(A/N: This was going to be a normal chapter, but so much of it is general conversation I opted to make it a bonus instead! It's mainly just Morgan recapping with Noire, so you can skip this chapter if you want. The next main chapter will be up on the next scheduled day!)

Tharja, Noire, and sometimes Tharja's husband visited about once a month for a week; the latter usually stayed in Ylisstol doing other things, but sometimes he'd come by and stay at the castle with the other two. As far as Morgan understood it, Tharja liked watching Robin and initially Noire came with her just because she wasn't trusted at home—and then after a month or so Morgan decided they were friends, so Tharja had another reason to visit other than her own things.

It was decided that Tharja and Noire would get guesstimates on when the Mini Shepherds would be back, and because of that they came about a week after the castle kids came home. Morgan was quick to track down his friend and share stories about their trip as they walked through the castle.

"We went up to Regna Ferox this time!"

"Already? That…must've been cold."

"It was! You would hate it."

"I would—but there probably weren't any bugs."

"Not a single one. A bit disappointing, actually. But aside from that! Mother said there were thieves so we went, but they weren't actually there. We asked around to see if the villagers heard anything—oh, and Aunt Lissa was with us."

"Lissa? My mother doesn't think she's…capable."

"Not always; it depends on the day. She was okay this time, though—Owain hated it, but he likes pretend a lot. He puts on a show of being embarrassed when they're actually close, especially if he's with older friends or the ones he doesn't see as often."

"I think my mother would kill me if I tried that. Anyway, uh… You asked around?"

"Oh, right! We met back up again, and we decided that there weren't any thieves there at all—not for a few years, actually."

"Oooo, mystery. Or a curse. But probably a mystery."

"Mystery! As it turns out, Khan—uh, Noire? The stairs won't kill you, you know."

The story stopped when they got to the stairs leading up to the bedrooms, where Noire stubbornly stayed at the bottom. "I refuse to go near the bedrooms unless you can promise me there are no open windows and no bugs," Noire said firmly.

Morgan opened his mouth to promise, thought about it for a moment, then smiled sheepishly. "I can make no promises whatsoever," he said, "But I need to get books from my room, so I'll finish my story down here." He sat down on one of the top steps while Noire leaned on the bottom end of the railing and looked up at him. "Apparently, Khan Basilio just used thieves as a means to get my parents and Aunt Lissa to go there—she met a person that she said was Emmeryn."

"Emmeryn as in…the previous exalt?" Noire asked curiously. "The one that fell after my mother joined the army? I thought she died."

"So did we!" Morgan replied, admittedly sounding more excited than he intended. Continuing a bit quieter with a smile, he said, "She lived, somehow. Mother and Father are hoping that they can visit her soon, but it's hard to say when their next free month would be—it might have to wait until they have to go to Ferox for political reasons. Or the next time Khan Flavia wants Father to fight for her, whichever comes first."

"How do you think she lived?" Noire said, still sounding curious. "Luck? Curse? Lucky curse?"

Morgan laughed. "It's always curses with you, isn't it?"

"My mother is one of the most well-known dark mages in Plegia and Ylisse," Noire pointed out, almost proudly. "You come to expect curses and hexes for unexpected or ominous things."

Morgan kept on smiling, but nonetheless continued, "Everyone thinks she just got lucky. She doesn't remember anyone—except for someone Mother said they fell out of touch with after the war—so there's that. She wasn't physically harmed beyond recovery, though, so that's good."

"When's your next mission?" Noire asked.

"Next week, I think," Morgan replied. "I'd have to ask, but I know that it's in July. We were kind of late to figuring out what to do for June, but on the bright side we already have our next mission planned."

"What is it?"

"We're delivering food and stuff to a village close to the western border."

"Ooo, west. Tell me if you run into any Plegians—or some Plegian animals, I guess. There's a snake with dull venom that Mother wants—"

"Oh, sure, you can talk about venomous snakes with a straight face but not harmless little insects like a ladybug."

"H-hey, I can handle ladybugs now!"

"I'm joking! But still, I swear if I showed you a Risen, you would be more willing to touch it than a bug."

"Nope, still gross. Didn't you need to get books? Go ahead and get them!"

"Right! I'll be riiiiiiight back!"

Morgan went to his room, acknowledging the open window—he liked to feel any breezes that came through, and in some weather it kept the room cooler, so it usually stayed open for a majority of the year—and grabbing some books he wanted to switch out. Some were tactic books that he had since gone over with Robin, and others were novels he had finished reading back in May.

When he joined back up with Noire at the bottom of the stairs, they started swapping tales of their day-to-day lives—Noire getting hexed annoyances like sniffles, Morgan landing a rare hit on Lucina while training with swords—as Morgan put his old books away. Noire, being taller than he was, helped him get down or put away anything he couldn't reach (yes, there were stools meant for the short people; no, Morgan did not use them, mostly because he avoided going to the library unless he was with someone taller than him).

While they were in the area, Morgan poked his head into Robin's office—situated in a little room attached to the library, where she did most of her work—and asked when the Mini Shepherds would be leaving. She gave an approximate answer and he thanked them for it; they would leave once they verified the village still needing things. After Morgan put the books away, he led Noire to the training area where Lucina—whom Noire deemed 'scary' because she scowled (and scowls) a lot—and Owain—whom Noire decided was slightly insane since he liked to be theatric when she was close—were already training. Morgan simply hopped in to join them, with Noire firing an arrow or two to throw them off every now and then.