Reunion

I do not own Fire Emblem or any of its characters.

Set fifteen years after the end of FE4. Contains or references Seliph/Lana, Patty/Lester, Leif/Nanna, Tinny/Amid, Faval/OC, Arion/Altena, OC/Ced/Arthur/Linda, Oifaye/Fee, Amid/Tinny and Shanan/Larcei. Contains alcohol and narcotic use and touches on themes of racism, homophobia, and miscarriage/infant loss.

Belhalla Palace, 793

The newfangled clock struck the hour with a metallic clang. Faval scowled at the gilded device with its mechanical hands pointing out that it was now three hours past noon; then he shrugged and reached for the wine decanter again. He hadn't expected to be the first person on the scene at the imperial palace, and the solitude bored Faval as much as Belhalla protocol annoyed him.

"And here I thought I was going to be in the company of respectable men," he said, and made a sarcastic toast to the empty room.

The clock ground out another ten minutes before someone else showed up in the reception room.

"Lester! I'd say you're looking well, but I'd be lying."

"Same to you, Faval."

The cousins eyed one another from a distance. Faval, red-faced and stout around the middle, now looked five years past his actual age, but Lester had a grayish cast to his face that didn't seem the picture of health either. Then the King of Verdane and the Knight Commander of Jungby each launched themselves toward the other to form a back-pounding embrace that lifted Lester clear off the floor.

"Good to see you again, even if you do look like a Hel mage got to you. How's my little sister?"

"She'll be along," Lester said, and shook his head. "Her Ladyship is making the social rounds."

"Well, then she ought to be here! Everyone who's anyone is supposed to be at this get-together, not at one of Empress Lana's tea socials or wherever Patty is wasting her time."

"Yes, but the scuttlebutt is a good deal richer there than it's likely to be among this crowd," said Lester with a thin smile.

"Well then. I guess I should be glad that Patty's only interested in collecting gossip and not in pocketing the tea spoons." Faval poured two more glasses of wine and handed one of them to Lester. "How're those kids of yours... I mean, hers."

Lester narrowed his eyes at the jibe over Patty's continued refusal to elevate their relationship to a proper bond of matrimony.

"Alden's doing well at the Academy; Ulster says he's a fine student and could make an excellent teacher if he wants to take that path. Lea's thinking of going into the church, but Patty says it's too early for her to make a decision like that and that she needs to 'live a little' first. And Penny's been in one scrape after another. We sent her to Mother for a time to calm her down; I'm not sure if that worked."

"Send her to Verdane," Faval said with airy unconcern. "She can use up some of that energy on our behalf."

"It might come to that," Lester sighed. "How are your lady wife and your children?"

"Fine," said Faval, and he left it at that. His notorious reluctance to ever bring his queen or his heirs to Seliph's court had led to rumors that Queen Anjali- a former warlord of the Verdane forest- was either disfigured or simply unattractive, and that his children must be equally frightful.

"That's good."

And they regarded one another for a while as the clock on the wall continued to tick off the minutes.

"So who all is coming to this grand affair?" Faval said, to get the attention away from himself.

"Fewer than you'd expect," Lester replied. "The Chalphys will be here. Tinny's planning to come, but she'll likely be late. Ulster will be representing his clan, and King Ares may be sending Delmud in his stead."

Faval acknowledged this with a grunt.

"King Leif and Queen Nanna will both be coming from Thracia, and as far as I know King Ced really is coming down from Silesia."

"With Queen Arthur?" asked Faval.

Lester just shook his head.

-x-

The King and Queen of New Thracia showed up at precisely four o'clock- by the palace bell, not by the wall clock, which already was several minutes slow. Lester bowed as Faval gave a more casual greeting to his fellow monarchs.

"Well, don't you two look like you just stepped out of a fairytale," he said.

It wasn't untrue; Leif had on a jacket of violet velvet and fussy cravat, and Nanna had a pearl tiara glinting in her hair. They sat down together, looking so cozy that Faval chuckled to himself as he dispensed wine to the royal couple.

"His Imperial Majesty isn't available right now, so as the first man on the scene, I've been playing the host. You can take over for me if you like, Leif."

"That won't be necessary, Faval. You seem to be doing a fine job of it."

Lester inquired about the little heirs of Thracia, then about Leif's sister Altena, her husband Arion, and their children. Leif gave polite answers and then asked in turn about Patty, Alden-Lea-and-Penny, and the mysterious royals of Verdane. Lester and Faval gave their answers and non-answers, and then there wasn't anything to say.

The clock gave a discordant chime, letting them know another quarter of an hour had escaped them.

"It's a beautiful piece," Nanna observed. "Isn't it a present from King Ced?"

"Yes, it's very like the one he sent us," her husband replied.

"I didn't get one," Faval muttered, not that he wanted a clock for its own sake.

"Maybe King Ced thinks you don't know how to tell time," said Lester, and the verbal dart landed so close to the mark that Faval's cheeks went a deeper shade of red.

Just then, a page announced the presence of King Ced the Second himself on the other side of the wall, and it was Lester's turn to pink a bit in case the Silessian ruler had picked up on the jibe.

Someone unfamiliar with Silessian royalty might have mistaken Arthur for the king and Ced for an advisor; Ced's sober clothes and short hair contrasted with Arthur's flowing silver locks and his midnight-blue tunic trimmed in gold. Yet Ced took a seat with Arthur standing behind him, making the odd nature of their relationship something nobody present could truly ignore.

"Always a pleasure, Ced," offered Leif, and Nanna chimed in with a sweet, "Hello, Arthur. It's good to see you looking so well."

Faval just pushed two more cups of wine across the table. The sooner everyone was refreshed, the quicker the tension in the room would go down.

Or it might go up. Hard to say, these days.

"Who's minding the store, Ced?" Faval no longer gave a damn if anyone thought ill of him on account of the way he talked.

"I've let Miriam have the reins of state in my absence," came the smooth reply.

"Isn't she a little young to serve as regent?" asked Nanna.

"She's not quite to her tenth year, but you can never learn responsibility too early in this world, can you?"

"I suppose not," said Leif, and so that line of conversation died. Ced's only child— or, more precisely, where she'd come from and who her mother might have been— was not a suitable topic for the table.

A gathering of friends and relations, fifteen years after the great adventure of their lives, ought to have been catching up— boasting of the beauty and talents of their children, praising the graces of their lovers and helpmeets, discussing their successes and failures with a sympathy born of shared tribulations. Instead, the clock hands ground along in their orbit as Faval drank and Lester sat with a tight smirk on his pallid face, Their Thracian Majesties acted like beautiful statues, and Arthur kept a two-handed grip on the back of Ced's chair.

"I'm hee-ere!"

Faval felt his lips twitch in an automatic smile as his little sister saved the day. Patty bustled over to each of them in turn and gave them- even Ced- a peck on the cheek before plopping down in a seat adjacent to Lester.

"How has everybody been?" Patty's eyes shone in her rosy face as she pulled out a small sack of candies and began to pass them around the table. "You all have to try these. I made them myself out of these funny nuts from Verdane. Faval here sent me a whole cartload of them and I just didn't know what to do with them because they looked positively obscene—"

"They looked remarkably like a naked behind," Lester said without losing his smirk. He was staring directly at Arthur.

"But inside they're just so good— creamy and sweet and they just make the best fudge."

"They're just coconuts, Patty," Faval said as he unwrapped one of the pink-and-white confections. Patty might be babbling in her eternal off-kilter innocence, but Faval didn't like the gleam in Arthur's violet eyes. "I'd send you some durian fruit but I'm afraid of how that'd go down in civilized parts."

"Durian?" Ced showed a bit of true interest for the first time that evening. "Faval, I've read much about them but never have seen one. Would a durian keep for the journey if you'd be so kind as to send one up to Silesse?"

"I guess. Who'd know if one spoiled? They smell like goat to start with."

"I'm not familiar with durian fruit, Faval. Would you be able to tell us about it?" Leif and his lady were still doing their best to pretend this entire gathering hadn't already gone weird.

"Well, for a start they kill a couple of people a year…"

Faval might have played up the hazards of the most prized delicacy in his savage kingdom a little… but not by much. His storytelling gifts weren't the best but he was able to keep a lid on everyone else's personalities until the page-girl came back to let them know Emperor Seliph wouldn't be joining them tonight and they could all do as they pleased with the evening.

-x-

"Oh, but I'm glad that ended when it did," said Nanna as she set aside the pearl tiara. "I couldn't bear the sight of Patty playing with Lester under the table."

"Nobody could," her husband replied as he undid his cravat. "And Lester looks terrible. To see them together, you might think she's been sucking all the life out of him."

"I thought about offering some assistance to him, but if nobody here in Grannvale can heal him, I don't know what good I can do," said Nanna.

"No, I wouldn't bother. If the empress and Princess Julia can't help him, well…"

And with that, the king and queen of New Thracia mutually agreed to forget about Lester entirely and set about stripping off all their finery and enjoying one another every bit as lustfully as the Duchess of Jungby might enjoy her Knight Commander.

-x-

"I'm drunk," Faval said when Lester began to pound on his door that night.

"Not drunk enough," said Lester. "Look, I don't know if anyone's bothered to fill you in on His Majesty's concerns about New Thracia, but I figured somebody should."

"Nobody bothers to fill me in about anything," Faval said as he adjusted his dressing gown.

"Half the reason the emperor called for this reunion is so he could have a good talk with King Leif without making a fuss. The other half was to get Agustria to the table. All the rest of us are just window-dressing."

"Do tell," said Faval as he began to set out cordial glasses.

"King Leif's become a strange one. Thracia is the only place on the continent where the study of dark magic is lawful, yet anyone who breathes a word against unification gets the full force of the crown coming down on their heads." Lester shook his own head at the contradiction. "Ask the Conote Liberation Front how that one went."

"How'd it go?"

"They were annihilated." Lester tipped back the cordial glass, coughed, and had to wipe his eyes before continuing. "There was a rhyme making the rounds among children here about how the orchards in Thracia had their boughs bent with ripe corpses of traitors."

Faval shrugged.

"Sometimes that's what it takes. I didn't secure the realm by giving speeches or passing out scrolls explaining why I deserved to be king. Verdane respects the power of Yewfelle. Its might is my right, you know?"

"Eh," Lester replied. "That goes places I don't really like, Faval. Sounds like something our late uncle Andrei would've endorsed."

"Yeah, but Andrei didn't have the Yewfelle, so he was out of luck since birth." Faval tossed down the sugary cordial without so much as feeling a tickle in his throat. "What about Agustria?"

"Princess Harmonia's begun to stir up trouble. She's fourteen now, and she rides around with a handful of companions battling 'evil' wherever she finds it." Lester had lost any trace of his smirk and his face seemed even more gray than before. "It sounds a lot like the witch-hunts, Faval."

"Why doesn't her father put a stop to these antics?"

"King Ares… well, the rumor is he's never recovered from that fall a few years back."

Faval didn't have to ask. Everyone from one end of Jugdral to the other knew of how Emperor Seliph accidentally unhorsed King Ares while jousting.

"So who's running Agustria, then? The girl? Delmud?"

"We're not entirely sure. That's why His Majesty is hoping Ares will arrive tomorrow."

"So Agustria might be spinning out of control even as Leif digs himself into a hole," said Faval, half hoping Lester would contradict him.

"At this point, Queen Nanna's influence may be the only thing keeping Leif from making some serious errors. At least, that's what His Majesty fears."

"His Imperial Majesty sure confides a lot in a man who can't hold his tongue," Faval said, and the thump he gave to Lester's arm wasn't all friendly. "You should stop giving Queen Arthur such a hard time. If Leif and Ares make a hash of things in their kingdoms, leaving Velthomer to Lord Saias may've been the best thing Arthur did for us all."

-x-

Things got worse in the morning. Duchess Tinny of Freege showed up for breakfast with her husband Duke Amid in tow.

"How's your little sprite, then?" asked Faval. "Has he mastered Mjolnir yet?"

"Oh, no. We'd never give Ariel that as a plaything," said Tinny, with a thrill of horror in her voice like she thought Faval meant the question seriously. Her eyes were oddly dark, with just a thin rim of violet around wide black pupils.

Amid didn't have a lot to say. He existed to give Tinny an heir with major Tordo blood and everyone knew it. Young Ariel counted as his only success in that department, and in Tinny's eyes Faval saw the truth of Patty's story that Tinny had been drinking a certain herbal concoction ever since her most recent "disappointment" in giving Ariel a sibling.

"Next time Seliph issues a summons, I'll tell Anjali to come here with her head high," he muttered to himself. "Who cares if she's missing an eye? She'll fit right in around here."

And then Delmud showed up. Usually that was a good thing, as nobody could not like such an affable man, but now Faval could only take his presence as a bad sign.

"His Majesty had recovered well from the fall, but he thought it unwise to travel so far from Agustria when his subjects derive so much strength from his presence..."

Faval reckoned every crowned head in the room knew a diplomatic lie when they heard one. Del did his best to be a smiling, pleasant emissary from the fractious land of Agustria, but it didn't change the fact that Emperor Seliph had asked for a king and was getting the Prince of Nordion in his stead. Faval decided to bolt his breakfast and go back to his room to await the emperor's pleasure, but his fellow guests had other ideas.

"Faval, would you mind taking a walk with us?"

This time, it was Leif hovering behind King Ced's shoulder instead of Arthur.

"So, is this the Three Kings Club?" Faval asked once they were out in the air, away from walls, curtains, furniture, cupboards, and anything else with ears.

"It might be," said Leif, with his handsome face set in a expression that looked like a little boy trying to act tough. His bone structure really was girlish— far more so than Arthur's.

"All right. What do you want with me? Because this taste of the Behalla good life has left me about ready to head back to my jungle of untamed barbarians."

Ced and Leif exchanged a glance that looked genuinely puzzled.

"Faval, all joking aside, I'm afraid we're missing something. If we've done something to offend you—"

Faval cut Ced off.

"I can read. No, really. And I've learned exactly what all your celebrated forebears thought of my father and his people."

Leif's tough-guy expression now faltered.

"I can't speak for or defend the prejudices of the past, Faval," Ced began.

"What past? Do you think I believe for a heartbeat that Patty and I would be accepted if we didn't have Ulir's golden hair? That golden hair has been our ticket into the good life, never mind that our father should've been acknowledged as a king!"

"No one questions the heroism of King Jamke—"

"It's easy to call him a king when he's dead. When he died for the sake of Grannvale's own sins. It would've been nice for you civilized people to support him during his 'reign' instead of wrecking his country and leaving him the uncrowned king of nothing."

"I know my father was recorded as saying some terrible things about Verdane," Leif said, and for a moment he looked like a big-eyed child again in spite of the fancy dress. "But Faval, by laying bare the sins of the past and of our fathers, we can acknowledge them and move past that—"

"Whatever. I don't see anyone moving past anything. Tinny's strung out on poppy juice. Lester's got one foot in the grave and I don't know that Patty really cares. Who knows what the hell is going on with Ares? I sure don't, and I share a border with him. And then there's you two."

"And you've taken to drink." There wasn't any malice in Ced's voice. There never was.

"At least I'm not hanging my subjects by the dozen or preparing a little kid to rule so I can abandon the throne like everyone else in my holy lineage."

Faval's accusation to Leif was based in facts— or hearsay, anyway— but the bolt aimed at Ced was grounded in pure intuition. It struck true; Ced's eyes widened and his lips parted to deny everything, then shut fast into a white line with the denial never spoken.

"What did you want from me?" Faval asked through a forced smile.

"We wanted to talk about blood-mixing," said Leif. He regained his poise so quickly that Faval detested him all the more for it. "Too many unfortunate things have happened among the couples who share holy blood."

"Unfortunate? You mean like Larcei dying and Lester getting sick?"

"We were thinking of Larcei's son," replied Ced. He didn't sound quite so smooth now.

"Oh, like Tinny's dead babies. Come to think of it, Patty did have a 'disappointment' herself the last time."

"It can't be coincidence that all these... disappointments... are among couples that share the same holy blood," said Leif. "King Shanan and Queen Larcei, Tinny and Amid, Patty and Lester. There's a reason matches between those too close in blood are forbidden."

"I hadn't thought of that," Faval admitted.

"That was one reason Arthur never regretted breaking off his engagement to Lady Linda," Ced put in.

"Linda? Who's... oh, yeah. I forgot Arthur was ever involved with Amid's sister."

"He prefers it that way," was Ced's dry response. "The evidence is compelling enough that we're wondering if some marriage treaties ought to be worked out now, to prevent any more of these disasters."

"Basically, we're asking if you'd send your younger son up to Silesse to get engaged to Miriam, while I send my daughter to Verdane to be its future queen," said Leif. "The three of us have no bloodlines in common, so it'd be safe."

"You want my boys to marry your girls?" Faval had not seen this one coming. "I need to think about that. I'd figured they'd settle down with some nice Verdanese snipers when they were ready for it."

"Please consider it seriously, Faval." Ced was as nakedly earnest as Faval had seen him in years. "The children are all growing up fast, and we can't afford to leave them a world ready to tumble into conflict again."

"Yeah, well believe me, I was already worried about all Patty's little major-blooded kiddies. It's only a matter of time before one of them strays across the border into Verdane looking to reclaim the Yewfelle for Jungby."

Faval never thought he'd be able to admit that aloud, and definitely not to the chilly king of Silesse and the posh king of Thracia, but damned if the idea wasn't slowly driving a wedge between him and Patty.

"Faval, if you've read… the things my father said, then you've read the rest of it."

Leif's eyes were still girlish, too. Dark and dewy and soft— and, right now, pleading.

"Yeah. Old Finn put one hell of a history book together. The boys loved it when I'd read parts aloud to them. Now they're old enough to read the whole thing and they want to burn Belhalla down."

"Emperor Seliph isn't Arvis. Or Azmur, for that matter," said Leif. "Faval, you must know Finn didn't write that so we could use it as a manual for starting another world war."

"I'm sure he didn't, but it makes a damned good one. It's a how-to book on destroying the continent." Faval reminded himself that he was talking to the guy who had dead rebels hanging from trees like so much overripe fruit.

"Faval, you know it's up to us…"

This time, Ced cut himself off. Faval looked from Leif's dark eyes to Ced's green ones.

"Yeah, I know. I carry that with me every day. The same as the rest of you." Faval touched the headband that concealed his brand. "Hey, I appreciate you talking to me like this, and I see where you're coming from when it comes to the kids, but sooner or later Emperor Seliph is gonna want to do this round table with all us crowned heads, right?"

Faval wasn't sure if he felt better or worse about the future for having had this talk, flattered as he was that Ced was willing to take a prince of Verdane sight unseen as a consort for little Miriam of the Forseti line. Back inside the palace things were already falling to hell and the Dozels hadn't even showed up yet.

Which meant things could only get worse.

The End, in a sense.

For those of you wondering where the hell I came up with all this, the continuity laid out here is grounded in a "death headcanon" series of meta posts on my Dreamwidth journal.