I have a lot of notes at the end, so please make sure you read those!

Kaetar found himself on the inn roof, a new longbow in his hands. It was a couple of day after first landing in Toha again and Syrin had the time to go shopping. He replaced the essentials, making sure everyone had a weapon that wouldn't break on them, then sent Mike off somewhere to fetch some more specialized weapons with the white gem that Serena gave Kaetar. The only person who didn't get any new weapons was Joel, who claimed his weapons were better. Syrin didn't argue nor did he seem to care. If he didn't need weapons then Syrin wasn't the type to spend more than he had to.

The longbow could shoot further from what he understood from Rylar, who was also on patrol on the other side of Toha and perched on a building like Kaetar was. Kaetar almost felt like there should have been just one of them in the middle but Rylar said he could stay up all night.

Duma didn't believe him.

It was the first time that Kaetar really got to be on patrol. They never let him do anything when they were travelling – partly because Loiya wouldn't allow it and Kaetar wasn't the strongest. He was still working at it but he wasn't as skilled as the other two archers, who have been at it longer than he has. Soren in particular seemed to be the best of all three because he seemed more focused than Rylar was and as more modest.

Comparatively, he wasn't doing bad at all. The bow has been in his hands for less than a year and he was proud of his progress. He was also proud of the fact that he was finally allowed to patrol, even he was stuck on a roof. It was probably better that way – it was unlikely that he would be hurt on the roof, which was what Joel seemed to try and get at when he was presenting his plans.

Patrolling was Arum and Elli, Duma and Ema, and Rykuu with Nicholas. He was surprised that Duma had chosen Ema and that Rykuu had gone with someone like Nicholas. Perhaps Rykuu felt it was better to go with a mage when he already had physical prowess down or maybe he just wanted to get to know him. As for Duma and Ema... he really had no idea. He wasn't sure what their relationship could be. All he knew was that Duma knew someone from Taelug, which is where Ema lived and he always noted some similarities in appearance and that bothered him for some reason. From the inn, he could only see Rykuu and Nicholas.

Rykuu remained untransformed and Nicholas was on his left. He couldn't see anything else, couldn't hear if they were speaking or anything. His night vision wasn't amazing.

It didn't take long for the initial excitement of doing something to dissipate. It felt like hours. He stood up, explored every inch of the roof, admired the view, sat down and relaxed in the cool breeze while still looking out for anything off before he officially considered himself bored. He wish he had a book but he couldn't read without a candle light or something like a torch on the wall.

He was so bored that it was a blessing when he felt a little dizzy and forced himself put his back against the hard roof as his vision disappeared.

Kaetar didn't know who Soren was looking at. She had black dress that was feathered around the sleeves and the bottom. She also had feathers in her long, red-orange coloured hair. Around her was a barrier.

Soren attacked. He summoned large shards from nowhere, then a green tornado that also materialized suddenly broke apart and swept up the shards. The barrier cracked from the attack, probably from the initial attack from the shards. Soren was about to attack again when he suddenly gasped in pain. There wasn't anything physical that seemed to have attacked him maybe just a light at most, but it was painful. There wasn't just one spot where it hurt the most, but it was everywhere before suddenly disappearing. Soren took a deep breath.

"Soren!" Ike shouted from beside him.

"This is nothing," Soren answered simply, glaring at the barrier that concealed the stone faced women. She made no expressions and never seem panicked when the barrier around her cracked. "That barrier however... it appears that it reflects part of the damage dealt to it somehow. We'll need to be more careful. It's nothing a heal staff can't handle, though."

"She's not making this easy, is she?"

"She is a goddess whose only concern is proving to Yune that she's right about us. We can expect to see her at her strongest. However, she must be defeated if you want to reverse her judgement," Soren growled. Despite the pain he was in, he began casting again. Beside him, Ike, with a fierce growl, slammed the giant golden sword into the barrier.

Kaetar came around again. When he came around, Zeke was hovering on top of him, his cloak staying rather flat despite the slight breeze that picked up again when Kaetar was busy with the vision. His hood was down though, exposing his spiky hazel hair. The cloak had to be heavy, but Kaetar could see how it might be useful for the desert and the harsh sun. Zeke grinned.

"Sleeping on the job?"

"I was not!" Kaetar bolted up into a sitting position. Zeke chuckled.

"It's okay, I promise not to tell anyone. Patrol is boring but its a necessary evil so I don't blame you for falling asleep, especially while you're alone!" Zeke ruffled Kaetar's hair.

"How do you go through all night like this?" Kaetar asked.

"I'm used to being bored, that's why. My life is boring but I wouldn't change a thing. I guess I'm just a natural, eh?" he said with a large grin. "I prefer sitting and patrolling though. I don't enjoy walking around as much but no patrols leave us vulnerable."

"I think you're the only person I know who lost their parents but can still laugh and smile at everything. It's really interesting."

"It's a matter of how you look at it and how you can cope with things, I guess. I never knew my parents, so I can only guess what blood flows through my veins. I have a feeling that one of my parents was a tiger but that's just a good feeling I have. I'm rambling. I think if I knew my parents, it would hurt a little but since parents are nothing but a vague concept to me, then it doesn't bother me."

"So the word 'parents' don't really hold any meaning to you?" Kaetar asked. He was a little surprised but then again, why should he be? A lot of the people he travelled with all had different backgrounds and had different opinions. Misha had family waiting for her, as did Joel and Loiya. Rylar still had his father, something that appeared to be rare among brandeds. Darius was interested in starting a family and Nicholas was searching for his. Ema had a village of people who knew her.

Then on the other hand, there were sole survivors and orphans and that was almost everyone else. There were some that Kaetar wasn't quite sure about – mostly Mike. He had no idea what his situation was, just knew that seemed quite content in his life and he was born in Daein. He could have parents and rarely saw them or no parents at all. And though he was technically Daein, he didn't seem to be from any one country, as Kaetar couldn't point out any sort of traits that made him seem close to any country. Maybe that came from all the travel.

"Not really. Even with Duma around, I was already too old for it to make much of a difference. My life was already pretty much decided and I liked it as it was. He was mostly there for the young ones who didn't understand why they were in the desert," Zeke said, the grin still plastered on his face.

"Have you been there longer than Duma?"

"I have, actually! The colony was still small when I joined. Stefan actually used to go around and try to find brandeds to join him and sometimes I tagged along. Now people come quite willingly."

"Is that how everyone else joined?"

"Duma and his lady were found. So was Aletta. She was very young... I think she was about three when we found her with her beorc father. He explained what happened – they always do – and then left her with us. He thought it was better for her to be raised around people of her own kind."

Kaetar understood why but it hurt him a little for anyone to feel like they weren't good enough to raise their own child. On the other hand, he was briefly reminded of Syrin's childhood. If everyone knew that he was branded and had no problems treating him like that, then maybe the same thing would have happened to Aletta.

"Does Aletta know?"

"Not really. Stefan and Duma told her that her real father loved her very much so she wouldn't feel bad about growing up in the desert," Zeke said with a small smile. It wasn't as big as his other smiles. Zeke's emotions seemed to range from happy to less-happy-but-still-content.

"I also have a random question," Kaetar mumbled. "Where is your brand? Can I see it?"

"I'm surprised you didn't ask sooner!" Zeke laughed, pulling up his sleeve on his left arm. On his bicep was a red mark that almost resembled a paw print. Suddenly, his attention darted away from his band and his sleeved rolled back down. "Oh hey, is Nicholas talking to someone?"

Kaetar looked in the same direction as Zeke. He couldn't see as well as Zeke could but it did seem like Nicholas was talking. Whoever he was talking to disappeared but reappeared not long after. An arrow flew and hit the roof beside Kaetar but he knew that the arrow was not meant to hit him.

"Isn't that Saira's?"

Kaetar nodded but he noticed there was a slip of paper attached to it. He unrolled it from the arrow and read it quickly to himself. "She wants to talk to me."

"I'll go with you. She'll probably try to pull something."

Kaetar wasn't sure. But he was definitely curious.

"You wanted to see me?"

Saira laughed. Rykuu, Nicholas and Zeke were behind him while Saira had her ten Daeins behind her. "I thought you more resistant to such an idea," she mumbled quietly.

"I was curious."

"That might kill ya one day."

"That's your job to prevent it," Kaetar mumbled with a smirk but the smile quickly faded. Maybe Joel was rubbing of on him. "What did you want to talk about?"

Saira moved closer to him, then bent down and whispered into his ear. "The others don't know and I think it should stay that way for now. Mind moving your laguz friend?"

Rykuu was the one to answer. "Our lips are sealed. We will not speak to anyone."

"Here to stay," Zeke shrugged.

"Wow, I wish I had hearing like you guys," Nicholas mumbled quietly.

"Anyway," Saira whispered. "Your father has been injured. Severe burns to his legs from what I heard from Vaughn's brat. He was eventually healed but he's been in bed for the last couple of days."

"What happened?" Kaetar whispered back. How could something like that happen to his father? He was a careful man!

"Something about sandmen," Saira whispered. "I don't know the details, unfortunately. I'm supposed to stay here and bring you home. I won't try anything today but if you think your patrol will help you, you are dead wrong. Or perhaps that's just Joel's planning?"

"You're still mad at him aren't you?" Kaetar asked out loud.

Saira laughed. "He better watch it when we get home. And you..." she laughed again, grabbing Kaetar's arm. "I'm going to turn this into a fine shooting arm. You won't catch a break as long as I'm around. Anyway, let's go guys!"

"We're leaving without the prince?" one of the asked.

"We are. I just wanted to tell him something. 'Side, it's no fun to chase prey when they don't run," she said with a smirk. Before Kaetar could respond, she was already gone.

"I'm going to go tell Syrin what happened," Kaetar mumbled.

"Are you alright?" Nicholas asked.

"I'm fine," Kaetar answered back. It wasn't exactly a lie. The news about the extent of his father's injuries was a little surprising but he was sure his father would be back on his feet and running the country again in no time. He should have suspected injuries when Chibuike told him about the sandmen.

He found Syrin by the water's edge. He didn't know why Syrin was so busy watching the water but he still acknowledged Kaetar. "Saira knows we're here."

"I figured as such. Daein was always tailing closely behind. I don't think they will bother us right away anyway. Saira wouldn't care about the patrol – she could be skilled enough to get past them on her own – but she does care about this," Syrin mumbled, pulling out the green wind tome Kaetar saw earlier when he was poisoned. That was the tome that made her back down.

"Joel said this is a strong tome."

"It's the most specialized wind tome. Very few people can use it and very few copies exist. This particular copy is at least a century and a half old," Syrin mumbled, opening the tome to the first page. Kaetar could see a faint green glow coming from the words, something he didn't see in the other tomes.

"How do you make it last so long?" Kaetar asked. In fact, he couldn't see any sign of old age on the tome. Nothing was torn and the letters haven't faded despite the age. The pages still seemed bright like it was just printed. Not even the books in his library that were only a few decades old didn't look that good.

"I was surprised that it lasted so long as well but I figured it's probably still blessed. I used it way more than any average tome can stand, even outside of Tellius, and it still looks brand new. I'm amazed, actually," Syrin said with a shrug.

"What do you mean by blessed?"

Syrin sighed. "It's related to what Peter said about Ashera and Yune. When Micaiah released Yune, Ashera turned most of the people of Tellius into stone. A few of us went off to face Ashera and Yune blessed our weapons inside in order to match the blessing Ashera gave to her soldiers. This tome was the weapon she blessed for me. Everyone else made sure their strongest weapons were blessed and I imagine those may also still exist."

That made a lot of sense when he considered the most recent vision. The lady in the barrier must have been Ashera and Syrin had no problem going up against her. Sure, his weapon was blessed but was he blessed? It was still dangerous to face some one who seemed so powerful. Most of all, it just made Kaetar feel... smaller. Syrin, Ike, and everyone who fought with them accomplished great things in a short time. Two wars and a stand off with a goddess; Kaetar just stayed in the keep.

"What did Saira want?"

"Has Chibuike visited you at all?"

Syrin nodded. "He told me about what happened in Daein."

"Saira told me that those things injured my father. Is it possible for magic to do that?" Kaetar asked as Syrin slipped the tome away.

"It sounds complicated but possible. It would mean that there is a mage, or perhaps a group of them, that can manipulate the spirits responsible for magic to do something abnormal. It would take a considerable amount of skill to do so along with numerous spells," Syrin answered plainly. "However, it seems like that Daein was only a test or perhaps a warning. The real target for those things may be us."

Kaetar didn't even think about that. If Crimea could make soldiers that didn't need to eat, who couldn't get injured, who couldn't get tired, then the rebellion could be in serious trouble.

"I hope not. How do we fight against something like that?"

"With magic most likely. We only have Nicholas and Aletta, unless Peter could wield light magic this entire time and failed to inform us. I could also step in but my I would only be able to cast one spell before the pain is too much," Syrin growled. "We should try to recruit another mage just in case and get Peter to start trying light magic."

Syrin got up and walked away, massaging his arm. Syrin was already working on contingency plans, it seemed and perhaps he was already trying to locate Peter. If those things did attack then they needed as much people as possible and that meant more than two people. It never hurt to have more numbers anyway.

Kaetar decided to head back towards his temporary home. Should he tell the others everything he knew about the sandmen? That would benefit everyone right? It only felt secretive because it was Chibuike and Saira that didn't seem to want everyone to know. He could understand not telling Daeins immediately but the sandmen was something that could be relevant, just like Syrin said. It was that or he would be spreading paranoia.

"Hey kid, can I ask you a question?"

Kaetar looked up and saw two people. There was a tall man with black hair covering one eye, though the other one was hazel coloured. The woman beside him was shorter, with blond hair resting on her breasts and blue eyes. Their clothing was plain – functional and practical. He did however, spot that they both wearing rings on their ring fingers. They were married.

"Sure," Kaetar answered, wondering what the couple could want with them.

"We came here for a short break a while ago but now it seems that we're stuck here as long as the rebellion decides to stay, so we figured we might as lend our support. Do you happen to know who it is leading the rebellion?" the man asked.

"I think he's busy," Kaetar said simply. He was pretty sure that Syrin had gone off to force a light tome into Peter's hands. He couldn't think of where else he would have gone to just after the subject of looking for more mages.

The woman smiled. "That's alright, we're not in a rush." She held out a hand. "My name is Meagan and this is my husband, Gustav or just Gus for short. And you are?"

"Kaetar," he said, taking her hand. "Do you have a place to stay?"

Gus nodded "We've been at the inn for a while now. We're comfortable, so to say," he answered, wrapping his arm around his wife's shoulders. She smiled at him. Kaetar noticed a sword hanging off his side but he couldn't see what Meagan used. Perhaps a tome? They were easier to hide one on someone's body. He never saw Aletta or Nicholas carry one, though whatever she used could still be in their room. Kaetar decided not to ask – he would find out soon enough anyway.

"We're in the room in the back corner, on the left hand side on the second floor. Come get us when your leader isn't busy," Meagan answered. She hooked her arm into her husbands and smiled. "We should get back." Gus merely nodded.

Kaetar only nodded as they walked away. How did he always manage to attract people to join up with him? He wasn't sure if he should be flattered or confused but it seemed to keep him on Syrin's good side. He never did seem upset if there were more people. He probably handled supplies for a lot more people than what they had in their group.

Syrin had gone to talk to Meagan and Gus sometime after. He didn't know the outcome for their conversation Kaetar until about two days after. It was early in the day and he noticed that Loiya's bed was undisturbed. He was part of night patrol and didn't seem to get around to coming to bed for sleep yet. Loiya did his patrol with Misha as far as he knew but he wasn't the type to stay up for a really long time.

When the others who woke up early ate, Meagan and Gus were outside to meet up with the other rebels. Gus was sitting back, wearing a black shirt, brown pants and laced up boots. He was leaning against the side of a building, comfortably sitting on top of a barrel. Meagan, wearing a simple blue tunic and black pants underneath, was waiting for them away from the building and out in the sun.

"Is Syrin letting you join us?" Kaetar asked.

Gus merely nodded, his one exposed eye glaring down the other rebels. "He said to wait for you guys out here."

"Did he?" Aletta asked out loud.

"He wants anyone who can use magic to gather here. I know you want to go to bed now Aletta but I don't feel like being blasted away with Syrin's wind magic today so you should stick around," Stefan said simply, popping out from behind Nicholas.

"Why does he want us?" Nicholas asked.

Syrin made his way to the front. "To practice. Peter, here's a light tome. As for the rest of you, I want you to try to hit me with your spells. All of you at the same time, including you Meagan."

"Are you sure about that, Syrin?" Peter asked. "Even though magic users can build a resistance to the effects of magic overtime, you can still get really hurt if one of us hits you too hard. I don't even know how to use this."

"You are chanting in the same language we do when you use the heal staff. You already know the language, your just channelling a book instead of a staff," Nicholas answered, pulling a yellow tome from his tunic. "Besides, at this rate I think Syrin has the resistance of a god."

Aletta snickered a little.

"Not funny," Syrin growled. "Peter, open the tome."

Peter did so hesitantly. He flipped through the pages, his dull blue eyes scanning the pages. "I do recognize some of this from some of the older books back at the church," he said quietly.

"There you go! That's a start!" Nicholas grinned, patting Peter on the back. "Well, are you ready, Syrin? Maybe you should give Peter a little time with his tome before he's ready to try casting."

Syrin nodded. All of three of them began casting. Meagan tried to hit him first with sharp green blades but Syrin swiftly moved out of the way. Peter wandered over and sat down beside Kaetar. He had the tome in his lap and Kaetar took a quick peek while Peter sighed.

"This is the first time I really got to sit down with the tome. I've been training with the staff since I was sixteen but I am by no means an expert. Why does he want me to do this?" Peter asked.

"Maybe to defend yourself," Kaetar said. He didn't know whether or not to mention what happened in Daein, but surely there was a consequence to the staff if you used to beat someone else one too many times.

"Perhaps," he answered almost automatically. He then put the tome down on the ground with a sigh and turned his attention to the training. Kaetar doubted he could concentrate on that when there was a possibility for injury. Meagan was the first to actually hit Syrin – he couldn't dodge Aletta's fire spell and Meagan's spell at the same time and seemed to have opted for wind magic over fire. He squinted a little bit but otherwise, the spell didn't seem to hurt him much.

"That's it, Meagan! Good job!" Gus cheered.

"I wonder how much training it takes to walk off a wind spell like that," Kaetar muttered.

"Several years, I would guess. Syrin has had decades though, hasn't he?"

"I don't know if he was training the entire time. It's hard to say what he's been doing for most of his life. If this law wasn't in place, then he probably wouldn't be doing anything even close to what's he capable of," Kaetar muttered. Even though Syrin said he did care about Tellius a little bit, mostly because he was stuck in it by Stefan's decree, Syrin would still just watch life pass him by. He already refused to be an adviser.

Stefan had his work cut out for him when it came down to it. Guiding someone who may not want the guidance would be difficult.

"My tome is done. Can I please go to bed now? I was patrolling and then I got bonus exercise today," Aletta said with a frown, holding out her tome for Syrin to see. He shook his head but waved her off with his good arm and didn't stop her when she left. She did look tired. She walked slowly and had her head hung low until she entered one of the houses.

"She looks happy," Rylar muttered as he finished up breakfast. He still had bread in his hand when he spoke.

"She's tired," Duma answered. "Like how you are all the time."

"Hey!"

"It's not a bad thing. I slept a lot too when I could transform. The small cats that don't transform sleep all the time, so maybe that's where we get it," Duma mumbled. He looked he was pondering.

"Don't compare us to those overgrown rats!" Rylar shouted.

"But wouldn't they be kind of related to us?" Zeke asked suddenly. "Well, us more so than Aletta."

"You're not even sure if you have tiger blood!" Rylar muttered, rolling his eyes.

"A gut feeling takes you a long way," Zeke answered with a shrug. "I just have a good feeling. You know me – I hardly exercise more than I need to and I still have a lot of natural strength. Between the desert and my blood, I'm not that bad at all."

"What's the difference between cats and tigers?" Kaetar asked.

"Cats have tend to be faster and tigers are slower but have more strength," Rylar muttered with a sigh. "There are exceptions like always – that's why no one knows what dad is and he thinks it's freaking funny to not tell anyone!"

"I don't see what's so bad about letting other speculate," Duma said with a shrug.

"You could at least tell me. I think I deserve to know."

"And I'm curious," Kaetar muttered.

"It's not that big of a deal – watch the thunder, Nicholas!" Duma said as he dodged a thunder attack.

"My bad!" he called back. Syrin still looked relatively unharmed but Meagan and Nicholas were beginning to look tired. He was surprised that Syrin didn't look worse when Kaetar considered how much he was moving around. Turning too fast could jostle is arm in the wrong direction and hurt him more than any of these spells could. He offered to step up to fight whatever attacked Daein but whether he could really handle it was debatable.

Maybe that was why he was training the other two until their tomes were useless. It was fortunate that Aletta managed to get out of it early but there was no mercy for the other two.

"Isn't he being a little harsh on those two?" Peter asked.

Gus walked over, glaring at Syrin. "Meagan's tough but this can't go on much longer anyway. Those spells won't last with the way they're pushing them out." He crossed his arms in front of his chest, his ring clearly visible.

Duma smiled. "How long have you been married for?"

"Is that what the ring means?" Rylar muttered.

"It's more of a beorc tradition, I suppose," Gus muttered holding out his hand to look at his ring. "We've been married for about ten years but we grew up in the same orphanage so we've know each other for most of our lives. I haven't caught your names though."

"Well, I'm Zeke, that's Peter, Duma and that's his kid, Rylar," Zeke muttered. "And I'm guessing that you've met Syrin if your wife is facing off with him."

"We have. He let us join up with you guys. I mean, Toha isn't going to let anyone out of here otherwise and it's nice to just stretch our legs. We might as well lend our help," Gus shrugged, patting the sword on his side.

"I'm so tired!" Nicholas mumbled, laying down on the bed. Kaetar was sitting on his bed while Loiya was fast asleep in his. "He really worked us!"

Loiya rolled over and opened his eyes.

"Sorry, Loiya, I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's alright. I'm tired enough that I can fall asleep again," he grumbled with a yawn.

"You've been rather tired lately, haven't you?" Nicholas said quietly. Loiya shrugged and buried his head into his pillow. There was a brief silence and Loiya's breathing became heavy again. He was asleep.

Kaetar was concerned. Loiya wasn't usually a heavy sleeper and tried to stay awake so long as Kaetar was. He didn't blame Loiya for sleeping after patrolling all night but it just didn't seem like he wanted to be around Kaetar. It was almost like his bodyguard was trying to distance himself from him and the prince just didn't understand why. Kaetar considered that maybe he was taking it too far since he wasn't used to Loiya doing his own things and he was comfortable knowing he was nearby. He was being to wander off after eating and he came to bed late and woke up early. Loiya told him about his family – they were close weren't they? It all seemed different ever since Loiya failed to get up during Saira's attack.

Sure, he freaked out and Arum held him down but it just didn't add up to Kaetar. He should have woken up then. There wasn't a good reason for him to be in a deep sleep, it just wasn't normal for him. Nicholas looked at him, his face sad. Surely, he must have noticed something too! Nicholas always shared their tent and he was someone who knew Loiya's habits because of it. He didn't know him as well as Kaetar did but Nicholas seemed to know when something wasn't right.

"Do you think he might be coming down with something again? Like... more headaches?" Nicholas asked.

"I don't know what's up with him. He's just been acting a little strange lately. He use to talk to me but now he seems too busy or something," Kaetar whispered, hoping that Loiya didn't hear them. Hopefully he was in a deep enough sleep.

"I've noticed that too. I don't know what that could be though. I've also noticed that you've changed a bit too. Ever since that meeting with Saira. Just what did she talk to you about?"

"I've changed?" Kaetar asked. He didn't feel like he changed.

"You seem to be more like Syrin – you know more than you're willing to reveal too. You have a lot of contact with him though, so I guess he's rubbing off on you a bit," Nicholas said with a shrug. He pulled the ribbon out of his hair and shook his hair loose. Sometimes, Kaetar forgot that Nicholas was about eight years older than he was until he took his hair out of the ponytail. He just looked a little older with his hair down. He acted a little differently, not as cheerful and more tired. He only really pulled that ribbon out when he was trying to relax though.

"It is true but I just don't know if telling everyone everything I know about what's going on is a good thing. It could just cause panic and backfire. I just don't know."

Nicholas frowned. "It's a shame that you have to worry about stuff like that. You're almost seventeen, right? It seems like you already have the weight of Tellius on your shoulders and that's not your responsibility yet. Don't you think you might be biting off more than you can chew?"

"I'm not alone though!" Kaetar muttered. "I have Joel, Loiya, Syrin and everyone else here too teaching me things that I would have never learned otherwise. It's tough but I know I'll be better because of it. Besides, what I'm worried about might just show itself anyway."

Loiya stirred and turned in his sleep.

"At least he's sleeping well for once," Nicholas remarked. "Speaking of which, I meant to take a nap. You know, you can come to us if you need to talk Kaetar. Try not to bottle it all too much, we do worry about you."

Nicholas pulled the sheets over himself. Kaetar, wishing to let the two of sleep, left the room.

This chapter seems a little jumpy to me and it's not my favourite either. I don't like keeping you guys waiting though and I promised myself I would update at least once a month. I even updated during exams so I can update when I'm not horribly busy. On the other hand, one more chapter in Toha. And there's more action in the next chapter.

So some things! I think I said no more characters but Megan and Gus were submitted when I tried to restrict the rebellion characters but I thought they could be really useful and the marriage dynamic seemed interesting. But for now, I think I'm pretty much done introducing more characters so now it's time to carry all of them through. I kind of wanted more enemies but at the same time, I think we might be good since there are lot of "nobodies" in Fire Emblem, or the generals that we see once or twice and then they're dead.

Speaking of which, someone suggested that maybe I should start switching perspectives more often and I was already contemplating it. When I first started, I really only wanted to stay in Kaetar's perspective, but I also didn't expect that I would end up with so many characters. While I'm a little apprehensive about changing something like that after I spent so long sticking with Kaetar, I think it might be easier to make sure all characters have a chance to develop since their interactions are different. It will still mainly be Kaetar, but if I do some more switches, it would be like every two chapters or something. But I also want you guys to have a say in what you think is best and feel free to suggest a character who should have a chapter. I'll do a trail run with Syrin first. I think you guys can see which characters had more attention than others better than I can sometimes.

Sorry for the long notes (I didn't mean to ramble) and thanks for your opinions. Shout out to Nobody Important (you are important), Jake and McHearth for the constant reviews. It means a lot!