Winteress: Hey hi everyone, I'm baaaaaaaack! –waves pen threateningly- FEAR THE INK PEN!

Miss Daisy: -.-;;

Nino: Yeah, she got tired of not being able to get the convos in Crazed Beast, so she went ahead and wrote it anyway.

Winteress: HEY! You weren't supposed to tell 'em that!

Quickening: They would have found out anyway. And the story is still fine. Just stick in some support conversations.

Sonia: WHY am I NOT in this story!?!!?

Miss Daisy: Jeez. Frickin woman. Get out of here.

Quickening: -calms Miss Daisy- Ehm. Well. Sonia. This is not your story. This is a Pegasus Knight story. You belong in Fire –points-

Sonia: -grumbles- That's Ursula's story.

Miss Daisy: WELL AT LEAST YOU'RE IN IT! BE HAPPY FOR WHAT YOU GOT!

Nino: -shoos arguing muses away- Well! Sorry for that...slight disturbance! Please, R&R! –smiles angelically- OR FEAR MY WRATH!

Woodbark: -squeak-

Winteress: -puts head in hands- Ohh, I can't stand these guys...Why can't I have NORMAL muses?

I surveyed the battleground from high above, noting the three fortresses and their defendants. I was glad I didn't have to tackle the southwestern one; it was guarded by a warrior and several pirates. They were all axewielders, and would smash my lance to bits – I shivered at the mere thought.

Fiora swooped down, lance held high, to take on a couple hapless monks. I watched her for a minute, then turned Huey in the direction of a village situated a bit farther north. Perhaps someone could give us some advice.

I landed at the gate, and tied Huey up. Tentatively, I edged inside the small village, looking around. All the doors of the houses were closed, but wait! I caught a flicker of movement in the corner of my eye, and someone darted out.

It was a woman, Sacaen by her looks, dressed in a white tunic trimmed in blue. A slender, dangerous-looking sword was hung by her side. I drew back a little.

"Ah..." she murmured, sighting me. I shifted uncomfortably. What did she want?

"I would help you, but I cannot," she said softly, eyes flicking outside the village gate to Fiora battling the monks outside. "I am in search of someone...important. I know it is a small thing, that it may not make up for what I could offer you, but I wish to aid you in any way that I can." With one swift movement she detached something from her belt, and flung it at me. I shied away, barely managing to catch the object.

I looked down at the item in my hands. It was an Elysian whip.

"Ah! Wha..." I began, looking up.

But the woman was gone.

"Oh...Thank you..." I said, dazedly, looking around once more, and then getting back on Huey, tucking the whip safely in my belt-pouch. It would be Mark's decision on who would get it.

"Florina! Watch out!" Fiora screamed urgently.

"Ah!"

Huey jerked into flight, nearly making me lose my balance. Rings of light magic flared and dissapated at the village gate where I had been.

Fiora soared over to me. "There's a bishop with Purge up at that northern fortress. Be careful, Florina."

I cursed myself for not being more attentive, and followed Fiora back to where she had been, out of the range of the bishop.

We made short work of the monks easily, their weak light magic spells being no match for us pegasus knights. Fiora and I were battling the last one when I dropped my lance, and stared.

"Florina!" she cried, seeing me. "What are you doing?"

She couldn't see. Her back was to it.

Confused, my sister plunged her lance into the last monk, which fell dead to the floor. Then she turned, and saw what I was seeing.

"No..." she said in amazement. "That can't...It's not..."

"Farina?" I whispered, squinting.

A pegasus knight with short, dark blue hair was conversing with Lord Hector. We were too far away to hear what they were saying, but I saw the Ostian noble hand the pegasus knight a bag filled with gold. A lot of gold.

I glanced at Fiora. She was staring, open-mouthed.

"Is it really her?" I asked in a quavering whisper. "You said...you said..."

"Never mind what I said," said Fiora vaguely.

The pegasus knight nodded to Lord Hector, mounted her pegasus – was that Murphy? – and took to the air. Astonished, I realized she was flying towards us.

There was a rush of air behind me, and I turned in shock to see Fiora's pegasus taking off rapidly.

"Where are you going?" I called, the wind taking my voice and whipping it away.

"I don't want to talk to her!" shouted back my sister. Yanking her lance out of its holder on the saddle, she soared northwards, presumably to take on the bishop.

Why wouldn't Fiora want to talk to Farina? If it was Farina...

No, I was sure now. The pegasus knight was coming closer and closer. I recognized that pegasus, and I recognized that rider.

The winged horse flew down gracefully, and landed right in front of me.

"Well, if it isn't Florina," said a cheerful, slightly bossy, business-like voice. One that I knew so well, even though I had last heard it five years ago.

"Farina!" I exclaimed, shocked, staring at my elder sister. She looked nearly the same as I remembered her, perhaps a bit older-looking, but her chin-length dark blue hair was the same, her blue eyes were the same. She was the same Farina.

"But...But..." I stammered, trying to make some sense of the situation. "Fiora said...that you weren't coming back..."

"Fiora said so, did she?" Farina narrowed her eyes, and grinned mischieviously at me. "And you believe everything Fiora says?"

"Well, yes -- No!" I said, flustered. "Why are you here?"

She rolled her eyes. "As you may know I am a pegasus knight attached to Ilia's 3rd division of pegasus knights, the Strongwings. I am a mercenary, offering my services."

"So high in rank?" I queried. Fiora had been only in the fifth division; how had Farina gotten so high?

"Yes," she said proudly. "I have offered my services to your...lord, here, and he has agreed to pay me, and in return I shall fight for him."

"Oh..." I said quietly. I should have known. Farina only cared about money.

"But I'm glad you're here with me, too!" She grinned, and hopped off Murphy. "Here, give your sister a hug."

I smiled. This was the Farina I knew. Huey stood calmly as I carefully slid off his back and ran into my sister's embrace.

"Aww, Florina," said my sister lightly as I squeezed her tightly. "Don't cut off my supply of air, thanks!"

We got back on Huey and Murphy quickly, as we were needed to fight in the battle. I noted Farina's weapons – an expensive-looking lance and a javelin. She was good, I thought, thinking of my own simple steel lance. But mine served its purpose.

"Sister!" I cried happily as we took to the air.

"Oh, Florina, what is it? You're smiling so broadly!" grinned Farina.

I nodded, cheeks flushing. "I can't believe we actually get to fight together again!"

"You excite pretty easily, don't you?" she teased. "It hasn't been THAT long since we last saw eachother."

Yes, it has, I thought suddenly. Five years, without telling us where she was going, what she was doing. Five years of agony and waiting, with no letters from her, no reports of her, nothing...

OoOoOoOoO

I stood in the doorway of the kitchen of our little house in Ilia, only ten years old, completely bewildered, hair tousled, just woken up from sleep.

Fiora sat at the kitchen table, elbows on the table, face buried in her hands, turquoise hair tangled, still in her nightdress.

The house was nothing special, just a small three-bedroom cottage that we had bought with our hard-earned money, ever since our parents had died four years ago. I barely remembered them; I had only been six. Perhaps it was better that way. My sisters had taken care of me. I owed everything to them.

"Fiora?" I asked, voice quavering. "What's wrong?"

I looked around the house, suddenly realizing what was missing.

It was so quiet. So...empty.

"Fiora?" I asked again, voice small. "W-Where's Farina?"

Fiora's head jerked up. Her eyes were red from crying, and tears streaked her cheeks. Yet her face was angry, almost like she was mad at herself. I shrank back slightly. This was not the sister I knew. Where was the real Fiora?

"Farina's not coming back, Florina," she said a flat, harsh voice. "Farina's gone very, very far away."

"Why?" I asked, my own words echoing in my ears. They sounded small, insignificant. "Where did she go?"

"I don't care!" screamed Fiora, slamming her fist down on the table. I squeaked and jumped back.

She sighed, and put her face in her hands again. "I'm sorry, Florina. It's my fault. It's all my fault."

A single tear leaked from between her hands and dropped onto the table.

I edged slowly towards the table, and put my arms around my older sister's shoulders. "I'm sorry, Fiora."

"No," she said, voice muffled. "It's not your fault. Really."

Yet somehow, I couldn't help but feel it had something to do with me...

OoOoOoOoO

"But...Fiora said you'd gone really far away..." I said quietly.

"Yeah, I bet she wishes I had," said Farina darkly, bringing me back to reality. I started, then opened my mouth to protest, but my talkative sister had started again. "Well, whatever!" she said brightly, changing the subject. "And you, Florina! How have you been recently?"

"How have I...been?" I asked, confused. I'd been fine, apart from the minor scares Sain gave me once in a while.

"You know." Farina raised her eyebrows. "Financially. Are you getting paid what you're worth?" The bag of gold clinked at her waist, and I wondered just how much Lord Hector had paid her.

"Um, yeah, I am," I stammered. I was about to say that Lyn didn't pay me anything, that I worked for her out of friendship and my own free will, but something told me Farina wouldn't be happy about that. "And everyone here is really nice..."

"We're not here to make friends, Florina," said my sister, wrinkling her nose. "Negotiating your salary is a ruthless battle – almost like fighting! You strike with your price, then they try to lower it, but you can't settle for it!" Her eyes were bright with determination. "You have to be willing to walk away if they try to bargain you down even one gold piece!"

She winked at me. "See you later, little sis!"

Murphy rose upwards, carrying my sister away. I looked, stunned, after her.

"Farina...you never change," I murmured. And it was true, she hadn't. She had been the same, talkative, money-obsessed young woman five years before.

Where was Fiora? The sudden thought went through my head. I hadn't seen her since she took off in a hurry, right before Farina arrived.

It had never occurred to innocent ten-year-old me to ask what they had argued about. But now that we were all together again, the insidious thoughts crept into my head, subtle questions that demanded Why? Why?

What had they been arguing about so badly that it had forced Farina to leave her home?

Worry plaguing me, I turned. Fiora was finishing off the bishop at the northeast fortress. I watched as he fell, dead, to the ground, and Fiora raised her lance in triumph, announcing she had captured the fortress.

She was such a wonderful sister.

To me, at least.

What was it between her and Farina?

A/N: Wheee! Long chapter! There is actually NO reason for which Fiora and Farina are arguing, they say so in the SCs (or at least they can't remember). However, I'm going to change it a bit. They WILL have a reason, so stay tuned for next chapter! Oh, and I promise Hector will show up next chapter!

Miss Daisy: You PROMISE.

Quickening: She can't keep promises. Ever.

Nino: yeah, she promised that she would write a one-shot-

Miss Daisy: ¬.¬ She DID write a one-shot.

Nino: -sweatdrop- Oh. Well, I missed it.

Woodbark: -squeak-

Miss Daisy: -smashes Woodbark into little bits, but he promptly reforms himself-

Quickening: Ah, well, everyone makes promises. But we HOPE Hector will show up next chapter, good enough for you? Please review!

Woodbark: -squeak-