I really enjoyed writing the bickering in this chapter lol. I think the Shepherds are just so awesome...

/Zen

Gauis shook his red hair out of his eyes. Even with the leather band tied tight, his hair dangled almost to his nose. Grumbling, he licked pie crumbs from his fingers. He'd have to remember to thank Sumia for the snack. How the girl new he'd be around and have a sweet tooth a mile long, he couldn't say. But he wasn't about to complain.

"Hey Gauis."

"Hey Princess," he said with an easy smile. The tension that came from being responsible for a group of people was gone from him and he felt relaxed, if tired. How did Chrom do it all the time?

She opened her mouth wide with a yawn, lifting a hand to stifle it.

He chuckled. "A little wider and I might be able to see clear down to your toes."

"I only got a couple hours in," she said, blushing. "I feel like I could sleep for ages."

"You'll be able to get more sleep after this, I promise," Chrom said. He stepped through the tent flaps, glancing at both of them.

Gauis nodded in greeting. He hadn't seen the prince for a while, and part of him had expected the man to change. But here he was. Shiny as a new penny and still too much of a goody-two-shoes to run away from this fight.

"How's your shoulder?" Chrom asked, directing his question at his sister. Gauis flinched and looked away. Speaking of responsible...

"Right as rain," Lissa replied. She moved further into the tent and took a seat next to Gauis. He tried not to think about it too much and hoped Chrom didn't either. They'd spent a lot of time together, and she'd nearly died – things like that changed the way you looked at one another. Crivens, he thought, maybe I shoulda high-tailed it out of here back when I had the chance.

Too late now.

Panne entered with Flavia on her heels. The taguel looked like the lack of sleep and long day they'd had yesterday hadn't even happened.

"Bright eyed and bushy tailed, eh Whiskers?" he teased.

"Don't you have a sweet to stuff in your mouth?" she replied without pausing to glance at him.

He was about to retort, ignoring Lissa's giggles beside him, when Stahl burst into the tent. Basilio followed closely behind him, towering above everyone in the tent.

"Oh good! You haven't started yet." Stahl abruptly took a seat, shaking his hair out of his eyes and biting into one of the apples he had in his arms.

"Did you have to bring your breakfast with you?" Chrom asked, a solitary eyebrow raised in amusement. The other man shrugged, and Basilio laughed, moving around the table to stand with Chrom. Shortly after Gregor slipped into the tent, quiet on his feet for someone his size. Tharja followed at his elbow, looking none too pleased about it. Gauis wondered what she was doing here – she didn't have a lot to offer tactically.

"Oh, is everyone here already?"

As Arkelle stepped through, Gauis suddenly understood. The dark mage was here to listen to her, of course. He shuddered, wondering what interest she really held in the tactician.

"Arkelle looks so pretty, don't you think?" Lissa whispered, leaning into him.

Gauis glanced at Chrom instinctively, but the prince's attention was elsewhere. He turned back to the tactician, taking in her pale face, the dark circles under her eyes, and the firm way she held herself.

"Looks like Bubbles has been workin' hard," he said under his breath. "Not really my type though."

The princess scrunched up her nose and stuck her tongue out at him, to which he only smirked.

"I think she's pretty. Do you think Chrom thinks so?"

"I don't think we should be talking about this, Princess. At least not where your brother can hear us."

"What is with all this whispering?" Gregor asked out of the corner of his mouth. He wasn't looking at them, but Gauis could see the twinkle in the mercenary's eyes.

"Do you think Arkelle is pretty?" Lissa asked him.

Gauis rolled his eyes. Gods, the girl was persistent. What did it matter if she was or wasn't? What really mattered was whether or not the woman could keep them from getting slaughtered.

"Hm." Gregor scratched at his chin, seeming to seriously consider the question. Then he glanced at Tharja. "What you think? You think Arkelle pretty?"

The dark mage turned scarlet and became very busy with the book she held in her lap, searching for something in the tiny lines of text.

"If you're all done whispering like a bunch of school children," Chrom said, "we have much to discuss." The prince leaned forward over the table, his hands planted on the maps and scrolls spread flat over the smooth surface. His dark blue eyes studied each of them in turn – just long enough they each felt the intensity. Gauis straightened instinctively under that gaze. He fought the urge to stand straighter, but the prince had that affect on him. One look and he suddenly wanted to be more, be better, and be worthy.

I'm a thief, he told himself, but he didn't move to slouch.

"We have three days," Chrom said. "Three days to plan, move, and attack. Gangrel knows you were there?" He directed that last at Gauis.

Clearing his throat, the red head said: "Don't see how he couldn't. He was pretty much chasing us most of the way back."

"We lost those fools," Panne said, raising her chin and shaking her dark hair back from her face.

"Lost them yeah," Gauis nodded, "but they know they weren't chasing ghosts. There were a lot of soldiers," he added to Chrom, "and most of them didn't look like they'd be much of a pain, but we saw a few others I think might cause a problem. It's just a thought but..."

"Trust your instincts," Arkelle said. She stood with her arms crossed and feet planted firmly in the dirt. A small crease had appeared between her eyebrows. "You have instincts for a reason, and I want you to trust them. If you had a feeling, I want to know about it."

"But start at the beginning," Chrom interjected. "We've gotten bits and pieces. I need the whole story."

So Gauis told them about the fortress. How it lay nestled against a hill with thick woods on two sides. He mentioned the stream and the barracks and the sleepy guards. Lissa popped in with what she'd seen at the stable and Stahl reported on what they'd seen afield. For the duration of the telling, no one else spoke except when Arkelle or Chrom needed to ask a question. When he stopped, Gauis found his throat dry and his tongue was as parchment in his mouth.

Gregor handed him a flask and he took a swig, raising an eyebrow as it burned a path down to his stomach.

"And this feeling you had?" Arkelle asked, brushing a stray bit of hair from her face.

Gauis hesitated, trying to line his thoughts up before he said anything. "On the way back we crossed a small patrol, only I don't think that's what it was. The soldiers we saw looked more practiced and were way better armed than those we'd seen inside the fortress. Seemed strange for them to be out in the middle of the night like that, especially considerin' they didn't look like a regular patrol."

"It could be Gangrel is trying to hide his stronger forces from us," Arkelle said with a frown. She looked over at Chrom. "If he suspected we might come to check out his hold, he might try to send them afield and keep them away from us."

"Thinking he might surprise us with them?" Chrom sighed, glancing down at the maps in front of him again.

"It's not a popular strategy," Basilio said with a shrug of his powerful shoulders, "but it has been done. And if they hadn't crossed paths with our scouts, we'd never have been the wiser hm?"

"Risky to leave your fort poorly defended," Flavia added, pointing at the map. "What would he do if we suddenly decided to attack? What if his stronger forces were too far away?"

"Good for us, I say," Basilio grinned.

Arkelle shook her head. "They must have some kind of signal, or maybe the patrols are told to stay close. He wouldn't want them wandering too far off."

"They could be using a mage."

Everyone turned to look at Tharja. The black-haired woman stared flatly back. "There is a relatively basic spell that could be used to send a message to a specified person. It would," she added, "require a... willing soul."

Gauis shuddered and noticed Gregor's shoulders stiffen at the same time. He didn't like magic much, but he really didn't like dark magic. The whole using souls and collecting bat guts or whatever it was they did... he wasn't interested, no sir.

"We already figured they've got themselves a rather deft mage," Arkelle said after a minute. "We can't rule out their possibly being able to communicate like that."

"What do you mean?" Stahl asked. He'd finally finished all the food he'd brought with him and, with his hands settled over his stomach, lay reclined against a barrel.

"There was a wyn storm while you four were gone," Chrom explained. "We nearly lost the supply tent."

"And that," Gauis said, raising a gloved finger, "is why I keep my emergency supplies in my own tent."

"Emergency supplies?" Lissa asked, her wide blue eyes questioning.

He grinned at her. "Even more valuable than you think. It's where I keep my stash."

"His candy," Panne said from across the tent.

"Hey, don't go giving my secrets away!"

"Trust me, it's no secret..." The taguel shot back.