Meg loved her farm.
At the farm, spring turned into summer and the fields grew green and blossomed with life, and the piglets and the calves grew from wobbling little blobs into fully formed, lively creatures, and Meg was happy. And summer turned into fall, and the fields grew ripe and golden and the trees were painted a beautiful swash of colours and everything seemed to hold its breath, hold on to that last, fullness of life before plummeting into the harsh embrace of winter. This was the busiest time of the year and Meg worked night and day to harvest the golden wheat, to care for all the animals, and prepare for the coming winter. And after this toil they were rewarded with sweet fresh grain and food. What had once been nothing but an empty field, what had been but a teeny tiny seed, had grown into life. Life for her, for her family, for all people. This was the meaning, the purpose, she was sure, of all life and there was no greater task than farming. She loved it all and threw her entire soul into it, and desired nothing else.
Then came winter, and it was cold and hard, but her family was there the whole time and they huddled together and laughed and smiled even when the chilly wind invaded their small home and made them shiver and feel icy cold done to the bones. And together they kept themselves busy, and Meg sewed and cooked and worked around the house until once more spring came again. And the whole cycle began anew, and still Meg felt perfectly content.
Then came the war, and her perfect life was ruptured.
Then came the war and the terrible moment when her father was taken to prison, and that terrible uncertainty of whether he would ever return, or if they would live, or if Daein would conquer. And for one night Meg thought that this is what would happen, that they would perish and that all was lost. And that day she stayed up all night and the darkness enveloped her and she was certain that this dark, this coldness, was all that there could ever be. Evil had come and it had conquered. Her father was gone and would never return, and they would all die like him. All was dark.
And yet despite this the sun rose again the next day.
And the pigs still had to be tended to, and the animals still fed and the horses still cared for, and the plants watered and supper made and life, oddly enough, went on. But things were harder now.
Without her father, there was extra work to be done, and Meg wondered if they could ever be up to the daunting task of keeping their farm up and running without him. But their mom brought together their large family, and she told them they must keep working, and together they somehow managed to keep going. Together they somehow managed to do all the work, and together they somehow managed to keep cheerful while doing it, and together they laughed and joked together as they worked. Even their neighbours joined in to help, and this trial and suffering that would have been unbearable for one person, was somehow borne with the help of many. This experience, as Meg worked extra hard beside her mother, her sisters and her brothers, made her realize how extraordinarily lucky she was, and how amazing her family was. She became certain that even if her father never returned, nothing would be able to separate her family. They would stick together forever, always helping and encouraging each other. And because of this love, she was happy.
And her happiness was further augmented when her father returned, and she felt that glorious familial love bursting up inside her.
You could not imagine the joy and celebration this caused! The entire village held a celebration, and Meg and her family cried tears of joy that they were finally reunited. For Meg this was yet another confirmation of the strength and immutable bonds of family. Nothing could separate family, not war, not famine, not nothing! They would be together forever, their love was unbreakable!
Then her older sister left.
Alas, what had broken this immutable bond? What had driven her away from this compact familial unit? What could have possibly ripped apart the tight strings of familial love?
Why, it was love. Romance or love? It was love. Her sister had fallen in love with one of the boys across the street, and they left to begin their new life together.
Meg felt terribly betrayed. She thought that family was forever! She had thought her sister would always stick by her, by them, and never leave!
But alas, love had torn them apart.
Then Meg began to notice that her brother was spending a lot of time in the market lately visiting the apple-selling girl, and that the farmhand down the ways kept showing up to see her other older sister. Even her parents, after being reunited, were spending more and more time together, staring into each others eyes in such a manner so that they seemed to exclude all others, so that they seemed to be the only two people in the world, so that they completely and utterly understood each other, and Meg felt like a terrible outsider.
She felt alone. It seemed to her that the unbreakable bonds of familial love had indeed been broken, and that nobody understood her at all. Her parents had each other, her sister had her husband, but who did she have? She had her family, but to them she was either a child or sibling; who could she be on equal grounds with? And she had friends, it was true, but she was shy and not good at talking, and even held them at a distance. And now Meg had been betrayed by her family, and she was completely and utterly alone! Oh woe! Oh tragedy!
Angrily, Meg dedicated herself to farming once more, now taking over some of her elder sister's tasks, and helping out her younger sister just for something to do. And summer came, and fall, and winter, all in their appointed times. Sometimes she would go visit her older sister at her new farm, but she would end up feeling lonely and left out. Her sister would talk to her husband in a strange, secret way, as if they shared something alone that nobody else did, and again Meg felt alone. Her sister and her brother-in-law, they loved each other, they understood each other, they were together and Meg was just… Meg. They made her feel welcome, it was true, but it just wasn't… Well, Meg didn't really understand it herself. Even though they were family, they were also a new family, one that Meg was not part of.
Everything was different now! Even her sister seemed different now. She wasn't the loud, laughing kid that Meg knew so well. She was older now, more serious. She was glowing in an odd way, bustling about her very own house, proud that it belonged to her and her alone, and sometimes rubbing her expanding belly with a proud, amazed look on her face. She ran the household, did the chores, helped her husband, and was so independent, free, and happy. It was the start of something new.
It made Meg feel odd. Of course she ought to be happy for her sister, and she was. But there was something else. Her sister seemed so happy, so glad in her own, new life that excluded Meg, and it made Meg feel… She didn't know!
And now the farming did not help. It was spring and all the animals were having children of their own, and watching the vulnerable little babies falling on their feet, only to be lifted up by the warm, constant strength of their mothers made a strange feeling twinge inside of Meg. They were making new life, they were creating bonds of love amidst themselves, everything was new and fresh. The mother sheep tenderly nudged her child forward and the lamb took a thin wobbling step and fall, but the mother was eternally there, to catch the little lamb.
And she, Meg? What did she have? She had her old family, it is true, but selfishly she began to desire one of her very own. She began to dream of getting married herself.
But of course, to get married one needs a husband, and this was what, in Meg's consideration, posed the key problem. She didn't know any guys. At least, not any that she would seriously consider marrying.
In fact, she was not entirely sure what she wanted in a man. Someone who would be a good father, she thought, and who works hard and always does his best, she supposed.
But how was she supposed to meet a husband? The truth was, she had a hard time talking to guys. Actually, to people in general. She was a little bit shy. So where in the world could she find a husband? The question consumed her, so much so that without her even realizing it her work began to conspicuously lag behind. And when Meg gave the horse food to the pigs and the pig's slop to the chickens and the chicken feed to the horses, her father finally decided that something had to be done. One day while cleaning out the animal stalls, Brom asked Meg what the matter was.
"Oh Pa!" cried Meg with fervour, "Ah ain't ever gonna get married!"
"Galloping goulashes! Is that what's got your knickers in a knot?!" declared Brom with exaggerated astonishment, "Why you crying o'er that? Ah reckon Ah'd rather have ma purty little sugarplum to stay with me forever than get off hitched to some stranger."
"No Pa, don't you understand! Ah want te have ma own family!"
"Well goodness!" said Brom thoughtfully, stroking his chin.
"Yes Pa, and, and…Ah'm afraid, Pa."
Brom gave a start. "Now what could ma dear little plum blossom possibly be a feared of?"
Meg stared at the ground. She was blushing terribly. "Ah'm afraid there ain't nobody who gonna want te get married wi' me," she murmured finally.
"Why that's rot!" exclaimed Brom, "Who in two worlds wouldn't think it an honour to get hitched off with charming gal like yerself? Yer a pretty picture, no mistake."
"Pa, don't joke," said Meg with embarrassment, "Ah ain't such a pretty picture."
"Ya're too," said Brom, tweaking his daughter's nose, "An' we all know it. Ah'm sure ya'll find some young whippersnapper in no time."
Meg laughed, her hope renewed, and together they finished cleaning out the stall.
Later on, Brom brought up the topic at the dinner table.
"I've been wondering when this would come up," her mother said, laying down her spoon with a sigh, "So who you got yer eyes on?"
Meg blushed and looked at her soup.
"Ain't nobody yet," she said sadly, "Who'd want someone like me anyway?"
Her mom tsked.
"Young Hickory down the way, maybe? He's a handsome lad," she offered.
"Oh no!" cried Meg, "Everybody knows he's got his eye on Sophia across the road."
"George from the farm down the road?"
"He's far too old!" cried Meg, scandalized.
"How about Henrietta's son? He's a dear."
"But he's too young! I don't want to marry a baby!"
One by one all the possible bachelors of her village were eliminated, and all possibilities rejected. Her mother was left baffled.
"Well paint me hair green and call me Elincia, because I've got no idea!" declared her mom finally. Meg was devastated. Was there truly no hope? How was she ever going to get married if there was nobody available in the entire village?!
"Well I'll be!" shouted Brom suddenly, slapping himself on the knee. He had suddenly remembered something.
"Well I'll be!" he repeated, "I can't believe I plum forgot!"
He repeated this interjection a few times until Meg interrupted him with a frantic exasperation:
"What Pa, what?! What did ya forget?"
Brom was sitting stupefied.
"Why, I promised ma ol' pal from the war that I'd help get him hitched to you! Why, you're already fiancés!"
Gasp! Shocking revelation!
Everyone was stunned.
"Who!?" cried Meg, a light of hope going off in her eyes, "What "ol' pal" from the war?!"
"Why, my ol' pal Zihark of course! A finer fellow you could ne'er meet. A real gentilfeller, that's for sure. Ah told him all about ma family, and he was e'er so anxious to meet y'all. Ah promised ah'd get him married, true as the sunset!"
"You really promised?" cried his wife, "Why, and did he agree?"
"Cross ma heart and hope to die, he agreed," Brom said solemnly, "Ah said it all real nice like, really fancy like! 'I offer ya my daughter's hand in marriage," and he was overjoyed 'bout it. Can't believe I plum forgot till now! You're practically engaged!"
"Oh Pa! Did ya really!?" cried Meg joyfully, "Tell me Pa, tell me what this Zihark fellow like!"
"Oh, he's a real catch," said Brom with a merry glint in his eyes, "He's smart as a cracker and all skinny and pretty like too. Girls go crazy for that kind of thing these days, ain't that right? And he's kind. A real gentleman. You'll love him Meg, and Ah already told 'im all about you."
Meg sighed dreamily.
"Zihark…" she said, trying out the name on her tongue. It was beautiful. So cool and exotic.
"I'll do it!" she cried, "I'll marry him!"
"But now see here," said her mom suddenly and practically, "Where is this Zihark fellow? Is he coming here for the marriage? I ain't ever heard o' the man, let 'lone no marriage!"
Brom's glowing eyes slowly began to dim. "Er well," he said awkwardly, "Here's the thing. Ah don't percisely know what got of Zihark after the war. Ah plum forgot about him in my rush back to the ol' homestead, ya know."
His wife laughed. "Oh Brom!"
Brom laughed a little sheepishly.
"Sorry Meg, Ah'm not sure what we'll do to then. Last Ah heard he was travelling to Daein."
"Daein? Why Daein?" asked Meg's mother.
Brom just shrugged.
"Din't ask," he said, "But it ain't none of my business. But if he's there and you're here, I don't see how ya'll be getting married."
"So that's how it is," said Meg's mom skeptically, "We'll then Ah guess we'll have to be findin' someone else."
And with that the conversation about Zihark was finished.
Brom promptly forgot about it, and so did his wife.
But Meg did not forget.
On that day, Meg fell deeply in love with Zihark. She loved this mysterious swordsman, who was handsome and super cool and had fought by her father's side in order to save her country from the evil Daeins. He had probably even saved her father's life once or twice. Plus he was valiant, brave, courageous, and did I mention handsome and super cool?
Swoon! What a dreamboat!
And as Meg sowed the field and fed the pigs and worked and worked and worked, she never stopped thinking about this handsome Zihark who wanted to marry her.
And eventually she allowed herself to indulge in daydreams of being married to this Zihark and working together on the farm, with her milking the cows and him standing next to her, handing her the pail without being asked, and them working together in the perfect love and harmony. At first this image was quite fuzzy and uncertain, because she did not know what her future fiancé looked like. In fact, in her first day dreams he appeared as little more as a black shadow with a question mark over his face. But since her father had said he was very handsome, she naturally began imagining him to be more and more good-looking, so that it was a blond-haired hunk standing beside her in her dreams. This was modified somewhat when Brom told her Zihark actually had blue hair, but that was alright too. Blue hair, as everyone knows, is what all heroes have. All the coolest guys have blue hair. Ike has blue hair, Geoffrey has blue air, and the legendary Ephraim had blue hair, as well as whole cornucopia of other famous heroes. Blue hair was a million times cooler than blond hair anyway. With a minor edit, her image of Zihark as a blond haired super hunk was fixed and he was now a blue-haired super hunk.
With this new information it felt to Meg that her understanding of Zihark augmented daily, although in truth is was fed mostly by her imagination. But from time to time her father would speak of the war and the friends that he had made and he would mention Zihark and she would suddenly pay more attention and question him intensely for more information about her distant fiancé. She peppered him with questions. What kind of foods did he like? What was his favourite colour? And other such questions that he did not know the answer to. But every time Brom spoke of Zihark, Meg's admiration for him grew. He was so brave and heroic and kind. It was simply destiny for them to be together. She thought of him constantly. When she fed the animals in the morning, when she milked the cows, when she weeded the garden, every moment of her day (not every moment) was spent thinking of her future fiancé, her lover, her handsome and charming Zihark, who had sworn to marry her.
There was only one problem.
There was just no sign of the guy! It was as if he had completely forgotten about her!
No, that couldn't be possible. Perish the thought! Meg quickly put the idea out of her mind. Zihark was just busy. Probably saving the world from peril, fighting evil Daein bad guys, rescuing lost heirs to kingdoms, you know, the usual. Once his noble deeds had reached every corner of the earth he would gallop up to her, sweep her off her feet, and make her his bride.
Yeah.
Meg was getting a little impatient.
Then she realized. What was she waiting around for? Wasn't she a strong and independent woman!? Wasn't this the modern era? In this day and age, woman can accomplish anything! Wasn't Crimea being ruled by a queen? Woman didn't have to sit at home and sew while they wait for a guy to come pick 'em up! Meg was perfectly capable of finding Zihark herself! Then he'd see what a plucky, courageous gal she was and they'd get married right away. Right after, that is, she gives him a good dressing down for taking so long!
OR maybe he was being captured by some evil dude at it was up to her, Meg, to rescue him? Meg thought that could be a distinct probability.
You could never know.
From this point on, Meg began to scheme for a way to leave her small town and go visit Daein and rescue her own true love. She knew her parents would never let her go if they knew about her plans, so she kept it in the very strictest secrecy.
The problem was how to get there. And what's more, what would she do when she got there? If he was being held by bad guys, Meg wasn't sure if she'd be able to stop them. She was pretty strong, sure, able to heave up entire stacks of hay into the barn, but she had no military training whatsoever. But for Zihark's sake, she knew she had to learn.
So for a moment Meg put the first problem out of her mind and focused on this second. She convinced her father to teach her sword-fighting, telling him that she always had to be prepared in order to defend her family in case something like the previous war happened again. Brom just shrugged and went along with his daughter's plan. He provided her with some strong, heavy armour, and Meg soon became pretty good.
Well, not that good.
About level three.
Which isn't very good at all.
But she practised every day, and probably would have gotten better if the very perfect opportunity to get to Daein she had been looking for hadn't opened up.
As it happened, Meg had an uncle who owned a farm up the way. This uncle was something of a horse speculator, and took immense pride in his thoroughbred horses. Recently this uncle had been looking for a handsome bay mare, and had heard word that he could buy one in a small city in the north of Begnion. This city was not that far from Daein, and he was going to travel there with his daughter in just a few days.
Meg recognized her chance and seized it. She begged her parents to let her go with them.
"Aw, why not?" said Brom finally, "It's a good opportunity to see the world."
"Oh, thank ye Pa! Thank ye!" cried Meg, overjoyed. Her uncle Elijah welcomed her into his travel plans, as well as his young daughter Jessie, who was a good friend of Meg's.
And before Meg knew it, preparations were underway for her trip. Her mother fussed over her. Her father repeated the same advice to her over and over. Her younger siblings watched her with a little bit of jealousy. She and her cousin helped get everything loaded and they bustled about trying to make sure neither of them had forgotten everything.
In a few days, everybody was ready to go. Her uncle hitched up the horses and lifted the reigns, Meg and Jessie sitting in the back of the wagon, waiting eagerly for their voyage to begin.
"Giddup!" cried Meg's uncle, and the horses trotted off.
The road lay wide in front of her farm grew small behind her. She was leaving her home and family, and a glorious future lay ahead of her.
But most importantly, Zihark lay in front of her.
I'm coming for you pookums! she thought, and the cart rattled off into the great beyond.
Another fic I wrote a loooong time ago. This was going to be a longer series, and in fact I have a few more chapters written, but this seems like a pretty good place to end. You can fill in the rest with your imagination! Eventually it will just catch up to the events in game anyways. To be honest though, I was a bit disappointed that Meg and Zihark didn't have any support conversations in the game. Am I the only person who ships them? XD