Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem or anything associated with it.
XXXXX
(The Tale of Sothe)
The next day…
The sun had barely risen by the time Sothe felt a shift next to him. Slightly opening his eyes, he saw Micaiah begin to stir in the tent that the two of them shared together. Softly stretching, the rose slowly got up to his feet while the Silver-haired Maiden waved a hand through her hair. "Good morning," he said when she sat up completely from her sleeping position.
"Good morning, Sothe. Did you sleep well?"
"As well as one could hope," he replied, with a little grin on his face looking at the strands of hair in front of Micaiah's face. "Are you feeling okay?" She simply nodded in affirmation of his question. "I'll go check on the others, okay? You can stay here for a little longer." Without waiting for a protest, Sothe left the tent to see Tauroneo walking around the camp. "Tauroneo!" he called, running up to the man.
"Ah, Sothe! How are you this morning?" the general asked.
"I'm well. Are you preparing to go somewhere?" the rogue questioned, seeing the man armed and ready.
"Yes. Jill and I are leading a unit of able soldiers to free those in the Talrega labor camp. With luck, we should be back by dawn tomorrow with even more bolstered numbers."
"Do you want any of us to deploy wi-"
"Worry not, youngster," the white-clad knight interrupted. "Even the youth need rest. After your work at the Umono Prison camp, you've certainly earned it." After that, Tauroneo excused himself to finish the last-minute preparations for the mission to Talrega. Satisfied with the answer, he went to the two tents occupied by the rest of the Dawn Brigade. Opening the first quietly, he saw a sleeping Edward along with Nolan and Leonardo, both of whom were awake.
"Good morning," Nolan first greeted. "Is there something happening?"
"No, Tauroneo said we had the day off." Both Nolan and Leonardo nodded at the news, while Edward started to lightly snore. "I guess Edward will love the news...when he wakes up."
"If you think that's bad, you don't know the half of it," Leonardo started. "He rolls in his sleep as well." Both Nolan and Sothe shared a laugh at the blonde archer's misery.
"Well, I'll go to check up on the others. See you all later," Sothe said before leaving to go to the next tent, where Aran, Laura and Meg stayed. Peering inside, he saw that the three were all sleeping, though it seemed like Meg was starting to stir. Leaving them to their own devices, he decided to take a big risk and head over to the 'fluffy people tent,' as Khimari so eloquently put it. Traveling to the outskirts of the Daein Liberation Army base camp, the rogue after a few minutes found himself at the mainstay of the Laguz that assisted them in fighting the army. Opening up the tent slightly, Sothe was surprised to see only Rafiel, Queen Nailah and Vika there.
"Hm...look who it is," the wolf queen muttered. "How may we help you today, Sothe?"
"Oh...it's nothing, Queen Nailah. I just wanted to check on everyone since we had the day off," he explained.
"Oh? If you want to see Khimari and the others, they went off into the woods directly outside camp," she directed.
"Okay, thank you, Your Majesty." Uncomfortably bowing slightly before the queen, Sothe decided not to search for the others, believing that they would be doing fine by themselves.
Not to mention that he would run the risk of falling into a prank. It would be a shame if he spent the whole day cleaning his hair out again like three years ago on the boat ride to Daein…
Sighing at the memory, the rogue changed course to return to his tent where Micaiah would be waiting. As expected, the young lady, nowfully awake and finished with her morning routine, was sitting patiently in the tent reading a tome book. "Oh, Sothe. How is everyone doing?"
"Everyone is fine," he reported. "Tauroneo said we have the day off, so we can relax a little bit."
"The day off?" she echoed. "But...there's so much to be done…"
"You need to rest, too, Micaiah," Sothe lightly admonished. "It'll be nice to have a day get your energy back."
"Well...I guess so," she relented, returning to her book. Not sure about what else to do, Sothe started to polish some of his daggers that he used in battle. It never hurt to have a sharp weapon ready, as Khimari told him a long time ago.
Quickly finished with that small task, Sothe found himself bored again as he didn't have anything to do. Looking over, Micaiah was still all the way in her book, reading like there was no tomorrow. Slightly rolling his eyes, he walked out of the tent to see Tormod running back to the tent where he and the Laguz stayed. Instantly curious, he followed the hot-headed mage back to see him hide behind a tree. Wondering what the boy could be up to, Sothe calmly walked to his apparent hiding place.
"Tormod, what are you-"
"Sothe!? What are you doing here? Wait, never mind. Shush before you blow my cover!" the mage hurriedly said, trying to shoo away the rogue.
"What in the goddess' name are you doing?" he persisted, earning a deep sigh from the...energetic mage.
"It's an assignment from Tora. I have to make it into the tent before Rikari tags me or I'm gonna be 'it.'"
"...So you're playing a game?" Sothe summarized.
"It's not a game! It's stealth training!" he rebutted, before he heard a rustle in the grass. Instantly worried, he bolted away from the source of the noise. "See ya later Sothe, I'm gonna win!" he said, disappearing within a matter of seconds. As soon as the mage was no longer able to be seen, a rabbit behind the grass made its presence known, jumping from behind the bush that the sound came from. Seeing that Tormod ran away from a rabbit, Sothe rolled his eyes and let a chuckle loose.
Walking back to the clearing, he saw an angry-looking Rikari on the prowl for Tormod, as said by the childish Beorc. "Where is Tormod? I swear, I'm gonna rip him up when I find him!" he uncharacteristically growled before going in the direction that Tormod went. Normally, Sothe wouldn't worry, but something sounded a little more threatening in the way Rikari said that. Going back to the Laguz tent, he opened it once again to find that Tora had joined Queen Nailah and the others.
"Ah, Sothe. You've returned," Rafiel noted, leading Tora to raise an eyebrow at the statement.
"Returned? You looking for someone?"
"Actually, I was looking for you," Sothe admitted, surprising the red wolf. "Has Rikari been alright recently? He seemed more violent than usual when I saw him searching for Tormod."
"Violent? He was fine yesterday," Tora dismissed, before a sound from Queen Nailah grabbed their attention.
"How old is Rikari?" the white wolf asked the older brother.
"He's fifteen, almost sixteen," the red wolf responded. "Why does that matter?"
Hatari's queen let out a sigh in response. "He's probably going through a vital part of puberty," she answered, causing Tora's eyes to widen in understanding. "For a few weeks when wolf males in particular are around sixteen years old, they can get much more violent and confrontational. It appears as if that's what is going on right now."
"Really? I've never heard of this," Sothe mentioned, leading the wolf queen to grunt in amusement.
"Go ask Khimari. He'll tell you more about it. But for the meanwhile, it'd probably be best for one of you to find the little cub before he does something irresponsible."
"We'll both go look," Tora said, motioning for Sothe to come with him. "Where'd you see him last?"
"He went to the right to follow Tormod," the rogue answered. Following the direction, the two quickly found a set of claw marks on a tree. Sharing a look with each other, they put a little more pep in their step. Before long, they found the orange wolf in the middle of the woods, clearly agitated. "Rikari!" Sothe called, getting his attention.
"Who is-Tora? Sothe?" the young wolf blinked, his irritation turning into confusion.
"The hunt is over," his big brother replied. "We're going back to the tent now."
"What? But I was so close!" Rikari objected. "Give me a little more-"
"No. We're going now," Tora shut down, only to be surprised when Rikari actually growled at him as if he were going to attack. Tense for a few moments, the orange wolf eventually calmed down and scoffed as he silently walked past the two on the way back to the tent. "Can you go find Tormod and Maurim? I'll take Rikari back to the tent," Tora asked, leaving Sothe by himself to catch up with his pubescent little brother.
Wondering what in the world he got himself into, the green-haired teen sighed as he began to look around the camp for the green tiger and red-headed mage. Not finding them anywhere near the tent, he went a little further into the woods, where he heard a conversation in progress.
"Hey, Khimari, what are you doing?" a voice Sothe recognized as Tormod's asked.
"...Just enjoying nature," the blue wolf replied as Sothe followed the voices to find the three of them standing around, or in Khimari's case, sitting in his wolf form. "Well, now Sothe is here! How are you doing?"
"I'm fine," he quickly answered, before turning to Tormod and Maurim. "We need to go back to your tent. The game...the stealth exercise is over."
"What? Why?" the sage asked. "Did something happen?"
"Sort of...I overheard Rikari looking for you and it sounded out of the ordinary for him. I went and asked about it and Queen Nailah said that it was a puberty thing he was going through. Tora is already going back to the tent with Rikari. He told me to come get you."
"...Puberty? Rikari is almost sixteen. He's done with that," Tormod mumbled.
"Not quite," Khimari said, transforming into his Beorc form. "With wolves, it functions a little differently. The heaviest part of puberty isn't the beginning, but rather the end, right around Rikari's age. If I remember right, it's something only male wolves really have to worry about."
"Is young Rikari going to be alright?" Maurim asked with concern.
"He'll be fine. But when we get to that point, we get violent. Very violent. Even the smallest irritation can set us on a warpath, speaking from experience. Did you remember when Tora was around Rikari's age?"
"...I do. He was very combative and harsher than usual with the young ones in that period."
"Yup, let's get back to the tent," Khimari said, taking point of the small group.
"Queen Nailah told me to ask you about it," Sothe mentioned. "She said you'd have some experience with it."
"Well, she's not wrong, since my season wasn't as long ago as Tora's or Volug's. Like I said, I became extremely violent. Hormonal crap gets a hold of us to a point where anything can make us see red and want to go on a rampage. Boyd almost died during that time, actually." Everyone's eyes widened at the confession.
"Died? Was it that bad?"
"Well, the full story was that I had lost a bit of control when sparring against Titania and ended up being much more aggressive than usual. She had gotten a bad wound on her arm and Greil had to step in before anything else happened. He knocked me unconscious and while I was out, Boyd apparently tried to cut my tail to get revenge for a prank. Unfortunately for him, I woke up with murder in my eyes and when I came to, he had some broken bones and almost bled to death," he finished as the four arrived at the tent.
"Wow…" Sothe breathed, not ever having seen that side of the wolf Laguz before. Even then, he recognized, he still trusted Khimari unfailingly. "Well, let's make sure everything is okay."
Entering the tent, they found a very irritated Rikari, who jumped up when he laid eyes on Tormod. "Hey! Where have you been?"
"They told me that the mission was over," Tormod revealed, making Rikari huff. "So...what are we going to do now?"
"This is what we're going to do," Khimari jumped in, putting his hand on Rikari's head. Before he could continue, the orange wolf pushed his hand off and growled at the wolf prince. Not sure what would happen next, Sothe tried to step in before Maurim blocked him, shaking his head.
"Don't do that," Rikari warned Khimari, who looked at him before showing his fangs and glaring right back at the young wolf.
"Or what?" Hatari's prince growled. "Come on, we're going to do some battle practice."
"No. I won't." Whirling back around, Khimari snarled at the rebellious wolf, his eyes turning into slits. Vika, Rafiel and Maurim took a step back, while Tora prepared to intervene before a raised hand by Nailah stopped him.
"You're going. Now." Unable to match the wrath the blue wolf had in his eyes, Rikari relented with a quiet sigh and followed Khimari out of the tent. After a few seconds, Rafiel let out a sigh.
"That was...unexpected. Is something amiss with young Rikari?" the heron asked, only to be waved off by Queen Nailah.
"Don't worry about it, Rafiel. At his age, wolves usually have to be put into their place in one way or another," she said, before turning to everyone else. "This behavior will continue for a few weeks, though it'll get better as time goes by. As long as Khimari is around, there shouldn't be any serious problems."
"Why is that?" Sothe asked, wanting to know more.
"You saw that display, correct?" the wolf queen asked rhetorically. "Rikari recognizes Khimari as the alpha wolf. The reason he took Rikari with him is probably to reassert that dominance so that the young cub doesn't get any ideas. It's rather...primal of us, but that's just how it is." After the she-wolf's explanation, Tora sighed before exiting the tent, most likely to keep an eye on the "training" between the two wolves.
Leaving the tent, Sothe looked up to see that it was still rather early in the morning. "This is going to be a long day…" he muttered to himself as he decided to return to the tent he and Micaiah shared.
XXXXX
(The Tale of Zihark)
Meanwhile…
Going into the food tent, Zihark found himself getting two simple apples before leaving as quickly as he entered. Finding a tree in a calm part of camp, he began to eat his breakfast as he enjoyed the calm morning environment. Tauroneo had already informed him that he'd stay at the camp while Jill would help the white-armored general to lead a troop into Talrega. Since there had been quite an increase in healers in the army, they didn't have to spend as much time gathering soldiers and waiting for recoveries to head out. He certainly didn't mind the inactivity for the day, not in the least.
It'd give more time for him to process exactly what had been going on in the last few days. Despite helping Pelleas out for quite a while along with Jill and Tauroneo, he still couldn't believe everything that's happened since the Dawn Brigade, with Sothe of all people, found them in the desert that day. With so many familiar faces around, it almost felt like he was fighting with the Greil Mercenaries once again.
Finished with one apple, he threw the core in the nearby shrub before rising from his sitting place. Walking back to his tent, he noticed Ilyana standing outside, slightly shivering. Smiling to himself, the swordmaster decided to check on the mage to see how she was doing. "Good day, Ilyana? Are you keeping well?"
"Oh...Sir Zihark," she noted, flashing him a small smile. "I'm...fine. Just a little hungry is all." Fully expecting something like that, the swordsman pulled out the second apple he picked out from the food tent.
"Here you go. Eat up!" he laughed, as she took the apple as if it were a fragil dove. He couldn't help but notice her face and hair color as she began to eat the fruit.
"Thank you...so much," she said as she finished the apple just as quickly as ever. "You wouldn't believe how much I missed having you around," she added, giving him a small hug. A little shocked, he returned it for a few seconds before they separated.
"Well...stay closer so you won't have to miss me as much," he returned to her, smiling serenely. Nodding, Ilyana gave him one last smile before Aimee called the mage over to help with something, leaving him alone once again. Sighing, he continued his walk, passing his tent and just aimlessly going through the camp. After...what happened with his last lover, he honestly thought he was done with relationships. Then Ilyana came, and that feeling slowly returned with it. "Maybe...I need to move on," he whispered to himself, before a voice called out for him.
"Hey! Pookums!" Already knowing who it was, he turned around to see Meg coming. The country girl gave him a bear hug stronger than most soldiers he'd ever known before putting him down. "How are you doing? It's like I never see ya 'round!"
"I'm doing just fine, Meg," he returned, wondering what the heck Brom was thinking when he told his daughter to come find and marry him for the seemingly millionth time. "Are you keeping just fine?"
"You bet your cute little face I'm great!" she answered, making the man blush with embarrassment. As...interesting as the girl was, she didn't make him feel anywhere near as warm as Ilyana did. "So, what do ya plan to do today? Looks like ain't much fixin' to happen."
"I guess not…I might polish my swords, I guess."
"Oh, can I come with ya? Pretty please?" At that, Zihark found a smile back on his face. Even if he didn't see Meg in a romantic light, the girl's infectious happiness couldn't be denied. They both used swords as weapons, as well, so there's nothing that could go wrong with that.
"Sure. Come on," he decided, before wincing at the heavy-handed grip the girl put his hand in with her own. "Ow! You're squeezing my hand too hard!"
Well, nothing would probably go wrong. Hopefully the Goddess will keep him safe…
XXXXX
(The Tale of Edward)
A little while later…
Waking up abruptly, Edward found himself jumping up, before seeing that nothing was happening and that the tent was empty. Scratching his head, he let out a great yawn before grabbing his sword scabbard. Dusting himself off, a growl from his stomach warned him of impending hunger. Choosing to ignore it for now, he decided to go practice his craft.
He'd already gotten better by tenfold! Every day, he was closer to being a master swordsman, he felt. Granted, he didn't like fighting so much like they had been, but he'd do anything for a free Daein. "And soon, everything will get better!" he finished confidently, speaking aloud as he went over to a field.
When he arrived, he saw one of the wolves, the red one, looking at the two other ones while leaning on a nearby tree. Shifting his gaze, Edward's eyes widened when he saw Khimari bat away the orange one like it was nothing, before pinning him down harshly to the ground and growling. Not sure what to do, he walked up a little more, grabbing the attention of the red wolf, who didn't say anything to him.
Watching the fight, he was awestruck by the blue wolf's agility and accuracy in battle. Whenever the orange wolf tried to attack, he was deflected or avoided. Khimari's every move seemed like there was a purpose behind it, and he couldn't take his eyes off of it.
Eventually, Khimari slammed into the younger wolf, throwing him halfway across the clearing and forcing him to his regular two-legged state. "Ouch…"
To signal that the fight was over, the blue wolf reverted back to his own Beorc form. "Alright, you're done for the day," the blue wolf said, before looking directly at the red wolf that had been standing by Edward. "Can you take him back? Make sure he gets a lot of sleep or he'll get back into a bad mood. I'll bring him some food for tonight."
"And I thought I was harsh," the red one replied, helping the little one back onto his feet. "Alright." The two wolves then walked away, leaving the blue wolf alone in the clearing.
"Hey, Khimari!" he called, running up to the wolf. "How are you doing?"
"Oh, morning, Edward! Planning to practice your sword fighting?" he returned with a smile on his face.
"Yeah! Wanna practice together?"
"Sure!" the blue wolf agreed, before jumping back and transforming mid-flip. "Ready when you are!" Wondering how to best approach this, Edward stayed still for a moment before rushing forward to attack. Swiping downward, he only struck air as the wolf jumped back. Before he could move to defend himself, he was headbutted in the stomach and pushed onto his back. "Come on! You can do better than that, I hope!" the wolf taunted. Determined, Edward gripped his sword even tighter as he went in for another attack. This time attempting a side swipe, he again didn't hit anything as the wolf rolled out of the way. Following up, he missed an upward slash before he found himself pinned to the ground, with all of Khimari's weight on top of him.
As the wolf jumped off him, Edward stayed laying down as the wolf took his Beorc form once again and sat next to him. "Wow...you're tough…" he admitted.
"I have to be," Khimari replied. "You're getting better, too, though. Don't forget that."
"I know I am...but I wonder if I'm not improving fast enough, sometimes," the swordsman revealed. In response, the wolf pulled out some grass and dropped it on his forehead.
"You know, three years ago, Ike was lying in exactly the same position you were," Khimari said suddenly. Surprised, Edward got into a sitting position and focused his attention on Hatari's prince. "He always wanted to be a great swordsman. One day, he promised to be better than even Greil, our father."
"...Did he do it?"
"Well...Not quite yet," the wolf admitted. "Then again, I haven't seen him in a year, so he might've for all I know. But the point is, you don't have to rush it, Edward. Enjoy the present while it's here."
"Hmm...Enjoy the present...How do you do it?" he asked. Khimari's head perked up in surprise, not expecting that.
"Well...I just enjoy it," he answered. "Go for a hunt, talk to Mom or something. Or a prank...I haven't done one in a while, actually. But anyways," Khimari continued, "It's about what you make of it."
"Wow...I never thought of it that way. I guess wisdom does come with age," he said off-handedly, before receiving a slap to the forehead. "Ouch! What was that for?"
"You calling me old?" the wolf glared, making Edward gulp.
"Uh...Of course not! I'd never do that!" As quick as a lantern's flicker, the glare disappeared and was replaced by a soft gaze and a small smile.
"Good!" Not even sure what to make of that sudden mood change, Edward simply blinked and put his sights back on the sky. Even then, something nagged at the back of his mind.
"Khimari…" he started. "What's it like being a prince?"
"Hmm...good question," the wolf responded. "I haven't been in Hatari for fourteen years, since I was seven. I can't say it was my favorite thing, though."
"Really? You didn't like it?" the Beorc asked. All he had known about nobles and all that stuff was living in luxury, so it was a shock to hear.
"Heck no. Even before I ended up on Tellius, I loved to explore and see everything around me. Even though Mom and the regular citizens of Hatari understood that, others there were a lot more...oppressive," he said, with a faraway look in his eyes. "I remember many calling me unfit and a disgrace, among other things. They wanted me to be exactly what they wanted...a political tool at best, now that I look back."
"Do you miss it? Your home?"
"Of course I do. But...sometimes I'm just in a funk about it," the wolf revealed, closing his eyes. "It's strange. I always wanted to find my Mom and get home, but now that I've found her, it's only a matter of time before I have to return...And I'm not sure how much I want to anymore."
"Why not? I couldn't imagine being away from my home…"
"When I grew up with Ike...I was free. Even if most people hated me for my tail, I loved being in Crimea. We were mercenaries. No social expectations, no restrictive councils, no forced classes. No special rules. I didn't have to worry about anything except living. I enjoyed it...I loved it. Everything I lost in Hatari, I was able to make up for on Tellius...everything except my family…" Sighing, the wolf opened his eyes and looked to the ground. Edward could see a deep conflict within them. "Now...I found my family, but I have a new home...It sounds stupid to be telling all this to a relative stranger, but one of the things that scares me most is returning to Hatari."
"Wow...You have to think about all that?" the brown-haired teen asked in amazement.
"Among other things...Even sub-humans can be unsure about life, sometimes."
"I thought being called that was an insult!" Edward shouted, surprised to hear that come out of Khimari's mouth.
"I'm glad you remembered. But the point of all this is that freedom is something you should never take for granted," the wolf said. "It's why I chose to help Daein against Begnion, when it came down to it. No one deserves to live without the freedom to live how they want…" Getting up, the wolf extended a hand to the Daein boy. Taking the hand, Edward hoisted himself back onto his feet. As soon as he dusted himself off, he got flicked on the forehead.
"Ow!" he yelped, grabbing his forehead. Before he could launch another protest, the wolf rubbed his hair as if he were a little child before walking away. As he gathered himself from the talk he just had, Edward put a smile on his face as he went over to the food tent. There, he found Leonardo and Nolan, who were already eating. "Hey you two!"
"My, that nap seemed to have been needed," Nolan noted. "You seem even more energetic than the usual."
"Well...Let's just say it's time to enjoy the present," Edward returned, the smile on his face getting ever larger.
XXXXX
(The Tale of Hatari)
That evening…
With two dead rabbits in his jaws, Khimari entered the Laguz tent. After dropping one next to the sleeping Rikari, he went over and laid down next to his mom, where he dropped the other one.
"Wow, that one's quite large," she said as she went down to sniff it. "You did great, my cub."
"Thanks, mom," the wolf purred, pushing his head against hers for a moment. Everything descended into silence as the wolf queen ate the rabbit Khimari caught for her. Closing his eyes, Khimari decided to take a little rest for a while. After all, he hadn't been back to the tent since he left with Rikari for "training." In reality, that was really just to get his attitude in check, but it counted as training in the prince's book.
After a while, Khimari felt something gently crossing his fur. Looking up, he found that it was his mom's tail that had brushed his back a few times. "Do you want to go outside?" he asked her.
"...Why not? I could use a stretch," she agreed, getting onto her paws. With her decided, the three wolves decided to take a walk through the woods. "...How have you been, Khimari?" Nailah asked in the middle of their walk. "You seemed a little down when you came in."
"I never could hide anything from you," the wolf noted. "I've been...thinking about some things…"
"Would you like to share? 'Some things' sound interesting," the queen pressed.
"Well...I...I don't know how to feel about going back to Hatari," the wolf revealed, deciding to be as honest as possible. "After everything I've been through here, I just...I don't know…"
"I understand," Nailah purred. "It was hard to leave, even when we had to. I can't imagine you up and moving to Hatari forever after you haven't been there in so long."
"Thanks, Mom…" Even after that had been established, Nailah noted that the wolf still had a faraway look in his eye as they walked through the forest.
"...There's something else, isn't there?"
"Well…" Stopping by a cliffside, the three wolves gathered around each other in a little circle, with mother and son opposite each other. "I have a girlfriend…"
"Ah, a mate? Who is she? I can't wait to meet her…"
"I haven't seen her in a while...but...she's a Beorc," he admitted, making the wolf queen grunt in slight surprise.
"What of it? You know Hatari never...Is this about you two going further?" she pressed, remembering the most startling thing they discovered upon reaching Hatari.
"...Yeah. I love her a lot, really. And I don't care who hates that we're dating or whatever...but...I don't want to lose who I am." Both Nailah and Volug nodded lightly at the young adult's struggle; in Hatari, Laguz who mated with Beorc had no consequence and could live their lives peacefully. The children, no matter the gender of the Laguz parent, had an equal chance of coming out as Beorc or Laguz. When the wolves arrived, seeing such a high level of integration shocked them, especially with seeing Branded Laguz that still had powers of transformation and were able to continue giving birth to Laguz without any sort of backlash.
On Tellius...that reality was non-existent. For a reason that no one knew, any mixing of Beorc and Laguz was punished by the Goddess, robbing the Laguz parent of their ability to transform and leaving them as something neither Beorc nor Laguz. It had been considered a legend among the Laguz tribes of Tellius for many generations, but the origins of the tale were never truly clarified. The bottom line was, especially for Laguz, not to ever mix on such an intimate level with Beorc.
"Have you told her?" Khimari's mother asked.
"No...I don't know how I would…"
"Khimari, she deserves to know what could happen. It's not like you to be so...withdrawn," she noted, though it wasn't completely surprising. Even though the blue wolf was a ball of fire as a child, he seemed to have moments where he seemed detached from everything around him, and would hide it with a smile or some other random act. To most people, it was impossible to tell when the young prince of Hatari actually was actually in a state of deep sadness.
As his mother, Nailah always knew. It took some doing, but with enough reminders that she'd always be there, Khimari would eventually open up and tell her what's troubling him. As much nostalgia as it gave her to see that her cub hadn't changed in the slightest, it gave her a pang in the chest to see that he had become accustomed to keeping certain things to himself.; specifically, the most damaging thoughts he had.
"I know...I'm sorry, Mom," he apologized, putting his head under hers just like when he was a little wolf cub. "If you want...you can...meet her," he offered. "She lives in Crimea. We can stop by on the way to Gallia after all of this is wrapped up."
"That would be interesting. I look forward to it," she agreed, before noting the falling sun in the sky. "Perhaps we should get back to the tent…"
"Can we...stay a little longer? Pretty please?" her son asked her, looking her in the eye with that childish stare that he always used when he wanted to do something she probably wouldn't agree with.
"...Of course, my little cub," Nailah approved. Although he was bigger than her at this point, he would always be her little wolf cub. "Volug, tell the others we'll be back later," she told the brown wolf, who nodded before leaving the mother and son by themselves. Taking advantage of the moment that she had with Khimari at that time, the wolf queen stayed silent as the sun set and the moon rose, listening to her little prince's heartbeat that had grown from inside her belly. Khimari, in kind, let himself completely be vulnerable in the familiar scent and touch of his mother's fur.
Before long, moonhigh had arrived and the celestial body's radiance covered the two wolves. In the great blue light of the half moon, Nailah's fur seemingly glowed a holy white while Khimari's flowed like blue fire as the wind lightly blew the sleeping world around them. "...You were born on a night just like this," Nailah said suddenly, grabbing Khimari's attention.
"Really?" he asked, snuggling even deeper into his mother's fur.
"Really. You were my little miracle, born on a blue half moon." Not saying anything more, Khimari once again lost himself in Nailah's presence. Before long, the white wolf could hear the quiet snoring of her cub that echoed through her mind. Just like it used to be...she had her miracle right by her side.
They were together again. The simple fact drove the wolf queen to tears as she looked down at the peaceful expression on her sleeping son's face.
'I love you, Khimari.'
XXXXX
A/N: And that's it! I know that this was a filler chapter at most, and there PROBABLY will be another filler before we get to the next major fight in Daein's war for Liberation, but I feel like this is adding much needed depth that Radiant Dawn sort of skipped over.
Also, this chapter almost drove me to tears! Especially since I had sad piano music from the one and only Hiroyuki Sawano (look his music up) playing in the background. This chapter I'd say is my new favorite for the level of touchy-feely ness that's in it.
Welp, that's it for that rant before I bore y'all to death. Hopefully, you've faved, followed and commented on this story, and if you didn't, I recommend you do! With that, I'll see everyone soon!
Blizzard, out! watch?v=-Dj9KU5ROeQ&list=PLR-M_wENIFXuUZFIxRKCQ-LdVtShCL7X8&index=62 (and here's the link for a piano cover of one of Sawano's songs. Blue Exorcist is probably my favorite anime, but really, I'm out this time!)