"Andrew, you're up in five!" The stage director hissed, sending me nearly a foot into the air. I'd been doing my best to lurk in the dark corners, hoping that maybe Stage Tech would come and cart me away with all the misplaced props. Unfortunately, Mr. Stevens was dressed in full black and could sneak up on someone dressed in costume without even a whisper of sound.

My stomach knotted as I stood, pulling at the more ostentatious bits of costume. The director had called for simpler costumes, but as the Duke, I seemed to be a vague exception. "And you're sure I have to go on, Mr. Stevens?" I muttered to myself, "The understudy seemed just fine earlier."

"That's what you said last night. Where's the Duke we saw on opening night?" Mr. Stevens prodded, pushing me along to the stage entrance.

I took a long, shuddering breath, putting a hand to my heart. The other went up to scratch at the beard- a short, curly thing that ran along the entirety of my chin. Costumes had given it a touch of grey on opening night, and it hadn't yet come out. I didn't mind it, honestly. Combined with my height, it gave me the towering presence expected of the Duke of Venice. "He's right here."

"Good, good!" Clapping his hands together, Mr. Stevens checked his watch and unhooked the radio on his black button-up. "All clear. The Duke is ready."

I checked the buttons on my loose maroon tunic, pulled the cape into place over my shoulders, straightened the prop sword, and fluffed the ruffles (Costuming had called it a cravat?).

Just as the curtains began to rise, I squared my shoulders and swept onto the stage with lordly magnificence. Hopefully that cape was fluttering behind me dramatically. The lights came on, starting with a faint one on me followed by a bright light as 'the Magnificoes, ANTONIO, BASSANIO, GRATIANO, SALERIO, and others' walked on stage. Already I could feel the heat of the lights beating on my skin. My heart hammered away, drumming a beat that would be more at home in heavy metal. I idly realized that, outside of my role, I had no idea what the plot was. Something about moneylenders? The director had used a revised version, too...

Pause for a moment, watch the crowd. Shoulders square, breathe. "What, is Antonio here?" I intoned, dropping a register as I waved across the actors.

Mason- er, Antonio, our titular 'Merchant of Venice'- stepped up, hands behind his back. "Ready, so please your grace-"

Crack

Not sure what that was- sounded a bit like plastic. It was best for me to just carry on with the play. "I am sorry for thee: thou art come to answer/ A stony adversary-"

I heard a whump, but my wondering was halted by a sharp pain to the head. And then...

Nothing.

[][][][][][][][]

My eyes shot open, muscles tensed in memory of a pain that...

Never came? I brought a hand to my head, registering I was still in costume as I did, and rubbed it. Not even a bruise! Perhaps it was all a nightmare? If so, my mind had terrible taste.

Or, I supposed as I started registering my surroundings, I was in a dream. I was standing between two buildings made of dark wood and pale paneling, looking out into a market of people in outfits better suited for a renaissance fair. A handful of stalls were set up, most of them staffed by obvious locals. In the distance, I could've sworn I heard the odd oinking kind of sounds pigs make. Even heard some birds chirping. I had no idea why I'd dream of something like this, but it was at least pleasant.

What was less pleasant was the crowd surrounding an actual horse-drawn wagon, shouting enough that I could understand exactly none of it.

"They were fair prices!" Someone shouted over the crowd- a woman, I guessed- and I watched as angry village-folk were pushed aside by someone near the head of the wagon.

I decided that this was none of my business, and started making to go somewhere quieter. Then maybe I could ask where the hell I was. Just as I turned out of the alley, a flash of red caught my eye- and then an arm was locked with mine. With a yank, I turned around to face the crowd. At least the cape had billowed suitably. Costuming had done a great job with it.

"Do you see this man?" A familiar voice proclaimed from next to me- the same as before, tugging at some odd spot in my mind. "I was here to meet up with him. He's from Ylisse, you know!" Out of the side of her mouth, she hissed, "Roll with it."

I stole a glance to my side and I nearly lost it, then and there. She was a short woman with ridiculously red hair, dressed in a bright red outfit with a large floppy yellow collar, and boots more fit for combat than anything. But more importantly, she looked exactly like Anna. As in, the video game character. Someone that's best kept close, if I'm actually in Fire Emblem. Despite it all, I was beginning to doubt this was a dream at all.

Taking a long, deep breath to steady my trembling hands, I laid a hand on my costume sword. Breathe in, breathe out, square shoulders. With a roll of my neck, I called upon the character of the Duke without the bit about being kind of useless. "Of what does my companion stand accused of?"

The crowd eyed the sword, shuffling. It was mostly middle-aged women, and I almost felt bad for the vague threat. Not that this sword could do anything, even if I was half-competent at using it. "Her character is one I can vouch for, I assure."

They seemed just as grumpy, but most of them filtered away. The ones that didn't...

"Her prices are ridiculous!" Protested one, and I looked at Anna(?) with a raised eyebrow. She gave a guilty shrug.

I leaned over for a moment to whisper to her. "Did they haggle? Be honest."

"Not a lot. Really."

I straightened. "And did you, perhaps, try to haggle with her? Her prices were high, but I do not think a mob is suitable."

The same woman from earlier grumbled. "Well, no..."

Strike while the iron is hot. "So I propose we go on our merry ways, and perhaps leave a little wiser." I took my hand off the sword. "You can let go. This is uncomfortable."

She let go of me instantly, doing a half twirl into a curt bow. "Well, you heard the man."

They had, and I suspect they wanted to strangle her still. I walked up beside her, gesturing to cart and hopefully helping disperse the crowd.

Anna strode through them, delicately avoiding any contact before springing up to the front-facing seat of the cart. She patted the spot next to her, and I shrugged. With considerably less grace, I clambered on and made brief, relieved eye contact as Anna directed the cart out of town.

[][][][][][][][]

As the village shrunk behind us, I slumped into the wagon seat and let out a long groan. This was partially from the tension of the moment, and partially from rising worries. Now that I'd heard more of her voice and had time to think about it, I was almost certain this was an Anna- meaning I was in a Fire Emblem game. This ticked on my panic radar, but I decided to pack that down for a better moment.

Anna(?), who had been sitting ramrod straight, allowed her shoulders to slump. Letting out a groan of her own, she said, "I can't believe that worked."

"That makes two of us," I grunted, shifting in my seat. The cape needed to go- it was pulling down on my neck in the worst possible way. "Two strangers pulling improv on angry villagers is a new one for me."

"It was pretty good, though," She added with a light chuckle, rolling her neck, "You nailed it, I nailed it, and we both got the hell out of there."

"I can't tell who owes who..." I mused, unclipping the cape and shuffling off of it. "Pardon, I think I'm invading your space here."

"Well, consider it payback for me invading yours earlier," Anna replied, tossing her bright red hair over one shoulder. It was as strong a shade as my own outfit, and very cleanly matched the red of her own stitched vest.

Moving away, I neatly folded up the cape. "Where should I put this? Or should I just hold onto it so when I get off-"

Anna twisted, unpinning her own cape and rolling it in a movement I barely caught. Dropping it behind the divider in the cart, she gestured to me. "Dump it there, next to my cape. I think I came out a bit more in debt than you did there, so I'll give you a free ride to the next town."

"Much appreciated," I said, dropping my cape where she indicated, "Though I think I owe you more, as I'm very far from anywhere I'd like to be." And I was pretty far. I had pretty much no idea where I was, or even which Fire Emblem game this was. Hopefully not Fates- my memory of the plot for any of the three paths was absolutely abysmal. What other games had more eastern-style architecture...?

She brought up a hand and rested her chin on a long finger. "I'm Anna, by the way."

I coughed, derailing my own wandering thoughts. "You can call me- well, friends call me Andrew. Everyone else also calls me that. Nice to meet you, Anna." So confirmation was nice, or it was a wild coincidence. Knowing I was in a Fire Emblem game was honestly better than thinking I was in some weird coma-dream.

There was a long pause. I watched wind dance in the rolling fields of rice, shadows starting to stretch out behind us.

"Nope!" Anna said abruptly, sending me nearly a foot into the air, "I have no idea who you are. You look like a noble- not from around here, though. More Ylissean than anything. And I know a lot of people, so..."

"Startled me there," I replied quickly, putting a hand to my heart as she gave me a faint smile, "You're saying I'm not a noble. That'd be correct- I'm just a very lost thespian."

"Thespian being the word for actor, right?" Anna paused, getting my nod of confirmation, "Well it's a very good costume, then. How'd you end up here?"

"No idea," I admitted with an exaggerated shrug, "And I was fully prepared to go it on foot, so- thanks, again."

Ylissean, huh? So we were in the setting of Awakening. That's a good thing, I knew that game decently well. Given the eastern-style buildings, eastern being as far as I could peg it with my limited knowledge of architecture, I was somewhere in Valm. Or the continent Valm was on. Whichever. Hopefully not during the Ylissean League war, because then I'd be too late to change much of anything.

Was that a bad thing, though? I'd be in the home stretch and free to do whatever I wanted.

I was snapped out of it by a jab to the forearm. "You there, Andrew?" She asked, prodding me again, "I asked you a question."

Blinking, I turned to look at Anna. Her red eyes met mine, uncomfortably close, and she smirked at me. "Spaced out for a moment, sorry. What did you say?"

"I asked where you're planning to go."

That's a very good question. "Well, the hope is that I can get to Ylisse or some such. Not sure what I'll do there."

"Not to a theatre troupe?" She asked, turning back to face the road.

"Lady, the last place I remember is practically worlds away from here. Through the Outrealm Gate, or however the saying goes." Maybe she knew what the Outrealms were? An Anna ran the gate in the game.

She frowned. "That's unusual. The worst I've heard of was a drunk noble ending up three provinces away..." There was a pause as she tapped her chin. "What's an Outrealm Gate?"

"It's an odd saying, so I'm not sure either," I answered, mentally crossing off 'check for Outrealm Gate' until maybe there was a chance to inspect the general location. "So in short, I'd like to head to Ylisstol, because I'm at least vaguely familiar with it."

"That's going to be a rough journey," Anna chuckled, "I'm making it myself, actually. Walhart's conquests have been getting a little too rowdy for my liking."

Okay, so he hadn't unified the continent, and to nobody's surprise Anna was probably just going to dump me in some town. "I could join you. Granted, I have no coinage on me-"

"And money is pretty important." Anna agreed.

As a pit opened in my stomach, I nodded. "And, of course, if someone heard Anna was doing something for free, your reputation-"

"Would be ruined, exactly!" Anna finished, "Somebody gets it."

I turned looking at Anna's stock. Tomes, some weapons, dried foods (I guessed, wasn't easy to tell at a glance), and what looked like a lot of healing supplies. "And with the kind of stuff you stock, if you give them any ground they'll run with it. Charity begets charity, and-"

"Charity isn't the business I'm in," Anna supplied smoothly, "Some people don't like it when I tell them that, but what can I say? It costs money to get any of this stuff."

It looked like she had been wanting to vent on this for a while. Her stance had become considerably more open as she spoke, and her expression uncreased subtly. While it felt somewhat manipulative, it was something to go on. "And for every buyer there's a bunch of villagers who can't afford it. I may be a stranger in a cart, but I'm not stupid."

I'd hit something the right way, because her eyes lit up in a way that wanted me to be anywhere but here- or be here all the time? In any case, it seemed I had read her correctly. "It's awful," She pronounced, glinting eyes trained on the road, "There's bandits or soldiers everywhere and nobody wants to buy my stock. Well, last time I was in Ylisse, the Shepherds wanted to buy the lot, but I can't fleece-" Anna coughed, "I can't charge my usual prices with them. Frederick the Wary is too wary."

I grinned. "Too bad you can't charge him for the rod he sticks up his arse."

Giving me a look, Anna's lips twitched upwards. "I wish. Knowing Ylisse, they'd want a Brand on it. If it has a Brand on it, it came from a pricey and very skilled smith."

I leaned back, resting a hand on the front wall of the cart. "Are we talking large piles of gold amounts of skill?"

"Better," Anna promised, "For my usual stock, Prince Chrom was prepared to pay me in bullion."

If I'd been drinking anything, I would have spat it out. "Bullion? Gold bullion? Pardon the pun, Miss Anna, but that's a gold mine you have there. Naga bless him, but no wonder Frederick's his keeper."

Anna gave an unladylike snort. "And here I thought Frederick was for Princess Lissa's safety. No, he's for the safety of the realm's vaults!"

I could work with this. "How much do you think he'd pay for a second pauldron?"

"He does need one, doesn't he..." Anna trailed off, thinking, "I don't know how to sell that idea to him. It's practically a fashion choice at this point."

The pieces started dropping together in my head, and I think my proximity to the greatest moneygrabber in Fire Emblem had already begun to corrupt me. "So sell it as a package deal. Armor for the Shepherds- you'll just need access to a smith who can forge the Brand into something. And that's awfully expensive."

She looked at me, expression unreadable. "You're telling me to sell their own smiths' work back to them."

With a nod, I looked out at the sky. The sun was getting quite close to the horizon, and all I saw was fields. "Well, no. Then they wouldn't buy from you again. You're Anna, not some bottom-of-the barrel merchant, right?"

Anna raised an eyebrow. "If you're trying to sell me something, it won't work."

Huh. Okay, fair, she was probably used to being buttered up in hopes of lower prices. And probably held up by bandits. I gave a half-grin, rubbing the back of my head awkwardly. "You have a reputation, I know. But trust me, this is going somewhere."

She shrugged. "I've got nothing else to do, and I can't charge for air."

Airtime, maybe, but inventing the radio is not something I can just do on the fly. "So this won't cost you anything, if it doesn't work out. Say you go to the capital and offer to help outfit the Shepherds. You've probably already thought about that, and Frederick-"

"Took one look at my prices and sent Chrom outside."

I couldn't help but laugh at the image of Chrom with a dunce cap, sitting outside. "I guess we know who wears the pants in Ylisse. Frederick won't agree to buying anything but the highest quality, and for way less than you'd like. So you offer him things he can't buy anywhere else- specially made armor for Chrom. Armor fit for, say... a Lord?"

Anna looked off for a moment, lips twitching again. "Oh I like you. But we're nowhere near Ylisse, so those ideas are pretty useless right now."

My heart sank a little. "Fair. Hell, Prince Chrom might have wised up on his own. But..."

"But what?" She asked, leaning in.

I had nothing, but I needed to improv and fast. Anna might keep me on-board, so long as I can prove it is to her benefit. I sifted through my memory of the game and the various bits of knowledge my Econ Major friend had dumped on me through the years.

Valm is unstable right now. Virion left to get help, which is interesting, but-

Tea! That was it. Tea. I licked my lips, trying to keep them from drying out. "Tea, Anna."

"Tea?" She asked, eyebrow raised. "I'm listening."

"Walhart's a bit of a hardass for regulations, right?" And he was uptight enough to keep murmurs of Valm gearing up against Ylisse for quite a while.

"Yup," Anna said, popping the p, "The taxes are ridic...u..." Her eyes widened.

"Tea's about to skyrocket in price across the pond," I nodded, "If only there was someone around to sell it to them- with markup, of course."

Anna bit her lip as she looked upwards, eyes twitching slightly. After a quick pause, she nodded to herself. "Andrew," She said with a grin, "I think this is the start of a long and profitable friendship."

I stuck out a hand. "I'm willing to go 70/30 in your favor." Start high so you can give more ground without getting shortchanged.

She reached with her own, eyes shining, "Come on. I'm the only one taking any risk with assets here. 90/10, you get free passage." Nope, she'd caught on. Still, quite generous of her.

I scoffed audibly. "Ridiculous. 80/20 is better- you wouldn't have come up with this on your own, or come up with it too late."

With a tilt of her head and a winning smile, she shook her head. "85/15 is as high as I'll go."

Way better than expected, honestly. I took her hand in mine, and we shook on it.

[][][][][][][][]

Anna had probably put up with some strange stuff over the years; working as a merchant on the road almost guaranteed it. Probably dealt with some seriously crazy people, too. Hell, she's probably caused more fair share of crazy. All things considered, if I turned out to be a bad investment, I got the distinct impression I'd be just another bump in the road for her.

So when stars peered out of the navy sky, road stretching and writhing endlessly from horizon to horizon, I took the chance to help her out. The wagon came to a rolling stop at the edge of the road, and I leapt off with what little grace I could manage. One of my knees complained quite violently about it, but I winced and tried to ignore it. "Right," I started, twisting my back and stretching aching muscles, "What can I help with tonight?"

Anna stared at me long enough for me to look away and shuffle my feet. Then, like a spring uncoiling, she bounced out of her seat, heeled boots landing delicately on the uneven road. She clapped her hands together, moved one hand to scratch her chin, then pointed to the back of the wagon. "See if you can start a fire and set up the cooking pot- There's a crate in back, you'll be able to tell which one it is. I'll deal with the horses."

Being told what to do. I was good with that; I like to fancy myself a leader but I never want to step up when the time comes. When I took a step back to get out of her way, I was struck with the understanding of why Anna wore those boots. Now, granted, I'm just under two meters tall, so everyone is short. I wondered if that's what the heeled boots and ridiculous collar were for- making her look larger than she was. "Gotcha."

Crickets started their evening sounds, replacing the deafening sound of clattering wood and clopping hooves. It wasn't the best replacement- it still felt uncomfortably silent. I walked around to the back of the cart, letting my feet fall more loudly than needed. It wasn't hard to spot the crate labelled Anna's Cooking Supplies written on it- oh, good, I can read the language- and I was able to pick it out with only minor back complaints. It wasn't terribly heavy, but wagon seats are not pleasant in the slightest. "Ugh. How do you deal with it, Anna? The back pain from the wagon?"

She laughed a bit, talking over the jingling of buckles and belts for the horses. "Good posture and a lot of stretches."

"You'll have to teach me those at some point, you know. I'll have to-"

"Yup. You'll owe me."

Something in Anna's support conversations pinged in my head as I unpacked the crate, setting up a decent log-cabin fire. "Anna," I asked, watching her hum over buckles with practiced fingers, "Is there anything more important to you than money?"

"Nope," She replied instantly, popping the p, "Nothing at all."

"Uh-huh," I nodded, "Good thing you packed kindling, by the way. I doubt I'd find much out here."

"Always be prepared. You know how to cook a quick soup, right?"

Thank goodness I loved the hell out of soup. "If there is such a thing as quick soup, no. I can do normal soup, though."

Anna slid over to me, reaching into the cooking crate and emerging with a smaller crate. Dropping it down, she herself plopped down on the makeshift seat. "I don't know of any quick soups either, but it didn't hurt to ask."

I blinked. It felt distinctly like there was a story behind it, but my stomach reminded me that its needs were more important.

[][][][][][][][]

After soup and being provided a 'free' bedroll, I barely had the time to remove the frillier bits of my costume before falling dead asleep. This lasted until Anna poked me with the back end of a healing stave, well before the birds had even started their morning songs. While I have never really enjoyed getting up early, watching the sunrise filter through the trees and peer across the mountains in the far distance was something I could get used to. In no time at all, we were back on the road and I was alone with my thoughts.

I took that chance to try and assemble a model of when I was, matching my somewhat flaky game knowledge against the equally flaky knowledge Anna had been dropping. Walhart hadn't seized control of the entire continent yet, but he was close- meaning that it had to at least be close to the time period for Awakening.

But I had no idea how to change any of it. I didn't have the leverage of being a terrifyingly skilled fighter, or any of the other traits that Lucina had that made her even remotely believable. I was just a regular person from a time where regular people relied on guns rather than swords, and I didn't even have leverage with Chrom to get me into the Shepherds. I had no business being here-

I took a long, deep breath, steadying myself. Another. Panic won't help. In through the nose, out through the mouth, and let it melt away. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I took a mental step back. Anna looked at me oddly. "Just worrying about stuff."

"It happens a lot when you're out on the road," Anna replied easily, looking away.

I'm in Fire Emblem: Awakening, somewhere in Valm. I could join the Rebellion- maybe even start it?- or even...

"Anna?"

The woman in question rolled her neck, shifting in place to stretch her back a little. I winced as my own back echoed the thought. "Yeah? Got any more crazy ideas?"

I huffed. "They aren't crazy. You even got me to agree to how much of the profit I'd get. And I have plenty more where that one came from," I paused, mentally noting that I needed to come up with more crazy ideas. Hastily re-railing the thought Anna had knocked away, I started, "I'm really out of the loop on things, but mostly I'm confused about the geography. Where are we relative to the Mila Tree?"

"The Mila Tree, huh?" Anna frowned. "We're going to pass right by it, actually- I'm aiming from the northern passage to Ferox. Why do you ask?"

Because Tiki is there. "Well, I always was curious about the Voice of Naga. Might be worth stopping by?"

Anna have a languid shrug, picking at the collar of her outfit. "I don't see why not. That's not the whole reason you're asking, though."

Right. I was a crap liar when it came to personal stuff. "Well, Walhart doesn't much like religion, does he?"

"Yeah," Anna replied, drawing out the vowels slightly. She flicked the reins, tugging to realign the cart as we went around a slight bend.

"Well, the Voice is basically a big religious figure. Might be harder to drop by at a later date."

Anna hummed, looking out over the road. "It'll be two days before we get there."

She didn't have to acquiesce to any degree, but she did. "I appreciate this, Anna," I said, smiling faintly, "I really do."

"Yeah, yeah, stuff it."

[][][][][][][][]

Valm really was a beautiful continent. Large fields of springy grasses, rolling hills of dark green forest, and picturesque villages dotting everything, surrounded by neatly tended farms. There was a certain quietness to it.

Anna's stomach growled, sending both of us into the air.

Flushing slightly, Anna put a hand to her stomach. "Andrew, can you grab some jerky? It's in the-"

"Saw the box this morning. I think I can reach it from here," I said quickly, reaching back. My back complained as I twisted, but I managed to snag the box and pull it forward. I stuck a hand in and came out with a small sack. "Yup," I grunted, rubbing my back, "I can."

Anna accepted a piece gratefully, and I snagged my own before dropping the sack back down. "Thanks. Already proving your worth."

"Technically, I was free," I pointed out around a mouthful of jerky, "So that's not a high standard."

She flashed a grin, but said nothing.

My back ached as I rolled my shoulders back, trying to unknot whatever muscle was causing havoc with my spine. "Ugh. You'll need to teach me those stretches tonight. My back is killing me."

Pinning me with her sharp red eyes, she raised a single eyebrow. "Sure that's all you're interested in?"

I was not at all sure what she was getting at. It was like a yoga lesson, right? But more practical and hopefully less tendon pain. For lack of a better response, I locked eyes and replied, "Look, my back is not happy with me. I'm interested in learning the stretches."

She looked at me for a moment longer before turning away. "Good."

Gotcha. Guess she was worried about me wanting her to do leg stretches or something? I mean, she wears heels all the time, so she probably needs leg stretches too. The enigma of Anna could fully occupy my idle mind as I stared down the road, and it did.

[][][][][][][][]

A metallic scent filled the air, setting me on edge instantly. Anna frowned, nose twitching. "That's not good," She observed, "Hopefully it's nowhere near."

I leaned forward slightly, doing my best not to breathe too deeply through the nose. "What's nowhere near?"

"You don't recognize it?" Anna asked, raising an eyebrow as I shrugged, "That's blood. Lots of it."

My stomach knotted and churned. "Lovely." Was there a battle going on? I know that Anna had mentioned the region was a bit unstable- or at least implied it, I think. But how unstable?

Tense moments passed without much way of counting them. We rounded the bend, and my already upset stomach tried to upend itself. Six bodies lay by the side of the road, some in worse shape than others- all of them in ramshackle armor. Ten soldiers, all as red as the drying blood in the soil, stood by cleaning their weapons. One was removing an axe from a dead man's ribcage, making a sickening, wet crunch as it came out.

Another looked to be an officer, wearing a slightly more decorated outfit and writing in some sort of journal. He looked up at us, drinking in every detail with professional detachment. Anna waved, giving a cheerful smile. I could only manage a respectful nod.

The officer nodded and said something to the soldiers, and they all moved to the side of the road.

It took far too long for us to roll past. The stench grew and grew, burning at my nose and clawing at my throat- And all at once, it was gone.

For a long while, I couldn't trust myself to speak. Something about those bodies was burned into my mind. It didn't sit right with me. "Anna," I said quietly, "What do you think caused them to-"

She cut me off, her usual bubbly energy toning down slightly. "Rebels, Andrew. Poorly outfitted, but angry about the new regulations."

That didn't comfort me in the slightest. "And you've seen this before?"

"Every week or two, yes."

And that was worse. "They'd have a much better chance working together, biding their time."

Anna turned slightly, fixing me with her appraising red eyes. "I'd rather not get involved, Andrew. Dangerous- and unprofitable- business. That's a bad combination if I've ever heard of one!" Her tone returned slightly near the end, lifting my spirits while still dragging my stomach down.

I'd have to leave Anna, but I could do something about this. I could help them. The image of the soldier, tearing an axe from a poor peasant's chest, drifted through my mind. Stomach knotting, heart aching-

"I think I'll stick with you," I said, "Don't want to get involved in all that nasty business, honestly."

With a shrug, Anna looked away.

Not long after, it started raining. I loved rain, but I couldn't feel it- something just wasn't sitting right with me.

I don't think we spoke for the rest of the day, save for a few clipped words over dinner.

[][][][][][][][]

Author's Note:

This author's note used to comment on this being a rewrite of a short, two-chapter fic. Now it doesn't, because it seems silly to keep it that way.

Going forward, I'm taking a new look at things- spending a lot more time planning and writing more content in advance of releasing a chapter. Rather than leave the false impression that the original setup was just being written more slowly, I decided to put this chapter up now and see what people think.

Cheers,

Narwhal Lord