At first, there was silence until Chifee's eyes widened like he realized something. "Ooooooh that's why she smelled different. Huh! That means she's going to have a baby, right?"

Darius nodded. "Yes, that's what that means," the older raven stated simply with a small nod. "Congratulations though!"

Nicholas nodded. "Yeah, congrats!"

"Why couldn't you have waited?" Syrin mumbled with an irritated stare. He was the only to show any sort of irritation – everybody else seemed either shocked and didn't say anything or they were pleasantly surprised and congratulated the couple. Kaetar found himself on the shocked side of things, both because he was surprised they would even try in such an unstable time and because it made him feel awkward about what was expected of him. Eventually he was going to have his own children, that was how the monarchy worked, and he didn't even try to wrap his head around it. He wasn't ready to have children and he was getting married earlier than his father planned, assuming he made out of the rebellion.

Come to think of it though, Meagan and Gus were about as old as his parents were. His mother was also about the same age as Meagan and also pregnant – or maybe he already had a sibling waiting at home for him. He could tell the day and nights but Kaetar got lost in the time. How long ago was it that Serena first informed of the pregnancy? He even forgot his own birthday. Maybe nine months truly pasted, he wouldn't know.

He found it odd for him to draw parallels between Meagan and Gus and his own parents. At least they looked vastly different from his parents. Kaetar ended up looking a lot like his mother, and his father had a blonde shade that originally may have matched Meagan's but the stress of his job added some grey. Thinking of his own parents though made him feel homesick. He was sort of aware that Loiya was homesick at least once when he describe his family's problems, and it had to be worse for him. It wasn't that he spent their time in the rebellion away from the family – he could add another four years of service on top of it – and he Kaetar gave him a harder time by choosing to be out in Crimea.

He felt homesick and guilty. Suddenly he didn't want to eat anymore.

"We wanted children since we got married twelve years ago! We've been trying since! It just finally worked for once," Gus answered with a look that could only be rivalled by Syrin and that was impressive.

"Even you have to admit that the timing is terrible," Syrin answered with a roll of his eyes. "Granted, it may not take nine months for the rebellion to accomplish its goal, but if some complication should arise, we don't have anybody that knows what they're doing here and to assume that Peter knows everything is absurd. We're also in a state of constant danger from enemies that are not capable of caring about pregnant women and since that's the case, I'm not going to let her fight."

"But -"

"Don't argue with me, Gus. I'm not mocking her ability and I'll have something she can do if she feels like she has to be useful. If this baby is so precious, then you'll keep Meagan off the field too. We aren't fighting against normal enemies so to say. If Liam or Elymas figured it out then Meagan is wearing a big target and I have no doubts that either one of them will hesitate to rip an unborn child from its mother's womb. If the laguz here figured it out, then they will too."

"This went into a totally different conversation," Misha said. "That's... Syrin I guess."

"From what I know of Liam, he would do something like that. He just doesn't care. I'm surprised I've survived every encounter," Kaetar mumbled softly. He realized that maybe he startled the Daeins behind him but he didn't care very much.

Soren arrived into the room with a stack of bowls in both of his hands while Peter arrived with some food which ended up being a large pot of stew that he had no problem carrying around apparently. He always did forget just how strong Peter was because his priest robes did a good job of concealing his muscular frame, not to mention that with his pale skin and white hair, he did end up looking a little frail.

"Oh, Syrin, I didn't expect you here," Peter said happily.

"Shouldn't you be with Zeke?" Joel asked.

"Well, even I need a break sometimes. At least, I think that's what Zeke would have wanted me to do," he said as he set the pot down where Soren set the bowls down. He filled the bowls and Soren passed them out. It was the general mechanism of how their mess worked but how that ended up working, Kaetar had no idea. Maybe the people had experiences with a mess just ended up taking charge and everybody followed, but either way, it worked.

"Hey Peter, do you have experiences with pregnancies?" Nicholas asked suddenly as he received his bowl. Peter blinked in response.

"...Is somebody pregnant?"

"Meagan is," Gus answered.

"Oh, well congratulations Meagan! However, I can't say I have much experience with babies. I mainly heal injuries and care for the sick," Peter answered. "I do know some people back at the ministry that could help. Pregnant women aren't so uncommon, I just never handled them when they came in about their pregnancies."

Soren placed a bowl down in front of Syrin, who surprisingly accepted it. Even Joel was giving him curious glances but Kaetar supposed that even somebody like Syrin had to eventually leave their preferred space for social time. "Are you feeling alright?" Joel asked with a daring smirk.

"Quite," he answered simply. "However, I need the additional energy for some projects. If my arm wasn't in the condition it's in, I wouldn't need to be here."

"Ah, I see what you're getting at," Joel answered.

So Syrin was still planning on making those weapons and he was eating more to prepare for the task he had in mind. He must have realized how exhausted and drained he could get when he used magic with his arm so he could be offsetting the effects by eating more and hopefully sleeping more.

"If it is fine for me to speak freely, Your Highness, I have experience with midwifery. It was my occupation before I decided to serve the royal family in an alternate route," Helena said with a bow.

"Alternate route? What does that mean?" Kaetar asked as he motioned for them to sit down with everybody else. The Daeins were so quiet that he nearly forgot that they were there but none of them argued when they took their seat.

"When I was twenty-two, I helped deliver you," she explained with a straight face. "I may have continued but when my little brother had a unfortunate run in with a bandit, I realized I wanted to protect more than continue with midwifery so I switched. However, I feel confident that should ay complication arise with this lady's pregnancy, I may still be able to help her."

"I would appreciate any help you can offer," Meagan said quietly.

"Then it shall be done," Kaetar said with a nod, just wishing to be done with the whole thing. He wanted to eat and then go to bed for some well needed sleep. He received his bowl from Soren and he found his appetite again as everybody talked around him. If somebody was trying to get his attention, he took notice and when he was finished, he dismissed the Daeins and fell asleep promptly.

"I can't stand this," Soren hissed angrily. He was sitting down, clutching his own arms as he slowly curled into himself with small tremors that resemble the small tremors that come with sobbing but so far he managed to keep himself from reaching that point. He wasn't so far though. Kaetar couldn't make out the environment, just that Soren was sitting on some stairs an everybody seemed to avoid him.

The only person who dared to approach him was Titania. She joined him on the steps and didn't seem fazed when Soren hissed in response.

"Soren, he'll be alright."

"I already told you – valour and honour means nothing! It was stupid of him to want to go in alone and it was stupid of Mist to follow! How do I know he'll be alright, Titania?"

She sighed, as if she was tired of dealing with Soren's attitude. "You trust him though, don't you?"

"If Ike dies... I..." It was the first break in Soren's composure that Kaetar truly saw. In the earlier version, he seemed tempted by the medallion with blue flames but he kept himself together, albeit a little jittery but he kept himself together. Soren was breaking in front of Titania though. His worry for Ike was overriding his rational mind and Kaetar had the feeling that Soren wasn't willing to listen to anybody in the fit of his own anxiety. Titania touched his shoulder and he flinched immediately under the touched, forcing Titania to withdraw.

"Soren, relax. Calm down and breathe. I know you're worried but you working yourself up like this isn't helping anybody. Ike will come back, he won't leave anybody."

Soren didn't say anything but Kaetar could feel that he was calmer than he was before - the tremors stopped, the grip on his arms relaxed a bit but he still refused to face anybody. It was like Soren to ignore those who weren't important to him at the moment. Suddenly there was a shout and there was a sudden rumble that shook the floor.

Kaetar woke up slowly. The vision wasn't scary enough to startle him awake but it did wake him. Beams of sunlight washed his room and suddenly he was surprised that he didn't wake up sooner. The more surprising thing was that Joel was still asleep, his face at peace. He looked to be in a deep sleep and like how he let Loiya sleep in that one day back in the palace, he decided to let Joel sleep in as well. He didn't know what Joel did to so thoroughly knock himself out but Kaetar decided to spend some time recording his latest dream and by the time he was finished, he heard a soft knock at the door.

When he opened it, he found Syrin at his door with a book held between his chest and the arm that was up in a sling. It was a pretty creative way to hold something and it didn't seem to cause him any pain. When the door was opened, Syrin pulled the book from its place between his arm and his chest and handed it to Kaetar. "If you're going to take responsibility of the Daeins then you'll need a way to keep track of their inventory. You may also want to keep track of the condition of your troops. This tome is empty so make use of it – I expect reports every three days so I can allocate gold appropriately between the Daeins and the main force. If you take something from the storage for the Daeins, record it so I know what we have."

"Thanks," Kaetar mumbled. It was a lot to remember but it seemed logical enough – after all, it was just numbers. His father had at least let him look at some of the paperwork in Daein whenever he was curious enough to ask about them or whenever he took a peek over his father's soldiers so it wasn't too bad. Besides, if he got something wrong, Syrin wouldn't hesitate to correct him and then he would learn for next time. Syrin had a point when he said it was a great exercise in leadership.

His confidence could only increase the more practice he had with it.

He caught Syrin's gaze travelling to Joel's sleeping form. He made a face like he was mildly surprised but then decided there was no need to be surprised but rather a little disappointed. Suddenly, Chibuike peered at the door frame. "We need everybody awake. Apparently, Elymas has decided to come for Daevala. He brought company of the sandy variety and they look shiny."

"How far?" Syrin asked.

"We got maybe an hour," Chibuike said with a shrug.

Syrin sighed, took the book from Kaetar and calmly walked over to Joel, then dropped the book on top of him. Joel bolted awake. "What?" he shouted.

"Elymas and his sand creatures. Get ready. Chibuike, wake the other rebels and Kaetar, go wake your troops."

Kaetar nodded and ran to their end of the hallway where the Daeins took up residence and began knocking on doors. He first ran into Helena and in her nightgown, helped Kaetar to wake up everybody. She went back to her own room but left the door ajar, just enough to have privacy but she could still speak. "What do plan on doing, Your Highness?"

"Have you guys ever fought against the sand creatures?" Kaetar asked.

"No, we've only heard of them. I'm afraid we don't have a magic user."

So none of them could fight and they had only one enchanted weapon. "We have rebels who can't fight so I'll need you guys between the rebellion and the fort to keep them out."

"Understood."

Everybody who could fight was out – the exception was perhaps Arum who didn't seem ready to fight but he sure insisted on it so Syrin put him back with the Daeins. The enchanted sword was given to the Daein side so that if anything got past the rebels, the Daeins could deal with it. It was held by a Daein Kaetar didn't meet previously but by the looks of it, he was a swordmaster and he had the best reaction from the sword. The sand creatures were in view when Syrin raised a hand to get everybody's attention.

"Everybody, we have no choice but repeat what we did last time. The exception is that Elymas is here – he's a dangerous mage who practices dark magic, so be on your best look out for any long distance tomes," Syrin warned. "Aletta, Nicholas, I'll need you to do your best. Aim careful and aim to knock out more than one at a time."

"And what about you?" Stefan asked as he drew his blade.

"I'll be going after Elymas myself," Syrin said simply. "Here they come."

Misha was the first to land a blow. She couldn't seem to get a good balance with her weapon and was forced to attempt to regain the balance on her feet when she attacked. However, much to Kaetar's surprise, the sand creature tumbled and didn't come back. Syrin smirked. "Blessed weapons also work. How fortunate."

"That's incredible! Keep it up Misha!" Peter called as he unexpected ripped a tome open, the same one he used for exercise, and cast a light spell, hitting another one directly. They have lost Meagan as a fighter but Peter was a surprise replacement. The battle was going surprising well and Kaetar was afraid that maybe the Daeins would get bored.

As Kaetar aimed with his bow, he noticed Elymas for the first time – his purple, flowing robes and the long, dark hair. Though Syrin seemed to want him, or he was perhaps concerned for everybody's well being, if Kaetar could hit him he would certain try. Just as he was about to let the arrow fly, he noticed a dark ring forming around him. He managed to collect himself and jump out of the way, but he could still feel something unsettling as the dark energy whirled by. When he reloaded the arrow, he found Elymas to have changed positions and Kaetar let out a sigh when he realized that he lost him.

"Kaetar!" Nicholas shouted just as lightning whizzed by his head. He was so distracted with Elymas that he didn't notice that one of them came close. He was losing sight of the battle and that wasn't good but really, it wasn't like he was a useful part of the battle anyway. Misha was ploughing through the sand creatures with her blessed lance and Peter, Aletta and Nicholas were great supports.

But for some reason, Elymas seemed to be targeting him alone. He noticed the familiar dark ring around him once more, forcing him to dodge again by backing up to keep himself out of the way of the sand creatures. He forced himself forward and found a new position to fire from. He also managed to find Elymas again, took aim and fired. However, before the arrow could hit him, Elymas summoned a dark mist that made the arrow fall to the ground. Elymas laughed. "My dear Prince, come out, come out wherever you are!" he sang before he began to chant.

Syrin cut him off, casting some wind magic that he saw Meagan use before. Elymas hissed. "Kaetar stays here," he growled. Kaetar took a deep breath and sought Syrin out as Elymas closed the gap between them.

"So you're still here, huh?" Elymas asked with a crooked grin.

"Let me guess, you want Daevala and this back, right?" Syrin asked as he removed Daevala's stone from his robes.

"So you do have her, huh? She's my assistant, how dare you take her! Thanks to you, getting new subjects is just so much harder. Eero won't give me another village!" he growled as he summoned the black mist again. Kaetar assumed it just dark magic – not even a full fledged spell. "So I'll be taking her back, along with the prince for some new shiny experiments..."

Suddenly, he was chanting and Kaetar found himself surrounded with dark magic. Syrin managed to shove him out of the way and Kaetar hit the ground with a large thud, safely outside the magic. He realized in horror that Syrin was going to get hit, no matter what he did. Syrin grimaced a little as he withstood the attack, then quickly glared at Elymas as he stood to his full height. He withdrew a tome and ripped his arm out of the sling, prepared to cast.

"You still insist on taking all the damage on yourself?" Elymas asked with a grin. He began to chant. It must have been a spell Syrin didn't recognize – he was confused and Kaetar could see it. He may not be able to cast magic but Syrin could probably recite even dark magic tomes. By the time Syrin raised his arm and began chanting, dark tendrils of magic began to creep along the grass. There was a strange shuffling and the klink of armour and as Kaetar turned around, he could see the fallen sand creatures begin to raise again.

"What did you do?" Kaetar asked as he managed to just dodge the attack of the one that came up behind him. Syrin however, wasn't so lucky and his bad arm was yanked from behind before he lost his balance and his feet slid out from underneath. He was left with his bad arm supporting his weight and Kaetar could see the anguish on his face before his captor went up in flames.

Elymas laughed. "These are my puppets and I'm their master! If it's broken, I'll just fix it!"

"To a limit... you only brought back two – is that all you're capable of?" Syrin asked with a weak smirk. He grimaced when he stood up but he managed to pull himself together. "And I thought Spirit Charmers were supposed to be more powerful."

"Syrin..." Kaetar warned. Syrin was in rough shape and if it came down to who could stand the longest, it was Elymas. As it was, Syrin was trembling. Elymas began chanting again, though he was interrupted when a shadow skidded behind him and grabbed his arms. Elymas shouted in surprise as Chibuike chuckled a bit.

"Let me go!"

"Nuh-huh!" Chibuike said with a smile as he brought a blade to his throat. "I might spare you so you can go warn Eero that you can't just bring some trinkets and expect to defeat us. Is it fine to let him go, boss?"

"Keep him away from Daevala – I waited a long time for her to make some sense," Syrin said with a growl.

"Got it!" somebody shouted. Elymas suddenly screamed when an arrow hit his leg. When Kaetar looked to see who fired it, he found himself gazing at Soren, who loaded another arrow and let it fly. The next one hit Elymas' other leg. Chibuike dropped him and stepped back, pulling another dagger from the void one could call the inside of a rouge's cloak. Elymas growled.

"This isn't the last of me, Kaetar – I wouldn't have cared for your name, but that prisoner that Liam brought back wouldn't stop screaming it – screaming was all he could to do to cope with the pain!" he said with a final laugh before he pulled out a bag of something, which Kaetar saw was full of powder. A glowing circle developed underneath Elymas and in a blink of an eye, he disappeared.

"Warp powder... if he had that then why didn't..." Syrin's eyes suddenly rolled back and he collapsed. Chibuike was the one who jumped forward to catch Syrin before he hit the ground, then he gently lowered him to the ground while Kaetar just sunk to his knees. There was a silence as the last sand creature fell and tension filled the space that the sandmen previous occupied.

Just what were they doing to Loiya? It didn't take someone like Syrin or Joel to figure out that they were torturing Loiya but why? Why did he have to be the one to be tortured? All Loiya was doing was making sure that his family could survive by making sure Kaetar wasn't the one who was captured and what he got in return was nothing but pain. It felt too soon for the tears to roll down his cheeks and suddenly he couldn't stop the shaking that came with quiet sobbing.

"It's all my fault..." he sobbed, throwing his face into his hands. He felt a firm hand on his shoulders but he shrugged it away. He wanted to be alone with his own thoughts, to mourn for his friend's suffering on his own.

"Kaetar, come on, I doubt he's mad at you," he heard Joel mumble. "Nobody could have predicted Daevala."

"THAT'S NOT IT!" he screamed as he hands fell from his face. "I shouldn't have come here or I should have gone home the first day Saira came for me! If I wasn't here, he wouldn't be there! He's being tortured because I was too stubborn to go home! I don't belong on the battlefield! I don't know what I was thinking, I should have been in Daein that entire time."

"Here, let me try," Rylar mumbled. Joel moved out of the way as Rylar bent down in front of him. Before Kaetar could say anything, Rylar bundled his fist and the only thing he really registered was the sharp and intense pain in his jaw. The tears still flowed but Kaetar was too shocked to yell at him. Nobody he ever called a friend, and he did consider Rylar to be a friend of his as most of the rebels ended up being, ever punched him like that, or at all really. The only person who hit him like that before was Liam and he was out to kill. It wasn't to say that he was never hit, he was just never hit for no apparent reason by someone who was kind of close to him. He didn't even count Loiya's training as somebody close hitting him.

Joel's eyes widened but he didn't seem to want to move. He was surprised but it was like he trusted Rylar even though Rylar just punched him.

"You... you hit me!" Kaetar was too shocked to really say anything else.

"Damn right I did! I was too stubborn to listen once too! At least be damn thankful that Loiya's still alive – he can still be saved which is more than what we can say about my father. I don't want want a misery contest though, nobody really wins in that," Rylar said with a growl as he settled himself on his knees and grabbed both of Kaetar's shoulders with a firm grip. "Do you regret being here?"

Kaetar didn't look at him.

"Then all you've done is waste his time! You made every injury he received pointless!"

"Rylar..." Stefan mumbled. "You've certainly matured."

"I realized that if I don't finish what my dad started, then I'm just disgracing his memory. He would have wanted to see this through so I'm seeing it through for him! I'm going to be strong for the family I have left! For Ema and the little kids at home who think that my dad's coming home, I'm going to be strong," Rylar said as tears began forming in his eyes as well. "Loiya needs you to do the same thing! Make the time and energy he put into this battle mean something! Seeing this through is the least you can do."

It didn't stop Kaetar from crying – he couldn't control his tears and it embarrassed him – but he could think clearly. Rylar had a point and he went through much more than Kaetar did but all in all, he was still somebody that Kaetar could kind of relate to. He was somebody that had to come to grip with his thoughts and accept responsibility for his actions and lack of action. He had to find meaning in what he was doing in order to cope with Duma's death and that was probably why he didn't let people get too close after Arum was able to talk sense into him. He needed time alone to sort himself out and he came to a conclusion he was alright with.

"Thank you, Rylar," Kaetar sobbed quietly. Suddenly, he felt dizzy and before he knew it, Kaetar was out. He woke up shortly after – Joel had him in his arms and was taking him the up the stairs of the fort. Joel chuckled a little. "Sorry for not stopping Rylar. I didn't think he would punch you but I should have expected it. After all, that's how Arum got Rylar to listen, figures he would do to the same to you."

"I guess I kind of lost it back there," Kaetar said sadly.

"I don't think anybody would have expected anything different. Elymas got into your head for a moment," Joel said quietly as he lowered Kaetar into his cot. "Damn, I just thought of something."

"Huh?"

"Kaetar, even some of the rebels will still freak out whenever Syrin's necklace gives you a vision. I know you haven't told everybody the deal with that. The Daeins are going to be more freaked out when you faint for no apparent reason and Peter can't explain why," he said with a sigh. "Don't worry about that right now though, you need to get some rest."

He supposed he couldn't get out of it, not that he really wanted to. His chest still hurt and the exhaustion that came over him before was still present. He didn't think it would be so bad to recover from the poison but apparently by joining the battle he set himself back way farther than when he first arrived at the fort after that battle. Why was it so hard?

Zeke was sidelined to the point where it was better to assume that he couldn't rejoin the battle. In the best interest of the unborn baby Meagan was carrying, it was best for her to stay off the battlefield. Kaetar had to assume that Loiya wouldn't be coming back either. Arum would need a couple of days before he could on the front lines again and Kaetar may need a week, or maybe longer. Thank goodness Saira lent them her troops or the rebellion would be in really rough shape.

Joel smiled and turned, then he grimaced again. It was the second time he did that – perhaps Joel should have stayed off the battlefield as well.

"What's going on?" Kaetar asked. "Be honest."

"Why wouldn't I be honest?" Joel had some light armour on so he couldn't lift his shirt all the way but he could lift it enough for Kaetar to see some bandages around his belly, spotted with blood. It was around the area where Loiya struck Joel. "I hated myself for underestimating Loiya. I knew he was training for most of his life, so I should have suspected that he knew Impale. I didn't let Peter heal it because I wanted to let it heal naturally as a reminder."

"How are you even standing then?"

"Through sheer will," Joel answered with a shrug.

"Go get that thing healed by Nicholas if you don't want to face Peter," Kaetar mumbled as he settled into his bed. He turned himself, facing the wall instead as the exhaustion began to gave way to sleep. "With Loiya gone for now, I need you at my side instead. I need to know that you're alright because... because Loiya isn't right now."

The smile he had from before fell.

"It's weird... whenever people like my father or Syrin say that I have the potential to be a great king but I don't see what they see in me because I can't even get comfortable without knowing I have a bodyguard around. I'm just a kid who can't sleep without their toy," he said with a huff.

"That's nothing to be ashamed of. That's your routine, that's what you crave in an unfamiliar place. You're just down in yourself right now, you won't let yourself realize what you have going for you," Joel said, patting his back. "Like I said, you need rest right now. I'll get myself healed if that will ease your worries but please, just worry about getting better right now."

Kaetar nodded. Joel left the room before there could be an argument. Kaetar fished his necklace out, turning the teardrop shaped ornament in his hands. His necklace provided comfort before any sort of bodyguard walked into his life.

And here I was hoping I could start uploading chapters twice a month, except it's getting harder and harder to write the closer I get to the end. However, exams are done for now so perhaps I can still try to upload more often because I'm hoping it won't take me fiver years to finish this.

And thanks again for any reviews! I noticed somebody new this time. Here's hoping you guys will enjoy the sequel just as much!