Chapter 10: Champion of Ferox

"And Chrom is completely undefended again," Robin grumbled, crumpling up the plans in front of her and carelessly tossing it on the ever-growing pile to her right. "Gods, I'm almost willing to commit Frederick and him to the same side if it might work."

She paused, reaching down and pulling out the plan she'd just thrown out of however many there were.

"Actually," she mumbled, looking over the sheet of arrows and hastily drawn symbols, a few smudged from ink that hadn't had time to dry, "that wouldn't be too bad an idea."

Pulling over another fresh sheet of paper, she dipped her pen into the inkwell next to her with a soft clink. A quick check on the half candle to her left—usually a sign that it was getting late, but now only a reminder that the Feroxi had a terrible taste in architecture—showed that she'd only been planning for two hours. Which made sense, given how much her immediate plans seemed to need revisions.

Especially considering her more recent plans.

Before she could think over her mistake at the border again—not that it'd help, she was already well aware of why that went wrong—a shiver snapped her out of the thought. She bunched up inside her coat trying to protect against the damned cold of the room, but settled for just finishing her work earlier.

Back at the formation again, she sent the left half to their usual sides. Chrom and Lis—Maribelle, even if she hadn't wanted to, that noble was part of the plan now. She hastily sketched the two of them taking the inevitable left half of men they'd be fighting. Then, she herself could take care of whatever middle they'd have while Sully and Miriel would take whoever was on the right. It would be more intense on her part, but it also meant she'd have more control of the battle, which was better than the alternative.

Now though, she could send Frederick to the left as well. Which meant that after the center was clear she could help whoever needed it—probably the left, to get Chrom fighting this 'Kjelle' as Flavia had mentioned earlier. It wasn't anything too complicated, but sorting through the limitation on Shepherds allowed wasn't something she was used to. A good challenge, but hopefully one she wouldn't become more familiar with.

Usually, she could just talk to Chrom about it. Today though he and Frederick, assumedly with Chris as well, were in the middle of training most of the more physically oriented Shepherds. This left only Miriel and Maribelle for possible idea bouncing. And there was no way she'd be talking to Maribelle, so that'd normally leave Miriel, who herself was quite refreshing compared to the other, talkative Shepherds.

At least, she would be, if she hadn't been on her "academic pursuit" on the origins and history of Chris' name, something that didn't even make sense given that he was from another world—

"Oh, she doesn't know about that," she spoke aloud. "Gods I hope she never finds out, I doubt Chris could handle something like that."

A knock came from the door. "Was that my name?" Chris asked through it. "You, uh, wanted to talk about something, right?"

"Come in," she answered, still focused on wrapping up a few details on more specific movements. Finishing with a small flourish, she set the pen back into the inkwell. She managed to catch Chris plopping himself onto the bed behind her as she turned back, clumsily adjusting the leather bracers he'd taken to wearing. From the sweat still matted in his brown hair, it was clear that she'd been right to assume Chris was training, and since he was here, Chrom was most likely open as well, meaning she could discuss the plans with him from here.

She also realized that she hadn't said anything yet, which had just left him staring at her. "Yes. I'm guessing you haven't remembered anything else yet about the next fight?" He nodded, about to say something before she cut him off. "That's fine then. I've been looking over the few tournaments before this, and don't doubt they're going to be similar."

Shaking off whatever he'd been about to say—or at least, what she'd assumed that head shake of his meant—he added, "But what if the new champion has some, uh, new people?"

"I've already thought of that." She nodded over to one of her charts, one with familiar symbols and labelings of whether or not a certain shepherd could handle a certain type of fighter. "Since Ferox mainly has archers, armor knights, axemen, and a few mages, I've balanced out which of the Shepherds that might participate in the tournament will be good against. Well, the last three. Archers aren't allowed, at least historically, but mages are more of a recent addition."

He nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. Who do you think I'm good against?"

"I didn't put you on the chart, actually, but you aren't very good against any of them." She turned back, noticing the clear frown on his face. "Again, you're a healer. You don't need to be good against them."

"I get that I'm, well, not the best fighter yet. But, I'm not even on the list?" He slumped down, shaking his head.

"No, you're not." She raised an eyebrow. "Why would you care if you're on the list, I'm sure that—" her eyes widened in realization. "Oh! No, Chris. This list doesn't mean you aren't helpful. I just said that you're a healer, combat isn't something you need to be good at."

He took a second to nod. "I mean, yeah, but if you didn't have me on that list, doesn't that mean I'm not in the tournament?"

Robin thought for a second about being more delicate with her next words, but bluntness was usually better with Chris. "No, you're not in the tournament."

"Oh." He almost seemed to shrink into himself before shaking his head again. "Why not?"

"You have a tendency to rush off on your own," she answered immediately. "Up until now, it's been more helpful than not, but I'm willing to say that's more luck on your part than anything else."

He sat still for a moment, clearly thinking what he'd say next. "But, it has been helpful, right? I get that I'm not the best fighter yet, but at least I'm doing something, right?"

"It has," Robin sighed, "but you also have a tendency to jump into dangerous situations. In this case, you wouldn't be in any danger, but you'd probably do something rash and get yourself knocked out before you can heal anyone."

"I—" he cut himself off, pausing for a moment before nodding. "Got it."

Robin straightened up in surprise. "You aren't going to keep pushing on this?"

"No. You're better at planning this kind of thing. Just, if you want to switch me in, please do. You're probably right about me getting ahead of myself, and that I'm only decent at healing." He straightened himself, looking up and straight at her. "But, I'll be better next time."

"I'll keep it in mind." She smiled, turning back around. "Now, do you know where Chrom is? I'd like to go over some things with him."

He perked up. "Oh, yeah. I think he's eating. With everyone else—also, it's dinner right now. Apparently we're having a feast tonight. Something about the champions getting ready before the tournament. I think it's called the 'New Khan's feast' or something like that."

Robin hummed, quickly picking up her most recent battle plan and her main notebook. "It's probably something for the champions' morale, and also a good time to talk to Chrom. I'm not sure why you waited until now to tell me about it though?"

"Oh, sorry, I kinda forgot. We could've probably talked on the way there."

She chuckled. "Well, I was planning on skipping dinner to plan anyway, so at least now I have an excuse to eat. Even if it's a bit late."

He stared at her for a second before shaking his head. "Yeah, um, sure," he said, eyeing the ground as they walked.

Whatever was going over Chris now could wait though, there was dinner to be had. That, and more planning with Chrom before the tournament tomorrow.

A massive pinewood gate stood in front of them, barely hiding what would be the battleground of the most important fight in the Shepherds' history. Robin looked out, hoping to spot some kind of advantage in the arena. Instead, she was only met with the usual stone walls and flaming braziers that the Feroxi seemed to adore.

She let out a sigh, turning back to Chrom and the other fighters talking to each other. She walked closer, nodding to Chrom when he looked up, whipping the tight ponytail of her hair behind her.

"It looks like an open arena, nothing particular to divide us," she said. "Unless there's something hidden, but I don't think surprises during combat are something the Feroxi would like."

Chrom shot her a knowing smirk. "Then I guess they won't be very fond of you, will they?" He checked out the arena as well. "Do you have any ideas for the braziers out there? We could probably use them for some kind of advantage."

"Unlikely, milord," Maribelle added behind him. "While I have little fondness for these Feroxi, they make their opinions clear. As Robin just said, they most likely would prefer if the fighting stay away from grander schemes."

Miriel stepped up to add some kind of point, but was interrupted by Sully, "I think it's a pretty good opinion to have, honestly. We're here for a tournament battle, not some damn bar fight."

Frederick shot her a light glare. "And you know the distinction between the two?"

"Little too late to stop us, but let's just say Vaike and I were feeling like embracing this 'Feroxi culture' thing," she added with a smirk.

He shook his head, looking down as Chrom let out a sigh. "Please tell me you at least didn't damage the place this time."

"Losers pay for the damages here, apparently," Sully added with a shrug, "Didn't expect it, but I'm not one to complain. Honestly just made me like the place more."

Robin forced out a cough, pulling everyone's attention to her. "I don't care about whatever bar you decimated, you all know the plan, right?"

"You told us about it last night, and also again right before this," Chrom reassured. "We're fine with our roles, but we'll be ready to change them if needed."

She nodded, the unsteady feeling in her chest settling a little bit, but not completely. Eventually, the creaking and scraping of iron chains signaled the gate was being opened. The group stood still, waiting for Chrom to finally shake his head, steady his eyes, and march out into the arena.

A loud cheer bellowed out from behind them, the remaining Shepherds and Flavia clear in their place directly behind the gate in a cut-off section of the stands. Surrounding them, hundreds of people surrounded the arena dug out from the stone. Directly above, Robin could make out a similarly carved ceiling on top, proving that everything here really was underground.

Across from them sat hundreds more Feroxi citizens and fighters, their colors blending into a hazy red and dirty brown mass from the distance. Directly opposing Flavia's stand, the other Khan, Basilio, sat. At his left, a swordsman stood in night-blue padded clothing, while a light pink-haired woman stood at his right, though she couldn't focus on that as she turned back again to the Shepherds.

Chatting among themselves, Stahl, Sumia, and Lissa all sat and cheered them on. Next to them, Donnel and Chris were talking to each other, before the latter of them perked up and waved, Donnel joining shortly after. As well, Vaike and Virion seemed to be talking to the empty left side of them. Which most likely meant Kellem was there too—she needed to make sure she didn't make that mistake again. Before she could see more though, a loud creaking echoed out from the other half of the arena, dragging her attention away.

In front of them, and bringing a smile to Robin's face, a set of warriors met the screams of excitement howling out from behind them. As she'd hoped, the champions were the same as last year's, two sets of hulking knights marched forward, and behind them moved two mages. Next, an axeman and woman followed, wolf-toothed grins across their faces as they formed up eagerly in front of the pack, followed by another, calmer, pair of axemen.

Then, cutting off Robin's replanning for how everyone was oriented, another figure walked out. Clad in steel, violet armor thinner than the others, a young woman stepped up behind them. Her face was set, stern as stone as she slowly drew her lance from her back. A sword easily wider than the girl's own arm was strapped to her side, and accompanied by a hulking kiteshield, one clearly marked by dozens of battles before it from various small nicks and scratches. The knight—most likely this 'Kjelle'—looked up, eyeing them before a deep, loud voice drew everyone's attention.

"FLAVIA!" Basilio yelled out, loud enough to silence the crowds around them. "You've got some new faces this year, did you finally decided to throw in Raimi and pick up a champion that might actually win?"

Flavia stood up, matching his volume. "Well, when I've got the prince of Ylisse himself knocking on my door, who am I to refuse him!" she called back with a calm smile. "Besides, it's not like you haven't done the same thing, or is Lon'qu even shorter this year?"

Basilio barked out a laugh. "You're proud of that one, aren't you. He seemed up to the challenge before, but after this young one came up and kicked his arse down a peg then I didn't really have a choice." He turned around, raising his arms to the crowd. "And how about I show you what Kjelle, champion of West Ferox can do!" he called, the crowd behind him breaking into a chorus of cheers and whistles.

Flavia leaned closer over the edge, nodding before raising her own arms to the similar crowd behind her. "This year, we take the Khanate for ourselves! But we can't have that without some humble Eastern Feroxi hospitality, now can we?" Another, louder cheer echoed out, almost rumbling the ground around the Shepherds. One only stopped by the deep thud of a single drumbeat, another beat following it.

She turned back to Basilio, now standing in his seat, hand held ot his heart in a tight fist, and face stern. "With that, I now call the Tournament of New Spring into action! Will the glaciers of old stay strong? Or will the warming spring thaw for what is new?"

"Champions! Fight for your Khans! May might choose who leads our great nation for the years to come!" His hand fell, and the massive drum beat once again.

Instantly, the western champions broke into a charge, one the Shepherds joined in a moment later. As planned, Chrom, Maribelle, and Frederick took to the left while Sully and Miriel went right. Meanwhile, Robin took the middle, quickly taking note that the fighters from before split evenly in a blank charge as she held one hand behind her. Kjelle herself still standing back instead of joining the others for whatever reason.

Steel rang around her as the other Shepherds drew their weapons, Robin doing the same with her shortsword in her right hand as she noted that Miriel and Sully would be against two of the axemen and the mage on their own, meaning they'd probably need her help first, not unexpected, but still off the original plan already.

Before she could anything else though, she'd have to take the center, which was covered by the two knights from before. Just before the patterned stone center of the arena, they planted their shields. A wide grin on their faces as they readied themselves for any attack Robin could open with.

Anything physical, that is.

Instantly, she brought her other hand around, a previously hidden ball of lightning blasted out and clashed with the left knight's shield. It was weakened slightly to not be lethal, but to an armor knight, it was easily enough to overwhelm and knock them out.

"That was a cheap trick, woman!" the other called out, pushing himself away from his ally to avoid the leftover sparks. "Concealing your weapons is a coward's tactic. Are Flavia's champions really weak enough that they need to resort to those kinds of attacks."

Robin skidded to a stop just out of his lance's range and let out another blast of lightning, one he dodged easily. If she wanted to break through this one, she'd need him to attack first. Robin took a quick, calming breath and coolly said, "I thought the Feroxi respected intelligence, didn't they?" She smirked. "I can see why you wouldn't be as familiar with that idea though."

The taunt did what it had to, as the angered knight rushed at her with a quick thrust. After parrying the lance down she quickly closed in, only to be blocked by his arm almost slamming into her side, forcing her to dodge the shockingly fierce attack. Once the surprise of it passed her—the man having dropped his lance to do it, she realized—she quickly dodged his shield following up the backhand, and pushed forward with her sword. Only to find he'd jumped back.

The knight rolled his neck. "Well, that wasn't too bad, for a mage that is." He slowly settled into a fighting stance behind his shield. "Most of Flavia's old champions weren't expecting that one last year."

Robin herself chose to settle both hands onto her sword, remembering to loosen her grip before he charged in again. She tried ducking down behind his shield, but was met with the knight's armored arm parrying her sword. Then, realizing where she was in an instant, she rushed back to her old position and kicked away the lance before the knight could grab it.

He grunted, now slowly walking back and pushing his shield out as far as he could. "Alright, you're at least a clever woman, I'll give you that."

She stopped in place and scanned him over again, noticing his shield was hovering over his right side more, most likely covering his lack of a weapon.

Quickly, she stepped forward, an idea in her mind as this time she pushed around his left. The knight tried to block her attack, but she quickly dodged to his left side and slammed her pommel into his helmet, knocking it off.

He stumbled, throwing out a slow punch in defense, but it didn't matter. In a second, Robin pushed herself past his guard and held her sword to the knight's neck.

"You're dead, yield."

The knight hesitated briefly. After letting out a grump though he dropping his shield and raising his hands. Robin quickly moved back and started looking around the arena again. She'd successfully covered her part, but the others needed help if the plan was going to work. She was the most important part of it right now, after all.

Chrom and Frederick were holding off the mage and axe fighter on their half respectively, with a second axe fighter already beaten. The mage, it seemed, was being tricky with lightning magic, carefully keeping Frederick and Chrom from focusing on the axeman while also covering for himself. Thankfully, Maribelle was keeping the two of them up and locking everything in place, which meant that half was at least even for now.

The other side, however, was worse. Miriel was keeping the mage on that end at bay, fire spell after fire spell adding to the thin layer of flames in the middle as they clashed. Meanwhile, Sully was stuck with her lance keeping the axeman and woman from taking Miriel. She wasn't losing, actually, but certainly wasn't going to be about to keep up the defense for long, especially with the champion…

Not there, actually.

Robin blinked, hastily scanning the entire arena only to find that Kjelle, the champion, was just standing there. She didn't like it, especially since she had no reason not to push against Sully, but for now, Robin knew which side needed help.

She dashed over, sword in hand as she did. The axe fighters both seemed to have picked up on this, but instead of pulling back, they rushed Sully at once. Robin quickly pulled her hand back to her tome, whipping out a hasty blast of lightning at the one Sully hadn't managed to block properly on her right.

It connected, but wasn't nearly as effective on him as it was on the knight. He twitched a little, but was still easily capable of fighting. The attack still did its job though, as Sully managed to get to Robin's side and ready her lance again.

"Thanks for that," she panted, taking a deep breath and whiping some sweat off her brow. "These Feroxi are tough, haven't been on the backfoot like this in a while."

Robin nodded, glancing over at Miriel to confirm she was still holding up fine. "Well, they are the best of West Ferox. They'd better be good, or we don't have much of a reason to be here."

Sully barked out a laugh. "I'd say you're wrong on that one. I get that the alliance is important, but visiting wasn't that bad on its own."

Robin let out a sigh, saying in a hushed tone, "It definitely was. Anyway, they're about to catch their breaths. I'll take the man on the right, and help with the axewoman you'll definitely still be dealing with if I can."

Sully gave her a look before snorting and charging in with Robin, forcing their opponents to hastily ready themselves. Robin opened with a spell and a thrust, but both were easily dodged as he stepped back and used the axe's momentum to raise it overhead for a counter. Meanwhile, the axewoman next to him did the same to Sully's thrust, but managed to send her lance close to the ground with a parry before countering with her own overhead swing.

Quickly, Robin sent a weak thunderblast at the axeman, breaking his charge while still giving her enough time to block the woman's counter and let Sully recover. Then, the pair broke and rushed their respective opponents again. This time though, Robin noted that Sully managed to break the axewoman's guard and push her back, all while the axeman tried to parry her attack in the same way he did before.

Which wasn't much of a good decision for him, given she'd been expecting it.

She pulled her sword back just in time to watch his axe overswing slightly, leaving him wide open for her to thrust past his guard. He blocked the attack with his arm, hissing in pain as she drew blood, but it wasn't enough to save him as she brought the sword back into a thrust just above his abdomen. Before Robin could ask him to yield though, she was interrupted.

"Not bad," Sully said, her lance pointed right between the axewoman's eyes, "but not good enough."

The axeman below Robin dropped his weapon, nodding to her before ducking away into the closest door, most likely to get healing for his wound. As he did, Robin noticed that Miriel had beaten her own opponent as well, the tip of her hat now slightly singed.

She dusted off her robes. "An adequate opponent, I would find it difficult to dispute giving him a passing grade." She pushed up her glasses. "But nothing more."

Sully chuckled. "Damn, didn't think you had something like that in you, Miriel."

"Through my studies into terminology and onomatology, I've become well acquainted with more brief statements to conclude a battle. The Feroxi themselves seem quite fond of it traditionally, you see—"

"I'll ask about it later. And I might actually mean it this time." She turned to Robin. "So, who's left?"

Robin quickly glanced over to Chrom and the others, noting they were in a similar position as before. "We'll help out Chrom and then fight Basilio's champion, they seem to be keeping to themselves for some reas—"

"Oh, am I?"

Robin's words caught in her throat as her head snapped over to the new voice. The champion herself's lance drawn and ready to strike.

"Didn't mean to interrupt, just thought I'd mention I was here," Kjelle said with a wolflike grin.

Robin quickly turned to the other two. "Miriel! Sully! We need to step back and—"

She didn't get to finish as Sully charged Kjelle straight on, lance drawn and pointed low. Kjelle matched with Sully's own, oddly similar stance, her shield leaning back. Now, however, Kjelle charged with a large sweep, parrying Sully's thrust and slamming the shaft of her lance into her side. Sully cursed, but charged again, only to be met with Kjelle's shield smashing into her chest and sending her to the ground.

Kjelle's grin straightened a bit. "What, is that the best you can do?" she asked her, pausing.

And staring down at an unconscious Sully.

"W-wait, that actually took you down?" she asked, genuine confusion in her voice for some reason as her stance slackened. "But, you always…"

A small heat behind her snapped Robin out of the moment, drawing her attention to Miriel reading a fire spell. Robin stepped in front of her to protect her as she drew whatever spell she was preparing, but Kjelle seemed to have snapped out of whatever daze she'd been in. She readied herself as well, shield in front and clearly prepared to block any attack they'd send her way.

At least, until she suddenly rushed in with surprising speed. Miriel quickly launched her spell—most likely in surprise more than anything else—which Kjelle easily ducked under, managing to transition it into a fierce thrust. Robin tried to give herself some space by stepping back, but it wasn't enough, with her lance scoring a thin scratch across her shoulder.

Kjelle grinned, pushing forward again as Miriel tried to provide cover with a flurry of fire spells, only for her to dodge each one and continue her assault. Robin quickly passed Miriel her thunder tome, hoping it's more generous range would give her pause, but again she still managed to weave through every spell.

A quick glance behind her proved the others were still somehow occupied with the same mage, forcing Robin into a move she didn't particularly like. Quickly, she nodded Miriel to the right of her, splitting the two of them to both sides of Kjelle. With her attention split, there was no way she could cover both of her flanks, but that also meant she could focus on one of them more, but at least they could possibly break through her guard.

Kjelle whipped her lance sideways at Robin, the impact forcing her arms to shudder as her sword took most of the brutal impact, but that meant only her shield was facing Miriel. And just as she'd hoped, a massive blast of lightning surged through Kjelle's shield, traveling through her arm and managing to finally hit her, most likely enough to take her down.

Robin took a deep breath, checking the numerous wounds around her and noting that she was definitely feeling the fatigue from them, with some of the cuts on her arms and chest deeper than she'd thought. Most likely she'd need a healer, and someone to repair her coat—

At the sound of a shuffle of metal Robin's eyes snapped up. Miriel was stumbling, clearly tired from overexerting herself with that previous attack as Kjelle picked herself back up. There was damage on both of them now, but Robin bit back a hiss as she realized her plan had backfired. Kjelle was between them, and while it split her attention, that also meant Miriel was wide open.

An idea formed in an instant in her mind and Robin charged again, forcing everything she had into slamming her sword down on the center of Kjelle's lance's shaft. It didn't break, and Robin felt the bluntest hit she'd ever taken flinging both her and her sword away as she realized Kjelle had simply kicked her off. A fire spell flew past her, clearly dodged as Kjelle crashed her lance into Miriel's side, flinging her off with a loud crack coming from her arm, her fire tome dropping to the ground.

Robin slowly picked herself up, struggling to catch her breath and clutching her side as Kjelle looked over to her. She stumbled a bit, but was clearly in better shape than her, way better than she should've been for an attack that strong.

"You know," Kjelle started, giving her lance a quick glance and smacking it on the side of her shield, "that wasn't a bad idea, would've gotten me a while ago if I hadn't been used to taking spells like that. That whole trick you did actually reminded me of some old sparring partners."

She laughed, but Robin immediately focused on the small chip she'd made in Kjelle's lance, that, and how she'd dodged most of the magic sent her way. She needed to help Chrom out, but now Kjelle was in between them as well. She'd need to get around her somehow, and with her dodging the way she had been...

Robin rushed forward, Kjelle's shield high as she thrusted her lance, just barely missing Robin diving to the ground behind her. She scooped up Miriel's fire tome, quickly shooting a spell as fast as she could conjure it and watching as Kjelle ducked under, once again transitioning her momentum into a firm thrust Robin barely managed to parry.

Now though, Robin had a plan. Another weak fireball in hand, she dodged to the left, forcing Kjelle to twist herself into a wide slash again. Just before Kjelle could hit though, Robin shot the small spell at her, forcing her to dodge out of the way, her attack weakening from the awkward momentum. It still hit hard, but now the attack was manageable.

Robin built up another spell until she heard Kjelle chuckle again. "Alright, now you're really starting to remind me of them." She glanced at her lance and barked out a laugh. "You were even trying to split my lance earlier, weren't you? Kinda makes sense you'd do that."

"What do you mean?" Robin demanded, realizing that side plan wasn't an opinion anymore and choosing to spare a quick glance to the side. Only to see that the mage from earlier was still somehow holding both Chrom and Frederick back, but at least he and the axeman looked tired now.

"Well, he's—wait, I'm not supposed to say that," she quickly said, casually tossing her lance away. "Not like I can rely on that now, it'd probably break if you hit it hard enough again. Good thing I've still got this."

Reaching for the same sword Robin had noticed earlier, she slowly drew it from its scabbard, the blade singing as she did. She'd have less range now, but that didn't seem to bother Kjelle much as she readied herself again. Now though, her sword was tucked close to her side, held differently from her lance before, loose and nimble in her hand with clear practice in how it was held.

Kjelle stomped down and charged, arm pulled back and surprising Robin more than she'd like to admit. She backed up a few steps, quickly looking around for some kind of help before Kjelle was on her. She barely managed to block the swing, but with a slight twist of her arm Kjelle managed to push her sword to the side, and with a thrust, she scored another deep gash in her shoulder.

Robin jumped back, wincing as she pulled out another spell and dodged to the right, shooting it off. She knew it wouldn't connect, but with a dodge to the left, she was almost lined up with Chrom and Frederick's fight.

Pulling out another small fireball, Kjelle charged as soon as she'd had it ready. Once again, Robin sent it off and waited for her to dodge out of the way, breaking whatever assault she'd make.

At least, until she charged straight through, Robin's jaw dropping at the mad grin spread wide on Kjelle's face through her grit teeth.

A light gasp escaped Robin as she quickly pulled her sword up to block, but it was easily broken through. A searing pain surged up her arm, Robin crying out and forcing herself stumbling to the left. She distantly heard her sword clatter to the ground, tightly gripping the tome still in her hand to keep herself upright.

Kjelle laughed. "Still not down? I wasn't expecting—" a cough broke her. "Oh, thought I could take that small one a little better."

As she talked, Robin built up the strongest spell she could. She dropped the tome, forcing everything she had into the small flame and whipping it behind her, half-faking anger snarling out to hopefully explain the move better—not that she really needed to fake anything, since she was still supposed to be throwing this match. The fire spell went flying behind her before Robin finally collapsed to the ground, seeing Kjelle slowly approach her, her eyebrows raised.

"Did you really waste that last spell of yours?" she asked, gritting her teeth and gesturing at her with her sword. "Come on, don't tell me you're giving up. Where'd your fight go?"

Robin tried to push herself up, but flopped back to the ground, slowly eyeing her sword nearby. Then she heard the soft thuds of footfalls nearby, and with a quick glance behind her, she let out a laugh, nodding behind her. "With them, actually."

Robin felt a rush of wind behind her, pulling her attention up to Chrom who almost seemed suspended in the air, far higher than he should've been, with Falchion held high. Then, he somehow managed to spin down and crash Falchion onto Kjelle's shield. An earsplitting crack of steel rang out through the ground, and for the first time in the fight, Kjelle was forced back.

Frederick charged on her left, his lance blocking Kjelle's hasty counterattack and giving Chrom space to follow up once again, continuously clashing with her shield and forcing Kjelle back even more. Along with Frederick blocking and charging whenever Chrom needed it, the two forced her on the defensive, now easily showing the effects of the rest of the battle.

A tap on her shoulder distracted her, and Robin looked up to see Maribelle bending down to her level.

"As they are handling matters at the moment, I suppose must be the one to thank you for your help with that blasted mage from earlier." She gestured down at her, slowly lifting her up by the shoulders. "First, however, I believe the others would much rather you remain conscious. Aside from these cuts, is there anything else I should heal that is less noticeable?"

She shook her head. "No. No, just those cuts. Some of them are deeper th-then I'd like. If you could help with—with those."

Maribelle moved to say something, but only let out a huff. "A please would be appreciated."

"Just make sure Sully and Miriel are healed too…" she trailed off, searching for them and noticing neither were where they were before. "Where did they—oh, right, the Feroxi must've picked them up."

Maribelle gave her an almost concerned look. "I believe you may be worse than I thought." She let out a sigh, lowering her staff for some reason. "Regardless, you should be able to note that I'm almost done, though given your condition you may have missed it entirely."

Confused, Robin looked down and noticed that she could actually push off of her arm again. Most of the cuts were gone now, the dozens of tears in her coat being the only proof she'd had them in the first place, aside from the light stinging whenever she moved her arm. She glanced up, only to see Maribelle looking away…

Kjelle's shield clattered to the ground, Chrom taking a quick step back, Falchion leveled and ready to strike. He dashed forward, Kjelle pulling up a hasty block that Chrom batted aside almost instantly, pressing his sword to her neck and muttering something unheard.

A second passed, and then, her sword clattered to the ground.

The crowd around them exploded into a bursting storm of cheers. What had to be thousands of voices echoed throughout the arena as Robin let out a relieved sigh. She slowly pushed herself off of the ground, glancing back behind her at the Shepherds.

Only to see Flavia jump down an impressive distance from the stands, landing with what had to be a practiced form before walking over. Whatever formality she'd shown before nowhere to be found as she rolled her shoulders.

"That was one hell of a fight you kids put up!" She laughed out, her sword loosely held on her shoulder as she walked closer. "I wasn't sure about you as a fighter, Robin, but after your performance against that Kjelle, I can't doubt you anymore." She turned slightly to the right. "And you, that was some good fighting out there yourself, prince!"

Robin turned, seeing Chrom leaning into Frederick as Maribelle rushed over to his side. "It'd have been better if we didn't have that damn—er, I'm sorry, I shouldn't speak like that."

"Chrom, you just won me the Khanate and you're asking about language? You could tell me to kiss Basilio's ass for all I care." She let out another laugh. "Besides, this is Ferox. Damn that mage, and if he's the one I'm thinking of you can damn his whole family too!"

"Really?" Chrom asked, pushing off of Frederick and grinning. "Then I'll have to think of something better to say about your opposing khan and his choice in damn fighters."

She walked over, slapping Chrom on the shoulder with a laugh and pushing him forwards. "Now that's the Feroxi way! As you said though, save some of it for the feast. I have a feeling you might enjoy saying it to their faces more than just your Shepherds."

Robin pushed herself up slightly. "I'd heard about that, I'm assuming that's going to be shortly after this?"

"Of course, and this time I'm not the one who's providing the food." Flavia answered. "Knowing that oaf, it's probably not going to be very good, but I still doubt you'd want to eat before you've cleaned up. Or at least had those two others woken up."

Maribelle let out a frustrated sigh. "I suppose I should check their injuries, at the very least to excuse myself before I overhear whatever barbarisms you're about to speak."

"You go make sure they don't die and all that," Flavia commented. Maribelle snapped back, but whatever glare had been on her face dropped before she'd turned, and instead, she kept walking.

"I've always enjoyed talking with those noble types, especially after becoming Khan," she said with a grin, turning back to the others. "Anyway, we can figure out the specifics of that alliance we've got now after the celebrations." She loosely waved her hand behind her. "Besides, I think those other Shepherds of yours are about to figure out how to get down here. Well, the slower way at least. Until we meet again at the feast then," she finished, turning back to one of the arena's side doors.

"You know," Chrom started, "she seemed much more open here than our other meetings."

Robin snorted, but didn't try to comment as she heard what had to be the rest of the Shepherds stampeding over to them. Downing out the sounds of the crowd around the arena was the new crowd around them. Robin could feel Vaike slamming his hand onto her shoulder, Stahl and a few others' congratulations, and the rest as well.

Because they'd won.

Writing's on a bit of a hiatus, as I'm now only two chapters ahead as opposed to three. That being said, this one's early because I've got classes to do early and it's Thursday somewhere.

Credit to both Sushion (aka Bunni) as well as Ghep, writer of wonderful fic Detachment which you should all go read as it's quite good and has one of the best scenes I've ever read. Won't say which one, you'll have to read it and find out for yourself on that one.

Also, still on that Fanfiction Treehouse Discord server (code: 9XG3U7a) where I and a bunch of other cool people chill and are always welcoming of more, so if you wanna come on by the do so!

Anyways, as I mentioned, I'm on a minor hiatus, but that's only news for me because I have a backlog. Hopefully, you'll all never notice it. Until next time!