When the war ended, the land of Tellius viewed him as its saviour; there was no position beyond his grasp, all he need do was ask. Yet he did not ask, nor did he accept any offers made, some rather lucrative.
I remember the hysteria; there were some calling for him to remain a noble, claiming the courts could use a man of his talents. Marriage proposals were made; offering him to marry into a noble house.
The most ludicrous of all the suggestions was to make him King of Daein, his father was Gawain Greil was one of Daein's most famed general's, which apparently made him better suited to being royalty than either Micaiah or Sothe. When Soren had told him about that particular rumour he laughed. Not the small chuckle that he usually gave, but an outright belly laugh that was so uncharacteristic of him.
When any asked him what it was he desired, he gave a simple reply.
"To follow in my father's footsteps." He'd reply with a gentle smile, as though thinking of good times now long gone.
Many thought he meant the life of a simple mercenary, but his meaning was so much deeper than that. His father stood up for what he thought was right and fair, his father forged bonds stronger than just mere friendship. His father proved that the term family meant more than shared blood.
It was his father that crafted the man that we see before use, the one we all admire; the one I fell in love with all those years ago. I remember when I first saw him; it was the start of what would later be known as the Mad King's war. The look on his face at that time was that of a man who had the world resting on his shoulders, his father recently fallen in battle and the role of running a mercenary company thrust upon him.
I remember those first times he came to see me to purchase goods for his company. At the time I had been too...forward. When he finally cottoned on to my advances, he thought out aloud that he should perhaps send Soren in his stead, yet he never did. When he purchased goods he would often stay and talk, he would relax, even if just for a minute. When out in public he always so tense, the stress of managing a growing mercenary company, and later a liberation army must have been immense.
As time passed his stays became longer, as did our conversations. I had hoped that at long last I was starting to leave a favourable impression, but alas it wasn't quite how I had hoped.
At the war's culmination, he asked that I stay with the Greil mercenaries, however I let my hopes get the better of me, he had only asked me in a professional manner, hoping that I could continue to provide goods to his mercenary army.
I turned him down; remaining with the merchant group I had travelled with for so long. If I were to be brutally honest, when heard his request in its entirety, it hurt. I had hoped that he wanted me to stay on for reasons aside from professional matters.
For the next three years we travelled, doing nothing in particular, but there were always places and people that had need of our services. We had an unspoken agreement that Ike's name was a taboo, it still hurt to think of his name; still hurt to think that the time that we shared was little more than professional courtesy to him.
The next time I heard his name was after Daein had been called to war by Begnion. Such an odd request to respond to, particularly as it was from Begnion that we were recently emancipated.
None-the-less, word spread through our camp like wildfire that our opponent was not only Gallia, but Ike and his now legendary band of mercenaries. I was torn, here I was supplying his enemies, yet these people are good people that didn't deserve to die. When Muston had asked me, I said that it was fine, and that I would pray to the Goddess Ashera for an outcome that would spare both parties.
Strange, that the Goddess I prayed to was actually the root cause of this war, a thousand years in the making. Through all my time travelling with an army past and present, my fear for my friends was never greater than when they entered the Tower of Guidance. Every time before they had been dealing with humans, mortal enemies, but this time, they were facing down the might of a Goddess, and so I prayed once more, to Yune, to Ashera, to any deity that would listen through this madness.
It was a tense time, the remaining party defended against legions of enemies, but my thoughts were always with the advanced party. So in the middle of one particularly intense battle, it came as a complete surprise when our enemies fell to the ground.
Less than an hour later Ike came marching out of the Tower of Guidance, his party fanning out behind him. He only uttered the words 'It's done' before walking over to base camp.
I could see him in the distance, slowly getting closer, when he marched up to me I was quite surprise, but regarded him with caution; this situation seemed all too familiar.
"I got this wrong the last time. Stay with me." He asked, direct to his point, but clumsy with his words, yet I knew what he was asking. I was too overcome to use words; I simply nodded before collapsing onto his chest.
My heart was aloft. Not 'stay with us' or anything the like, he made it clear what he wanted. Me. We left together to meet our dear friends, those that had overcome such odds and survived to that joyous day.
The memory of that day will live on in me forever, the joy I feel from recalling that day still makes my heart swell. We were married within a year of that day, the happiest moment of my life, up until our son was born.
Now our son, Zain; his name a tribute to both Zelgius and Gawain, aspires to follow in his father's footsteps.