Fire Emblem is the property of Intelligent Systems and Nintendo. I merely borrow what others have labored to create.

Please, for the love of all that is good in fanfiction, WRITE A REVIEW!!! Even better, make it thoughtful and specific as to why you think as you do. I solemnly swear by Athos' beard that I will reply to any signed reviews given. Claus: I reserve the right to base the thoughtfulness of my response on that of the review.


The two knights both looked at each other like they were suddenly daunted by the thought. I felt a little something squirm in my gut. Sain just shrugged. The impasse was ended when Kent turned to me and began speaking in a slow voice, carefully choosing each of his words.

"Our names our Sir Kent and Sir Sain. We have ventured from Caelin, in Lycia, in search of someone." There he paused as if considering something.

"Lycia…that is very far away…why would a pair of knights come so far to find someone in Sacae?" I wanted him to keep talking so I tried to fill in the blank space. "Lycia…that is the country beyond the mountains in the southwest, isn't it?"

Kent nodded in confirmation. "Correct. We've come here as messengers to the Lady Madelyn, who…eloped with a nomad nineteen years ago." The way they both stared at me was making the something squirm harder.

"Madelyn?" Could he possibly mean…?

Kent gave another small nod before continuing, "Our lord, the marquess of Caelin's only daughter. He was heartbroken that his own daughter would abandon him so. Eventually, the marquess simply declared that he had no daughter." Here Kent paused again to give me an uncomfortable look. Sain, however, took up the narrative for him.

"Lord Hausen is a very…stubborn man," Sain looked almost anxious, as if speaking so honestly about his lord had put himself in danger or possibly give me the wrong idea Thus, he hastily amended, "but he also loved Madelyn dearly. He spent all those years denying it, but just this year, a letter arrived from Madelyn saying that she had had a daughter. The marquess was thrilled and when he learned that they had named her Lyndis, the name of his dead wife, he resolved to reconcile himself with his estranged family."

"Lyndis?" I had finally realized where the conversation was heading, but I was too shocked for the fact to sink in. It was like I was watching a play. It didn't involve me. Impossible.

I forgot that Sain was still talking and stood frozen like a statue, my mind incapable of fully accepting what was happening. I stayed that way until I felt a hard hand give my arm a small shake. I glanced behind me to see Mark. He gestured slightly with his head back towards the knights. Kent no longer appeared uncomfortable as he waited for my attention. Instead, he had become grave and very formal. When Caelin's knight was sure that I was listening fully, he quietly told me that he had recognized me when we had first met in the streets of Bulgar, known it immediately when he had first had a good look at my face.

This did not sit well with me. How could be sure? He must have been mistaken. I of all people was no princess. I openly scoffed at the "soft" city dwellers, I hunted wild game, practiced the sword in hopes of killing men, wanted to be respected as an equal among men.

"Why…?" I must have been in a state of denial. Honestly, it was kind of embarrassing just how long it took me to get the point.

Thankfully, Kent answered me before I could embarrass myself further. "Your resemblance to your departed mother is remarkable." Surprise on top of surprise. How could he have known my mother when in all my years she had never left my side. "You knew my mother?"

The red-head grimaced like he was looking at something distasteful, but his voice was soft. "I'm sorry to say that I never met her directly, however I've seen her portraits in the castle many times." Kent looked up to me again and he seemed to be see beyond my own face. "The similarity is remarkable," He paused for thought and the harsh countenance softened somewhat, "you truly are your mother's daughter in form…except for your eyes. Your mother wrote your eyes are all your own."

Pity. That's what I saw in his face, strangely mingled with something else I couldn't name. I hated his pity, but he appeared nothing if not truthful. It is said that Sacaens cannot lie and that because we ourselves are true, it is difficult to deceive us. I'm not sure how much stock to put in those tales, but as a hunter and a disciple of the sword, one learns to read the natural signs of the body. When they both met my eyes without flinching, I knew.

"Father Sky, hasn't enough happened to me this year?" I remember thinking. I had finally accepted that, yes, my father was a ruler in a far away country. I was completely overwhelmed. First my parents, then Mark, the fights and then suddenly I'm a princess of a foreign country! One thought did manage to get through the confusion though.

"I was all alone in the world, and now I have a grandfather. Lyndis... I never thought I would hear that name again…Lyndis…"

"Heh heh hehhh... Aren't you the pretty one! Your name is Lyndis, is it not?"

"Raw gods…"

"Wait. That bandit! He called me Lyndis, too!" The connection had come to me out of the blue. In the ensuing chaos of the fight and our get-away, I had completely forgotten the shock of an unknown killer having knowledge my private life. The knights didn't take the news very well.

Kent spoke first, clearly alarmed, "What?! How could he…"

I was surprised when Sain filled in the blank once again. Funny, I hadn't pegged him as much of a thinker early on, for obvious reasons. The dandy, however, had lost all of his previous exuberance and had taken on an expression almost as grim as Kent's.

"He was one of Lord Lundgren's men wasn't he?" Sain gave Kent a long look. He seemed to be waiting for Kent to reply, but Kent was deep in thought. Not wanting to be left in the dark, especially when it came to life and death matters, I resolved to clear up the issue. "Lord Lundgren? Who's that?"

Kent blinked as he came out of wherever his thoughts had taken him. He gave me another one of those grave looks before replying, "He's the marquess' younger brother. With the Lady Madelyn so long estranged from her father, it was assumed that the rule would pass to him. News of Madelyn and her daughter threw the realm into an uproar."

"To be blunt milady, your existence is the only obstacle between Lundgren and the throne. Those men were most likely sent by him to kill you." there was Sain again, coming at the heels of Kent. They seemed to have the ability to finish one another's thoughts. "

"That's…" "….stupid, idiotic, WHY?!" "But I have no interest in inheriting any title!"

Sain's grim visage dissolved back into one of his trademark smiles as he flippantly announced, "Well, unfortunately your good, uhmm…" he screwed his face up as if a small fly had suddenly landed on the tip of his nose and he could kill it by concentration alone, "ah, granduncle, is unlikely to believe that."

I raked my fingers through my hair, vaguely wandering how in Elimine's Hell I possibly could have ended up in such an unlikely situation. "What should I do?" I had cursed the sound of my voice then; so small and vulnerable. There were just so many unknowns.

"Why accompany us to Caelin of course," Sain said, his bright smile flashing and eyes rolling as if it was obviously the best choice that I could take. "It's far too dangerous for you to remain here. Please milady come with us and together, we'll journey back to Caelin and oust that imposter! You shall be the standard around which all who are good and just in Caelin shall flock and we shall be your supporters and protectors in everything." It sounded so ridiculous that I almost expected him to be joking, but he wasn't. His voice became more and more animated as he spoke, his eyes once again possessed of that near magnetic shimmer.

"I…" I'm not sure what I felt. It might have simply been the overwhelming events of the day, but I suddenly felt trapped, like the lion before the horseman close the circle or the mouse frozen before the snake. "I feel as if I have little choice…"

Red Notes

1) This chapter really was a pain to write…I don't know why. I almost wonder if it might have been better to merge it with one of the two surrounding it. As it is, it has just enough unique subject matter to warrant its own chapter. However, I've done some revision, mostly adding more physical description in terms of Lyn's impressions of the knights, and I think that it has helped.

2) Despite basically every women in the script refusing him, I feel as though Sain was really a lot more…successful than the game lets on. I imagine him as an extremely handsome and personable man that has been in many relationships (romantic or otherwise) with women, even if few of them were truly deep. I feel as though this chapter, Footsteps of Fate, and the later chapters all help to show just why he's considered attractive.