Prologue: Seeds of Change

(Year 615, 20 years before Path of Radiance begins)

Cecilia's life was simple. Some would say it was boring and, essentially, it was. There wasn't any denying the fact either, which lead Cecilia to believe she was more pathetic than she thought. She sighed to herself as her sun-tanned fingers slid smoothly on the surface of a cherry blossom petal, which she had been fiddling with absently. Everyone in her town believed more excitement would be a good thing, even if all that were to happen was along the lines of "Jennifer's got a new Heal staff for when you need it, Cecilia" or "Did you know the General Store has started selling corn?" No such luck.

And so Cecilia was left there, alone in the cherry tree's vast branches, probably obscured to anyone by the innumerable sweet-smelling petals surrounding her. She was sitting on her favorite branch, the strongest and widest one, with her legs crossed and back arched so her hands tightly grip the branch in front of where the shins intersected. How she clung to that piece of wood was stupid, really; she was a master of balance. She knew she wasn't going to fall. Cecilia couldn't help but be scared anyway. Height was a fearful thing to anyone. Horrifying. Even sitting, she felt like the entire tree swaying and, as little colorful dots started appearing in the corner of her eyes (the kind that appears when you either pass out or stand up too fast), she decided it was time to end her training session for today.

She closed her eyes and started taking deep, calming breathes, because the next part of her fear-banishing training session needed preparation. She was going to have to get down somehow, and she knew the only way was the exact same she got up. Her tail swished back and forth uncomfortably, and her ears twitched at the thought.

What kinda cat are you? She scolded herself in her mind. The kind who's afraid of heights? The kind her father would laugh at, thinking he would be joking about having such pathetic frights? The kind of cat who gets STUCK IN A TREE!?

And Cecilia was stuck. She was too scared and too dizzy to get down. Her body has rigid with fear and wasn't obeying any commands. So here she was – the worst cat Laguz on the continent. The poor little kitty girl, stuck in a tree, and the irony of it was so completely ridiculous she gave a short, hysterical high-pitched laugh before gasping loudly and clutched her tree branch harder as the wave of giggles shook her slightly. All she needed to do was shift into her cat form, trot to the end of the branch she knew could easily support three times her weight and jump down the two meters to the ground. If she could run and jump up that way, she could get down that way even easier... except for the fact that when she got up she wasn't looking at the ground, no vertigo making her heart pulse painfully harder.

It was useless. Her mind was too discouraged to let her jump down without help or even shift without being scared madly of losing her balance. She was going to need help.

"N-Nifco!" she yelped loudly, hoping he wasn't in his shop. He usually was strolling into the square around these hours.

"Nifco! Help!" she called desperately, squealing as she lost focus on her death grip on the tree's limb and as a result slipped a tad too much for her taste.

Across the park Cecilia was in, the town square bathed happily in a sea of sunshine, a large fountain in its middle (which was actually oval), rogue water drops bursting against the concrete edge and kissing the regular's arms as they passed. The sun flashed it's warmth into people's faces, necks and arms. It was somewhat crowded, given it was in the early afternoon. It was the smallest and probably most social and successful town in Tellius – Palean, it was called – considering its very existence was known to only about 30 people.

This was the town that was started by a runaway, a safe house for other fellow runaways. Runaways trying to escape their fate. The town was founded 21 years ago by a man and his love, a laguz and a beorc respectively, outcast by their village for loving the other. The laguz/beorc conflict wasn't that bad back then; they managed to co-exist with only minor disputes, mostly due to them living in their separately owned and ruled countries. This town had tested its boundaries when a large group of beorc asked if they could settle in the all-laguz Hatarian town and the wolf-laguz had accepted on one condition; the beorcs had to extend and live on one side of town and pay the laguz no heed. It could have sounded bitter and unfair, but back then it was great allegiance that was never – or rather rarely, as there were some exceptions throughout the continent – accepted.

The village's story was well known by every single of its inhabitant: when one laguz man met and fell in love with a beorc woman, both were expelled from town, and had no choice but to cross the Desert of Death into Daein or be executed. The man wondered how this could have happened; he had been thinking that the laguz's permission for the beorc's settlement in their land was a new beginning and he and his love were helping to strengthen it. The wronged man and woman left to find a place that could accept both races, and after finding none, they managed to start their own.

The man and his love started with a farm, and then came a man who could sell their products in nearby towns. A kindhearted healer dreaming of having a hospital for anyone wounded with or without money to pay soon followed, a few young orphans who were with the healer joined and helped with the crops, and finally the orphans became older and built their own houses and had children of their own, debuting the town's ascension. The man who shipped the farm's products had known his costumers would never buy from such a small, laguz and beorc village, so he never said where the beautifully perfect vegetables and fruits had come from. As simple as that. No questions were ever asked. The town remained secret to anyone the salesman didn't think would want to move into or live in the little nameless family of outcasts. Occasionally, he would find a war-torn family with maybe only one grieving parent and one or two young children with them and offer them a home in the happy community. The town grew stronger and richer still, and that pattern carried on until a sufficient number of people believed in the integrated town with its large, shared heart and never-wavering hope of change. It became a place of miracles. It had a tiny hospital that healed wounded soldiers or travelers attacked by bandits, racists, anything, but the hospital also happened to be home to a slightly darker but necessary purpose. Every now and then, when a soldier or traveler happened to come along for whatever reason (mostly people stumbling along the villa by accident) they didn't particularly seem too fond of the idea of integrated towns. The hospital had found a wonderfully talented bishop with a gift of wielding a Memory staff – a staff able to manipulate one's memory at the caster's will. Quite handy for a place needing to remain secret in the untrustworthy and unpredictable country of Daein. Thus, the town stayed exclusive and solitary, silently helping those in need because of the never-ending wars.

Nifco, however, felt as though even with how magical and secretive the story of its past had made the town seem, he thought there could never be a more mind-numbingly boring place. Nothing ever happened here. Why? Because the place was a secret, of course. From time to time there was an earthquake, some big and some small, but nobody was ever even injured or anything. Just boring little tremors which made people worry about their corn or vegetables or fruits, because they knew nothing bad could possibly happen to their boring co-villagers. Nifco wasn't necessarily sadistic; he was actually quite nice and helpful. The sheer boredom of Palean just made him edgy at times. He didn't wish for an earthquake-induced injury, he wished for excitement.

Suddenly, the young man heard his named being called form the direction of the park, and he could tell it was Cecilia. Beautiful Cecilia. The sole reason in embodiment who didn't make him leave town and not return.

Goddess, what has she gotten herself into this time? He thought to himself, leaping down from the large rock he'd been perched on. He heard his name being called again and trotted off the general direction of Cecilia's voice, leading him into the small, tree-filled park where she spent most of her time.

"Cecilia?" Nifco called out curiously, spotting her pale-faced and clinging to a tree limb with all her strength. "Why the hell are you in a tree?"

He felt direct today. In fact, he usually was, but he also did his best to be as kind as possible when it came to the laguz girl.

"T-training!" she replied, a tint of red to her cheeks when she noticed Nifco had, in fact, come to her aid. "T-trying to cure my f-fear of heights."

"...And you're stuck?"

"A little."

He grinned. Shameful Cecilia.

Nifco, being a beorc, was going to climb a tree to get a kitten down. How tragic, how typical, how ironic. He backed up a few paces for a boost and ran headlong at the tree. He jumped swiftly – easily, grabbing a thinner branch and swung his feet up to climb onto another. He made his way up the tree slowly so it wouldn't shake, as he didn't want Cecilia to be more frightened than she already was. Finally he crept his way onto her branch and crawled over to where she was. He grinned in his commonly mischievous and cynical way, making her sigh. For lovers, they enjoyed getting on each other's nerves.

"Are you going to help me down or just show off more?" she asked scathingly.

Nifco's grin only grew larger.

"I think I'll help you down, seeing as I'm not actually a total jerk, shockingly," he said softly, offering her his hand – which she instantly took.

"No, not shockingly," Cecilia started thoughtfully, her mood swinging from annoyed to gentle unexpectedly. "We all know you're nicer than you think you are."

Haha,he laughed sarcastically. Yeah right. I'm nice to her, but when it comes to others….

She knew he didn't like being called nice, even if he was. He had rude habits but, most of time, he was helpful. Anyway, that's how people in town saw him.

Nifco noticed they were still holding hands and proceeded to tug hers lightly until she remembered the fact she was ten feet off the ground and balanced in a cherry tree. Cecilia drew in a quick breath, trying not to look at the doomed ground promised to her if she fell.

"Help me down now?" she whispered, leaning closer to him.

They were almost touching now.

"Of course," he whispered back, meeting her irises.

He loved staring into her eyes; she always seemed to melt when he did. This time was no exception. He smiled a genuine smile of kindness, and murmured in return "Get on my back." She nodded and climbed on, sliding her short legs though the locks his arms provided her. Nifco, easily supporting the girl's weight, shuffled over to the end of the branch and prepared himself for the drop.

"You can't be serious," Cecilia muttered, partially to herself. "You'll kill yourself – and me in the process, while trying to land on your feet with our combined weight."

Nifco stroked his thumb along Cecilia's exposed shin. "Not if I can help it."

He grinned once more in his trademark way and dived into open air.

I know there's no FE character in this first chapter, but it's really important for later in the story. REVIEW! ALL REVIEWS GET LOW-FAT MUFFINS AND A JUICE-BOX! I know, im lame...