Hey I'm back, well briefly. Anyway, Reyson has finally returned! Oh by the way I'm just taking a sort of poll. On more than one occasion I've been asked to put a Soren romance in here...is that how everyone feels? Just trying to get the thoughts of my readers. Thank you again for the support and the follows. ^_^

Chapter 21 Dreams and Memories

"What happened to you?" A concerned father said as he slowed his jog when he reached his scowling daughter. The young girl's forehead was deeply creased from her frown. Her normally fair skin was blotched with bruises and scratches that brightened her cerulean eyes. Her brother, with similar blue eyes was cleaning her lightly bloodied face with the hem of his shirt.

"What's wrong with your sister?"

The boy gave his father a quick glance and sighed, "She got in a fight." He said as he finished cleaning the smeared blood from her cheek.

"Is that true?" The father questioned. The child only frowned deeper at her father and crossed her arms. She looked up as her father squatted in front of her and placed a hand on her messy short blue hair that was no doubt worse from her scuffle.

"And who were you fighting with?"

She didn't respond, but tightened her lips in an angry pout.

"It was Coldin, the fisherman's son from down the lane." The twin brother volunteered the information and received a quick punch to the arm from his sister.

"Ow." He complained as he rubbed his arm. "That's what happened; what are punching me for?"

"Hey!" the father raised his voice to stop the bickering. Both kids buttoned their lips sheepishly."

"Why did you fight Coldin?"

"Because the stupid jerk doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut." She shouted angrily as her tiny hands curled into fists. "He always says something stupid so I pounded him to teach him a lesson." She abruptly folded her arms together and gave a quick decisive nod of her head.

A small smile was threatening to creep over the older man's face; but it didn't seem appropriate to encourage his daughter's rough housing. She was always such a fireball he mused with a sigh as his own face met with his daughter's firm expression.

He glanced at his son, "Thank you for looking out for your sister. Why don't you head home; I'll take care of her."

The boy seemed reluctant to leave but finally conceded to his father's wishes and began walking towards their house.

"So." The father began with his hand still rolling through the messy blue locks of his daughter, "What did Coldin say?"

There was a pause, she grabbed the hem of her shirt, a low frustrated growl was coming from her lips. "He said…" her voice shook, "he said I look like a boy! That stupid potato faced jerk said I should act more like a girl and play with dolls instead of sparring with Ike."

She looked up at her father, eyes flickering with intense emotion and she held her fists up as she retold her story, "It's not my fault that I don't like playing girl games. I just wanna be strong like you pops!"

"Hey hey, calm down." He said in a low voice. The little girl's passionate speech dwindled down to a whimper, "He says I'm a poor excuse for a girl and boys will never like me cuz…"she wasn't able to finish her sentence as she trailed off into a mumble.

"I like you, and so does your brother."

The slow whimper turned into a full cry, "But that doesn't count if you and brother like me!" she whaled hysterically. Her hands flew to her face to rub her weeping eyes.

"Wait, hold on!" the father flailed as he realized his form of comforting worsened the situation. He began to make soft shushing sounds, "Listen, don't worry about what that kid said."

"But…but…"

"For one thing no matter how you act, you're still my amazing beautiful daughter. And one day you're going to just sprout up and all the boys are going to be begging for your attention."

The crying slowed as the girl hiccupped and wiped her nose that was running, "So I won't end up an old maid just because I like sword fighting?"

With a shake of his head the father smiled, "Of course not."

"And will I get a husband just like you pops?" was her next sweet question.

With an embarrassed scratch to his noise he laughed, "Well maybe not just like me. But listen." He sat down in the dirt before her, "Any boy who wants to be your husband has to fight me and win before he can marry you."

"What?!" she exclaimed, "That's not fair! There's no way anyone could ever beat you! I'm gunna have to be with you forever."

The father was still chuckling as he ruffled her hair, "That wouldn't be so bad; you can take care of me in my old age." she was scowling slightly again but then a smile crept over her lips. "Fine, I guess I can do that." She turned away and blushed shyly.

"Hey pops. What kind of sprout am I going to turn grow into?" she asked as she took her father's analogy literally.

With a gentle grin Greil leaned in and kissed his daughter's forehead, "The strongest and most beautiful one there is."

"Really?" she eagerly asked with twinkling innocent eyes.

"Of course, but even then, when the guys are banging at our fort doors for you, remember you were my little sprout first." he cautioned affectionately,
"Okay?"

"Okay pops!" she agreed with a toothy grin plastered over her bruised face that warmed her father's heart as he ran his thumb over her small forehead and whispered, "My little sprout."...

Ikyna moaned as she slowly left her dream. Her eyes gradually focused and saw a darkened room. When had night fallen? She moaned again and tried to turn but found herself secured in a familiar arm. Ike held her tightly in one arm as he slept sitting beside her in the bed. His cerulean locks carelessly flopped over his slumbering face as he softly snored.

With a sleepy smile Ikyna went to poke her twin's cheek but once again found her movement hampered by a weight over her legs. There was another snoozing body laying across her lap. Mist's face was just as peaceful as Ike's as she slept.

Ikyna sighed happily as she felt the warmth of being surrounded by her siblings, but the events earlier that day were haunting her mind. As she absently stroked her sister's silky brown hair she glanced down at her free hand. She winced at the ravaged palm. Callouses were split open and dried blood painted the wounds. "So you're finally awake." Ike said with a groggy voice as he rubbed his eyes. The female twin quickly hid her hand and then chuckled as she watched her brother run one hand over his face with a yawn.

She nodded quickly. Ike teasingly poked his sister's noise with his index finger, "You look really awesome sis."

Ikyna brushed his finger away and replied with evident sarcasam, "Good, because I feel really awesome." It was an obvious lie. Her head was pounding and her face was dried from crying; she felt anything but fine and she could only imagined that her looks matched how she felt.

Ike smirked at her response then began, "You were smiling as you slept."

Ikyna grinned, "Why, were you having a pleasant dream?" her brother inquired.

With a chuckle Ikyna started, "Yeah, I dreamed about that day I fought with the with that fisherman's son."

"Who, Coldin?"

She nodded, "I wouldn't really call that a fight." Ike argued, "The poor kid didn't stand a chance. It was completely one-sided."

"He got me a few times; but, I really clobbered him didn't I?" Ikyna said with a sweet nostalgic smile on her lips.

Ike shook his head in amusement, feeling a mixture of exhaustion and relief to see his sister looking even remotely happy about something. Then he became lost in his own thoughts. As he mused over his sister's dream, he couldn't help but recall his. The dream was so vivid it was more of passing memory. He could see the dream clearly like it was real; the hazy memory of sparring with his father as a boy. An aching caught in his heart as he saw himself vowing to never stop working until he surpassed his father; yet now, he'd never get a chance to spar with his father again or see the glimmer of pride his dad flashed every time Ike stood up after being knocked down.

He heard Ikyna sigh and awoke from his daydream, "You know, that was the day pops started calling me sprout." She was talking about the day she fought with Coldin again.

Ikyna wasn't facing her brother anymore; her face was staring straight ahead toward the door. He noticed her voice softened at the end of her last statement and the corners of her eyes were gathering tears. The blue in her eye glistened as she swallowed a lump forming in her throat.

"Sis?" he cautiously began as he noticed his sister's quickly dampening mood.

"Oh right." Ikyna interrupted quickly and gave her eyes a quick wipe, "No need to worry; I'm not going to have another breakdown." She forced a smile.

Ike firmly grabbed her chin and held it as he looked into her eyes. His brow furrowing, "I don't mind you being strong, but don't hold it in anymore. When you need to talk or cry, or have a 'breakdown,' come to me."

Ikyna averted her eyes from the pointed stare of her sibling and scoffed, "Well no worries I don't plan of having another emotional episode until next week."

With a rough pinch to his sister's nose he grinned, "I'll keep my schedule open for that."

Ikyna groaned, not really from pain, from irritation at her brother's slightly aggressive way of showing affection. Through their interchange Ikyna's eyes saddened and dropped, "But, if anything happens like that again," She stammered uncomfortably with her nasal voice, "I'll let you know."

Ike seemed pleased with her answer and released her nose. "Good."

He slid out the bed, careful to not disturb Mist, and stretched once more as he stood. "I have to meet Soren to go over some particulars."

"In the middle of the night?"

Ike laughed, "I hadn't meant to fall asleep." He admitted sheepishly, "When I carried you back here in the evening I just kind of fell asleep; I didn't even know how tired I was."

With a tilt of her head and a smirk, Ikyna began, "I guess I'm not the only one who was pushing myself."

Ike rolled his eyes, "It seems we really are related."

His sister replied with shrug and a grin. "Get going, don't you have big commander stuff to do?" She said and began waving him off with her hands.

"Fine, fine, just make sure you talk to Mist when she wakes up." He said as he turned in left.

Ikyna sighed into the room blackened by night and returned her hand to her sisters hair and stroked it has the auburn-hair girl snored softly. The weight of guilt hung in the air around Ikyna as she remembered how she spoke to her sister earlier that day. Unacceptable, completely unacceptable.

"I'm sorry for being such a hot head." She whispered before giving her sister a gentle kiss on the forehead. Mist stirred slightly and a small smile formed over her mouth. Ikyna continued mumbling to her sister, "You know pops said I'd have to marry a guy that could beat him in a fight, but where am I going to find someone more stubborn than me?"

)(

Reyson felt acute irritation simmering in his stomach as he walked a few feet behind his three hawk brethren. The hooded cloak he wore was rubbing his wings with each step and it was hot and stuffy under the heavy material. Despite the sun already gone with the end of the day, the summer nights were still humid and sticky. Not only was it a miserable idea to be trekking to Begnion, but now he was stuck trudging through the forest outskirts heading deeper into human territory.

The heron craned his arms around his back to release the tangle of cloth and feathers gathering into a moist mess. As he struggled to ply feather from his cloak his foot struck a tree root obscured by the hazing night and he stumbled.

Instantly Tibarn was by his side, or at least Reyson thought it Tibarn, bird's eyes were not as reliable in the dark. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." He said though secretly he was feeling uneasy about being so within human realms with a mixture of exhaustion from walking for hours.

"We can take a rest here." Tibarn decided as he realized his friend needed time to sleep but would be too proud to admit it.

Reyson stood up straight with a sigh; he didn't feel like resisting this night.

"We should find shelter your majesty." Ulki advised as he flew up to a tree branch. His arms were folded over his chest as he stood still as night, staring into the dark blanketed sky.

"What are you looking at?" Janaff questioned as he hovered just below Ulki, "Can you really see something?" The hawk was stunned that his eyes, the trusted pupils of the king, couldn't see anything past a few dozen feet, yet Ulki saw something.

"Of course not, but I hear…" he paused as he leaned forward on his branch, straining his pointed ears towards a distant rumbling, "a storm coming."

"How bad will it be?" The hawk king's voice held a twinge of worry.

"Bad, we don't want to be caught in it."

Tibarn held a finger to his chin and thought. After a few moments he gave a decisive nod, "Ulki didn't you say that you heard humans about a mile or so back?"

"Yes your majesty. Why do you ask?"

"We need a place to stay, we can find that where the humans are."

Reyson sputtered, "What? Tibarn you can't be serious!" He was holding his arms out in disbelief. "No matter how bad this storm is, how could you suggest seeking refuge in human houses?"

"We won't have a choice. Do you want to get blown away by a raging storm?" Was Tibarn's reasonable argument.

"I'll take my chances rather than sleep with those animals."

Tibarn face churned with exasperation as he let out a long sigh and drug his hands down his face. Let alone heron's, Tibarn had never met a laguz more stubborn than Reyson. "Regardless, it's not a risk I'm willing to take."

He abruptly turned to Ulki, "Please lead the way to the humans."

Reyson planted his feet firmly and made the most obstinant and furious face that he could at Tibarn, although the hawk king couldn't see well enough to make out any distinct features.

"If I must, I will travel into the human country with you; but I refuse to be housed with them."

Tibarn blew out a harsh breath, "Listen Reyson, either you come with us willingly, or I'll knock you out and carry you there myself."

Once again, the forest was not lit well enough to see the swirling expressions of annoyance and shock on Reyson's face. Tibarn took a glimmer of satisfaction from stunning the heron speechless for once; it was a rare occurance. Reyson could sense that, the slight gloating that was stirring in Tibarn's heart. There was no way he'd be outdone however; he would never willfully go to the humans, regardless of Tibarn's threat.

"Fine," Reyson said as he crossed his arms stubbornly, "I guess you'll have to knock me out then."

Okay I know it's short but I was worried that if I didn't post this chapter I wouldn't have time for like another three weeks. I don't want people thinking I've discontinued the story.

PG