Leanne's Lessons

TITLE: Leanne's Lessons

AUTHOR: WotanAnubis

FANDOM: Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn or any characters from those games. No profit is being made.

RATING: NC-17

PAIRING: Leanne/Elincia

NOTE: Sooner or later, I always return to Fire Emblem, don't I?

* * * * *

Queen Elincia paused when she heard the singing. It was another beautiful day at Castle Crimea. Now that Spring had come, the gardens were in full bloom and the sun shone brightly. And with Spring had come Leanne, though Elincia wasn't quite certain why. As far as she could tell, the heron princess flew between Gallia, Phoenicis, Crimea and even Kilvas however she pleased, whenever she pleased.

Perhaps, after decades of sleeping in a dead forest, Leanne simply felt the need to stretch her wings even more frequently than most.

Elincia shook herself from her idle musings and stepped out into one of the castle's many sunlit gardens. Leanne was indeed there, sitting on a fountain, singing something in the Old Tongue. The words were completely incomprehensible to Elincia, but that didn't diminish the beauty of the heron's voice.

Elincia noisily cleared her throat, feeling a little guilty about doing so. It didn't seem right to disturb Leanne's song. Not that the white-winged blonde seemed to mind. She stopped, turned and smiled more brightly than the sun.

"I hope I'm not interrupting," Elincia said, stepping forward.

Leanne shook her head. "N- Not at all," she said.

Even when she was uncertainly using what little she knew of the common language, Leanne's voice was beautiful.

Elincia sat down next to the heron princess on the fountain's edge. "What were you singing, if I may ask?"

Leanne looked up, as if searching for inspiration. Or perhaps just the right words.

"Sunlight," she said at last. "Grass. Birds. Beauty. This garden is beautiful."

"I'm glad to hear that," Elincia said. "But I suppose it can't hold a candle to the forests of Gallia."

Leanne shook her head again. "No. Gallian forests too wild. Too..." She sang a few sentences in the Old Tongue, apparently looking for the right words. "Cluttered," she finished. "Not like this."

"Perhaps you're right," Elincia said.

"Now, how can I help you?"

"Mmm? Oh. No, there's nothing," Elincia said. "I merely wanted to see how you were doing."

"I am f- fine," said Leanne. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, too," Elincia said with a faint smile.

"Then why is there pain in your heart?"

Elincia turned to the heron princess, but saw only genuine concern in her eyes.

"I... I'm not certain what you're talking about," she said. "Nothing bad has happened recently."

"Not recently," Leanne said. "An old pain. Almost as old as you."

Elincia hesitated. It was easy to forget sometimes that Leanne was a laguz of the heron tribe. Or at least, it was easy to forget what that meant.

"I've learned to live with it," Elincia said, hoping against hope Leanne wasn't act