When Mila Walked the Land
The marriage of the heiress of the Archanean empire to a prince of Valencia should be a happy occasion. Too bad an invasion of dark creatures spoils the fun. FE2/3 fusion with some special guests from the realm of Magi Varl.
That's right, this is an FE2/3/8 crossover. If you're already tempted to hit the back button, please give it a chance. This is not the kind of crossover where, say, Marth and Eirika hook up just because it looks cute. Not in the least. Are there OCs? Yes. Unconventional pairings? Yeah, at least one. Total disrespect for canon? Not my intention.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem or any of its characters.
Chapter One : The Son of Valencia
Altea Castle, Year 628
"You look well in that shade of red. It throws some color into your face."
Lara decided to take her stepmother's comment as a compliment. Knight Commander Catria hardly counted as a leader of fashion, given that she was rarely seen outside of her dress uniform; her input on Lara's wardrobe choices thus served as a counterpoint to the usual court flattery. If Catria said that the dark crimson color suited Lara, then the average Archanean was likely to agree.
Lara gave up fussing with the front of her tunic and pulled on her gloves. They were longer than she normally wore, and to have them come up past her elbows was both strange and bothersome. Lara pushed the irritation out of her mind and fastened her pair of bracelets over the gloves. Though plain in design, and battered with time, the bracelets held deep sentimental value. If her fiance were disparaging about them... well, if he were, nothing at all would happen. The alliance between continents could not fail over some trivial detail. Lara had best hope that her fiance would do nothing of the sort.
As she sorted through her jewelry box, in search of anything else she might need, a new doubt about Lord Rudolf came into Lara's head.
"He was raised by priests. I hope he's not offended by my sword and armor." Lara feared her fiance would be expecting a princess like her own Aunt Elice, who was gentle and elegant and would never equip herself with a sword.
Catria showed a slight, cryptic smile.
"Priests are different in Valencia," she said, and left it at that.
Lara looked herself over a final time. The white pauldrons edged in gilt were perhaps a little too showy, as they were parade armor, not at all suitable for combat. The hilt of her rapier was likewise for show, an ornate swirl of braided metalwork instead of a functional bell-guard. The ruby set into its pommel was one extra splash of red to enliven Lara's coloring.
"I hope this impresses the son of Valencia with the splendor of our empire."
"I hope it doesn't scare the lad off," replied Catria, though she did so with a flash of that enigmatic smile.
XXX
Catria traveled to New Port Colpe on horseback; there was no anticipating how the Valencians might react to her war-dragon. Taking a winged mount would also force distance between herself and the Valencian prince; this way, she might ride beside him and take his measure before even reaching the castle. Catria waited at the docks, surrounded by a crowd that waved and shouted greetings at the approaching ship flying the white banner of the rulers of Valencia, with its violet cross flanked by a "C" and "A" each topped by a crown. Some waved back their own banners and signs, all in Archanean blue. Catria even saw a few flags bearing the old devices of the Altean House of Anri; dynastic pride ran deep in this region, and it made Catria smile in spite of her station. As the ship drew near, Catria searched the decks for any familiar face, and before long she spied a red-haired youth dressed in appropriately regal robes.
"He takes after Cellica. Good," Catria muttered to herself. "I always did find Alm rather odd-looking."
Catria endured the pageantry and ceremony of the docking and the disembarkment until a priest who announced himself as Father Solan finally presented her with guest of honor.
"Lord Rudolf, Duke of Rigel, beloved son of the Holy Kings of Valencia, their Majesties King Alm and Queen Cellica."
Young Rudolf did indeed resemble Queen Cellica, as he'd inherited not just her waving red hair but also her wide eyes and small composed mouth. Catria saw no trace of Alm's confident smile, nor did Rudolf appear to have his father's easy charm. Instead, the boy radiated a sort of serenity that again was reminiscent of Cellica, though perhaps that was a product of his religious education. Regardless, the sight took Catria back two decades; she blinked rapidly several times before speaking to him.
"Welcome, my lord, to the Empire of the Seven Realms. All Archanea welcomes you to our shores."
XXX
Rudolf wished that he'd had the time to take a stroll around the Altean port before they traveled to the castle. After the sea journey they'd endured, he greatly wanted a chance to just walk about on solid land, but instead they all mounted horses as soon as the welcome ceremony ended. At least he could enjoy some truly fresh air for the first time in weeks; a stench of grease and dead fish seemed to hang over the even the highest decks of the ship, and the air below-deck was nearly unbearable by the final days of the voyage.
Behind his shoulder, Rudolf heard his entourage bickering amongst themselves.
"I hope they feed us soon."
"Rekkit! You're not at home any more. You need to behave yourself."
"Aw, Clotilde... I'm just real hungry."
Rekkit managed to be sick five days out of every seven during the voyage, including that very day as they'd come into port. Rudolf couldn't blame his guard for being hungry, though he was relieved when Clotilde's admonishments had the desired effect of keeping Rekkit quiet for a time. Rudolf smiled to himself and looked upward, where a squadron of pegasus knights soared against the deep blue sky. While Archanean pegasus knights were known for their phenomenal discipline, this event was something of a holiday and so some of the riders took their pegasi through beautiful loops and dives, including the breathtaking "Triangle Formation" that was famous even in Valencia. That wasn't all Rudolf found notable; he counted their number and thought there were likely more pegasus riders in that single unit than served in the whole of the Valencian army.
"Good girls," he heard a voice to his left murmur. Rudolf glanced over to see Commander Catria beaming at the pegasus knights; he knew she had played a great role in their development, and must surely be proud to see them displaying all their talents before the Valencian delegation.
Through the rest of their ride, Rudolf's eyes kept straying toward the woman at his side. He'd been warned that the Dragonknight Commander was secretly wedded to the emperor but denied the title of empress. His parents considered the situation more strange than scandalous.
"He has more power than anyone else in the known world. He could make an empress out of her if he wanted to," Rudolf's father had said of the matter. His mother had a slightly different take on it.
"Catria is a knight of the highest level. I'm sure she seeks no greater title than the one she earned through her own skill. To place a crown on her head would be like conferring nobility on a panther."
As he covertly watched Catria, Rudolf saw his mother's point of view; the Commander's bearing and style said she was a knight to the core. It was the same strength and grace he had seen in the great paladin Matilde, or even in General Zeke, the legendary Gold Knight of Rigel.
Once he felt more comfortable about Commander Catria, Rudolf began to take in more of his surroundings. The island of Altea, one in a chain of large islands in the southwest of Archanea, was known for fertile soils and abundant water, and in some parts it reminded him in a vague way of his mother's native land of Sofia. The landscape bore scars of war also similar to those of his home-- here, a forest had been burned, there, a great manor house stood as a bleak ruin. But overall the fields were filled with ripening crops, the rivers ran clear and sparkling, and the people lining the path of the procession all seemed well-clothed and extremely happy. This had been a great land, and would be greater still when reconstruction finally finished.
The castle, too, told the story of war and rebirth; its scarred walls showed that it had been recently rebuilt after heavy damage. But it was whole now, and beautiful; Rudolf noted the delicate ornamental stonework, the small statues and medallions along the facade. The imperial standard-- an azure banner adorned with an argent dragon rampant and a corona of seven stars-- fluttered above Altea Castle. A gust of wind brought the banner out straight, and the dragon shone like silver beacon against the blue. It sent a shudder through Rudolf. The presence of dragons in Archanea was an unpleasant and inescapable fact. The current emperor owed his place to his ability to keep them subdued, but the horror of the last two wars between humans and dragons was legend throughout the known world.
XXX
"Her Imperial Highness, Crown Princess of Archanea, Sovereign Lady of Talys, Daughter of Light, the Jewel of Altea...."
Rudolf's first impression of his future wife consisted of a pair of eyes. Large eyes, vividly blue, rimmed by thick lashes that added to their apparent size and apparent coldness. The eyes were further emphasized by her finely-marked eyebrows, which were a shade or two darker than her hair and slanted down in a manner that was almost fierce. The rest of her face was quite pretty; her nose was small and straight, and her mouth, though small, was nicely shaped. Everything about her, from her smooth unmarked skin to her glossy hair, spoke of vibrant health. All this should have pleased Rudolf, but his attention kept circling back to those strangely cold eyes.
He could not say that no one had warned him.
"She does not sing or play the harp or have the gifts of a Valencian lady," his father's emissary to Archanea had reported. "The princess Lara is in training to be a sword-mistress. She studies military history and tactics, though she also reads religious texts and old epics of war."
The Imperial Crown Princess looked like a maiden trained for war; she wore a deep-red tunic, a finer version of those worn by female soldiers in Archanea. Her hair reached just past her shoulders, and her only jewelry was the plain gold circlet in her hair and a pair of equally plain bracelets. Her real adornment was the slender sword at her belt, and she wore it easily, naturally, as though she did so every day of her life. She wore the sword more easily than she smiled.
The banquet passed as disconnected moments-- more speeches of welcome from the Dragonknight Commander, the Captain of the Altean Temple Knights, the Bishop of Altea, and several others. Rudolf's first exchange of formal greetings with Lara, and then the banquet itself, with each course interrupted by various kinds of entertainment.
"This isn't funny," he heard Rekkit mutter from his place further down the table. "Where's the jugglers?"
The symbolic pageant in between the fish course and the meat course went over Rekkit's head, and Rudolf had to admit he didn't understand it entirely either. But if the entertainment wasn't aimed at Valencian tastes, his hosts had taken care with the food; the feast included many fruits and vegetables native to Valencia. Rudolf appreciated this tribute to his homeland, though he had to admit that some of the foods were not employed quite as they were in Valencia. Xitomatl, for one, should be chopped up with peppers and maize, not cooked in a stew. Chocoatl was never mixed with sugar. And Rudolf wasn't entirely sure what the imperial cooks had intended with the dish of batatas and cheese, though he supposed it tasted good enough.
The dinner went on until midnight; Rudolf had to fight back the appearance of drowsiness. To keep himself sharp, he spent a great deal of time watching his fiancee. Princess Lara behaved throughout "with manners grave and beautiful," just as Rudolf had been told to expect-- as though the event were a prayer service rather than a banquet. The one time he saw her really smile, it was in response to an offhand comment by Commander Catria. Rudolf watched the quick flash of Lara's white teeth, and decided she had quite a nice smile. One worth seeing more often.
Of course, they bid farewell at the banquet itself, and Rudolf was escorted to his rooms by his own entourage and a few Archanean guardsmen.
"Well, Rekkit, what do you think?"
"Weird people. Weird food," his guard said as he put aside Rudolf's clothes for the night.
Rudolf should not have laughed, but he was too tired to control himself.
"Get used to the food, Rekkit. We won't be home again for a long, long while."
"I don't know about that, yer highness. I don't think she much likes you."
End Chapter One
Author's Notes: So, what on earth is this? Well, it's the Archanean empire twenty years after the end of FE3. The younger son of Alm and Cellica, protagonists of FE2, has come to the empire to marry its heiress, the daughter of Marth and Caeda from FE3/11. How does FE8 come into this? Stay tuned. Oh, yes-- Rudolf's dumdum buddy Rekkit is a homage to Alm's dumdum buddies from FE2. The more serious Clotilde is the daughter of knights Clerbe and Matilde, also from FE2. All second-gen characters are non-canon, or in other words I made them up.
Next Up, Chapter Two: Rudolf meets more of his prospective in-laws, and the aforementioned Dark Creatures start coming around.