Chapter Text
Rinkah swats irritably at branches as she steps over a tree root. At this point even her bug bites have bug bites.
“Are you sure we’re not lost?”
From several feet ahead of her, Setsuna hums in her usual dreamy, noncommittal way, and Rinkah bites back the urge to scream, instead focusing on picking her way through the underbrush. For someone so airheaded, Setsuna doesn’t seem to have half her trouble finding where step, even when the ground dips and rises unexpectedly between tree roots.
Setsuna hasn’t even been looking at the ground for most of their walk. Rinkah looked up once when a bird startled her and nearly fell flat on her face.
Up ahead, the archer pauses, before spinning on one foot and heading to the right, and Rinkah restrains another huff of annoyance as she makes to follow. She’s still not convinced Setsuna hasn’t gotten them completely and totally lost; she’s made half a dozen of these sudden, unexplained turns already. At least the quiet is nice this far out from camp, Rinkah muses.
While she’s come to appreciate Corrin’s mismatched band, and even enjoy some of their useless chatter, it’s wearying at times to deal with the endless stream of smalltalk: ‘How goes training?’ ‘Fine weather, isn’t it?’ ‘Any news from home?’
Setsuna’s strange little adventure was a welcome reprieve from wave after wave of friendly spars and dinnertime chats and card games. It had been so much easier to turn everyone down when she was determined not to like them. Friends really are the worst, Rinkah decides.
Scrambling down a sudden not so gentle, slope, she’s surprised to see a break in the trees. Maybe they aren’t completely lost after all. Or maybe after wandering for the better part of an hour coming across a clearing was an inevitability.
Throwing her arms wide, Setsuna turns to grin blindingly at Rinkah, who can’t help the way a smile tugs at her own mouth in response.
“Ta-da,” Setsuna more drawls it than anything else but well--the sentiment’s there if one knows where to look for it.
“It’s nice,” Rinkah says. And it is; the clearing’s small, but there’s a brook, and enough of a break in the trees for the late morning sun to give the whole space a warm glow. Nearby she can hear birds calling, but other than that it’s quiet. Solitary.
“So you like it?” Setsuna studies her with an odd intensity. Rinkah nods. “How’d you find this place?”
“I found it when I was tracking some deer a couple days ago. They like to drink at the stream,” Setsuna points absently, “since it’s so quiet around here.”
Rinkah nods again as she begins to walk the perimeter. It’s big enough to practice in, she thinks, and a nice place for meditating.
“You’re the only person I’ve told about this place, you know,” Setsuna ventures. “And I know you like the quiet.”
If Rinkah didn’t know any better she’d say she sounds nervous.
“But I thought you could come here. When people are being too noisy at camp, I mean,” Setsuna trails off, staring resolutely at her boots. Oh, Rinkah realizes. Oh.
“I…thank you.” Now she’s the one staring at the ground as she struggles to gather her thoughts. Rinkah swallows and tries again.
“Really, thank you. For sharing this with me, and for thinking of me in the first place. I didn’t know anyone noticed how much I still hate all that,” Rinkah waves her hand in frustration, “small talk nonsense.”
Setsuna fixes her with a dopey half smile, and Rinkah resists the urge to suddenly study the ground again.
“I don’t notice stuff all the time, but I do notice a lot of things—about you, I mean,” Setsuna turns bright red, as if only just realizing the second half of what she had said. She doesn’t backtrack though, Rinkah is pleased to note. She’s always respected people who stand by their words.
“Well, thank you,” Rinkah repeats. She’s never been good with words, and she’s not sure how to express the wave of gratitude she feels towards Setsuna at the moment. Impulsively, she crosses the few feet between them to grab Sestuna’s hand. “It’s perfect.”
If it’s even possible, Sestuna’s blush darkens at the contact. Her fingers are delicate, Rinkah notes absently, but there are strong callouses from her bow and years of training. They’re warm, too, even to Rinkah who’s always run hot—fireblooded, her mother used to say. Almost unconsciously she laces their fingers together, pleased with the way they fit so neatly together.
“I’m glad you like it,” Setsuna murmurs, smiling so hard Rinkah’s own face hurts just looking at it.
The sun hits the side of Setsuna’s face, gilding her eyelashes and the flyaway strands of hair, and the thought comes unbidden that Setsuna is actually very pretty, and probably one of the handful of people Rinkah really, really likes, not just tolerates. She’s not sure when exactly that became true, but it is. The realization emboldens her, suddenly.
“Stay with me,” Rinkah blurts out impulsively, tacking on a “please” almost as an afterthought, her mouth dry. Setsuna’s face softens.
“Okay.”
They sit in silence, mostly; Setsuna hums a little, and occasionally they talk in brief snatches. Mostly though, Rinkah just relaxes in the sun and enjoys the company. Eventually though, duty calls and they head back to camp, picking their way through the trees in companionable silence.
“You said I’m the only one who knows about it, so I can come back whenever, right?” Rinkah keeps on the lookout for errant roots and stones as she talks, eyes focused on the ground directly in front of her.
“Yep.” Setsuna hangs back as they reach a granite boulder Rinkah vaguely remembers as being near the camp. Beyond that though, she has no clue where they were.
“I don’t think I could find my way back there by myself.” She has no idea how Setsuna navigates the forest with such confidence; as far as Rinkah can tell, there are no landmarks, and all the trees look the same.
Coming to a stop next to Setsuna, Rinkah takes a sip from her waterskin and leans back against the boulder. Setsuna glances inscrutably at her out of the corner of her eye.
“Well,” she drawls, face inches from Rinkah, “I suppose that means we’ll have to go together then.”
Setsuna closes the distance in a flash, pressing her lips to Rinkah’s for the briefest of moments before darting away, humming. Rinkah stands for a moment, frozen as her mind catches up to what just happened before dashing after her.
“H-Hey!”