This is a revenge/romance story between two characters that really had little to do with each other in the game. It happens shortly before the events of Suikoden 1. There's a purely revenge version if you don't like romances. Rated PG-13 for violence, language, adult situations.

Valeria and Rubi (romance version)

Chapter 1

Pannu Yakuta's Crimson Gallery was a poorly lit place, but this did not matter since so few people used it. It was nothing more than a back alley in the ancient castle, a narrow corridor carpeted in red that led to the old family's place of worship. This family was gone long ago; and once the army took over and converted the fortress into a martial headquarters, the gallery was barely used. The temple itself remained untouched by orders of General Kwanda Rosman. He respected the traditions it stood for and forbade tempering with it.

A young woman entered the gallery, strolling through the shadows. She often lingered as she passed through it, especially when she wanted to be alone and think, as she did now. She liked the antique air retained by this part of the castle; the rest of it had been more-or-less updated to the satisfaction of the invaders. Approaching the windows, she passed her fingers over the sills. Dusty, she thought, rubbing them together with a sense of satisfaction. She felt that it preserved the untouched air of the gallery. Red carpeting covered it from floor to ceiling, and under the failing twilight the color was deep, and shadows ran across it like blood. And the young woman reflected that it was suitable that she would think of blood now, before the inevitable war. And what am I, she thought, except wrapped in blood? My hands that of a killer, my tunic red, everything about me seems to be steeped in blood. But maybe it didn't matter much to me since, in the conflict at hand, I'm more a spy than a soldier.

Having been born and raised in a village near the Great Forest, Valeria had an extensive knowledge of the territory, and deep knowledge of the Elven language which proved highly useful in her Imperial Service. But she disliked her recent missions intensely. She was a soldier, she thought, not a spy. She hoped that the General's practice of sending her on spying missions to the forest wouldn't last much longer. She had considered appealing to him on the matter, but she knew he wouldn't like the implication of criticism on his judgment, and therefore refrained from doing so, even though she knew that she held a special place in his estimation and that he would, if she pressed him, grant her wishes. She was his prize soldier; he had convinced her to rejoin the army after she had left its services.

And, she knew, he had wanted her for himself. Valeria was a pretty young woman of twenty-six, with light brown hair and gray-blue eyes that often flashed with her tough, resilient spirit. She was athletic and strong, her muscles honed from years of training in falcon rune fencing. After she graduated from that school at age 18 and earned her rune, she had enlisted into the Imperial army; and the other soldiers had begun to call her "Blazing Valeria," due to her ferocious spirit, and her habit of wearing red. She quickly came to the notice of the General, and he had fallen in love with this fierce and beautiful young soldier. But she had resisted starting a relationship with him. She respected and liked him, but had never wanted a relationship with him, and knew, besides, that she should keep her emotional and work life separated. And he, an honorable man, had respected her wishes and resigned himself to being her superior and her friend.

But Valeria did not reflect on that particular situation with the General, which had passed some time ago. She now recalled her elder brother, who, unlike her, had been anything but a soldier. Thrusting her hand into her pocket, she fished her leather gloves and turned them between her fingers, absently studying them. These were old, white gloves, now a little worn at the edges, that kept her skin from chafing when she was using a sword. Besides her Seven-Star Sword, they were her most prized possession. They were a gift from her brother; he gave them to her when she entered the Imperial army's service, eight years ago.

Valeria drew the gloves on slowly. Her mind was thrown back to the days when she ran with her brother to the forest, and they, two children, sat in the green shadows and dreamed about elves. No one approached the forest with such fearlessness anymore, and the fears were partly justified; especially now, when the Lone Elf roamed the land. He stalked the borders where the Elven forest met human territory, killing all intruders, and his presence inspired fear in everyone who was unlucky enough to be lost within it. He was rumored to be a tall, green-haired elf with an eyepatch, due to his having lost an eye in a skirmish with Imperial soldiers.

Her brother did not fear the elves. All his life he had studied their language painstakingly, seeking old and rare books. Valeria, although never studious herself, had caught the fire of his enthusiasm and they studied the language together. Her brother had died, seven years ago, in the war of succession. He had been drafted to the army, like all young men at the time. His great love, the Elven language, whose knowledge he had shared with his sister for his love of her, now assisted the Empire that killed him. And, mulling over that irony, Valeria tasted the familiar bitter flavor of betrayal on her tongue. She remembered the agony and the anger that she had felt when she first heard that he was dead. Time had jaded these feelings a little, but she had blamed the Empire then, and had left its services only one year after she had been enlisted. Some three years later, however, she was drafted back, largely due to the persuasion of Kwanda Rosman who had trained the promising young girl in his squad, and valued her great skill.

A voice, calling her name, interrupted her thoughts. "Valeria!" A boy of thirteen ran up the gallery stairs, panting. Detecting the slender form of the woman, he ran up to her. "I knew that I'll find you here!" He cried. "They've been looking for you for half an hour, with summons or something. I think it's from the General." He seemed pleased at his cleverness, and grinned at the Lieutenant. She listened to him with a slightly detached air, but her expression was a displeased one, as of someone disturbed from a favorite occupation. When the boy ceased talking, she said:

"All right, Ian. Tell whoever carried the message that I received it, and I will be in the General's quarters within fifteen minutes."

The boy nodded. He was about to speed off, but Valeria raised her hand to stop him. "How are you doing with your studies?" she asked.

He smiled, seeming proud of himself. "I've finished the eighth chapter, Valeria. I think that we can start doing advanced grammar soon. But I don't have a lot of spare time," he added with regret. "The stables require work from morning till night."

She raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I know. I'll see what I can do about it, Ian."

"Thanks," he said. "I love learning the Elven language, Valeria. If I could, I would do it full-time."

"Yes, I know," she said, with a slight smile. Ian, who worked in the castle stables, was a slender boy with blue eyes, and fair hair that fell in waves around his ears. After the past year, during which he followed Valeria around, pestering her with questions about elves and her knowledge of their language, she decided to teach him what she knew. While he did not look like her brother, Ian had something of his quick mind and enthusiastic spirit, and she felt affection for him. She considered asking the General to give him more free time. If another person in the army knew the language, she thought, it would be a more useful way to spend his time than taking care of horses.

Now she said, with a slight smile at Ian, "Well, I won't tarry much longer. Please convey my message that I would be there soon."

"All right," he said, and left. Valeria halted momentarily by one of the windows. Another spying mission no doubt, she surmised with a slight sigh. A glorious scene spread before her eyes through the window, the skies shimmering in the sunset heat, like a silken curtain on fire, with the fortress's spires rising opposite, starkly black against the fiery background. It was a breathtaking scene, and strikingly morbid. Valeria considered it odd that just now, when she had been pondering past and upcoming battles, everything around her would remind her of hot, newly spilled blood.

She lifted a finger, absently tracing the beautiful, shattered-glass patterns of the window. Leaning her face against the golden glass, she submitted to a sense of sudden weariness. She allowed her forehead to rest on the glass for a moment. Then she turned her back on the sunset and descended the staircase at the edge of the gallery, towards the General's quarters, wondering what her new mission would be.

Chapter 2

The closed air of the Great Forest was like the inside of a green bottle of glass; a silent, lucid green luminance. This was an old, old forest; older than civilization, and as old as the Elven tribe concealed within its depths; and humans dreaded and loathed it.

Two people now walked within the shimmering green shadows. One was Valeria. She paced the leaf-strewn floor of the forest with the ease and confidence of one born and raised in the vicinity of the woods, and kept her eyes on the path. Her drawn weapon, the Seven-Star sword, brightened the darkness like the stars after which it had been named.

Trailing a few paces behind her, his countenance admiring but clearly nervous, was Ian. He kept his eyes resolutely on the back of the woman who led their expedition, and tried not to make a noise when he walked. Not too much noise, at any rate. Valeria's soft boots made no sound on the fallen leaves, and he envied and admired her expertise.

Suddenly Valeria halted and swung around. "Ian," she said.

Ian started, looking guilty although he had not, as far as he knew, done anything to merit reproof just then. "Y—yes?" he stammered, trying not to sound as nervous as he felt, and hoping that he would manage to avoid committing another transgression that day. His first transgression had consisted of following Valeria in her spying excursion into the woods. His second was getting lost in the woods in the process, and being found by her some hours later, dangerously near Elven territory. Now, under Valeria's stern gaze, he blushed scarlet.

Valeria, although still angry with him, perceived his discomfort, and her bad mood abated a little. She didn't keep him in suspense.

"I just wanted to inform you that we are, once again, passing very close to Elven territory," she said quietly. "Step softly, all right? And stay behind."

"I— I will," stammered Ian. His expression at this information was torn between excitement and fear. Like everyone, he knew about the danger of the Lone Elf; but he felt gratified at being so close to Elven territory. Seeing this, Valeria said, rather sternly, "I am only taking you through this shortcut so we can reach Pannu Yakuta faster. Don't think that I'm happy to risk the chance of either of us getting pierced through by an arrow."

"All right," said Ian, lowering his head humbly. He remained strictly silent for the next stretch of the forest, and Valeria finally felt able to breathe easier after about half an hour. "We're finally out," she told him. "And not too far from the exit, I think.

He nodded, but did not dare to speak. But after some time she was alerted when he nearly stumbled into a boar trap when, distracted by something that he observed in the forest, he wandered from the path for a few moments, and his foot found the breaking twigs. Valeria sprang forward just in time to catch him, but had to drag him over the pit's edge, skinning her arms on the rocks in the process. Ian was produced soon, rather shaky, but whole.

"Oh!" he said remorsefully. "Are you all right, Valeria?"

Valeria stared at her torn and bleeding knuckles. "I'm doing wonderful, can't you see?" she asked sarcastically.

Ian, flushing intensely, attempted to issue a confused apology. "I… I just thought that I saw someone in the forest," he stammered. "But here, Valeria, I can help you." He began to rummage through his traveling kit and produced a wide, clean bandage and a healing salve.

Valeria's brow creased. "What? What did you see?"

"I'm not sure," he said, distracted by her question. "Maybe something moving."

She looked up quickly into the dense foliage; but it seemed silent and dark. She was, however, still on the alert as she offered her hand silently to Ian. He bent over it and began to wrap the bandages expertly. While he worked, she looked up into the woods again, surveying them with attention. And then she suddenly saw it; and it made the blood in her veins turn to ice.

Valeria knew death when she stared into its face. She recognized it now. An arrow was nocked and directed at them, by the most capable hand to direct it there could be. By the hand of an elf.

Valeria normally would have reacted slowly and carefully in such a situation. But she had caught the elf's eye, and he knew that she was aware of his presence. And therefore—

Quick as lightning, she sprang to her feet. She grabbed the boy by his shirt collar and hoisted him up. "Ian!" she cried. "Run!"

Ian had been intent on his work, and his reaction was slow. He stared at her with shock.

"RUN, DAMN IT!" she screamed. The boy, overcome with fear of the unknown danger, began to obey; but his reactions were too slow. Every moment, Valeria knew, was prolonging his chance to get shot—

An arrow shrieked through the thicket. Drawing her sword, Valeria threw herself forward and hacked at it. The arrow met the metal blade, and its flight was deflected. Never, Valeria knew, had she reacted so swiftly to a danger. She imagined that she never would again.

The next moment her ears recognized the lethal buzz of another arrow behind her, and she swung around, fast enough to see it lodge in Ian's side. The boy cried out and collapsed to the earth. The arrow broke under his body, and a pool of blood formed within seconds, staining his clothes.

A third arrow zoomed through the air, now aimed at herself, and Valeria managed to dodge it just in time. "STOP IT, DAMN YOU!" she screamed at the shadowy figure above them. "He's a BOY! He's NOT an imperial soldier!"

To her utter astonishment, her words had an effect. The woods suddenly became silent, and no additional arrows came. She stared, listening to any further attacks. For a few minutes, nothing moved. Then, something shuffled from the trees, and a figure dropped to the ground. Valeria stared at it.

There, under the shadowy trees, stood the Lone Elf, a tall figure with green hair and a patch over one eye. His bow was raised, and the arrow was directed straight at her. Valeria grew rigid, preparing to dodge the attack. She sensed his dark-eyed gaze lingering over her, and shivered without knowing why. His features were unclear through the shadows, but she could see that he was unusually tall for an elf, and his slender, muscular body was poised with practiced ease. He did not move the point of the arrow from her, and stood very still for some minutes. Valeria began to wonder why he was waiting, and stirred. As if in response, he finally moved. He began to walk slowly backwards, keeping the point of the arrow on her as if warning her not to move. She stayed very still, tense and perspiring. Then, the elf melted into the shadows, as swiftly as he had never been there.

Valeria unconsciously advanced a step, as if meaning to follow him. But the momentary abstraction passed, and she was recalled to her present situation. She ran to Ian and leant at his side. He was unconscious, but breathing, and blood oozed from his wound. She shuffled at the kit he had shown her with nervous fingers, and unrolled the bandage. She didn't think that it would be enough, but she did her best to stem the flow of the blood by wrapping and tying the remainder of the roll around him. Then, she lifted him in her arms.

It was extremely lucky that they were in human territory; but she knew that her journey to the nearest place where Ian could receive medical attention would be of some duration; and she hoped and prayed that he would survive it.

"How is Ian doing, sir?"

Sitting at his desk, Kwanda Rosman regarded the young woman carefully. "From the last reports that we received from the village, his condition is stable, neither better nor worse. These rural doctors are not always the best, but they warned us not to move him right now."

"Rural doctors can be excellent, sir," she said, a little coolly, and Kwanda Rosman recalled that she herself grew in a rural town near the forest. He inclined his head without saying anything, acknowledging her remark. But she immediately returned to the subject at hand. "Please, sir. I want to save his life. It was my fault that he was wounded, and I feel responsible for him."

"Valeria," Kwanda Rosman said gently, "it was not your fault that he followed you, and it was the Lone Elf who wounded him."

"I know, but..." Valeria bit her lip. "Sir, I… this boy reminds me of my brother. I… I don't want him to die."

The General stirred uneasily. The subject of Valeria's brother, he knew, was a sensitive one. His death was the reason that she had left the army, and he just barely managed to persuade her to return. "I'll do what I can," he finally said. "But you should know, Valeria, that the doctor had said that his chances of survival are not high."

Valeria grew rigid. She stared ahead of her, into the sunlight that blinded the windows. No, she thought. Not another death. Perceiving her mood, the General added, "Valeria, if you really want to do something useful, you should find the Lone Elf, and bring him to justice."

Valeria stood very straight. She had never cared to find the Lone Elf, even though the Empire had placed a considerable bounty on his head. But now, she realized, she had another purpose for her spying missions.

"I will, sir," she said, her voice low and grim.

Chapter 3

She found him.

Valeria looked into the shadows of the woods. It has taken her a long and weary search that lasted ten days, daybreak till midnight. But she knew the territory in which the elf appeared most often, and focused her search on that, most likely, perimeter. She knew that her efforts were nearly futile; one did not find the Lone Elf. HE found YOU, with deadly results. But her information, and her expertise, had assisted her, as did her willingness to step deeper than she ever did into elven territory. Perhaps if Ian's condition had improved during that time, she would have forgone her tireless search. But it did not; it had, in fact, grown worse, and the messages sent from the village to the castle said that he had less than a week to live, if something was not done soon. This, more than anything, increased Valeria's determination to find the Lone Elf, and… do what? As Ian's death drew near, she was beginning to feel the same ache she had experienced when she had lost her brother, and her thirst for revenge grew. It was true that the elf had spared her own life on that day; but he was the one who shot Ian, and had placed the boy's life in its current jeopardy. And for this, she could not forgive him.

She now stepped silently amid the trees of the forest, her eyes fixed on the elf. She could immediately tell that it was him. The same tall, slender figure, the green hair falling over his shoulders, the eye patch. But as she neared him, peering through the foliage, she was surprised to discover that he was not alone.

There was another elf with him; a slim, feminine figure. Valeria, halting behind thickly clustered bushes, was now afforded a full view of the two, and could hear their conversation clearly.

The girl who accompanied the Lone Elf was dressed in light clothes, and shining mauve hair drifted down her shoulders, bound by a silver thread. The Lone Elf's tones, when he spoke to her, were severe and unmistakably angry.

"Why did you follow me, Sylvina? We're too near the human territory, and you know that it's not safe. Not only will your grandfather never forgive me if anything happens to you, Kirkis—"

The girl's delicate face contorted with remorse. "I am sorry, Rubi," she said, with a light, musical voice. "I didn't know that you were going there, honestly I didn't. It's just that I'm sick of staying at home, and they won't let me out without someone accompanying me. Please, Rubi, if you don't tell them, I promise that I'll return home soon."

She's a child, a mere child, Valeria thought to herself. This girl did not seem older than seventeen or so, in human terms. Not much older than Ian had been. At the thought of Ian, the lines in Valeria's face grew hard. Funny, she thought. I found the Lone Elf in a situation which resembles mine. But this time, it is I who will do the wounding. And so, without farther hesitation, she stepped into the clearing.

The elf, sensing the danger now, swung sharply around. Valeria stared at him calmly, unmoved by the sight of his hands quickly nocking an arrow to the large, powerful bow slung at his shoulder. For the first time, she had a full view of his face. Its lines were sharper than was usual to elves, lacking the characteristic soft and delicate outline, but still retaining their beauty. The patch over his eye made him appear ominous, and, as she had already seen, he was unusually tall. A worthy opponent, she reflected.

At the sight of the woman, the elf-girl let out a low squeak and jumped backwards. Valeria ignored her. She stood silently, a derisive smile playing about her mouth. The elf stood very still, his arrow directed at her. He did not lower the bow, although at such a short range as Valeria stood from him, she did not make a good mark. He seemed to be rooted in place, and gazed at Valeria with such a piercing stare that she suddenly felt almost unnerved for a moment. His gaze had the same intense look that he had given her on that day—

— and, recalling that day, Valeria was shaken out of her momentary abstraction. "So," she stated quietly, in the human tongue. "We meet again."

The elf seemed to jolt into motion at this. He did not pretend that he did not understand Valeria's words, and she knew at once what she already suspected from their previous meeting; that he knew human language. At his side, the girl also started. "Rubi," she said, in a tremulous whisper. "That's a HUMAN—"

"Sylvina," said Rubi quietly, never taking his eye off Valeria, "stay clear, make no sudden moves, and perhaps she'll ignore you. At the first opportunity, RUN. Do you understand me?"

Valeria's smile lingered as she stared at the elf. She understood quite a bit of what they said, but he did not know it. "I know that you understand me, elf," she continued calmly. "Keep the child clear, and maybe I'll spare her. It is YOUR head that I seek."

The elf's head jerked back, as if he was struck with a certain realization with a redoubled force. "Go, escape, Sylvina," he said. "NOW!"

"But what about you, Rubi?" the girl pleaded fearfully, her wide eyes full on Valeria's face. "I'll call the Guard. I can't let her kill you!"

"Damn it, Sylvina, I told you to RUN!" Rubi said tightly. Valeria's throat constricted all at once at these words, exactly the ones that she had spoken to Ian. She drew her sword and lunged at the elf.

He dodged her attack more adroitly than she had foreseen, and with enough presence of mind to secure his bow. Despite his size he was agile, and he managed to lunge to the side, out of the vicinity of the blade. Sylvina trembled in fear, and retreated out of the battle-circle that formed quickly.

The elf drew a dagger. He answered Valeria's sword with the silvery blade, and with a force that surprised Valeria. She could now see the muscles that rippled in his arms and shoulders, and understood that her task would be tougher than she thought. But she also knew that, had she wanted, she could have ended the battle now with her Falcon Rune. And, she thought fiercely, she was not done with him yet. No; she wanted him to feel the agony and fear that she had felt on that day.

In the heat of her bitter mood, she concentrated on the elf, and paid no attention to the girl; Sylvina seemed such a soft and useless little thing. The girl, armed with her own small bow, saw her chance. One good shot, she knew, would wound the human beyond recovery. Her face was pale with fear, and her fingers were nervous as she fumbled for her arrow. As she fitted it to the bow, her hands trembled under the pressure of her agitation. The aim wasn't as easy as she thought it would be, with the two opponents circling around and making an unsteady mark. Praying desperately for luck, she released the arrow.

Her aim was bad. Valeria, hearing the shriek of the arrow, whirled around and sprang aside, dodging it. She threw a glance at the girl, and her lips curled into a mocking smile. The girl sucked her breath in, humiliated by her failure, and tears shimmered in her eyes. Her gaze rested on the elf pleadingly. He turned on her with such anger that she shuddered and cringed, although she stood at a good distance from him.

"How dare you stay here!" he hissed at her. "Didn't I SPECIFICALLY order you to escape?"

"Oh, Rubi, I meant to help—"

"Some help!" he snarled. Sylvina bit her lips and hung her head, but he continued without sympathy, "This isn't a game! If you draw this wolf-woman's attention, she will pounce on you without hesitation. Get lost, Sylvina! For your own good!"

Valeria's cool voice interrupted him. "Tell your little friend," she said, "that if she dares to interfere again, I will reduce her fingers into bloody stumps."

She was pleased to see the words penetrate deep, the elf's face turning livid. She knew that she would never do such a thing; but, wrapped in the heat of her wrath, her aim was to make HIM feel what she herself felt that day.

"Do that, you bloody Imperial bitch, and I'll make your life hell!" he growled in the human tongue, for the first time seeming genuinely enraged. "You'll regret the day that you crossed my path!"

"I did," Valeria breathed. "I already did!"

Before he could respond, she pounced on him with a single, tigerlike motion, and hammered him with a multitude of blows from her sword. He was defenseless at the swiftness of her attack. It was Valeria's Falcon Rune.

A final thrust slashed across his chest, and blood sprayed forth from the wound. The whole event took less than ten seconds. Rubi staggered, then keeled forward. Sylvina's horrified scream pierced the deadly silence of his motion.

Valeria stepped back and watched the collapsed, bleeding form of the elf. She knew that she had lost control under the flood of anger, and went further than she had meant to, inflicting a wound that was more grievous than she had intended. But it could not be helped now, and she did not care about the results. Let him bleed and die, like he had done to the boy who was unlucky enough to cross his path, simply because that boy was accompanying an imperial. He had no mercy on that boy; why would she have mercy on him?

She stepped forward and raised the trembling elf-girl to her feet with a relentless hand. She did not want to kill this girl, but she did not want her around, either. Damn it, she thought again, that this child would have to be mixed up in this.

Trembling, Sylvina looked at her adversary. The woman raised her arm towards the forest trail, and said something in the human tongue. Sylvina understood. She was letting her go; more than that, she was demanding of her to leave. But her eyes drifted away, towards Rubi's bleeding form. The life seemed to be draining out of him in the bright flood of blood that stained his clothes. She tried to shake Valeria's hand off, but it was no more than the pitiful struggle of a small bird in the paws of a cat. But her resistance had another effect. Valeria, scanning the girl's face, found herself looking into eyes almost vacant with grief. It was clear that the girl was oblivious to the danger she faced, or was too stunned to care about it. She was turning out to be a nuisance, one she could kill off quite easily. Valeria fingered her sword, mulling over her options, and made her choice.

She wordlessly stepped aside, and watched the girl rushing to the elf. After all, she reflected, what harm could it do?

Sylvina knelt at Rubi's side. Valeria watched as the elf-girl placed her delicate fingers to the fatal wound.

And, all at once, knew that she had made a mistake.

The elf-girl's fingers throbbed, glowing blue. A pure, healing aura emanated like liquid light, bathing the elf. It was rare magic, possible only at the possession of a Rune crystal. The magic of water healing.

The elf stirred. He was soon breathing easier. The girl collapsed at his side, almost fainted as the energy was drained out of her. She had never dared to use the crystal this drastically, to apply the life-giving magic of water to such a grave wound, because she knew that it would take an effort beyond what her body was capable of enduring; and now she lay sprawled on the ground, unable to move.

The elf rose slowly to a sitting position, and his gaze met the hard eyes of the Imperial soldier. He instinctively placed his hand to his chest, his fingers tracing the long scar that had just healed. The memories flowed back to him in a sudden, chilling surge. His gaze found Sylvina.

"What happened to her?" he asked sharply, his gaze shooting to Valeria as he leant over the young girl. He spoke in the human tongue again, and although he had an accent she noted that he spoke the language with confident fluency. "If you killed her, Imperial—

Valeria cut him short. "I did not lay a finger on her," she snapped. "She healed your wound, and paid the price for it."

There was a moment of silence as the elf's gaze bore into her eyes. The piercing look returned to his eye, but it was also searching, somehow. Valeria met it with as much calm as she could muster, keeping her features impassive. Finally, he bowed his head to look at the girl. "Sylvina," he said softly. "Sylvina, can you hear me?"

He raised his head again to find the woman standing over him, the blade of her sword directed at his throat. "A pretty show," she said in Elven. "Leave her here. You are coming with me, elf."

"So, Imperial, you speak Elven," said the elf, sizing her up with a grimace. "I knew that there was some spy among you who assisted the Empire to intrude into our territory. I didn't realize that it was you. If I'd known it, I would have killed you on that day."

"You will not live to tell about it to anyone," said Valeria, with a derisive smile. "Get up, I say!"

The elf rose to his feet and stood over the girl's inert body, ignoring the sharp point of the sword directed at his throat. "I am not leaving Sylvina," he stated coolly. "She is under my charge."

Valeria stared at him, and her smile wavered. She could tell that she faced an impasse, and wondered what she could say to convince him to obey her. After a pause, she spoke. "But you are seeking both your death and hers," she said, carefully keeping her voice neutral. "If you don't obey me right now, I'll pierce her throat, and watch you agonize over her death before I kill YOU. So you better hurry and follow my orders."

The elf's face turned livid. "There is no limit to human cruelty, is there?" he said through white lips, eying the woman with loathing.

Valeria shrugged. "Why should I spare you, when you were willing to kill a defenseless boy, who wasn't even a soldier?" she asked derisively.

The elf became very still for a moment. Then he averted his face. When he spoke again, his voice was quiet. "So that boy died?"

Valeria did not answer him. The question, and his manner of asking it, struck her as odd; she thought that it was almost contrite. She scanned his face for a moment. He glanced at her, adding, "So what made you change your mind all of a sudden, Imperial? I thought that it was my death that you sought."

The question was asked in a tone that was once again derisive, and Valeria was shaken out of her transient uncertainty. "I've had my moment, and I'm satisfied," she replied coldly. "But now that you've been healed, I have other thoughts. You are of great use to me, elf. Your head is worth a lot of money in the Empire."

"How predictable of you," Rubi sneered, once again openly hostile. "Blood and money. The primary interest of humans."

"Come on, before I change my mind," said Valeria, her eyes glittering dangerously.

"You'll have to convince me," said Rubi, remaining resolutely in place. "And this time, Imperial, I will not be taken down easily. I am doing this to protect her."

"What heroism!" Valeria mocked. "Don't expect a mere human to appreciate it." The glitter was still in her eyes, and a disdainful smile curled her lips. "Besides, she's better now. Look for yourself. I guess that she can leave, then."

Sylvina was indeed stirring. Rubi knelt at her side quickly. She opened her eyes and looked at him with bemusement. Then memory surfaced.

"Rubi, you're all right!" she cried, sitting up quickly. "I'm so glad!" Her movement produced an instant sensation of fainting, and she wavered. Rubi held a supporting arm at her back.

"Don't strain yourself," he said. "Can you return to the village on your own, Sylvina?"

"I— I think so," Sylvina faltered. "But Rubi, where did the human..." She then perceived Valeria, who stood with her sword directed at them, and turned pale. "Oh, no..." she murmured.

"I will have to go with her, but she is letting you go," said Rubi quietly. "Run to the village as soon as you can, Sylvina, and don't stray from the enchanted path. Obey me this time. I'll be all right. You know that I always am. I'm worth a lot of money to these greedy Imperials; she won't kill me so quickly." He bestowed a smile on the girl, his fingers giving her shoulder a reassuring tap. Valeria watched him as he did so, and her eyelids fluttered with a sudden emotion. The smile had changed his expression, and gave his normally serious features an engaging aspect.

Rubi's words appeared to cheer Sylvina a little, although her eyes were still troubled. She rose slowly and looked at Valeria fearfully.

"Go," the elf commanded.

"I will, Rubi," she whispered, turning slowly. He raised his arm in a gesture of goodbye, and watched her vanish into the shadows of the woods. Then he turned to Valeria.

"I am ready now, Imperial," he said. "Now that she's safe, I will come with you."

"Good," Valeria murmured, almost inaudibly. She made the necessary preparations and inspected him as quickly as she could. She tied his hands together with a rope, and deprived him of his dagger, bow, and case of arrows. She slipped the dagger into her belt, but discarded the bow and arrows by throwing them into the undergrowth. Then she reached for the string of his cloak. It was tied at his throat, and she found herself reaching up for it, with her face near his shoulder as she fumbled at the string, her fingers touching his throat. She felt herself growing uncomfortable at their sudden nearness, and glanced upwards for a moment. She saw that he was looking down at her; but his gaze immediately moved away when he caught her eye. Something in his face made her feel a sudden flush of warmth and, immediately angry at herself, she pulled out the dagger and sliced at the string with an almost irritated gesture, wishing to end this awkward situation as quickly as possible. He flinched, but did not move, as the dagger passed close to his throat. The string broke and the cloak fell away from his body, revealing a bag slung at his belt. "What's in there?" Valeria asked, pointing at the bag, and carefully evading his gaze.

"Just some travel provisions. Also a knife."

She quickly sliced through the string that kept the bag tied to his side and, pulling it away, rummaged through it. It contained, as he said, a small knife, dried food provisions, a water bottle, a medicine bottle, and bandages. She confiscated the knife, but returned the rest. "You'll need these for the journey."

"Thank you."

He said this flatly, and she wasn't sure whether he meant it sarcastically. They were still conversing in the human tongue, and when his expression was neutral she couldn't tell whether his word choice was sarcastic or not. Well, then, she thought. Time to move on. She placed herself behind him, her sword at his back. "Start walking," she ordered.

Rubi obeyed silently. Valeria was glad he could not see her face. The smile vanished from her lips; and, now that she dropped her dark mask, there was nothing there but an abject weariness. Victory was not as satisfying as she thought it would be.

Chapter 4

Valeria had been walking with the elf for almost two hours, keeping her prisoner under strict surveillance. She knew that her task was not easy, capturing an elf on Elven territory, and suspected that the Elven Guard will soon be hot on their trail.

The elf, for his part, had displayed very little resistance during his captivity, a fact that slightly surprised her, and also made her suspicious. He also maintained a resolute silence throughout the march, obeying the terse comments that she sometimes uttered without a reply. The only thing he said as they left Sylvina behind was:

"Soon the Guard will follow us, Imperial. And it will be the end of you."

Valeria would not gratify him with an answer, but she sensed his grim confidence as he spoke. After that, she did not feel like talking. But, in the silence that ensued, she found that her mind dwelled on the task at hand.

All those days of searching, and she finally had the Lone Elf in her grasp, like she wanted. But her feelings, now that she had attained her goal, were of mere weariness. The culmination of her task had taxed her energies to their utmost, and she felt burnt-out. Had he actually died from the Falcon Rune's wounds, she would have gone back to Pannu Yakuta, bearing the news of the dangerous elf's death. But he had been saved, and she would turn him over to the Empire as she intended. She knew that they would conclude the job efficiently for her. She cared nothing for the money, only the justice that had to be done.

Justice, yes. And now, an inner voice whispered, the truth was that she had seen too much of the elf for her own good. The shadowy form that she obsessed herself in pursuing had become a flesh-and-blood person, and he was not what she had expected him to be. Not quite. She recalled how, on that day, she had screamed at him to stop his attack and that he had done so. She recalled his peculiar air of remorse when he asked about Ian, and realized that it was possible that he had not actually known that Ian was not a soldier when he wounded him. And although Ian's life was still in grave danger, she suddenly found that she could not hate the elf, even if he was the one who had wounded him, as much as she had done before she confronted him. If he only thought that he was shooting an enemy soldier, she thought, then…. Ian, she knew, may pass for a squire in the right circumstances. And so…

And then there was his courage in protecting Sylvina, and the caring way that he treated her. Valeria bit her lip. She would be delivering him to his death… and was this what she wanted?

Yes, said a voice. This elf hated humans with passion, and had killed Imperials mercilessly—

—All, as far as she knew, had always been Imperial soldiers who intruded on Elven territory, with the intent to conquer it—

—And he had stopped attacking them as soon as she told him that Ian was not a soldier, but a defenseless boy—

—And he also had spared her life on that day, even though he could tell that she, at least, was an Imperial soldier…

—why?

Valeria was too tired to think anymore, and let all these musings go, trying to focus on the trail ahead of her. Her task was hard enough, she thought, without muddling it with useless emotions.

After some hours of marching, they stopped at a forest clearing to have a repast. She settled on a rock, and he sank to the ground, sitting with his head lowered, and without looking at her. She fished out her provisions, then went over to him and handed him some food silently. He looked up.

"What is this?" he asked.

"Food. You can have some."

"I don't eat human food."

She recalled that he had some provisions in his bag. "I guess that you can eat your own food, then," she said.

"I can't eat with my hands tied behind my back," he pointed out.

"Well, I won't feed you," she said cuttingly. He looked at her, and a taunting smile rose to the edge of his mouth. Her cheeks reddened.

"Fine, then," she snapped. "I'll tie your hands at the front, so you can grab the food. But I'll have my sword at your back, so don't try anything funny."

"I won't," he said calmly. She glanced at him covertly, but that smile had disappeared, and he was looking at the forest with a distant air. She performed the task quickly, and they settled to eat in silence. She was careful to sit with her face turned, so she won't have to look at him, although she grasped firmly at the rope that tied his hands, just in case he tried something. She sat brooding into the blue afternoon, when his voice interrupted her thoughts.

"How did you learn Elven?"

He wanted to talk? Why?

"If you're hoping to find out some important army secret, you'll be disappointed," she told him flatly. "I learned it with my brother. He was a scholar of Elven."

"You don't strike me as a scholar."

"I am not. It's just that I was little and he loved it so much, and was so smart, that I wanted to learn too. I was only five or six when I began to study. By the time I figured out that I'm not the studious type, I already knew too much Elven to stop. I'm not sure about my pronunciation, though,"

"I could understand you well enough," he said. "I think that you underestimate your capacity for studying."

He was complimenting her? She glanced at him. He had finished eating and was observing her; but his look expressed nothing but calm detachment. "Don't think of trying to befriend me to distract me," she said, more coldly this time.

"Distract you how?"

Again, the edge of that mocking smile. "Never mind," she snapped, suddenly losing her temper again, though she was not really sure why, and rising to her feet. "Let's just go."

They did not speak to each other again.

An hour later, Valeria halted and surveyed her surroundings. The forest on her left opened into sharp cliffs, that descended into more forest. She could see the green sea of treetops underneath, falling then rising again as the hilly grounds sloped. Beyond them rolled the sky, an intense blue in the midnoon light. The scene was strangely peaceful. She glanced at the elf as he stood silently beside her, and noticed that he was staring into the distance with focused attention, as if he was trying to see something elusive. She looked in the same direction, feeling a little suspicious. "What is it?" she said.

He replied, still staring into the distance. "There are men below us."

Elves had excellent vision, much better than humans. Valeria quickly looked downwards again. "You are lying!" she said. But she knew that he was not. Something was moving across the forest. She could not, however, tell what it was exactly, and she focused her gaze.

It was only a brief instance, but it was the moment that he had apparently waited for. Valeria's grip slackened a little. For one instant, her guard was lowered. The next moment the rope that she held was painfully wrenched from her hands with the weight of a falling body. Rubi, using his opportunity, sprang over the cliffs into the far thickets below.

One second was all it took for Valeria to deliberate over her choices. Then she jumped after him.

The fall was high, but it was not the worst Valeria had to endure. She landed after the elf and, without pausing, leapt at him. He was agile, but his hands were bound with a rope and it took him longer to recover from the fall. The next moment he found a blade that he had learned to know well directed at his throat, and the woman on top of him. "Stop— right— there," she panted. "Don't think that your escape would be so easy."

"I didn't think that it would be," he responded. "But don't blame me for trying."

There was a short pause as her gaze met his, and she felt him breathing underneath her. She suddenly flushed, conscious that she was partly lying on top of him, her body pressing against his. She rolled to the side and immediately rose to her feet, jerking the rope to force him to rise. He did not struggle; but, all the while, his gaze was on the trees. Valeria followed it and, all at once, guessed his hope.

"I suppose that it's your precious Guard down here, searching for you," she told him with a sneering tone, to mask her lingering embarrassment. "You will die before they can assist you, I promise you that much."

"I don't know who is down here," he said, maintaining his cool tones. "But we'll soon find out."

Valeria turned. "Let's go," she said. "This way you chose for us might be longer, but we'll reach the castle, I promise you, Guard or no Guard. And there, you'll get what you deserve."

"I'll get my due for my quest for justice," he said. His derisive tone suddenly infuriated Valeria.

"Justice!" she gasped, whirling to face him, the blood rising to her face. "You call killing the innocent JUSTICE?"

"I am doing this to revenge my people," he replied. "I revenge myself on the Empire, who used my people brutally. You cannot know, Imperial, what they did to my people. So I ensure that they do not dare to go into our territory. And I wounded this boy..."

"A BOY!" shouted Valeria, her temper rising out of control. "Who may DIE because of YOU!"

"A boy who had dealings with an Imperial soldier," he concluded quietly. "I could not know that he was not a soldier, and he made an easy mark. Non-soldiers rarely venture into our territory."

Valeria knew this to be true, but she could not let this go unanswered. "And I spared an elf-child who had dealings with a murderous elf," she said, with cutting rage. "When I could have killed her and left you for dead. How about that for human cruelty and greed, elf?"

The elf said nothing, and he smiled again; but the mockery seemed to be directed towards himself this time. Valeria had turned away, and she did not notice that his countenance altered, and that something passed across his face as he shot her an intense, guarded glance. "We are a bit alike," he stated, his voice almost inaudible for a moment.

Valeria glanced over her shoulder. The shadows stirred, and figures stepped forward from behind the trees, circling them silently. Rubi said, answering her questioning look, "I said, Valeria, that we are a bit alike— we both conceal what we really are from each other— because the truth is both better, and worse, than we would like to admit."

Valeria, looking at the men who circled them, now knew what they were. Outlaws hiding in the forest from the Empire's laws; runaway murderers and bloodthirsty cutthroats. She edged close to Rubi and whispered in Elven, "These are bandits. They will kill us both for the wrong word. Stay still!"

The bandits were led by a tall, heavy man clad in a black cloak. He held a dagger, and a dirty scimitar slung at his belt. "Well," he said with a dour smile, as he regarded the woman and the tall elf at her side. "Look what we have here. A flower of the Imperial army who had caught a... thing. I believe that it's an elf, boys!"

Valeria advanced, facing him coldly, betraying neither surprise nor agitation. "Just tell me what you want," she said, "or let me pass. I have caught an elf who is wanted in the Empire, and you are deterring my progress." Under the concealment of her cloak, she stole her hand to her belt, producing the dagger that she had confiscated from the elf. She hid her hand behind her back.

"We'll tell you what we want, sweetheart," said the leader calmly. "You've a precious cargo over there, worth a loadful of coins. Better hand it over."

Valeria laughed shortly. "You better step out of my way." She stood with her back to Rubi, and quietly sliced at the ropes binding his hands with the dagger. A moment later they were free, and she felt his fingers touching hers as he took the dagger silently. At the face of this common adversary, an understanding had sprung up between them. She wasn't sure how long it would last, but at the moment it was to the advantage of both.

"Oh, she'll give it," said the leader, as if speaking to himself. "And she won't live to talk about it. Get her, boys."

Before he could finish his words Valeria sprang and dove towards him. He met her with his dagger upheld, but she was faster than him, propelled by her dangerous Rune. A moment later he collapsed at her feet, his throat cut. The other bandits froze for a moment, astounded by this display. But then they collected their wits, and realized that they outnumbered their adversaries, two to almost twenty. "They'll pay for this, the bloody Imperial bitch and her elf!" one shouted. "Get her!"

"Get the elf-lover!" screamed another, and the men closed upon Valeria. Her world abruptly became full of bodies and voices and sharp-edged knives that slashed at her. Most of the blows were deflected by her armor and quick reflexes, but many were too close for comfort. She fought, her sword slashing, sometimes hitting the mark, and heard mutterings of "wildcat" from a couple of the men, who chose to retreat. But more stayed, and Valeria, moments later, felt a long scratch down her arm, the hot blood trickling slowly, and knew that they were getting near their mark. She dodged the knives desperately, and one moment to the next was a struggle against death. She could not see the elf and had no time to think of him. For all she knew, he had abandoned her.

One blade finally hit true. One of the men, bending on his knee, knifed her thigh, and Valeria almost collapsed. The man that wounded her rose and brought his knife down, aiming at her eyes. But his blade never reached its mark. Instead he fell, with a dagger at his back. Rubi stood over him, and his eye caught Valeria's briefly. He then pulled the dagger out and turned to dispatch another of the men. But several, sensing an easier prey, turned from Valeria and closed around him.

Valeria rose, stumbling. She could not see Rubi under the mass of men, ten or eleven strong, and immediately prepared to come for his aid. The two men that still faced her retreated, deciding that this savage prey was not worth the trouble. Valeria cut through the circle of men that closed upon the elf, slashing left and right, and using her Falcon Rune to its full advantage. Daunted, the spirit of battle abandoning them, they scattered before her ferocious attack and fled into the shadows of the woods.

Just as quickly as it began, the battle ended. Several bodies lay on the ground, and the forest thicket was once again quiet and dark.

Valeria bent over Rubi. She had been quick, but the damage had been done. The men, gathering around him, had effectively knocked him down; with his light armor, he was nearly defenseless. His clothes were stained with dark patches of blood. For a moment she thought that he was dead, but then he opened his eye and stared at her. An inscrutable smile tinged his lips. Then he closed it again.

Valeria inspected the elf's wound. It was a distressingly deep slash in his side that oozed blood in abundance. The ground was covered in blood where he lay. She knew that it would have to be sealed quickly. She unrolled the bandages at her disposal and wrapped them around his middle. They were not made for deep wounds and the thin cloth was, she thought with frustration, as effective at stopping the blood as a piece of paper would be to seal a river at its source. If this was not stopped, and soon, his chances of dying before morning would not be meager.

Valeria looked down at the tightly-woven sleeve of her shirt thoughtfully. She turned her back to the elf. She removed her armor, and opened her red tunic. She took off the shirt underneath, and closed the tunic over the thin chemise that served as her undergarment. Then she began to tear the shirt into strips, using her blade to cut it into long, ragged pieces. She did her best to wrap the strips around the wound, and she could hear Rubi's distressed gasps at her handling, although she tried to move him gently.

When she finished bandaging the elf, Valeria was left at a leisure to sense her own wounds. Her body throbbed and ached, the slash in her leg burning like fire. She slowly lowered herself to the soft bed of rotting leaves on the forest floor. She sat, chin in hand, as was her custom when she fell to thought. The day was growing late, the sunlight thick and golden, and she could hear Rubi's ragged breathing in the silence. Valeria, who had seen men go unconscious under lesser wounds, reluctantly admired his resilience. He had already been gravely wounded once that day. She wondered how his injured body could bear the stress.

Sitting inside the quiet forest clearing, she considered her options. She had saved the elf from the bandits, and he had saved her in turn; killing him now was out of the question. Valeria could not kill someone who was defenseless, his past deeds notwithstanding; to her, it was murder. The problem was explaining this to the Elven Guard, when and if they came around. And Valeria knew that they were likely to turn up soon enough, if the child told them of Rubi's capture. Elves were excellent trackers in the forest. But then, she thought, she could use him as a bargaining point. If they didn't kill her before she saw them, that is.

Her easiest choice, she thought, was to escape and leave him to die. It was an option that she weighed against her chances of escape from the Guard. Wouldn't her chance of survival be greater if she stayed and bargained over the elf than if she would try to escape now, after precious time had been lost? That is, given that the Guard doesn't kill her unnoticed, or if the elf didn't die until they arrived.

The elf must have lost consciousness at last, because no sound or movement came from his direction. And, thought Valeria, if he dies in the night, my efforts to save him will be futile. And do I honestly even want to save him?

The same conflicted voice returned to torment her—

—He wounded Ian— who might still die—

—But he didn't mean it, he didn't know that Ian was not—

—And after you told him, and he understood, he spared you both—

— And he saved your life from the bandits—

She banished these thoughts angrily from her mind, trying to focus on the present. She had to be practical. The bandits, she knew, will return to look for them. As much as she hated to admit it, they had to leave this area, and find a place to hide.

"Rubi," she said quietly.

He stirred at this and turned his head towards her, with a vague look. But he seemed to be waiting for her to speak, so she continued. "We have to find a place to conceal ourselves overnight, or the bandits will find and kill us. I hate to say this, but you'll have to walk with me."

After a moment of silence, he said, "All right."

"I'll help you to rise to your feet. I'll try not to cause too much pain."

Without realizing it, her voice had turned gentle. He eyed her for a moment, then extended his hand towards her. She came to his side and, slowly, carefully, helped him to rise to his feet. She heard him hiss in pain as his body shifted into a sitting position; but, after a moment, he leant against her. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and assisted him to rise. Then, both stumbling slightly, they began to walk through the thicket. Valeria kept a sharp lookout for places of shelter as they walked, but her main aim was to get away from the scene of the battle, where the bandits, she knew, would return to collect their dead colleagues, and maybe try to scout in order to find their adversaries and finish the job.

"Rubi," she said.

"Yes?"

"You have to let me know when you feel that you can't walk anymore. I don't want this walk to open your wound. Promise me you'll do this?"

"All right."

She sensed that he could not speak much, due to the pain, and fell silent as they walked. The forest closed into a gloomy thicket which made their task more difficult, and after a while all she could hear was the elf's ragged breath as he stumbled from step to step.

It seemed like they were walking for hours, although it was probably not much longer than three quarters of an hour, when Rubi stopped. "I can't continue," he rasped. She felt him keeling forward against her, and quickly supported him.

"Hey," she said. "Hey. Don't faint on me."

He suddenly pointed. "There," he gasped. "That dark area… I… I think that might be a cave. Valeria… help me get… there… before… I faint."

She hurriedly supported him as he began to walk, his steps more and more faltering as they progressed; but she felt him directing her through some dense foliage, and then they managed to step inside the cool darkness just in time. The elf took a few more steps forward; then he collapsed against her. She managed to lower him to the ground, trying to shift his body as gently as she could.

"Rubi," she said.

There was no reply. He had fainted.

She tried to feel her way around the cave in the dim afternoon light that slanted through the foliage, and discovered that they were in a very small space. It was not really a cave; more like a large depression in the rock. But it was hidden behind a dense thicket, which served to mask them well.

She returned to the elf. She could only see him dimly in the gloom of their hideout, but he was extremely quiet. He will die overnight, she thought to herself. And the same thoughts recurred; escape yourself, leave him here…

Will you really betray him, after he saved you from the bandits, when he could have left you to die?

Suddenly Valeria found that she cared for nothing— nothing at all— except about resting from her day's exertion. It was foolish, she knew, but at that moment she sensed she could go no farther. Giving up was easier than thinking or doing, and Valeria, contrary to her nature, gave up. She knew that the Guards might find them, that the bandits might look for them… but she could not do anything about it right now. Right now, she needed sleep.

She spread the elf's cloak over him and took off her own cloak and, after a momentary hesitation, spread it over him as well. Then, gently, seeking a position to rest her weary body, she lowered herself to the ground besides him. The voices of the warm afternoon drifted from the forest into the cave: a dove cooing, the wind passing through the woods. She could smell the moistness of the earth underneath her. It was like her childhood with her brother, hiding in the caverns, at the hills in the great forest...

She curled up on the musty earth. She only wanted to rest for a while, but before she knew it she had fallen asleep.

Chapter 5

Valeria opened her eyes slowly, trying to shake off the stupor of a heavy, dream-disturbed, unsatisfying slumber. She rose, and memory came rushing back with the aching burn that bothered her. She cast a look in the elf's direction. Her eyes alighted on the blood-soaked cloth wrapped around the wound. The wound has apparently reopened due to the strain that Rubi had undergone on their way to their shelter, and was oozing blood again. He seemed to be frozen in the same position as she left him, and was now lying in a pool of the slanted afternoon sunlight that managed to penetrate the dense foliage as the sinking sun lanced its rich golden rays on the horizon. Apparently she had only managed to sleep a couple of hours, which explained her weariness.

She eyed the bandages that she had wrapped around his side, now soaked with dried blood. It'll need to be changed, she thought, before they are soaked through; but maybe I better not touch it now. She looked at the taut lines of pain on his pale face, and the sweat that coated his skin.

She shifted to a seating position, and tried to treat her wound the best she could with more doses of salve. She drank some water, and ate a little bit of food, although she felt more exhausted than hungry. Then she looked at Rubi again.

The elf was lying very still: rather too still for her taste. He may be near death, she thought; and she wondered again if she should just leave. After all, she could do nothing else to ease his pain, nor delay the inevitable end.

The elf's cool voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts. "Why don't you just kill me, Imperial?"

Valeria sensed a rush of blood staining her cheeks, and a chill wrapping her heart, at this sudden, ruthless question. She opened her mouth, but no words came. The elf regarded her with a sweat-drenched face. The pallor that spread across his features was caused by the pain that throbbed with every breath, generated by his grievous wound. But his gaze was immovable, and inscrutable. Perceiving her silence, he spoke again.

"Go ahead, human woman," he repeated, his voice devoid of emotion. "I have such little chance to survive, as you can see, and the pain is becoming hard to bear. Here is your opportunity to finish your task. Kill me, and avenge your friend. I will not blame you."

Valeria eyed the torn clothes she wrapped around the wound. It would be so easy, she thought. Kill him; end his obvious misery. Yes, he saved my life from the bandits, but I can do nothing to help him, except to wait for the rescue that might not come. Why not end it now?

Her hand lingered at the scabbard of her Seven Star Sword, the fingers fluttering across the ornately carved metal. Yes, it would be easy. The elf followed her hand with his gaze, his face expressionless. She drew the sword, and, coming over to him, leant close, peering into his face. She looked into his dark eye. She leant closer.

"Are you ready?" she whispered into his ear.

"Yes," he gasped.

She brought the sharp blade to the wound. Then she tore at the bandages; slowly, methodically. She carefully peeled the bandages with the dried blood away, and began to wrap fresh bandages around the wound, as gently as she could. She ignored his pained moans as she dressed him. Then, when she was done, she looked into his face again, and smiled, almost wryly.

"I know what you think about humans," she said. "But I'm not a murderer. I have not murdered anyone in my life, and I'm not going to begin now. All the killing I have done was, like you, in honest battle. You spared my life once, and then you saved it once. Why would I want to kill you? I'd like to save you."

He seemed to stir at this, and regarded her with a fixed gaze for a moment. Then he said, his voice suddenly vehement, "SAVE me? NO. I will not suffer such a humiliation in your hands. Just do what you know you want to do, and leave me here. Go."

She looked at him gravely, her smile vanishing, and saw that he could not meet her eyes. And she realized that he was taunting her, trying to provoke her into leaving him…

But why?

Was it truly so humiliating for him to be saved by her? Simply because she was a human, and an Imperial?

Calmly, she said, "I already saved your life once, from the bandits. Is that so humiliating for you? And maybe you will die this time, Rubi. But I will do what I wish to do. And I wish to stay here, with you."

A deep flush rose to his face as he scanned her expression. But then he said, wearily, "Then I leave the choice to you." His voice was weakening, and he seemed to have lost the will to argue. "But, Valeria… please remember that you cannot stay here for long… unless you want to die with me. Either the bandits will return… or the Guard will find you and kill you… before we have a chance to explain what happened."

She became still at this echo of her previous thoughts. Then she replied quietly. "There's one chance— we can cooperate. Let's make a deal, Rubi."

There was silence, then: "I do not deal with Imperials," he said, with genuine disdain this time.

"You already made a deal with me," she pointed out. "You agreed to come with me so I would let Sylvina go."

"That was in payment for her life," he answered shortly. "I can do whatever I wish with mine."

"I wouldn't have killed her, anyway," she said. "Do you think me such a monster, as to kill an innocent young girl?"

He shot her a quick, sideways glance. "You threatened to do it. You said you'll kill her, and then me."

"I was just trying to convince you to come with me and stop the foolish heroics," she said, with a half-smile. "But you are a stubborn one, and it didn't work."

A smile suddenly glimmered in his eye in response to hers. It was the same genial smile he had given Sylvina, and she was incensed to find herself having the same response; the small jump of her heartbeat, the flush of warmth. Then a feeling of self-derision filled her. Where, she asked herself, is this coming from? She looked quickly away, hoping that she did not betray that reaction, and her fingers tapped on her knee restlessly. There was a short silence, then she said, trying to keep her voice even: "Listen to me, Rubi. If you don't get a healer soon, your chances of survival are very low. We need to wait for the Guard and hope for the best. I would like to get help, but I don't know where to look. And you have to promise me to help me escape back to the fortress."

"You expect me to betray my people?" he said quietly.

"I expect you to honor the deal," she replied.

The elf was silent for a moment, then he said, "Listen to me, Valeria. The grief that this war had brought to the elves cannot be remedied by anything, not even your actions in trying to save me. You are an Imperial soldier, and chose to support the Empire out of your free will. Regardless of what happened here, on a personal level between us, we are still enemies."

"I never attacked the elves," said Valeria. And suddenly her voice was unsteady with emotion. "I never would. I love this forest. I grew up near it, and it's my childhood. My brother loved the Elven language, and had taught it to me. This is how I became a spy; and I hate being a spy; this is not why I enlisted in the army. I didn't even want to return to the Empire's services after my brother died. But a good friend convinced me that it was my vocation, and here I am. If you hadn't done this to that boy— a boy who reminds me of my brother— I would never have tried to harm you in any way. I don't care about the money. I wanted to avenge that poor boy, who is still hanging between life and death, and for whose fate I still feel responsible. Ever since you've wounded him, I've been praying for his health. I've been praying hard, and trying to keep my guilt at bay."

She did not know why she told him all this; but she wanted everything to be clear between them, now that they were speaking of such matters. But she heard her voice starting to tremble as she poured out her stress and grief into the quiet forest. "I understand your hatred of the Empire," she continued. "But I'm just a soldier, like you. Soldiers may not always agree with the decisions of their superiors, but they are expected to obey. I always wanted to be a soldier who defends, and works for a just cause, not a soldier who assists merciless acts on the innocent. And this is who I am. If you cannot accept my offer of help, I understand. But it still stands. I will never kill you. I will never murder. I know that you may think that I'm just doing this to save my own skin; but it's not. It's because…"

But then she stopped. Because he saved her life? He already knows this. Because he spared her? What was she going to say?

Throughout this sudden confession, he was watching her closely, not a muscle moving in his face. She now met his gaze, and saw something new in it. There was sympathy there, and an almost warm light. She felt herself blushing hotly as an edge of a smile pulled at his mouth.

"Valeria," he said. "Give me your hand."

She obeyed him, almost mechanically. He took it and held it for a moment, his touch gentle. She felt her heart give another jump, and swallowed. He did not seem to notice her reaction, and spoke quietly. "This hand," he said, "killed many of its enemies…. As mine has done."

"Yes," she muttered, looking away.

"But," he continued, speaking laboriously as waves of pain plagued him, "like I have said… we are both better and worse… than we care to admit. We both seek justice, Valeria… and we both struggle with guilt. But, I want you to know…"

He paused for a moment, and breathed in before continuing. "That… you are a fool. If you were worse than I have considered you… if you killed or abandoned me…. You could have escaped. I have… such a slim chance of survival… and I wanted to give you one… because you proved yourself when you spared Sylvina, even when I was unconscious… and you could have killed her. But you let her save me instead… And now… we might both die."

"You're right," she said, her face still averted. "I'm a fool. We are both fools."

He said nothing, and she looked back at him. But his gaze had flickered to the shadows of the forest. "I can hear something coming this way," he hissed. "They found us. This means… that one of us might die soon... or maybe… both of us. So maybe it's time… to say goodbye."

He pressed her hand between his fingers, smiling at her for another moment. She felt her fingers pressing his in response, and she suddenly realized that his hand felt strong, and warm, around her own. She sat hunched, not daring to look at him.

Now Valeria could hear the rustling sounds coming closer. She was stirred into action, and leapt to her feet, drawing her sword and standing in a defensive stance. She was not going to go down easily. If anyone tried to kill her, they would do so at a precious cost. The forest was silent, quiet with anticipation of the unknown danger coming close. Then, the bushes before the cave rustled, and several figures stepped into the small space.

They were Kobolds.

Chapter 6

They were five Kobolds, warriors by their looks. One, a fellow with dark, courageous eyes, advanced upon them, the others following him in his wake. Rubi inhaled his breath sharply. "Kobolds! Valeria—"

Valeria hesitated. She knew that kobolds were, for the most part, peaceful creatures, but she still kept her guard; she had heard that they have become restless under Imperial rule. But then again, she admitted to herself, the Empire's treatment of these kind creatures was not always just. But, whatever her qualms, she realized that greeting them amicably was her best chance for survival. She therefore placed her sword on the ground and spread her hands wide, to show that they were empty.

The leading Kobold eyed the elf, seeming to take more interest in him than in the woman. Then he turned to Valeria.

"You... Imperial woman," he said. "What .. doing with... elf?" While some kobold communities interacted extensively with human villages and knew how to speak in the human tongue, this was a deep forest community whose proficiency in the language was shaky.

"I want you to save him," Valeria replied, spreading her empty hands again to emphasize this truth. "He was wounded by bandits and needs your help. Is there a place somewhere to which you could carry him, with a healer to help cure his wound?"

"Village near," said the Kobold. "But elf should speak."

Rubi spoke quietly. "Trust her, Kobolds. I would be grateful for any help that you can give. She needs help, too."

"My wounds are a trifle," said Valeria quickly. "But get him to safety."

The Kobold summoned his companions with a nod, and they deliberated over the situation with low voices. Valeria knelt by Rubi. "What do you think?" she asked softly.

"They will come through," he said. "They are kind creatures."

"Not like us," said Valeria.

He smiled faintly, and said nothing. The Kobolds, apparently reaching a decision, approached them again. The leader produced a bottle from his pocket, an herb-made salve, to dress the wound. She stood and watched as three of them undressed her own clumsy bandages from Rubi, and applied their own clean bandages with quick and efficient gestures. Rubi's bloody shirt-tunic was removed, and he was supplied with a new one.

"Now," said the Kobold leader, as they finished, "we will carry him to village. If woman will come, she is welcomed."

"Thank you," she said. "But I will leave alone."

"Valeria, the Forest Guard," said Rubi.

Valeria knelt at his side again. "If they did not find us until now... But don't worry about me. Are you?" she gave a short laugh.

Rubi averted his face. "Don't go," he said. "You should come with us."

She watched him, feeling her heartbeat increasing again. "Why?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

"It's the safest course of action for you right now. And, Valeria…"

"What?"

"If I survive this… I promise you… I will contact someone I know who practices Runic healing… and ask them to go to the place where that boy is… and heal him, if he's still alive. To make up for what I did… I promise."

She was silent, feeling shocked, but she could see that he had grown still again; and when she stepped close to him, she preceived that he had finally fainted from the pain. Two of the Kobolds returned, holding a makeshift carrier, and shifted Rubi carefully into it. Then, they lifted it onto their shoulders. "Is woman coming?" one asked, pausing to look at her.

She hesitated. She knew that Rubi was right, and that she was taking a grave risk in venturing alone. And, she suddenly realized, she wanted to make sure that Rubi pulled through his wounds, something that she would not know unless she accompanied them.

She nodded silently to the kobolds to show that she was coming with them. The kobolds turned and began carrying the elf through the thickets; and she followed their footsteps slowly.

Chapter 7

Lying in the doctor's hut in the kobold village, Rubi was mostly unconscious for a day and a night; but on the second day he woke up and insisted that Valeria fetch him some writing materials. He asked her for precise directions to the village that Ian had been brought to, then scribbled a hasty missive, directed it to someone in the Elven village, and asked the kobolds to send a messenger immediately. But when Valeria asked him what he said, he merely shook his head and sank back into the bed. The doctor came and ushered her out; and she returned to the little dwelling that the kobolds had given her, her heart torn between hope and resignation.

Rubi barely spoke on the second day, and the doctor would not allow Valeria to see him. On the third day Valeria found him sunk into the bed, his breath shallow, wallowing in fever. She sat and watched over him, thinking that she would stay as long as she was allowed. But then, the kobold nurse came in. "Visitor," she said.

Valeria turned. A cloaked figure stepped through the open door, and threw its hood back. She found herself looking at an elf. He had red hair, blue eyes, and soft, boyish features that showed that he was still a youth. "Rubi," he said immediately, hurrying to the bedside. He threw a quick look at her and inclined his head in greeting, but then he seated himself next to the bed and took Rubi's hand. He closed his eyes, murmuring.

Valeria recognized the blue, healing glow by now. She stood leaning against the wall, watching tensely as the glow enveloped Rubi. After some time, the glow ebbed. Rubi moved his head, then seemed to breathe deeply. She noticed that he seemed less feverish.

The young elf rose. "He'll need to rest," he said. "My magic is not as good as Sylvina's, but he should be out of danger." He eyed her. "You're the Imperial who saved him, right? I'm Kirkis."

"Yes. Thank you," she said.

"I also healed that boy earlier in that village," Kirkis continued. "Like Rubi asked me to."

Valeria found herself stepping close and grabbing the elf's hand. "Thank you, thank you! So he was still alive!"

"Yes," Kirkis nodded. "He was in a bad way, but I think I rescued him from the brink. It took a long time, or I would have been here earlier. As you can see, the sun's almost down, so I'll have to stay here and go back to our village tomorrow. Rubi, though, will have to take some time to heal."

"Thank you," Valeria said again, not knowing what else to say. "I can't tell you how grateful I am."

The young elf smiled. "Thank Rubi. He specified to see your friend first, though I don't know why, since it means that I have less healing power left for him, as it takes a while to recharge. But I think that it would suffice for both. That boy should recover, though slowly. He may take weeks to regain full health, but he won't die. Rubi—" he glanced at his friend, who lay prone on the sick bed, "may take less time to recover, since his injury is less serious. But he should rest for a while."

Valeria stared at him. "You mean—Rubi told you to see Ian first?"

"Ian? The boy, you mean? Yes."

Valeria could say nothing, except thank him again. But he shook his head. "No, I should thank YOU," he said. "Sylvina told me the story, and Rubi gave more details about you, and I saw how you spared her even though she was with an enemy. Thank you for taking pity on an innocent life."

"Are you…" Valeria hesitated. "Are you close to Sylvina?"

For the first time, the young elf seemed to show other emotions than gentle friendliness. "I… I care about her a lot," he said, his cheeks reddening slightly.

Valeria would have smiled, but she was concerned with her own feelings. "So… she's not with Rubi?"

"What?" Kirkis seemed to smile in genuine amusement at this. "Rubi? No! Sylvina and I have always been like younger siblings to Rubi. He likes a different sort of woman. Tougher, more experienced." He looked her over speculatively. "More like you, maybe," he suggested.

Valeria found herself reddening. Kirkis' manner when he said this did not display any archness. He said it simply, with his gentle honesty. Trying to mask her embarrassment, she thanked him again, and went to sit at the bedside. Kirkis left to find refreshments, saying that he needed to recover a long day's march, leaving Valeria to her thoughts.

She took Rubi's hand in hers, trying to check his temperature. It was warm, and did not feel feverish. Then she found herself looking at his face in sleep, and suddenly realized that, although no one else was present, she felt self-conscious. She felt a strong urge to touch his hair with her fingers, and she dropped his hand as if it burned her. Then she clasped her hands together with a self-deriding reprimand. She wanted to rise to her feet, suddenly feeling that she should leave, but found herself as if glued to the chair. But the nurse, who came in and ushered her out, soon helped her to execute this task.

Valeria passed an almost sleepless night, trying to understand her feelings. She felt that they had stolen over her so quickly that she had been barely aware of them. I'm… I'm infatuated with him …with an elf? And not just an elf… THIS elf. Is such a relationship even possible? Has it ever happened before? If it had, she did not know of any proven report. The elves of that region sealed themselves from contact with humans for hundreds of years, and if such a romance occurred it was spoken of with hushed voices on the part of humans, and its memory was repressed and buried by the elves, who saw humans as inferior and closer to animals, out of derision or shame.

And he, she found herself thinking… how does he feel about me?

Well, sometimes he looks at you… like he…

The back-and-forth voices continued to torment her, and it was nearing dawn when she sunk into a heavy sleep.

When she woke up, it was a cool, beautiful morning. She washed, dressed, grabbed a light meal and went to check on Rubi. She found that the closer she came to the doctor's hut her heart began to pound and her legs began to tremble a little. She tried scolding herself into her senses through self-derision again. Here you are, she thought sardonically, a trained Imperial soldier, feeling like a lovestruck girl, and all because of—

It seemed like a long time in coming, and also only a moment later, but she finally stood at the door of the hut, peering in.

He was sitting in the bed, and apparently has just finished eating. When he saw her framed in the door he became still for a moment, looking at her. She tried to return his gaze, then felt confused, knowing that her manner was not natural, and feeling at once that it would betray her if she did not do something soon. She stepped quickly forward with an effort, and seated herself at the side of the bed with an almost jerky movement, trying to look at him as calmly as she could.

"I can see that you're feeling better," she said.

"Yes. Kirkis was here again, and tried applying more healing. He has trouble recuperating his energy, but luckily what he did yesterday was extremely helpful. The pain is not as bad."

"Yes, I can tell. You look much better." After a moment she added, a little self-consciously, "I am glad."

"I'm glad that you're glad." His voice had the slightly mocking tone it sometimes took on, but his smile had warmth. "And you? Did they bandage your wounds?"

"Yes. It's fine. I've been through worse."

"I can imagine," he said.

In the silence she could not meet his gaze and looked away. She did not know if she wanted to leave, or stay as long as she could. As in the previous night, she felt glued to the chair. To break the silence, she said, "Rubi, I want to thank you. Kirkis— he told me that you instructed him to see Ian first— and it saved his life."

"Don't thank me. I was only making up for my mistake."

"Yes, but you risked your own life."

"Well, his life had been in danger for a long time now, and you said that he's near death. I think that, for all the pain, my wound may have been shallower than we thought."

"That's good," she muttered.

"Yes." His voice was a little wry. "And it's a good thing you refused to kill me, huh?"

She looked at him quickly. He had the same smile that she had learned to recognize as occasionally self-depreciating, but it made her color, and feel a surge of heat. He may have noticed her reaction, because his smile vanished, and he became very still, his eyebrows contracting slightly.

Valeria, however, felt that the visit had been long enough, and that she may have betrayed herself more than she wished. She rose to her feet quickly and murmured a thanks again, saying that she will visit him tomorrow, and telling him to rest. Then she left.

Valeria had always considered herself a soldier. She enjoyed taking physical pleasure from men that she found attractive, but she did not allow herself to become emotionally close to any of them. She knew that her army duties will take her away to war often, and was not sure that she could ever truly settle down due to these circumstances. Her previous relationships were mostly with much older men, and rarely involved emotions outside of satisfying her physical needs. She had cynically regarded doe-eyed lovers who trembled at each other's presence and seemed to be absorbed in each other. Even as a girl, she had been sardonic and tough, and had never capitulated to any young man's attempt to turn her into a gentle lover. And yet, here she was, feeling like a trembling schoolgirl before this elf. She still despised herself for those feelings, but on the other hand she realized that the urge to submit before them grew stronger every time that she saw him again.

She went for a walk in the village. Despite her disturbed thoughts, she enjoyed the beautiful day. After some time, she went back to her dwelling to eat dinner. There was a knock at the door after she finished cleaning up.

"Come in," she said.

The door opened. It was Kirkis. "Valeria," he said. "I came to say goodbye. I am going home. Rubi will do fine from now on without me. He even left the bed today for a little while."

She thanked him warmly again for all his help. Kirkis brushed it aside. "Why wouldn't I help?" he said. "After everything that Rubi told me."

"Well," she said, examining him, "I'm a little surprised that you agreed to heal a human boy. I mean," she added, "I am extremely grateful for it. But I rarely hear of elves who wasted their healing magic on humans."

"Oh," said Kirkis, undisturbed by this observation. "I'm one of those odd elves. I don't hate humans, you know. That's why Rubi called me in particular. He always mocked me for it, but today when I spoke to him he said that he understands me now."

Valeria found herself looking away at this information. "He said that?"

"Yes," said the young elf, without seeming to notice her reaction. He was, Valeria realized, something of a naïve young man. "He told me everything that happened in more details today, and I think that maybe you and him are… almost like friends. It's very interesting to me." He looked at her inquiringly. "You're a human. Do you see Rubi as a friend?"

"I—" Valeria found that her tongue failed her for a moment. "I— yes. I think that we're friends now. We both made mistakes, but… I think that we made up for them."

"Yes," Kirkis agreed placidly, smiling at her. "Rubi spoke about you with a lot of respect. He doesn't respect a lot of people, you know. I think that he really likes you."

"That's good," Valeria heard herself saying.

"Well." Kirkis turned to the door. "I should start now, or I will not reach the village before sunset. "Goodbye, Valeria. It was good to meet you."

"Yes," she said, with genuine emotion. "You too."

Later that evening there was another knock on the door. She rose to open it, wondering who else it could be, especially at that hour. The door swung open, and she gave a start. Rubi's tall figure stood in the doorway.

He came in, bending his head slightly as he entered—kobold huts were pretty small—and stood before her. She stared at him. He was wearing new clothes— brought, she guessed, by Kirkis— that looked comfortable and clean. He was a little pale, but looked almost healthy. "Valeria," he said, noticing her silence. "How are you?"

"I— I'm all right," she said, feeling confused. "I didn't know that you could get up this early— it's only been a day or two."

"Elven magic is powerful," he said, with his wry smile. "But I'm still weary. I'll need to sit down for this visit. The doctor is holding me on a short leash, and she's a tough kobold lady, so I can't stay long."

She was recalled from her confusion, and led him to a chair. The tiny hut only had two chairs, and she settled herself in the second, trying to look at him as calmly as she could. Elven men were usually rather effeminate, and she noted again, with embarrassment mixed with surprise at herself for not noting it earlier, that he was wiry compared to these men, and was struck again by the sharp beauty of his features. As these thoughts passed through her mind she found that she could no longer look at him with composure, and she looked down, wondering how she could bear to carry a long conversation with him.

Absorbed in her thoughts, she did not notice that he was scanning her with attention. But she became aware of the silence and said, not knowing what else to say, "So, Kirkis left. He came to say goodbye to me."

"Yes, he came to bid me goodbye right afterwards."

"I'm really glad that you're feeling better," she offered. She knew that the conversation was going badly, and did not know how to remedy this. At that point, she knew that she could not.

"Thank you. Valeria, I wanted to talk to you about—"

She looked up. "Yes?"

"About… everything that happened."

"We already did, a bit, didn't we?"

"Yes. But I'm trying to think it over in my mind. I want to understand how… how we came to this point. I mean, we both know now how I did; but I want to know how you did."

She found herself thinking that this was a good way to break her discomfort; if she loses herself in narration. So she began explaining. "Some of it you already know," she said.

"That's all right. I want to hear it all again, from the beginning. And please don't hide what you thought about me. I can take the censure."

She glanced at him quickly, but he was looking down, his hands on his knees. He seemed to be expecting her to speak, so she began.

She told him about her brother, who loved the Elven language. She told him about her childhood in the village near the Great Forest. She told him about the stories and books that her brother heard, and read, and told her about elves. She told him about her military training in falcon fencing, which began when she was fourteen, when she, a mere village girl, was discovered and trained by a fencing master, who recommended her to a school so she would receive a more formal education to hone her talents. She told him about her enlistment in the army, of her brother's death, of how she left and was persuaded to return. Then she explained to him about Ian, and how he reminded her of her brother; how he followed her, and how they came on him without knowing.

He was quiet until that point, but now he intervened. "You were just another imperial to me."

"Yes, I know. In fact, I was a spy and you were right to try to stop me."

"I didn't really see how he was dressed. I just thought he was your squire. He was the right age."

He is trying to explain himself again, she thought. Quietly, she said, "Rubi, please… it's all forgiven now."

"Thank you," he said. His voice was calm, but there was something else in it, a genuine gratefulness, and she looked at him again. But he still did not meet her eyes. "I wanted you to know, Valeria, that I would never harm an innocent person. All the soldiers that I—"

"Yes, I know," she cut him off. "I… I was thinking about it, and understood it."

He finally looked up. "So you really loathed me. But did you want to kill me?"

She averted her face. "I admit that I lost my temper at that moment when we met again. The rune can be very deadly. I… I will have to thank Sylvina someday, for following you and saving your life, and preventing me from committing a terrible mistake."

She glanced at him again, but he was scanning her with that air of intense focus that she already learned to recognize. She clasped her hands in her lap, her fingers gripping each other, trying not to redden before his gaze. But when she looked up quickly, he had already looked away.

"Rubi," she said softly.

"Yes?"

"I remember what you said about the Empire, and your people. I understand you. I promise that I will not forget."

He glanced at her. "You are speaking as if you will be leaving this place soon."

There was a questioning note in his voice. She looked up quickly. "I… no, I will stay a little while more… maybe." But she couldn't meet his gaze when she said this, and her voice trailed to a halt.

"Well," he said. "But won't you have to return to your duties soon?"

"Yes. But… they still think that I am looking for you." Why am I explaining this to him, she suddenly wondered. Why am I trying to let him know that I wish to remain here… where he is… as long as possible? Is it because I want to know how he would feel about it?

There was another moment of silence. Then he leant back in the chair. "I see." Then he added, "thank you for sharing your life's story with me, Valeria. I liked hearing about it. And I understand how you felt during our encounter."

"I'm glad that you did." She looked up at him with an edge of a smile. To her surprise, he quickly averted his gaze, moving in the chair in a manner that seemed suddenly uncomfortable. She felt her heart beginning to hammer again, and bit her lip. But after a short silence, she heard him rising from the seat.

"I— the doctor forbade me to visit too long," he said, with a slightly wry note to his voice. "I never thought that I could be bullied about by little kobolds, but here we are."

She laughed shortly. "Yes. You should go back. I… I'll visit you in the morning."

She stole a look at him. He had already turned, and threw a quick glance at her over his shoulder, sensing her movement. But she averted her face, worried about betraying herself yet again; and she soon heard him leave, the door closing behind him quietly.

Chapter 8

Valeria was awakened from sleep by a voice coming from outside, speaking harshly, and with a strong accent. The trapping of sleep quickly fell from her and she was immediately alert, listening intently.

The call repeated. "Come out, human. Your dwelling is surrounded by the guard. Do not try to resist, or you will be shot on sight."

So, the Elven guard, finally catching up to her, Valeria thought cynically. She wondered briefly how they knew— Kirkis? But she dismissed that thought at once. He would not have said anything; that much she was sure.

She didn't have much time. She sprang to the corner of the hut, grabbing her sword. Then, as quickly and as quietly as she could, she strapped her breastplate over the thin chemise that had served as her undergarment and, during the last few days, as her nightgown. Then she stole to the door and checked the lock quickly. The windows in kobold huts were high, and too small to accommodate a human or elf-sized individual, so she did not have to worry about them, even if they tried to shoot through them. On the other hand, it meant that she could not escape through a back way. The walls were thick clay, and elven arrows would not be able to penetrate through them. The door, however, was of ordinary wood, and could be broken down with a sufficient amount of force.

She was secure, for now— but she was trapped.

Trying not to make a sound, she stalked to the door and pressed against the wood, trying to listen. She could hear voices conversing in Elven; two of them, maybe three.

The order repeated. Valeria remained at the door, waiting, still and tense. She did not reply to the second order, hoping that they might think that she had left, and waiting to see what they would do.

One of the elves spoke in human now. "Imperial, we know that you're in there. If you do not surrender in fifteen minutes, we will ask the kobolds to provide us with access to the dwelling. I'm sure the chief would be willing to give us a means of access, if we ask."

Valeria was silent. She was sure that the kobolds had some type of blacksmith at their disposal. She was wrong to think herself secure for a while. She was trapped.

"Well?" The elf called.

She did not respond. She would be damned if she was going to surrender without a fight. Let them try to come in.

She threw a quick glance around the room, then began to pile the furniture against the door as quietly as she could. There wasn't much there—the bed, a small table, and two chairs. But they could come as handy weapons and means of defense. She turned the bed over and, dumping the mattress on the floor, pushed the wooden frame against the door. Then she piled the table on top of it. She lifted a chair slightly, testing it. It was small enough to serve as a kind of makeshift shield against arrows.

The elves outside grew silent, and she knew that she had betrayed her presence with the sounds she made while arranging her small fortress. And she knew that, from her silence, they would understand that she was not willing to obey them. One of them, she thought, might be already dispatched to speak to the chief, while the others kept guard over the hut.

She looked at herself. How well would she look, she thought wryly, fighting with her chemise on. But the armor was the important part anyway.

Her mind wandered to Rubi briefly as a possible means of rescue, but she shrugged the thought off. She had no means of knowing if he even knew about this, and he was probably still asleep.

She settled herself next to the door; tense, ready for the upcoming confrontation; but silent and unyielding. She was not going to go down easily.

Rubi awoke to bright sunlight. He had been sunk in a dreamlike state of constant, lingering pain during several days, and it had weakened him considerably. The kobold doctor was good, but the wound had been extremely painful before Kirkis' arrival, and Rubi found himself appreciating the ready assistance of water-rune healers available at the elven village. Kirkis had departed yesterday evening after a brief farewell, carrying a missive to the Elven village to let the others know what happened.

The doctor came in soon afterwards, checking his bandages and giving a small growl of approval. He smiled at her. "How am I doing?" he asked.

"Good, very good," she said. She was one of the kobolds who had gone abroad, and she spoke the human language to him, in which she was proficient, in a brusque and businesslike manner. "Elven magic is very good. No overstraining though. Take a few more days to rest."

"Will do," he said.

She left, and after some time the nurse came in to give him breakfast. The hour was still early, and he wondered if Valeria had risen yet. Like him, she was a soldier, and he knew that they usually woke up early. But when he inquired after her, the nurse only said, "No worry. Woman come every day for you. She very worried for you." Her dark eyes examined him. "You want see her, eh?"

Rubi said nothing, but smiled at her and changed the subject. Then, not long after, a knock on the door alerted them both. "There," said the nurse, nodding. "She come to see you."

The knock repeated as the little kobold was making her way to the door, now with more force. Rubi, who had readied himself to see Valeria, was suddenly aware that it was most likely not her who was at the door. His suspicions were confirmed when a voice said sternly from without, "Open the door. It's the Forest Guard. We came to see the elf."

The nurse unlatched the door hurriedly, and it opened on the figure of an elven archer. He was clad in the Elven Guard uniform, and a greatbow was slung at his shoulder. Rubi raised an eyebrow, noticing the guard's stern aspect. "So you finally managed to find me. It would have been useful to have seen you just a little earlier, you know."

The guard advanced into the hut without responding, and stopped at the bedside, examining him. "By your tone, I can tell that you're doing fine," he observed without smiling. "We thought you'd be, since Kirkis had been here."

Rubi's gaze turned mocking. "Did you follow him here? Some trackers you are."

"This isn't a time to be flippant, Rubi," the elf snapped. "We wasted four days looking for you. It's not enough that you always insist doing everything alone, when both of you jumped off that cliff we ended up losing the trail for a while. And when we came on the bandits we followed them into their hideout, instead of the woman's trail. After that, we were too late to find the trail to the kobold village on time. But the Elder sent a missive to us after you contacted Kirkis. You know that all non-standard mail is always examined by the post."

Rubi shrugged. "I jumped off that cliff since I was trying to escape the imperial. So why are you here now?"

"To detain the imperial, of course," the elf answered, raising an eyebrow as if this was an obvious matter. "She captured you on Elven territory, and that's a serious security breach. We are going to imprison and interrogate her."

Even as he was speaking, Rubi had straightened and his expression altered, from nonchalant to alert. "What?" he snapped. "No. Call them off!"

The guard narrowed his eyes. "You don't dictate our actions, Rubi. And may I ask why? She was your captor."

"She saved my life," Rubi said sharply. "I thought that you read the letter. How many guards are looking for her?"

"Looking for her?" the elf echoed dryly. "We already found her. It was the first thing that we did when we came here, but we thought that we'll check on you too, since the Elder requested it. The others are laying a siege on that dwelling, so she's probably under arrest as we speak. Rubi, what do you think you're doing?" Because Rubi had risen from the bed, and was frantically questing for his shirt. The little kobold nurse advanced at once.

"Patient stay in bed!" she said. "Wound still healing!"

"You heard it, Rubi," said the elf coolly. "It told you to stay here."

Rubi gave him a hostile look. He had found his shirt and was slipping it on. The elf, perceiving his intention, moved to block his exit. "Don't do anything stupid, Rubi," he said.

"Get out of my way," Rubi said quietly, fixing a warning look on the guard.

The elf eyed him. Then he shrugged, and stepped to the side. "You do what you like, Rubi. Not that it will accomplish anything."

Rubi pushed through the other elf roughly without replying, and hurried out of the hut. The elf remained, looking after him with a contracted brow and narrowed eyes. Then he, too, left the hut.

Valeria had been standing near the door for quite a while; she thought that at least twenty minutes had passed, maybe more. The elves were mostly quiet, conversing among themselves, and she guessed that there were three of them— one went to talk to the chief no doubt, and two kept guard. It would be a tough fight, she reasoned, but she could get away if she used the space and element of surprise wisely. She had already bundled her clothes in her traveling bag, so she could take them with her if she managed to escape. Her hand was resting on the chair, fingers gripping the back, ready to grab and lift it when needed.

Then something must have happened, because the elves suddenly spoke among themselves. They apparently saw someone approaching, and anticipated it to be the assistance that they sought. Valeria felt herself tensing. The moment of battle was approaching.

Then a new voice spoke in Elven, and Valeria straightened. The voice was unmistakably Rubi's, and he was addressing the guards in harsh accents. She could understand some of what he said, although it was more difficult to catch through the closed door. He was— yes, he was telling them to leave.

The guards did not seem impressed, and they seemed to question Rubi with a mixture of suspicion and surprise. His voice came closer now, and she could hear it distinctly, next to the door. "I am telling you to leave."

He was standing right next to the door, Valeria guessed. Standing… between the door and the guards. He was trying to help her.

Valeria knew that Rubi was a tough loner, but she thought that such a task was beyond even him. She was an Imperial soldier who caught an elf on Elven territory. The elves won't let her go that easily.

Her thoughts were suddenly distracted by Rubi's voice addressing her. "Valeria? Are you there?"

"Yes," she answered, coming close to the door and placing her cheek against it so he could hear her clearly.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes."

"Good. Stay in there. They won't come in, I promise you. I won't let them."

His tone was gentle, and although she felt herself growing warm at the almost tender concern for her that she could clearly hear in it, she also found herself almost smiling because, she thought, he was treating her like a helpless maiden in distress even though he knew full well how many opponents she could take on her own. But she also felt genuinely grateful for his obvious concern. It was more, she thought, than the concern that he felt for a fellow soldier. There was something… personal about the way that he spoke, and sounded.

She could hear the elves trying to reason with Rubi, though she could not catch the words, since they spoke very quickly in Elven. Their tones, though, were angry, and beginning to grow hostile. She realized that Rubi probably didn't have a weapon. What, she thought, could he do against three, or maybe more, armed opponents?

And then she realized something else… Rubi was still wounded, and he had gotten up and came to confront these soldiers. He was risking his health, and she wasn't sure what effect it could have on him.

"Rubi," she called to him. "Rubi, listen to me."

"Yes?"

"You can't do anything. Just leave. I don't want your wounds open. You just began to recover."

There was a pause. Then he said, "I'll never do such a thing, Valeria. I don't care if my wound reopens because they will get to you over my dead body."

"Are you being foolishly heroic again, elf?" she asked, her tone gently teasing despite the dangerous situation. "Remember what happened last time when you were foolishly heroic? The wolf-woman almost got you."

"Valeria." He spoke quietly. "I don't care. Please understand this. I'm not moving from before this door until these fools leave you alone, or until they remove me by force. I owe you my life."

Again, there was that something in his tones which made her bite her lip, and she hung her head. But she said, her voice quieter, "Rubi, they will find it very easy to move you. You are one against several, and your condition—"

"That doesn't matter."

"Then I'm opening the door, Rubi, and they can take me. I won't let you risk yourself like that."

"No, Valeria. I won't let you. They'll imprison you. Maybe kill you."

"You can't stop me, Rubi. You know that. I am opening the door."

"No, stop!" His voice rose now, almost angrily. "Valeria— they won't kill me, but you—"

"Then leave, and let me do this on my own, Rubi." She had been moving the bed and table aside as she spoke.

"Valeria, stop it, I won't let you—"

She was unlocking the door and was about to turn the handle; but Rubi's words were suddenly interrupted by an angry, barking voice. Valeria, puzzled, was momentarily distracted. "What's going on?" she asked, unsure whether this new development portended good news for them.

Rubi's voice came through the door after a moment, sounding half-amused. "It's the doctor, and the town guard. Sounds like the nurse called her. They surrounded the Elven guard. She's bullying them pretty fiercely."

Valeria could now hear the kobold doctor's sharp voice. "Leave the patient alone, you all! He'll suffer a relapse if you don't!"

"We'll talk to the chief," one of the elves replied irately. "Who are you, who thinks that you have the right to stop us?"

"I'm the chief's sister. And I'll be telling him to throw all of you out of this town, if you dare to bother this patient and his woman again."

"We'll see about that!" the guard lashed, equally angry. "She's a political prisoner. How dare you interfere?"

"You didn't have permission to intrude on our grounds with these matters, elf. We'll let the Elven Elders know, and I don't think they will view this with favor."

"Let us talk to your chief. We have no business with you."

"Oh, you will talk to him soon. Because you're all coming with our town guard to see him. Right now. You are all being detained."

Valeria opened the door. She found herself facing Rubi, who was standing close to the door, half turned towards the elves in order, she guessed, to keep an eye on their movements. She could also see that there were three Elven guards, all surrounded by a ring of nine or ten heavily armed kobold soldiers. Valeria's hand shot out quickly, and she grabbed Rubi's arm. Then she hauled him into the hut. He staggered inside, too surprised to resist. She shut and locked the door behind him.

He was stumbling to avoid the small maze of furniture. "What?" he panted. "Do you think that—"

He finally managed to look up at her, and froze. She met his gaze with a quizzically lifted eyebrow. "Well, elf? Do you feel like being a prisoner here, along with me?"

He still said nothing, and was staring at her, his gaze transfixed. She suddenly realized that she was still in her thin chemise, which was rather sheer, and showed her body off very clearly despite the added cover of the armor. To her surprise she didn't feel embarrassed at all, and realized that it was he, for once, whose color had heightened.

Outside, no one seemed to notice Rubi's disappearance, but things had quieted down a little. The elves were still arguing, now with the guard captain, but they had obeyed the doctor and the noise had moved off away from the hut.

"Sounds like the good doctor got her way," Rubi muttered. He had finally averted his gaze to avoid looking at Valeria.

Suddenly Valeria began to laugh. And then she stepped close to him and, throwing her arms around his shoulders, began to kiss him.

After a shocked moment he started to respond to her, his arms encircling her waist and pressing her against him, and returning her caresses with growing fervor; but then he realized that she had started to pull him down.

"Valeria, are you mad? NOW?"

"Yes. Here. Now."

"But what if they end up getting us out anyway—"

"Then we better hurry, just in case."

"The bed is overturned—"

"Bother the bed, the mattress is all we need, and it's right over there, on the floor. Help me take off my armor if you want to speed this along."

"There's no time for this—"

"I'm ready, how about you?"

"Valeria, you madwoman—"

"Get used to it, elf."

By that time, she had unstrapped the breastplate and threw it aside, and he found himself unable to make any further objections.

Some time later, when they were lying curled around each other on the overturned mattress, he said, "You know, Valeria, I didn't think that you'll find yet another way to almost kill me, but I wasn't prepared for that."

She gave a short laugh, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder. "Don't be ridiculous. I took your wound into consideration."

"Yes, I know. I'm just teasing you a bit. Anyway, I needed that kind of release hammered into me."

"Did you?"

"Yes. I've wanted it since I've first seen you."

"Ah," she said softly, her fingers stroking his hair. "So that's why you spared me that first time we met? I've been puzzling over that, you know."

He turned his head towards her, his wry smile appearing. "I wish I could say that I just took mercy on you after I shot that boy, but the truth was that… well, seeing you struck me like a kind of an electric shock. I couldn't believe that I could find a human woman, and an imperial at that, so unbelievably alluring."

She raised an eyebrow. "But I don't think that you liked me that much, at least at first?"

"I won't pretend that I liked you before you told me your story in the woods," he said. "I thought about you. I wanted you. But I didn't actually like you. It was a purely physical attraction, and I just thought of it as an animalistic sort of need. But after you opened up to me with that story… I knew that I wanted you… for you. And, Valeria…" his arms tightened around her. "Do you want me… for who I am? Knowing my history… and everything that happened?"

She buried her face into his shoulder. Then she whispered, "Yes. I do."

"I wasn't that sure of how you felt, you know, until yesterday evening."

"Really? I thought that I was making myself an open book, to be honest. I thought that you already guessed."

"I didn't. Your manner is not as easy to read as you think. But then that foolish young romantic, Kirkis, came to visit me again yesterday before he left. 'Rubi', he said, 'I think that this human woman really likes you. I could tell it from the way she speaks about you. And you like her too, don't you?' And so on. Kirkis, you understand, is fascinated with humans, and I think that he likes the idea of a human-elf romance. So I didn't know if I should believe his observations, except that your behavior that morning, and again on my visit that evening… well… it suddenly gave me reason to think that maybe, finally… you understood how I felt. I was looking forward to seeing you this morning again and maybe drawing you out a little more before these buffoons came."

"I wasn't sure," she said, almost voicelessly. "After all, only a few days ago we were enemies."

"It wasn't easy for either of us," he agreed.

After some moments, however, she began to kiss him again, nuzzling into the curve of his neck. "Valeria," he said. "Let me rest a little first."

"No. You rested. And remember that we don't have a lot of time, so let's use it to the utmost."

"It's gone pretty quiet out there."

"Then let's make the most of it."

"You really do mean to kill me, don't you?"

"Stop pretending you don't like it."

"Wolf-woman," he muttered, smiling.

"That's right. You wanted animal passion, elf, and I'm warning you, you're getting the whole deal."

"And that's what I wanted, Valeria."

They parted three days later. The forest guard had been ordered to leave and come back with a permit to arrest Valeria on village grounds, and they left in angry disdain. Rubi estimated that it would take them at least four days to return, so Valeria planned to leave a day before that. "Won't this cool the relation between your villages, though?" she asked Rubi.

"No worries. This village is an important trading partner, and I don't think our village elders would want to make them angry."

Now he gazed at her as she shouldered her supplies and made ready to leave. "Valeria," he said, coming closer and wrapping his arms around her, "When will we meet again?"

They already discussed this, and agreed that as soon as the Elven guard's suspicions were allayed they would meet at least once a week at this pleasant kobold village, that was so good to them both and was about half-way between the fortress and the Elven village. But she realized that his question held a concern. He knew that her duties may not allow her to return as often as she wanted.

She lifted her fingers, stroking his cheek. "Next week, same time, right here. And every week after that. You know that."

"I hope so. But, Valeria, you know that we are still, officially, antagonists. I can't refrain from trying to stop Imperials from invading Elven territory. I can only promise to be more careful next time in ascertaining that I'm facing an actual enemy."

"I know. And I'll see what I can do about the situation. I'll talk to the General."

"I hope that you succeed in convincing him."

"I do too," she said. But she wasn't sure. Kwanda Rosman has changed lately, she thought, ever since he received that rune from the Imperial court magician.

She came close to him, embracing him one last time. He leant forward, and she raised her face to him. He kissed her. But after a moment she withdrew, her face flushed. "I better get going, or we'll find ourselves delaying this trip."

He gave her a resigned smile. Then she withdrew from him. Her hand slowly left his, until only their fingers touched, and they held each other's gaze for one moment more. Then she turned, striding through the trees, and he stood, looking after her. But just before she vanished into the shadows of the forest, she halted and raised a hand. He returned her farewell; and then he turned, and walked towards the kobold village.

Epilogue

"Rubi." The Elder's greeting was cold, but Rubi wasn't surprised. The Elder had called him to his mansion as soon as he returned to the village, and Rubi immediately understood the urgency of the consultation. The Elder and two high councilors, who stood before him, all held a grim aspect, and regarded him with an unfriendly air.

"Yes, sir?" he said calmly. He was not afraid of any soldier, whether of his kind, human, or any other; and he did not care about anyone's opinion. Let's just get this over with, he thought, shrugging mentally.

The older elf scanned the younger one closely. "I am glad that you have finally returned to us. But I've heard… reports of what happened during your absence."

"Sir?" Rubi met the Elder's gaze immovably. The older elf was quiet for a moment. He knew Rubi, whose tough and independent spirit resisted any attempt to govern it. He was an excellent fighter and an invaluable soldier, who did a lot to help protect Elven territory. But this… THIS matter was too serious to overlook. Not even this young archer could escape the censure that it would bring, if it was true.

"I was told that you have been wounded, and made a pact with an Imperial soldier, who then accompanied you to the kobold village."

"Yes, sir. I had no other choice. I was gravely wounded."

"That's understandable. What I am more worried about is the report from the guard…." The Elder halted for a moment. "And what they told me, well… I don't think I would have believed it. But I feel obligated to ask you before I judge. Rubi, did you protect that human woman— that imperial soldier— from being apprehended by the guard?"

"Yes, sir. She saved my life, and I owed her that much."

"That may be understandable, but you have to know that she captured you on Elven territory. We needed to examine her."

"Yes, sir. And I can explain why. But that doesn't matter because she saved my life, and, you must understand, I wasn't going to turn her over to her enemies."

"You do know that it's treason, Rubi." The Elder's voice was hard.

"How can it be treason, sir, when she took mercy on the life of your granddaughter? Didn't we owe her that much?"

This reminder seemed to give the Elder a pause. But the look in his eyes, as far as Rubi could ascertain, did not soften. And he suddenly understood.

They knew.

Well, might as well have it in the open.

"Rubi," the Elder said. "I have another, equally weighty question for you.

"Yes, sir."

"Rubi did you… did you take that human woman for a lover?"

There was silence. Then the archer, his dark gaze meeting the Elder's, said coolly, "I did."

The Elder's eyes narrowed. "Obscenity," he spat. "Sacrilege. Rubi, how… how DARE you break all rules of decency in such a way? A human woman. A HUMAN woman. HOW! I knew that you were a nonconformist, Rubi, but I never thought that you would dare—"

Throughout this tirade, Rubi stood very still, listening without a word. But his look became dark, his fists clenching, his body tense. When the Elder, sputtering into silence in his rage, has ceased speaking, he said, very quietly, "Sir. There is very little that I know to separate humans and elves, except our longevity and a little of our appearance. In fact, it's been speculated by scientists on both sides that humans and elves have a common, human ancestor—"

The Elder cringed at this. "Blasphemy!" he exploded. "How DARE you repeat that vile filth to me, Rubi. From here on out, you either forgo this… this obscene relationship with that human, or… or you will no longer be welcomed to this village. You hear me, Rubi? And not only that. I will let other villages know about you. None of them will ever accept you. No elf woman will ever want to marry you. If you don't promise me, right now and at this moment, that you will never see that human again, I will publish your story to them all, and you will be a permanent outcast. You understand me?"

Again, Rubi had stood silent at this. His head was down now. When it ended, he looked up, straight into the Elder's face. "Then, sir," he said calmly, "consider my services to this village done. I will leave it, and will no longer expect a welcome. I do not wish for one. Allow me a few days to gather my things, and I will be gone. Goodbye, sir."

On this, he turned and left. The Elder remained looking after him with a grim aspect. He knew that he just lost the services of a valuable soldier; but he could not let this transgression pass. Not even for Rubi.

"Sir," said Valeria. "You called me?"

Kwanda Rosman regarded Valeria carefully. "I would like to discuss something with you," he said.

"Yes, sir?"

"There are rumors—" He halted for a moment. "Rumors that you are displeased about the way that we treat the elves. You know that the soldiers always suspected your sympathies, because of your talent in the Elven language. And now, that we are preparing for the final attack—"

Valeria scrutinized Kwanda Rosman's grim expression. He has changed, she thought, since he received that rune. His aspect was harder, and he regarded her with an unfriendly look, of the type that she had never seen on him before. In the past, traces of his former feelings for her always lingered in his reception of her. But it has disappeared.

She thought of the rumors of that ultimate weapon against the elves. Did he really mean to do something terrible? And can she convince him to refrain from doing it?

"Sir," she said, slowly. "I don't believe that such drastic means are necessary. That is all. I have qualms about your methods, especially when I understand that it will endanger all the forest, not just the Elven village. I merely want to advise you to be cautious."

"You presume to criticize my actions?" His voice was cold. "You are a mere lieutenant, Valeria. I will not allow you to sow discord among my men simply because we used to be friends."

Valeria regarded him steadily for a moment. Then she lowered her head. "Sir," she said quietly. "I apologize. I will not speak against your actions again."

"Good." His gaze on her was icy. "Dismissed."

She turned on her heels and left. But her staid expression did not betray her tumultuous thoughts. Her home was in danger, and the forest that she loved… and Rubi.

If she could not stop the General from doing this, then she must do something else… she had to warn them.

She had to warn the elves.

© Written by Hadas Rose, revised 2021

Suikoden is © Konami, 1996

Notes about this story and the revision

This story is a mix between those 80s fantasy novels, who liked antagonistic or forbidden romances between elves and humans, and some of the trappings of traditional romance novels. It deals with the sort of sparring lovers/forbidden chemistry romance that are typical of romance novels, and I usually don't write those; but writing romance novels may be more fun than I had previously thought, so why not. I REGRET NOTHING. Well, almost nothing.

In retrospect, I'm not even sure why I chose to effectively ship those two characters, except that Valeria was connected to the Elven incident, and Rubi was that fourth elf who was not attached to anyone else (and more attractive than the other possibility.) Even if 90% of the internet, and maybe the Suikoden writers, think that Valeria plays for the other team (with Anita, of course.)

In the original version of this story, Ian dies. But I decided to just go ahead and make it a "real" romance, and that couldn't have happened if he died. I also changed his personality a bit, to show how Ian reminded Valeria of her brother in order to keep her search personal, since in the original version it was her guilt at his death that motivated her.

Both characters (Valeria and Rubi) are mellower than they have been in the older version of the story, where they were both very tough and hard-headed; and while there were hints of attraction in that version, there was never a "real" relationship. They are also not exactly true to the original characters. Rubi was in Suikoden 1 was just some punk elf hanging at the great forest inn, taunting Kirkis about not being strong enough to merit his assistance. Apparently, however, he did hate humans, and was said to leave the elven village because he didn't like their policies, whatever that means. He did, however, become a bit closer to his Suiko original in this revision, since he's more easygoing and less harsh than the original version of the story. Valeria used to be closer to her Suikoden original in the older version of this story, where she's very tough and sardonic, but after I softened her in order to make the romance more possible, I don't think she's enough like Suikoden's Valeria.

This story was written before Suikoden card stories added details about Valeria. So I didn't know anything about her self-training at age 14 due to her mother being hurt by a wild boar, about her school of falcon rune training, and all such details that were added much later. I still don't know what age she entered the army, so I fixed it at 18 to fit the details with her brother. I also tried to adjust any other details to fit subsequent information, but there's only so much I can do. I made up the character of her brother, her leaving the army only to return later, and her knowledge of the Elven language, but there was nothing to contradict these details, so I kept them.

I eliminated Rubi becoming feverish quickly, since it's a sign of infection and he'd probably have died, especially since in the original story he stayed overnight without medical help. Also, I'm not sure that Valeria was wise to replace the bandages, especially not so soon. (In the original story and the revenge version she doesn't, but I liked the little scene that it entailed, where she pretends to be readying to kill Rubi, so I wrote it in.) I did get the "turn the shirt into a bandage in an emergency" part right, though. Also, Valeria is one of the few Suikoden characters who could believably hold on her own against so many bandits, and rescue someone else into the bargain. Rubi is lucky that he was in a romance story with her.