Sitting up abruptly, a bit panicked and still a bit shaken from his dream, Morgan sat in his bed several moments after waking up. He was trying to figure out who the other two people were, but the more he tried to remember that they looked like, the less they resembled people. It was incredibly frustrating, to say the least.
Nonetheless…he'd rather do what the person told him and spend the day with Robin than see that dream again—especially if it became a reality. He felt like he was being watched, and he was able to tell what one of the voices were saying:
"Cursed…"
Morgan shivered, and tried his best to ignore it.
He got dressed and headed down to breakfast, even though it was a bit early. He figured it was best to wait until he had some sort of support—hopefully, Malin would try to suggest it as well.
Apparently no one came into the dining hall until ten or twenty minutes before. Morgan busied himself by cleaning off the table and quietly talking to himself to try to mask the voices he heard.
The first one to come in was Chrom, who looked a bit surprised but didn't say much other than the typical "Did you sleep well?"
Morgan didn't tell him about his dream, only replying with a vague, one-word sentence that had become relatively common.
Lissa and Owain came in next, which sparked a conversation that Morgan listened to but didn't participate in. At this point, he was just waiting for Robin.
Malin came in about five minutes before breakfast was served, and Robin joined them just as the castle staff left the room.
Morgan couldn't help but notice that Robin was taking advantage of the two extra seats on their side of the table, leaving a gap between her and Morgan (and, by extension, Malin, since he was sitting right next to Morgan). Robin also seemed more focused on writing than eating.
No one said anything about it for a while. Everyone was relatively silent, really. After about ten minutes, though, Chrom spoke up.
"Robin," he said, if only to get her attention. She looked up at him for a few moments. "Can you sit the quill down for a few moments? You don't need to catch up on missed work the day after you come home."
"Plus, I'd prefer it if you didn't get ink on the tablecloth," Lissa chimed in. "It's pretty old and it's the only solid-covered one we have that isn't being used somewhere else."
"…alright," Robin replied, sighing a little. She sat everything down, and brought all of her attention back to Chrom. "Better?"
"A bit, yes," Chrom said.
Everyone continued eating. Morgan decided he was done after a small portion, not entirely hungry and not really willing to force himself to eat a full meal's worth of food.
It was pretty much silent until Morgan took a quiet, deep breath and tried his best to look over at Robin. "Mother? Is it alright if I make a request?"
There was a short pause before Robin replied, "Go ahead."
"Can I spend the day with you?" Morgan asked cautiously. He didn't enjoy that he felt like he could get in trouble for asking.
"I'm afraid not," Robin said. "As Chrom already implied, I have work I need to catch up on, and I would like to get it done sooner as opposed to later."
Morgan was, admittedly, a bit scared. Thankfully, just as he had hoped, Malin stepped in.
"I can do your work for you," Malin offered. "It's just a matter of paperwork and filing, right? Nothing I don't already do normally."
"It's a bit more complicated than that," Robin admitted. "Aside from this, I still have to do my normal daily tasks. I can't do that if I'm worrying over Morgan."
"Multitasking exists," Lissa reminded her. "You can work and worry at the same time."
"Not efficiently," Robin protested.
Malin sighed, closing his eyes for a few moments before looking back at Robin. "Look. I don't want to pretend that Morgan's not in the room, but this has to be said. You shouldn't make excuses just to avoid him—especially if there's someone else who can help. I'd be more than happy to do your work for a few days. Hell, no one in this room would protest to doing a bit of extra work for someone else to take a break. You need to stop overworking yourself and you need to spend some time with your son. I don't see much of a reason for you not to, and with everything else going on, do you really want to add 'refusing to talk to your son' to your list of regrets?"
There was a few moments of half-stunned, half-impressed silence.
"…you're right," Robin said silently. "I… I'm sorry. Everything's been stressful and I suppose I got a bit irrational." She looked over at Morgan, offering a mildly apologetic smile. "I'd be willing to spend the day doing whatever you wish."
Morgan tried not to show how relieved he felt. "Thank you, Mother."
"I'll take care of your work for you," Malin told Robin. "Don't worry about anything."
Robin nodded, and Chrom was able to pull them all into a conversation that lasted until everyone was finished eating.
As Morgan left the room with Robin not far behind him, the voice from before came back. He tried to ignore it, half wondering why it was audible when he was around a fair amount of people.
And then he realized what it was saying.
"Cursed are those in the bloodline of Grima."
Morgan didn't have much time to think about it, since he still didn't want to worry Robin. Maybe later…but she seemed stressed enough as it is.
