A/N: Sorry for being away for so long, guys. It has been madness through this past few weeks, but I at least spent some much-needed time with my wonderful baby sis and baby bro. Anyway, I wanted to update before 2012, and I'll be unavailable for a few days, so forgive me if I don't respond to your review as I quickly as I usually do.

Notes on my livejournal account!

Chapter 8

Despite being born as a simple country girl from Crimea, I had seen a lot of the most magnificent sights in the continent. I've seen the outside and inside of Daein Keep, Queen Elincia had allowed me to explore all the halls in Castle Crimea, and I once prayed in the majestic Mainnal Cathedral! Seeing those places and many more had made it difficult to impress me with architecture whenever I found myself travelling to new places. But Cisqua had left me dumbstruck, especially since I had imagined that all Daein settlements – save for Nevassa – to be broken and poor, just like Hackdirt and Talrega. My impression of Daeins changed. They apparently were just as good as us, Crimeans, when it came to building large metropolitan cities.

All the streets were made with some sort of smooth dark brick, which really made travelling by foot or horse much easier. There were many lampposts scattered all over the streets – and I imagined that Cisqua must've been quite a beautiful spot during the night when those lampposts would be lit. The buildings had a strange style that I had never seen before. The characteristics about the architecture that really stood out were the pointed arcs, flying buttresses, and the ribbed vaults in every large structure - like churches.

My only companion on this trip away from the desert, Jill, had explained to me that even though Cisqua appeared to be really modern, their buildings were outdated by almost two centuries. But I had to hand it to those city folk, they sure kept their home looking nice and clean. It almost felt as if Begnion hadn't ransacked this particular place on purpose. And at first I thought that perhaps all the Daein citizens had been replaced by some people that came from the empire, but they all looked Daein. In fact, only the patrolling town guards looked like folk from Begnion.

I just couldn't help but feel that something rotten was behind the beauty of this seemingly unaffected Daein territory.

"Nephenee?" Jill whispered. "Don't get distracted." I immediately shook my head and focused at the task at hand.

"Sorry. I was caught off-guard by... all of it," I said with my head down.

"I know what you mean. It's almost unreal." Even though Jill didn't reprimand me, I still mentally kicked myself for letting a few buildings get in the way of what she and I were doing.

We were sent to County Cisqua by General Tauroneo for the purpose of observing just how Begnion had fortified the merchant city, and later inform him what we're up against. I knew that my place wasn't to question the wisdom of a war veteran such as him, but I thought he could've chosen better spies than a frontline soldier and a wyvern rider. Zihark would've been perfect, since mercenaries seemed to adjust to any sort of place with ease. On the other hand, Jill and I stood out... We really stood out. It was bad enough that I was walking with a lance in my hand, the clanking of Jill's armour echoed through the streets and she had an axe hanging from her belt.

I started to get very nervous due to the noise Jill was making. Mostly because I noticed that the city was crawling with guards. Some were dutifully patrolling the streets with their weapons in hand, and I spotted some soldiers slaking off near bars and brothels. I had lost count of how many men were wearing red armour after reaching thirty-six. Suffice to say, I wasn't sure if General Tauroneo's forces would be enough to take down the occupying soldiers, let alone Jill and I if we attracted too much attention.

"Jill?" I whispered. "Don't ya think we should've left that armour of yours with the wyvern?"

"Don't worry, the people – even the soldiers – know me," she said reassuringly.

"How?"

"Haar and I have delivered a lot of packages here. That's why no one paid attention to my wyvern landing near the stables." I felt like smacking my forehead for not having realizing what Jill said. A huge green dragon landed inside the city walls and no one paid attention to it, yet I wasn't worried about attracting attention to ourselves... Then again, all I was thinking at the moment was getting out of that scary, flying monster.

"I see. So that's why Sir Tauroneo asked you to come here?" I asked after making sure no one could hear me mention the name of a Daein general.

"Not quite," she answered. "The... Prince's advisor has plenty of people working for him that could've done this job much better and faster than us. But the General doesn't trust them at all."

"He trusts me?" I asked with a bit of shock.

Jill looked surprised at what I said. "Why wouldn't he?"

I'm Crimean. "I don't know."

"He seemed moved by your story when Zihark told it to him." She smiled. I was glad that General Tauroneo didn't discriminate me – or Meg for that matter – for being Crimean. He seemed like a nice enough man back when he joined the Crimean Liberation Army, but he mostly kept to himself and barely talked to anyone. But I was sure that he had his reasons for hardly talking to anyone during a war in which he killed his own countrymen each and every day. I never stopped to think how hard it must've been for Sothe, Jill, Zihark, and General Tauroneo to have sided with Ike's cause... It had been so easy for me.

"I... I just want to help - just like ya did." Jill placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder, and the look of understanding in her face told me everything I wanted to hear: She wasn't blaming me for what had happened to her homeland, and she was grateful that I was joining in to liberate her country. "Thank ya, Jill."

We continued to scout the large Daein city after that. I wasn't sure of the details of what we were doing since Jill seemed to be on top of things. She seemed to be counting everything around us, from Begnion soldiers to the buildings we were passing as we walked. And every once in a while, she would rest a piece of parchment against some wall and write something on it. To be perfectly honest, I wasn't doing much - I kind of felt as if I was just accompanying Jill just in case things went south in our "spy mission".

I felt like a fish out of water. I only knew how to fight in a battlefield, but I thought it was a nice change of piece for me to be useful while not having to kill another person. Sadly, just as I was starting to relax a little for the first time since landing on Cisqua, I spotted two armoured men looking at us. These two were different from the rest of soldiers. One of then looked like the typical Begnion lancer, but his armour was blue instead of red; I didn't get a good look at his face because of the matching helmet on his head. The second man truly stood out. He was clad in carmine-coloured armour, and the amount of metal plates he was wearing was just about the same a halberdier tend to wear, but he was much bulkier than any lancer I had seen, and he shield was huge when compared to my old one... and the black and blue spear on his back looked familiar.

It took me a moment carmine-clad soldier was looking at Jill as if he recognized her. I was grateful for the fact that he was paying no attention to me. I was tempted to ignore them and simply think that Jill had met that man in one of her deliveries to Cisqua, but I had a bad gut feeling about those two – especially from the stronger-looking one. I drew the line when they started to follow us – at a safe distance. It was one thing to stare at the new faces in town, but having them on our trail did not ease my fears.

I discreetly tugged her yellow tunic. "Huh?"

"Do ya know those fellas?" I tilted my head in the direction of our pursuers. Jill peeked at them with the corner of her eye. She shook her head a moment later.

"Never seen them before," she answered. She stopped in front of wooden fruit stand and pretended to be interested in what they were selling.

What are ya doin'? is what I wanted to scream at her. It was obvious to me that she was waiting for those two to catch up to us. I was jumpy and paranoid, and for some reason, I relived General Jarod's ambush all over again. My fully healed shoulder ached. I bit my bottom lip to try to calm myself down. It was unlike me to be so afraid. I didn't even hesitate to raise my lance when I fought on the desert, yet for some reason, I was starting to feel cold and rooted to the spot.

I saw the carmine-clad soldier slow down his pace when he was close to Jill. Then, he took off his helmet when he was at arm's length of the red-headed wyvern rider, revealing a man who looked to be on his mid-thirties. He had blonde hair, brown eyes, and an honest look. I knew looks could be deceiving, but I still felt a little more at ease when I saw the man's gentle appearance – which contradicted his strong build.

"Excuse me, miss?" the man said, sounding cultured and noble.

"Yes?" Jill broke stopped looking at the fruit she was never going to buy. She focused on the Begnion knight with a calm and collected attitude – one that I envied.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but you seem awfully familiar." He paused. "I... You..." He was struggling with his words. "You remind me of someone from my younger days. Someone I looked up to. Would you happen to be related to a man named Shiraham?"

Jill and I were taken aback by the knight's question, though Jill appeared far more surprised than I. Who could blame her for looking so shocked? I would've turned pale if a stranger on the streets came up to me and told me he knew my deceased papa. Nevertheless, I had to hand it to Jill, she recovered much, much faster that I would have if I had been on her situation.

She composed herself. "He was my father." She almost sounded hoarsely.

"Ah! Of course! You look just like your mother, but you have your father's determined eyes. If I'm not mistaken, your name is Jill?" Jill nodded. The Begnion knight bowed politely. "I apologize again for bothering you."

"It's no problem. Could you tell me your name?" Jill pressed on.

"Levail," the knight answered. "A friend of my family, Captain Haar, introduced me to your father before I became a knight. He was such an inspirational man."

"He... Yes, he was," Jill said quietly. She shook her head as if she wanted to snap out of something. "Haar survived the Mad King's War. I'll tell him I met you, Sir Levail."

The knight's lips slightly curled upwards. "I'm glad he's fine. Does he still sleep half the day away?"

Jill smiled, and she looked like someone remembering a fond memory. "His wyvern does almost all the work. Nowadays, all he needs to do is look human."

"Some things never change." Both Jill and Levail shared a laugh at poor Haar's expensed. At least I knew that I didn't need to be afraid of those two men. In fact, Levail didn't act like the usual Begnion brute everyone in Daein was afraid of, and his blue-armoured companion simply stood there – motionless.

"Sir," the shorter lancer spoke, "pardon me for interrupting, but you'll be late for your... meeting."

Levail looked at the shadow of a lamppost that stood near us. "You're right, Aran. It'll be midday soon."

"Sorry to intrude, Lady Fizzart." The knight bowed to Jill and later to me. "Have a good day."

"Same to you," Jill said. It wasn't until they both left that I realized that I didn't say goodbye to the knight due to a stiffness I had been experiencing since Jill started talking to the Begnion knight. I hoped that they didn't think I was rude because I just stood there and did not say a polite farewell to the both of them.

But my little worries of what the Begnion soldiers thought of me went away the moment Jill and turned around and literally bumped into an imposing man wearing Daein armour. He was clearly clad in Daein armour! It was as if this man had a death wish if he walked around a Begnion occupied city while proudly showing off the colours of the army Begnion had worked so hard to destroy – and made sure that it stayed that way – for three years. After I got over my initial shock over the man's outfit, I noticed he was armed to the teeth, and a black and white muffler covered most of his unusually pale face.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." The man wagged his index finger at Jill. "You have a very serious problem, Lady Fizzart." His voice sounded so unnatural that it sent a chill down my spine. "You continue to fraternize with the enemy! You first betray us to Crimea, and now you show signs of joining Begnion."

"What are you doing here?" Jill hissed before looking around our surroundings. It was the oddest thing. All the patrols around the area were gone. Of course, the usual passerby gave us funny glances, but they couldn't get us into trouble. "Where are all the guards?"

"Never mind that, I'm more interested in why you, and your friend over there, are here?"

"You would know if you hadn't suddenly vanished on us," Jill retorted.

"I've been busy."

"So are we." Jill was about to move away when the man clad in dark plates grabbed her armoured shoulder.

"That lancer you were so casually socializing with is to be General Jarod's replacement." I was surprised at what he said, but the good type of surprised. Knowing that the scumbag who nearly killed me was getting replaced certainly felt like good news to me. "Understand that I cannot let this incident slip by." He tightened his grip. It looked as if he were to bend Jill's armour if he applied just a little more force.

Jill pushed his arm away. "Fine," she said calmly. "Do you know a safe place where we can speak?"

"I just so happen to know the perfect place." He looked at me for the first time. His stare felt like snakes choking me. "You... you look familiar..."

"General Tauroneo told me you saw her when Zihark and I were taking care of her," Jill added.

"I know she's the reason you two started to shirk your duties. But I'm sure I've seen you before." His face scrunched after a few seconds passed. "Ah! No wonder you know these traitors. You were also there."

XXXX

Mad Lord Izuka entered the massive Castle Cisqua after his crony escorted him there a few minutes prior. The largest building in County Cisqua was built during King Ashnard's reign, meaning that it was built for the purpose of defense. The castle stuck out not just because of its enormous size, but also for the fact that it held no design similarities to the rest of the elegant buildings in the Daein County.

Nevertheless, all the rich culture behind Cisqua was completely ignored by the deranged scientist. He kept on walking through the halls, and ignoring all the Daein art on the walls. It wasn't as if Izuka had never seen the battlefield scenes depicted on the paintings made by Daein's most famous artists. Izuka felt anger, indignation, and his never-ending frustration pulsing through his veins.

He kept on thinking on just how that Levail must've not known his place on this world if he demanded to see him, a very busy man, instead of just delivering Lekain's message to Soldat. Who does this pawn think he is? Meeting with my pawn would've been enough. After all, that's what servants are for! They meet with each other so that the important people, such as myself, can continue to run things smoothly!

The once advisor to King Ashnard did not notice the two lancers on patrol until they crossed their lances into an X shape. Having two nameless soldiers block his way only added more negative emotions to his already unbalanced state. The men recognized Izuka and told him to wait for General Levail to arrive.

Remembering what happened the last time he got agitated, Izuka just scoffed and turned around. He recognized that arguing with stuck-up Begnion soldiers would not produce any positive results, so he waited for the arrogant Levail. Thankfully, the man in question appeared in a few minutes, and he right before Izuka reached the limits of his own short patience.

Izuka's eyes widened once he took a good look at General Levail. The armour worn by the Begnion general had some distinct markings, and anyone with knowledge of ancient history – like Izuka – would be able to recognize them. The markings and the shapes of the plates identified the blonde man as a Holy Lancer – or Sentinel. The madman couldn't help but wonder if the knight before truly deserved to be known as such, or if Lekain tried to make him more intimidating by giving him armour he didn't deserve.

"Might you be Lord Izuka?" the knight asked.

"I am," Izuka answered. The madman's eyes inspected every inch of Levail's armour in an attempt to spot any flaws in its design. "You are Levail, correct?" Izuka already knew the answer, but he was stalling for time, and he also wanted to call him by name without using any honorifics or titles.

Levail shifted his attention to the two guards. "Leave us," he ordered.

"I don't have all day," Izuka said when he failed to see any indication of Levail's armour being a cheap forgery, and once they were alone.

"Wait a moment."

Before Izuka had the chance to lecture General Levail about the importance of his time and work, a mysterious glow appeared a few feet away from them. A moment later, the glow turned into a golden circle with text written in the ancient language.

A man materialized from the circle. The unmistakable heavyset Senator Lekain stood before the madman and the general with a staff on his hand. Lekain's pupils didn't dilate, his breathing was even, and he stood with the grace and confidence that was expected from one of the most powerful men in the world. In short, Lekain showed none of the symptoms everyone went through whenever they used the teleportation dust – it confused Izuka.

"Thank you for setting this up, Levail," Lekain said. "Now reach Nevassa as soon as you can. My friend, Numida, is getting desperate." Lekain chuckled. Without uttering a single word, the Begnion general turned his heel and left.

"Pardon for all the secrecy, but you know how it works," Lekain began with a smug look. "My, my, Izuka, the years have been cruel to you."

"How!" was Izuka's only response.

"Be more specific, my poor friend."

"How are you even standing straight? You've just warped!"

Lekain grinned widely. "Oh, you're going to love this. Remember when you were the head of the senate's research and development team? You said that it was impossible for anyone to warp without suffering through some nasty secondary effects. You were wrong." He tapped the floor twice with his staff. "And here's my proof. To think that you said that we wouldn't achieve any breakthroughs without you working directly under us."

"It can't be! The necessary concentration needed to warp from one place to another far exceeds what our minds can handle! That's why…"

"Spare me your outdated research, and concentrate on what I'm going to offer you. Maybe I'll even give you one of these," he shook his staff, "if all goes well."

Izuka was having trouble letting go of the subject, for he had used that ghastly dust over an hour ago. How very bittersweet it was for Izuka to know of the existence of that magical staff. It offered so many benefits for him, but it also made him look like a fool for disproving what he had said in the past."

"Offer me? Lord Lekain, you are ever so kind." I hate your very being, you slimy swine! "I was under the impression that you wanted to ask for my services." You would be nothing without me! "But I'm guessing that you also get something out this?" You're a damn egotistical blight upon this land.

Lekain crossed his arms behind his back. "Numida's gotten too powerful, and all I want is for everything to go back as it used to be."

"With you on top of all the other senators."

"Well, things have gone stupendously great with me as vice-minister."

"Do you want Daein under your care?" Izuka asked.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Lekain exclaimed. "I'm far too busy as it is. Not to mention how expensive it is to watch over all these savages. What I want is to give all Daeins a false sense of freedom, but still maintaoin power over them; after all, their punishment isn't over just yet."

"You mean…"

"You know exactly what I mean." Lekain took out a piece of parchment… but it wasn't any regular parchement.

A/N: This was a bit rushed... Well, HAPPY NEW YEAR! It's a bit early, but I wish you the best time for all of you.