Chapter 20) Winter's Winds

It's rather fun, talking about the future. Chulainn and I are far from the only ones making plans for 'when things are better'. Sigurd, for instance, talks happily of teaching Seliph how to ride when he's older. Lex teases Ayra that he'll teach their twins axes, and she rolls her eyes, but smiles and retorts that she'll teach the swords first. Aideen and Midir plan on teaching Lester how to shoot a bow, and maybe ride a horse. Ayra and Chulainn actually plan on teaching Caitriona and Conall swords. I 'threaten' to teach them all how to make medicine, if they must talk about what weapons and the exercise they'll teach the children, when they're older.

Of course, it's not all we talk about. We talk about weddings, about possible pairings in our group. We talk of teaching the children how to read and write. We talk about sharing stories from our homes, sharing special treats from those homes with each other. Ayra, for instance, has taken to making warm milk with honey in it whenever it looks like one of us needs a pick-me-up, the only 'dish' she knows how to make, because it's a traditional Isaachian drink for comfort.

It was fun. It was peaceful. It was heartwarming and made us all smile. We all should've known how it all would've ended, just based on that.

"Ugh… this is so confusing sometimes," Lachesis grumbled. She was glaring her tomes and books on spell theory that Lewyn and Azel had assigned to her, and complaining because, for the first time in a while, she couldn't immediately grasp something. "Pixies, sprites, sylphs… why?"

"Anima magic is the magic of the world, and the elemental spirits are the ones who lend their power so that spells can be cast," I explained, brushing her hair. We were sitting in front of her fireplace among many blankets and pillows, while I helped her get ready for the day and she studied. "Pixies are fire spirits, sprites are thunder spirits, and sylphs are wind spirits."

"And mages are those who bond to all three, but not too closely. Fire mages bond only to pixies in exchange for greater power, thunder mages bond only to sprites for greater accuracy, and wind mages bond only to sylphs for faster casting. The tighter bond also allows them to use higher level spells in a shorter time. Specialization versus versatility." She sighed gustily. "Then you have people like Lewyn, who went 'screw all that!'."

"Lewyn had a head start due to being the Forseti Major of our generation. You'll also notice that he doesn't really use fire, thunder, or light magic at all. He mostly just knows the theory, and to have them as a backup."

"Yes, yes." She growled under her breath again. "Elemental magic makes some sense. But how does light and dark magic figure into this? They don't seem to have convenient little spirits helping them out."

"That is a question for Claude, I am afraid. We're about at the end of my knowledge of magic." I set down my brush and started braiding her hair again. "Though I am of Vala's blood, I've never actually seen or sensed a pixie, unlike Arvis and Azel." Arvis thought it was because they sensed how unwilling I was to hurt people, and like it or not, fire magic was a magic that harmed people. He also claimed he sensed them near me, but I always just smiled and chose against commenting. "Now, healing magic, I can tell you more about, but that's a lesson for later in the day."

"And I'm making way better progress there."

"To be fair, you're not starting at the very beginning."

"Why can't I just jump into throwing spells? Why do I need to learn the theory?"

"The beginning is a very good place to start." I found a tangle in her hair and carefully undid it before continuing to braid her hair. "When you read, you begin with?"

"A, b, c…" Lachesis sighed. "I know; I know. I'm just…"

"Frustrated. I know."

"Yeah." She whimpered a bit, and pressed a hand to her breast. They were paining her again. "Hey, Alicia, why didn't you breastfeed your own children again?"

"That's a rather odd thing to ask after so much time." I finished braiding her hair and tied it off. "The answer is simple, though. I wanted to get back to work more quickly. If Ayra or Aideen hadn't given birth so soon after me, I might've nursed them myself, but as it was…" I shrugged, though I knew she couldn't see it since I was sitting behind her. "It's nothing else, really. I chose against it, because there were other options that I liked better. Why ask?"

"Just wondering. I mean; I'll have to make that decision myself eventually."

"You're around three and a half months into your pregnancy, Lachesis. You still have quite a bit of time left." The words sounded so odd to me. It had been three and a half months since Finn, Ethlyn, and Quan had left. Conall and Caitriona were going to be sixth months soon, and Ulster, Larcei, and Lester were already five months. Seliph was eighteen months. Deirdre… Deirdre had been missing for over a year. "But that's neither here nor there. You're too frustrated to concentrate properly. Why don't you look at the letters we got from Leonster again to calm down?"

"Oh, yes!" Her face lit up, just as I had expected, and she scrambled up to run for where she'd tucked away the letter from Finn, humming all the while.

Queen Rahna, bless her, had managed to send a messenger bird to Leonster for us, both to make sure they had made it there safely and because she knew how dreadfully we missed Finn, Ethlyn, and Quan. To our surprise, and laughter, Leonster had sent an actual messenger back, bags heavy with gifts and letters for us. Included among them was, of course, letters from Finn, who was now well aware that Lachesis was pregnant and he was sad he couldn't be here to help her. More amusingly, though, was that Quan and Ethlyn had no idea, still, about how Finn and Lachesis technically eloped, so their own letters had mentioned being a bit worried because Finn had appeared a little frantic, but desperately insisted he was just fine. I decided to keep the secret still in my replies, just for fun.

"He mentioned that he talked to someone named Dorias, yes?" I asked her when she found her letter. She smiled happily at it, and lovingly smoothed it out. "He wanted advice?"

"He did," Lachesis laughed. She giggled, fiddling with her earings. They were new, gifts from Finn, simpler than the ones I had seen her wear before. She proudly proclaimed that these ones were her new favorites. "He's apparently a duke or count or something in Leonster, and had been away on duty while his wife had been pregnant with his daughter, Selfina. Finn's friends with her and-"

"Breathe, Lachesis."

"Right, right." She giggled, though. It had improved her mood significantly, hearing back from Finn, and learning that Finn was rather excited about the baby. "Anyway, the point is that while he was visiting Selfina, he talked to Dorias about it. It's why he made sure to send sketches he made of Leonster. Dorias suggested it."

"I see." I smiled, laughing softly. Those sketches really were lovely; Finn had sent a few to me as well. "You asked Finn to think of names, right?"

"Yeah, I couldn't really think of any." She rested a hand on her stomach, still smiling. "He's not sure for a girl's name, but 'Diarmuid' stood out for a boy. It's apparently the name of a folk hero in the Manster District."

"I see. Well, you still have time for a girl's name."

"True." She went back to giggling, and reading over the letter. As she did, I pulled out the small metal token I always kept in my pocket now, something else Finn had sent me.

Apparently, the tokens were sent to the family members of Leonster knights, as a sort of 'look what your family member is' thing, but also as a means of getting help if needed. Each one had the crest of Leonster carved into it, while the back proudly proclaimed that this was Finn's 'token'. Finn's parents had died when he was small, so when asked, he had wanted one to be sent to me, as his 'big sister'. Lachesis, Oifeye, and Shanan all got one as well, and all of us were ridiculously proud. It was now one of my most precious treasures, and looking at it reminded me of the letter I had gotten from Ethlyn, and so, my smile grew. Apparently, she'd been right in that she was pregnant again, though she was much further along than she had originally thought. She'd likely given birth before the end of the year, and promised to send me a letter after the birthing. She was excited about it, though apparently Altena was already jealous of her eventual sibling. Altena clung to Quan and Finn as much as possible in 'retaliation'. It sounded adorable, really.

A suddenly chill startled me out of my happy remembering, though, so I tucked the token back into my pocket and I went over to the window to make sure it was closed. When I did, though, I frowned, noticing something odd. "Why are there so many pegasus knights outside?" I murmured, pressing a hand to the glass as I tried to see who they were. The only pegasus knight we had was Erinys, and when Queen Rahna visited, she only had Annand with her. So to see so many flitting about outside was very, very odd. "Hmm? What's that shadow…?"

Noticing the shadow was heading straight for me, I ducked instinctively, just as a javelin crashed through the window and sailed over my head, embedding itself in the far wall. After a moment of staring, Lachesis and I made sure to grab a tome and healing staff, respectively, and race out of the room, bolting down the hall to the nursery, to make sure it was secure. Others, of course, had heard the shattering glass, or had suffered their own attacks, so people were running this way and that, preparing to answer this ambush.

I swung into the nursery, and smiled when I saw others were there. So, I quickly looked around, making sure everything was as it should be, and froze when I realized something horrible. I couldn't see Caitriona. I couldn't see Seliph. Where were they? They should've been in here. It was around their nap time. They should've been… where were they?

I hadn't realized I said the words aloud until Oifeye replied, "Oh, Shanan has them." He stood in front of me, making sure that he had my attention, and smiled reassuringly. "They weren't settling down for their nap, so Shanan took them…" However, that smile dropped and his eyes went wide. My dread only grew. "He took them... outside… for a walk… to tire them out..."

A thousand thoughts shrieked through my head at that. A small part of me screamed that I needed to get to the infirmary, to make sure it was prepared, because others far more skilled could handle… that problem. I was the Chief Healer, and I had my own job. However, the rest of it was drowned out by sheer, desperate terror, and I was out the door and running down the hall before I could think twice. Of course, I couldn't really think at all. I couldn't. Caitriona, my daughter, was missing, last seen heading outside, just minutes before this ambush. Seliph, Sigurd and Deidre's son, was missing, last seen heading outside, just minutes before this ambush. Shanan, my charge, the little boy I adored, was missing, last seen heading outside, just minutes before this ambush.

So, I ran. I desperately ran through the halls, yelling for Shanan, Caitriona, and Seliph. Quite a few times, I ran into people, knocking Naoise and Alec over in my haste, for instance, and nearly bloodying my nose because I crashed into Arden. But I barely said even token apologies before I was running again, trying to find my missing three children.

It was the sound of metal clanging that finally let me find them, but the reason nearly made my heart stop, despite how hard it had been pounding. Shanan was in the gardens, desperately fighting off pegasus knights with a metal rod he'd happened to find, somewhere. Worse, he was backed into a corner and tucked behind him were Seliph and Caitriona, wailing from fright.

"Shanan!" I yelled, voice cracking because of how loud I was. Shanan briefly glanced over at me, and smiled before returning to fighting the pegasus knights. He was bleeding badly, which made heartbreaking sense. He didn't wear armor and Isaachian fighting styles emphasized dodging, instead of blocking, but he couldn't dodge without risking the children. So, he took the injuries he couldn't parry, and stood only through sheer determination. "Shanan, hang on!"

A pegasus knight broke off from the group to head for me, probably because I'd been yelling. But before I had time to even pretend to worry about that, a silver sword flashed twice above my head, and down the pegasus and its rider fell, both nearly decapitated. I glanced back to see a furious Sigurd, bloody silver sword in hand, snarling at the pegasus knights. I knew, right then, that they were dead. It didn't matter that they were mounted and he wasn't. It didn't matter that they had lances and he only had a sword. It didn't matter that he was only one person, and they were many. They had targeted Shanan, Seliph, and Caitriona. They tried to kill them. So, Sigurd was going to kill them instead. It was just that simple.

Therefore, I ignored them all, letting Sigurd cut a way through the pegasus knights so that I could reach Shanan. As soon as I did, Shanan collapsed, probably because he processed that everything would be okay, and I caught him, hugging him tightly. "Hey, Shanan," I murmured, kissing his hair. Thankful that I'd thought to hold onto my staff, I began healing up his numerous injuries, feeling like crying. "Hey, I'm here. Sigurd's here."

"Yay," Shanan replied, too tired to really emote. But he wasn't too tired to smile up at me. It was a bloody smile, and it scared me briefly, before I noticed that most of it had to be because of his facial injuries dripping blood inside his mouth, and him biting his lip. "They're safe, though. Seliph and Caitriona. I protected them. I kept them safe."

"Th-they are…" Biting back a sob, I made sure to smile at him. He deserved all the smiles, at least for right now. If he was to be scolded, I would leave that to someone else. "You did wonderfully. Thank you. Now, let me heal you, okay? That's what warriors do. They protect and then they sit still for the healers."

"K…" However, he did wriggle out of my hug so that he could work on calming Seliph and Caitriona. "Easy, easy. Sigurd and Alicia are here. It'll be okay."

"You are…" Seriously, it was a struggle to keeping from crying. Shanan was… he was only eleven, yet here he was… "Shanan?"

"Yes?"

"I love you dearly. Move closer so that I can heal you."

"Oh, right!" He smiled sheepishly at me and did scooted closer, with Seliph and Caitriona tucked near him. "Sorry! I love you too, Alicia!" He looked behind me as I began healing him up again. "Wow, Sigurd's awesome. I mean; he's always awesome, but…"

"Well, I imagine he's very angry. They made a poor mistake, going after the three of you." I glanced back too, noticing how easily Sigurd was cleaving through them. However, I also saw one smart pegasus knight fly over Sigurd, out of reach, to head straight for us, and automatically threw myself over Shanan, Caitriona, and Seliph and closed my eyes as the lance came down.

However, it never hit. There was a strange choking sound, the feeling of something flying over us, and the clattering of something metallic. I opened my eyes slowly and saw the pegasus knight on the ground, spewing out blood as she desperately tried to claw at the arrow in her neck. She died quickly, in utter agony, and it was only afterwards that I thought to look up. There, kneeling on the roof, was King Jamke. Next to him, Brigid and Midir fired their own shots, knocking pegasus knights out of the skies with ease. The knights and pegasi hit the ground with horrifying 'thwumps', blood and feathers spiraling from corpses. The snow made the blood stand out all the more, and the gardens, normally so peaceful, were now a horribly gruesome sight.

"Sigurd, we've got it out here!" King Jamke called. He smiled when Sigurd looked up at him. "Get the kids inside! We're good!"

Sigurd and I did just that, and Sigurd took Seliph and Caitriona to the nursery, after I covered their faces with kisses and hugged them. I took Shanan to the infirmary to be better treated, and I winced when I noticed that it still wasn't quite prepared for the coming battle. I could see where Claude and Aideen had tried, but they'd been swamped by the initial wave of injured. So, when I finished with healing Shanan, I turned to Claude and tried to apologize.

However, he shook his head and smiled. "Alicia, your daughter was in danger," he chided. "Two children you adored were in danger. Of course you would run to them. Being a healer does not mean never being a little 'selfish', you know." He patted my shoulders, and I smiled back, relaxing slightly. I still felt horribly guilty, but it wasn't quite as bad. "Let's prepare the infirmary. We've a battle, it seems."

It was only a bit later that I realized that this was probably the first time we had a 'campaign' start with an attack on our home base. I wondered if the change meant good things, bad things, or nothing at all.

After dealing with the initial ambush, we interrogated some of the few survivors and learned what had happened. Duke Maios, the younger of Lewyn's uncles, decided to launch an assault on us, in the hopes of having a better base to attack the castle. That was why, actually, that there had been so many pegasus knights. As a member of the royal family, Maios had his own battalion, or whatever the proper term was, of pegasus knights. He also had his own healers and wind mages, and they were all coming at us for another assault.

"They're led by Archangel Deet'var, one of the four Angelic Knights of Silesse," Erinys explaining, finishing up her report. She'd gone on patrol and had also rattled off anything and everything she could think of. "I'm rather surprised she's fighting, truthfully. She recently gave birth to her daughter, Misha, and is supposed to be on leave."

"I see," Sigurd murmured. The 'war meeting' at the moment was very small, simply Sigurd, Erinys, Lewyn, and myself. The others, for now, were securing the defenses. There would be a larger meeting much later. "Anything else you can remember about her, Erinys?"

"Well, she wears something called a 'prayer bracelet', which was a wedding gift from Annand." Erinys had to pause, and I wondered what she was thinking, fighting one of her former comrades. I wondered what Lewyn thought, but the dark expression and his silence spoke a lot. "It can make it difficult to kill her. It blurs the air around her, and the more wounded she gets, the more it blurs, making it much harder to aim."

"I see." Sigurd closed his eyes, nodded, and then opened them to look at his papers. "Well, everyone's been training and getting stronger, so it opens up all sorts of new strategies, really. That's a good thing."

"I also know the terrain fairly well," Lewyn murmured. He tried to smile, but it was tight and pained. "However, I must admit to being worried about the villages. There's quite a few between here and Thove, and it would not surprise me if my dear uncle Maios conscripted them or worse."

"We can use your knowledge to assist in making it there quickly, once we fight off this next wave," Sigurd replied softly. He looked down at the maps again, and then up at Lewyn. "Well, we might send a few ahead. It depends on how many attack us."

"Thank you."

"Of course." Sigurd glanced at me. "Anyone absolutely staying here? I know Ayra is, by her own request, but medically speaking?"

"Lachesis will remain here with me," I informed him. I crossed my arms and tried to think of anyone else who might need to stay back for health reasons and nodded when I couldn't think of any. "While her nausea and dizziness have thankfully lessened, there's too much of a risk. That isn't even going into the problems of making sure she's getting enough to eat, and enough proper care. Besides, she has been making very good progress with her magic training, and…" I trailed off, not sure of how to word the other reason why I wanted her near.

But Sigurd, thankfully, saw it easily. "Of course. She can guard here as well, just in case there's an assault. I'd rather… I'd rather not have a second Agusty." Sigurd closed his eyes again, this time to hold back tears. I rubbed his back reassuring, and Lewyn's dark look faded for a sympathetic smile. Erinys looked down to hide her own tears, also from sympathy. "We're definitely going to have more guards here."

"Thank you. I do appreciate it."

"Of course." Sigurd opened his eyes again, and none of us commented on the tears we could still see. "So, how will the healers…?"

"We're going to try a new set-up, where Claude will set up a field infirmary while Aideen will continue to operate as an on-the-field healer as she has been, since she's done well with her tome training. The ones particularly bad will be Warped or Returned here to the main infirmary with me, since Ethlyn was kind enough to leave her Return staff with us."

"So, Aideen heals those who can still fight, Claude tends to those who need rest but can fight in an emergency, and you take care of the ones who are out of the fight entirely. Whereas Erinys, Tailtiu, and Lewyn will pitch in where they can, but primarily focus on fighting." Sigurd glanced up at Lewyn and Erinys, who both nodded in return. They'd been doing well in their lessons, but they weren't trained to be healers, like Aideen. "And, thankfully, we managed to buy a Physic staff, so that will ease the problem of her not being able to keep up with the mounted units. She adamantly doesn't want to be on a horse during a battle."

"I don't blame her." I smiled serenely, making sure my healer's mask was in place. I wanted to be as calm and reassuring as possible, no matter how uneasy I felt. "We'll try this out with these battles, since you're not going very far for now, to see how well it works. If it does, then the burden will be divided between the three of us, and we should hopefully not be too overwhelmed."

"A much needed thing, since you'll be watching the kids here with Oifeye and Shanan." Sigurd paused and looked up. "We'll need to get some wet nurses, won't we?"

"Actually, we might not. Ayra is staying here with me, remember?"

"We'll ask her, then, if she wants us to find a wet nurse. Since Aideen is definitely coming with us, she'd be nursing Lester too. Five kids are a lot."

"True, and it will be on top of whatever guarding and patrolling she'll want to do."

"I do know a few in the nearby village who definitely wouldn't mind," Lewyn added, with a smile. "I'd actually want to go ahead and move them inside the castle anyway, truthfully. At Agusty, it was during civilian evacuation that Deirdre and you were attacked, right, Alicia?"

"It was," I confirmed. I winced as I remembered letting that man inside, letting that man close, because I had thought he was someone who needed shelter. If I hadn't done that, maybe Deirdre would still be with us. "It would save us future trouble, just in case. We're already going to have trouble due to the windows."

"Right, first time really fighting fliers." Lewyn made a face. "I mean; we fought the Thracians, but they did that one attack and then just… disappeared, for some reason. An ambush that nearly killed all of us, and then nothing."

"I suppose Chagall only paid enough for one attack." I tugged my sleeve over the dragon's eye bracelet, even though I knew there was no way anyone knew what it meant. Healing Travant would be my secret, always. I hadn't even told Chulainn. "Regardless, this will be the first time we face fliers in proper combat and, unfortunately, we set up the infirmary on one of the higher floors."

"Why was that done again?"

"We decided to turn the largest room we had into the infirmary, just in case."

"Oh. Right. Shit."

"Yep." I shrugged. "At least we made sure the nursery didn't have easily exploited windows?"

"We can fret about that later," Sigurd sighed. He rubbed at his temples, and I made a mental note to send him a headache remedy, one with ginger since I knew his stomach would also be turning with all this stress. Glancing at Erinys and Lewyn, I added 'make sure they got some calming teas' to the note. I was certain they'd need it. "For now, Erinys, I would like you to do another patrol. Lewyn, start evacuations. Talk Sylvia and Claude with you." He looked up at me. "Or do you need Claude for the wounded?"

"Lachesis and Aideen will be more than enough help," I reassured. "There weren't too many injured. Shanan was the worst." I had to fight off another wince. Poor Shanan… Ayra, Chulainn, and Lex had fussed over him so much, but he was just so proud of having protected Seliph and Caitriona. He was a child, yet… "Sigurd, do you mind talking to Shanan later? I fear the attack on Agusty might've had a traumatizing effect that I did not foresee."

"After the fight, I will. Let me know what to look for?"

"Of course."

We all split off then, and I headed towards the infirmary. On the way, I passed by King Jamke, likely heading to give Sigurd a report, and I paused, thinking of something. Closing my eyes, I took a breath to settle my nerves and turned. "Ki… Jamke!" I called. He stopped and carefully turned, looking a little confused. I didn't blame him. I had never called him by simply his name before. I had always used a title, the one person I still did that with. "Thank you, for saving us earlier."

"It's no trouble," Ki… Jamke replied. He smiled kindly and laughed a little. "I figured I should make up a little for nearly killing Shanan."

"I suppose." I hesitated before gathering up a little courage. "I… I doubt I'll ever quite forgive you for that. But, if you do not mind, I would… like to try and befriend you."

"That… yeah, that sounds good." Jamke grinned, and I tentatively smiled back. "But first, defense."

"Yes. So, be careful out there, Jamke."

"Be careful here, Alicia."

I enjoyed our new setup. Yes, I only saw the absolutely worst of the wounded, but because I only saw them, I had more time to devote to them. That meant we actually had a lower than normal death rate, at least of the very badly injured, especially since I did have help. Oifeye had insisted on staying with me instead of going to the battle, so he assisted me, and Lachesis helped whenever her health permitted. Shanan and Ayra mostly watched the children.

"Hey, how's it going in here?" With that said, Ayra frequently checked in, both because she also did patrols and because she knew I liked hearing that the children were okay. "It looks bloody and it smells horrible, so I'm guessing normal?" she teased, grinning. It was odd being in a 'battle' situation and not seeing her in her normal armor. One of the older ladies said something about the armor being too heavy and impacting lactation, and while I wasn't certain that was actually true, Ayra had decided to not risk it until we were certain. She was, after all, nursing all five, refusing the nursemaid, because she was stubborn and prideful, and a little too attached to the children to 'give' them to anyone else. "Though, maybe not. Alicia?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," I replied, smiling. I brushed my hair behind my ear, hands damp from the scrubbing I'd given them. "A wave of injured just finished up. I was about to do secondary treatment, but decided to catch my breath."

"And finally let your mind wander." Ayra slipped behind me and braided my hair back for me. It was a lot longer than I had ever worn it, almost as long as hers. "Where are Oifeye and Lachesis?"

"In the back. The blood and other smells made her nauseous. So, she and Oifeye are redoing inventory."

"Aw, poor Lachesis…" Ayra whimpered in sympathy and I smiled. "Say, odd question."

"Yes?"

"Do you know what Diadora looks like? Your brother's fiancé, I mean."

"No?" I twisted to frown at her. "Of course not. The papers are too small for something as pointless as that, and it's not like the messenger birds can carry a portrait." Well, I supposed it could wear a little locket or something, but what was the point of that? I didn't need to know what she looked like, especially to the point of having her sit for a portrait just to indulge a minor curiosity. "Arvis doesn't know what Chulainn looks like either. He only knows that Chulainn has blue eyes, and that's just because Conall might end up with a blue right eye." His heterochromia was becoming more and more pronounced as the weeks passed. If they did end up with the eye colors Chulainn predicted, I knew I'd have to deal with at least a day of smugness. "I only told Arvis my twins' predicted eye colors to make him laugh. I knew he'd need it, given everything."

"That's what I figured." She smiled and turned my head forward to continue braiding my hair. "Sorry, Shanan asked if you did."

"Why would Shanan want to know?"

"Not sure. He even mentioned it was just a random thought." She patted my shoulders to let me know she was done, and I began doing my secondary checks. "I suppose he's just trying to mentally picture your family."

"Well, he's family too." I smiled at her, and she beamed back at me. "I mean; you all have to be at this point. How long have we all basically lived together?"

"Three years. Coming up on four. Far better years than I ever would've thought, running from Isaach as I had to."

"Certainly." Noticing that one of the unconscious patients had bled through their bandages on their torso, I undid the bandages and noticed that it was a much rougher wound that I had originally thought. So, I gathered up my stitching supplies and sat down to sew it up. Even with that, it wasn't bad enough for a healing staff. At least, it wasn't when I had this much time to work. "But, regardless, no, I don't, and I don't need to know. I'll learn when I meet her, just as Arvis will learn what Chulainn looks like when he meets him."

"Makes sense to me, all things considered. It'll be like a surprise!"

"Precisely." I smiled up at her before focusing on my attention back on my stitching. "Now, if he asked, I'd let him know, of course. But, honestly, I think that he finds it too hilarious to ask at this point. Though, as I said, the papers are just so small. We can barely fit all the things we want on them, without going into things like that."

"True."

"I thought I heard talking." Lachesis popped out of the back and hugged Ayra. "Hiya~!" she cheered, beaming. She was still pale and a little green, but at least she was cheerful. "How is everything?"

"Going well, going well," Ayra replied. She hugged Lachesis back and peered over my shoulder to see just what I was doing. "Need help, Alicia? I'm guessing Oifeye is still doing inventory?"

"He's doing a double check. Since we heard noise, I came out to make sure it's not another wave of injured. But here, help me do the rest of the secondary checks, Ayra. We'll need to watch for bleeding through bandages mainly."

"I see. Sounds grim." Still, Ayra walked and checked the patients alongside Lachesis. "We should talk of fun stuff. For instance, has anyone else noticed how close Claude and Sylvia seem to be getting, or is that just me?"

"It's not just you," I laughed, continuing my stitching. I could do this in my sleep at this point, so gossiping wasn't a problem at all. "I work with them often, you know. Sylvia has started seizing any chance she can get to stay close to Claude, and Claude certainly doesn't mind. We're into longing gaze stages, so no teasing quite yet."

"Oh, that's so adorable!" Lachesis giggled. She paused by one patient, and undid the bandages on their arm, coughing at the smell wafting from it. "Ugh, this one is infected. Let's get the cleaning herbs, and… Alicia, should I use a healing staff for it?"

"No, just clean and bandage it, for now. We don't want to risk accidentally sealing the infection inside and generating an abscess." I finished stitching up the torso and bandaged it back up before moving on to the next patient. Ayra fetched some of the disinfecting concoctions for Lachesis. "But speaking of potential couples, Aideen is fond of Brigid and Jamke marrying."

"I can see that," Ayra commented. She actually handled cleaning the injury, letting Lachesis move on to the next one. "They spend a lot of time with each other, and they've already settled into friendship. That's always important. You have to be friends."

"Does that really count with you, Ayra?" Lachesis asked, innocently. She changed another set of bandages for a different patient, smiling in relief when there was nothing unexpected with it. "You and Lex were always bickering."

"Bickering is how we show our affection. We enjoy it too much. But that's how we work. It's how our friendship works, and it's how our relationship works."

"I see." Lachesis glanced over at me. "Hey, I just realized. I don't think I ever heard just how you and Chulainn got together. Just that you were."

"That's… wait, you're right." Ayra pouted at me, and I kept up my healer's mask to keep from laughing. "I know I know more than most people in the army, but you never told me exactly how. Yet here you are, knowing how practically everyone else in the group paired up."

"No, I'm afraid I don't. I don't know how Ethlyn and Quan became a couple," I protested. I really did have to fight to keep from smiling. "I'm afraid that story never reached the gossips."

"Um… why are you three talking about this?" Oifeye, however, saved me from 'having' to answer, mostly by stepping out from the back. "There's people wounded?" he continued, adorably confused. "And you're changing bandages and stitching wounds?"

"You have to have a little bit of cheerfulness in your life, and the dead have already been moved out thanks to Beowolf and Arden, yes?" Lachesis pointed out, smiling. "Oh, hey, we should actually give you relationship advice. Has anyone caught your eye?"

"I-is this a conversation to be having right now?!"

"What? You're seventeen, and only two years younger than Finn and Ethlyn." That, of course, meant he was only a year younger than her, but she chose against pointing that out. "I think. Right?"

"Yes, Oifeye is five years younger than me," I murmured. I paused, realizing something. "Wait, am I the oldest of our little group here?"

"I… think so, actually. You're two years older than me, at least," Ayra replied after a moment. She thought a bit, nodding. "Yes, you're twenty-two, and I'm twenty. You're the old lady."

"Oh, how wonderful." I made my voice as dry as possible. "Well, the old lady says give the youngster proper romance advice, in case he's into that. He might find a nice person who catches his fancy, and if he does, he should have good advice."

While Lachesis and I continued our secondary checks, with Ayra and Oifeye's assistance, the three of us teased Oifeye terribly, and then teased each other to make it fair. They didn't get the story of my confession out of me, of course, but other things were fair game, and Oifeye and Lachesis did learn from Ayra that I had needed Arvis to tell me that I was in love before I knew it. That had made them all laugh, and I had 'chased' Ayra out of the infirmary afterwards to pretend we had some sort of seriousness.

However, it was hard to hold onto that 'seriousness'. Either the battle was going very well, or very poorly, but only a handful more injured arrived, and we dealt with them easily. Some died, of course. You always had those who died. But with fewer patients, and more time and medicine to devote to them, it was less, and we had more free time to replace the medicines we had used. I made sure extras were made, just in case. Of course, I probably should've just had someone watching the windows, because one shattered, again, due to a thrown javelin.

"Well, you're quite rude," I informed the pegasus knight climbing through the broken window, a woman wearing white armor and with green hair falling to her chin. Lachesis had darted into the back to snag a tome, while Oifeye followed to help her. "Surely, there were more polite ways to let yourself in."

"War isn't about politeness," the woman scoffed. She held herself with a surprisingly amount of dignity, considering she was bleeding from the broken glass and her pegasus hovered awkwardly behind her outside. "This is simple tactics. They'll be demoralized if their healers die."

"You're an idiot if you think I'm the only healer in the group, and shame on you for letting the cold in while there are injured." I decided the best way to deal with this was just to treat her as a nuisance, and to maintain my healer's mask. If nothing else, it annoyed her. "Also, why would you climb in through the window? You've already gouged your hands and limbs, and you're bleeding without me having to do a thing."

"As if you know how to fight. You'd be on the battlefield if you did."

"But this is a battlefield, where I battle death. My patients here are those who death did not claim, and thus, those you failed to kill." I shrugged, still nonchalant. Honestly, given Travant, Zyne, and Sadima, she wasn't quite measuring up. "I do not claim it is easier or harder than your job, but I am certain it is harder than cutting down an unarmed woman."

"Ugh… are you trying to talk me to death?"

"I am a healer. I do not kill anyone." I noticed Lachesis finally step out of the back, fire tome in hand. "That's why Sigurd makes sure to leave guards."

"What?" The woman screamed as Lachesis released a fire spell, stumbling back towards the window. "Argh…" She snarled over at Lachesis, and Lachesis glared back. However, I did notice she looked a little green and winced. This was exactly why I forbade her from going out into 'proper' battle. Her nausea was surging back. "Little brat! I should-"

However, to my surprise, Oifeye darted out from behind Lachesis and struck the woman's arm, carving a deep gash down her arm. I stared, startled, before vaguely remembering that Sigurd did teach Oifeye how to fight. I'd known that, on an intellectual level, but he never went out to fight, even as he grew older, always hanging back to work more on strategy. So, I had never truly made the connection, until now. Now, Oifeye stood protectively in front of me with a bloody sword, glaring at the woman, and I couldn't help but stare a bit. The little boy I had taught to sew was protecting me. It was an odd feeling, truly.

Lachesis threw another fireball and Oifeye struck at the woman again, making her stumble back. She snarled and retaliated, catching Oifeye in the side. Oifeye stumbled, but he ducked down under a second strike and snatched the bracelet on her wrist, tugging it off for some strange reason, and Lachesis covered him with a third fire spell. The woman maneuvered back towards the broken window, scooping up some broken glass and throwing it into Oifeye's face. He flinched, but struck her across the stomach, as Lachesis managed a fourth fireball, but faltered, covering her mouth. I grabbed my healing staff, preparing to heal them both.

Then another javelin appeared, straight through the woman's head, and down she fell in a mess of blood. As the collapsed, another person climbed through the broken window: a bloody, exhausted Erinys. She stared at us for a long moment before collapsing in tears. "You're okay…" she sobbed. I checked worriedly on Oifeye and Lachesis, but Lachesis took my healing staff to heal him up, so instead, I focused on hugging and calming Erinys. "Oh, thank the gods…" She clung to me tightly and I stroked her hair. "W-when I saw that Deet'var was heading here, I thought… I thought…"

"This is why I insisted on guards," I murmured. I smiled at her before letting her cry into my chest. "So, that was Deet'var. Oifeye, is that why you went after the bracelet?"

"Yep!" Oifeye proudly declared. He grinned at me, even as Lachesis carefully picked glass out of the wounds on his face. "It was hard to notice unless you were close, but I saw the slight bending of air. around here So, now we've got the bracelet to use however we want, and… well…"

"I see." I smiled at him, more than a little proud. Strange as it was, I was proud of how well he had grown up. "When you two are healed up, check the injured, just in case, and then let's get a blanket to block the cold."

It did take a little longer to calm Erinys down, mostly because she had been absolutely terrified that she'd fly back to seeing someone in a pool of blood, much like Agusty, and a bit to reassure the other guards that everything was fine, and that this was far more unexpected. We made notes to better the patrols, just in case, and to request an archer or two to remain behind as guards, before seeing Erinys off with a reassurance and then settling in for the next wave of injured. The battle didn't stop just because the infirmary had been attacked by a very cocky someone, after all.

The battle continued with ease, and our group gained a total victory, thanks to Lewyn's knowledge of the area and Erinys's knowledge of the typical tactics used. Since it was late, though, and because Sigurd wanted to reorganize the defenses, it was decided that they'd push on to Thove, and the villages, in the morning. This led to very amusing things when it was time to go to bed, though. At the least, I found it amusing, though I desperately tried to not let that show. I was scolding, after all.

"Chulainn, you are going to battle in the morning," I chided, trying to get him to go to bed. He dodged my attempts, though, happily playing and cuddling with the children, particularly Caitriona. I knew it was because she had been in so much danger earlier. "You will not be marching tired!"

"I can handle less sleep," Chulainn protested, ducking as I tried to snag his collar. He kissed me quickly before darting out of range, holding both Conall and Caitriona. The two of them, of course, were laughing at the 'game'. "However, I won't be able to spend time with the two of them for days. Days!"

"You will spend less time if you die because you were too tired, you know."

"You say that like I haven't fought exhausted before. I'm a former gladiator, you know." He stuck his tongue out at me childishly and I rolled my eyes, doing my best to give him a stern look and to not laugh. "You're smiling."

"It's your imagination, dear." I sighed and crossed my arms, fixing him with the sternest look I could. "The twins need to sleep. They can't stay up. It's bad for them."

"Aw, come on." He sulked and, amusingly, the children mimicked him. "I'll be leaving in the morning."

"You'll see them when you come back. It's not like you're going to actually die on me, are you?"

"Not before meeting your brother, at least." He grinned, but panicked when I scowled. "Just a joke, Alicia. I don't plan on dying for quite some time."

"Good. I'd rather our children got to know their father, even if he's being childish." I finally softened for a smile. "I hope they don't get your stubbornness, though."

"You're the stubborn one of us two." He did finally tuck Caitriona and Conall into their crib, shaking the rattles for them. I couldn't help but smile at the sight. "You refuse to learn how to fight."

"I am a healer."

"A healer doesn't mean letting people kill you."

"I don't let anyone kill me." My smile dropped, annoyance creeping in. "It goes against my oaths, and it goes against me. It's better to devote my attention to healing people. We have guards."

"And there were guards at Agusty! There were guards here, and yet Shanan and Caitriona almost...!" It was hard to say who was more surprised by his shouting: him or me. He wasn't one for shouting. "That's…" He paused because the children started crying, also startled by the sudden noise and letting their displeasure be known. "Ah, I'm sorry. Easy, easy…"

I waited for him to calm down the twins before even trying to continue the conversation. "Chulainn?" He didn't look up. He just fussed over them with shaking hands. "Chulainn." When he didn't react again, I went to him, wrapping my arms around him and pressing my cheek to his back. "I love you."

"I love you too. And I'd wished you'd learn to fight back, so that you can get away if someone comes again." He sighed and turned to hug me tightly. "I don't want you to be that injured again. I don't… I don't…"

"I'm sorry." I leaned up to kiss him and he kissed me back almost desperately. "But, I hesitate…"

"I know. I know." He kissed me again and then rested his forehead against mine. "I just…"

"I'll be fine. There are more guards this time. We did have a scare with the ambush, and with Deet'var, but that was just a mistake. Midir is staying with some other archers to help."

"One mistake is all that it takes." He laughed bitterly and hugged me tightly, again. "I'm sorry. I'm scared of losing everything again. It happened once. It almost happened twice. It almost happened three times. And now there's so much more to lose." He held me even tighter, almost to the point of hurting. "I don't want to lose everything again. I'd rather die."

"It will be okay, Chulainn." I pushed away slightly, just so that I could cup his face and smile up at him. It was almost painful, just because of how anguished and terrified he looked. "There are more guards this time, as I said, and we already have the civilians evacuated here, so we can afford to look at travelers with suspicion. We'll be more careful, and the nursery is the most defensible room in this whole fort. No one is going to venture outside for random walks."

"Logically, I know all that, but…" He sighed and let go of me to cling to my hands. "I'm being an idiot."

"Agusty scarred all of us, and you, my dearest love, have lost everything before. Of course you're scared. I'm sorry I didn't consider that sooner." I smiled sadly. "But I can't…"

"You can't hurt people. You hesitate. Your natural inclination is to save them." He smiled slightly, but it was bitter enough to make my heart ache. "I find it hilarious that I, who have killed so many, fell in love with one of the few people in the world who finds it hard to even hurt others."

"I think it makes sense, you and I. After all, I am a healer, and I fell in love with the gentlest man, who always makes sure everyone, especially me, is taken care of." I kissed him again, and this time, almost like he was unconsciously trying to prove my words right, it was a gentle kiss. "But, if I may, I am more worried for you than I am for us here. All the unknowns for defending our home here apply to the battlefield. Normally, you and Ayra fight together, and she's with me. Azel can't watch out for you either." Azel had learned to fight while mounted, becoming a proper 'mage knight', and thus, he would fight with the cavalry from now on.

"Tailtiu and I will stay near each other, and I will tease her about Azel for you." He kissed my nose and I giggled, amused and touched. "We'll also be near Brigid and Jamke, since the archers will be our enemies' priority targets and will need extra guards." He kissed my cheek and used that as a distraction to tickle me and make me yelp. He found it fun, even if he never let me retaliate. "Besides, the smiths here have made me better armor, and we've all have been training quite a bit."

"I'm aware of that." I tried to tickle him back, but he caught my hands and spun me around before catching me in a hug. "Darn it. Let me tickle you for once."

"No." He grinned and actually picked me up. I squeaked, and flailed a bit before settling my hands on his shoulders. "We should probably go to bed, though."

"We should. I want you to be perfectly rested for the coming battles." I leaned down to kiss his forehead. It was a very odd angle, looking down at him. "The twins and I will be waiting for you, Chulainn. Try not to be long."

"I'll try."

The inevitable civil war had begun, and here we were, trapped into fighting it. What else could we do, though? We owed far too much to Silesse, and Queen Rahna, to simply let Duke Maios do as he pleased. I had a bad feeling about this. I could only hope I was just being paranoid, because so many things went 'wrong' during our last campaign.

Notes on Sylvia:

A 17 year old dancer, who has lived on her own for quite some time. Used to cling to anyone who showed her kindness, but has eased off ever since 'kindness' became far more normal than 'cruelty' in her life

Though she is capable of using swords, her greatest asset in battle is her Dancer's Gift, which helps rejuvenate the weary to fight harder

She is very talented at making medicines, and has a rather odd interest in healing. It's almost as odd as that spot on her back she never lets anyone see, having it always hidden by her shirt no matter what.

Author's note: And here starts Game-Chapter 4. Aka, the chapter where most, if not all, of your units are going to promote at the very beginning of the chapter, though some might've promoted sooner (Lex with his Elite skill, for instance, and it's generally considered a good idea to promote Finn and Ethlyn before they leave). Promotions in FE4 work a bit differently than the later games. Basically, you can only promote at level 20, but your level doesn't reset back to 0. Instead, all units have a max level cap of 30. So, there's no potential loss of promoting your units ASAP, particularly since some get Pursuit (the skill you need to actually attack twice in game) upon promotion (Lachesis and Dew, for instance). I tried to make nods to most of them. Also, have Alicia and Jamke finally mending that bridge, sort of (remember this scene for later).

Deet'var (that is her most recently translated name based on what I could find, yes) wears a Prayer Ring, which gives a unit the prayer skill, which in this game, ups avoid if you're under 10 HP (to the point that you have a guaranteed 100% dodge if you're at 1HP). It's basically there to punish you if you don't kill her in one hit (okay, not quite that bad, but still). Her daughter, Misha, is actually a potential playable character in FE5 (depends on which route you went on during the route split). Dorias, briefly mentioned here, is an important NPC from FE5. Selfina, his daughter, is a playable char from FE5.

Also, yes, there is a reference to 'Do-re-mi' from 'Sound of Music'. I love it, and I couldn't resist. As a reminder, the ages mentioned in the bios are their ages upon recruitment, not necessarily their age at the 'current' point in the story. To use Sylvia's as an example, she was 17 in Game-Chapter 2, her recruitment chapter, and she is 19 at this current point in the story.

Next Chapter – Dance in the Skies