Author's Notes: Well as promised, 2 weeks between updates (just barely, got hit with some RL stuff so sorry if this chapter feels a bit rushed), other then that its a bit of a breather chapters between this and that plot that MCs been worrying about all this time, so its a bit short. Still though hope you guys like it, and hope I've managed to get most of the grammar errors this time.
Catoust: Thanks for the second review, hope I've managed to catch those niggling little errors and hopefully I'm getting some more character development going (hopefully).
Disclaimer: If I owned Fire Emblem it would be easier to get ahold of battle calculators online.
Chapter 3: The Team's day off (and some Drunken (Mis)Adventures)
The next morning was not pleasant, the exhaustion from yesterday came back in full force. When I tried to get out of bed I couldn't lift my arms, or my legs, or anything really. Trying a bit harder I managed to roll myself onto my side, and then promptly right off the side of the bunk, hitting the ground with a loud clatter of metal as I remembered I was still wearing my armour.
"Uurrrrrrrgh," I groaned from the floor, my head pounding like someone took a jackhammer to it.
"Uurrrrrrgh," Another groan with a much higher pitch, came from Amelia. I guess my trip to the ground woke her up, "Why did you have to wake me up?" the girl mumbled to no one in particular.
"I'm sorry the ground didn't give me much of a choice on the meeting time," I said back.
"Why are you even up? I feel like I could keep sleeping till noon, even if I could actually move my arms."
"From the brief glance at the window I got while I tumbled out of bed, I think it's already past noon."
"Would you two shut up please, I want to make good use of what little time we likely have left till Gilliam stomps in here," Edward added from his bed.
Moments later fate decided to screw with us and Gilliam walked into the room. Taking one look over the group of us, particularly me, face first on the floor, and sighed "Everyone get up."
"I can 'ardly move Sarg," Nephenee said.
"Same here, as much as I enjoy this view of the floor I would be standing up if I could."
"Once you actually get moving it will be better," Koel said from somewhere near the door, rolling my head to the side I saw him leaning up against the wall. Seeing him standing like nothing had happened yesterday made me almost envious, but it also made me wonder how he had seen fights enough times to be used to it.
As I tried vainly to push myself off the floor I felt a strong grip on my shoulder, before getting pulled upright by Gilliam. Other than a brief moment of dizziness I managed to stay on my feet, and by the time the rest of the squad was out of bed I was stretching my stiff legs.
"Now," Gilliam said as he walked back to the door, "There will be no training today. You all just needed to get out of bed."
Just as he was leaving he turned back into the room and added "And good work yesterday, now take the day off, we are going to need to be in good shape soon enough."
After that, almost ominous warning, we all just stood in the room, unsure of what to do. So it ended up that I was the first to move, taking off my helmet and tossing it onto my bunk. It was quickly followed by the rest of my armour, leaving me in just the tunic, pants and scarf wraps that we wore under our armour.
"My god does it feel good to get out of that." I said as I looked around the room, and noticed that most of the rest of the squad was following my lead.
"Gods you're right, I forgot how heavy our armour is" Aran said as he straightened his back with a loud *crack*.
"I wish I could go back to sleep, but I think Gilliam would throw me out of the window if he found me." Leonardo said as he stretched his arms.
"Anyone got somethin in mind t' do?" Nephenee added, who was the only one of us who hadn't taken off their armour. I guess he shyness beat out how tired she had to have been feeling.
"We could go into town?" Amelia suggested.
"Aww but that's so normal," Edward complained, "Come on, someone has to have a better idea."
Five minutes, and zero suggestions later, we were heading into town. Amelia was leading the pack, with me following close behind, Edward and Leonardo taking up the middle and Koel and Nephenee in the back. I would have been trying to listen in on the two conversations going on behind me, if Amelia hadn't decided to become my tour guide. I accidentally mentioned that I hadn't been to the Capital before I had signed on, and she jumped on it before I could say anything more.
Since then I wasn't given more than a minute without the girl pointing out another place and giving me a longwinded explanation. In all honesty despite the pounding headache I was still feeling, I was happy that she was acting normal. I had to admit during the night I worried that today would be depressing, but I got the feeling that everyone was trying to put yesterday out of their minds and just enjoy our day off.
My stomach growling brought my attention back to reality and I noticed that we had arrived in one of the cities markets. The reason for my hunger was obvious enough, none of us had eaten anything all morning, and the market we were in was full of food stalls.
"Guess it's time for breakfast," I said as I looked at what was available, as the other members of the squad scattered in search of a good meal.
When we finally all got our food, which was much more diverse than anything we could have gotten in the canteen, we parked ourselves on a low stone wall on the side of the market. Conversation picked up as we ate.
"I forgot there was food this good in town," Leonardo said as he chewed away at his meal.
"Doesn't beat me mum's cooking," Nephenee added, "She could make a clod o' dirt taste great."
"No way could she beat my mom's cooking," Amelia said, and that caused me to nearly choke on my food. Wasn't Amelia's mom 'dead' in Sacred Stones? I mean I guess seeing as she was here her circumstances had to have been different but still I didn't think that would change. What could have made her join the army then?
The sounds of me coughing up my lungs, the after effect of that moment of surprise, drew the attention of the rest of the squad.
"You ok?" Edward asked.
When all I gave as a reply was more coughing I received a hard slap on the back from the younger swordsman, which successfully dislodged the food jammed in my throat, but caused me to slip off the wall. As I regained my breath and let the dull ache from the fall subside, Koel decided to say "I know we're tired and listening while eating is a challenge, but really, aren't you supposed to be one of Ylisse's finest?"
Instead of the usual silence that followed one of Koel's sarcastic comments there was a small laugh, originating from Nephenee, and soon that laugh grew a bit louder, then Amelia joined in, quickly followed by the rest of the squad, and finally Koel and myself joined in. I'm not sure why we were all laughing like lunatics at that point, it wasn't even funny really, but when we finished I wasn't really complaining. The laughing fit had relieved a bit of the tension in my arms and legs and let me push up off the ground, something I was honestly worried I wouldn't be able to do with how stiff I felt.
Following that we mostly wandered for the rest of the afternoon, and as the sun dipped down over the horizon I was beginning to think we would soon be heading back to the castle. It was to my surprise when Edward, who took over the job of leading us around town after Amelia had started going hoarse, lead us up to a tavern.
Seemed fitting really, what a better way to end the day we were supposed to be using to rest, then to get a giant hangover. I would have questioned if some of the younger members of our squad were old enough to drink, but I found I couldn't bring myself to care. Most likely that was because I was certain the legal drinking age here would be a lot younger then back home. The others weren't as certain though.
"Edward really? Remember the last time we went to a tavern?" Leonardo said in an exasperated tone.
"No not really."
"You nearly set the place on fire, got into two fights, and then spent the rest of the night doubled over."
"Well… it's not like I'm going to let that happen again," Edward said as he pushed open the door and walked in. Leonardo just sighed and followed his friend in, the rest of us just stood there for a minute, wondering just how drunk Edward had managed to get, but we decided to follow anyways.
Edward and Leonardo were apparently well acquainted with this particular tavern as the two had already found a table and a pair of drinks in the time it had taken us to come to our senses and head inside. We joined them and before we even really got a proper view of our surroundings a server came up and dropped mugs infront of all of us. Guess we don't really get a choice here.
"Well, to Ylisse," I said as I raised my mug in the air.
"To Ylisse," Everyone but Koel and Edward, who were already knocking back their drinks, replied.
Luckily for me the Tavern was serving some stout, which actually tasted pretty close to the stuff some of the members of my House brewed in their basement. The end result was what I usually did when it came to alcohol; knock it all back in one long pull. Which left me finishing at about the same time Koel and Edward did, the three of us dropping our mugs to the table with a loud 'clack'. The rest of the members of the squad ranged from Aran, who still had half of his mug left, to Amelia who had probably only taken a sip, and who was looking at Koel, Edward and I with wide eyes.
"First time?" I asked her.
"Y-yes," She stuttered back, not expecting my question.
"What are you nervous for? Don't let horror stories like whatever Edward did last time scare you."
"That's… pretty much exactly why I am nervous," She said with a nervous smile, at the same time the server was already back with more drinks for the three of us who had finished. I took this one slow, drinking only a third of my cup before putting it back down on the table. Beside me Amelia decided to take a slightly larger sip of her drink, which quickly turned into a pull when I shot back more of my cup. Hmm…
Edward was the first to finish his second drink, just as Aran and Nephenee finished their first. Leonardo appeared to have not touched the amber liquid in his cup, and as the server came back again, Edward leaned back and clapped his friend in the back.
"Come on man, even Amelia'sss drank more then you," The brown haired, apparently already somewhat drunk if that slur was anything to go by, swordsman said.
"Atleast one of us needs to be sober to deal with damage control," Leonardo said back.
"With Edward the lightweight apparently already drunk, I'm tempted to agree with you," Koel added.
"Hey I'm not drunk, sssseriously," Edward said incredulously.
"Ya and that slur is just natural for you?" I added.
"What sssslur," Edward said as he finished off yet another cup.
"I'm amazed he's ever managed to hold on long enough to cause trouble," I whispered to Amelia, who giggled a bit in response.
"The more I watch him the less I want to drink." Amelia whispered back.
"Ehh, Edward is a lightweight if I ever saw one so don't use him as a yardstick."
Letting a bit of a sly smirk cross my face I added "Don't forget though, you can't find your limits unless you test them."
Sometimes I question if I'm a terrible person, and that was one of those times, though in my very weak defense, I blame the alcohol. Amelia decided to cave to my statement and started going at her drink with a bit more enthusiasm. Still though I doubt she could get too badly destroyed, and I would hopefully remember to cut her off before it got too far.
With that on my mind the night wore on. Edward was the first out, the guy fell asleep at the table after managed to fall out of his seat repeatedly, and nearly start a fight with a support column. I still don't know how, or why, he stood up and shambled his way over to the other side of the room and started calling one of the supports names. We quickly roped him back in before he could start accidentally start something and he fell asleep a few minutes later.
Nephenee had been next, unlike Amelia she had actually been mostly keeping up with the rest of us. Which didn't really surprise me in all honesty, what did surprise me though was her decision to fall asleep on Koel's shoulder, leaving the guy fidgeting for most of the rest of the night, and left the rest of us laughing at the look on his face.
Aran had gone next, his face cradled in his hands as he mumbled something about unintelligible. Atleast it was better than earlier….
"Damn it Aran sit down," Leonardo said, his annoyance at the situation evident on his face.
"Nnnooo, yoooou will h*hic*hear the wordssss of Naaaggga," Aran shouted as he drunkenly staggered from side to side. Turns out Aran was a bit more religious than I had expected, and he had started giving a random sermon in the middle of the tavern a few minutes ago, much to the amusement of the other patrons.
"Ya, let's hear the recruitment speech for a god we already follow, unless you decided to change to the god of Alcohol in the last few hours," Koel said with a smirk, which was quickly removed as Nephenee shifted in her sleep.
"H*hic*how dare you insult the l-light."
"Ok that's enough," Leonardo shouted himself, and pushed Aran back into his seat. Once he was back in his chair the drunken soldier lost his preachy spirit and quickly ended up face first on the table.
That led us to now where Amelia, who had admittedly drank a fair bit more then we probably should have let her, was showing signs of advanced inebriation, her face red as she could barely sit straight.
"Hee~ey," she said as she leaned over toward Koel, "What did yooou doo before yoou s*hic*signed up Koel. You seem toooo know moore then usss about being a soldier."
Koel grimaced at that statement, nearly jostling Nephenee awake as he twitched. He didn't give any response though and Amelia got bored quickly. Instead of questioning Koel further she leaned back and nearly pushed me out of my chair, rolling her head onto my shoulder and looking at me.
"Aaaaand you, why don't aren't yo*hic* drunk."
I had to admit I wasn't expecting that question, but I nearly broke down laughing, but I managed to recover enough to give a little smile and say "Trade secret."
It wasn't exactly a lie. I mean I did get a lot of practice with my House. Then I noticed that Amelia give a yawn and her eyes fluttered. Even with all the alcohol flowing through my system I realized that we should probably cut this now before we had more people asleep then able to move.
Looking over at Leonardo and Koel I saw that they had both come to the same conclusion.
Shaking Amelia off my shoulder, and then promptly having to catch her before she could fall over backwards, I said "Come on Amelia, we *hic* got to get back."
With that I raised myself and the blond recruit to our feet, while Koel got Nephenee moving again, and Edward's unconscious form was dragged from its seat by Leonardo.
"Bu~ut what about Aran?" Amelia said as she looked at the man asleep on the table.
Smirking a bit I grabbed Aran's chair and pulled it back. The chair's occupant quickly jumped out of his seat at the sudden movement, and by somehow managed to stay on his feet.
"Now that that's been dealt with you able to stand up preachy?" Koel said as he walked by supporting Nephenee.
"Uhh, s*hic*sure," Aran said as he stumbled toward the door, and nearly knocked himself unconscious on the door frame.
"This… this is going to be fun," I observed
By the time we got out into the street Aran had managed to straighten up a bit more which made maneuvering our way back to the castle a fair bit easier. Of course we still ran into some problems along the way, the first of those was Edward waking up again just long enough to cause a commotion in the middle of the street.
The second was the more obvious difficulty of trying to drag back three people when two of the people doing the dragging had more alcohol in them then the ones who were being dragged. Between the stumbling all over the street, completely losing Koel and Nephenee, and the occasional falling over it was amazing the rest of us got back in good time. Most likely the only reason we did get back at all was because Leonardo was making sure those of us who were still with the group ended up falling asleep in a ditch.
Sadly we were having some difficulty falling asleep after we did get back to the barracks, mostly because we were having some difficulty detaching the people clinging to us like barnacles.
"Come on Amelia, just let go of my arm." I said to the flush faced girl.
"Noo~o" She replied while tightening her grip.
In the state I was in I couldn't free my arm, and any help I was going to get was currently occupied. Aran was asleep already, Leonardo was trying to get Edward to stay still, and we still hadn't seen Koel or Nephenee
"Dammit Koel where the hell did you run off too." Leonardo and I said at pretty much the same time.
We were all startled when the door suddenly burst open and Koel and Nephenee stepped in, looking a bit ragged, and the rouge had heard the two of us and said "Where the hell did I run off too? Better question is where the hell you guys run off too?"
The distraction caused by the sudden entry was enough for Edward to jump to his feet, and thanks to the subsequent blood rush, fall back onto his bed without any action from us.
It was also enough of a distraction for Amelia to get the upper hand, and the subsequent lack of balance pulled me down onto her bed.
The sigh from Leonardo could have probably been heard out in the hallway, but it did little to deter Amelia as she kept her iron grip on my arm. If I hadn't dissolved into a stuttering mess by that point I might have said something in my defense. By the time I regained my wits Amelia had managed to fall asleep. Her grip hadn't gotten any weaker, and if I was being totally honest, though it may have been the alcohol talking, it wasn't like I exactly minded the situation. 'Ehh' I thought,' I'll deal with the fallout in the morning,' as it was I barely had enough strength to stay awake myself.
And so I fell asleep, letting any worries about what could happen the next day stay away for another night.