(A/N: This is the smooth transition between the previous arc and the next. This arc was pretty short, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless!)
The kids and Lissa came back late in the afternoon, so Chrom and Robin were both done their work and all of them were able to eat dinner together. Morgan started them off with a report on their mission, and it began simply enough.
"The trip up was good," he said, "But when we got there, no thieves were left. There weren't any to begin with."
"That's a bit strange," Robin replied. "Was there anything else?"
Lissa smiled; Chrom would recognize it easily. It was the kind that she put on whenever there was bittersweet news, or the people around her needed reassurance when Lissa herself wasn't sure. "We met Emmeryn—our Emmeryn, alive."
"She's dead," Chrom said immediately, frowning. "It could've been someone else."
"We all saw her," Lucina said, looking at him. "I had the chance to speak with her."
"Emm doesn't remember a lot," Lissa continued, "But she's alive. A Feroxi or nice Plegian brought her to Regna Ferox, and that's how the rumors started the first time—it was actually Emm. The rumors died back down again when everyone decided it was normal, and whatever Grimleal that were at her village left when Grima died; people started talking about it again because Basilio realized she was there."
"Instead of thieves, there was an ally," Robin mused quietly. She chuckled. "Well, that explains why it didn't make sense—and why Basilio asked for us specifically. It's hard to believe, but… All four of you saw it?"
The three kids and Lissa all nodded. They sat in silence for a few moments before Chrom looked at Lissa. "You said she doesn't remember much?"
"She couldn't recognize me," Lissa replied silently. "After a while she got my name right, but she couldn't remember you or Robin. What she does remember… She remembers some things about events and the war that you told her; she knows that someone watched her door, and she knows that the person who did that also saved you—except she just called you 'him.' We need to talk about that once the kids are done eating."
Chrom nodded, and they all continued eating. After a while, some of them opted to share the more humorous parts of their trip. Morgan was the first to finish, then Owain and Lucina shortly afterwards. With only the adults left, Lissa took a deep breath.
"Emm remembered Lucina," she said quickly. "She was looking at Luce and she got them confused. She called her 'Marth,' and I did what I could to correct her without lying or confirming anything. Emm knows that Lucina guarded her door and protected Chrom from getting hurt from those assassins, and that's about the only thing she remembers."
Robin chuckled grimly. "Why wouldn't she only remember the person that we could never track down? And in front of the child, no less."
"It would be impressive if it wasn't unfortunate," Chrom agreed. "It's a shame that we can't reunite Emm with the one person she definitely remembers, but Lucina's the only kid we couldn't track after leaving. We have records of most of them heading east; according to Henry, Morgan went west. All we know about Lucina is that she wanted to go back to her time, but unlike the others there's no hint that she might've made it. She left the castle and apparently disappeared."
"That's not really it, though," Lissa said. The others brought their attention back to her. "I think Luce was a little disturbed by it. I mean… Emm looked her right in the eyes and said 'I remember you.' She's not wrong, but Luce doesn't know that. No one's told them about the future kids yet."
It was something they had decided on years ago, at the end of the war; originally, they had all agreed to raise their kids with the knowledge that their future selves had come to help them in the war. When Lucina and Morgan were still little, they were fairly open about it—they said as much as kids their age would understand, and it was easier given that the older Morgan lived with them at the castle. Every family had their separate problems—some involved death, some involved relationships, some involved their view of the future children themselves—around the same time, and it was ultimately dropped. With no future kids left to reference, a lot of the parents worried it would just cause confusion and fear. Eleven years later, many of them have found it better just to keep silent.
"…Very few people remember them," Robin decided quietly, "And it's unlikely that the kids would ever run into them by chance—if they wanted to be found, we would know if they were dead, alive, or in their childhood time. We don't have to tell them immediately; it would be best if we waited a little bit longer. They'll understand once they know, and I'm…not quite ready for that."
"Your own mistakes aren't a reason to keep them from knowing," Chrom reminded her as gently as he could. "The only thing Lucina's missing from that situation is the names and exact roles; I think that she would be better knowing, and you've made sure that Morgan knows how to avoid making similar choices."
"There's still a chance that they won't take it well," Robin maintained. "Lucina will feel like she has another person to live up to, and Morgan wouldn't think that it's a justified reason to act the way I did. They would say they understand, but they could hold it against all of us."
"How about this," Lissa said, trying to cheer them up. "Why don't we see what the others think during the winter reunion? It would be better if all the kids knew instead of just a few of them, so they wouldn't have to keep secrets from their friends. That can give you two time to figure out your thing, and it lets the kids have some more time in normalcy."
"I can send out a letter warning the parents," Chrom decided. He looked at Robin and kindly added, "And you can work on having some faith in the kids. They might be confused or hateful for a time, but they'll understand."
Robin was able to give him a nod, showing that she understood. On that note, they left the dining hall and bid farewell for the night.