A/N: I'm pretty sure there is not a single Tanith/Ulki fic on this website, so I wrote a one-shot for them. It's more of a friendship thing, but I love this paring. I hope you like it! (By the way, I don't own Fire Emblem.)

Listening

"Well met, Deputy Commander Tanith," a pink-haired former member of the Begnion Holy Guard greeted her ex-commander cheerfully. Something in her bright eyes made her look even more like a ray of sunshine trying to lighten the Deputy's day.

Tanith almost scowled at her previous inferior. She held it in though, for there were many more impressionable things on her mind that she wished to sort out. Instead of condemning the innocent one, she merely greeted her as pleasantly as possible. "Well met, Marcia. How goes your day?"

"Pretty well, thanks! Is yours as well?"

No, the emotionally reclusive commander wanted to say. She mustered up a small smile, the first Marcia had seen in a long time from her. "Yes. All is well."

Before Marcia could say anything more, Tanith strode off pointedly, giving off an icy aura that warded off any who would dare to speak to her. She stared down at her feet as she walked, carefully measuring out every step to be the same distance within the moment she had before she took it. She had so much on her mind—things that no one knew, things that she never let anyone know, even things that hardly mattered anymore were terrorizing her thoughts. There was so much about her that nobody knew anymore. Only one person ever truly knew her, but he was dead. Only one other person ever knew her behind her frightening mask at all, and that person was currently occupied in Begnion guarding the Apostle.

Of course, of all times that Tanith needed Sigrun, the blue-haired secret noble was unavailable.

Unknown to Tanith, someone was directly in her path and she bumped into them fully, pushing them. They shifted one foot to keep from moving much. Tanith stumbled.

A firm grasp on her wrist stopped her from falling. She barely even noticed that she was about to collapse. She had been lost in thought. She looked up at the one that protected her from a fall that would have made her look incredibly inept.

"Sir Ulki," she greeted the hawk man respectfully. "Thank you."

"Nice to see you too, Miss Tanith," he responded quietly. "You are welcome."

That was something Tanith had noticed about Ulki; he rarely used more formal titles that related to one's rank, but seemed to prefer saying Miss, Mrs., Ms., and only for men did he say anything along the lines of ranking, but only superiors were dignified enough for him to deem them Sir.

"Nice move, Tanith! You would've fallen flat on your back if it weren't for my boy Ulki here," Janaff, an older hawk with years of wisdom and a free spirit that acted as the eyes of King Tibarn, said with a smile.

Tanith weakly forced herself to smile back. "I see that," she said, her voice cracking the slightest bit. It was so slight that no one- not even with perfect hearing –could catch it.

But Ulki did; as the ears of the Pheonician King, his ability to catch a sound was better than perfect. He let go of Tanith's wrist after he pulled her up into a complete upright stance.

"Janaff, can you come here for a minute?" Shinon, somewhere in the background, yelled to the wise old hawk.

"I'll see you later Deputy Commander, Ulki," Janaff bid the two farewell and flew gracefully- for a hawk –over to the magenta-haired marksman.

Tanith was about to turn on her heel and walk away from the man in front of her because tears were welling in her eyes. She felt clumsy. She felt like a failure. Why else would she not be Commander of the Holy Guard? Sigrun was no better than her. Sigrun was no stronger or faster, and scarcely more protective over Empress Sanaki than Tanith.

What the vulnerable brunette would not do to have her love back, if only for a minute.

"What's wrong, Miss Tanith?" Ulki asked. His voice came across as more concerned than normal. For once, he actually sounded as though he had emotions.

Tanith shook her head and stood up straight, putting up a façade that she would refuse to take down until someone destroyed it. "Nothing is the matter. What makes you say that?" Her tone was broken. She sounded defeated, lost, and desperate.

She looked up at Ulki's face then peered directly into his gaze, hoping that he could see that she was lying. She wanted someone to be willing to listen. She wanted someone to be there for her like her lover had before he passed.

The thoughts of him were only making this more difficult for her.

"Come with me," Ulki said. He nodded in the direction of a nearby forest. He started walking as opposed to floating along like Janaff did. Tanith followed him agreeably, noting that she was not in the place to question his current authority.

The Deputy Commander of Begnion's Holy Guard lost her authority to a hawk man. What was her world coming to?

They walked for what felt like moments, but were realistically about ten minutes. Tanith never walked this much; she was much more accustomed to riding her Pegasus. Ulki was thinking similar thoughts, condemning himself by walking instead of just using his wings, which was a far easier feat.

Finally the two of them ended their trip, stopping in a small clearing illuminated by dim light through a blanket of leaves sewn across the treetops above them. A slim river flowed through here, coming from the east and flowing in a curve to the south. The grass beneath the laguz and beorc's feet was a bluish green, dampened with dew and a bit of frost from earlier that morning. The woods beyond the clearing appeared deep and dark, perhaps treacherous if you dared to go in. Neither of them intended on leaving the beauty of this clearing- that which exceeded the beauty of the whitest weddings. Little creatures scurried about, continuing their daily affairs as they paid no mind to the strangers. Quite frankly, they did the opposite. Tiny beings that seemed almost mythical soared above their heads, but below the ceiling of greenery. Some had wings of an angel. Others slithered on air as a snake does on ground. The flying squirrels spun in circles as they danced from tree to tree. The insects on the ground climbed over the beorc woman's boots as if they acted as a passage. She hardly minded.

Tanith's eyes grew wider than the moon and sparkled twice as brightly. Ulki glanced to the side and caught her as a tear came to her eyes and rolled down her pale cheek. He smiled inwardly when he saw the twinkling coat of water glazing over her deep brown eyes. He noticed that they no longer looked harsh, like those of the Tanith that everyone knew- the fierce Deputy. They looked… sad, he concluded. She looked like she was going to burst into sobs, but she bit her lip to hold it in.

Ulki slowly walked over to a log that lay sturdily across the river, playing the part of a bridge. He sat down on it and dangled his feet over the water. He looked up expectantly at the glowing woman. He nodded to the spot next to him. "Sit," he suggested.

Tanith tried to regain some of her dignity by clearing her throat and crossing her arms. "What gives you the right to give me orders, hawk-boy?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What gives you the right to act like a jerk just because I'm trying to be nice?"

She choked, despising the man for being right. She hated him for this right now. She hated him for this glorious scenery and exquisite view. She hated him for showing any concern. She could handle herself.

A few more tears escaped her eyes.

She was wrong.

She slowly walked over to the log that the pale-faced hawk was sitting on and sat beside him. They were both silent, solely for the purpose of the river being able to sing to them as it raced over rocks and splooshed when a fish leaped and dove. After a while, the silence became torture. The tormented woman wanted to talk. She wanted to tell the hawk everything.

"Are you going to talk anytime soon?" Ulki asked, planting his hands firmly on the wood and leaning back a little to stare at the trees.

She took that as her go-ahead and started talking.

"A few years ago, before this… Mad King's War… I was in love," she started.

Ulki closed his eyes and listened to the woman's story, letting his imagination come up with the images for every word she said, watching everything that happened as if in first person from her eyes.

He was a Wyvern Knight from Crimea in Begnion on business. His hair was black—like that of a raven. He had deep blue eyes that stood out against his tan skin. He was tall- about as tall as Sir Gawain. He was strong- not as strong as Gawain, but he could take down nearly anyone with one strike of his infamous Killer Lance. His wyvern soared with the grace of ten Pegasus and roared with the bellow a black Goldoan dragon. He was an abnormal wyvern; rarely had anyone seen one that's scales were white as pearls and stared through eyes like amethysts. He was reliable, powerful, and at the same time as sweet as any winged horse that Deputy Commander Tanith ever knew.

The day Tanith met the man on the majestic beast's back, she knew she was captured. The way his eyes gazed into hers like she was the only priority on his list, the only thing on his mind, flattered her. She felt the way one would when they were loved, but constantly denied it, day in and day out, trying to push those thoughts out of her mind. She did this because she knew that he would only be in Begnion for a few months at the most. The only thing that getting involved with him could do is break her heart.

One evening, he sought her out in her quarters and was ecstatic by the time he reached her door. About three seconds after he knocked, Tanith opened the door, eyes wide and mouth agate.

"Deputy Commander Tanith, if I may be so bold, I would like to ask you come out with me tonight." He was nervous, but it never showed on his face. He had a stunning smile. He carefully twisted his arm around to the front to show her that there were flowers that he bought for her in a vase.

Tanith's jaw stayed dropped. She tried to speak, but he interrupted her. "There are four kinds of flora in here." He held up a finger as he named off each one and its meaning. "Gladiolus for strength of character, orchids for delicate beauty, jasmine for grace and elegance, and lilacs… Lilacs are for first love."

The young woman nearly jumped out of her skin. She tried to without moving, but it did not work. She was still there, praying that someone would pinch her and wake her up from this amazing dream that gave her more hope than she believed she deserved and more thoughts than she needed.

"So what do you say?" he asked her, smiling his heart-stopping smile. It was a smile that many men envied, as this man could have any woman he wanted if he flashed his teeth. He never flirted, though; as well as the fact he never hinted to any woman that he had specific feelings for her other than this moment.

Lilacs are for first love, Tanith reminded herself. She barely comprehended the fact that this magnificent man, the object of every Holy Guard's affection, was asking her to go out with him.

"Needless to say, I went out with him," Tanith admitted to Ulki.

Ulki opened one eye to peek at Tanith's face. This entire time her voice had been smooth and silky as if she was reading a book, but she recited all the details from memory.

"That's… He sounds like a really sweet man," Ulki said; he was not sure if those were the right words to say. Would they make her remember them? Would they hurt her? He wanted to watch every little t that came out of his mouth so that he would not hurt the defenseless lady beside him.

"He was," Tanith agreed with a mournful smile.

"Do you mind if I ask what happened to him?" the hawk carefully asks, fearing he might get deserted for even daring to ask her that. But something told him, something that he heard deep within the story she spoke, that she wanted him to ask. She wanted him to keep listening.

Tanith was quiet for a minute. Her eyes took this minute to well up with more tears. "I… I tried so hard, but…" She hung her head, feeling ashamed of herself.

Ulki sat up straight and rubbed her back, empathy seeping from every pore on his body. "If you don't want to tell me you don't have to, okay?"

Tanith shook her head as more tears came out. "I want to tell you. I have to tell you." She sniffed and peered up at him from behind the wall of hair.

Tanith's love and his wyvern spiraled through the sky; performing acrobatics between the clouds, shaping them differently, and letting the wind carry a rush of adrenaline through their bodies. As the man carelessly threw his arms up in the air while they weaved in and out of the Daein border, something happened.

He started to feel sick.

What was this? He was never sick. He was a man with a steel stomach. His body never allowed him to feel nauseous.

"Bring me back down, will you, buddy?" he requested of his mount kindly. It growled in protest. "Please?"

The mount roared and began a steady but speedy decent to the earth. They got closer to the ground and the closer they got the more the rider started to notice that he was not within Begnion territory. He knew he could end up in serious trouble if they landed there for a few reasons.

As an escapee of the Daein Keep, he was wanted and even had bounty on his head. Normally if a civilian mistakenly crossed the border, they would be captured, questioned then sent home. When one had a gold-value on their head, they were in dangerous waters with the people of Daein.

He yanked on the reins as hard as possible to rear the mount out of Daein territory, but it didn't respond. He kept going down. He kept heading straight into Daein territory. What was wrong here?! His mount knew better than to steer into Daein grounds! Then it registered…

This wasn't his wyvern.

An arrow hit him in the arm out of nowhere.

He still had no clue what was going on; it all happened so fast! One minute he was enjoying the sights and the next… He is writhing in pain on the ground, just barely within Begnion's border by a few hundred feet.

As he thanks Ashera that he is still alive, only if barely, he prays that his wyvern- wherever it may be –is safe. Considering the fact this one that is not his is now crushed behind Daein lines, the most he can hope is that his own is safe.

Suddenly his heart starts to hurt. It squeezes in his chest. He lets out a scream in pain as he clutches his chest. It hurts far more than the rest of his body parts do put together.

Everything starts to look blurry.

Then nothing looks like anything at all.

Then, he cannot see anything at all.

At last, his body fails and he passes into the next life.

"How did you find out about his last minutes if you were not there?" Ulki asked curiously, since she knew so much about it yet never mentioned herself in the story.

"I saw a renowned sage from Crimea after his passing. She provided me with a one-time ability to see his final moments through his eyes." Tanith's eyes have long dried, leaving tracks on her face. "It took a lot of magic, even for someone of her caliber."

Ulki felt her pain through the entire story. He felt the pain coming from her generally commanding voice. The Deputy Commander that everyone knew was gone right then. She was somewhere buried deep within the aching heart of a woman that wanted her lover back.

"How long were you together?" the laguz asked.

Tanith turned her head to look at him, to study his face. There was something quirky about it. It was a small quirk, and it went unnamed, but it was there. It threw his appearance off, because without whatever it was he would probably be a god, Tanith thought. "From the night he first asked me out until the night of his death we were together. It was about a year."

Ulki made an O with his mouth, pitying her.

"He actually proposed to me exactly a month before he died." She chuckled. "Something tells me that the Goddess did not want me to marry him."

"I take it you said yes then."

"I did."

"And then he died."

"Of course," the victim said. She nodded in settlement with her statement.

"…That's horrible," Ulki reminded her needlessly.

"Yes. It is. But somewhere along the line I started to forget him a little. One day someone had the gall to bring up his death in a senate meeting and I became absolutely infuriated," she told.

"I can see why."

Something in the lady's eyes changed. Instead of looking upset, lost, or empty, she now looked a little angry. Ulki raised an eyebrow, urging her to explain. "Do you know what it's like to be second to someone that is no better than you?"

He thought of Janaff, but that did not count since what he lacked in hearing, Ulki made up for and vice-versa. "Not particularly."

"Commander Sigrun is equal to me in skill and speed, but I am stronger than her. I can survive in a fight longer than her. She does not care about the Apostle any more than I do. She does not take care of the Holy Guard any more than I do. In fact, I do a lot of the work and she takes all the credit that I rightfully deserve."

"It would explain why you can be such a hard-ass," Ulki commented.

Tanith laughed. For the first time that entire day she laughed openly. "I am rather anal," she admitted, earning a smile from the man next to her.

He smiled. Ulki rarely ever smiled; Janaff could tell you as well as Tibarn. They both knew that Ulki could be as equivalently hard-ass as the Deputy Commander herself.

"I guess it all just gets to me sometimes. I hate thinking about my losses and prefer to think about all the things that I have accomplished since then. I get more done without a distraction like him around and I get far more done when I try to compete one-sidedly with Sigrun."

Ulki frowned.

"What?" Tanith inquired.

"You have to open your heart eventually. You can't live your life without love," he said.

Tanith snorted- jokingly, of course. "And who exactly do you love, Mr. Hypocrite?"

"It depends on what kind of love you speak of. I see Janaff as my father figure and therefore love him like a son loves his male parent. I am closer to Tibarn's age and see him almost as a brother. I presume Janaff does as well."

Tanith was enlightened by his response. He continued. "In a way, we are the brothers of our king. As his eyes and ears, we find ourselves worthy of being called 'brothers'. We take care of him, watch his back, and serve him. Even though he is not the oldest of us three, he serves as the eldest brother and I see nothing wrong with that." The hawk stared at Tanith's face, taking in every detail, picking apart every emotion, and smiled. "Now tell me," he ordered, "do you love anyone like that?"

She thought back to that morning when Marcia greeted her like the sun greets the dawn. That pleasant smile and those happy eyes practically screamed joy. She also thought about right now, sitting here in this beautiful place with Ulki. She thought about the sun gracing his face and the top of his head, glare making his hair appear black and eyes appear so bright they almost looked blue. She figured out what that quirk was—the unnamable one? It was how much he looked like her lilac- her first love.

For one brief moment, she saw her love again. Tears welled up in her eyes once more.

Instead of crying tears of sadness, bliss poured from her eyes. Instead of faking a smile, her true smile toyed with her lips until they curled up. She had seen the light.

"I suppose." The Deputy said, "Perhaps one or two people."

Ulki smirked when he met her eyes with his own and wished he could hear her thoughts. He knew he would be fascinated. What he saw in Tanith was something more than what the others were seeing. Instead of seeing an uptight Deputy, he saw a free-flying Falcon Knight waiting to take off. He saw that her potential could take her much higher than Sigrun's could herself. He did not see a stone-cold wall for a face with no cracks whatsoever. He saw a soft, innocent face of a woman that just wanted to be loved.

He could hear it in his mind.

"Good," Ulki said, unable to wipe the friendly smirk off his face. If it were not for the fact they were relatively isolated, he would have been worried that people would pester him about this, but this was something new for him as well as Tanith. Neither of them ever showed much emotion. Neither of them really opened up. They were alike—a lot alike.

Something else they had in common had been that neither of them knew quite where they wanted to go from here, but they both knew precisely how to get there.