Disclaimer: Nothing recognisable belongs to the author. It all belongs to Nintendo and Intelligent Systems. Some details may have been changed, but… on the whole, it's theirs. This is to be reproduced only with the author's permission, and may not be used for profit. If it is reproduced, this warning must be at the beginning of each document.

Notes: I'm still working on the next Interlude, so it may be a little while... on that note, I'd like reader opinions. If you think I should make these Interludes a seperate file and write them in tandem with the main story, instead of waiting until all the interludes are finished to move on with chapter 11, please drop a line and say so... if you think I should carry on like this, then say that too, please!

Also, I haven't had a chance to spellcheck this, so if you notice any mistakes, just let me know and I'll fix them manually... I think I caught the main ones with my preread, but you can never be too careful.

Interlude 2: Lady Wallace

"Demo, Wallace-dono, anata wa Lycia-jin desu. Kanhi wa..." Rei spoke rapidly, and Sara could only stare, bewildered, as she and Wallace carried on a conversation in the strange, harsh-sounding language. They were three days out of Caelin now, but the constant conversation in a language she neither understood nor particularly liked the sound of was starting to get on her nerves.

"Look, you two..." She finally interjected. "I understand you don't get much chance to talk your home language this far south, lady Rei, but please will you at least make some effort to talk so I can understand?"

"Oh!" Rei blinked, exclaiming. "I'm so sorry... I didn't even think of that. Please, forgive me." She swivelled in her saddle and somehow managed to bow deeply without falling from her seat.

"It's alright, I just... I was starting to feel a bit lonely, being left out of the conversation. General Wallace, if I could ask, how is it that you speak that language?" Sara asked, feeling uncomfortable at the deep bow.

"Ah, perhaps the story is in order..." The old general mused. "I'm surprised you didn't ask before... or you, actually, Rei-sama."

"I must admit to being curious, ever since that Caelin captain mistook me for your wife. I did not want to ask, however, in case you took offence..." Rei shrugged slightly as she spoke in apology.

"You were married?" Sara blinked at the general. She hadn't heard about that before.

"Yes. My wife died six years ago in the ague plague. She spent most of her time among the peasants working on the farms, trying to make sure that they weren't affected too badly... sadly, her magic wasn't strong enough by the end for her to heal herself." Wallace' voice was warm, he'd clearly come to terms with the death and remembered her with love rather than loss. "The ague is unknown in her homeland, and she had no protection against it."

"She was an islander, wasn't she? That's why Captain Vengre thought I was her ghost." Rei asked, and the old general nodded.

"Yes. I met her while I was travelling as a young knight. You may have heard stories about my, ah, sense of direction? I'm afraid that it really is as bad as they say. I was trying to find Nabata when I stumbled onto a boat to the Kanhi isles. The boat landed on the southmost island, Akikan, in an area I later learned was called Kurobi. The people there were small and dark, and few of them spoke the common language. When you're in an environment like that, you tend to pick up the local tongue fairly quickly, or at least it felt that way to me. I spent probably two years wandering around the islands until I returned to Akiku and came to Nadeshiko prefecture. In the time I'd been wandering, a civil war had occured and the larger Nadeshiko clan had subsumed Kurobi and the adjacent Akaki." He paused, musing as though trying to work out what to say next.

"My tutors mentioned once that our lands used to be separate from Nadeshiko, but I didn't realise that it was so recent, in my father's life-time, even." Rei murmured, half to herself

"Indeed. When I arrived, unlike in other lands, I was taken to the castle almost immediately. Lord Akira Kurome had heard of some of my exploits and wanted my help training his soldiers in southern lance styles. I believe he may have been planning an uprising to take back the Kurobi lands, but the rising never occurred. I did accept a one-year contract to train his militia, his ashigaru, in the use of infantry lances in return for diplomatic aid and an opening for a Lycian ambassador. It was while living at the castle that I met my wife, lady Makoto."

"My aunt..!" Rei realised, and the other two looked at her. "My mother told me once about her sister who disappeared with a foreigner two years before I was born. It caused a lot of fuss at the time."

"Yes, I remember." Wallace chuckled. "She was serving in a shrine at the time, it was most... oh, I'm trying to remember how your father put it. 'Improper and irregular' I think."

"I should say so. Miko are supposed to be celibate. Allegedly, they lose their powers if they become impure." Rei chuckled herself. It seemed that there was a history of trouble in the women of her family she hadn't known about until now.

"Her magic may have been weakened, but if so I never noticed. She was a wonderful woman, and I like to think I did her a service by taking her away from there." The old general grinned. "She was five years younger than me, but it never stopped either of us."

"Wait, you said you'd arranged for an ambassador to travel to Nadeshiko, but I never remember a Lycian at court." Rei asked, frowning slightly.

"When your father found out about myself and Makoto, he cast me out... I don't think he intended his sister-in-law to go with me, but she did."

"I'm glad to hear she was happy, at any rate, but I don't look forward to telling father about her death when I return." Rei sighed, then looked up again as Wallace cleared his throat.

"Actually... there's something you should know, then, about your father. He's not the son of the previous lord of Kurobi, but rather one of his generals..."

"No, please, don't say any more." Rei told him.

"I have to. Your father betrayed his lord to Nadeshiko in return for governance of the Kurobi region of the Nadeshiko prefecture... but I think he did the right thing. Because of him, many men kept their lives who would otherwise have lost them, and fewer properties were destroyed. The previous lord, Makara Kurobi, was driving his land into the ground." Wallace' voice and piercing blue gaze kept her paying attention until the final words, stopping her from going into her own world at news of her fathers' betrayal.

"Even if it was the right thing..." Rei murmured, finishing the sentence mentally; 'betrayal isn't something I wanted to hear about...' To the Kanhi, honour, or perceived honour, was everything. Betrayal such as her fathers' made a mockery of the whole system. Even if he'd known he was in the wrong he should have held faith with his master Kurobi until the end, then taken his own life in atonement.

"Lady Rei..? Are you alright..?" Sara asked, nudging her mare closer.

"I'm... no, I'm not, lady Eagler..." Rei said, her voice soft, then continued. "I've just been told that my father is an oathbreaker and dishonoured... even if he was in the right... that doesn't excuse it." She paused again before continuing. "I've learned more about him since leaving the islands than I ever knew at home, and I don't know if I like what I'm learning."

"You love him, don't you? Your father, I mean." Sara asked, feeling like she was possibly trespassing onto dangerous territory but unable to stop pressing.

"Of course. He's my father. But I don't know any more if I like him very much... and..."

"And?" Sara pushed when Rei trailed off.

"What if I'm like him..? What if betrayal and dishonour are in my blood? What if..?" Rei trailed off again, and this time it was Wallace who spoke.

"Lady Rei, you are loyal to a fault. Take it from this old bear, I've seen disloyal people and enough of them, but you?" He shook his head, laughing. "You're worse than a Sacaean."

"How can you know that..?" Rei asked, looking at him with doubt still lingering in her dark eyes.

"You're here with us travelling away from Caelin to look for a man you hate despite the fact that you've found someone you could fall in love with so easily." He told her, bluntly.

"You... you saw that..?" Rei gasped, mortified. "But... no, I could never... I mean... you're still... and... you know about my condition..."

"Condition?" Sara asked, confused.

"As if I would abandon you just for that! Lady Lyn would have a fair go of killing me if I let something happen to you! Especially remembering who you're talking to, that's a stupid comment to make. Now if I were Pheraean, then maybe, but..." Wallace laughed again, and it proved to be infections as Rei realised how silly it was to think that Wallace, who had

been Sara's fathers' shieldmate for years, would shun her because of such a thing.

"The pheraeans don't like it..? Who else among the Lycian league frown on such things?" Rei asked, still laughing softly.

"What are you talking about..?" Sara still looked confused.

"We'll tell you when you're older." Wallace grinned, then looked seriously at Rei. "Has she ever heard you laugh?"

"I... don't think so. It's not something I do often, I think." Rei shook her head. "Why...?"

"I think you should let her hear it before you leave to return home... and that's not all. I think you should tell her." Wallace replied, still serious.

"No... that would be too cruel. To tell her such a thing, when it can never happen..." 'and I couldn't bear it if she hated me afterwards...' she finished the sentence in her head.

"You two are just being weird..." Sara decided before they turned onto the road to Ositia.