Author's Note: Oh No! The dreaded authors note! Eeeep! So now, to begin I shall tell you my entire life story just for the heck of it. When I was eight years old…haha just playing.

But on a more serious note. This note serves as no more than a warning one could say. If you don't care what you're reading than go ahead and skip the rest. But if you like a certain type of writing I guess? Than go ahead and keep on reading.

First off this is a Post RD fic, so the plot will mostly be my own, with the canon endings of the characters kept in mind. I'll try and follow to the best of my ability. Which brings me to another point. I will be changing some things that happened in Radiant Dawn, most of them trivial, but at least one will change the whole back story of a character. Also, there will be some yaoi in here. I don't know if I will take to the physical stage but there will at least be yaoi thoughts? I guess you could call them that. But it will be a small part of the story so please read the rest and if you don't like yaoi then skip over that part. And there's a large number of OC's in this fic, most with only supporting or enemy roles but…I'm rambling. Sorry. There's quite a few POV's and plot arcs in here but I don't think that will be a problem. Finally I'm gonna tell you the main pairings just so you're warned. Elincia/Ike/Soren - Sothe/Micaiah/Pelleas - Jill/Haar/OC - Aimee/OC

And if you're still reading this behemoth than I congratulate you and say thank you. So now onwards to the story. Lastly please review, even if just a flame, but most importantly please tell me if I should keep writing this. Thanks and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Fire Emblem or Intelligent Systems.


Goodbyes

The sun broke through the gaping hole in the rough, canvas tent and a small groan escaped the woman's mouth. She sat up, her exotic face groggy, and her black, silky hair mussed up and sticking up all over the place. Standing up, and tripping over the hem of her dress, the woman walked out of the tent, shading her eyes from the glare of the bright morning sun. And the scene before her caused her to scream.

"Ilyaaaaana! Miiiiia! Muuuustoooon!" Aimee called out in a completely grating and obnoxious voice. "Wheeeeree arrrre yooooou?"

She snorted and stomped her foot. No one was answering her once again. It was getting annoying. Nobody ever talked to her, everybody ignored her. She scowled. They couldn't just leave her alone in the middle of the Daein countryside could they? And if they had, she would hunt them down and make their lives miserable! But of course she didn't realize that with her their lives were always miserable. Aimee thought that she was the perfect being, composed of beauty, intellect, and cunning.

The only things around her were her shoddy tent and a wide plain of nothing. A couple of trees stood to right, gently swaying, and a few songbirds flew above her head, but other than that, she saw nobody. She sat down with sigh, and allowed one single tear to fall down her face. Once again she had been abandoned, like she had been throughout her whole life. First by her parents, then by the sister of the orphanage that burnt down, then by the ugly shopkeeper that she was apprenticed to. And now by her supposed friends. Another tear fell down her face, which eventually turned into a raging torrent wiping off the makeup that she had put on so carefully the other day.

"Aimee?" a quiet, tentative voice said. "Is that you?"

Aimee turned around. "Oh! Ilyana! You guys didn't leave me!" Aimee jumped up hardly able to contain her joy. "I'm so sorry, I slept late, I'll get my stuff packed right away, it'll only take a few minutes."

The words spilled out into such a fast rush that Ilyana couldn't have understood a word that Aimee had said. Ilyana swayed a bit and began to lose her balance, but Zihark suddenly appeared and caught her.

"Aimee. We need to talk." Ilyana said in her most authoritative voice, regaining her composure, although she still looked a little woozy. They hadn't ate breakfast yet.

Aimee spun, completely caught off guard. "About what?" she asked, a puzzled expression on her face.

Ilyana opened her mouth to say something, and then shut it, looking over at Zihark. He grimaced, and then whispered something in her ear. Ilyana nodded enthusiastically, and Aimee narrowed her eyes, suspicious.

"Muston has left. He went to work in a run-down village that was almost destroyed by the Begnion Occupation forces." Zihark said slowly, not wanting Aimee to overreact and yell or scream. It didn't work.

"Whaaat? Why? The fool! How could he leave me!" Aimee shouted, exasperated. She seemed to have forgotten that a minute ago she thought that she was alone.

"I…uh…I don't know why." Zihark said, stumbling over his words. Aimee noticed that he always seemed to get unnerved around her. She attributed it to her goddess-like beauty, forgetting that she had streaks down her face from her running makeup and that her hair was sticking up all over the place.

Ilyana put her arm around Zihark's waist, and he reciprocated the gesture. "Aimee, we are leaving too." Ilyana spoke as gently as possible, but she winced when she saw Aimee's look of surprise, and anger. "Mia, Zihark and I are going to make a living for ourselves as mercenaries. Daein is overrun by bandits and brigands, so we thought that we could help out our home country." Although few knew it, Mia and Ilyana were born in Daein, and now that an honorable monarch ruled, the three of them felt that they should help rebuild their country.

"You can come with us if you want." Zihark quickly said, trying to remedy the situation. "I don't know how you could help exactly but…"

Aimee curled up her nose. "The battlefield is no place for me. I don't stoop down to such barbaric methods." She knew that her words hurt but they deserved it. They were leaving her to fend for herself! Her! Fragile, delicate, beautiful Aimee! She was bound to be kidnapped, or attacked, or goddess knew what else. And then to suggest that she fight along with them! It was deplorable.

Zihark scowled, and stomped off, muttering something. All Aimee heard was pompous and bitch. Her mouth dropped. She was prepared to chase after him and knock some sense into the fool when Ilyana stopped her.

"That was unfair." Ilyana said angrily, but Aimee could see that her big, lavender eyes were beginning to water. She winced as a wave of shame rushed through her. Magic was probably the only thing Ilyana could do well, and Aimee knew she took a lot of pride in that. And she also knew that Ilyana hated that the only thing it was good for was hurting others.

Aimee hung her head and muttered "Haven't I provided you with food and a home for years? Why are you picking them over me?" She didn't want Ilyana to hear her words but they had just spilled out. She felt whiny and wimpy all of a sudden.

"Look at me." Ilyana commanded, and Aimee obeyed. "It's because I think I love him. And I think he loves me too. And I don't want to lose him."

"But how do you know?"

"I…" Ilyana paused, obviously unsure of the answer. Then she smiled, "Because around him, I'm a different girl. I'm stronger, tougher, more sure of myself. And he's sated my appetite."

They stared at each other for a moment, and then both started giggling, which turned into outright laughter. Once they finally stopped Aimee's stomach hurt and her face was a bright red. Ilyana, still grinning, said "Do you want to come?"

Aimee immediately became serious. "I'm a big girl Ily. I can take care of myself. I'll start a shop somewhere or another. Go traipse around the world with your man. At least you guys won't waste all your money on meals anymore." Aimee winked.

"Very funny. But are you sure?" Ilyana looked worried. A part of her didn't want to say goodbye to the woman she'd been with for the past five years of her life.

"I'm positive. Now go! Do you even know where Mia is?"

Ilyana went pale and started to run over to where Zihark was. If you could call what she was doing running. She stopped and waved, and then she and Zihark moved off into the sunlight.

Aimee turned away. She was going to start crying again and it was the last thing she wanted. It was scary, being alone, with her whole life ahead of her and no plan whatsoever. A few months ago she would've balked and would've gone in search of wherever Muston was, asking him to let her stay with him. But like Ilyana she was a different girl. She wasn't turned to stone during Ashera's judgment, unlike Jorge, Daniel, and Muston. Yune had shielded only the strong from Ashera, and when she learned this, it had given her hope. She thought that maybe she could turn her life around. And now she had that chance.

Turning towards her departing friend again, Aimee moved to collapse her tent and decide where she was going to go next. Most of all she wanted to go find her old orphanage, the one that held some many good memories. She ran a hand through her hair, and started on the road to her new life.


She stood alone atop a gentle rise. The tears would not stop running down her face, despite how hard she tried to choke them down. The warm wind caressed her, trying to soothe her pain, but it did nothing. Because the wind could not pick you up into its arms and hold you tight. The wind could not put feather-light kisses on your cheek when you were sad. The wind could not love you. Only he could do that.

And he was gone.

Elincia watched as the ship bearing the hero of Tellius, and the hero of her heart, sailed away. He had said that he wanted to explore, to find new lands. But she knew he had only wanted to run. To run as he always had.

Another sob shook her body, and she had trouble keeping herself from falling to her knees and putting her face in her hands. The Greil Mercenaries stood on the docks waving goodbye to their commander. She could see Titania holding Mist tight, and the three brothers all discreetly holding hands. And naturally Soren stood off by himself. She missed the mercenaries. She missed the tight bond they all shared. And more than anything she wanted to be a part of it, part of the family that she never had.

But Elincia had told no one that she was coming to say her own private farewell. She knew that everyone else thought of her as weak, as no more than a fragile flower that would bend and break at the slightest breeze. And she didn't want people to see her like this. The shame would've been too much.

But worse than any of that was the fact that she knew the reason why Ike was leaving. And that reason was her.

After Crimea was restored, they had been in a young, innocent relationship. She remembered it being filled with long nights looking up at the stars in the palace garden, the days filled with long walks through these same gardens hand in hand. They hid it from most everyone, but Elincia's duty as queen strained their intimacy, with her being gone almost constantly. And even though she knew he hated being part of the nobility, she still asked him to go public about them. And he had run then. Reneging his lordship, and leaving her for his familiar, simple mercenary world.

And he was running now too.

Once Crimea had joined in the war alongside the Laguz Alliance, she and Ike had picked up where they left off. It was awkward at first but eventually they grew closer than they ever had. And after Ashera had made her judgment on the world, their love for one another blossomed. Yet when she suggested spending the rest of their life together, ignoring all the customs of royal marriage and making it through with just their love, he had once again left her.

She had suggested marriage less than a week ago. And he had given it no thought, just walked out of the room, saying that he wanted to "explore." She shook with another sob. Ike simply didn't want her, didn't want the commitment. Maybe he didn't even love her. She broke down again, and turned away from the departing ship.

Her eyes were closed, so when somebody put their hands on her shoulders, she drew her sword and whirled around into a defensive fighting stance. And looked straight at Lucia, a bemused expression on the blue haired woman's face. Elincia tried to smile, but it came out as a painful grimace instead, and she cried. Again.

Lucia rushed forward and drew her into a hug, stroking her hair with one hand and holding her tight with the other. Elincia melted into her arms, glad that someone had bothered to come find her, glad that there was someone here to comfort her. Shaking herself, and trying to compose herself, she pulled out of her milk sister's loving embrace, and found herself falling into her milk brother's even tighter hug.

"Geoffrey! Geoffrey!" she exclaimed, attempting to escape his strong, armor-clad arms, "I'm fine now!" He let her go, but looked at her with a skeptical look etched on his features.

"You weren't fine a moment ago." he said, taking a step forward. "I saw you up here crying your life away." He pulled her into another hug, and she let him this time, resting her head on his chest. She knew that she shouldn't deny her friend's love just to look strong. Enough of her love was leaving on that accursed ship.

"You don't need him Elincia." Lucia stated, a small frown on her face. "He was never good for you anyways, always leading you on and then leaving you standing alone in the dust. He may have saved our continent, but he's still a jerk." She scowled as she said the last part, and Elincia knew she was thinking of ways to get vengeance for her queen.

"He's not a bad person." Another sniffle escaped her, and she began the process of wiping her tears off her face. "Ike just doesn't know how to…" She was at loss for words. Lucia was right, Ike was no good for her. She needed a man who could stand by her, protect her no matter what. Geoffrey was that kind of guy, but he was essentially her brother, and the thought of a romantic relationship was… She shook the idea out of her head. That for sure was NOT going to happen.

"Come on. Let's go." Geoffrey said. "If we leave now we can make it to Melior by nightfall." Without waiting for answer, he mounted his horse, and pulled Lucia onto his horse, seating her right behind him. Elincia swung up on to Atlas, her aging pegasus, and nudged him forward. He nickered, glad that they were walking, and didn't have fly into the wind on the way back. The trio started to leave, and as hard as Elincia tried, she couldn't help but looking back. The ship was now only a tiny brown dot on the horizon, the azure sea practically swallowing it up.

On the way back to Melior, Elincia kept telling herself that she didn't need, that he was no good for her, that he wasn't worth the trouble. Because as much as she hated it, Ike was gone.

And he wasn't coming back.


"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."

As Sothe leaned in to kiss Micaiah, the large audience crowded in the palace's cathedral stood up and broke into applause. Somebody shouted "Long live Queen Micaiah and King Sothe!" More people joined in and eventually the church had become thrumming madhouse with everyone shouting, clapping, and stomping their feet. Pelleas groaned. This was only worsening the migraine that he had obtained the past week. Clutching his head, which was on the verge of exploding, he ran out into the street.

He stopped and took a long deep breath of the warm summer air. The sun was shining down brilliantly on Nevassa, and from the elevated plaza outside the cathedral he could see the entire city. Even the completely trashed portions where the homeless and poor lived. He sighed. After abdicating the throne to Micaiah, he had thrown himself into helping the more unfortunate people of the city rebuild their homes. In the past month, he had rebuilt one of the main marketplaces in the lower slums, which had provided countless jobs. And he grew more connected to the people than he ever had as king.

But the court, which he was still a part of, did not approve of his charity. Pelleas maybe showed in court once a week, and even then he maybe stayed an hour at the most. Nothing was being accomplished there, and Micaiah, frankly, was a worse monarch than he. Luckily she still had the adoration of the people but…that would not last much longer.

He heard from people that he worked among in the streets that brigands roamed the countryside without fear, and he knew that sometimes they even wreaked havoc in the city. And with the baronies not allowed to have a large army, they could not assist in wiping them out. Not that they would. The barons and baronesses of Daein had not only lost their right to have an army of more than one hundred soldiers, but they were also no longer allowed in the court, and only had rule of the people in their estates.

Pelleas didn't like it at all. Micaiah was losing all of her supporters, and soon she would have no one. And now that she had married Sothe, he was sure that she would lose the rest of them. Sothe was simply too brash, blunt, and downright mean to be a good king. Therefore, Pelleas had next to no appreciation for him, which he knew was unfair but Sothe deserved it. Throughout his whole reign the rogue had done nothing but belittle and ridicule everything about Pelleas. And the fact the Micaiah was in love with him was enough for Pelleas to hate him.

Pelleas could not remember when exactly he fell in love in with Micaiah. All he knew that one day he couldn't get enough of her: her big golden eyes, her silver hair, her whole personality. But the most important thing was that they were both different, both outcasts in every single society. They were both Branded. And for the life of him, he didn't know why he hadn't told her way back when he had first seen her Brand during the War of Liberation. To tell the truth he had been scared, scared of everything. So scared that he lied to another Branded that he had made a pact with a spirit!

It was the dumbest thing he had ever done, and he was glad that she knew next nothing about magic. He had discovered that only users of elemental magic, the fire, wind, and thunder tomes, could call upon spirits. Dark and light magic came from a connection or devotion to the goddesses. And he had no idea how exactly he could use dark magic, because he hadn't devoted himself to the dark god whatsoever at any point throughout his life. But he tried not to dwell on it.

The people in the cathedral were still going nuts over Micaiah and Sothe. He rolled his eyes. People could lose themselves so easily in happy moments when the whole world was going to hell. There were things that needed to be done, and a good portion of the people who could make things happen were cheering ceaselessly inside.

While he was attempting to shake his thick, shaggy, dark blue hair out of his eyes, a woman dressed in rags came up and shook him. "Lord Pelleas! Thank the goddess! I was hoping I would find you here."

He turned around and looked at her. She was breathing heavily and had a look of extreme worry and fear on her face. "What is it? What is troubling you?" he said, worried.

"Bandits! They're in the marketplace and stealing everything. And cutting down the stands!"

Pelleas scowled. He wasn't going to let a bunch of selfish brutes ruin something that these people had worked so hard for. "I'll go take care of it." he said but before she could respond he was already halfway across the plaza. He sprinted down the stairs at the end of the square and began to make his way down to market through the less crowded back streets. People flattened against walls as he rushed past, a shocked look on their face. He paid them no mind.

Minutes later he arrived at the market, only slightly out of breath. He allowed himself a small grin. Less than a month ago he would've been winded, probably on the verge of passing out, but all the work on the city had given him tan skin, muscles, and some semblance of athleticism. He scanned the scene in front of him, and found his culprits. Four brigands were currently at work trashing a fruit stand with their axes. Frightened townsfolk were running out of their way and hiding in alleyways while the old man who had been running the stand was curled up against a wall watching in horror as they ripped up his day's work.

"Leave now and I just might let you live!" he shouted, shocked at the anger and authority in his voice.

One them looked at him and proceeded to throw a watermelon at his head. Pelleas dodged it easily and took that as a "bring it on." He stepped forward and pulled his Carreau tome from a pocket in pants. He didn't like the looks of the book; it was almost empty and maybe had ten pages left.

Pelleas finished muttering the incantation and pointed at the group of bandits. A smoky, purplish ball rose above his head, and then shot into the ground. Then three cloudy spheres surrounded the criminals and converged in on each other. Three of the bandits managed to escape unscathed, but the other two were hit.

Pelleas grimaced at the scene. He had not made a clean hit, and the bandits who were hit had part of their body missing, blackish muck dripping from the wound. They ran around screaming, and one promptly fell into a large pile of the goo, which was the missing part of his body. Pelleas had to turn away. He had forgotten just how disgusting the effects of dark magic were.

He cast another spell at one of the bandits rushing towards him. This time it hit dead on and the bandit was turned into a pile of sludge. One bandit stood facing him, vomit dripping from his mouth from when he puked at the sight of his disintegrated friends. Pelleas had lost sight of the other unhurt brigand, and was starting his spell when he heard somebody tell him to watch out. He started to turn when he felt a white hot flash go down his back.

Black spots appeared in front of his eyes, but all he was aware of was the pain. There was a surprised grunt behind him, and a heavy body fell nearby. His entire body was drenched in some sort of thick heavy liquid. A gasp escaped him as another wave of pain wracked his whole body. He saw somebody leap over him and swing something shiny, and then everything went black.


The sun shone down on the deck of the wooden ship, and the wood was therefore as hot as a sword being forged. A strong, cool sea breeze blew in from the open sea on the horizon, and the large man's blue hair rippled in the wind. He stood at the railing, trying not to look back, as he knew he would jump overboard and go swimming back to the ones he loved. But there was no going back. The ship had left.

The ones he loved. Ike winced, struck by a wave of conflicting emotions. It was true that he wanted to explore but he was finding that now that he had left, he wanted his family back even more. The Greil Mercenaries would disband without his leadership. His men simply had too many different aspirations to stay together. Shinon and Gatrie would go after fame and glory somewhere, and he knew Rolf would follow them. That kid loved Shinon way too much to leave him. Mia was already somewhere in Daein, and Boyd had vanished two days ago after Ike said he was leaving. Mist, Titania, and Oscar would join the Royal Knights; they had friends there who would welcome them. That left Soren.

Ike's heart skipped a beat. Soren. He still didn't know what to think of his cold, bitter tactician. Except that he was no longer just his tactician. No longer just his friend either. Somewhere along the way Soren had stolen a part of his heart, which he couldn't understand either. It wasn't something he knew could happen. But Soren didn't have all of his heart. A certain Queen of Crimea had also taken his heart.

He shook his head. He had wronged Elincia so much that he was ashamed and embarrassed. It was something that was hard to do, and he knew that if Mist was here and knew what he had done, she would slap him. A lack of love had nothing to do with him leaving her; it was just that he was scared. Scared of his emotions, scared of the commitment, and most of all, scared of being an uppity noble. And it was too complicated; he liked his simple life, and he wanted to keep. But he should've let Soren come with him.

Soren would be destroyed. And Ike did not like the idea of Soren's newly found heart being broken. He would go back to being bitter, cruel, unfair, and goddess knew what else; only he would be ten times worse. But worst of all, he would be alone, with no one to rely on anymore. And Ike felt horrible, like somebody as evil as Ashnard, or worst yet, Sephiran.

The only thing that kept him from jumping ship right now and going back right now was one fact. He had decided that if he didn't die, if he could come back, he would. But not until he had made up his mind. Ike had finally come to terms with his feelings, and realized what exactly they were telling him. And they were telling him that he was in love with to completely different people, and that he had no idea who to choose.

These foreign lands hopefully had some sort of answer for him. He had no idea how they could, he just hoped that they did. And his first stop was Hatari. The journey would take three months the captain told him, and they would be circumnavigating almost the entire known continent of Tellius. With no break for another two months at the least. The idea was preposterous. For all he knew, he was the only passenger on the ship, but he was hoping that there would at least somebody that he could pass his time with.

Against all his willpower, Ike looked back. The town was completely out of sight, only a brown smudge of the green landscape of Crimea. He looked at the hills rising up behind the port town, but he couldn't make out anything or anyone. As he turned around, the sun glinted off of something, creating a brief flare. But he didn't see it. The sea was spread out before him, and so was his future.


The sun was setting across Daein, painting the early summer landscape in vibrant colors such as red, orange and yellow. The countryside was slowly starting to heal after the various battles fought on its soil during the past year. The trees were gently swaying in the evening breeze while the crickets chirped in the green grass. Everything was full of life and lazily content. That was to say almost everything. Atop a small cliff overlooking a river, a man and his wyvern perched staring out into space. They seemed to suck away all the happiness of the evening, like a black hole. The wyvern's scales were a dark navy blue, which matched the man's armor. He stood at the edge of the cliff, forlornly looking out at the river and the lands beyond with his one, sad, defeated eye.

Haar sighed. There was still one more delivery to make before the end of the day, yet apparently his deadline was already shot. He looked back at his wyvern, Celica, weighted down with the heavy cargo that he had to bring to the vain aristocracy of Nebula. The lord and his lady were always requesting gold ornaments and the like, usually from places clear across the country like Palmeni or Marado.

Celica snorted behind him, urging him to hurry up and get them over to Nebula before the day's end. But Haar no longer had the drive that he once had. He had once been able to fly across the continent with his cargo in less than a fortnight, swooping from manor to manor in the blink of an eye.

But that had been when another rider and her wyvern had flown with him. They had been two gods, ruling the skies whether it had be in the heat of battle or the thrill of the race against time. They had fit together like two cogs, connected in every possible way. Inseparable.

But Jill would never talk to him again, much less fly with him. And this saddened him more than he ever thought possible. He couldn't find the will to try anymore now that he had no one.

First he lost his home country, moving to a desolate land of heavy winters. Then he lost Shiharam, his one true friend and his mentor. And now Jill. His world. His purpose.

And now he found that he had lost his will to make a life for himself.

A brief clearing of someone's throat behind him shook him out of his trance. He turned around and saw a woman clad in white armor seated upon a tan horse. The hair upon her head was the color of the blazing orange sun.

He inclined his head and said, "Lady Nox."

"Haar!" a coy smile crossing her face, "I believe we know each other well enough to not be using such formalities!"

Haar grinned in despite of himself, remembering a certain night after delivering a package to the Nox Estate.

"It was one night. And I violated your station."

She snorted. "What station? The nobility has been stripped of almost all our power anyways. We are naught be rich peasants. Her Majesty has seen to that."

Haar winced at her words, but he was not about to defend Micaiah, the Queen of Daein. He knew her to have a good heart and intentions, but she was not fit to be queen. She was not politically savvy like the Apostle or Queen Elincia, even if she had more steel in her than they did. A comfortable silence fell between them, the noblewoman astride her horse and Haar leaning against Celica's midriff. They stayed quiet awhile, listening to the day dying, the birds softly chirping while settling down for the night, the frogs beginning to call out to another down on the riverbank.

She opened her mouth to speak, and then quickly snapped it shut.

"What is it Rebecka?" Haar asked softly.

She smiled, but it was a nervous one. "I was just wondering where you were going to stay for the night. Since it is almost dark and well…uhm…"

"I've been going so slowly today that I won't make it to Nebula until the night is past half spent?" he finished for her, a rueful expression carved into his face.

"Yeah. I know that I haven't known you for very long but…"

Barely over a month, Haar realized. And during that month they had maybe been together five times, including the encounter happening right now.

"…I thought that may be you could…" she continued, growing obviously more nervous, wringing both of her hands together and talking faster.

But, Haar admitted, they had a strong connection. And it had happened rather fast too. They had, well…

"…stay over for tonight. You know since you have no place to go. And we don't have to, you know, do what we did last time." she finished in a rush, her cheeks a bright red.

"Yeah. That would be nice. To stay over." Haar said, and surprisingly he came to discover that he was not reluctant at all. "Just be ready though, you can hear my snoring from miles away."

Rebecka snickered. "Haha. Yeah, I remember."

An awkward silence fell over them as they both recalled that night. Haar decided that it would be best to not repeat that scenario. At least not until they knew each other better.

Haar mounted his wyvern and said with a graceful sweep of his arm, "Shall we, milady?"

And with the both of them laughing, the wyvern rider and the noblewoman rode off in the direction opposite of the setting sun. And the whole time while he was with her, Haar didn't think of Jill once.


A squat stone building sat sunken into the surrounding sands. Although it was no more than one story, it stretched out extremely far, the inside a labyrinth of conjoining rooms. One of these rooms overlooked the rest of the small island. Almost no trees grew on the island, and the majority was filled with sand dunes. A small village, filled more stone buildings, stood not far off from the expansive house situated in the center of the island. Some farmland surrounded these dwellings, but produced little crop. The sun was harsh, and everything on the land was burnt to a crisp.

A man with brown hair stood in a room overlooking a strange, green sea. A shallow gold bowl was placed on the windowsill and it was filled with water that looked like it had been sitting there for days. The man waved his hand over the vessel; ripples mysteriously appeared for no apparent reason, and the water went from a dirty brown to a crisp blue. He leaned forward and spat out a command.

"Bearn! Come here."

A few minutes passed, and then a young man with aquamarine step forward into the room. "You called?" he said, his voice hesitant and tinged with an ounce of fear.

The brown haired man spun around and fixed his fierce gold eyes on his younger companion. "You should show more respect," he hissed "or else you may find yourself unable to show respect at all!"

"Please forgive Lord Nahtaivel."

The man snorted in contempt and turned to face the window again, his blue robes twirling as he did. "Have you heard from anybody yet?"

Bearn gulped. "No milord. Only Hesper's report from a week ago. I have yet to hear from the other two."

"Hmph. Well it doesn't matter. We have our agents infiltrated into every nation on that continent. I am not worried at all. The time to act will come soon."

"Uh…Lord Nahtaivel, that is not exactly true." Bearn paused, swallowing his fear, and then continued. "Our men in the Laguz countries were discovered and killed."

Nahtaivel clenched his fist and pounded it against the wall. He was about to turn and yell at Bearn when the shallow bowl in front produced a light ring, like that of a bell. The water once again turned clear, and man with greasy gray hair and a sneaky face appeared in the water. "Hesper." Nahtaivel said simply.

The man in the water sneered, and said "I have an update for Your Majesty. The boys among the sub-humans didn't make it."

"I already knew that you fool." Nahtaivel said, "And don't forget who you're talking to boy."

"Ah…your father. Forgive me for I had forgotten. But past that. I have the perfect person for our plan. He's rumored to be the smartest man in Tellius, and possibly one of the strongest sages they've ever seen. A superb tactician too, both in the battlefield and in the political world. He sounds good doesn't he?"

Nahtaivel didn't say anything for a moment, going over all the information and rolling it around in his head before asking, "Will this person want to do this?"

Hesper grinned wickedly. "He's also considered to be the coldest man on the continent. I think we won't have any problems. Am I done?"

"Go. I have no more need of you, but just be sure that you have this man, and those people wrapped around your finger." Nahtaivel dismissed him with a wave of his hand and the greasy man faded from the bowl. He once again looked out at his small island nation. There were at most ten thousand people who served him, and even then, less than half were part of his army. It was too small for him, and he yearned to be bigger, grander, and stronger. And for that he needed more land; so he had set his sights on the only other known continent.

Tellius.

He scowled. Those lucky mountain bastards. His grandfather had been alive during the Great Flood, and he had told Nahtaivel, as a young boy, how the seas raged and destroyed, wiping out civilization after civilization. Then he told him that Tellius, the land of the stupid ignorant mountain people had survived completely unscathed. His grandfather had died almost seventy years ago, one of the oldest fish in the sea. And after he did the fish-men had him and his people to fend for themselves. Except for his father. His father had with him and his mother until his dying day, and he loved him for it.

A bead of sweat slowly rolled off his forehead and fell onto his arm. It was getting way too hot. Another reason why he had to conquer more land. His people would be wiped out before the century was over; the heat caused all the crops to die and the big fish to swim to deeper, cooler waters that his fisherman couldn't get too. In moments he was drenched in sweat. Muttering something in the ancient language, he closed his hand and then opened it above his head. A steady, ice cold mist fell from his palm, cooling him off. He let it fall until he cooled off and then made a fist, making the mist stop.

Nahtaivel turned around and caught Bearn looking longingly at his hand. He glared at him and shouted "Get lost you insolent boy! Leave me in peace!" An evil grin slowly spread across his face, making him look like some sort of demon. He needed it to be quiet; he had an invasion to plan.


I hope you liked it! Please review, and tell me if I should keep this idea going. Thanks!