Prince of Fire Emblem: Gray Waves

[senselessness]

A princess with a poker face, Yukimura thought, as Yanagi took away the tea cups and retreated to where the rest of his entourage waited near the doorway.

He had open across the small negotiating table a letter from Princess Azura's stepfather, promising him that he would make her marriage as valuable to him as if she were his own flesh and blood. King Garon had a reputation that his own children shrank from, even as they bowed to his every whim. Azura didn't have the same fawning, wincing air as Garon's own children, from what Yukimura remembered of the spy reports. She looked placidly into his eyes.

"You pushed for this?" he asked, bluntly.

"No, milord," said the princess calmly. "Having just returned to Nohr after a long stay in Hoshido, I was as surprised as you."

Was she lying to him? She'd appeared at the gates of his castle alongside a delivery of flowers and wine for the ball celebrating Marui and Lissa's engagement, accompanied by her stepfather's offer of her hand and a ne'er-do-well with an axe as large as his body.

"He's this eager to get rid of you?"

"Or to gain your goodwill," she answered delicately.

Was she lying to him? The timing angered him immensely.

"By sending you here? Customarily, the pleasure of the bride's company is withheld until the marriage has been satisfactorily arranged."

"Your refusal is noted," she said, not without a certain heaviness.

His eyes narrowed. An outright refusal, in front of the man with the axe... his head burned. Could he afford to refuse Garon's offer without at least the pretense of consideration? Was she simply manipulating him into making a mistake?

"I said no such thing," he answered tightly. She inclined her head apologetically. "But my concern is with the engagement of my own princess, which you're interfering with."

She didn't contest his choice of verb, and his blood boiled.

"Like your princess, I am at the mercy of kings," she said. "I mean no disrespect to Lady Lissa."

But do you mean her harm? he wondered. Did Azura mean to displace her? The king's wife was necessarily given more authority than the king's sister. Yukimura didn't want that. He didn't want a wife for his own sake, there was nothing left within him that could love or cherish the princess before him nor any other, and he certainly didn't want a queen, who'd expect to see her own child on his throne in due time.

A queen would displace Lissa in the hierarchy of the court, and an heir would do the same in the line of succession. A perfect sabotage of his failsafe. A waste of Marui's and Lissa's sacrifices both-- not to mention the hints he'd tried to give them during their dance practice for tonight.

He had to play this intelligently-- even if he was starting late. He swallowed back the venom and vitriol he felt for this interloper and, hating himself for the debasement, stood, only to bow to her gallantly.

"Enjoy with us the festivities already planned," he said, more instructing than inviting. "We can talk more when I've discharged the business already in front of me."

"Yes, milord," she said, opaque as an iron wall.

Felicia -- delighted to be visited by a princess of her native land -- quickly escorted Azura and Hans, the axe man, to their lodgings, and Yukimura turned to his friends, pale and glowing with displeasure.

"I want to know why Nohr chose now to do this," he said, "but I will settle for what I should do to them in retaliation."

Comments

[dateddiva]

There was no snare drum in this instrumental, so it was the drummer who accepted her wink and helped her climb down from the stage. A normal songstress might take her break alone backstage, but this girl was here to socialize, to meet people, and to have a little fun.

...The fun came first, however, when Bun's fiancée kicked him aside for that roguish young nobleman who was impossible to read.

Dorothea to the rescue, then! She slid up behind Bun and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Want to take me for a spin so you don't look like a wallflower who just got dumped?"

[volleygenius]

That Niou really did just slip in and snatch her. Wasn't Bunta supposed to be the thief here? Well, it's probably for the best this way. As he'd mused while dancing with Lissa, Niou was better suited to the task of helping her understand this particular subject.

He didn't mind sitting out for a dance, but as it turned out, fate had something better in mind for those few minutes. Dorothea's company-- and playful rescue-- is welcome, and it shows in the expression of warm cheer he gives her.

"Who's looking dumped?" He asked with equal playfulness, and moved his hands into position to accept her as his dance partner.

[dateddiva]

"The King went to all the trouble of affiancing his sister to one of the rabble, Bun," she teased. "You look dumped every time she gets distracted!"

She was certainly talking intently with the rogue, though. She knew this music well and she guided Bun into a position where he'd be able to see them most of the time.

Because that was his job, and not because he needed the reminder of being dumped by the princess and/or outmaneuvered by a trickster.

"Tell me about that man who's doing your job right now," she commanded. "And if he's worth knowing."

[volleygenius]

Dorothea understands well, and he appreciates that she does. He'll be better able to give her his primary attention while they dance as long as Lissa is in his peripheral vision. Her follow-up tease earns nothing more than a sound of amusement, a sure sign that he's ceded the point.

"Niou?" He says as they move in time to the music. "Well, what to say about that guy. He's an officer like me, and been friends with the king even longer. He's the best you can find if you like surprises and banter. I dunno if he's looking, but he's definitely single. Want to be introduced?"

[dateddiva]

"Can you do that?"

But she gets a little smoother after, using a turn to push her hair back behind her ear and let one of her earrings catch a little of the ambient light.

"Are you the kind of reference he'd appreciate...? Or do you just want to distract him from your princess?"

[volleygenius]

"Of course," he assured her with a breezy smile, with zero clarification which of the two was affirmative.

"Well, we can mingle together later. It doesn't have to be formal. It's a foot in the door, in any case."

[dateddiva]

So Dorothea smiles, too.

"I don't want everyone to think I'm just here for your status."

Enough people would be, soon enough. Dorothea was sure Bunta's powerful friends would have the people who wanted to take Bunta out covered-- but there was another set, too. People who would be all-too-pleased to see a boy out of his depth so close to the throne, and think they could ingratiate themselves to him.

"Are Niou and the princess particularly close?" she asked, batting her eyelashes.

[volleygenius]

It's fair for her to be more concerned about that than him. He just knows she's interested in finding a good guy with a stable job that she can depend on. Whether Niou has both the potential and the interest isn't something he knows, but that was for Dorothea to judge, not him.

The question about Niou and Lissa makes him just the slightest bit uncomfortable.

"I don't think so. Why?"

[dateddiva]

Is that twinge of discomfort a mirage?

Let's probe a little more.

"He looked pretty eager to get some time with her, that's all. Eager enough that I hope the king wasn't looking this way."

[volleygenius]

For just one second, he creases his brow and frowns, like he's trying to decide exactly what he makes of that. Then, with a shrug, he smiles and seems to relax again.

"Well, I think that may have more to do with what we were talking about. There are some things our princess is still learning. This time was a subject he enjoys teaching."

[dateddiva]

Dorothea takes the opportunity to look at the princess again, and she nods to herself.

"She has the air of someone who hasn't had many opportunities to learn... I'm surprised it took all of you this long."

[volleygenius]

"I guess," he deflected. What she said was true, and he didn't feel like offering a defense. Innocence like Lissa's was vanishingly uncommon between her youth and her privilege, and they had procrastinated spoiling it because no one wanted to tarnish the brightness in the eyes or the skip in her step. Life and happiness could be simple when you didn't know some things.

But that wasn't an excuse for someone in Lissa's position. She needed and deserved to learn those things, even more than the average person. And she certainly was past the age that she should have started learning them.

[dateddiva]

The deflection in itself surprised her a little.

"You know I don't have a lot of sympathy for people who get everything handed to them, but for the goddess' sake. She didn't even get that, did she? Instead, everything was concealed."

[volleygenius]

Interesting language Dorothea's using, isn't it? Bunta has to wonder if she's surprising herself more than the truth is.

"This is really bothering you, huh?"

[dateddiva]

"I'm familiar with the vulnerability powerful men associate beautiful women or cute girls with," she said, tone breezy, but forming her words with a firm intent. "I know it's a learned behavior, too... you're never too old to start."

The music swelled, and she leaned a bit closer to be heard.

"But power is relative. You always have more than someone else, if you can just find them... or if you know things they don't."

[volleygenius]

No mistaking it, is there? Dorothea is worried about her.

Bunta hears the thread of tension, the accusation against Yukimura couched into her words that she then extends to all of them more broadly. But it's that intent that deserves focus. On some level, she's sympathetic to Lissa, and upset that the princess doesn't have all of the power that should, by right, belong to her by now. That's the issue. Just like him, like all of them, she's speaking up because she wants Lissa to flourish, and to not be shorted anything that is due to her, however unwittingly it might happen.

Focusing on that thought makes him feel warm inside, and he smiles sincerely.

"Thank you, Dorothea, for looking out for her. You're right. We've gotta step up our game getting her ready!"

[dateddiva]

"Is that really the game you're playing?" she asked, the firm intent behind her words faltering just a touch under the weight of looming disappointment.

"You're sure you weren't... always angling for a wife like her? Cute enough, but not enough to realize what boys like you and women like me do when they're alone?"

[volleygenius]

"Huh?"

Bunta blinks, his expression shifting from gratitude to confusion. The suggestion makes perfect sense in isolation, but it's a rare instance where, contextually, he feels like he's missed a boat.

"What're you talking about?"

It's only after the words have left his mouth that his brain starts to catch up.

[dateddiva]

Dorothea sighed.

"It was a pretty big break, getting snapped up by the prince. I'm sure he realized a long time ago that he wanted to give his sister to someone entirely in his control... I only wonder when he let you in on it."

[volleygenius]

One second. Two seconds. Three secon--

Oh. So that's what it is.

"Hoh...? Is that what you think?" He says dubiously, his brows raising with the question.

[dateddiva]

"Not by choice," she said, a bit too quickly. But the way it sounds sticks in her pride, so she adds, "It doesn't matter one way or the other. I never thought you were better than me."

It would have been nice, had that been the case.

[volleygenius]

Bunta's feet move almost on autopilot through the motions of the dance. He needs a moment to process his disappointment, and to then let go of it.

"Well, you're right that it doesn't matter. The arrangement was decided, and there's no changing it. You have it a little backwards, though: he didn't give the princess to me."

The music swells again. He meets her eyes and smiles.

"He gave me to the princess."

[dateddiva]

"Not because she knows what she wants, surely," Dorothea said. Not this princess. She probably hasn't thought about it much, since her wants and needs are anticipated by her brother's very eager friends.

But that does indicate this wasn't something Bunta sought for his own sake.

"I'm sorry. I was thrown off balance that time I ran into you two."

[volleygenius]

"You and me both...! That was awkward," he recalls with a giggle. "But that's what happened. I'm not sure how long the king was considering it before, but he made the private announcement after we got back from St. Rudolph. It was pretty sudden!"

[dateddiva]

"You're not implying the king just did this all of a sudden, are you?" she whispered, thankful for the cover of the music. "Because I know he wasn't thinking about anything at all except whether he could get out of bed before he sent you and Jackie off."