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Lyn froze, teacup halfway to her mouth.
"Married?"
Across the low table from her, Hector turned his own teacup between his hands distractedly. Funny, these Sacaean ones with no handles.
"Yes, in a month's time. I know it's short notice, but if you can make it I'd like you to be there." He heard Lyn set her cup down and could feel her staring at him, but he continued to focus on the way the sun from the yurt's skylight glinted off his tea. "Florina is invited as well, of course."
"You're serious."
"Yes. Can you come?"
"We'll be there, but Hector, is this— who—"
"No one you know. Met her a few months back. Ostian, from a good family." He spoke with the same clipped, matter-of-fact calm Lyn recalled him using to assign work around camp, when they had travelled and fought together.
"I... see," was all she could manage in reply. She made several false starts at continuing the conversation before a semi-coherent sentence came out. "I have to admit, I never thought you..."
Hector snorted. "We can't all elope to the plains," he said sharply, then raised a hand to his brow in frustration. Him and his temper. He had to do better, being the sole ruler of Ostia now. "Sorry. That was uncalled for. But I have every intention of living up to my brother's— my station."
"You're doing well so far, from what I gather. The people seem happy."
Hector glanced at Lyn and returned her encouraging smile wryly.
"I'm glad to hear it. Besides..." He tapped his fingers against the earthenware cup. "Forget it."
"Hector."
Lyn's voice was firm. That was one of the things that they both loved and were constantly annoyed by about each other: neither ever let the other get away with lies or self-pity. Hector sighed with amusement and regret.
"Besides, even if I were to elope, I haven't the man to elope with." The pointed words hung in the air, not needing any further clarification.
After a too-long pause, Lyn asked, "Have you told the news to Eliwood yet?"
It was a good thing these funny Sacaean teacups weren't as delicate as the ones in Ostia and the rest of Elibe, thought Hector, or he might have crushed it when his grip tightened in response to the question.
"He was very happy for me."
"Ah." The pained look on Lyn's face would normally have made Hector wish he hadn't said anything, but he couldn't muster the energy to be concerned with it today. "Do you think he..?"
"He doesn't know." Hector's voice was heavy and flat. "You've seen the way he looks at her. Elimine's name, it's been months since they wed and he still acts like a lovestruck pup!" He didn't need to say Ninian's name for Lyn to understand. "He's happy. I don't plan to upset that." Despite himself, Hector was smiling.
Rather than say anything, Lyn reached across the table and gently squeezed her friend's hand.
***
The wedding was festive and the guests joyful. As Hector sat beside his new wife at the post-ceremony feast, he thought that he could probably make her happy, or at least content. She deserved that much. He wondered how many other men might have leapt to take his place if they could, and wondered if maybe she even had any past sweethearts she had set aside for reasons of status or circumstance. He wondered if that would be better or worse than the possibility she actually loved him.
Hector laughed out loud at the situation, mirthlessly, but in the midst of the happy, noisy wedding feast no one noticed the difference.
***
Lilina was a surprise. Not her being born— that had been a matter of course, a matter of duty, in Hector's mind— but rather the way he felt for her. He had never been much good with little children (Eliwood was better at that), and had passed the months leading to Lilina's birth with expectation but no real anticipation.
Now that she was here though, Hector found he loved her dearly. He still couldn't bring himself to see his wife as any more than a patient companion, but for Lilina, he could pour his heart out. He was a loving, nay, a doting father, to the pleased surprise of his attendants.
Ninian, too, had just borne a child few months before— a son, Roy, according to the letter Eliwood had sent. Between matters of state and infant care, both he and Hector had been too busy to visit each other for some time.
Finally, after much too long, Hector stood at the gates of Castle Ostia to welcome Eliwood and his retinue. Both Lilina and Roy seemed nervous to be introduced to each other, but quickly warmed to their new playmate.
"Look! I think they'll be friends!" Eliwood looked older--was older-- but was still as bright and gently cheerful as ever. "We shall have to do this more often," he said, turning to Hector with a winning smile that made the Ostian lord's breath catch in his chest.
Though Hector liked to tease his friend about the unflagging adoration he had for his wife, truthfully he himself was still just as smitten with the Lycian lord as ever. The difference, of course, was that Eliwood's feelings were a sign of true love and an ideal marriage, while Hector's were a sign only of his pathetic inability to move on.
"Yes," he said softly. "We shall."
They watched the children a while longer before leaving them in the care of nurses so they could go and discuss less pleasant matters.
***
The next time Hector heard from Eliwood, however, was in regards neither to the children nor the rumors of trouble in Bern. Though those who knew of Ninian's true nature had hoped against hope that the fate it doomed her to might be avoided, it sadly proved inescapable: the half-dragon passed away quietly after only a few years living as a human, leaving Roy without a mother and Eliwood with a hole in his heart.
It was a irreparable hole, Hector knew this, but tried his best to fill the gap anyway. He was a shoulder to lean on, a hand to hold, a patiently listening ear. Though he, too, was saddened by her death, it hurt much more to see Eliwood so distraught, and he did everything in his power to bring back his friend's soft smile.
When Hector's own wife died of fever that winter, Eliwood attempted to return the favor, not realizing that his friend felt no grief over the loss. He felt guilt, for not being able to mourn her the way a husband ought to mourn a wife, and regret that Lilina would grow up without a woman to guide her, but no grief. Still, he welcomed Eliwood's company, and Lilina and Roy were spending so much time together lately they had become like cousins, or maybe even like siblings.
The thought of living together like this permanently, in Ostia or Lycia it mattered not, raising the children together and never being apart for long... it stuck in Hector's mind longer than he cared to admit even to himself.
***
As the years went on, Roy and Lilina stayed close as they studied the ways of swords and magic together in Ostia, but Eliwood's visits were less frequent. The running of Lycia seemed to demand more of his time and energy than it used to. Hector's pride and happiness at seeing Lilina becoming a skillful mage and fine young woman were always tinged with concern for his friend who so rarely was there to see the growth of his own child-- not for lack of fatherly love or desire to do so, that was certain. Eliwood's letters, and his joy when he did manage to visit, were proof.
When an illness overtook the Lycian lord, it was hardly a surprise and almost a relief. Something like this had been coming for years; now, if he could only fight it off, perhaps he would regain his former self. Perhaps the rest would return him to his friends and family reinvigorated.
In Hector's mind, the memory of his wife expiring after just a few feverish days came unbidden to the surface, but he pushed it away. For one, this was not a fever but some longer, different sickness. For another, Eliwood was strong. Not as strong as he had been in his youth, and his heart had never recovered completely from Ninian's death, but still he was far from weak in body or spirit. He had a country, a son, and a dear friend who surely would give his reason to fight what plagued him.
Yes, Eliwood could fight off an illness. Hector, however, was realizing he could not fight off the Bern soldiers that had surged over the border into Araphen. As he labored to breathe through the pain of his injuries, he almost wanted to laugh that he should be done in by ordinary foot soldiers, after facing down unbelievable warriors, phantoms, and sorcerors in his younger years.
Ah, but back then, Eliwood had stood by his side.
What Bern had started would not end here today. The fighting would continue, would touch many lives before it was done; Hector knew enough of politics and battle to foresee this much. Roy and dear Lilina would be caught up in conflict just as their fathers had been years before, but this time it would be no secret. This would be war.
"Lilina..."
He wasn't afraid for the children though. They were both clever, resilient, and knew how fight. And somehow, Hector knew Roy would keep Lilina safe. After all, Roy was his father's son, and had that same air about him that that made you believe he could do anything. Just like Eliwood.
He wanted more than anything to see Eliwood again. Just once, though that was as impossible now as a thousand times. This was how things always were with Eliwood though, wasn't it? Hector longing, Eliwood out of reach. Like the sun you could look at from a distance, but never hold. He couldn't see the sun right now, he realized, and wasn't sure if it was because he was indoors or his eyes were closed or it was night. He couldn't remember where he was, or what he had been thinking about. He remembered Lilina and Eliwood. Eliwood...
"…one… more……time…gh!"
He tried in vain to choke back the blood that seemed determined to leave his body. Through the sticky redness that matted his beard, probably no one would know that Marquess Hector of Ostia died with a faint smile on his lips.