Sorry for the long wait. It took a while to figure out what to write, plus I was busy or tired.

Anyway, here are some more explanations on characters, as well as a look at what's to come.


Anyway, you probably won't have to worry about that stuff. I could have skipped it, but the storyteller in me needed to include it. If you want to focus on the lessons, just zone out during those parts.

Back to stuff that's relevant to you.

I got a little excited leading up to Aries, so I may have forgotten to talk about Sumia.

Sumia's a peach. She's clumsy, yeah, but just don't give her anything fragile. You'd have to try really hard to get on her bad side. I can't really think of anything to really warn you about her.

I suppose I could tell you that she really cares about animals. As long as you aren't a dick to animals, you'll be in her good books.

...Remember what I told you about exaggerated traits?


"Hello, little guy!" Sumia cooed, petting the small dog in the center of the marketplace.

Dog.

"Sumia, you're a Pegasus knight." Robin sighed. "We have to get supplies, not pick up stray animals."

Puppy.

"But he's adorable!" Sumia exclaimed, holding the dog in her arms. I promptly took the dog and cuddled him myself.

"Can we keep him, Dad?" I asked Robin.

"Ned, I don't even know what your training is, but you have to be better then this." Robin said. "And stop calling me Dad."

"Stop acting like one." I replied, passing the dog off to Sumia.

"Robin, can you say no to this face?" Sumia asked, as she held the pup up to Robin's face. The dog licked the scowling tactician.

"I can say no to your face." Robin said to me.

"What about her face?" I asked, nodding toward Sumia, who was doing her best puppy dog eyes. "She is objectively prettier than I am."

"You guys realize this dog probably belongs to someone, right?" Robin said, ignoring the adorable puppy.

"Really? Why would someone let their dog run loose?" I asked.

"No one. You just stole that dog from it's owner." Robin replied. Sure enough, I looked down to see a confused young boy looking up at me.

"Oh!" Sumia exclaimed, putting the dog down, who went over to his owner. "I'm sorry about that! You're dog is just so adorable!" She beamed.

The little boy looked at her with large eyes, before quickly running away, with the puppy trotted behind him.

"Great job, Shepherds. You scared a child." Robin said, deadpan. "Defenders of the Realm, indeed."

"Eh. He's just shy or something." I said passively.

"We were talking about stealing his dog…" Sumia mused. "We're also pretty heavily armed."

"All the more reason for him to be shy." I replied. "Now, let's go buy stuff!"

"Alright, but you guys better not get distracted by another animal." Robin snarked, leading us toward the marketplace. "This is the third time in the last hour this happened."

"Cat!"

"For Naga's sake…"


I'm not as obsessed with animals as that story would make you think! I'll have you know that, sometimes, I can walk past a dog without making direct eye contact and saying hello. I'm a badass, after all.

Back to Sumia. I know she came off as somewhat immature in this story, but she's actually pretty organized. If she marries Chrom, she really fits the bill of an effective queen.

Speaking of that, she and Chrom always have a pretty close relationship, regardless of if they get married or not. There's always some sort of chemistry there, and people tend to notice.

Next up we have Lon'qu. He's a grump if you're a guy, and completely terrified of you if you're a woman. I know this doesn't really apply to you, but, if you were a female that wanted to approach him, you should do so in the manner of approaching an easily scared deer.

I wouldn't say that we were friends, but we got along well enough. Our personalities didn't really match up, and I just kind of let him do his own thing.

However, as the team bard, I was roped into some attempts to prank him.

You could probably guess who was behind that.


"Ned!" Lissa exclaimed. I looked up from my poor attempts to stitch a tear in my cape I had gotten in the last battle (I'd wind up waiting till we recruited Cordelia to get her to stitch it up.) The princess was dragging Lon'qu, her newly dubbed bodyguard, reluctantly behind her.

"What can I do for you, my lady?" I asked, dramatically waving a needle at her. Lon'qu tensed up a little. At first I assumed it was because of the girl thing, but then I realized I was waving something that could be considered a dangerous weapon at royalty. Frederick had debriefed the swordsman when he was assigned the bodyguard position, so odds are he was drilled in some of the more pointless parts of the job.

Considering where their supports go, that sort of diligence would come in handy later.

"Well, I was talking to Lon'qu, and he was saying that nothing could phase him, which I don't believe. He's been tense the entire time he'd be guarding me, even more than Frederick was. Something must be off about him!"

"N-nothing is off." He slightly growled, teeth clenched and face slightly red.

Oh.

She doesn't know.

I had no reason to know Lon'qu's secret, so I addressed Lissa. "So why are you coming to me about this?"

"I was wondering of you could figure out what it was, maybe have a little fun with it as well!" She replied happily. "You always tend to know these things about people. Maybe you have a song or something that could throw him off?"

I looked between Lissa's smiling face and Lon'qu's grimacing one.

This was a bit of a moral dilemma.

On one hand, I could think of ten songs off the top of my head that would make Lon'qu incredibly uncomfortable. I particularly felt Sir Mix-A-Lot calling to me.

I strummed the first few chords on my lute. Lon'qu tensed up even more the he was before.

On the other hand, I wasn't sure I wanted to make an enemy out of Lon'qu. I also wasn't sure I wanted Lissa knowing this song.

All of that aside, it would just be mean.

I sighed, and looked up at the two.

"Just tell her, Lon'qu." I said.

"It's not her right to know." Lon'qu replied, glaring at me.

"Not my right not know what?" Lissa asked. "Come one, Nnd! You can tell me!"

"Sorry, Lissa." I apologized with a smile. "It's not my secret to tell."

Lissa puffed her cheeks. "That's no fun!" She complained.

"Lissa." I said, in a sincere tone that I didn't really use among the Shepherds."Don't push him on this. It's a big deal. I'm sure he'll tell you when he's comfortable enough."

Lissa's face softened from irritation to a gentle curiosity. "Will you?" She asked, looking up at Lon'qu.

The swordsman slightly blushed, looking away and saying nothing.

"...Alright!" Lissa exclaimed. " I have to go find some frogs for a secret project! Talk to you later!" She skipped out of the tent.

I turned my attention back to the cape, only to realize Lon'qu was still there.

"How do you know?" He asked.

"I'm in the business of knowing things." I replied, not looking up from my poor work. "Your secret's safe with me. I'm not going to charge you or anything for it. If anything, I'll try to make sure you're more comfortable."

Lon'qu remained silent.

"...This is the part where you thank me." I said.

"...Thanks."

I looked up. The swordsman was gone.

"Did I just get Batmaned?" I said to myself, before returning to my work.


While I did interact with the other Shepherds, I'll admit my best friend was Robin. It makes sense, since he can support with anybody.

I always found myself talking to him more than the others.


"You've noticed, right?" I asked Robin, as we walked away from the stables. We had just finished out supply run and were heading to the training area.

"Noticed what?" Robin asked.

"You know, Sumia and Chrom?" I elaborated. "The doe-eyed stares, the blushing greetings, the obnoxious amounts of pies? Everyone's talking about it." That was a bit of an elaboration. Some people were talking about it. Stahl mentioned something. Lissa as well, but she sort of shipped her brother with everybody.

"Oh. Yeah, of course I have." Robin replied. "I just don't really care the personal drama of the team, as long as it doesn't affect their fighting skills."

"Really?" I asked, skeptically. "If that's the case, why do you keep pairing them up with each other?"

"They work well with each other." Robin replied, glaring at me.

"Admit it: You just like playing matchmaker with all your units!" I said, poking Robin's arm. He groaned in annoyance.

"Why are you asking about it? Does it have to do with how you were flirting with Sumia earlier?" Robin asked defensively.

"I wasn't flirting with Sumia." I replied.

"Really?" Robin said. "I recall you saying something about her being 'objectively prettier than you,' or something along those lines."

"That was a fact, not flirting." I replied. "Unless you happen to think I'm prettier than Sumia. In which case, I'm flattered, but not interested."

"It's not just that. " Robin said. "Chrom's told me he was worried about Lissa's fascination with you. He thinks that you're a bit of a flirt. Not as obnoxious as Virion, but that's more concerning to him."

"I wouldn't worry about Lissa." I said, waving my hand. "I'm sure she'll get over that once she spends more time with some of the eligible bachelors in the army."

"I think Ned might be right about this." Said-


-Kellem! I forgot about Kellem! That tends to happen. I've been around the block so many times, yet I have no idea why this is. It's just a universal fact that he's forgettable.

Regardless of that, Kellem is fantastic! He's great.


"You're right about the bachelors, but you should remember that you're one of them." Robin commented.

I was about to correct him, but then I paused. The discussion of the concept of dating was one I didn't really want to get into with someone from a world where people seemed to get married after a few conversations. I could always say I was 'courting' my girlfriend, but I wanted to make sure I had a solid story for that one. I was slowly piecing together my backstory in my head, in order to make sure it sounded coherent as I slipped random pieces into conversations.

I suppose the pause was enough to get the point across, so I decided to misdirect him.

"Tell you what: let's make a bet." I said. "Kellem, you be our witness."

"What if I want a part in the bet?" Kellem asked.

"Do you want a part in the bet?" Robin asked.

"Not really." Kellem replied.

"What is this wager?" Robin asked.

"I bet you twenty gold that Lissa will be engaged by the end of the war." I said.

"Why would I take that bet?" Robin asked. "It's not unreasonable to think she'll be married by then. That bet is far too vague. She could even marry one of us."

"Fair enough." I said. "How about this: I bet that Lissa will wind up married to Lon'qu."

"Just Lon'qu?" Robin asked, surprised. "Are we talking about the same Lon'qu? Because the one I know is terrified of women."

"I could see it happening." I said. Popular ship or not, anyone with a trained eye could see the chemistry between them,

"And I win if she marries anyone else?" Robin asked, interested.

I could go either way on this. I would look much more ballsy if I kept the bet like this. However, Robin would have a greater chance of winning if I stood by this. On the other hand, if I had Robin pick someone specific, he would be able to make sure that they were scheduled to spend as much time together as possible. Lon'qu was already Lissa's bodyguard, so I wanted to keep that advantage.

"Sure." I replied. "I'm pretty confident about this."

"Even if it means you won't be able to flirt with Lissa anymore?" Robin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't flirt with people. I show off to everybody, not just women." I replied. "It's just fun. Do I come off as a flirt?"

"You do sometimes come off as a flirt." Kellem chimed in. "Not as bad as someone like Virion, but a flirt nonetheless."

"Huh." I said. I hadn't really noticed. That wasn't exactly what I was going for. If they thought I was bad, just wait till the meet Inigo."I'll try to work on that. So are you taking the deal or not?" I asked Robin, trying to change the subject.

Robin shrugged. "I'd be a fool not to. Might as well see how this goes."

We shook on it.


Robin's tent was a welcome escape from the unforgiving sun of the desert. I knew he was hard at work on our final assault on Gangrel, but some things couldn't wait.

The tactician looked up from his makeshift desk to meet my eyes. "Ned? Weren't you practicing with Olivia or whatever it is you two do together."

"I was, but Kellem just told me the most delightful news!" I exclaimed, dramatically extending my empty hand to Robin.

He looked at it for a few seconds, then groaned. "Seriously? You remembered?"

"Don't be mad at me! I'm not the one who just proposed to Lissa!" I exclaimed, before making a grabby motion with my extended hand.

Robin sighed, digging into the pockets of his jacket. "I thought for sure you were going to wind up with Lissa. If I'd known about Olivia back then-"

"And if I had known about Tharja, I'd have just extorted the money out of you as payment to not helping her seduce you." I countered. Robin grimaced, throwing an extra piece of gold into my hand. In my defense, he knew I was taken. He was just being an ass.

"Thank you." I said, pocketing the money. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go talk to Anna to see what sort of gift I can get for the happy couple." I felt kind of bad making bets based off of Lissa's love life, so hopefully this would clear my conscious.

"Give them my regards. I might be here awhile." He sighed, running a hand through his hair and looking back down at the map on his desk.

As I left the tent, I was tempted to re enter and console him, but I saw Chrom and Frederick heading toward the tent. They would be much more helpful then I would be, so I let them be.

Besides, tonight Olivia and I were performing for the camp. Given how nervous she was, I had suggested earlier that we get as much practice as possible beforehand.


Sorry for jumping ahead like that, but I wanted to tell you who won that bet, and that was the only way to do it. Let's just go back to the start of the Plegian War.


You'll notice that Ned's morals with romance are a bit...sketchy. Given the fact that this is technically a self insert story, I just want to clarify that this is leading somewhere and I'm not just a complete asshole.

Anyway, the next chapter will be a bit shorter, looking at Maribelle and Ricken's relationships with Ned.