Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening, all rights to the owners.

I had a debate here when I was writing this chapter for Varied Awakenings. Actually, the debate was happening in the chapter before it as well. It was whether I should make Morgan a proper second main character, as in make her POVs as frequent as Nathan's, or keep the focus on Nathan and make Morgan's POVs less common (I realized as soon as I hit chapter four that Morgan was way too important not to get a POV chapter at some point). I eventually decided on the latter, and I'm not sure if that was the right choice or not. Alas, the choice has already been made, but I think this story could have worked just as well with Morgan being a proper second main character.

Waking up is always interesting, if only because I never know where I've rolled to overnight. More often than not I've rolled towards the fire, probably due to my body trying to find heat in the somewhat cold environment we're in.

It may be spring, but we're in Ferox. It's still cold, and I'm a small, thin, helpless genius who doesn't have enough body mass to keep herself warm through a cold night. Is it any wonder I roll towards the fire? So most mornings I wake up with my face pressed up against Nathan's bedroll because he sleeps between me and the fire, and sometimes I wake up literally on top of him if I've rolled more than usual. It's rare that I actually make it beyond him which is probably a good thing or I'd end up with another burn.

Nathan has never let me live that down by the way. It happened once, and he treats it like if he doesn't put something between me and the fire I'm going to roast myself alive. I appreciate the concern, but seriously, he didn't need to put rocks and chairs in my path…

Ah well. It's not like I mind his somewhat paranoid level of concern. It's nice to have someone worry over me, even if it's for an unnecessary reason.

I've also noticed that if Nathan wakes up before me (which is rare, he's a late sleeper, though not as much as Noire) I'll wake up to find him watching me. Nathan will have this look of subdued curiosity on his face, sometimes he'll actually be leaning over me, and when he notices I'm awake he'll perk up and greet me, usually sounding a bit rushed or excited.

I don't think you know how good it feels to wake up to find there's someone who's excited to see you awake. No caveat, nothing special, they're just happy to see you, and honestly I wish I was a later sleeper so that it would happen more often.

(I've often been tempted to do something similar. It would be fun to see how he reacts to waking up with me sitting on his stomach for example, but I think that's a bit too much for our current relationship.)

Today is not one of those days where I wake up after Nathan. I wake up with my face mashed against his bedroll like usual. I probably have the imprint of the fur on my cheek. Noire isn't up yet, so no breakfast. I've got nothing to do but wait around until people wake up.

Well, Kjelle is awake, but she's training. She's always training… to the point that I'm worried it might be doing her more harm than good. Seriously, this girl trains minimum four hours a day, no exceptions, and that's not taking into account all the walking we do. It is possible to overtrain and damage your muscles. I don't know what the exact threshold is though. I probably did at one point, but I can't remember now.

I have to wonder how much specific knowledge I've lost with my amnesia. I have a lot of general knowledge, but few of the exact details to go along with it.

Anyhow, no one is awake, so I entertain myself with the only thing I have… a book. Specifically the erotica book I bought a week and a bit ago when I learned Nathan can't read archanean. It's bad, really really bad, and I love it. Besides, if I'm going to be "gifting" this to my maybe-brother I should at least know what I'm giving him.

The plot (bare bones as it is) is that there is some wandering swordsman who gets into a very one-sided "romance" with some village girl who spends most of the tale telling him to fuck off exept when he pulls down his pants and she "can't help herself because he's so manly and thick".

Yes, that's an actual line from the book. Again, it's really bad, and I'm smiling like an idiot the entire time I read it.

Kjelle marches back into camp looking sweaty and refreshed. She casts a mildly disapproving gaze over the two late sleepers, then notices me reading my book and shakes her head. "You're still reading that?" She asks quietly. "I thought you said it was terrible."

"It is. That's what makes it so much fun to read." I reply.

"Didn't you also say it was porn?"

"The term is erotica thank you… and yes, it is." I say. "Why? Are you interested?"

"Naga no." Kjelle grimaces. "What do you take me for?"

"Someone who could use a good laugh." I say. I wave the book at her. "C'mon…"

"No."

"Prude."

"Degenerate."

"And proud of it!"

"Ugh…" She sighs. "You could stand to learn what shame is."

"And you could stand to learn about the joys of really bad porn."

Kjelle makes a face. "Those are words I never want to hear directed at me again."

"Well if you read the book, you won't have to hear them again!" I say cheerily.

"No."

"You're no fun." I huff. "Oh, hey, maybe I should read an excerpt to get you interested."

"Don't." She says sharply, and I promptly ignore her.

"Mary would like to smack the smug grin off Rick's face." I narrate gleefully. "His smile looked like that of a donkey that had just eaten a particularly tasty strip of lamb-"

"Donkey's don't eat lamb." Kjelle growls. "They don't eat meat at all. They're herbivores."

"-and then taken a particularly refreshing shit." I continue with a mad grin. "He put a particularly greasy hand around her shoulder, which she tried particularly hard to remove without making a scene. She had a role to fulfil as the pure village maiden after all."

"But that's a character archetype, not an actual role!" Kjelle seethes. "And why does the story have to say "particularly" every other word?!"

"Rick-" I choke back a laugh, both at the passage and Kjelle's increasingly frustrated commentary. "-guided Mary particularly insistently behind the tavern where he shoved her roughly up against the particularly hard wall. Mary's eyes glared defiantly at his sleazy face, though she couldn't help but be distracted by his well-defined thorax that his shirt clung to like a wet towel-"

"Thorax?" Kjelle says incredulously. "Do they mean chest? Who the fuck uses the word thorax outside of science talk?"

I giggle and continue. "-and as her gaze travelled even lower she noticed a particularly large-"

"Okay! That's enough!" Kjelle barks, not caring for the volume of her voice. Apparently she must have been quite embarrassed, because her voice actually cracked upon saying "Okay."

I burst out laughing, and the combination of my laughter and Kjelle's shouting wakes the other two members of our party. Nathan is confused and blearily glances between the two of us while Noire gives everyone a death glare from underneath tangled black hair.

###

Fun fact! I don't get rides when we're marching just because I'm lazy. It's because I'm lazy and because I'm cold. Like I said before, I'm small and don't have much body fat, so I get cold real easy. Now I have the best coat ever, but Nathan has furs, and furs are warm. Also he's warm, because human beings are warm.

That's kinda how human beings work if you didn't know. We're warm. Also, that thing about exercise warming you up? Well it's true, but it makes you feel tired and sweaty and that's no fun. If you want to get warm on the go, find someone with really fluffy clothes and get a piggyback ride by using your feminine wiles… or just ask.

I bet I could get a ride from a stranger using my adorable face if I had to. I might have to stab them if they turned out to be creepy though. Alas, such is the price of being as attractive as myself. Everyone wants to keep you.

And yes, I'm aware I'm "cute" and not mature. I'm not oblivious to my appearance. I'm only joking that I haven't hit my growth spurt… mostly. I feel like I haven't properly hit it yet. Some part of my subconscious, maybe a leftover of my memory, makes me feel like I should still grow. But I'm eighteen. I think I'm eighteen at least. That also feels right. But an eighteen year old that hasn't completed puberty? As Nathan pointed out, that's extremely unlikely. Not impossible mind you, especially if I'm willing to consider genetic conditions, just unlikely.

I wonder what I'd look like if I did get my growth spurt. I bet I'd look super peppy, but also smart and refined, but also awesome. Not that I'm not awesome right now, of course, but I'd look ever more so to the point that people would faint from my sheer awesomeness!

Would I stay cute if I grew, or would I tend towards sexy? Ooh, that would be fun. It would probably depend on the clothes a bit. Maybe I could switch between the two! Maybe I could even look refined? Augh, I wish I knew fashion. Is my tactician's coat elegant or is it cute? Hmm...

Anyhow, tangent over.

I'm often tempted, as I get these piggyback rides, to nibble Nathan's ear. It's literally right next to my face because my head is resting on his shoulder. We're… well I can't say dating because we've done nothing of the sort due to us being on the road and Nathan fully planning on getting back home at some point. Our relationship (such as it is) consists of me being mildly flirtatious and him (being too self-conscious to be flirtatious) being affectionate in subtle ways. Mostly this manifests as him being overly concerned about me, having seemingly infinite patience for whatever I want to talk about, and (very cautiously) sometimes initiating physical contact.

Point is, our relationship is tame, so as much as I really want to see how he'd react I refrain from doing it. Actually, that applies to a lot of things I want to do concerning Nathan. Maybe that's a good thing though. He fully intends to go home if he can, so getting too intimate might be a bad idea in the long run. Maybe it's because I'm a lewd like Nathan jokes about, or maybe I crave intimacy or something. I dunno. Even though I know it's a bad idea, I'm always tempted to be just a little more forward, a little bit lewd, and to not hold back what I'm actually thinking in favor of politeness or out of worry of taking things too far.

I guess I sorta jumped into this relationship without giving it a lot of consideration. Ah well, I'm not going to complain about it. I'll enjoy it while it lasts. There are worse experiences I could have in my life than a sort-of romantic relationship with a clingy, anxious, but well-meaning, polite, and surprisingly sweet guy. Besides, if he can't get home, then my investment pays off. Win-win.

I still want to nibble his ear though. I'm gonna do that at some point, mark my words. I also want to see what he actually looks like. I dunno what "caucasian" is, but I'm gonna see it at some point. I promised I'd take care of him, and that involves finding a way to get his old body back.

I think technically I promised I'd help him adapt to this world, I don't remember exactly how I said it, but whatever. The spirit of the promise was that I'd take care of him, and I'm going to stick to that.

Nathan's voice interrupts my musings. "Morgan?"

"Hmm?"

"You're unusually quiet." He says.

"Just thinking."

"Right." His tone is vaguely uncertain, like he doesn't fully believe me. "As long as you're okay."

What? What does that mean? "Huh?"

"I dunno, you're rarely quiet. So I thought something might be off."

"Are you saying I never shut up?" I pout.

"Uh…" He hesitates. "Yes? But more politely."

"Well excuse me for being chatty." I huff. "It's not enough to have a cute girl on your back, they have to always be talking to you too?"

Nathan tenses. "That's not-"

"Nathan. Joke."

"Oh, right." He mumbles. "But you are okay, right?"

I grin, not that he can actually see me at the moment. "Yes Nathan, I'm fine."

"Okay…"

And this is why I initiated our sort-of relationship in the first place: he's cute. Awkward, but cute.

###

"Noire!"

"Y-Yes?"

"How are you holding up?" I've taken to periodically checking on Noire. The first time it was because Nathan asked me to, but seeing as Noire is a bit shy I figured it would be a good idea to check in on her every so often.

"I-I'm fine…"

"Are you sure? Are your legs hurting? You haven't been taking rides anymore."

"It's fine, really." She mumbles. "I don't find I need to anymore. I think it's because I've had more to eat s-so I'm more healthy."

"Oh, well that's good." I guess she didn't eat a lot in her old world. That explains why she's so thin at least. Now that I think of it, so is Kjelle despite all her training. I don't often see Kjelle out of her armor, but she doesn't have nearly as much muscle as I'd expect of someone who trains as much as she does. "I thought it was because Nathan weirded you out."

"That too." She admits sheepishly. "He always avoids looking at me for some reason."

I think that's because Noire is busty. Just by observing how Nathan acts, I'm fairly sure he goes by the logic of: "staring is rude, Noire being hot means I'd stare, so I should avoid looking at her in the first place to be polite". I'm not about to tell Noire that though; it would be immensely embarrassing and I haven't confirmed that's the case (it's just a guess based on Nathan's usual trains of logic). "Well he's just as shy as you are, so that's probably it."

"If you say so…" She sounds unconvinced.

Maybe I need to change the topic. How do you do girl talk? Would Noire do girl talk at all? She's lived in a post-apocalyptic wasteland for multiple years now, so she probably wouldn't have anything to say on that front anyways. Think Morgan. What could she talk about? "Are you more comfortable around Kjelle?"

"A bit."

"Were you more comfortable around some of the others? Anyone you're looking forward to finding again?" I ask. This feels like a good idea. Surely she must have had a friend or two among the other future kids.

"I miss Severa." Noire says almost instantly. "And Brady too…"

Okay, good choice Morg! I'm a genius. Severa is the red-haired bitchy one, right? That's what Nathan told me. Brady is the frail, thuggish, but sensitive one. "Severa? Brady? Ooh, Nathan told me Severa is big on shopping. Did you go shopping together!?"

"No, no." Noire smiles nervously. "She's just really nice. I mean, she complains a lot, but she's always helped me out whenever I need it. I think I lean on her a bit too much sometimes."

Ah, so the exact opposite of what Nathan told me. Or, at least, the surface elements he was willing to divulge. Interesting. "What does she help you with?"

"Everything…" Noire mumbles. "When I tore my clothes she'd help me mend them, when we started to go on the run she taught me how to skin, clean, gut, and cook things, when I had nightmares she'd hold my hand until I could fall asleep again… she did everything for me. She'd complain about it, but she'd always help."

"Huh, that sounds nice." I muse. "She'll be interesting to meet."

"I-If you like shopping you'll get along well." Noire says. "She really likes shopping."

"Noted." A new shopping partner? Yes please. "And what about Brady?"

"Brady, uh… we're… friends." Noire's fingers tangle together and fidget. "We've known each other for a long time. My parents used to visit Themis a lot because Dad was friends with Queen Maribelle, and they'd bring me along to the palace. Princess Lucina was usually too busy to play with me, so I'd spend time with Brady because he was too frail to do as much training as the Princess. Also, we'd both get sick a lot, so we'd spend a lot of time stuck in a room together being forced to stay in bed with only each other to talk to."

"Ahh, so you're close buddies."

"Y-Yeah." She mumbles shyly. "Friends."

I try not to smile too much. "Very subtle."

"Wh-What?"

"Nothing~"

"What?! What do you mean?" She whines.

I pat her shoulders. "You're adorable."

"What?"

"Good luck."

Noire looks very lost, and I love it. "I don't understand…"

Well, there's always the chance she did mean friends innocently, so maybe I shouldn't insinuate. It is interesting that she uses the title of every other royal family member except Brady though. "Don't worry about it, just making a joke. Hopefully we'll find Severa and Brady soon for your sake. Maybe they'll be at Ylisstol!"

"I-It's really not a big deal."

"But you'd like them to be there, wouldn't you?"

"Of course I would."

"Then let's cross our fingers that they're there." I say cheerfully. "I'm curious what you're like when you're not quiet."

"What?"

"You're always quiet, I wanna see what you're like when you're enthusiastic." I say honestly. "Because you've always been really nervous around the rest of us. You look like a good friend!"

That gets a blush out of her and much more stammering. I'm gonna call that a job well done!

###

It's not that Nathan isn't aware that he stands out by behaviour alone. He's said he knows as much, though I think he fails to understand the extent of it. Nathan thinks he stands out because of his body language. His exact words were something along the lines of "I always look nervous, and nervousness tends to stand out" which is fair enough, he's not wrong.

What stands out more is that he follows me around. I don't mean that he looks suspicious while doing it or anything, I mean that it's strange to people to see a grown man following around a girl who looks maybe thirteen.

We haven't had the same issue as the first town we came to where everyone thought Nathan was kidnapping me or was some creepy pedophile, but Nathan still gets some stares for the same reason. Nathan hasn't quite figured it out, and I don't want to tell him because I know his immediate reaction is going to be to stop following me around, and neither of us want that.

I suppose the issue could be solved if Nathan simply walked in front of me rather than me leading the way, but that would be awkward because I'd still be the one who's deciding where we're going because the only real reason he comes along is because he likes being around me.

That and his fear of abandonment which translates into a fear of being alone. Add on top of that me being the only person he trusts to actively look out for him rather than just tolerate his existence (his words, not mine), and yeah… I think the word "clingy" fits him well.

Sometimes dealing with Nathan is like dealing with a skittish dog. You need a lot of positive reinforcement and a ton of patience. Being able to sling around logic is useful too.

Today we're shopping for supplies. We'd shop for pleasure afterwards, but this town is too small to have anything substantial to offer on that front. We walk into the general store, which is already occupied with another traveller (judging by the garb at least). We've got a few items to get here. I need a whetstone because my sword is starting to dull, some bandages for Noire, rations, and soap.

"Nathan."

"Hmm?"

"Ask the owner if he carries whetstones. That might not be the sort of thing carried here." I instruct. "I'm gonna grab the other stuff."

Now that might seem like something simple, but no! I am a master tactician! This request is in fact a ploy! Well, it's not much of a ploy. I literally just want him to talk to someone that isn't me, because usually he doesn't. I get that he doesn't like talking to strangers, but it's to the point where it actually causes him anxiety when he has to which is a bit concerning, so if I can nudge him into getting somewhat used to it I will.

I deliberately take my time in finding all the items I need so I can listen in on Nathan's conversation. There's nothing too unusual about it. Nathan asks if the man sells whetstones, the guy says yes, and Nathan buys a whetstone.

…

Wait, I'm supposed to be buying that. Nathan, there are at least four other things we need to get, I just wanted you to ask if he had one. I rush up to the counter holding the rest of the things we need to buy. "Nathan!"

"What?"

"I'm supposed to be buying all the stuff."

"But you were being slow." He mumbles. "And I didn't want to make him wait."

That's a frankly unnecessary amount of politeness. "Nathan…"

"Sorry…"

"No, it's fine." I say with a smile. It's ridiculous logic, but very fitting for Nathan. I turn to the shopkeeper and put my stuff up on the counter. "These please!"

The shopkeeper glances between me and Nathan with obvious curiosity, but doesn't comment. I pay for the rest of the items and we step outside.

"Nathan, seriously." I huff. "Next time just wait."

"But I didn't want to keep him waiting."

"You don't need to be that polite Nathan."

"I don't want to be rude." He says stubbornly. "Besides, all I did was save time."

I roll my eyes. "Sure, sure. How much did the whetstone cost?"

"Uhh… I think it was fifty coopper."

I can feel irritation coil in my gut, but I hold back from letting it show too much. "Expensive huh?" I hum. A whetstone is a very common item, it shouldn't be worth equal to a farming family's monthly income. Nathan just got ripped off by a huge extent. A whetstone should be worth less than half that amount. Is it because he looks foreign? Is that it? Or maybe the shopkeep could tell he was nervous and jacked up the price? Worse, he doesn't even know that he got ripped off because he has no sense for what value things are in Archanean currency, and might not even know what a whetstone is considering swords aren't normal weapons in his world. "Well at least let me pay you back then. I don't have fifty copper, so here." I hand him a silver piece. That's twice the amount he paid, but whatever. One silver is functionally irrelevant to me.

"No."

"Nathan…"

"You're way overpaying me."

"Nathan, I have dozens of gold pieces. One silver is nothing."

"I haven't earned it."

"Well then the rest is a gift."

"I refuse."

Come on Nathan, seriously. You were the one who was so anxious about not having money of your own before. I'm offering you free money here. "Nathan, you wanted money-"

"I earned this money." He says, and grabs his coin pouch. "That's the difference."

"Nathan, I'm your girlfriend, you can accept money from me. It's not a bribe or something."

"But…"

"If you don't take the silver now I'm going to slip it into your coin pouch when you sleep." I threaten petulantly. This is an absurd argument. This should not be a point of conflict.

He frowns at me and reluctantly takes the silver. "Fine."

I guess I could have backed down and just not given him the silver. After all, I don't see any situation in the foreseeable future where I wouldn't buy him nearly whatever he needs because I'm a doting girlfriend (and because my money is temporarily group funds, but sush, I need to make myself look as good as possible) unless it's something truly unreasonable, so it doesn't really matter how much money he has. I insisted he take the money on principal because pride or something being "unearned' is no reason to reject goodwill.

Well, there's probably some situation where there is a good reason. This is not one of those situations.

"Look, I'll buy you a trinket or something if it makes you feel better."

"That makes it even worse." He mutters.

Okay, yeah, in hindsight that wasn't the right thing to say. "Fine then. You buy me something to spend that fifty extra copper if you really don't want it."

"Uh…"

That wasn't the right thing to say either. Now I look needy. How do you do this relationship thing? I'm trying to be nice here!

"I wouldn't know what to get you." Oh, okay, so it's not an issue. Cool.

"Literally anything." I'm more just curious what he'd choose because I can't think of anything I'd want.

His choice is interesting. He gets me lots of spools of thread to go along with the sewing needles I've collected. When I ask if he's making a joke about women being good at sewing, his reply is "That honestly didn't occur to me. I was more thinking that I know your coat is important to you, so having repair supplies on hand might be nice."

It's only at that point I notice all the thread is black, purple, and gold. The perfect colors to match my coat. That's actually a really thoughtful choice.

Purple is also a very expensive color due to the colour being associated with royalty, and he ends up spending two silver on the purple thread alone. This time he doesn't complain when I hand him two silver to compensate.

###

Earth- that's what Nathan's universe calls their planet- is a curious place. Sometimes Nathan tells me about cool stuff like technology and the olympics and social progress, and sometimes he tells me about the shitty stuff like nuclear standoffs, flagrant disregard for human life, and the (in his opinion) near global corruption in politics.

And then sometimes...

"Did I ever tell you the song about an old man trying to get a young boy to give him a handjob?"

I laugh at the mere thought. "Excuse me, what? There's a song about that?"

"Yep."

"I have to hear this."

And so he gleefully regails me with an absurd song about a boy with a princess-saving ocarina and an old man who painted his man parts. The references to various media (popular "video" games according to Nathan, with the song itself being a joke about a video game) go completely over my head, but I love the song anyways if just for the absurd premise.

It's a real shame I can't hear the music that goes along with all these songs he's sung. Nathan has tried to explain things like "techno" and "pop" and "rock" to me but his own lack of musical knowledge makes it so he can't explain them effectively. The only thing he's managed to explain is rap, and that's because most of them are barely songs in the first place and are much closer to aggressively musical poems.

Well, sometimes they are. "Rap" seems to vary quite a bit. Some are proper songs, and some are "just people talking really fast with irrelevant music in the background" (Nathan's words, not mine).

"Please tell me there are more songs like that." I say after Nathan finishes singing it. "There can't just be one, right?"

"Well none quite like that, at least that I'm aware." Nathan says. "But the band does have a few other absurd songs. There's one about a superhero group who go way overboard on minor tasks and cause huge collateral damage."

"Yes please!" I say eagerly.

"I guess Starbomb is up your alley." He smiles. "Alright then…"

Nathan regails me with various absurd songs as we wander around the outskirts of town. The amount of weird stuff his world has come up with never ceases to amaze me. When people have a lot of free time on their hands, apparently they make giant toy balls the size of people and jump out of flying machines for fun, among hundreds of other random things.

There has to be some sort of spell that would let Nathan project his thoughts. I want to see what his world looks like. Explanations are no substitute for actually seeing things. Maybe Father will know. I can ask when we find him.

###

"Hello, my name is Morgan." I whisper to myself. "No, no, not that…"

I pull myself upright and grin.

"Heya! I'm Morgan!" I chirp. Then I frown. "No, that's too informal."

I'm practicing how I'm going to introduce myself to Father. That's going to be a super-important moment in the near future! I need to be perfect! But how formal do I be? How informal? What's going to impress Father the most?

What am I supposed to tell him about myself too? I have no memories. Am I just supposed to say: "Hi, I'm Morgan! I'm an amnesiac, but I think you're my father! I have no idea who my mother is, or if I have a sibling! I have no hobbies to speak of and I have no idea what I like!"

I know I'm naturally awesome, but even my natural awesomeness won't carry that conversation. I guess I might have hobbies. I play chess with Nathan and like shopping, but that's not great. "I like spending money and playing this one specific foreign strategy game!" is only marginally better than having no hobbies at all.

What am I supposed to say to Mother too? Oh Naga I never even considered that. How am I supposed to talk to her at all? I don't even know who she is for sure! I don't have any memories of her! "Hi Mom! You are my mom, right?" is not a great conversation starter. I might as well just shank her in the stomach. It's gotta sting to know your future kid doesn't remember you at all but remembers their other parent. I can imagine how much that might mess them up. They're going to think they were a bad parent, and I have no idea if that was true or not!

But I can't not talk to Mother. That would be even worse. She'd think I was avoiding her because she was terrible, and that won't be true at all because I'll have no idea what she's like!

Sorry Mother, whoever you are. I didn't ask to get amnesia. It sucks. I mean, it probably sucks. Maybe you're a terrible parent and I'm lucky to not remember anything about-

Augh, no, I shouldn't be thinking that! Nathan probably would have told me if any of my possible parents were really bad. Probably? No, he would have, right? Or does that fall under the "personal information I shouldn't be talking about" category in his mind?

No, he seemed pretty enthusiastic when talking about Olivia and Anna. They're probably good people. This sucks, all I know about my mother is maybe two sentences Nathan has said about them, and that's assuming Nathan's deductions on who their identities are accurate in the first place.

That makes me a bad daughter, doesn't it? But I have no memories so it's not my fault! Should I be trying harder to find out who she is? I don't have reliable information to work with though! Nathan can try his best, but he's dealing with a multiple-universe issue and trying to derive conclusions about an actual world using knowledge from a game, and we both know it's not necessarily going to be accurate.

All I can do is hope to run into a sibling if I have one, or hope one of the future kids recognizes me as the daughter of Robin and insert-woman-here.

This is also ignoring that I'm probably from a different future where the pairings might have been different, so there's no guarantee I'll ever meet my actual mother, and I'll never really know if the world I came from lines up with this one.

Fun thoughts all around. Sorry I don't know too much about you Father. Sorry I don't know who you are Mom. I'll make it up to you by being awesome. I swear! I'm a tactical genius, I'm cute as fuck, and you can still see me grow up because I still haven't hit my growth spurt, and I know how to fight, and… and… that's about it…

I have a sort-of boyfriend. Is that a good thing? Is Father going to be protective and say "you can't have a boyfriend!" because I don't want to have to choose between Nathan and Father. I mean, if that happens it probably means Father is a jerk, so that simplifies things, but it'd still suck.

There's so many ways Father and Nathan meeting could go wrong. Nathan is already nervous around people like Kjelle and Noire, and I can't imagine his girlfriend's father who is also high-ranking military personnel is going to be any less nerve-wracking for him, and I just have no idea how Father will react to Nathan. Curiosity, hostility, caution, warmth? Who knows? I sure don't!

Father might disapprove of me and he might disapprove of my boyfriend. Mom might too, and I can't try to prepare for her because I don't know for sure who she is! This sucks.

###

"Ah, I do enjoy the smell o' the sea breeze…" I muse. "It's a good day fer sailin'!"

"Aye captain." Nathan says. "Everythin's ship-shape and ready to go. We've got news o' some merchant vessels comin' down the pass. We should be able to get eyes on 'em within the day."

"My blade be thirstin' for a good raid." I chuckle. "Put the sails to full mast! We'll have their treasure by sunset lads!"

"Are you two incapable of being normal for more than a week at a time?" Kjelle mutters.

"There are people watching!" Noire whines.

Incidentally, we're in a port at the south east part of Ferox. We've already purchased passage over to the Isle of Argent. Apparently the people who live on the island call it "L'isle de Argent" (which, if Nathan is right about that language being accurate to his world's language of "French", means either "the island of money" or "the island of silver", he can't quite remember which).

That's sorta weird though. Ferox doesn't speak "French" (or whatever this world's equivalent is) from what I know, nor does Ylisse from what Kjelle knows, so why does this island specifically have a name in a different language?

The Feroxi sailors we asked didn't know, so we'll just have to ask someone at the island when we get there. It's going to take about a week to get across the bay. Our ship leaves soon. The captain said just after sunrise, and the sun came up about twenty minutes ago, so we should be leaving soon.

The ship is small, made for transporting supplies more than it is people. It doesn't have any proper guest rooms, but they do have an empty crew room they were willing to let us stay in over the ride. It's cheaper and faster than chartering a proper passenger ship, because this ship is made for efficiency and not comfort.

That does mean our beds probably won't be the best, but whatever. We still have all our blankets we got in the north, so we can put those under ourselves for extra cushioning. It's not super cold now that we're closer to Ylisse, so we won't necessarily have to pull the blankets over ourselves all the time for warmth.

At least we have beds at all. It's not unusual for the only sleeping arrangements for the crew to be hammocks rather than beds to save on money.

"Well you two sound excited." The captain, an extremely short, muscled, brown-skinned man about Morgan's height. He's completely blind as evidenced by his milky eyes, and carries around a wooden staff equal to his height. "I hate to tell you that you're gonna be disappointed, but you are. Sailing ain't anything glorious. 'specially for passengers like you, there's a lot o' downtime."

"But we get to ride a ship!" Morgan says eagerly. "I've never ridden a ship before!"

"It's just a ship." Kjelle says dryly. "We're going to be lucky if our food isn't maggot-infested. That's just how things are on ships."

"You're speakin' truth." The captain says. "At least, if you're talkin' 'bout fifty years ago. There's been improvements since then, lass. Ways to deal with maggots and rats. Any captain with even an ounce of care for their crew, or who wants to eat half-decent food, will have the new measures and equipment."

Nathan looks immensely interested. "Really? What sort of measures? Do you deal with scurvy too?"

"Aye." The captain nods in amusement. "If you're all so interested, I'll tell you about it when we're on our way. S'not often I have passengers interested in how everythin' on the ship works. Especially not rich men like yerself."

Nathan blinks in obvious surprise and glances at himself self-consciously. He probably doesn't think he looks rich, and he doesn't, but he is travelling with three relatively well-dressed young women (I've got my nice coat, Kjelle has her armor and solid travelling clothes, and we bought some quality deerskin clothes for Noire back when we first found her to replace her torn outfit), so it's no wonder the captain assumes he's rich.

Though that's probably because, once again, Nathan is assumed to be in charge of our little group on virtue of being male.

"Morgan is the rich one." Nathan says honestly. "I'm just a friend."

"Ah, I see." The captain smiles. "Good catch."

Nathan looks nervous now, not wanting to say something presumptuous most likely. "That's… uh…"

"Accurate!" I chirp. I am a good catch. The best in fact. I decide to redirect things though. "So, when do we leave? Do you sing songs when you sail? What sort of stuff are you transporting?"

"I'm just waitin' for the men to arrive." The captain says. "The boys are probably hungover knowin' them. We'll leave in a minute. I gotta inspect the ship one last time just to make sure everything is ready to go. I'll be happy to answer questions after we're properly on our way."

"Okay, but hurry then!" I say. "I have so many questions."

The captain chuckles and walks up onto the deck. His staff clacks against the wood as he marches around and feels various ropes to check if they're properly tied. He turns the wheel to make sure it works, and then calls us. "Feel free to come up! I'm going to check below deck. If any of the boys arrive, tell them where to find me!"

"Okaaaaay!" I shout. The captain stomps down the stairs as I skip up on deck and go right to the front of the ship. I lean way over the railing to look at the water below. "Cool…"

"Better get used to it. It's all you're going to see for a few days." Kjelle grumbles.

"Don't lean so far over the railing." Nathan mumbles to me, and lightly grabs my shoulders.

"We're not even moving Nathan."

"I don't want you to fall…"

"I hope I don't get seasick." Noire mumbles worriedly. "I've never been on a ship."

"If the ship rocks too much I won't be able to train." Kjelle grumbles. "Then what am I going to do?"

"I have a book you can read." I offer.

"No."

"Aww, c'mon…"

Morgan's voice is more complex than Nathan's, mostly because she's better at thinking ahead than he is and can comment more of the world around them. There's more to her than that of course, but I don't want to ramble too long on my ideas for Morgan. I'll save that for a later chapter.