The world swam slowly into focus. Soren groaned. Every muscle in his body felt stiff and sore. "And this, Soren, is why you should never attempt to impress Ikey-poo with your magical prowess."

"Sh-shut up!" Soren sat up in bed, clutching the cold compress that someone had placed on his forehead. "Who the hell are you?"

The girl in front of him paused, resting her index finger on her lower lip in a vaguely thoughtful pose. She was, Soren noticed, dressed in particularly-- was that his tunic?! "Why, I'm Saren, of course. I'm the writer of this particular fanfiction."

Even her name was similar to his. What a headache. "The...writer? Wait, you mean to tell me that you're the one responsible for having me faint every other chapter?!"

Saren smiled. "Only if you're looking at mere technicalities. The way I see it, you overexerted yourself. Repeatedly." Her smile widened. "Anyway. You owe me for having Ike fall asleep on top of you, do you not?" She cleared her throat. "Ahm...I have to go now, because you're about to wake up for real. Good luck. You'll begin to wish that I were the one in your room after all." She giggled, waved and simply...vanished.

OK, hands up who was briefly tricked into thinking that was the real chapter? Hurrah for random self-insert A/Ns! ...I actually dreamed that last night. It was really weird. What was weirder was that in the dream, I was Soren. So in effect, I was yelling at myself. XD Did you realise that you got over 3000 words of updates yesterday? ...Do you remember the hey-days of 500-word chapters? XD See, I put myself out for you guys. So keep reviewing and helping me to clean up my act. When I read through today, I noticed that there are small errors in some of my chapters. I think last chapter I missed out a word. I do that sometimes when I'm sleepy. If you notice any, please point them out so that I can amend them. Thank you.

Now for some deja vu. :evil grin:

The world swam slowly into focus. Soren groaned. Every muscle in his body felt stiff and sore. "I-Ike?" With every moment that passed, however, it became increasingly clear that the only other person in the room was not Ike at all. And it was a strange room, too, boxed in by curved wooden beams on every wall. Soren recognised none of it.

"I'm afraid that Ike is rather busy right now. He's dealing with some unwanted visitors who appear bent on attacking my boat."

"Boat?" That would explain the wooden surroundings, at least. Soren narrowed his eyes. "I can't feel us moving."

"That's because we're currently grounded on a coral reef off the coast of Goldoa," the stranger explained, smirking. He was tall - perhaps even taller than Ike - with tanned skin and turquoise hair half-covered in a hooded cloak. He tapped his long fingers against his folded arms. "You've been unconscious for several days." Soren let out another heaving groan as he did his best to sit up. "I must say, I've never seen anyone do themselves quite such excessive damage using magic before. I'm surprised you survived."

Soren had to admit (to himself only, of course) that he was rather surprised as well. He had expected to be able to cast Meteor without too much trouble - perhaps a slight headache. If control of such a tome was really so far beyond him, then he ought to have died for his recklessness. He rubbed his eyes blearily. Everything ached. But he more than deserved that. "I've been told I'm unnaturally skilled at controlling magic."

The stranger smiled. "Skilled indeed, it would seem. Though it would be wiser not to push your limits quite so much." Something about his gaze unnerved Soren. "Unnatural, though? I find that hard to believe." Soren swallowed, suddenly hyper-aware of the compress resting against his forehead. "It isn't unusual for laguz talents to pass on to their children."

"My parents weren't laguz." Soren tried to inject as much venom into that statement as he could. The slightest tremble in his voice might give him away.

The stranger smirked. "One of them was. Or would you lay false claim to being a Spiritcharmer?"

Soren exhaled sharply, his breathing short and ragged. "Who are you?" he demanded, ignoring the stranger's previous question.

"My name is Nasir. I am a...friend of Ranulf's. I kindly offered my services to him after hearing that he required passage to Begnion."

Soren smirked in disbelief. "And the fact that your prince is travelling with us made no difference to your noble intentions to 'help a friend'."

"We are perceptive," Nasir remarked, lowering his hood to reveal a mark near-identical to that of Prince Kurthnaga's...not to mention Soren's own.

Soren narrowed his eyes further. "I thought so. Why are you hiding yourself in order to help us? Most laguz cannot bear to be around beorc."

Nair smiled. "And yet I notice a number of them travelling with you - under a beorc commander, no less."

Soren's face suddenly softened despite himself. "That's different. Ike is unquestionably naive when it comes to matters like these. He doesn't understand that laguz and beorc are different." He exhaled slowly. "He...doesn't understand about the Branded, either."

Nasir regarded him for a moment. "My, you do seem rather taken with him."

"What?"

"The Branded are shunned by both societies. From my experience, most of them naturally harbor ill-feeling back towards both beorc and laguz. There's even a colony of Branded living alone in the Grann desert somewhere, or so I've heard. So I find it interesting that you appear to care for him somewhat."

"He's...my commander," Soren said finally. "I owe him my life. Several times over, I expect. Do you expect me to ignore that for the sake of being stone-faced?"

"Hm." Nasir smirked.

Their conversation was interrupted by a small crash outside, shortly followed by yelling. "Get back here, you little squirt!" Soren recognised Ike's voice immediately.

Suddenly, Soren heard footsteps running towards the door of the room. Sure enough, the door burst open to allow a small boy to enter and was quickly slammed shut again behind him. He was out of breath, but his grin was the width of his face. Or at least, until he realised that the room was occupied.

"Tell me, boy...what are you doing aboard this ship?" Nasir's voice was calm and steady.

The boy remained silent, even when Ike forced his way through the door. "Ah! Soren - when did you wake up?" Hardly waiting for an answer, he turned to Nasir. "I found him hiding amongst the supply crates. I think he must be a stowaway."

"I gathered that. Now," Nasir said, turning his attention back to the boy, "are you willing to talk?"

"You won't get anything out of him like that." Ike moved forward and grabbed the boy by the wrist.

"Ow...ouuuuuch!" The boy's face twisted in agony. "Let go of me!"

Nasir stepped forwards. "Ike. There's no need to be so rough."

"I'll talk! Just let go!"

Ike loosened his grip, and the boy rubbed his wrist, looking uncomfortable. "I'm Sothe. I was...looking for a friend. But the path went cold in Toha. I was planning to stow away and see if she was in Begnion. That's all...H-honest!"

Ike raised his eyebrows. "She? You're a bit young, aren't you?"

"I-It's nothing like that!" Sothe's cheeks went bright crimson. "She's...family. Not by blood, but family all the same."

"I see." Ike studied the boy closely. "All right then, Sothe. We'll help you find her."

"You'll...huh?" Sothe frowned, clearly bewildered.

"He said we'll help you to find your friend," Soren repeated, exasperation growing. "Though I can't think why he'd agree to such a ridiculous pursuit. After all, it isn't as though we have anything better to do. Nobody to meet or escort or anything as important as that. Why not help a little thief instead?"

Sothe looked over at the mage, scowling. "I'm not a thief! I mean, I am, but-- but I haven't stolen anything from here! I left all your stuff alone!"

"A likely tale." Soren eyed him with distrust.

"Soren, leave him alone. He's just a kid."

"Weren't you the one resorting to violence against him just a second ago?" Soren asked, sending Ike a withering look. Ike merely looked away.

Without any warning, there was a loud scraping sound, and the boat juddered forwards.

"Hm?" Nasir frowned.

"I thought you said we were grounded on a reef," Soren said, an accusatory tone in his voice.

"We were."

Ike grinned at both of them. "Might as well check it out, right?" He didn't wait for a reply before running out on to the deck.