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It has been months since the war ended. With both Valm and Plegia. Valm has retreated back to their continent, leaving Regna Ferox alone. Plegia is in the process of electing a new leader, now more than ever determined not to bring someone corrupt to the throne. The Halidom of Ylisse is mourning the loss of their monarch. With a single Thoron, Robin took Grima down and sealed their own fate while doing so. Chrom was devastated to say the least, and the entire Halidom could feel his melancholy and rage. But slowly, time heals all wounds, and the Halidom is beginning to run back to normal. It is a bitter peace that has swept up the lands as of late- nothing like Sumia had ever imagined.
Her cup of tea had gone cold in her hands, not a single sip taken from the delicious drink prepared for her by her good friend Sully. The redhead sat across from her, respecting the cold silence that Sumia had fallen under. They each did have daughters from the future, like every other woman in the shepherds. But, after the war, they vanished. Kjelle announced that she wanted to travel the world to fight injustice, and Cynthia proudly went off with her. The two were close. It felt like they were sisters most of the time, quite honestly. Yet, neither ever disclosed who their father was in the future. And each had a dark maroon hair color, a perfect mix of red and brown. A fuel for Sumia’s wild imagination…
“Hey, Sumia” The silence was finally broken. “You okay? You, uh, haven’t touched your tea?.”
Sumia smiled, but it was obviously fake. “Oh, I’m alright Sully. I was just… thinking about a book I read recently and zoned out.” A plausible lie, but Sully knows her far too well.
“You and I both know that’s a damn lie.” She called out, eyes narrowing. “If you have something on your mind, you know you can tell me. And if it’s some one that’s bothering you, they’ll have to deal with me.” Sumia could not help but giggle, finding the threat flattering. Every time she was bothered, Sully always offered to take care of it for her. It was sweet.
“To be honest, I was thinking about everything . Robin’s sacrifice, our daughters, what to do with ourselves now that the war is over.” Sumia set her cold up of tea back on the table before her, resting her hands awkwardly in her lap. “I know we both have our positions in the Exalt’s Guard, but what are we supposed to do outside of that? It’s not like either of us have husbands, or infants to take care of like all the other women of the Shepherds.” Sully's eyes widened, and Sumia sighed. “Cordelia writes to me often about how much of a blessing it is to care for infant Severa, and Gaius pops in every now and then to talk about his wife and their son. I suppose I am a little jealous… and feeling like I’m not doing what I am meant to.”
“So, if I got that right, you’re jealous of everyone else because you aren’t married and don’t have a baby?” Well, that’s a rather crude way to put it. Then again, crude and Sully are synonymous. Sumia nodded abashedly.
“It feels like that’s what I’m supposed to do, and I’m not doing it. And when I go out or talk to friends, I worry they are silently judging me for not being married or not having kids yet like everyone else has.” Sumia’s hands clenched together, knuckles slowly going white. “Even Frederick and Henry are both married with children! Frederick and Henry !!! Both have wives and kids! So is something wrong with me then? Am I really just that unlikable?”
“Don’t you dare say that.” Sully’s voice seethed through her teeth, Sumia flinching from the actual anger in her voice. “You are the most likable, beautiful, considerate, generous, every-good-adjective-in-the-world woman I know! If no man wants you, that’s their problem! You're out of his league anyway, whoever ‘he’ is!” Sumia couldn’t help but notice that Sully’s cheekbones started to match her hair, and she jolted to stand just to say all of this, leaning over the table. Sumia’s heart skipped a beat. She started fidgeting with her hair, twirling it around her index finger. “So never even think that you’re unlikable again, okay? You’re the best damn woman I have ever met!” The best ? Sumia’s breath hitched. Sully finally realized she was standing, so she used her leg to pull her seat closer and plopped back down in it. “And if you don’t have to be pressured to do what everyone else does. You aren’t them or whatever.” That last bit came out mumbled as Sully’s arms crossed and her heat embarrassedly turned away from Sumia.
You know, Sumia wouldn’t be a proud romance reader if she couldn’t pick up on the ques and cliches. Sumia has always defended her, always agreed to have tea with her even when she was busy, always wanted to talk about horses with her even if they fought over which of them came first, so on and so forth. She watched the small blushes and the brief moments of fluster overcome her. She usually just chalked it up to Sully not being used to having other ‘girl’ friends. But maybe, she wants to be girlfriends . The longer they interact, the more tea parties they have, Sumia becomes more and more aware of how their daughters’ hair color are the same, and how they look like a perfect mix of Sully’s brought red and Sumia’s subdued brunette. Cynthia does have Sully’s spunk, and Kjelle has Sumia’s kindness. The only inexplicable part would be the fact that they are both women. That has never happened in Ylisse before. Well, at least before Lissa and Maribelle announced their engagement after the first Plegian Conflict with Gangrel. So no, it isn’t unheard of.
Sumia couldn’t hide her smirk as she reached for her cold tea, taking the first sip of the day. Despite its temperature, the blend was divine. Sully always remembered her favorite, didn’t she? “Sully?” She grabbed her glass of tea, following suit by taking a sip. “What if we got married?” Her tea was promptly spit out, ruining the tablecloth.
“WHAT!?” Sully’s entire face quickly matched her hair, her leg beginning to bounce. “I get you feeling left out or whatever from not being married, but you can’t just do that to me!” Oh? That’s an interesting reaction.
“Think about it. We get along just fine, we’re always on our ‘tea dates’, our daughters love each other like sisters do, we have plenty of common interests, and I certainly wouldn’t mind being your wife…” Sully
hiccuped
. She set her cup of tea down, crossing her arms defensively once again. “Do you not like me, Sully?”
“Gods help me.” The words barely audible, as they were said under her breath. This confirmed everything she needed to know, giggling sweetly at her victory. “Sumia, okay, I get it. I’m not the most subtle woman in the world. But I’m still a woman . Do you even like women? And if we’re going to do this, I want you to like me , not the idea of being married to me, ya know? Fuck words are hard.”
“I couldn’t care less if you were a woman or a man, quite honestly. I’ve had crushes on women before.” And that was no lie. The many pegasus knights she fawned over in her training before Chrom, including Cordelia herself. Women were not off the table for her. “And I do like you a lot, Sully.” Sumia felt herself starting to blush now, her smile beginning to hurt her cheeks. Goodness, this was like a confession in one of her romance novels, hmm? How thrilling! “You’re handsome, you’re charming, you’re hilarious, you notice small details and then pretend that it was just an accident- like learning my favorite tea blend or giving my pegasus apples as a treat because you ‘had extra’. If I’m being entirely honest here, I’ve held a fondness for you that extends past friendship since the beginnings of the Valm invasion. I simply wanted to let things progress naturally, excited to have a potential lover be interested in me first. That’s never really happened before.”
Sully looked completely dumbstruck, like her brain was wiped of any and all knowledge. It was quite cute. “Wait, so- you wanted me to court you this entire time?!” The realization hit her like a stampede, and it was very humorous. “So if I just said I wanted to date you back when we started the damn Valmese war, you would have said yes?!” Sumia nodded, and Sully all but screamed. “Are you kidding me!? What the hell was I waiting for!? I was terrified you only liked men! Especially with your giant crush on Chrom during the first war!”
“To be fair, that crush immediately ended when he married Robin.” She calmly added, taking a sip of her tea.
“FUCK!!!” She yelled to nobody in particular, standing up and aggressively pushing her chair back. “Then yeah! Let’s get married! We can use the same magical surrogacy whatever stuff that Miriel did for Chrom’s sister and that stuck up twat!” Is that how she saw Lissa and Maribelle? No, it mustn’t be. She’s probably just excited. Sully ran over to Sumia’s side of the table, taking her cup and setting it down on the table for her. She grabbed her arms and pulled her up. She had never seen Sully so joyous! “We can get a ranch and shit! For horses and pegasi! And we’ll have Kjelle and Cynthia and they’ll have the best fucking childhood that any child can have!”
Nothing sounded better than what Sully was telling her right now. Her chest was full of warmth, her heart full of love. Sully still had hold of her arms, but Sumia is the one who leaned in first. With eyes fluttered closed, their lips met for the first time. Sully simply froze, not knowing what to do at all. Sumia was lucky for this not to be her first kiss, leading Sully in a dance of their lips together. Too soon, Sully’s grasp around her wrists loosened. Sumia pulled back, confused. Sully had the same dumbstruck look as before, a cheesy grin, and her eyes fully focused on Sumia. Her pupils were blown quite large, and her now empty hands found their place at Sumia’s waist. Sumia slung her arms over Sully’s shoulders as though they were in a slow dance. She lovingly gazed into Sully’s eyes before fluttering closed once again. But she did not lean in. Sully, being a fast learner, closed the distance between them for another kiss.
She tasted of tea. Her favorite woman with the hints of her favorite blend. Nothing could be a more perfect, peaceful future than this.