Okay, It's been... woah, a year since that last time I updated this fic. I was going through a mayor writter's block, and I hadn't had time to play the game to find my muse again, but, I'm back and I will finish this fic, so don't worry (all of you that read this).

FE doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Nintendo and Intelligent System.

A/N: By the way, english is not my first language, spanish is, I'm from latin america. I have a beta now, ThorHammer17, so I hope there's nothing wrong.

Chapter two: Part three.

"Getting to know you better."

"Well, since I know what happened to you after you met Mark, I could tell you something about me then."- he said.

"I believe it's only fair."- she smiled and waited patiently for him to start to talk about himself.

ºººº

"I think I spent most of my first seven years of my childhood in Pherae, except when my parents occasionally had to attend some business out of Lycia, and those times, they would take me with them…"- Eliwood said.

A four-years-old red-haired child stood outside, in the middle of a big garden, of his castle, waiting for his parents. He watched quietly as the servants prepared everything for the journey. He and his parents were going to Bern, to attend some minor business with the King's council (because Pherae was the closest territory to Bern) as a representative of the Lycian League. Well, it was really his parents the ones who needed to attend that meeting. They were taking him with them because they just couldn't leave him alone there in the castle. He was happy with that, though; of course, he knew he was going to get bored, but at least he was going to spend time with his parents (not just his mother), just the three of them, as a family.

And, don't misunderstand him, the young boy loved his life (then again, he was just a child, he was suppose to enjoy it at that age), but he wished that his father could spend more time with him. Because of all the responsibility his father had as a ruler, he couldn't see him as much as he wanted (he spent almost every day with his mother). And he just couldn't wait to be five, because then his father would train him, as he had promised.

Eliwood watched as the servants went inside the castle and took advantage of that. He loved animals, ever since he could remember. So he walked close to the horses; because he was a four-year-old child and he was curious about those animals (his mother never let him get too close to them, saying something about been dangerous, but he really didn't care; to him animals were sweet and harmless) and he wanted to touch them.

He should have known better.

The young red-haired child stopped right next to a horse, a black horse, that wasn't tied up to the carriage; the animal was eating quietly. The boy tiptoed to catch the reins and, as soon as his little hands held onto it, he pulled, hard. And the horse freaked out. The animal started to move wildly, pulling on the reins and lifting young Eliwood up in the process. After a few shakes of its head, the horse managed to break free of the child's grasp.

Eliwood flew backwards a few meters before he hit the ground. He looked up to see the wild animal squeal angrily, while it moved around, trying to loosen up the ties that kept it from getting close to him; the same ties that were giving into the strength of the horse. The young boy tried to move, to run away from the damned beast, but he was frozen on the spot; he was terrified, his little body shaking in fear of being hit.

Never before had he been so afraid of an animal.

A maid that had walked out into the garden screamed the moment she saw the child hit the ground. The soldiers that were around the place started to run towards the child in order to prevent the horse hit him, but they weren't fast enough.

"Lord Eliwood!! Get away from there!!"

The red-haired boy snapped back to reality and, as fast as he could, he stood up and began to run towards the castle, hoping to reach it before the horse could reach him. He made the mistake of looking back and he tripped with a rock, falling into the dirt.

The horse let out an angry squeal, pulling hard on the reins and the ties finally gave in.

The soldiers saw in horror how the beast began to run towards the young lord and, in an attempt to stop it, they attacked it, but that only made things worse. Suddenly, they saw a flash of green and orange, and seconds later they realized it was two of the strongest knight of Pherae: General Marcus and Captain Harken.

The two knights were at Eliwood's side in mere seconds; Marcus was trying to calm the horse, while he pulled on the reins to prevent it from getting any closer the young lord, and Harken was blocking the hits of its paws with his sword, putting himself in front of the child. Marcus managed to moved the horse away from the young captain, aware that his sword wouldn't have resisted too much.

The blond young men turned around to examine the boy. "Are you harmed, Lord Eliwood?"

The four-years-old boy began to tremble lightly, suppressing the sobs that were attempting to come out, still too afraid to talk.

It was at that moment that Lord Elbert and Lady Eleanora came out into the garden.

"What was all that noise?"- said the red-haired men.

Lady Eleanora looked around the garden, until she found what she was looking for. "Oh my… Eliwood!!"- she exclaimed, running to her son.

Eliwood turned around, running into his mother's warm and protective embrace, clinging to her as if there was no tomorrow; he sobbed softly into her chest.

"What happened here?"- Lord Elbert, who had run after his wife, asked.

Harken stood up straight and answered. "It seems that the horse attacked young Lord Eliwood, milord, though I don't know why."

"Eliwood?"- he called him.

The red-haired child looked up at his father, crying even more. "I—I just… wanted to—to play…"

Eliwood laughed softly at the memory, one of the few memories he could remember clearly of that period of his life. "It took my parents hours to convince me to get into the carriage."- he said. "Certainly, I'm not afraid of them anymore now, but I still prefer to walk, I think it's safer."

There was a moment of silence and then Eliwood spoke again.

"Anyway, my father began to train after my birthday the next year, as he promised…"

Eliwood stared at his father for a long time, looking confused. "Father… I don't like lances."- he said, after a while.

Lord Elbert looked shocked at that confession. "You don't?"

"No. I wanted you to teach me fencing."

"But, son, I only know the basics of fencing and a little more, I—"- he stopped talking the moment he saw his son's sad expression. "Very well, Eliwood, we will do this: I will teach you everything I know about fencing and then you will continue your training with Marcus, is that all right?"

"Yes, father!"

"And when Marcus thinks you are ready, we will do a special training."

"Yes, father!"

And so, they began.

It was very difficult for Eliwood at first; he was too young and his arms weren't strong enough to handle correctly the sword, but he still did his best. Two years went by before the young lord learned everything he could from his father; he was done with the basics.

"That's enough, Eliwood, you may rest."

Lord Elbert watched his son, as he fell to his knees, trying to catch his breath. He smiled.

"I'm very proud of you, my son. You've learned everything I taught you, everything I know."

Eliwood looked up at his father, feeling confused. "But, father, it took me two years to learn it all; it's way too much time."- he stood up.

"Not at all, quite on the contrary. You're only seven and you're done with the basics of fencing, you mastered it. Not many people can do that."

"So, I'm doing fine?"

"You're doing excellent. Now go to your room and rest, tomorrow we begin your sparring seasons to see how you can use what you've learned, plus you start your training with Marcus."

The boy smiled brightly and nodded, running inside the castle, towards his room. But just as he was about to enter, he decided to tell his mother the good news; so, turning around, he went to his parents' room.

The next day he began his training with Marcus, as well as his sparring seasons with his father. Even though he ended up totally exhausted at the end of the day, he didn't complaint: he asked for that and, despite being tired most of the time, he enjoyed it. Especially if it meant he could spent more time with his father, who seemed to be more and more busy with each day. That year went by rather quickly, a little too quickly to Eliwood.

ººº

Eight years old Eliwood looked around the room in hopes to find something to entertain himself, but there was nothing; he was totally bored. Sure there were other kids in the room with him, but he didn't know any of them and they didn't seem to want to be friends with anyone either. The red-haired child sighed. He knew he shouldn't have been so excited about that trip to Ostia.

All the Lords of Lycia had gathered in Ostia to held the Oath Ritual (whatever that was, Eliwood didn't care much at the moment), as every other year, but that meeting had been a little different. They had brought their sons with them in order to teach the children their custom, however, most of the heirs were under the age of ten and too childish to try and make an effort to understand their parents; so, they were to stay in a common room until the ritual was over.

Eliwood looked discreetly to his right, where a dark-red-haired boy around his age was sitting still, holding the hand of a little girl who was most likely his little sister (they had the same hair color and the girl clung to him like he was her salvation). The young heir of Pherae didn't know if he should talk to him or not, but the boy did not seem friendly. The scowl on his face proved as much, and, in Eliwood's opinion, he was kind of scary.

Suddenly, a boy, whose name was Erik, Eliwood recalled, Lord Darin's son, stood up and said rather loudly something about how they should do their own oaths and then pulled out a knife from his pocket.

"We shall follow the warrior customs!"- Erik shouted and he cut his hand.

Eliwood widened his eyes in mild surprise, not quite believing his eyes. He heard little gasp noises fill the room and then, one by one, the other boys stood up and mimicked Erik, cutting their hands and shaking them with whoever was beside them. He, too, eventually, stood up, but didn't know what to do next.

"Brother Raymond…"

Eliwood looked down at the siblings at his right, as the little girl hugged her brother tighter, looking frightened.

"Don't worry, Priscilla, just ignore those buffoons."

The red-haired boy was going to say something to the siblings, when a tap on his shoulder made him turn around. There stood a boy a little taller than him, but didn't seem to be older, he had blue hair and blue eyes; and his bored expression told Eliwood that he was as entertained as himself at the moment. The boy was pacing his eyes from Eliwood to Erik over and over.

"Are you Eliwood of Pherae?"- said the boy, finally looking straight at the redhead.

"Yes."

"I'm Hector of Ostia."- he shrugged.

"Nice to meet you."

The two stayed quiet for a few minutes, watching as the other boy kept shaking their bloodied hands with one another, leaving the girls out of the matter, not that the girls would have agreed to do such a thing, they noted. Then, Hector broke the silence.

"Are you gonna do it?"

Eliwood turned to him and then back to its previous position. "I don't know, I suppose we should."

Another silence fell between them.

Hector pulled out a knife from his pocket and held it in between the two of them. "So, do we do it?"

"Yes, let's do it."

Eliwood waited for Hector to cut his left hand and then he took the knife and cut his as well, wincing as a sharp pain run through his arm. The boys shook their hand and smiled.

"Friends."- they said.

The Lord of Pherae smiled at the memory; that trip hadn't turned out as bored as he had thought back then. And as he recalled, he realized he had never told anyone about it before.

"Wow, why would you do that?"

Lyndis voice snapped him out of his musings and he turned to her, smiling. "Well, it's an old warrior's custom: each man cuts his hand and shakes it with his brother. It's basically to strengthen bonds."

"Oh."

"Well, where was I…? Oh, yes… After that meeting, when my father and I came back to Pherae…"

Eliwood waited patiently for his father, he had just finished his sparring session with Marcus, the elder man was resting beside him. Then, he saw his father walking to them, pulling a horse along with him and carrying a lance. Young Eliwood had, suddenly, a bad feeling about the situation.

It had been nearly three months since the Lords meeting in Ostia and his father had said, shortly after they arrived, that once he was done with all the pending matters of Pherae, they would begin that special training he promised.

And that day was the day.

However, Eliwood wasn't sure if he wanted to go through it anymore.

"Uhh… Father?"

Lord Elbert smiled and began his explanation. "It's not so difficult, son, this is the basic training of every knight. You are a bright child, Eliwood, so you will have no problem learning how to ride a horse and use a lance."

"I will help you, Lord Eliwood."- said Marcus.

Minutes later, Eliwood was sitting on the horse and trying to stay there, while he paced around the training ground of the castle. Once in a while he would hear his father or Marcus advices, things like 'Don't let the animal feel your fear' or 'Show him who's in charge' were the most common. His little traumatic experience with those animals was buried deep in the back of his head, so he didn't have much difficulty learning, though that didn't change his opinion of riding a horse, he still thought it was safer to walk.

"Very well, son, now let's do something else."- Lord Elbert handed him the lance and proceeded to explain. "You have seen the recruits training, so you won't have trouble with this. Just charge forward to that pole over there and try to hit the circle drawing in it."

Eliwood nodded and positioned the horse a few meters away from the pole. He only had to make the horse run straight ahead and keep the lance in a firm grip, no problem, not at all, he could do it, yes, he could and the faster, the better. His grip tightened around the lance and he urged the horse to run.

Everything was going fine, he was almost nearing the pole, but then, suddenly, it wasn't him and the horse running towards a pole, it was only the horse making a mad dash towards a very young and very scared miniature of him. He panicked. And the horse felt it, stopping abruptly and squealing angrily. Eliwood flew off the horse, landing a few meters away.

Lord Elbert and Marcus rushed to the boy's side. Eliwood just stood up and looked at them sadly.

"I don't think horses like me, father."- the boy said, giving the lance back. "I'm sorry I broke it."

"It's all right, son, it seems you aren't fit to lances or horses, but we tried. We'll have to settle for fencing."

"Okay."

"Marcus, keep practicing with him for now."

Marcus nodded, bowing respectfully. "Yes, milord."

Lord Elbert nodded and turned to his son. "Eliwood, your mother and I were planning on sending you to school this next month, to Ostia, so you met other noble children and make some acquaintances. I want you to think about it, all right?"

"Yes, father."

Later that day, Eliwood accepted his parents proposal, it was better than staying there and having particular professors, and a month later he was on his way to Ostia, ready to begin a new stage of his life. Though he really wasn't much excited about it, but what nine-years-old child would be excited about school? They mostly preferred to learn how to fight.

"Going to Ostia proved to be more fun that I thought it would. And Hector was there, so I already had a friend to spend my free time with. We were taught a lot of things, but mostly they taught us how to handle a real battle."

Lyndis nodded when he turned to look at her, saying that she was listening.

Eliwood looked back at the fireplace. "They also helped us to find our own fighting style and master it. I tried to keep my style as similar to my father's as I could."

"Well, I can't say anything about that, I never saw your father fight, but I guess I suspected something like that, since your style isn't like any of the knights of Pherae."- Lyndis commented.

The Pheraean Lord smiled and continued talking. "Well, I spent six year in Ostia, in which my friendship with Hector grew stronger with each year, we were almost like brothers."

"No wonder why you two know so much about each other… Oh, I'm sorry, didn't mean to interrupt you, again."- she smiled sheepishly.

"It's all right."- Eliwood smile gently at the sight of her blushing. "I don't have much to tell you, now. After I came back from Ostia, I didn't have much to do, besides sparring with my father or Marcus, so my father decided I should go with him to all his meetings concerning political matters of Pherae or Lycia. He said it was so I would become a good ruler."

Lyndis stared at Eliwood for a good while, partially listening to what he was saying now, for she was more interested in how the light of the fire made his red hair shine brighter… and how the flames were reflected in his eyes, his beautiful blue eyes… And for a brief moment, she was tempted to confess her true feeling to him, to open up her heart and soul so he could see everything she kept locked inside, but she fought it back instead. Then, just as she was spacing off, Eliwood voice brought her back to reality.

"My life then became a routine, so monotone and boring, until Hector came up with the idea of going in a camping trip. I was on my way to meet him when we met in Katheleth."

"Yes. I remember that at first I thought you were some kind of a fairytale prince: kind, just and extremely charming, always ready to defeat the bad guys and rescue the princess."

They laughed at that, both remembering that fateful day.

Eliwood smiled and took a deep breath. "Yes. But you became very wary of me after I told you who I was."

"Hmm. I'm sorry for that, but I had heard only bad about nobles up to that point, and my recent meeting with Marquess Araphen showed the rumors to be true, so I thought you were just another spoiled lord."- she smiled sheepishly again. "But I was wrong, you broke every concept I had of nobility at the time. And I was happy that you did, because that gave me hope that my grandfather would be like you."

"I'm glad."- he paused a little, and then decided he should finish his tale. "A year after that incident in Katheleth, my father disappeared and… you already know what happened next."

Lyndis nodded solemnly. "Yes…"

The room then fell into a comfortable silence, neither of the two bothering to do a thing about it, both too deep in their own thoughts.

To be continued…

So, I'm done with memories. Next chapter will have some action between Eliwood and Lyn, after all the fic is about them and the genre is romance.

Please review!!

Edit: 08.04.2008