The Manor of Lost Souls, it was once part of Regna Ferox's territory once, but two decades ago, it became the site of some unholy slaughter, runes and glyphs seemed to point out a ritual to Grima, but other than the empty halls and the lack to interest to cleanse it for re-proposing, one would only have the ruins of what once must have been a meeting place for all of the Khans, but now it was not so empty as a young girl walked through the halls, having jsut appeared in the dark tunnels without any clue where she was as she breathed, her brown hair framing her face and slightly hiding her pointed ears. "All right, Nah... You can do this. You're strong! You're brave! You..." She stopped and screeched to something in the shadows. "EEEEEEK!" She composed herself before recognizing it as just a statue that lined the halls. "Ha ha... haaaaa... Just a statue. Nothing to be afraid of..." She couldn't muster her courage before something out came out of the shadows and she paled before screaming. "AAAAAH! What the heck is that?!" She ran for it to get some space from whatever was peering from the dark with red eyes before her panting came to a stop as she pulled out a teal stone with a flame on the inside of it. "...Wait a minute, this is silly. I can turn into a dragon... What am I worried about? Now how do I get out of this wretched place?"
As fortune would have it, the approaching Shepherds heard the scream before rushing to the Manor as Chrom spoke. "Did anyone else hear a girl scream? Come on, Shepherds! Hurry! It would seem like we do have something to worry about, what do you think is within the Manor." Time slowed to Alex reaching out and making a connection as time resumed again.
"Risen, you could smell the decay from the other side of closed doors."
"Right!" Fredrick lead the charge as his Great Knight armor enabled him to smash through the shut entrance with ease as Chrom and Alex came right up and busted down the closed doors to the dark, but more importantly, to the red eyes that now peer back at him. "Hold your ground, Shepherds, and let us find that girl!" They nodded as they encounter the Risen in enclosed quarters, but that was no problem for any of them as the halls were rather spacious and allowed even the flying mounts to swoop in and start tearing through the Risen menace, but the menace could have just as well been the Manor itself as the walls shifted opened and closed in either swift or slow succession, dividing the Shepherds if they traveled too far from their band, Chrom had found the girl in no time as she yelped to his appearance.
"Eeeeeek!"
"Wait! I'm a friend! We're here to help." She stopped herself from doing something before she breathed, clearly now finding someone else to converse with.
"Whew, good thing you spoke up there... I was about to melt you with my breath."
"Huh? Your breath seems fine to me...?" Chrom stopped to notice the ears and only knew one other with ears like that. "...Oh. I get it. You're a Manakete. So perhaps you'd like to tell me your name?"
"Nah."
"Look, if I somehow offended you, I apologize. But you could at least-"
"No, NAH. N-A-H. That's my name." Chrom was caught off-guard as Nah continued with a groan. "Ugh, why does this always happen..." Chrom sweat dripped as he answered back.
"Er, right. Let's discuss it later, okay? For now, just stay behind me."
"Behind you? I can turn into a dragon, you know. I'm pretty strong."
"Dragonkin or no, you're still a child, and I won't have you taking unnecessary risks. Now let's get you out of here."
"Stern, aren't you? Fair enough. I like your attitude. Lead the way, sir. I'm right behind you." With that, Nah joined the band, but that didn't get any easier as Nowi and Alex were also soon divided and took out their share of Risen before Alex hummed for when the walls would fall again.
"It could take a moment, but we should be free soon." But she was silent, something that no one in the Shepherds would expect from the energetic Manakete as Alex turned to her. "Nowi?"
"You didn't tell me..." Alex raised a brow before Nowi repeated, her eyes changing to show... rage, an emotion that she NEVER showed to any one as she spoke. "The moment we stepped on this island, you would have said something, anything about it, so why didn't you tell me!?" Alex didn't understand why Nowi was having a huge deal about it, but he started to piece it out to now suspecting that Nowi, after so long alone, would have welcomed her blood as someone to join her company, getting not just the support from them, but also them getting helped out.
"Because I wasn't sure..." Alex answered as he spoke to her, her grip close to her Dragonstone to use. "I can sense them, but I can't just be sure of whose who, would you have thought that I was playing a game on you if I told you?" Nowi frowned as Alex continued. "If you still have some doubts or resentment for me, let's talk about it after we get out of here, Nowi." She didn't seem like she was going to reject that idea as the wall dropped and they went to confront more of the Risen before they brought down the leader of the Risen and the curse of the manor faded away as the walls finally fell away for good and the Shepherds headed out to sail of Regna Ferox, to see who else needed their help...
Nah breathed in relief as she got a moment to speak to Chrom of the Shepherds. "Thank you so much. If you hadn't have come, I'd have been an adorable smear on the wall by now..."
"Can you make it home on your own?" Nah shook her head as she spoke.
"I... I don't have a home. Not anymore."
"Then I'll arrange one for you in Ylisse."
"No, my place is here with you now. I'm strong enough to fight, you know." Chrom hummed as he had a feeling about who this Manakete was, but he was sure that Alex wanted him to give her a place before he pushed for more.
"Well, seeing as you're a Manakete, I certainly don't doubt that... Look, if you're sure this is what you want, then we'd love to have you." She bowed to him as she continued.
"I'm sure. And thank you. You won't regret it." He nodded back before heading down as the ship sailed out from the small isle as she reached up and gripped a necklace around her neck before something swept onto the deck and she glanced up to see a dragon land from the sky and revert back to the one person she wanted to see as she spoke to the 'girl' approaching her at the railing of the ship. "Can I ask you something, Nowi?" Nowi nodded before Nah removed the necklace and showed it to her. "Does this look familiar?"
Nowi exclaimed at the sight of her ring on the chain. "Whoa, you have the same ring as me! What a crazy coincidence!"
"It's not a coincidence. This is your ring. It's a memento of my mother. From... the future. It keeps me safe, now that... Now that you're gone." Nowi spoke again, but it was not Nah's name for some reason.
"Nahimana..." Nah blinked in surprise at the name as Nowi spoke. "That's the name of my firstborn, I wanted a girl so much and to name her like that, its meaning 'Mystic' as she would be so enchanting to me and my mate." She walked over and pulled Nah in as she spoke. "I understand why you would rather be called Nah to shorten it, but it shouldn't take away who you are, you're here now, so you don't need to hold back."
"I wasn't holding back. I fought as hard as I could..." Nah exclaimed, but Nowi was somehow ahead of that as she spoke.
"No, you fought brilliantly, Nah. But that's not what I meant." She reached up and slid a finger under Nah's eye as tears were starting to form from them. "I was talking about your tears. If you're sad, you can talk to me."
"No, I... I have to be strong. Everyone expects me to. I can turn into a dragon, you know? And that's not... normal. So I have to put on a brave face and protect everyone, just like you do."
"Your mother cries all the time, dear. ...Aaaaaall the time. Trust me on this—holding things back won't make you stronger. Just be you, Nah. That's enough." The tears started to flow more apparent as Nah spoke.
"I... This whole time, I..."
"I know it's been pretty scary, but you made it through!" Nah sniffed as she whelped out.
"Mother, I... Oh, it was awful... I thought I was going to DIE..." She broke down and sobbed into Nowi's embrace as Nowi joined in with tears of joy, for saving her daughter.
"It... it's okay, Nahimana. Mother's here, now." Alex witnessed the moment and shook his head with a smile, Nah needed closure and Nowi provided that for her, it would only be a matter of time before Ricken was involved and he would dote on her just as much as Nowi...