“War is a simple thing. What comes after, that is hard.”

Somehow, Ranulf wasn’t surprised that Skrimir’s words echoed in his head right now. It wasn’t something that he hadn’t already known, but certain scenes just stuck with you.

Currently, Ranulf found himself as a Gallian representative in Daein’s capital Nevassa to mend relations with said country. This task was certainly a tiresome one, but also necessary to establish peace throughout Tellius. Sadly, there was still a lot of prejudice against the Laguz here, but who expected them all to turn over a new leaf in such a short time? To unlearn everything that was fed to them? Undoing this kind of damage took time; a lot of time.

Right now, Ranulf was just glad that he could get some fresh air after they decided to take a break from all these discussions. He still remained inside the castle’s grounds, as no one could guarantee his safety outside of these walls. It was a bit of a shame, as the cat Laguz was rather curious how the capital of Daein looked like when it was in peace.

Well, all he could do was rest for a bit... or rather, stretch himself out; it could get stuffy in these rooms, after all. Nothing for a freedom-loving cat like him.

It’s been a few minutes before his ears picked up some footsteps approaching him - or at least going in the direction where he was. The blue cat looked up from his stretchings, eyes catching the sight of a blonde man who was vaguely familiar to him.

If he recalled correctly, he was one of Daein’s snipers and close to Queen Micaiah. His name was... Leonardo? Yes, that seemed to fit. They’d hardly spoken to each other, which wasn’t really surprising, given everything. After all, most of the times where they’ve met was on the battlefield as enemies. And then as allies to save Tellius.

Wouldn’t hurt to say at least hi to the young beorc.

“Hey there. You’re Leonardo, right? It’s been a while since we’ve last met.”

Drawing the short straw seemed to be one of Ranulf’s less desirable skills. Sometimes, he wondered if fate just had a liking of seeing him struggling, but always being gracious enough to let him live for another day. Thinking back on some situations that occured, he could count himself as unlucky and lucky at the same time. Unlucky, because he was often forced to dive into downright suicidal missions and fight against enemies that were way too strong for him. Lucky, because he always escaped these particularly difficult predicaments in the last moment.

Although his current predicament wasn’t nearly as live-threathening as others he could mention, he couldn’t say that he was happy about it either.

It’s been roughly a year and a half since he’d joined Ike and Soren in their travels. They had gone through a lot; not that any of that compared to their battle against a goddess and their disciples (yet, at least), but it still wasn’t a walk in the cake. Right now, this was one of those moments.

During their travels, they’ve stumbled across a strange gate that seemed out of the world. Soren had shown interest in taking a closer look at it and neither Ike nor him had opposed the idea.

Somehow though, they’ve ended up in a completely different location altogether. At the same time, they’ve lost each other as well, so right now, Ranulf was all by his lonesome self.

“It’s just one thing after the other, huh? Well, at least it’s never boring around Ike, I’ll have to give him that...”

Didn’t make the situation any less frustrating, though. Especially with all these new scents he picked up in this forest. It made sniffing out his friends all the harder.

However, his hearing sense was still functioning normally and as he picked up footsteps from afar, his ears twitched eagerly. Although the heaviness of the footsteps sounded more like Ike, they still weren’t quite it. Whether it would be one of his companions or not, it was a start - better than to walk around here aimlessly without any orientation whatsoever.

Walking through the forest following the footsteps, it didn’t take him long to finally be near the person he’d picked up. His heterochromatic eyes caught onto blue hair and for a moment, he thought he’d found Ike at least. However, his nose told him that this was definitely not Ike’s scent. Upon a second glance, Ranulf noticed several things that didn’t fit - no bandana, a white cloak, trained but not to the extend Ike was...

Still, it was surprising that they did look a little bit alike. What were the chances he’d run into someone who could be mistaken as Ike from afar?

Either way, it wouldn’t hurt to ask the beorc where he was and if he’d seen any of his friends. Thus, he walked out of the bushes and held up a hand in a friendly gesture.

“Hey there, beorc. You wouldn’t happen to know where we are, right? It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but it seems like as if I’ve completely lost my way... and my companions, as well.”

Ranulf scratched his cheeks as he grinned amiably. His ears twitched slightly as his tail swayed to and fro.

“Did you see them anywhere, by any chance? One of them has blue hair, wears a bandana and he’s packed with muscles. The other one is a black-haired little guy. Has an awfully stern look on his face, it’s rather distinguishable.”

His eyes glanced over to the stranger’s shoulders, blinking a bit. He never saw this kind of brand on anyone before. Either he was someone magically adept - which was a bit doubtful, given the sword by his side - or a Branded stood in front of him. Well, not like it had ever mattered to him, really. Especially knowing how the prejudice against them came into existence. Though Queen Nailah did mention that those people lived in peace with them... which was nice.