Fire Emblem Fan Fiction ❯ Fire Emblem-Path of Radiance: Love Sonata ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Falchion1984: Hey there, Falchion1984 is back in town. I'll admit, I had my doubts about how my previous story, `Fire Emblem Path of Radiance: Divergence,' would do here on ff.net but the wonderful reviews you've given me have just blown me away. And, even better, they made me want to give it another go. This story coincides with the first chapter of `Divergence,' so you might want to read it if you haven't already. This story takes place about two years after Path of Radiance. The Reconstruction in Crimea is still going on but, with the aid from Gallia and Begnion, it has been going remarkably well. Ike, as per his plan, is still a Lord, he had finally seen that the Greil Mercenaries' Fort is rebuilt and that they'll be in good hands once he leaves and is planning to, at long last, ask Elincia to marry him. Tonight will provide him the perfect opportunity but, there's a problem. The observant reader will notice that Ike's resolution to marry Elincia and the current events occur two years apart. Such a delay is not without…consequences. Will Ike get the woman of his dreams after unwittingly neglecting her for two years and, in typical Ike-fashion, getting distracted by helping others? Read on and find out. Be advised, the story will switch perspectives when you see the name of the person in parentheses. Perspectives in this story will be, predominately, Ike, Elincia and Lucia with some scenes from the perspective of Geoffrey, Sephiran and an O.C named Albert Dantes later on. It should be pretty clear whos perspective it is, but if it isn't then please let me know in your reviews and I'll fix it. Finally, I decided to enlist some co-hosts.

 

Ranulf: Ah, my adoring public!

 

Mist: Hello everyone!

 

Falchion1984: Now that introductions are over, let's get started. DISCLAIMER!

 

Ranulf: Say `please.' Just kidding. Falchion1984 doesn't own Fire Emblem. If he did, he could afford professional co-hosts.

 

*************Fire Emblem Path of Radiance-Love Sonata, the year 648************

 

(Ike)

 

“My Lord,” the Crimean Seneschal protested feebly, “this is not…”

 

“Okay!” Ike grunted. “Now, let's take this to the left.”

 

The blue haired Mercenary spoke through clenched teeth and his words were punctuated by grunts and panting, though this was understandable. The stone slab he and the other three workers were carrying must've weighed more than a Wyvern.

 

The small team, laden with the burden of the massive slab, laboriously inched their way in the direction Ike had indicated. After several minutes, though any man present would claim it was hours, the small team had reached their destination. It was the foundations of one of the hundreds of houses in Melior that had been destroyed during the final clash against King Ashnard. Perhaps a stray shot from the Crimean Liberation Army's siege weapons had crushed the structure or perhaps it was a stray blast of Elfire or Elthunder from the dueling Sages on both sides. Whatever the cause, Ike and the other workers on the team had spent the better part of that morning, a particularly hot summer morning, clearing rubble away from the foundation.

 

Now, the hard part began.

 

“Alright,” Ike grunted to his fellows, “that should be close enough. Jacobi, you and I will lower our end. Edario, Jalboun, you raise your end and push when I tell you.”

 

So saying, the slab was tilted to a worrisome angle while Ike's gaze snapped back and forth between the foundations of the former house's eastern wall and the base of the slab. After quickly gauging the necessary angle and distance, Ike nodded and directed for the others to lower the slab into place.

 

Slowly, painstakingly, the slab was edged towards the wall's foundation which had been anointed with mortar to hold the stone in place. Eventually, one corner made contact with the foundation and the four men began shoving the slab upward until it stood perfectly vertical. As soon as they that it would not fall they let out a brief cheer before they went about moving the next wall into place.

 

As Ike moved to follow the three workers, he slowed his stride and stretched his arms to relieve cramped muscles. His gaze began to roam over the city which, though still scarred by conflict, was finally beginning to look like itself again. While placing the walls of the soon-to-be house was strenuous, it was not the only project underway in Melior.

 

Not by a long shot.

 

As far as the eye could see were teams of Beorc and Laguz laborers engaged in the task of restoring the Crimean Capital to its former glory. While much of this labor force was in the quarries and woods carving stone and felling trees, the produce of this toil arriving hourly via convoys of wagons, the number in Melior seemed beyond count. Some were unloading the stone and lumber from the wagons and hauling it wherever it was needed, others were preparing mortar, others still were on scaffolds working to rebuild the city's outer walls, more were clearing away debris and even more were rebuilding the many homes and businesses that had been destroyed in the fighting.

 

The flurry of tools and materials and workers surged in all directions with bewildering speed and Ike could not suppress a feeling of mingled surprise and relief at the slow transformation of the battered capitol. As Ike and the Crimean Liberation Army fought its way back into and across Crimea, he saw the devastation wrought upon Crimea by the War. The uncountable number of ravaged towns and desiccated fortresses and the infinite corpses all bespoke of the enormity of putting it all to rights, which shook even Ike's infamous sense of optimism. But, against the odds and all logic, Crimea was rapidly coming back to life. Every day, more and more homes were rebuilt and an ever increasing number of farmers had returned to their fields, fishermen to their trawlers and merchants to their shops.

 

Slowly, somehow, life was getting back to normal. Well, not quite.

 

Life was improving, it was returning, and it was changing. The most obvious sign of this was Beorc and Laguz working in cooperation. Or, at least, in friendly competition. From his vantage point, Ike could see an impossibly large Beorc worker hefting a stone block meant for the largely rebuilt city walls. On an adjacent scaffold, a Laguz worker was hefting a slightly larger stone into place. The Beorc worker, seeing this, began heaving his stones into place faster than before. Ike rolled his eyes, remembering a competition between Largo and Muarim of similar nature and suspecting that the two had recently been engaged in a rematch. A rather public one too, he imagined.

 

Still, it was something. He remembered, bitterly, the eruption of enraged hysterics the people of Port Toha had gone into at the sight of a lone Laguz. That incident, which still chilled and angered Ike, had not repeated itself in Melior. Whether this was because the people of Melior were more sensible or whether this was thanks to some unknown, talkative witnesses of the Liberation of Melior, Ike did not know and did not care. Whatever it was, it worked.

 

The expressions on the face of the Beorc when faced with a Laguz were no longer of terror or revulsion but wove across the spectrum from curiosity to wonderment to the competitive gleam that had flashed in the eyes of the burly workers on the scaffolds. While some skeptics surely remained, everyone had found the story of the War, of a joint Beorc/Laguz Army being formed in opposition to Ashnard, to be too incredible to ignore. And, everybody was interested in how these events would play out.

 

It was now two years after the Liberation of Melior, and the Reconstruction had achieved a momentum that was beyond everyone's expectations. And, that was more than just talk. Most of the families in Melior had lost their homes in the fighting and yet dozens of those same homes had been rebuilt and reoccupied in the past few months. Ike knew this well, every couple of hours a father or a mother or an older brother would arrive to take possession of the house and would spend at least five minutes shaking his hand or hugging him or spluttering their gratitude. And, before (finally) departing, they'd intimate that their family included an attractive, and unmarried, member of the opposite sex that Ike would enjoy meeting.

 

The other workers found these minor tortures to be strangely entertaining.

 

Still, Ike was willing to put up with it. As Sephiran had noted, during the signing of the Treaty of Serenes, helping people was what mattered to Ike and the relief and happiness he saw across the faces of the countless people as they finally returned home seemed to make the weight of his labors fall away. Still, he was getting a little sick of all these eager fathers pushing their daughters on him.

 

He had another woman on his mind.

 

It had been nearly two years since the signing of the Treaty of Serenes, and the celebration that had followed. Mist had pushed him, or rather kicked him, into dancing with Elincia. As they danced, the waltzing lessons Titania had given him transmuting into action almost as instinct, his mind wandered. He remembered when they'd first met, the experiences they'd shared and how it all had changed the course of his life in ways good and ill. The War, which had begun mere days before they'd met, had robbed Ike of much that he could never reclaim, not the smallest of which being his father and his innocence. But, the death of his father was an old pain and Ike ultimately came to terms with it.

 

Ike had learned much, of both the world and himself, during the War. At first, he'd been terrified, worried that some blunder on his part would cost a friend's life, and it made him second guess himself and caused his heart to clench at every skirmish. But, gradually, the dread that weighed upon his mind seemed to ease. It happened so sublimely that, true to his nature, he was completely unaware of it. In fact, he didn't completely acknowledge it. Titania and Soren had done so much for him, with Titania advising him about the troops and the battlefield while Soren handled the finances and strategy of the Company. The many warriors who'd fought alongside him were brave and capable and many of them were leaders in their own right. While Ike was still skeptical when people told him that he had become the great warrior and leader that his father had envisioned, he did believe that fighting for Crimea, and for Elincia and for unity between Beorc and Laguz, had made him a man.

 

And, he knew that to have lived his life without having done so would've left him a different man. A lesser man.

 

And then, there was Elincia. She was, very likely, the most beautiful woman he had ever met. And, beyond that, she was kind, intelligent and selfless. One would have to be selfless, or rather desperate, to put up with everything that had happened on their journey. He still remembered, with considerable anger and a little embarrassment, the altercation that had happened between the two of them and Apostle Sanaki. He had been so repulsed, so disgusted that the Apostle would humiliate someone for her entertainment that he'd lost his temper.

 

He could've easily lost his head along with it.

 

That had taught him something, something he might've wished he hadn't seen. He had learned about the darker side of the Nobility who, by wealth or lineage or political influence, had set themselves above everyone else.

 

Soren had said the simple, bitter truth of it to his face. “Ike... This may not be much of an answer, but letting madness rule the day is the prerogative of nobility.” As usual, Soren was right. But, that didn't make it palatable. As Ike learned more, about certain Begnion Nobles keeping Laguz Slaves in violation of their own country's laws, his opinion soured further.

 

Some perverse part of him had actually enjoyed administering the killing blow to the traitorous Duke Oliver Tanas.

 

When Apostle Sanaki informed Ike that he'd need to be granted peerage and dubbed a Lord in order to command the Crimean Liberation Army, he'd nearly gone ballistic. When he beheld Elincia's stricken expression, and remembered why they'd come to Begnion and what they were fighting for, his anger was sent slinking off ashamed. In retrospect, he realized what had happened. His aversion towards the self-centeredness and venality of the Nobility had blurred his judgment. He wanted, so badly, to avoid being them that, when the idea of being made a Lord came up, that desire had migrated to the forefront of his mind and he'd protested unthinkingly. He protested because being a Noble wasn't what he wanted and, after seeing Elincia's face had jarred him back to reality, he realized how selfishly he'd acted.

 

When he should've been thinking about Crimea, or of Elincia, or of his troops or of the cause they were fighting for, or of avenging his father, he had been thinking about himself. He'd acted selfishly, without forethought or sentiment beyond his own desires, as the Nobles he'd hated had done. After taking a moment to appreciate the irony of it, he retracted his refusal. And, the relieved smile Elincia had given him had caused his shame and self revulsion to evaporate.

 

He and Elincia had given much to each other during the War, from the reassurance Ike had given her when she'd feared that Lucia and Geoffrey had been slain to when she had offered him courage when he prepared to face the Black Knight, when they had taught each other a few tricks, and saved each other's lives on the battlefield and when he'd given her the nudge she'd needed to take the reigns of her early rule. And, he particularly remembered when they'd kissed.

 

It was just after their waltz in Serenes Forest, during the Treaty signing a month after the War, that he'd realized he was in love with her. Even so, the notion seemed too ridiculous to pursue. At least, it did until his talk with Sephiran. The Prime Minister of Begnion had, somehow, seen into Ike's heart and had given him the suggestion that he stay in Crimea's Court. He pointed out, correctly, that Ike was enamored with Elincia and that Ike had come to believe in King Ramon's dream of unity between Beorc and Laguz and that he wanted to alter the deplorable behaviors of the Nobility. And, as Ike was still a Lord and a War Hero, he'd have the power and legitimacy to do much for everyone. The notion that all that could be attained was a little overwhelming. He'd thought it over, often and late into the night, weighing his loyalty toward the Mercenary Company that had been his family against his loyalty toward Elincia and the dream of peace between Beorc and Laguz. And, he'd realized that the question had already been answered. The Greil Mercenaries were his family because they loved him enough to let him go.

 

`Except for Shinon,' he thought with a mental shrug.

 

Still, the gift they'd commissioned for him had revealed much. The jeweled scabbard, inscribed with the proverb, had since become one of his most prized possessions. Below the proverb were the names of each of the Greil Mercenaries, including Mia's as she had joined the Mercenary Company permanently. Thus, with the blessing of his family, the urging of his friend and with the love of his life and the strength of conviction in his heart, the fog of doubt that he'd long grappled with had evaporated and his mind was as clear as one of the crystalline rivers of Serenes Forest.

 

Now, there was only one thing to do.

 

Decide.

 

And, he did. Tonight, Elincia had ordered that a Festival take place both to commemorate the anniversary of the Liberation of Melior and to reward the efforts of those who'd worked long and hard to nurse Crimea back to health. That would be the time. Ike's hand went to his pocket, feeling the slight bulk of the ring box within. Tonight, at the Festival, he would ask her to marry him.

 

Until then, however, he still had work to do. Ike mopped his brow. The summer sun now shone overhead, and the heat sent rivulets of perspiration flowing down his face and back and was pasting his shirt to his torso. Ike suppressed a growl. He should, he realized, be used to this by now. Sure, there'd been hot days in the Crimean countryside, but the shade of the abundant groves and cool waters of the many lakes and streams had made that easy to live with. When he and the Greil Mercenaries were in the Sea of Trees, escorting Elincia to Gallia, the heat had been nightmarish. Gatrie had mentioned something about how, if they weren't being pursued, he'd have stripped his armor off right there. Titania had replied that such a claim almost made her glad they were being pursued but now, in the veritable furnace of stone and reflecting sunlight, Ike was feeling a sudden empathy for the blue armored Knight.

 

`What the Heck,' he decided.

 

With that, Ike began to peel off the crusty, smelly shirt, oblivious to the protesting Seneschal.

 

(Lucia)

 

If there was anything Lucia hated, more than Bastion's incessant attempts at wooing her, it was the Council Meetings. The first she'd attended, after having reached the age to assume her duties as a Courtier of the realm, had been a veritable nightmare. She had been carefully, meticulously, groomed and instructed in every conceivable form of Court Etiquette (and a few inconceivable ones, in her opinion) by her father. Everything, from proper ways of speaking and appropriate word usage to showing respect for her peers and the speaker, had been carefully ingrained in her mind and she arrived as the very model of the intelligent and quick witted Courtier.

 

She had assumed that the other Courtiers had been similarly educated.

 

She was dead wrong.

 

With the exception of the late King Ramon and Duke Renning, the entire Court seemed to throw all niceties out the window five minutes in. Lucia supposed that her assessment was, perhaps, a bit unfair. King Ramon, Goddess rest his soul, had been a Monarch of revolutionary sentiment and his ambitious and unprecedented plans to foster peaceful relations between the Beorc and Laguz was certain to garner some apprehension. Still, that didn't stop His Majesty's Trusted Circle, amongst whom Lucia was numbered, from thinking unkindly towards His Majesty's Loyal Opposition.

 

She had attended many Council Meetings since reaching the proper age to do so. The first was the worst. The one that had just concluded ran a close second.

 

One had to admit, this latest Council Meeting did have a few bright spots. For starters, Elincia seemed to be growing into her role as Queen of Crimea and had taken the reins of her early rule with determination and confidence. This had thoroughly surprised Lucia as, just prior to Elincia's Coronation two years ago, the prospect of becoming Queen had rendered her inconsolably fearful that she'd make some fatal blunder. Strangely, when the moment finally came, she'd seemed calm, centered and in fine spirits. Lucia had learned, interestingly enough, that Elincia had conversed privately with Ike a few minutes beforehand.

 

Lucia had certain suspicions about the two of them, all of which were…very interesting.

 

The Council's second compensation was that, despite the Council being barely half its proper size and nearly all of the former Council's experienced members having disappeared or been killed, the newer Courtiers seemed to be managing well enough. For a while, the Council had seemed to be just her, her brother Geoffrey, Count Bastian and a handful of strangers. But now, she had gotten a feel for the others and found some to be impressive. Two in particular, namely Marquis Silok Kotal and the recently inducted Lord Reginald `Just Call Me Reg' Lockhart, had proven quite capable considering that, technically, they were too young to be on the Council. Not that such could be helped, the War had dramatically reshaped Cremia's political geography. His Majesty's Trusted Circle and His Majesty's Loyal Opposition had been replaced by Her Majesty's Reluctant Bureaucracy and Her Majesty's Honored Dead, as heirs of Nobles came in to replace slain parents and local Governors were admitted to more readily connect the actions of the Council with the needs of the people.

 

Silok was the orphan of Marquis Kotal and had inherited his father's land and Council Seat after the War had ended. He was at least several years too young to be on the Council, and his baby face only exacerbated that fact, but the Council was hardly in a position to refuse him. With much of Crimea still in the midst of Reconstruction, the realm needed every able leader it could find and Silok was quick witted and eager to serve.

 

Reginald, though of low birth, had distinguished himself during the War through gallant service as a Cavalier. Shortly after the War, on Geoffrey's personal recommendation, Reginald had been promoted to Paladin and granted peerage.

 

`Not unlike a certain, blue haired Mercenary we all know,' Lucia mused with a mental snicker.

 

Reginald had been less argumentative about it than Ike had. From what Lucia had heard, Ike had just about exploded when Apostle Sanaki essentially ordered him to receive peerage from Elincia. From what Elincia had told her, Ike had withdrawn his refusal very suddenly and for no discernable reason. Lucia, however, had her suspicions on that matter.

 

One thing about Reginald that seemed amusing and perplexing all at once was his many connections. Whenever the Council encountered a confounding matter, he always seemed to have some friend, or friend of a friend, or uncle, or sibling, or cousin, or acquaintance, or old classmate, or comrade-in-arms, or old girlfriend (the last of which seeming to constitute the majority of his connections) that would prove useful in resolving the matter.

 

While many were curious as to where Reginald found all these people, and while the number of old girlfriends Reginald seemed to have had certainly raised some eyebrows, he always managed to find someone who proved to be invaluable in resolving the issue.

 

Other notable faces included Governor Gervain of Port Toha and Mayor Caldaur of Caldea.

 

Gervain was one of the few older gentlemen on the new Council, and had been the Governor of Port Toha for nearly nineteen years. He had been surprised, astonished really, when Elincia had requested that he take a seat on the Council and he had initially refused. Much of that, Lucia suspected, was embarrassment over the conduct of his people during the War.

 

The people of Port Toha had strongly opposed King Ramon's plans for Beorc/Laguz Unity and, upon learning that Ranulf was in their city, had ratted out Ike and the Greil Mercenaries, as well as Elincia herself, to the Daein Army. Lucia could readily discern that Gervain felt great embarrassment over this, along with an appreciation for the irony of suddenly finding himself serving the same woman whose death warrant he'd signed.

 

As one would imagine, Gervain was often quiet during the Council Meetings unless he had something imperative to say and he frequently avoided making eye contact with his fellows. Still, nineteen odd years of governing Port Toha, a veritable keystone in Crimea's economy, had gifted him with a sharp mind for business and trade which the Council was in no position to do without.

 

Caldaur was something else completely, the Mayor of Caldea was jolly and cheerful to the point where it rankled the nerves. Still, his joviality and charitable nature made him quite popular with the people and a reliable informant on the attitudes and morale of the citizenry. He also had a sharp political mind, though his gentle and simplistic way of speaking could easily cause one to forget it.

 

Caineghis, the King of Lions and ruler of Gallia, had also been in attendance which had taken them by surprise. In hindsight, it shouldn't have. Caineghis had been a good friend and staunch ally of King Ramon and had a vested interest in rebuilding Crimea and in ensuring that peaceful relations between Beorc and Laguz became a reality. No doubt he'd decided to personally examine the progress of the new Monarchy that his people were helping to build, quite literally, from the ground up.

 

Lucia had a bad feeling that Caineghis was not impressed, and this same presentiment had flashed across Elincia's face several times. Tanith's presence as Begnion's representative only made it all the more acute just how much scrutiny this fledging Monarchy was under.

 

If the other Courtiers were struck with any similar distress, it was invisible. Geoffrey and Reginald had greeted Caineghis respectfully while Caldaur extended an invitation for the King of Lions to stay at his estate as a guest. Bastion had nearly gone into a poetical explication of his delight at this turn before Lucia cut him off with a sharp kick from under the table. Gervain seemed, understandably, unwilling to look Caineghis in the face while Silok, by contrast, stared at Caineghis with a child-like look of rapt fascination.

 

Typically, a word that seemed alien in the improvised and undermanned Council, these Meetings were preceded with a quick prayer to the Goddess for wisdom and temperance and, depending on everyone's mood, polite inquiries between the Courtiers about the doings of their families. This Council Meeting was, instead, preceded by Ike's Report. This unofficial ritual had been going on in the Council since it reconvened and was deemed by more than a few as quite unusual, not the smallest reason being that Ike often decided that working in the Reconstruction was more important than giving these reports in person.

 

While many, perhaps, took umbrage at this seeming show of disrespect on Ike's part, others regarded it with curiosity. Ike and the Greil Mercenaries had long since been paid for their services, even if the larger portion of that payment had somehow migrated from their coffers to the Orphans' Fund. So, many found it odd that the Greil Mercenaries were not only aiding in Crimea's Reconstruction by seeking out and routing Ashnard Loyalists, but were actually volunteering to do so.

 

Lucia had her suspicions about this too, and they were also very interesting.

 

Ike had given the Report to a very young, very flustered Castle Courier who, over the course of twenty minutes in which he stuttered every other word, informed the Council that the Greil Mercenaries' raid on a rogue band of Ashnard Loyalists in southeast Crimea had succeeded and they suspected that group to be the last of its kind.

 

`Forty seven killed,' Lucia mused, mentally tallying the Greil Mercenaries' score, `sixty three captured, eight weapons caches seized, thirty two Prisoners of War freed and five missing Daein Generals captured. Huzzah, Ike, huzzah.'

 

While Ike's raids had done much to bring some semblance of calm to Crimea, many wondered about why he had bothered making this effort. Lucia had her suspicions on this as well, but the Meeting started before she could dissect them.

 

The first item for consideration had been security on the roads. As the scattered bands of Ashnard Loyalists were steadily picked off by the Greil Mercenaries, the roving bands of Brigands had reasserted themselves. The constant traffic of Supply Caravans and Merchant Convoys from Gallia and Begnion, which swarmed the myriad roads of Crimea daily, had been attracting them like flies to honey. Elincia had voiced the idea of redeploying Crimean troops to secure the roads, but dissenting Courtiers pointed out that, as Crimea's army had been thinned by the War, it lacked the numbers to secure both the roads and Crimea's cities simultaneously. Elincia's reply, that the troops on loan from Begnion could temporarily take charge of the city defenses, had been met with some skepticism.

 

Those Begnion troops, by Elincia's own admission, were on loan. Entities that gave out loans tended to expect eventual compensation. More than a few were worried that, if Crimea proved itself overly dependent on Begnion, then the resultant debt would grow beyond Crimea's ability to pay. Tanith had pointed out that the Greil Mercenaries' aid in exposing the Laguz Slave Trade and rescuing the surviving Serenes Herons was payment enough, and most were convinced by her good word.

 

There was, however, an exception.

 

“The soothing of the Apostle's guilty conscience against the cost of sustaining an Army in the field,” Count Fernand La Roche seemed to think aloud in his elegant basso. “Does she truly view these two things as being of equal value?”

 

That had nearly sent the whole Council Meeting downhill. That was the one thing Lucia absolutely hated about La Roche. In addition to being consistently tactless, his statements were difficult to decipher. His question could be interpreted in several ways, almost all of which negative. One possibility was that he was implying that the Apostle considered her emotional well being as more important than the resources her country would expend in securing and rebuilding Crimea and the hardships it would incur on her people. If the Begnion Army returned saying that the Apostle ordered no payment demanded, would the Imperial Senators ask that same hard question? The second possibility, which was even worse, was that he was implying that Tanith was lying. And, by extension, that carried the accusation that Apostle Sanaki herself was lying. And, as with all his cryptic statements, it was worded as a seemingly innocent and pertinent question so that, if challenged, he could simply say that it just an inquiry and that everyone else had simply leapt to the wrong conclusions.

 

Lucia made a mental note to implore Tanith not to include this incident in her report. After La Roche had received the dressing down of his life, naturally.

 

This was hardly the first time that La Roche's choice of words had generated some awkward moments; he was one of the few survivors of the original Council, on which he'd served for many years, though how he'd managed to evade dismissal was beyond anyone's understanding. During one of the last Council Meetings that took place before the War, when they'd been discussing the cultural programs King Ramon had begun with the Laguz, La Roche had made what sounded like, at least to Lucia's ear, a veiled accusation that King Ramon was engaged in this enterprise only to carve himself a favorable niche in the histories of Crimea.

 

Lucia had been about to display her displeasure with La Roche's impugning His Majesty's integrity, quite possibly with her sword, when La Roche cut her off with his, assuredly, well rehearsed explanation. La Roche had said that King Ramon would benefit, that much was true, but, since King and Country were one and the same, what benefits one enriches the other. Though he spoke in a detached monotone and kept his face swept clean of emotion, Lucia couldn't help but feel that this was the same explanation he'd have given to an impetuous and dim-witted child, and that he'd enjoyed it immensely. King Ramon had, more or less, taken her side by informing La Roche that they needed to have a little talk.

 

The King had been slain before that conversation had taken place.

 

What really bothered Lucia was that, as always, La Roche had a concealed point. Begnion had invested heavily in Crimea's Reconstruction, sending Supply Caravans and troops across Daein and into Crimea via the Riven Bridge and Merchant ships along Tellius' southern coast. The latter were escorted by Begnion naval ships since, after the near abduction of the Apostle by Daein troops and Kilvas corsairs, Begnion had begun actively policing its sea lanes. On top of all this, Begnion was maintaining a sizeable military presence in Daein. The cost of all of this must be astronomical and, despite Tanith's assurances, Lucia was worried that matters would change for the worse.

 

If Sanaki did, in fact, ask for payment it was unlikely that Crimea could deliver.

 

Somehow, the Council managed to return its attention to the agenda. The second item for consideration was the issue of Beorc/Laguz Trade. While Crimea was unlikely to begin actively trading until after the Reconstruction, it was decided that this issue was best solved in advance and, perhaps, this would help to improve relations further.

 

When the debate turned towards the currency exchange rate, things went sour. What followed was a long and, at least to Lucia's ears, pointless debate about which of the two currencies was more valuable, which used gold of greater purity and firmness and Goddess knows what else. Reginald, however, saved the day by mentioning yet another of his acquaintances who'd be useful.

 

“Another old girlfriend Reg?” Geoffrey asked, sounding as if he was almost, but not quite, making a joke.

 

Several of the Courtiers, after a split second of astonishment that the oh-so-serious Geoffrey had a sense of humor, shared a good laugh at Reginald's expense.

 

After Reginald had fought the embarrassment out of his voice, he informed the Council that he had a friend who'd been a prospector and a gold smith and, thus, was quite skilled at determining the value of gold. Elincia, who was engrossed in the act of pretending not to be massaging away a serious headache, quickly agreed that Reginald's friend would prove valuable and ordered the matter deferred until Reginald's acquaintance was found.

 

Discussing the goods themselves was much more productive. Being feline in nature, the Beast Tribe Laguz in Gallia were interested in trading for fish and offered, in exchange, regular deliveries of wild fruits and fodder for livestock. The discussion reminded Lucia, fondly, of a rather amusing conversation between Ike and Ranulf. It was a rare, and hilarious, thing for a Cat Laguz to call himself a fish out of water. This proposition was readily approved. Most of Crimea's farms were still undermanned and undersupplied and, legendary though they were, Crimea's fishermen simply couldn't feed the whole country by themselves.

 

Plus, Lucia was getting really sick of fish.

 

The matter of trade eventually turned in a new and surprising direction: music. The Laguz were known to share a love of music with the Beroc and crafted a number of, at least to a Beorc's eyes, exotic instruments. Caineghis had brought with him an example of these Laguz crafted instruments, it was a horn…sort of. It was formed out of a metal that Lucia could not identify on casual inspection and consisted of a mouth piece that curled forward from a long, vertical shaft that was covered in a thick coat of piston valves. The shaft shot downward before smoothing out and curving upward into a wide mouthed horn.

 

Nothing the like of it had been seen, or heard for that matter, in Crimea and that made it all the more interesting. As if sensing their interest, Caineghis' lips enveloped the mouth piece and he began to play. The sounds that arose from the strange instrument were remarkable, deep and resonating tones with an inexplicable gentility that seemed to lighten up the whole room.

 

Needless to say, when Caineghis offered a number of these instruments (the Sax he called it), Elincia quickly agreed.

 

La Roche, however, expressed some skepticism at the idea of discussing music when Crimea was still replete with families without homes. Lucia had a dark suspicion that these words went beyond either pragmatism or compassion for his fellow Crimeans, both of which Lucia doubted that he possessed, but to draw questions about the Council's priorities. Caldaur, however, interjected.

 

“Actually,” he began, “I had a thought. What if we have a few Laguz musicians come to play at the Festival tonight? Making this change at the last minute might be tricky but…”

 

Before he could finish, Caineghis cut him off.

 

“It shall be managed,” the King of Lions spoke up. “In fact, let us take this further. Perhaps if we can have the Beorc and Laguz minstrels alternate during the Festival, then we'll have a clearer idea of how to handle this area of cultural interchange. I imagine that the Sax will prove popular in Crimea, and perhaps we'll find something to ask for in return.”

 

Murmurs of agreement answered this notion but La Roche, as always, seemed to find some fault in the proposition.

 

“Respectfully,” he began, sounding anything but, “even if this works, it will be necessary to instruct our minstrels, both Beorc and Laguz, in how to play these new instruments. Finding appropriate teachers, ones inclined to such cultural interchange, may prove difficult. And then, there will be the further difficultly in creating new compositions for these instruments and integrating them into our existing styles of music.”

 

Though La Roche's tone of voice offered no reason to believe so, Lucia fervently hoped that he was grasping at straws with that obvious counterargument. The Reconstruction of Crimea and realizing King Ramon's dream of peace between Beorc and Laguz was replete with challenges. What was one more?

 

Lucia wanted to make this point to La Roche's face, just on the off chance that it would shut him up for a while, but Silok beat her to the punch.

 

“Your Majesties,” he began, extending one hand, “with your approval, the line starts here.”

 

Caineghis graciously allowed the young Marquis to take the instrument. He soon regretted it, along with everyone else in the room, when the sound of Silok's experimental notes rang out. They bore a disturbing resemblance to the sound Lethe had made when a heavily encumbered laborer had stepped on her tail.

 

La Roche brought one clenched fist to his mouth, doubtless to suppress a smug chuckle. Caineghis' reply somehow managed to couple tactfulness with honesty.

 

“It's yours, so keep practicing,” he instructed.

 

`Preferably in your chambers,' Lucia mentally added. `With the doors and windows all closed. Tightly closed.'

 

After everyone's ears had recovered from the unintended torture, the focus of the Meeting shifted again.

 

When the issue of joint military defense came up, things got interesting. Caineghis had voiced the idea of resuming the officer exchange program, which was readily approved. Lucia had learned, to her surprise, that Titania of the Greil Mercenaries had once been a Crimean Knight and had been sent to Gallia for that purpose. This had led Titania to Greil and to joining his Mercenary Company as well as sharing Greil's improbable friendship with Caineghis.

 

It was, perhaps, this strange accident of history to which Crimea owed the survival of their Queen and nation.

 

Geoffrey, at Lucia's discreet urging, volunteered to be stationed in Gallia for several weeks and Caineghis, after agreeing, informed the Council that Janaff would represent the Laguz in this matter. That had gotten Lucia's attention. She had met Janaff, the Eyes of the Hawk King, during the War and the two of them had readily connected. Lucia at first found Janaff too informal and too forward, not the smallest reason being that he'd asked her on a date mere minutes after they'd first met. Janaff's response to her refusal, when he'd misconstrued that her father would want her accompanied by a chaperone to mean that she was still a child, had been rather embarrassing.

 

Still, the two had made quite a team during the War. Many a time Janaff would swoop down upon the enemy, scattering them in all directions and dispatching several with lethal blows from his beak and talons. While the enemy was still dazed and shaken by Janaff's display of aerial ferocity, Lucia would fall upon them in a deadly dance of singing steel. Beyond that, Janaff seemed more amenable than most Laguz about the idea of unity between Beorc and Laguz. She voiced that it would be good to see him again.

 

And she suddenly became aware that everyone in the room was staring at her.

 

Her years on the Council had trained her well and she quickly diffused the matter by alluding to their shared philosophies. A few murmurs of agreement greeted her explanation, but Bastion's brow was furrowed in concentration and Geoffrey regarded her with a raised eyebrow. Both looked somewhat skeptical and Lucia silently cursed her big mouth.

 

Finally, Caineghis had broached the idea of introducing to Crimea the idea of installing military commanders on the basis of merit, rather than by lineage, as the Laguz had done throughout their history. This had gotten the Council's attention. One of the greatest strengths of the Laguz, according to Ulki, was that they selected their leaders, Kings and Commanders alike, by strength rather than lineage and this gave them an advantage during the long hostilities with Begnion in the distant past. It was here, however, that La Roche struck yet again.

 

“Yes,” he quipped in his elegant basso, “a very novel and revolutionary concept. I believe that Daein employed something similar, using contests of strength to determine who resided atop their hierarchy. I wonder…how did they devise such a unique method?”

 

Lucia felt her stomach drop. As with his earlier jab at Tanith, La Roche's question could be taken in several ways. And, none of them were good. He might have been implying that Daein was able to acquire this information from the Laguz either through espionage or torture. Or, worse, La Roche could be raising the idea that the Laguz gave Daein this information. And, either way, these remarks were an insult both to Caineghis' character and integrity. Lucia's fist clenched, as if it held La Roche's neck, and she saw several agitated eyes boring into La Roche's skull.

 

If Caineghis was struck with any similar umbrage, then he concealed it well. Still, Lucia was certain that the King of Lions' self restraint was not as effortless as cursory observation would suggest. There were quite a few deceased Daein soldiers who could offer mute testimony regarding just how dangerous an angry Laguz could be.

 

As various methods to painfully end La Roche's life, or at least his tenure on the Council, ceased to dance across Lucia's imagination, she pondered his actions. And, they didn't make sense. She knew that there had to be some sense behind them, though she certainly thought the opposite often enough she knew that La Roche was no fool. He was doing this for a reason, but what could that reason be? Was he trying to hedge the Crimean Court away from its Gallian and Begnion benefactors, which would force Crimea to look inward for the strength to rebuild? Perhaps he was looking to cause Elincia to second guess herself, and thus make her reliant upon a more experienced statesman, such as himself? Maybe his goal was to induce Gallia and Begnion to urge a…reorganization of Crimea's government, one that would inevitably favor him. Any of these three scenarios occurring would see La Roche as the main, if not sole beneficiary. Again, Lucia felt contempt for the man boil in her veins.

 

As Lucia continued to mentally dissect La Roche's actions, she realized that she knew practically nothing about the man. Unlike the rest of the Crimean Nobility, or Beorc Nobility in general for that matter, he never threw the gaudy parties that were stock-in-trade of the upper crust. In fact, now that she thought about it, she didn't even know where he lived. Not that she'd been interested in finding out, of course. Now that she really thought about it, the only thing she knew about him was that he was once married, the ring finger of his left hand bearing the tell-tale loop of too pale flesh to show that a wedding band had once encompassed it, but she had heard nothing of his wife or of how their marriage had ended.

 

She suspected divorce, it was certainly what she'd have done in such a position.

 

By the time she'd shaken herself back to attention, the Council Meeting was concluding. Elincia had adjourned the Meeting while Lucia, repressing the urge to burst into song or at least scream `Hallelujah,' respectfully seconded the motion. The Queen then mentioned that she was heading for the Castle Balcony.

 

`Heading for the Castle Balcony,' Lucia mentally repeated with silent sarcasm. `At high noon, on an eighty degree day. Oh, yes.'

 

She had a supposition about the real reason Elincia was going out there and, if proven wrong, Lucia would cut her hair.

 

***************************************************************** *************

 

Falchion1984: Well, hopefully, that will set the stage. Those of you who've read `Divergence' likely recall both the scabbard and Sephiran presenting it to Ike. I'll admit, Ike retaining his title might be pushing it as far as keeping in character goes, but I hope the rationale I gave passes reader inspection. Aside from wanting an Ike+Elincia ending, and being angry about not getting one, I believe that Ike could act as a driving force behind cementing relations between the Beorc and Laguz. Given his reaching across the divide, his aiding Ranulf at Port Toha and rescuing Reyson and Leanne, it stands to reason that the respect he commands amongst the Laguz is immense, perhaps even greater than King Ramon's. Additionally, his Info conversation with Zihark implied that he too believed in the dream and, as you may recall from `Divergence' and this chapter, it caused him to be uncertain where his loyalties ultimately lay. The scabbard, given to him by the Greil Mercenaries, was one part art a symbol, of their willingness to let him decide his own path in life, and one the other part a wedding gift.

 

Mist: My brother is such a dolt, keeping Elincia waiting so long.

 

Falchion1984: Yeah, but that's why we love him.

 

Mist and Ranulf: *Raise eyebrows*

 

Falchion1984: Whaaaat? It's an endearing trait. It can be troublesome though, as Ike's introspection points out.

 

Ranulf: What I'd give to have seen him yelling at the Apostle.

 

Falchion1984: One thing I'd like to point out, and this is reflection rather than bragging, how come I'm the only one thus far who's touched on the irony underlying Ike's near refusal of being dubbed a Lord? I mean, it was an obvious but meaningful literary device but neither the game nor other fanfic authors have touched on it. Am I the only person who noticed it?

 

Mist: I thought you said this wasn't bragging?

 

Falchion1984: Shut up. Anyhow, the members of the Council include some O.C's. Those are Reginald, Caldaur, Gervain and La Roche. Silok is a semi-O.C, for lack of a better term, since he is named in the game after the fight at Riven Bridge but never appears. Hopefully, the Council Meeting presented a realistic picture of Crimea's post-reconstruction politics and the scene with Caineghis caught your attention. The idea of Laguz playing jazz was something of an accident, which occurred one night while listening to some old Harlem Renaissance (that being African American) music. Upon reflection, I realized that certain similarities could be drawn between the white-black ethnic conflicts and the animosity between the Beorc and Laguz. Ranulf being beaten in Toha, for instance, could be likened to acts of violence against blacks as can the tendency to brand those on the other end of the racial divide as `subhuman.' Furthermore, there is the presence of prominent figures on both sides of the divide trying to bridge the gap. Apostle Misaha, who ended Laguz Slavery and was assassinated soon after, could be likened to Abraham Lincoln and possible connections could be drawn between King Ramon and John F. Kennedy and Caineghis and Martin Luther King Jr. And, to top it all off, jazz artists during the Harlem era were referred as cats. Get it? Gallians. Cats. Be advised, this came from a jazz induced adrenaline rush so if my theory doesn't hold up then please say so diplomatically. What say you co-hosts?

 

Mist and Ranulf: *Sound asleep*

 

Falchion1984: No has any respect for history these days. Well, there are entire books about the Harlem Renaissance but, sparing details, it was a musical movement by African Americans spanning the early twentieth century. The only Harlem Cat I've yet listened to is Tomas Waller, but I plan on changing that in due time. Anyhow, please review.