Fire Emblem Tropera

"I know quite well the hardships of having to survive in the wilds, nothing but a large stick and larger will standing between you and your death. It's quite easy to see how many would fall into banditry," Gramps chimed in on Gertrude's words. "Speaking of, you're still a bit out of breath, even after being healed, you should rest. A tonic of otter blood would be helpful for restoring stamina as well, but I don't think there are any nearby. Maybe some aloe...."

"If that's the case, I don't think I could blame you for thinking that way. Being close to death's door, its not something I can fathom. For me death is simply a conclusion to life. Yet, you humans fight against it everyday. Maybe that's why you can bring such great change." she found a place to sit, just now noticing how much energy she expended during the battle.

"Of course we fight against death," Gramps said solemnly. "It is the one great enemy we have yet to defeat. Kingdoms and countries come and go, but death... death remains. I gave up nearly all that I had so that I could dedicate my own life to fighting death. I know that one day I, too, will eventually have to confront that old demon, but I will do so knowing that I have raged against him with every drop of my blood, sweat, and tears, and will not stop until my last dying breath."

Whoever the kid was, apparently her parents gave her quite the education. Eridan left the group to their discussions. He had a more pressing matter to discuss.

"Have you heard the rumors, commander?" He asked as he approached Tigra. "Apparently the bandits are organizing behind a leader, supposedly spanning across the entirety of Frael. If they are truly rallying to this 'Bandit King', then we are going to be picking a fight with a small army."

"...Please... no more 'orgos..." Gertrude was already sick of that bandit family.

"Bassairus is the name of an old fort, high up where the hills give way to the mountains," Tigra said. "It's been abandoned for years, or rather, it would seem, it was. It won't be an easy assault, but if we can chop off the head now, the rest of the bandit groups should be much less of a threat to the countryside without a leader organizing them all."

Tigra turned to the sky. The sun was just passing its zenith; noon. "Fort Bassairus is about three days' march from here, if we make good time. We'll start out this afternoon, once everyone's had a chance to rest and recuperate from the battle.

"Grendan, would you mind flying back to Bethran and filling Malia in on the situation before we depart?"

From outside, Grendan called back, "It'll give me an excuse to get away from that stubborn manakete at least. I'll tell the villagers there that they might have some refugees coming while I'm at it. We can drop them off before heading to the next battle, right?"

"Oh dear, you're really sore about that aren't you?" Kiri said stepping out of the manor. "Tell you what, I'll come with you, as a sign of good will."

Grendan frowned at Kiri, barely resisting the urge to outright glare, before reluctantly nodding. "Just don't talk about that again and you can come along. I don't deal well with people defending decisions that I'm quite certain are bad. At least not when their reasoning seems so flawed to me." He shook his head. "Honestly, I could forgive it if there was a proven, IMMEDIATE need, like a mustering army or something, but I've never heard anything of the sort... nothing credible, at least."

Kiri didn't say anything back, but smiled warmly to the wyvern rider.

"Shall we be off then? The sooner we return the better."

And they're off Gertrude hoped those two would not eat each other alive. She began walking around the village again. The King's actions has taken troops away from protecting rural villages while simultaneously driven more people into banditry. And yet Gertrude was somewhat grateful since she would not be able to find a job otherwise.

Gramps chuckled to himself. He remembered when he had been young and stupid, brash and entitled, thinking that being right was the most important thing. He could only hope that life would be kinder on them than it had been to him at his age, and that they would learn to get along.

"Yes, no more orgos indeed," he added. "Though I suspect we'll sooner run out of letters in the alphabet than we run out of bandit siblings."

Michel watched Kiri and Grendan go, a tad concerned. "Hrm. Hopefully the two of them can actually put their differences long enough to work together." He looked for a bit longer, before Gertrude's quiet exasperation made him turn back to the rest of the group, hiding a smirk. "The two of them don't have any more siblings, like as not. Or at least, none that are of a similar caliber. However, I have it on good authority that their father may yet live..." Whether Papa 'orgos was actually alive, Michel didn't know; he was just trying to mess with everyone.

edited 9th Dec '16 11:06:42 AM by Tojin

The flight back to Bethran, unsurprisingly, took much less time than the trek from it to the bandit camp, given than Grendan and Kiri were delayed neither by the need to navigate obstacles or wait for heavily armored allies, and they arrived after only two hours to find the village bustling with activity. The initial panic at the sight of a rapidly-descending wyvern bearing two riders was quickly replaced by cheers of welcome as the townsfolk recognized Grendan, and the commotion drew Malia out of the inn to see what the fuss was about.

The self-appointed staff officer/quartermaster came to meet the pair in the town square as Heath came in for a landing, pausing in the middle of a familiar wave to Grendan as she spotted the young woman riding behind him.

"Holy Stones, did you actually find yourself a girlfriend, Grendan?" she asked, quizzically, then turned to Kiri. "What did he do, tell you he was the captain of the Fraelian Flying Force?"

Kiri hoped off of the wyvern and gave it a gentle stroke on its neck as thanks. Afterwards her attention immediately went to Malia, and what she was saying. "Oh yes~" she said adopting a rather bubbly tone of voice, and playing with her hair a little "He told me so much about his adventures, and how he commands a legion of a hundred riders! We're going to be wed once he's taken care of these bandits!" she honest to god looked like a lovestruck teenager swooning over her idol.

Malia stared slackjawed. "Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no. This is all my fault! Oh, Grendan, if only I hadn't teased you about not having a girlfriend all these years, you wouldn't have resorted to stealing away some innocent child!" she sobbed, and moved to put an arm around Kiri's shoulders and lead her away. "Come with me, dear. I'll get you home. I'm Malia. What's your name?"

Grendan blinked at Kiri's actions in surprise for a moment, then chuckled. "Gotta say, that prank of yours makes up for that argument we had earlier, Kiri." Addressing Malia now, he added, "No, I am not, to the best of my knowledge, getting married anytime soon; I was sent here to let you know that we'll be heading to a fort in the hills a few days away to handle another bandit problem." He gestured to Kiri, adding, "It seems my new friend here has a mischievous streak."

He glanced back before adding, "Oh, and we also found some civilian survivors in the town where the bandits we just took care of were holed up. I think you should let this town know about them so they can get some supplies ready." He shrugged, adding, "I don't know if they'll be coming here, but I don't doubt they'd appreciate some relief supplies in the near future if they decide to stay."

"Unfortunately what he says, is the truth" she noted giggling. "My name is Kiri, and I'm going to be joining your group from now on."

"Oh," Malia said, blushing beet red at falling for the prank. "Um, yeah, okay. Did she say if the fort had a name?"

"Are you one of the villagers, then?" she asked Kiri. "Your dress is so cute! It's a shame about the holes. I can mend it for you, if you like?"

Grendan opened his mouth, hesitating briefly before sheepishly admitting, "I must have missed that part. Er, Kiri, did you catch the name?"

"No I'm not one if the villagers, but a victim all the same. Those bandits intended so sell me. And well .." She pulled at her dress."Yes I'd like that." She said to malia before looking up at Grendan."Fort Bassarius, if there's one thing I have its my memory."

"Sell you?! Good grief, I knew those bandits were bad people, but jeez..." Malia shook her head. "Well, come on back to the inn with me and we'll fix you up in no time. I'm not exactly a master seamstress, but I can mend a tear easily enough. You said it was Fort Bassairus?" Malia started heading back to the inn.

"I'll just wait here- I don't want to see anything I shouldn't. Try not to say anything TOO outrageous in there, okay, Kiri?" Grendan paused before amending, "Actually, just tell me about anything outrageous you say in there when we're on our way so I know to play along."

"I'll try." She said to grendan before following after Malia."Yes it, it seems to be their nest"

edited 9th Dec '16 7:29:25 PM by Azure

Inside the inn, Malia led Kiri upstairs to the room she was renting and dug into her things for her sewing kit. It didn't take long to find, as she didn't have much to go through in the first place, and she also picked out a dress of her own which she handed to Kiri.

"You can put that on while I'm working. I know it's probably not as nice as you're used to, but I won't take long," she said, unable to help noticing the vast difference in the quality between her clothes and Kiri's. "You can change in here, I'll wait outside."