(A/N: Behold! A sequel to Mini Shepherds! Everything important will be in bold, so please make sure to read it! First and foremost, as with my other Awakening fanfics, Chrobin is established; however, no other ships are. This is for my own writing convenience and to stay consistent with the other Mini Shepherds stories. I'll say this now: a fair bit of the story may not align with canon. Keep in mind that this story, as well as my other Mini Shepherds stories, is set in an AU. Likewise, there may be some inconsistencies. One last thing and I'll let you read: the pacing might feel off. Now, without further ado, I hope you enjoy the story!)

It was a bit cold out, but the sunshine could easily make it warm—assuming you were outside and in the sun. Morgan was in his room with his window open, his door closed, and lots of blankets to keep him warm. Pages of opened books were turned by the wind while his curtains flapped slightly. The people shuffling along in blankets or extra coats in the hallways had one thing they were missing; a nice winter breeze as you read a book and hid under most of your sister's spare blankets. Okay, maybe that was three things—but still. His room was a haven for books and chairs—referred to instead as a "hell for weird books and spare chairs" by Brady—with a perfect atmosphere for reading or studying.

Morgan caught a floating piece of paper and scribbled down a note in it, putting it in between the pages of his book. The note was simple, and most of the text could be read when the book was closed: "Might be useful." Normally such things would be marked by a dog-eared page, but the book didn't actually come from the castle's library—instead, Noire had found it and gave it to him, and Laurent wanted to look at it once Morgan was done with it. The reason for this was that they all had a goal in mind, one Morgan had made into a promise to a friend that everyone wanted to come true: making some sort of communication between the present and the future possible, when the future wasn't actually this present's future. He said he would find a way for his friend to come back—by choice and on his own accord. The friend? A mercenary named Malin—or, a bit more accurately, Morgan's future self.

His goal was a lot of other people's goal now, too. All of the Mini Shepherds—a group consisting of himself, Lucina, Owain, Cynthia, Laurent, Kjelle, and Brady—and their parents agreed to help. Noire, her parents, Owain's friends—Inigo and Severa—and their parents were helping, too. The parents wanted to talk with their future children again, and the children wanted to meet their future selves—with the exception of Morgan and Lucina, who met their counterparts while they went under the aliases of Malin and Marth respectively. For them, they wanted to see their future selves again; both had made some promise or another to themselves, and they intended to show Malin and Marth that they had kept them.

As he thought of this, someone knocked on his door. "Come in!" Morgan called. "There shouldn't be any books that are an immediate tripping hazard."

His door opened, and Lucina entered. "Gods," she muttered, shivering. "No wonder it's so cold on this side of the castle; your window's open! And it's not because you're hot, since you're covered in most of the blankets from my room."

"I wanted fresh air," Morgan said simply, albeit kindly and playfully.

"Go outside, then!" Lucina replied. She was stern, but also smiling; she continued to smile as she shook her head. "Nonetheless, Father was going to go over our options for the Mini Shepherds' next mission. I thought you would like to attend—unless you'd rather stay in here and freeze?"

Morgan nodded and started getting up, saying, "Come on, Luce, it's not that cold."

"Says the boy wearing nearly a dozen blankets to keep warm," Lucina retorted. She turned back around to leave. "Father and I will be in the tactics room. Please close the window before you leave, Brother; I will ask Mother if she could move you to a room without them if you don't."

"Empty threats!" Morgan declared playfully as Lucina left. Nonetheless, he closed the window, pulling the curtains closed as well, and carefully maneuvered his way out of his room so he could put the blankets back in Lucina's room. He removed all but one, the rest going in the wooden chest from whence they came, and kept the last one close so he didn't lose it's heat.

As Lucina said, she and Chrom were in the tactics room already going over possible missions. "You look comfortable," Chrom noted when he saw Morgan.

"That I am, good Father," Morgan replied with a laugh. He sat down, and looked at the map. "So, what are our options?"

"There's a few towns having trouble catching bandits," Chrom said. He pointed to a couple locations on the map, and Morgan got out map pieces to mark the spots for future reference. Lucina listened and watched intently as Chrom pointed to another spot and continued, "Khan Flavia has also offered for you to go to Arena Ferox for training, or Khan Basilio is willing to come here if you want to stay at home."

The Mini Shepherds' original purpose was just to travel around Ylisse, more-or-less for the sake of sightseeing. Morgan himself had come up with the idea—everyone else and their parents agreed. Their first trip was exploration, since Morgan had never left the castle prior; after that, they went to Regna Ferox and found some supposedly dead people, met Malin and Marth on a separate occasion if only by chance in Ylisse, went back to Regna Ferox to fight against (and lose at the hands of) Malin, Marth, and Lon'qu, and then saw Malin and Marth return to their time, learning who they truly were in the process. They've only been on about half a dozen missions, with a mission every month (or two in one month and the next month is skipped) and rest in between, but their purpose was slightly altered: now, they rounded up thieves and turned them in to local towns with the exalt's leave, occasionally traveling up to Ferox if one of the khans needed them.

Morgan looked over the options. "I think we should head up to Regna Ferox with Khan Basilio coming to guide us through the areas we aren't familiar with."

"Agreed," Lucina said with a nod. "A Feroxi winter is harsh, but their training area is larger and I'd rather travel than stay here."

"All right," Chrom said. "I'll make sure your mother doesn't have any final touches, then I'll send word to the Mini Shepherds and khans." Both Morgan and Lucina nodded, and left shortly thereafter. Morgan went to find Noire—who was visiting along with Tharja—while Lucina likely went to the training area.