Green Paladin: Sorry I've been so long. I was going to write one very big chapter, but then I thought it'd all seem rushed. So it will be two shorter chapters. If you haven't seen the update on Chapter 13, I am going to University in (as it turns out) mid-September. I've had a lot to do. It'll be about one update a week from now on. This chapter is almost entirely non-in-game-mission related. Most of it is based on a very small movement on the screen. Try to guess which one! (Hint: It's in the game Chapter 21 somewhere)
PAY ATTENTION TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH, PLEASE.
Green Paladin: Also I have recently discovered that Author Notes and Reader Responses are being disallowed on the site, due to something called 'professionalism'. (Except for paying authors. Guh?) Well, I don't care. I feel it is important to respond to my reviewers, as it proves I'm not a writing robot. I care about my readers and what they have to say, and will happily respond to any questions they may have. I think that is being 'professional'.
TheWatcherandReader
Green Blackguard: Gah! (leaps back in surprise) Who are you? How long have you been here?
Green Paladin: He's TheWatcherandReader. I didn't see him come in either.
Green Blackguard: Oh. Right. Wait… you agree with my policies?
Green Paladin: I think I'll go hide now…
Green Blackguard: Hah hah! Yes! At last! Another person like me! Bwahahahah! Teletubbies must die!
Sorceress Sakura
Green Blackguard: Well, you'll find out if anyone's dead if you scroll down. And killing is good for drama and tragedy, which are things I like writing.
Green Paladin: And can help with things I write, like all the emotional scenes. And I'll update soon! Oh wait… this is an update. Erm… hooray!
Lord Destroyer
Green Blackguard: Eliwood and Isadora? Well… I've never considered it. But it is interesting.
Dairokkan
Green Paladin: What?
Green Blackguard: What?
Green Paladin: Umm…
Green Blackguard: Oh fine! Don't explain, if that's what you want.
JPElles
Green Blackguard: Sain's fate may be in this chapter… perhaps.
Tactician from the NorthEast
Green Paladin: I'm good at cliffhangers, as they annoy me so often.
Green Blackguard: That made no sense at all.
Green Paladin: Shut up, you.
Green Blackguard: By the way, I think we were being prophetic about the speed of updates I mentioned in our review of your story…
Black Lord 500
Green Blackguard: Hah! My plan to make the chapter dramatic worked!
Green Paladin: Now you get a gift of Jaffa Cakes!
Green Blackguard: Whahah!
TheAnonymous1
Green Paladin: Well, I can see why you thought a dragon… but that's not it. It's safe to say that. I'm not spoiling anything.
Green Blackguard: But you may see the creature very soon… sort of.
Alyss
Green Paladin: Yeah, I get the idea. Just tell me if I do any worse or better, okay?
Green Blackguard: But I'm still better than you.
Green Paladin: Oh yeah? I'd like to see you do a romantic scene! It'd probably be filled with violence and mindless destruction.
Green Blackguard: Romance is dead. Or if it isn't, it soon will be… he he…
Green Paladin: Oh dear…
Green Blackguard: Pity the whipping tired me out…
Green Paladin: Good to see you back from the realms of anonymity! Not that that is a bad place to be, but… whatever. My brain is tired.
Green Blackguard: Once again you tickle my sadist gland. Hahahah!
Green Paladin: Aak! Oh no! He's amused! Better lock up the axe collection… Glad you like the gore! It's mostly his contribution…
Green Blackguard: Hahahahahahahahahahahhahahahah! Extreme Violence is fun to write!
Green Blackguard: On with the story, before I rip out my own teeth with anticipation!
Green Paladin: But why?
Green Blackguard: I'm feeling masochistic today.
Green Paladin: Errrr…I think you should go to the thinking corner…
Green Blackguard: But it's filled with my doomsday devices!
Green Paladin: …What?
Green Blackguard: Ermm… nothing!
Green Paladin: …Okay then… on with the show!
After Sain and Rebecca had been carted away, barely alive, attention returned to the regained spirit of our lord, Eliwood. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Mm. Sorry to worry you."
Lyn advised kindly, "You don't have to push yourself so."
"We'll have time for mourning later."
'At last! He's finally worked that out!'
"For now, in my father's name…I will do everything I can to stop Nergal and protect our lands."
"I see. So, what do you have in mind?" asked his Ostian friend curiously.
"…We need to see Marquess Ostia."
Hector paled when he breathed, "My brother?"
"After all we've learned… We can't not tell him, can we?"
Hector looked down as he admitted, "Sure, I guess…"
Lyn had no choice but to ask. "Hector? Why that odd expression?"
Eliwood fairly explained, "Hector doesn't want to meet Lord Uther. He's been lax in contacting him and is afraid to face him, right?" directing the last sentence squarely at Hector.
"What!" he exploded. "And how did you expect me to send him and messages when we're traipsing about the isles like merchants on holiday?"
Eliwood laughed (a dramatic change from what he was like a few hours ago, so I knew that all was now well again), "He is going to be so mad!" And he ran off, probably to avoid Hector clouting him.
"C'mere!" Hector ran after him, probably to clout him.
"Ha… They're both in good spirits."
"Good," I replied. "They need to set an example for the others."
"What?"
"After all that has happened, if the troops see their lords laughing and joking, they'll all feel better and begin to do the same."
Lyn considered this and slowly agreed, "…It's a lot better than giving in to despair I suppose."
"Shall we set an example of our own?"
"What do you mean?"
I took her arm in mine and said sweetly, "Let's show the troops that good feelings still exist. Fancy a moonlit stroll?"
"Delighted."
Much later, when many had returned to the inn, with the exception of the healers, the patients, Lyn and me. Eliwood was just getting to the first restful sleep he'd had in days when he heard a knocking on his door. He stifled a yawn and said, "Come in." Through the opening too he saw the distinctive cyan hair and red eyes of Ninian.
"…Lord Eliwood."
"Ninian." He was confused as to why she was visiting him in the middle of the night.
"I… I'd like to thank you," she smiled.
"Huh? What is it? Why the formality?"
"Lady Lyn told me… She told me…" she was grasping for words. "She told me it was you. The one who helped me one year ago."
"Oh, that." 'Why is she thanking me for something done a year ago? And for something any decent person should have done anyway?'
"I apologise. I… I had lost consciousness, and I fear and I fear I never properly thanked you, Lord Eliwood."
He cordially replied, "Don't let it concern you. I wanted to help."
"But still-"
"Hrm…" He suddenly had an idea, and voiced it without thinking first. "Ah, I know! Next time you are free, show me your dancing! Not one of those little dances- something special."
"A special dance, my lord?" she asked slowly.
"Er… sorry!" He frantically wracked his brain for any words to reassure her. "Didn't mean to sound so forward!"
"No, not at all!" She gently added, "I mean, I'd be glad to."
"Great! Then it's a deal. I'm looking forward to it." He really was. If one small dance from her could soothe his soul so much, what could a long, elaborate one do?
"Y-Yes," she happily stammered. "I am, too." She left gracefully, as she was in everything. She was strangely drawn to this Pharaen lordling, even though she had only known him for a short while. As she was walking back to her and Nils' room she though over what dance to perform.
I, however, was walking in the forest outside Badon. Lyn was still with me, and she'd been talking about her tribe, before it was destroyed. Secae seemed like a lovely place to live. Rolling grassland, endless forests, and fields of flowers… But I had some things to say.
"Lyn, I've heard quite a lot about you, but do you really know anything about me?"
"Well… not really. I mean, I know you, but not… your background."
"Where should we start?"
"The beginning is a good place."
"Hmmm." I dug into my past, and recovered a few golden nuggets of information. "Well, I was born in Etruria around twenty-five years ago. I am of the commoner family Balëbrethil. After a while in public schooling it was found that I was exceptional at historical studies, especially old wars and battles. I was coming up with new strategies that would have worked batter than the ones they used all those years ago!" She chuckled, and I continued.
"My family raised some money to send me to an Institute for Tacticians, and I was easily one of the youngest there. There was only one other as I recall…" I remembered her for a second, and then pushed her out of my mind. "I was doing very well, but I infuriated my teachers, as I questioned everything they taught me!"
"So what happened?"
"I was sent into private tutoring. They got rather frustrated as well. I passed from tutor to tutor, until the Institute was visited by Count Reglay."
"Count Reglay?"
"The Mage-General of Etruria. He was giving a talk on war tactics, talking about the battles he'd been in. I had the audacity to tell him his mistakes in front of the whole Institute!"
"Was he angry?"
"Not at all," I grinned. "He laughed, and talked to the Head of the Institute. The Count persuaded the Head to let him be my next tutor."
"Really?" she gasped.
"Oh, yes. I spent four years learning from him, and graduated first in my year."
"I'm not surprised," she nicely commented.
"Anyway, I left the Institute, and went to find work. I was very annoyed that it was peacetime, so there was no need for a tactician in the area. So I left for the borders. Once again, no luck in finding a job. At that point I was so desperate that I went into Bern. I think you know it from there. But… I haven't thought of my homeland in so long…"
She gazed at me and said, "Tell me about Etruria."
"Ah, well, I lived in the capitol. Most of the noble houses are there, so I was quite lucky that I was raised in that city, a city of polished stone made of the most expensive minerals. The days were calm, always with a slow wind blowing though, and people would go about their jobs and duties, come rain or shine… not that there ever was much rain. The many trees planted throughout the city would blanket areas with leaves, and shafts of warm, golden light would pierce the cover. It was a most tranquil place. At festival nights the musicians would play while the artists went out to find their inspiration, and the people would dance in the streets… But I never really felt at home there, even though it was all I had known."
She looked surprised, and I couldn't blame her. "Why? It seems pleasant." She wouldn't like it really, and we both knew it. She was of the plains, and she would never feel comfortable in a place like Etruria.
"I thought there was a better way to live then that. I grew up hearing of the other nations of Elibe, and the ways they lived. I was sure that their ways were better than ours, as I saw that the hustle and bustle of a huge city like the one I lived in breeds corruption. It couldn't be seen in day-to-day life, but it was there. Not that the nobles cared, of course. As long as they had their riches, they didn't care about the common man slaving away below. I could see those in power weren't willing to let it go, at any cost. I had to leave."
"So you thought you could do better elsewhere."
"I was glad when I was sent to the Institute, as it was out of the city, on the outskirts of the countryside. Looking out of the windows onto the grasslands beyond was always comforting to me. I liked it much better than home, and I spent a while just sitting in it, annoyed that that was probably the closest I would ever get to living in such a place… I could never return home. Being there gave me new experiences I didn't want to relinquish. That's one reason I wasn't unhappy when there wasn't any work back home. I liked it more on the road, travelling. But I hoped I could find somewhere I could finally call home."
"Did you ever find it?"
"Yes." I took her hand in mine when I said, "It's wherever you are. You're the tribe, remember?"
From that night, we travelled through Lycia, toward Ostia. The first territory we passed through was Laus, which we saw was doing badly now that their forces had gone, and their marquess was dead at our hands. I felt tears well up when they congratulated us, praised us for killing him, even though that event has left them in squalor. I couldn't accept praise for destroying the lives of so many people. Even if they didn't hold it against us, especially as I had killed Darin, therefore making their poverty my fault. But would have it been any better if he had lived? I kept out of sight for the rest of the journey through Laus.
However, we had to come to a stop. In the village ahead, an uprising was taking place. Since there was no militia or marquess, the steward was in charge, since no one wanted Erik in power, and he couldn't enforce his rule. The problem was, the steward couldn't enforce his rule either. This left the way open for any power-hungry individual to overthrow him.
I knew that would be a devastating blow to Laus, and further weaken the region. Few revolutionaries had ever remained in power for long. History had taught me that. I had met the steward, when we had taken Castle Laus. He seemed a good and honest man, who couldn't do anything for the nation while Darin was in power. Maybe our killing of him had let the steward begin to do things right. I pleaded with Eliwood that we make a stand, now. He agreed.
"Let me go first."
"What?" asked all three lords at once.
I was insistent. "Let me go first. It's quite simple."
"You? But we need you here!"
"Hector, I cannot plan an effective strategy from out here, without any of the facts. I don't know their numbers, or how skilled they are, or what weapons they use, the list could go on. I need to get in there and find out."
Lyn was curious about my reasoning. "Why not let Matthew or Legault go? They are trained in information gathering."
"They don't know what to look for. I do." That had settled it. I left immediately afterwards.
The sounds of travelling greeted Rebecca was she regained consciousness. She tried to remember… she was in Badon, then there was a blinding pain, and then… she woke up here. In the healer's tent, with Priscilla, but not Serra. She thanked Elimine that she didn't have to listen to her while recovering from... she didn't know. "What happened?"
"You were struck by an arrow in the chest. You almost died. But through our combined efforts, Serra and I healed you."
"Where are we going?" she asked, and she tried to get up.
Priscilla was insistant, "You cannot go out yet, you still need time."
"Oh, all right. I suppose Sain and Fiora are up and about by now."
Priscilla remained silent, and looked down.
"What?"
"Fiora is all right, she left here a few minutes ago. But…"
"What? What about Sain?"
"He… he isn't all right." Priscilla pointed to the back, and Rebecca looked. The troubadour's words were a massive understatement. He was very pale, sweating, occasionally groaning in pain, and he tossed and turned in the bed. "He escaped the tent to help the others. When you were injured… he… fought to defend you. …It didn't help his condition at all. The poison… it's killing him. And there's nothing me or Serra can do."
'Why did I suggest this?' I was trying my hardest. But my trusty grappling hook wasn't grappling. I threw it up again, and hoped I could escape this town without being seen. I'd already sized up the forces here- relatively minor, they could take the Castle if they had a tactician as good as me, but they didn't. In fact their leader was a rather unpleasant man whose only tactical skill was 'charge them and kill them'. Laughable. If we moved in now, they couldn't withstand us. But I could only tell them that if the blasted grappling hook would grapple!
Another throw, and the hook didn't fall down instantly. At last! I tugged on it, and it held. I began to walk up the wall, but not without sound. At first I didn't think I had let my presence known. The arrow that ledged itself in my back suggested otherwise. It had a good point.
A muscle spasm when the arrow hit caused my grip to loosen, and I fell from the wall onto the paved street floor, but I managed to avoid landing on the arrow. "Surrender." Seeing three or four archers with arrows pointed at my head, I couldn't help but agree.
"He's been gone too long!"
"Give him time," consoled Rebecca, ignoring her own concerns for another.
"How can I! He's been gone for two hours! He said he'd be back in one!"
"Maybe he got caught up in something." She shrugged and added, "I don't really know. But if we move in now, we may move into a trap."
"…You're right," submitted Lyn. "But I'm still worried."
"That's normal. You love him."
Lyn walked away, and Rebecca knew what she was going off to do. She prepared her bow for imminent combat.
"Why are you here!" He hit me again. As if that would make me tell him anything. I used to be Taliver, for Elimine's sake. Pain was part of the job. If you did anything wrong, you got a beating. I had thought that part of the bandit life, but after the incident, I had decided that it was another extension of their brutality. Later I discovered I was right the first time, it was part of bandit life. So this thug's interrogation techniques would prove ineffective against me.
"All right, I'll tell you…"
"Good."
"…that you smell like a dead horse. Wash sometime." That got me a knee in the groin.
While I was crumpled on the ground, I heard something. A cry of anger. No, many cries. From outside. The door burst apart, and the familiar sight of the Wolf Beil peeked in through the door. "Hello." Hector waved politely at me, and I tried but failed to wave back. I had just been kneed in the groin. However, my interrogator, the leader of this rabble, was so shocked at the Ostian lord's entrance that he didn't react fast enough to prevent his being cut in half.
The uprising dealt with, I had to endure worse. Speaking to Lyn.
"What did you think you were doing!"
"I was doing my job."
"That was the thieves' job! Why did you go and do it yourself?"
I looked seriously at her when I replied, "This was my fault. I killed Darin. I killed their militia."
"We killed Darin! We killed their militia! Don't hold us blameless! We knew what we were doing!"
"Regardless, this poverty and instability which has gripped Laus is our doing. And I felt that I should do something about it."
"What if we hadn't killed Darin? Think about it."
"Well… if we hadn't… poverty would have come anyway," I admitted. "Darin was bleeding Laus dry for his rebellion, and Laus would have collapsed with no hope of recovery."
"And with his death, the steward took over. With him there is a chance of bringing Laus back to prosperity."
"And once again, you're absolutely right. Why do I even bother to argue?" I leaned closer, and gave my thanks in the form of a kiss.
Green Paladin: This is the less action-oriented of the two chapters. The next will be more fighting than emotional scenes, but knowing me, there still will be some. And if you're wondering where Green Blackguard is, he's in the writing pit. He has a lot to do for the next few chapters…