A/N Well, here the third chapter, and thanks to Exum and Grakjack72 for the reviews, and hopefully this time around the battles don't feel too rushed, though there should be a bit at some points, as those that have played the game know about chapter 17.

Anyways, I don't own Fire Emblem, otherwise there would be either a) news about a new game, or b) the japanese games would be translated for the virtual console.

The sky was once again cloudy over the forest, as if it was sad about what had happened here. The worst part for the mercenaries was the forest itself seemed to try to suck them in and not let them go. The only ones that seemed able to navigate the place with any ease were Lethe, Mordecai, and Soren. Speaking of his friend, he seemed to have finally come to terms with his personal problem, though he still had not told Ike about it yet. I'll take what I can get. Ike sighed as he looked over his group, Mist had convinced him with Astrid's help to get her a horse, which after she started training with it brought a bit of a relief to him. Now she would be able to escape easier and she was now also defending herself with a sword, at perhaps Mia's suggestion. Kieran was talking to Oscar, and in honor of their abilities, Titania suggested that the group bought the two more supplies for their horses. Kieran had been ecstatic at the news and Ike had to leave the poor cook listening to him explain how he would treasure this gift and that his cloak would always be without stains or holes. Ike shuddered to think about what Kieran would do with a gifted axe, he probably would keep it on a wall somewhere and not use it.

Speaking of horse riders, he needed to talk to Astrid about Lekain, and unfortunately for him, she always seemed busy. She had helped Mist with learning how to ride a horse and when he was going to talk to her afterwards, she suggested having Makalov help Mist with fighting on a horse, and that comment drove his original mission from his mind. Yesterday she had joined the other horse riders in their searching of the forest with Lethe and Mordecai. And when he tried to catch her at dinner, his trip to the mess hall was interrupted by a worn-out Rhys, since the poor healer always had problems walking back to his room after his training with Mia. It was good exercise for Rhys as long as he was able to fight the next day. He also seemed happier even if he claimed they were not getting anywhere. When he made it back to where the mercenaries ate, she was gone.

Ike sighed as he noticed Titania riding next to his sister and changed course. While Soren was the better tactician of the two, he was not the one to go to about people situations, to say it lightly. She was explaining to Mist something about riding as she was gesturing to her saddle, Ike walked up next to the two as she finished and Mist nodded before riding off.

"Hey, Astrid hasn't been avoiding me, has she?" He wondered as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"I haven't heard anything to that effect, why would you think that?"

"Soren did tell you about Senator Lekain coming by to talk to me?" She nodded as he gripped the pommel of his sword before continuing, "I think he came by to look for someone, and since I doubt he would come specifically for a debt." He turned to look around, and frowned upon remembering that Astrid joined Marcia in scouting ahead.

"And you're looking for advice for what to do." Titania smiled before continuing, "If I recall correctly, Soren told me that he came to ask for well-trained soldiers, obviously, we are just simple mercenaries that can't read between the lines. Do what you think is right. Remember, Elincia's already has Sanaki's help, so it is doubtful he'll have any effect." Ike smiled as he let go of his sword. "I'll let her know you want to talk to her, since for all you know, the Senator might have just wanted a look over our forces in general." He nodded as the paladin rode ahead. He took a deep breath as he tried to not let the dark, dreary forest get to him. How does Soren always seem to know where he is? Only the laguz seem able to, then again, Stefan doesn't seem shaken by the forest either, but made living a desert helped with that.

OoOoO

The day had been another fruitless search, they were going to have to go deeper into the forest tomorrow. Marcia and Astrid were late, as Ike paced back and forth in front of the mercenaries quarters for the twenty-fifth time. While he knew how he was going to deal with the situation if Lekain was coming for Astrid, he was worried that the senator was looking over his forces. Since if one of the senators had slaves, it was probable more did as well. While he was mostly sure that no one in the mercenaries would sell out, someone in Oliver's forces may have been a spy for Lekain. Perhaps Astrid would know more. He started to pace again as he noticed Stefan walk up.

"Hello, Ike. Did you find our training helpful?" He questioned as he stood next to Ike.

"Yes, it was. I hope that someday I will be able to give you a fair spar." Ike commented as he continued his pacing.

"If you continue to push yourself as you have, then I will be able to have the honor soon." Stefan leaned against the wall as Ike pausing in his walking as he turned back. "If you feel too uncomfortable to answer, I won't mind, but are you and Soren good friends?"

"Of course, why do you ask?" Ike raised eyebrows as finished his own question.

"You haven't been talking to him as often, have you? He's been withdrawing, hasn't he?"

"Everyone has their days they need to be alone, but if you're the reason for this, you'll regret it." Stefan chuckled in response as Ike started to glare at him.

"I wonder if you can still say that later, though you do give me a bit of hope. However, the people you are waiting for have arrived. Thank you for the conversation, Ike."

"What do you mean-" Ike paused as the hoof-beats behind him stopped the question mid-sentence.

"Hey, handsome, I'm glad to see our commander is worried about us." The unspoken question about the heron answered as neither one was bearing a passenger.

"We almost ran into a squad of Oliver's axe knights as we returned, and presuming that you would have preferred us not to engage them, Marcia had to guide me around." Astrid debriefed as she bowed in Marcia's direction. She waved her off.

"Marcia, when you have a moment, explain to Soren where you were when you saw them." She nodded at the order as she then took her pegasus towards the stables.

"You two didn't get lost did you?"

"No, Commander."

"Astrid, I know Begnion probably started your training making sure you used the proper form of address for the higher ranked officers, but could you please call me just Ike." First the Princess and now her.

"Actually, they did not, since everyone being trained was from the nobility." Ike shook his head. "However, I will try to follow your order." She bit her lip after finishing her explanation.

"It isn't an order, it is a request from a friend."

"That makes it even more pertinent that I do not fail in this endeavor."

"Can we just move on and discuss this later?" He responded while rubbing his forehead.

"Of course, I'm sorry. What is it that you wish to talk about?"

"One of the senators, Lekain, came by to ask if he could recruit from our group. However, due to the fact of the mission we are on, is it likely that he would know about our mission?"

"It is likely, though I would not expect the Senator to be willing to incriminate himself by doing anything that would interfere with the mission. The two senators seemed to have been on good terms." Astrid answered as she looked at the ground for a few seconds. He fiddled with his belt as he waited for her to continue. Her gaze left the ground as she let the silence continue.

"Is your father a friend of the Senator?"

"Yes, he is indeed."

"Is it possible that he would ask Senator Lekain to look for you?"

"I would believe it to be a more likely scenario as my parents were not happy with my decision."

"And thus they believe that a senator would intimidate you into coming home." She nodded as she bit her lip.

"Well, then that makes it good that he did not tell me his true reasoning for visiting, otherwise we won't be able to ignore it without sounding like a lie." Hey eyes widened as she froze freezing mid-step. "You're a part of the company, we're family, and no snobby senator will be allowed to threaten you. I promise." She smiled as her eyelids started to blink rapidly.

"Thank you, Commander." She continued her furious blinking as her grip slackened on the horse's reins.

"We better hurry otherwise none of Oscar's cooking will be left." They both picked up the pace as he sighed, it looks like it would be an uphill battle to get her to call him by name.

OoOoO

The day had started out the way the pervious ones did, with no signs of Oliver's men as the mercenaries began to search. The inevitable clash's framework was laid downr when Jill reported signs of soldiers to the north. Ike grimaced as he quickly rushed over to where Titania had gathered the rest of the mercenaries. After non-verbally gaining approval for a strike force of ten mercenaries from Soren, they rushed towards where Jill had seen the forces. As his sister stayed at his side, he was quite glad that she had learned how to ride. While he was not sure about only taking one healer, he did not feel up to leaving the squad behind without a healer. It was likely they could be attacked, though he knew the apostle would be safe unless the men were completely crazy. His teammates on the otherhand...

"Ike, we have arrived." Soren interrupted his thoughts as the group turned to look at him.

"Jill, Oscar, Kieran, Mist, Zihark, Mordecai, and Ilyana will start the engagement with the main group while Astrid, Soren and I deal with the archer and fighters on the left before returning to help out."

"Ha! Kieran, Commander of the Twelfth Royal Platoon will leave nothing left for the Commander to deal with!" The enthusiastic knight raced towards the men as Oscar was right behind him, taking aim with his new bow.

"Commander, quite a few enemies are carrying poison weapons." Jill added before having her wyvern take to the air.

"Then it's a good thing I bought anti-toxins." Mist remarked before following the others into battle. Ike drew his weapon as his small group took off.

He headed towards the archer, leaving the fighters for Astrid and Soren to pick off before getting close. He separated himself a bit from the two, as he did not want the archer's miss to accidently hit either one of his teammates. Before he could actually reach his enemy, the opponent released the nocked arrow. The arrow nicked his arm as he failed to completely dodge it as he continued on, though he started to feel a bit sluggish. Upon reaching his opponent, his swing land a blow as it drew blood across the chest with a follow-up swing slamming into the injured opponent, dropping him. Ike turned as he stumbled back from an ax swing that would have removed his head. He groaned as he his counter-swing was sloppy. Releasing his breath, he reversed his swing with a more steady grip, and this time it grazed flesh. The fighter snarled as he attempted to land a blow on Ike, who rolled back with his sword ready to parry.

However, his defense was not needed as he watched a bolt of lightning magic blast into his opponent, who flopped to the ground. Ike grimaced as the numbness shot through his body again, sapping a bit more strength and making him groggy.

"Commander. Use this." Astrid handed him an antitoxin which he snagged, removed the cap and began drinking it. He gagged on it as he gazed over the battlefield, a smile breaking out at the fact none of his teammates showed any injuries. They were finishing off the enemy commander, leaving the only enemies left were three myrmidon that had slipped behind them and heading quickly towards Ike's group.

"You better thank your sister for the medicine, she said that you would need it." Soren commented as he prepared another spell, Ike smiled as the numbness started to fade. The sound of a twang behind announced Astrid's attack as two rapid arrows flew by and struck down one of the myrmidon. Taking that as a signal, Ike positioned himself to draw the other two to attack him. Obliging him, they swung at him from both sides as he barely brought his weapon into position to block the extremely sharp blade the enemy was wielding. The other grazed his left arm as he back-pedaled from a more serious blow. The two pressed their attack as Ike kept his guard up as he assumed the 'holes' in their guard were attempts to leave him open to counter attack. He had also positioned himself poorly as Astrid would not shoot risking hitting him by accident.

Fortunately, Soren was confident enough to release a blast of lightning that caught one of the myrmidon, who faltered, leaving his teammate an easy target for a crippling strike from Ike. As the blow dropped one enemy, he heard the twang and the gurgle of the enemy.

"That is the last of the enemies for now, Ike." He nodded to the tactician as they started walking over to the rest of the group.

"Brother, you're hurt, why am I not surprised?" Mist admonished as she brought her staff over his wounds. He smiled as he glanced over the area, Nasir came out of the foliage nearby.

"Ike, it seems that perhaps you should call for reinforcements, since this didn't seem to be Oliver's main force."

"Good idea, call for Marcia and Nephenee then." He did not want to take too many forces away from the protecting the princess. He doubted that the two Holy Guards would allow the princess to come to harm, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Looking around the area, he realized they did not know where to go after this, until Mordecai mentioned the ruins to the northeast and a strange feeling. With that the mercenaries took off, with Nasir explaining about Seid magic and specifically galdr, which amazed Ike. The ability to make someone double their workload would be quite valuable. While his group continued onwards, the mud on his boots continued to accumulate.

OoOoO

"Ike, more of Oliver's men are ahead. Shall we engage or move past them?" Oscar questioned as he returned from his position as scout. "There is a significantly sized bog that will slow everyone but Jill and Marcia when she arrives."

"Ike, we do not want enemies at our rear when we reach our destination, the enemy is quite likely have at least another detachment in that area." Soren extrapolated as the sight of the enemy appeared in front of everyone. This is where Oliver's horsemen were starting to join the battle. Fortunately, everyone had received basic instruction in anti-cavalry tactics after hearing that Oliver's strongest forces were horse riders given to the mercenaries by one of Oliver's former men. Everyone that could use one were wielding a longsword, knight-killer, or poleaxe.

"Do you have the time to waste, Ike?" Nasir wondered.

"Soren's right, we do not have to engage all of the enemy forces, but just enough to cause the rest to retreat." Ike decided as he caught Kieran's attention and pointed at the first group of horse knights. Oscar sighed as he directed his horse to follow after his self-proclaimed rival. Nasir ducked into the forest again, Ike wished his sense of direction was better here, but at least Nasir would not be in danger.

"Be careful crossing the bog, Ike." Mist warned him as she followed after the transforming Mordecai and Astrid, who nodded as her horse galloped off.

"The rest of us, start moving through swamp, our reinforcements will be able to catch up. Jill, do not move too far ahead of the group." Her wyvern roared in response as she took to the sky. The two enemy soldiers started to charge the group, obviously not wanting to be in the swamp when the magic users attacked. Zihark and Ike took the lead, Jill flew to flank either of the enemy that did not fall in the first strikes. Ilyana and Soren followed closely behind, their chants ignored by their comrades as the distance between both sides vanished. Ike rammed his sword against his opponent's lance, barely keeping it from hitting his shoulder. Recovering faster, he swung back and connected as a grunt escaped from his opponent. He held back on his a continued assault as a burst of wind flew into his opponent, dropping him.

Ike turned to see Zihark tying his opponent up while Jill ran him through. The four started to push forward through the marsh, which was slow going, as the mages could not use magic to scatter the marsh like they could the sands. Ike glanced back over towards the other group. They were handling themselves adequately, Kieran and Oscar practicing using new weapons, Kieran with swords, and Oscar with a bow. Mordecai kept himself between any possible enemy and Mist, and lastly, Astrid seemed to be finishing off the wounded enemies that would not retreat.

"Hey, handsome, your sister's fine, worry about what is up ahead." Marcia's comment returned his attention back to crossing the marsh as Marcia dropped Nephenee across the marsh while Jill dropped off Zihark as they both of them came back to the group. "Carry Soren and Ilyana, I'll be fine." Soren nodded as Ilyana gleefully took Marcia's hand. Ike grimaced as he finally removed himself from the swamp. Glancing at his team, he grinned as he noticed that the rest of the group was heading over.

Nephenee and Zihark had finished off the last of the nearby forces. Once Nasir came back out of the trees, Ike passed the names of Brom and Gatrie as reinforcements, the group headed towards the ruins, and hopefully the heron.

OoOoO

The group had been quite surprised to run into another heron, who seemed to have been protected against the massacre some how. The shock was short-lived as Oliver appeared and noticed that the heron was not the same one. He brought in more forces to battle against the mercenaries. Carrying the heron, Ike knew he would get in the way and retreated to the north as Zihark, Nephenee, and Soren struck down the nearby enemies. His reprieve was interrupted as one of the mages took a lucky shot and almost caught his shirt on fire. Fortunately, the sleeping heron was unaffected. Marcia removed the problem before joining the front lines, leaving no enemy in his vicinity.

He grimaced as he watched his forces form a wall blocking the advance of the enemy, this group had a much larger force than the last two. Kieran, Jill, and Oscar, had pulled ahead to take a few throws with javelins or hand axes before retreating back to where Nephenee and Mordecai were prepared to lash out at the approaching enemy. Soren and Ilyana would blast the foes that would attempt to flank either defenders, with Mist darting around healing, her usual target being Kieran. Astrid moved to be near him, while occasionally darting forward to shoot at an approaching enemy before returning to block the way towards him.

"Soren wanted to have someone cover you in case an enemy gets lucky, since you aren't at your best right now."

"Thanks." He smiled as he watched his team keep in formation, the hit and run tactics maddening the enemy while Mordecai and Nephenee prevented any of the enemies from getting at the magic users.

His attention jumped to his right, as he noticed two mages breaking out of the bushes, their tomes at the ready barring down at him. "Astrid." She responded by taking aim and firing at the approaching foes as Ike shifted the heron so that she would not get hurt. The two mages reached the two before Astrid could drop either one. They both finished their chants as wind flew at him, he side-stepped left, avoiding the first but the second seemed to have predicted the dodge and the magic slammed into him, knocking the breath out of him. He grimaced as he shifted his feet to take a swing at his opponent, willing himself closer. Pushing against the ground, he lunged at his opponent, and as the opponent finished muttering the spell, chopped with his sword. The blow dropped the mage as he took a deep breath upon hearing the gurgle from the other mage.

"Sorry, Commander, I should have been able to stop them earlier." Astrid apologized as she started to fish out a vulnerary that she handed to him.

"More are coming, at least three more knights." While stepping back he used the vulnerary, feeling the pain from the wound dulling. Comparing how close they were to the foliage, he realized that there would not be enough time for Astrid to shoot them down before getting past her. Glancing back at the group, he noticed that Zihark was running over, the others too far away to be helpful. How did they get behind us? Ike dropped the steel sword for his worn Regal Sword, with Astrid positioning her horse in front of him. He knew that she would have to move shortly, otherwise she would be a sitting duck.

"Commander, you know you are supposed to protect such a beautiful lady as the fair Astrid, not hide behind her." He let out a breath he had not noticed that he was holding. Gatrie appeared from his right, panting heavily, though his knight killer was pointed at where the enemy was going to be approaching from. "Lady Astrid, would you perhaps like a lance to use today?"

"No thanks, I prefer to use a bow for now." Brom also charged out of the foliage, seeming to have followed Gatrie, with a javelin at the ready. When the first horse rider broke out of the bushes, he quickly found himself losing his grip on his weapon as a javelin connected with his armor before being impaled on Gatrie's lance.

Astrid released the arrow she had nocked before her horse had to move since the dead rider's horse kept charging. Ike quickly moved the other way, dodging the other way, as Gatrie attempted to block off another rider, while Zihark had enough time to reach the wounded knight and finish him off.

Gatrie had underestimated the rider, who avoided his swing, rode past him, and galloped at Ike. The soldier reached out with his lance, and barely landed a decent blow into Ike's shoulder. A groan of pain escaped his lips as he stumbled back, the worry for the heron preventing him from counterattacking. The knight turned to charge him down again when another arrow pierced his right hand, forcing him to drop his weapon as Zihark charged and slammed him off of his saddle, then his second swing killed the man. Smiling at his men he saw Soren rushing over, the worry actually visible for others to see.

"Commander, I apologize for not making it earlier, we found the rest of the group's attachment and since they were heading in the same direction, I believed that it would have been better to remove them before they could link up." Gatrie explained as he kept scanning the bushes for movement.

"They were a doozy, Ike." Brom added as Soren finally reached the group.

"Ike, you should have stayed closer, if they had been more competent, Zihark wouldn't have been able to come help." Soren scowled as he pulled out a heal staff, Ike raised an eyebrow. "Mist and Rhys have been teaching Ilyana and I, for situations like this." He smiled as his friend ran the staff over his wounds.

After finishing the healing, Oliver came out of the forest and declared that they were leaving the heron alone since there was another one. Giving his group a look over to see that none were sporting any damaging injuries, he gave the order to follow. Once Nasir reappeared, he asked for Mia and Rolf. As they walked along, Soren was discussing something with Nasir and Astrid was on Ike's other side, with Gatrie attempting to keep her attention on him. Shifting, the heron to his other shoulder, he asked,

"So, Astrid, you have been practicing with a lance as a secondary weapon?"

"Yes, Gatrie has been an excellent teacher in the use of a lance." Astrid smiled as she glanced at her sometimes teacher.

"Your sweet words brighten this dismal forest, Astrid." Gatrie pronounced as Ike sighed.

"However, Commander, I was thinking about asking Titania for help."

"Fighting on the ground is much different than on horseback, and Gatrie would agree that she is the best teacher overall here." Stefan might teach swordsmanship better, than any of the horse knights, however.

"Actually, I was thinking about using an axe, after all, swords are weak against lances and lances are weak against axes, I'll be better able to aid you on the battlefield." She explained as Gatrie started to gape like a fish.

"Thanks, Astrid, I would really appreciate it."

"Also, it would help with the distributions of weapons, as we have a plethora of lance users but at most four wielders of axes." Soren added as Gatrie slumped his shoulders. Ike chuckled and Astrid smiled as the group continued on towards where Oliver was.

OoOoO

The mercenaries found the Senator with the last of his defenders and after an attempt to get the Senator to surrender, the group started a charge at the enemy. Yet again, Nasir found himself scarce, while Ike stayed back with Gatrie, Brom, and Soren, as his tactician did not want a sneak attack catching him again.

Grumbling but moving out of the possible range of the enemy, he kept his eyes on the group, fortunately, Mist and Ilyana were not overwhelmed by teammates having wounds that needed to be healed. The group had to slow their movement because of a group of knights and generals using the bog to stop the enemy. However, three hawk laguz and the other heron stormed out of the forest and struck at their rear.

"Hey, boss, where are we needed?" Mia chirped, drawing his attention as he noticed that more of Oliver's horsemen bursting out of the foilage. Mia rushed at the incoming enemies.

"Rolf, Soren, stay back with me and add cover fire, Gatrie, Brom join Mia in intercepting before they can attempt to grab the heron." Ike ordered as the two clanged after the swordswoman.

Seeing one of the enemies gallop past the two knights, Ike charged, not wanting to give the enemy time to aim. Before reaching striking range, he saw one of Rolf's arrows strike the enemies armor, unbalancing the rider. Taking advantage of it, Ike slashed quickly with his nearly broken sword, the strike hitting just right, and the blow forced the rider off of his horse. His teammates finished off their opponents, with Mia being the only one to show signs of injuries, with a line of blood on her left arm. Looking back to the brush, he noticed more signs of movement.

Silently grabbing Mia and Rolf's attention, he directed them to hide behind two of the larger trees. Soren stood behind his commander as Brom and Gatrie flanked him, making it even harder for the possible enemy to see Soren.

The three enemies rushed out and decisively targeted Ike as the two knights stood in front of their commander. The rear knight found himself dehorsed as Mia's longsword slammed into his chest followed shortly by an arrow to the neck. Gatrie and Brom's knight killers found their targets, with Gatrie dropping his target, but Brom's still kept his grip on weapon and horse. His ride was quickly finished off by Soren's blast of wind, ending his misery. The sound of beating wings grabbed Ike's attention as he turned to his left, and the sight of a white pegasus diving at him forced him to jump back. The enemy missed and before she could attempt a second attempt, Rolf's buried an arrow in the mount, dropping both of them to the ground. As the rider attempt to stab Ike, he blocked and slashed, finishing her.

"Hey, Ike, one of knights dropped an undamaged armorslayer." Rolf commented as he brought the weapon over.

"That would have been useful for our forces before they dealt with the knights." Soren added. "However, it seems that our forces have defeated Oliver." Looking over the enemies, who started dropping their weapons, released a breath of relief from Ike. Now he just needed to talk to the other heron, since he still needed to complete his mission for the Apostle.

OoOoO

Ike smiled as he thought back to what had just happened. For once he did not get everyone into trouble for his words and was able to help the Apostle make peace with the herons. Afterwards, being able to see the wondrous sight of the herons singing the forest back to life was a wonderful reward. Now he just had to make sure that the Apostle kept up her side of the bargain. He smiled at the praise given and was glad to hear that the Apostle was going to do more than just free the slaves.

Believing his part was done, he started to slip away quietly as to not disturb the two rulers when, "Hold! Your presence is still required." Sanaki demanded as Ike bit his lip as stared at the 10 year old. "Heed me, Ike, if you are to help lead the Crimean Liberation Army, you must be given a more appropriate title." Ike wanted to decline before remembering the talks with Astrid, how much emphasis Begnion put on titles. Taking a deep breath, he responded,

"I see. What do I have to do to be made a noble, start wearing a funny hat?"

"I'm surprised, I expected you to be shouting your complaints about this." Sanaki remarked.

"I learned how hung up on titles Begnion is, and thus for the Princess's sake, I do this." He countered before looking to Elincia, as there was no way he was going to become a Begnion noble.

"First, you must dress to fit your new position." Sanaki commanded as Sigrun escorted him to a nearby room where an outfit was laid out for him.

"One of the servants will take the clothes back your group." He nodded as Sigrun closed the door for him. If it was not for the fact that Elincia would lose troops, Ike would have snuck out the other door without changing. After changing clothes, he walked back and stood in front of Elincia. He felt like a buffoon, fortunately it should only be temporary, and no one in the room commented on it.

"Um, will you...lend me your sword? Thank you. Now, may I ask you...to kneel before me?" Ike rolled his eyes as he knelt in front of the princess. "Th-thank you. All right... Let me begin. In the name of House Crimea, I hereby grant you the title and rank of lord and all the honors it conveys. Rise, Lord Ike." He stood and recovered his sword.

"You're new rank suits you." Sanaki declared with a smile.

"I agree." Sigrun smiled after her comment.

"Thanks, Lord Ike." Elincia added. Blast, now I don't have a reason for her to stop. Nodding to the Princess, he walked out, before Sanaki attempted to force him to do something else that was related to being a noble. He will just have to change before anyone else saw him. His luck seemed to have not changed as he saw Astrid standing in front of his door. She smiled at his approach.

"Go ahead and laugh, I had to dress the part of being a snobby noble."

"Actually, Commander, it looks good on you. And also, I was here to let you know that Titania will be helping me with learning how to use an axe."

"I'm not surprised, you'll do great, Astrid. Also, I can understand you calling me Commander on the field of battle, but can you please call me by name when we are not fighting."

"Sorry, C-Ike, though it should be General now?"

"Yes, Astrid, however, I would like my friends to not be so distant. Unless we're not friends?" He explained as he scratched his head.

"No, of course we are, I am sorry, Ike. I will try to call you by name on the battlefield as well." Astrid bit her lip while staring at his new outfit.

"Well, it's a good start. Want to go see if Oscar or Mist has something to eat?" I better get use to wearing this outfit.

"That would be wonderful." With that the two walked towards the mess area, a smile on both their faces.

A/N For those wondering why Soren didn't heal Ike after the first part, he didn't have a staff out, and Mist was coming over with hers, but it wouldn't be something Ike would think about. And Ike and Astrid start to show a bit more than just friendship, but since Ike hasn't really interacted with non-employers or non-family members females for more than a bit at a time, he's not exactly sure how to react. Hopefully that comes across well. Let me know how the chapter went, and thank you for reading.