()()Tiki()()
My comrades met battle with great force, and perhaps great enthusiasm. We held the line against wave after wave of Plegian soldiers, watching the shadows of their corpses lengthen as the Sun passed its apex. The world was a clamour of strife, steel, and shouting that saw no end, clattering against my ears like hammer blows. It was something I did not miss- and yet...
It was thrilling to be back, after so many years. Not amongst my old comrades, long passed save for my memory, but here, sailing against a sea of moments that defined a human generation. Under the command of a clever tactician and noble ruler, our goals a beacon lit under our hearts.
Vaike buried his axe through a soldier's shoulder, cleaving a hole in the Plegian defenses. With a shout, he called Sully forward to widen the gap. She answered wordlessly, her lance a macabre wedge through the rows of soldiers. We charged. I charged. By the time their commanders rallied, forming a new defensive line, we'd forced them back two paces. Somewhere else, the Ylissean or Feroxi line would break, and we would lose two paces in turn.
It was easy to remember why I stepped away from this life. My heart sung a hymn of battle, beastly and joyous; it ate away at my strength bit by bit. Fatigue crept in from the fringes.
Without my true might as a Dragon to rely upon, the cure for such exhaustion was simple: I could sleep, or I could meditate. Bantu's words, as always, echoed in my thoughts: Focus, child. Clear your mind of base instinct.
I managed a wry, fanged smile even as I let the Shepherds advance without me. "Ah, Ban-ban," I hummed softly, "But I could never sit still!"
"Ban who?"
My body tensed, one hand curling around my axe as I turned to face the speaker. Gaius, I recalled his name being- a carrot-haired thief with fingers stickier than the candy he pocketed. The man flinched when I made eye contact, but held his ground admirably.
Closing my eyes, I let out a long, fire-tinged breath. "Ban-ban," I replied, lips curling into a less fearsome smirk, "An affectionate name for someone I fear is long gone... but it does little good to talk ancient history in the heat of battle," I stopped for breath, looking back towards the Feroxi fort that was our bastion. Placing two fingers against the side of my neck, I counted the seconds, then brought that same hand down to my heart. "It seems, though, that my time in battle is at an end. Could you perhaps direct me towards our tactician?"
"Uh," Gaius muttered, fiddling with some sort of candy attached to the end of a stick, "I think she's up a floor?"
Someone shouted, and the flow of battle changed around us. Scratching his chin, Gaius shrugged. "She's not on the ground floor, I think. Didn't see her there, and she likes having a good view of-"
Waving a hand, I stepped aside to let a cluster of soldiers slip past us. "Gaius," I said, raising an eyebrow as I turned towards the fort, "Were you not supposed to meet with her before the battle began?"
Huffing, Gaius crossed his arms and started to slink in the direction of the fort. "Look, maybe I was busy, alright? I'll go see her right now, with you. Plus, I was doing something else she wanted me to do."
"Fair enough," I shrugged, slipping through the press of bodies as we made our way towards the fort. "I take it you are not allowed to elaborate?"
He pulled the hard candy out of his mouth with an audible pop, though perhaps only to my ears, and chuckled. "Heh, got it in one, lady. Nothin' special, don't worry about it, just some business Bubbles'd rather keep secret."
Bubbles, hm? What a curious name for Robin.
()()()()()()
The second floor had turned out to be some form of intermediary healing area, for soldiers who only needed a burst of Heal or sip from a Vulnerary. A small pile of crumpled papers meant Robin had been present recently, which was more than enough for Gaius to declare victory.
We finally located Robin when we clambered up the stairs to the third floor of the fort. The Shepherd's Tactician scurried around a large table, shouting orders to nearby soldiers and gesturing wildly with ink-stained fingers. Phila- that was the name of the Wing Commander, yes?- sat at one of the two chairs in the room, inspecting maps with war-weary eyes.
"Phila- er, Commander Phila," Robin barked, voice clipped as she skidded to a stop, "I'm rethinking that flanking maneuver from earlier. Every time I look outside, it's not our flanks that need help, it's our center line... of course. Fourth company's the one that has more veteran armored soldiers, right. How quickly do you think I could swap the fourth and second companies?"
"Without intervention," Phila replied, voice strained as she reached across the table to point at something, "The captains could manage it in five, perhaps four minutes. Which would leave the center weak to a rout-"
"Yes, I figured that," Robin interrupted, scurrying over to one of the arrow slits as we slowly approached the table, "I think... hm. You there! Tell the first, second, third, and fourth company captains to shift outwards, and make sure you have Kellam and the backline defenders fill the gap. Fourth company will swing back around and fill the gap, taking over for Kellam and the backline defense. Have our archers focus fire on that point, if possible, but keep an eye on those Wyverns! Where do they keep coming from?"
The soldier Robin had been pointing at nodded, moving swiftly past us and down the stairs, mouthing Robin's instructions as he went.
"Plegia's Wyvern corps is based further west than our campaign took us," Phila answered quickly- too quickly. She broke into a fit of coughs, each one making Robin wince or twitch slightly. "Naga damn them. They'll be a thorn in our sides until we put an end to this war."
"From what I observed outside," I broached carefully, smirking as Robin jumped, "I take it we are unable to deploy the Pegasus Knights until the Wyverns are dealt with?"
Gaius snickered, earning a glare from Phila. He ignored it with practiced ease, slinking over to whisper something in Robin's ear.
While Robin collected herself, I paced over to where Commander Phila was sitting. Leaning over to inspect the map, I quickly recalled why I had never led an army personally. The mess of wooden blocks, arrows, and notes was worse than a foreign language to me- utterly incomprehensible.
"Excellent, Gaius. Can you run up and see how the archers and artillery mages are doing? I need a report on those Wyverns," she said, nodding as Gaius dashed away. The moment she turned towards me, though, she was wringing her hands and looking at the ground. "L-lady Tiki! You're here. Um," Robin brushed herself off, running an ink-stained hand through increasingly black hair. "I thought you'd still be out there with the forward teams. Is something wrong?"
Nothing was wrong, per se, but I had overtaxed myself- let the thrill of battle come before common sense. "In my current state, I am unable to exert myself for long," I admitted, nodding towards Robin, "So I thought to make myself useful elsewhere."
"I see, I see," Robin nodded to herself, pacing back towards the table, "The first order of business is to push the Plegian Army back- in theory, we have a numbers advantage on the ground, and our archer companies can keep most of the Wyverns off our backs. But!" She spun around with a sigh, "We can't use those numbers unless we can push further away from the wall. If we'd just had more time-"
Ah, this conversation. Before I had left to prepare for battle myself, I had borne witness to the Ylissean high command bickering over whose fault the scouting situation was. Yes, they should have sent out scouts earlier. Yes, it was something they all should have checked on. But no, it wasn't anyone's fault individually, even as they all moved to take the blame. It was quite amusing, in an unfortunate way. Rather than witness a repeat of that, I cleared my throat and said, "At least we had, what was it, two hours of warning? By my reckoning, you managed quite a rally in that time."
Robin's jaw snapped shut with a clack. Spinning around, she planted her hands on the table and rolled her neck. "Fair enough," she grunted, pushing wooden blocks around the map, "Ugh, how is it hot in Ferox? A-anyways, it looks like my message got through. We're gaining ground, but much too slowly for my liking. Basilio's out there on the front lines, Flavia's holding the left flank, and Chrom's... no, he would have followed fourth company, he's in the center now. Lady Tiki, can I rely on you to command troops on the right flank? W-would that be too much, um, exertion for you?"
Drat. Tactics again. Shaking my head, I looked in the direction Gaius had gone earlier- though I'd had to dull my senses to deal with the battle outside, I could still hear soft footsteps coming down the stairs towards us. "I was never much for tactics, I'm afraid. What about Frederick, then? He seems quite sharp."
"Frederick is," Robin paused, licking her lips and wiping a bead of sweat off her forehead. "Phila, where is Frederick? I think I put him with the healers, but if Lady Tiki is asking about him, he's probably not with the Triage group."
Furrowing her brow and pursing her lips, Phila thought for a moment. "Ah. You put Stahl with the Triage group, if I recall. Frederick is, I assume, with his liege."
"Right, of course, of course," Robin muttered, "Gods, it's hot in here. I-I hope you don't mind if I take off my coat?"
After a short pause, I waved a hand. "I see no reason to mind, as it were. In my time I have seen many more people in much less," I let a smile creep onto my face as I spoke, taking some amusement from Robin's reddening face, "Primarily in my capacity as a healer. I doubt any sensibilities will be harmed."
That appeared to be enough for her. Robin peeled off her jacket, revealing the thin woman underneath- why, I had no doubt lifted weapons heavier than she was! As she adjusted her top, which was light canvas brown with vertical black stripes, I began to understand why she had been concerned. It was an unfounded fear, as all it exposed were her shoulders and collarbone, but some stuffier members of nobility might take issue with that. As it was, I wondered if the Robin ever ate.
Gaius chose that moment to return, now with a mage in tow. The mage had his hands on his knees, panting now that Gaius had come to a stop. "D-don't go so fast," he spluttered, sounding as young as he was short, "Can't k-keep up."
Robin, who had finished adjusting her hair, turned towards them and nodded. "Ricken. Gaius. What's our status?"
Leaning to one side and resting a hand on a hip, Gaius held up a finger while he crunched down on some form of hard candy. "They're doing fine," he said around a mouthful of sugar, "Almost safe enough to put out our own flyers, apparently. But the kid here-"
"Not a kid!" the mage interrupted, shaking his head emphatically. His overly large hat fell to the ground, earning a chuckle from Gaius.
"-Ricken here says he has something important to say," Gaius continued, putting another piece of candy in his mouth, "Somethin' about wyverns and counting."
"Lost," Ricken panted, straightening and putting a hand to his heart, "Lost count of them. Miriel said it was fine, well, I think that's what she said, you know how she is," finally catching his breath, Ricken looked around the room with a steadily rising blush. "O-oh! Lady Tiki. H-hello. A-anyways, I think a Wyvern might have gotten past the archers and mages while I wasn't looking. Just a minute ago. Gaius came just as I was looking to come down here," he explained, "And, um. I-I've never seen you without your coat, Miss Robin. Or s-seen you up close, Lady Tiki. Sorry if I'm awkward."
Phila coughed politely, making Robin and Ricken jump. "If I might interject," Phila said, looking between Robin and Ricken, "Even if Ricken is wrong, I think it would be wise for us to send someone immediately. Robin?"
Robin nodded, collecting herself. "Of course. Ricken, I need you to make sure we always have eyes on the Wyverns, just in case it happens again. Gaius, grab the first Pegasus Knight you find and tell them to fly up around the back of the wall, and come in through the doors on the top. Get two or three more to do the same on the other side, but be careful! That way, we'll find any Wyvern Riders looking to pick off messengers, and maybe catch intruders by surprise. And- oh, looks like one of my runners is back," Robin stopped abruptly, nodding towards a soldier who'd just come up the stairs.
I could not help but admire the change that came over Robin when she got into the rhythm of her work. It was a far cry from the small, shy woman who pulled in on herself, stammering when she looked at me for too long. Now was not the time to tell her that, though; she needed focus, not distractions. It was, however, time to ask what I could do. "Robin?" I said slowly, waiting for her to turn towards me, "Is there any task I might help with?"
Robin frowned, tapping her fingers against the table. "Hm," she hummed, reaching for a quill, "I have some ideas. One moment."
She put the quill to paper, scratched a few lines, and stopped. "Hmmm. Bit faint."
Phila raised an eyebrow, looking between the quill and Robin's face with something resembling a smile.
Dipping the quill into an inkwell, Robin returned to the paper and scribbled a bit more. Staring quite intently at the page for a long moment, Robin nodded to herself. "I appear to be out of ink," she declared, putting the quill down and wiggling her ink-stained fingers, "Presumably because most of it is on my hands."
Snorting, I leaned over to point at her hair. "And in your hair, I'm afraid. Unless you know the trick, that might take some time to get out."
Tilting her head, Robin let a few strands of hair trail over her face. Lips curling into an irritated frown, she let out a pained sigh. "Of course. I always do this, and then when I go to see Maribelle or run into Cordelia they get all upset about my hair," she complained, "And, with all due respect Commander Phila, I know it's my own fault. Lady Tiki- you're telling me there's a trick to it?"
It took me back several centuries- twenty, roughly, perhaps twenty-five. To Mar-Mar, always worried about his troops and his friends. Up late at night, devising plan after plan until his lovely blue hair was nearly black with ink. "An old friend of mine had the same problem. Unless ink has changed in the last few centuries," I paused as the memory strengthened, the faint scent of wine and ink palpable on my tongue, "His... future wife would always wash his hair when it happened. She'd mix alcohol and soap and run it through his hair, being careful not to let it wash against his scalp." I missed them all dearly, but it was a familiar ache- one whose pain had long dulled.
Robin winced sympathetically, barely stopping herself from rubbing her head. "That would hurt, wouldn't it... a-anyways, I'll ask someone about that. Maybe Cordelia? Maribelle?" she shrugged. "Anyways, if it's not too boring a task, Lady Tiki, could you run down to the storerooms and get me more ink?"
It was a boring task, but there was nothing boring about living with humans. "Humans are entertaining enough," I assured her, "Two ink vials, then? Three?"
"Ten, with how swiftly our tactician goes through them," Phila huffed, "And, if I may interrupt, it would be best if we returned to discussing the battle. With all due respect, Lady Tiki. Robin, I believe the movement of the fourth company might have been too taxing on our defensive line. Could you look outside for me?"
Pacing towards the windows, Robin shook her head. "Kellam is Kellam, Phila. He may not look it, but he's a fine commander for smaller groups, I'm sure..."
I chuckled as I walked away, the sound of Robin and Phila bickering swelling with every step. Humans, as always, were fascinating.
()()()()()()
The war room was much busier when I returned, to put it lightly. More cramped, to be sure.
Basilio had returned from the front lines, unsurprisingly sporting several bandages over his arms and across his stomach. More surprising was how little they seemed to affect him- he moved about the room with the vitality of a younger man, loud and boisterous as he held his own with Robin, Phila, and Virion. From the look of things, Virion had managed to strain a muscle in his shoulder- one arm remained mostly immobile as he sipped tea with the other.
"This is hardly an injury," Basilio rumbled as I entered the room, gesturing to the bandage wrapped across his midsection, "I can move just fine! But if your healers tell me to take it easy, you can damn well bet I'm taking it easy. That woman wields a parasol nearly as well as Olivia does a sword! Oh, you wouldn't have met her yet, would you?" he mused, stroking his chin.
Setting down the ink vials on the table, I nodded in turn to everyone present. "It was quite easy to find the ink," I said, "Your quartermaster- Cordelia, correct?- did an excellent job organizing. Give my compliments to her next time you see her."
"Ah, the fine Lady Tiki," Virion bowed slightly, setting his teacup down with a clink. "Reduced to such banal tasks as restocking ink. We all must get our hands dirty in such trying times, don't you think?"
"I fear we may have different definitions of 'dirty hands'," I replied dryly, "But I think you knew that, from- hmm, what was it, five years ago?"
Virion went through a fascinating spectrum of colors, finally settling on a light green. "I had forgotten," he chuckled weakly, "Oh, but he did have it coming, did he not?"
Basilio looked between us, both eyebrows rising as amusement twinkled in his one visible eye. "I'm sure there's a good story there, eh?" He chuckled, patting me on the back with enough force to mark a human's skin, "After this all settles down, Lady Tiki, we should go get a drink. A real one, not that sparkly grape juice those Ylisseans call a drink. Genuine Feroxi Firewhiskey, straight from my personal cellar!"
"Ahem," Phila interrupted, "There is a war going on outside, ladies and gentlemen. I would prefer if we focused on it."
"Damn military women," Basilio muttered under his breath, "Fair enough. But you're invited too, Commander Phila. I think I like your sass."
"Pardon?" she blinked, putting a hand to her chest, "My sass?"
"Disrespecting the Khan's right to speak is punishable by a fistfight in the arena," Robin rattled off, "Hasn't been used in the last fourteen years, and was only invoked because Khans Basilio and Flavia wanted an excuse to fight."
"Ha!" Basilio barked, thumping a fist against the table, "Right you are, girl. If I want to invite someone to get drunk with me, I can damn well do it!"
Phila levelled a glare at Basilio, drumming her fingers on the table. "I see. May we continue now?"
Leaning over, Basilio whispered in my ear, "See what I mean?"
"I do," I nodded, responding in kind, "And I haven't had a good whiskey in two centuries, so I might take you up on that."
And with that, we turned our attention back to the conversation at hand.
It was quite dull, and involved a lot of troop movements.
()()()()()()
I spent centuries practicing patience. As such, waiting through half an hour of bland discussion about war tactics was easy enough. Regardless, I was still thrilled when Gaius crashed into the room from upstairs, blood-spattered and with another hard candy in his mouth. The stench of battle clung thickly to him, along with a faint, familiar scent.
"Hey, Bubbles," he grunted, rolling his right arm and twisting his back, "Turns out the kid was right. Two assassins and ten soldiers made it up, can you believe it? Red and I had it, though. She's a damn good fighter. Hey, where's the healers, by the way? And also a Vulnerary. Duds is looking pretty banged up."
"Red..." Robin frowned, "Cordelia, right? Oh, good. You should have just run to inform us immediately-"
Gaius waved Robin's words aside, striding towards us as he inspected the room. "Yeah, but then some more soldiers came from... somewhere... and chased us inside. S'fine. But really, where's the Vulneraries?"
Virion gasped, trailing off in a hiss as he put his injured arm back down. "Gads!" Virion looked from Gaius to Robin. "Gaius, my friend, did you say Duds? I distinctly recall you calling our mutual friend Andrew by that name. But he should have been-"
"-with the other civilians, yes," Phila interrupted, brow furrowed, "And he did not strike me as a fool, no matter how strange he acted. Lady Tiki, while I appreciate your concern, please stop gouging holes in the table."
Everyone turned to look at me, and I in turn inspected my sharpened fingernails. I rather preferred my friends alive for as long as possible, and 'pretty banged up' did not bode well considering Andrew's health beforehand. "Pardon," I hummed serenely, "That happens when I am distracted. Gaius, I believe I saw Vulneraries in storage, though you might be better off acquiring one from the triage healers a floor below us."
Robin tapped the table with her quill, lips set in a thin line. "...that should work," she said softly, "How... banged up, is he? How did he end up there to begin with?"
Basilio sidled away from the table, looking down the stairs to shout at a passing soldier. "You there! Find some more soldiers, and get 'em up here. Might be a breach up top."
If I concentrated, I could still feel Andrew, even through the stonework. There was no flickering to his presence- no risk of death, that I could sense. I was used to friends dying, but I would rather they didn't.
"Thank you, Basilio," Robin nodded, "Tiki, you're handy with healing, right? We have staves somewhere in the room, so could you, um, get on that?"
Closing my eyes for a moment, I drummed my fingers on the table (no doubt digging tiny holes in the wood), searching inside myself. Did I have enough magic to spare, as I was right now? "Yes, I can. Where are they?"
Phila tilted her head, pushing herself out of her chair and walking stiffly towards one side of the room. "I'm not an invalid. They are over here, Lady Tiki- no, nevermind. They're on the-"
"You were right the first time," a woman's voice called down the stairs, "If that is you, Commander Phila. There's a crate with staves in it under the crate of parchment, because Robin always needs both of those things. I only take away the ink because otherwise she'd never leave the war room."
Robin flushed, running a hand through her hair as she turned towards the stairs. As we watched, Cordelia and a rather scuffed-looking Andrew made their way down. Andrew had to hunch over to allow Cordelia to support him, though I suspected he was not actually capable of standing up straight, not at the moment. "Andrew!" I called out, accepting the Heal staff from Phila as she offered it to me, "Why is it that every time you leave my sight, you get stabbed or knocked out?"
Andrew looked up at me. For a heartbeat, his pain was laid bare; before most could even comprehend it, he had hidden it behind a lopsided smile. "What can I say, Tiki?" he chuckled, glancing around the room, "I have a knack for it. At least this time I actually did some damage first. And after getting stabbed," he coughed into his fist, wincing as he stepped away from Cordelia's support. "All the damage was after I got stabbed, I think. Don't remember. I did a lot of stabbing. Anyways, I wanted to at least get back before I fainted from blood loss this time, because I've done that way too much."
Well, he certainly hadn't lost any of his spirit. "We'd rather you sit down first, Andrew. It's much easier to heal you that way."
"Fair enough," he shrugged, chuckling again, "Hey, I'm not a Shepherd, but I at least get first-class service!"
"Save your energy," I admonished, tapping him on the forehead with the healing staff, "Though I doubt talking is much effort for you."
"Might be more effort to shut up, honestly," he offered, wincing as he finally sat down. "Oh, and Cordelia? Thanks. I owe you my life. Literally."
Cordelia shook her head. "Just doing my duty as a Pegasus Knight, Andrew."
"So," Robin interrupted loudly, "Normally this is Phila's thing, but- let's get back to the subject. Andrew, what happened up there?"
He sighed, shifting in his seat to look at Robin. "Well, that's easy. So I fell asleep upstairs..."
And then he was off, retelling a (very clearly) abbreviated version of events. He barely noticed as I healed the larger cuts, even gesturing to where they were at relevant points in his story. Despite that, I could not quite focus on his words. Something more important had latched itself to my concerns:
Why was Andrew left up there?
()()()()()()
Author's Note:
Wooowww this is a short chapter and also very late. Sorry about that. Tiki is hard to write, and I ended up starting an overhaul of this chapter about six hours before the usual publishing time. At time of writing, this should also make ATWAS hit 150k words, woo! Apparently not, even with this. Next chapter, then!
Anyways, thanks for reading! Drop a review if you want to- I'm always happy to hear what people think.
Cheers,
Narwhal Lord
