Day for Night
I do not own Fire Emblem or any of its characters.
AU set in the rough equivalent of the 1910s, taking place on board a large and luxurious ocean liner en route from Leonster to Silesse. Nothing bad could possibly happen here.
The Mystery Guest
"Lady Altena! Wait!"
It was said to take a man of average speed a good twenty-five minutes, at a brisk walk, to cross the main deck of the Queen Nova. Lady Altena dashed away from Finn at a rate that might've taken her from bow to stern in twenty, and Finn felt a flutter of panic in his chest as the little girl navigated the gaps between their fellow passengers. If he were to lose her…
"Lady Altena, please!"
Altena skidded to a halt, spun 'round in a flurry of skirts and scampered back to Finn. This time he took her securely by the hand, though not before checking to be certain Lady Altena's white hat with its broad red ribbon was fastened beneath her chin.
"You mustn't run off. This ship is not a playground," he said, and Lady Altena responded to this mild chiding by showing Finn a perfectly satisfied smile.
Everything was Lady Altena's playground, even the greatest steamer of the northern seas.
"We're going back to our rooms now, and Nanny will have to look after you the rest of the afternoon," Finn said, and Lady Altena's smile inverted at once into a toothy frown. "And you mustn't scowl like that, either. Chin up, like a good girl."
"I won't," said Lady Altena. "I want to walk with you, Finn. You said we could walk along the deck all the way to the end."
Finn held to the punishment of taking Lady Altena back to Nanny, as it was the only real discipline he could dole out to the little princess.
"If you behave perfectly the next twenty-four hours, I'll take you to the end of the deck tomorrow," he said.
Finn half-expected Lady Altena to respond to this by wrenching off her hat and sending it flying over the rail, but instead the princess straightened her small shoulders, held up her chin, and walked back to their sleeping quarters with as much dignity as a five-year-old could possess. Even if there was something of I'll show you I can behave in her step, it was technically compliance.
-x-
Lady Altena continued her show of good behavior until she was dropped off with Nanny. The premature end to their outing on the deck meant that Finn had about two hours of time on his hands, and since this wasn't a normal or comfortable state for Finn, he walked back to his own rooms feeling at a bit of a loss. He could have simply relaxed in the suite Princess Ethlyn had booked for him; with its electrical call bell, damasked wallpaper, and silver-plated tap, the suite might have passed for a first-rate hotel room had the furniture not been bolted to the floor. But at present Finn didn't feel like penning a letter at the elegant writing desk or calling up a meal; he hesitated for a moment in the doorway, then stepped back into the corridor and shut the door behind him.
Surely, on so fine a ship he could find some way of passing two hours. He could avail himself of the swimming pool, or the baths, or find one of the orchestras who performed throughout the ship. Finn never quite managed to do any of these things. He spent his unexpected free time wandering the deck, getting lost enough in the process that he found himself in a stairwell meant for use by Second Class passengers, staring at middle-aged member of said class. They were, Finn thought, equally surprised by one another.
"My lord," the man said with a tip of his hat.
"That isn't necessary," Finn murmured as he backed out of the stairwell, but he wasn't sure if the other heard him, or if it mattered. Likely it didn't matter; the man was conditioned to address anyone not immediately placeable among the working class as "my lord" lest he give offense to the member of some noble house.
This particular member of a noble house of Leonster now had to lean back against the bulkhead and laugh at himself.
"I should've stayed in and written letters."
-x-
Finn did manage to get back to his rooms in time for dinner. Princess Ethyln wasn't cross with him over the incident with Lady Altena; rather, she was sparkling in the manner she had when some surprise was in store. Tonight's surprise was that the princess had invited a guest to dine with them in the privacy of the Regal Suite. Ethlyn wouldn't give up the name, and Finn spent some time trying to guess. So many of the continent's most celebrated were on the Queen Nova that the mystery guest might have been a celebrated painter, a wealthy shipping magnate, a famed general, a great architect…
"None of these, Finn," Princess Ethlyn laughed. "It'll be someone whose company is much more pleasing to you."
Finn still didn't understand her, not until their guest arrived appeared in the doorway like a conjured shade. A fashionable shade, to be sure, with black ostrich feathers adorning her bonnet and jet beads tinkling along the hem of her black velvet gown. A beautifully-fitted black velvet gown, Finn thought, as he bowed to the degree a Princess of House Nordion merited.
"Lady Raquesis... I am glad to see you looking well."
Ordinarily he would've said more, would've offered some requisite condolences to the recent widow, but something stopped him. It might have been the ostrich cockade, or the elegant flare of the sable skirt, or the merest fringe of netting that dangled from the lady's bonnet in place of a mourning veil.
"I'm quite well, thank you," she said in the low voice that brought to mind ripe Agustrian fruit, lush black plums and rose-tinged velvet peaches. Her eyes shone like topaz from under that inadequate netting.
And here Finn caught himself, because if he was thinking in the poetic cliches of sun-ripened stone fruit and semi-precious gems, he was already quite out of line and they hadn't been served the first course yet. Prince Quan hadn't even arrived yet. But then the Crown Prince appeared, a smile on his lips rather than any excuse for his tardiness, and Finn retreated into his thoughts while the royal couple entertained Lady Raquesis. Those thoughts were pruned of any stray bits of poesy, as Finn resolved to treat this lighthearted dinner as though it were a staff meeting. From the conversation between Ethlyn and Raquesis, he determined the following about the Princess of Nordion:
She had left her only son, borne to her late husband, in the care of friends in Northern Isaach.
Her infant daughter was sleeping in their stateroom and was a very good baby who coped well with travel.
Her business in Leonster had been checking up on her only other living relative, the young son of her late brother.
She was now returning to Isaach to reunite with said son and would not be going further than the northernmost port of Isaach on this journey.
"Oh, but that's a shame," said Princess Ethlyn. "I was hoping you'd be coming all the way to Silesse with us."
Raquesis made a little noise of agreement. Yes, it was sad to cut short a journey on Leonster's finest steamer. But she then glanced at Finn, and there was something in that topaz flash that wasn't precisely regret. Finn realized that Nordion's resourceful princess was, likely as not, gathering information on her own.
Finn did not believe that Lady Raquesis came all the way to Leonster purely to make inquiries into the health and well-being of her nephew. He wondered now if her return ticket truly went only as far as the last port in Isaach.
-x-
"Try not to give it all away in one session, Ethlyn," Quan said. He tried to sound stern, but the innumerable glasses of claret and port he'd consumed through the evening made his reprimand end in a yawn.
"Oh, don't be like that," Ethlyn said as she laid aside her earrings for the night. "I know Raquesis was playing the diplomat in Leonster in hopes of getting your father's backing for her nephew's claims to Agustria. She knows that we're going back to Silesse to help Sigurd. There's no reason our causes can't support one another."
"Aside from the very good reason that Raquesis already lost a husband in Sigurd's service and might well feel she's done enough for the cause."
Put so baldly, this idea did give Ethlyn pause, but she then said, "I don't think that's really the case."
"Don't fret over Raquesis. We'll get your brother everything that he needs," Quan assured her, and he put out the lights.
To Be Continued…
A/N: Yes, I messed with the canon timeline a bit for this AU. Sigurd's penned up in Silesse hoping to get home some day, but Leif and Nanna are already born. There's more. Stay tuned for the next installment, "A Load of Potatoes"!