BloodyCrystal: Hey, all! Here's the next chapter of Dream Master, right on schedule. I hope you enjoy it, because I can't post next week; I'm out of town with no computer access. Total bummer, I know. But I've decided to post another interlude before I leave. Expect it on Friday or early Saturday. Also, this next interlude features Lani and Heath. Anyways, enjoy this chapter!

Disclaimer: If I owned Fire Emblem, things would be very different, trust me on that. Since I don't own it, this is fanfiction, and not affiliated in any way, shape, or form with the real Fire Emblem. Thank you, have a nice day.

Ch. 4: Reveal

The three Lords-plus Pent and Louise-looked at Lani with varying degrees of surprise. "Maybe you didn't hear me correctly," the Tactician said. "I repeat, if you don't feel comfortable with the fact that I was part of Black Fang until two months before I met milady Lyndis, then feel free to put me in chains or something."

"Lani, we are upset that you didn't see fit to tell us sooner, but we still trust you. No one in this 'army' talks overmuch about their pasts, so why should you? Besides, unless you've forgotten, Legalt used to be Black Fang, too," Lyndis replied.

Louise spoke up next: "Lani, without you, we wouldn't have had a very good chance of rooting out the Jackals; we wouldn't even know about them! Just for that, Lord Pent and I are willing to overlook your past. It would have been nice if you had told even one person, but it is your affair, no one else's unless you choose to tell them." Pent nodded gravely, and offered the eighteen-year-old a warm smile.

Hector stood up, and started in with, "You've given us no other reason to mistrust you, so why should we start now just because you used to be Black Fang? You quit two years ago, just before meeting Lyndis, so there're no problems here."

"Lani," Eliwood said, looking directly into the Tactician's wine red eyes, "we need you. We need to be able to trust you. And you need to know that we trust you. So we're all telling you right now: we trust you. You can ask anyone in this, well, army, and they'll give you the same answer. Even knowing that you're Black Fang, everyone here trusts you."

Lani smiled, gulping back tears of relief and gratitude. "Th-thankee kindly, m'lord Eliwood," the girl managed, before turning to surreptitiously at her eyes.

After giving her some time, the group sat down and turned to the maps. "If we go this way, these troops should..."

"What do you think Lani's going to talk about?" Rebecca asked Dart. "I mean, we all know about the whole Black Fang bit, so what else can there be?"

"Maybe she'll be fillin' us in on 'the whole Black Fang bit,'" Dart told his sister.

Just then, Lani showed up. "I'm sure many-if not all-of you are wondering why I called this meeting. Well, one of my first lessons was the Tactician must trust those under his or her command, and the commanded must be able to trust the Tactician. So, I'm going to tell you a story. Like all stories, it starts off with once upon a time...

"Once upon a time, there were four friends, two boys and two girls. They were all very close, practically siblings. They had each been trained as something different: a Berserker, a Troubadour, a Druid, and an Assassin. Ten years after they first met, the Berserker married the Troubadour, and the Druid married the Assassin. Do I hear you ask for their names? Very well. The Berserker was called Brendan Reed, the Troubadour was Sherri Bree, the Druid was Rein Green, and the Assassin was Aloa Merrn. Brendan was planning to start an unordinary mercenary troop; the one difference would be that this group only went after nobles abusing their positions. They would still be paid, there would still be companies, and there would still be the usual benefits-and lack thereof.

"Rein and Aloa pledged their children to the mercenary troop, which Rein thought should be called Crimson Fang. Keeping Rein's suggestion in mind, Brendan called the troop Black Fang, altering his original choice of Black Tiger.

"The Black Fang started up, and took on various assignments, but still the two couples had no children. Then, one day, Sherri found out she was pregnant. She gave birth to a healthy baby boy, who she named Lloyd. Almost exactly one year later, Sherri gave birth to a second baby boy, this one named Linus.

"By now, Rein and Aloa were desperate for a child. They went to temple to pray once a week. However, a visiting doctor told them that Aloa's old work had given her a peculiar condition. Her-" here, Lani started to blush-"cycle wasn't working properly. All that work she used to do made it so that she wouldn't-um-wouldn't-"

"Wouldn't cycle properly," Lyndis supplied.

"Right," Lani said, relief obvious in her tone. "So, they had to either get very lucky, or adopt. Rein and Aloa decided to give it three more years before they tried to adopt a child. Two years later, their efforts paid off and they had a healthy baby girl, one Lanari by name. Lloyd, Linus, and Lanari were very close. They had a friendly relationship, even if the two boys were a little over-protective.

"However, there was another mercenary group in Bern, which is where Black Fang was based right from the start; after all, Bern needed it the most. And so, the head of this other mercenary group met with Brendan six years after Lanari was born. He brought his nine-year-old son, who shared his name of Jekran-" here, some of the audience gasped-"with him. Jekran (jr.) and Lloyd-who was the same age as him-hated each other with a passion. On this visit, it degenerated into a three-way brawl-Linus joined in.

"Lanari ran screaming to the five parents, who managed to separate and heal the three boys. Jekran (sr.) made one last comment to Brendan: 'I think we'll be better in the north; yours are more civilized.' At the time, Lanari didn't understand the comment. Now, she does. It meant, 'we aren't as controlled as your group, we belong in the uncivilized north,' etc.

"A year after that incident, Lanari waved goodbye to Lloyd and Linus as they went off to training: Lloyd would become a Myrmidon, and Linus a Mercenary. In two more years, Lanari would go off to train as a Tactician. However, before Lloyd and Linus left, the three swore a powerfully binding oath, one that is known as The Triad's Oath."

Pent stood up, eyes wide. "Lani, you didn't! Do you know how binding that oath is?"

"I do, and I did. So did the other two. It is an oath that had been taught to all Black Fang members until Brendan remarried. We knew exactly what we were doing. For those who don't know, the Triad's Oath is an oath sworn by a "Wise One," a "Warrior," and a "Commander." It binds the three to an everlasting an alliance to do only good. It never shatters, even if one or two die before the other/s. It is very powerful, and very ancient. It leaves only three marks, one on each person swearing the oath." Here, Lani turned the palm of her right hand to the audience. Carved onto it, all silver-white, was a symbol. "This means wisdom. Linus had the symbol for fighter, Lloyd the one for ruler.

"Back to the story...When Lanari was twelve, she was given a command. Her company was Nadi's Knights. After one season with them, she was put back into class. About this time, Sherri died. Brendan was heartbroken-they had been incredibly close-but he didn't let that distract him from his work. However, he married a woman named Sonia just after Lanari turned thirteen. Sonia found work for Nadi's Knights, and sent them to the northern continent. Lanari prayed for their quick-and safe-return. Only the first one was granted.

"Three months after they went north, their heads were returned in a wagon." Lani started sniffling, but continued on. "Lloyd and his corps caught one of Jekran's Jackals, and we learned the whole truth: Jekran (jr.) had killed his father and taken over. When they found the Knights, they-they raped the ones they could capture, and then burned their corpses after sending the heads back to us..." Lani broke down completely, sobbing hysterically for a couple of minutes while the others whispered among themselves.

Lani scrubbed at her eyes, then looked up, ready to continue. Everyone turned their attention back to her. "Brendan considered sending a couple companies up north to root the Jackals out-as payback for N-Nadi-but Sonia talked him out of it. Not long after that, Lanari noticed how much the assignments were changing-now, everyone was fair game, not just nobles who abused their positions. The Black Fang was no longer what it had been.

"Lanari declined field assignments so that she could hurry through the strenuous Tactician training. She heard that Lloyd and Linus had been given their names-oh, names were what commanders were called. Commanders got their names based on things they had done or pet names from their youth. So, Lanari heard that Linus and Lloyd had been given their names, and that Sonia had a girl-child named Nino.

"When Lanari finished her training at age seventeen, she sent two letters-one to Linus, one to Lloyd-packed up, and disappeared deeper into Bern. Her travels led her to Sacae, which compounded with her fainting in the desert, being rescued by Lyn of the Lorca Tribe, and the rest is known history." Lanari breathed deep, glad to be done. "In case anyone's wondering, the two letters basically said: 'don't look for me, I don't want to be found, I'll miss you lots, but I can't stay with the Black Fang changed so much,' and so on."

"Lani, what happened to your parents?" an anonymous voice asked.

Lani sighed, sadly. "They had two more kids, one ten years younger than me, the other fifteen years younger than me. I met them, and they're both sweet kids, and I'm glad that Mom and Dad got them out of the Black Fang. You see, Rein and Aloa had also noticed that things were changing. When Lloyd and Linus showed them their letters from Lanari, they packed up, and headed to Etruria to raise what was left of their family. By now, Aiden is eight and Rona is three. I think they were raising Rona as a Troubadour-in tribute to Sherri-and Aiden as a Thief in the hopes he'll take after Mom and become an assassin."

"One more question: why do you sometimes speak with an accent?" Louise asked.

"My dad has the same one, and I learned to speak from him because Mom worked for the Black Fang quite a bit. So, I picked it up from him. I speak 'like a noble,'" here she glanced at Heath, "because Mom said I couldn't join the Fang unless I spoke 'like a normal person.'"

BloodyCrystal: Sorry this chapter was mostly talk-and Lani's talk at that-but I had to get Lani trusted again. Also, if anyone's wondering about Lani's dream back in chapter two (Remember), that was the week before they actually left. That was them breaking the news to her. She worked really hard on her accent to impress them on their send-off, so that's why there's no accent in the last chapter for their real send-off.

Also, yes, I know I'm playing with the game storyline/timeline, not to mention things about some of the characters, but it's necessary, and that's why it's called fanfiction!

Until next time!