Chapter 11: Friendship

Severa paged idly through her book, stifling a yawn. She sat close to the small stove in the corner of her room, letting its warmth wash over her and the blanket that she had wrapped herself in. Her feet, covered by thick woolen socks, were crossed over each other and propped up on the small, low table in front of her. Training for the day was done, dinner was over, and she was finally free to relax.

She felt a sneeze coming on and quickly moved the book out of the line of fire. Despite her best efforts, she still had a bit of a cold. She'd boiled water for tea as soon as she got back to her room, but she'd been too absorbed in her book—a rousing chronicle of the Hero-King Marth's adventures—to actually follow through on making tea, and the kettle sat forgotten.

A knock on the door made her look up. "It's unlocked," she called. "You can come in."

The door opened, and Noire poked her head into the room. "Hi, Severa."

Severa tucked a scrap of paper between the pages to mark her place and set the book aside. "Noire! I wasn't expecting to see you until tomorrow, at least." She gestured invitingly towards the chair next to her.

"I know that the festival week doesn't technically start until tomorrow, but I thought it would be better if I was in town to begin with," said Noire, smiling shakily as she sat down. "Since I got here today, I was able to reserve a place to set up my stand."

"For your happiness charms?"

"And a couple of other things. I came over from the Shepherds' barracks with a whole cart full."

"Full of what, exactly?" said Severa, curious.

Noire shrugged, self-deprecatingly. "Nothing too fancy, and not my own ideas, anyway. I was looking around in my parents' old work-tomes to see if there was anything they'd been working on before the war. Trinkets, mostly: little cloth finger-wrappings with a warming hex to help with winter sewing, extra-flammable wooden blocks to get fires started, pendants to ward off sickness—"

Severa sneezed loudly into her sleeve. The younger woman jumped in surprise, then giggled. "Whew. Sounds like you should have bought yours a while ago."

"It's just a little cold," grumbled Severa. "Wipe that smile off…"

"Well, that wasn't just a little sneeze," said Noire. "Come on, Severa, you know that I can clear that sort of thing up in no time flat, don't you?"

"And have my hair turn inexplicably blue again?" said Severa, raising her eyebrows. Noire blushed.

"Oh, come on, that happened once, and I said I was sorry…"

Severa grinned. "I know, I'm just teasing you. But I'm fine. I have tea to drink." She gestured towards the kettle by way of proof.

"Your tea isn't going to instantly take care of your cold, is it?"

"Well, no, but it's not a big deal…"

"Severa, I've gotten really good at dealing with small illnesses; ask anyone in the Shepherds."

"I wouldn't want to trouble you—"

"It's no trouble at all, really—"

"Look, I'll just wait for it to clear up, and—"

"FOOL!" said Noire suddenly, making Severa jump. Her teeth were clenched, and her hands white-knuckled on the arms of her chair. "Would you let your pride prevail over COMMON SENSE, and traipse about the festival sniveling like a CHILD cheated of sweets?!" Severa could almost hear the wood creaking beneath Noire's grip as she leaned forward. "It would be an unseemly display indeed for someone who professes to serve the Exalt to go about dribbling like a BABY! Now still your objections and allow me to CAST THIS FOUL AFFLICTION FORTH!"

Severa blinked.

Noire slowly leaned back in her chair and put her head in her hands, turning crimson. "I… I'm so sorry, Severa, I just…" She peeked through her fingers at a noise from the other woman, seeing Severa shaking in her chair with both hands over her mouth, and sat bolt upright in confusion. "What are you—why are you laughing? What's so funny?"

Severa finally gave up stifling her laughter. "It's just… you were trying so hard to be nice that you got worked up about it! It's hilarious!"

"B-but I yelled at you! Loudly!"

"Yes, but you did it because you care," said Severa. "It's actually really nice to know how… um, passionate you can get." That set her off again, and after a moment, Noire started laughing too, far more heartily than her usual nervous giggle.

At last, with aching sides, Severa manged to get herself under control. She threw up her hands in surrender. "Fine, fine, I'll let you get rid of my cold for me. But we are still going to drink that tea. Together."

"Fair is fair," said Noire, still grinning broadly. "Anyway, after all the times that you took care of me back when we were younger, I need to start returning the favor."

Severa shifted in her chair. "All right, what do I need to do?"

"Just sit back and close your eyes. Father's hex will take care of the rest." Severa complied. She felt Noire's fingers at her temples, and heard her mutter a few words before hurriedly stepping aside.

It was just as well, since the hex prompted a sneeze so violent that Severa's chair rocked. She shook her head to clear it and looked at Noire. "Gods, Noire, that really works. I feel better already." She jumped to her feet, stretching. "Here, sit back down, I'll make the tea. The water should still be hot." As she stirred the water into two mugs and added the tea leaves, she glanced back over at Noire. "That hex must come in handy. How did your parents come up with it?"

"Actually, mother's notes said that they got the idea for the hex from your dad," said Noire. "Apparently, he said that he was so healthy, he could do away with a cold in one sneeze. Mother seriously doubted that was actually within human capability, but she and father did a bit of playing around with hexes to make it possible to induce that kind of thing."

Severa chuckled. "That sounds just like daddy." She handed Noire one of the mugs and sat back down with the other one.

The two sat quietly for a minute, letting their tea steep. Severa was the first one to break the silence. "I went to visit him not too long ago, actually."

"Your dad?"

"Yeah." Severa cradled her mug between her hands. "I hadn't been there since mom died. I hope he wasn't too lonely."

Noire gave her a gentle smile. "I think he understood that you had other responsibilities."

"I guess so. Daddy did always say that duty came first, after all."

"You do the whole 'duty' thing much better than I do," said Noire. "Enlisting in the pegasus knights and all that. Compared to you, I'm not doing much…"

Severa gestured with her mug. "Um, hello? Who was it that was just talking about her cart full of useful hexes?"

"Um, I—"

"It certainly wasn't me."

Noire shifted in her chair. "Well, I mean, I guess that's useful, but it's not really the same as what you're doing…"

"Look, Noire, can't you just take a compliment?"

"I… I guess?" Noire sniffed at her tea. "Mm, mint. My favorite."

"Don't change the subject," said Severa, waving a finger. "Daddy always told me that my duty was to find what I did best and do it to the best of my ability. So, by his logic, you're doing exactly what you're supposed to." She took a sip of her tea, satisfied that she had gotten her point across. Noire giggled.

"Bullying me into admitting my good points. That's just like you, Severa."

"Hmph," said Severa, blushing slightly. "If you're not going to, someone needs to."

"Well, actually…" Noire trailed off and hurriedly took a sip of her tea.

"'Well, actually' what?"

"Um, nothing," Noire said into her mug.

Severa smiled broadly, like a cat who has found a new toy. "It doesn't sound like it's nothing…"

"I-it's definitely nothing!" Noire's cheeks slowly darkened in embarrassment.

"It doesn't look like it's nothing…" Severa leaned forward eagerly. "Oh, come on, Noire, you can't leave me hanging like this!"

"I… um… oh, all right," said Noire. She took a deep breath. "Um, I've actually been writing letters to… someone else, recently. The letters I've gotten back do say things about my good points, and I… um…" Her fingers drummed nervously on her mug and she bobbed her head into several nervous nods. "Um, yes."

"Which someone else?" said Severa, almost on the edge of her seat by now. "Is it someone I would know? Have you been exchanging letters very long? Are you going to tell me, or do I have to guess?"

"It's… ummm…" Noire took a deep breath. "Yarne."

"Yarne? No way!" squealed Severa.

Noire grinned tentatively. "Yeah… he and I have always been a bit more—fragile?—than the rest of you. But he told me that he really admired how hard I tried to fight, no matter how scared I was. He said that inspired him to be a better person… to try harder, for the sake of everyone else." She looked into her mug of tea. "He said he wanted to be more like me… that's probably one of the best compliments I've ever gotten."

"Aww, you two are so sweet." Severa leaned back, shaking her head with a smile. "How long have you been… how did I not know about this?"

"Since just before we left for Plegia, actually," said Noire. "We didn't want to worry you and everyone else, so we kept it to ourselves."

"But the war's been done for months now! Why didn't you tell us afterward?"

"Um, we had planned to, but… well, he told me that I should probably still keep it a secret," Noire said.

Severa frowned. "A secret? Why?"

"You know how he's dealing with all of those conservationists, right?"

"I think I remember something like that being mentioned."

"Well, um, you see…" Noire's blush deepened. "Um, he wants to make sure that they don't start harassing me, too…"

"Why would they be harassing you?" said Severa, puzzled.

Noire, completely scarlet with embarrassment, rubbed at the back of her neck. "They want him to… 'propagate the noble taguel race,' I think he said?"

Severa, midway through a sip of tea, spluttered and sprayed it all over the floor in front of her and nearly shrieked with laughter.

"Wh-what?" demanded Noire shakily, clutching at her mug with both hands.

"Propagate the noble taguel race?' Oh gods, that's too much!" She slammed her mug onto the table and doubled over, cackling.

Noire blushed further. And when I thought it was impossible for her to get redder, she does anyway. "S-s-stop it!"

"I can't help it!" Severa gasped, clutching at her side. "It's too funny!"

"It's embarrassing!"

Severa took a deep breath. Okay, be serious. She managed to stop laughing for a few moments, but one look at Noire's mortified face—currently set in what was supposed to be a look of affronted dignity—set her off again. Nope, can't do it.

Noire struggled to maintain her own composure, but eventually her offended front cracked, and she began laughing as well.

It took a long while for both of them to calm down—mainly because every time that one of them got close to recovering, one look at the other would start the whole process over again—but at last they leaned back in their chairs, wiping tears of laughter from their eyes. Severa picked up her mug and took a long drink of the now-lukewarm tea.

"Two good laughs in one night," said Severa, still smiling. "That's a new record for me."

"Um... good?"

"Well, teasing aside, I'm happy for you," said Severa. "I think you two are a good match. You're good for each other."

Noire giggled. "Well, I'm glad that I got your approval." She drained her own tea in one long gulp and set down the mug. "Now, your turn to tell me about your love life."

"What, me? Don't be ridiculous," blustered Severa, waving her free hand. "I'm much too busy to be thinking about that sort of thing."

Noire's smirk was the mirror of Severa's from earlier. "It doesn't sound like you're too busy…"

Severa pulled up her blanket to cover her burning cheeks. "No, it's not—"

Noire's eyes glinted. "It doesn't look like you're too busy…"

The fact that she's repeating things I said myself makes it even worse… Severa glared at Noire. "Well… I have been busy."

"Busy with what?" Noire giggled. "Thinking about that special person?"

"Ugh, grow up."

"Not until you tell me what's going on…"

Severa crossed her arms huffily. "Gods, you're acting like a child."

"And I'll keep at it until you spill your secret. Come on, I promise I won't tell anyone else—"

"I told, you, there isn't anyone!"

"Oh, really—"

"Gods, will you just drop it?" Severa snapped. "It's not going to work out, anyway! Not all of us can have romances straight out of fables, you know!"

Noire gaped at her for a moment, then spoke up in a very small voice. "I… I'm sorry, Severa." She looked like she was about to cry.

All of Severa's frustration instantly evaporated. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have overreacted."

"I'm still sorry…"

Severa sighed. "How about this? We'll agree to forgive each other, even if we both think we're the only one who needs to apologize. Deal?"

Noire's mouth turned up slightly, shakily. "Deal."

"Gods, I can't stay mad at you for more than a second," said Severa with a rueful shake of her head. "Yelling at you is like kicking a puppy. While it's asleep."

Noire giggled. "Well, speaking of sleep… it is getting pretty late. I should go find the room that they prepared for me." She held up her mug. "Should I wash this, or…?"

"I'll take care of it later," said Severa, waving a hand. She got up to give Noire a hug good-bye. "Sleep well. See you tomorrow."

"Yeah," said Noire. As she reached the door, she turned back, her nervous smile turning mischievous. "You will let me know when you want to talk about your love life, right?"

Severa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Get going before I throw this at you." She brandished her mug grandly in the air.

"Goodnight!" said Noire. Then, with a giggle, she headed out of the room.

Severa sunk back into her chair as soon as Noire was gone. Well, it was nice to talk to her, even if I did mess it up in the end… She sighed, swishing around the dregs of the tea in the bottom of her mug. I shouldn't have gotten angry at her. Gods, I should have told her. It would be better than being the only one who knows…

She shook her head. Ugh, what am I thinking? That would just make it even worse. Gods forbid she get it into her head that me pursuing the Exalt is actually a good idea… Picking up her book, Severa headed over to bed.

She fell asleep halfway through a chapter, head pillowed on the open book.

Her dreams were full of flying.