Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem

A/N: Was originally a chapter in "Fleeting Thoughts," but was different enough that I decided to post it separately. Minor revisions 8/8/08

Father

Rath

It was the day I'd been waiting for, for far too long. At last, I was going home.

There was much time to think as I rode through the plains. I remembered the day I was sent out of the village, just a boy, with nowhere to go and nothing to do. I was only told that my destiny lay elsewhere and I was born to protect this world. For that I was cast out, not to return until my destiny was fulfilled.

But even now that the magician was defeated and the dark flame extinguished, I wondered, had I truly fulfilled my destiny? Was this all I was meant to do?

I couldn't say.

I had done everything I needed to. Had seen much of the outside world and grown strong, a warrior, as my people needed me to be. Stayed true to the old ways, remembered the songs and stories of our history and lore. I had never forgotten, even for a day, who I was.

Rath of the Kutolah. Son of Dayan of the Sacaen plains.

This was my home. The wind in my face – I'd longed forever to feel it again, to breathe the scent of fallow earth, to see the wind ripple through waves of green.

Here, I was free. With no walls to confine me or outsiders looking down upon me. Only the open sky and grassy sea. And my people, those who heard the call of this land as much as I, who loved this land as much as I. I should have felt nothing but joy as I rode to the village that was my home.

Why, then, this regret?

Why, when I should have felt complete, did I feel something missing?

Her face came to mind as clearly as if she were standing before me now. I could only hope that time would blur her image, that someday I would not see bright green eyes and long green hair in my dreams. But I knew time alone would not dim the memory of her fire, her temper, her passionate need to protect the ones she cared for. I cannot forget her, even though I should.

There was a time when I thought we would be right for each other. She longed for the plains as much as I. She, too, waited for the day she could ride with the wind in her face and a hawk soaring the skies above. She knew what it was like to be alone. But she needed a man who could match her passion, whose fire rivaled her own. I was not that man.

Perhaps she was the reason I felt something left undone. Perhaps some part of me wondered, if I'd said or done anything differently, she would be riding beside me now.

A foolish thought.

She had found her place in the world. I would not be a man if I wished to take that away, or wished that my place was at her side.

My place was here.

As I rode into the village, I said my farewell. I might never forget her, but to live as I must, I had to let her go.

The villagers stopped and stared as I made my way to the chieftain's tent. They did not recognize me; it had been fifteen years since then. But no matter. There was only one who need remember me.

A man stepped out of the tent. Gray streaked his hair and he would not tower over me as he did before, but the stern expression on his face was the same as it was on that day. I got off the horse and faced him. For a long time we said nothing, until finally I said,

"Father, I'm home."

He said nothing even then. But he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around me, a smile cracking that stern expression, to welcome me home.