5. Lehran

12 years old

Nina's friend Marie had decided that when she was old enough, she was going to train as a pegasus knight like her mother before her. But that wouldn't have to happen for a few years, while Nina had to decide upon some martial skill to apply herself to now.

In truth, it wasn't that she had to. Rather, it was that her father was strongly encouraging her to learn some form of combat discipline, even if it was staves like Aunt Lissa or magic like Mother, because it was fitting that a princess should have means of defending herself and her country should the need arise. But Nina wasn't studious enough to take easily to magic, nor did she want want to appear delicate (though she would never admit this fear aloud) by learning the staff. Nobody in her family was like that. Even Aunt Lissa had learned to wield an axe eventually.

Already Father had gotten to Abel, who had been surprisingly receptive to the idea that he should spend time learning about something other than historical battle formations. Nina had seen them practicing archery in the training hall for the past month: Father showing Abel how to hold the bow and giving him great words of encouragement; Abel standing completely still with his face set in an apparent stare of concentration. She suspected Abel chose archery because it allowed him to move as little as possible and speak not at all. He didn't seem to mind when Father assigned him running drills, though. At the very least, he broke fewer arrows than Father did by Nina's counts; but whether he was nearly as good at hitting the targets, she couldn't tell.

"Is it enjoyable, training with Father?" Nina asked him one afternoon after he'd left the training hall. Abel shrugged, then nodded. "Do you think you're becoming stronger, or something like that?"

Abel shook his head.

Nina was surprised. "No?"

"Not yet," he clarified. "This is just exercise." They came to Abel's room. He went inside and started to admire the current diorama spread out over the table as he took off his gloves, but then something caught his eye. He growled under his breath and stormed down the hall.

Emma's doing, probably. Nina didn't have to look long to notice it. While there may have been dragons at the Battle of Lefcandith Valley (or wherever it was this time), there had probably not been dragons rode by healers stomping all over the invading army. Definitely Emma, then. For all his affront, Abel was fond of her, and gave more words to her than to anyone else. But for her part, whenever she was accused of anything from touching Abel's figures to poking holes in the tapestries with candle snuffers, Emma would cry and say that people were picking on her and that she was four and hadn't known it was wrong...maybe.

Nina toyed with some of the tiny pikemen currently collapsed in a heap against the mountainside. Even Lucina had asked in her last letter if Nina had started training at something yet, saying that she was at a good age for it, not too young like Lucina herself had needed to be. Father would surely write back saying that Abel had been learning the bow, but that would also tell Lucina by omission that Nina hadn't been learning anything. And then...would Lucina think it was good that Nina hadn't been forced into fighting like she was? Or would she wonder if Nina was trying to make some kind of point by not following in her footsteps?

Lucina and her family were in Plegia, which some people were starting to call the West Territory. It had been under Ylissean rule for the past decade, as there had been no claimants to the throne after the last, hated king was killed in war; though the cities continued to mostly rule themselves as they always had. Because of this, it made no sense to still use that accursed name, people said. But Lucina said that the name was the least thing keeping Plegia from recovering. She, Inigo, and their daughter Fiora lived in a city not far from the former capital, near what had once been an important temple of the Grimleal. There was a university here that had once secretly taught the temple acolytes fell magic – the most vile rituals, so she said. But it had also been a place of honest learning of all sorts of arcane arts. She saw in the university a chance for Plegia to throw off its recent history and become a righteous state, and had even suggested that the captain's son Laurent come there and teach.

The reason why they had initially stayed in this city, however, was the clusters of Risen that would occasionally appear in the desert around the temple, as though they had been lying dormant in the sands for years, waiting for the passage of time or a turn of the weather to signal them to crawl towards the surface like some kind of horrible grub. Lucina told stories of riding out with the militia in the dead of night to quell them.

"She's downplaying the influence she has in Istra," said Mother at dinner that evening, after Emma departed with her nurse. Mother had just returned from Plegia, where she had gone to visit Lucina, accompanied by only Miriel and the junior captain and one other guard. A stealth mission, she called it. "She's been writing as though she's a member of the militia like any other, but when I was there, it was she who rallied them when there came word of Risen. And they listened to her, of course."

"Typical." Father's voice was bright with pride. But then: "What of Fiora when she goes out?"

"What of her? Inigo stays with her more often than not."

"Surely Lucina's not stopping him?" asked Father. "He doesn't want to ride out with her?"

Mother gave a half-shrug and said, "Of course she's not stopping him. It's his own decision. Speaking of which, he's taken charge of administration at that university. It turns out he has something of a bureaucrat in him."

"Huh." Father frowned, seemingly unsure to do with this information.

Mother had been talking between bites of cooked pear, but now she set down her fork and turned towards him. "You know she's like you. She won't put down her sword until she's forced to."

Father still seemed concerned, and it occurred to Nina that, as far as she knew, he hadn't seen true combat in years.

"I know," he said eventually. "I'd be surprised if she did." Then: "Do you think the people of Istra would believe them if they said they were part of the Ylissean royal family?"

But he used to say Lucina technically wasn't, thought Nina, who'd been picking at her plate for the past five minutes. She had also gotten the impression, from earlier conversations, that Lucina and Inigo, each half-Plegian, were leveraging that part of their heritage in order to explain why they had moved there.

"Believe them? Perhaps. A Mark in the eye is hard to fake, though she's taken to wearing glasses so that nobody notices."

"Say somebody noticed. Do you think the city would still be so fond of them?"

Mother hummed as she drained her glass. "Do I think they'd be chased out of the city with stones? No, I think people would most likely start to fear them...but that's not quite what we're going for, is it?"

"Well," said Father, "would people fear you?"

Mother pretended there was more in her glass to delay answering. "Those who know of me seem unsure whether I'm a traitor or their final hope," she deadpanned.

"I don't know about 'final', but knowing that a relative of yours is protecting Istra might convince more of the latter."

"You don't want that. They think I'm lying in wait, Chrom. Apparently, the council in Dozla is convinced that my signature on that land decree instead of yours means that I'm consolidating power in a plot to dispose of you and take the throne."

Nina saw Father glance towards their end of the table. "So they have no idea you might as well have it already?" he said lightly, trying to play Mother's statement off.

"Stop it," said Mother, but she sounded jocular. "In any case, I'm leaving the pace up to Lucina. She's going by Lucy there...I got the feeling that she hopes somebody will figure it out when the time is right."

"Father," said Nina.

He turned to her. "Yes, Nina?"

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting, but..." She wouldn't stumble. She'd decided to be honest. "All this talk of Lucina fighting in Plegia is reminding me that I'd decided to ask you about teaching me how to fight. Perhaps how to use a lance or a sword."

"Nina!" Father grinned. "I'm glad to hear that. For a while I feared you'd thought I was too preoccupied with Abel."

Abel, who had actually begun to bring books to the table so as to counter Father's request that he stop leaving so early, rolled his eyes.

"I didn't think that," said Nina. "You've always said you'd train me. I was just a little bit...unsure."

Suddenly Father looked guilty. "Unsure? Nina, I hope you haven't felt pressured. Taking up arms oneself isn't the only option. My sister, for one, hardly ever lifted a tome –"

"No," said Nina, "no, I really was thinking about what you said about our duty to be able to protect ourselves and our country, and I agree with it –"

"I think if she's coming to you, Chrom, it means she's decided it on her own," said Mother, before he could cut in. She smiled and turned to Nina. "Besides, if you train with a weapon and later decide you want to take up magic, or that you're not yet ready for combat training at all, you can change your mind. It's peacetime, and you're not the only princess. You have that freedom."

"It's difficult," said Father as he wiped sweat from his brow, "to know I've done this before, yet have to do it for the first time all the same."

Nina took his pause to lean over and catch her breath. She found herself gasping for huge breaths of air. Only a minute ago she'd been able to ignore the heat from what was just light leather armor, but now it seemed to engulf her all at once. Her torso was trapped under three stifling layers. Her hands and shoulders were also sore, but that much she'd been aware of.

He'd been speaking to himself, not to her. For what seemed like an hour or more – she granted that she couldn't tell how long it had been, not while exerting herself like this – she'd been tilting a practice lance, just a long pole with padding at the top, towards a target in the training hall. She had hit the mark exactly once, by accident. Father had shown her the most basic maneuver again and again: step, step, stab. But each time, she stepped wrong, or held the lance wrong, or lost her balance with it on the second step. When she did that Father took her arms and placed his feet alongside her own, guiding her along the movement, only for her to be completely unable to replicate what he had done with her arms a second later.

This is difficult, Nina. Learning to simply aim the lance is the hardest part. Your footwork was good on that one, now watch where the lance goes on the next.

I know. I know. I will.

Do you want me to show you the maneuver again?

"I can do this," she said, and hoisted the lance. Her head was floating. Almost out of instinct, she step-step-stabbed the wooden target and hit the edge of the outermost circle with a muffled thwump.

Father nodded. "There. You're getting it. With a bit more practice, you'll be able to do it like that and better every time."

Nina didn't know why he was praising her. She stood the practice lance upright and let her forehead lean on it. Now that she'd put it down, she didn't know how she could ever pick it up again.

"We should stop here." He came over to her with a canteen. "Let's trade." She handed over the lance and gulped down a mouthful of water.

"Father."

"What is it?"

"I'm dying."

He might have looked guilty again. But instead, his voice came level: "You're not dying. You're just not used to this." He paused. "Is the lance too heavy for you?"

This had been brought up before. "It's fine. Swords are worse, I feel like I can't put any strength behind one – I mean, it doesn't feel right."

"Still, it would be useful to build your strength first. Lances are generally simpler to use, but some soldiers, particularly women, benefit from –" He stopped. "I'm sorry. I'm speaking as a commander, not your father."

Shouldn't he? she thought. "I'm sorry. I've been...complaining like a child."

"Nina, you don't have to learn swordplay, or deny it, due to any skill of Lucina's."

"That's not it," she said. She stared at the poor results of her training, marked by bits of padding caught around the edge of the target. "That's not it. I...think you're right. We should stop." If she walked away now she could pretend she was just wiping away sweat. "Father, I'm going to go change. Shall I bring the lance back?"

"I'll take care of it. You did well today, Nina."

She nodded.

After taking off her armor and going to her room to towel herself down and change, she felt considerably less like crying. Why had she been tearing up in the first place? Of course she wasn't going to be a master lancer on her first go. Maybe she could even ask Lucina if learning had been like this for her.

She wished Morgan still lived at the castle, like he had for most of last year. He'd taught her to ride on his old mare and helped her find the rest of the shelves' secret drawers, but had a way of always changing the topic to why his former friend Raymon was terrible if she let him. Morgan was only capable of hating one person at once, and he always put a lot of effort into it, until one day when he would just forget or stop caring about whatever had made him hate them in the first place and they would go back to being more or less friends.

Nina wished she could have feelings towards people that were so simple, and controlled so easily.

There was a knock at her door. "Who is it?"

"Princess, a visitor for you. Dame Sumia's daughter."

Nina hurried to pull on her shoes. "Yes, allow me a minute."

Marie was waiting in the entry hall wearing riding clothes. "Hello, Nina. I was wondering if you wanted to go flying with me this afternoon."

This had been one of the best things to do since Nina had learned to ride properly, even though she couldn't ride a pegasus solo and had to be content with sitting on the back of Marie's saddle. But something about Marie's tone was wrong. "I'd love to. Is everything all right, though? You sound stiff."

"Do I?" Marie glanced at the set of guards in the hall. "There has been something on my mind, but I'll talk to you about it outside."

Nina followed her. Once they were on the path leading from the castle, outside earshot of the guards, Marie leaned towards her. "Nina, you have to help me," she said, speaking very fast. "There's a pegasus I'm supposed to bring back to the barracks, but he got loose outside the capital and now he won't be led away from the lakeside. Assuming he's still there."

"Hold on. You were bringing him alone?"

"Yes, my mother asked me to. She's at the barracks, expecting me."

"Can you ask one of the ranch hands?"

"No, what did I just tell you?" Her voice grew increasingly panicked. "My mother has only just started leaving me in charge of the ranch, and letting me fly pegasi besides Willow on my own, so I can't let her know I let him escape."

"All right," said Nina, more shocked than anything to see Marie in such distress. "I'll help you, I just don't know what use you think I'd be –"

"It's a black pegasus that the knights lent to us for siring," said Marie, as though that was an explanation. "They're temperamental and I'm not used to them, so I decided to lead this one alongside Willow as I was riding her. We were near the lake when I had an itch and thought that if I let go of his lead for a second he'd follow, but instead he landed and I couldn't get him up again. So I thought, since the black ones tend towards people who have magic, and Willow likes you enough –"

"Marie, I don't know magic!"

"No, but – you have more of it in your blood than I do, so I thought perhaps at least you had a spell or potion to calm animals. If your brother taught you something, for instance."

"He didn't, but I can see if my mother is here and ask if she knows anything." Nina turned to go back up the path.

Marie grabbed her wrist. "No, don't tell your mother! She'll tell your father and he'll tell my mother and I'll be done for."

"Have you at least tried luring him with food?" asked Nina. "Because I could get that also –"

"I have some in my saddlebag. I really just want someone else to talk to him; I think he's angry at me." She took Nina's shoulder. "Please, Nina!"

Nina stumbled over "Of course" before Marie grabbed her wrist again. They ran to one of the outside gardens, where Marie had left her young pegasus Willow with one of the exterior castle guards under the promise of only being gone a minute. Marie said they needed to be quick, because while the pegasus hadn't seen fit to move half an hour ago, who knew where he might be now. So without delay, Nina climbed onto Willow behind Marie, moving her knees in front of the saddlebags, and they launched off into the skies above Ylisstol.

Flying over the city – picking out streets between buildings and watching the people travel down them until they seemed to all melt into a busy pattern of moving spots – was usually relaxing. Father trusted her and Marie to fly alone together so long as they didn't leave the city bounds. But this time they made a beeline for the river west of the capital, crossing straight over the city wall, and Nina half-expected to hear a tiny voice beneath her yell that somebody had just seen the princess leaving the capital on a pegasus.

Marie had left the black pegasus near a certain copse of trees on the shore of the great lake. It had only moved about a quarter mile north since then, and its black coat stood out sharply against the rocks and grass. They landed Willow next to an ancient obelisk half-sunk in the bank nearby.

"His name is Lehran," said Marie as they peeked out from behind the obelisk. They observed him dip his muzzle into the water to drink, the lead rope hanging loose in the water. "The knights say he's never actually hurt anybody, but...he can be hard to handle."

"Okay," said Nina, not sure if that was meant to reassure her. "What do you want me to do?"

"Um – approach him. See if he'll let you take his rein, then see if you can get him to come to me."

Nina stepped from behind the obelisk and waited until the pegasus, Lehran, lifted his head. His wings were folded back, and his ears twitched. She cautiously stepped closer as she had seen Marie do with Willow, coming in from his side and slowly moving towards his front.

Lehran saw her. Then he turned his ears down like he was angry – she thought it was angry; she hoped pegasi communicated the same way as horses – and Nina stopped.

She stared him down. They had strange eyes, black pegasi: almost entirely white under the shadow of their brow, and said to glow in the heat of battle. Nina hadn't believed how pale they actually were until she saw one's eyes now. She could easily imagine them shining like little flames if the pegasus raised his head and let them catch the light.

This one's head was down, though, which was good. Then his wings started to stir, so she broke eye contact and looked down towards his shoulder, even turning her head a bit to be less forward, while not backing down. After a minute, his ears relaxed, and she slowly walked towards him again, palm out, fingers together, elbow pressed to her side.

Lehran shook his head a little as she approached, but didn't back away. "It's all right," said Nina. She moved her hand towards the side of his head. The pegasus seemed to decide he didn't hate her, and allowed her to pet him. Then to rub behind his ears, then his neck, then to reach for the lead rope dangling from the harness...

The moment he felt the smallest tug, Lehran wrenched away, barely missing Nina's face with his front hoof. The rope tore across Nina's palm. With a yelp, she dropped it in surprise, and Lehran fled down the lakeside at a gallop.

"He's going to take off!" Marie yelled. She ran past Nina, but the pegasus clearly outpaced her.

Nina ran.

Lehran, however, was meant for moving in the sky, and seemed unable to gallop on the earth for long. After about a minute, Nina matched pace with him, then began to catch up. The pegasus ran away from the lake in a broad arc. When he turned to face Nina, she was only a few yards behind.

"Stop," said Nina. Lehran had already stopped, but was snorting, and looked like he might bolt again. He blew air from his nose and swung his head towards her, like he was threatening to charge. Nina held her ground.

The pegasus stamped at the dirt, but lowered his head. Nina approached him once more. Before she worked up the will to touch him, Marie ran in from the side and took hold of his neck. Lehran wriggled, but the resistance was half-hearted, and in a moment Marie held the lead rope firmly below his muzzle.

"Here," she said. "Let's bring you back." She led Lehran back towards the obelisk where Willow, only slightly spooked, had stayed obediently. Nina followed.

When they got back to Willow, Marie looked around until she found a good-sized rock, and brought Lehran next to it. She handed the lead to Nina. "Keep a hold of him, okay? I'm going to get on his back." She dug into Willow's saddlebag and pulled out a carrot. "Give him this, since he walked back without trouble."

Nina wasn't sure how to feed something as large as a whole carrot to a pegasus. She kept her fingers flat and offered it on her palm like anything else. Lehran nipped at the point, then gobbled the rest of the carrot, letting the last bite fall to the ground.

Nina watched him. He had scared her, but now that she looked at him, she noticed his wings were really cute: when they were down, they were not flat against his body, but instead cupped a bit around his back like a bird's.

Marie stepped up on the rock and mounted. Lehran stirred, swishing his tail and sticking his wings straight out, but Marie whispered to him and after a moment he was calm. "There. I don't think he'll try to bolt again if he has a rider."

"Are you sure that's all right?" said Nina. "You don't have a saddle. I don't want you to fall." It was one thing riding bareback on a horse; but to be on a pegasus, stories above the ground...

"I'll be fine," said Marie, though her voice sounded strained. "Anyway, this way you can ride Willow. We'll hold on to each other's leads; it'll be double-safe."

Nina had no choice but to defer to Marie's judgment on that. "All right." Nina went over to Willow and found the lead in her saddlebags. She buckled it on and patted her mane before going back and pulling herself up by the stirrups. Willow looked back at her and ruffled her wings; but it was more playful than annoyed, and Nina was able to move the pegasus with her heels and the reins the short distance to where Marie waited.

They tossed each other the long leads, keeping enough room for each pegasus to move its wings. "You know how to take off?" said Marie as Nina wrapped her end of the lead firmly around her hand. "You lead her into a gallop, then tug the rein."

"Right." Keeping pace with Marie, she led Willow forward. On Marie's signal, she tugged. There was a great movement of hooves and legs, and for a second Nina feared she would fall with nobody else to brace her; but next thing she knew they had taken off over the lake in this awkward formation.

Once they began to coast, Marie called to her. They weren't going fast, so she only had to raise her voice slightly above the wind. "You were really good with him. And, um, thanks."

"It wasn't...I mean, it was hardly anything." They weren't terribly far up, as far as pegasi could go; but Nina didn't like the way Marie was hunched forward, holding onto the rein and lead and the pegasus' mane all at once. "You're the one who caught him."

"You're too modest for a princess," said Marie. "It's going to make it hard for people to hate you later on."

Nina giggled. "What? I don't want people to hate me."

"No, but they're going to want to sometimes."

"I don't know. Do you think people hate my father just because he's the Exalt? Not because of what he does with it, but just because."

"If they're poor or Plegian, they might."

Nina tried to use her shoulder to brush off a bit of hair that had been blown into her face. "My mother's Plegian."

"I said might."

"Well, would you hate him, if there was something wrong in your life and nobody else to blame?"

"Well, I wouldn't, because my parents talk about him and you talk about him and I haven't heard anything to think he's doing something wrong."

It always made Nina very happy to hear that people thought well of her father, which Marie's parents did. "But say the Exalt was somebody you didn't hear about, or didn't hear about as much, like my sister. Might you hate them?"

Marie went quiet. "I mean..." She gave a shallow shrug.

Nina knew that Marie held a certain view towards nobility. Although Marie herself was noble through her mother, her father was a commoner, and she'd taken his opinions on the matter. She was always insulted when anybody called her mother Lady instead of Dame, because she thought it was more honorable to have a title that had been earned. In different circumstances, she might have never wanted anything to do with Nina.

Nina had a feeling she'd said something oblivious. "Well...I guess that doesn't count, either, since you do know my sister. You don't think you'd hate her, do you?"

Marie looked startled. "But don't you?"

Nina stared at her.

She saw Marie's brow furrow in between movements of Willow's wings. "I thought that was what you were getting at – that you wanted to talk about it or something –"

If she knew how to fly on her own, Nina would have wrenched Willow away from Marie and gone to Ylisstol by herself. She settled for merely looking away. "I don't hate my sister! How could you say that?"

"I mean – you make it sound like you do, sometimes."

"Because I complain? Marie, you complain about your family. Do you hate your sister?"

"Sometimes," said Marie matter-of-factly. "But then sometimes I see that she's just dumb, and that's not enough to hate somebody for."

Nina looked back to her in exasperation. "But they're us, you know. Your sister is...well...you. Like Lucina is actually me. I mean, I know we've done different things, but you can't outright say she's dumb without maybe saying it about yourself."

"No, I'm smart enough to know that's dumb. I'm not half as stupid as Cynthia, and I know it." Her eyes fell. "And not half as brave, but it's stupid brave so I don't really mind."

"Oh." Nina stared at her knuckles, white around the lead and rein. There were a few minutes of silence. "I do hate Lucina, sometimes...mostly when other people compare us. I can't hate her when she's in front of me. Not that it isn't strange sometimes, but I can't hate her." She shook her head. "Mainly I can't stand the feeling that we both...take up the same space or something. That I might grow up just like her anyway, and then everything my parents say about there being no 'real Lucina' won't hold."

"You were just saying that you were actually her, and now you say you don't want to be like her. Which is it?"

"That's not what I meant," said Nina. "I know I'm going to be like her, and I don't think I can do anything about that. What I mean is...I don't want that to mean I have to lead the same life she does."

Marie moved her head closer to Lehran's mane. "You already haven't. She came from a future where things were already different. Right?"

"Yes, but...I don't want to end up like her regardless." Nina took a deep breath. "I mean...not that there's anything wrong with her. Just that I don't want to look back, and find myself in a militia in Plegia with some charming husband, and realize that my life had been decided for me, and that she decided it." That, if they were going to end up the same way, she didn't want Lucina to be the one who got the illusion of choice, merely by doing it all first.

"But would that even be possible, since you're a proper princess?" asked Marie.

"Then living in the castle with some charming husband."

"You're really caught up on the husband part."

"I just don't want to think of the sort of person I marry being set out like that."

"My mother says she wasn't even married properly when Cynthia showed up," said Marie softly. "But when she did, my mom looked at her and knew that marrying my dad was the right thing. Isn't that kind of like having it set out?"

"I don't know. Weren't they at least engaged when she showed up?"

"I think, but – was everybody?"

Nina paused. Her parents' courtship (such as it was – her mother had laughed at that particular word) had not been long, at least according to her father. (Mother claimed to remember the general tone of the process, if not the length.) She had always assumed they were married when Lucina and Morgan appeared, but now she didn't know. "But that is different. It's the same people marrying. Nobody showed up early enough to change who our parents were when they met, I think. While...there's no Inigo in this time, exactly, since Iggy doesn't count." Not that she was sure she'd want to marry him even if he did. "And say your sister marries somebody who isn't from the future. You can't marry their other self, because there is none."

Marie thought about this for a moment. "Then since they're the ones who came here, shouldn't they be the ones who don't count? Their future didn't happen. It doesn't matter what they do. You're the real Lucina, if there is one, so you can do whatever you want."

Nina was frustrated, since she thought they'd been arguing about what it meant if Nina did what she wanted and ended up as Lucina anyway. Maybe it really was easier for Marie, who seemed able to care so little about what her sister-self did. "Yes, but...I don't want to be the real Lucina either, as though I'm still only a better version of her. I don't want either of us to be fake." She paused. "I wish we really were sisters."

Marie thought. "You know how everybody calls me Cynthia Marie? I hate it."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Just that everybody calls you Nina. In the castle, it's 'Princess Nina,' not Lucina Nina or Lucina Altina or something dumb like that."

"My second name is Bradamante."

"Close enough. The point is, nobody calls you it because everybody knows who Lucina is, and she's not you. So in that sense, you basically are sisters."

This was true. Nina couldn't remember the last time she'd been called Lucina outside of a formal event. Everybody surrounding her parents had long since learned of their time-traveling children. "You're right. She practically is. And that's why...this usually doesn't bother me as much." She looked down and noticed that the walls of Ylisstol, always in sight, were finally about to fly beneath them. "Look, here's the city."

It was dusk when they arrived at the knights' barracks, which had once been just inside the western border of the city but had since spilled out the gate into a new enclosure that sat like a bubble on the old walls. With a wave, Marie got them past the guards so that they were able to land inside the compound on a clear patch of dirt between the training grounds and the stables.

"Oh, I hope my mother isn't angry I took so long," said Marie as she rushed to take off the pegasi's leads. "Given my luck –"

"Cynthia Marie!" Marie's mother jogged towards them from the stables, dressed for her work in big gloves and an apron. Despite Marie's fears, she was smiling. "There you are. I thought I saw you fly in. And Princess, it's good to see you."

Nina straightened her skirt. "It's good to see you as well, Miss Sumia."

Marie ran forward, leaving Nina next to Lehran. "Mom, I'm sorry – I didn't know I'd be this long. Nina came over while I was at home, and we got a bit distracted. But she helped me bring this one over, so it worked out all right."

"Marie did most everything, of course," said Nina, idly stroking the pegasus' mane.

"No, you brought Willow. Nina's a fantastic rider."

"Yes, but you flew right beside me the entire time."

"Stop putting yourselves down," said Sumia, coming over to pat the black pegasus between his eyes. "Lehran isn't an easy one to deal with. I'm sure both of you..." She trailed off as her eyes went to his back. "Cynthia, did you bring one of our saddles with him?"

"He – he didn't want to wear one, you see –"

"Cynthia Marie, are you telling me you rode a pegasus without a saddle?"

"No! I mean, I had Willow's lead the entire time –"

Nina was the only one who paid attention to the scream from the sparring match taking place in the court behind them. She turned to see a young pegasus knight in light armor – a new recruit, perhaps – sprawled in the dirt. Her opponent, hovering on her pegasus just above the ground, pointed her lance towards the girl.

"– better than that," came the metallic voice of the opponent. "I know you can do better than that."

With a savage yell, the girl rolled to her feet. She scrambled back on her pegasus, pulled back her lance, and charged –

"– perfectly safe the entire time," Marie was saying. "Nina can tell you."

"I'm sure she could, but this isn't about Nina. Cynthia Marie, I expect you to be more responsible than this."

"Marie did ride very safely," said Nina in her defense. "We held on to each other. She did what she needed to keep him under control."

Sumia closed her eyes. "I don't know what you mean by holding on to each other. But even if I accept that you flew without putting yourself in danger, I'm still not happy about this. You shouldn't ride a pegasus so far without a saddle. It can put weight on their shoulders in a bad way."

"I know, Mom." Marie's head hung. "I'm sorry. I'll know better next time."

"Oh..." Now Sumia's hands went to her face. "No – I mean, yes, but I should also be sorry, for making you think you couldn't come get me –"

"Mom –"

Somewhat embarrassed to see Marie scolded, Nina turned back to the court. The younger knight hurled her lance towards the other, who dodged effortlessly. But then the recruit swept past her opponent, hitting her on the way, like in a joust. The two traded blows against armor until the older knight called out.

Both stopped and landed their pegasi. The older knight lifted her helmet, letting loose long red hair that fell against her back.

"Nina, I'm so sorry about that," said Marie, coming up beside her.

"It's all right." Nina looked around to see where Marie's mother was, then saw that she was standing right behind them.

"Were you watching the captain?" Sumia asked Nina, answering the question she had meant to ask. "She's an amazing solider. I was never half as good as she was."

Now Nina recognized the woman who was talking to the exhausted recruit. Cordelia, the captain of the Ylissean Pegasus Knights. The mother of one of her older siblings' comrades, Severa, who had no counterpart in this time because her father had died in the war.

"If I ever change my mind about joining the knights, it will be because of her," said Marie. "They say she's brutal, especially to recruits."

"The captain just has very high standards." Sumia spoke carefully. "For herself, and...well...everybody else."

Nina didn't think the captain looked particularly unreasonable as she said something that caused the young knight to nod enthusiastically. The captain nodded in return, then turned towards Nina's group and waved. Sumia waved back.

The captain's gaze came to rest upon Nina, and she stopped.

The look in her eyes wasn't the look of surprise Nina was used to seeing when somebody recognized her. Instead, the captain was almost frowning, as though she was confused or annoyed by Nina's presence. What was it? Nina had a good reason for being here. She raised her hand to wave, in order to be polite...and was interrupted by Lehran the pegasus, who came up to her and nudged her with his nose.

When she looked back, the captain had turned away.

She gave herself enough time to be sure it wasn't a whim. Then, before even telling Father or Mother, she told Abel her plans to join the pegasus knights.

Abel didn't think it was a good idea. "You don't need to. Father can teach you the lance."

"I don't want to only learn the lance. I want to learn to fight on a pegasus."

"They can hire somebody to come here for you."

"But that's not what I want. I want to go to the barracks and learn alongside the girls there. Maybe you're happy staying in the castle with Mother and Father and the maids, but not everybody is."

Abel was unfazed. "You won't be learning alongside the others. You'll still be the princess."

"If I convince them I'm serious, I'm sure they'll treat me the same as everybody else. If they're going to take me as a proper knight, they have to."

"Mother and Father will never let you sleep at the barracks."

"It's right on the edge of the city."

"It would still be special treatment."

"All right," said Nina. "I'm hoping I can be trained as least specially as I can be. That way...I'll know that I'm learning correctly, that I can hold my own with everybody else."

Abel scratched at the Mark on the back of his hand. "You know all he really wants is for somebody to be able to use the Falchion if we need."

"I don't think that's true. Why is he letting you learn archery?"

"Morgan can't."

"Has he tried?"

"Lucina can."

Nina stared at her feet. While she doubted that was all her father wanted out of training them, she would bet that Abel was right that it was at least one motive. "Well, the pegasus knights learn swordplay for close-quarters combat. So I'll be able to use a sword."

Abel shrugged. Sure, make that your argument, he seemed to be saying.

Mother approved of the idea. She said that she would support Nina in her desire to train with the knights, although it might not be possible for her to formally join them, so long as she took it seriously and recognized the commitment.

Father seemed somewhat startled when she told him, and asked if that was what Nina really wanted. She said yes, she didn't want to learn all alone in the courtyard but with other girls, using the same regimen as proper knights. He nodded and forced himself to smile, and when he asked if she would at least bring back what she learned and spar with him, she said of course. And so Father gave his approval and told her he was sure she'd do wonderfully.

End of Part II.

A/N: Cynthia is...an individual, but Marie is much more Gaius' child. If she's not upset, just picture her with her hair pulled half-back, looking constantly annoyed and/or bored.