The End of the Beginning
Castle Caelin was alive with chatter and music. Green banners swept across the ceiling, livening up the plain gray stone that made the structure. Bright ribbons threaded around banisters. People who lived in the castle and the town alike gathered together to talk excitedly about the coming reveal of the new – and proper – heir of House Caelin. Everyone in attendance was in good spirits about the announcement, though the food and drink certainly helped. Musicians played tasteful, upbeat music in the main hall where the crowds waited, dressed in their finest clothing.
Adelessa was part of that crowd. She waited at the edges of the hall, watching for her friend to appear. She hadn't dressed up that much; she hadn't had much with which she could dress up. The Sacaean clothing she had been wearing was laundered, so it was clean and without any of the stains that had marred it while traveling. Her hair shone in the bright, festive lights. The light glimmered on the long, wavy locks and the few braids she'd worked into her hair in an attempt to do something more impressive with it.
She could pick members of Lyndis' Legion in the crowd. Like her, most of them either didn't have formal clothing to wear or chose to instead forsake it. Serra and Erk were the exceptions; both wore fine robes instead of their common traveling clothes. The group varied from relaxed – Matthew and Lucius both seemed unfazed by the goings-on – to excited – Wil was chatting animatedly with several members of the staff, gesturing wildly with his hands – to uneasy – Rath stood uncomfortably against the wall, his posture stiff.
Probably not unlike mine, she thought with no small amount of amusement. Adelessa had never been one for parties and celebrations. That was part of why she had asked Reissman to exempt her from being recognized in particular in this ceremony: being the center of attention and being fussed over was one of her least favorite things in the world. Besides, she thought, this is Lyn's night to shine, not mine.
The change in tone of the murmuring crowd brought her out of her thoughts. When it hushed to muted whispers, her head popped up and she scanned the raised platform at the far end of the room. She saw Reissman walk across it and stop in front of a podium that was off to one side. "Good evening, fair people of the canton of Caelin," he said. His voice was amplified by the acoustics in the room: even Adelessa could hear him, and she was a fair distance away and to the side. "I address you on this fine spring evening to announce grand news. While he could not make it to this celebration, our Lord Hausen is finally recovering, thanks greatly in part to the valorous efforts of Lyndis' Legion."
Smiling widely enough that her cheeks started to hurt, Adelessa joined in and cheered with the rest of the crowd. Reissman waited for a moment before he held up his hands for silence; the crowd hushed slowly. "I would like to extend House Caelin's thanks to Lyndis' Legion for everything that they've done over the past months. From finding Lady Lyndis to escorting her safely here to defeating the usurper Lundgren, they all have helped time and time again. Each one of you is a friend to House Caelin for all that you've done.
"Finally, as chancellor of the Caelin family, I'm proud to present Lady Lyndis to you as the true and proper heir of House Caelin." He nodded at someone in the wings; Kent and Sain, both dressed in gleaming armor in the colors of Caelin rather than their personal armor, walked out, escorting a young woman. "Granddaughter of Lord Hausen, Marquess Caelin, and daughter of Madelyn – I present to you Lady Lyndis!"
The hall erupted with cheering and it was only then that Adelessa realized that the young woman between Kent and Sain was actually Lyn. She was in a long, sleeveless gown of teal and green fabric. While cut simply, the dress was magnificent and regal in its elegance. It fit Lyn perfectly. Her hair was down, cascading in a dark green waterfall that framed her face and reached down her back. Lyn looked around with a smile that slowly grew larger; Adelessa waved and was rewarded with an extra-bright smile from her friend.
Lyn started down the steps from the raised platform. Kent and Sain followed her a few strides back, more as an honor guard than out of any actual worry for her. Adelessa started winding her way through the crowd to reach her side; it took her a few minutes, but she finally intercepted Lyn. "You look very nice," she told her.
"I'm glad you think so," Lyn murmured back, though she couldn't hide the twinkle of amusement in her eyes. "It's terribly strange, you know. It's good to see you here."
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Adelessa said. She smiled. "I just didn't want to try to steal any of your attention."
Lyn gave her a sour enough look that Adelessa laughed. "I have half a mind to march you up there and introduce you myself," the young woman threatened. Adelessa shuddered in horror and held up her hands in surrender, still chuckling, and Lyn abated. "But thank you."
"Certainly – I'm going to let you go now. I just wanted to tell you in person." Adelessa melted back into the crowd to watch the goings-on. She sipped on fruit juice when it was offered to her and nibbled on light snacks. Most of the members of Lyndis' Legion made their way to Lyn at one point or another over the next several minutes to speak with her.
After a while, she started to feel the itch to get away from the whole mess. It was good to see that Lyn was fitting in well at her new home – watching her speak with people helped her realize that – but being around this many people was starting to wear on her nerves. Sure that she wouldn't be missed in the teeming crowd of people, she started making her way out of the hall.
It was much easier, Adelessa found, to lose herself in a fortress during a celebration than to sneak in the quiet of night in a forest. In the first place, the rest of her companions were too busy congratulating Lyn and each other and so didn't miss her as quickly as they might have. She didn't have to worry about stepping on twigs or roaming bandits. In fact, all the people around her just smiled and dismissed her; she was only another person celebrating the victory over Lundgren.
There's one good thing about not taking credit when Lyn was presented, Adelessa thought as she wandered down a less-crowded hallway. She was heading for a door to the outside where she could get away from all of the rowdy people. It means most of these people don't know my face and won't remember that I passed by for more than a few minutes. While she was genuinely glad that all of this was over, Adelessa wasn't much one for parties like this. Sometimes, she decided, walking out of a door that led to a quiet courtyard, you just need to get away from everyone.
Tilting her head back, Adelessa gazed up at the sky. The stars were just starting to light up, the sky to the west still painted in the blazing colors of a brilliant sunset. A few leaves of neatly trimmed trees whispered when a slight breeze caressed them, but then all was still in the courtyard; apparently everyone else was busy inside. Adelessa closed her eyes, sighing to let the tension and pressure of her position in the group drain off of her. Now that everything was over, she didn't have to carry the burden of their lives on each decision she made. It was nice to relax and not worry about the next battle.
I've proved it, she thought, settling down on a bench to gaze up at the stars. Her fingers fished the medallion out of her tunic and started rubbing it as she stared up at the darkening sky. I proved to myself that I could do this. Now I know that I didn't choose wrong when I went into tactics and strategy. That's good to know.
Matthew watched the young woman peel off from the group and retreat into the corridors of the castle. Suspicious of what she could be doing, he decided that he would follow her. Aydie didn't notice him once, even when she sat down on a bench in a courtyard. How nice that she would do my job for me, he thought wryly, leaning against the outer wall behind her. Now I don't have to try to get her separate from the rest of the group so I can talk to her.
"You know, for a girl who tries to seem ordinary, you can sure sneak with the best of them." Aydie was plenty surprised when he spoke up. She jumped up from where she had been sitting on the bench and turned to face him. For all that she isn't a fighter, her reflexes are certainly fast. Yet another mystery about her. "And you sure are jumpy." He minutely inspected his knife; the way he held it up let the orange light of the sunset catch on it. He saw Aydie work to compose herself past the blade in his vision.
"Sorry – I just wasn't expecting someone to sneak up on me like that." Her voice held a note of accusation in it. He could all but hear her mentally talking herself down and after a moment her voice was milder. "Did you need something from me?"
"Oh, not so much. I noticed you weren't in there with everyone else." He flipped his knife and put it back in the sheath in which he kept it. "I wanted to see what you were doing off on your own."
"Nothing much, really." Aydie sounded uneasy, nervous. Matthew knew then that there was more going on than that. Something had her on edge. His eyes caught on a glint of gold and silver at her neck.
"That's a nice necklace," he noted, nodding to her medallion. She stiffened and her hand twitched as if to go to cover it. "What is it for?" He was honestly curious; Etrurian knotwork medallions weren't common. They could hold magic within them or carry charms for years, and as such were terribly prized. That she would have one was impressive and intriguing.
"Nothing," she replied too quickly. If nothing else in the world, Adelessa was terrible at lying; Matthew could tell that in an instant, even without his knack for sniffing out lies.
There we have it. She is hiding something. "Another evasion," he said, taking a few steps toward her. Aydie took a step back, her path parallel to the bench, and her fingers closed around the medallion. Matthew snapped his knife down into a ready position; if she was about to throw some sort of spell at him, he wasn't going to let her just get away with it. She seemed gentle and like she wouldn't want to fight, but it was never a bad idea to be prepared. "You know, the way you act – how you're always so nervous… it makes me think that you're hiding something, Aydie."
"I could say the same," Aydie retorted, trying to stave him off with a show of confidence. He had the sneaking suspicion that it was only a façade. "You hardly have the bearing of a common thief – you're too good." Her eyes were what gave her away: they were wide-open windows into her mind. She couldn't hide anything when someone looked at them.
Those emerald eyes gave away that she was upset, worried, nervous; Matthew knew he was ready to close in for the kill to get to the bottom of things. After the close call with an assassin in Castle Ostia who nearly reached Lord Uther, the head of the Lycian League, he wasn't willing to let even the slightest concern slide. Unfortunately for her, Aydie presented a very large concern at the moment. He'd have to deal with her now before anything else started.
"Why, thanks," he said wryly. "I'm flattered. And you, Adelessa-" Adelessa stared when he said her name "-hardly act like an average student of tactics. Why does someone who looks Bernese wear Sacaen clothing, have a mixed Bernese and Etrurian accent – and that Etrurian medallion – and involve herself in Lycian politics?" He took a few more steps in her direction, his amber-brown eyes locking on her bright green pair and refusing to let them go. "Why is someone who acts so meek around others so good at giving them orders in the middle of combat? Why do such docile eyes sharpen and notice the slightest of details? Why can she walk so quietly and nimbly in the earliest hours of the morning – yes, I did notice those times that you snuck out without anyone else the wiser – with that amount of skill and yet not be able to defend herself when attacked? Even with just those things, you don't add up like you should," Matthew laid out, his tone too casual to be truly conversational. "Not to mention the fact that Serra's healing didn't work on you; she healed up those knights of yours without a problem."
He knew then that he had her: Aydie had stopped still – she wasn't even backing up anymore, though the wall at her back helped with that – and she hadn't tried to fend off any of his accusations. A twinge of guilt popped up when Matthew saw that there was no small amount of fright in those green eyes, but he crushed it quickly; he couldn't let this go on any longer. He had to get to the bottom of this and figure out if he needed to worry about what this girl had been doing.
Adelessa was frozen, unable to respond to his string of questions. An icy shard of dread nestled in her chest where her heart used to be. She knew she had answers to those questions – good ones that would prove she wasn't worth his interest – but her words froze with that ice before they ever left her throat. Her mind whirled; this man had been able to read her far too easily, had been able to discern through all the chaos that there was more to her than what she seemed. She couldn't bring herself to look away from him or deny a word he said.
In that instant, Matthew terrified her.
"You can't tell them," she finally blurted.
Matthew tilted his head and took another step forward. "Can't tell them?" he echoed.
"You can't tell them any of what you just said," she pleaded, feeling the peace and calm she'd just found at the conclusion of this journey crumbling to ash. She was vaguely aware that she had backed up into the wall and had nowhere else to retreat. "I-I don't want them to wonder about me." A wavy haze appeared in her vision; she quickly brushed under her eyes, trying to make the movement look like she was getting a piece of hair out of her face. She bit the inside of her lip, using that pain to distract and compose herself.
"You're not even going to try to deny any of what I said?" Matthew asked. Adelessa had the pleasure of seeing the surprise on his face despite the dim lighting.
"Why bother?" she asked simply, giving a weak laugh. It sounded almost like a sob near the end and Adelessa had to dig her fingernails into her palms to keep from falling apart any more. "You already saw through all that I tried to do to and we both know that I'm a terrible liar." Feeling the tears burning in her throat as a painful lump, she desperately grasped for her last defense. "I tried so hard," she said, hearing her voice get sharper with anger, "and I wasn't hurting anyone. Why couldn't you just leave well enough alone?"
"Would you leave a threat alone?"
Adelessa flinched at his words; they were sharper than any dagger. When she recovered, she stared at him in complete incomprehension. It was a big enough shock that her tears stayed at bay while she tried to get her mental feet back under her. "A threat?" she echoed, knowing she'd heard him right but unable to believe that it was correct.
"You've been dabbling in Lycian politics," Matthew said. "You can't deny that, you know. Because of that, you're a threat. I'm sure someone as smart as you can figure this out."
Adelessa stared at him for a long moment. Is this really what I get for all of this, for worrying about him and protecting everyone? Suspicion? That thought set her lip to quivering and she tried to hide her pain at that accusation with a laugh.
Matthew frowned when Aydie laughed weakly. That was the last thing he expected her to do. "I see," she managed breathlessly. Her voice sounded odd; reaching for his knife, he stopped when she shook her head. "I see." Her voice broke on the second word. She blinked quickly as she looked back up. "Alright. If that's what you want to think." Matthew watched as she brushed a piece of hair out of her face. "Never mind that I worked to keep you safe and healthy and worried about you. I understand."
Matthew realized with a lurch of shame that she was holding back tears. He reached forward, meaning to apologize – he hadn't meant to upset her that much; he only wanted to get some answers – but Aydie jerked to one side and passed him before he could snag her.
"I'll leave, then." She didn't look at him and he almost didn't hear her because of that. "You won't have to worry that way." He stared at her as she walked past him. Aydie hurried to the other door into the castle, leaving the one she'd left originally untouched. Her quiet footsteps quickly faded to nothing as she fled, leaving Matthew wondering what just happened as he watched that door close.
"Maaaaatth-yeeeew!" He cringed and lost all hope of going after her to apologize.
"What is it, Serra?" he snapped.
"Someone's grumpy tonight." Serra stood in front of the first door, her hands propped on her hips. "Stop standing around out here all alone. People are going to start wondering what you're up to – they'll probably think you're stealing something or getting into other trouble!"
The irony wasn't lost on Matthew. "Yeah, fine," he replied. Serra grabbed him and started marching him back inside to the party. I can find her after rubbing elbows with these people for a while. I'll finish this conversation – and apologize – then.
Adelessa threw Rea's saddlecloth over her back and placed the saddle over that. Tears still burned in the corners of her eyes but she refused to let them get any further than that. No time for that. I won't cry. This isn't so bad that I need to cry. She jerked the belt that held the saddle in place to tighten it and stroked her mare's neck when she stood up. "At least you won't accuse me of anything," she whispered. The dun horse gazed at her with calm brown eyes.
It might have been late – normally she wouldn't travel at night – but Caelin was fairly safe. The knights made sure that bandits didn't run rampant and they were far enough away from mountain country that bandits were less common. That and she didn't want to stay here any longer than necessary after that little confrontation with Matthew.
"Aydie?" The only thing that kept Adelessa from running right out of the stable was that she recognized that it wasn't Matthew's voice. She turned and saw Lyn holding out Rea's bridle. "You're leaving, aren't you?"
"I… I have to." Adelessa met Lyn's eyes for a moment before she looked down at the bridle in her hands. She stopped her fingers when she realized they were worrying the leather and metal bits. "I can't stay, I'm sorry. There's so much that I need to do." At least I don't have to worry about breaking off a promise with Ninian and Nils – they said that they were going to stay here for a while before moving on.
"I know – I wouldn't ask you to stay." Lyn's kind understanding nearly made Adelessa cry all over again. It was a welcome balm after Matthew's paranoia and accusations. "It's just… I'll miss you, Aydie." Lyn tucked a lock of hair behind her ear; it was still strange to see her in Lycian wear instead of her normal garb. "When I found you on the plains, unconscious and helpless, I had thought to help you and maybe travel with you for a few days. I had never imagined that we would have ended up here – especially not after so many trials."
"It's… it's strange for me too. I hadn't thought that I could do something like this. If you had asked me when we first met, I would have told you that you were crazy," she admitted. Lyn laughed along with her as Adelessa slipped the bit between the teeth of her horse and started fitting the bridle.
"But really," Lyn started again, "you've helped us – me – so much. I don't know how I could ever thank you, Aydie."
"Lyn, just be happy with your grandfather. That's all I really want for you. Besides, I've learned so much – it's not like I didn't get anything out of this."
"I'm sure you learned all you could from us." Lyn smiled at her, but it was a bittersweet one. Adelessa knew that because she was doing the same. "You'll do just fine on your exams. I know that you'll be a grand master tactician someday, just you wait. I've seen you at work, so I know better than anyone!"
She found herself swept up into a tight hug; her arms tightened around Lyn. It will be strange not to travel with Lyn anymore, she thought sadly. She had gotten so used to being with her that it would be a stark difference to travel alone again. They let go of each other and Adelessa was glad to see that there was a misty haze in Lyn's eyes; this meant she wasn't the only one who was choked up.
"Well, take care," Lyn said finally.
"I will – you too, Lyn."
"I hope that you'll come back soon. You're always welcome here, alright?" Adelessa was heartened when Lyn gave her a bright smile even through the sadness of parting. "But only once you're a full tactician. I don't want to distract you."
"I promise I'll come visit you once I pass my tests," Adelessa said. She paused; there was nothing else for her to do here to stall her leaving. Even though she had come in here wanting to leave as quickly as possible, now she found herself wanting to stay. "Fare well, Lyn." She clambered up onto Rea's back and urged the mare forward. When she was several minutes away from the castle, Adelessa spared a look back. Seeing Lyn standing at the entrance of the stable was hard and she had to force herself to keep going. I forgot how nice it was to be with someone like that. Looking out at the road, she steeled herself. She couldn't look back, not without wanting to return to the group that had all but become her family.
Well, there's no time to waste – that exam won't wait….
A/N: Well, there we have it! Lyn's story is complete. With Christmas just around the corner, I figure it's only right that I give you a little something extra. Watch for a bonus update or two over the next few days!
Thanks to all of you folks who've been with me this far. Thanks to my reviewers of the last chapter – MilleniaMaster, Sethera, AquaticSilver, Raven the Blood witch, Tom-Ato13, and DrakeDarkblade. Your words make me a happy, happy writer. ;3
Lyn's story is done – the introduction to the characters is over. To answer a couple of common questions: yes, I'm going to do a hybrid of Hector and Eliwood's stories, and, yes, I'm going to tweak the story a bit. Adelessa has her own story woven in with theirs; I can't hardly call this a tactician-centric fic if I don't give her a little bit of her own plot in with the game's! And don't worry – most, if not all, of the questions you may have about Aydie will be answered in this part. (Though if you want to shoot some my way to make sure that I answer them, that wouldn't be a bad idea. ;D I'm only human and, I'm afraid, terribly, terribly blonde.)
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you!