Fire Emblem: Last of the Manakete

"If Sol Invictus had intended for men to fly, she would have given them wings."
"…I don't recommend saying that around a Whitewing."
"I said men. Never said anything about women. We can do whatever we want."
- From the Divine Realm comedy The Priest and the Valkyrie


As you pick up your scroll from the table and start to put it away, your mind is too busy racing to pay much attention to what your body is up to. 'Didn't you put that away?'
Artemis had always kept you close. Ever since the two of you had met, she had told you several times to not wander too far from her, even after she learned what you were capable of. Maybe it's just you, but it seems a little odd that she'd go to sleep without at least checking on you. True, you hadn't been around; maybe she'd checked in, seen you were gone, and assumed that you were okay. Maybe she'd been disappointed that she hadn't gotten to see you.

'Or maybe,' a small, nasty voice whispers in the back of your mind, 'Mother was right. Now that the human doesn't need you anymore, she can afford to just leave you behind.'

You freeze in the middle of retying your backpack closed, turning that thought over in your brain. It was true that Mother had spent more time dealing without outsiders than you or Father. She'd certainly spent more time observing humans than you had. She would know more about them than you did.

Artemis had also kept you at arm's length from the moment you arrived here. You'd been going to share a room with her, but she'd told you to go in here. Maybe she'd already been thinking about getting rid of you now that she was back among her own people. Maybe the rolling house had been her leaving. Maybe-

You shake your head firmly. Or maybe Artemis had just wanted a bit of privacy while she slept. You'd had your own room back home, that didn't mean you hadn't loved your parents. Artemis had been sure to check in on you in the morning, and she'd certainly seemed happy enough to talk to you.

'I'm being silly,' you think. Really, the most likely explanation was that Countess Mantrae was being completely honest: Artemis had been really tired last night. You'd certainly been, and you'd gotten to sleep through the day in a way she and the others hadn't. She'd probably checked in when she got back, maybe even with Countess Mantrae, seen you weren't there, and gone to take a nap. Maybe Countess Mantrae had even told her to: she seemed like the kind of person who enforced bedtimes.

However… you do really want to talk to Artemis. Not only to silence the niggling doubt that's still lingering in the back of your mind, but because you want to share some of the things you'd found today. Ask her if there was a way to convince Castor or Countess Mantrae to let you go to the library. Tell her about your new friends: maybe Artemis would be willing to meet them, which might distract them from thinking too hard about what you'd let slip about your mother.

Well, who says you can't? Besides Countess Mantrae, but all she'd really done was suggest you stay here: she'd never really said you had to.

Hopping off the floor, you creep over to listen at the door. It takes a moment, but you hear the faint grinding of metal on metal as one of the guards, probably Castor, shifts outside your door.

You frown: if Countess Mantrae has decided that it's your bedtime, she'll probably have told her guards to stop you from leaving. That will make it… difficult, to get out. You're sneaky, you've proven that, but you're no Black manakete: slipping past a ready guard right outside your door would be functionally impossible.

So you had two options: go to sleep like Countess Mantrae wants, or find some other way of talking to Artemis.

As you lean back, you glance out the window at the rapidly darkening sky. It's a nice window; it even has glass, which from what Father had said was not easy to make. It could also open… slowly, a cheeky smile spreads across your face.

After all, you had been meaning to go for a fly at some point. Now you have a legitimate reason to!

Still, it would be best to wait a bit: after all, you're still trying to keep your manaketeness secret, and heart-form wings are… were… rare even among manakete. Best to wait until things get darker. That would also give Artemis time to finish her nap.

Getting up from next to the door, you hustle back to your bag: while you like your shiny outfit; if you're going to be sneaky shininess would be counterproductive. Best to put that away, get your normal clothes on, and go flying when it gets fully dark.

After getting re-dressed and putting your bag back under the bed, you take a moment to quietly spread your wings and gently roll them in their sockets: proper stretching is an essential pre-flight habit. Then, you take the time to study the conditions: the wind seemed to be coming from the south-west: should make takeoff easier since you were facing east, but you'd have to be careful not to get blown too far away from the building.

Finally, as darkness truly falls, you feel ready to get going. Just one last thing to do.

Grabbing the blanket from the bed, you wrap it around yourself like an oversized cloak, like you'd done when you'd woken up during the night at home and wanted to go do something without getting dressed. Properly disguised, you walk back to the door and gently knock on it. A moment later, a guard opens it. Sadly it's not Castor.

"My lady? Do you need something?" he asks.

"No," you say. "I was just going to wish you good night. Well, I was going to wish Castor good night, but he seems to be gone."

The man blinks a few times before nodding. "Yes; he's off-duty. He'll be back tomorrow."

You nod. You like Castor, even if he had assumed you wouldn't notice him leading you in circles. "Okay," you say. "Well, good night."

The new guard seems to ponder his words for a moment before simply nodding. "Sleep well, child," he says before quietly closing the door. A moment later, you hear a faint click from it.

You frown: had he just… locked you in? Not that it mattered, of course, since you were leaving by flying, but it was still weird.

Shaking your head, you creep back to the bed. Grabbing your cloak and one of the pillows, you make a rough facsimile of yourself in the bed, just in case someone glanced in. With humans' poor night-vision, they hopefully wouldn't realize that it isn't really you.

Finally, with all your preparations complete, you carefully ease the window open and take one last look out. While there are lights further down along the outer walls of the castle, there's nothing up here that will expose you.

Spreading your wings, you resist the urge to let out a whoop as you step out into air: sneaky, you need to be sneaky. Still, being able to fly without the existential terror of a fight clouding the fun makes you smile. Despite wanting to go see Artemis, you take a few moments to just glide around, enjoying the wind in your hair, the way your membranes strain against the sky. You love flying, you always have, and it's so good to be back!

As you do, you look around. You see so many things: even this late at night, there are people moving about. Most are armored men and women like the ones outside your door, patrolling along the walls and occasionally in the courtyard. You see a pair of more armored men riding out of the gate. You see two more seeming to have a mock fight; pausing between spear thrusts to talk.

Hovering in place (one of the benefits of your flight being powered by magic as much as proper wing dynamics, though it is a bit more tiring,) you take a moment to just breath the clear air. A part of you wants to just go flying for a bit longer, it's been so long, but you have a mission. Besides, while you're hopeful nobody will check to see if you're actually asleep in your room, you can't be sure they won't. The sooner you find Artemis and have your chat, the sooner you can get back and get some sleep.

Leaning back, you glide back towards the window you started at. You'd been right next door to Artemis, so just shift a little to left, and you'll be at her window. The room is dark as you approach, but even through the window, you're able to peek in.

It takes you a moment to realize that something's wrong. Everything's neat; but there's something about the neatness… it's like when you first arrived. The sort of cleanness that comes from a lack of use.

More importantly, the bed, which is right by the window, is empty.

You frown: had you mis-remembered? Quickly, you beat your wings and shoot past your own window to the one on the other side, where you thought Axton had been staying.

It's also empty. It's also super clean. There's also no sign of the pack that Axton had been carrying: though he might have just shoved it under the bed.

Moving back to Artemis's room, you pause to consider. The window is closed; while it would be easy to break the glass and get in, you don't want to cause any damage. If you could just use wind magic, you could probably trigger the latch from this side, but as it was, you'd need something sharp and narrow… wait a minute!

A minute later, you're back with one of the narrow files from the runewrighting kit Father left you; and with a bit of jimmying you're able to get the window open without any obvious damage (well, aside from some scratches, but those are on the outside, nobody will notice.) Slipping in, you look around.

Just as you'd thought; there was no sign that Artemis had been in here. Her bow was gone, her pack was gone, there was nothing here.

Had… had she actually left you?

No. No, there had to be another explanation. She wouldn't do that to you, not without saying goodbye at least.

Something isn't right.

Slowly, you slip back out into open air, gliding in circles in midair as your thoughts race. Now that you think about it, you haven't seen anyone since this morning. Not Axton, not Lancel, not Kelton. A quick check shows that his room is also empty, though at least there are still some signs of habitation in there. However, of the man himself, there is no sign. You're all alone.

You need to find Artemis. Something's wrong, and surely she'll know what it is.

[] Go grab your bag: Something's wrong, and you don't want to leave anything behind if you have to do something drastic.

[] Go grab Thunder's Cry: Something's wrong, and you want to have a weapon if things get worse.

[] Go find Artemis quickly: Somethings wrong, and you need to know your friend is safe.

---

Flying upwards, you consider your options. If Artemis isn't in her room, she could be anywhere in the castle. You want to go ask, but that could be dangerous: Countess Mantrae didn't tell you that Artemis had moved, in fact had pretended she hadn't. If she wasn't telling you things… then either she didn't trust you, and so her guards wouldn't answer you, or you couldn't trust her, which meant they wouldn't answer you anyways.

'Whenever you're hunting, sweetheart, always seek the height advantage.'

"Thanks, Mother," you whisper to your memories, beating your wings and shooting upwards. If you could get high up, you could see more of the castle, and maybe figure out where to look for Artemis.

As you rise higher, you scan the windows. While most are dark, there are some with flickering lights in them. Not steady enough to be rune-light, maybe just candles? That meant those ones had people in them, so if all else failed you could just start checking all of them to see if Artemis was in any of them.

In fact, there was one of those windows near the very top of the tallest tower in the center of the castle. Pausing, you decide to test your theory: if humans can't fly normally, then they would be less likely to be paying attention to the outside if they were high up. Shifting directions, you pass the window before flipping yourself upside-down in midair to carefully lower your head down to peek in from the top.

The first thing you notice is the fact that, while this window also has glass, there does not appear to be a way to open it.

The second thing you noticed is the heavy iron mesh preventing anyone from even touching the glass from the inside.

The third thing you notice is Artemis, sitting on the bed in the corner.

You're about to congratulate yourself on how easy this was, but then you take a closer look at her. She's curled up, hugging her legs and pressing her face to her knees; her shoulders shaking slightly.

"Artemis?" you whisper. Why is she crying? Why is she up here?

What is going on?!

Quickly, you drop down to hover fully front of the window before knocking on the glass. It takes some effort to not slam too hard: you don't want to cause any damage. There could be a reasonable explanation for this, there had to be!

It takes a few tries, but finally Artemis looks up, and even through the dim light past the glass you can see she's been crying. Her jaw drops as she stares at you.

"Hey, it's me!" you say a bit louder, waving.

"Ryza?" you think she says: you can't hear her, but you see her lips move. She bounds off the bed and over to the window, clambering onto the desk in front of the window while barely avoiding the open book and candle. "How… how?"

"I didn't see you in your room," you say, pressing a hand against the glass. "And I got worried, so I went looking for you. What's going on? Why are you up here?"

For a moment, it's clear Artemis is struggling to keep her emotions in check. Her mouth moves soundlessly, tears start leaking from her eyes again, and she grips the metal barrier hard enough that you're worried she's going to hurt her hand. "Oh, Ryza," she finally whispers. "I'm so sorry… I thought they'd hurt you…"

"Who?" you ask desperately. "Artemis, what's happening?"

"Mantrae betrayed us," she says, her shoulders shaking with a combination of sobs and fury. "She's planning on giving me to the bandits chasing us."

Your heart stops. "W… what?" you gasp. That didn't make any sense, Countess Mantrae had seemed so nice when she talked to you. Why would she… how could she…

Artemis, meanwhile, continues talking. "Her daughter… they have her daughter, and I'm apparently the key to getting her back." She snarls. "How dare she, how dare she! I trusted-" she shakes her head. "No, there's no time for that. Ryza, you have to get out of here!"

"What?!" you squeak.

Artemis's hand clenches even harder, and even through the glass you can see blood starting to well around her fingers. "You can't fight them all," she growls. "There are just too many of them, and we're in the middle of her land. Just… just go. Tell my father what happened. It may be too late for me, but at least you can make sure Mantrae pays for her betrayal. Leave me: just fly northeast; follow the road from above. Tell Father what happened, and if he asks for proof, tell him that he gave me my bow on my thirteenth birthday since I kept breaking the toy ones I got."

You stare at Artemis in shock. How... what...

[] "…Okay. Stay here, I'll be fast. I'll go get your father, then we'll be back to save you."

[] "No! There's got to be another way I'm not going to leave you here! I'll think of something…"

[] Write-In

[] "You underestimate my power." Rage flows through you.
AN: To be clear, leaving is not a trap option: it is a completely legitimate choice. I'm not going to force you to try and save Artemis here; the story will just go in a different direction.