I had to use a thesaurus for Miriel's portion. I might have over exaggerated that scene, but hey, it's funny. It's what I think happens when a tome is used.

This is a rewritten chapter based on red lilies feedback. I really love getting feedback, so this is a real boon. Also to your note about all those line breaks, I'm not all that comfortable with intimate scenes yet. I'll try working on that. Stahl was also a new portion, reminiscent of my sucky fanfic with the keys.

Don't own Fire Emblem. Oh, and some of these chapters later will have the characters actually giving a s*** when their spouses die or are badly injured in battle, instead of just jumping in his/her place after watching them die in front of them like in the game.

-OrpheusEx

We walked along the path to Regina Ferox, occasionally taking short breaks to rest. I took out a tome of blank parchment and some charcoal during one of these breaks, sitting under a shady oak.

Robin was watching me, looking for signs of any traitorous actions.

I found the short breaks a nice time to draw with the brittle material. I started to draw Sumia and her pegasus, saving Chrom from the arch-

"That's a nice picture you're drawing." I jumped a little as Sumia sat on the grass next to me.

"What am I doing on that pegasus, though?" Oh yeah. That part didn't exactly… happen yet.

"Well, erm… I dunno, really. It… came to me. Yeah…" I really don't know how gulla-

"Oh, really? Hey, could I keep it, maybe?" Wow. I think I might overestimate people sometimes.

No, Chrom kicked my ass yesterday. I underestimated him big time.

"Sure… I guess." Sumia ripped out the page and put it in her knapsack. She ran off like her flighty self to go over to Chrom, who was sitting by a pond and lean on him.

Oh yeah. They get married.

I sighed and started drawing Lucina, who was holding her mask by her face, not on it. The brand of the Exalt was visible in her left eye. I closed the tome and began to march again.

Looking at my blue book, I wondered about something.

"So Miriel, why do tomes break after use? I mean, they're only words, right?" I remembered an amusing comic that answered this question, but I wanted to know the real reason.

"Presicely. That is why the magnum opus is rendered inutile." I took AP English back on Earth and I had no clue what she just said.

"The morphemes bear aloft and a permutation is applied, causing them to transpose into the vital elemental assailment." I wondered if she was speaking Latin or some equally old language.

"Therefore- oh, apologies. Are you too inept to assimilate my vindication of your inquiry?" I think I was getting a headache.

I started to walk away, rubbing my head.

"It's almost painful to listen to her, right?" Chrom was walking along the supply cart and saw me escape Miriel's "vindication."

"'Almost' my arse." I still had a headache. And it wasn't from receiving a memory.

Chrom chuckled at my response.

"So, what'd you ask her?"

"Why tomes break." I put it rather simply.

"Oh, the words turn into the elemental attacks, causing them to be erased from the tome. After the tome is finished, it just becomes a blank book. That book you drew in was actually once Ricken's Elwind."

"It took Miriel the words "transpose" and "morphemes" to explain that."

Chrom just chuckled. "That's Miriel for you."

"No kiddin'." I groaned inwardly.

We walked along for about an hour or so, until we were about a quarter mile from a stream. There were these black figures all around it though, and one of them pulled back on something-

"Chrom, get down!" I saw Chrom dodge the arrow as I jumped to the side.

"The Risen are here!" I heard Sarah yell this out- next to Stahl.

Wow. Just wow.

I started attacking the reanimated figures, aiming for a hapless archer, decapitating him with a katana across his neck. The blade slicing through flesh felt weird… but also somewhat natural. That scared me.

I turned to deflect a Risen's axe as I heard the grunts, as my thin katana would never be able to take the blow. I sliced at it legs, by the merciless, emotionless expression didn't change. I finally managed to impale the brute. I managed to kill another fighter before the battle was done.

"How did you know what they were?" Robin's inquiry was not curious, but threatening. He was confronting my sister.

That's right. We were unconscious during at the first encounter of the Risen.

Yeah, not that much of a cliffhanger here.

-OrpheusEx