*Plight! (FE9 OST)

**A Battle and a Beginning (FE9 OST)

***Holding Your Own (FE9 OST)

****Victory United (FE9 OST)

*****Untold Despair (Tales of Symphonia OST)

******The Devoted (FE10 OST)

*******Battle of Pride (FE10 OST)

The city streets running red with blood and the night air filled with the screams and pleas of hapless citizens and the bandits' whooping, this time, Tarba could not help but smirk at the destruction he was visiting upon these insolent sods. True, the western sands were harsh and taking what others had was a well-established way of life and had been as long as anyone could remember. But this time? As far as the bandit chief was concerned, this lot deserved the suffering visited upon them, but nonetheless, Tarba retained his trademark pragmatism.

"Well, that district was a wash, boss." reported one of his minions, sweeping some blood from his axe.

"We're tearing apart this entire city if need be!" he ordered in response. "But make it clear to them; they can hand over the slant bastard or they can die."

*What little color remained drained from the tavern mistress' face as Victoria set down the telescope, cursing to herself as she paced the length of her observation perch. From the interior, Sakura looked on worriedly, her nephew and the target of the bandits' wrath dozing innocently in her arms as Hana, Rinkah, and Tristan wore steely, intensely-focused expressions, well aware their night was about to get very interesting.

"Fuck, the Nohrian bastards haven't had enough of our blood yet?" asked the knight outragedly. "We've been giving it to them better than usual as of late, but-"

"No, they don't seem to be Nohrian regulars." informed Victoria, clutching a solitary arrow with a piece of parchment looped around it. "Way too undisciplined, no discernible formation, and this."

As Hana unfurled the letter, Rinkah's and her own expressions immediately twisted to mirror the disgusted expression of Tristan as Victoria recited from the paper. "We'll find him sooner or later; hand over the half-savage bastard or else!"

Tearing the letter to pieces, Victoria's visage turned to one of steely defiance. "This boy's all I've got left in this world. They'll have to kill me first. I will not make it easy, that's for certain."

Sakura, mirroring the old woman's expression, turned to the warriors. "Hana, you know what has to be done."

"Of course!" Hana replied with one of the few genuine grins she'd given in months. "Take out their leader and they'll scatter like the bugs they are!"

"Aren't you worried about the Nohrians intervening?" inquired Rinkah. "Not that that's really going to stop me; I've wanted a crack at scum like them for a while now. Besides, a girl like me named after an ancient heroine of our people refusing to take on slavers? Don't think so!"

"I'd be surprised if they did." interjected Tristan. "Thanks to Sir Karol and his stalwarts, they only have a skeleton force to keep order at this point in time. Nonetheless, I'll get word to Joan; she and I will aid you while our flyers keep watch for reinforcements. I'd join them, but my old friend Heath needs his rest tonight."

With their roles set, Hana nonetheless made sure that everyone was going to pull their respective weight. "You!" she said harshly gesturing at Candace. "Twenty-five thousand gold, protect these three with your life! That's not hyperbole."

"Yes ma'am!" replied Candace. "Just say the word and I'm on that turret as well!"

Tristan and Rinkah already taking their leave for the field of battle, Hana was abruptly halted by someone tugging on the hem of her borrowed tunic. "What's wrong, milady?" she inquired.

"Promise me you'll be careful, Hana." said the princess seriously. "I don't want to lose any more people important to me."

"That's a promise!"

**Exiting the tavern, the trio did not exactly have to search for signs of trouble. The smoke, flames, and the shouts and pleas from the citizens for mercy. "Which direction did most of them come from?" asked Hana, drawing her blade.

"The northwest, it seems." replied Tristan, doing the same. "I'll meet up with Joan and create a diversion."

"We'll take out their leader and any stragglers!" confirmed Rinkah.

With precious little support, either from her princess in the form of healing of her Chevois allies drawing the bandits away from the tavern (naturally, she was still not sold entirely on relying on Candace) or those defending it, Hana had already decided their best bet was for her to end the bandit chief quickly and scatter the rest to whatever sewers they crawled out from. She and Rinkah following the street west for a couple of minutes, they did not have to wait long to find trouble; a group of twelve or so bandits pillaging, marauding, and terrorizing young and old, men, and children alike, a defiant-but-clearly-outmatched pair of young men with worn-down blades facing down the predators. "Rinkah, get them away from those people!" ordered Hana, drawing her blade. "I'll deal with this lot!"

"Got it!" confirmed her rugged sister-in-arms before, with a flying leap, caving in the skull of one bandit attempting to carry away a young woman, readying to defend her from his three comrades.

While still terrified and assured of their own untimely deaths, the cornered young men managed scowls of defiance and ferocity, getting into combat stances to at least give a decent fight in defense of their homes and families. What an alarming, but ultimately-welcome surprise it must have been for them! Their steadily-closing crescent formation, brute force, and sheer numbers proved no match for Hana, the brigands ultimately falling dead to the last (save for one temporarily spared) in a haze of steel and blood spatter. "Where's your boss?" demanded Hana coldly, the blade's tip pointed at the survivor's neck.

"You k-killed them! You killed them all!" sputtered the bandit, nervously dragging himself (and the gaping wound where his right leg formerly rested) backwards. "You bitch!"

"Last chance. Where's your boss?"

"I don't know!"

Running the survivor through, Hana, after throwing one of her knives at the back of a bandit attacking Rinkah, turned to the young men. "You two alright?" she inquired. "Any injuries?"

"Outside of possibly overdosing on adrenaline, no." confirmed the first. "Thanks for that, by the way. Owe you our lives, we do."

"You were interrogating that cutthroat about their boss, right?" remarked the second. "I overheard a few of them mentioning the river up north like it was significant."

Hana beamed, knowing her mission was somewhat more clear. "No, thank YOU."

Dashing over to aid Rinkah, the swordswoman found she'd barely needed it, having already disposed of two of the brigands, the last of them Hana impaling on her blade. Sweeping some blood from the edge, she resheathed her weapon. "Sir Tristan will have some of his men coming around in short order." she informed. "Do you two think you can keep these cutthroats out of here until they do?"

Looking around at the compromised edifices of wood and stone, as well as the dead bandits' arms, the older of the gentlemen looked somehow optimistic. "Yeah, I think so." he replied. "We'll treat some injuries and see what we can manage."

Still without a good idea of just how many bandits there were besieging the city, Hana knew that this could not continue lest the entire area be turned to rubble. To this end, instead of simply seeking out and slaughtering the brigands, she and Rinkah attempted something new with a group of stragglers. The warrior princess drawing a group of four of the cutthroats out, she very consciously dealt with the other three, ignoring the last until Hana saw fit to deal with him her own way. "Where's your boss?" the swordswoman demanded once more, one of her knives imprinting very conspicuously on the soft flesh of his throat.

"Fuck you, uppity cunt!" swore the brigand, still with more than enough sense to try to break free from such a hold with brute force alone.

"I really think you might want to tell her where your boss is." Rinkah interjected nonchalantly.

Hana tightened her grip on the upper half of the man's face. "Last chance to tell me where your boss is. Just between us, I think you might want to listen to the nice lady."

"FUCK! YOU!"

Tiring of this nonsense, Hana dragged the blade across the foulmouthed bandit's throat with all her might, letting him futilely struggle for several more seconds before said struggles became increasingly weak, ceasing entirely before long. "This isn't working like I thought it would." the swordswoman remarked, dropping the soon-to-be corpse. "At this rate, we might not have much choice but to take them all out."

"Maybe the element of surprise just wasn't on our side?" suggested Rinkah with a shrug. "Let's try getting one of them isolated from his buddies."

Hana had to concede to Rinkah one thing; while she wasn't exactly a fan of the approach, her half-instinct-driven approach did have something to show for it. Isolated from his fellows, lured away by the jingle of a not-insignificant bag of gold, a young bandit, a boy really, followed his ears down an alleyway, unaware of the presence of either woman until it was far too late. "If you know what's good for you," Hana began darkly. "you'll tell me where your boss is."

The young man shrieked in the vain hope of his comrades coming to his rescue. "I don't want to die!" he simpered. "Whatever you want! Take it!"

"What my friend said." interjected Rinkah dangerously. "Where's your boss?"

"He's holed up in the old town hall building across the river!" informed the youth. "A big, burly guy with a bandage over his eye socket! You can't miss him!"

While the young man was shortly released, he now found Hana's blade pointed at his throat. "You've been very helpful." the swordswoman confirmed. "Now if you know what's even better for you, you won't even look at that axe of yours on the ground, leave this city as fast as your skinny legs will carry you and never return."

The bandit (understandably) began to visibly tremble, the bag of gold still in his hand. "Can I at least keep-"

"Fine," Rinkah said as she rolled her eyes. "It's not like I was going to get anything more useful out of it."

The young bandit scurrying off exactly as Hana had instructed, the swordswoman beamed hungrily. "You ready to remove some lowlifes?" she inquired.

Rinkah returned the expression. "Born ready." she confirmed before they took off.

"Say, what is the story behind your name anyway? The legend, I mean."

"Supposedly, ages ago, before anyone could remember, some arsehole warlord from the west got it in his head to conquer the continent. Our people told him where to shove it and he was supposed to have captured them to feed them all to a dragon to make an example of them to the other 'savages.' So my great-great-great-great- whatever, she was said to have gone into the crater herself to slay the dragon."

Fascinated by the Flame Tribe's legend for whatever reason, Hana would have inquired further were it not for the immediately pressing task of eliminating the bandit chief and any of his hangers-on and her princess' explicit order to protect her nephew's life in so doing. To this end, the pair continued north, taking out any bandit stragglers or the few foolish enough to molest the people of the city with them in eye or earshot. With the river and old town hall building both immediately apparent, as they stood before the bridge, Hana turned to her comrade. "You know the plan?" she asked confidently.

"Yep!" Rinkah confirmed, a knowing smile curling onto her lips. "Besides, I think your way of taking out trash is a lot flashier than mine. Makes a better psychological impact that way, you know?"

Crossing the river, Hana and Rinkah continued for a good half minute, taking refuge in a thicket overseeing the hilly path as soon as voices became audible, one of them a very familiar voice barking commands at his subordinates quite crossly. Tarba's retinue passing the greenery with nary a hint of anything amiss from any one of them, as soon as the brigand chief's voice was audibly to their left, the pair sprang from their concealment, Rinkah bludgeoning one of the two sellswords into unconsciousness as Hana trained her blade on the one-eyed bandit as the other woman covered her.

***"You know, I've been wondering something, not that it's going to change your fate." Hana prefaced, a twinge of genuine, morbid curiosity in her tone. "What kind of sick animal takes gold to murder a little boy and his grandmother?"

"Tch! You again, uppity savage cunt!" spat the brigand. "Your kind really are stupid as they say! Gold is gold! What else is there to it?!"

"You know what, I'm actually sorry I asked. Do the world a favor and die, now."

His fighting style relying more on brute strength than any sort of finesse or tactics, Hana actually saw fit to humor Tarba a bit, the head of his axe only managing to graze her tunic's sleeve a bit before she gracefully pivoted, driving her blade through the bandit's back and chest cavity, twisting a bit for good measure. "Hans, you lying motherfucker!" he rasped. "You said this'd be easy gold..."

Removing the blade, Hana pivoted once more, removing the bandit chief's head from its shoulders.

***In the heat of combat, Rinkah, getting wind of the battle's outcome from the outburst, merely smirked at the ten or so brigands and the reinforcements they'd called in. "I think my friend has something to inform you about." she informed smugly.

"That's right." interjected Hana, gesticulating with her sword before tossing Tarba's head before the crowd. "This is your boss! Or what's left of him, anyway. Unless you want some of what he got, you'll leave this town and never steal so much as a crumb of bread again as long as you live!"

At the spectacle of the severed head of their boss, easily the most powerful member of their outfit, the group began to chatter among themselves in tones ranging from terrified to outraged.

"This can't stand! The bitch killed the boss!" protested one brigand.

"Yeah, like it wasn't even shit!" exclaimed another. "I'm outta here! No job is worth dying, especially not like this!"

"I'm with him!" interjected a third. "If she offed the boss that easy, what chance do any of us have?!"

After several seconds of stunned, terrified silence, the gathered crowd of brigands, dropping their weapons and most of their loot, thinned considerably, sending out frantic, every-man-for-himself calls to their surviving associates. The few who remained, let alone standing before Hana and Rinkah, were driven off both by their lack of support and the fierce gaze the women shot their way.

****The horde of bandits thinning and most of the chaos having ceased, the city's terrified residents slowly emerged, showering their saviors with rapturous cheering. "Well done." congratulated Joan uncharacteristically. "You actually succeeded in getting the scum to scatter."

Hana beamed. "Well, we couldn't have done it without you two either!" she replied.

"Eh, they weren't so tough." Rinkah interjected dismissively. "A good workout more than anything."

"Indeed, you've all done well." came a familiar voice. "I'd expect no less from my two finest fighters and the saviors of my garrison."

Immediately standing at attention, Tristan's posture reflexively corrected, against the dictates of his fatigue. "Well met, Sir Karol." he began respectfully. "Did the enemy trouble you? I'd been concerned that they'd try to reinforce the bandits."

"No, not around the capital." informed the elder knight. "With that said, let us return to Polaire. I've something to discuss with your aunt."

All five exhausted as they returned to the tavern, Hana was immediately greeted by the princess throwing herself into her grasp, squealing with delighted relief.

"Hey, what am I, charcoal?" inquired Rinkah facetiously.

Meanwhile, the knight turned immediately to the tavern mistress. "Victoria, I think we may have a problem." he informed heavily, motioning to remove one of the bandits' arrows from his belt. "I do not think it prudent for you or the boy to remain in Cheve for the time being."

"Yes, you mean that horrible note." she replied in a matching tone. "So what if this boy is a half 'savage?' I'm not afraid to admit it. He's my flesh and blood before anything else."

"Aunt Victoria, we've been concerned that this attack on the city was done with the tacit approval of Windmire, or even at their explicit order. Meaning that Shiro's life will be in danger as long as he remains within Nohr's reach."

Prepared for such an eventuality, the Flame Tribe's princess' ears perked up. "We can take care of that." she said proudly. "It's a bit of a hike to our homeland, but Nohr won't be able to touch him or you under Father's protection."

Victoria gave a tired, yet hopeful smile. "I suppose I don't have much of a choice. I'll make preparations immediately. We should be ready in a few days' time."

Finally, Candace seemed to be in the process of acquiring a new client, much to Hana's displeasure. "Excuse me, M-Miss Candace." she began. "You said you c-could find anything or anyone, no?"

"That's right!" the beaming rogue replied. "If this gal can't find it, it can't be found!"

"I n-need you to find someone. It's my sister. She has flame-red hair, is tall and lithe, and about twenty-four years old. I-I'm not even sure if she's even still alive and it I'm s-sure it will be terribly dangerous for you, so you can name your price-"

"Hmm, I've got a pretty good idea who you're talking about already. Well, if she is still kicking, Candace will leave no stone unturned to find her!"

In spite of her princess' grateful smile, Hana turned to Rinkah with a grim expression. "You got all that?" she whispered conspiratorially."You know what I'm getting at-"

"Don't worry." answered Rinkah, matching Hana's tone. "My cousins, Daisen and Hakone, were already sent by Father. Best damn scouts in the entire tribe and they're technically MY subordinates. Any funny business out of our new friend, especially related to Nohr-"

Rinkah pantomimed a cut across her throat.

"It really is nothing personal. Sakura's just too trusting for her own good and looking out for her is why I live and breathe."

In spite of all the utter bullshit she'd had to deal with over the past several months and even more of it on the immediate horizon, it was a strange sensation. For the first time since she'd embraced the princess in Shirasagi's throne room surrounded by the Nohrian dead and dying of her own making, Hana felt genuinely hopeful.****

In the week leading up to whatever assignment his brother and the elder had for him, Kaze tended to give the other members of the Hattori clan a wide berth for a number of reasons; none of the ninja, more than a few of them he'd actually trained with as a younger man, were exactly happy to see him. He could deal with the snide remarks and the "traitor" comments, since they were true more often than not. Even less of a bother to him were the strike during sparring when his opponent would "accidentally" strike him a bit too strongly for a practice bout. He could even deal with taking meals and sleeping well afield of his erstwhile countrymen even if they would have him; it was for his own safety as well. But the only things which genuinely troubled him about the situation were his few exchanges with a particularly surly kunoichi.

"Let me make one thing absolutely clear," began Chinatsu harshly. "the one and only reason you're not dead by my hand is because Grandfather insisted you'd be helpful on this mission."

"Yes, I understand that, Chinatsu." answered the green ninja tiredly. "But we're allies for the time being, can we at least remain civil with one another for that time?"

The kunoichi scowled, wounded as if the man had affronted her very being. "So you're even TALKING like them now?! Wow, what other 'values' of your Nohrian brothers have you taken on?"

"That's not what I-"

"Maybe your attitude to us 'savage' whores too? After all, we're not 'real' women or even human fucking beings, not like your prim-and-proper, virtuous Nohrian lasses-"

While having no love for Kaze whatsoever, the superior officer overseeing the sparring had heard enough. "That's enough, Chinatsu." said the master, a man in his early forties.

Prior to stalking off, the scarred woman glared at the ninja with a harshness rivaled by that his brother had shown him.

Late that night, after most of the camp had turned in, Kaze silently returned to the camp, keen on making amends with the scarred kunoichi. Perhaps it was a poor idea in and of itself, stalking a ninja encampment after dark, let alone one where one's presence was grudgingly tolerated at best, but their exchange had just left such a bad taste in his mouth that he felt compelled to apologize. With that said, it was more than a little jarring to find her dozing by one of the watch posts, mumbling and jerking in her sleep, occasionally swiping with an imaginary knife at an imaginary enemy.

"Chinatsu?" he began tentatively, to which the woman simply mumbled illegibly.

"Ngh..." she muttered. "Get away from me, you bastards...Get away...GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!...What kind of superior people...Not men..."

Lord Hattori may have been correct about his relative naiveté, but even he could put two and two together. His heart sinking into his stomach, Kaze, needless to say, left for his own encampment feeling ten times worse than he had upon setting out. Indeed, the few hours of less-than-restful sleep and even the dawn meeting demanded by his twin were welcome respites from having to dwell on how many times Chinatsu's ordeal must have repeated itself across the land.

"So where exactly are we going, Brother?" asked the green ninja. "I was interrogated earlier briefly, but-"

Saizo interrupted with a dark chuckle, as if getting some grim satisfaction from the answer. "Well, it's supposed to be one of the most difficult ones to attack out of all the ones they've set up in Hoshido."

"What exactly have 'they' set up in Hoshido?"

"You'll see, Brother."

Following his twin on an arduous hike (Kaze suspected strongly he was making it purposefully difficult) into the wooded highlands lasting most of the day, by sunset, the ninjas ultimately arrived at some expansive, largely-open air facility flanked by extensive wooden fencing and Nohrian soldiers armed extremely unusually from Kaze's experiences; a few bows, but generally with short swords and whips.

*****The facility in question was officially a plantation for some crop or another situated on a plateau, surrounded by forests and sloping hills. Kaze had heard of Nohrian commanders requisitioning Hoshidan manpower from the countryside, but none of that could have prepared him for what he witnessed with his brother on their last-minute reconnaissance mission. The sight of his erstwhile countrymen forced into all manner of backbreaking labor, scarcely afforded any nourishment or reprieve and subject to all manner of abuse horrified and profoundly disturbed him.

"Hey! Stop slacking off, swine!" spat one of the watchmen, punching a young man to the ground with his gauntlet.

"It's my father, sir." explained the young man contritely. "He's always been sickly. If only I could get him some water-"

The guard and his nearby fellow exchanged disbelieving glances before laughing cruelly, the second guard drawing his short sword to dispose of both father and son. "Plenty more where that came from, eh?" barbed the first guard, lightly kicking the corpse of the young man.

"Yeah, unfortunately!" replied his fellow watchman nastily. "But won't Sir Nichol get cross if we kill too many too quickly?"

"Nah. He said himself they breed like vermin, which there are always way too many of. And trust me, I know vermin: My 'pa dealt with 'em for a living before he passed."

"Well, like father, like son. Sure, I'll trust your judgement on this."

Very close to being literally sick to his stomach, Kaze just then had a horrifying realization. Terms like "savages," "heathens," "soulless vermin," or "dirty yellow devils," he had always always been able to dismiss as the rough equivalent of "Nohrian bastard" or the countless permutations thereof, but now? It had only just dawned on him that many, if not most of the men alongside whom he'd fought and bled against his own country did honestly and truly consider Hoshidans to be subhuman, the cold-blooded killing of them to be given no more thought than that of a pig or a chicken. While this was ostensibly an agricultural facility, Kaze could not shake the feeling that the sinister plantation was somehow...ranch-like.

"This...is..." Kaze trailed off, his expression drained of any color whatsoever. "This...can't be..."

"Yes, take a good fucking look, Brother." sneered Saizo. "This is what your wise, benevolent new masters really think of you and people like us. Insomuch as we're 'people' to them, anyway."

Reflexively clutching two of the blades on his belt, Kaze's despair turned shortly to simmering outrage, and not towards the man whom had bought him there either. True, he scarcely even needed to factor in the princess' certain lack of approval of such atrocities. "Where is he?" Kaze asked harshly. "This Nichol, I mean."

The elder twin snickered nastily. "Oh, no you don't!" he insisted. "You really think we'd trust you with taking out a high-ranking target like him? Especially when there's a fifty percent chance you'll squeal anyway and his superior's relieved him of command for the night? No, YOU, get to go after his lapdog, some reedy, collaborating little fuck named Senno. He watches over the 'savages' for his masters here."

Well aware of the sort of man Senno was, Kaze, already unusually gentle for practicing such a violent trade by nature, was fine with this. Indeed, recalling his last encounter with the man in the capital, a part of him was actually looking forward to ending him. "Understood." he confirmed.

Without another word, Saizo vanished, clearly intent on taking the life of the commander in question, Kaze caught more of the exchange, a young woman, apparently the daughter-slash-sister of the deceased expressing her outrage at the act before being slapped to the ground by the first guard. "You two!" he bellowed. "Take this bitch to the back and teach her some manners!"

At the knowing, sinister chuckles and explicit taunts delivered by the two underlings, Kaze rose from his position, well-aware that for someone like him, even looking at a Nohrian soldier the wrong way could be (and often was) a literal death sentence, but that scarcely mattered. He knew Lady Corrine well enough to know that even though he could count the Nohrian officers on one hand who would actually punish such behavior, his lady was one of them. And that was just too bad for those three, he thought, preparing to aim one of his throwing knives at their leader.*****

He was not an especially old man, just south of forty himself, but Duke Guillaume was always surprised at how much age could relatively mellow certain individuals. His surviving fellow alum of King Leonard's regency council, Duke Albrecht, as a fiery younger man, had literally snapped an Ice tribal's neck with his bare hand for failing to address him as "Lord Albrecht," but now? It was remarkable (and more than a little disturbing to him) to see such a terror as a young man as a distinguished gentleman sipping evening tea to unwind after a long day with some small talk.

"So I take it you heard about Durante, eh?" he inquired disinterestedly. "Dreadful what those savages did to him. You know they cut off his-"

"Yes, I know, we all do." answered Guillaume, somehow equally as interested. "But let's be honest with ourselves; is it really a surprise that the organ he was so very proud of and got him into so much trouble in life was ultimately the death of him? It's...fitting in a macabre sense."

"I suppose you have a point there."

The duke's study resting at the top of a tower about a story and-a-half off the ground, Duke Lorraine glanced curiously down at the livestock being worked within inches of their lives for the benefit of Nohr. "Did you ever consider selling off some of this rabble?" he inquired. "I know more than a few bluebloods who'd just love to have a resource like this at their disposal."

The older duke scoffed. "What of it? The nobility's always had its fools with more money than sense. Besides, it's not even worth it for agriculture and housekeeping; you have to keep the savages under armed guard at all times. In case you hadn't noticed, it's pretty easy to station my own men or sellswords at the mine's entrance. Worst case scenario, they just bring them mine down on their empty heads to keep order."

"Rumor has it the king has a menagerie of them for menial tasks above the maids. Maybe it will become a fashion statement of sorts?"

"I swear, Guillaume, you and your money grubbing-"

Rapping frantically at the great wooden door, a solitary soldier broke down the door, quite transparently panicked. "Lord Albrecht, we have trouble!" he reported breathlessly. "Savages! A horde of them are besieging us from the woods! Casualties are already high and climbing!"

Springing to his feet immediately, the duke scowled. "What?! How?!" he inquired outragedly. "I suppose if you want something done right, you really do- Go to the stables! Tell them to ready my horse!"

"Yes, sir!"

Placing one of the daggers on his belt, the older man paid scarce attention to Guillaume until he reached the stone steps. "I suggest you make yourself scarce." he advised harshly. "There's a route back by the stables set up for such an occasion. All of the 'ranches' have one."

"Oh, trust me, I will, my friend." confirmed Guillaume shamelessly. "But are you sure these rabble can't handle it themselves? Why risk your life on such a worthless endeavor?"

"Because those savages need to be taught what happens when you trifle with a member of House Ravenstein. I may not be the 'fiery-haired devil' of my youth anymore, but I assure you, I'm dangerous enough."

*****Having been able to avoid any encounters with the Nohrians so far, Kaze had hoped to keep his involvement in the matter to a minimum by eliminating Senno and getting out without much fanfare or notice. However, by the time the sun had mostly retreated from the sky, this would prove too problematic. "Matsuhiro and his men got held up!" informed Chinatsu harshly, obviously not thrilled with her substitute as she dealt an extremely personal injury to a dying Nohrian. "You'll have to take his place."

"Understood." Kaze confirmed once again. "What do you require of me?"

"Up past this next checkpoint, there's a considerable enclosure where they keep their 'livestock' for assorted tasks." informed another ninja, the disgust apparent in his tone. "Take out the sentries and ballistaman on the southeastern platforms. Once we raise enough hell, that traitorous fuck- er, Senno, will have no choice but to come out."

He may have been comparatively naive compared to his brother or Kagero, but even Kaze was savvy enough to pick up on the not-so-veiled insult that was redirected at Senno at the last moment. Nonetheless, the sooner he helped put an end to this particular atrocity, the sooner he could report back to Lady Corrine, as he was almost certain this was related to the 'creepy, greasy little bent-over fuck' Toyokuni had remarked upon.

Stealing past the checkpoint as if it were like breathing, Kaze shortly found himself the aforementioned enclosure of fencing, the masses of "livestock" being overseen by a number of quite-surly-looking Nohrian soldiers, all clad in that same helmet with visor and armed either with whips, spears, or short swords. "We'll all be killed soon..." remarked a middle-aged Hoshidan man balefully, his tone as resigned and grey as the rags the "cattle" were given to wear.

"Have you seen a ballista around here anywhere?" Kaze whispered in return.

"On one of those platforms. I forget exactly which one."

"Thank you, you've been most helpful."

Kaze was being sincere when he thanked the man for his directions. The enclosure was overseen by a number of platforms raised about a two stories above the ground. Unfortunately, the entire facility (naturally during the nighttime) was quite poorly-lit save for the pathways and select points. With no better place to start and supposedly having a very short amount of time before a bloodbath began in earnest, Kaze shortly made his way to the nearest platform, feeling around shortly for the ladder to take him upwards. As luck would have it, this was exactly the platform hosting the ballista and its operator. Unfortunately, it also played host to his three guards, boredly shooting the breeze among them. With no better options, Kaze crept up behind the balistaman, left hand clasped over his mouth and blade to his throat. "Please, just pretend to be sleeping." he plead. "This will all be over soon."

Even more unfortunately, the balistaman did not see fit to cooperate with Kaze's efforts to keep bloodshed to a minimum.*****

Struggling mightily and eventually wriggling his head free, the ballistaman began alerting his fellow guards. ******"Savages! We've got savages attacking inside the ranch!"

Escaping Kaze's grip even further, he began to stagger to the platform's edge, frantically ringing the bell before slipping from the platform and falling to his death. Kaze cursed to himself as the spearmen descended on him angrily. Looks like there's no avoiding it, he thought exasperatedly.

Meanwhile, in the enclosure, select members of the soon-to-be-slaughtered Hoshidan crowd revealed their true identity, raining their throwing knives in the general direction of their oppressors, other incognito ninjas taking the fight directly to the guards among as the civilians fled from both the chaos and their would-be executioners alike. Other teams of the assassins took axes and picks to the fencing while others unearthed caches of weapons at select points around and outside of the enclosure. "Come on!" Chinatsu encouraged, tossing out weapons to anyone able to bear them as she sent another blade soaring into a Nohrian chest cavity. "You're gonna die anyway, you might as well die standing with a weapon in your hand!"

Having dealt with his own guards, Kaze, taking in the chaos now surrounding him, looked around for any hint of his target, noticing some hastily-lit torches and shouts of panic emanating from a small, poorly-staffed encampment to the west. As good an indication as any towards Senno's position, Kaze slid down the ladder, unfortunately finding himself in the middle of a Nohrian skirmishing line. After several hastily-avoided stabs, thrusts, and jabs, Kaze was able to disengage from the madness and disappear into the night.

Shortly thereafter, across the defiled plateau, Senno stalked towards the enclosure, his sellswords in tow, (his benefactors would never dream of allowing him command over Nohrian troops, not that they would actually obey him even if their lives depended on it) muttering angrily about the interruptions to his research.

As they neared one of the guard towers, the battle quite clearly having turned against Nohr, Senno scowled at the mercenary captain. "This looks like it could get ugly." his opportunistic employer remarked on the obvious. "Once again, just like we discussed."******

"You got it, boss." the mercenary captain confirmed, his four underlings flanking their employer in a square formation. "Any targets of opportunity go down, but we're here to cover you while you lay down the hurt."

"I'm afraid that's not going to work out, you reprobate." Kaze's voice boomed from an indeterminate location.***

With this, one of the green ninja's knives found its way into the mercenary captain's throat, Kaze shortly emerging from the tower to take out a second mercenary. As the other sellswords gave chase and engaged Kaze, Senno gave a self-satisfied grin. "I am a 'reprobate,' truly?" he inquired. "The way I see it, for all your high-minded posturing, there's no difference between us. I joined with the winning side to gain knowledge, you joined with the winning side to gain well...has your princess done away with that mouthy bitch yet?"

Shrugging off the thrusts and slashes from the hired swords as easily as he did their curses, Kaze was still able to retort as he engaged them with his own blade. "We're nothing alike!" he spat. "You not only turn a blind eye to their crimes, you help the likes of Duke Toscana to enslave, oppress, and murder innocents!"

While the ninja had done away with another one of his mercenaries in the interim, Senno still seemed somewhat amused by Kaze's insistence against what was a truism for him. "Alright, we're nothing alike." he conceded facetiously, leafing through the tome in his left hand. "And Nohrians, their nobles in particular, are quite generous to their friends."

His expression turned downright maniacal at the conclusion of this monologue. "Allow me to give you a demonstration of that generosity!"

Of course, while it was quite dark, Kaze could not help but notice the literal electricity crackling in the atmosphere, even before it became quite oppressive. Only his highly-attuned reflexes prevented him from being incinerated like the two sellswords by the sickly black lightning which had singed a considerable area of the impromptu battlefield. Well aware he could not allow Senno to get off another attack like that, let alone signal for reinforcements, sheathing his sword back, Kaze was on his enemy almost immediately, disturbing even himself with the ultimately fatal flurry of stabs and slashes he'd delivered to the collaborator. "No...please no!" croaked Senno as he expired. "Lord Nichol...save me..."***

Delivering another cut across his throat for good measure, despite having concluded this mission quite handily and gained even more information which would be of use to the princess, Kaze remained haunted by the turncoat's monologue and what it said about his motives. Was his motivation to side with Corrine, her ideals, her kindness, even her saving of his life notwithstanding, truly as pure and knightly as he'd been telling himself all this time? Or was there another more primal, visceral instinct driving him to remain at her side, forsaking even his kin and country, even as her country scorned and despised him? Putting it out of his head, at least for the time being, Kaze could tell himself with certainty that he'd helped stop a great atrocity and gained more knowledge his lady would be most interested to hear.

"But what would it really stop?" he found himself reflexively thinking. "What good would she really do?"

Shaking his head violently as if to dismiss the thought, Kaze vanished into the night once more, hoping to avoid any of the night's comrades-in-arms.

From the time when he was a small child, Duke Albrecht had always hated forests and this hatred had only grown since the beginning of his military career. What's really the point of them being this close together, he wondered angrily. They only serve to inconvenience him and aid treachery against his people! "And you're certain it was here?" he inquired harshly.

"Yes, sir." replied his adjutant, adjusting the sheath on his belt nervously. "The savages' ambush was here, I'm certain of it. Count Champagne took his men and rode north along this path to give chase, but-"

Duke Bayern scoffed. "Arrogant fool. Like we haven't had enough losses already?"

His adjutant blowing his horn to signal for more reinforcements, the duke and his retinue of five cavalrymen rode forth, hoping against hope for the signs of some sort of struggle or, even better, masses of dead Hoshidans. Following the path for a good three minutes, in the distance, a clearing was coming into view, albeit obscured by both the night and the cover from the forest. But something was...off about the situation in a way he could not quite place, as first tipped off by the panicked whinny of horses having thrown two of his men from their steeds before darting off into the night.

"What the devil is this about?" the nobleman asked, wishing for nothing more than to be back in his tower.

Struggling to his feet, one of the calvarlymen felt the ground tentatively near his ankles, eventually grabbing hold of something. "What is this, wire?" he inquired. "What's it doing out here?"

"Beats me." the second cavalryman responded as he rose again, the fall having left him visibly worse for the wear. "Maybe it's a-"

Quite immediately, he was interrupted by a thrown blade lodged in his throat, falling to the ground as he struggled not to suffocate on his own blood. "Sir!" called his comrade. "Basso's collapsed, something's wrong-"

The second cavalryman screamed in agony as a second thrown blade found its way into into his left eye, collapsing to the ground himself as well.

The duke's adjutant drew his sword at the shrieks of agony as well, ready to kick his steed's flanks and charge down the inevitable assailant. "Milord, be prepared! There are enemies-"

He as well was silenced by a thrown knife to the throat as the panicked steed shortly threw its dying master from its back. Needless to say, Duke Bayern was not pleased, drawing his own weapon, a great axe, with a flourish. "You there!" he gestured to the survivor. "Ride on in front of me! We'll reach the count's forces soon."

"At once, milord-AUGH!"

While his surroundings were not nearly bright enough for him to make out exactly what had happened to the surviving horseman, the duke was able to make out his silhouette struggling to its feet, shortly thereafter forced to the ground by some weapon or another. "Cowardly heathens!" spat Albrecht, none too keen on betraying the increasing existential dread he felt. "Stop relying on craven tricks and face me like men!"

******A deep, gravelly, quite-obviously-masculine voice chuckled evilly. "Oh, sure, we're the cowards." Saizo remarked coldly. "Duke Albrecht! You will pay for your crimes against Hoshido and her people with your sorry life! I, Saizo the Fifth, sentence you to death in their name!"

Only able to rely on his (also weakening with age) hearing to orient himself, the duke nonetheless saw fit to maintain the facade with a familiar refrain. "You savages raise livestock for slaughter, no?" he answered haughtily. "Then what crime is there in actual people raising cattle for their own good? I'd refrained on remarking on it to my subordinates openly, but my assignment here has proven my men right. You lot really ARE fit for nothing more than to be slaves!"

"So now we're literally cattle to you Nohrians, eh? But I think you're forgetting one thing about cattle. Even though you might not think much of them, they still have horns. Just like your count and his men up ahead learned the hard way."

"I tire of this nonsense, die!"

Kicking his steeds flanks intent on charging down the young upstart, the duke had expected, judging simply by the direction of the audial cues, there to be at least some telltale sign of movement of some sort, detecting a distinct lack of human flesh, bone, and muscle connecting with his axe. What an unpleasant shock it was to hear the ninja's voice from the entirely opposite direction.

"You missed. Badly." taunted Saizo.

With this, a blade struck Albrecht in the side of the chest quite forcefully, the force more than sufficient to knock him from the horse. While his lighter armor allowed him to return to his feet somewhat more easily amidst the chaos, he cursed to himself as he noticed the warm liquid pooling at the site of his injury. Seeking to end this quickly as to deal with an almost-certainly-fatal-if-not-treated wound and expecting some kind of treachery, the old duke, the searing pain on the left side of his body notwithstanding, managed an overhead strike in a crescent-shaped pattern, again connecting only with the dirt path below.

"Hi." the ninja taunted once more, now audibly closer.

Now quite able to hear his attacker (and his heart pounding) quite readily, Albrecht was now hell-bent on turning around to gain some stock of the situation, but was immediately interrupted by a horrible, shooting pain on the left side of his back, its source coming into focus as a Hoshidan blade protruding from the front of his chest.

"Bye." mocked Saizo for the final time.

The blade removed from his body, Albrecht fell forward to his knees, shortly falling prone. The gaping, profusely-bleeding wound now undeniably terminal, the duke used what little strength remained in him to inch towards the medicinal salve lying on the ground about a meter away. "I...can't...lose...to...this...heathen...scum!" he protested weakly.******

Quite consciously taking the vial, before he vanished, leaving his target to expire of his grievous injuries, Saizo smirked at this the twin satisfactions of a completed mission and the Nohrian blueblood learning some humility- the hard way. "Yeah, we'll I guess you'd better get used to it."