By the time Corrin turned eighteen, she had almost forgotten what it was like in Hoshido. Almost. The memories were still there, but they had become rather vague by the time she spent in Nohr, hidden in the shadows of the past. That was exactly what she wanted. She wanted to leave them behind.
Over the years, she had grown into a strong woman. She wasn't as good with the sword as Xander, but she was very skilled with it. On top of that, she had figured out something incredible. While she was studying magic, she somehow learned that she had a talent in water magic. That was odd, since it was supposedly very complicated and she was only decent in fire magic, but she wasn't about to complain.
Xander had changed greatly. He was now a stern yet just prince. He was unbeatable with the sword, especially since he wielded Siegfried. He cared for his siblings greatly, but as the future king, he had many more responsibilities that kept him busy. Still, Corrin did feel like he should have better standards for his retainers. One was too obsessed with killing and the other was, in her eyes and the eyes of many a woman around, a shameless flirt. Even so, they were skilled when it came to a fight. No one could deny that.
Camila had grown up quite a bit. She cared about her younger siblings very much, always doting on them. Still, she was fierce warrior with an axe on her wyvern. Her retainers were very dedicated to her. One was a former assassin that was hired on, and the other was a bit to focused on being the best, but they did their jobs well.
Leo hadn't changed much since he was a kid. He was still a quite intelligent, but he also had a minor inferiority complex, especially when it came to Xander and Corrin. He had taken a different approach to battle than his older siblings, focusing on magic instead of a blade. His retainers were… interesting to say the least. One was very theatrical, and the other seemed to make it his personal job to make everyone around him squirm. Why he chose them, Corrin would never be able to figure out.
Elise was still a happy child, even at fourteen. She hadn't grown out of all that stuff, but she lived with such a love of life that seemed to rub off on those around her. She didn't want to fight, but she had been learning how to heal, which suited her quite well. And despite one retainer having horrible luck and the other having an appetite to match her strength, they were loyal and good people.
As for King Garon, he was still a strong and kind father to them. He ruled his kingdom well, ensuring that his subjects had as much opportunity to thrive as possible. That wasn't always easy, with occasional dry years, but he could keep the bandits from ravaging the country and ensure that conflicts didn't break out unneeded. That didn't mean that it was relatively peaceful all the time, however.
One day, he called his children to the throne room. None of them knew what to expect, but they had an idea of what he wanted to talk to them about. There had been reports of villages being attacked by strange creatures called faceless. No one knew where the monsters came from or why they were attacking people.
"Xander, Camilla, Corrin, Leo, Elise, I have something that I must request of you five." he started, looking down at them, then stood up from the throne. "I assume you all have heard of the faceless."
"I only know of what they've done. Destroying villages. Attacking soldiers. I hear the people are getting worried." Leo supplied. Garon nodded.
"That is correct, Leo. With that said, I have different assignment for each of you." He turned to Xander. "Xander, I want you, Corrin, and Elise to go to our allies in Cheve. There seems to be a large concentration of faceless there, so I'm sending you there to aid the forces there." The three subjects nodded, so he turned to the remaining daughter. "I'm sending you to toe Woods of the Forlorn with several of my captains. Another group of faceless have been seen there." Leo was the last person he faced. "I have a special mission for you, Leo. I want you to find out exactly what they are and where they are coming from. I'm giving you some freedom as to how to do this, but we need to know exactly what we are dealing with." With their missions set, they all bowed, and all but one left to prepare.
"Father, are you sure about this? I'm glad to be going with Xander and Elise, but wouldn't someone more experienced with teaching swordsmanship be better to go?" Garon looked at the remaining child of his.
"Corrin, I feel you would be best to help teach the newer recruits there. You can get them started on the basics and make sure they don't make the beginner mistakes for long You have an eye for those small mistakes. Still, I do have an additional request." Looking at him with curiosity, she waited for him to explain. "I want you to send me updates often, every week if possible. I may be a little overprotective of you in many cases, but as we don't know what these things are, I'm going to be worried for you and your siblings." he asked. It was a simple request, so Corrin agreed.
"I won't let you down, Father." With that, she gave him a brief hug, then left to get ready. Watching the retreating form of his daughter, Garon gave a brief prayer to the Dusk Dragon.
"Please, I beg you, protect my children. All of them."
"Corrin? Are you alright?"
Corrin turned at the voice of her oldest friend, Azura, who was standing just outside of her room with a concerned look on her face, hands unconsciously grasping at the golden oval pendant around her neck.
"I'm fine, Azura." Corrin smiled as she gestured for her to come in. "Is there something you need?"
"Actually, yes." she replied as she entered. "This may seem odd but 'Beware the dragon that waits in silence, for they are the most dangerous'." Corrin was confused with that request, or more specifically, the tone and wording of it.
"Is that a proverb or something? That's unlike you." In all her time knowing Azura, Corrin hadn't known her to be the kind of person to spout old sayings. When she was growing up, that was always her mother's specialty, with many of them referencing a dragon. Did she get the saying from her?
"I'm not sure what it means in context with this mission, but I thought I should tell you." she shrugged. Typical. Why couldn't those sayings be clear with what they wanted them to do?
"I'll keep it in mind. Thanks, Azura." Corrin smiled.
"Welcome, Prince Xander. We've been expecting you and your siblings."
Upon arriving in Cheve, the royal children were greeted by the city guard. Scarlet, the captain, personally came to welcome them to the city.
"It's a pleasure, Scarlet. I only wish it was under better circumstances." He dismounted and shook her hand.
"So, since you're here, I think it would be best to get down to business and show you around. That way, you can find out what needs to be done to stop these things." She started walking with them towards the barracks, explaining the situation to them as they went. "Honestly, I don't think the newer recruits are ready for something like this. Maybe you three being here can help with that."
"Corrin will be assigned to test them and see how they fight in order to give them pointers. She's quite a capable fighter. Elise is also very skilled with a healing staff and can act as a field medic." Xander responded. Corrin smiled a bit. It was just like him to take charge like that.
That night, the royals were all in their rooms (Corrin and Elise decided to share one). There was a lot to do the next morning. Two of them were having a restful night after their long ride, but one of them…
Corrin woke up gasping for air. The nightmare she had was all too familiar to her, even if it was slightly different each time she dreamed it. Looking out the window, she saw that it wasn't quite light out, so she dressed and went out for a walk.
"It's a good thing I didn't wake up Elise. I don't want her to hear about this." she sighed.
"Hear about what, Lady Corrin?" Corrin turned in shock at the sound of a male voice. It was just her retainer, but she wasn't expecting him to be there. After all, it was still very early in the morning.
"You should be asleep, Jacob." He shook his head at her.
"You should as well. From my experience, you usually sleep in unless something happened in the middle of the night." He strode over and placed a warm cloak, pulled from seemingly nowhere, over her shoulders. "Now, what happened?"
Corrin looked embarrassed. "You know that dream I used to have? About me getting abandoned by my former family?" He nodded. "I had it again. It's strange, since I haven't had it in years, ever since I started my training." she explained. "Is it because Cheve is closer to the Hoshidan border than Windmire is?" Jacob looked thoughtful, but Corrin just shook her head. "I'm probably just exhausted. Maybe the long ride took more out of me than I thought." After a moment, she turned around and went to get a drink of water. She had a lot of preparation to do in a few hours, but that could wait until she got a bit more sleep.
"Alright, you. Listen up!" Scarlet called to the recruits at the training grounds. Corrin was standing beside her in her armor. She was holding a practice sword. "Princess Corrin has agreed to help whip you into shape. Now, Ernst, you're with her first." A sturdy young boy came up to her while Scarlet took an axe user to train.
"Alright, Ernst, how long have you been training with the sword?" Seeing an irritated glint in his eye, she concluded that he was a bit overconfident of his abilities. After a second, she prepared to knock him down a peg.
"Long enough to fight those monsters." With that, he ran forward with a wild swing. Deflecting it quickly with her sword, Corrin stepped to the side and brought her foot up in front of his leg with predictable results.
"You put too much of yourself into the attack and are letting your emotions and confidence control you. You have the strength for that kind of sword, but you're letting it get out of hand. You can't do that, or you'll be dead in a second. Understand?" He gasped from his place on the ground in shock. "Get up and try again." With that, Ernst got up and swung at her again. This time, Corrin blocked his strike and pushed him back. "Again, don't put your whole self into an attack. That just puts you off balance and makes it easier to push you back or trip you up."
After a few more rounds, Corrin decided he had enough instruction to practice with his shadow fencing, so she let him figure out his fighting while she moved on to one of the other two. Chris just had to work on some new techniques, so she let him do his thing for a little while she worked with Elke.
"Don't grip your sword so tightly, Elke. It'll hurt your hand." Corrin was trying to coach her. It seemed like she didn't know a few basics, but that's what Corrin was there for.
"But if I don't, then you'll just knock it out." Corrin shook her head, then held her sword out.
"Try knocking the sword out of my hand with yours." After a moment of trepidation, Elke delivered a hard swing at the blade. It was knocked to the side, but it didn't fly out of her hands. She gave the young girl a smile. "You are right, you do need to make sure it isn't too loose, so it doesn't go flying out of your hand, like you said, but you also need to make sure that the grip isn't too tight. Can you imagine fighting for an extended period of time with your blade in a death grip?" Once she explained things, she decided it would be a good idea for Elke to practice what she learned, but as she directed her to take a few swings at a training dummy, Corrin overheard something to the side.
"Captain Scarlet! We have some people wishing to talk to you." a male voice called out to the blond who was a little irritated at the interruption.
"Can this wait?" she called back as she paused her training.
"They say they wish to speak with the person in charge. They apparently want to assist with the faceless threat."
After a moment of sizing up the visitors, she shook her head. "This is a bit out of my expertise." Then she shouted over to Corrin. "HEY! PRINCESS! CAN YOU DEAL WITH SOME DIPLOMATIC JARGEN? DEALING WITH FOREIGNERS SEEMS TO BE A SPECIALTY OF ROYALTY!"
Foreigners? She wasn't expecting any diplomats in Cheve. Turning around, Corrin froze. It wasn't at the sight of the man in the red armor or the archer with the long ponytail. It wasn't even at any of the other five other characters staring at her.
It was at the pair of identical red eyes staring into hers.
Wow. I've been procrastinating on posting this for a while. I've been getting into school again. I hope things work out for everyone.
Let me know what you think of this. Next chapter will be an interlude, focusing on another character that I'm pretty sure you can guess the identity of.