Corrin brushes up on her cartography. Sakura gets drafted into the party planning committee.

Corrin sat at her desk with sleep coloring her eyes. She read from a translation done in Leo's spidery handwriting, but the words drifted around the page on waves of tandem boredom and exhaustion. The harder she focused, the deeper the sentences sank into the tan tint of the paper. Her eyelids bobbed while the hand that held her head aloft slipped along the curvature of her skull. She dreamt a memory of swollen raspberries bleeding violet beneath a harsh, spring sun and a birthday over a decade passed. Then, her head fell from the steadying force of her hand and ricocheted against the hardwood of her desk.

"Ow," she moaned among the papers and the pens displaced from her untimely descent.

She summoned the strength to regain her posture, rubbed once at her smarting face, and then stood free of her desk. She moved to the mirror, squinting at the jut of her forehead for any signs of abuse, but the same face she'd always known stared back, unmarred and unblemished. Her hair hung in disorder so she pulled it back with the black ribbon she kept knotted around her wrist until it jutted from the cusp of her head in a single stream of curls. She forced herself to smile, but the expression was muddled by sleep and unease. Her chest was tight. She couldn't remember anything of her dream.

There was a solitary knock at the door as she returned to her desk.

"Lady Corrin?" Felicia's timid voice called from beyond the closed door. "You have a visitor."

"Let them in," she said, dogearing the passage she'd failed to finish. Leo's attached note, underlining the importance of her reading the sections he'd listed, glared up at her from the cover as she closed the text. She drew her hands against her scalp, pulling her brow from its natural curve. As the door squeaked open, she turned, setting her face and crossing her arms over her chest.

"I apologize for keeping you waiting," Xander said. He held a substantial tome aloft in his left hand. Its binding was hard leather, cracked and molded with age. A thin hand appeared to pull the door shut behind him. The candlelight flickered from the draft of the closing door.

"Don't worry about it," Corrin said with a shrug. "It gave me time to get some work done."

A stack of freshly signed requisitions attested to her productivity. In the morning, Jakob would deliver them to their respective recipients to be filled. Once, she had taken the time to personally deliver each, but, now, she barely had the time to review and sign off on them. It was getting harder not to define her days by the battles waged against the thralls beyond the gates or the beatings she took at the hands of Xander and her brother.

I barely have time to breathe.

Across from her, Xander opened the book and began to thumb thorough the pages. She leaned against the edge of her desk, watching the thin paper flip and bend as he searched. Soon, she sent her gaze drifting to the window, but there was nothing to see beyond barren limbs and endless night.

When, finally, he found what he searched for, he came to her side and then laid the open text atop the mess of papers on her desk. She turned to stare at the world inked across two pages by a steady, experienced hand. Cities and landmarks were labeled in Vallite, but the drawing itself needed no translation.

Valla, she thought, tracing mountain ranges and tributaries with greedy eyes.

"Where did you find this?" she demanded.

"Peri found it hidden within one of the eroded embrasures on the battlements."

Corrin tore her gaze from the map. There wasn't a ghost of a joke on his face, but she still asked, "What?"

"She showed me where she found it. It had been covered with rubble so it wouldn't be seen."

Her suspicions went immediately to the mad scout, but it seemed a stretch. It was possible that it stowed away before they'd ever arrived, but the leather binding was too well preserved for it to have been out in the elements for so long.

"That's not good," Corrin said and then said nothing else, knowing that anything further would be a betrayal of everything she'd been forced to keep secret even though the weight of them was liable to break her back.

If he has suspicions, then he can name them.

But he didn't say anything further on the subject and her spine tingled with a passing chill as his veiled eyes roved her face.

"Have you kept in contact with the boy from the village?" he asked.

Her tension dissolved across her back. She'd had the same thought, once, but Anthony was only a boy and had done nothing to rouse her suspicions further.

"Between training and meetings, I've barely had the time to talk to anyone," she said.

Xander nodded and announced, "I believe he may be the culprit, but I have nothing to hold against him beyond his homeland. I'd like to question him, given your discretion."

Corrin saw his words for what they were, knowing that he would do what he saw fit with or without her blessing, but she took them as an olive branch, a formal cessation to the antagonism that had plagued them for far too long.

"That's fine. Let me know what if you learn anything."

Then, she returned her attention to the map, scanning the towns and matching them with the rough approximations the scouts had given her of the ruins around them that she'd tacked to the wall before her. At a quick glance, they all seemed to match, but that left much of the country left unaccounted for.

We've barely scratched the surface.

Gloom darkened her gaze so she bit her lip and continued to scan the map. Xander was silent beside her, but she didn't glance at him.

Eventually, her malaise lifted as she caught sight of a city hiding in the far-left corner. It was larger than the others, lying severed at the edge of the page in its massive scope, but its size wasn't what held her attention. It was lovingly detailed, seemingly every window and brick accounted for, and it was these details that were familiar to Corrin. She moved from her desk just as Xander said, "Felicia said you haven't eaten."

Corrin stopped midstride, turning to stare in unabashed confusion. There was a wisp of smirk on his mouth.

"She asked me to chastise you for it."

She rolled her eyes and then returned to her previous intentions before saying, "She must have mistaken you for Gunter."

Her bookcase stretched before her. She began to rummage through the books and papers housed on the shelf directly in front of her.

"She's concerned," Xander said.

"She doesn't need to be," Corrin shot back. "I've just been busy."

Her search proved fruitless so she stepped back, taking the bookshelf in in its entirety.

"You could've sent for dinner."

Why does it even matter? she wanted to huff, but dealing with her overbearing retainers had taught her that picking a fight wouldn't solve anything.

"Mess hall was closed by the time I got back."

"Closed for dinner maybe, but, by your own orders, you still would have been fed."

He spoke of her orders to keep the mess hall forever manned, in case of hungry stragglers or overslept diners. It had proven quite the sticking point when she'd first announced it because it took able bodies from other, more important duties. He and Ryoma had been its most vocal opponents.

Because of course they were, she remembered.

"I didn't want to bother them," she said just as she caught sight of the folder she sought. It jutted from the second highest shelf, teasing her with its impossible height.

Then, the door scooched open and Corrin spun to discover Felicia's strawberry head poking through.

"Not that I've been eavesdropping," Felicia announced, "but she had them make dinner for Kana, even though he said he wasn't hungry."

It was no secret that Corrin had taken Kana under her wing. With all the insanity that continued to unfold around them, the freak dragon attack had long since faded from memory and her overwhelming panic at the thought of him had been subdued by a fierce responsibility over him.

And Felicia uses him against me any chance she gets, Corrin thought as she protested, "That's different!"

"Nope, you wanted him to eat because you care about him and I want you to eat for the same reason," Felicia said, raising the final syllable into a singsonging goodbye as she closed the door.

"Are your retainers as annoying as mine?" Corrin questioned. Dripping irritation from every word as she rolled up onto her toes and stretched for the folder.

"Yes," Xander answered. His footsteps heralded his approach and then he was reaching up and grabbing it with complete ease. He handed it to her and she snatched it away, huffing, "I could've gotten it."

"How?"

An inkling of how ridiculous she must have looked burst across her thoughts. She blushed, but embraced her embarrassment with a humble assertion of, "I have a step stool."

His laugh bid her embarrassment to deepen. She glared as rummaged through the papers and her annoyance kept her from dwelling on the horrors scrawled upon each.

"Why did you keep those?" Xander asked, but she ignored him as her fingers finally flipped across the sketch she searched for.

It was a recent sketch, penned by the mad scout before her untimely juncture with the business end of Yato, and its mundaneness was what had set it apart from all the others. Drawn in scribbled lines, a staircase surrounded by clouds and stars vaulted up to a grand door. It seemed more a hazy daydream than a waking nightmare.

Corrin took the sketch from the folder, laying the folder back on the bookcase, and then returned to her desk. She smoothed the sketch out atop the map, aligning it with the intricate city that fell off the map. The great similarity seemed a great coincidence.

"Look at this," Corrin commanded, taking a step away from her desk and pointing.

He came to her side, trading his gaze between the map and the scouted ruins tacked to the wall. As the moments dripped, she became aware of how close he stood and flinched in uncomfortable realization. She felt a blush mounting as she watched him cross his arms and shifted his weight so that he leaned away.

Why did I do that?

She bit her lip, but no answer revealed itself so she continued to endure the awkward silence until Xander asked, "Do you think that's where Anankos is hiding?"

Corrin shrugged.

"I'd say it's our best bet."

Xander reached out, moving the sketch from the surface of the map so that the Vallite title was visible beneath the inked city.

"It'd be an even better bet if we could read it."

"Did you ask Azura to translate?"

He hesitated in responding. Any mention of Azura, which she'd begun to make often, was met with hesitation. He was always unwilling to broach the subject of their estranged stepsister.

Or unable.

"I thought that was best left to you," he said.

She nodded. Then, slowly, easing into the subject with gentle cadence, she said, "You know, it hasn't been easy for her, seeing Arete back from the dead and all."

They had battled the undead only two days prior in a sea of floating islands and falling bridges. Arete had led them, barking orders out to the infernal ranks, and then had slipped away into the mist when the tide of battle had turned against her forces. She hadn't been seen since and Azura had yet to mention the encounter, but Corrin knew it weighed heavily on her and on them all.

If one parent can return as an undead thrall, they all can.

Corrin shook the thought from her head as muted conversation bled through the closed door. Xander said nothing so she continued, "I think she'd appreciate hearing from you. She is your sister after all."

Xander sighed.

"I wish it were that simple, but our relationship has never been th—"

He trailed off as the door swung open and Felicia announced, "Lady Azura is here to see you. I told her you were busy, but she's insistent."

Corrin glanced at Xander, but the honest emotion had waned from his face.

Before she could say anything, he moved for the door, announcing, "I'll take my leave."

Then, he paused in his stride, turned to her, and added, "If you get the chance, I'd like to continue this conversation later."

"Sure," she said with a nod. Then, he left, offering a curt nod to Azura as she came in. Azura stared at his retreating figure and then, as Felicia shut the door, turned with her eyebrows bunched and her lips pursed.

"What was that all about?" she asked. There was an edge to her voice, but Corrin could only place it somewhere between confusion and suspicion.

"He found a map of Valla," she said lamely. Then, as Azura's stare verged on another question, Corrin asked, "Any chance you can read it?"

Azura shrugged. Her playful expression fell. She walked to the desk, saying, "I can try."

Corrin removed the sketch so that Azura had a completely unimpeded view. Azura stared at it and Corrin watched her golden eyes flick to each labelled illustration. It wasn't long before Azura sighed.

"I don't recognize any… Wait!"

She pointed to a small blurb of text within the bolded title at the bottom of the map.

"Touma. That was my mother's surname, the name given to the royal line."

Corrin stared at the small word, but couldn't decipher how the sounds were pulled from the shapes. She wrote the pronunciation out beneath it in hasty script and thought, Vallite looks like Hoshidian kanji went through a tornado.

"And I can't read anything else," Azura admitted with an airy laugh.

"No worries," Corrin said as she laid the sketch parallel with the map once more. Then, she turned to lean against the desk so that the wood bit into the flesh of her thigh and asked, "What is it that you stopped by for?"

Hesitancy surfaced in a quiver of Azura's jaw. She tucked a winding strand of her hair behind her ear. She mumbled something, but it was too low for even Corrin's expert hearing.

"What?" Corrin prompted.

Azura moved her mouth like she was chewing the words to get a grip on them. Then, she mumbled, "Laslow sent me a letter."

Corrin crossed her arms and shifted her weight. Azura stared at her expectantly, but the pieces didn't fall into place.

"Why would he do that?"

A blush dusted across the smooth olive of Azura's face. Something twinged in Corrin's chest, but she ignored it to gasp in mock scandal, "Azura!"

The other girl threw her hands up over her face as her face continued to pinken and rambled, "I was going to tell you, I promise, but you've been so busy and I didn't want to bother you but now he's gone and sent me this, this… letter and I don't know what to do with it!"

Azura's disarray made Corrin smile despite the realization that it had been over a month since she'd last spoken to Azura about anything beyond the threat of Anankos. She certainly hadn't had any inkling of a relationship brewing between her and Laslow. In fact, Corrin hadn't any inkling that Laslow had the capacity for anything but chasing skirts.

"Well, what's the letter say?"

Azura sighed. Her hands fell away from her face.

"I don't know."

"You haven't opened it?"

"No! I got it and I put it on my bed and I freaked out and I came here!"

Corrin smirked. She said, "You've got it bad."

Azura's pacing stopped. Her distraught expression morphed into a glare.

"Oh, like you weren't this anxious when you didn't know whether or not Silas had an interest in you."

Only in the moment before he'd confessed, she thought, but she didn't know what that meant so she said, "I mean, I guess I was."

Azura eyed her, unimpressed. Corrin dug her fingers into the underside of her arm, pretending that she had an itch.

She knew her answer was lame, lacking the excitement and happiness that encapsulated the memory, but her relationship with Silas had felt lame recently. Each time they were together, which was becoming a rarer and rarer occasion, she could only hear Elise's bright voice saying, Silas said you've changed a lot and he doesn't know if that's a good thing.

He didn't look at her the same way anymore.

"I just don't want to be disappointed," Azura said.

Corrin smiled in sympathy. She asked, "Well, what makes you think he cares for you?"

"I don't know. Most of the times, I think I'm crazy and that I don't hold any special meaning in his heart, but, sometimes, his touches linger and his words are so veiled and shy and…"

Azura dropped her gaze to the floor. Corrin watched the candlelight dance in her eyes as she knit her long, honey fingers together. Her confident voice became little more than a whisper, the information given an intimate secret.

"Sometimes, I catch him looking at me and I just get this little kick in my chest like… like I don't know, like we're connected or something."

Azura's confession stuck in the meat of her side, thinning the blood and wringing her muscles tight and tense. Her eyes were dry and wide and she wanted to bless them with the dark of her eyelids but Azura was blushing and Corrin formed words before she formed the honesty to diagnose her bout of immobility so she said, "I think you need to read that letter, Azura."

Slowly, Azura lifted her chin. She stared with her mouth set in a soft line. She nodded.

"You're right. I… thank you."

Then, Azura stepped forward and Corrin found herself wrapped in a tight hug. She disentangled her arms to return the hug. Azura smelled like the renewal of spring rain. Corrin thought, I should tell her about the scout.

But she didn't.

"I've missed our daily tea," Azura said as she drew back. Corrin nodded and crossed her arms over her chest again, adding to the distance between then.

"I have too," Corrin said. Then, she sighed, "Everything's just been so insane lately."

And it had been so insane lately. Every day that wasn't spent sparring and training and planning was spent out in the wilds of Valla, conquering land and fear alike. Every night was spent alone with her thoughts until Orochi came and she had to share them. She didn't know why Orochi even bothered to come anymore. Her last restful night felt like it was years past.

"I know," Azura said, "but you don't have to go through it alone. I'm here for you. We're all here for you."

Corrin knew Azura meant well, but her words were accusations that swelled in the open air.

You can't earn their trust by betraying it, Corrin thought but it sounded more like Silas' voice than her own.

"Thank you," Corrin said. It was the only thing she could unstick from her tongue.

Azura's smile wavered and Corrin feared its dissipation.

If she asks, I'll burst.

But Azura didn't. She just said, "If you have time, I'm always free," and then she saying goodbye and Corrin was saying, "Let me know what Laslow said," and then the door was opening and then it was closing again and then Azura was gone.

Corrin deflated, moving in the silence until she stood sloped and small. She touched her hand to the hollow of her throat. Her pointer finger traced the smooth curve of the dragonstone. It seemed heavier now, a constant weight against her throat. She curled her fingers around its cool, hard surface, peeling it from her skin and holding it clenched in hand. The jagged teeth of its chain bit into the soft nape of her neck.

One day, it'll all be over.

The dragonstone swung back into its resting place as she let her hand fall away. She sighed, pushing the air up so that it jostled the baby hairs twisting from her hairline. She turned to her desk and to the bared map that lay atop it. She ran her fingers over the crown of her skull and then pulled the chair free before descending into it.

Her left leg throbbed so she rubbed at the thick, ropey scar that lay across her thigh beneath the thin fabric of her pants. Then, she retrieved the translation text she'd been working through and began reading it anew.

Sakura sat atop a bedspread that wasn't hers. A plush decorative pillow separated her spine from the wall. Her legs ached, but she didn't move. Her sister sat beside her, nursing a bottomless glass of wine that she sipped and refilled as she saw fit. Camilla occupied a chair in front of them while Beruka was a shadow by the window. The air smelled like rotted roses.

I want to go to bed, Sakura thought.

"All I'm saying is that creepy little dolls might not make the best decorations," Hinoka said. The creepy little dolls to which Hinoka referred were held in Camilla's hand and strewn throughout the room, clashing with the decadence of the plush, plum colored rug hiding the wooden floor and the filigreed gold-rimmed mirror that stood in the corner.

Sakura's first thought upon entering the Nohrian's room had been, Where did she get all this stuff from?

"They're tradition, darling," Camilla said. She smiled through her full lips, but it didn't reach her eyes. Sakura watched her manicured thumb and forefinger strain white around the doll's feeble throat. From what Sakura could tell, the dolls were made from strands of wheat tied together and then painted with smiling faces and rosy cheeks.

"Not in Hoshido," Hinoka said. Then, she finished off the rest of her glass and nudged Sakura to pass her the bottle from the nightstand. Sakura did without hesitation.

"Maybe, we could just use the ones we already have and make some other decorations too?" Elise peeped from her chair in the far corner, across from the mirror. She'd been sequestered there long before Hinoka had dragged Sakura to Camilla's. Sakura did her best not to look at her, but she caught glimpses of golden pigtails and half-lidded eyes in the mirror regardless.

"Yeah, that's good! The best of both worlds!" Hinoka said, extending the bottle to Camilla who set down the doll to top off her glass. The doll's flat, black eyes stared out at Sakura from above its frozen, grinning mouth.

"I suppose I can live with that," Camilla sighed, crossing her legs at the ankle between the legs of her chair.

On the notepad Camilla had given her, Sakura scrawled a check mark by the words Wheat dolls. Above it spanned a list of things from the selected entrée and the musicians of choice to the dress code and the planned activities. The decorations were the only aspect left in need of discussion. Harvest celebration encompassed the top line surrounded by doodles of butterflies and skeletons. Though she'd been tasked with documenting their discussion and agreements, Sakura thought the whole thing was pointless.

The harvest was over a month ago, she thought.

"Oh, Elise!" Camilla cooed. "Do you remember those flower garlands you made for Leo's birthday three years ago? Do you think you could make those?"

In the mirror, Elise's profile was somber. Sakura couldn't remember the last time they'd spoken.

With a shake of her head, Elise said, "It's winter, Camilla."

"Drat!"

Camilla slapped her hand against the table at her side. Sakura startled, shaking the bed and her sister's arm. The burgundy wine sloshed in the glass, leaving bloody imprints on the crystal. Hinoka levelled her with a temperate glare. The puff of her cheeks was tinted a hazy pink.

"Maybe we could do centerpieces instead?" Elise suggested.

Sakura wrote Centerpieces on a fresh line. The past three hours had taught her that most of Elise's suggestions were quickly taken up. It was the only thing the past three hours had taught her. The entire planning session had been spent listening to Camilla and Elise go back and forth with Hinoka interjecting disagreeably whenever she could. Sakura hadn't said a word. She didn't know anything about party planning.

But neither does Hinoka.

Sakura still couldn't wrap her head around Corrin asking Camilla and Hinoka to plan a "celebration to boost morale." It was either a ham-fisted attempt to foster amnesty or she truly didn't know Hinoka at all.

Hinoka's pegasus probably knows more about planning a party than she does¸ Sakura thought as her wrist curved to begin her newest doodle of a split glass of wine.

"I like that," Camilla said. Hinoka shrugged. Sakura drew another check mark as Elise began to suggest specific ideas for centerpieces. Sakura stopped listening. She began to doodle a bird.

"Do you think Corrin will like that?" Elise asked after Camilla suggested tiny, woven dragons as centerpieces.

"Do you think Corrin will even have the time?" Hinoka muttered into her wine. Sakura slowed in sketching the bird's feet, simultaneously staring at her sister in surprise at the admission and bracing for Camilla's vehement response. She'd once witnessed the woman harangue an unsuspecting priestess who'd complained about Corrin's frequent inspections of the infirmary for a solid hour.

But Camilla only sighed.

"I hope she will, but I can't say that I'm hopeful," she said. "The only times I ever hear from her are at war councils or through my brother."

Sakura watched Elise's ponytails bounce in solemn agreement. Then, Hinoka shifted on the bed, twisting her legs underneath her and bumping Sakura's arm as she announced, "It's the same for me. If it weren't for Ryoma's updates, I'd forget she existed."

No, you wouldn't, Sakura thought, remembering the years spent lamenting a sister who had been stolen. But she understood where Hinoka was coming from.

Across from her, Camilla lifted her glass to Hinoka, saying, "I'll drink to that. And even the tidbits Xander passes on fail to paint a full picture. I asked him how her and Silas are doing and he said he hears more about their relationship from Silas than from her!"

Sakura remembered the fight between Corrin and Silas in the aftermath of the possessed scout. The anger in their voices still colored her thoughts.

Hinoka leaned forward, taking a drink from her glass as Camilla did the same before saying, "Right? I asked Ryoma the same thing and he just shrugged and said she doesn't talk about it! Like, okay, she doesn't talk about it, but you're her brother! Ask her!"

Sakura began to doodle again, but her lines were shaky and uneven. She thought, What about Takumi? When's the last time you heard from him?

Then, she stared down at the haphazard mess of lines that had once been a bird and thought, I haven't heard from him in a while.

The last time she'd even seen him, beyond the expected meals and meetings, was two weeks passed. She'd watched him from her window, high above the courtyard, as he headed for the arena in the dead of night. She'd tried asking him about it at breakfast the next day, but he'd just shrugged.

And I didn't push him.

She'd thought about going to his retainers, but Hinata was fiercely defensive and Oboro was just plain intimidating. She feared they would both take her questions as accusations of failure.

From the corner, in a low voice, Elise announced, "I don't know how they're relationship's going, but Silas said he's worried about how much Corrin's changed."

Sakura felt her stomach knot. She watched her sister's face slacken and her free hand clench as Camilla gasped, "That weasel! Corrin doesn't know, does she?"

The mirror reflected Elise's wince.

"Oh, Elise!" Camilla sighed as Elise cried, "Xander asked me to!"

"Oh, what does he know?" Hinoka huffed and, though her statement was received as a passing commentary on men, Sakura could tell from the oily edge to her voice that it stemmed from the many times she'd butt heads with him during war council.

"Next time, you come to me, Elise," Camilla said, nodding to Elise. "Xander may mean well, but that doesn't mean he does well."

"You wouldn't have told her?" Hinoka intoned, finishing off the last of her wine. She didn't reach for the bottle. It was empty.

Camilla straightened her back, answering, "No, I wouldn't have. Not initially. There's no need to upset her prematurely."

Hinoka hummed low in her throat. Sakura was proud of her for suppressing her disagreement.

"But Camilla," Elise said, "you don't even like Silas."

Sakura laid her pen flat against the paper. Her urge to doodle had passed. She longed for the comfort of her bed.

"I don't mind Silas," Camilla said. "And besides, given all the other eligible bachelors, he's certainly the best fit for her."

Subaki would be in heaven, Sakura thought. Her retainer collected and shared gossip more than anyone else she had ever met, or even heard of. The topic of her sister's relationship was one of his favorites if only because it garnered the most attention from any given group of people.

"I'm not so sure about that," Hinoka chimed. "There are plenty of others who'd be good for her."

Camilla's face soured, but only around the edges of her eyes.

Please don't start a fight, Sakura pleaded with her eyes, but Hinoka didn't look at her. She squared her shoulders and said, "Subaki."

Sakura winched. Not only was there no worse suggestion in the world than Corrin and Subaki, but Subaki was one of the few constants in her life. Sometimes, it felt like he and Hana were the only people she could rely on.

"You honestly think Corrin could stomach that gossip's constant twittering?" Camilla asked, fanning her hand before her and making a show of examining her nails.

Sakura wanted to take offense, but Camilla was right. Subaki did twitter. Constantly.

Hinoka hummed, seemingly coming to a similar conclusion, and suggested instead, "Hinata then."

Camilla tsked, shaking her head.

"He's fine by day, but a sloppy drunk by night."

"Damn, you're right," Hinoka conceded with a scowl. "Well, how about Saizo?"

Sakura frowned at her sister.

Saizo? she wanted to question. Do you even know Corrin at all?

Camilla hid a laugh behind her hand, saying, "That grump? He isn't even capable of having friends let alone a girlfriend."

Sakura watched her sister's eyebrows flatten as she announced, "He and Kagero had a thing for a while."

"He and Kagero?" Camilla exclaimed, leaning forward ever so slightly. "What was she thinking?"

Hinoka shrugged, a begrudging smile on her lips.

"Who knows, but she's with my brother now so clearly her taste in men is abysmal."

Camilla laughed. Sakura had no idea what was happening. It seemed like only yesterday that Camilla had been screaming and spitting in Hinoka's face. Now, they were bantering like old friends. She glanced at Elise's reflection but found lavender eyes staring back at her. She hung her head and pretended to read over her list.

"Okay, so Subaki and Hinata are off the table and Saizo is a miser, but what about Kaden? He and Corrin have a similar personality," Hinoka insisted.

"Good gods, think of the children, Hinoka!" Camilla cried, voice shrill with dramatic alarm. Hinoka slung her arms across her chest and chuckled.

Sakura had to swallow her surprise so that it didn't spill out onto her face, but it wasn't an altogether unpleasant feeling.

If they can put their differences aside, maybe Elise and I can too.

But then Elise was piping up from the corner, hesitantly suggesting, "What about Xander?"

Sakura's stomach tightened into a fist as Camilla laughed a cold, chittering laugh that wrinkled her face and sputtered, "Oh, absolutely not!" and Hinoka's face darkened to rival the meanest storm cloud and spat, "Hell no."

Then, Hinoka and Camilla glared at each other. Whatever their reasonings were, they didn't share them. The burgeoning friendliness had dissipated. Their animosity sucked all the air from the room. Sakura saw Elise's reflection wilt. Her eyes were liquidous. Her face was wrought tight with worry lines carving divots into her flesh.

Why did you ask that? Sakura wanted to ask her, but the possible answers turned her insides to poison. She already feared the future after the war, after Anankos, and the damage Corrin could enact.

She turned from both of us in the war, Sakura thought as her chest constricted, but she'll have to choose a side eventually.

"We were talking about centerpieces?" Camilla said, coolly. Beruka loomed by the window, making her presence known for the first time since Sakura had arrived.

Sakura took up the pen once more. She set fire to all her doodles, wreathing them in cartoon flame. She wanted to go to bed and sleep for a millennia.

A/N: Hi all, planning to start updating regularly again. Sorry for the delay to any who are still reading.
I've taken quite a few liberties with Hinoka's character simply because I never really got a feel for her in game. The same goes for Azura, but I've aimed to write her with the same canon personality, just more of it lol. We get so little from Azura when shes arguably the most important character and I've just never understood that decision. Or the decision to make Corrin the player character. Azura is infinitely more interesting given her history & lived experiences where as Corrin is just an amnesiac dragon with the power of Naivety and Friendship on their side. But I digress.
I hope y'all enjoy!