#maritana

Marisa stepped slowly through the forest, one foot far to the left, the other pressing just the toe on a patch of dirt to the left, avoiding as many shoots as possible. She wasn’t used to this many stray plants. To kill them for no reason other than her own desire to take a walk would be wasteful. But it made her gait awkward and stilted. If she could find a clearing…

The trees at last began to thin. But as she moved forward, a shadow fell over her, and a chill crept up her spine. She tensed, hand moving to the hilt of her sword.

“Marisa! Hey!” There was the familiar sound of a pegasus’ wingbeats as the shadow disappeared. In front of her, a white steed touched down gracefully, flexing its wings proudly before folding them up. Waving at her with a grin was Princess Tana.

“Tana,” Marisa acknowledged, careful to leave off the title when she spoke. They were friends.

“What brings you all the way out here? I’m the one patrolling, you can feel free to take a break for once.” Tana slid off her pegasus, giving him a kiss on the nose to thank him for his efforts.

Marisa shrugged. “This is my break. I needed some time away from all the people.”

Tana nodded sagely, and then paused. “Ah! Am I being a bother, then?”

“You’re fine.” For some reason, it was true.

“Did you do this in the desert, too?”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, it’d be much hotter. And more dangerous if you got lost.”

Marisa shrugged. “Chief knows my habits. I know my way around a desert.”

There was a lull. Friends, Marisa reminded herself. More words, less shrugging. “This is very different. It feels more suffocating.”

Tana cocked her head. “You don’t find all the greenery refreshing?”

“The trees feel like they’re blocking me in. Blocking my line of sight, too. With open sands, ambushes are more difficult to effectively implement.”

Tana considered that. “Frelia has a lot of plains, too, so I see what you mean. Oh! If you want to be able to see everything, what about a ride on Achaeus? I’ll be there, but I promise to be quiet. And it’s hard to hear anything above the wind if you go fast enough anyways.”

Marisa blinked. She’d always admired pegasus knights, but never considered flying herself. She was more comfortable with her feet on the ground. Stable ground.

“Can he handle that?”

“Well, it wouldn’t be safe if we did it for too long, but he’s plenty strong for finishing up my patrol with the two of us. It’s a brilliant view!”

“Okay.” Marisa refuses to waver. Decisiveness is a strength. Tana won’t let her fall.

Tana’s face lights up. “You’ll have to sit behind me, so I can guide him, but all you have to do is hold on tight and enjoy yourself. I’ll go slow.”

Tana demonstrates mounting, one foot in the stirrup before she swings a long leg over the other side.

Marisa approaches hesitantly, offering Achaeus a pat. A little flattery never hurt anyone.

She balances one hand on his hindquarters, the other in Tana’s grip as she slots her left foot into the stirrup. It wobbles. She grips Tana’s wrist harder and jerks her right leg over. There. Her other hand moves to Tana’s shoulder.

“Not bad for a beginner! Now, move your arms to my waist.” 

Marisa obeyed, and realized how awkward this was going to be, pressed against Tana’s back. Her heart rate was picking up at the prospect of leaving the ground. Surely Tana would feel it.

Tana talked her through the taking off process, and counted down to when Achaeus would actually leave the ground. She would be a good drill leader for new riders.

And then they were in the air. Marisa’s arms squeezed together instinctively. Wind was rushing past her ears, punctuated with the thwaps of Achaeus’ wings. She peered down, over Tana’s shoulder.

It… it was acceptable. The clearing they had left from was a visible oval nestled in the forest. And there was the ring of tents and carts and dots of heads that made up where Eirika and the others were. There was no sign of any other armies or spies crawling through the forest. There were no trees taller than her, stretching above her head, taunting her with their leaves, impassable.

The noise around her ears settled, and she noticed that Tana was… wheezing? Marisa hastily loosened her arms.

“Thanks,” Tana gasped, barely audible, as promised.

They continued on, the flight path alien to Marisa. But she could see everything. Her heart settled back down, soothed. She realized that she could feel the pulse of Tana’s own heart. Automatically, she matched her breathing to Tana’s. The air was thin up here, and cold, crisp. Yet the sun also felt stronger up here, unhindered by any obstacles.

Her mind felt clear when they finally landed. Tana helped her jump down and Marisa stared up at her for a long minute. Fortunately, she seemed to understand that Marisa was pondering her words, not just being rude.

“Thank you,” Is what she settled on, despite how insufficient it felt. “Tana.” She added. Not princess. Just Tana. And Tana just beamed at her again, smile as warm as the sun on her skin had been.