It is fast approaching night-time over the Shepherd's camp in Plegia. The Dragon's Table is no more than day's march off. Robin and Chrom are going over the plans once more, while the rest of the Shepherds are either training or calling it early. Both are viable options, being well rested for the, without a doubt, most important battle would be a boon as much as another hour of training.

Severa's opinion in the matter? Train, there is no other option. She scowls as she lands another blow on the wooden dummy, they won't leave her behind, they can't. She needs to prove that she can be better than her mother. Who cares if she has to work triple time to just keep up? That she is the youngest of the children that have volunteered to join their parents? That her mother, even after death, is casting a seemingly all-consuming shadow over her, forever taunting her own inadequacy with Cordelia's perfection. The dummy's head comes clean off with a particularly vicious strike.

'You are too young to be here, Severa.' Were the protests, 'You need more training.' But she showed she can fight after she floored both Owain and Kjelle, so they reluctantly let her join. 'You need time to mourn.' Was the next excuse.

Mourn who? Mother? All of the other Shepherds had two loving parents… Severa had one and it sure as hell wasn't her mother. Even being married wasn't enough to keep her from ogling Chrom. She spits on the ground before impaling the dummy's chest and leaving the practice sword there. 'Cordelia… she succumbed to her injuries from the last battle…' Maybe she is cold for not caring, but is it really? Considering her own mother never bothered to properly raise her own daughter?

She all but stomped her way away from the training area, she doesn't need to have another injury from channeling anger into attacks. 'Another injury? Gods, it's like you are doing this on purpose, Severa.' The red-hair fighter stopped at the war tent, where her father is now alone, good… her mother's idol has left. She gently pushed the flap away to see her father hunched over a set of maps.

"Come on in." He looked right at her as she enters.

This! This right here is why she prefers father… she is the only one where Robin will actually stop what he is doing before addressing her. He takes time out of his studies to assist in whatever problems cloud her. So, what's mother's excuse? "Hi…" She curtly says.

"Training again?" His tone is level, serious and in no way trying to poke fun at her.

"I can't keep up." She admits.

"You'll pass them." He replies just as clipped, but it isn't in a rude or dismissive manner. He changes his way of talking to suit her.

"Am I too young?" She sits on the opposite side of the table.

"Can you wield a weapon?" He asks.

"Duh."

"Then no, you are not too young." Internally, Severa is smiling. Thank the gods for her father being so perceptive and just knowing what to say. "Anything else?"

"The coming battle?" She gestures towards the map.

"I have it covered."

"Something's wrong." She barely missed the crack in his demeanor, but considering how long she all but stuck by his side, she knew the very small hints.

He sighs and rubs a hand through his dark grape/almost black hair… a hair color she rather have, rather than yet another reminder of how much she isn't like her mother. "I knew you would visit after Chrom left…" She lets him take his time, "I… need to confess a few things."

"Can't be anything worse than what my mother did."

"Most of them are about her, actually." He reaches under the table and brings out a single letter… but keeps it on him. "Promise?"

He didn't need to ask the whole thing, 'Promise you won't tell?' Severa nods, "Of course."

"This one you probably already figured out, but Cordelia didn't actually love me. She married me because I am Chrom's closest confident and she was hoping to get to him through me."

She scowls, "I know she kept eyeing him."

He nods, "Second…" He pauses, "I raised you… alone."

The scowl fades slightly and she raises an eyebrow, "Mother was there."

Another nod, "She was usually in the same building, but as for taking care of you? No, that was all me… Gods, Severa, I had to find another woman just to keep you fed as a baby."

'Another strike against mother.' By this point she already stopped caring about her and Severa's opinion on her can't drop any lower. "Let me guess, too busy chasing Chrom?"

"Mhm… there are two parts to the last one," A single tear comes and fades in an instant, "Even as I sat beside her while she took her final breaths, she didn't say my name or yours... but Chrom's."

Somehow her opinion dropped… no, it just faded from existence, "She what?!"

Yet he continues, "I… knowingly let her fall. I had growing suspicions over time, and I acted on them. Seems I was correct, had she the chance, she would have left me for Chrom." He somehow manages to say that in the cold, detached manner that he is known for when going over tactics.

Again, she should be worried, even if her mother provided almost nothing but negative feelings, getting her mortally injured to get a confession out of her? It is extreme, "Isn't that a bit much?" She decided to voice her concern.

A beat passes as Robin continues to stare her into her eyes, his blue eyes against her red… red like her mother's. Why couldn't she be born looking more like him? "If I was wrong, yes." He finally answers, "But I was correct, and in that moment, I completely cut her off… I should have done something earlier, you deserved better." His voice cracks and emotions return, "I know how much it hurts you to only have one supporting parent…" He sighs, "Gods, even Gaius is a better father than Cordelia was a mother."

Severa had no idea that her father felt almost, if not more, strongly against her mother, "Then why didn't you do something earlier?" Her tone comes out harsh and she internally flinches, 'He doesn't deserve that.'

"I played along because she was still an asset to the army, but now that we are near the end of this damn war, I'm willing to remove her." His hand slowly reaches out, but stops short of actually making contact, "I'll make it up to you, I swear it."

Her hand grazes his, but doesn't actually grab it, "You being here is enough." Gods, now her own voice is cracking, that is so…

"No, it isn't." He shakes his head, before pushing the letter towards her, "Severa, I need to tell you this. I will find a way to bend time and space if it means I can make it up to you," There is something in his gaze that seems… off, "And this letter… if you feel like I'm not doing all I can, give it back. It'll remind me of the importance of this."

Now she knows something is wrong, Robin has always gave it his all when it came to her, so why is he doubting himself now? "Father…"

"I have it handled." And that was that, "Get some rest, okay?"

She gently grabs the letter, "Yea… 'Night."