"So if I understand correctly…"
"Yes." Eirika leaned against the wall, her broken arm in a sling. It stung, but she couldn't say it really hurt anymore. Meanwhile, Ephraim was very busy applying vulnerary salve to Seth's hands and wrapping them in bandages. "I spoke to one of the prisoners. He and his comrades were survivors of the squad that was with Valter when he fell to Seth's lance." He frowned as he looked at the blisters and third-degree burns. It had taken him a great deal of effort to pry the Fire Lance from the redhead's hands. These weapons were really not made for just about anyone's hands.
Tana was next to Eirika, shaking her head. "And Valerie just decided to take command of them and come to Renais for revenge?"
"She was easily as mad as her brother was." Ephraim turned a bit so he could look at his fiancee. "I guess that's what happens when you're around madmen a lot. The men remembered everything about that war from beginning to end, so it wasn't hard for her to figure out where she had to go and who she had to kill." Apparently finished with what he was doing, he rose to his feet. "I'm just happy Eirika could warn us so we could prepare. Somehow I think she may have had an easier time had we not known."
"I don't think it really did that much," Eirika said. "In the end she still managed to use me against him."
"Not for long though. And I'm happy to have those Wyverns in a separate pen now instead of our stables. How are the men?"
"As well as can be expected," Seth said. "Forde has calmed down and Franz will recover. Amelia is just a little shaken from having had to fight her old countrymen again and Kyle is more concerned about Franz' injuries than anything else." The youngest cavalier on the team had taken some serious wounds from when his enemy had knocked him off his horse, and even though she hadn't seen them, Eirika was fairly sure Forde had saved his little brother's life through means of what Kyle had called his fit of hysteria.
Eirika sighed and started to leave the room. "I need some time to myself." She was still embarrassed that she hadn't seen Valerie for what she had really been. As she left the room, she felt the gaze of her dear Paladin in her back.
Much later that evening, Eirika rested on the battlements of the castle, looking over the fields where the two battles had taken place that day. She was still not happy with the incompetence she had shown… "It's not your fault, you know." She twisted around to see Seth behind her. His hands were still wrapped in bandages, but that didn't stop him from holding his lance. Eirika assumed he was on watch tonight- with Valerie gone, Seth had undoubtedly returned to his normal duties.
"…what is not my fault?"
"All this. Valerie showing up. The injuries Franz took. This." He held up his hand to indicate that he spoke of the burns. He didn't set aside his lance, but did put his free hand on the battlements and leaned forward so he could look at Eirika. He winced. It hurt him to use his hands. "None of it is your fault. You saved me."
"I did not. She still used me against you. She took me hostage. If she hadn't done that, you would have been able to disarm her without having to kill her."
"She only took you hostage because it was simpler at the time. If I had not been close to you she might have killed you." There was something odd about the way he looked at her. It was something she hadn't seen in his gaze before. "And… king Ephraim is correct. If she had done that, it would have been a surefire way to get to me. Your warning did more good than you know."
"…something's bothering you." She suddenly understood what she saw in Seth's gaze. Doubt. Self-doubt, no less. "What is it?"
He didn't answer immediately, looking at the Wyverns that seemed to be play-fighting in their pen. The red one sat apart from the others, as if it realized its mistress was gone. "…Valerie went mad because I killed Valter. From what the men told us he was all she had… and then I killed him."
Eirika could somewhat understand that. When her father died, at least she had still had Ephraim (though far away) and Seth, although she was at that time not yet fully aware of how important he was to her. Seth shook his head. "…heavens know how many others like her there are out there. I've murdered more soldiers than I can count. Brothers. Sons. Fathers."
Eirika put her hand on his arm. "Don't think like that. You do it to protect those who cannot protect themselves… not to conquer. And certainly not for the sake of killing like he did. …besides, the men that you kill are generally the men who would kill you if you let them live. It's you or them."
"Except that I am the last of my bloodline." Those words sent a chill down Eirika's back. No. He couldn't think like that. She couldn't let him. "I am no longer anyone's son, I was never anyone's brother and I am no father. No one would miss me."
Eirika squeezed his arm. She would have slapped him but she didn't want to risk hurting him. "Don't think that. You know my father always thought of you as a son… more than any of the other knights." He looked down at her. "Ephraim might not say this but you're like a brother to him… and for me, you're so much more…"
"Princess Eirika, I-"
"Seth, I'm serious. Stop it." She managed to get under his arm and embrace him. Miraculously he did not push her away. A little hopefully, Eirika wondered if he was considering whether it would be worth the pain to push her away. "You may be the last of your own family, but you're practically a Renais as far as Ephraim and I are concerned. And then there's the knights… who will train Franz and Amelia if you die? Who will keep Forde in line? You know they wouldn't take orders from Kyle like they do from you."
She felt his hand coming to rest on her back. "You're so important to all of us… so please don't say that no one would miss you. We would. I would. Your sons would."
When she looked up at his face she saw bewilderment. "Princess… what makes you say that last? I have no sons."
"You will." Eirika smirked. Ephraim had shown her some of the further-reaching visions their mother had had and written down. "I know that. It's been foretold."
Author's Notes: ...and that concludes Prophecies. The culmination of all these weeks. Ending scenes much like combat scenes are not my strongest suit, but I hope this is sufficient for those of you who have followed it. From now on, I'm taking a two-week break from my fanfiction so I can catch up on my roleplaying and possibly finish a few RPs so I don't have so much on my plate anymore. In the week of March 26th, I'll start with the next fic, Beyond the Gate, which will star Roy and Nils. So tune in then!