FFXII Fic: Embers and Other Words, Chapter 4 (Ashe/Basch)
For aorin107. Happy birthday sweet-heart! I hope you enjoy your impromptu present featuring what I know is your favorite pair in the fandom. ;) I don’t tend to write Ashe and Basch together too often because there are so many people out there doing so many kick-ass things that I’m not sure what else is there to add. But this is a spin on them that I don’t think has been particularly touched on too often so writing this was pretty fun. ♥
And comments, corrections and criticism are, as always, completely welcome and loved! After all, a little encouragement never fails to add a bit of inspiration...
Title: Embers and Other Words, Chapter 4: Moments Of
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Series: Embers and Other Words
Characters/Pairings: Ashe/Basch
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Politics and pleasure usually don’t mix… unless you’re the Queen of Dalmasca.
During moments like this, Ashe sometimes had to wonder exactly why it was that she had fought so hard to gain the title of sovereign over Dalmasca.
Oh, for sure, she knew she had all the reasons in the world to do so and could probably recite them in her sleep if asked to do so enough times. For the honor of her honored and storied family name, for the satisfaction of avenging of all the good people slain in the conquest, for the sake of her own bristling pride…
The list went on, really. But during times such as this one, when Ashe was stuck playing mediator to the most boring politicos of her realm, she really had to wonder if perhaps she couldn’t have spent a few more years playing dead in the sewers of Rabanastre. Frankly speaking, next to having to deal with the politics of a small kingdom, training the resistance to take on the full might of the Archadian empire currently seemed as easy as playing a cheerful game of checkers. Hell, right now, she’d probably even take being locked up in a small cell with a predeceased Vayne Solidor to this sort of policy meeting. He might end up torturing her just as efficiently but at least she wouldn’t be bored to death while he did so.
Luckily, there were always fantasies to indulge in during meetings as desperately boring as this one was proving to be. And even as Ashe’s eyes lowered at the thought of certain fantasies that she could always count on to keep her warm at night-- especially since, sadly enough, all of Dalmasca seemed to want either a chaste or married queen-- she had to smile.
There was absolutely nothing, after all, that tended to lift her spirits as much as the thought of her former knight. And though she knew perfectly well that nothing would come of them, it still sent little fissions of pleasure all throughout her body to think of Basch as she had know him best, as she had known him with his golden hair spread all over his pillows as she had bent down to kiss his hand in thanks during their last night together, before the very last fight they had ever shared, side by side…
He had seemed so taken aback by her actions then, with his shaky breath stirring her hair as she had lightly lingered all over his body, doing as best as she could to show him just what his loyalty had done for her, just why she wanted to count on it in the future. And as was proper, she had had to stop dusting his body with kisses at his knuckles, before the already tenuous thread of control that held her in control before him snapped completely that one time. But oh, how she had wanted to continue showing him more and more of what rewards his loyalty could reap and what ties she could use to bind him with completely, at least before that bastard brother of his had completely sent him beyond her grasp…
If she had the opportunity again, if fate ever gave her this much, she wouldn’t stop at what was merely proper this time. She’d take his hand in her own and brush her lips across his callused knuckles… but oh, she wouldn’t simply pause there after knowing what she did now. She wouldn’t let herself pause. This time around, she’d trail her lips along the whole of his hands: wrist, phalanges, fingernails, carpus, the whole of his hand splayed open like a flower for her mouth, her breath, her life. And only when she was done memorizing the whole of that would she move on to broad, brown expanses of his shoulders, the hard, ruddy planes of his lower half, the sleek, full muscles of his backside…
“Your Highness!” a high-pitched voice of the incredibly squeaky persuasion interrupted, abruptly shattering her fantasies. “I’m sorry but we really do need a decision from you on this problem. Have you been paying any attention at all to what we’ve been discussing here? I mean, you do realize that this is of vital importance to the well functioning of our nation, right?”
There was a long pause. Ashe raised an eyebrow. The head of the presiding council seemed to abruptly recall just how Ashe had regained her current title in Dalmasca and shrank back with a nervous laugh. “As I was saying, the Muthru Bazaar is still in need of renovations if Dalmasca is to ever again become a great trading nation. My fellows and I have been thinking of ways to do just that. For example, we could, if Your Highness is at all amicable to the notion…”
Despite herself, Ashe smiled. Sometimes, it really was good to be queen.
And comments, corrections and criticism are, as always, completely welcome and loved! After all, a little encouragement never fails to add a bit of inspiration...
Title: Embers and Other Words, Chapter 4: Moments Of
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Series: Embers and Other Words
Characters/Pairings: Ashe/Basch
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Politics and pleasure usually don’t mix… unless you’re the Queen of Dalmasca.
During moments like this, Ashe sometimes had to wonder exactly why it was that she had fought so hard to gain the title of sovereign over Dalmasca.
Oh, for sure, she knew she had all the reasons in the world to do so and could probably recite them in her sleep if asked to do so enough times. For the honor of her honored and storied family name, for the satisfaction of avenging of all the good people slain in the conquest, for the sake of her own bristling pride…
The list went on, really. But during times such as this one, when Ashe was stuck playing mediator to the most boring politicos of her realm, she really had to wonder if perhaps she couldn’t have spent a few more years playing dead in the sewers of Rabanastre. Frankly speaking, next to having to deal with the politics of a small kingdom, training the resistance to take on the full might of the Archadian empire currently seemed as easy as playing a cheerful game of checkers. Hell, right now, she’d probably even take being locked up in a small cell with a predeceased Vayne Solidor to this sort of policy meeting. He might end up torturing her just as efficiently but at least she wouldn’t be bored to death while he did so.
Luckily, there were always fantasies to indulge in during meetings as desperately boring as this one was proving to be. And even as Ashe’s eyes lowered at the thought of certain fantasies that she could always count on to keep her warm at night-- especially since, sadly enough, all of Dalmasca seemed to want either a chaste or married queen-- she had to smile.
There was absolutely nothing, after all, that tended to lift her spirits as much as the thought of her former knight. And though she knew perfectly well that nothing would come of them, it still sent little fissions of pleasure all throughout her body to think of Basch as she had know him best, as she had known him with his golden hair spread all over his pillows as she had bent down to kiss his hand in thanks during their last night together, before the very last fight they had ever shared, side by side…
He had seemed so taken aback by her actions then, with his shaky breath stirring her hair as she had lightly lingered all over his body, doing as best as she could to show him just what his loyalty had done for her, just why she wanted to count on it in the future. And as was proper, she had had to stop dusting his body with kisses at his knuckles, before the already tenuous thread of control that held her in control before him snapped completely that one time. But oh, how she had wanted to continue showing him more and more of what rewards his loyalty could reap and what ties she could use to bind him with completely, at least before that bastard brother of his had completely sent him beyond her grasp…
If she had the opportunity again, if fate ever gave her this much, she wouldn’t stop at what was merely proper this time. She’d take his hand in her own and brush her lips across his callused knuckles… but oh, she wouldn’t simply pause there after knowing what she did now. She wouldn’t let herself pause. This time around, she’d trail her lips along the whole of his hands: wrist, phalanges, fingernails, carpus, the whole of his hand splayed open like a flower for her mouth, her breath, her life. And only when she was done memorizing the whole of that would she move on to broad, brown expanses of his shoulders, the hard, ruddy planes of his lower half, the sleek, full muscles of his backside…
“Your Highness!” a high-pitched voice of the incredibly squeaky persuasion interrupted, abruptly shattering her fantasies. “I’m sorry but we really do need a decision from you on this problem. Have you been paying any attention at all to what we’ve been discussing here? I mean, you do realize that this is of vital importance to the well functioning of our nation, right?”
There was a long pause. Ashe raised an eyebrow. The head of the presiding council seemed to abruptly recall just how Ashe had regained her current title in Dalmasca and shrank back with a nervous laugh. “As I was saying, the Muthru Bazaar is still in need of renovations if Dalmasca is to ever again become a great trading nation. My fellows and I have been thinking of ways to do just that. For example, we could, if Your Highness is at all amicable to the notion…”
Despite herself, Ashe smiled. Sometimes, it really was good to be queen.