Author's Notes
Please be informed that I wrote this fic WITHOUT playing FE10, the sequel to FE9! So anything I write in this fic that contradicts with FE10 canon or logic is NOT intentional! Even though I'm breaking canon anyway. :p There are minor spoilers if you haven't read Soren and Ike's A support conversation.
Any dialogue in bold is spoken in the ancient heron language that at this point only Leanne and Reyson can speak.
Communication
Soren, the tactician of Ike's ragtag mercenary group, has just been tasked with learning the ancient heron tongue. He's incredulous at this; why should he learn a foreign language that only relatively few can understand, let alone speak? And he's asked during the middle of lunch, too. The one time when he partially lowers his guard...
"What is the point of all of this?"
"We need to be able to communicate with Leanne," Ike explains, knowing that Soren will want to have nothing to do with the situation. "Reyson can't always be around to translate her dialogue for us. What if something urgent happens and she needs to tell us something?"
Soren sighs. He can't compete with that logic. "Okay, I get it. But... it seems like a lot of effort for something that may never happen."
Ike never thought of that. "It is pretty unlikely, true. But she's probably a little lonely too. Reyson told me once that she wishes she had someone else to talk to."
"You know how much I like associating with others."
Ike scoffs. Soren doesn't get any enjoyment from talking to anyone other than him. He's quite antisocial. He does have his reasons, though. "Yes, I understand that. But maybe she'll do you some good. And besides, she's probably a wealth of knowledge, with her heritage and all that."
"That is a good point," Soren agrees, rubbing his chin with his finger. He does enjoy learning. "She would hold some unique secrets, that's for sure."
"That's the spirit, Soren," Ike replies enthusiastically. This is going better than he expected. He should have just started with the pursuit of knowledge instead of the obvious 'feeling sorry for the other party' argument that most people would empathize with. "Could you imagine the things she could tell you about? Think about what you'll learn."
"Maybe you'll learn the secret of heron procreation," a voice jokes from a nearby table, belonging to Ranulf, who's eating by himself for some reason. Soren isn't impressed by the joke. "Reyson won't talk about it for some reason when I ask him. Maybe Leanne will spill the beans! Maybe she'll teach you about other exciting heron tidbits only fit for lovers that's she's just waiting to talk about..."
"Hmm, maybe," Ike agrees thoughtfully. It takes a few seconds for him to realize what he said, and Ranulf just starts laughing at him because of it. Soren, meanwhile, remains unimpressed.
"Oh, um, I mean, I'm sure you'll learn something interesting," Ike says nonchalantly to attempt to save face, but it doesn't work. Ranulf continues laughing at him. "Well, Soren, could you at least learn a small amount? It really would be helpful."
"Fine. But you owe me," Soren complies and, finished his meal, leaves the table to go to the library. At this point, Ranulf moves over to Ike's table to discuss the situation.
"Ranulf," Ike starts, "you're a Laguz. And I heard from... an acquaintance... that a relationship between Laguz and Beorc is strictly taboo and should never happen. Why would you even imply that any relationship between the two could occur?"
"It's simple, really," Ranulf responds, not batting an eye at Ike's logical statement. "Before this war, I would say the same thing, but... let me show you something."
The two of them walk over to another table in the lunchroom, and it's occupied by the fiery Lethe and the determined Jill. "At first, the two of them got off on the wrong foot, with Lethe ending up yelling at Jill. But now, the two of them are close friends," Ranulf explains, motioning for Ike to watch them closely. They appear to be enjoying each other's company very much, with Lethe even laughing at something that Jill said, though it didn't appear the Jill was making a joke, making the gesture that much more meaningful. "I figured... if Beorc and Laguz can become such close friends like that, what harm is there in mixed relationships? Most aren't able to breed together anyway, so that's not an issue. Plus, my other fellow Laguz are making Beorc friends as well."
"You know, I thought we were friends, too?" Ike asks, implying that Ranulf's statement contradicts his question somehow.
"I'd say we are. Not like those two girls though. No offence."
"None taken?"
Soren consults the library and eventually finds an old, tattered book on the art of heron communication. Breathing a heavy sigh, he opens the book and, after coughing from the cloud of dust that emerges from its pages, starts at the beginning. Beside him as well is a Beorc-to-Laguz dictionary, and even though it won't be the same as the ancient heron tongue, it will still be of small use since the modern language did derive from the ancient language to a degree.
It's slow going, though. Soren spends many hours in the library for the next few days, and he's gained little knowledge from his study sessions. It's slowly beginning to frustrate him, and at one point he simply groans and lays his head on the table, with all of his motivation to study fully depleted.
"I'm never going to get this," he moans, refusing to lift up his head. "I've put in all of this work, and I've only figured out a few heron words. This is not worth it at all."
Ranulf is watching Soren groan in frustration in the library, and even though he finds it funny to an extent, he feels sorry for the boy.
He has to cheer him up somehow.
And to do that, he needs to find the one person who will benefit the most from Soren's efforts.
He grins to himself.
Might as well have a bit of fun with this while I'm at it...
A half an hour later, and Soren still hasn't lifted his head off of the table. It's not like him to give up like this, but he's been using his mind to a much greater degree than he's had to for a long time, and of course, he's been skipping meals to spend more time studying. Not the best use of his time, he admits to himself, but Ike asked him to do it, so that's why he's been taking it so seriously.
Now, though, even making a promise to Ike is not enough to make him keep going.
I'm sorry Ike, but I refuse to do this any longer...
"...tea?"
Soren actually lifts up his head at the unfamiliar speech, and it dawns on him quickly that someone is speaking to him in the language that he's trying to learn.
It's Leanne, holding a steaming kettle and a teacup.
And she looks very happy.
"I was told that you were trying to learn the ancient heron tongue for my sake," she says, and she pours the tea into Soren's cup. Soren has absolutely no idea what she's saying, since he obviously hasn't learned any of the language yet, but it's something that's exciting for her, so he doesn't interrupt. "If Reyson isn't around, I don't have anyone to talk too... and besides, I don't want to just talk to my brother all of the time. I want to be able to have conversations with all of you."
"I haven't learned anything yet," he mumbles, but Leanne just keeps right on talking. It's interesting because even though she cannot speak the modern tongue, she can understand it just fine. It's unfortunate it doesn't work so well the other way around.
She eventually acknowledges his comment, though. "Soren, don't worry about it. Just the fact that you're trying... that's more than anyone else has ever done for me. And for that, I need to thank you in some way..."
Leanne sets down the kettle onto the table and sits beside Soren, shyly looking at him for a moment. Before he can say anything, though, she gives him a kiss on the cheek and then quickly recoils in embarrassment, with a hint of rosiness in her cheeks.
Soren can hardly believe it.
"W-why?" he stutters, trying to grasp what just happened. Normally he's a very stoic person, but nobody has ever kissed him before, let alone a cute girl.
Just because he doesn't like talking to people doesn't mean he isn't observant of their actions or their looks.
And Leanne is a very pretty, yet elegant member of the army who is definitely easy to look at.
"You shouldn't just kiss people you've talked to for the first time," he then comments, reverting to his stoic and no-nonsense nature. No point in changing himself just because someone did something unexpected. "I may be learning the tongue, but it's not for your benefit. It is only because my Lord Ike asked me to, for the benefit of the army. Nothing more, nothing less."
Leanne wasn't expecting Soren to react in this way, and her smile turns into a more pained expression. Soren doesn't seem to notice, though. "I care not about what you think about this. I don't know where you would get the idea otherwise."
Soren then looks down at his books to resume studying; somehow he regained some of his former motivation from the reminder of his resolve for Ike. Unbeknownst to him, however, Leanne's voice cracks and, holding her hands in front of her face, runs out of the library in tears, understandably hurt from Soren's harsh words.
A few minutes later, Soren gets into a good rhythm of reading his book of heron communication. Unfortunately for him, though, his reading is interrupted an hour later by a hard smack on the back of his head.
"Ouch!" Soren groans, and he angrily turns around to see who backhanded him, only to find his Lord Ike holding his hand up in anger, along with a scowling Reyson and a Ranulf who seems to be simply observing. Had it been one of those two or anyone else in the world other than Ike who smacked him, he would have given them a piece of his mind, but to Ike, he simply remains silent out of respect for his best friend, waiting to hear what his assembled group has to say.
"Ranulf called the two of us to watch what would happen when Leanne approached you," Reyson explains, and his scowl increases in intensity. "All three of us, of course, were not expecting you to completely insult her actions and drive her away in tears. If I hadn't broken my hand earlier, I'd have been the one to slap you for treating my sister so terribly."
"Even for you, that was horrible," Ike accuses, and Soren must admit that he's right; he did act harsher than normally he would to someone. Especially someone with pure intentions. "I know you had a tough childhood that was devoid of positive emotion, but that's no excuse for what you said to Leanne."
"...I'll admit that I could have urged her to the wrong conclusion," Ranulf confesses awkwardly, and the other three look at him in light of this new information. "I may have possibly told Leanne that Soren was learning the language to learn how to get to know her better... and that he was interested in her... and that he thought she was cute. I didn't think she would take it that far, though. I just wanted to try and get Soren to buck up. Heh heh, I didn't think he was a dastard."
Reyson rubs his eyebrows with irritation at Ranulf's confession. "Seriously? You know that my sister is very... trusting. You should have known she would misinterpret the thought." He turns his attention back to Soren. "And now, thanks to you, she's bawling in her room, her trust completely shattered. And do you know what the worst part is, Soren?" he asks, with venom oozing from the way he stated Soren's name. "Do you?"
Soren merely shakes his head. He can feel his guard lowering as the conversation progresses.
"Despite the fact that you hurt her so badly, she'll probably forgive you. Even though you don't deserve forgiveness."
This thought sinks into Soren's head. He saw her forgive an entire nation for a crime that, frankly, many in that nation would have no remorse for. But she forgave them anyway. What's to stop her from forgiving one person, even if they purposely said something that upset her?
Reyson was right; he didn't deserve forgiveness.
"You know, maybe Soren's into guys," Ranulf laughs, and surprisingly enough, nobody laughs with him. He either doesn't notice or doesn't care. He might have a plan up his sleeve. "Or maybe Soren's just not into womanly curves. Leanne's always wearing that big, conservative dress. Aren't you curious what she's hiding under there?"
Reyson's jaw drops, and soon it looks like he wants to strangle Ranulf, but Ike stops them and motions to Soren.
He hasn't responded yet.
Normally he would have said something in relation to such a comment. But, uncharacteristically of him, he's staying quiet.
"Keep going," Ike whispers to Ranulf, who grins mischievously at the permission he's been given. Reyson is about to protest, but Ike covers his mouth with his hand.
"Herons are known for their beauty. I bet she's gorgeous in her full glory!"
Soren still doesn't respond. Bizarrely enough, he appears to be thinking about it.
"Maybe, despite her thin and frail frame, she has a lot to grab where her tail-feathers are, if you know what I mean! You'll never know until you look!"
"Okay, that last one went too far," Ike comments, and Reyson is clearly not comfortable with the suggestive tones behind Ranulf's comments. But the plan worked; Soren is in a different mindset now.
Just because he's antisocial doesn't mean he doesn't sometimes have thoughts about cute girls. He's accidentally peeped at girls in bathing tents before. Any sane man would stare for longer than necessary.
And Leanne would be no exception if the situation ever came up.
"In hindsight, I'm not sure what you were trying to accomplish, Ranulf," Ike observes, who himself is still preventing Reyson from speaking. Anything Reyson would say at this point would be, understandably, unproductive. "Didn't we come here to rebuke Soren?"
Ike's obvious statement snaps Soren out of his thoughts, and he shakes his head. "I understand what you are trying to accomplish. I was slightly malnutritioned, I was frustrated, and I was confused. I still shouldn't have said what I said, though."
Finally, Ike releases Reyson from his grasp, and he pants heavily as he tries to catch his breath. Ike must have accidentally been holding him with too much force. "I don't get... why these two... care so much... about you... and her..."
"It's not like they can breed or anything..."
"Ranulf, just please stop talking..." Reyson grumbles, and Ranulf shuts up. After a minute or so, Reyson has recovered, and he's ready to speak his mind. "Listen, like I said, I'm not sure what these two are thinking. However, it's strictly taboo to be even talking about interspecies relationships. Heck, if you were a Branded and someone thought you were trying to court a Laguz, you'd be hanged."
Ranulf laughs at this out of innocent ignorance, but Ike and Soren stay quiet. Ike is the only one that knows that Soren is indeed a Branded as far as he knows, and the majority of Beorc and Laguz alike, if they knew about it, would probably attempt to exile him. Reyson was not in any way accusing or insinuating or even implying that Soren was a Branded; he was merely making a point, and he wasn't trying to insult Soren; but Soren could have the right to take offence at the statement if he so chose.
However, Reyson's point shines a light in Soren's head that is very relevant to Leanne's character.
"You don't give your sister enough credit, Reyson."
"Hmm?" Reyson mutters, crossing his arms in curiosity. "What do you mean?"
"I'm going to sound harsh here, but I'm going to expose a personality flaw of yours," Soren says, and his face grows determined. Ranulf is excited about what Soren is going to say, and Ike's face is unreadable. "The flaw is this: you're influenced by the common opinions of others. From what I understand about Leanne's personality, she wouldn't give a damn about that sort of thing. She'd be the last one to care about whether someone was Beorc, Laguz, or a Branded."
Ranulf and Ike nod in agreement.
"Just hypothetically speaking, let's just say that Leanne pursued a relationship with someone. Let's just say that someone was a Branded. If someone asked her why she would date someone as unclean as a Branded, what do you think she would say?"
Reyson doesn't respond. He doesn't want to.
He already knows the answer.
"...I like him just the way he is. I don't care if he's Branded or not. He's still him, and nothing can change that, Brother."
Soren was about to say something similar, (by coincidence, since he still can't understand the language) but that voice... that isn't Reyson who spoke in the ancient tongue. So the only other person who it could be is...
"...Leanne!" Soren gasps, and he turns around to see Leanne standing behind him, her eyes partially closed and her face beaming like a beacon. "How... how long were you standing behind me?"
"...the whole time..." Reyson admits, and he facepalms himself in defeat. "Like I said, Leanne... she forgave you instantly, even though you didn't deserve it. She was crying in my arms after her encounter with you, and the first thing she said to me was, 'I know he didn't mean to be insulting to me. I could sense his fatigue. I knew his darkest secret still burdened him, even if he didn't show it. I don't blame him one bit for taking his frustration out on me. I just hope I can help him find peace'... that's why she planned to have this little 'meeting' of ours arranged... though Ranulf really didn't need to be here..."
"Yeah, probably. But I still contributed to the problem so I had to make amends somehow!" Ranulf objects, and Reyson rolls his eyes. In his mind, Ranulf simply made the situation worse, which is probably true.
"I wish to speak to Soren alone," Leanne declares, and without warning, she takes Soren's arm and leads him to another room in the library. Ranulf nudges Reyson suggestively, and then begins to leave the room in satisfaction.
"Don't be surprised if you find hickeys!" he giggles, and before Reyson can yell at him for the comment, he skips out giddily. Reyson just groans to himself, but soon he starts putting a few pieces of the puzzle together, and eventually, he seems to complete it, for understanding appears to dawn on him.
"Soren... he actually is a Branded, isn't he."
That was a statement, not a question. Ike understands this, so he doesn't respond.
"How can you not care?" Reyson questions, but his words aren't spoken due to malice. "From birth, all are taught that the Branded basically are unclean and should be avoided. It is a stigma that I know will be part of my personality for my whole life."
"Soren is Soren, and his heritage doesn't change that," Ike states simply, shrugging his shoulders. As he leaves the room, Reyson decides to think about this situation some more, so he retreats to his quarters to do some thinking.
EPILOGUE
Leanne and Soren eventually decided to learn their respective languages together; the modern language to Leanne, and the ancient tongue to Soren. Over the next few months, they were able to learn how to communicate to each other, albeit slowly and with simple words. As more months passed, they soon start to associate outside of the library together for outings, and they even went on their first date. Reyson gave his blessing to the couple multiple times, though he would always retract it whenever Ranulf made a dirty joke. He nearly fainted the first time he found a hickey on Leanne's neck.
Yes, the two of them progressed wonderfully. Even though Soren sometimes still said things that would upset Leanne, she understood that he never did it on purpose, and when he found out that what he said was bad, he would genuinely apologize. And Leanne in turn also taught him to be a better person, while Soren helped her be a little less gullible, especially concerning Ranulf.
When the two married just shy of two years after they began to date, the two stayed together for the rest of their days, living their lives in happiness, and speaking to each other in both tongues with perfect harmony. Despite what others may have thought about their union and the results of it, they cared deeply about their two Branded children, and taught them to never be looked down upon because of their heritage.
Ranulf got his wish too; Soren and Leanne co-wrote a best-selling book on "The Art of Heron Procreation".
Reyson nearly died when he saw it was fully illustrated.
THE END
Author's Notes
Wow, this was a tough one. I've had this idea in my mind since finishing FE9 for the first time months ago. I honestly wasn't a huge fan of the game; like, it was okay, but I just couldn't get into it, though. I completely understand WHY it's a good game, and I thought the story was really good, but I just didn't enjoy the gameplay. Maybe I just found it a bit boring, but that's just me. I do think that in some ways FE9 had some of the best support conversations in the series, even though there were fewer than some of the other games.
Soren is a difficult character for me to write. He's kind of a craphead in some ways, and in other ways, he really doesn't have much for redeeming qualities. I needed to add character development to him without making him OOC, and I'm honestly not sure if I succeeded or not. I'm not sure why I made Ranulf to be the bearer of crude jokes, but I view him as a teaser, so I could (at least to an extent) acting like he did in the story. Though I'm sure he wouldn't make assumptions as to how big Leanne's butt is like he does in this fic. :p
It took me a long time to figure out which characters would get the coveted main character slots between Ike, Reyson, and Ranulf, and decided Ike should get the boot, although he'll still make the story summary. Ike really is the least influential character in the fic, even though he's the one who asked Soren to study up on the heron language in the first place. I'm sure he doesn't care too much.
Since I've only played FE9 and not 10, my knowledge of the Branded (and basically anything about the characters) is limited to the support library and what the story referred to concerning the situation, which I don't think was much at all. I hope it was conveyed somewhat correctly. I also hope that if a change in opinion seems reasonable that it was dealt with correctly as well. Sometimes the tough issues are the most interesting to write about. I honestly see Leanne as someone who wouldn't care in the slightest whether her husband was Beorc, Laguz, or Branded. She would love him no matter what he was.
This could very well be my longest one-shot to date! Not bad for a fic about a game I don't care too much about!
Please don't guest review! Time for my next chapter of A Glimmer of Hope! It's gonna start getting into the ending plotline...