Chapter Two: Arrival
On a sunny day in Ylisstol, the streets were lined with Ylissean people gathered to see their foreign guests. Each country had sent two representatives as requested. Regna Ferox had sent their khans Basilio and Flavia; the dukedom of Roseanne had sent Duke Virion and his vassal Cherche; Valm had sent Generals Pheros and the mustachioed Cervantes, and Chon'sin had sent Yen'fay and his sister, Princess Say'ri. Among those in attendance was Robin and her father King Validar and Chrom and his sister, the exalt Emmeryn.
"Wow!" exclaimed Morgan as he pressed his face up against the window of the carriage that he and his mother were riding in. "Ylisstol looks amazing Mother!"
Robin held a finger up to her lips to calm him. Even though her father was riding in a separate carriage, she still didn't like Morgan speaking so loudly. Who knows who might be listening? But nothing could quell her son's excitement. His dimpled cheeks and his bright eyes was like a salve to her weary soul. She mussed his already messy navy hair and chuckled.
"I can see it! It's the palace Mother! The Ylissean palace!" he started bouncing up and down in his seat.
"Yes sweetie, I can see it. Now please sit down and don't shout. Remember what I told you about calling me Mother?" she gently scolded him. He sank into his seat and pouted. "But we're not in Plegia anymore."
"Yes, but we can't have King Validar hearing anything or we can both get in very serious trouble. Do you understand?"
"…yes ma'am." He pouted some more before jumping back over to the window, 'oohing' and 'ahhing' at the sights.
"They're here Father! They're here!" a young girl by the name of Lucina shouts. She and her father, Prince Chrom, are standing by the great window watching the carriages circle around to the front of the castle.
"Shall we go and greet them?" Her father muses to his sister Emmeryn, who is standing behind him.
"Yes, let's." Emmeryn agrees and she and her attendant make their way to the entrance hall.
"Can I come too Father? Please?" Lucina begs, showing off her best smile.
"No Lucina, you must stay here. You can come when we have the opening ceremony okay?" Her father puts his hands on her shoulders and looks her in the eyes.
"Okay." She relents, not very happy about the situation, but understanding nonetheless.
"That's my girl." He smiles and kisses her on the forehead. His heart panged a little bit as he looked behind at her before leaving. She looked exactly like her mother whenever she pouted like that. Long dark hair, soft eyes, and a smile that could charm the scales off of a snake, sometimes Chrom thought that Lucina was a younger clone of her mother. Stubborn to a fault and headstrong like none other, sometimes it was hard for him to be around Lucina for too long. Especially in the years following their separation.
When they lost Robin, it was hard to return to normality. For Chrom's part, he told his sisters Emmeryn and Lissa the truth about what happened, but all the public knew was that he adopted a girl who was related to House Ylisse as evidenced by the brand in her eye.
He and his sister made their way to the great hall to greet their guests. It was then that he noticed a vaguely familiar hooded figure.
"It's impossible."
It couldn't be-? Could it?
One by one, each attendee came to introduce themselves as it is customary for the guests to greet that year's host in that manner. When it came to Plegia's turn, Validar barely bowed, instead, he lowered his head at the exalt and gestured to his partner, the same hooded figure Chrom picked out in the crowd.
"Greetings milady, I am King Validar and this is my daughter the hierophant of Plegia and the Princess." He grinned evilly at the shocked expression of the prince but the hooded figure did not lower her cowl, nor did she utter a word.
"Excuse me Princess, but in Ylisse it is considered customary to lower one's hood in the presence of Ylissean royalty." A voice chimed in. A tall armored guard came to stand behind the Prince and his sister.
"I-it's okay Frederick. Let her be." Chrom said, nearly choking on his words.
Silently, the figure bowed at the waist before turning around and quickly descending the stairs to her spot on the floor.
Robin fled from the room, frantically fanning her cheeks. It had been ten years since she last saw the Prince but all the memories came rushing back like tsunami. She sat down in a chair at the far end of the room, pulling her hood over her eyes once again, hoping in vain to block out the past.
The opening ceremony finally began later that night. Robin was dressed in a black and gold evening gown with the Plegian national symbol embroidered in shining gold thread on the train. Her bodice cinched at her waist and glittered with the same gold thread and her long dark hair was done up in an elaborate braided up do adorned with a multitude of golden leaves. Morgan was also very splendidly dressed. His outfit matched his mother's to a tee except his coat was slightly too long for his small frame. His mother pulled on the lapels of his jacket and smoothed out the wrinkles with her fingers.
"There!" she said, satisfied after smoothing down a stray hair. "You look very handsome tonight Morgan!"
"Thanks. You look very beautiful yourself moth-" he stopped himself as he spied the lean tall figure of Validar in the doorway and he cleared his throat.
"-Master." His mother smiled sadly at him as her gloved hand landed on his shoulder.
"Let's be off then!" She said, swinging her skirts behind her. Morgan hurried after.