Notes: I like writing without dialogue. See The Dragon's Perch for similar content.
Stats: 1000 words for SumiaRobin. I hope for some people it's still Wednesday, hehehe... Please tune in tomorrow for Tiki Thursday.
Sumia hadn't thought much about the young man in the Plegian coat when she first met him. She had been fretting about Chrom and falling on her face, then they were marching to Regna Ferox, so her mind had been elsewhere. She had nursed a pegasus back to health, so she had been busy too. She had joined the Shepherds in battle, intending to impress the prince all along.
But she instead managed to catch the eye of his new tactician, Robin.
He immediately tried to bond with her over books, a common interest on the surface. They found their differences so fast, Sumia thought he'd not try again.
He did, though. She wasn't expecting him to be determined enough to come back in spite of how badly it had gone last time. She found it so endearing he still tried and listened to her so closely. She could bake failed pie after failed pie for days, to produce a perfect dessert, and Chrom wouldn't get a hint and talk to her for long...
And Robin had noticed that, she realized as he confessed his feelings and presented her with a ring. He wasn't her fairytale ending, he had implied, and she could say no and wait for the prince to fall for her.
The tactician was there with her now, and he loved her and she felt deep within that she loved him back. Sumia didn't hesitate any longer to seize her chance to be happy with her own two hands.
They had no way of knowing then, but theirs wasn't a happy ending as much as it was a happy beginning, starting with the day of their marriage. She had been about to fall on her face during their wedding, but he caught her just in time. Then their night had been sweeter and sexier than anything her "romance" books had ever let her imagine...
They had gotten a little house once the war against Plegia was over, and they covered its walls with bookcases, and they filled those with an ample variety of books. Their daily life was peaceful, their biggest conflict being when they reached out for the same book at the same time, and they had to read it while cuddling close together because they couldn't agree who should go first.
Valm's conflict started overnight, it had seemed.
Robin was summoned to Ylisstol, and Sumia had stayed behind at home, early in her pregnancy with their first child. Her husband only sent back letters as he marched along with the available Shepherds into Feroxi territory again, to fight off the Valmese attempting to invade the continent through the west coast. When he had departed to meet with Chrom, they hadn't thought they would be separated by a new war, but that's what happened.
His letters stopped arriving once the army had to cross the sea. Her mood worsened considerably, no book seeming appealing, returning time and again to read the letters instead. She felt helpless and alone, and scenarios in which she was widowed and had to raise their baby alone kept her awake and crying at night...
Sumia and Cynthia were there, when the ships came back with the victorious Ylissean and Feroxi armies. She gave Chrom a mighty slap on sight, demanding to see her husband immediately before she pushed him off the pier, king or not.
Robin's laugh made the colors of the world return to her eyes, chasing away the sad grays clouding her vision for the past two years, as she turned and saw the tactician's open arms waiting for her. His smile was so bright, even as he held back his own tears at seeing his wife and finally meeting his daughter, their precious little Cynthia, her hair as silvery as his.
He swore to them both not to leave them like that again, as they hugged near the ships. He swore the same hours later, as they rested in camp with the others before they returned to Ylisse. He renewed his vow every single day they were on the road. And the last Sumia heard of it was once they had put their baby to her crib, safe at home, before they went to bed themselves to not sleep...
Then things between Ylisse and Plegia heated up anew a year later.
Of these incidents, they knew about a lot, having had to help defend their village from Grimleal fanatics. It didn't surprise them when the tactician was called back to the capital, but this time they went together and took their daughter. She complained to her husband that Chrom had excellent timing with his summons, unable to get comfortable on the way to Ylisstol with her second pregnancy so far along.
They realized it had been a bad idea when she had to be rushed to a midwife on arrival. Robin barely got to see his second daughter, Morgan, before he left the three women of his life to go fight for the Halidom again. He broke his promise, leaving Sumia heartbroken.
And this time he didn't even come back. Neither did Chrom. Or half of their army.
With widows and orphans everywhere she looked, she was unable to confirm what had happened to her husband. The information had gotten mixed or lost. The gray took over her sight again, as she left her daughters behind once she reached their home village, taking a lance and saddling her pegasus; she'd go into Plegia and get her answers herself...
She shouldn't have done that, she realized as the Fell Dragon turned its head in her direction when she still had miles to go to even be visible.
"Sumia!"
She removed her ring, the years having left a band of pale skin on her finger. With care, she tied it to the mane of her pegasus, then landed and sent her mount back home.
She was now a fairytale heroine trying to save her love from a mighty dragon alone.