Ever wonder what it was exactly that everyone thought killed Niira all those years ago? Well, prepare yourself, for all (er...most) shall be revealed! As well as...more questions which will not be answered until much later! MWAHAHA ahem.

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It really hadn't hit him until that morning. She was alive. Years of sadness and loneliness suddenly gone. But instead of feeling relieved or glad, Coen felt himself sinking into the familiar mindset of confusion and stress. His sleep the previous night had been dreamless--once he had actually fallen asleep, that is. Niira's sudden departure from Indels had unsettled him, as well as Lavitz and King Albert, greatly. The Niira he had known as a child would not have done that. So what had happened to her to change her so? What secrets wasn't she telling?

Well, it's not like I can say anything. I haven't told her anything either.

That train of thought preoccupied him as he rode his horse out of Bale that morning, northeast from the city, across the fields and meadows. The grass was still damp with dew, and even the birds were just waking to sing. Coen found comfort in the stillness, and he often rode out alone when he had to think.

But how? How did she survive the fire? I don't understand. The fires in Bale nearly fourteen years ago. To this day, no one knew what--or who--had caused them. There were rumors that the Black Monster had not found its target when the Moon the Never Sets turned red ten years prior, and had moved to Bale to continue its search. Others thought it was Imperial Sandora's doing, although the Emperor denied it, and indeed there was no evidence linking Doel to the razing of Bale.

Coen closed his eyes, letting his horse pick its own path across the countryside. He had been there, with Niira, when the fires came. He recalled all too clearly running away from the flames, desperately trying to find a way out. And then...the Monster.

He was the only one who saw the Monster. But it was no Black Monster, rather, it looked like a Fire Monster. All he remembered was the Monster coming between himself and Niira...and then they were gone. He was left alone in the smoke and flames, the ash searing his lungs and eyes. He couldn't even remember who it was that had pulled him to safety.

That night, as he had waited for his father to find him in one of the medical tents, he had listened to the men who had organized themselves to stop the fire and search for survivors. Mostly members of the First Knighthood, as they had been the first to arrive.

The pain...

He remembered how Lavitz searched for Niira nearly the entire day, until he had been forced to stop due to the smoke he had inhaled and his lieutenant Kynan's insistence. But that hadn't kept the First Knight down for long.

His searches were in vain, and Coen knew it even at his young age. Niira was gone. Everyone assumed she had died in the fires, and Coen had been too terrified and in pain to correct them.

And mistake he had tried to right years later, with nearly fatal consequences.

He grit his teeth. How can I ever explain that to her?

Once again looking at his surroundings, he guided his horse in a more northerly direction. There were some cliffs in that direction, above a river. He had spent more than a few nights on the edge of those cliffs in past years. Instinctively, he shuddered. Why am I going back there? I don't like that place, the memories of it... But he made no move to correct his mount's course.

Who was the Monster in the flames? He knew the story of the Black Monster, how she had turned out to be Rose the Darkness Dragoon, trying to save the world. Coen had met some of the dragoons after the war, seen their armor and the awesome powers of their magic. It all led him to wonder if the Monster in the flames had been a dragoon as well.

But...it was not at all like the red Fire Dragoon armor that I've heard about. Nothing like him. And I may not be terribly knowledgeable in areas such as this, but I thought there was only one Red-Eye Dragoon at any time...none of this makes sense.

I wish Niira would tell me.

He sighed softly. In the distance, he could make out a dark smudge along the ground. The cliffs. Those damned cliffs. If Niira ever knew what almost happened there, I would never hear the end of it. He smirked, not without a hint of sorrow. If she ever knew what drove me to the cliffs in the first place, I'd never hear the end of it.

His horse raised its head slightly, turning one ear back.

"Hmm?" Coen scratched its gray leathery neck. "What's that? Hear something?" The horse had both ears back now, to listen to its master. "There's nothing here. Just me."

As he sat back up, he did hear a soft pounding in the distance. Curious, he twisted around in the saddle to look behind him. Someone was riding towards him, the horse moving at a slow canter. Coen halted his own mount and waited for the person to arrive. The rider's face slowly became more clear, and Coen recognized him. He sighed to himself. What now?

Within a few minutes, the newcomer had come within talking range. "Thought you might be out here."

"What would ever give you that idea?" Coen said sourly. "This had better be good Radulf, I don't appreciate having my free time interrupted."

His lieutenant made an apologetic noise, but still wore his customary smile. "Lavitz wants to talk with you."

"Then why didn't he come out himself?"

"I'm not about to question the First Knight when he's in the kind of mood he's been in lately."

Grumpy at having his angsty thoughts interrupted, Coen nonetheless turned his horse back to Bale. "What's he want to talk to me about this time?"

"Didn't ask."

"Don't you ever ask anything?"

"Of course I do. I always ask for a pint when I go to a bar."