Kaetar woke up early in the morning, having gone to bed early the night before. It was mostly the training that managed to do him earlier than usual but Kaetar woke up with only minor aches, so he didn't regret training one bit. Joel was still asleep in the bed beside him, so Kaetar reviewed the report and then took the tome to Syrin's door. Ranulf was the one to open the door since Syrin was at his desk and quite frankly, he looked terrible so Kaetar was glad Syrin didn't get up. He wasn't massaging his arm but he still looked to be in pain and it looked like he was punched in the face with how dark he was under his eyes.

"I thought you were going to leave in the morning," Kaetar said.

"It's still morning," he answered with a smile. "But Syrin decided to have me stay here. He's just catching me up. You got something for him?"

"If you have a report, just gently tear it out of the tome," Syrin mumbled. Kaetar did as he was told, making sure to stay close to the bindings of the tome. The report itself wasn't very long – Kaetar's handwriting wasn't very large, so he managed to fit the Daein inventory on both sides on one piece of paper. Syrin looked it over quickly and added it to a pile of papers on his desk. "It looks fine for now but I'll look at it in more detail later."

"So, what's going on now? I thought you wanted Ranulf to go and scout a fort," Kaetar mumbled, looking at Syrin's map on the wall.

"I did," Syrin mumbled. "But I thought it over some more and realized it would just be a waste of his time. It's just too risky to have civilians to be escorted to us. Liam and Elymas could cause major problems... and Arkit's a wild card. We don't quite know where he is. Elymas in particular seems to have warp powder or perhaps a staff like Lekain, so it's possible that the last time he tried to attack us, he warped all of those creatures with him. A divided army cannot possibly defend all of those civilians. We have to go and bring them with us, something only possible thanks to your father. We'll enter Melior through Toha."

"So we sit until my father gets here," Kaetar mumbled.

"Exactly," Ranulf mumbled. "Hopefully Reyson comes too."

Syrin froze for a moment, like something suddenly came to him. "I believe I know why Eero wants a heron. Ranulf, do you if Reyson will be coming with additional escorts? Like Janaff and Ulki?"

"I'm not sure. Tibarn would trust Zara here but to get here, those two might be with him," Ranulf answered with a shrug.

"What am I missing?" Kaetar mumbled.

"Herons are about as fragile as they look, so they are an obvious target on the battlefield. However, I believe Eero wants a heron because they are fluent in the ancient language, the same language we use to communicate with spirits. Eero can probably perfect whatever spell he wants if he has a translator," Syrin stated.

"But what about that spell that Elymas used earlier? And the fact that the sand creatures exist in the first place?" Kaetar asked. "Reyson isn't exactly needed, is he? Elymas seems capable of accomplishing their goals already."

Syrin shook his head. "Except that it takes time. None of us knows how long they took planning and trying to execute the spells that got them as far as they got. It takes a lot of time for people like us, who are not fluent in the ancient language, to get the phrasing right in order to create a new spell. He may have been planning that spell he used last time for months and only managed to execute it recently. However, more spells with precise phrasing would be necessary for them to continue to move forward and it could take them several more months or years if they were working with regular mages. With Reyson, they could advance their plans faster than we may be able to prepare for. Custom-made tomes are rare and exceedingly expensive for a reason."

"Hey Syrin, I need a little but more context here. You filled me in on everything but maybe the most important thing," Ranulf mumbled, holding his hand up with his index finger close to his thumb. He also decided to take a seat on Syrin's desk, which Syrin didn't protest to immediately, much to Kaetar's surprise. Kaetar always thought that Syrin appreciated something familiar but he seemed to let Ranulf get away with more than anybody else. Almost everybody in the rebellion gave Syrin a bit of distance but then there was Ranulf, sitting on his desk and his waving tail was dangerously close to hitting Syrin and disturbing his paperwork.

Or it was perhaps because Syrin's thoughts were elsewhere. "Elymas is a spirit charmer and he's capable of controlling spirits contained in a humanoid sand-shell. They are currently impervious to physical acts since they reform after. However... Elymas' spirit may be that of the man responsible for what we saw in Gritnea Tower." Once again, Syrin's good hand went up to his nose and mouth like the last time Syrin and Nasir spoke of the spirit. There was something about the memory that seemed to visibly disgust Syrin.

For once, Ranulf was serious. His ears flew back and his tail became still. "Are you serious? Don't tell me he's back again! I thought...! I thought my laguz brothers and sisters were finally at peace." He became solemn at that. Kaetar decided that it didn't seem to suit Ranulf to be upset like that.

"He doesn't seem to be targeting laguz in particular at the moment," Syrin mumbled. Ranulf only relaxed a little bit. Kaetar could understand that – it was good news but it meant little that the threat was still around and could reemerge at any time. Besides, who knows what Elymas and that spirit would do after Eero got his way. Syrin let his hand fall from his face and looked at it for a moment as if he was surprised by his own reaction.

"The smell, right?" Ranulf asked with a sigh.

"Yes, the smell."

"What happened? What smell?" Kaetar couldn't remember the necklace giving him a vision like that and he was sure he would have remembered something that disgusted Syrin.

"Gritnea Tower was full of feral laguz and also full of many dead laguz in various states of decay... Dead from other laguz or the methodology used to create them in the first place," Syrin answered. His curiosity was satisfied but a small part of him wished he didn't know. The feral laguz were probably Daein's fault, the Daein that was under King Ashnard, the Daein that the laguz were still afraid of. There was a strange guilt attached to that, being a future ruler, but he knew he couldn't let it get to him. "Any that weren't dead when we found them had to be killed. They couldn't be cured."

"Do you think he'll ever try that again?" Kaetar asked.

"There is a chance he could attempt to make feral laguz again," Syrin said. "But he's also a spirit now. I can't say how but even if he managed to influence Elymas' personality but it's probably extremely difficult for him communicate something as complicated as making feral laguz. Laguz should be safe in that regard and I doubt that experimenting on laguz would be particularly helpful in their plans."

"I still hate the idea that he's even around," Ranulf said with another hiss.

Suddenly, Zara appeared at the door. "Hey Syrin, we've got company again! It's our buddy Elymas!"

"Did you see him?"

"No but Daevala said he was close. She can sense him," Zara mumbled. Syrin sighed and stood up.

"He's really starting to wear my patience thin," Syrin growled. "Come, Ranulf, you get to see those things sooner than I would like."

Kaetar was really starting to worry about the state of their supplies. Elymas was clearly able to attack in waves – his soldiers didn't need rest, didn't exactly need the weapons they were able to wield, and somehow, he was bringing them closer with more magic. It was a while since Mike last went out and retrieved more supplies, last he knew they still one had enchanted weapon... they really had to depend on his father coming soon. How would they fare?

"Are we going to be okay?"

"I enchanted more weapons last night-"

"That's why he looks like crap," Ranulf explained as Syrin glared at him. "What? You do. I'd suggest sitting out but I already know it's easier to simply as Eero to stop what he's doing than to make you miss something like this."

"Yeah, just won't work," Zara mumbled. "'Sides, he's the best mage we got, even if his arm causes him trouble."

"Don't talk about me as if I'm not here," Syrin grumbled. "We're going now. I don't want to waste any more preparation time. It's early in the morning – we have to get everybody awake and moving."

"You and Ranulf go. I want to talk to the kiddo for a moment," Zara mumbled. Syrin waved for Ranulf to follow him, which he did with a nonchalant shrug. When they left, she also gestured for him to follow and while he had no idea where she was headed, he followed her anyway. "Listen, we're going to be battle buddies, alright? We're sticking together."

"Huh? Why?"

"What? Don't think you need me?" she asked with a smirk as she guided him to Darius' room. "But really, without your other bodyguard here, I think it falls on me to make sure you get out of these battles alive. You agreed to help me with my plans to improve beorc and laguz relationships and I'm going to hold you to that. I also have a weird feeling about this battle."

Kaetar knew he had a look on his face because 'weird' caught him off guard. "Weird? Like, a bad feeling?"

"I don't know actually. I just have the feeling that something big will happen. It makes me all tense. I can't tell if it will be a good thing or a bad thing," Zara mumbled as she opened their door, slamming it against the wall as she burst in. Chifee was the one to shoot out of bed since he was already awake and he was in the process of stretching – on his bed of all places but Kaetar supposed that he just felt comfortable on it. Darius rolled onto his stomach and mumbled to himself before getting up.

"Zara? What the heck?" he asked with a yawn. Chifee shook his head and fluttered his wings like he was shaking the last bit of his shock out of his system.

"It's time to get up, we got company coming again. Syrin wants everybody in their pre-battle rituals. Oh, and Kaetar will need his gift."

"OH! RIGHT!" Chifee shouted, his eyes growing wide in excitement as he jumped to the floor and went under the bed. After a moment, he dragged himself back out, holding something bundled up in cloth. He was surprisingly gentle with it as he picked himself off the ground and handed the bundle to Kaetar. He could tell immediately that it was a bow but when he unravelled the cloth, he could see that it was a rather intricate bow. With the unique shape and the gold detailing, it screamed nobility and royalty to him – it was a far cry from the steel bow he had been using. There was a card with it but he pocketed it, deciding to reading it later when he didn't feel a battle was looming.

"Thanks for the reminder. I pretty much forgot about it," Kaetar mumbled.

"No worries. Let's go, we got some ass to kick."

From the gist that Kaetar got, Meagan and Nasir were staying out of the battle, with Meagan interacting with Daevala and Nasir parked outside of the door of the fort, prepared to transform and defend it when needed. Ranulf was with him – Syrin stated that Ranulf should watch but in a pinch, he didn't want to leave Nasir alone to guard the entrance, not with so many vulnerable people inside. Zeke hadn't been able to get out of his bed yet but Kaetar hoped that he was still asleep, despite the flurry of activity in the fort. Syrin figured that Meagan could keep Daevala calm with words, so he was gambling on the fact that if she was finding herself under Elymas' influence, talking to her could snap her out of it. Meagan had a tome with her just in case something went wrong but Kaetar didn't think it would. Though Daevala was imprisoned for a while, she cooperated most of the time.

He noticed that Elli had the twin, enchanted blades that Syrin promised, and there was a lance that had red swirling around the handle, along with an axe that had yellow buzzing around the sharpened edges. The lance was in the hands of one the Daeins, who joined the rebellion instead of hanging in the back like they did last time. The axe was in the hands of Mike, who had a surprisingly good reaction with it. Makken seemed a little nervous around it, and it was understandable why, but Mike was doing his best to keep Makken calm.

Kaetar took in a deep breath. He was a little nervous about how the tides of the battle could turn. He could see five mages, all of them appeared in the purple robes that seemed to signify a dark mage – could that be five more mages that can do the spell to bring back the sandmen? It could very turn out that they couldn't keep up, at least as long as the mages were alive.

Kaetar could see his targets now. If the mages weren't there, it would be the normal sandman battle. He didn't think he would ever call it normal yet, it was their normal. He hoped Arkit was in Melior because as strange and worrisome the sandmen were, he didn't ever have to feel bad beating those things down so he preferred fighting the mindless puppets over the real soldiers that Arkit kept with him.

"See them, Kaetar?" Zara asked. Joel was close to him as well, on that horse with an attitude, but he seemed to be discussing something with Syrin, Ranulf, and Stefan. Kaetar was shocked that Stefan was on the field at all, that he tore himself from Zeke to be there and that Kaetar didn't notice him until he spotted Joel and Syrin. Stefan was pretty close and he hadn't noticed, but he also had a nasty habit of disappearing and reappearing without being noticed. Not even Syrin seemed to know where or when Stefan would pop up, he just stopped reacting to him. In his hand was the original enchanted sword, which Kaetar did notice never seemed to be in the Daein inventory but he didn't note it as Kaetar figured Syrin knew where the sword had gone.

"Yeah, they have to die," Kaetar mumbled.

Suddenly, Elymas appeared in front of them, similar to how he disappeared last time. "Syrin, we're going to have a nice little chit chat... alone."

Syrin didn't argue. Maybe he also wanted a private conversation. Stefan and Joel looked at him with disapproval but Syrin and Elymas walked together for a moment, just out of earshot for Ema – much to her disappointment – but they were both still in sight of their respective armies. The tension was thick and Kaetar found it unbearable until Ema could begin to hear bits of their conversation. Clearly, it escalated and they were raising their voices until suddenly, Elymas directed a quick dark spell at Syrin, who deflected it with his own quick wind spell.

The battle started then. The sand creatures lurched forward, with the five mages on Elymas' side watching intently as Stefan struck first, making his way to Syrin. Soren jumped onto Rykuu's back, which along with the added speed, Kaetar also noticed that Soren had a bit of a height advantage. Though Kaetar knew to aim for the mages, once the sandmen crawled forward, they quickly disappeared and he didn't even know where to aim anymore. Maybe Soren could see one though.

Kaetar also noticed that Misha, Elli, and Arum too up positions on the front lines, with Elli in the middle of the odd trio. It was the first time since Arum took to the front lines since he was injured but Kaetar no longer saw any sort of drop in his performance – he was back to where he was and maybe a little bit more comfortable around his female allies to boot. Elli was the first one to slay the sand creature in front of her thanks to her speed and by the time she had slashed through the first, she had a second buried in what would be a real person's neck. It also collapsed into a pile by her feet. However, just as Kaetar predicted, he could see the black tendrils of magic snaking through the battlefield and Elli watched in mild confusion as the sand creature rose again in front of her. Arum swung large, cutting through four of them with one swing but another came up, threatening to put him back to where he was with his injury until Misha took it down.

"Did this happen before?" Misha shouted.

"Once!" Kaetar mumbled. For a second, he saw one of the mages and he shot in between two of the sandmen to reach him but Kaetar wasn't sure if he actually hit the mage. There was no scream, so he assumed he just missed him. He cursed under his breath as Zara's foot cut through the side of one that came up beside him.

"I got it, Kaetar!" Peter shouted bright lights rained down, melting two of them. Kaetar watched again as the black tendrils of magic made their way to the creatures that Peter downed but he also watched in amusement as Peter aimed at them and they disappeared. Light magic beat dark magic in the end.

"So only Peter can prevent them from coming back?" Rylar shouted, perhaps in annoyance.

"We just have to take out the mages," Syrin countered. He still hasn't made it back to their side just yet. "Stefan, I'll back you up! Kill one and regroup! Don't you dare get surrounded!" With that, Syrin began chanting. Kaetar would never get tired of watching Syrin use Rexcalibur – there was just something amazing that came with watching Syrin use magic and it was even better when he used the most potent spell they knew off. Stefan was easily able to run across the newly created desert, almost as fast as he was able to run on land much to a mage's surprise, and he quickly to bury his blade into the surprised mage's neck before tearing his sword out. As Syrin instructed, he ran back, jumping over a lance aimed in his direction, and skidded to a halt back in the rebellion front lines.

It was just amazing. He wondered if Syrin used to do such teamwork with Ike. However, as amazing it was, Kaetar didn't miss the wobble in Syrin's step as he too made it back to their group, definitely exhausted with his stunt. "Syrin! Are you alright?" Kaetar called out.

Syrin shook his head. "It was worth getting rid of one of them," he mumbled.

"Take it easy, Syrin! We can get it from here!" Mike shouted as guided Makken over the sandmen and made a swoop down, cutting through another 'neck' before guiding Makken back up into the air. However, much to Kaetar's surprise, Rylar was also on Makken's back and while he didn't do anything yet, Kaetar had a feeling that Rylar was trying to adjust to being in the air. He had no idea when Rylar managed to get up there but it was like he didn't want to outdone by Soren being on Rykuu whenever they were in battle. Makken made a sharp turn and this time, Rylar loaded an arrow and shot into the crowd from above. There was the distinct sound of a fleshy body hitting the ground. Just as Makken was flying back to their side, there was a loud crackle of lightning.

A thunder spell. It hit Mike directly.

Kaetar watched with horror as Mike dropped his axe and he teetered dangerously over the edge and slipped off of Makken. Rylar must have been hit as well because for a moment, he seemed stunned and didn't catch or help Mike. Rylar was rude sometimes but he wouldn't outright let somebody like Mike just fall to what could be his death. Makken was the one to react the fastest, making the sharpest turn Kaetar ever saw and caught Mike's arm in between his jaws. Once back the front lines, Makken landed on the ground with a slightly stagger and let Nicholas pull an unconscious Mike out from his jaw before flopping over to his side. Rylar barely managed to jump off just in time, trembling as he did so.

"Oh, are we falling behind here?" Elymas shouted as he dropped his tome and with both hands, summoned more sand creatures from the ground. His magic seemed more potent, could affect more sandman at a time than the other mages could. "Maybe... we have one more trick up our sleeves."

Syrin growled. "What? More magic?"

"A little bit," Elymas mumbled as he vanished once again. He reappeared shortly after on the other side of his front lines, this time with Liam in tow. He wondered if Elymas could warp from Melior to bring him, or if Liam was dangerously close to entire time so Elymas didn't have to warp far away. By body language alone, Kaetar could tell that Liam didn't enjoy his trip – his usual confidence was lost and he stared at his feet for a moment, shaking, before hissing something at Elymas. He caught his bearings quickly and before Kaetar knew it, Liam ran and jumped, flying over Arum when he tried to stab him. He instantly met with Zara's foot into his side, making him fly away from Kaetar and hit the ground with a large thud.

He did it again – Kaetar froze when he saw Liam jump for him. He was glad that Zara insisted on being his so-called battle buddy.

"Keep pushing forward everybody," Stefan said calmly, sheathing his enchanted sword before drawing a sword that Kaetar never seen before. It didn't look special, it was slimmer and sharper, but it was like Stefan became more intimidating, more confident. It was a sword he was comfortable with and knew. He swiped his sword and managed to aim it at Liam's neck before Liam even noticed. "Killing Kaetar wouldn't be any fun right now – how about you wait until he's trained and can fight back? Isn't it more fun when your opponent can match your move with their own? Isn't it more fun when there is a stakes are higher and you have a chance to lose?"

Liam jumped back to his feet. All Kaetar could see from under that green cloak was a wicked sneer. "I remember you," he spat. "You were the one who actually got a hit in on Daevala. You also kept up with that cat... you might be a little fun!" he shouted as lunged at Stefan. Stefan dodged, jumping backwards.

"LIAM! WHAT THE FUCK? You're supposed to be killing them!"

"I don't answer to you!" Liam shouted before giving Stefan his full attention.

Kaetar bit his lips. Mike was down, Rylar still seemed a little confused, Stefan was distracted with keeping Liam from targeting anybody else, and Syrin had maybe one more spell in before he joined Mike on the ground. Kaetar was beginning to grow concerned again. Just as the feeling rose up, he spotted his Daeins changing plans – there wasn't many of them, but they formed a circle around the rebellion, keeping the injured towards the centre. Misha, Elli, and Arum were part of the circle, not by their choice but they didn't argue, even though Helena ended up beside Arum.

It was a defensive move but it was holding its own. It was like they reminded everybody, including Kaetar, that they had to remain calm. It was the first time Kaetar really saw his Daeins fight and he was reminded while watching them that they were trained by Saira. They weren't pushovers. Even with the sandmen raising again around them, despite how it seemed as though it was a stalemate, they continued to plough through sand creatures, stunning them into positions that the mages could attack. However, even with the increased amount of enchanted weapons and the fact that two of the five mages were dead, the sandmen were not being destroyed all that faster than they could be regenerated.

Peter was too distracted with Rylar and Mike to contribute to the prevention of their continued revival, not that one person could hold them back to any meaningful degree anyway. However, Aletta and Nicholas fought all that they could. It was just that – they were not Syrin and they didn't carry the same spells. The way it was going, Elymas and the mages could just hide behind their army, the one that couldn't get exhausted while they were exhausted themselves trying to prevent being overwhelmed. It was going to end badly if something didn't happen.

Syrin was wrecking his head, just trying to think of one way they could punch through and kill the three remaining mages. It didn't help that his mind felt more clouded than usual. Unless they could stop the revival of the sand creatures, then they had no chance. He swallowed hard. Syrin relied on his logic and his tactics but he was also fighting against Eero. While he was not present, Eero clearly knew enough that he could begin to wage a war based on tactics and Syrin's mind – that was the worst part about being the sort of historical figure that he was. Joel mentioned that he studied Syrin's past tactics, that his father studied him, and clearly, Eero studied them. It was unavoidable that at some point, he would find somebody that could counter him. It only took one person.

He couldn't retreat either, on the account that there was nowhere to go. They only had that fort and it was not a formidable defence, especially with vulnerable people inside. He also wanted Elymas to stay far away from Daevala – even though he had her stone, she could still be trouble if he was too close.

But maybe Daein was close with reinforcements – the only thing he could think of doing was to just to buy time for the Daeins to arrive. He grabbed his tornado tome. Unlike Rexcalibur, the tornado tome was almost depleted but he only needed to use it once. He chanted and like he did in the empty village, he aimed the spell at himself as a shield. However, unlike the time in the village, he strained himself to expand the reach of his spell to encompass all the soldiers he had. It was a strain to protect himself with a spell that only sought to cause damage but to protect everybody, he knew it would cause serious repercussions on himself. That was the risk he was willing to take to buy time.

The spell required all of his attention. He didn't notice the strain on his body, on his mind, and he completely tuned out everybody else. He didn't even know if it was working.

But suddenly, everything stopped. The tornado spell was gone. Syrin's legs couldn't support his weight and he hit the ground, that was when he noticed that his nose was bleeding and he had a trickle of blood coming from his mouth. His vision was blurry like he was tired but he couldn't make it go away. "What happened?" he asked out loud, not even sure if there was anybody around to hear him. He was disorientated.

However, Kaetar bent down next to him, placing his hands on his shoulders and looking him in the eyes. Kaetar's eyes were a red-brown colour, reminding him of how Micaiah's eyes changed whenever Yune spoke through her, so he knew that he wasn't talking to Kaetar anymore. But he didn't still know who he was talking to – it was Ashunera or did she fail to take form and he was speaking to Yune instead? Kaetar's arms were alarming red and blistered, most likely from whatever goddess hijacked his body. "Everything will be fine," the goddess said. "Daein will be here soon. I've placed a barrier, so just rest now."

"Ashunera?" She sounded too serious for her to be Yune.

She nodded. "If Micaiah had been closer, I would be able to do more with what little power I had. I hope this is enough."

Despite retaining Kaetar's appearance, Syrin was beginning to get the maternal vibe from her and it made him feel strangely warm.

And then Soren woke up. He was still dazed, he certainly didn't remember passing out, but he woke up on the ground and on his back. He could actually see the barrier and he wasn't surprised at all to see that the barrier they were resting in seemed to be the same sort of barrier that Ashera protected herself with and it covered them in a dome. The barrier didn't just protect, it retaliated, and sand was already piling up by the barrier. He wasn't out for long.

"Syrin! Are you alright?" It was Stefan.

"I feel terrible," he admitted. He didn't think he had the strength to even sit up and he must have looked terrible. There was no point in trying to hide it, not under Stefan's watch and Peter's careful gaze.

"Syrin, do your eyes hurt?" Peter asked.

"No," he muttered. "What's the problem?"

"You seem to be bleeding in your eyes. There's quite a bit of red were it should be all white," Peter muttered. "But if it doesn't hurt, then it probably isn't anything to worry about. It should clear in time."

"You were strangely reckless," Stefan mumbled. "What got into you?"

"I was just trying to buy some time," Syrin muttered before he broke into a fit of coughing. Stefan helped him up into a sitting position, which helped ease the coughing somewhat. Finally, he spat out some blood and the fit died down. "Where's Kaetar?" he asked as he used his good arm to wipe the from his lips, but he even his good arm was tired and heavy. Peter was on him with a staff, pointing it towards his abdomen.

"The Daeins are fretting over him," Peter muttered. The look on his face was the kind of look Shinon got whenever he had to work with Ike, and those missions were the kind where Shinon wouldn't let anybody forget that he wasn't happy with the arrangement. Clearly, Peter didn't like the fact that he didn't know what was going on with Kaetar and Syrin found himself a little amused. "But I suppose he is their prince and they deserve to take care of them."

"Stefan, what did exactly happen? I was too focused on the spell to know what was going on."

"That sounds like you," Stefan said. "Your spell was stopped when she set up the barrier, so I guessed she stopped your spell in its track before it could kill you."

"I'm just surprised," Peter started. "I thought only that the apostle could be the voice of the goddess and I know Kaetar isn't the apostle."

"I have no doubt that Kaetar has laguz blood in him, it just sat dormant and left him a beorc. That laguz blood must be able to better contain her power," Stefan answered. Syrin thought the same thing. Kaetar's heritage was probably the only reason why Ashunera could intervene at all but even Kaetar couldn't handle the power without it beginning to affect him as well. Micaiah could carry Yune within her with no repercussions, as far as Syrin knew. The apostle must have made a far better vessel than any of her descendants.

"I see," Peter mumbled with a smile. "Either way, I'm so happy that she can not only hear us but she cares so much. She's better than I imagined."

"She bought us time... let's just hope Daein takes the torch," Stefan muttered, looking out past the barrier.

So a review asked if Ashunera was going to make an appearance. According to the alternate ending, Ashunera's return is 1200 years after Ashera was defeated, so originally, I wasn't going to... except this is a fanfiction and I should be allowed to make some artistic liberties. One small appearance doesn't hurt the ending too much. Even if it did, oh well!

I also have so many things I want to include in Author Notes when I'm writing chapters or planning them, but when it comes to actually do my monthly upload, I never seem to even say half of those I want to say. I just always forget.

Also, we will be checking back in Melior again because we're not done their yet. However, I want to give you guys a choice in who gets the perspective spotlight - do you guys want to see Bri, Saira again, or Chibuike?