Disclaimer: Fire Emblem is officially owned by Nintendo.

The instant I walked into the mess hall, my nose was assaulted with a variety of scents. The most prominent was the scent of roasted pot roast, some steamed vegetables, and soup following afterwards. From what I was noticing, it was just a walk up and grab what you want kind of deal. Robin walked up first and I followed, both of us grabbing some plates.

"What to eat, what to eat?" I mutter, noticing a nice loath of bread that avoided my nose. Fighting back any instinct to drool at the delicious food, I filled up my plate with a slice of the roast, some bread, and lastly the vegetables. To think I was such a brat about the vegetables four years back. Thinking that, I laughed a little and looked for an open seat.

I happened to notice one and just took it without hesitation before looking around at who was with me. To my left was a tan skinned, muscle bound male with blonde hair that seemed to have been combed back spiky. To the left of him was Sully, and they seemed to be engaged in some sort of conversation, apparently about who could do the most push-ups before fainting. In front of Sully was someone dressed in similar gear as Sully, fairly messy dark hair that I swear almost looked a tinge of green. He seemed too enveloped in eating his meal to talk at the moment.

The last person I noticed was a sort of tall male, dark hair cut almost like a bowl cut, his eyes seemed to be closed but he was still eating his meal, but looked approachable. "Hello." I say, facing him. He seemed to look up, facing me before looking at Stahl then back to me. It was almost as if he was looking to see that I was talking to him. "Yeah, I'm talking to you." I say to confirm his thoughts.

"Oh, I'm not used to others talking to me first." He says, giving a quick glance to the others who looked as though they didn't even know he was there. I nodded my head a little in understanding, understanding the problem a little.

"I know the feeling to be honest." I chuckle, taking a bite out of my food, savouring the juicy roast before swallowing it. He seemed to look at me curiously, likely wanting me to give an explanation. "I kind of lacked presence a lot when I was younger." I explain. "What's your name anyways?" I ask, trying to get introductions out of the way.

"Kellam, it's nice to meet you." He says, returning to his meal while awaiting my introduction.

"Tyson, the feeling is mutual." I introduce myself in response, eating another bite of my meal. We seemed to be stuck in a bit of a silence for a while, until I decided to break it with a topic on the upcoming mission. "So, any idea what Regna Ferox is like?" I asked.

"No, I've never been that far north before." He answers, shaking his head as well before returning to his meal. I returned to mine as well before Kellam brought up another question. "What about you, Chrom told us that you came from very far up north." He points out to which I nod.

"I did, but the vessel I rode on took a route into Plegia, and that was not a fun walk." I comment, looking a little upset at the 'memory'. "Let me tell you, the place is a desert and in the middle of the day, it becomes almost unbearable. Then night happens and you're begging for the heat to return." I explain, and Kellam did not seem happy about the thought of those experiences.

"Please, Teach could handle that, no problem." Looking to my left, it seemed as though the tan skinned Blonde and Sully were now looking at us. I looked at the blonde with an unamused expression.

"And you are?" I ask in a dull tone. He almost seemed to take offence at how I did not know who he was from a glance.

"Did Chrom not tell you about the Vaike? His greatest rival in everything the shepherds have only done?" He asks, clearly gloating as well and overselling his introduction. Sully only seemed to laugh though.

"Really, how many times have you beat Chrom again?" She asks smugly, causing Vaike to stop his gloating for a moment to look at her. He seemed to be mad that Sully called him out so easily, and I just laughed at the antics.

"Well, looks like "The Vaike" just got shown up." I comment, returning to my dinner and finishing it off. Vaike seemed to go a little red in the face, getting out of his seat and walking around the table, sitting back down on the over side, bumping Kellam over without noticing. The red on his face vanished and he now had a competitive look in his eyes.

"Oh no…" I hear Kellam say, now a little to the left. Looks like he had a bad feeling as to what was going to happen. I looked back at Vaike as he placed an elbow on the table.

"How about you show teach what you got then?" He suggests, the position of his arm hinting that he wanted to arm wrestle. With the eyes of everyone at the table on me, I sighed and locked my hand with Vaike's.

"All right, let's do this." I say, waiting to begin. The stares between us were intense, his eyes seeming to look like a wolf ready to strike down its prey. Mine were like an eagle's, sharp, observing, ready to strike on the first weakness. Sully was the one to declare us to begin and both our forearms tensed up. I had the early lead, putting in a bit more power than Vaike expected, catching him off, but he was far from done. My lead slowly faded though as Vaike proved to be stronger, bringing us both to a standstill before getting my small lead. My teeth clenched, as I attempted to fight back, coming to no avail as Vaike's superior strength beat me in the end, my hand smacking against the table.

"And that's why you don't mess with teach." He states, releasing my hand and bringing his arm back. I brought mine back after getting feeling back into it, giving it a few shakes just to make sure that my wrist was in good shape.

"Got me there. Next time we do this, don't expect me to go down that easily again." I say, beginning to laugh a little, Vaike joining in with the laughter. We soon stopped after a few seconds and I decided to finish up my meal, letting out a satisfied sigh and pat my stomach a little.

"That was some of your best yet Stahl." Kellam compliments, referring to the male in green cavalry armor. I will never understand why some people chose to wear their armor to dinner like this. Maybe it's so they can be ready.

"Heh, I just followed my gut." He says, trying not to gloat about his achievement. He definitely seemed to know what he was doing though.

"Your gut must be a master connoisseur then." I joke, though quickly slinked down a little when no one but Vaike laughed at it. Everyone's a critic as they say, and it's just as true here. "Well, I think I'll go walk around a little bit, anyone want to tag along?" I ask, when everyone shook their heads no, I shrugged and got up, picking up my plate and wondering where to put it.

"Just behind the counter." Stahl advises, to which I happily nod. I bring the plate over to just behind the counter and walk out of the mess hall. I decided to use this small opportunity to walk around the place, trying to get a good feel for it. My first stop was the first door on the right, which upon opening seemed to be the armory. It seemed some armor, weapons and the like decorated the walls, with a small table in the middle for some reason. Maybe it was for polishing our gear.

"This place isn't half bad." I comment, walking around a little bit before taking a closer look at some of the swords. Most of them seemed to be simple iron swords, but I do see some steel ones among them. I then looked over the other gear, stopping at the lances. Once again, it was mainly iron lances, with some bronzes and steels mixed in. I gently grabbed one of the bronze lances, feeling the weight of it with both hands. "Hmm… this feels pretty nice." I comment, putting it away.

I walk out of the barracks and turned right, heading down the hall a little more and entering the next room. It lead outside into a nice training area, littered with training dummies, some in good condition, others completely broken. There were also some weapons racks to the side housing wooden weapons of various types. I head back in and search for a new room.

Finding that the rest of the doors were unfortunately locked, I walk into the lounge, someone seemed to already be in there, reading a book. It seemed to be a woman, approximately in her mid to late twenties from my guess. She was wearing lightweight mage robes that are brown in color with a large, matching hat on her head. I can barely make out her hair as a dark crimson, I think so at least, and she was wearing glasses. "Please, take a seat." She says, apparently noticing my presence.

I nod and sit down in the chair across from her, a small table being the only thing between us. A strange silence filled the air, not an awkward one, but it was more like she was observing me. "So, what's your name?" I asked, trying to break the silence a little bit.

"Miriel, and I assume that you are one of the new members Chrom told us about, correct?" She asked, looking up from her book a little. I give her a nod in response.

"That's right, name's Tyson, it's a pleasure to meet you Miriel." I say, giving her my name. I gently place my hands on my lap, not really having anything I could read.

"I see. And am I correct to assume that you're the one who is said to be using ice magic?" She inquires and I just nod along in response. "Fascinating, theories for using such magic have been developed for hundreds of years. To see someone in the flesh able to use it, is an honor." She states, a glint in her eye that admittedly worried me. "If you are joining us on the Regna Ferox expedition, I would love to see you demonstrate this first hand." She says, her face somehow looking neutral even though she sounded excited.

I placed a hand to my chin, thinking over it for a moment. "Okay, I'll do it. However, it will only be in the event we have a battle, my Ice tome is difficult to make." I state matter of factly. She seemed to nod her head in understanding.

"Do you at least know the process, I could possibly help you create one with it." She suggests. I give her a silent nod and she returns it, showing that we silently reached a silent agreement. I look out the window to my left, noticing that the sun has set.

"Wow, time really goes by when you're not paying attention to it." I comment, getting out of the chair. It was nice to meet you Miriel, but I must prepare for the expedition tomorrow." I state.

"I understand, I am required to do the same." She states, getting up and putting her book away. I give her a wave goodbye and begin to walk back to my room. When I reach my room, I give the door a knock, making sure Robin was in there.

After getting no response, I unlock the door and walk in, taking care to lock it behind me. I lit a candle so I could see. I then looked over the clothes I bought, laying out which ones to wear tomorrow, and what to pack for later. After making the decision, I placed my sword under my bed from the table and lay down on my bed. "Well, might as well get some rest for tomorrow." I say, noticing Robin walking in not long after. "Don't worry about me trying to peek if you need to get changed, I'm going to sleep." I say, not waiting for her answer as I closed my eyes.

Hello nothingness, nice to see you again after that damn dream. I still don't know what the hell it was about, was it a premonition? Or was the rush from the first day just getting to my head, the fear of death making that vision happen? I honestly wish I knew, but something deep in my gut tells me that I will be getting that answer one way or another.

*Creak*

My eyes quickly snap open, the room coated in darkness while a cool breeze blows in. Shrugging my shoulders, I slowly drift back before a thought hits me. "Wait, cool breeze?" I look towards the window, which was now wide open and just in front was a figure, though I could not tell much about their appearance because of the darkness of the room. I quickly reach under my bed, pulling the sword out and hiding it behind me as the figure turns to face me. I close my eyes, pretending to sleep as their footsteps slowly get louder to my ears.

When the footsteps stopped, I heard faint whispering, which I had to strain myself to hear. "I am sorry to do this, but you should not exist here." The figure said, though I was able to tell who it was from their voice. Hearing the sound of metal grinding against a scabbard, I use the moment to make my move. Grabbing my sword quickly, I deliver a slash, meeting a little resistance, likely indicating that the cut wasn't going to be too deep. "Gaah!" My attempted assassin's voice cried out in pain, causing Robin to wake up. The attacker jumped out the window, leaving us alone as Robin lit a candle.

"Tyson, what happened?" Robin asked, looking concerned while looking at the tip of my sword, some blood dripping off of it onto the floor.

"An attempt on my life." I say, cleaning my sword and putting it back under the bed. "We should tell Chrom about this in the morning, but for now, keep your guard up." I say, lying back down. "Good night Robin."

"Good night." Robin responds, her bronze sword gently clanged as it was slipped under her bed. She blew out the candle and I closed my eyes once more. Whatever reason you had Marth, know I will be getting answers the next time we meet, by force if I must.

A/N: Before anyone asks, yes I know I missed a few Shepherds. I just didn't have any ideas for some, and I had plans to introduce Sumia next chapter. Anyways, feedback is appreciated and I'll see you guys next time.