Interlude - Evans

Fate certainly enjoyed toying with mortals. Though most of those captured from Yngvi were in Evans Castle, Lady Edain was not among them. Instead, Prince Munnir dragged her deeper into the forests of Verdane and Lord Sigurd plans to rescue her, even if it means invading another country. But invasions require soldiers, and there is no refusing the volunteers now. Those who did not join the knights and main army in Isaach now join us, eager to assist however they can. So few of them seem to acknowledge the very real threat of death and debilitating injuries, boasting of how many 'savages' they will slay.

I wonder if such boasts will hold once the graves start being dug. No one can save everyone, after all, and I know no matter how hard I tried, many of these volunteers would die. Some would die before they even reached me; others would die under my hands. That was the fate of a healer, after all. I simply had to do my best.

"So, Arvis is sending us some extra soldiers," Lord Sigurd murmured around his teacup, reading the missive from Belhalla. Somehow or another, our days started like this. I would make him tea in the room he had set up for his office, and we would discuss the condition of the army while he read through reports and letters. "I really hope he's not forgoing sleep to give us this help. They will be quite the boon, of course, but the last thing anyone needs is the Duke of Velthomer collapsing from exhaustion."

"Sadly, I fear all we can do from here is hope," I replied, pouring him a little more tea. While he sat at his desk, I stood nearby, going through my own lists. It felt strange to sit, but I couldn't just stand around and do nothing. "I shall want to give them a full health check-up upon their arrival." I wished I could do the same for Arvis, but he truly was too far away. I might have to try and sneak a letter to Aida and plead for her to keep a closer eye on him. "Shall I assume we also received official permission to continue on?"

"Aye." Lord Sigurd briefly set his tea down to hold up the letter with the broken wax seal of the royal family. "Once the soldiers arrive, we'll march."

"I see." I made myself keep calm. "How shall we arrange the infirmary, then? We have two healers." Lady Ethlyn preferred to be mounted on the battlefield, while I… "Would you like me to set up a field infirmary?"

"Truthfully, I would feel better if you remained here at the castle with guards, since it is far more defensible. After all, we go to battle with soldiers so green we could plant them." He said the words like they were an old saying. Perhaps it was among knights. "We also fight an enemy who knows the terrain far better than we ever could."

"I understand that." At least, I thought I understood enough. The chances of them slipping past were simply too great, especially given our relatively limited numbers. "Still, it will be difficult on the wounded to travel a great distance."

"I know. Yet, sadly, all the warp and rescue staves in both Chalphy and Yngvi are currently being used on the Isaachian front. It would take too long to obtain any staves from Leonster, assuming they can spare any." Lord Sigurd set down the missive from Arvis and sat back in his chair to simply sip his tea. I was glad he liked this kind; it had many herbs good for calming the heart and boosting one's immunity. "Most likely, I'll have Ethlyn set up a field infirmary. It means less quick fixes in the field itself, but I believe it will ease the burden overall."

"Does she know how?" I tried not to think of how the badly wounded would die. It was no slight on Lady Ethlyn's abilities. Rather, I knew triage would have to take into account those who would survive the trek. The badly wounded wouldn't. "I can assist her in making an inventory and basic diagram."

"That'll be good. Thank you." Lord Sigurd frowned slightly and looked to the door. I did as well, though I neither heard nor saw anything amiss. "Why would someone be running-?"

"Miss Alicia!" The door suddenly burst open then to reveal a beaming Lord Oifey carrying a small, bloodied cloth. "Here!" he blurted, holding it out. While Lord Sigurd blinked slowly to try and comprehend the sudden intrusion, I unwrapped the cloth to see two small spheres with a pale yellow liquid swirling within. Based on the blood, I would guess these were not fruit or seeds, but some sort of organ... "Ygg venom glands!" ...Pardon?

"To mildly explain…" Sir Alec appeared in the doorway, with exasperation dripping from his words. The slight smile and gentle eyes, however, made it 'fond, if incredulous, exasperation'. "While training, we discovered a ygg had slithered into the yard. Probably curious about all the recent activity. Sadly, panic led to the poor thing being killed. Then, while we were disposing of it, Lord Oifey insisted on dissecting it for its venom glands. And carrying them here." Sir Alec leaned against the doorframe, raising an eyebrow to give Lord Oifey a droll look. "You know… most people give their crushes flowers. Not the organs of a snake."

"I-it's not like that, Alec!" Lord Oifey flushed bright pink from embarrassment, which was only heightened by his scowl. "Miss Alicia knows how to use alchemy to transform a ygg's venom into the antidote we buy from the apothecaries and promised to show me!"

"...I think she was pulling your leg there, Lord Oifey."

"No, it is, in fact, a key ingredient to the common, broad-spectrum antidote sold in apothecaries," I gently corrected, trying to keep my amusement in check. Embarrassingly, I only just succeeded in appearing calm and serene, as I should. Father Eirik would've scolded me severely if he knew... "I do not believe we have all the ingredients, however. I had planned to visit the apothecaries here in Evans to add to our stock. Perhaps I should make that a priority for the day."

"Here, I'll escort you," Lord Sigurd offered, already standing. He made sure to finish the last of his tea before setting his cup down on the table. His slight smile was the only betrayal of his amusement at the situation. "I want to get my own feel for the town. Alec?"

"Midir and I took a lovely stroll that I shall be delighted to gossip about later, my lord," Sir Alec replied, bowing. It took me a second to realize he and Midir had been scouting for things Lord Sigurd might miss. It took me another to figure out that Sir Alec had anticipated that order. "For now, what should we do with the... organs?"

"You may hand them to me," I answered, wrapping them back up. I supposed this would save us some funds; these two alone would provide enough for a very large batch. "The initial process requires time to set, so I can begin that before leaving." Lord Oifey's eyes brightened, and I knew what he'd ask before he even opened his mouth. "Yes, Lord Oifey, you may watch."

The two of us left with barely a polite farewell, and headed down the hall towards the infirmary. It was a path I knew well by now, well enough that I did not have to keep my attention on navigating. Instead, I could let my mind wander to what all I would need to do to prepare the venom for medicine-making. I had half-expected Lord Oifey to ask me while we walked, but instead, he kept silent. The only sound at all were my steady steps on the stone floor, and his 'quick-quick-slow-slow' steps as he tried to walk his usual brisk pace, but then fell back to stay even with me.

"...Miss Alicia?" Lord Oifey sounded strangely hesitant as he broke the silence. "How is your arm?" he asked quietly. I wondered why he asked, and remembered the conversation we had in the church, before the attack. Then I wondered why he would ask again. "Does it hurt?"

"Lord Oifey, I told you already," I gently chided, even as I tried to think of why he would ask. Did Lord Sigurd or one of his knights have scars that ached? I vaguely remembered reading something about that being fairly common for warriors; I should research and ensure I had medicine on hand for it. "The bandages simply cover a scar."

"No, I meant your wound. You were hurt protecting me because I…" He looked down, doing his best to hide his face. It didn't matter, of course. The guilt radiating off him was practically palpable. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I froze. I'm sorry I made you get hurt and made Midir's wound worse."

"...Sir Midir's wound did not worsen. It may take longer to heal, but considering the size and placement of the wound, his recovery would be lengthy anyway. A day or two more means little in that light." I stopped walking and rested my free hand on his shoulder. When he refused to look at me, I crouched down to better see his face. "As for my own, it is infinitely preferable for me to suffer a minor injury than for you to suffer a major one. The minor injury was easily tended to. A major injury might not have been." In truth, I had forgotten all about it. It had been healed the next morning. Lady Ethlyn had insisted, to my surprise. I had assumed she'd forget about it.

"But you were still hurt on my account." He spoke more to the floor than me. "If I hadn't frozen…"

"Do not forget that it was me who sent us crashing to the ground instead of safely running." I moved my free hand to his cheek and tried to get him to look up. When that failed, I nudged his chin to force it. "You cannot drown in what-ifs and apologies. They take away time better spent bettering yourself. The past is unchanging, but the future is not." I smiled serenely at him, and thankfully, he did finally look me in the eye. "Mistakes happen. Weaknesses are abundant. But you cannot let them stop you. You will never grow if you do."

"...But Midir…"

"Sir Midir made his choice." His wound reopening was my mistake. I was the one who first stitched it, and I was the one who made them too weak. "Now, you must make your own." Still, he looked so morose… how did I fix this? How did I help him? How did I help him heal? The only thing I could think of was… "Perhaps you might learn how to make medicines? That would help me dearly, and it would help the army as well."

"...You'll teach me?" He didn't quite perk up at the thought, but his mood did lighten. "Really?"

"Yes, I shall. We can also continue your sewing lessons." I stood up finally and nudged him down the hall. We were not far from the infirmary. "For now, however, I must prep these glands. Do you still want to watch?"

"Yes, please!" Finally, he smiled. "Thank you, Miss Alicia."

"You're welcome, Lord Oifey."

When we first moved into Castle Evans, I had assumed I would handle cleaning the infirmary alone. I had always been the only one to scour the infirmary areas back at the church, after all, not content with 'good enough'. Yet during our first morning, I found both Sir Alec and Sir Naoise in the doorway of the infirmary, declaring that they had been assigned 'cleaning the infirmary' for their early morning chores. While at first, I had thought they had simply made excuses for being bored, I learned later that they truly had been assigned that. Lady Ethlyn herself had informed me, when she arrived later to assist in setting up the infirmary, and she also told me it was part of the daily chore rotation. It was something I couldn't seem to get used to. No one had ever helped me before...

"Miss Alicia, do you want this blanket to soak?" Some, like Mister Finn, even went beyond what the chore suggested. 'Cleaning the infirmary' typically meant things such as sweeping and mopping the floors. In my overzealousness, it also meant scrubbing and wiping down the bedframes and tables and windows, and dusting the shelves and corners of the wall. "It has a large stain, but I think it can be scrubbed out." Mister Finn, however, insisted on not only doing all of that, but the laundry as well. "Miss Alicia?"

"I need to see the stain in question, Mister Finn," I gently chided, looking up from my book but not pausing in my sewing. I had quickly learned that when Mister Finn worked, it was much better for me to focus on my mending and my studying. Any attempts to assist would result in a very frantic squire apologizing profusely for 'not doing it right'. Strange as I found it, I did like the extra time to go through my books. "You have it hidden by the bucket."

"Oh, whoops," Mister Finn mumbled, flushing a faint pink. He carefully walked around his 'laundry area' to make sure he didn't knock over any buckets or soaps and dutifully presented the blanket, and stain, in question. "This one here... what even is it? It doesn't look like blood."

"Hmm... based on the color, I would guess a medicine." I set the blanket I was mending in my lap, my needle on the table by my book, and took the blanket from him to hold it up to the light. By doing so, I saw this was not 'one stain', but rather multiple smaller stains that had bled together. "Yes, I am almost certain it was one." Based on its placement from the edge, I would guess it had spilled while administering it to a patient. "In which case, it should come out with a wash." Why the healers before hadn't already done so was beyond me. "Soak it in warmer water, will you? Let's see if I'm correct."

"Very well." Mister Finn smiled, pleased, and returned to his laundry area to soak it, and other items he'd deemed needed it. Once he had it all in place, he went back to his mopping and I made sure to tuck my legs up under me in my chair while I returned to my mending and studying. I knew from experience Mister Finn would rather try to awkwardly work around me instead of asking me to move. "Oh..." However, in the middle of the mopping, Mister Finn stopped to look out the window. From here, there was a clear view of the practice yards, where the 'soldiers' were running their drills. "...When the songs of war ring out, the winds shall be heavy..."

"Pardon?" Noticing how high in the sky the sun was, I set aside my studying and began reading through my various notes on the... on our soldiers. I'd given each one an extensive check-up upon their recruitment to establish baselines and to look for underlying health problems. It also gave me the opportunity to nip potential illnesses and infestations in the bud.

"Huh? Oh, that was aloud..." Mister Finn mumbled something under his breath, once again flushing from embarrassment. "It's a saying in Leonster, taken from the Tale of Diarmuid."

"I have not heard that story before."

"It's a tale that predates even the Loptyrian Empire, detailing how the hero Diarmuid saved the lands from the terror-filled reign of the giants...!" Though Mister Finn did his best to appear nonchalant about the story, even returning to his mopping to support it, there was no disguising his sparkling eyes and breathless wonder. "Do you know about giants, Miss Alicia? Lord Quan told me that Grannvale does not have tales of them."

"No, we do not." Given that Grannvale was once the center of the Loptyrian Empire, a lot of the 'older tales' had been lost, unlike the other lands where the Empire's grip had been looser. Later, the Church of the Twelve Gods spread their own stories to fill in the gap and very few even among scholars sought to bring back the old. "Were they monstrous?"

"Not all, of course. Some were quite kind. But these ones were wicked creatures who delighted in mayhem. Even now, sealed away beneath the earth as they are, their attempts at escape make the ground quake!" Mister Finn did his best to stay on task, but his eagerness to explain the story had him gesturing. At least he hadn't slung water yet. "Though at first, they were easily defeated by the sun's rays, they cast the realm into eternal night by making the mountains erupt with molten rock and smoke."

"Yet, the hero Diarmuid managed to slay and seal them away?"

"Yes!" He was just one or two steps away from bouncing in excitement. "Despite the monsters they crafted and loosed, despite their weapons and fierce skill of arms, the hero Diarmuid slayed their king, sealed the giants below, and brought light back to the world!" Only then, however, did he realize just how excited he was getting, and he abruptly tried to pull himself together to act like a professional squire. It didn't work, but I pretended for his sake. "Regardless, the saying comes from a speech Diarmuid gives to his soldiers on the eve of the final battle as a means of steeling his resolve and steadying the nerves of his comrades."

"I see." That sort of story did seem to suit Mister Finn well. "Do you like the story?"

"It's... my favorite, truthfully." He smiled shyly, ducking his head. "I would read it constantly, to the point that Father Gregor joked I'd wear it out."

"Father Gregor?"

"Like Grannvale, orphans are primarily raised by the church in Leonster." Ah. "I lost my parents when I was very young, before I could remember them. Though, that's not an uncommon tale in Leonster, given our... skirmishes with Thracia." He paused and dutifully returned to mopping. "What were your parents like, Miss Alicia?"

"I never had any. Like you, I am an orphan raised by the church." The story came easily, all the more so because it wasn't a lie. Few could call my father a 'parent' of anything but disaster and pain, and my mother threw me away as soon as I became an inconvenience. Then she was killed protecting Cigyun, and he killed himself to throw a tantrum. "Mister Finn, who is charge of drafting the training for the soldiers again?"

"Hmm? Ah, Lord Quan is." Mister Finn straightened, holding the mop to his side as if it was a lance. "Do you have a message for him?"

"There are a few soldiers I wish for him to keep an eye on. If I give you a list, can you deliver it to him when you're done here?"

"Of course. He asked to see me once I was done with my chores."

"Thank you."

Distressingly, Mister Finn seemed to sense my ill mood and finished his duties in silence. When he left with my missive, I spared a moment to rest my head on the table, mortified that I'd let my calm slip so much. My issues with my parents were no excuse. A healer always needed to be calm and serene, a reliable beacon even in the most chaotic of situations. Father Eirik would have snapped at me ten times over if he'd somehow learn. 'Blood will always tell', he would mutter at the end, just as he always did, and then he would ignore me until I behaved properly again. But time I spent moping was time I could spend working, so I pushed myself up and went back through my notes on the soldiers, intent on ensuring they were as concise and informative as possible. Though, I did end up distracted just a few minutes later...

"Ah, hello?" After all, Azelle shyly peeked into the infirmary, glancing around worriedly. Upon seeing only me, however, he relaxed and quickly darted inside. "Um… here," he mumbled, pushing a warm mug into my free hand. The smell of apples wafted with the steam, and I couldn't help but smile a little. "I remember Arvis saying you liked apple cider, and Arden warmed up a bunch with some spices in the kitchen. So…"

"Thank you," I whispered, smiling up at him. It touched me that he remembered. Truthfully, I liked apples in general, but apple cider itself conjured up pleasant memories. Arvis had bought me some during our first meeting all those years ago, and since Velthomer had apple groves that grew year round, he always made sure to bring me some when he visited. Apples themselves were delicious, but 'apple cider' was a reminder of family. It was a reminder that despite everything, there were people who loved me. It was a reminder of my overworking and fretful older brother and my adorable younger brother. It was also tasty, particularly with the cinnamon brewed with it. "I'm glad you thought of me."

"W-well… um…" Azelle smiled, soft yet bright, even as he looked away in embarrassment. "Ah… anyway, is there anything I can do to help? I know Finn handled the cleaning this morning, but… um…"

"Hmm… well, will you go back over the inventory for me?" I flipped through my notes and produced where I had written down all the current medicines and herbs we had in stock. I had planned on doing it myself later, but another pair of eyes would only be a boon. It would be good for ensuring everything was properly labeled and easily found. "Everything should be close to what is written, within one or two. If it's more, then make a note for me, please."

"I will!" Azelle's smile brightened, visibly elated, and he dashed into the side room where I had everything stored. "Wow, this is super organized. I'm not sure even Aida could find fault with it."
"Neatness is important for healing." I settled back into my chair and took up my mending again, practicing while I studied. I would have to hunt for the library later today to ferret out any medical books that might be on hand. I was curious about local remedies. "Letting my work area become as messy as Arvis's could lead to me harming a patient."

"I don't see how he finds anything and turns everything in on time when his desk looks like someone dropped some spells on it." Azelle hummed quietly as he worked, a nonsensical string of notes that sounded cheerful. "Actually, it would look neater if it did. Tailtiu accidentally cast a thunder spell on his desk once."

"I believe you wrote to me about that, actually." The incident felt familiar enough. "Was this because Tailtiu wanted to see if she could cast a spell while throwing her tome in the air?"

"Yes, that's the one!" Azelle laughed at the memory. "Lex still won't let her hear the end of it."

"I'm sure." Footsteps caught my ear, and I brought up my hand in silent warning to let Azelle know we had people approaching. It was fortunate that we did, for Lady Ethlyn bounded into the infirmary not long afterwards. "Good morning, Lady Ethlyn."

"Good morning, Miss Alicia!" she chirped, skipping over to the table where I sat. She peered inside the side room where Azelle was, and cheerily waved. "Good morning, Azelle!" Azelle mumbled some sort of greeting in return, focused more on the inventory now. "So, I was thinking we should visit the castle town together, Miss Alicia. If you don't mind, that is. People are willing to babble different things to someone patching them up, after all, and I'm hoping that by tending to them, we can show we are not simply invaders bent on conquest."

"I believe it is a good idea, as illnesses will run rampant through both town and castle," I replied, tying off my thread. I then moved to a different spot on the blanket to mend the tear there. "I wish to wait until after Azelle has finished checking the inventory, however."

"Right, that makes sense." Lady Ethlyn pushed herself up to sit on the table, letting her feet dangle so she could idly kick them. "So far, it seems the townsfolk are amicable towards us. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad."

"Yes, because whyever would they not be amicable to the armed people who took two castles while severely outnumbered?" Lord Lex's dry voice announced his arrival into what had been the quiet infirmary. Now, however, it had people who were not here for treatment or to work. At least, I assumed Lex wasn't here to work, considering the tray of fruit he carried. "Midir claims that we need to gobble all this up before it goes bad," he 'explained', setting the tray down between Lady Ethlyn and me. "So, I figured I'd make sure some got to our head healer got some, since she eats at irregular hours." ...When did I last eat again? I vaguely remembered nibbling on something around midnight while I was making more medicines…

"Well, who can refuse delicious fruit?" Lady Ethlyn laughed, promptly picking up something to pop into her mouth. Noticing there were apple slices, I snuck a few closer to me to eat while studying. I couldn't mend while eating, nor did I want to risk dirtying up my notes, but I could read and learn. "Oh, Lex, did you find out anything about the arena here?"

"Seems like its the same rules as everywhere else!" Lord Lex scrutinized each of the fruits available before shrugging and grabbing a handful of berries. While he did so, he nudged a few more apple slices closer to me, a hint that Azelle had shared my liking of them. "Figured we'd let the townsfolk get used to us a little more and then we can have some fun, but I'll make sure Quan knows."

"You have to promise to not get your head bashed open."

"I make no promises about anything, much less things that happen in a fight. Though…" Lord Lex became thoughtful as he carefully ate the berries one by one. From what I could see, I thought they were blackberries. "If someone can bash my hard head in, should we give them a medal? Recruit them? Thanks to the Neir blood and all…"

"Lex! Don't joke about that!" Azelle immediately snapped, leaning out of the side room to scowl at him. Lord Lex groaned, apparently only realizing now he was here. "Especially in the infirmary and in front of the healers who'd have to somehow put your head back together!"

Lord Lex tried to defend himself; Azelle kept scolding. Lady Ethlyn laughed and teased in equal measure. I let the noise wash away and focused on my apple slices and my studies. There was no excuse to shirk, after all.

"There we go…" I murmured, finishing up on my most current patient. She was a little girl with a terrible eye infection, but thankfully, the treatment took well. "I would like to see her again in a couple days to ensure the eye is healing properly." Though I spoke to her mother, I focused on the little girl, stroking her hair and studying her eye one more time. When she had arrived, the eye had been nearly sealed shut from crust and seeping yellow 'tears' from the pus. Now, though, it was reddened and clearly irritated, but otherwise clear and, even more importantly, moved and focused in time with her non-infected eye. "At this moment, however, I believe her eye will make a full recovery. Clean it with a warm, wet cloth and let a second one rest on her eye for about twenty minutes or so. If you can, I'd recommend also replacing whatever pillows and blankets she's used. If you cannot, then make sure you wash them very thoroughly every day."

"Understood," her mother whispered, smiling in relief. She looked like a proper mother, one who didn't throw away her child at the first excuse and who cared about what happened to them, so it made sense. "Ah, how much do I owe…?"

"You owe me nothing, mistress." I turned my calm smile her way, in time to see her surprise. "I only ask that you follow my instructions as best as you are able."

"I… yes, of course!" She looked ready to cry, but she continued to smile instead. "In a few days, then?"

"Yes, but if it looks like it is becoming worse, send for me immediately." I checked the girl's eye one more time, and then nudged her over to her mother. "If there are other children she's played with recently, I would like to check them as well. Eye infections are notoriously contagious."

"I'll let their parents know. Thank you." She bowed to me before leaving to make room for the next patient. I spared an errant thought wondering why she thanked me before moving on. There were others to treat, and I was here alone this afternoon.

Typically, Lady Ethlyn would be treating the townsfolk with me. After all, she was the one who first brought it up. However, she had duties to the army aside from healing and, thus, some afternoons, she couldn't make it. I knew she would be disappointed, eager as she was to gossip and chatter with the people while she helped them, and I made mental notes of stories I thought she might like to hear later while I worked. Not all of the stories were necessarily from my patients. Set up near the town square as I was, by the boarded up remains of what once had been a tavern, I could hear all sorts of stories, each one more baffling than the last. The utter fixation gossipers had on other people's relationships confused me, even as I wondered just how they knew so much about their neighbors' sex lives.

Regardless, I let the stories wash over me while I worked through the line of people waiting to be treated. Every day, more and more arrived as the people here slowly came to trust us with their hurts. I made sure to treat each of them with a smile, listen to their complaints calmly, and reassured each one with gentle confidence that I would do all I could for them. One by one, I tended to them and, slowly, the crowd dwindled into nothing. No more crept closer once I finished with the last one, a sign that all who found the courage to trust today had come and gone. It was only then, as I packed up my things, that Lord Sigurd joined me by the broken table and chairs that had become my work area. His slight smile hinted he had been watching for a while.

"It seems like you're quickly gaining their good favor," he teased, offering a hand to help me up once I had finished packing. I hesitated, disguised said hesitation by checking my bag one more time, and then took it. "I'm glad." Lord Sigurd led the way back to the castle, careful to walk slowly so that I could keep up. A few people smiled when we passed; a couple of children even waved. "They look a lot brighter, and the mood of the town has gotten lighter."

"It can be difficult for the ill to be cheerful," I hedged, not sure how else to answer. Though, considering how many swollen joints I had treated this afternoon alone, I imagined quite a few were happy to simply not be in pain all the time. "Has there been word on what happened to the previous lord?" I knew that had been one of the many things Lord Sigurd had been investigating over the past few days.

"Plague apparently ripped through and took him, along with half of the town, a year or so ago." I wondered just what it had been. 'Plague' described many, many illnesses. I should research and keep some medicine on hand, just in case. "Officially, Evans is under the jurisdiction of Second Prince Cimbaeth, who rules over Genoa Castle to the south."

"...I see." I would never claim to know politics or governing, but even I could place the pieces from there. The people here paid taxes to an invisible lord who did nothing for them. "Were there knights stationed here?"

"The Guard was recruited for the attack on Yngvi." So, either they were deep in Verdane's forests or rotting in Yngvi's soil. "How are they?"

"How are whom?"

"The people here." Lord Sigurd nodded back towards the smiling, waving people. "How are they?"

"You are asking from a healer's perspective?" I did my best to think through the question, but I wasn't quite sure what else I could add, truthfully. He already knew their aches and pains. He already knew they had been abandoned. "They… are people." So, I just had to do my best and hopefully give some sort of answer that made sense and somehow didn't make him doubt my intelligence and work. "They have suffered and they are in pain. Yet, they heal and continue on as best as they can. Though no one would blame them for anger, they choose to live their lives to the best of their abilities. They are no different than those in Yngvi." That reminded me, however. "You told me the captured made it back safely, but have you learned why they were taken in the first place?"

"Ah, yes, actually." He blinked a couple of times, as if I had startled him. Perhaps it was due to my vague not-answer… "Alec managed to wriggle that information out finally, after a few drinks with the townsfolk to learn the gossip." Was that why Sir Alec had visited the infirmary first thing this morning for a hangover remedy? "Of course, in retrospect, it's incredible we didn't theorize it sooner. Hostages."

"...I suppose it fits everything else they inflicted." They truly did seem intent on acting like the stereotype. Was that coincidence or purposeful? It was hard to say and, worse, I could think of nothing to change the subject. I could not think of a reply. So, the two of us simply walked in silence across the bridge and to the castle itself.

"Ah, Lord Sigurd, there you are!" However, a change in subject came immediately as Sir Naoise greeted us at the gates, bowing formally to him. "Lord Quan thought the arena would be a fine way to help our newest recruits experience battle, and encourages you to at least watch," he relayed, before he had even straightened fully. I attempted to slip past him and head inside the castle proper, but alas, Sir Naoise had the way well and truly blocked. "He also thought it would boost morale if they saw you in the audience and, thus, bade me to fetch you."

"You agreed instead of asking to participate?" Lord Sigurd teased, laughing a little. Neither seemed to think there was anything wrong with people bashing each other to pieces, but then again, perhaps that described all their training. The gods knew just how many bruise balms I had gone through the past two days alone. I had to stay up late to try and replenish our stock. "Are you feeling well, my friend?"

"My lord, my duty to you and the army comes well before mere sport." Sir Naoise frowned, as if he was offended, but the sparkle of laughter in his eyes belied the attempt. "I also bear a report from Arden about the castle's defenses."

"He didn't come himself? Is he feeling well?"

"Lord Quan specifically asked him to participate in the arena to help the recruits learn how to fight against more defensive opponents. We know very little about Verdane's army."

"We know of their archers and axemen, but surely they do not make up all of their army…" Lord Sigurd nodded thoughtfully and gestured for Sir Naoise to follow him. "Yes, that makes sense. I am once again reminded of how blessed I am for knowing Quan. Grannvale has not dealt with anything more dangerous than bandits since the early days after the Holy War."

"While that is true, my lord, I trust you do not think our swords rusted and lances dulled." Sir Naoise drew himself up to stand with dignity and utmost seriousness. "We knights are your blades and shields, and it is our honor and pleasure to serve."

"As it is mine that you are here to make up for my shortcomings." Lord Sigurd smiled warmly at Sir Naoise and he relaxed enough to smile back. "Now, which way was the arena again?"

Finally, Sir Naoise stepped out of the way and I slipped past to return to the infirmary. I had no intentions of watching our soldiers hurt each other for 'sport'. I truly couldn't understand why they would even do such a thing in the first place. Then again, from my little experience, it seemed like it was part of a soldier's job to court death as a mistress and, thus, I had to get used to it. Otherwise, I'd never be able to do my job properly, and I'd once again prove to be nothing but a burden.

I had to be useful. I had to do my part. I had to...

Author's Notes: Feels so strange having Finn and Oifey being such eager teens. Anyway, the 'Tale of Diarmuid' is something I made up, while the traits of the giants are taken from both greek and norse mythology. There's basically nothing on Finn's past prior to becoming Quan's squire, so I made up a few things to fill in the blanks.

Arenas in FE4 work a little differently than arenas in other Fire Emblem games. Namely, there are seven opponents each character must go through to 'complete' the arena for the chapter, and if you lose, the character doesn't die but is left at 1HP.