I'm glad I don't post the chapters immediately after uploading them like I used to, every day I sit down and read the chapters I'm going to submit to FF and AO3 and alter them a bit, or sometimes a lot which leads to events in following chapters to alter, I just decided to change something in Chapter 9 that changes the entire way the ending plays out...again...its like a living being that keeps shifting forms. Weird.
I actually managed to work in a few 'moments' from the original Thyremog, like the same character fighting and dying in the same place but most everything else is different so, remember the old Thyremog? Forget it, this is incomparable.
Chapter 6 – Landfall
A week and a half after leaving Tellius the ship carrying the Greil Mercenaries found itself amidst a raging storm.
Everyone remained below decks as the rain continued to pour.
They expected at least one storm though no one thought it would be as rough as it is.
"Regretting this yet?" Boyd asked Shinon who just shrugged.
"Eh…"
"Y'know, I'm surprised you were packed to go first, I thought you'd throw a fit over the whole 'leaving Tellius' thing."
"Guess you thought wrong."
Emerging from his room, Soren spotted Zihark "Hey."
"Ah, Soren. Greetings, what can I do for you? Actually! Can I ask you a question?"
Soren nodded before Zihark gestured for him to sit "Do you see Mia train a lot?"
"Yes…Zihark…do you want me to give you tips on dueling her?"
Zihark whistled "You got that from my innocent question?"
Soren rolled his eyes "To be fair, she keeps beating you cause she's faster and far too tenacious for her own good."
Laughing Zihark nodded "Don't I know it. No matter how many times I hit her she does not want to stay down. I'm not sure how she does it."
The man noticed a slight…twitch from Soren, tapping his chin he leaned closer "Do you not like watching comrades spar?"
"Hm?"
"You twitched when I mentioned hitting her."
"Did I?"
Soren shook his head "What? No I didn't."
"I…did."
Zihark shrugged "Alright, if you say so but don't worry about it Soren, we're not trying to kill each other despite how it looks, I promise."
"It wasn't friends sparring that…bothers me…it's the idea of Mia getting hit…"
Focusing back on Zihark he decided to let that conversation slide "Anything else you wanted to ask me?"
Zihark shook his head "Not really…just fishing for information. I'll be getting my butt rocked again when Mia challenges me again."
"Speaking of Mia, where is she?"
Zihark laughed "Training of course."
Soren followed Zihark's gesture towards the stairs.
"Topside? Why?"
"C'mon Soren, you know her."
"I…what?"
"What?"
"What do you mean?"
"Uh…that…you…know her? She's been in the mercenaries for years, surely you got used to her regiment."
Soren nodded at that "Right, of course that's what you meant."
"You alright?"
"I'm fine Z, I just-"
"Z?"
Catching himself, Soren mentally smacked himself before turning to face a rather amused Zihark "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"
"Hey, hey! Who's mad? Feel free to call me Z! Loosen up! Honestly, I just wish it was as easy to come up with a name for you and Mia…speaking of, want me to go topside with you to get her?"
"I appreciate it Zihark but I'd rather get less people sick if I can avoid it."
"I would probably get sick as soon as, good call Soren." As the sage walked away Zihark called after him "I'm serious though! Z is totally fine!"
"Soren."
"Titania."
Disappearing topside, Titania shook her head "Alright everyone, get comfortable we-"
"What about food!" Boyd called out.
"If you want to lend a hand, Oscar and I could use it, not the most stable vessel at the moment."
"I hate cooking!"
"Then you get nothing!"
Ignoring the pelting rain, Mia continued going through her motions, one step almost fell out from under her. Cursing she planted her foot before bringing her blade up again.
Soren stood close by, about to call out to her only to watch her train, seeing how careful she was being he decided to just wait till she finished, shouldn't be too long.
After a bit, Mia took a long breath and sheathed her blade, "Wow I'm drenched…duh, what did you expect."
Turning around she stopped when she saw Soren, looked down at herself and rather quickly, covered herself and turned away.
"H-hey Soren…h-how long have-"
Soren shook his head as she sneezed. Walking towards her he spoke "Just a bit, are you alright?"
He put a hand on her shoulder causing her to laugh "Not the smartest coming up here to train eh?"
A flash of lightning and crash of thunder followed, Soren smirked and deadpanned "Nope."
Sneezing again she shook her head "Suppose some soup is in order."
"And bed rest. Yes."
"Seriously Mia, what did you expect?"
"Not in the mood Z." Mia stated as she threw a blanket over her to dry her clothes.
"Of course you aren't, you could've done your exercises down here y'know."
Mia shrugged "Not enough room."
"I beg to differ, see you're just being difficult."
Soren entered the room "Any soup preference Mia?"
"No, not really, thanks Soren."
After he left, Zihark shook his head "If you told me a few years back that you two would be combat partners, I would never have believed you."
Mia smiled "He's not so-"
"Bad? I know, he isn't but you have to admit he was pretty hard to approach in the past right?"
Mia sneezed before responding "No he wasn't. I mean, sure you might get intimidated but you have to work through it and just…talk to him."
Zihark sighed "I suppose…makes it more my fault for not even trying eh?"
"Well you can now."
Nodding Zihark left the room to find Soren.
The storm finally eased up a short while later, Shinon went top side and stretched as he headed for the crow's nest, muttering to himself the whole way up about the 'damned rain'.
Reaching the top he stretched again "OK…now-"
If he had been eating or drinking anything he'd be choking on it, looking down he called out as loudly as he could "LANDFALL!"
Ike was there shortly after looking at Shinon who pointed in the proper direction. Sure enough, there was an approaching coast.
"Finally."
Below everyone was muttering about it as Ike went to Titania "So what's the protocol for pulling up to a foreign land in a foreign vessel filled with foreign people armed with foreign weapons?"
Titania chuckled "There is no protocol."
"Kinda figured…what can we do to make this as smooth as possible?"
"Easy, find a port and pull in there. We should be able to explain ourselves to the guards there, military if we have to, we are Emissaries after all, right?"
Ike nodded at that "Basically, yeah. Alright, let's do that."
Mia sniffed as Soren entered her room.
"Soup here, Zihark actually helped make it, shouldn't be surprised he can do that seeing as he travels alone a lot."
"Thanks Soren…you and Zihark…talk?"
"…a little…"
"About?"
Soren placed the bowl of soup next to her, as she ate he spoke "He apologized."
"For what?"
"Not talking to me sooner…it's odd, I never thought of it as an issue but he took it personally."
Mia smiled "I think he wants to be your friend."
Soren laughed at that "Why?"
"Why not? The three of us could hang out and train together and all that. We could teach you how to use a sword and you could teach us magic, c'mon use your imagination!"
As she sneezed again Soren shook his head "I don't think either of you could learn magic."
"Oh is that a challenge?"
"It'll have to be for later, we're going to land soon."
Mia sighed "Right, a new land and I'm going to be sick…why didn't I just train below decks?"
Soren continued to watch her in silence as she ate. He was a little distracted looking at her sleeping wear, it was so different from her usual combat ready attire and before he could fully comprehend it, he spoke.
"You look nice."
She glanced at him, once again he mentally slapped himself.
"I have got to stop putting my foot in my mouth."
Not that he could tell do to her cold, but her cheeks flushed as she looked away "Thanks…"
"…anyway, it'll be fine, it's just a cold. Keep some cloths on hand for sneezing and you'll be okay."
Mia gestured to her blade.
"Bring it."
"Really?"
"For our safety, just in case this doesn't go down well."
Mia nodded at that, standing she made a move before remembering Soren was there "Uh…I'm going to…change."
"Of course, of course. See you soon."
With that he stood and left the room.
Sure enough a port was found and the ship pulled in slowly.
Getting out the Mercenaries followed Ike down the docks with Oscar and Titania keeping a handle on their horses, all aware of more than a few eyes on them.
Specifically, a lot of attention on Ranulf, whose ears picked up the whispering about him as he walked by groups of people.
"Maybe I should have worn a hat." He muttered.
Zihark shook his head "Why hide it? No one here knows what a Laguz is."
"I guess…I just don't like the attention."
Zihark tapped Ranulf's arm and pointed to a group of women, clearly focused on him.
"And now?"
Ranulf just laughed before waving to them.
"Alright, so, what's the plan?" Boyd asked to which Ike noted what looked like port guards.
"We need to talk to the military about-"
All of a sudden there was an explosion, two of the ships at port were burning and the guards quickly ran towards the mess as people began screaming and scattering.
"This was not planned for our arrival was it?" Oscar asked as he mounted up.
Ike drew one of his blades "Nope but first impressions right?"
The Mercenaries took off in a sprint towards the chaos.
"Ilk! Zanzu! Well done!" A man said.
The first one called Ilk armed with two blades bowed "No problem Get, far too easy to blow their shit up."
The one named Zanzu raised his axe and laughed "Indeed! Our men are having a rather loud raiding party! What now?"
"Stop!"
A port guard charged them, Get pulled out his spear and moved forward, kicking the guards lance away before running him through, forcing the man to his knees he pulled out a knife and sliced his throat before kicking the body off his weapon.
"Now we leave, let our men-"
The three turned upon hearing their troops yelling rather loudly, in a combative manner.
"Strange, there are not enough guards here to mount a substantial attack…" Ilk commented.
The three then saw the cause of the commotion, a mess of strangers charged in and began ripping through the bandits like nothing.
Ilk prepared to lunge in only for Get to grab him and pull him back "We report this to Barbyos."
Ilk spat while Zanzu nodded and the three left.
Stumbling a bandit fell back dead, still clutching the wound in his chest. Mia prepared to move only to stop and sneeze.
"Damn it."
At that moment a man appeared behind her.
Turning she saw a gale slam into him and throw him against a building. As he fell limp she looked to Soren and smiled.
"Retreat!" One bandit called out as Ranulf, in beast form tackled his partner. Turning the bandit did not see Ike swing his blade and unleash a blue wave which promptly cut through him.
The group looked around once more, confirming all the bandits dead before regrouping.
"That was easy." Rolf commented.
"After what we've been through, don't think we should ever expect hard." Shinon added.
The group turned as a few port guards approached them rather warily "Who are you!?"
Looking to Titania, Ike saw her gesture, sheathing Ragnell he approached them.
"My name is Ike, we are Emissaries from the land of Tellius."
The two guards looked to each other, before one spoke "Tellius?"
"Yes, it's about a week and half, almost two weeks sail from here."
The guards moved back a bit.
Normally they'd doubt the story but their gaze fell on Ranulf who was, a few moments ago, a large blue cat then they moved to Ike's energy slinging blade. Things that neither guard had seen in their entire life.
"What do you want here?"
"Well, we were hoping to just speak with you before…well, before all this. The Queen of my country, Elincia wants us to act as Emissaries so we'd like an audience with whoever rules this land if that's possible."
The guards spoke to each other quietly. One nodded and walked off while the last one took off his helmet.
"I'm Captain Exet, serving the King by leading the Port Guard. We're sending word to Edal 2nd Head of our armies. It's been a while since we have visitors but we've never heard of a Tellius so we're not too familiar with the protocol for…all this…"
"Neither are we." Ike stated.
A small grin came to Exet's face "Either way, we'll see where to go from there, in the meantime you can come to our barracks. We have a stable for your horses."
As the Mercenaries began walking behind Exet, Ike asked "So, where are we."
Chuckling Exet faced him "The state of Blu Run in the Kingdom of Thyremog."
