Chapter 9) Knorda Market

Kris POV

There's been a lot of battles, but at last, we're in Archanea. Even better, we're almost at the palace itself. Past the mountains is the Millenium Palace of Archanea, the center of the continent. If we get it, then we can begin liberating the other countries, including Altea.

This battle will be one of the defining points of the war. We can't afford to mess this up.

I'd never quite understood the expression 'the tension in the air was thick enough to cut' until today. I'd always wondered why you'd even want to cut some 'tension', but today's little 'war meeting' had enough tension that I was tempted to steal Marth's rapier and poke at it.

"So, based on this map, we have to go around the mountains to reach the palace," Marth murmured. He traced the path on the map on the table, and all five of us grimaced as we noticed there was only really one path through. Nyna and Hardin were here, as always, as was Diana. Wolf had gone scouting instead, to see if there was, by some miracle, another path through. "Damn, this…"

"It's better to expect ambushes, and a heavy defense," Hardin whispered. He tapped a couple of points where we'd likely get caught up. "If they hold here, they stop us."

"We do have aerial forces now, thanks to Princess Minerva." Princess Minerva had been invited, but she'd opted to get a better eye on the terrain instead. "They won't have that."

"But there will be archers. Most of our aerial forces are pegasus knights."

"Well, look on the bright side, everyone," Diana suggested lightly. She was, as always, perched on the arm of Nyna's chair, though her injuries had long since been healed. I wondered if it was so that she and Nyna could gossip more quietly. "You won't have to deal with Camus here."

"Thank the gods for that one," Marth sighed. "Thank the gods for that."

He continued about something, but something odd had caught my attention, something no one else seemed to notice. Diana actually used titles for most people in the army. There were some exceptions, of course. She tended to call the Aurelsi soldiers by name, like Wolf, but strangely not Duke Hardin. She called Jeorge by his name, probably because they were old acquaintances, and honestly gossip was heating up about the possibility of something between them growing. She, of course, called Nyna by her name, and also called Minerva by her name, but that was apparently at Minerva's direct request. But, just then, she'd called Camus by name. It could be how she didn't use titles for enemies, but with those… she used nicknames, like Medy, Micky, and the new one of 'Nefy' to replace 'Garf' for Gharnef. 'Camus' was no nickname.

So, what did it mean, that she called Camus by name?

"What's over here in this area?" Marth asked, jolting me out of my musings. He was pointing to a cluster of villages just to our east, if we went over the mountains. It was actually a strange 'almost mirror' for where the palace was. "A town?"

"That is Knorda," Nyna replied. As always, she wore a mask of serenity, and kept her voice calm. "It's a bustling market town, in theory."

"In… theory?"

"In practice, it is the home to gladiator 'games' and a slave trade." She sighed, bowing her head. "One of many things my father ignored, and I have little doubt the current… holders of my home have done anything to stop it."

"Slavery?!" Marth yelped, jerking back, and Hardin actually bristled. "That's…!"

"I imagine they paid their taxes on time so my father didn't care." She glanced back up at Hardin and Marth. "I worry about it. I know we have many things to plan, but might we see if there is a way to liberate Knorda?"

"I… think so." Marth looked to Hardin, who glowered at the map. "Duke Hardin, what do you-?"

"Purge the slavers," Hardin instantly hissed. The sudden vehemence made all of us jump, even Diana and Nyna. "They…" He took a deep breath, held it for a moment, and then slowly released it, relaxing with the breath. "I'm sorry. I fought hard to end slavery in Aurelis. I… severely dislike… the idea of it continuing, anywhere."

"Treated like an animal, or even worse," Diana murmured. Her eyes unfocused slightly, and she smiled bitterly. "Worse, actually. There's a market for pedophiles, among others."

"I didn't need to hear that part," I groaned. I knew it too, and it just made Marth squirm. "What do you know about it anyway?"

"The Knorda market is an open secret, Kris. From there, well, you see certain patterns in people, especially if you're a mercenary. Charles and I renegaded a contract once because we discovered our employer was a repeat customer. Poor kids…" She smiled slightly. "This nice bishop named Eremiya took them in, though. They should be fine."

"Ah." I shrugged, and looked to Marth. "Well, if you want infiltration, I'm your girl. Not alone. I'm not that stupid."

"But you can head a small group to head in and see what can be done," Marth replied. He gave me a warm smile. "Let's figure out the rest of your group. We'll be a nice big distraction for you and yours."

I only hoped I'd know the others in the group. This army was really far too large.

"Damn, it looks even worse than I remember," Ogma muttered as we walked through the streets of Knorda. I wrinkled my nose at the smell of trash in the gutters, and saw all the starving kids. "And my memories of this place were never fond."

"Caeda mentioned she met you here," I commented, remembering how she'd begged me to keep an eye on Ogma while we infiltrated. "She was worried, by the way."

"She 'met' me while I was being beaten for helping some other gladiators escape, and that's all I'm going to say on the matter." His voice became clipped, anger bleeding through, and it was really easy to see why she'd been worried. I'd never known him to be anything but calm. "So-"

"Relax. I was trying to tease you, like I used to in Talys, but it's clear that this is not a topic to be teased on. So, I'm sorry."

"...Kinda miss those days in Talys." Ogma slowly relaxed, and smiled. "You three just teasing each other, as if the peace would never end. It was nice."

"War waits for no one."

"No, sadly, it doesn't." He nodded ahead. "There are the others."

"It's about time. We're getting weird looks." I waved as Cain, Merric, and Julian raced up to join us. I'd been sour about Merric joining, but couldn't tell Marth that. Merric had also been incredibly chipper about it, which made me feel even more sour over all of it. "Did you guys find anything?"

"Sadly, all we got was a confirmation of what we already knew," Merric answered. We ducked into an alley to confer, and he bent down to feed a stray cat with some rations he'd brought. The poor thing was thin. "Poor dear."

"Don't go adopting cats," I sighed. Still, I knelt down too and fished through my pack for some bread, which I broke up and gave to it. "I'm sorry we don't have better, pretty one."

"What was that about not adopting?"

"I used to feed stray cats a lot back in Altea." I reached over to scratch it behind the ears. "So, confirmation?"

"Basically, there's gladiators and slave trades, and someone in charge, but no one willing to give names," Julian explained. He crossed his arms and leaned against the building. "So…"

"So, we have two choices," Cain continued, shrugging. "One is to…" He flinched at some faint noise, and smiled bitterly when I gave him a curious look. "Nothing for us to worry about. They just have ballistas."

"You can tell that just by the sound?" Ogma asked, looking a bit impressed. I was more surprised he could pick out a single sound in the quiet mess of noise we'd could hear of the distant battle. "We're a distance away."

"I'll always remember it. Two years ago, Gra set up a couple of ballista units behind our lines. It played a large part in why we were slaughtered." Cain's eyes darkened briefly, but then he shook his head roughly. "Regardless, our two choices. We've confirmed things here, so either we retreat for more people, or take care of it ourselves."

"I think we don't have a choice," I pointed out. I stood slowly, giving the cat one more scratch behind the ear, and faced everyone. Merric petted the cat a couple more times before doing the same, and the cat scampered off into the shadows. "I'd imagine they'd move quickly to sell their slaves at this point. The gladiators might be fine?"

"Not likely," Ogma muttered bitterly. He was tense again. "If they're anything like they were before, they'll kill the gladiators to prevent them from ratting anyone out."

"...Then we really don't have a choice." I sighed, barely resisting the urge to growl in frustration. "We need… what? Two groups? One for the gladiators and one for the slaves?"

"We're in limited numbers and you're suggesting that we split up further?" Merric yelped. We instantly covered his mouth and darted deeper into the alleyway. "Oops…"

"Keep silent," Julian hissed. He nudged Merric's leg. "Anyway, Kris and I could deal with the slavers. Merric could be our backup, and keep our weapons."

"Why would I keep your weapons?"

"Because we're going to let them catch us, of course. Best way to get to their hideout and then we'll destroy it from the inside." Julian shrugged. "Won't be that hard. The hardest part for both of us will be standing out."

"You're strangers, though?"

"We're thieves. We've spent our lives learning how to blend in. That's how you don't get caught." Julian and I shared an exasperated look. People never got how much work it took to be a good thief. "Regardless, the three of us can handle that if Ogma and Cain handle the gladiators?" Julian gave them a curious look. Cain looked indifferent; Ogma looked tensed. "Though, Ogma, you and I can switch if you-"

"I'll be thrown to the gladiators anyway," Ogma interrupted. His sad, bitter smile made me wonder if that was how he'd ended up in the arena in the first place. "I doubt they've blocked all the hidden paths. Cain and I can handle it."

"Then let's split up, and cause some chaos!" I cheered, giving them my best grin. They all smiled back, but they also looked ready to laugh. "Was that too peppy? I tried to emulate our silly prince."

"It actually worked a little too well." Ogma laughed as I sulked, finally relaxing fully. "You know; it's startling how much you two look alike."

"Is it? I never noticed." I shrugged. "Whatever. Merric, here." I handed him my thunder tome. "Stay hidden." Ignoring his little yelp of protest, I waved to the others as I stepped out of the alley and headed for the nearest stand, a woman selling fruit.

"Well, you're a new face," the woman murmured. She didn't looked particularly enthused by that, not even pretending to put on a smile as she studied my face. "What will you have, dear?"

"Hmm…" I took stock of her wares, and picked the most expensive fruit she had. 'Expensive' was sure to get their attention. "I'd like an orange, please," I told her. She gave me an incredulous look, but I gave her my sweetest smile, and held up my coinpurse, shaking it so that she could hear the coins clink. "They look good."

"No thanks to the war destroying the groves," the woman muttered. She took her time selecting one for me."I'm sick of war. If it's not the screaming of battles, it's the bawling of widows." She scowled. "You should return home to your loved ones, if you ask me."

"Aw, but my home was kinda torched, and all my loved ones died." I kept my voice very light and she flinched. "Can I get my orange please? I'm hungry."

She handed me the orange quickly, and I gave her the coins, telling her to keep the change. Then, I walked off, carefully peeling it so that the peel came off in one big chunk. Julian fell in step next to me and casually took one of the slices, popping it in his mouth before handing me some chocolate, expensive as all hell even without a war. With those little bits of obvious spending, it really didn't take long at all for someone to start following us. Julian and I exchanged a look and a smile as another person, a seemingly harmless old lady, walked up and started chatting with us, inviting us to her home for a 'proper dinner'.

We had them. Now we had to wait until their guard was down. That was always the boring part.

"How have these people managed to operate this long?" Julian muttered. We were crammed into a little box of a room with a bunch of other people. Most of them were sniffling, or were so resigned to their fate that they might as well be dead for all they cared. Julian and I were the only ones who really showed any sort of energy. "Did they search you more than me? They didn't even take my lockpicks."

"No, they had that old lady do that, and she just checked the pockets she could see," I replied softly. I grimaced as someone accidentally kicked me, but waved off the apology. "She didn't even check my breast-band. So, I've all my little 'gifts'."

"Why do girls always hide their most dangerous stuff there?"

"It's convenient, and no one can really reach there without there being some side-eyeing." It also helped that I actually had larger than average boobs. I could hide a lot. "Speaking of which, I'm going to shift a bit behind you to move them to my pockets."

"I'll work on getting us towards the actual door." Julian sighed, grimacing. "Gods, I wonder if any died from suffocation in these places?"

"Let's not think about that."

"Just like how we're not thinking about how your 'gifts' didn't go off?"

"Oh, that's because I bought double-vial thingies at Port Warren." I carefully maneuvered and snatched the two I'd hidden in my breast-band, and slipped them into my pockets to join the other two I had. "Why do you think I gave Merric my tome, but kept them on?"

"I figured you'd use them after meeting up."

"Nope. These ones work a little easier. I just have to throw them against a hard surface. It's not as potent, though. So, they're my little 'gifts'."

"Why call them that anyway?"

"I'm bad at naming shit, okay?" I nudged him with my elbow. "We can head to the door now."

"Good, because any longer, and I'm going to start going mad from the stale air."

"You should just imagine them as a bunch of Lenas." I grinned as his face went super red. "Wow, you're even easier than pretty boy."

"Sh-shut up! You're the one saying weird shit!" He muttered a few more things under his breath, each more unflattering than the last, as he carefully pushed our way towards the door.

Once there, he checked the door slowly, carefully figuring out the locking mechanism for it. It was slow, and reminded me on why I'd always avoided picking locks, but I knew how important it was to be extra careful, especially now. Besides, Julian knew what he was doing. It only took him one lockpick to unlock the door.

The dull 'thunk' of the lock, followed by the quiet 'creak' of the door opening silenced everyone in the room. Julian and I stepped outside and stood slowly, stretching as our muscles complained at the movement. I recovered faster, though, so I turned to the others and smiled. "Hey, everyone," I greeted, keeping my voice quiet. "We're part of the Altean Army. If you're up for running, we'll get you out. But you have to listen to us, and keep orderly and quiet, okay?" There were a few hesitant nods. "Come on then." I stepped to the side, exchanging a look with Julian. He nodded, and moved ahead, understanding that he'd take point, while I'd take the rear.

There were a lot of people, though. I worried we wouldn't actually be able to get them out, since they were hobbling so much, and I also wondered just where all these people even came from. I decided both didn't matter. Julian and I would do what we could.

We moved through the little hideout cautiously, making more noise than I would've liked, but less than I would've expected for a bunch of people not used to being stealthy. No one wanted to get caught. Of course, we inevitably did, simply because we were a large group, but that was honestly where my little gifts came in.

"Kris!" Julian's shout echoed back, and I pulled the little gifts from my pockets and threw two at the walls. They shattered, generating a thin cloud of smoke. "Everyone, keep with me!" Julian continued shouting. "Kris?"

"I got it!" I called back, ducking down another hall and throwing a third of my little gifts. Ideally, the slavers would follow the smoke. The loud thunder of footsteps that followed me as I ran hinted I'd at least gotten most of them. At another intersection, I threw my last little gift and picked a direction at random to bolt, pausing only long enough to find and open a window to let the smoke trickle up.

In retrospect, Julian and I probably should've sat down a little longer with Merric and actually, you know, worked out a signal, but hopefully, Merric could figure out something. He was smart, right? Smoke generally meant something was going on, and the only 'something' would be us. But, then again, Julian and I got a little too into the idea of infiltrating. At least, I did.

...Of course, maybe this was just… me desperately trying to prove I could still be useful...

"Kris!" Merric's voice echoed through the hall, and I glanced around to see him at one of the windows. "Over here!" he called, waving. I jumped for the window, swinging myself out it easily, and almost kicking Merric in the face by accident. "Whoa!" He, thankfully, managed to leap back in time. "Ugh… I'm not cut out for this sort of craziness!" He handed me my thunder tome with a little sulk. "You're lucky that the wind sylphs thought we were hilarious and gladly told me what was going on!"

"Yeah, I already figured out that we went a little fast, and I'll apologize later," I replied. Both of us jumped at the sound of wood splintering, and we whirled to see that… we had a whole bunch of armed people running for us. "Time to leave."

"Where's Julian?"

"Hopefully, he's in a better situation than us right now!" I snatched his hand and took off down a path. "Ugh, we need a way up!"

"Why do we want to go up?"

"No one thinks to look up!" I darted around random corners, hoping to lose them. Sadly, though, it was never for long enough. "Ugh, why did I use all of my 'gifts' already? I should've brought more."

"How do you make them anyway? That requires amazing chemistry knowledge, and you're self-taught, yes?"

"Now is not the time!" Something suddenly fell near us, right by my face even, making Merric yelp and me stiffen, and we jerked our heads up to see an empty flower pot had crashed… but above us was a perfectly viable path to the roof. I started climbing immediately, and Merric followed suit clumsily. But I reached back and dragged him onto the roof moments before the slavers raced past. Both of us threw our spells down, thunder and wind blending together in a rather explosive combination, and let their panic do the rest of the work as we crawled away, careful not to make too much noise.

When we made it to the other edge of the roof, and I glanced around looking for a path down, I paused as I noticed something. There, right at a good starting point for a climb down, was a thing cat that looked remarkably like the one Merric and I fed before. It meowed once, trotted over to rub its face against ours with a loud purr, and leapt away, crossing to the other roofs with ease and disappearing from sight. Both Merric and I simply stared, not quite sure what happened.

"You ever hear about the tale with the slave and the lion?" Merric asked after a moment. "I heard it when I was little, but I don't know how common it is."

"You mean the one where the guy helped a lion, and the lion helped him much later?" I asked, thinking slowly. Grandfather had read me that one. "Yeah, I always thought it bullshit."

"Do you now?"

"I have no idea." I moved to the edge, though, and started climbing down. "Come on. We need to meet up with the others."

"Uh…" Merric looked over tentatively. "It's now a good time to mention I'm worse at climbing down than I am at climbing up?"

"You could just stay on the roof until we have a flier free, but that could be a few hours." I hit the ground and looked up at him. "Your choice."

"Ugh…" He sighed, and hesitantly began trying to follow me down. "I'm not fit enough for this."

"Breath used for complaining can be used for climbing, you know."

"You say that like it's eas-WAH!" Merric slipped, but it had been so unexpected, and the distance was so short, that he actually ended up falling on top of me. "Ow…"

"That's my remark!" Everything hurt now. His elbows were digging into my ribs, and his hard head hit me square in the chest. "You're heavy! Get off!"

"Is everything okay?!" Someone swung into the alley. "I heard…" Whoever it was trailed off, and I looked towards the entrance to see it was Cain. "I… uh… see you're busy," he murmured. His expression was stony, for some reason. "I'll just…"

"No, get him off of me," I snapped, bristling. I couldn't believe he was just going to leave us like this! "He's heavy!"

"What did I even land on?" Merric mumbled. He sounded fazed. "Something soft?"

"You landed on me, unless you're talking specifically about your head, because that landed on my boobs and believe me when I say that freaking hurts, so get off!"

"Huh? ACK!" Merric jumped off, face bright red. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean…!"

"Ugh, this wouldn't have happened if you'd paid more attention to your climbing and less on complaining!" I pushed myself up, brushed the dirt off, and rounded on Cain, who now looked confused. "And you were just going to leave?! I can't believe you!"

"I… well…" Cain began. His eyes darted all over the place, not looking at me. "It looked like…"

"Ugh, don't even try!" I snapped. I threw my hands up and stormed past him, heading for the loudest part of town. "You and Ogma better have done your part!"

"We did. The gladiators jumped at the chance to turn on their captors." Cain fell in step next to me, despite my attempts to get away. "Are you alright?"

"No, I'm bruised from someone falling on me!" I glared up at him, and he flinched. "Ugh! Both of you aren't allowed to talk to me for the rest of the day!"

"I-"

"I'm not listening!" We made it to the crowd and last, and I ducked into it, losing Cain easily. I was just so… I couldn't even begin to describe how angry I was. I wasn't even sure why I was so angry! I just was!

"Excuse me?" A tiny hand snagged my sleeve, and I almost told them to get lost because I was just mad at everything. But I paused when I realized I was looking at a tentative young kid, a year or two younger than me in fact. "Um… I need to retrieve something important from the hideout," they explained. "Do you mind coming with me?"

"Yeah, sure," I replied, shrugging. I saw no reason not to, and I had my tome if things went wrong. "You might need to lead the way, though. I've no clue where I even am."

"We're not far. We met the former gladiators right at the door, and let them take care of the slavers." They tugged me after them, navigating the crowd easily. I noticed how ragged their clothes were, and how they wore a turban much like Hardin. I thought that strange since… well, Hardin was the only one I'd seen wear that. "That Ogma guy said I could only come back, though, if one of your group came with me."

"Well, there could still be more." I let them drag me, noticing their hand was actually trembling a little. "You okay?"

"Fine. Mostly. I'm worried they sold my things already." They entered the building, and I saw how they didn't hesitate much when picking a path. "Biggest room. I saw them taking everything to this room."

"So, you want your things?" My eyes widened when we stepped into the 'biggest room' and saw all the shit that was here. "Are some of these piles touching the ceiling?"

"Oh, there's way more than I thought." They sighed, drooping. They perked up quickly, though. "But, it's boxes! Maybe they kept it together?"

"How long has it been since you were captured?"

"It hasn't been long. A day, maybe?"

"In that case…" I looked around and found the smallest pile. "Let's see…" I headed over and started sorting through, wondering where they had gotten so many boxes in the first place. Maybe they paid coffin makers?

But it was depressing, looking inside the various boxes. There were little dolls, or trinkets that were worthless on the market, but priceless to those that owned them. I found spare clothes and wedding rings. One box held only tiny boots, a baby's spare shoes. I wondered what happened to the baby, then decided I wasn't sure I wanted to actually know.

A box in the middle of the pile held something really odd, though. It was a long pink dress, made of fine material, and a tome that practically shone with power.

"There!" the kid gasped and snagged the dress from me, clutching it to their chest. "Oh, good, they hadn't sold it yet," they breathed. "I can dress normally again!"

"I… ah… take it you dressed…" I began. I took stock of the dress, the color, and their build. "You dressed like a boy to avoid getting sold as a bed warmer, didn't you?"

"Not exactly." The kid tugged off the turban, revealing long brown hair that was tangled and sweaty, and stripped out of the ragged clothes to slide on the robes. "I was more hiding from Gharnef." She sighed as she got the dress on, and I had a feeling she'd specifically asked for me to come with her because I was the only girl in the rescue group. "You're with the army, right?" She struggled to tie some cords around her waist, so I reached over to help. "Thanks." She smiled. "My name is Linde. Pontifex Miloah was my father. Princess Nyna is with you, right?"

"Yeah, she is, though at this point, she's going to be in the infirmary, tending the wounded." I got the cord tied, and stepped back, giving her a weird look. I had no clue what a 'pontifex' was. "Why? Do you want to join up?"

"Yes." Her eyes hardened, and she reached into the box to pull out that beautiful looking tome. "I inherited Aura from my father, and it has granted me the ability to wield it." She grinned triumphantly, but I felt ice cold dread pool in my stomach. "So, I'll fight, anyone and everyone, until I meet Gharnef and slay him myself!"

Linde ran off with a skip to her step, and I only stared after her, filled with horrible dread and jealousy. She was a mage. She had a super-spell, just like Merric.

How was I supposed to compete? How could I be useful, when there were two replacements, now? I…

It took a while to calm things in Knorda long enough for us to safely leave, and we actually played city guard for a while and rounded up the slavers' accomplices, to be tried later when Nyna had reclaimed her throne. Then we discovered that some of the rescued actually wanted to join the army, so we had to deal with all of that and basically encouraging some to remain behind to guard Knorda.

So, basically, by the time we actually finished with Knorda and returned to the army, the initial battles were over, and they were just securing the gates to charge inside. I went straight to Marth to report. Merric took Linde to Nyna for me.

"Welcome back!" Marth greeted, smiling warmly at me. He had blood smeared across his neck, like he'd tried to wipe off his face, but didn't do a good job. "I'm glad you made it back in time."

"Yeah, things got a little more complicated," I explained, shrugging. I still felt off because of my earlier anger, and I felt worse because of Linde. The worst part was that it wasn't even Linde's fault. "But, Knorda won't bother us."

"Good." He looked up at the giant castle gates as the soldiers rushed about, preparing. "If we strike now, before enemy reinforcements arrive, then we'll be able to set up a defensive line here." His hands shook, though. "Can we…?"

"What's with that talk, pretty boy?" I nudged his shoulder, smiling slightly. "We're going to make it. After all, this is the second step for liberating Altea."

"...Yes." He nodded, eyes certain now. "Yes, we will make it. We..." However, that determination faltered, and he glanced over to where the infirmary tent was set up. Even from here, we could hear muffled screams and sobs. "I…"

"Are you losing hope?" I shifted so that I blocked his view of the infirmary tent. "What caused that?"

"I just… have to rely on so many people." He sighed, looking up to the sky. "They look to me like I have all the answers, but I… I'm useless without them, really. Everyone is always protecting me, dying for me, yet I'm the one given the supposed glory."

"...Marth, do you remember what I said?" I poked his nose to make him squirm. "You're protecting a world. In fact, you can argue that you're fighting to save thousands of worlds, hundreds of thousands even, one for each person who lives. Yes, some die, but with a goal that large, you need help."

"But Anri-"

"Anri only wanted to save one world, Artemis's. So, of course he did it alone. Saving a world isn't that big of a thing. The healers do the same every day." I smiled reassuringly. "You believe in them, though. You believe in them, and that inspires them to fight for you."

"I…" He looked uncertain. "But…"

"Hey, if you're that worried, then why not just wander the camp and talk to them?" I shrugged. "Listen to their stories. Let them tell you what they hope to save with fighting. Learn about their worlds. Maybe that'll give you a better grasp of what all everyone is fighting for."

"...I think Princess Nyna does something similar, with those in the infirmary tent. The two of us can do it together." He smiled slightly. "Ah, but I almost forgot to thank you for tending to Knorda."

"It's no big deal." I shrugged again, this time for different reasons. My bad mood returned with a vengeance. "Just got lucky."

"If you say so?" His smile fell, and he frowned slightly, looking worried. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, fine, why?"

"You just… seem off." He frowned more. "You don't have to hide things from me. If you're tired, then…"

"Pretty boy, I'm fine."

"I believe that's the first time you've lied to me."

"Just go with it!"

"I'd rather not!" He scowled, and I glowered. No one paid attention to us. "If something is wrong, please, tell me! You listen to my worries, so I'd like to return the favor!"

"Marth, seriously, you have way too much to worry about already! You've got no need to worry over a useless girl like me!" I stared, wide eyed, as I realized what I said, and I took a step back as Marth actually jerked back, like I'd slapped him in the face. "You've got… the whole army… and the whole continent… to worry about. What point is there for someone like me?"

"Kris?" He sounded almost fragile. "Kris, I don't… why are you…?"

"There's nothing I can do!" The words came tumbling out. "Merric has Excalibur! Linde has Aura! I'm just a thief who knows magic! What worth do I have?!" My breath caught and my throat felt clogged. "So, don't worry about me, damn it!" I ran away then, mostly because I recognized I was about to cry, and if I was going to be this pathetic, I wanted to keep some shred of dignity and not cry. But I lost that battle pretty quickly, and so, I ducked near some storage tents, hiding among the various crates as I pulled my knees to my chest and quietly sobbed.

Gods, why did my conscience have to show up back then? I was so much happier when I could run away from how lame I was.

Notes on Wendell:

A 60 year old sage who has more energy you'd expect for a man that age.

His age makes it difficult to battle, so he typical just works as a healer, though he keeps his tomes, just in case.

He's also a teacher at heart, and continues Merrick's training despite the war. He sometimes looks at me as if to say 'you can join in', but I don't want… to have my inferiority shown so completely.

Notes on Rickard:

A thief who claims to be 20 years old, but is probably more like 15

Like Julian, he's not much for battle, and in fact, he's even worse at fighting than Julian. Decent enough at stealing.

He's a cheeky bastard, who is good at faking tears and the like to get people to comfort him. He's more of a con artist than a thief, really.

Author's notes: Technically, there's a second character recruited here too in game, Jake, who Caeda (of course) can recruit using knowledge of his girlfriend, the RNG goddess of Anna (Jake is also a recurring character, but I see far more jokes about Anna). However, Kris doesn't know about it yet, so it's not mentioned in this chapter. But now we get Linde, with the strongest non-forged spell in the game, Aura. And Kris's insecurities bubbling over. And an Eremiya mention (she's a character from FE12).

In the novel adaptation of Mystery of the Emblem (set two or three years after the first game), Rickard is listed as 23-24 years old. Which… yeah. There's also a slightly different opening sequence, but I removed it here to focus more on the Knorda Market itself. Technically, there's also a manakete here, but I'm saving that for later. Julian and Kris keeping their stuff is a nod to how Linde joins fully armed with Aura in game, despite being just rescued from the slavers.

Next Chapter - The Ageless Palace