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"Life's too damn short for ifs and maybe's."

-Mal (Firefly)

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Kratos stared at the old man. "What're you doing here?"

The old man arched a white eyebrow. "Is that how you greet everyone, boyo? No wonder these half-elves don't trust you." He gave him a once over. "I thought you'd be filling out more. Well. At least you got taller."

"Just 'cause I haven't hit the growth spurt yet…" Yuan's voice continued on into mutterings that made Mithos smother a laugh.

"You didn't answer the question." Kratos said, still in shock. Besides the location, the old man looked…different. Cleaner, almost, though his silver hair was still tied back in a tail. He wore robes now, black with thin, blue bands along the hems. The collar had the same design, but thicker and beneath the robes, Kratos could still see a rather wicked looking knife on his belt.

"First, I have to greet the young lady. You would deny me my manners?" He turned to her. "Mithos has told me much about you."

Martel smiled and shook his hand. "It's strange. He's usually the one with all the manners."

"That one, I'll give you, but he tends to be single-minded when he needs answers." He released her hand and said, "Walk with me, all of you, and I'll explain on the way."

They had to walk faster than they were accustomed to keep up with his long strides. "Where to begin?"

"Why were you in the military school?" Yuan asked.

"That's a good place, I suppose. I was there because I am a spy for the half-elven army."

"But you're an elf." Kratos said, frowning. "Why help them?"

"I don't agree with my people's belief that they're so removed from the world that this war has nothing to with them. It's ridiculous. Of course it has to do with us. We're part of the world as well. And so I came here to help."

"Why'd you agree to help me then?" Kratos asked. "I'm one of the people you were spying against."

The old man looked back and his eyes seemed to look right through Kratos. "In truth? It was because of Yuan. He defended you to the point where I had to believe him."

Kratos glanced at his best friend, who just grinned, sheepishness coloring the corners of his lips. "Someone had to do it for you."

Kratos smiled back and Martel marveled at the things not said, but still understood.

"So you're here again?"

"Yes. I had enough information to do some good again."

"Sometimes, I think you just wanted to stay away from us longer." They all looked up at the speaker. She wasn't beautiful, not in classical terms. Her heart-shaped face was too hard and lean for that. But she had curves and her arms were toned with muscle. Her hair was cut boyishly short and was the color of sand. The length of it was enough to show the ears that tapered to an elegant point, as opposed to Yuan, Martel and Mithos' rougher triangles.

She too wore robes, though hers had slimmer sleeves and were shorter so that they hit her at about her knees as opposed to the calf like the old man's. Her sleeves were also black, but they were hemmed in pale silver and gold thread and there was a moon and a spiral horn stitched on the back.

"Such a pleasure to see you again, Myra."

"And you, silver tongue." Myra's eyes swept over the others. "And these are?"

"You recall the boys I told you of?"

Myra's eyes snapped to Kratos and Yuan, who immediately took an instinctive step back at the sharp blue eyes. "These are them?"

"Absolutely."

"And the other two?"

"They're friends of ours." Yuan said, finding his voice. "We travel together."

"Of that, I have no doubt. Your names?"

"I'm Yuan, this," the half-elf gave Kratos' shoulder a push, forcing him to take a step forwards. "Is Kratos and Martel is Mithos' older sister."

"I see." Myra looked closer at Martel and Mithos. "Those are elven names."

"We were raised in Heimdall."

Myra's feathery eyebrows arched. "A rarity, to be certain. Elves aren't fond of half-bloods. I'm Myranda, the head Healer here."

"You're a Healer?" Mithos asked, having to look up at her. Myranda was very tall for a woman.

"Did I not just say that?"

"Could you teach my sister then?"

"Mithos!" Martel shushed, embarrassed.

Mithos blinked innocent blue eyes up at her. "What? You always wanted to learn more about Healing. Here's your chance."

"Do you know any of the Healing arts, Martel?"

"Some. Not much more than the basics."

"We'll speak later to see how much you need to learn. As for you," Myra turned to Kratos, who swallowed. "The people here don't take kindly to humans. I'm sure you already know. That means you're going to have to either show them that they could be wrong, or just suffer in silence because we have no room for whining here."

"Um, yes ma'am."

Myra blinked at him. "You're one of the real polite ones, aren't you?" She rounded on the old man. "You've rubbed off on him too much, Alstan."

Alstan raised his hands in innocence. "He was like that when I met him."

Noishe twisted his head around from where he'd been mostly hidden behind Kratos to nip at his fingers, a sign that he was getting hungry. Kratos turned and stroked his neck. "We'll get food soon. Try and be patient."

"Boy—Kratos—"

The human blinked up at Myra. "Yes?"

"That bird, you're speaking to it?"

"Y-yes?"

"Are you aware that that is a protozoan?" Kratos nodded and Noishe trilled, stepping out from behind him to cock his head curiously at Myra. "Among the elves, protozoans are considered beasts of the gods."

Kratos stared at Noishe, who stared right back, gently nipping at the human's nose. "If you say so."

"They are the symbol for change among my people."

"That makes sense." Yuan said, running his hand down Noishe's smooth back. "He was a fish when I met him."

Myra stared at the boys, who acted so casually with the protozoan. She had grown up learning that protozoans were protectors of the world as the unicorns were the caretakers of it. That such a creature would be with such ordinary people…or, perhaps, not so ordinary.

"Wait so," Yuan said. "What happens to us now?"

"Now? Now you're going to be helping us out."

"So, we're in the army?"

"As of right now, no. You're all far too untrained for that. But you're helping anyway."

"Do we have a choice?" Kratos asked. He'd rather not fight in the war at all and he was fairly sure that Yuan felt the same.

"It's either help us or go back to trying to find a place for the four of you in this city, which I can almost guarantee is impossible."

"So…no."

"Welcome unofficially to the army, boyo."

-/-

"Why the long face?" Alstan asked, leaning against the doorframe of the room that the boys had been assigned. Yuan and Mithos were currently in Martel's room in the next building.

"I never wanted to fight in the war."

"But here you are?"

"Mm."

"You don't have to fight."

"Then what am I doing here?"

"Supporting your best friend. And you can still help out quite a bit without having to fight."

"How's that? The half-elves, they don't want me anywhere near them. To them, I'm the monster that they tell their kids about to keep them off the streets at night."

"True. But you know what the first thing I knew about you was?"

"What?"

"That you could rise above that." Kratos frowned in confusion. "Yuan may not have told you, but when I met him, he spoke of nothing but how you deserved to learn swordsmanship properly and how I should teach you. Yuan has never seemed the type, to me, that was very good at following orders or any of the things that make a slave. And he admitted to me that he hated most humans for what they'd done to his village.

"And yet, there he was, defending you. I don't think either of you yet realize how extraordinary your friendship is. You taught him to read, Kratos. That's an incredible thing to do for someone you don't really know, or that you didn't really know at the time. That's how I know that you can change the way these people think of humans, if only a little bit."

"They won't trust me enough to try."

"Show them."

So you're saying it's the act of speaking up for equality rather than the actual words?

"You sound a lot like Martel."

"You should listen to her. Women are smarter than you know."

"…Yessir."

"And, as a suggestion, you can give these people more than simply another swordarm. You can teach their children to read and write, to think for themselves. Those are rare things in this city, believe me. We've been trying to change it, but it's difficult. You, I think, will have more luck."

"Because I'm human?"

"Because you love it. You love teaching, I can tell."

Kratos sat in silence for a long time after Alstan left, thinking it over. He did love to teach, loved seeing the eyes light up and the smile when understanding clicked, loved sharing his love for knowledge. But he was good at the sword, was good at fighting, even if he didn't want to be.

"Stop thinking so loud." Yuan said, gently knocking his knuckles on Kratos' forehead. "I could hear you down the hall."

"Where's Mithos?"

"With his sister, naturally. So, what is it?"

"I want to be a scholar, or a teacher. Something like that."

"Uh-huh."

"But I'm good at being a warrior." Thanks to his father's blood, his father's talent having been passed on.

"Except for, y'know, the whole courage thing."

Kratos rolled his eyes, even as his lips quirked into a smile to match Yuan's. "Yeah, except for that. So what do I do? What do I become?"

Yuan stretched out on his bed, propping his head up on his hand. "I don't see any reason why you can't be both. Scholars and warriors aren't exactly exclusive to each other."

"You think?"

"Yeah. You could even be like those monks in the mountains. The ones that we read about in the library. They were warriors and scholars."

Kratos smiled, unable to help it. "…True. I don't wanna shave off my hair though."

Yuan looked him over appraisingly. "Yeah. Bald is not a good look for you."

"I hope not." Kratos laughed before sobering. "…I'm sorry. About earlier."

Yuan waved it away. "'S fine. I was being stupid too."

"…Even if I were to be a teacher here, I don't think the parents would want their kids being taught by a human."

"Of course they will. Once they get to know you, of course."

"You think so?"

Yuan snorted. "Kratos, it's really hard to stay angry at you."

"Speaking from experience?"

Yuan could hear the smirk and lobbed his pillow in Kratos' general direction and grinned smugly to himself when he heard the squawk of surprise.

-/-

"They had a protozoan with them." Myra said quietly, her hands on her mug of spiced tea.

"Yes. From my understanding, Kratos had it as a pet fish before it evolved last year."

"A pet?" Myra repeated. "Such a creature, a boy's pet? It's blasphemy!"

"Protozoans are protectors." Alstan quoted. He had grown up learning it as often as she had. "Perhaps the boys needed protecting."

"Or it's protecting the world from them." Myra pointed out. "You might not see it because you trained them, but Yuan and Kratos have the potential to be so powerful. I hate to think of what might happen if they went down the wrong path. They're dangerous by themselves. Together? I think they could take on the world. And they'd win, most likely."

Alstan smiled to himself as he picked apart a roll so that he could butter it. "Yes, I did see that."

"And that's not even considering that boy—Mithos. I saw potential in him too."

"For what?" He asked curiously. Myra had a sharp eye for talent.

"He's a child. You know how they are—they obtain information like a sponge with water. And with those two as friends and possible teachers? He'd be a magic swordsman to rival you. Possibly even surpass you."

"Isn't that the point of the new generations? To surpass the old?"

"I think he's too singleminded. Too focused."

"I thought you would be the first to say that there is no such thing."

"I would have, before I met him. You saw it, didn't you? He revolves around that sister of his."

"From what I've been told, Martel is all he has left in the way of family. Naturally he would grow attached to her."

"The boy's impetuous too. You saw him."

"He's a boy, Myra. Boys tend to be impetuous and stubborn. Most of the time, they grow out of it. And you should wait to get to know them all better before you make any more judgments."

"Fine, but I don't think I'm wrong."

"No, you never do."