When Tinni finally regained her sight, she saw her cousin and Seliph sitting next to her. She wasn't able to ask what had happened since her cousin talked first.
"Tinni, thank Naga, you're alright!" Amid said. "I thought you were going to die out there, I'm glad you didn't!"
Seliph sighed at Amid's comment, he looked at Tinni and said, "We made it just in time, any longer and they could've found you and most likely killed you."
"I-I see, how long have I been asleep? Did you go to Alster…? Did you see Arthur…?" She asked the Lord as she looked around the medical tent.
"Alster has been seized, I already have some troops taking care of the last of the soldiers. After that, we'll be making our way to Leonster where my cousin will be. Unfortunately, there were no signs of your brother, and Blume managed to escape."
"Alright... but...Arthur he...he's gone," She mentioned, finally breaking after years of trying to keep it all in.
"Don't lose hope, Tinni," The Lord said, tapping her shoulder, "We have our suspicions that Blume might've taken him to Connaught, if we are lucky enough, he shouldn't be dead."
"I-Is that true?" Tinni said, feeling her eyes getting filled with tears.
"Connaught, huh? I guess we have him surrounded now," Amid said, stroking his chin.
"Yeah, he shouldn't be able to escape any further, we will take him out in Connaught and save Arthur!" Seliph exclaimed, which made Tinni feel hopeful about her brother.
Just then, the tent flap opened, revealing a young green-haired woman with a sword in hand. "Lord Seliiiiph! Guess what? We finally dealt with the last of Alster's forces! Leonster seems to be clear as well!" She said, stretching her arms and yawning. "I'm so tired!" She exclaimed and dropped herself on one of the chairs.
"Ah, perfect! Thank you, Fee. We shall be making our way there in due time." Seliph told the girl-Fee.
"B-But I just got a breather! Please let me rest a bit longer!" Fee exclaimed, before she noticed Tinni sitting on the cot. Curious, she asked, "Oh, what do we have here? Is she a new recruit?"
"Oh, yeah! She is, this is Tinni! She is Amid's cousin, and she and her brother were saved from peril. Though her brother probably got captured by Blume."
"Ooooooh, I didn't know Amid here had cousins. He sure doesn't look anything like her." She laughed.
Amid only glared. "Well excuse me for not telling you something even I was not sure of. I thought they were dead. Also, you never asked."
Fee countered her glare to her fighting partner. "I didn't ask for your opinion, dimwit. I'm just excited! And interestingly enough, she looks a lot like my friend."
Amid smirked as he said, "Which friend? You've made friends with almost everyone in this army."
"Shush, you!" Fee slapped his arm and turned away from him. "I had a friend in Silesse before I joined here. I've been looking for her. I miss her. But this girl has a very similar hair color! And she looks as cute as her!"
"Ohhhh, I see now. Sorry, I'm just a little overwhelmed I guess." The wind mage looked down at the floor.
With a nod, Fee went toward the thunder mage and waved at her. "Hey, how are you doing? My name is Fee!"
"Hi, I-I'm not doing the best but...I have faith, I think." She replied, then the two shook hands. At least she seemed nice, it was...comforting.
"Yeah, do you think you will be alright to head to Leonster with me? You look a bit tired right now, so I can give you a ride!" Fee offered with a smile.
"O-Oh! You'd really do that for me? Well, I suppose I've little choice but to accept!" Tinni cheered, holding her hand.
"It'll be great! I promise you! Plus I need a break from your cousin over there." She looked over at the wind mage, laughing as he shook his head, a miffed expression on his face.
"Sorry, Amid!" Tinni told her cousin, before then both she and Fee left to where her pegasus was. Fee seemed excited and couldn't stop talking, her voice could be heard even after they left.
Once they had finally made it to Fee's pegasus (who she referred to as Mahnya), Fee fixed the saddle and quickly got on. Looking over at Tinni, who was a little anxious, she said, "Cmon! You'll be alright, I promise! I'll tell her to be gentle!"
"Well, if you say so," Tinni replied as Fee took her hand and lifted her up.
"There, do you feel any better?" Fee asked again.
"A little, yeah."
"Alllright, then let us go! Mahnya, fly!" The horse whinnied as they began to fly, and soon enough they were up in the air. Tinni was still anxious because it was her first time flying on a pegasus, let alone one trained for war. But a little less so now, something about Fee made her feel had only just met, but she was so nice.
Soon enough, they had made it to Leonster. Tinni looked down the trees and saw that the rest of the group managed to catch up as well. Fee landed her pegasus near the stables and let Tinni get down while she looked for an empty stall for her pegasus.
Once she got back and saw Tinni waiting for her near a tree. She ran to her and said, "Aaaaaand we're here, Lord Seliph should be headed here in no time! We should wait for him! Let's sit under that tree, we could have a nice girl talk!"
"Alright! I'd like that," Tinni said, and then followed her to the tree. It was nice to be under there, it was nice and cool compared to the humidness they were currently going through in Leonster.
Fee was the first to speak. "Sooo Tinni, I heard you have a brother. Is that right?"
"I do, yeah, though as you heard he's been taken away...I hope he's alright."
"Yeahhh I get the feeling, my brother was forced to do something similar as well. Apparently he had to do something in Thracia for a while then the moment he came back he was forced to leave again. Can you believe it!? We are nearing the Thracian border though, so maybe I'll find him soon."
"What's he like? Anything like Arthur?"
"I wouldn't know, but he's very serious, always getting too deep into thought. Especially with a recent dilemma he's been going through. It's hard to really explain that, though."
"Hmmm I see...Arthur more or less is like that, though recently he's been...not himself. Normally he is too deep in thought when trying to study magic. But now it's gotten worse, he wouldn't even listen to me! I don't understand."
"He sounds like a pain to deal with, at least Cedsy isn't going crazy or anything! But I need to find him, and I can help you find your brother too! You can count on me, I'm crazy strong!"
"Really? That's great! Finally someone who understands me." Tinni's eyes lit up, before frowning again. "Though I get the feeling that if your brother and my brother were to meet each other, I doubt it would end well."
"Surely Cedsy would want to reason with him. He's not the type to fight someone unless necessary."
"Well he better watch out, Arthur is a pretty aggressive person." Tinni laughed.
As Fee was about to continue their conversation, Seliph and the rest of the group finally arrived. "Quit lazing around! We are almost there, get moving," He said, though they couldn't tell if he was joking or not.
"Alright Lord Seliph!" Fee jumped to her feet and turned toward her friend. "Isn't he the best?"
"Y-Yeah, I can see you really like him," The thunder mage replied, standing up as well.
"Hehe, yeah, he's a good leader!" She said. "Well let's not keep him waiting! Let's go!" Fee exclaimed, Tinni only nodded and followed her. She was happy about her new friend, on their way to Leonster they kept talking, Tinni seemed happy as well. Maybe this was the beginning of a long lasting friendship between the two.
The first thing they noticed upon reaching the castle was the heavily damaged structure, especially on the outside. At least some of the inside was intact, but it still looked very damaged. After enough walking through the inside, they were met with what looked to be the throne room, with a decently sized group of people inside, a lot to count that was for sure.
Not long after they went inside, Seliph was immediately talking with someone. 'I guess being a lord attracted many people,' Fee thought, and with that both girls were curious and went to have a look. And of course, Fee especially was excited. "Who is this?" She asked.
"Surely you must've known, this is my cousin Leif," Seliph said, to which Leif looked at them and waved.
"Ooh, so you're Prince Leif, huh?" Fee said, laughing a little. "I've heard a bit about you, you seem interesting. By the way my name's Fee, I'm a part of Seliph's army!"
"Hmmm, interesting. So you were that pegasus knight who helped out during the defense of Leonster, am I right?"
"Yep! That would be me!" She beamed. "I did good right?"
"Heh, yeah, you did," Leif said. It looked as though he were about to say something else before he got cut off by someone else, her hair looked very familiar to Fee.
"Lord Leif, you're not hurt, are you? I was worried you would've gotten injured during the battle." The girl said. She sounded soft, her voice was very familiar to Fee as well, 'could it be…' Fee thought.
"Ah, Julia. I'm alright, I just need a bit of rest before I can go back. But I'll be okay, are you hurt though?"
"No, I am alright as well. I was just worried about your safety."
Fee was unable to react once she looked at the girl next to Leif, her eyes only lit up when she realized who it was. She felt excited, no, more than that. Was it really her? It couldn't be, could it? But she heard her name, so it had to be her, right? It all just felt so surreal, did she find her that quickly? She couldn't describe what she was feeling, but some people had noticed that she was a little too excited. She immediately rushed to the girl and hugged her. "Julia! Oh my gosh, it's really you! I've missed you so much, I'm so glad you are still alive, you had me worried sick!" She stopped to breathe. "I have so much to tell you and so much to ask you!" She continued.
"Ah, Fee! I didn't think I'd see you here, were you looking for me? Where is Ced?" She paused. "Well I do have so many questions myself! We should talk over some snacks soon! I'm just so happy to see you again!" She replied with a smile and hugged her back.
"What happened to you?! You are so talkative now, did you really miss me that much? Well now I'm excited to talk with you again!" She paused and backed away from the hug, then she looked over at Tinni who had been next to her this whole time. "Tinni look! This is the friend I just told you about, her name is Julia! We should all go eat lunch together, what do you say?"
"Y-Yes! That would be nice," Tinni replied. Then looked at Julia and made a bow with her head. "Um...I'm Tinni, nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you too! I see you and Fee are getting along well, I know we will be good friends as well!" She replied with another smile.
"Well, you two. We could go outside now, There's so much to talk about! But first, I'll show you my pegasus!" Fee said, taking both of her hands, "Wait, where did Seliph and Leif go?"
Julia looked around the crowded room. "O-Oh I think they went somewhere else."
"Were we really that boring? Well anyway, let's go!" Fee exclaimed and took Julia and Tinni outside, she was filled with joy after encountering her best friend after so long.
After seeing Fee's pegasus, they got food and went under the tree where Fee and Tinni sat before. This time with Julia. Once they got comfortable enough, Fee asked, "So, Julia! How have you been, it's been months since I last saw you," Fee said, taking a bite of her sandwich.
"Oh, um well...it was...gruesome, Thracia is so...scary to live in. But, one of the clerics gave me a staff, and once I learned how to use it I became of great help to the army. Perhaps if I wasn't there, I might not have saved other lives."
Fee frowned. "I see, sorry you had to go through that. Sounds horrible to see, especially for your first time outside of Silesse."
"Oh, so you two are from Silesse as well?" Tinni asked.
"Yeah, we are, well, Julia here just kind showed up one day and we took her in our home. But I've lived in Silesse my whole life. But I had no idea you were from Silesse too! We have so much more in common!"
"Well, I don't have much memory of Silesse if I'm being honest...I got taken away by House Friege with my family when I was very young...so I have pretty much lived my whole life in Alster. Though I was never allowed outside the castle."
"Huh, we keep finding things in common. I was never allowed outside my home as well! I'm lucky I even left that place, to begin with," She said and turned toward Julia. "I was sent here to look for Julia, and that's how I wound up here now. I suppose I should search for Cedsy now too."
"Ced…" Julia whispered softly.
"He'll be alright, we must trust him," Fee reassured her, patting her on the back.
"Well, I promised I'd help find your brother, you remember? He shouldn't be too far!" Tinni chimed in.
"You are right, once we rescue Arthur, we will be in Thracia. I'm sure we'll find him," Fee said, before switching the topic again, for Julia's sake. "Well I guess it's my turn to tell how I ended up here. I was on my way to look for Julia and I met Amid, an interesting man if I do say so myself. We might bicker a lot, but we've been fighting partners for a while, we trust each other. He and I landed somewhere in...Isaach I think it was called? Where we eventually met Lord Seliph, and the rest is history, you could say."
"Hmmm," Tinni pondered, looking around the area. "Amid you say? I guess that explains how he got here. Hmmm, speaking about him I've not seen him in a while. I wonder where he ran off to."
"I dunno, maybe he's still in Leonster's castle," Fee suggested. "Let's go see where he is! I wonder if he's being a dumbass again."
"O-Okay!" Julia replied, unknowing of what to do in that situation. But she just followed along with Fee as she had always been used to. But it was nice to finally be with her friend again after months and she was happy to have made a new friend in Tinni.