[Fire Emblem 9/10] Never Let Go
May. 27th, 2009 05:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
runicloreNever Let Go
By: Amber Michelle
Prompt: querulous
Character(s): young!Sanaki (and Sephiran)
Words: 943
For:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
measuringlife (original request post is here)
......................................................
As with most outings involving his young empress, their tour of the Five Mountain Vineyard ended with Sephiran carrying her in both arms - like a princess, she said, stretching her arms around his neck. She was small for six years, light and thin, but he wasn't beorc; his arms weren't solid or muscled, and he wished for the better part of an hour for Zelgius to appear, though Sephiran knew it was unlikely. Even if Lady Sanaki allowed someone else to carry her - and he knew from experience she wouldn't, not even Sigrun or Tanith - it wasn't a risk he could take.
It was still afternoon when they approached the public pavilion from the back path, led by the resident manager, through a copse of cottonwood trees with leaves fluttering in the wind, light and dark green, and the vineyard stretched at his back in neatly covered rows a mile long and four paces apart, exactly. The hills from which the place took its name were mostly yellow and patched with golden brown, their edges indistinct some dozen leagues farther north near the border between Persis and Culbert. The wind smelled like dust and grass, and wet stone. Sanaki leaned her head on his hair and said again, I'm hungry, Sephiran, and he told her they were almost back - there would surely be a feast waiting for them.
"Can't I go to sleep for a little while?"
He tried to see her expression in his peripheral vision, but it was a blur, and shielded by her hair. "If there is enough time left, certainly."
"But--" Even though her voice was a soft breath on his ear, he couldn't help wondering if their guide overheard. She walked five paces ahead, her long gait and the sway of her hips reminding him of the dragon princess he was once acquainted with. She held her head high, shoulders thrown back. Sanaki had hidden behind his leg when she greeted them, and even now her arms tightened around his neck when he saw her face turn to look at the woman. The tail of her skirt slid over the cobbled walk, a shimmering green like peacock feathers. "You said I wasn't allowed to taste--"
"You're allowed to eat. Don't be silly." Sephiran shifted more of her weight onto his right arm and took the steps up to the building quickly before he risked looking at her. Blue-liveried attendants swung the glass doors open to admit them, the wash of air smelling of baking bread and spices. "It's the wine you can't have, and you didn't like it last time anyway."
She wrinkled her nose. "Ew."
"Exactly."
"But why can't we eat in our rooms?"
Sephiran sighed. He'd explained it to her twice already. She hadn't yet told him what the real question was, and before he could ask their guide had to be dealt with; was he pleased with the state of his property, did he have any questions? Did they want to peruse the menu before the banquet hall was opened, would the empress mind if the local gentry was invited, seeing as they'd already arrived? He answered for the empress because she'd turned her face away, into his hair, and she pulled until his scalp twinged when the female swung her black hair back and asked if he would join her in the tea room to discuss the impact of recent business decisions on his finances. He said no. Tomorrow morning, perhaps, once he and the empress were rested.
He felt Sanaki's frown against his neck while they were led down a wide, brown-tiled hallway, one wall solid white plaster, the other broken by windows at such short intervals it must have been mostly glass. She reached for a creeping tendril of jasmine curling out of a basket suspended on the wall between glass panels, but then they were led into the tea room, and the overseer excused herself. The empress refused to let go when he tried to put her down, so Sephiran sat down on one side of a cream colored sofa and leaned back against the rigid arm to look at her.
Sanaki picked at the back of his collar with her nails. "You talked to her all day."
He watched her lips roll in and go thin and white. "She runs the business here, my lady. There is no one else I can talk to about it."
She kicked the sofa arm. The metal buckle of her sandal snapped loudly on the gilded wood. "I know what 'business' really means."
He smiled, but made sure his mouth didn't curve too widely. "You're too young for that, your majesty." Ten years too young to be jealous-- at the least. Who was she learning this from? "And I'm not interested. Haven't I told you that?"
Her fingers curled in his hair. "You smiled at her so much."
"Only to be polite." Sephiran reached back to loosen her grip and brought her hands down. "Only when she was looking at us. Didn't you see?"
Sanaki sighed through her nose, her frown still plumping her bottom lip. "I'm going with you tomorrow."
He laughed, stroking the back of her hands. "Of course."
"You aren't allowed to go anywhere without me."
He kissed her temple, rubbed his cheek on her hair, and wondered if she would forget about this when she got older, or if she would hold on to him just as tightly. "As you wish."
.
By: Amber Michelle
Prompt: querulous
Character(s): young!Sanaki (and Sephiran)
Words: 943
For:
measuringlife (original request post is here)......................................................
As with most outings involving his young empress, their tour of the Five Mountain Vineyard ended with Sephiran carrying her in both arms - like a princess, she said, stretching her arms around his neck. She was small for six years, light and thin, but he wasn't beorc; his arms weren't solid or muscled, and he wished for the better part of an hour for Zelgius to appear, though Sephiran knew it was unlikely. Even if Lady Sanaki allowed someone else to carry her - and he knew from experience she wouldn't, not even Sigrun or Tanith - it wasn't a risk he could take.
It was still afternoon when they approached the public pavilion from the back path, led by the resident manager, through a copse of cottonwood trees with leaves fluttering in the wind, light and dark green, and the vineyard stretched at his back in neatly covered rows a mile long and four paces apart, exactly. The hills from which the place took its name were mostly yellow and patched with golden brown, their edges indistinct some dozen leagues farther north near the border between Persis and Culbert. The wind smelled like dust and grass, and wet stone. Sanaki leaned her head on his hair and said again, I'm hungry, Sephiran, and he told her they were almost back - there would surely be a feast waiting for them.
"Can't I go to sleep for a little while?"
He tried to see her expression in his peripheral vision, but it was a blur, and shielded by her hair. "If there is enough time left, certainly."
"But--" Even though her voice was a soft breath on his ear, he couldn't help wondering if their guide overheard. She walked five paces ahead, her long gait and the sway of her hips reminding him of the dragon princess he was once acquainted with. She held her head high, shoulders thrown back. Sanaki had hidden behind his leg when she greeted them, and even now her arms tightened around his neck when he saw her face turn to look at the woman. The tail of her skirt slid over the cobbled walk, a shimmering green like peacock feathers. "You said I wasn't allowed to taste--"
"You're allowed to eat. Don't be silly." Sephiran shifted more of her weight onto his right arm and took the steps up to the building quickly before he risked looking at her. Blue-liveried attendants swung the glass doors open to admit them, the wash of air smelling of baking bread and spices. "It's the wine you can't have, and you didn't like it last time anyway."
She wrinkled her nose. "Ew."
"Exactly."
"But why can't we eat in our rooms?"
Sephiran sighed. He'd explained it to her twice already. She hadn't yet told him what the real question was, and before he could ask their guide had to be dealt with; was he pleased with the state of his property, did he have any questions? Did they want to peruse the menu before the banquet hall was opened, would the empress mind if the local gentry was invited, seeing as they'd already arrived? He answered for the empress because she'd turned her face away, into his hair, and she pulled until his scalp twinged when the female swung her black hair back and asked if he would join her in the tea room to discuss the impact of recent business decisions on his finances. He said no. Tomorrow morning, perhaps, once he and the empress were rested.
He felt Sanaki's frown against his neck while they were led down a wide, brown-tiled hallway, one wall solid white plaster, the other broken by windows at such short intervals it must have been mostly glass. She reached for a creeping tendril of jasmine curling out of a basket suspended on the wall between glass panels, but then they were led into the tea room, and the overseer excused herself. The empress refused to let go when he tried to put her down, so Sephiran sat down on one side of a cream colored sofa and leaned back against the rigid arm to look at her.
Sanaki picked at the back of his collar with her nails. "You talked to her all day."
He watched her lips roll in and go thin and white. "She runs the business here, my lady. There is no one else I can talk to about it."
She kicked the sofa arm. The metal buckle of her sandal snapped loudly on the gilded wood. "I know what 'business' really means."
He smiled, but made sure his mouth didn't curve too widely. "You're too young for that, your majesty." Ten years too young to be jealous-- at the least. Who was she learning this from? "And I'm not interested. Haven't I told you that?"
Her fingers curled in his hair. "You smiled at her so much."
"Only to be polite." Sephiran reached back to loosen her grip and brought her hands down. "Only when she was looking at us. Didn't you see?"
Sanaki sighed through her nose, her frown still plumping her bottom lip. "I'm going with you tomorrow."
He laughed, stroking the back of her hands. "Of course."
"You aren't allowed to go anywhere without me."
He kissed her temple, rubbed his cheek on her hair, and wondered if she would forget about this when she got older, or if she would hold on to him just as tightly. "As you wish."
.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-08 01:31 pm (UTC)I really like this story