Winter that year was harsher than anyone initially expected. Even in the astral plane, where the army retreated from time to time to visit their families, the cold permeated the castle to its heart and the small town was constantly blanketed in white snow. All shops were closed for the season, the children wouldn't venture out to play anymore, and there was nothing quite as comforting for the permanent residents as retreating to a room with a roaring fire and waiting out each frozen night.

Outside the protection of the plane and on the march, however, there was very little comfort to be found. Life in camp was a battle of survival, not against Hoshidan forces, but against nature itself. The mages were overworking themselves to provide heat for the troops though fire magic around the clock, but the frigid air would still seep through their tents, through their thick fur coats, and straight through their bones. It was a miserable existence, but the army could not afford to spend the entire winter holed up in the astral plane when they had spent the last year pushing so far into the Hoshidan mountains.

"We're losing morale. Just yesterday I heard Keaton howling about not being able to see his daughter for so long. And have you seen the mages? They're ready to start a rebellion! Even Odin is looking positively lifeless. We can't stay out here all winter," Corrin sighed, rubbing her temples.

"You know we don't have a choice! The enemy knows our position; the only reason we haven't been attacked yet is the terrible weather. Don't forget, sister, the Hoshidans have lived in these lands for generations. We're better equipped and more experienced for inhospitable conditions in general, but these mountains are different. If we leave, they'll have the camp surrounded, and you know we always end up in the same place where we left when we visit the astral plane. We'll be-"

"Ambushed, I know, Leo," Corrin sighed, tiredly gazing at a map in her tent. "You don't need to keep repeating the same advice, day after day. I'm not that stupid, I know the stakes. I just think we need to do something about morale before we're caught in a fight and no one can life a finger to defend themselves. Or worse, before there's a full on mutiny."

"I didn't say you were stupid," Leo sniffed, obviously offended. "Just... lacking in knowledge."

"Don't patronize me. Progress is slow enough without having to be treated like a child. Especially not by my younger brother," she said pointedly. She saw his eyes flick up at her hair for just a moment, and she knew he was thinking how she was the only Nohrian princess with hair the color of coal. A second later he seemed to regret the thought, but it was too late. The damage was done.

"I'm not trying to make you feel like you don't know what you're doing," he said quickly. "I just thought-"

"Just forget about it," she sighed. She wasn't in the mood to talk about her lineage now.

"Knock, knock. Anyone home?" Both Leo and Corrin looked up to see Laslow pulling aside the tent flap. "Sorry to interrupt this strategy meeting, Lord Leo, but Lord Xander is looking for you."

"Again?! Jeez, where can a prince find some peace and quiet in this camp?" he muttered as he stood up. "Alright, thank you Laslow. I'll be back later, sis." Corrin merely waved him off without looking up from her map.

"So... what is my princess up to on this lovely evening?" Laslow asked, taking a chair and straddling it to face her.

"Ha ha, as if you didn't know," she said flatly, still not looking up.

"Hmm, is she feeling cranky today? Does she need a hug?"

"Back off," she warned. "I'm not feeling particularly cuddly today, Laslow."

"Ah, what a shame. Perhaps my princess will feel better if she gets these, hmm?" She looked up to see him holding up two envelopes, a self-satisfied smirk on his handsome face.

"Are those-?!"

"Nuh uh uh, not so fast. One kiss per letter, love."

Corrin transformed her two forefingers into a deadly looking talon before he could even blink.

"Hand. Them. Over."

"Alright, alright!" he said, hastily placing the letters on the table between them. He breathed a sigh of relief when her hand returned to normal and she snatched up the paper. "Remind me not to get on your nerves when its cold out, love."

"Sorry, Laslow. You really shouldn't mess around with a mother dragon's correspondence. You also shouldn't go visit the children without me," she scolded as she tore open the first envelope.

"I know, I meant to bring you with me, but you were busy all afternoon. I thought a word from Soleil and Kana might cheer you up, though."

She read the first letter, a pretty sheet of stationary covered in rather stiff block writing and signed with an almost illegible flourish. "I see Soleil's penmanship is getting better, but that signature is definitely all her father," she said, grinning at her daughter's message, full of 'I love you's' and flowery phrases that she couldn't quite spell yet.

The second letter was more of a doodle than a written message, but at the end it very clearly said, "Kana love mama" in thick, childish writing. Corrin chuckled.

"I can't tell if this is supposed to be a dragon or a dog," Laslow said, peeking over her shoulder. "Got to admire his imagination though."

"Mm, thank you, Laslow. I wish I could just go see them..."

"I know, love. We'll go next time you're free, promise." He kissed her forehead. She let him hold her for a minute, letting the warmth seep through her coat.

Though she was glad to hear from her children, Corrin felt guilty about the situation. Several members of the army had formed families on campaign, but in order to protect their children, pregnant mothers fled to the astral plane and found someone to help raise their babies there while the war went on. Lilith, the astral dragon who transported people from one plane to another, couldn't do continuous trips back and forth without becoming tired and ill, so there was an unspoken rule about parents not visiting their children too often. Usually, the entire army returned home together to minimize Lilith's burden, though occasionally a homesick soldier would ask for leave for a day or two. As commander, however, Corrin had less time than most to see Soleil and Kana, and she missed them dearly.

After dinner, she found herself trudging alone through the snow just outside the encampment. She shivered in the cold, but she couldn't bear the thought of sitting around a campfire and joining a conversation at the moment. She also didn't want Laslow to see just how much his gift had affected her.

He's a good man. He knows I'm having a hard time and wanted to help, but I don't want him to know how hurt it makes me to think about the children just now.

She put her hands to her face and blew warm air into her numb fingertips. The simple gold wedding band on her finger caught her eye and made her insides squirm in further discomfort.

I love my children. And I don't regret marrying Laslow, but...

She had never told anyone this, but while she cared about Laslow, Corrin had always been in love with someone else.

Since the moment they had met, back in Hoshido, Corrin had felt a current of electricity run through her every time she laid eyes on Princess Azura. There was something about the gentle, mysterious singer that lured Corrin in, and when she learned that Azura was like her, a kidnapped princess of Nohr raised in an enemy country, she felt an inexplicable bond with her that she had never felt with anyone else. As they grew closer and became friends, that feeling only grew stronger. Of all the people in the world, only Azura could understand what it was like to have made a choice like Corrin had, and only Azura was able to calm her in her darkest moments. For the first time in her life, Corrin felt that she had found a soulmate, someone she could trust wholeheartedly on and off the battlefield.

But before she could gather her courage to tell her that, Azura got married, and Corrin, in her despair, found herself drawn to Laslow's kindness. It wasn't love, not the same kind, but when Laslow proposed, Corrin said yes in a moment of spite and need. Laslow offered her warmth and helped her to deal with her hidden feelings, and they built a small foundation of genuine friendship and fondness that Corrin still relied on. Still, any time she spent with her husband felt tinged with guilt, and any time spent in company with Azura's family made her stomach feel hollow.

Then two years later, Azura's husband died in the war. He was struck by an enemy arrow in battle and died quietly, leaving behind a young wife and a newborn son. Azura was lost in grief, and Corrin did her best to be a platonic pillar of support. But every once in a while, when she invited Azura to her tent for late night tea on a bad day, she couldn't help wondering what might have happened if she'd only confessed to Azura earlier. Azura would have been spared the pain of losing her partner and the father of her baby, and though neither Corrin nor Azura would have had their children, Shigure, Kana, and Soleil would at least have been spared the loneliness and uncertainty of living in a war-torn world, never knowing if they would see their parents again.

Still, that thought also brought Corrin a measure of agony. She felt terrible, imagining a world without her son and daughter in it, and she felt immeasurable guilt for thinking such things while Azura was suffering. She had been doing her best to be strong for everyone else, especially Shigure, but even a year after the loss of her husband, Corrin knew how much it hurt Azura to think about him, much less having to face her Hoshidan siblings right after his death.

This whole war has always been about family. Our children, our lovers... Even if they didn't exist, I'd still have to worry about my brothers and sisters killing each other on the battlefield... And I'd still have to destroy my mother's country.

"A bit late for a walk, isn't it?"

Corrin snapped out of her thoughts and looked up suddenly, her hand immediately reaching for her sword. But it was too late, within a second, a knife had been pressed to her throat.

"A Hoshidan ninja," she realized, her heart pounding in panic against the cold metal. He had snuck up on her while she had been lost in her thoughts.

"That's right, though you're not as intelligent as they warned me you were; pretty naive of you to be out all alone in the middle of the night, Princess."

If I could just transform...!

"Nuh uh, don't move a muscle! I'll have your neck regardless, but if you want to live a few minutes longer, I suggest you keep still," he snarled in her ear.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice sounding slightly strangled.

"Information; how many of your bloody Nohrian scum are in camp, when you're planning to strike, and where your generals are," he spat.

"I'm not telling you anything!"

"Then die!"

"Corrin!"

The ninja's grip on her suddenly slackened, and Corrin felt his weight fall against her. He made a horrible, gargled cough and something warm and wet splashed against her cheek.

"Corrin! Are you alright?!"

A woman hurried through the snow toward them, her steps impossibly light and fast despite being weighed down with the same heavy coat Corrin wore. Her beautiful hair flew out behind her like a trail of ribbons as she ran.

"A-Azura!" Corrin hadn't realized that she was trembling until her legs gave way and she fell to her knees, the ninja's body falling next to her, a thin spear buried in his back.

"You're bleeding!" Azura cried, kneeling next to her adoptive sister and frantically checking her over for wounds. "Did he cut you anywhere? Ninjas often have poisoned weapons," she said, sounding terrified.

"I-I'm fine," Corrin mumbled, wiping her cheek of the man's blood. "It's not my blood. I just... I was stupid. I shouldn't have gone away from camp on my own... and I froze when I felt the knife... All I could think about was that I was never going to see my children again and I just..." She was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of relief and shame, all at once.

Azura hugged her tightly. "Oh thank goodness I found you in time, I don't know what I'd do if we lost you!"

Despite herself, Corrin felt a familiar blush crawling up her neck. C-control yourself, Corrin! Think about something else, don't focus on how warm she is or how nice she sme- DON'T DO THAT!

"Thank the gods, thank goodness," Azura murmured again, and Corrin felt a warm tear touch her cheek.

"I'm really okay," she said awkwardly, ashamed of her thoughts. She gave Azura's hair a kind but business-like pat and pulled away slightly. "We should go back to camp, it's not safe out here," she suggested.

"R-right," Azura said, wiping her face. Her face was a bit red, probably from the cold. "Keep your weapon ready," she said. She reached toward the ninja's corpse and, placing her foot firmly on his bloodied back, pulled the spear free. Corrin shivered.

When did we stop trembling at the sight of a dead body? When did we grow used to bloodying our weapons and clothes without a second thought?

"I think Jakob is asleep, should I make you a cup of tea myself?"

"No, I'm fine," Corrin declined, wrapping herself in the warmest blanket she owned.

"Will Laslow mind?" Azura asked as she stoked the small fire in her tent. "You staying here for the night?"

"No, he never minds," Corrin said, watching Azura's delicate hands at work. Since the war began, Corrin had suffered from insomnia. When she was single, she would while the night away in her books, but after getting married, she began to leave her tent in the middle of the night so as not to bother Laslow. She usually went to the barracks tent to work or relieved the men on patrol, but since Azura's husband passed away she would also occasionally keep vigil with her until the morning.

"He's very understanding," Azura said kindly.

"He is."

"He rubbed me the wrong way, at first, but he's actually a kind person under the indiscriminate flirting. He takes good care of you."

"Mm," Corrin answered briefly. She didn't really feel like thinking about Laslow just now. It only made her feel guiltier.

A silence fell between them and Azura sat down at Corrin's side, wrapped in a similar blanket and staring at the flames.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

"About what?"

"What happened tonight..."

"You mean the assassin?" Corrin asked, perplexed. "You saw what happened, I was caught unawares-" She stopped midsentence as Azura fixed her with a knowing stare.

"You could have fought back," she said simply.

Corrin's stomach churned.

"T-that's not- There was a knife at my throat!"

"You're a dragon, you could have turned your skin to scales and that knife would have been useless," Azura continued, not breaking eye contact.

"I... I was too-"

"Corrin, we both know you gave up. You were going to let him kill you."

She didn't have the energy to argue. She hugged her knees tightly under the blanket.

"How could you tell?"

"I haven't known you all these years for nothing; if you wanted to fight back, you would have to the very last."

"That's not quite true," Corrin sighed. "I really did freeze up. But it wasn't because I was scared of him... I'm just tired... tired of fighting against these people. I know, objectively, why we're fighting against Hoshido. We need resources; food, water, fields... if we want Nohr to prosper, we have to conquer. But the Hoshidans are basically innocent, they just happen to be living on lands we need. And then there's the royal family..." she trailed off for a second, staring at nothing. "I don't want to fight my brothers and sisters, Azura... if I have to kill them, I don't know how I'll ever live with myself..."

"I know... it's a difficult path we've chosen."

"Sometimes it's more than I bargained for... Today, when that knife touched my skin, I thought, 'if I die here, I won't have to do this; I don't have to hurt anymore people, I don't have to see my family destroy my homeland.' And then I got scared. What kind of a coward am I, wanting to abandon my family? My brothers and sisters in Nohr who believe in me? My husband, my children? You too, Azura... You have to suffer the same fate I'm facing, but I selfishly tried to run away... That moment of weakness almost cost me everything, and even now some part of me still wishes it had... I'm just... so tired." She felt small and dirty as she sat there in Azura's tent, like a diseased animal blighting the warmth of the fire and the pristine, cold air.

Azura sighed, a long, sad sound that lingered in the silence of the night.

"You know, Corrin... I married Kaze for a reason," she said quietly, fiddling with the wedding band on her finger as she spoke. "I knew him for years, from my time in Hoshido, so he was familiar to me; I admit that was probably part of it. But when we joined your army, we were very similar people. We both chose to fight against our families for a better future, but it tore us apart, just like you. Don't get me wrong, being accepted as your sister, as a Nohrian princess, after all these years is a comfort... but it's not the same as the family I've left behind in Hoshido," she said. "We weren't related by blood, but you know more than anyone what growing up with someone is like. It forms a bond far stronger than just having the same parent. Since the day I chose to fight with you, I knew I'd have to fight against my family, and I thought I had the strength for it... I could rely on you and Kaze to remind me of why we were fighting. But then..."

She choked out a sob, drawn and ragged, tears threatening to spill over her cheeks. Corrin reached out automatically, taking one of her hands and squeezing it gently.

"You don't have to say it, Azura," she said, trying to soothe her. Azura shook her head.

"I have to talk about it, I don't want to keep it bottled up anymore," she insisted, taking deep breaths to calm herself.

"I already know," Corrin said sadly. "I saw the way you two looked at each other, Azura. I know you were holding each other up every time we had to face a Hoshidan force. Kaze... he tried to make it easier on us, always being the voice of reason. And now that he's gone, I know how hard you're trying to keep it together. I can see how you smile for everybody, even though it doesn't reach your eyes. I notice how much you work to bolster our morale even though you don't feel particularly hopeful yourself. I see how you try your best to be a great parent to Shigure, and a great fighter for the army. You're an inspiration to us, Azura... and I know that only makes you suffer. I'm so sorry."

Azura gave a half-hearted chuckle. "You sound like you've been watching me all this time," she said, wiping tears from her face with the back of her hand.

"I have," Corrin replied without thinking. Immediately, she felt her face grow hot. I... didn't just say that, did I?!

But she had. Azura blushed in surprise.

"Wh.. what?"

"N-no, I meant... I was just..." Corrin knew she was digging herself into a deeper hole with every word she spoke, but Azura's face was so close, she couldn't concentrate.

All she could focus on were those lovely eyelashes, wet from her tears, those warm eyes, and the feeling of those slender fingers entwined around her own.

She forgot about Kaze, about Laslow, about Soleil, Kana, and Shigure. At the moment, the only thing that existed in Corrin's world was Azura, and, as if in a dream, she leaned in to kiss her.

It had been over a year since the last time she had been kissed. Kaze had always been gentle and kind, his kisses always light and to the point, but this was different.

Corrin tasted wild, somehow. Her lips seemed to caress Azura's with a hungry insistence, and more than once she felt a sharp tooth (or fang?) brush against her lower lip. There was no pause for breath, just sudden gasping in between, and Azura found herself unable to resist. The more she felt, the more she needed. It was an animalistic urge, drawn out from her through Corrin's touch; never had Azura been more aware of Corrin's dragon nature as she was now.

Eventually, it seemed that Corrin came back to her senses. She pulled away slightly, breathing heavily as Azura tried to make sense of what had just happened between them. She was vaguely aware that her hands were now wound in Corrin's hair, her waist held tightly against the Nohrian breastplate of the woman in front of her.

How... what have we done?!

Corrin seemed to have the same idea; her face went pale.

"I am so sorry," she said, immediately letting Azura go. "I lost control, I just- I'm sorry!"

She stood up, looking absolutely horrified. Azura could see that she was about to cry, and that, more than anything, made her grab onto Corrin's cloak before she could make a run for it.

"Wait!"

Corrin stopped, but she refused to look back.

"You... you don't have to be sorry," Azura said, pulling slightly on the tattered cloak. "Please, Corrin, don't go."

"But I..." The unspoken truth lingered in the residual warmth on Azura's lips.

"I know," she said, aware she was still flustered by the kiss. "You don't have to say it, I know already."

She saw Corrin hesitate. "It's wrong..." she whispered into the cold air.

"No, that's not true," Azura said, reaching for Corrin's hand. The palms were rough from sword practice, but they obediently clasped around Azura's fingers like a child. She pulled her back to the ground so they were facing each other.

"You're my sister," Corrin said miserably, avoiding Azura's eyes.

"Adoptive sister," Azura said, taking Corrin's face in her hands. "And unlike Xander, Elise, Leo, and Camilla, I'm the only adoptive sibling you didn't grow up with. I don't have the same bond with you they share; I'm only your sister in name."

"But Kaze, and Laslow..."

"I... I will always love Kaze, Corrin. I can't change that. But I understand now that I've always loved you too. I'm sorry for being so dense and only just noticing now," Azura explained sadly. "As for Laslow... that's up to you. It's your family, and I have no wish to tear it apart."

Tears dripped down Corrin's nose and into Azura's hands.

"Why?! Why does my heart always feel so torn?!" she cried. "Why does everything end up a choice, why do I always have to decide between people I care about?!"

"Because... that's what it means to love, Corrin," Azura said, her own heart aching as she spoke. "Family, friends, lovers..." she paused and stroked Corrin's cheek with her thumb. "When you love someone, sometimes you have to make a choice."

"No one knows that better than me," Corrin said bitterly.

"I know."

Corrin sighed and lay down on the floor, her head in Azura's lap.

"Azura...?"

"Yes?"

"Will... will you come help me talk to Laslow tomorrow...?"

"I can't promise I'll be able to help, but I can try, if that's what you really want."

"It is."

"Then I'll be your pillar of support, for as long as you need me."

"Azura... thank you. And... I love you, I always have."

Azura leaned down to kiss her. "I know, love. I always knew."

Notes: Okay whew. This is my first FE fic, and the first one I've written that isn't about Soreseka. I was inspired by Ticcytx's beautiful Azurrin fanart, and decided to write a short drama based on one of my Nohrian playthroughs and the support between Corrin and Azura where Corrin is attacked. I've always been bitter about the fact that F!Corrin can't marry Azura when M!Corrin can, because since I met her in my first playthrough I wanted to pair them up.