Chapter 4

Fork in the Road

At the words, "Land ho!" Priam exited the room he had been staying in the entire journey since the battle. He went up the stairs to the main deck to see the land he had left so long ago. His arm was still in a sling, but he had returned to his daily training exercises despite Say'ri's nagging. But for her, he took it down a couple of notches as to not strain himself.

The ships pulled into the harbor and the supplies where hauled off the frigates. They disembarked the ship and went to inquire where they might be able to acquire horses or a wagon. When they were told it would take a day to prepare everything, they decided to celebrate returning home safely by heading to the local tavern. When they had gathered together, they discussed the different routes they would take home over dinner.

"Virion and I are headed north, back to Rosanne." Cherche said. Virion shivered in realization.

"You will need to stay close to me, darling." said Virion to his wife, holding both her hands in his. "they shall most likely hurl stones when they see their cowardly leader." He was probably right. The people of Rosanne loathed him for leaving them in their time of crisis, but he planned not to deny these claims, instead, he would try to rebuild Rosanne from the ground up.

"And what of you, Walhart?" Yen'fay asked to the former conqueror. "Am I correct to assume you wish to conquer the continent again?" he said with a nervous laugh.

"For now," the conqueror responded, "I plan to attain greater power. And when the time comes, I shall conquer the Outrealms!"

"...I"m sure you have a noble cause for this?" Priam said sarcastically, taking a bite out of his food.

Turning his attention to Priam, he spoke, "The Outrealms are an unruly place. They need someone, such as myself, to bring order and peace to the chaos."

"That's about as noble as you can get, my stalwart adversary..." He lifted his cup of wine to take a long sip.

"And what of you, Priam?" Say'ri asked out of curiosity.

Priam set down the cup and thought about it for a minute. He had asked himself this when he was in the infirmary. He decided then that it was about time to settle down and maybe start a family, but he wanted a couple more adventures before he came to that point in his life.

Priam spoke in a casual tone, poking the food on his plate with his fork. "I guess when there is no more fighting and there is no more reason to train, I might settle down and start a family. That would give me a whole new reason to fight on."

All of them gave Priam a shocked expression except Yen'fay, who was beaming when he heard those words.

Noticing the change in expression that undertook in their faces, he asked while lifting a piece of cattle meat to his mouth, "What did I do? …Did I say something wrong?"

"N-nay," Say'ri replied avoiding his eye contact, "but if you need something to distract yourself, you can always visit me and my brother in Chon'sin. We will be in need of a stronger military since the conquest a year ago and we thought that you would be able to help with the training of new recruits."

"Verily so!" He set a hand on Say'ri's shoulder, who shrugged it off. He stood straight again and continued, "You would make the perfect role model for the younglings, and we would pay you handsomely for it." Yen'fay added.

"I appreciate it, 'Fay, but I think that I will return to the island to see how the situation is there. I left no one in charge, so hopefully they didn't kill each other." He said with a slight laugh.

The five shepherds talked of battles and victories for what seemed like hours. They continued until they had no more to discuss. When they had finished eating and drinking mead, they retired to their inn rooms that they had reserved and fell asleep.

The next morning, they all met in the inn's tavern to say their goodbyes. Walhart had left in the middle of the night to avoid this whole fiasco. He felt that it made one weak to reminisce in a long farewell. On the flip side, Priam felt that it makes one stronger to remember those whom had fought by one's side. It reminds one that many things can be easily accomplished with willpower and friendships.

After bidding farewell to Virion, Cherche and Minerva, they parted ways; one group going north, one group going south. Priam hitched a ride with Yen'fay and Say'ri because his island was just north of Chon'sin's peninsula, and the only harbor close to it was in Chon'sin.

The journey had little talking between the three. Yen'fay had volunteered to drive the wagon while Say'ri and Priam sat in the back with the supplies. Many times, Priam would be as restless as a kid in Naga's chapel during their journey, so he would get the energy out by jogging along side of the wagon.

They had reached a fork in the road, and none could remember which way was their destination. Say'ri went to a local farmer and asked for directions, and Priam thought this would be a good time to ask Yen'fay a question that he thought was completely logical.

"hey, 'Fay..." he paused making sure it was still logical, "Does your sister ever dabble in hexing?"

Yen'fay gave him a shocked expression, and after a couple of seconds, burst into laughter. Priam had never heard the man laugh before, but at this very moment, he didn't like it. Maybe the question wasn't as logical as he had assumed...

"And why do you ask, sir Priam?" He said once he had ceased laughter, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Well, because every time I'm near her, my body starts sweating, my heart feels like it ties in knots, my emotions change, and my normally rock-solid facade falls. I have never felt a hex, because I skillfully evade them, but this feels different, and I know it will be the end of me."

Yen'fay stared into space as he started to recollect memories long forgotten. He didn't answer Priam, but a smile crept onto his face.

"'Fay?" Priam asked as to get his attention. Yen'fay snapped out of the memories, "Ah, apologies, sir Priam, I appear to have lost myself in nostalgia. But I know what is ailing you."

"You do?" Priam said rather shocked, "Tell me what it is!"

"Friend, you are experiencing love for my sister!" He let out a laugh, "Ah what a day..." He again drifted into memories with a smile on his face.

Priam was astonished, he stuttered, which was not normal of him, "W-w-what? That is crazy!" Priam wondered if what Yen'fay said was true, but his thoughts were cut off by a voice from behind him.

"What appears 'crazy' now?" Say'ri asked as she returned from getting directions.

Priam, again, didn't detect her presence. "N-nothing of importance." he blurted out. He could feel his face heating up from being so close to her.

She gave him a quizzical look as if trying to figure it out on her own, but Priam had returned to his stone-wall facade, and she dropped the matter.

"The farmer informed me that this road to the west leads directly to a port." Say'ri informed Yen'fay, "Priam could get to his island sooner if he took that route, and the main road that we want is the other road. It leads directly to Chon'sin."

"Then this is where we part, Priam." Yen'fay said with a sigh. "We shall prepare one of the horses with your supplies, and get you on your way."

Priam saw that Say'ri's face was crestfallen and he couldn't bear to see her like that anymore. He decided that he wanted to know for sure that it was really 'love' he felt for Say'ri, but he didn't know how he would manage to stay with them. Then he remembered the offer they gave him back in the tavern.

"I thought you had a job opening for training new recruits?" he asked with a grin.

Say'ri smiled bright, which warmed his heart, Yen'fay laughed, "So be it, friend. Climb back in the wagon and we shall venture onward!"

Priam smiled at seeing Say'ri happy, and climbed up into the driving bench next to Yen'fay.

They continued their long trek to Chon'sin, sharing stories they had from the war. Priam had told them of a couple of his philosophies of the warrior and, to his surprise, they didn't appear bored as Robin had when he had first told him. They shared their ideas with Priam as well, discussing training environments, training weapons, and exercises. They went on for hours, and darkness fell. Say'ri felt tired and told the two that she was going to sleep in the rear of the wagon.

When Priam saw that she was sound asleep, and knowing that you couldn't hear the driver in the back that easily, he decided to ask Yen'fay a couple questions concerning their previous talk at the fork.

"So, 'Fay, you took it rather well when you came to the conclusion that I am in love with your sister." he felt very awkward at that moment, "Not that I think I am." Priam whispered as to not disturb Say'ri.

Yen'fay chuckled, "Trust me, friend, when you first proposed to Say'ri, I felt an urge to gut you like a raw fish."

"When I first proposed?" Priam tried to keep his voice down, but it wasn't helping. He then remembered that Yen'fay was from an alternate time, a number of things in his time could have happened differently.

"Aye." Yen'fay nodded in agreement, he then looked out into the road as if expecting to see something, he then turned to Priam and spoke.

"In my timeline, you had volunteered to be a lieutenant for the Chon'sinian army. You were much younger, but so was my sister. You sparred her, just for sport, but you underestimated her and she took the advantage to defeat you. You were astonished by my sister's strength and grew a healthy respect for her. And over the course of time, respect blossomed into friendship and you spent every day with her on the training grounds, slowly becoming more infatuated with her each day..." Yen'fay paused a moment to slow the horses as to not turn the corners coming up to tight.

"... You told her how you felt for her and she responded to you by marrying you. We couldn't have shown more joy that day. A noble warrior had pledged his life for the honorable Chon'sinian princess... a year after your marriage, you had a son." Priam was showing full interest in this story. Marrying Say'ri, having a son, sounded like a good deal to him.

"If only the tale would end there..." Yen'fay said with a sigh. Priam speculated on how the tale could have gotten worse, but he recounted that in Yen'fay's future, Say'ri died instead of him. "When the first news of the Conqueror appeared, we sent our elite unit, led by General Priam," he gestured to him, "to deal with him in Valm, and you, Priam, were young and weak compared to the man sitting next to me now. Walhart killed you, you did manage to remove his leg, but you died, nonetheless. Later, I was threatened to fight for Walhart or Say'ri would die. I believed none of these threats, and she perished as well..." Yen'fay was becoming more melancholy as he continued to remember his harsh time.

"But what about our son?" Priam asked, still slightly shocked that Walhart had killed him.

"Aye, we fled to Ylisstol when Chon'sin was all but invaded. The Conqueror was later defeated by the Shepherds, and your son grew up around their children. If he did not return to this time with the others, I know not why. But when he was old enough to fight for himself and when he had made valuable allies, I left him in Ylisstol and returned to Chon'sin in order to keep it safe from the Risen epidemic when Grima was resurrected...I failed and somehow returned to this time... It was as if fate had given me a second chance, and I will not watch my sister be cut down again."

Priam's head was spinning with thoughts, I had a son who was with the other children? Then he must be around here somewhere. He remembered that Laurent came to this time 7 years ago, and Lucina came here 4 years ago. Could his son be late in returning to him? Or could he be already searching for him? How would Say'ri feel about this?

"And one more thing, sir Priam," Yen'fay said in a quieter voice remembering that his sister was sleeping, "before heading to Ylisstol, I retrieved your sword, Ragnell, from Valm's trophy room and trained your son to fight with it. That means that if he successfully came back to this time, you will easily be able to identify him."

"Thanks, 'Fay." Priam said with a yawn and a stretch. Seeing how late it was, he decided to get some rest, "I think I am going to lie down in the back now, rest is important to the warrior. It heals the aching muscles from a long day to prepare him for the next."

"Aptly put, friend. I shall try to keep us going steady as to not disturb your slumber."

With a nod, Priam sank into the back of the wagon and lay across from Say'ri who was sleeping on the other side.

"What did you and my brother discuss?" Say'ri said sleepily. Priam was startled by the fact that she was still awake and calmly responded.

"Just more warrior philosophies... nothing of grave importance." he said in a hush tone, slowly settling in to rest.

"Good. Sleep well, friend." This was the first time Say'ri had referred to him as a friend, it made him smile and he drifted into a deep slumber.

HEY!... So they will arrive in Chon'sin inbetween this chapter and the next. I'm going to make some people angry by introducing 6 or 7 new characters. But because of these newbies, it gives me more opportunities when I have writer's block.

Just saying, writing for Say'ri is a pain and I never feel like I 'get' her character. Priam is fairly easy, but I think I may have made him a little too soft for this fanfic.

A shoutout to Brendan Aurabolt: Your idea is GENIUS! I was totally going to write Gangrel and Emmeryn, but Walhart and Emmeryn makes TONS more sense! I already have the basic plot for the story and a title, so expect to see a first chapter soon!(And by soon, I mean: I really don't know...)

Thanks again for favoriting or following this story! It makes me do little 'happy-dances' every time I get an E-mail from saying that someone has done one of these things. Please leave a review or send me a PM! I'm a free-thinker and open to all thoughts and ideas. And I appreciate honest reviews!(even if they're a mite hurtful)

By the way, did anyone catch my Princess Bride reference?

Once again, Thanks for stopping by.

~TheSearcherer