Fort Brass, Zexen.

Bright roared and pointed to a decent sized castle. Futch patted the dragon's neck and pulled him into a decent, landing in the forest near the castle.

"Okay, Brighty, wait here." Futch said, climbing off Bright's back. Bright cried and bumped his head against Futch's chest. Futch hugged his dragon's head and smiled. "I don't believe the people here are used to dragons. You stay out here and I'll come back as soon as I can." Futch walked into the castle, Bright staring after him sadly.

Sharon wasn't hard to find. She was surrounded by several knights, all of them looking quite unhappy. Sharon was unfazed by their anger and, by the way the response of a short haired blonde knight, said something smart. Futch quickened his pace and grabbed the knight's shoulder.

"Please don't kill her, I'd have a hard time explaining it to her mother." Sharon scowled at him and poked his knee with her spear.

"They claim to be knights, but they ride horses. Horses, Futch! What kind of a knight rides horses?" She glared up at the blonde knight.

"Zexen knights ride horses, little girl." A brown haired knight with a cowlick replied.

"I am not a little girl!" Sharon cried, stomping her foot angrily. Futch grabbed her spear and pulled her over to him.

"Sharon," He started. Sharon pulled her spear back and frowned up at him. He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Young lady, I don't think your mother would like it if you created a war between Zexen and our fortress." Sharon thought about that as another knight with longer, darker blonde hair walked up.

"Excuse me, but could you explain something to me?" The knight asked politely.

"Of course," Futch said, just as Sharon said: "We can take them. These knights look like pushovers." The first blonde Knight let out a cry.

"Girl, you'll regret that!" He cried, removing his sword from it's scabbard. Futch quickly unsheathed his own sword.

"Borus!" The other blonde haired knight barked. Futch and Borus stared at each other.

"She insulted our knights, Lord Salome!"

"Well, I believe that we can talk this out like gentlemen." Salome said.

As they were being escorted out of Fort Brass, Futch glared down at an unconcerned Sharon. "Remind me to tell your mother what a lousy diplomat you are."

"But Futch," Sharon began innocently, "these knights do wear skirts!" Futch moaned and hit his forehead before beginning his familiar rant.

"Now I know why your mother was so happy to see me come back! She took one look at how small Bright was and figured that I'd never fly again. Do you know how long it too me to find Bright?"

"Three years." Sharon said dutifully. Futch didn't hear her and plowed onwards with his rant.

"Three years! I traveled for three years and trained for fifteen more years to become what I am today. And what am I?"

"A babysitter." Sharon sighed. Futch stomped his foot.

"A babysitter!" He howled, then silently glared at the ground. The knights looked at each other, shrugged, then walked back to their castle after safely escorting Sharon and Futch out of Fort Brass.

"I want to visit the Lizard clan's home now." Sharon said, smiling.

"No." Futch growled before whistling for Bright.

"If you don't take me, I'll tell Mom and Commander Joshua what really happened to that tapestry that 'disappeared' during your watch." Sharon smiled masterfully. Bright landed and Futch motioned for Sharon to climb on, still glaring.

"I swear on our commander's rune that I'll repay you for this." He vowed as Sharon giggled.

"Go!" She said, poking Bright with her spear. Futch snatched it away.

"Fwaaaah." Bright said with a pained look on his face.

"What'd he say?" Sharon asked.

"I wish you'd never given her that spear."

Author's notes: Sorry it's taken so long for me to update. I've been replaying Suikoden Three again to get the scene where you recruit Futch, and I've been playing Legaia 2. And I've been lazy. =) Next chapter: Futch and Sharon journey to the Lizard clan.