Sakura stays quiet. The gang lies for the greater good. Corrin is a sore loser. Leo endures an awkward display.
"C'mon Sakura! I don't have much time before Arthur realizes I'm gone!"
Elise tugged Sakura's wrist forward and pulled her into motion. Sakura moved at the other girl's behest but she was sure to keep her footsteps slow and small. Dread welled in her belly and spread up into her throat. She detested confrontation.
They wandered through the camp, criss-crossing their way past the courtyard and tavern until they reached the sea of huts. Sakura only had a very vague idea of where they were headed but Elise assured her she knew exactly where to go. Sakura didn't know how; everything looked the same to her.
Elise slowed her pace and muttered, "I think its somewhere around here."
Sakura groaned. This wouldn't be the first time Elise had gotten them lost. Just yesterday she had been emphatic that she knew exactly how to get to the lake but had led them astray not five minutes after they walked into the forest. It was pure luck that they happened to come across Ryoma and Kagero and were led back to civilization.
I still need to ask him about that¸ Sakura noted. It wasn't unusual for a royal and their retainer to be spending time alone together but Ryoma had acted very suspicious when they'd encountered each other. His speech was rather flustered and his mannerisms were fidgety. Kagero had been as resolute and expressionless as always.
She hoped that meant her brother had finally made a move on Kagero; gods knew he'd been pining for years. Though Sakura knew if there was any sort of romantic relationship between the two, Ryoma would never admit to it for proprietary's sake.
"Ah!" Elise shouted. "This is it!"
She brought them to halt in front of a rather shabby hut that looked no different from any of the others. Sakura frowned.
"How do you know it's this one?"
Elise jabbed a finger towards the window and exclaimed, "Look!"
Against the windowsill were three wooden figurines. Of the three, the most eye-catching had a large, dark unibrow while the other two were rather nondescript. However, there was no mistaking the smallest of the three as a likeness of Kana. The massive grin and tiny blue scarf gave it away.
Kana had been in a very bad mood for weeks. The happy go-lucky kid had a perpetual dark cloud hanging over his head and he extended it over the others whenever he got the chance. He rarely played with them anymore and, when he did, he was far too grouchy. Their games of hide and seek turned into games of seek-everyone-but-Kana because when he was found, he was apt to fume and rage until he stormed off.
Elise was understandably worried and Sakura was too, but she didn't want to deal with a tantrum. She was liable to freeze up and do nothing while the kid screamed until his face turned beet red; she would be no help in mediating his outburst.
"C'mon, let's see if he's home!" Elise announced, marching for the door. Sakura trailed behind and practiced her breathing.
Just as Elise's knuckles were about to rap an inquiry against the door, an explosive IT'S NOT FAIR rang out from inside. Sakura flinched and Elise's mouth fell open.
"It's not fair!" Kana wailed again, "It's not fair at all!"
"Kana, calm down," said a voice unfamiliar to her, "You know why-"
"No!" Kana screamed, "Why can she know about you but I can't tell her? I just want to see my mom!"
The door flew open with a bang and Elise barely managed to avoid a sprinting Kana. The young boy darted past them and ran until he disappeared from sight. A blonde haired boy stepped from the hut but did not pursue Kana. He only stared after the younger boy with hooded eyes.
"You big jerk!" Elise shrieked at the boy, surprising both he and Sakura. "How can you stop him from seeing his mother!?"
As Elise's smooth skin splotched with anger, Sakura's chest compressed. The air refused to fill her lungs properly and she felt very sweaty. She felt anger first and foremost, How could they do this to Kana?, but the anxiety came from being unable to express it. Elise could easily yell and make a fuss over this but Sakura was held still by her own shortcomings.
The boy blanched and three more teenagers suddenly took up the space behind the first and Sakura recognized them as Kana's friends; Shiro and Soleil and her brother.
With large eyes, Soleil whispered to the others, "How much did they hear?"
Sakura's eyes narrowed and Elise shouted, "What other terrible things are you doing to poor Kana!?"
"We're not doing any terrible things to him!" the blonde boy snapped. "You have no understanding of the situation!"
"Then explain it to us!" Elise demanded, "Or else I'm going to go straight to Corrin and tell her that you're keeping Kana prisoner!"
Sakura balked and glanced at Elise with wide eyes. Obviously, saying they were keeping Kana prisoner was a great exaggeration but Elise said it with complete certainty.
How can she be so confident? Sakura wondered in total awe. Elise was pretty amazing.
The four teenagers exchanged worried glances before the blonde conceded, "Fine, we'll tell you everything."
Soleil had no idea how they were going to talk themselves out of this one. And judging by their expressions, the others didn't either.
"Start talking!" Elise commanded with dark eyes. Soleil was honestly surprised they were still alive. She had only heard rumors of the wrath contained within Elise's tiny body and, though tales of the youngest Nohrian noble's ire were scarce, they struck fear into her very core.
"The war has orphaned us. Our families are just some of the thousands of causalities the war has caused," Shigure announced and Soleil's head snapped backwards in surprise.
"And?" Elise prompted and Soleil thought, Damn, not even a little sympathy for our fake dead families?
"And," Shigure continued, "We believed that Kana's mother was among those."
Soleil eyed him warily, wondering where he was headed. Shiro bore a squinted, confused expression while Siegbert stared at his hands. Soleil knew he was concerned about Kana but the moody kid was the least of their worries at the moment.
"About three weeks ago, we learned that she was in fact not dead but-"
"So why won't you let Kana see her!?" Elise hissed. The fury of a thousand volcanoes was reflected in her glare. Unsurprisingly, Sakura was speechless and expressionless. Soleil didn't know much about the Hoshidian princess other than she had a reputation for silence.
"I was getting to that," Shigure muttered low enough so that Elise couldn't hear. Evening his expression, Shigure dramatically announced, "We discovered that Kana's mother left him for dead."
Elise gasped and covered her mouth with both her hands. Sakura's eyes widened. Soleil's mouth fell open simultaneously with Shiro's. Shigure always had an affinity for drama but to come up with something like this so fast? Soleil was impressed.
"Kana doesn't know of course," Shigure announced. "How could we tell him that his own mother left him to die?"
Elise's eyes watered and she sniffed loudly. Soleil was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when quiet Sakura spoke.
"But Kana said his mother knows about someone else," Sakura stated.
"Yeah!" Elise cried, "That doesn't make sense with your story!"
Shigure balked and fell silent. Soleil's inner monologue turned into a repetition of oh no's as she watched her brother fail to come up with a solution. Just when all hope seemed lost, Siegbert broke the silence.
"Kana's my brother," he said quietly. That would be the first real truth revealed today.
Elise's scowl softened but she didn't appear convinced.
"Okay, but why did you meet her and not him?" she asked. Siegbert still had yet to look up from his hands.
"It wasn't intentional," he told her, "I ran into her in the courtyard."
"But then how do you know she left him for dead?"
"She told me herself."
After that dramatic finish, Elise was muttering apologies and dragging Sakura through the door behind her. Soleil almost felt bad for her being so torn up over a fake story but it couldn't be helped. It was better to leave Elise feeling incredibly guilty than telling her the truth.
As they vanished in the distance, Soleil could have cried. Siegbert's performance was worthy of every accolade available.
"Gods you were magnificent!" she shouted, clamping a hand over his shoulder.
"Let's not forget about Shigure here! I can't believe you came up with that so fast!" Shiro exclaimed. Shigure blushed and rubbed at his neck. Soleil grinned.
Siegbert shook her hand free and moved through the door. Without a word, he walked away from them, leaving them with grins frozen in uncertainty.
"What's up with him?" Soleil questioned. Shiro rolled his eyes and muttered, "He's such a killjoy."
Corrin's sword fell to the ground again and kicked up a cloud of dust. She mumbled a curse and glared down at her displaced weapon. Never before had she been so inclined to cursing but now it came instinctively each time her sword was sent flying. After losing forty-seven times over the past week, she really should have become accustomed to failure but during their months apart, she had forgotten how utterly mortifying it was to lose in a thousand different ways. Plus, she had always been a bit of a sore loser.
"When you lunged, you dropped your defense," Xander told her even though she hadn't asked for an explanation. She nearly made an excuse, well this isn't even a fair fight because I can barely use my leg, but didn't. In the end, it only came down to one thing; he was better than her.
"Is your leg troubling you?" he asked as he always did after he won even though he knew it was troubling her.
"It's fine," she answered as she always did after he won even though it felt as if her bone were splintering apart.
Corrin sighed and bent to retrieve her sword. She had to do this by bending awkwardly and groping blindly with her fingers until they came across the blade. Bruises darkened her flesh, his doing, and her arms throbbed from the weight of the sword. Exhaustion was etched into every crease on her face and her eyes were red with frustration. Unsurprisingly, Xander suggested, "Perhaps we should stop for the day?"
She shook her head and said, "I'm fine."
Xander remained unconvinced but he didn't have time to argue. With a burst of speed, she launched herself at him again. They exchanged blows, him holding back and her doing everything she could to keep the fight going until she made a misstep and he had no choice but to disarm her.
Her foot slammed against the ground and she bit back a particularly unpleasant curse. His eyebrows furrowed and she averted her eyes with a scowl.
"Your right side was open," he told her. She bent to retrieve her sword again. Her jaw was clenched so tightly that her teeth were on the verge of shattering.
He stood casually with his arms at his side and his face smooth. He had barely broken a sweat. Her face reddened as she became acutely aware of the waves rolling off of her skin, sticky and odorous. Then, to her added embarrassment, her stomach growled at such an inhuman volume that everyone in a ten mile radius must have heard it.
"Corrin, that's-"
"I'm fine!" she insisted. She'd endured too much defeat to walk away now. Xander frowned.
"Xander! Corrin!" cried a familiar voice. Corrin turned to see Camilla dashing towards them with a scowling Leo in tow. A basket dangled from her hands, brimming with food. Corrin's stomach growled again.
Xander waved them over with his free hand.
"Good afternoon," Camilla chirped as she drew closer, "I've prepared a picnic for us to share on this lovely day!"
Corrin raised an eyebrow and glanced up at the overcast, gloomy sky. Xander bore similar skepticism with furrowed brows. Leo rolled his eyes and announced, "Don't try to argue. It's a waste of breath."
Camilla shot him a murderous glare but was soon beaming again.
"Surely you two are done for the day?" she asked.
"No," Corrin answered quickly. Xander eyed her with suspicion. Camilla arched an eyebrow.
"Oh? Then Leo and I will just observe until you're finished," she announced, sauntering out of the way. Leo shot a quizzical expression at Xander but followed Camilla.
"Corrin, you're clearly exhausted-" Xander began but she interrupted, insisting, "One more time."
In her youth, she would have tried to convince him with the most heart wrenching puppy dog eyes she could muster, but those days were long since past. What kind of leader would she be if she had to resort to begging to get her way?
Xander sighed and raised his sword.
"This is the last time," he said with an air of finality.
My losing streak ends now, she thought to herself and launched herself into combat once more.
The last thing Leo wanted to do was have a picnic. Not only was he positive it was going to rain but he had been looking forward to spending his free time soaking in the hot springs. He'd spent the past two days hunched over an incredibly challenging text he had come across in the archives and he'd finally finished deciphering it earlier that morning. His aching back and compressed legs were screaming for the heat of the springs. Camilla, however, had different inclinations.
She had more or less blackmailed him into agreeing to the picnic and, at the moment, he hated her for it. He couldn't even stand to look at her. The sight of her jovial face and purple hair threatened to send him into a rage. He dreamed of binding her in place with Brynhildr and shouting, "I'm going to take a bath!"
Instead, he was stuck in the sweltering arena, watching Corrin and Xander spar. It was a sight he was well accustomed to. He'd spent much of their joint visits to the Northern Fortress sitting on the sidelines and wishing either one of them would spar him next. It never happened, especially after he'd begun his studies with Brynhildr. They fought each other for hours and then decided to turn their attentions elsewhere.
Even in his atrocious mood, he appreciated Corrin's growth. Xander was pushing her harder than ever before and she was managing to hold her own. In fact, Leo hadn't seen anyone last this long with Xander in years; since before his trip to the Rainbow Sage in fact.
Still, Corrin was slipping with each blow and it wouldn't be long before his brother's sheer strength overwhelmed her. But what else was new?
Leo slouched in place and examined his nails. He really needed to stop biting them. It was unbecoming of a prince to have jagged, chewed fingernails. Even as he considered this, the tip of his thumb made its way between his teeth and he gnawed on it absentmindedly.
How much longer is this going to take? he thought, eyeing them with disinterest. I want to get this accursed picnic over with.
Corrin's attacks were slowing and Xander moved to end it. Just as he swung to disarm her, Corrin ducked under his arm and charged him. She slammed against his torso and managed to catch him off guard. He was thrown off balance and she pushed, sending them both crashing to the dirt.
Leo's back snapped ramrod straight as his mouth fell open and his thumb wavered in the open air. He turned to Camilla; did she see what just happened?
But no, she was talking to Effie, halfway across the arena. Leo rolled his eyes.
Leave it to Camilla to miss something important for idle chit chat, Leo thought scathingly.
He turned back to find Corrin on top of Xander with the point of her sword angled against the hollow of his throat. Despite his black mood, he jumped up and nearly cheered aloud.
She's done it! She's beat Xander! She's-
He peered at them through squinted eyes and felt his stomach turn.
Why aren't they moving?
As Leo continued to look on, the two remained motionless. They were obviously exhausted, Corrin's shoulders heaved with each breath and Xander's face was slick with sweat, but they only stared at each other. Now that Leo thought of it, Corrin was practically straddling Xander's waist. At the time of her victory, it hadn't been odd at all, but now?
He felt like a voyeur as the moment had turned intimate so suddenly and unexpectedly.
"Oh my!" Camilla chirped which sent Corrin into a flurry of motion. She leapt away from Xander shouting, "I won! I did it!"
Then she ran at Camilla for a victory hug which was followed by Camilla muttering, "Ugh, you're very sweaty."
Xander joined them and stood uneasily. Corrin glanced at him and her flushed face darkened. Leo averted his eyes.
What did I do to deserve this? he wondered. He'd become a completely unwilling partner in an incredibly awkward encounter.
Gods I'm probably more horrified than either of them, he thought. At least they didn't have to watch themselves.
As Camilla led them to their picnic, whistling to herself and nearly skipping in place, more than ever, Leo just wanted to take a bath.
A/N Updates will be quicker from now on.