Lessons Learned


When they returned to Fey Castle, the Lady Alana took Ranma into a large
study, and pointed him to a seat on a couch. She sat beside him. "We
need to talk about this now, Ranma. You went through something very
difficult out there, and for just a moment, you went beyond your
father's training, and we need to discuss it."

"You don't mean the fighting," Ranma sighed. "You mean when I... when I
gave up." He looked depressed, and he stared down at his hands, as if in
them he could find the root of his failure.

"Yes, Ranma, that's what I meant," then she reached out, and lifted his
head with a finger beneath his chin, "Look at me, Ranma." She looked
into his eyes, and smiled. "You won, Ranma. When you walked away, and
didn't take the killing stroke, that's the moment that you won. Can't
you see that?" She could see the confusion in his eyes. "Up to that
moment, Lord Roga was convinced you were the Lord Fey. Just a moment
later, and he bet his life that you weren't, and took us to the King.
Why, Ranma? What changed his mind?"

"Lord... Lord Fey would have killed him." Ranma replied, a bit sullenly.
She was just trying to make him feel better about losing. It didn't
matter. Roga had still beaten him.

She could see the defeat still, burning in his eyes. "Let me try and
explain it, Ranma. You fought several battles that day. You fought the
border guard's champion, right?" 

"Yes," he replied shortly.

"And you fought Lord Roga?"

"Yeah," he sighed again, "and lost."

She knew she couldn't be over-subtle here. He was smart, but he wasn't
good at nuance. "And you fought King Dei, didn't you?"

"What?" He looked up at her in confusion. "I didn't fight him." 

"Didn't you?," she asked softly. "He challenged you, told you he would
never have peace with you... and together, we fought him, and we
defeated him... didn't we?"

"Uh... uhmm... yeah, I guess. Kinda." Confusion was still dominant in
his eyes, but she saw a glimmer of comprehension.

"And with Lord Roga... didn't you really fight two battles with him? You
fought him in a physical battle, and you defeated him. Then he fought
you in a battle of wills. He tried to force you to prove that he was
right, by killing him. And don't you see, Ranma? When you admitted
defeat, you actually beat him a second time. He was challenging you. If
you had killed him, you would have proven him right. He would be dead,
but he would have won, and his troops would have fought tooth and nail
to keep us from the King. But you beat him, and proved him wrong. That's
why he changed his mind."

"Hey..." he replied, wonder growing in his voice, "you're right! Wow!
You mean, even when I thought I lost, I really won?"

"Yes, that's right. Now, think back. What other battles did we fight,
that day?" She had accomplished what she knew she must, but perhaps she
could build on this success, and bring out some of that bright
intelligence that had been so blindly focused on the Art.

He sighed, and put his head in his hands... then he jerked upright,
grinning. "I know! And it wasn't me! You fought, and you won too. You
fought that captain of the guards. He didn't want to let us in, and you
beat him. You made him challenge you, so I could fight, and he would
have no choice but to let us in. And then you fought Lord Roga the same
way, and made him challenge me! Then you did it again, with King Dei,
and forced him to bring in his summoner, and accept the truth." His grin
had deepened into a real smile now, as he realized how much they had
really accomplished. "And we both fought to get the peace deal, and
we both won... Wow... you fought just as much as I did." 

"There was one more battle you fought, and won... can you think of what
it was?" she asked, gently. She didn't bring up the fact that in the
first two cases, she had actually been the one to issue the challenge.
He was right, in the deepest sense. She had tricked them into impugning
her honor, thus allowing her to issue a challenge they could not refuse.

He sat and thought, rubbing the base of his pigtail. He rocked back and
forth a bit, thinking over each bit of the journey, until finally his
eyes lit up. He smiled at her again. "Those guards that came with us.
They started out angry at us, and suspicious. When we got to the field,
I think they were actually disappointed at having to leave. They didn't
think I was Lord Fey anymore. They didn't want to believe us, and when
they left, they did. That was the last battle, right?"

"That's right." And she reached out and teased his hair a bit. "It has
been said, Ranma, that it is as important to know when not to fight, as
when to fight. But that's not really true. What do you think is really
meant by that, Ranma?" She smiled gently at him. She didn't really
expect him to get this one, but she wanted to give him the chance. 

He had surprised her before, with Lord Roga. His reaction had been 
unexpected, knowing what she did of the tenets of his school... Anything
Goes meant exactly what it said. Anything was worth doing to win. At
that moment, she had feared for him, feared what his father might have
made of him, feared what he would become, if he followed his school's
teaching, and killed Lord Roga... but she had expected nothing less. She
had been surprised and pleased that he had proven stronger than his
father's teachings. And he surprised her now.

"Uhm... maybe, the important thing is to know which fight you're really
fighting?" Ranma looked at her hopefully. Her beautiful smile told him
he was right, and at that moment, Ranma felt like he had won a fight he
hadn't even known he had been fighting. 

That night, in his rooms, Ranma pondered the trip, and the talk he had
had with the Lady. He particularly remembered the pain in her eyes as he
told her that he could not kill Lord Roga. It was not a pain for his
failure. . . but a pain of sympathy. She had felt pain, because he had.
He thought further back, to when she had held him, as he cried, after
realizing that he must have killed the Lord Fey. 

He decided that it was clear, that she felt pain when she saw him in
pain. He could not bear to see her hurt, and he felt sure that this was
another aspect of the spell that bound her to love him. After all, what
better way to prevent her from killing the Lord Fey, than to make her
feel any pain she saw inflicted upon him? He wasn't sure of the details,
but the results seemed clear. 

He made a decision that night, a momentous decision that would haunt him
for years, and ultimately cause his first and greatest failure. He
began a steady habit of using the Soul of Ice, and burying his emotions,
his fear and pain, his confusion, even his waning affection for his
father, behind a wall of ice in his mind. He made a silent vow that
night, that never again would he hurt the Lady by allowing her to see
his pain. He would protect her, even from himself.

---

Seated in his personal chambers in the house of Lord Marnolan, a minor
Baron who's favor he had obtained, Krall read the latest missive from
his first spy in Farallon, and snarled in anger. Preposterous. How could
it be? "It is impossible," he growled, and stalked from the room.

A scant hour later, he cautiously entered a tavern in the town where his
spymaster stayed when not in the field. He peered about the darkened
room, trying to see through the flickering shadows created by the
guttering torches. He always felt nervous when speaking to his
spymaster.

Krall held few illusions about his own skill. He was a true fighter, an
experienced warrior, and he knew exactly where his skills placed him
relative to those around him. When he did not know, he would generally
fade back, allowing others to fight, showing him where he stood. That is
what he was doing with the new Lord Fey.

At the same time, there were a few people whose skill he knew to be
sufficient to kill him, in this particular case, it would be a painful
death, but not one that his opponent would have to put a lot of effort
into. He could certainly defeat the silent shadow walker in a straight
up fight, but if it ever came to that, he would not be fighting him, but
one of his poisons. Krall knew that his constitution was unusual... he
could hold his ale as well as most dwarves, and that said a hell of a
lot, but he knew enough about the poisons Friss would use to know that
it would simply mean that he would have longer to spend in agony before
finally dying.

So Friss was one of the few of his colleagues whom he treated with a
cautious respect quite unlike his typical arrogance. 

Finally he spied the thin man, seated in a dark corner, made darker by
the absence of a torch in the nearest sconce, which didn't surprise
Krall one bit. He moved quickly to stand by the table, then slipped in
beside him. Without looking at Friss, he spoke under his breath, "Tell
me, Friss, how comes this? How could King Dei make such an agreement?
And if it be so, if the fool really agreed to allow these outsiders in,
then why have nearly three months passed, and none come. Why would the
new Lord take such a risk, to obtain so peculiar a peace, only to ignore
it? I need more information than this to plan my actions. If he starts
making peace with the other kingdoms, all our plans could be
jeopardized."

"It was the Lady, Lord Krall, her doing, by what I've learned. She
played their honor and tricked them into dueling the boy. He defeated a
minor company champion easily enough. Then, before the capital, before
Lord Roga's personal guard, he toyed with Lord Roga, fought him to a
standstill until Roga fell from exhaustion, then Lord Fey yielded."

"What?! But you said Roga fell!" Friss leveled a sharp gaze at Krall,
dark eyes burning with anger, and Krall lowered his voice, "You have an
explanation?"

"Quite. Lord Roga did indeed fall. That is one reason I am sure the Lady
was behind it. Somehow she must have learned that Roga's orders were
that if he fell, his troops would fight to the last man to prevent Fey's
advance on the palace. Lord Roga was so shocked that Lord Fey didn't
kill him, that he accepted their story."

"That explains the audience, but why did the King agree?"

"It occurred in a private audience. Only the King, his wife, the Lord
Roga, Fey, and the Lady have any idea why the agreement was signed."

"Can we use Lord Roga? How badly does he desire revenge?"

"On the contrary, Milord, indications are that Roga is now Fey's
staunchest supporter in Farallon."

"What?! That's absurd!" hissed Krall, shocked to the core. This was not
the way things worked in his world. 

"So it is, so it is. Nonetheless, its true. Think you the Lady might
have some power after all? Perhaps she overcame their minds, or cast a
spell upon them. I know not." Friss waved dismissively, and sat back.
Krall stood, and walked away, knowing that his time with Friss was 
ended, and staying would not be healthy. He had much to think on, in
any case.