Morgan got roped into training, initially having Lucina as company before she left to make preparations for the trip back to Ylisstol. He sort of wished that he could've talked to Malin a bit more…maybe when he came to the castle.
After a few hours, Brady came by.
"Why do you look so gloomy?" Brady asked.
Morgan lowered his sword and looked over at Brady. "I looked gloomy? I feel pretty good, actually."
"Did that Malin freak say somethin'?" Brady said, apparently ignoring or not hearing what Morgan just said. "If he did, I swear I'll—"
"Okay, okay, calm down," Morgan replied. "If I look down, it is because of Malin—but not because he hurt me or anything! He just had to leave randomly, but I wanted to talk to him more."
Brady almost looked disappointed. "Oh. Well, anyway, it's about time for dinner, so Luce wanted me to grab ya. Need help putting away weapons?"
"No, I'm fine," Morgan said. "Thanks, though. Tell Lucina I'll be there in a little bit."
Brady nodded and immediately began walking away. Morgan set to work on cleaning everything up.
…
It was eventually decided that Lucina's aggressive sparring match with Marth would go unmentioned, since Lucina didn't want to actually blame Marth and the evidence was easy enough to hide. Morgan did tell the others, though, that he saw Marth without her mask—albeit with half of her face still hidden. Lucina took it as some sort of victory regardless, and resolved to bring it up when and if they next met if she remembered.
They met up with Robin in town instead of at the castle—she admitted to have been pretending Tharja couldn't watch her there, although the dark mage was probably right around the corner—so Morgan filled her in on pretty much everything that happened.
Robin seemed content to listen and nod up until her and Morgan were in the training area, the latter trying to help Noire with target practice while Robin was trying to politely ignore Tharja sitting right next to her.
"It might be a little late to ask," Robin began, "But did you run into trouble on the way back? Lucina was favoring her right arm; I just want to know if something happened."
"I think she scratched it a bit while training," Morgan replied, knowing he was dodging the question. He didn't want to get yelled at by Lucina later, but he didn't want to lie to Robin either.
His mother didn't look wholly convinced, and Tharja was definitely suspicious, but Noire was kind enough to side with Morgan even if she didn't know most of the context.
"I didn't notice anything off," Noire said quietly. "Not that I see Lucina a lot anyway."
"I'll ask her about it," Robin decided, turning to Morgan. "Right now, I think your father needed her. He didn't tell me the exact details, but he mentioned something about Falchion."
"Two halves of a better whole and you still don't tell each other everything," Tharja remarked bluntly.
Morgan decided to deter the conversation and move on to another topic before Robin got could reply. "Oh! I didn't tell you before, but you know that mercenary? Malin? He's going to be coming to the castle in another week or two."
The news did seem to make Robin ignore Tharja's comment for the time being. "I'm glad I'll be able to see him, then."
After Morgan nodded, silence fell for a little bit before Noire sat down her bow and laid down in the grass. "You know," she began hesitantly, "Every time you mention Malin, I think of the old assistant Mother had. Do you remember her, Mother?"
"I'm surprised you do," Tharja replied.
"I only have vague memories of her," Noire admitted. "She always seemed so nice, but no one will tell me her name. She was a few years younger than Mother, and looked a bit like I do now."
"She wasn't much help with hexes," Tharja said. "Still, her company was…pleasant. I have no idea why she just up and left one day."
"…Not unlike my friend," Robin said silently. She looked over at Tharja, and continued a bit louder. "Thinking on it, a lot of them left that way, didn't they? Chrom's favorite sparring partner stayed at the castle for a day before leaving; your assistant disappeared; my friend went off in search of gods-know-what and hasn't been heard of since."
"Maybe they all decided we weren't good enough," Tharja said, shrugging. "I can't locate them with magic, wherever they are. I know, I put a tracking spell on my assistant when she started making a habit of getting lost mid-march."
"I like to imagine they went back to their home," Robin replied. "It feels…easier to accept. Thinking that they're dead just gives me nightmares."
Morgan decided that him and Noire should leave so Robin and Tharja could use something other than descriptions. But first… "Mother, can me and Noire go out to the woods around town?"
Robin looked back at him, smiling a little. "Yes—but bring Frederick or Lissa with you. Try not to stay out too late, either."
Morgan nodded, and Noire willingly followed him out of the training area. Lissa was their chosen adult supervision, both because she was closest and because Noire wasn't scared of her (since Noire was scared of Frederick, Chrom, and Lucina, and wary of Owain). He then proceeded to lead the way into the forest just outside of Ylisstol, and took it upon himself to educate Noire in the wonders of early autumn.
(A/N: (1): Wanna know the end of what Brady was going to say? "If he did, I swear I'll get Luce and she'll pummel him."; I don't have anything against Brady, but he IS canonically weak, sooo… (2): This is the last chapter in the arc, as I mentioned previously. The next chapter will be an intermission, and the one after that will begin the second-to-last arc! (3): That being said, thank you for reading this far and I hope you will continue to read as the story slowly comes to a close—even if it'll be a bit unsatisfactory.)