July 9, 2010

Kalmaeirin Currency

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Filed under: Miscellaneous Writing, Writing — Tags: , , , — Illinia @ 1:43 pm

As I write this it is skin-meltingly hot out… but Flairé was unusually talkative today and gave me the outline of the history of the kalmaeirin currency system(s), so I thought I should get it down before I forgot it or it got garbled by something. <_<  >_>

This does not include a discussion of the credit system they used, or the age jewel gifting traditions that existed in some parts of the kingdoms, or of the economic system itself. This is only a summary of how they started using currency.

As soon as the kalmaei were ‘civilized’ enough to start producing ‘goods’, they needed a way to exchange them. At first this was done by barter (”I’ll give you baked goods for three weeks if you give me those boots…”). This was pretty obviously impractical; they made do for a while with extremely complicated agreements (”I want some of your fish, but you don’t need my fishhooks, but that guy over there does, and he’ll give you a couple of oars, which you do want…” etc.) but in the end they decided something had to change.

They valued all metals and gems, but they also thought of them as simply raw materials for jewelry, statues, and other decoration. Hence, although perhaps they traded small nuggets of metal, it was not widespread or common. It was too easy to falsify the value and purity of metals. Precious stones were too valuable to trade except for other gems and perhaps things like houses or a significant amount of labour, and also usually required an appraisal before being accepted at a certain value.

The first currency was actually inadvertently invented by a group of sculptors, who had done a substantial number of tiny carvings on small river rocks. These they traded as beads, at first, but then someone showed them to Erd Lord of the Unicorn-kalmaei, and he thought it was a brilliant idea to use them for currency. They were labour-intensive, and therefore hard to counterfeit, and no one would decide to melt them down or destroy them in order to make something else out of them. They changed little from their original bead concept, except that designs became standardized. And really, if someone was going to spend all that time counterfeiting them, more power (and wealth) to them.

Strange to say, this ‘currency’ became standard throughout the Four Kingdoms. The pieces were made of hard stone, and wore down slowly, and were convenient for making small purchases.

Eventually, someone wanted to tie the currency back to the metal standard, and they began rimming the stones with strips of gold and silver, even iron, though it was more common than the ‘precious metals’. Now counterfeiters needed both time, skill, and a little existing wealth in order to make copies of money. The state in conjunction with the carvers and metalworkers were of course the main producers if not the main users of money; the ones who made each ‘coin’ were allowed to keep half to introduce into circulation themselves, and were paid for the rest in food and sometimes shelter and workspace. (Official sanctions, as it were.) The primary fear with counterfeiters was quality control; no one wanted to trade something considered worthless.

For larger transactions, loose jewels were far more common to trade; not all of them were incorporated into jewelry, clothing, and decoration of all kinds. Rubies, sapphires, diamonds, emeralds, amythests, tiger eyes, topazes, anything that could be induced to gleam and/or possess transparency (not manufactured glass, of course) were considered greatly valuable. They were more convenient than carrying around loads of stone coins, but as said before, often required an appraisal, unless they were well known, like the Great Baroque Pearl of Kyri-il, a large and amazingly shaped pearl that had been passed from Lirar-Moihh Bay, where it was found, all over the kingdoms. It was worth about 2000 gold coins, which was a representation of a lump of about 2 square feet of gold (which many believed would be better off being used as a statue or something like that). Sometimes the pearl had been set in jewelry; some kalmaei are practical with every piece of beauty that comes their way (what do you do with shiny things? Wear them, of course!), but some do like to flaunt their wealth.

So the kalmaei were successful to themselves in their quest to find something with common value that they could trade instead of perhaps something that others did not want, or that they wished to keep for themselves. They could still trade anything they liked, for the economy was not strict and as long as both sides felt they were getting what they wanted, anything was fine. Some may have tried to exploit moral loopholes in the system, but kalmaei being long-lived, it simply wasn’t socially practical and most were shut down quickly.

Thoughts? Where am I totally wrong in these ideas? What can I do to improve them? I think the core is pretty good but I may be wrong in application. If there is anything I can explain to make things clearer, or if you make a comment on something that seems wrong to you but right to me, let me know and I will try to fix it.

December 29, 2009

Pent’s Story materials

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Filed under: 4. Fire Emblem fanworks, Fire Emblem 7, Miscellaneous Writing, Pencil, Writing — Illinia @ 11:50 am

I thought someone might find this interesting, so here it is! - It’s the two sides of the piece of paper that I used to help me plot out Pent’s Story. On the one side, like so:

 pentchart

is a map of all the characters and how they relate together. As you can see, some of them I didn’t name at first - or at all, until it came to actually writing. And I did some digging on the Fire Emblem Wiki to find out all I could about Etruria. This chart was an amazing help to me. I recommend this method to everyone writing about a group of more than three characters.

While actually writing the story, I used several lists in each chapter:

A short synopsis of the chapter plot

A list of the heroes, including their unit class, personality, age, origin, and sleeping arrangements on the march

A list of other characters with a one-word reminder of who they are, crossed out if they’re dead - looks like this:
          Ocery strongnoble                               Lorad Ceciliafan
          Aldash gobetween                               Lesil Louisefan
          Deis Oceryland                                     Rhost Douglasknight
          Vork Clericdude                                   Blier weaknoble

 And at the bottom, a more detailed synopsis of the plot, with the part I haven’t written yet highlighted in red

And a list of what everyone is carrying in their packs (each holds up to five items, as per the game rules)

The other side of the paper:

 wrigleycastleplan

is just a map of Castle Wrigley, Pent and Louise’s home, to give me a general idea of how it all fits together. But unfortunately, I have no sense of scale, so the ballroom is massssssively huge, and the kitchen is the tiniest thing. But they’re in the general place that they are in my head. Except I forgot the cute mini-towers on the corners. Oh well. Someday I’ll do a picture of the front of the castle. There is also a third story, which is more of the same of the second story, but with more servant bedrooms. I didn’t draw anything on it.

I have ideas for expanding the opening of Zela’s Story. There needs to be something more happening between when Zela and Flaer meet, and when they get married. Otherwise, it’s just extremely dull and icky romance without actually showing the dynamic between the pair. I may as well start the story from when Tam fell on Flairé! But I do want to have more, so I’m going to have a little story about the Lilemlen ‘court’, which will expand on what Flar, Stialia, Flaer, and Lyrestan actually DO all day, the relationships between these four and Zela and Gyoriing, introduce new characters for a more dynamic and wider world (though that means more to keep track of! Oh noes!) and maybe even have a little bit of Tam! Not too much. He does love attention. But this will be from Flaer’s POV, and will often watch Zela. Because I know who she is again, but it’s hard to put down on the page. So I need to put a lot of it. Yes? So, lots of Flaer, lots of Gyoriing, lots of Flar, lots of Zela. Now I need a plot! I have an idea for that too, but I only just got it Monday morning. So be patient, plz!

I’m also planning to have more material tracking Flairé and Tam around the Four Kingdoms while they’re tramping through the wilderness. : D

I’m not worried about myself keeping track of everyone. I’m fine, nearly all the time. I’m worried about my readers, having to remember who the heck so-and-so is while also remember his/her connection to forty-seven other characters, most of them relatively minor.

…I’m a Tam fangirl. X D

July 30, 2008

Jedi Outcast II Review

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Filed under: Miscellaneous Writing, Writing — Tags: — Illinia @ 10:46 pm

jediknight2_boxshot

 

Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast

 

 

All righty, then. My first game review! I watched my brother play through the entire game over the course of the last

Music 2/5
Story 1/5
Graphics 3.5/5
Gameplay 3.5/5
Audio 4/5
Overall
 2.8 (ok, 3)

week. This review does contain spoilers, so if you still want to play it yourself, I suggest not reading further.

Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast is all right, as far as Star Wars games go. The Force powers in particular are quite good. However, the story is, in one word, pathetic, and considering that story is important to me, that’s a lot of a downer.

From the top: Music. I would say the music gets a score of 2/5 only because John Williams wrote it; otherwise, it would have a score of .5 or something. I don’t think there even was music for most of the game, because I sure don’t remember it. The Gamespot review claims that there was, but I missed it. One oddity was that there wasn’t ANY music during the credits! What? But the credits are so boring otherwise! Okay, you can see how many names there are in the ’special thanks’ sections as opposed to the normal credits… Anyway, I demand more attention to music in my games.

Story: Story was extremely weak. It was linear, predictable, and had about .05% of tension. Yes, the girl dies, but we all know they never kill off the female lead indefinitely, right? That sort of switcheroo was done to perfection in Radars of the Lost Ark; it actually had me fooled for a good portion of the movie and I was really surprised when she showed up again. However, in JKII… well, we got to the end of the levels of the area after ‘Jan is dead’ and then took a break. The next time I even remembered she was there, before we started playing again, I knew she wasn’t dead. The few lines on philosophical or Force-related matters were the same-old same-old, and there is a huge contrast between Master Skywalker’s gentle chiding of Katarn’s obsession with killing Desann (breezed over, really) and the collective Jedi’s displeasure with Anakin’s behaviour in the New Trilogy movies.

Another story point: it felt like it was just providing excuses to go to a new location. While some might say that that’s the point of a story, especially in a first person combat game, I personally felt it was flat and boring. I have no idea how it measures up to the original Dark Forces (only got to about level 3-ish… kept getting killed by sewer creatures) or Jedi Knight I. I can say that Dark Forces felt reasonably like “I’m going on a mission! Go in, get objective, get out.” with the story framing that. I thought that felt plausible. A comment about story in general: Fire Emblem is perhaps my favourite, with battles almost like interruptions to provide some ‘game’ to go with the ’story’, although I realize this is not everyone’s cup of tea. Zelda is also good with lots of open-endedness but with all the NPC’s and side quests (mostly) fitting in to their world and the overall plot simple but well developed. Final Fantasy seemed less entertaining; while I haven’t played ANY FF (gasps of shock from readers) it looks a little like walking from cutscene to cutscene, which seems a little pointless and interrupts both game and story needlessly. Although, FF has excellent stories in general and the full-rendered cutscenes are really lovely.

So, to Graphics! They are quite decent for the age of the game, I think, although the Gamespot reviewer comments on the excellent lip-syncing…. excuse me? What lipsyncing? But I have to say that Luke and Lando, the two main franchise characters, are quite real looking, and the polygons are not too noticable until they start moving. Jan… I thought in Dark Forces she was the cute/spunky type? They’ve sexy-fied her, I think. The stormtroopers are fantastic looking, and terrain is pretty good, although you can see the bottom in some bottomless holes and rocky terrain is very chunky. Cities are  excellent, though, and the interiors of bases and ships. Props like AT-STs and TIEs are well done and move like they’re supposed to. The lightsabre also deserves special mention, as it will cut holes (that do heal eventually) in whatever terrain is touched by it, and will evaporate raindrops (which, however, can pass through rock) and will extinguish in water. The stormtroopers display an admirable level of AI, although since my brother got word of Force Unleashed he can’t talk about anything other than that game’s next-gen AI, which does look to prove amazing. Anyway, the visual effect of combat is very good, with stormtroopers flinging their weapons in the air when they die, and the occasional severed limb. Occasionally our game suffered a small stuttering when Force Speed was used, but not enough to really interfere with gameplay unless he was fighting a Cortosis Jedi. Also it kept launching with the brightness at 0, which meant either really really dark levels or that we had to go and adjust it every single time. The only other minor detail I’d like to point out is that… kissing should not be attempted yet even with the level of graphics available to this game. Unless you have reeeeeaaaaaally good romantic music to go with it. Oh, and I liked how the first level felt very much like Dark Forces.

Gameplay: My only real complaint with the AI is the fact that stormtroopers, as long as they have their weapon, will keep shooting at your lightsabre and will eventually kill themselves. Hardly realistic. Force powers are fantastic to use, and while fighting with the lightsabre is occasionally clunky as you can’t turn fast enough to hit an enemy behind you (especially a Cortosis Jedi) it’s generally extremely effective. The various shooter weapons are very handy, although my brother mostly used only the pistol, the sniper rifle, and the Nerf-gun (my name for it… it’s the rapid-fire machine-gun thingy). He would have liked to use the rocket launcher more, but didn’t find occasion to, although the final boss battle was very amusing for a few seconds (before he reloaded). Levels were nicely laid out, although sometimes it was hard to find where to go next. Puzzles were fairly good, and one source of amusement is finding all the different ways to get killed by terrain, whether from being squashed closing doors or getting fried by electricity or mining car repair equipment… you know the room I mean.

Audio: Excellent audio. Voice actors well chosen, especially in the case of Luke and Lando, of course, and for Lando, actually, the original actor provided the voice, which means of COURSE it’s spot on. The sound effects were also very good, from various lasers to terrain noises to footsteps.

Overall, this game gets about 3/5. I still think the flatness of the plot means that it deserves less, as it and the lack of music added up to a slightly unsatisfying play experience, but the good gameplay and decent graphics do partially make up for that. Having watched this game once, I’m probably unlikely to watch it again.

We have not tried the multiplayer version (not enough players or programs) so no comment on that.

September 9, 2007

No One Cares About Heaven and Earth

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Filed under: Miscellaneous Writing, Writing — Illinia @ 10:39 am

No One Cares About Heaven and Earth

    Shell Silverson was wandering the city. The city’s name was Capulno, but that didn’t matter to him. He hated the dull concrete buildings with their endless holes full of glass; his favourite buildings were the historical museums, the toy figure centre, and the hotel he was staying at with his family. The toy figure centre wasn’t even nice; it was just where the tiny plastic people were.
    Shell was the youngest of a family of four: his father, his mother, his older sister Jill, and himself. Of those four, he was the only extraordinary one. Shell knew this without conceit, since it was hard to be conceited when wizards were a banned substance.
    Shell wandered by the elven garrison, a giant construction of metal and stone – no concrete, thankfully, and it was the most lovely thing in the city, so it made his list of favourite buildings, but it wasn’t built by humans, so it technically didn’t count. Motorcars raced by him on the street, their backdraft whipping his thin white polyester T-shirt.
    His family was waiting for him at the toy store. He would catch up to them later…
    “Hey! Hey, you! Kid!”
    Shell turned slowly, appraising the policeman who had called him. The man’s hostile glare couldn’t be good.
    “Yes?”
    “Don’t say ‘yes’ in that smug tone, you little witch! Your kind has been banned from the city! You’re not supposed to be here!”
    “Ah. My apologies. I will exit immediately.” Shell couldn’t suppress a sigh of disappointment; he was only thirteen, and had been planning on buying a new set of goblin knights when he went to find his family. Of course, goblins didn’t exist anymore, which was a great thing for everyone, except the goblins, but he still liked their models.
    “Is there a problem?” a soft voice called. Shell turned again, startled more by the soft voice than the policeman’s earlier brusque shout.
    “There’s a wizard in town. This kid.” The policeman gestured to Shell.
    “Is that so?” The blue-clad elf soldier looked Shell up and down. He thought he saw one of the eyes wink at him behind blonde hair and the bandages that partially swathed the head and arms of the elf. The eye was scarlet. “And what is the procedure for dealing with a wizard?”
    “Wizards are dangerous criminals. They are all immediately arrested unless they can produce a legitimate reason for being in a settled area.”
    “I have a passport.”
    “Why didn’t you say so?” demanded the man.
    “You didn’t ask. I’m so used to being kicked out I just decided to leave when asked.”
    The policeman considered, giving Shell a long hard look. “Let me see it.” With Shell’s papers in his hand, he thought some more. “You should leave this evening, then.”
    “How long is the passport good for?” asked the elf soldier.
    “Saturday,” said the man grudgingly.
    “Then he should be allowed to stay until Saturday, of course. That’s the day after tomorrow.”
    “He should come with me anyway and the authorities will deal with him.”
    “Are wizards really so dangerous?” the elf queried laconically.
    “Depends who’s asking,” Shell answered in the same tone. The policeman’s already red colour heightened, and he pointed a shaking finger at the boy.
    “You’re not supposed to be here, passport or no! I’ll give you until tomorrow to clear out of here!”
    “That seems reasonable,” Shell acquiesced reluctantly.
    “Well, then, go about your business,” the soldier ordered the policeman.
    As the policeman left, Shell found himself presented with the elf soldier’s hand.
“What?” he asked, bewildered.
    “My name’s Keesh,” said the elf. “What’s yours?”
    “That’s… a girl’s name!” exclaimed Shell. “In elvish, of course. Forgive my lack of manners, but you didn’t look like a girl. I’m Shell.” He followed etiquette and kissed her hand.
    “A maiden, more properly,” Keesh explained. “A maiden in the military, yep, that’s me. And this isn’t a uniform. This is my off-duty clothing.” She gestured at the skin-hugging blue outfit. “Now that you have a couple more hours, what are you going to do with them?”
    “Get out, of course. My family will be annoyed, obviously, but that can’t be helped. I have until morning. I think I’ll get to bed.”
    “Fare well, then.”
    Shell hurried back to his hotel, which was not unpleasing to the eye, as it was covered in a raised diamond pattern. The windows were a little too regularly spaced for his taste, however. His family waited there; evidently they had given up waiting at the toy store. He brushed past them and hurried up the spiral staircase to the second floor. They followed him without comment. They had learned long ago that he was unpredictable, and snappish when questioned, so they simply followed.
    A maid was polishing the displayed fossils on the second floor. For some reason, that stuck in Shell’s mind.
    He came to his family’s room, and entered. His grown-up cousin Lucy and her new husband Phillip were in their bedroom, watching TV.
    Shell went into the large bedroom he was sharing with Jill and watched the sky grow dark to twilight. It was cloudy.
    He returned to the main room and ate dinner with his family, telling them briefly what had happened that afternoon. They accepted it, which made him glad to be part of such a loving family that accepted a freak in their midst.
    After that, he went back to staring out the window. He could see above some low, two-story residences. The sky was very dark now, but there was a patch of darkness that extended below his field of view. Almost like a very wide tornado…
    As soon as the thought crossed his mind, the patch tightened into a thin pillar and swerved to the left. Shell closed his eyes, opened his mind and watched the tornado carve its way across town. It halted about 110° to the left of where he had seen it first, then came towards him erratically. It cut a neat, foot wide gap through the corner of the room, almost sucking him into it.
    Shell leaped back a half-second too late, cutting off an involuntary exclamation, staring at the trench through the floor, the breaches in the walls, and the fissure in the ceiling. He had felt the wind scrape his skin, and now that he looked at his left arm, there was a 20 centimetre-long splinter sticking out of it. He wrenched it out of his arm angrily and grabbed his back-pack, rummaging through it to find a band-aid.
    Then he sneaked out of the hotel and went to find the evil wizard who was being so irresponsible with his magic.
    Boy-like, he went to the toy figure centre first, but found it guarded by six of the Royal Guard, knights in silver armour on horseback. Shell wondered what they thought of the freak tornado, but spent more time admiring their glittering armour. As he watched, two more rode into position in front of the centre.
    Shell began to wonder what sort of wonderful thing he had missed about the toy store. But, he left, searching for the person causing the tornado.
    He searched with his mind now, letting it soar above the rooftops and peering under pine trees.
    Under the pine trees behind the hotel were two freaky huge bunny rabbits. They weren’t hares – the ears were different. Shell frowned and headed in that direction.
    As he approached, his suspicions were confirmed. One of the rabbits was indeed controlling the tornado. Shell materialized a baseball bat in his hand and kept running.
    He did have to beat the one rabbit to death, the one that was controlling the twister. The other had disappeared…
    It jumped on him, knocking him to the ground and clawing and chewing at him. He curled up, whimpering as it gouged his side to ribbons. He fumbled for the magic baseball bat and changed it into a golf club for more power.
    Then he changed his mind and simply formed a shield around himself. The evil bunny attacked, and he blasted it away into a tree.
    He lay there for a long moment. He had stopped the tornado, but the wizard who summoned the demon rabbits was still out there. This time, when Shell searched, he found a potent power emanating from a field near the elvish citadel.
    Agonizing over his shredded side, he staggered to his feet and dragged himself to the main road, taking the collars of the rabbits with him. The sun was beginning to rise, and people, pedestrians and in motorcars, were about, so he cloaked his wounds and tried not to limp.
    The source led him to a large field, surrounded by trees and gathering people travelling in the same direction as he, clothed in baseball gear. One of them, mistaking him for someone, called to him. “Gary, you look awful! You’re so pale, man! Are you all right?”
    Shell shrugged and kept moving.
    Near the opposite end of the field there was a large man with a dark beard. Shell walked up to him.
    “Excuse me, sir, but are these yours?” He proffered a plastic bag, in which he’d stowed the rabbit collars.
    The man peered inside, then raised a furious face to the boy. “Who are you, little witch, to destroy my things?”
    “Who are you to put people in danger?” countered Shell angrily. “I might be an ‘illegal’ wizard, but I’m not evil. Those rabbits were.”
    “I am the king’s wizard, little boy. I was ‘encouraging’ you to leave. You were warned, yesterday! We are always watching you! We know where you are! You will have to die now.”
    “You’re crazy, that’s what you are!” sputtered Shell, throwing up a shield in time to avoid getting speared by a lightening bolt. Standard spell, he muttered to himself, but his shield was broken and drained.
    Shell lay on his back, unutterably exhausted and in pain from his injuries. The king’s wizard towered over him, and Shell aimed a kick at him and scrambled away. He retreated in the direction of a prickly hedge, trading spells with the wizard, barely dodging or surviving the ones targeted at him.
    The baseball team ran over to see what was going on. A wizard battle was hardly known anymore.
    Shell, crawling backward on his back, reached the hedge and warped through it, but was hardly surprised when his enemy passed through it without difficulty. The young wizard lay under a tree, under a thick branch. The king’s man jumped on it and bent it down with terrifying strength, intent on crushing his adversary. Shell reached up and kept it from doing so with his own supernatural strength.
    “Give up, boy,” growled the man. “Just give up and die. It’d be a lot easier for both of us.”
    “No!” grunted Shell, struggling.
    The pushing contest was quickly weakening his reserves of power. With a wriggle and a kick, Shell burst out from under the branch and flopped under skinnier branches. He looked up and saw a building behind him, above his head. It was still a long way away, but for some irrational reason it gave Shell hope. He wondered if he could make it. He didn’t feel he could stand.
    In a sort of daze, the distance between the tree and the building shrank until he was almost there.
    The man picked up and threw him over a barrel-shaped concrete flower planter, materializing a knife in his hand.
    In a lazy, half-speed time, Shell watched him raise the knife.
    “Hey!” There was a shout, but it wasn’t slowed down. It wasn’t unfamiliar, either…
    “Keesh,” croaked Shell as a blue-clad blur whizzed over him and he blacked out.

    He woke up tucked in a comfortable bed, Keesh standing beside it. Her hood was down, and her chin-length blonde hair hung free.
    “How are you feeling?” she asked kindly.
    “Tired, but regenerating,” Shell rasped. His side had been bandaged. “What happened to the evil wizard?”
    “Well, since killing him would be politically incorrect, all I did was knock him down and get you out of there. I have an explanation for the authorities, too. He was attacking you because you’re an ‘illegal’ wizard? Well, I say your power was so low I couldn’t tell, so I was rescuing a defenceless little boy from a homicidal maniac. Hey?”
    “You… you’ve saved me, twice, you know,” Shell murmured gratefully. “Yesterday, and today you saved my life… Thank you.”
    “Don’t mention it. I’ll probably have to resign now, but that’s all right. I’ve got other things to do besides be in the military. It was fun while it lasted.”
    “Take me with you,” the boy begged softly.
    “Why?”
    Shell was silent for a long moment, trying to sum up his feelings. “No one cares about Heaven and Earth.”

September 3, 2007

Frelia’s Finest

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Filed under: Fire Emblem 8, Miscellaneous Writing, Writing — Illinia @ 10:58 am

A short story about Innes and his non-canonical pairing, Syrene. Fits in to Eirika’s story but that is not a pre-requisite read.

Frelia’s Finest

I’m Innes, Crown Prince of Frelia. I don’t know who you are, and I’m sure I don’t care, but this is the story of how I loved a woman and changed my mind.

Yes, I said I changed my mind. Stop looking at me like that.

The ineveitability of the thing came when my little sister Tana came swooping out of the sky on her pegasus into the small fortress I was defending with Gerik and Tethys, Eirika sitting on the back of Dancla - my sister’s pegasus. Well, she didn’t come literally out of the sky; I saw her as she came soaring through a mountain pass, land to pick up Eirika, etc., etc. I need to prune my story a bit. I was defending my position from a crowd of Carcinian dogs who decided they needed to kill me. I was trying to get a vital message to Jehanna.

So, I have an argument - she would call it a fight - with my sister. Eirika I must thank graciously, but after the battle, I’m consumed by the need to thank her, to repay her somehow. I could not stomach the thought of remaining in debt, and also she was a woman.

I offered to protect her, but by all rules of battle, I must stay behind her because I’m an archer and she’s a swordfighter. My pride was hurt.

At the same time, she was very lovely, and I almost forgot my end of the bargain as I watched her fight. I was annoyed that she was still defending me, but I was also attracted to her grace and beauty together with her gentleness… although I think she was laughing at me whenever I talked about repaying her or about my pride.

But still, I gradually realized, there were times, times when she was not looking at me, when she looked so sad… not at all like the Eirika who had visited Tana every other month when they were younger. I wished, secretly, that I could make her happy again, but I figured it out. She was unhappy because of all the killing. Well, it’s war. And if I suggested that she stay behind so as to be safe, in body and mind, she would lecture me about her duty and her heart.

We journeyed through Caer Pelyn, following the over-helpful child Ewan. I saved Eirika once or twice, once from falling and once from some gargoyles, picking them off with my powerful bow. In Hamill Canyon, a pegasus knight from Frelia came with news. Ephraim was being irresponsible with my army, as I had known he would. Well, Syrene was the commander-in-charge, and maybe she could temper his crazy, yet effective, strategies. And I found a friend in the swordmaster Joshua; I discovered an interest in coin-tossing and lost a lot of money before he confessed that he was cheating. No matter, I didn’t mind. Josh was a good friend. He offered to pay me back, but I refused.

It was in Jehanna Hall that my feelings came to a head. I abruptly became conscious of what was going on when Eirika ran off to a side door with her knight Seth. I wondered if she was crazy, but then my eyes narrowed in suspicion. I suddenly realized I loved her, and I would have to hurry if I wanted to capture her heart. Then, I was busy plotting tactics for the indoor battle unfolding ahead of me. Tana, who had finally stopped fighting with me, flew at my side, protecting me from sword-users while I shot the magic users.

We fought through the palace, and somehow Eirika and I ended up alone in the throne room with a swordmaster of the enemy, who was armed with an annoying wind blade. Joshua couldn’t stand fighting the man - his old teacher, apparently - and left. I killed the man and turned instantly to Eirika, pulling her into my arms. The time had come to tell her.

“Eirika, I must tell you, I quite love you.”

She pushed me away, shocked beyond words. Her blue eyes were wide. “Prince Innes! … This is no time for jokes…”

“This is not a joke. I’m quite serious, and just as surprised as you. Fighting at your side… I love you. I could not bear to see you in the arms of another.” I held her so tightly she could not struggle.

“I - I’m sorry, Innes… I - I love someone else-” What!? Impossible! She was trembling feverishly, and her face was blushing crimson.

I tried one last time, turning on all the charm I could muster, bringing my head down so my lips were near hers. “But you could love me.”

“No! Oh, I’m terribly sorry, Innes-” She had been physically weakening, and now she fainted into a dead weight.

I heard hooves and put her down, fanning her face with a hand as L’Arachel rode in. “Overheated,” I grunted at her. The Princess of Rausten frowned, dismounted, and dashed water from her bottle on Eirika’s face. Eirika came to, looking anxiously at me. I frowned and left in search of the Queen, the person whom we had actually come to find. As I strode through the corridors, I considered what she had just told me and came to one conclusion.

Her tactically insane decision was just to get some time alone with her lover. Seth.

D***ed paladin. But even my ego knew better than to try again. It was lost. And I was angry.

We found the Queen, but she died in Joshua’s arms. Josh was the Prince - now the King - of Jehanna! Now that was a surprise. I congratulated him and gave him the letter from my father, and then the palace went up in flames.

In the battle that followed, I watched Eirika. Then I gave up.

Ephraim returned, with the van of his army, which included a bunch of Gradonians. Fortunately, they were the Gradonians on our side - honourable Deussel and the like. He brought the rest of the army as well, although they didn’t catch up until later, when we were all discussing what to do next. The ridiculous story Ephraim and Eirika and L’Arachel spun about a continental dark plot seemed to be true even when prodded.

After that, I went to talk to Syrene. “Well, how did it go?”

“Very well, milord. Prince Ephraim is an excellent tactician, almost as good as your lordship. We suffered few casualties.”

“Yes… do you think Ephraim is insane?” I asked teasingly.

“No, sir,” she said reprovingly. “We found the Sacred Twins of Grado, and we are in the process of merging both supplies and troops.”

“Good work, Syrene.” I walked away to get some sleep.

We liberated Renais, and reopened a safe passage from Frelia to Jehanna. Not that we would use it, but it was good for normal people. Actually, judging from Ephraim and Syrene’s reports, Grado wouldn’t be bothering us anyway. We found the Sacred Stone of Renais and took it to use against the Demon King.

We began heading to Rausten to collect the last Sacred Stone. We came to Narube River, an ugly brown river near the border of Jehanna. We met Lyon, demented possessed Prince of Grado, a.k.a. the Demon King. The Demon King had somehow taken him over. I hate dark magic. The Frelian army was torn to ribbons, and Syrene was the only one who could keep her unit in order.

Eirika was grieving more than ever, since Lyon was a good friend of hers, and Ephraim was mightily distracted too. D*** her lovely innocent face and her angelic temper! I felt for her so - very - much. She was the most perfect woman in the world; she shouldn’t have to go through this.

I shook my head. I was a prince, I told myself. I was a prince. That was none of my concern… but I couldn’t let it go.

After that battle, I recieved something I had sent to my father for about a week ago. Mentally I calculated the Sacred Twins in our possession. Ephraim had the Lance of Renais, Eirika had the Sword, and they were now on horseback; we also had the Twins of Jehanna, with a sword for Josh, and Grado. Now we had the Twins of Frelia. A fine bow for me, and a lance that we gave to Tana. I also had an idea for a new tactic. I approached Syrene as she was currying her pegasus..

“Hey.”

She came to attention. “Milord?”

“At ease. I wanted to talk to you about a new maneuver.”

“Yes, sir?”

“Would Glindara be adverse to taking me as well as you next battle?”

Syrene thought for a while, stroking her pegasus’s mane, then looked at me and nodded.. “I don’t see why not, milord.” Then she asked the question that always secretly annoyed me: “Why did you choose me, milord?”

I smirked. Hot blood flushed my neck under my collar. “You’re the most experienced of the pegasus knights. And having Tana and I in the same place like that would be much too distracting. We would get zero fighing done.”

She blushed slightly and looked down momentarily. “Then I’ll see you then.”

We came to Mount Neleras in Darkling Woods, following Lyon’s path. The place was a mess - lava everywhere. Then I heard Ephraim yell something about Gorgon eggs and immediately made my way to Syrene’s side.

She smiled at me. “You’re punctual, milord. Need a hand?” She extended her hand to me.

“Thank you, no.” I swung myself up behind her. Glindara snorted, not pleased with the extra weight. She took off and flew with the same energy as I usually saw in her, though.

Nidhogg, the Bow of Frelia, was a joy to use. I drew the string back to my ear and sent arrow after arrow zinging into gorgons and mogalls. Syrene swooped down low to stab at eggs herself, occasionally throwing off my aim.

“I’m sorry, my lord!” she cried after the first time.

“No problem,” I grunted, catching hold of her left shoulder to steady myself. “Syrene, this is war. It’s impractical to apologize after every bump. I’m a soldier here. Don’t waste your breath.”

“Ah… yes, sir.” The bow began to sing again.

A dark magic spell appeared in front of us - Shadowshot, I believe it is called - and, having no choice, and no time to react, we flew into it. Painful. I put my arms around Syrene’s waist and concentrated on holding us on together. She was hunched low over Glindara’s neck. I gritted my teeth.

With one last tug, we were through and clear. I breathed deep for a few moments before releasing Syrene. “Are you all right?” I asked, my baritone voice deeper than usual.

“Yes, milord,” she replied somewhat breathlessly. “I take it that you are unharmed.”

“Yes, yes.”

We flew low for a while, dodging a stone spell that could have possibly been fatal. When we soared a bit higher, gargoyles surrounded us with those annoying crude spears of their. I snarled and began to shoot them. Syrene lunged for one with her lance and I hastily grabbed her shoulder again. We fought in silence for a while, concentrating on taking out the enemy. I liked this aerial test of skill.

And then, instantly after they were all dead, we flew into another shadowshot. Darnit.

This one was worse. I wrapped both arms firmly around the pegasus knight and held on tightly to keep hold of my sanity. By the shifting muscles in her stomach, I knew she screamed. I, too, flung my head back - it had been pressed into her armoured shoulder - and screamed as every nerve in my body felt like it simultaneously burst into flame and froze solid. With no sense of direction, I didn’t realize that the two of us had fallen off the pegasus until the dark cloud cleared. I had stopped screaming, thankfully for my dignity, but my throat was raw now.

“Milord?” gasped Syrene.

“Yes, I’m here.” With much effort, I pulled her so I was underneath - and closer to the ground. “There, I’ll protect you now.”

“Milord!” She wriggled around until she was facing me. “I must protest - I-”

“Look, Syrene, I’m sturdier than you are. We might both survive this way, hm? So stop protesting.” Holding her close to me felt nice.

Then we hit the ground. My vision went black momentarily and I felt my legs snap as they hit the rocks first. I felt my quiver crunch under my side and Syrene’s face smacked into my shoulder. I swore, and then remembered that Syrene was a noblewoman. “Sorry ’bout that.”

“Not at all, milord. I understand the emotions of soldiers.”

Seth doesn’t swear, I thought. Never. The words are just foreign to him. Blast.

Disregarding the pain lancing through my legs and side, I lay there, recovering the breath that had been knocked out of me, slowly draining tension, and holding Syrene. She lay on top of me, her arms around my neck, trembling with relief.

Finally, she pushed herself up, looking me in the face with grass green hair straggling out of her headband into her eyes. “Milord! We… you…”

“Both legs broken, but that’s nothing. You all right?” I queried gruffly.

She almost smiled. “I am unharmed.” She sat up, then jumped for her lance as mogalls came at us through a gap in the rocks surrounding us. I shoved myself up onto my elbows, then into a sitting position. Syrene screamed at me, but I ignored her and grabbed my bow and an unbroken arrow. I popped a mogall and fell back onto my elbows - the problem of sitting up, aiming, and drawing the bow took a lot of effort, and it was the recoil knocked me over.

“Sir, you really should not be doing that!” the pegasus commander lectured me as she stabbed the last one.

“Don’t worry, I won’t. There aren’t any left,” I grumbled.

“I’ll go for a he- No, if I do, then you’ll be stuck on your own, vulnerable…” she mumbled to herself, in full knight mode. I glared at her.

“Just go, already!”

“No.” She knelt next to me and grabbed my arm.

I protested. “Syrene - what are you - this is undignified!”

She slung me over her shoulder; she was stronger than she looked. “I’m taking you with me, sir. And you’re sitting in front of me, this time.”

“No, I am not,” I argued vehemently, but I knew this argument was lost. She boosted me up and mounted behind me, taking off to search for a healer.

We found L’Arachel first, blasting gorgon eggs into scrambled messes on the landscape. She chattered away, sensible but ear-piercing chatter. If I had to marry a princess, then my options were empty. Eirika was taken, and L’Arachel was unbearable for any great length of time. Tolerable, even amusing for short periods, but long sessions…

Then Ephraim told everyone that the monsters were all dead. Well, how could he know?

L’Arachel told me it was the dragon girl Myrrh who told him. That I could understand. Drat my legs getting broken and leaving me out of the fight for precious seconds.

So, we went to Rausten, where I learned that Eirika had foolishly handed over the Sacred Stone to the Demon King just because he had used Lyon’s appearance to beg for it, saying he could heal himself with it… The Demon King is perilous. She knew that. Poor girl, she must feel awful, first because her friend is unhelpable, and secondly because the Sacred Stone is now destroyed.

In Rausten, I called all the Frelians to my chambers for a private war-meeting. We had a fireplace, which was nice. It was rather cold in Rausten.

“So,” I began, “where are we now in terms of assets?”

“We have all the Sacred Twins but Rausten’s, and I feel sure that Pontifex Mansel with lend them to us, or at least to Princess L’Arachel,” Gilliam reported.

“We have a Sacred Stone that still lies safe,” continued Father Moulder.

“We have enough ordinary weapons for the troops to last through about ten battles,” Syrene finished.

“It won’t come to that,” I said, settling into my armchair and stretching out my long legs in front of me. “We’re closing in now.”

Tana spread her arms dramatically. “The end is near!” she declaimed. I frowned at her, but then I had to smile.

“True. Now, let’s formulate some sort of strategy that can stand up to anything.”

“Eh?” Father Moulder shifted in his chair. “What kind of strategy is that? It’s impossible.”

“Not entirely. We,” I paused for emphasis, “are Frelia’s finest. If we even just come up with some slap-dash haphazard plan, we’ll still win, I believe. On the other hand, the Demon King, through Prince Lyon, is very dangerous. If we, the best, still cannot win with a well thought out plan and the Sacred Twins and all, then we are clearly doomed.”

“And the Stone,” put in Vanessa quietly.

“Yes, and that. My point is that… You.” I stabbed a finger at Father Moulder, who flinched. “You used to only heal people. Now, in just the last battle, I saw you experimenting with Divine. That’s pretty high level light magic.”

“And you.” The commanding finger swivelled laconically to point at Gilliam. “Is it just me, or is your lance getting even faster and fiercer?”

“It is, milord.”

“You two, especially you, Tana, have improved dramatically from before the war.” I jabbed two fingers at the young pegasus knights. “You’re much quicker and stronger. You, too, Syrene, although you’re so experienced already it’s not as noticable as it is in Tana.” My little sister glowed. I hoped she wouldn’t start bouncing; she was dreadfully distracting when she did that.

“So. We have a triangle attack, with either lances or swords. Let’s use swords and use that on Cyclops. We have light magic; Father, you can use that on anything, but try to use it on mogalls and such. Gilliam, you should attack as many bonewalkers as possible.”

“What about the Demon King?” asked Vanessa.

“Leave that to the Sacred Stone and the Twin wielders. As I read it, Ephraim and Eirika are going to carry the Sacred Stone, again, and let’s pray nothing happens this time.” Although they said nothing, I had the feeling that everyone was silently chiding me for being so unkind to the twins of Renais. “Nothing else can harm him. When we get there, Tana and I will advance with Vidofnir and Nidhogg, and everyone else can find cover somewhere. You can even start going home, since there’s nothing else you can do.”

I paused for thought. “If we fail, the Demon King will kill everyone, anyway, no matter where you are. If sacred weapons are the only ones that can harm him, then resistance will be useless. They will be destroyed along with us, and then there will be no hope ever again…”

“But that’s a worst-case scenario,” chirped Tana confidently.

“I’m glad you’re so optimistic,” I mock-growled. “Bed, now. Get some rest.”

I stood and went out into the hall and heard distant shouting and the clatter of hooves. “Cancel that, get your weapons and let’s get down there. There’s fighting going on.” I grabbed my quiver from beside the door and ran.

A few remnants of the Grado army, under the command of some evil ‘bishop’ named Riev, were making a disturbance. We dealt with them easily, and went to check on the Sacred Stone. L’Arachel made a humourous comment that made me smirk.

Returning to my room, I went out on the balcony, needing no rest for now. I’d fall into a bed at around midnight.

As I gazed out at Rausten’s gardens, overlaid in moonlight, I became aware that Syrene was standing at the other end of the balcony.

“Good evening,” I called. She turned towards me, and then came to stand beside me.

“Prince Innes, it’s rather late.”

“I could hint at you, too, but I won’t bother. I’m not tired.”

“I’m sorry, my lord. We just fought a battle, that’s all.”

“A pathetic battle.”

“Right.” She laughed a little, then shivered, though it wasn’t cold.

“What’s the matter? Are you worried about something?”

“I… I’m worried about my sister - about Vanessa. You are right; she has improved greatly. But still… I worry. As an older sister, it is my duty…” I said nothing, but I did move closer to her. Syrene was usually very confident. For her to open up like this was bizarre, but I liked it. Respect I demanded, but confidence was cool too. “I suppose I give my imagination too free reign when I think about what could go wrong…”

“Syrene! Syrene, that’s not like you.” I was startled into speaking. She sniffed a bit. I couldn’t see her face, but I guessed she was crying. “Syrene…”

I laid my hand on hers, but, struck by the inadequecy of the gesture, pulled her close to me. She felt limp.

“Syrene, this is not the time to give up yet.” I could feel my sky-blue tunic getting wet. “I promise, I swear, I will protect us all. You, your sister, Father Moulder, Tana… I will protect you. I guess I was too morbid earlier, describing the end of the world and all that. I’m sorry.”

She jerked straight and pulled away, smearing tears out of her eyes. “I apologize, my lord. I was wrong to do that… please forgive me.”

“That’s a little more like you. Still, don’t kill yourself.”

“I will go to bed now, sir. See you in the morning.”

“Good night, Syrene.”

I turned back to resting my arms on the balcony railing, but my mind was no longer on the otherworldly colour of midnight flowers.

Why was it that I was falling for Syrene? I couldn’t think of any reasonable explanation - or excuse - for my recent preferatory behavior. She was pretty, beautiful, even… but was I acting like Eirika?

Yes. I was as bad as Eirika, improperly fraternizing with one of my knights. The most senior knight, in both our cases, the Commanders of our countries.

What on earth was wrong with me. What was wrong with my head? The more I tried to dismiss her from my mind… the very act of realizing I loved her made me simply obsess more over her. Blahg.

I went to bed early, exhausted by my contemplation.

We marched the next day to the temple place where the Demon King was supposed to be hiding out, waiting to try to resurrect himself. I don’t even remember the name of the place. Not important.

We finally killed that bishop for good, and I rode again with Syrene. She acted as though nothing had happened between us the night before, but I remembered. Today there were no death-defying accidents, which pleased me. She might reject me altogether if I behaved too forward.

We killed Lyon for good as well, causing Eirika more grief, but she seemed more determined now. She had steeled herself to his loss the night before, I guessed. She kissed him. I thought Seth was the one she loved? I was confused.

Then the Demon King materialized. We dashed to the back of the temple to witness this once-in-a-millenium event, and then sucked his soul into the Sacred Stone where it ought to be.

Nidhogg began to sing. All the Sacred Twin users attacked. I was proud of Tana: she fought like an avenging angel. My little sister. She was a powerful knight now.

A spell curled its way around all of us, bursting into bright light. I doubled up to conserve my heart, which was pounding slowly and painfully. Each beat took years and throbbed with agony. His magic was bitterly painful, but we survived, thanks to that little girl - Great Dragon Myrrh, who interrupted it. Then I could keep shooting.

I hoped the others were keeping back; I couldn’t spare any attention for them. I just had to kill this giant monstrosity as quickly as possible, and then I could discharge my promise.

Ephraim’s lance and Eirika’s sword, Sigmund and Seiglinde, stabbed the demon, and he died.

So, we defeated the Demon King. Hooray! I think.

We trooped back outside wearily, and everyone started kissing. That Renaitian cavelier Forde swooped up Vanessa into his arms, so she was safe. L’Arachel was caressing Rennac, who didn’t seem at all displeased - for once. Eirika was in Seth’s arms, and I shot her a glare, though my arm was reaching out to Syrene, who was somehow beside me.

Both my arms went around her and held her close to me. She gasped, pushing away from me - just like Eirika! If she rejected me now… I couldn’t have that.

“Sir-! My lord-! -” But her face was joyful. Tears appeared in her eyes, but she was smiling at me like the sun.

“Call me Innes,” I murmured, content, and kissed her.

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