It surprised Selena that she found something like this in another world in the midst of a war. Cool to the touch, the pair of enchanted gauntlets actually fit her perfectly when she tries them on. The ancient Altean script which reads "To my faithful knight and eternal friend, Kris. May your marriage to Sir Jeorge be a happy one" curls across the inside detailing.
She wasn't aware she had been crying until Subaki reached out and pulled her into his arms. She's not entirely sure why she started crying. Happiness at finding a family heirloom long thought lost, perhaps. Sadness at all the years her family had fruitlessly wasting time and money searching the remains of Altea for something that had ended up in another world. Relief that she'll be able to show her mother the gauntlets, knowing it to be one weight Cordelia would be glad to have off her shoulders. Fear that she'll have to leave this world in order to do so, and she doesn't know if leaving is an option for her anymore.
"Selena," whispered Subaki as he held his wife close to himself, "when Lady Corrin said you could buy this pair of gauntlets, I thought you would've at most been somewhat happy. What's caused this grief, my love?"
"It's an heirloom of my family," Selena mumbled into her husband's shoulder. "They're enchanted to only clasp properly to a descendant of the Hero of Shadows."
"Did they not clasp?" Subaki asked with worry.
Selena shook her head. "No, they clasp just fine. In fact they're a perfect fit for me."
"Then what's the problem?"
"I've told you before that when I was growing up, there was a war." At her husband's nod, she continued. "It was one my people were losing and losing badly. In such a time as that, is it any wonder that an idle search for a family relic would transform into a desperate scouring of the world for a hero's regalia?"
Selena's body shook under the force of her grief. "These damn things killed her. They killed my mother. And the entire time they were in this far off land. But, I'm not disgusted with them as I thought I might be should I ever find them." Selena's lip trembled as her wobbly smile began to surface. "I'm happy. Happy that I get to pass something so important to my family to my daughter when she comes of age."
Subaki's muscles froze at his wife's proclamation. He rubbed gentle circles into his wife's back as he tried to process this news. In the end, all he managed to say was "So sure our first child will be a daughter, are we?"
"Over 40 generations of mothers having nothing but daughters does have a bit of the weight of history to it, my love," Selena said with a smirk.
Subaki looked at his wife in puzzlement. "You come from such a storied lineage of Winged Knights and yet you willingly eat turnips."
Selena laughed. "I get that from my Pa's side of the family. He was a farmhand before he joined the army and wooed my mother."
"Are we talking 'random grunt in the army' or are we speaking more along the lines of a male version of Mozu, a farmer turned legendary warrior?"
Selena chuckled. "The latter, I'm afraid. He was one of the strongest warriors I ever knew yet he would often end up using a cooking pot for a helmet since that was more sturdy in his opinion."
Subaki smirked slightly. "Your comment to Lady Camilla about the dangers of cooking implements takes on a whole new meaning in my eyes."
Selena blushed and hit her husband's shoulder lightly with her fist. "Shut up and hold me like a good husband does after learning he's gonna be a dad."
Subaki smiled in his wife's hair as he did so. "Gladly, beloved."