The Radiant Hero of Tellius

ANGRILY HOVERS BEHIND HIM TO FIGHT ANYONE WHO TRIES TO MESS WITH HIM.

It absolutely doesn’t look like it, but he’s grateful that Reyson is willing to stand by his side. He knows it can’t be easy.

He shook his head. “I am fine.” And he was. Mostly. Not enough to speak of anyway, though he did put a bit more distance between himself and the trap in case it decided to go off again.

“I do not know why such things would be left out to be stepped on. You must have been hit rather hard being so close.” Sabotaging one’s own allies seemed rather foolish. But he didn’t understand a great many things in this world.

“Is there a way to move it? I should not like Leanne to step over this…”

Ike nodded in acknowledgement of Reyson’s response. It was a magical attack, so that probably helped, but it also hadn’t been incredibly strong, so he didn’t feel like he needed to worry too much about it. The Herons might not have been the most physically sturdy bunch, but they weren’t glass either.

Besides, he trusted Reyson to speak honestly with him.

“Does seem pretty stupid to leave it out in our own territory, where any of us could trigger it,” Ike muttered in concurrence, gaze fixed back down on the golden trap. It wasn’t really a good trap, when he thought about it. It was so brightly colored, how could anyone miss it? They’d only set it off intentionally to see if it worked or not, after all.

   It feels difficult to distinguish the locations from the rest of his words, but she repeats the noises into her head until they clear, offer meaning rather than simply sound. Crimea. Gallia. Strange. Not quite Japanese at all. The letters did not adhere to the alphabet she knew, not even if she reversed them. Still, she memorized them, committed it to memory, even one foggy and belabored by agony. 

   It takes her too long to parse that on edirot is not another city or country, but no toride. Our fort. 

   “Your… fort?” she repeats. Further questions may give her complete displacement away, so she ends the statement – as she may’ve ever, regardless – with a gentle, prompting query. 

Silence lingers between them. It’s not particularly uncomfortable, considering the circumstances, but there’s a strain there that Ike can’t quite put his finger on.

He nods at her echoing of his words, blue eyes examining her for a moment before he thinks on how to answer her...sort of vague inquiry.

“Well, it was, at one point. I couldn’t tell you what purpose it served before my father decided to use it. With how close we are to the border, it might have been a watchpoint against Gallia a long time ago. Or, perhaps it was the stronghold of mercenaries from before our time; Crimea doesn’t exactly have a proper military, so that’s always possible,” Ike spoke in monotone, broad shoulders shrugging as he named off a few thoughts.

He’d honestly never given it much thought before. 

Casually, the same way you love to breathe

You want someone who will see your favorite flower and will give it to you, without even thinking about it. You want someone who will remember all the little details about you, the things so seemingly unimportant but that matter more than you thought they did. You want someone who will still be there, thirty years down the line, holding your hand while the two of you do two separate things. You want the intimacy of being known by someone who makes you feel safe. You don't want expensive dinners or grand proposals. You want someone who will love you consistently.

tagged by: gently stolen from @jasperlion​