"Hello there," Lucina softly said as she lightly knocked on Ananias' tent flap just as anyone would knock on someone else's door.

Once Ananias was alerted of the princess' presence, he looked away from what he had been doing to look at her, give her a small, nonchalant wave, and mumble a dull, "Hey," before going back to his own devices. "What's up?"

Taking his inquiry as an invitation to enter his personal quarters, Lucian slowly made her way into the tent, being careful to close the tent flap behind her, before making her way to her crimson friend, anxiously fiddling with the tip of her Falchion for a bit, timidly averting her eyes towards the side, and quietly admitting, "Many things are 'up' as you would put it," she then raised her head and gave Ananias a shamefaced and saddened smile, "though I certainly wish that that were not the case."

Surprised by the princess' words, Ananias looked up from what he had been doing to look at said princess' face, his usually stiff and emotionless face softening a little as he looked at the embarrassed and melancholy look on his comrade's face. "Hey," he murmured as kindly and as tenderly as he could muster, though he had to admit, he always felt awkward whenever he felt that he had to convey that particular emotion unnaturally, "what's the matter? Did something happen, or what?" He gently tapped the space besides him, offering Lucina to sit there if she wanted to.

Lucina gratefully accepted Ananias' offer, and after she had settled herself down, she brought her legs together, gently placed her hands onto her lap, sighed heavily, and answered, "A lot has happened." Her eyes widened upon realizing the unfortunate implications of her words. "Not that anything terrible has happened recently," she quickly reassured in case her friend had assumed that something terrible had just transpired against her, raising up her hands and waving them in an attempt to assuage some of those possible fears, "it's just that," she lowered her hands back onto her lap as she averted her eyes away from Ananias' gaze and down towards the ground in front of her, "the weight of all that has happened to us thus far, the weight of all that has happened to me thus far," she raised her hand, using her thumb and ring finger to rub wearily rub her eyes, "I fear that I have shamefully allowed it to affect me as of just recently. I fear that it might affect my ability to complete our mission."

Ananias nodded his head as he began to understand the situation. After giving her ample time to continue on with whatever she wished to say and her not taking on the subtle offer, he gave Lucina's shoulder a reassuring squeeze before quietly asking, "Do you want to talk about it?" He then casually shrugged his shoulders and added, "You know, let someone else share some of that weight you're dealing with?"

Lucina chuckled before giving Ananias a warm smile and answering, "Funny, that's exactly what I came here for."

"It's at times like that where I really do envy the rest of you," Lucina explained. She chuckled bitterly to herself as she shook her head. "Would you listen to me? Me, a princess, jealous of others." Ananias was tempted to speak up at this point, but he restrained himself, allowing Lucina to continue divulging her thoughts. "And I know this must sound childish of me, but…," she lightly blushed, "once and a while, I truly wish that I could participate in the same immature behavior some of you display at times. Sometimes I really wish that I could just throw my sword away and just give up; sometimes I really wish that I could throw a fit or whine about our unfortunate circumstances; sometimes I really wish that I could just break down and cry as much as I want when we have lost someone; sometimes I really wish that I can just be a spoiled, selfish princess that is willing to just sit back and let her father fight all of her battles for her." Unshed tears appeared at the corners of her eyes as she swallowed down a whimper that had attempted to escape her mouth, her back straight and her head held high in an attempt to keep her composure. "Listen to me, wishing for such things." A few tears fell from her eyes, causing her to shake her head and hang her head as her shoulders shook uncontrollably. "I'm a disgrace, as a princess and a leader!" Ananias allowed Lucina a good cry and a moment to recompose herself and clean herself up before Lucina asked, "How can I live with myself knowing that I desire such things?"

Ananias took a moment to choose his words carefully before nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders and monotonously answering, "Simple. You live your life like the rest of us."

Lucina's eyes widened in surprise as she gave her friend a bewildered look. "What?"

Ananias let out an exasperated sigh upon realizing that he had to make an effort to explain himself, something that he was never really fond with. "You live your life like the rest of us," he repeated. "Just because you're a princess who has a duty to her people doesn't change the fact that you're still a human being, and wanting things and being selfish is all part of being a human and being alive." He gave Lucina's hand a reassuring squeeze, though with his usually dull and hardened face, the gesture must have looked less sincere than it should have. "You're over-thinking this. You're already one of the nicest, selfless, more mature people I know. Having an immature and selfish thought every once in a while is normal, in your case, healthy. Just do what you do and let us in every once in a while, yeah? It'll probably bring everyone closer together if you do, because, you know, humanizing yourself in front of them and letting some of that weight off of your shoulders and everything."

Lucina thought over Ananias' words for a moment before chuckling to herself and giving Ananias a small smile. "Thank you. I will certainly consider what you have just said." She tilted her head to the side. "Though I must admit, I don't think I'll be comfortable sharing with them what I have already shared with you today."

Ananias simply shrugged. "Yeah, well, judging how seriously all of this was affecting you and everything, I think you probably should regardless."

Lucina chuckled. "Maybe someday, but until then," she gave her friend a knowing smirk, "may I request that you keep this talk between the two of us?"

Ananias gave Lucina a hard stare for a moment before monotonously asking, "That depends. Did you only come to me because you knew that you could get away with a request like that?"

Lucina chuckled. "Perhaps." She tilted her head to the side again. "Did I succeed?"

Ananias released an exasperated sigh as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Do I really need to answer that?"

Lucina gave him a sympathetic smile. "I suppose not."

Ananias sighed again before asking, "Can we at least agree that you'll at least talk to me about the stuff you aren't comfortable with sharing publicly? Because that would really take a lot off my mind if you did."

Lucina considered Ananias' offer for a moment before nodding her head and answering, "I believe that can be arranged."

Ananias offered his hand out to her. "Deal?"

Lucina took the hand without a second thought and a smile on her face. "Deal!"

Author's Note: And thus, the supports with Lucina begin! It's always nice to have a friend that you can vent and share your darkest thoughts to, don't you think?