Recap from previous chapters (since it's been a while):
Princess Lucina falls ill from a poisoning attempt as she is working with Robin on a plan to secure peace for Ylisse and the continent as a brutal battle for Khanship brews in Ferox. It does not help that in her dreamscape, the Lucina who travelled from the past is now clearly tortured by her feelings for Chrom's tactician.
Lucina misses the simplicity of having Older Morgan there to guide her.
Chapter 18: "Pride"
Lucina's father is in the room. She opens her eyes to see his gaze fixed on her face. He runs his fingers through her hair, gives her a small, tender, sad smile.
"Hey sleepy head..." He whispers. She blinks.
"Father?" It's been a few days since Morgan brought her to the infirmary. The antidote is doing its work, and she's regaining her strength daily, but it makes her sleepy. She takes in the golden light drifting through the gaps in the curtains, the dirt on her father's trousers. He must have been working out in the training grounds again. "What time is it?"
"Lunch time," he nods at the tray on the sideboard, "but you don't have to eat straightaway if you're not hungry yet." Chrom has his hand around hers now, his thumb rubbing circles on the back of her hand. He's anxious. Lucina frowns.
"Father... What is it?" She pushes herself up, glad to no longer feel lightheaded as she does so, though her arms still feel like lead. "What is troubling you?"
Chrom gives a defeated chuckle and crosses his arms. He turns his gaze to the fluttering curtains.
"It's about your plan you were discussing with Robin." Chrom says.
Lucina recalls the sheet she'd had in hand as she'd passed out. With all the drama, she'd forgotten about it. There'd only been a passing mention of it when her mother had visited her bedside last.
"I've decided to authorise an adjusted version of it..."
"Adjusted?" Lucina gulps. She put a lot of effort in that plan. What had needed adjusting? What had she overlooked? A knot of anxiety forms in the back of her throat, effectively shutting down her appetite.
"We can't really send you there unwell," Chrom replies with a quirk of his brow. He chuckles. "Don't worry, Inigo will do fine. He's been taking lessons with Robin too and is really excited to visit Olivia's old haunts."
"Inigo?" Lucina pictures her brother, in his best dancing robes, swanning through the high spheres of Feroxi politics... It kind of works, actually... But... "What if someone attacks him?" She asks, worry raising the tone of her voice more than she'd normally allow. Inigo isn't a fighter.
"Don't worry, I'm sending Laslow and Soleil with him. In fact: they volunteered. Soleil seemed excited to go and stay in her grandmother's country for a time. They leave tomorrow." He takes both her hands in his, smiles. "I thought it best to let you know personally."
Tomorrow? So soon! She'd thought for sure that Chrom wouldn't allow her plan to go ahead before the autumn... What changed.
"Father... Why so soon? Has something happened to Basilio? Flavia...?" Chrom's grip on her fingers tightens near painfully as she asks. He takes a deep breath and relaxes his hold. His expression is grim, matches the one he wears in her dreams.
"No, they are both well, last that we heard." His blue eyes search hers, and she feels small, too young, for the seriousness with which he talks. "Robin and Maribelle figured out how the poison got in your system. Someone's been tampering with the seals on Flavia's letters to you."
Lucina starts. Flavia's letters? The wax seals... Tampered with? Would she not have noticed? Thinking back on it... She recalls, oddly, noticing an almond like smell as she broke the seal once. How...?
"The details aren't your concern just now..." Chrom tempers upon seeing her distraction. "Flavia mentioned to me that one of her seal rings went missing recently. We suspect one of her rivals hired someone to steal it and has someone along the mail's route to tamper with the ones specifically sent... sent to you. We've sent word to Plegia to check that their mail hasn't been... sabotaged." His voice cracks. Lucina isn't sure if she reaches for him first or vice versa. Either way, they hug, her father's arms warm and comforting at her back as he kisses her brow. His voice is teary as he adds, "I'm just glad you're going to be okay, baby girl."
Lucina feels similar tears in her eyes. Thanks to her dreams, she has little trouble imagining the terror that her father must have experienced.
She sniffs, looks past the tray with her lunch on it to the vase full of daisies by the window. Together, they shed tears of relief.
Laslow drops by with Inigo. His cocky smile matches Inigo's warm grin nearly exactly.
"Keep my brother safe." Lucina scolds him when he jokes about womanising in Feroxi tea houses.
"Don't worry, Princess, I will," Laslow's expression turns serious, a rare event, as he leans in close. His voice is quiet, but simmering with a cold, knife-sharp anger. "And I'll find the coward who conspired to hurt you. I swear."
Laslow's smile returns to his face lightning fast. It looks predatory. It's a stark contrast to Inigo's warm affection as he wishes her to get better soon and promises to write often. Lucina gets the feeling that whoever masterminded her poisoning was soon likely to regret even being born.
"Safe travels!" She calls as they leave the room. Lucina feels sad. She wishes...
She doesn't know what she wishes. She wants someone to talk to, someone who she knows will understand, even when she can't find the words... Severa? Gerome, perhaps? Lucina looks at the vase by the window again. She has a feeling... She knows who those flowers are from, without being told. She knows that if anyone can understand, it would be them...
But no, she thinks, her mind still remembering vividly her dream when she took ill. It wouldn't be appropriate. Instead she steps out of her bed, dons her robe and slippers, and leaves in search of Morgan.
It's good to speak to Morgan about her worries. Morgan understands the Feroxi and Poisoning situation in ways Lucina can only dream of, the younger girl helping Lucina to wrap her mind around the more emotional aspects of the situation. Morgan helps her cope with the guilt of having allowed herself to be harmed, reminds her that it's okay to not have realised, to feel vulnerable and scared. Morgan distracts her with tales of their friend's latest hijinks, one tale involving a rather enthusiastic Cynthia hosting a tea party in which Gerome got thoroughly soaked and Severa roaring drunk. Morgan says Kjelle is still getting stitches whenever she thinks of it. They play board games in the garden, as Lucina's strength returns in full. They exchange thoughts about books they've both been reading, short anecdotes from their shared dreamworlds and castle gossip. Sometimes Kjelle and Severa join them, or Gerome and Owain. It's nice... but...
Lucina spots Robin striding past the flower beds, waving at Sumia. She doesn't talk to Morgan about how in her dreams, she's developed feelings for her father. She doesn't mention it to Severa, nor Gerome... Although she very much feels the itch to talk to someone about it... She considers asking her mother, but soon rejects the thought... She doesn't want Olivia to get the wrong idea.
How Lucina really feels about Robin? It's complicated. Her tactics lessons with him have been suspended, so their interactions since her awful dream have been limited to his good wishes and polite nods of the head. She's part relieved. She needs the distance right now. It's easy to distinguish the Chrom in her dreams from her father the respected Exalt: the wrinkles on his face, the relaxed set of his shoulders and his now regal taste in clothes all show the difference near two decades have had on him.
Robin on the other hand... The years have been kind to his appearance: he has no more white hairs on his head than he had twenty years prior, the laugh lines on his face are barely any deeper, and he still has that innocent and mischievous spark in his gaze that enchanted every single one of the Shepherds back in the day. The only noticeable difference is that he no longer dresses for war, and he struggles to keep up with Morgan in training sessions. His stamina is much reduced, even though his mastery of the magical arts has come leaps and bounds. That and... Lucina ponders... There are times, she's noticed, where Robin is melancholy. She feels it then, a deep-seated knowledge within him that seems to be older than the hills. It scares her. It scares her that she notices. It scares her because she feels melancholy that she can't name, one that she has felt, on occasion, ever since she was a little girl. A voice in her head whispers how it doesn't make sense for her to understand this man so well. She barely knows him... But another part of her is sure that she does.
"Hey, Lucina!" Severa smirks as she guides her pawn to topple Lucina's queen. There's a knowing quirk to her friend's brow as she leans in across the checkerboard. "It's not like you to leave yourself open like this. Someone on your mind?"
Lucina feels heat flare in her cheeks. Severa laughs at Lucina's rebuttal. She decides it's time to give Severa a challenge: Lucina manages to Check mate Severa within five turns.
By the time Lucina's back to full strength, Flavia's stepped down from Khanship without incident. Her brother writes her a long letter on the matter. She adds it to the pile where he gushes about Regna Ferox and elaborates more on his dance routines than the actual politics.
She smiles. Soleil is a surprising choice for East-Khan, but one that Lucina knows promises a bright sunny future for the continent of Ylisse.
The west Khan, Basilio comes to visit Lucina in person about a month before. Her poisoner and their employer have been dealt with, Basilio saw to it personally. It reassures Lucina that she needs not worry about opening her mail from Regna Ferox safely any longer. She smiles as he introduces her to the champion he favours as his own replacement: a young man with a serious face, a slight build, and a sharp tongue. She arches her brow at Basilio as they leave, and he shrugs and rolls his eyes. Lucina laughs. It's not the first time he chooses a champion who obviously changed their name. The princess wonders how the new champion would fare against the masked Marth. She finds herself looking forward to the challenge.
Lucina arranges to visit Ferox with her mother for the ceremonial inauguration of Soleil's Khanship. The pink haired mercenary is understandably jittery, but the brightness of her smile is only eclipsed by that of her father, Laslow preening as he sheds proud tears and whispers about how that's his baby girl.
Lucina's heart pangs, as she realises. The Lucina in her dreams is a parent too. It doesn't feel real, but she knows... She knows...
When they return to Ylisstol, Lucina doesn't even shed her travel coat before seeking out her Shepherd's favoured tactician. She finds Morgan in the training grounds, engaging Laurent in a complex scenario of spells and traps.
She watches, patiently. A warm feeling fills her breast as she watches Morgan fool Laurent once, twice, and then a third time, much to the young man's bemusement. Morgan's laugh is cheerful and flows easily as the other mage surrenders, heading indoors to wash up. He'll be back, eager to learn more. Morgan glances to Lucina then. The curious tilt to her head, the question in her eyes prompts Lucina to step forward.
"I know," Lucina says, walking up to within arm's reach of Morgan. Morgan doesn't seem to trust herself to ask for clarification. Lucina chuckles, wetly, feeling tears fill her eyes. She remembers a dream where her other self lets her father finally see the brand in her iris. This feels the same, bittersweet, and miraculous. She forces the words past the lump in her throat. "I know who your mother is."
Understanding dawns.
And for the first time since the Lucina from the past vanished, you allow yourself to burst into tears and fling yourself into your mother's welcoming arms.