"Morgan, can you go fetch some water and fresh bedsheets, please?" dad asked me.
"Okay dad!" I said. I ran off to the kitchen and got a bowl of water, put it down, got some bedsheets, forgot where I put the water, went back to get another bowl, dropped the bedsheets, got another set, found the first bowl of water, and then finally got back to the room where mom and dad were with both things in hand.
"What took you so long?" dad asked. He sounded angry, or maybe tired, or maybe stressed, or maybe all three.
"Sorry dad," I said. "Messed a couple things up. Here you go!" He sighed and nodded.
"Right. Thank you. Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you."
"It's okay, I know you're dealing with a lot." I heard mom cry in pain from behind him. "Bye dad, I'll see you later."
"Bye." He shut the door. I walked away and sat down to read. I couldn't really concentrate though, so instead I got up and started exploring the castle for a while. It was boring. There wasn't anything to do. I went outside and walked into the courtyard. Cynthia was out there practicing, so I watched her for a little while until she noticed me and stopped.
"Hi Morgan!" she called out as she waved and ran over to me.
"Hey Cynthia. I got bored so I started wandering and then I saw you out here training so I thought I'd watch."
"I do look pretty dashing when I'm training, don't I?" I shrugged.
"You're at least more exciting to watch than a wall."
"Ouch. That hurts."
"I know!"
"So do you wanna go eat lunch together? We can go find Lucy too. She was training not long ago. She's probably taking a break."
"Okay," I said. Cynthia and I went into one of the guardhouses to see if Lucina was there taking a break from her training. She was.
"Hey Lucy, you wanna come eat lunch with us?" Lucina nodded.
"Alright. I have worked up a bit of an appetite. Hello, Morgan," she said as she nodded to me.
"Hey Lucina, hope your day is going good. Mine isn't, but that's okay."
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"I'll tell you at lunch. Let's go!" She got up and we left the guardhouse to go into town. I convinced them to eat at my favorite place and we all got a table. I sat down, purposely avoided ordering that disgusting pie dad liked so much, and got my food.
"So what's the matter?" asked Lucina once we were eating. I shrugged.
"Dad's been really annoyed all day. I'm trying not to let it bother me, but it's still getting to me a little. And I know he's really stressed out, but he won't even let me go see mom. And I want to be there for her. And Inigo was flirting with me a bunch yesterday but then he actually asked me to dinner and I'm not sure whether he's serious or if he's just being him. And I'm not sure if I want to eat with him anyway. And I still can't remember anything about mom even though I smashed my head against a wall for like three hours." I realized I was just going on and on complaining, so I stopped.
"You've got that much on your mind?" she said. I nodded.
"Yeah. I'm trying not to let it get me down, but I think it's all just piling up and it's finally getting to be too much."
"I think your mother needs a relatively quiet room. They wouldn't let us in either," Lucina said.
"Yeah, it was really mean. They said I would be too loud. Can you believe that?" said Cynthia.
"Yes," I said. She looked hurt.
"That's...that's so..." she sighed. "...fair. But really, I don't think it's personal. And do you really want to be in there? Do you really want to see...you know..."
"I want to be with my parents," I said a little too forcefully.
"But think about what you'll have to see if you're in there with them all day." She shuddered. "I would never be able to do that."
"I know it's awkward, but I still want to be there! Mom sounded like she was in so much pain..."
"And Robin and the nurses are with her," said Lucina. "She's going to be fine. You'll be able to see her later."
"But I want to see her now." I needed to be there with her. Even if it would be super awkward for me.
"The room is already crowded as it is. I'm sure they'll let you in as soon as it's possible," Lucina said.
"I guess." I played with my food a little and didn't say anything else. I tried eating it, but I was so stressed out by everything that I didn't really have an appetite. But I forced myself to eat anyway. Stressed or not, no appetite or not, I needed to eat or I'd be hungry. And I was still growing. I hoped. Probably. I was just, you know, a dragon. It would take me longer. Probably.
"Do you reeeeeeally care that Inigo was flirting with you?" asked Cynthia. She was obviously trying to take my mind off my parents, which I appreciated.
"I mean he's kinda cute," I said. "And it's funny when he tries to flirt with girls and gets shot down."
"Yeah, but can you really trust him to stop even if you got together?" she asked.
"I don't know if I'd care. It'd probably be pretty funny even then. But still, I don't know. I'd like to be sure the guy only liked me. And he'd have be okay with, you know, the aging thing."
"Oh, so does that mean you're going to live for thousands of years?" asked Lucina. I shrugged.
"That's what mom thinks. I mean I've got the ears and I can turn into a dragon, so I'm probably gonna live as long as one." Lucina made a weird expression like she thought of some time that someone put a frog down her pants. Aunt Lissa probably had at one point. Maybe that's what she was thinking of.
"Speaking of your mother..." she said and her voice trailed off.
"What about her?" I said.
"I don't know if you want to hear this, but...the first thing Inigo did when he joined us after we met him was...to ask your mother to dinner." I felt the color drain out of my face and then come back with reinforcements a couple seconds later.
"Are...are you kidding me?" She shook her head. I should have known. Lucina wouldn't be able to kid someone if she actually had a baby goat to hand them. Wait...did that even make sense? They were called kids, but...would giving someone a baby goat be kidding them? Would you have to like, hit them with the baby goat?
"No. I was nearby with your fa...with Robin. He spent several minutes trying to get her to have tea with him. It didn't work especially well."
"He really is shameless, isn't he?" I said. "I mean, mom's 3,000 years old. She has to have heard every line possible by now."
"Whatever your dad said worked," said Cynthia.
"I don't think dad tried to feed her any lines. Mom said he was always just really nice and this one time he got hit in the stomach with an ax."
"He did. I was there," said Lucina. "He protected her from it while she was meditating."
"Ah, well coming to her rescue would work," said Cynthia. "No better way to get someone to like you than to be their hero!"
"Is that why you're always trying to get Gerome to tell you what would make you seem more heroic?" I said. She turned bright red.
"I—but—that's not—" she sputtered.
"You know I can already tell, right?" I said. "My dad can read people like books. I got it from him. And it's written all over your face. Like, all the time."
"...Did you say you hit your head against a wall for a few hours?" Lucina asked. She probably wasn't trying to save Cynthia from getting more embarrassed. She had also probably just realized that I had said that.
"Yep! Thought it might jog my memory of mom if I tried doing it while I thought about her. Didn't work. Did make my head sore though. Maybe I was a little dizzy for a while. I'm fine now. Had lunch."
"Why would you think that would work?" she asked.
"I didn't! I just hadn't tried it before. Thought maybe it could help. Not gonna try it again though. Honestly even if I don't remember mom that's okay. I get to make lots of new memories with her for, you know, ever. I hope."
"You know I've been wondering about that," said Cynthia. "Won't it get lonely? Living for that long?" I shrugged.
"Mom says it can, but there's always people around to make friends with and now she's got me. And they might have more kids. And dad keeps swearing he's gonna live forever too, so hopefully we'll all have each other."
"But then you have to outlive everyone you know. Your mom always seems so sad about it," she said.
"I know," I said. "But she says that if she didn't live this long she wouldn't have met dad, so I think she's okay with it. And like I said, if we all have each other then we all have each other. It'll probably be fine. Even if I really like you guys." I mean I really did like them, but if I was going to live as long as mom and hopefully dad then I needed to get used to the idea that regular people weren't going to be around all that long. But I could live with that as long as I had friends and family around me.
"Well I guess that's true..." she said. "But I don't know if I could ever do that."
"Me neither, but I'm trying to keep a positive attitude about it," I said. "It's better than getting all mopey, right?"
"That's one way to look at it," said Lucina, "and I guess I can't argue your logic. But I think I'm with Cindy. I don't know if I could take it."
"This conversation is getting really depressing, you guys," I said. I tried to make it sound like I was joking, but I wasn't sure if I was. It really was getting depressing and I didn't want to start making myself all sad, especially not today. But this conversation was making me get stuck on the fact that I was probably going to outlive everybody I knew and I was already getting sad about it. They'd be around a while yet. I didn't need to get so down.
"You're right," said Lucina. "Let's talk about happier things. Have you heard about Owain and Kjelle? Apparently they're getting serious now."
"I can't believe Owain could get serious about anything," I said.
"Oh come on, he's serious about naming things," said Cynthia.
"But...Kjelle? They're so different. She's so humorless and he's, you know, him."
"Oh, he can be serious when he needs to be," said Lucina. "And behind his words he truly wants to become stronger and protect the innocent. I think they'll be good for each other. They'll spur each other on to new heights." I shrugged.
"I hope you're right," I said. We kept talking like that for a while about our friends and then we moved on to what we were all planning once all the rebuilding was done and then we ended up talking about what we were going to do that afternoon once we left. The two of them had plans and they invited me along but I decided I wanted to go back to the castle. I needed to see mom and dad eventually. I hoped dad was at least in a better mood.
Once we'd finished eating we said our goodbyes and I started back towards the castle while they went wherever it was they were going to go. It was a nice day, not too hot yet, but not cold anymore either. My favorite kind of weather. I ended up getting distracted by it and wandering a little ways out of the city without realizing what had happened. I saw Yarne running around for a bit but I decided to leave him alone. I still felt a little bad about teasing him the last time I'd seen him, but I wasn't ready to apologize for it yet. I would. Eventually.
I ended up heading back into town but I didn't really see anyone I knew. It was a pretty busy day in the market and it was too loud for me to talk to anyone anyway. Anna had her stand open and I thought about going to visit, but then I remembered that she was still huffy about the whole gemstone thing and she'd probably try to get me to sell it to her. As if I was going to do that. Mom loved that necklace way too much for me to even ask about it. And I'd done too much to help dad get it in the first place. And also it made her happy and I wanted her to be happy. She was my mom.
When I got back to the castle grounds I saw that Kjelle was out training, and she was even with Owain. How weird. I really couldn't imagine the two of them together. I bet dad would've noticed it. He probably knew them well enough to figure it out.
"Ah, Morgan, how delightful to see you again," I heard Inigo say from the other direction. I turned to look at him and he was smiling. I liked his smile, except it always looked so fake. He'd probably look better if it was more real.
"Hey," I said. "Weird seeing you at the castle."
"Yes, well, perhaps I was here looking for you. Today is an important day for you, after all. I thought we could have dinner together. Or perhaps tea this evening."
"Or maybe you were just here to flirt with the handmaids," I said. "How many of them rejected you before you got to me?"
"Don't be absurd, madame. You know I only have eyes for you."
"So all of them?" He grimaced.
"Only eight."
"Yeah, I thought so. And as amusing as it would be to see you fail a few more times, I don't really have time today. I'm busy with things that aren't eating with you." He looked all mopey.
"You wound me, milady. I wished to gaze upon your fair visage over a roman—"
"Yeah, yeah, romantic dinner, lovely face, blah blah blah. I said no." I was a little more blunt this time. Inigo wasn't a bad guy, but he never knew when to quit. It was admirable when he was fighting, but not so much when I turned him down three or four times. I still wasn't sure I wanted to eat with him. I wasn't really sure how I felt about him.
"Oh, alright then. Maybe next time." He walked off and I kept going towards the castle. I got back and saw that most of the servants weren't anywhere in the hall, but that was probably because they were making dinner for Uncle Chrom and Aunt Sumia. And some of them were probably with mom and dad, too. It was time for me to get back to them. Maybe dad would finally let me in to see them.
I explored and got a little lost, but eventually I found the room where mom was. I didn't hear mom yelling in pain anymore, so I hoped that was a good thing. I did hear a little bit of crying though. I knocked on the door.
"Yes?" came dad's voice from the other side.
"It's Morgan," I said. I heard movement and then a few seconds later dad pushed the door open a crack.
"Morgan? Where have you been?" He didn't sound annoyed anymore, which was good. He sounded and looked worried.
"I went out for a walk and then I had lunch and then I got lost on my way back here," I said. He shook his head.
"Right. I'm sorry, you just disappeared and I got worried. I wanted to come looking for you, but..."
"I know, you had to stay with mom." He shook his head and stepped out into the hallway, then shut the door behind him. I looked inside, but I couldn't see her from where I was standing. It must have been a pretty big room.
"Morgan...I'm sorry I was so rude to you before," he said.
"Dad, I know how stressful today is. It's okay." He shook his head again.
"No, it's not. You didn't deserve that kind of attitude from me. No matter how stressed I am, it doesn't give me an excuse to take it out on you." I smiled up at him.
"I forgive you, dad," I said. I wasn't mad at him. I couldn't be. He smiled and I got all happy for a second.
"Thank you, Morgan." He ruffled my hair which made me laugh. That made him laugh too. When he'd finished he reached into one pocket. "Listen," he said, "don't think it's lost on me what today is. It really couldn't be, after what's gone on all day."
"Oh, how is...er...I guess how...am I?" He laughed again.
"You're fine. Perfectly healthy. And your mother is doing fine as well. She's probably been less stressed out than me, honestly."
"Great! Can I go see her now?" He shook his head.
"In a minute." He found whatever he was looking for in his pocket and pulled it out. He handed it to me. "Here. I want you to have this." I took it from him. It was a slightly battered book.
"Dad...isn't this your favorite strategy book? I can't take this."
"It is," he said. "It's my personal copy, with all my notes and comments. And yes, you can. It's yours now." I jumped forward and threw my arms around him.
"Thanks so much dad," I said into his shirt. "Thank you. I love you so much." He patted my head.
"I love you too, Morgan." Once he was done patting my head he hugged me back. It was a good thing dad was so much bigger than me. I didn't even come up to his chin and his shoulders were a lot wider than mine, since I'd apparently gotten mine from mom. It meant that when he hugged me I was so hidden in his arms that everything felt like it was the way it should be. No one could hurt me, because I was protected. Nothing else mattered. It didn't matter that I was going to live a really long time. It didn't matter whether or not I liked Inigo or whether or not my head hurt or whether I would be sad to lose friends or anything at all. Dad was hugging me. Life was good.
"You're not gonna make me leave or anything, right? Now that, you know..." He had already told me before that he wouldn't, but I still had to ask.
"Never," he said. "You're my daughter. Nothing will ever change that."
"Okay. Good."
"Your mother has something for you too, you know."
"Do you know what it is?" I felt him laugh, which made me giggle a little.
"Of course I do. But I'm not telling you yet. Let's go see her and she can give it to you herself." He let go of me and opened the door. He let me in and I walked in to see mom lying on a bed. She looked a little sweaty and tired, but she was still mom and I was still glad to see her. She was smiling down at...well, at me. When I reached the side of her bed she went from looking at me to looking at...at me. Grandma, this was confusing.
"Morgan, I'm so glad to see you," she said. She was too preoccupied for me to hug her, so instead I sat next to her and held her free hand.
"Hi mom," I said. "How are you feeling?"
"As good as can be expected," she said. "I'm sorry you were not allowed in here. It was far too crowded by attendants."
"I wanted to be in here," I said. "You sounded like you were in so much pain." She smiled.
"I have felt worse," she said. "And your father was here. I think he was more worried than I was." I almost wanted to laugh at how much alike they thought now. "No matter how much I assured him that I was alright, he continued to fret over me."
"That's dad for you," I said as I smiled up at him.
"Oh! I nearly forgot," she said as she let go of my hand. She reached up to her hair and gently removed the ornament she always wore. She held it out to me. "This is for you, dear." I took it from her.
"Are you sure about this? Haven't you had this for like, ever?" She laughed gently.
"Perhaps not that long, but it has been ages," she said. "It is yours now." I looked back up at her. She looked so odd without it.
"Don't worry," dad said from above me, "I'll get her a new one. It'll match her necklace." He must have noticed my expression. Of course he had. That was dad. I put the ornament in my hair the same way mom always did.
"You look beautiful, dear," she said. Dad must have known again exactly what I wanted to do, because he bent down and took little baby Morgan from mom so I could lean forward and hug her.
"Thanks so much, mom. I love you."
"I love you too, with all my heart," she said as she gently hugged me back. Maybe mom wasn't as strong as dad and maybe her hugs weren't so firm and maybe this one was weaker than usual because she was so tired, but they were just as warm and loving and they still made all my troubles melt away.
"Morgan," dad said. I looked up at him and he was smiling at me. Then he looked down at the baby. "And you too, Morgan." He kissed her forehead lightly then looked back to me.
"Yeah dad?"
"Happy birthday."
A/N: I mean come on, I had to.
