Loiya frowned as he watched Saira and some of the new generation of Greil Mercenaries leave for the third time that day. He knew he wasn't ready to step outside yet, because he was just starting to recover, and he knew better than to test his limits when Saira was going to be around to hear about it later. She would definitely chew him out for it too and the last thing he wanted was to be lectured. However, he still had that strong urge to go outside with them because he hated the idea of sitting and doing nothing when other people were outside trying to make a difference. He wasn't even quite sure what they were doing outside but it still left a sour taste in his mouth.
Shelia and Pops were the only ones left alone with him.
"I didn't think you'd be so full of energy by now when you came in looking the way you did," Pops mumbled, jabbing him in the side with his cane.
Loiya was surprised by his own recovery as well but he figured it all had to do with one thing – he just couldn't remember much of it when it came down to it. It was like his mind just shut out his experience with the Crimean army from his waking memory and he was thankful for it. He could even find some sleep, despite always waking up early from nightmares he couldn't remember clearly. He tried to shove as much into his stomach as he could, even if it ended up being mostly broth with vegetable peels, and stuck mostly to walking around as a basic form of exercise because even that made him tired. He had been wrecked with fever for a couple of nights, from what he had been told, but he stubbornly pulled through. Although he didn't have a lot of spare energy that he could dedicate to walking around, he didn't feel all that much pain. Most of his cuts either healed or scarred over, depending on how old his wounds were.
"He's truly something," Shelia mumbled quietly. Loiya didn't know her for long but he did come to appreciate her. She didn't hover and fret the same way Peter did and only intervened when there was a great risk to harming himself further, but maybe that was because she was too timid to really confront people. Peter was not afraid to tell anyone what they needed to hear, much to their annoyance, but Loiya supposed that every big group needed a Peter.
"I've been training since I was six," Loiya mumbled. "It's not the first time I've been seriously injured and I doubt it'll be the last."
"Not your first song and dance, huh? If these new kids could figure that out, they would do alright. There's a lot they could learn from you and Saira," the old man said with a nod. "The fact that Daein is still sharp would have been frightening decades ago but now, it's good that somebody is."
Loiya merely turned to look at him. While it has been ages since Daein and Crimea had any sort of fight, border skirmish or otherwise, it was still odd to hear somebody in Crimea say anything good about Daein's military prowess, especially if said Daeins were going to join the rebellion. There also still seemed to be so strange tension between Crimea and Daein, like Crimea was still wary of Daein and Daein still seemed to attribute some responsibility of the aftermath of the Mad King's War to Ike and by extension, Crimea.
So it was probably the first time in history that Crimea and Daein got along at all. He would have to ask Kaetar more about that.
"Crimea hasn't never been really know for its army though, right?" At least, Loiya was sure somebody said that. Maybe it was Kaetar or Syrin but it was probably Syrin. He shook his head. Maybe his memory was a little bit more affected by his experience than he thought, almost like he was getting off too easy from being captured, tortured, and slated for execution as he had been told later. Or maybe he was still sleep deprived – he was always a light sleeper since it came with his job but he usually got more than a few hours of sleep. He couldn't even remember his nightmares but he knew he had them and they had to have been pretty bad to actually to wake up.
"It's true that Crimea never had the reputation that Daein and Begnion owned," Pops mumbled. He wished Kaetar was around to meet the old man – they would both have a blast with each other. However, he mostly wanted to see how Syrin and Bri would react to each other, considering their involvement in the Greil Mercenaries. "Crimea could muster up powerful individuals but not powerful armies. It's playing out the same way now."
"I see," Loiya mumbled. He supposed that fit with everything he saw from Crimea. In the past, it was Ike and his mercenaries that took control of the situation. Crimea would have been screwed had it not been for Ike. In the present, he could still count anybody he could consider a threat on one hand but as of yet, he only faced Arkit one-on-one before. He was sure he could hold his own against Liam – if Joel could, then Loiya could – but he never had the chance to square off with him and just fight him without any sort of obstacle. Even then, maybe Liam wasn't his fight after all.
If anybody, it was probably Kaetar who had the most reason to go against Liam but Loiya hated the thought of it, and hated how he couldn't even prepare Kaetar anymore.
"What are they even doing outside?" he mumbled as he looked out the window.
"Whatever needs to be done," Pops said. "For the most part, they're out there to stir up trouble for the Crimean regiment stationed here but I believe Saira's been doing simple reconnaissance missions as well."
Before Loiya could respond to that, there was a stern knock on the door. Loiya scooted himself to a position where he couldn't bee seen from the doorway while Pops went and answered it because Shelia seemed too timid to even accomplish that.
"You guys have Loiya holed up in here, right?"
Loiya knew that voice instantly. He didn't even have to look to know it was Chibuike. He wasn't even surprised anymore. Chibuike just seemed to pop up whenever he was needed and Loiya didn't like it. He still didn't trust him and it didn't help that he seemed to be everywhere. Chibuike was probably the reason why Loiya was found out in the first place – Syrin was probably suspicious of something like he always was but he didn't have time to carefully observe everybody.
"It's alright, Pops, I know him."
Chibuike was ushered in and the door quickly closed behind him. For an old guy, Pops could really move if he wanted to and it seemed to even amuse Chibuike. Well, Chibuike always seemed amused. Loiya didn't like that either.
"Did Syrin send you?"
"Yup," he answered simply. "It would have been nice to know I didn't need to rush though. Oh well, what are you going to do?"
"Introduce yourself maybe," Loiya muttered.
"My my, you seem to be doing well, Loiya!" he mumbled with a cheeky grin. He turned to Pops. "My name is Chibuike, so if you need me for anything, I charge less than Volke did. You might need it."
"Have we been compromised or are you just as skilled as Volke was said to be?" Pops asked, his voice going dead serious. Even Chibuike managed to wipe the grin off his face, is expression hardening to neutral expression that looked completely odd on him.
"My skills are comparable. I like to think I learned from the best, even if I had to learn from a distance," he stated simply before the smirk returned to his face. "But it's also not the hardest place to find when you know where to look. Fortunately, as long as Loiya is around, then I'll do all in my power to keep this place a secret – it looks like it might be fun."
Of course, Chibuike would go where he thought it was fun. Loiya sighed. "How is Kaetar? And do you know what's going on with the rebellion?"
Chibuike shook his head. "He was fine last I saw of him. He was more worried about you then he was about himself. As for the rebellion, I have no idea since I had to leave before a plan was finalized but the rebels aren't accomplishing much by staying there. I think Syrin knows that so maybe they're back on the road."
"So... they're going to end this soon," Shelia mumbled.
"Possibly," he said, scratching at this beard in thought. "Syrin isn't the type to drag this out for any longer than he has to. He isn't doing this because it's fun. I'm the one doing it for fun."
"I need to recover soon then," Loiya mumbled. He couldn't protect Kaetar while he was in Melior and Kaetar was much further away but he could protect Kaetar when he came to Melior. Besides, he had his own bone to pick with Melior, if the scars riddled across his body had anything to say about it. He didn't get a good look at himself recently but he could feel the scarred tissue stretch across his back, he could see them on the back of his arms when he lifted his elbows, and felt the scars on the back of his legs. At least he was different than Syrin in that his scars didn't cause much discomfort at all – they were mostly flat or just slightly raised.
His parents would freak out if they saw the state of his body though. It was bad enough his father was in that accident, so his mother didn't need to know how many times Loiya could have been killed and one look at his body would tell his mother that he nearly died plenty of times. His father would be concerned but he was strangely proud of all of Loiya's falls and scrapes as a child. He was the kind to view scars as badges of honour. He had no idea what his little brothers, Rhee and Roha would think of them though. He trained so often when he was at home that he didn't really get to know his brothers.
"Well, don't go too hard on retraining yourself," Pops said. "I'm sure you are at the top of your class but you're no use to anybody exhausted or dead."
"So anyway, how did you guys end up surviving anyway? I heard it was a massacre," Chibuike said. Loiya, even though he knew them to be the Greil Mercenaries since they introduced themselves like that and Saira seemed to agree, never did hear the story behind it. He actually didn't get a lot of time to interact with the mercenaries that ended up leaving house either, so maybe that was part of the reason. Why were they stuck in Melior instead of being at the fort though? Why was the fort abandoned and left for ruin?
But of course, he wouldn't ask either of those questions out loud. That was Kaetar's job.
"I have a feeling you already know," Pops answered simply.
Shelia cleared her throat. "Anyway... I think it's time Loiya got some more food and rest. You've been up for a while and you're not doing much right now anyway."
He supposed that was true. He merely nodded.
He woke up in a cold sweat. He sat up but before he could really process the dream he could remember for the first time since he was saved, there was a loud bang upstairs and a flurry of footsteps. He didn't know if he was 'allowed' upstairs so he decided to just sit down and try to relax. He could feel a bit of a headache coming on, not a full on migraine, but there was definitely a chance it could get worse so it was best to try to relax before it did get worse. It was annoying to wake up to a headache but it wasn't exactly uncommon for him.
Suddenly, the door to the basement flew open. Bri was there, her face as serious as ever, but the other girl... it took a moment for him to recognize her. She was Kaetar's fiance... Arianna? Was that her name? Either way, she was wearing a traveller's cloak, which was white, and some clothes that while was relatively simple, still looked expensive so she didn't do a very good job pretending that she wasn't rich. She was wearing a short sleeved shirt, with embodiment, a blue skirt, and black leggings underneath. She might as well have worn a dress and make herself look like a target. "I told you, he's safe. Look, he's even sitting up. Loyia, this is the lady who paid us to rescue you."
"I can't have my fiance's bodyguard get executed," she said to Bri.
"How did you know I was going to be executed? I mean, I didn't even know what the heck was going on... not that I can remember," Loiya mumbled.
"You did manage to hire us before the public knew there was supposed to be an execution," Bri mumbled. "How did you do that?"
"Well, I have my own spy. I hired him to keep an eye out on Melior and he heard about it... but my father doesn't know about him yet," she mumbled like it was an after thought. "Anyway, when he told me, I went to Melior to tell to hire somebody to save you under the guise of a dress purchase. I even have a fitting today so it's not like that's a total lie either."
"What do you need a new dress for?" Bri asked. "You're wearing nice stuff now. How much is this costing you?"
"I need a dress that looks Daein. Daein clothing tends to use darker colours and has a different shape and materials! I can't have a bunch of Crimean dresses when I go marry a Daein prince! It's only five thousand, I believe."
"Five thousand? For a single dress?" Bri's face suddenly lost all of its colour. "Unbelievable!"
Loiya heard a snort from upstairs. "I should consider dress business!" Chibuike chuckled.
He wasn't very surprised at the price – he was surprised she didn't spend more on it. The price tag for Kaetar's fanciest outfit, the one that he wore whenever he had to be a prince and would probably fail to fit him when he got home was said to be about fifteen-thousand and he only overheard some others talking about it, servants close to his mother. Just to think, that a new outfit for would cost more, simply because he was bigger than he was when he left Daein and would need more fabric. Compared to Kaetar's outfit, Arianna's dress was a steal. Maybe she got a deal on it.
He eventually tuned them out and settled back into his bed. Maybe he needed more sleep. It would pass the time and maybe get rid of the headache before it became an annoying migraine. That was their signal to leave and they did but after a moment of silence, Saira came downstairs, wearing surprisingly little. It was weird to see her so under dressed, wearing only pants and a shirt.
"How are you holding up?" she asked, folding her arms in front of her chest like she was judging him. He knew that was just Saira though.
"Bad dream, a bit of a headache..." he muttered, knowing there was no point in lying to her. She frowned.
"I thought you said you didn't remember your dreams."
"This one had nothing to do with what happened," he muttered. "I guess I'm just afraid of being... forgotten... In my dream, my family didn't know my name, didn't know who I was..."
"You know that's a stupid fear, right?" she asked. "You're hardly forgettable and your brothers weren't so young that they could forget you."
"I know it's stupid but I don't know what else the dream could have meant!"
"Pfft, like all dreams are meant to mean something. It's a dream, nothing more. Kaetar would be ecstatic if somebody could go back and tell him you're fine because guess what? He won't forget about you," Saira said with a shrug. "Just sit tight – there's nothing you can do now but get better anyway."
Loiya merely nodded.
"Now get some sleep before I knock you out."
On one hand, Kaetar was damned proud of himself. He had more or less repeated his speech in every village they came across and he earned support from every village they visited, so the amount of civilians quickly outgrew the amount of actual fighters. The vast majority of the civilians were people who were not much younger than Rylar and Aletta appeared to be – approximate thirteen to fifteen years of age, children who helped around their house but their homes could function without them. Some of them brought a younger sibling, so they had actual children running around and riding in some extra wagons that came with the older children. There were few adults, mostly ones that appeared to be homeless or otherwise unable to support themselves, so regular meals were all that was needed to gain their support.
It was all because he didn't screw up very much during those speeches.
But dealing with a vast number of being who weren't used to the marching, to the order, and couldn't defend themselves began to overwhelm him, so their care suddenly fell into the hands of the Daeins. Those with armour were easy enough to pick out as 'people in charge' and Father had the fanciest armour, so he was the one everybody listened to without question. It never really occurred to Kaetar that nobody in the rebellion wore much protection until Kaetar had a hard time finding even fellow rebels in the sea of civilians.
"I'm glad that you don't have any problems with public speaking anymore," Father said in one of the few times they had alone. Father resolved to have more bonding time, so he sought out Kaetar whenever he had free time. Kaetar didn't know his father had listened to any of his speeches but he supposed his father was just somewhere out of sight so he didn't disturb him. Kaetar would have definitely been more nervous if he saw his father in the audience.
"Villages are much smaller than the whole of Nevassa," Kaetar mumbled. "I guess I'll see what it's like when I'm on that balcony though."
"It's no different," his father said. "A small crowd reacts the same as large crowd and when you are practiced, you are no longer speaking to the crowd, you are just speaking your mind and they happen to be listening. The less you think of it, the better off you are. You got so comfortable you didn't even think about it, did you?"
"I suppose that's true," Kaetar mumbled. "How much do you about Vaughn?"
Father gave him a strange look. Kaetar knew it was sudden but that never stopped him. "Something on your mind? No, wait, I know that answer to that," he said with a sigh. "Vaughn is from a noble family but he ended up working in the family business of raising and breeding wyverns. The rest of his siblings went out to get married or was in line to inherit something but Vaughn was the only one who wasn't. I'm not sure why that is but I have a feeling he loved the wyverns too much anyway to fulfill any of noble duties anyway. I suppose the other thing that really sticks out in my mind is his insomnia. He started training at night to try to make himself tired enough to sleep but I doubt it was fruitful for him."
Oh. If he trained at night, then that's why Kaetar never saw him train. Unlike Vaughn, Kaetar actually slept at night, for the most part. That could have thrown his theory out the window but on the other hand, no legitimate noble child went to waste and that itself held some water. Vaughn said he had six siblings but any child who wasn't going to inherit their family's fortune directly was still somehow made useful for the family through marriage to strengthen ties with other noble families. It was strange for one child to be thrown into the family business as a worker because there were other people who could do that. A noble didn't just use their children as workers.
The theory wasn't dead yet but still, there was a voice in his head that warned him that his idea did sound ridiculous. He didn't want to tell his father because it was hard to predict his reaction sometimes, especially lately.
"Why are you so suspicious of him?"
Or father would just make him say what was on his mind anyway.
"Is it ridiculous if I think he seems more than... just a beorc?"
"With Vaughn? It's not ridiculous, he's strange," Father said shaking his head. "I've learned not to question him or his strange tendencies because he cannot be explained. At least he's good at what he does – don't be afraid to pick your own riders based on merit by the way. Vaughn happened to be from a noble family but I would have picked him regardless. If you choose Loiya, the nobles will kick up a fuss like they did with Saira but don't let them have their way."
His father had to have known what happened to Loiya, at least from Ummie, but Kaetar couldn't tell if Father was trying to support him or if he truly believed that Loiya would be fine. His father could pull a good neutral face when he wanted to, another skill he must have developed to be able to keep the nobles in their place.
Their conversation was interrupted, however, when they both heard a loud commotion coming from Arum. Somehow, he ended up collecting all of the small children, the brother and sisters of the older ones, and they hung off his legs, in his arms, and one more jumped and somehow, managed to drag him down to the ground. It wasn't so much that the kid was strong, but either because Arum's balance was messed up or... he was playing with him.
Arum didn't strike Kaetar was the one who would play with kids but the more he thought about it, he could see Arum having a soft spot for kids. It was like he wanted the kids to have the childhood he missed out on, and the childhood he felt Elli probably missed out on. It was one of those days were Arum flashed that rare smile of his – kids really were innocent, especially those ones. They didn't seem to know why they were travelling but like true kids, they entertained themselves anyway they could, like climbing all over Arum. Elli laughed as she pulled kids off of Arum, who was still on the ground.
"There's something I still have to tell you," Kaetar said. "On our trip, we came across Duke Tyre's mansion. We stayed there for a week or so before we were found there. Before we left though, I promised Arianna that I would marry her when this whole thing was over. I could be just a couple of week shy from that..."
For a moment, Father didn't look like he should know if he should be mad or not before he seemingly decided that he wasn't mad. "That might be good for Crimea if we an involve everybody. We can make into a big festival for everybody."
"What about the Daein nobles?" Kaetar asked.
"Perhaps we can have two ceremonies and have a celebration in Daein as well, although it wouldn't be as grand as the one in Crimea. The Crimeans have been more excited about it anyway," Father mumbled. "Your mother would love to plan something like that – it would give her a break from Tanix at any rate."
Ah, Tanix. His little brother slipped his mind with the business that came with recruiting all of the civilians. It even gave him a bit of a break from Loiya, to have something to focus on. It was harder at night, when everybody was enjoying their free time and that was when he started thinking. Maybe he should begin training with Zara once again to get his mind off of things – even when he had free time, he would be too tired to even think.
"I've also been training with Zara, maybe you knew that though," Kaetar muttered. What else should he tell his father? He felt like he got the most important information out of the way and his father was more or less just waiting to speak with Syrin.
"I was aware. I don't like it but you're free to train with her. Is there anything else you need to tell me?"
"I promise to tell you if anything comes to mind," he mumbled. "The necklace was the biggest thing on my mind. Now that we understand that, nothing else seemed as important."
"It's fine," Father said. "I feel like we've already smoothed out the roughest part of our relationship."
Kaetar nodded. He just hoped it never went back to the way it was.
"You're going to apologize to Loiya right?"
"To him and his family," Father answered. "It's wrong to have kept him from his family especially after all of the work his father did in the military. Gander and Vaughn were thrilled when they heard Loiya was one of the candidates to be your bodyguard because of his father but I didn't want a kid looking after my child, no matter how great he was. He didn't act like a child so I shouldn't have treated him like he was one."
Father was doing a lot of reflection then. He didn't just look at how their relationship degraded but he also looked at the lack of a relationship with Loiya. Perhaps drama with his own family, between one missing son and a new son, made him realize how he treated him. Having a break – he didn't want to say he was 'running away' because it just sounded bad – from his father seemed like it fixed a lot of his problems with him. However, he was lucky he had the chance to fix his relationship with his father. Not everybody had that chance.
"I think I'm going to get some rest now," Kaetar muttered. He didn't want to have so much on his mind before falling asleep or he wouldn't get as much. His father nodded and bid him a good night before Kaetar headed to his own tent. He found Joel in there, reviewing papers with a puzzled look on his face. He and Ranulf seemed to have taken on the bulk of Syrin's duties, such as dealing with supplies. He didn't think Ranulf would so easily take to the duties of a tactician but he seemed to the closest thing to a tactician the laguz really had. Maybe spending so much time with both Syrin and Skrimir helped with that.
"Do you need me to get out?" Joel asked.
"No, Loiya and I used to sleep in the day when we first left Daein. I can sleep with your lantern on," Kaetar mumbled. Joel acknowledged his answers with a nod before Kaetar prepared himself for sleep and nodded off.
He woke up early in the morning to the sound of talking. Kaetar rubbed his eyes and edged closer to the tent opening, where he heard Joel, Ranulf, and Peter talking outside of it. He wondered if they knew he was listening or just assumed he was sleeping.
"You're saying that a heron arrived early this morning, sang to Syrin, and that broke his fever?" Joel asked with a hint of skepticism.
"Syrin didn't seem to be getting any energy to use for recovering. I think it might have been because of that tornado spell – he must have been calling on the spirits for a lot more than he could had so they continued to steal his energy long after the spell ceased."
"For a whole week though?" Joel asked. "I thought he was just really sick and you guys were wasting heal staves on him."
"The heal staff did help a bit but if I'm right, it just wasn't enough energy to pay off the debt he had with the spirits. Nasir and Stefan said Micaiah could have helped but if she used her own energy to help Syrin, then that would just move the problem to somebody else so they didn't want to her to help," Peter explained. "A heron would be so useful in the ministry if their songs provides energy for others."
"The other bird tribes won't let the herons out of their sight, unless it's into the hands of other laguz," Ranulf said. "Reyson probably wouldn't be here if Zara and I weren't here. He definitely wouldn't be here the rebellion was for other beorc besides Ike. He was an honourary laguz and I won't listen to anybody who says otherwise!"
"Reyson liked Ike too? I'm not surprised," Joel mumbled.
"Reyson hated the beorc... kind of the same that archer hated laguz, only Reyson had a better reason... nah, that doesn't really mean anything to you guys. Anyway, Ike and Sanaki were the ones who made him soften that view. Ike is probably the reason why Syrin isn't crazy like Eero sounds like he even though Ike's probably been dead for a long time," Ranulf said. "He just had that lasting impact on him."
"Syrin will recover now though, right?" Joel asked.
"His fever finally seems to have broken for good so he should be making improvements from now on. Zeke seems to have moved on from bedridden to crawling too. EVERYBODY'S GETTING BETTER!"
"Holy shit, Peter!" Joel shouted in a whisper. "People are trying to sleep and I swear if you wake up one of those brats..."
"Sorry, I was excited. I love it when the sick and injured get better."
"I can tell," Ranulf stated simply. "But you don't have to let the whole camp know."
Kaetar made sure he was of decent dress before taking that moment to pop out of the tent like he just woke up and wasn't listening the entire time. Ranulf shot him a sly grin while Peter quickly apologized and quickly dismissed himself. "If people are getting better than I'm going to go visit Syrin." With that, he left Joel and Ranulf quickly and bounded towards the injured wagon. The camp was mostly empty and Kaetar didn't realize how early in the morning it was when woke up and how tired he still was until after he practically ran into who he assumed to be Reyson. Kaetar would have remembered somebody like him if he met him earlier so Kaetar knew he had to be new there.
"Ah, you're the Daein prince," Reyson mumbled. "The beorc healer made both of them sleep, so you'll have to wait until later to visit them."
Kaetar blinked. Either the herons were capable of more than Kaetar thought or he was just that predictable that anybody could guess where he was going and what his intentions were.
But at least they were alright.
My midterm schedule was hell! Three midterm in four days is rude.
Fun thing, I originally wrote out something for Loiya's dream before I decided it was salvageable and just got rid of it. I also use something other than Microsoft Word to write and Silver Memories got so big that it made the program freeze whenever I opened it. Now, I have to divide it over two files. I guess I did good.