Quick Author's Notes:

Hey everybody! Gunlord here, bringin' you my very first Jugdral fic ever! I'm writing this at the behest of my brother-man utdfan22, who wrote a really nice Hannibal fic for me after I told him I wished armored units got more love in FE4. I wanted to repay the favor, so when he said he wanted to see a Sety x Tinny fic I thought I'd be happy to oblige. I hope he enjoys this, and I hope you guys do too!

Lord of Wind, Lady of Thunder

Tinny rushed down the road from Conote to Manster as fast as she could. All of them had seen the three squadrons of Dragon Riders flying in from the south, looking as if they were a trio of locust swarms, but Celice had also heard that a small group of civilians had left the rebel-held city, seeking to escape the devastation Thracia's soldiers would undoubtedly cause. It was therefore a matter of the utmost urgency to rescue those innocent people as quickly as possible…though she felt a pang of guilt rush through her as she huffed and puffed on the road. Celice, along with the other mounted soldiers in the army, were not riding at top speed—they were careful not to outpace the infantry. She knew she wasn't the only one holding them back, of course—Faval, Julia, her own brother, and even the mighty Shanan couldn't keep up with a man on horseback. Still, she couldn't help feeling just a little useless.

She knew better than to allow her own doubts to interfere with her mission, though. Thankfully, Mease was a good distance away from Manster, meaning the civilians had a decent head start. Celice's forces were able to surround the fleeing innocents and bring them to safety well before the Thracians even got close to the revolting city.

Tinny smiled as she pointed one of the refugees in the direction of Conote, feeling a bit of strength surge through her when he offered his most profuse thanks. She'd read that the Gods rewarded those who did good, and it seemed there was more than a bit of truth in that bit of Scripture. However, the young man also told her something very interesting. "Please save Sety if you can," he'd cried. "Sety? Who's that?" she responded. "The hero of Manster! He's the best wind magician I've ever seen, but even I don't know if he can survive against all Thracia's Dragon Knights! Please, you've got to help him!"

She nodded resolutely, and her young friend couldn't stop his tears of joy as he thanked her again and rushed along the road north. Even at a reduced pace, Celice's army had managed to reach Manster before the Thracians did, and as they surrounded the castle Tinny tried to sneak past some of the front guard to get a look at who was guarding the south gate. Aside from her and her brother, there weren't many mages in the army, and she was eager to meet another one.

She wouldn't be disappointed. The Hero of Manster was quite a fetching young man, in her estimation. He was tall and slim, and his clothing (loose blue pants and tunic under protective leather greaves, gloves, and chestguard, topped off by a fine blue cape) seemed to hide a form that wasn't bulky and muscular but nevertheless fit and sturdy. His handsome face was topped by an unruly mop of thick green hair over piercing green eyes from which seemed to emanate both a comforting sense of compassion and a very firm sense of justice. She could overhear the conversation he was having with Celice, and his voice was clear and strong—but his words also seemed to indicate a great deal of humility and perhaps even guilt.

"A great number of children were seized and sent to the shrine in Miletos," he said, sorrow gripping his throat. "I couldn't do anything to prevent it. I'm no hero, sir. If anything, I'm a coward."

"You're too hard on yourself, Sety. Even someone with your power can't save everyone. I'm the same way—I'd never have gotten anywhere on my own. It was everybody's combined strength which brought me this far. Why don't you add something to that strength? Sety, if we work together, I'm sure we'll be able to stop tragedies like the sacrificing of children from happening ever again!"

"Celice, you're exactly right. It'd be an honor! I'll fight for you 'till the very end!" He turned and pointed to the dark clouds approaching over the horizon. "Celice, I desperately want revenge on the scum from the Empire. Keep the rest of our allies behind the castle. I'll deal with the Dragon Knights."

The eavesdropping Tinny almost fell over when she heard this. Did he really think he could take on all of them alone?

Celice wasn't certain of that either. "Sety, that's…"

"I have this," he said confidently, showing Celice the tome he held. Even from this distance, Tinny could tell it held almost unimaginable magical power—indeed, Holsety was certainly worthy of the title of Holy Weapon.

"Nothing but Narga can beat my magic," he said confidently. "Don't get me wrong, I know it's foolish to overestimate one's abilities. That's why I'd like you to keep a few archers and mages nearby, just in case I run into trouble. But Holsety should be enough handle those Thracian lizard-jockeys. Please, Celice…I still feel responsible for what happened to those kids. I want to punish the Empire and its collaborators for their misdeeds, with my own hands!"

"Well, alright. I know very well what Holy Weapons are capable of," said Celice, nodding towards Shanan. "Faval and Lester will be standing nearby, as will Tinny and Arthur. I sent Fee over the east side of the mountains to save those villages from the bandits—"

"Fee? My sister's here?"

"Your sister? In any case, you'll have time for a reunion later; just know she'll be coming if you need help. That's all! Everyone," he called, "Draw back and get into position! The Hero of Manster wants to show you what he can do!"

It took Tinny a moment to realize she had her own set of orders before she hopped to it and followed them. While the rest of the army withdrew a short distance behind Manster (but still close enough to lend aid if necessary), Tinny, her brother, and Faval and Lester remained closer to Sety, though not too close. Far enough that the Dragon Knights would likely concentrate on him, but close enough to run quickly to his aid if he needed it.

As it turned out, he wouldn't.

As the Thracians approached, Sety held out his holy tome in front of him. It began to glow, and he let go of it. It didn't fall—instead, it levitated in the air, then flew over its owner's head and opened, revealing pages full of arcane runes. Its green glow strengthened, forming an emerald halo over Sety's head, and Tinny had to cover her ears as the wind howled loudly, forming miniature gales and tornadoes around Sety's hands.

"WOOOOO-HAAAA! GET 'IM, BOYS!" The first squad of Dragon Knights coming directly from the southwest hooted and hollered as they soared towards Manster, the second squad following it directly from the south. "LOOKS LIKE WE'RE EATIN' WIND MAGE TONIGHT!"

They hadn't the slightest idea of what was waiting for them.

Calmly, as if he were the star of those operas Imperial nobles loved, rather than a soldier facing down two squads of enemies, Sety bent his knees as the Dragon Knights bore down on him. He then leaped into the air—far into the air; indeed, straight into the sky. Tinny—and the rest of Celice's army—could only watch in astonishment as he floated like a bird, his mastery of the wind allowing him to soar like those with wings. He jumped straight into the cloud of attacking sky-riders, and before they realized what was happening, he struck.

With a loud, angry yell, Sety flipped and twirled his entire body around as he flew. Once vertically, and then once horizontally, holding his arms out as he did so. The gales surrounding these arms exploded, sending unimaginably sharp blades of wind flying out in every direction. The Thracians couldn't react—they simply continued flying, right past Sety, as he reached the apex of his leap with another twirl, and then began his descent. Once again, looking for all the world like a beautiful waterbird rather than a warrior, he fell to the ground, landing cleanly and gently on one foot while holding his arms outstretched at his sides.

Oddly enough, at first it seemed as if his attack did absolutely nothing. The riders continued to fly forwards with no change in their speed or direction, as if they hadn't even noticed the Sage.

Then the screams began.

"I…I DON'T WANNA DIE!" howled one Thracian as both he and his mount began to split apart. Horizontal lines appeared, criss-crossing both their bodies, dividing them into segments which slid away from each other as if they were pieces of sausage, sending dismembered body parts tumbling to the ground in a shower of gore. The exact same thing happened to every one of his comrades, and the skies over Manster seemed to be raining blood.

Tinny's stomach lurched at the gruesome sight, but it actually wasn't that disconcerting to her. She had seen very well the horrible effects her own Thunder magic had on her opponents, and of course Aunt Hilda had taken care to show her things which were equally grisly. She was much, much more thankful that Sety was on her side.

Despite this show of strength, the Thracians weren't going to give up—they very much deserved their reputation for tenacity. "RAAAARGH! HOW DARE YOU HURT MY BROTHERS!" shouted the other squad's remaining commander, a man named Coluda. "WE ARE THRACIANS! WE BITE DEEP AND WE DON'T LET GO!"

This didn't matter at all to Sety. As Coluda's squad bore down on him, spears at the ready, he once again summoned those gales around his hands, and then, too quickly for Tinny's eyes to see, brought his arms in front of him in an X and then brutally slashed down with both. The gales he'd summoned grew to become a pair of gigantic, guillotine-shaped blades of hurricane-force green wind, smashing the oncoming Thracians into little gibbets of meat, just like what happened to their comrades.

"By the Gods," muttered Faval, standing near Tinny and holding his holy Ichival protectively as they both watched the astonishing display. "I hope he doesn't go into the mercenary business. I'll be out of a job!"

Tinny's thoughts were somewhat different. As she watched Forsety's green glow recede and Sety put it away, as she watched Celice and the rest of the army run up to Sety, cheering and congratulating him on bringing such mighty power to their army, she could only wonder:

How could any man capable of such brutality keep such a kindness in his eyes?

-X-

Everybody was celebrating, but Tinny wasn't really joining in, though she shared their cheer. After all, the taking of Mease was a significant victory for the Rebels, especially since it had been won at the cost of almost nothing. Following Sety's annihilation of the Dragon Knights, one of the enemy commanders—a woman with long brown hair and an incredibly powerful magic spear, she'd heard—had abandoned the battlefield rather than slaughter innocent civilians. Mease was still very well defended-Maikov had installed a battery of long-range ballistae to guard his castle-but even those defenses were no match for the Lord of Wind. Traveling through the mountains, Sety was simply too fast for the bolts of the artillery to even come close to hitting him, dancing and weaving through the rocks as each shot fell wide of the mark. When he got close, it was of course a simple matter for him to slice the hapless ballisticians to pieces without even resorting to Holsety (he'd closed the holy tome and opened up a regular Elwind book to keep from wasting any more expensive magic than he had to). The remaining Generals and Maikov himself subsequently fell to his might in short order.

Tinny was very happy about all this—why wouldn't she be? But as she kept to herself in Mease's great hall, watching the rest of the army drink and carouse to their heart's content, she didn't join in with the commotion for one reason:

She held her liquor very poorly.

It wasn't that bad—watching others party was still enjoyable, after all. She smiled as she watched the brother she didn't even know she had until last month, Arthur, dance happily with a young green-haired woman whose name was Fee.

"Green hair," she muttered to herself. Out of curiosity, she gazed around the large hall, eyes passing over the many partying soldiers, till she came across a mop of green hair the exact same shade. Sure enough, it was Sety, watching Fee and Arthur dance with a satisfied smile.

His performance in battle earlier today had been enough to interest her by itself, but she had to wonder if he was related to the young woman her brother seemed to have taken such an interest in. To sate her curiosity, she cautiously walked up to him.

"Hm?" he said, noticing her approach. "Ah, hello. You…I sense an aura of magic about you. You're not one of the serving girls, I can tell. I presume you're a member of Lord Celice's army?"

"I-I am," she stammered, impressed that he'd been able to tell so much from just glancing at her—definitely an accomplished magician, this Sety. "My name is Tinny. I'm a thunder mage."

He smiled. "Glad to make your acquaintance, Tinny, lady of thunder. My name's Sety."

As was customary, he gave her a polite bow, to which she responded with a demure curtsy. "Er…sir, I'm sorry for my rudeness, but I overheard you talking with Celice. Is Miss Fee really your sister?"

"Yeah, she is." He blinked as he looked back at her, the grey-haired man she was dancing with, and then to Tinny. "Wait, so are you…"

Tinny raised a hand to her mouth as she let out a slight giggle. "Yes, I'm his sister. He's Arthur…do you know him?"

"Aye, Fee introduced him to me." It was his turn to let out a small chuckle. "He's a good man. He'd have to be, to keep up with her!"

That was enough to elicit a genuine laugh from both of them. "Well, they're having fun," said Tinny, changing the subject. "Why haven't you joined them?"

"Hm? Uh, well, that's…" Sety scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well, you know, it's just that I can't…how to put this…er, my sister is better with drink than I am…"

This elicited another amused laugh from Tinny. "So, you can't take too much alcohol?"

"How embarrassing, but I must admit I can't…"

"Don't worry about it," she smiled. "I can't either."

"Really?" He returned her smile with a bright one of his own. "Glad I'm not alone, in that case. It's always nice to meet another magic user, especially one who shares other traits with you as well."

She blushed slightly. "I don't think we have that much in common, sir. Your magic, it's…it's amazing. Nothing I can do can even compare to it."

"Well, I can't deny it's impressive…but don't sell yourself short, Tinny. I saw you help clean up a few stragglers from the Dragon Knight squad. Your thunder magic's nothing to sniff at. It even beats Holsety when it comes to fire spells!"

"That's a bit more to the credit of the Anima Triangle than me, sir."

"Uh…I suppose so," a bit embarrassed to have forgotten such an elementary element of magic. "Still, you were able to bring many civilians to safety—Celice told me you got most of the refugees. You've accomplished more than I did, at least." His voice grew a little bitter. "Not even Holsety's power could save those kids that got sent to Manster."

"It's truly horrible," she agreed sadly, "but after watching what you did to those Dragon Knights, I don't doubt that the people guilty for such crimes will be sent to justice very soon."

"Exactly so! With Prince Celice's help, we'll make sure they never hurt anyone ever again!" When he looked at Tinny, however, he noticed she wasn't quite as enthusiastic as he was. "Ah…you were watching my battle, weren't you? I guess it must have seemed…well, off-putting, watching other human beings die like that."

He was perceptive. "I can't lie…to be honest, the power of the Holy Weapons terrify me almost as much as the Empire does."

"Allow me to be honest, now: I can't really blame you. We're mere human beings, wielding the power of the Gods, literally—they call them "Holy" weapons for a reason, after all. But the thing with power, Tinny, is not in how much you have. It's how you use it. Holsety may be fearsome, but I used its power to defend—and I always will. On the other hand, the Thracians, with nothing more than their mundane weapons, would have inflicted misery on the people of Manster far worse than what I did to them."

"Hm…I think I understand, Sety." Dwelling on what he'd said, she found she couldn't really argue with his logic—and that made her feel a little better. "Tee-hee, I guess that answers my question."

"Your question?"

"I was wondering how someone who wielded such powerful magic could remain as compassionate and humble as you seem to be. I think I've found my answer."

Sety was quite aware he'd been paid a very high compliment, but from a pretty young woman, it wasn't something a wanderer like him had a lot of experience with. Even the Lord of Wind found himself taken aback for a moment, and stammered while blushing, "R-really? Well, I'm certainly glad for that."

It looked like he was going to say something else before a commotion broke out among the dancing revelers in front of them.

"Ow! Fee, hey, don't go so fast!"

"Dammit, Arthur, I can't move my feet that slowly!"

"Don't you know how to dance? I'm supposed to lead!"

"Gods, don't tell me they're fighting again," moaned Sety, rolling his eyes. "I don't wish to impose on you, Tinny, but would you mind accompanying me? I'd wager the two of us might calm them down easier than either of us alone."

She very much agreed with his plan of action, and together they made their way towards their bickering siblings. And while calming the Mage and Pegasus Knight would end up proving a rather tiresome task (which would keep them occupied to the end of the night)…

Working with Sety, Tinny thought, wasn't very tiresome at all.

::Linear Notes::

Holy shizz! I had sooooo much fun writing this, brothers and sisters :D I'm glad my bro utd asked me to write a bit about Sety and Holsety, cause I've wanted to write a fight scene like that for such a long time! I'm sure you're all wondering, but Holsety's combat style is HEAVILY based on Rei's Nanto Suichoken (South Star Waterbird Fist) from Fist of the North Star. That's why he had the waterfowl references. Check this video for an idea of how it looks like:

Youtube dot com watch?v=pMJ5FRSIxJk

And yeah, the "WE BITE DEEP AND WE DON'T LET GO" line is something the mooks in the above game say when they're attacking you. Indeed, generally they acted like FotNS mooks XD I wanted to include that as well. I love Fist of the North Star :D :D :D The title is also an oblique reference to the game, Lords of Thunder. :D