FE Frog: Woah, that's a quick update! And to make matters BETTER, I have TWO battles in here (well, two that I take part in. One happened when... you'll find out).

Thank-you to the following reviewers:

bballdabcer14
spygirly
jojobevco
FoxwolfJackson

I hope I get some more reviewers here... Oh, and this is probably the last update for AT LEAST 2 weeks. My sis and I are headed down to the cottage. I don't know if my Oma has wireless, but if she does, I'll be writing! (But not posting... hmph) I almost have chapter 11 down! During the summer, you hardly have a life, anyway, and it's been non-stop rain lately. Oh, and spygirly, if you do ahve a new chapter that needs editing, then I'll be able to get it done down there! I'll just sneak onto my Oma's laptop.

Well! Enjoy!


The merchants that just happened to be there (probably came when I was out) and gave me a new iron sword, although I was able to use steel now. They also gave me an iron bow. Still need practice with that.

The rain outside didn't help much. It turned the dirt under us to sticky, icky mud. That was especially bad for Titania and Oscar's horses.

"Meia..." Mia came up behind me, "Are you gonna be okay this time?"

I nodded slowly, "We'll see." Although, the fact that I had to kill was a little disturbing. Sure I'd killed one guy before that night we fled, but it was an emergency and I was barely aware of it. Question is... Can I kill on my own accord? Answer: Probably not.

I took a deep breath and unsheathed the blade that hung at my hip. This was gonna be interesting. Luckily there were probably no spiders out right now, but the mosquitoes were already eating me alive.

Ike stood by the entrance for the time being, talking with Soren on the best strategy. Eventually, he turned to us and assigned us a spot. Let's say we're looking down on the map, remember this one?

Alright. Mia, Oscar and I were to head to the left. Ike and Boyd would use their regal sword and hammer on the knights to the right, while Titania would deal with the horsemen down below. Soren and Rhys were backup and would wait in the center.

I headed over to the opening at the left with Mia, pulling out my bow. We'd agreed that Oscar and Mia would do the real fighting and I could pick off the leftovers. Good, hoping that I could pick off the wounded.

Oscar lanced through quite a few, instantly killing most, and Mia was always first to attack, giving her a good advantage. I nocked an arrow and pulled back the string, aiming at some myrmidon that was slowly retreating with a gash in his stomach. I could see him fumbling for a vulnerary. Is it really fair to get a guy when he's down? What a troublesome question. My own hands were shaky. I had the shot, I just needed to release...

The myrmidon fell after being hit with some serious wind. I looked back to see Soren closing his book and sighed, "You know I had that guy!"

"Did you kill him?" the mage sneered. He grinned at my silence, "No. These are Daien soldiers, they deserve no mercy."

I rolled my eyes and ignored him. God he was annoying...

We were doing pretty well. Most of the Daien soldiers were gone by now, but I could've sworn I saw something in the bushes. Of course, I hadn't actually killed anyone, except for the few that were unfortunate enough to attack me. It still gave me goosebumps to think their blood was on my hands now. How else is a 14 year-old supposed to react? I actually KILLED people, not quite murdered, since they brought it onto themselves, but... I shivered at the thought.

Mia and Oscar went up ahead to deal with some knights, while I just stayed back in case a few rogue Daiens came in. I was wiping my blade of blood when I saw, out of the corner of my eye, some movement. TWO myrmidons came up the steps, right at me! I dropped the rag I was using, and just barely cut one's arm. The man dropped his sword, grabbing at the wound while his companion swung at me. The attack came as a surprise to me, and as such, the swordsman caught me off-guard, slicing open my back. Ow, damnit... That hurt. I collapsed to the ground, unable to do much. The standing soldier raised his blade, ready to finish me off when... Ew. The tip of a steel lance protruded from the guy's chest. I guess Oscar left the knights to Mia, then and decided to come and save me.

As happy as I was I was saved, if I were to lose any more blood, I was as good as dead. My vision blurred, and just before my consciousness gave, a blue light filled the sky. Maybe I'll be joining the curs where ever they were going...

This time, I awoke to sunlight pouring through the window. The bed was different as well, plush and... expensive? Okay, either I'm dead or just...

I looked around the room. Stone walls still, but nicer stone. Different stone. My sister Christiana would be able to tell me what kind, but I never paid enough attention. I decided on thinking back. Okay, so there was the battle, and then those two myrmidons. One of them practically killed me, and as far as I knew, I wasn't dead. Not like I knew what death was really like, but I doubt the people in heaven- or hell- gave you bandages for wounds.

I ran a hand through my dirty hair. How long had it been since I last had a shower? Ew. My whole body felt gross and, well, like I hadn't had a bath in FOREVER.

I stood up on shaky legs, I swear I'm missing out on a little too much lately. Oh, and fainting. After steadying myself, I made my way to a room of what looked like a bathroom. Water was already in the bath. Nice. It also smelled vaguely like... roses? How pleasant!

"Meia?" Mist's voice carried into the small bathroom as I was about to get ready. She poked her head in, "Oh, hello! I should check you out first." she pulled out a staff, "Rhys could only use his heal staff on you, and then it even went out. We only just arrived at the Palace this morning."

I nodded, "Alright. How is everyone?"

"Alive. You were our only possible casualty." she smiled at me, carefully unwinding the bandages, "Looks like you've healed pretty well! Do you want any help?"

"No," I felt the water. It was warm, "I can take a bath on my own, but thanks for asking."

The girl waved, "Well, come down when you're done. I hear dinner is almost ready. Bye!"

A nice bath later and I was on my way down to...

"Excuse me?" I asked a passing cat-woman.

The blonde feline narrowed her eyes at me, "Well, if it isn't the pathetic one. I see you're better."

I blinked, "Er... yeah. Where's the mess-hall?"

The purple-eyed laguz snorted, "You hum-... beorc," she gave me a fake smile, but it quickly changed, "and your barbaric terms. The dining room is this way. I was headed there myself. Please follow."

I sighed, "Alright then."

The cat lead me into a large room with 4 tables to scale. The other mercenaries were seated around one of them, while some laguz were sitting uncomfortably at the others. I was glad to be out of the laguz woman's presence and scurried to Mia's side.

Mia was glad to see me, "Meia! Yay! I'm so glad you're better!"

I smiled sheepishly, "Yeah..." then I turned to see the laguz, who were sneering and making snide comments. I whispered to Mia, "Is it just me or do the laguz hate us?"

"It's not just you." someone said into my ear, which caused me to jump from my seat. Mia laughed as I turned to face the person. Two mis-matched eyes looked at me, a smile appearing below them. The man sat down beside me, "Most of us can't seem to forget things that are over and done with."

My heart was still thumping as I examined him further. Two blue ears stuck out of his azure hair. He wore a brown, sleeve-less shirt and a matching hat thing. A tail the color of his hair swished below the bench. I let out a long breath, "D'you mind? You really scared me there."

The laguz turned his head to me once more. He arched an azure eyebrow, "Aren't you the girl from the forest?"

I cocked my head, "Are you the cat that carried me back?"

"That I am! Captain Ranulf, but you can just call me by my name." he held out a hand, waiting for me to shake.

"Meia. Useless one of the Greil Mercenaries." I had to laugh as we shook.

Mia sighed, "You're not useless. It wasn't fair that we left you back there all alone." she leaned over, "By the way, I'm Mia."

"Confusing. A Meia and a Mia..." the cat filled his plate with several different kinds of meat. I felt a little self-conscious with that one, I just had a little chicken along with more than half my plate filled with salad.

Mia giggled, "I never thought of it that way!"

I slowly started eating, "So... Is it a habit of yours to rescue helpless beorc women?"

Ranulf almost choked on the... steak? he was eating. After a little pounding at his chest he answered, "No. At least, not usually. I just saw Greil being murdered, and the blue-haired one pretty much forgot about you. I excused myself from the presence of the King to-"

"Wait!" Mia held up her hands, "You were there? With the King?"

The cat blinked, "Yeah."

The swords-woman nudged me with her elbow suggestively. I swatted at her arm and gave her a brief glare.

"As I was saying..." I saw him smile again, "Who can help rescuing a pretty girl just lying there."

My face flushed; Mia let out a cough that vaguely sounded like a combination of a laugh and an 'I told you'.

Ranulf leaned into me and whispered, "Is your friend alright?"

"Yeah," I smashed my heel into her foot, receiving a pained yelp, "she's just being silly."

"Okaaaaaaay... Well, I'm gonna go back to my own table now, alright?" Ranulf picked up and left.

I glared at Mia, "You even scare the laguz! I can't believe you!"

The purple-haired girl just had to grin, "He sooooo likes you."

"What the hell? I barely even know the guy! And for God's sake, Mia, he's a LAGUZ!"

My hopeless friend just shrugged, "Hey, he said you were pretty."

The group was going to head out tomorrow by the sounds of it. 3 laguz warriors were to accompany us on our way to the Port: Lethe (the evil cat I met before), Mordecai and Ranulf. Apparently Ranulf already had our transportation planned. A boat at Port Toha would bring us south, then east towards Begnion. Simple? I wish. 2 months at sea was not what I had in mind.

Mia bounced into my room, "I can't believe we're leaving already!" she landed on the end of my bed.

I wiped my nose with a handkerchief for the 50th time, "I know, but I can't wait."

My green-eyed friend looked at me carefully, "Why are your eyes all puffy? You sound like you have a cold!"

I groaned, "I'm allergic to cats." That got her going. Mia was on the floor laughing within seconds. I put my hands on my hips, "It's not funny!"

"Hah hah hah! Oh Goddess..." she wiped the tears from her eyes, "So much for that Ranulf guy."

"You're still going on about that?" I blew my nose, making Mia let out a little burst of laughter each time, "I swear, Mia... I don't even know why I'm friends with you anymore."

"Huh?" she made a pouty face.

"You know I don't mean it like that." I sighed and lay back on my bed, "You should get to bed."

"I should." followed by silence.

"Are you still there?"

"Yeah."

"Good night."

"Oh." Mia got up and left, saying one last thing before closing the door, "Good night."

King Caineghis was nice enough to lend us several tents, one per member of our mini-army, and about two extra. Oh yeah, definitely gonna help. Meh, at least we didn't have to sleep on bedrolls out in the open. I still preferred the palace's commodities.

Mia swung an arm around my shoulders, "It's time to be going!"

"I see that." sure she was my friend and all, but the peppy-ness got on my nerves sometimes, "So... Any new members?"

"Oh, yeah. There's the three laguz..." she began counting them on her fingers, "Uh... the shy mage, Ily, or something like that. Then there's that strange pegasus knight, Marcia... She has a thing for crackers."

I nodded, albeit a bit skeptically, "Sure. Oh, and the mage is Ilyana."

"I don't care WHAT her name is, she ate all the dessert last night!" Yeah, that was a problem. Apparently she got hungry after everything on the table was gone and wandered around. They had to get a lion and two tigers to pull her out. Haaaah... At that point, there was no food left for us. That gave the laguz yet another reason to hate us.

I chuckled, "She is a bit strange, isn't she."

"Too bad she doesn't talk to anyone..." Mia slouched forward, "I wonder if she's interesting."

"Probably will only ask you for food."

"Probably."

"Helloooooooooo!" an arm landed on both of our shoulders.

I looked between Mia and I to see Boyd, a stupid grin on his face and a faraway look in his eyes, "Uh... Can we help you?"

Mia gave me that 'what-the-hell-is-he-doing?' look.

Boyd's grin only got wider, "Suuuuuuuuuuuuure."

I sniffed. Alcohol. "Boyd... How can you be drinking in the morning?"

That's when Rolf came up. He nearly paled when he saw Boyd, "Oh, Goddess! I'm sorry! One of the tigers escorting us to the border," the King had sent a few more to ensure a safe passage, "claimed that beorc had weak stomachs. Boyd challenged the guy to a drinking match. They're both drunk"

Mia grimaced, "What idiots."

"Exactly what I thought." the drunk man's kid-brother lead Boyd away, who was spewing off random words... Ones that would be mentally scarring if I were to reveal them.

Mia shook her head, "I can't believe that guy."

"Hey, you haven't been stuck with him for the past two or three weeks." I huffed.

"I've been around enough to know he's an idiot."

"Oh, he's more than that."

Ike decided to take a detour to one of the forts along the way, one that he was informed held Crimean soldiers.

I stopped by Muston's to pick up some new equipment. He had just gotten some steel swords in, and I bought two with the bit of cash I was making (oh, and the company paid for most of it) I also bought a vulnerary. Always good to be careful!

Mia joined me at the entrance. A strange man in brown met with Ike, and apparently joined. We were told to be as silent as possible.

That didn't last long.

Reinforcements came in from the rear, and I finally got the courage to kill some. It wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be. Hey, I'll be doing this a lot. The trick is... don't let it faze you. (I hope you don't think I actually do have experience... I'm just making this bit up!)

The people that stayed behind -Mia, Lethe, Soren(bleh), Rolf and I- made our way up to help with the other soldiers that had just newly joined the fight. Volke, on the other hand, went ahead to pick the locks, of course he charged for each one. Bastard.

The battle ended pretty quickly-ish. I was just happy I was able to do the job of a mercenary properly. But, what did that make me? Yeah, a killer. Small price to pay... at least in this world it was.

Mist came to heal up my few wounds (yes! Finally a battle I didn't get hurt! Or hurt somebody...). "You're getting much stronger, you know." the cleric said, finishing off her routine healing.

"So are you, eh?" I smiled, "How've you been on the battlefield? That was the first time I ever saw you in action."

Mist shrugged nonchalantly, "I'm not dead, am I? I guess I've done well. What can a cleric really do other than healing anyway?"

"Touché."

The cleric was silent for a moment, "Do you... think maybe you could teach me how to use a sword sometime?"

"I'd love to, but don't you think maybe Ike should teach you? He's your brother, after all."

Mist sighed, "He never has any time for me anymore."

"Well, why don't we wait a bit, eh? Don't forget, even I'm being trained still." I smiled at her, "I ain't no pro yet."

"You just contradicted yourself."

"Don't you have other people to heal?"

"Right!" she turned quickly, "See ya around!"

I rolled my eyes, "At least she's not as annoying anymore... Instead she's turning into a little smart a-"

"Ah, well if it isn't the useless mercenary!"

I spun around to see the blue feline from before, "Oh... Ranulf. Hey!"

Ranulf smiled, "Sorry I haven't been around. That friend of yours scares me." he looked around cautiously, as if she would pop out of nowhere.

I laughed, "Mia has that effect on some people."

Ranulf chuckled as well, but did soon recompose himself, "You know, you're different from other beorc I've met."

"You're different to, eh?" I countered, "From other laguz I've met, that is. They're all like Lethe, holding a grudge against us because of our race." Reminds me of my own world.

"Yeah, well... The King has been tying to teach the new generation of laguz that beorc are nice, but the older ones can't help but remember the past." again, reminds me of my own world.

I began heading towards the tent wagon, to pick up my tent. So far, I was on my own. That was probably gonna change, "That frame of mind is all too familiar. I swear, not all of us humans are like that. Do you think the poor of us could afford, let alone house a slave? Money changes people. It changes people in a bad way, even. The nobles were the only ones who had slaves, right?"

"Wow... You have a very valid point there. I doubt many have thought of it that way." Ranulf put a hand to his chin.

"Well, there's just too much of that everywhere. The nobles even treat fellow humans like crap."

"Why do you keep calling yourself that? Human. It's such a barbaric term."

I almost laughed, "It's only a crude word when you give that name to me, right? Is calling yourself a sub-human rude?" I picked up my tent, a LARGE bundle that was hard to carry.

"Let me carry that for you." the cat offered.

"Thanks!" nothing like a personal pet. Whoa... next thing I know, I'll be petting the kitty Dr. Evil style. Mwahahahahaha... ehem.

"I've never met anyone like you." Ranulf said, throwing the bundle over his back. God, he looked scrawny, but this dude was pure muscle.

"Is that a complement?" Hey, I couldn't help but ask. I threw in a flirtatious smile. As much as I'd refuse to admit it, that was just how I rolled.

"Hmm... I'll have to give that some thought." the cat joked.

We continued walking and talking. Good thing he wasn't a complete fur-ball, otherwise I'd be sneezing like crazy. He was actually really nice! Unlike the other laguz I'd met. Some even deserved the name 'sub-human', but I wouldn't sink that low. I'm too nice for that... Heh heh.

Ranulf officially got the 'sweet-heart' status by helping me pitch the tent. I'll tell you one thing, it ain't a one-man job.

It was around dinner time when Mia approached me, exasperated by the looks of it.

"Meia! I found you!" she huffed and puffed (but didn't get to blowing the house down).

"Yo..." I cocked my head, "You okay?"

"That Kieran guy stole my tent! Can I bunk with you? Pleeeeeeease?" she got on her knees, hands clasped together. How could I refuse?

"Fine. I knew it would come to this eventually..."

"Yay!" the myrmidon jumped up, throwing her arms around me, "That's why I love you!"

"Yeah, yeah. Nice to know. Would you get off of me?"

Mia did as told, "Anything else?" This could be useful... Mwahahahahaha! Hey, I need my kitty!


FE Frog: Well, at least I have some humor in there! I told you I'd end up making up for it, not to mention how LONG the chapter was! Oh, and sure Mia suggested that I've got an admirer, but didn't I say there would be no romance? It was the just for the sake of... humor? I don't even know if that was funny or not. Whatever. Well, review!