#chilledquiver

Ignore the stick waving baboon, He just can't understand that there are problems in life that cannot be solved by hitting them with a lance. More tea?

I was hoping you’d say L’Arachel so that she’d leave me alone. Blast. Back to the drawing board.

chilledquiver SAID: OOC: NO PROBLEM ALSO, JUST CAUSE I’D MAKE A BETTER PRINCESS THAN YOU LYON, DOESN’T MEAN YOU HAVE TO GET JEALOUS…

N-no. I...

It may be true that I'm not fit to rule. I won't deny that. I'm not the king I should be, and I'll never be for Grado what Lyon could have been. But... but...

I never would have hurt him if we hadn't been forced. I... I wanted to save him. I know he cared more for Eirika than for me. I always knew it would be that way, but...

"Impossible! I refuse to go about such a strategy! There must be another way! I know there is!" - Tana, who was rarely upset or even so flustered at a practice session, had stormed off from the library where her daily lessons were being held. Today's challenge was to lead a simulated troop through a deadly battle, but no matter how many times she tried it, the tutor would impose a realistic, but devastating challenge, that would often get her units, put blank, eradicated. The lesson there was to show that you must always be prepared for the worst, but that wasn't the reason why she was so upset- to make the challenge more difficult, the tutor had labeled the units with people important to the princess, and as such, she had developed an emotional attachment to the pieces. Tana, believing that she could save everyone, would never settle for any loss, which forced her to go over the lesson over and over again.

Needless to say, it wasn't going well, and in her frustration she needed to escape. Her emotions running high, she sought out someone who she knew would have an answer- not the Pegasus royal guard, not father, Innes. Innes was a masterful tactician and surely he knew how to save everyone in this battle! He'd be able to do it... right...?

Ephraim knew well how dangerous the stretch of road he was traveling was known to be. Bandit attacks were alarmingly common, and the quagmire of Carcinese politics did little to improve the situation. It was far enough south that they liked to spin it as a "Gradan problem" -- and thus, of course, Ephraim's problem.

Dressed somewhat plainly -- armored, but not in his full regalia, with a lighter spear than usual at his back -- he had taken pains to look like a simple traveler and see this highway for himself.

The road seemed clear enough as he walked for most of the way. Other travelers paid him little mind, though most were also armed. The first unusual thing he spotted was a woman sitting at the side of the road. She had some sort of scarf over her face, but more important than that, she looked as if she was distraught. When she saw him, she called out, "Traveler! Please, you must help me!"

Ephraim, of course, was there in a moment. He knelt by her side, searching her face and body for visible wounds.

"Miss, are you -- "

Before he could even say all right, there was a knife pressed up against his throat and a firm hand jerking his hand behind his back, rubbing at his bracelet.