Prologue

. . .

Air was whistling through the hallways of the large fortress, keeping the general cool temperature stable. While it wasn't cold by any means, any of the inhabitants knew that it wasn't considered something 'warm', and always accommodated those feelings by either thicker wear or warm food and drinks.

The resident princess decided on neither. While her servants tried to brew her warm drinks and the like, she still refused to consume enough, and always ran around without shoes, despite the cold floors and the risk of tripping on a dislodged stone.

She was currently in the main library, reading with one of her maids while her other two servants were cleaning up yet another mess in the kitchen. Her fingers passed over the words on the pages without a moment's hesitation, and it ended up being too fast for her maid to follow, and a page was turned without both readers having finished.

"Lady Kamui, how did you manage to read so fast? I can't even hold a book without dropping it one way or another."

The princess turned to face her pink-haired servant. "Well, that's what happens when you read while walking. I'm sure if you sat down and focused, you'd be an expert in no time." She turned another page, skipping some of the information. "Also, I had a good teacher or two. That helped a lot as well."

The maid sighed and leaned back on her heels, her dress rubbing against the edge of the princess's chair. "I don't have enough time for things like that… I'm always too busy cleaning up my messes…"

"Speaking of, Jakob was looking quite angry this morning. What happened?" The princess turned, curiosity on her face.

It wasn't too often that she was able to converse with anyone other than her three servants, one guard, and her four siblings, who only came over when allowed to. It was rather lonely, she figured, so getting to know each person better, even if by a little mishap, was always welcome.

The maid blushed and stuttered for a few seconds before composing herself. "I dropped another of the plates that the king brought over here before you were born... " She sighed, looking dejected, and straightened out her dress a little bit to avoid eye contact with her superior. "I always end up dropping something…"

"Well, practice makes perfect right?" The princess stood up and tapped the maid on the shoulder. "It's ok, Felicia. If you practice with less expensive dishware, then maybe you'll get less clumsy."

"My sister isn't nearly as clumsy as I am, and we're twins…"

"Well, it's nice that you aren't exactly the same." The princess turned to face one of the large windows in the fortress, positioned in the large library for way of light during the day. "If you were exactly the same, then there'd be no point in having different names, right?"

"I don't follow, Lady Kamui."

Kamui sighed and sat down on the edge of the window, glass still closed as a result of the fierce wind outside. "I don't know how similar people are supposed to be, but it's nice that people are different. If they were the same, then I'd get bored so fast…"

A tapping sound echoed across the library, and both residents turned their heads to greet the new visitor, the sister of the maid.

She turned her head, eyes cold but not unforgiving, toward the princess. "The two younger royal siblings have arrived, Lady Kamui. They are down in the main room. I hope you don't keep them waiting."

Kamui gave a light laugh, turning her head towards Felicia. "Well, I suppose that's my cue." She kept her true elatedness concealed to seem more dignified, but in reality the princess had nary a cause to hold back. She had been waiting for a visit from her siblings for weeks, and once a message had arrived about the due meeting, she could barely hold in her excitement.

"There's apparently some assignments for you from Lord Leo. They have to deal with academic study, medicine training, and sword fighting." The twin with blue hair kept her even expression as the princess walked up to her, and they stood at nearly the same height.

"I thought my medicine training was over since I was so poor at it."

"Lady Elise wished to spend more time with you other than your breaks, and Gunter decided that it wouldn't be out of line to accommodate her."

"Ah, that makes sense." Kamui turned around Flora, exiting the library with Felicia at her heels. "Do you think I look presentable, Felicia?"

"Y-you look beautiful, Lady Kamui. Although, once you begin your sword fighting practice, you should probably change into the outfit that Lady Camilla picked out for you last time she visited."

The outfit in question was a set of armor that conformed around the body quite nicely with simple shades of white, grey, and black, paired with a cape. Camilla had included the cape for 'fashion reasons' although Kamui found herself questioning the smartness of having a cape in a fight.

Other than the armor, black underclothes matched the set, and accompanied Kamui's love of bare feet; no shoes were included, although Leo had voiced his opinion of fighting without them.

Kamui had also complained over the fact of leggings that didn't completely cover her legs, but Camilla had assured her that it looked nice, and if someone attacked her and was "awestruck by her thighs" then it would only take a well-placed swing to knock them out. Apparently 'incomplete armor' had its benefits, but Elise and Flora had their doubts.

"I don't think that will be completely necessary. It's not like we'd go all out with our fighting, and we'd be using wooden swords, right?" Since Xander hadn't been part of the aforementioned list, Kamui could only assume that it would be Leo helping her with her sword skills, although their older brother was by far the superior.

"Xander wanted to move onto more formal fighting in order to see your abilities in a more realistic situation." Felicia stopped Kamui before she climbed down a set of stairs. "Is your sword ready, or do you need me to polish and prepare it, Lady Kamui?"

The princess hummed to herself for a few moments, reflecting on the current state of her weapon. "Well, a bit of care certainly wouldn't hurt it, but I haven't used it since I trained with Gunter a week ago, so it should be ok."

Felicia nodded, and the pair continued heading down to the main room.

They entered the wide expanse, and the sight of large banners decorated with Nohr's colors caught Kamui's eyes again. It never failed to take her breath away, especially since the fabrics were so vibrant she could see the style and type from her distance on the ground. This time, however, she turned her attention to her two guests, since they were of far more import than the banners above her. She skipped over to her sister, her bare feet skidding slightly on the stone floor. She wrapped her arms around Elise, enveloping her in a hug after making sure her pigtails weren't in the way.

Elise gave a laugh before returning the favor. "It's been forever since we've seen you last, big sister! I have some stories to tell you!"

Kamui withdrew from the hug to look Elise in her eyes. "If you didn't mention it in your last letter, then it must not have been that big of a story."

Elise stuck her tongue out. "Well, it happened after I sent the letter, and since I was coming over, it seemed weird to just send another. It has to do with the gardening…"

A sigh came from her left, and Kamui turned to face her brother. "Not this again. You've told the story to every willing ear. I'm sure Kamui can infer enough with only a few words this time around."

Elise pursed her lips and threw a mock punch to Leo's arm. "Well, Kamui should hear the full story since she can never come to the gardens in the first place. Don't be mean, Leo."

Kamui let out a light laugh, knowing that her siblings would probably continue to banter like this no matter what she said about the subject. "Well, first off, Jakob and Flora will be bringing some tea to the sitting room, so I suppose it's best that we move there first? We can start the garden story after that, Elise."

Elise nodded, her pigtails bouncing, and Felicia led the three to the so-called sitting room. In reality, it had been a previous war-council room, but after Kamui had taken up residence, she had decided to claim that room as one of her own, and had decorated it in flower decal with the help from her servants. Since then, Jakob had taken to serving her tea in flower decorated cups to keep with the design, and once again, that tea set had been used to serve her and her siblings.

Jakob dipped his head once after serving tea to Kamui. "If you need anything, I'll be at the door."

"No matter, you can just sit down. It's not like we're discussing anything confidential, right?" Kamui turned her head to look at Leo, who shook his head.

Elise gave a chuckle. "If it was confidential, then I'm sure this place would have Xander and Camilla instead of me and Kamui."

Leo narrowed his eyes at the comment but left it as is.

Kamui took a sip of her tea, savoring the light lemon aftertaste. "So, what's the story this time, Elise? Did another owl come down and scare off a field mouse?"

"Nah." Elise set her cup down and leaned forward, hands on her knees. "This time, there was a lizard in the tomato bush, and Leo was about to kill him for ruining one of the tomatoes, until I caught it with my bare hands!"

Kamui leaned back, expressing amazement and delight on her face. "Wow, that takes a lot of skill! I haven't managed to catch a butterfly, let alone a lizard."

"Leo said he was probably fat from eating a tomato, but he seemed skinny to me." Elise gave a sigh and rested her cheek in her hand in a fake show of pity. "The poor thing was probably starving since our garden is the only source of food in the castle."

Leo scoffed, but it was done lightly to appear akin to Elise's fake actions. "The mice have beaten the lizard when it comes to smarts, then."

"Well, I can't disagree with you on that one…" Elise shook her head. Kamui tilted her head slightly.

"What do you mean by that?"

Elise turned back to look at Kamui after taking another sip. "Well, when I set him in the front pavilion so he could go free, he ran into a wall. I think there was a bug there, but that's only an assumption."

Kamui closed her eyes, unsure whether to feel pity or disappointment in the thing. "Ah. Brain damage, huh? Must have escaped from a bird or something. Maybe another owl. Or maybe it just doesn't have enough experience?"

Elise shrugged, and bit into one of the bread pieces that was lying on the table as refreshment. "Who knows. At least I saved the rest of the tomatoes."

Kamui chuckled, giving a sideways glance to Leo who had been shaking his head during the last part of the story. "At least you did that, right?"

"Tomatoes are special, Golden. Not only do they fulfill the taste known as 'umami', they are also resilient, able to be grown in Nohr soil, and are a part of many recipes that are easily made and taste good." Leo crossed his arms, cheeks slightly pink after realizing that he had once again argued about the importance of tomatoes.

"Well, they certainly make good soup, but only if it's Camilla that makes it." Elise finished off her bread piece, swiping the sesame seeds into her hand before depositing them on her napkin. "Xander's getting better, but last time he burned the herbs…"

"How do you burn herbs?"

"How do you burn tea, Lady Kamui?"

Kamui turned, mortified that Jakob had spoken up about her last attempt to brew tea. She opened and closed her mouth for a few seconds as Leo snorted behind his hand and Elise snickered lightly. "Well… it was my fourth time ever. You… You can't blame me for that right…?" She rubbed at her cheeks to get her blush to disappear.

"Indeed, you have gotten better, but by my predictions, it will still take around fifty tries to achieve the tea taste you have pursued so."

"Well…" Kamui gave a laugh. "Practice makes perfect?"

"Jeez, sister, you're just like Xander." Elise gave a light sigh. "Oh well, not everyone is meant to make things that are edible, right? That's why we have servants to make things for us, and then we always have good food since they always make good stuff."

Felicia walked through the doorway after knocking on the hard wood door.

Kamui stood up to walk over to her, ignoring Jakob's objections. "What is it?"

"Flora did an inventory check and noticed that we were behind on tea leaves again, so we only have a few more pot's worth." She dipped her head, clearly embarrassed. "I'm sorry for the disappointment."

"Hm, only four tries, huh? Seems suspicious, Kamui." Leo's voice rang out from behind the princess, and she turned indignantly.

"Well, maybe I lost track a few times, but it's nothing that can't be remedied right?"

Elise and Leo's faces turned dour, and Kamui blinked in surprise.

Jakob stood up, dusting off his pants. "Well, this was an elucidating conversation, as expected of the royal family, but I'm afraid that it's time for Lady Kamui's tutoring session. If Lady Elise would follow me to her room we shall get her settled, and Lord Leo and Lady Kamui may take up residence in the library."

Elise stood up and straightened her sleeves, making sure that she didn't accidentally knock her tea cup off of the table, and took one last drink. "Of course, Jakob. No need to be so uptight, right?" She gave a laugh as the butler gave another sigh, although he concealed it as a deeper breath. The pair walked into the hallway and exited to the right.

Felicia nodded her head. "Well, I'll follow you two so that I can prepare anything needed in the library. Do you need paper and pencils, or will you be reading primarily?"

Leo hummed in thought for a few seconds before shaking his head. "No paper. It's not necessary this lesson."

Kamui gave a sigh of relief. No paper meant no math, although this meant that it was probably another history lesson on the land to the West, maybe something more about Nohr's history, although she has scoured nearly every library book trying to learn more about her country. Leo had taken notice of that long ago, and had only quizzed her on information as opposed to directly seeking it out in lessons.

"Perhaps another lesson on proper tea making would do us fine? I'm sure there's an instruction book somewhere that you haven't checked." Leo turned his head to Kamui, a joking expression on his face, and she wasn't completely sure if he was being sarcastic or was trying to genuinely help her with her expedition.

She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips as a response, trying to come off as hurt. "Leo, I'm saddened that you'd think me incapable of handling even the most rudimentary of searches in completion of my, albeit small, quest for perfecting tea." She made sure to use superfluous English to get across the fact that she had taken it as a jest, and Leo seemed to understand as much.

"Well, then perhaps you'd like to know the true lesson today?"

"I'll surprise myself."

The three headed up to the library, and Felicia opened the few curtains closed over the smaller windows, providing more light to the room without candles.

Kamui wandered over to one of the smaller circular tables and pulled out a chair for both her and Leo to sit down in as he perused one of the few shelves near the back wall, pulling out a few books.

Felicia bowed once to Kamui, Kamui returning the favor with a dip of her head, and she exited the room, leaving the door half-open behind her.

Leo gave a light sigh and placed the five books he had picked on the table. "You've been diligent in your history studies, so I figured that we could have an off day from your struggles. We'll be doing literary analysis today in order to discover the time period the books were created, and what the author was trying to achieve by writing them."

"Analysis, huh? I was thinking you'd choose music theory or something." Language continued to be Kamui's favorite subject, and she often excelled at anything related to it, although not without perseverance and hard work.

"Well, that would be too easy for you." Leo opened the first book and flipped to a middle page before moving the tome in front of Golden. "This book is a collection of short stories. This one here," he pointed to the middle of the page, "carries across the feelings of most of the other short stories, so this would be the best place to start for your analysis."

Kamui nodded her head. "I recognize this one. It's about a king and his prince, right? Starting with that information, I can deduce that, if this originated in Nohr, it was made around 200 years ago, since people back then were running wild with fairy tales that involved royal families in order to cope with the fact that royalty was often not doing enough for the common people, despite it seeming to be a time of prosperity."

"Yes, that is indeed true, Kamui." Leo leaned back and crossed his arms. "I didn't think you'd remember that."

"Well, I was comparing that time era to the current one now. While the royal family may not be doing their 'utmost best' now, it's because the country is suffering, and not because of their own greed and corruptness." She looked at Leo. "Xander was doing political discussion with me last time he was here, and he continued our last lesson of that."

Leo sighed through his nose and closed his eyes, turning his head away from Kamui in the process. "Well, it's not untrue… I think..."

"Hm? What is it, Leo?"

"Nothing of grave importance." He turned back after a few more seconds. "Continue with your analysis."

Kamui nodded, and continued on with the lesson.

. . .

I still can't remember how to get that line to separate these things lol.

Here it is! A fix-up story for Conquest! I'll need some help though, so I'm looking for some feedback.

I'm sure everyone had at least one annoyance with the story in some way, so I'd like for you to voice those thoughts either in a PM to me or a review on here. Examples being "Why do the dawn and dusk dragons even exist? Include something about them, like (this)!", "Lilith could have been handled way better. Have her do (this)," or even something like "Camilla's characterization seemed off, can you make her more like (this)?". Some things I'm for sure going to be changing will be pacing, reasons for backing up Garon in the first place (although I would really really really like tips on that! Getting him on the throne is NOT a good reason for progressing plot, Kamui! Aqua!) and changes to some chapters that seemed empty, like the staircase one, and changes to some characters like Kamui and Leon who really could have been expanded more (I mean Takumi is his parallel and we see him at his worst. Why not Leon? Fear not! I am to the rescue...). Also good-by to that stupid orb. Seriously.

I have chapters 1 and 2 done, with chapter 3 about half done. There'll be another major story question next chapter, so I'd like feedback on that when the time comes! After that, it's unlikely there'll be an author's note this long lol. I'll also put warnings on the top of any chapters that need it, although that won't be for a bit.

Thank you for checking out this story, and happy reading~