Author's Notes: I honestly didn't intend to stay away from this story for as long as I didn't, but I just didn't have the mojo to work on it. I really appreciate you guys sticking with me and I hope this chapter makes up for the wait!
It was slow-going, but Garland, Riven, and Phoenix were slowly beginning to adjust to life with the Greil Mercenaries. The villagers hadn't been too happy that Ike had decided to let them live, but he was able to talk them down after reminding them that the mercenaries had been hired to simply stop the trio from raiding the village, not to kill them on sight. The three had a difficult time opening up to the other members of the group at first, but they were slowly and surely coming out of their shells. Phoenix in particular had warmed to some of the others fairly quickly; due to their similar personalities and glad to finally have someone to train with, he formed a fast friendship with Mia. Riven and Garland were more reserved, but their interactions with the others were growing steadily warmer as well.
Much to their surprise, the other mercenaries had also noticed that Soren had taken to spending time with the newcomers. He was still fairly quiet and reserved but he seemed more at ease around the three of them than with any of the other mercenaries besides Ike.
"I think it's adorable that those three have adopted Soren," Mist commented to Ike one day as she watched them. Soren was sitting underneath one of the large trees at the base, looking over a piece of parchment. Riven sat quietly next to him while Garland lay stretched out on her back in the shade and Phoenix trained with Mia a distance away.
"I think Soren was the one that adopted them," Ike replied. "But I get what you mean. It's nice that he's starting to let people in."
"Why them, though?" Mist wondered. "Soren's never warmed up to new recruits before and certainly not as quickly as he did to them."
"I'm not really sure how to explain it, but the four of them have a lot in common," Ike reasoned.
"Maybe, but I still wish they'd be more open with the rest of us," Mist said.
"Just give them some time," Ike replied. "Soren's made a lot of progress since the Mad King's War, and Garland, Riven, and Phoenix will get there soon enough. I'm not sure how long they were traveling together, but I know that it was just the three of them for a really long time. It makes sense that they'd have a hard time adjusting at first, but we just have to be patient."
Mist shrugged. "I guess you're right. I just wish I knew more about them."
"I know this is a rude question, but do the three of you happen to know the circumstances of your births?" Soren asked as he looked over the inventory.
"What, you mean our laguz parentage?" Garland replied as she rolled onto her stomach to face Soren and Riven. "Phoenix is the only one that knows his with certainty, but Riv and I have some theories about ours."
"I'd be interested in hearing them, if you don't mind," Soren said.
"Phoenix's father was a member of the Cat tribe," Riven explained. "Out of the three of us, he was the only one that had a truly loving relationship with his parents. It was because of that love that he chose to leave them once he was old enough to understand what his Brand was; he didn't want to cause them any more trouble because of what he was. My parents abandoned me once my Brand manifested itself. They were both Beorc, though, so I can only assume that the Beorc/Laguz coupling happened in a previous generation. Obviously, I never had the chance to ask them about my ancestry but-" He paused to pull his shirt up, revealing a Brand on his side. "since my Brand looks similar to Phoenix's, we think I've got some Beast tribe blood in me as well; most likely Tiger, but I'll probably never know for sure."
Soren nodded before turning his red orbs toward Garland. "What's your story?"
Garland shrugged. "I never knew my birth parents. An old woman named Sophia raised me; I'm not entirely sure if we were related somehow or if she was just a friend of one of my parents. She was the one who explained what my Brand was and warned me to always keep it hidden. I struck out on my own after she passed away and I eventually ran into Riv and Phoenix. Based on our theories about Branded marks, since mine looks nothing like either of theirs, I probably don't have any Beast blood in me. If we were putting money on it, I'd guess my Laguz ancestor was a member of one of the Bird tribes, most likely a Raven."
"What makes you so sure it's a member of the Bird tribes?" Soren asked. "You could be part Dragon."
Garland snorted. "I doubt it. I can't imagine there are many, if any, Dragon-Branded out there given how isolated Goldoa is. Besides, all these theories are assuming we're right about Brands looking similar among certain tribes. I'm just assuming I'm part Raven because the lady who raised me lived near coastal Begnion." She sighed before turning her gaze toward Soren. "What about you?"
"Not much to tell, I'm afraid," Soren replied. "Like you, I have no idea who my birth parents are, assuming they're still alive. The circumstances that I was raised in were...less than ideal. And that's all I'm going to say about it."
"Fair enough," Riven said before standing up and stretching. "Well, I think I'm going to follow Phoenix's example and train a bit myself. I'll see you guys at dinner."
Riven was in the middle of practicing with his hand axe when he heard a voice call out to him. He turned around to see Boyd walking toward him, his axe slung over his shoulder.
"Mind if I train with you?" the green-haired mercenary asked. "Titania's been riding me all day about slacking off."
Riven shrugged before turning back and picking his hand axe up again. "It's fine with me."
The pair trained in silence for a while before Boyd spoke up again. "So how have you guys been liking it here? I wanted to ask earlier, but I haven't had many chances to talk to any of you yet."
"It's been an adjustment, that's for sure," Riven replied. "Going from just the three of us to a whole mercenary group has taken some getting used to." He sighed before tossing his axe again. "I'm happy, though. And I know Phoenix and Boss are, too. Phoenix loves being around other people and I know Boss was more than happy to hand leadership over to Commander Ike."
"Yeah, I kinda got the feeling that she was the ringleader when Ike brought you guys in," Boyd commented. "Why did she choose to be the leader if she hated it so much?"
"Phoenix and I have a bad habit of not sweating the small stuff and when you're a bunch of drifters, like the three of us were, you need someone with you who does," Riven replied. "If she had been with us when Ike stumbled across us, I know we wouldn't have been caught. She wouldn't have let us get caught."
"Sounds like you've got a lot of faith in her," Boyd observed. "How long had you all been traveling together?"
Riven let out a long breath. "Feels like forever. I can't remember exactly how many years Boss and I traveled together, but I remember Phoenix didn't join up with us until about three years ago. We all watched each other's backs and we ended up getting close pretty quickly. We butt heads occasionally but we'll always be thick as thieves." He sent Boyd a small smile. "Not unlike you and your brothers, I'd imagine."
Boyd smiled back. "Yeah. I don't always appreciate Oscar's sarcasm and Rolf can be an irritating little booger sometimes, but they're family. The entire company is." He paused for a moment before speaking again, trying his best to weigh his words carefully. "Since you three are part of the company now, that means you're all family too. I know it won't happen overnight, but hopefully you three will come to see us that way too in time."
Riven turned to face Boyd, studying his face for a long moment as if trying to detect any insincerity, before smiling again. "Thanks for that. I know we aren't the best at showing it, but we're grateful to you all."
Boyd nodded. "And, uh, if you aren't too opposed to it or anything...maybe we could train together more often? I can't tell you how excited I was when I learned there was another axe user joining the company."
Riven chuckled. "I'd like that."
Garland stood at the top of a grassy hill a short distance away from the Greil Mercenaries' fort. The hill overlooked a large open field with a wooded area toward the far end and a few trees throughout the field. She'd stumbled upon this place while exploring the area around the fort and, after inspecting it, found it to be an ideal place to practice with her bow; the trees provided excellent target practice and the size of the field allowed her to work on the distance of her shots. It was also a nice place for her to escape and be alone with her thoughts for a while.
"Umm...Garland?" a small voice asked as Garland fired off another arrow.
The bluenette turned around to see Rolf standing behind her, bow in hand. "Hey, Rolf. Everything okay?"
"Yeah," the boy answered. "I'm sorry to bother you but I got worried when I saw you leave; it's not safe to out here all by yourself. Not that I'm doubting your abilities or anything, but it's pretty easy for an archer to get overwhelmed if they don't have some backup." He glanced out toward the field. "I can see why you wanted to come out here, though. This is a pretty nice practice field you found."
Garland smiled. "I know, right. I was hoping to work on my distance a bit. I didn't mean to make you worry, though, so I'm sorry about that. I appreciate the concern, honestly I do, but trust me when I say it's not that I have no problem running away if I think a situation calls for it."
A snort sounded from behind them. "Any archer worth their salt shouldn't have to run."
Garland sighed. She didn't have to turn around to know the voice belonged to Shinon. "There's nothing wrong with running sometimes. The smaller your group is, the more important thing is that everyone survive. Besides, archers aren't frontline fighters; we're useless if we let enemies get too close."
"Still no excuse for tuckin' your tail between your legs," Shinon scoffed as he walked up next to Garland.
"You do understand that whatever 'skills' you think you have as an archer aren't worth shit if you're dead, right?" Garland asked.
"It doesn't matter if you're dead if you don't have any skills worth saving, Blueberry," Shinon retorted.
Rolf sighed. As much as he idolized and respected Shinon as an archer, a part of him did wish that the redhead would ease up on the insults. Rolf suspected that Shinon was a little resentful Ike bringing another sniper into the company; this wasn't helped by the fact that Garland was clearly good at what she did. He also knew that Shinon had developed a certain (very begrudging) respect for the bluenette, not that he'd ever admit it aloud. Fortunately, Garland didn't really seem to take any of Shinon's insults and comments too seriously; when Rolf had asked her about it, Garland merely shrugged and said she'd heard worse, even commenting that her sense of humor could be similarly scathing at times.
Without saying a word, Garland readied another arrow and fired it toward a tree at the farthest end of the field. The arrow landed in the dead center. She turned her head toward Shinon, an expectant look on her face.
"Tch. That was a lucky shot," Shinon reasoned. "I doubt you can make it again."
Garland fired another arrow without taking her eyes off of Shinon. This one hit in the exact same spot, piercing through the first arrow she'd shot. "You were saying...Cherry?"
Shinon scoffed, but remained silent.
"How did you do that?!" Rolf exclaimed. "You didn't even look at where you were aiming!"
Garland smiled down at the boy. "When it was just me, Riv, and Phoenix traveling together, I had to keep an eye on a bunch of different things when we got into battles. I had to be able to multitask." She nodded toward the tree. "Something like that's pretty easy when all you have to do is remember the position your hands were in. Even so, I doubt I could pull something like that off with a moving target; it takes way too much guesswork to try and figure out if and which way they're gonna move." She looked toward the sun before turning back toward the fort. "Anyway, we should probably head back. I imagine it's almost time for dinner."
The trio walked back to the fort, Rolf trotting alongside Garland and firing off about a million questions about where she learned how to shoot. Shinon hung back a little ways, but threw in an occasional sarcastic remark, smirking whenever Garland responded with a quip of her own.
This was going to be the start of a interesting (and incredibly vitriolic) friendship.
Ending Notes: Boo-yah! Another chapter completed! I wanted to give my Branded Trio a little more backstory before we got into the actual plot of the game as well as have them build some bonds with some other members of the Greil Mercenaries. The fun's really gonna start in the next chapter.
I also had a question I wanted to ask you guys. When it comes time for me to cover Part 4 (when everyone's split into three teams and make their way to Begnion), do you all think I should keep the trio together or assign them to different teams? If I do assign them to different teams, I'll be writing chapters detailing the different journeys each team makes (plus I think it might be interesting to give the OCs a chance to form bonds with some different characters). Let me know what you guys think!
As always, feedback and constructive criticism are more than welcome! Thank you so much for reading! Geekinthepink, out!