Comms and Other Long FE Oneshots

SFF Sickness Part One

*A small five-part series from an RP with a friend

Xander woke suddenly and cleanly, nothing slow about it, finding himself under several blankets, blinking up at the canopy of his bed. There was a slight headache hovering at the edges of his temples and he could feel a cloth on his head, so he could take a guess at what was going on here. "Milord?" Laslow stepped up to the bed. "Feeling any better?"

"Uncomfortably warm, but that's probably because of the measures taken to stave off the fever." Xander grunted, taking the cloth off of his forehead and sitting up. Giving his retainer a wan smile when he scowled at him. He didn't remember much of the conversation that they'd had on the way up, but he was pretty sure that there had been an argument. "Don't worry, I'm not getting out of bed. But I would like to eat while I'm coherent."

"...It's good to see you back, milord," Laslow sighed, taking the now lukewarm soup off of the dresser and bringing it over to him. "And you do need to eat. But after this you're lying down again." Xander nodded, starting in on the soup. He'd had barely anything to eat today, which was honestly probably part of the problem. He heard Laslow rustling about with what was probably his armor, and then the soft whisper of Siegfried's energy. "Do you remember the conversation we had on the way up?"

"No." Xander didn't look up, continuing to focus on eating, he didn't need to think about the fact that Laslow had likely had to strip his armor and overshirt off. He'd let him keep the simple undershirt he'd put on to stave off the cold at least, as well as his pants- obviously.

"Figures. You kept muttering about Siegfried and how you didn't want to part with it no matter what Xiervedeiss said- so I think I'm hanging it on the wall."

"Mm." Now that Laslow mentioned it, he did remember the warnings that the dragon had given him concerning his health, overextending himself, and the consequences thereof. "Go ahead."

He looked up in time to see Laslow carefully lay Siegfried on the wall hanging that he was fairly certain had never been used. "Gods but you can be such an idiot sometimes," his retainer sighed. "At least you're conceding to this."

"I shouldn't have any weapon near me while I'm ill, anyways," Xander replied, looking down at his now nearly empty bowl and taking another bite. "You're protection enough."

"You flatter me, Lord Xander." Laslow turned around, arms crossed and usual smile still absent. "I'm still annoyed."

This was certainly a role reversal, Xander was generally the one angry at his retainer for being irresponsible. "I didn't say that to try to placate you. I knew the risks and I took them. I still don't regret them and will take the consequences accordingly."

"Of course that's your mindset." Laslow sighed, rubbing a temple. "I suppose after Lucina's news, I can't really argue with you." He took the empty bowl, gesturing for Xander to lie down so that he could replace the cloth on his forehead. "But you have to be more careful. You'll be of no use to anyone if you put yourself out of commission- a partial Chosen will still be more effective than the complete absence of one."

"I'm aware," Xander replied grimly, settling back onto the pillows with a slight grimace. "I'll be more careful, this happened because I let my guard down and made too many poor decisions, that's all."

Laslow arched an eyebrow, looking up from wringing out the cloth. "That according to your dragon?"

"Yes." Xander sighed at the thought of the conversations that he and the giant spiritual dragon had had about his blade and harnessing it's true power properly. "Xiervedeiss isn't scolding me, but he knows that I took things too far and he did warn me."