So, I figure by this time it's dinner now, maybe a little bit before dinner depending. Sane's done with her swim with Kellam. Oh, I'm more than likely getting my laptop taken away within the next week because I'm almost done with my temp job and my parents don't want me to keep the laptop for whatever retarded reason so it's more than likely this is going to be the last chapter I get uploaded for a while. Sorry about that guys, I'm not my parents. Hrm... I guess that's about it for the authors note. On with the story!

I was in the training grounds practicing with my new tome. For some reason it seemed more of a struggle to have this one do what I wanted, but I figured it was just because the level of the tome was higher.

'Micah's Pyre was what, level C or B at least, yeah?'

But my knack for spells still shone through and I was finally able to get it to almost listen to me. I'd have to practice a bit more before I was as proficient as I was with my Thunder tome. I was able to get Frederick to help me with my training. He would wait for me to channel a shield around myself then attack me. It wasn't the most enjoyable thing in the world, but I needed to be able to protect everyone else.

'If only I could've protected Vaike...'

After a while, Frederick told me that he would be retiring from training for the evening, telling me that his shoulders and arms were beginning to hurt. I thanked him and continued to practice by myself for a while. Gaius came by again to talk to me, but he wasn't as eager to attack me as Frederick was. However, he did volunteer to be a moving target. I was impressed with his abilities. I wasn't able to hit him a single time. He would spring away at the last possible second in a graceful roll.

"I'm impressed, not many people are able to ninja themselves out of the way like that."

"What kind of thief would I be if I couldn't dodge one little spell? You're gonna have to do better than that if you plan on coming close to hitting me!"

Sully crapped herself out of thin air and told us that everyone was meeting at the pub for dinner before heading to bed.

"Gonna be great too, there's live entertainment tonight."

The three of us left for the pub, and when we got there we could hardly find the others because of how crowded it was. We were eventually able to find the others, who were taking up four separate tables. However, despite the fact Sully and Gaius were able to find a seat no problem, I had a slite problem finding a spot to sit. The only available spot was next to Chrom. I could practically feel his hostility as I sat next to him and tried to ignore it. But ignoring someone who's openly hostile towards you is like ignoring a broken jaw.

You don't.

"Glad you three made it, we were getting worried we'd have to eat without without you."

Sully picked witty banter with Kellam and Virion. Chrom was whispering with Frederick, at the next table over Lissa and the other women were sitting. Stahl and Gaius sat discussing pies, leaving me to sit in silence. When our drinks and food were brought out, the conversation picked up slightly, and it made me notice that some of our number were missing.

"Where's Panne and Ricken? Or Donnel? I thought for sure he'd be here."

"Panne and Donnel stayed behind to watch Ricken and make sure he doesn't get into any trouble. A pub's really no place for Ricken." Frederick said.

"I don't think Sane should really be in a pub either." Chrom offered.

Lon'qu came strolling up to our table and sat across from me. He didn't say anything, but the fierce look he gave me spoke volumes.

'Great, two blokes upset with me.'

"Lon'qu, I wasn't expecting you to join us. Any reason you're here?"

He picked up a drink, my drink, and took a long swig before answering.

"Got into an argument with a patron earlier. Not about to pass up an opportunity to get even."

"Really Lon'qu," I teased. "You should let things go."

Sully scooted her chair over to me and slung an arm around me.

"Sane, speaking of letting things go, we're gonna get you to drink proper."

Lon'qu raised his eyebrows.

"Sane can't drink proper? What, like she drinks barley beer or something?"

I stuck my tongue out at him.

"I already drink. I don't need to be taught how to."

Sully laughed.

"Drinking sweet apple ale is hardly drinking. We need to get a couple pints in you. Oy, bring some grog yeah?"

A waitress nodded to Sully and vanished behind the bar.

"I'm not a hard drinker."

She shook me playfully.

"We'll make you one, don't worry."

The grog was brought and set before me and Sully looked at me expectantly.

"Go on, drink."

I stared at the grog.

'Do I really have to drink this crap?'

To humor Sully I sniffed the drink. It was even more sour and bitter smelling than the mead.

'Treat this mother like cough syrup...'

I gripped the cup and peered at the alcohol inside it. Saying a quick prayer I chugged as much of the drink as I could in one go.

"All right Sane!" Sully cheered.

Some of the other Shepherds were egging me on as well. Against my better judgement I decided to finish the drink. I slammed the empty cup onto the table and raised my arms above my head.

"Yeah!"

The taste of the grog was horrible. I tried to wash it away with my drink, but Lon'qu was hoding it out of my reach.

"Give me my freaking drink you prick!"

Lon'qu laughed.

"Can you say 'hostile'?"

I kicked him under the table and he hissed in pain. I took my drink back and downed the rest of it.

'Wait, two drinks down. I'm going to get smashed at this rate.'

"Never again."

The others chuckled.

"Sane's tapping out already huh?"

Virion moved to my side and took the empty cups away.

"My dear, you mustn't be so eager to drink and impress this lot, a lady must have refined tastes."

'Nope, not dealing with Virion.'

"Virion, no offense, you annoy me. Greatly."

"Ah, such a sweet sting! I know you can't mean such a thing, I know your heart must flutter whenever I am near you."

'Yeah something flutters. My urge to hit you.'

I rolled my eyes at him.

"Ah my lady, you mustn't deny your feelings. If someone makes your heart flutter, you simply must embrace it."

"Virion, I'm not drunk enough to fall for your cheap words."

Several people, including Lon'qu, laughed.

"Milady... You wound me so freely."

I looked over at Kellam. I saw him looking over at my table, but when we locked eyes he looked away with a blush. I felt the childish urge to wave at him.

'Maybe I could go sit with him?'

I stood up and walked over to his table. I was about to grab a chair from an adjacent table and sit down, but my body acted in auto pilot and instead I walked right past him and leaned against Lissa's chair. She didn't notice I was there, but Miriel, Sumia, and Maribelle raised an eyebrow.

"What are you guys looking at?" Lissa asked.

She turned in her seat, and I moved the opposite way so she couldn't see me.

"Was there someone there?"

She had a drink sitting beside her. I don't think she was a drinker, so I picked up her drink and stole a sip.

'Ew... Grape.'

When Lissa turned back the way she had been facing, she looked at the table in front of her.

"Where's my drink?"

Sumia chuckled.

"I don't know. Maybe some lunatic took it?"

'Lunatic? Really Sumia?'

"It was right here, how did it disappear in the two seconds I turned around?"

I leaned towards Lissa, my head beside hers.

"Maybe some lunatic took it?" I offered.

Lissa jumped and yelped slightly.

"Sane, you butt!"

She gave me a playful shove and laughed.

"How long were you standing there?"

"Oh, long enough to steal your drink."

She saw the drink in question in my hands and took it back.

"I hope you liked it."

"Of course not. It's grape juice."

She drank the juice.

"Good, more for me then."

"Sane, I was wondering if you'd be able to help me conduct a study." Came Miriel's voice.

'Oh Gods why..?'

"What kind of study?"

Maribelle shook her head.

"Don't Sane. It's below you." She warned.

"What would you like me to do?"

"I'm trying to conduct a study on the metabolization of alcohol in the blood stream and subsequent levels of intoxication. You seem to be willing to drink copious amounts of alcohol-"

'I'd hardly call two glasses copious but okay.'

"And be a woman, which makes you prime testing material."

"Why does me being a woman make me testing material?"

"Few women who I know are willing to consume enough alcohol to become inebriated. You seem to be able to become inebriated without much difficulty."

I shook my head.

"No, I might drink with some friends, but I'm not going to drink with the intention of getting drunk."

Miriel frowned and adjusted her glasses.

"This is disappointing. I was positive you'd be able to assist me. But, seeing as you can't I suppose my study can go unfinished."

She sighed sadly and made a big deal of looking at me with a frown.

'No... She is not going to guilt trip me. I'm stronger than this...'

I did my best to ignore Miriel as I saw with the women, talking and having an almost good time. I could tell everyone was sad about Vaike, but thankfully no one seemed to be placing any blame on me. Eventually we all raised a toast to Vaike, even Maribelle who I noticed hadn't had anything to drink or eat at the pub.

"It's bad enough I have to sit here," She explained. "No way am I risking my health eating or drinking anything here."

"I'm sure there's health standards though, right?" I inquired.

"Of course there's health standards. Here and at the brothel."

'Ylisstol has a brothel? And I didn't know this?'

"Lighten up Maribelle!" Sully teased. "It's not like you're gonna get sick and die from eating here. People have lived from my cooking right?"

Miriel still had a sad look on her face, and every now and then would pretend to wipe away a tear.

'Man, she really knows how to guilt trip a person.'

"Miriel, why can't you have Sully help you with your study?"

"Because of Sully's high muscle mass and diet, her body metabolizes the alcohol too quickly for as in-depth a study as I require. With your size, diet and significantly smaller experience with alcohol, you are the prime testing subject."

'*Fricken* YOLO right?'

"Sully, you wanna have a drinking contest?"

"Hell yes! Hope you're ready to get carried home tonight Sane!"

My 'bad idea' sensors were going off even before the first drinks arrived at the table, but it was too late to back out now. The other Shepherds heard of what was going on and crowded around the table taking bets. One reassuring factor was Chrom actually bet that I'd be able to out drink Sully.

'Maybe he isn't as mad at me as I thought.'

Kellam and some of the other kinder Shepherds were trying to talk me out of the contest.

"You realize Sully is one of the better drinkers, right?" Kellam asked.

"You're gonna make yourself sick." Sumia warned.

"This is highly irresponsible." Frederick told us.

Their words were taken into account, yes, but I filed them in the same file as 'Advice from Mr. Sarver'. When the drinks were brought out, Sully explained the rules of the contest to me.

"Whoever finishes their five drinks first, wins. No puking allowed, no leaving the table. If we can't finish our drinks, whoever drank the most wins. Ties will be broken by another drink. You ready?"

I took a deep breath and nodded.

Our drinks were brought out shortly after that, and Stahl, the judge, counted us down.

"Three... Two... One... DRINK!"

I picked up my first cup and downed it without even pausing to consider what might be in it. The drink was horribly bitter and I almost tossed my cookies then and there from the taste alone.

'I am so boned!'

I managed to finish my first glass before Sully, but she returned the favour by being the first person to finish her second glass. We finished our third about the same time and I paused.

'I'm going to get sick...'

I looked at Sully, who was chugging her fourth glass like a pro.

'No, nuts to that, I am not getting shown up!'

I could tell as soon as I was halfway through with my fourth glass this contest wouldn't end well for me at all. Maybe if I was lucky at this rate I'd make it past the first sip of the fifth glass before I threw up and got myself disqualified. Now Sully and I were both down to our fifth and final glass.

"Maybe if you beg I won't embarrass you too hard." Sully said

"Yeah right, Ouim... About to embarrass yew." I slurred.

I could hear a couple people chuckling at me.

'Pull it together Sane! You can do this! You-!'

A sudden, violent wave of nausea washed over me and I covered my mouth.

'You cannot do this!'

"Oh damn, she's gonna hurl!"

Everyone at once decided they were going to try to push me out the door, and it seemed everyone had a different idea what direction the door actually was.

"It's over there!"

"No, it's by the creepy mounted boar head!"

"You're both wrong, it's over by the fireplace!"

I saw what looked like the door to the pub and quickly walked over to it, holding my stomach and mouth.

'I'm not gonna make it...'

Thankfully, I was heading for the right door and was barely a foot outside the pub when I threw up. It was, without a doubt, one of the most horrible experiences I've ever had throwing up. Not that throwing up is ever pleasant.

"Murrh..."

Thankfully, I was able to avoid throwing up on my hair or clothes. I heaved a couple more times and felt like I was going to pass out. My nose, eyes and throat were burning, and I'm pretty sure I was crying like a little girl too.

"Looks like someone couldn't hold their drink."

"Little girls like you shouldn't be at the pub anyway."

"Need someone to walk you home little girl?"

I heard some people not far away teasing me and looked up.

'Wow, can someone say 'stereotypical redneck'?'

They were far enough away that I didn't feel threatened by their presence, but close enough they could still talk smack and make me feel uneasy.

"Go away..." I mumbled.

I was pretty embarrassed that anyone could see me. I just wanted to go curl up in a ball somewhere.

"Aw, what's the matter? Little girl need her mommy and daddy?"

"Bro, if you don't go away..."

"What? You gonna start something pukey?"

'I am gonna start something bro! Come at me!'

The pub door opened up and Kellam walked out. The redneck trio obviously didn't see him and walked closer to me.

"You really need to watch your drink, you look pathetic all hunched over like that."

It wasn't until Kellam was at my side helping me up that the trio seemed to notice he was there.

"Hey, your girlfriend needs to stop drinking at our pub, no body wants to have to drink with such a lightweight around."

"Give her a break, she didn't know her limit. It was an accident."

I leaned against Kellam for support. My knees felt shaky and I was sure I was going to hurl again.

"Kellam..."

He seemed to know what I was going to say before I had the chance to finish my sentence. He pulled my hair back as I threw up, most likely the rest of whatever was in my stomach judging by the fact it was mostly liquid bile. The redneck trio moved closer and continued their laughter and teasing.

"Oh that's sick!"

"Nice one pukey!"

"Man, I'd hate to be seen in public with that!"

Kellam let go of me, making sure I wouldn't fall over of course, and strode over to one of the redneck trio.

"Bro, I feel sorry for you." One of them said.

What Kellam did next was very un-Kellam like, but it was also very cool. He grabbed one of the redneck trio by his shirt and threw him onto the ground. He landed face first in the pile of puke and instantly began screaming bloody murder. His buddies did nothing to help him up, instead they chose to stand and laugh at him. When Kellam moved to grab them however, they legged it out of there. The man flailing around in the puke was able to stand up and sort of awkwardly stood there as Kellam glared at him.

"I believe you owe my friend an apology."

Chrom, Frederick and Lissa came out of the pub then with concerned looks on their face.

"Sane, you okay?" Lissa asked.

The three stopped and stared at the man covered in puke. They looked from him, to Kellam, to me slumped against the side of the pub. Lissa was at my side in an instant, but I waved her away.

"Need space... Water..."

"What the heck happened out here?" Chrom demanded.

"Milord Chrom!" The man fell to his knees in front of Chrom. "This guy is a lunatic, he totally just threw me around with no reason whatsoever!"

Chrom backed away from the man, face wrinkled in disgust.

"No reason my foot!" Kellam said, strangely quietly considering he did just throw the man around. "He was practically attacking Sane! She was backed against the building on the ground, and three guys were surrounding her! How would you interpret that situation?"

Chrom looked over at me.

"Sane, are you alright?"

I slowly shook my head.

"I think I'm going to get sick again."

Lissa gently rubbed my stomach and had me lean into her.

"Shhh Sane, it's going to be alright. We'll get you back to the palace and give you some medicine."

"Myio kay..."

Her and Kellam carefully carried me away from the pub. As they did, I dug around in my robes and pulled out my tome.

"Sane, what are you doing?"

"Wanna troi suumfin..."

I looked back at the man who fell in the puke. He was having some sort of heated conversation with Chrom.

"I didn't do nothin'!" I heard him yell.

'Liar, liar... Pants on fire.'

Without much effort on my part, the magic of the tome was channeled right at the man. A split second later, his bloomers were ablaze.

"Go, go, go, go, go, go!" I urged Kellam and Lissa.

I started to make weird huffing chuckle noises as they carried me away.

"My gods Sane! I can't believe you did!" Lissa said with a poorly suppressed laugh.

"Chrom's gonna have your head for that." Kellam said with concern.

I'm sure they said more after that, but I wouldn't have been able to hear it. Puking out what had to have been forty-five percent of my internal organs, combined with setting a mans pants on fire left me completely exhausted, and I passed out while still being carried.

I'll keep working on the story whenever I can, but since I'm going to be laptop less soon I'll have to type everything up in an E-mail document on my 3DS, and typing on that mother is annoying! So, sorry again about that, and sorry this chapter is later than my others have been.

And as far as that quip about Mr. Sarver, I feel that one needs some explaining. He was my guidance counselor freshmen and sophomore year. I was bullied and beat up a lot, plus I was having a lot of personal issues so I was in his office a lot. Well, one day I walked in with a black eye where some 6 foot monster had decked me, and he went on this huge rant about how with my 3.5 GPA I'd do great things blah blah blah and I was so smart and funny (And he had this creepy habit of having to put an arm on your shoulder if he was talking to you... Ew.) and I had so much potential, meanwhile I have a black eye from where I was attacked. And he did nothing about it. And the time I came into his office with a bloody nose...

Murrh...