"Hmm." A young and curious princess let out a brief huff as she sat perplexed on the carpeted floor without an answer to her dilemma. With an intense and fixed stare, the five-year-old birthday girl worked her mind to come up with a solution to her plight while declaring that she would not rest until she accomplished her mission. Nothing would stop her from her destiny regardless if the seas boiled over, the sky fell in a great and terrifying ball of flames, or perhaps even more frighteningly, she risked falling under the thrall of nap time.
In desperate times like these her father suggested that the best way to address an unsolvable task was to take a step back and look at the problem from all sides. The princess didn't entirely understand what her father meant by that advice, but she leaned to her left, and then to her right to see if she could approach the problem from another angle. To be safe, she then pressed her face on the carpet and tried to look up at her creation with her left cheek half smooshed on the floor.
Meanwhile, the cerulean girl was too focused on her mission to notice that the door to her room slowly opened to reveal a towering giant. Fortunately for Lucina, it was a friendly giant that she knew well. "Good afternoon Lucina." Sumia smiled while entering as she saw her precious daughter playing with the set of blocks see had received for her birthday. "I see you are enjoying your present."
"Yes, Mama." She confirmed casually as she continued her work. "I like it almost as much as my other gift."
Lucina was referring to the toy sword fashioned to her hip. While it was supposed to be a surprise, she accidently stumbled upon it while exploring the castle unattended a week before. When she found it, the young princess could be seen dashing through the castle halls while swiping her newly acquired toy sword at anything or everything that moved, including Sir Frederick's feet.
Sumia bent her knees and lowered herself to her daughter's level. She then gently said in a sweet voice, "I'm glad you like both of your gifts."
"I do. I'm very lucky to have the bestest parents ever!" She cried passionately.
"We are the lucky ones to have you." Sumia insisted back. "And if you don't mind, might I ask what you are up to?"
"Building." The bluenette replied back while showing her mother one of the blocks she had in her hand.
"I can see that." The queen mused with a widening grin as she looked over a half-built structure with a collection of blocks scattered across the floor. "What are you building?"
"A fortress!" The young child cried energetically.
"Is that so?" Sumia asked while saying happily. "Well, I'm sure it will be a fine castle that overlooks a great and thriving town."
"Nuh uh." Lucina countered while looking up to her mother. "A castle is a place to sleep and meet funny people. A fortress is for fighting!"
"Fighting?" She asked carefully. "Why would you want to do that?"
"To protect people like you and Daddy did!" She exclaimed with a high pitched and energetic glee in her voice. Being so young, she added an extra emphasis on words with more than one syllable and people sounded more like pee-opal. She also had a tendency to say axe or ask in a way that would get her parents to do a double take. Luckily, being a mother meant Sumia had an internal translation system for most of her daughter's words.
Still, despite her efforts to stir her younger daughter from warfare, Sumia could only give a resigned smile when she saw the look of excitement on Lucina's face. There was no doubt that you could not take the sword out of the future swordswoman. Even in this peaceful world Lucina was deeply fascinated about heroes and their quests to slay evil dragons. It was only to Lucina's delight to learn that her parents had an extra tale to tell about what happened less than two years ago with the defeat of Grima. "Just remember that you father and I had a lot of friends who helped us protect this place."
"Right." Lucina nodded back firmly. "And somesday I'll help you too!"
"I know you will." Sumia replied confidently as she raised her index finger in the air. "And I think I just met someone who will also help us with that goal."
"Oh?" Lucina asked suddenly curious as to what her mother meant.
The queen smiled with what appeared to be a warm and motherly grin. It was only Chrom who could tell in those situations that there was something in that expression that hid a very subtle and unnerving gesture to it. "I want to introduce you to someone. He comes from very far away. Even past the outer limits of our realm."
"You mean like Henry?" Lucina asked while tilting her head. She remembered Aunt Lissa telling her once that Henry was not from this world.
"Even farther than that." Sumia corrected.
The young princess marveled and said, "That must be a very long journey."
"It was, and I must admit it is strange how he got here." She acknowledged not understanding it much herself. "But he is waiting just outside. Would you care to meet him?"
"Uh huh." Lucina nodded with a growing wonder circling inside her head.
"Great." The queen replied as she pushed herself back to her normal height and said, "I will bring him here right away. I'm sure he will be delighted to meet you."
…
It was only five minutes before her mother returned with her mysterious guest, but to a five-year-old that might as well have been an eternity. Lucina's imagination soared as she explored the possibilities with a wonder and thrill that only a child could.
"Come on now, don't be shy." Sumia said encouragingly as a small head poked out from the doorway. The boy's head didn't reach up to the queen's knee, and his diminutive body was mostly covered up in a small purple cloak. It was almost comical how oversized his cloak was as the ends dragged on the floor, but it was a way for the boy to protect himself in this oversized world of giants.
"Hi." The white-haired boy said timidly as he slowly stepped inside the room with one foot still behind the doorway.
"Hi!" Lucina replied enthusiastically as she watched him with great interest.
Taking a moment to view his surroundings, he was surprised to meet someone around his age. Ever since he got here he was surrounded by giants that asked him a bunch of questions that he didn't know the answers to. "My name is Robin."
"Mine's Lucina." She nodded back. "My Daddy says I'm a princess, but I'm also a swords fighter in-training."
"Cool! I like swords." Robin mentioned while stepping fully into the room now. "One day I hope to be a sword tasstician."
"Oh? What's that?" Lucina replied curious.
"It's where I can whack bad guys and tell other people to whack bad guys too!" He cried as he pretended to slash a sword in front of him.
With a faint giggle, Sumia turned to the two children and said, "It seems like you two have some things in common."
"Yeah!" Lucina agreed happily. "That means we will be great friends!"
"Wait." Robin paused as his eyes widened in shock. "We can be friends?"
"Of course!" The princess said thinking that was a silly question to ask.
"Whoa." The boy gasped as his little shoulders reeled back and his face contorted in a look of disbelief. Instantly, his dismay turned into joy as he cried, "Awesome! My first friend!"
Bewildered, Lucina looked back at him funny and in confusion, "You never had a friend before?"
"Not one that talked back!" He replied still in shock.
The queen suddenly felt sad for the boy and added, "Robin, would you mind being my friend too?"
"Wow!" Robin's stunned expression could only be matched by the growing excitement in his eyes, "Two friends?! This must be the best day of my life!"
Little did Robin know his cheerfulness was contagious as Lucina also took delight in the moment. "Mine too!"
"Hmm?" Sumia looked over to her daughter and said, "Why is that sweetie?"
"Cause my wish came true!" Lucina exclaimed. "I asked Naga for a new playmate for my birthday. Which means now we can play all day long!"
"I love to play!" Robin added as he excitedly raised his fist in the air.
"I do too!" The princess cried back.
Giggling to herself, Sumia decided it would be best to let the two have some space so they could play amongst themselves. While the queen had a thousand questions of her own regarding the boy, she knew it would do no good to ask them now. It was clear Robin didn't know much about how he got here either.
Not long after that the two kids began construction of a fortress as Lucina explained her plan to her new friend. One of the problems she was having was trying to make a working gate and a drawbridge. Despite her best efforts, she could not think of a way to move six blocks without them falling apart in her hands.
"Do you have any string?" Robin asked while looking at the front of the fortress.
"Huh? What for?"
With his hand on his chin, he said, "Maybe we can tie the blocks together and then pull them up that way."
"Oh! I never thought of doing something like that." Lucina said surprised. "But do you think Marf would be okay if we just used plain old string?"
"Who is Marf?" Robin replied unsure.
"Enh?!" She cried in horror. "You've never heard about the Hero King Marf?"
"No." He said wondering if he made some mistake by not knowing. The last thing he wanted to do was upset his new friend.
"Marf is like the fifth greatest hero of all times!" Lucina exclaimed as she rose her fist in the air, "He saves people from bad guys, and stops dragons from being mean. He also helps those in need. 'Specially kids like us."
Interested, Robin said "Marf sounds like a cool guy."
"He is!" Lucina cried passionately and added, "And that is why I want to build a grand fortress for him. One that meets even his standards!"
"In that case." He paused as he rethought his previous idea. "We will have to use something better than string."
"… But what would be better to use than string?" She asked with a headache starting to form after all her previous attempts at brainstorming.
"Maybe a gold ribbon?" Robin said thinking out loud.
"Huh? That's perfect!" Lucina agreed as she jumped up from her seat on the floor in triumph. "But where will we get that?"
Robin glanced around the room a couple times before shrugging and saying, "I don't know. I guess we have to look for one."
"Oh." Lucina frowned as she looked down at the floor. "Daddy got mad at me the last time I left my room trying to look for something."
"How come?"
She shook her head with regret and said, "I don't know. It's normally Fred-ick who tells me I can't leave my room."
"Who's that?" Robin asked in wonder as he was thrown into a world he didn't know anything about.
"He's a big meanie. That's who he is" She pouted. "He wears armor thicker than my arm and has a mean look like a bad guy. He always tries to catch me when I leave my room and he doesn't let me have any fun when I try to explore the outside world and save others from nasty bandits."
"Hmm." Robin pondered this chilling news with dread and said, "If he is a bad guy, then we have to stop him."
"I tried." She said frustrated. "I leapt from a bush to ambush him, but he picked me up and said it wasn't nice to hit people with my sword. But if he isn't a nice person, how can it be mean to attack him?"
"I don't know." The boy shrugged his shoulders as he tried to think of a plan of attack against someone that was possibly four to five times his height. "But can I see your sword?"
"Sure!" She replied eagerly and unsheathed her wooden weapon that was painted silver with her initials signed in blue on the hilt. With pride, she brought it in front of her and held it firmly with two hands.
"Wow!" Robin exclaimed as he inspected it. "A real sword."
"My parents made it for me." She exclaimed with a wide grin. "They told me a sword is strictly used to protect others, and that is a great response-hability.
"I wish I had one like that." The aspiring tactician said jealous.
"Maybe if you ask your parents they will give you one for your birthday." Lucina offered cheerfully.
"My parents." Robin's expression suddenly dropped as he lowered his head.
"Something wrong?" Lucina asked perplexed while sheathing her weapon.
"No." He quickly shook it off. "I just haven't seen my mom in a while. I don't think I'll be able to ask her for a sword until she gets back from her trip."
"Oh? Your mom had to go on an adventure too?" Lucina asked knowing that her parents once had to leave the castle to stop Walhart and Grima. She was too little to remember at the time, but she was very glad to have them back now.
"Yeah." Robin nodded back while playing with his hands. "She said she would be gone for a very long time. I miss her, but I shouldn't be too sad. She did give me two loaves of bread before she left me in the forest."
"What about your dad?" Lucina questioned curious about her new playmate.
"Mom said I never had one." The young boy said a little down.
Lucina's eyes widened in horror as she cried out "Never?!"
"Nope." He shook his head and said, "Mom said I was not wanted, and that I should not worry about it."
"Strange." Lucina scrunched her eyebrows and looked at Robin funny. To her, her father was the most incredible person in the world, and the greatest hero of all time.
"I am sorry." He replied panicked and concerned. "Did I say something to upset you?"
The princess gave him another strange glare and said, "No. I just thought it was strange. I'm not mad."
"Oh, good." He sighed in relief and said, "I'd hate to lose you as a friend after we just agreed to be one."
"Don't be silly." She replied back brightly. "We will always be friends! No matter what."
Robin was not sure what to make of this and cautiously said, "Even if I said something to make you mad at me?"
"Of course!" Lucina exclaimed and smiled back in turn. "A friend is a friend for life. That is what my mommy told me."
"Wow." His eyes glowed in a mix of joy and amazement.
"Hehe, you sure are strange." Lucina giggled back.
"I must be. I don't seem to understand much about this place." The boy said as he looked around the room again. "It's all so different."
"Not to worry, I'll help show you around." She replied while bowing politely like she saw sister do once, "As my big sis says, 'it is a princess's duty to help others in need.'"
"You have a big sis?" Robin replied curious.
"I have two big sis, and one little sis." Lucina explained as she raised three fingers in the air. "My big sis is the one who told me about Marf."
"I see." He marveled as he felt silly for not hearing about him sooner since he was known by so many others. "I'll have to ask my big bro about him."
"You didn't tell me you had a big bro." Lucina asked interested since that was something she did not have.
"Shoot! I forgot. I just met him today." Robin explained with some pride. "He even has the same name as me."
"That's normal." The princess replied casually. "Most people have an older brother or sister who they are named after. For me, I share my name with my big sis who is the threeth greatest hero of all times!"
The young traveler was impressed and shocked to discover he had made friends with such an important person. "Wowza! Your big sis is a hero too?!"
"Yep!" Lucina confirmed with a wide smile. "She's the strongest, most courageous, and hardest working hero of them all! My sister is amazing with the sword, and she comes to play with me all the time. My big sis even brings her playmate with her which makes it even funner. His name is also Robin."
"Wait a second." The younger Robin replied with a puzzled expression. "My big bro is named Robin, and your big sis plays with someone named Robin. Do you think my big bro might know your big sis?"
"Hmmm." The young princess thought it over and said, "Maybe."
"Then, what does that make us?" He asked confused.
After giving it some careful thought, the eager young princess exclaimed, "The bestest of friends!"