A/N: Chapter Four! We're moving right along!

Anyways, this is le chapter four. We delve into why the infusion failed last time. I'll not stall any longer… Let's go~

Chapter Four: … Isn't Necessarily the Truth

Minerva mused over the results. The method sung of in legend had failed. Why? She reflected on each step. The blood? No, we certainly had dragon blood. The knife, some contaminant preventing success? No, I sterilized it, I'm sure. Introduction of the new blood? I hit the vein precisely. So what, then?

Abel covered his burn wound with a cloth and tied the cloth on. Tiki rubbed his back.

"There, there, Abe-ame." "-ame" again.

"I'm fine, Tiki. But I don't understand why it didn't work." Secretly, Abel was relieved. He wasn't sure why, though. "I really wanted to be a dragon with you," he lied, or so he thought. Minerva noted his facial expression suspiciously. "But it didn't work, obviously…"

"Why not, though?" asked Tiki.

"Only one way to find out," answered Minerva. "We need a manakete textbook on the subject. Might you have any back with Bantu?"

"Actually, I have one with me Ban-Ban lent me so that I could show Abel… it's mythology on how manaketes came to be. Our history, so to speak. Why?"

Minerva twisted her booted foot into the dirt in idle movement. "Well, could I see it?"

"Sure, Min-Min." Tiki pulled it from her pack. It was titled Manakete Mythology: The Nara's Origins, as Tiki translated it.

"Would you please translate part of the book, Tiki?" asked Abel, rubbing his wound tenderly.

"Certainly, Abe-Abe!" She opened the book, written in runes, consisting mostly of straight lines in different arrangements. As Tiki read, Abel tried to match runes to letters of English, and surprisingly, every rune seemed to have an English counterpart. One rune, which looked like a capital M, seemed to be E. Another, shaped like X, was G, and so on. Abel slowly learned the runic dragon script.

"Once, there were humans and dragons on this earth, though no emissary, no contact existed between them. The dragons grew bored and decided to accost and torment the humans, stealing for themselves coin and concubine, wealth and women alike. The dragons meant no explicit harm, they were simply lacking entertainment, but this went without being understood, lacking as there was an emissary between the two races.

"So the humans crafted a magical blade, and, as a group, slew the dragon.

"The blade, still fresh with the dragon's chartreuse blood, was then used in self-defense. The dragonslayer's comrade had sympathized with the dragon after its slaughter, and, in an act of vengeance, assaulted the dragonslayer. The dragonslayer thrust the blade through his crazed companion, but no sound of impalement, no scream of agony, no indication of injury was heard.

"The impaled fellow pulled himself off the blade and walked calmly to the dying dragon and whispered to him words in a strange, reptilian tongue. The dragon replied in kind, and with an understanding smile, passed into the void.

"The fellow reached into the dragon's mouth and removed a white and gold stone, returned to the slayer, and thanked him, for the 'building of the bridge'. He walked away. The slayer and his company looked at one another, confused, hoping someone else had an answer. When no answer came, they all turned back toward the strange fellow, but he was gone, replaced seemingly by a white dragon, flying away in the same direction.

"The fellow who had been impaled by the dragonslaying sword was the first of the manaketes, the half-blood race. Days afterwards, the dragonslayer found the manakete and delivered the blade, which he had named Falchion, to the manakete. He apologized, but the manakete denied the apology. Instead, the manakete thanked the dragonslayer once again. When he asked for what, the manakete replied 'Why, for allowing understanding to bloom between your race and that of the dragons. You have laid the foundation of peace. I can see by the look on your face you are troubled by the dragon you slew. Do not worry, for he has forgiven you, knowing that his death has allowed me to stand as the bridge between you. We thank you for your actions, for however accidentally, you have laid a most sacred foundation.'"

Abel and Minerva had listened intently to the story. Abel had removed his boots and was lying with his back against a sleeping Adam, and Minerva fed Shiirken an apple.

"That was quite a long story," Abel remarked, "but very interesting."

Minerva adjusted her leather undershirt (she had removed her armor) and spoke.

"So that's it?" she asked bluntly. "Seems we had several problems with our previous procedure. Number one, we used Tiki's crimson human blood, instead of her green dragon blood. It needs purifying. Two, we only used a mundane dagger. We need to borrow Falchion. Evidence of our mistake is given by the pain Abel felt."

"So let's go ask Mar-Mar if we can borrow Falchion!" exclaimed Tiki. "Abe-Abe, you'll be a manakete!"

Abel smiled, but deep down, he knew something was wrong. His stomach growled and gurgled anxiously.

A/N: I made that myth up on my own. Well, mostly. And I think this, I discovered after writing, contradicts the history given in FE:SD (which, if memory serves, states that it was backwards, that manaketes came first) but oh well. A myth is a myth for a reason, it borrows true facts from history but distorts them to make them entertaining.

Review, all you beautiful people~!