Chapter Text
As promised, the Heir begins to visit more regularly after their ‘birthday’. Out of all of the Nohrians, he appears the most often, and he occasionally brings Leo or Camilla along with him. Whenever he comes by himself very early in the morning, he’ll often wait to enter the Tower until daylight, opting instead to practice out in the practice yard outside. She would never admit it to him, but she finds that she is able to sleep better when she can hear the faint sounds of swordplay from out of her window. She supposes that it must remind her of Ryoma, and lately, that doesn’t make her as upset as it used to.
When one of the others comes with the Heir, they all train together on the rooftop, and this is how Kamui learns how strong a fighter Camilla is. She uses a large axe-one that probably weighs more than Kamui does-and apparently favors mounted combat. It’s one of these mornings with Corrin, Camilla, and the Heir that Kamui finds out exactly what that means.
“Big sister?” Corrin starts, cocking his head up at the purple-haired girl.
“Yes dear?”
“How come you never bring your horse like Xander?”
Lately, the Heir had brought his mount with him to their sparring sessions-apparently, he normally fought mounted and decided that he would start sparring with them on horseback for a more authentic combat experience. Kamui really likes his horse-she was large, black, and had incredibly ornate yet practical armor. The Heir had noticed and found it amusing, so he would occasionally bring carrots or pieces of lettuce and let Kamui feed her.
“Oh Corrin, I don’t ride horses,” she says, smiling down at him while examining the blade of her steel axe.
“Huh? I thought you had a mount?”
“I do, little one, but it’s not a horse. It’s a wyvern,” Camilla says smoothly.
“What’s that?”
Camilla pauses, one visible eye alight with confusion. “You’ve never seen a wyvern?”
Corrin frowns, scratching the back of his neck. “Uhm, if I did I don’t remember how it looked.”
“Well next time, I’ll bring her with so you can see her.”
“Cool! Thanks.”
Camilla laughs melodically.
She rides a wyvern? That’s actually pretty impressive.
From the few things Kamui’s read about mounted combat, the wyvern is supposed to be one of the most difficult creatures to take into battle-mostly because if they didn’t like their rider, they tended to drop them into an early grave. There were numerous stories about it-so many that some people likened an assignment to a wyvern unit to a death sentence, calling them the 'Gallows of the Sky'. That said, if they liked you, their tough scales and shockingly fast fly speed would make one a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.
“Shall we continue?” The Heir says, recapping his flask of water.
And so they finish their training session and head back to the sitting room. The Heir apparently had a short mission to attend to-much to Corrin’s dismay-and had to leave shortly after they arrived back in their quarters. Kamui was going to get her encyclopedia-lately, she’d been spending much more time interacting with the Nohrians-especially when Leo was there as their rooftop conversation had left her feeling so guilty-and so she figures she deserves a break from them. Before she can leave the room, however, Camilla calls out to her.
“Kamui, hold on. I want to show you two something,” she says, voice alight with excitement.
Kamui looks at her expectantly, and once Camilla sets her axe down, she leads the two of them to the library. To Kamui’s surprise, the layout had been slightly adjusted-one of the bookshelves had been moved from the wall and in its place sat…some sort of large, oddly shaped wooden thing. There’s a bench under it that Camilla pulls out and gestures to, signaling that one of them should sit down.
What is this thing?
Corrin runs to it giddily and clambers over the back of the bench, which causes Camilla to laugh before she instructs him on how to sit properly. Then, she does something odd-she pulls some sort of cover out from over a long row of white and black. Corrin gets distracted from what Camilla is saying and presses on the newly uncovered buttons, and Kamui flinches back in surprise as a sound emits from the wood. Corrin grins in delight and Kamui frowns thoughtfully at the object in front of them.
So it’s some sort of instrument, then?
“What is it? Why does it make sounds and stuff?”
“It’s a piano, Corrin. It’s designed to make different sounds so we can turn them into music,” Camilla explains as she gently brushes a lock of hair from his face. Kamui ponders her answer-she’s read about pianos in some of the books in the Tower’s library, but none of them had explained how one actually looked-perhaps its appearance was common knowledge in Nohr?
“Are you going to play for us?”
“Better than that, dear. I’m going to teach you two how to play.”
Corrin gasps in excitement, clacking away on some of the keys. Camilla chuckles and after a moment she instructs him on how to place his feet on the ‘pedals’. Kamui decides to watch as Corrin goes first, and Camilla lightly adjusts his hands on the keys, teaching him the names of the notes and the correct way to shift his hands about the keys.
This seems pretty complicated.
There were a lot of different sounds the instrument could make. Kamui had never actually seen a piano before today-there weren’t any that she could remember in Castle Shirasagi, and it definitely hadn’t been in the Tower before today. She would know-she’s pressed every stone, pulled out every book, and sifted through each of the rooms they had access to multiple times in order to find a secret passage. She had assumed that there would be one since there was always a secret passage that the heroes found in the books she read. The thought has her suppressing a frown. She hadn’t found one-not during any of her attempts-and was starting to believe that they were just a thing of fiction.
Camilla suddenly wraps her arms around her, and Kamui cocks her head, causing the older girl to laugh at her. Kamui relaxes involuntarily at the sound. Camilla-when she wasn’t being scary-could be very gentle.
“You looked like you could use a hug,” she says, brushing some of the hair out of Kamui’s face. It leaves Kamui wondering when she had gotten so used to the girl’s touch that she no longer flinched away every time it happened. Corrin grins back at them before gesturing to the ivory keys in front of him. He seems eager to continue.
After some time passes-after Corrin’s turn ends and her own begins, Kamui’s come to two conclusions.
The first is that Corrin seemed to pick up the instrument easily-to the point that Camilla seems impressed.
The second is that she did not.
“Kamui,” Camilla says through a sigh, delicately adjusting Kamui’s fingers to rest on the correct keys, “you can’t just use one finger to play; most songs require the use of multiple fingers and the use of both hands.”
Kamui frowns, trying to remember how Corrin held his hands. When Camilla laughs again, she knows she must be doing something wrong. Eventually, Camilla is able to guide her through the scale she’d been trying to get her to play-though Kamui still wasn’t sure what that was.
This ‘scale’ is one of the most boring songs I’ve ever heard.
Mama said that once they were older, she would teach them to play the koto, but they had still been too young to learn when…
Kamui grimaces at the thought, and Camilla, mistaking her expression for a reaction to the piano, laughs.
“Oh, little sister, we can stop for today if you’d like. I found a teacher who will come twice a week to teach you two to play.”
“Wow, really? Will they come with us when we move into the castle?” Corrin asks excitedly.
Kamui freezes.
Camilla hums. “I’d have to ask father-but I don’t see why not. Just remember that Xander hasn’t been able to get an audience with him yet, so that may take some time.”
Corrin’s smile becomes strained, but he nods and the discussion ends…for now. Kamui had hoped he would drop the idea, but Corrin asked the Heir about it every time he came to the Tower. Corrin was extremely excited by the prospect of leaving the Tower-something Kamui completely understood. She was decidedly less keen on the idea of moving in with the Grey Man, though her efforts to formulate an escape plan have admittedly not yielded anything of substance.
I have no idea how we’re going to get out of here.
Worse than that, she had no idea how she was going to convince Corrin to accompany her. She doesn’t like the idea of lying to him, but she’s starting to believe it might be her only option. What would she even tell him? Kamui chews on her inner lip.
Not that getting him to come is even going to matter without a plan.
The only promising thing about this entire situation is that the Heir seemed to avoid giving Corrin anything concrete about meeting with the Grey Man. He always had an excuse prepared whenever Corrin brought it up: he has a mission, his father wasn’t scheduling any meetings yet, he wants to train Corrin more before he brings them before the king. They all seem believable, but to Kamui, it seems like the Heir was trying to drag this process out-if he was even planning on speaking to the Grey Man at all.
Unfortunately, she’s also sure that his excuses will eventually run out. He’s already told Corrin that he will speak to his father, and the Heir doesn’t seem like a liar.
Unless you counted lies of omission. Then he’s a huge liar.
A gentle hand on her shoulder dispels her thoughts. Camilla is trying to guide her out of the room and judging by the confused look on Corrin’s face from his position at the library door, the purple-haired girl had already tried getting her attention. Kamui lets herself be led back to the sitting room, and Corrin rushes out something about his studies and bolts to his room.
Kamui is about to retreat to her room until Camilla speaks up, turning to her with her hands clasped over her knees.
“Are you all right, dear? You seem out of sorts,” she asks, looking at her with concern.
Kamui shrugs noncommittally, refusing to meet her eyes.
Hopefully Corrin comes back soon to distract her. Camilla seemed to like him better, anyways.
That didn’t bother Kamui-the less they cared for her, the easier it would be to leave.
She tries at that moment not to think about how that would make Elise and Leo feel.
She hears Camilla hum, but Kamui remains facing the window, trying and failing to think of a new idea. She can’t steal Gunter’s keys to leave through the main entrance-the old man was too perceptive and Kamui would hate herself if she ever got him in any trouble. Plus, what kind of escape would it be if they left through the front door?
A super dumb one, that’s what.
Kamui chews on her lip, exhaling through her nose.
If only Leo was our brother, too-we’d be able to make the best escape plan ever if the two of us worked together.
She’s pretty sure Leo wouldn’t help her with this, though. And a little part of her feels guilty for not considering him family yet-it had seemed to upset him.
Corrin runs back in too quickly and he stumbles over the coffee table. Kamui winces at the sound.
I wish he’d slow down sometimes, but then I guess he wouldn’t be Corrin if he did that.
“Ok, so I need help with some of these I think but you gotta let me try them first,” Corrin says, placing his workbook down on the table by the inkpot he’d never put away the day before.
“Oh, I can help you with them, dear, but first Kamui and I are going for a walk, alright?”
Kamui turns back to her, face scrunching up in confusion. Camilla just smiles at her-but it doesn’t seem to touch her one visible eye.
Why?
Camilla must notice how tense she’s gotten because her expression becomes more sympathetic. “You’re not in trouble, dear, I just haven’t gotten the chance to get to know you very well.”
The words do nothing to ease her nerves, but she offers her a nod.
Come to think of it, I’ve never been alone with Camilla. Maybe she really does just want to talk.
“Like we did a while ago? Ok! Then I’m gonna start these while you guys do that,” Corrin supplies from his spot on the floor. It drove Leo crazy that he wouldn’t sit on the couch whenever he was doing something with the coffee table.
“That’s good, Corrin,” Camilla says, standing. “Come along, Kamui.”
Kamui doesn’t really have a choice-and she’s a bit curious-so she follows behind the older girl. They take the main door, which Camilla unlocks and closes behind them, and they walk down the long, winding staircase that leads to the main entrance. It’s the same one they use whenever they walk to the bathhouse or go on walks with Gunter-which is how Kamui knows it’s always guarded.
Unlike Gunter, Camilla doesn’t hold her hand or arm after they pass the Tower guards. She either trusts Kamui isn’t going to make a run for it, or she was sure she could catch her if she did. Kamui’s not stupid enough to figure out which was the truth.
Probably both.
Camilla leads her up a hill-the same hill, Kamui realizes that Corrin’s mystery candle friend liked to stand on at night. Corrin still “talked” with his friend regularly, as he put it. Kamui isn’t worried about his candle friend anymore-it had been well over a year since they’d first started communicating with them, and nothing bad has happened. She would know-Corrin still liked to drag her out of her room every few months to prove his friend was still there.
It’s probably just a really bored guard or something.
“Let’s sit,” Camilla says, gracefully settling on the dry looking grass on the hill. Kamui follows suit, looking up at Corrin’s window and imagining his friend. They sit in silence for a few moments, and Kamui tries to relieve some of her discomfort by picking at the grass, occasionally examining one of the strands she pulls from the ground.
“I’m worried about you, dear,” Camilla says carefully. Kamui looks at her, trying to keep her face blank as she fiddles with one of the uprooted strands in her hands. Camilla watches her and sighs. “You’ve been coming out of your room more often, but you only stay when Corrin is out,” she pauses, mulling over her words before she continues, “I’m not trying to upset you, little one. I just don’t know how to help.”
You could start by letting me go home.
But that wasn’t really fair, was it? Camilla didn’t even know that they weren’t actually related-let alone that they weren’t even in their home country. Kamui looks away, pulling the piece of grass in half. Her fingertips are smeared with dirt, but she’s not bothered by it. She can feel the thrum of Dragon Veins nearby and tries to focus on the sensation.
“Kamui, there’s not…” Camilla trails off like she’s having difficulty saying what she wants to. It catches Kamui’s attention: she doesn’t often hear the confident older girl sound so unsure. Camilla closes her eyes and takes a breath before continuing. “Has someone hurt you dear?”
Kamui blinks in surprise. When she doesn’t respond, Camilla’s frown deepens.
“You always act as though you’re afraid someone is going to snap at you, you never get enough sleep, you don’t usually speak to Xander or I unless we address you, and when you do respond, you seem like you want to run away,” Camilla says softly, leaning on one arm. Kamui isn’t sure how to respond. She was sure they noticed-but they weren’t…
They’re not supposed to care.
Kamui doesn’t want to delve into why that is, she just knows it’s true. It has to be.
Camilla seems like she’s expecting some sort of answer, and Kamui tries to think. She ends up answering her first question. “I’m not—I mean, no one hurt me or anything like that.”
Camilla nods, but she seems unconvinced. “Then what has you so sad, little sister? Is it something from before you started living in the Northern Fortress.”
…in a sense.
Kamui can’t tell her that, though. The Heir wouldn’t like it and…a part of her is pretty sure it won’t matter. Camilla wouldn’t help them leave. She’s convinced they’re siblings, and even if she wasn’t, the Nohrians seem steadfastly loyal to the Grey Man. If he wanted them here, they would stay.
End of story.
So what can I even say?
Apparently, saying nothing was an answer in and of itself because Camilla sits up and pulls Kamui into her lap. It doesn’t bother her like it would have, once.
“Kamui, you don’t need to tell me what happened if you don’t want to,” she starts, running a hand through her hair. It’s soothing. Kamui stares at the spot where she’d just been sitting, watching as pieces of grass randomly snap back up after being flattened. “But I promise I won’t let anyone hurt you anymore. Let your big sister handle the bad guys, all right?”
Kamui feels a pang of guilt but can’t discern why. She’s suddenly too tired to try and figure it out.
A part of her knows that she shouldn’t be so exhausted all the time. She never used to be…she thinks.
Lately, it’s getting harder to remember.
She’s not sure when it happened, but she must have fallen asleep in Camilla’s lap because the next time she wakes up, she’s on the couch under a thick blanket in the sitting room. All of the candles have been extinguished, and neither Corrin nor Camilla are in sight. That pang of guilt returns and Kamui isn’t able to place it until she remembers the last time she felt comfortable enough with someone to fall asleep in their arms, she had been with her mother.
Her stomach flips so impressively at the thought that she’s half convinced it’s learning gymnastics.
That would explain why I can’t ever sleep.
The window is open, and Kamui briefly wonders why the sun isn’t shining through until she sees the stars hanging in the night sky and realizes how late it is.
Kamui sits up and rubs at her eyes, intending to go to her room and pretend to sleep for a few hours, but startles at a sudden inlet of light into the room. She squints at the figure in the doorway until her eyes can adjust, and in that time, they walk in and shut the door to the servants’ quarters behind them.
“I thought that was you I saw-there isn’t anyone else awake at this time, is there? Gunter informed me you have bouts of insomnia,” the figure says.
“Uh, Jakob, right?” she says, voice raspy from sleep.
The figure hums and the room further lights up when he uncovers a lantern. Sure enough, the rude hallway boy is standing by the door, holding a lantern and—
Oh, my map!
“I’m taking that as a ‘yes’. Anyways, Gunter had to look into something, so he’ll be away for a few days." The boy walks over to the coffee table and sets the lantern down, opening her old notebook up and flipping it to the page with the start of her map. She sees where she had suddenly stopped-probably when she'd investigated the crash in the hallway.
“Am I correct in assuming that this is supposed to represent the rest of this floor?” Jakob says, pointing to the hastily made lines of charcoal. Kamui eyes him warily, considering how to respond. The slightly older boy rolls his eyes and flips to the next page, and Kamui gapes.
“I asked to make sure that this was drawn in the correct orientation,” he says, showing her an entire page filled with neat ink lines that she can only assume depict the rest of the floor. “I’m not sure why you were out at goddesses know how early in the morning just to make a map, but since I know the area better, I did my best to finish the floor. It should be quite accurate.”
“I…why?” She asks, befuddled.
“To help you, my lady,” he says sincerely. Kamui looks at him like he’s grown a second head and his eyes flatten.
“Do you have any idea what they would have done to me had you not intervened?”
She blinks. “Well, no, but I didn’t help you so I could force you to work for me. And can you talk like you used to? The change is weird.”
“You haven’t forced me to do anything-and I’m afraid I cannot revert to my previous speech patterns if I am going to help you escape.” He says casually, like he’s talking about the weather instead of what is arguably treason. “Servants don’t generally curse or talk back to their lords and ladies.” Kami’s eyes widen like saucers.
“Wait, wait, you’re—how did you…” she starts, trailing off as she realizes she probably shouldn’t admit to her plan.
Or lack thereof.
He snorts in amusement. “I’m sorry, what else would a Nohrian princess be doing at such an early hour with charcoal and a notebook in a place she is not supposed to be? Besides, Gunter must keep that door locked for a reason-it’s a huge pain in the ass every time we have to come in here. He also holds on to your arm like you’ve just learned to walk every time you’re outside.”
Kamui narrowly suppresses a wince. She supposes it probably was pretty obvious-but the fact that he’d picked up on the fact that she was making a map and was able to determine where it started was impressive-if not a bit irritating. That paired with the fact that instead of turning her notebook over to Gunter he’d finished her map signaled he really did want to help her.
Kamui laughs, and for the first time in a while, it’s not forced.
“You might get in trouble for this,” she warns, smile still on her face.
He spreads his hands. “I already owe you my life. There’s not much more they can take from me besides that,” he says matter-of-factly. “Now, where should we start?”
Kamui shoots him an amused, lopsided grin.
Maybe there’s hope after all.