Fire Emblem Fic - Her Means
Title: Her Means
Fandom: Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Characters: Micaiah, Sothe
Word Count: 483
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Radiant Dawn belongs to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems, neither of which is me.
A/N: Written for fe_drabble Challenge 14 - "One's country ought to be defended, whether with shame or glory, by whatever means possible."
"Why do you do things like that?"
Micaiah does not look up from her writing. The ink is uneven and messy, being written by a somewhat awkward hand (the wound on her right side stretches and aches whenever she starts a new line). The light from the large window is dimming - it must be very late, this time of year - she's lost track of time. It's been a long day.
"Micaiah, are you even listening to me?" Sothe slams his hands down on her desk, disturbing some of the loose paper.
"Not really," she says.
He snorts - he can tell from her smile she's messing with him. "I mean it."
She sighs. "I know, Sothe." She pushes aside her papers, even though she's promised her chancellors that she will show them a draft tomorrow morning. Sothe can be almost as stubborn as Micaiah sometimes; he won't give her any peace until she hears him out.
As soon as he sees he has her attention, Sothe starts his rant. "I warned you this would happen. You give people a reason to go after you, they'll snatch it up. If you've got to go around telling everyone you're Branded, you could at least not walk into crowds undefended! You're lucky she didn't know what she was doing. What, were you trying to get yourself stabbed to death? And then, when you could charge the kid with treason you go with assault and start writing up some bizarre law about laguz. What the hell, Micaiah!"
She laughs. "It's not that complicated." But it is, really. Her Brand, bared for these past five weeks, curls about her forearm, reminding her every day of what she must do. "I wouldn't say I was trying to get killed, but...when that girl attacked me," (she could see the intense, dark eyes of one girl in a crowd around her, suddenly so close, connected by the blade of a knife in the girl's hand in her flesh, emotions of that girl as Micaiah fell back, swallowed by a chaos of people and soldiers), "I knew that fear, that hate. I had to face that, Sothe, I couldn't just hide from it. Daein has to face it, don't you see? As long as it hates the laguz and those of us with their blood, Daein is all but on the brink of war. Whatever statements I can make, whatever examples I can set, I have to do that, or am no queen. If what I can do is get stabbed in the street and draft a law for the punishment of crimes based on prejudice against laguz, then that's what I will do."
He's not happy with her answer, she feels, but he knows she is incorrigible in matters like this. "It's always about Daein for you, isn't it?"
"Yes," she answers, and pulls her papers back to her.
Fandom: Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Characters: Micaiah, Sothe
Word Count: 483
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Radiant Dawn belongs to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems, neither of which is me.
A/N: Written for fe_drabble Challenge 14 - "One's country ought to be defended, whether with shame or glory, by whatever means possible."
"Why do you do things like that?"
Micaiah does not look up from her writing. The ink is uneven and messy, being written by a somewhat awkward hand (the wound on her right side stretches and aches whenever she starts a new line). The light from the large window is dimming - it must be very late, this time of year - she's lost track of time. It's been a long day.
"Micaiah, are you even listening to me?" Sothe slams his hands down on her desk, disturbing some of the loose paper.
"Not really," she says.
He snorts - he can tell from her smile she's messing with him. "I mean it."
She sighs. "I know, Sothe." She pushes aside her papers, even though she's promised her chancellors that she will show them a draft tomorrow morning. Sothe can be almost as stubborn as Micaiah sometimes; he won't give her any peace until she hears him out.
As soon as he sees he has her attention, Sothe starts his rant. "I warned you this would happen. You give people a reason to go after you, they'll snatch it up. If you've got to go around telling everyone you're Branded, you could at least not walk into crowds undefended! You're lucky she didn't know what she was doing. What, were you trying to get yourself stabbed to death? And then, when you could charge the kid with treason you go with assault and start writing up some bizarre law about laguz. What the hell, Micaiah!"
She laughs. "It's not that complicated." But it is, really. Her Brand, bared for these past five weeks, curls about her forearm, reminding her every day of what she must do. "I wouldn't say I was trying to get killed, but...when that girl attacked me," (she could see the intense, dark eyes of one girl in a crowd around her, suddenly so close, connected by the blade of a knife in the girl's hand in her flesh, emotions of that girl as Micaiah fell back, swallowed by a chaos of people and soldiers), "I knew that fear, that hate. I had to face that, Sothe, I couldn't just hide from it. Daein has to face it, don't you see? As long as it hates the laguz and those of us with their blood, Daein is all but on the brink of war. Whatever statements I can make, whatever examples I can set, I have to do that, or am no queen. If what I can do is get stabbed in the street and draft a law for the punishment of crimes based on prejudice against laguz, then that's what I will do."
He's not happy with her answer, she feels, but he knows she is incorrigible in matters like this. "It's always about Daein for you, isn't it?"
"Yes," she answers, and pulls her papers back to her.