The air turned progressively colder as we neared the wall to Regena Ferox. My robes were warm and cozy at least, but warm robes did little when you had a stinging wild lashing at your face and other exposed parts.

"Brrrrr! Frebberik, I'm freebing!"

I wanted to lash out at Lissa, not because I'm mean no, but because I'm one of those people who know's that complaining about the temperature will do nothing to change it and I can't stand to listen to people who obviously don't realize this fact.

'You'd think she'd wear something a little more comfortable? She did know we were going to Regina Ferox after all, why didn't she bring warmer clothes?'

I didn't waste too much time thinking about it. Instead I buried my nose in one of the many books Miriel had given me. I was trying to learn as much about magic as I could in order to further myself since I planned on relying on magic before my swords. But even though I was considered a 'bookworm', reading the books Miriel gave me was proving to be quite the chore.

'Why can't these books be written in layman's terms? I know I have quite the vocabulary, but this is getting ridiculous! Erroneous if you will!'

The other Shepherds seemed to be handling the cold just as well as I was: Obviously suffering but silent about it at least. Frederick was the only one who seemed to be unbothered by the cold. I walked over to him, using him as a shield from the wind temporally.

"Sir Frederick, how are you not freezing cold? Certainly that armour of yours doesn't keep you insulated?"

Frederick kept his eyes on the road before him.

"I'm merely accustomed to such trials milady. The cold doesn't bother me as it would one who does not push their limits constantly."

I huffed.

"Looks like I'm going to be cold for a while then."

My thoughts drifted to Sumia.

'She's probably on her way here on the Pegasus by now. I wonder how that poor thing feels in all this cold? Horses never struck me as an animal that would do well in the cold, and pegasi are essentially horses yeah? That poor thing must be near frozen by the time it reaches us! Not to mention, it has to fly!'

The battle at Regina Ferox hopefully wouldn't be as stressing as our last battle. By now I think I almost know how to fight a person. Almost. Humans tire, unlike the Risen. And they don't have the dead eyes the Risen do.

'Because if I wanted to fight zombies, I'd dream of being stuck in Raccoon City... Oh Gods, I swear if I wake up in Raccoon city next...'

I tried to shake the disturbing thought from my head.

'Bwah, if I somehow got stuck in Raccoon City I think I'd just kidnap Leon away to the Magic Candy Mountain.'

A particularly harsh gust of wind blew and for a moment the snow obscured my vision. I stumbled in the flurry and ended up bumping into something hard and cold.

"Ow! Watch it yeah?" I snapped.

When my vision cleared, there was nothing there.

'Strange, I know I hit something. Where did it go?'

Realization set in.

'Was that... Kellam..? Oh my Gods... He is a ghost! This is unbeleveable!'

Chuckling to myself, I almost forgot about the bitter sting of the wind that seemed determined to tear off my face with it's harsh claws. I trudged along with everyone else, planning on how we were going to win the battle outside the gate.

'I already know there's going to be quite a few people we're going to have to fight. I wonder if my usual strategy will work? Or maybe I should keep everyone fairly close? Keeping us together has worked so far, but this is going to be the first time where we're going to have enemies from two fronts also. Hm... I'll pull Chrom aside and ask him.'

I jogged ahead, hoping to catch Chrom before we got too close to the gate. I began to see a vague shape ahead, what I assumed to be the gate.

"Chrom, I need to talk to you before we reach the gate!"

Chrom slowed his pace slightly but still pressed on.

"No offense Sane, but we don't have the time to stop and chat."

"I understand. The Feroxi are violent in their ways, yes? What do you propose we do in the event they attack us?"

"Hopefully it won't come to that. We are here on a mission of peace after all. I doubt they would attack us when we tell them why we have arrived."

"Yes, but if they DO? More than likely they will attack us from two sides. I was thinking if that were the case we split up and meet both halves equally. What do you think?"

"Sounds like a fine plan Sane, and I thank you for thinking so far ahead."

I nodded.

"Don't thank me, I'm just doing what I can to help you."

My words sounded funny as I heard them leave me. While they sounded innocent in my head, hearing them aloud, they almost sounded suggestive.

'No, I'm imagining things again. I couldn't be suggestive if I tried. And even if I was, Chrom is a handsome prince, he wouldn't find any pleasure in me being suggestive with him.'

He turned to me and smiled.

"It's nice to find someone as kind as you."

I nodded and fell back so he couldn't see my blush.

'Gods, I really need to find a bloke... Losing my mind because some guy in a video game compliments me? Bwah.'

When we finally reached the gate and Raimi had her soldiers throw their Javelins at Chrom, and he was rescued by Sumia I began to direct where people would go. I kept Sully and Stahl together, along with Miriel and myself. We went to the right. To the left I sent Chrom, Frederick, Vaike and Virion. I knew Chrom would talk to Kellam which would balance each side of the offensive. I kept Sumia and Lissa in the middle so they could run to us and help if needed. There were archers on both sides of the gate, so Sumia wouldn't be able to safely fly around until they were defeated.

'That's alright, there's plenty of enemies to fight once we get those doors open. Hm... If this isn't like the game, maybe Sumia will be able to fly around and own those pesky Knights.'

My side of the battle was going surprisingly well. I was using my sword, because I never learn from my mistakes, and with just the few lessons I had taken with Frederick and Chrom I was doing infinitely better. Blocking strikes still sent the harsh reverberations through my body, but I wasn't getting knocked on my ass every time either. I began to notice something that was certainly strange as I fought however. Even though I wasn't holding my tome, I could still feel its' magic flowing through me.

'I think I remember something in one of Miriels' books about that...'

I passed the feeling off and focused on my fight. I was beginning to tire so I yelled to Sully and Stahl that I was pulling back and readied my tome. We had five more foes on my side, so I figured that Chroms' side would have just as many. I was very surprised when an arrow suddenly struck the ground beside me. I gazed skyward and saw archers posed high above me on the gate walls.

'Oh crap.'

"Archers above, move back!"

Despite the fact I saw the archers before they were able to fire on us, we still weren't going to be able to fully move out of their range, and dodging arrows is nothing like dodging a sword or an axe. Smaller targets mean harder to see, mean harder to dodge.

'So much for lasting a fight without getting my ass handed to me...'

I was reminded of The Lord of the Rings, where that guy is all butt-hurt that one of his sons was killed, but maybe Boromir was it? Survived. I remember one of the Took twins said something along the lines of "The mightiest warrior can be felled by a single arrow, and so-and-so took many." I was not in the mood to be killed by arrows. I saw the Archers pull back the string of their bows and let loose a volley of arrows.

'I don't think I have to worry about getting my ass handed to me, I think I have to worry about getting killed!'

We weren't going to be able to get away from the arrows fast enough. The horses were slowed slightly by the snow, unlike the game. So if we were going to get killed anyway, I figured why not at least get killed trying to not get killed? When I used my tome, the bolt of lightning I was able to launched essentially did whatever the heck I 'told' it to do. What would happen if I told it to defend us from the arrows?

'Worth a shot.'

If I could send an arc of lightning through the air just the right way, I should be able to zap the arrows and render them useless. But I wasn't going to have much time. I flipped my tome open and filled my mind with the hypnotic runes contained within. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, then opened my eyes and waved my hand across the sky the same way I imagined the arc of lightning doing and was amazed to see the lightning actually streak across the path of the arrows. The arrows were struck and fell from the air, landing harmlessly off to our sides. Stahl, Sully and Miriel gazed at the downed arrows in shock.

"Miriel, mind helping me finish these Archers?"

Miriel and I knocked the Archers from their spots on the wall and sent them tumbling to the ground and their deaths. As we did that, Sully and Stahl finished off the enemies that we were fighting before our archer scare.

'I wonder if Chrom realized I'm not with him Lissa or Frederick?'

We met up on the left hand door once the ground was clear. For the first time I saw Kellam. He was this mass of hulking armour. I looked from him to Frederick, then back to him.

'Tallest when seated... I'll say. I thought Great Knights were bulky with all their armour.'

I went forward with a door key and had Kellam lead the way forward. Vaike and Stahl followed him. I made sure to stick to the back of the group. That shielding thing I did earlier left me drained.

'Maybe I should practice my magic just like I'm practicing my sword play?'

Thankfully, we were able to win the battle without me playing an active part in the actual fighting. Raimi apologized to us for attacking and we were sent ahead to talk with Flavia. I was very careful to avoid talking about what a manly-man I was expecting her to be however. As a matter of fact, I joked about what a kick it would be if she was a woman.

"It's no fair that all the badasses are automatically assumed to be guys. I mean, look at Sully! If Sully can be as badass a woman as she is, why can't the West Kahn be a badass woman?"

I timed my speech well, for at precisely that moment Flavia walked into the room.

"Indeed, why can't she?"

We all politely observed her for a moment before Chrom and her discussed terms of Regina Ferox helping Ylissee with Plegia. We would take place in the tournament between the East and West Khans and if we won she would send troops and supplies to help us. But for tonight, we would be sleeping in style in Flavias' palace. Or, the Feroxi approximation of a palace anyway. I've only had to spend a couple of days camping out in the woods, but considering I've spent the past seventeen years living in nice cozy homes with blankets, electric fans, ice cold water whenever I wanted... It's not hard to see why suddenly having to rough it has come as such a shock.

'But, sleeping in palaces is pretty great. How many people can say with a straight face they've slept in a royal palace?'

My enthusiasm faded slightly when I saw the sleeping conditions. The room was very small and cold. Colder almost than the air outside the palace. I was also having to share the room with Lissa. It's not that I didn't like Lissa, but I didn't really feel comfortable sharing a room with someone who I'd only known for...

'Well, more than a few days if I think about it, but she's only known ME for a few days so...'

"Sane, isn't this great? We'll get to know each other a lot quicker if we share a room! We can stay up alllllll night talking about stuff!"

I certainly admired her enthusiasm.

"What do you want to talk about?"

Lissa scratched her head.

"I dunno. Stahl?"

I raised my eyebrows.

"Oh? You have a crush on Stahl?"

She gasped and covered her mouth.

"I do not!" She said after a while.

I smiled teasingly.

"Took you awhile to answer that. You sure you don't?"

She glared at me and 'harumph!'-ed. I stuck my tongue out at her and laid down on my bed. I had every intention of continuing this conversation in the morning, but Lissa had other ideas. The floors were made of crude stone and I had no idea that she was creeping my way with a pillow. I was in the middle of a huge yawn when I felt a stiff pillow slam into me.

"Gah!"

I rolled around in bed with my pillow in hand.

'I am a pillow fight master, don't mess with me chika!'

I swung my pillow at Lissa and struck her in the midsection. She was able to avoid falling onto the floor, if only barely and returned my swing with one of her own.

'It's a good thing I took off my glasses. This is going to get intense.'

We were fighting for about an hour before Miriel came in to complain about the noise, a big mistake on her part because she was accidentally hit with a flying pillow. Miriel just stood staring at the pillow on the ground before slowly walking out of the room while adjusting her glasses. Lissa and I looked at each other before breaking into spontaneous laughter that we couldn't stop for several minutes. And then I started squeaking again, and that just set us off further. By the time we were both totally done laughing, I was tired. Tired and not in the mood for Lissa and her antics.

"Alright, I'm going to bed. Don't hit me with a pillow."

Lissa smiled.

"Would I do that?"

I ignored her, and turned on my side with my back to her.

'This is more than likely a mistake. She's going to violate me with a pillow.'

But there was no pillow violation, instead Lissa was still for a moment before she snuggled up against my back.

"Um... What are you doing Lissa?"

She was quiet a moment before she responded.

"I get scared a night. Especially if I'm in a strange place."

I didn't say anything in response, but I let her continue to snuggle with me.

'I get scared too Lissa. Heck, I've been scared since I left home. I guess I don't mind if you want to cuddle.'

"Good night Lissa."

"G'night Sane."