Corrin scowled, struggling to see his reflection off of the metal of his sword, and fixing his hair after that debacle. All sorts of unpleasantness aside, he had already resolved himself to visit younger sister that day, and after dropping off Felicia to Gunter and taking Jakob in her stead, he set out to find her. Admittedly, Jakob was not his first choice- with his barbed tongue and rude demeanor to anyone other than Corrin himself he might offend Elise or one of her retainers- but Lilith was still unaccounted for, providing yet another thing to weigh on his mind.
On the bright side, the silver haired servant seemed to have some knowledge of how to navigate the castle and was able to (with the help of a few polite threats to passing servants) find out roughly where it was Elise spent her days. As they approached that wing of the palace, the sounds of haphazard violin greeted Corrin's ears, periodically interrupted by the sounds of a few rather harsh, high pitched swears. Only then did he recall the music Leo wrote, and sent Jakob to track down the inept retainer and fetch it-before they were close enough for his harsher retainer to hear poor attempt at one of the simpler concertos of classical Nohrian music.
Corrin followed the noise down the hall, allowing his hand to trace the cold stone walls as he did so. Corrin paused as he passed a small closet with an old worn door, noticing that the music faded as he moved away from it. Corrin returned to the door, walking on the tips of his toes as he did so, and placed his ear against the door, listening carefully. 'Not bad so far… not great, but hasn't missed any-'
"Scheisse!" the sudden, frustrated swear interrupted Corrin's thoughts, followed by several incorrect notes in rapid succession and a clattering. Corrin felt panic move to the forefront of his mind, and charged through the door, rushing into the room, finding it empty save for a young girl with long blonde twin tails with a violin in hand, a small table with music atop it, and the violin's bow bouncing on the ground.
"Corrin!" Said prince had about two seconds to adjust his footing before almost being knocked onto his rear by the armful of excitement, finding himself spinning from his younger sister's enthusiastic embrace. Corrin managed to find his balance and held her for a second longer before gently placing her back on the ground. The embrace continued for several moments longer, Elise resting her head against his armor, just below his sternum.
Elise's smile persisted as she looked up at him with her large purple eyes, "It's so good you're here! Does this mean Father decided you're ready?"
Corrin chuckled nervously, patting her on the head with one hand even as the other scratched the back of his head, "It's good to see you too Elise, and yes, I finally defeated Xander in single combat, just barely."
"What? You managed to beat Xander? Wait, you had to BEAT Xander?"
Corrin cocked an eyebrow at his sister's disbelief, "Yes and yes. Is that so surprising?"
Elise took half a step back away from him, eyebrows scrunched together, confused, "It's weird, I think. Xander's supposed to be crazy, stupid strong. So strong he managed to…subjugate the Earth Tribe, Ice Tribe, Fire Tribe, and the duchy of Chevois…"
Corrin's face paled, but his red eyes shone with pride in his older brother, and then himself, for being equal to him, even just once, "That's… amazing."
"I know right?" Elise tapped a foot happily on the ground, and beamed, "I mean, to manage to impress all of them into stopping the rebellion, he had to be awesome!"
Corrin's mind backpedaled, confused "You just said he…ah…"
Elise cocked her head, eyes filled with concern, "Uh, Corrin? Yeah, he subjugated them, right? It's cool they thought so much of him that they'd stop rebelling, just with how strong he was."
Realization dawned on Corrin, and he quickly changed his tune, "Yeah, you're right, I'm just a little exhausted right now, it's been a long day."
Elise gave a small giggle at that "Yeah, I imagine, Windmire can be a real mess to get around sometimes." The small girl puffed her chest out, and gave him a thumbs up, "Luckily for you, I know this castle better than anyone, so you have nothing to worry about with me here!"
"Better than anyone else, huh." Corrin responded playfully, "That'd be pretty impressive… if it was true."
"Hey! It's true! I even know where Leo hides when he's painting! I can take you there now, so you can see him before it's time to go to sleep. Just say the word!" Elise declared, putting her hands on her hips.
"Painting?" Corrin asked, "I thought he was doing alchemy… I've already seen him today, right after I met father, actually."
"Really?"
"Yeah, one of the palace guards knew where he was…I don't remember her name, come to think of it. Long blonde hair, somewhat pretty, kind of…silly, pretty… touchy." Corrin finished the statement awkwardly, eager to change the subject.
"Hmph. You should have come to me first, and we could have seen him together. I haven't seen him in forever…weeks even."
"Really? Well, he came to pick me up at the Northern Fortress, but he couldn't have been gone for more than a few days."
"He LEFT? Wait, see, that's what I'm talking about, it's been so long, he hasn't talked to me in a while, and I can't figure out why. Just out of the blue, locked himself up and won't let me in."
"Really? He didn't really mention it while I was with him… but he did make some-," Corrin paused, remembering that he was the one that lost the music, "Or rather he said he was composing a piece of music for you to try. He said that he would be done soon, and that it should be easier to play…"
'With your handicap' went unsaid, and he spared only a brief glance at her gloved right hand, where her ring finger hung limply, so briefly that she did not seem to notice his eyes wandering with how caught up she was in her fuming.
"Yeah, well, if he wants to give me music he can do it in person! Instead he's being big jerkface!"
Corrin was silent for a moment, not really sure how to respond to that. Elise never yelled. Screamed in delight, sure. Spoke very, very loudly- definitely. But yelled? Never. Elise seemed to notice Corrin's shock, but decided to continue as if nothing happened.
"Whatever…" she grumbled, but lightened up quickly, "Say, did you play chess with Leo? I think I have all the rules down, but Effie and Arthur are awful at it, Leo won't play it with me, and no one else really takes me seriously, so I don't have anyone to practice with."
Corrin allowed himself to smile earnestly, "Yeah, I played a few games of chess with him- I even beat him once. I'd be happy to play you a couple of times, maybe teach you a thing or two, if you'd like."
Elise beamed again, and took him by the hand, "Of course! What are we waiting for, let's go!"
Corrin found himself in another far-flung room of the absurd castle yet again-a fair sized room with modest furniture compared to the rest of the castle- furnished with a couch, a table, a bookcase, a swaddle of sheets in the corner, and a large window that allowed Nohr's current dusk sky to shed some light on the room.
"Alright then!" Elise chirped happily, snapping her fingers and casting a weak spell that caused candles scattered around the room to light, eliminating the shadows that persisted in the room despite the large window. She wasted no time rushing over to the book shelf, withdrawing a somewhat ragged box while Corrin meandered over to the low table, and sat by it, legs crossed. Elise joined him shortly, dropping the box beside the table, and reached into it, withdrawing…a much smaller wooden box, which Elise promptly turned over onto the table, allowing a myriad of pieces roll over the table before placing the box upside down onto the table-oddly, the bottom of which was painted as a chess board, a novelty that Corrin found to be rather clever.
Corrin picked up a piece and examined it curiously- it was a knight, or at least, the horse of a knight, standing on its rear legs, covered in maille barding with a lance strapped to its side. The piece was no masterpiece- the wood was a deep brown-not black, as were the ones preferred by nobles, as Corrin understood- and was rough to the touch, not to mention the horses mouth was chipped, but it was nonetheless meticulously carved with great detail.
Elise had already begun to set the board, but another piece caught his eye, also a horse, but this one was made from a lighter wood- possibly beech wood- and was equipped entirely differently from its darker counterpart. While they stood upright in the same position, where the dark horse wore heavy maille barding this one had only an ornate saddle on its back, and a large bow- not a lance- was slung at its side.
"Elise, where did you get this chess set from?" Corrin asked, genuinely curious, as he noticed that each set of colors ad pieces that were similar, but were distinct from one another.
Elise paused for a moment, accidently tipping the white queen (King?), "Oh, it was a gift from one of my retainers- Arthur, actually, you might remember him. He found it in an underground market and bought it- he probably thought that the merchant could use the money."
Corrin lifted and examined one of the white pieces, a man that appeared to wear heavy armor, and a mask reminding him of a demon. In each hand he held a curved sword, one longer than the other, while both a long bow and longer spear were slung over his back. "This…are these hoshidan soldiers?"
Elise cocked her head and lifted a white piece of her own- a winged horse, "I dunno, I've never seen a Hoshidan soldier, are they?"
Corrin picked up what he assumed to be paws, comparing the white and black pieces. Whereas the black pawn appeared to be equipped with some manner of maille, a shorter spear, and a shield, the white pawn held a long pike, and wore some manner of odd coat of plates. "I believe so. Interesting, it must have been quite the project."
"That's no fun…I don't want to play as the Hoshidans." Elise pouted, and while at her age he would have likely agreed, Corrin instead found something aesthetically pleasing with the Hoshidan pieces, as if their assortment of exotic arms simply felt…right, artistically and otherwise.
"Well, alright, you won't have to, I'll play white." Corrin began setting up his side of the board. And Elise beamed and did the same. Corrin still had a hard time distinguishing which piece was to represent which. The Pegasus knights were probably knights and the bow-horses were probably rooks. The pawns were pawns, the robed mages were probably the bishops, that only left the king and the queen. The fierce, heavily armored warrior was then the king, and the queen was an ornate looking Pegasus rider on top of some sort of giant…bird.
His ordeal over, Corrin looked up to see Elise's board had already been arrayed. "I wonder what I'll do first." Corrin teased, his hand brushing over all his pawns in the front row. "Hmmmm…"
"Hey!" Elise pointed an accusatory finger at him "Who said you could go first?"
Corrin merely raised an eyebrow amused at his younger sister's antics "The rules, Elise, white goes first, but I'm sure I could make an exception for the great Nohrian Commander, Elise Garondottir, can't we? What Hoshidan would willingly ride out against her?"
Elise, to his surprise, didn't respond, instead her eyebrows scrunched together, in deep thought. And removed her right glove, her four fingered hand brushing over each of her own pieces, before moving one of her wyvern knights ahead of her line of pawns.
'Well, that's silly, I suppose I could humor her.' Corrin responded in kind, moving one of his pegasi forward, only to see her do the same on the opposite side of the board, to which corrin similarly mimicked. If Elise was bothered by his teasing tactics, she didn't say so. Corrin continued, and they kept on moving until Elise suddenly took his king. "Elise, you have to say check whenever you're in a position to take the king."
"Wait what?" Elise asked, "Why would I do that? If I do that, then you can move it away."
"Because…" Corrin started, "Those are just the rules."
"The rules are stupid."
"I suppose they are, but chess isn't a real allegory for warfare anyways, it's just a game."
"Fine…" the girl grumbled, and too back the last move, allowing Corrin to easily maneuver his king out of harm's way, and then go the offensive himself, closing out the game in six turns.
"Again." Elise demanded, eyes full of determination in a way that he was all to familiar with, from his own time learning the game and playing against Leo and Xander, in his desperation to improve and prove himself.
"Again." Corrin agreed.
The next game unfolded differently. Corrin's strategy was no longer to outright tease his sister, who at least seemed to have a grasp of the fundamentals, if not the rules. Instead, he created a simple defensive formation, in a staggered line of defense. For a number of turns, Elise did the same, each piece covered another, and another, and neither could gain any traction without a greater sacrifice.
And then Elise initiated the bloodbath.
Piece by piece fell, in a series of terrible trades that wiped the board clean of three quarters of their pieces. Corrin quickly moved up his reserved rooks to re-establish control of the center of the board, at least then-
They fell too, with more bloody trades, but at the end of the violent calculus, Corrin was left with only his king, four pawns, and a knight, while she had two rooks, a queen, and a bishop.
Corrin couldn't move his king to safety before it was picked off.
'Well, that stings.' Corrin noted, but couldn't help but smile, "That was really good Elise! I wasn't expecting that."
Elise seemed to be…Corrin couldn't exactly assign a single emotion to the series of expressions to pass her face. Disappointment? Frustration? Sorrow? Eventually she settled for indignant, cheeks puffed out, eyebrows furrowed. "You weren't really trying though."
"No, no, I was trying, it really was good." Corrin attempted to placate the pouting younger girl, but to no avail, "Alright, how about a tie breaker?"
Elise agreed, and they reset the board, and Corrin changed strategies, instead of allowing a slow build up in the center of the board, he moved most of his pieces on the right side aggressively, hoping to avoid another drawn out conflict and to catch her stronger pieces while they were still caught behind her pawns.
Then those pawns rushed forward and smashed into his pieces, stalling them, and her opposite flank advanced. Corrin moved up his own pawns to respond, but instead half of her pieces stopped in the center of the board, then swung into his stalled pieces. Corrin moved up his center to intercept them except for his pawns directly in front of his king, pushed his queen up, and then-
"Checkmate."
Corrin did a double take at the board, seeing Elise had swung her queen along the left, far behind his lines, into the corner of his board, attacking from the side where his queen was previously, but his king was stuck behind his own pieces.
'I…think I might see why Leo doesn't want to play chess with Elise.'
A brief rapping on the door distracted Corrin from that line of thought, and the two directed their attention to the doorway as a not-so new figure stepped through- a familiar bundle of papers in hand.
"Hail, royals of the dusk! I come bearing the dark melodies from beyond the icy veil."
Elise popped up and ran over to the man, eyes filled with enthusiastic energy, "Greetings, Fate's Dark Accomplice, fellow member of the justice cabal! What hath you brought from the depths?"
"Princess of Twilight, alas, the spirits that harken such tunes obscure that truth from my exalted blood. But the Cold Prince withdrew it from his own dark recesses, so it can only be an instrument of fate! You must decipher it, Fellow Exalted!" Odin seemed to trail off and handed the papers over to Elise, who pored over the sheet music with great intensity, "Alas, were it only such that I could bear witness to such a dark ritual. As it is, I have been entrusted with the most sacred duty of guarding the Secret Prince from the insidious shadows of this enigmatic fortress, and to prepare him for the coming tides. To me! Come along Chosen of Fate."
Corrin wasn't sure if he should be amused by the exchange between the two, confused, or terrified that Elise had adopted his brother's retainer's vernacular. "If you say so." Corrin said flatly, with a forced smile, feeling annoyed that his time with his energetic younger sister was cut short, and he turned back to her "When will you be free of your tutors next?"
Elise dropped the music to her side, "I'll totally find you, I have something in mind that is WAY more fun than sitting at a table moving little pieces of wood."
"You've been talking to my sister." Corrin said flatly to his new guard as they walked away from the room his sister had been using. Odin merely chuckled.
"Indeed, the dark prince, for all his faults and stark coldness, still cares for his sister in his way, though he is devious in it." Odin laughed loudly at this, as if they were sharing an inside joke, "It brings me great joy that he provided her that music, a girl with four fingers may find it difficult to wield a bow, blasted shadows of the dark court."
Corrin wasn't sure what to make of that, "Regardless, it seems that your way of speaking has appeared to rub off on her somewhat."
Odin paused a moment, processing the insinuation, "Yes, the twilight princess has developed an understanding of the dark tongues. But she also does it only in my presence, for it would invite only danger and scrutiny from those that dwell in brighter shadows." Odin placed a hand on his face and struck a somewhat odd pose, "Alas, to any other it would strike them as a young girl playing a game, she is still young, and is allowed to act in such ways, for the time being."
The man made some sense, or, at least, Corrin saw sense from his nonsense, she was still young, a child really, no matter what she said otherwise. Royals rarely were granted the luxury of such a carefree childhood, and she had precious little time before she came of age and would have to leave the fun and games behind.
"I see… what is it you have dragged me off for, anyways?"
Odin stopped again and gestured to one of the candles on the walls, "The flow of time is slippery and difficult to seize within the confines of these dark walls, and so the people within have conceived a complex system to aid them. The shades of these implements reveal the hour of the night- burgundy is the reaping hour, or rather, when one might be inclined to lay their haunted spirits to rest before retiring for the night. The restless flame has consumed as of yet half the wick, and such spirits would say that you should find rest before it burns out."
Corrin felt a brief stab of indignation, though he kept it suppressed, "That is to say, that you dragged me away from my reunion with my younger sister, because you believed it to be past my bedtime."
"No!" Odin appeared to be shocked and insulted himself by the accusation, "It is to say that ill omens lay on the horizon, and that the voices in the ether warn me that you ought to find rest!"
Corrin could not help but to cross his arms skeptically, "So yes."
Odin's face hardened for a moment, his face holding a degree of focus and seriousness he had not figured the man to be capable of, "Prince Corrin, there are occurrences at the moment that cause me great concern. I'd rather you be rested than not."
Corrin suppressed a shudder at the man's sudden change in demeanor, "And what are you concerned about?"
Odin nodded solemnly and placed a hand on Corrin's shoulder, and spoke with complete seriousness. "The many-faced serpent moves beneath the waves and consorts with spirits, the exalted blood has suffered one foul divination one time too many, and the corpses in these very walls- living and dead- are puppeted on silent strings towards the maw of destiny. Only time's cruel mistress can divine what is yet to be- though I predict a test of blood first. We are compelled by our fell blood to prepare nonetheless."
Corrin sighed, 'A manchild, this one. Living in a fantasy, such insane rambling.' But he had found himself lacking the energy to argue further. "Fine then."
Odin returned to his overly cheerful self without further prompting, "I see that Odin Dark is not the only one to seek the wisdom of the chosen spirits, it is always so exciting to meet another chosen of fate!" Odin spun on his heels, "Forward then, prince in the gray! We shall see what time holds in its foul clutches!"
Corrin sighed as he undid the final clasp of his armor, setting it beneath his bed. 'Why have I been separated from my retainers? It is inordinately difficult to reach the straps myself.' His accommodations had been gracious yes- a room every bit the size of the one he had enjoyed in the northern fortress, with furnishings far more luxurious than he had been provided in that fortress on the fringes of the civilized world; a fine hickory desk with several moving drawers, multiple chairs, a fine closet, a large window of the cleanest glass he could imagine, and a bed fit for a king.
Corrin donned the provided night linens and set about the room a final time, ensuring that all of his candles were lit and that his night stone was ready for whenever he was again summoned, and then lay down in his bed, waiting for the candles to burn themselves out, allowing himself to reflect on his situation- he was home, yes, with his family, and yet every bit as alone, and more so. He was not free, his cage and trappings had merely become more complex and insidious. A misstep could result in being sent back into a more obvious prison, or worse, cost one close to him. And that was to say nothings of the obligations that also held his family hostage.
It was not long after these realizations that the candles burnt out, leaving him alone in the dark. Corrin did not think for much longer, instead slipping into an uneasy slumber.
So….it's been a while. I uh, have no excuses, I had 90% of this chapter done months ago, but I couldn't figure out how to make a transition from this…filler garbage to the more important events that will be following it, and so instead moved onto other projects. I finally decided to revisit this after hitting the transition chapter between two arcs in my other main project, and I finally put my mind to figuring out he sequence of events for the remainder of the krakenburg arc, (that's what I'm calling it now, I guess), which should last another four or five chapters, though none of them will be so inane as this one. If ya remember me, well thanks for your patience. Now that I have things properly planned chapters should come more frequently- I'm going to given this work equal priority to my other two ongoing works, and cycle through them. That's all folks.
