Invisible Ties Chapter 19: Outer Realm Visitors Part 2
"Alright then, now that we're truly able to speak, is there something I need to know, Lucina?"
The words made the room fall eerily silent and Lucina noticed that the woman was looking at her with very cautious blue eyes behind the purple rimmed glasses that she was wearing while she cradled the year old baby version of the time traveller,
"H-how…" Lucina began shocked as the Chrom of this world had called her Marth, and she assumed that the woman would do the same as well because Robin had seemed very surprised when she'd been revealed as Lucina from a future of their world that was overrun by Grima and his risen and that she'd travelled back to prevent it from happening again.
"Well there are two ways that I can tell," the woman said calmly rocking the baby in her arms gently as the child had started to whimper having been woken by her older sister and father, but wanting clearly to go back to her nap, "For one you have a strong resemblance to Chrom, which no matter how you look at it cannot be hidden so easily," the woman smiled, "And another you have the Mark of Naga in your left eye, the same as my own daughter, so it was the most logical conclusion to come to, with the information that I have…as well as the fact that I was already told by another, very similar young woman who looked a little bit different to you…but not by that much,"
Chrom blinked at the woman, she was definitely Robin's counterpart; no two ways about it. It was then that Robin spoke,
"We were wondering if you could help us find the outer realm gate of this world," he looked at her and she sighed
"It is a long journey to the south, so perhaps it would be best if you rested up for a few days before you returned…unless you have a reason not to,"
"How long will it be exactly?" Chrom asked the woman,
"Three days to Southtown and a further three months to get to the gate from there," she replied sadly, "And given your minimal supplies I don't think you'll get through without some help,"
Lucina was still surprised and then spoke in a worried tone, "Are there risen in the area?"
"Not as far as I know," the woman said softly shaking her head, "However their numbers have been growing and I am pretty certain that would be because the Grimleal are summoning them,"
"Damn it!" Robin hissed, and the woman smiled sadly,
"If it's any consolation I would offer all the help we can give you for the journey," she looked at them with a worried expression
"Thank you," Robin said and then he added, "I take it you haven't told your Chrom about the connections yet then,"
"I haven't." She said quietly, "I was asked not to tell him, and it's hard," she looked even sadder than before and Lucina spoke,
"It's for the best,"
"I know, it just doesn't make it any easier is all," She looked up and took a sip from her cup of tea that up until this point in time had lay forgotten, the little child in her arms seemed content to just being held and for a moment no one spoke. The silence echoed over the still room. It was interesting to say the least as Robin had a few questions that he wanted to ask her, and indeed so too did Chrom. She was more informed than he'd been and for Robin it was clear that some answers were needed…and the way she looked at him made it clear that she was aware of that, "It stands to reason that you have questions, so what is it that you want to know?"
"How in the world do you know what you do?" Robin asked, "And how much do you know?"
"A tough question," His counterpart mused, "To begin with I did mention that there was another Lucina. Quite simply all she said was to keep an eye on Valm, and given that is all I have been doing…well I drew some conclusions..."
"And are hoping that you're wrong," Robin said a cold feeling sinking into his gut as he realised what she was saying and knowing all too well where this world was at,
"Pretty much," She replied,
"Either way we need to get back home," Chrom said quietly, and Robin nodded,
"Right before the Justice Cabal causes too much trouble," He added,
"Of course," Chrom said calmly, "The last thing we need is Morgan and Cynthia going to town,"
Robin shuddered at the thought. As much as he loved his daughter it was clear that she wasn't always the most responsible. He looked at his female counterpart and saw her sigh,
"It seems like you're having a long day?" He asked her and she nodded,
"Well mostly working out some strategies, but nothing overly major right now because we aren't at war thankfully…although that may be set to change,"
"I know the feeling," Robin sighed and she chuckled
"Somehow I think that every tactician would know the feeling," She replied and Lucina frowned,
"How so?" the time travelling princess asked the female tactician only to have Robin respond to the question as if knowing the answer his female counterpart would have given,
"Because our work is never done," Robin sighed,
"Indeed, while there is times of peace that are welcome (and I'd rather be at peace than war) a tactician is meant to prepare for the worst possible outcome of any situation, a sentiment I'm sure you share," Chloey replied looking at Robin with her soulful blue eyes. He noticed that she pushed her glasses up and he nodded,
"It is, but thankfully peace is a welcome change of pace…sometimes," Robin said and Chloey laughed clearly amused by what he said. Robin allowed a slight smile as he did make some humour from time to time. Too bad it confused Lucina to no end.
"Ha! Signing papers sure, although if I had a choice I'd keep the paper work to a minimum or non-existing," she said as papers floated off her desk. Robin watched in fascination as they floated around her,
"Can you teach me that spell?" Robin asked, "That would make my day a whole lot easier,"
"It's very useful sure," Chloey said, "I find it's even more useful than lighting my candles,"
And Chrom sighed, "Robin," he said looking at his friend,
"It shouldn't take long," Robin responded and Chrom knew that his friend was lost,
"Father," Lucina said, "What should…"
"Well for starters we're going to need to head outside," Chloey said, "And I'll…ah I see B rank are we. This won't take long at all,"
"B rank?" Lucina asked confused,
"It's how proficient I am at using my tomes," Robin responded, "It's a tactician code,"
"Right...and somehow that makes no sense at all," Lucina said clearly confused,
"Don't worry too much about it," Robin said, "It is mostly how tacticians assign weapons to soldiers."
"I see," Said Lucina, "Kind of,"
And Chrom sighed, "All this tactical talk is a bit over the top don't you think Robin?"
Robin meanwhile was talking to his counterpart and Chrom sighed, "It's the same thing with Reflet, Lucina we've lost him to his female counterpart talking about tactics again,"
And Lucina had to agree with her father.
The courtyard that Chloey lead them through was close enough to the Shepherd's garrison that one could see the entire training ground, something Robin had found most useful in the early days to see what his comrades were up to when they trained. As it was he could see this world's Stahl and Sully going at a few rounds together. He noticed that they were more in sync with each other than the Stahl and Sully of his world. He noticed that Stahl was trying to tackle Sully's training regimen and seemed to be happy about it. It was then that Sully turned to look at them; frowning as she regarded the new arrivals,
"Hey Chloey," She said and his counterpart smiled,
"Hey Sully, Stahl," She replied, "Doing a couple of rounds today?"
"Of course!" Sully enthusiastically cheered, "Not training is asking for someone to impale you up the arse you know,"
"Of course Sully," Chloey said, clearly knowing this swearing version of Sully very well,
"But the shit that bites is that the healers keep telling me to "take it easy" humph, the day I do that fucking pigs will fly! I'm not going to be restricted to a fucking bed!"
"Well in that case just try not to overdo it, half an hour more should be enough,"
"Grrr, fine, but I don't want to be all outta shape,"
"Of course not Sully," Chloey grinned, "But if you keep a three hour training schedule you should be fine. You may want to dial it back though once you reach near term."
"Sounds like you did some extra thinking," Sully frowned,
"That's what I'm here for," Chloey said and Robin realised he was going to have to go through the same conversation with his Sully when it came time for her to have their Kjelle's past self,
"That's an interesting idea," He said, and Sully looked at him,
"Shit you look sorta like Chloey you know, what are you some sort of long lost brother or something?"
"We're from an outer realm," Robin responded without really thinking about what Sully was saying.
"Heh, sure, I'll take your word for it," Sully said and then looked at Stahl, "But you're not getting outta your training mister, don't think for a second that because we're having a kid means you can slack off!"
"I wouldn't have it any other way," Stahl grinned, "But I do at least get to make you dinner later right?"
"Sure," Sully said smiling and Robin felt oddly left out of the conversation but that didn't really matter. Suffice to say as he followed Chloey to an open part of the training yard he noticed that the papers had been trailing her the entire time. And he had a rough idea of what she was using. Rexcaliber; the wind magic tome. This wasn't going to take long at all.
Meanwhile Chrom and Lucina had been following quietly both not sure how to react to what was happening before their eyes. Stahl was a good cook sure, but Chrom had never thought that Stahl and Sully would be a couple…and that bought a thought to his mind that he would never say a word to anyone else. He could see the same look on Lucina's face as well. Of course they came to the part of the training field that was reserved for the mages of the shepherds and Chrom found that there were places in which he and Lucina could sit to watch Robin learn some sort of spell that would doubtlessly help him as it helped his female counterpart…and Chrom really found it odd that the Chrom of this world was so close to his tactician, hell she was the mother of Lucina in this world and that meant that if she was anything like Reflet she would doubtless have a Morgan of her own, a Morgan that wasn't found yet but doubtless would look like Reflet's son…a son that didn't call himself Morgan at any rate.
Of course the reason they were outside doubtless had to do with the fact that Chloey didn't want to risk damaging her office and perhaps because she knew something that Robin didn't…or perhaps it was because of the child in her arms squirming to move around as toddlers did. He watched as she carefully set her daughter down and felt a sense of shock. What was she thinking? As Chrom watched the little Lucina walked around for a bit before running back to her mother. She seemed content to watch the papers that Chloey had floating around and as Robin talked with her it was clear that one eye was always on the child.
"Alright, so we're outside, now what?" Robin asked looking at his female counterpart with a serious expression, "I'm guessing that we're dealing with wind magic,"
"Of course," Chloey responded, "Though it's not as fun to use as more powerful magic,"
"Naturally," Robin grinned,
"So what we need to do is to create a cushion of air around the object you want to levitate," Chloey said, "And not too powerful otherwise it will break from the force,"
"High magic control must take a lot of effort," Robin mused,
"Only to start with," Chloey said calmly, "The affect that we're going for isn't like combat magic; it's the sort of magic that is considered utility magic, of which Thoron is not. It is tomeless magic at its most simple,"
"Ah I see," Robin grinned. It made perfect sense. Even the weakest mage could conjure a wind spell. Those of higher proficiencies with magic could project a thoron spell if the need arose something that Robin could attest to having done in the past. It wasn't easy but the results were dangerous if the focus wasn't present. And even the best mages struggled with using tomeless magic all the time. Robin however noticed something about his female counter part. She was like him except that she didn't really use a sword. She had a high preference for magic and while that was a good thing in itself she would need the sword in the coming battle…unless the focus she put into the magic was worth the while in terms of combat and strength. Or was she one that was strongest with magic. That was something Robin had to think of as she seemed more at home with magic than he did.