Chapter 11: A Fastening Feast
A loud cheer broke Chris out of his head, some Feroxi tradition he'd probably remember reading about if he tried to. He shrugged the thought of it off though, instead glancing over at the massive table near the very end of the hall.
Past all of the very, very, drunk people, dozens of torches and fireplaces lined the hall, and few actual windows—the first he'd seen in a few days, now that he thought about it—most of the important people sat. Robin, Chrom, Maribelle, and Frederick, all together. Up there, they were all talking to the Khans, the other fighters of the day, and everyone else important.
Meanwhile, Chris himself sat with the rest of the Shepherds, the rest of them all chatting with each other as he watched. Virion would say something, Sumia or someone else would answer. Stahl would be eyeing the food and waiting for whoever was in charge of the meal to let everyone dig in, occasionally adding something to the conversation himself.
Meanwhile, Chris just sat at the end with himself and his thoughts.
It wasn't like he couldn't go over there—there was even an open seat right between Stahl and Lissa. He just couldn't really bring himself to. They were partying, celebrating the other Shepherds and their victory, one he wasn't really a part of.
Chris shook his head, glancing over to the side and seeing a few of the Feroxi warriors yelling as loud as they could. Focusing on it a bit, it looked like Vaike and some Feroxian woman were arm wrestling with each other. The loud cracks that echoed out whenever he headbutted his opponent seemed weird, but maybe it was a Feroxi thing?
He sighed. It was definitely a Feroxi thing.
Glancing around the hall again, he saw the door right behind them. A constant flow of musicians, crates of food, and what had to be alcoholic drinks came and went out of it. There was also apparently music, but Chris couldn't hear much more than the occasional note over all of the constant talking.
On the thought of talking, Chris' eyes drifted back over to the important table once again, wondering what exactly Robin and Chrom were talking to Flavia about. While a shiver went down his spine at the thought of talking to her again, he also couldn't stop looking back over there and just…
He shook the thought away again, it wasn't like he needed to be there. They could handle everything important.
Looking around once more, he nodded to himself, stood up, and made his way to the door. A weirdly familiar black-haired swordsman stood out against the wall in the back corner, in some kind of different, light-blue tunic. He didn't really pay attention to whoever it was though as he weaved into the gentle flow of people, making his way down into the familiar, cave-like hallways.
The crowds slowly got thinner as he continued, trying his best to remember all of the rights and lefts they'd taken on the way to the great hall. He briefly paused in front of what he remembered was the library, but shook his head, instead settling on heading back to the temporary home of the Shepherds.
Rounding one more corner, the familiar wooden door finally appeared. Its pine front braced with metal sides for support, just like all the others. At least, except for the hole punched in it from Vaike last night, and the second hole from Flavia after Chrom tried to apologize for it.
He pushed it open, realizing that no one had cleaned up the area from this morning. Plates and cups were scattered around from the quick breakfast Stahl and Sumia had made right before the tournament. A few chairs and even a table were flipped from the rush they'd been in right before the tournament after Robin had asked why none of them were ready after her morning planning.
He shook his head one last time, moving around to pick up whatever he could, flipping the chairs back over and pushing them in, and after more effort than he'd like to admit, getting the table upright as well. Then, looking at the room again, now way cleaner than before, he nodded to himself and moved through the next door, towards the sleeping quarters. Heading past Robin's room and the dozens of other doors that lined the hallway, he quickly found his own room and closed the door behind him.
Only to be left in complete darkness, remembering he'd put out the torch before leaving this morning. With a sigh, he fumbled around for the door handle and let the hall's lights pour in again. He couldn't exactly just sit in the dark for however long the party was going to be.
"Ow," Chris mumbled, whipping his hand up to his mouth. After a moment, he looked at his thumb, only to see he'd absolutely broken skin, with the small red dot now growing on the side of it.
He looked around the room, the torch's light making the shadows around the room flicker as its flame did the usual dance fires tended to do. He placed the sewing kit to the side, taking care to do the same with the scraps of fabric that used to be his old white shirt on top of it. Their color was still a little off, the sleeves and lower half of it stained a subtle, dark pink, and he couldn't find any thread close enough to that color to not stick out. But still, he couldn't be too rough with the old thing.
The slight sting on his thumb reminded him why he'd trailed off yet again. He leaned over to the small stone desk to the side of him, the dark grey of it the same as all of the walls around him, and grabbed one of the small bandage wraps on it Frederick had given him when he'd asked for the sewing kit.
He quickly wrapped his thumb up, setting the bandages back down and almost continuing his work before an idea came to him. He grabbed the same roll and wrapped his thumb up as much as he could, a smirk on his face. Then he picked up the sewing needle and shirt, hoping the bandages would help stop him from stabbing his thumb again.
He made it another minute or so, the needle going right through the bandages just as easily as they had without them.
"Oh, yeah, it's a needle—ow!" he hissed, slowly unwrapping the bandage. "It just goes through fabric."
A knock came from the door, startling Chris before he calmed himself down. "Uh, who is it?"
As the door creaked open, he quickly hid both his shirt and the sewing kit under the bed's blanket. Turning back, he saw Stahl and Donnel slowly walk in, their eyes wandering around the room before settling on Chris.
Donnel chuckled. "Told ya he'd be here. Same as that big party back over at the Longfort."
"Alright, next time we'll go to his room first," Stahl added, shaking his head and turning to Chris. "So, what were you doing in here?"
"Oh, uh, nothing." He tilted his head. "Why aren't you guys still at the party?"
Stahl looked around the room again. "If you aren't doing anything, then shouldn't we be the ones asking you that."
"Miss—erm, Lissa saw you and that Miriel lady were both missin'," Donnel added. "So we thought to split up to go find the both of you. Miss Sumia and her went off to the library to get her, and we found ya in here all by yourself."
"Oh, you guys didn't need to do that," Chris said. "I'm not really a, uh, party guy. That, and I'd still like to keep working on my—" He cut himself off.
"Workin' on what?" Donnel asked. "Maybe we could give ya a hand with it!" He moved closer, only for Chris to wince and lean away.
"No," he answered, "it's, uh, just a personal thing of mine."
"Well, can you tell us about it then?" Stahl asked. "Unless it's a secret, or something like that."
"It's nothing," Chris reassured. "Definitely not something you guys need to be bothered with."
Donnel quirked his head, leaning a little to the side. "Does it have somethin' to do with that big lump next to ya?"
Chris' eyes shot open, quickly shoving the pile back further behind him only to be stabbed in the side of his hand by the needle sticking out of it. His other hand rushed to rub the pain out, at least, until he remembered Stahl and Donnel were still in the room, now giving him weird looks.
"I, uh…" he trailed off, glancing at the pile again before letting out a sigh. "Can you guys not tell everyone else?"
The two glanced at each other, and also looked to Stahl's right for some reason, but both nodded, still staring at him.
Chris took a breath in. "Well, you see. I was, uh, sewing."
"Sewing?" Donnel asked. "What's so special 'bout sewin' that you need to keep it a secret?"
"It's not that exactly, well…" He turned behind him and pulled out his old shirt. "I was repairing this."
"Okay, but why were you being so secretive about it?" Stahl asked. "It's only a shirt."
"I know it's weird but… well, I just don't like talking about it," he answered. "It's not something you guys should worry about."
An awkward silence filled the room, Chris slowly pushing himself into the bed under him until Donnel shrugged. "Well, maybe you can hold on that for a day and we can go back to that big ol' feast?"
"Again, I'm not really a fan of parties anyway, you guys can go on without me." He took in another breath. "Besides, it's not really a party meant for me anyway, I didn't do anything to deserve being there. You guys go on ahead."
After a second, Stahl nodded behind him and started to turn around. At least, until Donnel looked up. "Nope, that just won't do."
"Seriously, I don't really want to. I'm fine right here," Chris said.
"So we're supposed to just leave you 'ere for the night," he started. "Well, yer a Shepherd. And ya might think that just means fightin' and kickin' bandits and other bad folks back wherever they pop up from, but it ain't. It's about this too, bein' a group and all. So we're draggin' you to this party to enjoy it, cause that's what we do." He turned to Stahl. "Ain't that right? You been Shepherds longer than us two."
Stahl looked behind himself again and nodded. "You're right about that, yeah. We do this together, or not at all."
"Also, Lissa n' Miss Sumia'll probably just come in 'ere and force ya out if we came back empty-handed," he admitted, nodding behind himself. "So come on!"
"But I—" Chris started, cutting himself off. He still didn't feel like he should be there. He hadn't even done anything to really help today, that was all Robin and Chrom. All he'd done was get them into Ferox, and even then, they would've just gotten in anyway if they had fought. But it was also just a feast. He briefly glanced up at the two of them, both still looking down at him, expecting him to get up and actually be one of them.
His thoughts wandered to all of the training he'd been doing recently, and for once, he didn't feel too bad about the idea. With another glance at his shirt next to him, he nodded to himself.
He'd have a lot of time on the way back to work on them anyway.
"Okay, I'll go," he answered, pushing himself off the bed.
"Alrighty!" Donnel cheered, Stahl instead just nodding with a smile. The two waited a second, for some reason, before they made their way out of the room. Chris joined them shortly after, making sure to put out the torch again before he left. He'd rather not leave it burning by itself for too long.
Chris winced again as another loud crash blasted through the room. The same loud cheer as all the other times before filling his ears as he glanced over to the side again. Vaike laughing over all of the noise, and also on top of some Feroxi woman he'd been having a drinking contest with. Her, and the remains of a chair.
"I know Khan Flavia said she was fine with him and Sully breaking chairs," Sumia said, leaning back in her chair to see, "but that doesn't mean they need to do it all the time."
Lissa snorted, standing up to see the mess. "Oh please, even Frederick can't stop those two meatheads from breaking everything."
"I know," Sumia groaned. "I still don't like it though, one day they might honestly get hurt."
"Nope, I don't think they actually can," Lissa answered, plopping back down in her seat. "I mean, they've done a lot of stuff to each other, but I don't think I've had to heal the two of them whenever they go out drinking." She looked over at the mess again. "Say, where is Sully? I just thought she'd be with Vaike, y'know, flipping tables and stuff."
"She said she's talking with Khan Basilio about his champion," Sumia said. "I'm not sure what exactly, but that's what she told me before she marched off."
"Oh yeah, that Kjelle or whoever. She was really strong," Lissa said, "I guess it makes sense Sully'd wanna talk to her."
Miriel made some kind of answer, but Chris slowly tuned out the conversation as he looked around again. The 'leader's table' was still as packed as before. Now though, he could see Sully standing on top of it, showing off something to the Khans before stepping down to a wide-eyed Maribelle and a laughing Chrom, all while Robin just looked between the two… confused? Yes, she looked confused between the two of them. Then, a crowd of Feroxians walked past, their thick gray, brown, and orange furs blocked the rest of his view, keeping him from watching any further.
To his left, Stahl was digging into his fourth plate of the berry-covered fish, potatoes, and some kind of meat Chris could've sworn he'd smelled somewhere before. Looking down at his own plate of it again, some kind of strangely familiar, slightly sweet and smokey scent kept tugging at the back of his mind, but he still couldn't remember what it could be. Then again, if that one food book guy—whatever his name was—was right, it'd have to be good.
He took a bite of the fish, instantly filling his mouth with a smokey, salty taste, almost like a thin, seasoned cut of steak right off the grill. A slightly sweet aftertaste of blueberry came shortly after, making Chris stop his chewing for a moment just to appreciate it, wondering if there was somehow a third layer to the flavors to come.
After the taste faded though, he shook his head to refocus. Slowly, he cut a slice of whatever meat it was and tasted it, the familiar scent almost dancing across his tongue as he wondered what it could—
"Bear!" he cheered.
Sumia and Lissa's heads snapped over to him, looking confused.
"Buh, I…" he swallowed. "I, uh, didn't know what this was, so…"
Sumia looked at him for another second, glancing down at his plate before smiling at him, "You know, we would've just told you if you'd asked."
"I didn't really think it was that important, I guess I'm just excited for the, uh, food," he said. "I heard it was really good before this, so I'm honestly kinda surprised bear is on the menu."
"Wait, I thought you liked bear?" Lissa said.
"Yeah, I do. It just seems like a weird thing to put on a big feast—actually, no, this seems like a Ferox thing." Chris tilted his head, "And I thought you didn't like bear?"
"I don't. But you'd normally think something good would be at a big feast, so you asking about it was weird. You can keep your boot meat though, I'll just stick to the fish," she said. "How about you, Stahl?"
He looked up, quickly nodding before diving back into his food, with Lissa just nodding back to him.
"Yeah, that makes sense. Miriel?"
She set down her brown book—a massive record of names Chris recognized from the Arena's library. "Ah, the food, yes. I've devised that it must be some kind of bear—Frostcap, given their usual proximity to Arena Ferox—and that the fish is either Gardan Tuna or Salmon, given its own notable texture. The berries, however, seem to still elude me as to what they could possibly be." Pulling out a small notebook and pen, she quickly wrote something in it and continued, "Yes, inquiry on such topics should be a future priority once I've finished with my current line of subject."
"Uh, thanks?" Lissa slowly said. "I was more asking about how you liked it."
"The food's taste?" she asked back, taking a small forkful of the fish and chewing it. "Mmhm, yes. I would refer to this combination of flavors as… good."
"Oookay then." Lissa shrugged, turning back to Sumia. At that point, Chris felt something hard tap his shoulder. He turned around to see—
"Huh, no wonder I couldn't find you," Kjelle answered, towering over him in his seat and still wearing her armor from the fight. "I always thought you'd be taller."
Chris stared at her for another moment before shaking himself out of his thoughts. "Sorry about that. You're, uh, Kjelle, right?"
"Yes, and we should go somewhere else," she said, nodding out towards the hallway. "I need to talk to you."
He stared at her for another second before remembering who she was, at least, the little bit he'd figured out during the tournament fight. Pushing himself away from the table, he followed behind her until they'd made their way out of the hall, turning into one of the side hallways Chris had seen on his walk back to the room.
He looked straight at her, now about the same height since he wasn't sitting. She felt shorter than she'd looked back in the arena, her grey and purple plated armor giving her a little extra height, but it still felt weird. As well, she still had her weapons from it, her massive sword still sheathed and her lance… not actually there, now that he looked.
He shook himself out of his thoughts. "So, uh, what do you want to talk about?"
"You know who I am, no need to dance around it here," she stated. "So, what's the plan from here?"
"Uh, what?" he asked back, shaking his head again. "What do you mean?"
She sighed. "You know I'm from the future, right?" He nodded, and after a second she continued, "Alright, then I don't get why you're confused, you—future you said that after we won the tournament you'd probably have some kind of plan about what to do next. So, what's the plan after this?"
"Oh, yeah." He paused to think, trying to remember what Robin had said yester—no, it was this morning. "I didn't really come up with this, I just told Robin and Chrom about what I knew, so they made the plan, but right now there should be some Pegasus Knights defending Themis if I remember right. So we're trying to stop the war."
"As well, Chrom and I are figuring out what else we can do with the war stalled," Robin said behind Chris, forcing him to turn around. Her usual coat—which still had a few scratches from the fight, also showing a bit of her arm—covered her as she leaned against the wall. "And you could've asked me before running off over here, you know."
Chris sputtered, "I, uh, yeah, sorry. I just didn't think you'd want me to just walk over to the important people table, and, uh, I kinda forgot, sorry."
"It's fine. And Kjelle," Robin said, a very sharp frown crossing her face, "That was an interesting way of 'throwing the fight', don't you think?"
"He did say he'd tell them," she mumbled, shaking her head and looking back up at them. "Alright, I got more into the fight than I should've. Even then, I had to make it look convincing."
"Does a 'convincingly thrown' include knocking Sully out in one hit, breaking Miriel's arm—which still hasn't fully healed, by the way—and nearly doing the same to me? I'm pretty sure with that mages help you could've beaten Chrom too, since you seemed completely set on doing that." Robin's frown grew a bit more, looking a little angrier.
Kjelle scoffed. "And? We were fighting, injuries happen. You guys should've been stronger if you didn't want that. And you guys still won in the end, so really it doesn't matter." She shook her head and grunted under her breath. "Whatever, since you're here now and know about me, why don't we get into whatever we're doing in the future? Or you guys, I have an idea if the Plegean war gets stalled now as you say it is, but I wasn't ever much of a planner anyway."
Robin raised her finger, but cut off whatever she was going to say, still frowning. "Alright, fine. Stalling the war is all we can do at the moment, we don't even know when that assassination attempt Chris mentioned is happening, and with the apparent traitor in the council, we can't do anything massive without an explanation."
Chris perked up, cutting off Kjelle. "Wait, since you're from the future, do you know who that guy is? The traitor guy."
"Wait, there's a traitor? Kjelle straightened up, eyes widening slightly as she added, "I don't remember anything about a traitor. Maybe Lu—" She cut herself off, waiting a moment before leaning towards Chris. "What's Lucina's fake name again?"
He thought for a second. "Marth, I think?"
"Oh, so Lucina would know," Robin said, Kjelle snapping up before slumping back down.
"Right, you said you'd tell them everything, didn't think that meant about us too," she muttered, adding, "Does my mother know about me then?"
"Uh…" Chris thought for a moment. "Who's your mom again?"
"No," Robin answered Kjelle. "Chris' memory of your future is poor at best, which is why we were curious what you might be able to tell us. Unless you have nothing helpful to give us."
Kjelle glared at Robin, but only grunted before saying, "I think I remember him—future him, mentioning that. Could've probably help against the assassination, Ylisstol's siege, and most of that future—"
"Ylisstol gets besieged?!" Robin shouted, quickly snapping behind her before leaning in. "W-when, who—no, that has to be Plegia, but when would…"
Kjelle turned to a wide-eyed Chris. "Did you actually forget about that? I thought it was important?"
"I-I, I never remembered it, when did it happen?" he quickly asked, trying to push down the new lump in his throat.
"Again, you'd have to ask Lucina for dates, or Owain, actually. I think it was around when Emmeryn got captured." She scratched her head. "Yeah, I think it was sometime around then."
Robin sighed, now holding a book and pen as she asked, "Is there anything else major we don't know about?"
"Uh, give me a second." She tapped her finger on her arm plating, the clink of it echoing in the hall as she started, "You know about Plegia trying to take over, Emmeryn and Ylisstol got captured, there was Ferox invading Plegia, Emmeryn died… somewhere in that, the war with Plegia, then Valm, and then Grima," she muttered, "That line up about right with what you know?"
"That's nothing new so far, at least. Unless the future was different from what Chris said, which seems likely." Robin let out a sigh. "It's as if every source of information is just a small scrap."
"I-I'm still sorry," Chris said. "I just wish I could remember this better, then maybe if—"
"Oh, I see you're still like this then."
Eyes widening, Chris turned to Kjelle. "I—what do you mean by that?"
"You left a couple of us some letters from before you died, stuff about how we should go back in time and beat Grima and mess with the future. In them though you wouldn't stop going on about how worse everything was because of you," she stated. "So, you know, just stop it if you can."
Everyone stood still for a moment, until Chris sighed, "Yeah, I'm getting that a lot, actually."
"Well, then you should probably work on it." With a shrug, Kjelle nodded behind Chris. "Anyway, I've got to talk to Basilio about where I'm going, so I'll just leave then."
"And where is it that you need to go so badly?" Robin asked, gesturing to her. "Aren't you with the Shepherds of the future?"
She nodded. "Still am, but in the past, er, right now, there are some Shepherds in Plegia. If you guys stall out the war, I'll need to go get them."
Robin let out a sigh before moving out of the way. "Fine, I'm hopefully not your parent, so if that's what you want I can't stop you," she said to Kjelle, who simply nodded before walking off. "I'm starting to get used to this kind of talk."
"What kind?" Chris asked.
"The kind where all of my plans are thrown out by people with knowledge of the future." She ran a hand through her snow-white hair, pushing it back to her braid and looking through her notebook again. "And whenever Lucina shows up again, I assume that will just be another one of those."
She clapped the book closed, turning to Chris as she mumbled, "I suppose I have a conversation with Chrom to get to then. What will you be doing?"
"Shouldn't I help you with, uh, explaining the situation?" Chris asked. "Well, maybe after the feast is done? I don't think I'd fit in well up at the front table with you guys and the Kahns."
Robin shook her head. "I suppose waiting until the feast is over would be nice for the both of us. But you don't need to do this, the two of us can keep handling the planning."
"Oh, alright." Chris slumped down slightly before shaking his head. "But, uh, if you need me, I'll do everything I can to help."
"Of course, for now though, we can at least take a moment to breathe after everything that's happened today," Robin said, glancing down at him before she smoothly turned around, her braid flicking with the motion onto her shoulder. "Goodbye Chris, enjoy the rest of the night," she said with a wave back before leaving.
Chris stared for a moment, until the sounds of yet another loud cheer sounded out from the hall, snapping him out of his thoughts. He walked back into the main room, a few servants and warriors, usually grouped in pairs for some reason, brushed past him as he did. Once he got past the doorway, Sumia perked up and waved him over before turning to the rest of the group about some topic.
"So, uh, what'd I miss?" he asked, something Sumia was apparently happy to remind him about.
As she explained what'd happened, something about leaving too soon, he noticed Robin and Chrom talking off at the leader's table. Maybe they were talking about their plans, or that invasion, or Grima, or anything else.
But with the Shepherds surrounding him, Stahl occasionally elbowing his side and asking him a question, he couldn't really force himself to focus on them. That, and the food was good. All in all, it wasn't a bad night.
The writer's block is still hitting me strong, but hopefully, I'll be able to actually break out of it. For context, I should be starting chapter 15 right now, but I'm only almost done with chapter 13. It's a struggle, but I'm hoping I'm almost done with it.
Regardless, massive thanks to both Sushion (aka Bunni) and Ghep for their wonderful as always beta work. Everything'll hopefully start getting back up again once I can manage it.
Anyways, The Fanfiction Treehouse is a fun place you can pressure me to write more (code: 9XG3U7a) and ideally, that'll work. As well, reviews are nice whenever they come up, though certainly not a requirement.
And one last heads-up, we'll be in a bit of a lull for the next few chapters due to, well, I can't have arcs climaxing all the time. I also guess you can call this the end of arc 1, but really, this'll be the "Plegia" arc for a hot minute. Regardless, hope you've enjoyed so far, and are looking forward to the rest of it as much as I am!