I'll be honest, this chapter went through a few revisions, and even with the last result I'm not entirely happy with it. Oh well, I suppose it all comes down to what you guys think of it. Please tell me what you think of it.

Chapter 2: The Last Taguel

The warren was burning. Panne's ears were filled with the screams and shouts of the other taguel who were desperate to get out of their burrows. She tried to shut them out, to focus on just one thing, but she could not. There were just too many, and she could swear that it was starting to drive her mad.

She was running out of the clearing where the warren was now burning, and with her she was dragging her younger brother Bolte, who was no older than 10. She could hear his voice calling out to her, asking why everything was burning to the ground. Panne could not respond, and only focused on making sure that she and her brother got out safely.

The forest was filled with smoke, and even some of the trees were on fire. Here, the screams were lessened, but instead, a whole new form of horror took it's place. Surrounding them now was the sound of horses' hooves stamping at the ground, battle cries that could curdle blood, and war horns that made her sensitive ears hurt. Still, she pressed on. Her mind had only one goal: find safety.

But safety never came. A well placed arrow into her thigh made sure of that.

With a cry of pain, she collapsed to the ground, sending Bolte down along with her. Her eyes were filled with tears as she tried to sit up, but before she could, she was forced down to the ground by a large boot. She then heard a harsh voice say, "Hmph. Didn't your parents ever tell you that running away from home was bad?", it laughed, "I suppose they wouldn't, considering the fact that you're all a bunch of beasts."

Panne tried to fight back, but the man was too strong. She could feel his boot crushing her ribs, and it wasn't going to be letting up until she was dead. But then, she heard a second, heavily reverberated voice say, "Get away from my sister!", before the man was tackled off of her.

Looking to her side, Panne saw her little brother slashing and clawing at the man, no doubt killing him. But as he did this, he didn't notice that a soldier was coming up behind him. Panne wanted to cry out, to warn Bolte that he was going to be killed, but she couldn't. The man had made it virtually impossible for her to breathe, let alone shout. So, as she saw the soldier plunge his sword into her little brother, she slipped into unconsciousness, and knew no more.

Panne awoke with a start, and with tears in her eyes. Her heart was beating at a mile a minute, and it wasn't slowing down anytime soon. She took deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down, but the exercise soon proved to be pointless. So, she instead let out a loud yell, and considering the fact that she was still in her beast form, it was a extremely loud yell.

Richard awoke with a start upon hearing the aforementioned yell, as well nearly everyone else in the camp. He got out of the bed and changed from his nightshirt into his favorite cloak, before leaving the tent and heading outside. And by the looks of it, everyone else was doing the same thing, albeit a little more bleary-eyed than him. Lissa in particular seemed upset by the noise and said, "C'mon, can't a girl get some sleep? I need my fifteen hours."

Suddenly, Richard felt that everyone waking up earlier than usual wasn't really that much of a bad thing. Still, the source was to be investigated, and if he were to make an educated guess, he'd say that it had something to do with one of their newest members. So, he silently made his way to Panne's tent before announcing, "Hello, Panne? It's me, Richard. May I come in?"

There was silence for a while, but after a moment, a bright light flashed inside the tent and she responded with a, "You may.", before opening the flap and allowing him entrance.

Richard stepped inside and said, "Alright, I know you probably don't want me to hang around here for too long, so I'm just going to ask: Were you the one who made that noise a few minutes ago."

"Yes.", she said flatly.

"...Well, alright then.", Richard said. That was way easier than he thought it would be. But he still had another question, so he asked, "So... what was it you were screaming about?"

"Nothing.", she replied, "It's something I do every morning."

"...Every morning?", Richard asked, not sure if she was being totally serious, or if she was trying to hide something. Her tone was so impassive, it seemed as though it could've been one or the other.

"Yes.", she said, straight faced.

Richard didn't know what to say next. He was so caught off guard by this whole conversation that he couldn't even think straight for a moment. But when he could he said, "Well then... would you mind... not doing that? I think the others might not appreciate being woken up before dawn."

"I'll try not to.", She said once more in her impassive tone.

Richard just nodded and said, "Well... okay then. But considering the fact that we're all up, I'm advising Chrom to move out so that we can set up camp faster when we reach our destination. You might want to leave your tent."

Panne looked confused for a moment before Richard explained, "We pack with magic. It makes things easier."

"Oh.", she said, now understanding. So, the humans used magic to do the work for them? Rather typical of them. The taguel used their own strength for their labors. But, she supposed that while she was here, she would adhere to their methods, even if she found them to be objectionable. So, she followed Richard outside, and before her eyes, the tent that she had taken shelter in the night before had started to fold by itself.

Richard then picked up the tent and handed it to Panne, saying, "When we unpack, I'll help show you around the camp."

Panne muttered a quick thanks before asking, "So, do I have to carry this all the way to our destination?"

"Huh?", Richard asked, before realizing what she meant, "Oh, dear. You were supposed to be issued a few things when you got here, I completely forgot. Hold on, I'll get you them."

And with that, Richard quickly took off to get Panne the supplies she would need, leaving her behind with nothing but her thoughts and a folded up tent. So, she sat down on the ground and waited for Richard to return, which would probably be a while. While she waited, she noticed that a few eyes were glancing at her, and mumblings were being exchanged between the soldiers. They thought she couldn't hear them, but she could, and she didn't like what they were saying one bit. "Is that the new girl?", one would ask, to which another would say, "Yeah, the taguel. I thought they went extinct.", and another would add, "Jeez, she looks kinda freaky with those ears..."

Of course, she had heard this all before. When she was younger she had to work odd jobs in multiple villages around the countryside in order to get actual food. She would always hear the comments, the jeers, the whispers of how her race no longer existed. It annoyed and angered her to no end. She wished that she could silence those whispers... but no... they were her allies now. And besides, if she did act on those base desires, every single muttering about how the taguel were no better than beasts would have been true.

After a while, Richard returned with a bag and handed it to her. After quickly putting the tent into the bag, she asked, "When do we leave?"

"Soon.", Richard replied, "I bumped into Chrom while I was looking for a bag and I told him that we should get moving while everyone is up."

"I take it that he agreed then.", she asked.

"Yes, he did.", Richard said, "Now let's get over to the convoy before they leave without us."

Panne nodded and shouldered her pack, and followed Richard to the convoy.

Later

It was evening, and everyone was now starting to wind down. The tents had all been unpacked and set up, as were the barracks and mess hall, and everyone was relaxing in their own ways. Some enjoyed reading. Others loved to beat the crap out of each other in sparring matches. Richard however, loved to look over his strategies and see how they would work in battle. He would sit in his chair for hours on end reading over ancient battle strategies and trying to apply them to the current day. After all, a tactician's work is never done.

Yet today was different. Normally, he would be doing those things, but instead he was heading over to Panne's tent to help show her around the camp. After all, he had promised, and besides, he really did want to show her around. He didn't know why that was the case, but it didn't matter to him much.

Once again, he found himself outside of her tent, and when he reached it, he called out, "Are you in there, Panne?"

"I am.", she said, before adding, "Why are you here, man-spawn?"

If Richard had to be honest, the words 'man-spawn' stung him just a little bit. Still, it didn't deter him, and he said, "Well, remember when I said earlier today that I was going to show you around? Well, I was hoping that we could do that."

There was silence from inside the tent, which Richard took to mean as a bad sign. But thankfully his fears were unfounded, as she left her tent and said, "Well, alright then. I suppose if I'm going to be living with the Shepards for a while, I may as well learn about how you live."

Richard smiled, "Alright then. I'll give you the grand tour then.", he pointed over to two large stone buildings, "Those over there are the barracks and mess hall. We shrink them down and put them in the convoy whenever we start traveling."

Panne was not impressed, "Why don't you just eat in the open, or use tents for barracks?"

Richard shrugged, "Well, lots of reasons, really. Shelter from weather, you can't make ovens in a tent, easy storage..."

Panne shook her head, "I find it pointless."

An awkward silence filled the air between them for a while before Richard cleared his throat and said, "Well then... let's go inside the barracks."

With that, Richard went toward the larger of the two stone buildings. Without anything else to do, Panne decided to accompany the tactician into the barracks, and upon entering, she was greeted with a large storage area.

"This is the barracks.", Richard said with a small smile, "This is where we relax and just talk to each other during our off time."

"And where you keep all your things, I see.", she said.

"More or less.", Richard responded, "We keep all our food and drink here, and we also keep our weapons here as well. But we all carry our clothes and things like that in our rucksacks."

"I see.", she said as she looked over the barracks. It was essentially a warehouse filled to the brim with weapons, food, bedrolls, and all things required for day to day existence in an army. However, despite all the boxes of junk and weaponry, it actually had a sort of homey, lived in feel to it. In an alcove near the entrance there was a round table, and a few other pieces of furniture. It was bare, but it felt like many friendships could and have been made there. And even away from that alcove, there were tables and chairs set up all over the place, as well as a stove for making tea and keeping warm. All in all, it seemed to be a nice place to be when you weren't trying to not get killed.

After acquainting herself with the general layout of the barracks, Richard then led her outside and into the next building, the mess hall. Inside, Richard proclaimed, "This is the mess hall. We... well, we eat here. And that's that really."

Panne looked at Richard with a slightly amused glint in her eyes, and said, "So, you're grand tour of the mess hall only involves you telling me about the rather easy to decipher purpose of a mess hall?"

Richard chuckled awkwardly and said, "Well, what's there to tell about a mess hall?"

Panne thought about it for a moment before saying, "A fair point."

"Well actually, there is more.", Richard said, before motioning Panne to follow him. She complied, and after a few moments of walking, they arrived in a kitchen. Richard then started to explain, "We all pull our weight cooking, so every once in a while you'll be tasked with taking over kitchen duty. You can make whatever you want. So long as it's edible, we won't complain."

"I see.", Panne said as she looked around the room. Evidently, somebody was already cooking something, and it didn't really smell all that good. It didn't take long for her to deduce that it was coming from a nearby oven, and when she got closer, she covered her nose in disgust and said, "I hope that isn't dinner... it smells of burnt rhubarb and fiddleheads..."

"Oh no!", came a voice from the door of the kitchen. At this cry Richard and Panne turned to the door to see a woman with long brown hair and light pink armor burst in and run toward the oven, quickly putting on mitts, and taking out the contents, which was now a black, charred mess. The woman, upon realizing this, cried out, "No! I messed it up again!"

Panne was taken aback by this display, as she really had no idea what was going on. Richard however, cautiously took a few steps toward the woman and said, "Umm... is everything okay, Sumia?"

"No...", she said sadly, "It was my turn to cook today, so I thought that while I was doing that, I would make Chrom my mother's rhubarb-and-fiddlehead pie... but it burnt... again."

"Err... how many times have you tried?", Richard asked.

Sumia looked down ashamed and said, "...Today was the fourteenth time... I can never get it right..."

At this point, Panne spoke up, "I would suggest that you keep a closer eye on it then. After all, it seems you weren't here for some time."

Sumia turned her attention to Panne and said, "Well... I guess looking after my pegasus while I'm cooking isn't that good of an idea..."

"Well, that would explain why whenever you've been cooking, the food was just slightly... black.", Richard said

Sumia sighed, "I suppose I haven't exactly been paying attention when I'm cooking. I guess I'm just not good at waiting."

"I'm sure that you'll do it right next time, Sumia.", Richard reassured.

After sighing once more, Sumia smiled slightly and said, "Thank you, Richard.", she then turned over to Panne, "And thank you for your advice... ermm... I'm sorry, I don't know your name."

"Panne. I only joined last night.", Panne said, unsurprised that the pegasus knight hadn't heard of her.

"Oh!", Sumia said in realization, "I heard about you. You're the taguel, right?"

Panne nodded, "That is correct."

Sumia looked in awe, "Wow... I've only ever heard of taguel in fairy tails..."

"Oh yes...", Panne said, "The man-spawn's bedtime stories, where the taguel would be used terrorize children into behaving."

Richard could tell this was going to go badly, so he made a silencing motion across his throat, indicating that Sumia should stop with that particular topic. But even without this, she knew that she had struck a nerve with she had said, and immediately backtracked, saying, "A-Anyway, I was always fascinated by taguel. Being able to turn into an animal must be amazing.", she sighed wistfully, "Being able to frolic in the forest with all the other animals must be lovely."

"Taguel do not frolic.", Panne said flatly.

Sumia could tell that she was just not having any luck with Panne, so she just decided to drop the matter altogether, saying, "I... think I'm going to check on dinner..."

"Yes, that might be for the best.", Panne agreed.

As Sumia threw away the pie and went to check on dinner, Richard cleared his throat awkwardly and said, "Well... at least you're introducing yourself to others."

Panne folded her arms, "But it seems that the others have no idea what to make of me. It's just as well. I am not here to make friends."

"That may be true.", Richard admitted, "But you'll need allies. You can't just expect to charge headfirst into the front lines without backup. You'll get yourself killed like that."

"So what do you suggest?", Panne asked, as she folded her arms.

"Just... talk to people.", Richard said, "And if you see them alone, pair up with them on the battlefield. We find that to be a great way to earn people's trust and friendship."

Panne thought about it for a moment before saying, "Alright... I suppose that that's the least I can do..."

Richard smiled, "That's good. At the very least you'll be trying."

Panne grunted before saying, "Thank you for showing me around. But right now I want to go back to my tent and wait for dinner, if that's permissible?"

"Sure, go right ahead.", Richard said, still smiling amiably, "There's a dinner bell that rings when we're ready to eat. You can't miss it. I'll see you then."

Panne nodded in thanks and left the mess hall for her tent, leaving Richard alone with his thoughts.

About an hour later

A loud bell rang, making Panne's ears twinge in slight pain. If she were to make a guess as to what that was, it was more than likely the dinner bell that Richard had spoken about earlier. At first, she considered not going to dinner, but eventually her growling stomach forced her to go, much to her chagrin. She left her tent and quickly joined the small flood of people entering the mess hall, and thankfully wasn't noticed. As a line formed at the counter, Panne went to the back to avoid getting noticed. Silently, she picked up all the vegetables that she could, and when she passed Sumia, who was behind the counter, she gave her a silent nod of acknowledgment. Sumia returned the greeting with a small smile, but other than that, no exchange was given.

When she finished getting her food, she went over to the large wooden tables, where all the others sat, and either ate, or chatted up a storm. Panne however, wished to instead sit at one of the more desolate end of one of the tables. She preferred to eat in silence, rather than with others.

Meanwhile, Richard was discussing with both Chrom and Frederick his new battle strategies, when he noticed that Panne was by herself. Seeing her there made something go off in Richard. An empathetic feeling of sorts. He could never know what it was like for his entire race to be wiped out, but he knew what it was like to be an outsider. The first few days spent with Chrom's group were not the most comfortable, and he sat away from the others as well. But as time went on, he grew to trust the others more, and now here he was in the thick of conversation with the crown prince of Ylisse, and his most loyal butler-knight.

Still, the point remained that Panne was alone, and it might take a while for her to transition from being solitary to social. Yet considering her attitude, that transition might not even happen. So, Richard decided to take the initiative, and excused himself from his spot, and moved over to where she sat, sitting across from her. She didn't once look up from her meal. Richard wasn't sure if she noticed him or not, so he just said, "So... do you mind if I sit here?"

She looked up and said, "Would saying that I do change your mind?"

Richard raised an eyebrow, "So... do you?"

Panne sighed, "No, I suppose I don't."

Richard chuckled and said, "So, how has your day been?"

"You know that it's been nothing but meandering down a road and then wondering around camp.", she said as she munched on some lettuce.

"Well... other than that.", Richard said, hoping to gain a conversational foothold somewhere.

Panne sighed and said, "Alright, I suppose."

"Well, that's good.", Richard said with a small smile, "At least it wasn't a bad day."

Panne grunted and continued to eat. As she did, Richard couldn't help but get slightly dismayed by her attitude. After all, he didn't want her to feel lonely, but she was pretty much doing everything in her power to make a task as simple as that as hard as possible. He thought for a while about what to say, until he remembered an anecdote that not even the most stone faced of people could say wasn't funny. So, he said, "Would you like to hear a story?"

She didn't look up, but she did say, "I don't see why not."

"Okay.", Richard said before starting, "So, you know who Frederick is, right?"

"Of course.", she said, "He is the man-spawn who serves the exalt's kin, correct?"

"Yeah, that's right.", Richard said, "Well, a few days before you joined, he felt that the army's moral was going down, what the Risen, and the possibility of war on the horizon."

"Understandable.", she said, "Near anyone would feel overwhelmed by such things."

Richard chuckled, "Yes... but his methods weren't exactly what you would expect."

"What do you mean?", Panne asked, now slightly curious.

Richard was snickering now, "Well, his thought was that he should put up posters in all our tents. Posters of Chrom."

"I do not see anything wrong with that.", Panne said, wondering what Richard found so funny with that story.

"I didn't finish.", Richard said as laughter started to overcome up, "See, the poster was of Chrom... but he had nothing to cover himself, save for a sword and a scale."

Panne was speechless for a moment before she pieced it all together, "So... his servant made a poster of him... naked... and posted them all in the tents. Without his permission?"

"But that isn't the best part.", Richard said through his snickers, "When Chrom found out about the posters, he made an effort to take them all down before anyone saw. I'm not sure if anyone else saw them, but I did. When he came into my tent, he took down the poster, gave me a look, and said to me, 'You didn't see anything.'."

Panne tried to keep a stoic face, but the small smile and chuckle she had was betraying the fact that she enjoyed the story. But it's hilarity was solidified when Richard said, "And I know for a fact that Chrom didn't find all of the posters..."

By now, both Panne and Richard were laughing at the prince's misfortune. Of course, Panne didn't mean to laugh, but she couldn't help herself. It was just too funny!

When they finished laughing, they continued to eat, but the air was now much friendlier. However, Panne did have a question on her mind, and said, "May I ask you something?"

"Shoot.", Richard said before he placed some bear meat into his mouth.

Panne figured it would be best to be blunt, so she said, "Why are you doing all this?"

"What do you mean?", he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I mean, why are you talking to me.", she clarified, "I haven't exactly been what would be called social."

Richard didn't need to think about his answer, "Well, it just looked like you needed some company is all."

"Well... I suppose it has been something that I've lacked recently.", she admitted.

"See?", Richard said with a small smile, "We need to talk to people sometimes."

Panne didn't say anything and continued to eat. Of course, Richard didn't expect her to eat an entire head of lettuce in under a minute, before eating two carrots in less time. With that, she excused herself and went to her tent, leaving Richard looking slightly confused. He'd have to jot that down in the roster later...

Panne meanwhile, sat in her tent in silence. The man-spawn... why was he acting like this to her? Did he feel sorry for her? Or was it just genuine kindness? She didn't know, but she also really didn't care. Her body felt sore from all the walking from earlier that day, and her eyelids were starting to droop. So, she changed into her beast form, and went right to sleep, hoping not to have that dream again...

Okay, so some news. Don't expect an update in a while. I'm working on other stories as well, so for right now, this is something of a side project. Now that we got that out of the way, please, leave reviews, and suggestions. Constructive criticism is welcome, and trolls will be starved. So, I hope you enjoyed.