Chapter 6: A Duel Beneath the Cherry Blossoms

Summary: Mercedes has been summoned to the new Queen's side, but the trail brings them to some old, harsh memories. (Also including a lighthearted and sexy B-plot because the main one was heavy)

Dawn had already broken when Shamir awoke, stirring and rolling over before cursing and pulling a pillow over her head. She was normally a very serious, professional woman, but early summer mornings were not for her.

There was a voice from outside of her tent, but she waved it off before pulling the pillow off and opening her eyes. Above her stood Catherine whose head was in the flap and who smiled down at her.

"Good morning sleepy head." She teased gently.

Shamir didn't dignify that with a response, instead slowly rolling onto her feet and crawling towards the woman and pushing past out into the small campsite, where their clients were seated and eating some of the lamb and potatoes in tomato sauce that the women had stewed the night before.

"Good morning!" It was that cheerful woman, Mercedes. She had recognized her from the academy when the order had come down from the new Archbishop to escort her back to Garreg Mach.

She mumbled something in response, fixed her hair and then ladled herself a helping of the stew, tired eyes glancing around their encampment. The boy was missing but he often left before returning a few hours later, usually with the day's catch.

Catherine had already eaten and was working on cleaning up after the camp, packing away their tents and cooking equipment onto the pack horse. They had put Bergliez behind them by some miles and the capital of the new kingdom wasn't far off, a destination that Shamir would be thankful to find.

"Just about ready." Catherine nodded at them as she loaded some of the last of the gear. "Clean your bowls and let's get on with it."

"The boy's still not here." Shamir noted dryly.

"When is he ever here?" Catherine responded dryly. "As long as we all make it to Garreg Mach, I suppose he can run off on whatever adventures he wants."

Mercedes made a soft noise, then cleared her throat, making the two women look over at her. "U-um, Felix is looking ahead on one of my errands, actually. I'm terribly sorry, but we need to make a small detour in the last few miles before leave Fort Merceus too far behind."

"Another detour?" Catherine inquired.

"Just a small one!" She promised. "There's a large Imperial graveyard up the road, partly runs into the woods. There's… someone special there, someone I want to leave some flowers for before we leave it behind."

Great, Shamir thought. As if they weren't far enough behind as it was.

"Well, make it quick." Catherine instructed her, and shortly their bowls were packed and the three women were riding on their carriage towards the mountains once more, Catherine at the helm and Shamir riding next to her with her bow in her lap.

They rode in silence for a long while until Catherine looked back on the fortress that was fading back in the distance, then over to Shamir. "Thunderbrand and I were the first over the walls, right next to Caspar when he went looking to reclaim his little throne. I didn't see you, though."

"I didn't get a chance to be there." Shamir responded without intonation. "We spent the whole time scouting across to make sure the Death Knight didn't ambush us with his cavalry regiments… of course, that didn't work too well when he was inside, waiting for us."

"Right, right." Catherine nodded, then glanced back at their passenger. "Mercedes, you and Felix were there with the Archbishop, right?"

Mercedes looked uncertain, turning slightly pale before looking down. "I-I was, yes. It was a… messy affair."

"Is that where you lost someone?" Catherine inquired, and was met by silence. "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked. We lost people in the war, too many to count, all of them good to the man."

"So was mine." Her voice was somber and soon she signaled for them to stop at the graveyard beside a stream leading into the forest.

"A pleasant place to spend eternity." Catherine suggested, and Mercedes gave them her thanks and a promise to return soon. "Shall we come with you?"

"No." Mercedes shook her head. "It won't be long."

She departed and Shamir sighed, leaning back in her seat. "Strange place to build a graveyard."

"The new Archbishop wanted to honor the soldiers of the old war, give them a quiet and peaceful place to stay. I suppose that extends to the dead as well as the living."

"The new Archbishop." Shamir reflected. "I hardly thought I'd be serving someone new in the role, not after Rhea fell."

"Why did you?"

Shamir looked over at her and chuckled. "Because you wanted to. Because I'm not leaving your side, and you were so damnably set on it."

Catherine chuckled. "All for little old me?"

"Oh shut it." She smiled a little. "You can't still be afraid of me running out on you again."

"Oh, I don't know." She teased. "What if you get it into your head that you want to go back to Dagda, leave me all alone in the world?"

Shamir smiled wickedly at her. "If you wanted me to stay, you would stop turning down my offers of marriage, damnit."

"What, you got a ring ready?" Catherine shot back at her with a laugh on her lips.

"One day I'm going to, and then you're going to have to say yes."

"Maybe." She said, pretending to be thoughtful. "Or maybe I'll surprise you for once and be the first to bring one. Be the one full of surprises for once."

"Oh no." Shamir laughed. "You don't get to pull that trick, or I swear I'll flay you alive for taking the opportunity from me."

"When is proposing to me going to get old, Shamir?" She curled her lips into a smile. "Or playing word games? All the surprises you try to pull?"

"I've got enough surprises for a thousand years." She chuckled defiantly.

"I don't believe that." Catherine stated bluntly.

"Watch me."

Shamir's lips curled more right before she pressed her lips to Catherine's, who giggled and pressed back. What she hadn't expected, however, was the deft hand darting towards the hem of the knight's pants.

"W-whoa." Catherine's hands desperately went to stop the invasive hand even as her face turned redder than a tomato. "Okay, okay, point made."

"What's the matter?" Shamir grinned, her voice even-toned. "Your mouth sure stopped running in a hurry."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, point taken, but we can't do those sorts of things in public, let alone a graveyard of all places."

"You sure?" Shamir kissed at her ear. "No one's here, and it's a lovely place to touch you." She began to whisper. "Are you sure you are ready to lose so fast?"

That got a reaction, and the stronger, blessed woman's length began to harden. "Oh-hoh." Catherine's lips curled. "You really want to play that game, pretty girl?" Shamir smiled back at her before pushing her hand at the hem once again, Catherine's hand slacking without letting go. "These types of games might end up with you being nine-months along and getting speared three times a night."

"I always was good at taking a hit." She unzipped Catherine's pants and pulled the thick, perfect length out, her nails dragging along it.

"F-fuck…" She gasped. "A-alright. You want to play that game? Fine. Be a slut, just be a good one." With that, she grasped the back of Shamir's head and forced her down to her cock, her strong muscles leaving no room for argument even if the other woman had been inclined in any way.

Shamir wrapped her lips around it and accepted a rough fucking by the much bigger woman, her thick cock filling out her throat without any mercy. She chuckled deep within as she took it, knowing that she ultimately had gotten the better of Catherine's discipline.

"Just like that." The knight growled at her. "You got yourself into this, cutie. Now you get to take care of it."

Catherine gave her just enough room to breathe even as she used her like a toy, throughly using her until a thick load of burning hot cum passed her lips and down her throat.

Shamir began to move her head back before being forced back down, finding her partner still quite erect. "Not done with you." She whispered. "Keep sucking."

Now Shamir began to let out small moans as she found her lover's virility quite pleasing, her throat still a toy as she was ravaged again and again, her throat ruined and mouth bruised until finally another, even bigger supply of cum filled her mouth and spilled out onto her lips and face.

"There." Catherine pulled away. "Now towel yourself off." Shamir chuckled and wiped herself off as Catherine put her cock away. "I swear, it never ends with you."

—

Emile was buried in a peaceful place. At the edge of the stream that split the graveyard in two and beneath a cherry tree laid a nameless grave, one that Felix met Mercedes beneath.

"You made it." He nodded, looking at her with a measure of learned sympathy. "The trail give you any trouble?"

"No more than usual." She nodded at him, and glanced at the stone.

'A Soldier of the War of Three, Known Unto the Goddess' was all it read. It had seemed fitting enough for her brother who had never known anything but warfare, had never known the Goddess' love, but had still been forgiven and accepted by her in the end.

Mercedes laid her flowers at the foot of her brother's grave, and sat in a somber moment together with Felix. Struggling to find something to say, Mercdes instead sat next to his grave and sang him a hymn she wished she could have sung for him before his end.

"I'm sorry." Felix murmured when she was done. "I have few words for situations like these." She appreciated that, he used to be such a cold man, but time had worn away his iron and love reinforced it with something warmer, even if he still was rough.

"Thank you for being here." She offered genuinely. "I appreciate it."

"Did you know him well?" He asked, a hint of kindness in his voice.

"Not as well as I would have liked." She admitted. "But he saved me, on more than one occasion. He was my little brother, and he suffered a terrible fate because of what runs in my veins." She paused in contemplation. "There was good in him to the end, and I failed to save it."

"Magic and illness damaged him," Felix murmured. "But it was the monsters of the war that took him, not you, Mercedes. Tomas, or whatever he became, Nemesis, even Edelgard. They twisted a broken man into evil, but I don't believe he became that because of your blood, not for a moment."

Mercedes thought on that a moment, sitting in contemplation. This was a kind place, she thought as the blossoms blew in the wind, in spite of the horrors that it housed.

"He killed my stepfather." She admitted. "He wanted me to make another child for him, another crest… another monster. In spite of what happened to Emile, I think he did it to save me. To stop the madness."

"He sounds like a brother worth having." He nodded at her with a tiny smile.

"He was." She nodded, looking over the area. "I suppose we should go, before our protectors get mad at us."

Together they walked the path back to the carriage, where they found Catherine and Shamir waiting for them, both looking exhausted from the trip.

"We're back." Mercedes announced. "Should be a straight trip to Garreg Mach from here on."

"Here's hoping." Catherine smiled. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Mercedes paused. "Shamir?" The woman glanced over at her and she cocked her head at the warrior. Something was off about her face. "I think your makeup is running."