Robin watched as Chrom shuffled through his notes with a frown. When he put them down, he lifted his gaze to Robin.

"So the Grimleal have been behind the kidnappings?" he said, a note of worry in his voice.

"I'm afraid so. They said they planned to sacrifice the women they'd captured to the Fell Dragon."

"That's not good. How many did you say there were?

"I'd say about forty. Though with the prisoners we have locked up in the dungeons now, I'd say there can't be any more than thirty."

"How do you think so many of them snuck past the guards?"

"There were one or two holes in this month's guard patrols. Maybe they trickled in one at a time. Speaking of which..." Robin reached into his coat to pull out his journal, but Chrom held up a hand to stop him.

"Robin, you have our guards busy enough as it is. We don't need another one."

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"How about you and Sumia start working on trying to find where this Grimleal sect is hiding?"

"Alright. I'll see to it."

Chrom waved him away, and Robin turned around and left for the door. As he pulled the door aside, though, he heard Chrom call out to him.

"Wait!"

Robin looked over his shoulder. Chrom was grinning, and in a way that made him think the Exalt was planning something. Usually, he left the planning to Robin.

"I almost forgot to ask," Chrom said. "Have you and Sumia been staying completely on task?"

"Yes. We've done nothing else for the day before."

"Are you sure?"

Chrom's grin widened, and Robin's eyes narrowed. "Where are you going with this?" Robin said.

"Nothing is going on between you two?"

Robin's face heated up. "Gods no!"

"Gods, yes. People talk around the castle, you know."

"I thought you knew better than to listen to gossip."

"Denial won't get you anywhere."

"Neither will Sumia. Out of all the people I could take an interest in, you think Sumia would be on that list?"

Chrom huffed, disappointment clear on his face. "With an attitude like that, I wouldn't be surprised if you remained a bachelor until the day you died."

"Do you need me for anything else, your Grace?"

"No, you can leave."

Robin gave one last glare at Chrom, and when Chrom shrugged back, he scoffed and slipped out the door. For all his charm, sometimes he could be a little much to deal with.

The door closed behind him with a click. As Robin turned around and stepped into the hall, he crashed into someone. Books flew everywhere, and both of them crashed into the floor in a sprawling mess of robes and limbs. He blinked, and, as luck would have it, found Sumia on the floor in front of him, rubbing her head.

"Sorr–"Sumia opened her eyes, and when she saw who she had bumped into, she cut herself off.

Robin glared into her eyes. From what he could see, the feeling was mutual. He avoided her gaze as he leaned down to pick up his journal. To his surprise, he noticed another journal on the floor as well. Sumia's hand grasped the journal before he could get a better look, and she pulled it closer to her. It seems she wasn't letting go of the case.

Without a word, they got to their feet and brushed past each other. As Sumia slipped by, something pink caught his eye. He stopped, turning around to glance at the light brown hair flowing down her back, and saw pink petals tangled within it.

So she'd just gotten back from a flight. Nothing important, then. Nothing he had to ask her about.

He huffed and turned back in the other direction.

If she's not going to talk to me, then I'm not going to either.

Sumia didn't really know where she was going. She still had the notes for the case. She was going to solve it, with or without Robin's help. The only problem was that she didn't know where to start. She had gotten used to following Robin's direction.

She had grown to rely on him.

Sumia shook her head. She wasn't working with him anymore. She had to do it himself. She wasn't useless, she would show him.

Where to start, though?

"Hey there!"

Sumia stopped. Frowning, she looked around for the source, and down the hall, she saw Anna waving to her.

"Anna?"

"Forgotten me already?" Anna said. "I don't blame you. My face isn't exactly unique."

"Oh, sorry. What are you doing out here?"

"I don't spend all my time running the shop. I'm a person too, you know."

"Oh. It's just that I've never seen you outside of it."

"I came to your room for your little interrogation, didn't I?" Anna chuckled, before her face turned serious. "Speaking of which, how has the case gone? Have you gotten my cousin back? And where's Robin? I haven't seen an arm's length between the two of you for the past few days."

"I'm sorry, we haven't gotten your cousin back."

"And your partner?"

"Robin and I had a little disagreement."

"Really? And only after a day?" Anna gave a disappointed sigh, and she pulled a gold ring out of her pocket. "And here I was, hoping I'd have someone to sell this too." She tossed it up in the air, closed her fingers around it, and slipped it back into her pocket.

"Look, since I'm on break, I was going to go to a tavern down in the town. It's called the Blond Berserker. Ever heard of it?"

Sumia shook her head.

"Well, neither have I, but a cousin of mine, the same one who got snatched, she said it's got good drink for a cheap price. She may be a cheapskate, but I don't take recommendations from business partners lightly. What do you say we head down there and talk about it?"

"I guess it couldn't hurt."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she wished she could take them back. A drink this early in the day? She was supposed to be working on a case, not going out to talk about her problems.

"Actually, I–"

"Great! Let's go! I can't leave my shop alone for long."

She bit her lip. She couldn't afford to get sidetracked, not when there were lives at stake in this case.

Although, now that she mentioned it, wasn't the Blond Berserker the tavern in Guillotine Gutter? The place where the kidnappings had occurred? If she got close, she could do some more investigating.

"Wait for me!" she said, and she took off after Anna down the hall.

This pink flower was unlike any flower he'd ever seen. Apparently, it was unlike anything Lissa had seen either because she was stumped as well.

"Em did all the gardening here," she said. "I only helped around the castle now and then."

"I know, but Panne is helping Donnel on the farm, Miriel is carrying out some research in the desert, and Virion is Naga knows where. You're the only one in the castle who knows anything about flowers. Think, Lissa. Where do you think this flower came from."

Lissa squinted at the flowers. She didn't say anything for the longest time. After a while, she turned around and took a flowerpot off the windowsill, a group of flowers growing out of the dirt.

"This is the closest I can find," she said, and she pointed to a bright red flower at the center of the cluster.

"Maybe they're just different colors?" Robin said.

"That's what I'd think. The only problem is that this flower is from West Regina Ferox, so unless your culprits have a pegasus carrying them there and back..."

"I see what you mean." Robin's lips drew down, and he turned away.

"Can I go back to the kitchen now?" Lissa said.

"Yes, you can go back to your..." Robin's eyes slid over, and he smirked. "Your date."

"Oh har dee har. Like you're any better, mister." Lissa frowned, looking around his room for something. When she didn't find it, she said, "Where's yours, by the way?"

"My what?"

"Your date?"

Lissa sighed, and she rolled her eyes. "Your crime-fighting partner."

"Sumia?" Robin shrugged. "What about her?"

"We're you two... you know..." Lissa made an awkward movement with her hands.

"We had a disagreement."

"Oh. Are you two just giving each other some space?"

"Yes."

Robin spent a few more seconds staring at the wall. Behind him, the door creaked open, when he suddenly realized something else.

"And we're not seeing each other!" he yelled over his shoulder.

"So you and my brother can tease me about my non-existent love life, but I can't tease you about yours?"

"The only difference is that you're hardly subtle about it. Me and Sumia don't kiss in the halls and say that we were just straightening each other's clothes."

"You can't–"

"Lissa. I have to think."

Lissa pouted. To his relief, though, he heard the door click shut.

He didn't have time to deal with his personal life. Not that he had one, being so busy.

Now that he was alone, Robin took the time to inspect the pink flower in his hands. He turned it over, the light piercing through the thin petals. There was something familiar about it, the color, the shape. What it was, though, he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

And that frustrated him. Maybe if he focused, he could remember.

With a sigh, Robin closed his eyes, and he tried to empty his mind. Deep breaths. In and out. Nothing within. Nothing without. As he calmed himself, he pulled an image of the pink flower to the front of his mind. With each passing second, it grew clearer.

Where had he seen it before? He dove into his memory, digging through the dusty parts of his mind, searching through the dark for that one–

The image of hair came to mind, a soft cascade of dried brown, swirling over and under like waves in an ocean.

Robin shook his head and scowled. He tried again, visualizing the pink flower in his head once more. This time, it materialized much faster, a spot of pink against the backdrop of his imagination. He looked back on his memory, flipping through it like pages in a journal, until finally–

"Once upon a time..."

Robin's eyes snapped open. He shook his head again, trying to get her soft voice out of his head. It was like charged fabric, caressing his ears as it rang loudly, but remaining on his mind no matter how hard he tried to shake it off, and at last, he slumped over, and he let out a frustrated groan.

He was distracted. It would be impossible for him to try to remember anything, not with all the confusing feelings floating around in his head. She'd helped him relax last night. Now his mind didn't seem eager to let him forget the fact.

So what? It wasn't like he couldn't rest without her around.

Well, no matter. If he couldn't think of it now, he could always try again later. The very least he could do was jot it down so he didn't forget.

Turning back to his desk, Robin picked up the journal with the blank leather cover. Taking his pen in his other hand, he flipped open the cover.

Then he stopped. His eyes narrowed, and he stared down a beautiful pattern inked on the inside cover of the book, curling and spiraling into complex patterns, weaving in and out of itself like the threads on a tapestry. A suspicion crept up on him, and he thumbed through the pages, searching for confirmation.

In the middle of the journal were the sketches of two of the missing girls. His journal didn't have those sketches. The one Sumia had been using did. A conclusion crashed into his mind, and he leaned back, his breath rushing out of him in a strong gust of wind as he reeled from it.

When he had bumped into Sumia in the halls, they must have picked up the wrong journals. As he slammed his palm into his forehead, he could only moan, disappointed in himself for letting such a thing happen. If he wanted his journal back, he was going to have to ask Sumia for it.

Well, it was just paper. It wasn't like there was anything important on there. He hadn't had anything interesting to write about since the war. He could make do with this one. She could keep his journal if she wanted to, if only as a reminder of him. Sumia was sentimental like that.

Then it struck him. Sumia. When he had last seen her, her hair had been entangled with pink petals. The scene flashed before him in vivid color, down to the finest detail. There was no mistaking it now; the flower from that abandoned manor bore the same petals Sumia had in her hair an hour ago.

He needed to know where she had gone. He threw back his chair as he got to his feet. By the time it hit the floor, he was already out the door.

You may be wondering why I haven't updated for three days. Or maybe you aren't. But I'm going to say why anyway.

To tell the truth, I was burnt out. I've been writing this story for seven days, 2,000 words per day, which is much more than I'm used to doing. To be honest, I'm surprised that I managed to keep it up for that long, but I should have known that, sooner or later, it would die out. I did run into some puppy trouble for a day, so I had to take a day off for that, but for the other two days, I've just been letting this story sit around. And now that break is over, I'll have to get back into the flow of my update schedule, so the daily updates are not going to be a thing anymore.

That being said, I'm not about to abandon this story, since it's been such a blast to write. I'll just have to find a way to fit it into my schedule. The most likely place it's going to be is on every other Monday, so I'll be alternating this with my other Fire Emblem fic, Mama Lucina, so if you like this story, you can look forward to that. Then again, I might find a better place to put it. We'll just have to see.