I hang my head in thorough shame. I haven't updated Sellsword in absolute yonks, and I'm behind on Ellipsis, too. I have the next few chapters of Ellipsis planned out, and you can expect an absolute BARRAGE of updates over the Easter holidays. However, they'll be sparse over this week, as my art teacher seems to want my final piece finished in a matter of days, despite the deadline being weeks away. As it's an animation that I've only roughly storyboarded so far, this is not going to happen. But I have to make it look as though I've put in effort to attempt this.

Anyway, enough with the excuses. Here's to the first of many timeskips!

"Hey, Soren!" Tormod's grinning face appeared in the doorway.

Soren grimaced. "Do you ever knock?"

"Aww, c'mon. You're usually up at daybreak. It's not like I'd ever catch you at anything." Soren decided to ignore the fact that Tormod had missed the point completely. "Anyway, I'm guessing you haven't checked the noticeboard this morning - we're moving out today, so everyone's been divided into groups. You're in the main group with Ike, I think, heading through Frangere. But I got stuck travelling across the river, where the Daein troops are bound to be waiting. So we won't even be working together. Still, there's always next time, right?"

Soren gave a noncommittal shrug. He knew that dividing into groups was a sound strategy - even with only a small portion of the Daein soldiers tracking their movements, they were still outnumbered. He was also rather glad that he and Tormod would not be fighting together; the young mage's zeal was becoming thoroughly irritating. "If that's the case, then I have much to get ready. Excuse me."

For once, Tormod took the hint, and Soren was hurriedly left packing tomes and vulnaries. Even despite the late notice, he was one of the earliest to arrive in the main hall, beaten only by Ike and Titania. The presence of the latter inhibited Soren from talking directly to the commander, but perhaps that was for the best. Although Soren had spent many spare moments mulling over their previous conversation, he wasn't yet sure that he was prepared to return to where they had left off. He wasn't entirely sure that he knew where that was. Had he broken off because it didn't matter? Of course not. Had it been pointless, he would not have wasted the energy starting the sentence. The matter remained as to whether he had broken off due to not thinking his point through (an illogical conclusion, as Soren always thought before he spoke), or whether…whether…

Soren frowned. This was a pointless waste of energy. The answer would come as and when it was necessary, and at that moment there were more pressing matters to attend to. By this time, seven or eight others had entered the hall, and Ike had broken away from Titania to address the group as a whole. She left the room as he started to speak. "Right. As most of you will know, the plan is for everyone to split into two groups. The other group, led by Titania, will serve as a decoy, distracting the Daein forces at the river. Meanwhile, we'll head through Frangere to Mugil. We'll pass through the mountains into Gallia, where we should be met by some escorts. It should take us around 10 days, so take what supplies you can. Everyone clear? Good, let's head out."

"Are you OK? You look pale. " Soren's head jerked upwards in shock. Almost imperceptibly amongst the dispersing crowd, Ike had made his way across the room, and was now standing beside him, looking concerned.

"…I'm fine." Soren avoided his eye. "Don't you have things to pack?" He sounded more irritable than even he expected.

"Don't you?"

Soren scowled and risked a glance up at the commander. "I packed this morning."

Ike smiled. "Yeah, you're usually on top of things like that. Look, I'm just a little worried about you. Gallia hardly seems to be a place you want to go to."

"If that's all, then I wouldn't concern yourself with it. I go with the rest of the mercenaries, Commander. Wherever that takes me."

Ike nodded. "I'm not questioning your loyalty, Soren. It's just that less than a week ago, you called Gallia a 'beast-country'. If you're uncomfortable going there, I can arrange for you to travel with the decoy group instead."

Soren glared at him. "I already asked you to forget that conversation. Kindly do so." He turned away, but Ike pulled him back by the shoulder.

"Soren, you keep trying to dodge every conversation with me. Have I done something to upset you?"

"…No."

Ike cleared his throat. "You had to think about that?"

"It wasn't a clear definition." Soren looked at him. "There's nothing in particular that you've done or said, yet being around you inevitably irks me. It's not even intimidation. I just…find it difficult being around you."

"Huh." Ike paused. "I…guess I can understand that. Sort of." He scratched at his neck. "Anyway, I suppose we'd better, uh, go…"

Soren nodded. "I suppose we had better."

There will be an update later today, most likely - tomorrow at the latest. I just wanted to drop a link for a picture I drew, but it won't let me - so I'll post it as a comment instead. It's to thank everyone for being so awesome during March. It was only half a month, but I got 1111 hits, over 1000 of which were for Sellsword and Ellipsis alone. So thanks for being awesome! I'm really happy now. Haha. =3