Chapter 16: Strategist
It was good to see Eldegai in high spirits again. Or as high as they could be, I supposed. His voice still quivered when the subject of Araksi came up, and he talked more than he had. Perhaps he wished to fill the silence she had left. I couldn't blame him, but I also couldn't fully mourn for her myself. She was likely still alive... Perhaps she would have joined any of the other soldiers that fell with her and they were surviving together. Perhaps Gunter and even Hans had decided to join them. Although that did give me different worries.
"Never put much stock in them before, you know," he chattered, leaning on his broom as he was prone to do. "Always thought they were so high and mighty. And maybe they still are."
I grunted in reply, scribbling away at the parchment. It was oddly easier to write and listen than it was to read and listen. Unfortunately, I needed to do all three.
"But at least they seem to be treating you well in your meetings, right?" he continued. "And Princess Azura even deigned to talk to me! A lowly servant! She spoke like I was her equal? How nice can you be?!"
I pushed away the book I'd just opened with annoyance. It was a book of seemingly random proverbs about war, rather than any immediate advice or examples of military tactics I could adapt. Perhaps it could have been useful if I had the time to properly study them, but there were now only days until we were to begin marching.
"Maybe I'll talk to her; see if she wants to talk to you again." I doubted very much she actually remembered him. Their only encounter had been during the battle when Eldegai had been entrusted with delivering the Ganglari to me safely.
"You'd do that?"
"Sure," I smiled at him. He was more upright than he had been a few moments prior, but quickly relaxed again when he saw me looking.
"I mean... Not that she'd want to, but... Go ahead. Not like it matters."
I laughed briefly, then returned to my notes.
I had been trying to solve multiple problems at once. First, there was the Yato. To my knowledge, the sword was the only way to actually harm and defeat Anankos. There were two people that could wield the weapon in the game. One of them hadn't even been born yet. So, Kana wasn't really much of an option.
The only option I could see was for Corrin to be blessed by the Rainbow Sage. Persuading Mikoto that Corrin should go in Ryoma's stead shouldn't be too difficult. The real challenge was persuading myself.
To my knowledge, the Rainbow Sage only had one good blessing left in him. He was too old and frail to offer any more magic. Another, more important blessing was supposed to occur, the target being the Yato itself, enchanting it to allow it to draw power from the other weapons and become strong enough to defeat Anankos. It was possible that the Rainbow Sage could manage both blessings, either as a package deal or when the opportunities presented themselves, but if he proved unable... I couldn't risk it.
"Are you even listening?" Far too late, I realised Eldegai had continued speaking. As I turned to him, he seized upon my moment of distraction to snatch one of my notes towards him. He studied it triumphantly, then his face fell into a comical mixture of bewilderment and disappointment.
"What does this say?" he asked. Of course, he was illiterate. In Hoshido, only the upper classes learned how to read and write. But, even if he had been able to read the common script shared by the countries of this world, he would still have been out of luck.
I had decided to code my own notes. I'd used the Roman alphabet, instead of this world's. And pictures. Mainly from when I had been bored enough to scribble out a childish doodle.
"Is this a fish?" Eldegai asked, pointing at a horse.
I rolled my eyes at him and snatched the papers away. "Those are my notes on the journey to the meeting with Nohr. We will be outside of the barrier so if Nohr wants to ambush us, they'll be able. We need a stealthy approach, but we also need to be ready in case things go sour."
"You think that will happen?"
That was a fair question, I supposed. The correspondence we'd had regarding the meeting suggested King Garon himself would be present. With his murder of King Sumeragi years before, he had already proven himself to be... Unpleasant in negotiations. Of course, he'd had the advantage there in that Sumeragi had gone mostly alone, having trusted his Nohrian counterpart to act in good faith. King Garon, meanwhile, had brought along a personal firing squad. They, along with a young Corrin, had been the only ones present to witness his betrayal.
He was still likely to bring the Nohrian army with him to the Canyon – Hoshido was doing the same - but would he be so willing to reveal his true colours in front of so many witnesses?
"I have to account for the possibility."
"Stealth isn't easy when you have an army clanking along in full armour," Eldegai mused. I stared at the notes as though doing so would make words appear. My friend nattered away, and my focus steadily drifted away from him. "I guess it's a shame Queen Mikoto can't go alone. Or that she's not a ninja. A flying ninja. That would be cool. And sneaky."
I paused in my reach for the quill, and turned to him. "Alone?"
He laughed. "Yeah, stupid thing to say, I know."
"No. Actually, I think that was one of the smartest things for you to say." I stood, tapping him on the shoulder, an idea blossoming into place with the smile on my face. "That horse is a fish."
...
After the fire which claimed most of their rooms, the royal family had decided to rent out an entire inn. The staff there had been paid handsomely, before being replaced in their duties by a plethora of guards and retainers. Most of the other nobles had decided to do similarly, or had simply returned back to their own territories. Some had done so under the pretence of preparing their constituents for the possible war. And some had meant it.
Lord Sumaizhi of Izumo had remained in an inn, though he complained about it at every opportunity. He was used to the luxuries of Izumo, and was most distraught to lose his own personal pampering pad he had managed to create in his own quarters.
Even with Lord Sumaizhi's protests, the royal inn remained the cleanest and nicest in all of Hoshido. Its sigil, a hearth under a thatched roof, was ornately painted on even the plates. Its proprietor was a handsome young man, who had inherited the inn at a young age and worked full time with his large family.
It was thus that I found myself being led to Yukimura's room by a small boy, polite but incessantly curious.
"Mister Lord Yukimura, sir!" the young waiter chirped at the wooden door. He had to stretch to reach the handles, so seemed content to wait instead. "Mister Derek is here for you!"
The door opened shortly. The strategist and tactician looked like he had been ready to leave for a while. He smiled down at the boy, and ruffled his hair as thanks for his services. To me, he offered a scowl, "It would seem timekeeping is another of your shortcomings."
I flushed apologetically, but he waved away my mumbled apology. "I only pray this does not prove a greater waste of my time than it has already. Some of us actually get on with the work assigned to them."
I bit down at the brief bubble of indignation, and nodded, "This is important. Didn't you get my message?"
Yukimura glared. "The only message I received was that you wished to show me something."
"I... I'd said that I might know somebody that could help us in our negotiations with Nohr. I want to introduce you."
Yukimura raised an eyebrow. "What, have you captured a Nohrian without my knowledge? One other than Lady Corrin's insufferable butler?"
I shook my head. "We're meeting at-"
"No." Yukimura interrupted. He turned to the child, who I had apparently forgotten about. "Son, would you kindly do me the honours of cleaning my room? I worry that I may have broken a glass last night."
The boy nodded happily, and rushed inside to do his job. Yukimura turned back to me, frowning again.
"You speak too openly. Come on then. Lead me where you will."
As he followed me outside, I checked my palm.
"Yukimura Senryaku. Born Shirasagi, 1949 FC.
Class: Mechanist (p), Level: One.
HP: 28/28
Strength: 10
Magic: 2
Skill: 13
Speed: 9
Luck: 7
Defence: 8
Resistance: 8
Movement: 7
Weapon Ranks: Shuriken-C, Yumi-C
Inventory: Barb Shuriken"
...
With the castle nearby, standing as a reminder that her protection was not far away, and the lake itself sheltered by a natural forest garden, it was easy to see why Azura's favourite place to sing and relax was the small lake east of the city.
I thought it a shame that my current companion seemed so unimpressed, because it made my own sense of wonder much harder to mask. I stopped on an outcropping of land, that seemed both familiar yet not, and Yukimura flicked a pink petal from his shoulder.
"Lilith?"
She was here. Hiding.
"Lilith?" I repeated, louder this time. "I'm Derek. We met at the Bottomless Canyon briefly."
A ripple ran across the lake. A petal drifted towards me.
Yukimura opened his mouth to protest my actions, but closed it again shortly. A creature emerged from the still water. Red, blue and white covered her fish-like body in something between fur and scales. She floated in the air towards me, tail waving gently as her yellow eyes stared suspiciously between the two strangers.
I stepped back, to be closer to Yukimura, and she finally spoke, "I recognise you. Though I do not know the other."
When it became clear I was too slow in my introductions, Yukimura collected himself enough to swallow, and reply. "Yukimura. I am Yukimura, royal strategist of Hoshido. And you are... A dragon? Forgive me. Lilith, was it?"
"Yes. It's an honour to meet you, Sir Yukimura," Lilith responded, bowing her small reptilian head respectfully. "I came here hidden to serve and protect Lady Corrin."
"I see... A dragon Princess served by a dragon..."
Lilith giggled, and I decided to cut in. "Lilith, I- we need your help. Can you- I've heard-" I grimaced. I hadn't properly considered how to word my question without making Yukimura suspicious. I suddenly regretted bringing him along, but as the army's tactician, it was important he be able to formulate plans around all of the information available to him. However, letting him know about Valla and Anankos was out of the question. Having that information in the wrong hands was too risky, with the curse still active.
Lilith closed her eyes, then opened them again, staring at me. "I thought so. You smell of him. It's very faint, but it's there."
I blinked, and she came closer.
"Your pocket. What is inside?"
I reached into my pockets, and retrieved the only thing inside. The small rectangular phone-like device Anankos had given me. I held it, and Lilith seemed to see it too.
"He trusted you," Lilith said at length. "I do not know you, but I shall trust you too."
I blinked again. "You can see it?"
"I can. What you hold is the gift of Dragonsight. It is how I and other dragons see the world. Although for us it is... Less material."
I stared at the phone. "... I've been calling it Jake."
Lilith laughed.
After a while, Yukimura cleared his throat. "Perhaps it's simply that I have been unable to follow your strange conversation, but I do fail to see how it will aid us moving forward."
I smiled apologetically at Yukimura, and turned back to Lilith. "The Hoshidan army is going to meet with the Nohrians at the Bottomless Canyon. And... I was wondering... Would it be possible to transport everybody in the Astral Realm?"
Lilith swayed from side to side. "It's possible. I've only ever created a Deeprealm for myself before... Although... I had planned on inviting Cor- I mean..."
"Can you try?" I urged.
Hesitantly, Lilith nodded.
...
In the game, Lilith in her dragon form had carried a ball around with her. The orb had looked opaque in the artwork, and I'd honestly thought it somewhat silly. But seeing it in person, it somehow looked incredibly fragile and precious.
The orb had appeared before her, materialising like a wavering bubble popping back into existence. "Bubble" was actually a good word to describe it. It was as large as a football – about a foot in diameter, and transparent. But staring through it, the other side was distorted by small rainbows of colours.
I had read about dragons, and the nature of Anankos and Lilith suddenly seemed very clear to me, upon seeing how Lilith's ball worked.
Dragons were magical by nature, and drew from different elemental sources. Fire dragons, for example, drew from fire, and wind dragons from wind. I had already known parts of this.
Back home, I had never played the first Fire Emblem game, but I was aware that its antagonist, Medeus, was an Earth Dragon. Meanwhile, Naga, who opposed Medeus, was a Divine Dragon.
Information on Divine magic had led me to conclude that it was the same sort of magic as the healing magic found in staves. Healing magic was also called Holy, and even Light, though the latter was usually used for the staves that did not heal – Hexing and Warping staves, for example.
Lilith's bubble, the shifting translucent forms of the Vallite soldiers, Azura's connections to water...
"Yes, I believe so," Lilith responded, sounding surprised by my question. "Although I'm afraid I was never told very much about my own species. I am truthfully surprised you know so much about dragons. I had never known about 'Water Dragons,' let alone 'Divine Dragons...'"
I nodded, walking beside her through the massive castle she had created within her bubble. The architecture matched very little of the Japanese styled Hoshidan castle, or what I knew of the more gothic and European inspired Castle Krakenburg in Nohr.
Lilith's castle was, rather fittingly, I supposed, much rounder in design. The doorways reminded me of Lord of the Rings hobbit holes, and the light filtered through high porthole windows.
"I've heard of other dragons," I told Lilith, as Yukimura stopped ahead of us to admire a wall carving. "One called Naga, who prophesised that all dragons would one day... Lose themselves. She warned... Gave advice to the other dragons that they should take on human forms to save their minds..."
Lilith remained silent.
"Sorry..."
"Naga... The other dragons... What happened to them?"
Yukimura came back over, clearly having been listening, "All records of dragons indicate they died out many years ago. Although I now suspect it's much more likely they have gone deep into hiding."
"I don't know what happened to Naga," truthfully, I didn't even know whether Naga existed in this world or not. I'd had my own theory about how all of the Fire Emblem games were part of the same world's history, but now that one of the games had become my reality, I hardly gave it much thought now. "But I do know one dragon that's still alive – the Rainbow Sage."
Yukimura gave a start at that, "The Rainbow Sage is a dragon?"
I nodded to him, but kept an eye on Lilith. Perhaps I should never have mentioned any of this...
"Garon met with the Rainbow Sage," she said at length. "If a dragon gave Garon power, then we are in greater danger than I thought."
A dragon did give Garon power. But it wasn't the Rainbow Sage.
...
Author's Note:
Lilith is one of those characters I feel gets really underused in stories, and even in Fates itself. With that in mind, I decided to give her a bigger role (even though it's functionally the same as her role in the game).
On my profile, I have a poll for another self-insert story - most of them have outlines and plots laid out, and some even have initial chapters drafted up or first chapters fully written. I plan on working on them all, but voting would let me know which to prioritise and where interest lies (if you've read this far in this story, the Fire Emblem ones would probably appeal more to you, I suppose).