Being inducted into Lyndis' Legion was a new and exciting experience for Florina. She was finally working as a mercenary and on her way to becoming a full Pegasus Knight. Unfortunately, it was also a horribly terrifying ordeal. On one hand, Florina got to stay next to Lyn almost twenty four seven, but on the other hand, Lyn was as far as the women went. Everyone else in the army were men. Everyone the army fought were men. In fact in the three days that Florina has been in the army, Lyn is, and has been the ONLY female human Florina has come in contact with.
Many would actually see this as a chance for her to get over her extreme and somewhat unreasonable fear of men. Florina however, saw it as a constant nightmare only alleviated by the presence of her security blanket that is Lyn. Unfortunately for her, Lyn was also constantly in the presence of the group's tactician, Charlie, who happened to be a rather intimidating 6-foot plus male. Though the fact that Charlie can be hormone shocked at times and would not react to females the way other members of the army, like Sain would, he still looked, smelled and talked like a man, and Florina did not like men.
But since her security blanket did all but sleep in the same tent with the tactician, Florina was forced to get used to the idea. Charlie was forgiving though. He did not understand Florina's unreasonable fear of men, nor did he WANT to understand, but he gave the girl her space, as was the case with every other guy to travel with the group.
Kent, being the chivalrous knight he is understood that Florina had a fear of men, so he naturally kept interaction with her at a minimum, and when he did approach her, it was always slowly, with his head bowed. Wil the archer, being both a man and well, an archer, knew that he would affect Florina twice as badly as everyone else did, so aside from a few words in combat where even young Florina forgot genders, he kept his distance, less he feel Lyn's Mani Katti at his throat.
Which leaves Sain. Ahh, yes, good old Sain. He was quite the different story. Though chivalrous, Sain seemed to lack both common sense and good tact. All his encounters with Florina were blatent and flirtatious, usually resulting in the girl running away crying, and either the tactician or Lyn running at him with a heavy and blunt instrument, which in turn would result in the green armored knight falling to the ground in great pain.
Our tale begins on one of these interactions, three days after Florina joined the company. Lyn, Charlie and Kent were poring over a map of Elibe. Normally, Florina would join her friend and the tactician, but today's unfortunate addition of the red haired knight warded her off. So, to occupy herself, she took to brushing her Pegasus' Fur. At this quite inopportune moment, Sain decided to intrude upon her happy brushing.
However, the moment Sain got within five feet of the Lavender haired girl, her internal radar went into Code Red, and she turned and screamed… hiding behind her now terrified Pegasus. Whether if it was Florina's screaming that did it or if it was the Pegasus' innate sense of loyalty to his mistress that did it nobody will ever know, but be as it may, the next thing Sain saw was a beautiful white horse charging him head on.
Then… darkness.
Are We There Yet?
"What's that noise?" Charlie asked over the map.
Lyn and Kent heard it too. All three lifted their heads from the messily marked map towards the direction of a rather loud noise that sounded like something between a choking zebra and a raging rhinoceros. When they saw a raging Pegasus stomping down on something they assumed to be a human being, the three immediately abandoned their table and shot towards the commotion, thinking that Florina had somehow got caught under her Pegasus.
However, when the trio got there, it became apparent that the unfortunate soul being trampled brutally by the horse was not Florina, especially since the girl was standing to the side, her face and skin as pale as the white snows of Ilia. Charlie looked at her, then to the pile of green armor under the horse.
"HOLY DEAR SWEET ST. ELIMINE! SAIN!" The tactician screamed.
Kent quickly got a lance out and began poking the Pegasus with the blunt end, trying to ward it off his companion while Lyn quickly ran over to console the terrified Pegasus Knight.
"AHH! IT WON'T BUDGE!" Kent screamed after his lance got knocked from his hands. "CHARLIE! WIL! GIMME SOME HELP HERE!"
Charlie looked around dumbly. "The hell do you want me to do! I'm a freaking tactician!"
"SOMETHING!" Kent yelled as his lance got once again knocked away.
Charlie stood there dumbly and waved his hands. "Uhh…BAD PEGASUS…uhh…SHOO! Uhh…I DON'T KNOW! WIL! GET OVER HERE!"
Wil quickly made his way to the commotion carrying his bow and quiver.
"SHOOT THAT THING!" Charlie ordered. Wil looked at him strangely. Florina, upon hearing the tactician's orders, in a strange, almost bizarre burst of courage, leapt forward and tackled the archer to the ground. "NO! DON'T HURT HIM! PLEASE!"
"It's either him or Sain!" Charlie said. "Unless you get it to stop."
Florina's eyes teared and she looked at her spooked Pegasus, who was seemingly determined to stop the life out of Sain. With each step, she could hear Sain's painful cries get softer and more hoarse. As she watched, a small stream of red liquid began to flow from the pile of green armor.
"But… no…he didn't… do anything…wrong… Sain just…" Florina began to cry.
"What Sain did or did not do is irrelevant at this point." Charlie said. "Oh for crying out loud."
Without warning, the tactician dove for Wil's dropped bow and in an instant had it notched and ready to shoot.
"Did I fail to mention my dad used to take me hunting?" The tactician said nonchalantly as he let loose the arrow.
Florina felt her heart stop as her eyes tracked the deadly arrow fly directly at her beloved Pegasus…and drop into the ground around ten feet behind it. Fortunately enough, the zing of the arrow was enough to get the raging beast off the bloody mess that is Sain.
Wil looked at Charlie. "Erm…how productive were your hunting trips?"
"Very unproductive." Charlie said with a blush. "But it worked." He turned towards Florina. "Get your Pegasus calmed down, the rest of us will tend to Sain."
Florina quickly ran to her Pegasus and calmed the beast down with gentle words and soothing strokes, but she couldn't help but keep an ear tuned at the group of four people surrounding Sain. Slowly, and tentatively, she tied her Pegasus to the tree with the other horses and went over to see if she could help.
The immediate sight of Sain's bloodied body turned her stomach badly. Florina fought down the urge to hurl and kept moving.
"Get the armor off him now." Charlie was saying. "Wil, go get the vulenaries, Lyn, clean his wounds."
"You sure you know what you're doing Charlie?" Kent asked as he tossed aside Sain's bloodied and cracked armor.
"Not exactly." Charlie said. "But I'm pretty sure that's how we're supposed to start. Lyn, get a cloth and scrub him down."
Florina found that she couldn't continue. Quickly, she ran off into a clump of bushes and upchucked.
From the mess, Charlie looked up and saw Florina puking at the side. He sighed and took the towel from Lyn's hand. He made eye contact with the Sacaen and pointed towards her friend. Lyn gave a small nod and walked off, leaving Charlie to clean Sain's wounds.
The ordeal of cleaning, treating and bandaging Sain took Charlie, Wil and Kent nearly four hours to complete. By the time they were done, Lyn had successfully calmed Florina's nerves down and managed to assure her that she wasn't to be blamed for any of this. Unfortunately for the group, night was beginning to fall, and they needed to find shelter fast.
Moving quickly, the group managed to seek out an old ruin. With the sun fast setting, they had little choice but to turn in for the night. Ruin or not, it was still a roof over their heads. Given no choice, Charlie ordered the group to set up camp.
"We'll sleep here… put Sain in the back. Hopefully nobody will find us her-"
He stopped short as they heard footsteps. Instinctively, Kent drew his sword, only to have Charlie restrain him.
"Dude… if someone's trying to kill us, they wouldn't make that much noise… whoever it is, he, she, it sounds hurt."
After a while, it became apparent to everyone that the owner of the footsteps was hurt, badly, and that it was a girl. Lyn and Kent quickly went forward with a torch.
Moments later, they came back supporting a young woman between them.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry…" The girl said between winces. "I was out looking for my husband."
"It's all right." Charlie said. "But it's getting dark."
"Oh dear…" The girl looked worried. "You wouldn't have happened to see my husband would you? He went out looking for work. His name's Dorcas." The girl pulled out a bad sketch. "Here's a rough drawing of him…it's a bad likelihood at best."
Lyn shook her head sadly. "We can't say we've met him, but we'll keep and eye out for him."
"Oh thank you!" The girl said. "If you see him, tell him Natalie is looking for him. Tell him to please come home."
"We will." Kent said warmly. "Don-"
Everyone froze, much to Natalie's confusion. Their dire looks however, kept her silent.
"You hear it too right?" Wil asked nobody in particular.
"Yeah…" Lyn said. "Bandits."
"I can't believe they found us so fast…crap…" Charlie groaned. "Okay, Kent, take Natalie and Sain and keep them in the deepest part of the dungeons. We have to protect them."
"Should we go meet them outside?" Wil asked.
Lyn shook her head. "No, we'll let them come to us. They can't surround us in the halls. The choke points will keep us from getting overwhelmed."
Charlie nodded his head. "Kent, after you get these two to safety, get out here and hold the front. Lyn and Florina, take the side. Wil, there're cracks and windows all over this place. All's fair in love and war, especially against bandits. Now move!"
At the tactician's orders, everyone snapped into action. Kent quickly led Sain's horse (with its master on its back) and pulled Natalie onto his mount and rode into the inner sanctum of the ruins. After placing Sain on the ground he strapped his sword to himself and turned towards Natalie. "Keep him outta trouble okay?"
Natalie nodded and Kent rode off. He met Charlie at the front. The tactician had a small dagger out and ready. "We'll take the front. Wil's laying down fire for us from the roof."
"That'll make our job slightly easier." Kent said. "How's Lyn?"
"She's already engaged at the East entrance." Charlie said. "She's a strong girl, she'll be fine. I just hope Florina's all right."
Kent nodded grimly as he pulled out his sword and waited at the front entrance. "Well, no time for chit chat…here they come."
Lyn dodged as the hand axe came at her again and again. Raising her Mani Katti to block the accursed thing for what seemed like the fiftieth time, the Sacaen cursed under her breath, racking her mind to find a solution to her predicament.
"This is getting ridiculous." Lyn mumbled. "FLORINA!"
The young Pegasus Knight quickly appeared beside her. Unfortunately, Florina was unprepared as Lyn had to tackle her to the ground to keep her head from being sliced off by the hand axe.
"COWARD! SHOW YOURSELF!" Lyn yelled.
The man came forward, his hand axe raised. Lyn however, saw that his eyes bore none of the savage bloodlust of an ordinary bandit… in fact, his eyes looked familiar…too familiar.
"Hold it!" Lyn called. "Is your name Dorcas?"
The man flinched and lowered his axe. Lyn knew she guessed right. She stood up and approached him. "What are you thinking? Joining up with bandits? Your wife is hiding out here with us, do you think she would be pleased?"
"This is the only way to make money in these parts." Dorcas replied. "I had no choice."
"What would your wife say though? Do you want to hurt your wife as well? Come to your senses."
Dorcas' eyes softened at the mention of his wife. "Natalie is here?"
"Yes, she is."
"I'm sorry… I'm through with the bandits then." Dorcas said. "Allow me to fight for you."
Lyn smiled. "That's the spirit." She turned to Florina to tell her to good news, but she saw that the young girl was curled up, sobbing with her lance. Lyn's face fell. She knew that the day's ordeal had been hard on the young knight. She turned towards her new ally.
"Do you think you can handle this spot while I take her to safety?"
Dorcas nodded. Lyn thanked him and quickly picked Florina up, supporting her towards the main entrance where the hall to the inner rooms was.
Charlie was surprised to see Lyn holding a sobbing Florina at first, but when he thought about it, it wasn't that strange. The frail girl had to watch as one of her comrades was stomped half to death by her own mount. The mere sight of Sain's bloody mangled body would've sent even the most hardened men into convulsions. The tactician and Lyn exchanged glances and Charlie nodded his head. He quickly took Florina from Lyn and carried her into the inner room. The girl sobbed into his shoulder, and Charlie could do nothing but pat her on the back and tell her everything would be fine.
Natalie was surprised to see Charlie carry a crying Florina in. But she soon realized that the young girl in the tactician's arms was a mere child. Charlie quickly handed Florina over to Natalie and gave a curt nod before turning away.
The young woman laid the girl out next to the injured cavalier. Noticing that Florina was sweating a lot, she quickly pulled the girl out of her armor and clothes and used a shirt from a nearby traveling bag to wipe her down before dressing her again. Natalie didn't know which bag belonged to who, so she just found an oversized shirt and some pants to put Florina in. The young Pegasus knight had, by now fallen into a deep sleep and instinctively curled up against the injured cavalier. Natalie giggled at the sight; she had to admit, the two looked cute together…except Sain could've looked a tad better.
Soon though, a loud noise roused Natalie from her little reverie and she turned around to see her husband walk in with the rest of the defenders. Not really thinking about her mysterious foot injury that nobody knows about, she hurled herself towards Dorcas and nearly flattened the man, much to the amusement of the group's tactician. Soon after, Dorcas and Natalie went off into another room to talk and everyone got a chance to rest their sore limbs after a hard fought battle.
"How's Sain?" Charlie managed to ask after he got all the kinks out of his legs. Lyn rolled over from her position on the ground and saw Florina snuzzling with Sain.
"Erm…I'd say she's either gone crazy or is possessed." Lyn whispered in wonder.
Everyone looked at her funny and turned their heads towards the pair snoozing on the ground and felt their jaws collide with the ground.
"Okay somebody pinch me." Wil said. He immediately regretted his words when Mr. I-have-circular-logic-tactician pinched him hard on the arm.
Wil was about to snap at the tactician when Kent's yelp of surprise took his attention away. The red haired cavalier was pointing to Sain, who amazingly, was stirring despite his near death experience.
"SAIN!" Lyn called and she ran to the man who was getting up on his elbows. He opened his brilliant brown eyes and looked up with the lost and confused expression of a little boy.
"…Where's mommy?" Sain's voice came out in a frightened whisper.
The surrounding company stared at him…before Charlie smacked his forehead. "Oh you've GOT to be kidding me."
Lyn was a tad more compassionate than the rather blunt tactician. So she leaned forward and smiled at Sain with a mother look. "Sain, you're over twenty years old. Your mother's at home enjoying her retirement."
"…Where's my mommy?" Sain asked with the same blank stare.
Lyn just looked at Kent, who looked at Wil, who just shrugged hopelessly.
"He lost his memory." Charlie said. "I think he thinks he's a kid again…"
The tactician turned towards the confused looking man. "Hey boy…tell me…how old are you?"
Sain gave a toothy smile and said proudly. "I'm almost eight years old!"
Charlie gave the others a hopeless look and shrugged. "What can I tell ya…the sooner we get him to a physician the better."
"What do we do now though?" Kent asked. "He obviously wants his mother."
"Sain…your mommy is de-"
Lyn quickly silenced the tactician before he could finish. "Sain, your mommy went to go buy some stuff from somewhere far away. She'll be back. Do you want to play with us until she gets back?"
"OKIES!" Sain smiled happily.
"…This is freaky." Kent mumbled.
"It could be fun though!" Charlie said smiling evily.
"No…"
"…Just a tad?"
"NO." Kent put his foot down. "We are not destroying his spirits."
Charlie's face fell. "Fine… bu…oh hey, Florina's up."
Florina was indeed stirring. She got up and looked around.
"…Is…did I?"
Lyn smiled. "It's okay Florina, we pushed them back."
"Oh Lyn I'm so… EEK!"
At that moment, Sain had launched himself onto Florina.
"SISTER SISTER! Look at all the people who came to play with us!"
Florina was in a state of compete mental and nervous shock. Her skin paled to a ghostly white as she struggled against Sain's death grip.
"Meep! Stay…back! AHH!"
"Sister?" Sain pulled back a bit and looked at her confused. "Are you okay?"
"Sister?" Lyn said scratching her head. "Does Sain have a sister?"
Kent nodded his head, but his face was grim. "He did…she passed away the year he joined the Caelin Knights. Come to think of it though… Florina's a splitting image of Sain's sister… only his sister had brown hair and brown eyes…but other than that…they're pretty close."
"Hmm…this could work towards our advantage though." Charlie said eyeing Florina.
Lyn saw the tactician's analyzing glance and immediately jumped out. "Oh no…we are NOT using Florina."
"If you have a better idea for uprooting an 8 year old with the strength of a 20 year old but none of the restraint, I'm all ears." Charlie snapped. Lyn immediately fell silent. "Thank you… I'm just thinking having Florina tell Sain that their mother is waiting for them at Caelin."
"How would that work! He's FROM Caelin." Lyn said.
"Yano what, do you have any better ideas?" Charlie asked.
"No, but…"
"That's what I thought, now keep your mouth shut!"
"Man…you two fight like a married couple…" Kent mumbled.
"EXCUSE ME!" Lyn screeched. "I am definitely not attracted to this degenerate."
"Oh I'm a degenerate now huh? Well, I couldn't be attracted to you because I'm a guy and I'm more attracted towards the opposite sex if you know what I mean."
Lyn stared. "You did NOT just go there."
"What are you going to do about it?"
Perhaps it was Wil with the most sense to step in before the princess and the tactician ripped each other's heads off. After ensuring both parties were calm, the discussion continued at the charge of the archer.
"Okay…why don't we have Florina tell Sain that she's taking him somewhere fun? Sain loved his sister right?"
"More than you know." Kent nodded.
"Right, so he'll trust her."
"Hmm…" Charlie stroked his chin. "I like the idea. Good job Wil. Lyn, go tell Florina the plan."
"I'm not going to tell her to lie."
"Fine… I'll do it."
Charlie began to walk towards the petrified Florina, who at the sight of another man advancing on her screamed bloody murder and tucked her head between her knees. Sain was perturbed as to why his sister was acting so odd, so he kept poking her. Charlie smiled triumphantly and turned to look at Lyn with an "I told you so…" look. The princess just growled and got up to trudge towards Florina.
"Sain…can I talk to your sister?"
"Why?"
"Girl stuff."
Sain immediately jumped back. "EWW!"
Lyn smiled and she approached Florina. The men watched as the two ladies whispered to each other furiously. In the end Florina paled, but nodded.
"Okay…I'll do it for you Lyn."
Everyone let out a breath of relief as Lyn walked back with a swing in her step. She glanced fleetingly at the tactician before going to Sain and leading him back to his "sister." It was all Charlie could do to keep himself from hurling various sharp pointy objects at the (to him) haughty princess.
However, nobody else shared his contempt (or sour grapes if you will) for Lyn as they cheered when Sain enthusiastically nodded and hugged his "sister" much to her terror and dismay.
Lyn smiled apologetically at Florina the rest of the night as the petrified girl was forced to sleep with her little brother clutch to her arm. The Pegasus Knight got no sleep whatsoever that day.
The next few days passed in shall we say a rather interesting manner? It was a good weeklong ride from the ruins to the border, though the addition of Dorcas to the party eased their burden on the light bandit raids along the way. Florina's ordeal however, continued. During the first day of the trip, Sain was absolutely inseparable from her. However, nobody knew how to deal with him. He was not throwing snide remarks nor flattering praises towards the young knight, but merely, treating her as a young boy would treat his elder sister, with respect and a sense of hero worship. Charlie and Lyn, were put in a rather peculiar predicament now that Sain was bother Florina as an innocent little child. They could no longer charge the man with blunt objects, nor could they scream at him. It was all Lyn could do to keep Florina company while Sain took his naps and when he fell and clung to his "sister." It was all Charlie could do to keep Sain occupied with various trinkets he happened to keep in his bag.
The young Pegasus Knight, by the third day of the trip, had all but become numb to Sain. Slowly but surely, a psychological change overtook her. Though Sain was still in a man's body, he had the mindset of an eight-year-old. And though Florina had an irrational fear of men, she did not in the least fear little boys, especially innocent little boys who are cute in their ever-going inquiries. For the first time in a long while, Florina was the "elder sister," and she had someone to look after. Charlie saw the subtle change in the young knight's attitude and he smiled inwardly. Perhaps Sain getting trampled was going to work out after all. Of course then again, Charlie was the all's well that ends well type of guy. Nearing the end of the third day of the journey, he could've sworn he saw Florina teaching Sain how to juice an orange from the wild citrus tress they found. Definitely an interesting sight considering the young Pegasus Knight as squeaking away to an Sain sitting cross-legged listening intently. If anybody had told the tactician this was going to happen five days ago, he would've called you a fool.
On the seventh day however, the company was approaching the border. That's when trouble started.
Young Sain, if he could be called that, as with all boys at the age of eight, was getting reasonably restless. He loved his sister much, but he was tired of being on the moved, and just wanted a simple warm mean and a nice warm bed to sleep in. So naturally, he wanted to know…
"Are we there yet?"
"NO!" Florina replied for the hundredth and fifty-seventh time of the day. Charlie groaned and put the hundredth and fifty-seventh mark on a piece of parchment he had as the group rode along towards Lycia.
Sain stayed quiet for a few minutes before…
"Are we there yet?"
"No Sain, we are not there yet." Lyn replied calmly.
"Are we there… now?"
"Yes." Charlie said.
"Really!"
"NO WE ARE NOT!"
Lyn immediately tossed a rock at the tactician who nearly fell off his horse. The princess and the tactician once again locked menacing eyes.
Kent groaned and stepped in between those two.
"Come on, we've got enough troubles without you two snapping each other's heads off."
"Are we there yet?"
Florina sighed and patted Sain on the head, which was an interesting sight considering Sain was taller than Florina.
"It'll be soon okay?"
Sain seemed to be placated with this answer and he rode the next few hours in silence.
However, before the young boy could ask the question again, they met an unfortunate roadblock as the Ganeleon bandits caught up once again. Fortunately, this time the numbers were more or less even with the addition of Dorcas and the spread of so little bandits over so wide a space. The group took their stand on the open fields between Lycia and Sacae.
Moments into the battle, two strange travelers appeared. One was a pink haired rambunctious cleric; the other, a silent mage. Lyn somehow managed to talk the two into joining the mad battle for survival, but seeing as how the two were already mistakenly involved, it was in everyone's best interest.
So the troops fanned out. Kent, Dorcas and Lyn spearheaded the forward push while Wil, the mage and Florina mopped up the sides. The cleric stood back with her healing stave at the ready. The bandits soon fell like flies at the continued onslaught. Young Sain sat in the back watching in awe as he watched Florina take down bandits with grace. However, for a moment, Charlie thought he saw a light glimmer in Sain's eyes. Perhaps watching a real engaging battle brought out the old Sain in him? Charlie didn't know, for the next thing he knew, the Sain on the horse next to him was shooting across the distance on his horse towards his sister.
Charlie had barely enough time to react before he pulled out a dagger and charged off after Sain.
It was only too late that Charlie noticed the hidden archer in the bushes with and arrow aimed for the young Pegasus Knight. And it was even later when Charlie figured out what Sain was going to do.
Loyalty to his sister at the end, Florina's anguished cry of pain and loss masked the sound of Sain's body hitting the ground, an arrow shaft through the chest.
Time stopped as the tactician stared at the man lying on the ground. He looked up at the archer with a look of absolute contempt, but realized the archer himself was a in a state of fear. Charlie followed the archer's line of sight until he found the source of his fear. Florina, upon seeing her "brother" fall, sudden expelled a murderous aura. The feeling of hatred and the lust for blood filled the air around her as she rocketed at the archer, stabbing him through the heart and pinning him to a tree trunk. Charlie stared at the gruesome body twisting against the spear, and then stillness. He looked up in horror at Florina, now embodying the goddess of death as she swooped across the field with no regard for her life or the lives of her comrades as she felled one fighter after another. In the end, no bandit was spared her bloodthirsty rampage as the remains of all the assailants were tossed into the pond for good measure.
As Florina came down from her high, she dismounted and ran over to where Sain lay bleeding. The others quickly crowded around and the cleric ran up with her healing stave. However, after a few minutes, the pink haired girl shook her head sadly and joined the circle as the watched the inevitable happen.
Florina now was back to the loving older sister that she was with the eight year old Sain who was now clutched in her arms, his breathing labored.
"Sain…speak to me…please…" Her pleas came as she sobbed over him. The boy opened his eyes and smiled up at her.
"Florina…"
The Pegasus Knight's, as well as everyone else's eyes, widened at his mention of her name.
"You…remember?"
Sain smiled sadly and nodded. "I do…but I also remember the last week… thank you for taking care of me…"
Florina sobbed harder. "You have to make it…I… I…"
Sain smiled again, he brought his hands up to touch her cheek lightly before pulling away.
"I'm…I'm…sorr…"
And with the last words, the green clad cavalier took his final breaths and passed on. Florina raised her head and cried up into the heavens as the group around her stood solemn. They would bury a friend today… and in the real world, a restart button did not exist as much as they wished it would.
Epilogue
The Princess of Caelin stood back as her lavender haired friend placed flowers upon a white grave outside the walls of Castle Caelin. She stood beside her grandfather, reunited at last. However, nothing great ever comes free.
There had been many costs, from injuries to broken spirits to flat out quarrels between the princess and the tactician. But no cost is as great as the life of a dear friend and comrade, and to the girl now sobbing over the grave, a younger brother.
Sain had taught Florina what it was like to be the "older" sibling, but sometimes, one would wonder if the ends really justified the means. True Florina's fear of men lessened, but at what cost would the ends stop being worth the means?
Such questions flittered out of Charlie's mind as he silently took his leave. Having overstayed his welcome, he had his bags packed and ready to go. He will never forget the experiences he had with Lyn and her army, nor will he ever forget the tragedy of war. But most of all, he will never forget the look on Florina's face the moment Sain was struck by that arrow.
"Leaving so soon?"
Charlie smiled. He knew she would catch him. He turned around and faced her.
"I think I've over stayed my welcome your highness." He said with a slight bit of sarcasm. "It's time for me to go. I'll do you no good staying here."
"Caelin could use your talents." Lyn said.
Charlie smiled. "You know it's not true. You have brilliant tacticians, and I am but a mere apprentice. You're just more comfortable with the fact that you can actually yell at me without fear of repercussions."
Lyn sighed. "We've been through so much together though. Who knew life would change so much the moment I found you passed out on the plains. You still haven't told me that story yet."
Charlie smiled. "Lets just say everything they say about men refusing to ask directions is true."
Lyn laughed despite herself. "So this is it? If you leave, what are the chances that we'll ever see each other again?"
"Who knows?" Charlie asked. "Maybe someday we'll meet again. Of course by then you'll most likely have forgotten about me your majesty."
"Oh be quiet." Lyn said. She smiled and rushed forward to hug the tactician. "We'll all miss you."
Charlie nodded and hugged her back. "Yeah… yeah…don't get all sappy on me princess." He pulled back. "After all, you have an entire land to inherit. I'm just a lowly tactician who's off to see the world."
Charlie turned around. "But knowing me, I'll wind up meeting you again someday."
"Haha…well, if you're ever in the neighborhood…"
"I'll know where to find you guys." Charlie said and he walked off into the distance.
Lyn waited until the tactician was no longer in sight. Then she turned without a second glance and headed back towards the graveyard. When she got there, Florina had wiped the last of her tears dry and turned around to face everyone.
"Well…Sain…" She said, still addressing the grave. "We're here…"
Lyn smiled as Florina walked away from the headstone and rejoined the group. They had indeed arrived… and their friend's sacrifice will not be in vain.
Charlie: Don't ask… that's how my Sain died once…to an archer. (Okay, so the bandit took most of the damage before an archer with a 29 hit killed him, but still, the archer killed him). The "Are we there yet" part comes from a road trip with my then three-year-old brother. Well, call it a comic tragedy or something. Blah. It's done… if ya want a sequel, poke me. Maybe I'll get an inspiration.