Howdy-hey! What a day! It's always exciting posting a new chapter, and guess what guess what! With this chapter the story has broken a hundred thousand words! If you include the author's notes anyway, which I'll admit are quite long. I'll crunch the numbers and figure out the story length without them in the post-chapter note. But hitting the sixth digit makes this story officially an intimidating read in my book. I'm so sorry, to new readers, and thank you to everyone who's stuck with me this far!
Speaking of "what a day," my 21st birthday passed while I was stuck on this chapter. Yay? It's not like I can drink with my anti-depressants anyway. What this means is that I was too slow to get through the two-year gap to remedy the age gap between me and Merra. Woops.
Oh! And I changed the cover. It's the "new" one I've been talking about for ages now. Technically it's not finished, (still gotta do the shading on Robin) but I have since gotten a new computer and lost the capability to use the art program I drew it on. So yeah, that's as good as it's gonna get. If for some reason you preferred the old cover, you can still see it over in the Playing by Ear One-shots.
(Also sorry for the stupid long wait; life got busy again and I had a hard time writing.)
Last but not least, I started posting this on Ao3! For some reason I settled on the username NikuKnight, so don't cry "thief!" when you see this posted under someone other than realisticFantasy. It's still me. Actually, it's gotten absolutely no feedback at all over there so far. Sad face.
Chapter 26: The Next Hex
I spent the next several days alternating between magic and sword training, using the opportunities given by any training accidents to train up my staff proficiency as well. All the while my skin was normalizing by the day, until it just looked like I had a faint sunburn. I'd take it; it was about damn time.
Day five since discovering my drastic change in skin tone, and I woke up to a new problem: was that FUR?! Oh my gods, it was fur why did I have fur?!
Okay, don't panic. You dealt with looking like a cooked lobster for a few days. You can deal with this. It's not like you're Michael J Fox in Teen Wolf. The fur's not everywhere, in fact it's somewhat elegantly placed in just enough places to only make you look a little wild! You've always been somewhat of a wild child, right? My slightly hysterical thoughts caught up to themselves and puttered out.
I examined the fur not covered by clothing. Wrists, neck, ankles…wait. This was familiar. On a hunch I felt for my ears and found that they were on top of my head, and very long and floppy.
Yep. Taguel ears. I was a taguel. How was I a taguel?
Right, Tharja. How else?
Unless I was dreaming. Last time I'd been a taguel I was dreaming. Just to make sure, I grabbed my journal from beside my bed, opening it to my first page of notes. I was easily able to read them, still the same as I had remembered writing them.
Alright then. Not dreaming.
I'd say I was going to kill Tharja for hexing me again—and so soon after the first one—but honestly? This was gonna be great! Who doesn't want to be able to transform into a giant killer rabbit on command?
Actually, I still didn't know how to do that on my own. And I needed a beast stone, right? Panne should be able to help with that.
I wondered how everyone else was going to react to this.
A lot better than the red hex, it turned out. Lissa thought I was adorable. Robin did too, if the pink tint to his cheeks had anything to say on the matter. Chrom was plain confused, Sumia was concerned for my well-being, Gaius thought the situation was hysterical, and Tharja, of course, was nowhere to be found.
Typical.
I couldn't be bothered to look for the cause of my new condition—I didn't really care how long this lasted, and I doubted she wanted a thank-you. Instead, I was looking for someone who could shed some light (not literally, as I could already cast the light spell myself, thank you) on the effects this change could have: Panne.
I finally tracked her down in one of the training courtyards. It was chilly out, to put it mildly, but with all the layers I had on on top of my new fur, (and what an odd thought: my fur. What was I, a furry? Wait, don't answer that.) the outside air was crisp and welcome.
She noticed me before I could announce myself. She was in her beast form, so her greeting, though the words were pleasant enough, sounded downright sinister.
"Can I help you Merra?" She paused, sniffing the air. "You smell…it can't be…taguel?" At last she turned to look at me.
"Hi," I gave a small wave.
She rested on her haunches, staring at me with those glowing red eyes. "You're taguel."
"Yeah," I managed, doing my best not to wither under her eerie gaze.
"I hope you don't expect to have earned my respect from this change, man-spawn. I doubt it was by choice. I cannot help you change back; go find a mage." Her ears twitched in clear dismissal.
"That's not why I'm here." I ignored her wish for me to leave. "I don't know how long this is going to last, and I was wondering if you could teach me how to fight as a taguel? Or at least help me figure out how to transform? It may not have been by choice, but I want to make the most of this opportunity!"
Panne squinted at me in confusion. "You view changing into a dying race as an…opportunity?"
I realized how insensitive that must have sounded, but didn't know a better way to explain it. "When else am I going to be able to do this again? Tharja's not going to be using this hex again once she realizes I'm not upset about it. Besides, I think taguel are really cool." I said the last part a little bit under my breath and looked away. The fate of the rest of the taguel was tragic, making this a delicate situation, but I was being honest about everything. Maybe my intentions were selfish, thinking of it as an experience, but what else was I supposed to do? Ignore it? Hide in my room?
Panne seemed surprised, easily hearing my quieter comment thanks to her advanced hearing. The compliment must have been enough to convince her, because she dipped her head and returned to her more humanoid form. "Alright, I can show you the basics. We'll see how thorough this so-called hex really is."
She regarded me appraisingly. "First, if you want to change into your beast form without shredding those new clothes, you're going to need some taguel armor. It's made to shift with you, so it can withstand the change in shape."
Quickly looking Panne over to see what I was getting into, I immediately noticed two problems: one, the back piece would rest right on top of my sensitive burn scar (admittedly, the scar covered my entire back so that was unavoidable), and two, there were no pants. Dear Naga. I understood that with fur covering everything there was no need for pants, but really?
Although, my new tail was rather uncomfortable being squashed in the pants I was wearing now…
"I have some extra you can borrow," Panne continued. She seemed almost excited. I suppose if I suddenly wasn't alone anymore I would be excited, too.
Like if someone from my world could come over here…my friend Niki knew a lot more about Fire Emblem than I did. She didn't have the same obsession with Awakening that I did, being more of a Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn fan, but boy, did she know her tactics. She was able to play the AIs of her enemies like a fiddle.
Of course, she was even less of a fighter than I was. I may have been weak and inexperienced, but at least I had sparred with nerf swords from time to time before coming here. With Niki's gentle nature, it was probably for the best that she wasn't here.
I shook myself out of my thoughts and ensuing homesickness to find myself alone in the courtyard. Before I could wonder where Panne had gone, though, she came back through the farthest door. "Hurry up, ma—Merra, before I change my mind."
"R-right." I followed after her.
Donned in borrowed taguel armor, I felt…exposed. I also felt a lot more comfortable with my bunny tail not being squished in my pants, so there were both pros and cons to the new arrangement. But if I wanted to access my potential beast form, I'd have to deal with the armor and move on.
I could do that.
Panne and I returned to the training courtyard. "We'll begin with stretches…"
It wasn't until the sun was going down that I finally managed to change into my new beast form.
"Oh my gods! I did it!" I bounded in a circle in excitement, my now echoing voice too overjoyed to sound scary. "This is awesome!"
Aaaaand then I tripped over my own feet.
Beautiful.
Taking the time to calm down and examine myself, I looked down at my fur, discovering it to be the same blonde that my hair usually was instead of the brown of a regular taguel. I shouldn't have been surprised, given my fur in my more human form, but still. And judging by the frosty breeze on my back…I twisted around to check it, and saw that my rather extensive burn scar was open to the cold air, as hair doesn't grow from scar tissue. The back armor chafed a bit, but it was better than going topless.
"So how do I attack?" I was eager to pick up the pace.
Panne, back in her beast form, flicked an ear in amusement. "You must walk before you run, youngling. Or in this case, run before you attack. We need to work on getting you used to this form so you don't hurt yourself."
And so Panne had me doing laps to work on my speed and balance. By the time she was satisfied, the moon had risen and the temperature had gone from crisp to frigid.
I flopped into the snow and returned to my more human form. "I'm beat." Reverting to humanoid, of course, was a mistake, as there was less fur protecting me from the snow now.
"Get up and get to bed, Merra. If you fall asleep out here you may never wake up."
With that bit of ominous advice in mind, I hauled myself back to my feet and stumbled back inside the castle.
Once inside I encountered Virion, who looked to be on his way to the training yard. What he was going out there for at this time of night, I had no idea.
"Sweet angel! Are you alright? You look…" he struggled to finish in a way that sounded like a compliment.
"Tired? Exhausted? Beat? Cold? Yes, I am all of these." I finished for him.
"Fit! I was going to say fit." He chuckled nervously.
"Right," I deadpanned. Oh. Right. I was still in the taguel armor. The rather revealing taguel armor. The taguel armor that did not include pants. That taguel armor.
Emperor's New Groove references aside, perhaps changing into my other clothes would be beneficial for the sake of modesty and my sanity. I said good-bye to Virion and continued on my way to my room. Luckily, escaping the noble's fancy words was easy; he seemed distracted by something.
Making my way towards my room, I saw light coming from Robin's room. At this time of night? Really? We needed our tactician in top shape, and that meant good sleep. I couldn't criticize much considering I was up too, but in my defense, I was on my way to bed.
It wasn't really any of my business anyway, but…
I peeked through the door to see Robin slumped over the helpfully provided desk, dead asleep. The candle next to him was burned almost all the way down, indicating that it had been burning for far too long into the night.
Well, he wasn't going to get good sleep that way. Looking both ways down the hallway in probably the most suspicious way possible to make sure no one would see and get the wrong idea, I crept into his room.
To my surprise, having taguel feet made my trek across the room silent; I'd thought my claws would scrape on the floor like my cats', but alas, they did not.
Don't think about home, Merra.
When I emerged from my musings I found myself hovering over Robin's shoulder. The flickering candle illuminated the dark circles under his eyes, highlighting the fact that he'd been overworking himself. I'd noticed him pushing himself when practicing spells with Ricken, Miriel and I, but I hadn't known it was this bad. I could've kicked myself for my lack of attention.
Spread across the desk were magic notes, tomes, maps, and notes on Plegia's movements since the beginning of his short memory. It was worrying to see him take this all upon himself; I knew it was something he did, but I'd thought by distracting him with "magic class" he wouldn't have time to obsess so much.
But he was a tactician through and through, so of course he pushed his war strategies to the middle of the night.
Idiot. What kind of tactician neglects his own health?
Sighing, I pressed my hand on his shoulder. He stirred, seemingly confused, before blinking into awareness. He looked down at his spread of papers and grimaced. "Blast! I fell asleep again." He looked up at me. "Thanks for waking me up; I can't be sleeping when I should be working on getting the Fire Emblem back."
Is that what this was about? "Oh no sir, I think it's time for bed." I didn't care that I was mother-henning; if that's what it took, then so be it.
I blew out the candle on the desk, much to Robin's dismay. "Merra!"
"Be happy I'm not confiscating your papers," I dared to point out. "Sleep is important, especially for a tactician. Your mind won't be as sharp without it."
"Says the one who avoided sleep for two days when she got here." Robin sassed back.
"And remember where that got me," I stated dryly. "I was so tired I was hallucinating."
"That's right." He sighed. "You win; I'll get some sleep."
"In your bed this time, I hope."
"Yes, Mother."
Ah, so I was mothering him. Oh well.
Despite my attempt to brush it off, I still found myself flustered. I floundered for something to say. With a shake of my head I gave up, making sure he got out of the chair before I awkwardly made to leave.
"S-sweet dreams!" I bid.
"Naga, I hope so," Robin muttered. "Sweet dreams, Merra."
But I was already gone.
Sleep was fitful at best; even with my medicine back in my old world, some nights were just meant to be filled with nightmares, apparently. Naga's Blessing was no different. I'm sure fighting in a war wasn't helping my case any, either.
With morning came chaos once again.
"Rise and shine!" A male voice exclaimed. "Teach is on wake-up duty! Gangrel's mobil-what's-it-ing on the border, so grab your gear and let's get moving!"
And then he was gone, leaving my sleep-addled brain to try to decipher all the words that had just been thrown at me.
"Gods, Vaike, what…?" I looked around, but, as he'd already moved on to the next room, he was nowhere in sight to answer my question.
I frowned in thought, mentally rewinding the last minute or so to listen again.
"Gangrel's mobil-what's-it-ing (mobilizing?) on the border, so grab your gear and let's get moving!"
Oh. Well, it was about time, I supposed.
I stretched, feeling the soreness from all my training over the past week. Gosh, being part of an army, no matter how small and quirky, was hard work! I had known it would be when I'd joined up, but thinking back, I'd definitely underestimated everyone's stamina.
But enough stalling; it was time to get ready to march. Again.
Gathering my things, which all somehow still fit in my two bags or on my person, I checked to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything. Hat, jacket (or the remains of it, at least), boots, bracers, chest piece, pants, shirt, seraph robe, journal, magic notes, staff, sewing stuff, broken glasses, extra set or two of clothes, waterskin, Panne's extra beast stone, her spare set of taguel armor I needed to give back, and last but not least, Hack.
I quickly divided the things non-essential to marching or fighting from the things I would need, putting the former in the thief's bag and the latter in my first bag. The thief's bag would go on the supply wagon, while I'd keep my own on me during the march.
With everything squared away I was ready to go.
Forward, march!
A/N: Without author's notes, this story clocks in at 84,617 words. Holy carp. That means I have over 10k words of author's notes. How embarrassing ;o;
Turns out, taguels' stats are not unlike the stats of a thief. Cool, right? If you're worried about Merra becoming OP since discovering she can use so many weapons, don't. The taguel hex, just like the last one, is temporary, which will take that one out of her arsenal pretty quick. We'll just have to see about the rest. She has yet to truly master any form of weapon as it stands now. Jack of all trades, master of none, I guess. (Also Merra and OP do not even belong in the same sentence, goodness)
I drew Merra under the effects of the hexes! Only I can't actually post them anywhere since I'm not on social media. Sorry! You'll be able to see it…someday…
Sorry if this chapter seemed short. It seems that way because it is. I didn't reach my three-thousand word quota, but was having a hard time continuing the chapter, so I decided to post what I had instead of making y'all wait any longer.
These last few chapters also haven't included a lot of plot. I've been super excited about these hexes and everyone deserved a break with what they've been through. Besides, who's to say that Gangrel wouldn't take his sweet time gathering his forces now that he has the fire emblem?
It's funny. I say that, but I'm actually itching to move on with the plot. The two year gap is still as daunting as it ever was, but AFTER…after is whole new territory for me. I think the farthest I got in Awakening was the chapter with the ships? I know the endgame (of Awakening, not the Avengers; still haven't seen that) thanks to fanfiction, but anything in Valm remains shrouded in mystery. I can't wait!