(A/N: This is a slightly modified version of a oneshot I wrote a while back, generally taking place sometime after Mini Shepherds. You don't have to read this if you don't want to; I just wanted to add it because I like it.)
Sully sat around the other Shepherds at a table, stopping halfway through moving her drink to take a sip. She looked at Chrom, who was sitting in between Stahl and Sumia. Miriel was next to Sumia, Vaike was next to Miriel, Lissa was next to Stahl, Sully was next to Vaike, and Frederick was standing next to the table even though there was plenty of room for him. Hell, they could probably fit all of their spouses and kids at the table and still have room; not all of the Shepherds were even there.
But that wasn't the point. The point was: "Why the hell would I teach the Minis anything? They've been doing this for almost a full year. There's at least one kid that I can't teach, either."
"If you're referring to Laurent, that is untrue," Miriel replied. "He's trying to learn how to use a sword and ride a horse—both of which you can help him with."
"Robin wants them to learn from someone they don't normally train under," Chrom explained. "And aside from that, you're someone familiar—Morgan should feel better knowing that you're there after Robin and I leave for Plegia in a few days."
"So I'm basically your babysitter?" Sully asked bluntly. "Don't you have maids for that crap?"
"Morgan can get really stressed when no one is there," Lissa said. "A lot of the staff don't know what to do to help him, so they back out of doing anything at all—the same with Owain's dramatic side and Lucina's reluctance to tell people when she's hurt. I'll still be there, though, so you're just an extra person."
Sully groaned, took a big sip of her drink, then looked back at Chrom. "Fine; I'll do it. I'll come by tomorrow morning and make myself at home—but I'm not doing this crap by myself. Who's the unlucky sucker?" She looked around. Chrom just said he'd be gone, Frederick mentioned going with them earlier, and Lissa probably wanted to sit back and watch…so there goes the easy three. Miriel probably had some weird experiment to do, Sumia was too clumsy to be an efficient trainer, Vaike was too stupid to be an efficient trainer…which only left one person she'd be willing to work with. "All right, Stahl. Hope you're free because I'll be picking you up in the morning."
Stahl looked a bit surprised for a few seconds, then smiled. "Okay. You can train them; I'll take care of the rest."
"Perfect," Sully said. With that, the conversation changed. Frederick alerted the royals when it was getting late, so those three left first; after that, Sumia and Miriel left, then Stahl and Sully. Vaike left last as per usual, although she saw him leave so he didn't stay too long.
Sully headed home, walking in the door and finding Kjelle eating some fruit. "How was your night out, Mom?" Kjelle asked.
"I got roped into watching you kids," Sully replied simply. "How much do I need to think before I say anything and how much will I want to punch them?"
Kjelle hummed, thinking on the right answer. "You can get away with cursing as long as Robin's not there—of course, Lucina can get away with it whenever she wants, but I guess that doesn't really count. As for punching them, well…you'll have a hard time with Owain. I have a hard time with Owain, even when he's not theatric. The rest depends on the day, but usually Lucina and Laurent are the better two."
"Usually?" Sully said.
"Laurent can be a bit of a perfectionist," Kjelle explained. "Meanwhile, Lucina can be obnoxious if she's in a certain mood."
"Gotcha," Sully replied, nodding. "I'll be staying at the castle since it's pretty much a babysitting gig. You can come along if you want—but you have to cut the 'Mom' crap. It's fine at home, but in public I'm either 'Mother' or 'ma'am,' got that?"
What anyone else might have interpreted as rudeness, Kjelle smiled at. "Yes, ma'am! I'll stay with you at the castle as long as Tharja and her daughter aren't there."
"It's settled then," Sully said. "I'll see if your father will come along with us, and we'll just make it a little family trip."
Kjelle nodded and shortly afterwards bid goodnight. Sully stayed up for a little bit longer to pretend to clean, then headed off to bed as well. Tomorrow's either gonna suck or be fine…given the stories Sully heard from Kjelle, she had a feeling it would suck.
…
The next day came, and Kjelle was up and at 'em before Sully even woke up. To compensate, Sully had Kjelle run a few extra laps in their daily training regimen, then they headed off to the castle. Once there, Kjelle went to find Lucina and give her a brief warning. Sully, meanwhile, went on to fix up the training area. Lucina and Kjelle were the first to come, and they helped Sully set everything up. It didn't take long for the rest of the Mini Shepherds to come as well, with Stahl being the last one there.
"All right, pipsqueaks!" Sully said once everyone was there, turning to face them all. "I'm Sully, proud knight of Ylisse and one of Chrom's Shepherds. For today, you will refer to me as 'ma'am' only. Robin wanted me to teach you guys a few things about how a real soldier fights; and let me tell you now, you'll have your butts handed to you and the crap beaten out of you. I have enough experience to fight you on and off horseback, and have a disadvantage and advantage over all of you. If you've trained under me before, you know how I like to go about this—if you haven't, you'll quickly learn. I'll give you five minutes to prepare yourself and chose the weapon you want to use first, then we'll get started. Stahl's here to basically do everything else but train you. Make sure you take out a steel weapon—bronze if you aren't familiar enough with it. Lissa's somewhere in the castle to heal you if you get hurt. Got it?"
Sully smiled proudly when a few people—namely Lucina and Kjelle—nodded and said "Yes, ma'am!" She watched them find weapons, and let them chatter amongst themselves for a little bit. Once they got their weapons and exactly five minutes passed, Sully whistled.
"Listen up!" Sully said loudly. The kids quieted down and looked at her. "First, we'll do a few warmups. Then, you'll each spar each other—partners will switch every ten minutes. We'll keep that up until I've spared with everyone, and after that we'll take a jog out to the field by my house. When we're there, guess what, we're almost done—just a little one-on-seven match, you pipsqueaks against me. Stahl's the supervisor, so he'll be the one to talk with your parents if someone gets a scratch."
It was pleasing to hear that every kid said "Yes, ma'am!" and began doing warmup thrusts and movements. Stahl opened his mouth to question her, then closed it again, making Sully even more pleased. Warmups only lasted for about ten minutes, and Sully predicted the next part to take an hour or so.
After a while, Sully eventually had to sit down. Sure, it was midwinter, but it was warm and sunny—and the kid she would be training next, who would've ended up being Morgan, needed to take a break too. Morgan looked about ready to take a nap, while Sully was watching the other kids and calling out foul play when she saw it.
"Taking a break, huh?" Sully looked at Robin and nodded a greeting, while Morgan opened his eyes after hearing his mother's voice.
"Kids are tiring," Sully replied simply. She gestured towards Morgan. "My next sparing partner needed to take a quick breather, too."
"I went to bed late, then I fought against Brady, Lucina, and Kjelle in that order," Morgan explained. "Brady doesn't hurt but he tries to pull a lot of random stuff, I swear Lucina was trying to torture me for teasing her the other day, and Kjelle is really hard to hit when she has armor on."
"You knew this was coming," Robin pointed out. "Don't be like me and your sister and pull so many all-nighters that it takes a while to adjust to a normal sleep schedule." Morgan simply nodded, and Robin continued, "I just came out to tell you that your father and I will be leaving soon."
"Stay safe," Morgan said. "Try not to get hurt."
Sully laughed. "I don't think you have to worry about that, kid; your parents are pretty tough."
Robin came a little closer to Morgan and smiled. "We'll be back by the end of the month. Lissa, Lucina, and Owain are still here; Sully and Kjelle will be staying for a while, too. Noire might even come over if Tharja drops her off on her way to us. Is that all right?"
Morgan seemed to be assured by that. "Yeah," he said, nodding. They both waved and Robin left. Morgan stood up, stretched, then looked at Sully. "I'm ready to spar now."
"Good! I was about ready to start with or without your consent," Sully replied. "Pick your sword back up and take your spot."
"Yes, ma'am!" Although a little miserable-sounding and tired before, Morgan showed nothing but energy. They both took their spots and sparred.
After Sully sparred with everyone, they took a jog to her house—which was a little bit outside of Ylisstol. They took a short break for refreshments supplied by Stahl, then they did a one-on-seven match. As she expected, Sully ultimately won—but a lot of the Mini Shepherds lasted for a while with Morgan's guidance. Sully treated them all to a slightly late lunch, and they came back cheerfully (albeit with a few complaints).
The children, except from the castle dwellers and Kjelle, went their separate ways after making sure the training was done. Kjelle assured the royal trio that it could have been worse, while Lucina seemed glad for the experience. The next few hours were spent of Sully still training, trusting Stahl to make sure Morgan didn't become a mini version of his mother. Sully decided that, in the end, it was worth being dragged into.