It was a cool quiet night up in the snow covered northern part of the continent near a small village, yet under the tent of the mess hall there was lots of chatter and liveliness. It was a strange sight, for there were many young married couples talking and visiting with their children who appeared to be only a few years their parents' junior. It hadn't been that long ago when the Shepherds' forces were much smaller and less….complicated.
The dinner was filled with voices and conversations, yet a certain dark haired mage was sitting by herself at the end of one of the tables near the edge of the tent, keeping quiet and too herself. She had eaten a little but was now just sitting there with her cloak wrapped tightly around her body, trying her best to keep herself warm. While the snowy forests were beautiful, Tharja found the temperature to be frigid and cruel. She was a long ways away from the harsh blazing desert. She had no desire wasting her energy on pointless chatter, so she decided to take her mind off of her shivering body by indulging in one of her secret hobbies, watching people. Being the natural introvert she was, Tharja often found herself overhearing the conversations of others and therefore became a natural way for her to learn more about others without them finding out. This was Tharja's primary means of measuring people up to see if she cared for them at all or not, usually not. If she wanted to learn more about someone who interested her, such as Robin, then she would simply follow them around and keep her distance as if she were researching a subject.
Lately Tharja had found herself observing the relationships between couples and their future children. Tonight was an especially interesting evening. Chrom, Sumia, Lucina, and Cynthia were all sitting together as usual. From Tharja's point of view, it seemed that Cynthia was trying to talk them in to something.
"Please! Oh please Dad! It will be great. We can all be together, just like the old days. The whole family can be together more." Cynthia pleaded. She was trying to convince her family to start living in the same tent together, all four of them. Up until then, couples would share a single tent the kids had all consolidated in to tents of their own. Lucina and Cynthia shared one since they were sisters; Noire and Morgan, Robin and Tharja's daughters, did the same. But now it seemed Cynthia wanted to be around her parents more. Cynthia looked over to her older sister and said, "Hey Luci, you agree with me right? You'd love to spend more time with Mom and Dad, right?"
"I…I don't know Cynthia, it might be a little crowded in the mornings when everyone is trying to prepare for the day." Lucina said, sharing the same doubts and restraint her father was showing. Lucina had shown to share many of her father's attitudes and traits. It wasn't surprising, she seemed to idolize him.
Sumia listened with a small smile on her face. The young queen then looked to her husband and placed her hand on his shoulder as she said, "You know Chrom, it wouldn't be a horrible idea. It's definitely worth a shot at least, wouldn't you say? Everyone seems so busy lately that it'd be nice to spend a little time with our girls. I know you want to learn more about them, just as I do."
"I suppose it would be a nice opportunity, and it would free up another tent in case we needed it later on." Chrom said then nodded and added, "Alright, if you girls can move your things quickly then it's alright with me."
"Really! Yay!" Cynthia exclaimed with glee and jumped at her father's back, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly. She looked over at Lucina and said, "See Luci! Aren't you happy, Dad agreed to your idea….oops. Heh, sorry!"
"My uhh idea? I don't know what you mean, Cynthia." Lucina said, looking away shyly. It turned out to have been Lucina's idea but she didn't want to ask so Cynthia had taken it upon herself.
Meanwhile Owain was asking his father, Frederick, all about his weapons and what he had named all of them. It came as a shock to the young swordsman that his father, the ideal image of a knight, had never named a single weapon.
Inigo was talking to his father, Lon'qu, about his aversion to women, which consequently did nothing but annoy the stoic and serious swordsman. Inigo patted his father on the back cheerfully and said, "Don't worry Father. I'll teach you how to talk to the ladies."
"Oh will you now? Sorry Inigo, but we have lots of dance practice. Too much for any of that." Olivia said as she dabbed the corners of her mouth with a napkin, obviously not amused by the idea of her lady friendly son taking out his father to meet girls. Lon'qu smiled a bit and looked over to Olivia to mouth out a silent 'Thank you'.
"Brady! How many times have I told you not to stuff your napkin in to your collar! I swear, do you ever clean out your ears?" Maribelle scolded as she struck him on the back of his hands with her parasol and added, "And that is not your salad fork! But don't worry Darling, I won't rest until I turn you in to the very definition of class and sophistication."
"Ah, Ma! I don't care about none of that stuff." Brady complained.
"Don't take it too hard, Bardy. Your mother is only strict because she loves you. We both do, no matter what." Ricken said, as he put down a cup of tea.
Brady's lower lip began to quiver a bit before he leaned against his young father's shoulder and started to sob, "Ah. I love you guys too! You're the best parents ever…."
"Brady, that's so touching….Hold on! Don't you dare wipe your nose on your father's cloak!" Maribelle scolded.
Tharja observed the different families quietly and there was one thing they all seemed to have in common. They were….happy. Happy….why did that linger on Tharja's mind? Tharja was pulled out of her thoughts when she felt something soft and a tad heavy draped over her small shoulders. She looked up to find Robin standing over her, putting his cloak around her body. He smiled at her as he sat down beside her and said, "You looked really cold. Are you feeling okay, Tharja?"
A small grin ran over Tharja's lips as she leaned against Robin's backside and said, "I'm much better now."
"Um…excuse me. Mother, Father? Do you mind if I sit here with you?" Said a soft meek little voice that made Tharja look up at Noire.
"Of course Noire, that'd be just fine." Robin said with a nod. Tharja watched as her eldest daughter took a seat across from her. Noire noticed Tharja looking at her and started to become even more fidgety. Once the Shepherds began coming across their future children, Tharja had become curious if they would ever find some that belong to Robin and her. She had wondered if they had children, what they would be like. Tharja always believed their child would be a strong and powerful dark mage. After all, Robin and she were both talented in magic so it would only make sense that their children would be prodigies. When Tharja met Noire, she found that she was sorely mistaken. Noire was nothing like how Tharja had imagined, and there were many times when she questioned whether or not this weak, docile, and timid girl could have ever come from her.
As Tharja spent more time with Noire however, she began to understand exactly her future self could have raised a girl like Noire. That being said, even though it surprised Tharja that her eldest daughter had turned out the way she did, she still saw a lot of herself in Noire. Noire was strong, clever, and overflowing with talent in magic. She had her mother's fair skin and her father's pale blue hair.
"Ah Father, Mother, and Noire too!" Morgan said behind the group then quickly came up behind Robin and clung to his arm happily. Tharja's eyebrows furrowed a little seeing that the 'other one' had arrived too. To say that Tharja's relationship with Morgan was…strange would be putting it lightly. The girl claimed to be their daughter and she remembered Robin, yet remembered practically nothing about Tharja. For some reason that bothered her. It wasn't that she didn't care for Morgan, simply that they had nothing to link them together. She was from the future with no memories of Tharja, so there was a lack of connection between the two of them. Morgan might as well have been a perfect stranger.
Tharja could look past all of that, but what she couldn't get past was that Morgan clung to her father like glue. If Lucina idolized her father, then the same and more could be said about Morgan. She dressed like Robin, studied like Robin, and seemed to just want to be him more than anything else. There was no doubt she was Robin's child, that was for sure. The only resemblance Tharja could see between Morgan and her was their hair color. On the rare chances that Robin ever had any free time, Morgan was there which Tharja found quite annoying.
"So….umm, I heard Lucina and Cynthia making a big deal about it. Umm Mother, Father…do you think you two would want us to move in with you? If you don't….then that's okay." Noire asked nervously.
"Oh, I think that'd be a really fun idea! I'm sure it would help me regain my memory.
"Oh, well I certainly wouldn't mind. What do you think, Tharja?" Robin asked.
"I…don't know. Let me sleep on it. I'm not feeling well, so I think I'll retire early tonight." Tharja said as she stood up and started to walk away slowly.
Robin frowned when he saw Tharja walking away from their family so suddenly. That response had been short, even for her. He knew there was something going on in that mind of hers. "Is Mother alright?" Morgan asked curiously.
"I hope we didn't make her angry…" Noire grimaced.
"Don't worry girls, I'm sure your mother is just fine. I'll talk to her." Robin said with a smile. "Now finish eating and make sure to get lots of rest tonight. We have a lot of marching ahead of us tomorrow."
After dinner, Robin retired to his tent for the night. He found it lit by the dim flicker of a few candles. He noticed Tharja sitting down on their cot with his cloak still around her shoulders and the blankets wrapped around her body. He smiled and said, "I know you hate this weather, but don't worry. We'll be heading down south again tomorrow so it will be a lot warmer tomorrow night."
"Good…one more night of this and I'd burn all of our books to stay warm." Tharja said as she shivered underneath the layers of blankets and clothes.
"In that case, I better get to work." Robin said as he walked over to his desk that was covered in old books on tactics, maps, and other tools he needed as the army's strategist. He yawned a little and stretched his arms over his head as he sat down on the wooden chair and started to open up one of the books while examining a few maps.
"Oh no you don't! Not tonight, Robin." Tharja said sternly as she rose up from her spot on the cot, the blankets still wrapped around her. She walked across the tent and wrapped her fingers around the arm of his shirt and said, "I'm not letting you go another night without any sleep. Now come to bed."
"But Tharja, I really need to put down some notes for some tactics I thought up after that last battle. I think I may have found a way for us to decrease our chances of major injury and casualties by twenty percent. That could save lives." Robin protested as he felt his wife pull on the sleeve of his shirt, forcefully trying to drag him out of his seat.
"And what will happen to our chances for casualties if our tactician is too tired fight, much less think clearly?" Tharja questioned. "Now get up before I hex you."
"Okay okay." Robin said with a sigh of defeat as he rose from his chair and walked over to their cot. He stood nearby and began to shed some of the outer layers of his clothing. He placed them neatly next to the small pieces of gold jewelry and dark fabric that made up Tharja's usual attire. Tharja meanwhile watched with intense focus and attention, all the while with a smile on her face, as her husband disrobed in front of her down to his small clothes which were thermal on account of the weather.
"Very good." Tharja said and slowly moved to one side of the cot so that Robin could lie next to her. As soon as Robin was laying down, Tharja wrapped the blankets around the both of them and clung to his body. Her fingers slowly curled in to the fabric of his shirt while her head rested on his chest. Robin could feel the slow and relaxed rising and falling of her chest against his own. "Much better."
Robin blew out the nearby candle then wrapped his arms around his wife, his head resting on one of the pillows. "So….you're not feeling well?" Robin asked, bringing up what she had said before to Noire and Morgan. "Anything I can do to make you feel better?"
"There's plenty you could do, my love. But this is good for now. The best way to get warm in times like this is to share someone else's body heat. Aside from the cold, I'm fine."
"Then is there a reason why you were so brief with Noire and Morgan tonight? I can tell there is something wrong, Tharja." Robin questioned curiously.
"No, I'm just ready for this pointless war to be over. I'm ready for things to be like they were. Back when I could have you all to myself." Tharja explained. "All of these kids can go back to the future then."
"Oh…you want them to leave? Because…I thought some of them might just end up staying around." Robin mentioned then paused for a moment. There was a question lingering on his tongue that he wasn't sure if he should ask. "Tharja, do you want them to go back?"
"They don't belong here, Robin. They should return to their own time. We need to send Noire and Morgan home when all of this is finally over." Tharja said, all the while she kept her head down and to the side, not looking her husband in the eye. She was acting strangely distant to him.
"Tharja…do you not like our daughters?" Robin asked, a little afraid of the answer.
Tharja's head immediately shot up and she looked him in the eyes. Even in the darkness, Robin could tell that he had never seen a more sincere and pure look on his wife's face, "That's not it at all! Nothing could be further from the truth. It's just that….."
"What? What's wrong Tharja? Please, talk to me. You know you can talk to me about anything." Robin whispered in a soft gentle voice, his fingers slowly running through her long dark hair.
"I haven't conceived either of them yet, Robin. Much less have either of them been born. I don't dislike the idea of having children, especially with you, but this time is supposed to be for just the two of us. It's not normal for us to have two practically grown daughters already. I don't want to share you, not just yet." Tharja explained. She paused and started to blush a little, "But that doesn't mean I don't…care about them. Quite the opposite actually. Even though I have yet to conceive, or carry, or nurse either of our daughters, or do anything that would create a bond between us, I already love them. I love them so much it confuses me. Aside from you, I never thought I would ever love anyone so much. And I can only imagine how strongly I'll feel about them once I have done all of those things."
Robin couldn't help but smile at his wife's unusually sweet and tender words. This was a side of her that only he had the privilege to see. Her soft and loving side. Everyone knew that Tharja could be a cold person, but what so very few people knew outside of Robin and Nowi was that Tharja could also be an extremely kind and loving person. Robin embraced her and brushed her bangs out from in front of her forehead so that he could kiss it. "Tharja…why don't you tell that to them? I know they'd love to hear their mother tell them how much she cares."
"Because…I'm scared, Robin." Tharja confessed, her voice starting to break a little. "I'm scared that my daughters might not like me. The other children seem to all be so close to their parents, and yet mine….aren't."
"Tharja, that's not true." Robin whispered in a loving voice as he held her a little tighter in his arms.
"But it is. Noire is so scared and nervous around me because in the future I used her as a guinea pig for my hexes….Even my own parents never did that to me. I'm a despicable mother. I can't even tell if my future self loved that child at all or not. She kept Noire away from hexes, so I at least know she was protective of her, but that's not the same. I'm surprised Noire doesn't try to stay as far away from me as possible. And then there's Morgan…she remembers you, yet she doesn't remember a thing about me. Why is that? I wonder if it's because she doesn't want to remember me."
"You're thinking way too much, Tharja. And you're wrong. Noire is always seeking your approval and wants to be around you. She loves you, and I know both you and your future self loved her. Want to know how I know? Because in the future you sacrificed yourself for our daughters. You gave the ultimate gift, the ultimate sign of love, devotion, and sacrifice that a parent can. I don't know why Morgan can't remember you, but I do know that she wants to." Robin said as he touched his lips to hers in a tender kiss. He then pulled away and whispered, "Don't worry about the future. Just try to be the best mother you can, and let our girls know how you feel. I promise you, I won't let the future turn out badly. Together, we can make it right for our daughters and us."
Thanks for the feedback guys. And yeah Gunlord, it was meant to be sensual and I think I maybe should have taken it a bit further or at least spent more time on the oil parts. To the Searcherer, I think Tharja as a wife depends on who her husband is BIG TIME.
This one went longer than expected but I had fun with it. One thing I like with this pairing is the rather interesting kids that come out of it. Personally I think that since Tharja is so obsessed with Robin that they should have given Noire a special support set with him as the father since I don't think the generic set reflects how their lives would have really gone had Robin and Tharja been married as opposed to her with anyone else. I'd also think her relationship with Morgan would be interesting if they had done a unique support set there as well. I'd explain why but I don't want to get in to spoiler territory.
Anyways, this was my take on how perhaps Tharja sees her children. Once again, seeing as how in love she is with Robin, I think she would cherish their children. I hope everyone liked it. Please leave a review or comment if you wish. To be honest, I think I only have a couple of more ideas for these one-shots and one of them involves Lucina. *hint hint*