8:50 PM

5 Months Prior

The night gave way to the light from Florina's torch as she winged her way across Badon. Huey was looking around apprehensively; he did not like night flying, especially when the ground was full of enemy mercenaries out for blood. Florina, by contrast, was completely relaxed. Her lack of tension helped to ease the pegasus; had it not been for her calmness, he would never have taken off in the first place. But with his rider's steady hands on the reins, Huey cut a straight path through the night toward the sounds of battle.

It wasn't long before the light of Florina's torch glinted off a quickly spinning blade. The sword's wielder was obviously engaged in combat with an antagonist, although it remained to be seen which of the fighters Florina should help. Still, she leaned closer to Huey's neck, and the pegasus sped up as it shot through the night. Soon, she got close enough to see Sain fighting valiantly against a spear-wielding, heavily-armored mercenary. Sain's sword rang uselessly against his foe's armor again and again, yet he pressed on, undeterred by the seeming futility of his attacks. Florina covered the torch as best she could and had Huey fly slowly and quietly, circling around behind the knight without being heard or seen. Then, as soon as they were in position, she had him turn sharply and dive forward, lance outstretched. The thin tip slid between the plates of the knight's armor, and he stumbled forward, collapsing in a heap at Sain's feet.

Sain looked up at the pegasus knight with an expression of surprise. "Dame Florina! Had I heard you coming, I would have given you the proper greeting that befits a maiden of your beauty!"

"If you had heard me coming, so would he," Florina said, half-smiling at him.

Sain brushed himself off and puffed his chest out. "Yes, well. Hrm. I was almost done with him anyway, but I'm glad you got to finish one of them yourself. It's good for your morale."

Florina giggled softly. Sain's overbearing manner once frightened her the same way all men did, but after a year spent working beside him in Castle Caelin, she had grown accustomed to it, and the two had become good friends.

"Now, then!" Sain cried, holding his blade over his head in an overly dramatic fashion. "Onward to victory!"

"Somebody help me!" a voice suddenly came from the night.

"On second thought, onward to assist whoever just called for help!" Sain cried again. He spurred his horse forward and rode toward the voice. Florina quickly followed.

Soon, the light of her torch revealed their tactician, Jeffrey, running as fast as he could. The young man stumbled through the night toward them. "Florina! Sain!" he shouted upon seeing them. "Get this guy off of me!"

Sain never got to ask "What guy?" as a stout, heavily-armed, ax-wielding mercenary materialized from the night, chasing after the frightened tactician. As soon as he saw the two knights riding towards him, he stopped in his tracks and dashed backwards as quickly as he could. Sain and Florina gave chase, though, and had soon caught up with him. Sain let out a cry as he raised his sword, charging forward; the enemy, however, knowing he could not escape, suddenly turned and swung with his ax. The blade impacted on Sain's armor, failing to wound him, but knocking him clean off his horse. The knight managed to let out a "Bugger!" as he landed heavily a few feet away, completely winded.

The mercenary rushed forward, intending to take full advantage of the situation, but instantly found himself having to duck under an oncoming pegasus. Florina and her mount wheeled around in the air, preparing for a second strike. He had regained his balance by then, though, and was able to sidestep her charge. Florina turned again, and saw the man had let his ax fall to the ground—and had instead pulled out a bow, one which he was beginning to aim at her.

Part of her panicked, but she had been in worse situations before. As he was aiming, she suddenly dropped from the air, urging more speed from Huey as she charged her enemy one last time.

"Florina!"

She suddenly spotted another winged blur appeared on her right, moving fast in her direction. It was too late to do anything about it; trying to dodge would leave her vulnerable to the mercenary. She leveled her lance and leaned down, coaxing the last bit of speed that Huey could muster, and hoping she could avoid the oncoming pegasus knight.

The sound of her lance piercing armor greeted her ears, and she pulled into the sky, leaving the mercenary motionless on the ground beneath her. Once she was sure she was out of danger, at least for the moment, she turned to look for the newcomer. "Fiora!" she said. "What are you doing here?"

"We've almost routed the enemy back on the east side of town," the other pegasus knight said as she brought her steed up alongside Huey. "But I saw that man taking aim at you, and I had to protect you!"

Florina sighed. "Sister, I appreciate your concern, but you nearly threw off my aim. We are lucky that Huey was fast enough to dodge you, or I'd be in trouble right now."

Fiora gave her sister an odd look. "But, I just wanted to..."

"Never fear!" a boisterous cry rose up to them. "Florina was never in any danger, my fair lady! Even if she were not so amazingly skilled as to deal with that knave herself, the watchful eyes of Sir Sain are always upon her striking figure, ready to save her from whatever brigand dares to attempt harm upon her!"

Fiora glared down at the cavalier, who was trying to pick himself up off the ground and get back on his horse. "So you mean to tell me you've been ogling my sister the whole battle?"

"Um." Sain paused for a moment, looking around for an out. "Ah! Jeff! There you are!" He darted in the tactician's direction as Jeff came into the torchlight. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Jeff panted in response. "As long as Haru doesn't get angry with me for stealing his joke."

Sain gave him a thoroughly confused look. "...what?"

"Because you fell off your horse, and said... you know what? Forget it." Jeff waved up at the two Pegasus knights. "We should regroup at the inn. With any luck, Oleg will sit still long enough for us to raise a little money at the arena. See you girls back there." He turned and left, with Sain following quickly to avoid Fiora's hard stare.

The elder pegasus knight let out an exasperated sigh as she and Florina circled to the ground. "I can't see how you were able to put up with him all that time you stayed at Castle Caelin," she growled. "Or since then."

Florina let a small smile cross her face. "You worry needlessly, sister," she said. "Sain is harmless."

"Harmless?" Fiora cried. "He leers at everything that even appears feminine! And if he had his way, he would do a great deal more than that!"

"You judge him too quickly," Florina sighed. "As you said, I spent a year in Castle Caelin, and while I was there, I grew... comfortable. With him, and the others. Wil, Kent, Sain... they know me well enough to respect me, and over time, I grew to respect them as well."

Fiora shook her head. "You're not comfortable with men. Even since you left Caelin, I've seen you tremble when one got too close."

"Not men in general, no," Florina confessed. "But those few, they're my... my friends. And I know that they would never do anything to hurt me." She gestured in the direction the knight had retreated. "Even Sain."

Fiora crossed her arms. "I don't think you should be so trusting, especially around him."

"I know," Florina sighed. "But someday, I think he'll win you over too."

"I hope, when that day comes, you'll have enough love for me to put me out of my misery," Fiora sighed.

Florina couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"At any rate, we should make sure there are no more enemies in the area," Fiora went on. "You go back, I'll see if I can find anything."

"No," Florina said firmly. "We both look. I'll go east, you go west. Turn back before you get too close to Ogun's encampment."

Fiora sighed. "I suppose that, though I may be older, you have seniority in the army. Very well. But be careful. There may be a few more mercenaries hiding in the dark."

"I know, sister," she replied as she spurred Huey to take off. "Don't worry about me. I can handle myself." They were soon airborne, and sped away into the darkness.

8:50 PM

Tonight

Florina looked at herself in the small mirror Serra had lent her. Her hair was clean, straight, and well-brushed. She was wearing her finest dress—well, rather, the finest one she had thought to get from Castle Caelin as they fled. But as she looked at herself more and more in it, she realized that it wasn't how she wanted to look right now. This was the appearance a girl would strive for on the eve of a grand ball, not the eve of a decisive battle. And she was not a girl anymore.

She turned away from the mirror, casting off the dress and leaving it forgotten on the cold floor of her room. She ran her fingers through her hair a few times, letting it return to its natural, wavy state. She had soon donned the simple dress she had worn through most of the war, complete with armor. Looking at herself once more in the mirror, she now saw a much more familiar face looking back.

She sat down on the bed, letting out a heavy sigh. The question weighing on her mind was, was a 'familiar' face the best one to be wearing tonight? What she intended to do was dangerous, risky, and unlike anything she had done before. She had no experience with this sort of thing; the fundamentals of her personality precluded her having any experience. But it was something that she wanted, needed, to do, and she had to do it tonight.

Because there might not be a night tomorrow. At least, not one that she would see.

She got up again. She had to do this. But she couldn't. Not yet, at least. She needed help, from someone who had been around longer than her. Someone older, wiser, possibly smarter.

Five minutes later, she was knocking on her sister's door. Farina appeared in front of her momentarily. "Florina!" she said brightly. "You seem well."

Florina took a step back. Her older sister was normally cheery, but seeing such a happy smile on a night like tonight was still a surprise. "As do you," she responded. "Very much so, in fact."

Farina shrugged as she opened the door to admit her sister. "Of course, I'm fine," she said. "Looking forward to the final battle?"

Florina looked at her sister quizzically as she entered the room. "Tomorrow we sail to the Dread Isle, to face an army of Nergal's most powerful morphs, and then Nergal himself."

"Right!" Farina replied. "And once we're through with them, I can finally spend some of my hard-earned gold!"

The younger knight let a small smile cross her lips. "Ah, I see now. You haven't changed a bit, sister."

"And why would I? You don't change perfection!"

Florina laughed aloud at that one. Farina smiled back at her. "It's good to see I can still put a smile on your face," she said. "Everyone seems so gloomy tonight."

Florina nodded. "Yes, well... as I said, we face near insurmountable odds tomorrow."

Farina sighed, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. "Because we've never faced insurmountable odds before and come out on top. Right." She put her arm around her sister. "You know, with Jeff's help, Hector and Eliwood have kept us all safe so far. I see no reason to believe that'll change any more tomorrow than it has before."

Florina hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "OK," she said softly. "I guess you're right."

"Well, now that that's out of the way, what brings you here?" Farina crossed the room and sat on her bed, looking up at her sister.

"I..." Florina paused for a moment. "I need some advice. From someone who's... had more experience with... certain... uh..." She bit her lip. "...you know..."

"I really don't," Farina sighed, trying to hide her impatience. "Look, just tell me. It can't be all that bad, and I do want to get to sleep sometime tonight."

Florina turned away. "I'm sorry," she muttered. "This was a mistake. I... I don't even know why I'm thinking about this. I shouldn't..."

"Hey, wait," Farina said, rising from the bed. She put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "You can tell me. Sometimes, it's just better to get things off your chest than to beat about the bush."

Florina sighed. "I'm afraid it's not that simple," she said. "I've never had to deal with this sort of thing before, and I honestly don't know who else to turn to."

"Ohh," Farina said suddenly, a look of realization crossing her face. She drew closer to Florina. "Is it a man?" she asked anxiously.

"What?" Florina cried, taking a step back. "No! I... well..." she lowered her eyes. "Yes, but..."

"I see," Farina said, crossing her arms in front of her. "Hmm. Someone in the army, I assume?

"Yes," Florina said softly. She tried not to meet her sister's gaze.

"Hey, don't worry," Farina said, lifting her sister's head. "We can deal with this."

"You think so?"

"Sure! Just tell me the room he's staying in, I'll grab Fiora, and we'll go teach him a lesson he won't forget." She cracked her knuckles enthusiastically.

Florina sighed. "Farina..."

"I know, I know," the blue-haired knight said, patting Florina on the back. "I'm just kidding." She sat down on the bed again. "But you can deal with this. You've come a long way, Florina. I mean, you spent a year at Castle Caelin surrounded by men, and you came through just fine. Is this one guy really so much more threatening than Kent, Sain, or Wil?"

"No," she confessed. "But at the same time..." she shook her head. "You probably know him. He's-"

"Shh," Farina whispered, holding up her hand. "You don't need to tell me. Besides, it'd ruin the surprise."

Florina have her sister yet another odd look. "Surprise...?"

"It doesn't matter who this guy is," Farina went on, "as long as you care about him. And on this night, I think everyone likes to know somebody cares about them."

"So you're saying... I should just tell him, huh?"

"It's obvious, I know, but it works," Farina said, shrugging. "If you didn't want the direct approach, you should have gone to Fiora with this."

Florina bit her lip. "Fiora... is preoccupied right now. I... I don't want to disturb her."

"Hmm." Farina instantly knew her sister wasn't giving her the whole story, but chose not to press it. "Well, remember what I've told you. You've come a long way, and whoever this guy is, he's lucky to have you fancy him. Make sure he knows that."

Florina nodded. "I will. Thank you, sister."

"Hey, I didn't tell you anything you didn't know already," Farina replied.

Florina thought about it for a moment. "I guess not... but it sounds more believable when someone else says it."

"Just make sure he's good enough for you." She paused for a moment. "I wouldn't complain if he were rich, either."

"Farina..."

"I'm just saying. If this goes anywhere, Fiora and I might have to start negotiating your bride price. Let me see, 400,000 gold? No, that's far too little to take our precious Florina from us..."

"Farina!"

"I'm kidding! I'm kidding!" The blue-haired dame threw her arms up. "Sheesh! Can't anybody take a joke these days?"

Florina tried to suppress her giggling, and failed. "Thank you, sister. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes," Farina replied, "you will. And the day after that, for the victory party."

"Of course," Florina said. She turned and left after flashing one last wave at her sibling.

Farina was right; she hadn't told Florina anything the younger knight hadn't known already. But with her sister's support, she now felt ready to face the daunting task ahead of her.