088 luca.fang

///C
Fang:
Oh...
Luca:
Hey, been seeing you around lately. Fang, right?
Fang:
Yes! I'm so glad I get to fight alongside a brother of the plains.
Luca:
Mmm, I don't really fit the bill there.
Fang:
Huh?
Luca:
I'm not really in touch with my nomad heritage. I only stayed on the plains for a bit in my childhood. Then my imperial father brought the family to the empire.
Fang:
Oh, I see... But that's fine. We have a lot in common then. I am pure blood but I too was taken to the empire at a young age.
Luca:
That so? Well, that's a common fate for most of our kind, huh?
Fang:
Mmm...

///B
Fang:
So you said your father was an imperial?
Luca:
Yeah. He lived on the border between the empire and Kotan. He was a knight tasked with defending the border. Turns out, he did a bad job at that though. The settlement he was supposed to defend got raided. And he was taken as a hostage by the raiders. Eventually the Tanukar tribe saved him.
Fang:
They've always been the most cooperative with the empire.
Luca:
Yep. Dad wasn't in the best of shape though. So he stayed with them for a time. That's when he met dear old mother and then I happened. Dad eventually convinced mom to move to the empire with him. And the rest is history.
Fang:
You fight just like my mercenary brothers. Your mother must have taught you some skills...
Luca:
Right again. She taught me how to use a bow. My dad was the better horseman. So he taught me how to ride.
Fang:
Sounds like you had a good upbringing. It is hard to imagine you didn't become a knight.
Luca:
Dad had failed in his mission and married a nomad outsider. There was no way I'd be a knight of Deimos. But Kotanese mercenaries are always in high demand...
Fang:
That, I know all too well.

///A
Luca:
Hey, it's your turn now, Fang. What brought you to the empire?
Fang:
For starters, I'm from the Gol clan...
Luca:
Ouch. I heard they got massacred years ago.
Fang:
Yes. Not long after I was born, in fact. The survivors banned together with a few other tribesmen from destroyed clans and left for the empire. And I've been on the move ever since.
Luca:
Raised on the battlefield basically, huh?
Fang:
Yes. But the older people in our unit kept our heritage alive. I grew up listening to stories of our gods, our tribes accomplishments... By the time I joined this army though, they were all gone... Bortz and the rest only cared about making money.
Luca:
You were pretty depressed when you first joined up. Those boys still meant something to you, didn't they?
Fang:
They were rough... I'd even say they were honorless. But we did look out for each other. Bortz was like a brother to me. But I just couldn't take it anymore. I had to leave...
Luca:
Knew you were fighting for the wrong cause, yeah? Same thing happened to me back in Ernterre. Guess some of us gotta keep the Kotanese pride alive.
Fang:
Yes...