When I recently unearthed my old PSP, specifically to replay this game (for the umpteenth time), as usual I wished that the characters got more development. So I finally got round to trying my hand at it. I'm not going to rehash the battles themselves, and I won't transcribe cut-scenes (though I might occasionally have characters discuss what occurred in a cut-scene). Hopefully, this will allow me to develop the characters and their relationships, though it should also let me flesh things out in new and interesting ways, too. (Fingers crossed!)

I thought I was coming stupidly late to this party, considering the age of the game, then I mentioned it in passing to a friend who said he had it on his iPhone, so maybe not! (I had no idea about the iOS version, now I'm rather indignant I can't get it on Android.)

I've called it "Camp-fire Vignettes" because this is snapshots of what is happening behind the scenes between those little dots on the map, often while encamped. However, not all are at a camp-fire, and some will take place on the dots (i.e. in towns), not between them.

Some of the idiosyncrasies of the play-through that I was doing when I started writing this show up in a minor way – e.g. I decided, on a whim, that all my generics would be girls this time - but the idiosyncrasies aren't of major significance.

Lastly, I'd really appreciate any constructive criticism/reviews/comments – I appreciate all of them and I always try to ensure I respond individually to each one.

Vignette 1 - Lord Dycedarg, Writ Small

The Woods on the Edge of Mandalia Plain, 12 Miles from Gariland. Early evening.

Ramza was nominally in charge of the expedition, but he hadn't bothered to give orders about the tasks in camp, he'd left that to Delita. Well he had been named as Ramza's second in command, after all, and he was far better at fine detail than Ramza. The six of them had set up tents, a large one for the four girls, a smaller one for the two boys. Ramza worked alongside the rest - he could be lax about giving orders, but he always tried to pull his weight, otherwise.

"It's a shame Tristan was killed, of course, but since it wasn't permanent, I'm glad that it gave me a chance to join you, after the fact, at least." Hildegarde said to Samantha, as they prepared some trout they had caught in the local stream.

Samantha only made a small noise in response - she was still brooding about the fight they'd got into that morning in Gariland. She'd been acting as team chemist and her lack of ability to use Phoenix Downs had almost proved permanently fatal to her friend, Tristan. If they hadn't managed to get the boy back to the Akademy in time to be Raised, Samantha would have never have forgiven herself – she still hadn't forgiven herself for her lack of foresight. She kept asking herself what had possessed her to concentrate on mastering the use of Antidotes and not something that, used quickly, could reverse death? She vowed to herself that by the time she was next assigned as the team's official chemist she would have mastered the skill.

"What bothers me," Delita said to Ramza, from where he was building their camp-fire, nearby, "is what they were thinking, attacking half-a-dozen armed people in the middle of the city. I know we were ordered to patrol the slums to search for them but, still, they could have run – supposedly the Brigade's people aren't stupid – logically, they should have seen we weren't exactly easy pickings and legged it. Something's off about that."

Ramza gave his friend a look that was half-amused and half-exasperated.

"You always imagine there's intrigue going on, Delita. As you said, we were well dressed and walking through the slums - they probably imagined that we were easy pickings - that the weapons were just for show; lots of court dandies wear a sword without having the first clue how to use it, after all. I imagine it was exactly what the man said - "wee moppets" with brimming purses, so they decided to take the risk. They were brigands, after all, as well as fools, as it turned out."

"You're probably right, I'm just jumpy, with the political situation as it is." Delita said.

"What's the point in us bothering about the politics? We're a bunch of sixteen-year-old cadets - no-one's going to let us play those games. We're just going to be stuck up on the battlements of Eagrose Castle for a few weeks, then we go back to the Akademy. That fight in the back alleys of Garliand is more excitement than we'll ever see once we're home. If you ask me, it's all going to be terribly dull and if anyone is politicking, it's not as though we'll even get to hear about it." Ramza said.

Delita sighed; Ramza frustrated him sometimes.

"You're probably right. But... I know I keep saying it, but you have the family connections to actually make a difference, it's a crime that you aren't more politically-minded."

Ramza rolled his eyes at his friend.

"You're intrigued enough by it for both of us. I'll tell you what. When we're both too old to swing a sword, I'll start dabbling in politics and you can be my éminence grise, sorry, political advisor, much in the way Dycedarg is for the Duke. Only, given that neither of us is particularly important, it will have to be on a rather less ambitious scale."

Both studied strategy, tactics, military and political history, but whereas Delita's bent was definitely political, Ramza dreamt of having the military talents to live up to his family name. With the towering martial reputations of his father and brothers, it was a lot to ask of himself; he hoped fervently that he wouldn't fail... and feared terribly that he would.

"Lord Dycedarg, writ small! Now I have my life's ambition all worked out." Delita muttered.

"What do you mean by that?" Ramza asked.

Although his tone challenged Delita, he was genuinely confused as to exactly what the other boy could mean. His father's will had made Dycedarg guardian to the two Heirals as well as his youngest brother and sister, and while Dycedarg was usually a stern and strict guardian he wasn't usually unreasonable. Ramza had thought that Delita had the same respect for Dycedarg as he had.

"Nothing. I'm not deriding your noble Lord Brother, so don't sound so annoyed. Perhaps I just think that one day I'd like to change my false nobleman's garb for the robes of someone with real power." Delita shook his head hard, as if to clear it.

"Oh, lets forget it, we're out on our own, totally independent for a couple of days until we get to Eagrose. I don't know why we're even getting into a dispute." Delita added.

Always happy to make peace, Ramza got to his feet, raising his voice a little.

"Why don't we all go for a swim – it's warm for the time of year and I noticed a bit of a pool just down from where we caught the fish."

Delita and the girls just looked at him, incredulous.

"Nope." Juliana eventually said in a very definite tone. "I know you tend to be a bit clueless about girls, Ramza, but the four of us are definitely not about to casually strip to our shifts in front of you two and go for a dip."

"You don't know what you're missing." Delita said to her, a wide suggestive smile on his face.

Juliana gave him an assessing look. He wasn't necessarily the better looking of the two boys - that was up for debate - but he was both taller and broader through chest and shoulders. Ramza still had the build of a skinny teenaged boy whereas Delita, though younger by a few months had already begun to fill out, giving him more of a man's frame.

"Maybe if it was just the two of us..." She said with an arch smile, then blushed and ducked her head. The two had been flirting for months - Ramza wasn't sure if they'd ever done more than flirt and Delita was generally rather vague on the subject, when asked.

"Fine, fine." Ramza said, still a little flustered. "Do you four want to swim? If you do, I promise Delita and I will wait and have a swim after you've finished." Most of the girls said they would but Samantha just shook her head without speaking. Ramza gave her a long look, head tilted slightly to one side, then hunkered down next to her, speaking low.

"The important part is that we were still in time to get him revived and you are determined not to let it happen again. Try to stop thinking about it so much, Sam. We make mistakes then we have to move on and make sure that we don't make the same ones again."

It was more than just the Beoulve name that had placed Ramza in charge of this little squad - he had the confidence and many of the innate skills to be a good leader.

"I know you're right, but we were so close to losing him forever - a few more seconds, even..." Samantha shivered.

Ramza put a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder; he could sympathise - their first ever fight involving real deaths, today, had shaken him too.

"But we didn't. Go on. Go for a swim with the others. It'll be fun – help you take your mind off it."

Ramza dreamed he was back at his father's death-bed that night. It was months since that had happened and he wasn't sure what had prompted it, almost three years after the actual event. He woke in a cold sweat and stumbled out of the tent. Delita should have been on watch, but he was nowhere to be seen. Ramza sat staring into the fire, which was very low. He heard a twig snap behind him, and Delita came up.

"Where have you been?" Ramza asked sharply.

"Collecting more firewood." Delita said, dumping an armload of branches.

"Oh... Sorry." Ramza pushed his mop of hair out of his eyes. "I didn't mean to make it sound like an accusation."

"You were put in charge, you have the right to question your subordinates." Was there a hint of stiffness in Delita's voice? No, surely not; that would be silly, wouldn't it?

"You know it isn't like that - I don't think of you as my 'subordinate'. I'm sorry. I dreamed about my father dying again; I'm just a bit on edge. Look, I won't get back to sleep, so I may as well take over the watch early if you want to get to bed." He'd noticed Delita try to hide a couple of yawns while he'd been speaking.

Delita leaned forward to put another branch on the fire and Ramza heard a hissing noise as if water had fallen to the stones that they had used to bake the trout.

"Is your hair dripping?"

"Er... well, yes. I'm sorry... You weren't wrong to question me. Juliana invited me to go for a moonlight swim with her... I know I shouldn't have, not while I was supposed to be on watch, and I apologise."

Ramza just shook his head. He knew he could be a little prudish, but he had been made conscious of his illegitimacy, early in life, and that led him to be rather more conservative about sexual matters than some of his friends. It was a heavy stigma in their society and he was very aware that he never wanted to burden a child with it himself. Especially as he was unlikely to ever have the influence his father had had, which meant he wouldn't have the highly unorthodox option of having papers drawn up to be signed by the king, legitimating his bastard children. Staying chaste was better... if more frustrating.

"Hey don't look at me like that. She asked me..." Delita said, sounding defensive, now.

"Don't worry about it." Ramza said, a little stiffly. "Like I said, I can take over the watch now."

He was far closer to Delita than to his own, much older, brothers but, like close siblings, they weren't without their differences. Ramza thought about that while he watched Delita head for their tent.

Author's Note:

Delita doesn't spring Athena-like from Zeus's head, as a consummate political schemer later in the game. I didn't pick up on it during my very first play-through, but in Chapter 1 he always knows more about what's going on in the world, including who the political participants are, than the other cadets, e.g. he knows who all the major players in the Corpse Brigade are, while Ramza's pretty much clueless. Anyway, I hope I didn't lay the "Delita's a political animal" on too thick. I'll try not to be too heavy-handed with it, in future.

I originally tried to emulate the game's Olde English dialogue... and failed. I want them to sound like intelligent sixteen-year-olds, not crusty sixty-year-olds. So I copped out.