{-Sharena-}

Most of Sharena's morning was spent trying to figure out how Anna thought she was strong enough to lug sacks of horse feed around the castle—or maybe just why it was on the literal opposite side of the castle from the actual horse stalls. The horses seemed happy to be fed, though. Feh tried getting into it, but she was firmly redirected to the bird feeder. Which was apparently empty so Sharena filled that up, too. Proud of herself, she got a cookie and turned to her next task.

At first glance, she thought the list was pretty short and she'd be able to get it done quickly. But she'd realized with closer inspection that Anna really had thought out what would take Sharena the most time to accomplish without making it seem like a daunting list of chores.

She was passing by the library when a white blur caught her attention. She debated for a moment whether or not to go in and find out who it was or continue on with her task. Knowing it probably didn't matter how long it took her to finish the list, she gave in to her curiosity.

The library had always seemed empty to her. Most of the shelves were only half full, all of the books in plain sight coming from the royal castle's library (mainly reprints, but there was a few originals) and having to do with one thing or another about Askr. History, important people, maps, the occasional blurb about Embla here and there… It was obvious that it was meant for the Heroes. Further back by one of Feh's many perches was a door that was almost always locked. Inside was where the books about the Heroes and their worlds were; tucked away so then no one could peak in and figure out if they died in the end or not (at least that's how Sharena always saw it—Alfonse and Anna used a lot more serious, big-worded explanations).

And that's where the white was heading.

Looking closer, she recognized the Summoner's cloak. Immediately that just left her more confused as she watched her unlock the door.

Sharena followed her in. "Should you be in here? I mean, you're from one of these worlds I think, so…"

"Anna asked me to," Fauna answered with a sigh. "Though I think she just wanted me out of the room."

"Did she tell you to put on your cloak, too?"

To just about everyone who knew Fauna, they knew one part of her. Sharena couldn't remember the exact reason, but from the very beginning, Fauna was restricted to one person or the other. When her cloak was on, her hood stayed up and she was just the Summoner. When it was off, she just seemed like any other Hero. Most of the time she didn't have her cloak on, but at times where her title as Summoner was actually important, she had it on. It had something to do with how their enemies could connect the dots and hurt her—since she often went to nearby villages just to walk around, sometimes without anyone else with her depending on how generous Anna was feeling that day.

"Apparently it's less obvious for the Summoner to be doing this." Fauna shrugged. "But, uh… I'm short and this library doesn't have any stools I could borrow; can you reach up there and get 'Members of the Order' down for me?"

Sharena nodded. "Why does she need this..? It's not even up-to-date." She only knew that because she'd seen its much newer replacement whenever Fauna summoned a new Hero. Either way, she grabbed a thick, practically-falling-apart book from the shelf.

"Natheniel talked about it, said that there's something 'interesting' in it. Anna didn't believe him but she sent me to look anyway." She took the book from Sharena, almost dropping it.

"Should I have warned you that it was heavy..?"

"How did you even take this off the shelf with one hand?!" Fauna turned around and promptly set it on a desk in the center of the room. She opened the book up and began leafing through the pages. "Why are so many of these names crossed out..?"

"Congratulations, looks like you've found the record of every dead member of the Order of Heroes," Sharena said with false enthusiasm. "More or less. Only about ten of them are still alive."

Fauna was silent, flipping the pages slower. "W-what happened?"

Sharena sighed. "We used to go to the different worlds and recruit Heroes. They weren't bound to us by anything, and if something happened to them then there wasn't any easy way to get them back. We lost a lot of good friends along the way; Veronica didn't exactly hide how much she wanted us dead. When Zacharias left, many of the Heroes that were left called it quits—everyone else put all their energy into finding Breidablik." She was pretty sure she only pronounced that right because of how many times Anna had said it. "Suffice to say, only a handful lived that long and even fewer are still here now. I'm confident it's another reason why she doesn't talk fondly of him anymore."

"I heard about that from the Heroes," Fauna remarked quietly. "But no one ever said what actually happened…I assumed it wasn't anything important. This makes so much more sense. Figures you're the one to tell me, though."

"Not exactly the Order's finest moment. And you know she likes keeping those kinds of things between us."

"Between the three of you, you mean."

"Well, if we're being completely honest here, it's closer to two."

"Anyway…" Fauna turned to Sharena. "You're apparently stronger than me, so can I ask you one more favor?"

"After dragging horse feed around all morning, a book isn't that bad." She took it and nodded to the door. "Can you tell me what I missed while we walk?"

Fauna started out the door, Sharena following close behind her. "I have a feeling there's no way I'm convincing you against it, so sure."

(A/N: finally, the thing with Fauna and the Summoner's cloak is confirmed. Also I shamelessly admit to copy and pasting Breidablik because I knew I wouldn't spell it right on my own.

As some of you might have noticed, this chapter and an author's note in Controlled by Fate kind of contradict each other. Suffice to say, I gave the idea some thought and realized it actaully sounded pretty reasonable, most things considered.)