This is the last boat chapter, promise! Also, I read your reviews and since then, I've edited some of the future chapters to take out the fear of women. The unnecessary bit anyway as Arum will change that a bit. I may not respond very much, but I do read these reviews, promise! The first of the submitted characters will be appearing in about two chapters from now.

Syrin was still in a bad mood, despite the fact that they left Goldoa a long time ago – a week ago if Kaetar had to guess. Either he was bitter about something else or he could hold a grudge. For the most part, he stayed on his bunk and didn't move out of it often. Perhaps it was a bunch of little things that bothered him – the journey, the situation in Crimea and the lack of knowledge of what was occurring, and his upcoming journey to Grann. It was up to Syrin to find help there or the entire journey was for nothing! Kaetar wouldn't want to walk through a desert only to find that no one wanted to help.

That would hurt.

However, it was all speculation. Kaetar didn't speak to him at all, not since his conversation with Nasir. The prince still needed a little more time to let his discovery sink in and considering the fact that Nasir and not Syrin came to talk to him, he could guess that Syrin didn't want to talk anyway. It was a mutual silence between them, a silence that both of them were comfortable with for the time being.

The days were passing slowly. Any excitement that appeared in Goldoa disappeared into the rise and fall of the waves and predictability. At least being on the run wasn't boring and it was definitely not predictable. They could be captured and executed for all they knew, or they could also save Ike's reputation and Kaetar would have his fill of knowledge. He was gambling and the risks were big.

But as long as they were on a boat or in Begnion, they would be safe and bored. The prince was beginning to worry that his new skills with the bow would wear out and that Loiya would get rusty with the lance. Loiya's job counted on his skills to keep the prince safe. If his father found him useless, there was no telling what his father would do. There was also the chance of Misha. As long as Nicholas could read there was probably not much of a problem for him and the laguz didn't need a weapon and would probably be alright. Darius sat around a lot but Ema decided last week to begin daily stretches. She stretched in her pink jumpsuit but wore were new blue outfit the rest of the time, a surprise for Kaetar. He was sure that she would abandon it for the jumpsuit but she seemed pretty accepting of the leggings and the tunic.

"Morning, princey!" Darius suddenly called from behind in an awfully excited voice.

"Morning," Kaetar responded with a shrug. "Why so cheery?"

"We're off the coast of bird lands which includes Kilvas and Phoenicis, which are kind of like provinces for Serenes where all the birds live together," Darius mumbled. "It means that if other birds are curious about the boats, I might see some friends again!"

"If they all live in Serenes, then why do you still have Kilvas and Phoenicis?"

"Oh, some fellow laguz are still stubborn and choose to live on the islands. Plus, we're not allowed to hunt in Serenes. The herons, or rather Reyson, get angry when you hunt the forest animals so we still use Kilvas and Phoenicis and hunt there when Reyson isn't looking. Besides, all the bird tribes have easy access to those islands so it's not like beorc will claim it any time soon," the raven explained with a shrug.

Kaetar didn't know much about the herons. He heard that they were slain by the Begnion people after being framed for something bad. He didn't know what that bad thing was but it would take a lot to turn people to sudden genocide. The reason was lost to Kaetar but he was sure that Syrin or Nasir would know.

The dragons were natural historians; they lived through everything. The branded would be in the same situation, though they would not live as long. Admittedly, he didn't know much of the branded either aside from what Nasir and Darius told him. Whenever Kaetar thought he was learning, it was then that he realized that there was still so much that he needed to learn.

"You know, a long time ago, these were dangerous waters for beorc. If the ships were from Begnion, it would be attacked by ravens or hawks, depending who gets there first. Ravens attacked every ship while the hawks only attacked Begnion, and if you needed help, the dragons would just turn everyone away."

"Weren't you trying to get away from that?" Kaetar asked. It was a nice story but why would be speak of it now? It couldn't still be the case.

"Of course! You were just being quiet again so I thought a story would bring you back," Darius laughed.

"I was thinking," the prince answered.

"Anything I can help with?"

"I was thinking about the Serenes Massacre and then I was thinking about Brandeds. I don't really know much of either," Kaetar sighed. "I know what happened but not why and with the Brandeds... I just don't feel like I know the full story."

"The Massacre happened because Begnion was led by greedy, stupid senators," Syrin mumbled suddenly as he came up from behind. "When the Apostle was killed, they blamed it on the defenseless herons and the equally stupid commoners decided they would do something about it."

"Your attitude never ceases to amuse me. How can you say that with a straight face?" Darius muttered.

"I find it pointless to make situations sound nicer than they actually are. It doesn't help anyone," Syrin growled. "Besides, anyone who thought without emotions for a moment would realize that herons are simply too fragile for battle and couldn't have killed their apostle."

"The apostle was the one who could supposedly hear the voice of the goddess, right? Serena is only an empress," Kaetar muttered.

"She wouldn't be the apostle; she has the right blood but there isn't a purpose for two people who can hear the voice of the goddess."

What did that even mean? Did that mean that Micaiah was still alive? Shouldn't she have died like Sothe did? Surely she was too old. Darius looked confused too. He was chatty but not stupid. Syrin merely smirked.

"Looks like we have visitors."

Darius and Kaetar looked up and spotted the birds soaring above the boat. One of them transformed from their laguz form and sat on the edge. He was a brunette with shoulder length hair and dark brown eyes. His skin was tanned and his chest was visible from the deep neck that his shirt had. The shirt was green and rather loose. It was paired up with khaki coloured pants, which were also lose, that was held to his slim waist with a dark green sash. The one thing that surprised the prince was how small the hawk was. He looked no bigger than the prince was. Kaetar felt that the hawk was ignoring him and Syrin.

"Darius! It's been two decades!"

"I know! How have you been, Chifee?"

Syrin made a face but Kaetar couldn't figure out what it meant. Maybe he thought the hawk's name was stupid.

"Pretty good, actually! Have you heard that Tibarn has decided that he was going to retire, though? He's holding a tournament to determine who will replace him. You have to watch, it'll be fun!"

"Tibarn's is retiring? He chose a bad time to do it."

"He's getting kind of old for the job. He wants some peace and I don't blame him! Darius, introduce me to your friends!" Chifee shouted.

"Calm down! This is Kaetar and that's Syrin," Darius mumbled as Chifee made a face. Syrin glared at him, making the hawk shrink back.

"Is he-?"

"Yes! Congratulations, you're not nearly as stupid as I thought," Syrin answered bitterly. Before Chifee could reach him, Darius grabbed the hawk's wing and pushed the leader back.

"Syrin, stop it. Chifee, that's not a nice thing to ask. I don't care what the excuse is, you have to be nice to them too," Darius said in a firm voice, shaking a finger from his spare hand. He was like a parent talking to a child who hit another child. Kaetar's mother used to talk to him in that firm voice too and she even had that finger up like Darius did. Chifee had to be considerably younger than Darius if the raven had to use that voice.

"Ah! Darius that hurts!"

"You need to learn some manners in front of everyone! Agreed?"

"Yes! Let go of my wing! You're pulling my feathers!"

"I should have known better than to leave you behind. I better the other young hawks were a bad influence on you! You're so young!" Darius muttered as he released the younger hawk's wing.

"How old is he?" Kaetar asked.

"He's like a teen in beorc years... younger than you. He hasn't had the chance to really mature yet," the raven stated. "His parents became ill and passed on when he was young so I raised him until he could fly and fend for himself. I left to find some gold after that."

Chifee bit his lips.

"Then why doesn't he come with us?" Kaetar asked.

"I wouldn't disapprove. I would send him in the front lines," Syrin muttered, rolling his eyes.

"No! He's not coming along! He can transform but he never had any battle experience!"

"I can fight! I'll show you!" Chifee shouted as he took to the air and transformed. Darius chuckled softly and followed suit, jumping off the boat only to transform before he hit the water. Before Kaetar knew it, Darius slammed into the hawk, his talons raking across the hawk's underside before taking hold. There was loud caw as the hawk struggled to escape the raven's grip.

It was in this time that Ema and Misha came to the deck. "What's going on?"

"A play fight," Syrin answered simply.

"I should have expected that Darius would get into a fight with another bird laguz sooner or later," the cat muttered. "Misha, have you seen two bird laguz fight before?"

The female soldier merely shook her head.

Chifee flailed. Kaetar couldn't see much with the hawk flapping so wings so much, but he could see the hawk eventually reached up with his neck and driving his beak near Darius' head. The raven cawed and immediately let go, allowing Chifee to smash into him again. Kaetar wasn't very experienced when it came to something like to birds sparring with each other, but he instantly knew that Darius was not going to get another hit in.

Darius transformed again, apparently too weak to maintain his laguz form. His balance was odd and instantly threw up a hand to his neck. Kaetar took a deep breath. He could tell from here that Darius was seriously hurt. Chifee seemed to noticed as well and transformed to help his friend to the boat. They were both bloody, which made Kaetar's stomach knot up, but Darius seemed to bleeding profusely from the neck. The prince could actually see into the wound and something in his neck moved when he turned his head. Misha was quick to pull a vulnerary from her tunic and dumped it on the wound.

Kaetar covered his mouth. He felt nauseated.

"Darius! I'm so sorry! I didn't know that I hit you that hard!"

"You barely missed his vitals. A bad neck injury could be fatal on the spot," Syrin muttered.

"I didn't mean that!"

"Perhaps but you need to learn the consequences of your actions. You'll stay here until he recovers, then we will decide what to do with you."

Chifee frowned and nodded.

"The bleeding has stopped," Misha declared. She was sitting down with Darius' head on her lap, his neck exposed. His neck was covered in blood, except where the vulnerary ran down his neck, but Kaetar couldn't see the wound anymore. It was good news but his stomach was done. The prince bent over the side and threw up into the water.

"This isn't good. Darius is injured and Loiya hasn't gotten out of bed yet! Not to mention that Kaetar saw his breakfast again!" Ema shouted. "You! Get your friend downstairs!"

"Yes ma'am," Chifee responded as he pulled Darius' arm over his shoulder. The raven mumbled something quietly that wasn't audible to Kaetar. He followed them downstairs.

Ema as right about Loiya. He was curled up in he bunk with Nicholas at his side, sitting on the floor with his head leaning against the frame; the mage still cared a lot about him it seemed. Darius was plopped onto the closet bed and Chifee went as far as to even tuck the raven in. "Are you alright, Darius?"

"I'll live. Just so tired... but it was a good fight. Lots of fun," Darius answered quietly.

"Just let him sleep. You can take any other bed," Kaetar answered. "You must be tired too, right?"

"I guess!"

"And what about your injuries?"

"Just scratches! They'll heal quickly!"

Chifee took a bed, so Kaetar decided to see what was up with Loiya. The bodyguard was asleep, or at least he looked to be asleep, when Kaetar came to visit him. Nicholas looked up from his spot on the floor. He didn't say anything at first until Kaetar sat down beside him.

"It's another migraine, I'm afraid. This one seems pretty bad," Nicholas mumbled.

"I'm surrounded by many people and he still can't find time to take care of himself?" Kaetar was getting pretty tired of Loiya's migraines. If he rested normally and stopped worrying so much, he probably wouldn't be suffering from his migraines. Migraines was something that his mother often went stayed in bed for but apparently something else triggered those migraines. Loiya's migraines were probably just from stress.

"It's just a habit, Kaetar. He'll grow out of it. He wasn't feeling well when we thought that you had drowned."

"It's all just stress then," Kaetar murmured. He knew it all along but Loiya must have not yet made the connection. The bodyguard's entire life revolved around his job to protect Kaetar, so essentially Kaetar was the reason for his migraines. The prince wasn't too annoying, at least in said prince's own opinion, but he was the source of the stress in Loiya's life. He felt bad about it.

"Kaetar, there is no reason to blame anything until we can figure it out with him and solve it. Until we can do that, we will need to live with it and try to take care of him," Nicholas answered with a small smile. Then he took a glance over at the bird laguz in the bunks.

"They're friends apparently. They were play fighting and it got a little serious."

"I can tell. Is that his neck?" Nicholas asked, his face going grim.

"Yup. It was bleeding a lot and... I didn't like it," Kaetar admitted with a shrug. He didn't feel it was necessary to explain the entire story since Nicholas understood the issue with blood.

Nicholas chuckled. "No, doesn't sound like you would. And his friend is?"

"A hawk named Chifee. He's by far the youngest laguz I've ever seen," Kaetar answered. The prince, however, didn't know very many laguz. Tibarn and Skrimir were large and though Kurthnaga was not nearly as large as they were, his eyes told Kaetar that he was probably the oldest. His reign would continue long after Kaetar's ended.

"He does look small. I'm surprised that he managed to do that to Darius. I know that hawks are supposed to be stronger but Darius is more experienced," the mage stated simply.

"Maybe he's a natural born fighter. I think Loiya's is as good as he is because he had some sort of natural skill... and the fact that he's been training long before he knew what a lance was called," Kaetar answered.

"Or a lucky hit."

That was also a possibility too. Lucky hits happened occasionally – or at least according to Loiya. Then again, he also heard from Gander, a member of the Four Riders, that Loiya and many others just used that as an excuse for an "off day" which was deadly during battle. Kaetar could remember saying that strange things happened when soldiers weren't feeling their best and Loiya was just as prone to that as everyone else was.

"Are you sure about that this, Ike?" Soren asked, gazing upon a city in the distance. The sun was high in the sky, telling Kaetar that it was at least noon, or perhaps later. His head was leaning on Ike's arm and Kaetar could feel Soren's eye lids becoming heavy. He was tired and that explained why he couldn't keep his own head up.

"Tauroneo and Bryce recognized me because of my father's style. I was thinking about Father a lot and decided that his style shouldn't die," Ike answered. Kaetar was still surprised by how big Ike simply was compared to the Ike Kaetar saw in Soren's older memories. Even sitting down, Soren's head couldn't quite reach his shoulder.

"So that inspired you to open a school?"

"Do you think that's silly?"

"No, just something I didn't quite expect of you. I was under the impression that you wanted to continue to travel," Soren murmured quietly.

"At first, I think that was what I wanted but now I think I want to settle down for a while," Ike answered.

"Or perhaps you just wanted peace all along. That was why you wanted to leave Tellius, no? You would never find peace again for everything that you did," Soren responded, closing his eyes.

"You will help me, right?"

"Of course. I know nothing about using a sword but I'll take care of the paperwork for whatever business you plan to begin. There is one problem, however," the mage muttered.

"What's that?"

"We have no reputation here. As far as anyone is concerned, we are foreigners from a land they probably never heard of. If you want to teach your father's style, then you'll have to prove that you're a worthy teacher. Had we tried this in Tellius, people from all over would come to have be their teacher but as it stands now... no one will pay a stranger."

"Damn, it's never easy is it?"

"No but that's why I'm here. We simply have to see if there's a competition here of sorts around here... something that allows you to display your skill, then make sure you win – not a difficult feat by any means," Soren answered, opening his eyes again.

"We can think about this tomorrow, Soren," Ike stated suddenly. "For now, we should rest."

"I'm not tired."

"I've heard that more than once. I know better than that!" Ike stood up and lifted Soren off his feet.

"Ike! I'm more than capable of walking!"

"But this is easier."

Kaetar woke up. He never had a vision last so long, a lengthy conversation between two good friends. Usually, the visions revealed something odd and would disappear when Kaetar that it was getting to good part, often leaving him to wonder what happened when the memory vanished. It was a giant puzzle and he barely had any pieces to work with.

However, the vision that invade his dream didn't leave Kaetar hanging. Knowing Syrin, Ike would have started that school of his and his helper would have been at his side the entire time to make it work. It was a relationship that Kaetar hoped to have with Loiya. When he takes the throne, he would choose his own soldiers to make up the Four Riders. They were going to be his confidants and Loiya would be one of them. He had yet to decide who the other three members would be but he knew from the start that Loiya would one.

He worked on recording the latest memory when he heard a sudden thump from above the deck. The prince ignored it at first until the thumps became persistent and he had to admit that he was curious. He packed everything away and ventured to the deck.

On the deck, he found Darius on top of Chifee, pinning him down by keeping his hands above his head. The fight they had the day before wasn't good enough and so they were wrestling. Darius had the upper hand until Chifee finally managed to free one hand by biting him, then pulled the raven down with his ponytail. Darius shouted. "Chifee! How immature do you have to be to pull on hair?"

"Just admit that I'm strong enough to come with you!"

"I don't want you to be in danger!"

"Too bad!"

"Would both of you just shut up?" Syrin suddenly shouted. "Chifee, if you really want to join us then come with me. I'll discuss the matters with you personally."

Darius stood up and Chifee dashed to Syrin's side. Syrin waved a hand towards Darius and the raven reluctantly walked away with Kaetar in tow.

"I can't believe Syrin would let him join!"

"The little hawk would continue to try until he was allowed to join," Ema answered, rolling her eyes.

"He is rather determined for a hatching," Darius sighed. He sounded like he was disappointment.

"How did you two meet anyway? You said something about his parents earlier, right?" the prince asked.

"I knew his parents before they died. They were good friends of mine and his father and I used to hunt together. Chifee would know me just as well as he knew his parents... so when his parents came became ill, I watched over him. I thought they would recover but his mother died first and then his father passed later in the day. I think they must have eaten something bad because no one else became so ill like they did but regardless, I decided to raise Chifee myself. He didn't have a good grasp on flying or transforming."

"So when you determined that he could fly, transform and defend himself, you let him out of the nest, did you?" Ema asked, her tail flicking around her ankles.

"I needed to find work and the beorcs always paid the best. I wanted to live among beorc and start a new life and I knew Chifee wasn't ready to follow me, so I left him behind. It might have been a little rough for me to leave but I figured he would do well with the other bird laguz his age," Darius muttered.

"You know, I had my doubts about you when you told me you wanted to be a father. Looks like you have experience after all," Ema mumbled with a smile. Darius grinned back. Any regrets that he showed previously suddenly vanished from his face.

"And what about you? We all know that Kaetar needs babies because that's how beorc royalty works but does our resident kitty have any plans?" Darius asked with a smirk

"Don't call me that! And how should I know? If I meet another nice laguz then maybe, sure, but how the hell do I know who I will meet?" the cat growled.

"Kaetar and I met a nice one a while back!"

Kaetar couldn't believe he was listening to all of this. He knew he would need to have a child but it wasn't something that he wanted to think about, and he certainly didn't want to think about Darius or Ema having children either. He simply didn't care for it at the moment. He was young and awkward with romance and if left to his one devices he doubted he would find a lady for a while longer – luckily his father already took care of that and put him together with a Crimean noble. Their marriage would unite Daein and Crimea once and for all, putting an end to any bitter rivalries so long as both of them were happy.

His marriage was important and their child will be the first in recent Daein to be of Crimean and Daein blood. But it was something that he would worry about later in life. As for now, he had to worry about staying alive.

"Thinking again, Kaetar?" Darius laughed. It was like baby talk hyped him up.

"Trying not to," the prince answered.

"Ah! He's still young and innocent!"

"I've kissed a girl before!" Kaetar shouted back. He had to admit, he was getting a little irritated with Darius. He didn't know how he went from being sad from leaving Chifee to be giddy over the though of having a child of his own! And he went as far as to ask Ema! How does anyone make that sort of jump? Of course, suddenly blurting out that he kissed a girl wasn't going to help him.

In fact, Kaetar quickly made his way out of the room and found Loiya in the kitchen. He must have looked upset because Loiya immediately came to his side. It wasn't even about what he did or didn't do with Arianna but more of the fact that he his future was so... predictable. Kaetar didn't doubt his survival when everyone on the team so far went out of the way to assure it. When he would return home, marry Arianna early just as he promised, have a child with her and go to rule the kingdom and have his son do the same thing. He knew it would happen but... hadn't quite come to terms with it yet. He didn't need Darius to remind him about it.

Perhaps he should have been born a commoner, where he could have such freedoms. Just because Kaetar lived with luxury didn't mean he could do whatever he wanted. Darius knew nothing.

When Loiya asked what was so upsetting, Kaetar didn't answer. Instead, he distracted himself by questioning why Loiya was in the kitchen in the first place. Of all places that the bodyguard could be found, he was in the kitchen talking to the cook. The bodyguard was usually on the deck or in bed so Kaetar was surprised to find him in the kitchen, especially when he was just getting over a migraine.

"I was just bored and decided to explore," Loiya answered.

"The kitchen is exploring?"

"Admit it, you've never been here. It's a new place and whoever thinks of the cook? He has some good stories on him."

"Would never have thought," Kaetar mumbled.

"We should talk to the cooks at home," Loiya mumbled with a chuckle.

"We have to get home first."

"You could back down any time you wanted though, couldn't you?" the bodyguard asked, raising his eyebrow. Loiya only knew the bare minimum – the reason for the trip in the first place was just to find out more about the Greil Mercenaries and he in a while accomplished that. He did find out more about them but to Kaetar it wasn't enough. That was how he ended following Syrin, the last remaining member of the Greil Mercenaries. Syrin should definitely write a book if he wasn't so secretive about everything.

It was a wonder that he even made the necklace in the first place. It was only because the leader cared about historical accuracy that the thing was even created in the first place. Was there more than that?

"I'm too emotionally invested in this," Kaetar answered.

"Is that the case?"

"And you're not?"

"Kaetar, I'm trained to kill people and not think twice about it if it meant that you would be safe. Remember when we were recognized in the village? I don't feel bad for killing the soldiers. I don't think I ever will, either. I will wonder what happened but I don't know if I would care about it in the long run..." Loiya mumbled with a shrug.

The prince didn't know what to say; he had no idea that his bodyguard was so desensitized.

"Does that make me messed up? It's usually adults that are invested in the military like that. I mean... I'm an exception. If my father wasn't who he was and if your father hadn't decided that you needed a bodyguard, I would haven't been accepted at all even with my skills. I'm still a kid. I shouldn't be doing this," the bodyguard continued when Kaetar failed to respond. He tucked what was left of his hair behind his ear.

"You have your reasons though, don't you? You're the only source of income for your family. I'm sure that if there was another way out you would have taken that route instead. Maybe you are messed up but you're not heartless and that means something. You are still capable to love. Your job hasn't taken that away from you," Kaetar mumbled with a small smile.

"You're good at saying things that people want to hear... and it's not all lies either. I think you have it in you to be a great king."

"Thanks... I guess," Kaetar muttered. He wasn't good at taking flattery, on the account that most people didn't go out of their way to compliment him.

"YOU SENT HIM AWAY?" Darius shouted from the deck where Kaetar just left. Kaetar and Loiya glanced at each other, than traveled to the deck where the shouting had come from. Darius was held down by both Misha and Ema as Syrin simply shrugged.

"He wanted to join the rebellion to get your approval. I sent him to Crimea simply to see how or if things have changed since we left," Syrin answered calmly.

Darius responded with a growl but he made no moves towards Syrin and it was at that point that the girls decided to release him.

"It is in your best interest to calm down, Darius. These sentiments will only slow us down. There is no time for emotions right now, especially in regards to his mission," the leader mumbled, leaving promptly.

Sleeping around Darius was going to awkward. He seemed to be in a strange mood... perhaps he was coming down with something or stressed. Maybe it was better if he flew to Begnion himself but he run into the bird laguz either way, unless he flew over the mount pass that was somehow more inconvenient then months at sea.

Who knew what was going through his head?