Those Distant Plains

by Rapis-Razuri

When you were young, you didn't understand why the other nobles whispered. She was half-Sacean and that meant nothing to you. Sacean, Lyndis, Mother. To you, they all meant the same thing. Lilina of Ostia, you have never given much thought to the other half of your heritage, have you? [Lyn!Lilina-centric. Drabble]

Title: Those Distant Plains
Author: Rapis-Razuri
Beta: ObsessiveCompulsiveValkyrie
Word Count: 499
Game: Fūin no Tsurugi, Rekka no Ken
Characters/Pairings: Lilina, mentions of Lyn/Hector
Warnings: None that I can think of.

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You see the plains for the first time with your own eyes.

You spoke to Sue and asked her about her home, but nothing could have prepared you for the sight of endless grass and earth stretching for miles and miles.

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You have never given much thought about the other side of your heritage, have you?

Your mother, Lyndis was half-Lycian, half-Sacean, but in spirit she was all Sacaen. You remembered some nobles whispering about her behind her back. You were young. You didn't understand why the other blue bloods whispered, because her being half-Sacean meant nothing to you.

She was Lyn. Lyn was Mother. Mother was Lyndis.

Sacean, Lyndis, Mother. They were all the same thing to you.

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Sue encourages you to try to listen for the voices of Father Sky and Mother Earth. There is Sacean blood in you, she reasons.

You try, but you hear nothing.

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You can still remember, can't you? Your mother holding you close to her chest and telling you stories from the plains. Of crows and magpies and of foxes and wolves.

"Do you miss it?"

"Yes, I do."

You ask why she doesn't go back and she will simply kiss your forehead and answer: "And let your father teach you to swing an axe like a barbarian?" Her smile was honest, but her eyes betrayed her longing.

Make no mistake, she loved you and your father enough to stay in a life that she would have left otherwise, but a plains-woman was never meant to live within stone walls.

Those who enjoy waxing poetic would say it was more likely that she succumbed to homesickness than any disease.

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The longer you stayed, the more you start seeing the plains the same why your mother did.

You were always the Daddy's Girl weren't you? Even when your mother was still alive and even more so ever. The two of you grieved for her together. You cried for her when your father couldn't.

But out here, you feel closer to your mother than you ever have before.

You mount a Sacaen reared horse and ride for so long and fast that you feel as though you were flying.

The wind rushes in your ear, drowning out every other sound and you love it.

For in the wind, it's as if Lyn of Lorca is right there by your side. It is as though she never left you in the first place.

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Lycian nobles look down upon those with Sacaens, claiming them to be savages. Let them, you think. You finally understand your mother's half of your ancestry.

You are proud to carry Sacaen blood – her blood – in your veins.

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You try again.

The plains call out to you the same way it did your mother.

You wish you could stay, but you have duties in Ostia. You will never forsake Ostia. Sacae is in good hands, but Ostia needs you.

You, Lilina, Marchioness of Ostia, bid us farewell, but not good-bye.