The walk back to her room was a lonely one. The echoes of her soft footsteps were her only company as she trudged through the empty halls. She'd never noticed before, but without the servants running out and about, the castle seemed so empty.

Surely the trip to her room hadn't always been this long.

She passed door after door. Down the hall, she heard heavy footsteps. She stopped. For a second, she debated hiding in one of the doors to her left.

There was no need. As soon as she caught sight of the blue armor in the dim light, and the Ylissean insignia adorning it, she let out a sigh of relief. The knight turning around the corner stopped in front of her.

"Is there a problem, your Grace?" he asked.

"I-it's nothing," she replied, and she waved a hand to dismiss him. "Carry on."

The knight nodded. With his lance held high and his back held straight, he continued past her, like nothing had ever happened.

As Emmeryn watched him move away, she raised a hand to her face.

She was only so jumpy because she was tired. That was all there was to it. A good night's sleep, and all her doubts would go away. Or, at least, they would be easier to handle tomorrow.

Finally, she rounded the last corner to her room. Just a few steps more, and she could fall into the comforting embrace of her bed.

She stepped forward, then stopped. She rubbed her eyes, just to make sure she wasn't seeing things, and when it didn't magically disappear, she tensed.

Someone was peeking through her bedroom door.

Was it a Plegian spy? An assassin, here to do to her what they did to her father?

Whoever they were, they hadn't seen her yet. There was a patrolling knight just a little further down the hall. If she backed away now, maybe she could alert him before the assassin noticed her.

A breeze passed through the hall, shifting the torchlight above them, and it lit up the faded golden stripes running down his ragged clothes.

Oh. He's just a nobleman, Emmeryn thought. A rather poor one, but still, a nobleman. She frowned, this time in frustration. What does he want?

She approached him slowly, her slippers plodding lightly over the carpet.

"Excuse me," she said. "May I help you–"

"Ah!" The red-haired man jumped up and spun to face her. Draped over his arms were her bright yellow bed sheets. "Your Grace, there you are."

Emmeryn's lips tugged further down. "What are you doing?" she asked, and she eyed the sheets piled up in his hands.

"What am I–" The man followed her gaze, and his brow furrowed. "Oh. I do hope you'll forgive the state your bed is in."

"I'm sorry. I'm not sure I understand." Was there something to see about her bed? She'd not been to her room yet, so she wouldn't know.

"You see, my daughter was supposed to take care of it, but she got a little lost. As you can see," he said, hefting the sheets in his arms, "I had to finish the job for her."

"Well, I'd like to go to bed, if you wouldn't mind."

"Of course, your Grace," the man said. He stepped aside as she reached for the door. "But don't you think you could wait just a minute?"

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it's fine," Emmeryn said, and she pulled the door open.

Everything was just as it had been. Everything, that is, except for the mattress sitting atop her bed frame, stripped clear of the yellow sheets she'd been so fond of.

She connected the dots very quickly. He wasn't a nobleman or anything of the like. He was a servant, here to make her bed.

"You haven't made the bed yet?" she asked, turning to the man behind her.

"Why else would I be here?"

"I'm so sorry," Emmeryn said, her eyes growing wide. "I never realized. I was just so tired I assumed you were someone else."

"It's no bother," the servant replied. Reaching out, he pulled over a cushioned seat away from the wall. "If you could take a seat, I'll try to finish as soon as possible."

Emmeryn nodded. As she let her tired legs rest upon the soft velvet padding, she watched the man go about, spreading the bright yellow sheets over her mattress, humming as if he'd done this a thousand times. He moved with such ease and such comfort that for a second, Emmeryn could almost imagine he was her father, checking for monsters beneath her bed.

This man's daughter was a very lucky girl, she decided. Luckier than her, at least. She still had someone to tuck her in at night. Emmeryn would never have that, not anymore, and briefly, she felt a tinge of jealousy for this daughter she'd never met.

Why couldn't she have her father? She wanted someone to kiss her goodnight too.

"Your Grace? Your bed is ready."

Emmeryn blinked. Sure enough, her bed was neatly made, crisp and orderly, like it always was.

"Thank you," Emmeryn said. She raised her gaze to meet the servant's. He frowned back, almost as if he'd noticed something strange.

It vanished the moment she blinked, so she might have imagined it. She wiped her arm over her eyes as she made her way over, and ignored the wetness trailing down her sleeve.

The mattress rustled as she slipped beneath the covers. For a moment, she let herself believe her father was here, just to tuck her in one last time.

Above her, the door creaked open. She glanced up to see the servant standing halfway out the door. His mouth opened a little, as if a word was just on the tip of his tongue. All that managed to leave his lips was air.

"What is it?" she asked. "Is something wrong?"

"It's nothing to worry about," he said. "I simply wanted to apologize for my daughter. I'll make sure she knows where she's going next time."

A sense of relief mixed with her disappointment, leaving a foul taste in her mouth. "It's no trouble," she said, trying not to let it show. "You are dismissed."

"You're too kind, your Grace." The man bowed his head, and he slipped out.

The door clicked shut behind him, leaving Emmeryn alone again. Beside her, the moonlight slipped in through the curtains. She rolled over, her eyes staring up at the ceiling.

All the answers would come to her tomorrow. She was sure of it.


Come morning, and all she wanted to do was fall back to sleep. There was no magical moment of realization, no voice in her head telling her what the right thing was.

And unless the gods wanted her to suffer, the heavy weight pressed down on her eyelids was not some form of divine intervention.

She stayed quiet at the breakfast table. Not that Chrom and Lissa seemed to notice, too wrapped up in some scheme she was not privy to. Across the table, whispers floated between them out of her earshot. She wanted to ask what they were talking about.

But she had lied to them last night, about father. Maybe it was best to let them have their own secrets too.

Her spoon clicked against the porcelain bowl as she swirled her porridge around it. In her other hand, she fiddled with a peach. She rolled it up, down, and all around the wooden table. Anything that didn't involve eating it.

From the corner of her eye, she watched a bit of peach fall from her brother's mouth. The briefest of frowns crossed her face. Surely Tomas, or Nan, or even Nan's strange assistant had told him it was rude to speak with his mouth full?

The fruit trailed from the bottom of her brother's lips to his chin. She followed it as it tumbled through the air, and landed in a heap of bright orange, red, and white on the tabletop.

And that's when a horrifying thought hit her.

The girl in the dungeon. The execution.

Her siblings suspected nothing, at least for now. But executions were a very public event, and though she'd never had the stomach to go see any of her father's executions, word got out very quickly.

There would be questions. Who was the girl? Why was she being executed? And why was Emmeryn's name painted all over it?

Her gut clenched just thinking about it. No no no. I'm not ready to answer that. What do I even say?

Her chair scraped against the floor as she jumped to her feet suddenly. That, her siblings noticed, and she winced.

"Em?" Chrom asked. "Where are you going?"

Emmeryn opened her mouth to speak, when something wet splashed against her leg. She looked down, and she saw a bit of porridge splattered over her nightgown.

She'd completely forgotten about the spoon still in her hands.

"I spilled a bit of porridge on the floor," she said. "I was just about to go fetch a maid to clean it up."

She spun on her heel and rushed out the door without waiting for a reply.

She had to stop the execution. She couldn't do it now, not before she was ready for her siblings to know the truth.

It wasn't as if the dungeons couldn't hold one girl. Her father had used those dungeons before, so they must have been good.

Servants moved aside as she barreled down the halls. She ran through doors, searching for someone, anyone, who could call off the execution. Someone like Tomas, or the pegasus knight captain, or the captain of the royal guard.

She didn't bother looking ahead, and when she turned the corner, she crashed head first into someone else. The girl gave a startled cry, and they both fell back.

As Emmeryn rubbed her head, she lifted her gaze from the floor. The first thing she noticed about the girl sitting across from her was the white, plated armor over her chest. A lance lay a few feet away.

Her eyes widened in recognition. The girl was a pegasus knight! She'd know that kind of armor anywhere!

Emmeryn shot up, not a moment to lose. "Where's your captain?" she blurted out.

"The captain?" the pegasus knight said, and she ran a hand through her pale blue hair. "Last I saw, she was in the courtyard, looking for her son."

"Her son is missing?"

The pegasus knight shrugged. "It's unlikely. He tends to get up earlier than her, and often forgets his breakfast. She probably wants to make sure he ate this morning."

Emmeryn bowed her head in gratitude, and she murmured a quick thanks. She turned and headed toward the courtyard, and as she passed by another group of servants holding a set of dirtied dishes in their hands, she hoped the pegasus knight captain would understand why the execution had to be canceled.


"You want me to stand here?"

"Uh-huh!" Chrom nodded.

The taller boy with the brown hair stared back at him and narrowed his eyes. He didn't complain, though, and he stepped up to the open door and the darkness through it.

Behind him, Chrom felt Lissa shuffle her feet. He looked back at her. They exchanged glances, Lissa holding tight onto the ball in her hands. She'd wanted to play with that today, but Chrom had convinced her this would be more exciting.

She didn't look thrilled with this, though, so Chrom grinned to cheer her up.

They were lucky this boy had agreed to follow them here, otherwise they would have had to show up empty-handed. Em told them the monster wasn't going to eat them, but it couldn't hurt to be prepared. Besides, he'd made a promise, and a prince always had to keep his promises.

Which was why it was so annoying when the boy stopped at the top of the stairs and just looked into the black hole.

"I'm not sure about this," the boy replied. "My mother said never to go down there."

"Why not? Because there are monsters there?"

Lissa tugged at his arm. When he looked over his shoulder, she frowned back.

"Monsters?" The boy laughed. "No, nothing so silly."

Silly? Clearly, the boy had never met a real monster.

He continued, "She said the stairs were dangerous. Nobody's taken care of them in a very long time, so they're dusty. You could slip on them and fall."

"But could you do it for us? Please?" He blinked up at the boy, the same way he remembered that one girl had done the last time his father had brought him on a trip.

The boy looked at the floor. "Well... my mother would not be very happy."

"We won't tell, I promise!"

"I... I don't know..."

"Lissa doesn't want to go down without me," Chrom said, and he held Lissa close, "and I don't want to go down alone with Lissa."

The boy looked at them, then back to the stairs. He stepped back. Hummed.

"I'm going to need a broom," he said at last. "Do you know where those–"

"Fredrick. Where are you? You haven't had your breakfast yet."

The boy, Frederick, froze. "Mother." Turning back to them, he said, "I'm sorry. I have to go."

Chrom stepped aside as the boy ran past. He tried to pull Lissa with him too, so she wouldn't get run over. She tripped and yelped.

As the boy disappeared around the corner, Chrom hoped he would come back. He wanted to see the monster today, and without someone with them, he would have to do it later. Seconds passed, and when he didn't return, Chrom frowned in disappointment.

He turned back to Lissa to tell her the bad news. Instead, he found herself staring at the darkness, her eyes wide with horror.

"Lissa?" he asked. "What's wrong? And where's your..."

Chrom looked at her empty hands, then followed her gaze down the stairs.

"Oh."

He could hear the ball bounce, and bounce, and bounce. When it stopped, he knew it reached the bottom.

Where the monster waited.

Lissa whimpered. She looked like she was about to cry, or start whining.

"We can get another one!" Chrom said, hoping to distract her. He grabbed her hand and tried to tug her back.

Lissa pulled her hand away. "I want to play with that one!" she said.

"What's so special about that one?"

"Em gave it to me!"

"Oh."

Oh indeed. If Em bought it, then it must have been special. Everything Em gave them was very special because they were her things. They couldn't leave something like that in the hands of a monster.

Even if it meant he might get eaten.

Chrom swallowed the fear building up in his throat. Clearing his throat, he cupped a hand to his mouth, and said, "Hello?"

He didn't hear anything at first, so he leaned closer. Very faintly, he could hear something screech. It was like the sound of swords clashing together, only very, very quiet.

It was probably sharpening its claws against the bones lying around on the floor, waiting for its next meal to fall down the stairs.

"Hello?" he said, louder this time.

This time, the sound stopped. Chrom heard something thud against the floor, and the monster mumbled something he couldn't understand.

"Who's there?" the monster said after a moment.

"It's me!" he said. "From yesterday. My sister dropped something down there."

"Is it... this ball?"

"Yes! That's the one!" Chrom stepped forward, but he stopped himself. "We're going to come down now. Can you... not eat us when we get there? Please?"

"I'm not going to..." The monster's voice faded back into nonsense. Or maybe it was the monster language. "I won't eat you."

"Do you promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

"Do you swear on the monster king you're not going to eat us? Me and my sister, I mean."

"Swear on the monster king?"

"Yeah! My big sister says you can't break a promise that way."

"Oh, for Naga's sake... Fine, I swear upon the monster king that I won't eat you."

Chrom sighed in relief. He looked at Lissa again, and she seemed just as happy as he was.

"Okay!" he said. "We're going to come down now."

He took Lissa's hand in his, just so she wouldn't be scared. Then, slowly, he took a step down, and he waited. When no wrinkly green hand reached out from the shadows to pull him in, he let out a long breath, and he took another.

Two steps became three, then three steps became five, until one by one, they strolled down the staircase. All around them, the walls grew darker and darker, until only the faintest shine outlined the steps before them.

Suddenly, there was light. Down by their left, an orange glow painted the cobblestone walls and lit up the room for them to see.

Confused, Chrom looked back upstairs. There wasn't supposed to be light here, right? This new light did come from around the bend, though, so maybe the walls hid the light.

But monsters were supposed to only live in the dark. If there was light, something wasn't adding up.

Glancing back at Lissa one last time, Chrom stepped inside.

Above him, a torch flickered brightly. No one had been down here for a very long time, but it still burned. On the other side, a set of big, iron bars glowed in the torchlight. Chrom wasn't sure what they were for, but they looked mean, so he backed away from them.

Between the bars, a bowl sat against a wall, traces of porridge stuck all over inside it, and just beside that was–

"My ball!" Lissa said.

She rushed past Chrom before he could stop her, dragging them both closer to the bars. Chrom yelled in surprise. He tried to remind her, to warn her that they still hadn't seen the monster yet, when...

When a hand came down to rest on top of the ball.

Not green and full of warts, like he'd imagined, but pale, like his and Lissa's.

His eyes trailed up to an arm covered in a blue sleeve. He looked up further, to its chest, covered as well, then to its neck, hidden beneath a blue scarf. At last, he looked up at its face. Deep blue hair ran down its head, almost black in the dim light.

But its face, it almost looked like Em's face, save for that dark black spot covering the left side of her face.

This wasn't a monster. This was a girl!

"You're no monster!" was the first thing out of his mouth.

The monster's – no, girl's – eyebrows tugged down. "Yes. I am aware," she said.

Without a word, she rolled the ball back out between the bars. Lissa swooped down to grab it, before she dashed back behind his legs in an instant.

Chrom frowned, and he scratched his hair. This was so confusing! "But I thought you were a monster, and you're not! Why didn't you say anything?"

"I did say something," she replied.

"Then you should have tried harder!"

"Well, I don't suppose it matters much now, does it?" The girl sighed. "I'm not a monster."

"Why not?" Lissa piped up from behind him.

Chrom looked back. To his surprise, she stepped up, her face confused as well.

"Why... not?" The girl narrowed her eyes. Her hair draped over her face as she tilted her head.

She didn't understand them. Or, she didn't understand how much she did look like a monster, with that big black spot on her face.

"You have one eye," Chrom said, and he pointed at the place where her other eye should have been.

"Oh no, I have another eye."

Chrom crossed his arms. "Can we see?" he said, not believing it.

"I... can't." The girl looked away with her one eye. "I have to keep it hidden."

"Is it because you're a monster?"

"No, it isn't." The girl shook her head. "My eye is hurt. That's all."

Chrom gasped. "You're hurt? Let me get my sister! She can–"

"No!"

The girl's sudden shout startled him. He stepped back, eyes wide.

"Eh?"

The girl's gaze softened. "It's fine," she said. "I don't need a healer."

Fine? That was a very strange thing to say, for someone who definitely wasn't fine. She'd even said so herself!

"But you only have one eye!" he tried to point out.

"I haven't had this eye for a long time."

"But everyone knows you need two eyes! I gotta get my sister to get it back for you!"

He turned to leave, but before he could go, she said, "I'm afraid no healing magic can bring me back my eye."

This time, Chrom shook his head. "You don't know that!"

"I do."

"But you haven't tried!"

"I have."

She spoke with such a serious voice, when Chrom looked back and saw her eyes, steady and unwavering, he couldn't help but believe her.

"Oh."

His gaze fell to the floor. She couldn't have two eyes? He couldn't imagine what that was like, but it must be terrible!

"Hey, don't look so down." The girl's voice rang him from his thoughts. He looked back up, and oddly enough, the girl's lips were turned up in a smile.

"Why?" he asked. "I wanna help you, but you won't let me. Why won't you let me help you?"

"There's nothing you can do. I lost this eye a very long time ago."

"Just like Sir Silas."

Chrom looked over at Lissa. She was staring right at the girl, her eyes glittering with excitement., and when Chrom's mind caught up with his ear, he brightened up too.

"You're right!" he said, and he snapped back to the girl. "Just like Sir Silas from father's stories!"

"Sir Silas? I've never heard of him," the girl said, frowning.

That was news to Chrom. "You don't? But everyone knows who he is! At least, that's what father said. Father always said he lost his eye in a big fight, trying to save his mommy from some bad guys. Is that how you lost your eye too?"

"Well, it wasn't anything like that–"

"Ooh! Tell me! Tell me please!" Chrom said.

"I wanna know too!" Lissa said, and they both leaned forward.

"Ah." The girl inched away. "I don't think you'd like... that is, I don't believe I should say–"

Suddenly, a thought popped into his head. Something so obvious, he had to stop himself from slapping his forehead. In all his excitement, he'd forgot to introduce himself, and as a prince, that was very important.

"My name is Chrom."

The girl's eyes widened. "I–I'm sorry?" she stammered.

"I just realized, I forgot to say my name. Nan says that I should always say my name when I meet someone." Chrom held out a hand for her to shake. "What is yours?"

The girl stared at his hand. For a second, he thought he'd done something wrong. This was what you were supposed to do when you met someone, right?

The answer came to him a second later. The bars! She couldn't reach through them, so he might have made her mad. He pulled his hand away, but when he looked back up, he thought he saw water pool in her eyes.

Something flashed through them, something he couldn't quite place.

"Luci–Marth. My name is Marth."

LuciMarth? A strange name, but Nan said everyone from other places had weird names, so he shouldn't think that way.

He smiled instead. "Well, it's nice to meet you, LuciMarth!"

"Can you tell us? Please?" Lissa said beside him.

"Yeah." Chrom nodded with her. "Father always told us stories before he... he left."

"O–of course fath–of course," LuciMarth said, and she looked up. "I'll do anything for you."


I was going to upload this last night, but my wifi cut out.

At last, Lucina's met her father. It's not quite as sudden as the last time, but I like it better this way.

Until next time, I wish you all well, and stay safe!