memory + video // open to both courts

[justike]

[Video of the memory here.]



[The memory opens in an empty throne room, dusty with disuse, with the light filtering through a stained glass window illuminating a young woman on the throne. To anyone who's seen her before Elincia is easily recognizable, though her face is softer and younger.

Ike's voice, too, is a little younger:] "What's wrong? Everyone's waiting. Is it okay if they don't even see your shadow?"

[Elincia answers without looking up.] "I'm nervous. My existence has been hidden ever since I was born. I never received the education of one who would be responsible for a country. Is it all right for someone like me to be crowned? The people, will they recognize me?"

"What's this foolishness?"

"But Lord Ike, I..."

"If that's so, then... did you receive an education on how to hire us mercenaries?"

"Huh? That's--"

"Or an education about how to gather your scattered retainers, or take back your lost country?"

"But that and this are--"

"They're not different."

[The view shifts as Ike kneels with one gauntleted hand braced on his leg, looking up at Elincia's anxious face from below.]

"Up until now, haven't you done wonderfully? And from here on out as well, you'll be able to make it work."

"... Yes."

"Well then, let's go. Everyone's waiting. If you're uncomfortable alone, let's go together."

[Ike rises again, extending his hand. After a moment's hesitation Elincia accepts and he pulls her up towards him, her weight slight. The memory lingers on her warm smile as she clasps his hand in both of hers.]

"Thank you, Lord Ike. It was truly wonderful to have been able to meet you."

[The only answer he gives is taking her hand firmly again as they turn to walk together towards the light of an entranceway. The decorative mirrors in the hall catch his reflection briefly, showing a young man barely taller than Elincia and considerably smaller in stature than the Ike anyone in the Drabwurld has spoken to.]


[Sometime later, Ike's usual vaguely frowning face will appear in the locket:]

Hm. Another one of these. Um... Sorry.

Comments

[justike]

I don't even remember being that small. It's strange.

[Even though he'd just said Elincia had grown, it was a little disorienting to see in the memory how close their heights had been back then.

He's only a medium-sized mountain, there's still Caineghis.]

[devotedqueen]

You were always larger than life.

[Still larger than life. But yes, back then Elincia could look you in the eye without craning her neck upwards. It's very disorientating.

Also we don't talk about Caineghis, he is an outlier]

[justike]

[Elincia, you can't just say stuff like that, you'll embarrass him.]

I think you, more than most people, know me too well for that.

[devotedqueen]

[She's a queen, she can say all the embarrassing things she wants to say]

Hmm, that may be very well true but you do have a kind of charisma that draws people in.

[justike]

[That is a flagrant misuse of powers.]

It's a little funny to hear that from you. We came that far because we were following you, after all.

[devotedqueen]

[Shush. This is perfectly reasonable.]

But it was you, General, who drew them together in the first place. From Gallia to Daein. If you had not been by my side...

[Well, there was no time for 'what ifs' was there?]

[justike]

Enough, I surrender. Just don't use that title again.

[He holds up his hands and laughs. This is definitely a skirmish he can't win, rare as that is to acknowledge.]

Let's just agree that we did it together. Your Majesty.

[devotedqueen]

[Sorry Ike, you may be a master of swords and unbeatable in the field, when it comes to words, Elincia reigns supreme.

She laughs, nodding]

Very well, Lord Ike. There's nothing about that I can disagree with.

[justike]

[He should have known better than to undertake that battle in the first place.]

Why do I still feel like I lost? [But he can't really be sore about it, especially when Elincia seems so happy.]

[devotedqueen]

Was there something that needed to be won?

[You're in Elincia's domain, sorry Ike. But yes, she is very happy (as happy as she can be while everyone seems to be miserable around them)]

[justike]

When you put it like that, I guess not.

[Always the reasonable one.]

[devotedqueen]

I'm glad we've come to an agreement, my lord.

[She is a queen!!]