As they crested the hill that had been obscuring their view the four of them froze with shock, before them lay the burning Southtown, Fredrick was the first to speak "Bandits milord" as he spoke he grimaced at the looters and gripped his lance tighter.

Corrin looked upon the burning town and grimaced before charging, the three Ylissians watched for a moment stunned before following, Fredrick easily caught up to her on the back of his horse "You are as reckless Milord, lady Corrin, however I feel as though I should applaud your bravery not many would leap to the aid of people who aren't their own" Corrin said nothing and focused on making it to the town, after a few more minutes the group arrived at the heart of the burning town, a small market square that had a river flowing through it with what appeared to be a church towards the northern edge across a quaint bridge, within the market stood a total of ten bandits including their leader they consisted of three myrmidons, two mages and five fighters, Chrom looked to be forming a plan or attempting to at least after a minute Corrin spoke up "I have a plan, if you're willing to hear it" the serious tone of her voice commanded the three Ylissians attention.

"Well, its got to be better than my ideas…" Chrom muttered looking from Corrin to the array of enemies and back.

"Lissa, since your… delicate... stay back behind Fredrick and if we need healing he can get you to us safely…" As Corrin paused she swore she could hear Lissa murmuring about not being delicate "Chrom, the way I see it we can deal with the fighters easily, I can focus down the mages as I have some experience in magic combat although I may be a bit rusty" Chrom nodded in agreement as Corrin laid out her plan it was reasonable and had some organization to it which was more than could be said for his own plan.

As they planned the leader seemed to have notice them "Gwa ha! Get to it, lads! Grab anything shiny, and put the rest to the torch! We gots an example to set for these Ylissean types! Ain't that right, lass?" he had a young woman in his grasp as he laughed she tried to pull away which only caused him to laugh harder "S-stay away from me! Please! Someone! HEEEEEELP!"

Corrin felt an unbidden growl rise in her throat, as it left the Ylissians looked at her incredulously, then without warning she leapt through the market stall they had been concealed behind, when she landed she placed a hand to her chest "Azura… I hope I can control it without you…" with that what appeared to be small crystals and water began swirling around her, she clutched her head as a bright light consumed her being when it faded Corrin no longer stood there in her place stood a large grey and blue dragon with antlers in place of horns ,its jaw seemed to be attaches as though it were just a jaw bone, its legs ended in what appeared to be hooves but upon a closer look all the observers could see they she stood on her knuckles, with two deep breaths she roared.

Chrom watched in shocked awe as this transformation occurred "Corrin?" he didn't get an answer as she charged, the bandits didn't have time to react before Corrin was among them her horns sent one of the myrmidons flying as a second was crushed by her flailing tail, as she turned her attention to the large bandit leader a wind spell collided with her side causing her to stumble and allowing the last myrmidon to strike into her weakened hide, she let out an ear shattering cry of pain, as her attacker went to deliver his blade met with one far more elegant, it's silver and gold blade ending in a teardrop, its name Falchion.

Chrom grunted as he blocked the sword he was surprised by the speed and strength of his opponent "Damn! You think I'm just going to let you hurt her!" his voice took on a harsh tone as he pushed the blade back breaking his opponents guard before the myrmidon could recover he found an elegant sliver lance through his chest "Fredrick, Nice save!"

The ever stoic knight nodded to his lord before positioning himself between his allies and the remaining bandits who had back off and, surprisingly, began taking a defensive setup, Fredrick straightened himself upon his horse and gave the bandits a cold steely glare "I shall word this politely, Miscreants, any enemy that chooses to stand before milord so brazenly deserves nothing more than a swift death so I shall give you one chance… Pick a god and pray!" As he finished his statement Fredrick charged into the group narrowly avoiding the last mages wind spell before swiftly eliminating two fighters as he did the others backed up further still putting the length bridge between themselves and the knight.

Whilst Fredrick kept the bandits at bay with his presence alone Lissa made her way over to wounded dragon and Chrom, without hesitation she began using her staff on Corrin's wounded form which began letting out pitiful cries, Lissa looked to her brother "Chrom can you do something? Those cries are painful to listen to" Chrom looked to his sister before sighing "What do you expect me to do Lissa? I'm not exactly gifted with animals" He noticed that his sister had stopped paying attention and had turned her attention to healing Corrin's injuries, with an unsure hand he began trying to calm Corrin by gently stroking her neck .

Corrin could pick up a strange scent beneath the smoke around her; it smelt like leather and weapon cleaning oil, after a few minutes of losing herself in the scent and touch coming from beyond her view she pictured Azura's song alongside it and within moments of hearing the tune in her head her dragon's blood calmed and her from returned to normal as she did she looked to Lissa "Hey, is it sealed?" her voice was hoarse and gravely but she smiled gently, once Lissa gave her the all clear she stood up and rolled her shoulders before grabbing the weapons from the fallen myrmidons before looking to Chrom "Shall we end this?" he smiled and gripped Falchion "lets"

Fredrick cleaned his lance on the mages robes as Chrom and Corrin approached "Milord, lady Corrin shall I leave the last of these miscreants to you?" Chrom looked to his loyal retainer "Yes Fredrick I think it's about time these bandits get what they deserve" as he finished his sentence Chrom advanced and began attacking the bandit leader who had been watching the one sided battle between his men and Fredrick with his jaw slack.

Chrom attacked swiftly managing to catch the leader on his bicep before he narrowly avoided the counter attack from the bandits heavy axe "Blast! Damn you Shepherds! Ill Finish ya off! And deal with the villagers later!" as he went to follow through on the strike he felt two swift sharp pains across his back "Wha-" Chrom took advantage of the momentary distraction to run the bandit through as he did the two iron blades that Corrin had taken from the Myrmidons come from the other side of the now dead bandit.

After a few hours the villagers reappeared and began salvaging what they could as they helped Fredrick spoke "Did you notice milord? Those bandits spoke with a Plegian accent" Corrin who was helping nearby couldn't help but make an inquiry "Plegian? What's that?"

"Plegia is Yliesses westerly neighbour. They send bandits across the border hoping to instigate war with us" Chrom had a bitter edge to his voice as he spoke.

"That sounds… Familiar…" Corrin's own looks darkened as she spoke.

"It's the poor townsfolk that suffer! Totally innocent and totally helpless…." Lissa looked down her fists shaking with rage.

"They do have us milady: Shepards to protect sheep. Do not be swept up in your anger. It will cloud your judgement." Fredrick smiled gently at her.

"I know, I know… don't worry I'll get used to all this." Lissa looked a little happier than she had a moment ago but something was still bothering her.

"You know the whole Shepards thing makes a little more sense now" Corrin said thinking back to when she had met Chrom and the others for the first time and they had introduced themselves, it had made little sense at the time.

While they conversed a villager ran up and breathlessly began speaking "Milord, please! You must stay the night! We are simple folk of simple means, but we would gladly toast your valour with a feast!"

"A most generous offer, sir, and no doubt your hospitality would be grand... But I'm afraid we must hurry back to Ylisstol." Fredrick had clearly switched back into full on knight mode.

"Dark meat only for me, medium well, and no salt in the soup. I simply— Wait, what?! We're not staying?! But, Frederick, it's nearly dark!" Lissa exclaimed looking towards Fredrick like he had gone mad.

"When night falls, we'll camp. Eat off the land, make our bed of twigs and the like... I believe you mentioned you would be "getting used to this"?" Fredrick's façade broke for a moment as he gave a sly grin.

Corrin smiled as she watched the rest of the scene unfold the way the Shepards interacted with each other made her miss Valla and her Family and friends back there "You've quite the stern lieutenant there." Corrin spoke quietly to herself with a small smile.

After a few more kindly declined invites from the villagers the Shepards and Corrin left for Ylisstol.