It would only take a moment, Emmeryn told herself. All it would take a moment to force the part of her that was still asleep to wake back up.
"Just one more minute of sleep," she groaned, clutching tightly at her bedsheets as she rolled her head into her damp pillow. "I'm not ready yet. I'll be ready in a minute."
Even as the words left her lips, she knew it was a lie. She would never be ready, no matter how long she waited.
The morning sun shone through her window. The singing of birds rattled the inside of her brain, too loud and too early in the morning for her. She just wanted to go back to sleep. She didn't want to have to worry about any of this.
But she knew the sun would keep shining and the birds would keep singing. The other nobles would keep arguing like that was the most important thing in the world.
Tomas would tell her that was her job. To keep them from arguing too much, and to keep them together.
Emmeryn breathed in. Breathed out. Breathed in. Breathed out. Breathed in.
Emmeryn didn't want to get out of bed. She wanted to stay here. She wanted to melt into the bedsheets and sink deep into the mattress where no one could ever find her. She didn't want to deal with all this stupid, stupid work.
But did anyone really care about what she wanted?
Someone knocked at her door.
"Your Grace?" Lord Bartholomew's voice came through her door. "Are you there, your Grace?"
Emmeryn wanted to shove her face into her pillow and hope he decided to leave. She wanted to ignore him.
Tomas told her to never ignore the demands of her people.
"I am here, Lord Bartholomew," she groaned from beneath your covers. "What do you need?"
"May I enter, your Grace?"
Emmeryn rolled onto her side. "Do as you please."
There was a pause. A silence that stretched on, and for a moment Emmeryn dared to hope that he had left before he spoke again.
"I simply thought to remind you that the nobles will meet in the Great Hall in a few hours from now, and that you will be expected to attend."
"Okay."
"I do recommend that you attend. Lord Redwind is in attendance."
"Okay."
Another pause. Emmeryn closed her eyes and listened for the sound of his footsteps leaving. No such luck.
Lord Bartholomew cleared his throat, before he said, a little softer, "Your Grace. It's almost noon. You haven't eaten yet. Have you?"
"I have not."
"You should come out and eat. Your siblings are getting rather worried."
"Okay."
He waited for a moment. Then, Emmeryn heard him leave, his soft footfalls growing softer and softer, until the sounds of the morning–late morning, actually–had swallowed it completely.
Emmeryn rolled onto her other side and blankly at the door.
There was a meeting. A meeting with Lord Redwind. Who would be stupid enough to invite him into Ylisstol, into her home, after he had sent his knights to kill her?
Oh. Right. She'd invited him.
She was regretting that now. She just wanted it all to be over.
Over how? a voice in her head asked.
She didn't know. She didn't care. She just wanted it done.
It was too early for a meeting. She didn't want to get out of bed, and she didn't want to go. She didn't want to stand before all those noblemen and noblewomen and pretend like she was their Exalt, even though she really was their Exalt.
Tomas told her a good Exalt was always on time.
I don't want to be a good Exalt, Emmeryn thought as she drowned herself in her blankets. I just want to be Emmeryn, the Exalt's daughter. I want my father back. I want Tomas back.
Another knock came from her door.
"Your Grace," Captain Madeline's voice called. "Are you here?"
What would it take to get one more minute of sleep?
Chrom looked up from his half-eaten loaf of bread and glanced over at the untouched plate of bread and fruit across the table next to Lissa. Like the three times he had looked before, no one was there.
"Nan? Where's Em?" he asked, crumbs spewing from his mouth.
Nan raised her head and blinked. "Oh. I don't know."
"Is she still asleep?"
"I have not checked."
"Is she hungry?"
"I don't know."
"Is she..." Chrom stopped himself. "Is she... okay?"
"I don't know."
"Nevermind." Chrom swallowed, then took another bite out of his bread. Again, he glanced at Emmeryn's plate.
She had to be okay. She just had to. He had seen her go to bed last night. She was okay then. Why wouldn't she be okay now?
"Please close your mouth as you chew."
"Muh?" A chunk of bread fell out of his mouth. Chrom watched it bounce off his plate, roll off the table, and onto the floor.
Chrom reached down to pick it up, then stopped. He frowned and pulled back. After a second, he reached down again. Then he stopped.
With a groan, he slid down his chair. He could pick it up, but did he really want to? He still had plenty of bread left on his plate. He could ask one of the maids standing by the side for help, but maybe now was not the best time to ask. Everyone was acting strange today. They'd been acting strange all week, but today most of all.
Was today special? Chrom had noticed Castle Ylisstol was more crowded than usual. Servants he hadn't recognized had passed him in the halls on the way here, and he had seen a bunch of fancy-looking carriages arrive at the courtyard. Was there a party happening today?
Chrom shook his head. No, that can't be it. If there was a party, Em would tell us. And she would know because she is the only one who could invite everyone here now that father is–now that she is Exalt. So what is it?
Would remembering help? Closing his eyes, Chrom tried to remember what had happened in the last week.
Well first, Emmeryn's caretaker died, he thought. I think there was a battle? He was killed in a fight. But that doesn't sound right. How could there be a battle in the city? But there was a clean-up, right?
He remembered some of the Royal Guards had been sent to help clean something up in the city. What else could they be cleaning up other than a battle?
Then after that, what happened? The Royal Guards helped clean up the city. Did the Pegasus Knights do anything? Oh, right. Em sent them to find Marth.
And then what? Was there something he was missing? Chrom tried to search his memory for anything he missed, but nope. That was all he had.
Everything was so confusing lately. It hadn't been this hard to keep track of everything before. Chrom missed the days when he didn't have to think so hard to remember things, but it had been two weeks already, and things still hadn't gone back to normal.
With a sigh, Chrom pushed his plate away. "I'm full."
"You still have food left over," Nana said.
"I'm not hungry." Chrom glared at his food, as if that would make it go away. Stubbornly, the food refused to disappear.
"I'm not hungry too," Lissa piped up.
Nan frowned. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. I don't want to eat it anymore."
Nan looked up at the ceiling and sighed. She made a motion with her hand, and the maids standing by the side came to pick up their plates, leaving him and Lissa alone at the table.
A second passed. Then another. Chrom sat at the table and stared, trying to think of something for him and Lissa to do.
What could they do?
They could play around the castle. Except... the last time they did that, they'd found something they weren't supposed to.
They could play in the courtyard. Except the Royal Guards were all busy, and most of the Pegasus Knights hadn't come back yet. If there was no one there, why bother going there at all? Chrom didn't know how to use the training weapons, and neither did Lissa.
Chrom turned to Nan. "Nan. Do we have lessons today?"
Nan shook her head. "There is a royal meeting in the castle today. I'm afraid we cannot risk bothering them."
"Oh. Why?"
"Her Grace has important matters she must discuss with the other nobles."
"Then can we go outside?"
"I'm afraid not. That would also be rather distracting."
"Oh."
Chrom continued to stare at the table, wishing he had something to do. For a second, he thought about asking to go back to his room to get some toys, but then he decided he didn't want to.
Slowly, his blue eyes scanned over the empty table. He looked over the crumbs still littered over the table, traced the lines running down the wood with his finger, before he stopped at the plate of food still at the table. Emmeryn's plate of food.
"Hey Lissa," he said.
Lissa glanced up from the table. "Hm?"
"Let's go find Em."
"Okay."
"Lord Chrom, her Grace is not to be disturbed–" Nan stepped forward, but Chrom was already picking up Emmeryn's plate. With Lissa in tow, he walked out of the room and headed straight for Emmeryn's room.
Someone was knocking at her door.
Emmeryn heard it, even beneath her blanket, but she pretended she didn't, pulling the covers over her head instead.
Tomas would tell her to stop being so childish, and to answer the door. Emmeryn just pulled harder.
After a moment, the knocking stopped. Emmeryn let her hold relax, and she sighed. Why couldn't whoever it was just leave her alone?
"Em? Can we come in?"
Emmeryn rolled over, and for the first time that day, she didn't feel quite so horrible. "Yes. Yes, please come in."
The door creaked open. Emmeryn's heart felt a little lighter as she watched Chrom walk in, Lissa trailing behind him like a shadow.
"Hello Chrom. Hello Lissa."
"Hi Em," Chrom replied, ducking his head behind a plate of food. "You missed breakfast."
"Mhm."
"I saved you some food."
"I know," Emmeryn said, looking at the plate of bread and fruit Chrom held before him. Though her stomach growled, it didn't feel quite empty. But he had saved the food for her, hadn't he?
"Thank you," she said, even though she was not hungry.
Peeling off her bedsheets, Emmeryn stepped down onto the floor. The carpet swallowed her feet as she padded over to Chrom, and even the glaring rays of the sun felt a little softer on her skin as she took the plate from him. She turned around and headed back to her bed, before she looked back. Chrom and Lissa remained by the door, Chrom swinging his arms awkwardly as Lissa fiddled with her dress.
"Do you want to come in?" Emmeryn asked, and she tried to put on her best smile for them.
Chrom nodded. "Uh-huh."
Like a pair of baby birds, they strolled inside in a neat little line. Emmeryn closed the door behind them, then made her way back to her bed.
The mattress creaked once for her, once for Chrom, and once for Lissa. As Emmeryn set the plate down on her lap, she stared at it and wondered, Well. Now what?
"So," she muttered, rolling a peach in her hand, "where's Nan?"
"Outside."
"Outside?"
"Mhm." Chrom pointed to the door.
"Ah." Emmeryn guessed she should be grateful for that. It would feel weird, having Nan in her room, no matter how close she was to Chrom and Lissa. "Well. The weather is beautiful today, isn't it?"
"Yeah," Chrom said. "It's very warm."
"I want to go outside," Lissa added.
"Then why don't you?" Emmeryn asked, giving Lissa a curious look. "Do you have lessons today?"
"Nope," Chrom replied. "We don't have lessons today. Nan says we're not 'supposed to disturb anyone. That's why we can't go outside neither."
"Ah. Right." The other nobles were here for the meeting. Emmeryn supposed that made sense. It wouldn't do to host a serious meeting as kids romped around the halls.
"Em? What day is today?"
"Today?" Emmeryn hummed. "It's Thursday."
Chrom huffed. "I knew that! But why can't we go outside today?"
"Oh. It's nothing."
"Oh."
Emmeryn glanced over at Chrom, frowning. Chrom looked at the floor. Looking to her right, she saw Lissa frowning at her too. They seemed hurt. And Emmeryn supposed they would be. She had kept a secret from them.
Other people kept secrets. Tomas had kept secrets from her. She was sure there were many more among the nobles who did too. But now that she had kept a secret from them, she'd learned how keeping secrets felt. It didn't feel right.
Secrets, she thought, were more trouble than they were worth.
So she said, "There is a meeting today. Everyone in the kingdom is coming to meet with me."
"Why?" Chrom asked.
Emmeryn glanced up at the ceiling. "One of them did something bad. I want to know why."
"What did they do?"
"They tried to invade our castle."
"Oh." Chrom kicked at the floor. "That sounds scary."
"It was." With another sigh, she started picking at the crust of the bread. This meeting was no fun. Again, she found herself wishing that she could miss it.
"Hey Em?"
"Hm?"
"You're Exalt, right? Can't you tell them not to meet today so we go outside?"
"Chrom, I can't do that."
Chrom groaned and fell back on her bed, throwing his hands up in the air. "Why not? Don't you want to play? It's been sooooo long since you played with us."
"It's not that. This meeting is important." Even as the words left her mouth, Emmeryn's lips twisted down. The meeting was important, that much was true. She just didn't care.
Some of that must have shown on her face, because Chrom's face settled into a frown. "Are you sure? It doesn't look too important."
"Well I have to go."
"But do you want to?"
Emmeryn wanted to laugh. Did she want to go? No. Goddess no. She wanted to be anywhere but there. She wanted to play with her siblings and forget all about all the nobles and their stupid arguing about what they wanted her to do.
An Exalt cannot ignore her duties. If a farmer does not take care of his crops, only he will starve for the winter. If an Exalt does not take care of her people, everyone suffers.
Tomas had taught her better. As much as she hated to admit it, there was one thing all those arguing nobles were right about. She had responsibilities. It didn't matter if she wanted to do them or not. If she ignored them, people would be hurt.
"Sorry," Emmeryn said with a sigh. "I can't. This meeting is too important for me to miss."
"Oh."
Chrom looked sad. Lissa, too. Emmeryn didn't want to be the one to turn them down, but what choice did she have?
"Don't worry," she said. "As soon as I'm done, I'll play with you."
Chrom's head rose at that. "Really?" he asked.
Emmeryn smiled. "I promise."
Because even if she couldn't say no to her responsibilities, she wanted to spend time with Chrom and Lissa. She needed to. No matter if she was Exalt or not, she was still a big sister, and she would let nothing change that.
Hey. I'm back.
Between trying to write more original stuff, reviving one of my older stories, and trying to figure out what to do with this story, I'd say five weeks is... I wouldn't say great, but it's steady progress. Maybe with practice, I'll be able to cut it down a bit more.
Editing this down was probably the part I liked doing least. Usually, I get into editing right after finishing, when it's often a better idea to let it stew. Some writing advice I received is to never get into the habit of not writing, so I suppose if you have multiple things you're working on, let one thing simmer for a bit while you go work on other things. It's what I did when waiting to edit this chapter, and I'd like to think it worked.
Anyway, reviving that old story took the most out of me. Hopefully putting together the next update for this one will take less time. Until then, remember to take care of yourselves out there, and stay safe!
