synergetic | Prince of Fire Emblem: Gray Waves

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prince of fire emblem

Prince of Fire Emblem: Gray Waves

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."

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The music comes to a stop and shifts to something quicker-paced. Niou steps behind and across Marui. In one smooth, swift motion, he takes Lissa's hand from Marui's and guides it in a turn towards her back so that she pivots away from him. Niou glides right in to take his place and sticks his tip of his tongue out at Marui.

"First dance is over. Time to share."

Turning his attention to Lissa as he leads, he sends her a mysterious smile.

"Try to keep up now."

Lissa guiltily glances from left to right, before focusing all her attention on Masaharu-kun.

"I'm really trying, okay? I promise, I don't want to end up with another St. Rudolph incident!"

"Relax," he tells her. "This becomes a lot simpler if you think about it through the lens of power. That's the blood that pulses through all of politics and society more broadly."

The dance let her scoot a little closer to him, and her hands tightened a little on his suit.

Relaxing is easy to tell someone to do!

"I don't have any, though," she said. "It's just a misconception if people think I do."

Niou is not about to get caught up in one of these debates around her insecurities and misconceptions about herself.

"Let's come back to the question of whether what you lack is power or the experience to wield it effectively. If nothing else, access to the king through you is a form of power. That connection creates influence. Just as it did when he was choosing your fiancé and relied on, what? Strangers from the court? Or his personal friendships?"

"That says more about all of you than it does about anyone else, I think," she stammered. She appreciated his directness, but it was a shock all the same. Like medicine that worked, but was still a trial to take.

"It puts Bunta-kun above even the rest of you, doesn't it? Or-or at least that's the perception... I don't think it's the real truth of the matter."

She's damn right it doesn't put Marui over the rest of them, but the clarity on that point can wait just for a moment.

"Don't misunderstand. That's one small example to illustrate the point: power exists everywhere. In countless forms. It ebbs and flows and changes shape every day, like a force of nature. Understanding who has it, who they have it over, and what they want to use it for, is how you avoid a repeat of St. Rudolph. That's Lesson 1. Following so far?"

Lissa nods, shying away from trying to parrot anything back to him as a show of understanding just yet.

She thinks about Maribelle and her servants, and her father, the magistrate. And Maribelle's servants can decide who they give Maribelle's money to, can't they?

Thinking of Mizuki... she feels a lot more anger than she did at the time. And Seiichi's comment, that few people had the stomach to back him into a corner twice... but he'd done it, first by taking advantage of her sick and helpless brother, then by taking advantage of her... Didn't he have enough power to do what he needed to do as it was?!

"...Please keep going," she said.

He sort of likes the fierce flicker in her eyes. That's good to see, it means she's starting to understand. Power imbalances themselves weren't good or evil, but there certainly was a lot of evil that could be done through them. She needs open eyes about the undercurrents that both keep society functioning and threaten the things she holds dear.

"Lesson 2: power is a zero sum game. Power someone else has is power you don't have. The only way for one person to gain power is for another person to lose it. People don't like losing things."

"Okay, but who's the loser in the Bunta-marrying-me scenario? No one else was going to marry, certainly not anybody out there!"

But that was something else Seiichi said... thinking their futures were taken away from them...

"You're not seriously telling me they were ALL planning to marry me?!"

Lissa is great when she gets fired up like this. Niou's eyes dance with amusement listening to her puzzle her way through it.

"Well, maybe not directly. But there's one more piece to the power puzzle. Puri."

That was absolutely tacked on purely for the alliteration.

"Pop quiz: what's Marui's social status?"

She blinked owlishly.

"I really don't want to--" she huffed, but she grit her teeth and tried not to gloss it up.

"He's not that kind of thief," she finally grouses. "But he's common and not even a little bit noble and ugh!"

"You understand now," he surmises with delight. "That's what has all of this crowd so unhappy." The opportunity wasn't lost to one of them but to an outsider who should have been beneath such privilege. They collectively lost something when their assumption the princess would marry someone close to her own status was shattered.

"But I hate it, though!"

She was never going to be able to look at a gathering of nobles the same way again, was she?

"W-what about you, though?"

And not just him. She looked around at her brother and his other friends.

"I mean, if it was real. Or like... Seiichi said I could choose anyone I really wanted, in the end. Did he... not mean it, if it ends up being someone who isn't noble?"

It's funny that Lissa hasn't realized before considering who her best friend is. Maribelle's attitudes were perfectly normal. They were even understandable. Everyone had to protect the assets and best interests of their own group.

"I have a better question: what would you do, if he did forbid such a marriage for you?"

It comes out like a tease. There was no chance of it with her brother as long as it was the man they knew. It's not entirely a joking matter, though. They could also see something wasn't quite right with Yukimura. His thinking, his decisions, they were becoming colder, less focused on the welfare of those he loved. That was concerning, especially for Lissa, who didn't yet have the experience to deftly push back against a decision that Yukimura in his right mind would never support.

It's all hypotheticals right now, but Niou wants to fan the flame he saw burning behind her eyes a moment ago until it's impossible to extinguish. That's a goal that will serve her well no matter what the future holds for her.

He wouldn't, is what she wants to say. But he already did this fake engagement thing, and he must have known what Masaharu and Bunta know about it being wildly unpopular. Before, she would have been sure he'd never do that, either.

"He'd never hear the end of it, that's for sure," she said, finally. Whether it would be a reasoned and compelling speech or an uncontrollable crying fit, she didn't know.

"And you are as bad as Bunta-kun, answering questions with questions!"

Atta girl, you make sure anyone who tries to define your happiness for you feels their mistake.

"When your questions are better than mine, I'll answer," he retorts.

Lissa's cheeks puff out in anger again, and she glances down at their feet to aim her shoe at Niou's, before bringing it down.

"How about, 'why did he choose Bunta-kun,' then?!"

She makes it too easy! The glance down gives her game away, and without needing to look himself, he steps forward while her foot is raised and sweeps the back of her grounded one towards him, taking advantage of his hand's place behind her for dancing to pull her in tight when he does. A safety for her weight: if she does lose her balance, it will barely be noticeable.

And whether she does or doesn't, if being pulled so close happens to fluster her in the process, so much the better.

"An excellent question indeed," he granted, eyes gleaming and grin wolfish. "If only you'd been paying attention in the meeting when he answered it."

Lissa can't help a squeak of surprise as her arms wrap around Niou for firmer leverage.

"Don't make me order it out of you," she warned, eyes lighting up. "If everyone says I have power, I might end up having to use it!"

Niou was already engaged in this conversation; Lissa's pushback exponentially increases that interest, and his appreciation for her answer is evident in his face as the predatory quality to his enjoyment fades into something softer. He helps restabilize her on her feet.

"That's exactly right. Well, far be it from me to defy a command from the one whose word is second only to the king himself. Lean in close."

Shifting towards her ear, he cups a hand by it and whispers.

"To bait them out of hiding."

Her eyes widen, and for a long moment, she has to look down... which is about where Niou's shoulder is.

Since she didn't listen to Seiichi initially, she overcompensates listening to Niou now. Second only to the king himself, huh?

"I'd rather they stay hidden..."

That's not a good look for the princess, is it? In his mind, he can still hear the protest and concern in her voice when she pointed out the kind of reputation she would earn if she were to flirt with another man while presumably engaged to him.

To that end, it's not a good look for their relationship either. That's... probably good for one of Yukimura's intentions for him, at least, but not so much the other. Bunta is on his way over for those reasons alone. Whatever is responsible for that kernel of personal displeasure he feels is not something he's going to examine. It's not relevant.

Before Niou can answer her, he finishes closing the distance to them, his body language as relaxed as usual as he assumes a place close to Lissa's side and quietly reclaims her with a hand on her far shoulder. For all outward appearances, he's just joining his friend and fiancée in a conversation. His reaction to their whispering and clinging to each other is going to influence how this is perceived. Hands off my girl is not the message he wants to send to the crowd. I'm not concerned about this, so you shouldn't be either is much better.

"Yo," he greets. "That was a lively dance, huh? Want something to drink?"

Niou looks amused and takes the hint, slipping a step back from Lissa and pocketing his hand. "Good idea. I'll get us some."

"Thanks," Bunta answers with a wink, and pulls Lissa in a little closer.

She looks from Bunta's hand to Niou's retreating back, a little forlorn.

With a full lower lip pout, she rounds on Bunta. "How are you so good at this?" she whispers. "Didn't my brother find you in an alley somewhere, and you do this politics thing like it's no thing!"

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