A/N: Well, I believe I'm ready to put up chapter two for you folks now. Oh, and I think it's good if I point out one thing (this was prompted by a review) that has happened in the eight years between stories: If you recall from the epilogue of Shadow Dragon, the Macedonians almost unanimously wanted Minerva to become queen, but she chose not to. Well, in the eight years since VL was finished, Minerva was pressured into taking the position of queen on the condition that she be allowed to come and go as she pleased and remain more or less unbound by the obligatory restrictions set on her, and also that she remain commander of the Whitewings separately. Bit of a power exertion, but she

It'll come up later, but I felt it would help to present that event now rather than wait until it's a huge surprise. Call it a preemptive measure, call it bad writing, I call it necessary.

Anyways, here we go.

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Chapter Two: Normal? Not in Altea…

Even though the young heir of the Nara considered the topic of normalcy, oddly enough, no family in Altea was truly normal. Almost all Altean families had some strange secret or quirk about them. In fact, in the entire continent, most families had odd machinations about them.

Take the princess of Archanea herself, Princess Nyna. Her family, the royal family of Archanea, was to be executed in front of the people as a show of power. The commander of Grust's Sable Order, General Camus, rescued her from her execution and escorted her out of harm's way to Aurelis. Nyna had fallen in love with Camus. However, when next she saw him, in the Battle of the Sable in Grust, he refused to join Marth's army, preferring instead to remain a knight of his country. "What sort of knight," he had explained, "abandons his kingdom— his king!— now, when they need him the most?" Abel himself had, shortly afterwards, caught Camus off guard, slaying him and taking Gradivus, the regalia lance of Archanea, as his spoils.

Rumor had it that the man Abel had killed was not in fact Camus, but an impostor, one of Camus's knights, who, for his commander's sake had donned his armor and taken his lance in an effort to protect Camus. Of course, this was a rumor and was to be taken with a grain of salt as to its veracity. Princess Nyna dearly hoped this were true, but had already moved on. Her lover, it seemed, was not returning.

But that's neither here nor there. Alteans in particular seemed to suffer from strange and convoluted lives, especially when it came to romance. Abel and Tiki's marriage and family was a prime example, of course, and so was Lord Marth's. His parents, Cornelius and Liza, were both dead, murdered during the war, and, having no one else to turn to at the time, had chosen his older sister Elice to act as queen with him. Marth and Elice were not married, but, because Elice had more experience in Altean affairs than Lena of Macedon (Marth's wife), then Elice would act as the queen regnant with her younger brother. Lena remained privy to the dealings of her husband and sister-in-law, as did Elice's lover, Merric, but their political positions were closer to advisors than office.

As fellow mages, Merric and Lena shared a brotherly-sisterly bond. For the benefit of the reader, a summary of the strange family of House Altea: The blood brother and sister acted as if married (as king and queen), and their spouses acted as if brother and sister.

Confused yet? Don't worry, that's about as hairy as things get. For now anyway.

So when Zuni mused over how other, more "normal" families in Altea lived, one can realize that that is a self-defeating thought. Zuni had come to realize he had not met the entirety of Marth's family. He had only met Marth and Elice as yet. So he went to his parents to ask to visit. They agreed to take him. It would be an edifying experience. So they showed him the way to the castle, and entrusted him to find his way home (he was adept at navigation).

When Merric saw Zuni, he was immediately unnerved.

"Whoa," he yelped. "You're their kid??"

Zuni took offense at that. "I am. Were you expecting something else?"

Merric had already had a tangle with a dragon. It hadn't ended well for him. He had no intention of being killed a second time.

"No, I didn't mean it like that!" He took an involuntary several steps back, nonchalantly putting Elice between him and the rather imposing eight-year-old. "I meant your… eh… hair! Yes, your hair, why-why is it red?" Merric asked nervously.

Zuni felt like messing with this obviously frail individual. "Something about my hair displeases you, human?" he snarled in mock anger.

Merric yelped and hid behind Elice once again. She giggled.

"He's only playing, Merric," she said soothingly, as a mother would to her frightened child.

Merric peeked out from behind her. "H-h-he is?" Zuni was smiling innocently, though he made sure one fang showed in his grin.

"Yes, of course, Merric, I would never harm you," he said through his teeth. Merric whimpered.

"Oh, stop it, Merric," said Elice. "Go hug Zuni, he means you no harm."

Somehow, Merric was not convinced. Still, he slowly edged over to Zuni and knelt down to his level. Zuni hugged Merric and apologized for the scare.

Elice straightened up. "Okay, Zuni. Would you like to meet my sister-in-law, Lena?"

"Yes, please," said Zuni respectfully. Elice escorted Zuni to Lena's chambers, which she shared with Marth. Elice knocked.

"Lena?" she asked. No reply. "She must still be asl—"

Lena opened the door. Despite her marriage to the king of Altea, which obligated royal clothes, Lena still wore her sage robe she wore during the war. Something about it comforted her.

"Hello?" she said shyly. "What is it, Elice?" She looked down. "Oh, I didn't… see you there. Who are you?"

Zuni cleared his throat. "Zuni, son of Abel, of the Nara clan."

Lena smiled. "Oh! I didn't realize they'd… had a son. Pl-pleasure to meet you."

Zuni abruptly took Lena's hand in his. Lena yelped and tried to pull her hand away, but Zuni refused to let her.

"I can tell you're shy," he said soothingly, "but you've no reason to fear me. I know you want your hand back, but you cannot allow your fears to dominate you that way. If you allow them to do so, you will always be slave to your inhibitions. So now I ask you… do you still want your hand back after what I have said?"

Deep down, Lena felt comforted by Zuni's clear words and tone of voice. She stopped trying to pull her hand away, her arm relaxing completely. Those deep understanding eyes. To be in one so young as Zuni was almost chilling to Lena. He had his entire life ahead of him. Most people only became that perceptive in their later years, and by then have become so jaded to the atrocities of reality that they've forsaken others. But for the near-sacred perception of understanding in Zuni not to be tainted by the impurity of experience… It was comforting and startling at the same time.

Almost like letting a dragon hold your hand.

Lena swallowed, then said finally, "No. No I don't. Thank you, Zuni. I've had that problem my entire life, and you helped it in half a minute." She knelt so she was level with Zuni. "I see you doing great things in your life. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, or even in 40 years' time. But you will." She put her hands on Zuni's shoulders. "May Anri, hero and guardian of the country of Altea watch over you, and may peace live in your heart, Zuni, son of Abel. You have my blessing as Lena, daughter of none*." Lena leaned forward and kissed Zuni's forehead.

Zuni took this almost completely in stride. The speech, gestures, and blessing he didn't react to, but the kiss he did. He could tell it was not from affection. No, it was more of honor and respect. Somehow, he garnered a lot of that, a fact he prided himself on. It was a sin, he knew, to take excessive pride in something like that, but he couldn't help it. Everyone had their vice, the one sin they could not resist, and Zuni's was definitely pride.

His business in the castle done, Zuni bade farewell to Lena, Elice and Merric. He returned to his parents' shop fairly nearby, and went inside, but no one was manning the counter. He went behind and knocked in the bedroom door.

"Mother? Father?" he asked. "Is everything okay?"

Silence. Then…

"Come in, Zuni," came his mother's voice. Zuni opened the door and walked in, not expecting what to see. At the bed, his father, Abel, was sitting beside Tiki, his mother, who was lying down. But Tiki was holding two things in her arms.

Children things.

"Zuni," said Abel, "meet your sister and brother, Yuni and Zephyr."

"In that order," Tiki cheerfully added.

Zuni looked at the newborns. They seemed to stare back at him, with that innocent yet pervasive stare children had, the one that feels as if staring into your very soul.

"Yuni and Zephyr," said Zuni. "… pleased to meet you both."

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* Lena is a "daughter of none" because she does not know who her mother is, and her father abandoned her at a young age at a convent, at least as I see it. Feel free to disagree.

A/N: Yep! Twins! I'm sorry if Zuni seems too good at seeing people's fears, but I wanted to address Lena's shyness problem. Besides, in the game, Caeda is also overly adept at that, as exemplified in her conversation with General Lorenz in chapter 20.

And if you're wondering why she's not with Julian… Merric (a wizard) did it. I don't know, I come up with weird pairings like that. MarthLena, AbelTiki… at least MerricElice has canon evidence…

And you'll be happy to know I've decided for sure on where I want the story to go! I'm not going to give it away, but let's just say an old evil returns in the form of another dragon…

Ambiguity: The fiction writer's best friend! Yay!