Shorter chapter this time, in which the Ylisstol Council doubt Raye's ability. Just thought you should know. Not exactly critical to the story as a whole, so you can skip this one without really missing out on much.

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-Chapter Twelve- Doubts and Misunderstandings Rectified-

'Surely that manakete of yours is jesting!' one noble cried, looking very disconcerted. 'Grima has been dead for a thousand years!'

'Indeed, there is no chance that he would return…right?' another muttered hopefully.

It had been nearly an hour since Raye had burst into the throne room with the shocking news that he had somehow felt the presence of Grima. In the wake of this and after he had left soon after, the throne room had descended into chaos, the nobles all immediately trying to deny the manakete's words while Emmeryn and Chrom tried to restore order.

As the argument escalated, Emmeryn was forced to stand up from her throne and let out a most unladylike, piercing whistle to calm everyone down.

'Peace, friends, peace!' she cried, before sitting back down on her throne and waiting for their attention to be focused onto her. 'While I do agree that it seems unlikely that Grima is returning, we must remember that Lord Raye is a manakete; if anyone were to recognise the Felldragon's presence, surely it would be one of their kind?' She looked around then, seeing expressions ranging from grudging agreement to outright denial. 'And also, if we are to believe his parting words, Lord Raye himself even battled Grima, another reason why he might recognise our ancient foe's presence.'

'Yes, but that simply cannot be!' a noble argued in reply. He then spread his arms and looked around at all those gathered there. 'We all know how it was Divine Naga, along with the First Exalt Lissandra, but we have never heard of the presence of another dragon who fought by their side during that harrowing time!' H then scoffed. 'From what the records say most, if not ALL, of the other divine dragons and manaketes had perished or left out world by that point, the exception of course being the Voice of Naga!'

'Indeed, and by his own admission Lord Raye failed in his battle against the Felldragon!' another noble nodded in agreement to his fellow's words. 'Although, I suppose he might have meant that he fought Grima before he became a threat to the world, in which case can we really be expected to depend on Lord Raye's so-called strength?' His last words had a mocking undertone to them, something that Yana immediately caught onto and was angered by.

'Excuse me, but Raye had protected Rielet Village for centuries before I was even born!' she snapped hotly. 'All through my childhood, I've known him to be exceedingly competent and trustworthy, certainly someone I would not hesitate to call on should a crisis occur!'

'Perhaps once he was, but your village was destroyed after he had left; what does that show of his credibility!'

At this, silence descended in the room as Yana froze and Chrom and Lissa glared at the man who had just spoken; the subject of Rielet was still a touchy subject for their sister, Yana only being comfortable discussing it with her friends that had managed to survive her village's destruction.

'How dare you…!' Chrom began furiously but was interrupted when Yana held up a hand to forestall his words.

'It's okay, Chrom, he's right,' she said calmly before turning to the noble. 'Yes, Rielet was destroyed after he left, but I'd like to point out the most crucial part of that statement; AFTER he had left.' She looked pointedly at the man before continuing. 'According to a friend of mine, the Plegians only attacked after they were certain that he had left, meaning that they may have known about his presence and, if they were, rightfully feared him.'

'I was under the impression that your village was attacked even before that?' the noble argued. 'Was it not the very reason why the head cleric of your village sent you here in the first place; to seek aid?' It was his turn to look pointedly at Yana. 'Does that not suggest that she did not have much confidence in Lord Raye's abilities?'

Yana hesitated for a moment before replying, 'Yes…but it was at Raye's advice that she sent me; he even decided to escort me here personally!'

'Ah, so it was Lord Raye himself who doubted his own ability to protect your village?' the noble said triumphantly, leaping on Yana's words. 'If that is the case, why should we feel differently? Even more damning, the fact that, from what YOU have said, the Plegian's knew about his presence, meaning that someone from your own village had decided to betray him! Perhaps they attacked under the impression that he was still there; perhaps their intent was to slay h…'

The noble's words were cut off as Yana, an angry look on her face, stepped forward and slapped him across the face.

'I have had enough of your words, you…you…JERKFACE!' she seethed, resorting to using one of Sahria's favourite insults. 'While I understand your reasoning, and recognise the POSSIBILITY of your words being true, don't you EVER accuse Raye as being the reason why the Plegians attacked and destroyed my village!' She took a shaky breath before continuing. 'He may not show it, but the destruction of Rielet weighs heavily on him; he built the village from the ground up himself and allowed humans to live in it after all! I would be insulting him, as well as all those who had lived in Rielet of the ages, if I were to blame him for its destruction and even allow the thought to cross my mind! Losing the village must have felt like losing a part of himself!'

'You are being naïve, Princess Yana!' the aggrieved noble snapped. 'You are letting your own personal history with the man from entertaining the possibility that the man you always saw as your protector is simply not strong enough to protect you anymore!'

Yana let out a strangled cry and raised her hand to slap the noble again, but Chrom quickly leapt forward and grabbed her arm before it descended. He then gently passed her over to Lissa, who quickly put her arms around her angrily shaking sister, before he faced the noble with a deceptively calm look on his face.

'Lord Bhelen…' he began. '…perhaps you are not aware of how we secured the alliance with the Feroxi?' The noble looked confused and opened his mouth but Chrom cut him off. 'Since that is clearly the case, both for you and a few others I suspect, then allow me to educate you; we were only able to gain their assistance after RAYE, the man you are foolishly calling weak due to a probably LOND past failure, single-handedly took on nearly thirty warriors personally chosen by the then ruling Khan in a contest to decide the next Great Khan.' He let his words sink in before continuing. 'Naturally, such warriors would have to be the best of the best, correct? Raye himself even mentioned that one such warrior had a weapon that was able to threaten him.' Chrom did not reveal the fact that the warrior in question went by the name 'Marth' and wielded a weapon that looked disturbingly like his own. 'And do you know what I was witness to? I saw one man tear through those thirty opponents as easily as if he were on a simple stroll, exhibiting power that I'd never seen or FELT before! One of my own Shepherds, a mage of no small power herself, was awestruck by the power that we all felt radiating from the man that you seem to be referring to as 'weak'.'

'I'll tell you something else…' Chrom continued after a short pause. 'Khans Basilio and Flavia and myself inspected the arena after the match; we found that the very ground itself was cracked in several places, and the arena walls were crumbling, something which bother khans told me was not the arena's state before Raye stepped into it. Miriel, the Shepherd mage I just mentioned, also informed me that she detected a still very potent residual of magical energy; indeed, I had to physically drag her away from the arena to stop her from staying there for most likely an entire week to study the phenomenon.' The prince stared directly at the noble then. 'If you still think of Raye as weak, then that's your prerogative; I myself choose to trust in him, and in my sister's words. I implore you to do the same.' He then grinned. 'Of course, you could always take up the issue with Raye himself, though I warn you that you may have to be prepared to run away from him as soon as you voiced your concerns.'

After this surprisingly passionate speech, the noble gaped at him, uncomfortably aware of the smirk on Yana's face and the eyes now pointed at him.

'Perhaps…perhaps I was hasty in my opinion…' the man eventually muttered before excusing himself and nearly bolting out of the room.

After he had left, Chrom felt Yana's arms embrace him from behind and her head come to rest on his shoulders.

'Thank you, Chrom,' she whispered into his ear. 'I fear that if you hadn't stepped in I would certainly have punched the man in his stupid face…'

'Hey, what are twin brothers for?' Chrom joked as he reached around and patted her on the head. 'I also see that you've been spending some time with Sahria; really, using such language like that? What are people going to think of their new princess?'

'Oh, shush you,' Yana giggled. 'I'm still annoyed that people even know about who I am! I really hope you found out who spilled the beans; I wish to have words with them…fair, non-violent words of course.'

'Riiight…' Chrom scoffed, smiling. 'In any case, I was more than happy to defend Raye against that fool's accusations; I've seen the kind of man he is and I must say that I am certainly impressed, manakete origins notwithstanding.'

'Speaking of which, you forgot to mention the fact that your Brand burned when Raye fought,' Lissa scolded him playfully.

'Oh, yeah…eh, that was probably just due to feeling his power,' Chrom replied, shrugging.

However, at his words, Emmeryn frowned. 'You didn't tell me that, Chrom.'

'Does it matter?'

The Exalt's frown deepened. 'I'm not sure...it's just that a few weeks ago my own brand burned. Not uncomfortably, mind you, but at the time I thought it was a headache; it was only until later that I realised that the source had in fact been my brand.'

'Okay, that is odd,' Chrom mused. He then felt that Yana had tightened her grip around him and he winced. 'Er, Yana? You're a little tight with your hug there.'

'Sorry…' Yana said quickly and stepped back, avoiding looking at Chrom as he turned to look over his shoulder at her. 'Damn, this is awkward…my brand, too, burned during that fight, but I know why…please Naga, don't let them ask…'

Unfortunately for Yana, her twin brother seemingly borrowed a part of Robin's intuition and looked at her suspiciously.

'Yana…did you brand also burn when Raye was fighting?' he asked, crossing his arms and looking sternly at his sister.

'Er…no…?' Yana mumbled, still avoiding Chrom's stare. Internally, she cursed the fact that she was very bad at hiding secrets from those she was close with when they confronted her about them.

'Yana…tell the truth…'

At the rising firmness in her brother's words, Yana quickly gave in and cried 'Okay, yes; my brand also burned!'

Chrom studied his sister as she stood there looking almost endearingly guiltily at the floor.

'You know why, don't you?' he said after a while. When he saw Yana nod smally, he raised an eyebrow. 'Care to share?'

'…You're not going to let this go, are you?' Yana asked, slightly hopefully. Her hopes were dashed as soon as Chrom let out a short shake of his head.

'No, no I'm not,' he replied. 'And don't think that you can be all cute to try and distract me from this; only Lissa has really mastered that technique, and even then it only works rarely these days.'

'Hey…' Lissa pouted as Yana sighed in defeat.

'Very well, just...please don't pester Raye about it afterwards; he'll be terribly annoyed if you did,' Yana sighed. Chrom nodded and gestured for her to continue.

Taking a breath, Yana said, 'The reason why our brands might have…DID…burn when Raye unleashed his power is because…' she swallowed nervously before continuing. '…because he's…actually the son of Naga…'

Silence once again engulfed the throne room after Yana's words.

'Er…mind repeating that again, sis?' Chrom asked, disturbingly calmly after several minutes had passed, during which he had simply stared at his twin silently.

'Raye is the son of Naga…' Yana repeated, sighing again as she waited for what she knew was coming.

It didn't take long for her prediction to be proven.

'EXCUSE ME?!' Chrom yelped, finally letting go of himself and allowing a completely shocked look to take over all of his previous expressions. 'He, as in RAYE; the guy that we, the Shepherds, have been treating as one of own, the very guy who almost behaves like stubborn child…THAT GUY…is the son of Naga?!' He breathed deeply for a moment before pacing. 'As in NAGA, the Divine Dragon herself, the very being who is responsible for our family line, saving the world itself on several occasions, and is now basically our patron deity? That Naga? That man is that being's son? As in her child that she gave birth to? HER SON?'

'Chrom, calm down!' Yana hurriedly implored him, stepping towards her brother and grabbing his arm to stop his pacing. 'This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you! Raye even asked me not to tell you; he wanted to avoid a situation exactly like this!'

'Oh, I'm sorry!' Chrom cried, almost hysterically. 'Excuse me for not freaking out that, all this time, the man that we've been travelling with, joking with, TRAINING with, is, in fact, the SON OF A GOD!' He then pointed at Lissa, who looked very embarrassed for some reason. 'For his mother's sakes, Lissa asked him, point blank, if you and he were lovers! It doesn't even matter that she was just teasing you, the implications of her words…HE'S HER SON!'

At Chrom's words, Lissa had buried her face in her hands while Yana rolled her eyes. Yana then turned to look up at Emmeryn, who had remained silent with a blank look on her face on her throne ever since Raye's connection to Naga had been revealed.

'Emm, please tell our brother to calm…down…' Yana's words died out as she saw the expression on her older sister's face.

At Yana's words, Emmeryn started before she looked down at her faintly. 'Sorry, Yana…I fear that I too am feeling quite shocked…'

'Oh for…why does it even matter who Raye's mother is?' Yana cried in frustration. 'Yes, he's the son of the basis for our whole religion, but that doesn't mean that he's any more or less of a man than the next person!' Even as she said this, though, she cringed internally as she knew that her words were completely false. 'Okay…fine, I get that what I just said is completely idiotic, but still…he's still same person as he was before!'

'Except that he's the son of NAGA!' Chrom yelled.

Before Yana could reply, there was a sudden sigh from the door to the throne room. All those present turned to see the very subject of their conversation leaning against the doorframe, with a younger manakete peeking around the doorframe next to him.

'Hey, master…are you really the son of Naga?' she asked then in the awkward silence.

Yana mimicked Lissa and buried her face in her hands, sinking to a crouch as Chrom, Emmeryn and the nobles stared at Raye, who rolled his eyes.

'As much as I'd love to stand around here and subject myself to this undivided attention, I think I'm gonna leave,' the manakete muttered, pushing himself off of the doorframe and making to leave with Sahria. 'Just thought you guys might like to know that the Plegian's might be about to attack Ylisstol.'

At this revelation, Chrom snapped out of his reverie and asked quickly, 'Are you sure?'

'Pretty sure, yeah, at least that's what Sahria said,' Raye replied over his shoulder. 'Now, if it's all the same to you, I think I'm going to watch out for any suspicious activity. Feel free to double the guard around the city and the Exalt; she's most likely their target.'

With that, Raye left, Sahria giving the stunned royals and nobles a cheerful wave before following him.

'W…WAIT!' Chrom cried, hurrying after the two manaketes as Frederick and Yana followed.

In the wake of their departure, Emmeryn looked down as she felt Lissa sit herself onto her older sister's lap and rest her head on her chest.

'Emm…our family's weird…' the pig-tailed princess said in blank voice.

Emmeryn rubbed her head sympathetically.

'Yes…yes it is…'

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Two chapters in a row where two characters' secrets are revealed…they really do have the worst luck, don't they?

I felt that the whole 'everyone with the Brand of the Exalt had their brands burn during Raye's fight' moment needed to be addressed, and so it has. Raye himself had also dropped several unintentional hints as to his origins, so it was only a matter of time until someone cottoned on to it.

Next chapter will return, somewhat, to the base game events, in that it will follow the events of Chapter 6: Foreseer. Of course, 'Marth' will have to deal with the presence of three people who she never even knew of.

Look out for Tiki in that chapter as well, since she is quickly closing in.

Ciao for now!