Chapter III
In the morning the Shepherds, under Chrom and Vivianne's lead, marched into Regna Ferox. Having passed a few fields where they have been attacked by the Risen but thankfully, no one was hurt and more of the Shepherds joined them during the battles while Vivianne was complimented for her skills from left and right and the Shepherds seemed to be even more interested in her which made her feel flustered but she enjoyed being trusted.
In the evening they set out the camp Vivianne watched the other Shepherd train and prepare for the journey through Regna Ferox's harsh climate as she sat by a table with a detailed map showing Regna Ferox and its border to Ylisse and played with two pawns she used to mark as either the Shepherds or the enemy's army. She then heard feet moving behind her and turned her head to look over her shoulder. Chrom had been greeting the other Shepherds and moved towards her.
"Finished training for today, Vivianne?"
"With combat practicing, yes. But I thought I might practice my skills a little bit." She answered as Chrom stepped next to her and sat down on the stool which was standing by the table.
"You just joined us and yet you do twice the work the others do. You should relax a bit, put your feet up. Experienced soldiers rest when they can. On a campaign like this, you never know when the next battle might break out." Chrom leaned his elbow on the wooden table and propped his head up with his hand as he watched Vivianne who smiled wryly as she placed a few pawns across the map.
"Heh, so I've noticed. With all that's happened recently, we've barely had time to even eat."
"It's been a tough road, to be sure. And it's only going to get harder, especially because we're going to enter the Feroxi territory."
"I do try and rest when I can, though." Vivianne smiled a sly smile with closed eyes. "A lady needs her beauty sleep, after all."
As she heard no response from Chrom she raised her head to look at Chrom who looked taken aback and had a nervous smile on his lips.
"...What?" She asked, looking annoyed. "Did I say something?"
"Er, no... No, it's nothing. It's just that... Well, I just didn't consider you the type to care after beauty and such... I suppose I've never really thought of you as a lady." Chrom scratched his cheek and stole a nervous glance towards Vivianne who looked angrily at him.
"What do you mean by that?!" Her sight grew acidly cold and Chrom looked even more nervous talking to her.
"No! I mean... I didn't mean... not like that! That is to say, a lady, per se... Uhm... You know, how you fight and strategize... Not to say a lady can't fight, but... Gods, this is coming out all wrong." Chrom cupped his mouth with his hand and stuttered, stealing nervous glances to Vivianne who had squeezed the pawns in her hand so much they were destroyed and looked with squinted eyes.
"My goodness, Chrom. You're the scion of a noble family, aren't you? Didn't they teach you manners at your fancy schools growing up?" Vivianne somehow enjoyed him sweating and played being cold, smiling at him with closed eyes.
"Oh, gods, yes. Of course they did. We spent a whole term on etiquette."
Vivianne could only imagine that term being extremely boring as she did not understand what was so great on formal etiquette expect looking plush but continued jokingly bullying Chrom.
"Perhaps you could use another term, this time on how to talk with a lady."
"It's just my image of a lady is someone so prim and proper... perfumed and very pretty... Nothing like you at all!" For some reason it felt like someone struck an arrow through her heart when he said she doesn't looked pretty but Vivianne tried not to show. "When I look at you, I just don't see a lady! Does that..."
Tired of Chrom's stupid explanations and still quite hurt that he doesn't see her as a pretty woman, Vivianne let her gaze wander and found a small rock on the ground. She leaned forwards to grab it and looked with eyes akin to a predator at him.
"Er, Vivianne? What are you doing with that rock?"
"I'm thinking a sharp blow to the head might help fix your eyesight."
"N-no! Wait! It was just a joke! Ha ha...ha?" He looked extremely distraught when Vivianne got ready to throw the rock and jumped onto his feet. "Gotta go!"
He disappeared out of her sight before she even knew it and Vivianne sighed as she let the rock fall back to the ground.
"I don't believe it. The little craven actually ran away! What kind of manners... Sheesh... Oh, well." She shrugged and turned her attention back to the tactical map. "Perhaps it's only fair. It's not like I think of him a gentleman, yet alone a fancy noble."
She shrugged and continued to work on her tactical skills.
The next day they reached the outskirts of Regna Ferox, the landscape grew more snowy and the wind cold so Vivianne rubbed her hands together to keep her fingers warm. It felt like she walked into a snowy place for the first time and the striking white color of the cotton-like substance made her squint her eyes as it blinded her. Lissa next to her was hugging her body and rubbed her upper arms.
"Brr. F-F-Frebberick! I'm f-f-f-reebing!"
"Stand beside my horse, Milady. She'll shelter you from the wind." Frederick said and Lissa rushed next to the horse, as Frederick has suggested, but continued freezing. Vivianne felt pity for her and took off her coat to put it around Lissa's shoulders who looked surprised up to her.
"A-Aren't you cold, Vivianne?"
"No, only my hands. Besides, I wouldn't want you to catch a cold." She answered with a smile, pressing her tome to her chest, and walked up to Chrom who was trembling because of the cold but tried not to show it. From behind, she could hear Lissa shout a thank you.
Soon a wall appeared in front of it with a huge gate in the middle. On the sides were staircases leading to the top of the wall, the path closed by doors.
"So this is the fortress?" Vivianne asked Chrom who nodded.
"Yes, the Longfort. It stretches along the border of Ylisse and Regna Ferox."
"The khans that rule Ferox have grown quite wary of foreigners. Still, don't mistake a lack of hospitality for hostility. This simply calls for a bit of diplomacy." Frederick added from behind.
"Negotiation is not my strong suit, but I'll do my best." He turned around to the rest of the Shepherds. "Remember, everyone: your actions here reflect back upon Ylisse."
They finally reached the longfort and stopped, Vivianne looked up to the huge construct and concentrated on her senses which told her that there were some archers up there, still hidden from sight.
Vivianne then turned to Chrom and told him what to do when a voice boomed above them and when the tactician looked up she noticed a figure leaning over the fortress' walls to look at them.
"Halt! Who goes there?!"
"In the name of House Ylisse, I seek audience with the khans!" Chrom shouted, but no matter what he or Frederick said, the woman simply did not listen and attacked them.
The archers shot arrows at Chrom who was saved by Sumia riding on a Pegasus in the last minute and Vivianne once again felt envy when she saw Chrom sitting on the Pegasus behind Sumia but ignored it, focusing on her task to conjure a strategy for victory.
The Shepherd had not enough space to fight back and so Vivianne wondered how to make it more possible for a person to fight safely.
"Hmm..."
"What is it, Vivianne?" Chrom asked when he approached her and she looked over to him.
"I've been thinking about how you rode with Sumia earlier... Do our units always have to fight one-on-one?"
"Are you suggesting we pair up? What an interesting thought. I admit, I'd resemble a pincushion right now if it weren't for Sumia." Chrom rubbed his chin, the two of them were standing in a quiet spot where enemies weren't reaching them and they watched the others fight.
"Exactly. By pairing up, units could lend each other added offense and defense. It might also allow quicker soldiers to help slower units." She answered with an excited glint in her eyes. "This opens up all sorts of strategic possibilities! Our army should try it out whenever the opportunity presents itself."
"That's a very good idea." Chrom nodded and turned to the other units, telling them to pair up when there was an opportunity before his gaze went back to Vivianne. "Let's do this, Vivianne."
"Yes." Vivianne beamed at him and the two of them worked as a pair together through the enemy lines.
Vivianne had no idea how she did that, but for her it felt like she was flying through the enemy lines. Her body moved on its own and she struck down one enemy after another with her magic and sword. Her moving like a whirlwind across the battlefield clearly confused their opponents and she eventually reached Chrom and both of them proceeded to fight side-by-side.
With the great advantage of fighting as a pair, the two of them reached Raimi and Chrom eventually defeated her. After the battle, Chrom wanted to help the soldier up but she already went up on her feet.
"A thousand apologies, Prince Chrom. I truly took you for brigand impostors. But no frauds could ever wage a battle as you just have! I will send a word of your arrival to the capital and escort you there personally." Raimi said, bowing deeply and a relieved expression appeared on Chrom's lips.
"That would be most appreciated, thank you."
Raimi then bowed again and walked off, watched by Vivianne who had a perplexed expression on her face.
"Wow. Her whole demeanor changed."
"In Ferox, strength speaks louder than words. I should have known better than overestimate the value of diplomacy here..." Chrom sighed heavily when Lissa urged him to go on and so they left towards the capital.
The roads grew trickier the longer they walked, Vivianne once almost slipped as she was deep in thoughts about the Feroxi but Chrom caught her in time and told her she could grab onto him when she needed help walking over the icy parts of the road though Vivianne declined as she felt too embarrassed to do it.
Finally, they reached the capital of Regna Ferox and unlike Ylisseans, some people of Regna Ferox had quite hard expression and looked ready for a fight.
Raimi led them into the castle which resembled more a prison than a real castle and into the throne room. It was not as impressive as the one in Ylisse's palace and more simple but Vivianne was still surprised she actually got to talk to nobles like that, even when it was for diplomatic issues.
"Tha khan is away?" She asked as she let her eyes wander across the room, she would have expected the leader of such a country being in the throne room but there was no one.
"Out for training, I guess. For the khans, battle is their politics."
"The khan, huh? I guess it's a man bulky with muscles and a hairy chest..." Vivianne muttered as she imagined one when suddenly a voice from behind told her to go on with talking and she looked around only to see a woman with light brown skin and blonde hair approaching them. She introduced herself as Flavia, the East-Khan, and further told them she was willing to send out troops but couldn't until she wins against the West-Khan in a tournament. Chrom agreed on lending her their powers for the tournament and so they walked over to the arena. There was still some time until the tournament took place but Vivianne wanted to take a look at the arena to see whether her tactics would accommodate to the surroundings.
It was quite a wide field for battle and the spectator stands were high above them, probably so they could always get a proper look at the fighting.
"Of course there are no hindrances, it would handicap some fighters though I read some arenas have some to make the fighting more exciting. Of course there could be a hidden mechanism which could make hindrances come from a hidden spot in the ground..." She whispered as her eyes scanned the ground for small hints showing hidden gimmicks.
"Vivianne?"
Hearing Chrom saying her name behind her, she turned around and looked at him as he approached her with a guilty smile.
"What's wrong, Chrom?"
"I- I wanted to apologize for yesterday. You know, when I said you're not a lady. I guess I just thought of you as a guy by the way you fight and strategize and failed to look beyond that." He bowed with a serious expression. "I'm really sorry. I hope you forgive me."
Seeing him like that almost made Vivianne laugh but as it would have been rude to do so she bit on her lower lip to calm herself before answering.
"There's nothing to apologize, Chrom. I understood what you meant." She said and Chrom raised his head again. "Besides, I don't really think of you as a gentleman or a fancy noble so I guess we're even."
"That's harsh, Vivianne!" Chrom pouted but then the two of them broke out laughing, holding their stomachs. Together they returned to the hall which held the entrance to the arena and outside into the cold weather. Chrom led her to a hill next to to the castle on which they could see almost all of the town.
"I think... it's the first time I see snow. I know I have amnesia, but I have the feeling that this is the first time." She said and stretched out her hand to catch a snowflake which immediately melted in her hand.
"Hm, so you don't know this?" Chrom asked and when Vivianne turned to look at him she got a snowball right in her face. As the snow fell to the ground she made an annoyed expression but quickly crouched down and molded some snow into a ball in her hands but Chrom took to his heels but she followed him with greater speed and revenged herself by jumping on his back and burying his face in the snow but he slipped and fell, his arms quickly wrapping around Vivianne as they tumbled down the snowy hill to protect her and then stopped at the foot of the hill. Vivianne giggled in glee – even though she was partially covered in snow – until she realized she was lying on top of Chrom, with his arms still around her and her face grew bright red.
"Ooh, sorry!" She wriggled out of his arms and jumped on her feet but Chrom only laughed as he sat up and looked at her.
"You're not hurt, are you?"
"N-no. The snow has cushioned the fall..." She then added very quietly; "...and you..."
"That's good. Now let us return before Frederick the Wary comes to get us." Chrom laughed and walked ahead so Vivianne followed him, her cheeks growing hot when she looked at his arms and remembered the feeling of his arms around her. He has such strong and muscular arms yet he held her with such gentleness which made her heart beat faster.
"You have some snow here." He said and reached out his hand to wipe some snow from her head and Vivianne put her hands on her head and blushed.
"Hey, Vivianne?"
"Yes?"
"Do you mind if I call you Vivi?"
"Nope, not at all."
Not long later the tournament has finally begun and once they descended the stairs to the arena Vivianne's eyes caught a head of blue among the opponents. She rushed over to Chrom and tugged on his cape.
"Chrom, look!"
"I see him. I guess we're against Marth this time." Chrom muttered and put his hand on Falchion when they walked to the spot where they should begin the battle and both Chrom and Vivianne faced Marth whose expression was as always unreadable because of her mask and felt a hand on her shoulder. Chrom leaned over and whispered to her that he was going to challenge Marth while she and the others should focus on the other opponents. Vivianne nodded in response and made a sign to their allies before the fighting started.
He drew Falchion and held it right before him as Marth also drew Falchion which made Chrom hold his breath in shock.
"How did you get it?!" He shouted. "But... there's no way..." He jumped into the air and did his signature move as he attacked Marth but the latter quickly parried the blow and readied to attack them.
"Who taught you to fight?"
"My father!" Marth shouted as the two of them pounced at each other and started to exchange blows. Vivianne, on the other hand, teared her eyes away and took out her tome and sword
Vivianne took out her tome and sword and charged towards the first enemy close to her and, with some back and forth, defeated him. They continued to fight and Vivianne was actually surprised how strong they were but Miriel has told her right before the fight that Feroxi warriors tend to be more powerful than normal humans and as such found this challenge quite interesting.
"Gah!" Hearing Chrom's pained scream, Vivianne raised her head to search among her fighting allies for the prince and found him kneeling on one leg, holding onto Falchion whose blade was stuck in the ground. Marth was standing right before him, not even looking tired and held the Parallel Falchion in her hands.
Even though Chrom had told her not to interfere in his battle with Marth, she couldn't help herself as she started to run over to him. She just couldn't leave him alone in this state and the thought of him getting hurt was paining her.
"It's over!" Just as Marth raised the sword to strike down Chrom, Vivianne jumped between them and parried it with her own sword though the impact made her feel like her arm was going to break.
"Not as long as I'm here."
"Vivi!" Chrom shouted as she stumbled backwards and was about to get up but Vivianne stopped him with a sign of her hand and put away her sword. She knew that she had no chance with her sword against Marth as she was not a great swordsman and so grabbed her tome Orion.
She could see Marth hesitating but when she attacked her, Vivianne unleashed Thoron on her and easily defeated Marth who fell to the ground, Falchion falling out of her hand.
As soon as she saw Marth on the floor the tension left Vivianne's body and she looked down at her hand. Though the fight seemed to be easy at first, it was actually quite difficult as the Feroxi were quite the impressive warriors.
"We have to grow stronger otherwise it wouldn't be so easy for us in the future." She put Orion back into the inner pocket of her tome. When she looked at Chrom she noticed that he was beaming, even though he was injured.
"W-wha...?"
"We did it, Vivi! We did it! We won!" He excited like a little boy and it made Vivianne sigh.
"Except that you need to fight more carefully. You almost lost to Marth!"
"This is why we are such a great team! Your magic and my sword are quite powerful together." He grabbed her hand which surprised her. "But thank you for protecting me there. But let's not discuss about it now, look! They are celebrating us! We're the champions!"
He thrusted Vivianne's hand alongside his up in the air and the cheering grew only louder which made Vivianne grow bashful as she still did not know how to cope with so much attention on her.
Afterwards the commotion died down quite quickly and the West-Khan Basilio approached them with a present which turned out to be a man named Lon'qu and Vivianne had to stifle a giggle when she saw how he reacted around Lissa.
"By the way, how did you get to have Marth as your contestant?" Chrom asked Basilio after a while and the man looked surprised at him but then laughed.
"I dunno. One day he appeared and defeated our former champion. Quite the mysterious lad, that Marth!"
Vivianne watched them converse and noticed a head of blue from the corners of her eyes and decided to follow Marth as she had some questions for her but couldn't ask him the last time and this time if she misses her.
She dashed towards the figure and stopped when she was close enough, following her.
"Are you leaving already?"
Marth jumped and twirled around, presumably to see who it was, and Vivianne could see her face growing pale.
"Uhm... I..." She seemed to be searching for words and Vivianne chuckled.
"No need to be so shy. I have a few questions and was hoping you could answer them." She said but noticed that Marth seemed to hesitate to talk to her and was ceasing to look at Vivianne's face.
"I will try."
"Marth is not your real name, right? I doubt a mother or father would name their daughter after a man. Could you tell me your true name?"
"I... I would rather not answer that. But how do you know I'm a woman?"
"You're too graceful for a man, your voice is higher though you try to hide it by lowering it but it's still quite high. And your body and the part of the face I see is too feminine." Vivianne replied and saw Marth smiling faintly. She also thought to heard her say "Observant as ever" but it could have been her imagination.
"Then let me ask another question; I heard from Chrom that you came from some kind of portal. What was it?"
"You could see it as a kind of... door." Marth shook her head. "I'm sorry, Milady but I cannot answer any more of your questions as it would be too dangerous. I wish you a good day."
Marth turned on her heel and rushed away from Vivianne who was about to stop her until she heard Chrom calling out to her and turned around to look at him.
"There you are. I was wondering where you have run off to." He said as he reached her and Vivianne showed him a wry smile.
"I just hoped to ask Marth a few questions but the answers I received were only more confusing."
"You talked with Marth?"
"Yes but it was futile."
She told him what Marth has said and Chrom had no answer to that so they decided to return to the others and then proceed to Ylisstol to report to Emmeryn.
However, the way back did not seem to be as easy as it seemed as they were attacked by a horde of Risen and Chrom also almost lost his head accidentally peeking on Vivianne who had been bathing and though he swore he hadn't seen anything, Vivianne caught him glancing at her body from time to time but decided to let it slip as it was truly only an accident though it somehow amused her seeing Chrom being that flustered.
