Fire Emblem: Last of the Manakete

Alright, so very clear win for having the Revisionists share Ryza's story to build sympathy. I'm honestly (though pleasantly) surprised by that, it'll make things very interesting going forward.

As for the immediate moment, if my math's right it's 16 to 10 for staying and talking to the Heads.

Hopefully, this update won't take as long as the last one.

EDIT: Rolling dice for Reasons

"The relationship between the Empire and the Hall, much like the relationship between their founders, is often fraught with complications and trials, but in the end they will stand together. Some bonds, even when tested, can never truly be broken."
-Master Sinesta Cloudlance, Head Mage of Wyrmrise


As you look between the door and the balcony, you consider what you should do now. A part of you wants to go find Apollo. Now that you've been accredited and talked to the Revisionists, protecting him is undoubtedly your most important goal here at the Marble Hall. If the Regent's men are here, then he's in danger, so you should be at his side to make sure nothing happens to him.

However, you remind yourself that he has everyone else looking out for him too. You'd been sure to warn everyone of the danger as soon as you got here, and they'd taken it seriously. Besides, since they'd just been at your ceremony, they were all together at the top of the hill, far from where the Imperials were waiting. Even if there were some soldiers poking around, surely everyone'd be able to stick together and protect each other, at least until the Archmage had dealt with the situation. Even if you did go looking for him, there's a chance that everything would be resolved before you found him, depending on where exactly he went.

Besides, if somehow he does get into trouble, you'll have a better chance of spotting it from up here and moving to rescue him, like you did for Sypha.

You also briefly consider whether you should follow Blitzbolt, but dismiss that thought quickly. You're no Black manakete, so the chances of being able to sneak up on him are not very good. If he's not up to anything, and is just trying to get some space to process what just happened, then chasing him might make it worse, while if he is up to something you'd probably just get into a fight with him; a fight you're not entirely sure you can win alone.

No, best to hold here and keep an eye out in case something else goes wrong.

Standing, you make your way out onto the balcony with the others. Sunny, Mistress Softshimmer and Master Magmablaze are still talking worriedly to each other, however Master Darktide is still peering through his spy glass, staring down at the stables. Standing on your tiptoes, you try to get a good look. There are a lot of carts down there, not as many as you saw in some of the armies on the way here, but enough. There are also plenty of riders; you'd estimate about twenty or twenty-five, but you can't tell much about them save that they're all fully metal-armored cavaliers, no yeomen in sight. All of them are still mounted save for one, who's standing next to his horse with a large, ornate banner planted beside him, a shield hanging on his back. You frown, you can't get a good look at anything from here; a Green manakete could, but they always had the best eyes…

"Hey, could I borrow that, Master Darktide?" you ask.

The man slowly takes his eye from his spyglass to look down at you. "Why?" he asks. There's no anger in his voice, not like Blitzbolt's, but there is a coolness to it. "You already know what is down there, you told us of it."

Huffing, you try not to glare as you look back up at him. "I knew something was coming, and that they were coming for Apollo and the other Kingdom students," you say. "But I don't know exactly what's going on. Please, I just want to look; the messenger said something about a Voice of the Emperor, what's that?"

Master Darktide studies you for a moment longer before looking back down at the Imperial soldiers without another word. Sighing, you touch your thumbs to your fingers and try to shade your eyes with your hands and look around as much of the rest of the Hall as you can, just in case…

"Ryza, how did you know?" Mistress Softshimmer asks. Looking over, you see the other three Heads staring at you.

Giving your scouting up as a bad job, you turn fully to the other mages. "Well, I didn't know myself, but Archduke Letoro got a letter from someone in the Empire who knew a lot about what was going on, someone who thought Emperor Thaddeus was right to try and make peace. They shared a lot of information, and so far everything they've shared has come true. They were the ones who said that the Regent was going to try and kidnap the Hall children to make up for the fact that he couldn't kidnap Artemis and Sypha and any other Southern Kingdom noble children." You puff up. "I couldn't let that happen."

Everyone nods slowly as you speak, even Master Darktide lowering his spyglass to listen. After a few seconds of silence, Sunny looks up at the sky thoughtfully.

"It has to be someone in the Regent's inner circle, or at least on the Council," she says. "Nobody else would have enough information to be able to pull that off."

"The Council?" you ask.

"Well, in theory the Emperor rules the Empire alone," Sunny explains, "but in practice they need a lot of help to manage everything, so they have an unofficial but traditional Council who help them manage different parts of the Empire. They may not be official, but they do have a lot of power, so if they thought the Regent was making a mistake…"

Mistress Softshimmer shakes her head, hugging her staff to herself "That would still be very risky," she says. "If the Regent's willing to do something like this, who knows what he's willing to do to people he sees as subordinate to him, especially if they've betrayed him." She frowns at you. "Is there anything else they said, something that could help us figure out who they are? They might need help soon."

You consider for a moment; that's a good point. Without this mysterious person's warning, you might not have gone to the Hall, and if you had you wouldn't have known to warn everyone. You owe them any help you can get them. "Well, they knew some other stuff," you say. "I wasn't told everything, but one thing that the Archduke mentioned was that they shared a list of… well, of Kingdom spies." You briefly worry that it was a mistake to mention that they existed, but everyone simply nods.

"Could it be the Raven?" Master Magmablaze asks. "She knows-"

"Doubtful," Master Darktide says. "I've met her, and she's a true believer. She might disagree with the methods, but she wouldn't go behind her superior's back like that. And if she knew enough about spies within the Empire to name them so accurately, she would have rolled them up."

You shiver; Archduke Letoro had said Kopoi was doing that in the Kingdoms; could that be happening in the Empire as well?

Meanwhile, the Heads are still talking. "It couldn't be Master Cloudlance, he would have sent the warning straight to us rather than through an intermediary," Sunny says.

"If he could; but maybe he couldn't manage that and had to improvise?" Master Magmablaze says. Seeing your confused look, he shrugs. "Head Mage of Wyrmrise. While Archmage Stormspeaker's the Head Mage of the Empire, Master Cloudlance gave the Emperor most of his day-to-day advice on magical matters, and now he does the same for the Regent."

"I doubt it's him, he'd come back here and tell us himself first, and even if he was somehow forced to go around to get to us he wouldn't have the detailed information on spy networks to work with," Mistress Softshimmer says. "No, I can't see it being him." The other three nod in agreement. "Could be the Hierophant? I mean, he's the oldest member of the Council, but he's still kicking."

Master Darktide considers for a long moment. "He's always been a minor player, though," he says. "From what I heard, he was only introduced when Emperor Thaddeus was trying to convince the Sun-Father to speak with him. I could be wrong about that, though. Donnor, you spend more time in Wyrmrise than we do, what do you think?"

Silence.

"Oh, right," you say. "He left just after Archmage Stormspeaker."

Master Magmablaze and Sunny glance worriedly at each other, but Mistress Softshimmer just sighs. "He did just have the rug pulled out from under him rather violently," she says. "He spent the last few days arguing that the Regent would never do anything like this, and he clearly just did. That would be enough to shake anyone. I'll go talk to him, make sure he's okay." With that, she turns and leaves the office.

The remaining four of you look at each other for a moment before a flash from the stables catches your attention. Shading your eyes again, you see the figure of Archmage Stormspeaker (or at least his very fancy cloak) appearing from nowhere before stalking towards the knight standing by the banner, who seems to recoil slightly.

"Well," Master Darktide says after a moment. "It seems that the Voice truly didn't think that the Archmage was still here." He smiles dryly. "He is likely regretting a great many decisions right about now."

You shiver at the thought of just how much Yellow magic must be filling the air down there. "Is the Archmage going to hurt him?" you ask.

"Only if the man is fool enough to force the issue," Master Magmablaze says.

Sunny clenches her hands worriedly. "Can we really discount that possibility?" she says. "That the Regent even started on this path… why… why would he do this?"

Everyone looks to you, and you hesitate for a moment before sighing. "Well, he seems to want to conquer the Kingdoms," you say. "And from what I saw, he seemed to decide the easiest way to do it was to make everyone surrender by having their children. It… well, it kind of worked once, though I was able to keep things from getting too out of hand." You frown. "Though from what I heard and saw, things are going to be getting ugly in the Northern Kingdoms: Artemis's going up there to help them defend themselves."

"But the army's only mobilizing to avenge the Emperor after he was murdered by-" Sunny stops, her eyes going wide. "Wait, you're not saying…"

You hesitate, glancing back down towards where Archmage Stormspeaker is still having a fierce argument with the man holding the banner. You can't tell much from the limited body language, but you get the feeling that the Archmage thankfully seems to be winning. "I think… I think I should wait to talk about that until the Archmage is back," you say. "I only want to have to say it once."

Everyone goes tense, but after a moment Master Darktide speaks up. "So, from what you have said, there either exists or will soon exist a state of war between the Wyrmblood Empire and the Archduchy of Agrithe and its allies," he says. "What will your role in that war be?"

You consider. You don't really want to do a lot of fighting. It's one thing to shoot lightning bolts at people who've directly hurt you and your friends. It's another to get caught up in that tangled web of interlocking alliances, forced to fight people who are just fighting for someone else who's fighting because their superior told them they had to who only said it because- well, it got messy. However… you also can't ignore the fact that you can help, that you're strong and able to protect the people you care about. "I… don't know," you say. "I just…"

"Liam, leave the girl alone," Master Magmablaze says. "She's proven that she's friendly towards the Hall; without her warning we would have been caught completely flat-footed by the Regent going mad."

"She seems to be friendly to us, that is true," Master Darktide says. "But there are more people in the Empire than just us, and the last time humans and dragons fought in a war entire civilizations fell."

Gritting your teeth, you give in and glare at the Black mage. "Last I checked, it wasn't humans who were seemingly wiped from the face of the world," you say coolly. "I may be the last of my kind, and you're worried about what might happen to the people who started this?!"

He meets your glare evenly. "And those that didn't 'start it?' Those who are just caught in the middle?"

"I don't want to hurt anyone! Why does everyone think that I want to hurt people? I'm just me! Why do you have a problem with me just existing!?"

As you take a moment to get your anger under control, Master Darktide considers you silently. Finally, he speaks, his voice still completely even. "Despite what you surely think, Mistress Levinheart, I do not dislike you. I am wary of you. There is a difference."

"But why?! What did I do to make you think that I'm going to just go around hurting people?"

Master Darktide doesn't answer for a moment, causing Master Magmablaze to sigh. "He had a vision last night," the big man says. When his counterpart turns a glare onto him, Magmablaze shrugs. "Hey, she asked, didn't she, and I'm pretty sure she already knew from eavesdropping on us earlier."

Sighing, the Black mage turns back to you. "Since I'm sure my colleagues will tell you anyways if I don't, yes, I did have a vision. In it, I saw a city burning, one that I believe was Wyrmrise. In the shadows and smoke above the city I saw the shape of a massive dragon that almost seemed to meld with the darkness, with only four shining wyverns rising to challenge it. You will understand, I'm sure, why that makes me a touch nervous about a dragon potentially going to war."

You frown. "Manakete." Master Darktide makes a small gesture of acceptance with his head, but doesn't comment. "And you think that's me?" you ask. "I'm not that big, I'm still just a child! I'm only thirteen feet long! Plus, you know, I don't want to burn any cities even if I could! I'm a Yellow manakete!"

"You must admit," Master Darktide says. "The timing is quite curious."

Folding your arms, you glare at him. "I'm not going to burn down any cities," you say. "I'm not going to hurt people just because they're there. If I do fight, it'll be to protect the people I care about, and that's it. Does that make you happy!?"

"I think we should let this lie," Sunny says. "We will do ourselves no good by upsetting and turning on each other." She looks back down towards the stables. "It seems that the Archmage is handling things well."

Trying to distract yourself, you turn to look as well. Archmage Stormspeaker is firmly pointing away from the Hall. The armored man hesitates for a few moments before gesturing up the hill. The Archmage simply points again more firmly, causing the man to take another step back before slowly getting back onto his horse and starting to gather the other riders and carts to leave. Meanwhile, Archmage Stormspeaker looks back at the Hall, his head turning slowly as if taking it in. After a few seconds, he taps the staff in his hand against the ground before vanishing in a flash of light.

"Well, that seems to have gone as well as can be hoped," Master Magmablaze says.

"Let's hope so," Sunny says. "Let's hope so."

The four of you watch in silence as the Imperials ride back down the road. However, rather than keep going over the horizon, they stop at a seemingly random point and start spreading out. "What are they doing?" you ask.

Master Darktide grimaces. "It seems this is not over yet," he says grimly. "If I had to guess, they stopped exactly outside the boundaries of the Hall's land, where the Archmage can no longer order them to leave."

"That is correct," Archmage Stormspeaker says as he storms back into his office, followed by Blitzbolt and Mistress Softshimmer. The head of the Yellow Tower gives you a dark look as he sits down, causing Mistress Softshimmer to give you a sympathetic shrug.

However, most of your attention is on the Archmage as he sits down behind his desk, leaning the Green staff against it before rubbing his eyes, sighing. "As I'm sure you guessed, this was indeed the Regent's plan to take our students, specifically those of non-Imperial origin, from the Marble Hall. He gave it a veneer of respectability by invoking old precedent of authorities being permitted to question those they suspected as having information on a crime, ignoring the fact that these interrogations were always carried out at the Hall itself, with the mages Head of Tower and or the Archmage present to ensure that their rights were respected." He snorts. "The Regent, through his Voice, claimed that because of the number of students who might have knowledge of the Emperor's assassination, it would be more efficient to simply move them."

You frown. "That doesn't make any sense," you say.

"Obviously," Archmage Stormspeaker says, glancing at Blitzbolt. The man's jaw clenches, but he doesn't say anything. Meanwhile, the Archmage continues. "I made it clear to the Voice that I was not going to accept the Regent's demand to 'question' my students outside of the Hall, and that so long as he and his men's mission was to facilitate that they are not welcome." He glances out the window, grimacing. "While seemingly apologetic about it, the Voice did insist that his orders were clear, and thus he would have to remain in the area until he'd heard more." He looks at you. "Mistress Levinheart, that will make your leaving a touch trickier. While it's unlikely they'd be looking for you specifically I'd rather not risk it. You had said you were planning to stay a while longer, yes?" You nod. "Good, I'll think of something."

"Thank you, Archmage," you say.

After a moment, Master Darktide leans back. "Well, now that we are all regathered, you had said you had one more piece of information you wished to share."

You didn't really, but you got the feeling you'd have to. "We were talking about who might have sent the warning to Archduke Letoro that he passed onto me," you say by way of explanation. "And there was… one last thing." Taking a deep breath. "They said… they said that the Regent himself was behind the death of Emperor Thaddeus."

Your words seem to suck the air out of the room for a moment before the Archmage leans back, sighing. "An hour ago, had you said those words, I would have said you were mad, or that your note was obviously fanciful," he says. "But now… well, it would certainly explain some of the daring."

"What… what do we do?" Sunny says, wringing her hands. "What can we do?!"

Archmage Stormspeaker conjures a small ball of lighting in his hand, staring into it as if it had all the answers. "There is… little we can do, without evidence," he says finally. "If this is true, then obviously it changes everything, but even with the corroboration of other pieces of information being true, if there is no evidence, there can be no action. Not on a charge that serious."

"But we can't… we can't just do nothing!" Master Magmablaze roars, pounding the desk.

"And what would you have us do?" Archmage Stormspeaker says coldly. "Shout from every Tower that the Regent murdered the Emperor? Without evidence, at best we would simply be labeled as madmen. At worst, seditious, which could lead to war between the Empire and the Hall, a war nobody would win!" He lets out a long, slow breath. "No, as much as it is painful to say, what we must do is move slowly and carefully. I have allies at court and around the Empire, we all do. We must quietly contact them, lay the groundwork for what comes next should solid evidence surface." He looks at you. "Mistress Levinheart, I will likely have a message I wish to pass onto Archduke Cartese through you, and when you return to Agrithe, I ask that you do everything you can to determine who was behind the tip that sent you here. If I can speak to them, perhaps they will have faith enough to share their proof."

You nod immediately. "I'll try, but from what I heard even Kopoi didn't know."

Master Darktide nods. "That makes sense. Whoever they are, they must be very careful; if their identity is leaked to the wrong people, they will be killed. No questions asked. If you do find out, do not entrust that information to any letter or messenger: come yourself. It's the only way to be sure."

"O-okay…"

Another long silence fills the office before the Archmage looks around. "Well, we all have a great deal of work to do," he says, looking to the Heads. "In addition to reaching out to your contacts, I want each of you to check the defensive towers, to ensure that they are fully functional, and set up a rotation of guards. Focus on your sections." He looks out the window, glaring across the distance to the slowly forming camp of Imperial soldiers. "I pray that these preparations are not necessary, but I will not be blindsided again."

"Not when the students are at risk."

---

"Wow…" Apollo says, nursing a cup of some sort of fruity drink.

You hadn't told him everything that had happened (keeping the news that the Regent was behind the Emperor's death seemed prudent, to prevent anyone else from hearing and potentially putting the informant at risk). However, you had given an overview of the meeting after finding him at Flamewheel Hall.

"Yeah," you say. "Are you alright? Is everyone else?"

Apollo nods. "Yeah, yeah," he says. "We spotted the Imperials riding up, and we figured better safe than sorry, so we hunkered down in the dorms. Some of our friends who're Imperials were running messages, but everyone else was laying low." He takes a long drag, seemingly trying to steady himself. "There… well, there was an advance group, that came by asking about some of the others…"

Your heart falls: Apollo had been in trouble. He'd been in danger and you hadn't been there for him. Seeing your face, the boy waves his hands, nearly slopping his drink. "It's okay! We just kept the door shut and refused to open it. Mike had fun demanding the password from the soldiers until the Archmage arrived and saw them off. Thought he was going to fry them all on the spot, but he just ordered them out of the Hall. Spirits, I've never heard him sound so mad…"

"So everyone's okay…" you say.

"Yeah, yeah," Apollo says. "Everybody's fine. A few are a bit shaken up, from what I heard, but everyone's accounted for." He sighs. "All field trips have been canceled, of course, and that's upset a few people, but with those soldiers lurking over there most are willing to wait and see."

The two of you sit in silence for a minute, your legs dangling from the tree branch you're sitting on. It had taken Apollo a minute to climb up while you waited, but it was nice to have some height. "So, anything else, Mistress?" Apollo asks after that minute, grinning.

You roll your eyes. "I'm still Ryza, Apollo," you say. "All these titles are more trouble than they're worth, if you ask me."

The boy nudges his shoulder against yours. "Well, get used to it, because that's all anyone's gonna call you except people like me and Arti," he says. "Especially around here, titles are super important. The fact that you earned yours will open a lot of doors." You sigh, causing him to laugh. "Oh, come on, it's not that bad, right?"

"It is annoying but acceptable, I guess," you say. "So, what now?"

Apollo shrugs. "Well, life goes on, I guess. Classes, personal work, tests, everything, just with some Imperials watching our every move. If it goes on a while, most people'll probably forget they're even there."

"Hopefully they won't be around that long," you say. "I'm gonna do some research while the Archmage figures out how to get me back to Agrithe safely, but once I'm there hopefully your family and I can help settle things down." The description of the vision Master Darktide flashes through your mind, but you push it aside. You're no monster; you're not going to give into the darkest parts of yourself. Your Heart won't allow it!

Your friend hums thoughtfully. "So, do you want to do that right now?" he asks. "We've still got a few hours of daylight yet."

You consider for a moment. "If you want to, I'd be happy to," you say. "But honestly, with everything that's happened today, I kind of feel like… like just relaxing a little."

Apollo nods. "That's fair," he says. "I mean, learning's fun and all, but despite what some people think I do in fact know what it means to relax since if all you do is learn and study you get burned out and then you can't learn anymore, right?"

"Right."

The pair of you think for a minute longer before Apollo speaks up nervously. "So… at the Revisionist meeting last night, you all decided that it was okay to use your story to show how great manakete can be and I was thinking that maybe we could tell some of the others? I mean, they've still been asking me about you a lot, and I haven't told them anything of course but they can tell I'm holding back and I'm pretty sure it's only a matter of time before they start stealing my books to try and get me to talk."

You can't help but laugh. "We can't have that, now can we?" you say. "Alright, that's actually not a bad idea."

"I mean, you don't have to!" Apollo says quickly. "If you're not-"

"No, no, you make sense," you say. "And… well, even if I don't say, they're probably going to figure out sooner rather than later, and they'd be hurt if I wasn't the one who told them. Besides, having other people who can go and tell their families about how manakete aren't like the old stories, how we want to help and can save people from the Regent's overreach… that can only be good, right? Besides, most of them seem nice, if a bit… excitable, sometimes."

Apollo slowly nods. "Okay, if you're sure," he says. "Come on, let's go find them; Archmage Stormspeaker's probably gonna really enforce the curfew for a while, and the story'll probably take a while to tell."

You nod as well; that makes perfect sense. "Alright," you say, dropping off the branch, only briefly spreading your wings to slow your fall. Apollo takes a little longer to get down, having to drop his empty cup to you before carefully grabbing onto the branch, letting himself hang for a moment, before dropping to the ground with an oof. "Arti was always making me climb trees," he gripes as he massaged his legs. "But she was never as clear on exactly how to get down. It must be so nice having wings…"

"It is," you say cheerfully as you walk together towards Flamewheel Hall. "Especially ones you can fly with."

"Yeah, yeah, rub it in…"

The pair of you soon find yourself back at Apollo's dorm, where apparently quite a few of your friends are still hanging out. Apollo jiggles the door handle, but it doesn't open.

"What's the password?" someone says from inside.

Apollo sighs. "They all left a while ago, Mike," he whines. "The Archmage chased them off."

"That's not the password."

The boy bangs on the door irritably. "It's me!" he cries. "You know it's me!"

"They could have captured you and be forcing you to try and let them in! What's the password?"

Groaning, Apollo leans forwards. "The Regent's a hay-muncher," he says, flushing. As you force yourself not to giggle, he gives you a Look. "Fillia had way too much fun coming up with that joke. I tried to talk them out of it, but they wouldn't listen to me…"

The door swings open. "Great!" a boy you recognize says, grinning. "You made it back safely. Good to see."

Apollo rolls his eyes. "Look, Ryza has some stuff she wants to tell everyone," he says. "Let's meet-"

Mike gives a faux-scandalized gasp. "Apollo! Not using a lady's proper title!" he says. "Especially one you-"

Apollo plugs his ears. "Don't want to hear it don't want to hear it don'twanttohearit!" he cries.

"-have such strong feelings-"

Channeling a combination of mild irritation and protectiveness, you reach out and put a finger faintly charged with Yellow magic on Mike's nose. "Please don't," you say firmly. "It's cruel to tease a friend about something that obviously bothers him, especially if he's already told you he doesn't like it."

Mike flinches away from the faint static shock. "Sorry, sorry Mistress Levinheart," he says. "I think a lot of people were talking about getting together at Highdance Hall to have a meeting, so if there's something important to say that's probably the best place to start."

"Thank you," you say. "You're welcome to come along, if you want." Just because he's a little annoying doesn't mean you want to exclude him.

It takes a little while to walk to the White side of the hill, and you pick up a few more friends from where they're watching the Imperial camp warily. "If they make a move, we want to know about it," one of them says. You nod; even with the Archmage and the other Heads doing everything they can to protect the Hall, better safe than sorry.

Finally, you get past another password "protected" door and enter Highdance Hall. It's mostly the same as Flamewheel, just with a few tapestries depicting pegasi in flight hanging from the upper floor railings. "I'm not sure if it's just luck or because the Masters didn't want to have to deal with them in multiple places," Apollo says when you ask, "but there're a lot of Whitewings in Highdance."

"I'm pretty sure they just want to keep an eye on us!" Fillia calls, sticking her head over the balcony. "Hey Apollo, hey Ry- wait, no, what was your name again? Levinheart? Yeah, that was it, hey Mistress Levinheart, what brings you here?"

"We actually wanted to talk to everyone," you say.

"Great! Come on up, we're running out of ideas up here and we need some details!"

Apollo looks around. "I just thought… aren't you not allowed to have boys?"

The girl waves her hand. "Ah, don't worry about that!" she says. "I guess the Masters think girls are more trustworthy, as that rule was never mentioned to me."

"It absolutely was," someone says from behind her. "You just choose to ignore it. But since we can't go to any other meeting place with the Masters running around, making sure the Imps can't bust in and kidnap us all, we're kind of out of options." Another girl whose name you don't remember off the top of your head joins Fillia. "Come on up, quickly, in case Mistress Winterlight gets back!"

You, Apollo and the others quickly climb the stairs and join the circle of young mages. It's not everyone you've met, just those who seem most interested in being involved in what's going on. "So, you said you had something to tell us?" Fillia asks. "Can you tell us what the Masters' plan is? I tried to get Mistress Softshimmer to talk, but she just told me to settle down and let her and the other Heads handle things." She snorts. "I mean, they're supposed to be preparing us to survive in the outside world, so wouldn't it make sense to let us help out in our own defense?"

You shrug. "They just want to make sure nobody gets hurt," you say. "You should have seen how upset the Archmage was, and the others weren't much better off."

The Whitewing girl snorts. "I mean, I guess, but that's boring! Come on, you gotta have something for us, right?!"

Smiling, you nod. "Well, it's not directly related to what the Regent's up to, but I think you'll find it interesting anyways." You take one last glance around to make sure that there's nobody you want to delay finding out about your true nature as long as you can about. Seeing nobody, you extend your wings.

Over the gasps and cries of the students, you smile.

"Have any of you heard of manakete?"

---

The next day is quiet. The Imperial soldiers are still in their camp outside the Hall's borders, but other than the tension created by their presence, as well as the spreading news of what they tried to do, life at the Hall seems unaffected. That means that you're alone as you make your way to the library to do some research while you wait for the Archmage to figure out how to get you back to Agrithe. Apollo sadly has classes pretty much the entire day today, and despite the generally positive reception to your nature, none of the other students really seem to get what you're looking for.

You suppose that, from their perspective, you're already a better than some of them will ever be, so why do you even need to study? They don't quite seem to get that not only is becoming more magically adept vital to some of your long-term plans, but it's also such a deep part of your nature that you can't imagine not studying and growing and learning.

Besides, it's fun!

As you enter, you think about what you're interested in finding out. You've already decided that you're going to take some time practicing your White magic; it's not that you can't get better at Yellow magic, but you want to prove that you're worthy of the White part of your accreditation as well. However, before you dive into that, you're curious about a few other things. You're still interested in what humans know about spirits, since all your ideas for fixing magic seem to run through them. If you find some information on rune-wrighting as well, that'd be a bonus.

You grimace; you'd hoped to be able to take a look at the room where the spirit you've heard about is used to recharge spent tomes and staves; that sounds very close to what you want. However, that room is under the control of Donnor Blitzbolt, and while he now treats you with an icy politeness, he's still unwilling to give you access. You could appeal to the Archmage, but you dont' want to bother him with everything else going on, so you decide to just find what you can in the libraries. You won't be able to spend too much time; after all, you want plenty of time to actually practice your White magic.

Sadly, having not spent as much time in the White library, and with the librarian distracted with helping some older mages move tomes out to the defensive towers, you're left to your own devices. You find a few books and scrolls on spirits, but they don't tell you much you don't already know. Still, it does confirm some things, so you pay attention and take notes.

Spirits are ancient things, certainly older than manakete. They may even be older than dragons: there is not a time in your people's history when spirits are not mentioned. According to humans, they are semi-divine beings, the very fabric of the universe given form and will. All five of the colors of magic are represented among the spirits, though for some reason Anima spirits are far more common than White or Black spirits.

There are also several vague "tiers" of spirits. Minor spirits are the most common; faint wisps of invisible energy that drift around the world. On rare occasions, they manifest effects in the world: such as thunderbolts out of a clear sky, a howling gust on a calm day, or flash fires. However, these effects are small and short-lived, rarely doing more than confusing or frightening people. Spirits like this are very difficult to drain: being both hard to find, free-floating, and generally not having enough energy to really make it worth it.

Moderate spirits are much rarer, but are also more noticeable. Certain areas, such as the Storm Library from manakete history, either attract moderate spirits or were built on a rally point for them, but they can be found all over the world. These spirits, when they manifest, cause more powerful effects. One story you remember Mother telling was the time when she got caught in an impenetrable, inky darkness generated by a moderate Black spirit. These effects can last for hours, sometimes even days. However, like their minor cousins, these manifestations do not seem to follow any rhyme or reason, simply happening. A few theories suggest that spirits absorb energy from the world, and when they became saturated they unleash that energy; either as a natural reaction from the Manakete perspective or as a way of renewing and energizing the physical world from the Animist teachings.

You pause and consider. There's… something there. If energy is being put out, then perhaps… perhaps you could find a way to use that? One of the scrolls mentions "harvesting," but when you try to find the next volume you realize someone else has already checked it out, so you can't find anything more. Still, there's an idea along that flight path, you're sure of it.

Rarest of all are the Major spirits. These entities do not move around like their lesser kin, instead settling in one place. Unlike Minor and Moderate spirits, they shape their environment. You remember lighting storms being relatively common around your home, which you now guess is the doing of the major spirit that Father bound to power your shrine. You wonder if the binding did anything to diminish those manifestations; you'll have to do some research to see if your mountain is known for being stormy.

You know that the Marble Hall is built upon the lair of a major spirit; and there are a few records of others. Apparently there's a great forge in Wyrmrise built upon a major Red spirit's domain, and according to stories at least three major White spirits exist in the Divine Realm; venerated as heralds of Sol Invictus.

As you read about them, you wonder if Solariana had built her Union in that land because of the greater number of White spirits, or if they came about because of her and her people's faith. Distracted, you go looking to see if you can find anything more about the Union. Lacroix said he'd read nothing about it, but maybe now that you know what signs to look for, maybe you can spot a clue, a hint of what might have happened all those centuries ago…

The sun is starting to go down, and the librarian is starting to shoo people out, when you find something. An old, crumpled scroll, almost hidden at the back of the pile, is titled The Integration of the North. It's an irritating scroll, clearly written by someone who venerates Emperor Theodore the First as a god-like figure. However, despite your distaste for the author's biases, there are some interesting pieces of information that you can notice as you read between the lines.

For example, when the Emperor first arrived in what would become the Divine Realm after the Battle of Fell Mountain, he supposedly found a land already devastated, people scattered from once great cities. Among the ruins, the Emperor and his army found statues of dragons. The author posits that these were futile attempts to mollify the dragons, to prevent them from rampaging across the land.

You, however, have better information from the time, as well as a dose of common sense. After all, in the Union, manakete and humans had lived side by side. It only made sense that, as they made statues, they'd make statues of dragon forms. After all, the appearance of a dragon is very impressive, and if you're going to go to all the trouble of carving out a hunk of rock into a shape you might as well make it impressive. It also indicates that they weren't being actively being attacked when they made the statues; since if there are aggressive dragon-forms in the sky, surely people would have better things to do with their time.

Another hint you notice is the fact that there were stories told of dragons that had battled other dragons before the Emperor's arrival. Again, the author took the most cynical interpretation possible, insisting that your people were simply fighting over the "spoils" (what spoils could there possibly be in ruin and slaughter? Manakete didn't value that!) However, some of ancient people of the North had insisted that some of these manakete had fought to protect humans, though apparently the Emperor had worked hard to stamp out such stories wherever he found them, viewing them as nothing more than the maddened ramblings of shattered people.

That particular revelation makes you take a break to calm down. As much as a part of you wants to tear this web of lies to shreds, it's not your scroll, it's the library's and the Halls. You can't just destroy it because it's author is a horrid, biased, ignorant hack!

You take another deep breath, calm, you need to be calm…

Finally, you get back to reading. It hurts, reading about a few stories of surviving manakete who were found and killed by the Emperor, but you take heart that a few isolated villages of locals tried to shield those survivors. The author claims that they were simply mad, or enchanted, or had some other nefarious reason for doing what they did, but you hope that they remembered the Union, and the promise of peace that came with it.

You frown as you think. Father and Mother had spoken of a war. Could… could there have been manakete who were fighting against the Union? Trying to destroy it? Could that have been why your parents never spoke of it? Could that have been the flashpoint of the war?

Although if it were… that just raises more questions. Why would anyone want to destroy the Union? Solariana had been peaceful, after all, hadn't she? Even if there were people who didn't like it, how would that have related to your own family, other victims of the war? How did it tie into Shyrlonay? After all, he had either killed your parents, or at least had a hand in their deaths.

There's more going on, you're sure of it.

You're about to roll the scroll up and leave when a last passage catches your eye.

Perhaps the strangest story to come from the Northeast is the ancient tale of the Princess Who Was Promised. Despite the best efforts of the First Emperor to civilize and correct the errors of the scattered remnants of the northern peoples, this tale survives to this day.

Supposedly, according to the legend, there will come a time in the future when there is a great darkness that will overtake the land, a darkness not seen since the end of the Fell War. In this time of evil and struggle, there will come a girl, a descendant of royal blood, who will save the North, and indeed the world, from the darkness.

There are many versions of this story, but all have certain details in common. This prophesized Princess will have the power to read the thoughts and hearts of those around her with perfect clarity, allowing her to unite and guide the people. She will also, supposedly, be kind, virtuous and wise beyond her years. She will also be an avatar of the Light, which most interpret as her being a direct, divine daughter of Sol Invictus. However, some Animists claim that she will instead be a Light spirit given physical form. Indeed, proponents and hopefuls of this story watch the known haunts of the major Light spirits, in case one day one of them shall either generate the Princess or become her.

Of course, despite several false claimants over the centuries, no evidence has arisen that this fable will ever come to pass. Instead, it should be understood as the hopes of a people shattered, both physically and mentally, by the horrors of draconic destruction; a desperate prayer for salvation. If there ever was to be a Princess, her role was made unnecessary by the Emperor.

You snort; everything had to be about the Emperor with this guy. It was as if he could do no wrong! Shaking your head, you refocus on why this passage seemed to draw your attention. Maybe you're just missing Artemis, and word Princess made you think of her. You giggle; maybe the great darkness in the story is the Regent trying to conquer everyone. Maybe Artemis is the Princess Who was Promised? Maybe Alina is, she's supposed to be a prodigy White mage.

Maybe you are!

That thought gets a real laugh out of you: that truly is madness. You know a bit of White magic, true, but you would hardly call yourself an avatar of Light. Besides, manakete didn't have royalty, not as humans thought of it, so you couldn't be descended from royalty, and you certainly can't read hearts or minds. That would have saved you a lot of trouble in Legerius, that's for sure.

No, this seems to just be a curious story. If you ever find yourself in the Divine Realm, you might ask about it, see if you can get the full story, since this terrible author probably's left out a lot of crucial details since they didn't venerate the Emperor enough.

Putting the scroll away, you make your way out of the library, getting a friendly nod from the library. As interesting as this was, you probably won't have much more time to look into such things. You've gotten a few ideas for potential steps you can take with spirits to help humans cast magic, as well as some curiosities about the northern manakete, but ultimately those are both longer-term affairs.

Sadly, for the moment, you should focus on preparing for the storm you're caught up in.

By the time you've gotten back to your room and settled down to sleep, you've decided what particular advancement you're going to work on for your remaining time here.

What aspect of White magic do you focus on?

[] Mend: (Assist Spell: Allows the recipient to ignore Major Wounds, or grants 1 Defense to unwounded combatants)

[] Ellight: (Combat Spell: Grants +1 dice when using White magic)