'How are they here? WHY are they here?' Corrin was screaming in her head. Even though she hadn't seen them since she was five, she recognized three of them instantly. Especially after she saw the one with red eyes and pointed ears like hers.

Kamui. Her twin.

She was sure that he recognized her. Somehow, he knew who she was despite over a decade of being apart. Ryoma and Takumi were less certain, but that would soon change once they noticed the shared traits.

Taking a deep breath, she turned to Elke and told her to work on striking with that grip while she was busy. Then she walked over to the Hoshidans. When she was standing before them, she tried her hardest to have an air of nobility.

"I suppose introductions are in order. I am Corrin, the third eldest child of King Garon of Nohr." she started, narrowing her eyes a half-centimeter at the sight of their shocked faces. A second later, one of the royals snapped out of it and stepped forward.

"I am High Prince Ryoma of Hoshido. These are my brothers, Prince Kamui and Prince Takumi." He gestured to his brothers. Corrin nodded, looking at them with a critical eye.

"And why is the High Prince of Hoshido, his brothers and five retainers here in the territory of a Nohrian ally?" She paused, tilting her head a bit. "It can't be a simple diplomatic visit, as we were not aware of your coming." Prince Ryoma seemed to be looking her up and down, analyzing her, before responding.

"We were informed of the faceless in neighboring countries. We believe if it isn't dealt with, it could cause trouble for Hoshido. We made the decision to come and aid with their destruction." That confused Corrin. She knew of the tension between Nohr and Hoshido since she was kidnapped but hadn't heard much from the country since then.

"Then I suppose we'll need to discuss the details of it. Honestly, we will have to wait for my older brother to make the final decision, but we can discuss the situation." She gestured to the side. "Would you care to join me for tea?" she asked politely. She didn't want to talk to them, but she had to be courteous to them. Prince Ryoma nodded after a moment, so she led them to a quieter place. Along the way, she saw Jacob and asked him to prepare some tea for their guests.

Once they arrived at the room, Corrin gestured for them to sit down at the table as she put her practice sword to the side. Then she sat down as well.

"Now, you say that you are here to help us fight off the faceless, correct?" she prompted. The eldest nodded. He would likely be the one in charge of the decisions that the Hoshidans made.

"Yes, we wish to help fight them off. We believe that they may cross over to Hoshido relatively soon, so we also want to learn how to defend our own people." he cleanly responded, but Corrin wasn't satisfied with that. Perhaps it was her bitterness at being left behind, but she needed to push a little.

"Why now?"

"We only recently heard of the threat. We came as soon as we could." That wasn't the 'why' she was looking for. Before Corrin could ask what she really wanted to know, Jacob came in with the pot of tea. As he set the tray on the table, Corrin smiled at him.

"Thank you, Jacob." Then she turned to the guests as her retainer left to wait for Xander. "Would you like cream or sugar?" she asked with forced politeness as she poured a few cups. It would have been barely perceptible if it had been to anyone else, but it was clear to some in the room. At the polite decline of the guests, Corrin poured a small amount of cream into her own cup and stirred it gently before taking a sip. "Why did your king send you? With the relations Hoshido has with the other nations I would think that he would want to keep you in the country and instead send a general or another military leader." That question spawned an uncomfortable flinch from two of the royals.

"We came on our own. He wouldn't have sent anyone, so we decided to come ourselves." Corrin put her cup down, surprised.

"King Sumeragi doesn't know that you are here." she murmured. They took a big risk by coming with only their retainers. Still, since they knew that she was there, they might take the opportunity to try and convince her to return to Hoshido with them. She had to let them know why they weren't going to be able to do that. She never wanted to go to Hoshido again after what happened. "May I bring up something else, completely unrelated to the faceless threat?" Ryoma nodded, so she stared him in the eye.

"I know very well that you know who I am, or rather, who I was." She closed her eyes, trying to compose herself for what she had to say. "But that doesn't matter. Not here." Then she visibly straightened in her chair, gazing at them, trying to appear in control, despite herself. "I think I should make it perfectly clear now, so it doesn't distract us later. I am not the little Hoshidan princess, Kairi. That girl is gone. If you can't accept that, that isn't my issue."

There was silence as her words sunk in, but she didn't move from her seat. There were so many questions she had, things that she wanted to say to them. She wanted to tell them how she was affected by her kidnapping, yell at them for abandoning her so long ago, but she couldn't. Because she was a princess of Nohr. She had to remain cordial. Around then, the door opened to admit Xander and Elise.

"Corrin, Jacob told us what was going on." he started, sparing a glance at the staring contest she had with the Hoshidans. "Is there anything that I should know ahead of time before I speak to them myself?" Corrin didn't relax, but she broke her gaze to address him.

"Apparently, they found out about the faceless recently, but King Sumeragi didn't send them. I doubt he knows that they are here." Xander narrowed his eyes at the guests with that. The faceless hadn't been a problem for long, but surely, they would inform their father of where they were going and what they were going to do. Did they not trust him, or did they believe he would keep them back and not do anything? It was something to think about.

"As that is the case, then, as we are here at the direction of our father, King Garon, you will be following our directions regarding fighting the faceless. If you have questions regarding the threat, you should ask before joining us in the fight." While he spoke to them, Corrin took Elise's hand and left. There was nothing else for her to say to them, and she still had to supervise some of the recruits in training.

And it had nothing to do with the fact that she didn't want to have to deal with the awkward questions that Xander was going to have to get.

Well, I've been procrastinating in submitting this. Sorry about that. Christmas got me some new games and I was playing Fire Emblem Warriors. I've recently unlocked all the characters but Anna. I hope to get some more posted soon. The other thing I want to post today is a Fire Emblem: Three Houses story that I was inspired to start. I hope you like this and it.