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runicloreLay Down the Law
Author: Amber Michelle
Day/Theme: June 13 - We will buy dishes there, maybe even two sets
Series: Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Character/Pairing: Rafiel, Leanne, Nailah, Volug, mention of Naesala and others.
Rating: K
Words: 1679
Notes: post-game; ending in which Rafiel goes back to Hatari. Assumption of Naesala/Leanne. Also, late. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep before I could finish it on the 13th, and then it took forever to get back into the groove.
.............................................
Rafiel read his sister's letter twice to make sure he understood it correctly. Her handwriting had improved. It was the words, in that order, in that context, that he found hard to believe. He folded the paper and watched his window fixedly from his perch on the bed, the world beyond the glass dark and misted with swirling sand. His palm grove was hidden behind the veil of the storm and night was slowly darkening, hiding the shadows of his trees.
There was a knock, and the door opened to admit his visitor before he could speak up - Nailah, then. He watched her approach in the reflection on the glass. "Why such an unbecoming frown?"
He looked at the parchment in his hands, turning it over and over. "Leanne has decided to take a mate." She could have chosen someone more palatable to the family sensibilities; even Tibarn would have been better, though Reyson would have a fit. And he was, perhaps, a bit too old for her.
"And?" Nailah planted a hand on her hip and plucked the letter from his fingers when he offered it. "Which bird inspired such a pathetic expression?"
Rafiel sighed. "Naesala."
*
Though Hatari didn't change its ways, the heat was harder than usual to bear in the enclosure of the ruins. Rafiel didn't mind the temperature, but the stillness between the walls made it feel like a blanket wrapping around him, cramping his wings and shrouding him in dust. He retreated to the palm grove as soon as the storms let up and sat on a round, flat rock by the spring where he could spread his wings to the sun. Trees crowded about the shore, growing so close together in some places one couldn't see between the trunks.
Naesala. Rafiel looked up at the sky. He knew of the raven king's pact with Begnion and what he was obliged to do; he knew the natural tendencies of ravens as well, and the difficulty of fighting one's nature to become something else.
He watched a family of quails part the grasses and trundle across the small clearing, into the cluseter of fan palms on the other side. They were dirt-bound, their wings small, weak, and useless. The desert hawks preyed upon them mercilessly, and they simply weren't equipped to fight back, even should they develop a desire to defend themselves.
Rafiel leaned down to rub his finger on the head of the smallest, smiling at its disgruntled chirp. There were times he wanted to sing to protect them, but doing such would only harm their predators and disturb the order of life in the oasis for his own sake, a sin far greater than watching one young bird die to feed another. Such was the lesson he learned from infancy. Nailah said the war had changed him, though perhaps not as much as the others, but he would never turn his back on that teaching. Herons may not fight like the other bird tribes, but their voices still held the potential to cause great havoc if misused.
Reyson, Leanne wrote, has become so good at intimidating people. It's funny to watch when he suddenly stops smiling and 'lays down the law' like Naesala called it. A case in point, he couldn't help but think when he remembered it. Tibarn's influence, of course, though if he was to be believed it wasn't done on purpose. Reyson 'just started getting more aggressive,' indeed.
You'll talk to Naesala, right? He'll escort me for my visit. Please?
Of course he would talk to Naesala. Anything Leanne wished, short of Rafiel leaving Hatari, would be hers.
The sun was high in the sky before he heard another disturb the silence: Volug ambled down the path from the ruin, his paws noiseless on the soft dirt, his presence causing havoc among the hares and birds hiding in the brush. They smelled wolf and ran, breaking through grass and palm fronds and splashing through the shallows. Rafiel knew he hunted here sometimes - enough that the animals would learn to fear him.
"Your reputation precedes you," Rafiel said when his friend reached the clearing. The wolf snorted. "What brings you here?"
Volug sat down in front of him, beating the dust with his tail. Your sister is here.
"Ah. Already." He rubbed the fur behind Volug's ears, combing his fingers through the long, fine hair - it wasn't as soft as Nailah's, but dark and beautiful in its own right. The wolf crept forward and laid his head on Rafiel's lap, and his eyes lidded and closed. "Two days is quite fast, even the way Naesala flies. I hope she's feeling well."
Shall I spit him for tonight's bonfire?
Rafiel laughed before he could stop himself. "No." He covered his mouth with his sleeve, still stroking the wolf's nose, and whispered, "But I want you to sit here and look like you will. Nailah too."
"How very un-heron like."
Nailah's call preceded her appearance and Rafiel hmmmed and waited for her to appear before responding. "I'm not very intimidating," he said, lowering his gaze, fingers sifting the fur in the hollow of Volug's jaw. The wolf gave a sigh.
"You'd be surprised," she said. "Stop that. He isn't a puppy."
Volug laughed, the sound a deep and rusty murmur. But he lifted his head and sat straighter, and Rafiel let his hands slide back into his lap. "He said Leanne is here."
"She was right behind me." Nailah looked over her shoulder and called Leanne's name. "The minute she walked in-- you know how she is. She loved the butterflies." She sat on the edge of his rock, and he curved his wing to accomodate her.
"She doesn't visit often," he said, watching the path. "Let her explore, if that is what she wants."
"You're worse than her new mate." Nailah grinned when he lifted his eyebrow, reaching up to stroke his hair and tuck it behind his ears. "Don't frown. Are you sure you're okay with this? We can run him to the border if you'll keep Leanne busy."
Rafiel pressed his lips flat, but the corners tilted up and betrayed him. "I'll frown if I please."
Oh, Nailah said, drawing his smile out with her own. "But it makes you tense. You can't see how stiffly you're sitting." She pressed her fingers into his back, between his wings, and he sucked in a hissing breath. "You can't meet Leanne like this. She'll know immediately."
"I don't hate him, you know," Rafiel said softly. "If Reyson can stand for it-- if father will, then it is not for me to protest."
"Then what?" Her fingers pressed into his muscles, working the knots near his wings. He clenched his teeth. "Did you hope she would choose someone else?"
Volug canted his head, Nailah looked at the path; Leanne was approaching. Rafiel lowered his chin. She was still so young and so new to the world. When was the last time he had looked at his surroundings and loved everything he saw? "No."
"Brother!" Her wings, cramped together to walk the narrow path to his clearing, spread as soon as she reached the sand bar. "I'm sorry," she said, switching to the old tongue and bowing to Nailah. "There are so many things I've never seen before. I found a little bird this big," there was a handsbreadth of space between her fingers, "with five tiny nestlings following in a line."
"Quails," Nailah said, rising and moving to stand beside Volug. "Your brother loves them."
Rafiel reached for Leanne's hand and pulled her into an embrace. She flung her arms around his neck, and they were stronger than he remembered. "I've missed you," he told her. "We're all the way out here because I was considering a visit."
He saw the others leave in his peripheral vision, and Leanne twisted around on his lap to say good-bye. He took her hands in his, gaze avoiding hers. Golden bracelets adorned each wrist, woven close to the skin in the marriage knots favored by their kind. Peace. Happiness. Fertility. Luck. How soon would they have children? And what would be the result? The last inter-clan marriage was so long ago even their father had difficulty remembering the event.
They needed children - heron children. Their clan of five would not live forever.
Rafiel lifted his gaze, and Leanne's smile was gone. "The last time I saw you," he said, "before the war, you were still a small child. Do you remember?"
"You disappeared," she said.
"Yes. I didn't mean to." He echoed Nailah's gesture, combing his fingers through her curls and tucking them back behind her ear, stroking the back of her head. "You were only tall enough to reach my waist, but not long from your next growth spurt. I can't describe my despair when I learned what happened to our home. I thought you were dead."
"But we're all alive," Leanne said, resting her head on his shoulder.
"And you're mated."
He felt her fingers curl into his hair. "You don't like it."
"I wish for your happiness, Sister. Reyson tolerates it, doesn't he?" Her dress was fine, and Kilvas's touch was in the silver thread, the precise embroidered design of blossoms.
His sister gave a little, sighing laugh, tickling his neck. "He and Tibarn had such scary expressions when Naesala gave me the bracelets."
"I should hope so." Rafiel tightened his embrace. "If I receive news that you're anything less than happy, I'm going to send Nailah over to give Naesala a beating."
Leanne giggled, and her wings beat against his arms. "They'll have to catch him first."
"Don't underestimate the Queen of Hatari," he said, ruffling her feathers. He meant it; she knew he meant it. The raven had likely already received lectures from his brother and their guardian. Kilvas was fast, but not fast or clever enough to escape all of them.
When he drew back to smile at Leanne, it was real.
.............................................................
Author: Amber Michelle
Day/Theme: June 13 - We will buy dishes there, maybe even two sets
Series: Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Character/Pairing: Rafiel, Leanne, Nailah, Volug, mention of Naesala and others.
Rating: K
Words: 1679
Notes: post-game; ending in which Rafiel goes back to Hatari. Assumption of Naesala/Leanne. Also, late. I'm pretty sure I fell asleep before I could finish it on the 13th, and then it took forever to get back into the groove.
.............................................
Rafiel read his sister's letter twice to make sure he understood it correctly. Her handwriting had improved. It was the words, in that order, in that context, that he found hard to believe. He folded the paper and watched his window fixedly from his perch on the bed, the world beyond the glass dark and misted with swirling sand. His palm grove was hidden behind the veil of the storm and night was slowly darkening, hiding the shadows of his trees.
There was a knock, and the door opened to admit his visitor before he could speak up - Nailah, then. He watched her approach in the reflection on the glass. "Why such an unbecoming frown?"
He looked at the parchment in his hands, turning it over and over. "Leanne has decided to take a mate." She could have chosen someone more palatable to the family sensibilities; even Tibarn would have been better, though Reyson would have a fit. And he was, perhaps, a bit too old for her.
"And?" Nailah planted a hand on her hip and plucked the letter from his fingers when he offered it. "Which bird inspired such a pathetic expression?"
Rafiel sighed. "Naesala."
*
Though Hatari didn't change its ways, the heat was harder than usual to bear in the enclosure of the ruins. Rafiel didn't mind the temperature, but the stillness between the walls made it feel like a blanket wrapping around him, cramping his wings and shrouding him in dust. He retreated to the palm grove as soon as the storms let up and sat on a round, flat rock by the spring where he could spread his wings to the sun. Trees crowded about the shore, growing so close together in some places one couldn't see between the trunks.
Naesala. Rafiel looked up at the sky. He knew of the raven king's pact with Begnion and what he was obliged to do; he knew the natural tendencies of ravens as well, and the difficulty of fighting one's nature to become something else.
He watched a family of quails part the grasses and trundle across the small clearing, into the cluseter of fan palms on the other side. They were dirt-bound, their wings small, weak, and useless. The desert hawks preyed upon them mercilessly, and they simply weren't equipped to fight back, even should they develop a desire to defend themselves.
Rafiel leaned down to rub his finger on the head of the smallest, smiling at its disgruntled chirp. There were times he wanted to sing to protect them, but doing such would only harm their predators and disturb the order of life in the oasis for his own sake, a sin far greater than watching one young bird die to feed another. Such was the lesson he learned from infancy. Nailah said the war had changed him, though perhaps not as much as the others, but he would never turn his back on that teaching. Herons may not fight like the other bird tribes, but their voices still held the potential to cause great havoc if misused.
Reyson, Leanne wrote, has become so good at intimidating people. It's funny to watch when he suddenly stops smiling and 'lays down the law' like Naesala called it. A case in point, he couldn't help but think when he remembered it. Tibarn's influence, of course, though if he was to be believed it wasn't done on purpose. Reyson 'just started getting more aggressive,' indeed.
You'll talk to Naesala, right? He'll escort me for my visit. Please?
Of course he would talk to Naesala. Anything Leanne wished, short of Rafiel leaving Hatari, would be hers.
The sun was high in the sky before he heard another disturb the silence: Volug ambled down the path from the ruin, his paws noiseless on the soft dirt, his presence causing havoc among the hares and birds hiding in the brush. They smelled wolf and ran, breaking through grass and palm fronds and splashing through the shallows. Rafiel knew he hunted here sometimes - enough that the animals would learn to fear him.
"Your reputation precedes you," Rafiel said when his friend reached the clearing. The wolf snorted. "What brings you here?"
Volug sat down in front of him, beating the dust with his tail. Your sister is here.
"Ah. Already." He rubbed the fur behind Volug's ears, combing his fingers through the long, fine hair - it wasn't as soft as Nailah's, but dark and beautiful in its own right. The wolf crept forward and laid his head on Rafiel's lap, and his eyes lidded and closed. "Two days is quite fast, even the way Naesala flies. I hope she's feeling well."
Shall I spit him for tonight's bonfire?
Rafiel laughed before he could stop himself. "No." He covered his mouth with his sleeve, still stroking the wolf's nose, and whispered, "But I want you to sit here and look like you will. Nailah too."
"How very un-heron like."
Nailah's call preceded her appearance and Rafiel hmmmed and waited for her to appear before responding. "I'm not very intimidating," he said, lowering his gaze, fingers sifting the fur in the hollow of Volug's jaw. The wolf gave a sigh.
"You'd be surprised," she said. "Stop that. He isn't a puppy."
Volug laughed, the sound a deep and rusty murmur. But he lifted his head and sat straighter, and Rafiel let his hands slide back into his lap. "He said Leanne is here."
"She was right behind me." Nailah looked over her shoulder and called Leanne's name. "The minute she walked in-- you know how she is. She loved the butterflies." She sat on the edge of his rock, and he curved his wing to accomodate her.
"She doesn't visit often," he said, watching the path. "Let her explore, if that is what she wants."
"You're worse than her new mate." Nailah grinned when he lifted his eyebrow, reaching up to stroke his hair and tuck it behind his ears. "Don't frown. Are you sure you're okay with this? We can run him to the border if you'll keep Leanne busy."
Rafiel pressed his lips flat, but the corners tilted up and betrayed him. "I'll frown if I please."
Oh, Nailah said, drawing his smile out with her own. "But it makes you tense. You can't see how stiffly you're sitting." She pressed her fingers into his back, between his wings, and he sucked in a hissing breath. "You can't meet Leanne like this. She'll know immediately."
"I don't hate him, you know," Rafiel said softly. "If Reyson can stand for it-- if father will, then it is not for me to protest."
"Then what?" Her fingers pressed into his muscles, working the knots near his wings. He clenched his teeth. "Did you hope she would choose someone else?"
Volug canted his head, Nailah looked at the path; Leanne was approaching. Rafiel lowered his chin. She was still so young and so new to the world. When was the last time he had looked at his surroundings and loved everything he saw? "No."
"Brother!" Her wings, cramped together to walk the narrow path to his clearing, spread as soon as she reached the sand bar. "I'm sorry," she said, switching to the old tongue and bowing to Nailah. "There are so many things I've never seen before. I found a little bird this big," there was a handsbreadth of space between her fingers, "with five tiny nestlings following in a line."
"Quails," Nailah said, rising and moving to stand beside Volug. "Your brother loves them."
Rafiel reached for Leanne's hand and pulled her into an embrace. She flung her arms around his neck, and they were stronger than he remembered. "I've missed you," he told her. "We're all the way out here because I was considering a visit."
He saw the others leave in his peripheral vision, and Leanne twisted around on his lap to say good-bye. He took her hands in his, gaze avoiding hers. Golden bracelets adorned each wrist, woven close to the skin in the marriage knots favored by their kind. Peace. Happiness. Fertility. Luck. How soon would they have children? And what would be the result? The last inter-clan marriage was so long ago even their father had difficulty remembering the event.
They needed children - heron children. Their clan of five would not live forever.
Rafiel lifted his gaze, and Leanne's smile was gone. "The last time I saw you," he said, "before the war, you were still a small child. Do you remember?"
"You disappeared," she said.
"Yes. I didn't mean to." He echoed Nailah's gesture, combing his fingers through her curls and tucking them back behind her ear, stroking the back of her head. "You were only tall enough to reach my waist, but not long from your next growth spurt. I can't describe my despair when I learned what happened to our home. I thought you were dead."
"But we're all alive," Leanne said, resting her head on his shoulder.
"And you're mated."
He felt her fingers curl into his hair. "You don't like it."
"I wish for your happiness, Sister. Reyson tolerates it, doesn't he?" Her dress was fine, and Kilvas's touch was in the silver thread, the precise embroidered design of blossoms.
His sister gave a little, sighing laugh, tickling his neck. "He and Tibarn had such scary expressions when Naesala gave me the bracelets."
"I should hope so." Rafiel tightened his embrace. "If I receive news that you're anything less than happy, I'm going to send Nailah over to give Naesala a beating."
Leanne giggled, and her wings beat against his arms. "They'll have to catch him first."
"Don't underestimate the Queen of Hatari," he said, ruffling her feathers. He meant it; she knew he meant it. The raven had likely already received lectures from his brother and their guardian. Kilvas was fast, but not fast or clever enough to escape all of them.
When he drew back to smile at Leanne, it was real.
.............................................................
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Date: 2008-07-08 06:52 am (UTC)But yes, very soft and well. Lovely :D