Updated 10/26/14- Revised a small continuity error, thanks to DeNile0 for pointing it out
Chrom wasn't quite sure just how many rooms there were in the royal palace, which was probably a good sign that the answer was "far too many". It had expanded and contracted over several generations of rulers and had eventually descended into the sort of architectural chaos that is only seen in a building that has housed a succession of people who were powerful and bored at the same time. Chrom could find his way around with relative ease, but knew that newcomers typically didn't fare so well. There was a legend among the servant staff about a chambermaid who had gone to retrieve a fresh set of linens from the laundry and never returned, still searching into the present day.
Robin at least didn't seem to have found that sort of trouble. He had been granted a small set of chambers in the residential wing of the palace, which he had summarily become the building's unofficial second library. It was fairly easy to find him even without looking, since there was almost always a cart full of books lingering by the side of the door. True to form, this was the case today as well- as Chrom glanced by, he noticed that Robin had apparently exhausted the palace's supply of strategy textbooks, since he had moved into military fiction instead.
Unsurprisingly, there were also a few books on dark magic. Tharja had moved into Robin's quarters almost immediately after they had formally announced their engagement. This had caused quite a storm of gossip among the various ladies of the court, which abruptly ended when all of them suddenly came down with mysterious nosebleeds. The dark magic texts didn't look like they had seen much wear- apparently Tharja already knew anything any Ylissean library could teach her.
Chrom rapped on the door, and Robin answered the door quickly, a book in his hand with his thumb still on the page he was reading. Chrom didn't see her, but common sense told him Tharja was probably lurking by him somewhere. She hadn't moved more than ten feet away from him since they had agreed to married, which raised certain logistical problems that Chrom preferred not to think about.
"Afternoon, Chrom. Finish work early today?" Robin asked.
"Not in my wildest dreams. But we've just received Tharja's family's reply to our message, and I thought you would like to see it," Chrom said, brandishing an ornate sheet of stationary with so much gold trimming that it probably slowed down the courier. At the mention of her family Tharja emerged from the shadows, looking as close to welcoming as her face could manage.
"What does it say?" she asked.
Chrom unfolded the letter and began to read aloud. "'Exalted Royal Family of Ylisse- we have received your proposal that your tactician wed a member of our family, the as-of-yet unwed Tharja, a dark mage formerly in the service of the late King Gangrel and currently in the service of your army known as "the Shepherds". We have reviewed the terms of the marriage that you have set, along with the tentative list of guests that you have provided.'
"'On the assumption that the terms given to us in our letter are accurate to the intentions of the royal family and the groom, we are willing to agree to the marriage on terms as they now stand, and will attend without objection.'" Robin broke out in a smile, and Tharja clutched his arm happily. Chrom held up a hand. "Hold up. It's not done yet."
"'To ensure that the preparations for the ceremony are in accordance with the terms outlined in your message, a representative of the family will arrive shortly after this message is delivered. He will be identified as Ortho of Plegia, and will be expecting accommodations according to his needs. We congratulate our daughter and her new husband, and will attend the ceremony to provide our blessing.'" Chrom put down the letter. "So what you make of that?" he asked.
"What do they mean, a representative of the family?" Robin replied.
"They mean Uncle Ortho is going to show up at the front gates soon and start sticking his nose wherever he can fit it," Tharja said. "He's also showing up months before our wedding- inconvenient for that, but conveniently just in time for him to be present at the royal wedding."
"So you think your family is being deceitful?" Chrom asked.
"I don't think they're being deceitful. The letter lays it out in pretty simple terms that they're planning to exploit this as much as they can. They wouldn't be my family if they didn't at least try."
'Do you think this Ortho character is going to raise any trouble?" Chrom asked.
Tharja shrugged. "Give him a bed somewhere and tell the staff not to worry when he starts harassing them. He'll be too worried about keeping the image of the family up to do anything extreme."
"Alright then," Chrom said, handing the letter to Robin. "Then the only thing we have to worry about is how the rest of the Plegians react. The guest list we've set up is pretty extensive, but that won't help us much if their government announces their intention to execute anybody who attends."
"Call me overly optimistic, but I don't think the government will raise that much of a fuss. I don't know much about Plegian politics, they're probably still in the phase where they're aggressively trying to prove that they're not as bad as Gangrel," Robin said. Tharja smirked.
"You don't know much about Plegian politics," she said.
Despite Tharja's cynicism, no such crisis occurred. The list of diplomats, merchants, and other prominent Plegian figures who agreed to attend the wedding increased rapidly, with new messages arriving every day. A few guests arrived in person, seeing as how they had been invited to both Robin's wedding and Chrom's, which was now beginning to seem frightfully close.
The only notable absence among the replies was that of any prominent members of the Grimleal, the state-sponsored religion of Plegia. No objection had been raised by them, or indeed any response at all. Chrom considered trying to contact them again, but the number of people who remained silent suggested that this was a calculated move. At the very least they weren't actively campaigning against the event.
Aside from that, there was only one significant hiccup in the initial preparations for the celebration, and surprisingly it didn't emerge from the Plegian side of affairs. Chrom was taking a shortcut through the main building of the palace, on his morning walk between his bedchambers and his office. To his surprise, he came across Robin and a noble Chrom didn't quite recognize having a conversation in the hallway- the surprising part not being their presence, but that Tharja was nowhere to be seen. They were fairly engrossed in their discussion, and so Chrom quietly sidled forward to see what the subject of debate was.
The noble was one of those who Chrom knew by face, but not any further than that. He was a stout, middle-aged man with short grey hair and a prominent set of ears. Additionally he seemed to be the sort of person who took his status in his country very seriously, to the point where he wore a blazer emblazoned with the Mark of Naga. He was speaking to Robin with very animated expressions, gesticulating wildly in all directions, while Robin didn't seem to be displaying any emotion at all.
Chrom got within hearing range just soon enough to hear the man's parting words, which were, strangely enough, "Fine! But I shall be discussing your disloyalty with the future Exalt- it so happens that he is a close compatriot of my own." He stormed off, bumping directly into Chrom in the process. The ensuing babble of apologies kept the man from regaining his composure before he was out of sight, and Chrom suspected for some time after as well.
Chrom marveled at the sight for a moment, before turning back to Robin, who had been engrossed in the sight as much as he was.
Robin nodded. "Hello, Chrom," he said loudly. "I don't suppose you're going to tell me that Tharja's going to betray us too, are you?"
Chrom was taken aback. "No, I wasn't," he said. He was about to ask why Robin had said his name so loudly when a door next to him opened abruptly, revealing Tharja. She looked at him with a blank expression.
"I don't suppose that I heard that conversation horribly out of context, did I?" Chrom asked carefully.
"Did you hear the part where he said I was a Plegian spy sent to destroy us from the inside? And that we were going to use the wedding to sign over our military to the Plegians?" Tharja asked, her tone neutral.
"No, but I can see where he might have brought that up," said Chrom, trying to match her lack of expression.
"Then you caught the basic gist of it," Tharja said. She walked back over to Robin, and looked at him carefully.
"Do you think I'm a spy?" she asked, staring closely at his face.
"No. And besides, anybody who looks at a mysterious amnesiac with an unusual talent for war and uses his wife as a basis for deciding he could be trouble clearly doesn't have his priorities in order," Robin said. Tharja's face broke into a grin, and she kissed him. Chrom stood awkwardly by until they finished.
"Has anybody else said anything like that? Things could get bad if half of people here are thinking like that and he was the only one brave enough to say it to our faces," Chrom said.
Robin shrugged. "I don't know. Truth be told, I don't get out much. I only really know what the Shepherds think, and most of them are fine with Tharja. Frederick didn't seem too happy, but then again he never is. Nobody has said anything to make me worried."
"Well I am. Even if that man was completely alone in his opinion, his status ensures that other people are going to listen to him. I can't tell him what to think, at least not without following Gangrel's path as a leader, but I still don't want anybody wandering around saying that my most trusted adviser is betraying us," Chrom said
Robin smiled. "Oh, I'm not sure. I can see where somebody might be suspicious about me. No personal history, assumes a position of great power, and now marries a foreigner who hasn't gotten into a lot of people's good graces, all while using the wedding as a means to appeal to the Plegians. Frankly it's a wonder I haven't usurped you yet." He laughed, while Chrom just sighed, thinking that a good usurping would probably take a lot of stress off of his mind.
"Is there anything you can do? Pompous old men aren't known for the flexibility of their opinions, even less so when they've got authority. I know some curses that could put him in a better frame of mind about me, but it would probably make the court look bad to have one of its members lying motionless and seeing pretty colors," Tharja said, bringing the conversation back to subject material she was familiar with.
"Well, I know standing in this hallway talking about it isn't going to help us. I'm not going to change anything about the plan for your wedding, but if you see any opportunity to improve your opinion in the eyes of the nobles, I suggest you take it." Chrom started pacing. Robin and Tharja meanwhile stayed motionless, tracking him with their eyes. "We might arrange some sort of military exercise as entertainment one of these evenings; people who've never held a sword love that sort of thing from a distance. And my wedding is coming up in just a few weeks- if there's ever a time and place for mingling, it'll be that."
"Chrom," Robin said, stopping him in his tracks. He looked up.
"What?" Chrom said.
"Relax," Robin replied. "You worry too much. One indignant noble can only do so much damage, and you've got enough problems without trying to spread propaganda about how I'm so great. Focus on trying to fix the problems that actually matter, and then try to focus on small things like me."
Chrom sighed. His shoulders dropped what felt like five feet. "I suppose you're right. Just try and keep from angering anybody who acts like they're more important than they actually are," he said, trying to clear his head.
"I'll tell Virion you said hello," Robin said.
He and Tharja said their goodbyes and wandered off to parts unknown. Chrom, left alone in the passage, thought again but with much more intensity that life was getting too complex. He considered just giving up on work and spending the rest of the day trying to keep himself from going insane, but decided against it. The last thing his country needed was more leaders who thought they were the only sane ones.