Restive
It was her room, but not her room. She was in her bed, but also somehow watching from one side. She was herself and yet someone else.
This is a dream. That thought, flitting though her awareness, was what allowed Eirika to watch without distress as she realized what was going on.
Her skin was bare beneath the sheets, but her body filled with warmth seeping from the skin pressed against hers. She could not see his face. He was Seth. Perhaps. Perhaps also someone else, just as she was somehow someone else. Yet his closeness made her body ache even while she at once felt his touch and watched him touch her.
His hand slid down her cheek, trailing down her neck and over her collar bone, lingering long moments over her breast and then across her belly, her waist, and coming to settle on her hip. His lips tickled along her jaw, leaving a trail of heat behind them.
"We need to get married," she groaned.
"Mmm..." She felt the prickle of his beard, rasping her skin. "If our families can ever settle on the terms."
"When are they ever going to finish?"
"Soon. Gods! I hope soon." She shivered in his arms as he nuzzled her jaw.
"And then we can do this whenever we please," she murmured.
He chuckled. "Providing heirs will be a beautifully convenient excuse, won't it?"
"How many of them do you want again? Two was it? Or three?"
"Three, my dear," he said, nipping at her earlobe. "If you'll so oblige me."
Her hands wandered over his skin, the hard lines of muscle and tendon, the strangely smooth streaks of white scars. "I'm going to be like a rusty sword after so many years away from my duties."
"You needn't go back."
She snorted. "I swore oaths. Being a mother won't make me any less a knight. Besides..." And here she pressed herself against him until a groan poured out of his chest, "You'd get bored with me if I were anything less."
And then all talk faded into a riot of sensation.
ooo
When Eirika woke her body ached – rather pleasantly – and her cheeks flushed as she thought of the dream. She had spent enough time among soldiers to be aware of the mechanics of lovemaking, and of how much less than "lovemaking" it could be. Yet though it had been pleasant in its own way, there was something unsettling in the dream's vividness, and a causeless melancholy wrapped around her as surely as the blankets that kept off the chill.
Sleep was impossible and it wasn't long before she found herself wandering the castle battlements. The drowsy soldiers on the night watch snapped to attention as she passed by and peered in puzzlement when they thought she wasn't looking. It was true that on most nights she was not wont to wander the castle; sleep had always come easily to her.
The air was cool and she began to wish she'd brought a cloak as a breeze tousled her hair and skirts, taking with it a share of her warmth. The dull clacking of her boots on the stonework and the rustle of her dress were the only sounds here on walkway of the castle ramparts. Drawing in deep breaths of the night air, Eirika tried to banish her unease with walking.
She started when she noticed another figure there with her.
"Oh, pardon me, I didn't..."
The words died on her lips as her eyes took in what she was really seeing. The figure of a woman, tall, chestnut hair falling to her shoulders, wearing plate armour and a sword at her hip. She was young and beautiful, but also slightly... translucent, like an image painted thinly on a pane of glass.
Eirika's breath caught in her throat and no sound came when she tried to speak– or scream– she wasn't certain which it would have been. With a racing heart she could only stare as the figure took slow, easy steps closer until Eirika could see the clear blue of her eyes.
Her heart raced like a hare's and seemed intent of beating its way out of her chest as she herself remained frozen in place. The figure stopped then and bowed, much as Seth would bow or any of the other knights. Her lips moved but Eirika could not hear any words.
And then she was gone.
For several minutes Eirika remained quite still, staring at the place where the spirit – for what else could if have been – had stood. A yelp escaped her when she felt something touch her shoulder. She spun to find Seth staring at her with surprise.
"I'm sorry, milady, I didn't mean to startle you." And still she could not speak and only stared at him. "Are you all right?"
She nodded, tried to speak, licked her lips, and tried again. "Yes," she croaked. Finally it was the concern on Seth's face that brought her to herself. "I'm fine. I thought I saw..." She shuddered and rubbed at the gooseflesh on her arms.
Seth removed his cloak and set it over her shoulders. "Thank you," she said, grateful for its warmth, but even more so for the comforting scent that clung to the fabric. She drew his cloak tightly around her shoulders, wrapping herself in the scent of him.
He followed close when she moved to the edge of the walkway, looking out over the battlements as the first rays of sunlight brightened the eastern horizon, a faint hint of purple amidst the black.
"Why are you here?" she asked after a minute's silence.
"I often rise just before dawn. I saw you on the battlements when I was crossing the courtyard."
"Did you... see anyone else here with me?"
When she glanced his way, his brow was furrowed. "No. My lady, if someone troubled you in any way–"
"No. No, nothing like that. Only... I couldn't sleep, you see, and I was walking here and I saw..." She tugged at the cloak and then went on. "I saw a spirit, I think."
"A spirit?"
Seth's air was puzzled as she described what she'd seen, but not quite disbelieving, she was glad to note. "Blue eyes, you said?" he asked as she came to the end of her tale.
"Yes. Does that sound familiar?"
He nodded. "Do you remember Lady Adella? She was one of the tenant-knights." Unlike Seth and the other household knights who remained permanently in Castle Renais, most lived on the lands they owned or oversaw and only came to the castle to perform the two months' service per year that was due. Every land owner owed the King a set number of knights or the equivalent sum in coin based on the worth of that land. "You would have seen her in the tourneys."
Eirika offered him a shy smile. "I'm afraid you were the only knight I took much note of."
His lips twitched but she saw the smile that tried to break onto his features. "At the last tourney before the war she almost unhorsed me."
"Oh! Yes, I remember now. What happened to her? Did she..."
"I believe she was killed when Grado took the castle."
"I see," Eirika whispered. "Did you know her well?"
Seth appeared to consider this for a moment. "I knew her as well as I knew most of the tenant-knights who fell under my command when they were here. Perhaps a little more as she always came to the tourneys. We spoke at the last one before the war..."
She watched his face as, for a few moments, his eyes seemed to cloud over as his thoughts wandered to a time before the war had swept them all up in its tide.
ooo
The pennants snapped in the wind like wavering rainbows. Seth pulled off his helm and pushed back the locks of hair that clung to his forehead, thankful for the coolness of the breeze. A few more jousts and then the tourney would be at an end.
His eyes searched the stands. Prince Ephraim was old enough to ride in the tournaments himself now, but King Fado forbade it still so instead the prince slumped in his seat, looking very much like a sulky boy. To King Fado's left sat Princess Eirika, laughing as she tried to reclaim her hair from the wind. It danced about her even as she tried to push it back and she seemed almost to glow in the summer sunlight.
"Oh, General, no... Really?"
"Hmm? What is it?" He turned to glance at Adella, keeping his air carefully neutral. He'd not even noticed her approach.
She raised an eyebrow. "You were gazing at the princess. With a look of rapture, I might add."
Seth shook his head, his brow furrowed. "You've been listening to too many ballads, Lady Adella."
"I'm not the one staring longingly at the royals."
"I would think Sir Dorvelle would be rather upset if you were."
She smiled and tipped her head, but he could see the colour in her cheeks. "That would be putting it mildly, Sir Seth."
"How is your betrothal coming along?"
Her cheerfulness drained away and that would have been answer enough. "Slowly." They paused then when a cheer rose from the crowd and two of their compatriots moved into the lists. The smile returned to her lips as she recognised her betrothed, Sir Dorvelle, preparing to take on another of the tenant-knights.
"Is he carrying a token?" Seth asked.
Adella was older than the princess but younger than he himself and she appeared a bit abashed at the question. "Yes. We're each carrying the other's token."
"An unusual situation," Seth noted.
"Yes... but then it's rare for two knights to marry, isn't it?"
The two combatants lined up, each in full armour. Their horses, too, were armoured beneath their caparisons. Dorvelle's horse sported the crimson that was the standard of his family, meant to represent the vast orchards on their lands. Adella's gaze was fixed on her betrothed and she seemed hardly to breathe as the horses moved from a trot to a full gallop. Dorvelle's lance struck and his opponent dropped his lance as he reached for the reins to steady himself.
Adella's sigh of relief was audible.
Twice more they couched their lances and the onlookers cheered as Dorvelle was pronounced the winner of the bout. Adella smiled broadly as he rode back out of the lists victorious. "Do you carry a token, Sir Seth?"
He cleared his throat. "Yes. Of a sort." She glanced at him, eyebrows raised. "Princess Eirika has always asked me to carry one." And then before she could comment, "It's a tradition begun when she was only a child and that has simply continued."
"And I'm the one who listens to too many ballads, Sir Seth?"
"She's only nineteen," he countered.
Adella sniffed. "Aren't princesses married off as soon as they're of age?"
Seth shrugged. "King Fado is very protective of the prince and princess. I don't believe he's in any hurry to have her married."
"Unlike some of us poor souls." She heaved a sigh and her eyes turned to the stands where the royals and all the guests were gathered. "My betrothal is still conditional on our families settling upon an agreement. They've been haggling over lands and fees for a year now. You wouldn't believe how long it took to convince them it was a proper match in the first place. His family wasn't sure it was in their best interest to take on my lands."
"Oh?"
"Since I'm the only heir," she explained, "the land falls to his family. Three knights are owed on my land and but since there's only me, we have to pay the fee for the other two. They'll essentially be taking on that yearly debt until Dorvelle and I have children old enough to become knights themselves. They'll also have to cover my fee for the years I'm busy bearing those children."
"I see," Seth said.
Fanfare announced the next match. "I suppose we should be going," Adella said. "We're tilting after this pair, I believe. I have an ambition to win the tourney one of these years, so don't expect an easy match."
Seth nodded. "I shan't. Good fortune to you, Lady Adella."
"Thank you. And to you, Sir Seth."
ooo
In the days that followed, Eirika dreamed many times of the pale figure she had glimpsed on the battlements. Eirika dreamed of her at the tourney, titling lances with Seth, of her duties here at Castle Renais, of her fighting during the war. But these were all things she could have known herself. Though Eirika did not take note of every knight who spent two months doing castle duty, or who stayed a few days before heading off to patrol the rougher parts of Renais, routing bandits and ill-doers, she had seen Adella, had known her if only by sight.
Yet every time she woke from such a dream she felt called again by melancholy, by the need to stretch her legs, and always her feet led her to the battlements. And always she saw again that figure, as solid as the reflection on a lake's surface.
Tonight, in her dream, the world was a riot of colour. The pavilion tents, the pennants that snapped in the wind, the caparisons of the horses, they filled her sight until she felt she was stumbling through a rainbow. And then somehow she was being pulled behind a tent, her back pressed against a wooden support post and someone pressing his lips to hers in a heated kiss, even as his beard rasped against her skin.
She drew back, grinning even as she spoke. "You cad! What if your family sees us?"
"Hang them," he muttered and leaned in to kiss her again. "And besides," he added after some moments' pleasure, "they're too busy arguing with your parents to be much concerned about where I've disappeared to."
"We need to... find somewhere... private," she managed to get out.
"Agreed."
They broke apart and began making their way across the grounds. "Nicely done against Sir Seth," he said.
"Thank you. I suppose it would have been too much to hope to win against him. No one ever bests the Silver Knight, after all."
Dorvelle groaned. "I've never seen a fellow look so stiff in all my life. I never can speak to him without feeling like a squire."
Adella smiled. "Oh I don't know. I think he has a chink in his armour."
"Oh?"
She took his arm and leaned close to whisper in a conspiratorial manner, "I think Sir Seth has fallen in love with the princess."
Dorvelle harrumphed. "Don't tease, Adella. No one in their right mind would believe that. That man is wedded to his duty."
"I'm serious! Would you care to wager on it?"
"Good gods, Adella, wagering on our commander's love life? Now if that isn't treasonous... What do I get if I win?"
"Hmm... My everlasting love and devotion?"
He leaned in to press a kiss to her brow. "I thought I already had that."
"Granted. How about the pleasure of being right?"
"Done."
She smiled but after a moment her jovial air faded and she heaved a sigh. "I so would like to win a tourney one day. It's all I've wanted since I began my training."
"Is that really all you want?" he whispered, his voice husky as he leaned close to her ear.
"Perhaps not all." But then, after a moment's pause. "I suppose this will be my last tourney for a long time. By next season I'll be with child – if our families can settle things and let us marry, that is."
He groaned. "I'm afraid at this rate you may have another season."
She was torn between frustration and relief. "I want to be a great knight and a good mother. Is it so strange to want both?"
"Would you still love me if I said yes?"
She gave him a playful shove and he broke into a grin worthy of a squire given his first post. And then once more, he drew her close and kissed her.
ooo
Eirika woke sweltering beneath her blankets as would an armoured knight in the full sun of a summer's day. But as soon as she threw them off, a chill swept over her, raising gooseflesh on her arms and leaving her shivering. She knew what she would find tonight on the battlements.
But as she dressed and headed out, instead of taking the familiar route up to the ramparts, she instead made her way towards the soldiers' quarters. It was rare that she was in this part of the castle, but she knew where he stayed, where he slept, a small, simple room in the far corner.
He was already dressed when he answered the door and then stood there motionless, staring at her. "Princess?" After a moment he recovered himself and bowed. "How may I help you?"
"Come with me, please."
He didn't ask where, he only nodded and then reached for his cloak and his sword belt. He did up the belt and put on his cloak as they walked with brisk steps towards the ramparts. They climbed the steps and made their way to the eastern-facing walkway. "My lady," he said finally, "I'm somewhat concerned about how this may appear to any onlookers..."
"I don't care," Eirika whispered, rubbing at her arms. The chill she felt had little to do with the night air. "I keep seeing her, Seth. And dreaming of her."
"Of Lady Adella?"
Eirika nodded and then, her heart thrumming she spun to face Seth. "Why would she appear to me? I never met her. You're the one who knew her. I..."
He stepped closer and gripped her by the shoulders. "It will be all right, my lady. I promise you."
It was then that the spirit appeared again, just as she had so many times these past weeks. Her armour was polished, her hair still, even as the breeze tousled Eirika's long locks. She was like a reflection in glass, half there and half not.
Seth's hands, still on her shoulders, tightened their grip. "Lady Adella?" Seth breathed. The spirit's brilliantly blue eyes turned from the princess to Seth, and Eirika thought she glimpsed a sad smile on her lips.
And then she was gone again.
With a shuddering breath Eirika moved to looked out over the battlements. Seth came to stand beside her just as he had the first time she'd seen the restive spirit. "Sir Dorvelle's family recently petitioned King Ephraim to intervene in the dispute between themselves and Lady Adella's kin. There's disagreement about whether they must honour the betrothal between Sir Dorvelle and Lady Adella now that's she's passed on."
Eirika could not mask her disgust at the news. "Still? They're still haggling over it. Even when she's dead?"
"His family's lands were on the border of Grado and all their tenants suffered greatly during the war. From what I understand from Lord Ephraim, they don't wish to take on the knightly dues owed on Lady Adella's land."
Glowering at the rolling green land stretched out before the castle, still cloaked in a mantle of darkness, Eirika took a slow, deep breath. "You don't think that's why her spirit is still here, do you?"
"Perhaps. I hope you'll forgive my presumption, but I asked the King to request Sir Dorvelle's presence. Perhpas if we resolve the matter Lady Adella will be able to rest."
The sun was peeking over the horizon now, the first rays lightening the sky. "Thank you, Seth."
He bowed. "I will do anything in power to aid you, my lady."
He spoke with such earnestness, and though his words were formal, she could hear the warmth in them. After all, she knew Seth, had always known him, and though others might think him cool, detached, she could see beyond that facade. And as the first rays of daylight crept onto his face, giving his russet hair a bronze hue, she found herself drinking in the sight of him.
"My lady? Is there anything else?"
"Seth, do you think..."
"Yes?"
Sighing, she turned her gaze back to the sunrise. Recently, you have been too close to me. His words still stung. "No, it's nothing. Please, never mind."
He hesitated a moment and then only nodded. "As you wish, milady."
ooo
The war is over, Eirika thought. The Stone of Renais is Destroyed. The Demon King is defeated. Lyon is dead. The war is over. This knowledge was so much a part of her, the truth of it ringing in the very marrow of her bones, that even deep asleep, she realized what she was seeing must be a dream.
Seth stood in the council room which was bustling with knights and soldiers hurrying up to him with reports or questions, all of which were received and answered with calm assurance. He looked so certain, so unflappable as if there were no place for doubt or fear in his mind. Yet his lips thinned to a line when Adella approached him.
"Sir Seth, is it true? Has Grado really invaded Renais?"
He nodded, his tone grave when he spoke. "I'm afraid so."
"What about..." There was a tremor in Adella's voice but she shook herself and began again. "Dorvelle's lands are on the border with Grado. Do you have any news? Any news at all?"
He looked away for a moment and the blood drained from Adella's face. "Our reports are fragmentary. The Grado army has been ruthless and anyone who opposed them was cut down. They razed several manors, but we don't know which yet. We've no specific information... Nothing is certain," he added in what was meant to be an encouraging tone surely.
Adella nodded. "I understand," she whispered.
She waited until she was alone before she let the sobs shudder out of her.
ooo
Somehow, Eirika knew what would come next and she struggled against it. She could feel her body, sprawled on her bed, feel her limbs, but they were leaden weights, and though she could feel them, she could not move them. Her mind tried to cling to the reality of that sleeping form, but instead, she was pulled back down into the depths.
She was standing on the east battlements, aghast as, below, the armies of Grado stormed into Castle Renais's main courtyard. They had not been prepared for this, not prepared at all. In that moment, as she saw blood spatter on the cobblestones below, she knew it was over. The castle would fall. And if Grado truly lived up to reports they had received so far, she, as a knight of Renais would receive no quarter. If they captured her, she would be executed.
For a moment all seemed still even amidst the furor. The shouts from below, the clatter of blades, the fighting and fleeing and blood, all became distant. She whispered a prayer to the gods for the safety of the King and Princess Eirika. If they could escape the castle to safety, then Renais still lived, even if its soldiers died.
"I'll see you soon, Dorvelle..."
And then, sword drawn, she raced towards the nearest tower that would lead her down to join the fighting in the courtyard. But already the tower was taken. A soldier emerged from the doorway onto the battlements, raised a crossbow–
There was pain, sharp and long, and then...
ooo
It was near dawn when Seth stood on the battlements once again. In the near-darkness, it was difficult to gage the expression on his companion's face. "I've seen her with my own eyes, Sir Dorvelle."
Dorvelle's hands, resting on the stone battlements, were balled into fists. "I had hoped..." His voice cracked and he cleared his throat. "I had hoped she was resting peacefully but... Are certain that you would recognise her, Sir Seth?"
"Yes, I remember Lady Adella well enough. She was here on castle duty when the war broke out. She asked me for news of you."
Dorvelle heaved a sigh, closing his eyes for a moment. When he turned again to Seth he looked like a man twice his age, his face deeply lined. He rubbed the beard on his chin and then shook his head. "She was always restless in life. I suppose I shouldn't have expected her to be any different in..."
"I am very sorry for your loss," Seth said. "I know you were very fond of each other."
"Yes. We were. And we thought we'd have all the time in creation. And then Grado took everything away from us– from her." He took a few paces, moving with slight limp. He had been injured during Grado's initial assault on Renais. He had managed to escape to a nearby village and eventually find a healer to treat his wounds, but some things did not heal entirely. Seth knew that all too well. "She wanted so much from life– to perform great deeds as a knight, to raise a family, to–" He broke off, hands balled once more, and Seth was uncertain of what to say. There was not even the platitude that his beloved was at rest now – for here she was wandering the battlements before dawn.
It was Dorvelle himself who broke the silence. "Please pass along my thanks to King Ephraim. The haggling between my family and Adella's had been going on so long I thought it might never end."
"So you were able to resolve things then?"
Dorvelle nodded. "Yes. King Ephraim was very gracious and allowed the knightly dues on her land to be waved for a set number of years." A bark of laughter escaped from his throat. "Now my kin will surely hurry to find me a new bride so I can beget heirs as soon as possible. They'll find some pretty slip of a girl who'll know nothing of war or tourneys or sparring."
Seth's chest clenched as his thoughts turned for a moment to Eirika. She had been little more than that before the war, trained to take on her responsibilities as a princess, but still so innocent. And now she had shed blood to protect her homeland, seen the atrocities of war firsthand. She had seemed dear and delicate before, and though it pained him to know how much she had suffered, he would never trade the Eirika he knew now for the girl she had been before the war. He loved her just as well for her courage as for her innocence.
A wry smiled touched Dorvelle's lips. "Adella always said I'd tire of a regular girl. I think she had the right of it."
"I had hoped if we came here you'd have the chance to see Lady Adella," Seth said, unable to think of anything consoling to say. He knew what a burden obligation could be, yet what could he say that would be of any comfort? "She seems only to appear when Princess Eirika is here. But perhaps she'll be at rest now that your families have come to an agreement."
"I hope so." He sighed once more. "If you'll excuse me..."
Seth nodded and Dorvelle took his leave. He had not been gone more than a minute when Eirika appeared on the walkway, and Seth's heart thudded against his ribs at the sight of her puffy eyes and the tears that still trickled down her cheeks.
She started when she saw him and stared, wide-eyed, as if seeing a ghost instead of his solid form.
"Lady Eirika," he said, moving urgently towards her.
"Seth?"
"My lady, are you..." But instead of finishing the sentence, he pulled her against him, feeling her tremble in his embrace.
"I saw her die, Seth," she whispered against his chest. "I felt her die." He clasped her all the more tightly but was robbed of speech. "There were so many things she wanted to do still. And she never got the chance to..."
And still he could not speak. He could still remember Adella's teasing about the way he watched Eirika, about his having fallen for the princess like the knight out of a ballad. If she was here, watching them, surely she would have words for him. But he didn't care. He wished only to comfort Eirika in whatever way he could and so, unable to find words to speak, he pressed his lips to the top of her head.
She grew still against him.
He held her like that until her breaths grew slow and he could feel the warmth of her body against his. "Seth, I need to ask you something," she said finally. She drew back slightly so that she could look up into his face. "You said... before... that I'd been too close to you, that a noble shouldn't... fraternize... with a knight. Do you still feel that way?"
And for that moment he could only stare at her, as if he'd lost all his words in the depths of those blue eyes, of the sadness her saw there and so wished to erase. He opened his mouth but no sound came out. She smiled at him and put a finger to his lips. "The two things I want most in my life are to rebuild Renais... and to have you at my side while I do." Her smile turned wistful as she let her finger brush over his cheek. "We always think we have so much time and then..."
"We have time," he said hoarsely, his arms tightening around her.
"That's what Adella believed..." Her eyed locked with his. "So I need to know, Seth, are we to be as strangers? Or..."
Her lips were just as sweet as he had ever imagined them to be.
When they parted, they remained tangled together, foreheads pressed against each other. He had made his decision – in spite of rank, duty, and propriety. He had decided. Even so, he was more than a little abashed when he heard the words, "Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't meant to... intrude." They both turned to face Dorvelle. "I thought perhaps I'd left too hastily, that if I came back I might chance to–" He stopped himself then bowed. "Princess Eirika, I sincerely apologise for the intrusion. I had no idea that..."
Eirika had turned a stunning shade of scarlet but managed to sound very proper as she replied, "It's quite all right, Sir Dorvelle. I–"
She broke off, for all at once Dorvelle's attention had turned from the princess to something else over her shoulder. Seth spun to see, for the second time, that lithe, translucent figure, clad in armour, and smiling sadly there on the walkway.
"Adella?" It was hardly more than a hoarse whisper. For a moment Dorvelle remained frozen but then he took a step forward, and then another, as if approaching a wild animal that might bolt at any moment. But the spirit did not move, nor did so much as a strand of hair dance in the morning breeze that whispered over the battlements. She was as still as... as still as the dead, Seth thought.
"Adella, is that really you?" Seth could see the tears on Dorvelle's cheeks as he came to a halt before the still figure. She only looked at him, that sad smile still on her lips, her blue eyes like sapphires held underwater. "I've missed you so much, my darling," he croaked. He reached out, but his fingers passed though her as if she were no more substantial than air. "We've settled the agreements. Your family will be taken care of, I swear it. You can rest now. If there's anything else you need... Please, Adella, I can't bear to see you like this."
In the east, the sun had begun to rise, and the horizon was already tinged with hues of orange and magenta. Seth expected the spirit to vanish as she always had before at dawn, but she lingered now, paler as the first rays of sunshine touched her shade, but there still, clear and shadowless.
Seth's heart skipped as her eyes flickered away from Dorvelle for a moment to where he and Eirika stood together. Adella's smile broadened into the smile Seth had seen her wear when he had known her in life, when she had teased him at the tourney. She smiled and when she looked back at Dorvelle her lips moved and Seth could have sworn that he caught the whisper of words.
The spirit disappeared and Seth was stunned as Dorvelle began to laugh even as tears rolled down his cheeks.
It was Eirika who approached him first. "Sir Dorvelle?"
"Yes, Princess," he said, wiping at his eyes.
"What did she say?"
He smiled, his face at once full of fondness and sorrow. "She said, 'I win.'"
It was only later when Eirika explained to him, that he understood her parting words. And long after that, after they had gone to Ephraim to ask his permission to wed, and long after he had granted it, Seth often found himself wondering whether it was truly the settling of her family's affairs, the chance to see once more her betrothed, or – of all things – the settling of a wager that had put to rest that restive spirit.
The End