Chapter 1

Some Disclaimation: I do not own Fire Emblem, nor it's characters or other properties.

"Hey let go of me! I said let go it hurts," Nowi shouted at her captors. She was, of course, speaking to the Plegian men currently dragging her chained self onto a stone altar. It was a massive and wide pedestal, unnecessarily so for it's purpose. She knew that they were going to kill her as a sacrifice, but she didn't know what exactly they were going to do to her. She didn't believe it would be a swift death. She only knew that it would be death.

There was sand in her eyes and under her nails. There was sand everywhere and it was just making everything so much worse. Her arms were tightly bound in metal shackles and bands to hold her in place. Exposed for all the revelers to see was her bare and naked skin; bruised horribly from multiple beatings that nobody had healed. Her tiny ancient body had been abused for days, and weeks, and months, and years. Gods she couldn't remember how long it had been. Now she was here at the altar and it was it. Her final breath was so near she could see it coming for her. She was at the execution table of a cult as old as her.

She was crying from the sand, and they forced her to her knees on the pedestal. The over sized execution table was rife with strangely colored etchings and odd shapes. They were all symbols of the cult. In front of her vulnerable self was a cloaked and covered man bearing a wicked knife. It was long and sharp. It zigged and zagged in a manner that reminded her of lighting.

Nowi didn't know what exactly a sacrifice to Grima entailed. She had no idea what they were going to do to her. It was her death but would it be quick or would it be torture. The two Grimleal faithful who had brought her to the pedestal turned her around so that he back was facing the crowd. She immediately knew what was about to happen. This wasn't going to be any kind of quick death.

Her captors pulled her arms from her sides and forced them to be swing up like wings. This gave the man with the knife a much larger canvas with which to do his work. She couldn't see what he was doing but she felt the sharp tip of the blade start at the outer part of her wrist. He forced it into her arm and drug the blade slowly up to her shoulder and back over creating a bloody line across her arm span.

The Grimleal reveled in her cries. Some began to cut themselves and offer blood to their dark god. The ground was wet with the red life of many. There were shouts and screams as they all went wild.

The cloaked man moved directly to her back and started his work.

Gregor didn't know that he was working for the Grimleal until he saw them dragging the young girl from her cell. It brought shame to him, but he couldn't afford to wallow in it if he wanted to save her. It was a time for action.

It was into action that he sprung, and immediately killed a nearby faithful who had yet to gather for the revelry. He was a man who Gregor knew to carry a key that he would need for his deed. After he gathered the key that he needed he had the grab just a few more things. A small list. Things for the just-in-cases that he knew were bound to happen.

When he was completely prepared for it, Gregor snuck close to the alter and quietly cursed. They had already started the ceremony. His just-in-case preparation would do him well. Medicine to try and heal what they were doing to her. Bandages and wrappings to stop the bleeding of all the cuts. He was no cleric and had no magical talents whatsoever. All he could call upon was his natural skills from the years of mercenary work.

Gregor charged into them interrupting the reveling worshipers. He knocked the man with a knife away and even across the table and into the crowd, so strong was the force of his blow. Then he dispatched the other two cultists and grabbed the blood covered little girl.

He sprinted off of the table and ran into the desert holding the still conscious and very weak girl with him. He would need to make great distance in a short amount of time in order to escape the Grimleal. It would take them a short while to organize, but if he wasn't far enough away they would overtake him.

After over an hour of moving, Gregor found a spot shaded by a rock were he could tend to the girl in safety. It was out of the wind and out of sight. Here he removed her chains as well as cleaned and dressed the prideful girl's wounds. She was far to stubborn to fall unconscious and she attempted to struggle away from him even in her delirium. She was far too weak though, which Gregor was grateful for.

When he was finished her exposed body was clothed in bandages. Her upper body at least. In the essence of being quick he had only grabbed a small pair of pants which he though might fight her smaller frame. Needless to say they were far to large still, but she was much more modest than before.

For the next while he carried her in his arms. She was quite heavy for her size though he did know why. Soon she was not only conscious but aware. She was still too weak to struggle like he knew she would, but she was now complaining and crying.

As they walked Gregor finally decided to give her the special keepsake she would need in order to fully recover. From a pouch on his pocket he pulled a small, green, palm sized stone. It shone with a weak light as he brought it up to the little girl.

"Here Wee One. Is stone of the dragons no. You can use it. Gregor gave it to Gregor for safety keeping. Is no use to me, but you need it no?" Gregor said.

Needless to say. She swiped it from his grasp before he could even blink.

With the small girl in his arms, the old mercenary Gregor laughed harder than he had in a long time.

Some Days Later

About a stone's throw away from him, Robin could see a small commotion going about. He was standing with Chrom and Lissa surveying the field of their soon to be battlefield. A team of brigands and cloaked individuals was moving rapidly in their direction, or so his intelligence team had told him. This large space was a location he had picked out for the battle. He would wait for them to reach here so they could do battle on even ground.

It appeared to him that it was a young girl being chased by a man with a sword. As they watched as the man caught up to her and grabbed her by the wrist.

Next to him, Chrom sprung into action unable to control himself in such a situation.

"Hey! You there! Fiend! Keep your hands away from that young maiden!" he was shouting, even as he moved towards the older man in a threatening manner.

Lissa followed Chrom forward, yet Robin stayed back to let them handle the situation. From his position he could not hear what they were saying very well. He could see however, that the older man was extremely expressive with his hands. Over the course of his conversation with Chrom there were many face palms and exaggerated throws of his arms into the air. Next to their conversation the young girl was crying harder and seemed to shrink in on herself more and more.

Suddenly a team of brigands came out of nowhere and attacked the group. Robin, realizing the danger, charged forward with his tome. As he ran forward he cast a spell on the fly, but it died on his lips in amazement.

One of the Brigands had grabbed onto the young girl. Needless to say he made a big mistake, and his mistake led to the surprise of everyone present.

"Don't touch me," she screamed, clutching at her chest harder and a powerful glow shot out from in between her fingers. Her body was enveloped into a cocoon of flower petals and light before exploding outward leaving flower petals floating everywhere. In the place of the girl floated a golden dragon, whom proceeded to tear the man who had grabbed onto her apart.

Robin was surprised beyond all doubt. Never before in his short memory had he seen anything as brutally fascinating as the magnificent creature before him now. Near him Chrom seemed to be surprised but not truly shocked or confused.

"A manakete," Chrom said, "That is certainly unusual, and completely unexpected, though not unhelpful."

Then, a cloaked man approached from a distance. He was scrawny and hunched over in a frail way, though he gave off a horrendous and creepy vibe.

"Haha there you are you scrawny scamp. Be prepared for a dose of Grima's wrath for your nature," the man said.

Then, with a snap of his fingers, he disappeared behind a crowd of charging warriors and magicians.

Robin looked at the two new faces, but before he could speak the older man took his turn.

"Name is Gregor," Gregor said, "Very swell sword. Will fight for you today."

Robin looked at Chrom, giving him a questioning look. With which Chrom responded to with a thumbs-up and a wink.

The dragon had since reverted back to the form of a petite young girl. She was still wiping tears from her eyes when she likewise spoke before Robin could ask.

"I-i'm Nowi. Thank you for saving me," she sniffed, " I'd like to help take out those baddies too if you might let me." she gave him a look that gave him almost no room to tell her no.

Nowi was peculiar looking to say the least. She had long pointed ears and yellow-green hair. When she spoke he noticed that she had fangs, or rather, two larger canines. On top of her odd natural appearance, her entire upper body was covered in bandages. Her hands. All the way up her arms. The wrapping extended from her neck down her torso and ended at her waist were she wore a too large pair of pants.

He made a note to have Lissa take a look at her after the battle was finished.

Instead of outright rejecting the child in front of him, dragon or not, Robin got down onto one knee. On one knee he was a little bit shorter than her, but still at a much better height with which to speak to her. He didn't intend to allow someone who was injured to enter the field of battle, let alone a child.

"Of course you can help, Nowi. You can go back there and help defend the back lines with a knight called Kellam. You can help him protect the supply convey," Robin said.

In front of him Nowi puffed out her cheeks in what was probably supposed be an expression of anger, but her expression went completely unnoticed by Robin. Behind him he could hear Chrom snorting, and Gregor burst into outright laughter.

"Robin come here a minute," Chrom said, as he laughed.

Robin obliged and approached Chrom after standing up and dusting off his knee.

"What?" Robin said.

"She's a manakete," Chrom replied, " do you know what a manakete is?"

At the shake of his head, Chrom continued.

"Manaketes are an ancient race predating even humans in terms of history. They can live to incredible ages, and you might even call them immortal. She could be hundreds or even thousands of years old," he whispered.

"Oh," Robin replied. Then his face deepened to a shade of deep red, "Oooh."

Chrom patted him on the shoulder, and behind him Lissa started a conversation with Nowi.

"So how old are you even?" she said.

Nowi responded, "Uh I don't know. A thousand something?"

Frederick approached from the direction of the battle that had been taking place ahead of them. He looked no worse for wear. Not a drop of sweat covered his face, and nary a dent blemished his armor.

"Good news sire, Robin's plan went exactly as predicted and the last of the Grimleal have been ousted. I dare say Robin doesn't even need his own self in order to conduct his plans. Things went completely perfect, and the enemy acted exactly as Robin predicted," Frederick reported.

"Good. Excellent even. Terribly sorry we couldn't enter into the fight but a little something came up and kept us busy. Nevertheless we made some new friends and a couple of new recruits to boot," Chrom said.

Robin turned around to see Frederick giving the two new ones his classic "Frederick the wary" stare down.

"Do not be deceived, Frederick, the little one is a manakete," Robin warned.

"So she is,"he commented.

Later that Evening

Robin sat down on his cot after a several hour series of paperwork and logistical things that were ordinary of his position. Many people would misplace their things, for example, and he had to find and or reissue a tent to some poor soldier. He had to organize the army for the night and set up the city of tents it would entail. None of what he did was physical activity, just completely mentally exhausting.

He was doing the full job of a quartermaster along with his job as a tactician. He was pulling the weight of no less than three men, and he could only add it all up to personality. He just got put in charge of everything. Because of his busy work load he had no rest.

As he sat down for the final time that night, it was well past midnight and the tent city was still very much active. There was no foreseeable battle in the future for at least a month and the whole of the army was making use of their time to stay awake late and drink themselves to sleep. The tent city had an economy in its own right after all, and it was full of any amenity a soldier might want.

For the night, his job was done and his brain hurt so he was going to sleep, or he would have if a thought had not made itself present in his head. He sighed as he stood up and mentally prepared himself for a session of self humbling. He still had one bit of business left undone, and he'd rather not have grievances among the shepherds if he could help it.

Robin stepped out of his tent, located in the shepherd location of the military city and immediately had to dodge Vaike, who was walking alongside Virion while in conversation.

"Sup Rob."

"Ah Sir Robin."

Robin responded to their greeting in turn, "Good night gentlemen. Have you, perchance, encountered Nowi tonight?"

"Hmm? Ah yes the young and spritely manakete recruit. Yes, I believe you had her room with Panne as a temporary arrangement. She can probably be found over by her new tent yes?" Virion replied.

Robin nodded, "I appreciate it Virion."

Robin continued on his way, going off in the opposite direction of the other pair, though he could still hear some of their conversation.

"No no Vaike. I do not believe you have managed to develop a finer taste yet. You seem to still be focused on the size of things. Look at the whole picture..."

What where they talking about? Well Robin supposed it didn't matter to him what their business was. Or rather, he didn't really want to know what kind of business they were going on about.

It was a short walk to Panne's tent, which was on the edge of the shepherd's site. Just as he was about to knock on a wooden pole supporting the tent, Panne stepped out looking quite irritated and whispered to him.

"She's all yours man-spawn. Please deal with her. Please," Panne the taguel growled, before stalking off.

Robin sighed as he stepped into the tent. Inside Nowi was seated on her cot looking at him with a great big smile on her face. She looked to be the completely carefree child she looked like, but he now knew that she was no child, and in fact, was far more experienced in the ways of the world than him.

"Nowi I came over to apologize to you for my behavior earlier today. I have never met a manakete before, and was unaware of them until meeting you. I apologize for treating you in such a rude manner and I accept what you may have of me. Within reason of course. Please within reason," Robin said, lowering his head in her presence.

"No way Robin. I thought you were a serious person given your position, but you came to me saying some silly things. It's okay. There wasn't any sorta harm done after all, was there. Well except to your ego, but we can fix that. And well I guess to the enemy soldiers, but we can't fix that I guess..." Nowi said with a twinkling tone, "No no you don't owe me a thing. It happens a lot to me, or, it kind of used to? Idoknow?"

Robin smiled at her, "Well I'm glad I cleared that up. I didn't want to leave things as they are when you could have been seriously offended by my words. They were a little mean after all. Well if it's okay then I'm going to go to bed. I'm a bit sleepy after today."

Robin left the tent and made way to his own living space, giving tired waves to the others that he passed on his way. Once he was in his tent he fell to his cot and fell asleep.

Some hours into the night, however, his sleep was interrupted by someone.

"Robin," she whispered, completely swaddled in a blanket, "are you awake? Panne kicked me out of the tent, and it's cold out. Could I sleep in here?"

"Huh? Sshure you can just throw your cot down somewhere and..." Robin trailed off sleepily, "Don't make a mess."

"Thank you" the cheerful voice said to him as he fell back into sleep.

"Robin," Lissa called to him in a gentle manner, "It's time to get up. There's a surprise for you," she giggled quietly.

Robin woke up in a rather powerful stupor that morning. He woke up to Lissa gently prodding him awake. She was usually rather loud and rambunctious about getting him out of his cot in the mornings; a habit that she had picked up in the early days of their campaign. He was far too sleepy, however, to be suspicious of one of her pranks

He woke up feeling warm, with a rather hefty weight around his middle. Something was wrapped around his midsection, and it was quite heavy. It was a warm weight though, not entirely uncomfortable, just somewhat unfamiliar. It was a feeling he was unaccustomed to.

Slowly as he woke up he removed his heavy blanket from about his person to reveal the petite manakete girl Nowi wrapped around his middle. Above him Lissa was now giggling and giving a mischievous smirk all at the same time.

"Well well well, what do we have here. Robin it would seem like you acquired yourself a partner for the night," Lissa gave him a sly smirk, "You devil. How'd this happen?"

"What?" Robin said confused. He looked down at his middle and noticed Nowi attached to him. Then it hit him, "Naga help me," he sighed, "Nowi get up it's morning why are you sleeping on me?"

His voice was all slurred from sleep, yet his brain was awake enough to comprehend what was happening. He knew he was into some kind of deep trouble.

Robin threw his arms back in a stretch as Nowi began to wake up and tried to do the same, except she somehow managed to have gotten her arm under his body and was completely pinned under his superior size. Robin, seeing this, lifted himself up enough to free her, and earned himself an appreciative look for his efforts.

"Lissa I wish I could explain to you, or give you some kind of excuse, but I have none. I don't know why Nowi is in my room, or why she was sleeping with me," Robin said slowly.

"Whuh?" Nowi exclaimed, "Whuh is th' time?"

Lissa smiled at the sleepy Nowi, "Oh it's early morning. About the time I get Robin up every day. I didn't expect to find you in here though."

"Oh... well Panne kicked me out lass' night for some reason. Maybe my scent idoknow. It was cold outside so I slep' in Robin's tent."

"Mhmm I see, well that certainly makes sense, other than the fact that there are plenty of women here who would happily take you as a guest in their tent," Lissa said.

"Actually Lissa, Panne was the only woman who didn't have a full tent. Everyone else was sharing and full of stuff."

"Well better you than Vaike I suppose. It doesn't appear that anything happened and well, you're both adults I guess. I was just hoping for some juicy bits of gossip and rumors to start," she covered her mouth with her hand.

Many people thought of Lissa as a rather cute and sweet young lady. To many she appeared delicate and dainty as a flower. If Robin had looked at her from some distance away he might have believed that, but he had the unfortunate fate to have met the other side of the princess. It was the fun little side that the common folk did not ever get to see. He dared to think many employed in the castle who were around her regularly didn't actually know about her less innocent side. She would put a frog down his pants and then turn around and give an adorable wave to someone behind her as Robin would dance around trying to save himself.

Now this crafty little princess in front of him had blackmail material, and all he could do was shrug and hope for the best.

"Alright get out of here Lissa I'm gonna get ready for the day so please don't bother me," Robin said, "You should go and see if someone needs medical help or something."

"Hmm sure, but are you gonna get ready with her in the tent too," Lissa pointed at Nowi who was still looking around sleepily.

"Figuring out what to do with her is going to be a part of me getting ready," he answered her.

As Lissa left Nowi spoke up up, "You know I'm sleepy still, but I can hear you right? You don't need to talk like I'm not here."

Nowi pulled a fine comb from somewhere on her person, Robin wasn't sure where it came from, and began to remove any bits of dirt and knots from her hair.

"Yeah well I'll step out and give you a bit of privacy to get ready. I'll go grab some food or something while I wait my turn. Do you want something?" Robin said. He left it to his care-filled nature to do his job for him.

"Yeah sure get me an apple or something I'm not that hungry," she replied.

He was going to do what she asked, but that didn't mean he believed her. Yesterday during the battle he could clearly see her ribs, given her choice of clothing. She was obviously underfed, perhaps even starving. He would figure it out in time after all. That was his third job. It was an unofficial position and not always an appreciated one. He was going to figure out what kept her from asking for more food even though she was most definitely famished.

He had to cross the campsite in order to get to the mess hall and grab some food. He normally didn't eat at the hall, but the shepherds were used to him popping in to grab food in the mornings. He didn't always eat the mess food, and in fact preferred to stay in his tent and study strategy. Most of the time he either went without food or ate ration "snacks" Gaius had started to provide for him. It wasn't a free service the thief provided but it was worth it in order to get more time at his books to think up new possible ways that they could fail so he could correct those errors.

In the mess tent Chrom almost always sat near the entrance with Frederick and Lissa. Whenever Robin went to the mess tent he would walk passed them and give some typical greeting. Then, Chrom would invite him to eat with them which he rarely accepted. Frederick "The Wary" was still somewhat suspicious of him after all.

This morning in particular Chrom looked quite excited to see him. The young man's eyes lit up at the sight of Robin.

"Good morning Robin. What brings you to the mess tent the day after a battle?" Chrom said.

Robin sighed, "Uh well, Nowi didn't really have a place to sleep last night, so now she's taken over my tent. I went to grab a little food for her."

Chrom laughed, hard. His laugh was a hearty one. Lissa whipped her arm and made a tssshhhh sound, before giving him a discrete grin. Frederick glared.

"Yeah well that's your job to sort out I suppose is it not. Maybe you can go talk to Cordelia or something. She's memorized every little bit of stock we have after all. She may be able to find a tent for our dear manakete friend. Why didn't you just room her with Panne though? I here she is the only one in her tent."

"Yeah well Panne kicked her out real fast apparently. Maybe taguel and manakete don't get along? I should look into it. Maybe ask Miriel. She seems to know a lot. Or I could just straight up question Panne. Who knows?" He said in a thinking manner.

"Yeah well you better get some food and take it to that little wifey-poo of yours before she gets hungry," Lissa giggled.

Robin sighed and got in line at the hall. Maribelle was serving the food that morning so it was bound to be some fanciful dish, and he wouldn't mind a cup of rousing tea right about then. Something to really perk him up for the day. Marching wasn't exactly his favorite thing, and being tactician granted him no special favors, or rather, he couldn't ride a horse, and didn't have the time to learn. He was sure that it was not particularly simple learn to control one, but he definitely would not be going into battle on a war horse anytime soon.

There weren't any apples at the table, as Maribelle had neglected to put such a simple fruit in her arsenal. There were; however, oranges. He was certain Nowi wouldn't be too picky about what fruit he brought her. Hopefully.

Robin stuffed some toasted bread and sausages into his mouth and grabbed a large mug normally used for alcohol and filled it with tea. He would drink it on the way. It was steaming and warm and chock full of goodness.

He sipped the hot drink from his mug as he left the tent while Chrom called out to him.

"Good luck!"

He waved and stuffed another sausage into his mouth. Without swallowing his food he took another sip of the good tea. Today was going to be an interesting morning.