Azura has been tending to Kaze's wounds all evening. Felicia managed to heal him up enough so that he wouldn't bleed to death, but she also had to tend to Jakob, who had been stabbed in the stomach and would have died if she put off his treatment any longer. When the battle is over, Azura half-carries the ninja away toward the infirmary tent and begins dressing his shoulder without a second thought. She refuses help from the maids and healers on staff; there are others with more grievous injuries and medical staves are in low supply.

She tries not to blush when she sets to remove his armor and shirt, but he doesn't seem to notice. She forces herself to focus; now is not the time to dwell on such things. She gets to work, cleaning the wound with a wet cloth. Kaze is quiet the whole time, merely grimacing as she dabs a medicinal paste on his injury and tops it off with a poultice.

She takes a roll of bandages and begins to wrap them around his shoulder. A moment later she realizes she'll need to wind them around his torso or they won't stay in place. Face hot, hands trembling slightly, she leans over him, trying her best not to touch his bare skin. It takes an eternity, a long, torturous eternity in which Azura can't help but wonder what it's like to bury her face in the crook of his arm, or to reach out and run her fingers down his chiseled chest. She might almost be embracing him, and she finds herself wishing she was.

She finishes her job and begins to pull away, but Kaze suddenly grabs her wrist. She's been avoiding his eyes this whole time, terrified her expression will betray her inappropriate thoughts, but now she's caught by them, and she's stuck fast. They're beautiful eyes, gray like the dawn just before it breaks, but that's not what keeps her spellbound.

They're eyes full of longing.

She finds she can't move, even if she wanted to, and Azura most certainly doesn't want to. There's a dim thought in the back of her mind, a gratefulness that they're shielded from view by the curtain between them and the next patient, but then that thought too is gone, and all Azura knows is that his mouth tastes a bit like Hoshidan tea: bitter, but somehow calming. It's a welcome sensation, and for a moment, for a blissfully long, sweet moment, Azura is home at last.

The aftermath of the battle was completely different in scale from the skirmishes the army had been fighting for the past few months. Up until Cheve, very few true battles had been waged, and for the most part they were against relatively small forces. There had been no easy fights, that much was true, but the scale was nothing like the total destruction they were facing now.

Cheve had been essentially wiped from the map. Every building had been razed to the ground, the ground was littered with corpses, and there were no survivors, thanks to Hans and his men. On the Nohrian side, significant losses had been made. Many of the army's best warriors had been injured, and Corrin was horrified to hear that they had lost more than half the wyverns. Takumi's archers had devastated the unit, obliterating anything that flew too high. Countless wyvern riders had been killed or incapacitated with their mounts, and even Camilla had been injured, though it was nothing major.

It was a harsh blow to their side; wyverns were a rare and precious resource, even in Nohr, and they were indispensable for running reconnaissance or sweeping over enemy lines. Without flying units, the army was heavily impeded mobility-wise.

"We'll need to supplement the losses," Leo sighed once the damage reports came in. He ran his hand through his hair irritably as he read the daunting news. The entire royal family, minus Elise, was seated around a table in one of the tents just outside Cheve, planning their next move. Xander scribbled something down on a piece of parchment and Camilla, for once, was looking perfectly serious as she stared at a map. Azura had reappeared at some point in the last day, but had been even quieter and more distant than usual; she was listening intently to the reports, an appalled, pale look on her face. Corrin said nothing as the meeting wore on; she was still grieving the turn of events and could barely muster the energy to participate.

"That's easier said than done, darling," Camilla pointed out. Her wrist was in a splint; it had broken in the battle and she was in no mood to go over the obvious. "Soldiers are one thing, but wyverns are an entirely different matter. We've only got a handful of them in the whole kingdom, and most of them were lost yesterday."

"I know," Leo frowned. "So that's our first priority; how do we replace something that's irreplaceable?"

"We may have to do without them," Xander said, shaking his head. "There's just no way to supplement our numbers-"

"We'll be severely limited without them, though," Camilla cut in. "My unit was able to do a lot of damage away from the front lines, and it confused the enemy so much that they often broke ranks. That's how dear Corrin's unit got so far into the Hoshidan prince's ranks yesterday," she said pointedly. Corrin flinched at the mention of Takumi. "Take that away and we'll have a much harder time in the next battle. And you know better than anyone, darling, that the longer it takes us to break through, the more lives are lost." She fixed her sultry eyes on Xander, daring him to disagree.

"That's all fine and well, Camilla, but you can't expect us to magic an entire platoon of wyverns out of thin air-"

"What if we replace the wyverns with something else?"

Everyone turned to look at Azura, who hadn't spoken much at all.

"Something... like what?" Leo asked, puzzled.

"In Hoshido, we bred pegasi with our horses," she explained. "Couldn't we do the same?"

Xander shook his head. "I'm sorry, Azura, but Hoshidan pegasi aren't native to Nohr, and even if they were, they're not suited for our conditions. Pegasi need sunlight and good weather to thrive; this isn't the first time we've tried to fix our wyvern population problem by introducing pegasi."

Azura wasn't deterred. "Yes, I know. But that was by using pegasi we'd captured from Hoshido, correct?"

"Well, yes, but... Azura, all pegasi are Hoshidan. There's no going around the problem that they won't survive in Nohrian climes-"

"I heard something when I still lived in Hoshido," she interrupted. "Though we only raised pegasi in the palace, there's another breed that's very similar and which has adapted to the Nohrian twilight. We called them falicorns in Hoshido, though we saw very few of them there. I was surprised to see when I came to Nohr that the army doesn't use them," she said.

"Falicorns! We've been fools, brother!" Leo said, smacking himself in the forehead. "Why haven't we ever considered this?!"

"Because," Xander said, sighing, "falicorns, while not rare, are impossible to domesticate. Anyone who gets near a herd is gored by their horns, and we don't have any experience in training them anyway. Their temperaments are completely different from a horse's, or even a wyvern, and they're much more intelligent than both."

"It can't be impossible," Azura argued. "I saw one, just once. There was a soldier in the pegasus knights who had been stranded in the Nohrian highlands during a fight. A falicorn found him and helped him find his way to the sea; the creature was so attached to him by then that it followed him back to Hoshido and became his partner."

"It... followed him?" Camilla asked, shocked. "It can't be, falicorns are vicious!"

"I don't know why," Azura admitted, "but the falicorn wasn't wild at all. The knight let me pet it and it was just as kind and well-mannered as any of our pegasi."

Her brothers looked at each other, confused.

"Suppose there is a way to tame them?" Leo said hesitantly.

"If there is, we wouldn't know it," Xander sighed.

"Brother... if you don't mind, I'd like to try it," Azura said calmly. Everyone stared at her.

"Y-you, Azura?"

"Yes, Camilla. I spent a lot of time with my sist- I mean, with Princess Hinoka when she was training to become a pegasus knight. I never had one of my own, but I learned quite a lot about how to care for them," she said, almost shyly. "If we avoid scaring them and just send one or two of us on foot to try to... convince... them to come with us, we might be able to tame a few. I don't mind doing it, I know how it's done."

"Well... if we could get a stallion or two and a few mares..." Leo said thoughtfully.

"Out of the question, it's too dangerous," Xander said firmly. "I won't send my little sister out on a fool's errand."

"But Xander...! Think, we could breed our own fleet! If Azura can just get us a handful, we'll never need to worry about our wyvern problem again; unlike wyverns, falicorns breed like regular horses, and if we could tame the young from birth..."

"Absolutely not! Our sister is worth more than a herd of falicorns, Leo, no matter how valuable." Leo fell silent, abashed.

"What if... what if I go with her?"

Corrin hadn't spoken at all since the night before, and all eyes were now on her. She felt her stomach dive.

"And lose two sisters, darling?! Don't be a fool," Camilla said, not unkindly.

"No, I mean... if I go, I could protect Azura if the herd goes wild," she said, pulling her dragonstone's chain out from under her breastplate. "And... well, this is kind of hard to explain, but for some reason, I can kind of... sense things... about animals. None of your mounts ever distrusted me, did they?" she asked, looking at each of them in turn. It was true; Camilla's wyvern, as a dragon of sorts, may have sensed a familiar presence in Corrin, but Xander and Leo's horses had quickly warmed to her as well. More interestingly, most of the army's mounts were completely at ease around her, even when she transformed. That wasn't true for enemy horses, so Corrin assumed that the Nohrian horses understood that she was on their side.

"Well, you do have a way with animals, sister," Leo admitted. "But these are tamed horses and wyverns; you're asking to approach a herd of wild beasts on foot. You could be trampled, gored. You wouldn't have time to transform."

"Perhaps, but I think we should try," Corrin said, stubbornly. "If Azura says she can do it, I believe in her. And we can't sit around debating what to do about the wyverns forever."

"That's true enough. Camilla, what do you think?" Xander said, looking tired.

"Oh, I don't like the idea of my dear little sisters going into a den full of vicious beasts," she said, frowning petulantly. "But if they promise to be careful... well, I'll trust that they know what they're doing. But if either of you die out there, I'll tear you to pieces, darlings," she warned, her eyes flashing.

Corrin gulped. She looked over at Azura, who was also looking rather nervous.

"I think they should go," Leo added. "But I think we should assign them a guard. Just one, for precaution's sake. And if they manage to capture any falicorns, they'll need help getting them back to the fortress, so I think a small force of retainers should be on standby."

Xander crossed his arms.

"Fine, I know when I'm outvoted. Corrin, Azura, I'll grant you permission to travel to the highlands. You have two weeks to catch what you can and return home. After that, if you still haven't returned, we'll come after you." He paused. "Oh, and as for your retainers... I think it's about time that Azura had some of her own."

"What? No, I don't mind-" she began, but Xander held out a hand.

"No, it's tradition. All princes and princesses of the crown must have a retainer or two. Corrin, how has Kaze served you so far?"

Startled, Corrin blinked, confused. "Kaze? He's been nothing but loyal. He saved my life, and Azura's yesterday."

Xander nodded. "I was initially distrustful, but I think he deserves our respect. He was your retainer in Hoshido, correct?" he asked Azura. For some reason, Corrin noted that Azura looked rather embarrassed as she nodded. It made her uneasy. "Good. Corrin, you don't mind if Azura takes Kaze, do you?"

It was like she'd been hit by a carriage.

"W-what?"

"I won't be taking one of your retainers without compensation, little princess," he said kindly, noting her expression. "I'm writing back to Windmire and fetching Flora back for you."

"Fl-Flora? But I thought, after the rebellion-"

"She wasn't punished," Xander assured her. "I asked that she be spared and I think enough time has passed that she's repented for her betrayal. I took a leaf out of your book, Corrin. I trust that her love for you is enough to prevent anything like that from happening again. I'm sure you'll be pleased with this arrangement."

Corrin swallowed; her mouth felt dry. If I give up Kaze, I'll get to see Flora again...! But...

It had only been a few weeks since Kaze had come into her service, but she had already gotten rather used to his calm, stoic presence. It wasn't like she would never see him again, but it bothered her to think of her little party without his reassuring, kind personality.

That wasn't all, however. Over the last month, whenever Kaze was mentioned, Azura became... strange. She would smile more readily and her cheeks would turn pink. Corrin had a vague idea of what was happening, and she didn't like it at all. She was no fool, she knew that she was jealous; she had grown so used to the idea of being the only person in Nohr who could understand Azura that the thought of Kaze having more in common with her sister burned her up from the inside. The last thing she wanted was for them to become closer.

She opened her mouth to complain when she caught sight of Azura's sharp eyes, staring right through her. There was a sad, almost pleading look in them and Corrin suddenly felt ashamed.

Was I always such a selfish person? she thought bitterly. Azura must be lonely, here in Nohr. We're nothing like the people she left behind, and Kaze is probably the only person she really feels comfortable with. I shouldn't be thinking about myself now.

"I'm fine with that, if Azura and Kaze are," she said, and though a small corner of her heart ached painfully, she felt somewhat better thinking that she had done something to help her sister.

"I'll gladly have him," Azura said softly.

"Good," Xander said, satisfied. "As for a second retainer... if you'd prefer a Hoshidan, there's Mozu. She's not our best soldier, but she's fiercely loyal, if you'll have her."

"Oh, I don't know, one retainer is enough, really..."

"Don't be silly, dear, two retainers is the bare minimum," Camilla scolded. "Come, if you want a Nohrian, there's that fellow Silas..."

Corrin flinched slightly at the mention of her childhood friend, but said nothing.

"Well... if Mozu will have me..." Azura said reluctantly.

"Then it's settled, I'll speak with her immediately," Xander said, standing up. "You're all dismissed; Corrin, Azura, begin your preparations for the journey. You leave at dawn tomorrow."

From Cheve to the highlands, it was a good four days' travel. At dawn, they set off, weapons in hand and burlap sacks full of provisions over their shoulders. It was with a rather heavy heart that the small group watched the rest of the army vanish into thin air, safely on their way to the fortress in the astral plane.

"What I wouldn't give for a nice, long rest in a real bed," Jakob moaned as they began their trek up the road. He was still recovering, but Felicia was dutifully administering healing magic every few hours so that he would be in perfect condition by the time they reached their destination. He already looked less like a man on the verge of death and more like his usual, disgruntled self.

"Oh, do be quiet," Mozu grumbled. "My back aches just from thinking about it. I'm shamed to say I've gotten used to them fancy mattresses you folks use."

Felicia giggled. "It's not so bad, the highlands are quite lovely! There's lots of snow this time of year," she said brightly, her plait dancing with every step she took.

"Snow?!" Corrin exclaimed, stopping dead in her tracks. Azura could have laughed at the incredulous expression on her face. "No one told me there was snow!"

"You didn't ask, milady," Felicia shrugged. "Oh, I can't wait, it's been so long since I've felt a good, icy wind on my face."

Kaze looked bewildered. "I know you're from the Ice Tribe, Felicia, but that's a bizarre thing to wish for, even so."

"You wouldn't think so if you'd grown up there," she said, pointing her staff at him. "We get the most refreshing air in the village, so crisp and clean... nothing at all like this muggy, stale stuff," she wrinkled her nose, but everyone else exchanged bemused glances. As far as they were concerned, Cheve had terribly clammy weather; even now, a cold piercing wind was blowing through their cloaks.

"You're as daft as ever, Felicia," Jakob said, rolling his eyes.

Azura really did laugh this time. She didn't feel at all like they'd just gone through a harrowing, terrible battle. As she walked with Corrin on her left and Kaze on her right, his hand occasionally brushing up against hers, it seemed to her that everything was so much brighter now, even under the perpetual Nohrian dusk.

Laslow was feeling perfectly miserable. For three days, he'd disappeared completely, and Selena eventually found him sprawled out behind the armory, drinking wine directly from the bottle.

"What the devil?!" she cried, shocked to see him looking so derelict. His clothes were ragged and dirty, his hair matted with mud, and he looked like he could care less. "Laslow, what are you doing here?! Do you know how worried we've all-" he hiccuped and she snatched the bottle from him. "Have you just been drinking since we got back?!"

"Heh, my, Shelena, you're lookin' mighty *hic* fine," he slurred. His vision was swimming, it was hard to tell where she was standing.

"You-! What is your problem?!" she screeched. She grabbed his arm and shook him violently. A second later she let go and jumped back; he'd clapped a hand to his mouth and begun to retch.

"S-shorry," he wheezed, trying to catch his breath.

"Disgusting! What the hell happened to you?!" she asked, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "No one has seen you since we came back from Cheve, and it's not like you to drink! What happened to your stupid, dandy image?!"

"Love's happened," he moaned, leaning his head back against the wall. "Love mosht awful, mosht terri-*hic*-ble."

"Oh gods don't tell me this is a new thing you're going to do every time you fail at picking up a girl," she grimaced.

"You wound *hic* me, madam! How dare you *hic* compare shuch a pure, burning love to shomethin' so bashe?"

"For the love of Naga," she muttered, rolling her eyes. "Listen here, Laslow, if you don't get a grip right now, so help me I'll drag you to the baths myself and throw you in, clothes and all."

"I'd like to *hic* shee you *hic* try."

Selena rolled up her sleeves. "You asked for it, Inigo," she snarled.

He screamed for mercy all the way down the street.

"That's a falicorn?!" Corrin whispered, awed. The creatures grazing on the slope were far larger than horses, but they were somehow more elegant as well. Their coats were all black as night and their limbs were spindly, delicate. A pair of massive wings occasionally stretched upward, and on the forehead of each animal shone a single, long, black horn, sharp as any blade. It was easy to see why Xander had been so apprehensive about sending them on this mission; the falicorns were beautiful, but their eyes were cruel and dangerous.

"They're a lot more daunting in the wild," Azura replied, and Corrin realized she had gone a rather deathly shade of white. They were peering at the herd over a large boulder, trying their best to stay unnoticed. Felicia, Jakob, and Mozu had stayed further behind to prepare a makeshift camp, and only Kaze had accompanied them up the slope.

"D-don't worry, I'll protect you," Corrin said, squeezing her sister's hand. Azura squeezed back and they both swallowed nervously.

"If anything goes wrong, don't panic," Kaze warned, voice low. "I'll be right behind you, but you need to stay calm and back off slowly if it seems like they might attack. Only transform as a last resort, Lady Corrin. We don't want to scare away the herd."

"G-got it."

"No weapons, they'll think we've come to hurt them. Drop them now," he said, and all three of them lay down their swords, daggers, and spear against the rock. Azura closed her eyes, and Corrin guessed she was probably praying.

Gods, I should've opposed this, she thought, but it was too late.

"Ready, milady?" Kaze asked Azura. She opened her eyes and nodded, her mouth set in a grim line. "Let's go."

Azura stepped out from behind the boulder, her feet crunching through the frosted grass. Corrin followed, shivering inwardly. The cold was terrible against her bare feet, but the fear was much stronger. She took a deep breath, trying not to panic.

The falicorns closest to them had pricked up their ears, watching them carefully. She saw one of them stamp its hoof on the ground as they approached.

Steady... steady...

A thin, high voice filled the air, shaking at first, but growing stronger with every moment. Azura sang, her face regaining its color, her arms outstretched toward the nearest falicorn. It was a mare, darker than ebony, and as Azura drew slowly closer, still singing, Corrin had to fight the urge to run and pull her away from danger. The creature lowered its head and snorted, pointing its horn straight at Azura's heart.

"W-wait!" Corrin cried, but it was much quieter than she expected her voice to sound. The falicorn turned its blood-red eyes on her, watching, waiting for her to say something.

It... it can understand, somehow... she realized. Some of her fear dissipated and she stepped forward, Azura's song still echoing through the valley.

"We're not here to hurt you," she said, holding out her palm. As Azura had instructed, she was carrying a small bag of sugar cubes, and one sat on her hand now. The falicorn eyed the white substance suspiciously. "Look, it's safe," Corrin said, taking the cube slowly and biting into a corner. She held out the rest and waited.

Slowly, so that the seconds turned to minutes, the falicorn made its way forward. As that cruel, sharp horn came nearer, Corrin had to gather her courage and force herself to stand still. Her patience was rewarded. The great beast, far larger than the tallest war horse, paused at arm's length and bent down to take the cube. She felt its teeth graze against her skin but didn't flinch, and when it took its prize, she slowly held out a second cube. As she continued to feed it, Azura edged closer. She had never stopped singing, but now she reached her hand forward and brushed at the mare's nose. For a terrible moment Corrin thought the falicorn would bolt and attack, but it merely closed its eyes and continued to eat the sugar.

Her heart leapt, and she gave Azura a wide smile. The young woman's eyes were dancing, her voice overjoyed as she ran her hand through the mare's mane.

Befriending the falicorns was one thing, but getting them to come with them was another. For two days, they returned to the slope and offered the falicorns sugar and carrots, and soon they began to distinguish which of the herd were friendliest and most likely to cooperate. The mare from the first day took an immense liking to Azura, and was always the first to greet them with a hot puff of air to the face. Several other falicorns became accustomed to the treats they brought, though many of the herd still kept their distance. By the third day, they decided it was time to see if they could persuade a few to follow them back to camp.

"Six, one for each of us to ride back. Assuming they let us ride," Kaze added as they walked up the slope. "Four mares, two stallions, if possible."

"Right," Azura said, her face serious. She set her teeth; she was sure the falicorns would dislike the idea of being taken away from their herd.

"Remember, we're asking them, not forcing them," Corrin said sharply. None of the others could see why she kept referring to the falicorns as if they were people; they could appreciate that they were intelligent, but they couldn't see that they understood words the way that Corrin insisted they did. Azura privately felt that if Corrin said she could speak with them, she probably could. After all, it wasn't as though any of the others could become a beast. "If they don't want to come, don't force them. We'll be dead before we can back away."

"I think it would be best if you handled this then, milady," Felicia said nervously. She was clutching at a length of rope tightly, her knuckles white.

"Fair enough," Corrin said as they came into view of the herd. Immediately, the mare gave a pleased cry and cantered toward them.

"Hello," Azura said gently, reaching up to pat her nose. The mare gave a contented huff and began to nose around her bag for a sugar cube.

"I think she'll want to come," Mozu said, digging into her pack and pulling out a carrot. "She seems to like you, milady," she said.

"Oh, I hope she does," Azura said. Of all the falicorns they'd met, the mare was the one she took to most. "Would you like to come with us?" she asked, mostly just to humor herself.

The great creature cocked its head and blinked, and Azura wondered if perhaps Corrin didn't have a point.

They managed to get not six, but eight falicorns to follow them back to camp. Jakob wondered if they wouldn't just escape overnight, but Corrin assured him that they wouldn't, and they left it at that. They celebrated over a bottle of wine that night and went to bed early, more than ready to get out of the cold highlands and begin the journey back to Cheve.

Sometime in the middle of the night, Kaze was awoken by a rustling sound outside the tent. He strained his ears in the darkness, trying to distinguish if it was the sound of an animal, perhaps one of the falicorns, or of something human. He had almost drifted back to sleep when he heard footsteps and he sat up to check on the others.

Someone was missing; the rest of the party was fast asleep on their makeshift bedding, but Azura's sheets were empty. Kaze immediately sat up and pulled on his cloak, heading out to look for her.

He didn't have to go far. She was sitting just outside the tent, her back to her mare's flank, looking up at the moon wistfully.

"Milady."

"Oh! Kaze, you startled me," she scolded, but her eyes were warm and she was smiling. The falicorn turned to give him a passing glance and decided he wasn't interesting enough to worry over. She tucked her head back under her wing.

"Would you mind if I joined you? It's awfully late to be out alone," he said. She shook her head and moved over to make space for him.

"Did I wake you?" she asked.

"Perhaps. I was worried about you," he said. Her hand was resting on her knee; he hesitated a moment before taking it. She jumped slightly at his touch, but didn't pull away. It was hard to tell in the dim light, but he thought she might be blushing.

"I see... I'm sorry. I just needed a bit of space..."

"I've noticed that you disappear sometimes. You seem lost in your thoughts, and before I know it, I've lost sight of you."

"You sound like you're always looking for me," she giggled.

"I am." She fell silent and looked away, embarrassed.

"I wasn't planning to disappear tonight," she said a minute later. "I was just having trouble sleeping, so I came for a walk."

"I see. And here I thought you might be training in secret to become a pegasus knight like Lady Hinoka," he smiled.

She laughed. "Oh, she did do that, now I think about it. You'd wake up in the middle of the night and she was out in the courtyard, swinging her naginata around."

"Yes. It was very tiring, trying to get her to go back to bed."

"I can imagine. Did she challenge you to a duel for the right to stay up?"

"All the time."

"Oh, I miss her," Azura said wistfully. She absently stroked at the mare's flank. "I always like pegasi too, you know. Maybe, if I were less quiet, I could have worked up the courage to be like her. She was such a noble pegasus knight, I would have liked to fight at her side."

"Well..." he interlaced his fingers with hers and wrapped his cloak around her. "You may not be able to learn from Lady Hinoka, but you could still become a falicorn knight, if you really wanted to."

"There's no such thing as a falicorn knight, Kaze," she said. Her golden eyes were twinkling in the moonlight and Kaze found his thoughts drifting to that kiss they hadn't had a chance to repeat.

"Not yet, but I'm willing to bet you could be the first, milady."

She looked up at him, and he cupped her cheek. Her face was warm to the touch.

"You must think highly of me, if you think that," she said, a sad smile playing on her lips. He brushed his thumb over them gently, pressing his forehead to hers.

"I think the world of you, Lady Azura."

"Kaze..."

He kissed her, a soft, gentle touch of the lips. He kissed her cheeks, her brow, her nose, and her eyelids.

"Please, forgive your servant this," he muttered, and he met her mouth once more.

Corrin hears every word said between them.

She tries not to listen, tries not to hear the murmured conversation between her sister and her lover. For she realizes now, for the first time, that that's what Kaze is. She's not sure when it began, but the more she tries to shut out their voices, the more she is convinced this isn't completely new. All of Azura's strange behavior now makes sense, she now understands why Kaze always watched after her so longingly. It should have been obvious, but Corrin was too afraid to notice.

Now, it's too late.

Corrin presses her hands to her ears tightly, trying to forget. But now she can only imagine Azura in his arms, her cheek pressed to his shoulder, both of them sighing contentedly, holding hands. The dragon in her heart bites down hard with its fangs, and Corrin suddenly realizes that there are tears dripping down her nose.

For a moment, for a painfully long, torturous moment, it dawns on Corrin that she's been mistaken all along.

The jealousy she's felt, the dread she's been hiding... none of it has been platonic.

Finally, finally, she can admit to herself the truth: she's in love with Azura, and it's all she can do to hold in the sobs catching in her throat.

Notes:

I ended up playing a bit of Conquest last night, and decided that the last chapter had too much plot and not enough shipping, so I wrote another to rectify that.

I had a Dark Falcon Azura in my first Conquest playthrough and she was great, so I thought "hey, why not make the Azura in CTaF one too?" Then one thing led to another and I ended up writing a whole subplot on "catching falicorns 101." Whoops.

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy the chapter (and drunken Laslow, because I sure did)! Thanks so much for reading~