Disclaimer: I get the strange feeling that I don't own Fire Emblem. How about you?

Chapter Four: The Enemy Draws Near

Elincia was rather partial to forests. It was something that could largely be attributed to her secluded childhood, when she, Lucia, and Geoffrey would run through the woods, playing to their hearts' content. The three of them had much fun together, over the years. But that had come to an end when Geoffrey had left to join the army, and when Elincia and Lucia had gotten too old to run around forests—not that it stopped them on occasion.

One of her favorite things about forests was how peaceful they were, allowing her to easily unwind after a particularly rough day at court. It was sometimes as simple as walking through the woods, listening to the sounds of the animals and breathing in the scents of the wood.

The forest she was currently walking through was not very quiet, when compared to others. The mercenaries around were not taking very much care to how loud they were being—especially ones such as Gatrie and Shinon, who always found reasons to complain.

At present, she was walking near the back of their procession—along with Mist and Rolf, who were talking about one thing or another—where she could easily hear the loud, complaining voices of the most vocal of the mercenaries.

She quite enjoyed the company of the two youngest mercenaries—if one could call them that. They were like the younger siblings that she'd never had, always managing to cheer her up or slightly annoy her, whichever the situation mandated—even if they didn't realize they were doing the latter.

She'd first bonded with Mist over their shared uselessness during the early stages of the Mad King's War, but that had faded when the younger girl had decided to pick up a staff and convince her brother to allow her to help with the fighting. They'd still managed to come together over matters that none of the men of the group cared about, along with Titania, who Mist frequently brought into their conversations.

"Princess." She was torn out of her thoughts by someone's words as a hand was simultaneously waved in front of her face. Elincia turned to the side and was met with Mist's inquisitive blue eyes.

"Oh," Elincia said. "My apologies. I was lost in thought."

It was difficult for her to address Mist as she ought to; the other girl looked so young, so innocent. War changes people, and even those as kind as Mist were not exempt from that. When they had met back up after the Begnion army had chosen to attack her people, Elincia had been surprised by how much older Mist acted and looked. After everything the cleric had gone through it seemed like she had aged ten years in the span of just three.

"And what did I tell you about calling me princess?" Elincia lightly scolded, intentionally ensuring that there was no heat to it. When she had 'first' met Mist and assisted her in some of the packing for their excursion, she had make it quite clear to the other girl that she by no means wanted to be called by her title.

"So what's it like being a princess?" Rolf asked curiously.

She gave a small smile to the green-haired boy. "I haven't lived the life of a princess. As you may remember from my introduction to Commander Greil, all of my life has been spent in hidden, secluded in a small villa in the far reaches of Crimea."

"Oh. That sounds rather lonely," Rolf said. "I don't know what I'd do without my brothers and the rest of the mercenaries."

"Loneliness was never a problem for me. I always had something to do, between my lessons and Lady Delbray's children."

"Lady Delbray? Who's that?" Mist asked curiously.

"She was my… caretaker, if you will. She raised me from when I was little, alongside her own children."

Rolf's face scrunched up in a strange look of confusion. "But what about your mother and father?"

Elincia waved the question aside nonchalantly—or, what she hoped was nonchalantly. "There are many intricacies to ruling a nation that even I, as a princess, do not understand; they were much too busy to see me. My uncle, on the other hand, had much more time than my parents and was able to visit me relatively frequently. Uncle Renning was the one who taught Lucia and I how to fight."

"Oh! You can fight? That's not something I expected a princess would do," Mist said. The moment the words left her mouth the girl's eyes widened and she quickly clapped a hand over her mouth, an embarrassed blush flooding her cheeks. She mumbled something from behind her hand, most likely an apology of some sort, but kept said hand firmly over her mouth.

Elincia muffled a quiet laugh at the other girl's reaction, gently admonishing her that she needn't worry about offending her. It quite amused Elincia that the others treated her like she was made of glass, but, as she had learned several times since they left the mercenaries' base, it was also extremely annoying. She wasn't the fragile princess they perceived her to be—at least, not anymore.

After that, their conversation was overtaken by weapons for a short while, something all of them seemed to have in common. Mist spoke of a passing interest to—after she finished learning how to use healing staves—ask her father to teach her how to wield the sword. By her reasoning, since her father had used a sword for many years, and her brother also used one, she might as well do so herself.

Rolf, on the other hand, mentioned an interest of his own: to learn how to shoot a bow, as if he didn't already know how to do so. A cunning thought, if not very well executed, judging by the look Mist shot the boy.

As the three spoke of weapons and other un-princess-like things, Elincia overheard Ike, Soren, and Shinon discussing their upcoming arrival in Gallia. The red-haired archer was quite offensive in his opinion of the Laguz, but Soren at least managed to temper the conversation and leave Ike with some good advice when dealing with Gallians.

From what Elincia remembered, they were close to the border, where they would find a small deployment of Daein forces guarding the ancient, rickety palisade that set the boundary. It was more for show—and so one could know exactly where the border was—than function; the friendly relation between Gallia and Crimea had given no reason to keep it repaired, leaving it more as a mere psychological barrier.

The princess kept up her conversation with Mist and Rolf even as the forest grew thicker, her sign that they were nearing the river that ran parallel to the border, forcing them to take more care as they picked their way through the wood. Her younger companions took no notice of this, or simply didn't know what it meant, choosing instead to chatter on.

Mere minutes later, Commander Greil stopped the group with a quick sign, halting all conversation as the mercenaries began to form up in a loose circle. Several of them, Boyd and Rhys in particular, took seats in various places, mostly fallen logs and the like. As Elincia and her two companions joined the others, the commander himself, Soren, Ike, and Titania crept further into the bush towards the border, quickly disappearing from sight.

While the four of them were gone, each of the others filled their time with whatever caught their fancy at the moment. But, despite all of them seemingly distracted, they all were tense and prepared for combat at a moment's notice. It was barely noticeable to Elincia, even though she was looking for it, and only if she looked to the correct people.

The tension of Boyd's right arm as he tested the edge of his axe with his left thumb; the way Shinon and Gatrie both kept firm grips on their weapons, their eyes narrowed and their heads rotating this way and that. It was even noticeable in the youngest two of their group, but only by Rolf's attempts to imitate his mentor and the clenched fists in Mist's lap.

Oscar's readiness was far less visible from the others, most likely due to his training in the Royal Knights, as he leaned on the tree that he and Titania had tethered their horses to. In one hand he loosely held his lance, most of its weight supported where it rested against his shoulder, finger's drumming lightly against the wood. The other contained a small dagger that, with just a flick of the wrist, was positioned to quickly release the horses, after which he would presumably discard the weapon for the sake of speed.

Elincia took a seat on a small stump near the edge of the group, uncaring of the dirt and leaves that she was undoubtedly getting on her dress as she did so. While she certainly would care if she were wearing any sort of finery, as she had whenever she held court, the orange dress had been made specifically for travel, and thus was designed to be dirty.

The princess folded her hands neatly in her lap, attempting to channel the calm and collected queen that she really was. Hopefully her calm would radiate over to the mercenaries. The Greil Mercenaries were by no means inexperienced, but the tension they held was definitely more than she remembered from them before her most recent of battles with them. Though, she reasoned, they had yet to conquer the numerous challenges that had built them into the most famous mercenary company in all of Tellius.

Slight rustling signaled the commander's return, and the entire group turned to see him straightening up from a slightly bent over position he must have taken to more easily traverse the wood. The large man brushed some leaves off his hair and clothes before making his way to the center of the rough circle the rest of the mercenaries had made in his absence, followed by his three companions.

Greil quickly laid out the situation at the border, listing out the approximate numbers of the Daein forces and their locations, as well as informing them of the plan Soren had come up with. The mercenaries would split up into two teams, the same as Before, and the smaller team would distract a large portion of the Daeins' forces, drawing them away from the crossing and allowing the rest of the group passage across the border to Gallia.

The commander didn't specify when or how they would regroup after the battle, only saying that they would. It seemed like a rather large thing to overlook, but Elincia figured that, if all else failed, they would meet back up in Gallia's capitol, Zarzi. Other than that, the plan was rock solid.

From there, Greil, Shinon, and Gatrie collected anything they needed, and, after Greil took a moment to speak with Titania, left the small circle.

With three of the most experienced members of their company gone, the atmosphere of the rest of the mercenaries grew even more tense. Boyd and Oscar, in particular, started paying even more attention to their surroundings, each of their grips visibly tightening on their weapons. Throughout it all, Elincia stayed seated with a serene smile on her face.

They waited a short while after the second party had left them, giving the other mercenaries time to start their distraction. During that time, Ike and Soren explained their own section of the plan to cross the border. Again, another good, well thought out plan from Soren.

That was also when Elincia was informed that she would not, in fact, be taking part in combat during the crossing. Even if she was expecting it, the princess was still slightly disappointed; she had hoped to take part in combat earlier than she had Before. That she had taken so long to be able to contribute meaningfully to the war was a sore point for her, and was one of the things she had long wished she could rectify. But, she supposed, she could still make a difference if Ike would allow her to fight earlier than Before.

As the rest of the mercenaries prepared for combat, Elincia was jerked by the sleeve by Rolf and led to a nearby log. The two were joined by Mist. Several of the combat group came by and dropped any additional supplies they had brought that would slow them down in combat, if only by a little. There wasn't much of it, since most of them packed within their limits, but they also moved over some extra equipment that the decoy team had left behind.

Only about a minute later, the mercenaries were ready, each of them having gone through the pre-combat routines that they all had. Elincia herself had one, seldom used as it was, that she'd needed to create to calm herself down before her first entrance into combat. She'd been so very nervous that she'd had trouble breathing, and the only way she found to calm down was to place her forehead against that of her pegasus and breathe deeply. From then on she did it every time before she entered combat, and it never failed to calm her pre-battle jitters—her trusty steed certainly never seemed to complain about it.

After a quick word—and another, equally quick talk to Rolf about Elincia's safety—Ike drew his sword and ran towards the crossing, followed swiftly by the others. While they moved quickly, as the situation demanded, they still managed to maintain a level of silence in their charge. The element of surprise was a valuable tool, and one that their plan would take much use of.

The three of them were alone for quite some time, as the others did battle with the Daeins at the border, and they filled much of the time making small talk with one another.

Mist and Rolf spoke of their lives growing up with an effective band of mercenaries—the two of them had received surprisingly stable childhoods, for their parts—and how both of them wished to someday be able to assist the mercenaries in whatever manner they could. It was definitely an admirable goal, for ones so young, but unfortunately they would need to act on it sooner than either of them expected.

Elincia, in return, told them stories of her own childhood. She'd had many grand—or small, since they were children at the time—adventures with her two soon-to-be-vassals. Some of the stories she wound up telling were embarrassing, due to either her own, or one of the other two's, childish foolishness—but she told them anyway.

The younger two seemed to enjoy Elincia's stories, including the occasional edited versions of wartime ones that she managed to slip in, and for that she was grateful. Laughter would be in short supply once the Greil Mercenaries actually joined the war. She couldn't remember a time where either of them laughed, so she would take a victory where she could.

Eventually, there came a soft bird call from the direction of the crossing; the designated signal that the mercenaries had fully cleared out the Daeins, and that it was safe for the non-combatants to come out.

Each of the three of them let out identical sighs of relief, rising from their seats and moving to take a portion of the supplies. Even though Elincia had complete faith that they would easily be able to take down the Daein forces, it was still nerve wracking for her to stay behind and sit out of the fighting.

They left their small waiting area and—with some help from Boyd, who had come back to pick up the rest of the supplies they couldn't carry—joined back up with the rest of the group.

Weariness was visible in the forms of every mercenary as the four of them moved across the wooden footbridges that spanned the river, but each of them worked through it and continued their duties in the cleanup from the aftermath of the battle.

Ike, Titania, and Soren stood looking out into the forest to the north, where Greil and his party had gone to conduct the diversion, searching for any sign of their return.

"Ike!" Mist exclaimed, dropping the few bags she carried in her arms and rushing to her brother.

Ike let out a small grunt as his sister buried her face into his chest, awkwardly throwing his arm around her shoulder. "Mist!" he greeted, before turning to look at Rolf and Elincia. "Rolf, Princess. I trust you are well?"

Rolf nodded. "We're fine."

"We've made it, haven't we?" Mist mumbled. "We're safe now, right?"

Elincia clasped her hands in front of her. "Thank you, Ike. Your efforts on my behalf mean the world to me." Unfortunately, she still had to play a part, rather than be herself, but hopefully that time would be over once certain events were set into motion.

Ike released his sister and let out an indecisive-sounding grunt, looking back out into the forest.

"It isn't over yet," Soren said from Ike's side. "The others are still out there."

The princess adjusted her features to show an expression of surprise, as if she had forgotten about the other group. She hated acting like this, but the plan she and Soren had created almost demanded it, so she would suffer through it as best she could. By no means could it be considered a perfect plan, but, again, it was the best they had without more time to think on it. She was confident, however, that Soren would eventually fashion a better, more permanent plan.

"This is Commander Greil we're talking about; he'll be fine," Titania stated confidently.

The blue-haired young man retained his uncertain look, but his eyes betrayed his intentions. "Princess Elincia," he said suddenly, "I'm afraid we're going to part ways here."

"You will go back to aid your father, won't you?" Elincia hadn't meant to break character, but the words just slipped out on their own.

Ike blinked in surprise. "How did you know?" he asked, but it was more of a rhetorical question, as he continued without allowing her to respond, "But yes, we will turn back to aid my father and his companions. I would ask that you take Mist and Rolf to Castle Gallia."

"What?" Mist protested loudly before Elincia could make a response, turning an angry look at her brother. "But I want to stay with you!"

"Don't worry; father and I will catch up to you, I promise. And have either father or I broken a promise to you?" Seeing that his sister had no answer for him, Ike leaned forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. "We'll be fine, won't worry."

A sigh escaped the girl and she took a step closer to Ike, throwing her arms around his waist. "You'd better come back," she mumbled, but still stepped away after a few moments, moving back towards Elincia, who had been standing awkwardly to the side the whole time.

"Thank you, Mist." Titania smiled gently. "We'll see you soon."

"Please take care of my brother for me," Mist practically begged the red-haired paladin.

"You have my word." And, with those words, and Rolf's return from his brothers' side, Ike and Titania moved off, back towards the rest of the company.

As he moved off with the other two, Soren caught Elincia's eye and raised an eyebrow in question, dropping the hilt of a dagger out the bottom of his sleeve.

She shook her head lightly in response to the mage's question and turned to the border, gently pulling Mist and Rolf along with her. While it certainly would be appealing for Elincia to accept the dagger as an emergency weapon, there really was no reason to. No danger would be found once they crossed the border into Gallia, so it wasn't worth it to deprive a member of the combat group of a weapon, even if it wasn't likely he would use it.

A few moments later she released her companions, allowing them to move under their own power. They dropped into step next to her and the three of them passed the palisade that marked the border, officially crossing into Gallia.

Walking through the plains in Gallia—the forest had ended not too far into the country—wasn't the most pleasant thing ever; the heat was oppressive, and Elincia was by no means wearing the correct attire for a traipse through the country. Crimea had been hot but pleasant, in Elincia's opinion, but Gallia was far beyond even Crimea in the summer.

It didn't help that she was almost soaked to the bone with sweat; her hair was plastered to her neck, her dress was practically dripping, and she was starting to feel the heat in her head. She'd never had issues with heat before, so it was entirely new for her. She managed to stave off the heat slightly by drinking an excessive amount of water, managing to go through an entire water skin in about an hour, but it only helped so much.

Her companions were slightly better than her; their clothes were much better suited for the heat than hers, being made out of lighter and better materials than her orange dress. For a time she considered tearing the hem of her dress down, both to allow her to walk more easily and for better temperature regulation, but she ultimately scrapped the idea. Not only was it a very improper thing for a princess to do, but it would also likely result in severe burns on her legs, which would pain her for days on end.

They walked in silence the majority of the time, the only sound breaking it the crunching of the grass beneath their feet. The grass was difficult to walk through, going almost up well past Elincia's waist, and it made the princess wish even more for proper attire. She made a mental note to never again leave Melior in clothes that she couldn't fight in.

About an hour from the border, they came across a worn dirt path that they eventually decided to follow, figuring that it was the best way to make it to civilization. The path eventually led them into different, less grassy terrain. Large rocks were strewn about in random locations, almost like a child had played with them, then gotten boarded and let them fall where they may.

There were many places to hide among the rocks, of that Elincia was sure, and, if they were not safe in Gallia, she would be concerned that they might run into an ambush—there was no better place for it. But, they were safe in Gallia, so she barely paid any attention to the rocks around them, instead focusing on placing one foot in front of another. All things considered, Gallia was likely the safest place in the world for them to be; no one would dare attack so far into the Laguz's country unprovoked. Granted, the Daeins had done so Before, but they had been following their target, not simply attacking the Laguz. And they had been rightfully punished for it.

Elincia blinked. That reminded her: she could be expecting Ranulf and his band to find them reasonably soon. A sharp eye would need to be kept out, the princess reasoned. The Laguz were experts at remaining hidden and using their natural camouflage to their advantage—if they wanted to stay hidden, they would be hidden. Beyond that, Ranulf was the best of the best, the right hand of Gallia's future king.

She turned her gaze away from the path ahead of her and looked out into the rocks, searching for any sign that there was a group of Laguz lurking amongst them. There was none, of course, but that didn't mean they weren't there. Ranulf had once told her that he had chosen the men that had accompanied him to the border by hand, picking the best and brightest of the Gallian army—they would not be seen so easily.

As they continued through the rocks, Elincia still saw no sign of any Laguz, nor their leader, but still, she kept up her watch. Even if it didn't really matter since they wouldn't be attacked by them, she wanted to at least see the Laguz before they got the jump on her and her companions.

Still, she—

Something flitted across her peripheral vision; a brief flash of gray, almost indistinguishable from the surrounding rocks. She resisted the urge to look in the direction it had come from, instead keeping her eyes firmly locked on the path in front of her. It had to be one of Ranulf's men; there was no other possibility. No one else could be so far beyond the border.

She carefully panned her gaze along the rocks to either side, being sure to only move her eyes, searching for any other sign of their stalkers. There wasn't one, of course; one small slip up was a stretch for such an experienced group, two would be almost unheard of.

Looking away from the rocks, Elincia noticed they had come upon a branch in the path, where it turned ninety degrees to the right and went straight on. She continued walking like nothing was wrong and they weren't being stalked by a somewhat large group of Laguz warriors. Ranulf would never let his men attack three unarmed children—and that's what they all were, physically, at least—so there was nothing to fear; even if the cat didn't know them.

To the clear surprise of Mist and Rolf, when they turned the corner they were met with almost a dozen Laguz staring them directly in the face, fronted by the blue-haired cat himself. All of those behind Ranulf were un-transformed—most likely to make them seem less menacing—but several more were barely visible in the rocks, shifted and poised to strike if necessary.

Ranulf called out to them, asking them who they were and why they were there. He maintained a casual stance and tone, assuming they were Crimean civilians who had fled in the wake of the Daein invasion, and doing his best not to scare them. Still, it was difficult for him to not appear threatening when he was backed by ten Laguz, especially if she were one of the aforementioned civilians.

The princess—seeing that her companions were not likely to—took charge and informed the Laguz of the situation they had found themselves in, even going so far as to request his help in ensuring the safety of the remaining mercenaries as they crossed the border, if they hadn't already. That was what she said, at least; in reality she knew that they had yet to cross the border, being stuck fighting the Daeins as they were.

A short laugh was Ranulf's response to Elincia's words, and he went on to state that—of all the things they had expected when going out on patrol—finding the princess of Crimea wasn't one of them. He confirmed that he had heard of her, along with most of King Caineghis' captains, and that they were prepared for a number of situations for her potential entrance into Gallia, but, again, finding her in the middle of the countryside wasn't one of them.

He also, with a clearly pained look on his face, informed her of the 'death' of her uncle Renning. While it was not easy to hear about the supposed death of a relative, Elincia took solace in the fact that her uncle wasn't actually dead, and that she would see him in only three years time. A decent amount of time to not see him, but she would suffer through it as a queen should.

After putting on a good enough show about the newly-learned news, Elincia steered the conversation back to the Greil Mercenaries, and their much needed assistance. Ranulf, unsurprisingly, quickly agreed to lend his aid to the company, offering the majority of his squad for the purpose. But he also asked for Mist, Rolf, and herself to stay behind and finish the journey to Zarzi with what remained of his men—for their safety, supposedly.

That was unacceptable, for many reasons. Completely ignoring Elincia's thoughts on the subject, Mist and Rolf would want to see Greil and Ike, and Oscar and Boyd, respectively. While it might be better, since she had her knowledge of the future, for Elincia to head directly to Zarzi and meet with King Caineghis, she wished to see the mercenaries off once again before doing so. Was it selfish of her? Probably. But it would change nothing since she had done the same Before, so she was perfectly fine with it.

Ranulf argued, of course, but the princess eventually convinced him to take her and her companions along with him and his men. It took longer than she would have liked, but she leveraged that time into her argument, intentionally ignoring the fact that the three of them would slow down Ranulf and his men by a decent margin.

They agreed to have Elincia follow a short distance behind Ranulf's group to keep them safe and away from the fighting. Once more, she was disheartened to not contribute in combat, but it was necessary. In addition to that fact, it was also simply not possible for her to enter battle due to her lack of a weapon of any kind.

With that settled, and after Ranulf had called in his men from their ambush positions, the now single group turned the way Elincia and her two companions had come and began the march back to the border. Ranulf outlined a quick deployment pattern for his men as they walked; splaying out eight of them in front of the central party, each spaced several meters away from their neighbors. The rest of them were split between the main group, where Elincia and her companions were, and positions well ahead of all the others. It was designed to maximize protection of the important members of the party, yet also be easily able to spot and attack any potential threats to said important members.

It didn't take long for them to leave the rockfield and return to the grasslands; far less time than it took Elincia, Mist, and Rolf to cross as far as they had. The Laguz traveled much faster than the three of them had, and, with a replenishment of water from Ranulf, the Beorc were almost able to match their speed. Only the vanguard were transformed—if the rest were then the comparatively slow Beorc would not have been able to keep up—with the rest of the group alternating between a fast lope and a run. It was an excellent combination for covering great distances on foot.

Her companions struck up conversation with Ranulf, mostly about Gallia and the Laguz, and, after a short while, Elincia found herself joining in. They discussed many things, from Ranulf speaking of the unique style of political games that the Laguz used, to Mist and Rolf's experiences in Crimean villages throughout their lives. Elincia found herself suitably interested in both topics—she had only a rudimentary knowledge of Laguz politics, and she had visited a depressingly small number of rural Crimean villages. Even those that she had treated her like royalty, which was not a good way to accurately judge the conditions of an area.

But, almost before she knew it, they had reached the trees near the border and began to put the plan in action, leaving the three of them behind with only one Gallian to guard them. Elincia had told him that they didn't need to leave anyone to babysit them, but Ranulf had staunchly refused, telling them that he would not see them harmed under his watch. Perfectly understandable, but that didn't make it any less annoying.

Their guardian—a gray Tiger—carefully herded them into a concealed position to the south of the entrance of the fort that the mercenaries were in, painstakingly ensuring that they could be seen from as few angles as possible, but also ensuring that they could see the entrance as clearly as possible. If something went wrong, and the enemy were the ones to exit the fort, they would have ample time and concealment to be able to evacuate the area without being noticed by the Daeins.

The four of them waited with bated breath as Ranulf directed his men inside, tension filling the air. In the Tiger's case, it was more agitation, most likely stemming from being out of the fight, and the possibility of Daeins emerging from the fort.

Not ten minutes into their wait, the Laguz seemingly grew bored and began to pace. His movement was almost eerie; he made no noise as his feet softly padded across the ground, and even less when he shifted into his Tiger form. The large, muscled body moving completely silently across the forest floor had a vastly different effect than before he was transformed.

Elincia felt similarly worried, but her worries were more based on the safety of those she knew were inside, rather than the potential of Daeins bursting forth from the opening. She was confident in the skills of both the mercenaries and Ranulf's men, however, so she was less concerned over the outcome of the battle inside than she would another.

After a surprisingly short amount of time, spent completely silent in fear of being heard, a large group of men began to shuffle out of the entrance. It was impossible to tell at first, and both Elincia and the Laguz leaned forward, straining their eyes in an attempt to discern who they were.

As they came out of the shadows cast by the fort, Elincia was able to make out certain features across the group; two mounted warriors, one using an axe and the other a lance; two muscular men wielding axes similar to the one on the horse; and, to much relief from Mist and Rolf, one with short-cropped blue hair wrapped in a bandana, standing near the front of the group.

The princess let out a sigh of relief and rose to meet them, along with her companions. Their Laguz guardian made a beeline for Ranulf and, shifting back down, whispered a report down into the cat's ear.

In a similar manner to how they did mere hours before, Mist and Rolf immediately glued themselves to the sides of their respective siblings, who were moving to speak to Ranulf.

The cat himself, after receiving a presumably clear report from his subordinate, ordered his men to secure the perimeter and, motioning Elincia over, began speaking to the leading party of the Greil Mercenaries.

Commander Greil wasn't paying attention to much of anything at the moment, so Ike and Titania did most of the talking. Ranulf told them that Elincia requested their aid after she had stumbled upon them in the countryside, and that they had decided to give it.

After the cat had exchanged a few words with Ike, along with a little input by Elincia herself, he explained that the mercenaries would need to wait overnight in a nearby castle to prevent any… unforeseen issues from happening upon their arrival in Zarzi. Elincia wasn't quite sure what in particular Ranulf thought would happen, but he knew Zarzi and its people far better than her, so she would defer to his expertise.

Unsurprisingly, Ike agreed, and, after quickly bringing his father back out of his head, the mercenaries began moving out in the direction of the castle. Mist and Rolf said their farewells to the princess, followed shortly by Ike, and then they were gone.

Elincia, now alone with Ranulf and his men, watched them until they were gone, before turning away and followed the beckoning cat off, out of the forest. Even without her companions Zarzi and King Caineghis awaited, and she would not keep them waiting.

I'm back! My Thanksgiving break lasted longer than I thought it would, but I managed to finish this chapter, so I'm happy with it.

So I was thinking, before I wrote this chapter, "Nothing really interesting happens in this chapter, and I don't want to simply rehash what the vanilla game already did; what can I do in an attempt to differentiate myself from vanilla?" And thus Elincia POV was born.

Now, before anyone goes bananas in the reviews telling me that I messed up Elincia backstory stuff: this is very much my own interpretation and headcannon for Elincia's childhood. Same goes for her character; she doesn't get much characterization after part two ends, so I am going with the flow here when it comes to her character. Cool? Cool.

Personally, I think this is my best chapter yet, but I also still don't think its very good at all in the grand scheme of things. I think I'm getting better so… it's good, I guess?

Anyways, thanks for reading.

- Darthius