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Corrin squinted through the darkened glass lenses, feeling mighty silly. It was a hot day, the bright sun bearing down on her, the rocks heating up to an almost unbearable degree, singing her bare feet. She quickly hopped across the cobblestone street and leapt to a patch of grass in the shade of a cherry tree. She pouted, rubbing her blackened feet. She adjusted her glasses. A shadow passed by.
“Oh, Corrin, good morni-“ Azura said brightly, before stopping herself. She cupped a hand around her mouth and began twitching.
Corrin scowled. “I know you’re laughing at me.”
Azura burst into a fit of giggles. “I’m sorry!” she said, wiping a tear from her eye. “You just look so…ridiculous!” She was struck by another bout of laughter.
“Stop making fun of me!” Corrin crossed her arms. She was wearing, overtop her armor, a flowing yukata covering most of her bare skin. She also had donned a broad straw sunhat and a pair of thick-rimmed sunglasses. She smelled vaguely of sunblock.
Azura stifled her laughter and sat in the grass next to her, leaning back against the trunk of the tree. “I’m sorry. It’s just…when I first saw you, you seemed so regal. But now…”
“I look like an idiot.” Corrin brought her knees up to her face and wrapped her arms around them.
“No, it’s cute!” Azura said quickly, trying and failing not to smile. “It’s just strange seeing you like this, is all.”
Corrin mumbled incoherently and picked at the grass with her toes. “I’m just not used to the sunlight yet, I guess.”
“Is that what all this is for?” Azura gestured at her get-up.
Corrin nodded. “There’s no sun in Nohr, so even when I went outside I never had to worry about it. I’ve always been pretty pale, too. I’ve been sunburnt since the moment I stepped into Hoshido, I think.”
Azura laughed softly and sympathetically. Her voice sounded musical, like chimes in the breeze. Corrin found herself staring as Azura began to hum.
Azura, unlike herself, was well-used to being outdoors. Her skin was tanned from the sun and her feet were hard and callused. Her white dress was loose and flowing, and it draped on her skin delicately, like the falling of flower petals. As she hummed she would occasionally breathe a word or two of lyrics. Trying to compose a song, or trying to remember it? Corrin wondered.
The warm afternoon air drifted lazily around them. Azura’s song faded and they sat in silence, the distant bustle of the town the only In the distance, cicadas chirped.
“It’s so different here,” Corrin said, resting her head on her knees.
“In a good way?” Azura asked.
“Yeah. It’s so warm, and everyone is so friendly. All I ever had was my room. Even when I could walk around the castle, no one talked to me. It was always so dark and cold…but here it’s so beautiful. And I guess I’m getting used to the sunlight.”
Azura grinned. “You’ll warm up to it soon enough.”
Corrin shot her a glare. “Was that a pun?”
Azura covered her mouth as she burst into a fit of giggles. Corrin laughed too, a toothy smile spreading from ear to ear, almost baring her fangs. Her laughter doubled Azura’s giggles and the two collapsed into each other, overcome with amusement. Azura took a deep breath, steadying herself as Corrin quietly snickered.
“I’m glad you’re here with me,” she said, putting a hand on Corrin’s shoulder. Corrin wiped her eyes and gasped out one last laugh. Azura stared at her, her eyes gently and kind.
Corrin basked in the warmth of the sunlight, the breeze, the warmth of Azura’s smile and the music of her laughter. She smiled, a smile genuine and true, perhaps the first in many, many years.