A Summer Blessing

Part 1: At the Beach

The sun soared high in the sky, blazing fiercely on a warm summer day in the continent of Tellius. The skies were clear, the only clouds in sight being pushed out to sea on the balmy breeze. Two human figures were walking along a shoreline inside the borders of Crimea, one of the western nations. As they walked along the sandy beach, their hands locked together between them tenderly, the two, comprised of a man and a woman, sought out a location to relax away from the heavy burden of attention and work they shouldered back at home in Melior, Crimea's capital city. The man sighed as the two continued to walk on, the sun beating down on his tanned skin.

"Elincia, do we really need to do this? All this beach looks the same to me," the man complained. He sported a pair of swim trunks bearing nearly the same color as his unruly blue hair, which did little to conceal his powerful muscles and jaw-dropping physique.

"Yes, we have to. The spot I told you about earlier shouldn't be much farther anyway," Elincia replied insistently. "You simply must see the two palm trees that bend into a heart shape, Ike!"

"I know, I know, you've mentioned it a thousand times," Ike exaggerated with a chuckle, recalling Elincia practically bouncing up and down about some unnamed coastal landmark she'd recently heard about. "I'm just getting tired of walking so much in this heat. At this rate, I'll be soaked before I even go near the water." The azure haired man brought a towel he held in his arms to his forehead and wiped away a little sweat. Well, it was a little by his standards; anybody else would say he was sweating by the gallon.

"Don't be silly. It's not that bad," Elincia scolded amusingly, letting the sun beat down on her somewhat pale skin and melon-colored two piece swimsuit which offered quite a view of her shapely limbs and delicate, feminine curves.

"Are you kidding? This is worse than the royal kitchen at dinner time," Ike protested. Elincia couldn't help but giggle.

"I should have known you'd say something food-related," she teased. "I swear, if you didn't exercise like you do, we wouldn't be able to fit you through the portcullis." Ike couldn't help but let the color of his cheeks fade to a rosy pink. He'd forgotten how famous his big appetite was.

"W-well that was the best thing I could think of," Ike quickly replied. "Besides, that's coming from the same woman who wolfed down three servings of marinated salmon each with a bowl of caviar just last week."

Ever since Ike found out that Elincia was every bit as fond of fish as he was of red meat, he'd tried to use that information to turn Elincia's teasing back against her. From the smug look on her face, it wasn't working.

"I was hungry," Elincia responded simply, doing an amusing imitation of Ike's deeper tone. "Besides, I'd just spent eight hours straight negotiating with Micaiah on drafting and signing a dozen new trade agreements. I was within my rights to treat myself."

Here, Ike could not disagree. Micaiah, who was now Queen of Daein, had proven to be a sharp and disagreeable negotiator in securing resources to rebuild her country. Her stubbornness and refusal to settle for anything less than success had made her a capable ruler for Daein and a migraine for everybody else.

"Well, that retort sounded better in my head," Ike replied feebly.

"Sure it did," Elincia teased with another giggle. "…Hey, just a minute. When were you ever in the royal kitchen around dinner?" Ike's pink cheeks grew redder by the second as his eyes bulged wide with nervousness, realizing he'd just blundered terribly.

"Well, I…uh…I…" he began, but couldn't form a sentence.

"Aha! So you were the one who smuggled the last few chicken legs the other day, weren't you?" Elincia guessed. Ike couldn't help but put a guilty smile on his embarrassed facial expression as he recalled dinner from two days before. It had been a delicious meal of chicken seasoned with peppers and garlic along with salads and biscuits cooked by Oscar, one of Crimea's Royal Knights. He had been known for his superb cooking skills, and Ike could hardly resist gobbling down what remained of the bird Oscar cooked when the leftovers were taken back to the kitchen. Originally, they were going to be saved for a romantic dinner for two the next day.

"Yeah. I couldn't help myself. They were so delicious!" Ike admitted. "But we still figured out something for our dinner plan the next day, right?"

"Well, that's true and it was again delicious," Elincia agreed. "…Hey! There's the place!" She suddenly broke into a run in a new direction as Ike found himself being yanked along behind her.

"Uh, hey! I'm coming, I'm coming!" he replied, taken by surprise. Elincia led him to an area not so far from where the ocean's waves ended. She had been right about the area all along. The romantic atmosphere given off by the pair of palm trees slanted so they created a sort of heart shape was indeed all around. Their trunks served as the heart's pointed end while the large leaves at the top made up most of the two rounded curves. Beyond the trees was a breathtaking cove, the waters blue and clear with a crystalline appearance, with beautiful coral winding its way across every rock. Through the 'Heart,' Ike could see a small island overgrown with wildflowers and, he suspected, the trees would perfectly frame the setting sun. Not that Ike minded waiting for such a sight, of course. Elincia gleefully tossed down her towel down into the soft sand below and smiled. Ike looked around at his surroundings before following her example.

"I've gotta hand it to you, Elincia," he commented. "This is quite romantic."

"See? I told you so," Elincia replied with a wink. Ike laid his towel next to Elincia's and sat down beside her.

"You certainly did," Ike agreed, a soft smile forming on his face. "I'm glad we came here."

"So am I, of course," Elincia seconded, moving closer to Ike and letting her head rest upon his broad shoulder. Ike let his hand navigate around her waist and continued smiling.

"I just want you to be as happy as possible," Ike replied. "Because I love you."

"As do I, Ike. You're the only man I'll ever love," Elincia assured him, letting her hand roam Ike's muscular torso. His powerful arms and patched stomach shown in the bright sunlight as much as his broad chest and shoulders. Any girl would agree for sure that Ike was very handsome, and it shown whenever one began to flirt with him. It had happened a few times during the Mad King's War over three years before and continued from time to time. As a result, whenever Ike was seen shirtless, the girls would be close to fainting and those that weren't would probably fake it on the off-chance he'd help them up. When Ike had had enough, he politely (by his standards) informed them that he was married and the wailing girls nearly caused a flash flood. It somewhat embarrassed the young warrior, not to mention caused the fathers of the aforementioned girls to start claiming that being heart-broken by the Queen's husband was grounds for a tax deferment, causing it to take Elincia some effort to convince him to take a trip to the beach. She didn't doubt Ike's fidelity for a minute, but she was getting sick of an army of girls being the only opponent the great hero Ike was unable to defeat.

"And the only woman for me is sitting right here," Ike added. Elincia's cheeks turned rosy upon hearing those words. Before Ike knew it, he was being tackled in the sand by Elincia's strength as a pair of lips touched his own. The two stayed locked in their romantic kiss for moments on in as Ike's arms squeezed Elincia's torso while her own clutched his neck. Ike, briefly pulling away from the lip lock, swept in to lavish Elincia's neck and collarbone with kisses while his fingers soothingly caressed her hip and waist. Elincia, not to be outdone, let her hands glide over Ike's sides and shoulders while nuzzling her cheek against his and relishing the rough texture of his stubble.

"Trying to grow an extra set of quills, hedgehog?" she teased.

Ike snickered at one of the pet names she'd given him, the other one being My Lord Ike, after he'd called himself a hedgehog when he mulled aloud over the prospect of getting a haircut. For some reason, which Ike doubted he could make sense of, the nickname got him to drop the idea.

But, this didn't stop him from flipping over to pin Elincia under him and lean in to whisper into her ear "I can still make you hit the high notes, dove."

Despite Elincia blushing at the near-innuendo, she rose to catch his lips with hers once more. From that moment on, things felt perfect, as if none of the relentless demands and annoyances of their many duties back home, or anything else for that matter, could possibly disrupt this happy moment. Elincia, without even realizing, eventually had begun sliding her fingers back and forth along Ike's upper back, causing him to suddenly break away from their lip lock. He glanced as far behind him as he could see and then returned his gaze to Elincia.

"H-Hey, that tickled," he entreated with a chuckle. "Watch it, will you?" Elincia simply giggled, figuring Ike must be quite ticklish.

"Hee hee."

"…Uh oh."

On the instant, Elincia rolled on top of Ike and attacked him in several areas with her tickling fingers, including his neck, torso, and arms. Ike continuously squirmed and moved around in the sand, unable to stop laughing and chuckling.

"S-stop it! C'mon, Elincia! Hahaha, cut it out!" Ike cried. His eyes soon began to water due to his uncontrollable laughter. Elincia was having too much fun to stop now. She shifted her body ever so happily to keep Ike in her grasp as she continued with her tickling. Ike kept trying to pull away, but the tickling was too intense. He simply lay there laughing and dealing with fingers moving about his muscle-rippled body. Elincia, however, wasn't noticing exactly where she and Ike were moving their legs and had seconds later let her left knee collide with his groin area. Ike's laughing face instantly transformed into a heavy grimace of pain and his laughter was suddenly choked away into a strained groan of agony.

"Okay…that's crossing the line…" he gasped, gritting his teeth as Elincia suddenly halted her tickling. Ike clutched his crotch, having been kneed rather hard.

"Oh! Goodness me! I'm so sorry, Ike!" Elincia cried, cupping her mouth with her hands.

"Errrg…I know…you didn't mean it…" Ike wheezed in reply, still in a lot of pain, but was able to bear it.

"Yeah, but that really had to hurt," Elincia pointed out.

"True, but it showed me something," Ike replied, the words coming out clearer as the pain subsided, as the two sat back up upon their towels. "I think you've gotten a little stronger."

"Really? You mean I've somehow gotten stronger while sitting in stuffy conference rooms negotiating treaties from sunup to sundown?"

"Exactly. I don't remember being tackled and hit like that by a woman before," Ike replied. "What, you been arm wrestling with the delegates or something?"

"Hee hee. I guess you're a good trainer."

"I must be. Unless you have training sessions I don't know about with Geoffrey or someone else at the castle that is," Ike teased with a sarcastic smile.

"You're terrible, Ike! He's a lancer and you know you're the only swordsman over there that I can train with," Elincia replied, letting her head rest upon Ike's shoulder once more.

"What about Lucia and Makalov? They use swords too, you know," Ike pointed out. "Lord Renning does as well."

"Lucia's been spending too much time with my uncle," Elincia countered. "And you must be crazy to think I'd train with Makalov."

"Haha, true, I don't think he'd be very reliable. Besides, having debt collectors barge in on the sessions would get old fast."

"Agreed. And that leaves my handsome husband," Elincia concluded. "Speaking of which, I'll never forget the scene you made as I was walking down the aisle during our wedding."

"Aw, really, do you have to bring that up?" Ike groaned. "It wasn't my fault I got stuck in clothes that itched in so many places."

"Yeah, but did you have to make it look so obvious?" Elincia replied, laughing as she and Ike recalled the day of their wedding. After the war against the goddess Ashera had ended, Ike's plan was to leave Tellius. Why this was, even Ike himself could not say. Perhaps, after seeing how different Ashera was from the legends, not the smallest difference being she could actually be defeated by mortals, he was curious about whether or not the other continents were truly destroyed. Possibly, with how irrevocably his life had changed since the Mad King's War, he sought some direction or new challenge in his life. Or, maybe with the gap between the Beorc and Laguz finally bridged, Ike felt he had accomplished all he could on Tellius. The reason, however, did not matter, for Elincia had convinced him to stay at the last minute. The two soon couldn't deny their love for one another. Although Ike and Elincia had originally wanted a simple wedding with fairly small group of friends and family, nothing big or fancy, Renning and Geoffrey had somehow managed to circulate enough invitations for dozens of guests as a surprise. The grand event took place inside the great cathedral in Melior, and every single seat available inside had been filled. Every member of Ike's mercenary company, the Greil Mercenaries, had attended, even Shinon, who had held a big grudge against his commander ever since Ike first joined and was forced inside upon Titania's lecturing. Laguz from Gallia, Phoenicis, Serenes Forest, and even Kilvas also filled the pews. Beorc from not only Crimea and Begnion, but also Daein had joined the guest list.

Ike had taken his place at the end of the long aisle near where the priest would speak and let him and Elincia give their vows, Ranulf standing beside him as his best man. He had been forced to don a prince-like outfit comprised of a long midnight-colored cape, formal pants and boots, and a shoulder padded shirt bisected by a violet sash heavy with two medals awarded to him for his deeds. Apart from the cape and sash, most of the outfit was white or gray. Ike had desperately succeeded, albeit barely, in ignoring the itching that was starting to bother him around the shoulders and neck of the shirt he had been wearing and the irritating heaviness of the medals while watching friends and family make their way down the aisle first. Lucia and Renning came first, both garbed in the most formal clothes they had. Upon reaching the end, Lucia took her place as Elincia's maid of honor. Following came Boyd and Mia, Geoffrey and Nephenee, Oscar and Tanith, and lastly Rhys and Titania. Rolf and Mist, as the ring bearer and flower girl respectively, took their turn after.

Ike had glanced around quickly to get a look at his friends and comrade, fellow mercenaries, and otherwise. As bridesmaids, Mia, Nephenee, Tanith, and Titania all looked as beautiful as ever in their elegant dresses. Seeing Titania in a dress had been a bit of a surprise as Ike had half-expected her to wear ceremonial armor instead; he suspected she might've been wearing armor beneath the dress but knew better than to ask. It had also been interesting to see Boyd in formal clothes since Ike had never seen him in anything more formal than his leather armor and breeches. Oscar stood as calmly as ever in his own formal outfit, being a man who was good at keeping his cool. It was rather funny how he and Tanith, who had quite the strict and less-than-calm personality, managed to get together. Opposites really do attract, Ike concluded. Mist, his younger sister, and Rolf were both as adorable as ever with the basket of flowers and pillow containing the wedding rings. Geoffrey, although he claimed to have never been in love with Elincia before, still looked ill at ease and occasionally cast near invisible glares in Ike's direction. Ike always thought he once did have something for the queen, despite his protestations to the contrary. Nephenee just ignored it, her own love for the commander of Crimea's Royal Knights being too much to think of anything else.

Just when Ike had thought Elincia would be finally making her trip down, another pair had emerged into the church. It was Kieran and Marcia, hopefully the final set of bridesmaid and groomsman. The two were a funny couple, since it was surprising how Marcia never minded helping to treat Kieran's self-created injuries during training. At the same time, Kieran had sometimes cut down his training sessions to spend time with her. Apart from things being a bit out of order in who came down the aisle as well as his increasingly itchy shirt and heavy medals, the only tense scene that had happened so far had to be Soren's complaining that he didn't get to be best man prior to the wedding. As many times as Ike had to explain people thought Soren looked too feminine, the tactician of the Greil Mercenaries just wouldn't choke it down.

Ike had glanced around the church's filled up pews once again while awaiting Elincia's appearance, spotting old allies including Makalov, Astrid, Devdan, Callil, Largo, their daughter Amy, Gatrie, Shinon, Brom, Zihark, Ilyana, Jill, Haar, Queen Micaiah's consort Sothe (who Ike, for the longest time, could not understand how he could deal with such a rank at his age), Empress Sanaki, her consort Tormod, and laguz friends such as King Tibarn of the hawks, King Caineghis of the beast tribe and his nephew, Skrimir, beast allies Muarim, Lethe, Lyre, Kyza, and Mordecai, the heron royals, Reyson, Leanne, and Rafiel, and raven laguz Vika. The only ones they knew who weren't present were Queen Nailah of Hatari, her servant, Volug, and King Naesala, the raven tribe ruler, and that was no surprise since he always kept to himself. Nailah and Volug were much too unused to crowds and chose to sit out.

Sothe wanted the Dawn Brigade members and Micaiah to attend as well, but they decided to look after things in Daein. However, Sothe suspected Micaiah still held some kind of grudge against Ike for whatever reason. Bastian, similarly, looked after Castle Crimea while Sigrun did likewise at Mainal Cathedral in Begnion. Caineghis's shadow, Giffca, was doing the same in Gallia, and so on. The members of the Dragon tribe of Goldoa wished to come as well, but they had to prepare for the funeral of Dheginsea, their previous king as well as the coronation of his son, Kurthnaga. The one group of people Ike was glad not to see present was the merchant caravan that had traveled with his group in both wars. If Aimee the shop girl had been there, Ike could easily predict an even more annoying scene than Soren's due to the long time crush she had on him. He decided he shouldn't be surprised at the massive guest list after all since honestly, who wouldn't want to witness a wedding between the savior of Tellius and the queen of Crimea? It was practically the wedding of the century, hopefully with a reception to match.

Just as Ike had finished seeking familiar faces in the crowd, and discovering that it didn't alleviate the itching, the moment came. Elincia was finally standing at the doorway in front of the aisle, and began to slowly walk through. Her beauty had been nearly too much for Ike to take in. Part of her hair had been put up into a bun on the back of her head while the rest had been woven into braids that draped over either pal shoulder. Her dress was broad and white, with sparkling jewels and lovely embroidery at every level. Her sleeves rose up to her shoulders and cut off there. A long transparent veil flowed behind as she continued to walk. She held a beautiful bouquet of flowers, comprised of white roses, daisies, and more. Ike felt as if he would faint right on the spot, when suddenly his shirt began to grow even itchier than before. Trying ever so hard to ignore it and not make a disruption, Ike secretly gritted his teeth as Elincia approached the end of the aisle. Still, he soon was unable to take it anymore and had tried to scratch without drawing any attention. However, as hard as it had been, Ike had started bending slightly backwards in order to reach where the itching progressed, and ended up moving too fast. The result was a topple to the floor, right on the small steps Elincia had begun walking up. Ike blamed the heavy medals, but nobody believed him.

"Augh!" Ike bellowed, echoing through the whole church. Taking the pain as well as he could, he quickly scrambled to his feet again, having heavily embarrassed himself and clearly Elincia as well, who now had an annoyed expression on her face. The priest, though slightly amused, seemed almost sympathetic.

"If it makes you feel better, I did worse on my wedding day," he offered, but Ike was simply too mortified to appreciate the reassurance.

Somehow, the ceremony got back on track and the priest began to speak.

"On this historic day of great joy in Crimea," he began, trying not to give even the slightest hint about Ike's flub making this day all the more historical. "We are gathered in the sight of Ashunera and the presence of these witnesses to witness the union of Queen Elincia Ridell Crimea and Sir Ike, famed hero of Tellius and commander of the Greil Mercenaries . If anyone present can show good cause why these two should not wed, let them speak now or forever hold their peace."

Out of the corner of his eye, Ike saw Geoffrey tense but, with one hand to his shoulder, Nephenee calmed him. Ike could even swear he saw the barest hint of a smile on Geoffrey's face.

"Who gives this bride to be wed?" the priest requested.

"Elincia has been like a daughter to me since she was born," Renning replied. "I willingly give her hand in wedlock."

"Who will speak for the groom?" the priest inquired.

"I will," Titania spoke up. "Ike has been like a son to me for many years. I acknowledge his wedding to Elincia with a glad heart and sanction this union."

Later on, after the vows were said, the rings put on their fingers and the ceremony had finally ended, Elincia had pulled Ike aside outside the cathedral.

"Ike! What's the matter with you?" she demanded. "Why'd you have to create an episode in there?"

"I really don't know! I'm so sorry!" Ike had apologized. He explained the problem with his itchy shirt, how he could no longer ignore it, and how it and all those medals had caused him to lose his balance. Everyone had tried hard not to laugh, he could tell, but after that incident, everything else had gone smoothly. Ike and Elincia said their vows, exchanged rings, and kissed. Since then, Ike had tried to put it behind him.

"Yeah, I suppose I could have," Ike finally replied. "But it was so hard. I wasn't exactly used to those boots I had to wear either."

"Well, I guess next time we do something formal, we'll have to make sure you're in clothes that don't make you have to reach behind yourself," Elincia suggested with a giggle. Ike simply rolled his eyes.

"Let's get in the water now," he insisted, changing the subject. "I'm much too hot to sit here any longer."

"I have to agree. You'd be much better looking in the water," Elincia replied, giggling at her own joke.

"Huh? …Ohhh, very funny," Ike huffed, folding his arms and taking a moment to get what Elincia was joking about.

"Hee hee. You are very handsome, though." Elincia complimented as the two stood up to get in the ocean waves. "I think any girl would agree."

"Yeah, I haven't met a single one who hasn't given me some indication that they think I have good looks," Ike admitted. "Be it the way they speak, what they say, or even telling me right out. I'm just glad that's all they did." Elincia simply hurled a fistful of water in Ike's face as they had stepped a few feet deep in the water.

"Oh stop it. You can at least try to befriend them," Elincia pointed out.

"I think I have enough female friends."

"I think you've run away from Aimee too much."

"Aw come on, don't ruin my fun by bringing her up."

During both the Mad King's War and the war against Ashera, Ike had to put up with Aimee and her constant praise and continuous flirting with him. Ike kept trying to avoid her, but all he could do was use Soren as a shield of sorts. And even then, Aimee never stopped calling Ike "handsome" or some other pet name. Soren never made things much better himself either, having let Aimee in on food being a good way to get Ike's attention and even teased him at times with how he'd profited through leading Aimee around by the nose.

"Oh, alright, but I still think you ran away too much," Elincia replied.

"Well, what else was I suppose to do? Let her hound me?" Ike wondered. "She certainly wouldn't let Gatrie go after her." He recalled how Gatrie had always been a womanizer, but Aimee was too busy chasing Ike to pay any attention to him.

"Good point." With that, Elincia giggled and sent more sea foam into Ike's face which, naturally, caused a splash fight between the couple. Within minutes, they were laughing and playing in the shallow waves of the Crimean sea, gradually moving deeper into the water until it was about neck deep for Elincia and reached just above Ike's chest. Almost without warning, Ike dove beneath the waves and almost seemed to disappear. Before she could react, Elincia felt herself being pulled under as well by Ike's strong grip. Ike grabbed her by her waistline and pleasantly locked lips with Elincia in a romantic underwater kiss. Although she endured it for the time the pair was underwater with their tongues lancing into each other's mouths, Elincia felt a stirring pain in her stomach. Of course, Ike always caused butterflies to stir in her stomach but this felt more like crows trying to peck their way out and that was almost nauseating. Seconds later, the annoying need for air arose and the couple quickly emerged out of the waves in shallower water. Ike smiled as his mop of unruly blue hair was now a soaked dark blue mess that nearly covered his eyes and enveloped half of his head. Elincia couldn't resist laughing at her husband's new hairdo.

"Hee hee, who knew someone as blunt as you could be so funny?" she asked rhetorically.

"Hey, all the better to keep my wife happy," Ike commented with a wink. "And besides that, my hair is uncontrollable."

"Like that matters?" Elincia replied, moving closer to Ike. "You're very handsome whether you have a spiky blue mop on top or a wet dark blue mat covering your head." By now, Ike's cheeks were flushed in a rosy red despite the chilly water.

"Heh, why thank you," he replied, trying to hide his slight embarrassment. Before Elincia could get in another word, however, her stomach seemed to convulse violently. She finally couldn't bear it and allowed her facial expression to turn into a grimace as she felt something slimy climb her throat and clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Oooh…" she groaned.

"Are you alright?" Ike wondered in great concern. "What's the matter?"

"I don't feel so…urp…well," Elincia admitted, bringing a hand to her abdomen. Before Ike could say anything more on the matter, Elincia suddenly whirled around, bent over towards the water, and emptied the contents of her stomach. Ike grimaced upon hearing the splash in the water and once Elincia turned around once more to face him, the sight behind her was a blob of exotic green, orange, yellow, and brown colors mixing with the blue of the seawater before the lapping waves obliterated it. Ike gulped before speaking, hoping he wouldn't soon perform a replay out of disgust.

"Okay, I think we'd better get you back to the castle," he suggested in a rather nervous tone, urging Elincia out of the waves and back onto shore.

"Yeah… Good idea," she agreed without hesitation. After they retrieved their towels and dried off as much as possible, Ike flung his towel over his shoulder while Elincia's remained around her body. He carefully wrapped his arm around her waist and led her away from the beach. Ike hoped Elincia wasn't getting seriously ill, the two of them had to pull quite a few strings to get some time off and it would be awful if Elincia spent her hard earned vacation in the sickbed. Ike shook it off, deciding she'd just been working too hard or that one of the delegations she'd be dealing with must've given her a bug. Even so, Ike knew it was best to remain positive and decided to keep an eye on her anyway once they reached their home. Within minutes, the two approached a horse tied to a tree which they had left to graze while spending their time in the waves. Ike helped Elincia mount first after untying the horse's reins and made his ascent afterwards. He gripped the reins tightly and warned Elincia to hold on just as much.

"Are you still feeling sick?" he inquired as they galloped off.

"Yeah, kind of…" Elincia replied, grasping her stomach with one hand again.

"I'd say the prime suspect is the caviar," Ike suggested, trying to cheer her up and chuckling at her cutely irritated expression. "No, seriously. That stuff is so salty, that the one time you conned me into trying it, I nearly died of thirst."

"Ike has discovered something he doesn't want to eat? The impossible has happened!" Elincia joked in turn before grasping her stomach again. "But yeah, let's hurry, just in case...you know."

"You can count on it."