Odin Sphere is a lovely game, but it's not mine :(

Oswald grunts quietly in frustration as he hides behind the Demon Lord's throne. He's been sneaking around the castle trying to gather intel when he got cornered in the throne room. Melvin won't be happy if he's caught. Oswald peeks quickly around the throne, and his eyes go wide at what he sees.

There's a girl standing with a Pooka wearing a long gown. Its ruffly with several different colored layers, and it gives the girl an elegant look. Her hair glows silver in the light as she twirls this way and that. She has blue feathers pinned in her hair that match the dress, and reminds Oswald what the dragon Hindel had said on the mountain. Seek the bird. Could this girl be what the wise dragon meant? Whoever this girl is, she's absolutely stunning, and the small brown Pooka admires the girl as they talk. Oswald could watch the girl forever.

His thoughts are suddenly interrupted by the appearance of the Demon Lord himself. Oswald quickly pulls back so he won't be spotted. This has turned into quite a tricky situation. It's hard to make out what they're saying, but it sounds like the girl is being reprimanded for something. The only word he can make out from their conversation is 'Gwendolyn'.

He inhales sharply at the name. Gwendolyn? Odin's witch? Oswald moves so he can see past the throne again. The girl, presumably Gwendolyn, has her head down in shame. She looks nothing like the stories that have been told about her.

"Heartless wench," some had said.

To Oswald she doesn't appear heartless at all. Quite the opposite in fact. The look on her face suggests that she's about to cry. No one that's heartless would cry because they're being scolded. No, Oswald decides, Gwendolyn is not heartless. Anyone with that kind of emotion so plainly visible, like in her eyes, cannot be heartless.

"Bloodthirsty leader," others claimed.

The Demon Lord follows some valkyries, that had arrived with a report, out of the room leaving Gwendolyn and the Pooka.

"...He didn't notice...This was Mother's dress..." Gwendolyn says heartbroken. Her voice echoes faintly through the throne room.

Oswald barely hears what she said, but it's enough for him to understand. She obviously wanted her father to recognize the dress, and now she's upset he didn't. Someone like that can't be a bloodthirsty tyrant like many claim. Oswald shakes his head. Could it be possible that none of the rumors are true?

"Evil murderer," was the most common of all.

This phrase is often associated with Oswald himself. He's grown used to the disgusted looks the faeries give him when he walks through the palace, but he can't stand the thought of anyone looking at her the same way. Although Gwendolyn doesn't appear to be a killer, Oswald knows that the rumors about her being a good soldier are true. He's seen her in action, and even from a distance he could tell she was something to be feared.

Despite the fact that she does kill Oswald doesn't believe the name 'murderer' applies to her. She only fights because she has to. In all honesty she looks like a gentle person. Gwendolyn speaks to the Pooka with such kindness that Oswald cannot believe for a second that she's an evil murderer.

Gwendolyn and the Pooka walk out if the throne room leaving Oswald all alone. He comes out from behind the throne where he had been crouching. A single blue feather on the floor catches his eye. He approaches it and picks it up carefully. It must have fallen out of her hair.

"Could that be her?" Oswald wonders out loud. "She seems so...different from what I heard..."

He shakes his head. If that really was her, then she is not really how people describe her. She's beautiful and kind and lovely. Oswald clutches the feather tightly. She had seemed so upset when her father didn't acknowledge her, he remembers. He shakes his head again. He wants to see her smile, but he has no idea how someone like him is supposed to accomplish that.

Oswald exits the throne room cautiously to make his way back to Ringford. He can't shake the image of Gwendolyn glowing in the light out of his mind. Someday, somehow, he vows he's going to make her smile.