Takumi opened his tent and carefully looked around to make sure the people keeping watch didn't see him. When he saw that the coast was clear, he hurried to the nearby forest with his divine bow and a normal training katana under the cover of darkness. After having run for almost ten minutes, he figured he was far away enough to start his secret sword practice. The area was perfect: the glade was shaped almost like a ring, surrounded by large trees that didn't completely block out the moonlight.

He delicately lay his bow leaning against a big oak, unsheathed the dulled iron katana and lazily swung it around, testing its weight. Then he started imagining enemies wielding all kinds of different weapons, and he adjusted his fighting style accordingly.

"Foot soldiers wielding lances want to keep their distances, get in close and aim where they won't have time to defend themselves."

He dodged the imaginary enemy's thrust, quickly closed the distance and stabbed them in the chest.

"Next, enemies with axes don't want to waste time prolonging an engagement since that'd put them at a disadvantage, meaning they'll go for quick, strong blows with poor accuracy that'll leave them vulnerable."

He jumped backwards, avoiding an invisible swing that would've almost split him in half. He then jumped on top of a large boulder, deflected a blow, and kicked the hypothetical enemy in the head since he had the terrain advantage, and then jumped down to finish them off.

"Swordsmen rely on their speed more than anyone else. Try to deflect their blows with enough power to knock them off balance."

He blocked an imaginary strike with such force that the enemy staggered backwards and left himself wide open.

Takumi continued until he was almost completely out of breath and had to take a break. He sat down leaning against the tree where he had left his bow and looked up at the sky as his breathing slowly returned to normal. He coughed and wondered how long he had been going at it, and a part of him doubted it had even helped in the slightest. He quickly forced such unpleasant thoughts out of his mind, since he couldn't think of a better way to quickly become stronger without anyone noticing just how much effort he had to put into it, unlike his siblings and the Nohrian royal family which was now on their side, or at least pretended to be; it just seemed a bit too good to be true that they'd all defy their father out of the goodness of their hearts.

Still, even he couldn't deny how terrifyingly powerful they were, and even though he hated to admit it, he and Prince Leo did have a lot of common ground, so maybe they weren't as bad as he had originally thought.

He stood up and massaged his right arm, deciding it was time to head back. Dark clouds were beginning to cover the stars, and people would definitely ask questions if he returned completely soaked.

However, when he turned to grab his bow, he realized it was gone.

"Oh no." He murmured, putting his hands on his head. "Oh no oh no oh shit!"

He started to frantically look around but to no avail. His sweat was cold and his vision started to slightly blur until he saw a faint light in the distant. With a desperate focus, he ran as fast as he could until he could see the lone perpetrator. She was fairly short, and aside from a red hood covering her head, her clothes were unremarkable. However, Takumi did notice – and recognize – her wolf-like ears.

"Oh, good evening, Prince Takumi."

Takumi vaguely remembered that her name was Velour, the daughter of the Garou Flannel. Takumi had barely talked to the man, much less his daughter, so for her to greet him so casually in the middle of the night, wielding his bow, made Takumi question her sanity.

"What do you think you're doing?! You stole a divine weapon from a Hoshidian prince!" He burst out, quickly walking up to her and snatching the bow from her.

Velour didn't seem to mind neither getting the bow taken from her nor his temper. "You looked busy, and the bow was shining, so I got curious." She explained lazily with a small shrug.

Takumi's face reddened slightly and he tried coming up with something to say, but his tongue was faster than his brain, so he simply sputtered out a timid "you saw that, huh?"

She nodded. "I didn't understand why though, since you're a bowman; why would you need to start playing around with a sword in the middle of the night?"

Takumi wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and coughed, glad to have his bow back but more than a little uncomfortable talking to a strange girl who knew about his secret training. "Er…" he began weakly, avoiding her inquisitive eyes. "I just thought it might come in handy one day."

"You're lying." She responded immediately. Takumi prepared a retort, but she continued. "Oh well, it has nothing to do with me. Do you want to head back together?"

"Um, sure…" he said tentatively, and the two started walking in silence. Feeling a bit awkward, especially after his earlier anger had all but evaporated once she revealed she had been watching him, he tried coming up with something to talk about. "So why are you out here this late?"

"I was looking for treasure." She replied in a heartbeat. "I found this. Here."

She handed him what looked like…a mossy stone? Takumi resisted his ever-increasing desire to slap his forehead and instead asked "how's this treasure?"

She sighed as if he had missed something obvious. "Look at the cracks here, and how smooth the moss feels under your fingers. It's so precious...it's definitely a new favorite in my collection."

He didn't know how to respond to something like that, so he merely gave what he hoped sounded like a polite agreement and kept walking. His earlier training had left him physically drained, and he still felt agitated after the pointless chase of his bow, so he wasn't in the best mood to talk, even though the silence was awkward. In fact, he felt a bit weak.

And just as he finished that line of thought, it started raining.

"Shit…just my luck." He mumbled as he started walking faster. "Come on, Velour, or we're gonna get sick."

She agreed and started running, but slowed down once she realized Takumi wasn't keeping up. "Prince Takumi? Are you tired?"

"Yeah I…I don't feel so good." He said, holding his hand against his forehead. He tried to keep walking, but he eventually fell down, and before losing consciousness, he thought he heard his name being called from somewhere far away.

_

Takumi had no idea what happened next. He knew he was lying down on a bed somewhere and that people had been coming and going, but he had no idea who or how long they stayed, and he only remembered snippets of their conversation. They often talked about his health and the forest, and they occasionally mentioned the rain, but the specifics were hazy. He lost consciousness again, but the next time he woke up he at least had the energy to look around and take in his surroundings: he was clearly in the medical tent, and judging by the lack of personnel and patients, all alone. The tent was spacious, housing more than twenty beds and neatly organized equipment necessary for treating both wounds and diseases. Each bed had a small wooden nightstand next to it, and Takumi noticed there were two chairs next to his bed, a fresh change of clothes hanging on one of them, which made him realize he was only in his smallclothes.

He turned his head to the side and started coughing violently, his throat feeling like it was on fire. Fortunately, there was a transparent jug filled with water and a glass on the nightstand next to him. However, he soon realized that he didn't have enough energy to lift the heavy jug, and he couldn't muster up the strength to call for a nurse or a maid. He rested his head on the pillow, waiting for someone to show up. He fought hard to stay awake just to quench his thirst, but he came dangerously close to falling asleep.

Suddenly, a large, stoic-looking man clad in black armor entered the tent.

"P-Prince Xander?" Takumi asked hoarsely, wondering what brought him to the medical tent.

Xander hushed him. "Don't speak. I just wanted to make sure you were alright, I apologize if I interrupted your rest."

"W-Water…" Takumi all but whispered. While he didn't like the idea of asking for favors in general, much less asking the crown prince of Nohr to pour him a glass of water, he didn't have many options at the present.

However, Xander didn't seem to mind. "Oh, of course." He replied without a trace of indignation and walked over to the nightstand. He filled the glass to the brim and carefully handed it to Takumi who managed to lower his head as a thank you. He emptied the glass in one swing and Xander refilled it. "I think you've been sleeping for about 12 hours, by the way." He began casually. "That Velour girl came back to camp in the middle of the night, soaked to the skin due to the downpour, carrying you and your bow on her back. She's much stronger than she looks, that's for sure."

Takumi took a sip of water and rested his his head on the pillow, trying to keep his focus on Xander, who had a smug smile on his face.

"So this is how the Hoshidian royalty does things, is it? How amusing." He said with a self-satisfied chuckle. "You should get some rest; you've got your siblings worried."

And just as suddenly as he had appeared, he vanished, and Takumi once again lost consciousness.

_

Six hours later, he woke up feeling much better relatively speaking. He sat up and noticed that there was a book on his nightstand, most likely from Leo, seeing as it was about contemporary Nohrian philosophy.

"Just the kind of light reading a sick man needs, huh?" He thought with a smile, surprisingly touched by the small gesture, even though he was too tired and dazed to read anything at the moment. Instead he passed some time listening to what was going on outside: judging by the lighthearted conversation and the faint smell of grilled meat, onions and something else he couldn't put his finger on what it was, it was dinnertime. Feeling bored and the wonderful smell making his stomach growl, he briefly thought about getting up and joining the others, but realized he probably wasn't strong enough yet, nor would Sakura or the maids let him.

"Ugh, like they needed more reason to think I'm pathetic." He thought bitterly, running his hand through his long hair. He mustered up enough strength to stand and walked over to a large bowl filled with clear water that served as the wash basin and cleaned his face and upper body and felt refreshed. He walked back to the bed but didn't feel like sleeping at the moment. He tried reading the book left by Leo to combat his boredom, but even though he would've been very happy to read it under normal circumstances, the words blended together and made no sense in his current state.

Just when he thought he was going to die of both boredom and hunger at the same time, Velour walked into the tent, carrying a tray with a plate of food and a cup of tea.

"Prince Takumi, you're looking better." She said with a small smile, yet her voice sounded as distant as always. "My, what big pecs you have."

Takumi instantly pulled up the blanket to cover himself, but Velour continued walking towards his bed, completely unfazed by both his lack of clothes and his reaction. She sat down on one of the chairs and placed the tray at the nightstand. "I figured you might be a bit hungry, so I brought you this." She said, pointing at the tray. "Felicia cooked it, but the general consensus seems to be that it's pretty good."

"Is this girl insane?" He thought, eyeing her with suspicion before muttering a "thank you". He ate in painfully awkward silence as Velour never left the chair, but instead just sat there and watched, her brown, half-shut eyes conveying a sense of aloofness.

"Um…" He began once he had finished eating and held the still-warm teacup in his hands. "Thank you, but why exactly are you here?"

Velour closed her eyes as if she were thinking hard about something. "I felt guilty."

"Huh?"

"You were so mad yesterday when I borrowed your bow, and you looked like you were ready to keel over. If I hadn't done anything, you probably wouldn't have collapsed, and you would have made it back to camp before the rain started, so you wouldn't have gotten as sick as you are." She explained with minimal body language, her arms crossed.

"Oh." Takumi said eloquently, taken aback by her reasoning. "Uh, don't worry about it, I barely even remember what happened yesterday."

Her ears twitched slightly and she smiled softly. "I'm glad you're not mad. I thought you were the kind of person who would mind getting carried back into camp and making everybody worry."

And just like that, Takumi vaguely remembered Xander saying something about that with a knowing smile. "Oh no…ooooh no…"

Velour simply looked at him inquisitively, waiting for him to continue.

"What…uh…what happened when we got back?" He asked weakly, coughing into his hand.

Velour hummed, trying to recall last night's events. "Well, you collapsed, so I got worried about you, and I couldn't leave you out in the rain, so I carried you on my back. I'm much stronger than I look, you know." She said contently, jokingly flexing her arms, but Takumi didn't look like he was in a good mood, so she continued. "Your breathing was ragged and you were burning up, so I quickly called for Sakura, whose scream woke up about half the camp; she, Felicia and Flora took care of you while I was interrogated by Princess Hinoka."

Takumi hid his face in his hands, sighing heavily. It felt as if though all the meager respect he had managed to scrape together had disappeared overnight; he would be a laughingstock for weeks to come.

Velour broke the silence, her normal poker face hiding what she was thinking. "You look upset."

"Well of course I am!" He burst out as loudly as he could, his throat once again feeling as if it were on fire. "I'm a joke!

"So?"

"What do you mean 'so'?!" He yelled, although Velour didn't seem disturbed at all. "I don't know what kind of fantasy world you live in where stones count as treasures and you can play around in the forest in the middle of the night, but I'm a prince! I've got people to take care of, and I can't do that if people think I'm some sort of clown like you!"

Velour didn't say anything, she merely looked at him for a few seconds, much to his dismay. Then, she quickly stood up, grabbed the tray and started to walk away; she was halfway out the tent when she stopped. "You need to improve your footwork." She said without even turning to face him, her voice sounding much more emotional than Takumi had ever heard it.

And just like that, she was gone, and Takumi was once again left alone with his thoughts. His behavior and what he had said finally started sinking in as his anger and shame were replaced by feelings of guilt. A part of him considered chasing after her, but he wouldn't know what to say even if he did find her, and he was still too embarrassed by what happened last night to actually look anybody in the eye.

"Shit, just my luck…no, who am I kidding, this is all my fault." He thought with a sigh, once again burying his head in his hands and rubbing his eyes with his palms.

And just when he thought he couldn't feel worse, he saw that Velour had left her prized stone she found yesterday on his nightstand.

_

AN: Not actually a big fan of the children in Fates as they're sort of a forced mechanic, but I really like Velour for some reason. I also like the idea of writing about characters who have very little in common, or nothing at all, interact.

Please tell me what you think!

Disclaimer: Fire Emblem and all of its characters belong to Intelligent Systems. I own nothing nor do I claim to.