Chapter 2

All things considered, it was actually quite a lovely afternoon. A clear cerulean sky veiled the city as people and animals basked in the sun's radiant glow. It was a time of peace, tranquillity and playing cards as the sun hung above the elegant buildings and the rolling green hills.

But alas, it was not to last forever. It wasn't long before the peace and serenity were tossed to the wind by an earth-shattering war cry-

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR WRETCHED LITTLE TEENAGE MIND?!"

"I-I-I don't know." Lissa stuttered "...maybe...?"

"I can't believe you!" Chrom bellowed with his face burning an angry magenta, "You got a soldier drunk on active service! Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?! What if we were attacked?! Sumia could have been killed or captured, or worse!"

"W-w-well, we weren't...and she...didn't." Lissa's head hung low, like a puppy that had been caught in front of a pool of urine by someone who had only just mopped the floor. "I didn't think anything like that would happen! All I meant to happen was for Sumia to make a fool of herself. Just like...what happened in the barracks."

"What happened in the barracks..." Chrom snorted like a bull, seeing red, "was not only humiliating, but it caused Sumia to leave the shepherds!"

Lissa remembered the scene well. It wasn't exactly the highlight of her week either.

Chrom carried Sumia to a closed off sick bed area, in the bridal fashion. Everything was about to hit the fan for Lissa. But perhaps there was a chance that she and Sumia could resolve the issue in private. There was no need for Chrom to know Yeah! It was something that could easily be fixed with a quiet word and a brief but sincere apology! She waited until Chrom had placed the comatose Sumia on the bed, then pushed him towards the door.

"We need a little privacy!"

"What for?"

"Healer and patient confidentiality! Out!"

"Okay, okay!" With an awkward look about him from his little sister kicking him out of the room, Chrom made his exit and Lissa got out her healing staff. She worked its healing magic and within a few minutes, Sumia came around. She slowly pushed herself up and brought a hand to rub her tired eyes, giving a low moan as she did so.

"Ugh...what happened?"

"Well, I've heard about this kind of thing." said Lissa in a casual, nonchalant fashion "I think it's called...well...a hangover."

Sumia stared in shock. It was the look of someone who had always made a conscious effort to avoid the stuff because they were fully aware of the dangers involved.

"What?! B-but how...!"

Lissa swallowed hard and took a deep breath.

"I, kinda, sorta, may have, possibly...put a load of rum into your gourd...no hard feelings...?" Lissa tilted her head forward in a way that always made her look as though she was looking up at someone, when she made eye contact. It was a way to looking at someone that made her look very small an innocent. It was very useful when asking someone for a favour, so Lissa hoped that it would give her apology a better chance of being accepted.

Sumia's eyes and mouth were wide open circles. Her bloodshot eyes begin to fill with tears. It seemed that memories of her drunken exhibition were returning. Which of course meant that Lissa's apology fell on death ears.

"How could you do something so cruel?! I made such a fool of myself! I harassed Ricken, I almost got into a fight with Sully and I threw up all over the captain!"

"Sumia, calm down! Chrom will forgive you!" Lissa waved her palms up and down. Desperate to make her frantic patient see that things weren't as bad as her completely exaggerated outburst made them out to be.

Sumia jumped out of bed and went for the quill and parchment near the bed. She rashly scribbled a letter rolled it up and stomped towards Lissa. Lissa jumped back with a yelp and shut her eyes. But the painful slap she expected never came. Instead Sumia handed her the rolled up parchment.

"Please give this to the captain. It's a request for leave of absence."

"Y-your're leaving!"

"I can stay here!" said Sumia, trembling with anger and embarrassment "Not after what I did." she then gave a weak sob "all those horrible things I said..."

Lissa wanted more than anything to yell "Like what? Telling Ricken that you wanted him to feel like a knight in shining armour? I'm pretty sure he'll get over it." to make Sumia see that she was blowing the whole thing out of proportion. But sarcasm, however well intentioned, ran the risk of making things worse. All Lissa could do was plead for Sumia to stay and just talk things out.

"No." said Sumia "I'm too embarrassed...I'm sorry!"

Then she ran for the door, as a stream of tears leaked from her eyes.

Lissa slumped down on the side of the bed, completely desolate. Sumia was leaving and no one knew when or if they'd ever see her again.

Then Sumia came back into the room, red in the face, and wrapped a dressing gown around her bare torso.

"I'm just putting some clothes on first..." she sobbed, remembering that her chest plate was still in the barracks.

Lissa swallowed hard. She knew that the only thing she could do was tell her brother what had happened and accept the consequences.

That was over an hour ago. By this point Chrom was in great danger of blowing out his vocal cords from all the yelling.

"I can't believe you'd be so petty that you'd pull a stunt this reckless over spilled cake! Not to mention, stupid!"

Lissa felt extremely small and perturbed. It had been a long time since she had last seen her brother in such a rage. He was acting like...well, like how she acted when she yelled at Sumia. Chrom slumped onto his chair, brought his hands up to massage his temples and took a sigh to calm himself down.

"Listen, I wasn't completely on Sumia's side over that cake. When we set off on our patrol, I gave her a firm lecture on wasting food and not looking where she's going. But the way you overreacted to it is simply outrageous. Let's suppose you're walking past me when you accidentaly nudge me, so I throw you in the river. Or suppose I ask you clean your room, because the maid has to go on maternity leave. But when I inspect it, I find a small pile of cookie crumbs under your bed so I have you locked in the stocks for the rest of the day and pelted with rancid tomatoes! Or you commit the unforgivable sin of making me a sandwich with the cheese and the lettuce in the wrong order, so I ship you off to Plegia in a wedding dress to marry you off to King Gangrel! What would you think of me if I did all that?!"

it took Lissa a while to answer, as she had vomited in her mouth from the thought of marrying Mad King Gangrel.

"Well, to be perfectly honest...I'd think that you had lost your mind."

"Exactly. You'd think me an insane tyrant. If we resort to such cruel and unusual punishment over something as frivolous as a ruined cake, then we become no better than Gangrel."

Being compared to the most widely disliked person on the continent isn't exactly the sort of thing that cheers a person up. Especially after it was hypothetically suggest that she marry the man as a punishment.

Lissa gave a deep sigh as her eyes drooped to the floor.

"All I wanted was to give you something nice for your birthday. I was never that good at picking presents out for you, so I really thought I'd cracked it this time." she raised her head up again to look at her brother's face. The redness of anger had faded bit from Chrom's cheeks, but he still kept an air calm fury. It was like the brief moment of the wind dying down before the arrival of a hurricane. "I wanted to give you a good present for once and I was just so angry that Sumia had ruined your surprise. Even if she didn't do it on purpose."

"I think I'm a little old to have enjoying my birthday as my main priority, Lissa." now it was Chrom's turn to give a sigh as he jadedly got out of his chair. "Look, I really do appreciate all the work you put into baking that cake for me and, yes, you did have every right to be angry. But you need to be rational with that anger. If you don't, you can ending losing more friends."

Well he was right. Lissa knew that it was her irrational anger that drove Sumia away. Chrom went for the door.

"Come on, Lissa. We need to head back to the barracks. We're going to rustle up a posse and go find Sumia."

They were going to look for Sumia? Lissa felt a gentle wave of relief. There was still a chance to put things right and the day would have a happy ending.

"You've got it, Chrom."she said as she stood up and followed after him.

"Specifically," said her brother "The posse will comprise of the two of us with Vaike, Sully and Ricken. Because after that display in the barracks, I think they have quite a lot to say to you."

Upon hearing those words, Lissa that she might actually be safer marrying Gangrel.