(A/N: This is just something I decided to write, mostly because I can. This is also inspired by something Morgan said in the fourth paralogue of A War For Revenge—however, since this happed a while BEFORE A War For Revenge, you don't need to read the whole story to understand this oneshot. This is set in the same minor AU, though. But nonetheless, I hope you enjoy it!)
Morgan was playing with Lucina and Owain. It wasn't anything too exciting; just whatever hand-me-down dolls Lissa was willing to part with. When you added said dolls with tiny plastic swords and three slightly-hyperactive imaginations, and you end up with dolls fighting each other for the ultimate prize of a fancy-looking bracelet that Lucina had.
Yup, pretty much a normal day in the castle.
"You can't do that!" Lucina said as her and Owain's dolls fought, their bodies controlled by the children's hands.
"Why not?" Owain asked, easing his grip on his doll a little. "Giving names to combat moves is cool! It gives the move a special kind of power!"
"Not that!" Lucina replied, pausing for a moment to sigh. "When you're actually dueling with swords, you go like this"—she demonstrated a basic sword move—"not like this." She flailed the doll's arms around wildly, as Owain had done a moment ago.
"But they're not actually dueling with swords?" Owain said, obviously
confused. "We're just playing."
"Father says that if you make habits out of playing swords improperly, it will effect your future performance when you're actually training."
"Okay, I know Uncle Chrom is boring, but you made that up. He isn't THAT boring."
"He said it to you when we were training yesterday!"
"No he didn't! I would have remembered if Uncle Chrom said something like that."
While Lucina and Owain took a break from playing to glare daggers at each other, Robin came into the room. Morgan instantly perked up.
"Mother!" He cried happily, running over to her. "Lucina and Owain are being mean to each other again!"
"No we're not," Lucina said. "We're having a disagreement."
"Same thing!" Morgan replied.
"We can discuss this later," Robin said gently. "Lucina, Owain, I need to take Morgan for a little bit, but we'll be back. Don't do anything brash, and remember that if you need someone, Chrom should be in the library."
"Father? In the library?" Lucina asked, sounding both surprised and mildly impressed. "That doesn't seem right."
Robin laughed a little bit. "Well, he's there if you need him." She looked down at Morgan. "Can you get one of the dolls you were playing with?"
Morgan nodded, running over to where his doll was, picking it up and bringing it back to Robin.
"Good," Robin said. "Now follow me, please." Morgan did as she asked, following Robin closely. Despite having always living in the castle, he still got lost sometimes. He tried not to wander around too much when he didn't knew where he was going and didn't have anyone to guide him.
Robin lead him into a part of the castle he didn't recognize, eventually turning a corner and opening up a door to a medium-sized room with a large table in the center.
"Sit down by the table," Robin told him gently.
Morgan sat down in one of the chairs.
"Put the doll on the table," Robin said. Morgan nodded and obeyed, setting the doll down on the table. Robin walked over to the biggest chair, and opened up a drawer that was either inside or underneath the table (Morgan couldn't see well enough to tell which one it was), and pulled out some small figurines.
"Are we going to play chess?" Morgan asked, if only because it seemed to be Robin's favorite strategy game.
"No," Robin replied. "But I am going to teach you something about tactics." She placed the figurines side-by-side, and placed the doll in front of them. At the head of the table, in front of the biggest chair, she sat down a bag of cookies.
"Cookies!" It was literally the only thing he wanted to think about now. Morgan wondered if Lissa made them, or if Robin bought them some a bakery in town. Either way, he really hoped they had chocolate chips in them.
"Focus," Robin reminded him gently. "You'll be able to have some after this."
Morgan looked at her with newfound determination in his eyes. "Right," he said.
Robin smiled at him. "Okay, now on to the lesson." She walked back over to the doll, grabbing its arm and making it wave. Morgan laughed for a few moments. "Our doll friend here wants one of the cookies, but there's a blockade of toys preventing their progress." She gestured to the blockade of figurines, then looked back at Morgan. "How can they get past the toys and to the cookie?"
"Can't they just step over them?" Morgan asked.
"Imagine that the doll and the figurines are the same size," Robin suggested. "That wouldn't be a very good idea, would it?"
"No," Morgan said. "Hmmm…. Can they put the toys away?"
"Again, they'd be the same size."
"Okay. Can they ask the toys to move?"
"Not if the toys refuse to let them have a cookie."
Morgan thought for a little bit. "What if the doll found a way around the blockade?"
"Now you're getting it," Robin said. She traced a line from the doll to a gap in the blockade using her finger. "Not everything has an immediate solution. The obvious answers usually aren't the best. You have to think outside the box—sometimes out of your comfort zone—to achieve victory. And sometimes it can hurt when you make the wrong choice. But in the end…" she guided the doll towards the cookies, "You'll always get a reward, whether it be cookies or praise or just seeing your friends again. Remember that." She picked up the bag of cookies, handing one to Morgan. He started eating it instantly, finishing it in moments. It was soft and warm still.
"Are we done?" Morgan asked, looking up at Robin.
"Almost," Robin replied. She sat down in the chair next to him. "Morgan, before we continue on with tactics, I want to make sure you know something. Being a tactician…it's hard. Every day you're on the battlefield, immense decisions wait for you. You have to learn your allies' strengths, and your enemies' weaknesses, and use them to your advantage. It requires time and dedication to master, and even then, you can make mistakes. You can't always get your cookie easily, so to speak."
"I know," Morgan said. "But I want to be like you! If you can handle it, so can I. We can be the best tacticians ever!"
Robin smiled, laughing a bit. "Alright," she said. "As long as you know that it can be tough. But don't worry; we won't get into any of the more advanced stuff until you're a bit older."
"Okay!" Morgan replied. He paused for a few moments. "So…can I eat the rest of the cookies now?"
Robin's smile broadened, gentle and kind. "Don't eat them all yourself," she said.
Nonetheless, she gave Morgan the bag. "Share with Lucina and Owain."
"I will," Morgan said. He took the bag and stood up to leave. "Thank you, Mother!"
Robin simply nodded and started putting everything away. Morgan, satisfied that he learned something and extremely happy with the five cookies left in the bag, went back the way they came to find Lucina and Owain again.