Changing Neighborhoods

Changing Neighborhoods
The grass is always greener on the other side...until you get there.

• Lilithe Sarangerel - Level 10/1 Dark Knight ([v])
• Ethelia Sreda Cervickova - Level 10 Pegasus Knight (Kei)

As a staff officer amongst the Pegasus Knights, there were a few benefits and privileges that Ethelia Sreda Cervickova enjoyed. For starters not only could she read, she could also write, and she happened to do both very well. With a modernizing knight corps becoming increasingly bureaucratic, the outfit met the need to have more and more literate knights handling paperwork, strategy, and logistics, something that Ethelia generally used as a justification for why she was sortieing less and less on her pegasus out on patrols. Say it in the right tones, using the right words, and it even sounded like something that the other knights sympathized with you on. "I haven't been on patrol for quite some time, actually," one could say, "but, you know, what can I do? I have a very special skillset: I'm good with a quill. And commanders want them closer to base so they can handled the pocketbook."

Ethelia had since lost count of how many sympathetic pats on the back she received from her fellow knights, as if they pitied her for being held back by bureaucratic necessity. Of course, personally, she was quite fine with staying in the rear, watching with a tinge of schadenfreude as people worked themselves to an apoplectic fit over the entire war while she spectated from the sidelines.

But there would eventually come a time when she had to do at least a little something combat-wise to stave off too much scrutiny, something that Ethelia didn't precisely look forward to, but wasn't precisely dreading either. The war between Ylisse and Plegia only accelerated that necessity. Still, she didn't intend to take patrol duty too seriously, which was why she managed to convince her superiors that she'd go on a scouting run alone, with no partners. After all, it would be a pain for superiors to be evaluating her performance, and it would be awkward for her subordinates to have to cover up the fact that Ethelia was kind of being a slacker. And saying that she was going to patrol close to the Plegian border killed two birds with one stone; not only was there a tremendous lack of enthusiasm from volunteers not particularly eager to fly so close to enemy territory, that her "occasional sortie" was in such a hot spot would probably get the scrutiny of her superiors off her back a little. After all, if Ethelia was offering to take the most dangerous patrols when she wasn't at a desk, no one could doubt her commitment. And pay amongst the Pegasus Knights was honestly pretty good, so it wasn't as if she wanted to be dismissed anytime soon.

That effectively meant that Ethelia was soaring across a relatively clear sky in the afternoon, the wind brushing across her face as she flew over the western edges of Ylisse, a mere two kilometers from the Plegian border. Her pegasus, Neige, was in top form, allowing thermals to pass under her splendid wings and achieving a gentle glide. Beneath her, western Ylisse looked relatively picturesque, which was surprising, considering the previous war had near-devastated the countryside, causing widespread famine and droughts. That greenery had returned to a patch of land was a little...well, Ethelia wasn't entirely sure what she felt. It was good, of course, that the land had healed, that people could live here again instead of in a wasteland born from five years of conflict. But it was funny how the scars of war had disappeared from the land after fifteen years, especially when humans such as herself were still struggling with memories of the previous war.

It was like human suffering didn't matter to the world at all. And why should it? Ethelia asked herself, finding the question to be strangely more satisfying than an answer she didn't bothered to arrive at.

She passed over another mountain, spotting several spots against the canyon below as the terrain revealed itself below. Ethelia concentrated a little, allowed her eyes to focus, edged Neige a little lower and closer. It was likely that it was a Plegian squad, in which case Ethelia would elect to refrain from engaging, instead returning to base and informing her superiors of the enemy's presence; after all, she couldn't very much expect to take on all those men and women by herself, even if there was a decent possibility that she could. If they were bandits...well, they were likely Plegians anyways, although Ethelia herself doubted that the deception - Plegian regulars in brigand garb - was still necessary now that both countries were technically at war. And if they were refugees...well, the local Ylissian lords had issued new edicts due to recent developments - embarrassing ones - happening with the outbreak of war, but Ethelia was honestly of mind to simply turn them a blind eye.

But as she got closer, she suddenly realized that none of the dots down there were Plegians, or even bandits. They held weapons yet, but even from up here, Ethelia could spot the rotting skin, hanging haphazardly off bones, covered by ruined clothes and brittle remnants of armor.

Risen? Ethelia thought with a shrug, and pulled Neige into a dive as she readied her spear for battle. Yeah, I can do Risen.

Behind a group of the risen, a black costumed, and lightly armored, woman was following. Her hair was pitched black equally in every area, her saddened eyes were green like emerald. She professionally kept distance from the risen's notice radius that they couldn't sense her.

Risen, why at a time like this? Lilithe pondered, worrying about her own gate check. If the risen attack Yllise for real, the security at the gate would be even more strict and that she will have harder time passing through. It would be real bad if she got caught and sent back just before arriving the first destination.

Now, she could just keep distance and stalk the unexpected guests for Ylisse.

Her wings tucked into a dive, Neige bolted from the skies, choosing an incline that allowed for a swift flyby, close enough to at least one Risen for Ethelia to masterfully dislodge its head with the thrust of a spear. It wasn't too hard; the pegasus' flight was silent, and rider and mount had taken a rear approach, moving up behind them, and it wasn't until the spear had taken off one Risen head and tore a gash through the shoulder of another that the Risen suddenly noticed the presence of a pegasus diving past them with a knight upon her, a hard beat of her wings ending the dive and pulling the duo back up into the sky beyond the reach of their melee weapons. That was the very nice thing about being a master of the skies: The mooks on the ground could not touch oneself until one executed a flyby to attack...and the offense was at the choosing of the flier, not the hapless foe on the ground.

Well, except for the Archers on the ground, really. Of which Ethelia counted two, noting that they were finally reacting and knocking their arrows, preparing to fire. Instantly, she turned Neige towards the safety of the peaks, allowing the mountains to block the two arrows that flew after her as she disappeared momentarily from the vision of the Risen, who attempted to guess from where she was going to show up next...because Ethelia was not so foolish as to show up predictably on the other side of the same mountain.

Flying along the base of the mountains, hidden within the crevices where the Risen could not see, Ethelia manage a full semicircle around the Risen formation before appearing on the other side. The enemy was not as unskilled as to uniformly turn in a single direction, but only one Archer was turned remotely in her direction, meaning Ethelia only had to dodge one arrow in seconds, not two. Deliberately choosing a slightly angled approach, she forced the Risen Archer to lead his shot, forced him to aim ahead of her in hopes of shooting the spot where she'd be by the time the arrow got there...except when he did loose the arrow, Ethelia pulled her reins, and there was another powerful beat of Neige's wings as she propelled air forwards, causing the pegasus to stall in midair, almost as if it was floating in place...and allowing the arrow to fly harmless before them and past them. Tucking her wings back in again, Neige pulled into another dive to pick up speed before gliding directly towards the Archer, and before that Risen shooter could manage to knock another arrow, Ethelia had already taken his head with Kaninchenbau.

This, of course, left the other Archer...

Lilithe became astonished when she saw from afar a single pegasus knight who tried to fight those risen alone. No matter how great the reputation of Ylissian ppegasus knights was, and this one was quite skilled for what she just did, she wouldn't stand a chance.

The female dark knight slowly followed the group, no pacing faster in order to give that girl a hand, and found a hiding tree for herself before taking another look. She still had no intention to make he journey a suicide one by fighting those risen.

Gazing at the pegasus rider, she wondered how come a human can ride such dangerous steed. It only take one good fall to join Grima's realm.

The exit of Ethelia dive was at another angle, complete with a curved trajectory, once again throwing off the last Risen Archer's aim...although only just barely; Ethelia noted as the arrow passed her shoulder that the projectile had come uncomfortably close to her own body. That alone seriously waned her enthusiasm in trying to do battle with the rest of the Risen alone. Sure, she could take on the rest, only four of them left, all of them stranded on the ground while she freely made passes at them. She might even win. But, then again, she might also be downed by a lucky shot, and that'd be embarrassing.

The far more prudent option, Ethelia reasoned, was simply to report to base, report back in, and have an entire squad initiate mop-up operations in the area. They'd make quick work of the Risen remnant, and it'd take less than two hours for Ethelia to return and a Pegasus Knight squad to return to this position. Maybe another hour trying to search for where the Risen had displaced too, but given the speed of a pegasus and the eyesight of their riders, this would probably only account for an extra hour. The Risen were not about to lay siege to any helpless Ylissean villages within the next three hours.

Or so Ethelia thought, except as she prepared to pull away and return to base, she spotted something a mere thirty meters away from the Risen, hidden in a ditch and previously located in a blind spot of her aerial vantage points. There were people in the ditch, barely moving, quite obviously hiding, lying in wait, almost two dozen of them, a collection of what seemed to be women and children.

They were definitely not Risen; they looked far too alive and far too scared to be reanimated corpses. Yet they lacked the armor to be Plegian infantry, the robes to be Plegian magicians, and the weapons to be bandits. Instead, they were armed only with satchels and armored only with the remnants of commoner clothes.

Refugees, Ethelia realized with a bit of surprise, watching the appearance of a third party and not entirely sure what to make of it. Plegian refugees.

Somehow, that sky rider managed to lessen the number of those risen to four, causing Lilither to feel even more inferior. It confirmed her that people with such talent did exist, and it was not her. The pessimistic magi swordswoman decided to move closer to the group of the undead, as she thought that the pegasus knight should be able to finish them by the time she got there. It was still a little far from her current position.

However, due to the same fact that she was still a distance away, and that she stood on the ground, little did Lilithe know that there were more than the risen coming her way.

Ethelia circled around again, staying just outside the reach of the Risen Archer's firing range, surveying the situation. At merely thirty meters away from the refugees, the surviving Risen were in a position that - in combat terms - could be safely described as "right on top of them". If she left without taking care of the trash, there was a very good chance that the Risen would locate and kill off the refugees. Considering that most of the latter were young women and children with no weapons or armor of any kind, even four of the Risen were more of a match than the Plegian escapees. To give the refugees any real chance of surviving, Ethelia would have to eliminate the Risen, something that she was not looking forward to, nor was she sure she could accomplish entirely on her own.

She shrugged, angled Neige on a return corridor eastwards, preparing to return to base. They're just refugees, she told herself. Plegian refugees. Even if they manage the survive the Risen, they'll not survive the local lords executing their spies. Better a quick death from mindless corpses than a slow death in the dungeons.

And so Ethelia and Neige drifted off eastwards, back towards Ylisse, where she'd inform her knights about the remaining Risen, where they'd fly out, re-kill the corpses, and find mangled Plegian corpses in the mountains that were never supposed to be on this side of the border anyways.

And, for a moment, Ethelia convinced herself this was entirely acceptable.

"...Dammit," she muttered as soon as that moment was over, pulled the reins on Neige, and tucked the pegasus into another dive. The Risen were in a state of half-guard, seeing Ethelia leaving but uncertain if it was a feint, so when she and her pegasus suddenly became much larger than just a dot against the sky, they managed to put up a defense just in time; the Archer couldn't quite notch his arrow in time, but Ethelia's own lance-thrust was deflected by a sufficiently large shield, bouncing harmlessly off metal.

The Pegasus Knight scowled; the Risen were learning.

Neige landed on the ground as Ethelia leapt over and off onto the ground, putting herself between the Risen in front of her and the Plegian refugees behind her, the latter of which were still invisible from the Risen, but not quite for long. "Go, go," she patted Neige's neck almost immediately, urging her pegasus to take off into the air and be prepared for immediate pickup when necessary. In the meantime, she just had to somehow pull off a sufficiently-long defense for the refugees to run off...somewhere. "Everybody get up and run!" Ethelia shouted behind her, before - when hesitation seemed to prevent the crowd hidden in the ditch from re-materializing at all - screaming, "Now!"

And, immediately, with cries and screams, twenty-odd women and children were suddenly pouring out from the crevice beside the road against the mountain, trying to run in the other direction, trying to get safe, at least just for long enough for this strange, gray-haired lady to hold the Risen off long enough for the refugees to get clear. Easy as pie.

Right?

For some reason, Lilithe noticed that the pegasus rider was going to pull back. It was good to know that that person knew her limit, as well as it was good to know that there was limitation even for geniuses. However, instead of fleeing, the pegasus turned around and its rider began her attack on the risen again.

"What...?" Lilithe twitched as things didn't go as she expected. It was good that the woman resumed attacking again to clear up her way, but something was not right due to her earlier action. The black mistress stayed confused until she saw more shadows from the Ylisse direction, it didn't take her long to figure out those people. ...Plegians? How come they are here, for so many?

The dark knight slowed down her pace, thinking. So, the pegasus knight continued fighting those risen because of those refugees. Why...would she do that? Those are her enemies, or citizen of the foe country. Was she out of her mind to react so?

No. It was more like that person acted on her human instinct, in order to help others just like that. Now, compare to someone who went out of her way to help others, Lilithe wondered what would she be to make use of such person for her own benefit.

"This is truly irritating..." The witch knight mumbled as she approached the risen group, she aimed at them while casting an anima magic in her hand. I guess I'll try a different element this time...

She waited until the pegasus knight ascended into the sky before launching out an orb of ice. The ball fled to the center of the risen and then exploded, firing several ice flakes to the undead to damage and stop their movement. However, as her anima skill was just at beginner level, what it did was only slowing them down.

She looked up to the pegasus knight, and nodded, as a sign that she was there for assistance. Hopefully, the Plegian refugees, women and children, got away before her spell faded.

((OOC: New spell created: Frozen Orb: Corrode + Potency + Area of Effect))

The unexpected magic that cut across the Risen ranks was surprising; was there a magician mixed up amongst the refugees that Ethelia had not accounted for? No, as the lady in question came up, swirling with arcane energies, the Pegasus Knight knew that this newcomer - despite being Plegian - was a fourth party that she had not previously accounted for. But aside from the magic that had obviously been aimed at her enemies, there was a quiet nod, an acknowledgment that she was here to assist. Well, isn't that nice? Ethelia thought, turning her attention back upon the Risen, noting that their movements had slowed, and as a snap-decision, took up Phantomschmerz in her hand, primed it over her shoulder twice, before hurling it in the direction of one of the Risen. Not unexpectedly, the Risen with the shield managed to block the projectile just barely in time...except the magic in the javelin suddenly detonated what Ethelia had always liked to call an "alternate reality version" of the spear, sending magical shrapnel flying through the shield while Phantomschmerz itself remained whole. Semi-tangible fragments passed through the shield before tearing through what remained of the Risen's flesh, blasting unpleasant holes into it, and it toppled to the ground.

Three left.

"If it is convenient for you, my dame," Ethelia remarked, holding Kaninchenbau at the ready in preparation to hold off three remaining Risen at once somehow with a single spear, "I think I'm just confident enough to focus entirely on a defense...should you find it charitable to have me as your shield and pick them off with your magic from behind."

Lilithe finally got a chance to see the rider up close, especially when the woman talked to her. This sky soldier should be around the same age like herself if not a bit older, she possessed grey hair color wearing a uniform like most soldiers in Ylisse. The dark practitioner noted that she had to be careful not to be found out being Plegian. But first, she needed to say something in return.

"Please allow me to take that offer... thank you." Staying behind the winged steed, and the rider, Lilithe accumulated her mana in her raised hand. She calmly chanted her spell until it was ready to activate, and that what she did. Thunder...

A plain thunder spell struck down from the sky, right at the head of the risen with heavy axe. The caster doubted these creatures will be smart enough to get stunned from electricity, but that killed it due to the ice that lingered around the thing's body that multiplied thunder damage. Simple theory was always workable.

The remaining risen, two of them, began to move at their speed again as the ice melted away. They were quite fast compared to human movement, and Lilithe was not ready for it. She abruptly summoned an ice shard and fired at one of the foe, and it missed.

Now they were coming too close to her liking.

In a normal duel, a combatant needed to instantly weigh all tactical options with each other. As defeating the opponent was obviously the goal of any fight, all attempts at defense were, in fact, an attempt to lead an opponent into an opening where one could exercise several different counteroffensive options. Thus, the focus was not always only about the defense, but also about the offense and the counteroffense and how they could be tied together like links on a chain. And then one had to factor in endurance, how long one could be cautious, how long one can go on in a fight without losing combat effectiveness.

But right now, Ethelia did not need to think about anything unnecessary. She did not need to think about how to defend in a way to lead the two remaining Risen into a misstep, to maximize survivability with timing. All she had to do was defend; the offense and counteroffense was already being taken care of for her. So instead of allowing a Risen sword to pass dangerously close off her shoulder plate, she brushed it violently aside with her spear, taking three wide strides back, keeping both Risen at a length where they could not quite engage with their swords without risking being impaled by a pilum. In fact, she had no reservations waving her lance around like a lunatic in an attempt to keep the Risen back, an amateurish motion that wasted energy and provided no counteroffensive benefits. But that was enough.

After all, Ethelia was rather certain that the next attack from the magician behind her would be sufficient to bring an end to this fight.

Fortunately, it appeared the the pegasus knight completely screened off one of the remaining risen, leaving her to deal with one last. Still, that did not mean it will be an easy job, as the undead was already too close for her to cast a spell.

Unsheathing the saber, Lilithe parried the attack from the sword of the dead. With that huge different in strength, she was easily pushed back that she was unable to stand still. That was until she was kicked brutally that it sent her yards away. She coughed while checking on her injury, it didn't damage so much but it did interrupt her breathing. The risen followed through its own attack, readying its weapon to finish her.

Touching the ground, the witch knight cast a spell into it before a stone needle pierced from below, and to the most dangerous spot of men. It lunged from there to the risen's shoulder and completely stopped it from moving. Lilithe took her time casting another fire spell to burn it down.

She panted while groping her attacked stomach to tender her pain.

And now there was only one Risen, something that Ethelia could take care of on her own. Better yet, it was using a sword, so she deftly outmaneuvered the weapon, using her lance's superior reach to keep the opponent at bay, ensuring her own safety while keeping her foe in the killzone. Repeated jabs were desperately deflected, but the Risen could only last so long, as mindless as they were; Ethelia found a weakness in its defenses, jabbed his shoulder once, the other side again, and - with its arms weakened - broke its last block as she thrust the spearhead of into its chest, gave a twist to end its resurrected pseudo-life. And so the last Risen fell to the ground without a word, returning to its eternal slumber.

With a tired sigh, Ethelia stretched a little bit, moving in the direction where Phantomschmerz remained embedded into the corpse of the Risen she had thrown the lance at, retrieved it as the body it was pulled from made a wet sound resembling its internal organs spilling out of the gash in its chest. Returning her gaze to the magician behind her, she gave a small smile, called out, "Well met, my dame. Were you here for the refugees?" On that note, the refugees, seemingly noting that the fighting was over, had stopped in their tracks, slowly but cautiously approaching, as if trying to figure out where the two ladies who just saved their lives stood.

"No... I mean, not really. I just happened to see you, warring with these soulless bodies by yourself, and umm..." Lilithe spoke no more, as she suddenly noticed that the refugees had stopped running to watch their saviors. She still couldn't think of a reason about the fact that those children and women came from Ylisse. By looking at them, she examined the refugees' condition and realized that all were unharmed. That was good.

The witch knight turned to the Ylisse's soldier again, questioning for the truth. "These people are probably Plegian, I found it strange for them to come from Ylisse's direction. Do you have any input for me, milady?"

Actually, Lilithe hoped that the refugees were to resume their run, then she can enter Ylisse as planned.

Ethelia blinked in mild surprise at Lilithe's suggestion. "And I thought they came from Plegia," she remarked, turning to the refugees, one of whom flinched and bowed her head as soon as she realized the Pegasus Knight was looking at her. "From where do you hail, my dame?" called out Ethelia to the closest woman.

"F-From Plegia, milady," the refugee stuttered, giving an impression of a courtesy as she did so. They were a dirty, unwashed lot, their clothes full of dirt and dust; Ethelia wondered precisely how far inland from Plegia they had traveled to get to the border. "W-We have been driven from our homes due to the war, milady. The men have all been taken to fight the king's wars, and our lords refuse to protect us from bandits, demanding taxes instead. We seek a better lot in Ylisse, milady; tales of Ylissean kindness have traveled far inside Plegia."

Ethelia didn't bothered to hide a tiny smile that came upon her lips; she suspected that last sentence to be a lie, something to try and convince a Ylissean soldier to letting the refugees pass without incident. "You do realize, my dame," she remarked, "that the same war taking the men from your villages is also the same war taking the men from ours?"

"I...I-I realize, milady," said the refugee, looking a little confused, not entirely certain how to reply.

Sighing, Ethelia placed her hands on her hips, looked awkwardly first at Lilithe, then at the refugees. "The local lords have grown unfond of the current situation," she admitted, looking slightly impatient. "You're not the only persons jumping across the border; Ylisseans have also been fleeing to Plegia, convinced it has to be better on the other side. It's all very embarrassing." She turned a bit to Lilithe, as if saying it to the magician more than she was saying it to the refugees, who stirred restlessly meters away. "They've decreed that any refugees - Ylissean or Plegian - is to be turned back to whence they came, or they shall be executed either as traitors or as spies."

"They?" With what she was told just now, Lilithe widened her eye a little, asking. "You can't mean...the Exa- ...the royal family?"

It was hard to believe at first that the kind looking queen would hold such attitude toward refugees, as that person was the first one who made her heart strayed from Grima for a second.

The witch knight waited for the pegasus knight for confirmation, hoping that she will get a pleasant answer.

"Not the Exalt," Ethelia shook her head, although the lazy way she said it seemed to indicate that Ethelia wasn't interested in defending the royal family at all - she wasn't exactly fond of them either - and just stating a fact. "Just some of the local lords who realize that they'er stuck in an embarrassing situation. If it's their villagers who are running, they receive less taxes come autumn. If it's another fief's villagers who flee, it is these lords who get blamed for poor border security. And if it's Plegian refugees who come in, there is the fear that spies might be mixed in among them." She shrugged. "Obviously, with the current state of the royal family..." that was, with no one having a clue of what happened to Emmeryn, and the state of succession put in question, "...they aren't precisely in a position to hear anything about this right now."

"I see..." Sighing out of relief, that one of the role models was not a culprit of this, Lilithe turned to the refugees once again. She then turned to the refugees' representative again. "I hope... you won't run into the risen again then."

Yes, her role as a life savior should end here, she had been playing hero for enough time now. She should return to herself as well as she should resume her 'own' journey to Ylisstol. Traveling in group didn't suit her at all, that much she was aware. The witch knight acted like she was about to leave, but she halted for a bit and asked the sky soldier.

"May I ask you one more thing?" Looking at the gray haired rider with curiosity, Lilithe questioned. She was not so sure whether she should say it at first, but she finally said it. "Why did you risk your own life for these Plegian? I don't think rescuing them from the risen is listed in your job description, ...or is it?"

Ethelia held back a bit of a small smile. She supposed she had been expecting this question, in some way. Her actions hadn't exactly been rationale, that much she admitted to herself. And while Ethelia was not the kind of person who easily spoke her mind or shared her story, she supposed a simple explanation that touched on just the basics would be enough for a lady who had helped her in a life-or-death situation.

But before the Pegasus Knight had any chance to explain, the woman who had been closest to Lilithe and Ethelia spoke up hesitantly. "A t-thousand pardons, miladies," she murmured, shuffling uncomfortably where she stood. "You have saved our lives and we are very grateful...but could we intrude upon your kindness and valor once more?" She gestured to the group of frightened women and children behind them, whispered, "W-We are strangers to these lands with nothing but hope of a better life here guiding us."

"And I'm sure people of these lands are sure a better life awaits whence you came, my dame," Ethelia remarked, her polite smile striking a strange contrast with her wry words.

The refugee apparently also noticed the sardonic-yet-polite way Ethelia had replied, and - without knowing how in the heavens she was supposed to reply to such an answer - elected to pretend an interruption had not existed. "We do not know if there are anymore R-Risen along the way, or highwaymen. If you could find it within yourself, w-would you be ever so kind as to take us deeper into Ylisse, until we have reached safety?"

Ethelia looked contemplatively at the woman for a moment, putting a fist thoughtfully to her lips. "The local lords here," she finally spoke after several seconds of silence, "have mandated that all in Ylisse's service are to turn away all refugees to whence they came, or to execute them as traitors or spies. If you are found, you will be executed as Plegian spies infiltrating Ylisse. You do know this?"

Some hesitation, but eventually the refugee - despite sounding a little cowed at the very real possibility - murmured, "...Yes."

"You do realize I am in service to Ylisse?"

"...Y-Yes."

"And you do realize no promise of a better life awaits you on the other side of these mountains?"

The woman's reply was surprisingly unwavering, compared to her previous answers. "That is why it's called 'hope', milady."

Ethelia remained silent at that, merely quietly shifting a glance in the direction of Lilithe.

Lilithe frowned.

She hardly believed this lady dared enough to ask something as selfish as this so bluntly. Had she no shame that her life had just lengthened by this Ylisse knight? This should already be enough lesson for her to know impossibility of surviving by themselves. They barely survived and they should know their place, Grima provided them just that. Now, they were about to involve Lilithe herself, as well as this kind 'Yllise' rider, to join their fate.

The witch knight hardly saw the hope that the lady mentioned, only destruction. However, one thing she knew was that their mind was all set for this.

What could she do in this situation? For one, she was not certain if entering Ylisse alone would be easier than going in group, or the opposite. A large group of ladies and children would attract any eye, she thought, and that would be dangerous. One conclusion that came upon her mind was that, whatever plan they had, it would be near to impossible without the pegasus knight's assistance.

When she noticed, a glance was set at her from the knight. She seemed to be troubled as she was, and it was understandable. Lilithe had no idea what input she could add to help, these people will not listen any negotiation anyway."

"Excuse me, but could you spare us some time, in private?" The lady knight said to the refugee's representative so that she walked away, joining the rest. They all seemed to be excited about these two little hopes. It forced her to sign again.

Once she as sure they were in private enough, Lilithe said to the sky knight again. Her tone was lowered to the point it was close to monotone speech.

"I'd like to let you know I have no intention to get wiped out or get arrested along with these people." She paused, in order to make clear of her point. "Therefore, milady, depending on possibility of the plan you may have in mind, I may or may not risk my life with them, no matter how cheap it is. So, I'd like to ask what possibility you may provide, as well as if you are to help them, or let them be."

Really, it was up to this lady at this point.