*Blizzard ambience

**Nighttime forest ambience

***Thunderstorm ambience

****Misery in Hand (FE14 OST)

*Despite their protestations of friendship and loyalty to the Nohrians, the Ice Tribe's most sacred temple actually doubled as a nigh-impregnable fortress, using both its status high in the northern mountains and man-made fortifications to accomplish this feat. While only marginally having contributed to the erection of said defenses, Florian could not help but feel a surge of pride at what his people had accomplished with so little- then again, seeing as what their overlords were actually like and the precarious fates of their Flame and Wind Tribe counterparts, it was only a sensible undertaking.

But Florian had his own duties to attend to within the confines of the fortress. Namely overseeing drilling his warriors in the defensive tactics required to defend such a position until it could be relieved. "And that's enough for today." he said, wiping some sweat from his brow. "You all did good."

Retiring to the jugs of water set aside for training, Florian helped himself to a rather hearty gulp of the liquid, tailed all the way by his apprentice, Varius. "So you're not just saying that, right?" he inquired. "You think we did good, sir?"

Ruffling his hair with a tired smile, Florian had come to see his apprentice as a sort of ersatz younger brother. "Yeah, I do, Var." he confirmed. "Yeah, I do."

"It always is an honor to train alongside you."

Taking Varius by the shoulder, Florian's expression turned rather severe. "Listen to me and listen closely." he began. "Lady Flora has me on some dangerous assignments- very dangerous ones, not least of them protecting her. I can't guarantee that I'll come back from them either."

"I don't get it. What does this have to do with me?"

Florian smiled. "I'm glad you asked that, Var. It has everything to do with you. The chief gave me authority to oversee the defenses of the temple and I am putting you in charge of the defense of this place."

While clearly honored by this, Varius was nonetheless shocked. "Oh no, I c-couldn't." he stammered. "Surely, there's someone else better- I mean, I'm little more than a kid!"

"Listen, Varius." he continued solemnly, handing over a letter with Flora's signature. "This fortress guards the tribe's most sacred site. You're an upstanding man and a damn fine warrior- I wouldn't have put you in this position if you didn't have my complete trust. This letter from the chief is in her own handwriting, explaining the situation- from this day on, you are in charge of the defense of this temple."

While still overwhelmed by having this responsibility suddenly thrust upon him, recognizing what a great honor and solemn duty this was, Varius relented. "Of course. You can count on me."

It did Florian's heart good to see the tribe's youth engaging with the life of their people so earnestly. It would come as little surprise that the weight of his responsibilities and traumatic events had psychologically aged him beyond his years. Nonetheless, Florian could not help but manage a smile. As long as even a few of the Ice Tribe's youth had the passion and vigor of his apprentice, the champion was, for the first time in quite a while, actually feeling alright about the future.

One can actually tell quite a bit about the culture and personality of a given commander by how exactly they use their troops in the field. A month or so of skirmishing with troops they could confirm under his command gave the alliance field commanders more than a few insights into the mind of Nohr's greatest general. While their own losses were not especially heavy, neither were the enemy's. And neither would he commit his men to an untenable position if he could at all help it.

"Well, I was right about one thing," a vexed Hana remarked, absentmindedly toying with some of the wooden figurines on the map. "he definitely is NOT like the other Nohrian commanders we've seen. It's like he's trying to bait us into making the first move."

"That's exactly the case, young one." confirmed Amagi grimly. "It gives him more operational flexibility than we do."

Their fellow commander was having an even worse time of it than the pair. "Argh! It's just so frustrating!" complained Lupina, tearing at the hair on her head. "If only we could just charge in and-"

"Which is exactly what he's hoping for!" admonished Amagi. "His whole plan is to bait us into doing something foolish, that much we know. And that is no price any of us can afford to pay lightly, if at all."

Demystifying the plans and approaches of the enemy in war is always a puzzle- a conundrum even. But after wrestling with the question for well over a month now, Hana's expression lit up. Of course, she thought! It should have been obvious all this time! "I'm not sure exactly how we do it, but the one thing we need to do- is force him to make the first move- some opportunity he or any general could never pass up."

Lupina shrugged in that sort of nonchalant way she did in discussing matters of life, death, and mortal danger. "Sounds good to me." she remarked. "I think I could make some pretty decent bait, if I do say so myself."

Amagi sighed. "I do not like it, but I do not see what other choice we have. Very well."

**As inconvenient as it may have been for his men, Bohdan was the sort of general who felt the need to truly immerse himself in the environment he was either tasked with taking or defending. To this end, he'd had his men set up camp in some rather unusual places during his career, not least of which being this plateau overlooking the the rolling central Hoshidan plains and the river cutting through it. But one cannot argue with results: This approach hadn't failed him yet in all his years. He had been instructed by His Majesty himself that this point was a vital one, which he was to hold even at the cost of his life, his duty which would be carried out, no matter the cost.

Sipping at his tea, the general took one last look over the plains illuminated by the shimmering stars and the campfires of his men before retiring to his tent for the night and an unexpected guest he'd been entertaining. "Again, I'm so sorry to take you from His Majesty's side, old friend." he remarked. "But could I trouble you with a problem I have?"

"Of course." answered Gunter neutrally, not letting slip even slightly the sneering contempt he felt for the man and his devotion. "What seems to be troubling you?"

Bohdan gestured over towards the table set up at the center of the tent, on it a topographical map of the surrounding plains and plateau, small, wooden figurines placed strategically upon it. "On paper, we are at a distinct advantage here." he introduced. "We hold the left bank of the river, the treeline to the south, and I could not have asked for a better command post up here. However..."

"However...' what?"

Bohdan shook his head. "I just cannot shake the feeling that there is something I am missing here."

"Perhaps there is."

Looking over the map with a faux-attentiveness, Gunter indistinctly mumbled to himself as he toyed with the wooden figurines. "If there is," he resumed, replacing the figurines to their previous position. "I cannot see it."

Bohdan bowed slightly in appreciation. "Ah, perhaps it was merely my imagination." he conceded. "I know there's no such thing as a perfect plan, but you have my thanks anyway, old friend."

"Think nothing of it."

Bidding his comrade farewell, for Gunter, the moment his back was turned from the tent, the temptation to sneer became overwhelming. Fool, he thought bitterly. The real truth was, he scarcely gave a damn about what exactly the outcome of this battle would be either way. However, there was still some part of him that hoped that Bohdan, in his final moments, would realize what a complete, insufferable dolt he had been, bowing, scraping and serving the kingdom and its nobles who scarcely gave a damn about him to begin with, when they did not hold him in open contempt.

***Be it himself or whatever trick of the gods bought it upon, for the past several weeks, Kaze had noticed a sort of cloud hanging over him and his demeanor. Not a literal atmospheric formation, mind you, but a sort of general malaise. Perhaps it was due to his abusive traveling companions who treated him as an unwanted stray dog at best, perhaps it was, despite the bridges he had of coursed burned, the fact that he'd begun himself to question Lady Corrine, perhaps it was simply jealousy of his technical lord, perhaps it was none of the above. But there was simply something Kaze could no longer tolerate.

At his commander finishing off a(nother) peasant family with his ill-gotten weapon, one could hear the distant rumble of thunder in view of the ruined capital. No, it was his company, Kaze decided. "They just don't get it, you know?" remarked Hans, refastening his belt, not even putting on a tone of mock concern. "It'd be so much easier if they just went along. Everybody gets what they want, they get to live- probably anyway."

One of his adjutants simply shrugged dully, filling his pockets with some meager valuables. "I dunno, sir. Savages? Who knows how they work?"

"Good point." replied a second. "If they were normal, we wouldn't be in this situation now."

***But the thing that truly set Kaze off- the final, metaphorical straw on the back of a very old, worn-out camel was the display put on once the party had reached the capital. After its treatment by its occupiers, the Hoshidan capital could be correctly described, both figuratively and literally, as a city of the dead, the bodies of slain civilians being left to decay in the streets. But nonetheless, there were still those either too unfortunate (or stubborn) to not have the option of abandoning said capital.

One of these was a young lad, no more than nine or ten, waiting to greet his new masters. Perhaps it was the thunder that first obscured it, but Hans swore to himself at being hit in the forehead with a rock, more than no force put behind it. "That's for my mama and sister!" he cried.

Before he could get off another rock with his slingshot, he was promptly seized by the minions and bought before the brute, Hans' malicious visage warped with rage. "You little...!" grasping the boy by the throat with one hand in contrast to his valiant, but futile struggling. "I've had it with this dump! Scourge the city! Kill anything that moves!"

"Yes, sir!" spoke one of the adjutants.

Hearing the sickening crack before seeing the lad's lifeless body fall to the ground must have simply set something off inside Kaze, unconsciously unsheathing his daggers before he even realized what exactly was occurring. Of course, once they were halfway drawn, he realized what he was doing and continued all the same, crouching down into a fighting stance. ****Noticing what exactly the ninja was doing, Hans' beady eyes narrowed in malicious glee. "Well, well, well," he began, kicking aside the boy's corpse. "it looks like the princess' little pet couldn't be trained after all."

"Shut up." spat Kaze, maintaining a white-knuckled grip on his knives. "You've been allowed to steal air from the decent people of this world for too long."

The brute smirked at this. "You know your life's as good as gone for even pointing those at your betters."

"Maybe it is. I don't care anymore." Kaze retorted, taking note of the glorified brigand's minions returning from their rape and pillaging.

"I'm going to enjoy this!"

Clearing away the men behind him with a pellet of smoke, Kaze did in fact, manage to dispatch a number of them before Hans came charging at him like a particularly-enraged boulder. Granted, the ninja's agility served him well as he ducked and weaved from a number of brutal blows directed at him. Nonetheless, Kaze took a nanosecond too long in trying to line up one of his knives to be thrown at the brute's throat, the axe's blade colliding with his torso with a sickening squelch overshadowed by the violent thunderclap.****

Lying on his back and already having lost a good deal of blood, Kaze found his breathing to be rather shallow at the sickening face smirking down at him. "Well, it looks like no one's gonna miss a mad dog that had to be put down."

He couldn't stand looking up at that smug, malicious face as he took his last breaths. Anticipating the blow, Kaze wrenched his eyes shut, but both he and Hans were rather confused by a deep, masculine voice grunting, "Guess again."

A number of explosions erupted from behind Hans, his men wishing the thunder had actually bought some rain to extinguish the flames now engulfing them.

Hans swung around to notice the screaming. "What the-"

Another violent thunderclap called his attention in front of him, the hesitation causing his guard to go down momentarily. But momentarily was all that was needed for a throwing knife to lodge itself inside his stomach, causing him no small amount of pain.

Opening his eyes expecting to see whatever the next life had to offer for him, instead, looking up to find a Saizo just having disengaged from the battle. "Wait, Brother?"

"Up we go." Saizo grunted, heaving Kaze upon his shoulders, using his free hand to set off a smoke bomb.