Cover courtesy of Cora-chan .

--

Visitors, Part 2

"Leo," Katonah said the next morning. "Can we talk?"

Leo didn't look much in the mood for talking: in fact, he was still in his night robes when he answered the door, and there were heavy black bruises under his eyes, as though someone had been brave enough to punch him - twice! - in the face. Most surprising, though, might've been the fact that he was not wearing his headband - rain or shine, she'd never seen him without it, and in its absence his hair was rebelliously unkempt.

Leaning against the doorframe, he scrubbed a hand down his face and said, "What are you doing here so early?"

Early? She wiped at her mouth, trying to hide a growing smile. "Were you still sleeping?"

"Of course I was still sleeping! Why wouldn't I be? What time is it?"

"Breakfast is in less than an hour."

He glanced towards a nearby window - which showed that it was still deceptively dark outside - and groaned. "Blast it, I..." He suddenly glared at her. "What are you laughing at, General?"

She tried to smother her chuckles - unsuccessfully. "Sorry, just... Don't you remember how much I complained when you woke me up at the crack of dawn for lessons? Back at the Northern Fortress? I never thought that we would switch roles - I didn't think it was possible for you to sleep in."

"It is if you didn't sleep very well."

Her mirth faded away immediately. "I'm sorry. Are you feeling all right?"

Ignoring her question, he said, "Wait for a moment, and I'll get dressed." Then he shut the door in her face before she get another word in.

A little while later, he re-emerged looking decidedly spiffier, with not a hair out of place. Except... Katonah cleared her throat.

"Leo, your collar is inside out," she said, trying not to laugh.

A splotch of red colored Leo's cheeks as he hurriedly straightened the neck of his shirt. When he finally got it folded back correctly, he grunted, "All right, let's head down. You said you wanted to talk. What is it?" He started off in a long stride, and Katonah had to hurry to catch up.

"Wait, before that," she said. "Are you sure that you're feeling okay?" She noticed a distinct slump in his shoulders and a bit of a hunch in his back.

"I'm fine," he said offhandedly. "I told you, I just...didn't sleep well." He sounded a little resigned as he said that last part, as if he regretted mentioning it.

"But yesterday-"

He stopped, glowering down at her. "What about yesterday?" he demanded.

She faltered at the sudden hostility. "Um, well, after...after we got back, I saw that you looked a little pale. And at dinner you were quiet."

"Is that so unusual?" he said with annoyance.

"No," she admitted. "But are you sure there's nothing wrong?"

"Positive." He spoke too quickly, as if eager to put the subject far behind them. "I developed a headache after we returned, and it persisted throughout the rest of the day, so I wasn't in the mood to smile and hug everyone like I usually am. Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?"

She winced at his sarcasm. I guess I should let it go. She sensed that he wasn't telling the truth - or at least, the whole truth - but she didn't want to fight, so she mumbled, "Sorry."

They stopped at the top of a winding staircase, the bottom of which was swallowed up in gloom. Sighing, Leo said, "I didn't mean to snap. As I said, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Thank you for your concern, General."

"Of course," she said, though she was more perturbed than before - He used my title, not my name... He only did that when he was being standoffish.

They headed down the stairs in silence. At the bottom, Leo glanced back at her and said, "Now, again, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Right, her conversation with Xander the night before. A little half-heartedly, she told him about the deal they'd struck: her showing him about how she'd used the Dragon Vein in Cheve for him sparing Iseabail and the others any discomfort back at the Northern Fortress. She also mentioned how she could no longer escort one of her tribemates back to the moorland. No surprise crossed Leo's face at that news.

"There is no such thing as a free pass with Xander," he said. "He had to punish you somehow for what you did. But why are you upset? He's done worse for less."

"I'm not upset," she said, wringing the material of her skirts. "Not really. I just..." More than anything, she felt ashamed. Iseabail and the other Earth Tribe warriors were, at that very moment, sitting in cells in the Northern Fortress, probably dreaming of the sunshine and fresh air of the moorland. Their release was contingent upon her good behavior, and in an act of foolishness, she'd condemned them all to that lonely, cold castle in the mountains for...she didn't know how long. They'd been counting on her to get them freed like Emmet and Ormond, and she'd failed them.

Again.

Leo gave her a searching look, saying, "Is that all you were worried about? Besides that hitch, it all seems very straightforward." His eyes suddenly widened in realization. "Hold on, did you think that he was trying to trick you?"

"I don't know," Katonah said honestly. "I don't think so, but I just...wanted to ask you, to see what you thought." Though if Xander was tricking her, could she count on Leo tell her as much up front? They were brothers after all...

Leo rubbed his jaw, looking thoughtful. "After we left Camilla's salon yesterday," he said slowly, "he and I discussed the incident in Cheve. He doesn't show it, but I think he's more curious about what happened than his face suggests."

"Why?" Katonah asked. "I thought you said that you and the others were dragonkin - can't you do what I did yourselves?"

"There's the rub," Leo said, crossing his arms. "We don't know - we've never attempted to use the energy of Dragon Veins in such a way before. You're the first I've seen use one to induce plant growth like that."

"Really?" Staring down at her hands, Katonah suddenly felt highly self-conscious. Yes, Xander had said as much last night, but... "Maybe you just didn't know you could," she mumbled.

"That, or we can't," Leo pointed out. "And that's what I think Xander seeks to find out in three days' time. Because imagine if the five of us could learn how to revitalize the land like you did in Cheve: we could repeat your feat all over Nohr. We could raise plant growth, crops, everywhere. Then our internal struggles would be over. There would be no more famine among the lower classes. No more brigands running amok. No more desperate violence because of a lack of food. The insurgency would dissolve. The economy would rise from the dead. Life in Nohr would level out."

His words blindsided her - My Gods. Of course. This deal with Xander... She had assumed that the king was just using it as a way to keep her in check and to verify that she and Leo were telling the truth of what had happened in Cheve. But Leo was right - if the royal siblings could learn how to revive the earth as she had done, then things like the riot in Cheve would forever be a thing of the past. The barren, polar wasteland that was Nohr could become as green, vibrant, and peaceful as her motherland. Crops would be bountiful, and all internal strife would cease. Light-headedness gripped her - suddenly, this was all was too big, too overwhelming.

Leo put a stiff arm behind her before she could slump to the floor. "I see you see it now," he said. "Your near-sightedness tends to blind you, you know." His brows furrowed. "What is it? You look sick."

"I'm not, I just..." Something else had occurred to her, something that made her stomach cramp: the Earth Tribe. What would happen if she did this, showed Xander how use Dragon Veins as she had? What would happen if he and the others learned her ability, and eventually restored Nohr? What would become of her tribe's conflict with this country? After all, the core of their second, upcoming wave of the rebellion was their alliance with what she was sure was the insurgency - if widespread crop growth was suddenly possible and the Nohrian rebel group dissolved, what then? Would Tormod let things lie? Or would he just push forward and attempt another war without outside help? And get crushed in the process?

The thought made her sick - only more so because it was a distinct possibility, where her father's brashness was concerned. And worst of all, she didn't think there was a way to stop such a thing from happening in the future - after all, what could she do? Go to Xander and tell him that she'd changed her mind about showing him what she could do? He would threaten her tribesmen with something far worse than hunger or discomfort in a heartbeat. And then she'd be forced to watch whatever disaster came afterward helplessly.

One thing was for sure: without knowing it, she had quite possibly made things disgustingly complicated for herself and her tribe. She rubbed her forehead, distressed, and for the first time she truly and deeply regretted touching that Dragon Vein at Gwenore's farm. It was as Leo had said: she wouldn't have even stepped foot on this path of horrific possibilities if she'd just thought before she acted.

Calm yourself. Maybe none of this will come about...

"Katonah." Leo laid a hand on her shoulder. "What is it?"

She looked up at him and saw real concern in his eyes. She sank her nails into her palms, the words at the tip of her tongue - she desperately wanted to tell him about the misgivings making her gut swirl. She had before. But how could she now, without telling him about the rebellion? It was impossible.

She took a breath, trying to compress her anxiety in a small ball, which burned at the base of her sternum. Much as she wanted to confide in him, she couldn't. There was only one person she could possibly discuss this with, and that was her father.

"It's nothing," she managed. "I'm just...feeling anxious."

"Why?"

"Well, like you said... I wasn't thinking about all this when I spoke to Lord Xander." She wound her sweaty fingers together, trying to disguise her angst, but was certain she failed. "Using the Dragon Vein correctly in two days suddenly seems doubly important... I-I just hope I don't fail."

His eyes narrowed and studied her face. Could he tell that she was keeping something from him? He must have, because she thought she saw something like hurt darken his eyes. She looked away, turning red and feeling horrible. She hated keeping things from him - it didn't feel right, especially after all the time they'd spent together on the road. She felt closer to him after the trip around Nohr and, contrary to her behavior, she wanted to tell him more, not less - and if this matter hadn't concerned the Earth Tribe's rebellion, she would have.

I'm sorry, Leo.

Then, something amazing happened. She felt his fingers in her hair and looked up to see him petting her head. And looking thoroughly embarrassed while doing so.

"Stop worrying," he said roughly. "Using a Dragon Vein doesn't require memorization, like learning letters."

"What?" She almost didn't hear him - she was too amazed that he was touching her so familiarly.

"Strange or no, you've the dragons in your blood, Katonah," Leo said. "It'll guide you whenever you touch a Dragon Vein - you just have to listen to it. And trust it. You'll do fine."

His words were oddly soothing - no, it was the feeling his fingers hesitantly weaving through her hair that was soothing. And at the same time electrifying - the sensation sent shivers rippling from her scalp all the way down to her heels, making everything in between coil in a strange, alien way. It made her worries, for a short while, seem far away and unimportant - right that moment, all she knew was that Leo was touching her, like he had in Cheve, and she just wanted him to continue.

Footsteps suddenly echoed from a little ways ahead. A moment later, both Corrin and Silas came around the corner, arm-in-arm. Alarmed, Katonah straightened - Leo snatched his fingers away so fast that her hair actually rippled.

"Oh, good morning, you two," Corrin said cheerfully. Her hair was up in a tight bun today, which was a stunningly good style on her. With the sweeping skirts of her dress trailing behind her, she couldn't have looked more like a queen if she'd been wearing a crown on her head. "Did you all sleep well?" she asked.

"Yes, thank you," Katonah said. She rubbed at her upper lip, trying to disguise her burning face - it took all she had to keep from glancing at Leo. Did she see? The two had come around the corner so suddenly...

But if Corrin had, she gave no indication. "Well, I'm glad someone did!" the woman said with a little groan. "I was up all night, giving my paperwork the attention that it's been vying for. I slept like the dead afterwards, but still-" A yawn interrupted her, nearly swallowing her entire face.

"It looks like you weren't the only one up by candlelight," Silas remarked. He was watching Leo with a strange expression on his face - guarded, he looked guarded. "Leo, you don't look so good."

Leo looked away as Corrin, with a frown, said, "You're right. Usually, I only see eyes that black when you come back from the training arena with Xander, Leo. Are you feeling all right?"

"I'm fine." Katonah was astonished to hear genuine hostility in his voice - she glanced up to see him scowling. "Stop nagging."

Corrin raised a brow. "Who's nagging? I'm just worried. You look like you were up until the crack of dawn, like me. Or did you not sleep well?"

"You were always a restless sleeper," Silas added.

A fearsome glower leapt across Leo's face. "I slept fine. Mind your own business." Abruptly, he strode forward - surprised, Corrin and Silas parted, and he stomped through them, footfalls booming as he headed down the hall.

"Wait a moment," Corrin called after him. "Where are you going?"

Leo ignored her, disappearing around a bend a moment later. Katonah stared after him, mouth agape. Was that the same Leo I was talking with a moment ago? What had brought on the sudden surge of aggression?

Corrin shook her head. "What a burr," she said grumpily. "You think it's the weather?"

"I think it's just Lord Leo," Silas said with a strained expression. "He seems to get more unfriendly every year, have you noticed?"

Katonah glanced at the tall man, surprised. He does?

"You'll have to excuse him, Katonah," Corrin said with another shake of her head. "Leo's pretty prickly by nature-I hope he wasn't too discourteous during your conversation."

"Um, no, he was fine." It was odd, hearing the woman talk about him like that - like Katonah didn't know a thing about what he was like. But it made sense - she doesn't know we're friends, after all. How would Corrin react if she knew that he'd had his fingers in her hair a moment ago?

Corrin nodded, but a strange look crossed her face, one Katonah couldn't quite describe. She almost wondered if she imagined it - it was gone from the woman's face a moment later as she offered Katonah her arm in a sweet, friendly way.

"Well, shall we head down to breakfast?" she asked. "Xander told me that you're from the Earth Tribe, Katonah. Why don't you tell us more about your homeland?"

(/\)

Leo

"This one reads 'A History of Hoshidan Herbal Medicine and Husbandry'," Niles suddenly called from a ways away. "My, my - I wager this one will have you burning the midnight oil, Lord Leo. Interested?"

His voice was gratingly loud in the dark, musty space; glaring up from his book, Leo said, "Did I ask for-"

The thrum of several dozen footsteps drowned out his voice. Dust rained down from the cobwebbed ceiling, and Leo succumbed to a fit of sneezing.

"Gods bless you," Niles said. "Now what was that, milord?"

"I said, did I ask for a volume on husbandry and herbs? I told you that I only want records dealing with Dragon Veins."

Niles grunted and replaced the tome. "It would help if these blasted things were alphabetized," he muttered as examined the next row of books.

Indeed, Leo mused. He and his retainer had been poring through rows of dusty tomes for about three hours now, and they had yet to find any concrete records concerning the use of Dragon Veins. Leo had been hoping that one of his ancestors or a historian from an earlier era had documented the ways in which they were classically utilized, but it was almost as though the art was hush-hush - it seemed that no one had thought that transcribing the exact science behind the Veins was important back then.

The footsteps of more busy attendants on a higher floor sent dust showering down from the ceiling again, and Leo rubbed at his watering eyes, growling in frustration. Are they stomping around like that on purpose? He'd hoped that this place - his favorite nook in the royal library, a dusty table squashed behind several huge, ancient bookshelves - would insulate him from the rest of Krakenburg's rowdiness, but it appeared to have an echo worse than anywhere else in the castle. That and he'd picked a bad day to do research. Namely, a day in which Camilla had galvanized the servants in regards to preparations for the Societal Ball. For the past twenty-four hours, he hadn't been able to put one foot in front of the other without running into a chambermaid carrying decorations or messages from the kitchens regarding menus or mail to be delivered to all those invited to the gala. To someone like Leo, who enjoyed his personal space and privacy, his home had become the stuff of nightmares.

That was why he was here: of all the locked doors he'd put himself behind since preparations had begun, this one, despite its echo, was the most airtight. And least-trafficked - a rat skittering along the bottom of the bookshelf was enough of a testament as to why.

"'Lord Hale's Farmer's Almanac'," Niles called from the other end of the bookshelf. "A compendium, apparently: one of twelve. Catch your fancy?"

"Pass." As footsteps once again rumbled above, Leo squeezed the bridge of his nose, trying to refocus on why he was here in this dusty place that smelled of old paper: Katonah, and her feat at Gwenore Tan's farm. It was a phenomenon that he, for once, had no plausible explanation for, which was incredibly strange in this case, as he himself could use Dragon Veins. All the way back to the castle he'd wondered how and why. How had Katonah done what she'd done? And why had he never been able to do such a thing?

He thought back to when he'd first been taught how use the sources of divine power. Originally, he'd been instructed by Iago, a powerful mage and a disturbing, sadistic bastard who had served as grandmaster to his father. When Iago had gotten busy with his duties, Xander had taken up his training in his free time. And then when Xander had been preoccupied with tasks from Garon, Leo had taught himself the rest.

What he'd first learned was that the Dragon Veins were not conduits as much as he was - as dragonkin, he'd been born with the unique ability to transfer the power of Dragon Veins from a substrate into himself. But not for long - divine energy was toxic to human beings, even dragonkin, and could not be held for long before it drastically accelerated the body's natural decaying process. Still, the energy was easy enough to take in - the hard part was releasing it in such a way that it could be coarsely controlled. That was why Dragon Veins were so dangerous - without training, the energy could exit the body violently, sometimes explosively, and could affect everything around the dragonkin in unpredictable ways. The power could splinter the earth, for example. Bring forth jets of lava. Shatter stone. Reduce living things to ash. Part seas. Stir up storms.

But as far as Leo knew, that was how they were usually used - explosively. Destructively. It was the easiest way to get rid of the power absorbed from the Dragon Vein and vanquish enemies at the same time. He should know - before the conflict with the Silent Dragon, he'd wiped out plenty of Hoshidan foot soldiers during Anankos's War using the power of Dragon Veins. It was something he still occasionally had nightmares about.

Yet, despite all of this, Katonah had completely deviated from the norm back at Gwenore's farm. There had been no destruction when she'd used the Vein - just life. Just growth. Rather than harm, she'd somehow healed the barren soil, imparted on it the ability to sustain life once again.

Leo furrowed his fingers up through his hair. But how? She couldn't be the first. Not in all the history of dragonkin. But he couldn't find any indication to the contrary.

A thought suddenly occurred to him: The Earth Dragon... Did the Earth Dragon have something to do with this? He didn't know how to answer that question - he didn't know why he asked it. He wasn't one for theology, and it wasn't as though the dragons spoke much to their human creations these days. But she was the princess of the Earth Tribe, and had a closer connection to the land that someone like him did. Is that what enabled her to do this? If that's the case, then why isn't the entire tribe filled with dragonkin...?

"Here's what I found." Leo jumped as Niles dropped a large stack of old books beside Leo's pile on the table, throwing up an eruption of dust. "Anything else I can help you with, milord?"

Leo gave him an irritated look. Interrupting my train of thought... "What's your rush? You have somewhere to be?"

"Not particularly. It's just that we've been crammed in this back corner of the castle for three hours now. I'm getting a little claustrophobic."

"You're getting paid, aren't you? You usually stop spouting excuses at the mention of compensation, even on your off days. So again: what's your rush?"

Niles chuckled. "You know me too well, Lord Leo. All right, fine." He pulled a rickety old chair over and sat down. "I may have promised Felicia that I'd help her design some of the decorations later this afternoon."

Leo raised a brow. "Oh you did, did you? In a homey, quiet nook of the castle, I'm assuming, where no one could hear you two 'working'."

Niles wiped a pretend tear away from his eye. "Lord Leo, you wound me! Do you take me for a scoundrel?"

"I've never known you to be abstinent."

"Abstinent! What are you talking about? When have you seen me not be abstinent?"

Leo tried keep down his breakfast at the implication behind that; giving his retainer a hard look, he said, dead-pan, "I saw you flip her skirt in one of the corridors yesterday. And don't think I've been blind to your smooth-talking the chambermaids when you think I'm not looking. You're a stone's throw from shameless. If you weren't so efficient as a retainer, I would have replaced you by now with someone who wasn't going into heat every five seconds."

His retainer looked a little horrified. "You're more observant than I give you credit for, milord. I suppose I'd better start keeping a better eye on you."

"Or maybe you'd better stop flirting with anything in a dress. Flipping skirts, for crying out loud... It's a wonder Felicia hasn't buried her head in the sand from embarrassment."

"I was just teasing her! You know how ditzy she is - she's just too fun to tease. Aren't you the same way with Lord Takumi?"

"Don't change the subject." He was annoyed enough without throwing Takumi into the mix. "Have you apologized for your roguish behavior? Or is that asking too much of you?"

Niles shrugged, then, with a cheeky grin, said, "Honestly, I don't think she minded the skirt-flipping. We haven't seen each other in about six months, so she was feeling a little lonely."

"Right - and she was the only one feeling this way?"

Niles ignored him and said, "Lord, you should've seen that smile when she first spotted me in the hall. It should be illegal to be that pretty. Maybe she'll realize that staying in Valla with Lady Corrin and that wet blanket Jakob was a bad idea."

Leo gave his retainer a sidelong glance. The man was reclining in his seat, hands folded behind his head, but he had an uncharacteristic focus in his remaining eye, a seriousness that only came to the surface when he spoke of Corrin's clumsy retainer Felicia. Leo had known for a while that Niles had had a persistent interest in the combat maid, but it wasn't until this moment that he realized how intense it was. Nonchalant or not, the man couldn't hide the wistfulness in his voice when he spoke of her.

Casually, Leo said, "Are you going to marry her?"

Niles turned to stare at him, eye wide. His mouth was open. "What?" he gasped.

"It's obviously that you like her," Leo said. "So court her. Marry her. Or do you plan to stay my retainer forever?"

"You make it sound so neat and simple, Lord Leo."

"So you were thinking about it?"

Niles leaned back again, eyes on the shadowy ceiling. "To tell you the truth, it crossed my mind once or twice," the man admitted. "But I don't know. I feel we're not ready for it yet."

"Why?"

"We both have such great commitments right now - I have you, and she has Lady Corrin. We can't just abandon them for the sake of our own feelings. At least, I won't. You're right, I don't plan on being your retainer forever, but there's a time and place for marriage and love, and this isn't it, not yet."

"And when might that time be? You won't be young forever, you know."

Niles snorted. Then, amusement left his face, and that strange seriousness returned. "I don't know when that time will be, Lord Leo, just that it isn't now. Marriage is a sacrament - it's unbreakable. Once I'm in, I'm in all the way. There are no redos. There's no pulling back, or going back to how things used to be. I want to be sure before I dive in blind."

"And are you? About Felicia?"

Niles closed his eye, crossed his legs. Then he barked out a laugh. "Who the hell knows?" he said. "Yes. No. Maybe. I've no goddamn idea. Sometimes she feels like every other girl I've ever met, and sometimes she doesn't. But that's the beauty of it: I don't have to rush. I can wait and see. I can wait and be sure."

Leo turned back to his book, staring at the page without actually reading the words. His stomach was frothing a little, tipping back and forth between feeling nauseous and not. He'd been in Niles' position once: trying to decide if she was special or if she wasn't. And then he'd decided - she was special, Corrin. He'd known she was. He'd been certain of it, more than certain, as sure as his next breath.

And then he'd done as Niles had said, and jumped in blind, leaping from the edge of a precipice without knowing how far lay the bottom. And too soon he'd wound up there, at the bottom, broken beyond repair.

He rubbed at his eyelids; his head was starting to ache. As usual, just thinking about it gave him pain - it was surely the last time that he would make such a stupid, reckless leap of faith. But not for the first time Leo wished that he could somehow go back to those volatile years and do things correctly: wait, as Niles had said, and see. If he had in the first place, maybe he would have realized Corrin's feelings for Silas sooner. Yes, it would have hurt all the same and there would have been pain, but there wouldn't have been agony. There wouldn't have been scars. There wouldn't have been a hole in his gut.

And there wouldn't have been this persisting hatred...

"Aha! There you are."

Leo started so badly that he actually knocked a couple of tomes from the table. Speak of the devil... Bile soured his throat as Corrin peeked around the corner of a bookshelf.

"I figured you'd be here, Leo," she said, coming over to the table.

His eyes went to the dark space behind her, but Silas's tall figure didn't appear after her as he usually did. Was she alone? "What are you doing here?" he asked hoarsely, redirecting his focus down on the book. He couldn't read what was on the page - his pounding heart wouldn't let him. How was it that it still betrayed him like this in this woman's presence?

"Looking for you," Corrin said, anchoring her hands on her hips. "More specifically, Camilla was looking for you, and couldn't find you. She wants to know when she can talk to you about fitting dance lessons into your schedule."

"Give my lessons to Xander," he said. "He's the one who needs them the most." Out of all of them, he was the most skilled on the dance floor. Though he doubted that he and his snappy shoes would be getting any mileage in Palace Macarath's ballroom this year - he hated watching noble couples dance, never mind actually participating. No doubt this go-round he would sit by the throne with Takumi, and they would take turns insulting each other like they had last time.

"We've got several new waltzes that we've decided to try out this year," Corrin said. "Some you probably aren't familiar with. So dance lessons are a must. For everyone." She gave him a look that he wished he didn't know so well - one of sisterly sternness that said she was prepared to fight him on the issue. So he let it drop.

"I'll talk to her later today," he said.

"Lady Corrin, one," Niles said with a snicker. "Lord Leo, zip."

Leo shot him a warning look before saying, "Is that all you needed?"

"No," Corrin admitted. "Actually, there's something I need to talk to you about."

Leo stiffened. It was never a good sign, those words coming out of Corrin's mouth. "Can it wait?" he asked, trying not to sound terse. "I was in the middle of something."

Corrin gave the pile of books stacked beside him an exasperated look. "Your tomes can wait, Leo - this is kind of important. If it makes you feel better, I'll make it fast."

It appeared that there was no way out of this one - no way other than through it, that was. Resigned, Leo waved at Niles, dismissing him, and within moments the retainer was gone, disappearing around the bend with a jaunty pep in his step. Off to see Felicia, I bet.

Leo closed his book and then took a breath, trying to fortify himself. But already, he felt nauseous - just seeing Corrin gave him a headache, but actually talking to her made him feel ill and off-kilter. "What's so urgent that you couldn't speak to me at dinner?"

"I wanted to discuss it with you in private," Corrin said. She came around and dropped down into Niles's chair, leaning forward on her knees. "I just spoke to Xander," she said urgently. "And he told me some strange things about Lady Katonah." Looking him straight in the eye, she asked, "Were you aware that she's dragonkin?"

Leo stacked his elbows on the table, winding his fingers together. This was not a conversation that he'd been expecting to have today. Or at all - he understood the disbelief bracketing her mouth into a frown, but why was she coming to him about it?

"She's not dragonkin," he said heavily. "Xander's checked her blood. It's not like ours."

"He did? When?"

"Late last year."

She sat back a little, looking perturbed. "Elaborate."

"There was a conflict with the Earth Tribe, one in which Katonah demonstrated her ability. Later she was given an audience with Xander, and he checked to see whether or not she was a descendant of one of the royal lines. She wasn't."

Her eyes widened. "So it's true. We are actually at war with the Earth Tribe"

"Were," Leo corrected her. "Now that Katonah's to be Xander's bride, there has been a cease of hostilities on both sides." His brow crinkled. "Didn't Xander tell you all of this?"

"He gave me the condensed version. But he didn't really communicate how serious all of this was."  Corrin gazed towards the dusty bookshelves, a look of dismay crossing her face. She reached up towards her tight bun, then paused and let her hand fall back into her lap. Looking for a piece of hair to play with - it was something she often did when she had a lot on her mind. Leo could understand her consternation - it wasn't as though Nohr's concerns were her primary focus these days. Once she'd accepted Valla's crown at the end of the war, her visits to Nohr and Hoshido had been fewer and farther between - in fact, the last time she'd actually been in Castle Krakenburg had been last spring. That Nohr had gotten into it with the Earth Tribe, which had resulted in Xander's betrothal to Katonah, in that short amount of time must've been a shock.

"What exactly did he say when he spoke to you?" Leo asked.

"He told me that tomorrow he planned to go up to the surface to conduct an experiment of sorts with General Katonah, one concerning a Dragon Vein, and that he wanted me to attend. Then, of course, he had to tell me about General Katonah being able to use them. I was astonished at the revelation, so he explained some of her situation to me."

"Did he mention the war the Earth Tribe?"

"Again, the story he told was greatly condensed: he just said the Earth Tribe started to push across its borders, and he sent the royal army to push back. At one point, he met Lady Katonah, discovered that she was the princess of the tribe, and took her as his bride to end the conflict." A mixture of disappointment and pity crossed her face, likely for Katonah who, unlike her, was locked inside a loveless betrothal. A surge of irritation made Leo's teeth set.

"But he has no idea of why Lady Katonah can use Dragon Veins," Corrin continued. "Why is why I came to ask: do you?"

"What makes you think I know?"

"Because you're the smart one. If there's anyone who might have an explanation for this sudden phenomenon, it's you."

Rather than flattered, Leo felt insulted at her praise. On Katonah's account. "She's not a phenomenon. And why does there have to be an explanation? Perhaps she can use Dragon Veins because she can. There doesn't always have to be a deeper meaning behind it."

"I disagree," Corrin said with a frown. "It can't be just a random act of chance. The dragons never do something just for the sake of doing it."

"The dragons?" Leo repeated, sure he'd heard wrong. "What do the dragons have to do with this?"

Corrin gave him a long, expectant look, as if waiting for the realization to come to him. When he didn't answer, she made a dismayed face and said, "Leo, don't you remember the old stories? Stories of when the dragons were much closer to the people? Stories of when the dragons guided mankind? They came to mind when Xander told me about General Katonah."

He remembered nothing of the kind. "Again: what does this have to do with this?"

"I don't know. Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. There's just a parallel with Lady Katonah and some of those stories that's making me feel odd."

She wasn't the only one feeling odd - Leo's headache was back, and it was steadily getting worse. "Just say what you mean," he snapped. "What are these stories, and what are you talking about?"

She stared at him, amazed. "I can't believe you don't remember. All that time we spent sitting in the library together when we were young, and you can't recall the times that we stayed up reading the ancient texts? One of them was our favorite book - we went through sets of candles working through that thing. It had a red cover, and the pages inside were frayed. Many of them were missing."

Leo stilled. Now that you mention it... It was true, he had spent a lot of time with Corrin in the Northern Fortress's meager library when he had been young. But he couldn't recall specific memories - he didn't like thinking about his rough childhood, and had gone so long without doing so that any memories dealing with his youth were now washed out, unfocused, gray.

Only certain details about that time refused to decay: the stench of daisies. Bone-cold hallways. Loneliness. And massive heartbreak.

"I don't really remember," he said flatly. "It was a long time ago. What was the title of this book?"

Looking disappointed, she said, "I don't remember...something relating to the twelve dragons, I think. But that's beside the point - it's the stories themselves that are important. Many of the ones we read about are thought to be records of actual events shortly after the dragons made the Creation - all of the Deeprealms - and the humans that inhabited them." She paused, as if waiting for him to comprehend this information. It annoyed him.

"Right. Go on."

"And one of those stories was about the ways in which the dragons tried to direct and guide humankind whenever they met suffering or hardship or committed great evil," she continued. "I don't remember the tale word for word, but it went something like this: humans deviated from the path of what was good and right, and suffered greatly for it. The devout prayed to the gods for help, and so the dragons sent someone to save them. One of their own kind."

"A dragon?" Leo said.

"No." Corrin shook her head. "A human. A human with the dragons inside them. A human with the dragons guiding them."

He didn't know why, but he swallowed hard - a sense of foreboding sent a chill up his spine. "A dragonkin?" he said, throat dry.

"Yes. And whatever the case, whatever the circumstance, the dragonkin always led the humans to deliverance. They always set them free from their suffering."

"So what are you saying?" Leo demanded, getting angry again. Angry because he was confused. And, on a deeper level, frightened at where this might be going. "Are you saying that...?  Katonah...?" He needed her to say it - for some reason, he couldn't do so himself.

"Is sent by the dragons?" Corrin finished. "I don't know." Her gaze became distant again. "But it makes you wonder, doesn't it? I certainly did when Xander told me about her. Was this just a coincidence, her being able to use Dragon Veins? Or was the ability granted to her for a purpose?"

Leo shook his head violently. "Of course not," he said in irritation. The words that came out of his mouth next came out like babble, without his conscious permission, and he didn't know why he said them: "She's just a woman. Her ability is just chance. She isn't here to save anyone - there's no one here that needs to be saved."

Even to him, the denial in his words rang out crystal clear. But it couldn't be, could it? Corrin was seeing patterns, parallels, that weren't there. Yes, that had to be it. Convinced, he said, "And if this tale so fittingly applies to Katonah, then how is it that it doesn't apply to us, royal dragonkin? Were we sent to..."

Corrin just looked at him; Leo's words died in his throat.

"Five years ago," she said quietly, "there was Anankos. There was Garon. People were getting hurt. People were suffering. Many of them probably prayed to the dragons for deliverance, for aid. And what happened? The Dawn and Dusk dragons sent someone to save them: us. You. Me. Xander. Camilla. Elise. Azura. Ryoma. Takumi. Sakura. Hinoka. And we delivered the continent from evil, didn't we? So how hard is it to believe that the dragons have now sent Katonah to save us once again?"

Leo swallowed thickly. His headache had, once again, intensified - it pounded in his ears as he said, "Even if that's true, what is there for us to be saved from now? And why Katonah? Why not just one of us again?" This was all too sudden, too much to process so quickly. The logical part of him wanted to laugh. Wanted to snort at the outlandishness, the improbability of it all. That Corrin thought something scribbled in a dusty old book long ago applied here and now, like prophecy. Like folly.

But he couldn't laugh. He couldn't snort. Because a smaller part of him, the part that remembered sitting in the library with Corrin when he was young, remembered that dusty old book, its weather-beaten cover, its stained, yellow pages. That part remembered reading that ancient script and shivered as two words rose within him.

What if...?

"I don't know, Leo." Corrin's voice drew him out of his dark reverie. "I'm not saying that any of this is a certainty. Just that it's a possibility. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it."

He agreed. Now because of her, because of this strangeness, his head was hurting twice as much as it usually did in her presence. He rose from his seat, suddenly in dire need of some water down his throat and a pillow beneath his head. Corrin looked up.

"You're leaving?" she asked.

He felt his forehead - it was burning. "I need to think about this."

"I'm sorry I mentioned it," she said with real regret. "I didn't think you'd get so upset."

Upset? No. Greatly perturbed? Yes. Again, he so wanted to believe that these stories Corrin spoke of were just that - stories. But something told him that what she spoke of could not be so easily dismissed. Because though she could be wrong, she could also be right. And if she was right, then the stories were not just a plausible explanation for Katonah's ability. They were also a prophecy, one in which Katonah was a harbinger of doom. If not doom, then bad times. Ones that may or may not be quickly approaching.

Whatever the case, this warranted further investigation. He was going to have to find those ancient texts.

(/\)

Katonah

Staring up at the washed-out sky, Katonah found it difficult to differentiate the land from the heavens.

It was bleak and cold in rural Windmire, yet apparently it was clearer out today than it had been earlier in the week - according to some of the soldiers, a blizzard had dusted this part of Nohr a couple of days ago, bringing with it a bounty of snow and ice. Katonah could believe it - all around her, the rugged countryside was hidden beneath a snowpack at least two feet deep, making the terrain unpredictable and difficult to navigate.

And hard to look at - if not for the dark trees that rose like black teeth a ways ahead, across the hillside, Katonah thought she might have gone snow-blind.

"General." Xander's voice startled her. "Try to keep up, you're falling behind."

She turned away from the pasty sky and found that he was right: much of the rest of the group of Nohrian siblings was pulling far ahead, dark figures climbing up through the dark trees to the top of the hill. Leo spearheaded the group, his heavy cloak nearly black against the snow. If she squinted against the glare, she could just make out Corrin and Elise following closely behind him, sticking to Leo's path as to not trudge through the thick snowdrift. Camilla brought up the rear, her dark skirts trailing behind her like a bridal train.

Closer to her was the king, his boots wedged into the knots of a black tree while he waited for her to catch up. She hurried to reach him, nearly tripping over a dip hidden beneath the snow in her haste.

"Sorry," she panted when she reached him.

He appraised her. "Do you need to rest?" he asked, raising a brow. "You look fatigued."

"Er, no, I'm fine."

He inclined his head. "Let's continue, then."

As he turned, Katonah winced, wishing that she hadn't brushed him off so quickly. Over the past few days, Xander had been more courteous towards her than usual, giving her lots of unexpected space and curbing the edge in his tone whenever he spoke to her. After they, the retainers, and a company of soldiers had made the long, chilly ride out to this remote hillside in the middle of Windmire country, he'd even kept to the back of the group as they'd made their way up the hill, guiding her verbally across hazardous terrain masked by still-falling snow. She supposed that he was keeping the promise he'd made before the journey, and was attempting to demonstrate the reasonable and concerning man he kept hidden beneath all of that marble. She should have been grateful.

But she couldn't help it - to her, his mild behavior was downright disturbing. She didn't know how to react to it, hence the unintentional bluntness. But if Xander took offense to that, so far, he hadn't shown it.

"Hole," Xander said from a ways farther up the hill. He pointed to a nearby tree and said, "Use the roots as footholds. Better traction."

Following his advice, Katonah scaled the tangled mess of roots winding out of the snow, panting heavily as she did so. Not for the first time, she wished that Xander would have taken them out to a Dragon Vein that was closer to the castle abyss and not so high up. But according to Elise, the Vein located at the top of this hill was one all of the Nohrian siblings, excluding Corrin, had used at one time or another when practicing the art in the past with their instructors. And, unlike some Dragon Veins, this one apparently regenerated in the same spot after each use, and was always guaranteed to be here no matter the season or the weather.

And while that was good and well, she just wished that she had more strength for this climb, which she hadn't thought would be nearly this arduous from the bottom of the hill where they'd left the retainers. Perhaps if she'd gone to sleep a bit earlier... No, if Elise and Corrin and Camilla hadn't been dragging her across the castle for the past few days, she wouldn't have been this tired today. But apparently, she was expected to take part in the preparations for the Societal Ball just like everyone else, even though she had virtually no experience in such matters.

"This will be a good learning experience for you," Camilla had told her. "As Xander's bride, you'll be expected to supervise such preparations in the future. With this, you'll see how it's done."

And so she'd been on her feet for almost the entirety of the past two days, helplessly wedged between Corrin and Elise as the women had picked out color schemes for the venue, worked out menus for the meal, and created dance selections and music pieces for the ball. Once or twice the women had asked her opinion about something or another - What do you think, Lady Katonah? Sugared almonds? Or chilled strawberry soup? - but most of the time she'd been as useful as a confused mute, standing around and watching while the women discussed things she couldn't comprehend. If anything, the experience showed her that planning galas was hugely complicated, and that she never wanted anything to do with it.

She wondered if Leo had felt the same way - during those two very busy days, she saw neither hide nor hair of him in the bustling castle halls. Not that she'd had much time to really look.

But he was here today, and it was good to see him - when she and Xander finally reached the top of the hill, Katonah found him and the others facing the horizon, speaking lowly among themselves. Well, the women were - Leo looked agitated, and Katonah had to wonder if it was because of the biting cold.

"F-finally!" Elise chattered. She had her arms wrapped around Corrin and was shaking a little. "What took you two so long? My tongue's already getting hard!"

Leo grunted; Elise flashed a glare at him. "What was that, Leo?" she asked.

A little louder, Leo growled, "I said I doubt that's possible, what with how fast it's moving. Xander, where do you want us to stand?" he said before Elise could respond.

"Near the tree, I hope," Corrin said. She was trembling a little too, despite her heavy cloak, and she pulled Elise closer. "There's not much shelter up here."

Indeed, and the wind was downright sadistic today - it swiped down from above like a cat's claw, blowing back their hair and setting their clothing rustling as if taking pleasure in seeing their lips turn blue. At the mention of a tree, Katonah turned and scanned the hilltop, locating the specimen standing not too far away. Like the others rising from the hillside, this one was black and skeletal, its mushroom-shaped canopy rattling violently in the cruel wind. The Dragon Vein must have been located close by, maybe even underneath it, like at Gwenore's farm. That was the only possible way the tree could have grown in place so bleak.

Her suspicions were confirmed as Xander said, "Where you are is fine. General, come closer." He beckoned her over towards the tree. Heartbeat speeding up into a canter, Katonah followed nervously as Elise complained loudly behind them.

"You guys don't take forever," she said. "I'm beginning to lose the feeling in my toes already, and I didn't bring my staff!"

At the tree, Xander squatted by the base, his cloak spreading out like a blanket behind him, and began pawing around in the snow near the roots of the tree. His brows furrowed a little as he rubbed the frozen soil beneath, and then stroked the tree roots.

"Here," he said. "Kneel, General, and feel."

Obeying, Katonah took a seat in the snow beside him, trying not to wince as the deep cold began to seep slowly into her calves. Hesitantly, she reached down after him and placed her fingertips in the frigid earth. She jolted as her hand accidentally brushed against his fingers.

"Sorry!" she said hastily.

"It's all right," Xander said mildly. "Can you feel the Dragon Vein, General?"

She could, very faintly - doubtless she would have been able to feel it more strongly had she probed at the earth with her feet. But she didn't want the king asking her strange questions, and besides, the deep, cold energy of the Dragon Vein was already chilling her fingertips and lifting hair all across her body. She nodded at him.

"Good." He reeled back and rose; she watched him, suddenly hesitant.

"Um, what do you want me to do now?" she asked.

"Do what you did in Cheve," he instructed, taking steps back towards the rest of the siblings. "We'll be watching closely."

Her mouth set grimly - there'd been in edge in the last of his words, giving him a tone she was more familiar with: a warning. One she didn't need - did he think she was stupid? He didn't need to issue threats when he had her clanmates held prisoner. If he knew anything about her at this point, it should be how much the suffering of Iseabail and the rest of the Earth Tribe warriors compounded her own.

She glanced over at Leo, who, like Xander, was also watching her. But unlike Corrin and Elise, who watched as though on the verge of seeing something exciting, or Camilla, who was looking on shrewdly, there was a dourness banked in his eyes - his was a look of grim expectation, as though he was waiting for something ominous to happen.

She turned away, her mouth suddenly try. His gaze made her feel strange, suddenly - that this, what she was about to do, was more profound than she could comprehend, for some unknown reason. She tried not to think about it - instead, she conjured an image of Iseabail in her mind. Her sometimes sweet, sometimes crotchety foster mother, locked up in the cold dungeon of the Northern Fortress. That was what this moment was about - easing any suffering Xander though to impose on her clanmates. Nothing more.

Taking a deep breath, Katonah stilled herself, trying to imagine that it was warm and sunny out, and that she and Leo were meditating, as they had months ago. Splaying her fingers wide, she eased her palms down into the snow, into the stiff earth packed hard by the freezing cold. Running her nails back and forth, she dug a furrow down into the topsoil, stopping only when she felt it. That bolt of horrid cold, sending waves of gooseflesh rippling down her back and making her temples throb in pain.

Trying not to gnash her teeth, Katonah opened her body to the Dragon Vein's well of chilly energy, letting it seep up out of the earth and into her body. Though she expected it, the sensation was still traumatizing - the world around her phased out of focus, as she was suddenly unable to concentrate on anything other than the brutal cold seeping inside of her, riming her internal organs with frost and depositing chunks of ice into her blood. She felt her eyes tear, then burn maniacally - she hunched over as they swelled and throbbed, smoldering with duress. Her nails scratched agonizingly at the earth, and she saw her hands bleach of color as her veins rose to the surface of her skin, twisting just underneath like green snakes. A ringing entered her ears, and her breathing degraded into a desperate wheezing as her lungs struggled to inflate. Too much more and she would be undone she knew. She had to let go of the power. Now!

But no, not yet! Not before she showed it, the power, what she wanted. When she'd been at Gwenore's farm, she'd imagined rolling green hills, with walls of crops rising around the Tan's modest farmhouse, golden in the sun. She'd imagined waving green grass like on the moorland, and earth thick and rich rather than thin and dry.

This time, she imagined that the hill on which she stood was blanketed in prairie grass rather than snow, so green that it hurt the eyes. She imagined that the tree under which she knelt had a canopy thick enough to shadow the hillside, and that around it grew beds of dandelion and daisy. She imagined the soil breaking out of its permafrost, thick with animal life and strong enough to support the roots of a thousand, ten thousand flowers.

Somewhere between her and the Dragon Vein, and the cold energy that spiraled between them both, she felt a response. A powerful presence that acknowledged her request, as it had the times before: as you wish.

Relieved, Katonah released her hold on the Dragon Vein's power, letting it flow back into the earth. Letting go of it was a special kind of torture - there was no pain, yet a trauma that could only be described as agony gripped her, flattening her against the ground and nearly crushing the consciousness right out of her. Darkness bloomed in her vision, blinding her, but she was aware of something happening around her: the same chaos that had surrounded her at Gwenore's farm, more momentous than the power of an avalanche, more furious than the eruption of a volcano. Freezing cold energy surged around her, the very strength of it pinning her to the ground.

Then, just like last time, things slowed. Then, they ebbed. Then, they stopped. All became still save for the whisper of the wind and the rustling of the leaves in the trees.

Leaves in the trees. Something of a smile came to her face. It must have worked.

After a moment, someone came to her side, calling her name. She tried to answer, but using the Vein seemed to have sucked most of the strength out of her. Arms tense with worry banded around her, sitting her up. A hand smacked her face. It hurt.

"I'm awake," she managed to moan.

"Thank gods." Leo's voice; beyond the darkness shrouding her eyes, Katonah could see his worried face somewhere above her. With a jolt that brought her back from the edge of unconsciousness, Katonah realized that she was in his arms. Oh. This feels so nice. Like it had in Cheve. She wanted to wind her arms around him too, but they felt too much like jelly at the moment to be of any use.

"Camilla, go have Selena call the troubadour." Xander's voice came from nearby. "It looks like the Vein has put her in a bad state."

"She should be fine," Leo said. "This happened at the farm too. The veins on her face are a form of dragon rash. She'll be back to normal once the rest of the energy leaves her body."

It was true - already, Katonah was beginning to feel a bit stronger. Enough to sit up a little and blink enough to clear her vision. She saw Xander standing across from her and Leo, looking down at her with what in another world could actually be concern.

"Not so fast," Leo said as she tried to sit up higher. "Take a few breaths first before you move."

She was fine with that, if it meant that she could lounge in his arms for a bit longer. "Did it work?" she asked groggily.

"See for yourself," Xander said.

Concentrating, Katonah looked up to see that, yes, leaves were rustling in the tree - many of them, perhaps tens of thousands. The tree itself seemed to have tripled in size in the span of a few minutes, and its canopy was massive - large enough to, indeed, shadow the hillside. A giddy feeling of accomplishment came over her at the sight.

But it drained into confusion as she studied the rest of the hilltop. There was still snow everywhere, white and high and only growing thicker as it continued to fall from the sky. Confusion overcame her. What was this? Where was the grass she'd envisioned? The flowers? Why hadn't it worked? Had she done something wrong?

"What happened?" she asked, giving Xander a nervous look. "I thought... I did exactly what I did at Gwen's farm. Why didn't it work...?"

Instead of answering, Xander marched a few paces away and then swept aside a large chunk of snow using his boot. Katonah's heart leapt into her throat - underneath was a thick bed of red flowers, in full bloom as though on the verge of spring.

"It seems that what you did does not make plant growth rain down from the sky," the king observed. "Somehow you've accelerated the earth's natural growth process - the plants are growing up underneath the snow."

Katonah gazed around, taking in the hilltop with new eyes. A ways away, Corrin and Elise were heading towards them, and between her and them she could see patches of green pushing up through the white - stalks of prairie grass and bracken, heads of flowers, thick and lustrous and completely ignorant of the cold. The snow around them seemed to be melting, drawing back as though the fresh growth brought with them a divine kind of warmth.

She lost her breath. She'd done it. Even though she couldn't see it or how far it all reached, thanks to the snow, she'd done it. She'd transformed this hillside with plant growth, just as she'd done at Gwenore's farm.

Corrin and Elise arrived, the latter carrying an armful of sunflowers. For once, she seemed unable to talk properly - after giving Katonah a speechless look, she said, "Sunflowers. Look, sunflowers. I don't think I've seen these anywhere in Nohr...ever."

Corrin gazed up at the tree in wonder - no doubt it was alien to her now, with how much it had grown. "I don't know how you did it, Lady Katonah," she said, looking quieter than Katonah had ever seen her. "But if you can teach us to do what you've just done, well...then you're a gods-send for sure."

Katonah blushed, bringing some color back to her face, but Leo actually threw his half-sister a disgusted look. Shifting his grip to her arms, he said, "How are you feeling? All right to stand now?"

"Yes, I think so." He helped her to his feet, but she found that her knees were still shaky. The weakness startled her - she hadn't been this tired after she'd used the Vein at Gwenore's farm. Why was she so unsteady now?

"Can you show me how to do what you did?" Elise asked. Glancing at Xander, she said, "She's going to show us, right? I mean, imagine what we could do if we knew how to do this!"

"Sure, I can do that," Katonah said, trying to keep her voice light. She glanced at Xander. After all, do I really have a choice?

"Great!" Elise said. "Corrin, hold this!" Corrin accepted her bouquet as Elise squatted down among the tree's thick roots. "So, Kat? Get over here and coach me!"

Leo scowled. "Katonah can teach you another day," he told her. "Right now she's got an appointment with a troubadour - or can you not see how much using the Vein has taken out of her?"

"Oh come on!" Elise said. "It's not like I'm asking her to use it again. I just want her to tell me what she did. Quit making a fuss."

"She's right," Xander told Leo. "We're already here, Leo, and we're not going to have the General fatigue herself any further. Let's make the most out of this trip."

A few moments passed in which Leo gave Xander a stare that was a little longer and a little harder than it usually was. But just when she was getting nervous, the man turned away, shrugging. "Do what you want," he said. Pushing past Corrin, he moved a few feet away and then sank down into the snow, looking irritated.

Elise said, "Well, Sensei? I'm waiting!"

After a glance at Leo, Katonah joined Elise by the tree. "All right," she said, slowly bending down - her body screamed in protest, muscles burning as though she'd been hiking across the countryside all day. Ignoring it, she said, "Well, first, you place your hands down into the soil and feel for the Dragon Vein's energy-"

"I know how to activate a Dragon Vein, Kat," Elise said with amusement. "In fact, I wager I've done it more times than you have in my measly seventeen years! So, let's skip that: what do I do after I access the Dragon Vein?"

"Well..." Katonah paused, suddenly noticing what was happening on the ground - snow packed around the tree roots was melting rapidly, liquefying into steaming pools that collected in the gullies around the tree. Was that Elise's doing? "You take the power into yourself and..." She paused, looking for the right words. "You hold it here."

Elise frowned. "Hold it there? Isn't that dangerous?"

Suddenly unsure, Katonah glanced back at Xander and Corrin, but they were both watching, rapt, as if, indeed, they were the students and she was the teacher. "Yes," she said to the youngest princess. "That's what I did."

"Okay," Elise said uncertainly. "You're the boss." She took a breath and closed her eyes, leaving her hands in the soil. Around them, the snow continued to melt, exposing the newly-grown grass and flowers packed around the tree. A sticky kind of heat began to grow around them, becoming stronger and stronger until it began to grow uncomfortable. Sweat actually coasted down Katonah's face, adorning her eyelashes.

Elise was looking uncomfortable too. "Um, Kat?" she said. "This doesn't feel good."

"That's okay," Katonah assured her. "It's not supposed to feel good. But you can distract yourself from the cold by-"

"Cold?" Elise echoed. "I don't feel cold. I feel hot."

Hot? That wasn't right. Katonah glanced at the snow, which had been melted all around the tree by several yards now. She flinched as Xander stepped behind her.

"What's happening?" he asked.

"I don't know," she admitted, growing nervous. "Elise says she feels hot, but she's supposed to feel cold."

Xander's brows furrowed. "She's supposed to feel cold? That's not so. We always feel hot when we use Dragon Veins."

What? "But I always feel cold when I use them," she said.

"Guys," Elise ground out. Katonah was alarmed to see that her skin was growing red, and that the air was steaming around her. Not far above her head, low-hanging branches of the tree were beginning to smoke, the leaves smoldering and turning black.

"This feels bad," the princess said. "This feels really, really bad. Kat, what do I do now? I feel like I'm about to-" She vomited then, releasing a ghastly wave of chyme and stomach bile. She then collapsed against the side of the tree - beneath her, the bark blackened as though scorched.

Katonah leapt up, intending to go help her, but Xander grabbed her arm. He had Corrin seized in the other, and he rapidly pulled them backward towards Leo.

"Elise!" Katonah cried.

"Stop," Xander commanded in a voice that made her freeze. "It's too dangerous to go near her now. The power she absorbed from the Vein is going to find its way back out of her body in a moment, and if we're too close, we'll get hurt."

Katonah stared at him in disbelief, and an uncharacteristic rage surged up inside her. "So you want to just leave her there?" she cried. "Does your callousness know no bounds?"

"Stop, Katonah." Leo came up beside her. "He's right. We've seen this kind of thing happen before. Those that get too close and try to help are usually obliterated."

"She'll be fine," Corrin assured her, looking pained. "This has happened to me before too, when I was training how to do such things. It hurts like fury, but it doesn't kill you."

Katonah turned back towards Elise, who was still slumped against the side of the tree. An invisible inferno seemed to surround the young princess - all around her, the ground was scorched and steaming, and the branches dangling not far above had caught fire, the flames kindling weakly in the sheer cold. She didn't understand why what was happening was happening. When Katonah had absorbed the power of the Dragon Vein, it had hurt, but it hadn't done this to her: set her a-steaming, boiled her blood. But if Elise was about to release the energy back into the earth, as Katonah had, then perhaps-

The ground began to move beneath her feet, rumbling to the beat of ten thousand invisible drums. She lost her footing, but Xander grabbed her on one side, Leo the other, holding her still so that she could see, clearly, as the earth around Elise suddenly split open violently like wounds in flesh. The fault lines raced across the top of the hill, making the earth moan in agony, and moments later the wounds welled with earthly blood - magma. Katonah watched, amazed, as it seeped up through the cracks and spilled over onto the grass, carving scorching paths through the beds of flowers until the four of them were surrounded by rivers of scalding heat. Katonah found herself pressing up against Leo's side in fear; looking up into his face, she saw no surprise, only resignation.

"It didn't work," he told her.