[FE] I looked for trust and found you
Nov. 6th, 2008 10:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
runespoorTitle: I looked for trust and found you
Character/Pairing: Sain/Rebecca parading as gen
Rating: PG
Summary: Rebecca looks for Sain, and finds out he's not always hitting on random girls.
Notes: Written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
31_days. Also originally written to fulfill a kink meme prompt, but it turned out so gen I don't dare to post it there, so I'm only going to post a link to here.
Also my first time writing any of them and any FE7 fic at all. plz hit me if I massacred them. Also, it happens immediately after their A support. orz
It was hours after the battle was done that Rebecca started looking for him. It hadn't been her intention, not at first; one moment she'd been laughing with Nino, and suddenly she'd paused, puzzled.
Something was missing.
She looked around, searching for the origin of the feeling of emptiness.
Her eyes flitted around the camp, but nothing struck her as odd. Lowen was busying himself with the cooking, and only a few minutes before he'd asked Dart to help him boning the meat; he was preparing a stew of some sort. Jaffar wasn't far from them, mutely sharpening his weapons, sitting on a fallen trunk similar to the one Nino and her were straddling.
Between two tents, Erk and Matthew were talking in hushed tones, or rather, Erk was talking, sending frequent glances over his hunched shoulder, while Matthew listened and nodded. Serra was mysteriously nowhere to be seen.
On the other side of the fireplace, Raven, Lucius and Priscilla were making a wonderfully familial scene, but Rebecca felt none of the habitual loneliness when Priscilla rested her hand on her older brother's to catch his attention. Isadora was just coming back – probably from the river – and was making to seat next to Fiora and Geitz.
“Rebecca? What's wrong?” Nino looked as perplexed as she felt.
“I—I'm not sure...”
Maybe it was the sight of Kent alone, staring into the fire with a pensive expression, that did it. Rebecca abruptly stood up.
“I'm sorry, Nino, there's something I've got to do... I'll see you at dinner.”
Nino responded with a bright smile. “Don't worry about that. I'm going to practice that trick with the berry beads like you showed me!”
“Okay, see you then,” Rebecca answered distractedly.
Sain wasn't there. She looked around the scene again – maybe she just hadn't noticed him – but she knew she'd been right the first time. Sain was hardly someone she could just not remember.
He wasn't there, and she wasn't even sure what it meant that she cared about where he was at all, but she did. Maybe she was just curious, she decided. It was a rare thing when Sain wasn't deep in the middle of things, being loud and noisy and comparing a girl's eyes to stars and swearing up and down his lance would forever protect her...
Her steps quickened as she left the circle adjacent to the fire.
While she walked, she heard Vaida scolding Merlinus for – something about spices, or else leather. Or possibly both, Merlinus' stammered excuses were a little confusing and she didn't slow down to pay attention.
There were more noises coming from further out of the circle of tents; Rebecca could recognize the clanking of weapons, sometimes covered by occasional shouts. She was too far away to identify the voices, the sounds distorted against the fabric walls of the tents.
Beyond Merlinus' caravan was a fallow land the others had appropriated as a sparring ground of sorts. She hurried in that direction.
She'd never come there to train herself; as an archer, there was only so much direct good direct fighting could do to her.
Instead, she and the other bow-users – and sometimes the mages who'd had an arrow fly a little too close for comfort and wished to get better at avoiding them – tended to favor more crowded areas.
Archery was about precision; you needed to know where to hit and when to hit, especially when, like Rebecca, you couldn't run away after striking. She couldn't hope to hide like Matthew would, she wasn't stealthy enough; and, as for taking direct blows, better not count on it too much. Her armor was light and getting an axe across the chest wasn't very high on her list of goals during a battle. No; an archer's skill simply laid in deadliness.
Sometimes she and Nino had mock-battles in the middle of camp, where it was always way more crowded than anything outside a battlefield, though they were careful not to start one when someone was eating. It wouldn't be nice to have one's meal interrupted and your plate fall on the ground because you'd been startled by a friendly attack.
Also there were many people Rebecca didn't want to have angry at her in the army, and the others were people she didn't wish to disappoint, so she was glad she'd succeeded in talking Nino out of that idea.
The first person she saw was Karla. The swordmaster was alone, shadow-sparring, her gestures graceful and, Rebecca would bet, lethal to her imaginary target. Her brows were furrowed in concentration. If she'd had more time, Rebecca might have stopped and admired her for a while.
Maybe another day.
“OW—hey! Careful there!”
“I told you I got better, so now—”
Lyn and Hector were sparring. The shouts were theirs. She could've expected it.
Half of the words they threw at each other were drowned by the loud clashing of their duel – Hector deviating Lyn's furious blade with the side of his axe, forcing her to stumble a few steps back, and then to twist to the left as he brought his weapon down with a 'hn!'
They seemed to understand each other just as well as if they'd been sitting around and chatting quietly, though. Not that they'd ever seemed much for quiet chats, Rebecca amended, but she supposed the idea was the same. Lyn leaped over Hector's lowered axe, and plunged forward to pierce between the plates of his armor. The sound of Lyn's iron sword racking against the heavy armor rang out as she fell back in a crouch, her sword arm extended to the side to get her equilibrium back.
“MISSED!” Hector was exultant. “Ha, you missed--”
His opponent was red, springing up again and grabbing her weapon with her two hands. “By less than an inch, you oaf,” she retorted. “I didn't miss by miles like you usually do—”
“Yeah, yeah.” Lord Hector was smirking.
Lady Lyndis' eyes narrowed.
“Don't worry,” said a gentle voice at Rebecca's side. “They'll be alright.”
She spun to the side.
“A-ah, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there,” she apologized.
The apology didn't seem to upset Florina, who only nodded, making her lavender locks fluff up against her cheeks. “It's quite alright, I was sitting over there.” She pointed at a grove a few meters away.
“Ah.”
Rebecca floundered for words for a moment.
She wasn't very close to Florina and she had no clue how to talk to her. She only knew Lady Lyn's best friend was a shy, almost reclusive girl, and a valuable comrade in battle.
Her mounting awkwardness was cut short by another loud clang and a yell. When she turned to scan the sparring partners, though, there was nothing out of the ordinary; they were only going at each other more fiercely than before.
“They'll be alright,” Florina repeated. She looked a little pale, though.
Lyn was brutally thrown to the ground. Above her, Hector kept on taunting her, slinging his ax on his shoulder. Grinning, he waved at Florina. Next to Rebecca, the pegasus knight's fingers twitched as if she was restraining herself from wringing her hands.
Yeah, Rebecca really wanted to find Sain, but...
“You're sure?” She peeked at Florina out of the corner of her eye while she waited for her answer. Inwardly, she was already listing people who could keep her company. “Lord Eliwood isn't here?”
It was odd, Lord Hector was his best friend, and he got on well with Lady Lyn as well...
“He and Sir Marcus are with Ninian and Nils,” Florina muttered, without taking her eyes away from the action. A glance at the fighters told Rebecca that they were now circling around one another. They looked considerably worse for wear, in her opinion. They couldn't keep this up for long. “But you don't need to worry. They'll be at it until supper.”
“Supper?” She could only echo the other girl's reassurance.
Small wrinkles creased up the corners of Florina's eyes as she smiled. “Yes... I'm sorry, they'll want me to cheer them on. Did you want to ask me something?”
Rebecca gave up on trying to make sense of the situation. She'd never have thought there'd be anyone willing to spar seriously on the same day as a fairly exhausting battle, but obviously she'd been wrong. She wondered if it was because Sacean culture put more of an emphasis on constant effort, or something like that.
She'd have to ask someone who knew about it. Perhaps Guy. He was more approachable than the rest. It still wouldn't explain why Lord Hector would be a part of it, but still, it'd be half an explanation already.
“Er... you haven't seen Sain recently, have you?”
“Not since we came back, I'm sorry.” Florina took a breath before she called, “Good one, Lyn!”
“No reason to be,” Rebecca muttered.
She left before waiting for an answer. She had an inkling she wouldn't get one anyway.
When she was back amongst the tents again, Rebecca's steps faltered.
Why was she so intent on finding him anyway? There was no doubt in her mind that he wasn't in any kind of danger whatsoever. If enemies had tried to sneak up on them, Heath and Rath would've seen them hours ago – it was their turn to stand watch. And anyway, enemies would never stop at-- at killing Sain. He wasn't anyone, in this war, he was only important to his friends and the people who-- who liked him. He was like her.
No, there was no reason why he'd disappear so suddenly, except...
Without noticing, she started walking faster again, so fast she was almost running.
Farina, Serra, and Lady Louise.
They were the only ones Sain might be with. Rebecca's heart constricted in her chest. It was stupid, it was ridiculous, but she didn't want him to--
The flap entrance of Lady Louise and Lord Pent's tent was pushed to the side before Rebecca was done clapping in her hands – the best replacement to knocking on the door.
“Rebecca, hello,” Lady Louise greeted her.
She was as serene as ever, though she was only wrapped in a dressing robe. She held the flap opened with her elbow, raising her arms over her head as she twisted her long blond hair before pinning them into a loose bun.
“Did you want something?” she said when she was done.
Rebecca shook herself. So what if Lady Louise's hairpin was – Rebecca could have sworn it was – a silver arrow? Or at least part of it. Well, it sounded like a sensible use of a thing that otherwise wasn't very useful out of the battlefield. Of course Rebecca wouldn't have thought of it.
Her hair was barely long enough to be braided, much less put up. She felt a wave of envy at the thought. Twin braids, that looked so childish; Lady Louise's hairdos were always so womanly – so ladylike. There were other women with beautiful hair around camp, but Rebecca liked Lady Louise's best of all. Maybe because as an archer herself, she couldn't help but admire how natural Lady Louise made fighting with her hair flowing look. In her place, Rebecca would've been terrified that they'd get caught in her bow's string, or with her fingers, or the arrow.
“Y-yes... Do you know where Sain is?”
She felt heat rise to her cheeks as she spoke. Foolish. She-- just-- she wanted to know where he was.
“Or perhaps Farina and Serra?”
She didn't really know Farina either but she knew the pegasus knight was a lively person. A good companion. In a very short pegasus knight skirt, oh Elimine. Farina liked a laugh, right? She probably wouldn't impale Sain with her lance if he started flirting. ... when he started flirting. She'd seen the way he'd looked at Farina's legs when she'd dived in front of them during the battle.
And Serra, well, Serra was a little too much but you could hardly claim she was ugly. She got more than her fair share of contemplative gazes from the rest of the army. Rebecca noticed because sometimes she thought Serra received her of glances as well. And Serra wasn't adverse to flirting. And, most of all – Rebecca's stomach wrenched – she hadn't been with either Erk or Matthew, her two favorite – Rebecca struggled with the word 'victims'.
Sain was a charming man. Either of the two, Farina or Serra, he could—
Lady Louise was shaking her head. “Sain? No.”
“Who is it, my dear?” inquired Lord Pent from inside the tent.
Lady Louise turned to face her husband as he came to stand behind her. He, too, wore only a dressing robe, and his usual ponytail was undone.
And to say Rebecca had thought she couldn't get any redder.
“Rebecca wanted to know if I'd seen her knight,” the sniper explained as Lord Pent put a hand on her waist, unembarrassed by Rebecca's presence.
Oh Elimine. Maybe if she prayed very fervently, the ground would open and swallow her?
“But we have,” the sage affirmed, resting his chin against Louise's shoulder. “When we retired here.”
Louise clapped her hands. “You're right! He was going to the archery ground, I remember I thought he was going to see you,” she addressed Rebecca with an air that would have been called sly on anyone else.
“I wouldn't worry, if I were you,” Pent added. “Farina is taking care of her sisters' pegasi. I think she brought them sugar,” he said with a smile, before assuming a stern expression at once. “You must promise not to tell anyone. She'd be distressed.”
She returned his solemn gaze. “I won't. ...you said he was going to the archery ground?”
Whatever would he want to do there? ...and she still didn't know where Serra was.
As if he'd read her mind, Pent continued, “As for Serra, well... She's a peculiar girl.”
“I don't think you have any reason to be worried, dear.”
Rebecca bit her lip and nodded. “Thank you,” she said politely, refusing to voice her concerns.
She forced her legs to make a vague attempt at a curtsy, though her back was stiff with apprehension, before letting them take her away as fast as they could.
She'd broken into a dash now, amidst the tents that separated her from the edge of the forest, jumping across the various obstacles that came in her way – one or two fallen lances, a couple of barrels, an inexplicable staff that barred the alley between two tents; she went under it almost without slowing down. At one point she almost collided with a tall cloaked man, she thought it was Legault, but she just shouted a quick apology and kept on running.
They'd settled their temporary camp close to a forest, and it was there, just inside those woods, that the archers of the group had taken to practice. Trees provided natural targets and as long as everyone knew what went on there, there was no risk that anyone would be unintentionally wounded.
She wouldn't have found him if she hadn't been looking for him.
His clothes were green and brownish against the browns and greens of the forest; even looking for him, she wouldn't have found him if she hadn't been expecting him.
When his image in her mind superimposed on reality, she stopped in her mad race.
He was alone.
He was leaning against a tree, pensively staring down at... something... he held in his hands.
A bow, she realized. It was an Iron Bow.
She couldn't repress her gasp. Sain straightened, looking up sharply, and their eyes met.
“Sain, what are you doing?”
Relief flooded through Rebecca, strong and sweet, but it didn't lessen her incomprehension.
She'd been galloping all over camp for him, and he'd been... playing with a bow. A weapon that he couldn't even use.
Not even a particularly good one, at that; now she'd come closer, she could see that it was old. The handle was bent out of shape, and the wooden body of the bow had splintered. She wouldn't even try to send an arrow with it; it'd break between her hands as soon as she drew on the string.
In fact--
That dent on the left side of the handle. That dark spot close to the string. The broken bit at the end of the lower arm.
“My bow?” she said incredulously. “You got my old bow? Where did you-- why did you get it, Sain?”
He averted his gaze, looking down at the old bow again. He turned the weapon over, several times. His grasp was both firm and soft, something that Rebecca could appreciate even now. He was careful not to break it.
The silence grew heavy and she felt a knot in her throat.
“I guess I just wanted to be close to you,” he said. He was speaking in a tone unlike any she'd ever heard from him; almost subdued, almost derisive.
“Sain...”
He cut her off.
“Ah, well. It's nothing. I can give it back, if you'd like.”
His tone was louder, but something in his self-confidence rang out of tune. He wasn't really as carefree as he was forcing himself to sound, not right now.
Maybe she really did mean something to him, after all.
“But... I was thinking I'd rather keep it. If it's alright with you.” He smiled quickly.
For a very long time, Rebecca was at a loss for words. She just looked at him not looking up. His headband was meant to keep his hair from his eyes, but not when his head was bowed like now. His thumb was rubbing small circles against the bow's iron handle.
Finally, because she found nothing else to say, she blandly came out with, “You should come to dinner.”
He glanced at her, obviously not knowing how to take her words. She flushed.
“We're going to miss dinner,” she said more aggressively, “so you should just come. I came all the way here to find you.”
Even if his smile was a ghost of his usual grin, Sain's entire countenance cleared up.
“I... Okay.”
She didn't know why, but she waited for him to leave his spot. Once he was close to her, she took his hand, the one that wasn't gripping her old bow.
She didn't let go until they were back.
Character/Pairing: Sain/Rebecca parading as gen
Rating: PG
Summary: Rebecca looks for Sain, and finds out he's not always hitting on random girls.
Notes: Written for
31_days. Also originally written to fulfill a kink meme prompt, but it turned out so gen I don't dare to post it there, so I'm only going to post a link to here. Also my first time writing any of them and any FE7 fic at all. plz hit me if I massacred them. Also, it happens immediately after their A support. orz
It was hours after the battle was done that Rebecca started looking for him. It hadn't been her intention, not at first; one moment she'd been laughing with Nino, and suddenly she'd paused, puzzled.
Something was missing.
She looked around, searching for the origin of the feeling of emptiness.
Her eyes flitted around the camp, but nothing struck her as odd. Lowen was busying himself with the cooking, and only a few minutes before he'd asked Dart to help him boning the meat; he was preparing a stew of some sort. Jaffar wasn't far from them, mutely sharpening his weapons, sitting on a fallen trunk similar to the one Nino and her were straddling.
Between two tents, Erk and Matthew were talking in hushed tones, or rather, Erk was talking, sending frequent glances over his hunched shoulder, while Matthew listened and nodded. Serra was mysteriously nowhere to be seen.
On the other side of the fireplace, Raven, Lucius and Priscilla were making a wonderfully familial scene, but Rebecca felt none of the habitual loneliness when Priscilla rested her hand on her older brother's to catch his attention. Isadora was just coming back – probably from the river – and was making to seat next to Fiora and Geitz.
“Rebecca? What's wrong?” Nino looked as perplexed as she felt.
“I—I'm not sure...”
Maybe it was the sight of Kent alone, staring into the fire with a pensive expression, that did it. Rebecca abruptly stood up.
“I'm sorry, Nino, there's something I've got to do... I'll see you at dinner.”
Nino responded with a bright smile. “Don't worry about that. I'm going to practice that trick with the berry beads like you showed me!”
“Okay, see you then,” Rebecca answered distractedly.
Sain wasn't there. She looked around the scene again – maybe she just hadn't noticed him – but she knew she'd been right the first time. Sain was hardly someone she could just not remember.
He wasn't there, and she wasn't even sure what it meant that she cared about where he was at all, but she did. Maybe she was just curious, she decided. It was a rare thing when Sain wasn't deep in the middle of things, being loud and noisy and comparing a girl's eyes to stars and swearing up and down his lance would forever protect her...
Her steps quickened as she left the circle adjacent to the fire.
While she walked, she heard Vaida scolding Merlinus for – something about spices, or else leather. Or possibly both, Merlinus' stammered excuses were a little confusing and she didn't slow down to pay attention.
There were more noises coming from further out of the circle of tents; Rebecca could recognize the clanking of weapons, sometimes covered by occasional shouts. She was too far away to identify the voices, the sounds distorted against the fabric walls of the tents.
Beyond Merlinus' caravan was a fallow land the others had appropriated as a sparring ground of sorts. She hurried in that direction.
She'd never come there to train herself; as an archer, there was only so much direct good direct fighting could do to her.
Instead, she and the other bow-users – and sometimes the mages who'd had an arrow fly a little too close for comfort and wished to get better at avoiding them – tended to favor more crowded areas.
Archery was about precision; you needed to know where to hit and when to hit, especially when, like Rebecca, you couldn't run away after striking. She couldn't hope to hide like Matthew would, she wasn't stealthy enough; and, as for taking direct blows, better not count on it too much. Her armor was light and getting an axe across the chest wasn't very high on her list of goals during a battle. No; an archer's skill simply laid in deadliness.
Sometimes she and Nino had mock-battles in the middle of camp, where it was always way more crowded than anything outside a battlefield, though they were careful not to start one when someone was eating. It wouldn't be nice to have one's meal interrupted and your plate fall on the ground because you'd been startled by a friendly attack.
Also there were many people Rebecca didn't want to have angry at her in the army, and the others were people she didn't wish to disappoint, so she was glad she'd succeeded in talking Nino out of that idea.
The first person she saw was Karla. The swordmaster was alone, shadow-sparring, her gestures graceful and, Rebecca would bet, lethal to her imaginary target. Her brows were furrowed in concentration. If she'd had more time, Rebecca might have stopped and admired her for a while.
Maybe another day.
“OW—hey! Careful there!”
“I told you I got better, so now—”
Lyn and Hector were sparring. The shouts were theirs. She could've expected it.
Half of the words they threw at each other were drowned by the loud clashing of their duel – Hector deviating Lyn's furious blade with the side of his axe, forcing her to stumble a few steps back, and then to twist to the left as he brought his weapon down with a 'hn!'
They seemed to understand each other just as well as if they'd been sitting around and chatting quietly, though. Not that they'd ever seemed much for quiet chats, Rebecca amended, but she supposed the idea was the same. Lyn leaped over Hector's lowered axe, and plunged forward to pierce between the plates of his armor. The sound of Lyn's iron sword racking against the heavy armor rang out as she fell back in a crouch, her sword arm extended to the side to get her equilibrium back.
“MISSED!” Hector was exultant. “Ha, you missed--”
His opponent was red, springing up again and grabbing her weapon with her two hands. “By less than an inch, you oaf,” she retorted. “I didn't miss by miles like you usually do—”
“Yeah, yeah.” Lord Hector was smirking.
Lady Lyndis' eyes narrowed.
“Don't worry,” said a gentle voice at Rebecca's side. “They'll be alright.”
She spun to the side.
“A-ah, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there,” she apologized.
The apology didn't seem to upset Florina, who only nodded, making her lavender locks fluff up against her cheeks. “It's quite alright, I was sitting over there.” She pointed at a grove a few meters away.
“Ah.”
Rebecca floundered for words for a moment.
She wasn't very close to Florina and she had no clue how to talk to her. She only knew Lady Lyn's best friend was a shy, almost reclusive girl, and a valuable comrade in battle.
Her mounting awkwardness was cut short by another loud clang and a yell. When she turned to scan the sparring partners, though, there was nothing out of the ordinary; they were only going at each other more fiercely than before.
“They'll be alright,” Florina repeated. She looked a little pale, though.
Lyn was brutally thrown to the ground. Above her, Hector kept on taunting her, slinging his ax on his shoulder. Grinning, he waved at Florina. Next to Rebecca, the pegasus knight's fingers twitched as if she was restraining herself from wringing her hands.
Yeah, Rebecca really wanted to find Sain, but...
“You're sure?” She peeked at Florina out of the corner of her eye while she waited for her answer. Inwardly, she was already listing people who could keep her company. “Lord Eliwood isn't here?”
It was odd, Lord Hector was his best friend, and he got on well with Lady Lyn as well...
“He and Sir Marcus are with Ninian and Nils,” Florina muttered, without taking her eyes away from the action. A glance at the fighters told Rebecca that they were now circling around one another. They looked considerably worse for wear, in her opinion. They couldn't keep this up for long. “But you don't need to worry. They'll be at it until supper.”
“Supper?” She could only echo the other girl's reassurance.
Small wrinkles creased up the corners of Florina's eyes as she smiled. “Yes... I'm sorry, they'll want me to cheer them on. Did you want to ask me something?”
Rebecca gave up on trying to make sense of the situation. She'd never have thought there'd be anyone willing to spar seriously on the same day as a fairly exhausting battle, but obviously she'd been wrong. She wondered if it was because Sacean culture put more of an emphasis on constant effort, or something like that.
She'd have to ask someone who knew about it. Perhaps Guy. He was more approachable than the rest. It still wouldn't explain why Lord Hector would be a part of it, but still, it'd be half an explanation already.
“Er... you haven't seen Sain recently, have you?”
“Not since we came back, I'm sorry.” Florina took a breath before she called, “Good one, Lyn!”
“No reason to be,” Rebecca muttered.
She left before waiting for an answer. She had an inkling she wouldn't get one anyway.
When she was back amongst the tents again, Rebecca's steps faltered.
Why was she so intent on finding him anyway? There was no doubt in her mind that he wasn't in any kind of danger whatsoever. If enemies had tried to sneak up on them, Heath and Rath would've seen them hours ago – it was their turn to stand watch. And anyway, enemies would never stop at-- at killing Sain. He wasn't anyone, in this war, he was only important to his friends and the people who-- who liked him. He was like her.
No, there was no reason why he'd disappear so suddenly, except...
Without noticing, she started walking faster again, so fast she was almost running.
Farina, Serra, and Lady Louise.
They were the only ones Sain might be with. Rebecca's heart constricted in her chest. It was stupid, it was ridiculous, but she didn't want him to--
The flap entrance of Lady Louise and Lord Pent's tent was pushed to the side before Rebecca was done clapping in her hands – the best replacement to knocking on the door.
“Rebecca, hello,” Lady Louise greeted her.
She was as serene as ever, though she was only wrapped in a dressing robe. She held the flap opened with her elbow, raising her arms over her head as she twisted her long blond hair before pinning them into a loose bun.
“Did you want something?” she said when she was done.
Rebecca shook herself. So what if Lady Louise's hairpin was – Rebecca could have sworn it was – a silver arrow? Or at least part of it. Well, it sounded like a sensible use of a thing that otherwise wasn't very useful out of the battlefield. Of course Rebecca wouldn't have thought of it.
Her hair was barely long enough to be braided, much less put up. She felt a wave of envy at the thought. Twin braids, that looked so childish; Lady Louise's hairdos were always so womanly – so ladylike. There were other women with beautiful hair around camp, but Rebecca liked Lady Louise's best of all. Maybe because as an archer herself, she couldn't help but admire how natural Lady Louise made fighting with her hair flowing look. In her place, Rebecca would've been terrified that they'd get caught in her bow's string, or with her fingers, or the arrow.
“Y-yes... Do you know where Sain is?”
She felt heat rise to her cheeks as she spoke. Foolish. She-- just-- she wanted to know where he was.
“Or perhaps Farina and Serra?”
She didn't really know Farina either but she knew the pegasus knight was a lively person. A good companion. In a very short pegasus knight skirt, oh Elimine. Farina liked a laugh, right? She probably wouldn't impale Sain with her lance if he started flirting. ... when he started flirting. She'd seen the way he'd looked at Farina's legs when she'd dived in front of them during the battle.
And Serra, well, Serra was a little too much but you could hardly claim she was ugly. She got more than her fair share of contemplative gazes from the rest of the army. Rebecca noticed because sometimes she thought Serra received her of glances as well. And Serra wasn't adverse to flirting. And, most of all – Rebecca's stomach wrenched – she hadn't been with either Erk or Matthew, her two favorite – Rebecca struggled with the word 'victims'.
Sain was a charming man. Either of the two, Farina or Serra, he could—
Lady Louise was shaking her head. “Sain? No.”
“Who is it, my dear?” inquired Lord Pent from inside the tent.
Lady Louise turned to face her husband as he came to stand behind her. He, too, wore only a dressing robe, and his usual ponytail was undone.
And to say Rebecca had thought she couldn't get any redder.
“Rebecca wanted to know if I'd seen her knight,” the sniper explained as Lord Pent put a hand on her waist, unembarrassed by Rebecca's presence.
Oh Elimine. Maybe if she prayed very fervently, the ground would open and swallow her?
“But we have,” the sage affirmed, resting his chin against Louise's shoulder. “When we retired here.”
Louise clapped her hands. “You're right! He was going to the archery ground, I remember I thought he was going to see you,” she addressed Rebecca with an air that would have been called sly on anyone else.
“I wouldn't worry, if I were you,” Pent added. “Farina is taking care of her sisters' pegasi. I think she brought them sugar,” he said with a smile, before assuming a stern expression at once. “You must promise not to tell anyone. She'd be distressed.”
She returned his solemn gaze. “I won't. ...you said he was going to the archery ground?”
Whatever would he want to do there? ...and she still didn't know where Serra was.
As if he'd read her mind, Pent continued, “As for Serra, well... She's a peculiar girl.”
“I don't think you have any reason to be worried, dear.”
Rebecca bit her lip and nodded. “Thank you,” she said politely, refusing to voice her concerns.
She forced her legs to make a vague attempt at a curtsy, though her back was stiff with apprehension, before letting them take her away as fast as they could.
She'd broken into a dash now, amidst the tents that separated her from the edge of the forest, jumping across the various obstacles that came in her way – one or two fallen lances, a couple of barrels, an inexplicable staff that barred the alley between two tents; she went under it almost without slowing down. At one point she almost collided with a tall cloaked man, she thought it was Legault, but she just shouted a quick apology and kept on running.
They'd settled their temporary camp close to a forest, and it was there, just inside those woods, that the archers of the group had taken to practice. Trees provided natural targets and as long as everyone knew what went on there, there was no risk that anyone would be unintentionally wounded.
She wouldn't have found him if she hadn't been looking for him.
His clothes were green and brownish against the browns and greens of the forest; even looking for him, she wouldn't have found him if she hadn't been expecting him.
When his image in her mind superimposed on reality, she stopped in her mad race.
He was alone.
He was leaning against a tree, pensively staring down at... something... he held in his hands.
A bow, she realized. It was an Iron Bow.
She couldn't repress her gasp. Sain straightened, looking up sharply, and their eyes met.
“Sain, what are you doing?”
Relief flooded through Rebecca, strong and sweet, but it didn't lessen her incomprehension.
She'd been galloping all over camp for him, and he'd been... playing with a bow. A weapon that he couldn't even use.
Not even a particularly good one, at that; now she'd come closer, she could see that it was old. The handle was bent out of shape, and the wooden body of the bow had splintered. She wouldn't even try to send an arrow with it; it'd break between her hands as soon as she drew on the string.
In fact--
That dent on the left side of the handle. That dark spot close to the string. The broken bit at the end of the lower arm.
“My bow?” she said incredulously. “You got my old bow? Where did you-- why did you get it, Sain?”
He averted his gaze, looking down at the old bow again. He turned the weapon over, several times. His grasp was both firm and soft, something that Rebecca could appreciate even now. He was careful not to break it.
The silence grew heavy and she felt a knot in her throat.
“I guess I just wanted to be close to you,” he said. He was speaking in a tone unlike any she'd ever heard from him; almost subdued, almost derisive.
“Sain...”
He cut her off.
“Ah, well. It's nothing. I can give it back, if you'd like.”
His tone was louder, but something in his self-confidence rang out of tune. He wasn't really as carefree as he was forcing himself to sound, not right now.
Maybe she really did mean something to him, after all.
“But... I was thinking I'd rather keep it. If it's alright with you.” He smiled quickly.
For a very long time, Rebecca was at a loss for words. She just looked at him not looking up. His headband was meant to keep his hair from his eyes, but not when his head was bowed like now. His thumb was rubbing small circles against the bow's iron handle.
Finally, because she found nothing else to say, she blandly came out with, “You should come to dinner.”
He glanced at her, obviously not knowing how to take her words. She flushed.
“We're going to miss dinner,” she said more aggressively, “so you should just come. I came all the way here to find you.”
Even if his smile was a ghost of his usual grin, Sain's entire countenance cleared up.
“I... Okay.”
She didn't know why, but she waited for him to leave his spot. Once he was close to her, she took his hand, the one that wasn't gripping her old bow.
She didn't let go until they were back.
