Track 5: December
On the last month of the year, I got to work. Garon had left Krakenburg to attend business in the frontier (again), and though all of us children were not fans of the celebrations, I had decided for myself that I'd try and start actually doing something productive for us. I was by no means assured any of us would survive much longer, and I considered the day of Arete's disappearance my deadline, one which I didn't know when would happen, which was a huge headache, so I decided to race against the clock. We wouldn't be children forever, and by making a wild claim, based on Corrin always saying he or she spent all of his or her formative years post-kidnapping in the Northern Fortress, I figured it would be soon. Anankos would not idle around, and I didn't know how he would either replace Garon with his puppet or transform him into that gooey monstrosity (I never quite understood what the hell was up with that topic), but I figured that if Arete was alive, that would buy me some time at the absolute least.
Queen Arete was never alone. She was fiercely guarded by some of the most prolific fighters I had seen yet in my life that were never mentioned in canon (then again Fates was a trainwreck in many forms and ends), those two being the Hero of the Ashen Fields (Naga, what an awesome title), Elias Zachary, and the one person I knew Iago couldn't stand nor outdo in the least, one Sorceress by the name of Natasha Black, also known as The Eternal Witch, who was during her prime considered the best mage of Nohr (and remained undefeated even after that), shoes which Iago was fervently working to fill and surpass (with mixed results). From what I had been investigating of them, they actually were close friends of Garon who had seen many battles at his side. Elias was a burly man scarred to hell and back and had humor drier than the desert, who often made the younger children cry merely by staring at them and standing still like a hulking mass of muscle, and the rooms silent when he cracked what he thought were jokes but were misinterpreted to hell and back. Natasha for her part was an eerily quiet woman, always skulking around in the shadows and keeping her single eye on us (there were a bunch of stories on how she lost her other eye, each bloodier and more bizarre than the last), she didn't speak much to us, and her smile was downright disturbing, but something about her always seemed detached and melancholic. The two of them worked as her personal guard and retainers, so it wasn't rare to see them nearby where the Queen went.
I had a bit of an issue with that, because I wasn't sure if I could trust them. To be honest, I wasn't sure what Arete thought of them either. It seemed they had a professional relationship but not much more, though it wasn't that surprising, what with Arete's precedence and all that always ticking off the people of the Court to hell and back.
Arete wasn't well beloved within the Court, and it was a fact that I wanted to play towards, which wouldn't be simple, since I was a kid and all that jazz. I definitely wanted Arete as my ally, and though it would be the single most dangerous gamble I could pull, I went through with it. I definitely could try getting to Arete through Azura, but my lack of bonding with any of the children in all my life would make this angle take too long, and time was something I did not have nor wanted to bet on.
So I pulled a ridiculous stunt. I requested a private audience with the Queen through Elias and Natasha. I wasn't sure how trustworthy they were, only that their loyalties lied with Garon first and foremost, but I had to try.
Queen Arete actually met with me. It was truly shocking, but hey, it seemed life had thrown me a bone. And I would take it. I would gamble it all.
We met during one particularly chilly morning, on the 20th of December, 5 days before Christmas, 11 days before the new year, who knows how many until her disappearance, and about a month and a half after Camilla's birthday.
Arete was a strange one, to say the least; she was usually compared to a misty lake in the middle of a clearing, which was fitting considering her Vallite origin and all their water mumbo jumbo. It was often said that those who met her directly would rarely find anything about her and instead become part of her plays and ploys, often finding self-reflecting and completely disarmed psychologically. When I met her in her private study, I knew I had walked into that infamous misty den. The Queen was a very enigmatic woman, as both her precedence and true personality remained embroiled in mystery. It was known that she was a brilliant politician and a talented mage, though in which specialization for the latter, I never knew. I'd need both of her areas of expertise.
"I must admit, Prince Ignis. I never expected your request" She said in a calculated tone after the usual pleasantries and courtesies had been exchanged. I didn't know if her condolences for my mother were genuine or just forced, and though that actually stung a little, I knew she had no reason to grieve her, nor would I ever ask something so inane.
"I never expected you to actually accept it either, Queen Arete" I replied, not letting the incredulity and sardonic tone go unnoticed. Between exhaustion, sleepless nights (I rarely slept well those days and sometimes still do), and generally being grumpy for that and more, I decided I would be as authentic as I could for once. No more tricks for this and onward. "Still really don't, to be honest, but here we are, unless I'm dreaming, and I'm sure Master Iago still had his pants on when I saw him this morning"
She actually chuckled.
"I must say this is a strange situation" Arete concedes. "I've never talked to any of you children like this. Not even Azura has sought me out as fervently as you have, young man"
Huh, curious to hear that. I actually felt the sadness on that one. I don't know if Arete and Azura were ever explicitly told to have had problems as mother and daughter in the game, but considering the shitfest that is the court, I wouldn't be surprised if their relationship was strained, what with having to keep Valla a secret and all, and that's not counting the threats to Azura's life either; she was in a position similar to Xander, after all.
Ugh, the big brother instinct in me suddenly calls to pledge for protection. Young Azura from Heroes was like a little animal that you just wanted to cuddle and protect, so if her sugar and ice personality was anything like that, perhaps I should start working towards giving her some peace of mind where I could.
Not that I had any right to.
"I see…"
"Would you like some tea?" She offered courteously.
"That'd be lovely" I answered, and she elegantly pours me a cup. I proceed to grievously fill that shit with sugar.
We spend a few minutes in silence. I know that she's using these moments to analyze me down to the core, and I let her do it. Even if I am still nervous, I'm not here with any ill intentions, and if she's a good judge of character, I want to think she'll realize so.
"Now then" She finally breaks the ice when putting down her cup. "To what business do I owe your company, Prince Ignis?"
I take a moment to gather my thoughts, because even if I'm going to be honest for once in this second life, if I blow it up I'll just have potentially doomed the remainder of my brethren, Arete herself, and most certainly Azura if this doesn't go Revelations, or might just cause a worse scenario that any of them combined.
Time to make history.
"Queen. What I'm about to say will be outrageous" I begin, and this piques her curiosity, if her eyebrow is anything to go by. Time to try and metagame this shit. "You will surely not believe me even if I try to explain, though I will try to do so if you're adamant about it, I'm sure you deserve that much. But please, please believe me when I say that this entire world is set on a dangerous path that may surely lead to ruin, one that will begin with you".
I wasn't content anymore with just becoming a +1 to the Fates ride provided I even survived, not if I could help it, I would try to stop that from even being a choice. I don't care about Corrin's joke of a "choice". If he or she has the right to make a call, I am going to make mine right here and now.
Is it foolish? Quite so. Is it insane? Hell yeah. Will it work? I absolutely have no idea.
But I'm going to try anyways. I will try to protect as many of my own brothers and sisters if I can help it.
"What do you mean, young man?" Arete's gaze sharpened. She didn't lose her composure whatsoever.
"Know that I am unarmed, and please believe me when I say I don't mean harm to you" I say first of all. It was true; Elias had thoroughly searched me and didn't find any weapons on me. She nodded slowly. I took a small breath, because right now I might just get magic'd into next Tuesday.
"I know where you come from, Queen Arete. You and Azura both"
I felt the air chill around me, and saw her mask of amiability crack, but I needed to press onwards before this was seen as just a bad ruse. Arete was insightful enough to know that I was not joking though.
"I know about the invisible kingdom. The one with a name that must not be spoken"
I held my breath, and once more the silent seconds seemed to stretch to infinity. Arete's mask finally collapsed, and I was left with a gaze so piercing that it almost tore a hole through my skull.
"How?" Was her simple question. The air now froze around me abruptly, and through a form of magic I didn't know was possible, the remaining tea in the kettle rose into the air on its own, and the small bubbles of the greenish liquid solidified into dangerous icy daggers, which didn't take a second to fly right next to my neck on their own. I had known Azura and Corrin had water related abilities due to their Vallite ancestry, but seeing it up close and applied in this manner, well, it was new.
I gulped. It was the moment of truth. Do or die.
"I am not from this world either, Queen. Though I don't have any proof of it but my words and knowledge that will most likely become useless soon"
"Are you from that place as well?" She almost orders me to respond.
"No. I'm from far beyond" I respond. "It will be strange to piece together, as I do not know for certain it is actually the truth, Queen Arete, but I believe my mind comes from one of the realms connected by the Dragon Gate"
The wonders of what DLC has done narratively to Awakening, Fates and Echoes. For better or worse, there was not much knowledge within the royal library about the Dragon Gate. The saving grace about it (and my crutch) is that it actually did exist as a place within this world, but other than it supposedly being a gateway to other worlds, not much of it was known.
Mostly because it was impossible to reach. All that was recorded of it were the tales of people who had supposedly reached the Gate, but all of their claims had been discarded as the words of lunatics. From what I put together, there were a lot of claims of the Gate lying in wildly different parts of the continent, while there was some form of magic blocking access to it. The most infuriating part is that at least in Krakenburg or Windmire, there was no physical proof of any of the supposed travelers. Between all that and the many myths and rumors surrounding the place there were many who didn't even believe it existed at all even.
"Is this your idea of a prank?"
…and Arete was one of those people. Fuck me sideways with a Killing Edge.
"Q-Queen Arete" I try to explain myself. "I told you myself it would be hard to believe, and that even I wasn't sure of it being the case, but believe me when I say that my knowledge is genuine"
"Child" Arete articulates coldly. "…or if you even are that" That… actually kind of hurt, ironically. "Speak plainly, or you'll die here"
"I only have my words to help me here, and knowing how that dragon has eroded to madness, do you think something as dumb as coming directly to you and trying to lay my cards on the table would be anything short of stupid!?" I plead to common sense. "Can I at least get these spikes away from me!?"
"You're either bold or stupid, child. Probably both. It wouldn't surprise me, considering your little fiery stunt" Arete chuckles maliciously. "You clearly live up to your name"
"Woman, for someone who comes from a place sealed by an in-universe spoiler repellant, you're surprisingly stubborn. And that last one was kind of a low blow" I retort without thinking.
"What madness are you blabbering about now?" She seems honestly insulted.
"I'm saying that if you keep going the way you are now, you're going to die" I take advantage of the window, running on fumes of bravado. "You will die and become a puppet to that stone faced freak, make your daughter miserable as she will have to survive this stupid shit on her own, where I and already a few more us already drew blood, mind you, and eventually all this bullshit will escalate into an all-out conflict with Hoshido due to your dear husband, my father as you may know, also becoming a puppet to that mad dragon, which by the way, will also make your cousin follow your fate as well and then her child have to go on a bullshit quest with no winners on either side"
Of course the last part was a complete lie, if canon was to take place Revelations was always an option, but with me in the equation, everything goes nuts. What happens if Corn hates my guts and I prod him or her to go Birthright? Or just the other way around and it goes Conquest? Fuck if I know. I want to make more of us Nohrian siblings survive, and each of us brings more chaos to the equation. I'm definitely messing with forces I don't understand, I know it, but I'm going to fight, dammit.
I don't want a Heirs of Fate scenario either, if that's even possible. Then again I don't know if the Deeprealms are a thing here, haven't studied nor searched on them yet. Please don't be real, please.
My little rapid fire must have stunned her somewhat, because Arete goes silent for a second. She doesn't retire the knives from my sweating neck, but I feel a little relieved to see that at least some of my words have an effect.
Have I gone about this the right way? Hell if I know. I'm not sure about anything I'm doing. There's no manual for this shit.
"Are you a spy for him?" Arete again jumps into a perfectly logical but infuriating conclusion.
"No" I shriek fiercely.
Wrong answer. The ice is now touching my neck. Not drawing blood yet, but well, it's quite nerve-wrecking. What a shocker.
"Then enlighten me. If you're not a spy, then what are you?" Arete presses with finality. Something tells me that if I give an unsatisfactory answer it'll be my end.
I don't know much about Arete or what her deal is. From the beginning, I've never had much of a clear picture of much of Fates as a whole package. The game was severely lacking in many aspects regarding its story, and though I know there were some side materials that never got released in the west, a lot of the time I've spent as Ignis has also been very limited in information. Heck, even in-game we get to hear very little about Arete and Mikoto. For a long time now I've been treading in unknown waters, and my actions just may make what little knowledge I do have completely worthless.
But I can't bear to stand still, because I'm…
"Just an idiot with innocent blood in his hands trying to prevent more tragedies" I respond. "Because I want to try and give a chance to my brothers and sisters, because I believe that I can do some good even with the shit hand I was dealt"
Because I owe it to Victor.
Arete stands still for a moment, and I notice her extended hand, the one I assumed she used to control the icicles, tremble. She looks at me with incredulity. I guess the uncanny valley of the words being used by an 8 year old must have been a hell of a ride. I can visibly tell that she's debating what to do with me, but I can already feel the ice daggers relent if only a little bit.
"…Where I come from" The Queen of Nohr says slowly. "Where I come from we have a fable. It tells of a thirsty villager who is unable to find a river amidst a dense forest he was traveling through to reach his village, he had been walking for many days now, and though he was near his destination, he was still very thirsty. A curious spider sees him and approaches him, and after the villager tells the spider about his situation, the spider tells that though there is no river, he can drink from the gathered rain on the leaves of the trees, and tells him of a particular tree within the heart of the forest with leaves are big enough to gather enough even for a human like him. The villager, however, is too wary of the spider, and though he appreciates the advice, he prefers continuing his way, making do with the smaller leaves that he comes across. He eventually finds his village out of the other edge of the forest, and the spider, though sad, decides to spin its web back to its home.
Later during the season, the village's rivers and wells started running dry, and would face a drought soon. The man who traveled through the dense forest then tells the other villagers about a big tree that gathered a lot of rain in its leaves. The village then thinks that if it gathers enough water for a person to drink from, it could surely help them all at least survive the season should worse come to worst, and so the chief makes the villager take him to the forest to search for that tree.
The villager then admits that though he knew about the tree, he didn't actually know where it was, and instead seeks out the spider to help them. They wandered through the forest all day but didn't find the spider, so discouraged, the chief returned to his village. The villager however didn't relent, and kept searching well into the night. He managed to trace back his steps to where he had first met the spider, but no matter how much he called for the it, the spider had long since abandoned that part of the forest. The villagers never found the fabled tree which would let them quench their thirst from its large leaves, and were forced to move to farther lands to survive the drought"
The fable ended on quite a strange note. During this whole exchange, the Queen had spoken in a strangely melancholic tone. She then redirects her attention to me once more.
"I myself never quite liked this fable, if I do say so myself, but it is part of our dying folklore" Arete continues. "And though the message is simple, I find myself compelled to ask. Is the water you're offering real, or just a ploy?"
"You're more worried about the fact that if the time of need comes, you will not find the spider, aren't you?" I question back sharply, letting the veiled insult of calling me a spider go through. "You know a drought is coming, but don't know if it'll be too late later, or if my help will even be enough then"
Truly a bizarre fable.
"If you truly know where we come from, then you know that I cannot trust anybody lightly" Arete continues. "And just the promise of some water will not be enough to quench a whole kingdom"
"I'm asking you to trust me" I say, trying to muster as much confidence as I could. "I also want that dragon gone by all means, that mad lizard speaks disaster to all of Nohr and Hoshido, not only your kingdom, though I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that. He's planning. He's always planning, never resting, never stopped, and believe me when I say not even Azura's song will be enough"
"Who in the name of the Dusk Dragon are you truly, Prince Ignis?" Arete questions tiredly, and for once her mask, peerless in confidence and regal willpower, falls down, revealing a woman who's very tired. Tired of running, of keeping appearances, of fighting a fight some part of her believes to be futile.
"An idiot who's had enough of running away" I answer.
There are Fates worse than death.
"And just how do you plan on going on about it?" Arete questions sardonically, perhaps the most honest I have ever seen her. The sass fits her like a glove. "I do not believe you truly understand the situation you're getting yourself in"
"Honestly? You're right" I respond sincerely. Her jaw falls down. "I'm just a dumb 8 year old with no know-how or manpower to get his dumb plans going"
Arete's eyes then glint mischievously, and then she gives a positively evil grin. Dusk Dragon, woman! Flora is best girl! Bad thoughts! She's your step-mother! You're friggin' 8 years old in body for crying out loud!
"I see…" The Queen of Nohr is just a step away from breaking into maniacal laughter befit of an evil overlord. I wonder if it's because the idea of conspiring with an 8 year old is that outrageous. Nah, it can't be, surely. "I guess someone should look over your decisively childish plans and give them a little refinement, wouldn't you say?"
Please don't tell me I also have that evil look in my eye as well.
"I have a few ideas…"
A certain traveling redhead merchant is about to get into a load of trouble. And it's gonna be positively excellent.