Um… well, I tried to go a different way with this Fire Emblem fanfic. There are a lot of… interesting pairings out there, and usually when I see the tactician paired up with a person, it's usually a male tactician paired with Lyn. At first I wanted my female tactician to be paired up with Eliwood, but then I thought, "What the hey." So… yeah, it's female tactician x Matthew. But that's not gonna happen until later… hopefully.

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Chapter 2: Pherae

When Eliwood left, Caden had no idea what to do now. For the time being, she walked around the entrance observing the different paintings and statues that were on the wall. She hadn't noticed most of them before; probably because she's only entered the castle once, and they only spent that one night.

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Six months ago…

Caden had too much on her mind to sleep. Instead of lying down on the bed for the rest of the time, she got up from her room and walked around the dim-lit castle. She looked left and right occasionally to see the different decorations on the wall.

There was one painting on the wall that she was interested in. It was the painting of Eliwood's mother and father, and Eliwood was in the middle; he only looked about seven at the time. She hasn't seen many paintings of noble families, but she knew that in most of them that she saw, they all had straight expressions. In this painting, all of them looked happy. Eliwood was the most cheerful of them; it seemed natural since he was still a child. She couldn't take her eyes off of that painting; she thought that it was very unusual… in a good way.

"This was the first painting that we had done when my father was not busy," Eliwood interrupted.

Caden almost jumped; surprised that she didn't notice him coming.

"L-Lord Eliwood…?"

"He was usually busy with paperwork and listening to the people's needs. He didn't have any time for himself, so it was a miracle that we had gotten this painting completed."

"He seemed like a nice man, your father."

"He was. He was very friendly and very understanding. He was well known throughout Pherae. Someday, when I become marquess, I hope I could be like my father."

"I know that you will, Lord Eliwood. I know that you have the potential to become a great marquess. You may even surpass your father's accomplishments."

"That means a lot coming from you, Caden. Thank you," he complimented as he was smiling.

"You're very welcome," she replied as she was smiling back.

"Caden, I was wondering, what nation did you come from?"

"It's been so long since I've been back, I… my family lives in Etruia."

"Etruia? The country with all the magic users?"

"Yes, my father is a sage and my mother is a cleric."

"I see, so did you inherit magical abilities from them?"

"Sadly, I've tried to walk their path, I have the potential to become a magic user, but I'm not good at using magic, although they did say to me that I had an amazing rate for acquiring knowledge. That's how I first became a tactician."

"Hm, it seems that you need to thank your parents in becoming one of the best known tacticians out there."

"You're giving me too much credit, Lord Eliwood. By the way, why such a random question, I-I'm sorry if I sound too forward."

"Well, we've been traveling all this time together, but I feel like I hardly know you."

"It seems reasonable for you to ask about me then. You've always been so friendly."

"Yes, I guess I have."

Eliwood yawned; he looked tired.

"There is a long day ahead of us. Why don't you get some sleep?" the tactician asked.

"You're right. The reason I came out here in the first place was because I couldn't get any sleep, but now I'm heading back to my room. It was a pleasure talking to you, Caden."

"Likewise, Lord Eliwood. I'm glad to have this conversation with you."

"I hope to have more conversations like this in the near future."

"I will be looking forward for them," she said bowing.

Eliwood walked away to his bedroom and Caden continued her stroll around the castle, looking at the paintings and statues. Once she got down to the hallway, she bumped into the blue haired lord. He didn't have his armor on. He looked at Caden, not noticing that she was there until he looked down towards her.

"Oh… hello Caden," Hector greeted.

"Hello, Lord Hector. He's not as… big as I imagined. Looks like his armor makes him bigger than he actually is."

"Um… look. I wanted to apologize. When I first met you, I doubted your abilities. I didn't think that you were a good tactician. But you proved me wrong. I'm sorry."

Caden had a look on her face where she was smiling, but looked a little unsure. "Lord Hector… is apologizing? It's unusual, but not weird."

"What's with that face? You didn't think I could apologize?"

"N-no, Lord Hector, that's not it! I… I just think it's… rare from hearing an apology from you."

"Rare! Geez, why does everyone think that I'm strange!"

He walked away ending their conversation; he sounded frustrated as he was walking.

"I accept your apology, Lord Hector!" she raised her voice for Hector to hopefully hear, "and I'm not joking either."

Wow, two out of the three lords talked to her this night, what's next? Is Lyn coming to start a conversation with her too? Not to her surprise, Lyn was out of her bed as well.

"Hello, Lady Lyn," Caden chuckled.

"Hello, Caden. May I ask what's funny?"

"When I first was walking around, I bumped into Lord Eliwood, then I saw Lord Hector, and now I'm meeting you at this hour."

"Yes, I guess that is funny."

"Do all the lords have something on their mind that they have been meaning to tell or ask me?" she asked indirectly.

"I suppose I do now. It was about one year ago since we met at Caelin. How did you end up being Eliwood's tactician?"

"Oh, that? That was a coincidence. At first I was staying in a village near the Pheraen castle. Sir Lowen passed by and asked for recruits. After that, I volunteered myself, and… here I am."

"I see. So, where were you before that?"

"Traveling around, trying to further my knowledge and skills to vaguely put it."

"I see."

"Enough about me, Lady Lyn. How is the castle life treating you?

"It's very different from living on the plains. Sometimes I wish I can go back to that life."

"I can see what you mean. Don't worry, I know that you'll get used to being noble eventually."

Caden yawned and rubbed her eyes.

"Well, I see you need some sleep. I probably should get back to my room as well."

"You're right. I will see you in the morning, Lady Lyn."

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Caden passed her time in the castle garden after she felt like she observed the decorations enough. She observed the trees and the flowers and the small lake they had as well. She sat on the stump of a tree enjoying the shade she received the leaves above her. There was a slight wind caressing her face. Before she knew it, she found herself taking a nap.

A guard woke her up about a couple of hours later.

"Miss Caden, I apologize for disturbing you, but Lady Eleanora and Lord Eliwood would like to have a word with you."

"Very well," she said rubbing her eyes, standing up and stretching, "Please escort me."

She followed the guard to the entrance to the throne room. The guard waited at the door and waited for the other guard's cue. When the time came, the guard opened the door, and Caden walked in. There, she saw that the throne room was a big space. On the other side of the room sat the queen and Eliwood. She made a mental chuckle seeing Eliwood sitting on the throne. She knew that he was of royalty, but it was hard for her to imagine him sitting on the throne. She walked down the room until she was several meters away from them.

"Um… Good Afternoon," she said going down on one knee, "You… You wanted to see me?"

"Caden, the tactician that helped my son. As I said before, I am grateful that you kept Eliwood alive. He's the only one I have now."

"It was a great honor to me, just to be in his presence."

"As a token of our gratitude, we would like you to cooperate with us. My son will explain it to you."

"As you know, there is still no marquess for Pherae and Ostia. It is a tradition to wait one year until we appoint a new marquess. That would mean that we would have my inauguration, and I while later, it would be Hector's. Caden, I have a favor to ask of you."

"Yes, Lord Eliwood?"

"I know that you can by busy traveling around the country, but… can you please stay in Lycia until Hector and I become marquess?"

"That… that is a lot to ask. But that is a request from a soon-to-be marquess. More importantly, how can I turn down a request from a friend? Of course I'll stay in Lycia for a year," she said smiling.

Eliwood nodded and smiled, "Thank you, Caden. We can let you have a temporary room in the castle, my mother has agreed on this. From now on, you're a friend of the family, and you can come and go into the castle at any time you please. I know that you might want to visit Caelin and Ostia in a while, and I can inform them of your arrival whenever you want to go."

"This is a lot of new grants that I am receiving. Are you sure that it is not too much?"

"You've done so much for us, now it is time to repay you for everything," Eliwood answered.

For the past few days, Caden was enjoying her new freedoms. One day she felt like going to the armory near Rebecca's village. She bought a sword there, and later on visited Rebecca's village. She asked how everyone was doing. Not to Caden's surprise, Wil and Rebecca were in love, but they didn't want to show it. They tried to act like brother and sister, but Caden could see through their masks. They were both very ignorant to admit it.

"'I won't leave you again... I'll always stay near...and protect you.' Ha, as a friend, or a lover, Wil? You're very sociable and friendly, why don't you just spit it out already telling her that you love her?" Caden thought, "And Rebecca, you've missed Wil and your brother for so long, why don't you show more emotion towards him? You're just acting like you've seen him everyday! Hm… probably… I can probably… help their relationship get even further…" Caden thought.

But what does she know? Caden's been only in love once, and that didn't go as she planned. She contemplated on helping them, or not helping them. Oh well, she had a lot of time to decide. After all, she's staying in Lycia for a whole year.

Caden was wondering which lord she would like to visit next. Would she like to go to Caelin, where Lyn and the others were, who she has known longer than any other people in Lycia; or should she go to Ostia, where Matthew was staying? It was hard to make her decision, but she knew that either way she chose, she would see both of them no matter what.

Caden thought of Matthew as a friend, but after that night on Valor, she sort of thought of him being a little more than a friend. She… kind of… liked him. She wanted to spend more time with him, but she didn't want the others to know about it… right now. During the journey, she said that if a tactician having romantic relationships with others in the army, he or she will become biased and only pick the ones who he or she willing to sacrifice; the tactician would feel like he or she would worry about one person over another, and Caden didn't want to feel that way. She knew that that journey was over, but she still felt like keeping it to herself… she's used to keeping her feelings to herself. In the end of her thinking, she decided not to make her feelings so conspicuous. "I have a lot of time to see Matthew. There's no rush to spend time with him again. After all, he only thinks of me as a friend… hopefully. Once a friend, always a friend… ha, yeah right."

She stayed in Pherae for a few more days, and then she decided to go to Caelin. She asked Lord Eliwood and he granted her request.

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Somewhere in Elibe one week ago:

The young man woke up rather suddenly. He sat up on his bed, and rubbed his eyes and stretched. He lived in a small house, with only three rooms. The young man looked out the window that was right next to him. He saw a young woman picking herbs just under the window sill from the other side of the window. The young woman stood up, and looked at the person looking out the window. She waved her hand and walked through the door carrying her small basket of herbs on her arm.

"Good morning, Dugan. How did you sleep?" asked the young woman as she walked to a table and started separating the herbs she just picked.

"Fine, sis. I had this weird dream… it was like… I was with Father, on one of his adventures. It was really nice; I actually got to fight with him."

His sister slightly paused for a moment when he said "father" but she still went on with separating the herbs.

"Well… Dugan, that is… a very unusual dream."

"Why is that, Robbin?"

She sighed, "Because, last night… I had a feeling… no, it wasn't a feeling. It's a fact, but… I know… Father is dead."

She looked sad, but not that sad that she was about to cry. Dugan jumped from his bed.

"What! How did you hear about it?"

"I heard his voice. I know that we don't know where he is right now, but I know that he's dead. He's been killed by someone. I heard his voice in my dream; it said something strange, 'avenge my death.'"

"Did he tell you a name?"

"I think he probably did, but I couldn't make it out. It was too faint to recognize."

The young man did not look sad at all; in fact, he looked mad. He was wondering how his father would die so suddenly, and as he was thinking, how he died so easily. "'Avenge my death'… don't worry, Father. No matter who it is, I'll kill the one who killed you." Dugan looked at his hand, the one that he uses as a way to conjure magic. He formed it into a fist and started shaking it.

"I will get to the bottom of this. Robbin, we will respect father's wishes."

"Yes, Dugan… I know we will."

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End of Chapter 2: Pherae

Going to Caelin? What will happen? And who are these two people?