A/N: Sorry it's been so long, guys! But I honestly had the worst case of writers block, despite all the wonderful reviews you gave me :) Anyway, I'd just like to remind everyone that Andraya isn't a character in the game, I just made her up. So don't think there's any spoilers in this fic…the only spoilers I GUESS are in here are names of characters you haven't gotten yet…but I'm making up most of the places and scenarios so I don't ruin anything for anyone. Thanks for all the reviews! Keep 'em coming!!
Chapter 14
"Lord Eliwood, we need to tell them. Soon."
"But…"
"Now."
Eliwood sighed. He was alone with the tactician in his tent, discussing strategy once again. True, the group should be informed of their plans, but when it would involve so much controversy…
"Eliwood," Lyn said curtly, walking into the tent. Hector followed close behind, matching his comrade's angry look. "What's this I hear about splitting up?"
Eliwood shot a look at the tactician, who looked away sheepishly. "I thought no one else was to know until I decided."
"And why not!" Hector bellowed. "We're also leading this group, you know. It's not even about you anymore! We're in this together!"
"Hector, I know, but I wasn't fully sure if this was the correct step to be taking."
The tactician glanced nervously between the three lords. "Um, if I may, splitting up when we get to Nisea is truly beneficial to the group."
"Explain," Hector said curtly, shifting his glare from Eliwood to the tactician.
"Well, as you know, we're currently being pursued by Black Fang. However, that doesn't mean that the Black Fang group we were chasing just vanished into thin air. We need to rid ourselves of the group following us as a top priority; they know we're headed to Nisea and by now probably know why as well. If we leave a group behind in Nisea to take care of that group, which would also be guarding Nisea from harm by this group, then we can still continue on to the coast to search for the Black Fang group we were originally searching for without losing time. We can't afford to all stay in Nisea and take care of our pursuers, just as we cannot leave the town to fend for itself."
Hector's expression softened, and he looked deep in thought. Lyn simply nodded and looked away.
"I guess that makes sense," Hector said after a moment. He sighed and looked to Eliwood. "Sorry," he said quickly, walking out of the tent. Lyn smirked at his gruffness.
"But we'll need another tactician," she pointed out.
"Already taken care of," the strategist said, giving her a knowing look. Lyn nodded again.
"How long before we need to be moving on?" Eliwood asked the strategist.
"We should really be getting on today. It'll take us about three days to reach Nisea, and we're about two and a half days distance away. We should leave that half day buffer for later if we encounter an emergency."
Eliwood nodded, heading out of the tent to gather the group. A few moments later, everyone was packed and was about to head off, when Eliwood turned to the group to speak.
"We're about two and a half days from Nisea, everyone," he began, looking from face to face. "I just wanted to inform you that once we reach the village, we're going to need to…" Eliwood had finished looking across the group, but something seemed off. "Where's Sain and Andraya?"
Everyone murmured and looked around, noticing for the first time that the pair was missing. Kent glanced nervously at the road, but caught Eliwood's eye in the process.
"Kent, do you know where they are?" he asked, looking at him quizzically.
The cavalier opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything Sain and Andraya came running from the road, yelling to the group that enemies were coming. Eliwood abandoned trying to figure out where they were in favor of commanding the group to move back onto the road. Bandits could be seen in the distance, rapidly closing the distance between themselves and Eliwood's group.
The tactician frantically began issuing orders to the group, having most of the group hide in the woods on either side of the road to keep the battlefield uncluttered. Sain, Kent, and Andraya soon found themselves in the same clearing, eagerly watching the battle unfold on the road.
"Sain! You said you'd be back before morning!"
"What can I say, you get up too early!"
Andraya laughed, earning an angry glare from Kent. "Eliwood was just asking me where you were! If you hadn't come cavorting up at just that moment, I would have had no choice but to tell him you two abandoned the group!"
"Taking a walk by the lake when it was your turn for night watch anyway is hardly abandoning the group," Sain said with a grin. He loved teasing Kent; he was always so uptight!
Kent just grunted and turned back to watch the battle. It was easily being won by his comrades. He silently praised the tactician for making such an acute estimation of the enemy and commanding unneeded soldiers to just stay out of the way.
When at last Eliwood's group had won, he called for everyone to regroup. As the group prepared for travel again, he walked over to Sain and Andraya, who were once again riding Sain's horse.
"You two!" he called up to them. "Where were you this morning? You almost got left behind!"
"So nice of you to notice two of your soldiers were missing," Andraya said.
"Yeah, we could've been captured, and you never would have known!" Sain said with mock hurt. Andraya stifled a giggle, pointing out that if it wasn't for them, the entire group would've walked right into the group of enemy bandits.
"Well, that's true I suppose…" Someone called Eliwood's name from the other side of the group. "I'm not done with you," he said simply, leaving them to speak with Lyn, who seemed to be reprimanding him for something.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Andraya and Sain burst out laughing. All they had been doing was walking by the lake they had seen the day before, talking about their new relationship.
They continued to joke and laugh as they followed the group. Kent turned around to watch them periodically, despite the pangs of jealousy he felt when he did so. I don't understand… he kept thinking. He honestly was not in love, and he didn't even have any desire whatsoever to be in love. But when he looked at Sain and Andraya…they seemed happier than they had ever been before, now that they were together.
But love just causes so many problems, he thought to himself, recalling Andraya's night in the rain over Eliwood's relationship with Ninian. It makes people do such crazy things, and more often than not just causes depression and anguish. Who wants that?
Who wants that…
A/N: So as you can see, I decided to make the best of both worlds. I couldn't just leave Kent alone, that'd be too cruel! I have plans for him hehehehe…But I couldn't stop writing fluff for Sain and Andraya, either, so…this is what I came up with. Hope you'll continue to read :) R&R please!