(A/N: This chapter's a bit short too; sorry about that. The later chapters are longer, I swear.)
Morgan didn't mind cursing if he was expecting it. For example, if Lucina or Owain—sometimes Chrom, too—randomly said "dammit" out of the blue, he wouldn't pay much attention to it. Somehow, though, every single time Basilio said something similar, it made Morgan very unsettled. Maybe it was because Robin was right there, for once not insisting on some sort of censoring. He tried not to seem rude—he really did—but while everyone else chatting with their guest, he went up to his room.
By the end of the week, all the Mini Shepherds were there and more than willing to take another trip up to Regna Ferox. Basilio confirmed that they knew where they were going, and then they left.
When they got to their destination, they were greeted by four people: a woman Lucina said was Flavia, the ruling khan; a grouchy-looking man who was introduced as Lon'qu; and the pleasant surprise of Malin and Marth.
Since they were the last two to be introduced, they didn't notice the Mini Shepherds at first. When they did, though, Malin smiled a bit.
"Told you we'd meet up again," he said, looking at Morgan.
"You're already acquainted?" Flavia asked, directing the question towards Lucina.
"We met last month," Lucina explained. "We were all on the path to the same village, so we traveled together for a bit." Turning her attention to Malin and Marth, she have a small nod. "Speaking of, it's nice to see you two again."
"Gods," Flavia muttered. "Was she always this straight-forward and blunt?"
If Lucina heard, she didn't make any signs of it—Marth looked over at Flavia, though, her expression still unreadable due to her mask.
"Anyway, that saves me the trouble of explaining it!" Basilio said, chuckling a bit. "That also gives you more time to look around. Just remember that this place has a lot less guards than the Ylisstol castle does, and the most impressive thing to see is the training area—and that's saying something!"
"If you want, me and Marth can show you around?" Malin offered, gesturing towards the Mini Shepherds. "We've been here a few times."
Before anyone could agree, Marth spoke. "I won't be joining you," she declared. "I'd rather train, if I'm being honest. Lucina, would you like to join me?"
"Of course," Lucina replied. "I was thinking of training while we're here, so it works out well."
Marth and Lucina left, with Kjelle following them after a few moments. Morgan turned back to Malin, ready to give his answer.
"I wouldn't mind a tour," Morgan said.
"Great!" Malin replied happily. "Anyone else?"
Cynthia and Owain opted to go with Malin, while Laurent and Brady decided to have Flavia and Basilio respectively a their guides. Malin just gave a basic tour—where everything was and such—without much details. Instead, most of the silence was filled with chatter between all four of them, with Malin interjecting every now and then when they came across a place of note.
"So, are you guys here for the tournament too?" Malin asked.
"Yeah," Morgan replied. "Basilio came to Ylisstol and asked us to participate."
"Marth and I were already on our way here," Malin said. "We were planning on going to Valm for a bit, too, but Marth keeps on saying we're going to run out of time."
"Running out of time for what?" Cynthia asked. "If you don't mind me asking, that is."
"No; you're fine," Malin said. "I'm not sure if I've mentioned it before, but me and Marth are on a mission-of-sorts—we've been working as mercenaries in order to maintain the lifestyle we've become accustomed to, but aside from that we're basically doing several things at once. We aren't exactly from here, so we're trying to get home. There may or may not be a time limit, so Marth wants everything done as quickly as possible."
"That sounds a bit rough," Morgan said.
"Eh, I've dealt with worse," Malin replied, shrugging. "It probably doesn't sound like it, but she really isn't that bad. A lot has happened to her, so it makes sense that she'd be a bit protective."
"She sounds a bit like Lucina," Owain mused. "She cares, she just shows it by making sure you'll be able to survive if all society suddenly collapsed and making sure you can mass-stab whoever attacks you. Sort of like that?"
After a few moments' hesitation, Malin nodded. "More-or-less, yeah." They stopped in a hallway, and he gestured to the doors on either side of him. "These are the bedrooms. There aren't enough for everyone to have their own, so Morgan, Owain, Laurent, and Brady will share one, while Lucina, Kjelle, and Cynthia will share one. Feel free to claim beds—someone will probably come up to tell you when dinner is ready."
Shortly after that, Malin left, and the trio did as he had suggested and started picking out which bed they wanted to have.