Chapter 30) Tirnanog
The Battle of Belhalla or, as it's being more commonly called nowadays, the Belhalla Massacre ended in a brutal assault, and sent most of the politically powerful people to their graves. Once the 'treacherous' Silesse, who sheltered the 'traitors', and the perfidious (that's a fun word, isn't it?) Leonster, who allied with the 'rebels', fell and were conquered, Duke Arvis of Velthomer unified the lands, with only Thracia technically being independent, and the people happily cheered as he and his wife, Queen Diadora of Belhalla, were coronated as Emperor and Empress. The stories say he 'tried' to refuse, but the people refused to accept anyone besides the two of them. It was probably part of his plan to appeal to people more.
Well, to be fair, the Empire did flourish for a while. Taxes were reduced to ease pressure on the commoners. Everyone received free schooling for reading and writing, with free meals provided to help ease the burden of less hours for work. Shelters for the abused were set up and laws were strengthened to protect them. Orphanages received extra funding, and more were built to make sure none were overcrowded. Better sewage systems to lessen outbreaks of illnesses. When an area suffered a drought and poor harvest, the crown itself provided for the people to make sure none starved. All nice and good things, really, and not anything anyone could complain about.
In 775 Gran, though, everything changed. Empress Diadora was assassinated in the dark of night, and Princess Julia disappeared in the chaos. And almost overnight, the Empire became oppressive, tyrannical, and horrific. Increased taxes, inhumane conditions, slave-like treatment, and the Child Hunts where children were ripped from their mothers and sacrificed to Loptyr. The kindest rumors say it happened because Arvis broke from losing his wife and daughter so brutally. Most think that he was always like this, was involved in the death and disappearance of the Naga Majors, and that Sigurd had been no traitor or rebel at all, but rather someone who had seen the true face of Arvis from the start, and had been silenced and turned into a scapegoat. Oifeye thinks it's something different. After all, our parents had believed in Arvis until the end and Aideen often states that they didn't know anything. If anything, Sigurd and our parents had been killed simply for 'convenience', a way to help unify the lands so that they could more easily push the new policies forward and better life for everyone. Arvis is still a dick for how he did it, though. And it's hard to say he didn't deserve losing things as he did. Feel bad about the prince and princess, though. They didn't deserve any of it.
Regardless, everything went to hell starting from 775 Gran, four years ago now. Isaach, where we live, is no exception to the terror. While we were always treated poorly by Danann, mostly for how 'rebelliousness' which was really our refusal to submit, but the recent years have been the worst and things are only getting worse. But the people have their hope still. Shanan, Rightful Ruler of Isaach, set up a resistance group much like the Crusaders of old, based in Tirnanog, often called the 'village of fairies' because of how hidden it was. Their strength grows by the day, and they slowly pick apart Danann's oppressive regime to save the people.
Then, of course, there are the ones dubbed the 'Scions of Light' that everyone places their hopes on. Among those Scions is the one affectionately dubbed the 'Imperial Prince of Light' or 'Heir of Light' depending on what region you live in, Empress Diadora's true first born, the only child of Sigurd the Hero, inheritor of Baldr and Naga. The Scions, by the way, are us, the children of the tragic heroes who fell during the Belhalla Massacre, and the 'prince of light' is Seliph. No pressure, right?
779 Gran, eighteen years after the Belhalla Massacre, eighteen years after Sigurd and his fellows fell… That's when we rose.
"Riona!" Seliph's voice echoed through the air, but I didn't bother answering. I was focused on my task. "Hey, Riona, are you out here?" Besides, Hestia barked before long to let Seliph know exactly where we were. "Ah, thanks, Hestia!" So before long, Seliph jogged over to the back of the house where I was brushing Hestia. "I swear; whenever we have to brush her, we come out with more fur than wolf," he commenting, nodding to the massive amount of fur next to me. And on me, for that matter. Hestia shed like crazy. That's why brushing her was actually one of our chores. "I thought it was Ulster's turn this week to brush her, though?"
"It was, but then Ulster was asked to help with the repair to the back wall, so I switched with him," I explained, smiling up at him. Seliph smiled back and crouched down to rub Hestia's belly. Her tongue lolled out in enjoyment and she playfully nipped Seliph's pant leg, careful to not actually hurt him. "But why didn't you just check outside? You know I'm usually here if I'm not doing anything."
"Typically up in a tree or on the roof with a book because you can climb like a spider."
"Spider? Really?" I threw a handful of Hestia's fur at him. "Mean!"
"It's true, though!" He laughed and tried to bat the fur off. Instead, it just clung to his hair and clothes. "Anyway, I wasn't sure if you were somewhere kissing Larcei or something."
"Seliph, did you somehow forget that Larcei and I broke up months ago?" I made my voice as dry as possible. "Given how explosively we broke up? Really?"
"You two could've kissed and made up. Literally." He shrugged, smiling. "Though, no, I haven't forgotten your argument. I'm really glad you two are friends again, by the way."
"Yeah, sorry for making things awkward." It was the longest we'd ever gone without talking to each other at two weeks. "Actually, I'm really sorry for making things awkward." I finished brushing Hestia and tossed the brush to the side before stealing Seliph's lap to lie down next to her. Hestia immediately flipped around to rest her muzzle on my chest, silently demanding ear scratches. "And I'm not dating anyone at the moment. I promise; you'd be the first to know."
"Hey, it could've been a new thing." Seliph shrugged and gave Hestia the ear scratches she wanted, leaving me free to simply hug my wolf. "By the way, I've never asked. What was the argument? You and Diarmuid had a very amicable break up when you two decided to stop dating."
"I can't say." I smiled apologetically at him. "It's deals with one of Larcei's secrets, not mine." That said, it might be something everyone guessed. The whole argument had started because I felt like Larcei was just using me as a substitute for Shanan. She… hadn't, actually, but she understood why I thought that. Well, when we actually sat down to talk after the argument, that is. "Ulster might tell, but… well…"
"Right." Seliph nodded, understanding. We all might've spent our whole lives together, but we still had our secrets, especially as we grew up. "Is it something we need to be wary of?"
"Nope! Larcei and I had a good chat and we're best friends again." And honestly, probably never should've dated, given our temperaments. But we'd had crushes on each other and went for it, and it had been nice for the first few months. We were definitely way better as friends, though. "Worrywart."
"Hey, it was a disruption in our lives and both of you were miserable." He started putting braids in my hair, as he normally did when he had to sit somewhere too long and had nothing to occupy his hands. Braiding took care of that. After all, my hair was just barely shorter than his. "That made us all worry."
"Yeah, like I said, sorry for making things awkward." Hestia whined for attention, since Seliph stopped petting her, so I took over to keep her occupied. "Anyway, what were you looking for me for? Need me to brush your hair again?"
"No, I'm fine." He frowned at me. "I don't always need you to brush my hair, you know."
"Yeah, and that's why it gets matted. You always forget to brush it!" It might not have been a problem if Seliph wore his hair short like most Grannvelians, but he'd chosen to grow it out to emulate Shanan. And then I was the only one who'd brush it. "But whatever. What's up?"
"I was heading into the market for groceries, and remembered you had the day off chores wise too." He smiled warmly at me. "Want to come along?"
"Yeah, sounds like fun!" I sat up, careful to not jar Hestia, and grinned. "But we should probably change into something with less wolf-fur." I laughed as Hestia yawned and nuzzled me. "Yes, it looks beautiful on you, sweetie, but not on us!"
"Here, I'll help deal with the fur." He finished off a braid and started picking up part of the pile. "Where do we leave them again?"
"This way!" I grinned at him and winked. "And thanks~!"
Days like this were common, or at least, they became common once we finally made it to Tirnanog ten years ago. Before then, we had moved from village to village, constantly on the move from to escape Grannvale. Even back then, people had placed their hopes in us, and fought to defend us. And died protecting us. It had taken a few years to even realize such a thing wasn't normal. But in Tirnanog, things were… mostly better. At least we never had to run while places burned and people died behind us. That let us learn about peaceful days like this and, even better, live them. Days where we did chores like normal kids, got to enjoy the lazy sunshine… they were bliss. In the life we had before Tirnanog, I never could've had a pet, especially one that required as much attention as Hestia.
I had always loved animals; Aideen said I got it from Dad. So, my childhood was often spent wandering through the woods, especially after we moved to Tirnanog, and finding wounded animals to bring back to Aideen to fix up, and Lana when Lana decided she wanted to be a healer like her mom. Most of the time, we made sure to release back into the wild, because that's where they belonged and I didn't want to separate any from their mommies and daddies. But Hestia had been different. A little wolf-pup, wounded and malnourished, who had the same coloring as my stuffed-dog, the very same mottled grey, and pretty gold eyes. I had begged to keep her, and Oifeye had reluctantly agreed, so long as she behaved and so long as I took care of everything. Two years later, Hestia was firmly part of our odd little family and most of us forgot she hadn't always been here. Shanan had laughed when he returned from a mission to find her. Supposedly, Mom would've had a heart attack. I wondered why. Hestia was so much fun! Though, I did understand that she was a little shit and a handful sometimes. Most of the time, actually. Like when she got super excited at seeing others in our mismatched family and pounced on them. Most could brace themselves before being knocked down, but poor Lana never had the strength for that.
"Ack!" Lana yelp, dropping whatever she'd been carrying as she struggled and failed to keep herself upright, hitting the ground with another yelp. "Ugh… Hestia, I can't do that!"
"Lana, you okay?" I asked, rushing out of my room. I knew I should've made sure I had a good grip on her fur before I opened the door. "Please tell me she didn't bust your head open." It hadn't happened, yet, but all of us did worry that Hestia would one of these days. After all, when standing, Hestia's shoulder was about even with my hip, and she was easily as long as I was tall, if you included her tail. And almost all of that was muscle, meaning she weighed a lot. And she ran fast. "Please."
"No, she at least makes sure that there's nothing dangerous. Save the floor. And her." Lana groaned, and squeaked because Hestia's form of apologizing was to try and lick you to death. "We need to clean her teeth! Her breath is horrible!"
"That's one of tomorrow's chores." I whistled and, after giving Lana one more lick, Hestia returned to my side, letting me actually help Lana up. "Sorry, by the way. I didn't think anyone would be in the hall."
"It's fine…" Lana brushed herself off and picked up her basket, filled with things to mend. Hestia, contritely, began picking up things from the ground to return to the basket. "She's lucky she's cute, though."
"She's well aware of that, I'm sure." I ran my hands along Lana's scalp, making sure there was no real damage. When I was certain, I picked her up in a hug. "Almost as cute as you!"
"Hey! Don't treat me like a little kid!" She laughed, though. She didn't really mind. We did actually discuss this a few years ago. "I'm seventeen!"
"Yes, but you're the baby of the group!" Lana was the only one of us born after the Belhalla Massacre. While Aideen had thankfully survived, probably the legendary Ulir luck kicking in and getting her pregnant at the perfect time, Lana never got to meet her father, and Midir never got to meet her. Though, most of us had next to no memories of our parents, but still. "And you always will be!"
"Grr!" She sulked for all of half a second before going right back to laughing. "Oh, hey, are you heading out?"
"Seliph and I are making a market run."
"I've a list!" She kissed my cheek, kissed Hestia's head when Hestia dropped off the last thing, and raced down the hall. "Don't leave until I give it to you two!"
"We'll wait at the entrance!" I waved her off and looked down at Hestia. She sat down, tail wagging vigorously, happy as could be. "Gods, why are you so cute?" I kissed her nose and pet her head. "Okay. Find Seliph for me." She barked in agreement, sniffed about a bit, and then bolted. "Not that fast! And don't tackle Seliph!"
Thankfully, she didn't, though she had leapt for him. Seliph had just managed to sidestep in time and then rub her vigorously to 'make up' for it. "Are we ready to go then?" Seliph asked as I joined him out front. He tilted his head curiously when I shook my head. "No?"
"Lana's got a list she wants to give us," I explained. Then I smirked. "Actually, if you want to be alone with her…~"
"Hey, she and I broke up years ago!" Seliph rolled his eyes and I giggled. I'd know that, of course, and both Seliph and I knew Lana was crushing hard on Ulster nowadays. But it was fun to tease. "And I wonder how many things on her list are already on mine?"
"Who knows? But I imagine it's more geared towards infirmary things." I stretched my arms high above my head, looking up at the bright sunshine and the cloudless sky. "Another beautiful day." I hoped tomorrow would be as well.
To our intense amusement, there was a lot of items on both lists. The three of us worked out which things actually had to be doubled and then Seliph and I were walking down the path to the market. For safety's sake, we didn't live in the village itself, just a cleared out house in the woods that had once been some lord's hideaway. It suited our needs, and the privacy was nice, but it did mean we had a bit of a walk to Tirnanog proper.
"Hey, do you want to swing by the church to visit Muirne?" I asked, holding tightly onto Hestia. She wanted to hunt squirrels. I didn't want carcasses dropped on my shoes again. "I can find something to occupy myself if need be."
"Muirne and I broke up, remember?" Seliph reminded gently. He read through the list, probably mentally plotting our path through the market. "Shortly after you and Larcei made up."
"Oh, right." I hopped up onto a nearby log to balance-walk on it. Hestia tried to follow, but Seliph stopped her and held her firmly so that she wouldn't rush off. "I'm honestly surprised you two broke up. You both seemed really compatible."
"She was intimidated by the technical nobility and the Holy Blood." Seliph smiled ruefully. "Besides, someday…"
"Ah, yes, the mythical 'someday'!" I jumped down and pitched my voice to be as dramatic as possible, gesturing grandly to reinforce the image. "The Mythical Someday when we, the Inheritors of Light, rise up to push back the Darkness and free the lands from the Oppressive Empire and their vile evil deeds of Evil!" I bowed with a flourish as Seliph cracked up, holding his stomach even as he laughed. "That all said, if we ever get around to that, you having a 'common born' wife will be the least of people's problems."
"Yes, but she also…" Seliph had to pause to get his breathing under control. He'd laughed so hard that he was red in the face. "Whew… okay. Breathing."
"Yes, breathing tends to be a good thing."
"Yes, yes." He shrugged. "She doesn't want to leave Tirnanog."
"Oh, yeah. That's a dealbreaker." Honestly, that was why I didn't date anyone outside of our group, even though I'd had serious crushes and infatuations on some of the locals here. Most of them tended to be resistance members. I apparently really liked guys and girls who could kick ass. "...Wait, where's Hestia?" Both of us froze as we realized that, during the laughing and dramatics, Hestia had escaped to shove her head in the undergrowth. "Hestia!" I growled a bit and snapped my fingers, accidentally sparking a tiny bit of flame. Thankfully, nothing flammable was immediately near and it didn't fly back to catch my sleeve. "By me! Now!"
After a moment of wriggling, probably to free herself, Hestia did emerge from the undergrowth. I expected her to be chomping on the remains of some chipmunk she'd caught or to just be covered in wet leaves and mud. Instead, she emerged emerged with a snake wrapped around her face and neck, which was doing its best to strangle her before she ate it. Even while occupied with trying to eat it, her demeanor and wagging tail more or less screamed, 'I FOUND A SNACK!'.
Of course, Seliph and I both yelped and struggled to try and get the snake off of her because we certainly couldn't tell if it was poisonous or not and a snake was trying to strangle my wolf! Between the two of us, I managed to wrestle it off and turned to fling it back into the woods. And accidentally threw it in someone's face because apparently, we were close enough to town that someone had heard the yelling and came to investigate. Seliph helped out just long enough to assist me in getting the snake off the good samaritan who had just been worried someone was hurt and now had to deal with a snake in their face. Then, while I apologized profusely to the person for my asshole of a wolf and for accidentally throwing a snake at them, he sat down on the ground to laugh his ass off and hold a sulking Hestia who didn't like that her snack had been thrown away.
"That had to be the most embarrassing thing ever!" I grumbled, keeping a very firm grip on Hestia as Seliph and I finally made it to the market, a spiralling array of various stalls and shoppers and surprisingly lively considering how isolated Tirnanog was. "You can stop laughing at any moment, Seliph."
"I'm trying!" he protested, voice wobbling. He wiped the corners of his eyes with a knuckle, having laughed so hard he cried. Again. "But you threw the snake in his face!"
"It was an accident, damn it!" I scowled, and then winced as a couple of playing children gave us weird looks. "Ugh, that's it. I'm not talking for the rest of the day."
"I'd pay to see that."
"Hey!"
"See?" He grinned and I rolled my eyes. "Okay, first stop is the bakery."
"Don't change the subject, you jerk!" Still, I made sure I was smiling when we came up to Mistress Caoimhe's stall. I was good at faking a smile, if the need was there. "Morning, ma'am!"
"Ah, good morning, you two!" she replied, greeting us with a smile and a laugh. She had flour in her hair and dusting her apron. "Perfect timing! Can you taste-test something for me?"
"Like we'll say 'no'!" Seliph laughed, bowing respectfully towards her. "Though I can already tell you that it'll be delicious."
"Well, I had to substitute some ingredients due to pricing and availability." She ducked down to fetch something from under her stall and Seliph and I shared a concerned look. But we were back to smiles when she popped back up with a covered tray of cookies. "Here you go! And I've a treat for Hestia as well."
"Oh, good, she's mad that we took away her snake."
"Snake?"
"Don't tell her!" I growled, elbowing his side. Seliph just laughed. "Ignore him. He's being mean."
"If you're certain?" Mistress Caoimhe replied, looking a little confused. Then she shrugged and peered at my face. "My dear, I don't think I've ever seen you change your earrings." Or rather, been scrutinizing my ears. "Eithne has a few for sale that will look very pretty on you."
"I'll keep it in mind, ma'am." No, I wouldn't. Yes, it was weird to wear mismatched earrings, but I wouldn't give up the gold and ruby drop I wore for anything. Dad had bought it for Conall and me, and Conall hopefully still had the other one. So, I always wore it, in my left ear, and wore a simple white stud in the other. Well, I might consider changing the stud. "But for now, cookies!"
Seliph and I happily devoured the cookies she gave us, and I made sure Hestia behaved while Seliph 'haggled' for some fresh bread. When we left for the next shop, we tucked the extra coin in a place she could easily find. It was just the running 'joke' with us. We'd haggle because it was expected, but we also knew everyone in the market would start at a lower price than they normally would for us, so when we left, we'd always leave the difference anyway. It wasn't like we couldn't afford it. Even after eighteen years on the run, we had a lot of money. Of course, a lot of that money had come from things like Aideen selling her jewelry, but still.
As we passed near the butcher's stall, I tried to hold onto Hestia. I really did. Unfortunately, she wriggled free and raced for the Mister Torin, while he was in the middle of cutting some meat for a customer. She ran right around the back and sat at his feet, happily wagging her tail and being as cute as possible. Seliph, as per usual, laughed at her antics. I facepalmed.
"This is why she acts like this!" I snapped at him. He just laughed harder. "Honestly…" I smiled and waved sheepishly to Mister Torin when he finished with his customer and turned towards us. "I am so sorry. I swear I teach her manners."
"Why, of course you do!" Mister Torin replied, probably louder than needed. He had a naturally booming voice which, combined with how he tended to wear a bloodstained apron, had made him really freaking intimidating when I was a child. Nowadays, I knew it was just how he was, and he'd just given up on getting the stains out of the apron. No matter how many times he and his wife washed it, they stubbornly remained. "Look at her, being very polite. She's waiting patiently, and she's even using her tail to sweep up for me." He laughed and rubbed Hestia's head before fetching her a bone to gnaw on, one that still had a bit of meat on it. Hestia barked in joy and licked his hand in thanks before taking the bone and immediately chewing on it. "Besides, you know I save the bones."
"I wish we could do the same." But no, no matter where we tried to hide bones to use later for broth, Hestia found them. Honestly, we had to be careful because she could get just about anywhere and destroy things when bored. Shanan almost lost a scouting report that way, actually. "But neither here nor there. Thank you for treating my Hestia."
"Still, I can't help but notice how there's less than usual on your stall, Mister Torin," Seliph murmured. It took me a second to realize he was right. It wasn't a 'little' less that suggested sales. It was a lot less, suggesting there hadn't been much to start with. "Is everything okay?"
"It's the soldiers, Prince Seliph," Mister Torin sighed. He then went to work cleaning his knives. "They're overhunting. Hurts the business a bit."
"That's not good." That was an understatement. Not only did it threaten food supplies, but it was going to mess up the surviving animals' behavioral patterns and hurt the environment. "Is it a recent problem?"
"We're just noticing it now, but it's hard to even fish." Mister Torin shook his head. I wondered just how much you had to fish to do that? "Why they need to hunt that much, I don't know. Probably indulging in multiple, luxuriouses feasts to gorge themselves."
"Maybe…" Seliph and I looked at each other and nodded. Meat wasn't on the list, but… "Oh, right, Hestia isn't the only reason we're here. What do you recommend?"
After buying some fresh meat, and Seliph carefully keeping it away from a nosy Hestia, we went to our next destination: dairy. Though, to our surprise, Dalvin was actually running the stall. "Prince Seliph! Lady Riona!" he greeted warmly, smiling. Both of us smiled back and rushed over, pleased he was up and about. He'd been recovering from some terrible wounds; the last mission the resistance went on, Dalvin had been pinned down defending some children. "Good to see you!"
"Good to see you, Dalvin!" Seliph replied just as warmly. He stopped just short of hugging Dalvin, probably because of the stall itself. A good thing, since Dalvin's posture was still a bit stiff from pain, and you could see the bandages peeking out from his clothes. "How are your injuries?"
"Healing well, thanks to Lady Aideen, Lady Lana, and Muirne. As you can see, I can stand on my own now!" Dalvin grinned, proud, and both Seliph and I smiled in relief. There had been very real worry that Dalvin would actually lose his legs, due to injuries. "Oh, and there's the adorable Hestia." Dalvin waved her over for pets. "Sorry, girl. I'm not recovered enough to crouch down."
"I'm sure she's just glad you're recovering." Seliph hesitated a bit and glanced to me. I nodded, knowing what he wanted to ask. "Hey, do you think Creidne is up for visitors? We've been worried about her."
"Mmm… yeah, she should like that. At least you, Lady Riona." He smiled apologetically at Seliph. "I don't know…"
"I can wait outside the room or even outside the house if need be." Seliph smiled reassuringly. "Her comfort is most important. I'd just like to check in. Both of you are friends."
"You know where the house is." Dalvin grinned. "However, might I interest you in a few of these cheeses?"
"Which ones do you recommend?"
We ended up buying a bit more from the dairy stall than we'd planned, but hey, it was Dalvin and even if Aideen never charged for healing, the family did lose some income due to taking care of Dalvin and Creidne. The family actually didn't live far from the market, so it was easy to pop over for a visit. Mistress Sorcha, their mother, greeted us with a tired yet warm smile and actually enlisted Hestia's assistance in hunting a couple of mice she was having trouble with. Seliph and I set our purchases safely on the table before heading into the back, since we knew where Creidne's room. We knocked on the door and, after a quiet 'come in', stepped inside. As she had been the last time I'd visited, Creidne was resting in bed, though she was sitting up this time. She didn't wear bandages on her wrists anymore, showing the angry red, but healing, scabs.
"Oh, hey!" Creidne greeted smiling warmly. But she flinched when we stepped a bit closer. "I'm sorry, Prince Seliph. But can you stay by the door?"
"Of course," Seliph reassured instantly. He actually made to to stand outside the room. "Is this better?"
"Yes, it is." Her smile sweetened. I was glad to see it. She hadn't been able to smile anything but 'faintly' or 'tearfully' last time I was here. "Thank you."
"How are you feeling?" I asked, carefully walking to her side, ready to stop if she said so. But she didn't, so I crouched by the bed and rested my arms on the blankets. "You look better."
"I feel better. Finally." She smiled proudly. "I managed to sleep through the night without medication! And I haven't dug into my scabs for four days!"
"That's great!" I smiled back, giving her my best. I always tried to smile for people, to make them feel better. Besides, given the number of people who have died and suffered just so that we could be safe, I didn't really have a right to be sad for long. Or at all. "Do you want Aideen to stop sending the medicine here?"
"Mmm… not yet, no. Just in case. This was the first night and the nightmares..." She shuddered and I hesitantly took her hand to squeeze it reassuringly. Creidne had been caught by the soldiers a few months ago, and… well… defeat could be particularly humiliating and traumatizing depending on how the soldiers felt that day. Creidne hadn't been lucky, though she had been rescued before they could kill her. Creidne tried to commit suicide soon afterwards, though. It had been… horrifying. If Larcei hadn't insisted on checking on her… "But I am getting better. Slowly."
"I'm glad." I really was. Creidne had been one of our first friends in Tirnanog, actually, reaching out to the weird noble kids who had no idea how to make friends. "Though, now that I look, you do look a bit tired."
"I was about to take a nap, actually." She smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry. You came to visit and all…"
"Nah, we just wanted to check on how you and Dalvin were healing."
"Did you see him at the stall?"
"He's a stupid-good businessman. We bought more than we needed." I playfully made a face and was delighted by her laugh. Last time I was here, she hadn't really been able to laugh. Too tired and pained. "We'll leave you to rest, though. We do have shopping to continue."
"Okay." She laughed a bit more and made sure to smile to Seliph. "I do appreciate you two swinging by. Hopefully next time, I can be a better host." The smile said 'I hope next time, I will not flinch as much'.
"We should have a girls' night again soon." I stood up carefully, to not startle her with a sudden movement, and then bent down to kiss her head. She smiled brightly at the gesture, thankfully. "See you later!"
"Bye!" Creidne waved and settled down to sleep. Seliph and I made sure to shut the door behind us and walked down the hall a bit before breathing sighs of relief.
"I really was worried we'd walk in on…" Seliph began, eyes a bit distant. He'd gone with Larcei to check on Creidne that horrifying day, meaning the two of them had discovered Creidne in a pool of her own blood. "Thank goodness."
"I know what you mean," I murmured, also thankful. I hadn't seen that, but I'd been one of the ones who worked on Dalvin initially, so I could take a guess. That had been the first time one of our friends had been among the severely wounded and I didn't like it. Sadly, I knew it wouldn't be the last time. For one thing, Deimne was with the resistance too, and actually out with Shanan on a mission now. "Ah, what are we doing standing here and being gloomy?" I poked his cheek and grinned. He smiled back after a moment. "Back to shopping!"
Sadly, though, we didn't actually get to return to shopping. We had just finished our goodbyes to Mistress Sorcha and praised Hestia for catching the troublesome mice when the church bells began ringing. It was the larger ones, which produced a slow and low tone, and that only meant one thing. Shanan and the others had returned finally. And they brought wounded.
"Hestia, go meet them," I whispered, nudging her. She licked my hand and loped away, disappearing from sight quickly. The market nearby was a frenzy, everyone preparing for what we all knew was coming. "Seliph?"
"Let's pay someone to take the things back," he murmured. He was already looking around for someone. "Then we'll go."
He found a couple of people before long and, after paying them for the service, we both raced for the church, bursting through the front doors. We were, for once, ahead of the injured, meaning that instead of jumping right into the blood, we got to see Aideen rushing about making sure everything was set. In the back, I saw Lester and Ulster struggling to set up extra cots, just in case.
"Oh, perfect!" Aideen breathed, smiling at us as soon as she saw Seliph and I in the doorway. It was her 'healer's smile', though, ready for work, instead of being her usual happy smile when she saw us. "Seliph, help Lester and Ulster. Riona?"
"Water boiled and needles sterilized, right?" I asked, already heading to the table in the back. Seliph ducked by Aideen to give her a quick hug before joining Ulster and Lester. "Anything else?"
"If you don't mind getting the fireplace going? I hadn't done that yet."
"On it!" I snapped my fingers to bring up a small little fireball and diverted in my path to get the fireplace roaring. It was the only good thing of my Fjalar blood, being able to conjure small flames like that. I could cut so much time for Aideen. And for cooking. "I wonder how bad it's going to be this time."
Probably worse than I expected. It was always worse than I expected.
Yep. It was worse. Way worse, in fact. It seemed Shanan's two-month mission had been to liberate one of the labor camps. So, I'd spent the next few hours bandaging people who were thinner than my pinky, praying that they were healthy enough to not go into total shock when I cauterized their wounds on healer's orders, struggling to hold down people without accidentally snapping their bones while someone else sawed a limb off, and holding the hands of people who looked more like skeletons than people as they passed. It wasn't the first time. It wouldn't be the last. Danann liked the labor camps. It gave him more time to indulge himself.
"Well, this lot doesn't seem to be as disease ridden as the last group," I noted lightly while rubbing soap into Hestia's fur. As usual, she had let herself be used as a crutch to help the wounded wobble the last few steps to the infirmary, and let herself be hugged by many of the injured who desperately needed some comfort. That meant she was filthy with mud and blood and other things that smelled way worse. "And they're free now! They'll be able to recover in safety and warmth!"
"For now," Larcei pointed out sourly. She was helping me with washing Hestia, mostly because she found it as soothing as I did. There was something nice about seeing the blood wash away. "Do you have to find a silver lining to everything?"
"Well, I could be all doom and gloom, but I don't see how that'll make things better." I leaned around Hestia and flicked some water on her. "I mean; you're being all doomy and gloomy and you're just a sourpuss."
"I am not!" Larcei splashed some water on me, making me squeak. "Take that back!"
"Never!" I laughed, but then quickly yelped as Hestia splashed both of us, clearly thinking that was the new game. "Hestia, no!"
Hestia, of course, decided to take a while to listen, meaning that while Larcei actually dried Hestia off when we were done washing her, I had to mop up more than half of the bathwater from the floor because Larcei and I had decided, in our great and vast wisdom, to wash Hestia in my room today instead of, say, outside like smart people. And Larcei and I had to change clothes again on the account of being absolutely soaked because Hestia had been really eager to play. By that point, the others stumbled inside my room, freshly scrubbed and wearing clean clothing, no doubt following the screams and scoldings to figure out where we were.
As soon as we were all there, we just… set up as we normally did when after finishing up post-first-wave chores for the infirmary. Lana always took the extra shift for healing, while the boys carried the dead outside to be properly buried, and maybe even identified if we were luck. Before Hestia arrived, Larcei and I would do the same; now, we'd pull an extra shift later to make up for 'skipping' to wash Hestia instead. But some things never changed, no matter what happened or how old we got. Hestia would lay down with a blanket draped over her, and we three girls would use her as a pillow (instead of using actual pillows as we did before Hestia was here) with Lana in the middle to make her feel safer. Then the boys would claim our legs as pillows, always more or less in the same order. Seliph would lay down in my lap, and Diarmuid would steal one of my legs. Lester and Ulster would lay on Larcei's legs, sometimes claiming her lap if one needed that extra bit of comfort. Then, once settled, we'd all just sit there in silence and slowly relax. Slowly wind down from earlier, to the point where we could actually think and talk. It was a carry-over from when we'd all curl up together for naps when we were little. I sometimes wondered where Conall would've set up, if he hadn't been kidnapped. When napping, he'd always been next to me, so maybe he would've been on one of my legs too. I didn't know.
"There were children in this group," Diarmuid whispered, breaking the silence. He held up his hand and I wondered how many of the dying he held the hands of. ...If that sentence even made sense. "It's getting worse."
"It's always getting worse," Lester pointed out. He had an arm draped across his eyes, blocking what bits of light came in from the window. Despite how long it all felt, the sunshine hinted it was late afternoon at worst. "It's been getting worse since before we were born."
"Children in a labor camp, though…" Diarmuid dropped his hand. Seliph silently reached over to take his hand and squeeze it reassuringly. "What sort of labor can they do reliably anyway? Especially when so thin…" He smiled bitterly. "Was it to use them as hostages, actually? Make sure the adults didn't rebel?"
"You don't think the arrows were enough of a deterrent for that?"
"When your other choice is the camp and slow death and maybe hope for rescue?"
"...When one of them learned that we were helping, their eyes lit right up." Lester curled on his side, facing away from Larcei, Lana, and me. He was trying not to cry. He didn't like crying around people, even us. "It was painful to see."
"At least they didn't use all of their meager strength to reach out to you," Seliph whispered. He closed his eyes as I ran my fingers through his hair. All the chaos led to it falling out of his normal ponytail. "They learned I was the son of Sigurd and Deirdre, and a few almost fell out of their beds. A few whispered oaths of loyalty even. It was..." Unnerving. It was always unnerving. It was always daunting, seeing their eyes on us, knowing what they expected. Especially when we weren't allowed to...
"I want to fight," Larcei growled. She closed her eyes, probably to keep from crying. "I mean; that's not new. I've been wanting to fight."
"Yeah, ever since Creidne…"
"Yeah." Larcei winced and Lana leaned over to rest her head on her shoulder. Larcei and Lana had been berry picking with Creidne when the soldiers ambushed them and Creidne was caught. In fact, Creidne was only caught because she'd run a different way to lessen the chances of the soldiers getting them. None of us doubted that saved Larcei and Lana a fate worse than death, but it still hurt. It was still yet another damn case where someone suffered to keep us safe. "Damn it. We're all adults, technically. Why can't…?"
"We have to be patient," Ulster mumbled dully. We knew even his patience was running thin, and he was easily the calmest of all of us. He was even calmer than Lana, who was training to maintain a healer's calm. "We have to wait for a good time to strike. Otherwise, all you're going to do is start off burning quick, and then die down and be less effective."
"When is that going to be, though?" Lana asked sleepily. She was definitely dozing now. "People younger than us are serving in the resistance. We can fight. We have our means of warfare." She woke up enough to glare sleepily at… someone. It was hard to tell who and, for all I knew, it could've just been that scratch on the wall left over from Hestia being very enthusiastic about a dust ball. "I swear; if one of you says something stupid like nuns and warfare don't mix…"
"Did we say something like that? You're not even a nun."
"Someone in town."
"Ah."
We all fell silent again, too tired to try and string coherent thoughts together again, dozing as we took comfort in each other's presence. The seven of us have known each other all our lives, and we'd been together just as long. For a significant portion of our childhood, we only had each other, which was part of why Conall's capture hurt us even now. Just being near each other, knowing we were all still here, still alive, still together… that was more comforting than just about anything else in the world.
The only thing more comforting was a mug of warm milk with honey. It was an Isaachian treat, the comfort drink for everything. Shanan had made it for us the first few years, but after we moved to Tirnanog and Shanan started being away far more than he was here, Oifeye had asked the locals to teach him how to make it properly. And that was why, after we had time to rest and relax, Oifeye would always find us, carrying a tray with seven mugs all perfectly made and a treat for Hestia.
"Rather thought you all would be outside," Oifeye noted as he passed out the mugs and we all arranged ourselves into a circle. When he gave the last mug to me, Hestia stood up on her back legs to brace her front paws on Oifeye's arm and take her treat off the tray herself. "Hestia, it's not like I'm going to hide it from you." Hestia made a 'wrr?' noise that I swore was her 'who, me?' noise before laying down beside me to eat her treat, a bit of raw meat. "I'm glad we had fresh meat for some reason. I thought I'd have to hunt a treat down for her."
"Riona and I managed to get some shopping done before this," Seliph explained, sipping the milk. All of us began smiling again at the taste. It truly was the most comforting thing in the world. "How are Deimne and Shanan?"
"Deimne was mildly injured, and is being treated at home by Muirne. Shanan was a bit more wounded, but Aideen is handling that now." Oifeye smiled warmly, tucking the now-empty tray to his chest. "So, he'll actually make it for dinner tonight." That would be nice. It would be the… second dinner we'd had with him these past six months. Well, it wasn't like we could be mad about it. When the resistance formed, everyone had elected Shanan as the leader, something Shanan took seriously. As things got worse, he had to be away more and more often to try and make things better. "So, whoever sets up the table tonight needs to remember to set up for him."
"That sounds great!" Seliph smiled warmly, but the rest of us shifted awkwardly, thinking of just why Shanan was rarely here. And, after a moment, Seliph asked the question we always asked. "Oifeye, can we fi-"
"No." Oifeye's reply, however, was the same as always. "It's too soon."
"But people are dying!" Seliph almost stood up, but stopped and instead just clenched his free hand into a fist, digging into the floor. Since I was next to him, as usual, I rested my free hand on his reassuringly. "So-!"
"No." However, Oifeye must've sensed all of our tempers about to snap, because he focused on Diarmuid and Lester. "That said, I'll be doing a patrol in a couple of days. Why don't you two come with me?" The question was enough to startle all of us into compliance or whatever the word was, with Diarmuid and Lester just nodding dumbly. It was the first time Oifeye had invited any of us on a patrol. "Excellent. We'll talk more about it after dinner." And then Oifeye left. To be charitable, he probably left to make medicines for Aideen, who would need them as soon as possible. He was the best medicine maker in the entire town, and had taught all of us so that we could make some while pulling infirmary shifts too. But, it did…
"Anyone else think he just ran away?" Lana asked dryly, leaning into Ulster's side. We all sighed and nodded. It really did feel that way. "Okay, good, it's not just me being grumpy about his refusing. Again." It was enough to make me grind my teeth in frustration. How many more people would die before Oifeye said that we were ready? "Why just you two, though?"
"To reluctantly be fair, Lester and I are the only ones trained to fight on horseback, even if all of us know how to ride," Diarmuid sighed. He set his empty mug on the floor and then massaged his wrist. "I'll try to badger him into agreeing to at least let us go on small missions while we're out, though."
"That'll be a start I suppose," Larcei grumbled. She paused and shook her head hard enough that I thought her earrings would go flying to hit either Seliph (who was next to her), Ulster (who was also next to her), or Lester (who was across from her) in the face. "That came out wrong."
"More addressed at Oifeye, not at me." Diarmuid laughed softly. "I'm used to your utter lack of tact, Larcei."
"Oh, shut up." Larcei scowled, and then batted at Ulster's shoulder when he snickered. "You definitely shut up."
"Regardless, Oifeye is right in that a lot of this needs to be talked about later," I pointed out, finishing my milk. I set my mug down next to Diarmuid's and Hestia took the 'invitation' to scooch her head into my lap. Her muzzle was a bit bloody from the meat, but I scratched behind her ear anyway. "Let's rest a little longer, and then ask Aideen what shifts we have for the infirmary." That was how it always was. None of us ever shirked, except when we were sick. "Hey, who's cooking tonight?"
"I think that's Ulster and me?" Lester replied, frowning a bit as he tried to remember. He glanced at Ulster, who nodded after a moment. "Yeah, us. Why?"
"Oh, in that case, let's make sure we have plenty of stomach medicine."
That sparked a bit of tired laughter, and even more tired protests from Ulster and Lester, and slowly, we began teasing and laughing again. A few more moments, and then it was back to being the hope of everyone.
But how long would we just be their hope? How long before we could finally live up to their expectations? How long…?
The downside of having a pet, even a pet wolf, was that you had to wake up at stupid hours in order to let them out, so that you didn't wake up to a 'messy surprise' by your bed. Most nights, Hestia woke me up at somewhere between 'really freaking late' and 'gods damn this hour early', because she couldn't open the outside door on her own. Every other door and contraption? Yep, better make sure it's locked if you don't want her inside. The door outside? Nope, though she had tried, and broke the door in her attempts.
Regardless, I woke up, yawning every other breath, and walked Hestia out and tiredly telling her to not hunt or anything. I had no intentions of being woken up in a few hours by a half-eaten animal hitting my face, again. After a couple of little… whatever it was called when a wolf leapt at something, but then pulled back immediately… she did decide that obeying the girl who saved her life and gave her treats was a good idea and trotted back to me. I petted her head and leaned down to kiss her nose before leading the way back inside. Once inside, though, she decided she didn't want to return to the room yet and walked down a different hallway. I was tempted to just let her so that I could get back to sleep, but it was entirely possible she was looking for mischief, so with a couple of growled curses, I followed her down, sleepily grumbling more curses along the way.
"Shanan, you can't go to Yied!" Oifeye's surprisingly angry-worried tone, however, woke me right on up, and I quickly ducked down by a partially opened door, wondering what was going on. Hestia tried to nose it open further, but I held her back. A quick look around showed we were right outside Oifeye's office. "It's too dangerous!"
"Everything is too dangerous, Oifeye," Shanan instantly retorted. At least I had my answer for why Hestia went down here. She must've smelled them and wanted to say 'hi'. "And I know we have a particular dislike of the Yied Desert…"
"Yes, we lost so much when the others left to cross the desert…" Oifeye's voice was soft and pained. I cautiously peered inside and saw him near tears as he stood by his desk. That made me wince. Oifeye had basically been our father growing up, and always maintained a calm, confident air when around us. So it was easy to forget that he was hurting. He was always hurting. What happened eighteen years ago haunted him always. "Then there's what happened to Ethlyn and Quan…"
"Yeah, I know." Shanan bowed his head, eyes closed to hide his own tears, fists clenched at his side, standing in front of Oifeye. I was startled by the number of bandages I could see. He had looked like he'd had minor wounds at worst during dinner, but in different clothes that showed more skin, I could see there were significantly more. How badly had he been hurt? It was probably an exaggeration, but he looked like he was half-covered in bandages, after treatment. "I know, Oifeye. But Balmung might be at the Yied Shrine. And if it is, I should try to get it."
"Balmung has been missing since your father died." Now Oifeye's voice was sharp. "But now, conveniently, when we're causing the most trouble…"
"Yes, I know it can be a damn trap. But it also does make sense. The final battles of the Isaachian Campaign were fought near there, and it would make a good trophy." Shanan opened his eyes, his posture still rigid. "And if it is there, the morale boost would be worth the risk. And I could protect everyone better."
"Yes, but…" Oifeye sighed and rested his hand on a pile of papers. "No, you're stubborn. You're not suggesting you go. You're telling me that you're going." He drummed his fingers on the pages, and then switched to the desk itself. "We won't be able to go with you."
"I know. I'll be heading alone." Shanan smiled, relaxing finally. But he quickly became serious again. "Keep an eye on the outer perimeter. Grannvale's forces seem to be closing in on Tirnanog. I think they've noticed it's become a blindspot. The seclusion has been wonderful for keeping them safe, but Danann's finally starting to figure things out." He scoffed suddenly, and rolled his eyes. "Thank everything he's nowhere near as clever as Uncle Lex. We would've been found out long ago in that case."
"Still, if he's figured it out, we might need to move…" Oifeye went behind his desk and pulled out a map. "Maybe we should actually cross into Silesse… I'm sure Lewyn and Erinys would shelter us. If they're still alive, that is."
"I'm sure people will shelter you anyway. Silesse has never been a friend to the Empire." Shanan leaned over the map too, no doubt to take a look as well. "You might be able to secure a ship to sail the Thove. Otherwise, you'll have to head south to Lubeck."
"Why are you talking like…?" Oifeye frowned, but then laughed ruefully. "Of course. You wouldn't be able to come with us. You can't leave Isaach."
"No, I can't. I can get away with it to go after Balmung, but otherwise, I'd have to stay for my people." Shanan grimaced and continued with a surprising amount of sarcasm. "Of course, I'm sure you all won't really know the difference, considering how much I've been around."
"You're basically ruling your country in all but name, and some political nonsense. We understand."
"Doesn't mean I have to like it." Shanan sighed and brushed his hair behind his ear. "I know I'm doing what I need to, and I know I'm protecting them and my people. But it feels like I turn around and they've aged ten years."
"Ha! It feels that way when you're here raising them!" Oifeye laughed nostalgically, smiling. "But they're not children anymore."
"Lana is seventeen, right?" Shanan's own smile was bitter. "Isn't that how old you were, when we lost so much?"
"No, I was eighteen. It is older than Finn, Ethlyn, and Lachesis were when they joined the army, though." Oifeye sighed, smiling disappearing. "They're asking to fight. It comes up more and more."
"...On the one hand, I want to say 'no'. We promised to keep them safe and, damn it, I owe it to everyone to keep them safe." Shanan closed his eyes again, and I thought of how Aideen had told me, once, that Mom and Sigurd had helped save his life. Mom had healed him, and Sigurd had given him a home. She said it was why Shanan kept a closer eye on Seliph and me. "But I can admit they're skilled. I know they are. Hell, I taught Riona, Seliph, Ulster, and Larcei, to a degree."
"While I've taught Diarmuid and Lester, as best as I could, and Aideen has taught Lana." Oifeye looked down. "But that's training. They've never been in a real fight before."
"Neither had we, during our first real fights." Shanan smiled bitterly. "I won't tell you what to do. You and Aideen are the ones who raised them and thus, you've got way more say in this than me. But I will point that out, at least. If experience is all they lack…"
"...Logically, I know you're right." Oifeye leaned against his desk and pinched the bridge of his nose. "But what if they get hurt? What if they die? The three of us promised to protect them. I've raised them. I can't…" Oifeye's voice actually cracked and, to my shock, he was actually tearing up. Automatically, I made to stand, but then remembered I was eavesdropping. If Oifeye knew I was here, I knew he wouldn't be anywhere near this… vulnerable. "I can't lose them, Shanan. After everything…"
"...Yeah, I understand…" Shanan rubbed Oifeye's back reassuringly, and I winced at that bit of knowledge. It was so damn obvious. Of course he'd be hesitant in letting us onto the very dangerous battlefield. We would get hurt; it was impossible not to, in a fight. We could die. Of course he'd be terrified. What father wouldn't be scared, sending their children to war? Though, at the same time, was it fair to ask that sacrifice of others and not take it up ourselves? I didn't think so, and so much of the world wasn't fair, but that didn't mean we shouldn't try and make it so. "What is that noise?" Of course, in my introspection, I'd forgotten to make sure Hestia was quiet, and that meant she had nudged the door open, making it creak. "Who's there?" Shanan stepped out into the hall, and, of course, immediately found me sitting by the door, with Hestia, eavesdropping. I awkwardly waved, smiling sheepishly, and he closed his eyes and sighed. Whoops.
"Is everything all right?" There was the sound of Oifeye approaching, but Shanan held up a hand. "Yes? No?"
"It seems Hestia escaped from Riona's room to say hello." Shanan beckoned to Hestia and she immediately leapt over my knees to rub up against him. She also jumped up to brace her front paws on his chest and lick his face. "Yes, yes, good to see you too, Hestia." Shanan rubbed her back and then gently pushed her down. She darted inside the room and the yelp hinted she'd done something similar to Oifeye. "I'll go make sure Riona's okay, and that her door isn't in need of repairs. Again."
"That's a good plan." Oifeye sounded more cheerful, laughing a bit. I wanted to look to check, but definitely knew that wasn't a good idea. "See you in the morning, Shanan."
"In the morning." Shanan partially closed the door, mostly to hide him nudging my leg and pointing down the hall. I nodded and scooted to the side before standing up and following him down. I was a bit surprised when we headed outside, but then smiled when he headed for the tree by the house that made it easy to climb onto the roof. Of course, I just scaled the side of the house itself, but that was because I was a show-off.
Still, when he joined me on the roof, and sat down beside me, I whispered, "do you really have to leave?"
"If I'd had Balmung when Conall was captured, even as weak as I was, I could've gotten him," Shanan replied. I winced at the reminder. Conall, my precious twin, had been kidnapped by Grannvale forces thirteen years ago. While we hoped he was well, we didn't know. Tirnanog didn't get a lot of rumors from Belhalla. You'd think a 'new prince' would be a big enough rumor to reach here, but then again, it had taken us two years to hear about Deirdre's death. "And Grannvale's forces are just getting stronger. More serious."
"You know Conall's kidnapping wasn't your fault, right?" Really, it was my fault. Conall had wanted to get to the others and then tell them that we didn't have our stuffed-dogs or the earrings. I'd insisted on going back for them ourselves. "I mean… we were…"
"No, we should've made sure you had them before we left." Shanan's sad smile proved the words didn't have any effect, just like all the other times I'd tried to reassure him. In Shanan's eyes, he had failed. It hurt that I couldn't change his mind on that. "So, I'll be leaving in the morning."
"So soon?" That startled me. He rarely left immediately after returning, even after all these years. "But that's…"
"Sooner I go, the more likely the blade will be there. If, you know, it's not a trap." His smile became bitter. "That's always a possibility. Us falling for a previous one cost us Conall."
"Still, though…" I bit my tongue to stop the rest of the sentence. Oifeye was right. This was Shanan telling us what he was going to do, and no one could stop him when he got an idea in his head. "You have to promise we'll see you again, alive and well. I'll have Hestia pin you down if you don't."
"Now, that's something I want to avoid!" Shanan laughed, and I noticed how tired it was. "I promise, Riona."
"Okay." I made sure I smiled, to hide my worries, but I did feel a little better. Promises were important. That's something all of us had learned, growing up with Oifeye, Aideen, and Shanan. Yes, circumstances might happen and force you to break them, but you had to hold onto them as long as you could, even if the person you promised was dead. Promises meant you'd fight just a little harder to fulfill them. "Don't forget."
"I won't." He ruffled my hair and I playfully made a face. "So, what all have I missed? Dinner was quiet, and I picked up bits and pieces."
"Well, Lester fell into a well two weeks ago…" Then I rattled off anything I could think of, little bits of gossip mostly. The overhunting. How Creidne was recovering. How Hestia had jumped the fence around the local cattle and scared them, which Hestia yawned at during the retelling. Little things, really, some of it sad, but mostly things to make him smile. In the morning, he'd be off again and we'd be kept close inside the protective walls of Tirnanog. Everyone else risked everything for us, but here were were. Safe. Protected.
I was tired of it. But I made sure to smile despite it. Because with everything everyone sacrificed, I didn't have a right to be sad.
Caitriona; Riona
Class: Myrmidon; Skills: Pursuit, Luna, Charisma, Miracle
The 19-year-old daughter of Alicia of Velthomer and Chulainn of Sophara, the older twin of Conall. While she loves her name, after Conall was captured, she shortened it to 'Riona', which before only he called her, because she was desperate to hear it again. Nowadays, she prefers it, since it's less of a mouthful.
Has Holy Marks for Od and Fjalar intertwined on her left collarbone and chest. Their blessings give her boosts to stamina, her ability to suffer damage, her skill and accuracy, and her magical power. Due to her Fjalar blood, she is capable of conjuring small flames that are just hot enough to cauterize injuries (if focused solely on that) and sterilize needles (though killing a person outright would be difficult due to size and concentration needed). Due to her Od blood, she has very keen sight, letting her track people's movements quickly and easily as well as giving her an edge it finding weak points in guard.
Trained to fight primarily by Shanan, with a focus on the more pragmatic fighting Chulainn taught him. Meaning kicks, punches, etc are more than fair game, and she has no qualms at all about setting someone's clothes on fire to drop their guard for the kill.
She keeps it quiet, but some days, she thinks Hestia is another 'gift' from her dad, given how she'd found Hestia on the anniversary of the Belhalla Massacre and because Hestia had the same coloring as her toy. This, more than anything, is the reason why she begged to keep her. She likes the idea of her dad looking out for her, even now.
Author's notes: Welcome to Gen2, and our new POV char, Riona. With the new POV char comes a difference in the notes on everyone, bringing in their classes and skills because Riona would actually care about that. All Holy Blood gives a boost to HP (which I tend to think of as stamina and the obvious ability to suffer damage). Od gives a +30% to skill, while Fjalar gives a +30% to magic. There's more of a focus on just what the Holy Bloods do to give their 'boosts', because it's something Riona would've learned (unlike Alicia, who didn't know more than the basics). As for the changes in some of the Crusader names, I purposely did that to reflect how different the world is in Gen2.
Since we're finally into Gen2, let's talk about Inheritance. Children inherit all of their parents personal skills (for example, Chulainn has Luna, while Alicia has Miracle and Charisma. Riona inherited all three, and then gets Pursuit because of her class) I think someone once asked why I picked those skills for Alicia. Miracle was done to help justify in 'gameplay' a few close calls Alicia had during her story. Charisma was picked by a friend.
The children character's starting gold is ([father's gold] + [mother's gold])/10 + 2000, hence the comment about money above. I highly doubt the average citizen in Isaach has 200 gold, much less 2000.
Stats are complicated, but the growths aren't too bad, being [Main Parent's growth rates] +[Secondary Parent's growth rates /2] + Holy Blood bonus. For the most part, the kids growths are ridiculous. You know how the children chars could be total gamebreakers in Awakening? Yeah, like the marriage system, that started here.
Their starting inventory is what they could use in their 'main parent's' inventory upon the end of Gen1. A child's main parent is determined by their gender, with most following their same-gender parent (I.e. Ulster's is Lex). The exceptions are Ethlyn's kids, as well as Brigid's, with the genders switched. Riona and Conall are also exceptions to that, with Riona's 'Main Parent' being Chulainn, and Conall's being Alicia. Which is another reason why Conall got kidnapped; justification for him inheriting Alicia's things. (I'm going to deal with other inherited things via story.)
If you didn't pair up one of the women for whatever reason (do not say anything about what's better or not gameplay wise, please and thank you), then the children are replaced with substitute characters. I like the idea of them existing still, though, so while there's been mentions in the past (Jeanne back in Noldion), we get to see a few here. Muirne is Lana's substitute and Deimne Lester's, while Dalvin and Creidne sub for Ulster and Larcei. Creidne being captured while protecting Larcei and Lana comes from the Oosawa manga, though Creidne didn't survive in Oosawa. As for the implications of rape… Oosawa heavily implied it happened before she was killed, and the game itself heavily implies that it happens to many captured women, so I decided to include it. I promise that things like this won't come up often, though the risk/threat of it will be mentioned a few more times.
Starting the gen prior to Shanan leaving comes from the Oosawa manga. The opening text for the chapter is based off of the in-game opening text (with some bits to show 'what is known' by the general populace). I don't think the games ever mentioned 'labor camps' and the like, but it made sense to me. The mentions of 'patience' and 'burning quickly' are nods to the skills Ulser and Larcei have in their Awakening cameo. Lana mumbling about 'nuns and warfare don't mix' comes from the original fan-translation.
It's never stated just when the Empire became the tyrannical entity it is when Gen2 actually starts. Fuyuki's manga never addresses it, and Oosawa picked an earlier time. I picked 775 because that's a year before FE5 starts and some dialogue there can imply the Child Hunts are recent. As for when this story starts, in game, gen 2 starts in 777. I delayed it to 779 for a couple of personal reasons. I'll also be expanding the timeline, covering about two or three years instead of the one in-game. Despite the shorter time skips in between, there will still be three interludes between each Game-Chapter.
While Hestia is dubbed a wolf, I am taking her behavior more off of wolfdogs, huskies, etc for ease (I have far more experience with dogs). The incident with the snake is based off of a story I saw on someone's blog and identified with hard because one of my own dogs did a similar thing, but with a turtle. As for why Riona has a wolf, one reason is a nod to A Song of Ice and Fire. I also found the idea amusing, considering how much Alicia disliked the idea, and I found the idea interesting. 'Hestia', by the way, is the Greek goddess of hearth, home, domesticity, and family, and heavily associated with fire'.
Next Chapter - Light Inheritors
