[Suikoden III] A Bitter Pill
A Bitter Pill
Author: myaru
Fandom: Suikoden III
Prompt: arid
Word Count: 607
Notes: n/a
....................................................................................
Rain pelted against the sides of the tent Sarah shared with Luc, flattening the tall grasses outside and drumming against the steel plate of soldiers who insisted on staying out and on guard even after she'd told them to take shelter, that she and the Bishop could take care of themselves. Harmonians were supposed to follow orders, but it seemed tradition won over the instructions of an aide, no matter who she claimed they came from. Perhaps bishops, as a rule, were simply incompetent in the matter of keeping themselves alive. She wouldn't be surprised.
Wind pushed against the canvas walls, crept in through the crack in the door and sent the lamp flames dancing, and the shadows with them. Luc, seated at the folding table with a book pressed open by both hands, flicked his finger at the lamp, and the flame stilled. "If this storm keeps up we won't have to retake the city. It'll be buried in a mudslide by morning."
"Too much rock," Sarah replied, though she didn't think he expected her to. He bent over the page, tracing his progress through the text with his index finger, and she supposed it was Sindarin he was reading, or he'd be faster. Her cot creaked when she lay back. Tent ceilings were less interesting than the brick maze of the walls at home. "The clouds do not feel as heavy as they were. I think the rain will stop well before sunrise."
No reply. She closed her eyes and sank into the trance of her rune to feel the clouds overhead. They covered the sky she wanted to see. Magic would not allow her to look past them as it did Leknaat; even in this, Harmonia denied Sarah every familiarity: the night sky, the waxing moon. Privacy. If she thought hard enough, perhaps she could imagine the splatter of water upon their bodyguards as something more benign, like the patter of water in a fountain. The smell of soil and smoke and wax was harder to dismiss, but they too had their places at home.
Would Grassland also bless her with the familiar, Sarah wondered, or would it be wholly alien? She hoped-- no. No, she hoped the place was devoid of memory. Such a hot, arid climate would be nothing like home.
"If we can't breach the gate by tomorrow night, I want you to take Yuber in and kill the resistance leader," Luc said. His book slapped closed and his teacup rattled on its saucer. "If we draw this out much longer our march on Caleria will be delayed more than it already has been. A week more, and we'll miss our window with the Zexens."
Sarah swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth, abandoning her search for the stars. The Temple could have chosen a less demeaning task for him if they wanted to be assured of Luc's loyalty - a more honorable one than murdering innocents, at least. The third class citizens in this township provided workers for fields that doubtless fed thousands in Harmonia proper, and all the central government could think to do with them was tax the territory into near starvation. "I think Yuber would relish doing this mission by himself," she said to the tent wall. "He doesn't need my protection."
"No," Luc said. "The rest of the township needs your protection-- from him. Have you forgotten what we're allied with?"
Another bitter pill to swallow. Sarah only wished she could forget.
.
Author: myaru
Fandom: Suikoden III
Prompt: arid
Word Count: 607
Notes: n/a
....................................................................................
Rain pelted against the sides of the tent Sarah shared with Luc, flattening the tall grasses outside and drumming against the steel plate of soldiers who insisted on staying out and on guard even after she'd told them to take shelter, that she and the Bishop could take care of themselves. Harmonians were supposed to follow orders, but it seemed tradition won over the instructions of an aide, no matter who she claimed they came from. Perhaps bishops, as a rule, were simply incompetent in the matter of keeping themselves alive. She wouldn't be surprised.
Wind pushed against the canvas walls, crept in through the crack in the door and sent the lamp flames dancing, and the shadows with them. Luc, seated at the folding table with a book pressed open by both hands, flicked his finger at the lamp, and the flame stilled. "If this storm keeps up we won't have to retake the city. It'll be buried in a mudslide by morning."
"Too much rock," Sarah replied, though she didn't think he expected her to. He bent over the page, tracing his progress through the text with his index finger, and she supposed it was Sindarin he was reading, or he'd be faster. Her cot creaked when she lay back. Tent ceilings were less interesting than the brick maze of the walls at home. "The clouds do not feel as heavy as they were. I think the rain will stop well before sunrise."
No reply. She closed her eyes and sank into the trance of her rune to feel the clouds overhead. They covered the sky she wanted to see. Magic would not allow her to look past them as it did Leknaat; even in this, Harmonia denied Sarah every familiarity: the night sky, the waxing moon. Privacy. If she thought hard enough, perhaps she could imagine the splatter of water upon their bodyguards as something more benign, like the patter of water in a fountain. The smell of soil and smoke and wax was harder to dismiss, but they too had their places at home.
Would Grassland also bless her with the familiar, Sarah wondered, or would it be wholly alien? She hoped-- no. No, she hoped the place was devoid of memory. Such a hot, arid climate would be nothing like home.
"If we can't breach the gate by tomorrow night, I want you to take Yuber in and kill the resistance leader," Luc said. His book slapped closed and his teacup rattled on its saucer. "If we draw this out much longer our march on Caleria will be delayed more than it already has been. A week more, and we'll miss our window with the Zexens."
Sarah swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth, abandoning her search for the stars. The Temple could have chosen a less demeaning task for him if they wanted to be assured of Luc's loyalty - a more honorable one than murdering innocents, at least. The third class citizens in this township provided workers for fields that doubtless fed thousands in Harmonia proper, and all the central government could think to do with them was tax the territory into near starvation. "I think Yuber would relish doing this mission by himself," she said to the tent wall. "He doesn't need my protection."
"No," Luc said. "The rest of the township needs your protection-- from him. Have you forgotten what we're allied with?"
Another bitter pill to swallow. Sarah only wished she could forget.
.