A/N: Revised. Mara's still a bit of an idiot in most of it, but she doesn't spew out random facts ^_^' and some spelling has been corrected.
Okay, so I've found that I can't write Lyndis's story. Because of this I'm showing the tactician's introduction to every person they meet in part one, and actually starting the story in part two with Eliwood. You don't have to think of this as a chapter.
"Guten tag, pretty lady..." The little roan haired girl sat up on the bed with a yawn.
"Um, hello?" A green eye cracked open to glance at the beautiful green haired woman beside her.
"Well... This feels different than before... Hmm did I unlock something from playing this game too much?" She mumbled to herself. A full blown grin spread across her face as she leaned towards the Sacaen princess. "I'm Mara, Guten tag means hello."
"Strange name..." She nodded happily. "Hm... Well, I'm Lyn, I found you unconscious on the plains."
"Oh, I know." The small girl grinned hopping out of the cot. "That's how things like this always happen." The girl looked down at her bare wrist. "Damn, I don't have my watch! They should be close now though..."
As if on cue, loud booming laughter of a few men cut through the air. "Bandits?" Lyn looked surprised, then turned a suspicious eye to me. "How did you-?"
"No time!" Mara ran over to the other side of the ger, picked up Lyn's sword, and seeing another, grabbed one for herself. "Let's take them out!"
"Wait!" Too late. By the time Lyn caught the sword thrown at her and caught up, Mara was already in the fray, waiting for her charging opponent just outside a small cluster of trees.
Lyn gasped as she saw the girl run in with the bandit on her tail screaming, "I've never done this before!" Charging in after them, the woman was shocked to see the little girl, uninjured, run the bandit through with the old sword. "Forests give an advantage to those who keep a cool head." She recited, eyes wide in shock and muscles tense. She slid the man off the blade, flinching at the sound. "Always use failure with willing women on bandits. If not, taunt their looks. Against most others, insult skill." And she was off.
"This is so freaky!" She screamed as she charged the next bandit. "The tactician never fights their own battles!"
Lyn wondered what mental disease she had.
Lyn watched the scene unfold with mixture of disgust, horror, and amusement.
Disgust: "Oh beauteous maiden, would you grant me a name to call you by?" The green clad knight knelt in front of her tactician, taking her hand with a charming smile.
The green eyed girl looked away with fake bashfulness, pressing her other hand to her cheek.
Horror: "Mara... And who might you be, sir knight?" She glanced at him and blushed.
His face was positively glowing. "I am Sain; a valiant knight of castle Caelin! Lovely lady, why would one as beautiful as yourself be in such little company? It is dangerous for such visions of grace and beauty as your companion and yourself to be traveling on your own."
Amusement: "Oh! But sir knight, we are not traveling alone. No, that would be insane!" She took her hand back and pressed it to her chest, in a shocked gesture. He simply cocked his head to the side in confusion
"We have plenty of strong able friends about! We simply left ahead for some time to ourselves. My friends are quite over protective and possesive; it's rather stifling at times..."
His jaw was loose. "You're married?" She gave him an incredulous look and shook her head. "But... What? Who are these men?"
She blinked at him. "What men? I was talking about my imaginary friends..." Lyn snickered in the background, leaning on a very flabbergasted Kent, who stared on at the scene. "Oh, there they are!" She pointed to Bulgar in the distance. One or two people were exiting, but she grinned and added, "All 357 of them!"
Sain, couldn't help it. He started laughting as well, Lyn's endless giggles being contagious. It didn't take long for the tactician to join them, leaving Kent to only one too confused to do anything but stare at Sain and the girl laughing histerically together, with Lyn dying beside him.
It was quite the giggle fit
"Don't worry, no one's gonna die!" The short tactician grinned up at the lavender haired girl. "If they do, I'll just do it over again!"
"Mara...?" Shy little Florina Blinked in confusion. "Wh-what?"
The Sacaen princess sighed. "Don't question it Florina, she says that to everyone who joins us." As the tactician skipped away to Wil, most likely to say the same thing, Lyn couldn't help but smile. "Though from what I've seen from her so far, the first statement will most likely hold true. I have faith in her."
Her younger friend just watched the bright eyed girl talk carefree with the laughing archer.
"It's a game; if I do something wrong, I can just, you know, start it over."
Wil had never heard of such insanity and couldn't help but laugh and play along. "What kind of game is it?"
She beamed up at him. "It's called Fire emblem! It's a story of finding one's heritage, and saving the world with all the friends they make, and meeting a lot of tragedy along the way. It all ends in a happily ever after too." She gave him a sly look. "If you play it right."
He held back another laugh. "So you've played it before?" Mara suddenly looked sad, for the first time in her play through this time around.
Her sad look was replaced quickly by a smile and she replied, "Plenty of times!... But... This time feels different. I hope the ending turns out a little better..." He cocked his head to the side in question, but she said no more, and continued on to skip over to the knights.
"What did I say?"
Florina seemed to be the only other one who caught her look, and stored it in the back of her mind. She would figure it out eventually, but it wouldn't happen for a long time, as Wil is... A man, and Mara is... Slightly insane and won't answer anything straight...
Oh, poor Florina...
They stared... And stared... And stared... Dorcas opened his mouth to speak...
"Hi-I'm-Mara-I'm-the-tacticain-of-the-group-nice-to-meet-you-Dorkas-you-picked-the-right-company-dont-worry-this-group-wont-get-any-casualties-and-even-on-the Ouch!" She stopped, tears on the corner of her eyes. "Owies~ I bit my tongue... Anyways, as I was saying, even on the off chance we get a casualty, I'll just do it over again!"
She grinned, head tilted straight up towards the man almost twice her height, who just stared.
"Is she...?"
Kent answered. "Well, she does appear to be rather... Odd," He paused giving her a weird look. "Yet we've gotten nothing less than success under her wing."
"My wing is blue!" She exclaimed happily. They gave her another look. "Okay, okay... It's more purple than blue." She pouted.
"As I said, she is odd, but as you can see, not one of us is injured past shallow flesh wounds against as large a company as the bandits the previous night." The red head elected a real bashful smile from the girl.
"Thanks Kent! I hope I can continue to guide this group without any real problems." With a blinding grin and a giggle she skipped off to talk to Florina, who, to her great joy, seemed to have something to talk to her about all the time. She likes to talk about her games!
Kent blinked after her. "I believe that is the most sane thing I've ever heard her say and look."
Dorcas remained silent as he watched her talk animatedly with the frail lavender haired girl, who looked both frightened and amused.
"It's healthy." He stated, gaining Kent's attention. "Having someone who can remain happy in tense situations."
"I suppose... But you haven't seen her during a battle yet. I have never met any other tactician who fights with the soldiers."
"She fights with you?" Dorcas asked, surprised.
"Yes, she's not one to be protected..."
"Erky!" Said man froze. All he could think was 'No... Not another one!' "Oh Erky! We're totally glad to have you with us!"
The tiny tactician lept at the oddly haired male, dragging him to the ground with a silly grin. "Serra's gonna be, like, my new Bff and we're gonna, like, fangirl over you together, gossip TONS, and, like, totally stalk you. OMG! Is your hair natural?" He just stared at her in horror, unable to get away as she sat on his chest. "I thought so." She nodded.
"OMG, Erky, we're gonna get along great!" Her lip quivered and she drew her eyebrows together as she doubled over, shoulders shaking slightly.
"A-Are you..." Okay? Crying? Sane?
She swiftly stood up and ran over to Serra, one of the many people who had started watching half way through. "Oh Serra, you're Erky-poo, he's so..." She swooned. "Amazing~"
"Oh yes, I know. Only the best escort for a lady such as I." Serra replied smugly.
Mara erupted into peals of giggles, before full blown laughter came forth. "By god do I love acting like that!" She eventually said. She shook her head, short red-brown hair swaying back and forth. "But I... Strongly dislike people who are really like that." She gave Serra a pointed look
The tactician turned on her heel, walking ahead of everyone who stopped to watch her display. "Come on Erk, you'll have to give me some tips for the next fight! I want to start a partner system, and I need to know who you want to pair up with."
He quickly made his way to her side, looking more than a little akward. "Anyone but Serra. ANYONE."
She nodded. "And Sain. Goddess knows those two seem too alike for their own good... I guess I could try trial and error... If something goes wrong I can always do it again..."
He paused. "That makes no sense."
She giggled. "Just turn the game off!" Her grin faltered. "Though I haven't been able to lately."
"Our little thief slash spy is supposed to show up this chapter..." The redhead waited only a moment before twirling happily in place to greet the young man coming out of the house behind her. "Good day young spy, I would like to make your job a little easier!"
"I'm sorry, but I'm currently lacking an employer." He shrugged, not showing any surprise at... Well, anything. "And I am simply a man with many talents."
"Talents that we need" She said seriously, lacking any of her typical joy. As she is on the battle field. "I don't want any games. I know thieves and spies are generally thought of as the same thing, and your many talents, hinted by the outfit of course, stereotype you as both, but I could care less which you really are. I'd like to hire you."
"Hm? You're the tactician then?" She nodded. "Well, I suppose I could help you out a bit here!" He chirped happily.
She smirked. "I'll warn you now, when you join our little troupe, you'll figure it out fairly quickly how I act outside of a fight. I spout what they call nonsense every time I greet another member of the team." She held her hand out to him. "The name's Mara. Mara Stiel."
"Matthew; though I'm sure you already knew that." He grinned with a sly look and slapped her hand in substitute, making her grin despite her confusion. "So you need my skills to open a few doors?"
"Indeed. Feel free to reap the spoils, but I want to take a look at what you... Find." She giggled as he chuckled.
"Will do! I think we're gonna get along fine."
The green eyed child nodded. "I won't forget that little comment you made." His grin widened. She walked back to the door, but before leaving, turned to him one last time and said. "And i will find out what you know. Tell your employer not to bother with us; it would only cause them unnecessary stress."
She walked on, a very peppy Matthew following close behind her.
"Rath of the Kulotah, I'm Mara, the tactician!" the green eyed girl practically sang, dancing around the silent man. Matthew watched the scene in contemplation and amusement, wondering where the professional girl from earlier went.
"I know you're not gonna talk to me!" She continued prancing. "But I just wanna let you know that you don't have to worry about anything! No one in our company has died yet, and I don't plan on them ever! I'm disposable unit number 1." She stopped in front of him, holding up one finger.
He raised an eyebrow before walking off, most likely to find Lyn or Kent, who are OBVIOUSLY the real brains of the group. Mara giggled, book smart, definitely Kent.
Matthew sauntered over and pat my shoulder. "Poor thing can't see the genius under that act." She blinked cluelessly. "Though that is a pretty good mask you've got on..."
"The only thing I'm acting about is my curiosity." (for the most part) Mara said bluntly with a grin.
"Yes well I'm not." They turned to the voice, seeing Lyn standing behind them with a scowl on her face. "Mara, can I talk to you?" She asked, not even trying to hide her contempt towards the thief.
There was a long pause. "Well...?" The tactician prompted. "I'm right here, and no noble really has to ask permission to talk to a peasant."
Lyn groaned. "I meant, alone." She emphasized the alone by glaring openly at Matthew.
"Lady Lyndis," The princess flinched. "As lacking in justice, I scoff at the word, Matthew's occupation is, even you have to admit that we would have most likely failed without his skills. Though you may think his actions are underhanded, many more people could have died today if we didn't have him with us." Lyn recoiled, and even had the decency to blush at what her tactician said next. "I find Matthew is good company; get to know him before you judge him." The girl smiled again. "Matt's a good person. A good man."
Arms wrapped around the little blue haired boy from behind, making him squeak in fright. The thin arms twirled him in the air, and he relaxed hearing the short redhead's laughter behind him.
"Finally! Someone smaller than me!" She exclaimed putting him down. He turned and saw her eyes were sparkling. "You're so cute! I'm Mara, the tactician of this group!"
He could help but smile at the ecstatic girl. "Hello Lady Mara, my name is Nils... Did you say you were..."
"The tactician, yes. I know I'm young," She sighed. "But really, senile old men don't really care about their units." A grin stretched over her face and she poked his nose. "No one in my care is ever put into a fatal situation. That includes this pair of siblings."
He looked down at his feet with a small look of guilt before smiling up bashfully at the girl who looked only a little older than him.
"So... What does your sister look like? She must be beautiful if she shares you features." Her grin turned slightly foxy.
"What?" He blushed, frowning in confusion.
"Hmm?" She gave him a curious look, crouching down below him and tilting her head. "What, what? You have to admit that you are adorable N- kid." She cleared her throat awkwardly, grimacing. "What's your sister's name anyways? And yours while I'm at it..."
Her grin came back a little and he smiled again hesitantly. "Her name's Ninian, I'm Nils. We are travelers, as I'm sure you've heard..."
"Well! We're both quite young for what we do, aren't we?" She giggled slightly, ruffling his hair. "We'll get your sister back, I swear it!" Mara ruffled her own hair, tugging on the growing roan strands. "I won't let us fail."
"They're strong!" He tried warning. The girl just nodded. "They use a lot of dark magic."
"A lot? That's useful, thanks! I'll be sure to keep that in mind on the field."
"Greetings Lucius! I just thought it would be best to introduce myself for the fight!" The green eyed girl grinned brightly as she skipped over to the feminine man who recently joined them to help the dragons. "I'm Mara, the tactician."
"The tactician?" His head lifted slightly in surprise, but he hid it well. "It's a pleasure to meet you miss, as you already know, I'm Lucius, a bishop from the church of saint Elimine."
She nodded. "I'm gonna have a lot for you to do pretty man, but we have a partner system here. Try to keep this in mind; Lyn and Kent are one unit, the red knight and the green haired woman, then Sain and Serra, the green knight and pinky, Rath and Dorcas, the huge axeman and the ranger, Erk and Will, the Mage and the archer, Matthew, our hired thief is independent, I'll be with Nils, keeping him safe and advancing him to the castle, and I'll be putting you with Florina." She nodded to herself, almost forgetting he was there.
"Florina?" He inquired.
"Hmm? Oh, our lavender haired beauty of a peg knight. You're probably the only man she won't be horrified to be around." Hearing the question before he spoke it, she said, "Florina's squeamish around men. I just figure that, sense you look so... Well, you look like a woman." He nodded bashfully acknowledging the fact. "And you're nice! I'm hoping to get her a little more used to men, but I know it'll take a while..." She grinned up at him rubbing the hair on the back of her neck. "Do you mind?"
He shook his head, "Not at all. I think it's wonderful that you would go out of your way to help her with her fears. Most tacticians would just tell her to deal with it..."
They smiled warmly at each other. "Thanks Lucius... I think I'm going to really like having you with us." She giggled.
Mara dropped the gamer persona.
"Matthew! Come with me!" Mara called out over the battlefield, face void of any childishness she normally would have. Within seconds he was at her side and gave her an inquiring look. "I'm going to be busy for a minute, can you wait out here for me?"
He nodded, then turned to Nils. "You want me to keep an eye on him?"
"Yeah. I think we both know who's here, but I want to make sure, and then I'll switch out with you; I know you'll want to speak with who I'm hoping this is ." He raised an eyebrow, and she grinned cheekily. "I'm putting things I already know together, Matthew. It not that hard."
He returned the grin and scratched his cheek. "Well, I guess. Really depends on what you already know, hmm?." He raised an eyebrow.
She stuck her tongue out, smiled at Nils then turned to enter the house with a huge grin. "Honey, I'm home!"
Matthew snorted as she closed the door behind her.
"And just who the hell are you?" Hector bellowed through the cabin. "Are you part of one of these groups fighting outside?"
I skipped over to the large, blue haired man and gazed out the window he was standing by. "Yup! See the green haired woman? The one fighting with a sword?" He nodded. "That's Lady Lyndis. I'm her tactician."
"The tactician?" He raised an eyebrow. "I find that hard to believe..."
"I know!" She replied cheerily. "I'm Mara by the way! What are you doing here?" He only glared at her. "Well? Hmph, fine don't talk to me... Your little spy is waiting to talk to you anyways..." She pouted in a huff.
"How would you know this?" Mara took note of his hand placed by his axe, and grinned slyly.
"So I'm right?" He growled menacingly at the child, gripping his faithful weapon.
She skipped over to the window her was standing by and leaned out, cupping her mouth in her hands. "Five o'clock Lyn!" She then watched as the woman twirled, beheading an enemy unit that was behind her. "I'd better go." She said without turning to the young lord, then hopped out the window, calling to Nils.
"Ah, there you are!" The tactician turned from her thoughts, looking out one of the fortress's windows, to the young redhead walking over to her. "You're Mara, correct?"
She smiled and nodded, standing straight from her position. "Yes, it is a pleasure to meet you Lord Eliwood."
He smiled back, stopping to stand a few feet from the young girl.
Over the course of the last few weeks, Mara would be glad to say that everything about her changed greatly. Mainly, she grew. Her hair grew, her legs grew, her mind grew, and her maturity grew. She was still short, but she was happy that she was no longer Nils' height, as she was at the beginning of the trek from Sacea. Mara could now look (almost) eye to eye with Florina. She was changing a lot from who she used to be.
She had just been wondering what this world had in store for her, after the story.
"I wanted to meet the brilliant tactician behind Lady Lyndis's adventure. Is there anything, anything at all that I can help you all with?" He tilted his head in inquiry.
"It's kind of you to ask Lord Eliwood, but I believe that we've sucked enough people into our problem." She grinned sheepishly picking at her large green cloak. "If anything, this should be a fight between only Lyn, ehm, sorry, Lady Lyndis, and her uncle." With a smiled Mara hoisted herself up onto the edge of the window she had been looking out of. "But if her uncle wants allies, Lady Lyndis should get them too. Only fair."
The Lord was silent, appearing to be studying her. "You care about them." He stated. "You don't tend to find that in tacticians anymore."
She nodded. "I'm just a little bit different from what most think is normal. I don't like pointless sacrifices."
"Hello Ninian... It's good to see you awake." Mara spoke to the girl gently.
The group was due to leave in a few hours, and the tactician had waited until now to meet the dancer, as she thought it would be best to leave the siblings to themselves for a while. Now that Nils was abesnt, Mara thought it best to make a small fix in their schedule, before the last minute when it was supposed to come up.
"Ah, hello." She spoke just as quietly. "You must be... Mara? The strategist of this group?" The younger girl nodded, green eyes smiling as she knelt beside the ice dragon. "I must tha-
"Don't, please." Mara interrupted. "You don't have to thank me. I did it because Lyn wanted to and agreed because it was the right thing to do..."
Small hands took the slender one of the dancer and pretended to inspect them. "Even so, I feel I must thank the one that guided this group to my rescue."
"I apreciate a pretty lady's thanks as much as the next guy," She grinned cheekily, seeing the dragon's lip twitch slightly at the corners. "But really, when you meet him again... Properly that is, I would suggest to save your thanks for Lord Eliwood. He's the one who actually saved you." Mara tightened her grip on Ninian's hands as an emphasis, drawing the red eyes down to their intertwined fingers.
"But I... Oh!" In her head, Mara was sighing with relief that she noticed. They wouldn't have to change course right at the last minute. "My ring..."
The roan haired girl was surprised at the amount of sadness in Ninian's eyes when she realized Nini's grace was missing. "You look like your puppy just died; what's wrong?" Mara asked, knowing the answer. "Something about a ring?"
"It's just... My ring, blessed by the goddesses... The Ninis. It was my mother's ring and..."
"And it's gone. I'm willing to guess that it's important for a ritual revolving around these Goddesses?" She nodded sorrowfully. "I'll go talk to Lyn about it."
Mara walked out, Ninian's protests following.
"Knight's crest!" Mara exclaimed, pointing enthusiastically at the General who just joined the group. Wallace laughed pulling a small object off of the corner of his armor.
"Keen eye you have there tactician!" The bald man bellowed, showing it to the girl. "As you can see, I am a full fledged General, not just a little knight with big armor!"
She blinked. Unlike the game she had played, he was already in his shiny, humongous, general's armor. Mara thanked the gods that she had gotten taller and was no longer half of Dorcas's height, but she was still half of Wallace! "Well... You're probably like a wall in a fight... A very spiky and dangerous wall." She added, looking at his lance.
His bellowing laugh sounded again. "Let's not waist time; what's your battle plan?"
Everyone was already in their previously assigned pairs, and Mara clicked her tongue. She could just put Ninian with Wallace and be over with it, but...
"Will, Erk! Come here please! Ninian Nils, you as well." When all four reached her and the ginormous man beside her, Mara fiddled with her cloak while she thought.
There was barely any pause before she slowly spoke. "Erk... I'll put you with Wallace for this portion of the battle. Take out any magic users and Wallace can fight any physical units... I'll work out something better during the battle.
Her voice started to solidify with a little more confidence. "Ninian, I'll have you go with Florina and Lucius; they'll be happy to have you. If you get tired, Florina can let you on her Pegasus."
She brought a finger to her lower lip in contemplation, before yelling, "MATTHEW!"
Said man was instantly at her side with an almost scared look. "Whatever's missing, I didn't take it."
Mara laughed a little before addressing him. "Matty, who would you rather stick with? I don't see any real down sides to anything."
Matthew grinned and threw Mara over his shoulder.
Mara giggled insanely. "GOOOOO!"
Basically, Mara is a 16 year old girl from the real world that has a far too active imagination. She thought her first interactions were just in her mind and that she was still playing it as a game. She's not.
A/N:I love you all! I had four reviews with one (not) chapter! :D And constructive criticism!