Ylisstol, Ylisse – Ylisstol Castle

Chrom looked up as his sister sighed and tapped the side of his plate with his fork. He supposed she was hoping he would even eat some of the dish, but his mind had been wandering since he asked Robin do the next mission without him. He wanted her to be independent, but he also cared too much to just let her off the hook completely.

"Chrom, Frederick says you have a new officer in your department," Emmeryn said.

"Yeah… she's great. We've had a few missions, but everything's been fairly smooth. She's really competent and… yeah," Chrom said.

Emmeryn laughed and said, "Well that's good. It's good to have an extra pair of hands when it comes to your work."

"I guess. I mean, of course it's good. It's just that I'm-"

"-Nervous."

Chrom shook his head. He knew who probably talked to Emmeryn. So he asked, "Did Frederick tell you a lot about our new officer?"

"Just a few details," Emmeryn said smiling widely with a glint in her eye that knew way more than she would even tell.

"So you know?"

"That she's possibly Plegian? Yes. He didn't say much outside of that. I asked him to fill Phila on the details since I supposed it was going to be more important to her. Besides, you seem to trust her, and that's good enough for me."

"Nothing else?"

"There's nothing to be said unless you want there to be."

"I just was sure Lissa and Frederick would have told you everything."

"Lissa did tell me a little something. She said she's really pretty."

"What is that suppose to mean?"

"Nothing. I just know that she's pretty, and that she's working fairly close with you."

"We're coworkers."

"I never suggested else wise."

Emmeryn laughed again and ate another bite of her dish. She looked back at Chrom fidgeting and staring at his food.

"I haven't seen you this antsy since we were kids. She must be interesting to say the least."

"I'm not antsy."

"But she's interesting."

"She's an amnesiac with a knack for strategy. She was bound to be interesting."

"Maybe you can go on a trip with her."

"Em, be serious."

"I am serious. I know you're busy with SHPRD, but I need someone to go to Regna Ferox for some talks. I'd go myself, but I don't think they respond to my idea of diplomacy."

"I'm not going in and doing a bombing."

"No one is saying anything about fighting, but they respect the military. And you happen to be both the prince of this nation and the leader of a highly regarded military department. That kind of leadership goes a long way in Ferox."

"Then what do you want me to do?"

"We need some more support if we're going to be more assertive with Plegia. If we can have Ferox clearly supportive of Ylisse, I think Plegia might back down from any incidences along the border. Our only problem is that Ferox is having a presidential election at the moment."

"That's quite the problem."

Emmeryn smiled and pointed to Chrom with her fork.

"All the more reason for you and your tactician to come up with a solution for that problem," Emmeryn said.

Chrom flinched a bit. He wasn't six, and this teasing was a bit much. He was going to have a chat with Lissa after this dinner about the misinformation she was feeding their sister regarding his relationship with his tactical officer.

After his dinner, Chrom received a message from Cordelia that the Pegasus Knights would be escorting he and Robin to Ferox the next day. Emmeryn was moving fairly fast with her plan for Ferox. He muttered to himself about how he wasn't exactly feeling up to talking with either of the candidates. Not to mention, his experience with diplomacy was minimal. He depended on Emmeryn to play the part of diplomat. She was born to be exalt, not him. He sighed loudly and messaged Robin about their upcoming plans.

Chrom struggled with the tie. It didn't help that he felt like ties seemed like nooses. The whole ensemble made him uncomfortable. He didn't want to be in the suit any longer than he needed to be. Unfortunately, the flight to Regna Ferox would take an hour or so, followed up with an entire day of sitting in the suit. Even worse, he needed to wear his military medals- something he thought of as gaudy and a little too embarrassing, but he guessed for the sake of talks with Ferox, he needed to have some sort of backup to his military background claims.

Looking at his watch, Chrom sighed. He was waiting for Robin to arrive. Their plane was scheduled to leave soon. His feet tapped nervously. He couldn't really make it through meetings in Ferox without someone at his side, and Robin seemed like she would have a good head for this sort of thing. He checked his watch one last time before noticing some click clacking on the floor. He looked down the hall to notice a woman in a deep purple dress walking towards him. The closer she came to him; Chrom realized that the woman was Robin. He gazed at her up and down, noticing how the dress hugged tightly to her body. He didn't know why it didn't dawn on him before that Robin could be considered an incredibly beautiful woman.

"Chrom?" Robin said.

"Huh?"

Robin tilted her head and frowned.

"Is something wrong, Chrom?" Robin asked.

Chrom shook his head profusely and said, "No… Nothing. It's just that…"

"What?"

"You have… you are very… You look like a…"

"I look like a what?"

"You look like a … woman?"

"It's probably because I am a woman."

Red rose to Chrom's cheeks.

"It's just that… I mean… I've never seen you like this before. You're not exactly…" Chrom said.

"Not exactly what?" Robin said.

"Not exactly… er…"

"You're a dork. A complete dork. C'mon. I need to brief you about our meetings during our flight."

Chrom's shoulders slumped. He couldn't tell as he walked behind her, but Robin laughed. She didn't have any clue that her dress was going to turn Chrom's head the way it did. Then again, maybe this is what you get when you dress shop with Lissa and Maribelle, Robin thought. Robin felt uneasy the dress before but easily admitted to changing her mind when she saw how flustered Chrom got looking at her. She considered it payback seeming as she found it hard not to stare at Chrom in his suit. She assumed it must have been something about the uniform that Chrom wore. Luckily, she seemed way more skilled than Chrom at hiding her blushing face. She didn't want to imagine the kind of fleck she'd receive from Chrom if he had known that she was checking him out.

Robin put these thoughts away as she stepped into the small jet that she and Chrom were supposed to ride to Regna Ferox in. There was no time for daydreaming about her commander when she was about to meet with world leaders… well not before she snuck one more peek.