Fire Emblem Fan Fiction ❯ Radiant Dawn Supports ❯ Rafiel & Nailah ( One-Shot )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

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C
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It was a few day earlier, before the sundering of the army at the foot of the tower of Ashera. The last of the royal Heron family had just been reunited and was about to be alone for the first time.

Rafiel stood by one of the tents of the officers, his mind full, and a rare sense of conflict in his eyes. Nailah came to stand by him, her head reaching his chin. There was an edginess about her, radiating so strong against his senses, tingling every now and then with tiny flickers of foreboding.

Though he had usually been proud of his height, this evening, it made the firstborn wish to be much smaller at that moment. Maybe that way he could have pretended not to notice the twitching in her ears. Long years of compromises had taught him just enough about Wolf laguz to know that it would be futile to inquire about it at the moment. The buzz of her mind was low and as always, she was keeping a strict reign on her aura and feelings...she had always been very mindful of his keen senses and that was only one thing among thousands other for which he felt most grateful to her. He forced himself to focus on the tent and her voice, instead.

"They are already inside, both three of them, I will wait for you here." Her tone was firm under the curtsey and gallantry. Still, he would probably not be back to her before late in the night and he didn't want to leave her without trying to placate her.

"Yes..." he answered, searching for useful words. "Nailah ?"

"Mh ?"

He sled his fingers though her and gently lifted her arm up with his.
"Thank you," he muttered softly on the thin air that felt suddenly too silent, "If you had not accompanied me until now, I should never have been able to lay eyes on Leanne, Reyson or father again."

"This trip shall profit to the people of Hatari as well," she reminded him without much of a thought about it. "We have already talked about it..."

Rafiel erased a frown on his brow and smoothed his features quickly.

"Yes," he tried again, "but even since I wanted to help Micaiah, you had to worry after me on the battlefields. I have bought you into this war without consorting with you first."

"Rafiel, you know how I appreciate being met with a real challenge. In this army, I have found both interesting allies and worthy opponents."

He shifted his weight on his other leg but carefully schooled himself not to react any more to this second attempt to close the topic.

"I know, I...my queen, I worry that you are overtaxing yourself in this battle," he confided, bracing himself to be chided. "I just wish that my presence didn't make your battles so complicated. If you will rather have me withdrawing from the fights..."

His queen stood silent for a second and lifted a hand. Cupping his cheek, she turned his head to search his eyes with a gentle suspicion.

"Has the atmosphere of the battlefield finally got to your nerves?" He felt a touch of worry alter her aura, finally breaking her tense wariness. "You hide it better still, but you face is so pale..."

In his relief he scrambled a little for words before refuting it.

"N-no, I... If I can be useful for our friends during their fights, then I would like to continue this with them." Then, he reminded himself to add something. If he didn't she would feel that something was off with him. She might not have his ken's senses, but Wolf laguz had good intuition and then Nailah was extremely observant. "Yet," he added cautiously, "if my presence burdens—"

"Rafiel, I've seen you become more resilient than I ever thought possible. Keep close to me and retreat without delay if I command it. Beside of that, I will leave any other detail to your care. I have no doubt in your judgment.
The heron fidgeted a little. He looked about to argue for a moment but relented, heaving a sigh.
Rafiel: As you wish, my Queen.

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B.

Bent above the form of the royal heron heir, Nailah inspected a grazed wing with a sour frown.

"Do you feel better?" Rafiel nodded but it did little to alleviate her mood. "Do you realize that your wings are heavy enough already without you flaunting them at the nose of bowmen ?"

"Leanne wouldn't have escaped that shot without my help. Nobody else would have reached her first," undeterred, he patiently answered the dotting wolfess for the third time. /Not that he could blame given how much he could be when her safety was at stake.../

"You could have sung Vigor instead of carrying her all the way to the mess hall."

Again, the prince closed his eyes and explained, "My sister weights little. I had to make sure that she got at a safe enough distance."

The wolfess narrowed her eyes and left his side with a display of annoyance but it did little to deter her companion. The heron prince let a smile graze his lips. "Once again, I have to thank you for my life," then sheepishly, "I keep adding to your worries, don't I?"

She pinned him under her glare for a second before crossing her arms in flippant suspicion.

"After all this time..." She sighed, and he sensed a typical rumble build in her mind ; exasperation. "This is absurd," she said soon.

"What is?"

"You! ...Me... Minding other's safety is not your responsibility, so don't assume this as if it a was normal thing to do. It was an accident. One that I should have been able to take into account."

He considered her more gravely for a second before his gaze left her. "As you wish. Yet, I do not see what more you could do to be everywhere at once." Before she could retort something he caught her hand, and slowly brought her close again. "You, my love," he murmured, setting a kiss on her knuckles, "are a queen" and another, "not a deity. And the goddess of my people herself has made a mistake even since she uplifted us."

In lieu of an answer, she gave him a half-hearted shrug. The heron felt her false levity go painfully out of key. Without thinking, he touched her arm to secure his empathic link, looking for clues to decipher her turmoil.

"Please don't cloud your heart ; don't hide your worry..."

She was about to shrug him off but caught herself and clicked her tongue in annoyance.

"Don't mind it. You couldn't help."

/My queen, please,/ he considered insisting, using the calm of the moment to free himself of an unvoiced worry of his own, /I can hardly bear the thought of you being injured on the battlefield./ Strings of words sewing themselves together without much difficult, keen and eager to be confided, on the tip of his heart, the threshold of his lips... /Allow me to remain by your side, so I can give you aid if you need it./ But he was no fool to think that that she would take this worry seriously at that moment. So he fought the urge and simply followed her moves with his eyes.

After putting the acrid salve that she had smeared onto the heron's wing, Nailah set down on her makeshift mattress. After this long, worry was weighting on his every move, as Rafiel brought his hand on his knees, deep in thought.

Nailah tried and tried to force his image from her mind as she turned on her bedroll, sleep stubbornly eluded her and she soon found herself declaring forfeit.

Eventually, she turned over, waited a couple of seconds to calm down, and opened her eyes once again.

Signaling her forfeit with a heartfelt sight, she breathed in to gather her words.

"We have lived together for about a dozens of years in the same way. Yet, since we have met this parentless, I don't recall one thing for which you haven't thanked me for."

Rafiel closed his eyes silently and the Queen went on.

"Neither your bond toward King Lorazieh, nor the differences that may stand between our clans have any power to change the place that you have in my House. So I won't hear any more thanks from you. Do you understand?"

"I," he halted, "I understand."

"Good. Don't let it weight on your mind, my dear."

Once the wolfess closed her eyes and had her breathing slowed down, alone in their tent, the royal heir let his grave eyes slide toward the carpets, lost again in heavy thoughts, as his worry and anxiousness showed more on his face.

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A/S
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"Nailah."

The wolfess stood silent as she turned to face him. Rafiel folded his arms and sighed. "I have been looking for time to speak to you for days... But the time never seem right. If I didn't know better, I..." He gaze left her as he sled his hands up his own arms. "I would come to wonder if you are not avoiding me. ... Since we have left the battlegrounds."

She averted her eyes.

"Nailah..."

At her companion's crestfallen call, she reluctantly faced him again.

"Not avoiding," she explained, smothering a sigh. "You have been reunited with your family, the persons that you thought lost, only to be thrown with them into a dangerous war involving all of this continent." She spoke without raising her eyes on him. "You are not many in number, and must hence ever more stick together."
For a moment, she paused.
"You certainly require some space to sort your mind and your future..."

He tilted his head, pensively and it encouraged her to carry on.

"I know that my presence would sway your decision. ...No, /I/ would mean to influence it."

The heron lowered his eyes, a veil of sadness weighting on his face. Nailah fell silent, refraining from adding more for a moment that felt like an eternity to her.

Eventually, she opened her lips again in a second thought. "Have you already decided of what you want to do?"

The heron's face lightened up a slight notch. "Yes." Then, he slowly forced a smile. "My mind is clear Nailah. I have never heard you make a Galdr. I do not think that you could change my choice as easily as you think."

A soft line creased the brow of the wolfess Queen.

As usual, his protests did little to convince her on that topic. He did not had to remind her of the longer number of years that had taught him wisdom, she had already seen his through decades. But the fact that Herons' mind were easy preys for Chaos energy remained a constant that would not change with their experiences or knowledge.

Losing his gaze farther and farther away, Rafiel appended "This war is about to end. When it does, if I can, I will do all in my powers to assist father. I will take the necessary time to ensure that he is safe and sound." He paused, gathering courage. "I know that the Hatarian court shall not be as patient regarding your absence..."

Nailah tusked in annoyance and he went grave.
"You talk about leaving my side... Yet you had a debt toward me," his queen distantly recalled. "But I believe that you have long ago repaid—

"I have not forgotten this," Rafiel warmly protested. A second passed before he went on; "this is why I couldn’t bear to lose you now. So... you must promise me that you will survive this war."

The wolfess blinked, a little swayed. (Has he just cut her?)

"I will come back," he insisted, before she misunderstood. "...As soon as father stands afoot and some peace has returned in the minds of my people... By any way," he struggled to keep a composed face, but the faint shaking of his long fingers already said too much. He sighed.
"I shall return home upon my Queen's command." With soulful eyes, he searched hers, pressing a plea, then he whispered, forcing confidence in the tune of his voice, "She is the brightest light in my life and I know our future will be a glorious one, if only we can live through this. ...I only hope that her world shall come after my father has learnt to sing anew."

A heartfelt silence fell, slow to dissipate.

The Wolf Queen responded to the crown Prince with a smile and there was a challenge caught in the curve of her full lips.

"Count on it," she demanded, measuring her words, "I will not leave you here among all of these carrions. The King of the Crows become cross-eyed whenever he sight your sister and the King of the Hawks rubs direly on your brother's attitude..."

Rafiel's face bloomed into a heartfelt smile.
"If Naesala plays with Leanne, Reyson shall have something to decorate the arrows of the bow that he insists on training with..." He tilted his head back offering his face to the sun's rays, letting them melt the thought away. "Well. If I can convince Reyson to land eyes just the span of an hour on the Second Wings of Phoenicis, the Royal bloodline of Serenes should have a few more days ahead of it."
Then, his expression became aloof, and the smile that was in his eyes faded.
"It is other twin-wings who weight worry on father's mind. A bird who bears a painful requiem in his heart." The heron tilted his head with a pause as Nailah understood who he was speaking about. "/He/ has scarified what was left of his reach his ends...until he could no longer know whether he was still laguz or beorc..."
Rafiel focused on the face of his soulmate, and the queen was found listening closely.

"It has been very long that they have not shared words," he confided, "But yore they were close friend... Once father learnt that he was alive, that Yune had forced his spirit to live, a naked flame has been lighted in his eyes. I believe that he will recover. If solely to confront Lord Lehran."

"Mh," she thought, and for a moment she looked about to reach a hand into his locks as she had done so many time during the twenty years that had seen them inch closer still in many ways.

"Rafiel, if you... /When/ you will return home," she smiled and her face radiated confidence, but also a much rarer shade, a more feminine softness and trust that he had only seen once since he had met her. "I shall insist on receiving your family properly in our lands."

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Rafiel & Nailah: Epilogue
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Returning to her land with the events of the War engraved in her heart, the Queen of the Wolf, hoped to get her people to cross the vast desert and reunite with the rest of the people of Tellius. She often wondered whether the Forest of Serenes would become fully green again when that would happen.
Rafiel, still an earthbound chorister, organized a ceremony under his people's trees to wake up his King and father. Once his kingdom found a chance to stand on its own again, the heron heir returned to the land of Hatari and its Queen.

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A/N: So yeah, Rafiel & Volug, Tibarn & Rafiel, Tibarn & Nailah, and Oliver & Rafiel & Hetzel planned for the far future.
With more birds, I could do with Mia & Titania setting things straight while Rhys is escaping their whimsy clutch to elope with Lilia. Then Lilia/Rhys, Lilia being found alive but in bad shape, having to rely on Rhys to heal her beside of her family Galdrar. Her mind and will being made of iron, the older heron princess would heal steadily. Leaving her enough energy to discuss and demonstrate some of her clan's traditions to her present Beorc company whose gentleness wakes her closet dom minutely.
I am interested in Petrine x Janaff, but not sure. It rings with tragedy.
And to conclude, just for the sake of brainstorming, in Blazing Sword I entertain the prospect of a Sonia x Pent x Louise : there is such a large dissonance in Louse's speech to Rebecca and her own marital behavior that the lady seems to need a firm push to dare to take her marriage into her hands.