[Zerlina]

Titania made sure that she stood close to the others. With each passing second, the enemy crept closer and closer, until finally it came to a steady halt before the castle walls.

None of this made any sense. Fight for what you believe in? She had had no idea that the city even existed until a week or so ago. How could it be that now she was expected to put her life on the line for it? Wordlessly, the girl decided that her efforts would be to repay the kindness of her new companions whom she had put her complete trust in and so far had not betrayed her.

She stared out in the direction of the opposing army, her troubled face betraying her fearful soul. Lowering her head to say one quick prayer to the eidolons, she felt a curtain of auburn hair fall over her face. Using her common sense for once, she took out from her apron-like pocket a golden comb. Twisting her hair up and keeping it in place with the object, she gripped her hands tightly and tried to calm her breathing.

The comb that she so adored enough to wear at a time when she felt that death was imminent had been one of the many gifts of her father’s (who had made it from a melted down pinion he’d found outside the city).

Her shoulders pulsing up and down as she breathed shallowly, Titania looked unsurely at Malice, Nichi and Magus. Seeing that they (who she was sure knew more about battle than herself) had drawn their weapons, she swallowed hard and gripped her hands tightly, wondering if the enemy would hold such deadly tools as well. As it was, she was still unsure of her healing, and spent a few moments hoping to Phoenix that she would be able to help keep the others safe and healthy.

Throughout all the ages, people had passed down stories of the glories of battle, telling tales about how soldiers would fight fearlessly to the death for their country and kin. So glamorous and moving were these tales, that children would sometimes act out the roles of the different armies, play fighting, and trying to see who could throw whom into the river first.

Even Titania had believed these stories, not questioning the opinion that all soldiers –when faced with defending their nation- were fearless, and invincible. Now that war was upon her, and the mortality of these men danced in front of their faces, she realized that the tales of her childhood could not be true; surely all these men were at least slightly afraid for their lives- afraid of death.

And thus she stood, her belief in the glory of battle and the fearlessness of soldiers destroyed by the reality. For a moment she said nothing, and wondered how many men who stood among her wished that they could be anywhere else in the world.

The two armies were still for an immeasurable amount of time, until finally the enemies of Gracia began to move. Their front lines ran toward the castle. Then, with one swift, unison, the archers who stood in a line behind them fired straight ahead, their arrows creeping over the heads of their own soldiers and heading straight for their opponents’ stronghold.

The arrows fell like rain, planting themselves into the hearts of men who had scarcely begun to taste the bitterness of battle. It was only a matter of seconds before there was chaos, and the men began to scatter.

Titania stood, paralyzed with fright, and lack of realization. The attack had come so fast that her mind had not begun to even comprehend the situation. As she watched the soldiers falling around her, an arrow pierced the ends of her once pristine robe.

For a good while, she simply stared, too scared to reach out and touch the weapon. The arrow had triggered something inside her, some kind of signal that told her she was standing in reality and not only watching it. The noises of battle and the wounded had become loud and all-to-effective, and suddenly the fear she had been feeling converted to pity and excitment. She ran to the closest wounded and knelt beside them, trying her best to mustre up a spell.