Fire Emblem: Children of Light

Chapter 2: The Quiet Knight

  With his tome in hand, Aurelio and Callista make their way across the hallway and down a few more flights of stairs into a large room beneath the castle. Several patches of matted soil could be seen lining the floor, serving as mock battlefields for the trainees. A spot on the back wall was plastered with targets for the archers to practice their shots. Ian could be seen standing in the center of the room, watching over a group of soldiers who were all sparring against each other, swords held tightly in hand. Ian could see Aurelio and Callista out of the corner of his eye and smiles. He taps his lance against the ground and the soldiers stop their sparring.

  "At ease everyone!" Ian shouts. It was the loudest Aurelio and Callista had ever heard him. "We'll resume practice later, rest up for now!" The soldiers nod and head off into the other side of the barracks where all their rooms where.
  "Wow Ian, I didn't know that you're army captain." Callista exclaims.
  "Yeah, someone's had to keep them busy ever since Mother became the marshal." Ian chuckles. He had returned to his usual, soft-spoken voice. "What brings you two down here? Do you require my assistance?"
  "Yes actually. Ian, I want you to be my sparring partner." Aurelio says.
  "You want to spar with me Lord Aurelio?" Ian asks, looking surprised. "Forgive me, but I couldn't possibly."
  "And why not? I can't learn to fight if I don't have someone to fight against!" Aurelio says impatiently.
  "You're not trained on how to deal with melee attackers such as myself." Ian replies calmly. "Forgive me for saying this My Lord, but without any form, I'd be able to walk all over you..."
  "Well, someone has to teach it to me! I can't get better just sitting still!"
  "My..." Ian says, concerned with Aurelio's growing impatience. "Lady Callista, just what has possessed your brother?"
  "He wants to help out the people of Vibestia--you saw them earlier in the hall--but ever since Father said that he's unable to fight, he's been all riled up." Callista says. "If only he'd be this exciteable towards cleaning his room..."
  "Well, he's certainly inherited some of his mother's stubborn enthusiasm." Ian says. "But Aurelio, you can't fight like this. People let their guard down when they're excited and cannot focus straight. Why don't you step outside and cool your head, if you don't mind me suggesting? I'll see what I can do, but I can't teach you anything until you calm down."
  "Tch, whatever..." Aurelio scowls and leaves the training area. Ian steps into the back side of the barracks for a quick moment and comes back out with two training axes. He gently hands one to Callista. "Now, I'm not nearly as adept with an axe as your mother Callista, but with this free time I can teach you a thing or two, if you're ready and willing of course."
  Callista nods and raises her axe. "Yeah, let's go!"

  The two head over to one of the dirt training fields and begin to spar as Aurelio heads back up the steps and into the hallway containing his room and the guest chambers. He begins heading to his room when he hears a faint noise in the distance. It sounded like humming. Intrigued, Aurelio decides to follow the noise. In doing so, Aurelio ends up on one of the castle's balconies overhanging the ocean. To his surprise, the noise was not humming at all but faint singing. Standing at the edge of the balcony was Galatea, still dressed in her armor, singing softly to herself.

  "Good afternoon." Aurelio says, attempting to be friendly. Galatea's song turns into a shriek as she nearly jumps out of her skin, alarmed by Aurelio's sudden appearance. "Gah! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you-"
  "I-I-It's fine..." She says, trying to quietly recollect herself. She was even more soft-spoken than Ian was. "P-Prince Aurelio, r-right what brings you here?"
  "I'm just out clearing my head." Aurelio replies. "I was on my way to my room actually when I heard singing, so I figured I'd check it out."
  "S-Sorry," Galatea was nervously wringing her hands. "I-I didn't mean to disturb y-your walk..."
  "Not at all! Your singing is rather enchanting."
  "N-No, you're too kind..." Galatea smiles weakly.
  "Anyways, what are you doing out here?" Aurelio asks. "This is a rather remote part of the castle, I mean, I didn't even know we had a balcony out this way."
  "I-I suppose I got a bit lost..." Galatea chuckles quietly a bit to herself but then looks at Aurelio. "I-I went for a walk too, b-b-but have I wandered too far? D-Do you want me to go back?"
  "No no, you're fine." Aurelio chuckles. "You may go wherever you like, well except for my chamber I guess, it's kind of mess in there and I wouldn't want you tripping over anything."
  "I-I'll have to keep that in mind..." Galatea nods. "S-Sorry, I-I never introduced myself, d-did I? H-How foolish of me... I'm G-Galatea, a knight of Vibestia, l-like Maude..."
  "So you're a knight huh? My liege Ian is one too, well sort of. He's the man from earlier with the curly brown hair and heavy armor, similar to yours." Aurelio says. "Hey, what's it like being a knight?"
  "W-What's it like..?" Galatea goes quiet. She wasn't sure how to answer.
  "Sorry, I don't mean to pry," Aurelio says awkwardly. "I know I've been asking a lot of questions, but we never get guests here at the castle, so I'm a bit excited y'know?"
  "N-No no, I'm just not sure how to answer..." Galatea says with a nervous laugh. "I-I've never really thought about it b-before... Y-You have be get strong to become a knight, s-so I guess that's why I did it. I-I want to get a-as strong as I can be, I-I became a knight n-not because I had to, but because I-I want to protect the people I-I care about..."
  "Wow, that's really cool." Aurelio says. "That's partly why I took up magic, I've got people I want to protect. You... you said you had to become a knight, yeah?"
  "Mm-hm." Galatea nods weakly. "I-I was born into a h-high family, s-so my career w-was pretty much chosen for me f-from the get-go. But i-if I have to do it, I-I might as well make the b-best of it, right?"
  "I feel that." Aurelio nods. "As a prince, there's so much stuff that was set in stone from the very beginning, stuff that I really don't wanna do; but hey, I wanna help people out, and to do that I've gotta get over the little stuff yeah?"
  "R-Right," Galatea sighs. "I-I hate to end this conversation so a-abruptly Aurelio, b-but I really must be going. M-Maude has begun m-making plans for potential c-counterattacks against Sieghild, a-and she's requested for s-some of my expertise..."
  "No worries, I've gotta go too. If you two need any help with that, just ask, I don't really want to sound like a braggart or anything but I fancy myself to be a bit of tactician." Aurelio says.
  "R-Really?" Galatea smiles. "I-I'll have to remember that." She stops of the balcony and begins heading down the hallway.
  "Um, Galatea?" Aurelio asks, stopping her. "Do you think you could show me a thing or two sometime? A-About fighting I mean. I... I'd like to get stronger too."
  Galatea nods. "S-Sure, why don't you stop by my chamber? Tommorow perhaps?"
  "Yeah, sounds good."

  Galatea heads down the hallway, making her way towards Maude's chamber. Aurelio stays on the balcony for a moment, looking out towards the ocean. He sighs and then steps off, heading back towards the barracks. On the way there however, he bumps into Alda.

  "I don't think I've ever seen her talk so much." Alda chuckles.
  "What do you mean?" Aurelio asks.
  "I didn't hear all of it, but I was on my way towards the kitchen when I overheard you two. For a lady who's awfully shy, she sure had a lot to say."
  "I suppose I'm just an easy person to talk to." Aurelio chuckles. "Or so I've been told. If you're looking for the kitchens, you can find them on the ground floor, down a few doors to the left of where we talked with Father a little while ago."
  "Thanks."
  "No problem, just yell if you need anything."

  Alda makes her way down towards the kitchens and Aurelio returns down into the training room of the barracks. Callista and Ian had just finished their spar and now Ian sat at the edge of the soil mound, patiently waiting for Aurelio.

  "Is everything now in order My Lord?" Ian asks calmly.
  "I believe so." Aurelio smiles. "Let's get training."