The woman did not know what to think of the men who did come to their rescue. Or have tried to. They came too late and didn't bring anything but trouble. The girl with them had to be rescued too.
She sighed and walked over to the last of them not noticing the looks she got from the blue haired man she had rescued a few moments ago. He wasn't bad with a sword it seemed. And he cared a lot for his little sister. But the tactician couldn't trust men just yet again. This torture was her only memory and it wasn't exactly pleasant.
Suddenly a black furball jumped directly to her and instinctively she held her arms so that she could hold the griffin easily. He bleeped excited and licked over her cheek again. Charmed she stroked his back. "Where did you come from? Why are you in the city?" She whispered and winced as she received an unexpected answer. "We picked him up in the woods, sir. He was protecting itself in a hollow tree trunk." The other brown haired man had spoken. He was close by and treated one of the villagers.
Now that explained it. But did she hear right? Sir? She opened her mouth to say something but the white haired girl leaped over and bowed before her and the gryphon with a smooth motion. "Thank you, sir! You saved us all!" The girl smiled sheepishly and was gone the next moment.
It seemed she had a very masculine appearance. More than she had expected. And if she thought about it, it didn't matter to her. It even could be useful. She could interact with males without fear at the moment and she probably wouldn't see these guys again. So she remained silent about it.
Instead she switched to the next thing in her mind to say. "Thank you for helping this little guy. I think it's with me…" Suddenly a name popped up in her mind "…right, Arch?" Happily the gryphon bleeped and flapped with its tiny wings. A small smile sneaked on her face. You had to look really hard to see it but the knight noticed and nodded. "We thought it was a free griffin and wanted to take it. But if it is yours than we are glad you could reunion."
She nodded in thanks and wanted to look after the others but Tyrill the healer was also there and came to her first. "Hey. Sorry I couldn't heal you completely the last time…" He looked a bit uneasy and it seemed he would have helped more if he could. "Can I look at your wound again? I promise this time I will heal it entirely and you don't have to give me anything. That's the least I can do for what you have done. If you need anything more just tell me!" He smiled sheepishly and hopefully.
The white haired woman was really thankful. She had sensed the helpfulness of the villagers and indeed she needed help. "It would be a great help if you could heal me and I wouldn't refuse a few new clothes if it is really ok…" The healer beamed at those words "Of course, no problem! Please come to my house… It's a bit destroyed but don't mind it. The most utensils are there. Oh and the others are all fine. Only a few scratches and nothing compared to your head…" He walked ahead and the tactician followed him as soon as she heard that the others were cared for.
Since the other guy was done with the villagers he followed them too. She didn't like it. Now there were two men with her in the house and she had to suppress her instinct to run. Arch wriggled and the tactician put him to the ground where he began to explore the near surroundings.
"Please sit down. I will take care of this wound then." Tyrill said while he searched for his medics. She did as asked and observed the other man. He stood firm before the alley and watched very attentively. She didn't want to stare at him and therefore watched the little gryphon.
Tyrill worked silently but effectively and fast. As he just finished and wrapped the bandage around her head the other two came in. "Frederick" The man named Chrom said. "Do you know – " As his eyes fell on her he stopped and smiled friendly. "Ah! Here you are! We searched for you… Why did you walk away?"
"Yeah! We only wanted to talk you know!" Lissa pouted.
But then the two of them noticed the bandages. Chrom frowned and asked a little confused "Were you hurt?" The tactician knew that he meant if she received a blow or so but she did not want to answer. Her head hurt a little and she closed her eyes.
Also the healer spoke before she could have done so. "No I don't think it is from this fight. The bandits brought him here with severe injuries but they didn't let me take care of them properly. So I did the rest now."
The woman opened her eyes as she heard Chroms worried voice. "Did they this to you?"
They don't seem like bad people, she thought and shook her head. "I don't think so but it could be. I don't remember anything before I woke up at a clearing…" They stared at her and she couldn't stand it. Again she looked after the little gryphon only so she didn't have to look into their eyes.
"You don't remember anything?" The girl asked worried and the tactician replied monotone "Yes, nothing. Not even my name…"
"Hey, I've heard of this! It's called amnesia!" Lissa exclaimed. "It's called a load of Pegasus dung." Frederick countered and looked rather dissatisfied and stern.
"I know it seems rather unrealistic and implausible but it's the truth… I woke up at that field and these bandits found me. Then they made sure I would life and took me to this house. I don't know any more…" She tried to explain but Frederick expression showed that he was not nearly convinced.
"…What if it IS true, Frederick?" Chrom pointed out. "We cannot leave at it is. We have to help. What sort of Shepherds would we be if we left like this?" He looked at Frederick which sighed "I must emphasize caution. We shouldn't let a wolf in our flock." He certainly knew Chrom very well.
"He helped me twice and I trust and believe him odd as it might be. Besides he was the one who came up with the plan, right? And he is very skillfully with a tome too. The Shepherds could use someone with… his talents. Would you really have us lose such an able tactician?"
"…Sorry. But what is this about? Shepherds? You tend sheep? ... in full armor?" The white haired woman interrupted. She didn't understand half of it.
"Heh, it's a dangerous job. Just ask Frederick the Wary here." Chrom answered and the addressed confirmed "A title I shall wear with pride. Gods forbid one of us keeps an appropriate level of caution. I have every wish to trust you, stranger, but my station mandates otherwise."
"…I understand." Only a little but it would have to suffice. "My name is Robin… I just remembered that. How odd."
Chrom smiled at that. "Robin? Is that foreign? ... Ah we can discuss this later. Would you like to come with us? We are on the way to the capital from Ylisse. Maybe you could find there hints to your memories?"
Robin tilted her head and thought about it. It wasn't safe to travel alone that she had learned the hard way. And these three didn't seem like bad company. She couldn't trust them yet and had to be careful too but the most important point was that she didn't want to travel alone. Besides the capital wasn't a bad shot for her memories. And her instinct screamed something like These are good guys! Travel with them! Don't hesitate! So she nodded "Yes, if you'll have me then I'd like that."
Chrom watched Robin as he picked up the little gryphon and went to the next room to get changed. It really was odd but his heart screamed that he could trust him with his life.
"We should get going if all of us are ready, Milord" Frederick interrupted his thoughts. "What? But it is almost dark! Can't we stay here for the night?" Lissa complained and looked with puppy eyes to Frederick and then to Chrom.
"Frederick is right. We are behind our schedule and should get going. Let's stock up our supplies and then continue to the capital." Lissa muttered but she knew they wouldn't change their minds.
Frederick walked away and searched for his steed while Chrom bought all they needed. When Robin was finished changing he helped too.
The white haired man had still his coat on but underneath was now width dark gray pants and also a similarly wide top. As he approached he closed his big coat again as though he had something to hide but Chrom discarded this as soon as the thought came to mind.
"Ready?" He asked instead and looked at the new items. "Yes, but we should really stay here!" Lissa reproached again but it was ignored. The new member nodded and so they were on the way to the agreed meeting point with Frederick.
"Arch, don't walk too far away" Robin said as the little gryphon swaggered before the three of them. He received a bleep as answer and it seemed to satisfy him. "Is this your griffin?" Lissa asked a little disappointed and looked with a dreaming glance to the gryphon.
"I think so. At least I feel that he belongs to me and I remembered his name before even my own…" Robin said with a forced smile. "Maybe he will give me a few hints to who I am?" He murmured then but sighed unconvinced.
Frederick waited for them already. He stood there with his hands behind his back and staring right at Robin. He didn't trust him and would not probably for a while. His eyes wandered to the little black gryphon which was sitting now right before him and staring with big puppy eyes. "What do you wish, sir?" He asked with his expression never changing. He received a bleep as answer and nodded. "As you wish" He then picked up the griffin and put him on his steer. Satisfied the griffin laid down and closed his eyes. Almost immediately he was asleep.
"… Then let's go before it gets dark" Chrom smiled at the griffin and took the lead as they headed south towards the capital.
Lissa couldn't keep her mouth shut and bombarded the newcomer with questions. Most of the time he could only answer with "Don't know" or something similar. The blue haired man almost lost his temper as his little sister kept going on and on but Frederick stopped and suggested that the group should rest.
Chrom looked around and noted that it was dark already and this was a perfect camping place. "Good idea. Frederick you make a fire, I will go hunting. Lissa and Robin you set up the tent." All nodded and went to do their assigned jobs.
Frederick didn't like this situation one bit. This guy was suspicious as a fire in the forest but he couldn't deny Chroms order. So he would watch Robin and report everything to Chrom. Or even better, the Exalt.
But as he lit the fire and watched Lissa with this white haired guy he found nothing. Not a try to flee. Neither did he look around for allies, only Arch was in his interest. It seemed odd.
One thing found the knight funny. Robin looked relaxed. As this guy had been tense the whole time it was absolutely suspicious! Why would he relax then? He was in company with strangers and only his little animal with him. The only different thing was that neither Chrom nor he were near him but if this was the cause then it was more alarming than everything else.
He almost burned himself as he watched the two of them. He only managed to avoid this because the little Gryphon jumped into him. As he didn't pay attention to the animal he was so startled that he almost fell backwards but he could hold his balance at the last moment.
The brown haired guy looked down to this little animal which bleeped happy in his arms and was now lying down on his lap. It was hard to not like this little thing. But he shouldn't! As he looked up he caught Robin who eyed him with a stern look such as he himself often had. It was only for a second but Frederick noticed it. Now Robin had tensed up again but it didn't show in his work.
Strange. So very very strange.
Frederick found himself wondering if he had done something to him. But as he recalled the day he couldn't find anything and he disregarded the thought. He must remember something, the knight thought. It was the only option for this knight who had a prince and a princess to protect.
Then Chrom brought back a bear. Frederick suppressed his retch. He wouldn't eat anything today and only had to make sure no one noticed. As he grilled the meat Chrom, Lissa and Robin talked quite a bit about the world around them. Robin asked quite a few things. Like where this was, which continents they were on and not few other things that were common.
Robin ate quite a lot as he was very hungry. Frederick pretended to do something so that no one would notice but he underestimated the situation. "Are you not hungry, Frederick? You didn't eat one bite…"
Why of all of them did Robin have to notice? He looked with his usually stern look to the white haired guy and said "I eat before so I don't need anything else" In reality he WAS hungry but he wouldn't ever admit it. Not when the only thing they had was bear meat.
"If you say that" The newcomer looked at him a few seconds, shrugged his shoulders and devoured his meat as if this was his last meal ever.
"How can you eat this, Robin?" Lissa asked with a shrill voice. She didn't like the meat either but Chrom convinced her otherwise. "You didn't even try it yet, Lissa. How can you say that?"
They quarreled quite a bit before Lissa tried it and almost committed it right back. "It tastes like old shoes. Wait that's not fair for the shoes! It's even worse!" She grimaced.
"Come on Lissa! In war you eat what we have or you won't survive!" Chrom tried to convince her but it was not easy. Frederick sat there and commented at the right moments but his attention was on Robin.
He looked like he wanted to say something but as he didn't Frederick was more suspicious than ever.
Soon they laid down in attempt to sleep but Frederick could only sleep when he was sure everything was alright and this new guy slept as well.
He slept unexpectedly well until the world around him began to shake.
