said, "give it a try."

If she perhaps portrayed her words in art,

Her shyness would not have to play a part.

Forde made sure to help her recreate

What she wanted to articulate,

And when the picture was complete,

Little Myrrh carried it on her petite

Shoulders to take and show her mate,

Just how much his love she did appreciate.

Little Myrrh eventually found Ephraim taking a stand,

Discussing politics concerning the royal land.

At that point, she suddenly lost all of her resolve,

And her little bit of courage began to dissolve.

She didn't want to interrupt,

And she certainly could not disrupt

A meeting of such magnitude;

She didn't want to be rude.

And so she left in such defeat,

That it was even noticed by her sweet

Husband who knew her so much, he understood,

That it was a high likelihood

That his wife wished to speak with him so,

And he cancelled his meeting so that he could go

And comfort his wife, whom he held so dear,

And quell all emotions in her heart that related to fear.

When he finally caught up to her,

He said in a calm voice, "hello, my dear Myrrh."

"What is it that troubles you now?"

Little Myrrh couldn't understand how

Her husband knew her oh so well,

That all of her worries began to dispel,

And so, with all of the courage that she had,

She said to him with a smile: "...you're going to be a dad."

Little Myrrh hadn't needed the picture to express her glee,

As she said: "thank you for this gift... you've given me."

As Ephraim eagerly congratulated his wife,

They each spoke about how it would change their own life,

But one thing they knew would stay the same always,

Is that they would love each other and their kids for the rest of their days...

"Thank you..." Fayette said, and she yawned into her palm. "Good night, mom..."

Myrrh rubbed her daughter's head for a few minutes until she could tell that Fayette had drifted off into slumber. As the younger girl slowly breathed, Myrrh contemplated how much longer they could share these moments together, considering that Fayette was getting older.

But she simply decided to worry about that another time. It was time for her to retire to bed as well. Her husband was waiting for her, after all. Judging from the yawn Myrrh elicited, however, most likely that's where the night will end for them tonight. In the morning, if they got up early enough, they could chat over tea about how their daughter was doing.

Yes, things were going well. And that's all that anyone of the family could ask for.

THE END

Author's Notes

Well, this is certainly not your typical sequel! I'm not sure why I decided to write a poetry fic, but it's what came to my mind, and it needed to be written!

Now, this fic features Fayette, Ephraim and Myrrh's daughter from my multi-chapter fic, A Glimmer of Hope. Fayette is described almost exactly as she's supposed to be in this fic, although she's younger here than in AGOH, and the details are less spread out than in AGOH. Fayette's about 14 or 15 years older in AGOH as well, so her chest is much larger and fully developed by that point. :p

I just can't get enough of EphraimxMyrrh, and I wish more people supported the pairing. However, I wrote this as the result of a poll asking which fic from a list should get a sequel... and Sunrise, Sunset somehow won over the other fics! Now, around that time I had posted two FE8 fics, so I do believe that may have slightly influenced the poll, but that can't be the only reason.

In fact, I honestly believe a large portion of the credit goes to the writer named thatguywhowrote because HE wrote an EphraimxMyrrh fic for me at around the same time as the poll, and reviews for it suggest that a few readers became fans of the pairing simply because of this one fic! It's called Mutualism, and it's a wonderful piece of writing; I highly recommend that you guys read it. And if you're a fan of the anime Oreimo, he also wrote a bunch of great fics for that franchise as well in the past! Thank you very much thatguywhowrote! I appreciate the support for my OTP, and for a couple of my other recent fics as well!

In the mood for a show highlighting interspecies relationships like Ephraim and Myrrh's? Look no further than the anime Spice and Wolf! Many anime fans give Spice and Wolf the highest regard possible, including myself, and few anime come close to its quality. It's about a merchant who meets a fox deity, Holo, (or Horo, depending on whether you're watching the anime or reading the light novels) and they travel together to transport Holo to her homeland, and along the way, they begin to develop feelings for each other. It may be slow-moving and have an emphasis on economics, but trust me, you will not be disappointed if you give the anime an honest chance.

Now, while the anime is amazing, (catch it on Crunchyroll!) it doesn't contain the complete story. You can find the English translated light novels quite easily online, and if you want to know what happens to our interspecies couple, read them! The anime doesn't cover even half of the light novels' content, so there's a lot of great stuff for those who want get the whole experience! There's an ongoing manga too, but it's not even close to done yet, at least at the time of this fic's writing, so you probably won't need to bother with that, unless you're reading this fic in THE FUTURE! :p

Was this fic realistic? Probably not, but it's still cute, so I don't care. :D Please don't guest review! I'd appreciate if you want to review to please sign in first! Now, it's time for the next update of my fic A Glimmer of Hope, which actually contains Ephraim and Myrrh, and features their children (including Fayette!) as main characters! See you then!