"Oyi mate, wake up"

Lark opens his eyes to see Flare all packed up already.

"Guess action is a bit much for those who don't fight." Flare looks out to the door that has been boarded from the damage the bandits had done to it. "Those bandits will probably be back to ambush us harder. We should move to a new location. So what are you doing in Ilia and where are you heading too?"

"… I need to deliver a message to a noble in Lycia. It was my father's wish. It's contained in this letter I hold." Lark holds up a letter.

"Lycia you say? Which territory? I need to make a trip to Ostia as it is. Overdue for a visit."

"I need to go to Pheare. If we traverse from Etruria, we'll end up in Ostia. Sacae doesn't sound like the ideal way to go, and I don't want to be anywhere near Bern. I'll be able to make it alone the rest of the way from Ostia."

"I agree with staying away from Bern. We're pretty close to Edessa, so it's still a far travel to Remi. I'd like to wait for my mother to return, but she's on a Pegasus, she'll catch up in no time." Flare hands a knapsack to Lark "Take these provisions. There should be a coat in there as well to shield you from the cold. Luckily it's not a blizzard for now, so we can travel to the nearest town." Flare removes the board the door. "Let's go, Lark"

Flare and Lark exit the cabin and proceed west. The plan is to head to Carrhae to get more supplies. However, shortly after their depart…

"Boss, that's dem! They the ones who killed our brothers!"

"Don't sound so excited runt, don't forget who turned his coat to save his own hide instead of helping his brothers!" the boss said angrily at this his underling. "Surround them up!"

The bandits start rushing through the snowy forest.

"Flare, we're being surrounded." Lark said to Flare, somewhat panicked.

"Not exactly the most ideal situation but guerilla warfare isn't that hard when you are a small number but…" Flare looks at Lark "I don't know how well I'd be able to keep you out of harm's way alone against... however many there will be."

"Biiiiiiiiiiiig brotheeeeeeeeer!"

Sound of two pairs of Pegasus wings are heard flapping and get closer to Flare and Lark.

"Oh… well, what a lovely way to get reinforcements." Flare gave a sigh of relief.

"Brother! You should stop picking on the bandits! They're people too!" the young Pegasus knight said. Behind her was another Pegasus knight.

"You really are troublesome, Flare. You should try to not be so reckless."

"Oyi, Lark, these here are my cousins, Anna and Adia. Adia is the stiff one, that's how you tell them apart."

"We are the twin Pegasus knight sisters!" They said in unison, "Ohh brother, why do you always have to call us cousins! We aren't that far apart!" Anna had to add.

"Sibling talk can wait, we got to clear these bandits! Oyi Lark, think of a good plan now!"

"I'm on it…hmmm" Lark goes deep in thought "Ok, I got a plan, based on what I perceived as they surrounded us. They should be going for a pincer attack. It's going to be a problem with axe users, as all 3 of you don't really like facing them…"

"I'll use the terrain to my advantage! Anna, Adia, you two should double team a single bandit at a time!" Flare said out.

"Bandits are no match for refined pegasus knights!" Adia said not to be belittled.

"She's right, Flare! Bandits have no form! They can't aim properly like a fighter!" Anna said to back up her sister.

"You'll need to have more faith in them, Flare!" Lark said back "Here they come!"

4 bandits walk out into the open, the boss among them starts to speak "You curs are gonna die! And you even brought women for us!"

"You bandits are all the same…" Flare sighs shaking his head.

"Go Flare! Adia, Anna! Attack from above from the side!" Lark commanded.

Flare dashes into the midst of the bandits as they all rush in, halberd in hand. He then jams the head of his halberd into the ground and pole vaults on top of one of the bandits and quickly dislodges his halberd out of the ground to chop him.

"Now your back is open, you fool!" one of the bandits behind him said arcing his arm back to swing his axe, but then he gets stabbed from behind.

"Maybe you should watch YOUR back!" Anna said triumphantly.

"Hurr.. I shouldn't hurt the merchandise.."

Adia quick gives a slap to the face with her lance to the bandit followed up with thrust, lodging her lance into the bandit. She finishes it up with a kick to knock the bandit off her lance dead. With that, only the boss remained who is stepping back slowly in disbelief at what happened.

"Uhh.. uh.." the boss starts panicking after grasping how quickly his brothers went down "I shoulda listened when they said Ilia was a horrible place to be a bandit! Uwaaaaa!" he makes a run for it.

"Coward!" Flare said throwing his halberd at him. The halberd flies squarely into the bandit's back "So predictable."

"Bandits are no match for Ilia's mercenaries!" Adia said getting off her Pegasus.

"So brother! Who this is guy? He did have a good plan back there… so I guess that means he's a strategist?" Anna said pondering aloud.

"Yea, that's what he is. This guy collapsed cause of the cold, so I'm escorting him to Lycia."

"Lycia? Oh! Oh! I want to visit sister Lilina!" Anna said joyfully.

"We don't even see her much and you call her your sister?" Flare sighs some more "But yea, it wouldn't be bad to give a visit to our dear cousin."

"Small world?" Lark asked.

"Small indeed" an unknown voice said.

"Eh! You caught up!" Flare said turning around "Mother!"

"I was expecting you to get farther than this! What…" she pauses to look around "oh I see now, bandits… When will they learn" Flare's mother said as her Pegasus walked up to them "Also, what are you two doing here, Adia, Anna?"

"We heard you guys were visiting! How could we stay put?" Anna said frowning "We haven't seen you in ages!"

"Your length of ages needs reevaluating" Farina said "You girls snuck out to Badon last year! You two and Aaria were so crazy thinking that 3 girls could travel from Ilia to Badon without much trouble... What if you ran into soliders?"

"Aunt Farina, you'll have to forgive us, we simply couldn't contain ourselves. Punishment is-"

"Oh stop Adia! Talking like your parents is just bringing back the memories of how both of them would chastise me." Farina gives an unpleasant look "So who is this guy?" Farina takes a look at Lark.

"This is Lark, I found unconscious from the cold, so I took him in. Turns out he's got a letter to deliver to Pherae."

"Well we can accompany you up to Ostia, after that you'd have to pay us." Farina said, bluntly.

"You never let a financial gain situation slip past you." Adia said.

"I'll have to think about it, I never know I might actually need it." Flare said considering his options

"Hmm for the beauty core here and Flare we'd have to charge around seventy thou-" Flare cuts off Farina.

"Don't be ridiculous charging a war fee. Besides, Lark is a strategist, so he would know our rates as mercenaries."

"I managed to be bought for 20,000 back in my day!" Farina boasted.

"We can talk about your glory days on the way, Aunt Farina. We should really depart back to our house in Carrhae." Adia said firmly.

"Yea, I agree, lets head there" Flare said "let's go, Lark!"

So if it wasn't obvious now, the main character's parents are Dart and Farina, those two are my favorite pairing in FE7. Sadly they are the 2 most expensive units too =_= so I don't get to rely on them in HHM, sadly I won't even get to use my first HHM MVP couple which made me sad but the story was so much better with another pairing I thought of. But I'm rambling now