Work Text:
Say’ri's ears were no stranger to varying sounds from inside the camp's tent. The place where people plotted their attacks, their strategies; the ruffling of the material walls, the glass lantern swinging from side to side above her; she was no stranger to any of those. But this time, the sound that greeted her ears this time was not a sound she was familiar with.
Her curiosity was piqued as the voice grew louder.
“Augh! Curse those damned bandits! A blight upon this land! Curse them all!”
The sound of her beloved stomping angry was not a sound that she got to hear often. Loud banging, fists slamming down on the worn oaken table; even the knives that were pinning down a weathered map onto its surface popping out with the force of the blows. No calm could quell Tiki’s rage; no calm besides Say’ri.
A feat she was very smug about, if she did say so herself.
“My lady,” the swordswoman asked, standing up from her chair and stepping towards Tiki. Say’ri placed her hands on the hilt of her sword, and looked curiously upon the woman before her in such an enclosed space.
"Tiki," she mumbled softly. “Whatever is the matter?”
The manakete jumped at such dulcet, velvet tones; jumped a little in her skin even, as though she hadn’t realized that Say’ri was present in the room.
But upon resting her eyes on Say’ri’s perfect skin, her stature slender and confident, the picture of all that was right in Tiki’s world…she knew she could no longer seethe.
“Say’ri...” she exclaimed brightly, already feeling the storm in her heart calming. But just remembering all the reasons of why such a storm existed in the first place; the happiness was not vanished, but instead, the bright smile was replaced with a frown – and a dark cloud above Tiki's head accompanied.
Say’ri’s expression softened, as she continued to rest her palms atop her swords hilt.
“Such a dark expression on such a beaming face,” Say’ri exclaimed with a smirk, and softened her brow. “it would do you well to not dwell on such dark things, my lady. Let me help you. Unload your worries to me. Your burden is mine, too.”
Tiki huffed to herself, in small, disappointedly enraged breaths; and a small ridge against the corner of her mouth appeared from such a pouting expression. Say’ri could not help but grin at Tiki’s unintentional cute charm, and, with one final huff of that akin to a dragon’s breath after breathing fire, Tiki slumped herself down on the chair next to the table; drawing circles along the smooth, wooden surface with her slender fingers.
She idly played with the jagged map corner for a while; tearing at the paper just gently, and Say’ri welcomed such calming, idle noises; never taking her eyes off of the emerald and ruby beauty before her eyes.
She knew, from knowing Tiki’s habits inside and out, that her manakete love was calming herself before talking.
Tiki didn’t want to take it out on the girl she loved.
The manakete princess began to mumble something; but she mumbled sheepishly; so sheepishly and meekly, as though she had done something to blame. Her fingers stopped tracing the lines of the worn down paper, and her palm slowly rested against the table. Say’ri looked concerned beneath her dark fringe; her dark eyes scanning for any sign of what may have happened, before her breath caught a little in her throat - as Tiki’s eyes met her own.
Such beautiful eyes. The eyes of someone who has seen life, seen it all to it’s fullest, every emotion, every war, everything. And lately, thought Say’ri, Tiki had such a shimmering glow about those eyes that Say’ri adored so much. She could see it when they lay together, talking for the hours that they allowed their lips to speak; almost as though she had discovered something new.
Say’ri couldn’t help feeling a warm spot in her heart at the idea of it being that she was Tiki’s new experience.
“I...my lady,” she began, with swift composure amidst the privacy of their tent’s walls, and cleared her throat. “…please, I wish to hear. Whatever has gone on to make you feel such anger?”
Tiki paused for a moment, with nothing but the sound of the material walls blowing a little in the wind of the evening; before she drew breath, and a soft expression crept across her emerald eyes.
Say’ri fought back a blush.
“Wh-what is it?” she replied, tucking a strand of her brunette hair behind her ear. “You are acting awfully strange, my lady.”
“I was just thinking how affectionate it is to be referred to as your lady so often,” Tiki replied with a cheeky smile, and Say’ri looked away quickly. “I like being known as such a thing. I enjoy very much being yours, you know.”
“Wh – I am just being polite, my la…my lady!”
Tiki giggled a little at Say’ri’s hesitance halfway through such a sentence, before she stood up, and; dusting herself down from shoulder to hips, let her heeled boots click their way across the stone floor to where her devoted beloved stood; and wrapped her arms around her shoulders.
“…? Hm? What's this, now?” Say’ri began, not unused to Tiki’s warmth. Her palms moved from the hilt of her sword and around Tiki’s waist, and pulled her close to her chest; and then she felt little droplets against her neck.
“Tiki…” she murmured, and felt a venomous anger rise up in her throat. “Who made you cry? Tell me, for they shall know the taste of my sword!”
“No, no,” Tiki whispered firmly, and held Say’ri closer. “It’s…it’s okay, Say’ri. It was just the usual. Bandits, even. And they just…I worry. I worry upon sight.”
There was no time for pause.
“My lady…what is it that you worry about?” Say’ri asked in quick succession, but Tiki remained silent with tears.
She did not want to answer. She did not want to worry Say’ri any further, or give any hint that she would ever question her strength. She just…
No.
Tiki knew what she wanted.
She knew.
“Say’ri, please…just…hold me, for a while.”
Say’ri paused her anger, and without a moment’s hesitation, pulled Tiki even firmer against her chest, and tightened her arm’s hug.
“Do not ever deprive me of you.”
Say’ri and Tiki felt their grip to one another grow a little tighter, and Say’ri did not stop her lips from placing a gentle kiss to Tiki’s burning forehead.
“You need not ask again, my lady.” Say’ri replied, rubbing her lips together from the heat. “I will never let you go.”
Tiki let out a small, sad laugh, and gripped onto Say’ri even tighter than she thought possible.
Tiki truly had realized that, of late, Say’ri had become such an integral part of her life that she couldn’t bear to let her go. She couldn’t bear to allow the thoughts of being a manakete into her head for too long, to know that soon, too soon for Tiki’s liking, Say’ri’s mortal coil would pull her from out of her arms if nothing else; never mind the bandits, or Grima, or any other factor.
Tiki just wanted to keep Say’ri safe. So safe, and protected and content that no danger could harm her.
She wanted to protect her in so many embraces and kisses that it consumed her very being.
The sight of bandits was becoming somewhat of a problem. Privately, of course, to Tiki; with the hundreds of years she had been alive in this world, she had learned how to disguise her emotions. Don’t ever show weakness, she thought to herself. Don’t ever show Say’ri the side of you that cannot bear to lose her. Make her proud to call you hers. But she couldn’t help herself. The sight of not just bandits, but generals, commanders…anything that presented such an immediate sense of danger.
She didn’t want Say’ri out of her sight.
A large group of bandits had been spotted on the hillside. Chrom, Lissa, the tactician and Miriel alone were discussing just how to approach the issue. Perhaps humans had already been attacked? Was it truly bandits, or the Risen? Even the knowledge that Tiki could not be certain of an enemy’s origin until they attacked was terrifying. Being alive for hundreds and hundreds of years was nothing…nothing compared to the knowledge that losing the person closest to her would be the most devastating blow that could ever occur to her skin.
To every part of her. To her heart, to her bones, to her mind; losing Say’ri would be devastation in its purest form. And Tiki knew; she knew this more than anyone. Losing Say’ri…would mean losing herself, and she wanted to stay alive. She wanted to stay with her devoted bodyguard, with the love of her life, with the woman she had fallen so hopelessly in love with.
Privately, of course. But always and eternal.
“Come,” Say’ri blurted out into the silence of their hug and Tiki’s tears rolling down her cheeks, and slid her palm off of Tiki’s back gently, and slipped it into her hand. “Let us lay. Lay with me, my lady. Let me hold you.”
“Say’ri…”
Say’ri smiled gently at Tiki, with such beautiful, dark eyes, and the fairest of complexions that made even Tiki’s manakete heart melt away into obscurity. There was so much about Say’ri that she adored.
So much so that Tiki could barely put a number on the things she loved about her.
Say’ri kicked off her boots, and as Tiki did the same, she did not let go of her hand. Not for a single second; and as Tiki slid herself onto the bed and firmer into Say’ri’s arms, she thought to herself, this is the most content I have ever been.
Tearful, exhausted, worn out from fighting; and yet, laying in her beloved’s arms is all she could ever want. Tiki knew that.
“Say’ri…” she murmured against Say’ri’s chest, as she wrapped her arms around her neck once more. “Thank you for comforting me. Even when you do not know the full story, you still comfort me and calm me without hesitation or reservations. Thank you.”
“I would do anything for you, my lady. I would hope you know that much.”
Tiki smiled warmly.
“I do. And I would do anything for you alike, you know.”
Say’ri looked down into Tiki’s eyes, and tucked strands of her mint hair behind her ear with ease.
“That is more of an honour to me than you could ever know.”
Tiki and Say’ri paused in the warmth of their embrace, and looked down towards each other’s lips; with blushes rising to both of their cheeks.
“T…Tiki…”
“…Say’ri.”
Say’ri paused, and blinked a little at the firmness of such a blushing girl’s words.
“Wh-what is it, my lady? What do you wish?”
Tiki paused alongside Say’ri, and looked deep into her eyes amidst the embrace.
This had been coming since the very moment they had met. The moment of all their comforts, all their joys, sadness, overwhelming triumphs in the face of adversity; all of the nights they had lay here, in each other’s arms, and bared their very souls to one another; all of it had lead up to this moment.
Tiki knew. And Say’ri knew better than anyone just what she wanted to do more than anything in the world, anything that would ensure Tiki saying the words she so desperately wanted to hear, anything-
“I wish you to kiss me.”
Say’ri’s breath caught in her throat for the millionth time that night; that very moment, even, just from feeling Tiki’s manakete heart pounding so thoroughly against her chest. Her lips began to feel such a tingle, a tingle of desire, passion, of such burning passion from remembering kissing Tiki’s forehead just moments ago; and now…she wanted to act upon the desire she had been so deeply repressing for the sake of Tiki’s happiness.
And now, she got her wish.
Her wish to kiss the girl of her dreams.
The same sly smirk crept across her lips; the same smirk as before, from seeing Tiki’s pouting lips, and thinking to herself how thoroughly she’d like to kiss them. And Say’ri knew, without saying another word, just what she was finally about to experience; and as her lips were just a breath away from Tiki’s own, she mumbled,
“As you wish, my lady,”
and pressed her lips softly to Tiki’s very own, to kiss her as hard as she’d always dreamed of.