"Now, Eirika!"

"Raargh!"

Eirika thrust out her palm. The straw figure before her was engulfed by a swirling black fog that dissipated with a quiet bang once she closed her fist. Eirika sighed and closed the book in her other hand. Gripping the reins of her horse, she turned to the little girl clinging to her waist.

"So, how was that?"

They were in the fields outside the castle barracks. While the barracks had training rooms for infantry and armoured soldiers to train, it also had large fields to better accommodate cavaliers and fliers, with rows upon rows of training dummies to practice with.

"It was great! You're really good at this, Eirika!" The green haired girl nodded repeatedly.

Eirika beamed. "Only because I have a great teacher."

"O - oh. That's not true..." Nino's cheeks flushed. "You were already really good."

"You think so?" Eirika chewed her lip and set the horse into a light trot.

"Are you alright?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes. I'm fine." She flashed another smile at Nino over her shoulder. "I was just thinking about the person who taught me the basics, back home."

"Oh...who was it? Ah! If you don't mind me asking!" she added, horrified.

The blue haired girl laughed. "It's quite alright. It was an old friend of mine who was learning magic himself. When we weren't studying history or politics or with my brother...well, he'd show me whatever he'd practised that day and make me try it too." She chuckled to herself. "I think he liked teaching magic; it was the one thing he completely eclipsed my brother and I in..." she sighed.

"Did he use dark magic too?"

"Yes."

"Hmm..."

"Is everything okay?" Eirika stopped the horse.

"It's fine. It's just...in my world, dark magic is dangerous. Only a few people can use it without losing their minds. My uncle lost all his brothers to it, you know?"

"I'm sorry to hear that," Eirika stroked Nino's hair. "I've heard that from someone else too. I suppose Magvel was just lucky, huh?" She froze, then put her hand down. "I'm so sorry!"

"Oh! It's not your fault!" Nino balled up her hands and held them to her chest. "I'm happy you can use dark magic safely, honest!"

"Thanks, Nino." The girls smiled at one another for a while before Eirika set the horse walking again.

A few minutes later.

"Hey...Eirika?"

"Yes?"

"You know the friend who taught you magic?"

"Yes?"

"Was it...was it Lyon?"

Eirika stiffened. Nino flinched from the sensation in her arms. "I'm sorry!" she yelped.

"Don't be," came the quiet reply. "And yes. Yes it was."

The atmosphere had been tense among the Magvellians a few days ago and it was only through eavesdropping that Nino had learned why.

The Summoner had called forth a new "Hero."

However, this "Hero" wasn't a force for good as most of the Order was. Instead it was the Crown Prince Lyon, wielder of dark magic and the cause of the war Eirika had fought in before coming to Zenith. Not only that, Lyon had put up a fight before joining their ranks. Now while this was rare, it wasn't unusual; a few other Heroes had fought back against the Summoner's Divine Weapon - including Ursula from her own world - but from what she gathered, Lyon had been his warmongering self on the battlefield. Yet when she'd met him in the barracks yesterday...

Well...he didn't look at all how she'd imagined.

She'd also heard that Eirika had taken his arrival worse than anyone else from her world, having locked herself in her quarters for days on end.

"I'm sorry..." she said again.

"It's alright, I promise."

"Um...he seemed nice."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He was really polite and..." she paused.

"Yes?"

"He...he didn't look like someone who'd start a war..." Nino looked down.

Eirika sighed, but kept the horse moving. "He really isn't," she began. "Lyon...was so gentle - the gentlest person I knew."

Nino nodded, her forehead brushing her friend's back.

"My brother and I would often go to Grado to study with him, and we would always have so much fun!" she chuckled. "And when we went home, we'd always count the days until our next visit..." she trailed off.

Another nod.

"He..." Eirika swallowed. "He was my best friend."

Nino was still.

"And then the war came. I know he did what he did because he wanted to help his people, but he...in my time, Lyon is dead."

Nino sat up straight with a gasp, "I didn't know that, I'm so sorry!"

"I told you, it's fine!" Eirika smiled over her shoulder. "But yes, he's dead in my time, and I thought that was that."

"But...doesn't that mean this Lyon comes from your past?"

Eirika looked down for a moment. "No...I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"This Lyon...still remembers the war, so...I don't know. He died in my world, but perhaps there are other Magvels out there - and Elibes, maybe even other Zeniths - where things happened differently, and in one of those worlds he survived."

"That's good...isn't it?"

Another sad smile and another sigh before Eirika spurred the horse. "I wish it were that simple."

"Why?"

Eirika took a deep breath. "In my world, Lyon started the war because he was possessed. At first the true Lyon surfaced from time to time, but then the monster controlling him used that to its advantage; it kept pretending to be him to confuse and trick us."

"Oh..." Nino was starting to understand.

"It would pretend to be Lyon and ask for help, saying he could break free of the Demon King's control if I could just give him what he wanted...and when I did, it laughed in my face and destroyed what was, at the time, our best chance of ending the war. To make matters worse," Eirika chuckled, but the sound chilled Nino to the core. "At that time Lyon was already dead. When we defeated the Demon King, he only had enough time to say he was sorry before..." she swallowed.

"Eirika..."

"It's fine," she said again, wiping her eyes. "But that's why I'm scared. This Lyon remembers the war and says he's sorry for everything he's done, but how can I know it's really him? What if it's another act and he tricks us again?"

"But...you know better this time, right?"

"I'm not so sure." she looked at her horse's neck. "The demon could be so convincing...I can't trust myself to tell the difference anymore."

"But you wanna trust him, right?"

"Of course I do," another faint smile. "But I don't want to lose anything or anyone because I was blind to the truth again, especially now that I have so many new friends to protect." Another pat on the head.

"But there are so many of us now...the Order has so many powerful warriors and mages and priests, surely they could stop him if he turned evil again?"

"I..." a pause. "Nino...what are you saying?"

"What if he really has changed? You said yourself that this Lyon could come from a world where things happened differently. What if this Lyon really is Lyon? You want your friend back, don't you?"

"Well...yes..."

"So it's worth trying, right?"

"But what if - "

"You need to trust people more!" Nino didn't know why she was shouting. "If I didn't trust my enemies, Jaffar and I would be dead right now because my mother betrayed us and tried to kill me!" She heaved while Eirika just blinked at her.

"Nino..."

The little girl's eyes went wide. "I'm sorry," she felt her face heat up. "I didn't say anything. Please forget I said that?"

"What was that about your mother?"

"Please, it's nothing!"

"No, you can't just - " Eirika sighed and took a deep breath. I'll just ask her about it later. "Hmm. You have a point."

"I do?"

"Yes." Eirika smiled and nodded to herself. "I'm scared, but you would have been scared as well, weren't you?"

"...yeah..."

"Well, if you say I should talk to him, I will."

"Really?"

"Yep!" she beamed. "Once we're done here, I'll go talk to him. Will you come with me?"

"Me?! I mean...sure!"

The blue haired woman laughed. "Thanks, sweetie." She looked ahead. "Now, why don't I try using this tome at a gallop next time?"

Nino hugged her tight with a yelp. "Please, don't!"

Another laugh.