Fire Emblem: Crestfallen [Sharks, Moon, Astoria]

She was in Theodoric's home? The thought was bewildering; her thoughts were desperately trying to get a grasp on the situation at hand, but for some reason, they weren't able to. Her mind felt foggy, as if her head was filled with stones. Sherry didn't remember a time where she felt so mentally and physically exhausted. She looked up at Theodoric as she was led to a chair. "Silese Citadel..." she murmured, still dazed. Theodoric said something about faking-- was she faking, or wasn't she? She didn't even know how she got here in the first place!

Then he mentioned a battle. What battle? Why did he strike her?

"We were at the monastery just the other day... Iris, wait, Iris, didn't she go berserk? The last thing I remember..." Sherry leaned her face into her palm again. "I don't know..."
 
That...made slightly more sense. For whatever reason, Sherry didn't remember anything of what had happened in the wake of their failed confrontation with the false Archbishop. But why? Never mind it making sense, nothing about this situation did.

Theodoric kept his confusion off of his face as he sat Sherry down, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"Sherry. It's been three years since then. You remember absolutely nothing since then?" He frowned, turning to the door for a moment and opening it, calling out to the guards.

"One of you, send for Duchess Parthenia to come here. The matter is urgent."

Theodoric closed the door once more, returning to Sherry's side. How much to reveal? How would the Sherry of three years prior respond to hearing of what she'd done ever since? Best to take it slowly with her, then.

"You've been making...erratic decisions for the past three years. Take some time. Breathe. Center yourself."
 
Three years. Had it been three years? It felt more like a few days rather than months and months. Her heart began to race, and the hand at her shoulder did little to help. Sherry felt even more faint than before, so much so that she couldn't even feel the headache throb within her skull. She couldn't remember anything... well, maybe some snippets here and there, but nothing of importance. There was some of her time in the monastery, Doric's father...

Wait, what did he mean by erratic decisions?

Her head shot back up as she stared at his face. "Don't screw with me, Doric," she muttered, working a hand through her hair as she tried her damn hardest to keep calm. "You need to tell me what happened. You... you need to tell me what the hell I did."

She could handle what he had to say, right? Sherry was exhausted, but her eyes remained locked with his. The faster she knew about this situation, the faster she could adapt.
 
"Aside from marching an army and then some straight into my duchy nearly unprovoked, and then subsequently having the dubious honor of overseeing probably the worst defeat in all of Galbian history at the hands of yours truly, not much, Sherry," said a new voice from outside the room as the door swung open. A familiar silver-haired, if slightly taller and longer-haired woman appeared in the makeshift cell, hand raised in greeting, as ever.

Her timing was impeccable as always, and she really prided herself on getting it just right. In fact, Parthenia had just arrived at the Marlon seat of power with her escorting flight of knights, and before she could even make herself at home, an agitated guard had come rushing at her. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought Theodoric had snapped after one too many raids on his wine cellar for the good stuff.

In the room proper, her eyes ran over the subdued form of her former classmate and friend with a slightly raised eyebrow. There was judgement on her face. It had been three years since they'd last met, and she hardly would have ever expected their reunion to be in this sort of manner. Letting out a sigh, she leaned against a nearby wall, eyebrow raised higher this time at Theodoric.

She shot him a look that said 'does she really remember nothing?'

"Dory, I'm not going to complain, but how hard did you hit Sherry back there?"

Maybe she should have listened in a bit before entering the room with that bombshell, but it was water under the bridge now.
 
"I don't know, Parth. I'm fairly certain she's not faking it. Sherry never was a particularly good actress. To say nothing of the fact that considering the last battle, I doubt subterfuge ever crossed her mind."

Doric sighed again. Damn. He very much didn't know how badly Sherry would take this. But if she insisted, he supposed he had little choice but to oblige.

"You just attempted to invade Mordlind, Sherry. Don't ask me why you did so, because I still don't have a damned clue." Theodoric said, heat rising to his voice for a moment at the mention of the invasion. "We just had a battle on House Ciran's lands. Parthenia and I routed your army." He said tonelessly, his mind racing at the thought of what was going on with Sherry meant. Did this mean they could salvage, well, almost everything? The invasion aside, if it meant that his childhood friend hadn't truly been in her right mind when she'd attempted all of this, perhaps something good could be gotten out of this situation.

"I tried to negotiate with you to stop before. You attempted to have me renounce my loyalties and kneel before you. I refused. You took that poorly and ranted and raved that you'd kill me. You did try to kill me during the battle."

To be frank, there was a reason Theodoric was listing off events in reverse order: he didn't know how badly Sherry would take the fact that she'd killed her own father. Best to let her process the rest first.

"Three years ago, our confrontation with Iris was an abject failure. Archbishop Iris...turned into a dragon. I'm aware that this sounds unbelievable. Yet you claim to have lost the last three years' worth of memories. In any case, you can imagine the rout that followed. Most of the Chimeras only escaped because she took her time massacring the Green Falcons first. As far as I'm aware, only the Keryth siblings survived that. Afterwards..." He sighed, skipping over the part with his own family drama for now. This wasn't the time for it, anyway. Best to rip the bandage off, he supposed. There wasn't much left to tell her.

"Cretus was destroyed by the Archbishop. I've stayed in Mordlind, attempting to salvage House Marlon lands, at the very least. As for your doings...all reports from Galbia claim you slew your father for the throne."
 
Parthenia was around as well. That was a surprise. What was even a bigger surprise was what Theodoric said next. She had invaded Mordlind... why? She felt like she had a reason to. But she didn't have a reason to kill Theodoric, or even Parthenia of all people. Sherry sat in silence, trying to process all of the information that was being fed with her. Then there was Iris, who had turned into a dragon and slaughtered half of the students. That was something she remembered, somewhat... was that really three years ago?

Then Theodoric continued, and she wished he hadn't.

She had killed her own father?

Her blood ran cold. There was no way this was right. She'd never do such a thing. Sherry's eyes dropped to her hands. Was Theodoric lying? Was this another trick?!

"N-no. I refuse to believe such a thing. How could have I..." She felt herself begin to tremble. Then again, why would he lie? There was no reason for him to do so. What would they gain from that? Sherry's shudders only intensified. "I... killed my own father..?"

The thought rolled around and around in Sherry's head. No matter how much she thought of it, she still couldn't accept it. "This has to be some sort of joke, right? A form of getting back at me for what you say I've done..." She looked back up at her two friends with a wavering smile, as if she were begging them to let her in on the joke.

 
He wished he was joking. The sight of Sherry in denial all but convinced Theodoric at this point: there was almost no chance she was attempting to decieve them. However this had happened, the Sherry of old had returned to them. Which meant that the madwoman she'd been over the past three years wasn't a natural state. Something had induced it. Considering how it had happened immediately after they'd went their separate ways at the monastery, it wasn't difficult to connect the dots. Yet another thing Archbishop Iris would have to answer for in time. Another thing her manipulations had taken from him.

"I'm sorry." Doric shook his head sadly. "I've never lied to you before, Sherry. Why would I start now? Considering that you remember nothing of this...I'm beginning to suspect you were under some sort of compulsion of insanity. Though I don't know how, the source is evident. The false Archbishop rules the land from what's left of the monastery. As for our House mates..." Doric shared a look with Parth before offering a brief shrug.

"I haven't in contact with any of them since I took command of House Marlon. In all the chaos, there was too much to do simply restoring order to my territory. I don't suppose you'd know any better, Parth?"
 
She sighed. Again. Then, she decided to impose herself on of the spare seats in the room. Theodoric was right. Sherry had never been a particularly good actor. In fact, if Parthenia remembered right, she wasn't a particularly good liar, either. Did that mean Sherry was herself, again?

This complicated things far more than if she'd really stayed insane, especially now that they'd gone to war, as short lived as it was. Then again, it might not, depending on how a newly amnestic queen of Galbia reacted. Parthenia nodded along as Dory dropped the news. He'd always had more tact when it came to sensitive things.

'I'm sorry,' she mouthed.

"Sherry, some of my school pranks may have been overly complicated or even in poor taste, but something on the level of this would be utterly insane for myself, let alone Doric," she said, with careful words and an awkward expression on her face. "It's all true. And only scratching the surface of it, really."

Catching Doric's look, she shook her head. Sherry's state being on account of Iris' interference, however, made a lot of sense. If Sherry had become like this because of that giant oversized lizard, then how would a corrupted version of herself acted? It wasn't a pleasant thought.

"Only barely. Considering I was in the exact position as you after my own parents were killed, I had far too many things to worry about, and I can't imagine the others wouldn't have had their own issues to deal with in the aftermath, either."
 
So they actually weren't lying. Nothing that came out of the other two's mouths reached her ears. It was like the world around her had started to collapse. Sherry put her hands in her head, trying her hardest to keep herself from breaking down in front of her friends. It wasn't really working; her body had become overwhelmed with quivering, and she was on the verge of tears.

"I..." she stammered out. The words were hardly coming to her at his point. "I... think I need to be alone for a bit..."

She put her face in her hands, refusing to look at them. If she had killed her father, that meant she was very much capable of killing Theodoric, Parthenia, or any of her other friends. Was she still a danger? Was she really herself? Yhirel forgive her, should she even be around them if Iris could take control of her whenever she wanted?
 
"Let the guards outside know should you require anything, or if you wish to see either of us." Doric nodded in understanding, gesturing to Parth that they should both leave. As they exited the room, Theodoric murmured aside to the guards watching Sherry's door.

"If the Queen requests something, bring it to her, within reason. Absolutely nothing capable of being used as a weapon or for self-harm. This order will stand for the next guard rotation, as well. Send word should she prove to be troublesome."

With that out of the way, Theodoric led Parthenia to his private study, gesturing for her to take a seat on one of the chairs and couches in the roof as he plopped down behind his desk, pulling a bottle of dry pinot gris out and pouring both of them a goblet.

"Hopefully, Sherry can pull herself together with enough time." Theodoric murmured, attempting to calm his frazzled nerves with alcohol. "In the meanwhile, this puts a stopper on my plans. I've no wish to bankrupt her House should she remain sane, but the remainder of Mordlind will not see it that way. We need Mordlind united at the very least if we want to muster enough force to march on Irinduil, and having the other Houses question my judgement should they see me going easy on Sherry won't be conducive to that end."

Doric set his goblet down with a bit more force than he'd intended, his temper unraveling at the thought of the conundrum before him.

"That, and House Grimdall is a spent force, regardless. Depending on how happy Houses Kirlou and Ravaleth were with Sherry's rule, the damage we did to Grimdall risks the other two houses of Galbia conducting a civil war for the throne once more. We can't afford that. Not with a dragon of myth to contend with. Thoughts, Parthenia? Options?"
 
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With equal understanding, Parthenia followed Doric out the door and to his study. She was very thankful that Theodoric had alcohol at the ready. If there was a time that she actually needed a knockout dose of alcohol, it was pretty much now.

Letting out another sigh, she plopped right down on one of his couches, trying to make herself as comfortable as she could with her new goblet. With her free hand, she mussed up her own hair in frustration, before taking a larger-than-normal gulp of wine. "Hopefully," she managed to agree. "Mine too. And believe me, I had plans." Crossing her legs, she impatiently tapped at the armrest of her couch, mind whirring –and reeling, frankly—at the implications of a sane Sherry. The political implications of breaking from the established plans and helping a recovered Sherry were already giving her a headache.

"Agreed, and agreed. The die is cast; it would be difficult for us to get away with going easy on her House or any affiliated Galbian forces or we'll invite political unrest. On the other hand, our combined Houses just decisively repelled an invasion of greater Mordlind, with all the political capital that comes with it, and my uncle is still the Speaker, obviously. If we need to act, I'm sure I can bring him around to it." She continued tapping at the chair in thought. "Hmm… the more I think of it, I think it could work. There's still significant risk, especially in the long-term, but I think we could spin it."

Taking another drink to wet her lips, she continued on. "Assuming we side with Sherry, we can do this. Forego the ransom, free Sherry. We get her to sign terms, end the war, and force an alliance in lieu of major reparations. Our goal is still to march on Irinduil, so we can spin it along those lines and gain an extra, if understrength force in the end if we play these cards right. Loyalties have changed in the past for less, after all, and since Mordlind itself didn't suffer much in this little war, the attention of the citizenry will still be on Irinduil, with how much we've been making a stink about it. If we're bold, and Sherry plays along, we could put up the appearance of puppeting Grimdall and Galbia itself pending information on where Kirlou and Ravaleth's opinions lie, or otherwise prop up her house with said alliance as the reason. What do you think?"
 
Theodoric took another sip of wine as he marshalled his thoughts in response to Parthenia's proposed plan, weighing the pros and cons in his head.

"Feasible, but we need to keep apace with every single House in Mordlind and Galbia if we want to make this work. Kirlou and Ravaleth could easily backfire on us should we put on too much of a show of puppeting House Grimdall. Worst case scenario, they see Grimdall as unfit to hold the throne and raise their banners."

Another thought came to him as they sat, and the matter only deepened the frown on his face.

"Two considerations on the domestic front as well. First, Keryth and Luralei's stake in this. House Luralei lost its heir at Irinduil, and both Victor and Oriana saw their classmates die. I can't imagine they'd side with the usurper in this situation, but that display could have cowed them into not thinking of going against her, especially considering Cretus's fate. We'll need leverage beyond the Speaker's influence. And speaking of..."

He set his wine down, looking Parth dead in the eyes.

"What's our contingency plan should your uncle pass? Am I to back you, or shall we put our hopes on behind one of the other two houses to make them more amenable to our cause? As the last legal heir to House Marlon, I have no one to leave this land to in the unlikely event I win the seat. That disqualifies me."

The thought of the circumstances behind his situation had Theodoric tightening his grip on his goblet, his face falling into an uncharacteristic, yet more and more common, scowl.

"Damn Gwendolyn to the pits of hell for putting me in this position. For killing Father. For leaving me to pick up her pieces..."
 
"Mhm. Hence the need to probe and investigate. The sooner, the better. We're going to need to do it regardless," she pointed out, going for the wine again straight afterwards. "I'm not too worried about our domestic affairs at the moment. Luralei, maybe, but I can't imagine Victor or Oriana being the type to be cowed into submission. Especially Victor, I bet he's even more of an arrogant shit than I am, these days," Parthenia scoffed, recalling her memories of him in the waning days of her peaceful academy time.

For a moment, she seemed caught up in them, before catching Doric's eyes. "My uncle is still healthy, but you're right. We need a contingency plan. Frankly, right now, a Mordlind controlled by the other two houses introduces far too many variables at this critical stage. The Speaker must be from Marlon or Ciran, and if you're already placing yourself out of the running like that, then I suppose you're going to have to back me, and that's not just because I've always wanted the title. The situation's so delicate that breaking the balance right now could be catastrophic."

She sighed. "I never thought the situation with your sister would have turned out like this, but there's no use dwelling on the past now. You'll certainly deal with her… when the time comes."
 
After some time, Sherry decided to leave the room. Luckily for the guards stationed at the door, they seemed to be understanding when she stated that she wished to meet with Theodoric and Parthenia. Was it the way she spoke, or was it the way that she looked? She still felt herself trembling as she spoke with them, but when she was eventually brought to Theodoric's study. Even though the guards were willing to usher her there, she still felt a little awkward. She heard the guard announce their presence before she was ushered inside. The new quiet was deafening.

"Ah, I'm... sorry if I'm interrupting anything," Her voice was uncharacteristically low as she spoke, almost refusing to make eye contact with either of the two. Sherry still didn't know how to act around them after all she did. The whole experience was quite sobering. "If you're busy, I could ask to come around again another time..."
 
They lapsed into silence after that for a few minutes, Theodoric mulling the situation over in his mind. In all honesty, it was as Parthenia said. He had little choice but to back her as a future Speaker should the worst occur. Without even factoring in his reasoning that there was no one for him to entrust House Marlon's lands to, the fact remained that he simply did not want to be Speaker. Theodoric never even wanted to be duke. But with no one else left of Marlon's line, he had a duty to carry on. He was not the only one that could be Speaker and advance his cause.

"Ironic, isn't it? Even three years ago, the thought of you being Speaker would have had me aghast. Now, it's our best contingency plan. Truly, Yhriel has a sense of humor."

Any other musings he had were cut off by one of the guards he'd assigned to watch Sherry announce her arrival. Hm. Theodoric shared a brief look with Parthenia before ultimately allowing Sherry inside, pouring a third goblet of wine for her.

"It's...fine." Doric said carefully as he passed her the wine, gesturing for her to take a seat whereever she pleased. "There were questions we had to ask you eventually, regardless. Still, you first. Was there something you wanted to ask of us, Sherry?"
 
Sherry took the wine from Doric without much of a reaction. She looked over at Parthenia for a brief moment before she sat down nearest to her. Slowly, her finger danced around the rim of the goblet as she stared down at the dark liquid. She couldn't bring herself to drink, no matter how parched she was; she feared that, if she did, the knots in her stomach would not permit her to digest it. Sherry knew she would have to drink and eat sometime... just not now. She settled for holding the goblet in her hands for now, her fingers wrapped tightly around it.

"I do have something to ask of you, actually," she replied after a long moment. Her gaze remained at his feet. "I might not understand why I did the things I did. And I have no doubt they were all terrible... to be honest, at this point, I don't even trust myself."

She frowned. There was no way that these two would approve of her request. But she had to show that she could be trusted. How else was she to redeem herself after three years?

"That's why I am asking you two to kill me as soon as you see me begin to revert how I was before, during the three years after Irinduil," she continued hesitantly. "I don't want to risk anyone else's life. If I was capable of killing my own father, who knows what I'd do to you and Parth? I wouldn't be able to live with myself..."
 
"Sherry, if I wasn't willing to slay you when I'd thought you irrevocably insane, why would I agree to kill you know?" Theodoric asked in exasperation, one elbow on his desk as he massaged his temple.

"Moreover, we need to determine how and why you've managed to return to sanity in the first place. Frankly, I refuse to believe that bashing you in the head is what caused it. That's absurd."

He sighed at the thought, eyeing where the vodka in his desk was stored for a moment before resisting the temptation. What a headache. The amount of tasks to be done in the near future combined with the day-to-day management of House Marlon's lands was nearly overwhelming. How had any of his forefathers or Marlon himself managed during times of war and crisis?

"I employ decent Faith healers on retainer and in my forces, but they're battlefield healers, not medical scholars. We'll likely need to request House Keryth's aid, and that involves negotiating with Victor. You can understand why I'm not looking forward to that meeting."

A pause as he reached for parchment and ink, beginning to compose a letter. As Theodoric wrote, he started to speak once more.

"Moving on from that order of business, there's still the question of how to deal with your situation politically. I cannot overstate how precarious our situation is here. Even discounting the other Concordian houses' reaction, we need accurate intelligence on the state of Houses Ravaleth and Kirlou. Sherry. You're certain nothing of the past three years has come back to you? As it stands, we risk one or both of those houses attempting to seize your throne after your...less than sane self led House Grimdall's forces to utter ruin just previously."
 
Parthenia only had a wry smile to offer Theodoric for his comment. Truly the world was at its end when her friends thought she was the only option for Speaker and meant it.

The appearance of a guard announcing Sherry's presence came as a bit of a surprise, though, but despite sharing a look with him, she didn't have any problem with her coming in. Much of their discussion was done, and the least they could do was to hear her out. What came out of her mouth wasn't exactly what she expected to hear, though.

"Sherry, don't underestimate our ability to bring you back in line if your mental sanity goes over the cliff again," was Parthenia's deadpan reply.

"Dory is right, though. We need to figure out why it happened in the first place and how beating you up brought you back. That's a good proposal though, I'll help with that if I can." She frowned, downing the rest of her wine as he went over some of the concerns they'd voiced in private earlier.

"It's possible that Sherry or her advisors might have left records, either in her baggage train or back in Galbia. Failing that, the testimony of a few trusted servants." She emphasized the word trusted very carefully. "If you truly don't remember anything, Sherry, we might be able to work backwards on those merits alone, but I agree. Knowing the state of Ravaleth and Kirlou at this juncture is of paramount importance."
 
Of course they didn't want to listen. They might be at her neck most of the time, but they were much like her-- stubborn and full of themselves. Either way, Sherry didn't protest any further. Still, she didn't touch the wine in her cup. The news of Kirlou and Ravaleth competing for control of Galbia only soured the taste in her mouth. This was a whole entire mess with no easy way out. How easy would it be to just charge the monastery and rechallenge Iris? If they actually planned an attack, the result would be in their favor, right?

"I don't remember anything about what I've done or said in the past few years. Like I said, I only remember brief moments that aren't important," Sherry affirmed. "As much as I want to slaughter Iris and make her pay for what she's done, I agree that we have to focus on the well-being of Galbia, first. Last thing I want is to be dealing with a civil war. I'm not sure who to trust in my country, however... I'm sure not many people like me after what I've done."
 
"Perfect, that relates to what we wanted to discuss with you next. Frankly, Sherry, your return to sanity has actually put us in somewhat of a difficult position." Theodoric admitted without hesitation, his confidence and candor seeming far more genuine than it had been three years ago.

"I'll admit, before you woke up, I had every intention of ransoming you with the intent to nearly bankrupt your house. It would have more than recouped my costs of this little invasion, and rendered House Grimdall a non-factor for years to come. Given that you've returned to being yourself, I'm far more hesitant to go along with that plan now."

He looked to Parthenia once he was finished, gesturing for her to continue on in his stead.

"This is your plan, so it's only right that you be the one to inform Sherry of the details."
 
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