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]

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."

[volleygenius]

For just a second, Bunta looks surprised. She knows about that? Well. That's interesting. He's not going to question how, no more than he's going to pretend not to know what she's on about.

"I'm not," he assured with steady confidence. "It was sudden for me is all. But you shouldn't underestimate the king's ability to plan."

[dateddiva]

She feels a deeper empathy at that admission. He's always confident; that he is in the face of this, too, doesn't mean too much!

"He has to know that you'll be in the best position to do what he wants if he keeps you informed, and doesn't throw you off."

[volleygenius]

"That's not necessarily true," he suggests, without a single drop of faltered confidence.

[dateddiva]

She laughs.

"A gallant defender of the king's honor, aren't you?" But she knew that. The kind of personal sacrifices Bun had made for the king just this month-- if she hadn't realized how deeply he idolized the king before, she did now.

"I'm guessing I didn't misjudge the princess, then... Is she as confident in the king as you?"

1/2

[volleygenius]

"I just know him."

There were other explanations: Yukimura could have been long considering a pool of candidates and only just finalized his choice. He could have wanted to test how Bunta behaved without the bias of knowing his intentions. But what's important is protecting the ruse. It would be too suspicious if the king decided on his sister's marital fate on such a seeming impulse. He has to leave enough room for doubt that the truth doesn't become the narrative.

"As for the princess, try and ask her that," he dares. Less control over the answers, maybe, but this is how it should be.

2/2

[volleygenius]

At her mention, he glances over towards her dancing with Niou and catches, disrupting the fluidity of his dancing. He makes only a feeble attempt to restart before simply giving up and coming to a halt.

What are they doing so tightly wrapped together? Lissa is oblivious, wrapped up in the thrill of whatever game Niou's sucked her into. But Niou. If Bunta didn't know better, he'd swear it looked like...

Whispers begin to spread like a wildfire through the crowd, hissing past the pounding in his ears.

[dateddiva]

She'd been about to comment on his gracious deferral to his intended, but... he wasn't going to hear her, was he?

She nudged him to move again-- towards the princess and the handsome rogue, because she doubted any other direction would be noticed by him, let alone acceptable.

"Don't make a scene... not one you didn't write ahead of time, at least," she whispered.

Maybe the king did choose correctly.

[volleygenius]

This is bad. It's not a good look for the princess, considering her earlier concerns and protests about what kind of reputation she might earn for herself. Niou is good at this-- pulling you into his pace, making you forget things that need to stay in the forefront. Like Yukimura, he's always playing five games of chess at once. It's no wonder why they get on so well.

He does, on some level, register the little nudge, and he answers it with an appreciative nod and move in the direction she's indicating, his eyes never leaving Niou and the princess.

"You understand well," he says back quietly, and with sincere gratitude. He has to help her. He needs to go over there. "Thanks, Dorothea. Please excuse me."

Pushing down whatever unpleasant feeling that is, he heads in their direction with a recentering breath. And he's relaxed, calm, sure of himself. Casual and friendly as he returns to his fiancée's side and greets them with a smile and an arm around to her far shoulder.

[dateddiva]

Privately, she wishes he'd waited until the end of the song, but-- the entertainment value makes up for that. No point in telling him that, though. He's positively captivated.

Nothing like a little envy to make you realize what you want.

"Hopefully, we'll get another chance later," she said sweetly, easing herself out of the crowd of couples and makes like she'd meant to get back to stage anyway.