A/N: So everyone reading this story is aware, I've decided to start looking for a good place to stop it so I won't have to stop in the middle of a real incident, leaving a major cliff hanger for who knows how long. As I have also pointed out in the Minerva's Blessing story (for those reading it, too), I live in an area where it generally takes six months to a year to find a place, and there's a very real chance I'll end up without the Net for several months.

There will still be at least a few more posts before I reach a comfortable stopping point (the Drachmaran situation still isn't 'resolved'), but I don't want to take it as far as the second battle with the Mongols or I'd risk having to stop by force before finishing it. When I get to that stopping point, I'll post another notice to let everyone know it's the last chapter until I'm established in a new place.

Setting into Place

Ed found himself a cross between annoyed, amused, and bemused by the situation in Weiss' camp with the two Clans and the army on their doorstep. He'd heard vague references to the Mongols a few times, but nothing more than how they were best avoided, bandits that they were. When avoidance wasn't a possibility—like now—battle was a requirement. They had tailored a few very specific forms of alchemy, all of them kinds which were illegal in other nations, to create creatures for war. In that, they weren't much different from Amestris, except that they had fully intended to create beasts, not thought-capable 'soldiers'.

The Clans were terrified of the wolf-lions, stunned that the Motos present there were fighting against the wolf-lions, and stunned stupid (a few even fainted) when the wolf-lions ran head-first into a wall of light. All the civilians knew Ed had put up that wall, but had obviously not expected it to work, or that it would be solid enough to break several of the wolf-lions' necks with sheer force of impact. Of course, the general weight and momentum of the beasts virtually guaranteed death if they ran head-first into a wall which could hold against both.

Up until the wolf-lions had hit the wall, the civilians had tried to treat him like the very young child he resembled, which had been the very annoying thing. At least at first. The general number and behavior of them was still bemusing, and had been all the way along. Seeing some of them faint, and seeing the way they treated the Motos (all-told, it rather resembled God-like worship), was highly amusing. But then, when they began 'worshiping' him, he went right back to annoyance. If it wasn't one thing, it was another.

Of course, he really had no right to complain when they practically worshiped Weiss, Genesis, and Sephiroth, too. And when Nina made a trip back to their side of the pass to switch sides of the ravine (riding on Alexander's back, of course), they began worshiping her, too. Like seeing her had unlocked something in them and they actively realized these children weren't children in the true sense, they actually became aware of Al's healing, and gave him the same treatment, which resulted in a very embarrassed and annoyed Al. In Genesis' and Sephiroth's case, the reason for the worship was obvious—their wings.

Weiss and his were able to hold all the wolf-lions back other than the one group which had gotten through to Ed, and that group hadn't lasted long—half had died just from hitting the shield, and the others he encased in ice. That was one thing he still hadn't fully gotten back—his will to fight, even to kill, with his own hands. Over time and with healing, he'd been able to recover some ability to do so, and had actually killed some people on Gaia the way he would have when he'd first arrived there and become a Turk, but it wasn't a large number or common reaction.

With magic, on the other hand...

Unfortunately, his plan with the wolf-lions had not panned out, and instead of his ice piercing and killing them, it only trapped them. It was some sort of subconscious throwback to past situations which happened without him being aware of them until he saw the result, and this was one of them. What the trigger had been, he wasn't sure, but it was likely someone else would come by and finish the job in short order; most of those who had followed Lady Shinra had gotten used to watching for those not-quite-right results.

And, sure enough, as soon as a break came in the waves of wolf-lions over the collapsed pass, Weiss turned and hit the ones trapped in the ice, shattering the ice and killing them. He gave Ed a nod of acknowledgment, then went back to his place to wait for the next wave to reach their line—about a minute later. Of course, because all the others had gone down the pass already, Weiss or someone from his unit would have been the only ones who could have done the task. Or Anki or Quis, but they'd still been finishing off the last of the round of wolf-lions.

Then, they'd all gotten a surprise as dozens of horses, all saddled but without riders, streamed in from one side of the pass, followed by a single, mounted man who wore Mongol armor, but no helmet, and whose weapons were sheathed. All he did was give them a nod, then ride to the other side of the pass to head back up, leaving the others staring after him in pure confusion until the next wave of wolf-lions hit them. When it had finished, Weiss gave his head a shake—then pulled out his PHS, blinked in surprise and checked something, then sighed and gave his head another small shake.

At least the Clan civilians had the sense to gather the horses.

Ed himself walked among the creatures, and they didn't seem bothered by his presence. These were warhorses, but some showed as heavier ones meant to carry mail and armored warriors while others were more agile and faster—meant for archers, light armor, and tasks like message-running. While some were clearly skittish, they didn't shy away from him at all, so he kept wandering through the...herd? They were Mongol horses, he was sure, just by signs they showed of being proficient mountain climbers.

And when he found a mare he liked which had a dappled brown and dusty-gray-ish coloring, he managed to get up into the saddle and nudge her out from the herd. They were well-trained if she was any indication, and chances are most of them had been ridden by children before, just by how easily she'd responded to his nudges. Then again, if horses were everything Mongol life was based on, it was highly likely they learned to ride as soon as they learned to walk.

Once she was free of the rest, Weiss paused beside him to comment, "Genesis told that man we saw to collect all the horses in the pass and retrieve them for us. 'Spoils of war', he called them. What's the use of these...things? Besides possibly hauling like the caravan horses."

"These are warhorses, Weiss," Ed told him in some amusement. "They're trained to go into combat alongside a human fighter, and to fight as hard as their rider. We never bothered to train Chocobos for active mounted combat mostly because it was moot in about ninety-five percent of the situations we had. In the here and now, warhorses mean extra combat hands and work as hard their riders. Yes, these are 'spoils of war', ones we can either keep and use to excellent effect or sell to the highest bidder. And Mongol warhorses would fetch a really, really large price—they're very, very rare outside the Mongols' lands."

"How did you even get up there?" Weiss asked, expression becoming amused. "I'd think they'd be skittish around children."

"Not if it's true Mongols learn to ride younger than me," Ed shrugged. "Some horses, even some warhorses, are skittish when they aren't on a battlefield—they'd be useless there unless they could be trained out of it. If they're used to the presence of human children, they take us as part of their herd. As for getting up...with a lot of trouble and the stirrup. It was more of an acrobatic maneuver than it was mounting, and she held still for that."

"She?" the white haired young man asked in surprise.

"This is a female, or a mare. They're usually nicer than stallions—the fertile males. Geldings are usually mild, too, because those are males which aren't fertile anymore. They have a lot less male hormones because of it. No, they aren't old, they've been deliberately made sterile."

Weiss blinked at him, then sighed and gave his head an amused shake. "Did you learn that from Warrior-Priest Rashad?"

"Some of it," Ed agreed candidly with a grin. "I already knew some and could ride, but since Ishbalans keep horses, too, it wasn't hard to learn. Theirs are tailored to deserts and arid land, though, not mountains. And I only picked up a small part of what most Ishbalans learn about horses. They aren't as picky about learning to ride young, though."

The white haired man gave a faint huff of a chuckle, then gave him a wave and headed back to where the line was. Oddly, that Weiss had been able to take so much time to talk with him without another wave of wolf-lions coming up actually surprised him. Genesis and the others must have been taking out a lot more of them than Ed had assumed, so many fewer were reaching the far end of the pass. Other than the one rider who wore no helmet, they also hadn't seen any humans at this end yet, and Ed was grateful for that.

"Hey! Let me ride, too!" he heard Al's annoyed voice from down beside the horse. He leaned over to look at his younger brother in surprise, seeing the scowl on his face.

"You want to ride a warhorse?" he asked.

"Can't I? You're riding one!" the younger boy replied.

"Al...Did anyone in Ishbal teach you to ride?" the older blond asked tiredly.

"What?" the boy blinked.

"I was taught to ride, Al, not to be carried around by someone else, even though Rashad carried me, too," Ed answered, deliberately not saying it really hadn't been Rashad's doing that he'd learned. Amestrian military training included riding, and there was no reason Al could reason out which would explain why Ed knew that. "And riding a warhorse isn't the sort of thing you do without training in riding, first. They'll throw you if you can't."

"Why? Horses are nice," the boy answered in true child fashion. It would have been cute—if it couldn't have legitimately gotten him killed.

"Normal horses are, and even they can hurt or kill people," he told his brother. "Warhorses are trained to kill people, and to only obey someone who they can sense is in control. That means someone who knows how to ride."

He then nudged the horse towards the pass so he could see what was going on there, and finding it very amusing that Weiss and some of his unit had managed to pulverize part of the blockage in the pass while fighting the wolf-lions. It occurred to him to wonder what in the world this actually meant, because it was a really, really huge change in the world's dynamic. If they had never landed, the Mongols wouldn't have come into what would have been desert, and they wouldn't now be caught in what was probably an all-out war with them. Of course, that was true of Drachma, too.

In a way, he found it more likely the latter might see reason; Asians rarely did anything others expected because they had so different of a basic perspective. Oddly, that was true of Wutai and Wutains as much as it was of the Xingese, Japanese, or (now) the Mongols. Drachmarans had more in common with Amestrians than they did with Asians in the long run, and in theory, Amestris' bid for power in the last five hundred years was probably all the justification Drachma needed for their war-like habits.

It took some time for everyone to come back after that, at the front of the group the helmetless man they had seen earlier, the herd he was driving ahead of him, and Nina on Alexander. The two were talking amiably, completely relaxed, which told Ed two very important things—Nina was completely okay with this Mongol man, and everyone who had intervened here was very likely unharmed. Like the first time, the barbarian Clan civilians caught the horses and gathered them with the first round, watching surreptitiously as Genesis and Sephiroth returned in their full, winged glory.

Only many minutes after that did all the rest of the Mages sent with them return—with a good hundred or so Mongols. Ed scanned the group in surprise, noting how they all didn't have helmets on and how they were being very well-behaved. It was unlikely they were prisoners of war, and a closer look showed several who were women, but the number wasn't very high. Around half of them, maybe a little less, were also mounted, and had obviously brought their horses along for the—er—ride. The amiability of the situation made him wonder if they were effectively refugees.

If that was true, the best place for them was back in the central town where Lady Shinra was. Unless they were something else entirely, but he wasn't really sure what else they could be—they weren't uniform enough in features to have been another Clan like the two Weiss already had.

A hand on his knee made him look down at Sonna, and he asked, "So, what's the verdict, Lady Mage?"

She gave him a grin and quipped, "At least it's not 'Lady Nightmare' today!" Then, she lifted her shoulders in a shrug and went on, "When the army called a retreat—Genesis must have taken out around a quarter of them single-handedly—these ones all just stopped instead of going along. The General and Commander noticed that and sent them over to us so we could head back with them along. As far as I can tell, they really didn't want to fight that war, so fully planned to take the chance offered to disappear. Our intervention means it's not just 'a chance', they'll actually get freedom out of it. And our Budling likes them."

"I gathered that by how easily she's talking with the man," Ed agreed with a small nod. "I'd thought the best place for them was back with Lady Shinra—their information on their countrymen will be invaluable, but I'd rather they not have to fight those same countrymen." He then looked down at the horse he rode and sighed faintly. "And we have to get these away from the front lines, too, warhorses or not. And the two Clans we've already got here. I think we're inheriting a lot more than we expected."

She chuckled and agreed, "I had the same thought. We have some people who need to go back by teleport, but the rest can probably walk them back with all these horses. How long do you think it will take for the Mongols to attack again?"

Ed bit his lip as he thought about the question, then said slowly, "Large armies on horseback and foot don't travel quickly. Three weeks at least for them to get back to their home territory to report would probably be a good estimate. If they had things like trucks in the kind of supply to move an army, they'd have used them now, but I think it might be the lack of roads in this area rather than the lack of trucks. Maybe in their own homeland, travel will be easier and faster. They don't have trains—that's technology which has barely begun to reach Xing, and hasn't really gone past that yet. So, we probably have around two months to prepare for the second attack."

"Hmm..." she murmured as she watched Weiss approach the returning group with the new arrivals. "It seems like so long, and yet...it's really not. What can we do to hit an army the size of the one they're likely to throw at us?"

"More magic," the blond boy shrugged. "I hate to say it, but we're probably going to need to get people like Shelke and Percia and Verde on board. Shiro and Roy—their firestorm will be a sure-fire—" (Sonna giggled at the unintentional pun, alerting him to the fact that he'd made one, but he ignored her to keep talking.) "—way to keep them out of the pass and wipe out large numbers of them at once. If it's full-on war that time, probably Genesis' whole unit, and...Rosso is the only other one not allocated, so she and hers will probably have to come here for this, too."

The Turk's brow rose. "That will be enough, you think? To stop their whole army, maybe outside a bare skeleton crew?"

Shrugging again, the boy replied flatly, "Probably. It's not like they have combat alchemy like Amestris does—other than the creation of their warbeasts, they've pretty much shunned it. I'd be more worried about our chances against what's left of the Amestrian military than I am about the Mongol army. Honestly, I'm more worried that the Mongols will send real assassins in retaliation for the loss."

"Is that likely?" she asked in surprise.

"Oh, Goddess, I hope not!" Genesis commented in something like horror from a few feet away, dropping down a few feet from the horse, who began to shy away—and Ed quickly got her to still again. "Can we find out?"

"Lord Long will probably know," Ed answered. "But people with those kinds of skills aren't uncommon in Asia. So, what's our plan from here?"

Genesis gave his head a shake and said, "Some of the Mages from my unit are going to clear the rest of the pass, and Weiss' people will fortify it. Some of the Mongols have volunteered to stay to help them with the defenses, but whether they'll stay until the army returns, I don't know. We have work to finish, so I can't stay, and some people were already allocated to something else—like Kunzel and Sephiroth—so they have to go back and we'll have to work out alternate people to move up here in their place.

"I've told the rest who came with us to think on whether they're staying here to escort the rest of the Mongols and the Clans south or coming with us the fast way. At this point, though, we can't just instantly move a group this large all the way to our home base, so they'll have to walk it. What worries me is that we really don't have any snipers, magical or otherwise, to help guard this perimeter for us," the red haired man finished with a sigh. "By the way, what do you plan to do with that horse?"

"Keep her," Ed replied with a raised brow. "I happen to like her, out of all the horses 'he' brought back. And Lady Shinra can ride her, too, to help her get around more easily. Or, if all else fails, we can make a little carriage and she can ride in that." Genesis and Sonna both just stared at him, so he added, "And if you need snipers, ask Riza and the other Amestrian soldiers who came with the Ishbalans if they'd be willing to play sniper. I know Riza can, and I'm sure at least some of the Amestrians would have been trained military snipers."

The Commander blinked, then nodded and agreed, "Okay, then...I'll do that when we get back to the central town. Hopefully, we'll have finished with Percia's fix before the next battle, and we can start on Vincent's after that. I should only need about an hour before we're going back, so don't wander off. Please just don't. Even if you have a warhorse to wander off with you."

With an amused snort, Ed commented, "You make it sound like she's going to kidnap me."

"I wouldn't put it past them," the older man shrugged, then gave a wave and took to the air to head back to the pass.

"But he wanders off to leave your safety to chance..." Sonna sighed quietly.

"No, he's leaving it to you," the boy replied in amusement. The woman smiled in amusement herself at that, then climbed up behind him on the horse.

"So if you're keeping her, what are you going to name her, and will she take kindly to a change in name now?" the woman asked curiously as the mare snorted and turned her head to look at the woman in annoyance.

"I hadn't really thought about a name," the blond offered thoughtfully. "It hasn't been long since I found her, after all. I suppose the name I would pick for her would be because she actually responded to it, and her response could be for any reason—it's unlikely I'd ever just give her back the name her first rider gave her, but it would be possible she's associating meaning rather than the physical sound of the name. Like, she may have been named Lily or Willow in Mongolian, and might respond to that in our language, too."

"Trial and error mostly, then. Will you take suggestions?" she asked.

"From Lady Shinra, sure," he agreed. "That means she's coming through the teleport with me, even if the rest of the horses aren't."

"Well, if we're going to cart along Alexander, we may as well do the same with a horse, too," Sonna chuckled in amusement, and Ed smiled in agreement.

FoWD-HC

A little over an hour later, the ones who were going back that night were standing in a circle with Ed (still on the horse) and Genesis. That meant Al, who was now riding with Ed, Nina and Alexander, Sonna, Kunzel, two other SOLDIER Mages, and Sephiroth. The rest were going to take the long route back. With them were also one representative each of the two barbarian Clans and one of the Mongols filling a similar role—the same man who had collected the horses out of the pass. Like Ed, he was riding his horse, and the other two Clan representatives had chosen and were riding horses as well.

It didn't take long to link in a circle and focus on shifting everyone back to the Cosmo Candle and Lady Shinra, and the familiar energy cycled, then activated and flashed as they all vanished from the northeastern pass and reappeared near the fire. The horses whinnied in alarm and shied, but all the riders had expected that—the horses had never experienced it before—and were ready to get them under control. Oddly, Alexander wandering between them calmly and brushing up against them helped calm the horses.

In the meantime, they had attracted quite a bit of attention, very shocked attention, as people turned to stare at them. The first to recover, much to Ed's joy and amusement, was Rashad, who approached and lifted Al down off the horse, then gathered Ed in one arm. "So, what's all this, then? Warhorses?" he asked of the boy.

"Yes, but this one is sort of both mine and Lady Shinra's," the boy answered as he hugged the man around the neck and felt his muscles relaxing. "I didn't even realize how tense I was until now."

"What do you mean, she's sort of mine, too?" Lady Shinra asked in bemusement.

Ed turned to look at her, in her usual place by the fire, over the mare's back and said, "You'll be able to get around more easily on horseback than on your own two feet, and you're a tamer, sort of, so you should be able to handle her just fine. And, because she's a trained warhorse, if someone attacks you, she will fight back."

The woman blinked in mild surprise, then eyed the horse for a long moment before commenting, "I suppose those are all fair points. Have you given her a name, or did someone already know it?"

"I thought you could help name her," the boy answered in amusement, and she smiled, though it was tinged with irony.

"Of course. What's one more name to come up with?" Her reply made Ed chuckle, though he vaguely noted his mother join them, gathering Al off the ground at Rashad's feet and standing close to the man with one of her hands resting on Ed's back. That actually almost caused him to fall asleep (he thought Al had as soon as she'd picked him up), but as he drifted, he heard the discussion go on.

"Well, you've been naming the little tigers and that's been going well, so shouldn't another animal be easier to name?" Trisha asked of the woman, sounding amused.

"I haven't done anything more than agree to the names others have come up with for them," Lady Shinra replied in amusement. "Like Shiro and Yu—kisa both saying the black male should be named Kuro and the white male should be named Byakko, while the black female should be Kari and the white female should be Yuuri (1). I think the names work, more or less, so I won't argue when we still have five of the nine to name."

"In which case, the horse is so far the only one you'd actually be naming," Trisha chuckled in reply.

"Not tonight, though. We all need rest for morning," the blond woman answered, and general agreement came to that. "Who are these three unknowns, though, Commander?"

"Representatives from the two Clans and the refugees escaping the Mongols," Genesis replied in amusement.

"Ah. Then, Vincent, could you find a place for them to sleep overnight so I can talk with them in the morning?" Lady Shinra requested.

"I can. I think I have a place in mind. If the three of you would please follow me?" While Ed knew those four would have headed away, he was already drifting into darkness, and fell asleep before he could hear any more.

Notes:

(1) These names may or may not need to be remembered, though I think it's closer to 'not'. They're more like presences similar to the Motos, and unless one in particular becomes a major player in the story, it's probably not important to remember them, since the name and reference will be used again if/when it becomes important. In the meantime, Kuro is Japanese/Wutain for black, Byakko is the White Tiger God, Kari means hunter, and Yuuri translates to lily, which is a near-white or pure white flower. :D One out of four being named after a flower is much better odds than the three or four of four they'd have gotten from Nina!