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Protecting a Sword	By : The13thStranger Category: +A through F > Fire Emblem (all) > Fire Emblem (all) Views: 4478 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I swear I own nothing of Fire Emblem, and make no money at all with it.

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“Does it bother you when they call us married?” Natasha asked one day after another shared breakfast with Marisa’s ‘in-laws’.

“Yes.” It felt like a frivolous label to something more. Something Ewan and Tethys were using to try and rile her up.

Thankfully, with Marisa now more receptive to Natasha and the bond, Natasha could now calm her before the frustration set in. Though she was starting to grow addicted to the bond as a result…

“…Did… you not know that we are married?”

“…come again?” That would explain why Natasha never went to correct them at all at least.

“The bond is the same as marriage in Grado. We were wife and… well wife the second I bonded you.”

Although, it also made Marisa feel like an ass. Was the way she was treating Natasha… appropriate for somebody she was married to? There had been plenty of hugs, and they were sleeping together…

Should she have bought a ring at some point? With diamonds? Was that how it worked?

She would probably have to ask Teth- No, chief. Tethys would start talking about how marriage made the clerical vow of celibacy void to Marisa.

…wait.

“Marisa? What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing.” …She might have to talk to Tethys after all. She had no idea what to do about… well… anything to do with…

…Was she supposed to have consummated the marriage the night after the bond happened? She was probably overdue. Maybe Natasha had been expecting it and had been disappointed. Or… maybe she didn’t want it? The cleric hadn’t brought up the subject at all, and she was normally quite forthcoming when something Marisa did bothered her at all.

“You are so quiet all of the sudden…” Natasha said, her head slightly tilted to the side as she watched Marisa puzzle over the mystery.

“That’s normal.”

“I suppose it is, yes… So are you bothered by the idea of being married to me?”

“No.”

“…it only bothers you when they talk about it?”

“I don’t like it when people make fun of things I take seriously.”

“…I see.” Maybe she should’ve been kissing Natasha more often? So far, unless Natasha was taking liberties while she slept (and that was laughably unlikely), they had kissed a grand total of twice (and that included the time that she was poisoned and nearly ripped in half). And they had been married for a few weeks now. Marisa was no expert, but that seemed… depressing.

Her thoughts were interrupted by another priest running towards them. And Marisa knew what was coming.

“I am sorry Marisa.” Natasha said, approaching the priest. She was about to be asked to put in time tending to the wounded.

The first time that had happened, Marisa had followed her with nothing to do and little to no medical knowledge. So she was asked to leave.

“It’s fine.” This time though Marisa had a way to occupy her time. There was a town nearby, and the chief shouldn’t be far off…

Hang on, should she kiss Natasha goodbye? Now would be a good time, right? Didn’t wives normally kiss their husbands before they went to work?

But they were both wives…

“I’ll see you at dinner.” And while she was hesitating, Marisa missed her chance to do anything. Perfect.

…where the hell was Gerik?

--

“I don’t see why you want me along for this…”

“I don’t know what to look for.”

“…Something nice you want to see her wear? It’s just a ring you said you wanted to buy her, right?” …She supposed she hadn’t been clear when she enlisted the chief’s aid. Her fault, she admitted.

“I want to buy a wedding ring.”

“…huh. What brought this on?”

“Grado recognises the bond as marriage. And…” Gerik chuckled.

“And this just feels like something you should do? Fair enough, but maybe Tethys might be better to ask about something like this.”

“I want to ask anyone but her. She’ll… say things. And trap me.”

“I don’t know, she might take this seriously. Well, after she gets her fill of that teasing.”

“Hello.” Said Tethys, who had just walked up out of nowhere behind them.

“Well speak of the devil.”

“Oh? You were talking about me? Good things I hope. Better things maybe?” Oh goddess was the chief just going to tell her-

“Actually I was just telling her how you might be a better person to ask about wedding rings.”

“Ooooh!” The day is gone. “Marisa, you should have come to me! Well what are we standing here for, let’s find us a jeweller!” Chief, this is so unlike you. What happened to you?

Gerik smiled in an apologetic way, and followed Tethys’ war path through the town streets. Well, at the very least, she now had reliable help…

“Marisa, what did you want to get?”

“A wedding ring.”

“Well I know that, but do you know what kind you want?”

“What kind?”

“…Do you even know her ring size?”

“…I don’t think her fingers are any bigger then mine.” Tethys sighed as if she were dealing with simpletons.

“Well that’ll have to do, I suppose. When do you plan on proposing?”

“We’re already married.” Saying that might’ve been a mistake. Tethys’ mood seemed to switch.

“…why wasn’t I invited?!” …switch to absolutely livid.

“I was dying at the time.”

“…Gerik? Am I missing something?”

“I told you about the bond, right? Marisa recently found out that Grado now recognises her as legally married ‘cause of it.”

“Oh. I suppose we won’t be buying an engagement ring in that case…”

“Engagement ring?”

“The one you give her before the wedding, where you give her the wedding band.”

“That seems redundant.”

“It’s supposed to let other men know that she’s off the market.”

“Couldn’t she just say so?”

“…It’s probably a good thing we only have to do this once. Ah! This shop here should do nicely…”

…there were a lot of rings…

“Go ahead and pick one! Ooh, that looks divine…” Tethys skipped off to another corner of the shop, perhaps to try a few pieces on for herself.

…leaving Marisa in unfamiliar territory.

“Can I help you at all?” The one who asked was a cheery shop girl, smiling up at her as if she had the greatest job in the world and everybody should know.

“…I want a wedding ring.”

“Oh! That’s wonderful! When’s the ceremony?”

“…soon.” She had learned from Tethys. Safe answers. Smart answers.

“Amazing… doesn’t the man normally buy the rings though?”

“She’s a woman.”

“Huh. I didn’t know girls could marry girls. So did you have anything in mind at all…?”

“No.”

“Open options then? Spectacular. Here, there’s a few over here I think are beautiful…” And so Marisa spent the next hour dealing with being asked questions about what the wedding was going to be like, which one of them was the girl, whatever that meant…

The ring she finally settled on was something she could see on Natasha’s finger. A silver band engraved with autumn leaves.

On top of that, it was magically charmed to resize itself, so that pretty much accounted for all of her concerns. Knowing Natasha, she’d probably be delighted to get a gift.

This wasn’t just a gift though. So maybe it would be different… should she wait for a special moment or something? Maybe spend a day with her first?

“Find what you were looking for?” Gerik asked her later, as they were leaving.

“Yes.”

“Ah, good. Hey, sorry about throwing you to the wolves there… Kinda had to.”

“…Why?”

“Because, I knew if she was there, she wouldn’t be able to resist trying on a few rings herself.” Replied Gerik as he took a small box out of his pocket.

“I had to get her ring size somehow. If I just asked her, that’d spoil the surprise.”

“…Ah.” Made sense.

Actually, with Tethys probably getting married later, that would take the pressure off of the swordswoman quite handily.

“Thanks for being my sacrifice Marisa.”

“Don’t do it again.” Gerik nodded and lumbered off, presumably to make Tethys’ day more memorable then it already was.

Now… where was Natasha? It was about dinner time, so she should’ve been out of the tent by now…

Marisa turned her awareness towards the bond, looking to find a clue to her whereabou-

She was now brutally aware of Natasha’s emotional state. Anguish bled into their connection, and Marisa immediately set herself to the task of locating the cleric.

It seemed Natasha had wandered back over to their tent, or at least that was the direction the bond was tugging her in. When she stood outside of it, she could hear faint sobs…

Marisa entered the tent without a second thought.

“M-Marisa?”

“What happened?” She asked, taking note of sorry state of the cleric’s face. She had been crying for some time now…

“I… t-the soldiers were p-poisoned… Baal venom can not be detected by normal means… the G-Grado soldiers coated their weapons in it for the last battle…” Natasha’s shoulders shook as new tears started running down her cheeks at the memory.

“W-we did not kn-… they started to die, a-and we didn’t know and we l-lost everyone. I could do nothing, they…”

“Then it isn’t your fault.” Marisa stated, staring her in the eyes.

“B-but I-“

“There were at least twenty other healers in that tent with you. If you’re at fault, so are they.”

“T-they could n-“

“And you. If you were intentionally capable of letting somebody die, then you wouldn’t have bonded yourself to an unknown mercenary in order to save her life.”

“…I am… sorry, Marisa.”

“The chief told me once that apologies are for the guilty. What happened today was circumstance. Now that you know the enemy is pulling stunts like this, you won’t let it happen again. Neither will the others.” With that said, Marisa set about manipulating the bond to comfort Natasha’s soul, working towards stopping the tears.

…despite herself, Marisa noticed that this was probably the first time that Natasha had ever needed her for a change.

Did Natasha feel that sensation of absolute security now?

If she didn’t, Marisa would keep trying until she did.

The ring remained in the swordswoman’s pocket, forgotten for the time being. This probably wasn’t a good time for such things…
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Protecting a Sword