#fire emblem barst

[silvershadow1711]

So, years ago, I was super into Fire Emblem Heroes. I played that shit religiously, almost from day 1. I loved the idea of it, that characters from older games and the less popular ones from newer games might get new art and voice lines. I played for so long, hoarding my orbs like a dragon, in hopes that characters I liked would get alts, and when the whole resplendent thing happened, that they might at least get skins.

I was sorely mistaken, and I uninstalles the game once fallen!Edelgard made it clear that my hopes for a fallen!Gunter were as misplaced as people in hell hoping for ice water. But before I purged FEH from my heart, I'd drawn respendent alts for my most used units. I posted them on Reddit, but now I'm posting them here (these are the digital color versions- each image started life as a pen and paper illustration that I'll upload when I can find them)

Hel!Gunter is the canon one- I just wanted to try making a masculine fairy design. I DO actually have proper Ljósálfar and Dökkálfar resplendents/alts (just pen drawings, no digital) and a Niðavellir and Joutun design. I might finish/polish them one day.

(You can probably guess the theme for my old default arena/aether raid team~♡)

[fioras-resolve]

she jagen off my hardin til i barst

[fe-smashorpass]

[moe-broey]

PLEASE..........

[johnchrom89]

Mystery of the Emblem book 2 ending but better

Well that's it for FE for a while. Couldn't think of a better way to wrap it up. So it's time to go back the 100 day trial and other characters.

[fefuckability]

Archanea Qualifier 2

Feel free to rb/comment with your reasoning!

[ercdouken]

Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem Randomizer - Book 1: Chapter 2

[nightzap]

I completed my first FE Ironman today

I finished Shadow Dragon on Hard 2, not resetting to undo deaths and restarting the run from Chapter 1 if Marth dies. On the third attempt, today I incinerated Medeus with Tiki’s divine dragonbreath, and it was exilerating.

My first attempt had ended early. I was rusty in playing FE, so I lost a few strong units like Caeda and Abel in the first two chapters, and in chapter 4 I misplaced Marth and he facetanked one more spear than he could. The second run went much better... until I all the overlapping ballista ranges in chapter 13 made my brain sizzle through and Marth once again took too much damage, especially since I had previously lost Midia, meaning I had to fight Astram instead of being able to recruit him.

But the third attempt went amazingly. I barely lost anyone I was actively using, at least until the lategame when the difficulty started to dial up.

My MVP of the run was Barst. Look at this absolute unit:

From early on, his strength and speed allowed him to reliable kill enemies without the aid of forged effective weapons, which is what most of my army used. Once I promoted him and changed his class to hero, giving him massive stat boosts at the cost of one point of strength, he went into overdrive, being tanky enough to duel most foes and counterkill with a hand axe. He finished the campaign with 73 kills under his belt

The other in the top 5 of best fighters where Marth (62 kills), Cain and Wolf (58 kills each), and Caeda (54 kills). The Wing Spear is not nicknamed the Win Spear for nothing!

That’s not to say my run went perfectly of course. I had a full three deaths in the final chapter alone. Wendell, serving as a staffbot with low HP, got killed by a ballista right at the start. Then I forgot to move Boa, my other staffboat, and he became wyvern food. Finally, during the final struggle against Medeus, Cain got caught and doubled by a Mage Dragon, these bastards are crazy fast.

My most embarassing death happened in Chapter 23. I was using the Geosphere to suss out the real Gharnef and kill a few of his mooks, and didn’t realize that the fortify staff doesn’t heal it’s user, causing me to accidentally kill Lena through repeated earthquakes. That was really dumb.

I haven’t played FE in forever, and it’s good to be back. Next I will do an Ironman of Sacred Stones, which is going to be fun because I played it exactly once, years ago, when I first got into FE. Very fun.

[fuckassreal]

Barst emblem

[aestheticallypleasinganimeboys]

Barst - Fire Emblem Heroes

[biggie-chcese]

oh your a fire emblem fan? Name every fire emblem character

bet.

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light (+ remake and sequel)

playable: marth, caeda, jagen, cain, abel, draug, gordin, wrys, ogma, barst, bord, cord, castor, darros, julian, lena, navarre, merric, matthis, hardin, wolf, sedgar, roshea, vyland, wendell, rickard, bantu, caesar, radd, roger, jeorge, maria, minerva, linde, jake, midia, dolph, macellan, tomas, boah, beck, astram, palla, catria, est, arran, samson, xane, tiki, lorenz (FE1), elice, gotoh, frey, norne, athena, horace, etzel, ymir, nagi

non-playable: mostyn, malledus, anna (and every following iteration that isnt playable), nyna, aurelys, anri, cornelius, liza, miloah, naga (let's slash out future iterations too), adrah, artemis, cartas, marion, iote, ordwin, ludwik, jiol, camus, michalis, gharnef, medeus, gazzak, gomer, hyman, bentheon, merach, emereus, harmein, kannival, mannu, zharov, khozen, volzhin, heimler, grigas, hollstadt, morzas, sternlin, orridyon, xemcel (me when i'm an incel with pronouns), rumel, rucke, gail, toras, dahl, yodel, eibel, willow, nehring

Fire Emblem Gaiden + Echoes

playable: alm, lukas, gray, tobin, kliff, silque, clair, clive, forsyth, python, luthier, mathilda, delthea, tatiana, zeke, mycen, celica, mae, boey, genny, saber, valbar, kamui, leon, atlas, jesse, sonya, deen, nomah, faye, fernand, emma, shade, yuzu, randal

non-playable: mila, duma, rudolf, massena, jedah, marla, hestia, dolth, jamil, desaix, slayde, barth, garth, lawson, gazelle, zakson, blake, wolff, grieth, mikhail, garcia, tatarrah, nuibaba, seazas, xaizor, magnus, mueller, jerome, gharn, hades, argentum, aurum, cerberus, naberius, liprica, halcyon, lima IV, irma, berkut, rinea, forneus, jarth

Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War

playable: sigurd, alec, naoise, arden, azelle, lex, quan, ethlyn, finn, midir, edain, dew, ayra, jamke, deirdre, chulainn, lachesis, beowolf, lewyn, silvia, erinys, tailtiu, claud, brigid, seliph, lana/muirne, larcei/creidne, scáthach/dalvin, oifey, diarmuid/tristan, lester/deimne, julia, fee/hermina, arthur/amid, iuchar, iucharba, shannan, patty/daisy, leif, nanna/jeanne, finn, ares, lene/laylea, tine/linda, febail/asaello, ced/hawk, hannibal, coirpre/charlot, altena

non-playable: oifey, arvis, shannan, mariccle, mananan, eldigan, grahnye, manfroy, sandima, kurth, victor, cigyun, lahna, dimaggio, gerrard, filat, munnir, cimbaeth, batu, imuka, eve, alva, eva, elliot, philip, boldor, macbeth, voltz, clement, zyne, chagall, jacobi, papilio, pizarl, dobarl, myos, daccar, annand, cuvuli, pamela, díthorba, donovan, lamia, slayder, vaja, byron, ring, andrey, lombard, reptor, travant, magorn, azmur, aida, lewyn/forseti, julius, manfroy, arvis, bloom, hilda, ishtar, ishtore, harold, schmidt, danann, liza, vampa, fetra, eliu, bramsel, jabarro, muhammad, ovo, brian, scipio, kutuzov, coruta, maikov, kanatz, disler, travant, arion, jake, musar, judah, ridale, morigan, zagam, robert, boyce, rodan, felipe, palmark, yupheel, fisher, daggon, baran, meng, maybell, bleg, mus, bovis, tigris, lepus, draco, anguilla, equus, ovis, simia, gallus, canis, porcus, loptous, forseti, salamander, gair, maera, heim, baldr, hoðr, od, njörun, dáinn, nál, ullr, fjalar, thrud, ced, bragi, yudu

Fire Emblem: Thracia 776

playable: leif, finn, eyvel, osian, halvan, dagdar, tanya, marty, ronan, lifis, safy, brighton, machyua, lara, fergus, karin, dalsin, asbel, nanna, hicks, shiva, carrion, selfina, cain, alva, robert, fred, olwen, mareeta, salem, perne, troude, tina, glade, deen, eda, homer, linoan, ralf, ilios, sleuf, sara, miranda, shannam, misha, xavier, amalda, conomor, diarmuid, saias, ced, galzus

non-playable: august, dryas, raydrik, veld, manfroy, julius, ishtar, reinhardt, kempf, bloom, seliph, julia, lewyn, travant, arion, altena, hannibal, coirpre, weissman, bucks, lobos, bandol, truman, aizenau, rumei, merlock, dobalzark, largo, gomes, oltof, cullough, baráth, seimetol, fraus, zaom, rist, baldack, paulus, makroy, codda, aihiman, brook, mua, nicolov, mueller, rinecok, palman, gustav, wolff, cowen, alfan, farden, coruta, zile, mus, bovis, tigris, draco, canis, porcus, yubel, romeo, carl

Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade

playable: roy, marcus, alen, lance, wolt, bors, merlinus, elen, dieck, wade, lot, shanna, chad, lugh, clarine, rutger, saul, dorothy, sue, zelot, trec, noah, astolfo, lilina, gwendolyn, barthe, ogier, fir, sin, gonzalez, geese, klein, thea, larum, echidna, elffin, bartre, raigh, cath, melady, perceval, cecilia, sophia, igrene, garret, fae, hugh, zeiss, douglas, niime, juno, dayan, yoder, karel

non-playable: damas, rude, slater, erik, dory, wagner, devias, leygance, henning, scott, nord, zinc, scouran, oro, robarts, morgan, ain, gelero, flaer, randy, maggie, rose, ohtz, raeth, narcian, windham, arcard, martel, monke, sigune, gel, roartz, teck, thoril, brakul, kudoka, maral, kabul, chan, murdock, galle, pereth, zephiel, brunnya, jahn, idunn, guinivere, mordred

Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade

playable: mark, lyn, sain, kent, florina, wil, dorcas, serra, erk, rath, matthew, nils, lucius, wallace, eliwood, marcus, lowen, rebecca, bartre, hector, oswin, guy, merlinus, priscilla, raven, canas, dart, fiora, legault, ninian, isadora, heath, hawkeye, geitz, pent, louise, karel, harken, nino, jaffar, vaida, renault, athos, farina, karla

non-playable: eleanora, leila, elbert, kishuna, darin, nergal, uther, lloyd, linus, brendan, limstella, sonia, ursula, zephiel, guinivere, bramimond, batta, zugu, glass, migal, carjiga, bug, bool, heintz, beyard, yogi, eagler, lundgren, groznyi, wire, zagan, boies, puzon, erik, sealen, bauker, bernard, fargus, damian, zoldam, uhai, aion, teodor, cameron, oleg, eubans, jasmine, paul, pascal, kenneth, jerme, maxime, georg, kaim, denning, fire dragon, desmond, hellene, murdock, natalie, ephidel, jan, hausen, marquess araphen, helman, jake, igor, fae, sophia, roy, lilina, reissmann, roland, durban

Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones

playable: eirika, ephraim, seth, franz, gilliam, vanessa, moulder, ross, garcia, neimi, colm, artur, lute, natasha, joshua, forde, kyle, tana, amelia, innes, gerik, tethys, marisa, ewan, duessel, cormag, l'arachel, dozla, saleh, rennac, knoll, myrrh, syrene, orson, lyon

non-playable: fomortiis, vigarde, mansel, morva, pablo, klimt, dara, carlyle, o'neill, breguet, bone, bazba, bandit, saar, zonta, novala, murray, tirado, binks, gheb, aias, beran, saaga, nada kuya, melina, zethla, monica, zabba, mcgregor, caellach, riev, ismaire, selena, glen, hayden, valter, renais

Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance

playable: ike, titania, boyd, oscar, rhys, shinon, gatrie, soren, mia, ilyana, mist, rolf, marcia, lethe, mordecai, volke, kieran, brom, nephenee, zihark, sothe, jill, astrid, makalov, stefan, tormod, muarim, devdan, tanith, reyson, janaff, ulki, calill, tauroneo, ranulf, haar, bastian, lucia, geoffrey, largo, elincia, ena, nasir, naesala, tibarn, giffca

playable in a weird way: oliver, shiharam, petrine, bryce, ashnard

non-playable: black knight, caineghis, dheginsea, gareth, greil, izuka, kurthnaga, leanne, lorazieh, nealuchi, sanaki, sigrun, lotz, zawana, ikanau, havetti, maijin, dakova, emil, balmer, kamura, nedata, kotaff, danomill, mackoya, seeker, norris, gashilama, kimaarsi, kayachey, homasa, kasatai, schaeffer, tomenami, lillia, rikard, gromell, bertram, hafedd, heddwyn, ramon, lekain, hetzel, rajaion

Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (will avoid repeats from PoR)

playable: micaiah, edward, leonardo, nolan, laura, aran, meg, volug, fiona, vika, nailah, rafiel, heather, danved, lyre, kyza, skrimir, pelleas, renning, lehran

non-playable: agony, aimee, almedha, amy, ashunera, alder, ashera, burton, callum, catalena, daniel, djur, goran, isaiya, istvan, jarod, jorge, kezhda, laverton, levail, lombroso, ludveck, maiel, maraj, muston, nico, numida, pain, pugo, radmin, roark, rolf's mother, rommit, seliora, septimus, sephiran, sergei, silvano, tashoria, valtome, veyona, wystan, yeardley, yune, yuma, zaitan, zeffren, zelgius

Fire Emblem Awakening

playable: chrom, robin, lissa, frederick, sully, virion, stahl, vaike, miriel, sumia, kellam, donnel, lon'qu, ricken, maribelle, panne, gaius, cordelia, gregor, nowi, libra, tharja, olivia, cherche, henry, say'ri, tiki, basilio, flavia, gangrel, walhart, emmeryn, yen'fay, aversa, priam, lucina, owain, inigo, brady, kjelle, cynthia, severa, gerome, morgan, yarne, laurent, noire, nah

non-playable: validar, naga, grima, first exalt, garrick, phila, raimi, roddick, orton, victor, hierarch, vasto, chalard, campari, vincent, mustafa, dalton, ke'ri, gecko, jamil, xalbador, cassius, ruger, holland, nelson, morristan, gyral, dalen, nombry, ezra, ignatius, farber, cervantes, pheros, excellus, algol, mus, bovis, tigris, lepus, draco, anguilla, equus, ovis, simia, gallus, canis, porcus, zanth, ardri, old hubba

Fire Emblem Fates

playable: corrin, azura, felicia, jakob, kaze, silas, mozu, shura, izana, ryoma, hinoka, takumi, sakura, hana, subaki, saizo, orochi, rinkah, kagero, oboro, hinata, hayato, setsuna, azama, kaden, reina, yukimura, scarlet, xander, camilla, leo, elise, effie, nyx, arthur, charlotte, benny, beruka, selena (formerly severa), niles, odin (formerly owain), peri, laslow (formerly inigo), keaton, flora, gunter, fuga, kana, shigure, dwyer, midori, sophie, shiro, kiragi, caeldori, asugi, hisame, rhajat, mitama, selkie, siegbert, forrest, ignatius, nina, ophelia, percy, soleil, velouria

playable in a weird way: daniela, lloyd, llewelyn, haitaka, kumagera, nichol, candace, daichi, funke, senno, zhara, tarba, gazak

non-playable: garon, iago, mikoto, lilith, arete, sumeragi, anankos, kilma, hans, kotaro, omozu, anthony, zola, rainbow sage, katerina, ikona, layla, cassita, cadros

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

playable: byleth, sothis, edelgard, hubert, ferdinand, linhardt, caspar, bernadetta, dorothea, petra, dimitri, dedue, felix, ashe, sylvain, mercedes, annette, ingrid, claude, lorenz, raphael, ignatz, lysithea, marianne, hilda, leonie, yuri, balthus, constance, hapi, rhea, seteth, flayn, hanneman, manuela, gilbert, alois, catherine, shamir, cyril, jeralt, monica, tomas, jeritza, anna, aelfric

special little guys: gatekeeper, abysskeeper

non-playable: metodey, thales, solon, kronya, cornelia, myson, odesse, bias, chilon, pittacus, kostas, miklan, pallardó, acheron, baron dominic, baron ochs, christophe, claudia, count charon, count ordelia, count rowe, derick, duke gerth, emile, erwin, fleche, glenn, godfrey, grégoire, gwendal, holst, ionius ix, judith, klaus i, kyphon, ladislava, lambert, leopold, lonato, loog, ludwig, lycaon i, lycaon iii, margrave edmund, marquis vestra, matthias, nader, oswald, pan, patricia, randolph, rodrigue, rufus, tiana, volkhard, waldemar, wilhelm i, viscount kleiman, seiros, sitri, nemesis, indech, macuil, blaiddyd, charon, daphnel, dominic, fraldarius, gautier, gloucester, goneril, lamine, riegan, maurice, aubin, chevalier, noa, timotheos, luca, iris, chevalier, bernhard, gajus, wilhelm, marcelle, simone

Fire Emblem Engage

playable: alear, vander, clanne, framme, alfred, boucheron, etie, céline, louis, chloé, yunaka, alcryst, citrinne, lapis, diamant, amber, jade, ivy, zelkov, kagetsu, fogado, bunet, pandreo, timerra, merrin, panette, hortensia, seadall, rosado, goldmary, lindon, saphir, mauvier, veyle, jean, nel, nil, zelestia, gregory, madeline, rafal

non-playable: sombron, hyacinth, zephia, griss, marni, lumera, sommie, ève, morion, seforia, nelucce, teronda, rodine, abyme, mitan, totchie, tetchie, durthon, anisse, calney, pinet, sean, anje

while the emblems are said to be different from the canon version, i will be leaving them out since they're pretty much the same as the already listed characters

OCs from the Archanea Saga: frost, dice, malice, belf, roberto, reiden

OCs from the Cipher cards that aren't in the Echoes DLC: alice, valjean, niamh, poe

OCs from the warriors spinoffs not dividing them by playability because i dont care: rowan, lianna, darios, yelena, oskar, velezark, SHEZ!, arval/epimenides, berling, getz, lazley, simon, adrienne, jetz, baron gillingr, baron barnabas, viscount essar, viscount lochin, viscount hymir, viscount menja, viscount fenja, viscount mateus, viscount elidure, viscount gideon, count duval, marquis erebus, baron pryderi, baron mateus, viscount brennius, yvette, viscount enid, count geraint, baron müller, viscount siward, viscount albany, viscount burgundy, leif, anaximandros, dolofonos, the immaculate one, anselma, victoria, gunnar, krouffer, banfig, kite, morianne, laetitia, duke ifan, zoltan

OCs from that fuckass gacha game

playable in some way: kiran, alfonse, sharena, anna, gustav, henriette, askr, ash, bruno, veronica, letizia, embla, elm, nifl, fjorm, gunnthrá, hríd, ylgr, múspell, surtr, laegjarn, laevatein, helbindi, hel, eir, ymir, líf, thrasir, ganglöt, loki, thórr, peony, mirabilis, plumeria, triandra, freyr, freyja, eitr, ginnungagap, niðavellir, reginn, ótr, fáfnir, dagr, nótt, eitri, seiðr, heiðr, gullveig, kvasir, nerþuz, ratatoskr, heiðrún, eikþyrnir

non-playable: feh That Fucking Bird That I Hate, fehnix, hvergel, menja, angrboða, alfaðör, alfrik, billingr, dvalinn, grer, þjazi, veðrfölnir, njörðr, hræsvelgr, níðhöggr, læraðr

i am not listing the fucking alts. you get the point. never test me again.

[pale-flower-of-darkness]

ranking fire emblem axe guy duos on how much i like them as characters because if it was based on gameplay halvan and osian would be number one purely cuz the vogue is fucking broken

5. bord, cord and barst

archanea characters do not have personalities. in this essay i will-

ok im joshing. the most interesting thing i can say is that they're apparently all brothers and are the only axe guy trio in the series. idk why i was so surprised to learn that they're brothers. most archanea characters that look the exact same dont have a reason its just like- can't believe they explained it.

4. wade and lott

first off, i love lott. that's my poor pussy, but wade makes me upset. i hate his design. i hate his stupid face. i hate his annoying-ass personality. lott's great though. i will always defend lott. wade just brings them really fucking far down.

3. dorcas and bartre

i fucking love these two. i think they're the first time where an axe guy duo wasn't designed to be around the same age. i think they exist less as a duo and more of just- characters who work together, and i just like that a lot. :]

they exist outside of each other and i think that's really nice cuz "guys who depend on each other for characterization" is a trope i fucking despise. they exist as people and it makes me happy.

it helps that they were first introduced in completely different games lmao.

2. halvan and osian

I WISH WE GOT TO SEE THESE DORKS TALK ONE-ON-ONE. i usually don't care about axe guy duo dynamics. these 2 and the obvious numbuh one are the exceptions.

axe guy dynamics are always some flavor of normal and loud, that's true here too. however, usually it's that while they're both kinda insufferable the loud one is more approachable/more willing to talk to people. here? osian hates literally everyone not named halvan or tanya. i've literally never not been endeared to loud introvert characters. halvan is literally the nicest most normal dude in the freeblades and his best friend is such an asshole that his girlfriend has made it her civic duty to call him out for it and it's so fucking endearing-

in my head they have the same energy as nathan and jacob drawfee.

1. garcia and ross

i love these 2 sososososo much-

they're the best. please go play sacred stones. they have my heart. i love parent child duos.

that's it. you knew they'd be numbah one.

[spectraeevee]

Barst my Beloved <3

[fefuckability]

ROUND 1: Pretty blond or ripped axe man

Feel free to comment/rb with your reasoning!

[cloned-soldier]

This is my favorite thing in Heroes now.

From Woodcutter to Grim Reaper.

[archaneanscribe]

Somethin’ Special

You might recognize this from my ao3, but I want my writing to mainly be on this blog now. This fits into my personal canon for Archanea, so I thought it prudent to bring over. Ogma/Barst, post canon domestic fluff. Part of the Archanea Chronicles

It had been many months since the war had concluded, but each sunrise still felt like a new dawn to Ogma. Maybe it was because his life had never before been so idyllic as it was now, waking up whenever the mood struck him (even if that was usually first thing, out of habit), in the strong arms of a man he had thought he could only ever dream of being with. Crisp early fall mornings like these were especially his favorite, as the need for body heat gave him an excuse to cuddle up, but it wasn’t so cold that his zucchini’s were dying on him.

A twitch had him looking over at his sleeping partner. Barst was a heavy sleeper, likely from years of having slept on boats sailing the tumultuous seas. Not that Ogma was complaining, as it gave him time in the mornings to appreciate him. His husband’s blue hair splayed over the pillow, familiar swoop gone in favor of messy bedhead. His broad chest rising and falling slowly with each sleepy breath.

The small smile on his face when his dreams were pleasant, which was now a much more common occurrence than ever before.

Ogma only had a moment of this before Barst’s eye cracked open and he stretched out his arms, displacing the blanket that lay over them, “Goooood morning,” he said through a yawn, before rubbing some of the sleep out of his eyes. The former mercenary’s laugh came out in a low rumble, and he pecked the other’s shoulder, “Good morning.”

“We got anythin’ to do today?”

“Besides the usual? No.”

A grin started to spread over Barst’s face, “Well then I’ve got a suggestion, if you wanna hear it.”

Eyebrow raised, Ogma nodded, “Go ahead.”

“What’s say you and me just lay about all day inside? No choppin’ wood, no hunting, no gardening, no nothing. Just a cozy day in by the fire.”

“If we do that it’ll be more work tomorrow.”

“I know that! Sometimes,” Barst flushed, and he scratched his cheek sheepishly, “Sometimes a guy just wants to do something special. Even if it means breakin’ his back tomorrow.”

This brought a warmth to Ogma’s body and a smile to his face, “I didn’t say anything was wrong with it. You go get some firewood and I’ll grab breakfast.”

Not needing to be told twice, Barst hopped out of bed, quickly pulling on the clean tunic he had laid over the dresser. Some of his clothes had trouble fitting his particular...physique, so you could see almost all his muscles outlined against the fabric, a fact that Ogma appreciated day in and day out. Once ready, he saluted then blew a kiss to his husband, in that order, like he did every morning, and it never failed to put a smile on Ogma’s face.

---

Their small larder was modestly stocked, but held more than enough to two men of their age and size. Hardy, long lasting loaves of brown bread, stiff blocks of fragrant cheese, salted meats, and a variety of dried fruits and vegetables were stored in different baskets and clay containers, ensuring that they wouldn’t go hungry even in the harshest of months. For the most part what they ate was freshly grown, caught, or killed, so they hadn’t much need for fancy things that nobles had like white flour and sugar.

However, there was one thing that stood out from the rest. It was a small red box, made of fine mahogany with true gold accents, that sat next to their barrels of beer. In it were a variety of fine teas, a wedding gift from Caeda. It may have seemed strange, for two simple men like them to have a gift from the Queen herself, but in truth she was a common visitor to their humble abode.

Ogma caught himself smiling, thinking about the girl he met as simply a rough and tumble princess, who through grit and the power of love, became Queen of the united land. He couldn’t have been more proud to be at her side through the whole thing. Shaking his head fondly, he picked out a tea to brew, as this was a special occasion. He also grabbed a small loaf, one of their sweeter cheeses, and some dried apple slices, as well as an iron pot for the tea and two earthen mugs. Content with his haul, he walked out of the larder towards their main room, just in time for Barst to walk in with a bundle of logs in his arms.

“Fancy meeting’ you here,” Barst said with a grin, which is husband matched.

“Come here often?” he asked, picking up a log to toss into the fire place.

The other laughed, putting one in himself, then laying the others down on the ground beside it, “Only when there are handsome guys like you around.”

“You sure like flattery,” was Ogma’s reply, as he struck the flint a few times to get a fire started, and when he was finally content, he grabbed the put and filled it up with the jug of water they kept inside, making a mental note that it needed to be refilled. Barst took this from him, and hung it over the fire, “Not flattery, I’m just an honest man, is all, and I say what I see.”

Unable to say anything in return, Ogma just made his way over to embrace his husband, reveling in the start it gave him. The depth of his appreciation for...all this, was boundless, and he wasn’t nearly good enough with words to verbalize it. He was always a man of action instead, never really given the choice not to be really. He squeezed Barst’s waist with one arm and buried the other hand in his hair.

Patting his back, Barst returned the gesture just as tightly, smiling into the crook of his neck. Ogma had a few inches on him, not more than enough than made him need to stretch up for kisses on the mouth, but it was nice to not always be the biggest guy in the room. After a very long, warm few moments, they pulled apart at the sound of boiling water, ready to be poured into a cup of tea.

---

Once they had eaten their filling meal and drank their hot beverage, they pulled their chairs over to sit in front of the steady fire, At first, they didn’t say much, as neither of them really needed it. They’d been through thick and thin, through battles and peacetimes, through times of ache and times of joy. They knew one another like the backs of their own hands.

It felt...nice, to be understood by someone like this.

Finally, Ogma did speak, heart full of such emotion that his mouth couldn’t withstand the flood any longer, “I said most of this at the wedding, but, before I meet Caeda I didn’t expect much out of life. Still didn’t even after I started work in Talys. Thought I’d spend most of my life fighting for other people, even if I happened to like those people more than before. But...”

He reached out his hand to grab his husband’s, enjoying the feeling of their rough, calloused palms rubbing against each other’s, “Then I found you. A half dead pirate looking for work. There was a look in your eye that told me I could trust you, so I did. Best decision I ever made. You’ve always had my back, even when I asked you to fight in a war you had no stake in. Whenever I looked around, there you were.”

“You know, you don’t talk as much as most other folk, but when it comes to important things, you always beat me to the punch,” squeezing the hand in his, Barst looked into the fire, watching the flames dance around, “I wasn’t really all that happy as a pirate. I never much liked stealing from people just tryin’ to live their lives, but there wasn’t much choice for a guy like me, poor and with more brawn than brain. You showed me that even if it’s hard, there’s always a choice. When you held your hand out that day, my whole life turned around. I ain’t got the words for how much I appreciate what you’ve done for me.”

The warmth in the room rose, and it was not solely from the fireplace before them. They leaned in, eyes fluttering shut, to meet their mouths in a long and languid kiss. Ogma’s hand cupped Barst’s face, and the man groaned as his husband’s thumb rubbed small circles in his cheek. They stayed like this for a minute, enjoying the feeling of their lips moving slowly against each other’s. When they did pull away, they sported grins reserved exclusively for the consumption of the other.

“Ten years ago, when we met, I never expected this is where we would be,” Ogma confessed.

Barst nodded, “Can’t say the same for myself. Knew you’d be the guy I married the moment I laid eyes on you.”

“More flattery,” Ogma rolled his eyes as he leaned in to steal another kiss, and all the world’s troubles faded away in the face of the peace they brought each other in that small cottage in an unimportant forest in the countryside. No matter the lives they lived before, they knew that now they’d always moments like these, together.•