farina | Found | Fire Emblem 7

Title: Found
Fandom: Fire Emblem 7
Words: 2,641 words
Summary: Unlike Lyn, Hector couldn’t simply leave it all behind, and he didn’t have the luxury of visiting old friends. But Farina did. And, she said, she could at least carry letters to them—quickly and much more efficiently than any Ostian courier. So he hired her. (And she touched lives.)
Pairing/Character: Farina-centric, Hector, Eliwood, Lucius, Fiora, Natalie, Dorcas, Lyn, Vaida, Wallace, Serra, Priscilla, Lilina, and mention of a couple of others.
Extra Info: This was originally written and posted sometime in January 2013.
Rating: T
Genre: Friendship, Tragedy

Notes:

I found this story on my hard drive and have reviews for it saved so I know I wrote this but until I reread it I’d completely forgotten I’d ever written it. I thought, “Wow, 2013 wasn’t that long ago! I should definitely remember this.” And then I remembered that 2013 was 10 years ago. COOL.

The date the story was last saved in my files was January 5, 2013, but I have no idea if that was the post-date or not.

I tried very very hard to take into consideration a couple of criticisms I had about the original story, namely that the “painting” scene didn’t feel like it belonged. When I reread it, I couldn’t take it out entirely (I loved it, honestly), so I connected it far better and shortened it so that it wouldn’t stick out and slow the pace as much.

I also had someone get confused about who Lilina’s mother was in the original, and it was always Florina to make this story work, so I added in a few more bits for that (and fixed a bit of awkward wording).

Finally, @markoftheasphodel was actually the only one to point this out (and she was 100% correct): the order of the scenes was erratic. She circled it back to the portrait scene being the problem, but on my reread I think part of the reason the portrait scene didn’t work was specifically due to the order the other scenes were presented in, so I rewrote them and rearranged them to feel more natural: almost like they’re going from one character to another as they learn the news of Farina's death and continue to write to one another.

One thing I think a lot of people forget about is that Farina’s supports with Dorcas end with her sharing some of that 20,000 gold she got from Hector with him so that he can get help for his wife’s bad leg. This is extremely important context since Farina’s personality in-game comes off pretty different. The braggart behavior is totally a mask, but without this context you lose that, and also lose that “selflessness” that comes up in the story.

Also, honestly, credit for this story has to be shared with @arthoure too, since it was our RPs with Hector and Farina that cemented her as a glorified postal employee and also friend of Lucius. Pegasus Express, GO! (I’m very attached to some old headcanons, I suppose.)

As for completely new additions, I added in more letters from others and tried to add details to show the passage of time toward the end of the story.

I hope this new and shiny version of this story is indeed the better one. I was pretty happy with the ending as it was, but wanted to add in enough to really make Farina’s death in isolation and loneliness feel like those are simply her own feelings: in adding some scenes, in particular Serra’s, it’s much clearer that her friends knew exactly where to find her—in their hearts, and in one another. 🤍