Crimea 666.
Herald sat in front of the house running a whetstone down his sword. Shinon always told him to keep it sharp, and the pony-tailed vagabond would no doubt bite his head off if he didn't follow through on his instruction.
Everyday was the same: split the firewood, set the traps, tend to the garden, train with Shinon, fletch arrows, hunt, check the traps, then finally get some rest. Somehow, in all of that time, Herald was expected to keep his sword sharp. It was a miracle that he hadn't run away yet. Truth be told, he rather liked his simple life in the countryside.
Shinon, however, had other plans.
"Herald," he said as the younger man worked, "I have enjoyed your company over all these years, but you're a man grown now. I can't be taking care of you anymore."
"Taking care of me?" Herald almost laughed. "If anything, I'm taking care of you, old man."
"Very funny."
At first, Herald thought he had won that verbal altercation, but Shinon had more determination than he had accounted for.
"Listen Herald, you're a talented young man, and you deserve more than I have to offer."
"But I like what you have to offer. I've never been dissatisfied with my life here, and I don't see any reason to leave. Besides, you may not be my father, but I like living with you."
Shinon decided not to let him know just how much he appreciated that.
"Still, your martial skill is wasted here. You'd have a successful career in the military if you applied."
"I'm not so sure."
"Just think about it, Herald. You'd be a defender of the realm standing up against injustice. You could be a hero, just like Ike."
"A hero just like Ike" was the kind of thing small children would say when they were naive enough to believe such a thing was attainable, or even desirable. If Herald was as old as Shinon wanted him to believe, he was definitely too old for that tactic to work on him.
"Ike wasn't much older than me when he died though."
"We don't know if… Fine Herald, if you want to argue, I won't force you, but you have to understand that I only want what's best for you, just like your parents surely did."
"When they abandoned me? Is that what you're doing?"
"Of course not. No decent parent would let their child sit around and waste their gifts."
"Is that what you told Rolf?"
"You had to bring Rolf into this, didn't you? I was Rolf's teacher, not his guardian. He probably doesn't want anything to do with me anymore. I don't want to burn another bridge, but you have to understand, I'm doing this because I care about you."
Herald was no longer responding.
"I'll make you a deal, Herald. If anything goes wrong, you know my haunts. You'll always have a place to stay with me, no matter what happens."
"Is that a promise?"
"You have my word."
Herald hugged Shinon, grabbed his bow, and got ready to hunt. The conversation did not resume, for the next day, Herald had his things packed, and said goodbye to his longtime guardian.
"I don't know you do it," Shinon said to no one in particular, "but you always manage to beat me, you bastard."
Just about as soon as Herald left, he found himself unsure of what to do and where to go. It stood to reason that if he wanted to enlist in the Crimean army, he would need to make the long journey to Melior. While he had no idea just how long it would be, it had to be many days by foot.
Fortunately, he didn't have to. Not an hour away from Shinon's house was an unassuming rural town where a militia may be looking for recruits. Upon looking around, Herald didn't find anything like that, but he did find a notice on the cathedral door that read.
"Recruits wanted for the renowned Greil Mercenaries."
Herald recalled stories that Shinon had told him about these Mercenaries. They were the company that he ran with years ago during the Mad King's War, as well as the War of the Laguz Alliance and the Goddesses' War. In this time of peace, they would be in Greil's Retreat, an old fort that Shinon avoided like the plague.
"Forget the army," he thought, "this is where I belong."
To be continued…