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

Morgan!

Nathan is distracted for a few days with getting Lucina up to speed on everything, which is both good and bad for me. It's good because Nathan is a tempting distraction from planning for the war, so I'm actually getting some planning done… and it's bad for the exact same reason, because the true weight of what we're doing is starting to dawn on me.

We're going to war. War. You know, the "thousands of people are going to die" war, the "all my friends could be killed in an instant" war… and I'm responsible for keeping everyone alive. Not by myself of course, but that's still a horrifying thought.

Admittedly, this is part of why I was so eager to hog all of Nathan's free time that I could. It's easy to be confident when I'm doing it for someone. It's easy to be confident around Nathan, around Noire, around Father. It's half performance, half truth. I don't think I'm incompetant, or not up to the task. I can certainly do my job, but I'm under no impression it's going to be easy, or that there isn't a chance I'll make a very costly mistake.

Of course, that's exactly why I need to spend time now in intensive planning, but it also means an early start to the stress I was going to be under anyways in Valm.

I shouldn't be complaining, I know. I have people's lives in my hands. That doesn't mean I like doing this any more than I did before though.

I run through as many situations as I can come up with dealing with cavalry, as I know Valm has a lot of cavalry. I consider full cavalry attacks, various cavalry squads supporting infantry formations, bow-knight skirmishes and ambushes, ways to deal with or mitigate great knight and paladin charges on open terrain (if I maneuver correctly that should hopefully never happen, but it can't hurt to have emergency preparations just in case), valkyries and dark knights in general (I've never seen, much less fought, either of those before; they're something completely different than I'm used to dealing with) and just… ugh.

I also have to keep in mind Nathan's notes as I work. They're basically the only reason I can even begin to plan for future situations, though I also have to keep in mind just how much the situation has changed from what he knows.

I also have some worries about "class skills", as he calls them. From what he's aware they don't exist, but by his own admittance most of the basic classes don't have very noticeable skills. It's things like great knights or bow knights where there's going to be some really noticeable effect from class skills like the skilles Luna or Bowbreaker, and I want to know if these have any president in reality.

Look, I know a lot. I don't think I'm flattering myself unduly by saying that. At the same time, I don't know the ins and outs of swordmaster training, so I have no idea if the game's Astra skill is a reflection of some high-skill technique that actually exists. I don't know the ins and outs of any training aside from tactician training, and combat tacticians aren't even a thing beyond me and Father so it's not like I can use Father not knowing about Ignis as a basis to claim that Luna or Astra don't exist because Father is mostly inventing new combat techniques as he goes.

I bring this up to Father, because major skills might actually be relevant, and he has this to say:

"Luna exists." Father says, busy in his own planning. He doesn't even look up when I ask. "Not by that name, but it does exist. Every time Nathan gave us new information, I did some checking around to see how accurate it was, and Luna, Astra, and a few other skills do have some precedent. Luna is a matter of knowing armor, weak points, and having enough speed and weight behind your weapon to blow past armor with sheer force, Astra is the practice of having a certain predetermined series of moves that one can execute in quick succession due to rigorous practice giving muscle memory, which has some drawbacks I can explain later. Sol doesn't exist from what I'm aware, but many other "advanced skills" as Nathan put it, do."

So that's fun. I have to account for some advanced skills maybe or maybe not existing.

(It would be so cool to be able to enchant my sword with Ignis… focus Morgan)

My renewed preparations also signal the start of daily battles with Father, both in terms of sword fighting and magic as well as war games. I'm the only one with significant tactical competence aside from Father himself, so I'm the only one he can practice against and actually get a challenge. My practice with anti-cavalry tactics comes in handy very quickly when he takes the role of Valm's forces and I have to try to defend.

"It seems too easy." I comment after one such match. I defeated Father's cavalry quite soundly, and that just doesn't feel right. "It doesn't feel like we should be able to brush aside heavy cavalry like this…"

"I agree. It can't be this easy." Father mutters. "Perhaps it's just a matter of the system we're using?"

"Maybe…" I frown. "Perhaps we need to give Valm a bit more credit? Throw in some more auxiliary units?"

"Maybe." Father agrees. "Let's try that."

That helps the problem, but we still run across the issue that battles seem unusually one-sided towards Ylisse, no matter which one of us is controlling each side.

"It might just be that we're used to playing as Ylisse." Father suggests. "When I was planning for Plegia, I always took the role of Ylisse while Virion played Plegia."

"Maybe." We are more intimately familiar with Ylisse's capabilities and tactics, which generally involves lots of basic soldiers bolstered by a few squads of specialists, or else small-unit battles like the Shepherds deal with where we can lean entirely on our highly-skilled specialists. There's a huge skill gap between basic soldiers and specialists in Ylisse, but in Valm, most of their heavy cavalry likely sits somewhere just below ours, it's just that they have much, much more of it.

"Oh Naga I'm stupid." I say, bringing up my hands to my face. "We're not going to have Ylissian units at all! We're the only Ylissians going to Valm!"

"I-" Father blinks, then sits heavily in his chair. Our stupidity hits him like a boulder to the face. "Naga, you're right. I've been practicing with Rossanites in mind for weeks, but when you suggested we run scenarios I completely forgot. I'm so used to bringing out the Ylissian figurines."

"I suppose our current practice is fine for the Shepherds, so it's not totally wasted." I say. "But in anything that's not a small-unit operation… what do Rosannites even have?"

"Archers. Lots of archers." Father says, rubbing his head. "Also some wyvern riders. At least they tend to rely on spearmen for basic troops like Ylisse."

"Good." I mutter. Plegia and Ferox have a thing for axes, but Ylisse has always been big on lances. You can't do better than a nice, long spear in most Ylissians' minds, and admittedly spears are a very solid weapon. All of Ylisse's most basic infantry units are spearmen. Ylisse doesn't have any wyvern riders though, so that's a new problem for us. "Well, I won't argue with some snipers or anything, but cavalry is going to murder formations of archers if they can get close."

"And that is the strength of Valm's cavalry. It's strong in relation to their neighbours." Father realizes. "Chon'sin has lots of lightly armored swordsmen, and Rosanne has lots of archers. Cavalry, especially heavy cavalry, deals very well with both of those."

"We'll need to pick fights with terrain in mind even more so than usual." I say. "Any open terrain could be a death zone for our units if they have cavalry."

"I wouldn't quite go that far, but yes, open terrain will become something to be wary of." Father murmurs. He rubs his eyes then starts rearranging pieces. "Okay, let's go through these again, but let's change our troops to something more appropriate."

This is going to be a long day, I can tell.

###

"Come on Morgan, up, up."

"Nooo…"

"You're going to miss breakfast Morgan."

"M'tired."

"I know you are, considering you didn't come back before I fell asleep, and I stay up late." Nathan says. "But you're going to be a lot more unhappy if you don't get warm food."

"That's a problem for future me." I grumble, turning my face away from him.

"I don't think it is." Nathan says. A moment later his hands go under my arms and around my body, and he hauls me out of my bedroll. "Come on."

"But it's cooold." I whine, and try to rub sleep from my eyes when he sets me on my feet. "Nathaaan."

"I'll keep you warm then, or we can bring a blanket." He says. Seeing that I'm not doing anything, he crosses his arms and says. "If you won't get dressed, I'm going to carry you to the mess tent as-is."

"Fine." I grumble, and set about getting dressed. I don't bother with my usual cleanup spell that would fix my hair. I'm so tired I don't think I could get the hand motions right. When I'm done, Nathan drags me by the hand towards the mess tent, and I drag my feet the entire way until Nathan gets fed up and just throws me over his shoulder and carries me.

"Really dear?" He says, sounding more amused than annoyed. "Are you an actual child now?"

I'm too tired to really process the use of a pet name, so I focus on the rest of the words. "It's in my description." I mumble, and close my eyes. "Future kid."

"Alright then little one, let's get you some brekkie so you can go back to sleep." He baby-talks to taunt me.

I'm too tired to rise to the bait, even with such a tantalizing opportunity to role play. I just really want to sleep. "Fine."

Maybe it's because I don't respond the way he expects, but Nathan doesn't taunt me anymore. Instead he pats me on the back.

I imagine some people raise their eyebrows when Nathan walks in carrying me over his shoulder. He sets me down at a table and kisses my forehead, leaving me to stare blearily at the table until he returns with food.

"Robin is looking rather out of it too. What were you two up to so late at night?" He asks. "Shouldn't you be saving the late nights for when we're actually in Valentia?"

"Gotta get practice in." I say, and grab my spoon for the soup. Nathan quickly stops me, and I give him a flat glare. "I thought you wanted me to eat."

"Yes, but I'd suggest using the spoon for soup rather than a knife." He says gently.

I look back to my hand to see that I did indeed grab my knife instead of my spoon. "Oh."

"How late did you stay up?" He asks, clearly trying to hold in a laugh. "Morgan…"

"Don't 'Morgan' me." I grumble, and fumble for my spoon. "And it was only four in the morning."

He shakes his head. "Less than four hours of sleep is not a good look for you."

"I hate you."

"Mmm-hmm." He says, rubbing my back. "Sure you do."

I finish my food with painful slowness, and as soon as I'm done I lean my face into the crook of his neck and try to rest. Nathan makes good on his promise to try and keep me warm and wraps his arms around me, though it's mostly unnecessary. My coat is plenty effective, but his furs are still nice.

Unfortunately we have to leave soon, and I have to pull myself away from Nathan to help put away our tent and other stuff, and after that we have to actually start marching.

As soon as we start marching though, Frederick comes marching over to us. "Morgan."

"Hmm?" I say, rubbing my eyes. "Wut?"

"I must express my displeasure with you and your father keeping such late hours." Frederick says with obvious annoyance. "And suggest you refrain from such things in the future."

"Cool. Okay. Got it." I say.

Frederick sighs. I think he knows I'm not paying attention. "Get in a cart and sleep. Don't let this happen again."

"Okay…"

Frederick shakes his head as he walks away, and I find a cart to sleep in.

"It's going to be so bumpy." I complain, and try to curl up next to a grain sack. "And this is a terrible pillow."

"Mmm." Nathan says, smirking a bit. I can see the "this wouldn't have happened if you went to sleep on time" comment in him, but he refrains from vocalizing it and instead settles for another kiss to my forehead. "I'll see you in a few hours."

I say something that even I can't recognize and pull my hood over my face to block out the sun. A fond chuckle from Nathan is the last thing I hear before I fall back into a fitful sleep.

I wake up about four hours later feeling a bit less tired, but still grumpy and uncomfortable. I crawl out of the no-longer-moving to find that we've stopped for lunch. I wasn't woken up because lunch isn't finished yet, not because Nathan forgot.

Wandering around the camp, I eventually find Nathan in conversation with Lucina.

I could be polite and find something else to do while they talk, but fuck that. I'm grumpy and I want my boyfriend.

With absolutely no forewarning, I walk up to Nathan while he's in the middle of explaining something, sit in his lap while wrapping my arms and legs around him, and once again rest my head in the crook of his neck.

To Nathan's credit, he only stops talking for a brief moment before continuing to explain whatever he was explaining to Lucina. He rubs my back in the meantime.

As I'm being lazy, I remember a few days beforehand how Lucina was easily embarrassed by even small shows of affection, so I lift my head just enough to peek at her, and Lucina is indeed a bit flustered. She's trying to pay attention to Nathan but keeps glancing down at me, and she has a slight blush on her face. I imagine we must look a bit ridiculous considering I'm taller than Nathan too.

I decide, of course, that this is the perfect opport to mess with Lucina, because it's always funny to see how embarrassed people get whenever we show a bit of affection. So I turn my head and start to nibble on Nathan's neck, just to see how Lucina will react.

The massive blush that crosses her face, as well as her shock, is priceless. My actions also completely obliterate Nathan's focus.

"Okay, yes, hello Morgan." He says, glancing down at me. "Feeling needy today, aren't you?"

"That's me, needy girlfriend. Can't have you talking with another girl, can I?" I say. I'm joking of course, I couldn't care less Nathan talking to other girls, but Lucina doesn't seem to get that despite the obvious sarcasm in my voice.

"My apologies." Lucina says with utmost sincerity. "I did not intend to seem as if I was attempting to intrude upon your relationship."

"Joking Lucina." I say. "Just wanted to see you blush."

"I- oh." Lucina says, and frowns. "Why so?"

"Because it's cute."

"Oh." That makes Lucina blush again. What an innocent little snowflake, does she blush at everything?

"Morgan, don't tease the princess." Nathan chides, but he too smiles. "Anyhow…"

Nathan goes back to explaining something about the game, and this time I'm content just to rest and listen and be lazy until eventually lunch is called.

###

Knowing about Severa's talk with Nathan, and how Inigo is jealous of him taking all my time (you know, despite the fact that I'm the one who obsessively hogs Nathan's free time and not the other way around), I decide that maybe I need to not ignore my brother except for occasional bouts of mockery and actually spend some time with him.

Yeah, sure. I'm totally not going to regret this by the end of the day.

"Morgan, have you been slacking in your training?" Inigo asks as I'm once again put on the defensive in our spar. "I don't remember you being this incompetant when I first came to Ylisse."

"Oh sure, you try balancing swords, magic, and tactics." I grumble as I deflect a strike. "You only have to pay attention to swords, of course you'd be more practiced at it."

"So you admit I'm better." Inigo teases.

"No." I block another swing, kick him in the shin, then pommel-strike him in the face. "Just that you have more practice."

"That's cheating." He complains, rubbing his forehead where I hit him.

"All's fair in war."

"The saying is-"

"I know what the saying is, but everything being fair in love is creepy as fuck." I say.

"You just say that because…" He trails off quickly.

"Can't say that I only say that because I've never been a part of it, because unlike you, I actually have a partner." I taunt.

Inigo grumbles under his breath.

"Say, whatever happened to that nice girl you picked up a few villages back?" I ask.

Inigo says something too quiet for me to hear. When I raise an eyebrow and put a hand to my ear, he sighs and says (a bit louder) "She stole my wallet."

I don't even try to hold back my laughter, and his glare does nothing to deter it.

"It's not funny!"

"It is!" I say, and poke him in the cheek. "Playboy gets his money stolen by someone he tried to hit on? That's just perfect!"

"What's a playboy?"

"Womanizer. Earth term."

"Of course it is." He grumbles. He readies his sword. "Again?"

"Again." I agree, and grin. "I'll refrain from playing dirty to save your fragile ego."

"Don't. You caught me off guard once. It won't happen again." Inigo promises.

For all the shit I give him, I have to grant that Inigo is a good swordsman. When prepared for me playing dirty, he does manage to win more often than not.

Though, of course, I'm not using my magic so that bends the fights in his favor. I stand by that I would still win if I could use magic.

###

You might think that I'd reject Inigo trying to get me to act as his wingman out of hand, but you'd be wrong. How can I pass up front row seats to Inigo's failures?

I'll be a good sister and try to help him, but I don't expect it to make much of a difference. Inigo has enough failure in his system for the both of us… or in other words, I don't think my charm can make up for his utter lack of it.

This is a new, interesting experience for me though. I learned a bit about how to flirt from Anna, but it was always from me to a man and not the other way around, and considering mine and Nathan's relationship was built up in a very odd way (not to mention I mostly took charge) I can't exactly use Nathan as a reference point, so watching Inigo attempt to flirt is fascinating in the sense of learning something new.

I don't even get a chance to say anything the first time Inigo tries to flirt before he's shot down. He literally says one line, gets a passing glance from the girl in question, and then she scoffs at him and walks away.

"Congrats bro. Is that your new fastest time?" I ask.

"Shut up."

His next attempt goes a little bit better, and I watch from a distance. Inigo sidles up to his next target, who is doing some shopping, and starts talking.

"Hello there my lady!" Inigo says with a wide smile. "What good fortune it was for me to see a face as lovely as yours here today!"

The woman doesn't say anything, but she does glance at him in curiosity. Inigo takes that as enough of a go-ahead to keep up his approach. To me it seems like she decided to ignore him, but hey, what do I know? I mean, I know more than Inigo, but shush, he's practicing his art: failure.

I'm such a nice sister.

"Perhaps I could interest you in a cup of tea?" Inigo offers. It seems to me that he's moving a bit too quickly, you probably need a bit more subtle flattery and have to make some connection before trying to secure a date. "I would appreciate nothing more than to gaze at your lovely visage for a while longer."

Laying it on a bit thick there Inigo. I've rarely seen normal flirting and even I can tell that's not going to work.

It also seems like those words were some sort of trigger for "I shouldn't deal with this guy" because the woman quickly excuses herself and jogs away from Inigo.

"Well that attempt lasted about five times longer, so that's something." I say cheerfully.

"I'm well aware, thanks." Inigo says flatly. "Didn't you agree to help me?"

"And I will. I needed to know what I was working with first." I say. "And I think I have an idea already."

"Yes?" Inigo goes from annoyed to eager in an instant, and I roll my eyes.

"Don't lay it on so thick." I say. "You need some subtlety or else you just look desperate. Try to make some connection before inviting them for tea. No girl is going to want to accompany a complete stranger."

"I see." Inigo nods. "I need to sell myself."

Not exactly what I meant, but close enough. "More or less."

"Understood! I shall endeavor to make myself seem worthy of their time!" Inigo says.

I meant for him to find some common ground with them, but whatever. You do you bro, but you're gonna get denied like that.

My prediction quickly comes true, and it turns out that trying to talk himself up just leads to him getting shut down even harder than usual, as rather than ignoring him women start scoffing at him or giving him the middle finger before walking away.

Okay, maybe I should try a little harder to explain what I meant.

"Okay, I meant more that you need to find something in common with them to talk about. Like how me and…" I was going to say Nathan, but considering me spending time with Inigo was brought on by him being jealous of Nathan, maybe I should use a different example, "...Laurent can talk about magic and new spells and such, even if otherwise we aren't too close. Bridge the gap from stranger to an acquaintance with possible common interests."

Inigo nods, lapping up everything I say. I'm kinda shooting in the dark here to be honest, but the things I'm saying feel to me like really basic things for making friends (much less finding possible romantic partners), so I'm fairly confident they're applicable.

I mean, I made my best friend because he carried me out of a temple in the middle of the woods and entertained me with stories of another world while I kept his panic attacks to a minimum, so maybe I'm not the one Inigo should be coming to for advice.

Ah well. It's not like he's going to get help from anyone smarter than me. I'm only doing this because he's my brother, or else I'd roll my eyes at him trying to hit on girls and ignore him.

At least this time I think he gets my advice right, and it seems to help… but Inigo is really bad at it. It's almost like trying to make small talk is difficult for him, which is ridiculous considering he flirts with any woman he sees. How is small talk more difficult than flirting?

When I say Inigo is bad at small talk I mean he fumbles words, has awkward pauses where he clearly doesn't know what to say, and generally suffers from excessive nervousness and what I think is (oddly enough) lack of experience.

This seems absurd to me. Inigo of all people shouldn't be lacking social experience, yet that's exactly what I'm seeing. That shouldn't be true… unless Inigo hasn't talked normally to strangers in a really long time.

I guess wearing a mask of confidence runs in the family.

I also think that maybe I should rescue Inigo from his latest failure before he embaresses himself further.

"Hey Inigo! Dad needs us!" I shout, lying through my teeth as I jog up to my floundering brother. I grab his arm without prompting and pull him away from the woman he was failing to talk to. "Oh, excuse us."

"Is this your little sister?" The woman asks, suddenly looking interested.

Apparently Inigo isn't the only one who's shallow. I know I have a cute face, but seriously lady? "Yes, I am, and we're leaving."

Inigo resists a bit as I drag him away from the lady. "I was doing well!"

I've seen Nathan do better, and that's saying something because Nathan sucks at talking to strangers in any capacity. "Yeah, no. When's the last time you chatted with someone without trying to fuck them?"

"I- That's not what I'm trying to do!" Inigo sputters, sounding genuinely shocked.

"Fine, without flirting. Whatever. When was the last time?"

"I speak to shopkeepers-"

"Not for business." I interrupt. "A normal, casual conversation with a stranger."

"Well, I have been on the run in a dead world for several years, so it's been a while." Inigo says defensively.

"So not for a really long time."

"...yeah."

Is it just my destiny to be surrounded by the socially incompetant? Even Mother can be painfully self-conscious and occasionally makes a fool of herself because of it, and Father… doesn't really talk to anyone outside the Shepherds, so I guess I don't really know. Still, that's two out of three of my immidiete family, and there's also Nathan, so that's three out of the four people I'm closest to who are varying degrees of socially inept. Actually, now that I think of it, those three (and me!) also have a flare for the dramatic in some way. Father's only real close link to our rough family unit is through me. We do tactics, we're both amnesiacs, that sort of stuff. Otherwise he probably has the most in common with… Nathan. Not his own (future) wife or son.

Wait, Father probably doesn't consider Nathan part of the family more-or-less, so… I guess it's just me who he's similar to in that case. That's even more depressing.

Then again, who am I to talk? I don't spend much time with my brother or my mother. I probably shouldn't make conclusions with such limited information.

"Inigo, just…" I sigh deeply. I can't believe I'm saying this to him. "Calm down, smile, and talk about something you like. Something that isn't women. Talk about tea maybe, since you seem to want to have it so much."

"It can't be that simple."

Well, I'm sure there's a bunch of other minor factors involved, but for practical purposes... "Yes, it can. Do you want me to show you? I'm good at talking to people."

Inigo draws himself to his full height. "It would be a failing on my part if I had to rely on my own younger sister just to talk to strangers."

I raise an eyebrow and put my hands on my hips. "Isn't that why you brought me along?"

He at least has the presence of mind to be embarrassed. "Well… um…"

I roll my eyes. "Just watch me, alright?"

I take a moment to pick some lady who looks friendly, young, and not horribly busy. No one wants to be interrupted during important work. It's only polite. I find a green-haired lady perusing some books from a merchant, and decide she'll work as well as anyone else. I don't read horribly much, but I have read books (aside from that one erotica I gave to Inigo I mean) so hopefully I can hold a short conversation.

I walk up close to her and peer at some of the books. Thankfully the merchant is mostly distracted with someone else, and when he tries to turn to me I wave him off. I'm just looking.

I get a glance at the book in the lady's hands, a romance novel judging by the title, take a deep breath, and talk. "Are you a fan of romance novels?"

The lady pauses in her reading and turns her head to me. "I am." She says in an incredibly thick accent. "And you too?"

"Not personally; my brother is, but he's just too shy to look for something himself so I go looking instead." I say. Even though I can't see him at the moment, I can feel Inigo glaring at me. "Any recommendations?"

"Well…"

I spend a minute listening to the woman talk about various romance series, and I walk away with a new book which I promptly shove into Inigo's hands as soon as I get back to him.

"I hate you." Inigo says. "And I do not like romance."

He holds onto the book anyways, I notice. "That wasn't the point. I managed to talk with her despite being a total stranger. You just need to do that."

"I have to buy books just to talk with people?"

"She bought the book." I say. "I didn't spend a single copper."

Inigo stares. "You got a gift?"

"Yeah."

"After talking to her for five mintues?"

"Yeah."

Inigo throws up his arms in annoyance. "How!? What do you have that I don't!?"

"Amnesia, a charming personality, boobs, nice hips, a romantic partner, the best coat, tactical genius, skill with tomes, skill in games, a few hundred gold, universal confidence, sass, heavy sarcasm, an utter lack of shame and modesty, and probably some other things I'm forgetting." I say cheerfully. "I can make you a list if you want."

"I hate you."

"You already said that."

"It bears repeating."

"Whaaat?" I say, grinning evilly. "Mad I could probably get a girl before you?"

Inigo puffs up like an angry cat. "You could not!"

"Is that a bet?"

"It is!"

"One silver. Get someone to agree to tea. First to do it wins."

"You're on!"

###

"You're back late." Nathan says when I step into view. He's sitting just outside our tent building some furniture again. I can also see a notebook beside him, the one he uses to log which of his games have been borrowed. "Did you have fun with Inigo?"

"I did!" I say cheerfully. "I got a date!"

He pauses and squints at me. "With Inigo?"

My brother? Ew. "No, a girl."

He blinks slowly. "So… is this your lesbian awakening or something?"

"Nope!"

"Oookay." He mutters. "So what was it?"

"Inigo made a bet that I couldn't get a girl to go on a date with me before him. He was wrong." I say with undisguised smugness. "She was very nice, and was fascinated with magic. She also had amazing legs."

"I'm sure." Nathan chuckles. "So bisexual awakening then?"

"'Awakening' makes it sound like I wasn't aware already."

"Point." He says. "So do I have to worry about competition?"

"Nah, I'm happy with what I got."

"I see." He nods, and smiles softly at me. "Anything else of interest?"

"I tried to teach Inigo how to talk to girls. He sucked, and still sucks. He also doesn't know how to talk to people normally."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I mean, he's almost as bad as you."

"That bad?" Nathan says in surprise. "I knew he was putting on an act, but I never suspected he didn't know how to talk normally."

"An act?"

Nathan winces. "Oh, sorry, forget that."

"Support conversation stuff you don't want to say because it's sorta personal?"

"Yes."

"Fine." Now I'm curious though. Inigo is putting on an act? But trying to investigate that would be breaking Nathan's trust that I won't abuse his accidental reveal… I guess I can't investigate then. Boo. "That would explain a lot though…"

"Morgan."

"I know, I know." I sigh, and change the subject. "I also beat him in a swordfight."

"You beat a dedicated swordsman in a swordfight?"

"Yeah! I smacked him in the face with the pommel of my sword."

"Ouch." Nathan smiles. "That's very... you."

"What? Mean?"

"Pragmatic." He says.

"Good, because that's no way to-"

"-talk to my girlfriend, yeah, I know." Nathan says. The fondness in his eyes makes me feel warm inside, if also a bit nervous. "It's a good thing she's a good sport."

Nathan could never get me to blush by being lewd (I do lewd), but he's always been quite heartfelt, and sometimes that gets me close to a blush. "Sap."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. I always appreciate compliments." I say. I walk over and sit down next to him. "How was your day?"

"Boring." He says. "But fine. I'm just glad you enjoyed yours."

"Ah."

"By the way…"

"Hmm?"

"It occured to me that we haven't gone on a proper date in a while."

"I dunno, I think making out in our tent is more than enough." I say. It's not like there's been any lack of that lately. "I mean, I'm not opposed, but if you're saying this because you feel like you're not pulling your weight-"

"No, of course not." Nathan says with a shake of his head. "I thought, since our relationship has mostly been really weird, amazing of course, but weird, that it might be nice to do something like a normal… uh… couple."

I was always aware that's what we were, but hearing it said out loud brings a certain gravity, an importance, to the term.

"And we won't necessarily have the opportunity once we get to Valentia. If there's something we want to do, we have to do it now or else wait until after Grima's fall probably."

When he puts it that way it's hard to argue. I've already begun increasing how much tactics training I do, and that's not going to be reduced when we get into Valentia. "I get it. If you're interested I'm more than willing. Next village or town with a restaurant?"

"Sounds good to me."

"I'm paying!"

"Morgan…"

"I have more money!"

"I know, but I want to treat you for once." He murmurs. "You're always providing for me."

Yeah, because it feels good to do that. I like knowing that I could completely support him if needed. I guess it could feel a bit patronizing though. Besides if everything goes well, at some point our finances are going to be combined, so it really doesn't matter in the long run. "Alright."

With that settled, conversation lulls, and nothing else worth noting happens for the rest of the day.

###

The weeks pass all too quickly. One day I'm running through scenarios with Father, the next I'm having dinner with Nathan in a quaint little restaurant, sometimes I'm leaning dance from Mother, another I'm trying to find something to do with Inigo that isn't hitting on women, and soon we're stepping into the port town of Pinkwood with a weird dark mage bouncing alongside us.

Chrom was surprisingly okay with Henry. Nathan attributed it to the prince being way too trusting.

"It's his best and worst feature." Nathan shrugs. "Just in his nature."

Frederick is a lot less okay with Henry, but it's not like he doesn't know who the dark mage is. Nathan told everyone all about Henry and Cherche and everyone who wasn't a future kid. Frederick knows Henry would have been a Shepherd, so despite his obvious misgivings he hasn't antagonized the guy… yet.

Me? I don't know what to think of Henry. He's got something loose in his head, clearly, but from everything Nathan has told me Henry is more or less a good guy. He's some degree of crazy, no questions asked, and I absolutely shouldn't rely on him to make moral decisions, but he's loyal to his friends, and the Shepherds can become his friends.

So I guess, in a way, even if he's a nutjob we need to take in Henry because we can minimize his negative impact elsewhere. It's a cold, impersonal way to see the situation perhaps, but that's what I'm going with.

Nathan seems to find Henry funny. I just think he's creepy. If Nathan can get along with him, great, I won't complain, but I'm not going to make an effort myself.

The Shepherds as a whole radiate… not exactly nervousness. Resignation, I think. There's a sort of quiet, subdued tone to all our interactions through the next few days. Even Nowi is quiet. Only Henry, who is new and crazy, is immune to the atmosphere.

Chrom and Father meet with a Feroxi commander to get a ride on a ship across the ocean. We've already got a deal with Flavia. Ferox itself is still in the process of mobilizing, and will probably have troops in Valentia a few months after we arrive. Even so, we're going on ahead.

"Goodbye Archanea" I think quietly as I step onto the boat. It's bigger than the shipping vessel we were on when travelling to the Isle of Argent, as necessitated by our mounts and other items. "Hello hell."

There might be a few months of boat travel, and then land travel, between me and the front lines, but stepping onto the boat feels like crossing a boundary. My fun times messing around in Archanea are over. Gotta kill a conqueror and a dragon to get those back.

I guess I better brush up on my dragon-slaying. I wish we had Earthly "missiles" or something. It would be a lot better if we could blow Grima out of the sky from beyond the horizon, but alas, we cannot.

Hmm… I wonder if I could develop a spell for that…

Morgan is always a treat to write.