[Fire Emblem 10] [Drabble 20] One More Victory
One More Victory
Author: Amber Michelle
Challenge: 20 - passions
Word Count: 500
Game: Radiant Dawn
Characters: Lehran
Warnings: this is as spoilery as it's possible to be.
Notes: this will probably be my entry for #20, but I have another idea I'd like to try, so maybe it'll be that one instead. Who knows. Up for possible revision.
.................................................
Sephiran felt fire in the desert's stinging wind and unremitting glare. He knew it better than his empress, though he watched her weave flames into devastating traps for her opponents, twisting them with such skill one would think she was born of fire. When her blood wet the field the first time, his throat tightened and his stomach dropped to his feet as if he'd fallen from a great height, and then he watched her lash out at Ashera's clay soldiers, knock them down. His fingers ached, clenched, gripping nothing. A nameless girl healed Sanaki, and Sephiran had his answer, though he'd not known there was a question.
He'd almost commanded Zelgius to bring her to him instead of the silver maiden. She'd run to his side in an instant if he called - and yet she would not approve of his course of action. So she was there, beyond Sephiran's reach, blissfully ignorant. I can't believe you did this! she would say if she knew. Aren't you the one who said the slaughter of innocents was unforgivable?
The sands reflected the sun's heat, its waves like water. Was he wrong? The slaughter of innocents by fire and sword-- that was unforgivable. The judgment of human upon innocent human-- unforgivable. But how did one define innocence?
Destroy me, Ashunera said when the floods ebbed and the storms died, when she was still whole, her hair damp streaks of dusk swirling over the rocks and soaking in her tears. Never let me do such a thing again. Promise, Lehran. Promise me. His goddess did not know her own power; how could she hold herself accountable? He suggested she peel the violent part of herself away, and did so in ignorance, unable to see the delicate balance ruling her psyche. But laguz and beorc didn't war in ignorance; they sought to destroy each other, knowing themselves in the wrong.
He had made the correct decision this time, but his empress, in her ignorance, would not agree. His explanations jumbled in his throat while he watched her, a red blur against the sand, knowing he would never be allowed to give them voice. How like Ashera she was, brimming with righteous justice and the will to execute it, to set the world right.
The letting of heron blood was unforgivable. The songs of his children were silenced, their lot to dissolve into ash and smoke while the nations watched, Phonecis, Kilvas, Gallia - and Sephiran would never forgive. Goldoa turned his back on Serenes, and he would die in the fires of Ashera's glory, unforgiven, unforgivable.
And his own weakness, his own passions and their consequences most of all -- Sephiran could not forgive or forget them.
His empress would counsel forgiveness, for that was what he taught her, but his path was correct. No one would convince him otherwise - not Yune, not Sanaki. Nobody.
.
Author: Amber Michelle
Challenge: 20 - passions
Word Count: 500
Game: Radiant Dawn
Characters: Lehran
Warnings: this is as spoilery as it's possible to be.
Notes: this will probably be my entry for #20, but I have another idea I'd like to try, so maybe it'll be that one instead. Who knows. Up for possible revision.
.................................................
Sephiran felt fire in the desert's stinging wind and unremitting glare. He knew it better than his empress, though he watched her weave flames into devastating traps for her opponents, twisting them with such skill one would think she was born of fire. When her blood wet the field the first time, his throat tightened and his stomach dropped to his feet as if he'd fallen from a great height, and then he watched her lash out at Ashera's clay soldiers, knock them down. His fingers ached, clenched, gripping nothing. A nameless girl healed Sanaki, and Sephiran had his answer, though he'd not known there was a question.
He'd almost commanded Zelgius to bring her to him instead of the silver maiden. She'd run to his side in an instant if he called - and yet she would not approve of his course of action. So she was there, beyond Sephiran's reach, blissfully ignorant. I can't believe you did this! she would say if she knew. Aren't you the one who said the slaughter of innocents was unforgivable?
The sands reflected the sun's heat, its waves like water. Was he wrong? The slaughter of innocents by fire and sword-- that was unforgivable. The judgment of human upon innocent human-- unforgivable. But how did one define innocence?
Destroy me, Ashunera said when the floods ebbed and the storms died, when she was still whole, her hair damp streaks of dusk swirling over the rocks and soaking in her tears. Never let me do such a thing again. Promise, Lehran. Promise me. His goddess did not know her own power; how could she hold herself accountable? He suggested she peel the violent part of herself away, and did so in ignorance, unable to see the delicate balance ruling her psyche. But laguz and beorc didn't war in ignorance; they sought to destroy each other, knowing themselves in the wrong.
He had made the correct decision this time, but his empress, in her ignorance, would not agree. His explanations jumbled in his throat while he watched her, a red blur against the sand, knowing he would never be allowed to give them voice. How like Ashera she was, brimming with righteous justice and the will to execute it, to set the world right.
The letting of heron blood was unforgivable. The songs of his children were silenced, their lot to dissolve into ash and smoke while the nations watched, Phonecis, Kilvas, Gallia - and Sephiran would never forgive. Goldoa turned his back on Serenes, and he would die in the fires of Ashera's glory, unforgiven, unforgivable.
And his own weakness, his own passions and their consequences most of all -- Sephiran could not forgive or forget them.
His empress would counsel forgiveness, for that was what he taught her, but his path was correct. No one would convince him otherwise - not Yune, not Sanaki. Nobody.
.