#no one said it had to be the first time aymeric and kaede met after all

[eva-cybele]

wolmeric week day 1: first meeting

Aymeric cast an eye over the war table that had been hastily assembled at Porta Praetoria, taking count of their forces and those arrayed against them. The Garleans had suffered heavy losses, but they were still formidable, not to mention entrenched. Routing them would not be easy.

Even so, a strange certainty of their victory filled him. Doma had been liberated with a far smaller army, proving once again that the mere presence of the Warriors of Light was enough to turn the tide of battle, no matter what field they fought on.

The other leaders of the Eorzean Alliance – still strange to think of himself as one of them, even after all these months – gathered and arrayed themselves around the table as well, discussing strategy and the strengths and weaknesses of their own forces. Merlwyb, after recounting her contributions of the Maelstrom, Yellow Jackets, and elite squadrons from various pirate crews and guilds within Limsa Lominsa, waved forward an older highlander man, whose severe face was unfamiliar among the Ala Mhigan Resistance members that Aymeric had met thus far.

“Roric Blackthorne leads a Free Company that fought under the Maelstrom’s banner at Carteneau, and his men have been working with the Resistance for months now. He knows the lay of the land well, and has requested a place with the Immortal Flames at the van.”

Raubahn gave the man a quick look over, and then shrugged. “I hope you’re prepared to give the imperials hell, if you’re asking to be put under my command.”

Roric crossed his arms over his broad chest and lifted his chin. “More than. And if ye doubt the strength of my sword arm, perhaps this’ll convince ye: I’ve bested the Warrior of Light in single combat.”

Aymeric felt his eyebrows crawl towards his hairline, and saw similar skepticism bloom across the faces of everyone present. Lyse, especially, looked nearly ready to jump across the table and defend the honor of her fellow Scions, when a softly-accented feminine voice cut across the group: “Don’t let him spin you tales. Roric hasn’t been able to do more than hold his own against Kaede since she was nineteen. And I doubt he’d be able to do even that, now.”

All the eyes at the table were drawn to the slight figure of a raen woman, her jet-black hair pulled back in a loose braid, with eerily familiar cobalt blue eyes staring out of her faintly-lined face.

Ice abruptly ran down Aymeric’s spine as he realized exactly who he was looking at.

Roric deflated a little, and his bluster turned to a sheepish grin as he turned to look at the woman. “Oh, aye, but ye couldn’t have let me have my glory for a moment longer? ‘Tis a sad day when a man’s wife cuts him down to size in front of his betters.”

The woman shook her head. “My husband may have his glory, but not when it comes at the cost of my daughter’s.”

“Oh, fair enough. M’lords and ladies, may I present my chief tactician, who also does me the great honor of being my wife: Yuriko Kazarishi.”

A deep chuckle boomed against the rocks, and Raubahn reached his arm across the table to grasp Roric’s forearm. “A fine thing to be able to claim, even so. Perhaps if I still had both my arms, I might be able to join you in making it. Or Ser Aymeric, had he not been fighting the other lass with a barely-healed gut wound, eh?”

The Flame General’s use of his name startled Aymeric out of the quiet panic that had settled into the back of his mind at the realization that he was meeting the parents of the woman he loved, and he quickly shook his head. “I do not dare claim that I could have overcome Marzanna on even my best day, though I concede that the Grand Melee was far from it. ‘Tis an honor, however, to meet you both – Ishgard owes your daughter a great debt.”

The diplomatic platitudes rolled off of his tongue without much need for thought, and he watched carefully as both sets of eyes turned to him, Yuriko unreadable, but Roric with barely concealed dislike. “Well. Too bad she wasn’t around to end yer war for ye before we took the field at Carteneau, but ‘tis better late than never.”

Aymeric suppressed a wince at that. Kaede had mentioned that her parents bore no love for Ishgard, due to their absence from the Eorzean Alliance, but that didn’t make the obvious dismissal any easier to swallow.

Merlwyb’s voice was sharp with reprimand as she addressed her subordinate, “We have agreed to let bygones be bygones. Ishgard has returned to the Alliance, and since doing so, has not failed to answer the call of duty.”

“There is no need to defend our honor, Admiral. ‘Tis the truth that in your hour of need, we shut our gates. I only hope that by our presence now, Ishgard can begin to redress the balance.”

Roric looked unimpressed, but Aymeric thought he saw a flicker of respect cross Yuriko’s face at his words, and she gave him a small nod.

Situation defused, chatter across the table soon resumed, and Aymeric was content to listen as talk turned back to battle tactics. Roric had updated intelligence on patrol routes and troop numbers, and Yuriko a few ideas that made it clear where Kaede had gotten her sharp eye for tactics, but no final plans were yet ready to be made.

The meeting swiftly came to a close, and the other leaders departed back to their respective camps, but Aymeric found himself hesitating.

He wasn’t the only one, and a quiet “Ser Aymeric, was it?” pulled his attention back to Yuriko Kazarishi, who was staring at him with a considering eye. When he nodded, she raised an eyebrow. “Your name has appeared quite often in my daughter’s letters. She seems to think quite highly of you.”

Aymeric bowed slightly in her direction. “I assure you, my lady, the feeling is mutual. I am honored to consider Kaede a dear friend, as well as an ally.”

A tiny smile curved the corner of her mouth, and Aymeric was struck again by how strange it was to see Kaede’s eyes in another woman’s face. “A dear friend? Is that truly all?”

For the second time that day, Aymeric froze, startled. They had only had a few short months of stolen moments before Kaede had left for Othard – she hadn’t mentioned telling her parents about him, but it was entirely possible she had, and simply not had the time or the opportunity to mention it. “Ah. No. She is in truth much more, though our relationship is not yet common knowledge.” He paused, and then was unable to hold the question back, “When did she tell you?”

He was frankly dying to know when she had deemed their relationship serious enough to divulge it to her parents, even knowing they would likely not approve.

The laugh lines around Yuriko’s eyes deepened as she covered her mouth with her hand, before composing herself back to calm, but the merriment sparkled in her eyes, undimmed, as she spoke. “She hasn’t, actually. But I know my daughter. And why else would she write incessantly of a man for months, and then suddenly stop mentioning him by name at all, at the same time that she grew too busy to come visit? And then that same man looks as if he’s seen a ghost the moment he meets us? It paints a very clear picture, Lord Commander.”

Aymeric felt his face grow warm from embarrassment at falling so easily into the trap she’d laid for him. Before he could muster a response, a loud snort of amusement from Roric caught his attention, and the man slapped him ungently on the shoulder. “Don’t feel bad, lad. She does that t’everyone. Keen eye for more than just tactics, my lily flower has. Now, Kaede’s a woman grown, and so I won’t involve m’self in her business, but you just remember who taught her to hold a blade, eh?” The man’s sharp grey eyes were not unfriendly, but Aymeric understood immediately the gravity of the threat, even though it was patently absurd to think of anyone fighting Kaede’s battles for her – as well as the ridiculous notion that he would ever intentionally do something to warrant that response.

Instead of laughing, however, he placed his hand over his heart and answered with utter sincerity. “I won’t give you a reason to ever need remind me of that fact, ser. That, I can promise you.”

Sighing, Yuriko planted her hands on her hips and leveled a look of disapproval at her husband. “That’s quite enough, Roric. Especially after that little comment at the table. You’re lucky the Admiral didn’t throw you out then and there for your impertinence.” She shook her head, and then tucked her hand into the crook of Roric’s arm, drawing him away. “Forgive us for taking up your time, Ser Aymeric. I’m sure you have preparations to see to, just as we do. I only ask that if you do see my daughter, perhaps you might send her our way before she’s sent out on some mission to slay a god or liberate a country or whatever else it is the Alliance has her doing these days.”

Sheepishly, Aymeric nodded. “I will see that she knows you are expecting her, my lady. And I shall do my utmost to refrain from monopolizing all of her time.”

Apparently satisfied, Yuriko led her husband away towards the Maelstrom’s camp, and Aymeric felt his shoulders relax in exhaustion. Fury have mercy, that was not how he’d imagined that meeting going, and yet… it could have been worse. Disapproval of his city’s politics aside, they seemed decidedly neutral on him as a person, which was certainly an improvement over the reactions he’d received from most of the parents of women he’d courted in the past.

Settling on cautious optimism, Aymeric forcibly turned his thoughts away from his personal life and back towards the matter at hand. A free Ala Mhigo might go a long way toward improving their opinions of him, after all.