The Forgotten Zodiac

As much as Kieran enjoyed peace and joy, he knew that such things did not excuse him from his duties as a knight. He patrolled the halls with a smile on his face, however, as he thought of the young prince that had just been born. He'd seen the boy himself just this morning, when Geoffrey had called him in to meet the country's future ruler. The infant had a dusting of blue sprigs atop his head, and the striking amber eyes of the Crimean line. Elincia said that he looked just like Ike, while the King swore that the boy was Elincia's spitting image.

Kieran chuckled to himself as he thought about what had gone on in the time he'd been allowed to visit with the new parents and their child. Elincia had wanted to allow Kieran to hold the baby Greil, but Ike had let out some spluttering noise that the knight was likely to never hear again, so Kieran refrained from taking the boy. Instead, Elincia had turned to Ike, insisting that the father hold his boy for a while. Kieran had watched as all the color drained from Ike's face and he stammered out a meek protest of "No, no, I'll <i>break</i> him." In amusement, Kieran, Geoffrey, and Elincia were unable to keep themselves from laughing at Ike's nerves, and Elincia promptly placed little Greil into his father's arms. Kieran found himself wondering what the King had been worrying about, for his hold was gentle as he sat down on the bed next to his wife, cradling their child.

The two knights had wasted no time in thinking of other things that they needed to do, and excused themselves quickly from the company of the new family.

So now, Kieran found himself on patrol, yet no matter how hard te knight tried to rein in his attentions on the task he was doing, he found it wandering back to the joyous event that had brightened this April day. The smile on his face did not leave as he wandered the halls, hand resting easily on the haft of his axe.

Suddenly, his gaze sharpened, pulled from his thoughts as the smile dropped from his face. The grip on his axe tightened as he heard unfamiliar voices around the next corner in the hall. And many of them.

The red knight quickened his pace and swept around the corner, eyes widening at the sight that met him.

Not all of the voices were unfamiliar. One, in particular, stood out. While Kieran hadn't spoken to his Ivalician friend in quite some time, Syl's voice was unmistakably there, quieting, calming, and comforting the others. When he registered Kieran's footsteps, for an armored knight's job was fairly distinctive, the mage lowered his guard. "Kieran. Perfect. Just the man I was hoping to see."
Sylvester's carefree tone was belied by the blood on his clothing and the freshly shed tears of the civilians behind him. His companions were all clearly unarmed, two women and several children clutching at their skirts. The children were on edge, adrenaline being the only thing keeping them on their feet. In quite a hurried tone, he hurried to explain the reason for his sudden appearance and how it was to affect the Crimeans. "Kieran, there will be more groups like this coming through quite shortly. I need you to instruct the guards not to draw arms, or this could be much worse than intended."

Kieran took one look at the women and children and relaxed his guard at once. He turned to Syl as he spoke, then nodded quickly. "Of course," he said. He hesitated a beat, wondering if he might should tell the... "visitors" where to go, but he turned quickly and ran off instead. They were obviously all right in Syl's care, and Kieran trusted the mage not to lead them to any restricted areas, including...

Oh, <i>Goddess</i>...

<i>Someone</i> was going to have to tell Elincia.

"Geoffrey! Commander Geoffrey!" Kieran shouted as he raced towards the knight commander's patrol route. Quickly enough, his azure-haired superior came into sight, and Kieran quickly informed him of what was going on, as per Syl's request.

"Refugees," he finished, standing ramrod straight as he delivered his report. "And many of them."

Geoffrey's eyes were quick to fill with concern, and he said, "I'll tell the rest of the knights to direct those that come through to the throne room. I'm sure Elincia... will meet with them shortly," he said, his brow creasing as he realized they were going to have to disturb the new mother, when she probably shouldn't be up yet, just... in case.

"You know what, send Ike instead," Geoffrey quickly amended, waving Kieran off with a 'shooing' motion. "And hurry. We will not want to keep them waiting long. A crowd this large..." the blue knight trailed off, then turned and hurried to give orders to the other guards.

Leaving Kieran in charge of informing the royal couple.

He sighed before heading off to do as he was bidden. He reached the couple's chambers only a few minutes later, but it still seemed all too fast. He really didn't want to disturb them, but... a situation like this required it. He hammered his fist against the closed door a couple times before vocally announcing himself.

"It is Kieran. King Ike... you are requested in the throne room. There's been... a surprise that needs attending to."

The King, who had been carefully holding his new son, jumped slightly when Kieran banged on the door. He gently handed the baby to his wife, managing to keep from dropping him with surprising skill. After apologetically kissing both of them on the forehead, with absolutely no concern for the waste of Kieran's time, Ike rose from the bed and went to the door.
"Yes, Kieran?" he inquired as he stepped out of the bedroom. "What's the problem?" Ike knew that both Kieran and his supervisor would have done everything they could to avoid interrupting him, so he wasn't too annoyed with Kieran. For the meantime.

"There's... I'm sorry," Kieran said hastily, before filling the king in on what was going on. The knight shifted his weight from one foot to the other somewhat uncomfortably, and, as Ike had gotten pretty good at reading body language from learning to talk to Soren, the King could tell that the situation was a bit more dire than Kieran was making it sound. However, the knight was trying not to alarm the King or the Queen, who he was fairly sure could hear their conversation through the door.

"Geoffrey's directing everyone that comes into the throne room. We need you to take control of the situation, milord, because speaking frankly, we don't quite know what we need to do, here," Kieran admitted, crossing his arms. "If you like, I can remain here and guard the door so that no one disturbs Elincia and Greil?" he offered.

Ike started to refuse Kieran's offer but, upon reconsidering the situation, nodded. "Thanks, Kieran. Any refugees come through here, you send them to the throne room." He started to hurry away but paused after a second and turned around.
"If Elincia asks what's going on, tell her. Otherwise, she might wander off and find out for herself." This was a legitimate concern for Ike; he knew Kieran might try to keep the information from Elincia out of a misguided sense of protecting her, which would only serve to aggravate the Queen into getting the information herself.
The further the king walked toward the throne room, the clearer it became how well this whole event had been planned. While the groups of people clearly didn't have a good idea where they were, or what was going on, each one of them seemed to have clear directions to the throne room; and most of the worrisome meandering was avoided. Each group of civilians, hysterical women and children, had a fighter of some sort with them, a fighter with directions and a decently calm attitude.
By the time Ike reached the throne room, several groups had already arrived and were forming themselves into a larger group in the center of the room, gazing around in awe. Ike forced his way through the groups just entering the room and up the the throne and looked around for someone who could possibly be in charge here.
To Ike's great benefit, Marche was quick to make his way over to Ike and Geoffrey and try to explain the situation. "Syl's gotten to you two, right?" After Ike nodded in confusion, assuming Kieran had talked to Syl, Marche continued. "You seen Mewt yet? Most everyone else has made it through."

Geoffrey looked around the slowly growing crowd as the guards and the warriors that had come through escorted them in. He did not yet see, however, the Prince-mage. He shook his head in response to Marche's question, before saying "So this is near everyone, then?" The knight looked around at the small crowd, then to Ike, wondering what the King would want to do with the refugees.

After another moment, Geoffrey asked, "Ike, where is Kieran?" He could only hope his Second-in-Command was staying out of trouble, or otherwise making himself busy in taking control of this situation.

Marche frowned and muttered a curse under his breath. "If Mewt's not here, I have no idea quite what percentage we're at." He looked around and surveyed the room, then shook his head sharply. "None of the supplies are here yet. We do have a bunch, by the way. Our problem is more that our enemies would rather butcher their own families than lose this war."
While Marche continued looking around the room, muttering to himself, and shouting orders when necessary, Ike answered Geoffrey's question. "I left him outside my room, in case any refugees lost their way. I didn't want anyone disrupting Elincia or having her wandering about looking for something to do." The new father grinned and shrugged, downplaying his statement about Elincia's current decision-making skills. "I'm not sure she would, but I don't quite trust her right now. She's far too friendly when she's tired, and she has some weird ideas about who should be holding Greil."
As if to assuage Marche's worry, a portal soon expanded in the throne room. This one was by far the largest any of them had ever seen, and the majority of the people in the room had to flood to the very sides to make room for it.
When the spell cleared, nearly three or four times the people were inside the throne room of Melior. Unlike the groups before, this one was equal parts soldiers to civilains; and no one was unscathed. In the center of the group, literally blazing with magic, stood Mewt. Both his hands were pressed to the shoulder of two mages, who Ike vaguely recognized as Bervenia Palace time mages. His normally light hair was dark and clumped with blood, which was also on his face and hands. His armor, which looked incredibly out of place on the young ruler, was pierced in many places, revealing soft and pale skin. However, despite the blood on his clothes and body, his body was unpierced or, at least, it had been healed wherever a blade had broken through the healer's skin.
A hand wave from the prince quickly disarmed the Ivalicians, which relaxed the Crimean guard significantly. Mewt, his head held high, made his way through the crowd, gently touching near everyone he passed in a gesture of sympathy and connection. His gait, carefully thought through to provide the right amount of control and yet still appear serious, kept him from reaching Geoffrey and Marche for nearly a minute and a half. When he did reach them, the leadership facade remained tightly in place. These days, Mewt never removed it. "King Crimea. Lord Delbray. Sorry for the intrusion. The royal treasury is over there; if it's acceptable, I'll make time quite soon to go over it with your representative and discuss reasonable recompense. I'd offer you it all, but some of the magical antiques in there are more a curse than a gift. The food supplies are over there, and-" he quickly began outlining what they had brought through them.
To Ike and Geoffrey, it soon became clear that, whatever was going on, Mewt had a plan; and that plan did <i>not</i> involve being any more burden than necessary. He had food supplies, clothing shipments, armor, weapons, tents, blankets, everything except a safe place for his people to reside. That was clearly a temporary situation. He was already listing off death counts, the most visibly emotional he was throughout the whole conversation, and formulating a new battle plan. Now that the civilians were safe and his enemies morality cards were clear, he could move forward.
"Will any of this be a problem, King Ike? We could always pursue alternate options." He asked quiely, tone more intense than Ike had ever heard it.

"It will be fine, Mewt."

Elincia's voice was serene and comforting as she entered the room, an abashed looking Kieran behind her and a sleeping Greil in her arms. The noise level in the room, which had been near silent when Mewt appeared, fell completely quiet as the Crimean Queen entered with her son. She had taken the time to put on a shawl over her modest white dress, but it was clear that she had hurried out of bed to come attend to the situation in the throne room. Not having anyone really to watch Greil, as Kieran was needed equally as much in the throne room to calm and organize the crowd, she brought the infant with her.

"We have plenty of room. Though I cannot claim complete security, there are miles of field around the castle. You have seen it yourself, Mewt, so you know. Crimea has never had anything but peaceful intent towards Ivalice and your rule, Mewt. Know that you and your people are welcome here for as long as is required."

"You have my thanks, Queen Elincia." While the formal tone didn't drop, Mewt's expression and body language relaxed immediately. Clearly, the prince had been fearing that Crimea would have some problem with his actions, despite whatever he was able to logically inform himself of.
His jaw dropped slightly when he saw Greil, and one hand reached to his face to massage his temple subtly. From the condition of mother and child, despite how well they had been taken care of, it was clear how recently the child had been born. In a stark contrast to his general, for Marche swore in no uncertain and not-particularly quiet terms, Mewt simply swallowed and complimented the child immediately. "I assume this is the new heir? A privilege to meet him. Him? Her?" He glanced at Ike inquiringly, expecting the new father to leap forward with the information.
Ike took no time in obliging Mewt with the information. "A boy. Greil Ramon Crimea, after his two grandfathers." He stared adoringly at his wife and child, hesitating to get closer than arms reach in case he broke the child. Despite that fear, he couldn't resist the urge to touch his firstborn. "Elincia?" The King started pleadingly, staring at her with some of the biggest puppy eyes he'd ever managed. "If I sit down, canIholdhim?" The last words came out in a rush as Ike, literally, bounced.
He was clearly trying to restrain himself, for he would bounce and then clench his jaw and stay still. This very action would declare his cause helplessly lost, but Elincia had previously seen the effect Greil had on Ike. His coordination increased dramatically, his thoughts slowed down, and his bouncing ceased immediately. His whole focus became his son and keeping him safe, and it was hard to get his attention at all.
From behind them, there was a shriek, one louder and much more piercing than the general muddle of noise in the room. Ritz charged into the room and bowled into Marche, pressing him against the wall and pulling his head into a kiss. When she finished, she smiled up at him delightedly, ignoring the refugees that stilled filled the room. "You should have told me you were coming. I might have dressed up."
While the two families interacted so, Mewt quickly took his leave from Geoffrey and Kieran and rejoined his people. Immediately, the group arranged itself and started to distribute their supplies and transport them to the fields Elincia had offered. It was quite a credit to the teen's leadership abilities, for he gave orders off the cuff that were immediately delegated out and accomplished.

Soren had come to Melior to visit with the royal family, not to parade himself through a refugee camp.

That being said, there was only one enterance to the castle, and Soren found himself weaving his horse around tent after Ivalician tent to get to the door. Lucia had come up here a week or so before he had, as it was apparent that Elincia was at the end of her pregnancy, and her sister wanted to be there. Soren could take it or leave it, and, as he would probably only end up in the way, he'd stayed in Felirae until he'd heard news of the prince's birth this morning.

Clearly, however, there was something going on here that he had not been informed of.

He could feel himself being stared at, but he didn't feel the need to explain his presence or who he was, trying to make it look as if he knew what he was doing so that there would be as little social interaction as possible. For, while his station had changed, he was still Soren, and he didn't like strangers.

He finally made his way to the palace stables, leaving his grey horse with the servant that had been mucking out the stalls, and made his way to the throne room.

He was aware of the smell of blood, and wrinkled his nose as he entered the room. Several servants were mopping at the floor, and Soren's crimson eyes found the red pools that he had known would be there. A frown creased his mouth, but he said nothing. He did wonder, however, what had happened...

He made his way down the hall, then up the staircase to Ike and Elincia's room, the next most likely place they would be. He smiled slightly when he saw the door open, and heard his own wife's laughter coming from inside. Sore reached the door and knocked on the frame to announce his presence. The room was already quite crowded, with both Delbray siblings and the royal couple and...

"My, he's cuter than I expected, Ike," Soren said, smiling slightly as he saw the newborn prince.

Ike, to everyone's surprise, managed not to drop the baby as he stood up to greet his friend. "Soren! You got here fast!" The new father looked somewhat at a loss for what to do with his body, for he would normally bear-hug Soren. The mage whined about it every time, especially if it happened publically; but, due to their relative sizes, he had no recourse. This time, to the mage's gratitude, he was safe.
That is, he was safe. Lucia rose from her leaning stance on Elincia's bed and quickly crossed the distance to Soren. After hugging him tightly, she turned to Ike with a dangerous smile. "Ike, last time you look this conflicted, you fainted. Let me take Greil." The child's aunt reached out and lifted the baby from his father's arm, leaving Soren completely vulnerable to Ike's death-crush. Lucia returned to her spot by Elincia, fussing over the baby in an entirely out-of-character manner.
Ike, with only a minor whimpered protest as Lucia removed his child, wasted no time in grabbing his friend by the shoulders and crushing the life out of him. Once he felt Soren had been suitably shown affection to, the King released his victim and grinned at him in the insipid style only Ike could ever accomplish. "Hey, Soren. I'm a father!" Ike announced delightedly. "I have a son," he stated, voice dropping in awe and adoration. "Isn't he adorable?"

Soren looked fairly appalled at his wife, before being crush-hugged. He wheezed softly, as he had discovered making noises like that served to make Ike let go sooner, then caught his breath before speaking again. "Yes, yes, congradulations," he said, smiling slightly once again. He paused for a moment, then asked, "You <i>fainted</i>?"

"He did. It was fantastic," Geoffrey said, grinning from where he was leaning against the far wall. "He was all laid out. Took me near a minute to revive him while Lucia took his place holding Elincia's hand. It was <i>very</i> supportive," the knight said, laughing slightly at Ike's expense.

Soren snickered, shaking his head slightly, before saying, "Way to set the bar for the rest of us, Ike." He smiled at his friend, before turning his gaze to Greil. He seemed torn for a moment, before gently asking, "May I hold him?"

Ike flushed and scowled at Lucia for bringing that up. Again. "I-I had to set a standard the rest of you could live up to. It was intentional." The King backed away from Soren and Geoffrey, as if that would make them stop, and flopped back on the bed. He rolled onto his stomach and squirmed his way up to Elincia, giving her another lost puppy gaze, though he couldn't keep the smile off his lips. "I was supportive, right? And you were doing really well, just like I knew you would."
Lucia, after an inquiring glance to Elincia, careful handed the prince off to his uncle. "Don't drop him. Ike has managed not to, so far; and no one would <i>ever</i> let you forget it." She cautioned as she transfered the baby. Once Greil was safely in Soren's grip, she rejoined the adult conversation in time to reply to Ike's question. "That's true, Ike. You were very supportive. Especially when I was holding your hand and telling you everything would be okay. You did really well then."

Elincia put her arms around Ike's neck and smiled, "Yes. I am glad you were there, though," she said. She looked as though she was about to kiss Ike, but drew back sharply and gasped when she heard Greil begin to cry.

Soren was standing there, flabbergasted as he stared at the child in his arms, and looked back up at Ike and Elincia.

"He... doesn't like me," he said quietly, quickly looking to pass off the screaming child to someone else. Geoffrey stepped forward and took the boy, and the young prince almost immediately quieted down. Soren frowned, looking a bit insulted, and crossed his arms. He took Geoffrey's place leaning against the all, as Geoffrey took Greil back over to Elincia and Ike. The new mother pulls her son into her arms, laughing quietly.

"You have to admit, Soren, you <i>are</i> a bit intimidating," she said gently, looking over at the branded mage. Soren's red eyes narrowed slightly, then he looked to Lucia.

"I'll be better with ours, hopefully," he muttered, rubbing his temple slightly.

Lucia laughed and slid herself next to Soren, wrapping one arm around his neck and kissing his temple lightly. "You will be, I guarantee it." She looked at Elincia and Ike, who was bent over Elincia to coo at Greil, before pressing her nose against Soren's. "I'm sure Ike and Elincia will let you practice with Greil quite often. You probably just startled him. He was just born a few hours ago." She turn and observed the baby, who was silently drooling on his father's shirt. "Look, he was just tired. He'll like you much more when he wakes up."
While the Felirae couple had that murmured conversation, Ike had indeed begged his way back into holding Greil. The newborn was curled up against his father's chest, a pool of drool spreading across Ike's shirt. Ike, for his part in the scene, looked like his face might split in two from the smile he wore. "Look at him, Elincia. Look at our baby."

"Hm," Soren conceeded with a shrug. He glanced over as Lucia did at the young couple and their child, and caught himself smiling. He forced the expression away, then thought better of it and forced it back. "I hope that ours will like me. Greil's probably scared of my demon eyes." The last sentence was muttered, for only Lucia to hear.

Elincia laughed, but not because she heard Soren, but because of Ike's joy. She was delighted as well, but Ike just seemed more attractive with a child in his arms. At least, to her. She was so happy that he was happy...

"I see him, Ike," she said, leaning against her husband gently, before yawning. She covered her mouth with her hand quickly, but Geoffrey had seen.

"I guess it's about time for us to clear out," he said, turning to Lucia and Soren. He cast his gaze over to Ike as well, saying, "I'm sure both of you are tired, we'll get out of your way."

Soren turned back to Lucia and took her arm gently. He sent another smile and a nod in the Kind and Queen's direction, his gaze softening slightly as he saw the child again. He had never considered the fact that he would be a family man, but he couldn't help feeling just a bit envious of the couple... and felt also a new anxiety in his stomach that he'd not expected. He'd been nervous ever since he'd heard about Lucia's pregnancy, but now, seeing Elincia's child, the whole thing felt more <i>real</i>.

"...let's get moving, then," he said quickly, exiting the room before he made himself sick with nerves. He tried to entertain some other, less disconcerting thoughts than becoming a father, but it just seemed so difficult...

Ike looked up for a split second as Lucia closed the door behind her, leaving him alone in the room with his family. He scooted off the bed to place the sleeping Greil in his crib, looking distinctly heartbroken as he did so, then rejoined Elincia by the bed and tucked his wife in carefully. The King leaned on the bed and smiled at his wife coyly before standing up again.
"You want me to go change and I'll sleep next to you, now, or I can go do some stuff and sleep later when I won't bother you." He glanced over at the crib where Greil was sleeping and and turned back to his wife. "You want me to take Greil so he doesn't wake you? If he wakes up? I wouldn't mind, if you want some space." The blue-haired swordsman raised both eyebrows in question and stared at his spouse, looking for an answer of some sort. He was perfectly willing to do either. Either way, he was right next to Greil.

"Stay, if you would," Elincia said, pulling her hand out from under the blankets and taking his. I like it when you're close," she added, looking up at him adoringly. She pulled herself up slightly using his hand, and pressed her lips against his. "I love you, you know," she reminded. Her cheeks were near-sore from all the smiling she had done already, but she beamed at her husband. "I'm so glad that you love me, too..."

((URGH WHY IS THIS SO SHORT MUSE WHY DO YOU BETRAY ME NOW IT IS KIERAN'S FAULT ALL HIS))