Chapter Text
Corrin doesn't really have much to say at first when Forrest asks her how she feels about her father's death. When he asks, her eyes narrow. She asks Sophie and Kana to leave the room, and Silas leaves with them. She doesn't want to talk about her father in front of her children, his cousins, and now, perhaps, Aunt Corrin seems scarier than Uncle Xander or his grandfather ever have.
When they're alone, his aunt takes another moment still to breathe. "I think my life flashed before my eyes," she finally says, "Not that it was very much of a life to begin with."
Forrest remembers Sophie parroting back something she overheard her mother talking to her father about. About how Forrest's grandfather locked her in the northern fortress for years and years. And suddenly, he realizes he's pinched a very sensitive nerve in his aunt. "I'm sorry, auntie," he says quietly, "I shouldn't have asked."
"Well, you have a reason to, right?" Corrin asks him, and it's a much gentler tone than what her previous statement carried. She pats the spot on the bed next to her; Forrest sits down next to her, and leans into the one-armed hug she offers. "Why are you asking?"
"I don't… really know how to feel about it." Forrest fidgets with his sleeves, as per habit. "I can't find my father, so I've been asking others. Um… I asked Aunt Elise already. Siegbert didn't have much to say. Neither did Soleil."
"Oh." Corrin's response is short. She takes a moment to ponder, humming to herself as she does, and when she speaks again, Forrest receives the answer he sort of is already expecting. "Well, I… I certainly didn't like him. He treated me horribly, but… there's still this big, empty pit now that he's gone."
Forrest nods. He relates, really—he never got to meet his grandfather before he became the wicked tyrant that Forrest did grow up around. Few living members of this family did.
"He was still my father at the end of the day," his aunt Corrin continues, "I still ate supper with him every day and still met him like Camilla, Leo and Elise did. Xander's the only one who really got to see his… nicer side?"
"Grandfather being nice sounds like a dream," Forrest says, and though he means it as a joke, it sounds distasteful for a prince to say (or even think).
"Tell me about it." His aunt giggles at his joke; maybe it wasn't as distasteful as he thought. "Your father probably doesn't want me to tell you… everything terrible, but he kept me so far away from my siblings until I turned twenty years old. Isn't that crazy? I still have no idea why."
"It seems so terribly cruel, auntie," Forrest responds, and he raises his head to look up at his aunt. Her blood red eyes and silver-snow hair always made him wonder if she was related or not. He knows his uncle Xander is the only legitimate child of the late King. But he wonders, if Corrin looks so strikingly different from the rest of the Nohrian family, what must her mother look like? Was she a concubine? Was she kind? Was Garon her father?
All questions that are absolutely none of his damn business. So he shoves them deep into the pits of his mind. Even if his aunt has the answers to the questions, it's just rude to ask. Especially in the middle of talking about a dead relative, he tells himself.
"Do you think he loved any of us?" Forrest asks suddenly, a question he did not have on reserve but popped out of his mouth suddenly like a spark from a Thoron spell gone wrong.
His aunt looks dumbstruck, mouth hanging open with nary a word to escape. He's done it now, he thinks, he's gone and asked the wrong question, the stupidest question, the worst question to ask the most neglected child of the King. He won't blame her if she kicks him out and doesn't speak to him.
"I… don't know, to be really honest with you," she responds slowly, uncertain, and Forrest wishes he hadn't asked. Still, she continues to share her thoughts. "I'd really like to think he did, at least some of us, but I don't think he could show it very well. He was a very unwell man for as long as I can remember. I know that isn't saying much when I have memory issues… But your father has said the same to me before."
"Has he?" Forrest asks, "He never really talked to me about his relationship with Grandfather. He always changes the subject when I ask. He has since I was little…" Forrest thinks back to the last time he asked. They had just been told that their King likely would not survive the year. First they said he would die be gone by summer. Then by the autumn solstice. Winter would claim him. Forrest recalls the gardens were overgrown and angry when he took a walk after asking his father how he was doing after receiving the news.
"Your grandfather put a lot of pressure on him," his aunt answers, and this was the saddest she sounded through the conversation. ""He tried really hard to keep up with your uncle Xander. Your father was basically nipping at his heels in terms of skill." She laughs, but it dies out slowly. "He put a lot of pressure on both of my brothers, really. I think more than any of us." She pauses, as if lamenting to herself about it, but speaks again. "Ah, maybe don't tell them I told you that bit. You know how proud the men in this family are, and your uncle Xander already won't talk to me right now as it is…" She laughs nervously. It's a little pathetic, as terrible as it sounds.
Forrest nods with a small smile and kicks himself for his previous thoughts, but he wonders if he's fallen victim to the same curse. He tries not to burden anyone with his feelings (perhaps he struggles to know how to feel in part because of that), tries to keep himself small and out of the way. He feels so much smaller than anyone else in the family. Except Kana, maybe.
Knock knock. "Mama? Are you still in there?" Speak of the devil. Well… Kana is the opposite of the devil.
"Looks like Silas couldn't keep him occupied for long…" Perhaps as a result of the time his uncle Silas spent working after Kana was born, the youngest of Forrest's cousins from Corrin's side had grown extremely attached to his mother. Almost unhealthily so, Forrest thinks. He hardly ever sees Corrin without Kana glued to her. She doesn't seem to mind so much, at least; as prickly and reclusive as his aunt could be, Forrest cannot deny she loves her family so. He wishes he had that same certainty about his grandfather. "I need to go see what Kana needs. I'm sorry if I seemed short when you first asked me how I felt about all of… this."
"I'm sorry if it was distasteful to ask, auntie," Forrest apologizes in turn, but his aunt shakes her head.
"I don't really blame you for asking someone. It's hard not to get lost when you lose family. Even if you had a bad or complicated relationship with them."
Forrest nods, and as his aunt stands, he follows suit. They part ways outside his aunt's bedroom door, with Kana's flurry of questions and comments getting quieter and quieter as Forrest makes his way back to his quarters. He passes by Siegbert along the way, and dares not ask why his eyes are red and puffy. He simply keeps walking. Siegbert wouldn't open up if it killed him otherwise. He wonders how much of the family his uncle Xander doesn't talk to as much anymore. Being freshly coronated takes up enough time on its own, but his children are in shambles and he doesn't speak to his own sister anymore. Forrest ducks into his room and questions just how much deeper the cracks in this family will run before everything crumbles.