Before I start this story, I would like to explain some things, mainly the title: Apples. Apples are common fruits, and can be found nearly anywhere in the world. Even though they're so common, apples have many meanings, which I would like to explain here so that the title won't seem strange to you in the long run. Apples appear in many religious stories and are sometimes seen as a forbidden fruit, or mystical. In China, apples represent peace, while apple blossoms are a symbol of women's beauty. In some other cultures apples can mean: wisdom, joy, fertility and youthfulness. Apparently, apples were used in love rituals during the Medieval Times in Europe. Love, wisdom, joy, beauty and peace will all be themes in this story, whether you see them directly or not, they will be included somehow.

Also, I would like to say in advance that English is not my first language so if you see a mistake, please tell me what the spelling or grammar errors are, what the correct word is (and preferably WHY my grammar is wrong so that I can learn from this) so that I can fix the errors.

Thank you~

Chapter 1: Apples

Weeks had passed since the Grado army had infiltrated the country of Renais and killed their king. The princess and her guard had been able to get away, and it seemed the prince of Renais, Ephraim, was making his way into Grado to get his revenge for the fall of his kingdom. Most other countries were shocked by Grado's sudden actions, and each individual country was deciding whether or not to intervene.

Despite Grado's actions and the uproar it had caused among the other nations, it was a rather quiet day in the Grado Empire. The people were going about their regular things, and the Capitol was extremely busy. None the less, it was nice to walk through the crowded streets of Grado Keep. It was as if the war that was slowly beginning to rise wasn't happening; As if Grado was still in peace with the other countries.

It had been a while for Glen to walk here peacefully. Normally, he was too busy with his training to bother wasting his time on a busy market or street, but today he had finished his duties earlier than expected, and he had decided to enjoy his free time by getting to know the Capitol city of Grado Keep better.

As he walked through the crowd, he noticed he arrived at a market. He had known there was a big market every week, but he never knew it was so close to the emperor's castle. For a moment he just looked around at the large amount of people that had gathered her to do their weekly shopping of food and fruit, fabrics for clothing and other useful things. Glen was quite impressed by the large market, and all the things they sold. He saw stands for cheese, meat, fruit, fish, different kind of fabrics for clothing, a stand that sold pottery, and another one that sold vegetables. There were many merchants from other countries and cities, but most of the people came here every week to sell their crops or fabrics for some money.

Glen casually walked through the crowd, looking at each individual stand. He was really enjoying his time here. The people were nice to him, and the weather was nice.
At some point, the blonde got lost in thought, thinking about the last time he had been out for anything other than a mission, when he noticed a fruit stand. He then realized he hadn't eaten much all day, and decided to buy some fruit for on his way back to the Castle.

"Good day, sir, miss." He said politely to the man and a woman – probably the man's daughter – who both stood behind the stand. The young woman smiled back at him, she seemed about the same age as he was. She had long, black and slightly curly hair. Her eyes were a deep orange-red color.

"Good day, kid." The man said to him. "What can I do for ya?" Glen looked at the different fruits that were on display, and asked for two pears and a quince. The woman put the two pears and quince in some small sack for him and carefully handed it over to him. As Glen gave some money to the man, and he was about to leave, the woman suddenly spoke: "You seem like the kind of person who enjoys apples." He looked at her, a bit surprised by her sudden claim.

"I'm sorry?"

The woman laughed a little at his surprised expression. "You seem like the kind of person who enjoys apples." She repeated, and began to look for a nice apple between the many on display. "This one looks good. Here, try it. It's on me."

Glen smiled and then declined, not wanting to take away some of their potential income. "I honestly couldn't do that."

"Ah, but I insist. Please, try it." She held up the apple for him, and with a sigh, the blonde accepted it.

"Thank you." Glen said, and was about to reach for some more money when the woman told him that he didn't have to pay.

"It's on me, remember? Please, just take it." The girl's father suddenly started laughing. "Let it go, kid. She does this to everyone, guessing their favourite fruit. She's pretty good at it too. You'll see she's right."

"How about this: you take the apple now without paying for it. If you like it, you buy some next time you're around. If you don't like it, then I'll stop trying." Glen shook his head with a smile.

"I don't think I really have a choice, do I?" He looked at the apple. For a moment he realized he hadn't eaten a single apple in years, and had pretty much forgotten what they tasted like. "All right. We'll see then. Have a good day." And with those words he left for the castle again.

With the sack of pears in one hand and the apple in the other, Glen made his way back to the castle, where he would meet with his brother, Cormag. As he got closer to the castle he finally took a bite from the apple. It was a lot sweeter than he had expected, and much to his surprise, Glen actually liked the taste of the fruit.
When Glen was halfway done with the apple, his brother, Cormag, came in sight.

"Little brother." Glen spoke, holding up the hand that held the half-eaten apple as a greeting. He then took another bite from the apple as he waited for his brother to stand next to him.

"Hello, brother."

"Cormag. How fare you?"

"I'm doing well, brother. How about you?" He then spotted the apple in his brother's hand. "I didn't know you ate apples…" Glen shrugged.

"Neither did I." He said. "Some lady gave this to me for free when I bought pears." He held up the sack with the pears and the quince. "She said I 'looked like the type of person who enjoys apples'. It seems she was right. This apple isn't too bad."

"Right." Cormag shook his head and grabbed one of the pears Glen had bought, and began eating it. "I prefer pears." He said, and took another bite. "Did you receive any orders from emperor Vigarde yet?"

"No." Glen said, as both of them began walking to the castle grounds. "Nothing yet. But it seems the emperor and the prince are busy lately. We'll probably get new orders soon."

The next week, Glen went back to the market, as he had promised. It was still morning, but he had plenty of time to stop by and buy some fruit and maybe some other food. He looked for the fruit stand. Once he found it, he walked towards the stand and noticed the woman was filling a wicker basket with different types of fruit. She put apples, pears, and some berries in the basket.

This time she was alone; The older man wasn't there.

"Good morning." Glen said, and the woman stopped what she was doing. "Oh, good morning. How can I help you?"

"I would like one of those pears, and an apple, please." The woman smiled.

"Oh, so you liked it?" Glen nodded as a response.

"Yes."

"That's good." She said, and grabbed a pear for him. After that, she walked over to the apples and picked the best one. "Here you go."

Glen held out some golden coins for her, when the blonde man noticed two kids standing next to him.

"Isobel! Isobel! We're here!" The boys yelled at the same time.

"Oh, I'm sorry, please give me a minute." The woman said to Glen, before turning her attention to the two boys. "Thank you for coming so early, boys." She held out the basket she was filling with fruit earlier, and another fruit-filled basket. "Could you two bring these to the orphanage for me, please? I'll give you some coins and some fruit afterwards. Is this all right?" The boys grinned happily and then held out their hands to take over the baskets from her.

"Yes! We will be very quick okay?" One boy said. "I want an apple, please!" The other boy said before both of them ran off. It was easy to see that they immediately took out a bit of the fruit from the basket and ate it themselves, much to Glen's surprise.

"They… Are they eating the fruit from the basket?" The woman, whom he now knew was named Isobel, then turned back to Glen.

"I do hope so… I always put in extra for them." She smiled. "I apologize for the wait. Please, keep your money this time. It's on me."

"No. It's all right. Please," he handed her the coins. "You can't just sacrifice your income like that." Isobel laughed a little. "That's very kind, sir, but I do not do this for the money." Glen looked at her, confused by her words. The woman noticed his confusion, and decided to elaborate her story. "I used to travel between cities every day to sell fruit to others. But I never really needed the money. So now, I just try to keep busy, and try to make people smile."

Make people smile… Even with her attempt to rid him of his confusion, Glen still had no idea what this woman was talking about. He didn't understand why she was here, selling fruit all day, if she had no need for money. There were other ways to kill time, better and more fun ways to do that. But it wasn't his place to judge her for her choices. She didn't seem like a spoiled princess, or the daughter of some rich family. It was quite the opposite; she looked like a very mature and kind woman.
"All right. But please do take this gold. Give it to those boys, if it pleases you. I have no need for it, and I couldn't stand not paying you again." Isobel took the golden coins from him and smiled.

"Thank you." She said and put the coins in a small box, so she could give it to the boys later when they returned. Isobel then noticed his armor, something she, if she thought back, noticed last time as well. "Can I ask you something?" she asked. As Glen told her she could, she asked him if he was a soldier in the Imperial Army.
"Yes. I'm very sorry for not introducing myself earlier. My name is Glen."

"Glen… Nice to meet you, sir Glen. My name is Isobel." As they exchanged smiles, another customer showed up. "Good morning, miss. How have you been this past week? How is your husband doing?" Isobel asked the woman. At the same time, she packed some berries for the woman and handed them over to her. She seemed to know this customer well.

"Please, enjoy your day." Glen said, as he was about to leave.

"Oh, yes. You too." As soon as Glen had left, the customer answered Isobel's questions, and they began talking for a while.

For the past few weeks, Glen had come to the fruit stand as often as he could. Preferably a few times a week, just for an apple or two. It had become a part of his routine: He'd wake up, get something to eat – in his case fruit – and then head to the castle for his training, meetings and other duties. He had noticed the older man that he had seen the first day, had never shown up again. He was probably just a volunteer.

When he got to the fruit stand, Isobel was talking to one of her customers. He waited patiently for the conversation to be over and the other woman to leave, before he would greet Isobel and get his apples. As he was waiting, Cormag suddenly appeared.

"Hey brother."

"Ah, Cormag. Good morning."

"What are you doing here, brother?" Cormag asked, but noticed the fruit stand. "Ah, you're buying fruit again. If you don't mind, I am craving a pear now…"

"You're more than welcome to join me." Glen said, still waiting for the chatting between the two women to end. "Well, what are you waiting for?" Just then, Isobel gave the woman a pie, and by the smell of it, it was cherry pie.

"Please," Glen heard her say. "I know it's not much, but I thought that maybe it would make your day a little easier." He saw the woman began to cry, and heard her say she had no money to pay Isobel. But it seemed Isobel wasn't interested in her money. "I know you don't have much. I know you feel like the whole world is against you. But please know you're not alone…" She simply smiled at the woman, and slowly the woman stopped crying. "It's your husband's birthday. Even if it's just a little, I wanted you both to be happy… to smile. Even if it's just for now. Please take this and give it to him. It is not much, but I'm sure he will be happy that you made him this."

"But I didn-" But Isobel told the woman not to worry and sent the woman off with the cherry pie, and a small basket with fruit. As soon as the woman had left, Cormag and Glen walked towards the stand.

"Oh, good morning, Glen."

"Good morning. This is my brother, Cormag."

"Very nice to meet you, sir." She noticed the armor Cormag was wearing. "Are you… a knight too?" Cormag replied with a simple 'yes'. "Amazing…" She reached out to grab an apple and handed it to Glen. "For you~" She then looked at Cormag. "You… look like a person who enjoys grapes."

Cormag raised an eyebrow. "Grapes?"

"Yes." Isobel smiled and held out a single white grape for him. "Please, try it. I think you might enjoy it." Cormag took the grape and ate it, just to be polite. But, unlike what he had expected, he enjoyed the sweet taste of the green-colored fruit. Isobel seemed pleased by his reaction, and reached out to grab a small cluster of white grapes for him. "These are on the house." She said, as she handed him a small sack with the green fruits in it. "Would you like anything else?" Cormag asked her for 4 pears and two more apples, when they heard someone shouting. As Glen and his brother turned around, hey saw an older man yelling at a child. The child was crying, obviously scared of the man, and this seemed to anger the man even more.

"You dare steal from me, kid?! You think that's normal?! You thought I didn't see you, huh? But I did. You will pay for this, kid. I do not take stealing as lightly as others do!" He then hit the child.

"Hey!" Cormag yelled at the man, obviously angered by the fact the man just assaulted the child. Even though this child had apparently stolen something, that didn't give this man an excuse to hit someone.

Glen and Cormag went over to the man and tried to calm him down. They kept him away from the child, and tried to talk some sense into him. "Sir, please calm down." Glen said. "Hitting a child, no matter his crime, will not do you any good."

"And who are you to tell me what to do? Mind your own business, kid."

"Do you even know who you're talking to? That's General Glen of the Imperial Three!" Cormag yelled.

"Peace, Cormag." Glen looked at the man. The man seemed to be slightly afraid of him now that he knew Glen was under the Emperor's command.

"I-Imperial Three?!"

"Yes, I am General Glen. As you might have guessed, I could get you in a lot of trouble for hurting one of His Majesty's citizens. However, I am willing to let it slide if you apologize to this boy and promise to let him off the hook."

"Y-yes sir… S-sorry kid." He said to the boy, and then ran off. The boy didn't seem to feel any better though, and simply kept crying. Then Isobel came by with an apple in her hand. She kneeled in front of the child – still at a reasonable distance so the child wouldn't feel intimidated by her sudden presence – and held out the apple with a smile.

"You seem like a boy who likes apples." She said in a gentle voice. The boy wiped some of his tears and looked at her, not really sure what to do. "Are you all right?" She then asked. The boy shook his head, and wiped some more tears away with his sleeve. "Oh, dear… does it still hurt?" The boy nodded this time. "I have the perfect solution for that… Do you know what this is?" She held out the apple again, for him to take.

"I-it's an apple…" The child managed to say in between his sobs. He was becoming calmer, but his breathing was still harder than normal.

"This is a magical apple." Isobel corrected the boy. "If you eat this apple, the pain will be less." The boy's eyes grew wide. When he asked her if she was telling the truth, Isobel gave him the apple. "Why don't you tell me? You can have it. And if you like it, you can have some more." It seemed the boy was interested in the apple now, and he slowly took it from her hands. He was still scared, Glen could see it in his eyes, but there was much less fear than when the man had hit him.

After the boy finished the 'magical' apple, he got up and walked to the fruit stand for more. Isobel followed the boy back to her fruit stand so she could give him the fruit he wanted. Cormag and Glen were about to leave so they could train together and start their duties, when a blonde woman showed up.

"General, Emperor Vigarde is asking for our presence."

"Ah, Selena. Of course. Please, excuse me. Cormag." And so Glen left with Selena, another General of the Grado Imperial Amy.