Cracks in the Sandstone

The streets before Lycia's palace were awash with pilgrims. Their chants and shouts and prayers echoed through the yards all day long, a constant murmur that snuck into the halls even when the windows were shut and the doors barred. The people there held up replicas of the Altean crest like tokens of their faith; keys of tin or brass or pure silver, depending on what the faithful could afford. At night, a sea of five-story candles illuminated the sandstone walls, raised towards Naga's heaven and her representative in this mortal world.

On the opposite side of Lycia's central avenue gathered a crowd equally as large. They called for the usurper's head.

Although the servants had shut the floor level windows to the balcony and although the tapestries hanging between the pillars muffled the noise, the two-voiced choir found its way into the throne room. The slender fingers of Naga's champion travelled across the armrest of her throne. Her cape rustled, and no second later a windchime melody replaced the cacophony. Only the chants of the pilgrims provided a background melody now. Their prayers of the true faith were so very invigorating, so very delicious. A smile, and her gaze meandered towards the windows and the crowds down there. Fists struck the air.

How unfortunate.

Not a day went by without a scuffle between the two parties. Torn flags in Altean or Pheraen colors dropped into the moat so often that the water had disappeared under a carpet of indigo and crimson. Vendors had moved their businesses elsewhere after extremists from one or the other side had broken shop windows and burned items they could have never bought.

The shores of the moat had seen death too. Sometimes, a group went too far, a knife flashed out of a sleeve, or a stone struck the opposing side with too much precision. What a senseless loss of lives, what a waste. Was it not Naga's, and by extension her champion's, goal to preserve her creation, from the greatest human legend to the petty Pheraen fanatics down there? If Grima of course had poisoned their hearts…

Lucina jolted and suddenly there were no more windchimes, only the cries from the crowd. She clutched the bandage under her right sleeve. The wound from Navarre's saber had closed, his face had vanished far underneath the palace, and yet both clawed at Lucina while she listened. Did the one who hired Navarre hide within the crowd of fanatics? Did they scream for her head with the others, or had they even started the chant?

Lucina listened. But the noise only offered her one answer.

The young man who had died on the steps of the shrine had been Pheraen. The son of a small nobleman, loyal to Pheraen traditions, eager to improve work conditions for farmers around his hometown, barely twenty – and now dead. And Lucina, the queen of the Empire and the supposed face of justice, refused to hand out his murderer. One half of the crowd first had called for Navarre's head, now for hers. The young man's blood had become the fuel with which they heated their fire, and every hour more Pheraens seemed to join the crowd and hurl his name against the throne room. His face, then his cracked skull flashed in Lucina's mind. If at least she could hide and blanket herself in the comforting existence of an eternal paradise…

She leaned back and studied the rather fragile tips of her fingers. Lines and flakes and human imperfections blemished the skin. But she had no need for worry. A true blessing protected this feeble skin. The Voice had done well to shed one of her tears, and its crystallized form hung in a pendant around her neck. Against its magic, neither the Lorca nor any other blade mortals might send forth would prevail.

Her creation was eternal.

Eternally hers.

Ah, but it was not yet time for that. Grima's influence still poisoned the western lands, and a few more trials waited before the end, before the union. A last smile, and she sunk inward, taking the windchimes with her.

A knock sounded from the double winged door on the other end of the throne room. Lucina flinched as though the knuckles had hit her face instead of the wood. Her fingernails scraped across the throne's armrests, armrests too large and too unforgiving for her. Everything was fuzzy, her thoughts feverish and not quite right. She felt cold and lonely in her skin. What happened?

The door rumbled from a second knock, louder this time.

Lucina dreaded to answer, her tongue was lump and useless in her mouth. But the eyes of the empire were watching, and she stifled both the urge to massage her collarbone and the desire to slide Falchion between the doorhandles so that no one might enter ever again.

She counted to ten and breathed, Gregor's face in mind.

Then she raised her voice. A voice the embodiment of strong and collected, the voice that had raised a rebellion and razed an empire. "Come in."

Frederick stepped into the throne room. He likely noticed the force Lucina used to keep her face unmoved; a cloud captured his eyes, and he took a moment longer to trek down the length of the hall. But he didn't ask what troubled her. The cries thundered through the halls for both of them to hear.

"The representative of Talys has arrived," Frederick said.

Lucina swallowed before she answered. "Good. Send her in."

"We can delay the meeting for another hour. Perhaps it would be better to bring forward lunch instead."

Lucina hated the rostrum between them. If she escaped the throne's armrests now, she would find it all the harder to return later. She knew that. But she couldn't bear to look down at Frederick like this for longer – the same way as Roy had looked down at his underlings.

Her heartbeat calmed a little when she stepped away from the throne. Nervous, she was merely nervous about the upcoming meeting. The chill in her chest would pass soon. It must. Frederick offered her a hand to climb from the rostrum, and she accepted until they finally met at eyelevel.

"That's not the only news you have for me, is it?" Lucina asked.

"We have successfully captured Satar, as well as its ore mines. Your flag flutters above the town now, and the duke Marcus is led to trial for rebellious acts against the Empire as we speak. I believe he will accept your rulership soon enough. Otherwise he might have heirs who will."

"And the casualties?"

Frederick squirmed and avoided Lucina's gaze.

"I will find out through the reports anyway. But I would rather hear it from you. How many?"

"Almost one hundred of our men," Frederick said. "Twice as many on their side. I'm sorry, the duke's loyalty to Pheraen traditions ran far deeper than anticipated. A handful of our soldiers stationed in nearby towns ran over to him, perhaps because of that same loyalty."

Lucina nodded, the taste of ash on her tongue. "All that for a town I may never set foot into…"

"It is… still a victory. Marcus' voice has lost little of its influence since his retirement, but his defeat will set an example for all lords who sympathize with his ideals. Satar brings us one step closer to a unified nation without Roy's destructive influence. Perhaps then the attempts on your life will finally stop."

"Perhaps. And Ike?"

"He has not yet returned."

"I see."

Lucina leaned on Frederick's arm more than the situation demanded. Her mind suffocated under images of pyres and gravestones around Satar while smoke clouded the northern foothills of the Copper Mountain. All in her name. All under her flag.

Navarre's voice echoed in her head. They ride and die for you.

"There's still time," Frederick said. "We can arrange an envoy to deal with this meeting in your place."

"I appreciate it. Really. But you and I both know I can't hide myself forever. Talys is too important. Or do you want to go to Cordelia and tell her the negotiations failed because I didn't have the nerves to attend?"

"No, of course not." Frederick studied Lucina's face. "But I worry about what this will cost you. What it has cost you already. Perhaps you should consider sentencing Navarre—"

"No. I won't."

Frederick flinched from her harsh tone. "I admire your resolution in this matter. But I see no other way to appease the masses out there. Some of the vile things they say about you… you should not have to subject yourself to this. After everything you did for Archanea."

"It's okay. This is what I wanted."

"Are you certain? Or is this what Naga wanted?"

Lucina avoided Frederick's gaze. The pilgrims and fanatics on the streets, the assassins, the constant skirmishes with Pheraen traditionalists – was this what Naga wanted? Lucina ordered her troops from one battlefield to the next, she directed them like pieces on her chessboard. Like a god bade its followers. Ike was her most efficient piece, but even he lost soldiers along the way. And whenever she sent him out with a new mission, she knew some of the people riding with him would not return. Someday, he might not return. Was this what Naga wanted?

"Have things turned so bad that you are doubting your faith, old man?" Lucina asked and smiled to disperse Frederick's doubts as well as her own.

He straightened. "I apologize. I spoke too freely."

"You are the last person who should apologize." Lucina reached out to place a hand on his cheek. "If you can't even be honest with me, how can I expect anyone else to approach me with the truth instead of an assassin blade? But enough of this, let's focus our efforts on a successful negotiation with Talys. I promised Cordelia the chance to return home months ago. So far… it seems I haven't been very successful with keeping promises lately."

Frederick gave no reply, even though unspoken words burned behind his expression.

Lucina's cape rustled when she pulled back her hand and returned to the throne. "Cordelia and Tiki are already waiting, I assume? Send them in first."

"And the guards?"

"Leave them. The fewer ears overhear our conversation the better. We can inform the people when we have come to an agreement."

Frederick nodded, although the evident concern for Lucina's safety stiffened his movements, and marched out of the throne room. A moment later, Cordelia and Tiki took up their places on either side of Lucina's throne. Tiki hummed to drown out the cries from outside, but otherwise her demeanor betrayed not a hint of worry. Did her faith in Naga grant her this calmness? Perhaps she heard the goddess' voice even now.

How Lucina envied her.

Cordelia fiddled with the white feather attached to her tunic. With the exception of Falchion, the throne room forbade all weapons; Frederick and Tiki had allowed no discussion of this matter after the incident at the shrine. Accordingly, Cordelia had left her spear at her quarters and had only taken the feather with her. A lucky charm. Whether it indeed brought luck remained to be seen.

Cordelia mustered a hopeful smile that Lucina found impossible to reciprocate.

She had invited both Cordelia and Tiki to this meeting for a reason that had nothing to do with friendliness or the fact that Lucina enjoyed, needed the company. No, they were trophies to display in front of her opponent. In Cordelia, Lucina had won over one Pegasus Knight from Talys, a compatriot of the representative that would earn her both respect and sympathy. And Tiki was the ultimate symbol of Lucina's legitimate reign: Naga's Voice as part of her entourage. Many people in Talys used to follow the teachings of Nagaism. Maybe the representative did too.

And so, once again, Lucina directed people around the chessboard to her advantage. Even if the thought alone tightened her throat and strangled the smile she should give Cordelia.

The double-winged doors swung open, and Frederick announced the newcomer. "Lady Shanna of Talys," he said, "you are stepping before Queen Lucina, Naga's champion and head of the Pheraen Empire."

Shanna strut into the hall as though Frederick had rolled out a red carpet for her alone. Not once did she lower her chin while the clacking of her boots drowned out the cries of the pilgrims. Her short hair and the entirety of her attire was made to fit the battlefield, neither silk nor lace nor the wide sleeves of courtly fashion in sight. She appeared to be Roy's age, but she had maintained a youthful gleam in her blue eyes. At present, however, this gleam hid behind a scowl of disdain.

She did not wait until she reached the throne rostrum before she spoke. "Roy should have left you to die in the ruins of the Glass Fortress when he had the chance."

Stunned silence followed. Even the pilgrims hushed for a moment.

Frederick stepped forward. "Do you have any idea who you are talking to?"

"You made that very clear." Despite Frederick's impressive physique, including arms that could squish her head, Shanna didn't back down. "But I'm not here to exchange pleasantries. The only reason I accepted the invitation in the first place was so that I could look into the eyes of the traitor."

"You're the traitor," Cordelia said. "A traitor to Talys. You sold it to Roy."

"Wrong. Roy returned the island back into our hands after the previous union with Altea brought us nothing but war. My dead sisters can attest to that. Caeda should have never married King Marth. She's the one who sold off Talys. And for what?" Shanna regarded Lucina with an ironic grin. "For a spoiled brat playing queen?"

Frederick curled his fists, Cordelia was about to jump from the rostrum, but a gesture from Lucina stopped them both.

"I doubt you have made the journey to Lycia for the sole purpose of insulting me, Shanna," Lucina said. "You are too intelligent for that. Roy valued you highly enough to appoint you as one his Twelve and to give you the leadership over Talys. Why the special treatment?"

The slightest hue of red crept into Shanna's cheeks. But it was gone before it could fully take shape.

"Cut the crap, this isn't about me," she said. "You've requested a meeting, and here I am. Spit out your peace proposal so you can tell your worshippers you tried and then send us your next fleet. My Pegasus Knights will sink that one too."

"How many of your knights have died already?" Lucina asked.

"As if I could give you the exact number. It doesn't matter anyway, there's many more of us ready to fight."

"I can give you a number. Three-hundred-fifteen. The crew of eight ships. That is the number of people I have sent to their deaths since I have first attempted to free Talys. Not counting all those who have returned wounded or those who have almost drowned, trying to make it back to shore while the ship under them snapped in two. I wish it to end. I wish it to end before the number climbs any higher than three-hundred-fifteen. And, Naga be my witness, I truly hope you share this wish."

Shanna kneaded her hands behind her back. She was chewing on these words, and Lucina dared to hope that it could be this simple, that Shanna would see reason where Roy hadn't.

But then the fire returned to Shanna's eyes and she jutted her chin. "You wish it to end?" she asked. "There's a simple fix for that. Declare Talys' sovereignty."

"You refuse Naga's rightful champion as your leader?" Tiki asked.

Shanna huffed. "Naga's rightful champion, sure. An Altean cuckoo is what she is. And no matter how deceptively it sings, a cuckoo remains a cuckoo. I'm tired of listening. Declare Talys' sovereignty so we can move on from this farce."

Lucina shot a glance at Cordelia. Shanna only demanded one signature, one small gesture, and then the skirmishes in the south would end. At least there, the number wouldn't have to climb beyond three-hundred-fifteen. An alliance could even grow from there, an alliance between equals. Lucina had never set foot onto Talys, the beaches and rocky cliffs meant nothing to her.

But they meant everything to Cordelia. If Lucina signed away Talys, the training camps for Pegasus novices would persist, an island of fences and brutal military training. Cordelia would remain an outcast.

Lucina couldn't allow that. She had disappointed so many dreams already, and Cordelia counted on her. Had she not sworn to bring down Roy's tyranny? And was it then not her obligation to battle Shanna's tyranny too and realize Cordelia's dream?

Lucina forced her eyes back to Shanna. "I cannot give you Talys."

"Well, you better. Because I'm not sticking with the Pheraen Empire while you're its head."

"I can't believe you," Cordelia said. Her voice, her entire body trembled with rage. "I can't believe someone can be so damn stupid to turn their entire people into war slaves and keep on with that after the war is over. I thought maybe Roy forced you to set up the fences around the training camps. Because surely no one from Talys could be so damn stupid to do that willingly."

"And what are you here for?" Shanna asked.

"I'll show you what I'm here for."

Lucina leaped from her throne. "Cordelia, don't!"

Her voice cut through the hall and chained Cordelia to the spot. She wanted to defy the order, her muscles tensed to jump at Shanna's throat. But after a few heartbeats of soundless struggling, Cordelia backed away and glared at Lucina instead.

"Why?" she asked. "Why shouldn't I? After everything she's done…"

"Cordelia, huh?" Shanna's superior grin returned. "I do remember you. You're the rascal who tried to run away. Didn't think I'd see you again. And still without a Pegasus, it seems. Her death was… awful to watch."

For the first time, the fighting spirit left Shanna's shoulders, and remorse clouded her eyes. Maybe she was thinking of her own Pegasus waiting down in the yard.

Cordelia clutched her white feather. "That's what Roy did to us. He didn't care who suffered from his orders as long as someone carried them out. Why are you still defending a man like that? He could have given the same order for your Pegasus at any time."

"You really think Roy concerned himself with every little detail in Talys?" Shanna asked. "Of course not. I gave the order."

A war declaration could not have produced a more unsettled silence.

Cordelia's expression drowned in horror, her shoulders trembled. "Why?"

"Because you were poison to the entire system," Shanna said. "You and your bright thoughts about rebellion. If I had just let you go, other novices might have followed you. I had to make an example of you and your Pegasus. Even if it pained me."

Cordelia had killed before. Her spear had pierced many Pheraen torsos before and after Lucina had joined the rebellion, and in some form, she had delivered all these deadly blows as retribution for Talys. But never before had the desire to kill burned so brightly in her eyes. No command from Lucina would stop her from laying her hands around Shanna's throat now.

Only force.

Falchion hung there at Lucina's side, its scabbard pressed against her thigh. And for a heartbeat, drawing the Divine Sword to end this conflict seemed so easy. So tempting.

So wrong.

Lucina signaled Frederick with a look. He rushed forward, and before Cordelia could aim the first swing at Shanna's face, he caught her wrists.

"Let go!" Cordelia struggled, she rammed her elbow into Frederick's side and her heels against his shins. "Let go, she deserves it!"

Frederick didn't relent. "It's not up to us to decide that."

Cordelia fought against his grip, kicking and screaming, but Frederick took the bruises without a sound, and dragged her out of the throne room. The door crashed close behind them.

Lucina sunk back onto her throne. The situation could have hardly gone worse. Tiki glanced at her in compassion, but her look produced an even deeper hole in Lucina's chest. She needed to fight the urge to bury her head in her hands, close her eyes, and pretend the world out there didn't exist, neither the voices shouting her name or cursing her existence nor the many eyes locked onto the palace. Was this what Naga wanted? Or had Lucina taken a wrong turn and had left the light-filled path long ago?

No one answered her.

Shanna glared at Lucina. "Some queen you are. Can't even prevent a skirmish in your own throne room. No one would have dared to act up like that in front of Roy."

"Is that why you remain loyal to him?" Lucina asked. "Because you love the iron fist and dread its absence?"

Shanna had the decency to falter. But the pause only fueled her next words.

"Roy had the strength to do what's necessary. That's why he created peace and you haven't. Yeah, he saw the world how it truly is: cruel. A cruel playground for gods. He was the only one who would stop at nothing to change that. Except when it came to you. Next to you, he was always blind."

Lucina's hand shot to her collarbone. The flames struck high as Naga's shrine in Terra burned to ashes.

"I was just a trophy for him," Lucina said. "A final act of revenge against my father."

"If you really believe that, you didn't know him. He spoiled you senseless. Whatever you wished for, he gave it to you. Even the peace was for you. He clung to you like you were his ticket to salvation. And this is how you thank him."

"I… didn't kill him."

Shanna huffed. "Some consolation that is. You wanna know why I will never surrender Talys to you? Because your face makes me sick. It made me sick ever since you blinded Roy with these baby-blue eyes of innocence. And now I have to hold my breath every time you speak just so I don't retch."

"There has to be a way for me to change your mind."

"Forget it."

"Please, Shanna." Lucina was pleading. And if it had improved her chances of success in the slightest, she would have begged on her knees too. "I need your help to end this bloodshed. You can't truly want to send your people into war. Please, help me stop the killing."

"There's only one way Talys will lower its spears. If you declare our sovereignty."

"My mother was the princess of Talys. Your people loved her."

"And you can inherit that love just like you inherited your sword?"

"I'm the closest person you have to a rightful ruler."

"Do I look like I care? Declare our sovereignty. If you don't, you better don't rest too easily on your pillow at night because war will be coming. As long as my head's on my shoulders, I won't bend my knee to you. And neither will Talys."

Shanna whirled around, and each of her steps was a bell stroke to announce Lucina's defeat. At the threshold, she paused to call over her shoulder. "Fare thee well, oh great champion of Naga. I hope your goddess drags you into the five hells when this is done."

Then Shanna slammed the door behind her and with it the hope for peace.

Lucina let Shanna and the four Pegasus Knights in her company withdraw. She could have ordered the Pheraen guards in the yard to retain them, but that would have gained her nothing. Shanna had made her position more than clear.

So, Lucina watched from behind the throne room windows as the five Pegasi spread their wings and arced above the palace until the clouds swallowed them. She looked down the length of the hall and imagined herself pacing along the marble pillars. Aimless. Doubting.

She needed to clear her head, but the throne room offered her no space to do so. The stiff air squeezed her chest. The throne fitted her less the longer she sat on it.

Finally she could bear the rustle of the indigo and crimson banners no longer and fled her seat, the room, and the palace in its entirety. Tiki followed her like a second, humming shadow. The bricks still protruded from the walls in the corner of the palace where no guard ever bothered to patrol the battlement, and Lucina waded through the moat without anyone's notice. Her cape dripped and created a wet trail on the cobblestone as she trudged through the streets of her childhood, streets that were unrecognizable to her now. Remains of hailstones crunched under her boots.

Until she reached a recent addition to the city's architecture, tugged away between a row of leafless plane trees. A handful of steps led towards a tower where less than a year ago, a fountain had brought a little splendor to the neighborhood. The tower itself was no thing of beauty, a hasty project of some faithful architect. But the crown of the five-story building still rose so much farther into the late-winter sky than Lucina's hands could reach. If any place granted her guidance in the city, it had to be this one.

Lucina lay her hands on the door and stepped inside Naga's tower.

No one else used this hour to pray; the believers had all carried their faith outside to hurl it in endless shouts against the palace walls. Water splashed from Lucina's cape onto the tiles, disturbing the serene peace of the hall.

At the far side, a mural covered the wall from top to bottom. Naga's elfin features regarded visitors with a benevolent gaze while stars and worlds and souls encircled her. Unlike with the statue at the shrine, the artist had captured her well. Larger than life, she towered over Lucina. One of her hands reached down to pass a sphere of light to her champion: a drawing of Lucina herself.

Whether the light represented Falchion or wisdom or merely a blessing to fight Naga's war, Lucina couldn't tell. She did not feel wise. And blessed?

She wasn't sure.

Tiki had kept her promise, and Naga's blessing dangled around Lucina's neck in the form of a pendant with a tear-shaped stone. The cold silver pressing against her chest would protect her from death as long as she had faith in Naga. Her – but none of the Lorca she ordered away from their grassland and none of the soldiers she would send out against Shanna and none of the people who jumped between her and the blade of an assassin.

Lucina stepped in front of the mural and, like her image, reached up to receive Naga's gift. Her fingertips brushed over the bumps and knobs the artist had left behind when he had drawn Naga's hand. Her image made it seem so easy. But the mural offered neither the warmth of a touch nor the clarity Lucina so desperately needed. The painted goddess wrapped herself in silence.

"Can you hear her?" Lucina asked. "In this moment, can you hear her?"

The patter of Tiki's feet on the tiles stopped. "I could ask her something. And whenever she's ready, she gives me the answer. But most of the time she is the one to start a conversation."

"I need to speak with her." Lucina's hand ran down Naga's without finding something to hold. "I need to know…"

"You are taking what the Pegasus Lady said too close to heart. Nothing will change the fact that Naga chose you as her champion. And I'm glad for it! This way we can see each other more often."

Lucina thanked Tiki with a smile. "I'm glad too. It's just that I seem to be treading on the same place since I took up this crown."

"You can't expect to win the divine war in a day. There are still enemies of Naga everywhere. You know, the unspeakable evil…" Tiki glanced left and right as if Grima could overhear her. "But regarding Talys, the solution is obvious."

"And how would that solution look like?"

Tiki bobbed on her heels. "The Pegasus Lady said Talys will resist you as long as her head is on her shoulders. So you just take away her head."

Lucina shuddered. "I should kill her?"

"It doesn't have to be you. Ike could do some good in Naga's name for once. Although it would be strange for someone to succeed in the fourth credo while skipping the others… If you give the order, I fly after the Pegasus Lady and bite off her head before you can announce lunchtime."

Lucina pulled her cape closer, suddenly all too aware of the icy air biting into her toes through her soaked boots.

"I can't risk you," Lucina said.

Tiki pouted. "That Pegasus Lady has nothing on a Manakete."

"But you aren't invincible."

"No, a sword like Falchion could kill me. It's made from one of Naga's teeth. It could even kill a god." Tiki threw Falchion a look equal parts reverent and disturbed. "But the Pegasus Lady doesn't know that. It's our secret! Just tell me to fly after her, and Talys is yours."

"I can't," Lucina said. "It would make me a murderer whether I deal the blow myself or not."

"Where's the difference? You send people out to kill all the time."

Lucina craned her neck to look into Naga's painted eyes. "Maybe there is no difference. But if I take any life necessary to win, I stop seeing myself when I look in a mirror. Then I will only see Roy."

"You should get rid of the Pegasus Lady anyway," Tiki mumbled.

Shanna's death might indeed free Talys. She pushed against Lucina's reign over a personal grudge, a grudge not shared by the rest of her people. Without her, the chains Roy had wrapped around the island would shatter, and maybe the young Pegasus Knights in the training camps would thank Lucina, even shower her with the love their parents once harbored for Caeda.

One word from Lucina, and Tiki would open up the barricades around Talys for Lucina to step through and relish the cheers of Cordelia's countrymen.

It would only cost one head, one more head and then the cries of jubilation from a united nation to their queen. So tempting.

So wrong.

"If that's what Naga wants," Lucina said, "I will have to disappoint her. This is the only way to make sure I'm still fighting my war and not that of someone else: by following my own rules all the way to the end."

Tiki hopped forward and wrapped her arms around Lucina's midsection. "You are so much like Mar-Mar," she said as she snuggled into Lucina's tunic. "Make sure you win this war, okay? For him too."

"I will."

And with Tiki pressed to her chest, Lucina found it easy to believe in her words. At least for one moment.

Ike had to fight his way to the palace. Not with a sword, although he was tempted to pull Ragnell from his back on more than one occasion. The crowds blocked every last street to the palace gates, and a shouted "Out of the way!" only reached about half the folks parading around. The other half was too busy crying this or that phrase out into the world for the entire population of Lycia to hear. Including those buried six feet under.

To be fair, Ike's shabby rebel cloak didn't exactly inspire the masses to stand to attention.

Without running over a couple pilgrims, although Ike was tempted to do that too, he had no choice but to guide his horse at a snail's pace through the crowd. The mare buckled and threw her head back as stones sailed from one group of idiots to the other in an attempt to break the other side's fighting spirit. If only they had better aim, then maybe the rows would thin and Ike could make it to the palace faster.

To say he was fuming when he finally passed under the archway and into the central courtyard would be an understatement. The fact that Frederick of all people greeted him, didn't exactly help to brighten Ike's mood.

"Where is she?" Ike asked and jumped from his horse.

"Lucina is unavailable for an audience right now," Frederick said. He didn't look like he had spent the days since Navarre's attack in restless tears at a hospital bedside.

Ike lowered his shoulders and took a much-needed breath.

"Great, I don't want to see her either." He tossed Frederick the reins of his horse. "She just snaps her fingers and I'm supposed to drop everything I'm doing and come running. The least she can do is tell me what's so damn important that I couldn't even finish my mission at the Black Wall first."

"You are hopelessly ill-mannered."

"So delighted to see you too. Let me guess, Lucina isn't actually busy. And you know exactly where I can find her, you just don't care to tell me."

Frederick's indignant clatter with his armor could not hide the guilty look in his eyes over having been caught lying. Ike let him squirm for a moment before Frederick gave in under his glares.

"She is not in the right state to deal with you too," Frederick said. "Not now that a truce with Talys seems more unattainable than ever."

"Then she can tell me all about that herself. I'm sure she will find uses for me when it comes to war. I've gotten pretty good at playing her executioner over the past months. So, where is she?"

Frederick worked his jaw with the sort of look to suggest he would rather challenge Ike to a duel to the death than point him to Lucina. But if Ike had to give him credit for anything, he wasn't the type of man who lost himself in a petty grudge. Always the upstanding knight in shiny armor. No wonder Lucina enjoyed his company.

"She is in the garden," Frederick finally said. "Please approach her with at least a minimum of sympathy for her situation."

"If sympathy is what she needs, she should have called for someone else."

Ike left Frederick standing and marched across the courtyard. A labyrinth of hallways and colonnades followed, and everywhere reigned the same red sandstone. A cold breeze whistled through the palace. It tasted of ice-crystals. Winter wasn't defeated yet, soon it would snow here too.

Wonderful. And Ike had just dried his boots from his stay at the hail-struck watchtower.

He took a couple wrong turns before he arrived at the garden. Fenced to all sides by walls and towers, this place offered a rare refuge from the commotion outside the palace, a home for orange trees and restless minds. Water splashed into artificial ponds. But with the green buds of spring still a long month away, the garden lacked the soothing scents of leaves, lacked the comfort of grass under Ike's boots. The air carried the taste of death. Cold and unmoving.

Lucina sat on a bench under a leafless orange tree, very much alive and seemingly unhurt. She had raised her eyes to the skeletal branches overhead. What sort of answers she hoped to find there, Ike had no idea. Maybe clues left behind by her precious goddess.

She turned her head to the sound of Ike's steps. A smile charmed her face, like the sun breaking through clouds, as she hurried to meet him.

"Ike," she said with this spellbinding smile, "I didn't know you were back already."

He cursed internally. Why was it so damn difficult to stay mad with her?

"I just got here," Ike said. "Had to fight my way through an army of blockheads on a pilgrimage to some blue-haired queen, mind you."

Lucina chuckled, and the gods be damned, Ike had missed that sound.

"And I haven't even gotten to the part with the hailstorm."

"You weren't hurt this time, were you?" she asked.

Ike shifted, but his bruised rib had survived the trip to Lycia well enough. Well enough to not knock him from his feet with pain at least. "Last time I checked, Navarre and his assassin buddies didn't go after me. You look… good."

Mostly she looked tired. "I would have combed my hair if I knew you were back already."

"Don't you ever put that thing down?" Ike asked and nodded towards the crown on Lucina's head. The cursed amalgamation of gold and soot looked wrong on her. Probably because Ike had only seen it paired with the omnipresent image of Roy at the time of his empire.

"Sorry, force of habit," Lucina said and laid the crown onto the bench. Then the smile returned to her. "I'm glad you're back."

"I didn't have much of a choice with Virion pestering me until I couldn't hear my own thoughts anymore. I almost expected to find the capital on fire. So, what calamity is it this time? Another local lord with a death wish? Did the Pheraens dig up the king's lost twin brother and are using him as their figurehead?"

"No, I wanted to talk to you."

Ike took a step back. "That's it?"

His tone made Lucina flinch; a rare sign of weakness with her. "It's been too long…"

"That's not a good-enough reason to drag me from the battlefield, and you know that."

"I'm not sure what I know anymore. Not even if I'm still doing the right thing."

"Anyone here can tell you that. I bet Frederick would love to pat your ego."

"I know, but I…" Lucina locked Ike's attention with her eyes, chained him there with this strange, almost heavenly might only she possessed. "I need to hear it from you."

Ike couldn't look away. The countless battlefields he had trudged through, the unseeing eyes of soldiers he had led to ruin on her order, the stench of blood he never quite washed out of his hair; all that retreated. Here, in a garden of leafless orange trees, was only Lucina. Not the queen, certainly not Naga's champion – only the girl that had huddled in front of a row of five-story candles in Eltrys' tower.

"Do you still know what it is you're fighting for?" Ike asked.

Lucina seemed to recall the same moment and smiled. "To realize all your dreams. It seemed a little easier to me back then."

"Easy or not, possible or not, who cares. You haven't lost sight of the goal. That's good enough for me."

Lucina relaxed. She reached out a hand as if to touch him. But she never went all the way. "I should keep you around more often."

"You better don't. I hate politics."

"Then why did you stick around in the first place? With Roy removed from the throne, you could have returned to Tellius. You could have reunited with your people, maybe even organize them into a fighting party against the Black Knight. Why didn't you?"

Ike tasted the spruce trees. But he swallowed the illusion. "I'm practically on my way out already. I just need to finish up a few things first. Don't want to see the rebellion I started go under just because some blue-haired girl with a brittle sword took over."

Lucina shook her head with a smile. "We are not rebels anymore. You don't have to keep hiding yourself."

She tiptoed and reached for the clasp of Ike's cloak. Her cool hands chilled his skin, even through the tunic. Then she removed the cloak to reveal Ragnell on his back in all its golden glory, the symbol of his identity and the testimony of his name. A beam of sunlight seeped through the clouds, and the gold shimmered.

If anyone could convince the stars to abandon their heavenly home and descent to earth, Lucina could. Nothing had changed about that.

Maybe Ike would tell her that, one day.

"Great, now I'm cold." He rubbed his arms. "With all the favors from Naga on your side, you could at least ask her for better weather. Fewer hailstorms would be nice."

Lucina laughed and handed the cloak back to him. "I will make sure to ask her next time. But for now, we could talk about politics to heat you up from the inside."

"Couldn't think of a better way to waste my time."

"Don't worry, it will involve swords, I promise. In fact, I have hit a dead end with my negotiations with Talys. Talking won't solve the problem anymore." Lucina's eyes traveled to the crown on the bench before her focus returned to Ike. "Shanna is demanding Talys' sovereignty."

"I hope you aren't thinking about accepting. Cordelia is going to murder you, me, and then everyone in this town if that happens."

"I promised her that I would free Talys, that she would have the chance to walk down the beaches as an accepted member of her people with the sound of Pegasus wings in her ears. But I can't realize this dream alone. I have to ask for your help. Again."

Ike swallowed. Tellius moved a little further out of reach. "That's what I do best, isn't it? Just tell me where to cut off some heads."

"We aren't talking about a small local lord with a few dozen guards. This is far bigger. I will have to mobilize every last ship in Pherae and Altea, stacked to the brim with archers. An entire army. And I want you to lead it."

"Is that an order?" Ike said between gritted teeth.

"Do you want it to be an order?"

Steam fizzled from the heated ponds; the clash in temperature was getting to Ike's head. Or maybe the dizziness stemmed from the downward spiral he had stumbled into. A downward spiral dressed in an all too spellbinding smile.

Ike pinched the bridge of his nose but failed to chase away the throbbing of his headache. "Going around Pherae and thrash a couple idiots for you, I can do that. But this is different. These command chains, the power plays, that's not for me. I wouldn't even get to fight. Why don't you lead the army?"

"You have seen the crowds out there. Half of the Empire believes I have brought Naga's eternal paradise to them, and the other half wants me dead. Whatever I do, at least one side will cry out. The less I'm involved with Talys, the better."

"Is that really the reason?"

Lucina avoided Ike's gaze. The first snowflakes drifted from the sky.

"I don't know anymore," she said. "It's like I can't form a clear thought, like everything exists to raise doubts in me. Shanna… I can't face her. But I can't let her have her way with Talys either. I need someone to take the decision away from me, just this once."

She still denied the necessity to kill. Even now, while her empire drowned in the blood of a civil war, Lucina held onto her beliefs. A naïve sentimentality? Certainly. A sign of her conviction Ike couldn't help but admire? Unfortunately, yes.

What did it matter to him anyway? He had killed more people than he could remember, a face shaken with pain or disbelief that popped up for a moment and that was soon forgotten. Ike could do the same in Talys. And if Lucina hadn't asked him, Cordelia would have.

"Fine, I'll go," Ike said. "But this will be the last time I get myself mixed up in your war."

Lucina gave him a tired smile. "You said that last time."

"This time I'm serious. You get one more fight from me, then I'm out."

Lucina nodded and took the crown from the bench. Her fingers brushed snow from the wings, lost in thought. "Will you show me the spruce forests of your home one day? When all this is over?"

"Not sure what you hope to see there, but yeah, why not. Can we get inside now? I'm freezing in this sandstone hole."

Ike and Lucina followed the gravel path out of the garden, side by side. Snow crunched under their boots. When Lucina placed the crown back on her head, the snowflakes whirled across the courtyard, angry and foreboding, and the orange trees vanished from view.

Notes: Goodness, this is a long chapter. After my project for another fandom, I'm not used to this anymore. But hey, Ike and Lucina have reunited! It only took about a fourth of the book this time. They keep being drawn apart, and they are tiptoeing, but that's what makes their dynamic so fun to write. I hope you enjoyed their interaction here. In the next chapter, battleplans are made, and a particular news reaches the capital.