Bethany Plays: PoR Chapter 20: General Shiharam.

We're worldbuilding.

Daein is a bit of a mess. An icy hellhole where the people focus on how militarily impressive they can be? Yeah, Daein was Faerghus all along. Honestly, Daein is still probably the better place to live.

Daein's army looks huge to the Crimeans, and is also well trained because of said military culture.

It helps we only have to fight a few at a time. Good thing we don't have to fight them all at once or anything! ~~Slides Maniac Mode under the bed.~~

Ike being told that his dad murdered his mum has shaken him badly.

Now, which side is going to be the one doing the defending?

I wonder what provoked the full on spyhunt now, as opposed to some other occasion.

Ike has little to say about the whole thing. The Worm hasn't been that fundamentally important to the plot yet.

Anyone could've picked out this being an issue.

Ike is really out of things.

Somehow I don't trust that.

Even Titania has caught on.

Ike is drowsy. Poor guy, just thinking about this one thing for so long. Imagine if he saw it happen!

Yes, this will encourage Ike to continue thinking at great length in the future.

...Well, that could've been timed better.

I wonder what Titania knows about the true nature of the medallion.

Mist, of course, knows less than Ike. It's debatable if she knows Ike's not allowed to touch it.

Doing something about this might not be the best use of an army's resources at the moment, were it not for that sudden plot dump.

This is honestly kind of sickening on the Worm's part. And not just because he's sneaking into a little girl's bedding area. What a breach of trust.

Ike hasn't told Mist about what Volke did, so she doesn't know how much Daein want the medallion.

Ike is a little insistent on it, mostly because that speech is fresh on his mind.

Meanwhile, it's time for us to meet Mr. Fizzart, Shiharam. He doesn't seem to be on board with Petrine's plan.

"If we do this thing" is a very obvious way of not naming what Petrine wants him to do, but I can sorta see it being said aloud.

Petrine is dismissive, and says a lot about the plan.

Petrine knows throwing more warm bodies at the problem won't solve things. Shiharam can't stop us.

Also, he's not from Daein. Petrine's racism extends even to Begnion squatters, although it doesn't feel as personal for her to hate them.

Petrine is focused on this.

Eighteen years. You could raise a child to adulthood in that time. Most countries usually accept changed citizenship by now.

Spared none at all, even raised a daughter to be a sub-human hating monster.

I can't speak from experience, but that has got to hurt like hell.

Petrine is blunt about her opinion.

So much for "the strongest get the power".

I wonder if this is supposed to be picking at immigration issues.

Shiharam can't respond to Petrine's accusation that he patrols Talrega because he can't get promoted higher. Attachment to a place is completely foreign to her. ~~About as foreign as Shiharam.~~

Petrine uses insults as a motivational tool. It's barely tolerable when it's a likable character doing it.

Petrine is visceral.

The soldiers seem as reluctant as Shiharam.

This is an interesting thought. Later on it's implied Shiharam is a pillar of the community. I think this one is the erroneous thought.

Unfortunately, Shiharam is about to turn his back on that.

They're getting desperate.

...Really desperate.

There's also a bit of a flavour text before this report where Soren's like "are you sure you're OK?" before giving this report. 70000G. That's how much money got added to the company coffers from Daein's war chest. There has been an idea that, if Ike didn't hire Volke as his Assassin, that you'd also get his 50000G here. That is demonstrably not true. The 50000 is Volke's regardless of what you do.

No Supports and only one Info conversation. Well, there's another one, but it's Reyson's intro.

Hi there, Calill. It's nice to see you again.

Promoted class Sage, actually.

Ike wants to know what he's getting out of this.

That is indeed Calill's response.

Eh... Elincia, for one. I feel dirty saying this during PoR, but Sanaki's RD design is cute.

"All we've had for months is a black hole vaguely compressed into teenage girl shape."

So yeah, about the whole "never give Sages knives", thing? Prepromotes picked Knives. We'll never be using Knife Calill. Unless I decide I really want to see Calill using a Knife.

The third person is not pulling their weight, I'm afraid.

Nah, Ike doesn't care.

He's listening, don't worry.

...You know, we don't actually pay most of the other people, at least not with the money we get in-game...

Ike does know to check who's paying for the free lunch.

What kind of business model is this? What happens if your employer undersells you and you walk away still having done their dirty work?

That's Ike's takeaway, though. He doesn't think about these things.

Well, you see, you meet all the criteria to join this army: You're a woman...

"...I thought you were listing things."

"I was. I'm done."

I know, I don't believe it either.

Yeah, that was Ike's reaction too.

Ike: Sorry, not interested. We've got enough mages as it is.

Calill: Pardon? Are you allowed to make decisions like that all by yourself? Perhaps I should speak to the general!

Ike: I am the general.

Calill: Whaaaaaat?!

If we don't hire her, one line changes. So what's Calill like?

She's a little behind Titania and Tanith in levels, but ahead with her core stats. She's not as powerful as the homegrown characters, though. She's a character I might try for Transfers on, but not particularly highly prioritised and mostly focusing on her Magic and Speed. Those free B Ranks allow her free access to all the Siege tomes (it's way too much effort to get Ilyana to use Blizzard or Meteor), and her personal skill Nihil negates all enemy combat skills other than Nihil.

Also on this screen, the first and only Soldier-type skill a female character possesses. There are three Soldier-type skills: Knife (can use all three knives freely), Steal (can open chests, not sure if this also governs looting enemy pockets) and Lumina (allows Staff rank to also govern Light magic use). It's a bit of an odd section, and Radiant Dawn doesn't keep it- then again, Knife and Lumina got their own ranks and Steal got lumped what is now the "Citizen" section.

So how's Reyson doing?

Ike has a question for him.

...But he's not quite ready to get it out.

Important, yes. Ike is going to sit on this one while he chews on it.

...Uh... yeah, run that by me again?

Thoughts, hearts, similar things, I guess.

Reyson needs Order to access his powers. The Chaos of war sickens him. At least we still get his galdrar.

...Although maybe we should be worried about it.

Reyson puts on a brave face.

Ike suggests Reyson take a break.

Reyson doesn't want to count on special treatment. As herons go, he's a tough guy.

I don't recall that part of the scene, but sounds like something you ought to do to keep your head where it is.

Yeah, sorry, Reyson, nothing personal.

Reyson has some deep self-esteem issues, huh?

Ike is not saying Reyson is a burden.

OK, seriously, I don't remember Reyson having any problems with self-esteem, but that's the only rational explanation I can think of for such a vicious reaction.

...~~Now if Leanne had Canto...~~

Ike figures out how to get Reyson to take his medicine.

That got him more receptive.

One thing I find kind of interesting is that Ike/Reyson A requires you to deploy Reyson in every mission. Ike definitely prefers Reyson on the field.

Anyway, back to the main file, I was saving this for Calill. Fits in lore wise and useful for her currently-middling speed.

And here's her Support page. Her last Support is with a man, but Nephenee has so far gone unsupported.

Levelling up. Marcia has capped Strength and Mist has capped Speed.

Well, we didn't find the medallion anywhere.

Which means Daein probably had a hand in it.

Ike is sure of it, although there really is no indication how.

"Special" is one way of putting it.

Elincia wonders if she's overstepped her boundaries with that question.

...I'm not really sure why that ought to be the case.

This interruption has Ulki and Janaff expand on it if you have them. Unlike last time, though, the general gist is still as clear with the Begnions.

Daein has turned the path we must cross to mud.

Perhaps one tile per turn, in mechanical terms.

And there's always more time loss for the Daeins to give us.

Soren figured it out instantly.

So how do we counter this?

That should work. It'd still leave the fields messed up, though.

Janaff will find them with his supersight if you have him. It doesn't seem to have held us up.

They specified "Talrega Floodgates". Interesting.

That's all we're getting from Shiharam for now. He doesn't want Talrega flooded either.

Beats walking through the waterlogged land.

We almost get enough space for everyone- unfortunately, one space got bumped off because we have Calill now. Lethe drew the short straw again.

Our goal is to Arrive at the floodgates before 15 turns pass. There's not much in the way other than a really desperate Daein force.

Here's Shiharam, having Axes at A despite wyverns starting with lances. Tellius was definitely trying its best to make wyverns into an Axe class, and considering even Shadow Dragon adopted it- turning Minerva into an axe unit and adding an axe specially for her- they succeeded. The Stun skill is the wyvern mastery, and one memorable playthrough, he got it to hit my Astrid and Astrid could use up her remaining movement still. That run was where I found out Stun was less useful than initially thought. The Full Guard means Astrid's bows (and Mist's Sonic Sword) won't be doing Effective damage, and since it's Equipped, we can't steal it for ourselves.

Oh, there are still regular Priests in the Daein army.

If you Start the map and have chosen to deploy Jill, you'll get an introductory scene reminding you that you're going to be making her fight her father and former non-blood family.

Jill hasn't quite decided she's fully down for this yet.

The closest thing to an explicit confirmation the player sees before now is the fact that Haar mentioned "General Shiharam" and then Jill started talking about her father last chapter. There's a better confirmation quote in the dialogue before Turn 1 Enemy Phase, but we haven't seen that yet.

That's not the impression I got. I thought Mist was the one who overheard it. How much did she hear, and is it reasonable that she connected "General Shiharam" and "her father"? Her reaction to this map probably did some legwork, though.

It is, in fact, too late. Unless you Saved before starting the map and can now reset the game- which is a good habit to get into for pre-Casual Mode Fire Emblem games.

Ike assures Jill that she can always back down. No one will think less of her for not being able to kill her own dad.

According to Serenes Forest, there is an alternate take on this conversation if Mist is A Supported. I think this also implies we did not watch the "Jill" conversation in Chapter 19, which is a shame, because it might be my favourite.

Jill: ...

Ike: Are you all right? You look rather pale.

Jill: Oh, General Ike...

Ike: What is it? Mist is worried that you're not feeling well.

Jill: To be honest... The man leading the enemy forces, General Shiharam...He's my father.

Ike: What? Hmm... That's not good. Do you really want to face your father in combat?

Jill: I joined this army based on my own convictions. I think I can meet my father with my head held high.

Ike: Well, if you're sure... Just remember, if you change your mind, let me know. There's no need for you to be in the vanguard if you don't want to be.

Jill: Thank you...

The three fliers are headed north. A lot of wyverns will be occupying this area and matching them with our own flight will make them easier to handle.

Everyone else is going down. Astrid is coming out swinging with her axe: I think this is the last frame before the crit lands.

There's an ominous little song that plays in very few places, this one most prominent among them.

Which, with us at the helm, looks alarmingly close to "never". Or "until the defenders die". Whichever sounds more pleasant.

This soldier knows that they can't do this and be accepted. They have to turn back!

And so does Shiharam.

Haar cuts the knot and orders the soldier to stand down.

Flooding Talrega is very definitely an Evil Action. However, Shiharam already knows this. Bleating that it is Evil and they should stop is not a productive area of conversation. I am reminded of some Three Houses rhetoric, both in and out of universe, that fits this description.

Translation: "Are you asking Shiharam to do the same?"

This soldier is happy to take the punishment if it means sparing the people of Talrega.

But he's not in a sane army.

"Now do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?" (Emphasis mine). Haar is making it clear to this soldier that fighting this losing battle is not Shiharam's foolish decision, but a foolish decision that Shiharam is being forced to bear the consequences of.

Shiharam resents that his time under Ashnard has forced him to become a man that would commit such an action to begin with.

Shiharam is friendly to the laguz. Considering how his daughter turned out, this might be a bit of a surprise.

And that would be why. Just using the word laguz in Daein is evidence that you're not working in Daein's interests.

Shiharam looks at Jill being so proud of the sub-human she's killed and stuffed, telling her he's proud of her, and then going to his room and crying about what a monster he's raised.

And that was what he decided was the best way to survive here.

Haar points out that, of the countries they could have moved to, this was not the greatest choice.

Still better than Begnion. Begnion's senate is such a hellhole that I'm with Haar on this one.

I feel like this, or a similar line, should've come earlier, to confirm Shiharam as Jill's father outright. Not that it was the hardest thing in the world to guess before now, but I know that's probably as much on my narration.

At least Jill knows she's going to come up against Shiharam.

As all good fathers should do.

The game is really heavily suggesting this. I have reasons (beyond "Jill is probably my best unit") for disobeying the game's advice, though.

Jill has a Talk conversation with Shiharam. Triggering it is sure to bring a tear to somebody's eye. Whether that's Jill, Shiharam, the player or some combination depends on your definition of 'tear'.

Shiharam makes a request of Haar.

That being to sit out.

Shiharam knows full well that the odds of him being the one to fall today are high, and wants Haar to make amends for what he has done.

Haar is characteristically not that enthused about the whole 'chain of command' thing. It says a lot that he called Shiharam "Commander" today.

*Salutes*

Haar leaves the fortress and flies off the map.

Back on the map, some of the wyverns have noticed Mia and are coming down to the south with the footsoldiers. Mia doesn't eat wyverns for breakfast, though.

Sometimes, when Jill engages in combat with an enemy wyvern in this map, a short conversation will play. Serenes knows of three, and I think I got three in this run. The FE community as a whole is less sure what specifically triggers each one- whether it is randomly generated or assigned to specific wyverns or what.

Jill will take down her old comrades just fine, though.

I imagine Mia critted this one. You can barely see her head over the wing from this angle!

This is literally the only line in this one.

Calill cleans up the wyvern Mia didn't kill. She Adepted most of her hits unnecessarily, but the Adept flash happens rather quick.

Aha! Another Killer weapon! On a paladin, no less.

This formation amused me at the time and amuses me even now. Literally what benefit does Ilyana have standing in the middle here? ~~Also, Mist is on one side, because Mist is apparently a frontliner now.~~

Ike finds a hidey hole to stay in. Hopefully it works this time.

Jill moves up here, to handle wyverns and also set up for a later turn against this boss. Sadly, it turns out this specific choice was a mistake.

Bring me the sword of exact zero!

Tanith: Unable to muster up the same power.

So Marcia gets the kill, and Marcia gets the EXP, and the vicious cycle continues.

Tanith goes to visit that house we're next to.

These facts don't seem correlated, ma'am. You'd be just as tempting a target to rob regardless of fighting age.

I just love how the houses in this game have been handled so far.

We make polite thieves. It's a Smite scroll, incidentally: Smite allows a unit to Shove another unit 2 squares instead of 1. There's no higher Build requirement or anything.

Astrid knows how to handle Killers.

And the third Fizzart conversation.

Jill has grown up.

Not that people who consider the bond between father and child sacred understand.

Mist brings her trusty axe bearing the names of her friends against her former family.

So this guy, this is the problem I had with Jill's positioning. He's technically supposed to be the south side's problem, and as a promoted unit, he's worth EXP to them.

Mist is working on her cavalier effectiveness.

Some mages appear where the fliers are. Unfortunately, I put one of the pegasi on top of where a Sage was supposed to spawn, so Tanith takes this mage instead.

Jill can't level up effectively with tears in her eyes. But apparently she can become more accurate.

So remember way back in Chapter 11, when I said to bait cavaliers from the end of their range? That guy up there is the Killer Bow Paladin.

Nephenee's gone a long way from using Reginleif as a crutch.

Titania Visits the house, because she's Titania and probably couldn't oneshot the Bishop herself.

The Daein people do not appreciate what the Crimeans are going through, and see them as warmongering invaders.

That's kind of how villages work.

...

Sometimes I wonder if Three Houses might've benefited from Villages to save. If nothing else, they'd have villager lines as interesting as these ones.

The Rescue Staff allows a B Rank Staff user to take any friendly unit from Mag/2 spaces away and teleport them to a tile adjacent to them, with 3 casts. There is no Warp staff in this game, for taking an adjacent unit and sending them far away.

Astrid has just the solution for Killer weapons.

She doesn't have the solution for her level up screens. Come on, girl, we need you to make your Transfers.

I finally bust out the Sonic Sword on someone. Mist holds it up

And the Tornado spell is applied to her opponent. At least we're getting to see Tornado used ourselves.

Nephenee looks at someone she could probably kill on her own and decides she ought to crit it too.

Calill goes over here, to this knight that appeared as a reinforcement, and convinces him to go back inside.

Jill... Talks to Shiharam? If you don't have an A Support with Mist, DON'T DO THIS.

Shiharam is feeling some fatherly sense of relief on seeing his daughter back. One that's overwhelming his reason for the moment.

Jill doesn't know about the whole circumstances behind this plan, so tries the easy solution of "This is a Bad Thing, please stop!" After knowing what her father let her grow up into, I don't suppose Jill is in much of a position to be prepared to think the best of him.

...

I wonder what we're supposed to make of these ellipses. My guess is sobbing.

Jill knows that if Shiharam is doing something like this, he has a reason. That reason is, of course, "my bosses are completely insane and the cost of failing to stop the Crimeans is way too high."

That's Jill's only options now. Kill her dad or stand back and watch someone else do it.

~~Ironically said with a closed eyes expression~~ Jill has learned from Mist, Lethe, Ike, and everyone in the Crimean army. She knows what she wants in life.

~~...Is that a missing period?~~ She was a Soldier. She was destined for a fate no less grisly than Shiharam's is today. Except Jill would probably do it proudly.

Jill was destined to be an unimportant chapter boss. At best.

And Jill has made her decision. Mist means more to her than Shiharam does.

I quite like the idea of Mist and Jill as a romantic pairing, to be honest. That's not going to happen, obviously, we're still being very cagey and subversive just having Ike/Soren be in there, but I feel like Shiharam is the sort of man who'd be very confused but very approving to know Jill has a good girl waiting for her.

With that said, though, don't go thinking Jill has abandoned her family history. She may not be able to walk the same path as Shiharam anymore, but Shiharam was still a dad worth having and a dad whose legacy she shall carry on.

And Shiharam will stand behind her all the way. So what happens if Jill doesn't have a girl waiting for her back in the Crimean Army?

As picked up from this line:

Jill: ...Very well! In that case, I will fight with you.

Shiharam: What did you say?

Jill: Not as a soldier of Daein, but as one of your soldiers. I will fight.

Shiharam: Jill, calm yourself. You mustn't get caught up in the emotions of the moment and lose your way.

Jill: Joining the Crimean army opened my eyes. For the first time, I was able to think about what I fight for. Until that moment, I only did as I was ordered... It was all for fame and glory. Now I finally understand. I fight for those I wish to protect. Father, I want to fight for you.

Shiharam: Even if you come to regret it?

Jill: Yes. I'm prepared for that. I... Jill Fizzart, hereby return myself to the command of General Shiharam. What are your orders, sir?

She turns into an Enemy unit, taking everything you gave her as equipment with her. There's a reason the game has been quite heavily suggesting that you not have Jill and Shiharam come to blows. The extent of how this work has been a little muddled by the severity of these warnings, though, so some people may have heard that Jill could turn red through all manner of reasons on this chapter. The only way for Jill to turn into an Enemy unit is to Talk to Shiharam without Mist A. Shiharam can initiate this Talk, too, so don't leave Jill adjacent to him, but he will not move to do so.

We won't be fighting Shiharam with Jill ourselves, though. Shiharam and Jill have a boss conversation that is tonally dissonant with the Talk we just watched, and it doesn't go away if you've seen it. For reference, it goes as follows:

Jill: Father…

Shiharam: We meet as enemies. There are no pleasantries to exchange. Ready your weapon, soldier of Crimea!

Jill: Father… I…

Shiharam: You won’t charge? Then I will bring the fight to you!

Astrid gets the honours, instead. Yeah, Shiharam is protected from archers, but...

Not from crits. So who does get to do the dirty deed of killing Shiharam?

Did you know Tanith and Shiharam have history? I think this is probably the best ending for him. Someone has to kill him, sadly.

Shiharam doesn't have dialogue with Marcia, but that's largely because Tanith gets such a personalised one, it'd be weird to have just this line for Marcia.

Tanith doesn't take defectors lightly.

Tanith has heard the stories of a man with a great reputation amongst the Begnion dracoknights, who ran away because he abhorred the Senate. To see him now, destroying the homes of the people he swore to protect...

People in Begnion look up to this man.

And that's something that I feel somewhat confident in claiming to be a theme of Radiant Dawn, especially. Whispers turn into rumours, rumours turn into myths, myths become legends. Even now, the Shiharam that is inspiring the soldiers of Begnion is probably much more heroic than this Shiharam ever was, and about five times as handsome.

The kind of fool hoping that General Petrine won't kill him and do it herself.

Tanith will bring dignity back to the name of Begnion's wyverns. ~~The Senate has probably committed 5 crimes against humanity since the last time you were in its borders.~~

There's something kinda funny about the fact he had 9 HP and Tanith was exactly able to secure this with both hits.

Shiharam entrusts his duty to Captain Haar...

And dies thinking of his daughter. She'll make you proud.

Tanith adds some more Strength to her belt.

And seizes his Tomahawk. Yes, Jill is going to wind up with this eventually. Not sure if she has the Axe rank for it.

Ike's dialogue for Shiharam:

Ike: You’re the enemy general, right?

Shiharam: I am.

Ike: I lead the Crimean army. My name is Ike. I know this is sudden, but can we end this battle?

Shiharam: What?

Ike: I’d like you to shut the floodgates. There’s no need to involve the locals in our combat, is there?

Shiharam: …I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. Until one of us has fallen, the water will continue to flow.

Ike: If that’s how it has to be, then I have no choice. Prepare yourself.

Shiharam: Ha! So that’s the enemy general, eh? If he’s the man he appears to be, I can die knowing that Jill is safe.

Shiharam is largely respectful of the laguz in his special boss quotes, although he had one stinker in my backup run...

When said to Lethe and Mordecai, this is... perhaps insensitively phrased, but still clearly an assertion about Caineghis. When said to Muarim, on the other hand...

Since we can't Arrive yet for lack of characters in range, Ilyana finally gets around to killing this guy. He's a very important kill to secure. Ilyana crit, incidentally.

He's holding a Provoke Scroll! Provoke is the opposite of Shade: a unit equipped with this will attract enemy attention. Good for your armour knight to make sure he does his job, not sure who in our army will be getting it.

Jill, close the floodgates.

We won! So why doesn't it feel like it?

All this... just to stop us.

Because Daein, for all its military might, is losing to us. Considering our lore-wise strength, honestly kind of embarassing for them.

If nothing else, it would a load off Jill's back to do this.

Soren, being Soren, decides he's not fond of this course of action.

Ike, though, he's fully on board with this plan.

The Daein civilians are not Ashnard. They are people too, and deserve to be treated as such.

Soren tries to talk logic...

But Ike is just not the general who has the resolve to commit to that course of action.

Titania is in the same boat. And after all, if this bites us in the butt later, at least it's because of a mistake we made rather than a mistake we didn't make.

Too far, Soren.

Jill is taking a moment to organise her feelings.

This is a very mature way of handling this issue from Ike. Ignoring the fact that in our version of events, Ike was on the opposite side of the map.

I'm not sure how this is supposed to help. Then again, it's revenge, since when has it worked?

Ike gives Jill the option of backing out. This is a well-timed offer. I'm sure Jill has considered it for a non-zero amount of time.

Well... when she's ready to consider any options.

Sorry about going for rout as usual.

Good question.

Haar doesn't like his odds of staying in the Daein army, so we could move back to Begnion or go on to Crimea...

...Fair point, Crimea's not looking like an option.

Tanith: Looks nervously to one side.

Eighteen years they've lived in Daein. And they were thrown out like trash by Petrine.

At least they had Shiharam.

General Shiharam was an excellent man, with the misfortune of having attempted to make a new start in Daein rather than somewhere nicer. Fire Emblem likes having one of these guys around: a man who, all other factors being equal, truly deserves to be recruitable, or at the very least not killed off by an unstoppable murderball that is the player army. They are commonly referred to as "Camuses" by the general FE fandom, in honour of the one that appeared in the very first game, and among the character traits that they are often said to have is "loyalty to their country in spite of its actions".

There are two potential candidates for this game's "Camus", Shiharam and another character we'll meet much later. The later character fulfills the requirement that the thing keeping them fighting for Daein is loyalty to its flag, while Shiharam has no particular attachment to either of his countries, and dies rejecting what it means to be a Daein. Despite this, owing to Shiharam's other positive attributes, many of which have been found on the GBA-era Camuses, at least, I'm inclined to say Shiharam was intended to be this game's representative. And, more importantly (because the purpose of narrative analysis is to communicate with the writers as well as read its plot points), I believe the decision to have an adequately polite character with the knightly loyalty separate from Shiharam was deliberate. As a figure of sympathy, a knight determined to die with the ship is not a character the average audience member is supposed to care about. If we define "the game's primary sympathetic villain" as the one with the knight's loyalty, we define "knight's loyalty" as something worth having sympathy about. And if Petrine was any indication, that's bogus.

Welcome to the capital of Daein, Nevassa. For some reason, the title cards don't call the capital of Daein or Crimea by their names.

Petrine's dusted her hands pretty quick.

And just throwing Shiharam under the bus.

Ena has made arrangements for a man named Bryce to appear here in Nevassa to fight us. Bryce is a member of the Four Riders of Daein, but he personally doesn't make an appearance until much later.

Petrine won't be in the capital to deal with us, though.

This disrupts Ena's plans. I hope it's not the Black Knight...

...Ena?

Ena seems to be surprised too.

If only she had a hope of surviving us.

Ena's not prepared for this!

Well shoot. Ena's gonna have to stand in Nevassa and face us. Say, where is Ashnard, anyway?

Hey, Petrine said you weren't going to be here!

Ashnard trusts the Black Knight completely. Well... OK, Ashnard may only trust him because the Black Knight could believably kick his ass. I think Ashnard wouldn't have that opinion, though.

Ena has a visitor. Must be important.

...The Worm? Quick, run a headcount back at base, who are we missing?

The Worm insists that Ena receive "it". Presumably that's Mist's stolen medallion.

Once Ena has it, it's Daein's, and then they can play pass the parcel with the artefact of doom.

It will be Petrine's job to give it to the King. That might get her some goodwill back after all these failures.

Yeah, uh, if there's one thing I want less than to have to deal with the Black Knight, it's deal with Chaos Petrine.

The Daeins are well informed about the nature of the Medallion and the costs of incorrect handling. I wonder from whom.

Good question.

...Hey, I was watching that! Anyway, time to check in on the Worm.

Yep, that's Mist's stolen medallion. Our little traitor is hidden just outside the screen.

The sheer energy of Chaos calls to those near it. Except when Mist had it. I wonder if it's just a weight thing.

An interesting question. This is an important note: Ena wants to go to Ashnard.

This appointment is going to make that a little difficult.

Perhaps impossible.

This is very definitely something that's going to leave you scratching your heads. It's so heavily entwined in the history of Ena and the Worm that it's just nonsense without.