Hard FE-related writer's block. Think I'm uploading a story that isn't all that good, but it might break me out of this weird anti-FEfic spell that I seem to be under.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Nightfall came upon Archanea, the sunlight that had previously allowed one to see all across the holy country was now gone, temporarily. In hours, the sun would again peek up from the horizon and bath the land with revealing light. Until that time, much of the nation was hushed and silent.

There was still a fair amount of activity in the Archanean Palace, mostly from the older nobles, still discussing and talking late into the night. The Archanean night patrol, conducted by the knights, was also underway. If any thief was foolish enough to try and enter the castle, he, or she, would have been spotted and cut down in an instant by these well trained knights, highly attuned to their surroundings. Or at least, they claimed to be so impossibly attentive to everything around them.

Elsewhere in the Palace, in the hall that contained the rooms of the noble children, Nyna tossed and turned in her bed at night, unable to fall asleep even as the hour became increasingly late and someone her age should have been long since asleep by now. The bed's cushion, one of the highest quality in the continent, combined with silk soft covers and a pillow soft as a feather, failed in its task of lulling her to sleep.

Instead, her thoughts were on her father and the circle of nobles that were always with the holy King. As she laid in her bed, her father was discussing things undoubtedly important and mysterious with the ranking nobles. How she wanted to as much as just listen to those words.

Rather then listen, she was shunted off to her room, just like all the noble children were shunted off to theirs, and expected to sleep through the discussion she ached to listen to. She turned over under the covers. It just wasn't fair. She was the princess of a Holy nation, and she was forbidden to as much as listen to the conversation.

After just a few more minutes, Nyna found she could handle the waiting and not knowing no longer. The princess, who had celebrated her tenth birthday only a few months ago, crawled out of her bed and, wearing only her decorated nightgown, crept toward the door. She made no sound, nothing that would have allowed any patrol to detect her movement.

Slowly the door opened, there were always a few guards around the rooms she and her family slept in, but the brunt of them were probably with her mother and father in the throne room right now. When it was patrolled normally, Nyna wouldn't have been able to open the door without a dozen different pairs of knightly eyes snapping toward the moving door.

In this moment she would be able to leave the room and go into the candlelit hall without anyone realizing what she was doing. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, her father would be none too pleased if he learned what she was doing… but surely even a princess could be allowed to be curious, she moved from the doorframe and into the hall. She knew the way to the throne room, which was fortunate, stealth would have been much harder if she had to carry a torch with her. She started through the hall, seeing no sign of any knights right now. She put a hand around a corner, feeling along the wall while looking over her shoulder in case an Archanean knight might come up from behind…

…and felt her little hand suddenly move into someone else's hand.

She yanked her hand back as soon as she realized something was pressing on it. She jumped around the corner with a frown. "What are you doing?"

Nyna's eyes met another girl, a brown-haired girl who looked very close to her age, who mirrored Nyna's frown perfectly. "What are you doing?"

They two little girls had a stand-off, then it occurred to Nyna just how ridiculous they had to have both sounded. "Probably the same thing you're doing. Should we get to the throne room?"

The other girl stared at Nyna, a private war brewing in her head. It was daring, to not only leave her room when it was forbidden, but to do so in the company of another girl breaking the same rule. After a time, the brown haired girl smiled and nodded.

They opted to not speak further, Nyna's young ears could pick up the slight sound of an Archanean knight's metal boots hitting the ground as he patrolled the hall. Not risking sounds that might alert any knight, they moved through the hall, and snuck out of the entire section of the Palace that the noble children slept at.

Finally, they found a spot to stop at. The throne room was not far, and the two girls took a moment to just revel in their own daring. It was the sort of thing that would have had Nyna on the receiving end of one of her father's several hour long lectures. He was very unambiguous in his belief that Nyna should uphold the values that should be expected of her social circle, and not take part in… espionage.

"I am Nyna." She said, confident that no adult was in earshot right now. "The princess of Archanea, and it's my father we want to listen in on."

The other girl looked impressed, then smiled as she decided to introduce herself. "I am Linde, the daughter of Miloah."

It was Nyna's turn to be impressed. She had never met Linde before, but she had been given the chance to speak to Miloah on several occasions. Miloah was a respected noble of the court, and a good friend of the king. Though the King and Miloah had apparently never gotten around to introducing their kids to each other. Nyna suddenly recalled several hours earlier, all the noble children were meeting each other in the same room. While Nyna had pretty much everyone else talking to her, since she was the princess, she remembered Linde had a crowd following her as well. The only other person besides Nyna who seemed to have attracted a crowd.

After a moment, they decided to continue moving. Fortunately, they were able to use a door that connected to the back of the throne room, and didn't have to risk going across the heavily patrolled throne room of Archanea. Crouching down behind the throne, they listened to the gathering of adult nobles.

"The rains of this year haven't been kind." Said Nyna's father, the King, as he sat upon his golden throne. "Only small scale floods have occurred, but they've devastated the crops. Complaints from the farmers about the need for new farmland are non-stop."

"We have enough food in reserve that one year of bad harvest will not negatively impact the nation." Came the calm voice of Boah, the nation's Bishop. "However, the farmers need to be placated. They will be angry at the lack of a harvest to sell…"

"This would be so much easier if someone would teach us how to control the weather." One noble rumbled, glaring at a man dressed in magely robes.

Miloah, the person the last words were directed to, chuckled. "I won't be able to control the weather until the White Sage teaches Gharnef and I such an art. And the only person getting taught by me will be my daughter once she's of age to learn magic."

Linde couldn't keep her jaw from dropping. She turned to Nyna, who was doing a slightly better job at hiding her disappointment, but was clearly just as let down by what she was hearing. This was what was so important that the children couldn't listen to? Complaining about the weather and… whiny farmers?

Linde leaned in toward Nyna. "We can find something more interesting to do."

Nyna nodded, having no doubt of that. "Let's head back to my room."

Linde looked around as she was sitting on the floor in the princess' own room. Nyna was opposite of her. Both of the girls, still clearly wide awake, had engaged in a select number of games that they could play while making very little noise. Games involving little pieces of paper and words.

Eventually, even their apparent immunity to the need of sleep vanished, and Linde yawned, then stood up, stumbling a little from the tiredness. "I should be heading back to my room, now. I'll really hear it from father if I'm found in someone else's room."

"Think you can get back to your room without being caught?"

Linde smiled enthusiastically. "Don't worry. The guards that 'no thief can get past' can't detect a sleepy girl." Linde started to walk toward the door. A thought struck Nyna.

"Want to meet again in the morning?" Nyna asked suddenly. "We could have more fun when we don't have to be so serious about not making noise."

Linde looked at Nyna, and allowed herself to smile. "Of course. First thing I do when I wake up." She opened the door and silently slipped out. Nyna had no doubt that she'd be able to get back into her room without any trouble.

"Are you sure?"

"Without a doubt, my King." Miloah answered as they stood in the hallway. "As a mage, I don't need to see someone to know they're there. Your daughter and my daughter left their rooms to eavesdrop on the meeting tonight."

"That the princess of Archanea would be so dismissive of the example someone in her position should be setting." The King muttered, closing his eyes briefly. "Miloah, why did you not tell me of what Nyna and your daughter were doing the moment you sensed it?"

Miloah shrugged. "I have a hunch why they did it. They thought that we were talking about deep and mysterious things. I could feel the disappointment in their spirits at what they heard. Even you get exasperated, and a little bored, at these sort of meetings."

"Hmm." The King mumbled briefly. "Do you advocate not punishing them? I do not think it wise to encourage them to think that they can get away with ideas like this."

"They'll settle down eventually, my King." Miloah answered. "Besides, after being partners in mischief, I imagine that starting tomorrow, those two will strike up a friendship like no other. I would let it slide just this once, as to not have a black mark put on what they'll likely remember as a great moment."

The King was silent for a moment, then sighed. "Just this once I'll ignore what happened, even if it is behavior that a holy princess should not be taking part in." He looked away. "I find it hard to believe that Nyna could be awake enough to sneak past the guards at this hour of night. What's more concerning is that the guards couldn't catch her. We need to rethink the patrol routes."

"Tomorrow, of course." Miloah said. "Right now, we should get to our own rooms." He turned and murmured something. Some of the torches along the walls lit in response, he and the King started to move away. Miloah smiled. If he had read both of the children right, he suspected that this would be a friendship that would continue going until death. And perhaps not even that would break it.

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