The Twin Princes - Vellatra - Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami (2024)

Chapter 1: Homecoming

Chapter Text

Thunder rumbled steadily outside, and rain lashed against the bedroom window. Ena turned over for the thousandth time, adjusted the bedding over her shoulders, and ground her head into the pillow a little more. The bed was cozy, the noises outside were soothing, she’d had a second helping of Gareth’s pot roast that evening. Almost everything was perfect. She should have fallen asleep immediately. But, alas, there was one thing missing from that bed. And her brain refused to shut off.

It felt like she’d been lying there for an eternity, but the window remained pitch black. Out in the hall, the clock struck eleven.

“Eleven? Only Eleven?” Ena grumbled softly to herself. This was ridiculous. If she wasn’t going to sleep, she might as well be doing something, she thought, sitting up and reaching for her dressing gown. Maybe she could peruse King Dheginsea’s library. Maybe she could start a batch of dough rising, for cinnamon rolls in the morning. Maybe… she could take her mind off of the thoughts that had looped around in her mind all day long. She crept along the hall, and down the stairs to the ground level of the castle, heading for the kitchen. “First I’ll make myself some tea,” she thought, “as a last-ditch effort.”

She had almost made it to the kitchen when she noticed someone standing at the great front double doors. One door was a little ajar and the person was peering outside at the storm. Lightning lit up his face for a second and she knew him.

“I didn’t think anyone else would be up so late,” said Ena, coming to stand beside him. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” said Kurthnaga, pushing the door open a sliver more. “Is this not the most impressive storm you’ve ever seen?”

Ena looked out. It was indeed a sight to behold. Lightning cracked across the sky, here, there, on the horizon, back to their area - trees whipped their branches around in the air, the clouds flew overhead, faster than any hawk, the rain pounded on the ground.

“The goddess can put on quite a show, can’t she?” said Ena, smiling at her young friend. He was nearly full-grown now, but he still had a childlike wonder in his eyes that she adored. “I’m making tea, do you want some too?”

“Sure,” said Kurth, gently pulling the door shut. “Want to play chess? I can’t sleep - and neither can you by the look of it.”

**********

Meanwhile, not so very far away, a dragon was soaring through the storm clouds, narrowly missing a bolt of lightning. A woman clung to the slippery wet scales on his back with one hand, while cradling a very large bundle of blankets in the other arm. It was precarious. She wanted to hang on with all her might, but a death grip on that bundle wouldn’t be any good either. She tried to carefully balance gentleness and security, and all the while making sure she didn’t slip off and fall to her death, hundreds of feet below. There was an enormous boom of thunder, and two shrill little voices began to scream within the bundle.

“Hush, my loves,” the woman called over the storm. “We’re nearly there. You’ve been so brave… just a little further….”

The dragon tilted his wings slightly, and they began their frightening descent….

**********

“…So what’s keeping you up?” Kurth finally asked halfway through their second game. “You’ve never had trouble sleeping through storms.”

Ena debated how much she should tell him. She took a thoughtful sip of her tea, moved her rook, and finally said, “I’ve been worrying about your brother again.”

Kurth smiled sympathetically. “I hear you. On the one hand, he’s smart, he’s tough, he can take care of himself just fine. But on the other hand…”

“Exactly,” said Ena, lifting her mug to her lips again. She set it down, and finally made up her mind. Kurth shouldn’t know. Not before Rajaion did. She was bursting to tell someone, but… it was just the right way to handle this. So she went back to focusing on the game.

Just then, the front door groaned, as if someone had pulled very hard on the knob from outside. Then there was a loud knocking, and it didn’t stop, at three knocks, or ten, or twenty. It just kept on going.

“Who in the world…?” Kurth began, getting up from the table. Ena followed him. No one ever came to the castle this late at night. But no one ever came to Castle Goldoa with ill intent either, so they weren’t afraid. Only puzzled. They lifted the bar from the doors and pushed it open - gently, so they wouldn’t hit the knocker, who had still been pounding furiously.

Without a word, the most bedraggled pair of visitors you could imagine pushed their way inside. Water streamed off them and pooled on the floor. Both were shivering. One was breathing very hard.

“What-“ Kurth began, but the winded one cut him off.

“Dry blankets,” he gasped, “quickly. Please,” he added, unclasping his cloak (which was soaked through) and letting it fall to the floor around him.

“Moldy onions - Rajaion!” Ena cried, making to embrace him -

“Please,” he repeated, more urgently. “The babies will get sick.”

“Huh?” said Kurth, but Ena took his hand and hurried back to the sitting room - there was a cedar chest in there, full of soft and snuggly afghans.

“What babies?” she asked as they came back, laden with the blankets. “…Oh.” The other newcomer had also removed her cloak. Almedha had crouched, laid her bundle on the floor, and started unwrapping it, revealing two little boys, not more than a few months old. They were shivering too, and when the air hit them, they started to cry.

“Aww, come here, little guy,” said Kurth, kneeling beside the babies, picking one up, and wrapping him snugly. “…You look just like your mother,” he said softly, looking into the little one’s dark eyes. “Oh Almedha…” he smiled down at his sister, who was offering the other child to Ena. “Is that one…?"

“They’re twins,” said Almedha, smiling weakly - the first smile Rajaion had seen in a long time.

“Oh,” said Ena, as she wrapped the second baby up. She had noticed his rounded ears. “These are… beorc children?”

“Sort of,” said Rajaion. “But that doesn’t matter. They’re part of our family.” his sister’s smile widened.

“You two have a lot to tell us, it seems,” said Ena, holding the little blue-haired boy close and gently rocking him. He settled down almost immediately. “But congratulations! They’re beautiful.”

“Thank you,” said Almedha. She heaved a great sigh, and leaned lightly against Rajaion. “I’m… so tired,” she said, suddenly looking very sad.

“You’ve been through the wringer,” said Rajaion, helping her back up on her feet. “Come on, the boys are alright - let’s get ourselves dried off. Then I’ll give you a hug,” he added, winking at Ena. Together, he and Almedha strode deeper into the castle - little drips of mud and rainwater trailing behind them.

“They’re so cute,” Kurth cooed, gently pinching his charge’s chubby cheek.

“They sure are,” said Ena, drying off her cargo’s fuzzy head with a corner of the blanket. “Oh, bother - we didn’t get to ask their names.”

They didn’t have to wait long to find out. In spite of her exhaustion, Almedha got dried off and changed in record time and was back to the sitting room in minutes, rubbing the ends of her hair with a towel as she walked in. She paused to take in the scene. Kurth was sitting by the large fireplace. The dark-haired baby was on his lap, looking around at everything and everyone. The blue-haired baby was asleep, his little head resting on Ena’s shoulder as she slow-danced around the room.

“Oh my darlings,” Almedha sighed, softly to avoid waking her son. “Thank you so much, you two.” She sank onto the couch nearest the fire, watching Kurth and his charge. “At last… we’re out of danger.”

“Are you ready to talk about it?” asked Ena, settling next to her. “Or are you tired? Or, would you rather wait until everyone’s awake, so you only have to tell your story once?”

“…Always thinking of the options,” said Almedha with a twitch of her mouth. “You haven’t changed. And I mean that affectionately. Yes… perhaps it would be best to wait for Father, and Gareth and Nasir…. But, what I will tell you for now….” She gestured to Ena’s precious cargo. “This is Pelleas, and,” (indicating Kurth’s load) “this is Soren. They are my sons, whom I had with a man of Daein. I… severely misjudged their father’s character. He was much more wicked and violent than he originally let on. If Rajaion hadn’t come to our rescue when he did, I don’t know what would have happened. And even so, we barely escaped.” She paused thoughtfully for a moment. “…Perhaps Father will not want us here. But Rajaion didn’t know where else to bring us.”

“Let the king speak for himself,” said Ena. “He’s more forgiving than you might think.”

Almedha sighed. “I hope so.” She held her arms out for Pelleas. “You must be aching to see your mate?”

“I’ll hold him for you any time,” said Ena with a smile, carefully handing the sleeping child off. “He is precious.” And good practice, she thought, but she kept that to herself. She slipped out to the hall, and made her way upstairs to find Rajaion.

After looking in a few places without success, she finally found him in their bedroom. He was half-dressed, lying near the footboard with his legs hanging off, and snoring softly. It looked as if he'd sat on the edge of the bed to put socks on, but had fallen asleep before he could manage it.

“Why don't we get you more comfortable,” said Ena, gently trying to tug him the rest of the way into bed. He stirred, and pulled her down beside him. She giggled as her face heated up.

“You have no idea,” he murmured in her ear, “how good it is to see you again. I thought we wouldn’t make it home.”

“It was that bad?” Ena whispered.

“Yeah,” he said, holding her a little closer. “But we'll talk about that later. I'm tired. Flew all the way from Daein… three days… no breaks.”

“No breaks? Good goddess!” She gave him a little peck on the cheek. “Then rest, my love. All else can wait.”

The thunder rumbled gently. The rain pattered against the castle. Rajaion’s slow, hot breath ruffled Ena's hair. Now, all was well. She closed her eyes….

**********

Knock knock knock knock knock.

Dheginsea sat up in his bed, a low grumble sounding in his throat as he rubbed his eyes. Who would disturb him this early in the morning?

“Sire! Sire!”

He narrowed his already bleary eyes, as he rose and went to the door, pulling his dressing gown on as he went. He pushed the door open an inch. “…Gareth? What’s the matter?”

“Actually, Sire, it’s good news!” Gareth said, beaming. “But it was so good, I couldn’t stand waiting for you to wake up.”

“What, Gareth?” the king demanded.

Gareth smiled mysteriously. “I think the best thing would be for you to come and see.”

“It had better be really good,” Dheginsea growled.

“Trust me,” said Gareth, “it is! Come on!”

Gareth wasn’t one to boss Dheginsea around, so - although he was still annoyed - the king decided it must be important. He followed him out to the sitting room. Gareth stopped at the doorway, put a finger to his lips, and then tilted his head toward the inside of the room. Dheginsea came up alongside him and peered in.

Kurthnaga was asleep on the rug, in front of the fireplace - the fire had nearly died by now; one log was still smoldering. He looked like he was curled around something, but Gareth and Dheginsea couldn’t see what from the doorway. Meanwhile, up on the couch, was…!

“Almedha,” Dheginsea breathed. He strode silently up to the couch, stooping close to look at his child - and at the little boy sleeping on her chest. “How…?” he whispered, looking at Gareth.

“No idea,” Gareth muttered, shrugging. “I just came down here to make coffee and here they were. There’s another baby too; Master Kurthnaga is holding him.”

Dheginsea smiled. He pulled a blanket over each of his children, and went out to the kitchen with Gareth. “I have many questions for her,” he said quietly, as Gareth poured him a mug of his morning brew. “But the important thing is that she is home, and safe. I hope she means to stay.” He looked over the edge of his mug at his friend. “I was starting to worry… perhaps… I was too harsh with her, before she left. I wondered if… she would never return.”

“Let’s just wait and see, m’lord,” said Gareth. “Wise to avoid assumptions, before you hear things from the horse’s mouth, as they say.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” said Dheginsea, lifting the mug again. “Thank you, Gareth.”

**********

Ena opened her eyes. It felt like this was the soundest sleep she’d had in a long time. The sunlight was spilling through the window, lighting up her mate’s dark hair, and bringing out little highlights of bright green and gold. He had barely moved from where she’d dragged him the night before, and was still snoring gently into her shoulder. But when she shifted position a little, the snoring stopped. He pulled her closer still.

“Ah, good,” he mumbled happily. “Not a dream.”

Ena giggled, settling back into place. “I’ve missed you, Jay,” she said, running her fingers through his hair. “Actually… there’s something I’ve been wanting to tell you, too. I’ve wanted to spill the beans so badly, but… you should be the first to know.”

He opened his eyes. “...Oh goddess,” he said softly, gazing first at her face, then down at her midsection. “Not…?”

“Yes, my love.”

He sat up to get a better look at her. The most radiant smile Ena had ever seen was creeping in. “We’re having a baby?!”

**********

Dheginsea was tipping his mug up to get the last of the coffee when a wild whoop came echoing through the halls.

“What the-” Gareth began.

“That voice,” said Dheginsea, standing up quickly. “Did you know he was home as well?”

“No sir!” said Gareth, also rising. “...What on earth was that about?”

“We will find out in a moment,” said Dheginsea. He’d heard the footsteps on the stairs.

“Good morning!” Ena laughed as Rajaion carried her, bridal-style, into the kitchen.

“It is good to see you two, and in such high spirits,” said Dheginsea. “What news, my son?”

“Father,” said Rajaion, smiling proudly, “this beautiful, wonderful lady, is giving you another grandchild!”

At this, the normally stiff dragon king softened a bit. “How wonderful,” he said, smiling almost widely enough to match Rajaion. “You two will make fine parents. …Another grandchild, you say? Those children in the living room…?”

“Yes, Father,” said Rajaion, finally setting Ena down. “Almedha has two little boys already. Always thought we’d give you the first one, but she beat me to the punch!”

Well, she did cheat, Ena thought. Beorc pregnancies don’t even last a year! But she didn’t say that out loud - Dheginsea’s stance on the Branded was no secret, and she didn’t want to ruin the mood. So instead she said, “They aren’t awake yet, are they?”

“I don’t think so,” said Gareth. “Poor Master Kurthnaga is sleeping on the floor, but I didn’t want to disturb him, and risk waking that baby.”

Just then, they heard a little coo from the sitting room. Everybody hurried to the door to peek in. Almedha and Kurth were still sound asleep, but Pelleas – nestled in his mother’s arms – was sucking on his fingers, looking around the room, and babbling softly to himself. As they watched, Soren also woke up – they couldn’t see most of him, but one little arm was sticking up from behind Kurth, reaching toward the tendril of smoke that still rose from the fireplace.

Dheginsea watched for a moment, then pulled away from the group. He went to the front doors, slipped outside, and sat on the top step.

A minute or two passed, and he heard someone come out behind him. He didn’t look round, even when they settled next to him. They both sat in silence for a while.

Finally, his companion spoke. “I know it’s a curse. And that you might not want her to stay. I’m sorry. But they were in danger. I had to get them out. And… didn’t know where else to go.”

Dheginsea heaved a great sigh. “Do not apologize,” he said. “If anyone should be sorry, it is I.”

“Father?”

“There is… much… that has been concealed from you children,” Dheginsea said slowly. “Some was simply left unspoken. Some…” he closed his eyes. “Rajaion… I have lied to you.” His son didn’t know what to say, or even how to react. After a pause, the king continued. “Understand – when I told the lies, I was trying to protect you. Sometimes, I wondered if the truth would have been better. But, it was always too late, too difficult, too… condemning, to come clean. I only hope it is not too late now.” He looked up at Rajaion finally, grief and guilt wrinkling his face.

“...What do you need to tell us, Father?”

Dheginsea looked away again. It was too painful, seeing his son’s face – the concern, for him, when he should have looked betrayed, angry, something. Well, he’d started, there was no going back now. Maybe if he told Rajaion first, in private, it would be easier to confess to everyone else. “My son… Lady Ashera… she… she never told us it was wrong.”

“What?”

“For a laguz and a beorc to… to have children.”

“What?”

“The four of us, the Heroes, we… we invented that teaching.” He didn’t dare to open his eyes, and Rajaion was too stunned to say anything, so he went on. “It all started when Lehran and Altina had their daughter – no Branded had ever been born before. Everyone was excited, so interested to see what kind of child she would be… and, do you know, she was a wonderful little girl. She could not transform like her father, but he did pass on many blessings, that a normal beorc could only dream of. A longer life, many of the heron abilities, stronger powers of magic…. There was nothing wrong with her, at all. She should have been celebrated. But the joy and blessings surrounding the girl were eclipsed, by what happened to Lehran himself. Many powers that his daughter gained, he lost. The greatest blow, I think, was that he could no longer do the one thing that defines us, as laguz. We were devastated. No one had known that he would lose his powers. And no one could think of a way to restore him, either. The best we could do was prevent such a thing from ever happening again. So that is what we tried to do. We declared it to be a curse from the goddess. Lehran and Altina dissolved their marriage – at my urging. I wonder, now, if that was very poor advice indeed. We spread the rumor far and wide that beorc and laguz were forbidden to intermarry. I had hoped… that would be enough to protect our people.

“But the opposite has happened. Not only do the races not intermarry, but there is also much hatred and distrust. The branded, who should have been seen as beorc with special gifts, are shunned, hunted, and… I can truthfully say they are cursed now, but by man, not by the goddess. I wanted to keep Almedha safe, from the loss of her powers. Instead, I convinced her that she is a horrible sinner, and that she – and those precious little boys – are incapable of being loved. I have… made a grave mistake. Perhaps the greatest mistake a mortal has ever made.”

Rajaion still did not speak. He looked out at the countryside, mind reeling. After several silent minutes crept by, a bird twittered, and he broke away from the swirl of thoughts. “Well, Father,” he said softly, “that is a lot.” Dheginsea finally risked a glance in his direction, and found his son gazing seriously back at him. Serious, but… still not angry. “Are you going to tell the others?”

“I must. Your sister will never forgive me. Those boys have a very rough road ahead of them in life, through no fault of their own – and none of hers either.”

The ghost of a smile crossed Rajaion’s face. “Never say never, Father. Yes, you’ve done… a lot of damage. But we have a long life still ahead of us. With honesty, love, and enough patience… I think we could set things right, don’t you?”

Dheginsea smiled weakly. “Ever the optimist.” Slowly, the old lizard rose to his feet. “I suppose… I should meet my grandsons.”

“You’ll love them,” said Rajaion, really grinning now. “After you!”

Everyone was awake by now, and the whole group was taking turns holding the babies. Gareth, especially, was enthralled.

“I haven’t had a little one to watch in a century,” he said wistfully, bouncing Pelleas on his knee. “This brings me back…. Oh, Lady Almedha, you’ve made an old man happy. I hope you’ll stay and let me help you raise them?”

Almedha had just noticed Rajaion and Dheginsea in the doorway. Her smile faltered. “Well… we’ll see, Gareth.”

“Welcome home, my dear,” said Dheginsea, in as gentle a voice as he could muster. He came closer, hesitantly, unsure what to say next. Then he looked down at Soren, who was perched on her arm. “...May I?” he asked, very softly. Everyone was surprised, even him.

“Of course, Father,” said Almedha, growing cautiously optimistic. She carefully lifted Soren into his grandfather’s arms. The two studied each other in silence. Finally, Soren made a little grunt and nestled down against Dheginsea’s chest. “...He likes you,” said Almedha, even more surprised. Pelleas was her people-friendly twin, while Soren was more of a velcro baby.

“What a handsome young man,” said Dheginsea. He smiled at his daughter. “Two handsome young men,” he corrected himself, glancing at Gareth and Pelleas. “It has certainly been a long time since we have heard little voices in these halls.” He looked back at Almedha, a bit awkwardly. “You… intend to stay, I presume?”

Almedha was still pretty leery, but his tone gave her a little courage. “If it pleases you, Father, we would love to.”

Dheginsea put a hand on her shoulder. “We have missed you terribly, Almedha. Welcome home. The three of you may stay here, as long as you wish.” They finally smiled at each other.

“Well, Gareth,” said Almedha, still beaming at her father, “I suppose that’s your answer!”

Chapter 2: The Misadventures of May and Jay

Chapter Text

“Right,” said Kurth, setting his fork down at the tail end of breakfast. “I’ve been in suspense long enough. Can you guys please tell us what happened now?”

Almedha and Rajaion looked at each other for a moment. “Ladies first,” said Rajaion. “Besides, it starts with you.”

“Oh, very well,” said Almedha. “So I left home to see the world, and possibly to find Uncle Lehran.”

“Did you ever?” said Dheginsea, looking up from playing patty-cake with Pelleas.

“No,” said Almedha. “He can certainly disappear when he wants to.”

“Shame,” said Gareth. “We all miss him.”

“Anyway,” said Almedha, “I certainly saw the world. I started with the southern islands - the rough mountains of Phoenicis, the dark forests of Kilvas. I went up through Begnion, disguised as a beorc fortune teller-”

“A what?” Kurth laughed. “Were you any good?"

“Haven’t a clue,” Almedha chuckled. “I just made things up, very dramatically.”

“If we keep interrupting her we’ll be talking all day,” said Rajaion.

“Sorry,” said Kurth, “go on.”

“I passed through Serenes forest and stayed a few days with King Lorazieh, and his wife, and six charming children. Did you know he’d had a sixth? Sweet little girl. I made friends with a crew of young cat and tiger girls in Gallia and we got up to all sorts of mischief – harmless pranks,” she added when Dheginsea made a suspicious face. “Crimea’s stance toward laguz is much more friendly than in Begnion, so I didn’t disguise myself going through there. I didn’t announce my arrival either, though, and I doubt the royal family ever knew I came by. Their nobility is quite eccentric. One young heir, to some dukedom or other, spoke only in rhymes and rhythms. He was an entertaining boy,” she said with a smirk.

“At last, I went to Daein. It was the only country I hadn’t seen, so I thought, might as well make a full tour of things. Like Begnion, it isn’t as safe for our kind to travel there. The slave trade, which mostly funnels into Begnion, is rampant. I saw exactly why Uncle Lehran was getting so upset with things. But, that aside – I was getting pretty confident in my abilities to pass as nothing more than a well-tanned beorc by now.” To demonstrate, she gently teased her hair a little, covering her ears and her marking in one smooth motion. “So I thought I’d be a little more bold than in the other beorc countries, and went straight into the capital, Nevassa, right up inside Castle Daein, and wiggled my way into several royal balls. And that was how I met Prince Ashnard.”

“Wait, really?” said Rajaion. “I wouldn’t have made him out to be the dancing type.”

“Oh, he isn’t,” Almedha half-laughed. “His older sister was trying to help him become more refined, and whatnot, to impress some visiting noblewomen from Crimea and Begnion. You see, he is a son of King Daein, but the king has many children and Ashnard is one of the youngest, so he has very little chance at the throne there. He wants to be king of somewhere, though, and at that time was considering marriage into a higher rank…. Actually, it’s a bit like what you did, Ena, except that was his whole goal, and not yours at all.”

“Or was it?” said Rajaion, side-eyeing his mate in mock suspicion. She laughed and rolled her eyes.

“Well,” said Almedha, “he caught my attention by being so different from the rest, so out-of-place. Beorc nobility have so many contrived rules of etiquette, so many ways they should and should not behave in ‘polite company’, and instead of doing anything useful, many of them simply waste their time trying to outdo one another in following all these unspoken customs to a T. Ashnard wasn’t like that. He was bold, brash, to-the-point, and would very clearly rather be somewhere else, like a sparring hall or a battlefield, somewhere where you can actually be doing something, instead of only pretending to be on important business. I’m not really sure what he saw in me at first, but for whatever reason, we took a shine to each other. It wasn’t long before the rest of the court considered us an ‘item’, and the rumors really began to fly about who I might be, or where I might have come from, each theory more outlandish and amusing than the last. I knew things were starting to get serious… and that it would be but a matter of time before something slipped and he would discover what I really was. So I let him in on my secret. I think… I expected him to break things off immediately. But he didn’t. Whatever his flaws, unlike the vast majority of his peers, he doesn’t have a racist bone in his body. In fact, I think the knowledge actually made him even more interested in courting me. He proposed before that week was out, we were married shortly thereafter, and he wasted no time in fathering these two,” she said, gesturing around to the babies.

Dheginsea abruptly cleared his throat, with a glance in Kurth’s direction. “But something went wrong after that?” he asked hurriedly.

“Well,” said Almedha, “I didn’t even realize I was pregnant, until suddenly I couldn’t shift anymore. He guessed what was the matter before I even did, and was very excited about it. He told me it was alright, it didn’t matter, he still loved me, the whole bit, and he absolutely spoiled me while I was carrying them. But as soon as they were born, all his attention was on them. I’m not even trying to be jealous or exaggerating. I could have lived or died and I don’t think he would have cared. He kept talking about how he wondered what special abilities our sons would have, kept trying to run little tests of strength and what-have-you. But, I think he may have forgotten, they are babies. Soren does have a mark on his forehead, but even so, a Branded’s powers normally don’t reveal themselves this early. He was impatient. I started to be very worried when he stopped being quite so gentle, and started trying things that…” she trailed off. The guilt was overwhelming her. “I should have run then,” she said softly. “He was too hard on them. Some of these ‘tests’ he ran would hurt them. I don’t think… I hope and pray… that they have no permanent damage. I would cry as hard as they did and beg him to stop, but he ignored me, as he always did by then.” She started to tear up. “I thought we could have a happy little family together. How wrong I was….” She rose from the table and came around to where Dheginsea and Kurth were holding the twins. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered, stroking their little heads softly. Pelleas smiled, Soren gurgled. She gave Rajaion a pleading look.

“Alright, that’s where I come in I guess,” he said, sitting up a little straighter in his chair. “I never told you all, but after… well, after that fight she had with you, Father, she was packing up to leave, and I gave her a sending stone. Practically forced her to take it along. She’d left it in the bottom of her bag, never touched it except to stow it away, once she had a permanent place to live. Anyway, late one night after he’d done something… particularly bad… she snapped. Waited for him to fall asleep, got the stone out, and sent for me. I was already asleep but luckily, my stone was right by the bed and the sudden energy coming off it woke me up. She told me everything – about the boys, about how she couldn’t fly, and couldn’t protect them either – asked for advice. Well, advice wasn’t going to cut it, so I left the next day. I took the sending stone with me and followed her psychic trail straight to their home in Nevassa. Ashnard happened to be out when I got there, but she didn’t trust him to be gone for long, so we barely packed anything, not even much food. She bundled up the boys, and we headed for the front yard so I could shift and fly them off. Well, we didn’t quite get there seamlessly. I opened the door and almost knocked noses with Ashnard. ‘You must be family,’ he said. ‘I didn’t think you still talked.’ I didn’t know how much time Almedha still needed to get ready to go, nor how much of a resistance he might put up, so I tried to be polite at first – to keep him talking, and distracted. But, like Almedha said, he’s not the kind of guy to make a lot of small talk. Eventually, he asked outright why I’d come. I’ve never been a good liar – especially under pressure – so I just said ‘I’m here to take them home.’ He didn’t like that very much. Almedha had the boys, and was edging around toward the door while we’d talked. She almost made it out, but when I said that, he lunged for her. I tackled him and Almedha ran. He’s got more power than I do – unshifted at least – and I wasn’t on top for long. We made a royal mess of the kitchen before I got away, and then I was only free of him for a few seconds. Just enough to get outside, before he pinned me down again.

“It got bad once we were in the front yard. I shifted but he hung on, so I flopped around trying to get him off. My gauge ran out, he pulled out a sword… yeah not good. I did get away though, shifted again, picked up Almedha, and flew off. Then, I don’t think she mentioned this, but he’s a pretty high-ranking officer in the Daein army. Anyway, he summoned a good-sized group of wyvern riders and came after us with them. Also very not good. You know, wyverns don’t have to stop and turn back into humans every few minutes. I was also injured from the tussle with Ashnard, so it was looking all-around pretty bad for us. We finally lost them by doubling back to downtown Nevassa and blending in with a crowd. Almedha pulled that off well enough, but I made more of a scene – obvious markings, bleeding, you know. So we couldn’t stay there long either.”

“I don’t know if you noticed,” Almedha piped up, “but a slaver was eyeing you almost immediately.”

“Oh, wonderful,” said Rajaion, “guess I looked like easy pickings. Thankfully, he didn’t act on that thought – would have been pretty fun trying to get out of that, huh?

“So anyway, we kept our heads down and made our way along the streets, heading for darker and quieter alleyways with every turn. Finally, we came to a spot where Almedha thought we’d be safe – at least for a little while. She left the babies with me and went back to the marketplace to try and trade our food for a vulnerary – the boys don’t eat yet, and we were both willing to do without if we had to. She came back later, healed me, and then lay low with us until after dark. That’s when we flew out – Ashnard was probably expecting that, but it was a cloudy night so there wasn’t even moonlight to see us by. We weren’t attacked or followed that time, but we weren’t taking any chances of them catching up either. We flew straight here. Never stopped for anything but my gauge, and to drink from a stream here and there.” He leaned back in his seat. “Whew! I’m so glad we’re home.”

“We all are,” said Ena, and the others nodded. Then Dheginsea’s eyebrows crinkled a little.

“That part with the sword…” he started.

“Oh don’t worry, Father,” said Rajaion, “I didn’t fight back, just kept trying to get out of his reach. That shouldn’t count as fighting, should it?”

“...Probably not,” said Dheginsea, satisfied. “The goddess was with you. For that I am thankful.” his mustache twitched in amusem*nt. “I trust you have seen enough of the world now, my dear?”

Almedha chuckled. “You needn’t worry about that, Father! I’m only too happy to be a secluded, proper dragon for the rest of my days.”

Chapter 3: Growing Up In Goldoa

Chapter Text

Part One: Stargazing

Little four-year-old Pelleas woke up in the middle of the night. He usually did. Mama didn’t know it, but he had a little tradition. Almost every night, he’d wiggle quietly out of bed (so he wouldn’t wake Soren), and go to the kitchen for a cup of water. That, and he’d have a little snoop around the castle too. He liked exploring, and the castle was huge. He was also hopeful, each night, that perhaps he’d get lucky and see her.

She was hard to predict. Sometimes he wouldn’t see her for many nights in a row, sometimes he’d have to go looking for her, sometimes she’d be in the kitchen waiting for him. Once in a great while, he’d even seen her by day, but it was so rare that he didn’t look for her then. The first time he’d seen her during the day, he’d asked Uncle Kurth who she was.

“Who?” Kurth had said.

“That lady, right there.”

“...I don’t see anybody,” he’d said. “Is she an imaginary friend?”

“I don’t know,” Pelleas had said. And it was true, he didn’t know. Who was she? Why was she there? Why didn’t she ever talk? Why couldn’t anyone else see her? Was she an imaginary friend? Pelleas knew none of these things, but he was a persistent little guy and he was determined to find out. So down to the kitchen he tiptoed, once again, and poured himself a cup of water. Except this time, he hadn’t gone alone. He turned around, cup in his mouth, and was so startled that he inhaled some water. He went into a horrible fit of coughing, then finally caught his breath and spluttered, “S-Soren?”

Soren stood the doorway, considering his brother. “You think you’re so sneaky,” he said, crossing his arms. “But I see you get up every night. What’cha doing?”

Pelleas thought for a minute. “She’s my special friend,” he thought. “But maybe Soren could see her too? Maybe it would be fun if it wasn’t just me that could see her.” He finished his water – down the right pipe this time. “I’m gonna go exploring,” he said out loud. “You can come too but you gotta be quiet! All the grown ups are sleeping.”

“You think,” said Soren. “You thought I was too, didn’t you?”

“So we gotta be even more quiet,” said Pelleas matter-of-factly. “You gonna come?”

“Sure,” said Soren. He liked exploring too. So the two little boys tiptoed out of the kitchen and made their way upstairs (jumping over the creaky step), and past all the bedrooms. “Mr. Gareth’s snoring so loud, we don’t need to sneak,” said Soren.

“Grandpa too!” Pelleas giggled. On they went, to the next flight of stairs, to get to the third and highest floor. “Let’s peek in the library,” he said.

“I wish I could read,” said Soren.

“You can!”

“Just the little words,” Soren said with a dramatic sigh. “Grandpa’s books all use really big words and I can’t read them.”

“Well that’s better than me,” said Pelleas, patting his shoulder. “But maybe there are books with pictures!”

“Okay,” said Soren, brightening up a little. They pushed the library door open with a crrrreeeeeaaaakk.

“There she is!” Pelleas gasped. And there she was, standing behind Grandpa’s desk, looking down at his Important King Papers. “Hi Lady!” She looked up at him and gave a little smile.

“Lady?” said Soren. “Where?”

“You don’t see her either?” said Pelleas, deflating a little. “I hoped you would.”

“Where?”

“Right there.”

Soren squinted. “...Nope.”

“Oh well,” said Pelleas with a shrug. He took a few steps closer. “How ya doing, Lady? Can you read? You’re a grown up so I bet you can.”

“Sometimes I worry about you,” said Soren, rummaging through the book shelves. “Why do you call her Lady? Does she have a name?”

“...I guess?” said Pelleas. “She doesn’t talk so I dunno.”

“You sure she’s there?”

“Why can’t he see you too?” Pelleas asked the lady. She gave a gentle shrug of her shoulders and glided for the door. “Wait, where are you going?”

“I wasn’t done with the books,” Soren pouted, following Pelleas back out of the library. Pelleas ignored him. He was too busy trying to keep up with the lady, who was drifting along toward the far end of the hallway. She came to the end, and looked back at the boys, smiling again. Now the boys had been down this hallway before, but they’d always thought it was just a dead end, with a window looking down over the countryside. But tonight, they noticed there was a trap door in the ceiling. Mostly, they noticed this because this time, it was open, and a ladder was propped against the frame. The lady winked at Pelleas, and faded away.

“Oh,” said Pelleas. “She’s never done that before.”

“What?”

“Just disappeared.”

“Um,” said Soren. But he didn’t know what else to say. What in the world was wrong with Pelleas? “Wonder what’s up there,” he finally said, heading for the ladder.

“Ooh yeah let’s find out!” his twin cried, happy to be distracted from his confusion. Soren clambered up first, and he followed close behind.

Kurth was standing at the top of the ladder, watching their progress. “How did you know I was up here?” he asked.

“We didn’t,” said Soren.

“We’re exploring!” Pelleas chirped from below him. “What’re you doing, Uncle Kurth?”

Kurth stepped back to make room for them to get off the ladder. “I’m stargazing.”

“You’re what?”

“Look,” said Kurth, gesturing at the sky.

“...Wow,” said Soren. His eyes were so wide, Kurth could see half the sky reflected in them.

“There are so many!” said Pelleas.

“There are,” said Kurth, turning to look with them. “Some people try to make pictures out of them.”

“Pictures?” Soren liked pictures.

"Yeah. Like you see that bunch over there? If you drew a line between the stars… if you played connect-the-dots with them… looks a little like a horse or a bear or something, doesn’t it?”

"Oooh,” said the boys, starting to look all over for “pictures”. They found all sorts of them, too. Kurth told them about the Big Fish, the Little Fish, the Crown, and the Raven. Soren found a pumpkin, a cup of hot cocoa, and a lizard. Pelleas found a lion, a snake, and one of Auntie Ena’s cinnamon rolls. He insisted he saw their mother, but Soren didn’t agree.

"Do you come here to look at pictures a lot?” Pelleas asked Kurth.

"Not really,” said Kurth. “Only on really nice nights like this one. I used to come up here with your grandma, when I was little. It was our special thing. So it always makes me think of her when I do. Sometimes that’s nice, but sometimes it’s sad.”

"Why’s it sad?” said Soren. “Oh, it just makes me miss her.” Kurth smiled sadly. “She would’ve loved you two, I can tell you that! Well, we’ve been up for a long time. How about we have some hot chocolate and go back to bed? Don’t tell your mom.”

"We won’t!” said Pelleas. He might have accidentally told Almedha later, but he did mean it!

Part Two: Birthday Cookies

"What’cha doing?” Pelleas asked as he came into the kitchen, a few months later.

Soren was sitting on the counter, staring down an open cookbook like he could make it surrender its secrets, if only he looked at it hard enough. Beside him sat several jars – Pelleas recognized the sugar right away but he wasn’t too sure about the others. He’d also gathered a bowl, the egg basket, and some measuring spoons. “It’s Mama’s birthday,” said Soren. “I wanna make cookies.”

"But… I thought you can’t read.”

"Big words, no! But look – most of these are little words. Like that one, that’s… ehh-ggs.” (He sounded the word out very slowly.) “Flll…oh-oor. Floh-oor. Um. Well, even if I don’t know what that is, Mr. Gareth’s got most of these jars labeled, so I can still find floh-oor. And that’s… ss-ah-lt. Salt!”

"You’re really smart, Soren.”

Chapter 4: Welcome Aboard!

Chapter Text

Chapter Four: Welcome Aboard

The sun beat down, hot, bright, intense, on the white sand of the seashore. The sparkling blue waves came up, drew back, came up again, in an endless peaceful rhythm of ebb and flow. A stray seagull flew overhead now and then, calling forlornly and watching carefully, to see if there was any tasty morsel left behind on the sand. A young teen Soren was building a detailed sand castle, complete with three tiered stories (each with its own wall), multiple watchtower turrets, little driftwood trebuchets, and a very wide moat around the whole thing. He was tying his handkerchief on a stick, to make a flag, which was the final touch on his masterpiece.

Pelleas was collecting seashells a little ways away. “Hey, what’s that?” he suddenly called, looking out over the waves.

Soren glanced up, squinting. There, far out to sea, he saw a little something floating along. Except he knew, that far away, it wasn’t really a little something. He squinted, trying to get a better look. “You know what?” he finally called back. “I’ve seen pictures of these before, in one of Grandpa’s old books about beorc customs. That’s a ship!”

“A ship?”

“Yeah, it’s like a boat, except it’s huge. You can fit all kinds of people on board, and even pack enough food and stuff to survive out on the water for weeks.” He shaded his eyes, still trying to see better. “It’s too far away right now, but most ships fly flags at the top to tell you what country they’re from. I wonder who that is?”

“Should we go tell Uncle Kurth?” said Pelleas. “I bet he’d love to see this!”

“He would,” said Soren. “But it’s so far away… I bet it’d disappear again before he got here. Might as well enjoy the sight while we can.”

“Fair.”

They both watched it quietly for a bit. "Bah,” said Soren finally, after squinting for a while longer. “I wish I had a spyglass or something.”

But someone DID have a spyglass. They had no way to tell from that distance, but the captain was looking straight at them with one. “My liege,” he grunted. “I think you’d better have a look.”

A tall, muscular, intimidating man strode up to where the captain stood, and took the offered spyglass. He swept the whole beach with it. “The goddess must be with us,” he chuckled. “It’s them, no mistake. And only them. Not a guard in sight. Who would have thought we would get so lucky, and at our first sighting of Goldoa at that!” He handed the spyglass back. “Get as close as you can, and drop anchor. We’ll take the rowboat in.”

“Right away, sir?”

“Now seems to be an excellent opportunity. I wouldn’t want to waste our good fortune.”

“Of course, sir. PUT INTO LAND!” he shouted to the sailors. Several men hurried below deck to man the rows.

“...Wait a second,” said Soren, after they’d been watching for a few minutes. “It’s coming right at us!”

“Here?” said Pelleas. “Why here? Are they lost?”

“Ah, I can almost make out the flag,” said Soren, squinting so hard now that his eyes hurt. “It’s… it’s red, with something black on it. That’s a… oh! It’s a dragon!”

“A red flag with a black dragon on it?” said Pelleas. He hadn’t paid as much attention as Soren had, when Ena had been teaching them about the different countries. “Which one is that?”

Chapter 5: Port Toha

Chapter Text

Chapter Five: Port Toha

Ena nibbled on the tip of her pencil as she looked down at her clipboard again. The others knew her well enough by now, that they recognized the tic – she was extremely nervous. But other than that, which she might not have even realized she was doing, she gave no indication of being upset at all. “Okay,” she said, “let’s go over everything one more time. No need to make things more tricky than they already are.”

“Please do,” said Dheginsea. “I think I may have missed part of the plan before.”

“Promise this is the last time,” said Almedha, who was twirling her hair, bouncing one leg, and generally hiding her nerves much less effectively than Ena. “I can’t stand to waste another minute.” She leaned her elbows on the table and put her face in her hands. “I can’t believe this,” she groaned. “I was so upset with you, Father, for hiding the truth from me ‘for my protection’.... And then I went and did the same thing. Why didn’t I tell them about their father? They could have known to stay away.”

“How do you know he didn’t take them by force?” said Kurth.

“We saw the tracks,” said Rajaion. “No signs of a scuffle at all. He probably just asked if they wanted a ride, and they were all too happy to take him up on it. You know how curious Soren is.”

“Right,” said Ena, clearing her throat. “So we don’t know where Ashnard is taking them. We suspect he’ll go to Nevassa, but there’s no way of knowing that for sure. So we’re splitting into two groups; one flies straight to Daein to try and set an ambush, on his way from the harbor to the capital. The other group will be locating and then trailing his ship, in case he goes somewhere else. If he seems to be going off course, or if we have reason to believe the boys are in immediate danger, this group will swoop in at the earliest opportunity. If the boys are relatively safe and he takes the route we expect, they will follow behind at a distance, and eventually regroup with the others during the ambush.”

“You say ambush,” said Dheginsea, furrowing his brows, “but you do not mean…?”

“Of course not,” said Ena. “Not an attacking ambush. But hopefully we’ll take him by so much surprise, that we can grab the boys and flee immediately – just like last time, but smoother,” she said with a nod to her mate. “Now, how would we like to divide the groups?”

“I should probably be in the Nevassa group,” Almedha said with a little sigh. “I don’t want to wait around for Ashnard to show up, but traveling with me will be more difficult, since I can’t shift. And the trailing group will have more flying to do.”

“That makes sense,” said Ena. She looked from Rajaion, to Kurth, and then back again.

“I’m not breaking up the dream team,” Kurth laughed, punching Rajaion in the arm. “I’ll take May to Daein and you two can go on your romantic little adventures together.”

“Won’t be that romantic,” Rajaion chuckled. “We’ve got pretty serious stuff to deal with. But I still like the way you think,” he added, ruffling Kurth’s hair and wiggling his eyebrows at Ena.

Ena rolled her eyes - but she was smiling slightly too. “Alright, does everybody have their sending stones? We will EACH be carrying one, in case a team gets separated. Hopefully we aren’t but we’re better safe than sorry.” The others all double-checked their pockets and satchels and murmured their affirmatives. Ena peeked in hers as well, just to be extra-sure. “Good,” she said, checking that off on her list. “Food? Water? Gold for more of it?”

“Yep.”

“Enough.”

“Everyone confident they can pass as beorc?”

“Obviously,” said Almedha. Kurth flipped his hood over his head – it fell neatly to just above his eyes, handily concealing his ears and his forehead. Rajaion started tying a wide bandana ribbon around his head, sticking his tongue out as he concentrated, and tucking his ears in when he was done.

Ena opened her pocket mirror and checked to make sure her makeup hadn’t smudged, or that her head ribbon had moved. She also peeked in her satchel again, and visually confirmed the concealer stick was inside. “Okay, I think we’re ready,” she said. “Don’t hesitate to use the sending stones if you have questions or need anything – we don’t need to save them just for important updates.”

“But do those too,” Almedha said quickly. “I want to know the minute you spot the ship!”

“Of course,” said Rajaion. He glanced at Dheginsea.

“You seem very well prepared,” the king said. “I do not like letting you leave, but Ashnard has left us with no other options. Remain peaceful, and be safe, all of you.” The five of them stood up. Ena raised her right arm to her chest in a laguz salute, while the three children took turns giving their father goodbye hugs.

“Alright, let’s go!” said Almedha. They hurried outside, the boys shifted, the girls climbed on, and off they flew into the predawn sky – Rajaion and Ena due north toward Gallia, Kurthnaga and Almedha more east-northeast, toward Kauku Caves, and beyond that, Serenes Forest.

**********

The sentry who was posted near the lifeboats rubbed his eyes and yawned. What a boring job, he thought. It wasn’t like those kids would try and escape in one, no matter what the king had said. The only land in sight was an overhanging cliffside, impossible to climb, that kept the ocean from creeping into the northern edge of Gallia. The breeze was unusually cold that night. The sentry shivered. How could the air be so chilly when the night was so beautiful? He shuffled over to the copper brazier in the middle of the deck to warm himself up a little.

Meanwhile, the captain was snoring in his quarters. A hook was in the wall above his head, and from this, hung a ring of keys. A thin, wispy ribbon of mist trailed in through the keyhole on his door. It tumbled gracefully to the floor, and seeped alongside the bed… crept silently up the wall… wrapped its smokey tendrils around the key ring… lifted it off the hook with the faintest of jingles… and started retreating toward the door with the keys in tow. When it got there, it hesitated, as if it were thinking. The keys certainly wouldn’t fit through where the mist had come from before…. So it slowly, gently, lowered them to the floor. They made a little more jingling noise, but not enough to wake the captain. (He’d had a few mugs of grog the night before, and a hard day’s work to boot. He was very tired.) Softly, carefully, the vapor eased under the door, dragging the key ring with it. The keys had to be adjusted a few times to fit under, but eventually they made it too.

Moira collected her strands and reformed outside the door, holding the key ring. She floated off down the hallway, into the latrine where Pelleas was hiding. “Be careful,” she said as she passed him the keys. “There are a lot of them, and they could make quite a bit of noise. Especially when you’re trying to find which one works.”

“Thank you, Grandmother,” Pelleas whispered out loud – it was easier than responding psychically, and she could hear either way. He thought for a moment, then finally tore a long strip off the end of his tunic, and wrapped each key separately before putting the lot in his pocket. The tunic had been borrowed from one of the sailors, and was a bit too big for him anyway. Hopefully no one would notice the frayed end. He tiptoed back out to the hallway and slunk along the stairs to the upper deck.

Soren was sitting in a shadowy corner of the prow, softly muttering in Ancient Tongue and sending very gentle gusts of wind magic toward the sentry, just enough to keep him chilled. He saw Pelleas creeping out from below deck, and making his way behind the sentry, to the nearest lifeboat. He pulled the key ring out – slowly – and started fumbling with the padlock, checking each key as quickly and quietly as he could. After several agonizing minutes, one key slid into the lock with a satisfying little click. Pelleas started to turn it when he heard a creak on the stairs, and felt a twinge of alarm from Moira. Soren sensed danger too, and stopped the wind spell, hugging the corner as best he could and trying to disappear.

“Keeping alert, I see, soldier,” said a fierce looking woman with long green hair. The sentry jumped – she’d completely snuck up on him.

“Y-yes, General Petrine!” he squeaked, spinning around and giving a salute.

“Forget it,” Petrine grunted. “You weren’t even looking at the lifeboats. You were guarding the lifeboats, weren’t you? But not really.”

“S-sorry, General!” the man whimpered. Petrine had a pretty ruthless reputation for when soldiers disappointed her. But, she hadn’t had her coffee yet and he was in luck.

“Get out of my sight,” she barked. “Send up someone more competent!”

“Ma’am!” he said, saluting again. He ran down the stairs.

The general lit a cigar and leaned against the railing beside the lifeboat. Soren squinted, but he couldn’t see where Pelleas had gone. Petrine didn’t seem to have seen him either, and for now, he would have to content himself with that. “Idiots, the lot of them,” she was grumbling to herself. “This kind of work is beneath me, but nobody else is capable apparently.” She took a long breath from the cigar, and blew out a smoke ring, surprising Soren. It was a good thing he’d quit doing his wind spell, or that might have given him away.

Pretty soon, another soldier had come up the stairs. “You sent for a sentry, ma’am?” he asked, saluting.

“Keep an eye on these boats,” said Petrine. “We’re almost around the cliffs; it’d be a perfect time to try and escape to Port Toha. That last fool would have let the princes right under his nose!”

“You can count on me, general,” said the soldier, squaring his shoulders.

“Don’t disappoint me – or the king,” said Petrine, grinding the cigar against the railing to put it out. She stowed the rest in a pocket, and sauntered back below deck. The newcomer stood in the corner she had just vacated, eyes sweeping the ship, back and forth, back and forth…. Pretty soon, Soren noticed the tarp on the lifeboat was lifting ever-so-slightly. A pair of dark eyes peered out from under it, glanced at the guard, and disappeared again. Pelleas would be stuck there all day if Soren didn’t do something – or maybe that was okay. According to Petrine, there might be a good place to get away to, soon.

“What now?” Pelleas thought. “This guard isn’t moving away….”

“Just be patient for now, and let Soren do the thinking,” said Moira. “At least you’ve found the right key. I wonder how many of these ties actually need to be tied, to support the boat’s weight….”

“Good idea,” said Pelleas. Moira showed up very well here, in the dark, and she even gave off a little bit of other-light, so he could see how many ties were attached to the boat. He quietly began to undo one, praying he wasn’t jostling the tarp too much – getting busted in here would only make Ashnard tighten the security.

Soren’s corner shadow was shrinking rapidly and it was only a matter of time before the guard would notice him. He decided to act casual again, for now. He leaned his head back against the corner and closed his eyes. Pretty soon, he heard footsteps approaching.

“You slept out here all night?” Petrine chuckled – it wasn’t a very nice chuckle. Soren opened one eye and saw she was holding a mug in each hand, and taking a sip from one.

“Not really,” he said. “I couldn’t sleep, until like an hour ago. I couldn’t get it out of my head, how distraught my mother must be by now….” This was, in fact, half-true.

“Bah, don’t worry about her,” said Petrine, setting the second mug on the planks beside him. He sniffed at it – it was coffee. “I brought it up here for that sentry,” she grunted, “so he doesn’t sleep on the job like that last guy. But he’s pretty chipper, and it’s freezing out here, and I’m sure the king would like it if you didn’t catch a cold.” Soren thought she seemed very adamant that she wasn’t trying to be nice.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t worry about your mom,” she repeated, leaning against the wall nonchalantly. “Parents usually don’t get upset over their kids. At least, not when their kids are people like us,” she added, a bitter tinge to her voice.

“Us?” said Soren.

“You know,” said Petrine, pulling her already low-cut shirt to the side, revealing a strange, dark green mark on her chest. Soren didn’t know if he should be looking or not. “The ‘halfbreeds’,” she growled, doing air quotes.

“Oh,” said Soren. “They don’t?”

“Nah,” said Petrine. She took another sip of her coffee. “Mine ditched me so fast, I don’t even know who they were. Who wants a cursed baby, and all that.”

“If that’s how it is, why would Father go to all this trouble?”

“Now Ashnard,” said Petrine, smiling, “your father – he’s a special man. He doesn’t care what you are or where you’ve come from. If you can prove your worth, he’ll give you a home, and a station you can be proud of. He hopes the whole world can work like that someday.”

It seemed like such a noble ideal, for a guy who kidnapped his own kids. Soren tilted his head a little, then went back to his coffee. He snuck a glance over his mug at the lifeboat, but the guard was still on high alert, and the tarp never fluttered.

Two of its ties looked… oddly slack, though.

“Trouble is,” Soren said quietly, “I already had a home. I don’t need him to give me one.”

“Can’t help you with that one,” said Petrine with a shrug, shifting her weight back on her feet. “Looks like you’re stuck with us. See ya, kid.” She headed back toward the stairwell again. Halfway along the deck, she paused. “Where’s your brother?”

“Still asleep, I think,” said Soren. “Nothing keeps that guy awake at night!” This was a lie – Pelleas was always waking up, maybe partly because of his powers. Soren wasn’t used to lying, but he suspected he could use a little practice in this company. Petrine seemed satisfied and kept going.

Breakfast came and went, and still there was no sign of Pelleas. Soren went into their quarters and made his bed, very neatly. He fluffed up all the pillows, plopped them haphazardly on Pelleas’ bed, and tossed the sheets overtop. Then he came back out. “Wouldn’t go in there if I were you,” he said to Ashnard, who’d been thinking about checking. “He’s really seasick.”

“Good thing the voyage won’t be long,” said the captain, who’d overheard. “Once we round the cape, the prevailing winds will carry us to Daein before dawn tomorrow.”

Ashnard cracked the door to look in, and saw the big lump in Pelleas’ bed. “Oof,” he said, and backed away again. “Poor kid.”

“Pelleas” wasn’t bothered after that, but Soren didn’t count on the decoy to last forever. He had to get to the lifeboat soon, but how? He went back to his perch on the prow and kept brainstorming. That sentry hadn’t budged, until his relief came, and the new guy was just as vigilant. Even if he would look away, there were all kinds of men on deck now, and it was broad daylight. Someone was bound to see him if he tried to get to his brother.

Unless… he eyed that brazier, which – thanks to the cool morning – hadn’t been extinguished yet. Very softly, he started muttering in Ancient Tongue again. A light breeze kicked up… brushing against the flames, and coaxing up the sparks. Even a little piece of burning paper – some bit of garbage thrown in, no doubt – was caught up in the gust and drifted upward, towards the mainsail. It kept floating, slowly, higher and higher… then it brushed against the sail. The spark caught. Soren kept murmuring, and the breeze shifted again, fanning the little fire. The smoldering sail quickly burst into flames.

“Fire! Fire!” the sailors shouted. Several of them started climbing the mast to put it out.

WHOOSH! A sudden big gust caught the brazier at just the right angle. It tipped and rolled across the deck, strewing live coals in its wake. The wind whipped into a proper little storm… which was oddly centered around the ship. Big waves knocked the sides. Barrels went overboard. Men were running all over in a panic, including the sentry, who’d been caught up in trying to help collect the coals. Soren made a dash for the lifeboat, narrowly missing slamming into someone as he went. He was still whispering his spell, keeping the chaos going as best he could, but his concentration was waning fast. He vaulted over the rail and into the lifeboat. He landed squarely on Pelleas, who yelped – half from pain, half from surprise.

“The ropes! Quick!” said Soren. “And the lock!”

“I got the lock already,” said Pelleas, scrabbling at one of the remaining fastenings. “It only looks locked.”

“Perfect,” said Soren. “Okay, we need to untie these last two at the same time, or the boat will flip on end and toss us out. Ready?”

“Go.” They pulled the last strings and the lifeboat let loose from the ship, dropping straight down toward the water. The boys started to fall with it, but Pelleas suddenly felt a sharp pain in his scalp and he jerked to a stop, hanging in midair by his hair.

“There you are,” said Petrine, lifting him toward the railing. “Not bad, for a couple of kids.”

Pelleas started to panic, but Moira cried, “The keys!” He swiped them from his pocket, and stabbed at Petrine's hand as hard as he could. More out of surprise than anything else, Petrine let go of his hair and he plummeted into the freezing water. Soren was already holding out an oar when he came back up, coughing and spluttering.

“To the boats!” Ashnard shouted. “After them!” Soren was the smaller twin, by a few inches. It was almost too much for him to pull Pelleas aboard, but somehow, they managed. Above, the sailors were rapidly piling into the other lifeboats.

“Start rowing,” said Soren. “I have a plan.”

“Are you nuts?” Pelleas asked as he grabbed the paddles. “I can't out-row a dozen big guys!”

“Just do it,” said Soren. “I’ve got this.” The other lifeboats lowered into the water and started coming after them, fast.

Up on the deck, Petrine and Ashnard were watching the race. “I-I’m so sorry, your majesty,” Petrine was saying. “He took me completely by surprise with these keys-”

“Never mind, they're not getting away this easily,” said Ashnard. “Actually, this was a good opportunity for them to demonstrate their abilities. What do you think, Petrine? With a little training, Soren would make an excellent strategist, wouldn't he?”

“Oh, absolutely,” said Petrine, grateful for the subject change.

“I hope you know what you're doing,” Pelleas whimpered. The sailors were almost upon them. Soren took a deep breath, flicked his wrists, and shouted something in Ancient Tongue. Another big gust of wind kicked up a good sized wave, which washed across the lifeboats, and capsized them.

“WHAT!” Petrine gasped. “He doesn't even have a tome! How can he do that?!”

“Impressive,” said Ashnard, a scheming smile creeping onto his face. “Most impressive. Get the men back on board and make all haste to the port - they win this round, but they'll have to land, with no food. We'll catch them then.”

**********

Port Toha was just coming alive when the lifeboat drifted in – Pelleas was still rowing as hard as he could; Soren was propelling it forward with gusts of wind. It floated up beside a long pier, and Soren grabbed on. Pelleas set the paddles down, and shakily hauled himself up and out. He collapsed on the planks and lay there, panting, as Soren climbed up beside him, leaving the boat to go wherever it liked.

“Thank – the goddess,” Pelleas gasped. “I can’t – go farther. Do – do you think – we lost them?”

“Not a chance,” said Soren. “We were faster getting here, but this port was their next stop. We have to get out of here.”

“...Bother,” said Pelleas. “Well, let’s go.” He rolled onto his stomach and pushed up slowly. “Where to? Which way is home?”

“Let’s not worry about that for now,” said Soren. “We just need to get away from the harbor and lie low awhile. We’ll work out the way home once they’ve moved on from looking here. Actually…” he said as they started off down the pier, “if we head on a straight path for home, they’ll probably be expecting it and try to set an ambush. Maybe we should take a more scenic route.”

“You’re… you’re just excited to see the world,” said Pelleas, grinning.

“Maybe,” Soren admitted, “but it’s also true, a direct path back to Goldoa would be more predictable. Like I said, though, we’ll worry about that later.”

The two hurried along the misty streets, weaving between merchants, sailors, and travelers – beorc and laguz alike, since this town wasn’t far from the Gallian border. Most people took no notice of them, although a couple of cats turned their heads to watch them go by, sniffing and making confused faces. “Right,” said Soren under his breath. “Uncle Kurth said we have a distinct scent, being Branded. I hope they don’t tell on us.”

“Nothing to be done,” said Pelleas, and they hurried on quietly.

Toha turned out to be a pretty sizable town. They’d been running for several minutes and saw no sign of an end to the buildings – but, on the other hand, any size of city seemed large to them, since they’d lived in a place with only one big building all their lives. “I need a break,” Pelleas finally gasped.

“Come on,” said Soren. He’d spotted a loose board in someone’s fence. He lifted it, shooed his brother through the hole, and wriggled in after him. Pelleas sat in the grass, breathing hard again, while he crept up to the house this yard belonged to. “Maybe if nobody’s home, we could hide inside. They won’t search all the buildings.”

“What are a couple of half-breeds doing here?” came a growly old voice in Pelleas’ ear. He jumped, and saw a pale form floating through the yard, of a somewhat dumpy woman with her hair pulled back in a bun. She was scowling at him, but raised her eyebrows when he looked back at her. “Oh! My mistake,” she said. “I saw your mark and thought you were, well, you know. But you can hear me. You’re a charmer, aren’t ya?”

“...Yes ma’am,” said Pelleas, deciding correcting her wouldn’t be worth his while. “If you don’t mind my asking, do you know if anyone’s home?”

“Oh yes,” she grumbled. “My good-for-nothing son. At least, he was my son once. I’d have disowned him outright if he weren’t the only one. As it is, there was nobody else to inherit the house. If I’d known I’d be stuck haunting it, I’d have found somebody else to sell it to, or something!” The idea of a family not loving each other was so foreign to Pelleas, he wasn’t even sure how to respond. After a moment, the ghost went on. “Thank the goddess, he’ll be off to work soon, and I’ll have peace for the day.”

“Th-thanks, ma’am,” said Pelleas. “Someone’s home,” he called to Soren.

“Then we shouldn’t be sitting in plain sight. Come on – those bushes….”

They ducked behind the shrubbery, and not a moment too soon. The door opened, and the most formidable figure they’d ever seen emerged. He was taller than Rajaion, burlier than Dheginsea, and covered head to toe in bulky black armor. He held a sword as long as a horse in one hand. Thankfully, he didn’t notice the boys. He stooped, locked his front door, followed the footpath through the yard, and marched off down the street.

“...Goodness,” said Pelleas. “That guy’s a monster.”

“I wouldn’t like to meet him face-to-face,” said Soren. “You must be talking to a ghost – does he think the knight will be gone all day?”

“Oh, he doesn’t come home until dusk,” said the spirit. “Thankfully.”

“We’d be safe in there until suppertime,” said Pelleas. “If we can get in.”

“Thanks, Ghost,” Soren grunted. He rose from their hiding place and strolled around the house, examining the doors and windows. “Every building has a weak point,” he muttered to himself.

**********

Rajaion squinted against the cold wind. He and Ena had caught a favorable one, and they’d made very good time across Gallia. They were just coming in sight of the sea on the northern edge, and he was sweeping his eyes over the water on the horizon, looking for any irregularities.

Ena’s gauge ran out and she reverted from under him. They held onto each other as they dropped toward the ground at breakneck speed. “See anything?” she asked, the fierce updraft bringing tears to her eyes.

“Not yet,” said Rajaion. “But we’re not very close to the water either. You have a look.” He shifted and soared upwards again, Ena clinging to his back.

Another ten minutes had gone by before Ena shouted, “A ship! I see one!” Rajaion angled himself a little and they glided gently toward the trees, hopefully too close to the ground to be noticed by the sailors. They drifted over an outcropping near the shore, and he landed, reverting as soon as Ena had jumped off.

“Blast,” he said. “Too far away to see their flag.”

“Perhaps, to the naked eye,” said Ena, reaching into her satchel.

“What…?” he started, but stopped when she pulled out a pair of binoculars. “You really do think of everything,” he said, fondly. “...Well?”

“...It’s a Daein ship all right,” said Ena. “Can’t make out anybody on board, but I’m assuming this is the one. They don’t have dealings with Gallia. If they were going to Port Toha, they’d be coming from the east, not over here. There’s really no reason for a Daein ship to be here… unless it’s the one we’re looking for.”

“So what now?” said Rajaion. “I’d love to get closer – see if we can get a visual on the boys – but I don’t want to be spotted either.”

“That’s the trouble,” said Ena, tucking her binoculars away again. She turned to her mate, reached up and adjusted his headband. “It looks like we’ll have to go into town. There’s a good chance they’ll stop there to refill their water casks.”

“Well,” said Rajaion, “if we fly much closer, someone might notice us.” He offered Ena his arm. “May I escort you?”

Ena laughed as she laced hers through. “Kurth was right about us,” she said, smiling up at her mate, as they began the next leg of their journey on foot. “Even under stress, you can’t help but flirt.”

“You expect me to stick to business? Traveling with the loveliest lady in Tellius?”

“Oh whatever,” said Ena, turning bright pink and looking away. “Come on, those boys need help! If we hurry we can beat the ship into port. I just hope they’re stopping there….”

**********

“Got it,” said Soren. “Come on, Pell.” With a twitch of the stick he’d been using as a crowbar, he finally worked one of the windows open on the house. “It’s a little bit of a climb, can you reach?”

“Yeah.” Pelleas was still very tired from his long morning, but he pulled himself up on the windowsill and wriggled inside without much trouble. Then he reached back out to give Soren a lift in. “What now?”

“That ghost you talked to said the knight will be gone all day, right?” said Soren. “I’d say just lie low, probably until we’re worried about him showing up. The longer we go unnoticed, the more likely Father is to give up the search.”

“And then what?”

“Then, we try to make our way home.” Soren went to the nearest cabinet and started rummaging through it. “I wonder if he’s got a map in here somewhere.”

“You can’t just look through his stuff!”

“I didn’t hear any objections to breaking and entering.”

“Well that’s different,” said Pelleas, “We HAD to find a place to hide! We don’t have to mess up the guy’s house, or steal anything!”

“Relax, I’ll keep it tidy.” Soren closed the cabinet – which had mostly contained clothing – and moved to the next room. “Just want to see if I can get any directional hints.” There was a chest of drawers in this room; he opened a few and found nothing of interest. Then he opened one near the bottom and gasped.

“What? What’s the matter?” said Pelleas.

“Look…” said Soren. He reached in and picked up a small leather sack – Pelleas saw the drawer was full of them. Soren worked the top open and tipped it a little so he could see inside. Pelleas saw a glittering white powder.

“What is it?” he asked.

“It’s warp powder,” said Soren. He looked around the room. “Funny, this guy’s house isn’t really all that furnished. I’d expect things to be more ornate, for someone who can afford this much warp powder!”

“What does it do?” said Pelleas.

“From what I’ve read,” said Soren, “you take a pinch of it and throw it on the ground, while you think about a place you’d rather be. If you concentrate hard enough – and use the right amount of powder – you disappear, and reappear wherever you wanted to go.”

“What happens if you do it wrong?”

“I dunno,” said Soren. “It’s a beorc thing; Grandpa’s library only says so much about beorc things. But I know it’s super expensive.” He gave Pelleas a sneaky little smile. “There’s an awful lot of it here… and we’re very far away from home…. Do you think he would mind if we borrowed a little?”

“It doesn’t matter if he’d notice or not,” said Pelleas. “That’s stealing. That’s wrong.”

Soren looked a little disappointed, but he put the powder back. “You’re right, you’re right. Shame though – I’d love to know what it’s like to use it.”

Pelleas felt a presence. “I’ve been watching the harbor,” said Moira, floating in through the wall behind Soren. “Your father just dropped anchor and the boats are coming ashore.”

“Thank you, Grandmother,” said Pelleas. “He just dropped anchor,” he repeated to Soren, who’d tilted his eyebrow at him.

“Shouldn’t be a problem,” said Soren. “Just stay away from the windows, and they should have no reason to search this house.”

The morning dragged along. Soren kept snooping through the house, but besides the warp powder, the whole place was pretty dull. Pelleas sat in a corner with his eyes shut, trying to tune in to all the psychic chatter out in the street – here in this town, as in Ryunaga, there were a lot of ghosts to be heard – most of them peaceful elderly types without much gumption, but, like their living counterparts, many of them enjoying a bit of gossip. He tried to listen for any warnings that Ashnard, or his men, might be near.

Around lunchtime, the old woman from that house started grumbling to herself.

“What’s the matter, ma’am?” Pelleas asked.

“This isn’t my lucky day,” the ghost huffed. “He’s coming home already! I wonder what he wants.”

“What??” Pelleas sprang up. “Soren! He’s home!”

“What?” Soren came running from the next room, where he’d been studying a map. “How close?” Heavy armored footsteps sounded on the doorstep.

“Oh goddess,” said Pelleas, but Soren grabbed his hand and pulled him into the back bedroom they’d been in before, with the chest of drawers.

“We can’t-”

“We have to.”

“But-”

“Just think about home. A specific spot would be best,” Soren whispered hurriedly, tipping about a tablespoon of powder first into Pelleas’ hand, then into his own. “Think of the kitchen, okay? Don’t hesitate,” he said as the lock clicked and the front door creaked open. “I’ll see you there, okay?” He hurled the powder to the ground and vanished in a little flash.

“I’m going to regret this,” Pelleas groaned, shutting his eyes and thinking hard about the kitchen back in Castle Goldoa. He could practically smell Gareth’s coffee. Unbidden, the sound of the big knight walking through the next room intruded on his thoughts. Just as he was flinging the powder down, he heard the old ghost lady muttering again.

“Why couldn’t I have died somewhere more interesting for haunting? Like Nevassa?”

The Black Knight came around the corner, just in time to see a flash of light.

“I need a chest with a lock,” he grumbled to himself.

**********

Soren kept his eyes closed for a moment after he’d dropped the warp powder. Odd, he thought to himself. He’d been expecting some sort of strange feeling when the powder worked, but, other than being a bit tired, he felt nothing. In fact, if it weren’t for the fact that he could no longer hear his brother’s nervous breathing, he’d have thought nothing had happened at all.

Then he heard the birdsong. Oh, no. This was outside. This was NOT the kitchen in Castle Goldoa. He opened his eyes and his stomach did a little flip. This wasn’t even in the target country – the biome wasn’t right; there were too many trees. What on earth had he done?

And where was Pelleas???

Chapter 6: Stalwarts Unite

Chapter Text

Chapter Six: Stalwarts Unite

Ashnard had all but emptied the ship, sending the entire squadron of soldiers, and many of the sailors, into the streets of the port town to look for his sons. Even the Black Knight, who had a house here, had joined in the search by now. There was just a skeleton crew left aboard.

“I wish we could see inside,” said Ena, looking through her binoculars again. She and Rajaion had managed to climb a tall building without catching attention, and were sitting on the flat roof, peeking over the edge toward the harbor. “There’s not much happening on deck, and I don’t see the boys.”

“Hmm,” said Rajaion. “Well… what would you say to trying a little improv, to get aboard?”

“Aboard?” Ena said sharply. “That sounds downright dangerous.”

“It’s a gamble,” Rajaion admitted. “But it might give us a better chance of seeing the boys.”

Ena noticed one ear sticking out from under his headband, and tucked it back in. “You’ve got to be more careful with your disguise, or we’re dead.”

“Sorry,” he said with a little smile. “I’ll pay more attention. What do you say?”

“I suppose,” said Ena, “the worst that can happen is we get busted and have to fly away, right?”

“Right,” said Rajaion. “Let’s just not get busted while we’re in the hold, alright?” He headed for the ladder to get back off the roof. “I’ve got a decent story, I think, to tell the sailors. Just play along!” They waited for no one to be looking, and shimmied down the ladder. Then Rajaion took his mate’s hand and started to run down the street.

“Wha-?”

“Trust me!” They hurried along, as fast as their legs would take them, until they were rushing down the pier, skidding to a halt beside the lifeboats which were tied on. One sailor sat in the lifeboats, waiting for the search parties to come back. “Hey!” Rajaion cried, pausing to take a couple of exaggerated, gasping breaths. “Are you – are you with that Daein ship out there?”

“Aye,” said the sailor, “what of it?”

“Oh, thank the goddess,” said Rajaion. “We can finally go home!” He gestured at himself and Ena. “My wife and I were honeymooning a little ways out of town here, and we were supposed to be back to Marado weeks ago. There should have been a transport ship coming through, but it never came. I hope it didn’t sink! Would you – whew – would you happen to have a little extra space on board for a couple of extra travelers? We’ll pay of course!”

“If it were up to me,” the sailor began, with a little shrug and a sigh, “I’d be happy to help ye. But this is a warship, and King Ashnard himself is traveling on board. I’d be overstepping – a lot – to say aye or nay.”

“Oh, we’re so desperate to be home, we’d even stow away if we had to,” said Ena. “We’ll pay you everything we have just to take us aboard. We’ll keep out of the way, we promise!” She produced her money bag – it wasn’t very large, but it was stuffed to capacity.

The sailor’s eyes gleamed hungrily, when she opened it to show him. “Hmmm,” he said. “Very well. But we’d better hurry, I don’t know how much longer the king’s business in town will take. Get in.”

“Thank you,” said Rajaion, climbing down to sit beside the man. “You have no idea how much we appreciate it. The missus is getting so homesick it’s unbearable. I’ll help you row.” Ena picked up a pair of paddles too.

With the three of them rowing – and perhaps a little extra draconian strength – the lifeboat practically flew across the water. They pulled up alongside the ship.

Another sailor looked down at them. “Who’s that, Bill?”

“Ye by yourself up there, Charlie?”

“Aye?”

“Throw the ladder down. They’re a couple of stranded tourists.”

“Tourists?”

“They’re paying us handsomely for a lift back to Daein.” He lowered his voice to the dragons. “That’s me brother. We’ll have to let him in on this, but it’ll be our little secret, just the four of us, aye?”

“Of course,” said Rajaion as the rope ladder rolled down to them. “We don’t want to get you in trouble with the king. After you, my love.”

“Stowaways, eh?” said Charlie, when they’d all come aboard and explained themselves. “Lucky ye came when ye did. It’s just me and Bill manning the ship right now. Well, just me. Ye should be getting back to harbor, Bill. How much ye paying us to hide ye?”

“It’s at least 300 gold,” said Bill. “If we split it, that’s still a tidy sum.” He tossed Ena’s money bag to his brother.

“...Aye!” said Charlie, looking inside. “Well, let’s get ye settled in then, shall we? We’ll have to find a good place ye can stay hidden. Shouldn’t have to stay there more than a day and a night, if the winds be true,” he added as Bill started back down toward the lifeboat. He looked Ena up and down casually. “A shame ye have to hide, though. I’ll wager the boys would love to have a fair lass such as yourself about, after having nothing to look at lately but that Branded wench.”

“That’s just as well, she’s taken,” Rajaion laughed, trying his best to be unflustered at Charlie’s… multiple layers of rudeness. “I imagine we’ll be hidden in the hold somewhere?”

“Come on and we’ll find a suitable place,” said Charlie, leading the way below decks. “If it comes to the worst, I might have to go back on deck,” he added as they made their way down, “and ye’d be left to find a hiding place on your own. We’d best hurry.”

**********

The gray sky was crying, as if her heart was broken. The rain had nowhere to soak in, when it fell on the cobbled streets. Instead, it gathered itself up into little streams and flowed alongside the traffic – of people and of carriages alike.

Pelleas shivered and shook the wet hair out of his eyes. “Well,” he said softly to himself. “This isn’t right at all. Grandmother?”

“Yes, little one?”

“Any idea where we are?”

There was a momentary silence. “I’m afraid not,” Moira finally said. “I saw plenty of the world in my own day… but our people haven’t left home in centuries. The nations outside of Goldoa change rapidly, and beorc ones even more so. Other than the names of all three, and a little background knowledge of Begnion’s apostles and their ancestral line, I have no clues.”

That was when Pelleas began to notice a… strange aura in the area. Other people walking the wet streets didn’t seem to notice anything, but his head felt full and heavy, like he had a cold, and his joints ached faintly. “This place… this place is sick.”

“It was, once,” said Moira. “Can you hear the spirits?” Pelleas closed his eyes and listened – and immediately regretted it. The ghosts’ memories flooded into his mind. Old men coughing. A child crying softly… because she had no strength to be louder. Wails of agony, and… under it all, an undercurrent of rage. He opened his eyes and tried to shake the sounds off himself. But they lingered, in the back of his mind. “You will find,” said Moira, softly, “That spirits have different levels of energy, depending on when, and how, we died. I may have passed at a young age, but it was through no one’s fault. I didn’t suffer either. I only grew weaker and weaker, until one day… well. People like me make content, peaceful spirits, especially after we’ve been dead a long time. These people…”

“It must have been some kind of plague?” said Pelleas.

“Indeed,” said Moira. “But… not a normal sickness. Why would you be angry, if you were killed by an illness?”

“...Well, I might be a bit annoyed.”

“But at whom?” said Moira. “Were you angry with Soren, when he gave you the chicken pox?”

“No? That wasn’t his fault.”

“Exactly. No, these people may have succumbed to a plague, but it was a plague that someone… worked upon them. Otherwise they wouldn’t be so angry. This is some kind of curse.”

“Don’t talk about us like we can’t hear you,” grumbled a stately-looking ghost man who was floating by.

“We’re sorry, sir,” Pelleas said quietly. The other living people were starting to give him odd looks. He must have been a sight, just standing still in the rain in the middle of the street, talking to nothing. “We’re just trying to understand. If you don’t mind, what happened here?”

“We didn’t realize,” said the man, “until after the fact. We were cursed, by our own royalty. One of the princes went and put our fair country under a blood pact! The resulting plague killed us off in droves, until no one was left ahead of him, in line to his father’s throne. Then he slew his father and lifted the curse. I only wish we could tell those left of our countrymen, there would be an uprising immediately if they truly knew what monster they had for a ruler!”

“Good goddess,” Pelleas whispered. “This man is the king now?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” said the man. “There’s no telling what else he might do in his pursuit of power. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to invade Crimea next. But of course, I can’t warn my cousins over there. Confound this cursed spectral state!”

“Ah,” said Pelleas. “We… we must be in Daein.”

The ghost squinted at him. "You got all the way to Nevassa without realizing that, my boy?”

“It’s a long story,” said Pelleas. He looked around at the buildings. “I need to get out of the rain….” He made for a building that seemed to be getting a lot of foot traffic – a hanging wooden sign read “The Raucous Raven”. Not that Pelleas knew what that meant. He slipped inside behind someone else and hovered near the entrance, shivering and dripping rainwater all over the welcome mat. “So,” he said very softly, as he observed the pub. “Father wasn’t completely lying. There wasa plague.”

“That is often the best kind of lie,” said Moira drily. “Wrap a little truth around it and it becomes much more palatable.” Pelleas caught an odd sadness to her voice, but also sensed she didn’t want to talk about it.

The bartender, a stocky little woman, peered at him from behind her counter. “Go away,” she growled at him. “We don’t serve your kind here.”

“My…?” Pelleas started.

“Don’t play stupid,” barked one of the burlier patrons. “Get out of here, halfbreed!”

“Oh,” said Pelleas, reaching up to feel. His wet hair was clinging together in little clumps, and the mark on his forehead – which was usually well hidden – must have been sticking out like a sore thumb.

“Go on!” the bartender repeated, and the big man rose from his seat. Pelleas didn’t like the looks of this.

“S-sorry,” he said, backing toward the door. “I didn’t mean-”

“There you are!” came a cheerful voice from behind him, and a delicate female hand clasped his shoulder. “I’ve been looking all over for you, brother!”

The man hesitated. “He’s with you?”

“Yes, sorry for the confusion. Come on,” the girl continued. “Mother’s worried sick about you!” Pelleas found himself whisked back outside. He looked his rescuer up and down.

“Th-thank you,” he said. “But… I think you’ve got the wrong boy.”

“Oh, I know you’re not my brother,” said the girl, smiling. “I just thought you’d need a hand in there.”

“Thank you,” Pelleas repeated. “How… how did you know?”

The girl giggled. “I’ve just got a sense for that kind of thing.” She paused, looking him up and down now, with her big golden eyes. “You’re lost, aren’t you?”

“Was it that obvious?” Pelleas chuckled.

“Don’t worry,” said the girl. “I’ll see if we can help you with that too. But first, we should get you dry. Come on!” She put her hood up and hurried out into the street again.

“Hmm,” said Pelleas. “I could be walking into another trap, couldn’t I?” But, on the other hand, what did this girl stand to gain by tricking him? Nobody in Nevassa could know Ashnard was looking for him yet, could they? So, with a shrug, he darted after the girl. “I didn’t catch your name,” he called as he caught up.

“It’s Micaiah,” said the girl, smiling over her shoulder at him. “And you?”

“Pelleas.”

“I like that name.”

It was only a few minutes’ running before they came to Micaiah’s house. It was… pretty run-down. There were holes in the roof and broken, boarded-up windows. “Don’t mind the damage,” said Micaiah cheerfully. “We can still get pretty cozy in there. …Technically it’s not really my house; we just live here. Nobody seems to mind.”

“There you are!” said a little boy with green hair, peeking out at them. “Who’s that?”

“Sothe! This is Pelleas. He’s lost. I told him he could stay here awhile.”

“Oh! Okay.” Sothe pushed the door open more, and they stepped inside. “Where are you from?”

Pelleas hesitated, but these kids seemed friendly enough. “I’m from Goldoa.”

“Ehhhh?” said Sothe. “You’re a DRAGON?”

“Well-” “That’s so COOL!”

“Sorry,” said Pelleas. “I’m only half a dragon.”

“Awww,” said Sothe. “Bummer. So you’re like Micaiah. Oops,” he said, looking sideways at his sister.

“It’s okay, Sothe,” she said as she hung up her rain cloak. “We can trust him.”

“Oh! Okay good.”

“You…” Pelleas started. “You’re Branded too?”

“Yeah,” said Micaiah. “I don’t know what kind for sure, though. Probably heron, but… I don’t know my family.”

“Oh,” said Pelleas. “...I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Micaiah, waving him off. “I’ve made my own family and we’re perfectly happy like that. If you’ll come with me, maybe we could find you some dry clothes, and then you can tell us your story, if you want.”

**********

Branches and thorns tore at Soren’s sleeves as he pushed his way through the dense undergrowth.

“What was I thinking,” he growled to himself. “Go all the way back to Goldoa on my first try? We must not have used anywhere near enough powder.” He didn’t even know where to start with fixing his problems now. Find Pelleas first? Try to figure out which way home was first? He didn’t like it, but maybe the smartest choice was to just work on making his way home, and leave Pelleas to figure it out on his own as well. After all, if he wasn’t near enough to hear Soren’s shouting earlier, he could be anywhere – within whatever radius the powder would allow. They could have gone in opposite directions, and be separated by many miles. Or maybe… maybe he didn’t make it out of that house in time? Soren tried not to think about that option. Surely – surely he hadn’t been caught by that big knight? Ohhh, he’d be in trouble…. “Maybe sneaking into that guy’s house was a bad idea,” Soren wondered, a sinking feeling in his stomach. No, he couldn’t sit and dwell on that. He’d failed Pelleas enough times today; maybe on his own – and with the help of any wandering ghosts he might see – he’d do better.

The afternoon wore on. The sun, in spite of the branches overhead, still beat down on Soren’s head. And the trees themselves seemed to be fighting his progress. He’d been so nervous on board his father’s ship, that he had barely eaten, and now his body was loudly, angrily, reminding him of it. The little prince had never had to work this hard before. It was exhausting.

By the sun, it was probably between 4 and 5 in the afternoon when he finally clawed his way out of the thicket and into a more open sort of woods. Maybe going a different direction would have been faster? But he’d headed due west – Goldoa was on the west coast of Tellius, so if he could only find the coast he’d be able to make it home, or so he hoped. He might have to walk a long time, but he’d have to hit the ocean eventually. If he survived that long that is. His stomach growled again.

But for now, he was too tired to worry about that too much. He sat against a tree and shut his eyes, breathing hard. He hadn’t really meant to, but he fell asleep.

When we woke up, the sun was almost set, and somebody was shaking him by the shoulders. “Hey! Can you hear me?”

Soren started and looked up. For a moment, in the dusk and in his confusion, he thought it was Pelleas. But pretty quickly he noticed the differences. No, this boy had straight hair – though it was blue – and his eyes were also. He looked to be about their age too.

“Sorry to wake you up,” said the boy. “But nobody ever sleeps out here. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Soren must have been a sorry sight, tired and dirty and all scratched up. He stood, eyeing the boy warily. “Where ishere?”

“Oof, you are lost,” said the boy, shaking his head. “You’re in Gallia, not too far away from the Crimean border. Is that where you’re from?”

“No.”

“Well, maybe if you come home with me, my family can help you find your way back to… wherever,” said the boy, sensing Soren’s reluctance to trust him. “It’s okay. I don’t bite. But you could use a bite, couldn’t you?” he added as Soren’s stomach growled again. He rummaged in a satchel on his hip and pulled out a little wrapped fabric bundle. “Here. You’re just lucky I had one left! I’m always hungry,” he laughed. “Now come on! It’s not safe out here at night – especially not for, well… you know,” he finally said, gesturing at Soren’s forehead.

Soren unwrapped the bundle a little. It was a sandwich. “You’re… really nice,” he said. So far he hadn’t had very good experiences with beorc, and he was surprised. Against the nagging worry in the back of his mind, he decided to trust. One more time at least. “Thank you. Where is your house?”

“Not far! I’ll show ya,” said the boy, setting off at a trot. He was so much taller; Soren had to almost run to keep up with him. “They’re all nice – well most of them,” the boy laughed. “We might have a grumpy one in the mix too. But my dad will know how to help you. And in the meantime, you can hang out at our place. It’ll be safer than sleeping outside!”

“I appreciate that,” said Soren.

“I’m Ike. You got a name?”

“Soren.”

“Huh. That’s a nice name. Foreign though.”

They’ll have to know eventually, if they’re helping me get home, Soren reflected. “I’m from Goldoa.”

Ike glanced sideways at him. “Oh wow! I thought you were a Branded, but-”

“Oh, yes. But I live there with my family.”

“That’s super cool!” said Ike. “What’s it like? Nobody ever gets to go there! Sorry, sorry, finish your sandwich and then we can talk. If you want to, of course!”

**********

As the moon rose, Kurthnaga landed near the east end of Serenes Forest. “I can’t… no farther,” he panted once he’d reverted, trembling on his hands and knees.

“You’ve pushed yourself so hard,” said Almedha, patting his shoulder. “It’s alright.”

“But the boys-”

“If we get there too fast, we’ll just be waiting around for Ashnard anyway,” said Almedha. “No sense hurting yourself just to make a little better time.” She gently guided Kurth to lie down, rolling up her cloak and sticking it under his head so he wouldn’t get a faceful of ash. There was so much ash here. Not much more than that, and the naked blackened skeletons of old trees.

“It’s… so dead,” Kurth whispered after he’d caught his breath again.

“It’s horrible to think,” said Almedha, “but I only just made it through here on my travels, before the whole thing was burnt to the ground. This happened within, perhaps a week? Two weeks? No more than two weeks after Rajaion and I came home. Perhaps if I’d still been here… I could’ve done something….” She trailed off, a lump in her throat. She couldn’t get the images of Lorazieh and his little children out of her mind.

“You would have fought?”

“Oh, bother Father and his rules,” Almedha growled. “He wants to avoid the end of the world? This WAS the end of the world, for the herons!”

“No… I agree with you,” Kurth said softly. “I’m… secretly hoping Rajaion might ease some of the rules, when he becomes king. Don’t ever tell him that.”

“...Of course,” said Almedha, looking down at her baby brother in surprise. “But, enough about that. You’ve almost killed yourself working so hard. Sleep now. Take a deep breath. Don’t worry about waking up early; take as much time as you want. We must be miles ahead of the boys….”

Kurth might not have wanted to, but his body had other ideas. He fell asleep almost immediately. Almedha stayed up awhile, haunted by “what-if”s and regrets, but eventually she, too, snuggled down into the ash beside her brother and drifted off.

**********

To the surprise of everyone aboard the Sea Serpent, night was falling, and neither Ashnard nor his troops had yet returned to the ship. Rajaion and Ena had managed a thorough search of the boat pretty easily, with only one sailor to distract, and they came up empty. Unless the boys were in a secret compartment under the floorboards, they were not here.

“Was the king supposed to take this long, coming back?” Ena asked Charlie. He was staring at the shoreline with a spyglass.

“Nay, miss,” he said. “We needed fresh water, but the main reason for going ashore was to find some… well, the king called them ‘honored guests’, but they were little more than prisoners, you understand. His sons, the twin princes, who have been lost lo these many years, we found ‘em on the Goldoan coast and he brought them on. They’re crafty young boys, though. Started a commotion and got away on one of our lifeboats. They must have put ashore here in the port. That’s why everyone’s on land – the king has the whole crew searching for them. Those boys must be even craftier than we thought; I was sure they’d have been found by now.” Ena glanced over her shoulder at Rajaion, who had come quietly up behind them while Charlie was talking. He nodded at her, drew back into a shadowy corner, and pulled out his sending stone.

“Bother,” she said. “I was so hopeful we would be stepping ashore in Daein by tomorrow.”

“Never fear, lass,” said Charlie. “They can’t stay hidden forever. We’ll shove off soon, no doubt.” He put the spyglass down and turned around. “Ho! What’s this?” he asked, looking at Rajaion.

“Oh, nothing,” said Rajaion, slipping the sending stone back into his pocket. “Only a trinket we found in the market here.”

“That was a mighty large gemstone,” said Charlie, looking hungrily at Rajaion’s pocket.

“Oh, not really,” he said. “It’s only glass, made to look like a gem.”

“Glass never has a shine to it like that,” said Charlie, now looking a little suspicious. “Give us a look!”

“I tell you what,” said Rajaion. “There’s been a change of plan. Thanks for letting us aboard under such short notice, and against royal command and all that, but it seems we have more business here before we go home. You can keep the money for your trouble. Come, my dear,” he said, backing toward the railing on the other side of the ship.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Charlie chuckled – it suddenly wasn’t a friendly laugh. Ena saw his hand rest on a dagger at his side.

Ena looked at Rajaion. He nodded. They stepped farther apart… and each flipped backwards over one of the ship railings.

Once she was deep into the cold, black water, Ena shifted. It was much faster swimming as a dragon. Rajaion apparently had had the same idea because they were soon side by side, their long, scaly bodies gliding along effortlessly. It was soon quite dark, and they were able to come ashore without being noticed. They shook the water off and reverted.

“Did you get ahold of the others?” said Ena.

“No,” said Rajaion. “I think they were asleep, and I didn’t make the signal stronger to wake them up. Kurth’s had a hard day of flying, I bet. They need their rest.”

“That’s true,” said Ena. “Well, what now? At this point, my money’s on Ashnard not finding the boys. So there’s no point trying to cut him off on the way back to Nevassa.”

“We should stay close to town, keep an eye on things,” said Rajaion. “If he gives up and sails without them, great. But if he still thinks there’s a chance of catching them, I’d hate for him to find them first. Especially if no one’s there to see it. But Kurth and Almedha can stop their wild goose chase right now. First thing in the morning, I’ll try and talk to them again – maybe we can meet up here, plan our next move after that.” He yawned. “But for now, I think we should make a little fire, get dry, and go to sleep.”

**********

Ike had told the truth. His home wasn’t very far away – Soren was surprised.

“I didn’t think any beorc lived in Gallia,” he said as they approached the… well it wasn’t really a house. More like a little fort.

“We’re special,” Ike said with a grin. “My parents were from Daein, but they saw the writing on the wall over there and decided to run away. Thank the goddess, it was just in time to miss that awful plague.”

“You must have been little.”

“Not even little. I was born here.”

“The laguz accepted your parents?”

“Oh yeah,” said Ike. “My dad is good friends with King Caineghis. Most countries aren’t as cut off as Goldoa, I can tell you that!”

“There you are, Ike!” called a shrill little voice from the ramparts. “Where have you been? Who’s that with you?”

“Just let me in, Mist,” said Ike. “I’ll tell you over dinner. My sister,” he said to Soren as Mist’s head disappeared again. “Kind of a worrywart!”

Mist – and another young child – with a lot of huffing and puffing, lifted the big bar off the gate and opened it. Ike helped them put it back when they were inside.

“Oh!” said the little green-haired boy, looking Soren up and down. “You… I’ve heard about people like you! You’re a spirit charmer, right?”

“Good guess,” said Soren.

“Dinner would’ve been cold if you’d taken much longer,” said Mist. “Come on! Everybody’s waiting!”She led the way inside – up some stairs, down a hall, into a large torchlit room with a long table. Almost a dozen people were sitting here, on long benches, talking and laughing, and, in the case of a couple of the men, taking big gulps from their tankards.

“You’re late,” called the man at the head of the table. “What kept you?”

“Sorry, Father,” said Ike. He stepped out of the doorway and gestured. “This is Soren. I found him out in the woods. He’s lost and hungry and I told him he could spend the night.”

“What is this, a monastery?” a man with a long ponytail grumbled into his beer. “Taking in any poor waif we see?”

“That was kind of you, Ike,” said a lady with a big red braid, and a warm smile. “Come on in, Soren. Have a seat, all of you, and we can start.”

“I don’t mean to be a burden,” Soren started, but Ike’s father waved him off.

“Fiddlesticks,” he said. “Oscar makes so much food, even Ike can’t eat it all. The more, the merrier!”