'Are you sure we should've left General Narcian to perish in Aquileia?' Gale asks Murdock as they leave the Ilian military base.

'The Bern army has no use for people who can't clean up their own mess. Our task is to defend our country,' Murdock pulls up his fur scarf in the Ilian breeze, 'even I'm getting too old for this weather.'

Gale unties his cloak and offers it to the general, 'you may use my cloak, if it helps.'

'Thank you, Gale. I'm glad this weather doesn't faze you. If I remember correctly, you came to the Bern army after working as a contracted mercenary in Ilia,' Murdock drapes it over his huge shoulders, 'to think that a commoner like me or a struggling foreigner like you could rise to the top ranks of the Bern army. It's a testament to the great country that King Zephiel built after his father's dictatorship fell.'

'Indeed,' Gale watches two children sledding in a war rations cart, attracting the ire of their merchant father. Since the ban on civilian communications between Bern and Etruria, Gale and his mother have not been able to exchange letters.

'Even as a boy, King Zephiel judged people's deeds rather than their class or birthplace,' Murdock gives Gale a brotherly smile, 'he gave us the opportunity to become the men we are. Too bad Miledy's brother, Zeiss, took his blessings for granted.'

'Yes, Lord Murdock,' Gale glances back at the snowy town behind them. He had managed to fulfil his promise to Lurja – ensuring that Miledy and Zeiss did not war against one another – while maintaining loyalty to the Bern state. Yet still, a longing bubbles in his heart: to train with Zeiss, to embark on another mission with Miledy, to hold her hand at the altar before Father Renault. Those wishes are now a distant mirage in the snow.

'Zeiss is integrating very well,' Ellen whispers to me and Princess Guinevere as we walk behind Zeiss and Shin who lead their respective beasts. The two boys' conversation is mostly Zeiss describing our estate back in Bern and Shin nodding, occasionally interjecting with a line about the Sacaen plains.

'Though the king's insistence on violence is still difficult to accept,' Princess Guinevere's pale skin seems to blend in with the radiant snow, 'I'm glad that we can all restore justice to Bern together. With you two, Sir Zeiss and the Lycian army.'

'Princess, do you think there are any honourable soldiers left in the Bern army?' Will she realise I am asking about Gale? I never mentioned my engagement to him in front of the princess. Ellen may have let it slip, but she might also have exercised care to not upset her with any unnecessary matters.

Princess Guinevere holds onto my arm for support as we cross a slippery part of the road, 'perhaps but they are either powerless or misinformed. We cannot allow the Bern government to continue their reign of terror while we wait for them to see the truth.'

Ellen has left us to help Brother Saul and Father Yodel. Only ice crunching beneath our feet fills the uneasy silence between the princess and me. Princess Guinevere looks up, 'Miledy, have you managed to carve out a place for yourself in the Lycian army? My actions caused you to abandon everything you knew in Bern. You sacrificed so much.'

'Please don't worry about that,' I tilt my face away from her discerning eyes, 'for I am your loyal knight more than I am a knight of Bern.'

'Miledy?' Princess Guinevere takes her arm out of mine, 'you're hiding something from me.'

'W-Well, it is painful to fight my homeland – but nothing more.'

A man watches me as our army approaches an inn. The sharp eyes and white streaks in his hair are familiar. I call out when he strides towards me, 'Heath!'

'So you and Gale have chosen opposing sides.' Heath interlocks his fingers over a plate of hash browns and pickled vegetables. The mercenary rest camp is a makeshift kitchen set up near an Ilian training and recruitment site. It is dense with low grumbles and the stench of damp boots mixed with fried food. Crates and low tables are strewn all about the vast tent. Mercenaries crowd around the grill plate and soup cauldrons at the front, trying to fill their bellies before upcoming missions.

'I'm trying to remember what you told me, how love isn't about the flags we fight under and all,' I pick at a shred of potato, 'but it still troubles me. What if either Gale or I are wrong? What will I do when I need to face him – as an enemy?'

'Allegiances are never a simple matter of right or wrong,' Heath stabs his fork in the middle of a hash brown. He slurps up the whole slab in one mouthful, 'you and Gale came to different conclusions based on the information and past experiences you had. My commander and I parted ways for similar reasons, though I still hold her in the highest regard.'

'Your commander?' I duck as a swaggering cavalier passes the crate I'm sitting on.

'Captain Vaida, the strongest wyvern knight I've ever known. Together, we'd deserted King Desmond's army to aid his son, the then-prince Zephiel.' Heath chugs down a glass of cranberry juice, wiping his mouth against the back of his hand, 'but when King Zephiel assumed the throne, I sensed a change in his leadership. He was no longer the generous young man who wandered among the people and doted on his younger sister. He was sullen, short-tempered and aggressive to the point that all his subordinates except Lord Murdock shied away from him.'

'I read in Mother's entries that the change occurred after his father's assassination attempt,' I lean closer to Heath, trying to keep my voice low while still being audible through the mercenary drinking games at the next table.

'Whatever the reason, otherwise honourable knights have wedded themselves to King Zephiel's paranoid and resentful vision of the world,' Heath uses his finger to wipe up the remaining sauce smudges around the plate, 'Captain Vaida, Lord Murdock – and Gale. I'm no prophet but based on my experience under King Desmond, a reign of terror corrupts and destroys everyone it touches.'

'Then… Gale will…' My leg shakes under the table, causing the salt and pepper shakers to vibrate above the surface, 'Heath, what do I do?'

'We don't understand Gale's motivation for his allegiance to Lord Murdock and King Zephiel. I suspect it's rooted in his hatred of the Etrurian aristocracy,' Heath glances at a gang of mercenaries shaking hands as they part ways to embark on their missions, 'you won't be able to save him with words. And you won't be able to do it alone.'

An alarm bell goes off through the rest camp. The other mercenaries start groaning and shovelling the last bits of food into their mouths. Heath rises from his crate, 'it looks like the Bern forces have claimed Ilia. I'm sorry, Miledy, but I must leave. A bounty is still on my head for deserting during the previous war. If they find me, I'll be executed on the spot.'

'Where are you going?' My arm reaches through the crowd to retrieve my lance but it's just out of reach.

'Etruria, to seek out Lady Priscilla,' Heath fits a cloak over his head and shoulders, 'I'll be passing through Gale's hometown on the border.'

'If you see his mother, please explain our situation to her.' By the time, I can reach the weapons, only a steel sword remains. It'll have to do, 'and that I… I—!'

'Don't worry, I understand,' Heath wraps my hands around the sword handle firmly, 'but you must help your comrades! And I must flee!'