Chapter 17) Manakete Princess

Kris POV

Grust did its best to halt us, but we managed to push through anyway. Now, with the rest of our army preparing, a small group of us run for the Fane of Raman. We expect a trap, but we have no choice. Without the lightsphere and starsphere, we cannot kill Gharnef. So, we push on, ready, or so we hope.

I hope the trap isn't 'rocks fall, everyone dies' because gods, that would be a shitty way to die.

It had been a long time since I traveled with a group so small, or so it felt. Marth, Caeda, Merric, Julian, Cain, Abel, Bantu, Xane, and me… that was it. It felt like a lot when listed out, but when you were used to hundreds, thousands, of people marching towards one goal… it was small.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Caeda asked me. For the first time in a while, I was flying with her instead of walking on my own two feet or riding with Cain. "Marth's been fretting."

"Yeah, everything is fine," I replied. I tightened my hold on her slightly, to make it less of 'holding on for dear life' and more of a hug, and rested my face against her back. "I'm just thinking through something. I'll talk to him about it soon."

"Do you need help sorting through your thoughts?"

"Mmm… no, actually. Diana gave me a good bit of advice." It amused me, really, that Linde had asked her to talk to me. I hadn't realized Linde had been worried in the first place. "I would've thought her too busy taking care of her charges to talk, but apparently not."

"Okay, if you're certain…"

"If my thoughts start knotting up again, I will come to you. Promise."

"Okay." She didn't sound quite like she agreed, but at least she understood. "So, how are things with Cain~?"

"Oh, come on!" I groaned, thanking everything that her armor and the need to actually look forward kept her from noticing my blush. "Really?"

"I am getting revenge!" She laughed evilly, and it was a surprisingly good one. "Revenge!"

"Ugh…" I sighed, and resting my head against her again. "Nothing."

"Hmm?"

"You asked how things were going. That's the answer. Nothing." With everything going on, including my personal issue of 'holy hell, I am technically royalty' and the whole 'march on Grust' thing, Cain and I hadn't really talked much. "There's too much else to focus on. The war is really starting to build and Cain's either training or in meetings constantly."

"And you had the perfect excuse to spend time with him, namely riding with him, and you didn't take it?"

"Well, the two of us could try to figure out personal issues, or we could focus on the very important mission we're on. Knowing both Cain and me, it would be the latter, and we wouldn't say a word." So, we'd just be sitting there, awkwardly, not addressing the problem because things were far too serious. The end of this war was in sight. "It's not like with you and Marth, where you've been flirting for two, two and a half years."

"We have not been flirting that long!"

"I recall a certain festival on Talys where-"

"He doesn't know about that!"

"And there was the constant gifts, including the diadem he keeps on al-"

"Don't make more of that than it is!" She huffed, and glared at me over her shoulder. "Wait, how did we switch from teasing you to teasing me?"

"You are way easier to tease." I smiled innocently and she rolled her eyes. "Anyway, what else was…?" I trailed off as I caught sight of ruins, strangely intact considering how old they supposedly were. Actually, it stood out as almost unnatural how good of condition it was in. "Think that's it?"

"Hmm?" She looked down, and her playful annoyance disappeared for seriousness again. "Yes, it must be. We should land."

"There's an open area a bit to our right, it looks like. It's right by the trees."

"Thanks."

Caeda landed and we both dismounted and waited for the others to catch up while prepping our weapons and checking our armor, just in case. When they did, we all agreed to tie the mounts up somewhere away from the entrance, to make sure we had an easy escape route if it came down to it. Then, after checking on everything one more time, we walked inside the Fane of Raman.

Gold. Gold was the first thing I noticed. Golden scales and golden eyes sparkled in front of a molding throne in the back, and wings stretched out almost like a bird's, with feather like growths extending from it, if they weren't outright feathers. Distantly, I realized that I was looking at a dragon, but it looked softer, gentler, than the fire dragons and the mage dragon. But it was also majestic, its very being inspiring awe. Of course, no amount of awe changed the fact that the dragon was trying to kill us, but hey, at least it looked good doing it?

All of us dove to the sides, barely avoiding the blast of white-blue… at first, I thought it fire, but then I realized it was just light. It was just light, but the stone floor cracked as it washed over it. The remnants of a cape nearly made my heart stop, but then I saw Marth on the other side of the entrance way than me, his normal cape ripped off as Caeda held him protectively in her arms. I almost ran towards them, but another blast of white-blue light stopped me, and so, instead, I ran for a pillar to hide behind and only then decide to try and assess the situation.

"What sort of dragon is that?" I asked, breathing heavily. Already, our group was scattered. Somehow, I ended up with Bantu and Xane. "Holy…"

"Well, 'holy' is pretty close?" Xane joked. He frowned as he peered around the pillar we were huddled behind and jerked back as another blast of white-blue light whipped past. "Divine dragon."

"Pardon?"

"That's the kind of dragon. Divine." He gave Bantu a dirty look. "This is why we don't let her leave, you know!"

"All you are teaching her is to fear herself and the world," Bantu immediately retorted. He even glowered, which surprised me. "She is too young to understand."

"And now looks what we're dealing with!" Xane snapped. He groaned, facepalming. "Ugh… Naga would kill us if she was alive."

"Naga only sealed her away because she was dying."

"And because she could destroy everything. Which Gharnef is trying-"

"No, Gharnef wouldn't. He wouldn't risk losing control of a potential weapon."

"Can you two argue after we've dealt with the dragon trying to eat us?" I deadpanned, unable to help it. Both jumped at my word, showing they'd forgotten I was here. "I would like to get out of here without almost losing another arm, thank you very much!" I held up my scarred arm for emphasis. "And, you know, with minimal deaths!"

"Well, there are some pillars, and thankfully, she's young, so she actually doesn't know much about how to fight," Xane replied. He peered out again, and nodded. "Bantu, you figure out something." His appearance blurred, and then he looked like Marth, though Marth never wore such a cheerful smile. "Decoy time!"

"Wait, what?!" I tried to snag him when he ran out, but didn't make it in time. "Xane!"

"He will be fine," Bantu whispered. He rested a reassuring hand on my back. "He knows how to fight divine dragons. He was once one, long ago. By playing decoy, he can reach the others and come up with a plan to distract her."

"He could also die," I snapped. Still, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I knew there was nothing I could do at this point. "Well, he said for you to figure out something."

"I need to reach her."

"So, I need to sneak you around? Okay, then." I pinched the bridge of my nose, hating everything. "We should've brought Lena. We should've brought her warp staff."

"Sadly, hindsight is perfect, but foresight is nothing more than a guess."

"Right, of course." I stiffened when I saw movement, and saw Cain and Abel lunge forward shields up, right as the dragon tried to attack again. To my surprise, the shields buckled, but deflected the breath enough for the others to dart forward to another, more secure, pillar. Cain and Abel's gauntlets, though, also cracked, and blood splattered the stone tiles as they ducked behind a different pillar. The blood was soon vaporized by another wave of white-blue light.

"Child, we must move. They cannot last long."

"Right." I turned away, biting my lip hard enough to bleed. I was deathly worried, but the only way I could help right now was… "Follow me."

I kept to the shadows, holding onto Bantu's hand. He was much slower than me, so we had to move very, very slowly. It grated on my nerves, but I made myself fall into the mindset of 'working the roofs'. You had to move slow when you were walking along the roofs of houses, because one misstep led to either capture or death. You had to keep to the shadows and pick the timing carefully. It was just the same here, and I let that mindset keep me calm. I let looking for shadows and safe places to hide distract me from the others. They would be fine. I had my own job.

It was amazing, the power radiating off this dragon. It almost hurt to breathe as I got close. But it wasn't impossible, and so, I got Bantu right next to the dragon and brought up my weapons, waiting for the next move. But, to my surprise, Bantu simply walked right up to the thing, perfectly calm and unafraid. "Tiki?" he called, resting his hand on the dragon's scales. The dragon growled, blue light-flames flickering around their teeth. "Ah, I see. Gharnef has you under a mind-control spell. Easy, easy." Flames blossomed on his fingertips and he whispered something in a language I couldn't understand, but felt old. Each word was like a thud on the chest and I almost had to check to make sure someone wasn't punching me. "Peace. Awaken."

The dragon shook its head a few times and blinked slowly, looking around in what almost looked like confusion. A light surrounded its form and it shrank down to a tiny girl, who looked maybe around ten years old at most, with long green hair in a ponytail, a strange headdress-crown, and pointed ears. She yawned, and rubbed at her eye, still looking around in confusion.

But, finally, she looked up at Bantu and smiled. "Oh, there you are, Ban-Ban," she whispered. She yawned again and walked over to hug him. "Where have you been? I had an awful nightmare…"

"I've been looking for you, dear child," Bantu replied. He patted her head and smiled gently at her. "I'm sorry for letting us be separated. But things will be better now."

"Promise?" She sulked. "You have to promise, Ban-Ban. I hate being alone."

"Of course, child. Of course."

"Um…" I began, not quite knowing what to do. Tiki immediately hid behind Bantu as he turned to face me. "This is…?"

"Ah, yes," he murmured, nodding. "This is Tiki, princess of the Divine Dragons, daughter of Naga." He nudged Tiki forward when she smiled shyly at me. "Go on."

"Um… hello," she whispered. She stepped out and bowed to me. "It's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too?" I replied, still not sure what to do. A horrible thought of 'were the other dragons little kids' crept into my head, but I threw it to the side, mostly because I didn't want to deal with that. "What were you doing here?"

"Playing." She frowned. "Then someone said 'make sure the bad people stay out' and then I was here."

"Is everything okay?" Marth walked up then, not even wearing the tattered remains of his cape. He had a few scrapes, and his arm was bandaged, with blood seeping through, but on the whole, he looked okay. "It… looks like it," he continued, looking around curiously. I glanced behind him to see the others tending to their injuries, and then looked around to make sure there were no other traps. Xane, back in his normal form, caught my eye and winked, so I assumed that this was the extent. "This little girl is…?"

"She's the dragon that almost killed us, pretty boy," I answered quietly. This was too much for me. This was a little too much for me. "A little girl almost erased us from existence. Her name is Tiki."

"Really?" He looked back at Tiki, who was back to yawning and sleepily rubbing her eyes, while Bantu fussed over her. "What the…?"

"Yeah. I think that was the trap. We had a powerful dragon blocking us, and then our morale would be shaken if we killed it because, look, cute little girl." I was so done today. We had a long battle with the Grustian soldiers, and then we had this. No. I was done. "So, anyway, how is everyone and…?"

"Hello!" Tiki jumped over to Marth, peering up at him curiously. "Ban-Ban says you're nice," she declared. Marth and I exchanged 'dear gods, help me' looks. It had been a long day, and the whole 'little girl nearly killed us and if we didn't have Bantu, we would've had to kill a little girl' thing was… yeah… "I'm Tiki!"

"My name is Marth," Marth replied automatically. He glanced back, and I thought he might've been looking for Caeda, but Caeda was helping bandage up Cain's arm. Abel's was being bandaged by Xane. I didn't see Julian, but I did see a side door open, so I hoped he was just there. Marth wasn't upset enough for someone to be badly hurt, or dead. "It's very nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too!" She smiled sweetly. "Hey, can I come with you? Please?"

"I… sure? If you want?"

"Yay!" She laughed and hugged him. "Thank you, Mar-Mar!"

"Mar-Mar?!"

That was about the point I decided that I couldn't handle anymore whiplash and thus, I left Marth to get teased by Tiki. Instead, I went to help Julian hunt for the orbs, and it was a good thing, since there were a lot of chests. It took quite a few lockpicks between us to get them all open, both because of how many there were and how complex the locks were, but it was worth it. Raiding old vaults yielded nice hauls, clearly.

"Tome, weapon, money," Julian listed off, setting them to the side as he pulled them out. We were both set up in a side room, sorting through everything. "Tome, weapon, money. Money, weapon, tome. Weapon, money, tome."

"Why would the dragons have so many weapons, tomes, and gold?" I asked, not bothering with 'sorting', so much as 'shifting'. I grinned triumphantly as I pulled out a white orb. "Sphere!"

"Sphere! One down!" Julian took it from me and set it carefully to the side. When it started to roll, he snatched it back up and took off his cloak, pooling it into a pile before setting it down again. "This chest has… oh, look, more money."

"Why so much money?" Finished with that pile, I moved to the next. "Why?"

"Let's think of it as war reparations?"

"Yeah, sure." I laughed as I found another gem, but it faltered when I saw it. "Green."

"Hmm?"

"I found another sphere, but it's green." When you thought of 'lightsphere' or 'starsphere', you didn't really think of the color green. "Well, it could still be it. Here." I passed it over to him and continued hunting. Before long, though, I found a third sphere, a sparkling blue one. "Another one."

"There's three?!"

"Apparently." I sighed and sat back, studying it. "Still, if I had to guess, I'd say this is a starry sphere. It's got sparklies."

"I wonder how much these would sell for."

"That's…" I almost wanted to scold, but as I set it down with the other two, I had to wonder too. "Hmm… they're good quality gems, and you could pass them off as some fancy cut shit, so…"

"Let's get them out before our thieving nature overrides our common sense!" Julian laughed and, after a moment, I laughed too. "Here, I'll present these to Prince Marth."

"Sounds good to me." I sat down and leaned against the wall. It was blessedly cool. "Ugh…"

"Today's been way too long. I'm not even surprised by anything." He scooped up the gems and walked out, calling out to the others that he and I had been successful.

I closed my eyes and half-thought about going to sleep. I might have except just seconds after Julian left someone poked my cheek. I opened my eyes to see it was Tiki, looking at me curiously. "Do you need something?" I asked, doing my best to be polite. She was just a little kid, after all. She was only about Maria's age. "I was resting."

"I'm sorry," she replied. She crouched next to me, still eyeing my curiously. "Nickname… nickname… Krissy?"

"Pardon?" I gave her a weird look before realizing something. "Wait, you want to give me a nickname?"

"Yes!" She smiled warmly. "Please?"

"I… er… well…" I had no idea how to deal with children. I really didn't. I wasn't Diana. I wished we had dragged her with us. "Sure, you can, but not Krissy." I desperately tried to think of something, and decided to go with something I knew no one else would say. "What about Tina?"

"Tina?" She frowned in confusion. "How does one get 'Tina' from 'Kris'?"

"Well, Kris is actually already a nickname, Tiki. My full name is 'Kristina'."

"Ooohhh, so 'Tina' from 'Kristina'." She smiled again, eyes lighting up. "And I can call you that? Just me?"

"Just you."

"Yay!" She laughed, hugging me. "Thank you, Tina!"

Oh, gods, what were we getting ourselves into?

Thank everything holy that when we returned with another kid, everyone's reaction was simply 'grab Diana' and, even better, Diana's reaction to her was simply to help take care of her, same as Yuliya and Jubelo. Not even the whole 'hey, she transforms into a dragon' thing threw her off. She did recruit Bantu, Minerva, and Caeda to assist, but honestly, it was such a relief.

"She's so adorable that I think I might throw up," I deadpanned hours later. The sun was finally setting, and Marth and I were watching it from the roof of the fort, taking a much needed break. "Sorry, that was probably a bit much."

"I think it's because she's the most cheerful one of the entire army," Marth laughed. He rested his arms against the outer wall of the roof, or whatever it was actually called. "Not even Maria is quite so cheerful."

"True. We're a rather dour bunch in comparison." We had our bits of laughter and everything, but… "Ugh… I'll feel better about her in the morning. I'm too tired."

"You're not good with children, are you?"

"On the streets, everyone was a rival, even little kids." I also wasn't used to someone who thought the world was just plain awesome. "I'll get used to her. Something tells me she's going to attach herself to me."

"Nickname?"

"Nickname."

"Ah, well." He laughed, and relaxed a little. His smile faded as he looked out to the horizon, past the bridge. Grust was well within sight. "We'll be marching on Grust soon. Invading soon."

"We are."

"Nyna said she wants to tell me something as we march. I wonder what."

"She does?" I thought for a bit and then wondered if Nyna was going to tell Marth about Camus. "Hmm… I think I know what it is."

"You do?"

"Diana and I talk, sometimes, and I kind of got dragged into things by accident." I smiled at him. "If it's what I think it is, then her telling you is a great show of trust."

"Ah, then I shall definitely wait patiently. But speaking of patient, you've been off a bit." He smiled kindly at me. "Are you up for talking about it? Is it Cain?"

"How do you even know about that?!" I groaned and he laughed. "Anyway, no, it's not, and if you try to tease, I will retaliate, and I have way more ammunition."

"Fine, fine, but do you want to tell or would you like to keep quiet a while longer?"

"Well…" I hesitated. Speaking it aloud would make it all real. But running away wasn't going to solve anything. "Jagan… he told me a bit about my mother, back in Altea." I took a deep breath and looked at him. "She was your father's half-sibling. We're cousins."

"…We're what?"

"Yeah, I know. That was my reaction too." Somehow, the fact that he was just as stunned made me feel a thousand times better. "So, that's what's been bugging me."

"I… yeah, that'll… that'll do it." He stared at me for a moment longer before laughing. "That is… it sounds like a tale!"

"The only thing that would make it more of a tale is if I was the heir or that I wielded the special weapon!" I began laughing too. It really was ridiculous. "Ah, I feel better."

"I'm glad, because I'm in shock!" Still, he continued to laugh. "So, what do you want to do about it?"

"Well, I know I don't want to have anything officially acknowledged. I don't want to be a princess. I want to be the mage knight, the former thief." I looked up at the sky, smiling as I latched onto 'who I wanted to be'. Once I focused on that, I felt like I wasn't flailing. I wasn't drowning. I had my anchor. I was still lost, but I could find my way. "I want to be your knight, your right hand, your confidant. And I could be all those things, and a princess I suppose, but…"

"I get it." He smiled at me, eyes sparkling. "Okay. Then we'll keep this between us for now, and quietly tell those we both trust. We won't announce it ever. It might become an open secret, in time, but that's okay, isn't it?"

"…Yeah. It is." I grinned at him. "But now you're really stuck with me, pretty boy!"

"I think it's more accurate to say you're stuck with me!" He laughed and pulled me into a hug. "I'm not inclined to let family go."

"Right." I poked his cheek and he made a face. "Shall we head inside and start planning for the Grust Invasion? We need to work out how we're going to do that without completely traumatizing Yuliya and Jubelo."

"Very true." His cheer faded a bit, replaced by determination, but his eyes shone as he nodded. "Okay. Hardin. Let's start with Hardin."

"Off we go!" However, as we walked inside, there was something I realized. "Actually, you get a head start. I need to talk to Diana."

"About…?"

"Well, I need to thank her, for one. It was her advice that helped me gather my thoughts enough to tell you." I skipped away a bit and smiled. That was true. I wasn't lying. "I'll catch up later."

Not waiting for an answer, I raced down the hall, hunting for Diana. To my surprise, she wasn't in her room, or Nyna's room, or Yuliya and Jubelo's room. Instead, she was in a small study tucked far away from everything, quietly sewing something at a table, using candles as her light. I thought she might've been mending, at first, but then I noticed there was too much cloth for that. She was actually making something this time, and though it was clearly not done, it looked like it would be a pretty, if simple, dress.

"Ah, hello, Kris," she greeted, barely looking up. She continued sewing, quietly content. "What do you need?"

"It's not exactly what I need," I began. I caught her eye, and waited for her to look up again before continuing. "We're heading into Grust. That means Camus. Do you have a plan?"

"I have ideas." She smiled slowly, gratefully, and still continued to sew. "Are you offering me your assistance?"

"Why I'm here." I sat down at the table and grinned. "So, what are your ideas for dealing with Camus? I'll help you turn it into a plan."

"I'm thankful for the help, but I'm surprised you're so eager at it."

"He annoyed me, so I want to mess up his plans." I shrugged and she burst into laugther. "Besides, neutralizing him is going to be strategically important, and if we can, you know, bring him on our side, that's a lot more soldiers? And Nyna is apparently going to tell Marth about Camus."

"She is. She was practicing earlier."

"See? So, I know my softhearted lovable prince will want to desperately save him for her sake. And if he fails, he'll be miserable. Thus, I have many reasons to be enthusiastic." My grin grew and she laughed, conceding the point. "So. Ideas. Time to turn them into a plan. You getting more people into this?"

"Depends on the tentative plan." Her own smile grew and, to my surprise, her sewing never faltered, not even once. "Again, thanks for this."

"It's in my best interests too. So…~?"

"Yes, yes, give me… ah, two or three more stitches before I tie this off."

"Sure." This was going to be fun. "Let's do this."

Notes on Etzel:

A former student of Khadein who got caught up in the war when Gra betrayed Altea. Lost his wife to the conflict.

The slowest of our magic users, but he's got much better defensive capabilities. He helps Wendell teach Merric and Linde how to use staves and magic.

Quiet and keeps to himself, often fiddling with his wife's wedding ring.

Notes on Est:

The youngest of the Whitewing Captains, with little direct combat capabilities. Chatty and energetic.

Her true skill lies in scouting and infiltration, but if she gets caught in a fight, she'll likely be defeated, or captured. Still, she has quite a bit of potential, if she gains the experience.

Likely because of an earlier encounter, she spends a lot of time with Abel, and Abel seems to enjoy her company.

Notes on Tiki:

Princess of the Divine Dragons, born 500 years prior to the start of the Archanean Calendar. Considering it's the year 605, that makes her 1105 years old. She acts like she's ten, at most.

She's a dragon. She transforms into a dragon. She doesn't have a lot of stamina, so she does need a guard for when she's not transformed, but so long as she has her dragonstone in hand…

According to both Bantu and Xane, she actually has tremendous power, but can't utilize it effectively due to her young age. If she loses control, she could wipe out all life on Archanea. Hard to believe, especially if you watch her stuff her face full of Caeda's cookies, but they seem to be quite serious.

Author's note: And now we have our cute little girl who annihilates everything, Tiki. Yeah, she can only be recruited by Bantu, the character that you've likely forgotten about by this point and will have to baby to survive. In game, there's more enemies, including thieves who can steal the plot important lightsphere and starsphere and take them away, making it impossible for you to create Starlight.

In game, the lightsphere appears more orange, but in Awakening, it's colored white (and is called 'Argent'). The Geosphere (called Vert in Awakening) has no plot importance in this game, and will damage all units on the field (enemy and ally) for 13 points. For reasons unknown, the DS remakes switched the colors of the Geosphere and the Starsphere. (The Starphere is the 'Azure' gem in Awakening)

Tiki's age is roughly guessed based off some supplementary material.

Next Chapter – Camus the Sable