15"The Fire Emblem"
Tawni appeared from a smoke bomb, as per usual, but she wasn't alone. This time, she was with Yasmin, Janiya, and Lamia. "Hello, readers! And happy Fire Emblem: Three Houses Day!" Janiya greeted. "That's right, this should be dropping on the day of Fire Emblem: Three Houses' international release."
"Now, we all know you want to play it and not be bothered by us," Yasmin smiled. "But considering this is the release-day of a brand new Fire Emblem, we decided that we wanted to talk about, well… what else? THE Fire Emblem!"
"Hooray, more lore!" Tawni smiled.
"Wait, are we talking about OUR world's Fire Emblem, Fóldan's Fire Emblem, the Fates' Yato, Archanaea and by extension Ylisse's Fire Emblem, the Elibe Fire Emblem, the Magvel Fire Emblem, the Tellius Fire Emblem, the Warriors Fire Emblem, Tokyo Opera of Light, or the Judgral Fire Emblem?" Janiya questioned.
"...Yes," Lamia said. "Specifically, WHAT exactly is the Fire Emblem—at least as far as our scholars are concerned—its correlation to the Fire Emblems of series past, and what powers our world's Fire Emblem and its many fragments hold."
"Well, this is going to be interesting," Tawni said, putting her glasses on and placing the astral plate down. The three other girls charged it with their magic and backed up.
WHAT is the Fire Emblem?
"Honestly, it's the titular MacGuffin of the series, given to several objects, usually of plot importance," Janiya answered.
"MacGuffin, sister?" Yasmin pouted. "The Fire Emblem is more than 'just a MacGuffin'!"
"Well, the term definition of a 'MacGuffin' is an object, device, or event that serves the purposes of kickstarting the plot by having it be the primary source of motivation for the events of a story," Tawni admitted, showing the Binding Shield and Marth and Chrom carrying it. "To be fair, in almost EVERY Fire Emblem game, that's what the Fire Emblem does. In the original Shadow Dragon, Mystery of the Emblem, and even in Awakening, the Binding Shield carried by Marth and later his descendant Chrom DOES drive the plot of those games, with restoring its power being the primary plot of the games. It was created by Naga and used in many a ritual through the series."
"It's also a shield in Warriors," Janiya added, showing Rowan and Lianna with it.
"Well, I can think of A time where the Fire Emblem wasn't a plot-important item, but more of a symbol," Lamia said. She showed Julia, Arthur and Tine, as well as Amid and Linda, looking solemnly at a crest. "It was the symbol of House Velthomer of Judgral, and it played no real part in the story. Granted, the story was a deconstruction of Fire Emblem, so having it be just a mere symbol instead of plot-important would be a good call."
"Then in Blazing Sword and Binding Blade, the Imperial Seal of Bern was the Fire Emblem of Elibe," a new voice chimed in. All four turned to see a chibi Kadri, looking at the image of Roy holding the Binding Blade. "That was the closest to a title drop, don't you all think?"
"How DID you get here?" Janiya asked.
"The door," the Argelian Princess answered, pointing at the opened door. "Can I join you… purr-lease?"
"...Purr-lease?" Lamia asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I have cat-pun slip-ups...?" Kadri offered.
"...Fine, but don't try anything," Janiya frowned.
"Next comes the one arguably the most similar to our world's without our author thinking about it," Tawni smiled. She showed the five Sacred Stones, with the Dark Stone of Grado held by Lyon. She frowned, watching the Demon King possess the young prince. "Well, the Sacred Stones, specifically the one held by the Grado Empire, were the Fire Emblem of Magvel. Unfortunately, a demon was sealed inside that particular one."
"That's kind of sad," Kadri nearly cried. "All Lyon wanted was to become a great Emperor and protect his people, and instead, he was cursed with dark knowledge that would lead to his ruin." She then whispered, "Bilgiyle lanetlenen o değil {He's not the only one cursed with knowledge}..."
Tawni raised an eyebrow and was about to ask a question, when Janiya turned to Mist, daughter of Elena and Greil, holding a medallion. Janiya continued, "Lehran's Medallion is the Fire Emblem of Tellius, and houses the literal goddess of Chaos, Yune. However, unlike most Chaos goddesses… Sizah… she turned out to be rather nice. Probably because she was half of the goddess who created Tellius."
"Well, we'll deal with Sizah, later," Yasmin assured her sister. She then said, "Well, there is the Yato, or rather, the Omega Yato." She then showed not just male Corrin, but female Corrin, and their respective Kanas, all using a Yato. "Um… what?"
"Multiverse theory," female Corrin explained.
"Oh, thanks!" Yasmin nodded.
"The Omega Yato is more than just a flaming chainsaw sword," Lamia assured the audience. "It was forged by the Rainbow Sage, alongside the other four sacred weapons conveniently wielded by Corrin's four brothers, and empowered by them. So that's TWO Fire Emblems that have been knowingly forged by godlike dragons. Three if you count our world's."
"And we get to the Opera of Light: Fire Emblem," Janiya smiled. She then showed the protagonists of Tokyo Mirage Sessions: #FE performing it. As she and Tawni began bobbing their heads to the beat, Janiya added, "I wish I understood Xuhuan, because this is pretty damn good."
"Shame the game was too weird to catch on for either Shin Megami Tensei fans or Fire Emblem fans," Tawni smiled as she Janiya began dancing in sync.
"Wow, they're good at dancing," Kadri observed.
"Well, Miss Tawni's a performer, and Janiya dances as a hobby," Yasmin replied. "But the Opera of Light isn't just catchy J-Pop idol music. It's a ritual used to summon Naga… so, technically, four godlike dragon based Fire Emblems?"
"Perhaps five, depending on what the Fire Emblem is in Three Houses," Kadri reasoned as the music ended. "I mean, those Divine Crests are Fire Emblem worthy, from my observations… by the way, which house are you all choosing? I'm Blue Lions."
"Lord Sulaiman is the Golden Deer, I'm Black Eagles," Lamia said.
"I'm sharing a house with the enemy," Janiya frowned. "I want my cavaliers that my campaign lacks."
"Golden Deer, one hundred percent!" Tawni admitted.
"Black Eagles," Yasmin smiled. Everyone looked at her. "I co-own a hawk."
The Orobian Fire Emblem
"So, I know we've beaten this to death," Janiya said, "but I have to do it." Showing Gargec, Awdue, an older djinn child, and a young Rerci, she said, "As you all know, Gargec and Awdue, a gruff smith manakete and a djinn of the harvest, met, fell in love, and started a family, with Rerci being the half-dragon, half-genie result of Their union. And She was one of, if not THE most powerful being in the world." As if to demonstrate this point, baby Rerci waved Her hands with a giggle, and an entire jungle sprouted around the four. Gargec and Awdue looked at each other in surprise, while the older genie looked at their "little sister" in astonishment, who merely giggled as She patted a confused tie-wearing gorilla on the head.
"I didn't know Gargec and Awdue ended up on Donkey Kong Island," Tawni said. The image then showed Rerci waving Her hands again, and they ended up starring at an army of samurai whose general had a giant, black, long dragon. "Ransei?" Gargec and Awdue looked at the army, and Awdue awkwardly waved before tickling Her daughter's stomach, causing her to giggle before She teleported them outside of a motel that was called, "No More Heroes". "Santa Destroy, too?"
"Yeah, you're in the wrong game," a spiky-haired, sunglasses clad man said to the two confused parents as he got on his motorcycle. "Cute kids, though." He then rode off while Rerci sneezed out a fireball, sending them back to their house.
"We're going to have to curb this," Awdue said to Her husband, who was still getting a bug from the first world out of His hair. Rerci giggled, waving Her hands again. "No—!" The image cut off and was soon replaced by a group of cloaked humans starring at a crystal ball showing a powerful dragon rampaging.
Lamia continued, "However, human mystics received a vision that a dragon blessed with great magic would bring great ruin upon the world. To prevent this, they began looking for the children born that year. Gargec and Awdue, fearing Their child would be targeted, decided to protect Her by doing something to channel much of Her great magic." The image on the screen showed Gargec pounding on some metal, while Awdue meditated with several gems floating around Her. Tawni, Yasmin, and Kadri all stepped forward, all three young women looking at the gemstones in awe.
"Miss Tawni, there you are," Arya said, walking in. "There was something that… I… oh my gods, is this what I think it is?" The four girls stared as Awdue floated the stones over to Gargec's work, and fused inside of it. The two parents looked over Their mutual craft: an oil lamp, that Awdue zapped with magic, enchanting it.
"Yes," Tawni breathed. "The Lamp of Flames… or as we call it, the Fire Emblem." The two parents presented it to Rerci, who gushed over the lamp, hugging it. She then hugged both of Her parents before going off to play with Her cousin. "They explained that She would use the lamp as a conduit for Her magic, focusing Her power through it to perform Her miracles. She could even use it to form a near unbreakable glamour to keep Her status as a hybrid hidden in a time when hybrids were thought abominations. It siphoned Her magic that would have been too much for Her should She let it build up."
"Unfortunately, I heard it didn't last," Kadri replied. The five Orobians looked down solemnly, as the events that led to the Dragon-Genie War played out, with Gargec's younger brother Stratreo revealing Rerci's status as a hybrid and the massive amounts of casualties that occurred. And then, the raid on Rerci and Awdue's home, where Rerci watched as Her mother died trying to protect Her. Her Fire Emblem was then shattered by the human mystics. "Oh… so that's what happened."
"Yeah…" Janiya frowned. "Anyway, that's how the Fire Emblem was fragmented, as Gargec would find out." She then showed Gargec, coming in, to find His wife's dead body and the fragments of Rerci's prized gift. His eyes watered… before glowing with rage. After seeing Gargec rampage against the mystics, it showed him forging four weapons. "Gargec, for one reason or another, has never been able to fully restore it for the past 5,000 years. He had an opportunity after His 1,001-night labor, making legendary weapons that could destroy the seal on Rerci's prison in the Eternal Forge, but He got… nearly fatally distracted." His door was kicked in by Sizah, who, with all of her magic, rushed at him, and the workshop exploded.
"Was that the Sizah you mentioned?" Kadri asked.
"Yep," Janiya deadpanned. "Ever a charmer, that ifrit."
Lamia explained as they watched Gargec crawl out of his workshop, coughing up smoke (and a small bit of blood), "She nearly killed Gargec, and she destroyed his workshop. Looters saw the explosion, and thinking nobody survived, raided the place and made off with some of Gargec's things, including almost all of the Fire Emblem fragments, and He was only able to keep a few fragments and one, maybe even two, of the legendary weapons. He had the Tome of Storms, Hova until he gifted it to the Madani royal family. But He was in no condition to find them until He recovered as best He could."
"And thus began a series of events that Gargec let the fragments and even the weapons trade hands repeatedly until they found homes for themselves that we know about," Yasmin smiled. "Like, for example, mine."
Red Gem: Clairvoyance
"Now, I know the past Fire Emblem games NAMED the gemstones in the Fire Emblem," Yasmin said, "but ours does not. Instead, we just call them either by their colors or the powers that they grant. Mine, the red gem, allows me to see small glimpses of the future, and act accordingly to either make sure it happens, or avoid it. However, like Mother before me when she had it, it takes quite a bit out of us." She then held up her fragment and concentrated. The fragment shined, and then she smirked, and bent her knees, looking to her left.
From the left side, Sulaiman walked in, and said, "Hey, I didn't know we had a Night of Lore chapter scheduled—"
"Sulaiman!" Yasmin beamed, leaping over a random spot, twirling past a few more areas, and then glomping the Poswali prince. As hearts fluttered over her head, the other girls but Kadri looked at the ground, and Janiya touched one with her sword. Sure enough, a pitfall emerged.
"Who put those pitfalls there?" Lamia asked.
"Anyway," Janiya said, "this fragment is currently safe in Cruibia, and used by Yasmin. It also gives her the ability to detect if someone's lying." She then turned to Kadri, who was shyly looking at Sulaiman and Yasmin. "Is something wrong?"
"O-O-Oh, um… no… not really!" Kadri stammered.
"You want in on this glomping, don't you?" Yasmin coyly smiled. Kadri's face turned pinker. "Oh, get over here!"
"Wait, what?" Sulaiman asked. Rather than answer, Kadri jumped with an impressive leap, and tackled him and his lover down, nuzzling up to him. "Y-Yasmin!? Princess Kadri!?" Tawni, meanwhile, grabbed Lamia and leaped with the startled cleric over, joining the pile. "Um, Princess Janiya, a little help…?"
"Oh my gods, girls," Janiya groaned.
Yellow Gem: Healer's Sacrifice
While Janiya began to navigate her way over to save her future brother-in-law, Arya walked in the center of the screen. "Sorry about them, every one. I suppose I can share my fragment's ability to heal people, now. This was given to us in the royal Uprilian family by the Knowledge Djinn, Awdue's older sister. She entrusted it to my family to keep Upril as the perfect neutral ground for dragons and djinn alike. Too bad my father has taken quite an advantage of that…."
"Your father?" Yasmin asked as she and the rest of the girls returned from a dizzy Sulaiman, who Janiya hauled over.
"Oh, right," Arya said. "Lady Yasmin, you and I haven't met, yet! My father is Prince Khai."
"Oh," Yasmin and Janiya realized, scowled.
"What?" Kadri questioned.
"Arya's father, Prince Khai, is a notorious womanizer who has… multiple children," Tawni explained.
"He tried to woo our mothers, once," Sulaiman, Yasmin, and Janiya all added.
"Oh," Kadri said.
"Silver lining," Arya said, "I at least have this fragment that can heal wounds without using a staff… by using my life energy." She then held Sulaiman's arm and concentrated on her fragment before she healed the bruise that was there. "There you are," she sighed, wiping the sweat from her brow.
"Neat," Yasmin said.
Blue Gem: Barricade
"So, the blue gem is the barricade gem, yes?" Kadri asked. She showed the scene where King Rifat summoned the barrier around Ustros' capital.
"Yes," Janiya said. "It was once used by our mother's friend, Queen Kalia, who gave it to Rifat, her son." She sighed, "I once heard from Father, during a brief moment he talked to King Rifat, that Rifat uses a lot of his stamina to summon an impenetrable barrier around those he cared about. Had he or his mother known that Najiyya was in mortal danger, he would have shielded her for certain, regardless of the strain."
"O gece ASLA olmamalıydı ..." Kadri whispered.
"Still, it can't protect the wearer, even though it CAN protect those around the wearer," Lamia said. "It was precisely how Queen Kalia used it when she was young with the Golden Valkyries if the stories I've read are correct."
In a flashback, Sizah attacked Farah, who winced in expectation of pain. However, a blue barricade formed around her, which blocked Sizah's sword. She then looked back behind her, spotting a panting Kalia giving her a thumbs-up.
"That is sisterhood," Yasmin smiled. "Speaking of Sultana Farah, I can't help but wonder what HER fragment could do?"
"Oh, right, Mother," Sulaiman said. "Are you ladies sure you ladies want me for this? I feel like I'm intruding."
"You're fine," Janiya replied.
"Purr-lease?" Kadri asked.
"...Fine," Sulaiman said.
White Gem: Power
"...Well, that's not exactly what I imagined," Janiya frowned.
"On the surface, 'power' just sounds like superhuman capabilities," Sulaiman said. "Like super strength, durability, and speed. But 'power' is a rather misleading title for Mother's fragment." He then waved his hand, showing his parents, back when they were young, Mecca holding Witherbrand, and his mother clenching her ax and her fragment, surrounded by a bunch of ghouls. Farah was slightly shaking, nervous.
"Alright, ghouls," Mecca breathed. "Not to worry, milady, I can handle this. You just stand back, hide behind me, and—"
"Get away, get away, get away!" Farah screamed at the ghouls, her fragment glowing, and she started flailing her ax wildly, where waves of magic flew out from it, slashing down the monsters left and right. Mecca then watched as she slammed the axe into the ground, and a pillar of fire erupted from the ground in another spot, but in the shape of a fist, that burned a series of holes through ghouls. She then pointed her hand at another squad, resulting in a series of bubbles trapping them, causing them to float up… into a ceiling full of stalactites. She then screamed, causing quicksand to suddenly trap more ghouls, sinking them. When a final set of ghouls lunged at them, a giant frog fell from nowhere atop of them and then hopped away. When Farah opened her eyes and collapsed to her knees, the ghouls were all gone, and Mecca stared in awe of her, ignoring the fact that his armor's cape was on fire. "Um… did you get all of them, sir?"
"Marry me," Mecca breathed in a whisper.
"What!?" Farah asked, her cheeks pink.
"Maybe I should stand behind YOU," he suggested.
"Oh," Farah sighed. She then solemnly walked forward, not knowing Mecca was flirting with her, while Mecca smirked, looking at Farah's backside.
"I will someday make her my wife," Mecca commented.
"What?" Janiya questioned as the image faded.
"Yeah, Mother found out that her fragment was powered by her imagination," Sulaiman said. "It's real title should be 'Reality', because that fragment, whenever she focused, had the power to do whatever she wanted. But it drained a lot out of her, so she can only do so in short bursts, even though she was a half-genie. Rewriting reality takes a lot more magic than you'd think."
"Then how does Robin do it?" Lamia asked.
"He's much, MUCH older than us," Sulaiman said. "This fragment WAS in Poswa, with Mother. But after… what happened, we don't know where it went. We thought the Argelians had it." Everyone turned to Kadri.
"Um, I can't answer that," Kadri replied.
Green Gem: Weather Manipulation
"What?" Janiya asked.
"The green gem is in Xuhua, with Queen Ino," Kadri explained as she walked towards the astral plate. "Gargec gave this fragment to Lady Shuteng, the Forest Dragon who protects Xuhua. She, in turn, gifted the fragment to the people who would become the Xuhuan royal family. This fragment allows its user to control the weather, but requires absolute focus."
She then showed a regal looking woman meditating while the green gemmed fragment hung from her neck. The intense sunlight suddenly hid behind a batch of gray clouds, which soon rained down upon dry farmland. The farmers cheered and bowed to the queen, who smiled despite the sweat dripping from her brow.
"That probably explains why Xuhua is hard to sail to," Sulaiman chimed in. "If the Xuhuan royal family can control the weather, they can perhaps control the seas to stop invasions."
"That makes too much sense, and why Mother could never go there," Janiya frowned, clenching her arm.
"Though one has to wonder why Rerci had this many powers?" Lamia observed.
"Good question," Yasmin nodded. "My theory is that Rerci's mother, Awdue, gave Her gems the ability to absorb Rerci's great magic, and give each gem a theme, so Rerci wouldn't be overwhelmed with all of the magic at once."
"Well, all that's left are the Giussean orange fragment, the purple fragment that I heard Queen Nakia had, and my fragment," Kadri replied.
"Oh, yeah, you have one," Janiya said. She then said, "Let's deal with the orange one because yours is just overpowered."
Orange Gem: Rewind
"Oh, so it's Mila's Turnwheel and/or Sothis' Divine Pulse, the Fire Emblem fragment," Lamia concluded.
"What?" Howe asked as he came in.
"Well, in the remake for Gaiden, also known as Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, there was an item called 'Mila's Turnwheel', which allowed players to rewind time and undo mistakes," Lamia explained. "However, this fragment can only go back safely one hour." She then showed a future Howe, holding a wounded Sulaiman's severed arm, and held up the fragment. He then caused time to rewind, while Sulaiman's arm reattached itself to Sulaiman. Howe, with the knowledge of the screw-up, blocked the naginata that would have cut the Poswali's prince arm off and then slashed down the Xuhuan soldier down.
"I should thank you for that," the present-day Sulaiman said to Howe.
"But I have to ask what your retainer means by 'safely'," Howe said.
"Oh, that's easy," Lamia smiled. "It means that you run the risk of trapping yourself in a time loop should you go back further than an hour. Unfortunately, this means you cannot go back in time to save our mothers, Captain."
"Damn it!" Howe and Janiya both growled.
"Also, we might want to mention that this one is currently on Giuss, because that was where a childhood friend of Rerci's lives, holding onto it," Lamia replied. "It's just that Giuss has strong distrust with Orobia, we will never get their cooperation without going to Giuss ourselves and tracking Rerci's friend down."
Purple Gem: Spiritual
"This sounds… familiar," Tawni finally spoke up. She looked at her own gem.
Arya explained, "Yes, it does seem like your power is similar to that of the Rusnadi queen, Nakia. Legends say that she had the power to speak to the spirits of the dead and even interact with them. She was quite powerful, spiritually. But nobody knew why… at least, those outside of Rusnad's royal court."
She then looked at Nakia, who was traveling to the sight of a murder, and although flinching at the blood, she looked around, spotting a random area. She then walked towards it and began whispering, all while a violet light emerged from her necklace. She then closed her eyes and knelt. Several minutes later, she then smirked and opened her eyes before she turned around, and pointed at a man, whose face paled when he realized that she found that he was the murderer. He then growled, and lunged at her with his sword, only for her to perform a flip that was similar to Tawni's acrobatics, and she then sliced his arm with a sword of her own, making him drop his blade. She then hit him on the back of his head with the hilt of her sword, knocking him out. The guards stared in awe at their queen.
"I didn't know Queen Nakia was that skilled of a fighter," Sulaiman observed.
"She was just as fast as Mother," Janiya pointed out.
"I guess that explains why Queen Nakia did not go down without a fight during the Widowing Massacre," Yasmin frowned.
"That was quite the graceful move," Tawni said, in awe of Nakia.
Pink: Copycat
"Copycat?" Sulaiman questioned. "That's the last fragment."
"Yes, the handle of the lamp," Kadri shyly answered. "It was given to Lord Cydris, who gifted it to the Argelian royal family… my family. Mother, sometime before the Widowing Massacre, gave it to me, to use it to become a proper Empress. But I have a long way to go."
"The handle?" Janiya asked. "Wait… the Fire Emblem was an oil lamp, right? And one usually holds the handle of the lamp. Which means that it was the fragment that Rerci always had to touch whenever she used the Fire Emblem. In short… oh, gods, it was the most powerful part of the Fire Emblem, since Rerci had to touch THAT part the most."
"And Mother's fragment was the MOUTH, so that explains that part," Sulaiman added.
"The copycat imitates all of the above fragment's powers, but not to the extent of the others' powers," Kadri admitted. "But it gives a backup source of great power and requires absolute focus." As if to demonstrate this, she then turned to Howe, and requested, "Captain Sirius, if you would, please attack me in any manner of your choosing."
"Um… what?" Howe asked.
"Trust me, you shouldn't hurt me… much."
"...Fine," Howe said. He then pulled out his ax, and swung… only for Kadri's eyes and fragment to light up, and she blocked the ax with a sword that none of the others there saw until just then. She then pounced on Howe, pinning him down, and using her hand to press his face into the ground. "What the… how!?"
"Sorry, I had to rewind a couple of times to make sure I didn't accidentally hit you too hard or something else," Kadri apologized, getting off Howe.
"Wait, you can use swords?" Janiya questioned.
"My father is a former templar, and… well… he trained me to defend myself should I be away from the janissaries," Kadri admitted.
"...Somehow, this does not surprise me," the younger Crubian princess groaned.
"Wait, janissaries?" Sulaiman asked. As if on cue, Howe was then tackled by a group of Argelian janissaries.
"S-Sorry, Captain!" Kadri gasped. "I completely forgot about the janissaries!"
"And that's all the time we have, ladies and gentlemen," Tawni awkwardly finished. "We're going to see if we can get Captain Howe out of that dog pile! You all enjoy Fire Emblem: Three Houses! Bye!"