{ === + === }

[3rd Person Camera]

"Cripes."

A wing of four Kinshi Riders overfly a finished battlefield, taking care to maintain altitude so as to not fall prey to errant arrows. The leader of the wing surveys the field with a spyglass.

"Looking at it from up here, almost all of the corpses are Hoshidan." The leader mutters. "Wasn't there an army here? Where's his highness?"

The major battle between Hoshido and Nohr—the would-be battle of Cannae—devolved into a lopsided but otherwise normal battle due to one deciding factor: the presence of aerial surveillance.

Without the ability for either side to deceive the other side in formations, the ground battle became one of tacticians improvising the best they could, and both sides were even in that respect: Nohrian strategists were of a comparatively lower quality but could react faster than the Hoshidans.

However, Nohr's attacking army had both greater numbers and superior average level—Hoshido forces were comprised of its elite samurai force and mostly peasant levies with rudimentary training. The air advantage that Hoshido needed didn't materialize due the Nohiran Wyverns (both normal and Malig variants) keeping the Hoshidan Pegasi and Kinshi at bay.

To make matters worse, once it became clear that Nohr was more or less countering the expected strategy, the Outrealm strategist (the proponent of the whole idea) tried to improvise his way back to the expected path, and…the man's knowledge, based on a combination of earth knowledge and videogame magic, didn't translate well to a true battlefield advantage.

The Hoshido army was battered after the initial engagement and then things just got more lopsided from there. Hoshido lost around 40% of its army and an unhealthy amount of its elites. The handful that were left were Sumeragi's royal guards, who accompanied him as the emperor cut his way out of several entrapments.

Nohr lost somewhere around 3% of its comparatively larger army (so roughly 7% if we even out the manpower) and almost all of the dispatched air force. Notably, Beruka was critically injured and had to be hauled out of the fight by Severa, who was a wyvern knight for the occasion and did better than her amateur status would suggest.

Notably, Ryoma had watched some of the Phoenix's aerial exercises and had taken them to heart, making his personal unit of Kinshi extremely dangerous and effectively functioning as the morale for the entire airforce after it became clear that the ground battle was going poorly. Eventually he was able to achieve aerial superiority, but by then the battle was already lost, so all they could do was drop their remaining thunder mouse munitions and then turn tail and run.

Following the battle, the Outrealm tactician was found dead in his tent with multiple slashing wounds. It was ruled as a suicide and nobody seemed to care very much about investigating. The breakthrough allowed Nohr to set up key defensive points and then spread like wildfire into the Hoshidan countryside, spreading devastation as they went.

Fortunately, the Hoshidan second army safely made its way to Nohrian shores and began to do the same to Nohr. There was, of course, one problem: Nohr's terrain is summarily harsher than Hoshido's, and the available forage is consequently smaller. This balances out, though, since that means Nohr has fewer strategic targets of comparatively greater value to hit.

Takumi, despite being only halfway successful in negotiations proved himself to be an exceptionally capable small unit commander, having an exceptionally keen mind for remembering unit positions and predicting enemy movements. Through his guidance, the dispatching force managed to ransack their way through Nohr with minimal losses and was instrumental in helping to slow down Nohr's invasion.

…

[1 Month Past 'Cannae']

…

Corrin's 'sentence', as it were, was finished, and she was now a free woman, alongside a hundred or so ex-Nohrian soldiers that have been transported back from Jugdral. (The rest gave up their Nohr citizenship to become Phoenix citizens—money talks, after all).

"Finally." Corrin says slightly wistfully as she puts on her old armor and, over it, a travelling cloak. "How are things?" She asks Jacob.

"Just a little more." Jacob neatly packs away the last of his precious tea, having worked extra in order to purchase a wagon to carry all their stuff. "While it may have been a term as a prisoner of sorts, I will miss this place." He says, looking at the meticulously clean apartment (that he cleaned).

"Makes the two of us." Corrin straps on a newly purchased silver sword and checks how she looks in the mirror. "Nohr's at war, so we should expect to be dumped right into the fray the minute we get back, right?"

"To some extent." Jakob nods. "The news has certainly been…mixed." On one hand, Nohr's making progress in Hoshido. On the other hand, Takumi.

"What sort of face should I make?" Corrin asks idly. She didn't like how her armor left the insides of her thighs exposed. "Or should I just not worry about it?"

"It might be good to err slightly in favor of caution." Jakob says. "Lest there be unforeseen consequences."

Corrin nods. She had read books about things that happened because the protagonist was too brash or naïve. "Right."

…

Corrin and her party (Jakob, Gunter, Felicia, Flora) left Nestra with their wagon. Unlike her, Gunter did not get his armor back, and wore a set of leather armor purchased from a shop instead. He also did not have a dedicated horse, and was reduced to the role of a footsoldier…not that he minded much. The past month in Nestra has done wonders for his mind, and he felt invigorated compared to his days in Windmire.

Between all of them, Flora was the one who was the most dedicated in returning, though she would not tell them the real reason.

They travel until they reach the river that marks the border between Nohr and the Phoenix.

"From here on out, we're home." Corrin says with a small sigh. "Mixed feelings. Mixed feelings."

She hears a low roar overhead and instinctively looks up. A Pegasus Knight with boosters zip overhead deeper into Nohr territory. All of them by now have been so exposed to the stealth coating on the flying units that it was essentially no longer effective.

Gunter hmms. "Must be a scout, though it's strange that it's flying so low." He makes a note that the Phoenix are probably blanketing Nohr in aerial recon, and wonders if that knowledge can be made use of in some way.

"Well…it's nice to know they're so intrusive, I guess?" Corrin says with a confused tilt of her head.

They move on.

…

About thirty minutes later, they see the Pegasus Knight again, except this time it's circling over an area much too close for comfort. As Corrin watches, the knight fires down onto the ground.

"Probably nothing good." Gunter answers the unasked question. "Stop the cart. Felicia, let's go." He draws his sword.

"Yep!" Felicia readies her daggers, and the two charge down the road.

"Hey, wait!" Corrin hops down after them and gives chase. The ground beneath her bare feet feel oddly warm and comforting to the touch, though she doesn't really notice.

"Master!" Jakob hops off the wagon after Corrin. He was driving.

Flora felt no such compunction. "Well, I guess it's just me who's not sold on diving into danger." She sighs. Shortly afterwards, she dives into a daydream about her Ice Tribe while driving the cart onwards.

Meanwhile, Gunter and Felicia had already cleared the small copse of trees between them and the battlefield: The Phoenix Pegasus was circling over the battlefield in what Gunter now recognizes as a 'Pylon Turn', where it moves almost as if tethered to an invisible pole on the field. Below it (and in front of him) is a small gaggle of Nohrian peasants huddled in the center of the clearing. All around them are strange, blobby-looking humanoids with green bodies and hoods on their heads. Protecting the peasant is a little girl with vividly orange hair. As the humanoids shamble towards the Nohrians, the circling Pegasus Knight would snipe them down with impeccable aiming. Well, she missed a few times, but still, reasonably impeccable aiming.

"We're going in." Gunter says without breaking stride. "Take care to keep yourself visible so as to not get shot."

"Okie doke." Felicia readies her first dagger and hurls it straight into the nearest bagman's head. It strikes home and the bagman doubles over far too steeply before straightening back up again.

No spines? Gunter notes and steps in with a powerful overhead slash that cleaves the bagman in half. It turns into something goopy and vanishes into the ground.

Now that the two of them are on the scene, some of the closer bagmen turn attention to them and begin shambling in their direction.

"Gunter, what—oh my lord." Corrin says upon entering the scene. She quickly gets her bearings and hopes into the fray, though, and Jacob arrives quickly after to provide her amateur combat skills some much needed support.

Gunter, having a moment to breathe, spares some attention to the girl with the orange hair. She was still in the middle of the ring and the overhead support had apparently allowed a bagman to make it through. He returns his attention to the bagman in front of him and, by the time he looked back, the girl was free from attention again.

That Pegasus Knight is quite something. He concludes.

After some five minutes of combat, the last of the bagmen were defeated. Gunter went to wipe his sword but found that, to his suspicious, there wasn't any ichor, just a thin layer of water.

I'm too old to believe in coincidences. He scowls. It's time, then?

"Hey! Nice work out there." Felicia claps him on the back. "Hard to believe you're actually retired, sir Gunter."

Gunter smirks. "Show your elders some respect." He good-naturedly ruffles her hair. "This old dog still has tricks up his sleeve."

Felicia returns a mischievous grin. "Who's the girl?" She asks as the orange-haired girl grabs her attention.

"Is she a local?" Corrin asks, then takes stock of the girl's clothing. "Doesn't look like it, huh…" She had on a distinctly Phoenix T-shirt.

"Heeey!" The Pegasus Knight above them yells out. "Is everyone alive?" She flies down to ground height and lands. She had a single long braid of deep blue hair and armor that looked foreign, with garish decorations that frankly hurt Corrin's eyes as she looked. It gleamed off of the sun in really awful ways.

"We are!" Corrin yells back over the sound of the Cruise Engines spooling down. "Thanks for the assist, miss…"

The mystery girl tosses back her braid with a distinctly adult air and then throws a V sign with a massive grin, completely obliterating that mature image. "I'm the hero of yore, Cynthia be my name!"

Seems like an idiot. Felicia idly thinks. "Hi, Cynthia! Are you a Phoenix flier, then?"

Cynthia turns her grin onto Felicia. "One of the best! I'm actually just here 'cuz Brady wanted my help, tho'."

"Oh, why is that?" Gunter asks idly.

Cynthia could not see the pseudo-innocent question for the information pumping that it was meant to be. "He wanted me to help train some new Peg Knights for Nestra." She says bluntly. "They're real worried about how the war's goin'."

"Is that so?" Gunter says. "I was under the impression that the Phoenix is practically invincible."

"We're always short on manpower." Cynthia sighs theatrically. "To the point where they'd have to pull me from Magvel to train juniors! It'd be easier to just ship the juniors back home but nooooo I have to fly out here!" She makes an exaggeratedly devastated motion. "Fourteen hours! In the air! My ass can't handle fourteen hours in the air!" She travelled by boat and spent half of the trip sleeping in, waking only for desserts.

"Cynthee, are they all gone?" The orange-haired girl asks impatiently.

Pronounced as 'sin-see'. Oddly fitting considering her role.

"As far as I can see, Tennie." Cynthia says with a wink. "How about the peeps? They good?"

"No injuries?" The orange haired girl asks the civilians, who all shake their head no in unison. "Good."

"How old are you?" Jakob asks the orange hair. "You're much too young to be alone in a place like this."

Orange hair glares at him. "I'm eight years old." She throws out her chest confidently. "So I'm not a child."

No, you're still a child. Everybody in attendance thought unanimously. "What's your name?" Corrin asks kindly.

"I'm Tenia! Ten-ni-ah!" The girl says with emphasis. "Don't forget it!"

Seems like an idiot. Felicia muses. "Well, Tenia, what are you doing out here? It's not that safe, as you can see."

"I'm doing my job!" Tenia says proudly. Felicia waited for her to clarify but it seemed like the 8-year-old wasn't going to do that.

"Your…job?" Felicia repeats slowly. "What kind of job?"

"This kinda job." Cynthia says blandly. "You're better off asking me, y'know?" She hears a rustling behind her and immediately wheels her weapon around. "More." She says in warning.

Corrin turns to see two more bagmen charge lumber forward. She notes their yellow bodies and move to defend the civilians as Cynthia fires into the bagmen. The first shot strikes the closest bagman dead on the head. It reels back, but doesn't stop advancing. Cynthia's weapon (The rifle 'Cynthie Special') fires rounds that explodes when it impacts something hard or a Risen, and her current target is neither of those things.

"I really should've gotten new rounds." Cynthia mutters while reining her Pegasus around for a charge. "Well, that's fine with me!" She zeroes in on a bagman and fires at its feet. The bagman is staggered by the shots and barely regains its balance when Cynthia cleaves its head off with the glowing blunt edge of her rifle.

Now that Gunter has a better view of Cynthia's weapon, he could see that it resembles a slimmed down version of the 'linear rifle' that seemed to be the backbone of the Phoenix military. It was half as wide and seemed to lack the trigger that the rifle is known for. It also had a strange glow on the bottom and top of the weapon.

Cynthia's weapon has a shifting grip that allows her to wield her weapon as either a blade or a rifle (and the trigger appears or vanishes to match). The glow is from two sheets of metal with magic circles engraved on them. The top acts as a shield while the narrower bottom acts as a blade.

"Justice served!" Cynthia calls out mightily as she raises her weapon up high. Then she sees the second one striding towards Tenia. "Oh shit!"

As Gunter and Corrin rush to engage, Felicia and Jakob both throws knives at the bagman. The knives sink into its blubbery center and seem to have no effect.

We're not gonna make it on time. Corrin notes worriedly and break into a full sprint. Sadly, she's not watching her footing and stumbles on an errant tree root. This sudden break of stride not only slows her down, but causes Gunter to slow down and make sure she's ok.

Meaning that by the time their attention went back to the group, the bagman was already on top of the little girl.

"You're ugly." Tenia says flatly as the bagman throws a fist the size of her face towards her face. It impacts, and she gives no reaction. "Weak, too."

She smacks its arm with such force that the part where she smacked it practically evaporates. The residual energy causes the bagman to twist in a full circle (breaking its nonexistent spine) and glare at her with its beady red eyes.

With a shout, Tenia then kicks it. Gunter recognizes the kick as from someone who's had some limited martial arts training but not quite the experience to back it up. Either way, her kick blew a hole into the bagman's chest, and her subsequent strikes turned it into a mushy pile of…whatever it was made of.

"Wow." Felicia says, her mouth gaping. "What is…what is she?" She points rather rudely at the little girl.

Corrin has no answer. Gunter and Jakob both note that Cynthia seemed entirely unfazed by that display of physics-defying power, and share a look of suspicion.

Tenia just dusts off her hands. "Easy peasy." She then shakes them. "Ew, it's wet." She wipes them on her clothes.

At this point Flora's wagon rounds the corner (ish) and she gets a full view of the battlefield, including one bagman that had appeared behind literally everyone. She puts a hand to her mouth and whistles.

Felicia recognizes the warning and immediately turns around. Everybody wonders what the sound was and turns around as well. Everyone sees the new yellow bagman just as something small and heavy slams into it from the sky.

"What was that?" More than one person asks in confusion.

"Oh! Yuck! I'm all wet now!" The person who just slammed into it cries and immediately takes off into the air again. "Urgh." She shakes whatever water was on her body before landing in front of Tenia, arms folded.

Corrin now notices the pair of dragon-like wings on the girl's back. Wings? She's a manakete? Manaketes were common enough in the Phoenix (and by extension, Nestra) for her to be rather acquainted with the idea.

Gunter, Jakob, and Flora recognizes the newcomer girl and they immediately put two and two together.

"Big sis, why did you sneak out?" The little girl says in a huff.

"I saw these people need help." Tenia says truthfully. "What's wrong?"

"Your tutor's looking for you." The little girl says. "She sounded really angry."

"Oh." Tenia didn't look fazed. "Well, ok, let's just escort these folks to where they need to go." She stops, then turns to the civilians. "Where are you going?"

"We're headed into Nestra." The lead civilian (an elderly-looking man) says warily. "We're trying to get out of the war before it gets out of hand."

"Deserters, then?" Gunter says coldly. "Escaping the country so you don't have to do your civic duty?"

"You can call us that." The old man nods tiredly. "I've no reason to see my sons die in a meaningless war."

"Hey, no bullying." Tenia warns Gunter and tries to crack her knuckles. While she's too small to be intimidating, Gunter had no reason to believe the strength she showed against that bagman would be a one-off accident.

Instead, he bows slightly. "Apologies, old habits die hard."

"Leave it to Big Sis Cynthie and go back with me right now." The little girl says insistently. "Or I'll tell dad."

Tenia doesn't seem to be fazed by that. "Dad's nice, though."

The little girl grumbles at this. "He is. Then…um…I'll tell mom!"

Tenia shrugs. "Mom's nice too."

The girl shakes her head. "Other mom."

"Oh." Tenia actually feels worried at that. "Ok, ok. Fine." She raises her arms. The little girl grabs her by those arms and haul her into the air. "Good luck, Big Sis!" She yells over her shoulder as the pair take off into the skies.

"You can leave it to me!" Cynthia replies with an exaggerated wave. "Cripes, little girl almost gave me a heart attack." She says once they're gone. The civilians stand up again.

"Who were they?" Felicia asks. "Why did they…she…have wings?"

"If you don't know then I'm not gonna tell ya." Cynthia says with a sigh. "'sides, you guys are headed deeper into Nohr, yeah? Better get going before more of those things show up."

Of Corrin's retinue, Corrin and Felicia were the only two that had no idea who the two girls are. Everyone else had a reasonable guess. The little girl that showed up later was obviously The Phoenix's Princess Alicia, which would make the orange-haired girl Princess Tenia.

The three who knew then had a reasonable question: But why is she here?

Tenia returns home safe and sound and nobody questioned the fact that she went missing for a time (something she does often), though eventually Alicia's guilty conscience caused her to rat Tenia out to Tiki.

Corrin's party continue on without any answers (though they weren't all that interested in the first place). Worryingly, the infestation of those strange bagmen seems to be throughout the country, as the party seemed to find themselves in a battle every few hours with those things even as they approached the capital. Occasionally, the group would assist or be assisted by local militia and patrol groups.

"Seriously, what are these things?" Corrin asks after what seems like the millionth encounter. "Are they a new Hoshidan weapon of some kind?"

"I don't think they fit with Hoshido's theme." Flora says. "They're much too glum."

"Perhaps we'll have answers when we talk with Prince Xander." Gunter says.

…

Eventually, they return to Windmire to literally zero fanfare—nobody had told the castle they were coming.

"Perhaps the best possible welcome." Jakob notes. "Considering the circumstances."

"I dunno, I think I would've liked a procession of some kind." Corrin says while stretching. "Let's head inside, shall we?"

…

Inside the castle, they were greeted first with shock, and then were allowed a hurried audience with Garon, and then the audience was canceled because Garon is out on the field, which left them with the highest available noble of the court, which happened to be…Prince Leo.

Upon seeing him, Corrin lets out a "Leo!" of delight and rushes forward to hug him. Leo, being of rather average strength, is nearly knocked over by her enthusiasm.

"Good day to you too, dear sister." Leo awkwardly pats her back. "I was unaware you had been released from captivity." He lies.

"Seems like nobody is." Corrin says in a huff. "How is everyone? How are you? How's Nohr?"

Leo takes the questions in turn. "Father and Xander are marauding through Hoshido, Camilla's keeping their air force in check, and Elise is helping wherever she can at the main encampment." The 'encampment' is a village near the Nohr army's first invasion point, fortified rapidly (and shoddily) to act as their foothold in the country. "I'm currently resting my troops here; we're dealing with miscreants of all types in Nohr, and thanks to our string of victories Hoshido is firmly on the back foot."

"Miscreants?" Corrin picks up that word. "We've met some weird things with bags on their heads."

Leo nods. "That would be one of them. The other being a string of Hoshidan small-unit actions deep in our territory. We're hunting them down since they don't know the terrain, but their ability to adapt is absurd."

Corrin scratches her head. "Wow, sounds like a lot of things are happening." She looks back to her party. "I know it's sudden, but can I help?"

Leo thinks this over for a bit. "You're a bit of a laughingstock within the army, Corrin." He says carefully. "So I will not be able to take you as an officer."

Felicia completely forgot why Corrin landed in Nestra in the first place. "Eh? She is?"

"Yes." Leo sighs. "It's a bit unfortunate, though I agree that your actions were incredibly rash, and the result rather equitable."

Corrin's face flushes. "I've had time to reflect on it." She mumbles. "I can help out as just a normal soldier." She says. "Let me help."

"Well, we're still resting at the moment." Leo says with a shrug. "I'll have a talk with my captains and see if they can find a spot for you in their units."

"Are you sure about this, milady?" Gunter asks when Corrin peels away from Leo one eon of small talk later.

"I am." Corrin says, followed by a yawn that helped to undermine her determination. "I want to know why these things are here." She gives a sign for her group to follow, and they do so to a nearby guest reception room. "I'll take Felicia with me, since she's not bad in a fight."

"The bigger question is: why are you taking this course of action?" Jakob asks with a deep scowl. "Pardon my tone, master, but this seems rash."

"I know." Corrin scratches her head. "But…something is wrong here." She says. "I've had this feeling ever since I set foot back in Nohrian soil, but it feels like there's something really wrong with this country. I don't know what, and this is probably the safest way to figure out what it is without going off on my own."

"Travelling as a small group would be safer." Fiora notes. "And not being a part of the army means not worrying about Hoshidans either."

Corrin shakes her head. "No, not quite. We've seen bagmen, and I'm not sure Hoshidans won't adopt a shoot first nature when it comes to strangers they meet on the road. This is probably the best way for me to see the damage being done to my country." She focuses on the group at large. "That said, if there is something going on, then I have assignments for all of you as well."

Jakob immediately straightens. "You only have to ask."

Corrin addresses each of them in turn. "Gunter, I want you to leverage your military contacts. Learn about the war and what's going on in Hoshido. Jakob, you're going to be my ear in Windmire. Flora, head to the ice village and see how they're faring about all of this."

"By your leave." Flora curtsies with the most earnest statement of agreement she's ever made to Corrin.

"So we're your ears for the military and the political, eh?" Gunter grins. "You've grown tremendously in the past month, Corrin."

"Being a prisoner does that." Corrin replies with a grin. She did, after all, spend nearly all of her free time reading at the Nestra Library. "There's a lot I don't know, so this will be a necessary first step to learn." She looks to her group. "Please be careful, everyone."

…

[One Week Later]

…

Corrin now had a better understanding of the situation. Slightly.

The Bagmen—referred to as 'Revenants' for the green ones and 'Entombed' for the yellow ones—sprung up a few days after the battle of Cannae (though she knew it by a different name). They were aggressive and dangerous in packs, and seemed to favor concerted, wild attacks on settlements and groups of people travelling in Nohr. They, along with the Hoshidans, seem to be doing rather massive damage to the Nohrian economy.

"The King considered sending an official envoy to Nestra for their support, but had to depart for Hoshido before being able to execute." Jakob had said upon delivering the information. "It seems that all trade is being badly hampered."

The silver lining is that the Bagmen seemed as interested in trying to kill the Hoshidans as they were the Nohrians whenever the three groups came together, so at least it was proof that the enemies of Nohr were not working together.

Incidentally, Leo's squadron had been home in Windmire to recuperate after one particularly savage battle against several small elements. Though Leo was victorious, his command was badly bloodied and they needed time to recuperate.

"I don't know who's in command, but their teamwork and planning is exceptional." Leo had grumbled. "Fortunately, this is Nohr, and that will ever be in our favor."

As of today (the last day of the 'one week later'), Corrin officially joins Leo's squadron as a soldier, with Felicia attached to the supporting maid corp, and they depart to search and destroy for the latest batch of Bagmen reported around Windmire.

…

…

[Two Months Later, 1st Person Camera]

…

…

The war situation has not necessarily developed in our favor, or something.

Ok, quick check-in because the Subcontinent just shuddered.

Magvel, Valentia, and Akanea are all behaving as normal. Nothing huge happening in those places. Chrom's got a third kid now or something, I didn't really pay attention.

Jugdral—Robin's currently using that continent as something akin to field practice: she's systematically subjugating tribes and relocating them to the Official Jugdral Phoenix Port City of Thrakki. It's…not a good idea because the city is badly lacking in infrastructure.

…I say that like it wasn't my decision to have her do it in the first place. Any growing empire needs a good ol' dose of ethnic cleansing to get things started, except here it's called Life.

While I fucked up with building infrastructure, the purpose of centralizing the population is to…uh…let them beat the weird blood racism out of each other, I guess? One of the biggest issues with Jugdral is the fact that life is starkly divided along the whole divine blood business, as well as the whole Major/Minor blood thing.

By smushing everyone together I hope that either everyone will learn to get along after losing a few teeth, or else the smartest and powerfulest of the rabble rousers will form cores around themselves and we'll know who to kill after a few unlucky children get strung from a tree.

I wish that was just black humor, by the way. Jugdral tribes tend to have a very 'kill them all' attitude when it comes to people not of their blood. Like…it's Bad.

As for why we don't just leave them alone, well…leaving them alone hasn't seemed to help with the whole 'not killing each other' business for the past 800 years, so it seems just a wee bit too optimistic to believe that, somehow, the next ten of nonintervention will miraculously solve their problems.

Um…in less somber news:

Elibe—Bern and Etruria are still fighting and our military resources are stilled tied up there. The fighting has expanded drastically. Bern's doing airdrops and carpet bombing while Etruria's doing artillery strikes. It's…getting bigger. Good thing the FE6 campaign will only happen when Roy's 16 or so, I guess? There're signs that Ostia may be getting pulled into a fight, though Hector's trying his best to get Lycia away from it.

Hector's also looking for Phoenix assistance, but we're…y'know, short on everything and it sucks. Our participation in Bern has more or less just be the defense of key points and transportation, and Etruria quickly learned to check where we were and then stay the hell away, so losses have been light.

Tellius—Apparently last winter Daein had a terrible harvest and their rulership is looking for solutions. Tiki's worried so I'm worried. The Wii Fire Emblems started with Daein being the aggressors, so…yeah. Eyes on the problem.

And finally.

…

[The Subcontinent]

…

Nohr is doing exceptionally well against Hoshido in their war, but…

1] The weird blobby murderer people are running around and doing incredible damage to Nohr.

2] The entire Nohr army are running around and doing incredible damage to Hoshido.

3] The Hoshidan strike force led by Takumi is doing incredible* damage to Nohr.

*damage may not be that incredible.

The most important thing I'm worried about is the manpower being fielded on both sides. Hoshido I can kind of understand, since they have more food, but…our geologists and military strategists have compared notes, and by their reckoning the Hoshidan army is around 5 to 15% overcapacity, and the Nohrian army is probably double or triple its actual possible size.

Now, this information is built on the availability of foodstuffs, weapons, so on, which means that once magic™ gets involved things get weird, but…according to the analysts, the quality of both nations' troops and their training implies that they've been overcapacity for a while, to the tune of several years now.

And as we all know, the Burst wasn't all that long ago. Doctrinal changes and inherent training being changed by a burst of magic is…worrying…but fundamental food storage and production (and just raw manpower) doesn't get handwaved into existence like that.

In other words, there's something else at play here that's shifting the equation in an un-fun kind of way. The question is: what?

…

In less grand-scale but no less worrying news:

The infiltration team in Nohr has reported sightings of weird water zombies with bags over their heads. We will refer to them as bagmen from now on, since apparently that's what everyone calls them and I see no reason to change things at the moment. This, along with the Hoshido's weird rock golems, mean that both sides now have some weird shit going on in their territory that's independent from the current war effort.

We've captured one of those bagmen for analysis, and it seems that composite-wise they share superficial similarities to a Risen. Both are essentially constructs made from a singular element and then given form—Risen happens to be almost entirely magic-based, while these are more or less water based. This means that, worryingly, bagmen can appear wherever there is water, and, surprisingly, Nohr has some expansive aquifers underneath their soil.

Upon receiving that knowledge, Brady had Nestra's water sources checked for pollutants of any kind and found nothing, so that was not very helpful. It would've been better if we had found something so we could at least get rid of it.

Notably, my Tenia went out and fought a few of them. I was in Elibe at the time so Tiki handled her punishment for running off on her own without a word.

Between the two of them (Tenia, Alicia), Tenia's the Tomboy and Alicia's the Good Girl. I love both of them to death, but Tenia's not really into the whole 'being doted on' business, so I give her a set of guidelines I expect her to follow and then more or less leave her to her own devices.

Uh…what was I talking about?

Corrin.

Let's pretend we're gonna talk about Corrin.

So we sent Corrin home, and replaced her favorite hairband with an exact copy that has a long-range transceiver built into it so we can track her position. It also doubles as a recorder and records data nonstop, offloading it to the infiltration team or our aerial scouts whenever it makes a connection.

From that Definitely Illegal spying, we have confirmed that the bagmen are going nuts and that Leo's not exactly happy to be assigned on perpetual squishing duty. For now, they're basically playing whack-a-mole with Takumi, and apparently are not doing all that well.

I haven't figured out yet what role Corrin will play in the story of this subcontinent, so I'm, y'know, stacking the deck in my favor.

…

The main focus of the subcontinent—especially on the Nohr side—has got to be the Ice Tribe. Now that both Felicia and Flora are considered 'safe' and away from seclusion, the historically autonomous Ice Tribe is making more noise against the Nohrian crown. Were it the pre-Burst Garon, I would imagine that he would listen to their complaints and try to find a compromise that works for both parties, but the Garon now is more likely to take a more hardline stance.

Plus, there's a third neutral city. I don't remember its name, but it is the medicine capital of the Subcontinent, and values is neutrality quite highly. Both Nohr and Hoshido are pushing for it to join their respective sides, and obviously it's ignoring those requests, to the point where both sides have an army essentially parked outside its territory, ready to move in at a moment's notice.

The reason I'm bringing this up is because how Garon treats the Ice Tribe could very well push the city into Hoshido's hands, and…well, the city has the unfortunate distinction of being one of the few places outside the Gorge where an army can move between the two territories on near-flat terrain.

So…yeah, they're worried.

…But at the end of the day, we're still stuck doing a wait-and-see. Cynthia's been posted to Nestra and it's not much of a stretch to say that she represents basically the entirety of the trained Phoenix airforce at that location. We're just so shorthanded now. I mean, I know it's basically self-inflicted, but still.

…

[Another Two Months Later]

…

Oh hey wait and see didn't solve any problems. Welcome to reality.

Anyhoo…the world state hasn't really shifted in any major ways, so we'll focus exclusively on the subcontinent.

Nohr incursions into Hoshido have more or less been blunted: Hoshido concentrated the bulk of their forces to the edge of Nohr's footholds and cut off the internal strike forces and then practiced some good ol' fashioned Total War. Hoshido basically gave up four of their largest cities to Nohr, allowed the Nohrian army to loot those cities, and then sieged those cities along with an aerial strike mission on the granaries to burn them to the ground.

Afterwards, the Nohr armies staged breakouts towards the Gorge and were largely successful.

On the Nohr side, Takumi's army was pinned down last week by Leo's army (though neither leaders were present) and the Hoshido army was scattered to the wind. Nohr's population really showed their adaptation to local magic conditions though, even if they didn't know it, and the mop up operation, as I understand it, is pretty much near total.

Leo was pulled back for a new assignment, I think. We're not sure about where he is or why he left.

Takumi, similarly, was pulled back to Hoshido through Nestra/Izumo with the official declaration of him being a 'diplomat'. Brady didn't like how that system was being abused, but neither Takumi or the Hoshidan Liaison lied when they were making the visa application, so his hands were tied.

Corrin…was left in command of Leo's patrol unit and the data from her hairband indicates that she was critically wounded in battle. Like if the Heroic Albino is so…selfless…we may be in the market for a new hero. Maybe one with some stronger plot armor, I dunno.

Or else we need to give Corrin some support, in the same way that Chrom would probably have been fucked without Robin.

Like Chrom without Robin is basically autobattle Chrom. Can you imagine autobattle Chrom clearing Awakening with any kind of certainty.

But…the biggest issue that involves this particular battle between Nohr and Hoshido is that the battle occurred disturbingly close to Ice Tribe Territory. Now, the biggest issues are that the Ice Tribe is historically anti-Nohr, and…the deployment of the Nohr troops look suspiciously like they came out from the Tribe. Now, even if this is a coincidence…

We are in Brady's war room. A messenger steps through the open door.

"Nohr just declared an ultimatum on the Ice Tribe."

Well fuck.

…

Yeah, yeah. The Ice Tribe is to turn over all Hoshido loyalists or face the consequences.

This reeks of preplanned shenanigans. If we assume that Windmire received a message via flying unit, it would mean that…what, Garon debated on the issue of the Ice Tribe's treason for about two hours before receiving said message on the Ice Tribe's treason? Smells fishy.

Our math is wrong: Garon had about five hours to debate the issue AFTER receiving the message, like a normal person.

So…what are we to do?

…

[3rd Person Camera, Ice Tribe, Same Day, 2200]

…

The air around Flora was bitterly cold. As 'someone familiar with the Ice Tribe', she volunteered to take the Nohrian Ultimatum into the Ice Tribe's territory and then 'wait for their response as needed', as a bit of an excuse to visit home. Understandably, as the ultimatum was read out, she was none too happy about it.

For the record: when Corrin tasked her to go to the Ice Tribe, Flora couldn't just 'go to the Ice Tribe'. Thus, she's attached to the force that usually operates around the Ice Tribe's territory, who happens to have been folded into Leo's unit for their previous operation.

"This is foolish." The tribe chief (her father Farrier) says. "We have no Hoshidans in our midst, not even as survivors from their most recent battle."

"But Nohr will not accept that answer." A tribe noble says angrily. "We've been a thorn in their side for too long for them to conceivably accept this answer."

"For better or worse, their subjugation army is currently crippled." Flora says. "The current acting head of command was injured in the battle and their response will be slowed as a result." She bows slightly. She had missed while throwing a knife, hitting her on the foot and causing a minor chain of reactions that ended with Corrin taking a rather nasty stab wound to her sides. While she cursed her own subpar combat ability at the time, she's now rather happy at the accidental result.

Also Felicia was unhappy with her, so that's a thing she's dealing with.

"So we have time." Farrier muses. "Can we send someone to Nestra? They did seem sympathetic to our cause."

"There's a high chance that a messenger will be detected." Another noble says. "And if that were to happen, the Nohr army may simply choose to attack to rid themselves of the trouble."

"This is our land, we can very likely hold them off for the time it takes for the Phoenix to arrive." The first Noble says confidently. "Might I remind everyone here that the Phoenix's force are leagues faster than anything else we've ever seen?"

"Leagues faster is still enough time for others to be killed." Noble B says. "We should be wary of too much trust in outside powers."

As the debate drags on, Flora notices that her father has been uncharacteristically quiet, and shoots him a quizzical glance.

Following the debate with no ready answer (though a messenger was readied to deploy) Farrier motioned for Flora, and the two retire to have a father-daughter moment to the eyes of everyone else present.

"Father, what I can do to help?" Flora asks once the two confirms that they are alone. "The Nohr army has some talented leaders, if I were to remove them—"

Farrier holds up a hand. "I will not make my own daughter do such a thing." He smiles and pats her head. "You must've made some friends when you were…interred, at Nestra."

Flora blushes. "That's…" She was not very good at making friends.

Farrier takes out a small key and walks over to a small, nondescript cabinet tucked in the corner of the room. "I've received this gift some months ago." He opens it, then pulls away a false back and reveals a suite of what Flora recognizes as distinctly Phoenix communications equipment. "The man said to make use of it when the Ice Tribe is in trouble, and I do believe this is a time that fits with that description." He spins it up.

The speaker turns on almost immediately, and the voice of Brady comes over the line. "This is the Nestra Communications Room, what's the situation, Lord Farrier?"

How did he know it was us? Flora immediately wonders. Nestra was, of course, monitoring the entire situation closely.

"Ah, uh, yes." Farrier gets himself used to talking into what may as well be a salt shaker and, through some rambling discourse, tells Brady of their current situation. "…And to that end, we'd like to formally request for military assistance."

"Alright, but understand that we will be expecting what we discussed." Brady says.

"Understood, thank you for your assistance." Farrier says, then closes the line after Brady signs off.

"Father…you agreed to give them something without consulting with the council?" Flora says disapprovingly. "That's against our law of conduct."

Farrier shrugs. "Yes, but our law of conduct also calls for setting ourselves on fire as punishment for treason, so I feel like we can do with updating a few things." He pats her head again. "The Phoenix is just, so I'm sure we'll get better treatment than under the hands of Nohr."

Flora takes a second and agrees that, yes, it would be the case. She still pouts though.

…

About fifteen minutes later, there's a knock on the tribe chief's door.

"Yo." Ash waves cheerily, earning himself a hastily kneel from Farrier.

"The Emperor of the Phoenix Empire himself." Farrier says to the ground. "I'm honored by your presence, sir."

Ash grins. "The bigger guns are coming in later, so I'm the vanguard." His grin fades. "Are you sure about this, though?"

"Farrier, what is the meaning of this?" Noble A demands. "Why is the Phoenix Empire here?"

"I'm here to confirm if the Ice Tribe is interested in trading in their current overlord for a newer, shinier one." Ash says. "No need to sugarcoat it, really."

Noble A creates a blade of ice in his hands. "I happen to be sympathetic to Nohr, and this reeks of treason on many fronts, Chief Farrier." He snarls.

The blade snaps and vanishes in a cloud of sparkling dust, making the Noble blink momentarily in confusion.

"Let's not get violent, yeah?" Ash says, a gathering of magic power focused in his hand. "I'm just here for negotiations right now. If I need to do defense I will do that, but hopefully we can resolve this thing without needing to, y'know, kill everything that moves."

Noble A sighs. "…Fine. I apologize for my hasty reaction." He looks to Flora. "Perhaps we can invite the commander of the Nohrian military here? They have the authority to make diplomatic suggestions to the crown, yes?"

"That is correct to my understanding." Flora nods. "Though it may require a little fine tuning."

Ash thinks it over. "Well, let's get everyone to the table and let's see what we do."

…

[1st Person Camera]

…

The line about us having bigger guns is a lie. Brady has four Diamonds but they're all grounded for maintenance because…uh…reasons.

Because you're a dumbass who landed near them when he arrived.

Hey fuck you orbital drops are hard. Besides, I'm a big enough gun on my own. I can just leave and come back and be like…ahem. Getting sidetracked.

Anyways, we've agreed to go to the table, and after sending Flora back (since she's still the official messenger) and another…two hours, of waiting, we were able to bring Farrier, myself, two nobles from the Ice Tribe, and three sub-Generals from the Nohr army to the diplomacy table. Corrin's not her on account of her injuries, though I think it's more that the Generals felt like she would be biased in my favor.

…

…

[Diplomacy]

…

…

So the discussions more or less went awry almost immediately as it started. While the Nohr Generals talked about how it was necessary for the Ice Tribe to 'accede to the orders and present a unified front to the enemy', it became very clear that the stated reason for them being here—Hoshidan soldiers—was just small potatoes. Hell, an hour after we started I had to remind the Generals of that point.

So, what was the bigger fish?

Easy: mithril. The Ice Tribe territory holds one of the mithril mines within Nohr territory.

'Easy' in the sense that we finally pried it from the Generals after three hours of circular talking.

Reminder: Nohr and Hoshido have great weapons with great durability, and mithril (so we call it) is the reason why. Initially we believed that it's because of the material itself, but a deeper study reveals that the qualities that make a metal 'mithril' is in fact a quality of iron within the entire subcontinent, it just so happens that mithril exhibits those qualities in greater strength.

…Weird déjà vu moment.

Anyways, the mine is not exactly a *big* one with regards to how much it supplies Nohr, but it has the distinction of being one of the most reliable. Now, I want to stress that the 'most reliable' qualifier was given by Farrier, which means that it could very well be just, y'know, diplomatic bullshittery, but…

Mithril mining tends to be cyclic, and the Ice Tribe one tends to have the highest highs along with relatively short low time. I assume this is caused by the magic that runs in the ground, and the fact that it cycles is known to us (though we don't know why).

Apart from that, the Ice Tribe is functionally unable to support itself: the inherent abilities of its tribe means the immediate area surrounding the village is a frozen wasteland, extending to about a kilometer from the village's edges. That in itself is not really a problem, mind: the village has an inherently low population and can more or less make do through basic hunting/gathering/horticulture.

…The problem is that if Nohr decides to come down hard on the Ice Tribe and, y'know, make an example of them with a little bit of bloodshed, the Ice Tribe could literally stop existing due to its small family size.

To the best of my knowledge, you need about twenty pairs of breeding humans to avoid dying out due to inbreeding. The Ice Tribe's population currently caps at about 800 people or so, with a rather healthy spread of ages all around. This means that around half of its population are in the 'can make babies' population group, which is nice.

The Ice Tribe's population is also skewed towards males, which is not so nice. Felicia and Flora are…somewhere in their teenager years, prime babymaking age, as it were, and if you take their age as the baseline and then go up by ten years…the two of them make up five percent of the female population in the tribe.

So…yeah, if an army rolls through and decide to do some housekeeping, the tribe is fucked. Farrier knows it, Flora…could possibly know it, she's a little too sharp for her own good. The Generals definitely do not know it, which brings us back to…

The Mithril! Essentially Nohr just wants the Ice Tribe to house more manpower to work the mines (due to the war) and the Ice Tribes countered by asking for that manpower to pack their own supplies. Those supplies are, of course, earmarked for the front, which means there is none to give.

Which means that the Tribe flat out refused to take in people, which pisses off the Nohrian government, which takes us to where we are now.

I found the hardline stance of Nohr on the topic to be…odd, even factoring the Burst, so I had the infiltration team forward me some data.

As a result, the negotiations drag on for another day.

Going by the reports, the primary factors for Nohr wanting to better exploit the Tribe's mine are that…one, most of their other, more productive mines are located near the Gorge, and surprisingly are taking damage and interruptions by Hoshidan air raids, to the point where…they're trying this, I guess.

Also, Ice Tribe mithril tend to be of a higher quality than the competition, which is surprising. The Generals are chalking it up to the performance of the mine, though I think it has to do with the people.

Regardless, everything boils down to one point: the Ice Tribe cannot sustain acceding to Nohr's request, and Nohr, in the interest of 'not losing face', cannot back down either.

Which…if this was pre-Burst Garon, he would have no problems backing down. Damn shame, really.

Now, the Tribe can't really give in to Nohr, so they're turning towards us, the Phoenix. The problem is…the land between the Tribe and Windmire is basically overflowing with huge forests with massive canopies, which makes hiding troops a breeze. The nearest of such forests stop at a mere 200 meters from the outskirts of the village.

In other words, if we take in the Ice Tribe, we're basically forced to garrison the location or else risk not being able to react in time to an incursion against the village. It takes me fifteen minutes to get here via orbital jump, which means that anything more substantial will take at least two hours to fly, nevermind the time it takes to actually get them ready to deploy.

Basically, the actual options of the Ice Tribe is…minimal, at best.

…

…

[Three Days of Dialogue]

…

…

Fuck me this is time consuming. This is basically Cheve 2.0, the Chevening.

Ice tribe wants to be free, but their only defender (us) are too far away to prevent them from getting shanked in the case of an invasion. After three days, we've established this tentative agreement where the Phoenix will sell food in bulk and transport it to the Ice Tribe in exchange for Nohr's moving in of miners to exploit the Mithril, and otherwise leaving the tribe alone to its own devices.

It'd be nice if we could also exploit this system in exchange for moving in military equipment, but we already have the Firebrands for that so…uh…we can void their rules however we want if we actually had the resources to fortify yet another position.

The fact that this is objectively the best solution leaves a bad taste in my mouth, and I'm pretty sure I can hear Flora sharpening knives somewhere in the background. The biggest issue is still the fact that Nohr holds the cards here and they know it, so we're stuck with a poor deal until we can circumvent some of the harder to deal with facts…

…But, well, not like I can do anything about this for the time being. Still, we should be good for about a year before something else happens.

…

[About 4 Months Later]

…

I blame myself for this.

As of 0800 this morning, the spies we had in Hoshido found Corrin's signature within their borders and we don't know what the fuck.

Uh, let me rephrase.

As of…uh, yesterday, the records show that Corrin's magic signature was found within the Gorge, among a group of Hoshidans and Nohrians. We assume it means there was a battle, as the records show Corrin making significant progress along the Gorge before…gone.

Her signature just disappeared in the middle of battle and we didn't know why. Now, signatures disappear all the time: our sensors and aerial recon aren't perfect, and the detector built into her hairband disables whenever the fighting gets fierce (too much interference), and magic was certainly being slung around that area with impunity.

The problem, then, was that she appeared deep within Hoshidan territory and, after some more scouting, was determined to be friendly and polite and not being kept as a POW in any way.

This war's been weird so far and this is just one more notch on that belt.

The reason why this is weird is because, after reviewing the data, we've determined that she just upped and vanished, and the location where she appeared (Shirasagi) is way beyond the distance coverable by a day of travel unless she was like me and can do orbital drops, and I'm pretty damn sure I would know if she could do orbital drops. Hell, I'm sure everyone in the world would know if someone's doing orbital drops.

Anyways, she's there, I'd like to know why she's there, and more importantly I want to talk to Hoshido about why the war seems to be both stalemating while also progressing smoothly on both sides.

I don't mean it as just a matter of propaganda, either, which is doubly strange.

Uh, so…nothing really happened in the four months that's worth noticing (no new wars and no end to current wars).

Within these months, Nohr and Hoshido has had seven major engagements totaling roughly a hundred thousand dead on both sides. This is a significant chunk of population for a pre-industrial society, but as far as we can see there hasn't even been a dent to the actual combat strength of both nations. Similarly, the mayo golems and the bagheads are wrecking shit in Hoshido and Nohr respectively, and although we can see the damage to trade and settlements on the map, whatever damage their doing seems to be practically nonexistent.

…Like, this is weird. The fact that the populace seems to be just mildly annoyed is something I'm attributing to the Burst, but the rest of it…

…our spies have reached the end of their rope and really can't poke any further without compromising themselves, so we're going to go in personally and see if we can't suss out what's behind all of this.

This is Fire Emblem so there's probably a big fuckoff dragon somewhere, and given how the bagmen are made of water and the golems are made of mayonnaise we're assuming that there is a Water Dragon pulling the strings somewhere, and given that mind control seems to be a theme here we're assuming it's capable of doing something about that mind control, or else it is a dragon ancestral to the land and influences its magic, or else a bunch of other theories that we're entertaining but have no real evidence for.

…This is kind of the nice thing about having a lot of Outrealmers around. Everyone can predict, to some extent, what the story might be.

…Still, it'd be nice if some of the predictions turn out to be just lies.

.

.

.

{ === + === }

Author Notes:

So as a side-effect of this chapter I did an audit of my timeline spreadsheet and I found out that

1) I had added about an extra year to the calendar, and

2) Felicia and Flora don't have entries, so I actually don't remember how old they are. Oopsy daisies.