There had been little chance for Tanith to speak to Volke again for the rest of the march to the tower. The quickening pace of the marches and the exhaustion afterwards often led Tanith straight to bed, though not before chastising those who complained about their sore feet or wings. Even upon arriving at the tower, it was not until their army had dispatched the Disciples of Order roaming the streets of Sienne could Tanith get an opportunity to talk to Volke again.

Once the other armies had arrived, a modest feast was held in order to revitalize the weary troops for the journey into the tower itself. The buffet style meal had been placed on several tables, by which a line of hungry troops had formed. Tanith went through the line, making sure to pick only the healthiest fruits and vegetables, not even considering touching the meat or desserts available. Exiting the line, she noticed Volke waiting near the back of the line. Tanith wandered around, pretending to search for a suitable place to eat her food. After a few minutes of this, she looked back at the line. Volke had just started on the first table. Tanith decided to wander over to Marcia, who was chatting with one of the Crimean Royal Knights. After five minutes of yelling, Marcia made an excuse about having to feed her Pegasus and ran off before Tanith had finished with her plethora of degrading insults. Glancing back at the line, Tanith saw that Volke was just finishing. She walked towards the tables as Volke started to head for whatever quiet place he could find.

"Hey," she whispered as she brushed past him, "you want to eat in my tent?"

"Sure." His whisper was barely audible. Tanith walked to her tent while Volke took a circuitous route to the same destination.

"Must be nice to have a tent," Volke said as he walked through the entrance. Tanith had already set up a small round table next to her cot.

"It's one of the perks of being a Holy Guard and having a Pegasus," she said, "You can sit down here, I don't bite," motioning towards the bed since Volke had remained standing awkwardly near the tent flap.

"Uh… thanks," he said, walking nervously towards the table and making sure to put several inches between him and Tanith as he sat down. He grabbed a piece of fried chicken and started to carefully eat it, making sure no crumbs fell onto anything but his plate.

"I'm guessing you don't do this a lot," Tanith said as she watched Volke eat. He waited until he had finished chewing to reply.

"No. I haven't really eaten with someone in a while."

"Why not?"

"It's not part of the job, getting friendly with your employer. Most of the time I don't even meet whoever's hiring me. Calil usually does the sweet talking and I do the job. That's why she gets a little bit of my payment."

"I didn't know that. So Calil actually helps you get jobs?"

"Yeah, I'd be broke without her," he said. Tanith felt a twinge of emotion she could not quite recognize, and a sudden urge to change the subject.

"So are you going inside the tower?" she asked him. Earlier, Micaiah had posted a list of those who would accompany Ike and her within the Tower of Guidance.

"No. There was only one good knife and she wanted to take her boyfriend along."

"Sothe?"

"Yeah, that kid. She also took my best knife and gave it to him. Micaiah kind of pisses me off."

"Yeah, me too," Tanith said. "She's letting Sanaki go in there without either me or Sigrun."

"Yeah, sometimes I just don't know what goes on in that woman's head."

"Same. She's also taking that useless King Pelleas."

"I know, I overheard her talking about him being an Est or something."

"Whatever that means," Tanith laughed.

"I have no clue," Volke said, laughing with her.

They stopped talking while they ate their food. Volke listened to the conversations going on outside as he worked through his plate. Most were dull, boring conversations, but some he thought were rather interesting. Heather and Zihark arguing over who would get to feed Ilyana, Rhys and Laura discussing what to do with their churches once Ashera was defeated, and Ike and Soren complaining to each other about Micaiah. Once both of their plates had been finished, Tanith offered to carry them to the designated bin for dirty dishes while Volke waited in the tent. When she returned, they continued talking.

"Hey, Tanith," Volke said, "when we were passing by Lake Semper I saw something that looked like a university. Do you know what that was?"

"Oh," she said, "that's probably the Begnion Naval Academy."

"That's where Begnion sailors go?"

"Not all of them. It's a four year college and its free, but it's hard to get into and you have to serve at least four years as an officer in either the Begnion Navy or the Central Army."

"So does Begnion have a bunch of military academies?"

"Other than that one there's the Begnion Military Academy and the Cavalry Academy."

"Did you go to one, or did you enlist?"

"I went to the Cavalry Academy, class of 641. It's pretty much taking regular courses but also learning cavalry tactics and combat."

Volke's eyes were wide open and his ears were completely tuned to Tanith's voice. For the first time, she saw Volke not as a stone cold assassin, but as a curious student. Feeling the need to teach him more about the Begnion military, she continued.

"The Cavalry Academy's also where Holy Guard and Senate Dracoknight officers come from. Anyone can apply, but obviously the women go into the Holy Guard and the men go into the Dracoknights. There's pretty rigorous training, and most people wash out."

"Damn, that's impressive that you went through all that," Volke said, smiling at her.

"Well…" Blood started to rush to her cheeks, but before either Tanith or Volke could react, a loud yell and the clash of metal on metal was heard. A small, green haired archer ran into the tent.

"Hey! The Disciples of Order are attack...Uhmmm…" Rolf was rather shocked to find Volke in Tanith's tent, but the menacing glares he received stopped whatever question he had been about to ask.

"The, uh, Disciples of Order are, um… attacking… and, uh, yeah," he said before darting out the tent. Tanith and Volke exchanged stony glances before grabbing their weapons and joining the battle.