Chapter One: The Announcement

It was a cool winter day in the country of Plegia and Robin was sitting in her study taking in the dry air and the sunshine as she pored over her tomes. Then suddenly, a knock came at her door.

"Morgan, I thought I told you I'll be there to help with your studies in a minute. I'm doing something very important right now." She called out to the knocker, thinking that it was Morgan, her ten-year-old apprentice who was quite attached to her.

"Milady, I'm very sorry, but the king has requested an audience with you. He has something very important to tell you." A voice called from the other side of the door, dashing away any thought about her young apprentice and replacing it with a lump of apprehension that lodged itself in her throat.

She coughed nervously and opened the door.

"I have been asked to escort you to him." The messenger reported. He shifted anxiously on his feet.

"Okay, take me to him." Robin lifted up her cowl, covering her dark hair as she tried to suppress her racing thoughts. Her father never called her in this way unless it's something extremely urgent.

King Validar wasn't what one would call a merciful king. He's what some might call a very Machiavellian fellow, preferring to demand respect rather than to earn it. He treated everyone around him in a very cold and methodical manner, including his own daughter. However, whenever he had something to tell her, he would usually prefer to go himself. In addition to being cold and methodical, he was a very staunch believer in "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself." So, the fact that he sent a messenger, must mean that something very important had come up. So important that he couldn't take the time to tell her in person. Or at least, that's what she thought.

When she and the messenger had arrived at the throne room, the doors were already opened and she saw her father seated with a letter in hand.

"Robin. Come in." his voice echoed in the hall.

"Yes milord." She muttered, her cowl still covered her hair and a shadow fell over her face. She walked in slowly until she approached the throne where he was seated. She bowed with one knee to the ground.

"Rise"

She stood up and her eyes met his face. Her father had a long face and a rather prominent chin. His scraggly black beard met at a point on the tip of his chin, further emphasizing his long features. His dark gaunt face was fringed by curling black hair that grew from his temples like a flame and shining beady eyes sat beneath bushy eyebrows. His sharp cheekbones sat high on his face giving him the impression of a menacing smile, but his thin lips were curved downwards in a semi-permanent frown. He had small wire framed glasses perched on the tip of his beak-like nose as he read from a piece of parchment.

"The Peace Summit is being held in Ylisstol this year." He said, his voice dripping with contempt. Robin swallowed. It was no secret that her father had great disdain for Ylisse, and especially their royal family, and he made his displeasure clear with the way he spat out those words.

"The attendance of two Plegian representatives is requested." He continued, this time his eyes traveled off the page and met her face.

"As much as I hate those damn Naga-worshipping Ylissean bastards, we can't afford not to play nice right now and you're coming with me." A smile curled on the ends of his lips. A sadistic smile that made Robin feel a little sick to her stomach. She lowered her eyes and stared at her hands tattooed with the mark of the Grimleal.

"Yes milord." She replied hoarsely.

This wasn't her first time to the International Peace Summit. She had attended ten years ago with her father when she was in her early twenties. At that time, her father had selected her as his attendant and she had never traveled outside of Plegia before. It was the opening day of the ceremony and Robin was dressed in her finest just like all the other attendees. She met him that day. The Ylissean prince Chrom, a handsome young man who was also around her age.

In the days that followed, Robin found herself growing very attached to the young prince. They were inseparable when the two weeks of the summit was finally over. After the summit, her father finally made clear his opinion of the Ylissean royal family and forbade her from seeing him again. Robin, in her rebelliousness, decided to elope with Chrom not two weeks after the end of the summit. Robin found out she was pregnant and she and Chrom tried to maintain a secret relationship while raising their baby daughter until they were found out by her father King Validar.

Robin was promptly imprisoned where she found out she was pregnant again and gave birth to another child, Morgan. He broke her heart when she first laid eyes on him, for he looked exactly like his father and her lost daughter. He had the same navy bluish black hair and bright eyes of his father but what made her breath catch in her throat was the brand of house Ylisse that appeared on his left shoulder.

Worried that her father might try to kill her son if he found out his parentage, she had him sent away with a kind older woman called Atena who agreed to raise him as her own. From then on, Robin would visit her son in secret, revealing to him that she was his mother very early on but never telling him about his father. When he turned five years old, she took him as her apprentice but not without reminding him "When you come to work for me in the palace, you must never call me Mother. I am your master in the palace and you should address me as such and you must never show your mark to anyone. Not outside the palace and certainly not inside." She wasn't sure if the young boy would understand, but he never broke those rules from that day on.

As she turned to leave, Validar shouted behind her "I want you to bring Morgan along."

She froze. Morgan? Oh no. That can't be good. If she brings Morgan, there could be a chance that he will be found out and an even greater chance that he could be killed.

Mind racing, she finally gathered her resolve. She decided she would kill anyone who tried to harm her boy. Even her own father.

"As you wish, milord."