A/n- Here it is! Story #100! Once again breaking my record for longest story as well! I might post this by itself at a later date because this story is THE Rutger/Lilina lore! And because it's long enough to be a full story on it's own. Everything you might have wondered about how their relationship happens is touched on in this story. If you only read one of these stories, read this one! If anyone ever wonders what the deal is with Rutger and Lilina, send them to this story! This isn't the end of this collection, but this is probably the most important thing I've written so far in my fanfiction career! I hope you enjoy it and the multiple pictures I was able to write in since this was originally just going to be based on the very first commission I got, but I was able to put a few more in for effect!

The Commission Files- Files #4, 21, 71, 133, 838, 1123, & 1204 The First Time

Characters: Rutger, Lilina, Marilyn, Roy

Based on: Commissions by kalruna_art, VidalRalph, erobakka01, kajimateriansfw, KagiroNSFW, and two other artists I can't find on Twitter/X

The First Time They Met

Rutger was bored, really bored, about as bored as a 13 year old boy could be when his parents dragged him all the way to Lycia just so they could meet up with some old friends. But he knew he had to be on his best behavior in times like this. Besides, he was told he could probably make some new friends today so he was looking forward to that. Eventually the red haired man, Lord Eliwood, introduced his son Roy to everyone and then Lord Hector, the man with blue hair and a beard did the same with his daughter Lilina. Rutger could tell they were both shy so when his parents introduced him he made sure to have a big smile on his face.

"I see you two got busy a little earlier than the two of us did." Hector joked to Mark and Lyn, seeing that Rutger was a bit older than Lilina and Roy.

"My name is Rutger! And I'm going to be a knight some day when I grow up!" He told Roy and Lilina confidently after Hector spoke up.

"A knight! That's so cool! I want to learn magic when I grow up!" Roy replied.

"Me too! And I'm already learning how to ride horses as well!" Lilina chimed in, not wanting to be left out.

"My, my, it looks like Rutger's radiant attitude really got the other two out of their shells." Eliwood commented. "Why don't you three run along and play while us grown-ups finish talking about all our boring adult things?"

"Alright, I know the perfect place!" Roy said before running off with Lilina and Rutger following him. It was only a short distance away, Roy was still only 10 and his legs could only take him so far, but it was far enough away that the kids could talk and play and not be bothered by their parents. So that's what they did for a while until they started to tire out a bit and sat down on the grass.

"You two are really cool." Rutger commented with his smile. "I like making new friends like this!"

"Yeah, let's be friends like our parents!" Roy agreed. "What do you think Lilina?"

"Alright, that's okay with me." Lilina answered a bit shyly. Roy was okay with that but Rutger wanted to know why she was acting so shy.

"Is there something wrong Lilina?" Rutger wondered.

"No. Yes. Maybe." Lilina kept changing her mind. "My father always told me not to make friends with strangers, but then he said you two could be my friends but I don't know you. I'm just confused."

"That is a good point." Roy noted, his emotional maturity shining through just a bit. "Well, there is an easy way to fix that, why don't you ask us some questions so you know more about us?"

"Yeah! I don't have anything to hide!" Rutger replied, thinking it was a great idea.

"Um, okay. Let me think of some questions." Lilina pondered before speaking again. "Well, Lord Eliwood already said Roy and I are the same age, so how old are you Rutger? And where do you and your family live?"

"That's an easy one! I'm 13 years old and my family lives in Sacae." Rutger answered. "My father is originally from Bern, but my mother was born in Sacae. I think I got my hair color from my father but sometimes I do wish it was green like my mother's."

"I was wondering about that, most people from Sacae have green or gray hair, at least from what I've seen and been told." Roy noted.

"I think it suits you very well Rutger." Lilina commented, happy that he answered her question so easily. So she continued to ask both him and Roy questions about themselves, why Roy wanted to learn magic, why Rutger wanted to be a knight, things like that. Slowly but surely she was feeling more comfortable around them and was okay thinking about them as friends.

"You said earlier that you were learning how to ride a horse." Rutger noted to Lilina later on. "So am I. Do you have your own horse yet? I don't, but that's because it's hard to buy horses out where we live."

"Well, I have a small pony that I practice with." Lilina explained. "My father says that I'm not ready to train with a full grown horse yet, but maybe in a few years."

"That makes sense, my parents did the same with me." Rutger commented.

"Can we see your pony?" Roy wondered, not knowing if it was near by or not.

"Sure, but I need to ask my father first." Lilina explained. So the trio got closer to where their parents were and Lilina called out to her father. "Father! Can I show Roy and Rutger my pony?"

"Of course, just be careful with it!" Hector called back.

"Yay!" Roy cheered as Lilina led them to where her pony was tied up. So the trio spend the rest of the time they had together looking, brushing, and feeding Lilina's pony until their parents said it was time to leave.

"You'll be seeing more of each other soon enough." Rutger's father Mark explained. "With things that are happening around Elibe we find that we need to stay in touch more often than we have. So this isn't a goodbye, it's more of a 'see you later' alright?"

"Alright." Rutger said a bit disappointed before turning back to Roy and Lilina. "I had a really fun time with you two today, maybe next time you can show me around your castles and we can talk to some knights or something." He suggested.

"That sounds like fun!" Roy agreed.

"I can show you the library with all our magic tomes and storybooks too!" Lilina added. "You know how to read, don't you Rutger?"

"Yeah! I love reading! Storybooks are the best, especially when they have cool pictures in them!" Rutger replied, his eyes lighting up.

"I think so too! We can all be reading buddies then!" Roy added.

"Well, it looks like you three have something to look forward to the next time you see each other." Rutger's mother Lyn stated. "And don't leave us old folk out yet, we still like to do fun stuff as well."

"Okay, Miss Lyn, you can read books with us as well." Lilina stated with a smile.

"I look forward to it." Lyn replied with a smile. After that each family when their separate ways for the time being. "So Rutger, what did you think of Roy and Lilina? Do you think you'll be friends?"

"I think we'll be the best of friends!"

The First Time They Laughed Together

About a week later the three new friends made good on their promises to each other when they all met up again in Ostia while their parents got to making plans about things that could happen in the future. Well, that and a few other things that they wouldn't understand until they were older. Either way Lilina was more confident than the last time they all met because this was where she lived and she knew it and the people very well.

"You two are gonna love seeing all the special parts of the castle I can show you and all the nice people who live here." She explained to Roy and Rutger.

"Where should we start?" Roy wondered.

"I wanna meet a knight!" Rutger suggested.

"Alright, I think I know where one would be." Lilina noted before leading the boys along until they met with a large looking man in orange armor. His hair had grayed a bit and his face had wrinkled with stress more than he would like to admit, but he still had fire in his heart for his homeland of Ostia. "This is Sir Oswin! He's the best knight Ostia has ever had! Or at least that's what my father always says. Sir Oswin these are my new friends Roy and Rutger."

"Oh, my parents told me a few stories about you, nice to meet you Sir Oswin." Rutger said extending his hand for a shake.

"Your parents you say? What would their names happen to be?" Oswin wondered, being a little nicer than usual since Lilina was here with her friends.

"Mark and Lyn." Rutger answered him confidently.

"Ah, the wonderous swordmaster from Sacae and her gifted young tactician." Oswin commented. "Well, I guess he's probably not so young any more if someone your age is his son." Then he turned to Roy. "And I guess that would make you Sir Eliwood of Pherae's son. The hair really gives it away."

"That's correct Sir Oswin." Roy answered politely. "Our parents are here discussing things with Lord Hector about the future."

"Yes, I'm to meet with them as well." Oswin noted. "I'm sorry but I must be going."

"Awww! But I wanted to know how to be a great knight like you." Rutger replied a bit disappointedly.

"That is kind of why I came to find you Sir Oswin." Lilina added.

"Hm, very well then, once I am done with my meeting I'll tell all three of you what it means to be a true knight, how does that sound?" Oswin offered.

"Truly!? Thank you Sir Oswin!" Rutger beamed.

"I'm sure you have many interesting stories to tell, especially the ones where you were with my family." Roy added.

"Perhaps, you'll just have to be patient and find out later." Oswin told him. "Now, I must be off, a good knight is rarely late for appointments you know." And with that he walked off to the meeting, leaving the three children alone again.

"He looks gruff but he's really nice on the inside." Lilina commented.

"I thought he was nice enough." Rutger noted. "Alright, now what should we do?"

"We should go to the library!" Roy suggested. Lilina and Rutger agreed so they made their way there, but on the way they bumped into someone else.

"Oh, you two might be interested in meeting Matthew here." Lilina explained. "He's a spy, so he probably already knows who you are."

"Lady Lilina, what did I say about telling people what my profession is?" Matthew teased her with a wry smile before turning around and seeing the other two. "But you would be correct, this is Sir Roy from Pherae and Rutger from Sacae."

"Wow! How did you know that?" Roy wondered.

"Do you think he was in Pherae and Sacae recently, those places are so far apart!" Rutger wondered as well, getting excited.

"It's nothing as complicated as that. Lord Hector told me about you two and that I'm to make sure you don't get into too much trouble, much like I do with Lady Lilina here." Matthew explains.

"Don't worry, Matthew is a fun person, he let's me do a whole bunch of things my father doesn't know about." Lilina teased. "Either way, we were headed for the library Matthew, would you like to come with us?"

"Sure. It'll make my job a lot easier." Matthew noted. So they made it to the library and Matthew helped the trio pick out some good stories to read. He was impressed with just how well the three of them could read, especially Rutger since he lived all the way out in Sacae. Not that he ever really thought Sacaens were dumb or anything, he just figured learning to read wasn't a priority for them. "Who taught you how to read so well Rutger, those big words aren't giving you any troubles."

"My father." Rutger replied simply. "He always says that reading is a pathway to information and that information is just as powerful as knowing how to swing my sword."

"Your father is a wise man then, of course I shouldn't be surprised about that though. He led an entire campaign that ended up killing a dragon and didn't get anyone killed." Matthew commented.

"Yeah, he had some stories to tell about you." Rutger noted. "He still kind of feels bad about what happened to your friend though."

"Well, it wasn't his fault, so I don't blame him, even if it still hurts a bit to this day." Matthew explained. "But I'm glad he still thinks of me from time to time." After that Rutger and Lilina started reading a story together about a man from Sacae who became and Ostian knight. A bit on the nose for their circumstances, but it was inspiring nonetheless.

"Do you think this story is true?" Rutger wondered.

"Even if it's not, I liked it a lot. I especially liked the part where the Marquess was a woman and everyone respected her and her decisions, that's the kind of ruler I want to be when I grow up."

"I'm sure that you'll be a wonderful leader!" Rutger assured her. "And when you do become Marquess you can make me one of your knights and I'll protect you and all the people of Ostia! Deal?"

"Deal!" Lilina agreed. As they had been reading though Roy had been going through some more books and had stumbled across a Fire tome that had accidentally been left in the library. He figured it was just one used for practice so he stood in the middle of the library and pretended to cast a spell with it. Well, a small flicker of fire came out of the tome and caught onto Matthew's cape, causing it to slowly catch fire. It took a few moments for him to realize it, but eventually the flames got hot enough and he quickly and suddenly ripped his cape off and started stomping on it to try and get the fire to stop.

Meanwhile Roy saw the fire starting too and he quickly grabbed the nearest canister of water to try and douse the flame he had started.

"Ah! Crisis averted." Matthew said with a sigh when he had finally gotten the fire out. But Roy didn't see that he had so a few moments later he threw the water from the container right in Matthew's face. The expression Matthew gave was priceless and Rutger and Lilina couldn't help but burst out laughing and falling from their reading chairs because it was such a funny scene.

"Sorry Mister Matthew." Roy apologized sincerely.

"Not to worry Sir Roy, I've had much worse than some water poured on me before." Matthew assured him. "Lady Lilina can attest to that one."

"One time he accidently had a bucket of horse poop dumped on his head!" Lilina noted and that got the three kids to start laughing once again because of course kids their age thought horse poop was funny.

"I wonder what's worse, being laughed at from kids or having to deal with Serra." Matthew said to himself with a wry smile and a sigh. "But these are good kids, they know how to have fun and laugh together. Hopefully they'll get to stay that way and not have anything like what happened to me happen to them."

The First Time They Knew They Were True Friends

A couple of months passed until the friends met again, but they stayed in touch by writing letters to each other, saying how things were going out where they lived and what they were up to. Their next meeting was in Ostia once again for Lilina's 11th birthday party, and Rutger was quite excited about it the night before.

"I've never been to a birthday party in a castle before." He told Roy and Lilina as they were reading more stories in the library. "I bet there is going to be so many new people to meet and make friends with. And they'll all be around our age too! Most of the birthday parties I've been to were for adults so their weren't many kids like us at them."

"I don't know, birthday parties seem to get more and more boring each year." Roy commented. "There is less playing and more talking about the future and stuff like our parents do. Birthdays are supposed to be fun you know?"

"I agree." Lilina noted. "But it's like our parents always say, we have to do things we really don't want to sometimes, even if it means not having all the fun we can. Sometimes not being in a royal family has it's perks Rutger."

"Oh, come on, you two are just being over dramatic." Rutger said brushing off those thoughts as he usually did. "And besides, even if everyone else wants to be boring and talk about the future, the three of us can just hang out and do what we normally do. That's what's really important, don't you think?"

"Perhaps, but just don't be surprised if not everyone shares your point of view." Roy noted.

"As long as you set your expectations accordingly you should be fine." Lilina assured him. Rutger still thought they were overplaying the whole situation, but the next day came and they were more right than he was expecting. All of the young noble children were so polite and well mannered, it almost made his skin crawl seeing people around his age so quite and with such stern expressions on their faces. And of course a few of them gave him dirty looks, probably because of his Sacaen heritage, but he was used to that at this point in his life.

"How can you two do this for so long?" Rutger whispered to Lilina as the 'party' continued on with more talking and mingling for small bits of power.

"You just get used to it." Lilina whispered back through her teeth. "Believe me, I hate this almost as much as you, but I have to leave a good impression on these people or they might not listen to what I have to say in the future."

"That's dumb, they should listen to you because you're smart and know what you're talking about." Rutger commented before another part of the festivities commenced. It was time for all the guests to give Lilina presents. As both Lilina and Rutger expected most of the gifts were just things the children's parents could buy with their money. They were nice gifts to be sure, but they weren't really personal or anything. Until Roy and Rutger's turn that is.

"I know it's not the best painting in the world Lilina, but I got my father to help me with some of it." Roy said before presenting his gift. "It's a picture of the day we first met and you showed me and Rutger your pony, that's all of our parents in the background see?"

"Oh Roy, this is a wonderful painting!" Lilina beamed at him. "I'll be sure to hang it in my room somewhere special. Thank you so much!" And with that she gave him a hug as well, getting a few murmurs from the crowd. Then it was Rutger's turn to give his gift.

"I've been working on these for a bit, though like Roy's gift they might not be the best. My parent's helped me with the designs, but I put them together and got all the materials myself." Rutger explained before he pulled out three little stuffed dolls that looked like himself, Roy, and Lilina. "I figured that since we all live so far away from each other it would be nice to have something to remember each other by. Oh, I have some for you as well Roy."

"Rutger! These are so cute!" Lilina told him with a very genuine smile on her face. "I'll make sure to take really good care of them so they can stay like this as long as possible! This was a wonderful gift Rutger, thank you!" She also gave Rutger a hug after thanking him, and that caused a bit more of a rumbling, even from some of the parents. Either way after that the last few gifts were presented and finally all the children were allowed to play and run around outside with each other. Rutger was very happy to get to stretch his legs, but sooner rather than later things started to turn sour.

"I have an idea! Let's play Knights and Bandits!" One of the royal children, the son of Erik of Laus, suggested.

"Yeah! I love that game!" A number of the other children cheered before starting to choose sides. Roy and Lilina went to the Knights side and Rutger followed them, but Erik's son tried to stop him.

"You can't be a Knight, you have to go to the Bandit side." He stated with a sneering look.

"No I don't, that side has more people anyways, I'm coming over here." Rutger stated, hoping his confidence would make Erik's son back down.

"Sacaens like you can't become knights, I thought you would know that by now." Erik's son continued.

"Yeah, well this is a make believe game, so that doesn't matter." Rutger countered back, even if he didn't believe in what Erik's son was saying.

"Well, it matter's to me! Get on the Bandits side or we're not playing!" Erik's son said, starting to visibly get frustrated because he figured bullying a Sacaen would have been easier than this.

"Excuse me?" Lilina chimed in after he said that. "Whose birthday party is this exactly? You have now power here, I say what can and can't happen during a game and I say Rutger can be a Knight. If you have a problem with that you can go to the Bandit side."

"Yeah! Rutger would be a better Knight than you would be anyways!" Roy added and some of the other children even started agreeing that having an older kid like Rutger on their side would be an advantage. Erik's son was losing his composure and he didn't know how to handle it. Well, he had one way he thought might work, but it was risky and if it failed he would look very bad. But the other kids kept nagging him and eventually he snapped.

"Looks like you're out voted. So shut up and play or leave." Lilina told him confidently right before he snapped.

"Will you shut up you little-" He said before stepping towards Lilina and preparing to slap her in the face. Being made to look bad by a Sacaen was one thing, but a woman? He was incensed. So much so that he never even realized that Rutger got in his way and blocked his hand with the flat part of his wooden training sword. When Erik's son looked up to see what happened he saw a pair of dark brown eyes that shook him to his soul.

"If you even attempt to lay another finger on any of my friends I'll shove this sword so far up your rear there will be splinters in your stool until you are of age." Rutger menaced at him. There was nothing Erik's son could do or say after that than to run as fast as he could to the other side and hope and pray Rutger wouldn't try and come and find him. Once he was out of range Rutger calmed down and relaxed himself with a big sigh.

"That was so cool Rutger! I didn't know you could move that fast!" Roy cheered him on. "You have to teach me how to do that some day, that was awesome!"

"And the way you scared him, I almost thought you were going to actually do what you said." Lilina added. "Very intimidating Rutger, thank you for telling him off." Rutger turned to his friends and their was a tear or two forming in his eyes.

"No problem, that's what true friend do right?" He asked the two of them.

"Are you crying Rutger, what's the matter?" Lilina wondered, seeing the beads starting to form.

"No, I'm just, just-" Rutger tried to get out before slumping down to the ground. Roy and Lilina rushed to his side and he was crying a bit more. "I've never had friends that weren't Sacaen stand up for me like that. I never thought I would see the day it would happen, but it's so, so, freeing to know that you two care about me that much."

"Well of course we do, we're your friends aren't we?" Roy assured him.

"You being Sacaen doesn't really mean anything other than where you were born to us." Lilina added. "Besides, being from Sacae means you know and think different things than us that we can learn from. Yeah, you're a bit different than us, but it's in a good way. Like you just said, true friends stick up for each other like that, and we're true friends."

"Thank you, both of you, I know it's Lilina's birthday but you two have made my day so much better by confirming that." Rutger told him as he tried to stop crying so much.

"Hey, when a friend is in need, I help friends out." Roy stated confidently.

"Me too, because strong friendships are how you get through life." Lilina added before the two of them gave him a hug and helped him to his feet.

"I couldn't have said it better myself." Rutger told them, finally smiling again. "Alright then, let's get this game started shall we? I think I might have just the plan to bring us to victory. It's something my father taught me a while back."

The First Time They Went to a Festival Together (21)

Time passed yet again and the trio continued to be close friends, though they all couldn't be together at the same time for each event like they would like to be. This was one of those occasions because it was just going to be Rutger and Lilina and their parents having fun together at a Sacaen harvest festival in Bulgar. Rutger had told Lilina about it and how a lot of the kids in the area loved to dress up in costumes and she sounded like she was really interested in it as well so he was wondering what she would dress up as.

"How does my costume look?" Rutger asked his father as he turned around so he could get a better look.

"It's looking like it got a bit smaller since we finished it up, talk about a growth spurt." Mark commented. "But it'll be dark enough that I don't think many people will notice. Besides, some girls like it when guys wear tight clothing."

"Mark!" Lyn chided him. Though she wouldn't deny he was right. She was just still getting used to seeing her one and only son growing up into a fine young man.

"What, he's 16, that's around the time you start thinking about things like that." Mark chuckled in response. "I'm not telling him to go out and bed anyone just yet, I'm just preparing him for things that might happen."

"Just don't say anything like that around Hector, he's getting more and more protective of Lilina as the days go by, if he even sniffs something like that I'm sure he'll be talking about it all night." Lyn noted as she brushed some dirt off Rutger's costume. "You're already as tall as I am and you're still growing, just be careful, alright?"

"I will mother." Rutger assured her. "And even if I'm growing up I'll never grow out of your love and care for me, I promise you that."

"I'll keep you to that Rutger." Lyn replied with a smile. "Alright, let's get going, we don't want to leave Hector and Lilina waiting. So they made their way into town and eventually they met up with their guests. Rutger made a beeline for Lilina while the adults gathered together.

"You keep my little girl safe tonight Rutger, I'm counting on you." Hector told Rutger. It was a little less intimidating than usual because he was wearing a wizard outfit, but Rutger could feel the protectiveness in his words.

"We won't get into much trouble, promise." Rutger replied before turning to finally get a look at Lilina. "That's a really cute cat costume you've got there, did you make it yourself?"

"Parts of it, other parts Matthew and some of the other knights helped me with." Lilina noted. "It's actually based on a costume I wore when I was around 5 and there was a festival in Ostia like this where everyone dressed up. I'm glad you like it though, I was really excited when you told me about this festival since it's not every day I get to learn more about Sacaen culture and get to dress up and have fun at the same time."

"I'm really happy you could come too, shame Roy couldn't make it though, I'm sure he would have had a really fun costume as well." Rutger commented.

"Yeah, but his father was sick and they had to make sure no one else caught it, so he has to stay inside for a bit." Lilina explained, even if Rutger should already have heard what was going on. "Either way, what are you dressed up as Rutger? Some sort of circus ringleader?"

"No, I'm a vampire!" Rutger said baring his teeth to show Lilina his fake set of fangs as he swished his cape around.

"What's a vampire?" Lilina wondered, not hearing of the term before.

"You haven't heard of vampires?" Rutger asked in shock. "Well, let me tell you about them while we walk around and see all the stalls. How does that sound?"

"I'd love that!" Lilina cheered. So the two of them started to walk the streets of Bulgar and Rutger explained to Lilina what vampires were and why he thought they were cool. She was very enwrapped his his storytelling, though every now and then a girl around his age would interrupt his story to try and talk to him. Rutger would be polite and answer their questions before going back and having fun with Lilina. Eventually they had gotten enough snacks from people to start chowing down so they sat down together to dig in, but then some more girls came up to talk to Rutger.

"Do you mind if we sit here?" One of them asked him sweetly. She was dressed up as a cleric with a fake staff and everything.

"Actually yes, I'm trying to enjoy these snacks as I tell my friend here some cool vampire stories." Rutger answered, a slight bit of annoyance creeping up into his tone.

"Oh, that's totally fine with us." The other girl, dressed as a pegasus knight replied. "We can listen to your stories as well."

"It's okay Rutger, if they want to hear your stories too that's fine with me!" Lilina said a bit innocently since she didn't really know what was going on.

"Alright, but I beg that you don't interrupt me that much." Rutger sighed. But alas that wasn't the case and the two girls continued to try and flirt with him. And what was worse was they kept talking over Lilina when she had questions to ask and it was really getting on Rutger's nerves. He didn't do or say anything too spiteful as to make the girls get upset, but soon enough they realized they weren't going to be getting anything out of him tonight so they left to see if they could flirt with any other handsome guys that were around.

"Thank Elimine they left." Rutger sighed once they were out of earshot, and that got a bit of a laugh out of Lilina. "What's so funny?" He wondered.

"Nothing really, just never heard a Sacaen thank Elimine for anything." Lilina replied. "It's a little strange, that's all."

"Well, that's what happens when your mother is Sacaen and your father is from Bern." Rutger smiled, glad he could talk to Lilina without being distracted.

"Good point." Lilina noted. "But why are you so frustrated all of a sudden, did you not like what those girls said or something?"

"I just don't like how they were trying to flirt with me when I was so obviously trying to spend time with you since we don't see each other that often." Rutger answered with another sigh.

"What does that word, 'flirting', mean anyways?" Lilina wondered. "I've heard my father say it a few times before, but always in a negative tone. Is it something bad that I shouldn't be doing?"

"Flirting is when you say something nice to someone because you want to try and start a romantic relationship with them." Rutger explained. "Like a lot of girls around here love to tell me I have a handsome face or that they are really impressed with how tall I am or things like that, hoping I'll say something nice about them in return. I'm sure very soon some boys you know will start doing the same to you, and your father is just trying to protect you because some boys, and girls, don't have good intentions when they flirt."

"Oh, so it's like a precursor to courting someone then?" Lilina asked rhetorically. "Yeah, my father has recently been talking to me about those things. It feels so stuffy and rigid like how my birthday parties are. I take it things are much more casual out here like usual?"

"For sure." Rutger confirmed. "Out here you don't really have to worry about status or anything, it's not scandalous to break up because you realize you aren't compatible, and some people even-" He made sure to cut himself off before he finished that last one. "Well, that's something your father should be telling you, not me."

"Well, I appreciate the heads up anyways Rutger." Lilina smiled at him. "I'm always so glad I have someone so experienced in the ways of commoners to explain things to me and keep me safe from the bad side of things."

"And I'm glad that you consider the common people's feelings and emotions as real unlike other noble children do." Rutger smiled back. "I'm sure whenever you do become Marquess you're going to be loved by all your subjects in Ostia."

"Thank you Rutger, that means a lot to me, truly." Lilina beamed before taking another bite of food and then thinking of another question to ask Rutger. "So, do you think you'd ever flirt with me sometime?" Rutger's eyes shot open wide for just the briefest of moments before he got hold of himself with some slow breathing.

"I think if I did that your father would cut me in half with a rusty axe." He joked. "But, being serious, you really aren't old enough for someone my age to be interested in and it not be weird. Like maybe in a few years when you're more grown up like me, but for now it's a hard no."

"That makes sense, you're almost a grown up and I'm still only going to be 14 in a few months." Lilina noted. "Oh! Maybe that means then Roy and I can flirt together since we're the same age! And Father shouldn't be mad about that because he knows Roy is a good boy!"

"You'd be surprised."

The First Time They Spent the Night in Sacae (As Friends)

More time passed, and things with Bern were starting to come to a head. There were rumblings that something would happen soon, within the next six months more than likely. But nothing concrete so the other nations of Elibe couldn't start making plans to defend themselves. Bern might be known for it's military might, but they were good at keeping secrets as well.

While all of this was going on Lilina, along with Matthew, was in Sacae. They were riding towards the ger where Mark, Lyn, and Rutger lived, to which they were very close to. She was out this far away from Ostia because very soon she was to be in Etruria for some specialized tutoring by it's Mage General Cecilia. Roy would be there with her, but Rutger obviously wouldn't since his family didn't have those kinds of connections. So before she was going to be studying for so long she wanted to spend some time with Rutger and his family since she wasn't sure when she would be able to see them again. She had just turned 15 and while she was very wise and responsible for her age her father insisted she took Matthew with her as a bodyguard since things were getting tense in Elibe.

"It's been a while since I've been this far out in Elibe." Matthew commented as they stopped their horses on top of a hill that looked down on a ger. "I think that one should be it Lady Lilina, are you ready to introduce ourselves?"

"Of course, they know we're coming, we shouldn't keep them waiting." Lilina noted. So they rode up to the ger and when they got closer Lyn and Mark came out of the ger since they heard the horses.

"Matthew! Lilina! Glad to see you got here safely!" Lyn said giving the two a hug once they got off their horses.

"Looking as rugged and sneaky as ever Matthew." Mark joked as he gave him a hug afterwards.

"Well, I've been more of a bodyguard than a spy lately, but I guess that's given me more time to work on my looks. You two are looking pretty spry yourselves, pushing 40 as you are." Matthew joked.

"Not to sound rude and interrupt your conversation, but where is Rutger?" Lilina cut in before the older folks could continue flirting with each other. By this time she understood and had a few conversations with Rutger about what his parents did with their friends, and she wasn't really feeling like hearing all this right now.

"Oh, sorry Lilina, lost ourselves a bit there." Lyn apologized. "Rutger is out checking some of our fishing traps for the dinner we're making tonight, he should be back any moment now actually."

"Alright, well I'll stable our horses while I wait for him." Lilina noted before she took the reigns of both horses and led them around the other side of the ger to tie them up. She was very good with horses at this point of her life, so she could handle more than one at a time without them running off or causing trouble. She was hoping by the time she was done that Rutger would be walking up, but he wasn't. So she sat down in the grass and started thinking. As much as her father wanted to shield her from everything, she too had heard the rumblings about Bern. She knew she was getting sent to train under Cecilia because a war could be on the horizon, it was all very stressful and she wanted this trip to Sacae to be calm and peaceful before whatever storm was about to break. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't even realize that Rutger was standing right in front of her with his shirt off trying to get her attention.

"Lilina! Lilina! Hello! Are you in there?" He asked before Lilina finally snapped out of it and looked up at him. He was even taller than the last time they had met during her last birthday and he didn't have his shirt on, showing how fit and muscular he was. And of course he was, he trained with his sword every day with his mother because it was fun and because Mark knew something was coming soon as well. And while Lilina had been setting her sights on Roy for the time being, she couldn't deny that Rutger was very appealing to look at.

"What! Huh! Yes! I'm here!" She sputtered as she quickly stood up and turned around so Rutger wouldn't see her blushing. Rutger just stood their and laughed a bit because he found the display funny before putting down the buckets of fish he had and pulled a towel out of his satchel to wrap around his body.

"Alright, alright, I'm covered up now, you can look." He teased as he picked the fish buckets back up.

"I wasn't looking at your chest!" Lilina blurted out, getting Rutger to chuckle again, which made Lilina blush more. "Can we just forget this all happened and go inside?"

"Yeah, I need to get these fish inside quickly and into the ice box so they don't spoil anyways." Rutger noted. "You're good with eating fish still right? We caught a whole bunch, even enough for both our fathers to eat."

"That's good to know, but he's not here, I'm here with Matthew." Lilina explained.

"Huh, why is that?" Rutger wondered.

"I'll explain a bit later, I'd like to go inside and calm down a bit." Lilina commented.

"Sure thing." Rutger replied. So he carried the fish into the house and then put on a clean set of clothes. By that time his parents had finished catching up with Matthew and it was around lunch time so the food started to get prepared.

"Lilina, would you like to help Rutger and I prepare lunch?" Lyn asked before they got started.

"I promise I wont make you gut the fish, we can have Rutger do that." She teased.

"Sure thing!" Lilina replied with a smile. "It's not every day I get to work on my cooking skills." So they got to work while Mark and Matthew hung out and talked about things going on in Ostia and Bern. Soon enough they had enough food to eat and they all gathered around the table to eat.

"So, what was this thing you were going to tell me about why you're here with Matthew?" Rutger asked Lilina about halfway through the meal.

"Yeah, I do have to admit it's quite odd for Hector to have you out of his sight for this long." Mark noted.

"It was a surprise to me as well." Lilina commented. "But I might as well tell you all while we're all together. So, as you all know, things with Bern are coming to a head, though we don't know exactly how though. So my father and Roy's father decided it would be for the best if we went to Etruria and get tutored in how to fight and strategize by their Mage General Cecilia."

"I've heard good things about her." Mark replied. "She's maybe not on the same level as Lord Pent was, but she's a good general in her own way. My only question is why they didn't ask Lyn and I to tutor you. Not to toot my own horn here, but I am the best tactician in Elibe still, even if I haven't seen a large scale battle in 20 years. And Lyn could easily train Roy in a secondary sword style like Rutger's."

"That's what Roy brought up actually." Lilina explained. "But it came down to two things really. First is that Cecilia can help me with my magic more than either of you can. I've pretty much mastered how to use Fire tomes, but if I needed to fight I need to know how to handle stronger tomes. And the second is security. As much as my father and Lord Eliwood know you to be a strong fighter Lyn, if Bern were to for some reason send a whole wyvern legion to this spot in Sacae it wouldn't end well, I'm sure you could agree with that."

"As much as I would want to fight that notion, they are right." Lyn admitted. "I'm still in top form, but with all those lances and their wyverns tough hides, they'd get lucky eventually."

"And using your bow wouldn't be much better since they would surround you quickly." Mark added. "Alright, I can see where Hector and Eliwood are coming from with that. But just know that if you do ever want to be tutored in tactics or swordplay you're more than welcome to seek us out, you and Roy of course."

"Thank you Mark, I appreciate that." Lilina nodded before turning to Rutger. "And that's kind of why I wanted to come here, I don't know how long I'm going to be in Etruria so I wanted to spend some time here with you before then. I hope you aren't too upset about all this."

"Upset?" Rutger questioned a bit confused. "I think this is great for you and Roy. My only issue is that I would love to be tutored by Lady Cecilia as well, but I know that's a bit outside my family's sphere of influence. Maybe when you get back you two can finally beat me in a fight for once when you team up on me." He joked.

"Sure, because it's not like you're being trained in swordplay by one of the best swordmasters in Elibe every day and won't get any stronger while we're away." Lilina joked back. "I wouldn't be surprised if you've learned Lyn's special technique by the time we see you again."

"That and he has a bit of his mother's competitive nature in him, he'd never just give up a fight too easily." Mark added.

"Alright, alright, we get it." Rutger chuckled. "You two just come back strong enough that we can shape the future of Elibe like our parents did, that's all I ask." He didn't know it, but that kind of struck a bad cord with Lilina. It wasn't his fault of course, she hadn't told him how she was really feeling deep down. But he would find out soon enough.

Later that night, after the adults had their fun and finally went to sleep, Rutger could hear rustling in the ger. He woke up and slipped a shirt on before peeking out of his room to see Lilina up and sneaking out the front entrance. He quickly put some pants on as well and ended up following her at a distance to see where she was going. Eventually she got to a clearing and fell down on the soft grass, looking up at the moon. Rutger didn't want to surprise her, but he didn't know what else to do so he made sure to get in her line of sight before falling down on the grass next to her.

"Is this spot taken?" He asked with a bit of a smirk.

"No, I guess it's not." Lilina replied a bit distantly as she didn't bother looking over to Rutger. There was a bit of silence between them as they just looked up at the moon and listened to the bugs and animals around them, but soon enough Rutger was concerned enough to ask about what was going on.

"Couldn't sleep?" He asked simply, hoping Lilina would open up a bit more.

"Not really, I've been losing a lot of sleep lately actually." Lilina admitted.

"Anything I can help with?" Rutger asked.

"I don't know." Lilina stated. "I'm just really stressed out about the future lately for some reason. Well, I know the reason, it's this stuff with Bern."

"You're worried that you're actually going to have to fight people?" Rutger guessed.

"That and the fact that if something were to happen to my father, I don't know if I could handle taking control of Ostia as the person I am now." Lilina admitted. "I'm sure General Cecilia will give me some good tips and ideas, but if there was one thing I wish my father would tell me more about it's how to run things. Maybe he still thinks I'm too young to think about those things, and maybe I am, but I'm not much younger than he was when his brother died and he had to take over. And there are even rumblings of a revolt if things don't go well with Bern, as much as my father doesn't want to admit it."

"Yeah, that would do it, all of that sounds really stressful." Rutger noted. "But I think it's just him being confident things will work out. Remember what my father told us about Athos saying a star would rise in Lycia to protect Elibe from Bern's darkness? It's very possible that he meant that your father and Lord Eliwood will rise up again in Elibe's defense and save it once again. Probably with my parent's help of course. And wouldn't it be cool if we could fight alongside them? Not just have to remember the stories they told us about their battles? We could even make our own stories as we meet new people along the way."

"That would be nice." Lilina noted. "It almost sounds like you want a war to happen."

"No, that's not it." Rutger replied. "I guess I just want to go on a grand adventure with my two best friends in the world. It doesn't have to be a war or anything like that, I just want to do exciting things with you and Roy, that's all."

"Again, that would be nice." Lilina repeated. "But I'm not so convinced. You say that Athos' prediction is about our parents, I think it's about us. Think about it Rutger, Lord Eliwood is still sickly for whatever reason. If he gets any worse he might not even be able to fight against a basic horde of bandits. And my father has a curse on him, a curse that says he will specifically die in battle, seems kind of ominous to me."

"You don't really think that curse is real do you?" Rutger wondered.

"I mean, it's about as believable as Athos' prediction of the future, it came from Durban himself as the story went." Lilina countered. "So with my father's possible passing, Lord Eliwood's strength waning, and your parents living out in the middle of Sacae, all the ingredients are there for me, you, and Roy to have to step up."

"You've really been thinking about this a lot haven't you?" Rutger wondered. Lilina didn't need to answer, because she had. There was another long silence between the two before Rutger spoke up again. "Okay, let's say those things do happen, as sad as they would be. You know what you have that other people don't?"

"What's that?"

"Me and Roy." Rutger told her. "Roy and I will always and forever have your back, no matter what. We'll never disappoint you, fail to keep a promise, or do anything to stress you out or make you cry. We'll always be there for you, so if you do have to face all those things you think might happen, you won't have to face them alone. I hope you know that and can take strength in those facts, because it's something that keeps me going when I'm down, knowing that you and Roy will always be there for me, no matter what."

"You've got your father's knack for inspiring speeches down pretty well." Lilina chuckled slightly, though she was wiping away a tear from her eye.

"Am I wrong though?" Rutger asked as he finally turned around to face Lilina. "Look me in the eyes and tell me I'm wrong." Lilina rolled over to face him as well and looked into his deep brown eyes and she could tell he was being 102% genuine with his words and thoughts.

"I can't." She admitted. "Thank you Rutger, once again you've come to the rescue like a knight always does for his liege."

"Hey, what are friends for?" Rutger replied with a wink. "Now, speaking of becoming a knight."

"When I get back from Cecila's tutoring I'll talk to my father about it okay?" Lilina offered with a bit of a chuckle herself.

"Awesome! Exciting adventures, here we come!"

The First Time They Realized Things Had Changed

A few months later war had enveloped all of Elibe. As expected it was Bern who instigated the whole thing, but it was so sudden and seemingly unprovoked that it caught every nation off guard. Bern quickly blazed through Sacae and Ilia and set into motion revolts in Etruria and Ostia, the next two biggest threats to their conquest. Luckily Eliwood was proactive enough through his sickness to send Roy out to gather the forces of the Lycian army together so they could defend themselves. And it was good that he acted as fast as he did, because a few days later and Roy wouldn't have made it to Ostia in time to save Lilina from being assassinated.

Everything had been a blur for Lilina for the last week or so. Being betrayed by one of her father's most trusted generals, finding out that her father had died at the hands of the Bern army, finding the Durandal, and having to almost face down one of Bern's most skilled generals in that creep Narcian. She told Roy that she could handle things, that she would be okay because her people needed her to be strong, but deep down she was reminded of the conversation she had with Rutger in Sacae that felt like forever ago now. Speaking of Rutger, she didn't have the time to check and make sure with how fast things were going, but she could have swore she saw him somewhere in Roy's army. So she decided to ask him about it after they got saved by General Cecilia.

"That is indeed Rutger." Roy confirmed when Lilina asked. "We ran into him in Laus of all places when Lord Erik tried to slow us down."

"Of course he would do that. What of his son?" Lilina wondered as she scanned the army looking for Rutger's familiar face.

"Still alive, he didn't take part in the fighting so he'll probably rise to become Laus' Marquess whenever this war ends." Roy noted before going back to Rutger. "But there is something I need to tell you about Rutger. Lilina, he's not-" He got cut off as Lilina finally spotted Rutger cleaning his sword off in the distance.

"There he is!" She said with a smile. "I'm gonna go see what's been going on with him." And with that she was off.

"Lilina, don't-!" Roy tried to warn her but he was then cornered by other members of the army that needed to talk to him about stuff so he couldn't follow her. It didn't take long for Lilina to get over to Rutger and since she didn't know better she acted like things were the same between them.

"Rutger! I'm so glad to see you again!" She said cheerfully as she gave him a friendly hug from behind. "How have you been? Roy said that he found you in Laus, how did you end up there of all places?" The only reason why Lilina hadn't been instantly thrown over Rutger's shoulder and onto the ground back first was because a small part of him registered that it was Lilina talking to him and that was enough for him to not do something he would regret later. He did however easily wrestle out of her grasp and try to walk away from her without causing a scene.

"Leave me alone." He said firmly, hoping that would be enough for her to leave him be, but if he was in his right mind he would have known better.

"Oh, come on, no need to be embarrassed by getting hugged by a friend." Lilina teased him, figuring he was just coming down from his battle emotions and stress, then another thought crossed her mind. "Ah, I see, you've already found someone special and you don't want them seeing me hug you and get jealous or something right?" She pondered as she started walking besides Rutger and scanning the army for girls she thought he might fancy.

"Leave. Me. Alone." Rutger said more firmly, getting more agitated by the second. He had figured Roy would have told her what happened and that he wouldn't have to, but he was getting to the point where he was about to lose it, her acting like everything was normal when in reality everything had shattered into so many pieces he didn't even think he'd ever be able to pick them up.

"Aren't we grumpy today, run out of snacks to eat or something?" Lilina teased him a bit more before her vision landed on a cute girl with a sword. "That must be her, she looks like she's Sacaen and into swords as much as you are, I think you two would look great together. Why don't you introduce me to her?" It was at this point that Rutger knew Roy hadn't told her anything and the point where he couldn't take it any more. If he was his old self he would have loved this little banter back and forth, but now it just seemed so trivial, so worthless. All that mattered to him in this moment was making sure every single Bern soldier paid dearly for what they did to his parents and the rest of his friends in Bulgar, nothing else mattered to him right now and he didn't know if anything else ever would. But something in him held him back from outright yelling and making a scene with Lilina right here. Instead he stepped in front of her, put his hands on her shoulders, and gave her the meanest look into her eyes that he had ever given her.

"I'm going to ask you nicely one last time to leave me alone." He told her in a low, almost snarling voice. "The only reason I'm being this nice to you is because of what we were before, but after this I don't want you coming around trying to make be feel better or see what's wrong with me. I'm not the same wide-eyed fool I was couple months ago, and I would hope you aren't either. My parents are dead, my friends are dead, every one I knew and care about in Bulgar is dead. And do you know who did it? Those bastards in Bern! And you know why they left me alive? Because I looked too much like one of them and figured I was one of theirs. So I'm going to wipe every single last one of them off the face of Elibe for what they did to me. If you want to help out, fine by me, but don't be getting in my way and don't be trying to preach to me about being positive and looking on the brighter side of things. I'm a lost cause and you should treat me as such, a tool for use and nothing else. As long as you can do that there won't be any issues between us, got it?" Lilina was stunned into silence with what she heard, so much so that Rutger was finally able to get away and go back to sulking by himself with his sword. Eventually Roy caught up with her and by the look on her face he knew what she had just found out.

"Sorry Lilina, I tried to warn you but I got caught up with a few other things." Roy apologized. "He's been like that ever since we found him in Laus. It's like he's a completely different person, and it scares me a bit. Along with him genuinely being scary in the first place."

"It's like he's stuck in that mindset he showed off when Lord Erik's son tried to slap me at my birthday party." Lilina recalled. "But like a more twisted and sad version of it even. Have you been trying to get through to him at all Roy?"

"I'd like to say I have, but with all my responsibilities leading this army I haven't had much time to give any one person, let alone Rutger." Roy admitted. "The one good thing, if I can call it that, is that Rutger is probably the best fighter in this entire army. All that training with Lyn seems to have paid off. Too bad he has to use those skills in a situation like this."

"Roy, you know better than anyone I'd rather have Rutger be his normal happy self than for him to be good at killing people." Lilina replied with a bit of a chiding voice and a sigh. Just another thing that had suddenly stacked onto her pile of stress that just kept getting harder and harder to carry.

"You know I feel that way too Lilina, and I really would like to help him, but I can't always be there for him at this point in my life." Roy commented, not feeling the best himself. "I know that's just another one of my personal failures, but I've got to prioritize protecting people over helping one person, even if he is one of my best friends."

"I know, I know, it's just, gah! It's so frustrating!" Lilina vented slightly. "Sorry, I'm just still a bit on edge after everything. I understand you have responsibilities, and from what I've seen you've been doing well, you got here to Ostia in enough time to save me for example, but I guess this is just another thing I need to take into my own hands to deal with."

"What do you mean?" Roy wondered. "What are you planning on doing?"

"What I mean is, I'm not giving up on Rutger." Lilina stated confidently. "I looked into his eyes when he told me what happened and what his plans were and I still saw the spark of the person he was before. He might be on a path of revenge now, but once that dies down he's going to need someone to rely on, someone to help pick up the pieces. And if it's not going to be you Roy, then it has to be me. Who else in this army knows him as well as I do?"

"Well, there is this mercenary named Dieck who seems to have met him before." Roy commented before Lilina glared at him. "But I get your point, we're his friends and we should be doing more to help him. I'll try my best to get some more time to try and talk to him, but for now if you could keep an eye on him, that would probably be the best plan of action."

"Roy, I was going to do that even if you told me not to."

The First Time They Cried Together (71)

The next couple months were a bit rough. First there was negotiations with Bern to try and stop their aggression, something Rutger was obviously not a fan of with his current mind set, and then Roy and his army were sent off to the Western Isles by the Etrurian government to investigate an apparent revolution by workers there. Soon enough it was found out that it was actually a Bern instigated plot against Etruria and Roy was determined to stop it.

As the fighting went on Roy tried his best to help his friend Rutger in his time of need. Roy went out of his way to have himself, Lilina, and Rutger fighting together as much as possible since he knew from the advice Mark had given him before his death about building relationships during a war that it might work out. But he couldn't always be with them for one reason or another so it usually ended up being just Lilina and Rutger fighting together.

Rutger couldn't really admit it, not to himself or anyone else, but fighting side by side with someone like Lilina actually helped him out in battle more than he would expect. She had grown to be a powerful mage since the last time they talked as friends and she could really cover up what few weaknesses he had as a combatant with her magic. He in turn ended up defending her from threats when they came her way, at first because that's just what was expected of him but slowly and surely he was doing it because he enjoyed fighting alongside her. If Rutger had been himself he would have seen what Roy was trying to do, using his father's techniques to help him regrow his relationships, but with his rage and sadness he was blind to the thoughts.

What he wasn't blind to though was Lilina's attempts to get him to come to his senses. She was very much more blatant about it than Roy was, though again if he was himself he would have known that would have been the case. At first Lilina would come up and ask if she could hang out with him and he would always say no and walk away, but soon enough she would just not ask and just walk around with him wherever he went. Sometimes this worked and sometimes it didn't, it depended on his mood that day. Eventually though he found himself getting more and more comfortable with Lilina around him, she knew when it was time to be quiet and when a good time to talk was, unlike that Reglay girl who had pestered him in Laus.

For her part Lilina was trying her best to get Rutger to progress through his trauma, but she set her expectations a bit too high and that caused her to get disappointed and sad from time to time. She figured that it would only take a few weeks or so for Rutger to calm down and start being himself again, using her own experience losing her parents as a reference, but she didn't comprehend at the time that Rutger had so much higher a cliff to fall off from than she ever did. She knew and had prepared for her parents to someday leave her, she had expected it, she could handle a loss like that. But Rutger was a whole different story. His parents instilled in him a very optimistic view of the world, one where if he tried his best and was a good person things would work out in the end. And even if that wasn't how they themselves knew the world to be, they figured they would be there to support him when things got bad. But now they were gone, everyone was gone, he had no safety net in a castle and servants to help him out, so he felt he had to harden his heart to survive on his own with no one's help.

And that's where their current personalities clashed. Rutger didn't want to let Lilina in because he didn't want to lose her too and feel even more 'betrayed' by the world that seemed to hate his guts and Lilina wanted to get in so determinedly because she didn't think she could handle losing someone else close to her, someone who she never figured or planned on losing, someone she knew she would have to rely on in the future.

All of this is to say that to those paying attention to the two, the scene of them crying together wouldn't have been so much of a shock, but to those who just gave the pair a passing glance seeing Rutger so emotional like that was a big shock.

It all started on a rainy day, Roy's army had just recently reclaimed Armads, the Thunder Axe from the resting place Hector had put it years ago after foiling the revolution on the Western Isles. No one dare touch the legendary axe yet, no one was skilled enough to use it, and Lilina was quick to tell everyone about the curse that surrounded it. It was because of that and because seeing the axe made her start thinking about her father that she wasn't having the best of days. She looked around camp to see if she could talk to Roy about it, but he was busy as she usually was. So she walked around until she found Rutger cleaning his sword from the blood he got on it the other day. It was a sight she saw many times before so she grabbed a clean rag and cleaning potions to give him in case he needed them.

Rutger was having a not so good day, and for pretty much the same reason as Lilina. Finally getting to see the Armads in person was something he had always wanted to do as a child since all he got to see were sketches of it in his father's notebook, but seeing it now just reminded him of Hector's death, just another way the world spit in his face. He was also worried about another companion of his, even if he wouldn't be able to admit it in his current state. Dieck was a mercenary, and a fine one at that. He could keep up with Rutger blow for blow in a fight and he was a nice enough guy when Rutger wasn't almost killing him for training purposes. But men like him, they always took up axes as a secondary weapon, to give themselves a bit more power behind their blows, at least that's what Rutger's father's notes always said. Rutger knew about the Armads' curse as well and Dieck using it probably would be the most logical choice in Roy's mind, so he was conflicted about that as he cleaned his sword.

Either way Lilina sat down next to Rutger quietly and placed the sword cleaning supplies in front of him so he would see them. Normally Rutger would just keep on working or maybe nod in acknowledgement, but today was different.

"I don't need those." He stated firmly, with a slight hint of annoyance.

"Well, take them for later, you have more than one sword you use." Lilina countered, slightly surprised that he actually said anything and not realizing her tone was slightly condescending.

"I'm not a child, I don't need you to baby me." Rutger replied, turning his head to stare Lilina in the eyes, trying to get her to go away. Lilina knew what he was trying to do, he had done it so many times before, and usually she just shut up so he wouldn't walk away, but this time with how she was feeling she just had to let her thoughts out.

"Are you sure about that Rutger?" She asked rhetorically as the volume of her voice raised slightly. "Because from where I'm sitting you've been acting childish ever since we met up again."

"We're not having this conversation." Rutger replied as he got up to leave, but Lilina wasn't having it so she got up too and blocked his way.

"Oh, yes we are." Lilina told him firmly. "Look, I get you're pissed off at Bern for what they did to you, I am too. They killed my last remaining parent too you know? I cared about your parents too you know? And you don't see me moping about and threatening anyone who wants to talk to me so they leave me alone. I thought I could try and help you out, seeing as we're friends and know each other, but on days like this I wonder why I even put in the effort!"

"You know what? I wonder that too!" Rutger raised his voice back. "I told you the day we met in Ostia to leave me alone and what do you do? You start following me around like a sad puppy! I told you that we're not friends anymore and that I don't want to be, so why do you keep trying so gods damn hard to get me to change my mind?! If anyone is being childishly stubborn around here it's you! Why is me and my state of mind of any concern to you, no one else seems to care about me! Even Roy's gotten the point and leaves me alone! All you need to do is just go one living your life like I was never there, just pretend I died alongside my parents, because in reality that's what happened that day! That's what nobles like you do all the time right?!" Of course Rutger didn't mean exactly all the words he was saying, he wasn't thinking straight as usual and was just trying to say some vile things so Lilina would get offended and finally leave him alone. Well, he was right in thinking what he said was vile at least.

"Why? Why you ask?!" Lilina practically screamed at him as tears started rolling down her face. "Because I can't lose you like I've lost everyone else! I knew my parents would eventually leave me, I knew that a war was coming and that would people I knew might die, but the though of losing someone like you never crossed my mind! Why would it? You told me that night in Sacae that you'd always be there for me, that you would always have my back no matter what! I trusted you when you said that Rutger, with my whole heart and soul! So if I lose you then what's to say I won't lose Roy next as well and be just as alone as I feared I would be back then? So yeah, I'm being stubborn trying to get you to come to your senses, and yes I'm doing it for a somewhat selfish reason, but I just know I can't deal with not having you in my life Rutger! You've been such a good friend for so long, it feels like an arrow through my chest every time you say you don't want me around! Can't you see that I just want the best for you!"

Lilina's words rocked Rutger to his already shaky core. Of course he meant all those things he told her back on that night in Sacae, but he hadn't realized just how much support those words had given her. He always knew that they were friends, but he kind of felt like a third wheel on an ox cart, useful but not important to the main friendship between Lilina and Roy. Perhaps he felt that way because he had always been older than the two of them, but as it went it was looking like Lilina was the more mature of them, at least in this moment of time. The one thought that cut Rutger deeply though was the fact that Lilina remembered what he said back then, but she didn't bring up the other promise that he told her, that he wouldn't ever do anything to make her cry, the thing he was currently doing right now. It was almost enough to bring him to his knees right then and there. Instead he brushed off his edgy persona for what time he could in this moment, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around Lilina in a hug so she could cry into his chest.

"I-I'm sorry." Were the only two shaky words he could get out as he started to cry as well, the first time he had cried since that day in Bulgar. And he was genuinely sorry, sorry that he had made Lilina cry, made her so stressed out that she felt the need to cry, sorry that he had broken his promise, and sorry that even with a moment like this he still wouldn't be able to return fully to the person he used to be, at least not any time soon.

Lilina was a bit shocked by the gesture and his words, but she gladly accepted them, trying to calm down enough to speak to him again. Eventually she looked up and saw he was crying too and that just made her cry even more, seeing the hurt and pain in his eyes that he wasn't letting anyone else but her see. They both stood there in the embrace for a long time, the only sound between them being their sobbing and the light rain around them, but eventually one of them knew they had to speak up.

"It's hard." Rutger muttered finally and Lilina looked up at his face again. "It's just so hard not to want to push everyone away. I don't want to let anyone in just to lose them again, because I don't think I can handle that either. I don't want to lose you or Roy, or anyone else again, so I figured if I just break things off now then it won't hurt as much."

"But then where does that leave you?" Lilina questioned him. "Just a sword and heap of dead bodies I would think. Rutger, I won't deny that letting people in is a risk, one that isn't guaranteed to work, but you're not going to get that far by yourself. Revenge can only take you so far you know? What happens when the war is over?"

"I-I...never really thought about it." Rutger admitted. "Every time I get close to thinking about the future my mind goes back to Sacae, back to Bulgar, back to my parents, and the anger and the pain start all over again. I can't even feel the winds trying to call me back, that's how much my mind is clouded."

"Don't you think it would be better then if you had someone to talk it through with you then?" Lilina asked. "Someone who isn't inside your head, someone who sees things without the same pain and sorrow?"

"I don't know. Part of me wants to say yes, but the other part is so scared of finding out things I might not want to find out or losing even more." Rutger answered. "Deep down I know the path I'm trying to walk leads nowhere, my mother told me as such, but sometimes just drowning in my anger and not thinking about things feels so good in the moment that it makes me think I'm doing the right thing."

"I've felt that way before too, so I can speak from experience to tell you that it's not worth it, you always feel worse afterwards, right?" Lilina noted and all Rutger could do was nod in agreement. "I know that you're not going to change overnight, but I'm just asking you to try. For me, for Roy, and for your parents who loved you. Can you do that for me Rutger, can you give it one last chance?"

"I'll give it some thought, for you."

The First Time They Realized They Needed Each Other

Another few months passed as the war with Bern continued to drag on. Birthdays passed, battles were won, and more relationships were forming and becoming stronger. After finding out that Bern was using actual dragons as soldiers and travelling to the hidden city of Arcadia Roy's army was now marching on the capital of Etruria to liberate it fully from Bern's control. Their target was none other than Narcian of Bern's famed Wyvern Generals and this was causing Rutger to seethe just a bit more than normal, enough so that the people deployed with him could tell.

"You seem more cranky than usual today." Dieck somewhat teased him. "Of course that could be a good thing if it makes you fight harder today."

"Yeah, you seem a bit more emotional for some reason, is something wrong?" Lilina wondered.

"Dieck, you remember when I told you that you killed the soldier that led the attack on Bulgar?" Rutger asked, recalling a recent conversation they had.

"Sure, you bristled about it for a bit before letting it go." Dieck commented. "What does that have to do with this?"

"Narcian is the general who ordered the attack on Bulgar." Rutger stated. "That soldier was just one of his lackeys. He didn't show up until after everyone was killed, he was the one who found me and decided I looked enough like someone from Bern to spare." As Rutger was explaining this the cogs started turning in Lilina's head and when he was done she spoke up about what she was thinking.

"And that's why you were in Laus, you were trying to kill him there weren't you?" She asked pointedly.

"Yes, that's exactly why I was there." Rutger confirmed. "I knew I couldn't take him head on at that point, but I figured if I could sneak up on him I might be able to off him. I was about to do it too before Roy and the army showed up, so I changed plans and set Clarine free to mess with them a bit. And then things went from there."

"Well then, I guess this battle will give you a bit of closure then I'm guessing." Dieck noted. "Well, don't let me get in your way this time, he's all yours."

"No, even with my growth as a fighter I shouldn't take him on alone." Rutger stated. "He may be a vain fool, but he's not one of the Wyvern Generals for nothing. I'm going to need you two to back me up. Now come on, we don't have time to be wasting." And with that he dashed into the castle and started cutting down any soldiers he could see. Dieck just stood there with a blank expression wondering what was going on. Lilina saw it and beckoned him to join the fight as she explained.

"He's getting better." Was all she needed to say. Dieck shrugged and started fighting as well. He still didn't know what to think, but he was relieved if it meant Rutger would stop trying to sneak attack him all the time. Either way the battle to get to Narcian was quite tough. There were siege tome mages everywhere, more dragons to fight, and the fact that Roy wanted to make sure General Douglass of Etruria wasn't killed since he was fighting against his will.

Eventually though Rutger and his team made it to the throne room where Narcian was mounted on top of his wyvern. He looked as imposing as ever and of course he still had a mouth to speak with.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" He taunted the trio. "You don't look like General Roy or anyone of importance, come here to defect? Or maybe you just wanted a glimpse of my wondrous face before you die!"

"It's you who'll be dying here today Narcian!" Rutger stated firmly as he pointed his sword at the man. "For all those who died in Bulgar, for all those who died in Ostia, for all those your king murdered in cold blood!"

"Like I haven't heard that one before." Narcian replied, brushing off the threat. "If you wanted to kill me you should have done it in Laus when my back was turned. Maybe when I was in the middle of playing with that cute Etrurian girl, I would have been most distracted then, you might have had a chance." Of course Rutger was shocked that Narcian actually remembered him from that day in Bulgar and his face showed it. "Oh come now, you really think me a forgetful fool? I savored every moment my soldiers sowed chaos in that backwater dump you called a city."

"You bastard!" Rutger yelled as he charged in without thinking.

"Now that's the Rutger I've come to know." Dieck joked before joining in.

"Rutger! Be careful!" Lilina warned as she took out an Aircalibur tome and started casting a spell from it. Wyverns could be quite bulky but they had little defense against magic, especially wind based tomes that cut at their wings. Her aim was true, striking Narcian and his mount as they attempted to take to the sky, but when the dust settled there was nary a scratch on either.

"Ha! You thought a spell like that would harm me?!" Narcian taunted from above. "Not when I have my Delphi Shield with me, the latest in Bernese defensive technology! No wind magic or arrows will ever be able to pierce through my wyvern's wings.

"Do you ever shut up?!" Dieck asked before throwing a hand axe up at him. It missed because Dieck was hoping to hit the back end of the lance most wyvern riders used, but Narcian was using a sword so there was nothing to aim for like that.

"As usual, it's up to me to actually do any damage." Rutger commented before jumping onto the throne and then leaping at Narcian with his sword above his head. He got a decent blow on his wyvern, causing it to have to lower itself in pain, but this fight wasn't going to be that easy.

"Ah, you actually got a hit in, good job for a Sacaen mutt like yourself. But it's of no matter when I have a sword such as this!" Narcian said raising it up above his head. Rutger figured he was just showing it off so he wasn't prepared when a burst of Dark magic came out of the blade and cut his skin in multiple places. And then as if it was sucking blood out of his body, the Dark magic blobs returned to Narcian and started healing his wyvern from the damage it had taken.

"It's a Runesword!" Lilina called out as she pointed at it.

"What's a Runesword?" Dieck asked confused.

"It's a sword imbued with Dark magic, it's like a Noseforatu tome, if you land an attack with it you can heal yourself." Lilina explained.

"He's just got everything covered doesn't he?" Dieck replied, rolling his eyes a bit. "You two stay behind me for a bit, this is looking like one of those knock down, drag out fights and you two aren't the best with taking hits."

"Fuck that, I'm killing this bastard if it's the last thing I do!" Rutger seethed, the comments about his heritage not going unheard.

"I'll try and keep him healed up, just keep Narcian off me." Lilina said with a sigh. While it was true that Rutger was getting better, he was still very easy to provoke in moments like this. Either way Dieck was right in assuming that the battle with Narcian would be a war of attrition. As soon as they did any decent damage to him he'd hit one of them with the Runesword and the process would start all over again. Lilina did her best to heal Rutger and Dieck throughout the fight, but since she had just started out with healing she wasn't the best at it.

"What is taking Roy and the rest of the army so long to get here?" Dieck asked a while later as Rutger was distracting Narcian so he could get healed up. "If we just had one or two more people here we could actually take him out."

"I would expect that they ran into a bunch of reinforcements, that's what happened when Roy took Castle Ostia back." Lilina noted as she healed him up. "Perhaps another strong foe is here with Narcian."

"Well, I don't know how much longer we can take this, that staff of yours is looking really worn out and I doubt the Red Death over there is going to be able to hold out forever." Dieck noted. Speaking of Rutger, he had many cuts and bruises all over his body now and his outfit was quite torn up, but his rage and bloodlust was making it so he could barely feel anything in this moment, for good or for bad.

"Why won't you just lay down and die already!" Narcian yelled at Rutger as he continued to fire blasts of magic at him from the Runesword.

"You first!" Rutger spat back before lunging in for another attack. Narcian tried to block it with the Runesword, but when he did it shattered on contact, the magic inside the blade having been used up. Rutger wasn't expecting that so the momentum of his thrust threw him past Narcian and towards the entrance of the throne room where Roy had just finally shown up to help. "Roy! Wyrmslayer! Now!" Rutger almost barked at him and Roy quickly pulled the requested sword from where he had been keeping it. Rutger took it and without thinking engaged Narcian once again who had now pulled out a regular lance to fight with.

"Lilina, what's been going on?" Roy wondered as he saw her healing Dieck. "Why is Rutger so beat up and bloody?"

"Narcian had a Runesword and a Delphi Shield." Lilina explained. "We've been trying to take him down for the last half hour but we've only just now began to make any progress.

"And your buddy is in a huge, bloodlusted rage against him since he's responsible for what happened in Bulgar." Dieck added.

"What!? I wouldn't have sent him in here if I knew that! Did you know Lilina?" Roy asked in shock.

"Not until he told us right before the battle started." Lilina answered.

"Hey, maybe instead of just standing around here talking we help him out and actually start fighting?" Dieck suggested. The other two agreed but as they turned to face the battle it was about to end. Narcian had landed a few extra blows on Rutger with his lance, but all Rutger needed was on clean shot with the Wyrmslayer and he knew he'd end this fight. He had been dodging and trying to get enough space to use the special technique his mother taught him, and when he finally did so he stood still and closed his eyes to try and focus.

"Finally! You stopped moving around so I can finally kill you!" Narcian yelled before swooping down for what he thought would be one final attack. He was right, but not in the way he suspected. Right before his lance pierced Rutger's heart Rutger disappeared from sight before appearing as if he split himself in four to attack Narcian. With his amazing speed Narcian didn't know which speedy illusion to strike at and that was just the opening Rutger needed to deliver the final blow, cutting off Narcian and his wyvern's head off in one clean blow.

"Holy Elimine, he did it!" Dieck said in shock before Lilina and Roy started cheering at bit for their friend. That cheering quickly turned into yelling though as Rutger slumped to the floor, blacking out from the pain and injuries he sustained during the fight.

"Rutger! No! Not like this!" Was the last thing he heard before he fully went under and lost consciousness. After that, for what seemed like an eternity, there was just darkness. Rutger couldn't feel or see anything. He wondered if he was dead and this was the afterlife or if this was just him being inside his own mind, but he decided that he was probably still alive and being healed up in camp since he could faintly feel the warmth of healing magic being used on his body. Eventually though someone came up in his 'vision' and he decided to see who it was. His mind moved over to them and he was shocked to see it was his mother.

"Maybe I am dead after all." He commented as he came up to her.

"Not quite, but you're pretty close." Lyn stated. "But I know you'll pull through, your father and I taught you to never give up, even when things got tough."

"Are you actually my mother, or is my mind playing tricks on me?" Rutger asked, legitimately concerned.

"It's complicated." Lyn noted. "You've still got the Mani Katti with you yes?"

"Of course, it's the last thing I have to remember you by." Rutger confirmed.

"Well, when a wielder of the Mani Katti dies a part of their soul gets placed in the blade, that's what I am." Lyn explained. "Since you're close to death and have the sword on you, I can speak to you for a bit."

"Not the strangest thing I've heard." Rutger sighed. "Besides that, who says I shouldn't give up and just die? I defeated the person responsible for you and Father's death, I got my revenge, I don't have anything left to live for."

"Are you sure about that?" Lyn asked. "Let me show you something." And with that she used a bit of her power to show Rutger what was happening outside his mind. He was in fact in a medical tent in camp, stripped down to just his smallclothes, and being worked on nonstop.

"That's going to sting if I actually wake up from that." Rutger commented.

"That's not the point I'm trying to make, look at who is working on you." Lyn pointed out. Rutger focused a bit more and saw that as the time was passing in his mind Lilina was the one staying with him night after night. He couldn't make out any of the words she was saying to him, but he could see the red, tearstained eyes she had and just how tirelessly she was working to try and bring him back.

"Why is it her? She should get Clarine or General Cecilia to heal me, they've been doing it much longer than she has." Rutger wondered.

"They told her that you were a lost cause, but she wouldn't listen to them." Lyn explained. "She's been staying up all night for a week making sure that your heart keeps on beating, healing you up bit by bit, barely eating anything. Do you get the point now Rutger? Lilina needs you, and deep down you know that you need her as well."

"Yeah, but I'm just going to end up letting her down. It's better if things just end here and now. She'll have Roy to support her." Rutger noted.

"That is not the son I raised." Lyn replied pointedly. "I know things are tough for you, but things were tough for me as well. I went through the exact same thing you've been going through. I got through it with the help of my friends and loved ones and you can too, but only if you want to." Rutger couldn't argue against that, his mother was right as she usually was. But soon after she said that her form started to fade away.

"What's happening?" Rutger asked with worry in his voice.

"I've used up most of the power I've stored up, I have to go back now." Lyn stated. "I'll see you again though Rutger, one way or another." A few moments later Lyn vanished back into the darkness and the view from outside started to fade as well, but before it did Rutger heard someone speaking in a weak and teary voice.

"Rutger, please come back to us, to me." It pleaded. "You were doing so well, things were getting better, it was going to work out. I need you to be okay, I need you to be there for me like always so things make sense. So please, for the love of Elimine hear me and come back to me."

"I've made her cry again haven't I?" Rutger said to himself dejectedly before clenching his fist in determination. "That's twice now isn't it? Well I'm not going to leave it like that am I? I've got to make it up to her! I've got to fight!"

A week passed since the taking back of Etruria's capital and Rutger hadn't as much as stirred. Roy's army was starting to make preparations to follow it's conspirators to Sacae. Lilina had worked night and day to get him to wake up from his injuries, but it was starting to get to be too late. They couldn't move him in this state and they had to press on, but Lilina didn't want to. She was determined to stay with Rutger as long as she needed to so he would wake up.

"How's he doing?" Roy asked as he came into the medical tent to see if anything had changed.

"He's still stable, but he hasn't woken up yet." Lilina said with a tired sob. "Look, I know you have to go onto Sacae, I'll take Rutger back to Ostia with me and if I can get him healed up we'll meet back up with you then."

"If that's what you want to do then I won't stop you, but your strength and guidance will be missed." Roy noted, knowing he couldn't change her mind. The two of them weren't paying attention to Rutger though, because if they were they would have seen his eyes had finally opened and his mouth was moving to say something.

"What am I then, chopped liver?" He asked before going into a small coughing fit. "Ow, maybe my liver really is chopped up." He really couldn't say anything else before both Lilina and Roy practically dogpiled him in a hug. "Ow! OW! Hey it still hurts you know!"

"Sorry, sorry, it's just-" Lilina sputtered out before collapsing to the floor herself in relief.

"Lilina!" Roy gasped.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I just need some rest. And some food. And some water." Lilina said slowly as she stood back up and breathed slowly.

"I'll go get some for the both of you." Roy said before exiting the tent and leaving the two alone again.

"You look like how I feel." Rutger commented once he was gone.

"That's what happens when you barely get any sleep for a week." Lilina noted before climbing onto the medical bed with Rutger and snuggling up to him. "You don't mind if I just rest here do you, I don't feel like going back to my tent."

"If you're comfortable like that, then be my guest." Rutger noted before a bit of silence between them. "So I've been out for a week?" He didn't get a response so he looked over and saw that Lilina had already fallen asleep. He took the blanket he had been wrapped in and placed it on top of her body before wrapping his arms around her for some more warmth.

"You can sleep well for as long as you want Lilina, you won't have to worry about me leaving you any time soon." He whispered softly into her ear, even if she might not be able to hear it. "You've given me something else to live for and I'm going to make the best of it, for you, for Roy, and for everyone else."

The First Time They Knew They Were in Love

Thankfully for Rutger the army now had many strong allies to rely on, so he could take his time recovering from his injuries as they marched through Sacae. And that was probably for the best because as they got deeper and deeper into the plains and closer to Bulgar his mood became more and more dour and he probably would have made some bad decisions that would get him injured again if he was fighting. But the closer he got to full strength the more and more the itch to fight came back, and everyone knew he'd be back in the thick of things sooner or later, especially Lilina who had been watching over him and making sure he was recovering properly the whole time.

"When we get to Bulgar, I'm fighting." He stated to her one night as she was changing his bandages in the medical tent.

"We'll see about that, with the pace we're making you might not be ready by then." Lilina replied, though some of that was wishful thinking on her part. Rutger was only 20 at this point at the war, his body was still good at healing itself and with the treatment she had been giving him he'd be back to full strength any day now.

"Then I'll stay on the back lines, but I'm going to fight." Rutger said a bit more firmly. "It's the least I could do for the people that lost their lives that day."

"That's...not quite the reason I was expecting you to give." Lilina commented with a hint of surprise in her voice.

"What, you were expecting me to say something about revenge?" Rutger asked almost jokingly. "Look, I won't deny some decent part of it is that still, but after what happened with Narcian and having to recover for this long, it's changed my perspective a bit. I literally didn't have the energy or strength to be angry and that kind of got me thinking about things, like the way I had been acting."

"Go on." Lilina coaxed him, seeing that this might be a bit of a breakthrough for him.

"I've had the chance to look around at all the people in this army, actually letting them talk to me instead of pushing them away, and I've learned about why they are here fighting." Rutger noted. "All of them have some measure of grudge against Bern, but they all have other reasons to fight as well. I've done what I've set out to do mostly, make the people who ransacked Bulgar pay, so I started thinking about why I really want to keep fighting this war."

"And what did you come up with?" Lilina wondered.

"Because I don't want anyone else to have to go through what I did." Rutger stated. "If I can stop Bern from taking more families away, from creating more broken people like myself, from killing more innocent people, then I think fighting is worth the risk. And I want to start in Bulgar. I know it's a little optimistic, but if someone like me can fight and survive in the place where their trauma began, maybe it'll inspire other people to stand up to Bern as well. Kind of stupid, I know, but I think it's something my parents could be proud about."

Lilina was very touched by Rutger's words. He was being very genuine with her, sharing his deep inner thoughts when he really didn't need to. She felt closer to him than she ever did in this moment and it took her a while to respond to what he told her, but when she did it was with her own act of kindness.

"Rutger, I don't think that's stupid, I think that's one of the noblest things I've ever heard you say." She responded as she wrapped her arms around his side and gave him a hug. "And I'm touched that you're so willing to share those thoughts with me, it kinda makes a girl feel special you know." She was kind of joking with that but Rutger saw a chance and took it immediately.

"That's because you are special to me Lilina." He said softly as he put his hand over one of hers. "You've always been there for me, even when I was being a worthless piece of shit, and it's also because of you why I want to fight."

"Because of me?" Lilina wondered as she looked up into his eyes.

"Yes, because of you." Rutger confirmed. "You've put so much faith and energy into trying to help me through my issues, how could I not repay you by trying to ease your stress in any way possible? Winning this war means that you can finally worry about the things that really matter, like the people in Ostia who need direction, helping those less fortunate, and leading Elibe into a brighter future. But most importantly you can go back to being the happy, cheerful, and optimistic woman I know you to be. Not that it doesn't shine through from time to time, but war doesn't suit you, at least in my opinion."

Again, Rutger's words pierced right through Lilina's heart and soul and she had to take a moment to process how she was feeling and how she would respond. Her heart was racing, she was starting to get a little hot under the collar, and her hands were shaking. This was practically everything she ever wanted concerning Rutger and helping him through his trauma, but now their was something new, something that she honestly hadn't expected, something she only ever considered with one other person before. She almost wanted to push it down for a number of reasons, but she knew better than to that. It would almost be hypocritial for her to deny how she felt when she was trying to get Rutger out of his shell. And how did she feel you might ask? She felt like she was in love. But she knew not to spring this on Rutger right here and now, he had already given her so much, she wasn't going to push him for more, so she eventually responded to his words.

"Rutger, I'd say you don't know how long I've been waiting for you to say something like that, but I've been with you ever since I joined this army, so you do." She started out. "But, seriously, do you realize how happy this makes me feel, hearing you open up to me like this?"

"I'm hoping really happy, I have to make up for making you cry twice after I told you I would never do that." Rutger stated.

"You don't, truly." Lilina assured him.

"Maybe not, but I want to." Rutger told her. "Every day I get to see you smile is a good day, and hopefully someday I'll be someone who will make you smile."

"You already are Rutger, you already are." Lilina stated softly before they fell into a very comfortable silence together as they continued to embrace. They stayed like that for a bit before realizing that maybe this wasn't the best place to be doing this.

"Could you imagine if Clarine walked in on us or something, she wouldn't shut up about it for a month." Rutger commented as he stood up and stretched a bit. "Ah! Still stings a bit on my side." He added, clutching the left side of his torso.

"I knew I was forgetting something, I forgot to actually heal you." Lilina said shaking her head and looking around for a staff. "Hold on a moment, I'll go get the staff from my tent."

"Take your time, I'm not dying." Rutger told her as he sat down again. Lilina left, but a few moments later a bit of curiosity overtook Rutger as he looked at the satchel Lilina left in the medical tent. Something was hanging out the side of it and as he lifted the thing out he recognized it almost immediately. It was the stuffed doll of himself he had made for Lilina's 10th birthday. It still looked good for being 7 years old, though he searched through the rest of the bag and realized it was the only one, the one's of Roy and Lilina herself were missing. Either way he took the doll and sat back down to inspect it a bit more.

"If only you knew what was in store for you little me, you might not be smiling so brightly." He said to himself noting the stitched on smile. He could probably make a better looking one now if he ever had the time, but maybe that would be too childish of a gift at this point. He honestly was just touched Lilina still had it at all, and that she had it here of all times. She could probably see it in his face when she came back to see him looking at the doll.

"I see you've finally found it." Lilina commented, maybe slightly embarrassed at the thought of having a doll during war times. "I promise you I'm not casting hexes on you or anything childish like that."

"I would hope not." Rutger said dryly before Lilina got closer and started to heal him up. "I'm honestly just wondering why it's just mine you have, what happened to the other two?"

"Probably still in my bedroom in Ostia, laying on the floor or something since it was ransacked during the revolt." Lilina noted.

"Okay, that doesn't explain this little guy being here though." Rutger pressed on.

"Well, it's because I brought him to Etruria when Roy and I were studying under General Cecilia." Lilina explained. "I figured that since you couldn't be their with us in person you could be there in spirit. Roy thought it was a great idea, he really missed you as well while we were there." Rutger actually chuckled slightly at that. "What's so funny?"

"I guess I'm just touched that you thought so much of me, even back then." Rutger said with a sigh.

"Rutger, you've always been one of the most important people in my life." Lilina told him. "Of course I thought and cared about you, that's what people like us do."

"Don't you mean 'friends' instead of 'people' or something?" Rutger wondered.

"Are we really still just friends at this point?" Lilina asked pointedly.

"Perhaps not, perhaps not."

The First Time They Said They Were in Love

By the time Roy's army had gotten to the Bern border Rutger was back to full health and he needed to be. Every battle, every day, every inch after stepping into the country was hard fought with wyverns seen in the air daily and heavily armored knights on the ground. Everything that happened in this war, that had already taken almost 3 years at this point, would be coming to a climax as Roy's army was just a stones throw away from what was seemingly their last target, Bern's mountain top castle. But before that could happen they actually had to get there first. A few days before the army arrived Rutger and Dieck were sparring with each other early in the morning in preparation.

"You seem a little off today Rutger, you sure those injuries of yours aren't still acting up a bit?" Dieck wondered once they were done.

"I've just got some things on my mind, that's all." Rutger noted as he sat down an inspected his sword for damage.

"Yeah, I would think so, us being this deep into Bern." Dieck replied as he sat down next to him.

"Well, there is that, but mainly it's something else." Rutger explained.

"Care to share exactly what?" Dieck asked, prodding because he knew him and Rutger were pretty good friends now and he might actually tell him something.

"You're just going to laugh at me." Rutger commented.

"Ah, so it's about Lilina." Dieck teased him, which got a reaction out of Rutger pretty easily. "Oh, come on, it's so obvious even I can see it. Everyone in this army knows you two are a thing, Clarine won't shut up about it every time I come and talk to her."

"Fine, you're right, it's about Lilina." Rutger confirmed with a sigh. "It's her birthday today and I want to do something special for her before we end up at the castle where things could go wrong. I just can't think of what exactly, it's not like I can go to the nearest town and try and buy a gift, I'll get attacked on sight."

"That is a decent point." Dieck mused as he tried to think of something. "And there really aren't any big magic landmarks you could take her to around here either." He paused for a second before he came up with something, though he had to ask something first. "How old is she turning?"

"18." Rutger replied, a little confused as to why that was asked.

"Really? I would have thought she was as old as you are with how mature she acts." Dieck noted with a hint of surprise. "Well, there is one thing you could do for her, or with her if you catch my drift."

"No, absolutely not." Rutger stated firmly. "Not while this war is going on, I'm not making that mistake. I mean I haven't even told her I love her yet."

"Fair enough." Dieck said with a shrug. "But that does give me another idea, just tell her. Like try and make it a little special of course, but I'm sure she'd like that."

"Yeah, that might do." Rutger replied with another sigh. "Have you ever told a woman you loved her?"

"And meant it?" Dieck asked rhetorically. "No, not yet. Maybe some day, maybe not. So no sage advice from me on that front, sorry."

"I'd rather you be honest than make something up." Rutger admitted. "Do you know anything about cakes though?"

"I know Merlinus the convoy guy will have some supplies for it, he's a big food enthusiast." Dieck noted.

As Rutger sought out Merlinus and a few other people to help him make a cake, Lilina was finally getting a chance in forever to talk to Roy. As soon as they got past the usual greetings and Roy wished Lilina a happy birthday Lilina got to the point she wanted to bring up to him.

"So, how much have you been hearing about me and Rutger?" She asked him plainly.

"I've been hearing a lot of good things lately actually." Roy answered with a content smile. "Apparently Rutger isn't acting as grumpy as he had been and he's actually making friends. And people have been saying it's because of you helping him out. I'd say my plan worked, besides the part where I'm never around because of everything going on. But I'm sure that will change once the war is over, I'll get to relax a bit. Hopefully."

"Anything else?" Lilina prodded.

"No, not really." Roy noted. "Should I have? I feel like I'm missing something here."

"Yeah, you kind of are." Lilina told him.

"Well, whatever it is, you know you can just tell me right?" Roy asked. "It can't be anything too bad or I probably would have heard something."

"I know, I just, I never thought I'd be telling you this." Lilina explained. "Not to you, not during a war, not so close to it's climax, none of that."

"The more you keep talking like that, the more it worries me." Roy admitted. "Though I feel you're just trying to keep talking to build up the courage to tell me."

"You caught that did you?" Lilina teased him, but he was right. "Well, I don't know any other way to tell you so I'll just be frank with you. I'm in love with Rutger." There was a long pause between the two of them afterwards, Lilina waiting for what Roy would say and Roy wondering why Lilina was making such a big deal about it. Eventually it was getting too tense for Lilina so she broke the silence. "Aren't you going to say something?"

"I mean, what is there to say other than I'm happy for you?" Roy replied, still with a hint of confusion in his voice. "I think you might have overthought what my reaction was going to be to that news, and I'm confused as to why."

"Maybe I did." Lilina admitted. "I guess it's just, and correct me if I'm off on this, ever since we were little it seemed like people figured it would be me and you falling in love. This thing with Rutger, it feels like I'm going against peoples preconceived notions for how my life is supposed to turn out. And I guess I was a bit worried that you might have bought into that idea and be upset if I deviated from it."

"I know what you mean, I've felt it too, trust me." Roy assured her. "But no, I've never really felt like me and you were some sort of destined couple or anything like that. We're good friends sure, probably even best friends, but you and I can both admit that we haven't been together enough for anything more than that to happen. You and Rutger have been though, so it's no surprise something happened between you two. If anything it's my own fault since I kept putting you two together whenever I could, you know how Uncle Mark's 'Support' theory went."

"Well, I just wanted to get that off my chest Roy." Lilina told him, a weight being lifted off her shoulders. "Because I feel like I'm probably going to tell him how I feel soon and I wanted you to find out from me and not some random gossip you hear when I'm not around."

"And I appreciate that, you're always looking out for me and my feelings and that means a lot to me Lilina." Roy said genuinely. "You're a wonderful friend, you always have been and I'm sure you always will be. If things went differently I could see us being more than friends, but I'm happy for you. And for Rutger, he's come a long way since that day I found him in Laus."

"Thank you for understanding Roy, you are a wonderful friend as well." Lilina replied, giving him a hug in the process.

"I try my best." Roy said hugging her back. After they broke apart they chatted a bit more, but eventually Rutger found them since he was looking for them.

"Finally, you know how long I've been looking for you two?" He asked slightly out of breath. "Anyways, Wendy, Ogier, and I ended up making a cake for Lilina's birthday, you want to join us in eating it?"

"You guys made me a cake!?" Lilina asked with a big smile. "Oh, you guys are too sweet! I wasn't even expecting anything like this! Come on Roy, let's go eat some cake!" So Lilina dragged Roy along and Rutger followed them until they caught up with all the other soldiers from Ostia who had gathered to wish Lilina a happy birthday. It was a wonderful sight to see and Lilina was so happy she started crying. With everything that had happened during the war, celebrating like this, without any stuffy and bland conversations, with all her friends and people who cared about her, it was probably the best birthday she'd had in a while. The cake wasn't the biggest of course, it was hard to bake things during a war campaign, but everyone who wanted some got a decent enough piece as they sat around and talked about happy things and told silly stories involving Lilina that happened in the past. Of course Lilina and Rutger were sitting together during all of this, and at one point she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Getting tired already?" Rutger wondered. "The sun isn't even down yet."

"No, it's not that, I just want to rest my head on your shoulder, it makes me feel closer to you." Lilina told him. "I never knew you knew how to bake a cake, you'll have to teach me sometime."

"Well, I will admit it was mostly Ogier who had the knowledge." Rutger stated. "I knew a bit from what my mother told me and Wendy was about the same, but he really came through with most of it. He's a pretty good guy, you should make sure he sticks around."

"I sure will now, knowing that he has the Rutger seal of approval." Lilina joked slightly, giggling a bit because she was still really happy. "Either way, you came up with the idea, and that's what really matters to me. Like I said before, I was just expecting people to just wish me a happy birthday, I wasn't thinking there would be an impromptu party, not at a time like this."

"That's why I wanted to do it now." Rutger noted. "Not to bring the mood down, but we might not get to do this again, even if we do end up winning this war. So I wanted a moment like this we could remember and hold onto for a while if we had to." That was such a sweet thing for him to say, it melted Lilina's heart more than it already was. But if he wanted to make this a moment to remember then she would do her part as well, so she snuggled up closer to him as she replied to him next.

"Rutger, you can be so sweet when you want to be." She told him softly. "It's one of the many reasons I love you." It was safe to say that Rutger wasn't expecting Lilina to say that in this moment. He was so caught up in his own mind trying to find the best way to say it to her that he didn't think she would say it first. Internally he was starting to freak out until something his father said came to mind.

"If you're in love with someone, just tell them. Don't beat around the bush, you might not have time to. Plus it gets a little awkward if you take too long to say it back, just ask your mother."

That last part was him being comedic as usual, but it was sound advice. So Rutger wrapped his arms around Lilina and brought her closer to himself so he could respond.

"It's because I love you that I do things like this." He said softly as well, looking into her eyes. "You've done so much for me, it's the least I could do to repay you. I may never fully go back to the person I used to be, but I promise you that I'll keep trying. If you're okay with that then I don't see why we can't make this work out if we both try our best."

"Oh Rutger, of course I'm okay with that!" Lilina said a bit louder as more tears of happiness streamed down her eyes. "See, look at that, you made me cry from happiness twice today, I'd think that would make up for the other times, right?"

"For now at least." Rutger agreed. "But, maybe I should keep going just to make sure, save some in a bank or something like that. You never know when you'll need something to make you smile." He was amazed he could say something so romantic, he almost sounded like his father with that one.

"Smiles as currency, I could work with that. But you better be letting me see you smile as well, this is a two way transaction." Lilina teased him slightly, though she would like it if he smiled more.

"I'll see what I can do. But for you Lilina, anything is possible."

The First Time They Kissed

As it turned out, taking Bern castle and killing Zephiel wasn't the climax of the war, far from it. Because once all the Legendary Weapons were joined together they pointed Roy's army in the direction of the Dragon Temple where the dark priestess that had been following Zephiel around was hiding out. Through the battles to finally get to her Roy and the army found out that she was actually the Demon Dragon Idunn who used to be a Divine Dragon like Fae before her soul was corrupted. Either way, the army was about to face her in combat after learning all of this, and no one was quite sure how this battle was going to go.

"It begins." Rutger said, pretty much to himself when he heard the powerful wailing Idunn gave off to signal she knew the army was there. Something about it though felt familiar to him, like it wasn't a show of strength, but more a cry for what had been done to her.

"Alright, Roy, what's the plan?" Lilina asked soon afterwards.

"We need to end this fight quickly, those stairs probably have more dragons that will be coming out of them." Roy noted. "With the Binding Blade I should be able to make quick work of her, but I want to have some back up just in case. So what we'll do is this. Lilina, you'll warp me up there as far as you can, Elphin will play his music to give you an energy boost, and then you'll warp Rutger up there with me."

"What about the rest of us?" Dieck wondered.

"You all will be making sure the reinforcements don't get close to us as we finish this." Roy told him. "If we do this quick enough then it shouldn't be that much of a problem."

"Just don't let that axe get the best of you." Rutger added, seeing as Dieck had the Armads in his grip.

"I could say the same about that hulk of metal you're carrying around." Dieck joked since Rutger had hold of the Durandal. "That thing is almost the same hieght as Roy."

"I'll be fine as I always am." Rutger stated with confidence. After that the plan went into motion. Lilina, with her more powerful magic, was able to warp Roy almost right up to Idunn and then as Elphin was playing for her Rutger stood next to her, ready to get warped as well.

"How's he doing?" Lilina asked about Roy as she started to feel her energy coming back.

"Holding his own, he might not even need me up there honestly." Rutger said looking out at where Roy was. But then he turned to Lilina and he felt like he needed to say something before he left. "Before you send me out there I just wanted to say-" He started to say before he was cut off by something surprising. Lilina just up and kissed him, full on the lips and everything. He wasn't expecting that at all, though he probably should have with everything going on around them and the tensions and emotions of everyone going a bit wild.

"I know, and I know you're going to make it back to kiss me back." Lilina told him confidently as she lit the Warp staff up once again. "Go out there and do what you do best." And with that she warped him away.

"I must say, that was a quite bold move of you Lady Lilina." Elphin commented slightly impressed by what he saw.

"Well, he deserves it after all he's been through, plus he was about to say a bunch of stuff and waste time, so I figured I'd cut him off and we could talk later." Lilina noted.

"Bold and wise, with a powerhouse like Rutger on her side. Ostia's future looks bright indeed."

Elphin commented before turning to face the battle before him. As Roy predicted it was actually a lot easier to fight Idunn with the Binding Blade in his hands, he almost felt like it was more the weapon itself doing most of the work then anything he was doing, until the very end though. Rutger had given him an opening for a final blow and as he took it he wished that things could have gone differently for Idunn after everything that had happened to her. The blade felt his wish and instead of killing Idunn it reverted her back to her human form, defeated yet still alive.

"What do you want to do?" Rutger asked Roy as he saw the scene unfold. "Do we finish her off or no?" Roy was really glad that Rutger had changed so much during this war that he actually gave Roy the choice on what to do instead of just killing Idunn on the spot.

"After all we heard about what happened to her, don't you think she deserves a second chance?" Roy pondered. "I want to get her out of here and see if we can give it to her." After he said that the ground started to shake violently.

"Fine, but whatever you do, we need to get out of here quickly, this place is coming down!" Rutger yelled over the sound of stone shaking.

"I'll carry her, you cover me!" Roy told him and that's just what they did. Rutger used the Durandal to cut any stones that fell from the ceiling or that were in their way and eventually everyone made it out of the Dragon Temple safely. And once it was seen that everyone was out and alive the celebrating commenced. Rutger looked around for Lilina, but she found him first and jumped into his arms in celebration.

"We did it! Elibe is saved once again!" She said happily. "We finally got to go on that adventure you always wanted to go on too!"

"Not the way I was expecting it to happen, but as usual you are right." Rutger noted with a small smile. "Now what was that about me coming back so I could kiss you? Is that you giving me permission?"

"No, I was just teasing you." Lilina said sarcastically. "Come on, you know you want to. We just won a war and everything, you deserve it!"

"You deserve it way more than I do, if we're being honest." Rutger commented.

"Either way, it doesn't matter, just kiss me already!" Lilina told him.

"Don't rush me, this is the first time I'm kissing someone I'm in love with." Rutger noted before taking a deep breath.

"Then here, let me help." Lilina replied before moving her head closer and placing her hand on Rutger's cheek, their lips just mere inches away from each other. "Now all you have to do is reach out and close the distance, just like you've been doing all along." She added softly. And putting it like that really put Rutger at ease, this was just another step of his recovery. Looking at it that way made it so much easier and he gladly closed the distance between their lips, gently at first, but soon enough there was notable passion behind his actions. They didn't start making out or anything right there in front of everyone, but the kiss lasted much longer than usual.

"I love you." Was the first thing out of Rutger's mouth after they separated and began touching their foreheads together lovingly.

"And I love you." Lilina told him back. "And I think I can get used to this kissing thing, it's very exhilarating."

"Just know that I'm still going to want to take things slow." Rutger noted. "So don't get mad at me too much if I'm not moving at the pace you think I should be, alright?"

"Rutger, as long as you're trying your best, that's all I can ask of you." Lilina assured him. "When this war started, I didn't even consider something like this between us, so who am I to dictate how you should cope with your trauma, I'm just here to help when you need it."

"Good." Rutger replied as he put Lilina back on her feet. "And I'll do my best to be there for you if you need help dealing with things. Right now I'm only good at fighting things, but I'm sure I'll learn as I go."

"Hey, sometimes the only thing a girl needs is a bit of muscle." Lilina teased him. "But you'll always be so much more than that to me Rutger, never forget that."

"I'll try my best." Rutger nodded. "Now, we should be helping celebrate the true hero of this war. Let's go tell Roy how great a job he did."

"Yeah! His confidence issues are bound to go away after this!"

The First Time They Were Embarrassed Together

There were numerous things everyone in Roy's army had to do after the war, but the first thing on everyone's mind was getting back to their homes and making sure everything was alright before all the politics started up. Everyone figured that it would be mainly be between the Lycian League, Bern's provisional government under Guinevere, and Etruria. The Sacaen tribes might send some representatives to learn what the terms were, but they rarely got involved in the political matters of Elibe as a whole unless the whole country got involved like it had been. But again, before all that went down everyone needed to go home, though some people really didn't have a home anymore, like Rutger.

"I'm more than willing to let you stay in Ostia for as long as you need Rutger, I can even set up a room in the castle for you if you'd like." Lilina offered about a week after the war ended, starting to breech the subject.

"I appreciate that." Rutger told her, trying to take a hold of his emotions now that everything was over with Bern and he actually had to think about what his future would hold. "It's not going to cause you any issues internally is it?"

"It shouldn't." Lilina noted. "And if it does, well guess who is the current acting Marquess of Ostia? They'll just have to deal with it." She was very confident in saying that, which gave Rutger a measure of confidence about it as well.

"Hopefully they know better then." Rutger replied with a small chuckle. "There is one thing though. I'll see you to Ostia, but I need to go back to Sacae to where my family had our ger set up. I need to see if there is anything I can salvage from it. I don't know how long that is going to take, is that okay with you?"

"Well, why don't I just go with you then?" Lilina suggested.

"As much as I would like that, this is something I feel I need to do alone, to get some closure for myself." Rutger told her. "Maybe sometime in the future I'll take you out there, but I need to do this for me and my state of mind. Besides, you're going to have a lot of things to deal with once you get to Ostia, me being away will give you time to focus on one thing at a time."

"You have to promise me you'll come back to Ostia then." Lilina stated firmly. "None of this 'slipping away into history' thing I heard you talking to Roy about the other day."

"You overheard that?" Rutger wondered. "That was something I was thinking about a while ago, before I realized how I felt about us, so you don't have to worry about it."

"You still have to promise me." Lilina stated again, pouting a bit for extra effect. Rutger took this moment to get closer and bend down slightly so their heads were closer to each other.

"Alright, I promise." He whispered softly before sealing the promise with a kiss on her lips. "Is that enough for you, or should I do something else to calm your worries?"

"I don't know, I think I might need a few more kisses for the time you'll be away." Lilina whispered back. She was about to move in for just that when a different voice cut in.

"If you two are going to start making out, can you do it in your tent and not out in the open? I've seen like five couples already going at it this morning alone!" It was Chad, one of the orphans from Araphen. He was so sneaky and silent that neither of them heard or saw him until he spoke up, causing the both of them to jump in surprise and start blushing.

"S-Sorry Chad, we'll get out of your way." Lilina told him before dragging Rutger away to somewhere more private.

"Maybe it is better that we do this somewhere private, who knows who could sneak up on us?" Rutger noted.

"You're telling me." Lilina agreed. "Now where were we?"

"I think you were about to kiss me a whole bunch?" Rutger fake pondered.

"Oh yeah, that." Lilina replied with a giggle before moving in and starting to kiss Rutger like she wanted to. But that didn't last for long because even if they were somewhere private, that didn't mean they couldn't be found.

"It's not fair! It's just not fair! He should have been mine!" Clarine started getting on before Dieck swooped in and picked her up by the waist and put her over his shoulder, getting the pair to get flustered and embarrassed again.

"Sorry about that, I should have caught her faster." Dieck apologized. "You two lovebirds have fun." And with that he took Clarine away kicking and yelling at him to let her go.

"You know, she's not that bad of a person, she just still has a bit of a childish personality." Rutger noted when they were out of earshot. "I'm sure she'll grow out of it."

"You think you and her would ever become a couple?" Lilina wondered.

"I could see it possibly. Though I much prefer your optimism over her childishness for getting over my issues." Rutger answered.

"You would say that." Lilina commented, giving him another small kiss on the cheek and sighing. "I think our moment for the day has passed, sorry."

"It's not like we won't have more chances later." Rutger noted.

"That's right, you promised."

The First Time They Thought About Their Future

As he promised, Rutger came back to Ostia after spending a few weeks in Sacae to get his closure and any mementos that weren't ransacked by bandits or Bern soldiers. It wasn't much, but he was able to get his set of stuffed dolls of him and his friends, a couple of his father's notebooks full of notes and sketches, some extra sets of clothes, and his mother's other sword, the Sol Katti. He decided to leave the ger as it was other than that, if someone wanted to take it down or get the materials from it, they would be free to, there was nothing left for him.

While Rutger was gone Lilina got to work in rebuilding and setting up everything that needed to be done for her to actually become the Marquess of Ostia. It was tough work, but with the help of her knights like Wendy, Bors, and Barth, along with other's like Astore and Ogier, it got done in an effcient and orderly way, just like the Ostia of past generations. Things were going so well that by the time Rutger got back it was the day before Lilina's official coronation as Marquess.

"Rutger! I'm so glad you're back!" Lilina said as she ran up to him at the castle gate to give him a big hug. "How were things in Sacae?"

"About what I expected honestly." Rutger replied, but Lilina could sense from his tone that there was a considerably less amount of weight on his shoulders. "I'm sure you don't want to talk about it here at the gate, so why don't we move this inside?"

"Sure, I can show you the room I set up for you." Lilina noted before leading him around the castle to said room. "And the best part, it's right next to mine if you need anything."

"That is nice." Rutger admitted. So Lilina showed him the room and, well, it was better than any version of his bedroom he had ever had back in Sacae, not to mention much larger as well. "You know I don't need this much space, right?"

"I know, but this was the only room open next to mine, I'm sure you'll get used to it." Lilina assured him before they took a seat at the table towards the middle of the room. "So, tell me about Sacae."

"Well, like I said, it's pretty much what I expected." Rutger started. He told her everything that happened, everything he found and brought back, and why he left the ger standing. After that Lilina got to telling him what she had been doing and what was going on tomorrow.

"And I'd really like it if you could be there Rutger, if you aren't too tired or anything from your travels." She added at the end.

"Of course, I'll be there, no need to worry about that." Rutger assured her. After that there was a bit of a silence between them as they wondered what they should talk about next. Eventually though they both knew what was on their minds and it was the same thing.

"So, are we still, you know, a couple?" Lilina broached the subject first. "We've both had time away from each other to think about it, and I think we should talk about it before we move forward."

"Well, I don't have anything to think about." Rutger stated plainly. "I still love you, and honestly the time away made me realize how empty I still feel without you around."

"Oh thank Elimine!" Lilina sighed in relief before correcting herself. "Not the feeling empty part, the still being in love part."

"Were you worried about it?" Rutger questioned, which got Lilina a little embarrassed.

"A little." She admitted. "I mean war makes people do things that they normally wouldn't, even in romantic matters. I just was worried that now that we're going into a peace time that maybe things had cooled off from how hectic it was during the war."

"Lilina, I promised I would come back to Ostia, back to you." Rutger noted a bit more softly. "Now I know my track record for big promises is shaky at the moment, but I intend to change that going forward."

"I know, I guess it was just me being paranoid thinking things were going too well." Lilina told him. "But to make things clear, I'm still in love with you as well Rutger, I was thinking about you every day and I kind of felt empty without you around either, a lot less confident than usual as well."

"Good. The love part, not the less confident part." Rutger said with a slight smirk, mirroring Lilina's words from before. And it worked in getting her to laugh.

"See, we're already doing better back together." Lilina smiled. "But if we're going to go forward as a couple, there are a few things we're going to have to go over."

"Such as?" Rutger wondered.

"Well, basically, the backlash that's going to come once people find out. Having to deal with political things and questions. What kind of power or position you'll have here. Things like that." Lilina noted.

"As long as you don't make me have to go through a proper manners course, I think we'll be fine." Rutger joked. "I'm polite enough as it is."

"Believe me, I have no intention of making this like your mother's stay in Caelin, you're going to be able to basically be yourself, there are just certain things you'll need to watch out for. I couldn't care less about anything else, why would I want to change the best parts about you?" Lilina replied.

"I love how confident you are in saying that." Rutger told her. "It gives me confidence that this will work out so much better than my mother's experience."

"Here's hoping! Now, I've taken the liberty of drafting up a list of things for you to look out for..."

The First Time They Fought and Made Up (As a Couple)

The next couple months went pretty smoothly for the couple. Rutger acclimated well to life in Ostia, he really appreciated the stability in the day to day routine where he knew what was expected of him, it centered his thoughts nicely. And with that stability he was able to help Lilina in her duties as Marquess, rebuilding and planning for the future of Ostia. But like any couple there were a few pitfalls along the way, one in particular that started their first real fight as a couple.

"Hey Lilina, are you busy?" Rutger asked as he knocked on the door to her office where she wrote the majority of her letters and the laws that governed Ostia. He had a list of names in his hand and something was bothering him. Actually it was someone on it that was bothering him.

"No, I'm taking a break for a bit!" Lilina called through the door. "Come on in and have some tea with me!" So Rutger opened the door and sat down on the opposite side of the desk Lilina was working at. She had been writing a stack full of invitations to a banquet Ostia was going to hold in a month's time to celebrate just how well the reconstruction of Lycia was going.

"Looks like you've been busy." Rutger noted looking at the stack of letters. "I've been talking with the squires and the servants, they say that we're just about stocked for this banquet, we just need a few more things, like decorations and such."

"That's a relief." Lilina sighed contently. "I was a bit worried we might be doing this a bit soon, but everything has been progressing ahead of schedule, and it was Ostia's turn to host an event for the League."

"I'm sure we'll have everything ready just in time, especially with your steady hand in control." Rutger assured her. "There is just one thing that I'm worried about, and that's why I wanted to talk to you about it."

"Oh, and what's that?" Lilina wondered.

"Why did you invite the late Lord Erik's son Fronk to the banquet?" Rutger asked, showing Lilina the list and where his name was. He was also wondering why it was so close to the top, like she had thought of him as one of the first guests. "We both know he's not a big fan of what's been happening. He blames Roy and by extension us for his father's death, and not to mention how he treated us when we were kids. I don't want to have to deal with him, but I will if he acts up. I think we should just exclude him altogether."

"Laus is still a part of the Lycian League for now, so we can't just not invite him." Lilina stated plainly. "Think of the trouble he might stir up if we did that."

"And think of the trouble he'll stir up if he's invited." Rutger countered. "We were lucky he was too 'busy' to come to your coronation, you really want to invite that kind of trouble into Ostia?"

"Do you really want me to cause more problems by not inviting him?" Lilina replied back, raising her voice a bit since she was already stressed from writing so many letters and Rutger's questioning was getting on her nerves slightly because he was kind of right. "If I do this then that's just going to widen the gap in relations between Ostia and Laus, and as much as I hate to say this we still kind of need them to be civil with us?"

"Because that worked so well for Lord Eliwood and your father?" Rutger fired back, getting a bit agitated as well. "Laus is Laus, they are going to end up doing something against Lycia sooner or later. Maybe if we give them the cold shoulder then they'll get the point and shape up."

"Don't you bring my father up in this!" Lilina replied even louder, not expecting Rutger to cut that deep with his words. "He had to deal with this same exact situation multiple times and I think he handled it pretty well all things considered."

"Sure, because getting betrayed by the same country with the same ruler twice is handling something well." Rutger raised his voice back. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice..."

"And how sure are you that Fronk hasn't changed since the last time we met him huh?!" Lilina changed tactics. "You've changed multiple times in that time frame, so it's not completely out of the question that he's a better person!"

"That's different though, you knew I was a good person before I went and lost myself, we've always known him to be a piece of shit." Rutger replied. "I mean for Mother Earth's sake he didn't even sent troops for the war effort once he got control of Laus after his father died. I honestly think he was looking for a chance to betray us even then!"

"Why are you so paranoid! It's not like he's going to start a revolt by showing up and talking to a couple people!" Lilina practically yelled. "Like what's the worse he could do, really?" Rutger didn't really have an answer to that so he stood up to leave.

"A lot more than you probably think, but if that's the way you want it, fine. If he's there I'm not showing up." Rutger stated as he got to the door. "I hope you know what you're getting yourself into." And with that he left to go back to his room. When the door closed Lilina's head went straight to the desk in frustration.

"I know he's right, but there are just things that have to happen in situations like this. It's one of those cultural differences between us I guess." She said to herself. "I haven't seen him that upset in a while though, I wonder if I maybe shouldn't have compared his growth to that of what Fronk might have gone through."

After that, the air in the castle was a bit tense for the next couple days. Rutger and Lilina went about their business and talked when they needed to, but they really didn't show that many acts of affection as they usually did. Eventually though it was getting to both of them and they both realized they said some things that they didn't mean and they decided to talk it over during dinner.

"You know I'm just trying to protect you like always right?" Rutger asked as the conversation started. "Like back when we were kids and he tried to slap you for speaking out against him. I just don't want you to get hurt from something that could be avoided. And I know that if I'm there the tension will just be heightened between us. And I want to be there, I always want to be by your side supporting you, but this time I'm part of the problem and I hate it. That's why I was frustrated about the whole thing."

"I get it Rutger, I really do." Lilina assured him. "Like I really don't think he's changed at all, but this isn't like when we were younger, we can't just avoid him and hope nothing happens. I have power now, he has power now, power that I need to use wisely to keep things together in Lycia lest another war or something brakes out and we are broken like we were for Bern. As much as I would love to act with my personal feelings, I have to think of what's best for Ostia, for Lycia, and for Elibe. And it's not like I don't value your viewpoint or outlook, it's just that sometimes it's not as simple as you make it to be."

"Yeah, I'm learning that a lot lately." Rutger admitted with a sigh. "I do kind of think it's a little dumb in some points, but in others it really does give stability to the people under your control. I guess no system is truly perfect, we just have to work within the flaws that pop up."

"Exactly." Lilina told him. "Sometimes it will be easy, like when we deal with Roy and Pherae or when the issues are simple like bandit raids, but other times we have to be careful with what we say and do. All I ask is that you trust me to make the decisions that need to be made and not just assume I agree with them all the time, can you do that for me Rutger?"

"I think so, yes." Rutger answered with a small smile. "And I'm sorry for bringing your father into the conversation the other day, that wasn't right and I apologize."

"No, it get it, you had a good point." Lilina admitted. "I just couldn't really admit it at the time and I wasn't going to change my mind. I'm sorry for comparing your growth to him, that was just me lashing out."

"I mean, he could have gotten better, who knows?" Rutger pondered. "I doubt it, but anything is possible right? We became a couple against all odds."

"Well, I wouldn't say all odds, but I get your point." Lilina noted with a giggle. "I'm glad we could talk this out like civil adults, thank you Rutger."

"I couldn't stay mad at you forever, not with a pretty face like that looking back at me." Rutger teased slightly.

"Perhaps you'd like to get a closer look?" Lilina asked teasing him herself.

"You know me too well."

The First Time They Moved In Together

After that little shake up things continued to move smoothly for the couple, though there were some issues springing from Laus during that banquet. Either way more time passed and the two continued to grow ever closer, so close that they eventually started to spend the night in each other's rooms instead of retiring to their own. One warm evening though, something was different.

"Hmmm, I think it's time for me to head back to my room." Rutger said with a yawn, even if he didn't really have any intention of extricating himself from Lilina's grasp as they laid in bed together.

"Are you sure about that?" Lilina asked with her own yawn as she clutched onto him a bit tighter for effect, telling him she wanted him to stay.

"No, not particularly." Rutger replied with a light chuckle. "But I've been sleeping over here so often I might forget what my bed feels like."

"Well, I was thinking about something the other day." Lilina noted, perking up a bit. "Why don't you just move all your stuff in here in my room and we can use it together? Like you said when you got here, you're not used to having such a large space to yourself and I'm not using all this space either. I think it could be nice."

"You think that's a good idea?" Rutger pondered. "I'm not saying it's not, but us being in the same room means we're going to have less privacy than before. We're going to probably see things that we haven't seen before and have to get used to that. Do you think we're at that point in our relationship?"

"What, you worried I'm going to see you shirtless one day and just jump you there and then?" Lilina asked with a laugh. "Hmm, that doesn't actually sound like a bad idea when I think about it. But, being serious, yes I do. We're already sleeping together half the time already and we've both seen each other in our underwear multiple times, this way we'll just get more comfortable with it."

Rutger could see where this was leading a bit and he wasn't sure what to think. Lately Lilina had been a lot more affectionate to him than usual and when they were close she kept pushing the boundaries farther and farther each time. It was clear that she was getting close to asking him if he felt like going all the way, but Rutger wasn't sure if he himself was ready for it yet. But she did make good points, moving in together would get them even more comfortable with each other and they wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of getting up and leaving when they really didn't want to.

"Sounds good to me then." Rutger voiced his approval of the idea. "We can probably get started and finish it tomorrow, I don't really have that much stuff."

"How about after lunch then?" Lilina suggested. "After we sleep in for a while of course."

"I like that plan." Rutger replied as he snuggled up closer to her. So the couple slept on the thought of Rutger moving in and the next day came and after they ate lunch they got to it. Rutger was right in saying he didn't have much, but it was more than he had come to Ostia with. He had gotten more clothes, a cabinet for his swords and sword care items, a few pieces of artwork from some of the more artistic members of Roy's army as gifts, but the most important thing were his set of stuffed dolls and his version of Roy's painting of the trio's first meeting that Roy gave him on his 14th birthday.

"You think all six of these will be able to sit on the same counter?" Lilina wondered as she put Rutger's set next to hers.

"I think it should be fine, but now if something happens to one of them we'll have a back up." Rutger said as he hung Roy's paintings above them. "Hmm, I never noticed that even though the scene is the same, each of our paintings is slightly different."

"Yeah, you look a lot softer and nicer in yours, probably since Roy knew you better at that point." Lilina pointed out.

"I wonder what I would look like to that Roy now." Rutger pondered. "He would probably think I was as old as his father if he didn't know better."

"I though you were going to say he was going to paint you looking like a monster." Lilina commented. "Which he wouldn't, at least not as you are now."

"You don't think having these out on display is childish or anything do you?" Rutger wondered.

"No, I think it's a nice reminder of how we've grown as people and friends with Roy. It's something from the past we can look at with a positive light, given that there hasn't been a lot of that in the recent past. Plus who else but us and the servants who clean this room are going to see them? I think they look nice."

"Good, because I think they look nice as well." Rutger noted before he took a step back and looked at the room as a whole. "Now this is a room that feels lived in."

"And we still have room for new stuff if we find we want to add to it!" Lilina agreed. "Now we can use the other room for a guest room, like if Roy wants to visit for a few days or something."

"That would be nice, we haven't seen him in a while." Rutger commented. "You know what, why don't we invite him over to see what he thinks about our room?"

"I love that idea! I'll write a letter up tonight and have it sent tomorrow." Lilina agreed with a smile. "But there is one more thing we need to test in here first." She added as the smile slowly turned into a smirk

"And what is that?" Rutger wondered.

"What the room looks like laying on the bed!" Lilina replied excitedly before pouncing on Rutger and having them fall onto the bed.

"I should have known better."

The First Time They Had Sex (4)

As Rutger and Lilina got used to living in the same room together they continued to grow closer and become more comfortable with seeing each other in various states of undress. But that wasn't enough for Lilina, she wanted to show Rutger how much she loved him by being close and intimate with him, by having sex together, though something wasn't clicking. She was trying her best to do things in a subtle way to try and get him to take the next step, 'accidentally' not putting all her clothes on when he was around, reaching her hands lower and lower into his pants when they were making out, putting him in tempting situations, things like that. But he never took advantage of it.

Rutger for his part kind of knew what she was doing, it got pretty obvious as time went on, but he still wasn't sure if he was okay with doing something like that with her, even if he knew everything he was supposed to do because of his parents being very open about telling him about sex and intimacy. Eventually though it came to a head and they figured they had to talk it out before it became a real issue.

"I guess I should just ask this first Rutger, am I not attractive to you physically?" Lilina wondered as they sat on their bed together to talk.

"It's not that Lilina, I can tell you for certain it's not that." Rutger assured her. "You are a very beautiful woman in my eyes, I feel lucky every day that I've got someone who looks like you as my partner. I'm just...I guess scared is the best way to put it about this whole situation."

"Scared?" Lilina wondered. "How so?"

"I'm scared that I'm going to disappoint you, that I'm going to hurt you, that I'm going to go too far and ruin what we have together." Rutger admitted. "You know how my parents were like, and they told me a lot of things about intimacy and sex, I feel a pressure to make it feel just as good for you as they did for their loved ones, but then I worry that if I try to hard I'll go to far and turn you away from me. You're the most important person in my life Lilina, I can't handle the thought of me doing that to you."

"Oh Rutger, I should have known that was the issue." Lilina replied with a soft sigh as she rested her head on his shoulder. "Look, you're right, I do know how your parents were and it was assumed they were as open with you about intimacy as they were with everyone else. But you know what Rutger, you aren't your parents, and I realize that. I don't have some super high expectations for what you can do in bed, I just want you to try your best and enjoy yourself. I mean, you don't have any of those expectations of me do you?"

"No, I really don't." Rutger answered honestly. "And if I'm being real, I am just a bit inside my own head with this. I know you love me and I know you'll understand if I'm not the best at this right away, but I just want you make you feel good and special like you deserve and I'm just worried I won't because of everything I've been through."

"Well, why don't we just take it slow then?" Lilina suggested. "Why don't we take a bath together to get loosen up and go from there, how does that sound Rutger?"

"That sounds like wonderful idea." Rutger noted. So the couple made their way to the bathroom that was connected to their room and they started to draw the water and get everything ready for their bath together.

"I hope you don't mind, but I like my water pretty hot." Lilina noted as a good amount of steam was coming off the water that was being poured into the tub.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you Lilina." Rutger replied with a chuckle, knowing that Lilina's everything was hot and fiery. Eventually everything was ready for them and it was time for them to take their clothes off. Lilina didn't have any issues with it, so hers were off pretty quickly, but Rutger took a bit longer. They truly hadn't seen each other completely naked yet and he was nervous about it like he was everything else. Lilina decided to help him out a bit with it though, so as he was pulling his robes over his head she undid his belt and slipped his pants and underwear off. Once his vision was clear of his robes he finally got a good look at Lilina's body and he didn't have to tell her how good she looked, his friend between his legs did all the talking for him.

"My, my, getting excited already huh?" Lilina teased him as she stroked his dick a little to get a sense of its size. "Well, you're going to have to wait, we have a bath to take." Then she got a good look at the rest of his body and she was impressed as well. "I've seen your chest and stomach so many times, but seeing the whole picture like this is something else." She told him.

"T-Thank you." Rutger stuttered a bit from her touch on his lower regions. "You look incredible as well, everything about how you look is wonderful Lilina, perfect even."

"W-Well, I seriously doubt that I have the perfect body." Lilina blushed a bit, and not from the heat in the room. "But thank you, that means a lot coming from you Rutger."

"Well, it's perfect to me." Rutger told her softly before bringing her closer into a hug. It didn't last long because they didn't want their bath water to get cold, but it felt good, it felt right, feeling each other's bare skin against each other. Slowly they made their way into the bath, Rutger in the back with Lilina in front of him, and the warm water soothed them just like Lilina had planned on. There wasn't a lot to talk about between the two of them afterwards, they were just getting comfortable and enjoying themselves in this romantic moment. Eventually though they did end up moving around so they could wash themselves.

"I promise my hair isn't as bad as you would think, it's not that fussy when it's clean." Lilina noted when Rutger started to wash her hair.

"Well, then my hair will make up for it, it's always ending up all wavy and in knots, even when I keep it short." Rutger told her, getting her to laugh a bit. After he did her hair he started washing her back and then her front. He tried to not linger on her chest, but he couldn't control himself. Not that Lilina mind that much, mind you.

"What do you think of them?" Lilina teased him slightly.

"I like them." Rutger answered truthfully. "Just the right size for my hands to hold and very squeezable." He emphasized his last point by giving them a firm squeeze, earning him a small moan out of Lilina's mouth.

"You don't wish they were bigger or anything?" Lilina wondered, half joking but half showing a small bit of her own insecurities about her body.

"Why would I want that, they fit your body so well." Rutger noted. "They're perfect."

"That's the right answer you know?" Lilina teased him. A bit later he was done washing her front and she proceeded to stand up so he could get her legs. "And what about these?" She teased him some more.

"Nice, smooth, and slender, a perfect compliment to the rest of your body." Rutger told her. He was really feeling a lot more comfortable seeing her like this, so his words of praise and compliments were flowing much easier. "Your butt looks nice as well by the way."

"Of course that's what you focus on." Lilina teased him, moaning a bit more as he washed the inside of her legs. A few moments later she spun around so he could get the other spots of her legs and Rutger was now face to face with her thighs and vagina.

"Hmm, you trim your hair down there too." Rutger mused absentmindedly as he continued to wash her legs.

"Is that weird?" Lilina wondered.

"I don't think it is." Rutger noted. "My parents said they did it, and I trim my hair from time to time so it doesn't get messy. I figure it probably will make things go a bit smoother once we get to it."

"That's what I was thinking too." Lilina replied. After that Rutger got the last few spots on her body clean and then they switched positions so she could wash him off. "Elimine, you were right, up close your hair is a mess. Was it always like this?"

"Yeah." Rutger confirmed. "You would not believe the number of combs and brushes my mother broke trying to tame my hair."

"Hmm, then you might want to try some hair thinning soap, I think there is a merchant in town that sells it, if you're interested." Lilina told him.

"I'll try it if you're the one who washes my hair with it." Rutger said, hoping she would get the implication.

"It's a date then." Lilina giggled, giving him a small kiss on the cheek because he was coming out of his shell a bit more. After that she continued as he did with her, getting his back and front cleaned off in that order. "I hope this isn't a sore subject Rutger, but you have a lot more scars than I remember you having, are you sure none of these hurt any more?"

"Sometimes one will get agitated here and there, but you know as well as anyone I had a very talented healer by my side for quite some time." Rutger said in a tone that assured her it was okay to talk about. "Without her, I'd probably have twice as many."

"Has anyone told you that you exaggerate things way more than most people?" Lilina replied, flicking his nose with her fingers. "I may be talented now, but back then I was just a novice."

"But what motivated you to get better?" Rutger asked, wiggling his nose from the flick to get some soap off of it.

"I don't know, maybe the man I was in love with recklessly throwing himself into every battle he got in?" Lilina teased him. "But as long as you're okay with those scars, I can be okay with them."

"Don't lie, they make me look more rugged and mysterious." Rutger joked back. "I think that's one of the few things younger me and current me would agree on."

"Just stand up so I can get your legs." Lilina replied with a sigh as she shook her head a bit. So he stood up and Lilina started working on his legs. "Your legs are so long Rutger, I'm convinced that there are people who are shorter than just these themselves."

"I would say I got them from my mother, but she wasn't all that tall." Rutger noted. "And we both know my father was average in pretty much every way. Must have been some leftover traits from my grandparents."

"Either way, I like the fact you're so tall." Lilina told him truthfully. "It makes you easy to find in a crowd and it means there is just a bit more of you to love. And it makes you good at giving me rides on your shoulders."

"Just as long as you don't use me as a pack mule." Rutger chuckled as he turned around so Lilina could get the other parts of his legs. But there was one thing in particular her eyes focused on. Now Rutger wasn't fully erect since they weren't going out of their way to excite each other, but he wasn't completely limp either since Lilina had been washing him and they were both naked. "Something wrong?" Rutger wondered.

"No, just staring." Lilina admitted. "Honestly I don't really have a frame of reference so I'm just curious at how it looks."

"Well, not to sound weird, but when I was younger I measured it once when I was pleasuring myself. I told my father about it and he told me that it's just slightly bigger than average, but nothing too out there." Rutger commented, blushing a bit and rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

"I can see that." Lilina noted. "But like you said with my chest, it looks like it fits on your body correctly, it doesn't look out of place. And you trimmed the hair around it nicely. I can't wait to see how it feels."

"Um, yeah, me either." Rutger said blushing a bit more. Either way Lilina quickly finished up washing him and a little while later they got out of the bath and started drying off.

"So, are you feeling more comfortable about all this now?" Lilina wondered as she worked her towel around her body.

"I think so actually." Rutger confirmed. "But I still want to take our time and do things right."

"For sure." Lilina noted as she put her headpiece back on to hold her hair back. "What do you want to do next?"

"I have an idea you might enjoy." Rutger said as he opened the door to the bedroom and led Lilina over to the bed. He got into the bed and laid on his back and Lilina joined him soon after.

"So what were you thinking?" Lilina wondered.

"I was thinking since I don't want it to hurt, since I'm assuming this is your first time, I could use my mouth to get you more loosened up. But since I know you're kind of wanting to get on with it, you could do the same for me?" He suggested.

"That's a great idea." Lilina told him. "Just like one of the positions I read about in the book about sex I've been reading lately. And you're right to assume this is my first time. Not to be nosy, but is it yours?"

"Second." Rutger admitted, knowing he would have to explain. "My parents set me up with an Anna for their gift on my 18th birthday. But that feels so long ago now, this might as well be my first time."

"Sounds like something they would do. I'm sure she enjoyed herself, just as I will." Lilina teased before moving around on the bed and Rutger's body so her rear was facing him and his cock was in front of her face. "I'm going to use my hands for a bit until it gets bigger, if that's okay with you."

"Whatever you feel comfortable with." Rutger replied a little absentmindedly since he had a very impressive view in front of him. He didn't know where to start honestly, but he took a deep breath, took a hold of Lilina's hips with his hands, and moved his head closer as he started to lick around her pussy. He knew he was supposed to find her clit and start playing with it to get her going, but seeing as it was only his second time he didn't quite know where it was. So he was going a bit randomly until he hit a certain spot and got a reaction out of Lilina.

"Elimine, right there is wonderful! Keep going there Rutger." Lilina moaned as she continued to work his shaft. It was getting close enough for her to put in her mouth, but she wanted to work with it just a bit more.

"As you wish." Rutger said, trying to sound smooth, before going back and working on that spot, which was in fact her clit. He kissed it, he washed his tongue back and forth across it, he even blew some air on it to see how Lilina would react. And she loved every moment of it. She had already been pretty wet from the bath and her readiness to be intimate, but now she was starting to drip a bit. Rutger took notice and started lapping up what was coming out before it hit his face, teasing her pussy with his tongue in the process.

"S-See, I knew you'd be a natural at this." Lilina breathed as she moved her hands away from his shaft and prepared to start working on it with her mouth. "Now let's see how well I can treat you." With that she moved her head lower and placed a soft kiss on the tip of Rutger's dick, causing it to twitch in response. She giggled at how cute that looked before kissing it again and again until she just kept her lips on it and started licking small circles around the tip.

Rutger couldn't say anything for how it felt for him, all he could do is start making cute sounding pleasure noise while he continued to try and focus on working on Lilina. She got the point though and slowly but surely she started taking his shaft into her mouth, licking and sucking it all over to find all his sensitive spots. As much as he wanted to hold on as long as he could he knew that if she kept going on like this he was going to cum sooner or later because of his inexperience. He knew from what his parents told him that women could have a few orgasms before needing to rest, but when a guy went off he needed to rest right away. So he let her continue on like that for just a bit longer until he pulled back from eating her out to tell her to stop.

"Lilina!" He breathed. "S-Stop, I'm about to finish!" He breathed out and luckily she heard him and pulled her mouth away from him just in time. She then proceeded to move around again so they were face to face again and positioned herself so Rutger's dick was rubbing up against her pussy to keep him excited.

"I take it I did well?" She teased him. "We're going to have to work on your stamina though, I hope you're as good as training with this as you are with other things."

"How are you so confident about all this?" Rutger wondered, being impressed with it.

"Because I love you, and I know you, and I know you're enjoying yourself as well even if you don't want to say it out loud." Lilina noted before placing a soft kiss on his lips. "Well, I'm ready for you whenever you are, anything you want to say before we start?"

"Well, I don't think I'm going to be able to stop once we get started, is that okay?" Rutger asked.

"Rutger, you do whatever feels best for you." Lilina assured him. "This is my first time too, remember? I may be more prepared than you for this, but this is new for me as well. And I didn't pick any random day to do this either, I shouldn't get pregnant even if you finish inside. And if I do, well, we'll deal with that when it comes up."

"As long as you're prepared for the consequences." Rutger replied, though her answer was to be expected.

"I am." Lilina told him softly. "But enough talking, I want to feel you fully inside me." With that she closed her eyes and moved into kiss Rutger some more. Rutger closed his eyes as well and allowed Lilina's hips to lower down onto his own, his dick piercing into her pussy slowly as their lips connected. As he pushed deeper their was a slight popping feeling before a gasp from Lilina before his dick reached as far as it could inside.

"I know you said enough talking, but are you okay?" Rutger wondered, breaking the kiss for just a moment.

"I feel wonderful." Lilina assured him. "Now, seriously, no more talking, enjoy yourself." They went back to kissing again after that, not moving too much so they could get used to the feeling, but slowly but surely their hips started moving. At first it was a bit out of sync, but soon enough they found themselves in a nice and stead rhythm with Rutger's dick thrusting in and out of Lilina. It popped out a couple times as well given their low experience, but once they really got going it stayed in place quite well.

They went at it slowly for quite a while, just savoring the feeling of their bare bodies against each other and the kisses and touches they were giving each other. They both wanted this moment to last as long as they could because they knew it was one that they would remember for the rest of their lives. Their hands traced all over as they slowly continued to make love to each other, Rutger's going for Lilina's chest and butt while Lilina traced some scars along Rutger's well toned abs. When they did break their kiss for some air or to moan they still didn't talk, their eyes telling each other all they needed to know about how the other was feeling.

Eventually though their kissing started to get more aggressive as their hip movements did as well. Their tongues started to battle each other in their mouths and their bodies continued to get hotter and hotter with each motion and each moan of pleasure. Their bodies started to sweat and they pressed themselves against each other to feel every inch of the other's bodies, wanting to feel every moment as it passed. Each kiss between them rose the passionate feelings they felt for each other, made them fall even more in love with each other, confirmed for them that being together was for the best and was the best decision they could make. Their blood pumped, their bodies were energized, their minds raced as they never had before.

And then in a moment of pure bliss, it was over. Rutger's dick twitched and convulsed and Lilina's inner walls constricted as they both had their first orgasm together. Ropes of hot and sticky seed filled Lilina as Rutger's inner instincts took over for a bit and held her down tightly to keep it all in. Lilina didn't fight it, in fact she even invited the movement seeing as it was Rutger doing something he wanted to do. She was pretty confident that she wouldn't get pregnant, but if she did and she would be bearing Rutger's child she would be happy.

What felt like forever passed afterwards as the two laid on the bed cuddling each other. Lilina rested her head on Rutger's chest and his dick slowly receded and popped out of her body. The only sound that could be heard for a long while was just two sets of contented breaths, but eventually someone had to speak up.

"I love you." Lilina breathed as she rolled over on Rutger's body a bit so she could look him in the eyes.

"I love you too." Rutger breathed back with a real and contented smile. "Was that up to your expectations?"

"Rutger, it was everything and more." Lilina assured him with a kiss on the cheek. "It's exactly what I was wanting and you gave it to me. You gave yourself fully to me and I couldn't be happier."

"Good, I'm glad." Rutger said with relief. "We lasted longer than I thought we would."

"I'm sure we'll be able to go longer once we really get the hang of this." Lilina noted. "Because yes, I do want to do this again, many times probably. As long as you're okay with that of course."

"I'm sure I could be convinced." Rutger teased. "As long as when we do continue we actually do get to talk during it. Kind of how I was raised you see."

"Oh, I'm prepared to learn a lot of things your parents told you about sex, I'm sure you're a wealth of knowledge." Lilina teased him back.

"Well, first things first, we need to clean up and hydrate before we get to sleep, don't want to be sticky trying to fall asleep." Rutger noted.

"Maybe in a few minutes, I just want to cuddle with you a bit longer." Lilina told him.

"That's just fine with me Lilina, that's just fine with me."

The First Time They Dealt With Their Standings (133)

Time continued it's slow yet inevitable march forward, another few months passing before another milestone in Rutger and Lilina's relationship was reached. The two of them spent some of that time 'training' with each other to get more stamina in bed like they discussed and now they could pretty much do it whenever they felt like it. And like any young couple they felt like it a lot, so there was a bit of tension between them when they were in situations that didn't allow for intimacy, like taking a long trip to Sacae like they just had done. Lilina had been planning some things in the background in the passing months and this trip was hopefully going to be the culmination of everything.

It was Rutger who suggested they stay in Bulgar, even after everything that had happened to him there. He wanted to see how the rebuilding was going and he wanted to see if he could help out in any way, but mostly he just wanted another piece of closure that had been evading him this whole time.

"I don't know how to feel seeing the city like this." Rutger noted as he took Lilina around to see things. Wendy and Ogier were with them as well as bodyguards, but they had split up for the moment, knowing that Lilina and Rutger could take care of themselves if need be. "It's almost as if nothing happened other than a large storm blowing through during the rainy season."

"I take it as a sign that the people of Sacae are a resilient bunch." Lilina commented. "Just like a certain someone I know."

"I'd like to think that way, but some part of me wonders if me fighting so hard mattered if it was going to spring back up like this so quickly." Rutger added.

"I wouldn't call almost five years quickly." Lilina told him. "Plus we saw that most of the infrastructure was still there when we came here to fight later on. I wouldn't worry too much though, even if your fighting didn't matter so much here, it meant a lot in other places, to a lot of other people."

"I can't believe it's almost been five years at this point." Rutger wondered. "But then again, so much has happened since then it feels like it's been that long. But you're probably right as you usually are, besides we're here to have some fun and not worry about the past right? Let's get to that."

"Yeah! Let's find an inn with some good food and cozy rooms!" Lilina agreed. "Preferably with thick walls as well." So they spent the first day doing those kinds of things. The next day though Lilina got up early and bought supplies to make a picnic lunch so everyone could eat and look out at the plains together.

Later that day the four got out to a nice spot on a hill that overlooked a large tract of grassy plains and got to eating.

"You know, not far from here is the lake my family moved our ger around, we could probably all take a dip one of the days we're out here." Rutger noted.

"That sounds like fun actually, it's been a while since I've taken the time to have a swim." Wendy replied.

"I'll just stay on the shore, since I don't know how to swim that well." Ogier added.

"What?!" Lilina exclaimed. "Well now we have to go, swimming is so fun, you need to learn right away!"

"What? Why? What if I don't want to?" Ogier replied back quickly.

"You know, a good knight should know how to swim, just in case." Rutger lightly teased him with correct information.

"Hmph!" Ogier huffed as he crossed his arms.

"Oh, come on! Like you don't want to see me in my swimwear." Wendy teased him more directly. Ogier mulled over what he would say next, because she was right of course.

"Fine, you three win, you can teach me how to swim." He said with a sigh. "But if I get anywhere close to drowning we're done." The girls cheered and Rutger gave him a friendly and knowing wink before they all went back to eating. A bit later though Lilina stood up and extended her hand to Rutger to join her.

"Rutger, do you mind going with me somewhere a little more private?" She asked him. Wendy knew what was going on, she was in on the plan, but Ogier was in the dark along with Rutger.

"Private, out here on the plains?" Rutger wondered as he took her hand and stood up next to her. "I mean I guess no one is out here but us so we could just walk down the hill a bit."

"Good." Lilina said confidently. "Wendy, you and Ogier look after our stuff, this shouldn't take long."

"Will do!" Wendy replied with a playful salute and Lilina led Rutger down the hill far enough that both pairs couldn't hear what the other was saying.

"What does she mean by 'shouldn't take long' do you think?" Ogier wondered. "You don't think they're going to-"

"No, it's nothing like that, gutter brain!" Wendy said throwing a piece of bread at him. "You'll find out when they get back."

Once Lilina and Rutger got down the hill a decent way they stopped and Rutger was having the same ideas as Ogier was.

"You really want to do this out here?" He wondered. "I mean my parents always said it was fun, but we've got people here with us and we're a bit close to town to-" Lilina cut him off by putting her finger on his mouth.

"That's not why I wanted to be alone with you, at least not this time." She told him. "Maybe some day, but not today."

"Oh, well, good." Rutger replied slowly. "Then why did you want to be alone?"

"Because I wanted to show you this." Lilina replied before pulling a small box out of her satchel and holding it in the tips of her fingers of both hands.

"That's quite the box you've got there Lilina." Rutger noted, still a bit confused about everything.

"Open it." Lilina told him. So he did what he was told and opened the box. It was a clamshell box and inside it were two rings, one a plain gold band and the other a thinner gold band with a decently sized blue gem on the top. It took him a moment but he realized what was going on quickly enough.

"Lilina, are you proposing to me?" He asked to confirm. "Like you want to get married?" In his heart of hearts he knew that this was probably the only way it ever would have happened any time soon, he wouldn't have gotten the courage to ask until they were both middle aged. But it was still a shock, even if it was a good one.

"I do believe I am." Lilina replied. "I know it hasn't been too long since the war but, I'm convinced. All that time we spent together during the war, all the time we've spent together in Ostia, the friendship that's survived through thick and thin, this is how I want to spend the rest of my life. I want to spend it with you by my side Rutger, because you're my friend, because you're my strength, and because I love you." Rutger wanted so much to agree and accept right then and there, but there was something nagging at the back of his head, something he knew would be a problem in the very near future if they decided to go through with this, and he had to bring it up.

"Are you even allowed to do this?" He asked simply. "Marry a commoner like me? Isn't this kind of thing frowned upon, even in places like Ostia where they are a bit more lenient? Aren't you worried about the backlash this is going to cause if we do this, how it'll look? I don't want to put you through all of that just for me."

"Well, lucky for you, I was able to solve that little problem." Lilina stated confidently since she had a feeling this would come up. "That's why I acquired these." She added as she pulled some documents out of her satchel as well.

"And what are these exactly?" Rutger wondered, not taking the time to read them just yet.

"These are documents proving that you are rightful heir to Caelin, you being it's Earl since it's currently under Ostian rule." Lilina explained. "Meaning that, technically, you are a noble in some shape and form, so it shouldn't be an issue if we get married."

"How do these even exist?" Rutger wondered some more as he finally took a look and read what the documents said. "My mother gave up her title so her and my father could live in Sacae where they could be happy."

"I take it your father never told you then." Lilina noted. "Strange, he was usually more forthright than that. Well, basically, when you were born he and Sir Kent of Caelin made sure to get documentation written down about it and make it official that you were Lyn's son in case something were to happen to Caelin or Ostia as a whole and you needed some claim to be the rightful heir."

"I remember my mother saying that she had some issues with that when trying to save her grandfather." Rutger commented, seeing the pieces fall together. "I can see why they wouldn't want that issue to happen again. But, why wouldn't they tell me about it? They told me everything else."

"Well, when I went to Caelin to speak with Sir Kent he told me that your parents were going to tell you about it when you decided to strike out on your own like they figured you would eventually." Lilina explained. "They wanted to make sure you were mature enough to handle the information, though obviously that day never came."

"I guess that makes sense." Rutger noted before a thought came to him. "Wait, that makes a lot more sense now actually. They always supported my dream of wanting to become a knight, and they knew I could do it because of these documents, they were going to give them to me when I went to become one."

"More or less." Lilina confirmed. "But now you can use them for this situation. That is if you want to." Rutger had almost forgotten that Lilina was proposing to him with all these revelations coming to him. But he looked at the rings again and he couldn't help but smile at them.

"Lilina, of course I want to." He stated confidently. "I just never thought that we'd be able to, officially anyways. I always figured we'd be in the history books as a leader and her bodyguard or something. But this? This is so much better than that. Of course I want to be married to the woman I love, the woman who supported me through my darkest moments, the woman who knows me better than anyone else in this world. The thought of spending the rest of my life with you is one of the happiest I can think of. So yes, Lilina, I would love to get married to you, it's like an impossible dream come true."

"Oh Rutger, I'm so glad you think so!" Lilina replied, giving him a big hug before slipping his ring on his finger. Rutger did the same for her before they shared a big and passion-filled kiss together.

Eventually Wendy and Ogier saw Lilina and Rutger coming back up the hill and they looked so much happier than they had before.

"Are you sure they didn't-" Ogier started.

"Yes, and you better be getting some better manners if you're going to be a groomsman."

The First Time They Gave Their Vows

"Roy, before we go out there and do this, can we talk together privately?" Rutger asked with a hint of nervousness in his voice. Most people would think he was nervous because he was dressed up in a nice red suit that he wasn't used to wearing or that he was worrying about the wedding proceedings that were about to take place, but that wasn't quite the case.

"Sure, of course Rutger." Roy said before asking everyone else to leave. Roy was Rutger's best man for the occasion, there really wasn't any question on who it would be honestly. He too was dressed in a nice suit, though his was a more light-ish blue like his father's old coronation outfit. "So, what is on your mind? I hope you're not getting cold feet this late into the event."

"No, it's not that." Rutger confirmed. "That I'm totally prepared for. I wanted to talk about us actually."

"Us?" Roy wondered, slightly confused. "What about?"

"Well, I mean, all of this." Rutger answered, gesturing about the room they were standing in. "About m and Lilina getting married, being together, and how you might feel about it."

"Ah, I see." Roy commented calmly, now knowing what the issue was. "We never did really talk about it after the war did we? Another one of those things I was a bit too busy for I guess."

"To be fair, I was busy too, things in Ostia were a bit of a blur for a while and I had my own issues to still deal with." Rutger noted, not wanting Roy to take all the blame for it.

"Still, I should have said something to you since Lilina and I talked about it back then as well." Roy explained. "And honestly, I feel the same way I did back then."

"Which is what?" Rutger asked slowly, not knowing if he really wanted to know the answer.

"That I'm happy for the both of you." Roy replied like it was silly Rutger was worried so much about this. "Like I told Lilina back then, I never saw me and her as some destined power couple that would take Lycia and Elibe by storm. Could that have happened if things went differently? Yeah, probably, but they didn't. I was too caught up in winning the war that I really didn't have time to think about things like romance and the like. I barely could handle trying to get you out of your mess until we saved Lilina, and she did most of that work herself anyways."

"Roy, I know you tried your best, you don't have to keep beating yourself up about it." Rutger assured him.

"I know, but you know me, I take any small failure too seriously." Roy chuckled a bit dryly. "I know I'm a good friend, but sometimes I don't feel like it. Either way, that's not what we're talking about here. If anything, it was my idea to have you two together so you would get better, so like I wouldn't have any right to be jealous or anything even if I was. You and Lilina are my best friends, I want the best for you two, and from what I've seen and heard you two being together is what's best for you both. So I have no issues about your relationship at all. And really, would I have accepted being your best man if that wasn't the case?"

"No, probably not." Rutger admitted. "And I know I'm just being a bit paranoid, but I wanted to clear the air between us before Lilina and I take this next step, to make sure we're still good with each other."

"And I respect that Rutger, it's something that shows how much the both of us have matured." Roy noted with a smile. "Now, how about we actually get you married instead of just worrying about it in here?"

"Sounds good to me." Rutger smiled back. After that the ceremony went off without much issue. There was one thing that happened before Rutger and Lilina gave their vows. As much as they both didn't want to they had to invite Lord Fronk from Laus to the wedding, and he tried to raise some unfounded objections as to why they shouldn't get married. He claimed that Rutger's claim to being the Earl of Caelin was false along with his own love for Lilina, very dramatically as well, but thankfully Sir Kent was there with the papers signed almost 25 years ago that backed up the claim. He also was kind enough to escort Lord Fronk out of the church along with a few other knights as he started making threats after he got shut down.

"I'm pretty sure that has to be enough for us to not invite him to any other events we hold right?" Rutger asked as he watched Fronk get dragged out.

"Yeah, this is the last straw." Lilina confirmed. "But if that's the worst thing that happens today then I'll call this wedding a success." After that the ceremony continued, Rutger and Lilina gave each other their rings and then it was time for them to give their vows.

"Ladies first." Saul, who was officiating the wedding, said in his usual tone of voice. Lilina nodded and took a breath before looking Rutger in the eyes and starting to speak.

"Rutger, I'll be honest, I wasn't ever sure that this day would come between us." She started out. "So many things had to happen for us to be here this day, some good, some bad, but we made it here together. And that's how I want to live the rest of my life, together. There will be good days and there will be bad days, but I think we've seen that it's easier to get through them either way if we stick together. We may butt heads from time to time, but at the end of the day I know that we both care about and love each other more than anything in the world. I promise that my feelings won't ever change on that matter, I will love you until my dying breath, and I will love you even past that. You are my strength, my support that allows me to have confidence in the things I do, my partner who I can put my whole trust into. I love you and I'm so happy you've come to love yourself again." Tears started to fall down her face about halfway through but she got all the words out she wanted to say in the right order.

"Very eloquent, as expected." Saul commented. "Now for yours Rutger." Rutger nodded before closing his eyes for a moment to center himself before starting.

"Lilina, you saved my life." He started, sounding a bit dramatic even if it was the truth. "Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. Who knows where I would be right now if it wasn't for what you did to try and help me when I was in my darkest moments. You pulled me out of that darkness when at times I didn't even want to be pulled out, and I can't stress enough how much I truly appreciate how much work you put into it. That's why I know I have to put just as much work into this marriage to keep moving forward. And I will put in the work, because you are worth it Lilina. Your smile, your grace, your tenacity, all of those are things I want to see every day and I'd do anything to see them. I love you, I love everything about you, I love how you don't give up on things or people because it's too hard. I know that things won't always be perfect, not after everything we've been through, but I promise that I'll continue to show you every day that giving me your love was the right decision, because that's the least I could do for someone as special as you." He too started to cry, and so was pretty much everyone up on the platform, even Saul's eyes were a bit misty. So he gave everyone a few moments to calm down before continuing.

"Well, if that is everything then I'm happy to say, through power vested in me by the Elimine Church, that I pronounce the two of you husband and wife!" Saul said enthusiastically. "You may now kiss the bride."

So Rutger lifted the veil off Lilina's face and the two kissed to much applause and cheering. They both might have wanted a smaller ceremony with just their friends, but hearing this sound as they kissed was one of the better points of having a large event. Slowly they pulled away and looked each other in the eyes lovingly.

"I love you." Rutger said softly, causing Lilina to blush a bit.

"I love you too." She replied back warmly. "This feels like a dream, maybe you should pinch me."

"I'll do you one better, how about some cake in your face?" Rutger teased.

"Hey! I was going to do that one!" Lilina said with a fake pout.

"Well, how about we do it together then, like everything else?" Rutger suggested.

"It's worked out so far."

The First Time They Were Sick Together

Rutger and Lilina decided to take their honeymoon in Ilia of all places. They both figured it was a place that neither of them had really ever had the time to explore and that they should learn more about the country since they were in positions of power in Elibe. And they had a wonderful time in the snow-filled land. They were welcomed by a familiar faces since Zelot, a former mercenary that Lilina's father had hired, had just become the king of Ilia's new government and had placed his loyal friends Noah and Treck as his first two royal knights. They even met up with Fir again since her and Noah were going to be married soon. It was all quite fun, until they got back to Ostia and caught a nasty cold that kept them in bed for about a week.

"Have you ever been this sick before?" Lilina wondered at one point, snuggling up to Rutger to try and stay warm, the days blending into each other at this point in time.

"Once, back when I was around 10." Rutger replied, shivering a bit as well. "I accidentally fell into that lake near where I used to live when it was frozen over. Luckily my parents were there to pull me out, but I had a big cold for a week or so. What about you?"

"Not that I can remember, I've always been pretty healthy, and my father always made sure I had the best medical care I could get, even for the small things." Lilina noted.

"Sounds like something your father would do, he was very protective of you, as any father should be." Rutger commented.

"Well, it was a bit more than that honestly." Lilina stated before pausing to sniffle a bit. "My family has a history of getting bad diseases that shorten their lifespan."

"Hm, I think I do remember my parents saying something to that effect happened to Lord Uther while they were adventuring." Rutger remembered through his mental haze. "Is he not the only one?"

"My grandparents on my father's side had the same disease as well." Lilina answered. "That's why Uther was the Marquess in the first place." After she said that it made Rutger hold onto her a little tighter for a number of reasons. "Rutger, I wouldn't worry about it too much at the moment." Lilina assured him since she felt it as well. "They all got it when they were much older than I am now, plus my father never showed symptoms of having it either and he was around the age they all got it."

"I know, I'm just, you know..." Rutger trailed off before turning his head to sneeze away from Lilina's face.

"I know, and I'm glad your concerned, but this is just a small cold really." Lilina comforted him. "We'll get over this together, just like we've gotten over everything else and we'll be sure to take good care of our health like we've been doing. Everything will be fine, trust me."

"Alright, I will." Rutger told her. "But I still want to hold you close, for warmth you know." He added before chuckling a bit, though that soon turned to coughing. "Oh, it hurts to laugh at times like this."

"I'm honestly just glad we both got this at the same time instead of one after the other." Lilina noted, coughing a bit herself. "That way we don't have to worry about giving it to each other and it'll take a shorter amount of time for us to get over it."

"That is a good point." Rutger agreed.

"And there is another good thing too." Lilina said with as much teasing tone as she could muster.

"And that would be?" Rutger wondered.

"I can still kiss you without fear of getting sick." She replied before kissing him on the cheek.

"I guess that's true as well, but we shouldn't get carried away with it." Rutger commented.

"Why not, kissing and such should warm our bodies up right?" Lilina questioned.

"I think your brain is starting to rot from the cold and laying here too long." Rutger teased slightly.

"Only one way to find out don't you think?" Lilina asked as sweetly as she could with her voice being off.

"You're not going to stop until I give in aren't you?" Rutger asked in a slightly defeated tone.

"Probably not, and it's not like you can get away from me." Lilina teased him some more.

"Fine, but I'm not taking the blame for any weird accidents that may happen."

The First Time They Celebrated Their Anniversary

As with everything that came with their relationship, the first year of Rutger and Lilina's marriage came with some ups and downs, but mostly ups. Eventually the day of their anniversary came and while some of their friends and colleagues came to celebrate, the real tender moments were when they were alone with each other like usual.

"I hope you don't mind me going first, but I think you'll really enjoy what I got for you, even if it's a bit of a repeat gift." Rutger noted as he took out a box slightly smaller than your average barrel and placed in on the table in their room.

"Rutger, I don't remember you giving me a present quite this large, not physically at least." Lilina marveled at the size of the box.

"Well, I wanted to make sure it didn't get deformed or anything as I stored it, so I might have gotten a slightly oversized box." Rutger noted. "But, go on, open it up."

"Alright." Lilina replied, still not quite knowing what it might be. She slowly undid the bow on top of the box and as she did the box fell apart neatly to reveal three larger than average stuffed dolls, one of herself, one of Rutger, and one of Roy. But these were much more detailed than the ones Rutger had given her about a decade ago. For one they were updated to represent how they looked and dressed in the present, and for another thing their expressions and outfits were much more detailed. She could see the love and care that was put in every single stitch and cut of fabric on them, and it also explained something else for her. "So that's why you've had bandages on your fingers recently."

"Turns out that my sewing skills had gotten a bit rusty without use." Rutger noted showing her his hands, which had mostly healed up by now. "But once I got into doing it I relearned them pretty quickly and even made some improvement thanks to some of the books in the library. I was also going to build a bigger shelf to put them on, but I didn't have the time."

"Well I absolutely love them! I can wait to cuddle with them and see if they feel as soft as they look." Lilina told him with a big smile. "They are so cute Rutger! Especially you and Roy, I really like how you made them smiling brightly, that's a nice touch."

"I figured you would like that." Rutger commented. "I tried to have them represent how we are currently, and to be honest we do have a lot to smile about. I've got you and everything here in Ostia is going well, and Roy's wedding to Guinevere is coming up in a few months, so everything is working out well."

"I think so too." Lilina agreed as she walked over to Rutger to give him a quick peck on the lips. "I love them, and I love you for going through so much effort to make them. So thank you Rutger, once again you've proven you're a wonderful gift giver."

"I try my best." Rutger noted with a warm smile.

"Before I give you my gift, I do have a question for you about something you brought up." Lilina said changing the subject slightly. "We really haven't talked about it yet, but what do you think about Roy marrying Guinevere?"

"At first it was a bit of a shock, getting the letter telling us what was going on and that Roy wanted me to be his best man." Rutger admitted. "As you well know, I wasn't really focused much on the political stuff going on during the war. I mean I saw Guinevere in the camp from time to time and I thought she was decent enough, but I didn't realize she was the princess of Bern."

"I wondered about that, but it makes sense you didn't realize it." Lilina commented.

"And it was a surprise that Roy had the time to fall in love with someone as well, given that he barely had time for anything of the such before." Rutger continued. "But seeing as he was around her a lot because of the war and political things, that makes sense too when I think about it."

"Are you still wary about her being from Bern?" Lilina wondered.

"Now, that's the real question isn't it?" Rutger asked rhetorically. "I'm inclined to say no honestly though, because it's Roy. I trust Roy and I trust his decision making, I always have. And from what I've heard and what you've seen first hand Guinevere is doing her best to change Bern from the monster it was during the war, and you've always been honest with me as well so I trust your viewpoint as well. I would be lying if I didn't say their was a bit of trepidation still because of my past with Bern, but she hasn't done anything wrong to me personally since gaining power so I'm optimistic about it. It's not like were dealing with Fronk over in Laus who as demonstrated he is willing to be a continuing issue."

"That's how I feel as well." Lilina noted. "She's done everything right so far and if Roy trusts her and she makes him happy then I'll be happy for them. If things go well then this will be a great stepping stone for the peace we've been wanting to achieve since the war ended. And I'm sure we'll get a better view of their relationship as the date comes closer, with the rehearsals and such, so we'll know soon enough if this is a good or bad thing."

"We're going to tell Roy if we think he's making a mistake right?" Rutger wondered. "Even if it ends up breaking his heart a bit?"

"Oh, for sure." Lilina replied confidently. "If she's planning something or is just using him for power, I'm going to sniff that right out and tell Roy to his face what's going on. But again, Roy has been around her long enough and he's smart enough to know if that's the case, so I doubt it's like that."

"Just wanted to make sure we were on the same page." Rutger noted.

"Speaking of being on the same page, that's a good transition into me giving you your gift." Lilina said as she pulled a smaller box out from under the bed. "It'll be better if you open it up sitting down, so why don't you join me over here?"

"Of course." Rutger said taking a seat on the bed next to Lilina. She then handed over her gift and he slowly opened it to reveal a larger than average looking notebook with the title 'Memories' written near the top. "A notebook?" He wondered, giving Lilina a chance to explain her gift.

"Open it up." Lilina told him. So he did and when he did so he was greeted by a recreation of something he saw in one of his father's notebooks, a scene of him, Lilina, and Roy playing as children. "It's a scrapbook! But not just of my own creation. I poured through the notebooks of your father you saved from the ger and I had all the sketches involving special moments in your life reproduced along with the notes surrounding them as well. I will admit that the sketches aren't as good as your father's were, but they are close enough that you should be able to recognize them as you flip through the pages."

"This is really sweet Lilina, I've always wanted something like this, compiling my father's notes about special times." Rutger replied with a warm smile as he continued flipping through the pages. Soon enough though he came across a sketch and writing that he didn't recognize, one that looked like him and Lilina laying in some grass looking up at the moon. "Hm, I don't remember telling my father about us sneaking out that night."

"That's because you probably didn't, I took the liberty of filling in some of the blanks for things he might not have been their for or you didn't tell him about. I know my sketches aren't as good as his are, but I wanted to do them anyways to keep the theme consistent." Lilina told him.

"Well I think they are wonderful." Rutger commented softly. He continued to flip through the pages, seeing the things Lilina put in during the war years, until he started coming to blank pages. "I see you left room for more, smart."

"Of course I did!" Lilina replied, proud of herself. "We've only been married a year, we have so much more to experience in our lives, and with this you can keep track of all of them!"

"This is a very thoughtful gift Lilina." Rutger told her as he put the scrapbook down and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "I love it, just like I love you and want to have many more years of happiness just like the last one."

"I'm glad you liked it, I was worried you might not want to think about your past too much." Lilina told him warmly before her tone switched after a bit of silence. "Which is why I also got a more 'practical' gift for you as well." She teased him

"What does that mean?" Rutger wondered.

"Well, let's just say there is something else on this bed you'll need to unwrap." Lilina answered seductively.

"I'll try my best to not destroy the wrapping."

The First Time They Had Sex in an Odd Place (838)

Rutger and Lilina once again found themselves in Sacae, and once again in the area of Bulgar. The city was having a celebration for finishing up the last few parts of their rebuilding and both of them wanted to attend and help out in any way they could. A few days into their trip though Lilina had something special planned for the two of them, something a bit more on the spicy side, something she was hoping Rutger would enjoy and not think was strange. It all started out though when they had lunch together out by a wooded area a decent distance away from the city. Wendy and Ogier were still in the city celebrating in the city, so it was just the two of them.

"You know, sometimes it's really nice to just sit out here in nature with all the peace and quiet it can provide." Lilina commented with a content sigh as she leaned back and popped a grape into her mouth.

"It's very centering, and it's always nice to spend a quiet moment with you as well." Rutger agreed before he finished up the last bite of his sandwich. "That was a wonderful lunch Lilina, whoever made this sandwich knows what they are doing."

"They did look quite skilled as they put it together." Lilina noted since she had watched the food stall worker make it firsthand.

"Shall we clean up and head back to town then?" Rutger wondered as he stood up and started putting things away in their horse's saddlebag.

"Actually I had something else I wanted to do while we were out here." Lilina noted as she got up and walked towards the horse as well. "Though you're going to have to trust me a little bit."

"I trust you a lot Lilina, you know that." Rutger replied with a chuckle. "But dare I ask why?"

"Because I want you to wear this." Lilina answered as she pulled out a long strip of fabric out of the saddle bag. "So I can surprise you, you know?"

"A blindfold?" Rutger mused with a bit of a grin. "Well, why not, first time for everything right?" So Lilina wrapped the blindfold around Rutger's eyes and tied it behind his head tightly so it wouldn't fall off.

"Can you see anything?" Lilina asked, waving one of her hands in front of his face to check.

"Just the light changing slightly in my eyes as you move your hand back and forth, other than that, no." Rutger answered.

"Good." Lilina noted. "Just let me get a few more things and then I'll lead you to where we're going." So she gathered up a few more items that would be of use and then took Rutger's hand and started leading him towards the forest. She knew where she was going pretty well, her and Wendy had scouted out the area quite well earlier so they wouldn't waste that much time today. "Can you tell where we are Rutger?" Lilina wondered as they got deeper into the forest.

"My guess would be into the forest, but I could be wrong." Rutger replied, still a bit in wonder, though something he was hearing was confusing him. "What is that metallic sound following us?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Lilina teased him and he let it go knowing that she was telling the truth. Shortly the two got to the place Lilina wanted to be, a set of two thin trees that were close enough together they could be used for leverage for what was to come next. "Alright, we're here, but you still can't take the blindfold off yet."

"Okay." Rutger said slowly, wondering a little more about what was going on. "What now then?"

"Now I need you to take off your robes and undershirt." Lilina told him, and things started clicking a bit more for Rutger at this point.

"Oh, I see what we're doing." He commented with a smirk as he did what he was told and undressed. "You sure it's safe out here, no one around?"

"Even if there is, who cares, I'm sure people come out here all the time to do things like this." Lilina stated confidently as he finished up. "Alright, now I need you to take a step to your left and then a step or two back."

"Sure." Rutger replied before he felt what was behind him. "Ah, a tree, makes sense."

"Now hold your arms back around the tree and put your wrists together, the tree is thin enough for you to do so." Lilina told him as she walked around the other side of the tree and waited for him to do so.

"Like this?" Rutger questioned as he did so, wondering again what this was about.

"Perfect." Lilina teased before taking the chain and cuffs she had been wearing over her neck and slapped them on Rutger's wrists to keep them in place. Rutger felt them attach to his wrists and even if his eyes were still covered they went wide in surprise before he collected himself a moment later.

"I didn't peg you as someone interested in tying your partner up like this." He commented, trying to play along.

"First time for everything right?" Lilina teased him with a mirror of his words earlier. "But honestly, I read about it in some of your father's spicier notes and I wanted to try it out, if you're alright with it of course." Any apprehension Rutger may have had quickly melted away when she noted where she got this idea from, even though it was a pretty low amount to start with.

"As long as I get to tie you up however I want sometime in the future." He teased her with a smirk.

"Of course, fair is fair." Lilina replied as she walked back around the front of the tree and started undressing herself. "Those cuffs aren't too tight are they, I tried to get some bigger ones so they wouldn't chafe your wrists too bad."

"Seem comfortable enough to me." Rutger said moving them around a bit and jangling the chain a bit.

"Great, then you won't mind if I get started." Lilina teased before getting on her knees and easily slipping the rest of Rutger's clothes off. She slid his underwear off and saw that he was already a bit aroused, to which she teased him a bit. "Seems you like this a bit more than you let on."

"I would like it a lot more if I could see what you're doing." Rutger teased back, hoping she'd take the blindfold off as well.

"Too bad, you'll just have to use your imagination for that." She continued to tease him before starting to gently stroke his dick and place soft kisses all over it. Quickly it reached it's full length and she continued working on it by licking it all over and sucking on the tip from time to time. Of course Rutger loved every moment of it, the two of them had become quite skilled at pleasuring each other over the years, they pretty much knew all of the sensitive spots and all the touches needed to arouse the other. And he wouldn't admit it, but not getting to see what was going on was kind of hot, though he just had one thing he couldn't quite imagine.

"Can you at least tell me if you're naked or not?" He asked her through his slight moaning.

"I'll do you one better." Lilina told him, continuing to use her teasing tone, before she straightened up her back a bit and placed his erect cock between her exposed breasts. She then proceeded to move her body back and forth, rubbing said cock through her cleavage. "Can you tell now Rutger?"

"Mm-hm!" Was all Rutger could muster as a response as his mental image had been completed. Lilina didn't often do this for him, she always worried her chest was too small for it to actually feel good for him, so when she did Rutger could tell it was a special moment. And for the record, he thought her chest was just the right size for something like this, so he wouldn't complain. Either way, after a bit of that Lilina stood up and turned around, backing into Rutger so her but rubbed up against his cock and started teasing him that way.

"So, which way do you want to do this?" Lilina asked Rutger in a seductive voice as she rubbed up against him. "The tried and true method, or maybe you want to go off the beaten path even more?" As she said that she teased the tip of his dick with her pussy and her rear entrance at the appropriate points of the question.

"I don't think I'm the one in control here, seeing as I'm tied up to this tree." Rutger teased her back, moving his hips slightly since he could at least do that with a measure of freedom. "I'm just worried you're not going to have the leverage you need without my long, powerful, and well shaped arms guiding you."

"Oh, don't you worry, I've got that covered." Lilina assured him as she decided on how she wanted to continue. "But, if the choice is up to me, I think I'd rather take the tried and true, it's good for a reason right?" She continued as she lined her pussy up with Rutger's dick. "But, since you've been a good boy, I'll let you see what's going on now." So she reached up with one of her hands and undid the blindfold before slowly sliding down on Rutger's cock.

"Finally!" Rutger breathed as he felt the warm slickness of Lilina's insides on his shaft. He could see where they were, a good ways into the forest, and why Lilina said she had the leverage thing covered. There was a tree right in front of them that Lilina could hold onto. "I see, a very close and intimate spot for the both of us."

"And since you're tied up I don't have to worry about you moving out of place or anything." Lilina added as she held onto the tree and started moving her hips back and forth to simulate Rutger thrusting. For his part Rutger did what he could with his hips as well, but it was Lilina keeping the pace mostly.

"You just thought of everything didn't you?" Rutger praised her, getting her to blush a bit. "But that's another reason why I love you, you always think of the details when you plan things out."

"Really, and it's not the hot sex connected to that plan?" Lilina teased him, speeding up a bit.

"I'd be lying if I said no, the hot sex is a big plus." Rutger got out through his moans. "But it's more you being the one doing it that does it for me."

"So smooth, even when you're tied up." Lilina commented. "You're still not getting out until I let you though."

"My body is yours, just like everything else." Rutger told her genuinely.

"Good, then you better be prepared to be tied to that tree for a couple hours, I'm not wasting an opportunity like this."

The First Time They Shared Their Love With Someone Else (1204)

"Thank you for letting us do this Guinevere, I promise that we don't have any ulterior motives for wanting to be with Roy." Lilina said to the Queen of Bern. Her and Rutger were in Bern to celebrate Roy's birthday which was the next day, but they had a bit of a surprise for him tonight as well since he didn't think they would be here until the next morning. "You know, you could join us as well, if you wanted to. Right Rutger?"

"Sure, if it would make you feel more comfortable about the situation." Rutger agreed.

"No, I trust the two of you and you explained your reasoning quite well." Guinevere assured them. "You want to have a special night with your close friend, if I were to be there the effect would be lessened I think. Maybe if there is a next time though I'll think about it."

"Fair enough." Lilina noted. "And if Roy turns us down we'll respect that as well, don't you worry."

"I'm not, you've both shown yourselves to be good and reasonable people along with good friends to Roy, I know you'll treat him right." Guinevere replied. "Now, hurry along, he should be back any moment now."

"Alright, we'll get ready for him." Rutger said before him and Lilina left the room and headed down to the guest room they would be staying in during their visit here. What were they planning you might wonder? Well Lilina got the idea that it might be fun for her and Rutger to follow in his parent's footsteps and continue their legacy of spreading peace and togetherness through intimacy. Rutger wasn't quite sure of the idea at first, even if it was his parents who did it in the first place, so Lilina suggested they start small with someone who was already close to them, the best candidate for that being Roy. Rutger saw the logic in that and agreed to go along with it and the plan was to spring the idea on Roy for his birthday, so here they were in Bern.

"Do you really think that Roy will accept doing this?" Rutger wondered as he and Lilina got everything ready for their surprise, including stripping down to just their underwear.

"I'm mostly confident, but I can't rule out that this will be a very embarrassing moment in our friendship." Lilina replied. "I'm honestly expecting him to wonder why we didn't ask sooner though."

"That would be the best scenario wouldn't it?" Rutger mused. Back with Guinevere, Roy just arrived in their bedroom and started changing into his casual clothes when she did her part to enact Lilina and Rutger's plan.

"Maybe you should check the guest room one last time to make sure nothing is out of place for your friends." She suggested. "Make sure we didn't leave anything important in there by accident you know?"

"That's a good idea." Roy agreed. "I shouldn't be too long."

"Take your time, I'm pretty tired tonight, I might just fall asleep right now." Guinevere told him honestly with a yawn. "Have fun with whatever you find in there." She added as a bit of a hint.

"Okay." Roy replied slowly, sensing something strange was going on. But he shrugged it off and walked down to the guest room. It was dark so he took out a match and lit the lantern near the door, causing a chain reaction to light all the other lanterns in the room as well, and the room lit up nicely. He looked around the area and didn't see anything too out of place until he saw their was a large lump under the sheets of the bed. "Don't tell me the squires left their dirty clothes in the guest room again." Roy commented as he started to get closer. "And right before Rutger and Lilina get here too, these are going to have to be washed." He didn't notice the slight laughter coming from under the sheets so when he threw them off the bed he was fully surprised when two sets of arms quickly dragged him down into the bed with them.

"Surprise!" Both Lilina and Rutger exclaimed as they pulled Roy into the bed with them. Roy made a surprised sound as he came down, but once he saw their faces he was able to calm himself down a bit more.

"Elimine, way to almost give a guy a heart attack!" He told the two in a playful voice, not noticing their state of undress. "I thought you two wouldn't be here until tomorrow, is something happening that I need to know about?"

"No, we just wanted to surprise you, that's all." Lilina told him.

"It's been too long since we've seen you in person Roy." Rutger added. "You've gotten taller, you look like you might get to my shoulders now."

"Well, not everyone is blessed with height as you are Rutger." Roy teased him. "But you're right, it's been almost a year since we've seen each other last. A bit better than our parents did, but I'd still love to get to see you two more often than just parties for each other we just happen to have time for. How are things in Ostia?"

"They're doing well as usual." Lilina replied. "But we can talk about stuff like that later, our little surprise isn't quite over with yet."

"Oh, it isn't?" Roy wondered with a curious look on his face.

"Not quite." Rutger confirmed. "Both Lilina and I agree that it's hard for the three of us to be together like this a lot, so Lilina came up with an idea about that situation."

"Must be a good idea if it was Lilina's." Roy teased him. "So Lilina, what is this grand idea?"

"Well, I figured if we can't spend a large amount of time together we should do our best to make the time we do have as special as we can." Lilina told him. "To that end, I came up with an idea you should be a little familiar with. I told Rutger we should take a page from his parent's notebook and share a night of intimacy with you." It took Roy a couple of moments to process what Lilina said, and when he did he had a few questions.

"You guys aren't fooling around with me are you?" He wondered at first, his tone suggesting that he was for the idea, but he also thought this might be some multi-step prank they were pulling on him as friends.

"Look at what we're wearing and tell me what you think." Rutger replied. So Roy finally looked them over and saw they were only in their underwear.

"I think you two look great, if I'm being honest." Roy noted. "What about Guinevere though, you two must have asked her about this. What did she say?"

"She was a little shocked at first, but when we explained ourselves and what we wanted to do she took it quite well." Lilina commented. "She even said that she might be interested in joining if there is a next time."

"Roy, you know us, we wouldn't go into this half baked." Rutger added. "We've dotted our 'i's and crossed our 't's on this, the only decision to make is if you want to do this or not. We won't be disappointed if you say no, we just wanted to give you something special for your birthday."

"Well, if that's the case..." Roy said trailing off a bit, though he was smirking a bit dramatically, "...why didn't you ask me sooner?"

"See! I told you!" Lilina exclaimed as she pointed at Rutger.

"You were right as usual." Rutger admitted. Roy was a bit confused so they explained what they were discussing before he got there.

"I always thought it might be an option eventually, like if the war didn't happen and stuff, and I always thought it would be Rutger's idea, but yeah, I've been thinking about it myself a bit honestly." Roy admitted. "If it was fun for our parents then I don't see why it wouldn't be fun for us as well."

"That's the spirit!" Lilina cheered. "So you're in?"

"You've got to take those panties off first, then I can get in." Roy teased her smoothly, getting Lilina to blush a bit. "But we should back up, what are the ground rules here?"

"I'm pretty much up for anything, and it's a safe time of the month for me so you two can go as crazy as you want." Lilina replied.

"What about you Rutger, are you wanting to do anything or not do anything?" Roy wondered, knowing that Mark, Rutger's father, was a lover of both women and men.

"Well, it's your birthday surprise, I figure I'd leave that up to you." Rutger noted. Rutger of course had never been intimate with another man up to this point, but he did know how things like that went because of his father's notes. And while right now in his life he wouldn't want to with just anyone, Roy would be an exception because he knew he could take his time and not be a let down because of it.

"Maybe if I had some time to prepare I would, but I don't have any of those fancy tools and supplies your parents had on me tonight." Roy answered. "Not that I don't want to, but seeing as it would probably be both of our first times with another guy, I figure better safe than sorry."

"Fair enough, maybe next time then." Rutger noted.

"But hey, you two can still do other stuff together." Lilina stated before getting a devious look on her face. "Like kissing and making out while you rub your dicks together! In fact, let's make it a contest! Whichever one of you doesn't cum gets to fuck me first!"

"What kind of demon have we set loose on this world?" Roy asked Rutger in a teasing tone.

"A horny one apparently." Rutger answered back. "Now get those clothes off and pucker up, I'm not about to lose to you in this either."

"Oh, you're on!" Roy stated before shedding his clothes and moving in. And with that the trio were off to the races. The surprise worked just as well if not better than Lilina and Rutger were expecting, they all had a wonderful time getting closer to each other and exploring each other's bodies in the most intimate way they could. The three of them were quite experienced at this point in their lives so they were able to spend a good amount of time together, but slowly they started to lose steam. The last position they were in had Rutger leaning back against the headboard with his legs spread while Lilina sucked him off with Roy having his way with her from behind.

"Come on Roy, I know you can go a bit faster than that, give me a little more of a push to finish the night off!" Lilina teased Roy a bit before going back to having Rutger's dick in her mouth.

"She's a real fireball isn't she?" Roy asked him with a chuckle. "But then again we kind of always knew that didn't we?" Lilina responded by shaking her hips playfully against his thrusts before Rutger answered.

"She's the one that broached the subject with me when we first started out. If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't be here right now." He noted, getting as much as a smile out of Lilina as he could as she continued to go down on him.

"Yeah, you're a wonderful friend Lilina." Roy told her with a slight drop in his mood.

"Hey, don't be getting depressed on us now!" Lilina half scolded him, pulling back a bit. "You're a good friend too!"

"I know, I just feel like I need to apologize to Rutger again, for not being there for him when he needed me the most." Roy noted.

"Roy, what passed has passed, what matters is that you're here, now, being close with us." Rutger assured him. "If I didn't think you were my best friend, we wouldn't be here doing this. We were each other's best men for Father Sky's sake. I don't want to hear you say anything negative about what happened in the past again, it's done, I've forgiven you, I want to focus on our future alright? While we're young and stuff, you know? Can you do that for me? For us?"

"Well, if you're going to be so adamant about it." Roy teased him.

"I am, you are a great person Roy, you always have been. I've always looked up to you in many ways. Maybe not physically, but in other ways." Rutger replied teasing him back.

"You know what I want in my immediate future?" Lilina asked the two of them, cutting into their conversation. "For you two to stop chatting and to start cumming!"

"She's going to be the Mark of our group isn't she?" Roy wondered.

"Potentially, but we shouldn't keep her waiting either way." Rutger noted. "You got one last push in you Roy?"

"With you two I can do anything."

The First Time They Had a Child

And so Rutger and Lilina spent the next few years doing what they explained to Roy, spreading friendship and togetherness through sharing their intimacy with their friends and allies like Mark and Lyn had done for the past generation. It was actually a really good way to keep in touch with people and form strong bonds, as Mark and Lyn had discovered before, along with just being really freeing emotionally and fun physically. But eventually all good things have to come to an end, or at least have to take a pause, and the couple decided they wanted to settle down a bit and start a family. It didn't take long for them to get on the right track thankfully and this arc of their life started on a morning where Lilina was feeling nauseous for the third morning in a row.

"Apparently this is supposed to be a good sign, along with me missing my cycle the other day." Lilina told Rutger as he helped her stabilize and try and eat something.

"That's what I was reading as well." Rutger noted, having poured over all the books in the library about having kids along with his father's notes about when he was being conceived and born. "But we won't really know until Raigh and Sophia get here, will we?"

"They should be here today, hopefully." Lilina commented before letting off a burp. Raigh and Sophia lived out in the Nabata Desert in Arcadia and during his studies there Raigh had learned a Dark magic technique to sense a baby's quintessence while it was still in the womb to confirm that there was one in the first place. The skill wasn't too far spread at the moment, but Raigh owed them a favor from back during the war, so they were calling it in for this.

"Let's make sure they get a warm reception then." Rutger commented. Raigh and Sophia showed up around lunch time and that was just perfect because they could all have lunch together and then head to the medical section of the castle to start the procedure.

"I was relieved when I heard you wanted to invite us over for this and not another 'bonding session' between the four of us." Raigh commented dryly as he ate his lunch.

"Don't listen to him, he's been in a bad mood for some reason the last few days." Sophia told the other couple with a giggle.

"Well, you're not the one getting weird looks now when I show affection in public now are you?" Raigh snarked back. "I mean at least the dragons understand, humans are starting to think I'm weird. Well, weirder than normal."

"Yeah, I can see where that might be an issue." Lilina commented. Raigh was a few years younger than her, but he was still in his mid 20's at this point while Sophia barely looked any different from how she did during the war. She looked very slightly older, maybe a year or so, but she still basically looked like a teenager. "But I wouldn't worry about it too much, you two know the truth and that's all that should matter."

"See, even they think so." Sophia told Raigh. "I've been trying to tell him that but he won't listen."

"Whatever, if worst comes to pass I can just stay in Arcadia and try and perfect whatever spell Athos had to live for as long as he did." Raigh commented, though through his stubborn words they could tell he appreciated their words. "Either way, thank you for lunch, let's go see if you've got a baby or not." So the four gave their dishes up to get cleaned and then Lilina lead the way to the medical wing of the castle.

"Thankfully Raigh has honed the spell well enough now that you don't have to take your clothes off for it to work." Sophia noted.

"Not that it would matter for you two, but I feel more comfortable not having to see that kind of stuff from random people I don't know." Raigh added. "Alright, just lay down on that bed and try to relax, this could take up to half an hour."

"Take your time, we don't have anything else to do today." Lilina told him. So Raigh started casting the spell and since he didn't want to be disturbed and Lilina needed to stay calm, Rutger and Sophia talked to each other.

"So, how is Fae doing?" Rutger asked to make small talk.

"She's doing really well actually, and so is Idunn." Sophia answered. "We think her soul is pretty much completely fixed at this point." After that she let out a chuckle. "I told Fae where we were going and she told me to be careful around the 'Red Scary Guy' which I assume means you. You should invite the two of them to Ostia when you have time, show them how things have changed."

"Well, that's not the worst thing I've been called in my life." Rutger noted with his own small chuckle. "But sure, I think we could fit that in sometime before we get bogged down in this whole parenthood thing."

"Speaking of which, would you prefer a boy or a girl?" Sophia wondered.

"Girl, 100%" Rutger answered confidently. "I don't think I could handle a boy anywhere close as rowdy as I was as our first child."

"It's hard to think of you as rowdy Rutger." Sophia replied with a soft chuckle.

"Well, it's been a long time since then, like you said things have changed." Rutger noted. He was about to continue speaking when Raigh stood up and started talking himself.

"I'm detecting a small amount of quintessence that's different than Lilina's inside her body." He told the group. "It was a bit hard to track since Lilina has way more than the average person, but it's there. You're going to be parents."

"Can you tell if it's a boy or girl at all?" Lilina wondered.

"I can't do that yet even when the pregnancy is close at hand, though I'm working on that next." Raigh noted.

"Guess we'll just have to find out when it happens then." Rutger noted. "Thank you Raigh, this means a lot to us."

"No problem, this was a good challenge for my skills." Raigh told him. "Good luck on the kid." Rutger and Lilina nodded and then the next eight or so months felt like a blur for them. They did their best to prepare the castle for the baby, furnishing the guest room next to their bedroom for it, making sure all the sharp edges and stuff were protected for when it started walking, Rutger even got in contact with an old friend of his parents that could help with when the baby came.

"Thank you for coming and staying with us until the baby is born Miss Carrie, it really means a lot to me." Rutger told her when she finally got to Ostia from Caelin.

"Of course Rutger, I'm glad to help." Carrie assured him. "I was there when you were born so I know how things can go. But are you feeling alright, you look very...tired."

"I am tired, and it's probably not going to get much better in the coming days." Rutger noted. And he was right, for the next week straight he barely got any sleep worrying about the baby and what would happen when it came.

"You don't need to worry so much Rutger, everything will be fine." Lilina tried to assure him. "We have everything we need for it to go smoothly, nothing is going to go wrong. I'm always right you know?" She teased him a little.

"I know, but..." Rutger started, but Lilina cut him off when she felt something changing with her body.

"Hold that thought Rutger, I think my water just broke." She told him in a slightly strained tone.

"Ah! Then let's head for the medical wing, I'll call for Miss Carrie as well." Rutger said before taking Lilina's hand and slowly guiding her to the other side of the castle. Everything was going fine, Lilina made it to the bed she would deliver the baby on and all the medical staff and Miss Carrie made their way into the room to make sure everything went well. They helped Lilina get into a good position for delivery and Rutger sat on a chair next to the bed and continued holding onto her hand with both of his.

"Rutger, you're going to break my hand if you keep holding it that tightly." Lilina told him gently before he loosened his grip a bit. "I'm the one that should be squeezing tightly. Just breath like the handmaidens had us practice, or meditate like your mother taught you, just relax either way."

"Right, sorry." Rutger commented, taking a few breaths to center himself. "How are you feeling?"

"Alright so far. A little strange, a little bloated, a little hungry, but good." Lilina told him. "Now all we have to do is wait." And wait they did. An hour passed and then another, but Lilina's contractions were getting closer together. Almost suddenly though they started speeding up and the medics moved into action.

"Okay, just breathe, stay calm, everything will be alright." Carrie told Lilina, who took the words to heart. "In and out, in and out. Good, just like that. In a few moments I'm going to ask you to start pushing, so prepare yourself for that."

"You can do this Lilina, I have faith in you as always." Rutger assured her. "I'll be right here next to you the whole time."

"You better be!" Lilina groaned. Soon after Carrie started to get her to push and while it did hurt quite a bit, the healers made it a bit less with their staves and there weren't any complications as the baby came out. Lilina did maybe have a few choice words to spit out because of her pain, but they don't bare repeating because she really didn't mean any of them. Eventually the baby was out and Carrie took it away for just a few moments to clean it off and tie off the cord on their navel. She then swaddled it up in a blanket and set it down on Lilina's lap.

"Congratulations you two, it's a healthy baby girl." Carrie told the couple.

"Truly, it's a girl?" Rutger asked, since that's what he wanted.

"You can check for yourself if you want, but I'm pretty sure." Carrie teased him.

"A daughter, we have a daughter Rutger." Lilina said in a tired yet ecstatic voice. "Look at how cute she is." She was tired, but she was full of emotion, mostly love, as she looked at her newborn. It was yet again another culmination of everything she and Rutger had gone through, and she was going to cherish and love this child for as long as she lived.

"I think she has your nose." Rutger said as he gently put one of his fingers into the baby's hand. He was crying a bit looking at her. He made this little girl, he was a father, he was going to love her with all his heart and never let anything bad happen to her.

"Do you have a name picked out?" Carrie wondered.

"Marilyn." Rutger replied confidently. "After my parents."

"That's so sweet." Carrie commented. "I think they'd love hearing that."

"I think it's a nice name as well, but I get to name the next one if we have one." Lilina added.

"You really want to go through this again?" Rutger wondered.

"Well, let's see how this first child goes first."

The First Time They Comforted Their Child About Something Serious

As expected, having a child was a big change for Rutger and Lilina's way of life. There were many sleepless nights those first few years, but it was so worth it for the both of them. Marilyn was a very spirited young girl, another thing to be expected if you knew who her parents were, but there were times when she had silly fears like most young children did. A mouse crawling through the castle, thinking there were monsters under the bed, various cuts and bruises, things like that. They were all very easily taken care of by her parents since they were simple issues, but eventually there was that one moment that was more complicated than most, and the first one happened on Marilyn's fifth birthday.

"Papa! Papa! How do I look?" Marilyn asked happily as she ran towards Rutger in the castle halls. Lilina had just finished dressing her up for her party and she looked really cute. She had long and straight brown hair, a little lighter than Rutger's, with a small shock of green on the left side. She also had striking green eyes like her grandmother Lyn, showing her Sacaen heritage quite well. Most of her other features were more like Lilina, fuller cheeks, a cute looking nose, and a bright smile she carried with her everywhere. She was a little ray of sunshine and pretty much everyone in Ostia loved her dearly.

"Marilyn!" Rutger smiled warmly as he picked her up with ease. "You look very pretty, is that a new dress you're wearing?" He asked her.

"Uh-huh! Mama said it's your birthday present for me!" Marilyn told him. "So thank you Papa, I love you! And you remembered my favorite color is purple too! You're really smart!"

"Of course I remembered." Rutger teased her. "A good father always remembers what his daughter likes. And I love you too Marilyn, happy birthday. Are you ready for your party?"

"Yes! I'm so happy that I'm going to make some new friends!" Marilyn answered excitedly.

"Now, remember what I told you Marilyn, you have to be on your best manners during lunch, but after that you can play with your new friends as much as you like, alright?" Lilina reminded her.

"Yes Mama, I remember." Marilyn replied with a nod.

"Good, now let me tell you about some of the people you're going to meet." Lilina noted as the family went down to the dining area to get ready for the party. Lilina told Marilyn about Elton, who was Roy and Guinevere's young son, and she also told her about Sharle who was Clarine and Dorothy's adopted daughter.

"What about Ronald? Will he be at the party as well?" Marilyn asked. Ronald was Ogier and Wendy's son that Marilyn played with a lot since they both lived in the castle.

"Yes, of course he will be." Lilina confirmed.

"Awesome!" Marilyn cheered. "This will be a great party, I can just tell!" And for the first part of the party she was right, the lunch went well and all the young children behaved themselves. But it was the play session afterwards that didn't go as planned. Rutger was still inside the castle, helping the servants and squires clean up after the party, when he first saw Marilyn running down the hall with something in her hands and Lilina quickly trying to catch her.

"Rutger! She's running with scissors! Catch her!" Lilina called out. Rutger put down the bowl he was holding and quickly jumped in front of Marily, deftly taking the scissors out of her hand and getting a hold of her.

"Give those back!" Marilyn yelled, trying to get the scissors back. "I have to cut my hair! I have to cut my hair!"

"What's going on?" Rutger wondered to Lilina, ignoring Marilyn slightly so he could get some insight before he attempted to comfort her.

"I'm not exactly sure." Lilina replied. "She was playing with all the other kids, getting along with most of them, Elton and Sharle specifically like we were thinking, and then she got into a crowd and started talking to some others and before I knew it she had a pair of scissors and was running into the castle as quickly as she could."

"Hmm." Rutger sounded out, thinking about what they could do next. Then he got an idea. "Marilyn?"

"Papa! I want those scissors back!" She yelled some more.

"Well, we have to make sure you aren't going to hurt yourself with them since you know better than to be running with scissors in the castle." Rutger told her calmly. "So you're going to have to explain why you want them back before we give them to you. Understand?"

"Yes Papa." Marilyn pouted, knowing that she was going to have to talk about what happened.

"Good, now let's sit down and talk calmly about this like we taught you." Rutger said as the family sat down at the large dining table together.

"So, what happened out there Marilyn? You looked like you were having fun out there." Lilina wondered.

"I was!" Marilyn answered in a bit of a sad voice. "Elton was very nice and Sharle made me laugh a whole lot. But then a bunch of them started making fun of me for no reason."

"What do you mean 'for no reason' Marilyn?" Rutger asked her, knowing that it was possibly something that had been following his side of the family for the longest time.

"They said that my hair looks stupid! They kept telling me that the green part means I'm going to grow up to be a bad person! I don't want to be a bad person Papa! That's why I have to cut it off!" Lilina and Rutger locked eyes for a moment and they both knew exactly what was going on. Luckily they had prepared for this so they knew what they wanted to say. Lilina let Rutger take the lead though, since it was his heritage that was being called into question and not hers.

"Marilyn, your green hair isn't going to make you a bad person." Rutger assured her. "Remember a while back when you asked about your grandparents and we told you about them and where they lived?"

"Uh-huh." Marilyn noted.

"That's what those kids were making fun of you for." Rutger told her. "It's because it's you are part Sacaen, and cutting your hair isn't going to change that."

"But why?" Marilyn wondered. "Why don't they like me because of that? Does that make me strange in some way?"

"No, of course not." Lilina assured her. "It's just that their are some people who don't understand Sacaen culture that well and because it's so different from how they live they are scared of it and the people who live that way."

"That's dumb." Marilyn stated confidently.

"Yes it is, but giving in to those people isn't going to make it any better." Rutger told her. "If you give into one thing then they will expect you to give in to the next thing and then the next thing. The best way to deal with those people is to ignore them whenever possible."

"But what if I can't?" Marilyn asked.

"Then you need to stand your ground for yourself and where you come from." Rutger explained. "It might cause trouble, but your mother and I will never get mad at you for standing up for yourself in that manner."

"Your father is right, you have to have confidence in yourself, just like you do in everything else." Lilina added. "And while I won't promise anything, if you show confidence and show that people with Sacaen blood aren't any different than any other nation in Elibe, some people will realize they were being dumb and stop. Not all of them, but some of them."

"How about this?" Rutger continued. "The next time we go on a family trip we'll take you to Sacae where my parents used to live so you can understand more about where you come from. How does that sound Marilyn?"

"That sounds like a lot of fun Papa." Marilyn replied, calmed down for the most part. "By the way, Elton and Sharle tried to get the other kids to stop making fun of me, so don't be mad at them."

"That's good, that means that they'll be true friends for you in the future." Lilina told her with a smile.

"So, Marilyn, do you still want the scissors back?" Rutger asked her.

"No Papa, I don't want the scissors." Marilyn answered. "I want to go back outside and play! But I want you two to come with me, just in case."

"Of course dear, we'll be right next to you." Lilina assured her. "And if all else fails your father can scare the bad kids away."

"Papa being scary? He can do that?" Marilyn wondered.

"Well, I am a little out of practice."

The First Time They Trusted Their Child to be Without Them (1123)

"You think they'll be alright without us?" Lilina wondered to the group who was getting ready to head out to a meeting of the Lycian League. It included herself and Rutger of course, along with Roy, Guinevere, Wendy, and Ogier. Something was going on in Laus and before anyone made any moves or assumptions the League wanted to try and solve the problem diplomatically.

"I think they will be, besides the servants and Miss Carrie will be watching them." Rutger noted. Lilina was worried about everyone's children being without their parents for what could be a few nights for the first time, like any good parent would.

"Maybe if they were a bit younger I might be worried, but their all well behaved enough I think." Roy added. All their children were around 9-10 years old at this point and they were all friends as well.

"I can always stay here if you want, since I'm not a part of the Lycian League technically." Guinevere noted.

"No, I want you there to keep people honest." Lilina noted. "I'm just being paranoid as a mother, I'm sure everything will be fine." After a bit more preparation the group was ready to leave, but not before talking to the children first.

"Alright, you three, we're going to be away for a few days like we discussed." Rutger told them. "Be good for Miss Carrie and the servants. Don't go outside without someone to watch you, make sure you eat good food, and don't do anything to cause too much of a mess, okay?"

"We'll be good, I promise Father." Marilyn replied truthfully. She had grown up to be a very obedient young girl, though she had a mischievous side sometimes.

"Don't worry, we won't do anything dangerous." Elton added. "I won't start any fires with magic tomes in the library."

"You told them about that?" Lilina asked Roy with a chuckle.

"Of course I did, it's a funny story." Roy noted with a shrug.

"If anything goes wrong, you know where the weapons are Ronald." Ogier told his son. "But remember, it's okay to run from a fight you can't win."

"I'll make sure Marilyn and Elton get out safely." Ronald said with a nod. After that the adults left and made their way to the meeting place. The meeting was very tense to say the least. Pretty much everyone knew that Laus was hiding something, something that could shake the League, but no one could get anything out of Fronk, who was still the Marquess. Even when Guinevere questioned him about his recent dealings with certain factions in Bern, she didn't get much. The only person who got any reaction out of him was Lilina, and it wasn't a good one.

"We've all made our choices milady, now we must deal with the consequences." Was the last thing he said to her, in a very snarky voice that made her skin crawl. After that a few other matters were discussed before the meeting was adjourned for the day. The Ostian group decided to take their dinner in the room Rutger and Lilina were staying in so they could discuss things in private.

"Elimine! That Fronk gets so under my skin!" Lilina sighed in exasperation as she tried to eat.

"Yeah, and unfortunately we know why it is now too." Wendy added, rolling her eyes.

"We do?" Ogier wondered since he really wasn't in the loop on this matter.

"Wendy didn't tell you?" Rutger asked and Ogier shook his head. "It's because he's been madly in love with her for a while now."

"Wait, seriously?" Ogier questioned with shock. "Since when?"

"Around 15 years at least." Lilina replied. "When Rutger and I started sleeping around he was one of the first people who tried to get into our good graces. Of course we weren't going to do anything with him, he's an asshole, but he kept trying. It got to the point that Rutger and I even started messing with him over it. It may have been a bit mean, but we tricked him into thinking I wanted to meet with him privately on the balcony but when he got there he saw Rutger and I fucking against the window. Still not getting the point he climbed up to the balcony and we continued going. He tried to grab my arm and then Rutger threatened to throw him off the castle. After that he stopped trying to get with me, but we could tell his feelings never changed."

"I'm still of the mind that he deserved it." Rutger commented. "If he lived in Sacae that hand would have gotten sliced off with no repercussions."

"Gods, that's...yeah." Ogier added, not really knowing what to say. Neither did any of them for a bit as they continued to eat in silence. Eventually though Wendy had an idea and decided to speak up.

"Hey, let's do something to lighten up the mood." She told the other three. "Since we're all together and we don't really have to worry about the kids or anyone walking in on us, why don't we get a little frisky like old times?"

"You know what Wendy? That actually sounds like a wonderful idea." Lilina replied. "I need something to destress after dealing with that meeting. You guys feeling up to it?"

"I'm always up for a little fun." Rutger answered with a smirk.

"I'm in, but I don't think the bed in this room is big enough." Ogier noted.

"That is a good point." Wendy agreed before looking around and noting another piece of furniture. "What about the couch there? If you two sit side by side we could fit together."

"I'm good with that." Lilina nodded. So the four finished up eating and soon afterwards they all stripped down to have some fun. Rutger and Ogier sat down on the couch, Rutger on the left and Ogier on the right, and the girls did a bit of work on them with their hands and mouths before climbing on top of them and lining themselves up to get started.

"Ready?" Rutger asked Lilina.

"Always." Lilina replied. So Rutger held onto her hips and she lowered herself down on his dick with a long and satisfied moan. Wendy and Ogier did the same and soon enough the two pairs were going at it at a good pace.

"See, I told you this was a good idea!" Wendy told Lilina through her moans.

"I never doubted you Wendy." Lilina replied sticking her hand out so Wendy could give her a high five. Wendy happily accepted and the four had a wonderful night together. The meetings went on for another couple days and Rutger and Lilina also had some fun with Roy and Guinevere as well to destress, but eventually everything that was going to be said was said and the six made their way back to Ostia. to see their children again.

"So, how were they?" Rutger asked Carrie when they got inside the castle.

"They were mostly well behaved." Carrie replied. "Nothing out of the ordinary for kids their age. I maybe let them stay up a bit later than usual since they were with friends, but no really big issues to report, nothing damaged, no major injuries."

"Good." Rutger noted with a smile. "Thank you again Miss Carrie, you've always been a true friend to me and my family."

"Of course, it was your parents who helped me find my place in life, I'll always be grateful for that." Carrie stated before the kids came out to greet their parents.

"Mother! Father! You're back!" Marilyn said giving both of them a big hug. "I was a good girl and I didn't break anything and I ate all my vegetables and I didn't skip out on my sword and magic practice the whole time!"

"I heard and we're so proud of you Marilyn." Lilina replied, hugging her back.

"You know what that means right?" Rutger asked in a happy tone.

"What? What does it mean?!" Marilyn wondered.

"It means you all get to have some ice cream for being good!" Rutger answered to a happy uproar.

"Ice cream! I love ice cream!" Elton cheered.

"I want chocolate flavored!" Ronald stated.

"Ooh! Me too!" Marilyn agreed.

"Then come on, all of us can have some!" Lilina said inviting the adults as well.

"It has been a while since I've had ice cream." Roy noted, looking at Guinevere to see if they could stay a bit longer.

"Don't worry, I want some too."

The First Time They Had to Protect Their Child From Danger

About six months later the plans Laus had for the Lycian League were enacted. Their first move was to stage an 'assassination attempt' in Ostia against Lilina. In reality it was just to cause enough of a scare that Lilina and Rutger would decide to relocate to their secret safehouse in Thria until things were sorted out. That way they could be drawn out of the castle to enact the next stage of the plan. Everything was thrown into so much confusion since Lilina had gotten pregnant again, turns out it was the perfect time to try for a kid during those meetings and they didn't realize it, that they mostly got supplies for in case the baby came sooner rather than later if they had to stay in Thria for an extended period of time. Rutger only had a wooden practice sword and the Mani Katti that he still hadn't been able to unsheathe after all these years and Lilina just had a basic Fire tome that she didn't really know if she should be using being this far into another pregnancy.

"Mother? Do you think I'll be a good big sister?" Marilyn asked a few days into their travels. Even with everything that was going on the mood between the family was still generally positive, especially with Marilyn who didn't quite know what was going on.

"I think you'll be a wonderful big sister." Lilina assured her. "You're very responsible and I'm sure they'll enjoy your counsel as they grow up."

"Is it going to be a boy or a girl?" Marilyn wondered.

"We won't know until it comes dear." Lilina told her. "What do you want it to be?"

"I want a little brother!" Marilyn cheered. "That way the family can be even between boys and girls." Lilina just had to chuckle a bit at how cute that was and give her a hug.

"Well then, I'll try and make that happen for you." Lilina joked.

A little more time passed and Rutger was starting to get suspicious about where this caravan was heading, since it wasn't towards Thria like they planned.

"Shouldn't we be going a bit more to the north?" He asked the knight that was leading the way for everyone.

"We got word that whoever staged the assassination attempt was someone who would know about the hideout in Thria." The knight lied. "So we're taking you to Worde and then we'll make plans there."

"You don't say." Rutger commented slowly, not wanting to let on he didn't quite believe that. It would make sense to go to Worde if maybe they were going to stay with Miss Carrie's family, but they had all just moved to Caelin because her parents were getting close to dying and she wanted to take care of them before that happened. He slowly moved back to the carriage that Lilina and Marilyn were riding in to tell him his thoughts.

"Is something wrong?" Lilina wondered, seeing the look on his face.

"Apparently we're being taken to Worde." Rutger noted. "Which doesn't make sense for a number of reasons, one being there is a much easier path there to the South. If we keep going in this direction we'll end up in-"

"Laus!" Lilina whisper yelled, knowing her geography well.

"Exactly." Rutger agreed.

"Why would we be going to Laus? They are mean to us!" Marilyn added, maybe a little too loudly.

"I don't know, but if we don't change course soon we might be in some trouble." Lilina told her in a quite tone to let her know to be quiet as well. Eventually their fears were confirmed, they were heading into Laus territory. Lilina knew exactly where the border was though, so when they were about to reach it she stopped her carriage and Rutger got off his horse as well.

"Lady Lilina? Is something wrong?" The lead knight asked, turning around to see what was going on. "Is it something with the child?"

"What's wrong here is that we're about to step into Laus territory uninvited." Lilina noted. "And I don't see a greeting party anywhere in front of us. Kind of suspicious if you ask me.

"Yeah, looks like someone is trying to frame Ostia for invading Laus after an assassination attempt." Rutger added staring the knight down. The two of them figured that it was probably only this lead knight and a few others that were trying to betray them and that the rest were still loyal, but they were a little wrong on that assumption.

"Well, I would have liked to not have to drag the dead bodies over the border, but at least we got this far." The knight said before stabbing the knight besides him suddenly. "The ruse is up men! Kill them all except the women! And with that about 80% of the knights that were in the convoy ended up instantly killing all the loyal knights by surprise, leaving just Rutger to defend the carriage with Lilina and Marilyn.

"You think that a few rouge knights are going to be able to take me down?" Rutger asked with confidence, breaking the end off his training sword a bit to give it a better edge, seeing if it would make some of the knights run. "I've trained the majority of you, I could do this in my sleep."

"You think we're all knights of Ostia?" The lead knight laughed in response. "No, you've got another thing coming, we've got knights from Laus and even Bern here to take you out! You think we wouldn't be prepared to face the Crimson Wind of Sacae?!"

"Never heard that one before." Rutger noted, thinking that was actually a pretty good title for him. "But be you from Ostia, Laus, or even Bern, if you face me you won't be leaving alive!"

"So be it." The knight sneered. "Have at him boys!" And with that the fight started. At first things were going well, Rutger was holding off the knights quite well, blocking all of their strikes with ease and countering just as well. The issue was with his weapon. It was kind of hard to kill someone with a wooden sword, so even if he did defeat a knight they could just take a breath and then start jumping in to fight again.

"Mother! Use your magic!" Marilyn cried, trying to get Lilina to help.

"I'm trying! It's not working for some reason!" Lilina told her as she was trying to cast a spell. Her stomach was cramping up and she couldn't focus well enough with all the stress around her and with the baby, so she wasn't going to be able to help as bad as it was getting.

"Don't worry, I've got this!" Rutger told them as he took the sheathed Mani Katti out and started duel wielding the swords. But it still didn't help, the sheathe was too dull to do any real damage either. Something Rutger wasn't realizing though was that the sheathe was starting to wiggle a bit on the sword, something it had never done before for him. Eventually a knight got a lucky shot on his back and Rutger was knocked down on his chest.

"Stop struggling and make this easy on yourself." The lead knight told him. "Lord Fronk doesn't want to harm the rest of your family, just get rid of you. He'll take good care of them after you're gone."

Of course that was this was all about, his jealousy over Lilina. Rutger was getting desperate, he knew that he wasn't going to be able to win this fight like this, but he wasn't going to just lay down and take it. Though he knew of only one way he could get out of this situation, one way that he promised to himself he never wanted to use again, but it was his only choice. He had to reach back into his past, back into that rage and anger that helped him survive the first part of the war with Bern. He had to once again become the Crimson Wind of Sacae as these knights had called him. He knew what he had to do, but he still didn't want to. He didn't want to scar Marilyn with the vision of him so bloodthirsty and scary, he didn't want to remind Lilina about how he used to be, to stress her out even more with another baby on the way. But he had no choice, if he wanted his family to live the vision of his growth they had of him had to die, but he would be okay with that.

"Fuck him and fuck you too!" Rutger spat at the knight as he swung the Mani Katti at his legs, hoping to catch him off guard. But something unexpected happened. As the sword cut through the air the momentum at which Rutger swung it made the sheathe fly off the hilt and as he swiped at the knight's legs he cut through both of them cleanly. The sprits of the sword, who included his mother, had finally decided that he was worthy of using it's power and just in time as well

"GAHHHHHHHH!" The knight yelled in pain as he fell to the earth trying to clutch at his bleeding stubs of ankles. "Dastard! Savage! Saca-!" Rutger quickly shut him up by piercing the Mani Katti through his throat as he got back up to his feet and faced the rest of the traitorous knights.

"Which one of you wants to die next!" Rutger growled at the shocked group of knights. None of them stepped forward to fight him, not knowing what would happen next. "Fine, I'll choose myself!" And with that Rutger took the offensive and started cutting down knights left and right with ease. At first he was doing it just to thin their numbers, but slowly he was starting to enjoy himself, a devious smile creeping onto his face with each knight he finished off. Blood was spattering all over his face and clothes, just like the old days, and he was reveling in the pain he was giving these men who would try and tear apart his family. Oh how he wished he could go back to that day in Bulgar like this and slaughter all those Bern soldiers who sacked the city and murdered his parents and friends, he could do it now with how skilled he was with the sword.

"Marilyn, don't look!" Lilina told her daughter, trying to cover her eyes.

"Why not! Father is doing great!" Marilyn replied, moving her head around. "Yay! Go Papa! Kill the mean bad guys!" Rutger couldn't hear either of them, his bloodlust was too high. Eventually though he killed the last of the knights and he was on the battlefield alone, bloody and bruised, but alive. His mind was racing every different direction it could, but when he looked down on the blood on the blade of the Mani Katti he couldn't take it any more. He fell to his knees and let out a loud yell of sadness and frustration. He had been doing so well, he was living a good life, and now he felt as if he had thrown it all away.

"Why is he crying?" Marilyn asked with confusion. "He won, he saved us! Father is a hero!"

"It's complicated dear." Lilina noted. "You know how your father is usually very nice and calm and doesn't yell at people a lot?"

"Of course, he's really nice most of the time." Marilyn replied.

"Well, he didn't always used to be like that." Lilina continued. "He used to be very rude and mean, because some people killed his parents and friends. But with those emotions he became a better fighter, someone that everyone was scared to face. But he didn't like being rude and mean, so he's been working on being nice and calm ever since. So he's upset that he had to go back to being scary to protect us. And he's probably worried that you think he's scary now too."

"What? No! Father is amazing! I'm going to go tell him!" Marilyn said quickly getting out of the carriage before Lilina could stop her. She ran up to Rutger and saw him crying so she gently lifted his head up so she could look at his face. "Papa, you don't need to cry. I don't think you're scary. I think you're awesome! You protected me from all the bad guys! You're a really good fighter, I hope I can be as good as you someday!"

"Marilyn..." Rutger said shakily before dropping the Mani Katti and wrapping her up in a big hug. "I am so, so, so, sorry you had to see that. I promise that I will only be that scary to people trying to hurt you, never towards you or your mother, I promise."

"I know, Mama explained everything to me." Marilyn told him. "It's like you always tell me about my sword skills, sometimes you make mistakes and you have to learn from them. And you said everyone makes mistakes, even adults, so it's okay."

"Since when did you get so smart?" Rutger asked her with a few more happy tears in his eyes than sad ones now.

"Because, I listen to what you and Mother tell me, and you two are really smart too." Marilyn answered matter-of-factly. "And because I love you Papa, and I don't want you to be sad."

"I love you too Marilyn, I love you too."

The First Time They Gave Their Child 'The Talk'

There were still a few skirmishes and battles that popped up from the Laus uprising, but with the leadership the Lycian League had in Lilina, Roy, and Rutger, and not to mention the backing of the majority of Bern's army as well, everything was done before Lilina gave birth to a healthy baby boy who was named Fletcher. Like Marilyn's name was for Rutger his name was a mix of Lilina's parent's names, as best as they could come up with anyways.

After the 'war' Laus was stripped of it's lands and titles. Fronk had fell on his sword once he realized he'd lost, so no one had to deal with him any more thankfully. And things went smoothly in Ostia and it's rulers. Fletcher was another well behaved child and Marilyn was a good big sister for him. The next big milestone for the family happened about 6 years later when Lilina got a letter from Bern.

"Is that what I think it is?" Rutger asked Lilina since he saw the Bern royal seal on the letter.

"It is!" Lilina cheered. "Marilyn got accepted to the Officer's Academy in Bern! The next semester starts in three months, so we have that much time to get everything ready and send her off."

"She's going to be so happy when you tell her." Rutger replied with a smile.

"What? You don't want to do it together?" Lilina wondered.

"I would love to, but I promised Ogier we'd get some sparring in today and I doubt you want to keep her waiting." Rutger noted. "I'm sure I'll hear all about it later though."

"Well, you two have fun, and don't get too carried away. You both aren't young and spry as you used to be." Lilina told him before giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"We'll be fine, we do stuff like this to make sure we stay in shape you know, so we don't get all old and cranky as fast as Sir Marcus did." Rutger joked.

"I know, I still just love to tease you about it." Lilina admitted. "Well, I'm off to tell Marilyn the good news!" So she left their room and started looking around for her daughter. She looked all over the inside of the castle but the only person she ran into that might know where she was at was Fletcher. "Fletcher, have you seen your sister around anywhere?"

"Mari said that her and Elton were going out to the stables to look after the horses." Fletcher answered truthfully.

"Elton is here already? I wasn't expecting him until dinner time." Lilina commented. "Oh well, he'll enjoy the news as well. Thank you Fletcher, you can go back to what you were doing."

"You're welcome Mama!" Fletcher replied happily before going back to drawing in his notebook. So Lilina made her way outside and towards the stables and eventually she could hear Marilyn and Elton talking to each other. She continued to get closer and since she didn't want to seem like she was eavesdropping on the two she just walked out to meet them out in the open, but in doing so she caught them in the act of kissing each other. The two teenagers didn't notice her standing there for the longest time until Lilina finally cleared her throat to get their attention.

"AH! Mother! How long have you been standing there?!" Marilyn yelped as the two quickly pulled away from each other and put their hands behind their backs.

"Lady Lilina, um I know what this looks like and- who am I kidding, you know what we were doing." Elton tried to come up with something, but he thought better of it.

"It looks like you two were kissing each other." Lilina replied with a bit of a smug look. "Which honestly I was wondering when I'd catch Marilyn doing something like this, so it's not that big of a surprise."

"Mother, I was going to tell you, truly!" Marilyn said with a tinge of desperation. Over the last few years she had grown into being a bit of a perfectionist, so getting caught like this was kind of a blow to her ego. "It just happened, we wanted to see how it felt."

"Marilyn, calm down, I'm not upset at you." Lilina assured her. "I was your age too once ago. And while I was fighting in the middle of a war, I wondered what it would be like to just kiss your father straight out, to see if it would help him snap out of his issues. And the same goes for you Elton. As long as you both were consenting there is nothing wrong with a kiss between friends trying to see how they feel."

"Are you going to tell my parents?" Elton asked.

"Not right away, I'll leave that to you." Lilina noted. "But even if you don't, I'll come out eventually. Either way, since did catch you two kissing I feel it's important that we get your father and just talk about things to make sure we're all on the same page, sound good you two?"

"Of course, makes sense to me." Marilyn agreed.

"Sure, I don't see any problems with that." Elton added.

"Good." Lilina commented. "Now for the real reason why I came out here. Marilyn, we just got your application to Bern's Officers Academy back and you got accepted! And in the advanced class course as well!"

"Really?! Truly?!" Marilyn asked excitedly before Lilina gave her the letter to read.

"That's great Marilyn!" Elton cheered her on. "I think that means we'll be in the same classes as well, isn't that neat?"

"We're going to learn so much!" Marilyn replied before Elton gave her a curious look. "And we'll have fun as well, don't you worry. I just hope Sharle makes it as well, the three of us being in the same class would be a real boon."

"Me too, that would be awesome." Elton agreed. After their excitement died down Lilina took the two over to where Rutger and Ogier were sparring and they watched them for a bit until Lilina let him know what was going on. Ogier left to go get some water and snacks so they all could have some privacy for a bit and when he was out of earshot the conversation began.

"Alright, you two are practically almost adults at this point so we won't beat around the bush that much since we assume you already know a decent bit already." Rutger started.

"We just want to make sure you two know the possible consequences of the path you're starting to go down so you know how to deal with what may come." Lilina added.

"I understand, and I appreciate you both being so calm about this." Marilyn noted.

"Me too." Elton added.

"Well, let's just say that in this family things are a lot more out in the open when it comes to sex and intimacy." Rutger commented. "You've probably heard rumors about us and your grandparents, and most of them are true."

"Yeah, I was starting to wonder." Marilyn noted. "So that's why you're like this."

"Exactly." Lilina replied. "So we're fine with whatever you want to do with other people, as long as you understand that sex and intimacy comes with a bit more emotional baggage than regular relationships."

"And that with you being a woman you have the better chance of getting a raw deal if you shack up with the wrong guy." Rutger added. "Not to say anything bad about you Elton, we trust you have the best intentions in mind when it comes to Marilyn."

"No worries, I get it." Elton nodded.

"Good." Rutger replied with his own nod. "Now not to get too graphic, but do you two actually know anything about sexual acts?" So the two of them told Rutger and Lilina what they knew and the pair listened intently and corrected them when they needed to. It wasn't as awkward as you would think it would be because Rutger and Lilina were really calm and understanding about everything and just wanted the two teenagers to know what they were getting into and how to get things right if they did decide to start going a bit farther. Especially when they were going to be away for schooling together without their guidance being readily available.

"I think that's about everything we need to get across, everything else just comes with experience." Lilina said when everything was said and done. "Do either of you have any questions about what we went over?"

"I don't, I think your descriptions were very well detailed." Elton replied.

"Maybe a bit too detailed." Marilyn said with a blush.

"What can we say, we're kind of experts." Rutger joked. "I do have a question for you two though. Are you two thinking about starting a relationship, or were you just kissing to see how it felt?"

"Kind of seeing how it felt between the two of us." Marilyn noted. "I kind of wanted to see how it felt with Sharle as well, if you two are okay with that."

"Of course we are, if you want to start a relationship with another woman like Sharle's parents we'll support you in that." Lilina assured her.

"I mean why not just have all three of you in a relationship?" Rutger threw out, kind of as a joke.

"That's possible?" Elton wondered.

"I mean I don't see why not, as long as the three people still care about each other equally." Rutger mused. "Though I can see how that might be a bit of a juggling act, dealing with just one spouse can be hard enough, as Lilina can attest to."

"Oh please, like I've never been any trouble for you." Lilina teased him and the four started to laugh because they were having a fun time. Eventually though Fletcher came out to the training grounds after hearing all the commotion.

"Why is everyone laughing? What are you talking about?" He wondered.

"We were just explaining to Marilyn and Elton where babies come from." Rutger replies.

"Really? I want to know too!" Fletcher said excitedly.

"Well, when a mother and a father love each other very much-"

The First Time They Sent Their Child Off to Higher Learning

The next couple of months flew by as everyone in the castle was getting things ready for Marilyn's stay in Bern. But for Rutger and Lilina it was a bit different because this was their daughter, their precious child that they had raised for for over 16 years at this point. And she was going to be away from them for at least a year, maybe more if things went well.

"Rutger, I'm not sure I can do this." Lilina admitted the night before they were to send her off. "I mean I know that everything will be fine, Roy is in Bern and so is Guinevere and they'll make sure Marilyn is safe if something goes wrong. But I just feel like there is going to be a hole in my heart when she's gone and I'm not sure what I'm going to fill it with."

"I feel the same honestly." Rutger agreed as he snuggled up closer to Lilina since they were in bed talking. "But this really isn't about us, it's about Marilyn and her growth into the young adult we know she'll be. I'm sure your father felt the same way when he sent you off to Etruria to get tutored by General Cecilia, but he sent you off because he knew it would be good for you. Of course he didn't know he wouldn't ever see you again, but he had trust in you. We have to have the same trust in Marilyn that whatever may happen she'll make the right decisions and that we've done all we can to support her in every way. Plus, it's not like the castle will be so empty, we do still have Fletcher to raise as well."

"I know, I know, I'm just being a bit selfish in my old age." Lilina noted with a sigh. "And since when are you the voice of reason, that's my job." She teased a bit.

"Someone has to take the lead when you falter, as rare as those occasions are." Rutger replied with a big smile on his face. "And who are you calling old? You're still as beautiful as the day we got married." He added, starting to kiss her neck gently.

"Really? You want to have sex now?" Lilina asked with a bit of incredulity.

"Why not? It'll take our minds of tomorrow for a bit." Rutger noted. "But if you don't want to that's fine."

"And waste a moment of you initiating for once?" Lilina noted. "I just wanted to make sure." So the two of them did that and it did actually help them fall asleep and not think about sending their daughter away. But eventually the morning came and they had to get up bright and early. The trip to Bern would take a week or so, but Marilyn wanted to get there early to get everything with her rooming set up and to possibly make a few friends before classes started.

"Do you have everything you need?" Rutger asked, looking through the carriage she would be taking to Bern. Ronald would be travelling with her as her bodyguard and eventually they would meet up with Elton, who was in Pherae currently, and Sharle's convoys as well for extra protection.

"I'm pretty sure I do, I was up all night checking and re-checking everything." Marilyn answered, getting a look from her parents. "What? I wanted to make sure. I can sleep on the ride there."

"Well if you do need anything just remember to write us and we'll send any supplies you might need." Lilina told her. "And we'll probably be writing you a few times anyways, so be on the lookout for some letters."

"Don't be like Sir Wil of Pherae and forget to write us either." Rutger added. "Even if you have nothing to say, just let us know you're doing alright and that will be enough for us."

"And draw me some pictures too!" Fletcher noted.

"Of course father, I'll be sure to write them promptly and send them out as soon as I can. And I'll draw you many pictures Fletcher, I promise." Marilyn said with a nod. Then there was a bit of a silence between the four, not knowing just quite how to separate, until Rutger, Lilina, and Fletcher ended up giving Marilyn a big family hug.

"Marilyn, we are so proud of you." Lilina said with tears of joy in her eyes. "You've grown up to be such an amazing young woman and we're confident you'll do well in your studies and come back even more wise and mature."

"We've done our best to give you the life we couldn't live, so go out and live it to your best." Rutger added. "Go out and make your mark on the world, but have fun doing it as well. Your grandfather always told me the best way to face the world is with a smile on your face and a snack in your hand, live by those words and everything else will fall into place. We love you and we trust you, and we always will."

"You show all those other students how good you are at swords and magic both!" Fletcher cheered her on. "They'll be really impressed with you and want to be your friends!"

"I love you all as well." Marilyn replied, crying a bit herself. "Thank you for loving me and giving me these opportunities. I'll do my best to continue making you proud, for Ostia, for Sacae, for everyone who needs someone to look up to. I promise I'll make the best of this."

"We know you will Marilyn, we have all the faith in the world in you." Lilina assured her. They all lingered in the hug for just a bit longer before Marilyn finally had to leave. Rutger, Lilina, and Fletcher all stood at the castle entrance until the carriage was out of sight, after which they went back inside.

"I'm gonna miss big sis." Fletcher commented as the doors closed.

"So are we, so are we."

The First Time They Realized Their Child Had Grown Up

Another five years passed, Marilyn did well in her studies in Bern for a few years and when she got back she was able to help the people in Ostia with her kindness and knowledge along with her unique combat abilities. She also fell in love, which is why Rutger and Lilina were currently waiting for her to get ready to walk down the aisle for her wedding. Rutger in particular was in anticipation because he would be the first father in a few generations who would actually get to walk with his daughter and send her off.

"Do you ever have the thought that it feels like we blinked and Marilyn went from being five years old to a fully grown young woman?" Rutger asked Lilina as they waited for the ceremony to begin.

"I do." Lilina confirmed. "It feels like just yesterday I could hold her in my arms or on my shoulders, but now she's all grown up and getting married. But in a way I'm glad that we've gotten to see this. We've seen so much more with her than either of our sets of parents have, I'll always cherish any moments we have with her."

"Me as well, and it's not like she's going to be leaving us any time soon." Rutger added. "Yes she might be in Bern more often, but she's been dedicated to watching after Ostia and Pherae as well." Marilyn was getting married to Elton, which wasn't too big of a surprise for people who knew them or the general public at large. They attempted the three person relationship idea with Sharle like Rutger proposed, but it turned out that Elton and Sharle couldn't see eye to eye enough for it to work out. There weren't any hard feelings though, and Marilyn happily asked Sharle to be her maid of honor, a position that she happily accepted.

"It's funny in a ironic sort of way." Lilina noted with a light chuckle. "Zephiel wanted to take the world over with force, but with how things have turned out peacefully Bern has so much more influence that it ever dreamed of. At this rate the whole of Elibe might be a united state in a few generations."

"That would certainly be interesting." Rutger replied. "Maybe if that happens then humans can finally make good progress with dragon relations as well."

"You never know, though we won't be around to see it." Lilina commented. It was a bit of a dour note to leave the conversation on, but those feelings quickly washed away as Marilyn came out to meet them in her wedding dress.

"So, how do I look?" She asked her parents with a hint of nervousness. The wedding had been rehearsed over and over, but with her being a perfectionist it was still a bit nerve-wracking.

"You look lovely Marilyn." Lilina told her as she stood up to get a better look. "I know you wanted to wear a fully purple dress, but I think the hints of it here and there really make your dress pop out, even more than mine did when I got married to your father."

"What do you think Father?" Marilyn wondered as she turned to Rutger.

"I think you look wonderful as well." Rutger noted. "But I also think you need to calm down just slightly. Everyone out there and everyone back there is wanting this to go smoothly. They're not going to stand up and laugh at you for any small mistakes and they probably won't remember much of what happens here today anyways. All that they'll remember is that you and Elton got married and they had a fun time at the afterparty. So take some breaths, relax, and have some fun. There is no way this wedding can be any worse than the one your mother and I had.

"I'm just glad I'll have you by my side to walk with me, I don't know if I could do it alone." Marilyn admitted. "Thank you, both of you, you've done so much to make this day special for me and I love you both. I know I say it a lot, and people poke fun at me about it, but truly do love you both that much for being there for me whenever I need you." She started to tear up a little but took a breath to calm herself so she wouldn't, not yet.

"You never have to apologize to us for telling us how you feel." Lilina assured her. "We love you that much as well, always have always will."

"We know the other side of the coin well, not having your parents around for important moments like this." Rutger added. "So of course we'll do everything in our power to make things easy for you, it's what good parents do." Marilyn nodded, knowing if she said any more she would start crying for real. A few minutes later the ceremony started and eventually Rutger and Marilyn got to walk up to the altar together. As Rutger looked around and saw all of his friends, old and new, and looked at his daughter who was all grown up now, he started to tear up as well. This was everything he had ever wanted for his live, people to love and for people to love him back. But he wouldn't make a big scene here of course, this was Marilyn's moment and not his. So he quietly sat down next to Lilina after giving Marilyn one last smile.

"You're not supposed to be crying yet." Lilina softly teased him, even though she was crying a bit herself.

"We're the parents of the bride, we can feel however we want." Rutger teased her back and that got her to smile enough to stop crying for a bit. The ceremony continued on, Fletcher got to be the ring bearer, Saul once again was the priest overseeing the whole thing, and as Marilyn said her vows to Elton she kind of went off the rails with everything she was feeling, but that too was kind of expected in an emotional moment like this. Soon enough though it was over and everyone cheered and cried tears of joy for the newly wedded couple. But the festivities weren't over just yet, everyone who was close to the family was invited back to Castle Ostia for a party in celebration. Later in the night Roy and Guinevere caught up with Rutger and Lilina and they got to talking.

"Never thought this day would come, but now that it has I'm so happy that it did." Roy noted. "And now, officially, we're in-laws." He teased Rutger.

"Hey, I wouldn't have it any other way!" Rutger replied back happily as he and Roy clinked their beer mugs together. "Just take it easy on me with these drinks, I'm turning 50 in a few months."

"Oh, come on, Marcus could drink a whole barrel at 50, I'm sure you could as well." Roy joked. Him and Rutger kept going back and forth like that, so Guinevere and Lilina got to talking.

"So, you think Elton is going to be ready for everything once we're all out of the picture?" Lilina asked, being a bit more serious with their discussion.

"I believe so, but I'm not giving up the throne anytime soon, I'm still a capable ruler." Guinevere replied. "Elton is and always has been a model son, much like his father and his father before him. He cares for everyone regardless of station and I couldn't ask for a better heir or son. And I think with Marilyn by his side the both of them will do just fine. The future for Elibe is as bright as it has been this generation, and I sense it will just keep getting brighter, which settles my heart with each passing day."

"As it should." Lilina assured her. "You made the right decision back then, just look at how happy everyone is. None of this would have happened if you didn't stand up to your brother, so take pride, you achieved something he couldn't even imagine."

The First Time They Realized They Were Getting Older

Yet another five years passed until the next big milestone, but it felt like just a week for Rutger and Lilina. They were going to be grandparents. Also Fletcher was accepted to Bern's Officer's Academy for it's tactical support programs, but he wasn't going to leave until he saw his nephew. Luckily Marilyn and Elton were in Ostia when things really started to get serious so Rutger and Lilina could be there to help and support and see the baby first.

"I still can't believe it, we're going to be grandparents." Lilina commented as she and Rutger sat outside the medical ward waiting for news. They had done everything they could so now all they could do is wait and leave things up to the nurses and Elton.

"We're old." Rutger noted before coughing slightly. He had been coughing a lot more often lately and it was causing him to have to miss out on his daily exercise. "Like older than our parents were old. Wake up in the morning and have to lay there for an hour before getting up old."

"Well, at least your sense of humor is still in it's 30's." Lilina teased him before grimacing a bit. She had recently been struggling with what would be called arthritis in modern times, but she just figured it was her joints and bones getting old. "Don't worry, just a bit of a cramp as usual."

"You think Marilyn and Fletcher worry about us getting so old?" Rutger wondered. "Because we never really had to worry about that. This is one of those things were I don't have any idea what they might be going through."

"I'm sure they are aware of our situation, they're smart kids." Lilina noted. "But I do agree that we should maybe start talking to them about what will happen once we're gone. Maybe not today because of the baby, but before Marilyn and Elton take Fletcher to Bern to get things ready we should have a discussion about it."

"That sounds like a good idea." Rutger replied with a nod before chucking into another coughing fit. "I'm fine, just happy at the fact that we've been able to run a stable family for so long. I couldn't imagine being in a family like the ones they used to have in Laus or Bern, where you couldn't even trust the people you lived with for anything."

"Well, it's a testament to how much work we put in as parents. We gave our children the love and care they deserved and taught them how to be good people, at least that's how I see it." Lilina commented. "And we get rewarded with peace, quiet, and less stress as we continue to get older."

"Do you ever get tired of being right over 30 years later?" Rutger teased her with a smile.

"30? I've known you for over 40!" She teased back and for a moment the two of them felt 20 years younger. Shortly afterwards one of the nurses came to get them because the baby had been delivered. So they and their old bones made their way to the delivery room and made their way over to where Marilyn was holding their grandchild.

"It's a girl." Marilyn said feeling a bit weak, but otherwise things had gone smoothly.

"We were thinking of calling her Elica, what do you think about that name?" Elton asked the couple.

"It's up to you, but that's a very pretty name." Lilina replied.

"I like it, short and to the point and it keeps the tradition in your family name." Rutger added.

"What do you mean?" Elton wondered, getting a strange look from Rutger.

"You mean your family doesn't give their children names starting with 'El' on purpose?" Rutger asked a bit shocked. A bit more shocked than anything that had happened to him in the last decade or so.

"Yeah, we used to tease your father all the time that his name was actually 'Elroy' because we thought that was the case." Lilina added. That got Elton to actually think back to his grandparent's names and it came to him suddenly.

"Elimine, we did that didn't we?" He asked rhetorically with a chuckle.

"Well, I still like the name, so we'll keep it." Marilyn noted. After a bit she offered her parents a chance to hold Elica and they gladly took the opportunity.

"Welcome to the family Elica, you're going to get so much love you won't know what to do with it." Lilina said softly as she gently rocked her back and forth.

"Even more love than the rest of us since you'll have a full family's worth."

The First Time They Knew the End was Near

As the years passed even more for Rutger and Lilina not many new things happened to them, except for the fact that they were getting older and losing their strength and minds as they did. They were wise and experienced, pretty much everything that could have happened to them or for them did, and even though as the years passed their good days became less and less they were happy and content with the lives they lived.

Twenty years after the birth of their first grandchild though, Rutger's journey was coming to a close. He was 75 years old and in an ironic twist of fate he was the one to get a lung disease like Lord Uther and Lilina's grandparents. Along with that he also suffered from his mind leaving him more than most people and some PTSD that came back to haunt him from back during the war. He had his good days and his bad days of course, but everyone in the family knew his time was coming eventually. Even he did on one of his last lucid days.

"Lilina...Lilina is that you?" He asked slowly as he opened his eyes to a grayish-blue blur and felt a hand holding his. His vision had gone a bit as well, but once he blinked a few times he could see well enough that it was Lilina sitting on a chair next to his bed.

"Yes Rutger, it's me." Lilina replied back slowly as well since she too didn't have the energy she once had. She hadn't contracted any diseases yet or anything, it was just her old age catching up to her as well. "How are you feeling today."

"Old." Rutger replied before having a coughing fit. Lilina grabbed a rag and wiped his face off afterwards so he wouldn't choke on his own spit. "Thank you dear."

"Of course." Lilina noted before letting him get the chance to gather his thoughts.

"I don't think I'm going to last much longer like this." Rutger commented after a bit. "How long has it been since I've had a day like this?"

"A couple weeks." Lilina answered. "The doctors feel the same, they said they'll be surprised if you make it through the winter."

"And they are usually right." Rutger commented before coughing a bit again. "Father Sky, it hurts more and more each time."

"Do you want me to get you some medicine?" Lilina asked him.

"No, I've endured worse, you were there remember?" Rutger mused, thinking back to earlier times. "I was fighting that wyvern knight with you and, and, and... that teal haired fellow, what was his name again?"

"Dieck." Lilina told him.

"Yes Dieck. He was a good friend, shame I kept trying to kill him when we first met. You know, that reminds me..." And since Rutger's mind was with him today he decided to ramble on about all the things he could remember, just because he could and because it made him feel better. And Lilina let him because she missed this version of him, the one that could talk and have fun and make her smile. Of course she had to correct him on things from time to time or remind him of some names, but she enjoyed this moment since it would be one of the last.

"We had a lot of fun when we were younger didn't we?" Lilina mused after Rutger finally stopped talking.

"Sometimes I wonder if things might have gone differently without the war, but then again I've enjoyed my life, the ups and downs." Rutger noted as he could feel his mind starting to wander again. "And who knows, maybe I'll finally get to see my parents again."

"Hopefully, and I'm sure they'll be happy to see you again as well." Lilina replied, starting to tear up again. Rutger saw it and one last memory came back to him, of the first time he saw Lilina cry because of something he did.

"Don't cry, then I'd have broken my promise to you again." Rutger told her, slowly raising his hand up to her face to gently wipe the tears away. "You've always been much prettier with a smile on your face you know? Can you give me one more to remember before I slip away again?"

"For you Rutger, I can do anything." Lilina told him, sucking up the tears and smiling for him until she realized his stare had gone blank and his mind had gone away again, maybe for the last time. Then she started crying again, more than she had last time, more than she had for a long time. It was loud enough that people could hear and eventually Marilyn came into the room to see what was going on.

"Mother! Are you alright? Is Father okay?" She asked walking over slowly to the bed and chair where they were still.

"He's still alive." Lilina sobbed. "He just left again after we had a nice time talking about the past and when we were younger. He asked me to smile for him one last time, he knows his time is coming soon. I know it too, but I don't want it to come, I don't want him to leave me. Some part of me always thought we'd live longer than this, like old Athos did, but now I know better than that and it's tearing me apart."

"I know it's not much consolation, but like you and he always told me, death is a part of life." Marilyn said softly, putting her hand on Lilina's shoulder as she tried not to cry as well. "And no living person knows what comes after death. You just have to hope that you'll see him again someday, that we'll all get to be a family again once our courses here are done. And if I've learned one thing about you Mother it's that you have always have been full of hope. So don't lose it now at the end of the race."

"Hope." Lilina mused, still sobbing a bit. "Hope has gotten me through a lot of hard times in this life of mine, it's true. "But I'm not sure it can get me through this one."

"Then I'll just have the hope for you then." Marilyn told her confidently. "You'll see Father again someday, I just know it."

"I hope you're right."

The First Time They Met in the Afterlife

Rutger died a few weeks after his final day of lucid thoughts. He wouldn't have wanted a big funeral, but Ostian tradition dictated one. All of his friends and family who were still alive were there and if you didn't know better you would have never of guessed Rutger used to be hellbent on revenge with how many nice things people had to say about him and his character. Lilina and her children were of course the ones hit hardest by his loss, but the kept the hope that they would see him again eventually.

Lilina died peacefully in her bed about 5 years later at 78, outliving Rutger by a few years in the process. Nothing really killed her, just old age. She too got a grand funeral with even more guests than Rutger's and there was at least one person in every nation of Elibe that was saddened by her passing.

After her death though her spirit rose into the heavens and when it got to it's destination she had a party waiting their for her. Her parents were there along with Mark and Lyn, Eliwood and Ninian, and of course there was Rutger, front and center, waiting to greet her.

"Looks like Marilyn takes after you about being right all the time, don't you think?" Rutger teased as they embraced each other. It was strange, she could tell she was a spirit but she could feel Rutger hugging her and herself hugging him back.

"Who cares about that right now, I've missed you so much!" Lilina exclaimed before pulling back from the hug a bit to get a better look at Rutger. "You look so much younger than the last time I saw you."

"Well, spirits like us get to choose our forms, and most of us decide we like how we looked when we were young." Rutger noted. "I think this is when I was 25 or so, it's a little hard to remember."

"Then I should change as well right, how does that work?" Lilina asked. So Rutger explained it to her and she changed her form to when she was 22 to match the age difference they had when they were alive. "How do I look?"

"As lovely as all the memories I have of you." Rutger told her.

"So, this is the afterlife." Lilina mused as she looked around. "A bit bare looking if I'm honest, but what can you do?"

"Well, there is a reason for that." Rutger noted. "You see, spirits like us, we can move freely wherever we want. We can go back down to Elibe and check on things, we can explore the stars freely, we can even travel to other realms and see what they are like and meet other people who have passed on.

"And I'm guessing since we don't get tired or anything there isn't a need for houses or anything like that?" Lilina wondered.

"Mostly." Rutger replied. "You'll see some rest spots here and there for when you want to see a specific view, but for the most part it's up to each person what they want to explore. And once you get tired of that, you're allowed to reincarnate into a new life if you wish."

"You really learned a lot while you were here didn't you?" Lilina teased him.

"Well, I knew you'd want the explanation." Rutger told her with a smile.

"So, what have you explored already?" Lilina wondered, wanting to know before they went to talk to her parents and greet them.

"Nothing much really." Rutger noted, getting a look of confusion. "How could I adventure into the unknown without my best partner and friend beside me along the way?"

"You really waited for me that long?" Lilina asked a bit shocked and touched.

"Out here time moves a bit more quickly, so it wasn't that long." Rutger noted. "But of course I waited for you Lilina, you're the one who made it so I could even get to this place, I wouldn't dream of exploring it without you."

"I love you!" Lilina exclaimed before jumping up and planting a kiss on his lips. Rutger held her closer and kissed her back with just as much passion, making up for all the years where they couldn't show each other their love like this.

"And I love you too, for now and for always." Rutger told her genuinely from the heart.

"You think if we do reincarnate we'll fall in love again?" Lilina wondered one last thing before joining the rest of the greeting party.

"Who knows, but if I have any say in it I'd love to take another spin around Elibe with you, once just isn't enough."