Fire Emblem: Last of the Manakete

"Servants, in my experience, always know everything."
-"Lord" Turner, Imperial Spymaster


You're fifty-five when you stumble, sobbing, into Mother's room. You're clutching your oddly-bent arm to your chest as if hugging it would make the hurt go away, even though you know it won't.

Mother looks up from the scroll she'd been reading, her eyes widening. Before you could even open your mouth, she's across the large room and kneeling at your side, the wind of her swift movement almost causing you to stumble as she pulls you carefully into her lap.

"Ryza! Sweetie, what happened?!" she asks, tenderly stroking your head as she studies the bruised, bloody bundle of pain that seemed to have replaced your arm.

Still crying, you try to choke out an explanation. "Went flying," you whimper. "Up near the top, and I was doing fine but there was a big breeze and I hit the mountain hard and my arm went snap."

Mother winces. "Ryza, didn't your father and I ask you not to fly too high without one of us around?" As she says this, gentle light plays around her hand as she strokes your injured arm. It hurts for an instant, but before you can try to flinch away the magic seeps into your body. As it does, the pain starts to fade.

"Yes," you say glumly. "But you're busy, and Father's busy, and there's nobody else around…"

Mother signs, continuing her work as she cuddles you. "I know, Ryza," she says softly. "Usually, manakete raise our children communally. When I was your age, whenever my mother wasn't around, I still had my aunts and uncles to look after me." For a moment, a strange mix of anger and pain crosses her face, but she smooths it out into gentle warmth as she leans down and kisses your arm. "There, all better."

Looking down, you see that your arm is in fact mended. You were pretty sure you'd had at least two broken parts, and there'd certainly been a lot of bleeding and mess, but with your mother's and The Mother's love, you were as good as new. Sniffling, you smile.

"Thank you, Mother," you say, hugging her back.

"You're welcome, dear," she says, picking you up and carrying you over to the desk. "I think you've had enough flying for today. Why don't you rest here for a bit?" she says, pulling a smaller chair over with her foot before setting you down in it. "There's a nice scroll that I found when I was looking for this, I think you might like it."

Distracted by the thought of getting to read (and spend some time with Mother) you smile. "Sure!" you say.

It's a silly, impossible little story about a manakete and human that go on adventures together, but you enjoy it. You're even able to pull Mother from whatever was making her frown as she read by convincing her to let you read bits of your story to her, so all and all, you count today as a win.

---

You smile sadly at the memory as you read over the section on White magic. At the time, you hadn't realized just how much effort Mother must have put in to so perfectly and swiftly heal your injury. It had been a bad break, a result of your heart-forms frailness. Mother, however, had wiped it away as if it had never been. Just a bad memory.

Ardan had done the same, in the forest outside Miau. There had been people who would have died, their already too-short lives cut even shorter just for trying to help, but she'd prevented that.

Wasn't this a better kind of magic? Not the magic to destroy, but the magic to heal? Father said that any magic could be used for good: could help those you loved, but White magic seemed to be the best at it. You wanted to be able to be like Mother and Ardan. You wanted to be able to be the kind of manakete who made the world better, not worse.

Artemis had said that humans had lots of stories about manakete destroying things. You figure that they needed some stories about manakete fixing people.

With a firm nod, you read on.


As all magic is drawn from the soul, they are shaped by your state of mind. To hope to cast White magic, you must get in touch with the Mother's blessing that is the core of all manakete. To begin, find a place where you can feel at peace. This will be different for every manakete: for some it might be at the top of a tower, under the sun. For others, it might be gathered around a fire with family and friends. Wherever you find peace, wherever you feel loved, enshrine yourself in that place.

There, do something you love. Sing, dance, read, whatever you wish, so long as it brings no harm to others. Then, as you remind yourself of the joys of the world, reach within yourself. Find that sparkling light, that link between heart and dragon, and coax it out. It may take time, but eventually, it will come to you. This is the core of your White magic; the heart of your heart and the soul of your dragon.

In this way, you will find the peace of the Mother, and you will take your first step towards White magic. Return once this stip is taken, and we will begin the process of shaping this light into healing energies, the first true spell of White magic.


As you consider getting started right away, you glance out the window again. There are still countless people milling about, though there do seem to not be as many.

You ponder. It makes some sense that you're spending your time up here in Countess Mantrae's castle; this isn't your final destination. However, from what Artemis said, her home will be even bigger and more crowded, and there you will be expected to interact with people, since they're Artemis's friends and family.

You're nervous, but you knew that the best way to overcome nerves is practice. You need to practice being around large numbers of humans so you wouldn't embarrass Artemis, and that means you should probably go out there and spend some time with people. Who knows, you might even find some new friends like Kelton.

Taking a deep breath, you tuck your scroll away, carefully put your backpack under the bed to keep it out of the way, and square your shoulders. You consider changing; Artemis had said that you maybe shouldn't wear your nice outfit out and about, but something makes you stop. Everyone who had seen you so far has liked it, and you weren't going anywhere unsafe, just around Countess Mantrae's home.

Besides… you want to feel pretty, at least for a little while.

After a minute of fussing, carefully recharging the woven runes on your dress even though you'd just done it this morning, and other acts that even you could tell were driven by procrastination, you march to the door, trying to channel Father's calm and Mother's grace into your steps. You're not sure you succeed, but you're going to do your best anyways.

The guard across the hall looks up, confused, as you step out the door. "Milady?" he asks.

"I was just going for a walk, Castor," you say.

The man blinks, surprised for some reason, before straightening. "Forgive me, but I had thought from your talk with Lady Cartese that you would be remaining in your room today," he said.

"I was going to," you say. "But it's a really nice day out, and the castle looks very pretty, and I wanted to see more of it."

Castor seems to think, glancing down the hall at one of the other groups of soldiers (they're back down to two on either end of the corridor, for some reason.) They shrug. "If you truly want to…" he says, stepping forward. "Countess Mantrae has insisted that all of you receive escorts while you are here; to ensure that nothing happens to any of you."


You cock your head. "I had thought we'd be safe here," you say. "That's what Artemis said."

Castor nods. "Of course," he says quickly. "My fellows and I have simply been tasked with making sure you remain safe. You are guests of Legerius, after all. If word were to get out that ill befell guests of the Countess, that would be unacceptable."

You suppose that made sense. "Okay," you say. "So, do you know anyplace nice here? Is there a library?"

Castor's jaw works oddly for a moment before he nods. "I… know a few places, milady," he says. "If you're sure…"

"I am," you say. "And you can just call me Ryza, Castor."

The soldier studies you for a few more seconds before finally nodding. "Very well," he says. "If you would follow me." Nodding happily, you trot after him as he leads the way back out into the rest of the castle.

As you walk, you expect to start running into people. After all, there had been so many outside when you'd been looking. Surprisingly, however, it takes nearly five minutes before you see someone: a group of men dressed in clothes of a similar make to Daria's, who seem to be trying to move some sort of heavy object down the hall.

Before you can even think if there's any help you could offer, Castor gently grips your shoulder and tugs you down a different hall, leaving the three behind.

You quickly notice a pattern: whenever you start to hear or see other people, Castor tries to redirect you away from them. Every now and then, one or more of them will spot you despite his efforts. Some would simply nod, while others would start to wave, only to glance at Castor and carry on with whatever task they'd been doing. Either way, they are clearly doing their best to ignore you, which is a bit upsetting.

The one exception is when you happen to run across a dark-haired, well-dressed man walking down the hall so quickly and quietly that you nearly bump into each other.

"My lord," Castor says, bowing.

The man nods sharply before his eyes find you. "What's this," he asks coolly, his grey eyes sweeping up and down your body, taking in everything over his narrow nose.

Swallowing some nerves, you try to curtsy as you'd seen Artemis do. "Hello," you say. "My name's Ryza. What's your name?"

The man raises an eyebrow delicately, not speaking. You stand awkwardly for several seconds before he finally looks back at the guard. "Your answer, guardsman?" he says, his voice taking on a silky tone that makes your skin crawl.

Castor grimaces, but answers. "This young lady is a guest of Countess Mantrae, Baron Rickman," he says with a lot more bravery than you think you would have managed.

The baron's other eyebrow slowly rises to join the first. "I see," he says. "I had not heard that Her Ladyship was expecting… guests."

You start to muster your courage to answer, but Castor beats you to it. "Her arrival was not exactly planned, your lordship," he says. "More than that, I'm afraid I cannot say, on my Countess's orders."

"Hmmm…" the baron says, his piercing eyes seemingly trying to stab the truth out of Castor's brain as he stares at him. Finally, however, he sweeps past the two of you without another word or even a glance in your direction. He's so close that his black, billowing cloak seems to try and knock you over as it flutters against you.

You keep your mouth fearfully shut until Baron Rickman sharply turns a corner and vanishes from sight. "Who…" you whisper, listening to his footsteps retreating.

"Baron Silvin Rickman. Her Ladyship's cousin by marriage," Castor says, his hands shaking slightly as he grips his spear. "A baron from the Southlands duchy in the Empire." He seems to consider his words for a few moments before grimacing. "I… think it best we pretend that never happened. For both our sakes. Come on, before he thinks to come back."

Thankfully, nobody else bothers you for a while, giving you time to regain your bearings. However, as you do, you start to realize something.

"Aren't we going in circles?" you ask.

"Milady?" Castor asks.

"Ryza," you correct. "And we are, aren't we! I saw that picture five minutes ago!" you point to a (rather ugly) portrait of an old, fat man who had somehow been squeezed into fancy armor. "I thought we were going to the library?"

Castor sighs. "You did mention that, yes," he says. "However, the library is perhaps…" His eyes light up slightly. "Actually, I have a better idea. I think you'll like this." With that, he turns and leads you down another corridor. You consider insisting that he take you where you want to go, but curiosity gets the better of you and you follow after him.

After a few minutes, he stops at a heavy wooden door, cracks it open, and peeks through. You can see light filtering out, and smell fresh air. "I think you'll like this, Lady Ryza," he says before opening the door fully.

You gasp as you stare out at a fancy looking garden. It is clearly very nice and well-maintained, but what really gets you is that you're sure your still high up in the castle! How…

"Countess Mantrae's family garden," Castor says. "She hasn't used it much… recently, so it should be empty. Feel free to look around, though do be careful, we are very high up."

You nod; looking around. There are well-trimmed bushes, beds of glorious flowers even more vibrant than the herb gardens Mother kept. You don't recognize anything, but it all looks beautiful.

"Thank you," you say.

Castor nods. "Your welcome," he says. "Feel free to stay as long as you like. I'll wait here; to give you a little privacy."

As you start to move past him, the question that had just started to worm its way into your mind before you realized what was going on resurfaced. "Before I do… Castor, why don't you want me to talk to anyone?" you ask. "I… had kind of wanted to meet people here."

The man studies you for a few seconds before sighing. "I… cannot say, milady," he says. "Countess Mantrae has ordered that news of your arrival be kept as quiet as possible, and I do not question her orders. She must have her reasons."

You slowly nod. "Okay…" you say, making a note to ask Artemis what the countess had to say about that when you see her next. "Well, thank you for showing me around," you say.

Castor nods. "Of course, Lady Ryza," he replies.

You sigh. Work in progress, work in progress. With a final wave, you move deeper into the garden.

The warm, earthy scents surround you; even though you're pretty high up, the bushes have been carefully placed to provide windbreaks. The sun shining down managed to warm everything up, and as you look around you wonder why Coutness Mantrae wouldn't be spending as much time here. It was gorgeous.

Carefully making your way to the edge, you peer over, down into the courtyard. It's much as you remember it, lots of hustle and bustle. You briefly imagine yourself down in the middle of it, and decide that maybe it's a good thing you didn't push too hard to go: maybe you and Artemis could go together before you leave, so at least you'd have a friend.

Something interesting catches your eye, and you look over to an area that seems to have a lot of horses milling about. In front of the is what looks like a small house on wheels, and standing next to it is Sir Octavio, who seems to be arguing with an older-looking knight. Sir Octavio is gesturing at the rolling house, but the other knight shakes his head and says something to the unarmored men who were looking between the two of them. After a moment, they shrug and start to roll the house back under the roof.

The older knight, meanwhile, had turned to walk away, but Sir Octavio grabs his arm and says something. The older knight wrenches his arm out of the younger knight's grip, points his gauntlet at the man's face, before storming off. Sir Octavio stood, seemingly frozen in shock, before glancing back at the rolling house. Finally, however, he stomps off towards the main building, soon leaving your sight.

You frown: they'd been fighting about something. You hadn't been nearly close enough to hear anything, but you could tell by their body language that they disagreed about something, something to do with that rolling house. Was Sir Octavio not supposed to use it? Who even was the other knight, you hadn't seen him before.

Something odd was going on.

As you ponder this strange event, your ears perk as you hear a faint sound from behind you. Glancing over your shoulder, you don't see anything different, but as you focus, you hear it again.

Is that… giggling?

Curious, you quietly pad deeper into the roof garden, following the sounds. It takes you only a minute to find the source of the giggling. Peeking out from behind a bush, you spot three girls, all around your own age (or size, at least; since humans are apparently all really young.)

They're dressed in clothes nearly identical to the ones that you'd been given but ended up leaving behind: long skirts and blouses in black and white. However, while the others you'd seen wearing this sort of outfit had been moving with purpose on some task or other, these girls seemed to be relaxing. The largest (thus probably the oldest,) was carefully weaving the stems of a bunch of small, white flowers together into a chain of some sort. The other two are trying to do the same, but it's clear they're not as good at it. Looking closely, you see that the youngest is wearing a ring of these flowers around her head like a crown, though you're pretty sure it's the older girl's work.

You hesitate: none of them seem to have noticed you yet. You've never actually interacted with anyone your own age before; the youngest manakete you'd ever met was a three-hundred-year-old Green who had been passing through, only staying a night. You… don't really know how to interact with other children. Would they be nice? Would they think you were weird? Was there something different you were supposed to do when talking to children rather than adults? Would they peer down their noses at you like Baron Rickman?

You…

[] Carefully approach: you're curious, oh so curious, and you've always wanted to have friends your own age…

[] Leave them be: you're not ready for this yet. Besides, they seem to be having fun by themselves, you don't want to intrude.

[] Write-in

Pretty clear win for trying to make friends.

First, however, there's going to be a quick gaiden chapter (hopefully only one or two posts.)

EDIT: Spelling