Big Sister is understandably livid, 'Who exactly is that Wyvern Rider? How did he encase Camilla in ice?' Camilla's axe cleaves into the ground, "I want word to get out to kill that man! No mercy." Another messenger, this one on horseback, nods, respectfully bows and leaves. "And he will die."

Phoenix sighs, "I'll search the surrounding area and see if I can find that archer." She promptly leaves.

Camilla's wyvern lies dead no more than several feet away from us, "I'm just ready for this war to end…" I comment.

Big sister gives me a dangerous smile, "And we will end this, we will hunt down…"

"The remaining royals are living." I stand my ground, "And that is that."

She shakes her head, "Yasei, it isn't worth it."

'Gods, not now.' I flash my fangs, "I didn't ask for opinions, I gave out orders… this is my army." Keaton's scent fills the air as he walks beside me. 'Comfort, claim.'

"Xander won't see it the same way, and since he is the crown prince…" She trails off.

I was about to retort, but Keaton lets out a low growl and I snap my mouth shut. "My mate didn't ask…" Keaton starts and Camilla's glare turns towards him.

"You need to learn your place." Beruka and Selena are by her side now.

"Her place is by my side." Keaton returns her glare. ' Mine .'

"Oh, for the love of… cut it out!" Phoenix returns, "What is with you guys? We're an army, how are we supposed to work together if we're at each other's throats?"

"The Wolfskin is the only one stepping out of place here." Beruka calmly states, "As the elder princess, Lady Camilla has the right to challenge Lady Yasei's authority."

"Of course there is a rule for that, too…" Keaton crosses his arms… before putting his right one back in shear pain.

"Well, duh… perhaps if you spent some time learning them, rather than railing my liege's little sister…" Selena spits out.

Keaton's fur bristles and we growl in unison. "Stop it, please!" Elise's voice rings out. "Come on… we're family, we're friends." Despite the neutral statement, she takes her place by my side… as does Jakob.

"Stand down." I finally speak up again, "As I said, the remaining Hoshidan royals are surviving."

"When Xander learns…" Camilla starts.

"Big brother isn't here, so don't worry about that." I snap, "All we need to worry about is what my next set of orders are. Dismissed." I walk away. 'Gods, why are things going so bad? Elise lost her retainers, I lost my Maids, Hinoka is dead, Caeldori is being held against her will, Azura has been…' I stop my thoughts, 'Right, I was going to visit Azura, too…'

"...Azura?" I poke my head through the medical tent flap and see her standing in front of a mirror, looking much better than she was earlier. She has a new light-blue dress on, sort of the same color that the ocean looks.

She turns and has a graceful smile on her face, "Yasei... I'm so glad you found me." Her voice seemingly removes all the stress that had built up. 'It just sounds so beautiful… even my dragon agrees.'

"I'm glad, too. I was worried about you." I enter the tent and grab two chairs, "I was hoping maybe we could catch up some?"

"I would love to." We sat across from each other.

"How about we get the tough stuff out of the way first, so we can end this on a good note?"

She hesitates, "That… is probably a good idea." She clears her throat, "After your arrival, and when you went to Nohr's side, the Hoshidans were pushed back and forced to flee. For some reason, a few chased me, then brought me to Fort Dragonfall, East of here."

"Then those injuries?"

"They would whip me at first, but after a few days they didn't even bother with that. I'd get enough food and water to get me by and that's it." She is sounding surprisingly calm, considering what she went through… 'probably leaving the worst out of it,' "That continued for, gods, I don't know how long."

"But you escaped."

She tilts her head, "That was a strange day. One day, two guards visited my cell and guided me out. I tried to talk at first, but they 'shushed' me. As we were leaving, I noticed that a few other guards were knocked out, then we did get out, they had this… accent I couldn't place. One of them handed me a small map and told me to head in that direction, the other assured me I would be kept safe on my way there." Huh, strange indeed, "And I wasn't sure how, but they did. Every morning, more of my wounds were tended to, and there would be a meal already cooked."

"I wonder what is with the secrecy?"

She shrugs, "I am curious, too. But they saved my life, so I am willing to overlook it. Anyway, I arrived at the destination, the lake I was at. Two days later, you showed up." She smiles again, "I wonder how they knew that?"

"Maybe we can repay them one day?"

"I can only hope." From there the conversation headed to more pleasurable topics, 'Calm, serenity.'

Sometimes these marches are bittersweet. On one hand, no battles means we have time to recover, on the other, it gets so boring. Sure, I can go and talk to the few that actually would like to hold a conversation with me, which is only six out of the entire army; Jakob, Elise, Keaton, Phoenix, Azura, and sometimes Camilla. Everyone else says about enough for 'how is your day going?' before finding something else to do. Well, Caeldori talks, but I think it is out of fear of Phoenix. The Tactician does have a rather fearsome control over magic and her aura of power sends shivers across my body.

Every day the forest and mountain grow closer, the supposed largest Kitsune hamlet. I have a strange feeling in my gut, some of it doubt that I made a good call. We still aren't in prime fighting condition, but we can do this… right? Phoenix made everything else possible, why not this? 'Rend, kill, feast, blood.' No, we'll be fine.

Day five and we are trekking through the forest before the mountain. About roughly an hour away from the foot of the mountain I start hearing people talking, "...This is all we could gather…" We slightly shift our course to follow the voices, "Then this is what we will strike with, our deadline is soon."

In a small clearing stood about a dozen men, all with masterfully crafted armor… and Beast Killers. "Wolfskin!" One of them calls out… gods, he looks just like that William the Third Keaton and I killed. Beast Killers are drawn and pointed at us.

Phoenix completely ignores them, "What deadline?" She walks to the front, and all the weapons are pointed towards her, "I'm assuming it has something to do with that Kitsune Hamlet?"

The William look-a-like nods, but keeps his weapon drawn, "That's right lil girl. What's it to ya?"

She scoffs, "'Girl'... Look here, 'boy', we're under King Garon's orders to arrive at Cheve as soon as possible, and this is the quickest route."

"The King, eh…?"

"Yes, darling." Camilla speaks up, "You are looking at three members of Nohrian Royalty, I would suggest lowering your weapons, or you could receive some unfortunate… punishment."

"P-Princess Camilla?" Another man that looks just like William stutters, "Men, lower your weapons!" He kneels, "I am William the Second, and this is my brother William the First. My apologies, we have had several days of tense planning and…" 'Wait, what? I thought the William I killed was William the First!?'

"Forgiven, if you tell us what your 'deadline' is about."

"A portion of the King's counsel, specifically the elders that speak for the Traders, requested that this Kitsune Hamlet is cleared out for a faster route for this war."

"Twelve people for the largest Kitsune Hamlet?" Phoenix asks, "Even with Beast Killers, that's suicide."

"It'll be tough, yes. But on our family's reputation, the Williams, we will do this." Keaton tenses, "Wolfskin wasn't part of the contract."

"Ah, I heard of your business. Perhaps we could form a temporary alliance? As I said, we need the quickest route to Cheve, and you said you need this place cleared out."

The two Williams whisper to each other, "The terms?"

Phoenix turns and looks at me, "Commander Yasei?"

'Gods, why me?' "How about just agree to have them killed?" 'I don't want to be the godforsaken Commander.'

"There's a large sum of gold in this… maybe even large in relation to royalty. It would be near criminal to not reward royalty for this."

Thankfully Phoenix takes control again, but she mouths 'we need to talk' before turning back to them, "Gold isn't an issue… we have conditions that relate to the Shifters in general… Keaton, you believed their leader is there, correct?"

He shrugs, "It's possible, his name is Kaden. Blue vest, blue pants, keeps his fur well groomed." He starts, "If he is there, he's mine."

The first William shrugs, "Reasonable enough, not that I understand the animosity. All right, if this leader is here, he's yours."

Phoenix's expression turns deadly serious, "Of course that's the easy one… Second, your family business focuses on Kitsunes only."

The second William chokes on some air, "P-Pardon? The Kitsune are rare enough as is, leaving Wolfskin out of it will nearly put us out of business."

She points at Keaton, "He's the top Wolfskin, I'm sure he would appreciate it if you stopped hunting his kind down." She pauses, "Okay, how about this, we get through this without a single death, and you leave the Wolfskin alone."

"You think you can pull this off without a single death?" He laughs, "Girl, that is a good one."

"Then you would have no problem accepting it?"

"She can't be serious, right? Princess Camilla? Princess Elise? Princess Yasei?"

"We would have been killed three times over if it wasn't for her tactics." I say.

"She's the best of the best!" Elise winks.

"I know I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of her magic." Camilla confirms.

"I-uh… sure, we accept. Forgive me for staying doubtful, however."

She shrugs, "It's all good, now I assume you have some maps of this place?"

"Rough sketches, can't get too close, obviously." He shows her a map on a table.

She glances over his men, then our units, "Give me ten minutes and I'll have something ready." She immediately pulls out a sheet of paper and begins writing.

"We're putting our trust in your faith, Princesses. Our reputation is on the line here." He looks nervous, then adds, "A shame our brother and nephew didn't answer our call for this."

'Um…' "Yea, the last we heard, the Third and First took up a contract for a pack of Wolfskin near the Nohrian-Hoshidan border." He then notices Keaton's scar, "Hold on…"

"Drop that idea because it's incorrect." Phoenix says without even sparing a glance, "We were attacked at sea by Hoshidan forces, and our newest recruit here landed a strike on him with a Beast Killer." 'Gods, she is still writing.' "Right, Caeldori?"

"Y-yes, ma'am!" The blue-haired spear fighter responds while fidgeting. "Um, greetings, Williams… I am Caeldori, daughter of the late Reina and Subaki, retainer of Sakura."

"Sakura? Nohrians have a Hoshidan with them?"

"She's loyal to us, I assure you. It's easy to get someone's loyalty when you skewer their mother in front of them." She taps her pencil, "Here you go." She hands him the sheet of paper, "Satisfied?"

"Already?" He takes the paper and looks over it, "Gods, that's… genius!" She smirks, "If this is anything to go by… by all means, lead on, Miss Phoenix!"

"Check over our troops and weapons one more time, we're marching in the hour!" She spares a glance at me, "And you, follow me."

She leads me a bit of the way from the camp, Keaton could probably easily over-hear it, but the rest wouldn't be able to, "Yes, Phoenix?"

She rubs her temples for a few seconds, "Yasei, you are the Commander. I am the Tactician." I stay silent and let her continue, "My position is just supposed to provide favorable outcomes, I give the list of what would work best. You, are the one who is supposed to be making the decision, which could mean anything between who is on Cooking duty, approving or denying one of my suggestions, or negotiating a deal."

I sigh, "I didn't want to be a Commander in the first place."

She claps her hands and puts on a hollow smile, "Congratulations, that's life, ready to throw you in the garbage with the things you don't want."

"And why don't you just take this position, then? You are handling everything just fine." I am feeling frustrated now.

"Commanders bring respect, a figurehead that their army looks up to for morale, the reason to keep fighting. Tacticians? We're blunt, we tend to be detached from the army so we can make our cold, sound decisions. All of you to me? Pawns on a chess board." She takes a breath, willing herself calm, "You could have easily recruited Caeldori, she was losing the will to fight, you could have given her another reason to take up arms. My method? It won't last, using fear never lasts. If she doesn't die first, I guarantee you I will have to bind her to me."

"How are you so sure I can be a good commander?" At least she has caught my interest.

"I see the potential, the potential that keeps getting beaten down every godsdamn minute you keep this shifter mentality. Do you not realize how much of an effect it has on your army? How all but Elise, Keaton, and Jakob just try to outright avoid you? Then, guess who is the next person on the list when it comes to bringing up problems? Me."

"We're still winning fights."

She laughs, but the action is hollow, "Yes, we are. Only because I am managing all the little things that you should be managing. I am sacrificing my time to keep my tactics pristine, so I can play mother hen to the army. And when it gets to the point where we start struggling due to outdated tactics, I will lock myself up in my cozy little tent, and study until my ass falls off. Just like my father did."

"Fine, Fine! What do I need to do?"

She genuinely smiles, "Be a hero to your people, make conversation, even if it's a 'Hey, is everything alright?' That stuff makes a difference. Go out of your way to make sure everything is running smoothly."

"...I can do that."

She nods, "I know, so please do." She extends her arm towards the army, "Shall we return?"