Title: Spring in Winter
Pairing: Sain x Fiora
Word Count: 1149 (eek ;;)
Timeline: One year or so after the game.
Summary: Sain needs a have some sense knocked into him. Really.
Spoilers: The Sain x Fiora support ending.
Disclaimer: And Bob did sayeth, "Fire Emblem is the property of Nintendo and Intelligent Systems, and thou shalt not steal from them!" And it was so.
A/N: Rolling, rolling, rolling. I intended to do only one chapter but my Muse brained me good and hard. And thus this was born.

The attractive woman paced in front of the fireplace, its warmth only radiating a certain distance before the coldness from outside stole its comfort.

He was late.

True Ilia's unpredictable weather prevented anyone from having a set schedule since snowstorms often crept up unannounced. But he was really late.

She knew she should have kept him from leaving the house alone. Although her husband had lived in Ilia for over a year already he was still used to the hospitable weather of his native Lycia. Besides, he wasn't the sharpest lance in the pile; she worried about him constantly. Her family and friends did say she was a worrywart by nature, but still, she should have gone with him.

"I'm going to the market now, my sweet! Merchant Ross said our supplies are ready for us now. We wouldn't want to live through another snow storm while low on provisions, do we?" he had said with that roguish smile on his face. Barely stopping to get his thick hooded cloak and gloves, he had exited their residence with the promise of returning before lunch.

It was almost suppertime now.

"That's it!" Fiora declared fiercely to the empty room. "I'm going to look for him!"

Grabbing her own cloak, scarf, and mittens, she headed for the front door. Beside their home was the stable where Maia, her pegasus, resided. Though Sain had said he'd only go to the town at the foot of the mountain, it would be easier to look for him when she was in the skies.

Opening the door, she was surprised to have her way blocked by a snow-covered figure. It took her several long moments to realize it was her missing spouse.

"H-h-hello, F-f-f."

"Sain!" she said in disbelief. "What happened to you?"

Behind him she could see that the weather was overcast but calm. However he looked like he had just walked through a blizzard. His cloak was coated in snow and ice, and to her chagrin, she saw that his hair was similarly encrusted.

"Come in right this minute!" she said and pulled/dragged an unresisting paladin into their abode.

Firmly closing the door behind them, she led him to a chair in front of the hearth. He sat down with a relieved sigh and let the fire melt away the snow and his numbness.

Fiora just silently busied herself with divesting him of his soaked cloak and gloves. Holding his left hand in between her two palms she saw that his fingernails were blue. Looking upwards she noticed that his skin and lips were similarly coloured. He looked like he was three inches from freezing to death.

"Sain, what happened to you?" she couldn't forestall her question any longer. He had made a (relatively) simple trip to the market into some kind of harrowing adventure!

"Could I have some tea first, dear heart? I have this awful thirst," Sain gave her a pitiful look. "Please?"

"All right," she shook her head as she headed to the kitchen. Against her better judgment she left him alone and boiled the water for his tea. Honestly, she indulged him more than what was good for him.

Minutes later she served him his tea. Gratefully Sain took it from her and slowly savoured each blessedly hot drop. Fiora couldn't help but watch him as he drank, his expressions taking on an almost child-like glee. The Falcon Knight supposed that was what attracted her to him in the first place. He could take joy out of the simplest of things and then share that same joy with the person of his choosing. Of course he had a … flamboyant streak, especially amongst women. However she'd like to think she'd helped curtail that trait of his with reprimands, and on more than one occasion, physical threats.

With his tea done she squatted beside his chair, asking with only her blue eyes what he had been up to.

Settling more comfortably into his seat he began his tale.

"On my way to the market I met with Eban. You know Eban, right?"

"He's the local goat herder," she said dryly. This was her hometown after all so she knew everyone in it better than he did. Of course Sain had the knack of easy charm that made him friends with the townspeople quickly.

"Yes, that's him!" he grinned at her in approval. She barely checked the urge to roll her eyes.

"So I met Eban on my way to market. Since he gave us that bottle of goat's milk for free last time, it was only polite to chat with him for a while. We talked about the growing price of corn and the like. Did you know that there's a drought in Etruria right now?"

"Sain! The point if you please!" Fiora said. Honestly, he was being almost as chatty as Wil!

"Of course, my honey comb," he said, not intimidated in the least. "Eban mentioned that he saw some lovely wildflowers growing near the peak of Mt. Bryhm. His goats had uncovered them while they were grazing there a few days ago. Flowers don't grow often in Ilia, do they? I remember that the fields in Caelin were carpeted in flowers during spring and early summer."

"Sain."

That one word was warning enough.

"Right. So I decided to pick some for you," the paladin decided to come clean.

"What? You decided to go all the way to Mt. Bryhm to pick flowers?" she asked incredulously as she stood up.

Mt. Bryhm was notoriously foul-tempered and often ambushed unwary travelers with harsh snow squalls. To think Sain had walked to the peak to pick flowers almost put her into a frenzy of agitation and worry.

Seeing the look on her face he quickly bent over and picked something up from the floor. In a simple tin container was a bunch of tiny pink flowers. Fiora stared at them and thought that they were dainty and perfect and by God she was going to kill that man anyway …

"For you!" he hastily said as he shoved the makeshift vase into her hands.

She stared from the cup of flowers in her hands to the hopeful visage of her still wet husband.

Finally Fiora just closed her eyes and smiled. Bringing the flowers to her face she took a sniff.

"They're lovely, Sain," she smiled resignedly. Her simple admission caused a grin to bloom on his face that rivaled the flowers in beauty.

Setting her present down on the floor once more she kneeled in front of him and propped her arms on his lap. He leaned down and they exchanged a lingering kiss.

When they parted she looked into his shinning eyes and smiling face to ask, "so, did you pick up our food supply from Merchant Ross?"

Suddenly Sain wished he had more flowers to give his wife.

A/N: If case you're wondering Sain put the flowers in the tin cup while Fiora was making his tea. He asked for some as a distraction. Yeah. And I know Maia isn't the name of Fiora's pegasus in the game; it was some guy's name actually. The weird thing is in one of the conversations (can't remember which) one of the sisters said the pegasi they rode were mares so why would they have guy names? Hmm. Anyway let's just say Fiora got a new horsy then.