Laslow has been seeing quite a lot of Princess Corrin recently. Ever since she approached him and asked if they could become friends, it seems she's truly been making an effort to get to know him. He tries not to show how happy it makes him when she chooses to sit with him at dinner, or when she accepts his offers to accompany her to town on errands, but it's hard not to feel lightheaded when she's so close. He's kept his promise and kept the flirting to a minimum, and he finds that she's far more likely to laugh when he speaks to her normally.

Unfortunately, she doesn't smile or laugh much at all these days.

Everyone is worried about her, especially her siblings. She has permanent dark circles under her eyes, and she hardly eats at all. She's almost always buried in her work, and when she's not, it's like her mind is somewhere else. She's been surprisingly distant, keeping to herself and avoiding most everyone, though she doesn't seem to mind Laslow's company for some reason.

Perhaps it's because he's always determined to stay on the positive side of things, or maybe it's because he goes out of his way to coax a smile out of her whenever they meet. Whichever it is, he's grateful for it.

The closer they get to Nestra, and to crossing the sea into Hoshido, the more restless Lady Corrin seems to become. It's likely that they'll be given the order to invade soon, and it can't be easy for the princess to come to terms with her role. Laslow tries to distract her to the best of his ability; anything to take her mind off the war.

Though, if he's honest, it doesn't hurt to see her lovely smile when he succeeds, however fleeting.

"Corrin, you need to learn to hold your tongue," Leo hissed as soon as they were out of King Garon's hearing.

"But Leo, we can't let this continue! We can't kill all these people on the suspicion that one of them might be the singer we're looking for!"

"Listen to me, no listen!" he insisted, taking her shoulders so that she couldn't shake herself free. "I know you think we're all heartless after what happened in Cheve. I know you think we're obedient little toy soldiers, under Father's control, and you can't understand why we're not fighting back. But you weren't there when we were growing up in Windmire, Corrin. You didn't see the concubine wars, you don't know what Father is capable of when he decides you've outlived your usefulness. If you really think Xander, Camilla, Elise, Azura, and I are the only children Father has ever sired, you're a fool. He may not have killed our brothers and sisters himself, but he turned a blind eye and let it happen, all under his own nose. He never showed any remorse either. That is the kind of man Father is, and you only put yourself in danger by speaking up like this."

"Then what am I supposed to do?! Just let it happen?!"

Leo shook his head firmly. "There are better ways to go about this, sister. The rest of us, even Azura, all know what it's like to live under Father's thumb, but none of us has lived this long by being passive observers. The five of us are survivors, and even after Azura was lost to Hoshido, the rest of us continued to fight for our right to live in that godforsaken court. We won that right, we weren't born into it, and we've been fighting since."

"I don't-"

"For gods' sake, Corrin, use your head! Don't you remember how Xander and I have been getting you out of these tricky situations you keep putting yourself in?!"

"You mean like... when you saved Kaze and Rinkah?"

"Exactly! We say one thing, but behind the scenes, we do another. That's how you survive with a clean conscience in this family; ignorance is not an excuse. If you keep naively spouting nonsense in front of Father, you will be killed. Don't die in vain, sister, we love you far too much to see you throw your life away when there is so much good you can still do, if you only do it right."

Azura's heart was still pounding with fear and adrenaline as she slipped out of camp that night. It was terrible enough that she had failed to break the enchantment over King Garon and sentenced hundreds of innocents to die in her place, but it would be worse if the army discovered her curse. No matter what, they could not afford to stop using her song, and she knew it would cause an uproar if her siblings knew she was risking her life every time she sang. So when she felt the inevitable attack coming on, she hurried away into the woods, searching for a body of water to travel through.

Not yet, not yet! she told herself as she made her way through the shadows. Already her skin was starting to ache and her chest was tightening painfully; she had a few minutes at most, and she was too close to camp to safely go unnoticed.

Just until I make it to Valla, she pleaded to herself, her breath sharp in her lungs. Just a little longer...!

She was lucky; there was a small lake nearby, and she sighed in relief as she headed through the trees toward it.

She walked into the water without hesitation, her voice threading through the air as she wove her spell. It was hardly a moment later that she emerged on the other side, her hands gripping at the edge of the pool.

Ugh! She hadn't even pulled herself out of the water when the fit began, her shoulders trembling as she scrabbled for a hold on the rocks. The burning sensation spread from her neck, and she whimpered as the air was knocked from her lungs, her nails digging painfully into the dirt. Agonized tears dripped from her nose, her body convulsing in on itself as she begged herself to stay strong, to weather the attack.

Eventually, she did, though she had no strength left to move for several minutes. She clung tiredly to the shore, her legs still submerged in the pool, her cheek pressed to the ground as she tried to regain her breath.

Made... it... she thought weakly, her eyes unfocused. After a little while, she found she had the energy to climb out of the water, and once she'd caught her breath, she sighed and stood up, her hair and dress soaked with water and perspiration.

I'll have to dry off before I go back, she thought, but a moment later something else came up through the pool, startling her.

"AGH!"

A dark something emerged from the water, coughing and wheezing, and it took her a moment to realize that the shapeless blob was just someone whose long black hair had gotten all over their face.

"C-Corrin?! What are you doing here?!" she cried, hurrying to help her sister out of the water. Corrin didn't seem to be able to see or breathe with her hair plastered over her nose, and she held Azura's hand like a vicegrip as she struggled to pull it away.

"HAH," she gasped once she succeeded, her eyes wide and frantic. She hardly seemed to notice Azura as she lunged for the edge of the pool and dragged herself out. "That's... it... I'm getting... Jakob... to... cut... my hair," she coughed, pounding her own chest with her fist to get all the water out of her lungs. She continued to heave for a good minute, but once she began to relax, she turned to Azura immediately, her red eyes blazing. "What were you thinking?! You scared me half t-" but as she realized where they were, her mouth fell open.

Azura didn't blame her. Valla in its current state was otherworldly. Abandoned for years, filled with magic gone wrong, it resembled a series of ruined islands floating in air, though Azura couldn't be sure that it hadn't always looked this way. To someone like Corrin, however, who knew nothing of its history, it was probably a terrible shock.

But... is it really a coincidence that she's here...? Only people with connections to this place can travel through water to reach it.

Not for the first time, Azura wondered if Corrin was more important than she realized; it couldn't be a coincidence that she was a dragon tied to water, though Azura still hadn't come up with a satisfactory explanation that accounted for her abilities. The only thing I can think of is that she must have inherited her powers through Lady Mikoto. It can't have come from King Sumeragi, none of his other children with Lady Ikona show any signs of possessing this kind of affinity to Valla. Perhaps Lady Mikoto had relatives or ancestors from this country, though I suppose we'll never know now.

"Wh-What the hell is going on?!" Corrin finally asked, flabbergasted.

Azura sighed. This complicated things.

Kaze noticed that Azura was missing almost immediately. Though he was worried, he didn't go looking for her; too many years of frantically searching for her when she disappeared had taught him that she would always come back on her own, and that even now she would dodge his questions about where she went.

She's not unlike trying to pin down a shadow, he thought as he patrolled through camp, keeping an eye out for her. The harder you try to catch her, the more exhausted you become, and you never get any closer to succeeding. In the last few months, he'd also learned that she was a very private person, even in her most vulnerable moments. She never divulged her worries or fears to him, and though they talked a great deal, especially after being intimate, it seemed she kept many things to herself. Kaze never pushed her to be more open; he realized there was a lot on her mind that she wasn't sharing, but he wanted to be a source of comfort for her. He'd let her decide when and if she wanted to talk about them.

No matter what I am to her when we're alone, I'm still her retainer. My job is to protect and serve her; that's what Lord Xander entrusted me to do.

He tried not to remind himself that he'd already broken Prince Xander's trust by sleeping with her.

"Kaze, you have a minute?"

He was startled by the sound of Laslow's voice, but that was nothing compared to his guilty conscience when he remembered that the dandy was Lord Xander's retainer.

"E-Evening, Laslow, what can I help you with?" he asked, his throat drier than normal.

The other man gave him a small frown, and Kaze had to force himself to calm down.

"No, well, it's not that important..." he said, his voice trailing off. "Just that you spend all your time with Lady Azura, so I thought you might know something."

His heart pounded in his ears. "Know something?"

"Yeah... about Lady Corrin."

A wave of relief washed over him. "Oh."

"Hmm? Were you expecting a different question?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"N-No, I was just thinking that everyone seems worried about Lady Corrin lately."

Laslow nodded, his mouth set in a thin line. "She and Lady Azura are close, so I thought you may have heard something from her, seeing as you two are an item."

As long as no one thinks we're more than that, Kaze flinched inwardly.

"No, Lady Azura keeps much to herself. And I don't think she has been spending time with Lady Corrin lately either. She seems worried as well."

"I see," Laslow sighed. "Never mind then," he said.

"I thought you were friends with Lady Corrin?" Kaze asked, recalling some gossip he'd been hearing around the fortress lately. "Wouldn't it be more efficient to ask her directly about what's ailing her?"

Laslow gave him a bitter smile. "Trying to pry answers out of a dragon is like trying to trap light with your bare hands, Kaze. You think you've caught her, but she's already flitted away." He held up a hand and walked away, leaving Kaze rather unnerved at his choice of analogy.

"I... I can't believe it," Corrin said, burying her face in her hands. "It's too much to take in at once..."

Once Azura had explained everything to her about King Garon, they'd returned through the lake.

"I know," Azura replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "But you have to promise me, Corrin. You can't speak of this to anyone else, ever."

"R-Right... because of the curse, right?"

"Yes. If you speak about that place, you'll disappear."

"That makes everything so much more difficult!" she cried, frustrated. "Xander and the others won't ever rebel against father openly, Leo has made that clear as crystal. No matter how terrible, they still think he's their father."

"The only way to make them understand is to show them the truth ourselves," Azura said, wringing out her dress. "And for that, we need magic powerful enough to break the illusion on him. My song was not enough," she said sadly. Corrin didn't immediately register what she'd said; she was focused almost entirely on Azura's exposed skin, on the enticing sight of her thigh beneath the white material. She had to force herself to look away and focus, her face burning hot and her heart pounding in her chest.

"Yo-Your song?!" she finally realized, once she'd gotten a grip on her senses once more. "You were the singer in Cyrkensia?!"

"I'm surprised you didn't guess," she said, mildly bemused. "You've heard me sing hundreds of times."

"I mean... I thought it sounded familiar... but I never would have imagined you'd do that to your own father!"

"He's not our Father, you know that now."

"Oh... I suppose you're right..."

"The only magic I can think of that might break the spell is the throne of Hoshido. It's enchanted-"

"To show the true nature of things," Corrin replied, remembering what her mother had told her before she was killed in Hoshido.

"Yes. In other words, we must reach the Hoshidan capital and make King Garon sit on that throne, only then can we expose him for what he is and end his bloody reign."

"But... nothing changes," Corrin realized, her heart sinking. "We will still have to conquer Hoshido."

"Yes, but in doing so, we will be freeing Nohr from Garon's grip, or rather, from the grip of the monster that walks in his guise."

"I don't know if I can do this..."

"We have to," Azura said, and there was a pleading note in her voice as she knelt in front of Corrin and took her sister's hands. "It's too late now to go back and fight this war from Hoshido's side. You said that Nohr has to change, but in order for this country to begin that process, we must remove Garon from the throne. This is something only you can do, Corrin. I can't inspire our men like you can, and I am not strong enough to bear this burden by myself. Please, if you want your choice to mean something, if you truly want Nohr to change, this is a path we have to walk."

She was so close that Corrin could see her eyelashes up close, those mysterious golden eyes staring right through her. She was sure her hands were sweating or trembling, or both, but Azura's fingers gently squeezed her own, as if she was trying to send her courage through her palms. Her blood was scorching through her, whispering temptation with every beat of her heart.

Devour her.

She longed to sink her teeth into that white skin, to taste and feel the softness on her tongue. Her hands ached with the need to caress those shoulders, that waist, to take their time removing that dress. She wanted to press her down onto the ground, to satisfy the desire deep within her, the desire to make this woman call her name, the desire to become the only thing in Azura's world that mattered.

I want her... I want her!

But there was still a small shred of reason left in her, and she fought with all her might to let it be heard.

"I... I understand," she said hoarsely, and Azura mercifully released her hands.

"It will be difficult, but you're not alone." To her horror, Azura embraced her, and Corrin had to bite down on the inside of her cheek to stop herself from doing something she would regret. "We'll see this through together, Corrin."

Devour her.

"O-Of course," she breathed. When Azura pulled away, her expression had changed. It was sheepish, almost ashamed.

"I... I have something else I want to discuss with you," she said quietly.

Corrin swallowed, her throat dry.

"What is it?"

She shook her head. "Not here. When we return to the fortress. It's... very important."

As she stood up and helped Corrin back to her feet, the human in her had to ask what could possibly be so important that it couldn't be mentioned in the same breath as outright treason. The dragon in her was too distracted to reply.

Laslow accidentally stumbled upon Lady Corrin as he was heading back to his tent. She was huddled alone at the edge of the woods, her back to a tree, looking like she'd just been caught out in a sudden rain storm.

"L-Lady Corrin?!"

It took her a moment to look up, and when she did, her expression was strange, though he couldn't put a name to it.

"Oh, Laslow, it's you," she said, blinking as she seemed to return to her senses.

"Is everything alright? You look a mess."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I fell into a lake," she said, sounding completely unconcerned. She half-heartedly ran her hands through her hair but gave up a moment later. "Did you want something?"

He frowned. Her face was flushed and her eyes looked somewhat unfocused, like they were struggling to see him.

"Excuse me..." he said, placing a hand on her forehead. As he'd suspected, she was burning up. "Princess, you have a fever!"

"What?"

"I have to get you to the infirmary, come on," he said, taking her hand. She shook her head frantically.

"No! I'm not sick, I'm just..." but her words died away and she slumped forward, out cold.

"Not sick my foot!" he cried, immediately kneeling at her side. He shifted her weight so that she would be easier to carry and lifted her up, her head tucked against his shoulder.

Naga, her skin is so hot!

He wasted no time in getting her to the infirmary tent.

As he expected, she returns on her own shortly after midnight. She sees him waiting for her and smiles, a beautiful, earnest smile.

"You look pleased, milady," he says, pulling her into an embrace.

"I think something good happened," she replies, pressing her face into his shoulder.

"Oh?"

"We'll see," she says, and Kaze gets the impression she's mostly talking to herself. He doesn't press her.

"You should go to bed, milady, it's late."

"I know," she says wistfully, and he knows she's thinking of following him back to his tent. But even if Mozu hasn't begun keeping an eye on them, they would never be careless enough to sleep together while on the march. Canvas tents are not made with lovers in mind.

He kisses her forehead gently.

"Go to sleep, Lady Azura. I'll see you in the morning."

"Mm. Good night, Kaze."

He reluctantly lets her go, watching her until she's no longer in his line of sight.

Notes:

I hate rehashing plot. But I have to at least touch on it to continue with the story, so I wrote the conversations and snippets in this chapter with my own take on these events in mind. I'm trusting that my readers are familiar enough with Conquest (and Revelation) to know what happens in between. Anyway, enjoy the info dump, now with 300% more THIRST.

Also, I'm not reviving Gunter. He's not important enough in Conquest to explain his presence.