Disclaimer:I don't own anything!

Author's Note:

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Unselfish and noble actions are the most radiant pages in the biography of souls.
~David Thomas

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They're woken by the sounds of scrambling and stomping. Mithos was the first one completely awake and the candle by the door was lit with a word from the liquid-sounding language of magic—and the elves, or so Kratos has been told.

They blinked at each other in the flickering candlelight, Kratos fumbling for his sword.

"The hell's going on out there?" Yuan wondered aloud, throwing off the sheets and padding to the door.

"We have to see if Martel's okay." Mithos said, blonde hair bright in the dimness as he tried to slip past Yuan, who caught him by the collar.

"Hold it, boyo. We have to make sure it's safe for us first. We won't do her any good if we're hurt."

Yuan poked his head out of the door, the mana rising to his fingertips, ready to do damage if the humans had come, if they tried to take any of them as slaves again (he's not the same boy he was then, he can fight now…they won't take him…he won't let them…)

But there was no ringing of swords, no shouting to awaken and no calls to arms. Seeing that, Yuan let go of Mithos, who was immediately dashing down the hall to his sister's room. He could feel Kratos at his back, sword most likely still in hand.

"It's fine." Yuan told him. "But something's still going on out there."

Mithos' voice echoed down the hall. "Martel ain't here!"

Yuan-and-Kratos were immediately running to him, looking in the room even though they knew that Mithos wouldn't have said that unless he was absolutely sure. There was a girl running past them and Yuan caught her arm.

"Hey, sorry about this, but can you tell us where Martel is?"

"Martel?" There are a lot of people in this city and it's not surprising that she doesn't know where Martel is because they're new and more than a little wary of cityfolk. But they need an answer now because this was Martel and she could be missing or hurt or—"She got called down to help the refugees."

"Refugees?" The three of them repeated.

"Yeah. They come every now 'n then. Humans ain't stopped invadin' us yet, so there's gonna be refugees." The girl twisted her way free of Yuan's arm and hurried down the hall.

-/-/-/-

Martel carefully finished stitching the man's eyebrow. Magic could do a great many things, but when there were this many refugees, she wanted to save her magic for those that really need it. "Is all of your family here?"

"Most." The man said and he sounded half-broken and fragile. "I think. Hell, I dunno. Everythin' was so…confusin' and it took everythin' just to keep an eye on my boy." He moved to get up, but Martel gently but firmly pushed him back down. "My boy—where is he? I can't—"

She smiled reassuringly. "I promise, he's alright. He wasn't hurt, but he was really tired, so we've got him resting in a different tent. As soon as I'm done with you, you can see him, alright?"

"Thank you, Lady." He sat calmly as she broke the string and dabbed some antiseptic on the cut. As Martel turned her back to find the cap for the antiseptic, she heard the stool he was sitting on clatter to the ground and suddenly, the air was nearly electric with tension. "The hell is one of them doing here?"

Martel whipped her head around to see her boys—all three of them were hers now, in the same way that she was theirs—standing just at the entrance to the tent, Yuan's hand holding the flap open.

"One of what?" Yuan growled.

"Those murderin' humans is what."

Kratos took a step back, hand well away from his sword and up in front of him in the universal sign of innocence. The human was in sleep pants, apparently not having had the chance to grab a shirt. Kratos looked skinny and pale in the strange mixture of candle, moon and witchlight that illuminated the area.

As soon as Martel saw the man take a threatening step forward, she was immediately between them. "I didn't just patch you up to have to heal you again."

The man snarled at her and pushed her roughly aside. Yuan and Mithos immediately leapt forward, but Kratos grabbed Mithos around the middle.

"He's triple you size." Kratos reminded the boy. "And you can't set him on fire."

"He pushed my sister." Mithos said angrily, but couldn't make Kratos let go. "And what's Yuan's excuse? He's double his size too!"

Yuan was indeed fighting the man, or rather, trying not to get hit. Fast as Yuan was, he was also rather small.

"Double is a lot less than triple." Kratos said, wincing as he heard a crash. There went the table.

"Dammit," Yuan cursed as he distracted the man away from Kratos again. "What're you goin' after Kratos for anyway? He didn't do nothing to you!"

"Humans are all the same! Don't you get that?" The man flung Yuan across the tent easily. He looked down at the fallen half-elf, who was trying to struggle back to his feet. Kratos searched for injuries, relieved when he couldn't see any blood. Bruises would be there, naturally, but bruises weren't too bad. The man glanced between Yuan and Kratos. "'Course you don't. You're one of them blood traitors, sympathizing with the monsters."

"Monsters?" Kratos repeated. "The humans didn't start this! And neither did the half-elves! It's no ones' fault."

"He's right." Yuan said, finally standing.

"That what you believe, boy?" Yuan ducked one of his fists, but he couldn't dodge the other one that cracked across his face, sending him sprawling. "You think this human wouldn't kill you the minute you weren't useful to him no more?"

The man's sleeve had slipped back and Kratos caught sight of numbers tattooed on his forearm, stark black against his skin. Kratos glanced back up at the man's face. "You were a slave, weren't you?"

"Do you have an issue with that, human?"

Kratos ignored the question. "How'd you get free?"

"Want to tell all your buddies so they'll block off the exits?"

"Hey, he escaped with me." Yuan said hotly, wiping at his split lip. "So get off your damn high horse, sit your ass back down and listen to the Healers!"

"And what're you going to do if I don't?"

"Don't even say it, Yuan." Everyone whipped around to see Myra and Alstan standing just outside the tent. Yuan swallowed the smart remark—the two really knew him far too well. "As for you," Myra's sharp eyes went to the man. "We understand you've been through a tough time, but you're going to either have to suck it up or get out of here because we don't have room for extremists here. We're trying to fix the problem, not make it worse."

The man shut up—wisely so. Yuan was beginning to think that no one was stupid—or courageous—enough to brave Myra's temper. And certainly not Alstan's with it.

"Aurion." Kratos looked up, not shrinking back as he usually did when people called him by his last name. "You best get back on up to bed."

"But-"

"We appreciate the concern, but right now, a human's just going to make thing's worse."

"So, because I want to help, I'm getting kicked back to where I can't do anything?" Kratos said and Yuan decided that he'd been wrong. It was ironic—in the strangest and most alien of ways—that Kratos would be the one person to be brave enough to stand up to them. Or, because it was Kratos, it could just be stupidity. "That's not the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard, but it's one of the top ten!"

"Aurion, this is your one warning. You speak like that to me again—"

"Myra." It was all Alstan had to say and she quieted, watching him and Yuan wondered if he'd taught her too, once upon a time. "I can tell you from experience that, if he gets this stubborn, then there's no arguing with him. Kratos, since you're so eager to help, the women's tent needs a few extra hands."

Kratos winced. "They're going to be crying, aren't they?"

"Either help the crying women or don't help at all."

Kratos almost backed off. He hated tears. He never had any idea what to do with them. "…Alright."

"Get going then."

Kratos glanced back at the others, lingering at Yuan and his bleeding lip and nose and he knows that his best friend's face was going to be rather colorful tomorrow. Yuan waved him away and Mithos was slipping out from under Kratos' arm. "Alright."

-/-/-/-

"…I'm fine, y'know. He didn't hurt me." Martel said, dabbing at his split lip with a rag. He'd told her that he could take care of himself, but she could get as stubborn as Kratos when she wanted to.

"'S not the point. You're not supposed to touch a lady like that." He remembered Poppi telling him that once as they'd sat in the shade, looking out at their little village.

Martel's lips tilted a little in a smile. "I'm not a lady. I'm me."

"Even more reason."

"For the record," Martel said, gently cleaning the blood away from his nose. "I don't think that getting into fights with refugees is going to make the half-elves look any kinder on you and Kratos." Because even strangers could see how close they were.

"He pushed you. Seemed like the thing to do." Yuan paused. "Why are you making this so complicated?"

"Oh, I'm the one making it complicated?"

"Look, Martel, I actually thought that I was helping to defend your…honor…or whatever it's called. I didn't do that to prove some kind of point."

"Calm down, will you?" Martel brushed his bangs out of his face, checking for any more cuts. "I am grateful, you know, for trying to defend me, even if I didn't want you to."

Yuan looked up at her. She was close enough now that he could count her eyelashes and the freckles on her nose. "…I probably should've stayed out of it. I only made the situation worse."

"He would've gone for Kratos anyway. Besides," Martel said, smiling. "If you hadn't jumped in, I would've wondered who had taken over your body."

Yuan laughed. "Mithos was ready to defend you too."

"Sometimes I think Mithos should've been born first. He's as protective as an older brother."

"Well someone's got to keep an eye on you. Otherwise you'd be off….gallivanting with boys at all hours of the night." Yuan flashed grin as Martel rolled her eyes.

"Yes. We're going to go out and paint the town."

"I hope you're a good artist. Otherwise this town's going to look just like my ribs are feeling." Yuan winced a little.

"You want me to take a look?"

"No, no. I'm alright. I've had worse falling out of trees back home."

"If you say so. Now I have to track down my brother and make sure he didn't decide to go cause more trouble around here. Myra set him to work with the other kids and…"

"He's not good with other kids, right?" Yuan smiled at the look on her face. "You think I could've known Kratos all these years and not recognize someone who's not comfortable around people their own age?"

Martel laughed as she stood, sounding like a silver bell. "True enough. As for you, go to bed, alright? Healer's orders."

"Yes ma'am."

Martel bent and lightly kissed his cheek. "Thank you. For having a really crazy idea of chivalry."