Now that she had no one to answer them, Lucina realized that she did have questions about the two mercenaries. In theory, Robin or Chrom could answer some—such as what was in the letter that Robin decide to let the mercenaries know of events Lucina herself didn't fully understand—but she didn't want to pursue sensitive questions. Other questions focused specifically on the mercenaries themselves, so she could only hope that there would come a time when she could ask them.
It was about a week since they came back from their last mission, which gave them a bit of time to do other things before their next trip. They had originally planned to wait a week or two, allowing everyone time at home with family and other friends—but a surprise visit changed that.
Chrom had invited Lucina to train with him, so she happily accepted. A little bit after lunch, they went interrupted for a time before a guard came to the entrance of the training area.
"Milord?" Chrom gave the man his attention, and he continued, "There's a guest at the castle gates; Khan Basilio of Regna Ferox."
"Let him in and guide him here," Chrom said.
The guard bowed and left again. Lucina looked at Chrom. "I didn't think we were expecting anyone."
"We're not," Chrom replied. "Must just be Basilio wanting to surprise us—it's happened before."
Lucina opted to put away their training weapons while Chrom welcomed Basilio a few minutes later. "Chrom! Good to see you," Basilio said.
"You as well," Chrom replied. "We didn't see you during the reunion."
"Yes, well, I was looking into something. Your kids met Emmeryn, yeah?"
"They did. Robin and I haven't gotten a chance yet, but we would like to visit ourselves—Lissa met with her, though."
"One out of the four; I was hoping for all of you to come! But that's one reason why I came." Basilio raised his voice and smiled, saying, "Lucina! Get out a weapon for me and you; I want to see how much you've improved since last winter."
Lucina looked at him immediately and nodded. "Yes, sir. Will a sword and axe do?"
"Whatever works best," Basilio replied. "Go ahead and make both steel—training or bronze weapons don't make it quite as interesting."
She got a sword for herself and an axe for Basilio, and Chrom stood near the edge of the training area so he could observe. Chrom was given the choice of when to start, so he announced the beginning of the match. Whenever Basilio visited, it was to be expected that he would want to see how well Lucina could fare against him; the khan himself explained that it was because he wanted to know when Lucina surpassed a friend of his.
As with many recent matches, Lucina was able to endure for a few minutes before Basilio took a step back. "Longer than usual," he noted, "But I don't plan on cutting you up too bad; you're bleeding a bit already."
Lucina had a few small cuts, and she looked at them for a moment and shook her head. "Nothing much," she said, looking back at Basilio, "And I'm not tired yet. We can continue if you'd like."
"No; I'm a bit tired!" Basilio replied with a chuckle. "You're fast, girl—but you still have trouble defending. Might want to work on that."
She took the advice with a nod, offering to put away the weapons while Basilio turned back to Chrom. "That was only the first reason I came! All right then, where's Robin?"
"She's doing tactics with Morgan," Chrom recalled. "I don't think they usually finish until dinner—especially now that there's practical use behind it. I wouldn't recommend interrupting, either; Robin says it distracts Morgan."
"I won't distract the kid," Basilio reasoned. "Why don't you show me around instead? Either that, or youneed to up against me next."
"Nothing's changed since the last time you were here," Chrom replied.
"Dueling it is!" Basilio declared.
The next hour or so was spent with them alternating who fought who—at first they thought the matches would end after one or two rounds, then after a while everyone kept determining to try the next person. After they all fought each other once, they opted to actually stop, so they proceeded to wander. Lucina quickly became the conversation topic or a reason to hold a specific conversation, whether they were discussing her training or trips to Regna Ferox or talking about times in the army. The latter was Lucina's personal favorite (it was fascinating to hear the same story told by different people; some portrayed battles as significant or meager, and she enjoyed hearing what others thought about choices that were made. Even accounts between Chrom and Robin differed, albeit slightly).
When they were called in for dinner, Basilio more-or-less invited himself to stay (even if it could be reasoned that he was there to speak with Robin, which meant that he had to). Robin, Lissa, and the latter's husband greeted him—albeit with all three expressing a bit of confusion before Basilio reasoned that he did, in fact, come with little to no warning.
Before the staff brought out the food, Basilio looked at Robin and Chrom. "Now, the actual reason why I came," he said. "You two are in charge of where the kids go when they travel, right?"
"I usually decide where they go, yes," Robin replied. "Did you have somewhere you wanted to send them?"
"I want to take 'em back to Ferox with me," Basilio announced, mostly nonchalant. Most of the others frowned, however—if only because they had only recently come back home. "I want to see how they do against a particular group of people."
"And those people are..?" Chrom prompted.
"Can't say," Basilio replied, maintaining a casual tone. "But they're friends—I swear it. Lucina's strong enough to last against them for a little while, at least."
"Lucina is a lot stronger than the rest of them," Lissa pointed out. "Like…a lot, a lot. Owain and Morgan are good, but not that good. Even if they can't dent her, that doesn't mean the others won't get hurt."
"They can have training swords," Basilio maintained. He remained steadfast, saying, "I personally think it's a good reason to send them out—the kids won't regret it, and neither will their opponents. I'm sure of it."
Robin glanced at Chrom, and exchanging a nod with him she said, "We can figure it out later, but if you won't tell us who they'll be fighting, I can't make any guarantees."
"Got it. I'll just have to win you over!"