The first thing Kaetar noticed was that the home Loiya took them to was unassuming and he was surprised that anybody could tell it apart from other buildings. The only way he could tell it apart from the others, upon closer inspection, was that the windows looked free of dust, which was something that Kaetar couldn't say about the neighbours. Otherwise, the homes were free of any personal touches. He could recall that Syrin's home in Melior looked rather unassuming as well but Syrin didn't ever seem the type to decorate his home much anyway. Loiya knocked carefully, perhaps in code, before the door opened to reveal an old man bent over a cane.
"Oh, Loiya, it's you! I was expecting to see my rascals. Come in, come in, you all look exhausted." He waved his cane, motioning for them to come inside. The door was closed lightly behind them.
"Guys, this is Pops. He's the wise, old babysitter of the group. Pops, this my charge, Kaetar, and that's Joel," he mumbled, gesturing at him with thumb. "You guys can go have fun, I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when you guys are ready to leave." He stretched, then disappeared down a staircase that was to their left.
"Well, come on, sit down. I'm sure Loiya didn't just take you two here so he could have a nap. You two must be from the rebellion, which I know finally made its move on the palace. How did it go?"
Kaetar and Joel took turns telling Pops everything that they knew happened in the palace, even though the biggest differences in their knowledge only really occurred after the groups split up. Pops didn't interrupt either one of them, even managed to prepare tea and shoved the cups into their hands. It was a relatively simple, made only with the basic tea leaves and the hot water, but he was grateful to have a nice, hot drink in his hands. It felt like it's been too long since he last had a hot drink, or even a hot bath. He just never bothered to go through the trouble when they were on the road.
"So neither one of you actually saw the man behind all of this?"
Kaetar shook his head before taking a sip of his tea, letting the heat in the cup keep his hands warm. "Everything seemed to be under control when my father told us to leave and we chose to help everybody else instead when we had the chance anyway," he answered. "Do you have a lot in all of this?"
He nodded, then looked down into his tea. "As a part of Greil's giant family, of course. Our original intent was to try and save up enough gold to buy back the property the fort is on and repair it, but doing it under Crimea's noses for as long as we had to. It was Saira who really reminded us of what we should have been doing. Well, I say 'we' but it's the kids that are doing everything. I just babysit them, guide them along their way."
"And... your leader? In what way are you guys related to the mercenary group that Greil started?"
"Brielle is a direct descendent of Greil through Mist. We don't know if Ike had any children but thanks to Tyan, we know that Ike's influence is at least found outside of Tellius. As for me, I'm related to Rolf, as does my grandson. We're they only ones of the group with original blood running through our veins but the others are inspired by their memories. We are not related by blood but... we're still family."
Joel sipped at his tea. He spent the most time listening but Kaetar knew the look he had on his face when there was something that bothered him. Even though they spent seven years apart, Joel's body language didn't change and where it did change, it didn't take long for Kaetar to pick up on his changes. While he looked bothered, he didn't seem to be ready to say anything, so Kaetar didn't say anything either.
When the room went silent, Pops stood up again to refill his glass. When he came back, Kaetar took a deep breath.
"I also wanted to thank you for taking care for Loiya," he said. "I don't know what I would have done if we ended up losing him. Thank you."
The old man smiled. "It's not a problem. He's welcomed back here anytime but it seems like you three will be busy in Daein, no?"
Busy was an understatement and Kaetar was not looking forward to any of it. It would be nice if his marriage to Arianna could be a private affair but that was simply not possible when you were part of royalty and the marriage was meant to sooth tense relationships between two countries. His father also made it clear that he was expected to participate more in Daein's politics.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, in the same sort of rhythmic pattern that Loiya did earlier. "Kaetar! Are you in there? It's me, Saira!" she shouted, her rapping continuing. Soon, she stopped and simply let herself in anyway, closing the door behind her with a slam. Kaetar was a little surprised to see her so dressed down, the scarf hanging loosely around her neck, and there was a distinct lack of armour. The only sign that she was a competent warrior of Daein was the bow and quiver still strapped across her back but even then, she could pass more as a simple hunter instead. "You know, I don't agree that your father basically told you to leave but you decided to go run off again, didn't you?"
She didn't seem to be angry. On the contrary, she was smirking.
"Loiya suggested we should come here," Kaetar answered, preferring to look into the tea at this moment.
"I was going to bring you here if he didn't. How else do you think I knew to come here first?" she said in a playful tone. It made Kaetar look up again to find that she was still smirking.
"Ah, Saira. If you are heading back, can you tell everybody to come home? The rebels should enjoy a night of peace on their own, relish in their victory. I'm sure they'll allowed back tomorrow," Pops said. "Tell them I have tea ready too. At least Shelia will come back for tea."
"I'll try. Bri was looking around everywhere for Syrin but nobody will tell her where to find him. I heard he got hurt really bad, so our healer wants him to rest" Saira mumbled with a shrug. "I'm sure they'll go home if you're telling them. For now, Kaetar, your father's worried, so let's go. Where's Loiya?"
Kaetar huffed. Why did his father send him off if he wasn't allowed to go into the city? Where did his father expect him to go if he didn't want him at the castle?
"Sleeping," Joel answered, quickly getting up to join Saira's side. Kaetar got up as well but he took his sweet time. He didn't really feel like leaving but he could always talk to Pops before he left Crimea. He had a feeling that despite the fact that the rebellion was over and there was no reason why he couldn't go home, they would probably stick around for a while anyway.
"We should let him sleep then. We can swing by tomorrow," Saira said with a shrug as she and Joel walked out of the house. Kaetar went to the door but he turned his head.
"Thanks for the tea, Pops," he said with a smile before joining Joel and Saira outside. It was a crisp night, the first night in a while that he could simply enjoy. There wasn't any anticipation or a looming threat overhead, just a nice breeze and a sense of accomplishment. He felt lighter, he felt even better than he did when was doing nothing in Daein. "Where are we sleeping?"
"I think everybody who isn't injured is going to sleep in a tent," Saira said with a shrug.
"I'm tired of sleeping in a tent," Joel said with a sigh. "I was hoping we could sleep in the castle."
"Don't be such a baby," Saira mumbled. "Just because we won doesn't mean we get any right to reside there. I'm not paying to stick anybody up in an inn either. You guy have sleeping on the ground for a long time already so what's a couple more days?"
Joel merely scoffed. While knowing Saira was right, Kaetar couldn't help but be at least a little disappointed. It would have been nice to get a small taste of luxury again, at least what was considered a luxury when they were on the road – an actual bed instead a bed roll and a hot bath instead of a quick dip in whatever body of water happened to be around. Maybe those were to come, hopefully, as things got sorted out. There was no reason they couldn't go into the castle in the day time either. It seemed like no matter what, he would miss hot water and a bed if he didn't have it.
Kaetar could wait though.
After waking up and meeting with Father and Nasir briefly to find out that Syrin was asleep, Kaetar's decided to poke around in the basement without the threat of danger. He was sure that most of the rebellion was either asleep anyway so he might as well entertain himself somehow. The basement was a lot better lit then it was before, so he didn't bother getting a torch for himself. Despite the light, Kaetar was brought back to the days where he was a child exploring a dark basement on his own in Daein, sneaking into every door and entrance he could squeeze himself into much to annoyance of Father.
Kaetar first went to the room where they found the body but she was gone now and the room was left relatively empty. He stood for a moment, in silence for the dead woman, before he left the room. He decided to poke around in the part of the basement Joel and his team took on since he didn't get to see that end of the castle. A lot of the rooms were rummaged through already, likely by the servants in their need to grab everything they could to help the injured. There was one door that wasn't opened though. It wasn't locked either, curiously enough, just closed.
At first, the inside wasn't anything interesting. It looked like the inside of the other storage room that existed in the world, full of crates with hardly anything else to really speak of. Using the light from the hallway, Kaetar was able to pop open one of the crates and gasped when he saw what was inside. It was full of books, all neatly stacked inside, turned in whatever way would allow them to fit best. He lifted one out of the crates gently, making sure that he had both covers before taking it out of the crate so the book wouldn't just flop open. When he had the book in his grasp, he flipped the front cover open and read the first couple of paragraphs.
It was a book that clearly belonged in the library, one of the history books that was taken away. Kaetar set the book back down and opened another crate, all while wondering how that old man was doing in the year or so that Kaetar last visited the library. He felt like it was so long since he even last thought of the poor, lonely man in a library that was far emptier than it had any right being. He completely forgot about it until he was confronted with the books and it filled him with a strange sadness.
It wouldn't be hard for him to grab Joel and a couple of soldiers to get the books back to where they should be, back in the hands of anybody who was interested. The man there was old though... was he even still alive? Did he ever speak out and get himself killed? Kaetar wanted to see the smile on his face when his beloved books come back but he was filled with doubt. Or shame. All he could tell was that he felt bad.
He resolved himself. He kept the door open and went back upstairs, taking more time to appreciate the castle's interior since he didn't have much time to pay attention to the first time around. The first person he ran into was Arkit, wearing all of his armour and a sheathed sword at his side. The man looked a lot better, Kaetar noted. He was smiling and for the first time Kaetar saw, he looked relatively relaxed.
"Prince Kaetar, how are you doing this morning?"
"I'm fine," Kaetar answered without much thought. He wasn't exactly used to people using his title anymore, since he rather enjoyed feeling like he was part of the group. He had to get used to it again. Even if he didn't care, the soldiers and his father would care. "Are you usually in the castle?"
"No, not usually," Arkit answered simply, shaking his head. "My role usually places me at the military base. I'm here to find out what the soldiers are expected to do next. I've heard that the only people in any condition to give out any orders at the moment is you and your father, King Adrien of Daein."
"I haven't really heard of what my father planned on doing for today," Kaetar mumbled, trying to remember if his father did say anything of his plans when they met that morning. "I do have a favour to ask of you though, if you don't mind, of course." He felt pretty strange ordering Crimeans around but he couldn't really think of anybody who had a title and who was handy right at the moment. Arianna's father would do in the place of King Ramon until he recovered but it would take time to get him over to Melior, unless they sent Darius.
Then Duke Tyre and Father could talk about the wedding in between everything else.
Arkit nodded, following behind Kaetar quietly as he directed Arkit to the books.
"I knew the books were missing but I didn't know they were in here. I heard they had been destroyed," Arkit mumbled quietly as he held one book in his hands. Kaetar didn't know much about Eero, though he supposed Eero might be close by if he continued to look through the basement, but perhaps Eero didn't have the heart to get rid of books either. "I'll get my men."
It took a long time to move all of the crates from the basement onto wagons destined for Melior. Joel decided to join in, sitting beside Kaetar on the back of one the wagons as the horses carried them to Melior. Joel had a sword handy, Kaetar had the forethought to grab a steel bow on the way out, but aside from being armed, they didn't have any other sort of protection on them. Even the soldiers had dressed down, wearing mostly white and green tunics as their uniforms. Arkit was the only with any armour on at the end, he seemed to loathe the suggestion of parting with it while still on official business, but Kaetar supposed that there wasn't anything to really be worried about.
The fighting was over. At worst, there might be some bandits.
"I never knew there were missing books," Joel mumbled as he leaned up against the crates, letting his feet hang over the edge as the ground passed underneath them. Since they were not stacked, there was no worry of anything falling, so they sat at the end of one of the wagons.
"I got so wrapped up in the rebellion that I honestly forgot to mention it," Kaetar said with a frown. He still felt strange about the whole thing, a sadness that he couldn't explain. It was almost like he was mourning or in grief and he didn't know what about the books where brought those feelings on. Joel frowned, patting one his slumped shoulders.
"Hey, cheer up. Life happens."
He merely nodded, biting down his lips.
"The librarian is an old man. He loves the books as much as I do and it's crossed my mind that he might not even be alive anymore. No proof that his man is dead or anything... I don't think I was that upset about Duma's death." His voice cracked and he felt a lump in his throat. When was the last time he even really thought about Duma?
"Because you were shocked," Joel said quietly, sitting up properly to address him properly. "You don't have to feel bad about focusing on yourself, your needs, and your interests. So what if you forgot about this old man and the books for a while? You were fighting for your life and your freedom. It doesn't mean you didn't care or that it wasn't important to you. Same thing with Duma. You don't have to be as upset as Rylar was. You can feel more upset about the books if you want to, feelings don't make any fucking sense anyway!"
"I..." Kaetar started but he was taken in by surprise when Joel reached across and pulled him into a hug. Joel wasn't usually an emotional person, he certainly wasn't up for a lot touching either. Kaetar dug his face into Joel's shoulder.
"You went through a lot and it's fine that you're only starting to process it all now."
They stayed like that for a couple of moments, before the wagon slowed down and Joel jumped out, grabbing his sword when his feet on the ground. Kaetar followed, making sure his quiver was secure before jumping off with his bow in hand. The wagons stopped just outside of the library. Kaetar was the first to bound up to the doorway and turned the door handle, letting himself in with Joel following closely behind.
The library was almost as he left, just as lonely and surprisingly, about as clean with the except of the dust on the top shelf. Although he was alone, the librarian seemed to do his best to keep up with the cleaning. The tables were relatively clean, along with the lower shelves, and the remaining books moved so that at least one of the bookshelves looked relatively full. The others were empty but there wasn't very much that could be done for a year when there was a ban on certain types of books.
"Ah, it's you!" the man exclaimed when he noticed the two of them come in. "I almost didn't recognize you with how you've grown but I know your eyes."
"The books have been found! The soldiers are bringing them back!" Perhaps it was a bit tactless but he was excited and he didn't know how else to do except to just get straight to the point. "The rebellion won, so the soldiers are going to do right again. This is a small start," he added on when he realized that it was the soldiers who took them away in the first place. As if to prove his point, two soldiers came into the library, gently putting down a crate down onto the floor. The man hobbled over, peering inside when the crate was opened.
"Where do you want this?"
For a moment, he inspected the books carefully. "First, we will lay all the books out on the tables, then we'll find their homes on the shelf when they are all out." He stood up as straight as he could, shuffling with purpose to a desk to pull out a long roll of parchment. The librarian rolled it on the table and that was when Kaetar realized that that it was a map of the library, with sections labelled.
"So we follow the map, then," Joel mumbled as the crates began to pile up by the main entrance. "We'll divide the sections. We'll have people getting the books out and people responsible for filling a certain section."
While Joel and Arkit, who came with a crate, divided the soldiers, the old man motioned for Kaetar to come to the side. "I cannot express my gratitude for the return of the books. Your passion for the books was clear when we first met but not even I imagined that it would extend to their safe return. I will never forget what you've done."
"The state of the library was what helped me decide I want to be in the rebellion. Fighting for history meant fighting for the books as well. I'm just glad that they weren't destroyed after all... even if I wasn't thinking about them all that much while I was fighting. I forgot about the library and the books for a while. I only saw them in the castle and..."
"It's fine, young man. The end result is what matters to me, that all perspectives of history are persevered and in their absence, I think people have learned the true value of books such as these," he said, waving the hand that wasn't being used to hold the cane. "Of course, the journey was important as well. You aren't the same boy who walked in here full of disappointment a year ago and you must have learned a lot. You've done well and you should be proud."
All of the sadness and uncertainty he felt on the way to the library washed away. "Thanks," he said quietly.
"We should help everybody get the books back up on the shelf. Come along!"
Syrin slept longer than he usually would have, the sun already pouring in to make the normally bright room almost blinding. The window was opened, making the room feel pleasantly cool while he was still under the covers. He noticed that Micaiah was standing in his room, looking out the window, resting her elbows on the windowsill. There was a chair by the window but she opted to just stand at the window, so she didn't notice Syrin immediately.
"Micaiah," he stated simply. She turned her head, smiling gently, though it looked fake to Syrin.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm sure you can take a guess," he mumbled back. He knew that most of his arm was gone, the memory was clear, yet so far it didn't feel like anything had changed.
She nodded but she didn't say anything. Sometimes, there were just no words to be said between them, almost as if there was just almost too much to say for them to just pick one thing to talk about. It was awkward to sit in her home when there was nothing to say and it was awkward with her being in his room with nothing to say.
"Eero was the one to make the most direct move to do something about how we are treated by the beorc and laguz," Micaiah stated simply, her gaze turning back to the window. "It wouldn't have come to this if we tried harder to make that change ourselves."
"Eero wasn't any more direct. He planned to make Ike build the relationship between the Branded and the beorc and laguz while he just set the stage. I don't even believe he truly wanted the relationships to improve, he just wanted to be the one to look down on others for once, to be the one in control. Eero could have used his position to change the status quo if he that was what he truly wanted but he chose not o."
"I suppose he was just as scared as the rest of us," Micaiah mumbled. Syrin had nothing to say about that. At the end of the day, Eero did not act much differently than any of them had, working from behind the scenes and attached to one person who didn't treat him like dirt, so any reason they had for hesitation would probably apply to Eero as well. Eero's methods for attention just happened to be more violent. It wasn't as though Syrin didn't know how Eero felt. "Even though the laguz and beorc aren't as bad before, it's still easier to hide in the shadows. It's not too late to start changing that."
"Are you going to back to the Daein political circle then? Let the entire world know that you're a Branded and change how people would think of Sothe? What about Kaetar?"
"No, I don't want to rule without Sothe by my side and I don't think he would care how people felt about him now. He was a great partner when he was around, so I believe his work will speak for itself. Adrien has done well thus far and I have confidence in Kaetar as well," she said, shaking her head. "But I feel like I should be back in the political circle of Daein in the very least. Even if I have to admit to the world that I am one of the Branded, just as you have. I should be able to do that as well."
"I didn't reveal my name and my heritage to help the Branded, Micaiah. I only did it to get people to trust me and I only needed their help for Ike's sake. If the Branded benefited from that, it's just a side effect that happened to work out." He sat up quickly, ignoring the small wave of dizziness that came with the motion. He took a moment to glance at the remaining stump of his arm before directing his focus to Micaiah, who looked like she was debating if she should be at his side or not. "You don't need to feel personally responsible for Eero's feelings or for how the rest of world may still treat us. You played your part in Tellius' history. You should be able to retire if you wish."
"I want to make a difference."
"You already have."
The conversation died there. Micaiah stilled, her focus back on whatever she saw outside of that window. Sometimes she looked out the window or at a tome or scroll whenever he visited her sometimes, whenever the conversation failed occupy her busy mind. Syrin settled himself into his bed, as best as he could. He was almost asleep again when Micaiah walked towards the door, going by the side of his bed first.
"I'm going to leave to check in the others. Do you want me to get anything for you?"
"Some water," he answered simply, realizing just how thirsty he was.
She nodded, so she left, promising she would be back soon. The door was barely shut behind her when it opened again and a young women stepped in. She bore some resemblance to Mist, mostly in that her hair was the same colour and close to the same length when she grew it out, and she had the same eye colour, though she acted nothing like Mist. Her posture was straight and stiff, and she wore a scowl that seemed more fit Ike's face. She stared at him for a moment, then at her feet while she composed himself.
She didn't say anything at first. "What do you want?" Syrin asked. It wasn't as though he didn't have time but he wasn't going to let some girl awkwardly stare at him.
"I just wanted to apologize," she stated suddenly. "The Greil Mercenaries didn't do enough to help out the rebellion. We should have been able to do it, we should have been there since the beginning. Our history is all we have now and I almost let them get away with erasing it! You shouldn't have needed to step in. You've been retired from the Greil Mercenaries for more than a century."
Ah, so she was the newest leader. He had been worried that somebody was trying to cash in on their name, even if it was foolhardy to do so when Eero was functionally the king of Crimea. It brought him some comfort that the Greil Mercenaries, though secretive and barely functioning, had stayed in Greil'sfamily. For a long time, Syrin didn't even care of thinking about it. Nostalgia could be strangely comforting, he supposed, even if he hated the idea of being blinded by such emotions.
"I assumed that the Greil mercenaries were simply no more. The fort certainly made it seem as though everybody has suddenly disappeared and I heard it became condemned when there was nobody left to take care of it."
"You... went inside?"
"We were already engaging in treasonous activities and I was curious about what became of the mercenaries. Additionally, the map was helpful, even if it was outdated due to the nature of being found in an abandoned building," he stated simply, before looking the girl in the eyes. "I don't blame you for not being around and your help in the end is still appreciated. You made a name for us in Melior and you made it easier for everybody to trust me. I'm sure you have your reasons but the rebellion is over, so you shouldn't worry about it anyway. Focus on your company, they need their leader to guide them."
She nodded slowly. "I thought this would go worse. You're remembered for your tactics but I didn't know what else to expect from you, especially when I think about being at Melior the day before. I guess I expected you to be upset with the way I was running the Greil Mercenaries."
"It's not my place to be mad." Syrin had some nice memories there, since it was the first place where he felt like he was wanted and appreciated. However, he couldn't come back to Tellius after so long and be upset about what happened since he was gone, especially if he didn't know what happened to get to that point. The new leader, who he could tell was Mist's descendant by the ring she wore on her finger, was simply doing all she knew how to. He doubted she had a lot of help from people who were more experienced.
Her position was didn't seem so different from Ike's.
Micaiah came back much sooner than he expected, making the girl move to the side. "You finally managed to sneak in, Bri," she said with a small laugh. "I got your drink," she added quickly. It was in a canteen, so she had to open the top before presenting it to him. He drank most of it before returning it.
"I tried all of yesterday to meet you but your healer wouldn't let any of us through."
"Knowing him, I'll be bedridden for several days."
"Doesn't he know who you are?"
"He does," Syrin answered. "He just doesn't care."
"Anyway, I overheard Adrien saying that he sent out invitations to the other rulers for a meeting. If you take it easy, you should be able to go, instead of having somebody speak about the rebellion in your place. I suspect that we'll hear the full story from Ramon, and you deserve to listen to it," Micaiah said. "It might as also be a good idea for you to be there, Bri."
Bri perked up, looking up to Micaiah. "Am I allowed?"
Syrin shrugged as he handed he canteen back to Micaiah. "I highly doubt anybody there will have any objection to your presence."
"I'll be here then. I want to talk to King Ramon anyway and get the fort back."
Kaetar wasn't sure what he expected victory to look like but he didn't think that everything would be so quiet. There were no parties, festivals, or big celebration of any kind. There was just a strangely peaceful bustle in the castle and in Melior, as everybody worked themselves back into a normal rhythm. The rebellion hadn't been too destructive, at least in terms of property damage, so most of the work was dedicated to helping the injured and returning home. A lot of the Crimean soldiers were gone from the castle now, escorting all of the citizens back home.
Most of the Daein army had gone home as well, since most of them didn't need to be there anymore. Saira stayed behind and he thought he saw Vaughn around occasionally, but he disappeared so fast that Kaetar wasn't quite sure if he saw him at all.
Kaetar spent most of his time exploring the castle or playing various games with the rebellion. Most of them could probably leave but Kaetar guessed that they just didn't feel right leaving without being told to do just that. They spent a lot of time travelling and working together, and going home after all that was just hard and playing strange games of tag only made it harder to separate himself from the rest of them. He could only hope that it wasn't the final goodbye for any of them.
He also played games of chess with Syrin and the other rebels. He wasn't sure where the board or the pieces came from but once it was found, it travelled to Syrin's room quickly, and his room became the place where people came to play. He was strangely tolerant of many people being in his room at the same time, and even tolerant of people challenging him all the time. It was less about being Syrin, since he was Syrin, but more about who could last the longest against him.
The day came closer when suddenly, when he was in Syrin's room with Joel, Peter, and Ranulf, Zara came to the door and let herself in. Joel and Syrin were in the middle of a chess match at the time, with Kaetar and Ranulf watching and chatting. Peter had his eyes on the game sometimes, but he was definitely more interested in making sure that Syrin wasn't exerting himself too much. "Oh good, you're all in here! Peter, can Syrin walk yet?"
"What's going on?" Peter asked. "He should be good to walk short distances-"
"I don't know if the distance is short enough," she mumbled, before suddenly picking Syrin up, supporting him with one arm under his knees. Somehow, she managed to extract Syrin without disturbing the pieces on the board.
"Is this the meeting?" he asked with a hiss. "Because I can walk on my own."
Zara ignored him and he was feeling well enough to put up a little bit of a struggle before he seemingly gave up. To Kaetar's surprise, the meeting Syrin alluded to was outside, with everybody sitting down on benches and chairs that were set out in front of the fountain and under shade that was set up using poles and spreading a white sheet of fabric on top of them. Zara let Syrin down and he hobbled to the closest seat, which happened to be beside Skrimir. Kaetar sat down beside his father while Ranulf stood beside Skrimir, whispering something in Syrin's ear that made Syrin swat at him. Skrimir said something to him too with a goofy smile, earning him an angry glare.
Kaetar could recognize most of the faces there. He recognized all of the rulers, all who were wearing plainer clothing than he could remember, though it wasn't a surprise that Ramon dressed down, wearing only a grey-coloured shift. At least Syrin wasn't the only one who looked like they should still be in bed.
He just didn't recognize some of the people who tagged along. Ranulf stood behind Skrimir's and Syrin's chair, presumably as Skrimir's second in command, and Reyson was sitting beside Tibarn. He also recognized the knight he met at Begnion, standing over Serena. His name was Yugris, if Kaetar remembered correctly. Hovering over Kurthnaga was Nasir, and Micaiah was standing behind him and Father. Ramon had one supporter in Arkit, who beside him. There were two hawk laguz with Zara and Tibarn he didn't recognize, a red dragon standing with Nasir, and there another soldier beside Yugris. Stefan was there as well, though he didn't take a seat like everybody else did.
Then there was one person sitting on a bench with nobody around her, leaning forward intently with her arms resting on her knees. She was the only one who brought a weapon with her, a sword that she had resting on the bench beside her. She just seemed out of place in a meeting with all of the leaders and their subordinates because she didn't strike Kaetar as either one of those.
"I trust that everybody who knows who I am... so without further ado, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry. There's no question that something like this wouldn't have happened in the hands of a more capable ruler," Ramon started. He took a deep breath, his fingers curling at the arms of his chair until his knuckles turned white. "All of this happened because I had no confidence in my ability to rule, so when my advisers told me that they could take over some my duties until I got used to ruling, I took them up on their offer. One of these advisors was Eero, who did a lot for my father, so I trusted his judgment. There were others, of course, it wasn't just him.
"I suppose that they took it upon themselves to create laws without telling me and hid all traces of those laws from me. I'm not exactly sure how Ike actually became regarded as a god, except that it was Eero's doing. I wasn't even aware of it until he caught me on the way home from Daein and threw me into the palace dungeons."
"What did you think was happening?" Kurthnaga asked, his voice gentle. "The rest of us were aware of it. We were asked if we would consider such religion in our countries in letters from advisors. We all thought you must have knew."
"They couldn't hide a rebellion from me but they did hide its true nature. I was told that they did some tax reform and that business owners were protesting about that. I thought it only turned violent when I left that meeting earlier but I learned recently that there were a lot of civilian death involved and it was Crimea's own hand. It was all hidden from me and I thought nothing strange when I looked at their reports. If I actually stepped foot in Melior, I would have seen the truth, or at least I hope I would have."
Serena scoffed. "Of course you didn't think anything strange. They lied to you. They wouldn't put in anything that they would think might tip you off."
"Hold on a moment," Syrin growled, leaning forward in the chair, hand gripping the edge of the arm. "Did all of you receive letters from his advisors? And none of you thought to ask Ramon about the strange letters that you knew came from his advisors instead of him? Ramon will just keeping going about how stupid he was to trust his advisers if he we let him continue but by the sounds of it, all of you could have stopped this. In the very least, you could have interfered a long time ago if you used an army in the first place. We were here for over a year! What have the rest of you been doing while we running all over Crimea?"
Syrin's baseline mood seemed to be that of mildly irritated or annoyed, which wasn't too bad once you got used to it. Kaetar rarely saw him get angry but he could tell by Syrin's voice that he was starting to get there.
"Why is he the only one who is apologizing? Why is he the only one who had to do any self-reflection here? The fault also lies in those who chose not to take action. You can't change the past not but all of you rulers who chose to sit for most of the time while the rebellion fought the fight you were too cowardly to do yourselves could at least stand to look like you've learned something too."
"I've learned a lot of things, Syrin. If I hadn't learned my lesson, I wouldn't have been there," Father said.
"You helped in the end, Father but that was after sending Saira after us for so long. Syrin had to not only plan around avoiding Crimeans but he also had to avoid Saira," Kaetar mumbled, turning in his chair so he could face his father. "I don't think you've said anything about that directly, about how much that impeded the rebellion. I get that you were worried but for a long time, it was stressful. That's the sort of things Syrin's talking about. I would have been home a long time ago if you came with your army in the first place... but it's not like you're the only one here who had that power."
"The laguz kings present here all knew Ike, worked with him even," Syrin mumbled. "Yet, they only sent a few laguz to keep an eye on things. Comparatively, Stefan ruled a small country and he went himself, along with the few individuals he could spare. Adrien and Begnion's empress would probably only be interested in Ramon's wellbeing, and I doubt they care for Ike's memory all that much since they never knew him... but I have to wonder what held the laguz kings back."
Kurthnaga looked down. "We thought that the best thing to do to keep the peace was to keep to ourselves. If we got involved, then we it would ruin everything Ike stood for. In hindsight-"
"We did the exact same thing your father did," Tibarn growled. "Which wasn't a damn thing at all."
Syrin's face softened a bit. He looked like he was thinking.
"Regardless of our reasons, a lot of people got hurt," Skrimir said, his attention turned most to Syrin. "For that, you and Ramon have my deepest apologies. I even kept Ranulf for doing anything for a long time, even though he wanted to be here, so I'm sorry I kept you in Gallia."
"I'm sorry too, Ramon, Soren. I never wanted someone to be who sat back and did nothing. I don't have any excuses," Tibarn said, bowing his head.
Kurthnaga nodded but unlike Tibarn and Skrimir, who looked uncomfortable, Kurthnaga managed to keep himself looking calm. "You also have my apologies, Soren and Ramon. If there's anything I can do to assist Crimea, please let me know."
"I forgive you all. I never faulted you for any of this. I accept your apologies too, Serena and Adrien... even though you haven't said anything, you do look remorseful," Ramon said quickly, just as his father and Serena looked ready to say something. Kaetar would call the look that came across his father and Serena guilty but he decided to say nothing.
Syrin stood up suddenly, pushing himself up to his feet with his good arm. He managed to stay steady on his feet, looking calm and collected but considering how exhausted Syrin had been lately, he doubted that Syrin felt as well as he tried to look.
"Where are you going?" Kaetar asked, getting up as well to join him. Father didn't even try to get him to sit down again but he was watching him.
"There's no more reason for me to stay. I merely wanted to hear what Ramon and the laguz kings had to say for themselves and now that they've explained themselves, I need nothing more," he said. "Besides, Joel still thinks he has a chance to beat me at chess and I think he might still be waiting back at the room," he added once they were back inside the castle.
It's been too long. Hello!
I hope that this was worth the wait because I feel like it wasn't.
In other news, one of my other fanfics went corrupt, as in I got like 50 pages of the symbols. Luckily, I lost only like 200 words when I consider how much was upload here. I'm only stating this because I would have cried if I lost the 6000+ words here that I did not have backed up. Think about that for a moment.
Anyway, the next chapter will be individual epilogues!