[Fire Emblem] Diplomatic Relations
Feb. 2nd, 2009 12:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
runicloreDiplomatic Relations
By: Amber Michelle
Rating: T
For:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
misheard
Request: Naesala/Sanaki
Words: 1566
Notes: Plot? What? Set at the beginning of chapter four. Merry late Christmas. :D
.............................................
The room Sanaki chose for their war council was one of the few in the temple unoccupied by stone figures. The windows were wide, large enough for one of the ravens to walk through with wings spread, their glass squares frosted with cold and clattering with every sharp gust of wind. Her knights spent the morning chopping wood for the fire with the Dawn Brigade's axe-weilding general, though she didn't know his name or care to find out, and the grate was piled high with precisely quartered rounds. The fire reached high, above the overhang of the stone mantle, and the air still misted when she breathed.
When the sun finally broke over the pines crowding the temple bounds in gold and orange and the sky deepened to blue, the others joined her: the raven king, the Silver-Haired Maiden and her king, the lion prince, and Sanaki stood on the crimson rug stretched in front of the window because the air was coldest there, a breath away from freezing. She had warmth to spare - red velvet, a heavy wool cloak, boots acquired by means she decided not to question, and the enemy general shivered in her fur cloak. It was too large for her and dragged on the floor, and the gold trim resembled the embellishments on the boy king's coat too closely.
How chivalrous. Were they bedmates as everyone speculated? But Micaiah didn't have the look of someone so initiated, and it wasn't the white halo of her hair that made Sanaki feel she herself was the elder.
"When you stare at people like that," Kilvas said after the meeting ended, when the flash of silver hair disappeared behind the heavy carved door, "they start to think you have it out for them."
Sanaki turned her head, looked over her shoulder at the silhoette of the raven king and the blaze of the sun behind him. He must have noticed what she did about Micaiah - unless he was blind. She didn't think the senators would make use of him so often if they thought the raven unobservant. "Why were you watching me, Kilvas?"
She couldn't tell if his eyes narrowed, or if the light was playing tricks on her. "She's annoying, isn't she? Like too much sugar eating away at your teeth."
Instead of responding, Sanaki turned around and went to the windowsill. It was wide, knee-high, and cushioned in red brocade, altogether too rich and inviting for a temple claiming to serve the needs of ascetic priests. The cold seeped through the cushions and into her legs when she seated herself, through the wool and the velvet and the cotton pants that were made for the warm, coastal climate of her capitol; the glass clouded with her breath when she looked outside. Everything was white but the trees, and the layers of their branches were dusted with snow and hung with slivers of icicles. Did their wooden hearts snap with the cold as she'd read in books? Did their sap burst and bleed into the frigid air?
"I know something you might like to know," Naesala said.
Sanaki turned her head and got an eyefull of feathers; his leathers creased when he sat beside her, on his knees, and his wings spread. He sat the same way in the army camp, when they were forced to use canvas-covered crates as their furniture, and told her his feathers dragged in the dirt and bent when he sat so close to the ground and kept his wings closed. The snow caught between his feathers, melted, and left them damp. She saw beads of moisture on the barbs of the longest, and the shorter, layered feathers below the arching bone at the top were ruffled.
He moved his wing back a few centimeters when she cleared her throat, and Sanaki leaned back against the glass a moment. No; too cold. "Should I command you to tell me, or will you offer the information freely?"
Kilvas snorted, reached back to rub his neck. It cracked when he rotated his head and he winced. She saw his teeth grit. They were all tired. "I was hoping you'd offer gold."
She pushed her shoulders back, waved her hand. The motion caught his eye and made him look at her, so he wouldn't miss her smile. "Freedom is more satisfying."
He muttered under his breath. Insolent caught her ear, and kids who think they know everything, and she let that slip by because information on Micaiah could be useful, though she wouldn't say so. He didn't need to know she wanted what he was offering. He'd be insufferable.
His feathers had a blue sheen, dark like the ocean, almost indigo. His hair was the same color. "I deliver on payment."
Sanaki sighed, frowned, and he examined his nails, nibbling on one that looked ragged. "File them," she said, turning her face in the other direction. "That's crude."
"Hmm." He laughed under his breath, and she heard the flick of his nails. His feathers brushed her hands and her crossed legs, tickled her toes. "Are you offering your bones for the sharpening, your majesty?"
She faced forward again, sliding her eyes aside to look at him. It seemed he stretched his wing farther when she tried to shift away, and the cushion was cold as stone under her thighs, but she couldn't move back. "That would be too good for you." Wet feathers smelled something like wet fur, a little like musk, but the earthiness of his leather coat was much stronger. Naesala always crowded a room with his presence, even when they were alone. His dark wings, his scent, his voice. "If you want gold so badly," she said, "find a way to warm this place up. I hate being cold."
"I thought stealing from the temple's coffers was below you."
Sanaki flicked the dangle of her earring. "These, the necklace, and the bracelets are worth more than the whole of Daein. Get to work."
The raven made a tsking sound. "What would Sephiran think of you pawning his gifts off to a pirate?"
Her face flushed. "He wasn't the one to give these to me. Will you accept the proposition or won't you?"
"I think I will." Kilvas wrapped his wing around Sanaki and pushed her, his arm wrapped around her waist and a hand under her knee pulled her over his legs, into his lap.
"What do you think--"
"These won't take themselves off," he said with his infuriating chuckle, the sound deep in his chest and vibrating when she flattened her hands on the leather to push him away. His fingers latched onto one earring and pulled the hook from her ear his other hand holding her around the waist. "If you're not going to help--"
At least he was warm. His feathers curved at her back, blocking the sunlight and the drift of frigid air seeping through the panes and between the frames. She allowed him to remove the other earring, reach into her wide sleeves to examine the clasps of her bracelets and trace her veins with a smooth nail, long, almost like a talon, as if he had the right to examine her like merchandise. How arrogant, how mercenary - what nerve, to pick at her adornments, to practically undress her when her knights were just on the other side of the door or down the hallway at worst--
Kilvas pulled the clasp of her collar free and Sanaki slapped his hand away, heat creeping from her cheeks into her ears and down to her neck. "What do you think--"
"You said there was a necklace! I'm just--"
"A pervert is what you are!" Sanaki yanked the next clasp open, fumbled with the high collar. She narrowed her eyes when he smiled, the curl to his lip more a smirk, a mocking, silent laugh. The clasp slipped in her fingers.
"That's not news, Empress." He pulled her by the hip and tilted her head, leaning over her shoulder. "Allow me."
She almost pushed him away, but his breath on her ear stopped her, moist, warm, sending a prickling down over her arms and spine and leaving her lips dry. Instead of telling him what a rude, degenerate individual he was for handling her like this, Sanaki let him work his fingers into her collar to find the clasp of her necklace and work it free. Her fingers pressed into his coat, dragged down, her nails leaving marks. The gold slid loose and slithered from beneath her clothes to dangle from his hand.
"Now. About warming you up," Kilvas said, adjusting her position on his lap. The ends of her chain bounced on the brocade cushions. His voice in her ear was like a blast of summer sun heating her skin. "Are you feeling better?"
Sanaki lifted her chin, sliding her gaze sideways to his hair. It smelled like pine and snow. "I think you need to work a little harder."
He didn't laugh, but she imagined she could feel Kilvas smile. "My pleasure, your majesty."
By: Amber Michelle
Rating: T
For:
misheardRequest: Naesala/Sanaki
Words: 1566
Notes: Plot? What? Set at the beginning of chapter four. Merry late Christmas. :D
.............................................
The room Sanaki chose for their war council was one of the few in the temple unoccupied by stone figures. The windows were wide, large enough for one of the ravens to walk through with wings spread, their glass squares frosted with cold and clattering with every sharp gust of wind. Her knights spent the morning chopping wood for the fire with the Dawn Brigade's axe-weilding general, though she didn't know his name or care to find out, and the grate was piled high with precisely quartered rounds. The fire reached high, above the overhang of the stone mantle, and the air still misted when she breathed.
When the sun finally broke over the pines crowding the temple bounds in gold and orange and the sky deepened to blue, the others joined her: the raven king, the Silver-Haired Maiden and her king, the lion prince, and Sanaki stood on the crimson rug stretched in front of the window because the air was coldest there, a breath away from freezing. She had warmth to spare - red velvet, a heavy wool cloak, boots acquired by means she decided not to question, and the enemy general shivered in her fur cloak. It was too large for her and dragged on the floor, and the gold trim resembled the embellishments on the boy king's coat too closely.
How chivalrous. Were they bedmates as everyone speculated? But Micaiah didn't have the look of someone so initiated, and it wasn't the white halo of her hair that made Sanaki feel she herself was the elder.
"When you stare at people like that," Kilvas said after the meeting ended, when the flash of silver hair disappeared behind the heavy carved door, "they start to think you have it out for them."
Sanaki turned her head, looked over her shoulder at the silhoette of the raven king and the blaze of the sun behind him. He must have noticed what she did about Micaiah - unless he was blind. She didn't think the senators would make use of him so often if they thought the raven unobservant. "Why were you watching me, Kilvas?"
She couldn't tell if his eyes narrowed, or if the light was playing tricks on her. "She's annoying, isn't she? Like too much sugar eating away at your teeth."
Instead of responding, Sanaki turned around and went to the windowsill. It was wide, knee-high, and cushioned in red brocade, altogether too rich and inviting for a temple claiming to serve the needs of ascetic priests. The cold seeped through the cushions and into her legs when she seated herself, through the wool and the velvet and the cotton pants that were made for the warm, coastal climate of her capitol; the glass clouded with her breath when she looked outside. Everything was white but the trees, and the layers of their branches were dusted with snow and hung with slivers of icicles. Did their wooden hearts snap with the cold as she'd read in books? Did their sap burst and bleed into the frigid air?
"I know something you might like to know," Naesala said.
Sanaki turned her head and got an eyefull of feathers; his leathers creased when he sat beside her, on his knees, and his wings spread. He sat the same way in the army camp, when they were forced to use canvas-covered crates as their furniture, and told her his feathers dragged in the dirt and bent when he sat so close to the ground and kept his wings closed. The snow caught between his feathers, melted, and left them damp. She saw beads of moisture on the barbs of the longest, and the shorter, layered feathers below the arching bone at the top were ruffled.
He moved his wing back a few centimeters when she cleared her throat, and Sanaki leaned back against the glass a moment. No; too cold. "Should I command you to tell me, or will you offer the information freely?"
Kilvas snorted, reached back to rub his neck. It cracked when he rotated his head and he winced. She saw his teeth grit. They were all tired. "I was hoping you'd offer gold."
She pushed her shoulders back, waved her hand. The motion caught his eye and made him look at her, so he wouldn't miss her smile. "Freedom is more satisfying."
He muttered under his breath. Insolent caught her ear, and kids who think they know everything, and she let that slip by because information on Micaiah could be useful, though she wouldn't say so. He didn't need to know she wanted what he was offering. He'd be insufferable.
His feathers had a blue sheen, dark like the ocean, almost indigo. His hair was the same color. "I deliver on payment."
Sanaki sighed, frowned, and he examined his nails, nibbling on one that looked ragged. "File them," she said, turning her face in the other direction. "That's crude."
"Hmm." He laughed under his breath, and she heard the flick of his nails. His feathers brushed her hands and her crossed legs, tickled her toes. "Are you offering your bones for the sharpening, your majesty?"
She faced forward again, sliding her eyes aside to look at him. It seemed he stretched his wing farther when she tried to shift away, and the cushion was cold as stone under her thighs, but she couldn't move back. "That would be too good for you." Wet feathers smelled something like wet fur, a little like musk, but the earthiness of his leather coat was much stronger. Naesala always crowded a room with his presence, even when they were alone. His dark wings, his scent, his voice. "If you want gold so badly," she said, "find a way to warm this place up. I hate being cold."
"I thought stealing from the temple's coffers was below you."
Sanaki flicked the dangle of her earring. "These, the necklace, and the bracelets are worth more than the whole of Daein. Get to work."
The raven made a tsking sound. "What would Sephiran think of you pawning his gifts off to a pirate?"
Her face flushed. "He wasn't the one to give these to me. Will you accept the proposition or won't you?"
"I think I will." Kilvas wrapped his wing around Sanaki and pushed her, his arm wrapped around her waist and a hand under her knee pulled her over his legs, into his lap.
"What do you think--"
"These won't take themselves off," he said with his infuriating chuckle, the sound deep in his chest and vibrating when she flattened her hands on the leather to push him away. His fingers latched onto one earring and pulled the hook from her ear his other hand holding her around the waist. "If you're not going to help--"
At least he was warm. His feathers curved at her back, blocking the sunlight and the drift of frigid air seeping through the panes and between the frames. She allowed him to remove the other earring, reach into her wide sleeves to examine the clasps of her bracelets and trace her veins with a smooth nail, long, almost like a talon, as if he had the right to examine her like merchandise. How arrogant, how mercenary - what nerve, to pick at her adornments, to practically undress her when her knights were just on the other side of the door or down the hallway at worst--
Kilvas pulled the clasp of her collar free and Sanaki slapped his hand away, heat creeping from her cheeks into her ears and down to her neck. "What do you think--"
"You said there was a necklace! I'm just--"
"A pervert is what you are!" Sanaki yanked the next clasp open, fumbled with the high collar. She narrowed her eyes when he smiled, the curl to his lip more a smirk, a mocking, silent laugh. The clasp slipped in her fingers.
"That's not news, Empress." He pulled her by the hip and tilted her head, leaning over her shoulder. "Allow me."
She almost pushed him away, but his breath on her ear stopped her, moist, warm, sending a prickling down over her arms and spine and leaving her lips dry. Instead of telling him what a rude, degenerate individual he was for handling her like this, Sanaki let him work his fingers into her collar to find the clasp of her necklace and work it free. Her fingers pressed into his coat, dragged down, her nails leaving marks. The gold slid loose and slithered from beneath her clothes to dangle from his hand.
"Now. About warming you up," Kilvas said, adjusting her position on his lap. The ends of her chain bounced on the brocade cushions. His voice in her ear was like a blast of summer sun heating her skin. "Are you feeling better?"
Sanaki lifted her chin, sliding her gaze sideways to his hair. It smelled like pine and snow. "I think you need to work a little harder."
He didn't laugh, but she imagined she could feel Kilvas smile. "My pleasure, your majesty."
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-02-02 12:39 pm (UTC)♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
no subject
Date: 2009-02-02 11:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-02 03:58 pm (UTC)"That's not news, Empress." He pulled her by the hip and tilted her head, leaning over her shoulder. "Allow me." LAUGHING ENSUES HERE. Seriously, wiin.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-02 11:44 pm (UTC)Glad you liked. XD
no subject
Date: 2009-02-02 05:52 pm (UTC)Your Micaiah-hate is showing. ^_~ Were they bedmates as everyone speculated? XD
You dislike Micaiah like I do Natasha. Seriously, white robes? Who does she think she's kidding?!Hee~
no subject
Date: 2009-02-02 11:46 pm (UTC)*cough* It was Sanaki. It was! Really. But-- Natasha, huh? I have to get her some supports now. XD
no subject
Date: 2009-02-03 01:01 am (UTC)I'll take Seth though, big red bow on his head please~Riiiiiiiiight. ^_~ Haha. Natasha just bothers me. She's so.. annoying. >> And... I try *coughcough* not to hate her... but it's really hard. Lol.