Third Time's The Charm
The woman marching up to Hector is strangely familiar and yet completely new. He knows he's seen that fiery determination before, but not combined with the biting of her lip, the respectful bow of the head.
"Lord Hector," she says, and then her eyes lift up to meet his slowly, with a quiet confidence. "I don't believe we've spoken before, but..."
Her pegasus snorts behind her and presses its muzzle into her odd turquoise hair. At the sight of it, Hector knows exactly who she is.
"You're the third pegasus sister."
The eyes blaze out from her face, but she ducks her head and the lord is struck with a sense of... annoyance?
Her wording is careful. "I joined your army at the Dread Isle." At the mention of the place, her fingers tighten and grind her lance into the dirt. "I... needed to talk to you about something of importance."
"If it's anything about a raise in your wages, the tactician has forbidden me from handling that." He smirks and finishes with a chuckle. "You already know about it, I'm sure."
"I know my sister." The fire is directed at him again, a persistent and icy burn, nearly refreshing. "And we are not the same person."
The blue haired lord waits for a moment, and then tires of it.
"So, what do you need from me, er..."
It snaps then, like a crack of lightning you see before the thunder, and Hector waits for the rumbling emotions he sees in those eyes to pour out and drench him, shock him.
But they don't, and all that happens is that her thin, red lips purse in near annoyance before she ducks her head again.
"Fiora." The lord is nearly disappointed. He enjoys fire and strength in anyone, be they a man or a woman, and they both throb deeply in this woman's veins. She is an impulsive and dangerous creature that prowls within its self constructed cage of law and sense. Still, her head bows before him, and he suddenly feels as though he has forced it there unrighteously, and it bears shame. He feels so very young, and she seems old- he's never liked his high strung teachers "My name is Fiora."
"All right then, Fiora." His thumb grazes the handle of his trusted axe. "What would you like from me?"
"I came to thank you," she says blandly, interjected with just the right amount of warmth to bring sincerity to mind. "It seems that you have been caring for my youngest sister, Florina, and watching over my other sister, Farina. It brings us all great comfort to know that a lord has decided to watch over them." It seems like a prepared speech, one the woman might have practiced stringently with her reflection in a pool of water, and Hector finds himself losing interest. "I know my sisters. They can be overbearing, at times."
"It's no problem." As polite as the third Pegasus sister is seeming, and as much as he wishes she would unleash all that fire, Hector has things to do, and this conversation is essentially over. "Keep up the good work." He turns to go, and is stopped by not an angry hand on his shoulder or a dejected shyness. She lets out a single breath of air, and he can hear it, that she isn't done with him yet, and that he has just made a mistake. So Hector, the man that is oblivious with women, decides he had better turn around.
"I just mean to say that while it is imperative on the battlefield for everyone to watch the other's backs, we never meant to impose on you outside of it. I've told my sisters to be more aware of you and your time. A lord such as yourself in the middle of an army has plenty to do." Hector is vaguely aware that both his rational mind and another, deeper, are working on something.
His rational mind has already dismissed this woman. She is as straightlaced as her boots, and she is thanking him and relieving him. She is a woman who has carefully arranged her tiny family and now, being the responsible one, must handle any apologies or greetings, must read the laws and enforce them. Just like Eliwood and the red knight that Lyn was always speaking of.
And yet there is something picking at the back of his mind, and with a flash of a gaze from her lowered face, Hector receives the message loud and clear.
Back off of my sisters.
It is a blazing warning, one unplanned and unprecedented, and it suddenly sets the whole conversation aflame.
You care much more about my peasant sisters than a man of your status should.
"I just wanted to express this to you. Thank you for your time."
You're going to hurt them. You, a man who doesn't even know the names of those he fights alongside.
She nods, and then in a flash of white feathers and dress, she is in the sky. Hector watches her fly, feeling uncomfortable and then stunningly aware.
I won't let you, not on my life.
He chuckles. No, the fiery Farina and the brave Florina have little to worry about coming from him. That complex beast of a woman, though, had better watch herself.
A/N: This conversation initially started up as just an exploration of Fiora, someone I've always thought as boring and somewhat cliche. Not to mention depressing. BUT, I also thought it was strange that Hector could get together with two out of three Pegasus sisters- who were drastically different- and yet never even talked to the third, as far as supports are concerned. And from curiosity, you get mismatched implied crack. Yep. Wheee-oooo!