With a soft yawn and stretching her arms, a solitary figure was still half asleep in the bedroom. A red nightgown covered her figure as her long hair was a mess, she couldn't get used to rise so early in the morning, in fact, in the last years, she couldn't believe she was an early bird.
Well, two and half decades ago there wasn't a reason to do so, from time to time her slumber would last an extra week or two, but aside of that, she was trying to have a life at the normal human pace.
Her pointy ears moved up and down, still dazed and yawning, her eyes were getting used to the dim light, perhaps too early? The sun wasn't illuminating the room as she expected, so there wasn't a real reason to wake up yet, but still, the air felt different.
With clumsiness in her steps, she approached her wardrobe, searching something to cover herself up, perhaps a different kind of dress? After her morning bath, of course.
"Milady, are you awake?" one voice called her form outside the room, before she could reply, a woman peeked inside, short and fluffed hair, black eyes, but just like her, pointy ears and green hair, although she had a shade lighter than her, she bowed. "Milady, good morning, you look…"
"Like a mess?" she yawned again, walking with her new clothes in her hands, to the nearest nightstand.
"… radiant" she sighed. "I'm sorry to bother you so earlier, but… you have correspondence."
"No more pleads, not so early in the morning, Shyalla," she started to comb her hair. "It's not like I hate it, but it´s too early for that."
"Don't fret, milady, I´ve already get rid of the pesky commoners' letters, there´s only what you need to know, the affairs of the continent, some invitations, th-"
She watched the young girl for a few moments through the mirror, until she saw something in her fingers, she couldn't miss that letter, before Shyalla could react, her liege took it from her hands. "Oh… well… this is… interesting."
"M-Milady? Wh-"
"Shyalla, it seems that you missed something important here," she curled her lips, showing the seal. "You forgot to tell me that he´s already in Ylisstol."
"Pardon?" the girl saw the letter moving up and down, she couldn't get what she means, until she connected some dots from the last reports. "You mean, Lord Wild?"
"You know he hates to be called like that, but yeah, it has been a while~" she smiled, opening the letter and lit one of the candles.
"But, milady, why do you think this is his? It has the royal Ylisstol brand on the wax, there´s no way th-"
"Let's just find out then~" with a cheerful tone, she opened a small wooden box on the desk. Taking a small bottle with a light red liquid and using a brush, she carefully wet the letter with it, then she passed it near the flame, page by page she repeated the process until all the pages inside the letter were on the desk, taking some minutes and with a nervous tap of her finger tips on her legs, her eyes lit up when the black ink was disappearing and replaced for a blue ink. "Oh! It worked!"
"Wait, you mean… you didn't know if it would work?"
"Nope~" she laughed, making her retainer deadpan. "Oh, come on Shyll, it has been hardly a decade since his last letter, I wasn't sure if that thing would work."
"Fine, I guess it can't be helped…." Leaning to her level, she moved the pages, it was the first time in what? Eight? Nine years? Before he was out the public sight and disappeared, she knew her liege was dead worried about his whereabouts, and the gloomy face she had in the past years disappeared when she saw his handwriting on the pages "So? What does it say?"
"Mmmm~ …..oh…" she suddenly turned with a smile. "Say…. Would it be too much if I ask for some tea?"
"Oh… ummm well, sure, just hold on for a moment milady, I´ll be back shortly" with a bow, she left the room, making her giggle.
"…..geez, has it been that long?" She couldn't understand herself, since the last time she read his letters, her always serene and calm nature was flipped when it had something to do with him, in the end, it was natural, since he was the only one who knew her embarrassing side. "Let´s see…"
"It has been a while, hasn't it?" it began "Right now, by the moment you receive this letter, if Anna is right, it should be one or two weeks since I arrived to Yllistol, I doubt it would be so swiftly delivered, but she´s quite stubborn and prideful about the whole 'golden mail secret merchants network', in any case, you must be shocked about this."
She leaned on the most comfortable couch in the room, her eyes were gleaming with expectation. "I finished my tuition in Maths, Strategies, Arcane Magic and Apothecary three years ago, yes, as you may think, I had a lot of job offers and climbed in the politics affairs of Plegia, you know, that´s the whole reason I didn't write in the last years, I wasn't sure how the girls managed to be in contact with you, but since the time they attacked the village, it wasn't so safe to risk the whole purpose of being here."
"You….You know, the whole thing about being in contact with 'the divine voice' and being in a nation that 1/4 of it´s folks believes in Grima, it hasn't been easy, a lot of times I wondered if you even missed me…"
Until that moment, a smile was on her face, but seeing how the handwriting was shaken, her curl disappeared.
"True be told, I´m not sure if I should be writing this, right now, I'm the tactician of a small military force called 'the Shepherds', under the prince orders, Lord Chrom, and taking care of his younger sister, Princess Lissa. I'm not quite sure but, I'm guessing that the Exalt, Lady Emmeryn, knows more about me than what it looks like, I wanted to know if you influenced her, or it was sheer luck, I want to hear the truth…."
"….after all, I have Heiwa with me."
Her throat dried, now her eyes light was lost, her hand trembled as her fingers flexed on the pages, biting her lower lip, she continued reading.
"… yes, it means what you think….mother fought against me, she infiltrated the royal Plegian castle to kill King Grangel, and I was on duty. I'm sure nobody suspected that the intruder was my mother, but that doesn't mean they´re ignorant about the sword, it happened three months ago, Gangrel couldn't believe his luck, having a royal treasure handed at his door so easily. In the end, I'm not sure if mother wanted to kill Grangel and then herself, or if she just tried to make it look like a failed assassination attempt and hand over the sword, I guess…. That the whispering of it was enough to push her to do something so reckless… I wonder if the reason I heard them without being affected is because I have that dragon blood in me, or if just its nature that´s is melding with me…maybe I'm just as everyone told us, a mongrel, simple as that."
Reading that broke her heart, his handwriting in that part was firm, she couldn't believe he was so sure about that, he wasn't like that, he wasn't bad or evil, Naga herself said it, so why? Why misfortune followed wherever he went?
"…I'm sorry, I shouldn't write about that, but, at this point, I'm not sure if Exalt Emmeryn let me live just because she knows about Heiwa´s nature or if you influenced her, or if it´s true that she´s just too kind for her own good, right now, I'm not sure what should I do, I wanted to confess this to anyone, Anna wasn't there when it happened, not even her knows, I'm too afraid to lose her if she finds out, I guess that you could take this as my last will, since if I'm killed or executed, Anna has prepared everything to assure that Heiwa reach's your hand."
"Thank you for everything, I'm sorry for burdening you with this, but you know the reason why I can't get to close with others, at the end, I want that at least you could remember me for my true colors, thank you."
"…" she felt a horrible pressure in her chest, her memories about their time together flowed through her mind, has she been too naïve? Or perhaps, too ignorant? She remained silent for a few moments, seeing the wind moving the curtains, there was really nothing she could do? Just to stay and watch? Frowning at the idea to be a bystander, she started to grab some clothes and personal stuff on her bed.
"Uh? What? Milady? Wh-what are you doing?" the girl returned with the tea tray in her hands.
"I'm going to meet him, right now."
"Wait? What?" she couldn't believe how quickly she put all her belongings in one of the small bag, and dressed herself "Wait, to where exactly?" her words didn't reach her, rushing to the door and with her bag on hand, she tied her hair and used a robe to cover her face. "Wait! What about everything? The meeting with Yen'Fay? The peace treaty with the new nation? The people who has been waiting for you over the week?"
"Move it to another time, tell them that I need to do a 'spiritual journey' or something, I don't think Yen' Fay would mind."
"W-Wait! Lady Tiki!" she ran behind her. "Where are you going?!"
"To meet someone, as that sweet, dumb man always says…" she smiled "It´s time to tip the scales in his favor for once."
Chapter 3: Life in Ylisstol.
Three weeks Ago.
"Well, that settles it," Wild said, leaving the office post. He just delivered a couple of letters, some for the nobles, others to the recruit spots on the towns, and a single letter to Anna. He walked through the halls, it was early in the morning, the sun was barely illuminating the halls and gardens, and as he suspected, the training grounds weren't quiet at all.
Seeing the ground from the window, there were a good number of rookies standing in front of Frederick. It has been four days since he arrived to the capital.
Three days ago, he was set as the new Tactician of the Shepherds, a small military group to be the first group of action of the Exalt. It was supposed to be a vanguard group, but with a prince, a knight, a healer princess and other people barely above the average, it was difficult to call it an 'elite group', so for the time being, his first task was to recruit and train new people for the group. Frederick would take the task to see who was physically fit, and Chrom would look for the background as he would judge the new assets.
They gathered a good amount of people in just a couple of days, most of them were too young or too naïve. Walking to the barracks and scratching his head, he really missed the quiet mornings with his step-sister. Now looking at the papers of the new recruits on the desk, he wondered if there was anyone who would fit in his lines.
"Hey you~!" Lissa quickly tried to poke his sides, but without losing his pace, he dodged her, over and over again when she tried to make him laugh. "Oh, come on! Just a couple of times, please?" she puffed her cheeks.
"Good morning Lissa, I thought you would be sleeping right now."
"Oh, I wish, Freddie didn't let me stay in my room," she crossed her arms, rolling her eyes. "He said that I needed to wake up early if I wanted to stay in the group, and to do a lot of sit ups to improve my stamina."
"Well, you could actually use some training," he chuckled. "Last time, you tried to use me like a horse when we were returning, saying something like 'my feet's hurts!' or something like that."
"Well… duh! I walked for three straight days! It´s not like I can walk that long," she puffed her cheeks with a shade of red.
"Then you should train more," looking around, he noticed they were the only two in the barracks. "I assume Maribelle already left?"
"She left an hour ago, something to do about her family and her father's lands." she sighed, siting in the nearest chair, kicking her feet on the air. "She´ll be back in a month or two, it´s hard to be away for so long after meeting for a few days."
"Well, she certainly has a lot more to do, unlike a certain carefree princess I know."
"Hey! I have been busy!" she showed her tongue. "like patching your bones together, you think I don't need energy to heal you?"
"Right, that´s why you sleep inside the barracks? Where Frederick wouldn't look for you?"
"I need my beauty sleep, you know," she moved her pigtails to highlight her petite figure. "Do you think this is for free?"
"What? Your thick arms? Can't understand how you are fragile and sturd-ouch!"
"You meanie!" she hit him in the forehead with some of the papers. "Just for you to know, I lost four pounds last week!"
"Dropping your lunch doesn't count as losing we- hey!" Again, she tried to hit him with the papers, with puffed and blushed cheeks.
"How rude! Maybe Maribelle should´ve taught you manners after all!"
"Heh, sorry, sorry, my bad," Wild chuckled raising his arms in surrender. "We should stop for now, I heard them getting close."
"Uh?" Lissa stayed quiet for a moment. Hearing the footsteps getting near the barrack, she dropped the papers in the near table, dusting off her dress and showing her tongue one last time before standing at his right side, he silently chuckled ruffling with care her hair.
"Man… that was tiring as hell," A sturdy man entered the barracks, followed by a dozen of new recruits, they were chatting and half heartily laughing, the man was tanned and with a blonde hair stopped noticing the duo. "Woah! What tha…. Hey! That rumor was true at the end?" he said pointing at Wild.
"Oh, I see you already met the tactician of the Shepherds" Frederick said entering the room, clearing his throat. "If you can't prove your strength, then you should prove your other attributes with them."
"Yo!" Lissa waved her hand, somewhat mad that the tanned man was still pointing at Wild. "Hey, Vaike, that´s rude!"
"Oh… Princess Lissa! What´s that Plegian doin' here?"
"The Plegian has a name!" She puffed her cheeks.
"As Frederick said, he was testing your strength, I´ll study your mental and magic skills, Lissa will stay here to see if any of you needs help," Wild continued, not caring about the man's incredulous gaze, moving away his finger with the tip of his pencil, "If you have a preference in a specific weapon, then let me know, also, I ne-"
"Woah, Woah, Woaaah! Hold on a sec´, I never agreed to follow a Plegian," Vaike looked somewhat defiant, crossing his arms. "I mean, do ya think nothin´ about us? We came to crush Plegians, not to be stabbed in the back by them!"
"Vaike!" Lissa now was getting annoyed for his attitude; her voice makes him take a step back for the sudden yell. "Don't yo-"
"It´s ok, Lissa, hold on," Wild placed his hand for a moment on her shoulder, with an angry face and looking each other for a moment, she huffed with her hands on her waist.
"Fiiiiiine, but you can't talk like that, Vaike," she glared daggers at the blonde man. "Wild has done a lot for us, you´re being too rude!"
"Thanks Lissa, just prepare your staff and be ready," he sighed, looking at the startled group, eyeing each one of them for a second. "I understand your mistrust towards me, but believe me, I have been preparing and studying for jobs like my position as tactician. Would you be willing to hear me out before deciding if I'm your enemy?"
The recruits whispered between them, Frederick was about to scold the group, but with a movement of Wild´s hand, he refrained from interfering in his work.
"Hell no!" Vaike raised his voice again. "I´ll judge ya with my fists, not with words."
"You just want to see if he is strong, right Vaike?" Lissa deadpanned.
"Of course! Old teach won't lose to anyone, and won't follow just a random Plegian just like that!"
"Fine by me," Wild walked to one of the racks at the side of the room, opened a crate and tossed a flask to the blonde. He took some mock weapons. "This will be a demonstration for everyone, anyone want to participate?" none of them said anything. "Use this time to study our match and learn something from it, after that, I´ll talk with each one of you if you like."
"What´s this?"
"An elixir. Take it, we´re going to do some practical test, and I don't want to hear you complain about being tired. If you don't trust me, ask Lissa if it is a good elixir," he sighed again. "Follow me".
They walked to one of the open spaces of the Palace, just a few meters away of the barracks, normally used only by Frederick to do his 'fanatical fitness morning training', as one of the butlers kindly placed a table near the purplenette so he could leave his belongings. The recruits stayed near the man, not sure to be wary or thankful for the free time he got them.
"Tell me, Vaike, how do you want to test me?" Wild said as he left his robe on the table, with Heiwa leaning on it, by the time Vaike walked at his side, he was already doing some light stretching.
"Teach wants to test your strength, so we obviously gotta fight, don't ya think?" he pumped his fist together as Lissa facepalmed behind Wild.
"… Ok, what about this, I´ll be your sparring partner for about ten minutes, you need to connect three consecutive hits to declare that you´re better than me in a fight, alright?"
"Whaaaat? Three what now?"
"….You need to hit me three times in a row, in any place, ok?"
"Alright!" He laughed happily as he took one of the wooden axes brought in a crate.
"Is this normal?" one of the recruits mumbled as Lissa scratched her head.
"Nope, is just… Vaike being Vaike, geez," The princess looked at the windows of the Palace. Normally there wouldn't be a lot of people at that time, but they were gathering the moment they saw Wild at the field.
"Should I call Lord Chrom to stop this charade?" Frederick asked as she shook her head.
"Nah, I want to see how Wild will beat Vaike, this will be fun!" looking at him, without his blouse, her heart skips a beat seeing his back, she remembered that time at the woods with a faint blush, although, seeing the bandages on his torso, made her worry if he wanted to lecture Vaike at cost of his health.
"Excuse me, Princess Lissa, is this allowed?" one of the recruits said as he pointed to the group, some of them were trading papers and coins to one the tallest guys in the group.
"Are they…." She groaned "I… I don't know, Wild say that you should watch….. by the way, what´s your name?"
"Ahh, sorry, my name is Stahl, a pleasure to meet you, Princess Lissa," he bowed. "I think is not the first time we meet, but it is the first time we talked."
"Oh? He´s the one you recommended, Freddie?"
"Y-Yes, milady… please… don't call me that," the stalwart man nodded.
"Well, it's a pleasure to be here, but… I don't know why Frederick brought me…. I mean, I'm not that special as some of them," he looked at the group. "Just…. The average."
"I think you might see why I brought you here, by Wild's own methods," he said making them to look at the duo.
"Man? Are you mocking Teach?" Vaike groaned as Wild spun the lance. He shook his head after being confident about his weapon's endurance.
"No, if that was the case, I would be using that in this battle," Wild said pointing with his thumb at Heiwa, strangely, the edge of the sword moved? Vaike just shook his head as he continued. "It's just… something to test your skills, don't worry about it."
"Hell no! They will say I beat you because you used something I know how to break," he huffed, somewhat disappointed.
"Then, it will be easy for you," Wild said, entering the area designed for sparring. "Ok, remember, you have ten minutes after it starts the b-" before one of the soldiers signalized to start, Vaike attacked, connecting one heavy hit in his chest, then another one on his side, making him fly backwards.
"That was….. Vaike…" Lissa groaned, Frederick sighed as they continued to watch.
"What?" Vaike looked at the group.
"It hasn´t started, you dumbass!" Lissa yelled with both hands on her mouth, to make sure everyone could hear her.
"That´s mean…. But he wont b-" Vaike looked at Wild, he thought he knocked him out, but the purplennette was just staring at him with such annoyed eyes that it was piercing in his conscience. "Umm… sorry…"
"Whatever…." Wild rolled his eyes, prepared, "Come."
"Uh? B-"
"Just finish this if you can," he groaned, moving his arms. Vaike moved his axe up and down.
"O-Ok, don't blame if I-" he tried to attack again, but the moment the axe started to fall, with a quick movement of his wrist and a swift-solid dodge, he hit his wrist with the back part of the end of the lance, forced his stance forward to the ground as he felt how the edge grazed the back of his neck when he stumbled for the sudden, strange "pull over" he made.
With hops in his feet, Vaike looked back at the man who stood firm in a strange posture, his right foot at the front, his left arms close to his body as the butt of the lance was again at the front. Wild coughed a couple of times, cleaning his lips with his free hand.
Standing up and moving his head side to side, he laughed "Ok, you know how to fight, Teach will admit it, but…" he grabbed his axe with both hands, " … what about this?!"
Now, with a diagonal cut downward, he tried to hit him. Wild took a backstep with enough space to dodge the cut, using the butt of the lance to divert the direction of the cut, he swung the lance with the force gained from the axe and with a twirl, he hit the shoulder blade and with the recoil, the lance bounced to hit the back of his left knee.
He fell on his right knee, looking back at Wild, he was still swinging the lance in his hand, slowly losing the gained force in that impact.
"That was a good hit," Wild commented. "But it's not enough," he commented, biting his lip containing a sudden cough.
"Ok, time to end this… sorry, but Teach won't lose this time!" Vaike stood again, using his right leg to support, this time he was about to strike with another diagonal cut, but Wild took a step forward.
Lissa opened her eyes as she witnessed that same trick again. Wild swung the spear in his hand in such swift but somewhat chaotic way that Vaike took a step back to prepare for the incoming strike.
And just as she predicted, with a second-split decision, Wild threw the spear on the air, making everyone look up as most of them thought, that it slipped from his hand, the way Wild stumbled on his feet and the odd position when he 'lost' grip of it, it felt that way.
But truth be told, Frederick and Lissa never averted their eyes from the purplenette. As Vaike naively looked up, he relaxed his posture, thinking that Wild made a mistake, but Wild took two short steps and with the gained inertia, delivered two quick shoved impacts, one to his windpipe and the other to the center of his torso, just below his rib bones, at first, it didn't look like a great strike, Vaike laughed.
"Trying to impress ol´ Teach? You c-" he started to cough, letting his axe go, he tried to 'scratch off' that sudden and irritating feeling inside his throat, it was like something was crawling to his lungs and he was desperately trying to cough it off.
It was a reflex of him to fall on all fours, with his right arm he hit his chest as with the left he was searching for his axe, he didn't know when he loss it, but when his hand touched the hilt of it, he felt Wild´s foot on the axe, looking up he was already with the wooden lance pointing at his neck.
"Point and check," he said as Vaike nodded ashamed. Wild looked back at the group that was mostly whispering or groaning, he could swear some gold coins were exchanging hands. "Listen up," he started. "There are doubts about me being here, I understand it, but let me remind you, you´re not here for me, you´re here for Lady Emmeryn, Lord Chrom and Lady Lissa. If you can acknowledge that you´re here on their behalf, then you don't need anything more to be a Shepherd. Trust your leaders."
Most of the soldiers were discussing and murmuring. Frederick just hit the ground with his lance to gain their attention, "That´s quite enough, all of you, if you doubt that much about Lady Emmeryn's decision, then you shouldn't be part of this group," he glared at the group, "or are you questioning Lady Emmeryn's trust in this man?" with that, the group remained silent.
"Look, I understand if it is shocking to see a Plegian here, trying to train you when you´re about to fight this halidom's threats, against other people that I'm pretty sure, will be other Plegians. But if you can trust Lady Emmeryn and Lord Chrom, I´ll see you here tomorrow to continue with the presentations and the magic training, that´s if you´re still willing to follow my lead," after that, Wild walked to his sword while the whole group looked troubled.
"Hey, are you sure about this?" Lissa approached, following close behind.
"Yes, I'm sure, Frederick will gather anyone who has talent in battle, tactics and every field I think would be useful."
"But aren't you a little too harsh?"
"Look at them, Lissa," the princess turned to see the group. Some of them were still talking about what happened. Stahl was helping Vaike to stand up, placing his hand on her shoulder, he continued, "None of them expected to see me today, much less that I would be the one responsible for their life on the battlefield. They need to meddle with that fact, if they´re willing to do that, then it will be all right."
"Still…. Hey! Wait!"
They returned to the building, and as soon as she closed the door, Wild almost fell to the ground, leaning on the wall, coughing. "…. Dammit!"
"Uh?! You should have said that you were too hurt!" Lissa approached, at first, she tried to help him, but he refused.
"Don't worry, I´ll just…." He took from his robe a small flask, Lissa frowned and stopped him, with a scowl, they looked each other and for her face, he couldn't guess what was wrong. "Yes?"
"Geez, so you didn't help Vaike because you´re angry at him, but you didn't want to show them this?" Lissa groaned, thinking that the purplenette was way too focused on keeping up appearances. "Don't just say that, mister!" she snatched the flask, and forced him to lean on her shoulder, her smaller body was definitely strong enough to help him to reach the coach. "You know that it's bad to rely too much on the vulneraries, you won't heal if you force your body like this!"
"It…. It was necessary, so there is n-"
"No! that´s not right!" she puffed her cheeks. "I don't care if it is 'necessary', what I care is your health, nothing more!"
"Lissa…. I appreciate that you´re concerned, bu-"
"No 'buts' mister!" she carefully let him rest in the coach, setting his sword at one of the sides while Lissa took one of the staff´s in the crates near the armory, she opened his robe once he leaned on the coach.
"Hey! Wh-What are you doing?!"
"Oh, hush it!" she opened his blouse, and as she expected, some small stain of blood appeared on the bandages. "Gosh…. Why do you keep hurting yourself?" then again, her hand slipped inside his inner pockets, taking away other small flask´s "I'm taking these, thank you."
"What? But th-"
"Hush! I'm the one patching your wounds, and I'm pretty sure that drinking vulneraries like you do isn't good for you, you need to rest!"
"Nonsense, I have a lot of things to do, I need to check on the reports, talk with Chrom about the issue with those things in the forest, coordinate the new recruits, prepare the supplies in case we need to move on," he started to list with his fingers his duties while Lissa rolled her eyes and used her staff to mend his wounds. "Besides, I need to check the reports of the nobles of Sela, Northtown, Argentport and Southtown, and I'm pretty sure I need to write down some warrants for the brigands spotted in the east forest."
"Yeah, not happening," she finished, glaring at him. "You can do that later, maybe tomorrow. You´re still weak, and Vaike didn't help with that fight," she sat at the other edge of the coach, leaving her staff near her, she place her hands on her lap. "….Come"
"Uh?!"
"I SAID COME!" She blushed. "I won't let you go until you rest at least some hours, and the only way I can make sure of that, is to watch your dense brain relax in front of me."
"….Lissa…. no" he sighed. "I´ll be beheaded if Frederick, or worse, Maribelle knows that I'm using the princess of Ylisstol like some pillow, I´ll rest in my room if you insist, b-"
Lissa rolled again her eyes, and pulling his collar, she forced his head on her lap, it wasn't too hard to do so, if Vaike did something right that day, was weakening him to make it easier for her to bend him to her will. "I won't let Maribelle hurt you and I'm sure Freddie wouldn't mind, so just relax for a while, at least until the next bell."
"Well… I don't think I can," he sighed. "I'm pretty sure that the moment I close my eyes, you´ll slip a toad, or frog, or whatever slimy thing you hid in the room, a-"
She pinched his nose. "Normally, I would, but now, I promise that I won't, at least not now," she giggled.
"Do you promise?"
"On my honor as a princess!"
"…fine, I´ll rest, but let me get off, I-"
"Nope!" she started to massage his temples. "This is part of the deal! No getting away of this, buster!" she showed her tongue. "Do you really believe I'm going to lose this chance to see you like this? You're nutz!"
"Hahh…. You really like to toy with me this way, don't you?" she nodded. "….haaaaaaaah…."
"What with the long sigh?"
"Is just….. I can't….. figure you out…. Sometimes you whine like a princess…. But other times…. You act so selfishly carefree….. are you like this with everyone else?"
"Well… I… I don't know" again, she could feel the heat on her cheeks. He had a point there, lately, she found herself thinking way too much of his wellbeing. Anna supported her thoughts and the way she insisted that they should spent more time like this, it was just fueled for her brother's comments that every second shared with his comrades were precious, that it would just strengthen the bonds they had. Was it all what she wanted? To be close to someone else? "I mean, don't sweat the small details, just… relax and enjoy!"
"Huh… if you say so…." Her soft and gentle hands were…. Refreshing? Soothing? Unlike his own hands, hers were delicate, tender and…. Welcoming?
No, he couldn't think like that, she was Lissa, even if he didn't care about the 'princess' title, she was too good for him.
Before falling asleep on her lap, he reminded himself that they were nothing more than friends at best.
"…So, if we secure this border, and deploy more Pegasi knights in the next week, then, there shouldn't be any kind of issue, Your Radiance."
"… the… slums…." Emmeryn looked at the map, it has been hours since they started the meeting.
That morning, before even the guards in charge of lighting the torches in the streets woke up, she received several documents from Frederick. True to his nature, it has been just a couple of days, but knowing that Wild wouldn't betray her, he delivered the reports and accounts of the last transactions in the last year. It was insane the speed and efficiency the man worked up.
"It´s easier than raising my sword against some brigands."
His words resonated in her mind. Frederick mumbled those words in front of her, saying that it was what he said. Perhaps he was still feeling guilty? She chuckled in the morning when the papers were delivered and after seeing that he managed to pull over the always lacking resolve of the nobles to check the accounts in three days, something that some nobles always delayed for weeks. It was surprisingly ironic that the men who accused him behind his back for being a 'dirty Plegian rat' were the ones missing payments to the royal vault.
So now, she was using the pointers the purplenette highlighted in his reports and with a full document of the inconsistencies in the payments, she could finally catch the smugglers at Argentport.
Her mind already acknowledged his capacity as a tactician, but now, her heart was in such big debt with him. Not only did he present those reports, but also, there were little memos attached to the documents with the 'best solution' and 'most human solution.' At first, it was clear that she read him like an open book for her trump card, but now, it felt like a challenge to know 'who knows the other best,' and it was entertaining, since he proposed actions to find and capture the smugglers at the port city, but also managed to slip some actions that would end the smuggling ring in a way that wouldn't affect the economy of the city at all. It was written in such way that she could almost hear 'what would you do, Your Highness? And how do you want to deal with my plan?'
"I won't surrender the slums of that city. We will wait for the return of the fifth squad," Emmeryn stated, looking at the map and how some nobles were delighted by her response, while some of them were definitely angry for her decision, making Phila take mental notes of who was against that plan.
"Your Highness!" one of them retorted nervously, "Y-you can't delay this for just some commoners that might be on the way! W-we need t-"
"If you said that the knights secured the city and there are no more Risen around, then you should wait for the reinforcements," She said with a bright smile. "We can regroup and restock over the next weeks, if we can wait for the goods just long enough, then it will be safer for everyone."
The noble flinched at her logic, and with a defeated face, he decided to not push the issue any further. "A-As you wish, Your Highness…."
"Good, I think that´s all for today, isn't it?" she asked, looking at Phila, who nodded. "Excellent, do you have any question? Or any issues?"
"N-No, th-that would be all."
"Good, then, if you excuse me, I need to attend… some important business. Would all of you be so kind to follow the guards? I believe that we have everything we need for your stay until the afternoon, would that be a problem?" none of them replied. "Good, dismissed."
Some of them sighed in relief, while other were panicking. Even if she felt bad for enjoying how they were sweating bullets, at the end, she had to do what was best for her people, it was until the last noble left the conference room that Phila closed the door and prepared a silence ward.
"Do you have all the names?"
"Yes, Your Highness" Phila quickly took a piece of paper to write, "Bolm, Amlet, Helet and Pierce, those were the ones that…. That….." Emmeryn smiled, trying to not laugh at her behavior, but it was too much to just not giggle for her face, "..ugh, that…. Lord Wild pointed in his memos, I´ll send a group of my girls to investigate and to check what you pointed."
"Good, then, that should fix the problem of Argentport and maybe, we can maintain the connections with Valm."
"I… I don't understand, Your Highness… why you believe in Lord Wild so fiercely?"
"Mmmm… a woman's intuition?" she curled her lips, making her deadpan. "It's just a jest, but…. There are things you can't know, I'm sorry."
"N-NO! YOUR HIGHNESS, PLEASE!" She bowed. "I….I stepped outside my boundaries, i-if you say I don't need to know, that´s all I need," she sighed after Emmeryn laughed. Looking at the map, she just stared for a moment at the picture of the city, "….Were we… that blind?"
"It is my fault for not seeing it as well," she sighed, crossing her arms. "For so long…. We trusted them… and all what we needed was to point out a privilege….."
It was hard. The problems of Argentport were that, since it was a seaport city with borders with the Feroxi Territory, all the income just drifted into some parts of the city. Those nobles that Wild pointed out were always quick to send some of their retainers to the city to secure the goods, but pointing out that they were not retainers, but nobles, with the privilege of 'once a month' with the fishing permit, they always declared the same type of fish was captured. All of them at the same time of the month, a rare species that needed to be transported in a special crate, that it couldn't be opened until it was stuffed or cooked.
Normally, the fee for such luxury would be 250 silver coins, but knowing that they were smuggling goods inside that crate, if you could dodge the toll change from Ferox to Plegia with the 'noble duties' that the Halidom paid the nobles to take care of such issues, jewelry, weapons and even drugs could be smuggled to the border, they could easily get five times the money they spent in the 'privilege' , and that was just for a small delivery.
"If we follow his instructions, the smuggling ring should be spotted and arrested by the end of the spring."
"And? You´re going to blindly follow his lead?"
"Mmmm, as long it´s reasonable, it would be foolish to appoint him as tactician and ignore his insights."
"But…are you sure about this?"
"With the little we have at hand, he suggested to cut this way the 'privilege' with the excuse that Risen were roaming close of the place. We have the chance to assign more soldiers and a supervisor that I trust. If we can make it impossible to keep their business, the nobles will fall one after another in months. By the time we place enough manpower to arrest them, it will be late for them to flee. They pay the taxes and at the end, we can seize all the illegal products."
"Will it be enough?"
"I don't see why not," she smiled. "Even Albert, Maribelle´s father, approved this earlier, but he would need to leave his daughter in charge of Themis for a while."
"Very well, I´ll make all the preparations, so our knights in Argentport can be prepared for the incoming changes and be alert to any suspicious activity."
"Oh, I'm so glad that you agreed in the end."
"Please, Your Highness," she winced at her words. "Even I can recognize if I'm wrong."
"Mmm… well, it is reassuring hearing that. After all, he´s going to Ferox with Chrom."
"Excuse me?"
"He´s going in a week. After all, if we´re going to send some of our knights to the border, we need to assure that it is not a threat and most importantly, we need to secure a reliable alliance."
"…. Your Highness….. are…. Are the rumors true?"
"It is true….." she sighed. "These past months, Wild's behavior ignited something in Plegia. Some of the nobles are against more hostilities against us, Gangrel has tried to make excuses, but in general, their army is in disarray, it seems that the 'saint of the robe' has tipped the scales in our favor, at least for now."
"I see…. Then w- wait, your highness, where are you going?"
"I need to make sure of something. You´re free to proceed as you see fit but now I need to go to my room, would you be so kind to follow me?"
Just as she requested, in minutes she was back to her room. She hated to trouble her so much for something as simple as that, but for the sake of her retainer, she didn't decline what Phila asked for her safety, at least for now.
Just as she left her cape on the nearest chair, she spotted what she wanted to see on her vanity beside the usual basket full of letters. It was a good thing that she managed to open them all that morning with her retainers to make sure there was nothing dangerous, but at the same time, it left her anxious all morning. She had to thank the puplenette later, getting up early made it worth the wait.
"Let´s see…." She picked up the letter that was carefully hidden at the bottom of the basket. This was her little secret; none of the knights, retainers or even Chrom or Lissa knew about this. Over the last 15 years she had been receiving those letters on a monthly basis.
It was by sheer luck that she followed its instructions out of curiosity. The first one arrived one day after hearing a speech on the streets, she still remembered that day. There were the occasional men on the city that still wanted her head for what the late Exalt did in the Plegian-Ylissean war, memories resurfaced of a familiar but forgotten face, she could recall that purple hair as her teacher, as her retainer, as someone close of her and her mother. A feeling inside her heart resurfaced when just one day she received that first letter.
It was something silly for Phila, a way to defuse the anger or the frustration of the people. She out of the blue, in a way, tried to soothe the anger and disbelief of the people, she had a policy of open door in almost everything, but since she couldn't hear every voice, she supported and even encouraged that anyone who wanted to write her, they could do it.
Of course, at first it was just insults and anger against her family, most of the time it was just mail filled with threats and hatred, but by the time of her 15th birthday most of the letters were for grateful people, most of the anonymous letters begged for her forgiveness, but above all, with the care and love of her people.
But still, she doesn't know why she did what she did.
It was an impulse, something that triggered when she saw the letter, just a few paragraphs of good intentions and that the sender would pray for her safety. There was something odd in the handwriting, then, it hit her when she read the name at the end.
Morgana
It couldn't be, it couldn't be true, it was a gamble, and just like she remembered, using the tools at hand, she prepared that red dye in a couple of days, the moment she wet the letter and the black ink started to disappear with the heat of her candle, she knew it wasn't a coincidence.
Neither Phila nor any of her retainers knew that name, not even the current council. There were only three people that knew her, and two of them were already dead, her heart couldn't handle it at first, the blue ink appeared and she just stared at it for hours, how should she react? With mixed feelings and hesitating at first, she read it.
For starters, it was…rather simple, there was a small message that the sender wasn't sure if she would recognize or even remember her, but she would send letters in the next month to try to contact her, that she would give up at the end of the winter if the Exalt didn't show any kind of sign that she discovered her messages.
All she had to do was to change her attire, a single pin in her hair in a specific day and a specific one when she was doing her public walk on the streets, but it was fine to follow the lead of the sender? If she was who she claimed to be, then there were a lot of questions she needed answered. Not sure how to proceed, losing that last piece of her broken past was too much for her, even if it was naïve for her to do so, she followed her request.
And it was answered far too well, for it was like she knew what she wanted to know. After going again with the attire she requested to be sure it wasn't a coincidence, the sender started to write about her life, Emmeryn's personal life. After hearing details of her birthdays, about her parents and about the issues she witnessed inside the palace, there was no doubt about it, the sender was her teacher, the same one that lived inside those walls when she was a toddler until the departure of her father, the same that he blamed for the Ylissean-Plegian war countless of time in his chambers.
She confessed her true intentions, and that she was from the once-proud family of tacticians, with her son, a purplenette,
This was her trump card, her confidant, the teacher she loved like her family and at the same time, she was Wild´s mother.
Bewildered by the sudden event, she received more letters every month, describing what happened behind the walls of the castle, away of the eavesdropper's, of the general folk, and more important, away from any kind of reason.
By the time of her eighteenth birthday, she already had a small collection of letters, enough to fill an entire book.
At first, Morgana confessed about the wrongdoings of her side, as well of the royal family, not regretting what happened, but sad that Emmeryn´s mother had to depart for her husband's stubbornness. Then she described how she and her son lived in Ferox, just to escape to the Milla tree, seeking guidance and protection, and how at that time, her son was in Plegia, trying to survive and finish her work to subjugate what was left of the madness that started years ago.
Her letters were not from a tactician, a teacher or even from an acquaintance resentful of the fate that touched her, but from a worried and repentant mother about the thorny path that her beloved son would´ve to travel due to her own weakness. By the time Emmeryn reached her 20th birthday, she felt that Morgana was someone intimate, her words weren't lies from a stranger, since they were never wrong in her predictions or in her statements about the events that unfolded in Ylisse and around it, despite the fact that this woman has been exiled by her own volition for her decisions and never received any kind of recognition. She cared not for Ylisse as such, but for the people who lived there and its surroundings.
By the time she understood that Morgana was reaching to a closure to her own decisions, her letters became scarce in the last month, a monthly basis turned in just two letters that year.
She feared that this third letter might be her last one.
Taking it with care, she started to read. It was curious how many feelings dwelled inside her, but now, she had to know the situation of her secret confidant.
*Poke poke*
He blamed himself, he knew it was a trap and still, he let himself be swallowed by it. Not that he could do much, it was just, soothing.
It was frightening
Anna made him lower his guard because she was her step sister. She knew his struggles in the last months, so the very least he could do was to tolerate her shenanigans, Khela, in the other hand, needed someone to rely one, and of course, she needed a shoulder to cry, even if she later would show her stubborn side. Tharja at the end, was the only one who could 'instigate' some behaviors, somehow he was grateful that the dark mage could see through him some times, even if it implied that she would toy with him later.
*Poke poke*
And now, he had to decide what to do, there was a bad feeling in his guts.
Maybe it was just a bird? Who knows? Sometimes he fell asleep in the forest and lost his meal to an opportunist crow, but he was indoors. Maybe a leak from above? He wasn't sure how much he slept, but from the smell of the air, it hadn't rained, besides, he felt something solid poking his cheek, not something wet and weak. It was something cold, so perhaps ice?
Not cold enough, but even if it was something crazy, he wanted to be something else, that could be anything but someone that found out that the new tactician, a Plegian fell asleep on the lap of the princess of Ylisse just like a toddler. It could be anyone but Frederick or Maribelle, he knew that the only reason they would take him out his slumber was to behead him without leaving a stain on Lissa's clothes.
*Poke poke*
"Say…. Aren't ya a little to comfortable? I can do this all day," He opened his eyes to find that red-haired girl kneeled and staring at him, with such a big grin.
*Poke poke*
"Wh-What time is it?" he slowly got up, realizing that it was Sully the only one watching him sleep, it might be his lucky day.
"Well, the fourth chime at noon has sounded, so it´s been a while," she replied. "I was worried that Frederick did a number on you, buuuuuuut to think that our tactician was soundly sleeping at Lissa's side," she chuckled, trying to contain her laugh with her hand. "but…. I have to worry? Ya aren't….. looking normal."
Looking at his torso, Wild realized that Lissa never buttoned his blouse again. Sighing and straitening his posture, he rolled his eyes. "I had a little match with Vaike this morning, I thought that it would be fine, but some of my wounds…. Well, Lissa had to use one of the Mend staves," looking at the princess, Wild sighed, taking from his pocket a napkin to clean the drool on her cheek. She fell asleep as well against the back of the coach.
"Yikes, not a normal staff? It must have been a nasty cut," Wild tried to stand up, but for some reason, he wasn't fully awake, almost tripping on his own feet, Sully quickly helped him to stand. "Take it easy, you still have baggy eyes, not quite like yesterday, but still…."
"I still have work to do... i-" Sully interrupted him with a grin.
"Well, that´s why I'm here," She left the tactician on one of the stools at the back of the room, near the kitchen and bar, then she took out her lance with some documents, he could tell that her eyes were gleaming with excitement. "Look at this baby! I can't believe miss Anna got this."
"Geez, Sully, you shouldn't be bothering our tactician like that," from the door of the kitchen appeared a regal girl, light brown hair and wing pin´s on her hair. "Uh? Was Lady Lissa here?"
"Yup" Sully grinned, looking at Wild, "And you wouldn't be-"
"I'm sorry, I think I missed your name," He interrupted. "My name is Wild, and you?"
"Oh, my name is Sumia," she bowed. "It´s a pleasure to know the man that saved Lord Chrom and Lady Lissa…." She stared at him for a brief moment, her eyes were fixed on his robe, "….umm…."
"Oh, this? Don't ya worry!" Sully pulled his hood "He´s only a Plegian in appearance, but this guy is quite the gentleman, I'm sure if ya give him the chance, he´ll a great friend. He likes books too so, so he might be one new member of your club."
"Really?" Sumia quickly approached, not before tripping. Sully helped her friend to stand with a smile, Wild just arched his eyebrow thinking, 'Did she…. Tripped on nothing?' he thought.
"Sorry… sorry," Sumia apologized. "But, is it true?"
"Uh? Ummm, yeah? I guess, I mean, I read a lot, but most of the times it's about strategies and books focused on war."
"Oh… I…. I see" she looked disappointed.
"But I don't mind if you want to tag along to read other kinds of books. In my spare time I'm always willing to lend an ear, or in this case, be a 'book buddy,'" he said, not sure why he said that, but looking at her sad face was no good at all. Perhaps Sully pushed her on him to pull his leg? The gleam in her eyes returned.
"Really? You don't have to push yourself."
"Well, you´re one of the Shepherds, right?" he asked, and she nodded. "Well, if you´re willing to, I can always chat with you, I have a open door policy, so I don't mind if my comrades talk to me from time to time when we have a moment to spare."
"….You´re way open for being a noble, if I say so myself," Sully commented.
"Uh? You´re a noble too?" Sumia gasped. "B-But…. I have been so rude to one of Chrom's friends, and a noble too!"
"Relax, it´s…. complicated," Wild shrugged. "But I don't really mean to pass myself off as some distant noble of Plegia or whatever, I'm just the tactician of the Shepherds, that´s all."
"A-are you sure?" he nodded, the fragile girl sighed in relief. "Ok…. Then, Wild, could you …. Help us with the new weapons? Frederick said that you know how to maintain our new supply of weapons."
As Sumia began to speak more relaxed way in front of the purplennette, Sully could see from the corner of her eyes how Lissa puffed her cheek´s, still pretending to be asleep.'Well, this is interesting,' Sully thought. 'Maybe I can see how much she cares about him. Anna was right, this is going to be fun.'
Phew, well, that´s all for now, I hope you enjoyed it!
Now, some quick Q&A
First of all, some of you have noticed this work as 'rewritte' for my first work (back to 2016 o_o), to make it simple, no, I wont continue that work anymore, it was a little experiment and something I wanted to do to improve my English, now that I have more help and more friends here, i´ll be posting 'Fated Dragon', 'Forced Light', 'Insight' (a work in process that will be released next week) and this one.
Im sorry, but no, some of you wanted to know the old one, they´re followers of that work and I apologize, but since I have more help now, I wanted to hone and improve that story, yes, there will be changes, but I feel more comfortable doing a rework from scratch that continuing that work.
That doesn't mean it will be forgotten, even if this work it will focus in RobinxLissaxTharja (even a possible harem route) I have discussed with some of my regular friends and editors, an although they find appealing that I started RobinxAnna in the original work, they agreed that im way more used to writing characters like Lissa than Anna, and knowing all the background of the original work, it would shine brighter.
Also, some of you have noticed that there are hints from the old and new work, that´s is simply as I said, I only moved the ships from RobinxAnna to RobinxLissa(and possible harem route), that´ll depend on how this work is received.
Yes, some of the chapter that are greatly received in the old work will appear here, but with the improved style, so you don't have to worry.
Yes, i´ll maintain my standar of 8k-15k of words in this work per chapter, I really like to describe and to set up the brackgorund with the characters, and no, since I have more free time, this work wont be delayed, I know it has been months since the last update, but you know guys, life happens.
ANYWAY! I hope you find it pleasant this new(old) series, take a look at my other stories, feel free to leave your PM and comments, it helps me to improve my writing, I hope you have a good night/weekend!
SHIDESU! OUT!