Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem Fates or of it's characters

Out of all the things she's ever done in the name of royalty, helping Lady Azura sneak out of the castle to see her sister was definitely one of the more tamer tales. As for what happened afterward? Not so much. It all started with a simple, unassuming knock on the door to the servants' quarters she and Jakob shared.

When Flora walked over to open the door, she was pleasantly surprised to see Lady Azura, of all people, standing on the other side. To her concern, the normally composed blunette looked out of breath and awfully pale, even by Flora's standards.

"Oh, Lady Azura!" Flora said, hurriedly moving to help Azura with the box of draughts and elixirs in her hands. "What brings you here? You didn't need to come down to the servants' quarters to find me or Jakob, you know. You could've—"

Azura interrupted Flora by clutching her hand and squeezing it. "I need you to take me to Felicia."

Flora blinked, caught off-guard by the sudden request. "To…Felicia?" she asked questioningly. "Um, is something the matter?"

Azura nodded and squeezed her hand again. "I need to talk to her, but nobody can know that I'm visiting her."

"What about the king?" Flora asked. "Surely, he should—"

"Especially him!" Azura blurted out. "S-sorry, but Corrin can't know. Please, Felici—er, Flora. You have to help me!"

"Alright then," Flora said, pursing her lips and nodding. "I'll help you. Go out into the hallway, and—"

"No, no," Azura interrupted. "I would like it if you could take me to Felicia, personally."

"Of course," Flora said. "Just allow me to gather a few things."

Azura watched in confusion as the blue-haired maid bustled around the room, gathering things here and there. When Flora opened up her wardrobe and shoved one of her uniforms into Azura's arms, Azura looked at her in confusion.

"What is this for?" she asked, curiously running a finger over the fabric.

"It's a disguise!" Flora said, smiling. "No offense, milady, but you are one of the most recognizable people in this city, what with your hair and…choice of clothes."

"What's wrong with my dress?" Azura asked, looking down at herself. "I like it!"

"I like it too, but if we're going to sneak you past all the servants that's bound to litter the halls, then you'll have to do more than put your hair up and hope for the best," Flora said. "Just trust me, the uniform's not that bad!"

"If you say so," Azura said hesitatingly as she stepped behind a changing curtain.

While Azura changed out of her white dress, Flora curiously peered in the box she had been carrying. Her eyes widened as she read the label on one of the bottles, and as Azura walked out from behind the changing curtain, Flora tried to hide her surprise, to no avail.

As soon as Azura saw the questioning, wide-eyed look Flora gave her as she stepped away from the box, she blushed and looked down at the ground. "I-it's not what it looks like!" she stammered. "I-it's just that I've been having these headaches, and—"

"It's alright," Flora said warmly and she patted Azura's hand. "Say no more. I understand. I'll take you to Felicia right now, okay?"

Azura could nothing but nod her head as the other woman took her hand to lead her out into the hallway. As they turned the corner, Flora handed Azura an odd-looking headpiece.

"Here, take this," she said, peeking around the corner to make sure nobody was about to sneak upon them.

"What is it?" Azura asked. "Some sort of headband?"

"Sort of," Flora admitted. "It's meant to help keep your hair behind your back. That's why even though both Felicia and I have really long hair, it never gets in the way, even when we bend down."

"That's…useful," Azura noted as she placed the headband on her head. "Would've helped me with waking up."

"It's not the greatest thing in the world," Flora admitted as she helped adjust the headband. "After a while, you start to feel the hair strands being ripped out of your head, which is why I try to avoid wearing it as much as possible."

As soon as the headband was positioned comfortably atop of Azura's head, Flora took Azura's hand again and lead her down the hallway. As they walked, they passed a trio of servants, all of whom gave polite nods towards Azura and Flora.

"Evenin' Flora," one of them greeted.

"Good evening, Dyn," Flora replied, though without slowing her pace.

"You're in a rush," Dyn noted as Flora pushed past them. "Who's the new girl?"

Flora slowed momentarily. "She's a new hire. I'm…I'm just showing her around. Nothing big."

"I don't know," said another one of the servants as he leaned against the wall, effectively blocking Azura and Flora's way. "She's sort of looks familiar…cousin of yours?"

"No," Flora said bluntly, trying to step around the servant. "We just happen to have similarly colored hair."

"How often do you see someone with blue hair, huh?" the third servant said. "Thought you could only have it if you were from the ice tribe or if you were part of the Vallite royal family."

"Come on, Jarren," Flora said, exasperated. "I need to take her somewhere right now. We can't afford to waste any more time."

"Why not?" the second servant said. "I thought today was your day off? Why don't you let me show her around? Maybe this time, I'll strike rich!"

Flora froze. "What…did you just say?"

Azura tried to stop herself, but because of her heels, she was unable to stop herself from stumbling. As she fell, the second servant managed to catch her by the arm.

"Whoa there!" he said, "don't you go tripping…huh, that's odd."

"What's wrong?" Flora asked as Azura yanked her arm away. As soon as Azura regained her balance, the maid tried to pull her away, but the second servant seemed to refuse to let Azura and Flora pass.

"You're pretty muscular, you know that?" the servant said jeeringly, waggling a finger in Azura's face. "I like that in a woman, y'know. You got some legs too, you know that?"

Dyn facepalmed. "I swear to god, Mando, if you say 'you know that' one more time, I'm going to sneak a spider into your soup tonight."

"Alright, I think that's enough of that," Flora said. "You're making her feel uncomfortable."

"Why don't she tell us herself?" Jarren said, taking Azura's arm. "C'mon, we're not that scary, are we?"

"Um…"

"Alright guys, cool it, will you?" Dyn suddenly interrupted. "Flora's right. You're freaking her out, and quite frankly, you're freaking me out. Mando, you should know better than to hit on women while you're working! Jarren, drop the tough guy act, alright? You're not fooling anybody."

As if they had been awakened from some sort of trance, the two other servants suddenly flinched and stood up straight.

"Oh, um, yeah," Jarren said, rubbing the back of his head. "Uh, yeah, sorry about that…what was your name again?"

"Aqua," Flora said definitively. "Her name's Aqua."

"Oh, okay," Jarren said, blinking in surprise. "Sorry about that, Aqua. Me and Mando…well, we're desperate, you feel me? It's been a while since we saw a woman as attractive you if you don't mind me saying so."

"Um, I-I don't mind," Azura squeaked timidly.

Dyn nudged Mando with the tip of his boot. "And what about you, Mando?" he asked, "What do you have to say to our brand new hire?"

"…Sorry," Mando mumbled under his breath.

As Dyn took a breath to launch into what looked like another tirade, Flora interrupted by taking Azura by the shoulders and steering her away. "Apology accepted!" she said over her shoulder. "I'll see the three of you later!"

Dyn blinked and shook his head in surprise as Flora pushed Azura around the corner. "Oh, um, alright then, Flora. We'll…see you later."

As they turned the corner, Azura glanced back at the three men. While Dyn was busy chewing out Jarren, only Mando continued to stare at her, his gaze burning a hole into Azura's skin. For a split moment, Azura could've sworn his eyes flashed red, but just as quickly as it had appeared, the light disappeared and the only thing Azura saw was the wall of stone in front of her as she and Flora turned the corner.

"Sorry about that, milady," Flora said apologetically. "Dyn, Jarren, and Mando are some of the finest servants you'll find this side of the land, but they can be a bit…off sometimes."

"I saw," Azura said. "Are they normally that…desperate?"

"No, that was the first time they actively tried to go after someone during a shift," Flora explained patiently. "Dyn is the most well-behaved out of them, and even Jarren's got a warning once or twice, most of the time it was just a joke that went too far. Mando though…"

"He sort of scares me," Azura admitted.

Flora laughed softly. "He scares me too, don't worry," she said reassuringly. "I'll talk to Jakob later and make sure he gets a verbal warning. He's usually never that forward, but then again, he doesn't usually get to see the queen of Valla in a maid's outfit."

"New Valla," Azura corrected automatically. "And I guess you were right about these uniforms. The skirt is a bit restrictive, yet somehow…lacking."

"Well, now you know why us maids always walk around like we're about to flash a part of ourselves," Flora said affably, "It's because, most of the time, we are! It's just something we get used to."

Azura laughed half-heartedly at Flora's reassurance, but she still couldn't shake the unease she felt when Mando stared at her. And what was up with that flash of red light in his eyes? Was that just a trick of the light, a result of the torches on the wall flickering in just the right way, or was it something else entirely?

Whatever else Azura was thinking was suddenly interrupted as Flora stopped in front of a wall.

"This is it," she said, gesturing to the stone wall.

Azura looked around in confusion. "This is what?" she asked.

The wall looked like every other wall in the servants' hallway. Gray cobblestone. A crack here, and missing chunk there. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary or misplaced.

"What is it?" Azura asked, looking back at Flora. "Is there supposed to be a secret switch or something that opens a door up somewhere in the castle?"

"Close," Flora admitted as she ran her hands over the wall, looking for something. "It should be right…here! Got it!"

As Flora pushed down on a stone that looked the same as every other stone on the wall, Azura heard a small click, and suddenly, without making any sound, the wall before them swung outward to reveal a bedroom with Felicia and Silas together in bed.

Felicia yelped as she turned to see Azura and Flora in the sudden portal, causing Silas to jump out of bed and blindly reach for his sword. At the same time, Azura averted her eyes (just in case) as Flora confidently strode forward.

Silas (who was wearing pants, thankfully) lowered his sword and tilted his head, confused. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked. "How did—"

"It's a servant's secret, dear," Felicia said as she hopped out of bed to stand next to her husband. "We use them to move around the castle without being seen. That's why messes are always cleaned up even though you don't see anybody going to clean it."

"Were we interrupting something?" Flora asked teasingly as she gave Felicia and Silas a quick hug.

"Oh, no, nothing at all!" Silas said, rubbing the back of his head. "Felicia was just reading her book, and I was…"

"He was preparing for bed," Felicia said, nodding fervently. "Yes, he was preparing for bed."

"It's barely five in the afternoon," Flora said flatly.

"Well, you know the saying," Silas said, flashing her one of his trademark smiles. "Early to bed, early to rise!"

"Papa?" a soft voice said. "Mama?"

Silas and Felicia both turned simultaneously to see their daughter peeking in through a crack in the door.

"Papa? Mama?" the child said again, sleepily rubbing their eyes with the balls of their fist. "Wha hap'n?"

"Oh, nothing happened, sweetie," Felicia cooed as she stooped over to pick her up. "Papa and Mama just got surprised by Auntie Flora and Auntie Azura! Say hi to Auntie Flora and Auntie Azura, Sophie! Say hi!" Felicia took one of Sophie's hands and moved it so she was "waving" at them.

"Awntee Fwowa," Sophie said, pointing to Azura. "Awntee Zuzu."

"Not quite, kiddo," Silas said as he tostled her pink hair. Pointing at Flora, he said, "That's Auntie Flora, kiddo. Can you say 'hi Auntie Flora?'"

"Awntee Zuzu."

Felicia laughed softly as she cradled Sophie's head against her chest. "Please excuse us, Lady Azura," she said. "Little Sophie here is a bit…"

"Slow?" Silas offered.

Felicia glared at him as she kicked his leg. "No! She is not slow! She…just has trouble differentiating people with similar colored hair!"

"Fair enough," Silas said as he rubbed noses with Sophie. The child burbled happily. "I'm sowwy about that, honey. Daddy's just kidding, right, Mama?" He gave Felicia a hopeful grin.

Felicia simply rolled her eyes and shook her head exasperatedly. Upon noticing how both Azura and Flora were still standing there, watching them, Felicia cleared her throat and shifted Sophie so that she was in a more comfortable position.

"Oh, um, sorry about that Lady Azura," Felicia said apologetically. "Let me put Sophie to bed first, and then you can talk with Silas and me."

"Um, actually, I-I need to talk to you, Felicia," Azura said, shyly waving at Sophie and Silas. "Hi, Silas. Hi Sophie. Sorry about barging in like this."

"Oh, it's no problem," Silas said, walking over to Felicia and taking Sophie. "Here, I'll take the kid. You and Azura can talk it out. I'll be in the living room."

As Silas closed the door behind him, Felicia sighed and sat down on the bed, patting the spot next to her for Azura and Flora to sit. "We weren't expecting any visitors today," she said, "Least of all through the servant's tunnel."

"You have a living room?" Azura asked. "I didn't know the castle was big enough for two suites."

Felicia looked confused. "The castle?" she asked. Then, upon realizing what Azura meant, she laughed softly. "Oh no, we don't live in the castle. Silas and I live in the castle town. See?"

Felicia gestured to the window, and as Azura looked outside, she saw that the salmon-haired woman was speaking the truth. Outside, Azura could see the marketplace and the bobbing pinpricks of light that marked a patrolling guard.

"When did you move out here?" Azura asked. "How did I never notice?"

"Oh, a couple of months ago," Felicia said. "Don't worry if you didn't notice. Corrin didn't either, at least, until Silas told him that he had to take a few days off to take care of the baby."

"How old is she now?" Azura asked. "She looks so much bigger than the last time I saw her."

"Oh, she's about a year old," Felicia answered casually. "Give or take a few months. She certainly takes after her father, though I do admit."

"I could tell," Flora joked. "How else does she look so pretty?"

Felicia gasped as she smacked her sister on the arm. "How could you? We're twins, you know. If I'm ugly, then what went wrong with you?"

Azura couldn't stop herself from laughing. In response, Flora playfully shoved her sister using her shoulder. "I should be the one asking that question. I was always the prettier one."

"Only because you had blue hair," Felicia pouted. "Father always went on and on about how difficult it was to find a suitable match for you since so many people in the ice tribe were in line."

"That is not true!" Flora protested. "He only said that because at the time, he didn't know that Jakob and I were courting!"

"Uh-huh. Whatever you say, Flora."

The two sisters went on like for a few minutes, whereupon Flora suddenly gasped and turned towards Azura, who was smiling and sitting patiently.

"Oh gods! I'm so sorry, milady," Flora apologized, bowing her head, "I didn't mean to drag this out."

"It's alright," Azura said, smiling back. "It's…nice to see you two like this."

Felicia frowned as she peered over her sister's shoulder. "I've been meaning to ask, Azura, why are you dressed in one of the maid's outfits again? Not saying it doesn't look good on you, but I never thought you would be the one to wear something so…so…"

"So scandalous?" Flora offered.

"No, no," Felicia mused, "That's too strong of a word…unbefitting would be a better fit. Funny, right?"

Azura laughed softly at Felicia's pun, despite Flora's ill-hidden eyeroll. "Flora wanted me to put it on so she could have an easier time sneaking me out of the castle," she explained. "I wasn't planning on wearing it at first, but Flora said that it would probably be for the better in case we happen to run into any servants."

"Why are you trying to sneak out of the castle?" Felicia asked, tilting her head. "You're the queen, aren't you? Just tell the guards you want to visit me or something, and then you can come out here without dressing up as a maid."

Flora and Azura both glanced at each other.

"It's…a bit of a special occasion," Flora said vaguely.

"You see, I'm supposed to be in a meeting with Corrin right now," Azura guiltily admitted. "But during lunch, I sort of…fainted?"

"Sort of?" Felicia asked, raising an eyebrow. "What do you mean sort of? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine for now, but Corrin made me go to the healer's office," Azura replied. "And…and…"

"And what?" Felicia said. "Come on, Azura, spit it out."

Azura couldn't help but cover her mouth with her hands as she forced out the words, "I'm…I'm pregnant."

Both Flora and Felicia stared at her, jaws agape. Azura felt her face turn red as she buried her face in her hands. For a moment, both Flora and Felicia were stunned into shocked silence, but after a few seconds, both Flora and Felicia began to squeal with delight, Felicia more than Flora.

"Oh my gods!" Felicia said, giving Azura a tight hug. "Really? The healer said that you're pregnant?"

"Sh! Not so loud," Flora scolded as she looked around the room. "The reason she came here was to seek out advice, not to have you blurt it out to the whole world."

"Right, right," Felicia said, composing herself, though she still bubbled with excitement. "Sorry…but I'm just so excited! When did you find out? How far along are you? Did you and Corrin plan a name yet?"

"Uh…that's the thing," Azura said, "Corrin…doesn't know."

"He doesn't?" Felicia asked, flabbergasted. "B-but I thought you two would always share your secrets with each other!"

"I know, I know," Azura said, looking down at her hands in shame. "I know I promised him that there would be no more secrets between us, but…he's so stressed right now, what with the economy failing and everything else that has been going on. I don't want to tell him things that could stress him out even more."

"Why would finding out that you're pregnant stress him out?" Felicia asked. "Well, I get what you mean—finding out your wife is growing a human inside her is kind of a big deal, but it's stressful as in all of a sudden, you have to worry about two people instead of one. If you're worried about Corrin being upset or whatever, don't be. I remember when Silas found out. He immediately hosted a party. You and Corrin were there, remember?"

"I remember," Azura said, nodding. "But…I don't know, Felicia. This is all so…new to me. I don't know how to process all of this information at once."

"Hey," Felicia said warmly, taking Azura by the shoulder and pulling her into a hug. "I know it can be a lot to take in at once. I had trouble with it too, but so long as Corrin knows about the pregnancy before you start showing, you shouldn't have to worry about him getting upset that you're with child. And let's be honest, I think we both know that Corrin is going to be ecstatic upon learning the fact that he's having a kid. You know how amazing it is to have one of those?"

"But isn't pregnancy really difficult to deal with?" Azura asked timidly. "I heard talk about how one of the maids got pregnant and the things she had to go through just to keep working."

"I remember that," Felicia said, looking up at the ceiling. "Kara always did take work too seriously, but that's not the point here. The point is, if you're worried about burdening Corrin with news of your pregnancy, don't be. If anything, finding out that he's going to be a dad is going to help him! I remember when I told Silas. He just found out one of his favorite horses from the war died, but when I told him that I was pregnant, oh boy did that cheer him up."

"Well, having your horse die is, in my opinion, a little less stressful than running a kingdom and finding out that said kingdom may economically collapse in a few weeks," Azura said sarcastically.

"Oh, he'll figure something out," Felicia said dismissively. "It may not be easy, but Corrin will find a way to fix the situation. He always does. So long as you give him the necessary…support, he should pull through."

"I don't know…" Azura said, looking down and resting a hand on her belly. "What if Corrin didn't want a child? What if he wanted to wait until we were both older? He's almost twenty-six, and I'm barely older than that. What if—"

"Hey, don't say things like that," Felicia said, crouching down in front of Azura and gently taking her hands. "I know you're worried about what might happen—I know I was when I first found out—but if you let people help you, it makes everything so much easier."

"But—"

"No buts," Felicia interrupted, squeezing her hand. "Just tell Corrin the truth, and everything will go over smoothly. Trust me."

"A-alright," Azura finally said, sighing. "If you say so."

"What about you, Flora?" Felicia asked, turning to address her sister. "Anything new you want to tell me?"

"Not really," Flora admitted, pressing down the front of her skirt as she stood up. "A couple of servants gave me and Azura some trouble, but nothing came out of it."

Felicia sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Let me guess, Mando and Jarren?"

"Yes, but—" Flora blinked and looked at Felicia in surprise. "How do you know?"

Felicia scowled. "Mando constantly manages to find a way to flirt with me," she said, shaking her head. "Jarren does so too, but at least the pick-up lines he uses are somewhat decent and thoughtful. Mando just goes up and talks about my legs and chest or whatever. It's honestly kind of annoying and creepy."

"Does Silas know?" Azura asked, concerned.

"Of course he does," Felicia said, sighing. "Silas talked to him a couple times, and I'm pretty sure he threatened him with a fork at some point, but so far, the only lesson he seemed to learn was to avoid flirting with a woman in front of her husband."

"I'll talk with Jakob, then," Flora said, pursing her lips. "He hasn't said anything of the sort to me, personally, yet, but he did seem interested in you, milady." She nodded towards Azura, who simply shrugged.

"It's alright," she said modestly. "I'm used to it."

"Honestly, I thought having them share a shift with Dyn, one of the most professional and respectful servants would do something to change their behavior," Flora mused. "But it seems like I was mistaken."

"I think we all were," Felicia said, frowning. "We really need to be careful of the people we hire nowadays, especially with a little one growing in here." She playfully patted Azura's belly.

"Speaking of which, how far along are you?" Felicia asked. "You don't seem to be showing a lot."

"Uh, Dr. Ludwig said I'm about six weeks in," Azura said, smiling despite the familiar feeling of her face turning red.

"That seems pretty spot-on," Felicia mused. "Just make sure you tell Corrin sometime soon, or else even he's going to start noticing the bulge."

Azura opened her mouth to respond, but before she could say anything, a quiet knock at the door interrupted her. As one, the three women turned towards the door to see Silas peeking his head again.

"Sorry," he whispered. "Kid was getting really fussy. She really wants you, Felicia."

Felicia sighed. "Why am I not surprised?" she said quietly. Giving Azura and Flora an apologetic look, she stood up and gently took the fidgeting child from Silas' arms.

"Don't worry, don't worry," Felicia cooed. "Mama's here. Mama's here."

As Azura watched Felicia bounce Sophie up and down, Azura couldn't help but rest her own hand on top of her belly and look down at it. Could she really do the same things Felicia was doing?

For a moment, Azura imagined herself in Felicia's place, only instead of holding Sophie, she was holding a bundle with a tuft of blue or white hair sticking out of the blankets. For a split second, Azura felt the tiniest of smiles working its way across her face.

Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe there was nothing to worry about. All she had to do was tell Corrin, and—

"Wait."

The sudden seriousness of Silas' tone caused Azura to look up, shattering her little daydream. Felicia and Flora both gave Silas a curious look as he pointed to the hidden door where Flora and Azura had entered from.

"Has that thing been open the whole time?" he asked.

"What thing?" Flora asked. "The door?"

Silas nodded. "I thought you closed the door behind you when you came in?"

"I…thought I did," Flora said, confused. "That's odd. Why is it still open?"

Silas and Felicia both shared a glance.

"Honey, get Sophie out of here," he said, his normal, cheerful tone replaced with a seriousness as hard as any stone. "Azura, get behind Flora."

"What's going on?" Felicia asked as Silas hurriedly ushered her out of the room. "What—"

Whatever else the salmon-haired maid was trying to say was lost as Silas forced the door shut behind her. Then, moving slowly to avoid making noise, he suddenly dropped to one knee and tried to reach for something under the bed.

"Show yourself!" Silas suddenly proclaimed, standing up straight and pointing a sword that he pulled from under the bed. "That's not a request!"

Both Flora and Azura stared at the open portal with confusion.

"Silas?" Azura asked quietly. "Are you sure that—"

Suddenly, Silas darted forward, his blade flashing as he stabbed it into the doorway. At the same time, a smaller flash gleamed in the torchlight as what appeared to be a dagger parried the blow. At the same time, a splash of red appeared, and a muffled cry rang out.

"Stand down!" Silas shouted. "Surrender now, and I'll make this quick!"

Before any of them could react, a figure darted out from behind a side of the wall and proceeded to sprint the other way, where Azura and Flora had come from. Silas roughly brushed past Flora and Azura as he grabbed a candle and ran into the tunnel, lifting the flame up to see better.

After standing stock still for a few moments, Silas shook his head and scowled. Azura curiously peeked out from behind Flora's shoulder. The maid had managed to procure a dagger from somewhere within the folds of her dress and was holding it in a grip so tight, her knuckles turned white.

Silas sighed and sheathed his sword as he replaced the candle. "Damn," he cursed. "He managed to escape."

"Who was that?" Flora asked, slowly lowering her dagger.

"I don't know," Silas said, roughly shoving the hidden door closed. "They were too fast. Was able to tell they were male, though, judging by the voice."

Felicia cautiously peeked into the room. "Is everything okay, Silas? I put Sophie to bed, and—"

"Felicia, take Azura and Flora back to the castle," Silas said, his cheerful demeanor vanishing. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to make a report to the king about this."

"No!" Azura blurted. "Please don't!"

Flora, Felicia, and Silas looked at her in surprise.

"Why not?" Silas asked. "Azura, don't you understand? If that was an assassin, you could have—"

"I know!" Azura snapped. "Just listen to me!"

Silas blinked in surprise as Flora and Felicia looked at each other nervously.

"I've…been talking with Flora and Felicia recently, and the reason I came here using the tunnels was so I could avoid having Corrin find out about…this. " Azura gestured to everything around her in general, "He can't find out about my sneaking out. So please, Silas. Don't tell Corrin."

Silas looked at Azura with something close to bafflement. "I-I'm sorry, milady, but—"

"Just listen to her, Silas," Felicia said, walking up behind her husband and taking his arm. "Just trust me."

"But Felicia, as—"

"Silas."

"You—"

"Silas."

"I—"

"Silas."

The green-haired retainer sighed and slumped his shoulders. "Alright, fine," he said, frowning. "But all I'm saying is that—"

"No, Silas."

Silas sighed again. "Fine, fine. I won't tell Corrin, happy?"

"Promise me," Azura said, stepping forward and placing a hand on her chest. "I know he's your best friend, but please, for my sake, don't tell him."

"Fine, alright," Silas said. "I won't tell him."

"Good."

Satisfied, Azura stepped back and looked at Flora. "We should probably return to the castle," she said.

"Not through the servant's tunnel, you're not," Silas said, crossing his arms. "You're heading back to the castle the old-fashioned way."

"Sneaking in?" Flora asked.

"Using a wind spell and dropping out of the sky into the castle courtyard?" Felicia said at the same time.

"That…last one is too specific for my liking," Silas said. "But anyway, I want you to return to the castle immediately, Azura. No dillydallying, no sightseeing, no nothing. As soon as you get back to the castle, you tell the castle guards to be on the lookout for any suspicious-looking people. It's been seven years since a royal died on my watch, and I really don't want to reset that counter."

"Wait, who was the royal?" Felicia asked.

"Garon," Silas said nonchalantly. "But that's not important. Azura. Flora. Out."

"Alright, alright, we'll head back," Flora said exasperatedly. "Who the self-proclaimed 'Easy-going and Relaxed Knight,' could be so protective?"

Silas scowled. "I'm only easy-going and relaxed when there's nobody trying to sneak up on the people I'm supposed to protect," he retorted.

"Easy, Silas," Felicia, said, patting her husband's arm. "Also, Azura?"

The blunette turned around.

"Eh…I'll lend you one of my dresses. You stand out. A lot."

A/N: Hopefully, this was good enough. It's been a while since I wrote this much, so I hope the pacing and character interactions were good.