Weeeell, this should be a fun chapter. I'm finally feeling confident enough to list this as a humor fic. I intended it to be one at first, but I wasn't sure how funny my writing was. I'm also not sure how long this is going to stay funny, as…well, keep reading.

As it stands my humor is also rather dry, but at least I'm not of the slap stick sugar rush humor (which CAN be very funny, but is often misapplied). Now I'm very sure that I'm going to get a lot of, "Well…where are the jokes?" kind of reviews. Thing is I'm never very sure.

So, enjoy the ride, I guess.


Stronger

Chapter 8: Flight



They had infiltrated Bern and for the past several days Hector had been wearing "normal" clothes. He was wearing next to no armor outside of battle and this left him feeling rather vulnerable. The young lord was starting to hate this new circumstance. He'd thought in all his vulnerability, he'd seem less intimidating and maybe, perhaps the skittish Florina would chance to talk to him. It almost seemed to work, for she was always looking in his direction, and even came close to walking up to him. However, there was this wall between them and it frustrated Hector. If he were to try to traverse it on his own, Florina would be scared away. He'd simply have to learn how to wait on her.

Patience was never his strong suit, and he was severely tried with her shyness. Why was he wasting his time on this anyway? It wasn't like she'd ever open up to him. It wasn't like he wanted her to talk to him, or know what goes on in that cute little head of hers. It wasn't like he really liked to hear her laugh or see her smile. Why on earth did he want a girl like Florina to feel safe and comforted when he was around?

Hector had settled into one of his rare bouts of brooding over the matter. Normally he would confide in Eliwood but the red haired lord was off with Ninian probably whispering sweet nothings in her ear. Ninian would blush and accept them meekly. Hector knew Florina would probably faint should he try to say anything poetic or sweet to her. That is of course assuming 1) she'd let him close enough to do so, and 2) Hector could think of something poetic.

Wait, why was he thinking about wooing Florina? He didn't care that much. He couldn't care that much! Serra was for once preoccupied with studying light tomes, much to Hector's confusion, to even bother and distract him. Matthew had conveniently disappeared. All that was left was Oswin to talk to. Hector thought twice about it. Oswin, old 'stick in the mud' Oswin would have a thing or two to say about love. It would all be a very courtly sort of love and Hector simply did not do flowers or midnight rendezvous. Why couldn't women like weapons or something useful?

Florina loved her pegasus, which was kind of like a weapon…Then it hit the young lord in a stroke of genius. If he was going to get closer to Florina in any way, he had to get to her through her pegasus. Yes, that was it! Just as he was about to set his plan in motion, he hesitated. Recalling Uther's words, he wondered just how close he was willing to get to Florina. She just might think that he was in love with her, and he wasn't. He just wanted her to be comfortable at his side. She'd be so comfortable with him, she'd never want leave and that was fine. Love and what he was feeling were two very different things.

This whole business was frustrating. Normally this situation would be something he would drop in a heartbeat. He didn't need this; it was distracting him from what he needed to do. For what? Just to have a smile from a sweet and caring girl cast his way? This was not him. He didn't understand what was going on. If Florina was going to be a distraction then he didn't need her. In addition to being a distraction, he risked hurting her feelings and making her pull away from him. Hector ran his fingers through his hair in confusion. This was too much! He simply wanted nothing to do with her at all. That was it. No more, adorable pegasus knights. No more blushing, stuttering, or quiet smiles when she thinks she was alone…

Why was he still going on about Florina? He didn't need her, and he didn't want to be around her. All right, that was a dead lie, he actually found that she was growing on him. The more he tried to picture going on with out the lavender haired girl the worse his mood seemed to get. Already he could tell cutting her out of his life wasn't going to do him any good.

About four in the morning, the day Lady Louise and Lord Pent were going see the queen of Bern, Hector bolted up out of sleep. An epiphany had just come to him in the jumbled thoughts of his mind at rest.

"Eliwood, wake up," Hector said. Eliwood didn't stir in the cot across from him.

"Oh, come on, Eliwood, wake up!" the young lord shouted. Eliwood groaned and turned over. The blue haired lord got out of bed and shook his friend.

"Eliwood we need to talk, now," the taller boy insisted.

"Hector…it's really early…and I'm sleeping…" Eliwood grumbled. Hector grabbed his friend's covers and tore them off.

"Sorry to interrupt your wet dream about Ninian," the blue haired lord said rather bluntly. "But I need to talk to you. Now."

Eliwood sat up and was reasonably upset for many reasons. One main reason being that his dear friend had indeed interrupted a very, very good dream (though not nearly as dirty as Hector insinuated, but Ninian was involved) and another reason being that…well it was four in the morning.

"I'll talk if you give me back my blanket," Eliwood said holding out his hand. Hector accepted these terms and gave his friend the piece of cloth.

"What is it Hector?" the red head asked, rubbing his eyes groggily.

"Eliwood, I'm in love," Hector said. Eliwood stared blankly for a long time.

"What?" he inquired for clarity's sake. Hector sighed.

"You heard me, I'm in love. I didn't even realize it before," the blue haired lord replied. Eliwood was sure he risked waking up the whole camp, but he started to laugh uncontrollably. Hector growled, but kept silent. He knew if he tried to get Eliwood to stop, he'd probably keep laughing and nothing would be accomplished.

"So…" Eliwood continued, finally regaining his composure somewhat. "You're…in love? With who?"

Hector was starting to think twice about telling Eliwood, but it was too late now.

"Florina," he confessed. Eliwood managed not to laugh, mostly because he had seen it coming.

"Hector…Florina is not quite what I pictured when I thought about you falling in love," the red haired lord told his friend. "Tell me, how much do you know about her as a person?"

"Not much," Hector admitted. This annoyed him. It was not for lack of trying to get to know her that this was so. It was nearing three months since she had started fighting by his side and he still didn't know much about Florina. Eliwood grinned and nodded.

"My friend, what you feel is not quite love, but it's infatuation. You have to get to know her first before you start declaring your affections from the roof tops," he suggested. Hector narrowed his eyes.

"I'm not going to do that Eliwood," the Ostian lord said. Eliwood was starting to lie back on his cot.

"I know Hector, I know," his friend replied.

"Hey, you can't go back to sleep yet! How do I get to know more about her if she won't talk to me! You must know something, you got Ninian, one of the shyest girls in the camp to fall in love with you," Hector said, raising his voice slightly.

"You've got to wait on her," Eliwood said. "Besides Hector, what if you go through all that trouble and she's not even what you want in the first place?"

"She will be," Hector answered. "I'm very sure she's just what I want."

Eliwood yawned and sighed, "Then I'm sure you'll get her. And I'm happy for you."

Eliwood was just too tired to tease his friend and went back to sleep. Hector knew better than to try and wake him up again. Eliwood seemed like a laid back, good natured kind of guy, but interrupt his sleep too much and you may end up in a world of pain. Hector couldn't help when his moments of brilliance came, and they just so happened to be at night. Or really, really early in the morning.

Well, Hector knew he had to enact his plan to learn more about Florina through taking an interest in her pegasus. In order to do that he had to talk to…Fiora…

He wasn't looking forward to the morning.


Hector had a very hard time going back to sleep, he kept dreaming about stupid things. Like Florina with wings, and he and Eliwood being older and having kids…not together of course. If that did happen, Eliwood was carrying the children. Hector shook his head; the lack of sleep was getting to him, his thoughts were stranger than usual. The oddities kept him fully falling asleep and he was awake earlier than he was used to.

Lowen was surprised to see him as one of the first people in line for food. The green haired man probably would have said something had the young lord not had the fires of hell burning in his eyes. As he tried to eat in some semblance of peace, Oswin and Fiora walked up and sat on either side of him. Hector began to grind his teeth in anger. Here was a lecture first thing in the morning from not one, but two of the people he bumped heads with the most. How much worse could his day get?

"So…what kept you up all night?" Oswin asked. Hector hated that his vassal knew everything about him.

"Bad dreams," he answered vaguely. Fiora took a long sip of her water and shook her head.

"Is that so? Florina used to have bad dreams all the time. It helps if you talk about them," she said. Hector suddenly had a flash back to being about seven years old with his parents at breakfast. All that was missing was Uther teasing him.

"I'd rather not share," he told her.

"Testy aren't we?" Oswin remarked. The young lord took a deep breath and calmed himself. He couldn't risk getting either of them mad, not now anyway.

"I'm sorry, Fiora, I didn't mean to sound so rude," Hector said to the turquoise haired woman. "I actually really need your help."

"Really now?" Fiora began. "With what?"

"I need to know something about pegasuses…es," he confessed. Man did he sound stupid. Oswin raised an eyebrow and Fiora pressed her lips together, visibly suppressing her laughter.

"The plural form of the word pegasus is pegasii. And you should be asking my sister," the woman said pointedly.

Hector was getting frustrated; it took everything he had not to start yelling and raving. That simply would not do.

"My presence seems to frighten her greatly. I was hoping you could help me instead," the lord explained. Fiora and Oswin exchanged glances.

"Very well, I shall help you," she consented. Hector sighed in relief. For once this whole diplomatically polite thing was paying off. After breakfast, he got as much information out of Fiora about pegasii as his tired mind could handle. Shortly after, he joined Eliwood and Lyn in seeing Lady Louise and Lord Pent off to see the queen of Bern. Eliwood suggested they split up and search for information.

Lyn said something irritating, but in Hector's mind almost everything sounded irritating. They ended up doing no reconnaissance, but did lot of gadding about town. It almost made him forget he was trying to get to Florina before anything major happened.

It was too late for that, for a thick fog rolled in, bringing with it enemies. Hector was ready for battle despite his fatigue. Mark approached them as the battle was about to begin.

"While I was looking for information about the Prince and Bern, I heard that there was a small villiage to the east of here that has a staff that we'll really need," the tactician said. "I want you two to get it. Florina's the only unit fast enough to get there. And you're the only guy Huey seems to remotely like."

"Why won't you send Lyn?" Hector asked. Mark waved his hand nonchalantly.

"I have other stuff for her to do," the tactician explained vaguely. "Now, take this torch, and don't stop for anything or anyone until you get there."

The pair nodded; even Huey seemed to be in understanding of the situation. Much to Hector's surprise, without much difficulty, he climbed on Huey's back and sat behind the pegasus knight. Hector was unsure of how Florina would perform today. Huey may have been more comfortable with him, but his rider had still barely spoken a few words to him.

Without a warning, they took to the skies. The speed of the take off startled him and he grabbed on to the closest thing, which just so happened to be Florina's waist. The younger girl squeaked in surprise and Hector knew she was flushing up. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable, so he tried to ease the situation by releasing her after they stopped ascending. It only took twenty seconds for him to realize that doing so was not a good idea. Hector felt dizzy from the height and he knew he had to hold onto something, but he settled for someone and he was glad that someone he was holding onto Florina.

He could feel her breathing unsteadily, and he could see her hands trembling. He felt like a bit of a pervert doing so, though nothing provocative was happening. The fact was that she didn't want him to touch her, and if he didn't hold on, he was sure he'd probably get his equilibrium thrown off and fall to his death. Though he should have more faith that Florina would try and catch him.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm just not used to being up so high."

She nodded and swallowed. It was strange to him, he once thought that Florina would probably have passed out by now if any man, especially him, was this close to her. On the contrary she seemed rather calm. The sky was her element after all, he was the one who was terrified. Most men would have felt empowered with their arms around the girl they loved. Hector felt anything but; he was clinging to her for dear life. He certainly wasn't afraid of heights, just falling.

He cautiously snuck glances around into the fog. There wasn't much to see, but the feeling of the wind in his hair was exhilarating. Florina's long hair brushed past his nose. Hector had never raptured about what Florina's hair might smell like. Mostly because he would never do such a thing, and it was also because he had just realized he really cared more for the pegasus knight than he admitted before. Her hair didn't smell all that sweet and flowery, but it strongly of hay and earth. That scent in and of itself was more comforting than reeking of perfumes. The scent of the overwhelming oils made him flashback to the being introduced to the ladies of Lycia. Not only were they boring and catty, they were so condescending toward him, so he rather hated the smell of perfumes.

Hector didn't want Florina to be a quintessential lady or expect it. Florina was in an army, she trekked for hours in armor, which meant she was prone to sweat at some point during the day. Then she had sword practice and she was with a winged horse all day. The only water around was meant for drinking and not bathing. Naturally, she wasn't going to smell of roses.

The blue haired lord decided just to enjoy what little time he would have with her in his arms. Perhaps this wouldn't happen again. He held her a little tighter and focused his eyes ahead. There was something in the distance. Yes, the village was there, but there was a group of bandits coming down from the mountain, or at least he thought, he couldn't really see.

"You see that?" Hector said. Florina said nothing, but handed him the torch. He lit it quickly and placed one of is arms around Florina's waist. He still wasn't used to traveling this way. He could easily see the bandits closing in. The lord knew he could take them easily, but he couldn't maneuver the terrain.

"Florina, drop me off at the village. Can you hold of the bandits? At least until the towns people get their defenses up," he asked. She nodded and griped her sword. The pegasus knight landed just in front of the village gates and helped Hector get off Huey. She then disappeared into the fog.

Hector wasted no time, running across the misty field for the town. It must have been market day, for as he made it to the cobble stone streets, there were all manner of people out and about. No, wait Eliwood had said something about their being much preparation for the festivities of Prince Zephiel's birthday. Then Hector felt rather upset because no one had done anything like this for his birthday. In Ostia they weren't impressed by growing a year older, but take out a guy twice your size and then they were astounded. Why was he in this town again? When he didn't get enough sleep, his short term memory was affected…

"Young man, are you here gadding about for a reason?" an older man asked. Hector snapped back to reality.

"Yes! Your village is going to be ambushed by bandits. My friend is holding them off, but you need to be ready incase there's another wave coming," the young lord told him. The man looked alarmed.

"Well, you heard the boy! Prepare for the worst!" he shouted to the others. As people began scurrying, the man turned back to Hector.

"Now, I can tell you're probably part of some big fancy mercenary group," he said. "We don't have much in terms of money, so as a reward for helping us, please take this Silence Staff. Give it to some cleric you think is special."

With that the older man winked and set about giving orders. Hector wanted to say that he absolutely would not be the one to give the staff to Serra, that was just like asking for death. With his assignment accomplished he left the town, and as he left the gates slammed shut behind him.

Florina was flying toward him with three stray bandits following her throwing hand axes her way. She dodged these with almost no effort, but the fact that they dared to try and hurt her made Hector's sleep deprived mind unusually unsettled. He charged into battle zeroing in on one enemy grunt and cleaving his head off. The man's blood stained the grass as the other two surrounded Hector. The lord could see Florina doubling back to help, but he was more than confident he could handle this.

The pair of thugs were no match for him. As Hector sank his deadly axe into the shoulder of one man, the other prepared to attack. What his assailant didn't expect was for Hector to remove his weapon so quickly and brashly after his friend had been struck. One good thing about the Ostian lord's unorthodox fighting style was it was near impossible to predict.

Florina landed beside him speechless as always. He smiled as she held out a vulnerary to him. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to adjust if she started talking to him, her silent communications were so endearing.

"So…what do you say we go catch up with the others?" he suggested. "I can walk back if you don't want me so close to you again."

Florina blushed profusely again and started to say something. He decided to let her stutter a bit and downed some of the bottle she had given him. She had stopped trying to speak as he went to her side and handed her back her vulnerary. The girl let out a loud audible sigh as she put it back in her pouch.

"So, walking it is?" he said. There was a long silence, Hector swore he could hear the mist swirling. Or maybe that was what was left of his lucidity floating away. He was dead tired and that small skirmish just magnified it. It was a sudden burst of anger and energy that he simply wasn't ready for. Maybe Mark knew that he was practically useless when tired so the tactician sent the two of them on a slightly quieter mission. That didn't matter, Hector was enjoying the look of Florina's beet red face that burned clearly through the fog. She shook her head and patted the space behind her. Hector took that to mean, "Take a seat."

He climbed on the pegasus and held Florina's waist as they took off. It would be a good ten to fifteen minutes getting back. That was plenty of time for a nap. He closed his eyes as Florina's long wisps of hair brushed against his face. He would forever love this smell, her smell. It was of valor, blood, metal, pegasus, hay, grass, mud and fog; everything he could relate to. Except pegasii, he had only a small and vague idea about them. Maybe he'd get a better idea of what they were all about if he asked Fiora more questions.

Hector dropped off mere moments after, and as his sleep got deeper, he ended up resting his forehead against the back of Florina's neck. He was almost certain that he would never be like this with her again, and it was a shame he had to spend the last minutes of it sleeping.


Hector was nudged awake by Florina before they made it back to the others. He was surprised to find that he was resting on her shoulder, meaning he had his cheek plastered to her shoulder armor. He sat up, groggily, the side of his face was a little sticky with sweat. The lord could see the army clearly; Oswin and Fiora had the leader of the Black Fang members cornered, and ready for interrogation. The man was a sword master, and blond. Hector was too tired to really pay attention to what Eliwood said to him as the battle began to wind down. Something about how no one here was truly evil, seeing as how the Black Fang tried to keep the villagers out of harm's way.

Hector knew that statement was a lie. Serra was in their ranks, so therefore there was some evil among their group at least. The blue haired lord knew that his only getting a few hours of sleep was really getting to him. After the Black Fang withdrew, Hector tried to find a quiet place to sleep.

"Oh, Hector!" a female voice sang. He didn't even need to guess that it was Serra. She always showed up when she wasn't wanted.

"I'm so mad at you!" she pouted as she stuck out her bottom lip. Hector was in no mood to play games, but it was too late to get out if it now.

"Why, what ever did I do to you?" he asked.

"You stole my friend! You took Florina away on a romantic rendezvous in the fog," the cleric replied. "You even took my spot on Huey's back. The nerve!"

"We were just sent to get some staff for you," he grumbled. Serra's interest was peaked.

"Really? You both are so grateful that I got you together you're rewarding my thoughtfulness with a gift?" she said. "You both are so sweet!"

"We're not together Serra. I don't know where you come up with these things," Hector snapped.

"Well, you had your arms around her so protectively and she was so red…" Serra commented. "I only drew a few conclusions."

"I was holding on to her because I got dizzy while I was up in the air and she was blushing because obviously she wasn't comfortable with it," the lord explained.

"I don't know. You two look cute together. It'd be fun to have Florina as my lady I think," she said. Hector narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth. What was she trying to say?

"Serra…" he said through clenched teeth.

"What? You don't like Florina?" the pink haired cleric said tossing her pigtails.

"Of course I like Florina," Hector replied.

"You like Florina?" another female voice chimed in. Hector was almost horrified as Lyn came up from behind him. How did girls do that? They appeared out of nowhere and jump into conversations without skipping a beat!

"That was out of context," he tried to explain.

"So, you don't like my friend?" Lyn said crossing her arms and furrowing her brow. Hector sighed, he was really exhausted now and this was getting frustrating really fast.

"I don't hate Florina at all. She's a sweet girl, I like her well enough. As a friend, of course," he clarified. He'd rather not have Lyn and Serra know he felt any more for Florina than was necessary.

"I really need to go…talk to Merlinus about my weaponry," he said. With that he took off. Man was he tired, and now he was even more edgy and irritated. He went straight for his tent and sat down. He rubbed his eyes and let out a loud yawn. Things were finally starting to wind down and he put his feet up and lay back on his cot. He stared up at the cloth ceiling of the tent. How was he going to talk to Florina?

Eliwood entered the tent shortly after and tilted his head to one side in confusion.

"Hector, what are you doing sleeping so early in the day?" the red haired lord asked.

"Eliwood, I'm tired. I had a lot of trouble sleeping," Hector said. "It's mostly because of my dreams."

"Dreams, huh? Was Florina in any of them?" Eliwood teased. Hector snorted.

"I get, I get it. Payback for waking you up this morning. I refuse to answer that question. But one of them…well if I tell you, you have to promise not to laugh," he said.

"Well, all right," Eliwood answered, a little worried about where this was going.

"There was a man who looked a lot like my father with a really long beard," the blue haired lord began. "He had a little girl on his shoulders and I think she called him 'Father' or something. He responded, 'Yes, my darling daughter.' It wasn't much but it was like a long lost memory."

"What color was the girl's hair?" Eliwood asked.

"Huh…Blue," Hector answered.

"And the man's hair?"

"Also blue."

Eliwood smirked, "That my dear friend was a vision of your own future."

The red haired man chuckled, "A big beard…"

"You laughed," Hector growled. "Well I don't think I like my future."

"Well…come on, Hector! Maybe a beard will really suit you…" Eliwood said.

"No, that's not why. I mean a boy with red hair comes later and takes her away," he told his friend. He then shot Eliwood a slight glare, and the Pharean waved his hands in defense.

"Hey, hey…now there's plenty of people with red hair! Maybe it's…Kent and Lyn's son in your dream!" Eliwood added quickly.

"Kent and Lyn?" Hector said quizzically. "Why do they like each other or something?"

"Like is an understatement," the Pharean lord replied.

"You're trying to distract me, aren't you," Hector snapped. "I'm sure it was your son. And I'll not give up my daughter."

"It couldn't be…" Eliwood protested.

"Why? He doesn't have green hair like Ninian?" the Ostian lord said. Eliwood blushed and looked to one side.

"Don't say things like that…I…Ninian and I are having a little bit of a rough spot," he confessed. Hector raised an eyebrow.

"You having trouble with the ladies? Not you, 'sweet and sensitive' Eliwood," Hector said.

"She just…she won't tell me what makes her so upset and sad. All I want to do is sweep her troubles away," he explained.

"Did you tell her all that?" Hector asked.

"Of course I did. It just…she won't tell me," Eliwood said. Hector sighed.

"Wish I knew what to do so I could help you. I'm having my own problems with women," he told Eliwood.

"Florina still won't talk to you?" the red haired lord asked. The both met eyes and let out a collective sigh.

"Well, no use in moping about it. We should do something about our problems," Hector declared.

"Such is the Ostian way," Eliwood commented.

"Is there any other way to solve a problem?" the blue haired lord asked.

"Not really," his friend admitted. "So what are you going to do?"

"I need to sleep first," Hector said. Eliwood shook his head. His friend certainly had his priorities.


An hour or two later, Hector was thoroughly rested. He left the tent and began to wander around in hopes of seeing Florina. After some time walking, and much dodging all women he happened to see, he decided to hide in the stable for a while. At least then there was a three in eight chance of a woman coming and of the three women, two were people he could tolerate. Though Pricilla, for all her well meaning intentions and seemingly unassuming demeanor was a serious gossip.

He entered the stable, found Huey's stall, folded his arms and rested them on top of the railing. Placing his chin on his folded arms, he stared at the white pegasus.

"So…Florina spends hours brushing and talking to you," he began. Hector was a little mad at himself. He was reduced to talking to a flying horse, but he had to start somewhere.

"You must know the key to getting to her heart. She tells you everything and I'm sure she loves you more than me," the lord continued. "So what's the big secret?"

Huey seemed to be staring him down, scrutinizing him more than Lyn or Fiora ever could. Hector was starting to get unnerved, when Oswin and Fiora walked in. They were obviously talking about something else, but upon seeing Hector all speaking stopped. They all stared at each other for a while, before Fiora broke the ice.

"Lord Hector? I didn't think you were seriously that interested in pegasii, but you proved me wrong," Fiora said. Hector was very curious as to why she was with Oswin. It seemed they were always together somehow. Why was it that everyone who had it in for him seemed to join forces?

"Fiora…shall we continue our conversation later? I have some business to talk over with Lord Hector," Oswin told her. Fiora nodded and bowed to Hector before talking her leave. Hector gazed sullenly up at Huey. Oswin hadn't had a look on his face like that since Uther tried to force him to explain the birds and the bees to Hector. That only served to make him scarred for life.

"Lord Hector, it has become very apparent to me that you have a strong attraction to the young Florina," the knight began. Hector rolled his eyes. He was very sure Eliwood hadn't breathed a word to anyone. However, Matthew had his way of hearing everything Hector said and Matthew told Serra a lot of things and there was no way he was keeping this to himself. Of course, Serra was never quiet and she probably mentioned it to Lyn or Fiora, both of whom probably thought he was all wrong for Florina and told Oswin to do something about. Now, here was Gloomy Oswin to rain on his parade.

"I know that face. Lord Hector, I'm not here to rain on your parade," Oswin told him. "I actually think you both are very good for each other."

"If all that's true, why won't she talk to me?" Hector grumbled.

"Why haven't you talked to her?" the older man asked.

"I do talk to her, Oswin! She just never speaks. I don't see why. It's obvious I want her with me," Hector explained. Oswin laughed.

"What's so funny?" Hector snapped.

"Lord Hector, try to see things from her point of view," the knight began. "She's already shy around people, men especially. You are a very loud, pushy, big and strong man. Naturally she's intimidated. To top it off you're a lord."

"What does that have to do with anything?" the lord snapped.

"My lord, that has everything to do with this situation. There's a certain measure of caution warranted in this matter. It's a huge gamble for a vassal to fall in love with a person above their station," Oswin told him. "Don't tell me you didn't know this?"

"I don't see what the big deal is. We're all people, and we all deserve to love who ever we want," Hector replied.

"It's easy for you to say such things. You're a noble of Ostia, people will think twice about speaking against you. Though they probably will, but never to your face. Florina faces a different challenge from you. She will be scrutinized and torn apart with words," the knight said.

"Ostians don't care about things like birth and rank," Hector retorted. "It's all about what you can do."

"On the contrary, my lord, I feel you are only half right," Oswin asserted. "True, the lords of Ostia care more about what a person has done, especially on the battlefield. They'll probably prefer Florina, a seasoned warrior to a woman who is simply married to you as a trophy. Florina would breed more strong fighters, you see."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Hector interjected.

"My point is, that Florina won't always be in your company or in the company of the lords. She will have to face the ladies of both Ostia and of all Lycia. And they don't always value a woman's prowess with a spear and sword."

"That's a very broad statement Oswin. The women are exposed to plenty of female warriors. It's not fair to assume that they wouldn't value—"

"Lord Hector, think of all the times you went with your mother to meet with the Lycian ladies when you were younger. Think of all the women you have known who are warriors. How many are of nobility?"

Hector sighed, and tried to find any exception, "Only Lyn."

"And she grew up not knowing she was a noble. Hector, the world of women, especially those of nobility is a very different animal. I'm not saying Florina has looked far enough in the future to see herself in the Ostian court, but the fact that you are a noble and it is simply not her place to even have feelings for you is most likely a major part in her hesitating to talk to you."

Hector nodded sullenly, "I see."

"If you'll excuse me, I'll take my leave," Oswin said with a bow. The older man left the stable, leaving Hector alone with Huey. The lord glanced up at the pegasus.

"Did you get all that?" he asked it. "Apparently, being a lord makes me suddenly godly and untouchable. I don't care about anything except the fact that she is Florina and I love her. Everything else we can work out as it comes."

Huey snorted and nudged his arm. Why did Hector suddenly understand what this thing was trying to say?

"I already said Ihave tried to talk to her. You were there! She just won't talk to me!" Hector snapped. "What am I doing wrong?"

Huey snorted and rested his muzzle on the door of his stall. Hector sighed and shook his head. What was he going to do? He heard a few light footsteps and a gasp. He turned to the stable's entrance to see Florina.

Hector smiled and waved, "Hey, Florina."

She flushed, bowed, mumbled something then turned on her heel and ran. Hector grumbled something about how he knew that was going to happen. Women and love were getting more and more frustrating with each day. Why was he doing this again? The smell of Florina's hair and the memory of holding her in his arms crossed his mind. Yeah…that was why.


Well…that was a chapter. Maybe someone will like it. Feel free to give criticism and stuff. I do a lot of research (yes, research) in doing these fics, but if you see something inaccurate, please say so! Especially in characterization or plot flow. I'll never get better if no one says anything.

I was debating about which version of that chapter to use (the one with Wallace or Geitz). I chose the Wallace chapter just because…well I like Wallace and fog is cool.