Prince Nayoko of Hoshido

After leaving Palace Macarath, we marched further into Nohr, determined to make one last stand. We were heading for Cheve because a rebellion was taking place there, and Ryoma had a contact who would keep us hidden with the rebels -- the very leader of them herself.

It felt strange to be collaborating with rebels when I'd spent much of my life hunting them down. It also felt strange to continue on and leave Elise behind at Palace Macarath. I didn't know if she'd been given the cure in time or if she'd died in Xander's arms, and the what-ifs pained me.

It wasn't supposed to be any of my business. I was a Hoshidan.

Were the Hoshidans and the Nohrians really so different, though? If I hadn't begged Ryoma to grant mercy to Elise, it was clear that he would have stood and argued with Kass until my youngest Nohrian sister had died.

***

After one week of agonising travel during which I avoided everyone as much as I could, we arrived in the small country of Cheve. The leader of the rebellion was supposed to be meeting us within the first town we came to, which was as dark as Nohr but had a considerably grander feeling. The streets were dirt paths rather than cobbles, but they were wide and well-lit. The buildings were made of cream stone, and instead of being small and rammed together, they were large and set far apart.

Because King Garon's tyrannous rule stretched all the way over here, the town was deserted, but there was something calmer about the atmosphere. While the people were clearly unhappy, they weren't right in the thick of things.

We followed Ryoma down the straight roads until he broke away and ascended the steps to one of the buildings. Identical to all the rest, its cluster of windows were in line on all four floors except for the ground level, where there was a black door bang in the centre. Upon it was a plain brass knocker polished to a shine, and Ryoma tapped it five times.

In the silent town, the boots clicking towards the door were loud. With every footstep, my heart beat a little faster.

"Who's there?" a female called.

"Travellers," Ryoma said. "We are looking for a safe place to stay."

There was a pause. "Where do you think would be the safest place to stay?"

"Underground."

The door swung open. A woman with short, blonde hair and red armour was standing on the other side, wearing a grin that was both pleased and slightly menacing. "Good evening, Prince Ryoma. I thought I recognised your voice, but I had to check."

"Please, don't worry about it," he replied. "That's what passwords are for."

The woman stepped back. "Come in."

We entered a large hall that was possibly even bigger than the throne room at Castle Krakenburg. Numbered doors ringed the grey stone walls. At the end of the room, a staircase led up to another floor.

"This is how we all live in Cheve," the woman explained. "We share a building with many other people. It allows us to maintain a community feel, even when most are scared to go onto the streets."

She pulled on the bottom stair, and Ryoma moved forwards to help her. Together, they lifted the top of it. In the gap left behind, I glimpsed a ladder.

"Follow me," the woman said.

She began to descend. Ryoma went next, and I took the plunge and went afterwards.

When I hit the last step and dropped to the floor, I landed in a room so well-lit that it was hard to believe we were underground. Torches were mounted close together across the walls, and iron chandeliers hung from the ceiling. Crates of supplies were stacked up in towers. A few tables were scattered between them, where warriors broke off their quiet conversations and stared at us.

"Welcome to the Cheve Underground," the woman said. "We should be safe to talk down here. I'm Scarlet, leader of the resistance."

"These are my brothers, Nayoko and Takumi." Ryoma placed a hand on either of our shoulders. "And there are my sisters, Hinoka and Sakura."

"It's nice to meet you," Scarlet said. "I'm glad to be on the same side as Hoshidan royalty! The enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?"

I winced. Surely it was supposed to be getting easier to hear Nohr being referred to as my enemy, not harder.

"That's correct," Ryoma said. "The Nohrian army has pushed us back a few times now, but all they've done is send us further into their territory. I've heard rumours that King Garon is coming to end your rebellion, Scarlet, but you can rest assured that you will be heavily supported by my troops. We will rise up from underground and take them by surprise."

"They're all going to bleed this time!" Hinoka said.

Takumi grinned. "They won't know what's coming for them until it's too late!"

I felt sick. "It is King Garon who is our enemy, isn't it?"

"And all those who willingly carry out his orders," Ryoma said. "I'm sorry, Nayoko. That means the Nohrians you once called siblings, too. But they are no siblings of yours by blood."

That was a fact I couldn't dispute, but I wished that I could have both families. Was it so impossible a dream?

It seemed to be. Even Kass was facing the truth better than me -- digging her heels in whenever we met, refusing to come back and accept the Hoshidans as a family. Surely she was supposed to be the more naïve after all her time in the Northern Fortress, not me.

Scarlet moved on, explaining several maps and books that were stacked on the tables. Ryoma, Hinoka, and Takumi followed her, but I hung back.

"Are y-you okay, Nayoko?" Sakura asked. "You look pale."

I sighed. "I'm all right. I think I'll stick around long enough to find out where we're sleeping, then sit down for a while."

***

Once Scarlet had mentioned which communal room we could claim, I left the guided tour, claiming that I felt a little under the weather. Sakura followed me, although I had no idea whether it was to make sure I was all right or to escape the social situation. Lately, I'd noticed that she took hold of any excuse to flee from large groups of people, no matter how improbable. The war was wearing her nerves down.

We entered the communal sleeping quarters, filled with wooden bunks stacked all the way up to the ceiling. I sat down on a bed near the entrance, and Sakura sat across from me.

She looked at the floor, spinning her healing rod between her fingers. "You d-don't actually feel unwell, do you?"

I smiled wryly. "No. Just...troubled."

She nodded, her spinning becoming more vigorous. The white decorations on her healing rod clattered against the handle. "I don't wish your Nohrian family any ill will. I just w-want this war to end."

"Me, too."

"I understand that you still love them, even if the others d-don't. If I grew up with some other people, I would be close to them, too."

When I replied, I was horrified to find that my voice was thick. "Thank you. I feel like no one else understands."

"I think they would if they really thought about it. I think about it a lot. B-but they don't. They just try to look at the war like it's b-black and white."

"I suppose they do." I sighed. "In a way, I can hardly blame them. It's the way I always used to view things when I put people to the blade in Nohr."

Sakura stopped spinning her healing rod. A thoughtful silence hung over us.

"I'm going to fetch Ryoma," she said suddenly, standing up. "I don't like c-conflict, but I don't like seeing you so unhappy."

I stared at her. "Er -- wait, Sakura! I know you'd rather just be on your own for a while now. You don't have to --"

But she'd gone.

***

I lay on my back and stared at the woodwork of the bunk above me while I waited for Ryoma. I was starting to feel guilty for leaving the others now, but I'd been about to explode. Kass would have spoken her mind about the Nohrians if she'd been on that guided tour -- but then again, her headstrong attitude was the reason why she wasn't here.

"Nayoko?" Ryoma called. "Are you in here?"

I briefly contemplated burrowing under the covers, like I had done when I'd been fifteen and Xander had tried to talk to me about my cold behaviour. But I was a long way from being a scared teenager now.

"Yes," I said, sitting up. "Over here."

Ryoma rounded the corner a few moments later. His expression relaxed when he saw me, and he sat down on the bunk that our youngest sister had not long vacated.

"Sakura wants us to talk." He cracked a smile. "I've never heard her be so bossy in my life, so I came as quickly as I could."

"She didn't need to say anything," I muttered.

"No, I think she did. The march to Cheve has been tense, and you've been avoiding everyone. I thought I needed to give you time to come to terms with things, but that was clearly the wrong approach." He leaned forwards, putting his elbows on his knees. "I will listen to whatever it is you wish to say, Nayoko. But at the end of it all, Nohr is still our enemy."

"I know," I said. "Yet while it may be light in Hoshido and dark here, those aren't accurate representations of the people. My Nohrian family are good. Kass, Elise, Leo, Camilla, and even Xander, though he's led his soldiers against us. That makes you bitter towards him, but he's my brother."

I paused, waiting to see if Ryoma was going to make a passionate protest. He sat patiently.

"The truth is that I have never stopped thinking of the Nohrian royal family as my own, even when I chose this one over them. The difference between Kass and me is that, while she found it difficult to accept you as well as the Nohrians, I accepted you both. That's what I've been struggling with. I didn't reject Nohr and choose you. Nohr already had a place in my heart, and then Hoshido also earned a place. I let you both in."

"Then who are you fighting for?" Ryoma asked. An edge crept into his tone. "I know it may be difficult, but if you're fighting for Hoshido, you have to fight against Nohr. That's warfare."

"It's not a question of who I'm fighting for. It's a question of what I'm fighting for -- and I'm fighting for peace. In remaining with you when Xander and the others came for me, I was choosing to fight alongside you, not for you. I see that now. Yes, I will have to cross my blade with the Nohrians, but my ultimate aim is to bring peace to the world again. I believe the way of achieving that is by striking the heart of Nohr and dethroning King Garon. Eliminating the rest of the Nohrian royal family is simply not necessary."

Ryoma seemed to think on that for a moment. Then he smiled. "Spoken like a true saviour of the world, I expect. I'm sorry, Nayoko. I have never led a full-scale war before, and I have difficulty believing that any Nohrians can be good after what they did to Mother and Father."

"Then try to take my word for it. I've spent the past sixteen years with them, and I promise that if we just left Xander alone and defeated King Garon, everything would be fine. I know that all of them, including Xander, would rather have peace than war."

"If the saviour says so, then so it must be. But if Prince Xander puts himself in our path..."

"Then we will have to fight against him and Kass. I know. But she's been doing a good job at making them merciful. The next time we battle, she will do her utmost to prevent more than a handful of lives being taken. In war, I think that's an amazing virtue."

"It is. When she was little, she would always fight until she got her own way. Everything that Kaiya did, she did by her own principals."

"The same has always held true since."

"Indeed. I saw as much at Palace Macarath." Ryoma sighed. "You know, I've often wondered about your time in Nohr. I understand the basics of it now, but perhaps you could tell me about your Nohrian...family. I'm genuinely interested, since Kaiya refuses to leave their sides."

"No one's ever asked me that question before. I hardly know where to begin."

"How about with Princess Elise? What was she like when you were in Nohr?"

I frowned, thinking of her in my most recent years. My own sister had been hesitant in everything she'd said to me, afraid that I would snap at her. I hoped she was still alive -- and happier.

"Before I pushed them all away, she was very bubbly," I said. "Whenever she visited the Northern Fortress, she would tell me about every second of her life since we'd parted. It didn't really matter how boring it should have been -- she always made it sound interesting. Then she'd get me to talk. However much Elise wants to chatter is an equal estimation of how much she will sit and listen. I could have told her anything, and she would have helped me."

But I didn't.

"She's the youngest sibling," I continued. "The second-youngest is Leo, although there's an age gap of seven years. He's Xander's mastermind. If someone needs to plan a difficult battle, it's Leo. There is no one more intelligent than him in the army, and he's a gifted mage, too."

"I knew that already," Ryoma said. "We have spies. Tell me something that few other people know. Something that would make me see him as a human, and not just an enemy commander."

I thought for a moment. "He likes tomatoes. No, like is the wrong word. They're his favourite food, and he'll eat them as a snack at any time of day. We used to tease him about it." I grinned. "And he doesn't take teasing very well. He's quite awkward. Like the sun will always set at night, Leo will always blush when you tease him."

Ryoma smiled back at me, no hint of malicious amusement in his eyes. "Anything else?"

"Ah, I know! Here's something that will help you not to think of the Nohrian royal family as monsters." I hesitated. "It's personal, though."

"Don't tell me, if you would rather not, although I must admit that I am now rather curious. I promise not to tell another soul, and I hope you know that you can trust me. I have better things to do than spread little rumours about Prince Leo among my troops. Like actually winning this war."

"True enough." I sighed. "The thing is, Leo fervently avoids the medical ward. He always has done from the moment he started going on missions."

"So, he's squeamish. I'll admit, I'm surprised to hear that a Nohrian could be. But it's not as uncommon as some believe among soldiers. On the battlefield, they may be ruthless, but when faced with a trip to the medical ward..."

I didn't smile. "He may be squeamish, but I don't think that's the heart of the problem. I've always wondered if it has more to do with guilt. As I mentioned before, he's a talented tactician. He often creates battle plans for the whole army. When Nohrian soldiers are injured in battles he's overseen, it's because his tactics were unable to keep them safe."

"He has a guilt complex?"

"That's my theory. While I was distancing myself from my Nohrian siblings, I was observing them more closely than ever. It was the only way I could try to keep them safe while also keeping them safe from me."

Ryoma nodded. "Then tell me about the others. Princess Camilla and Prince Xander are left, correct?"

"Yes." But what could I tell him about Camilla? She and I had shared our deepest and darkest fears. It was hard to pick something that wasn't too personal to ever be spoken of again, even to each other. Of all our siblings, I had often looked at the two of us and thought, We are the broken.

"Camilla is older than me by a couple of years," I said. "She's very doting. In fact, she can be more like a mother than a sister. If one of us was injured or unwell, Camilla would be the first to fuss over us. But she doesn't extend the same attitude to just anyone. She was fiercely protective of us."

"That makes her sound a little like Hinoka," Ryoma said. "She would single-handedly slay a thousand warriors before she would let them harm you."

"Now that you've mentioned it, Camilla is exactly the same." I grinned. "So you see how deeply she can feel love?"

Ryoma inclined his head in reluctant acknowledgement.

"Finally, there's Xander," I said. "The Crown Prince of Nohr and the only one of King Garon's children whose mother was not a concubine. He was always supposed to be Garon's golden boy, but when I was released from the Northern Fortress, I surpassed him in obedience and became the most trustworthy. It's because Xander has one thing he is more dedicated to than his title and his kingdom: Kass. Every now and then, he would dare to press King Garon about releasing her. He would choose his timings carefully, but even so, how deeply he cared for her angered Garon."

"Kaiya loves Xander more than anyone in the world, doesn't she?" Ryoma said gloomily. "She worships the ground he walks on."

"Yes. She's devoted to him, but he is equally devoted to her. You know, of all my Nohrian siblings, I was closest to Camilla. We used to tell each other everything, and she never gave up on being nice to me even when the others treated my hostility in kind. But Kass has always been closest to Xander."

Ryoma looked crestfallen.

I reached across the bunks and put my hand on his shoulder. "Just because he's the oldest brother like you, it doesn't mean that you should compare yourself to him. In truth, while my other siblings have never seemed to suspect, I've been wondering about their relationship. Their connection has always had fluid boundaries, and now I wonder if they are in love."

Ryoma's eyebrows shot up. "In love?"

"Yes. It's only my opinion, so I'm trusting you to tell no one else. But there's something in their eyes when they look at each other that's more than friendship. Perhaps you should search for it next time, and maybe then you won't feel like you're competing against Xander to be her older brother. You are her older brother -- because she looks to Xander as a lover."

Ryoma rubbed his chin. "It's a shock to hear that, I must admit. But I suppose it makes sense. She was so overjoyed when she saw him again at the border battle...I'd always dreamed of her calling out to me like that when we were reunited. Of course, I know now that such a dream was impossible. Somehow, King Garon wiped your memories clean. In all those years Kaiya spent away from us, she never even missed me."

He looked up and met my eyes. "I've been trying my hardest to stay strong, but when Kaiya chose to fight for Nohr, it hurt me as much as her kidnapping. An older brother is supposed to look after his siblings, and so I've always blamed myself for the day when you two were taken from us. I wanted to make it up to you now -- I wanted to be your brother again. But Kaiya ran back into the arms of her captors."

"It was no one's fault but King Garon's," I said. "Neither Kass nor I will ever hold what happened that day against you. But neither can we forget all that has transpired since. We have Nohrian ties now.

"Still, do not despair. Kass does care for you. When this war is over and we have brought peace to the world, and there are no more categories of allies or enemies, I think she will call out your name whenever she sees you as gladly as you had imagined."