Chapter 6: Anything

The next morning, Saleh searches the camp for Myrrh, hoping that she's had a change of heart and decides to stay; he's been thinking about it all night. Thankfully, he finds her within a short period of time, but he decides to wait and watch to see if she still seems upset after yesterday's conversation.

She certainly doesn't seem upset.

In fact, she seems quite content leaning on Ephraim's shoulder as the fire from last night slowly burns out. Sighing in relief, Saleh walks over to Ephraim and joins him by the ever diminishing fire, careful not to wake up Myrrh, who's sleeping at the moment.

"Ephraim... thank you for convincing Myrrh to stay. I do not think that I could live with myself if she chose to leave... and I know that she could not live with herself either."

Ephraim smiles. "You know... I honestly never thought I would find myself in this position when we first met. But, through it all, I think I may kind of understand now... although there is one thing I don't understand." He looks at Saleh. "What gave her the idea about having to live her life as an outcast?"

"Well, I think it has something to do with... possible offspring... and extinction." Saleh replies, recalling (to some extent) the words of his grandmother. "With the exception of Myrrh's father, there are no other Manakete here on Magvel... and there are reports in other continents of... interspecies relationships, and..."

Ephraim widens his eyes, and looks in horror down at Myrrh. "Wait a second here; this is ridiculous. This isn't going to go that far, is it? I know that she's falling for me, and I really like her too, but..."

Saleh raises an eyebrow. "So my hunch was right. Ephraim... it may already be past the point of no return. Myrrh would be crushed forever if you left her now, after... wait, what actually happened yesterday?"

Ephraim takes a deep breath, and relays yesterday's events out for Saleh. When he finishes, Saleh merely nods.

"You may want to wait and see what happens... if you wait long enough, perhaps, the answer will become clear."

The group is now fighting through Darkling Woods. While the majority of the army is fighting monsters, a small portion of the army has just arrived at the Black Temple: Ephraim, Myrrh, Saleh, Innes, and Eirika. At the entrance, there is an old man with sinister eyes and an inhuman appearance blocking the gate.

He laughs at the intruders.

"Ha ha ha! Do you really think that you can stop him? It is too late! He has already begun the preparations!" He laughs to himself again. "And besides, I cannot let you in to disturb him."

Innes snorts with disbelief. "How can you stop us? There's five of us and one of you!"

"You say that now!" the old man shouts, as he narrows his eyes in fury. "But my master has given me a weapon... a powerful weapon... to assist me in destroying you whelps."

He raises his staff and points it at the opposing group.

"MORVA! Attack! Your master commands it!"

Myrrh gasps, and a large, skeletal dragon materializes behind the enigmatic man. The dragon roars so loudly that it causes the Black Temple to shake, and the old man laughs once more.

"The power of thousands of men under me... you don't stand a chance!" He teleports behind the gaping quintuplet and snatches Myrrh, causing her to accidentally drop her dragonstone.

"And... I shall finally take this dragon girl, after you have all been defeated. She shall be useful as a weapon in the future... heh heh heh!" He pockets the dropped dragonstone and begins to chant an Aura spell.

"NO! You'll have to go through me first!"

The man stops his spell, and he starts smiling. "Ah... Ephraim, wasn't it? Yes, he spoke often of you... and besides, you're the one who's been opposing us all this time."

Ephraim raises his lance in anger. "Everyone, take out the dragon! I'll deal with this one." Eirika, Innes, and Saleh rush off to confront the dragon, and Ephraim continues his speech. "You have caused the grief... and deaths... of many innocent people. You threaten to take Myrrh and use her for your own selfish purposes... and for that, you deserve to die."

"It's not my selfish purposes. It's his selfish purposes. I have been merely instructed to do all of these things." He teleports away, and comes back a couple of seconds later with some rope. "Fine. You want her? Winner gets her," he says, as he ties up Myrrh to a tree. When he finishes tying her, he raises his staff and it begins to glow. Ephraim raises his legendary lance, Siegmund, in response.

"All right... we've put up with you long enough. Prepare to die, old man."

"It's Riev to you."

As Ephraim fights the menacing man, the remaining trio attempt to take down the massive dragon blocking their path. They are each holding their sacred weapons; Eirika with Sieglinde, Innes with Nidhogg, and Saleh with Excalibur, but the dragon is not going down without a fight. Both sides do not have much strength left in them, and at this point, they are evenly matched.

That is, until Eirika gets blasted by the dragon's Wretched Air. Falling to the ground in pain, she lies still, and her eyes close. Saleh watches in horror... and the tome in his hand begins to glow violently.

Narrowing his eyes, Saleh turns to the colossal creature in front of him, and, yelling a war cry, creates an Excalibur spell, and sends it to its intended victim. It then proceeds to rip through the dragon, and the dragon falls down to the ground, dead... again.

Innes, preparing another arrow to shoot, witnesses the defeat of their opponent, and turns to look at Saleh with an almost frustrated look on his face, not even noticing Eirika lying on the ground.

"Saleh... why didn't you do that at the beginning of the fight? We wouldn't be almost dead right now." He then sighs in defeat. "But other than that... I must say I'm impressed."

As Innes examines the dead creature, Saleh runs to Eirika's side. Holding a Recover staff, he heals her, and within a few minutes, she begins to wake up.

"S-Saleh, is that... you?" she asks quietly. Saleh nods. "Yes it is, Eirika... I... I couldn't let you die out here... not in this horrible place."

Eirika smiles weakly. "T-thank you Saleh, but... are you sure it's not for another reason? Some other reason... you wanted me to live?"

Panting heavily, Ephraim looks at the dying man, Riev, in front of him. He holds his lance to Riev's chest.

"Fool... even... if I have lost... he... will still... rule... ha ha ha..."

Ephraim stabs him, and the remaining life in Riev vanishes. Now that Riev is finally defeated, he looks behind him, and takes note of the dead dragon in the distance.

He takes the dragonstone out of Riev's pocket and runs to Myrrh so he can untie her from the tree. She just stares at the deceased dragon far off, and her wings close completely. Seeing her looking so sullen, Ephraim frowns, and then realization sets in.

"Myrrh... that was your father, wasn't it?"

She doesn't answer.

"Myrrh... don't hide your emotions...please, just let yourself cry." He bends down, and after a couple more minutes of persuasion, she starts to slowly cry into his chest. They sit like this for a few minutes, while Ephraim slowly rubs her back.

"What... what will I do now? Now that he's gone, I-I'll be... alone..."

Ephraim thinks about this statement. For the longest time, he's been thinking about how to proceed in his situation with Myrrh, and about what Saleh's said to him. It's been a difficult decision to make...

But now that this has happened, he knows he can't leave her now.

And he's okay with that.

"Myrrh... you don't have to be alone." She looks up at him questioningly. "Please Myrrh... come live with us... back at Renais Castle. Although, now that I think about it, I'm not sure if Eirika will be staying at the castle anymore."

He points behind him at Eirika, who's sitting in Saleh's lap with her eyes closed, while Saleh sits at attention, scouting for incoming danger. Myrrh chuckles slightly at this, but then she sighs.

"But Ephraim... you're going to be king... and I'm not even...completely..."

"Human?"

She slowly nods. "What about all those things that my father said? And Saleh..."

"Saleh doesn't believe that stuff anymore. And perhaps, neither should you. So, you can turn into a dragon. That's a huge asset; it's shouldn't be something that qualifies you as horribly different from everybody else."

Ephraim turns her head towards him. "And really, Myrrh, if you think about it, other than that, are we really that much different? You have emotions like everyone else. You eat like everyone else. And you have a face like everyone else," he adds, poking her nose.

She thinks for a moment. She's been living in Darkling Words her whole life; all 1200 or so years of it... and yet, these last few months with Ephraim have been the happiest months of her life.

Even though, according to her father, the way of the Manakete is supposed to be of mostly isolation, she now believes otherwise. The two species are supposed to interact with each other, to be in each other's company... and perhaps, for some, it doesn't have to stop there.

She now understands the truthfulness of Dozla's words.

Love can overcome anything.

EPILOGUE

About a year after the war, Saleh is waiting to speak with his grandmother in Caer Pelyn. He twitches his hands nervously as she slowly enters the room.

"Saleh... my grandson, I have missed you. I was worried about you while you were gone. Are you all right?"

"Yes, grandmother, I am all right." He takes a deep breath. "I came here to... tell you something."

"What is it, Saleh?" Her eyes widen. "Wait, is that a ring on your finger?"

Saleh brings his left hand closer to his grandmother, so she can examine the small ring on his finger. "I... I wanted to tell you... you're now a great-grandmother. My wife, Eirika... she's at the local market with... our son."

"OH! This is wonderful news! I must see him for myself!" She starts to beam at Saleh. "I can't believe I'm a great-grandmother... considering I only have you for a grandson," she jokes, laughing. "You never open up to anybody, and you're always pushing people away..."

"Thank you for the... encouragement." He rubs his forehead slightly. "We will come by later today; we're just trying to find a house so that we can live here... if that's all right with you."

"Why would it not be all right?" Saleh averts his gaze, causing his grandmother to get suspicious. "There's something else you have to tell me, isn't there. I can tell you're nervous."

Saleh sighs. "Yes, grandmother, there is. It's about... Lady Myrrh."

"You have found the Great Dragon? Why did you not say that first? Stop avoiding my eyes!" She quickly grabs his arm. "What is it you need to tell me?"

Saleh is starting to sweat. "Well... I could not go through with it."

"Go through with what?"

Saleh walks over to the window and stares out. "I could not do it... I could not allow myself to forbid Lady Myrrh from loving Ephraim... in fact, I did everything in my power to encourage the relationship... and I'm not ashamed to admit it. They... they have been wed for six months now..."

The elder's eyes widen again in surprise, which then turn into anger. "SALEH! I told you that we could not allow this to happen! Why did you do it?"

"Because if I had gone through with this, there would be no way I could live with myself!" he replies, raising his voice, before he quiets down again. "Now that Morva's gone, Lady Myrrh has nobody. She would be so heartbroken... and I... I promised her I would do anything to make her... happy."

The two of them just stare at each other. Finally, she just smiles.

"Saleh... please forgive me. I... I have been harsh, and it is plain to see that you have the purest of intentions. You did what you believed was best for the Great Dragon, and I'm proud of you."

She starts walking away, but Saleh stops her. "Wait, grandmother! What about Lady Myrrh? And the... tainting you were speaking about... I've heard..."

"Well, it's already too late to do anything about the situation with the Great Dragon... and maybe I was jumping to conclusions. There is technically nothing that forbade the practice... and there must be some reason why it's happening in the first place."

She pauses. "Perhaps we will find out why in the future. Right now, the best thing might just be to wait and see what happens."

Myrrh stands in front of Renais Castle, watching the luminous sunset before her, and thinking about how much her life has changed in the past year with her new husband, Ephraim. He would normally be out here with her right now, but his kingly duties are keeping him later than usual. It is no matter. There will be more opportunities.

Life has been different in the castle compared to the dank environment of Darkling Woods. It is considerably brighter, much more formal, and perhaps a little less independent, but she doesn't mind. She has many more clothes and other things like that as well, having received many gifts.

But her most treasured and precious gift, from Ephraim himself, comes in the form of a slight bulge in her stomach, slowly forming on her slender frame for about three months now.

She smiles thinking about it, and then wonders what her father would have thought of the situation. Even if he did have his views... she believes that he would have accepted her decision, if he had seen how much... happier she is now.

A messenger interrupts her thoughts, handing her a folded piece of paper and continuing on his way. She examines the paper, and before she unfolds it, she discovers a small note scribbled on the back.

"Hey Ephraim, this sketch is for you. Show this to Myrrh later, okay? This is what I was hiding from you all those months ago, heh heh! Signed, Forde"

She pockets the note to show to Ephraim later, and then walks back to the castle. Before entering, she looks back at the sun once more, smiles, and enters the castle gate.

THE END

Author's Notes

Riev is such a craphead, isn't he? :D

And the Manakete tribe lives on. I'm not ashamed to admit that I was not the right person to try and tackle this difficult of an idea. It was, however, a very valuable learning experience.

Next time, I should be more careful with the title. Originally, there was more significance to the sunrise and sunset, but it mostly disappeared for the sake of realism (what little of it remains, anyway) and so it just made more sense.

I've been noticing a pattern with my submissions... all of them have some sort of hurt/comfort, all of them have a sub-plot, and all of them ship multiple couples. In this case, Eirika and Saleh in addition to Ephraim and Myrrh. Maybe it's just a coincidence... but probably not. :p

Thanks for continuing to support this guys! I love this story, and I loved writing it too, although I'll have to admit it was a strange, somewhat angering, but very enlightening and enjoyable journey. I think this is going to be my favourite for a long, long time.

Myrrh deserves some love... As of January 6th, 2012, there was a grand total of seven stories starring our adorable dragon girl. (one of them is rated M!) Well, now there's EIGHT! Bwa ha ha! Although this is not rated M. If you really want realism... do not read that one. :p

I'm going to stop with the huge multi-chapters for a while and start writing some one-shots or something for the time being. I really hoped you all enjoyed this!

Signed, COOKIECHEESEMAN