AN: Well, I'm back with another update on this story! I was both surprised and pleased to get such a positive response on just the first chapter of this tale, as short as it was, and it has been a real motivation factor to write and release this chapter as soon as possible, so please leave me a review to help keep me going. Thanks!

Also, going forward, I'm going to start using the term "Paralogue" for these inter-chapters that lie somewhat outside the bounds of the main story. This one is set anywhere between Chapter 1 of the game's story ("World of Mystery") and Chapter 9 ("Heroes Invade"). Now without further ado, onwards!

"What's With This Sassy…Lonely Princess?"

Paralogue 1: The Pen is Mightier than the Sword(?) 1

Kiran had finally gotten the chance to get settled in at the castle the Order of Heroes used as their headquarters after several days of back to back combat. He had a room of his own, a kickin castle to live in, the admiration of the royal family of the kingdom he had been suddenly pulled into, and the respect and adulation of many of the heroes he had since summoned to aid them in their war against the Empire of Embla.

In short, life was pretty good, he thought as he fell back onto his bed. It had been a long and tiring day under the warm Askrian sun running training drills and he had never been so glad to see that soft, downy mattress as he was now.

As he began to drift off to sleep, Kiran suddenly recalled something very curious. Feh, the fluffy little owl inhabiting the castle would, on a regular basis…'procure' various objects from some unknown location; on more than one occasion he had gone to the main hall for breakfast only to see Feh sitting pretty on a pile of feathers that somehow had the ability to make Heroes stronger or some of those shiny, iridescent orbs that seemed to function as the 'ammunition' for his relic to summon more of those aforementioned otherworlders. As he turned over in his bed, Kiran spotted his desk, stationary sitting on top. One of his favourite hobbies, back in his original world, was writing letters to his friends, even though they had recourse to speedier methods of communication, such as instant messengers. And here, letter writing was almost certainly more practical, considering they didn't have any internet, or even, for that matter, electricity (how his phone was still able to connect to wifi was a mystery beyond his understanding, as was the fact that he apparently had no need to charge it).

A gleam filled his eyes as he suddenly sat up. Hopping up off his bed, Kiran quickly threw on his coat and rushed out of his room towards the main hall.

(The Next Morning)

Her August Majesty, Blood of the Dragon, Askrsbane, Her Imperial Highness, Princess Veronica sat alone at the head of the table in the Great Hall of the Emblian palace eating her breakfast in silence. Her brother had disappeared off to Embla-knows-where and the…Empress took her meals in her own chambers so she wouldn't have to see the girl working to undo the peace she had so carefully-wrought after the end of the last war; none of the Empire's vassals or retainers had bravery enough to eat there in the same hall as their rather frightening liege, and so, beyond the handful of soldiers standing guard, Veronica found herself as alone as always.

The customary quietude of her morning meal was broken by the flapping, which, in the otherwise silent hall, was loud enough to draw her eyes away from her meal and look up at the large black bat fluttering about overhead. She stretched her arm out and the flying beast landed upon it, depositing a sealed white envelope into her lap.

"What's this, Hef? A letter for me?" she asked the bat, who chirruped before nudging his head against her arm. "Yes, yes, I'll give you a reward," she smirked before picking up a grape and feeding the creature, who gave her another noise of thanks before flying off again.

She looked at the rather heavy envelope sitting in her lap before picking it up and slicing through the seal with one of the knives on her table.

Pulling out a letter from inside, she murmured to herself, "Now who would write to me?"

She unfolded the letter and began to read.

Dear Princess Veronica,

If you're reading this then that means my plan worked. We can now write to each other and keep in touch this way!

I hope this letter finds you in good health.

How have you been? I can only imagine how difficult it must be leading an empire all alone. I hope you've been taking care of yourself. Have you been getting enough sleep? Eating enough? Unfortunately, I can't be there to take care of you myself, at the moment, so I hope you're doing alright.

It's only been a few days since we last met but I can't help think of you. From the moment I first saw you there was something about you that really caught my eye. I can't put my finger on what exactly that something is, but it's definitely there.

Though, I do wish we could have met under better circumstances. I would so dearly have loved to be your friend. I still hold hope that maybe one day, once all of this fighting is over and done with, I can.

Askr is nice. It's been pretty cool being able to summon all these heroes from different worlds and getting to meet and learn from them.

Hope to see you again!

Yours truly,

-Kiran

P.S.– I still owe you some tea from last time so though I can't be there with you, I thought I'd send you some of my new favorite blend. It's elderflower and rose tea. Something about it just reminded me of you and I fell in love with it at first sip. I hope you enjoy it too!

Her face heated up she threw the letter down on the table as if it had bitten her, causing the dishes and silverware to clatter.

Some of the guards rushed in at the noise, weapons drawn.

"Princess! What's wrong?" yelled the captain of the guards.

"W-wrong? Nothing's wrong! Why do you think something's wrong?"

The captain was at a loss for how to respond. "We uh…we heard a noise coming from here, Your Highness and were worried something happened."

"N-nothing happened, now leave me!"

"At your leave, Milady," he replied before rushing the rest of the guards out the door.

Veronica waved to one of the maids, "Clear this up, I-I shall be in my chambers!"

Bowing, the maid rushed to clean up the table as her princess rushed out of the hall, her cape swishing behind her.

As she cleared the table, Leticia found the letter left behind by her liege. Eager to find some gossip-worthy material, the girl quickly opened it up before sighing to herself at the sheer adorableness of this young man's clear infatuation with the princess of their Empire. Her lady knew that a good majority of Embla looked up to their little princess, holding her up as a paragon of the Emblian spirit. This was a role Veronica lived for and always strove to fulfill. Sadly, most of their people had no clue as to how lonely their princess really was, as she preferred to stay aloof from her subjects, reigning from on high.

Leticia herself had only come to understand the full extent of her princess' isolation from the world after many years of serving her. As a result of this, the maid had developed a deep sympathy for the younger girl and had always sought to provide her as much comfort as she could, despite agreeing with the pacifism of the current Empress. Sadly, though, she was constrained by the limitations of propriety and her position. Still, she thought to herself, perhaps this young man could do what she was unable to, and melt the ice around Veronica's heart.

As she reached the post-script, Leticia read the bit about the tea before looking around for the gift it mentioned. Seeing the thick envelope, she peered inside, finding a little white and gold tin in it. As she opened the tin, a sweet scent came wafting out. It really was a rather nice tea, Leticia thought to herself. This Kiran really was a thoughtful young man, she mused. Her lady would probably enjoy it and she had indicated that she had been growing tired of her usual blend…

(Later That Afternoon)

Hearing a knock on the door to her room, Veronica called out, looking up from the piles of paperwork around her, "Come in."

Leticia entered with a trolley bearing freshly-baked cakes and pastries, surrounding a steaming pot.

"Ah, Leticia. Is it time for tea already?"

"Yes, Milady," she smiled, pouring her princess a cup of the brew.

Veronica took a sip of the tea before looking up in surprise. "This is not my usual tea, Leticia."

"Indeed, Milady. I hope you don't find it too presumptuous, but I do recall you mentioning that you were getting a bit bored of your usual blend so I thought I might try something new today. How is it?"

Veronica took in the scent of the blend before drinking from her cup again. "Hmm…It's not bad. Flavourwise, its a bit lighter than what I'm used to but it's nice. It feels…warm," she replied.

Leticia's smile only grew wider as she curtsied before her lady.

"What is this blend?" Veronica asked after a few more moments, before taking a bite of a lemon cake.

"If I remember correctly, I believe it was elderflower and rose?"

"El-elderflower and ro–"

Whatever the princess was about to say was cut off as she started to choke on the bite of cake. Leticia rushed over immediately, rubbing her back to help restore the airflow. While Leticia would normally have suspected poison, she had tested the tea personally before serving it to the princess. Most likely, she figured it was simply surprise.

After catching her breath, Veronica sat back down, face flushed.

"And j-just where did you get such a blend? The roses might be from here but elderflowers only grow in Askr!" the princess stuttered. The tips of her ears were a bright red at this point, burning as hot the blood thrumming in her veins.

"Ah, it seems we just received a new import this morning, Milady," she replied holding up the tin. "I do hope it was to your tastes."

"Y-yes, it was…g-good," Veronica whispered back. She cleared her throat before continuing, "A-anyway! Leave me be, I have work to get back to."

Bowing, Leticia exited with a bright smile on her face, pushing the trolley before her.

"Ah, wait," she heard her liege's voice call out from behind her. "You c-can leave the rest of that tea here."

"Yes, Milady!"

Leaving the pot of tea on her lady's desk, Leticia practically skipped out of the room.

After the door closed, Veronica let out a sigh of relief before looking over at the still warm pot of tea.

'It was a rather nice blend,' she thought. 'It would be a shame for it to go to waste.'

She made up her mind and poured herself another cup.

Unbeknownst to anyone, even Veronica herself, a little smile flickered onto her face as she savoured the drink, relaxing back into her seat.

'It really is warm, isn't it?'

AN: Thank you very much for reading. I have gone and edited some of the continuity problems I was having and I have the order that the chapters and paralogues were released in game open in another tab, so I will be referring to that fairly often to make sure my story's events take place more or less in the same order as the actual game's does.

Also, I mentioned in my previous note, the next chapter of this story will actually be a so-called "Xenologue", as it follows events not directly related to the flow of the main story. It's still under construction as of right now, sitting at a pretty 10,000+ words, which seems fair, as it's meant to tell a full story by itself. Still, I was worried some of y'all might be getting anxious or impatient for the next installment of this story, so here's a few teasers. Think of this is a sort of movie trailer for the coming short story:

WWTSLP? Xenologue 1: The Two Tacticians (Preview)

One of the more entertaining things that Kiran had witnessed since being summoned to Zenith and joining the Order was watching the interactions between the two Robins– and by extension, their children.

When Robin met Robin, they were quick to become intense– but friendly– rivals, each competing to prove themselves the better tactician. Despite this cordiality, there was still an underlying current of awkwardness between the the pair, as there likely naturally would be between anyone who met a version of their self, though of the opposite sex.

This was a feeling only made all the stronger by the fact that the moment both Robins first laid eyes on each other, they were struck by how good they actually looked as the opposite gender.

It was a very surreal experience, all things considered.

Deep within the castle's dungeons, far below the heroes' heaths, a dragon fell, bound by shining golden runes, who wore the flesh of a man, from his divinely-induced slumber did stir.

"So…" he murmured. "It begins anew…I will again be whole."

Whispering thus, he passed yet again into the realm of sleep. Lost he was, unto his dreams of blood and of tears.

Though they respected each other, despite their differing tactical sensibilities, both Robins soon began to rely on each other as well, not just professionally but also personally. This change was precipitated by a certain event: the arrival of one of the tacticians' daughter– Morgan.

Morgan had always been very attached to her father, but it surprised him just how quickly she took to his female counterpart. The two women got along swimmingly and grew very close to each other in a very short period of time, with Robin treating Morgan as the daughter she never had.

For Robin, Morgan was a reminder of her sister in all but blood, Aversa, whose true past she still held some guilt over. Despite having always been at odds with the older witch since she had woken up in the field that day, Robin had always desired to find some way to make up with the woman after she found out about the consequences of Validar's schemes on Aversa's life.

Hearing how her parallel self's daughter had become a Dark Flier after taking lessons from her aunt, whom Morgan held in no small amount of respect and affection, did a great deal to help ease Robin's guilt. As for Morgan's father, his female counterpart became a trustworthy figure to look after and educate his daughter in a way that he would have desired in his absence.

Morgan had a secret she had kept from all the world since her arrival in the past. One that was never revealed to a single other soul– not even her father.

She had, in fact, one memory, one single keepsake from her mother– a ring she wore on a chain around her neck. It was a fairly simple affair– a single silver band with a single purple jewel set in the center, around which was engraved a circle and a six-pointed knot– but Morgan could remember her mother telling her how important it was to her, as it was the ring given to her by Morgan's father when he proposed.

In the forest of Morgan's hair, both figures' fingers brushed past each other for a moment, sending a spark of electricity up both of their spines. In that moment, they caught each other's gaze, bodies slowly filling with warmth as their faces flushed a mutual, gentle red– a warmth that could not be explained away by the fire crackling in the hearth nearby, arising so undeniably from within each's core and spreading outwards as it did. Neither of the two could move an inch, paradoxically both burning from the warmth within their bodies and frozen in place by the same.

From behind the Summoner stepped a hooded figure that made the two gasp. There stood before them a figure wearing a rather familiar cloak. The very same cloak, in fact, that the pair of them were wearing now. It hung loosely about the figure's slight frame, almost as if it were made for someone taller than the person currently wearing it.

The person lowered his hood, revealing his face. To Robin, apart from the slightly shorter hair and more angular facial features, the boy before them looked almost identical to his daughter, Morgan.

"Mother!" cried the boy, rushing forward to embrace Robin. "I'm so glad to see you again!"

"As am I, my darling boy," she replied, kissing the crown of his head.

"Hey, Dad," came a voice from off to the side, revealing Robin's daughter, who had evidently been drawn to the Great Hall's entrance after hearing her father's name being called. "Who's tha–"

As she neared the three similarly cloaked figures, her eyes went wide at the sight of the shortest of the three and her mouth fell open, an expression mirrored by the young man in front of her.

"Whoa," came the voices of the two youths in unison. They both raised their hands simultaneously and touched their palms together, looking for all the world like a pair of reflections in a mirror.

At this, the children broke off from the main group, moving a bit further down the table. Lucina smiled at Robin and bid her congratulations before turning around to speak with the newfound boy.

"Well met, Morgan," she smiled, resting her hand on Morgan's shoulder. "It's good to see you again. None of the others of our generation are here yet, so it's been a bit lonely," she laughed softly. The wind blew in through the doors that opened onto the balconies, softly rustling the warrior-princess' hair. "I've missed having you around."

Fortunately, before Morgan could tease the poor boy any longer, a young swordswoman, probably a couple years older than them, with long green hair tied back into a ponytail walked up to the two aspiring tacticians as Lucina left, distracting her. She was wearing a long blue tunic with high slits on both sides that exposed her firm, muscular legs. "Well hello there, you two," she said with a smile. "My name's Lyndis, granddaughter of the Marquess of Caelin, but I just go by Lyn! I just got here last week myself."

"I'm Morgan!" said Robin's daughter.

"Erm, h-hello!" said Robin's son, fidgeting in his seat. "M-my name is Morgan as well."

…

She shook their hands before continuing. "My, how curious," she laughed. "Well, I heard a new hero had been summoned tonight, and when I saw the two of you, I couldn't help but feel a strange familiarity with you both."

…

"Tacticians, huh? Well, you sure seem like it. You know, you really remind me of a friend I once had– a tactician much like yourselves. His name was–." Whatever she had just said was drowned out…

The woman before them sighed fondly as her gaze drifted away slightly, remembering something from the past.

"Ah, forgive me," Lyn said, smiling forlornly. "It looks as though tonight will be one for reminiscing," she laughed softly. "It might be time for me to retire for the night. Still, it has truly been a pleasure meeting you both. I am happy that I was able to meet people who remind me of my loved ones, even in a land so far away as this. Especially you, Morgan," she said, turning to the male of the pair. His cheeks flushed pink. "I can't help but shake the feeling that we must have met before. Truly, you look so much like my own tactician, that I fear I may end up getting you both confused!"

The woman stooped down to whisper into the poor boy's ear. "If ever you have need of my blade, 'Morgan', you need only command me. You be my tactician and I'll be your peerless warrior."

As she stepped away, Morgan could swear she winked at him as she gave him a sultry smile before blending into the crowd and disappearing from sight faster than he would have expected from a girl with green hair. He was sure his face was probably blushing redder than Miss Tiki's dress.

She saw the two figures smiling and talking on the balcony, holding glasses of champagne in the light of the full moon as they watched the shooting stars go by, surrounded by elderflowers gleaming as bright white as their hair. The woman giggled and blushed as the man broke off a spray of flowers and set them in her hair, a finger ghosting lightly over her cheek on the way to her ear. She played with her hair, twisting it around a finger as she talked to him. Her eyes shimmered with clear attraction, crowned by her long, fine lashes.

"Well, Dad, there's something I haven't told you yet," she said, sniffling as she got up.

"After you found me at the Ruins of Time and I asked you if you were married and who my mother was, you were surprised because you weren't with anyone at the time. And when you asked me, I said I couldn't remember anything about her."

"Right. That's why we decided to keep trying to find her."

"But we never did."

At this Robin looked away slightly, ashamed at his failure to find the mother of his child.

"No– Dad! Don't feel bad about it. There's a reason we never found her. Hold on a sec," Morgan said as she sat up on the bed and pulled the chain upon which her mother's ring hung out from under her shirt. "This is the one and only memory I have of mother. This ring…it's her engagement ring. The only thing I can remember is her giving it to me and telling me that you gave it to her when you proposed. It's the only keepsake I have from her. Look at it closely," she said, holding in front of her father's face. "Do you notice anything about it?"

Robin picked up the tarnished little circlet of silver and turned it over. He gasped. On one side was a circular purple gem, still shiny despite the blackened metal into which it was set. Surrounding the jewel was an engraved circle interwoven with six pointed knots.

"Morga– is this?"

She nodded her head. "I searched so hard for your time's version of this ring after you guys found me, hoping that it might give me some leads towards finding Mom, but I always came up empty-handed. Now, though. Now I realize why. It would make sense only if Mom's ring wasn't from our world at all."

Morgan grinned conspiratorially at her brother before grabbing both Robins' hands and pulling them towards a table. "Come on you two! Let's go celebrate both of your promotions!"

"Alright, alright, stop pulling us kiddo, we're right behind you," chuckled her father as the four found a free spot. Kiran joined them with several bottles of champagne that night to celebrate their promotion after announcing an Order-wide holiday the next day, to the applause of the entire army. Many of the other members of the Order of Heroes stopped by their table to congratulate the promotion of the two tacticians and enjoy the night.

Lyn and Lucina ended up pulling Morgan away to dance and celebrate, much to his sister's amusement, as she watched the two noble swordswoman each lay claim to one of his arms. The animosity between the two swordmaidens was clear though they were smiling at each other over the shorter boy's head. Despite their superficially pleasant expressions, if one looked closer, they would see that the smiles didn't quite reach their eyes. In fact, it seemed that they each had a clamp-like grip upon his arms and were actually trying to pull the uncomfortably blushing boy in separate directions and .

"Why, Lady Lyndis," Lucina said, making sure to be extra polite, "What a pleasure it is to see you this evening. I do believe I see Lords Hector and Eliwood calling for you right behind you. Why don't you go see what they want? I can keep Morgan company while you are busy."

"Why thank you, Princess Lucina," Lyn answered, just as sweetly. "But I do believe Ninian is with them. And I believe I see your father, Lord Chrom looking for you. Why don't you go see him? I'm sure whatever he has to say must be important. I think I can keep Morgan suitably entertained while you're gone."

"Interloper," Lucina hissed, still smiling with her eyes closed as a drop of sweat slid down her cheek.

"Irritant," Lyn hissed back, with the same expression on her face.

What did you think of this little preview for the upcoming Xenologue? As always, please fave and follow, and feel free to leave your comments

Also, I finally pulled a Legendary Tiki in Heroes, today, and I'm so happy! I love my chubby little armored dragon babby!