Kjelle sat up in the bed and room that the interim Duke of Themis, the emotional Brady, had set up for them. She heard her joints pop at doing so, and felt more refreshed than she's ever felt. Sleeping on an actual bed as opposed to a camp mat had been… Interesting to say the least for her, more comfortable yet there was a linger feeling in the back of her mind like she shouldn't feel such comfort so far away from home.

She turned her head out of habit to check over the others. She was technically always the first to rise and made sure that everyone was accounted for here. Cynthia was now snoring softly, spread out over her bed almost to the point of falling off. Severa was breathing softly while wrapped up in her own blankets, and Noire was mumbling to herself while she slept.

She expected Lucina not to be in her bed as usual, the Princess always seeming to prefer a solitary sleeping arrangement than anything else, or simply would not be in her bed in the first place. It was to Kjelle's complete surprise to see Lucina actually in her bed, though not sleeping in a conventional sense. She leaned against the wall where the bed was, shoulders wrapped with the cloth sheet with her iron blade still resting in besides her, undrawn but still ready to be so. In front of her of her was a worn book, Lucina was well known to having taken up reading in the castle' library normally well into the night instead of sleeping in her quarters.

Her eyes were open slightly, yet the soft breathing from the girl was enough for Kjelle to tell if she was asleep. The spine being cracked open while still on her lap told Kjelle that Lucina had fallen asleep while reading it seemed.

She sleeps with her eyes open? Kjelle thought with a look of surprise. Then the half-opened eyes widened fully as Lucina stirred, her hands first grabbing her blade before she threw off her sheets. Kjelle stared as she that Lucina hadn't changed out of her travelling clothes.

"Oh, you're awake as well," Lucina stated when their eyes met. Kjelle stared with confusion before Lucina moved to tie the blade to her hip.

"Do you ever take the blade off?" Kjelle winced as she stepped off her bed. "Or even change?"

"No." Lucina stripped off her outerwear to reveal the bandages of her injuries sustained almost three weeks ago. Her hands went to peel off the bandages to reveal how far the cuts and burns have healed and the more recent injuries as well. It seemed that the priest's work did wonders for her.

To think Brady became a priest… Kjelle thought as she remembered seeing their noble friend stand at the gates to Castle Themis. He looked shock as Lucina stood before him, bloodied from her previously inflicted wounds before she collapsed from the blood loss.

The people of Castle Themis moved quick to treat her, shocked at the multitude of injuries that the Princess had suffered. Lacerations, abrasions, arrow wounds, burns, it was a miracle that the Princess could still be alive, let alone fight like a demon. And yet throughout all the treatments, the healing chants, she had never let go of the swords in her hands.

Lucina now padded back down the bandages across her body, a strange sense of familiarity at the feeling of them on her skin. They were almost like they own layer of clothes, a sort of underwear, but was also protective. A strange image came to her head, some sort of chain mail… "Mesh", though it was more comparable to some sort of skimpy brassier.

Pulling on a blue tunic and a less tattered cloak, Lucina actually seemed to look like an actual Princess now. The only things marring the image was her unkempt rough looking hair, and her constant scowl and narrowed eyes. Also, the two swords which rested on her waist, but there would be no way to separate the girl from the swords.

A knock on the door was heard as the other girls began to wake up now. A maid poked her head in when Kjelle said "enter". She looked shocked to see the two girls up, but quickly curtsied to the two of them.

"Miladies, breakfast is ready." Lucina nodded, and the maid left as Cynthia, Noire, and Severa began to awake. Lucina noticed that Severa also slept with a sword, though it hugged tightly by her under the covers, it reminded Lucina of a child clutching a teddy bear… Or something else.

Lucina grimaced as the image in her head was blurry. Something with a dark skinned child, malnourished, in some sort of grass structure. That hollow feeling returned, that damnable feeling that she loathed, before she shook her head.

"Where are you doing?" Kjelle asked.

"Out."

"Not to breakfast?"

"No." One-word answers, Lucina knew they were rude, though not to the extent most others would find it, however those were all she could manage right now. If she spoke more words, she knew there'd be some sort of biting edge to them.

Castle Themis was in abundant activity. Constant movements of troops along the wall, civilians were crowded around the castle's center, there was an air of unease. Lucina minded the tension but kept to herself enough that it seemed she easily made her way past all without them batting an eye.

She found an isolated part of the castle's wall, overlooking farm plains. Carts and Ylisseans were moving along the road to the castle, and she found herself watching them with distant eyes. Her mind went back to the night in Castle Rutermark.

She wasn't entirely honest to either Noire or anyone else when she said simply went to scout the area. She went out to scout back the area, but as well as kill Risen whenever she found. Her blades at something called a… Grapple hook, she made out of strange amalgamation of three meat hooks forged so their bases were one large mass of metal. A strong piece of rope looped over the handles like a noose, and suddenly she found herself moving through the city easier than any rogue or assassin.

It was exhilarating to her. The freedom, the thrill, the hunting of Risen, unawares of her attacks of their kind, it fueled her to do more and more, until her sword was soaked in their bloody gore and their purple miasma stained the very clothes she wore. It was all fun, as close to fun as she had felt into a long time before…

Two bodies, lay resting close together in an isolated alleyway after Lucina's blade had cleaved the head of a risen that stood in front of it. The bodies themselves weren't risen, but they were already beginning to deteriorate. Flies buzzing around them, while the wounds they had festered with maggots. One had arrows pinged into their abdomen, while another had a large gash that now looked as if it cleft their body in two.

Their features, wizened and dried as they were, were still able to recognize by Lucina. Long black ebon tresses and exotically beautiful features. High cheekbones, a small nose, tear tracks running down her face. The other, long flaxen hair that cascaded down his front. His hand gripping the other's in a tight grip as his lips pressed to their temple. Both their eyes closed, but Lucina knew them. She knew them very closely. And she ran. She stopped then and there, rushing back towards the orphanage of Fort Rutermark, limbs oddly heavy and that intimate hollowness that came from back when she saw the Pegasus Magnolia come flying out and over the walls of castle Ylisse, it came back and seemed deeper than before. Hungrier, though she beat it back this time, like she did last time, and the time after that, she did not know when it would come back, nor would she able to rebuke it as easily as she did like she had done prior.

That hollowness grew, and it was abated when she returned back to the orphanage, now however… As she returned back to her people to the populated Castle Themis and its fief, to her citizens as the Princess of Ylisse, she felt dirtied. There was conflict within her. She knew that feeling such joy at senseless slaughter was wrong, yet another part of her said that feeling such slaughter, especially now where it seemed an apocalypse had been awakened on Ylisse, doesn't matter. That nothing matters, and that nothing will matter. And a third, an ever-present part which lounged in the darkest and most hated parts of her mind whispered constantly.

You're a useless full, who can never amount to anything. Anything you can do, anyone else can do. There's nothing for you here! You are nothing! NOTHING!

Kill them, or not. Render the flesh from them, seeing their innards spill out. What makes them tick? How much of their flesh can be taken off before they can no longer move? What makes them tick!?

What you're doing is wrong. You shouldn't do this. They were once people, they don't deserve this. They were your people! Your father would have protected them! What are you doing? A killer, that is what you are! A useless killer!

A presence was felt by Lucina in her internal torment, and she whipped to a standing in a flurry of movement which someone as injured as she was should be able to do, pulling her blade out as she stared at the figure which held their hands up. Eyes narrowed stared back at eyes widened. The eyes that were narrowed widened with shock as she that her blade had stopped short of impaling itself into the throat of a young girl with fear filled green eyes and fiery orange hair in braids.

"Ah! Please don't kill Annie! Annie did nothing wrong!" The girl cried in a strange accent. A thought went into Lucina's mind, something like… Strange clothes and even stranger men squatting in something called "track suits"? Lucina quickly shoved her blade back into her scabbard, to which the girl, Annie, let out a breath of relief before facing the sour expression of Lucina.

"What are you doing?"

"A-Annie w-was told to fetch the Princess Lucina!" the girl responded. "Annie was wondering if you knew what Princess Lucina looked like?" Lucina's eyebrow raised as she stared back at Annie. She saw that the girl wore cotte, stitched together by several different clothes. "What? Did Annie say something strange?"

"Mmm." Lucina's low hum of a response confused the girl even more before Lucina walked passed her.

"Wait! Tell Annie what "mmm" means Miss Jumpy!" The girl dogged after Lucina as she briskly kept her pace ahead of the younger girl. A rare sense of youth mirth came upon Lucina's mind now, an odd sense that she had long faked when she was younger. "Ah! Miss, where are you going? Annie wants to know!"

Lucina did not respond, but instead kept moving in away which seemed to defy all manners of natural mores. She scaled up a tower, before swinging in to a room via window, leapt off a rampart only to fall gracefully into a hay bale, only to then walk through the keep's kitchens while they were still cooking.

When she walked through the castle before, it was always kept in a low anonymity with everyone's eyes skating over her, now she was walking to everyone's full attention with a braided red headed girl with a strange accent following her like a lost out of breath puppy.

Breakfast had long since passed, and the castle was now a buzz of internal activity. Even the guests of Castle Themis were active, though most had yet to see their Princess this morning.

"Brady where is the castle's li… Brar… Ry?" Laurent's voice trailed off before stopping to halt to stare in bewilderment. There junior lord of Castle Themis turned to see why Laurent had grown quiet only to likewise have a slack jawed expression as Lucina passed by them, walking on her hands. A redheaded girl in braids running after her to no avail.

"W-Wait! Annie… Annie cannot keep up anymore…" The girl collapsed forward with a huff, breathing hard as Lucina turned on her palm to look at her with a raised eye. The barest hint of a smirk on her lips as walked back to look at Annie. "Y-You win! Y-You have bested Annie!" A weird sort of stuttering breathing was heard from Lucina's direction, a sort of "mmm mmm mmm" as she still stood upon her hands.

"Princess Lucina!" The girl turned after flipping onto her feet to see that bannerman of other lords whom found refuge in Castle Themis approach them. "We have been looking everywhere for you!" She stares at them in an unimpressed state before Annie looked up to see Lucina leap above the men trying to behest her and sprint away. The men let out undignified groans before giving chase to the newly named Princess in Annie's mind, however she latched onto one fact.

"A-Annie found Princess Lucina!" The girl deliriously proclaimed before collapsing as Cythia and Noire turned the corner.

"Rats, we missed it!"

"W-What did we miss?"

"I heard it! I heard Luci's laughter!" Cynthia gushed. Noire only looked concerned before nervously laughing herself, wondering if Lucina laughing seemed so odd seeing as how natural she did it when she was younger.

"They shall never catch us!"

"Princess Lucina!"

"Wait! You must have an escort constantly around you!"

"My Shepherds are all I need!"

"Princess Lucina!"

-1-

The sound of a lance piercing through the air and short tempered exhales was the only noise that Kjelle made as she stood in the practice grounds. Around her, soldiers whom were not patrolling near the fief or walking atop the battlements, were likewise in the midst of their own training.

If one were to compare however, the regiment Kjelle had set out for herself far exceeded the parameters which the castle garrison themselves were put under. Weights tied around her shoulder, numbering three stones, for each shoulder made her push harder and harder with every thrust of her lance, which itself was less a lance and more like a long shaft of dense metal, holding it out alone made her muscles cry out in pain.

"Hrah!" Another hard thrust of her lance before Kjelle with it drew back to prop against her shoulder as she took the weights off. Rolling her now stiff shoulders, she took a gander to the other side of the practice grounds, where she last saw Severa and Cynthia.

Mentally though, she scoffed at not seeing Yarne, Brady, or Laurent anywhere near the practice grounds. While Laurent and Brady had no real reason to be in the grounds other than perhaps fitness with the other young garrison soldiers, Yarne should have been amongst the others. Kjelle knew he did exercises every morning, but when she demanded he come to the grounds he made a startled scream of "but there are weapons there!" and bolted away.

Now she, Cynthia, and Severa were the girls whom spent their time in the main practice field. Noire had gone to check on the other children, and at that point, Kjelle felt too uncaring after Yarne to get to the other girl to at least practice firing her bow while under duress. Lucina had been accosted once more by the gathering of Lords of Ylisse to talk on how to regain their lands from Plegia.

They had been here for a fortnight now, and still discussions, strategize, and plans had been made no action actually taken to fight for their land. It was both frustrating and demoralizing to Kjelle, however at least her frustration was put into her training in the event that when they do act, she will not be left behind. Not again.

Cynthia road atop of Mangolia, lance in hand and eyes narrowed as she saw the small target. Cavalry on land, the Ylisse Knight, is all about preceision and smashing through the enemy. A spear which can pierce any form of defensive tactics by pure might and momentum. Pegasusu knights had the added benefit of coming in from the sky, striking from unanticipated angles, and Ylisse' corp of Pegasus Knights were exemplary. What they lacked in pure ferocity and devastation like Wyvern riders of Valm and Plegia, the Pegasus Knights made up for in precision and speed.

Something Cynthia wanted to temper, like her mother had done.

Plink! Cynthia released the lance in her hand before urging Magnolia skyward once more. She casted a glance behind her to glimpse the lance had penetrated deep into the armored target. She had successfully maneuvered her tip over and past the shield, into the upper gaps of her target's neck. She let out a whoop before she pulled a javelin from her saddle bag and began to dive down once again.

She threw five, hitting key areas on the mannequin beforehand scrambled to unlatch the secondary lance that was tied t Magnolia before it too penetrated the target's guard. Deftly, her hand grasped the lance which she lodged previously and yanked it out before readying it once more. The process was repeated for Cynthia, over and over again, until she could almost instinctively know where to hold the couched lance to deliver maximum impact and damage. To break through the enemy, and those behind them.

The final child of the capitol refugee caravan, and the youngest one, now held a sword much larger than herself in two hands. There had been many attempts at trying to advise Severa that starting with a smaller sword being best, but she turned her nose upwards and kept on using blades that were larger than her.

She held the large practice blade in her two hands, struggling always when holding it, but her handling was better despite her large obstacles. Though it was quite the humorous sight to the garrison, seeing a girl no older than thirteen wield a blade much larger than her. That humor quickly dissipated when she challenged one to a spar and quickly dispatched him.

The blade, though heavy for her, in her hands made it feel like a Warhammer against their guards. The man she had challenged, a twenty three year old career garrison soldier, barely held his arms up before his practice blade was knocked out of his hands and he was sent careening to the side after a strike to his side.

After that, no one made anymore funny jokes or comments towards the girl's choice of weapon size. Now she was easily swinging her large practice blade against the armored mannequin in almost a natural rhythem. Every strike brought back into a natural guard before it struck out once again, a low and thundering thud against the leather and iron padded mannequin. An overhead strike became a plow guard, a sweeping strike became a tall guard. A jab brought the blade back into a longpoint guard.

Annie stared with wide eyes at the girls. She marveled at them all, wondering how such women, at the youngest on year older than her and at the oldest four, could be so accomplished. It was like watching her father when he went out to practice while she and mother would man the cart.

"Why don't you join them?" A low voice came from Annie's side, making her scream initially. She turned to see the fourth girl from their group, Noire, look at her apologetically, flinching initially at her spike in volume.

"M-Me? Annie joining them? No, no, no! Papa said fighting should be left to those stronger!"

"What if you're one of the stronger?" Noire supplied gently. Annie stared with wide eyes before Noire smiled gently, hands tentatively grabbing the other girl's. "Kjelle can help, she'll teach you the basics at the very least." Annie only followed silently behind Noire, though her entire body was shaking with excitement.

Papa had promised to teach her after he and Mama came from the campaign against Valm. But… Then they never came bac. She was at Castle Themis because her family was friends with the Lady and Lord of Castle Themis, Lady Maribelle and Lord Vaike. She had merely stayed amongst the staff of Castle Themis, helping with delivering messages throughout the castle, aiding the castle staff with the odd task, and also dispatching secret documents to the other castle lords since she herself couldn't read.

It seemed with the arrival of Princess Lucina caravan, it was surreal to know that the girl whom walked on her hands and dressed almost like a ruffian was the Princess, did her activities change. Now she was pushed out of the room for being a commoner, and many of discussions were always about the Princess.

Said Princess however was nothing like she expected. She thought she would be as snobbish and proper like the other ladies that were here, but Lucina was as rough and brash as Annie's own father. Always dressed in her weird mishmash of armors and clothing, not the fine cloth of the aristocracy. And though many said that the Princess was standoffish, Annie found the older girl exciting to be around.

Watching Lucina with her sword was like watching a live performance of dancers or tumblers, the way she seemed to walk on air as she held her blades. And when Princess Lucina wasn't practicing with her sword, Annie found out within the fortnight that she and refugees stayed her, that the Princess was a voracious reader, almost like the other boy her age Laurent.

Though while Laurent read books involving facts, historical documents, or books involving weird confusing things that made most other's heads hurt, Princess Lucina read stories of old, fables, and stories of wonderful delight and fiction. It was almost a shocking revelation to the entire castle if anyone aside from the children who gathered around her believe it to be. Most people scoffed at the idea of a Princess, well most of the adults, read such unnecessary things.

But Annie herself saw the girl read, to the children whom came with her from Fort Rutermark that Noire would often take care of. She would read aloud a book about wonderous things to children and Annie when she came by, her normally flat tone taking an air of emotion to it that normally seemed non-existent through her as she read.

"K-Kjelle…" The older girl ceased wiping the sweat from her brow after taking a rest from her training to see Noire approach with that red haired girl whom followed Lucina like a long dog their first day at Castle Themis, and subsequently followed her even more afterwards. Kjelle had seen the mischievous smirk on Lucina's face as Annie did her best to follow her, the nostalgia upon seeing it the first time reminding her of… Nicer times.

"What is it?" Kjelle asked quirking at eye grasping Noire's coat tails. Noire flinched slightly, and Kjelle wished that Noire was better at handling people whom were the same age or older than her. She never saw Noire flinch whenever she was with the children.

"A-Annie here would like to learn how t-t-to fight," Noire managed out. Kjelle looked surprised before her eyes went to Annie, the girl stood stock straight like a soldier on a line. Her height however made it look a little silly, as she was even shorter than Severa was at that age.

"Annie would like to learn how to fight!" she shouted. Kjelle stared a bit before laughing. Annie looked confused, but Kjelle waved that look off. The girl had enthusiasm at the very least. "Did Annie say something fu—"

"Oi shortstack, move it!" Annie squawked as Severa pushed past her to plop herself down next to Kjelle. Severa swiped a towel and began to rub her face as Annie fumed. When the towel moved off her eyes, Severa gave Annie a baleful eye. "Tch, what?"

"Rude!" Annie puffed. Severa's eyes narrowed.

"Eh? What did you sa—" Severa was cut off with a shout of irritation when she felt the familiar feeling of something on the top of her head. She turned to see Cynthia atop Marigold giggling as she rode atop. "Will you stop you overgrown pigeon!" The Pegasus neighed before Cynthia leapt off and lead her away.

"So, Annie, any particular weapon you wish to learn?" Kjelle had gotten Annie's attention now. For a second, the girl had no idea what to say, and her face fell in shame at sudden realization. Learning how to learn how to fight, she had hoped for her Papa to teach her like he promised, but he and Mama… They were still not coming, and learning how to fight n and comparing herself to the older girls she felt fearful that she wouldn't compare to them. That she was simply too soft or too weak to be like them, after the many stories of what they had done in their one month of travels alone. The world Princess Lucina and the other lived in seemed so far away, even if the door to enter it was right here.

"If you hesitate, then you might as well say no…" Annie screamed now as she felt a presence drop behind her. The other girls only rolled their eyes as Lucina stood behind Annie now, tall and still shrouded in her tattered blue cloak and weird amalgamation of armored clothes. Her two swords poking from her side as she looked down at Annie, the barest hint of a smirk on the Princess' face. "Whatever you choose, choose and never look back."

Now a bright smile overcame Annie's face at Lucina's words.

"Annie want to learn everything!" She stated proudly. Kjelle looked surprise before a strange sound was heard above. A soft stuttering of breathing, though it did not come from Noire, but the presebse behind Annie, from Princess Lucina.

Laughter. Laughter came from the normally enigmatic Princess Lucina, though soft, muted, and odd sounding, it was laughter none the less. Almost everyone stared in shock at the sound.

"What's going on?" the girls looked above to see Yarne, Brady, and Laurent had walked out onto the inner castle battlements. Yarne's ears were twitching. "What?"

"You three are doofuses for ruining the moment!" Severa screeched. That little stunt only caused Lucina to laugh even more, desperately trying to smother it behind her hand. All three of the other boy's jaws dropped at the sight and sound while the other girls just berated them for being idiots. Only Annie looked confused, wondering why it was so strange?

Princess Lucina always seemed to laugh like this when she reads to the orphan children their sought after stories.

-2-

"We must all our efforts towards the King's campaign against Valm—"

"A King whose leading forces against a force which we have no reason to fear retribution from—"

"Plegian are raiding our lands while we do nothing—"

"We have to sue for a Peace of some kind—"

"Peace? With Plegia! Bah, we should have slaughtered them all to the last man, woman, and child!"

"What of their reperations? Land, money? We have scarcely any of that left to give them!"

The droning of incessant arguments bored Lucina to no end. She knew that this very conversation was what was necessary in order to save the Kingdom, but all the lords and dukes of Ylisse did was argue and badger with one another.

Everyone had a say in the matter, and everyone disagreed with each other for the right way in which to act. Some people wanted to retreat back behind Feroxi lands, seeing refuge with Ylisse's northern allies' southern forces. Other wanted to mount a counterattack, recapturing the capitol and pushing forward from there. Others wanted to mount a counter offensive, sending their own separate campaign to raze and burn Plegia to the ground!

Lucina looked to her side and saw that Brady himself was also bored looking at the older men dance around the issue of the "proper course of action". Eventually the men of the castle grew too full of another and adjourned the meeting, though some sent strange glances towards Lucina as she stared full of boredom ahead of her.

"Are Kjelle and Cynthia back?" she commented suddenly. Brady stirred from his own short nap before seeing Lucina look at him.

"Huh? Uh, yeah, they should be hear 'bout now," he mumbled. Lucina nodded before she stood up and smoothed down her dress. Though she did it with distaste, since apparently it wasn't fit for a Princess of Ylisse to garb herself in chainmail and half destroyed tunic, now she had been forced to wear a regal blue gown, something which irked the girl immensely. They also said carrying a blade wouldn't be right, however when they went to take off the shortened iron blade that seemed always to be secured on her hip, she grew… Violent at that.

Brady honestly wanted to laugh aloud when he saw that happen. He'd never seen noblemen run so fast or so far in his li—Wait, there was one such time, when his father had gone into mother's room and quickly ran out with a laugh on his face. Bardy saw that his mother was seething red and using the parasol she always carried like a nightstick, trying to swing at father.

"Princess! Princess!" The moment they walked out of the room, Lucina was swarmed by children. Now it seemed the children numbered up to twenty-five now, notably from the surrounding countryside where Plegian forces had been… Met.

"Nnn?" Lucina hummed before her wrists were grabbed, however the small smile on her face as she was dragged by children told Brady that Lucina was missing "story time" with them. Brady watched them go, smiling himself. The mood of the children was always infectious, and simply seeing Lucina enjoying herself without a blade in hand was always a wonderful sight.

"Brady? The meeting has wrapped up already?" the young Duke of Themis turned to see Laurent behind him. The large mage's hat flopping over his head before one of his hands raised to hold it up. "Where is Lucina?"

"The kids got her," Brady snorted. Laurent himself had a small smile form before he readjusted his glasses. "Do ya know what sorta of books Lucina reads to 'em?"

"I think she's on page twenty-two of Roy and the Band of—" Laurent silenced himself when he realized what he was about to say. The damage was already done, and Brady couldn't stop the grin on his face from widening.

"So, I guess you've been sitting with the other kids when she reads, huh?" Brady said. Laurent turned away with a huff, cheeks dusted red though and desperately trying to pull the wide brim of his hat over his face. "So what's your favorite—"

"Shut up!" Laurent groaned as Brady now openly laughed. However, their amusement or disgruntlement towards each other had let them dull their senses. For behind them lay a presence which wished them immense bodily harm. Many times previously it could be argued for their health by said person, but a clerical study and a scholar do not find much necessity in what they had in store.

"Brady! Laurent!" Twin chills now ran down the boy's spine at the gruff voice of a near Frederickian caliber of discipline. It was hard to believe that the calm and lackadaisical Stahl is her father. Both tried to run to no avail, as two strong grips on their shoulders ceased any attempt at retreat.

"I see you two are free," Kjelle mused with a smile on her face. "That means you're idle hands can be better put to better yourselves!" Despite their resistance, Kjelle dragged Brady and Laurent to the practice fields. To their horror the two had found that Yarne had also been roped in, having been dragged by his legs, kicking and crying, by an enthusiastic Cynthia and an annoyed Severa.

"No! No please!"

"Stop! Complaining!" Severa growled before she and Cynthia threw Yarne at Brady and Laurnent, who barely stopped themselves from being toppled over.

"I don't wanna die~" Yarne warbled as he clung desperately to Brady in an attempt to hide himself from whatever "training" Kjelle had in store for them.

"You're not gonna die you big baby," Severa huffed. Laurent saw that the longsword on her hip was nowhere in sight, so at the very least being cleaved wouldn't be how he died today. Being impaled on spears however seemed more than likely.

"Why are you even helping them?" Yarne cried. "You don't even like practicing with others!"

"Yeah well…" Severa's face soured as she crossed her arms. "Today's a little special."

"Huh?" All three boys look in confusion before turning at the sound of pattering feet. It was loud enough that Brady and Laurent could hear, but Yarne's heightened hearing could tell who exactly was running towards them all. His fear only escalated further. "Oh, Gods please no, not them!"

The cheering of children was parallel to the main square gates being opened to reveal a small gaggle of children running around Princess Lucina, Annie ran alongside them with a child on top of her shoulders. The sight of Lucina being surrounded by children was amazing sight amplified even more when they saw that her ever present blades weren't attached to her side, the sight of their lacking sending clear signs to everyone whom saw.

"Bunny-man!" Several of the children ran over and tackled the wiry Yarne, who only froze and paralyzed as he knocked off his feet. "Bunny-man!" They crawled and jumped atop him as he let out small yips of pain. Several others went to gaze and marvel at Marigold, asking Cynthia if they could pet the Pegasus.

"Ha, so the kids are comin out to play!" Brady smiled broadly before looking around. He noticed that there was a wide perimeter around him, no kids being anywhere near him and deciding to hide behind Kjelle or underneath Lucina's cloak. He put the two togeth—"Oh come on!"

"Ah! Monster!" Lucina stated passively as she saw Brady's misleading expression. "Everyone run from the monster!" The young Duke looked gave Lucina an incredulous look before Lucina mouthed, "chase them or die". He understood immediately before snarling like a beast and chasing them. They all screamed, but their eyes were filled with excitement, as the clerical boy began to chase them.

"What are you doing?" A girl had approached Laurent, whom had taken it upon himself to try and sneak away by hiding in a bush. With tense shoulders, he turned to see a girl no more than seven look at him.

"… None of your bus—" Laurent froze as he felt something fly past his hat. He went pale as he reached above him to the wall he was against. There impaled into the wall was… An arrow… His eyes turned to see a woman in green on the ramparts, eyes blazing as two children stared in awe around her.

Laurent wisely turned to the girl, who now had multiple others around her, and did his best to smile at them.

"W-Would you all like to see something fascinating?" The children looked confused before Laurent reached into his robe to pull out a small vial of liquid and threw it up in the air. Muttering a smell, the vial exploded into a sudden blue light. The children stared wide eyed in awe at the spectacle in front of them.

Lucina stared fondly from a small shadow by a tree that grew in the courtyard. Yes, it seems that she found some sort of enjoyment from reading to the children previously. The inkling of this thought had first come to her upon the first night at Fort Rutermark. After she, Cynthia, and Laurent had made the children food; some already began to grow tired though some had been on the edge of nervousness at the morose and foreboding moans around.

A strange, not unlike the hollowness she normally felt but… Softer, had spread within in her before she spied a book at the corner of Noire's orphanage home. An old picture book, his spine born and its title scratched out from many days of use. It was the book, "King Marth and the Emblem". It was… A story her father had read to her once when she found herself much like them; scared, afraid, feeling vulnerable.

Her voice, stoic and firm, had somehow began to coax many to ease as she read the familiar tale. Many, who were wary of her at first, gathered closer to her, to her voice, as she read. Their eyes droopy and heads swaying before curling up before her. She had taken her cloak off then and draped it over them.

Since then, reading to the orphanage children had been able to stem the hollowness much like fighting, though if she were to compare it, it felt much better for her to read to them than fighting. Holding a book, holding a sword, they both felt equal in her hands, but for her heart and being there was key imperceptible differences that she felt.

"Princess Lucina!" She looked up to see Annie starring at her with a beaming look on her face. It was nice. This day was nice. The laughter of children, their smiling faces. She'd fight a hundred wars for these wonderful things. She'd fight and win them all if that is what it would take to maintain that smile.

-End of Chapter 9-

Ages of All the Childeren at the End of the Chapter:

Lucina - 14
Kjelle - 15
Cynthia - 13
Severa - 12
Noire - 13
Nah - 11
Owain - 14
Gerome - 13
Laurent - 10
Brady - 15
Inigo - 13
Yarne - 12
Annie - 11

Dead Parents:

Frederick + Sumia
Kellam + Miriel
Cordelia
Maribelle + Vaike
Libra + Tharja