NO MORE THIEVING, YOUNG LADY! — & corrin

it was a knight that entrusted her with word from faerghus.  and at first, mikoto thought nothing of it than a joke.  a humiliating feat that only simmered into realization at the grim expression of her colleague.  now that she remembers the moment, trudging through the thinning snow up to her ankles, the idea of it all is horrid.  though she is optimistic, a bitter emotion swells in the spaces of her mind and chest.  not even the healing light of her staff can numb the feeling of desperation.  how else is a mother to act when word passes of her daughter dragging her reputation through the ground?  and not by disgracing herself with bad mannerisms, but theft and foolery!

her substitute mount, amber, follows after the guidance of her grip on the reins.  the few faculty and students deployed on the missions were far beyond their position.  it’d be out of her jurisdiction to venture into the foreign land without an official mission pledged to her name, but still... she is here. only in the outskirts of the kingdom will she attempt to find a hint of the fool behind her daughter’s fakery.

“   —and she’s a kind lady, i tell you!  have i told you of the time she tripped in a river and was concerned of hurting the fish there instead of the scrape on her knee?   ”   mikoto sighs, a pleasant smile warm on her lips as she recalls the fleeting memory.  amber makes a noise behind her.   “   to think of her stealing from the poor is baffling!  corrin would never dare to. she’d never have the heart to.   ”

snow and dirt crunches beneath hooves and soles.  mikoto opens her mouth to bring forth yet another memory when the reins grow taut in her hand.  a branch snaps and the silence that follows is deafening, immediately torn by amber’s neigh.  dirt is kicked up by the horse’s hooves, reins yanked against impatient tugging.

“   calm yourself, amber!   ”   mikoto exclaims, tightening her grip and raising her hand to beckon her mount’s attention.   “   there is no threat, darling.  be still!   ”   thankfully, the fright had been small.  the panic settles, slowly, but when it does, the sound of footsteps becomes prominent.  hoshidan queen keeps herself from startling, aware of the focus her mount has on her.  slowly, she raises the reins before amber, and kneels to rest them on the ground.  mikoto backs away, once as an experiment, whispering a command of steadiness, before moving around the nearest tree.  a borrowed sword is pulled from the sheathe at her hip.  when she peers back from her hiding place, silver tresses are the first things she spies.

corrin, she realizes grimly.  still, she does not move.  instead, mikoto listens for the voice of the imposter, insistent to hear the bluff of identity on their tongue before moving to intervene.

@ofdusk !

@anankelotus asked : Anankos stares at her, more in disbelief than anything else. She can't be real... right? This is just another figment of his imagination, another ghost to haunt him. But... she seems so real, so alive. Like if he reached out, his fingers would touch her skin, rather than just slipping through thin air.

"Mikoto..." His voice is weak, still tired from the ramifications of the dream that had just been escaped. If she is not real, the shattering of his heart after everything might finally crack irreparably.

"Mikoto, my love... is that really you...? I... I'm sorry... I never should have... left you and Corrin all alone... I missed you..."

the garden echoes his voice as would a catacomb.  mikoto does not hear him at first, her gaze narrow focused on the careful glide of her hands from bag to jar, and jar to basket.  seeds are cupped into her hand before being slid into the confinements of a small container.  hesitant, does her name reach her—   the jar cracks against the gravel stone beneath her.  asteria ties the thrumming of her heart into a knot, one she is forced to let sit in the back of her throat.  there is no denying her body’s tension; anankos is here.  he’s here but he can’t be.  he can’t be.  not now, at least.  the fates are not as cruel to grant him passage to her during the beginnings of her stay.  how awful must the gods of this land be to defy her wishes.

he calls her once more and, like a history that ignores and repeats itself, mikoto dares herself to flee.  mikoto’s hand reaches for asteria as she moves forward, determined to escape whatever trickery of the mind she’s found herself in,

but she stops.

the voice—   anankos’ voice, her lover’s voice—   speaks from behind her.   (   you call him a lover because he is.  because he was.  but there is an ache that you do not want to experience again.  the burden of loving someone already lost.   )   mikoto hesitates to turn, listening fully to the extent of his sorrow.  it is the same notes of melancholy that she followed from the land of askr.  and it is that reminder, the fact that she risked a life to see another, that forces her to turn around.  her lips open to speak, maybe his name or a title or a noise, but nothing leaves her.

the sight of him, hooded and weary, is enough to bring her to tears.  years have separated them and yet here he stands, almost the same as he once was when she had her retainers bring him to her bedchambers.  sick, weary, but alive.

“   anankos,   ”   mikoto whispers, hands shaking against each other.  she steps towards him once, then again, before she’s walking desperately to close the distance.   “   anankos, is this true?  do not make me mourn a ghost, be real.  be here before me.   ”   her hands rise and meet skin.  an eyelid is closed beneath her palm, the bristle of lashes settles a twitch of her fingers.  her opposite hand meets another closed eye and this time, she recoils.  not far, but her hands retract back to her chest and she shudders.

it is not from fear, and she isn’t sure how she feels about the realization.  instead, mikoto peers into anankos’ hood, stares him in the eyes as she speaks.   “   you called me here.  your voice... i heard your dream.  saw your dream.  we...   ”   and if she was there, then it was her death.  over and over and over again until his nightmares became her own.  but this is too much, too soon.  the confessions are stuck in her throat and her willpower refuses to pull them out.  mikoto steps back, narrowed eyes dark with apprehension.   “   corrin is here.  has she... has she seen you?   ”

has he spoken to her?  to leo?  there are too many questions to ask and expect answered.  so mikoto doesn’t.  her shoulders relax and asteria hums from across the garden, where it rests against a pillar of wood.  she gestures to the ground and says,   “   we will be here for a while.  sit with me, anankos.  rest your legs.   ”