The Lycian army's campfire smells of roasted meat and pumpkins. From inside my tent, I listen to Ellen playing with two children outside as I search for Zeiss' letter, the one Gale instructed me to only open after rescuing the princess. The only paper I can find is the marriage proposal note from Gale. I take it with me outside, trying not to catch Ellen or Princess Guinevere's notice. Once, on their invitation, I tried to join the other comrades around the campfire which caused them to dispersed. One boy, a rogue thief named Chad, threw a pebble in my face. Ellen explained that he along with two twin boys were living at an orphanage which Bern soldiers had burnt to the ground. It can't be helped that they still see me as an enemy. There's no use causing Ellen and Princess Guinevere to fuss about my difficulty belonging in this new army.

The plains around the border of Etruria and the Nabata desert are dry and cold. Yellow grass crunches like paper beneath my boots. This climate reminds me of the night Gale proposed to me on the outskirts of the Bern capital. I sit by a knobbly tree perched on a hill. Its skeletal outline is a cardboard cut-out against the fiery sky. I open the proposal note written in Gale's hand:

Dear Miledy,

I spent many nights and moments between training trying to draft this message to you. After many attempts to reference Hartmut the hero of Bern and other grand historical events, I decided it best to simply convey my request like all our conversations: frankly and honestly.

And so, Miledy, this letter is my request for your hand in marriage.

I understand that I am well beneath your station: you are from a family of venerable knights, I an outsider and illegitimate son raised in a neglected village.

Before I can flip to the next half, a man mumbles behind me, 'so you write your dreams too? They're very long.'

'Ah!' I spin around. A man with fleshy eyelids and drab brown tunic looks at me, 'sorry, Sir... Who are you?'

'We're in the same army, though I have a very generic face so it's normal to forget. Name's Trec… Mercenary knight from Ilia,' Trec yawns before lying down like a starfish nearby, 'can you wake me up when everyone starts leaving?'

'Sure… Aren't you worried about me being from Bern though?' I watch his eyes blink slowly before gluing themselves shut. He's the only person who doesn't mind, I guess. I skip to the last lines in the proposal note:

Even if by some grand misfortune, we end up on opposite sides of a war, your life and happiness are more precious treasures to me than the Fire Emblem itself. I will defend them to the death.

To think that grand misfortune occurred! I hold the note to my chest, feeling my insides wither into the dry landscape. Oh, Gale, I'm sorry…

'NEIIGHH!' Trec's eyes pop open. He leaps up from the ground like a horse before looking back at me, 'goodness!'

'What's wrong, Sir Trec?' I watch him scribble on a piece of paper.

'I-I dreamt I turned into a horse!' Trec pants with one hand over his stomach.

'That sounds… Distressing,' I try to imagine myself transforming into Trifinne. The idea is appealing, until I remember that wyverns feel the shame attached to their masters. Trifinne's master is a traitor who still cries for Bern.

'Thank you for listening, Miss… Um… Miss…' Trec's eyes quiver as they stare into the sky.

'Miledy.'

'Miledy,' Trec repeats my name a few more times, trying to cement it in his memory, 'it was terrifying indeed. I'm glad you get it. Someone else who writes down their dreams can understand how realistic they feel.'

'I… Suppose.' Might as well let Trec believe we have this shared hobby if it will help me get along with someone in the Lycian army.

'I almost forgot: you dropped your other dream outside your tent,' Trec searches the deep pockets of his brown tunic. He hands me Zeiss' letter, 'I promise I didn't tell anyone else about it.'

'I've been looking for that!' I snatch it from him and peel it open with trembling hands, 'thank you, Sir Trec!' Trec watches me, droopy eyed like a donkey as I read Zeiss' handwriting:

Miledy, once you have returned the princess to safety, you must visit Mother on the estate. A palace doctor stated that her condition is worsening rapidly: if you do not see her soon, it may be too late.

Near the Temple Of Seals, Gale and Zeiss locate the resting place of Bern's heroes using Murdock's secret map: Hartmut's Plains, where the tall yellow grass looks like velvet swaying in the breeze. Rumour goes that the wind still carries echoes of Hartmut roaring as he seals the Great Dragon with the Binding Blade.

'No wonder they call this the place between Bern and heaven,' Zeiss murmurs as he stands by his mother's gravestone, only a few rows away from the former King Desmond and the founding hero of Bern, Hartmut himself. To this day, only those with connections to the honourable guardians of Bern are granted permission to enter the area.

'I am glad Lady Lurja could be buried among Bern's great heroes,' Gale kneels by the gravestone, offering a dried sprig of yellow and white flowers often found around the Elimine church, 'if only it hadn't been so soon.'

'Mother...' Zeiss blots tears against his muscular forearm, 'I'm sorry you couldn't see Miledy before you left - my sister is coming back, isn't she? Sir Gale?'

Gale clears dust away from the nameplate. Zeiss raises his voice above the howling winds, 'Sir Gale, you gave her my note, didn't you? She can't turn away from Bern, even if that stubborn princess has. Not after she hears of Mother's frail health!'

'The news of Lady Lurja's illness will not sway Miledy's loyalties. I asked her to only read it after rescuing the princess,' Gale mouths a short Eliminean prayer while Zeiss' feet grate against pulverised rock. Upon finishing, Gale turns to Zeiss again, 'whatever choice Miledy makes, it must be using her judgement as a knight, not familial blackmail. That's how Lady Lurja would have wanted it.'

'You mean you would be OK with battling against your fiancée?!' Zeiss's growl carries through the meadow, 'and pitting me against her too?! You're tearing our family apart!'

'I'm trying not to make Miledy's decision more painful than it needs to be!' Gale's shout reverberates through the plains, 'besides, it's premature to assume that you'll need to fight her.'

'It's inevitable if she joins the Lycian army with Princess Guinevere! My loyalty is with Bern,' Zeiss tries to observe Gale's face for clues, 'Sir Gale, please just tell me if my sister will return. You're hiding something: I know it.'

'All I'll say is this: listen to Miledy's side of the story before cementing your allegiances,' Gale saunters over to his wyvern, 'I must attend the Elimine mass soon. I'd suggest you return to training too. You never know when we'll be called on to fight. General Roy's army is advancing more quickly than expected. Very soon, you may be sent to the Etrurian capital of Aquileia to fight under General Narcian's leadership.'

Zeiss stares at Gale's tiny figure soaring into the sky. Zeiss' wyvern Rubley stands beside him, inhaling the warm woody scent of ferns and seeds as her master whispers, 'Miledy... Where are you?'

AUTHOR NOTE: I hope you are all enjoying this series so far. Regular readers will know that this series, The Defector From Bern, is the sequel to my 13-chapter fanfiction series An Etrurian 'Spy' From Bern which covers Miledy's career and relationships (focusing on the bond with Gale) before FE6 events. My aim is that readers will be able to enjoy The Defector From Bern without having read the prequel. However, if you are keen to read the marriage proposal scene (during which Gale gives the note featured in this chapter) and hear more about other characters (e.g., Lurja, Ilya, Miledy and Ellen's friendship) I'd encourage you to read An Etrurian 'Spy' From Bern. Thanks again and stay tuned ~ kafkascharm