"Lord Leo seemed rather upset before we left, would you perhaps know why?"

Despite Niles' question piping up from nowhere, Corrin did not have the heart to jump in surprise. He was sitting up straight in his saddle, and his gaze had not left the back of Hans' head since they had begun their march, but the rest of his body felt exhausted. His eyes were strangely dry and there was a heaviness to his limbs that he could not shake off no matter how much he attempted to stretch it out. Maybe he needed more sleep.

"We had a bit of an argument," Corrin admitted. "But I did speak to him about the conversation Kaze and I spoke of."

Niles nodded approvingly, "Well done. If it's any consolidation, I've left the ninja in Lord Leo's care, maybe he'll be useful as a hostage some day."

Corrin hummed in agreement, his fingers drumming jerkily against the neck of his horse. He would have to make a plan for what to do with Kaze eventually, but he didn't, couldn't, think about it now. He had another enemy to face, another rebellion to quell. This time, even the dark shadow of Camilla's wyvern flying above him did little to reassure his nerves.

"I don't know if he believed me," Corrin said suddenly.

Niles raised an eyebrow.

"Leo didn't take it too well when I said that I suspected I was originally Hoshidan. Well, all things considered, he didn't take it badly either, he didn't light me on fire. But he didn't deny or confirm what I had said," Corrin said. He stared blankly ahead, the reins slack in his hands, but the words continued to tumble forth without effort, "Leo seemed to think that I might still turn traitor. I've done everything I can think of to throw suspicion off me, I can't imagine what else I could possibly do to convince anyone. We shouted for a while over that."

"And yet the king seems to trust you," Niles drawled. "You seem wholly unappreciative of that."

Corrin could not stop a scowl from creasing his face, "The king is the reason we're in this mess in the first place. We can't keep devoting our forces to weeding out all these uprisings and still effectively protect ourselves against Hoshido, if holding off the enemy is even something that he's concerned about."

Not that any of it would matter, Corrin thought to himself, if the magical barrier around Hoshido really did existed. He hoped with all his heart that he would be able to meet with Xander soon, so that they could talk over this matter as a group. It was perhaps understandable that King Garon would want to keep his delve into necromancy under wraps, but it seemed far too suspect that he would not share the existence of the barrier with anyone; not with Xander, his heir and commander, not with Leo who could have coordinated research in how to tear it down ages ago. Even if there was truly no way to combat the barrier aside from raising the Faceless, at least Garon would not have to labor under such secrecy if only he had shared his knowledge. The king was hiding something, Corrin was certain.

"You are awfully liberal in speaking ill of the king," Niles said, breaking Corrin out of his thoughts. "What makes you think I won't turn you in for treason?"

Corrin stared, breath catching a little in his throat. He had gotten rather accustomed to speaking to Niles without restraint. The man, after all, didn't seem to be the type to be concerned with courtly niceties or verbal dancing. Even with his occasional bout of cavalierism, he had the air of a natural secret keeper.

"Oh don't make that face," Niles reached over and swatted Corrin upside the head. "I've got enough dirt on you to fill your grave but I haven't made any movements for a shovel yet."

"Thank you, I think," Corrin groused, pointedly looking away. "In all earnestness, I appreciate the discretion you've shown me."

"You're lucky to have me," Niles replied deftly, raising his hand to his brow in a mock salute. "I think that's my fill of sappiness for the day, good day little prince."

Now alone again with his own thoughts, Corrin could feel a twinge of bitterness building in his stomach. He was not the only one who had been ordered to take on one mission after another, and yet, his small army had mostly kept their complaints out of his earshot. For their sakes, at least, he needed to keep himself from wallowing in weariness.

Cupping his hands around his mouth, he called out, "Camilla, come down here for a moment."

There was a gush of air, sending some of the horses into a side step, as Camilla's wyvern slowly lowered itself. There was no way they could ride side by side as the scaled beast's wings would surely knock everyone of a certain radius off their horses, so they had to make do with Camilla flying above Corrin.

"We need to make a plan before we arrive in Cheve," Corrin began. "as much as I like to think that we've come together as a fighting force, we had quite a bit of luck on our side at Notre Sagesse. The people there had no intention of starting a fight, we can't assume that this is the same case in Cheve."

"They'll try to ambush us for sure," Camilla said, her voice somewhat dampened by distance. "There's no way that we won't look suspicious to them. We'll need to plant a surprise of our own."

Corrin nodded, though Camilla could not see him, "I have an idea, though it is a rather painstaking one. From what I have been told of Cheve, it is not a particularly large town, and the rebellion seems to be contained within its borders."

"Yes, the rebellion is not necessarily large in number, but Cheve is known for producing quite a few splendid knights in its history. In all likely hood, at least a handful of the rebels will be more skillful than the average farmer with a pitchfork."

"Even so, I trust that a small group of surprise attackers will be enough to turn the tide of battle? Even a little?" Corrin asked.

Camilla peered down at him from over the shining black neck of her wyvern, "What do you have in mind?"

"If we keep our soldiers at a safe distance, far enough that the Chevois scouts will not find us, and send in just a small number of people into the town, one at a time-," Corrin mused. "Do you think that we could reasonably pass of those people as mere travelers?"

Camilla hummed, putting a hand to her chin, "Maybe, if we only sent a tiny number of people. If we can get a small group behind enemy lines, even if all they can do is scout out the situation, it would be better than simply marching up to the gates and demanding surrender. Am I right in assuming that you're volunteering for such a dangerous mission?"

Corrin ducked away from Camilla's frown, "My face is far less recognizable than your's."

"But that hardly means that you won't be suspicious," Camilla pointed out. "They're planning a rebellion, they're bound to be ten times more careful than you'd think they'd be."

"I'm not saying that I plan on waltzing into the town blindfolded. We'll send a scout in first, look around, then decide what to do. If the Chevois are truly more dangerous than the average trouble maker, then we must be cautious."

He looked down at his hands for a moment, the leather reins tangled in his fingers, "Camilla, what do we do if we can't negotiate with the rebels? Could they do that? Refuse terms and keep fighting till the last soldier?"

"Well, yes, that is a possibility. Sometimes, people are just filled with that much bravado, other times, they know that death may be preferable to whatever awaits them."

Corrin could just see Camilla's mouth tightening as she spoke.