Disclaimer: The Fire Emblem series does not in any way belong to me, it's the property of Nintendo, etc.
A/N: Written for Nebellym the Nagamas exchange on tumblr!
For the sake of this AU, the senators actually did kill Micaiah. (Sorry, Micaiah!) Consequently, Sanaki inherits the brand and all that comes with it.
Silhouette
The mark fades in after she is born, or so her father tells Sanaki in a hushed voice when the senators are away.
It marks her as Branded, a child of mixed laguz and beorc blood. Every first born daughter of Altina's line has been Branded, and they have always been the Apostle; according to Sanaki's grandmother, this quirk of their blood was what allowed them to hear the voice of the Goddess.
"But the Goddess has forbidden unions between beorc and laguz," Sanaki points out.
Her father doesn't have an answer for that. He often doesn't have answers, she finds.
"That is why you must always hide it," her father says instead. "No one must know. Not your servants or your retainers or the senators. No one."
Sanaki first hears the voice of the Goddess when she is six years old, in the midst of a mind numbing senate meeting.
Well, it is not precisely a voice; it is a vision of one of the senators beating a laguz slave. She has never seen a laguz, apart from diagrams in her books. She thinks he must be a slave though, for his clothes are shabby, hanging loose about his unnaturally thin frame. Ragged trousers do not reach his ankles, which are manacled together.
"Slavery is forbidden," she says, almost before she realizes it, blinking when she sees the hall again. Her high, clear voice cuts through the senators' discussion.
Lekain, the Vice-Minister, turns to her with a smile. "Of course it is, Empress," he says. "Empress Misaha outlawed it years ago."
He's lying. Sanaki isn't certain how she knows, but he is. He's also annoyed, despite his smile, as the rest of the senators are. Some of them are better at outwardly hiding it, though.
Except for Sephiran. She gets a brief impression of surprise before her burgeoning awareness of his emotions simply disappears.
Liars. Sanaki is surrounded by liars.
The senators are bloated and corrupt or else too weak to protest. The sole exception is Sephiran, who might as well be a non-entity for all that she can read his emotions.
That is almost worse. He smiles and says sweet things and teaches her magic and she has no way of telling if he's sincere or if he is attempting to manipulate her like the other senators.
The only people she knows she can trust are Sigrun and Tanith, who adore her unreservedly.
Sanaki bides her time. She does not confront of the senators, nor does she confide in Sephiran, the only one of their number who was not in power before Misaha's assassination.
Her powers grow as she ages. She is a proficient mage, though she thinks that can be attributed more to her circumstances than any innate talent. Her visions - she passes them off as headaches, which is not wholly untrue - increase in frequency and potency. She can read others' hearts more thoroughly, though Sephiran remains an enigma to her.
All she ever gets from him is a muted sense of turmoil, utterly at odds with his serene, unflappable composure. He supports her efforts to curb the ambitions of the other senators though, and even if she cannot bring herself to trust him fully, she is at least secure in the knowledge that he is not on the same side as the other senators.
"Have you heard the voice of the Goddess, Empress Sanaki?" Valtome coos one day; if he grinds his teeth any harder, she expects to hear it.
He is furious, she knows. She does not always put the knowledge gained in her visions to use to avoid drawing their suspicion, but she foils the senators often enough to frustrate them.
"I-" She glances down, lips pulled into a distressed moue, before raising her chin with a haughty expression. "The Goddess has not yet spoken to me. But I am still young, surely..."
"Of course, Empress," Lekain says soothingly, belying the smug satisfaction she can feel radiating from him. "You are not even ten years old yet."
Sephiran clears his throat. "Back to the matter at hand. I feel raising taxes any further would strain the population too much..."
Daein invades Crimea.
Sanaki is blindsided; she has had no visions regarding the invasion, and none of Sephiran's spies had heard so much as a whisper.
Of course, her visions are not infallible. She is certain that for every misdeed she witnesses the senators perpetrating, tens, perhaps hundreds, more come to pass without her knowledge. She does not foresee every storm or drought that hits Begnion. She's never even had a vision of the border skirmishes that she knows take place between Daein and Begnion.
But this is on an entirely different scale.
Sephiran leaves her to investigate the matter. The other senators have little interest in the war, and many of them seem to think that Crimea deserved it for her monarch's pro-laguz policies.
The northern nobles bulk up their defenses, ostensibly to guard against invasion themselves. Sanaki cannot imagine Ashnard daring to invade Begnion, and she knows the senators are only looking for an opportunity to expand their own territory.
Sanaki only met Prince Renning once, years ago, when he had come to Begnion for some function or other. The senators had not acknowledged him and Sanaki had only seen him in passing.
The young woman in Sanaki's vision resembles him; her hair is a lighter shade of green and her features more feminine, but Sanaki knows that this must be Princess Elincia.
Sanaki gets only a brief glimpse of the princess and her ship before the vision's perspective abruptly changes and she is observing another ship. It's bearing down on the Crimean vessel, and judging by the leader's words, this ship is from Daein.
Sephiran had already given them an estimated date of arrival, but Sanaki had not considered that Daein might be in a position to attempt something before Princess Elincia's arrival.
Discreet preparations within the holy guard have already been made, based on Sephiran's predictions; it's a simple matter to hint that Sanaki thinks the princess will be arriving soon. Tanith is dispatched to greet her.
Sanaki can't shake the feeling that something could go wrong. Well, a great many things could go wrong. Tired of waiting, she gives Sigrun and the other pegasus knights the slip and orders her ship to meet Princess Elincia's.
The Daein ship attacking her ship rather than the Crimean one is utterly unexpected.
Sanaki allows herself to be ushered below deck with a minor noblewoman she vaguely recognizes.
Never before has acting on her visions failed her so badly. Sanaki had known that her visions were not infallible, but it is one thing to have academic knowledge and another to experience it firsthand. She had not warned her subordinates that there might a fight, confident that they would reach Princess Crimea's vessel in time to lend a hand.
She can hear the clamour of battle above. It gradually gets louder, and she is forced to conclude that her soldiers are losing.
This is her mistake, and her people are dying for it. Sanaki has only an elfire tome with her; she has never entered battle before, and her hands are shaking uncontrollaby. The other noblewoman has already joined the fray, and Sanaki is alone.
It is their duty to protect her with their lives, but is it not Sanaki's duty to act in their best interest as well?
She takes a deep breath, forcing her hands to stillness, and ventures up to the deck.
What happens between then and now, found by a blue-haired youth she recognizes from her earlier vision, Sanaki doesn't know. She remembers a few things - the nauseating stench of burning flesh, the sight of blackened skin curling away from bone, the agonized screams - but no coherent series of events manifests itself no matter how she wracks her mind.
The mercenaries repeatedly refer to her as a child, and Sanaki recalls, distantly, that she is. Superior circumstances and special knowledge have led her to consider herself something more, but her mouth still tastes of bile. If she had not been trained to rule, she would probably be crying.
Sanaki does not know what she says. Sometimes she wonders at how easily she lies, wonders if she is any better than the senators.
Sigrun arrives, and Sanaki is given a reprieve to pull herself back together and think upon her next move.
Elincia's mercenaries really are something else, and they perform beyond her expectations. To think that she would get the opportunity to not only meet a heron but attempt to make amends... It's more than Sanaki could have possibly hoped for.
Elincia is sent off with Zelgius and a capable army made up primarily of Persis and Salmo's private soldiers, leaving Sanaki to deal with the senators. Sephiran has yet to return, though she has no doubt that he is fine.
The senators use Oliver as a scapegoat, which she perhaps should have expected. They spirit him away under the pretense of execution but she knows they are hiding him at the villa where he had dared to cage Prince Reyson. Short of revealing that she is Branded - though the truth will come out in a few years, she knows - she cannot move against them.
The war ends in Crimea's favour. Elincia passes governance of Daein over to Begnion.
"I cannot govern Daein and aid you at the same time," Sephiran says, though not without some regret, when she approaches him on the matter. She can never be certain of the sincerity of his emotions, however.
Sanaki cannot favour Sephiran too much, in any case; it is obvious that she prefers him to the other senators. If there was some other suitable candidate... but Numida's contributions to Crimea's efforts cannot be ignored either.
"Numida will not bother to govern Daein himself," Sanaki points out, hating the tiny part of herself that is glad of that fact.
She still has nightmares about that battle on the ship; she doesn't know if the hellish scenes are her repressed memories or the product of her imagination, but she knows she has no taste for war. Numida will not be interested in rebuilding Daein, she knows; when he is done with it, Daein will be in no condition to wage war.
"The people of Daein are not your responsibility," Sephiran says, gently, and takes his leave.
"But if I do not care what happens to them, who will?" Sanaki murmurs to the empty room.
"This is total crap!" Tormod says, pacing around the room restlessly. Muarim, seated uncomfortably on the couch opposite Sanaki, says nothing. "We know they still have slaves, they're just hiding them away when you arrive to inspect or whatever!"
"But if I do not announce the inspection beforehand, the senators will accuse me of distrusting them," Sanaki points out.
"Well, you do." Tormod rolls his eyes in disgust. "You should just sack them all."
Sanaki smiles faintly, allowing herself to imagine their outraged expressions were she to attempt such a thing. "Impossible."
"I know, it's just so stupid... How can you stand it?" Tormod complains, flopping onto the couch beside Muarim.
"I was raised to it, I suppose."
Tormod's pitying look would be insulting, but Sanaki appreciates his bluntness.
Muarim clears his throat. "Was there a reason you called us here, Empress?"
"Yes, actually. There's a budding uprising in Daein. I want you to investigate and, if you feel the cause is just, aid them."
"What!? I've heard nothing about this," Tormod gasps, sitting up.
"Don't tell anyone else about it either," Sanaki says, neglecting to mention that she had had a vision which had told her as much. "The rebels are holed up in the east, on the outskirts of the Desert of Death. If you decide to accept," she adds. "This is a request, not an order."
Tormod frowns. "What did you mean about the cause being just? You've gotten my reports about the state of Daein before. How can you imagine the cause would be anything but just?"
"The circumstances are too similar to Queen Elincia's," Sanaki says. "It is... suspicious."
"... Understood. We'll do it," Tormod says, standing. "No one knows deserts better than the Laguz Emancipation Army!"
Their cause is more than justified but too weak. Prince Pelleas is not a proper rallying point. And Izuka, his chief advisor, freaks me out. - T
P.S. Met another heron, will report further in person.
Sanaki frowns at the brief missive. There's a headache throbbing behind her eyes, a combination of her increasingly powerful visions and the increasingly complex machinations between herself and Sephiran, and the other senators. She ignores the discomfort and calls a meeting of her most trusted allies - all three of them, with Tormod and his friends absent.
"I'll marry him," Sanaki tells them.
Tanith stiffens and Sigrun sucks in a breath, but neither of them move to contradict her.
She notices their reactions only vaguely; Sephiran's eyes widen, his walls receding for a moment to reveal such turmoil that it makes Sanaki nauseous. Surprise, regret, guilt- She hardly has time to process the mass of emotions before his heart closes again.
"... You are young to be married," Sephiran says, which is not a refusal. Not that he could refuse her this, not that he has any right to.
"Commoners marry when they are my age," Sanaki counters. Her lips quirk humourlessly. "Noble daughters are promised to richer, older noblemen when they are younger than I am."
Sephiran inclines his head. "I will, of course, support you to the fullest extent."
Prince Pelleas is perhaps five years older than Sanaki. He is not exceptionally small, perhaps a bit on the slender side but not unhealthily so, and yet there is a fragility about him that Sanaki had not expected.
He is led to the altar by a general from his grandfather's time. Izuka had gone missing when Sanaki had announced her intentions to wed Pelleas, when it became painfully apparent that Daein would not be able to escape Begnion's rule. Tormod and his friends are still looking for the scholar.
Pelleas doesn't meet her eyes as they stand before Lekain; his voice shakes slightly when he says his vows, and Lekain looks so very smug.
Sanaki's a little surprised that his fear rivals her own; he shows it so openly that she might have mistaken it for an act.
"Empress," he says, quiet and steady, then leans down to kiss her.
She's left blinking in surprise when cool lips brush her cheek.
"... Which side, Empress," Pelleas says, when they are finally alone in Sanaki's bedchamber. They have barely spoken two words to each other, apart from the scripted lines and speeches they'd given earlier. They'd changed into sleeping clothes separately, and now they're standing before the bed, not looking at each other.
"I sleep on the left," Sanaki says.
He slips beneath the covers on the right without a word and turns his back to her side.
"Sanaki," she adds, climbing in on the other side. "You are my husband... Pelleas. You should call me Sanaki."
"Then... Good night, Sanaki," Pelleas says, and douses the lamps with a mutter.
Valtome's grating giggling reaches her ears before his words do; it echoes off the walls and down the hall towards her. Pelleas' quieter, clearly forced laughter is almost inaudible.
Sanaki scowls and stalks towards the sounds, her sandals muffled by the carpet.
"So, Duke Pelleas," the senator purrs. "How was the first time? Did she cry? Bleed?"
Sanaki freezes, her hands clenching into fists.
"... Senator Valtome." There is a steel in Pelleas' words that Sanaki has not heard before. "That is inappropriate."
Valtome sniffs. "I suppose she is not unattractive, if you like that. But if you're interested in someone equally refined but infinitely more masculine..."
"I am not interested," Pelleas says. "Moreover, I am late for lunch with Sanaki. I bid you good day."
Sanaki ducks into a nearby room, emerging only when she is certain neither Pelleas nor Valtome is nearby and then makes for the private dining room.
Pelleas makes no mention of the conversation.
"I-"
"We-"
They both stop. Sanaki doesn't dare look at him, but instead stares down at her fists, clenched as they are around the skirt of her nightgown. She imagines that Pelleas is staring at the wall, spine rigid. Both of them sitting on the edge of their side of the bed, resolutely not looking at one another.
"A-" Pelleas' voice cracks. "After you," he says.
"We should... consummate our marriage." Her voice shakes, though she does not stutter.
"I think we should wait," Pelleas says.
"Really?" Sanaki blurts out, turning around to look at him, though she can feel his sincerity. She's a bit surprised to find he's already facing her.
"Yes," Pelleas says intently, leaning forward. "We're both young. It's not as if we need to secure our lines or anything like that. Besides, you cannot afford the distraction of a pregnancy. A-and you're... five years is a considerable difference." His cheeks flush.
"I mean-! If you truly want to, then of course I would be... I owe you so much, Sanaki, but even if I didn't, I would still want to. I. Um." He looks down then, blush intensifying.
"Five years' difference is not insignificant now," Sanaki agrees. "However, I... would not be averse to... But not yet."
Pelleas nods, the tension in his shoulders easing. "Then we are agreed."
The laguz nations send a delegation to confront Begnion about the Serenes massacre and Misaha's assassination. The primary laguz diplomat is murdered in her sleep. Sanaki has the holy guard, as many as she could convince Sigrun to spare, escort the remaining laguz out of Sienne.
"You have overstepped yourselves," Sanaki tells the senate, her voice raised so as to be audible over the cries of the crowd outside the senate chamber. She marches onto the balcony, Sephiran a step behind and Pelleas at her side. The people are screaming, about justice and the herons and the Apostle and the senate.
Sephiran erects a magical barrier to block the door, and stands back to guard it.
Sanaki approaches the edge of the balcony and raises her bare hand, palm facing inward. After a moment, the crowd falls silent.
"It is true," Sanaki tells her people. "I have heard the voice of the Goddess, and She tells me it is so."
The people roar, and break through the cordon surrounding the square.
"They will kill us," Pelleas says, quietly, when she turns away. He does not need to clarify who 'they' refers to. The senators spells are bright against Sephiran's barrier even in the midday sun.
"They will try," Sanaki corrects, handing over a weighty dark tome she had found in the depths of the Cathedral's library a few weeks earlier.
Pelleas grins, a quick flash of his teeth, and follows her to face the senators.