Robin's tour of the castle was roughly five minutes into its existence before a problem arose, he had decided to visit each area of the castle starting with the left-hand side and then working around to the right. This however, meant that the first section of the castle the tour reached was the kitchen, which was in the midst of cooking some of the finest Ylissean breakfast. When they entered the kitchen the staff present all bowed in unison before continuing on with their work, Robin decided it would probably be a good idea to inform his guests of the eating arrangements inside the castle, but while doing so lost a member of his party.
"I can't believe Xenon's disappeared already," Robin said in disbelief, holding his head as he looked around the vast kitchen stores to find his lost companion.
"To be honest Robin, you should have expected this," Lusignan laughed, "You know how easily he gets distracted," he continued as an attractive young maid walked past him with some bread in her hands and a smile on her face.
"That's true, especially with food" Robin replied, "At least I can rely on you to keep your focus, now let's try and find him…" but as Robin turned Lusignan had somehow managed to appear at the opposite end of the kitchen, having what seemed to be quite the flirtatious conversation with the maid that had just walked past.
"Oh for heaven's sake," Robin sighed, despite getting on incredibly well with both Lusignan and Xenon, he couldn't stand their impulsiveness, "Lusignan!" he cried, snapping the young man out from his delightful conversation "Let's find Xenon and move on, there's still much more of the castle to see, do you have any ideas where he might be?"
Lusignan nodded at Robin and started walking back to him, not before giving his new female acquaintance a wink, "My bet would be with all the meat I can smell, where would we find that?"
"It would be with the stoves," Robin answered as he started walking towards a large set of doors, when the pair approached them Lusignan could feel an incredible amount of heat emanating from behind them, "But there's no way he would be in there right now, the doors are locked for cooking duration."
"Excuse me," Lusignan said as he tapped the shoulder of a chef that was standing near him, "You haven't recently brought any finished food out of that room, have you?"
"Oh yes milord," the Chef answered quickly, "Just through that room there," he said as he pointed behind Lusignan, "That's where we keep all the food before sending it up the royal family."
"Oh no…" Lusignan and Robin groaned simultaneously as they quickly dashed into the room the chef pointed to, only to find Xenon standing in front of five plates full to the brim with sausages, bacon and beans, staring longingly. Lusignan couldn't help but laugh, Robin on the other hand leaned on the wall and breathed a heavy sigh of relief,
"I thought for a moment there I was going to see all of the breakfast gone," he said, "And that I was going to have to explain why, to five very hungry royals…"
"I wasn't going to eat any of it," Xenon said as he walked over to Robin.
"The look on your face when we came in said otherwise," Lusignan replied as he playfully punched his friend's arm, "Come on we'll get food later, we've gone two days without food before, it'll be fine."
At that moment Frederick popped his head around the corner of the door, after seeing Robin he entered the room and bowed, there appeared to be a letter in his hand. As he rose from his bow he noticed Robin's company and quickly bowed again,
"Ah, greetings friends of Robin, I was informed of your arrival earlier," he said politely, "My name is Frederick, Great Knight and 2nd in command of the Ylissean Army, and on this occasion messenger for the royal family."
"Another military man like ourselves then, it's a pleasure to meet you Frederick," Lusignan said as he raised his fore and index finger to his head, flicking it towards the knight. Frederick assumed the man was demonstrating his culture's version of the salute and saluted back out of respect,
"What branch of the military did you belong to? If you do not mind my enquiry of course," Frederick asked as he handed Robin the letter to read, "I believe Lord Robin mentioned you had seen extensive amounts of combat?"
"We've been in several large battles, yes," Xenon replied as he took out an insignia patch from inside his cloak and held it out to Frederick who eagerly analysed it. The patch had a black background with a large purple circle in the centre, inside the circle was a white crescent moon being engulfed in purple flames. "My name is Xenon, I was the commander for a specialist regiment called Fallen Crescent, our operations included city defence and protection for those travelling to and from our halidom."
"Very intriguing," Frederick said with a nod as he handed back the insignia to Xenon, "And how old might you be?"
"I'm twenty-four years of age," Xenon answered as he placed the insignia back inside his cloak.
"And what of you milord?" Frederick asked as he turned to Lusignan who quickly clicked his fingers, summoning a spark of lightning that caused a patch of cloth to apparate, which when turned revealed an insignia of his own. Frederick wasn't the sort for showmanship but at least he had learnt one of the man's skills, an at least basic level of magical power. He raised his head to view Lusignan's insignia, it had a white background, with a large red cross in the centre and a set of black feathered wings behind it. "The name's Lusignan, twenty-three years old and Governor-General of the Halidom of Jura Meles, also leader of the Black Vanguard regiment, we specialise in getting our armies foot in the door when it comes to any big battles."
A look of slight confusion had overcome Frederick's face, "I'm sorry milord, Jura Meles?"
"It's the halidom they come from, consisting of one large city and then a lot of open space around it," Robin said, his eyes still fixated on the letter he had received.
"I see," Frederick replied, "And he's the…"
"The Governor-General," Robin responded, "Their halidom was very recently created and does not have a Royal family, so they voted on who would be leader, that is the title he currently holds."
"In charge of the whole halidom…? That's crazy," Frederick muttered, "And you're only twenty-three?"
"Correct," Lusignan replied.
"That's crazy," Frederick said, "How would anyone have the required knowledge to run an entire halidom at that age? Surely you must struggle?"
"Not really, no," Lusignan replied nonchalantly.
"Oh…but that's crazy!" Frederick groaned, he was really struggling to comprehend what he was hearing.
"Your King manages his realm just fine and he's only two years older than myself," Lusignan said with a small laugh, "Plus Jura Meles is a much smaller halidom than Ylisse, the entirety of our population barely reaches fifty-thousand. On top of that, the city itself is divided into three sections, each managed by a triumvirate I put forward, that should put some perspective on it for you I hope."
Frederick immediately regained his composure after being reminded of his own liege's youth,
"I'm terribly sorry milord, my disbelief was grievously offensive and entirely misplaced, I thoroughly apologise for my words," he said as he dropped his head to face the floor in embarrassment.
Lusignan smiled, "Don't worry about it Fred," he said with a chipper laugh, "You're not the first person to react in that way, I'm used to it by now. I may be the supreme leader on paper, but I do have many people aiding me along the way, as you said, there is a lot to learn so any advice would be helpful."
"I shall confer any knowledge I would deem necessary and helpful my Lord," Frederick replied humbly, "But may I ask, who is in charge of your Halidom at the present, if both you and your Governor are here in Ylisse?"
Lusignan took out a pocket watch and tossed it to the great knight, "Open it," he said.
Frederick opened the pocket watch as Robin put the letter back in its envelope and walked over to stand next to his great knight. Inside the watch was a sealed portrait of a young woman wearing a maid's outfit, she had long hair, peachy in colour and a soft smile on her face.
"So this is the Felicia I've heard so much about," Robin said as he analysed the portrait.
Frederick raised his head from the watch, "Felicia milord?"
"Any time I arranged to meet up with Lusignan and Xenon they always informed me of a Felicia that they left in charge of the city for the duration of their absence," Robin explained, "Because I was also concerned about the possibility of a city delving into chaos if I stole the pair for myself."
"She's been with us for most of our lives, like a little sister," Xenon said, "Despite her clumsiness she's really efficient when it comes to administration, and is also quite the warrior in battle."
"Quite like Sumia then," Robin said with a slight smirk, "Who funnily enough is the sender of this letter, it appears she forgot you were arriving today and rather messily created this official invitation letter," Robin continued with a laugh.
"Sumia…as in the Queen?" Xenon asked as he folded his arms, "And an invitation to what?"
"Have a read," Robin replied as he tossed the letter to Lusignan, who opened it up and began to quickly read.
"Well…looks like we may be getting some of that food after all," he said as his grin returned to his face, "She's asked us to join the royal table for breakfast, wants to get to know the allies of Robin," he continued as he shot a raised eyebrow to his comrade, who eagerly bumped fists with him.
"Bacon for days," Xenon said with a triumphantly raised fist.
"Indeed," Robin affirmed, "Right, breakfast typically commences in exactly ten minutes, so I would advise both of you to head up there immediately, it's never a bad thing to be early."
"Sure, whatever you say," Lusignan agreed, "But maybe walk us there so we don't get lost," he added, "You know what we're like."
Robin nodded and led the group out of the kitchens and to a long stairway that went directly upwards from the warm stove rooms, Frederick stayed with the party for most of the journey before taking a side door exit insisting he still had more polishing to complete. Eventually the castle interior transitioned from plain uncoloured bricks to elegant wallpaper, beautiful paintings and glorious artefacts that surrounded Robin and the two Lords, they could tell they were reaching the royal section of the building. After two more incredibly long corridors the tactician stopped outside a grand golden door and motioned for his partners to wait,
"Okay," he began, "Breakfast is very simple, there will be five people at the table excluding you two, King Chrom, his wife Queen Sumia, their two children Princess Lucina and Princess Cynthia, and Chrom's younger sister Lissa."
"Got it," Lusignan replied as Robin started to work at his back, "Uh…what are you doing?"
"When someone gets within this close of a proximity to any royal family member they must be unarmed, a slight perk of your own noble status however, means you can bring in one weapon," Robin explained before turning his head to the bottom of the corridor, "Frederick?"
Almost instantly the great knight appeared from the doors at the end of the hall, "You called milord?"
"Yes, hold out your arms and take what I give you to my quarters, can you do that please?" the tactician asked.
"Not a problem milord," Frederick replied as he walked over and obediently held out his arms. Robin then proceeded to take Lusignan's shield from his back, alongside his short sword and gave them to Frederick. This left the young Governor-General with only his longsword.
"I understand the rule," Lusignan said as he tried to adjust his posture to the new weight distribution on his back, "But how come you didn't take our weapons when we met the sister earlier?"
"Well that wasn't an official meeting, so the rule sort of slides in that instance," Robin replied as he stepped to Xenon's side.
"Well it'll be a tad easier with you," he said with a grin as he watched Xenon undo the leather belt that held his weapons, allowing all of his axes, swords and the fabric they were attached to, to just fall off with ease.
"Right, you should be good to go now," the tactician said with a smile as he brushed some dirt off Xenon's top, "You're lucky Chrom is a fair and honourable King, many nobles wouldn't even speak to you dressed like that."
"Thanks for that..." Lusignan replied flatly as he looked at his clothes which he believed to be perfectly fine, as Xenon breathed a sigh of relief, "So will we go in?" the former asked Robin, who quickly nodded and knocked on the door.
"Come on through!" a male voice called, prompting Robin to open the door and push Lusignan and Xenon through, before quietly closing it behind them.