"The Orobian Timeline, Part 3"
"You know," Sulaiman smiled at his fiancée when the two of them walked back in, "we should have this alone time more often, you and I. It's really nice, Yasmin."
"Yes, it is," Yasmin agreed. "I'm so glad Mother had me come to Poswa that one time when we were kids?"
"Even though you were nearly kidnapped by those brigands who broke into the castle?" Sulaiman asked. Yasmin nodded.
"Well, I wouldn't have met you if it didn't happen. And we wouldn't have found Ebony's egg afterwards. I love you so much, my Poswali prince."
"And I love you, my Cruibian Princess."
"Oh gods, really?" Janiya complained off screen.
"Janiya?" Yasmin asked. Suddenly, a smoke bomb went off behind them, and Howe, Janiya, and Lamia walked out of the smoke. "Oh, hi, everyone! Wait… where's Miss Tawni?"
She was answered by Tawni riding in on the back of chibi Jamal's chibi camel. "Mulțumesc pentru călătorie, Jamal {Thank you for the ride, Jamal}!"
"Oricând, Tawni {Anytime, Tawni}," Jamal said while Tawni flipped off the camel. She then rubbed the camel's chin, and fed him a few dates. The camel then licked her cheek, making the Romani giggle while Jamal bowed to the royals. "Prince Sulaiman, Princesses Janiya and Yasmin."
"Sorry guys, Romani business," Tawni said, pulling out her glasses while Jamal rode away. "Did we already get started?"
"Oh, right, we're finally finishing Orobia's history," Howe remembered. "And here I was thinking we were date watching."
"Much to our protests," Lamia and Janiya both said.
"Well, I do want to cover my great grandfather," Sulaiman said. "And I suppose you'll want to mention your grandfather, Captain?"
"You're damn right I do, so fire up that astral plate!" Howe said. Yasmin pulled out her astral plate, and charged it with her magic. "Oh, right, you have one, too."
"The two of us are much better at magic than our mother and especially Father," Yasmin said. "So, let's see here… ah, here's Sultan Gizeh's reign! Sulaiman?"
"Gladly," Sulaiman smiled.
Era 9: Sultan Gizeh and Nobunaga's Siege (4926-4952 ARI)
"Tragedy struck the Poswali royal family when an attempted coup d'état by a fallen house, Hosein, led to the deaths of not only then Sultan Thaamir, but Gizeh's older brothers, Asghar and Basheer. The kingdom was worried that having another spare-born Poswali noble in charge would condemn the nation. But Wisaam was smart and noble, almost peaceful. I say 'almost', because he had to deal with the civil war that happened because of the coup, and he DID destroy House Hosein's leadership, but he spared the non-combatants and children, instead having them exiled."
"You know, I think I know the name 'Hosein'," Howe said. "I ran into them once or twice."
"Perhaps," Sulaiman shrugged. "But during his rule officially started, he proved to be a just sultan to his people. He even willingly gave up Taryn to House Sayegh in exchange for the blessing to marry his bride, my great grandmother Hasnaa. One of his few critical errors, I've been unfortunately told again and again, was not killing his younger twin son, Aseel when the boy was born." The crystal showed two men, looking exactly alike, save for two differences: one wore red and white, and the other wore green and blue. "The one wearing white is my grandfather, Wisaam. But Great Uncle Aseel was cruel, ruthless, and scheming. Looking back at it, now, even his supposed joining of the Temple of Rerci and 'forsaking the throne' was a ruse. My own father was born during the end years of Gizeh's rule, since Wisaam married quite young, but was so in love with his wife."
"Well, that's the next era," Howe said. Showing a white-haired man with neater clothes than Howe's, a thin mustache, and a glass eyepatch over his teal left eye and nothing over his green right eye, he narrated, "Meanwhile, my own grandfather was born and raised in this time, Novan Howe making some waves. He left Giuss to serve Ustros as a privateer. At least, until he heard of Oshiro Nobunaga, the man who declared himself the Sun Dragon Emperor of Xuhua."
It then showed the massive Xuhua fleet. Howe said, "Xuhua, deciding Argelia shouldn't be the only empire in the world, began conquering several sea islands and launched a brutal campaign against Giuss. Cruibia and Upril suffered serious naval casualties against the Xuhuan fleet, the Cruibians because their naval capabilities were lackluster and Upril because they weren't used to fighting Xuhuan ninjas. The thing was, Ustros didn't care about Xuhua's conquest... at least, until the fleet bombarded one of their port towns." The astral plate showed a heavily damaged Ustrosi port town, and the Ustrosi in a panic. "Of course, it's their problem when Xuhua turned to them, but Giuss and countless other islands weren't important to Ustros. It disgusted my grandfather to the point that he went against Ustros' orders to begin his own campaign against Xuhua. Several victories from my grandfather with hit and run tactics and destructive ambushes got the Emperor's attention."
As if on cue, the image showed the Sun Dragon Emperor, dressed in his full battle garb and katana drawn, prepared to go to war. He chased Novan Howe's fleet, firing on them as they sailed. "He eventually found my grandfather's much smaller fleet, and demanded either Grandfather dueled him or surrender, less he destroy the fleet. But Nobunaga underestimated my grandfather's tactics… or lack of care for Xuhuan honor. To many Xuhuans, how my grandfather dealt with Nobunaga was crossing a line. But to some Orobians and many Giusseans, he was a war hero. But he lured Nobunaga into a trap, and destroyed most of his fleet, killing Nobunaga and ending his siege. They never once clashed weapons."
"…That was cold, even by my standards of warfare," Janiya grimaced, watching the destruction of the Xuhuan fleet.
"It was his only card he had to win. Can we get to the last two eras, now?"
Era 10: Aseel and Sizah's Terror (4953-4975 ARI)
"You know," Howe observed, "that's actually longer than I thought it would be."
"Oh, this is easily our longest part," Sulaiman said. "So long, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if someone thought it was enough material to make a prequel ala Blazing Sword." He then asked, "Hey, Miss Lyndis! That's your game, right?"
"Technically, only the first part! The rest is Eliwood and Hector!" a female voice called off-screen.
"Thank you!" Sulaiman smiled. Everyone looked at Sulaiman. "What, this is a semi-canon fanfiction. I can talk with real characters from the series, here."
"And Lyn's one of the most attractive lords of the series," Howe smirked, bumping his elbow into Sulaiman's arm. Janiya and Tawni both cleared their throats. "I said 'one of'."
"Thank you!" Tawni beamed.
"We should start with Cruibia," Janiya said. "You see, our royal grandparents had Father by this point, while Mother wasn't born until about 4957. Yes, there was a slight age gap between Mother and Father, and Aunt Etti was also born a bit older than this. Also, Uncle Kamyar was born in 4954."
"Meanwhile, my own grandfather finally was crowned Sultan after Great Grandfather Gizeh passed peacefully in his sleep," Sulaiman said. "Mother herself was born in 4958, a few years after Father in early 4954, her father from Ustros, and her mother from Cruibia. One of the first half-genies in Cruibia in centuries. Now, Great Uncle Aseel was a very patient man, waiting decades for my grandfather Wisaam to finally screw up so he could challenge Wisaam's claim to the throne and he waited until my father was coming of age to make his move since that was the start of his last opportunity to seize power, but he did not lack ambition, and he hated Cruibia's ideals of peace. He knew the legends of Rerci, and thought uniting Orobia under him would give him enough of an army to free Her, and make Her grant his ultimate wish: to become a god."
"Wait, that was his plan?" Janiya questioned. "Sheesh, he WAS a madman! No offense, Prince Sulaiman."
"None taken," Sulaiman said.
"Not to be rude, but wasn't it during this period that a coup happened in Rusnad?" Lamia asked. "Pharaoh Ammon's father, Rak-hor Misfud, overthrew the ruling house of Eldeskoy, and framed House Adio of the deed, and destroyed them… save for Queen Nakia, who was discovered alive."
"That's nice to know, Miss Lamia," Tawni smiled. "Too bad Rusnad wasn't really paid too much attention to, because Poswa could have helped her."
"I'm sure grandfather could have helped," Sulaiman frowned, "if he had paid attention. But people were paying so much attention to Cruibia and Poswa's growing tension that this was glossed over."
Janiya continued, "Anyway, it was several months before the war when our mothers met, became fast friends, and were joined by Etti, Queen Kalia, and Miss Adre in Cubes, one of Cruibia's poorest cities at the time. Together, they formed the Golden Valkyries, a group of treasure hunters and heroes for hire who traveled around Orobia, hoping to improve their livelihood and the lives of the people around them, with Minoo as their leader. They even met other now well-known people, like crossing paths with the Dighton clan of Romani."
"I think Father mentioned that," Tawni beamed, looking at the picture of the five women. "I know he met Duke Kamyar, saved his life once from manaketes who were willing to eat humans."
"Speaking of Uncle Kamyar," Yasmin frowned, "this was about near the time when the disastrous peace summit to settle tensions and border skirmishes between the Poswali and Cruibian royals occurred, and it was sabotaged by Prince Aseel. He poisoned Wisaam's wife, Sultana Sitaara, and placed enough evidence to frame our grandparents." She then looked away while Wisaam turned from his dead wife, and turned towards the horrified Madanis. The next scene showed a blood-splattered Darius, scowling as Wisaam walked away. "He killed our grandparents in front of Father, who he only spared because he didn't want a child's blood on his hands. Father swore bloody revenge as the young king of Cruibia, and eventually met Sulaiman's father, Mecca, on the battlefield. Neither could beat the other. He eventually drafted Uncle Kamyar, which horrified Mother. She and her friends agreed to convince Father to stop… but not before they accidentally stumbled onto Gargec's workshop, the Fire Emblem fragments, and one other thing."
"Sizah?" Howe asked, already knowing where this was going.
"Yep," all three Orobian "lords" answered, showing a young Minoo holding Sizah's sword, and the djinn popping out.
"Unfortunately," Janiya grimaced, "Sizah didn't take too kindly to Aunt Adre being a manakete and Sultana Farah being a genie who BEFRIENDED a manakete. Add in Aunt Etti and Mother's Cruibian blood and Queen Kalia's neutrality to the manakete-djinn debate Sizah tried to enforce, and, well… Sizah wanted the lot of them dead the minute she laid eyes on them." Sizah, seeing the group, lunged at them, the five barely dodging out of the way. "A fight ensued, but Mother and her friends easily defeated a weakened Sizah."
It showed Minoo having impaled Sizah with her own wyrmslayer. But Sizah, despite the rusty two-handed sword embedded in her chest and blood dripping down her chin, only grinned, headbutted a confused Minoo, and teleported out in a puff of smoke, vowing revenge. Minoo's group, not wanting to be there when Sizah returned, escaped.
"However, Sizah managed to get her wyrmslayer and escape before Mother realized the best ways to kill a bound genie were to either take her head off, use orichalcum, or destroy her bound object and THEN inflict a mortal wound, which led to Sizah getting her wyrmslayer repaired and reforged, and began pursuing them for over two years."
"That's one determined, genocidal, irredeemably evil bitch," Howe said.
"Language, Captain," Lamia chastised. "Meanwhile, Sultan Mecca, back when he was a prince, was constantly schemed against by his uncle." She looked at a young Mecca on a camel, leading several Poswali troops. "He was constantly sent into missions by his uncle, who had gotten so good at pretending to be his older twin brother, he actually managed to fool his nephew. He was tricked into going on suicide missions in Aseel's attempts to eliminate him as a rival to the throne… since Sultan Mecca was an only child. Aseel didn't even consider his own wife and children above sacrificing for his drive."
"If there was one positive came from this," Sulaiman said, "it was that Mother met Father, and Father, enraptured by mother's charm and magical prowess, fell head over heels at first sight." To emphasize this, Mecca in the astral plate's image found himself looking at Farah, who blinked in confusion as the Poswali crown prince (at the time) stared at her. "Mother eventually returned his feelings when he saved her from Sizah one time."
"Aw, how cute!" Yasmin beamed. "Mother and Father's first meeting wasn't that touching." As if to emphasize her point, she turned to the image and showed Darius and Minoo fighting with their swords, Darius surprised how quick and determined Minoo was for a young woman, blowing her hair out of her face before rushing at him again. "Fun fact, Mother actually defeated Father before Mecca came close. That's what earned Father's admiration for her."
"So what earned Queen Kalia her throne?" Howe asked the royals. "I know my grandfather was once more active during this war, having fought the Poswali armies and brigands from invading the north, but I'm a little sketchy on what happened that didn't involve him."
"Oh, there was a time where Aseel's War hit Ustros," Tawni interjected. "I heard from Duke Kamyar that Poswali troops once marched into Ustros during Aseel's coup d'état, and Queen Kalia healed the once critically wounded King Usman, who had been captured by the Poswali. Sultan Mecca personally apologized to Usman, and the two men realized Aseel had gone too far."
"That's quite brilliant, Miss Tawni," Sulaiman complimented her. "And very well-informed. You really know your history." Tawni blushed at the comment.
"Careful, Sulaiman," Yasmin giggled. "You might charm more ladies that way."
"You are WAY too open with your boyfriend," Janiya frowned.
"So, when did Mecca realize his father wasn't his father?" Howe questioned.
"When Great Uncle Aseel finally set up a mission that led Father into a dangerous trap he wouldn't have gotten out of without Mother's help," Sulaiman said, showing his father, his mother, a young Kamyar, a young Qiana, and the rest of Minoo's group in a death trap, every single one of them bleeding from a part of their bodies with snake bites, with Aseel sneering down at them as sand began to rise. Aseel then turned away, laughing at his now emotionally broken nephew, while his cousins sadly followed their father… save for one. A female cousin, who stayed behind, and reached down. Farah quickly teleported towards Mecca's cousin, and reappeared close enough to grab her hand, and be pulled out. From there, Farah's eyes went from their blue to bright white, and she channeled her magic while her necklace shined, resulting in the image whiting out.
"Typical villain ball, leaving the heroes to die instead of killing them when he had them at their mercy," Howe deadpanned. "Did he NOT consider shooting them himself?"
"To be fair," Yasmin said, "they were all poisoned with snake venom save for Sultana Farah during this moment, and they were in a trap where sand was beginning to rise to flood the room and smother them. He didn't know she was half-djinn until it was too late, and her genie side was better able to fight off the poison. It's how Prince Sulaiman survived being poisoned in the past."
"A part that I'd rather not think about," Sulaiman said. "Only large quantities of orichalcum or ironleaf can actually poison a djinn."
"Better than an earth manakete?"
"Aunt Adre is a sand dragon, not a swamp dragon."
"There's a difference?"
"Swamp dragons are the ones who are immune to poison, sand dragons aren't."
"…How does that work?"
"Anyway," Sulaiman interjected, looking proudly at his parents standing side-by-side as they stood against Aseel, "having discovered my great uncle's betrayal, my father tried to hurry home, only to find his father already dead, and Aseel having secrectly taken over the country. But there was one thing that my grandfather had that my great uncle didn't: a mole on the back of his left hand. He proved to the people he was Aseel, not Wisaam, and thus overthrew him." He then frowned. "But not without serious consequences." The astral plate showed his father's cousin, who risked her life to once help save him, dead on the floor, Mecca cradling her body. The other cousins were also dead, but Aseel escaped. "My father's family was destroyed. This was the scene King Darius walked into when he invaded Tanuhah, the first enemy to breach the great gates since House Nejem did."
As if on cue, the gates of Tanuhah came crashing open, and Darius walked in, murder in his eyes and so, but instead saw Mecca, a look of despair and rage on his face as he instead looked at the corpses of his cousin while his uncle fled. Mecca brushed past his would-be enemy, and headed after his uncle, borrowing a wyvern to do so.
"Sultan Mecca didn't even care for King Darius wanting to fight him?" Tawni gasped. "Wow… I wasn't expecting that."
"My father may have butted heads with my cousins at times, but he loved all of them," Sulaiman said. "They were the siblings my father never had. Watching his uncle, who had been a second father to him, not only betray and usurp his family without a second thought, but dispatch his cousins against him to die and even personally killing his favorite cousin in cold blood after she tried to talk Aseel down… Father was beyond upset." The astral plate showed Farah going after him, making sure he was alright, followed by the rest of her friends. "To him, the war was never personal… just ugly business. Despite being trained to fight and at the time thinking Darius' parents killed his mother, he never liked battling Darius. Even less so when he found out the truth."
"So, what happened?" Howe asked.
Lamia answered, looking at Mecca standing over his uncle's slumped over corpse, "Sultan Mecca eventually caught and defeated Aseel for good, ending his ambition. But with the battle for Poswa over, it was time to address the elephant in the room." He looked at Darius, who finally caught up. Although Darius briefly smiled while helping up an awed Minoo from her collapsing in exhaustion after a fight, he turned to Mecca, who had Farah looking over his wounds. The two princes turned young kings scowled at each other. "Unfortunately for everyone, King Darius still wanted revenge for his parents' death, and it was now denied from him not once, but twice. He demanded Mecca face him in a duel at the Valley of Fangs. As the last members of their respective bloodlines at the time, it was clear the winner would not only be the winner of the war, but would be king of both nations. Sultan Mecca, as he felt obligated to by honor and what the Poswali people expected of their ruler, accepted Darius' challenge. The two princes bid farewell to the women they loved, and Darius even rewarding Minoo with her brother freed from his service to the crown, and they headed to the Valley of Fangs to fight to the death in what would be known as the Battle of the Young Kings."
The crystal then showed Darius and Mecca fighting at the bottom of a deep valley, Mecca holding the smoking green large Moorish sword while Darius held his blue sparking scimitar. The valley was filled with Poswali and Cruibians alike, as well as Ustrosi, Uprilians, and even some Rusnadi who wanted to see the fate of southern Orobia be decided. The two young princes broke off their clash to study each other, neither showing any signs of faltering despite the small scars each one of them had. The princes then ran at each other, swinging their iconic swords.
"For those of you who want to know about where this is," Tawni said, "recall the Dragon-Genie War that more-or-less kick-started Orobia's problems… especially a certain mad djinn? The Valley of Fangs a created because of the final battle between the two tribes, leaving Orobian humans in charge of it."
"The final battle of the war between Poswa and Cruibia was the first major battle fought there in nearly three millennia But even though Father finally respected Mother's wish and Uncle Kamyar was freed from military obligations," Yasmin said, "Mother finally realized her feelings for Father, and couldn't watch Father throw his life away for the sake of honor and revenge… while she didn't want Sultana Farah to lose her own love. The two and their allies headed for the Valley of Fangs, determined to stop the war through love, not hate."
The astral plate showed Farah appearing in front of Mecca, using her magic to stop his sword, while Minoo blocked Darius' sword with her own. The two women looked deep into the princes' eyes, and used their free hand to grab their lovers' hands, gently smiling at them. Mecca was the one who relented first, stabbing the ground with his sword. He then looked at his counterpart, and extended his hand. Darius seemed reluctant at first, but looked at Farah, who was shooting a pleading look at him. He turned to Kamyar, who was being looked over by Etti. He even spotted Kalia with a young King Usman, who had come to the battle. He spotted Adre, casually talking with her fellow manaketes, and even stopping to look over a male one who seemed nervous, but she smirked at him. He finally looked at Minoo, who had tears in her eyes. Darius sighed, and dropped Pillansufa. He then walked forward, and reached for Mecca's hand… only for Minoo and Farah to suddenly push their lovers out of the way and be blasted several meters away. The two princes spotted Sizah, her eyes shining with thousands of years worth of wrath in her eyes.
"Wait, Sizah!? Again?" Howe asked. "Does that woman have nothing better to do!?"
"If she was in Heroes, she'd easily be a Grand Hero Battle!" Anna called in.
"Thank Rerci we're fan characters," Lamia grimaced, watching Sizah blast the three remaining heroines. "But yes, Sizah came to the final battle site. She had carved a path of serious destruction throughout Orobia in her pursuit of the five who released her, and ravaged a great deal of Cruibia. She wasn't about to let them get away, now that she had them in her sights. But she made one fatal error in her attempts to destroy the Golden Valkyries: she did so in the presence of thousands of people who now owed the Golden Valkyries their lives, including two princes with elemental weapons forged by Gargec."
The next image showed Minoo, Farah, Adre, Etti, and Kalia recover from their injuries, and prepare to face Sizah, but not alone. Mecca, Darius, and all their allies came to their aid. Howe scratched his head while watching the final battle begin. "Wait a second, the Orobians actually all worked together to fight Sizah… and WON? Um, that had a LOT of casualties at least, didn't it?"
"Of course," Sulaiman nodded. "Sizah was a powerful being, so LOT of people died at her hands, especially those who either rode wyverns or were manaketes, but Sizah couldn't one-woman army her way through the battle. There were just far too many people for here to realistically defeat in one sitting. This wasn't a video game."
"Yes, this is a fanfiction based on a series of video games," Howe said. "But if I recall Malsum, he actually WON most attempts to fight him?"
"Orichalcum, improved tactics, numbers several times greater than the largest armies Orobia had against Malsum, and unlike Malsum, Sizah was alone."
"…Yeah, that would do it."
"Sizah was incredibly powerful, but power has limits," Janiya said. "And this time, Mother knew what she was doing."
In the image, Minoo, using the Fire Emblem fragment she had on her, dodged Sizah's most powerful flurry of attacks, and knocked Sizah's sword away. She then quickly stabbed Sizah before turning to Sizah's sword, and began charging up a magic spell alongside Farah, who had two spells nearly ready. Before Sizah could recover from the stab, Adre, in her dragon form, slammed a massive set of claws into her. While Sizah was coming off THAT wound, suddenly froze when Kalia waved her Freeze staff. She was about to cast a Mire spell when Etti hit her through with a Thoron spell. Sizah was then hit by a high-level fire spell, curiosity of Farah. But despite all five of those, Sizah erupted in power, slashing Adre with a second wyrmslayer to make her back off and drop her dragonstone, and followed it up with a spell that began to cause Adre's eyes started turning to Sizah's eye color. But before she could gain full control of Adre, Mecca impaled her with his own sword, followed by Darius. Farah and Minoo then turned back to the wyrmslayer, and blasted it to a molten puddle. While Sizah collapsed onto her knees, Darius backed up, while Mecca ripped out both swords, throwing them aside and lettering her fall to the ground, some of her blood staining Adre's stone. However, Darius pulled out a scroll, and began chanting while drawing symbols on Adre's stone. When he finished, Sizah was whisked away into the stone, and all five founding members of the Golden Valkyries collapsed.
"It took almost everything they had, but Sizah was finally defeated," Janiya smirked. "Although some people think Father made a mistake not killing her. Oh well, time for me to deal with her."
"That wasn't all that happened," Yasmin reminded her sister. She looked at the image, where Mecca grabbed Minoo's hand, and pulled her up. He helped her get over to not just her brother (who was aiding Etti), but to Darius, who had picked up Farah. The two best friends hugged each other, and then turned to their lovers with expecting faces. Darius and Mecca looked at each other, and shook each other's hand. "Our mothers, intentionally or not, united Poswa and Cruibia, as well as almost all of Orobia, against a common foe. They ended the war."
"And won the hearts of Father and Sultana Mecca," Janiya said.
"It's kind of nice how none of them set out to be queens, yet ended up becoming five of Orobia's most powerful women," Tawni said, smiling alongside the others as they watched the double wedding being performed by Kamyar with Etti as his plus-one that happened a few years later after the kingdoms rebuilt. Farah and Minoo hugged one last time before Farah began her journey to Tanuhah, and Minoo her trek to Bagedzi. Meanwhile, Kalia was twirled around by a visiting Usman, and Adre smirked before flying away.
"You know, I think my brother was born almost fifteen months later," Sulaiman said. Everyone but Lamia and Yasmin all stared in surprise.
"And this segues into the final era," Howe sighed. "Our era."
Final Era: The "Modern Day" (4976-4999 ARI)
"So," Lamia said, "how do we address this?"
"Well, let's go through these events one at a time," Sulaiman said. Looking at a picture of Aladdin, he started, "So, like I said before, my older brother, Aladdin, was born a few years after Aseel's War and two years after the reconstruction was dealt with and one year after Prince Khai of Upril. Aladdin is the first known quarter-djinn in all Orobia. Now, you'd think this would make him incredibly weak by djinn standards, but we've found out hybrids are incredibly powerful."
"That means you and he could be the most powerful beings in Orobia!" Tawni realized.
"Me?" Sulaiman asked. He shook his head. "I doubt it. I can't use combat magic. I apparently was good with magic when I was a child, but nowadays, I have a block of some kind."
"When did that start?" Yasmin asked.
"So around 4978, I was born, a bit around the same time as the man who is now known as King Rifat," Howe said, changing the subject. "Yes, I'm the oldest of the protagonists of this story."
"I'm the second oldest," Sulaiman said, pointing to 4980. "Yasmin was born a few months ahead of me, and Lamia a few weeks after me. And then Janiya was born almost two years later, and finally, Miss Tawni, who's our youngest here." He showed a picture of Mawdood, and said, "I should add here that it was around 4980, anyway, when Mawdood first claimed the throne of the Ustrosi Thieves Guild, and began his ruthless conquest of the criminal underworld."
"How is it that Tawni's the Scherezade of this story, not counting the OTHER Scherezade submitted in the character forms, yet she's younger than me, the Dunyazade of the story?" Janiya asked.
"I'm more world experienced," Tawni offered. "Being the daughter of the rom baro of a famous Romani caravan that travels around kind of helps."
"And yet you're the Pacifist Lord to my Martial."
"About ten years later," Sulaiman continued, looking at a picture of Lamia, Yasmin, and himself when they were kids, Sulaiman looking banged up while Lamia looked worried and Yasmin was giggling, "Lamia started being my retainer, and Yasmin and I first met in Tanuhah when her family save for Janiya came to visit. I then saved her life, we found Ebony's egg, and then practically began a puppy love variation of our romance."
"It so could have been a love triangle," Yasmin smirked, looking at Lamia. The cleric blushed, and adjusted her glasses.
"I don't need to hear that," Janiya said. "Can we cut to the reason why we're all here? The Widowing Massacre and our goal to make the Empress pay?"
"Oh, fine," Yasmin said. "Let me just fast-forward to the Sacking of Nourdari, and… here!" The group all witnessed Howe standing on his ship, looking at the chaos around him. His eyes widened as one of the Argelian ships he was with sank… before Howe scowled.
"Ugur's going to get the whole damn fleet destroyed at this rate!" He rushed towards the helm.
"Captain," a holographic Sema said, "be careful! I'm just as mad, but it's not worth throwing your life away!"
"If I don't do something about that schooner, the fleet will have to retreat!" Howe argued, sailing towards a schooner flying the Ustrosi catfish flag. "Your cover's already blown, Sema! If I don't deal with the schooner, soon, we'll have to leave you behind, and since Ustros has brutal prisons, I don't want to think about what the Ustrosi will do to a lovely Argelian commander, and that's assuming they don't decide to immediately execute you! My crew and I have got this… you focus on destroying that tower!"
"Um, Princess," the modern chibi Howe said, "that's a bit far."
"Oops, that's the Battle of Nourdari, not the sacking," Yasmin realized. "My mistake."
"You… utter dastard!" Janiya growled, lunging at Howe, tackling him. "You were responsible for Nourdari!? You piece of human garbage! Do you have any idea how much that defeat devastated northern Orobia!?" She then began pounding on him until Sulaiman, Tawni, and Lamia began trying to pull her off.
- Experiencing Technical Difficulties... and Princess-on-Pirate-Violence-
A smoke bomb erupted, and Tawni and Sulaiman appeared. "Ei bine, a urcat rapid {Well, that escalated quickly}," Tawni said.
"Pentru a fi corect, domnișoara Tawni, prințesa Janiya la avertizat pe căpitanul Howe să încerce să-l omoare în canon. Cred că a aflat că El a fost cel care a devastat majoritatea Orobiei de Nord până în restul campaniilor noastre a accelerat pur și simplu inevitabilul {To be fair, Miss Tawni, Princess Janiya did warn Captain Howe she'd try to kill him in canon. I guess finding out that HE was the privateer who had devastated most of Northern Orobia by the time of the rest of our campaigns simply accelerated the inevitable}," Sulaiman replied to her.
"So, what now?" Tawni asked in Orobian. "Captain's getting absolutely destroyed by Princess Janiya—"
"You can't dodge a tornado TWICE, pirate!" Janiya called off-screen.
"—And your fiancée and your best friend are trying to defuse the situation."
"I guess the only thing left to do is do this ourselves," Sulaiman sighed, pulling out his own astral plate. "So, here we are. Oh, and fun fact, my brother was on a diplomatic mission about six months before the Sacking of Nourdari." He then channeled his magic, showing a devastated port town. "Nourdari, the birth place of not just Queen Kalia, one of the Golden Valkyries, but her son's lover, Princess Consort Najiyya. She was a beautiful girl, and Prince Rifat once told me to bless the stars that I found love like he did. For no known reason, Nourdari was attacked and severely devastated by the Argelian Empire, who we last really heard of back during the early part of the millennium. Thousands perished by the Argelian Empire's might, led by the mysterious Empress, Chitra." Sulaiman then showed the woman on his screen.
"So, that's the big bad of the story?" Tawni asked. "She's kind of pretty… and not showing off anywhere near the amount of skin expected of the Dark Lady or, heck, even an Ishtar."
"You know, if I've read reports from our nation's crow network of spies, right, Chitra isn't as ruthless as this attack and the Widowing Massacre paint her as," Sulaiman said. "Don't tell Princess Janiya, but Chitra was a far cry in terms of Empress than her grandmother, who was quite ruthless. Although some terrible things did happen on that continent on her watch, Chitra was supposedly an approachable woman."
"Why does Poswa have crows as spies?" the gypsy asked. "I honestly think fellow Romani are better spies than birds, since we're everywhere."
"…I should probably have Father consider that," Sulaiman said. "But I don't know if he'll agree to pay Romani for information since your clans are so hard to track down on purpose."
"Yeah, I suppose," Tawni said. "So, the Widowing Massacre? What happened?"
"I don't really know," Sulaiman said. "Empress Chitra reportedly claimed that the attack was NOT ordered by her, and she, before Ustros launched warships to avenge its biggest port town, called for a peace summit with the queen of Ustros. Chitra even went as far as to invite the other Orobian queens, in case they were allied with Ustros. However, because Queen Kalia had a very notoriously poor immune system, it's partially what led to her leaving Ustros to join up with my mother and Queen Minoo's group, Princess Najiyya decided to accept the burden of the meeting in Queen Kalia's stead. This was although she was with Prince Rifat's child."
"Oh gods, a pregnant woman?" Tawni gasped. "She was one of the victims of the Widowing Massacre."
"Alongside Queen Minoo of Cruibia, Queen Nakia of Rusnad, Queen Tabia of Upril, and my mother, Sultana Farah of Poswa."
"Sorry for being insensitive, but… seriously, who kills an unarmed pregnant woman with no combat experience, and why?"
"I don't know," Sulaiman said. "Not even Empress Chitra answered what exactly happened that night aboard her personal flagship. But something happened, the Ustrosi Thieves Guild was involved, and the Orobian queens all died. When Father and the other Orobian kings demanded an answer, none came. The kings then assumed the worst: the Empress deliberately lured Orobia's queens into a trap, and killed them all to lower Orobia's morale to make it easier to conquer us. That began this war."
"And then Captain Howe's campaign started two years later, then three years after that, Princess Janiya's campaign started, then yours started, and then mine, and we should all be caught up!" Tawni beamed. The next thing the two knew, the background erupted when Howe was flung through it, courtesy of Janiya. The orange-haired princess walked through the crack, brushing a loose hair out of her face.
"…I think I'm done," she said.
"...I rue the day I'd have to fight her," Sulaiman said, looking at the now unconscious Howe.
"Alright, so what do we have left?" Yasmin asked while she came in with her Mend staff, and Lamia with one as well.
"I'm afraid we've already finished," Tawni said.
"Well, that's a shame," Janiya pouted. "Oh well. I guess we get ready for our next chapters of Night of Tales, then. As well as figuring out what people want to hear more of. Go ahead and in a private message or review or comment, suggest what topic we should tackle, next. Whether it be orichalcum, astral plates, or the Fire Emblem itself! We'll try to answer it to the best of our ability."
"And we hope you enjoyed this chapter!" Tawni waved. "Now, if you excuse us, Captain Howe has a very important… appointment at the local healer's."
"I'll carry his legs," Sulaiman sighed. "Idris, can you get the pirate's arms?"
