Living Legend

Adelessa had heard plenty of stories about the Nabata desert while she'd been traveling as a journeyman. She knew that it took up a fair chunk of Elibe and that there was little to be found there except for sand and a few meager ruins that had been picked over by treasure hunters centuries ago. It was mentioned several times in her tome about the Scouring, usually in reference to dragons using it as a safe retreat: no humans could manage in it for long in the best of conditions, much less when under attack.

Still, she had sorely underestimated just how contrary the desert could be.

Scorching hot sun during the day, frigid night when it goes down, she thought in a mantra she'd repeated to herself several times already, dry as parched bones, hard to slog through, full of headache-inducing mirages, and gusting wind that loves to throw around sand! Oh, how I loathe sand. It gets in my hair, it gets in my boots, it gets in my eyes and ears and nose and everywhere. If it had only been one or two of those grievances, Adelessa could have dealt with her irritation. As it was, the heat and sand gusting into her face were enough to make her want to shriek in frustration.

Ninian and Nils struggled alongside her. Ninian looked slightly wilted, like a plant left in the sun too long: Adelessa could only imagine how warm it was wrapped up in the layers of fabric that made up her dancer's dress. Even in just a yellow blouse and light slacks Adelessa was far too warm. Nils, on the other hand, looked as if he was about to give up and lie down in the sand if he stopped walking. "It's so hot," he whined. Adelessa mechanically handed over her flask of water. "I'm… going to die." His declaration was just melodramatic enough that she knew he was joking.

The group slowed to a halt when he sat down and drank the water. Adelessa raised an arm to protect her eyes when Heath's wyvern passed over them and then landed nearby. Shade – blessed, wonderful shade – fell over her; the wyvern's wings blocked out the sun when it flared them out. Several people joined them to cluster in the shade, including the lords. Hector was red-faced and took several gulps of water when Adelessa passed him another flask of water. He must be roasting in that armor, she thought. When she had brought it up to him earlier, he'd refused to take it off, saying that if there were bandits roving around, he might as well be ready for them.

"Hey," he said, nudging Nils with his knee, "d'you want me to carry you on my back?" The boy stared up at the lord as if he'd sprouted a third arm. Hector bristled a little and defensively asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You're being so kind. It's weird." Adelessa stifled a giggle by biting the inside of her cheek. From the mouths of children…. "Is this some kind of fever dream?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hector asked. His tone was so wounded that Adelessa had to turn away and cover her mouth so she wouldn't laugh out loud. Matthew grinned at her when he saw how her shoulders were shaking with silent laughter. "And here I was worried you'd collapse like the other day – I guess you're just fine!" The grumpy harrumph at the end of that did her in; a laugh bubbled out of her. The dirty look she got from Hector only made it worse and she clapped both hands over her mouth.

"You're usually pretty brusque," Lyn said. Her face was impassive, but Adelessa could her straining not to laugh. "It's no small wonder he's confused, Hector. Don't be shy, Nils – let him help you." Lyn's calm explanation gave Adelessa the time she needed to compose herself. While the corners of her mouth still twitched, trying to make her smile, she wasn't about to burst into laughter.

"Oh, come on already!" Hector reached down and picked Nils up. Despite Nils' startled shout, Hector plopped the boy on his shoulders and clasped his lower legs so he'd stay put.

"Ah! I'm going to fall!" Adelessa collapsed in another fit of the giggles, joined this time by virtually everyone else when Nils yelped and clutched Hector's head to keep his balance. Hector's startled shout when his eyes were covered and annoyed grumbling when Nils didn't let go right away had Adelessa clutching her stomach with laughter. Matthew was chuckling merrily away – No doubt committing the entire debacle to memory so he can tease Hector later!

Adelessa looked over at the spy when she started to recover from this bout of laughter. That was a mistake; just looking at each other sent them both into another fit. Hector's grumbled comment of, "Sure, keep laughing, we'll see how you like it later," only made it worse; they had to lean against each other to keep from doubling over from laughing too hard.

It wasn't until Adelessa's sides started to hurt from laughing so much that they finally managed to calm themselves down. By then, Hector had lumbered off with Nils on his shoulders, trudging after Eliwood. Lyn walked along with Hector with Rath on her other side; she carried on a conversation with both of them. Eliwood had Ninian on his arm, helping support her when she stumbled in the sand. Heath, Florina, and Fiora flew overhead in lazy circles to keep pace with the group. Everyone else on the ground mixed in clumps, socializing with each other in small talk to try to take their minds off the monotonous misery of traveling through the desert.

"Ah, the glamorous life of heroes," Matthew commented sardonically when he and Adelessa started forward. "They'll leave this out when they sing the songs of our grand and wonderful journey and victories." Adelessa grinned over at him when he continued with a showy, "Why, it wouldn't do to mention how our beloved heroes stumbled through a desert and let the sun bake their heads until they couldn't do anything but shamble forward and laugh at the leaders of their glorious crusade!"

"Speak for yourself," she teased. "It sounds like you're the one with the sun-struck brain here!" He gave her his very best mock-wounded look. She countered with her best innocent one. They managed to hold them for a few seconds before they both cracked up again. "You are going to be the death of me," Adelessa accused him.

"Oops," he said. His grin wasn't apologetic in the slightest. Adelessa shook her head at him and rolled her eyes. She reached for her flasks of water- only to realize that she'd given them both away. At her obvious look of consternation, Matthew reached for his. "Here," he said, handing it over. "It's not worth trying to catch up to my lord. You'll just wear yourself out more."

"It's that obvious?" she asked, taking the flask. "Thank you." She took a couple of quick sips, pacing herself. Guzzling the water won't help that much – you have to pace yourself. She couldn't remember where she'd picked up that tidbit of information; probably from Pent or Louise before she left on her journeyman's travels.

"Not that obvious," he answered, "but you look almost as wilty as Ninian up there. Then again, I don't think there's anyone in this group right now that isn't bothered by the heat." She saw him glance at her out of the corner of his eye. "You grew up somewhere cool, didn't you?"

Adelessa tensed for a second before forcing herself to relax. "Etruria's pretty cool most of the year, yes," she answered. "And the university was always a comfortable temperature." Matthew looked like he was going to press for a more accurate answer for a moment – she knew that he knew she wasn't telling the whole truth – but he subsided with a shrug. She'd learned that meant that he would accept that answer for now, but it would stay on his mind when the subject came up again until she finally spilled the beans.

She'd gotten that shrug a lot recently.

Finished with her sips of water, Adelessa handed him back his flask. "You sure you've had enough?" he asked. "I don't need that much. The last thing we need is you fading away on us here."

"I'm sure – you don't have to worry, Matthew. I know my limits. Well," she amended, "as long as I'm not suffering from blood-loss-induced-silliness." That made him laugh despite himself. "Really, though. You don't need to worry about that. I'll let you know if I'm thirsty." She looked ahead and chuckled when she saw Ninian on Eliwood's arm again. "You're not going to insist that I need to cling to you, are you?"

"Nah – you're too contrary to ever think about doing that. I know better. What, do you think I wouldn't be smart enough to notice that?" His good-natured teasing continued while they trudged forward, turning to mild conversation on how he decided on becoming a spy for House Ostia. "I was always quick-witted and nimble. I didn't grow up on the streets – my parents always had a safe place for me to come home in the evenings – but money was tight. I had to do something to help bring in money. My posing as a thief back during the Caelin thing wasn't just an act – before I started running with Leila, I did a lot of work that way. Mostly stealing food and clothes, though." There was a hint of distress on his face when he spoke of her, but it passed quickly. "Then we started running together, and then we both got involved with a guy who dealt with the marquess' information networks…. It kind of just went naturally from there. Honest – well, more honest – work and better pay? You'd have to be dull in the head not to jump for that. What about you? Why'd you choose to be a tactician?"

Adelessa considered her answer for a moment. "My foster father was willing to put me through school – he wanted me to pick up a skill I could use, and we both knew I was smart enough to succeed at the university." She caught herself rubbing the gold chain on her neck and stopped. "I wanted something that I would enjoy doing, something that would challenge me so I wouldn't just coast through life. And I wanted to prove to myself – and everyone else, yes – that I could do something that others bet I couldn't." She smiled to herself. "I enjoy the work, but I could do with less stress. I think I'll take a nice, long break from saving the world after this."

Matthew laughed. "You and me both!" he agreed. "Go ahead and visit Ostia, stay for a while – wait, no, I don't know if you want to deal with keeping my lord in line, that's quite the task, after all!" He'd raised his voice just enough so that Hector could hear them from up ahead.

"I can hear you, Matthew!"

The spy snickered and Adelessa couldn't help but laugh along with him. She had finally relaxed enough around Hector that she wasn't worried too much about teasing him. He's not that different from the rest of us, she thought, probably because of people like Matthew being around him. She looked over at him, only to see him squinting into the distance. "Say, Aydie," he said far too casually, "do you see the people over there?" She peered forward in the direction he nodded, pulling out her spyglass when she couldn't see what was going on clearly.

There was a veil of sand whipped up by gusting winds between where their company was and the figures in the distance. A few seconds passed in which Adelessa tried to get a read on the situation; as soon as she did, she called for the lords to fall back and join her. The group gathered to hear what she had to say. "There's a man fighting bandits to the west – I think he'll need help. I saw him use some magic, but there's only so much magic one person can do." I can't in good conscience let someone be hurt when there's something we can do – bandits should be easy to dispatch, after all. We've fought so much worse in the past weeks. She took a breath to prepare to explain her logic when Hector interrupted her.

"What are we waiting for?" Hector asked. He picked Nils off of his shoulders and set him down on the ground before the boy knew what was going on.

"Let's go – letting someone face overwhelming odds like that is criminal!" Lyn was the first to start off toward the fight, somehow managing a decent clip.

Hector was right on her heels, with a startled, "Hold on, Lyn – I'm coming with you!" Rath silently followed after them, with the rest of the Caelin troops and the Ostian ones close behind. Eliwood ran after them, which dragged the rest of the group behind them.

"Where do they get that energy?" Nils asked, suddenly sounding much older as well as completely nonplussed.

"I only wish I knew," Adelessa replied. "And here I thought everyone was tired and I'd have to convince them." She shook her head and picked up her feet to follow them, forcing herself to jog to catch up to the over-eager lords. Or maybe just as eager as they need to be. At least it's good to see them in good spirits. She frowned sharply when she realized that they'd be traveling right into the gusting sand up ahead and took a moment to tie back her hair.

She waved to her flying units to land near her; she had an additional order for them. When they had, she quickly said, "If you can – if you're not in danger from archers or mages – I'd like you to get the person fighting out of danger. If they see you trying to reach him, everyone else in the company will give you support to make it easier. Don't force him to come if he doesn't want to. If he does, could you bring him back here so I can talk to him? Thank you!" she called as they started to take to the sky again.

With that taken care of, Adelessa was free to turn her attention to the first skirmishes her people were in. She didn't feel the need to direct them personally or order formations; squabbling brigands hardly warranted a concerted effort from her at this point. Even Matthew hung back instead of being his lord's shadow in the fight. When she gave him a questioning look, he explained with, "Those are some pretty big brutes out there. If they hit me, I'd easily break a rib. Besides, I figured that keeping an eye out for you over here would be better with all this sand."

"You spoil me rotten," she informed him. "Thank you."

"Hey, any time." She had the sneaking suspicion that Matthew had been ordered to keep an eye on her by Hector – honestly, she was a little surprised that Lyn hadn't asked Sain to do the same – but she wasn't going to make a fuss about it now. And, if I'm going to be honest, it's good to know that I don't have to watch my back. She refused to think about getting special treatment from him with regards to her crush. There was no place for romance on the battlefield. Maybe if I tell myself that enough times I'll actually believe it.

Like she had expected, her fighters were having no problems with the rag-tag bunch of bandits. There was a more varied spread of units than she had expected: she was pretty sure she saw mages mixed in with the archers and brutish axe-fighters. Still, she was glad to see that her units were holding their own. As she had told Florina, Fiora, and Heath, the ground units were quick to catch on and start pushing to defeat the archers so that they could join the skirmish.

It was Heath who touched down first. He hurled a javelin at a soldier who tried to get too close and paused to help the man up behind him. Then he was up in the air again, moving toward where Adelessa was waiting with all due speed. For her part, she hurried toward the front line so that he wouldn't have to fly as far and so that they would be protected by the other fighters without getting too close to the fighting.

"Hello there! Are you-?" She stopped when she saw the mage that they'd rescued was stepping down from the saddle of the wyvern. Adelessa stared, and then smiled, and then laughed and ran forward. "Pent!" He recognized her an instant before she ran full bore into him. He laughed in delight and wrapped her up in a tight hug.

"Adelessa! Oh, it's good to see you!" She squeezed back in a tight hug; she'd missed him while she was away. "I never thought you'd be out here, though – you hatewarm weather like this! Are you well? You're not in any trouble, are you?"

"Pent, I'm fine," she answered, letting go so she could back up a bit and smile at him. He hadn't changed a bit since she left after passing her exam. He had his gray hair tied back in its normal ponytail and was dressed in his work robes. "And if I had known that it was you getting into trouble out here, I wouldn't have been so worried. You're good at taking care of yourself!"

He laughed and reached forward to brush sand off of her shoulder. "I didn't want to fight with them," he said more seriously, "but they wouldn't take no for an answer. I think they misjudged me for an unarmed traveler. I am glad for the help, of course! And we'll have to catch up once we're out of the midst of this confusion – I'd love to hear what you've been up to. Your letters don't go into much detail!"

"If you'd help us finish this quickly, that would be nice. And then we'll talk together, I promise," she added. "For now, would you mind fighting with us? The sooner we defeat these bandits, the sooner we can talk." She directed him to join the rest of her mages and watched as he proceeded to casually greet Erk while lobbing a fireball. Now, where's Louise? Adelessa wondered, scanning the surrounding area for her foster mother. She almost never lets him out of her sight, not with the way he gets into trouble unsupervised.

After a few moments of fruitless searching, Adelessa decided that she had better things on which she should focus than looking for Louise. She turned her attention back to the battle, only to find that it was even more of a curb-stomp battle than it had been previously. I wish they would surrender so that we wouldn't have to rout them, she thought, mentally wincing. This is stacked so much against them – using Pent is, well, kind of over-the-top. And here I had hoped that they would give up when they saw that he'd joined us.

She startled badly when something moved out of the corner of her vision. She reached for her knife and turned, Matthew following suit and moving to guard her a second after she started moving. A bear of a man had appeared out of nowhere, carrying an axe that Adelessa could swear was as tall as she was. His skin was dark from years of harsh sun, broken up with dark tattoos that swirled on his face and limbs. His hair was bleached blond for the same reason. Adelessa couldn't help but feel intimidated and scared when she saw just how big the man was, not to mention how large his muscles were. He could snap me or Matthew in half, like twigs!

"There is no need to be afraid," the man rumbled. Adelessa was just as reassured as Matthew was by that comment; neither of them relaxed from their tense ready stances. "I'm Hawkeye, the defender of this desert."

"… the desert needs a defender?" Adelessa asked, relaxing only the barest fraction when she saw that the desert-dweller wasn't making any moves toward her.

"I will drive out the bandits." Matthew eased to the side as Hawkeye walked past them, keeping himself between the axe-wielder and Adelessa. "Guests need not fight."

"Guests?" Adelessa echoed. "Matthew, I don't think we need to worry-" When he gave her a lookover his shoulder, she sighed and let go of the handle of her knife. "Yes, yes, I know. I should let you do your job and try not to be so naïve."

"You are going to be the death of me, Aydie," Matthew informed her.

"At least it will be interesting when it happens," she teased back. She didn't have to see him to know that he was rolling his eyes at that. He shook his head when she laughed quietly to herself. Still chuckling, Adelessa turned to face the battle again and couldn't help but be impressed with how it was turning out. With the addition of Hawkeye, who was very good with his axe and could easily send enemies flying, and Pent, whose competence was never in question, there was little left to do but attack the two leaders of the bandits and then regroup.

That came to pass shortly: Hawkeye and Pent defeated one of the leaders on their own in a surprising show of teamwork for two complete strangers. Unless, of course, she thought, watching them, they aren't strangers. That could very well be – Pent finds and makes friends with the oddest people. Lyn, Eliwood, Raven, and Guy had little trouble with the other, especially with support from Erk, Canas, and Rebecca. The last few bandits remaining beat a hasty retreat when they saw that their leaders had been so handily defeated.

Serra and Priscilla milled through the group to search for injuries while they grouped together. Canas begged out of introductions. "The wastelands of Nabata are a paradise to students and practitioners of magic," he explained enthusiastically. "There are many, many stories of magical artifacts lost in these sands – now that the fighting's over, I'd like to take a chance to look around. Even just the skeletons around here are terribly intriguing, and those bandits may have left caches around here." He made such a good argument that she was more than happy to let him go and search. It can't hurt, and it might even help if we find some, even if we just sell some for funds.

"You really helped me out," Pent was saying to the group. "There are only so many spells I can cast before I completely run out of energy. Thank you!"

"We couldn't watch such a lopsided battle, that's all," Eliwood said. Adelessa grinned to herself while she walked up; she had little doubt that Pent could have effectively taken care of the whole bunch of bandits on his own. Not quite lopsided the way you'd think it is, Eliwood. She joined the group. Instead of standing with the lords like she normally did – and as they expected, from how Lyn and Hector shifted to make room for her to stand near them – she skirted past them to stand between Eliwood and Pent.

"Aydie? Do you know him?" Hector asked.

"Does Adelessa know me?" Pent chuckled in good humor at that. "May I?" he asked her.

"I will," she replied. "Lord Eliwood of Pherae, Lord Hector of Ostia, Lady Lyndis of Caelin, this is Lord Pent of House Reglay, Mage General of Etruria and Professor at the Capitol University. He's the mentor of Erk," and she saw the violet-haired mage smile from a few rows back, "and… well, my foster father." The vast majority of the group stared blankly at her.

"Wait," Hector said, holding up his hands. "You're telling me that- Aydie, you never said- all this time we've never known that-"

"To be completely accurate," Pent corrected, "I'm your adoptive father, not foster father."

"Most people take it better when I say 'foster'," she explained. At the several different expressions of amazed bewilderment throughout the group, Adelessa bowed her head. "I'm sorry. I didn't keep it a secret for the sake of keeping it a secret. I really rather you didn't treat me like nobility just because I was adopted by him."

"We'd hate to treat a noble like nobility, after all," came a wry statement from Matthew. Of all of them, the spy looked the most strained and… hurt? "Especially one from the most noble houses in Etruria. Especially not when we've been pandering with nobles and having a little more leverage would have been a good idea!"

"I'm just Aydie the tactician," she replied. "I didn't want to be known as Lady Adelessa of House Reglay for a reason. For one, I was adopted as a young adult – any power I have is simply by name, not by blood. And I don't want what I have to come through being a noble or through politics." She smiled slightly and shrugged. "I saw plenty of other students proclaim that they were good tacticians simply because of their status as nobles. And I've seen people act awfully because they can get away with it, because of being a noble. I don't want to be a noble. That's not what I want to be remembered as. It's just who my adoptive father happens to be." Adelessa only just stopped herself from fussing with her medallion. "I was born a commoner, and that's what I'll always be. Some people," and she and Pent shared a knowing glance, "just choose not to see that fact."

"And Louise likes putting you in pretty dresses," Pent added, his eyes twinkling with mirth as he teased her. Adelessa didn't quite glare at him. She heard someone cough into their hand as they stifled a laugh.

"Thank you," she said. "That's terribly helpful."

"You're welcome!" Adelessa was glad for his timely interruption, no matter how sarcastic she sounded: Pent was good at breaking up strained atmospheres without making it too obvious that that was what he was doing. "Now, then – ah, Hawkeye, before you ask, yes, I did find what I was looking for, and it is just as magnificent as I could have hoped." The Mage General clapped his hands and smiled at the three lords who stared at him. "Now, then – what brings you out here to such a place?"

"Well, we were told to come here and meet a living legend," Hector supplied, being the first to rally his wits.

"A 'living legend'?" Pent grinned and laughed. "I see! Whoever said that had the right of it!"

"But what does it mean?" Lyn asked.

"You'll see – we have a common destination, actually! If you come with me, I can take you straight to where you need to go."

"We're not going to be able to convince you to ease up on the cryptic, are we?" Adelessa asked, fondly exasperated. As much as she loved Pent, his sense of humor could be spectacularly inconvenient.

"Not at all!" he replied cheerfully. "But we can leave right now – I'd rather not get caught out here when the sun sets. Desert nights are treacherous. We have to go…." He paused for several seconds, surveying the dunes. Adelessa did the same; there were no markers for what direction was what, only an expanse of sand. "That way!" Pent declared; Adelessa smiled when she saw that he'd taken his cue from Hawkeye's subtle motion in that direction. "Come, Adelessa – introduce me to your friends while we walk!"

Hector was the first to catch up to the two of them. "Nice to meet you, Lord Pent," he said, offering her adoptive father his hand to shake. "Now, I don't mind walking, but how far do we have to go? I mean, I don't see anything except- whoa!" Adelessa staggered at the same time Hector did, and lurched to grab Pent. She barely had the time to gasp when she realized that they were sinking down into the sand. Pent's alarmed shout was the last thing she heard before the sand dissolved entirely under her and the three of them plunged into darkness.

A/N: One of these weeks, I'll do better than an every-other-week schedule. Apparently last week was not that week. _))) Been busy with work and illness and family crises, unfortunately. Apologies for this taking so long! D:

Thanks to my beta, Ryan, and my reviewers: Raven the Blood witch, patattack, MilleniaMaster, Tom-Ato13, Cormagravenstaff, Sparks101, Drachegirl14, angelbeets, crazyemeralddragons, Solyeuse, AquaticSilver, and DPT24. See you soonest!