A Bouquet of Bread/A Forest of Friends (Suikoden III/Tales of Legendia, Fenimore & Yun) Title: A Bouquet of Bread/A Forest of Friends Author/Artist:catdevigri Fandom: Crossover - Suikoden III x Tales of Legendia Pairing/characters: Fenimore & Yun, Yuiri Rating: PG Warnings: some creepy imagery Word count: 1,340 Prompt/challenge you're answering: Yun teaches Fenimore how to do something she is an expert at (and vice versa) Author's comment: I wanted to have this one both ways, so this is actually two stories and two pieces of art. The first puts Yun into the ToL universe and the second puts Fenimore in the Suikoden world.
A Bouquet of Bread
Yun was a funny little girl, but she wasn't the Merines. There had been some chatter throughout the village back when she was about five years old and began to see visions, but Yun herself had been quick to clear that up, even before Elder Maurits could be summoned from his own village to discuss the subject with the people. "I saw the Merines, dressed in black, looking over the ocean. Her long, wavy hair was blowing in the breeze."
In private, Yun told her oldest sister, Yuiri, how pleased she was to see the new Merines in her visions. "Because I will only see her for a brief time in my own life, and that before she assumes the full mantle of her power and responsibilities."
Yuiri cautioned Yun against speaking to others of the Ferines bodies that would form the steps for the Merines to walk to her dais and the blood that would be her red carpet. Yun was an obedient girl, preternaturally wise for her years. Yuiri took this morbid knowledge to heart and silently practiced, solidifying her skill with the bow, and her sister Yumi's as well. Destiny was fixed, but in its generalities, not its particulars. With true names of "sagacity," "inviting one," and "one who sees," all three sisters had powerful fates to fulfill.
Fenimore knew none of these dark facts. Yun was just that strange girl who saw things. She wasn't a very quick swimmer and she had no other real skills of note, but Fenimore couldn't claim to be anything special herself, so in that regard, she could relate.
Yun saw things differently. Fenimore was going to be something important to their people- she was going to be important to the Merines. Right now, she was someone interesting to Yun, just for being herself.
"Here you go, Yun. It's the bread your sister wanted," Fenimore arrived outside the house delivering the promised loaf.
"Ah, it's so soft," Yun squeezed the bread and watched in stretch back to its original shape when she released the pressure. "Did you make this bread yourself, Fenimore, or did your mom make it?"
"Umm, well, we usually work together, but I made this batch myself." "Really?" Yun's eyes grew bright, "I think you bake the best bread in town! I'm no good at all. Do you think you could teach me how to bake bread more like you do?"
Fenimore was somewhat taken aback. No one was ever specifically interested in her or her skills. "C-certainly," she agreed.
"Do you have time to start my lessons tomorrow? I can go to your house or you can come over here, whichever one is more convenient for you," Yun asked and offered sweetly. She held the long loaf of bread carefully in her arms, almost like it was a bouquet.
"Tomorrow is fine. You can come to my family's house, unless you'd rather I came to yours."
"I'll come over then. That way you don't have to bring any special supplies you might have here." The way Yun smiled when they said good-bye left Fenimore with the distinct feeling this girl had admired her for a long time.
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A Forest of Friends
Lately Yun had been walking dangerously close to the barriers on her own. Fenimore looked down at the younger girl from her perch atop the roof of her house and wondered if Yun thought she was doing all this in secret or if she knew she was being watched. "As long as I can see her from here," Fenimore thought, rubbing her fingertips along the smooth shaft of an arrow, "I know that I can protect her." She wasn't exactly a crackshot, but the mossy rooftop provided a convenient vantage point. And at this distance from the village, one shot was all it would take to alert other members of the community to the danger faced by one of their own. Someone like Yuiri, better with the bow, could make up for any of Fenimore's mishaps with a single brilliant shot.
Yun and Yuiri were sort of similar that way. They were calm and talented. Who in the village didn't admire one or the other of them in some small way? Yuiri was good with weapons, knew plenty of tribal lore, and had proved herself time and time again as second-in-command (and future leader) of the clan, but between the two sisters, she wasn't the one who had captured Fenimore's starry-eyed attention. That was Yun, little and strange and spirit-chosen. Yun's gift was understanding and it wasn't just the spirits who spoke to her, it extended to animals too and maybe, Fenimore was starting to wonder about this a little, to plants?
"Fenimore! Do you like sitting on your roof?" Yun suddenly called up to her, cupping her hands around her mouth, "I see you up there a lot these days!"
She- she knew! How embarrassing. Fenimore could feel her face burning as she crawled over to the edge of the eaves and climbed down the ladder. "H-how did you know?" she asked softly, feeling stupid.
"The birds told me. There's a nest in that one tree there," she pointed up to indicate a thick pine with branches jutting out over the roof, "And the birds that made it were afraid you were going to upset their eggs. Don't worry though, I convinced them not to be concerned about it. You wouldn't do something like that, Fenimore."
...Yun really was a sweet girl. She didn't even bring up the birds' nest to her tribeswoman. She just believed that Fenimore was too nice and cautious to do anything bad like that. "Hmm. I see. Thanks for explaining."
Yun just smiled and nodded. "You know," Fenimore spoke up, figuring that she might as well use this opportunity to summon up her courage and ask Yun about the things that had been on her mind, "I've been seeing you wandering around here a lot lately. ...Any particular reason for that...?" Then again, she didn't want to come off too pushy. "Or, uh, is it just a whim?"
"Well," Yun clasped her hands behind her back and rocked from her toes to her heels, "I don't want to go against Great Auntie and Yuiri's orders, but there a some flowers just beyond the barrier that I've been talking to lately. They turn their heads to follow the sun through the leaves and they tell me about the things they see flying overhead- things I've never seen, like a dragon and a member of the Winghorde."
"It's true then! You can talk to flowers." It sounded poetic, but insane. Animals were one thing, they clearly had separate lives and consciousnesses, but it was almost impossible to think that one short-lived flower could have a unique personality (or maybe it didn't and Fenimore just couldn't comprehend this properly).
"I suppose it's not...something you can teach," Fenimore concluded.
"Is it something you want to learn?" Yun smiled, loosing her hands and letting them swing free.
"If I could, I guess," Fenimore shrugged, "But that's not the kind of skill you can just pass on. ........Is it?"
"Sorry. I don't know how. I don't know how I can do it myself, really. It's the same with the other types of understanding. Being able to listen- I mean really, really listen- is important, but no matter how hard some girls try it seems like they just can't get any further than the listening."
"Uh, well," Fenimore cheered at the knowledge that she, at least, was not the only one who'd cared to try, "Just because I can't doesn't mean you should be kept from it. We could go a little past the main barrier to the flowers together. It would be safer that way, right? Than just you alone, I mean."
"Hee hee. Fenimore, don't encourage me to be bad," Yun giggled, but the glint in her eye told a different story. "Are you ready then? Let's do it. But we've got to be quick. Make sure and run!"