A/N

For lack of a better word, this story is ancient, the original outline having been written in the Christmas of 2006. I left it alone however, as it originally started off as a oneshot for Golden Sun, albiet one that stemmed off from one of my fics for the universe instead of the universe itself. Not exactly something that prompts rapid posting.

Anyway, I resurrected it recently, but as I wrote, my mental imagery took be back to Sacae, what with its rolling grasslands and all. While I'm not exactly fond of the Sacaeans seemingly universal "superiority complex", I decided to go along with the idea and make it a Fire Emblem fic, including a certain pairing (don't worry, it's easy to spot).

Disclaimer: Fire Emblem is the property of Nintendo/Intelligent Systems.

When the Wind Blows

Sacae makes travel easy for those who seek what lies beyond the remains of civilization. The grasslands cover the land for as far as the eye can see. Flat, endless, a representation of the nature of time. Static, or as close as it is possible for time not to exist. The world continues to fall into nothingness, but the process is slow enough so that none may notice. Oh, and there's the fact that the short grass makes it difficult for the occasional bandit to sneak up upon the unwary. Not that they won't try of course-stagnation breeds both desperation and complacency. Those who follow the ways of death and destruction have chosen the path of the former. Those who seek civilization have chosen the latter.

Of course, there are exceptions…

The wind is strong here. I can't see it of course, but as is often said, just because you can't see something doesn't mean that it isn't there. The grass sways at its touch, the same touch that I feel on my skin. Everything about it reminds me of you. Its speed, its subtlety (though your arguments with Hector were an exception to that), its grace…Well, technically the wind doesn't have grace per se, but you were wind personified…

Is there a source of the wind, something that gives the force its vitality? Not everything has reasoning behind it, as I learnt at Dragon's Gate. Like the dragons, my memory is not a material factor of this world. It is something beyond, something much deeper. Something that cuts as deeply as the wind does to me but without the pain. A pain that stems from the knowledge that if there hadn't been that reunion in the fortress between Thria and Ostia, perhaps the wind could bring me joy instead of pain, fulfillment instead of longing…

Even in your absence, the wind continues to blow. It drives me onward still in my wanderings across Elibe. A bittersweet reminder of what could have been, yet still something that I cling to. For my mind is always taken back to our first meeting back in Sacae…

…when the wind blows.