Disclaimer: Fire Emblem: the Sacred Stones and all related names, characters, and concepts belong to Intelligent Systems and Nintendo.
Characters/Pairings: Cormag/Tana/Ephraim, Innes/Eirika/Seth. It's complicated.
Author's Notes: TREMBLE IN FEAR OF MY GENERIC TITLES! Seriously though, this is a birthday fic for my best friend Ryan, with whom I can spend entire hours theorizing and fangasming over Fire Emblem, whom I usually end up chucking out of a window because he prefers Innes/Eirika over Seth/Eirika, and who is becoming legal today. I would have liked to write Lucius/Raven because I know how much you like that, but the idea and execution for this pairing came more easily. Happy Birthday, Ryan!
Feathers, Scales, and Lances
Tana made a clicking sound and drove her heels deep into Achaeus's flanks, spurring the Pegasus into a faster gallop. He was drenched in sweat, and she not much better; but they had to keep fighting for a while longer. Eirika and Innes were counting on her to keep these Mogalls and Gargoyles away from the main lines, after all. She wasn't fighting alone, fortunately, but if she were to drop down to the earth for rest, Innes would never let her hear the end of it.
Achaeus swerved and Tana buried her lance in a Mogall- its retina burst, sending a strange thick fluid flying from its centre. She pulled the weapon back, whipping her hair behind her and looking around for more flying enemies. Just as she did so, however, the shrill, ear-piercing sound of a Wyvern's cry resonated through the skies. She jolted, startled, and realized too late that that had not been the appropriate response. A sharp, stinging pain lanced through her side and she lost her balance. Within seconds, Achaeus' strong back wasn't beneath her anymore and instead the Pegasus was racing to catch up to his falling mistress.
Yet, it was not Achaeus who grabbed hold of her, slowing her fall just in time that she survived the impact with the ground. She remained in a small ball, trembling, until the realization that she was on the ground and had not died hit her. She had landed poorly, however, and her right leg ached. "Ow…" she muttered, putting a hand on it. "Ahh!" With a start, she jerked her hand back and shoved the knuckles of a fist into her mouth so she wouldn't scream any louder. Broken. She was confident Moulder could mend it, but she would need Achaeus to reach him…
Achaeus! She rolled over, careful to keep her weight on her good leg and her arms, and frantically looked around until she saw the gelding standing not too far away, his tack a little ruffled and the noble green heraldry of Frelia on his barding muddied and torn in places, but otherwise fine. Surprisingly, though, he was sniffing a large pile of bluish green scales, bat-like wings and large claws crumpled up in a disorganized heap of Wyvern. "Genarog..?" Tana muttered, recognizing the beast as belonging to her ally. "But where is…"
It wasn't until now that she had the clarity of mind to realise she was sitting on something other than the ground, and looked beneath her. "Cormag!" she exclaimed, stumbling back and falling over her broken leg. She rolled up, clutching it with both hands and gritting her teeth. Was this what Innes had tried to protect her from? Cormag was quicker to recover from the fall and, once freed from her weight above him, got up and walked over to her.
"I'm sorry," he said, reaching over so she could lean on him. "I tried to warn you for those archers, but it looks like we did more harm than good. One of them ended up getting you… Is your leg alright?"
"No," she peeped, "It hurts… I think it's broken."
"Can you ride with it? We need to get you to a healer right away." Most people would be confused at the normally gruff soldier suddenly showing such concern, but Tana knew better- he thought highly of her as an irreplaceable person in this army, since she was the princess of Frelia. That, and it was likely he knew Innes would put an arrow in him if he learnt that it had been under Cormag's watch that something had happened to her.
Her brother was not to be trifled with, especially when angry.
"If I can get on his back," she muttered. "He's smart, he knows where to go. What about you and Genarog?" Cormag helped her limp over to where their mounts were, and the Wyvern gave a pathetic whimper as they passed by him on their way to Achaeus, who already started to meander over to his mistress.
"Don't worry about him," Cormag said, looking down at him, "He's making a scene for sympathy. Trust me, we would've known if he'd actually been hurt." Achaeus touched his muzzle to Tana's face, concerned about her inability to walk on her own, and didn't protest when Cormag helped her get on his back. "Get to your healer," he instructed her, "And don't wait for us. We'll follow behind you as soon as we take out the last of those fliers." She nodded in understanding, grabbing hold of the reins and gently nudging Achaeus forward.
She landed again amidst her allies, someone immediately approaching her. She recognized the firm grip of her big brother as he helped her down from her steed and sat her down on the ground, undoubtedly immediately seeing what was wrong. "Eirika," his steady, reassuringly calm voice said, "Fetch Father Moulder immediately. She can't be moved in this state." Her friend didn't respond, instead taking off right away. Innes put down his bow and kneeled next to his sister. "What happened? I thought you were in the Western skies fighting off Mogalls."
"I was," Tana said, wincing, "But an archer got me… Sir Cormag saved my life, but I fell poorly." Uh-oh. She knew that look on Innes's face. "Once I get this leg fixed and my lance replaced, I can go right back onto-"
"Absolutely not." Innes shook his head. "You could very well have died. Father would have my head."
"This could have happened to anyone, Innes!"
"But it happened," Innes said, as snidely as ever, "to you." He stood up as Eirika arrived with Moulder. "Father Moulder," he said, "Please mend her injuries, in particular her right leg. When you've done that, please be so kind to escort her off the battlefield."
"Innes!" Tana screamed, but to no avail, as he picked up his bow and walked over to Eirika. Eirika didn't say anything about his treatment of his sister, instead turning around. The battle must still have been going on, as the two oriented themselves and then took off together.
It wasn't until a few hours later that she saw her friend again. Moulder had escorted her to her tent and left Achaeus outside, since the beast refused to be tended to by a man, and Eirika had been the one to come over and tend to him. Tana figured she was done with him and his tack when she finally wandered into her tent. "I'm sorry," she immediately said. "Debriefing the soldiers and giving Seth his instructions took longer than we thought."
"Of course it did," Tana said, grinning a little. She knew how smitten Eirika was with the red-haired general. If Eirika saw it, she ignored it. "Has Sir Cormag returned yet?"
"He came back a few minutes after we left you in Father Moulder's hands," Eirika explained. "He helped Franz and Amelia clean up the final remnants of the monsters and then went to feed his Wyvern." She angled her head, studying Tana's face. "Are you alright, Tana?" Tana looked at her, confused. "Normally, the first person you ask about is Ephraim."
Tana turned red in the face. Eirika was on to her. For years, Tana had been head over heels for Ephraim, her friend's handsome, brave, and talented twin brother. She knew she wasn't the only one, either- many Pegasus Knights had remarked on him several times, as well. It was practically expected that the two of them would marry, if only Ephraim would catch on and Innes wouldn't make a scene. But recently… that had been changing slightly. She supposed it was only natural. For all his skill in lancefighting, using the terrain and reading his enemy, Ephraim was groundbound. Instead, she had been fighting side-by-side with Cormag a lot…
She hadn't been too surprised when she had realized, really. She knew Eirika had fallen in love with Seth largely because the knight had grown up in and around the castle and often attended the twins before he attained his full knighthood. It had simply come to a head and come pouring out on the day Renais fell. So it wasn't that strange that Tana had started to develop feelings for the Wyvern Rider who was never out of earshot and watched over her like a hawk.
But what she felt for Cormag did not outweigh what she felt for Ephraim, that was the problem. She could no longer marry Ephraim without further thought, because she would miss Cormag; but she couldn't run off with Cormag either (beyond just the scandal that would involve) for fear of losing Ephraim. She sighed. "Eirika… can I ask you something?" Eirika nodded. "How do you choose between a ruggedly handsome knight and a beautiful multitalented prince?"
Eirika sighed, looking at her friend sympathetically. "If and when you find the answer to that," she said, "Could you tell me, too? I could use that knowledge." It took Tana a few seconds to realize what those words meant, but she jolted up when it sunk in.
"Wait… you too?" Eirika nodded, but didn't answer. "But you and Seth are… Wait, so who's the other man?" Her thoughts raced from one point to the next, so she couldn't focus. That must have been why she took a solid minute to realize that there was really only one prince in their company who could have stolen Eirika's heart. "Oh my god you're in love with Innes!"
"Could you scream a little more loudly?" Eirika hissed, "I don't think King Hayden over in Frelia heard you!"
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Tana said, sitting back down. "But good god, Eirika… for how long now? Does he know?"
"You're the first person I've told," Eirika said, "And I don't know when it happened. It just did." She sighed. "He just confessed to me the other day and I'm… not as upset as I thought I would be. Maybe we both just need time to figure things out."
"Yeah, maybe that's it… It'll sort itself out in the end, right?"
"Let's hope so." Eirika got up. "Anyway, I wanted to let you know that Achaeus is fine. He's not injured, and he'll be rested up tomorrow. So your little misadventure with Sir Cormag shouldn't have any consequences."
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The first thing Tana did the next morning was check on Achaeus, to make sure Eirika hadn't been mistaken in her assessment of the Pegasus. Fortunately, it looked like she'd been right. He looked at her with interest as she inspected his legs, and proceeded to look him over for injuries. Eirika had even brushed him! To see the Pegasus, it was hard to imagine they had even fought at all yesterday.
"A lot more resilient than people give them credit for, are they?" Tana jolted and turned around to see Cormag approaching. He didn't have Genarog with him, but he was wearing his armour, and he carried a few lances in one hand, leaning them against his shoulder. Funnily enough, they looked too small and lightweight to be suited to his hands. "Pegasi, I mean."
"Oh, yes," Tana said. "A lot of people think Pegasi are frail and skittish, but they're actually very tough and stubborn. Otherwise, we wouldn't ride them into battle." She patted Achaeus on the neck. "Although to be fair, I'm the one who crashed yesterday, not him. Achaeus made a perfect landing from what I can tell." She turned to Cormag. "My leg's fine now, too. Father Moulder patched it up nicely, I don't feel it anymore. What about you and Genarog?"
"Oh, don't you worry about us," Cormag said. "We're tougher than we look, too. Took a few hits left and right, but nothing we couldn't handle. Speaking of hits, though." He touched the tips of the lances to the ground and tipped the shafts over towards Tana. "You dropped these when you fell yesterday. I brought them with me. They're of pretty good make so I figured you might want to have them back."
"Oh!" Now, Tana recognized the weapons. They were indeed hers. "Yes, thank you!" Stepping towards him, she reached out and took the shafts in one hand. In doing so, her fingers brushed over his. His hands were rough, of course, but Tana found that it was a pleasant sort of feeling. She'd teased Eirika in the past, about her crush on Seth and remarked how uncharacteristic it was of her to constantly try to get him to spar with her just so she could be close to him. However, now that she stood there with Cormag, the idea didn't strike her as so strange or so bad anymore. "So, um, Sir Cormag?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think we could have a training session sometime soon?" When he didn't reply right away, she put her lances down and continued. "You and Genarog are some of our most fearsome fighters. I think Achaeus and I could learn a lot from you about fighting."
"Yeah, probably," Cormag mused. "Still, I think you could teach us a thing or two when it comes to magic. Damn Gorgon almost took his wing off the other day."
"So… you'll do it?"
Cormag needed a second to think about it. "Yeah, sure, why not. Gotta check with Prince Innes first, though. He might not like me bruising his sister."
"Do… do you have to?" Tana's heart sank. Innes would not only refuse, for her safety, but also question WHY she wanted to train with the Wyvern Rider when Vanessa was right here with them, too. "He won't… well…"
"Well, we can try at least. I'll check with him as soon as I feed Genarog, I just wanted to bring your lances back."
With that, he turned around and left. Tana's mind ran at a million miles an hour. She wanted this sparring session. It had worked for Eirika and Sir Seth, so surely it would give her some degree of certainty with Cormag. But Innes would never allow it! As far as Innes was concerned, Tana would die a cleric! Still, there was a shot. Eirika had said that Innes had confessed romantic feelings to her. Maybe if Eirika convinced him… Yeah, that was probably her best bet. Tell Eirika about this –the princess of Renais would understand how important this was to Tana- and ask her to convince Innes to do her this favour.
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It was painfully obvious Prince Innes hadn't really wanted to allow it, but for all his reluctance, he had given Cormag permission to train with his little sister. Only once, though- and only today, here in camp, where the conditions were safe and healers were just around the corner. As he walked to a small clearing on the edge of the camp, with Genarog's reins in one hand and two blunt practice lances in the other, he wondered what had gotten into the little Pegasus Knight.
Between her, L'Arachel of Rausten, and Eirika of Renais, they sure had an unusual selection of princesses. Insisting on being at the forefront of every battle, leading by example, and not only carrying their weight by keeping themselves out of trouble but also making an actual meaningful contribution to the battle, they were completely different from what he had always imagined. And now Princess Tana asked him to train with her? What was the world coming to? Still, he supposed it wasn't so bad. She was a nice girl, dedicated, and even if she needed some strength training she was fast. Faster than him. Give her a few years and she could seriously be a force to be reckoned with.
If that overprotective brother pulled that stick out of his behind and let her, that was.
As he gave her the lance, he judged her stance. "Are you sure you want this? Once we get started, I'll have no complaining from you."
She seemed happy enough, though, as she weighed the lance in her hands. "Yeah," she then said, before looking up at him, smiling. "Thanks again, Cormag." With that, she leaned forward and pecked him on the cheek.
"Er. Yes, of course." He was momentarily taken aback, but hid it by turning around and walking over to where he swore Genarog was grinning at him. "Just get aboard and start flying- we'll start warming up right away."
He hoped she didn't see how red he was before he slung himself onto the Wyvern's back.
Additional Author's Notes: Welp, there we have it. This pairing isn't as easy to write for me as some others are, so it probably didn't come out as my best work ever. Still, it's gonna be either this, or me dumping a bucket of cold water on your head, buddy.