Before Larsa's Capture

He lifts her hand ever so gently, his lips gracing the back of it as he leans downward. As tired as he may have been from today's earlier expedition, Larsa's weary legs were happy enough to guide him to his wife of four beloved years—he'd felt a tad guilty that he had to keep leaving her, all for the sake of raising some extra gil for their finances.

He'd come close today, a couple hours ago, to losing a limb. There had been a relatively strong fiend for a quest he'd taken up, but even so, it seems that he'd underestimated its strength. It had been a close call, but Larsa daresay it was an experience that allowed him to truly reflect on himself, about the life he'd carved. By him and Penelo. Just think, he could've lost a limb or even die today—he doesn't think he could ever manage to pass away knowing that he'd left her.

He… loves her.

Larsa has a hard time adjusting to being married and the life of domesticity. Not because he disliked her; having lost his mother (and not being able to remember her face) and father and brothers, it felt so empty in his heart. He loves all of his family, even if it didn't exactly go smoothly between them. His mother still brought him life to exist, his father had raised him with some of the finest tutors in the land of Archadia, and his brother had gifted him with his wisdom to survive in the world.

After meeting Penelo and having known her for a while… Larsa felt as though she filled up the gaping cracks in his heart, bit by bit. He'd stumble upon occasional tales in his study books that depicted love, romance, and he hadn't been quite sure how he had felt about them. They were, by all means, something civilians would deem under the term of cheesy or superficial, but they had also enabled Larsa to envision something of a once-upon-a-time for himself. A once-upon-a-time where he could also meet someone to fall in love with. He had, after all, been a prince by all things considered. He had once been a young boy: full of dreams and hopes and his faraway eyes could stare out his windows forever to dream of a world where Mother and Father are still alive, and Vayne was still able to smile at him and tell him sincere brotherly words.

Now, he is a man whose deceased family rests beneath his feet in aged soil, previously used for war battlefields. He is a man who sought his own way, even when he was still a child. He had been the boy who semi-gallivanted after famed Sky-Pirate-In-The-Making Vaan boasted of himself and Larsa had also been the same boy who fell in love with said pirate's best friend and married her.

Larsa quietly shuffles the papers in his hands, piling them up neatly as he walks the road back home. Some had been letters from dear friends and comrades. He is always the one to retrieve the mail most of the time—Rikken had told him it had something to do with being the man of the house and Larsa had been too weary to say anything back for a losing argument.

The dirt path he is on is worn-out and rugged, but also safe and quiet. The evening wind chills Larsa for a bit before he continues his trek home, hoping to submerge in the warmth of his home when he can reach the end of the road.

"I wonder what's keeping him…" someone back home says, concerned, and her blonde hair bounces nervously as she shifts on her feet.

Despite having been together for so long, Penelo still couldn't stop herself from getting worried when Larsa was a couple of hours late coming home. Even though they had remained hidden, tucked away safely in a niche end of Balfonheim and protected by Rikken and his gang, it doesn't stop Penelo from panicking and worrying that something might have happened. There was also that still small possibility that somebody out there would recognize Larsa's face and then it would be the end of the happy life that they had led for so many years.

So when she hears the jingle of the doorbell overheard announcing his arrival home, her heart soars and she tries to stop her heart from leaping out of her throat. Her hands are shaking just a tad as she walks down the steps of their home to meet Larsa.

Larsa stands upright, dropping the mail on a nearby table and cupping Penelo's face and letting his thumbs brush her cheeks, fondness coating his lips as she comes inside to look for him. "I have missed you," he tells her, softly and gently and lovingly, before connecting his lips to hers. He always did enjoy kissing her. Larsa found some solace in that; he likes to see her smile after he kisses her. She always looks best when she smiles with that winning smile befitting for a lovely dancer-slash-wife.

He's there, safe and sound without a trace of worry on his features. It makes Penelo relax. If anything had happened, she'd know. it would have been all over his face. His kiss was a gesture that surprised her. It wasn't like she was unaccustomed to kissing him, but… there was something in this one that made her wonder what exactly had happened today.

She's breathless after the kiss and places her hands on his shoulders. "I missed you, too. You're alright, though? You're not injured and trying to hide it, are you?"

Eyes with a slight twinkle, he fondly chuckles. "No, Penelo. I am perfectly fine." Her habit to worry over him is rather cute, he thinks. "If it will appease you, I will take a nap to recover my strength. The walk back home had been rather eventful today." He does not mention the craziness of today; that would be a story for another day. Instead, he smiles at her and takes the stack of letters back into his hand, gently holding two out to Penelo. "I believe this one is from Ashelia. Vaan's should be this one. Let us read them after dinner?"

"A letter from Vaan?" Her fingers close over the letters and she examines Vaan's closely. Ashe's letter had been the one she had been expecting. The two kept in close correspondence with one another as they had become close friends over the years after their travels together and their letters to one another contained their private thoughts and womanly secrets the two would take to the grave. Vaan, on the other hand, wasn't exactly the type to write letters, and he wasn't the type to send letters repeatedly like Ashe and Penelo. She also had not seen him in at least a year. The last she had heard was that he had gone off exploring some unknown location with Balthier and Fran, and while the two of them she had seen recently, Vaan was nowhere to be found. Trepidation laced her veins and she prayed that nothing happened to him. But then again, this is Vaan she is talking about.

"O-of course." Her mind is still distracted by thoughts of Vaan banged up and wounded somewhere, but the letter would have to wait until after dinner. "I'm glad you're alright. You know how I worry when you're away for so long." Sometimes it brought back thoughts of her brothers who never returned from the war or even her own parents who had died during that same war, never to return.

To distract her mind from the thoughts of their friend being potentially maimed (though knowing him, it was probably some postcard of him with cuts and bruises posing in front of some treasure), she says, "I know we've both been busy with work, but I was wondering. Perhaps this weekend we could take a little trip to the Cerobi Steppe?"

Though the Steppe contained ferocious beasts, it truly is a place of beauty. Over the years hunters had been able to maintain the number of beasts in some places so that traveling and visiting such places was more feasible. Some people even owned homes on the Steppe now, but they were nothing more than little huts. No one really wanted to build a town over such a beautiful expanse of land.

Penelo wants to visit the place, once more, but on a date with Larsa. Just the two of them. No one else and the Steppe was such a beautiful place. Maybe they could have a picnic too. Or perhaps this was all just wishful thinking on her part. Who knows when either of their jobs would take their time away from them?

Larsa goes to place the rest of the letters on a nearby table, making a mental note to pick it up after dinner. His lips curve into a smile at her and he easily says, "A little vacation of sorts? I do not see any harm to it. Recuperation is something easily ignored, but is greatly valued." He appears contemplative as he places his coat over the back of a chair. "We were both preoccupied as of lately, so this is an excellent idea, Penelo!"

And he will not admit it so profoundly, but he would also like the opportunity to spend time with her as well. Alas, Larsa hadn't been home that much lately due to the hunts he participates in for gil to keep the house running. Perhaps this is just what they need: a period of time for themselves to relax without having to fret over financial instability or worry about dying in a hunt or about whether or not Larsa is a step closer to a jail cell because of his heritage. Just a vacation between him and his wife. The idea is rather alluring.

Although, Larsa pauses in his self-thoughts as Penelo's face scrunches in slight concern. "Fret not, dear," he consolingly murmurs, watching her hold Vaan's letter. "Sky pirates like Vaan do not submit easily to trouble—for he is the one who instigates the trouble." One of Larsa's gloved hands gently strokes her hair. "On the way home, I had an exchange with Rikken. He had taken the liberty of informing me that Vaan is still out there. He and Kytes." He had not heard word of the girl—Filo?—though. Perhaps Rikken does not know her. "Now let us dine for tonight and then we could retire for an early sleep. We should be well-energized for our upcoming trip, no?"

Serenely, he kisses her forehead lovingly before retreating to the dining table and brings her with him by her fingers.