Seal of Song

The world was hazy, sunlit sands turned to shadow and ash as voices pierced through the pregnant silence. A brother's rage, a sister's grief, a madman's cackles.

"Plegians! I ask that you hear the truth of my words!"

Robin stumbled forward, (bile blanketing the earth as his hands met solid ground) tome clutched in one hand like a lifeline. An arrow flew through the mist, and his cry of "ELWIND!" came closer to a choked sob as the gust carved through the projectile and its Risen master. He fell to his knees, hands on the shoulders of the arrow's intended target - her gold-blonde hair matted and stained with blood. She was leaning up now, eyes fixed forward on-

"War will win you nothing but sadness and pain, both inside your borders and out."

("I need you to breathe.")

"Lissa!" Her head spun his way, blue eyes wide and listless. "I need you to look at me. Can you do that?" She hesitated a moment before nodding, tears streaming down her face.

"Free yourself from this hatred!"

("In...")

"MARIBELLE!" The woman's steed came into view through the fog, rider sporting a murderous glare. "Get her out of here."

"From this cycle of pain and vengeance."

("...and out.")

Lissa stumbled to her feet, wrapping her arms around Maribelle's waist as she pulled her onto the saddle behind her.

"Do what you must... As I will do."

("Stick with me, Robin.")

Lissa was away, the Khans were leading the retreat, he just needed... oh, gods.

"I'm going to kill him," Chrom murmured, staring upon Emmeryn's broken form. "I'm going to kill him."

"See now that one selfless act has the power to change the world!"

He closed his eyes.

No matter how many times he blinked, it never stopped.

(She was still falling.)

The two didn't linger in the exposed basement hallway long. Though the dragon - Typhon - had fled, if its power was at all comparable to the dragons of Ylisse there was nothing to be gained in tempting fate. Azura led them onwards for several minutes, until crumbling stonework gave way to the sturdier bedrock of the castle's innards.

This area seemed to have been a dungeon, the haphazard spread of cells across the walls and floor emphasizing the disorienting, labyrinthine nature of the halls. Each was empty, with no signs of life or even remains to be found. She preferred not to linger on the implications.

Lucina hissed suddenly, stirring from her reverie as a jolt of pain shot up one leg. Leaning against the bars of a cell she gripped Falchion's hilt, breathing a sigh of relief a moment later as its faint warmth spread its way through her body. Cuts mended, aches faded, the near-forgotten sting where an arrow had pierced her forearm vanished entirely. She frowned as she looked to Azura, paused in the hallway and glancing back at her with worry. She had sustained many similar minor wounds - the consequence of at least a full day's journey, the clash with the Vallites, and of course their tumultuous encounter with the Dusk Dragon.

"You need medical attention," she affirmed, breaking the silence. "Falchion's healing properties will aid only me. Are there any supplies to be found in this castle?"

Azura frowned, nodded in response. "I have a stockpile on the upper levels. We can rest there before moving on." She paused, taking in their surroundings with a more scrutinizing gaze. "Ah!" she exclaimed after a moment, turning down the hall at a brisk pace. "I know where we are. Follow me."

"Azura!" she called under her breath, jogging to catch up. "Should we not proceed with more caution? This is the enemy's domain."

Her words were met with a grimace, Azura's tinkling laugh echoing down the hall. "You're mistaken. Castle Gyges is Anankos's domain. And even in death does Valla fear him."

They pressed onward swiftly on that note. Despite Azura's assurances, Lucina kept a vigilant watch as they continued through the dungeons - it would do no good to be caught off-guard again.

"Here," Azura announced several corridors later, tapping her lance to the brick wall. A soft click resounded, and the wall slid back and up to reveal a hidden chamber - only just large enough for a few bodies packed tightly.

Lucina glared at the floor with more scrutiny, noting its intricate engravings. "Another moving platform?"

"An elevator," Azura answered with a dip of her head. Lucina stepped inside warily, back flush against the far wall as the entrance sealed behind them. Azura knelt, hand pressed against the stonework as her melody filled the air once more. Her mouth was slightly ajar, voice a wordless aria as the block began to rise through the narrow shaft.

"What is it called?" she murmured absently to herself. Azura looked up from her work, and so she clarified. "The song."

Azura's answer was fitting, soft and near-solemn as she sang.

"Lost in thoughts, all alone..."

The elevator shuddered to a halt, and the wall slid open once more. These yellowed halls were more alike those of her youth, better preserved against the wear of time than the ruins below. Banners lined the walls intermittently, an azure blue symbol curved around a star. Nonetheless, they bore the signs of age - cloth tattered, stonework marred by erosion.

"The throne room is just below us," Azura explained as they walked. "That path," she said, gesturing down a wide corridor intersecting their own, "will take us to the heart of the ziggurat."

Lucina hummed acknowledgment. A few more turns led them to a cluster of doorways lining the walls, wood weathered yet sturdy still. "These are bedchambers, I presume?"

"For lords and retainers. The servants quarters are only a level below." Azura came to a halt near the end of the hall, pushing a door open with one hand.

"I... believe this was going to be my room."

It seemed not everything in Valla was as alien as the realm itself, for the spacious nursery bore little difference to the room Lucina herself had grown up in. Unlike the rest of the castle, it harbored signs of use - a dusty crib had been pushed to the corner to make room for a small bed, and the crate Azura knelt at held rations and vulneraries rather than a child's toys.

"Do you stay here often?" Lucina asked, taking a seat on the edge of the mattress. The cloth was surprisingly intact. It seemed even common pests had long since died off - a far cry from Ylisstol's rats, roaches, and moths.

Azura grimaced at the bitter liquid as she lowered the empty bottle and took a seat next to her. "Rarely."

Of course, she berated herself. "Forgive me, Azura. That question was careless."

"I can't fault you for curiosity." She fiddled with her pendant absently. "Perhaps if I were more forthcoming..." Azura trailed off, knuckles whitening as she clutched the banister.

Lucina wondered why she'd chosen this room of all places in the castle - she clearly wasn't comfortable here. Then again, the same could likely be said for the entirety of Castle Gyges.

She knew well there were parts of Ylisstol she had avoided until the day she left.

Laying a gloved hand on Azura's shoulder, she squeezed supportively. "You have a right to your secrets. Though, if there are matters to discuss before we approach the throne, now is the time."

Azura nodded, letting out a breath. "Of course. My song," she said, "Lost in Thoughts All Alone. I will need to perform its three verses to renew the seal. Anankos should not have regained enough strength to pose a threat himself, but the song will immobilize him regardless."

"Even if he summoned Vallites to his defense, they'll be stunned as well," Lucina mused.

"Yes," Azura confirmed. "And if Typhon has risen, his companion likely lurks nearby as well. Luckily, she's too large to enter the throne room."

Lucina frowned, her brow furrowing. "Another dragon. Hoshido's deity."

"The Dawn Dragon, Ryujin," Azura intoned with something akin to reverence. "Or what remains of her, at least. She patrols the skies above Castle Gyges - Typhon, the land below."

"Lucky indeed," she murmured. Falchion seemed to weigh heavily at her side. "Then, if you are well..." she began, rising to her feet. "Let us not keep Anankos waiting."

"Wait a moment," said Azura, standing to meet her. "You haven't eaten anything since we met. You'll need your strength."

Lucina's stomach rumbled unpleasantly, but she argued regardless - nothing she wasn't used to. "It's no trouble. It cannot be easy transporting food here, you have more need than I."

"Eat," Azura insisted, holding out a wrapped parcel. "I won't be returning here for some time."

Lucina begrudgingly relented, accepting what looked to be some form of smoked meat. "We won't return for some time."

Azura smiled back. "We."

The crunch of hardtack echoed through Gyges's halls once more, and Lucina looked to her companion. Azura stared back amusedly, taking a moment to swallow before handing Lucina a piece. "I tried to convince you to eat more than that fish."

"Is that what it was?" Lucina queried. "I would have guessed frog."

Azura hummed in response. "I can't say I've had the pleasure. I'll have to introduce you to the delicacies in Hoshido. Sashimi, peach tofu pudding, buri with daikon..."

"Hmh," Lucina murmured, stifling a chuckle at Azura's unabashed anticipation. "In any case, we've reached our destination."

Before them towered a set of stone doors, barring the path to the throne room. Etched across their surface were a series of intricate engravings - stories in a script unfamiliar to her. Towards the center, a large piece of the mural seemed to have been chiseled away, marred until it was nearly unrecognizable. All that remained was a series of eyes, glaring down as if judging those who entered.

"Valla's history," Azura murmured. "Anankos was once their protector, but by the kingdom's closing days..."

Lucina nodded thoughtfully. "Not dissimilar to Naga's place in Ylisse."

Azura stepped forward, song on her lips. The door flared with blue light, shuddering as either half slid into the wall - the past pushed aside.

The throne room was a long, rectangular chamber, with wings on either side flanking the central walk. Deep pools of water were scattered throughout, glistening with the same starlit hues as Valla's night sky. High above, the vaulted ceiling stretched into the upper reaches of the castle - the square peak at its center open to the sky. Just behind the throne's raised dais lay an immense tunnel opening, cut from the earth directly into the hall. Scaffolding and rubble littered the area - measures to keep the chamber from collapsing, or perhaps an attempt to seal the breach entirely.

Even that was not what immediately drew attention as the two entered - rather, the immense stone mask lurking within the tunnel. The thing was tilted downwards - the image of a man with lidded eyes, its surface cracked and worn.

Azura angled her lance, bare footfalls echoing through the hall as she approached. "The seal."

Lucina's eyes widened. After a moment's hesitation, she reached for her own mask, donning the familiar shield once more as she followed behind. "That... thing is Anankos?"

"Yes. He came for my mother, and..." she stopped before the throne, staring past to Anankos's slumbering form - gaze steely.

"She made this place his tomb."

Taking a breath, Azura held a high, unwavering note. The cracks along the mask pulsed in response, a ring of blue light materializing across its surface. Three sigils shone in a triangular formation around it, yet their light seemed to dim with each passing moment.

"As I thought, they've weakened more quickly," she murmured.

"I'm by your side, Azura," Lucina reassured, one hand on Falchion's hilt.

"Thank you," Azura said with a smile, before rolling her shoulders. "No time to waste."

And she sang.

"In the white light... a hand reaches through..."

Ylisse was not particularly rife with dancing and merriment these days. Lucina's only real experience in the matter had been waking up to Inigo practicing on watch one moonless night. He'd sworn her to secrecy in a panic, which she supposed spoke for itself.

"A double-edged blade cuts your heart in two."

Azura's performance held none of his misgivings. She spun and weaved with a poised grace Lucina had seen only in the most hardened swordsmen. Now that she considered the matter, Inigo's footwork was remarkably similar to a dance - the combat capabilities of her companions was something she was intimately familiar with.

"Waking dreams fade away, embrace the brand-new day..."

Water spun from her fingertips like veils of silk, cascading in arcs and flowing in her wake. The golden pendant at her neck flared in time with the melody of the silent music she sang to.

"Sing with me a song, of birthrights and love, the light scatters to the sky above!"

All at once, the waters surged to the call of her rising crescendo, blanketing the throne room in blue light. A thousand bubbles gleamed, suspended in the air like distant stars. The scene was no less than beautiful.

"Dawn breaks through the gloom, white as a bone."

Lucina hummed along absently, the hints of a smile revealing themselves. Lost in thoughts, all alone...

And the sky collapsed, light fading as the waters receded from the chamber. Azura breathed deeply, leaning onto her lance for a moment before straightening out.

"Azura?" she called, reaching out her hand. "Are you-"

"Fine," she said, voice strong. "I've just been taxing myself more than usual. It's no concern."

Lucina frowned, but nodded regardless. "If you're certain." Past the throne, the uppermost sigil shone brightly once more, edges rippling like waves. "The first seal is restored."

Azura nodded, and closed her eyes.

"A burdened heart, sinks into the-"

Falling was a bit of an art.

Corrin figured there must be a proper way to do it. Laying flat to dampen the blow, spreading your arms to protect your head, something logical like that.

Or perhaps one could opt for the dramatic approach. With the protection of her divine blood, she'd land feet-first in a crouch - crimson eyes glimmering with inner fire as her blade seared through the stonework. She'd stand tall, proclaiming something vaguely dramatic like "I am Corrin, Crux of Fate! What brings me to you in your hour of need, noble travelers?"

...No, that was definitely too much Odin rubbing off on her.

Regardless, these were the musings of another Corrin - one with the benefit of hindsight and a warm cup of tea.

Instead, Corrin fell screaming.

Her descent was heralded in swirls of violet-blue light, the ground suddenly much closer than a bottomless canyon ought to be. She only barely caught a glance of azure hair before crashing into the other girl with an oof, the wind knocked out of both parties. Corrin, being the top, forced herself up after several moments, red eyes meeting understandably-stunned gold as they both gasped for breath.

"Hi," she offered, before promptly turning to the side and vomiting.

The familiar hiss of a blade unsheathing sent her scurrying back to her feet, memories catching up with the motion.

"Where the hell am I?" she yelped, more fear than suited a Princess of Nohr bleeding through her words.

Two figures joined her in the towering throne room: the girl on the ground; steadily rising to her feet, and a swordsman; his golden blade leveled her way.

There was something about that blade.

Corrin flinched involuntarily.

Though speaking of which, she had a blade of her own - Ganglari, which had just-

Which had just...

Halfway through unsheathing them, Corrin let the sword fall to the ground with a clattering thud. Something burned in her heart.

"...Robin was right."

She had no idea where she was, she had no idea who these people were - could this have been planned? Surely Father had nothing to do with it, but Iago? Her siblings had never been fond of him, maybe...

The woman stepped forward tentatively, hand outstretched. "How did you come here?"

"I-" Corrin paused, rolling her tongue. The bitter taste of bile lingered. "I fell into the Bottomless Canyon. Who- what is this place?"

"Azura..." the swordsman started, but she glanced back at him, and after a moment he lowered his blade - though still drawn.

Azura stopped a breath away, golden eyes boring into her. Her hand hovered over her Corrin's arm. "You're injured."

Corrin looked down, eyeing the blood staining her armor. "It's, um-" she gasped for air shakily. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. "It's not mine?"

Something flickered in Azura's gaze, and without warning she wrapped her arms around her, pulling Corrin into a tight embrace. "It's alright," she murmured. "I'm with you."

Corrin did not cry. This surprised her as much as anyone - any of her siblings and a fair few retainers could testify she was an ugly crier. Her body shuddered, yet she leaned into this strange woman's comfortably warm arms and breathed.

Azura stepped back a few moments later, eyes still glowing with concern. "Are you alright, Corrin?"

She nodded, just managing a smile in response. "Y-yes, I think so. Better, at least. Thank you."

"Of course," she replied with steely confidence. "You would do the same for me."

"I, well-" she stammered, wringing her hands. "Thank you, again. But, um, Azura?" she inquired. "Can I ask how you know me?"

Azura opened her mouth to respond, though she seemed to slow down halfway there. "You don't..."

A genuine, fiery blush bloomed across her face, and she took a step back. "Please forgive me, I didn't realize-"

"No!" Corrin insisted, grabbing her hand. "I'm the one who should be apologizing - I forgot you! When did we- we must have been young, right? I lost most of my childhood memories, that's part of why Father sent me to the fortress-"

Azura squeezed her hand, a small (sad?) smile across her face. "I suppose I should introduce myself officially, then. My name is Azura."

"Oh, right," she smiled back. "I'm Corrin - you already know that. It's good to meet you, Azura. Again, that is."

A hiss of pain split through the room, and both women spun to the swordsman. He had turned away at some point, but now clutched his hand - Ganglari smoking at his feet.

"Corrin," the man grunted. "What manner of blade is this?"

She stepped forward and hesitantly picked the blade up herself. It still felt right in her hands, and that alone was enough to send a shiver down her spine. "A gift from my father, but... something's wrong with it. It pulled me down here - off the bridge..."

Azura gasped, eyes widening. "It what?" She spun to the swordsman. "Lucina, we're out of-"

CRACK.

The sound cut through the chamber, bringing Corrin's attention to the back wall. A massive stone mask towered above the throne, a jagged, smoking fissure now running across its length.

Horror echoed in Azura's words.

"Oh no."

All at once, the hall was flooded with a roar of sound and force, violet flame seeping through the crack of the mask as Corrin staggered back at the sudden pressure. An echoing, grating laugh followed - surely not human, not even father could sound like that.

It was the mask that spoke, its malice seeping into Corrin's bones.

"CONTEMPTIBLE VERMIN. YOU TRULY BELIEVED I COULD BE SEALED BY HUMAN HANDS?"

Shadowy forms manifested in rows across the room - fires without light, outlines without substance.

"BRING CORRIN TO ME," the mask bellowed. "KILL THE REST."

"Lu-!" Azura started, but Lucina had already leaped in front of Azura, blade in a defensive stance. Azura raised her lance high, radiating blue light like a tidal wave washing the shore away.

"A veil falls away without a-!"

"Silence."

A ring of violet light pulsed around Azura and she clutched at her throat, eyes wide. The lead phantom stepped forward - voice and form distorted - clutching a rod in one hand and a tome in the other.

"On behalf of my king, I welcome you to our hidden kingdom." She raised one hand, and in an instant the twang of a dozen drawn bowstrings echoed through the chamber. "Fear not, for in death you too shall serve the great Anankos."

A dozen arrows fired, and a dozen arrows were met with a wordless scream - Azura's strange magic inhibited but not smothered entirely as the projectiles shattered in a wave of force. Azura spun on her heel, pushing the others forward. Corrin wasted no time, Azura leading them towards the exit while Lucina covered their rear, trading blows with any phantoms that drew too close. Corrin found herself at Azura's side, the muscle memory of years of training all too quickly applied as blade and lance cleaved through shadow. Ganglari pulsed comfortably in her grasp.

"Impressive, but meaningless. You will not escape Castle-"

The great doors slammed shut, Azura gasping for breath as she leaned against them. Lucina spun towards her, voice returned to its natural tone. "Azura, you know this fortress. What is our path?"

Azura panted for a moment before responding. "We'll make our way out onto the ziggurat walk, and then..."

Corrin chuckled wearily. "I don't suppose there's another canyon we can jump into?"

Mouth a thin line, Azura murmured thoughtfully. "Perhaps."

The doors shuddered, and Azura leaped forward, glancing back to them before taking off down one of the halls. Lucina nodded to her before the two followed in pursuit.

If she hadn't heard the place consistently referred to as a castle, Corrin would've assumed labyrinth. Each twisting stone passage resembled the last, and the lack of presence from their pursuers only made her more anxious to escape.

"There!" Azura shouted after several minutes as they turned down another hall. Ahead, stone steps rose to meet a triangular archway, sunlight glinting through the gloom. Hot on her tail, Corrin yelped in pain as an arrow dug into her shoulder. The phantoms had caught up to them, a squadrons-worth of archers and knights. Another group flooded through the exit, mages and swordsmen barring their path.

Azura looked to each of them in turn. "We're going to cut through. After that, whatever happens, please trust me."

Lucina nodded wordlessly, mouth knit in grim determination. Corrin shook her head in kind.

As one, they charged the gate. Silent as they were, the soldiers had evident cohesion, the swordsmen taking point to shield the spellcasters. She figured Xander had whipped her into something of a capable fighter, but there was no 'three tap rule' or 'one good hit' here.

It was cramped. It was chaotic. And it was only as she ducked a sweeping blade and spun Ganglari's grip in her hand - driving them into the stomach of the phantom behind her - that it truly clicked.

They were fighting for their lives.

She found few opportunities to keep an eye on the others, but from time to time Lucina burst into view, cutting an arrow from the sky or deflecting a blow meant for Corrin or Azura as if gifted with supernatural prescience. She, at least, seemed more than accustomed to a melee like this. Though the long moments felt closer to hours, they quickly pushed forward as the shadowy ranks thinned. Save the arrow Corrin had taken before (still twinging unpleasantly at her back, though the adrenaline must have been helping there), the others seemed unharmed. As one, they emerged out onto the surface of the castle - a great sloping staircase ending at-

Corrin laughed in horror. "I was joking!"

Azura turned back to respond, but instead shouted, eyes wide. "DOWN!"

None of them hesitated, and a noxious burning smell flooded the air as a jagged beam of violet lightning cut through the sky above them, angled from the top of the castle. Looming atop its peak was A DRAGON.

Corrin expressed this verbally to the best of her ability. "A DRAGON?!"

The creature was coiled atop Gyges's apex, pale serpentine form wreathed in the same violet flames as the human phantoms. The thick tendrils trailing from its head flared in time with its four wings, crackling with electricity as its maw opened once more-

The group practically slid down the stairs, Corrin dropping to the ground at their end just as Lucina tackled Azura to the earth. The beam flew high once more, instead vaporizing one of the countless small islands floating above the void before them. Turning back, soldiers flowed out of Gyges - snipers and sorcerers, the one from before at their helm. Corrin could swear her grin was visible through the fog.

"Jump," Azura declared breathlessly.

Lucina's blade flashed once more, absorbing a bolt of shadowflame. "Together?"

"Together," Corrin agreed. But first...

She breathed. No time to hesitate - she could almost feel the dragon readying another attack, as if the air itself were a dragon vein. Corrin raised Ganglari high - heart beating, edge poised, blade humming - and chucked it forward. The violet blade vanished into the abyss.

See how you like it, she thought ruefully, though her hands felt uncomfortably empty.

She was bereft of time to ruminate on the sensation. Azura leaped into the void, and Lucina followed quickly. Taking a breath, shutting her eyes, she jumped.

Falling was almost like flying, really. In an entirely different scenario, Corrin pondered as she felt the world rushed past her, this might actually be fun.

She supposed these were just the sort of thoughts you had when facing your possibly-imminent demise. She was coping!

"Moro, Genbu, Seiryu, Byakko." Azura chanted somewhere below her. Corrin squinted her eyes open, spotting Azura clutching her lance in one hand and pendant in the other. "Ryujin, Suzaku, Typhon-"

Another dragon plunged from the mists, red light shining through its black scales. Corrin stifled a scream - dragon-induced panic with a side of religious turmoil. She recognized that head, that was...

"Wrong god!" Lucina shouted over the road of their descent.

The Dusk Dragon's maw gaped, his shadow falling overhead. Azura angled her lance down, water blooming in her wake, her song a desperate prayer.

"Sing with me a song, of birthrights and love, the light scatters to-!"

It was dark.

That was-

Corrin quickly lost her train of thought, flailing her arms upwards through the blackness as she realized she was drowning.

Someone grasped her forearms tightly and pulled her from the water. Corrin flashed Lucina a grateful smile before they both collapsed to hands and knees, coughing into the sands and gasping for breath greedily. Azura stood nearby, staring silently into the lake they'd emerged from. Not the canyon - had Azura done that? Redirected their current, so to speak?

Corrin looked up to a blue sky. She'd never seen the sun shine so bright...

"We're in Hoshido," she realized, gasping - not from lack of air, this time.

"Azura," Lucina murmured, turning to her. "What do we do now?"

Azura breathed shakily, eyes shut as she gripped her lance tight.

"We're running out of time."

"Hey, you. You're finally awake," a vaguely familiar voice murmured nearby.

Robin blearily blinked his eyes open, only to slam them shut with notably more vigor as Leo's smug smile faded into view. His back dug into the stiff mattress in a feeble attempt to allow the earth to claim him.

"Fuck."

"Don't look so dour," he chuckled. "It's not a cell this time."

Carefully, Robin began to ease his eyes open. The fact that he seemed to be awakening in a cozy - if not particularly spacious bedchamber was already a markable improvement to his previous encounter with Leo. Cloak still wrapped snug around him, tome resting on the nightstand - just far enough he'd have to stretch to reach, of course giving Leo time to strike with the tome he was thumbing through at his side.

"Alright Leo," he began, sitting up to lean against the headboard. He smirked (more of a tense grimace, really) as Leo's fingers twitched. "What's your- actually, better question. Where's Anna?"

Leo sighed. "Sorting out the incompetent louts in inventory. It's a shame we don't have a better... working relationship. Her people could turn the war effort around."

"Yeah, no surprise there," Robin admitted. "Considering you, well... imprisoned her and seized her land."

"Well, if it were in my hands..." he scoffed back. "In any case, the reason you're not in chains. I have something to ask of y-"

"I'm afraid that's not possible," an oily voice interrupted, its owner oozing into the room in a similarly grotesque fashion.

Robin's eyes widened as he leaned forward on the bed, voice dropping to an astonished whisper. "...I burnt that guy's face off."

"Iago," Leo grimaced, simultaneously answering Robin's own question and confirming that he was far from making Leo's 'Top Ten Most Hated Folks in the General Vicinity'. "Your habit of slithering in at inopportune moments never fails to surprise."

"Ah, I'm certain King Garon would not have named me Grand Tactician if it didn't!" he chuckled. "Which, for those keeping track, Your Highness, means here - or any other of the hundred fortresses under my command, I outrank you."

Iago sniffed, as if something besides himself smelled rotten. "What's this then? I will not be overseeing a charity case at this critical juncture in-" he paused, and Robin could feel his eyes glaring at him from behind that golden mask. "Hmh. Certainly not one of mine..."

"My tactician, " Leo cut in, "was traveling with my sister when she was captured by the Hoshidans. Of course, he didn't see anything useful - much like another tactician I'm familiar with."

Iago cackled in that way villains do - clearly Leo was small-fry when it came to the depths of Nohr's depravity. "Prince Leo, you should know as well as anyone that a scrying spell is only so effective. What with the arcane runoff from the canyon and the storm... it's truly no surprise Hoshido was able to snag her without a trace."

"Of course, Grand Tactician," Leo replied, words thick with sincerity. "Though, as Grand Tactician I suppose you'll have to report to Camilla when she returns. I'm sure we both understand who she will hold accountable for the lack of progress."

"Well," Iago started hastily. "I suppose no one is truly at fault here. I told His Majesty from the start, the girl was simply ill-prepared!"

Ah, Robin realized. Not just a villain, but a coward.

Still, a bit too reminiscent of Father.

There he went with the baseless knowledge again. Honestly, he was surprised he hadn't ruminated on forgotten family - most of his attempts at remembering faces from the past turned up nothing (perhaps the faintest echo of blue eyes). Did he have family somewhere, worried sick? Siblings? A mother? A fa-

His skin crawled.

Granted, that may have been due to Iago's pestilent aura departing the chamber.

"Okay, now I'm actually curious," he admitted, looking to Leo as he watched the door click shut. "What's your game here?"

Leo rounded on him, singular brow angled enough to convey his continued displeasure with the situation. "Corrin's party and your companion tell me she accepted you into her service. So," he continued, "here's my 'game', Robin. You get the Nohrian army into Hoshido to rescue my sister, and I don't execute you for military negligence or treason."

"but tyrux!" you cry out. "why does iago drop his infamous line, 'i'm afraid that's not possible'? it only barely suits the context of the scene!"

to you, dear reader, I say this: you assume iago doesn't stand beside doorways for forty five minutes waiting for the opportune moment to burst into the room and announce what is and is not possible, only to get too excited and say his line early.

As usual, here's the link to our discord server: discord .gg/9XG3U7a

Next up is Chapter 7 - Hiraeth. Mostly fluff, I promise! Well, at least some fluff.