Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem or anything associated with it.

A/N: Welcome to the twelfth chapter of Blue Wolf! As usual, please enjoy, make sure you favorite it 'cause it's your favorite, and I'll see y'all at the end of the chapter! On with the story!

"Hm..."=Regular talk

'Hm…'= thinking

"Hmmm…"=AncientLanguage/exaggeration/timeskip/meanwhile/etc./action/onamottapeia/I'm done

"Farewell! May your journey be safe!" the prince of Goldoa, Kurthnaga wished to them, waving goodbye as the ship set sail once again to the theocracy of Begnion. Ike and Khimari waved back to him, grateful about what he did to make sure that they would have a good trip, and for getting them out of quite the funk with the ship getting stuck in the reef and everything. As the lands of Goldoa faded out of sight, Ike turned to Khimari with an eyebrow raised, and the wolf already knew what was soon to come.

"The prince lives on, eh?" he quoted from the dragon, causing said wolf prince to sigh and hang his head back for a second, before refocusing his eyes on his surrogate brother.

"Try to get comfy, because this is going to be one heck of some explanation," Khimari said, and Ike mentally prepared himself for what was coming next as the wolf began his answer. "Back in Gallia, I told you that the wolves left months before I was born, right?" he asked, eliciting a nod from the other blue-head. "See, the thing about that is, mom and Ranulf were mates, and they had a time to…relieve stress before they were forced apart. My mom, being the wolf queen, was forced to separate and leave Dad back in Gallia in order to guide her people to a new land, which eventually came to be Hatari. When mom and the wolves left, she might not have even been pregnant for a month," the prince said.

"Wow, and the other news?" Ike queried.

"…Maybe we should make sure we aren't heard for this particular news. Is anyone in your room?" Khimari mentioned, greatly confusing the swordsman.

"No…everyone's in the mess hall right now," he answered, and the two then departed to the commander's room for an important talk. Khimari opened the door, and left it open for Ike who closed it behind him, making sure that no one was eavesdropping on the two, not that anyone would do it. "Now, what's so important that you have to talk to me alone and behind closed doors?"

"Mist's medallion," Khimari told him, leading Ike's face to adopt a look of confusion.

"That old thing? What does it have to do with anything?" he asked, oblivious to the legend surrounding the object.

"Didn't you ever wonder why Commander Greil never let anyone touch it?" the Laguz asked, leading Ike to wonder.

"Yeah…It was something that he never talked about, and he would always slap my hand away the second I even tried to touch it. To be honest, I thought it was just Mist being petty, but apparently it means something more, considering you have to be alone to tell me," Ike noted, leading Khimari to nod before heading over to Mist's things and carefully took out the piece of cloth that covered the medallion. "What…are you doing?" he asked cautiously, seeing as Khimari seemed to be entranced by the medallion.

"See Ike, King Caineghis told me all about it. If anyone without a certain balance of peace and order touches it, they get driven insane by chaos, and a shroud of blue light surrounds them," the wolf explained, while unwrapping the medallion, revealing the old bronze object.

"Wait, then why are-" Ike started to raise his voice, getting worried if Khimari touched the medallion and went on a rampage like he had told the swordsman. Khimari was easily one of, if not the strongest person on the ship to his knowledge, and him losing control would just about spell the end for everyone. Quickly getting up, Ike tried to get Khimari's hand away from the medallion, only to be in vain as the Laguz already touched. The Beorc looked on in wonder as Khimari was engulfed in the aforementioned light, slowly taking form of the wolf.

"Don't worry about me, I'm not going insane anytime soon," he reassured with a smile, standing up as the aura got darker. "This…happened to me when I fought the Black Knight…When I was with Dad in Gallia," he added, getting Ike's attention even more.

"What? But you told me that-"

"I never finished the story," Khimari interjected. "See, after the Black Knight was standing over me, a rush of memories flew through my head, one by one until I got a picture of a girl crying…That was when the light burst out of me and I got up to fight the knight again," the wolf continued, making Ike's eyes go wide. "Don't worry, I never went insane; I just felt like…someone was right next to me. I was stronger, I faster, I could think clearer, it's like…I got a blessing."

"A blessing?" Ike echoed, not sure where this is going.

"Yes, it's the only thing that could explain me being able to pierce the knight's armor…" Khimari murmured, his mind going back to the moment when he came back from near death to fight the knight.

"What! You hurt him!?" Ike shouted, nearly grabbing Khimari's shoulders before reminding himself that he probably shouldn't touch him, just to minimize the chances of him being overcome with chaos and madness. "How?" he asked, calming himself down to a more reasonable level.

"He didn't tell you? Only weapons that are blessed by the goddess Ashera can pierce his armor, like the golden sword he used against me, for example," Khimari mentioned, making Ike's eyes go wide. Going over to his own things, he shuffled through a few things, before pulling out a golden sword, so clean that Khimari could see his own reflection as Ike showed the sword to him.

"That's the sword…" Khimari muttered, to Ike's bewilderment. "Where…How'd you get it?"

"The night father was murdered, the Black Knight threw this sword at him, and told him to use it. He refused, and he died. The knight never did come back to get the sword, so I just took it," he explained, getting a nod from the Laguz.

"Hm…" Khimari hummed as he thought, closing his eyes to wonder about the new revelations. If Ike had a weapon that could damage the Black Knight, he would have to learn how to use it, and he would have to be great at it. "Bring that sword for training. I think you'll end up using that sword for a long time," he predicted.

"Okay, I will," Ike agreed, before something else crossed his mind. "So…now we're in the presence of the royalty of two kingdoms, I can only wonder what's going to happen next," Ike mused as the wolf put the medallion back where Mist had it, the blue glow flowing away from Khimari as he closed the drawer before giving the Beorc a dirty look.

"You know I hate being fussed over, and that's all they do with princes and princesses and all that crap. I can help people and beat down others all by myself, without some annoying creep-o with a big moustache and a cape," Khimari said. "Besides, I'd hate to be in some stuffy castle for all of my life, no battles, no adventure, not even a chance to hunt…" he listed as he shuddered at the thought of a life like that.

"Ok, we see you don't like it, now keep quiet before Princess Elincia starts doubting herself," Ike joked. "You aren't going to be in some castle being bored with stuffy old nobles…Lord Khimari," he ended, preparing himself as Khimari's eye started to twitch.

"You'd better be glad we have to keep vigilance at all times after that raven attack, or else you would be next on my prank list…" Khimari threatened. "Speaking of pranks, I haven't done one in a while," he noted, much to Ike's concern.

"And you won't," Ike finished. "The bathroom still needs to finished getting cleaned after that last…prank," he said, trying not to shudder at the prison sword prank being brought back to life.

"Aww, why not?" Khimari pouted, much like a little kid would. "It's not my fault Kieran ended up pooping on the floor. He should have ran faster," he commented, making Ike sigh in exasperation.

"Dirty bathrooms and knights with diarrhea aside," Ike said, eliciting a laugh from Khimari. "How many people know about you being a prince? Everyone, not just the ones on the ship," the Beorc questioned, leading the wolf to put a finger to the side of his head.

"Let's see…" he muttered. "Obviously, there's you and me, then Lethe and Mordecai know…Umm, I'm pretty sure King Gallia knows, and Dad is the one who told me…Besides that, and it's somewhat possible that Soren, Nasir and/or Nephenee knows," Khimari mentioned, making Ike raise an eyebrow at the last name.

"Soren is a possibility, considering that he reads a lot and would know about that, and Nasir is a Laguz as well, so he may know, but Nephenee?" the Beorc questioned.

"Well, we were hanging out one time, and it slipped out during a conversation with Mordecai that I had. Nephenee was right there, because she needed directions to go to the bathroom, but I'm not sure if she was listening to us or not," the Laguz elaborated, making more sense to Ike, though he couldn't help but be suspicious about the girl that they rescued from Canteus Castle.

"Speaking of Nephenee…Is she the reason that you've been disappearing as of late, or just hanging out with her a lot more than the others?" Ike asked, and if Khimari was nervous or surprised at the accusation, he didn't show it.

"What do you mean?" Khimari returned, carefully guarding the tone in his voice to avoid saying what he felt.

"I mean, you two have gotten along very well, more so than nearly everyone else in the company, and you're always together, not to mention she openly talks to you, something she only does with Brom and sometimes Mia," Ike listed, giving Khimari a chance to capitalize on his mistake.

"Well, we're all roommates, so it makes perfect sense," he defended, using Ike's list of names against him.

"Even then, you're the only one who can convince her to take her helmet off around the ship, something no one has been able to do to this day on this ship, or even came close to, and Mist tried to sneak it off," Ike told, finally getting a reaction out of the wolf, though it wasn't exactly what he thought it would be.

"Mist, sneaking around?" Khimari snorted. "I'm so proud…I knew I taught her well," the Laguz commented, giving himself a mental pat on the back as Ike's patience grew thin at Khimari so easily avoiding his hints at him liking Nephenee. He still had to admit though, the wolf was amazing at avoiding the matter of things, and he was running out of material to use.

"Say…you two have been alone a lot, still. Is there really something we don't know about, or do you two just look at stars on the deck for nothing?" he asked, and saw for a split second some surprise in the Laguz's eyes, though it disappeared as soon as it came.

"…Why are you stalking me? You know I don't go that way, Ike. Besides, we're technically brothers, so-"

"That's not what I meant!" Ike yelled, getting red in the face and more irritated by the second. The mere thought of what Khimari implied Ike was thinking was wrong in so many ways, and the worst part was that it was a trap he fell for. "Just admit it: you like Nephenee!" he finally came and said, leading Khimari to laugh ridiculously hard for a good minute.

"Oh, wow, that was worth it!" he said, wiping a little tear out his eye. "You just completely lost it; you looked like a maniac!" Laughing hysterically, Khimari nearly fell on the floor before Ike tried to put him in a headlock. That didn't work out so well for the Beorc, because Khimari transformed and the next thing Ike knew, his face was getting licked all over.

"Ugh!" he spluttered, dropping the wolf while trying to get the saliva off his face. "That's just nasty!" he yowled, getting the slobber off his face while Khimari was laughing his off. It didn't take long for the drool to get taken off or dry on Ike's face, though he would definitely wash it off later. "You know that stuff doesn't come off!"

"Hey, you were the one interested in me, and now you have a problem? What happened, I wonder?" Khimari fake asked himself, Ike ready to rush the Laguz again, but thinking better of it after the reminder of his tongue on his face. He just settled for a look of embarrassment, face turning so red, a tomato would blush blue. After another quick laugh at the commander's expense, Khimari decided to simmer down and answer Ike's question. "Okay, that was entertaining, so you earned it," he said, making Ike curious about what he possibly could have earned. "I do…have feelings for Nephenee," he admitted, making Ike's eyes go wide.

"So I was right?" Ike asked, not sure if this was a prank or the real thing.

"Yep, you're right. I just can't help but notice how pretty she is when she smiles, and when her helmet's off and everything. She's just shy and afraid of where she came from and what people will treat her like," Khimari sighed, his expression extremely laid-back, yet uncomfortable, which told Ike that he really did have feelings for the country girl.

"Well, at least you don't have to worry about her not liking you back," Ike commented. "She's basically going red every time she sees you."

"I've noticed," he responded, before suddenly glaring daggers at his surrogate brother, making him freeze at the sight. "If you tell anyone about this…ESPECIALLY Boyd, I will make you wish we were killed by the dragons," Khimari threatened, and Ike, who was scared out of his wits, quickly nodded at a speed so fast he thought his head would fly off. "Good!" the wolf chirped, back to his cheerful attitude just like that, confusing Ike and leading him to wonder if the wolf had some sort of mental disorder, or mood swing issues.

Just then, Ike's stomach took the liberty of growling, reminding the two that they haven't ate anything since the morning, really. "Okay, maybe we should get some food before it's all gone," Ike recommended, before the wolf gave a snort.

"Please, we're half of the reason it's gone," he retorted, and Ike knew that it was true; besides Ilyana who's food intake was something blessed by the gods, Ike, Khimari, and Boyd always ate the most at the table, Khimari eating the most, as well as being the only one justified to do it as being an actual beast Laguz, known for their ravenous appetite. Going out of the room, the two came down to the dinner hall where everyone was chatting or eating; in some cases both. Grabbing their plates, the two went to sit down, right next to the girl who came to them today, as well as Nephenee and Brom.

"Hey there," Brom greeted, as the two dug in with their food. Khimari at least had the decency to stop for a second and give a wave before returning to his food, as Ike simply decided to finish his food first before talking. Seeing the two wolf their food down, the country two couldn't help but smile. One plate became two, two became six, and six became eleven before the two blue-headed boys finally finished eating.

"Hey, Brom," Ike finally replied. "How are you doing after that battle?" he asked, before turning to Nephenee. "And you too, since you got wounded pretty badly by that raven…" he added, making Khimari look at Nephenee with some worry, though he tried his best to conceal it.

"Why, we're right as rain, ain't we Nephenee?" Brom answered, to which the mint-head nodded her agreement.

"Y-yeah…" she quietly said, using the shy mask that so many people have come to know her by.

"Well, as long as you're…you two are alright, that's what matters," Khimari responded, nearly slipping in the middle of his sentence, much to his own ire.

"Thank ya," she replied. "Say…I didn't see ya when we we're fightin' them ravens. Where were ya?" she asked the wolf, a very much noticeable difference in how she spoke, and how much more confident she was.

"I was with Kieran protecting Princess Elincia's cabin," he explained. "Guy drove me nuts and made my ears hurt. I truly feel that Oscar should be a saint for dealing with that every day," the Laguz commented, drawing a snicker out of the three. "Don't get me wrong: he's a great person, but…"

"Just a little bit on the crazy side?" Ike finished, Khimari giving a nod to his interpretation. "Then you two should get along great," he jabbed, much to the wolf's annoyance.

"No, he's crazy, I'm just a fun prankster, there's a difference," he defended.

"No, he's crazy, and you're insane," Ike retorted. Silence followed his statement, before Khimari gave a big smile at the Beorc.

"Ike, you won!" he congratulated, giving his brother a pat on the back.

"Wow…" Ike said, feeling very accomplished at what he just did. "I did, didn't I?" he asked himself.

"Yep, now let me add that to the scoreboard," he responded, before pulling out a piece of paper and using his claws to make a little mark on Ike's paper. "And done. Here's your score, Ike," Khimari said, showing the three the paper. It took all of Ike's training not to rip the paper into pieces when he saw the score.

Khimari: 148
Ike: 2

"…" Ike didn't dare say a thing as he just looked at the piece of paper with hate, wishing that it would burst into flames as soon as he laid eyes on it. This garnered a laugh from Brom and Nephenee, as well as a smirk from Khimari.

"Don't worry, you'll get there someday," he encouraged, though it only served to further annoy Ike.

"…I think I'll be going to bed. See you tomorrow," Ike said, before getting up to go to said room. Nearly everyone else was gone, so the three simply decided to converse some more.

"Tell, me, them birds were Laguz, right?" Brom asked, still somewhat confused. "Why are they so different from you, or those other two?"

"Yeah, they were," Khimari nodded. "See, they are just one of the three types. You have beast Laguz, like me, the ravens would fit into the bird Laguz category, and then you have the dragons, which we saw earlier," the wolf explained

"Say, you were mighty snappy at Ike when y'all were talkin' to the dragons," Nephenee noted. "Are they that strong?"

"I wouldn't even try to take on a dragon right now," he answered simply. "Those Laguz mean business, and they won't have a second thought about tearing you a new one if you make them angry enough." While Brom and Nephenee were still processing that information, Khimari turned to the wyvern rider that joined today, who was simply sitting in thought as she finished her meal a while ago. "Umm, excuse me," he called, getting the girl's attention. "You're the new-"

"Don't talk to me, half-breed!" she snapped at him, effectively making him quiet and bringing the attention of the other two to the girl with the pink eyes. "Be glad I don't end you here and now!"

"…Snappy, aren't we?" Khimari joked, before turning slightly more serious. "Look here, you aren't in any position to be threatening someone," he told her calmly, though she wouldn't have it.

"Why not? Killing a demon is a great deed," she replied, oblivious to Khimari's tail fur standing on end, as all of them didn't see it.

"Is it now?" Khimari asked, with mock surprise. "Then do us a favor and kill your king," he scathingly retorted.

"How dare you!" the girl seethed. "King Ashnard is-"

"Mad, controlling, a tyrant-Oh, did you want to add something to the list?" he prompted to the already angry girl, who looked to be at her wit's end.

"You have no right to say such things! You are nothing but a-"

"You might not wanna say that…" Khimari threatened, his voice cutting through the air like a knife. "I like to think of myself as a nice person, but I won't have any regrets about reminding a human where they belong," he hissed, his dual-colored eyes becoming slits as they glared at the wyvern knight with hate, something that is rarely found on his face. Nervous, the girl gulped as the smell of fear started to roll off her in waves, making Khimari scoff. "Now you're scared? Pathetic," he scorned.

"Don't speak to me in such a-"

"I speak to humans however I want to speak to them," he interrupted harshly. "I have no evil feelings towards Beorc, but no one talks to me like some dog, especially some stupid soldier who doesn't have a mind of her own," he said, before forcefully getting up and leaving the mess hall, while the remaining three all sat in silence. After about a minute, Nephenee got up and left as well, prompting Brom to decide to leave as well, but not before giving the young girl a few words.

"Ya know, I don't know much 'bout y'all Daein folk," Brom started, the girl raising her head to stare at the knight, "But I do know that Khimari's a nice young 'un, and it don't matter if he got a tail or not, 'cause in my head, he's still a livin' person," he proclaimed, before leaving the former Daein soldier to her own thoughts.

Meanwhile, Nephenee was heading to the dock, as she had a feeling that Khimari wouldn't just go to the room if he was angry, so he wouldn't take it out on anyone else. Her intuition proved to be right, as she saw him in his Laguz form, laying down and staring at the night sky in silence. Coming over to the wolf, she also sat down. They just sat there in silence, just looking at the moon's glow over the sea as the stars glittered in the sky. "Why…did you come?" Khimari finally asked, breaking the silence between the two.

"'Cause…It ain't like you to do that," she said, making Khimari breath loudly through his nose, though deep down, he knew that the girl was right. He let himself get taken over by hate, and he couldn't get past his distrust of Beorc that originated from the people at Port Toha, and how violently they reacted to a single Laguz who meant no harm.

"You're right…" he admitted, before going back to silence for a moment. "But…sometimes I just can't get past some people who think that my kind…isn't worth anything. At the end of the day, we all bleed, sleep, talk, but they're so stupid that they can't get past a tail?" he scoffed, his neck fur slowly rising until he calmed himself down.

"You're makin' perfect sense," Nephenee agreed. "Sometimes, people need a good spankin' to get their act right. Just keep yer head up, and you'll be fine, n' everyone's opinions'll be nothin' but a bad fish," she wisely said, making Khimari look at her in surprise.

"That was…a good cheer-up speech," he praised. "Where did you come up with that? I might have to use that someday…" he mused, before Nephenee let off a laugh.

"Ya already did…I got that little speech from you, before I took off mah helmet in public for the first time," she revealed, making Khimari's head go back to that moment, and he did remember telling her that.

"Wow…I made that?" he asked himself rhetorically, still actually impressed that he could do something like that.

"You're surprised?" she questioned the wolf.

"A little bit…I just never thought I'd be one who could do things like that," he admitted, giving a laugh at himself while Nephenee started to piece things together.

"Ya know…you should give yourself more credit," she mentioned, gaining a curious look.

"Hmm…" Khimari hummed, the sound coming out as a guttural coo. "You're right again..." he noted. "Hey Nephee…" he called, using a nickname to get the girl's attention. "You know…I…like you," he admitted, glad that his fur couldn't show any blushing. Silence answered his statement, the country girl sitting in silent contemplation at what was said.

"I-I like ya too," she admitted as well, and Khimari released a soft growl of delight. "So…what do couples do?" she asked.

"Don't you move fast?" Khimari joked, snickering at seeing Nephenee blush. "I honestly don't know…How about we just make up our own rules?" he offered, to which Nephenee agreed, before she gave a yawn, reminding her that it was late and she was getting sleepy.

"Are you sleepy? Do you want me to take you to bed?" he asked while he reverted back to his Beorc form, and Nephenee shook her head.

"I feel like stayin' here," she finalized, laying herself down on Khimari's stomach as the newly minted couple stared at the stars in silence, listening to the calm waters of the sea. Khimari didn't know how long the two stayed like that, though he decided to take Nephenee back to her room at the sound of quiet snoring. Carefully getting her stomach off of his head, the wolf picked up the girl bridal style, and went back down below deck to their rooms. On the way there, he was curious about what was happening in the brothers' room, as there was the sound of a pillow hitting someone, but ignored it in favor of taking the country girl back to their room.

Coming to his room, he instantly came upon a problem. The door was closed, and it was impossible to let go of Nephenee to open the door without waking her up. Wondering what he could do, he stood there for a while until he got an idea. Turning around a little bit, Khimari looked at the door handle as he took his tail and wrapped it around. Carefully turning his tail, he saw the handle turn before he heard a click sound! 'Yes!' he mentally cheered as he opened the door with his tail. Turning back around to completely open the door with his foot, he peered in to see that both Brom and Mia were asleep.

Going over to Nephenee's bed quietly, he gently set her down before going back to make sure the door was closed. Now that that was finished, Khimari went to his own bed and laid down as he transformed once again and went into sleep to get as much as he could before training with Ike.

XXXXX

"Mommy!" Khimari yelled his mother, Nailah, giving her a big hug. He was so excited to see his mother again, and was happy to finally get out of that boring lesson from Kawila.

"Hey, Khimari," his mother replied. "How was Kawila?" she asked, always ending up in a better mood after hearing her son's daily rant about the teacher.

"It was so boooring!" he complained. "Who cares about some politics and government rules and stuff!"Nailah couldn't help but laugh at her child's antics. He always was a flighty one, much rather preferring to have an adventure or play with his friends, and she did sympathize with him. However, as good as it was for him to make friends and be a kid, as heir to Hatari, he would have to learn about this sooner or later.

"Oh, come on, it couldn't be that bad," she soothed, though the child shook his head.

"Yes it was! It was like watching Novil try to sit down, it's painful and it feels like it takes a million years!" he compared, and Nailah couldn't take it anymore, and she burst out laughing at the insult to the elder. Novil was one of the older wolves, and felt it was upon him to watch everything she did like a hawk, much to her displeasure. They were at odds with each other, but thankfully he knew his place, and did not step too far out of line. After she stopped laughing, Khimari had another question to ask her. "Hey mom, where's Volug?"

"Oh, Volug went to run an err- on second thought, here he is now," she responded, seeing the brown wolf come towards them. Khimari turned around to see that he was indeed coming to them, and hugged the queen's vassal as he stopped.

"Hey Volug!" he greeted, letting go of the wolf. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, little one," he said in the ancient language, which was something that Khimari understood, but never could speak, as it wasn't his first language, though he could tell what the words were because of the familiarity, as well as how often it was spoken around him.

"How'd it go?" Nailah asked the wolf.

"They said that they wanted to see you as soon as possible," the brown wolf answered, to which Nailah sighed. Why couldn't those old fossils leave her alone for once. It's been at least a week and a half since she got to spend a full day with Khimari, and they had been pestering her non-stop ever since someone found a dragon Laguz offshore, apparently in "close proximity" to Hatari and a "danger" to the people. Even after she checked the situation herself and deemed it safe, those old bags of bones still had the audacity to question her judgment.

"Mommy, can we play?" Khimari asked his mother, who mentally sighed and cursed those elders for once again preventing her from being with her child.

"Maybe later, Khimari, mommy has some business to take care of, but maybe Volug would be able to play with you, is that okay?" she carefully worded, as not to cause any scenes. Thankfully, Khimari did not seem to care as he simply jumped in joy before transforming and giving Volug, now untransformed, a touch on his leg with his nose.

"Tag, you're it!" he yowled, before running in the opposite direction, towards the desert. Transforming, Volug quickly gave chase to the wolf prince, and Nailah was about to go handle her business before she noticed that they were going a little far into the desert. She trusted Volug to keep her son safe as he did before when Khimari strayed into the desert, but for her it was better safe than sorry. Doing her own transformation, the white wolf followed the two in the desert, and was a little surprised that they could barely see the village from where they were when she caught up to them.

"Khimari, what did I tell you about going too far into the desert? It's dangerous, so don't do that, please," she gently chided, and Khimari was saddened as he put his head down in shame. Khimari was a very…emotional person, as she could put it. He hated to make others sad or upset, and would usually try to keep everyone happy, though when someone was upset or something, he took it pretty hard if it was someone that he had a close relationship with, like his mother, for example. Sighing, she went back into her Beorc form and lifted Khimari's face up with her finger. "Don't worry, I'm not mad; just worried, okay? It's a mother thing," she soothed, and it did wonders as her son instantly perked up to how he was seconds before, brimming with happiness, which put a smile on her face. "Well, I think it's time to-" she started before she stopped herself at the sight of a giant sandstorm nearly right on top of them. "Run!" she yelled, before grabbing Khimari and running as fast as she could, before the power of the winds knocked her off her feet, and her son out of her arms.

The wolf tried to get back to his mom, but found himself almost instantly buried out of sand. "KHIMARI!" he could hear his mom shout as he quickly spat sand out of his mouth in order to tell her that he was fine.

"Momma!" he shouted back, before being dragged away from her mother, her figure disappearing as he was swept away by the storm. He was scared, but couldn't let out another cry for help as the storm overwhelmed him and threw him in the heart of the desert.

Waking up with a quick gasp, Khimari quickly raised his head, only to see that he was back on the ship in his room, and everyone else was still asleep. Quietly sighing, Khimari simply put his head down, before he felt a liquid touch the bottom of his chin. Getting back up, he looked down to see that his paw had blood on it, and was still bleeding. Curious, he unsheathed his claws to see what he thought had happened: he stabbed himself in his sleep. He quickly licked the blood off his claws and chin before reverting back to his Beorc form, and he calmly took off the white ankle wrap he had around his ankle and put it around his left hand, stopping the bleeding. He knew that he may have to go to Rhys later to make sure that it wouldn't get infected, though.

Figuring because he was already awake, he would get ready for the training with Ike this morning, though he did consider giving his brother the day off to sort through his dreams and feelings. 'No, he needs it…I can do for myself later,' he decided, with the thought that it wouldn't be nice to blow off Ike just because of a bad dream…But the problem was that it wasn't a dream, it was a memory of what happened in the past. That's what actually happened to him, he was dragged off from his mom and Volug by a sandstorm, and then…he still didn't know, but I guess meeting Ike that day was what happened next, but there was still a memory block in his way.

Once again, the wolf just sighed as he got out of his bed officially, and carefully left the room as he has been doing for the past two weeks. Walking his way up to the dock, Khimari once again entered his thoughts surrounding his past in Hatari. 'Desert, but if I ended up where Ike was…' he wondered, reflecting back on what happened to him. 'If no one has seen them for seventeen years, then they must be in a desert where no one would even consider going.' Eventually, he settled for doing more research on the deserts of Tellius before he could come to a conclusion about where to start looking for his mother.

The real thing that was going on now was the connection between the sudden memories coming back to him and the fight he had with the Black Knight. Ever since the fight, he's been having dreams about either his past, or the fight of his life where he saw the face of death for the very first time. Reflexively, Khimari started to shiver and rubbed his hands on his arms as he walked up the stairs to the deck, though it wasn't cold at all. In this part of the world, it was tropical, and the temperature was always warm, if not extremely hot.

It then hit him: he wasn't shivering from the temperature, he was shivering from fear. He was scared of what happened that night, and now he had actual fear of what could have happened to him if that aura never appeared around him. 'Stop it!' he told himself, giving himself a mental slap to the face. 'Get a hold of yourself, it happened, and now it's gone,' he harshly scolded himself, shaking his head rather violently as he banished the thoughts from his mind. He'd get stronger, and he would never have to worry about the Daein general again. Looking up, he saw that the first rays of light were starting to destroy the darkness of night.

Once more, Khimari sighed at the thoughts raging in his head, and seriously could definitely consider asking for a few days off when they get in Begnion, but quickly scratched that thought out considering they would most likely have their work cut out for them the second they arrive in order to earn favor with the theocracy and the apostle, much to his ire. Before he could continue his mental storm of thoughts, he heard the sound of footsteps, signaling that Ike was coming. Clearing his head, the Laguz turned around to greet his brother. "Good morning," he told the swordsman.

"Good morning," Ike returned, before awaiting what they had planned today. Khimari quickly scrambled his mind for something.

"Do thirty laps, then one hundred push-ups and sit-ups," he directed, making Ike raise an eyebrow. They did do this before now, but not without some kind of trick or twist to it.

"Nothing else? Just directly that?" he asked suspiciously, wondering what Khimari was up to. Little did he know, Khimari was simply irritated, and irritated people don't like to be questioned.

"Since you feel questioning me, you can triple what I already told you," he punished, making Ike's eyes get wide, standing there wondering what warranted such a big add-on. "You heard me, move it!" Khimari hissed, making the commander even more suspicious, but he didn't say anything to the wolf as he started the set given to him. Huffing, once again, he settled to watch the rising sun as Ike did what he was told to do.

Soon enough, Ike was finished with his exercises, and Khimari turned around to see Ike doing the last of his sit-ups, before he stood up and looked at the wolf. "Come on," he said, leading Ike down to the room where the sparred regularly. Seeing Mist and Rhys there, Khimari was surprised, but still pleased all the same. Another notable thing was that Mist was the one to bring the sword, as it was laid down right next to her. "Okay, first things first: give the sword some test swings, and try to get a feel for it," Khimari told Ike, who nodded as he headed over to get the golden sword from Mist. After the sword was in his hand, the first thing he saw was that it was heavy, and would have to get used to carrying it. The next thing Ike did was wave it in the air a few times, before doing a practice swing with it. Though to his surprise, a blue wave came out of the sword, and it was headed straight towards Khimari, whose eyes hardened. As a surprise to all three of the people in the room, Khimari transformed into a Laguz and took the blast head-on, the wave disappearing as he stood his ground , with no damage sustained.

"Are you all right?" Mist worriedly asked, getting her staff ready just in case he was hurt. A nod from the wolf quickly reassured the girl that he was fine.

"How does the sword feel?" he asked Ike, ignoring the fact that his hand wound started to bleed again. He simply put his hand right on his side, hiding the injury from the other three.

"It's heavy…" he first said. "It'll definitely take some getting used to, but for the most part, it feels natural," he observed, looking at the sword up close as he gave his opinion.

"Well, let's test it out. No holding back," Khimari said, before transforming once again to fight Ike. The two went to the opposite sides of the corner, before the wolf decided to give Ike a real life lesson. Jumping at the Beorc, Khimari used all of his power, and Ike was nearly pushed on his back as he blocked the first blow with his sword. Not giving his brother any chance to breathe, Khimari flipped around, scratching Ike's arm with his hind claws, before running behind him to claw his leg. Both strikes rang true, and Ike now had two sets of claw marks on his body.

Hissing in pain, Ike turned around, swinging his sword in a complete circle, producing a wave that gave Khimari no room to dodge. The wolf just simply took the attack head on, like the first time, before rushing him again and biting his left shoulder. Khimari jumped back as Ike was slightly panting, and stumbling a little bit from the blood loss, comparable to someone who had an extra drink they shouldn't have had. "Enough," the wolf determined, Mist and Rhys quickly going into action, healing all of Ike's wounds, before Rhys noticed Khimari's bleeding paw. Going over to the wolf while Mist finished the last of Ike's wounds, he put his staff's end on the Laguz's pad, and the blue gem glowed, healing the wound completely.

With the healing finished, Mist and Rhys went back to the sidelines as the two fighters took a little break, while Khimari was giving his overview on how Ike did. "Well, the only thing I can think of is getting used to the sword and learning how to fight faster opponents, but those are things that come with time and experience," he observed. "So now-"

"Yun…Dea…Era…Dheg…Sea…" a child-like voice croaked in Khimari's head, making him instantly perk his self up, looking around curiously for anything that could be the source of the voice. When he could not find anything, he once again retreated into his thoughts, closing his eyes as he looked through every memory he could think of, only to find nothing.

"Khimari?" Ike asked, snapping the wolf out of his stupor, and turning his attention to him. "What's the matter with you?"

"…Nothing. We're done for the day, and don't come in the morning for the rest of the week." the wolf decided, leaving the three somewhat dumbfounded Beorc alone as the Laguz walked out the room.

XXXXX

Looking out in the ocean, Khimari simply watched the ship sail by the seemingly endless sea, a strong vibrant blue and the ringing sound of the waves bringing comfort to his ears. Ever since he left Ike this morning, he had been exclusively thinking about the words that he heard from that mysterious voice. He couldn't get anything intelligible out of there, but he would have to piece something together. At the moment, he was stuck on the very first phrase, "Yun," which already exhausted his brain.

Eventually abandoning the first thing, he came to the next phrase, which was "Dea." That one was definitely much easier, considering how she said it sounded nearly the same as "death." That revelation instantly put Khimari on edge, considering that word could mean many bad things for the people that the Laguz knew, especially those he had a close relationship with.

He didn't even try to do the third phrase, "Era," because he simply didn't have the background knowledge to try and scrounge something up with the broad topic, which could literally be anything in time.

With that, he moved on to the fourth saying, which was "Dheg." That one was also very confusing, and he also abandoned that one as well, before going to the last one "Sea." That one was specifically weird, considering they were already at sea, but she didn't say it like the word was usually said, which meant it must have been part of a…

'Hold on a second…' Khimari thought to himself as he had a moment. 'Dheg…Sea, Dhegsea? No, Dheginsea!' he realized, pointing that it was the name of the king of dragons, and one of Ashera's three warriors to beat the Dark God…But how would he be tied in to all of this? Maybe…The king was hiding something? But that wouldn't work, because Goldoa is a country of isolation, and it would be hard to hide something if nothing was said in the first place. Though, now that he came upon the name of the ruler of dragon Laguz, he was already partially sold on Goldoa having a big part on whatever the crux of those phrases mean, specifically the king himself.

Suddenly, Khimari felt something touch his back while he was thinking. Quickly acting, he turned around to punch the poor unsuspecting person to the ground, who actually turned out to be Ike, much to his surprise and worry. "Ow…Remind me not to touch you when you're thinking," the blue-head noted, standing up as he held his jaw.

"Sorry…I didn't mean to do that," Khimari apologized, looking back at the waves. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine," Ike responded, before rounding in on the wolf. "But what about you? Spacing out, being snappier than usual, and calling off training for a whole week? It's so…sudden," he observed.

"What are you talking about?" he returned, pretending to not know what his brother meant.

"Don't give me that crap, you know exactly what I mean," Ike retorted. "You're hiding something, and it's driving you crazy," he said, and Khimari knew it was true, but he didn't want to admit it, even though he would have to sooner or later.

"You're no psychologist," he bit back.

"But I'm your friend and brother," Ike shot. "And trust me when I say something is wrong with-"

"I need answers," the wolf spat out suddenly, much to Ike's confusion. "And after this war, I'm going to find them," he proclaimed, before turning back to Ike. "Thanks for caring and asking me about my well-being, but this problem can only be solved by two people, and I don't know how to get to either of them."

"Then just put it off until the war's over," Ike simply said, which made Khimari mentally slap himself because of how stupid he acted, going over that one thing that would have made everything simpler.

"…Ike, you're the dumbest genius I've ever met," Khimari complimented and insulted at the same time.

"I guess that's the best I'm getting out of you…" Ike muttered, before Khimari adopted that crap-eating grin that everyone has come to know him by.

"You have no idea…"

XXXXX

Three weeks later…

Khimari was currently in one of the hardest things in his life. Everything depended on what Ike had, as it would decide victory or defeat for the prince of wolves. Inwardly, his mind thought of every possible thing that he, Nephenee, or Mist could have to give him the upper hand, and taking a deep breath, he made the final decision that would decide everything…

"Any threes, Mist?" he asked his little sister, who gave a big pout at the question as she gave him the two threes that he needed. Laying down his four threes, he sighed in content as he won the game of "Go Fish," beating the cleric for the most stacks, as neither Ike or Nephenee got any groups of fours.

"Y'all two got some crazy luck goin' on…" Nephenee said, seeing as Khimari got seven groups of four cards, while as crazy as it may seem, Mist ended up getting ALL of the other six. Ike only nodded his head, clearly in agreement with Khimari's girlfriend about the two's ridiculous lucky streak.

"Well, maybe we're just that awesome," the wolf said, giving a grin at the sets on the table, and high-fiving Mist, who sat on the left side of him. Ike and Nephenee simply rolled their eyes as the wolf started to shuffle the deck once again. "So, any other games you wanna play?" he asked, as he finished the shuffling.

"Well, maybe we can-" Ike started, before stopping as Princess Elincia walked over to the group of four, along with Nasir and Soren.

"Ike, there's someone here claiming to be an envoy from the theocracy of Begnion. She's been asking if the princess of Crimea was aboard…" he informed the commander. Getting up from the table, Ike went straight into business mode.

"A Begnion envoy? How did they know about this ship?" Ike questioned, and Nasir put his hand to his chin in thought.

"Possibly, they may have received a message from King Gallia…" he suggested, before shaking his head negatively, trashing that idea. Gallia and Begnion still weren't on the best terms. "On the other hand, we are speaking about Begnion, of all places. I would imagine that they have spies on every corner of the continent. It's highly probable that's her source of information," the captain deduced.

"So it's not worth being surprised to see that she knows of Princess Elincia," Ike drew out, to which Soren agreed.

"You are right, though I find it strange that Begnion would send an envoy to meet a princess that they don't even acknowledge," the mage added, beclouding the mercenary commander.

"What do you mean?"

"You see, the envoy is essentially an extension of the empress herself. Remember that both Crimea and Daein were once apart of Begnion, and only have recently splintered away from the theocracy. I cannot fathom why the empress would extend the courtesy of an envoy to a nation considered beneath her," he elaborated, before giving his own personal thought of the situation. "I say she's definitely planning something."

"Beneath her?" Nasir repeated. "Wouldn't you say that's a little harsh?"

"Harsh, possibly, but still true nonetheless. Clothing something in sweet words will not conceal it's bitterness, would it not?" he scoffed.

"Soren, the truth will sometimes always be ugly, but there's no usefulness in making it even more ugly," Khimari lightly chided the mage, who simply looked away from the wolf and back at Ike.

"I will try…to be more diplomatic," he told the wolf, and the wolf settled for a mental sigh, figuring that was as far as he'd get.

"There is no need to scold Soren for anything. His words are exactly that: words. They do me no harm or discomfort," Elincia eased, though Nasir still wasn't entirely sold on him getting off scot-free.

"That is good to hear, princess, but it would be good if he minded his manners."

"Deciding what to do about this envoy is a more pressing issue right now," Ike redirected, bringing the attention of the two off of Soren. "Elincia, will you meet her and hear her out?" he asked the Crimean princess, knowing that as their employer, the final decision lies with her.

"I believe I must," she nodded. "We gain nothing by refusing to see her." With the queen's decision, the others went with the princess, all except Nephenee who didn't feel comfortable in the presence of all these people.

"It's fine," Khimari soothed the girl. "I'll just come see you later, okay?" As she nodded, Khimari went with the group to see this envoy of Begnion. As they saw the dock, they saw Titania with what everyone assumed was the envoy: a Pegasus knight with black armor and brown hair over her white outfit all complete with a purple cape and purple eyes. Nearly instantly from the moment they appeared, the Begnion knight set her eyes on the princess.

"Princess Elincia of Crimea, I would presume…" she guessed, though it was already given away from the princess's style of dress, as it was extremely stand-offish compared to the rest.

"Yes," said princess curtly said. The knight did a little bow for her, before she started talking to Elincia.

"It is an honor to meet you. My name is Tanith, and I am the deputy commanding officer of Begnion's holy guard," she formally introduced.

"I must ask, what would Begnion want of me that she would send the holy guard out to meet me?" Elincia questioned, cutting to the thick of the situation immediately.

"The apostle has heard of you, Princess Elincia, and has taken the liberty of coming here to meet you personally," she revealed, everyone's eyes opening wide at the news that one of the most powerful figures in Beorc culture were here. "The duty falls upon me to take you to her now."

"The apostle? I am to meet-Surely she has something better to do than…" she tried to desist, though the holy guard member did not pay any heed to her words.

"Will you accompany me?" she asked, seemingly ignorant to her words. Seeing no way to refuse, Elincia reluctantly decided to agree.

"I suppose…that I-"

"We are the princess's escorts, and we will be coming with her," Ike interjected, putting the green-haired girl's insecurities to rest. "I do hope you understand." Fortunately, Tanith did seem to understand how important it is.

"Of course," she agreed.

"Then yes, I will go with you." With that said, Elincia was about to join the holy guard member on her Pegasus, until another knight came over to the ship, in a somewhat frantic manner.

"Bad news, ma'am. We've sighted Laguz near the apostle's position. Birdmen: crows, most likely," she relayed to the deputy officer.

"Hmph! We've seen them before! Pirates without a ship, they like to fancy themselves, but it's just another word for thief. Well, Commander Sigrun is with the apostle, and it will take more than a few winged scavengers to get past her. Simply remain calm," she decided, and the holy guard member suddenly got even more meek, and somewhat scared.

"I…Actually, I'm afraid we don't exactly know where the apostle is…" she timidly said, only awaiting for the following explosion to come out of Tanith, which came right on time.

"What!? They've kidnapped the apostle!?" she yelled, intimidating the poor Pegasus knight even more.

No, no!" she quickly replied, to save herself from Tanith's wrath. "From what Commander Sigrun said, the apostle grew impatient and had one of her…more willful moments. I did ask around at the docks, and sure enough, the longshoremen heard her order the ship to set sail without us."

"What? And where were her attendants!? What is she doing without her guard? Why can't she ever stay put? I've told her time and time again that the seaports are rampant with pirates and crow thugs!" she not so silently ranted, before calming herself down as she continued her talk with the knight. "Where is she now?"

"The wind is poor today, so I presume she isn't too far away from us," she answered.

"Understood, we'll move immediately." With that, the holy guard member left on her Pegasus on the search for the apostle.

"Is there something wrong?" Princess Elincia queried, seeing the events that just transpired. Tanith bowed lightly in apology before explaining herself.

"Your Highness, I must apologize, but an urgent matter has risen, and I must attend to it immediately. I will return to you later. Please await my return!" she said, before taking off on her own Pegasus along with the rest of the envoy.

"What was that all about?" Ike questioned, clueless about what the two were talking about.

"Apparently, the apostle went missing after having a "willful moment," Khimari explained, using air quotes for the last part. "Not to mention, it seems that there are crows closing in on their location, and attacking the ship of said missing empress." Everyone's eyes went extremely wide at the information, and found it a bit hard to swallow. However, they trusted Khimari's ears and put that information in their heads.

"Isn't that the ship the apostle's on?" Mist asked, pointing at a ship not too far away that the Pegasus knight's were flying to. Going to the edge of the ship, Khimari's ears perked up, and he tried hard to get any feasible sounds out of there. After a second, he heard the faint sound of a raven's caw, and that was all he needed.

"Yep, that's definitely their ship," he confirmed. "They're slowly being overpowered by the ravens."

"Why don't we give them a hand?" Soren suggested, causing everyone to look at him with varying levels of surprise.

"Soren…Did I accidently prank you earlier?" Khimari asked, knowing that he did have a prank that involved honey and truth serum…but that was besides the point.

"It's a great opportunity to put the empress herself in debt to us. We'd be fools to pass that up, wouldn't we?" he explained, the others taking a sigh of relief as they realized the calculative mage they knew was still in there.

"I should have known you'd have an angle…What do you want to do, Titania?" Ike asked his deputy commander.

"While I can't exactly say that I agree with Soren's motives, I can agree with us lending a helping hand," she stated.

"Then that's what we'll do," Ike finalized, before turning to Elincia. "Will you be alright alone, princess?"

"You're doing the right thing, and I wouldn't dream of stopping you," she admitted. "Those pirates are no match for you all. Go and give them…give them a sound beating!" she declared, sounding an awful lot like one of the Mercenaries, and Ike clearly picked up on that.

"Huh, you're starting to sound like us," he commented, before turning to the others. "All right then, we'd better go!"

XXXXX

This was definitely a most trying day, Naesala would say. From what he knows, which would be quite a bit, there are now Crimeans coming to the aid of the "unknown" ship, which in actuality was the ship of Begnion, and now he was going to visit the Daein commander with whom he was communicating. "Tell me, walker, are my soldiers proving useful?" he asked the Beorc, the archer turning his head to see the king of the ravens in all his glory.

"K-King Kilvas!" he said, in a not-so-happy tone, leading the raven to raise an eyebrow.

"What? Are you not happy to see me?" he asked in mock sadness. The commander simply scoffed at the question.

"Look at this mess! I paid you good money to help me outmaneuver everyone else and catch princess Crimea's ship first. Everything seemed to be going exactly as planned, then this squad started attacking us out of nowhere! We've waved no flags and removed our crests! They should have no knowledge of us! Why are they attacking?" he ranted, much to the Laguz king's amusement and annoyance.

"Didn't you know? That's a Begnion ship you're attacking," he said off-handedly, making his eyes go wide.

"That's a Begnion ship?" he echoed before his expression turned to one of anger. "It was your featherbrained lackey who told us that Princess Crimea was aboard that vessel!"

"Call it a miscommunication… Every once in a while, those unfortunate misunderstandings seem to happen," he calmly said, ignoring the miniature tantrum the Daein general was throwing.

"You deceitful…King Kilvas!" he yelled out in hatred. "I wouldn't be surprised if you planned all this from the start, you treacherous-" he accused before he stopped himself before he said something to anger the Laguz. He may have been snaky at best, but he still could kill every single one of them if in the mood.

"Such unkind words!" he said in fake hurt. "You wound me. I would never intentionally lie to you, and as proof I bring you better news," he said, gaining the archer's interest once more. "I have it on unshakeable authority that the ship that just sailed up alongside Begnion's carries the Crimean princess."

"Oh…But if we cannot break through the Begnion ranks, then there's nothing we could do…"

"Would you care for some assistance?" Naesala asked.

"And how much would it cost me this time?" he scoffed, earning a smirk from the raven.

"You learn quickly, my friend. Let's see…you'd be receiving my own royal assistance, so that would be double…on second thought, triple rates," he proposed, making the Daein's eyes go wide.

"Ludicrous!" he shouted, knowing that his starting rates were high enough, not to mention THREE times that size? Daein would be stepping on bankruptcy! "Where would I get all that gold?" The raven in response, gave a thoughtful look of thought before an idea quickly came to his head.

"Well, I could defer the payment until later, if that works for you," he negotiated, making the archer raise an eyebrow in interest. "Though…" he continued, "That does bring up the question of interest, of course."

"Leave my sight!" he told the raven, on his last nerve with that money hungry schemer. "I wouldn't seek your aid if the world were burning down from around me!"

"Very well, we've no more to discuss," Naesala said, shrugging his shoulders in indifference. "Call me if you change your mind…I'll be on a nice perch enjoying the show," he still offered, leaving the scene as the battle started to unfold. It was fairly interesting, seeing the humans fighting over seemingly nothing.

What truly piqued his interest, however, was one of the Wolf tribe on the ship. Whether he was one of those slaves of Begnion that some still had, or not, it was interesting to see that some of them still live. It wasn't like it didn't matter anyway, as the wolves and ravens were far to cunning to be in the presence of each other in the past, and he himself can attest to those sneaky furballs being as secretive as they come. The only ones that they actually talked to were other beasts, so it wasn't that much of a big deal.

Besides that, watching these fools fight each other was quickly boring him, the sound of clanging steel starting to annoy him. "These humans take things far too seriously…It's like being obstinate is a way of life for them. Their foolish pride gets in their way, and what does it get them? A swift and merciless death," he told himself. "Now, this show is getting redundant and boring."

"Nestling! I can see you're up to no good again!" another raven said, an old man coming right next to the king.

"Stop calling me "Nestling," he sighed once again, though he knew that would never happen with this old crow. "How many times must I tell you that, Nealuchi?"

"Nestling, you will always be Nestling to me. You can tell me to stop as many times as you would like, but I can't stop. You may even be king now, but I still remember you as the little nestling with the eggshell stuck in your tail feathers!" he reminisced, making said "nestling" roll his eyes.

"Senile old fool," he murmured under his breath, "Forget it," he said, before moving towards some more of his subjects. "You there!" he shouted towards one of his soldiers, who instantly turned toward him.

"Yes, sir!"

"We should take advantage of the confusion of battle to help ourselves to the cargo. These foolish humans only seem to be interested in fighting each other, and don't even spare a single thought about their treasure. If they don't care enough to leave it unguarded, I would think it's fair to say they've lost their claim to it."

"Right you are, sir!" his soldier agreed, before heading into the fray with the intent to steal treasure. Naesala looked along to see what treasure was left, and was not the most pleased to see that there were two thieves stealing it along with that blue wolf from earlier, picking a lock with his claw, much to the crow's interest. Another secret of the wolves, he presumed.

Looking back at the battle for a moment, he could see that that Daein was on the losing side, their ship slowly being taken over by the combination of Begnion and Crimean forces. He could already see the Daein general engaged in battle with some knight in blue armor as well as a Gallian tiger, blue as well. It only took a matter of moments before the archer ended up dead, his body hitting the wood of the ship.

"Hm…I saw this coming, of course," he muttered to himself. "If they just paid me more, maybe I'd be willing to help," he said, before shrugging nonchalantly. "Oh well. What do some human lives mean to us? They're none of our concern…" he said, before turning to the remaining ravens. "We're done here, let's go."

"Yes, sir!" they saluted, before the Kilvans left the scene.

XXXXX

'Looks like it's over,' Khimari thought as he came over to the mercenaries, doing a little head count to make sure everyone was accounted for. The battle wasn't exactly that exciting, just some little scuffle at the most. The only thing he was interested in was some scroll he found in one of the treasure chests, as well as a bow he planned to give to Rolf as soon as he could find him. Everything overall turned out to be good. The pirates were driven out, the ravens left, and the apostle is sa-

"What do you mean the apostle is missing!?" Tanith's voice shouted, making Khimari sigh, before quietly bounding over to watch the scene unfold. "Ugh…This business is becoming quite a headache…" she sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I-I'm sorry! I'll offer my life for repentance, for-"

"Oh, shut it. If you want repentance, do something useful and find the apostle," she retorted harshly.

"Yes ma'am!" the soldier saluted, before going off to search. Seeing that fiasco, Khimari came up to the holy guard.

"Do you need help?" he asked her, surprising her with the growl that came out, before realizing it was nothing to worry about.

"You're that mercenary…" she noted.

"My men guarded the cabin entrance," Ike interjected. "As far as I know, it was kept safe from the enemy…"

"From my soldiers' point of view, she sneaked out in the middle of the chaos…" Tanith revealed, as Khimari went over to her Pegasus and started sniffing it, much to its displeasure.

"On her own? Why would the apostle do something as thoughtless as that?" Ike asked, lacking any sort of tact whatsoever.

"Ike! Watch your words. You're being rude," Titania chastised.

"It's all right, dame knight," Tanith waved off. "There are more important matters on my mind. I hate to ask, but would I be able to enlist your help in finding the apos-" She was interrupted as her Pegasus gave a neigh as Khimari started sniffing a bag. "What are you doing?" she asked cautiously.

"Did this bag belong to the apostle?" Khimari asked, ignoring her question.

"Yes, it does…" she answered, thinking that she had a clue about what the Laguz was doing. Sniffing the bag a little more, the wolf got away from the Pegasus before putting his nose in the air for a second, looking for a scent. It didn't take long before he got one, going in the direction of their own ship. Following the scent, Khimari ended up going back to their ship, leaving the others there.

"It looks like Khimari has a scent…She'll be found soon, it's hard to fool his nose," Ike told the Begnion knight.

"Thank you for helping. I give my appreciation for your help, but I will still check the enemy ship to be sure," she said, to which the others nodded.

Khimari was following the scent, and it led to a few barrels, where it got extremely stronger. Looking around the barrels, he saw a little girl hiding behind them, who gasped at the sight of the wolf and scooted back a little.

"Don't worry, I don't bite," he joked. "Are you all right?" he asked, reverting back to his Beorc form.

"I-I'm fine," she said, standing up, rather shakily he might add. "W-Who might you be?" she asked him.

"I'm Khimari. I'm with the mercenaries escorting Princess Elincia," he replied, and the girl looked on in surprise, coming closer to Khimari. It was then he noticed she was extremely shorter than he thought she would be, as she only came up to his chest, and he had to look down to see her.

"The Crimean princess? Ouch!" she shouted, grabbing her foot. Crouching down, he went to take a closer look at it, and saw that it was a little bruised.

"What's wrong with your foot?" he asked, going down to touch it lightly, and saw that nothing was broken before the kid yanked it away from him.

"You have no right to approach-Hey, what are you doing? Put me down this instant!" she ordered Khimari to do as he picked her up and was now carrying the purple haired girl piggyback style.

"Hey, you shouldn't yell so much. It's rather unbefitting of an empress," Khimari lightly told her, who was surprised that he had the knowledge of her occupation.

"For a Laguz, you have appropriate manners…Hmph, I will allow you to carry me for now, it is rather comfortable," she said somewhat snobbishly, though the wolf only gave a smile as he carried her over to Ike and Soren, who looked at the Laguz with a weird expression as he stopped.

"You found…a little girl?" Ike asked, much to Sanaki's displeasure.

"She hurt her foot earlier when she was hiding. Is Mist anywhere over here?" he replied.

"May I inquire what you are doing?" the "little girl" questioned Ike, as Soren walked over.

"I'm supposed to be looking for some apostle person, but since Khimari found you injured, we can make sure you're taken care of first. There are others looking for her anyway," the mercenary commander shrugged, and Khimari gave a little snort as Sanaki gave a little grunt, in a way of laughter.

"…I…see…"

"What is it?"

"Oh, nothing…" she waved off, though she couldn't resist a little giggle at the clueless mercenary. Just then, Titania and Mist walked over to check on how the search was going.

"Did you have any luck in finding the apostle?" Mist asked, and before Khimari could respond, Ike shook his head a negative.

"No, but Khimari found a little girl. The child of a noble of some sort, I believe," Soren deduced, as Khimari found Sanaki stamping her foot down in a little bout of anger, but her foot ended up kicking his tail, and it hurt.

"That's my tail you're kicking. A word of advice for you, any attack on a Laguz's tail is taken personally," the wolf quietly warned, not truly angry at the girl, but definitely irritated.

"Oh, is that so? I shall watch my foot from now on, then," she remarked just as quietly, and while it was without apology, the wolf decided it to be good enough for a person like her, and it did sound somewhat sincere.

"Is she hurt?" Mist asked, coming over with a heal staff.

"Yeah, she hurt her foot," Khimari said, before Ike just had to add something else insulting.

"Please, check her head, too. She's been acting funny ever since Khimari brought her over here."

"That's enough!" she yowled, hurting Khimari's ears greatly, making him shake his head in little pain as the empress silently took note of that and lowered her voice. "I have not said anything, believing your antics simply on account of your arrogance, but I will no longer tolerate your belligerence!"

"What's wrong?" Ike asked, oblivious to the situation, just as usual. "It's your foot, right?"

"Prepare yourselves, peasants!" she said, to everyone except Khimari's confusion, as he sighed at what was going to happen.

"Prepare for what?" Ike asked, making the wolf roll his eyes yet again at his brother's stupidity.

"Guys, this is-"

"You stand in the presence of Sanaki, the empress of Begnion! I am the apostle, and the voice of the goddess!" she proclaimed, attracting a response from everyone at the scene.

"Did she just say…" Ike trailed, as the others all took on looks of disbelief.

"Is she really…"

"No, she can't be…"

"No way…"

"Don't tell me you're all as clueless as Ike…That's not a good thing to be that clueless," Khimari told everyone, though it seems his words went through one ear and out the other.

"There must be a reason for her to fabricate something like this…" Soren commented, which only served to make Sanaki even angrier.

"Y-You, ignorant-"

"Hey, calm down, would ya?" the wolf told the empress. "They're just having a hard time swallowing a pill like this. You are only ten, ya know…" he explained, and she did calm down, though she would not let their impudence go unseen.

"Empress! Are you all right?" a voice called out, and everyone looked over to see a mint-haired knight with white armor coming over. Instantly, she knelt down before the apostle, who was still on Khimari's back as Mist healed her foot. "My apologies! We were unable to reach you, and we left you in terrible peril. I accept full responsibility."

"You're late, Sigrun! What would you have done had something happened to me!" she reprimanded, making Sigrun look even guiltier than she already did.

"Please, Empress I beg your forgiveness," she pleaded.

"That won't be necessary…" Sanaki amended. "I am also partially to blame," she added. "Instead, let's focus on our rescuers. As a reward for my safe rescue, I would like to invite them over to visit our court. And please be sure that the one they serve, she who claims to be princess of Crimea, is invited as well," she said, before looking down at Khimari. "Well, why are you standing here? Take me to my quarters!"

"Isn't your foot healed? You don't need me to carry you anymore, right?" Khimari asked, carefully wording his question. In response, the empress simply hummed in thought for a second.

"Well, my foot may be healed, but I would presume it imperative not to overexert myself, so I am telling you to carry to my room where I may get adequate rest," she said, expertly dodging getting off the wolf's back. Everyone there couldn't help but look at Khimari with looks of either laughter or sympathy, or in some cases, both.

"What did I get myself into?" the wolf asked out loud as he carried the demanding apostle to her room, and his eyes started to twitch uncontrollably when he heard the sound of laughter from the decks.

XXXXX

A/N: And that's all folk! Happy July to you all, and I sincerely hope you enjoyed this chapter! Remember to fave, follow, and review, and I'll see you all when the day gets brand-new! (I don't rap for a reason)