The differences between the kingdoms of Nohr and Hoshido were as numerous as the stars in the sky, but perhaps there was none quite so obvious as how the two countries dealt with violent crimes. In Nohr, an instance of assault against a member of the royal family would have resulted in six months of torture followed by a very slow, very painful execution. In Hoshido, well as far as Corrin could tell it apparently involved being locked in a cell and being subsequently assaulted by a myriad of downright terrible jokes.

"Did you hear how the judge escaped from the jail cell?" Corrin's purple haired torturer asked from the outside of the cell, trying not to laugh as she did. "He had it disbarred!"

Corrin resisted the urge to slam his head into the wall for the fifth time as the woman began to laugh uncontrollably. It had been over three days since his unfortunate… 'incident' with the blue haired woman. As it turned out, she was a princess of Nohr's primary enemy, the country of Hoshido. After that unfortunate mix up, Corrin and Lilith had tried to escape while Kaze had rushed to the fallen princess's aid. The two nohrians were two fish out of water and they hadn't gotten very far before being captured by the Hoshidan royal guard.

And now I'm trapped here. Corrin fumed. And even worse, their keeping Lilith in a completely separate location from me. If they've touched a hair on her head… I'll… I'll-

"You'll what? Break through the bars?" His jailer taunted. "Or will you pick the lock and then search the castle for her? Cause running around flailing worked SO well for you last time."

She laughed again as Corrin froze up and gagged on his response. "You needn't act so surprised. Orochi is a fortune teller by trade after all. It's part of my job to read people."

"That is quite the trick." Corrin mumbled, annoyed. "Would you mind turning the bars into fruit while you're at it? I am getting a little sick of the stale bread you keep giving me."

"Oh come on! There's no need to be like that. In fact, if you want…" Orochi pulled out a pile of pieces of paper and placed them on the table next to her. Turning to get a better look, Corrin realized that they were a deck of cards, the edges crinkled from repeated use. As she pushed the table in between her and the cell she began to explain. "These are tarot cards that a very close friend of mine painted for me. By using them, I have the ability to view your future. Would you care to try?"

"Tarot cards? Never heard of them, I'm afraid. Why not? Not like I have anything else to do here."

"Good answer, now please, come closer. Now a tarot deck traditionally has twenty two cards in it numbered from zero through twenty one. Each of these cards has a different meaning, and someone's future can be described depending on how they are drawn."

Corrin moved to the edge of the cell and watched as the woman in front of him began to shuffle the cards and place the deck face down on the table. When she was done, she sat back and smiled at her subject. "Well, are you ready to see your future? I promise, it'll be fun."

Corrin nodded and watched as she drew a card and placed it face down on the table. "Now, since you've never done this before, I'm going to try something a little different. Not that you'll know the difference, but instead of doing a normal reading I'm going to draw three cards, one for your past." She drew another card and placed it on the table. "One for your present." She drew a final card and placed it next to the other two. "And one for your future."

Orochi smiled. "I think it works better this way, after all I know next to nothing about you! This seems like a great way to get to know each other, right? Oh won't this be fun!"

Corrin nodded before a thought crossed his mind, inspiring a smirk. "Not entirely true… Are you sure you won't let you're bias seep in, oh mighty fortune teller?"

"Oh come on! Just what do you take me for? I'm a professional, and professionals don't let a client's past impact their reading. Even if they assaulted a princess... Anyways, here we go! And the first card is-" Orochi flashed one last smile as she flipped the first of the three cards. "The World." The card on the table was bleak and foreboding. It was a dark amalgamation of miscellaneous colors and looked like something out of a particularly vivid nightmare.

The purple haired fortune teller leaned back in her chair and looked the prince in the eye. "Do you know what that means?"

"Well if I had to guess-"

"It means you are in a world of hurt!" Orochi choked out amidst a flurry of laughter. Prompting Corrin to once again consider the pros and cons of self-flagellation. "But seriously, this is quite interesting. The world is commonly interpreted as the end of the path one walks through life. It can symbolize either a joyous end or brand new beginning. For it to be in your past is quite odd, wouldn't you say?"

Not waiting for Corrin's response, the Hoshidan moved onto the next card, clearly getting a little carried away with her own curiosity. "Now, for your present we have, oh I hope it's something embarrassing don't you? And it is… Death!"

The silence that followed was almost tactile. Corrin looked at the woman sitting in front of him stunned. Orochi managed to hold his gaze for a good five seconds before waving him down. "Oh don't give me that look, it's not what it sounds like. The death arcana doesn't just represent physical death. It can also represent the death of a part of you, or say, an interest or a major relationship."

"That would be significantly more reassuring if I wasn't being held in a prison cell."

"Fair enough, but please rest assured; if we were going to execute you for assaulting the Princess Azura we would have done it already!"

"Hate to break this to you, but I've heard better attempts at emotional support from Iago. Tell me, have you ever met my father's chief advisor? He's about as kind and thoughtful as an angry wyvern."

"Oh calm down! It's only your present fortune anyways. If you're going to freak out at least wait until we get to your future." She reached over and held her hand over the last card. "Speaking of which, let's see what we've got." Turning over the card so only she could see it, Orochi frowned. "Hmm, interesting."

Don't bite at the bait. Don't bite at the bait. Ugh, fine. "What do you mean?"

"Your last card is the tower… Now that means turmoil or destruction. Look at it like a test or something like that, only instead of a pencil and paper it has weapons and death."

"Well that sounds perfect to me. I mean, I'm a prince of a nation that could go to war at any moment, why is that at all unusual?"

"Well, tell me: If you had to put these three cards in order, what would you do?"

Corrin looked at the cards. Each of them was quite haunting. Dark colors and disconcerting imagery was plastered across all three of them. In all honesty, Corrin wasn't even sure how each card was supposed to represent what Orochi said they did. The death card lacked any sort of skull or bones. The world had absolutely no landscape or planet on them. There wasn't anything that looked like a tower on anything. In fact Corrin could barely tell the cards apart from each other. But Orochi did make an interesting point about the order of the cards. For one, the past fortune didn't make any sense. If the world was supposed to represent a new beginning or the end of a journey how did that apply to him? Maybe it meant him leaving the Northern Fortress? Or was it him being sent on a mission by his father?

"I suppose it would make more sense for the order to be tower, death, then world but that wouldn't really apply to my life either."

"Are you sure? You can't think of any way that applies to you?" Orochi pressed, a tinge of nervousness in her voice.

Wait. Why is she being so pushy? I thought fortune tellers were supposed to bluff their way through this kind of thing. If anything it seems like she's trying to get me to explain the cards. Now why would she do that? Hmm, I can think of three possible explanations. One, she's trying to manipulate me to some end. Possibly an attempt to placate me? No, no. I'm already in a jail cell. She holds almost all the cards. Ugh, thought-pun. Two, she wants information about my life. Probably the most likely scenario all things considered. I'm an enemy commander after all. Strategically, she probably thinks I have knowledge that would benefit in a fight against Nohr. I do not have said knowledge… Stupid Northern Fortress. Third, I'm overanalyzing this. For some reason I doubt that. Now, how to figure out which option is the right one?

Corrin looked away from Orochi and scanned the wall on the opposite side of door eventually setting his eyes on the window. Pretending to be deep in thought he allowed the silence to mature for a moment before replying. "Now that I think about it; if the order was tower, world, death it would make a lot more sense."

"Oh? That is weird. Maybe it's the new type of reading I tried that mixed it up." Orochi leaned back and smiled, adding a wink as well. "If it's not too much to ask, why do you think that order is best? Not much else we can talk about is there?"

Not very subtle are you? Corrin thought, smirking internally. Well that certainly answers that question. This whole set up was just to try and fish for information. In that case it doesn't really matter if the cards are random or not, her interpretation isn't important, she wants to know what I think. Turning back to his captor, the prince met her gaze and showed a small smile. Well, who am I to say no to a lady? Let the fun begin.

"Alright. So what are we going to do?"

The queen of Hoshido let out a sigh as she resisted the urge to drum a hole through the arm of her chair. It had been an extremely long and monotonous morning and if this meeting continued to go on in this fashion then her ebon hair would be all grey by nightfall. "Yukimura, we've been over this. I want them released. Both the prince and his servant."

"And we will, milady. But we also can't afford to let this situation go to waste! At the very least allow us to send an envoy to Windmire. A prince of Nohr has assaulted a member of our royal family! This could be the perfect opportunity to muster public opinion against the enemy while simultaneously forcing Nohr to the negotiating table."

"If we do that there will be a public outcry and we will be forced to execute the prisoners. I will not sacrifice their lives to further our own agenda."

"Garon has taken every opportunity to further his agenda." A red haired ninja standing to the right of the bespectacled man added. "If we can impress upon him the severity of the situation, we might be able to force his hand. And what is more serious than the life of his son?"

"We are not Garon, nor are we Nohr, and as long as I am Queen we will never become them." Mikoto snapped, shutting the ninja up and forcing Yukimura to look away.

"Mother, I have to disagree. At the very least we have to show this scum that this crime is unacceptable."

Mikoto glanced over to her son, but it was another voice that spoke up. "Brother, you would kill over an accident? You cannot possibly mean that."

The grey haired prince of Hoshido became flustered at that, his cheeks flaring red before turning on the blue haired princess with a vengeance. "Shut up! I told you never to call me that! And besides why do you care? He's the one who punched you after all, if anything I'd have thought you would be grateful to me for wanting to-"

"Takumi, Azura, enough." Mikoto ordered. "Yukimura, my decision still stands. Please place Saizo and Kagero on standby until Ryoma, Hinoka, and Sakura return from their battle with the faceless. I'm going to speak with the prisoners personally. Azura, do you remember who was on guard duty today?"

"Kaze was attending Lilith while Orochi was watching Prince Corrin. If it's alright, Queen Mikoto, might I come with you? I'd like to speak to the Prince."

Mikoto smiled. "Of course dear, but remember the rule about what you can and cannot speak of. The consequences are unfortunately severe and unbreakably rigid."

"O-of course, my queen."

"In that case, how about you go talk to him and I'll meet up with the serving girl before joining you at the cell." Mikoto sighed. "Also, make sure to keep Orochi in check when you get there. She mentioned some hair brained interrogation scheme and you know how she gets when she's excited."

"Mother," Takumi said, despondent. "You can't really think this Nohrian filth is…"

"I don't know Takumi. I won't know until I see him in person, but from the description I've received... That's an issue for later. Now everyone, dismissed. Azura lets go."

"Hello your grace."

Mikoto smiled at the green haired ninja guarding the door in front of her. "Kaze, it has been quite some time, hasn't it? How is your recovery from your imprisonment proceeding?"

"Very well, my queen. In fact, I trained with my brother yesterday. It was very enjoyable, or at least it was until he told me it was to make sure I wasn't a Nohrian in disguise."

"How horrible! I assume you passed his test?"

"I wouldn't be standing here if I hadn't. But please don't blame him, his vigilance is why he is so good at his job." Kaze's demeanor shifted aw worry began to spread across his face. "By the way, I know it's not my place, your grace, but the two prisoners… I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. They're good people."

"Kaze-"

"The girl Lilith especially. I've been speaking with her for the past few days. She's just a stable girl. She's not a spy or anything like that."

"Kaze I'm-"

"I admit, she does have some rather, unusual abilities. But she can't help that she was born that way."

Kaze was cut off when the queen placed a hand on his shoulder. "Kaze, I promise you; I am not here to execute Lilith, or Corrin for that matter. I'm just here to speak with her. Please don't worry so much."

The ninja visibly relaxed. "I apologize my queen. It was out of line for me to speak to you like that. It's just we've been through a lot and I do owe them my life."

"That's not the only thing that has you confused, is it?"

Mikoto watched as Kaze's body language shifted yet again. Now he looked like a cornered Pegasus, nervous, pent up, and desperate. The queen wasn't surprised. There was only one way that the three of them could have entered the royal gardens without being found. Somehow the three of them had travelled through Valla… And by the way Corrin had reacted to Azura it was obvious who they had met while in that hell-scape. But not only that they had they survived, they had escaped. Somehow, three teenagers had managed to get away from the most terrifying force Mikoto had ever seen. Not that she could talk to the ninja about it; the curse was ever present after all. But she might be able to get a better grasp on the situation by talking to the other two escapees. After all Corrin was her… No. Now was not the time to think about that.

"It's alright. Now please, I'd like to speak with her for myself."

"O-of course your grace."

Kaze stepped aside and Mikoto made her entrance into the room that was serving as Lilith's cell. It was by no means what normally came to mind when one heard the words 'jail cell.' In fact, it was almost regal in its luxury. The floors were covered with a crimson silk rug and an ivory matt in the corner served as a bed. There was a table and cushions in one of the corners designed to entertain guests while a shelf for scrolls stood on the adjacent wall. The only indication this was in fact, a jail cell, were the bars that adorned the windows. As the queen of Hoshido looked around she found the red and blue haired captive kneeling at the table reading a scroll. As she approached, Lilith looked up and became visibly uneasy.

"Lady Mikoto…"

"Lilith, it's a pleasure to finally see you again… I've wanted to speak to you for a very long time."

Azura was confused. The prospect of meeting someone who had been to her homeland excited her more than anything she had ever experienced. The curse had done an incredible job in isolating her to the point that she didn't have many, or rather any, friends. The closest were her siblings and even then Ryoma was always so stiff and Takumi was, well Takumi. Needless to say the opportunity to change that situation did appeal to her, however; their meeting could have gone smoother.

Azura lifted a hand to where Corrin had hit her three days prior. There had been a desperation to his strike that she knew all too well. Thankfully, Queen Mikoto had been more than happy to heal the injury, and now there wasn't even a bruise to prove that it had ever existed. The physical blow wasn't the issue though. It was the psychological rift that had Azura worried.

From what Kaze shouted and his reaction itself I know they must have met Arete. Will this prince be able to look past my appearance when we speak, or will I always be the face of a tormentor to him? I know what it's like to come into contact with that monster, I couldn't blame him for thinking that way. Azura thought. Yet they managed to escape. That shouldn't even be possible. I myself have only watched from a distance, I've never actively fought her. Only two groups have done that before now and of those one knew her personally and the other group had a four on one advantage.

Azura continued to walk down the hall, ignoring the traditional wooden architecture that made up the palace. Due to Hoshido's usual sunny weather, there was a surplus of windows adorning the walls. Though, as she approached the wing of the palace that contained the prisoner, the space between windows grew more and more while the space between guards grew less and less. Eventually she arrived upon her destination. Taking a deep breath and steeling herself for the encounter, the princess had already prepared a statement for when she met the enemy prince.

Alright, I'll turn around this corner, look him straight in the eye and say, "Hello, Prince of Nohr. It does me good to see you once again." He'll probably try and apologize for striking me the other day… I know! I'll smile a little and offer to forgive him if he will meet me again at the lake later. I'll make sure Kaze is assigned to guard duty so we can use the lake portal without suspicion. That way we can go back to Valla and I can get my answers. Chief among them how he was able to get Kaze through the water portal, that shouldn't be possible.

Finally arriving at the final turn before Corrin's cell, Azura swung around the corner, ready to put her plan into action- only to find Orochi on the ground, laughing uncontrollably while Corrin was sitting on the floor of his cell chuckling. Looking up as she approached, the Nohrian tried his best to compose himself but just ended up looking embarrassed and sheepish before recognition flashed across his face and caused him to look more than a little uncomfortable. Looking back at the queen's handmaiden and resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Azura merely stared at her for a couple of seconds before lightly poking Orochi with her foot.

"HAHAHA, haha, Oh? Who is it?" Orochi asked, wiping a tear away from her eye as she slowly got back up to her feet. "My lady Azura, I apologize for the, eh, state that you find us in. Corrin was regaling me with stories from his home."

"And this left you like… this? Azura replied while glancing at the recovering prince. He had finally finished pulling himself together and met her gaze with two calm ruby eyes.

"I was telling Orochi about the system I have in place in regards to my older half-sister." Corrin explained. "My older sister is, well, a little odd. I love her to death, but sometimes she is a little over the top, especially when it comes to me."

"I-I'm sure. Anyway, Orochi, Mikoto mentioned you came here for a purpose?"

"Yes, about that…" Orochi replied sheepishly. "It turns out neither of us are as clever as we think we are."

Azura looked back at the captive prince for some explanation but found that his cheeks had begun to turn the same color as his eyes.

"Um, well you see- I kind of caught on to the whole interrogation thing. So I thought it would be smart to try and feed her some false information, but…"

"BUT!" Orochi interrupted, smirking. "The kid isn't half the liar he thinks he is and I figured it out pretty quickly. So I started playing along-"

"And I figured out she was playing along-"

"And before we knew it we were making up stories about how our parents were giant dragons or something just as crazy." Orochi finished with a smile. "After that we kind of just agreed to relax and talk normally with each other."

"Thank goodness too. I was running out of garbage to peddle." Corrin returned with a smirk.

Azura didn't know how to respond. This kind of conversation was far beyond her experience with social interaction. The only people she had ever talked to for any length of time had been her immediate family or her caretakers, and they had never been like this. Taking a deep breath to collect her thoughts, the princess responded. "I'm glad you two have been getting along so well. I just wanted to ensure that your stay in Hoshido was not entirely uncomfortable."

"I mean, I'm in a jail cell but I suppose it isn't so bad." Corrin droned. "That being said, the food needs some work."

"Well I'll be glad to have them send you something a little more colorful then. I assume you like Pegasus feed right?"

"Thanks for that Orochi. Now you didn't come all the way here to ask how I was doing, did you? Because if so, you are a much better person than me. Uh, can I help you?"

Azura had walked up to the cell door and was now staring down at the captive prince with two emotionless gold eyes. He can't actually be that stupid, can he? He's got to have at least some questions for me. "Orochi, could you leave us for a minute? I'd like to talk him privately."

"Hmm? Of course, milady. Don't hurt him too badly!" Orochi said, picking up her tarot cards before bowing and making a swift exit. After watching her leave the blue haired princess looked back to Corrin. Through all this the white haired prince had been watching her closely, his body language now far more rigid.

"You seem uncomfortable." She observed. "Is something wrong?"

Corrin looked up at her his eyes far more narrow than they were before. "What do you want?"

"What?!"

"I mean I punched you in the face. Normally that entails an execution right? Or at least that's what happens where I'm from. I can only assume you're keeping me around for some reason. That's why Orochi was talking to me right? So what is it? What do you want?"

"Prince Corrin, I don't intend to hurt you."

"Well if you're thinking of asking for ransom I hate to break it to you but my father's advisor will never let that happen. He's kind of a tool."

"I'm not asking for money either. In fact I don't blame you for hitting me."

Two crimson eyes met two golden ones and understanding flashed between the two. Crossing his arms across his chest, Corrin leaned back and looked up at the ceiling.

"Do you know why I punched you?"

"…"

Corrin sighed. "I'll take that as a yes. And that means you know why we can't talk about it, right?"

"Yes."

"Right, so what are we going to do?" Corrin responded, getting frustrated. "I mean I'd ask how you know what you do, but I doubt you could talk about it."

"You're not wrong."

"How do you even handle that? Doesn't it eat you up inside?"

"More than you could imagine." Azura replied, sitting down in Orochi's chair. Resting her head on her hands, the blue haired princess continued. "But I'm used to it by now. Eventually dodging the issue becomes second nature."

"You can't be serious. How long has it been like that for you?"

"Most of my life. It's been over twelve years now. I was six at the time."

"I don't suppose it gets any easier?"

"You get used to it, I guess, though I've never been one for talking about myself so I don't know how you'll handle it. I'm sorry."

A long silence followed. While Corrin looked down at his hands Azura watched him, thinking to herself. By now the sun had begun to set and the vibrant reds and yellows in the sky contrasted with the long shadows paved on the floor by the bars. As the princess watched the sun set she finally broke the silence. "If you'd like, I have a way we might be able to talk about it."

Corrin glanced back at her, confusion marking his face. "How? From what Lilith, I mean my stable girl, said, any attempts to talk about 'it' will result in, well, you know…"

"She's right, if we were to talk about it we would have to do it there." Azura offered in a barely audible whisper. Now would be the defining moment, she would have to go all in. "If you were to meet me at the lake you came from then…" She ended, slowly trailing off.

Relief appeared on her face as understanding dawned on Corrin's. "You can't be serious. We barely made it here in one piece. And besides" Corrin said, laughing to himself. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I can't exactly leave anytime soon."

"Corrin, tell me, why are you in here?"

"Umm, because I punched you in the face? Also, very sorry about that. Kind of sad how I haven't apologized yet…" Corrin replied sheepishly.

"Please don't worry about it. And why did assaulting me get you put in jail?"

"Because you're a prin- oh. Now I feel silly."

Azura smiled. "Exactly. I can get you released soon enough. Then we can meet up at the lake."

"That won't be necessary Azura. Though I never thought you'd be this forward with a man. I guess you are at that age though…"

The blue haired princess bolted to her feet and turned in the direction of the voice to find the kind face of the Hoshidan queen smiling back at her with Orochi stifling a laugh at her side. Then, as just what the queen had said sunk in, the princess's face turned crimson as she began to stutter uncontrollably desperately trying to fix the situation.

Resting a hand on her shoulder, Mikoto waited patiently for Azura to calm down and regain her composure. "Sorry, dear. I didn't mean to embarrass you. I'm just glad you managed to make a friend."

"To be fair Azura, you should be used to her sense of humor by now." Orochi added.

"I- No you are right, of course." Azura responded, her face still holding slight shades of pink. "I'm still not sure what you're getting at by 'at that age' though. I mean Hinoka's two years older than I and she's never-"

"Azura! Later, I mean we wouldn't want to give our guest any bad first impressions of your sister." The queen interrupted, suddenly flustered. It was at this point Azura realized that the queen was very nervous. On top of that it seemed she was looking everywhere but at the prisoner. Glancing quickly at the prince, Azura found that Corrin was watching the queen warily. Occasionally his eyes would flash to Orochi or to Azura herself but they always ended back on the ebon haired queen.

Finally, taking a deep breath, the queen faced the white haired prisoner. Looking him in the eyes before slowly removing a key she had been holding in her sleeve and unlocking the door. Stepping back, the queen watched as Corrin slowly got to his feet but did not exit the cell.

"Is something wrong?" Mikoto asked, frowning. "I'm sorry we've held you for so long… But it took some time to make sure that the palace would be safe for you. Nohr and Hoshido are not in the best place right now and I wasn't sure how the people would react to you."

"It's not that, though that does come as a bit of a shock that you care that much about my wellbeing. No, I'm more confused as to why you're letting me out without any guards nearby. Why do you trust me so much?"

"That's because…" The queen started, her voice quivering and her hands tightly grasped together. In addition her face had gone pale and all levity had been drained from her persona. She seemed so nervous, and Azura had never in her life seen her like this. Noticing her reaction, Corrin's suspicion quickly turned to concern.

"Are you alright? Look I'm sorry for not trusting you. It's just I've been kind of under house arrest for the last twelve years to prevent this exact type of thing from happening." Corrin said. "As far as potential captors go though, you're certainly much kinder than anything I imagined. Its fine, you don't need to answer my question."

"No." Mikoto responded before lifting a hand to wipe a tear from her eye. "I'm sorry I've just waited so long for this day. Ever since they took you twelve years ago."

Corrin's eyes narrowed into slits of red. "What do you mean they took me?"

Mikoto gave up on holding back the tears and smiled at the confused prince standing in front of her. "Corrin, I want to keep you safe because… you're my son."

Author's Note-

Thank you for reading! As usual if you have any advice, criticisms, or even predictions please by all means leave a review. I'll do my best to get back to you as long as there are no spoilers involved.

Demons Anarchy of Pride- Very true! But I'm not apologizing. Besides, I think she took it pretty well all things considered.

vampireharry the 2- Thanks! I hope you enjoyed this one as well!

Next time- We meet the Hoshidan siblings and see a very boring white chair.

(All characters places belong to their respective owners)