All eyes landed on the sheathed Falchion lying on the center of the oblong table. No one wanted to be the first to speak. Lon'qu placed a hand on his wife's should while bowing his head in silent respect while Lissa placed her hand on top of her husband's as she struggled to accept reality. Sumia tried to look strong, but everyone knew how she must have been hurting. Even the usually boisterous Flavia seemed to be at a loss for words.
"So what now?" Lon'qu finally broke the silence.
"We make them pay!" Flavia punched her palm.
"Something easier said than done," Miriel adjusted her glasses, "We have lost the Fire Emblem. Even if we did have it, we would need someone to use Falchion as well."
All eyes then fell on Lissa who put her hands up, "Don't look at me. I could never get it to work when Chrom had me try it."
"Then it seems Lucina is the next logical choice."
"She's just a little girl!" Sumia did not even want to think about her baby girl facing off against that monster.
"We still need to know," Lon'qu spoke gruffly, "It will be some time before she would be old enough, but I will train her myself to make sure she is as ready as she can be."
"What about the Fire Emblem?" Maribelle reminded them, "We cannot hope to defeat that beast so long as it is in those miscreants' hands."
"I could probably snatch it," Gaius leaned forward, "It is kind of my thing after all."
"And what then?" Miriel asked, "With the Emblem, but without a way to use it, we essentially become more enticing targets for Grima."
Everyone paused a little at the mention of the dragon, "Has…has anyone seen it?" Lissa finally managed a whisper.
"My scouts claim to have seen it flying off the western coast. No idea why though."
"I doubt it plans to just leave us be," Lon'qu folded his arms.
"Indeed," Miriel concurred, "I suspect we can expect an increase in Risen activity as well as an increase in Plegian hostility even if Grima does not make a personal appearance. I would also suggest implementing mandatory cremation for the dead to prevent their being used as more Risen."
"That's…" Sumia did not really like the idea of enforcing such a thing.
"Hey, if Grima's away, sounds like the perfect time to strike," Gaius retorted.
"And bring the Fell Dragon's wrath down on us."
"Pardon me!" Maribelle broke through the forming chaos and address the queen, "What do you think we should do?"
"M-me?"
"You are the Queen."
"I-I just married in," The last thing Sumia wanted was to be in charge. Especially given the circumstances.
"But you are from a noble house. Until Lucina comes of age, you are in charge."
Exactly what she did not want, "I, um, I think we should hold off on taking back the Emblem. In the meantime, we should focus on securing our citizens. Speaking of which, we should make sure the children of the Shepherds we lost are tended to. They were our friends, and I know I'd want someone to take care of my girls."
"Most of them are already in Ylisstol," Maribell answered, "However, it may be difficult to locate Nowi and Donnel's daughter in this chaos."
"I want you to try at least. In the meantime, I suppose we need to prepare for the worst." Grima would essentially be given free reign until they had someone who could challenge the dragon. Sumia did not like it, but it looked like that someone might end up being her eldest.
"Hey, come on out!" Owain knocked loudly on the door, "You can't stay in there forever!"
"Owain," Lucina approached as her younger cousin went in for another knock, "Why don't you go cheer up Severa?"
"Hmm, is she sad too?" Owain was lucky. Both of his parents had survived, but that combined with his age meant he really did not grasp the pain some of them were feeling. Though, perhaps that was for the best. She found herself glad that Cynthia was too young to understand why daddy was never coming home.
"Yes, maybe you can cheer her up?" Owain and Severa had been good friends, but Severa, similarly to Gerome, had locked herself away after receiving news of her parents' deaths.
"Okay! I'll go do that!" And just like that, her cousin was running down the hall. Lucina doubted he would succeed, but Lucina wanted to get him away.
Once he was gone, Lucina faced the door herself, "Gerome? It's okay, he's gone now. I know you're sad, but I want to talk to you."
Lucina heard the door unlock followed by it opening just a crack. Inside, she saw a dark-haired boy who looked devastated. Much how Lucina had that morning, but she promised her mother she would be strong as well as herself that she would find out who killed her father. To do that though, she wanted help.
Gerome wiped his eyes. It was clear he had been crying. Lucina felt like she had cried so much the past few days that she had no tears left so she could relate.
"Thanks for making him go away." Owain meant well but was a bit lacking in tact.
"It's okay. Owain can be a bit annoying."
"What did you want?" Gerome asked meekly still not really feeling like talking.
"I want your help."
"Help with what?"
"Our parents were betrayed. I want to find whoever did it and make them pay."
"We're just kids though. What can we do?"
"That's why I need your help. I can't do it alone; your parents helped dad a lot. I was wondering if you could do the same for me. So that we can find whoever did this and make them pay! I want you to be my knight!"
"Your knight? But...but I'm not good for that."
"Maybe not yet, but we'll get stronger! Please. If not for me, then for our parents."
"I...don't know," Gerome shrunk back meekly, but before Lucina could say anything further, her mother found her.
"There you are, I've been looking all over for you," Sumia paused upon seeing the newly orphaned boy, "Gerome, how are you holding up?"
He simply shrunk even further under the queen's gaze in reply causing her brows to furrow, but she did not have time for that at the moment. They were already late.
"Come with me, Lucina," Sumia took her daughter's hand.
"Where are we going?" Lucina asked as she followed along behind her mother.
"To the training yard," Her mother answered, "To perform a test."
"What kind of test?"
"To see if...you can use you father's sword."
Lucina's mouth hung open slightly, and she voiced no more questions until they arrived at the training yard. They had done away with the usual opulence of the Falchion ceremony. Instead, there was a simple block of wood placed on the ground in the center of one of the training rings.
Lucina heard the sound of metal sliding out of a sheath. Looking to her mother, she saw her holding out Falchion, "Here."
Lucina cautiously touched the golden handle. She could hardly lift it as her mother shifted the weight to her daughter. Still, she was determined to use it. Sumia directed Lucina to the block of wood and told her to try and cut the wood. With some effort, Lucina lifted the blade up as high as she could. With shaky arms, Lucina dropped the blade on the block of wood.
Silence pervaded the training yard before Lucina opened one eye that she had closed and slowly peaked at the block of wood. It was cleaved cleanly in two. They had their Falchion wielder.
A/N: I don't think I specified last time, but I am planning a weekly schedule for this. At least until I finish the rough drafts. To give you a measure of how far I am, I have started work on chapter five. I don't want to get stuck without anything to post and leaving my readers waiting for me to finish, so this regular schedule should hopefully prevent that. Plus, it lets me go back and adjust things before I put it out. Like how I adjusted chapter one to make Lucina seem older. Once the drafts are done, the updates will likely come faster.
And if you're wondering why I have Sumia as a noble, it comes from a support with Gaius. Maybe she isn't actually a noble, but maybe she is.