Hey there. I know it's been a while since anyone has read any of my work. I've started to lose a lot of interest in the Sonic fandom, and have turned that interest toward Fire Emblem, particularly Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn. If you want to understand what this story is about, I suggest you read up on the plots of Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. For those who have played those games, I will clarify a few terms I will use in this, and possibly later fics:

- The War of Radiance is my name for the events of Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn.

I think that's all for now. On with the show!

Chapter 1 - Visitor From Phoenicis

The forest surrounding Greil's Retreat was full of life and the music of nature in the spring after the end of the War of Radiance. Ike and the rest of the Greil Mercenaries, though sorely lacking in the combative contracts that gave them funds, still enjoyed the relaxation they could have that came with the slow, but steady restoration of peace across Tellius. The payment by Empress Sanaki was vast, and was quite enough for them to not need work for several years.

But one morning, a new job came their way…

"Ike!" Mist called out from outside the front door to the main keep, that lazy afternoon "We have a visitor!" The blue-haired beorc, woken from a nap that had lasted since breakfast, grunted and rolled off the hammock in his chamber. Stepping outside into the sunlight, he found himself inches from a familiar face. It was Janaff, the boyish and telescopic-sighted hawk who served as the hawk king's "eyes". His normal cheerful face was quite dour, an expression usually worn by his fellow hawk Ulki.

"Janaff, good to see you," Ike said after a long, loud yawn. "What brings you all the way from Phoenicis? Surely you must have other business than a simple hello." The hawk laguz nodded to confirm Ike's assumption.

"It's about a job," Janaff answered, "a very important job."

"You do know we don't work for free," Ike replied while he rubbed his eyes. "Let's go inside so we can go over the details. Soren will help work out what will be needed in terms of expenses." With that, Ike turned around and headed for the main part of the keep, where he knew Soren would be, with Janaff and Mist close behind.

When Ike opened the door to the main area, he was suddenly met with the blade of a hand axe whizzing toward him. The blade struck the doorframe, merely inches from Ike's ear. After regaining his bearings, he saw Soren, his tactician and Archsage, and Boyd, the mercenaries' resident Reaver.

"Damn it, Soren, haven't you heard of privacy?!" the green-haired, muscular warrior roared at the small, raven-haired, white-robed mage. The former was completely naked, save for his nether regions covered by a bed sheet, and his face was cherry red with fury. Soren quickly hid behind the large body of Ike, hoping to avoid the wrath of the enraged Reaver.

"How was I supposed to know that you did something like that?" Soren replied somewhat meekly, unable to come with a retort sharper than a hand axe. Boyd huffed at the mage before slamming the door to his room with a thunderous bang.

"Soren…" Mist said slowly; she still felt very awkward from suddenly seeing Boyd in nothing but his birthday suit and a sheet. "We were looking for you…and why were you spying on Boyd?" The mage simply replied with a slow head shake. Mist swallowed nervously, as she seemed to realize what Soren meant.

"Yes, we have been looking you," Ike replied, also recovering from the awkward feeling of seeing Boyd nearly naked. "Janaff is here about a job, and we need you to help hammer out the details." Soren smoothed out his robes and sat down at the rectangular wooden table in the center of the room.

"Should we bring Titania in, Ike?" Soren asked.

"Horse riders like her won't be any help for this job," Janaff quickly answered as he squatted on a nearby stool.

"Well, tell us what you need us for;" Ike replied. Janaff cleared his throat as he began the story of Phoenicis' latest trouble.

"I doubt anyone has told you, but there is another tribe of bird laguz besides the hawks, ravens and herons...the owl tribe. They…"

"…An owl tribe?" Mist chimed in. "Sounds neat!"

"Don't interrupt, Mist," Soren scolded her. "Do continue, Janaff."

"Anyway, there have always been issues between the hawk tribe and the owl tribe, but it looks like there will be open hostilities."

"Let me guess," Ike replied decisively; "You want us to help stop the war before it starts, right?"

"It's kind of late for that, Ike," the hawk replied with a shake of his head. "The owls have been staging night raids on various villages, wrecking homes and stealing food, all for a few months now. We've been lucky so far there have been no civilian casualties. If you recall, almost all of the fighting-able citizens of the Phoenicis were slaughtered during the War of Radiance when Naesala betrayed us. We still outnumber them, but they have us far out-powered."

"What do you mean?" Mist asked. "Are owls that powerful?"

"Let me put it this way..." Janaff said, struggling to think of a good analogy. "Um...oh! You beorcs have generals, halberdiers and swordmasters, right?"

"Something to that effect, yes," Soren said thoughtfully with a nod.

"Well, ravens are like swordmasters, we hawks are like halberdiers…" the hawk continued.

"…And owls are like generals…big, hard to damage and deliver crushing blows;" Ike quickly answered, finishing Janaff's sentence. "And that's by bird laguz standards. They could probably strike more swiftly than a typical beorc swordmaster."

"Yeah, but if you recall, just a few months ago, you defeated Ashera herself," Janaff replied, his more joyful countenance returning. "So, Tibarn figured to ask the Greil Mercenaries to help."

"What kind of numbers do they have?" Soren asked. "We need to know what we're up against."

"From what information we've gathered, typical raiding parties consist of about twenty owls," the hawk king's eyes answered. "So far we've had ten villages ransacked since the attacks began. None of the villages were able to defeat the raiders, and we're sure each one was instigated by a completely different group of owls."

"So that puts a lower limit of two hundred owls…that means we'll need so many weapons…" Soren started to say, before his voice turned to a mutter as his agile mind began making rapid calculations. "Well...for starters, we'll need about forty-five-thousand gold; for weapons, supplies, food, chartering a boat to Phoenicis and whatnot...up front."

"That's a bit steep…" Janaff replied slowly and uneasily, taken aback by Soren's huge price tag, leaning back slightly.

"Soren, they're friends!" Mist protested. "Who do you think you are…Volke?"

"Mist's right," Ike said in agreement. "Besides, don't we have the equivalent of four hundred-thousand gold stockpiled in our safe-house? We can use some of that to charter the ship."

"Fine…thirty-four-thousand up front," Soren said with a sigh.

"…Soren!" Mist cried again in protest.

"Very well…twenty-eight-thousand, and I'll go no lower." Soren said more strongly, his mind obviously made up and unwavering.

"It's still a bit high, but Tibarn is really desperate." Janaff replied with a sigh.

"Very well then," the mage said with a smirk, leaning back in his chair. "We'll draw up the papers once we arrive in Phoenicis."

"Yay! We're going to Phoenicis!" Mist cheered as she stood up from her seat to run off. "I'll go tell everyone!"