I have changed a lot of plans for Year Three's story. I'm very thankful for Echoes of Wisdom right now, because I think I can make a lot of interesting changes to Tears of the Kingdom's story (which I think we can all admit could have used some improvement).
"And we'll leave off there," Claude said. "I've got a busy day tomorrow."
"I think it may be for the best," Rhea said. "We can continue this at a later date."
After everyone turned off their Purah Pads, Rhea and Seteth just sat in silence for several seconds. Eventually, Seteth spoke. "I can't say I've enjoyed hearing this part of the story."
"I would be surprised if you did. I certainly haven't," Rhea agreed.
"Regarding Majora, do you think he might have had a hand in the War of Heroes in our timeline as well?" Seteth asked.
"It's possible," Rhea admitted. "But I doubt he involved himself for the entirety of the war. Either he was forced out of it or his attention drifted elsewhere. I know I couldn't have fought Majora at his full power. Neither could Nemesis, and I doubt Epimenides could either, even assuming he wouldn't have allied with them. And even if he wasn't at his full power, he would have been proud enough to make his presence known eventually."
Perhaps they would have kept talking, but then the door to their tent opened, and Jeralt brought an ill-looking Manuela in. "Rhea, please talk some sense into her."
"Manuela? What's wrong?" Seteth asked.
"She's going through alcohol withdrawal," Jeralt explained. "Apparently she decided to completely quit drinking after being a heavy drinker for roughly a decade."
"Manuela, you're a doctor. I commend your decision to stop drinking, but you should know that trying to do it in this way can be dangerous," Rhea said.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Manuela admitted remorsefully. "Hey, when I die, put that on my gravestone. Seems like that's every decision I make."
"Did you at least take medicine to prevent the worst possible results?" Rhea said with a sigh.
"I'm not a complete idiot," Manuela said. "I took the appropriate medications to prevent brain damage."
"Good, that makes things easier," Rhea said as she began using healing magic.
"I'm sorry for troubling you with my problems," Manuela said. "I was supposed to be helping you."
"Don't apologize for needing help," Rhea said, shaking her head. "If you need help, we'd be glad to provide it."
"I was supposed to be helping you," said Manuela. "You need it more than I do."
"You can do that best if you're doing well yourself," Seteth refuted. "And don't try to compare your traumas to ours. It isn't helpful, not to us and not to you."
"We can help each other," Rhea agreed. "That's what...friends do, isn't it?"
"Friends," Manuela said thoughtfully. "Yes, it is."
"Frankly, right now we would both rather talk about anything other than our pasts," Rhea said. "Is there anything you would like to talk about? We would be glad to listen."
"I'd like that," Manuela said.
Elsewhere in the camp, Hubert stepped out of the shadows.
"Trouble?" Dimitri asked, not even bothering to get up from his chair.
"Potentially," Hubert answered. "The Western Church is hoping to take decisive action against us before we can reach Rhodos. They've hired as many mercenaries and bandits as they could on short notice, and put them under the command of Viscount Kleimann. They're planning to ambush us at the Brionac Plateau."
"That sounds as if it's a nuisance, not a threat," Dimitri said, prompting Lord Rodrigue's head to snap in his direction.
"Your highness, we certainly have the superior force, but—" he tried to object.
Hubert cut him off. "The mercenaries themselves are no threat at all. You and I could probably defeat the lot of them in ten minutes by ourselves. Possibly less, depending on how many have the good sense to run." Rodrigue gaped at that. Plenty of men made similar boasts, but the Vestra boy didn't speak as if he was boasting. His tone was serious, as if he genuinely didn't think these mercenaries posed any threat at all. And none of the other students seemed to disagree. "The problem is that one of them has the Lance of Ruin."
"Father wouldn't have supported Rufus's coup, and certainly not in disguise," Sylvain commented. "It must have been stolen, and recently at that."
"I agree," Hubert said. "Though I don't have any informants in Gautier territory, and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to get information from them in time. I can't say what the situation there is."
Everyone remained silent as they contemplating what Hubert was very loudly not suggesting.
"I think the fastest way to get answers is to ask the mercenaries ourselves," Sylvain said coldly.
"I agree," Dimitri said. He, Sylvain, and Ingrid rose from their chairs. "We'll deal with these brigands ourselves. Captain, would you like to come along?"
"I'll pass," Sir Link said. "You don't need me for this, and I have a stack of cookbooks to read through."
"This again?" Princess Zelda asked. "Link, the cookbook is ready to go to print."
"You lost the right to say anything about my culinary process when you put rock salt in a smoothie," Sir Link commented dryly.
"For the last time, that wasn't my fault!" Princess Zelda whined. "Dinraal said it was a necessary ingredient for making ice cream!"
"And if you had listened to the instructions she gave you, you would know that the salt does not go in the mixture itself," Dedue commented dryly.
The princess pouted as her knights and the students all laughed.
"Well, we're off," Dimitri said. "Felix, hold down the camp while we're away. Hubert?"
"I hate when you make me do this," Hubert said with a groan, but he raised his hand towards the three of them and a mass of darkness engulfed them. Seconds later, it withdrew, revealing all three of them in full armor.
Rodrigue realized that they were walking towards the horse pens, not the barracks. "Your Highness, you can't seriously intend to deal with the ambush force with just the four of you."
"I agree," Felix said. "Four Rising Sun members to deal with some cheap hired muscle? That's complete overkill. One of you could finish them off. Two, if you want to be cautious, but four? Do you also find it prudent to kill Zol with bomb arrows?"
"I know, but having the extra manpower makes it easier to take prisoners. I would prefer to pump Kleimann for information before he dies," Dimitri said.
Rodrigue gaped at just how cavalierly they were treating this ambush. "I can't allow the four of you to fight these brigands by yourselves!"
Seeing that they weren't listening, he ran to get his horse to follow them.
By the time he caught up with them, the sun was setting, and they had already confronted the leaders of the ambush force. Rodrigue unfortunately recognized the one holding the Lance of Ruin as Miklan Gautier.
"Hello, brother," Miklan said malevolently.
"Miklan," Sylvain said emotionlessly. "It's been awhile. I can't say I wanted our reunion to look like this."
"The feeling is not mutual. This looks like the best reunion I could have asked for," Miklan said. "Rufus already got Father and Mother out of the way. And you brought Dimitri, too! Now I just have to kill you and him, and then I get to be Margrave!"
Rodrigue's heart leapt into his throat, but the four young nobles looked unimpressed. "You don't want to do this, Miklan," Dimitri said. "Put the Lance down and walk away, and we'll forget you were ever involved in this act of rebellion. That goes for the rest of you too," he made eye contact with Kleimann. "Except you."
Kleimann visibly gulped, but the mercenary next to him laughed. "You think you have the power here? Don't you see how outnumbered you are?"
"I don't know, Metodey. Maybe they've gone blind," another mercenary said.
"No, it's probably not that," Miklan said. "They just think that because of their Crests and fancy education, they're better than the rest of us."
"Do you really think that accounts for how unafraid we are?" Sylvain asked. "This won't end well for you, Miklan. Please, walk away. I don't want to have to kill you."
"Good, then you can die for me instead," Miklan said. "Attack!"
Rodrigue panicked and urged his horse forward, intending to hopefully hold the mercenaries off long enough for Dimitri and his friends to get away. But he hadn't closed the distance yet when the four of them moved.
Blasts of lightning erupted from the sky in such numbers that for a moment, the darkening sky seemed light as day, each one claiming a mercenary's life. And when the light was gone, the shadows rose up to tear the survivors apart. And that didn't account for Dimitri, Sylvain, and Ingrid, who were death incarnate for any enemy unlucky enough to get within range of their weapons. Dimitri's spear, Sylvain's halberd, and Ingrid's sword tore through the mercenaries like scythes through a field of wheat. And if any of them thought Hubert von Vestra an easier target, spells of strange green-black magic disabused them of that notion—along with their lives.
Miklan had thought the Lance of Ruin would make him strong enough to stand above everyone else. That it did—in that it took three blows to fell him rather than one. And Kleimann didn't have a chance to fight; the darkness swallowed him before the three reapers could reach him, leaving not a trace of him behind.
Once the last of the mercenaries were either dead or running as fast as their legs could carry them, Sylvain stared at his brother's body. Ingrid put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry you had to do that, Sylvain."
Sylvain sighed. "I would have blamed the Crest system before. But no, he was the one who chose to be a bitter, jealous person. This was no one's fault but his own."
"According to him, Rufus had your parents killed," Dimitri said. "It seems many people have torn your family apart for power."
"One more thing to make him pay for," Sylvain said as he picked up the Lance of Ruin and turned to walk back to where they had left their horses.
"How did you do that?" Rodrigue asked.
"Lord Rodrigue, after you've spent three years fighting for your life in the Kingdom of Hyrule during one of its great disasters, the question to ask is what you can't do," Hubert said with a wry smile. "I have Kleimann in my void. Let's go."
Rodrigue then realized something. "Marquis Vestra, you didn't bring a horse. How are you going to—" he was cut off by seeing Hubert vanish the moment Dimitri's shadow passed over him. For several seconds, he just stared blankly at the place he had been standing before finally riding after them.
