Watching mock tournaments was actually comforting to her; Lissa always seemed to find it amusing that for someone whose first memories were of war and fighting, Robin didn't have a strong opinion against watching Lucina fight her friends. Granted, a mock battle was controlled—no one got seriously hurt, and if they did then they had to put in sincere effort to draw blood. It was a bit different with Morgan, but she was all right with Lucina at least.
Since the matches started with the deemed-weakest (that system itself being decided based on their own parents' opinions, since many of them trained their children themselves), not everyone fought with everyone. Lucina, for example, would only fight the second-best—likely because Chrom wanted her to, since others could technically outlast her if they played their cards right. Once you lost, you couldn't fight again in the tournament; it was fair game if you wanted to train with whoever you lost to later, though, since the kids tended to challenge each other on their own time.
The first match was Laurent and Brady. When Brady lost, Laurent went on to fight Morgan. Morgan afterwards fought Owain, who after winning fought Cynthia. After that victory, Cynthia lost to Kjelle. The finals were Kjelle and Lucina, during which Chrom started acting like the doting madman father that he was whenever watching his daughter fight.
"Chrom," Robin muttered, sitting next to him. "Calm down. Lucina isn't fighting in a Feroxi Arena—you'll just distract her."
"You ruin the fun of it," Chrom replied with a little chuckle. "Besides, shouldn't I practice? The khans are going to start asking for her to fight for them eventually." Despite that, he did get slightly quieter—but only slightly. He was proud of his kids, after all. She couldn't exactly blame him when she would do the same if she knew others wouldn't notice.
The girls fought for most of the given time; each had managed two hits on the other. When Morgan started moving from his position next to Robin to call time, Lucina cast them a quick glance and seemed to take a risky move. When Kjelle noticed the opening, she took it; Chrom's smile fell for a minute while Morgan perked up.
"A last-second victory!" Morgan said, raising his voice a bit so everyone could hear. "Almost literally. Kjelle comes out as the winner! Congrats to everyone, and good work to all! It's about lunchtime, so let's head to the dining area; after that, the tournament will resume with the Shepherd matches."
There were a few murmurs from the crowd in response, and Lucina gave a small bow and left while Sully spoke her pride to her daughter. Chrom frowned a bit—although it looked somewhat feigned—as Lucina came by. "If you're going to throw the match," he said quietly, "Give me a warning next time. Here I was thinking you might accept first place or a tie."
"Sorry," Lucina replied, glancing at Kjelle. "But I get enough attention as it is. Someone else can be in the spotlight every now and then."
"Or just about every mock battle," Morgan pointed out, albeit kindly.
Lucina didn't offer much of a response, and Morgan nor Chrom or Robin forced one out of her. The girl was averse to what she called 'undue attention'—anything that granted her more praise or worry than usual. It was something she developed during her childhood, from what Robin understood, during a time when Lucina felt she shouldn't bother anyone with giving her more attention than necessary. It was a habit at this point, and it was a difficult one to break.
The whole group generally went to the dining hall together, and the Shepherd matches followed. Robin refereed instead of participating since she wasn't an 'original' Shepherd, and Morgan still announced it. Kellam made it through a majority of the battles, passing mostly everyone due to his knack of being out of sight; he lasted until he got to Vaike, who went on to against Chrom. Lissa and Morgan took turns cheering, even if Chrom caught Vaike unaware fairly quickly.
With laughter and jokes, they all went back to the dining hall for dinner. The exalt's family sat together, with the guests crowding around them. Morgan was next to Robin, with Chrom and Lucina sitting across from them and Lissa, her husband, and Owain generally spread out (Lissa sat next to Chrom and her husband was next to her, but Owain had opted to go farther away from the rest so he could talk with the other children).
At some point, Lissa looked over at Morgan. "You're smiling pretty widely," she noted. "What'cha thinking about?"
"I just had a nice thought," Morgan replied. It looked like he tried to suppress it, but the smile came back in a few moments. He glanced at Robin for a minute, then bravely ventured, "Do you think us kids could recreate the Shepherds? Go around Ylisse and help people? Out and about, away from home for a little while..?"
The question caught Robin off guard and she froze. Morgan…she never let him leave Ylisstol—he's never left the castle. While Lucina had come with Chrom or Robin on trips to Regna Ferox for Valm, Morgan wasn't given the option. Being reminded of what caused that decision only made her frustrated; even after a few moments' pause, Robin didn't offer a reply so she wouldn't sound frustrated at him.
Lissa, when the noticed that the rest of them had started to glance at their plates or Robin, opted to break the silence. "Well…it's not a bad idea," she said. "No kind of experience like hands-on experience, right? There's plenty of places we can send them without putting them in danger, too—they probably won't even need to fight."
"I agree," Chrom added a bit more cheerfully. He succeeded in perking Morgan up some. Chrom looked right at Robin. "It would be good for all of them to see the world a bit. I can ask the other Shepherds of what they think about it."
Robin took a small breath and attempted to speak evenly. "I'm not…opposed to the idea itself. It wouldbe a chance for practical experience, but…" She sighed. "We can talk about this when there aren't others listening. Until then," she looked at Morgan, "I'll consider it, but I won't promise. If it's better for you to stay here, this is where you'll be; if your father can provide a better argument or talk me into it, then I'll allow it."
"Consideration is enough," Morgan replied, offering a little smile. "Thanks, Mom."