Gregor never did end up making night watch arrangements with her.

Now that it was the middle of the night, Lucina was beginning to regret that.

Anna had never asked about it when she had returned with the water, sitting down to cook as soon as she saw that Lucina had set up the camp. Once they had all eaten, Anna tucked her daughters into their bedrolls, and retired for the night.

That wouldn't have been much of a problem, had Gregor not also gone to bed with them and left her to take watch all by herself.

A cold night breeze swept through the clearing. The campfire flickered, a few sparks straying a bit too close to her for comfort. She stepped away, edging closer to the darkness fringing at the edge of the firelight. The darkness, Lucina did not fear. She had much experience with the dark. Fire? Not so much.

Besides, what was there to fear tonight? Bears? Did bears live around here? Wolves were probably an animal that could survive in a great deal of environments. Lucina vaguely remembered Yarne mentioning something about that. Compared to the Risen, however, they were paltry.

Then again, I had Falchion at my side back then. Now, would things be different?

Lucina shook the thought out of her head. No, she could certainly defeat a bear if it came down to it. She was sure her skills allowed that much, at least. And even if she couldn't, her fighting would probably alert Gregor, and he could help her bring it down.

Slowly, the breeze died back down, and the clearing returned to silence, save for the crackling of the fire behind her. The edges of the lit clearing grew and receded with every flicker of the flame, almost like she was standing on a small island amidst an ocean of darkness. The fire was the only thing keeping her from drowning, just as her hope had been the only thing keeping her from drowning in despair, back in that horrible future of hers.

And now that she was here, was it truly worth all the struggle? Lucina glanced back at the sleeping forms of Anna, her daughters, and Gregor. Not the people she would have liked to be with, but what choice did she have?

Perhaps it was too early to tell.

Lucina glanced back into the approaching darkness. It was quite late now. So late, even the creatures of the night, the crickets and the owls, were sleeping. Nothing moved out there, with no wind to disturb it, no Fell Dragon to breathe down on the earth, even as it slumbered. It was quiet. It was peaceful.

Lucina stretched her arms out and opened her mouth in a yawn. By the Gods, was it hard to stay away, with only a sliver of moon in the sky casting almost everything around her in pitch black and making it very uninteresting to look out on. Lucina was no stranger to staying up all night to keep watch, especially when her friends were tired, but... a little rest, even just for a minute or so, sounded like a nice idea. Sleep had become a rarity for her, after all.

Lucina considered going back to wake Gregor to have him take over her shift. It was well into the night, and had they negotiated shifts, now would have been when they were to switch. As she toyed the idea, however, she quickly realized that she had no idea how to breach the topic with how their last conversation had ended.

Her father would know how to smooth things over. Lucina opted to stand in place.

She was still tired, though. The last time she'd had a full night's rest was... last night, funny enough. But the time before that, that one was a little less clear. Maybe sometime back in Ylisstol, before the Fell Dragon had destroyed it? Lucina had no idea how long ago that was.

A starving man would eat the grass around him. A thirsty man would lick dewdrops from the leaves. A tired man had to sleep in tiny doses to keep himself from collapsing. Lucina could feel herself about to collapse. She sat down to keep herself from falling into the dirt, but that did little to help with the weight on her eyelids. The rising and crackling of the fire did little to help, slow, steady, like the lapping of waves.

Lucina had many fond memories of fire, memories of a time so long ago. Memories of lying down by the castle fireplace, dreaming of when she would hold Falchion by her side. Memories of sharing stories with her friends by the camp fire. Memories of Ylisstol burning to the ground.

Lucina's eyes snapped open, and she gasped awake. Her eyes flicked around frantically for a blaze that wasn't there. She grasped at her face, just barely glazed with sweat from the few seconds she had drifted off. At least, she hoped it was a few seconds.

A quick glance told her that not much time had passed. Groaning, Lucina's head fell into her hands.

Gods, I feel awful.

Another burst of embers snapped her from her thoughts. The fire had begun to dwindle. Sighing, Lucina strolled back over to the fire. She lifted a nearby stick and prodded at the coals. Sparks swarmed to the sky like insects, but the fire did not grow. Lucina reached to her left, fumbling for a bit as she felt around the ground next to her, before her fingers found the firewood pile. Slowly, she lifted a log out of the pile.

"What are you doing?"

Lucina jumped, dropping the log into the fire as she did. A shower of sparks chased after her, and Lucina spread her arms out as she forced away whoever was standing next to her from the fire. As soon as the fire died down, she looked down to her right.

Staring up at her, one of Anna's daughters kicked the ground. One that Lucina didn't immediately recognize, not without any of the things she'd used to identify her sisters, but one who looked... oddly familiar. "Sorry."

Lucina let out a long breath. "There is nothing to apologize for. I was not expecting someone to approach me so late. Do you need anything?"

"I need to use the bathroom."

"This late?" Lucina frowned. "Can't you go back to sleep?"

"It's a emergency."

Lucina threw a glance back at the tent, where the girl was supposed to be. She could try to force her to go back to bed anyway, but Anna had never been good at listening. There were many battles Lucina could fight through to the end. This was not one of them.

Lucina sighed. "Why ask me, then? You don't need my help."

"Can you watch me so I don't get eaten by a wolf or something?"

"I suppose I could," Lucina said, humming. She looked around for somewhere private and safe. Her eyes landed on a small tree just outside of the firelight.

"Here." Lucina reached over and pulled it aside, a grimace pulled on her face. "Scream if you see something."

"I'll do that!" Anna skipped over, and Lucina let the tree fall in place behind her, briskly walking back to the campfire.

A few seconds passed in awkward silence. A moment later, Lucina heard the tree rustle as it was pulled aside again, and Anna walked back through.

Lucina thought she'd go back to the tent. Instead, she sat down next to the campfire again.

"Go back to sleep," Lucina said.

"I can't. I'm starving. Do we have any food?"

"We don't. It's late, Anna. You need rest."

"But I can't sleep if I'm hungry." Anna looked around. "Hey, do you need help? I can help."

Lucina suppressed an irritated scowl, motioning back to the tent. So much for peace and quiet. "I don't need help. Please, go back to bed."

"But I wanna help. It looks like the fire is going out. Do you need me to look after it?" Anna reached over to the pile of firewood and dragged out a log.

Lucina's eyes widened. "Wait!"

But before she could move, Anna tossed the log in. Like before, a geyser of sparks shot out and rained down on the ground around it. Anna, however, had not had the foresight to keep her distance. Red hot embers splashed against her skin, and the girl let out a cry of pain.

Cursing, Lucina rushed to her side. She dragged the girl away, checking her skin for burns as she did. She found a few red marks on the girl's arms. "Don't do that. Have you ever tended to a fire before?"

Anna huffed and crossed her arms. "Of course I have. I've done it a hundred times. Who do you think I am, a spoiled princess?"

Lucina snorted. Gods, she hoped she wasn't like this when she was a child. She wasn't being paid to be mouthy, however, so she silently dug into the merchant's wares and produced a heal staff.

"Hand it over!" Anna said, grasping at the staff. "I can do it myself!"

Lucina held it away. "You can't use a heal staff on yourself."

"Why not?"

"I'm not quite sure. There's something about not being able to use your own energy on yourself. It's why you can't burn yourself with your own fire spells."

"Have you ever tried to?"

Lucina blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"You won't know unless you try. I can try."

"No, you won't," Lucina said, crossing her arms. "I'm not getting into an argument with a child. Now shut up and let me heal you."

Anna grumbled unhappily, but ultimately, she sat down and lifted her arms for Lucina to heal. She acted like it was all such a big inconvenience for her, but it wasn't as if Lucina enjoyed this any more than she did. The sooner she got this over with, the sooner she could put her back to bed, and she could return to being alone.

Carefully, Lucina moved her clothing out of the way so she could clearly see the burns. As her elbow brushed against the girl's side, she let out a sharp gasp, a hidden bruise placed beneath her shirt, and a rather large one from the way Anna clasped at her side immediately after to rub it. Lucina only shot a brief glance at her side, before she raised the heal staff to her arms.

Even as uncommon as it had been for her to use a staff, healing came easily to her. With a single breath, green energy came pouring out of the staff, and the red marks on Anna's arms slowly disappeared. Hopefully, that strange bruising would heal too. Really, what was Anna doing to her children? Her mother would have never let her get in a position to be hit like that.

"Hey!" Anna said, her voice snapping Lucina's attention back to her. "Can you tell me a story?"

Lucina gave Anna an irritated look. "A story? Now?"

"I'm bored."

"You would be a lot less bored if you went back to sleep."

"I don't want to."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm hungry, and I'm bored." Anna glanced back at the wagon, and her face lit up like she'd just remembered something. "Hey, you're rich, right? Why did you become a mercenary?"

Lucina's eyes followed Anna's, and she narrowed her gaze. "Why do you want to know?"

"I just want to know. Why would you come here if you're rich? It's not like you have to work to buy anything if you stayed home. Did you run out of money?"

"It's not about money," Lucina hissed. "Not everything is about money, you realize?"

"Then what is it about?"

Lucina huffed. She turned away and tossed another log into the fire, to buy herself a moment while she thought of a good lie.

Finally, she said, "My father is sick. I'm on a mission to find a cure for him, not to make myself money."

"Oh. Okay." Anna was quiet for a moment. "That sounds scary."

"It can be."

"Where are you going to find it?"

Lucina hummed. "Chon'sin."

"That's far."

"It is."

"I bet you can't wait to get back home."

Lucina had to stifle a laugh. An empty laugh. Home. Where could she go home? Her home was nothing but rubble, and Ylisstol certainly would not be welcoming her with open arms any more.

She had no home. She had nothing to hold onto but her hope, lighting her path into the future.

"Yes. It would certainly be nice," she replied.

"I mean, even if your dad dies, at least you'll still have that, right?"

Suddenly, Lucina whirled to face her. "It's not about that." she said, scowling.

"What is it about? My mom says that if she dies, we get her money. We win something either way."

"And they're still dead. There's no point in having anything then."

Anna tilted her head. "And?"

"And? What do you mean and?!"

"It's not like you're going to die. Why are you so worried? You are the most important thing to yourself, so worry about yourself," Anna chirped. "If they die, they'd want you to live, so you should always make sure that you treat yourself as the most important person. I heard that from a book."

Lucina rose to her feet. "Now you listen here–" Then she stopped herself.

Arguing with a child. Right.

Turning away, Lucina scowled and resumed her watch.

What right did a little girl have to lecture her about who to worry about? Lucina knew who she had to take care of. She had a duty to save the world. If she distracted herself, there would be no one else to stop what was coming. She had no time to worry about herself.

"What do you see?"

Lucina could feel Anna standing next to her. When she had moved so close to her, she didn't know, nor did she particularly care to know.

"Nothing," Lucina replied flatly. "Go back to sleep."

Beside her, Anna pouted. "But I want to help! I can help!"

"I don't want your help."

"But I can look while you sleep! Don't you want to sleep?"

Lucina huffed. "No."

"I don't want to sleep, too. I want to watch."

"There's nothing to watch." Lucina held a hand out toward the darkness, and like she'd said, the darkness did not move.

"There's a bunch to watch," Anna said, shaking her head. "There's the plants, there's the moon, and there's... there's..." Her eyes widened. "There's someone there!"

Lucina followed her eyes into the forest. Nothing had changed. The trees were just the same as they were before, and–a flicker of movement slipped through the bushes. Lucina narrowed her gaze and leaned forward.

Again, something moved.

"See! See!"

Lucina didn't reply. She took a step forward, drawing her sword.

A streak emerged from the bushes. Lucina gripped her sword tighter, then stopped. A fox stared back at her, standing atop a rock over the foliage.

"It's a fox."

Anna furiously shook her head. "No it isn't! I saw someone else there, I swear!"

"There's no one here. It's just us."

"There's someone else here, Miss Marth! They're going to attack us!"

The look Lucina shot Anna was nothing short of a woman at the end of her wit. "You're not helping! Why can't you just go back to bed?"

Anna froze. Slowly, she averted her gaze.

"Because I don't know if I'll still be here when I wake up."

Lucina blinked. Dots began to connect, and suddenly, it made sense. The bruise. Why she looked so familiar.

Oh.

"You were the one they kidnapped," she said, softly.

"It still feels that way."

And didn't Lucina know how that felt?

Lucina glanced at the darkness again. There were no eyes here to watch them, none except for the sliver of the moon above them. Everything was still as quiet as could be.

Lucina made her way to Anna's side. She knelt down. She placed her hand on her shoulder.

"Look at me."

Anna looked at her. Her eyes rippled with unshed tears.

Lucina smiled. "Do you want to help me keep watch?"

"I thought you didn't want my help," Anna mumbled.

"And you don't have to help. You don't have to go back to sleep." Lucina gripped her sword tight and held it out before Anna. "You don't have to worry about being kidnapped again, because as long as I'm here, I won't let them take you. And I will be here, always."

Anna sniffed. She wiped the tears from her eyes. Weakly, she returned her smile. "You promise?"

"I promise. Now, come." Lucina patted the ground next to her. "Sit with me. We can watch together. We can make sure no bandits come near here ever again."

Quietly, much quieter than before, Anna sat down next to her. Lucina turned to face the darkness, and she planted her sword in the ground.

It was getting late. She knew Anna needed sleep. She knew that her mother would never have let her stay up this late. She knew that if she were a more responsible woman, she would encourage Anna to go back to sleep. But...

Lucina looked back at Anna, humming as she tilted her head from side to side.

I didn't want to go to sleep for a long time after that. I would never force Anna to do what I could not.

Again, Lucina yawned. Anna noticed, and she nudged Lucina with her elbow.

"Hey! Don't go to sleep now!"

Lucina shook her head. "I'm not. I've slept less."

"That's not good," Anna said. Lucina could have pointed out the irony, but decided against it. "There's no one else here to take care of you. You should take care of yourself if you want to make it back to your dad in one piece."

Lucina opened her mouth to protest. She wanted to protest, but as she racked her mind, she found that she could not think of anything to reply. As much as it begrudged her to admit, she had no other retort, other than–

"I suppose you're right."

"I am," Anna replied smugly.

"But!" Lucina held up a finger. "I guess that means that I should go to bed now, shouldn't I? I've got to take care of myself, after all."

"No!" Anna grasped for her sleeve when Lucina made to get to her feet, and she gazed up at Lucina with a pleading look. "Please don't leave me!"

When Lucina returned it, her lips twitched up. "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere soon," she said, quickly sitting back down. "I have to make sure you're safe too. Otherwise, I wouldn't have a job, would I?"

Anna sagged back, and a look of relief washed over her face. "No... I guess not."

Lucina hummed. Her sword slid back in its sheathe, and the fire crackled behind her. Craning her neck over her shoulder, Lucina tossed another log into the fire. That would keep it going for another hour or so.

"You better get comfortable. This is going to be a long night," she said, settling back in next to Anna.

Anna took a moment to reply, rubbing at her arms in the cold night air. "Then I hope you have plenty of stories, because I'm going to be with you for all of it!"

When morning came, Anna awoke to find her daughter sitting next to Lucina, fast asleep. Lucina helped load her into the wagon, and once they'd packed the camp, they set off for the next town over.


Originally, this was going to be part of the last chapter. I cut it due to time restraints, and I'm glad I did because it's a very long conversation.

Sometimes, it feels like that's all my writing amounts to: long conversations between longer action sequences. Then again, there isn't much that we do that isn't conversing. When we chill with other people, we talk with them. When we disagree, we talk. It really is a convenient way of communicating, which means those silent and isolated moments stand out a lot more. Not that I've ever written one.

Writing Anna's children is also quite fun. I think writing about kids in general, and having them do their funny things and their innocent view of the world is a lot of fun. Though apparently, I can't write from the perspective of kids. I guess when I write inner thoughts and narration, they tend to have a certain amount of age to them, no matter how hard I try to scrub it out. Writing kids can be hard.

Next chapter will hopefully be out by... this is Sunday now, so I guess Friday might be my most optimistic answer? My scheduling is getting more out of wack by the week. I do hope it won't come down to one chapter per month again.