Author's note: also shorter than I would have liked, but I'm getting there, I promise. Hang in there and review once it gets worth it...

Disclaimer: I don't own the Fire Emblem stuff

...

Sothe couldn't help it — every time he saw that bridge between Daein and Crimea, his hand would stray to the hilt of his knife. He forced the movement to stop, though, as he had every time in the past six years.

Micaiah noticed, though. She leaned her head toward him and murmured, "Are you alright?"

Sothe grasped her hand briefly. "I'm fine," he assured her. "Just bad memories at this place."

She nodded slightly. They all had them after the war — or wars, in cases like Sothe's. Places and people that were almost too painful to be around, because of the memories they dragged to the surface. Sothe fought down the urge to shake his head, to try and throw the blood-soaked memories off like a dog would shake off water.

A usual annoyance became a welcome distraction, though. "Hey, Micaiah!" they heard Edward call. Both of them turned to glance at the red-clad swordsman as he sprinted toward them. Even a march to the capital of Crimea didn't dampen the boy's energy. That was part of the reason Sothe couldn't help but still think of Edward as a boy, even though he was twenty now.

"What is it?" Micaiah asked him.

Edward pointed skyward. "We have visitors."

Micaiah looked up. Then she smiled. "Ah." She waved, and two figures — one white, one black, both with wings spread — spiraled gracefully from the sky to land in front of her.

"Queen Daein." The one-time raven king bowed slightly. His wife Leanne was less formal, and skipped forward to give Micaiah a hug. Leanne had formed close friendships will all the female rulers in Tellius, and had been one of the first to forgive Micaiah after the last war: after all, she could see into people's hearts, too. The girls had become friends during the long march to the Tower of Guidance, where Micaiah's understanding of the ancient language had let her help the heron girl learn the modern speech.

Sothe brought his mind back to the present, which was more pleasant but just as confusing to him as that march against the goddess had been. He hadn't really cared about all the internal struggles in that war, just like he didn't really care about Kurth's mysterious request now that had them all en route to Melior for a meeting — he was just here because of Micaiah. She still hadn't said what the meeting was for, and Sothe hadn't asked, because by now he doubted that she really knew; but, she went, and he followed.

"I see you also received the dragon king's letter," Naesala noted.

Micaiah nodded. "Do you know who else is coming?" she asked him. If anyone would know besides the man who sent the letter, Sothe thought, it would be this particular raven.

Naesala tilted his head slightly to the side. "All the heroes of the Judgment War were summoned," he revealed. Micaiah's eyebrows went up. "Though not all of them are coming, so I hear," Naesala went on. "You've even left some people in Daein, haven't you?"

"Pelleas and Tauroneo are taking care of affairs for me," Micaiah said. "And Laura has too many children to watch over now, and Aran stays with her. Everyone else has come." She gazed at him thoughtfully. "And do you have any idea what the purpose of this meeting is? I've never known Kurth to be so vague."

"I've heard a few things," Naesala admitted. "Just rumors, really, but the rumors I hear have an odd tendency to be true…"

"So, according to your rumors, what is going on?" Micaiah asked again.

"Well, only a fool says he knows for sure," Naesala replied with a twist of a smile, stretching languidly and lacing his hands behind his head. "But the word on the wind is that Ike has returned."