When Chrom was very young, the royal palace was constantly abuzz with activity. It was still frequented by all manner of people as Chrom aged, but it was an especially chaotic place at the height of his father's crusade. Nobles and prominent individuals of all kinds travelled to the palace to make their voices heard. Commoners from as far away as the borders travelled on their own accord to report Plegian attacks, protest the conscription of family members, or complain about the strain of the war effort. Even people from other countries visited on diplomatic missions. The palace was at its most active in the few times when Exalt Caracalla was present. Chrom's father preferred to direct the war effort personally, but he was sometimes made to return to Ylisstol and deal with the many people that needed him.

Chrom would often play with the children of the palace visitors. At the moment Chrom was involved in a game of tag with six other kids his age. One girl was Sully, one of the few friends Chrom would consistently have in his childhood. Another was Maribelle, the daughter of the Duke of Themis. As fate would have it, she would stand by Chrom's side as a Shepherd many years later. The other children consisted of two soldier's sons, the daughter of a handmaiden, and the son of a visiting nobleman. Though Chrom would only know most of them a short time, and though their parents were all of varying social classes, the children happily played together in the present. They took turns being "it" in their game of tag until it was Chrom's turn to tag someone else. He excitedly chased his companions down the main hallway of the palace. In fact he chased them a little too excitedly, as it wasn't long before he tripped and fell. Chrom hit his knee hard enough for it to start bleeding, but he wasn't seriously hurt. He wasn't really bothered at all until he glanced up to see that his friends weren't coming back for him. They were all too happy to take advantage of the opportunity to avoid losing the game.

"Wait!" Chrom cried out. "C-come back! I fell!"

Most of the children ignored him as they ran into hallways, disappeared behind objects, or dashed through the legs of adult visitors and royal guards. Only Maribelle turned back to Chrom, but she just jeered at him. "Ha! Looks like you're a rotten egg!"

Chrom cried out again, but Maribelle left him there. He glanced around to see only the apathetic faces of the adults, many of whom annoyed by the children and rather unsympathetic. Chrom felt incredibly alone, and though his knee didn't hurt that much, he started to wail and scream. Throughout his childhood, so long as he was actually in the palace, Chrom only had to endure any kind of misery for a short while before a small army of servants would descend upon him. Now was no different, and Chrom only cried for a minute or two before half a dozen handmaidens and palace servants arrived to console him. They were quickly joined by several palace guards and nobles once they realized who he was. A handmaiden wiped away the blood on Chrom's knee, and several people tried offering him candy and toys, but Chrom was inconsolable. For all the attention and privilege his birth afforded him, Chrom in this moment wanted what virtually all four year olds wanted. The attention of his parents. Unfortunately no one present really had the authority to summon the Exalt or the Queen away from their duties, but by chance Caracalla walked down the hallway on his own.

Caracalla was flanked by two of his most trusted military officers, General Rouchfort and Captain Aeneas. Rouchfort wore the same blue and gold armor now as he would decades in the future, though it obviously did not have the Mark of Grima emblazoned on it. In his youth he had a radiant light blue hair color, and his posture was straight and commanding. Aeneas was a short and fairly muscular woman. By coincidence she greatly resembled Cordelia, but she was shorter and her hair was a much darker red. She wore blue and gold armor, complete with a short skirt and long boots that went up past her knees. Chrom turned his head at the sound of them walking towards him, and he reached out his little arm and cried out towards his father. All three adults groaned.

"My lord, we don't have time for this." Rouchfort said.

"You have a meeting to go to. Your son will be fine." Aeneas added.

Caracalla seemed to want to leave, but he continued to just stare back at Chrom. At first Chrom hopefully glanced over to Rouchfort and Aeneas, but they only returned apathetic glares. Chrom instead looked only at his father, and his pleading eyes eventually moved him. "Ugh. I'll deal with this." Caracalla knelt down in front of his son, though his face was less than warm. He looked at Chrom's knee and found that the wound had already been tended to, and it was clear Chrom just wanted his attention. Aeneas handed Caracalla a small cloth, and he callously wiped away at the injury. "You are too old to be acting like this, boy."

"It hurts!"

"It does not hurt!" Caracalla snapped back. Chrom's voice was subdued after that. "How did this even happen?"

"I-I was playing with my friends but, *sniffle* I fell and they left me."

"So your so called friends abandoned you did they?" Caracalla looked his son in the eye. "Let me tell you something, my son. You don't know what friendship is. When you're surrounded in battle, when mages are tearing your soldiers apart with spells, when raids on your supply lines have denied you food and supplies, when cavalry are charging directly at you, and all you have are the men and women by your side, then you will know who your friends really are. When you know war, then you will know what friendship really is."

Chrom thought about his father's words, and he took it very literally. "But I don't want to go to war."

Aeneas shook her head. "He's as weak minded as his elder sister." Caracalla shot her a sideways glance, but didn't raise his voice.

"Stay your tongue, Captain." He turned back to Chrom. "Your country will not call upon you at a moment of convenience."

Sully and Maribelle returned to the hallway, either because they felt sorry about leaving Chrom or because they just now realized he hadn't returned. They tensed up at the sight of all the adults, including the Exalt himself, and tried to turn and leave. Aeneas noticed them. "Hey! You two! Here! Now!" Her voice boomed. Slowly they walked over to Caracalla, and he stood up and looked down at them.

"The blonde one is the daughter of the Duke of Themis. He's currently visiting the palace." Rouchfort whispered in Caracalla's ear.

"Who is the other one?"

"No one important."

Caracalla nodded and brought his gaze down on the future Shepherds. They immediately found their own feet very interesting. "Were you two playing with the prince earlier?"

"We're s-sorry, sir." Sully stuttered.

"You have nothing to apologize for. I only ask that you kindly collect him and return to what you were doing." Caracalla glared at his son. "I have no time for this childishness."

In the present day some forty seven years later, Chrom sat up in his bedding. Caeldori once again had the spare bed at Isaiah's homestead, and Soleil had gotten to sleep on the floor that night. Gaius, Ophelia, and Chrom slept in the barn. Chrom wasn't sure how to feel about the visions of his father he had been getting recently, and he found himself absentmindedly looking between Ophelia and Gaius while pondering what he'd seen. He had been staring at the latter when he suddenly responded.

"A man just stares at another man without saying anything, second man might get nervous."

Chrom caught himself. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't know you were awake. I just can't sleep."

Gaius rubbed his eyes and sat up. "Bad dream?"

"Actually yes, though the events really happened. It was more like a triggered memory."

"Oh? What was it about?"

"I've been having these visions of my father lately. I don't understand it. Thirty years ago I could barely recall his face, and now I keep seeing him."

Gaius chuckled. "Daddy issues huh?"

"I suppose. I never really knew my father though. He died when I was four, and I only have a few memories of him. They're all coming back to me now."

"I meant that as a joke. Men our age are too old to be moaning about our parents."

Chrom stared off into space. "Are we? The more I think about it, the more I realize we were living in his shadow thirty years ago. Emmeryn was so dedicated to peace because she was horrified by his violence. I got the Falchion only because she refused to take it. Gangrel rose to power because Plegia was devastated by the war, and they believed someone like him could protect Plegia against further Ylissean attacks. It's why they were willing to go along with his attack on us until Emmeryn's sacrifice proved how horrible it really was. A lot of the reason why the world was the way it was had to do with him. Even if I didn't really know him, I've been growing up in his world my whole life." Chrom looked back to Gaius. "Sorry, I didn't mean to turn this into a long conversation. So what's keeping you up?"

Gaius moaned. "My back isn't what it used to be. Shrill may have gotten the bed tonight, but I'm definitely getting it again tomorrow night." Gaius turned his head at the sound of Ophelia snoring. Ophelia was sleeping in between the two, and she had no problem spending the night outdoors. Gaius couldn't help but smile. "Aww. Sound asleep. I wish I could still sleep like that."

Chrom allowed himself a smile. "Even if we can't fix everything ourselves, there are always new generations."

"I suppose. You know these three make me feel old and useless sometimes… but they also fill me with hope. It's kind of hard to look right at this one though."

"Why?"

Gaius looked down. "Her robes. Besides not being edgy Plegian black… they remind me of Tharja."

"Gaius…"

"It's fine. It's… I'm fine. I suppose asking her to put on more clothes would be out of line, so I'll just have to try and look at something else. What's with mages and those thin robes anyways?"

Chrom felt himself ease up, and it was only then that he realized how tense he had been. Chrom still felt a lot of guilt and uneasiness around Gaius, but now they were having a casual conversation. He wanted to grin from ear to ear, but he tried to subdue his feelings and not let them show too much as he responded to his old friend. "I'm not really sure."

"You know, Lissa and Emmeryn were pretty good with magic. Do you think you could do that kind of thing?"

"Uh… I'm not sure. I have thought about it before, but I've trained my entire life to use a sword. I just don't know where to start." Chrom shrugged. "But maybe I have the potential."

"Didn't Old Hubba say your father was also a mage?"

"Something like that. I really don't remember much about him."

Gaius leaned back into his arms and thought for awhile. "Be honest with me, Blue."

"Sure?"

"Did you think my wife was hot?"

"Krrg!" Chrom stuttered, unprepared for that kind of question. "W-what?"

"Aw come on. Don't be such a child about it."

"W-why do you care?!"

Gaius shrugged. "Maybe I want the compliment, plus your reaction right now is pretty funny."

"I-I don't… I-I never thought about any of the Shepherds that way!"

"Aw that's a cop out! You thought about Maribelle that way."

Chrom's embarrassment faded, as more painful memories flooded over him. "Not at first. Not for awhile."

"Huh?"

"I'm serious, Gaius. I never thought about the Shepherds that way. Not even Maribelle. Not at first."

"Then how did it happen?"

Chrom looked down. The conversation had taken a personal turn he hadn't intended, but at the same time he did feel closer to Gaius, and in a way it was nice to remember the loved ones they talked about. "When I was a young man, I didn't think about that kind of thing at all. Not really. I was so busy with the Shepherds and with the war against Gangrel, and I never spent much time at the palace. I definitely didn't want anything like that with any of the women in the Shepherds. It just… it wouldn't have been right. I had authority over them. There'd be an imbalance in the relationship, and it could be seen as coercion and an abuse of my status over them. It just didn't seem, I don't know, ethical to me. I didn't want a relationship with any of those women, and I never really spent time with anyone besides the Shepherds back then. I wasn't sure when I'd meet anyone."

"So what changed? Why Maribelle?"

"Because she was of royal blood." Chrom said quietly, knowing how it made him sound. "When Emmeryn was crippled, when we all thought that she had died, she had no husband or children. I had no one. Lissa had no one. The nobles were terrified. If anything happened to us, then the royal family that had ruled this land for two thousand years may have died out. My marital status was unacceptable to them. When I became Exalt, they pressured me."

"They made you get married?"

"Suddenly I had responsibilities I never had before. Suddenly everything I did was of great interest to the nobles. My sister was just a child when she inherited the throne, so the nobles largely ruled through her. They really abused her youth to manipulate her into doing what they wanted. Though Emmeryn grew into a strong woman, the nobles still had a lot of power under her. More than they did under our parents. When I became Exalt, I didn't do anything to change that. I had lead a dozen people or so around with the Shepherds, but I didn't know anything about leading a country!" Chrom spoke softly, so that Gaius couldn't hear his next words. "I'm sorry, father. That's what you wanted from me wasn't it? I couldn't do it."

"So these nobles could just order you around?"

"Sort of. I still had agency, but it was hard to resist them when the nobility as a whole wanted something. One of the things they wanted was for me to get married. To have a heir. I was afraid that if I didn't find someone, they'd find a woman for me. As if I was some kind of purebred horse! Of all the women I knew… Maribelle was the most appropriate."

"That's why you proposed?!"

"Yeah." Chrom looked back to Gaius. "That's why. I didn't know anything about being Exalt. I didn't want to get in the way of the nobles. I needed them. I… I was so irresponsible as a young man. Leading around a militia and ignoring my country."

"But we defended Ylisse! Hell your sister would have been assassinated without us!"

"But I wasn't ready when my country needed me the most. It was easy to lead around the Shepherds and go wherever I wanted. It was hard to lead an entire country. Emmeryn was right. She was always right. And even then Gaius, the Shepherds couldn't save her in Lucina's timeline. She was the one that really saved Emmeryn."

Gaius shook his head. "You may have disagreed with Emmeryn back then, Blue, but she supported you didn't she? You don't need to feel so guilty."

Chrom couldn't suppress his smile this time. "Y-you're right. Thank you, Gaius."

"Anyways, Maribelle said yes. She must have felt something."

"Did she? Thinking back on what she was like before I proposed, on how nice she was to me and Lissa, I wonder that. Maribelle didn't treat anyone else like she treated us. I found myself wondering, even late at night lying by her side, did she want me? Or the throne?"

Gaius became genuinely shocked. "Blue that's… horrible!"

"But what if it's true?"

"So you're saying there was no love in it?! You didn't love her?!"

"No that's not… that's not what I meant. There wasn't anything at first but… but things changed. As much as I tried to block it out, I remember my mother and father always fighting when I was little. I told myself things would be like that with Maribelle if it wasn't going to work out, but they weren't. Not at all. No, no those two years of peace were some of the happiest in my life. When Lucina was born, I remember thinking she'd be the most loved baby in the world. I loved her, Gaius. It became real. I promise."

"You know Maribelle and I didn't have the… best relationship, but I still heard her talking around the camp. I can't tell you exactly why she said yes to you, but she loved you too. Even if she was just being some greedy noblewoman when she first said yes, and I'm not saying she was, I'm sure it became real for her too."

Chrom leaned back and gave a soft smile as the memories of Maribelle flowing through his mind became happier ones. "You're right. I… I shouldn't doubt it. We loved each other and… that's all the matters in the end. That's all that should matter."

"So Lucina and Brady wouldn't exist without the pressures of blue bloods worried for their privileges. Huh."

"I suppose that's one way to look at it."

"And I wouldn't have grown up so poor if your father's crusade hadn't caused so much stress on my neighborhood."

"I… I don't know." Gaius didn't say anything else, but he kept looking at Chrom. He smiled back until the moment became a bit awkward. "Gaius? Now you're staring at me."

"So I am. You know, Blue… what you just said about your father."

"Yeah?"

"My parents told me way back when that our neighborhood was hurt by the war with Plegia. A lot of people from there were conscripted, and the taxes were higher during the war. It was also hard for the average person to get supplies. I definitely grew up poorer because of your father's crusade. I don't know if my life would really be that different if things hadn't been that way, but I grew up poorer because of it. You talked about your father, and about how Lucina and Brady owe their existence to the machinations of greedy nobles, and it's got me thinking. We all like to think we're in control of our lives, but so much of what happens to us is because of the actions of other people that we have no control over. Hell we never would have met if Validar didn't want Emmeryn dead, and what if you never found Robin in the field that day? What if he never lost his memories? So much of this stuff is outside of our control. We can make decisions, but we're always living in someone else's world really." Chrom looked inquisitively at Gaius, waiting to see where he was going. "I remember hating your father as a kid, Blue, because my parents said it was his fault we had things so rough. I never imagined in a thousand years that I'd meet his son. Then even after I joined the Shepherds, I didn't think we'd be friends." Gaius shook his head and tried to gather his thoughts. "Then after… you know… I never thought I'd stop hating you. I really didn't think I'd ever see you again, and I never thought we'd… be friends again. We really don't have that much in common do we, Blue? Yet we just keep meeting each other."

"Gaius, I'm truly sorry."

"No. No that's not why I'm saying this. I'm trying to say that I'm sorry. I always looked down on you for what you represented. For being from some privileged elite. For not having to struggle like I did. But you're a good man. You really did try to save the world back then, and even now you're still helping the world. I killed people for thirty years thinking anything I did to survive was justified, but you managed to live quietly. Without hurting anyone. Now you're helping these girls, and I just barely agreed to help. Even then I almost got you killed. I almost got the three killed. I almost got Cordelia killed. Besides the girls, you make me feel old and useless." Gaius was the one to try and hold back his feelings this time. "I-I don't deserve people like you. I deserved my loneliness."

"Gaius that, that's not true. And you don't have to apologize to me. Not after everything that I've done to you."

"But I've given you a lot of crap."

"Well-" Chrom smiled. "We've given each other a lot of crap."

Gaius snorted. "Ha! That's one way to look at it." The two looked over to Ophelia as her snoring became more irregular. She softly mumbled gibberish and clawed at the air with her right arm towards Gaius. She wasn't conscious, but the two were waking her up. "Well excuse me, princess!"

"We are talking right next to her." Chrom stood up and stretched. "I think I'll just get up for the day. The sun should be up soon, and Donnel, err Isaiah might need some help." Chrom looked back down. "Hey, Gaius?"

"Yeah?"

"It was… it was nice to catch up."

"Anytime, Blue."

Soleil slowly woke up as sunlight cascaded down on her from a nearby window. She yawned and rubbed her eyes to find Ophelia's smiling face. "Morning, sleepy head."

"Hmm. Erg!" Soleil waved her away and slowly sat up. "W-what time is it?"

"Sunrise."

"What?! You can't expect me to get up this early!" Soleil ran her hands through her disheveled pink hair and moaned. "Why are you up so early?"

"I had a hard time sleeping in the barn. Chrom and Gaius woke up and they just kept talking and talking."

"Better Gaius is talking to Chrom than trying to bash his skull in."

"I guess. Anyways I thought I'd get up and help Isaiah and Matilda out. They're already awake. I'm sure they'd like your help too."

"More chores?! Agh!" Soleil yawned and stood up. She straightened out her underclothes and started to step towards her armor when Ophelia gently but firmly placed her hand on Soleil's shoulder. "What now?"

"Soleil… there's something I'd like you to do. Have you spoken with Caeldori since, you know, she went off on us?"

"Can't say that I have."

Ophelia gave Soleil a soft but determined look. "I want you to talk to her."

"What?! Aw come on."

"She feels sorry. She feels like she's distanced from us. Please show her you're her friend. Show her you care about her. If not for her then… for me?"

Soleil sighed. "Why tell me this so early in the morning?"

"Matilda is taking her to a nearby town to find a doctor. They'll leave after breakfast. I want you to talk to her before she goes. Please?"

"Alright, alright. I will."

"Thank you." Ophelia smiled and turned to leave.

"Ophelia! Wait."

"Hmm?"

"You, you know I do care about her right?"

"Prove that to her, Soleil. That's all I'm asking."

After breakfast, Caeldori and Matilda did prepare to leave for The Saltworks. Matilda borrowed her husband's carriage and Caeldori gathered a few of her things. Soleil walked outside to speak with her as soon as she finished breakfast but, without meaning to, she found herself just staring at Caeldori. At first it was because she had no idea how to start the conversation or how to bring up the earlier argument, but then Soleil just became lost in trance. She watched every little thing Caeldori did. How she talked to Matilda and displayed genuine gratitude. The way she brushed her long red hair out of her eyes. The sounds she made as she took deep breaths. Soleil lost herself in these little movements. These things that no one else would ever notice were as captivating and attention grabbing to her as the sun and clouds in the sky. Soleil also found her eyes drawn to Caeldori's noticeable limping, and the metal prosthetic that now occupied her forearm. Caeldori's own expression seemed to sour every time she glanced at it, and it saddened Soleil. She suddenly felt a pain for her friend that she never felt when the two were talking.

"Are you just going to keep staring, Soleil?" Caeldori eventually stated without looking up. When she did bring the soft look of her red eyes on Soleil, the mercenary found herself at a loss for words.

"Ah, no I uh… I'm sorry. I didn't think you saw me there."

Caeldori had finished packing, and so she leaned back against the carriage. "Have I done something to earn your ire?"

"No that's not it. I… erm…" Soleil decided honesty was the least awkward way out. "I want to talk about what you said, you know, earlier. To Ophelia and I?"

Caeldori looked down. "Of course. I couldn't expect you to ignore it forever, nor do I deserve to simply be rid of the consequences of my behavior. Soleil, you're right to be angry with me."

"But I'm not."

"You're… not?"

Soleil stepped closer to her companion. "No. I'm sorry you don't feel you're as close to Ophelia and I as we are to each other. We need you though. You shouldn't feel like an outsider."

"But the things I said-"

"You just had a few to many drinks, or too much of one drink. We've all been there."

"No. Soleil, I meant what I said. I do feel that way."

"Oh?"

"That's why I feel so bad. We should be allies, and you two deserve more from me. You deserve more than me."

"Caeldori, please stop feeling so inferior. You're better than either of us at, well, a lot really. We look up to you!"

"And you deserve a better mentor. Cordelia is gone. Maybe Chrom can help, but I'm too weak. I'm not what I should be. I've let my grandmother down."

Soleil shook her head. "You've just got to be fishing for compliments, because no way can you believe that! You're so much more skilled than we are, and you definitely took Cordelia's training the most seriously. She was so proud of you."

Caeldori brought her gaze back up. "How do you know?"

"W-well how could she not be?! You're strong! Brave! Determined! Beaut-err… battle ready!"

"You're just saying that."

Soleil smiled, though she was actually a bit frustrated by the extent of Caeldori's self deprecation. "Well I don't care how you feel. I look up to you. Ophelia and I need you. And there aren't any hard feelings. I promise."

"R-really? Soleil, it's okay to be mad."

"And I was, but you're our friend." Soleil patted Caeldori on the shoulder with her right hand, and with her left she gently took Caeldori's prosthetic. "You know… remember what I said when you first got this?" Soleil said while playfully shaking Caeldori's prosthetic.

"Remind me?"

"Do you want to… I don't know… do something? Sometime? T-together? We could really get to know each other better. We've been together for years, but we haven't really spent much time with just the two of us."

Caeldori finally gave a genuine smile. Surely Soleil wouldn't want her continued attention if she was just saying things to make her feel better. "I… I'd like that, Soleil."

"Oh, wait. We can't."

"Huh?"

Soleil smiled wider. "We just couldn't find anything to do together. I like to have fun. You're more of the in bed by seven type. We'd never agree on anything."

"What?!"

"Did I get it wrong? Are you more of an in bed by six type?" Soleil jested.

"Soleil, I know how to have fun."

"Really. Well you'll have to prove that to me sometime."

"Maybe I will."

Soleil giggled, surprised at how easy talking to Caeldori had become. "Well I guess you're not exactly like your grandma after all."

Caeldori's smile slowly faded, and a rather bitter look eventually replaced it. "What?"

"Well you know… Cordelia was more strict and… stuff."

"And that's a bad thing? It's bad that she took this very seriously?"

Soleil's own smile disappeared as she knew she'd crossed some kind of line. "Well…" She said as she tried to backtrack. "No. It's just that… I'm just saying she didn't have fun very often. I didn't mean anything by it."

"But you did. You may not have gotten along with Cordelia very well, but she was right. You goof off way too much, and she's not some stick in the mud just because she wanted you to take her training more seriously."

"I'm not trying to start something here, Caeldori!"

"You insulted my grandmother!"

"I didn't insult her! I'm just saying… it's good to have fun every once in awhile!"

Cordelia's death was too recent for Caeldori, and she wouldn't calm down. Not unless she could get a last word in on Soleil. Of course Soleil's own ego wouldn't let Caeldori do that. "You have too much fun."

"You're not really sorry about what you said are you?"

"That's not fair! I am sorry about how I phrased what I said, but I wasn't wrong about you, Soleil. You need to take things more seriously. It's not a bad thing to relax occasionally, but you don't take your training seriously. You'd goof off before you'd do anything else."

"The arrogance! You can't apologize to me without lecturing me!"

"I'm not going to apologize for being right. Always practicing your dancing, or lying around, or chasing something in a skirt, but let me tell you something. You can't dance off failure. You can't just avoid failure. You can't get off on failure. You're going to get hurt if you don't take this war seriously!"

"Your mom gets off!"

"What?! What does that even mean?"

"Who are you to talk down to me, Caeldori?! You're not a professional. At least you couldn't maintain a professional relationship with your male tutors."

"T-that's none of your concern!"

"Don't think Cordelia wasn't disappointed in you sometimes, and don't think you're exactly like her. By the time Cordelia was your age she had a husband. She had dozens of comrades that would fight by her side. You just have us and nothing. You're not really that different than Ophelia and I. Who are you to talk down to us as if you're in some position of authority!"

"Don't mention her name again!"

"You are one of us, Caeldori! If we're failures, then you're a failure too! Don't talk down to me!"

Caeldori jammed her finger into Soleil's chest. "You know what, mercenary?"

"Get your finger out of my face."

"One of these days your lack of discipline will get you into trouble, and you'll beg for my help."

Soleil swatted Caeldori's finger out of the way, but she stuck it back. Soleil struck it out of the way more violently, and the two women stared bitterly at each other for a few seconds.

Matilda dismounted the front of the carriage and walked over at the sound of commotion to find Soleil and Caeldori grappling with each other. Though Caeldori was normally Soleil's superior, her injured leg had slowed her down, and so Soleil had managed to keep her in a headlock. Caeldori desperately clawed at her face, but Soleil continued to restrain her. "Soleil, you monkeyspank!"

"Shut up, fartknocker!"

Soleil stuck her finger in her mouth and then wedged it into Caeldori's ear. "Agh! G-get your finger out of my ear!"

"Aw. Look at how Cordelia the Second squirms. Your grandmother would never allow a lowly mercenary to keep her in a headlock!"

"You overgrown bunion!"

Matilda cleared her throat, causing the two to let go of each other and rise to their feet. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes." Caeldori responded politely as she brushed herself off. "Everything is fine. I'm ready to go." She gave Soleil one last glare. "Goodbye, mercenary."

Soleil just stuck her tongue out and angrily walked back to the homestead, but her heart felt very heavy. It sank even further into her when she noticed Ophelia nearby, her arms crossed and her face in an angry scowl. "I saw what happened! Caeldori is in a very fragile place right now, and she doesn't need you yelling at her! Thanks for nothing, Soleil!"

Ophelia walked away, and Soleil moaned as she ran her hand down her face. "Ugh. I need a break from being me for awhile."

Chrom tried to help Matilda out as much as he could before she left, but he still felt the need to do something for Isaiah. He wandered around the house while looking for him, and he found the former Shepherd in a small room upstairs. Isaiah was tending to a bedridden woman that couldn't have been younger than eighty. Chrom could swear he'd seen her before, but it was hard to get a good look with Isaiah blocking him. "Here you go, Ma. We went light on the salt, just the way you like it."

"Such a good boy, Donnel." The women responded meekly.

"Anything else you need, just let me know. I'll be up in a jip!"

"Thank you. Such a good boy, Donnel." The woman lied back into her pillow, making no immediate attempt to reach for her tray of food. "But a man your age shouldn't have to make all his meals alone. When are you going to tie the knot with this Matilda girl you've been telling me about?"

Isaiah smiled, though it was a desperate attempt to hide a twinge of sadness. "Ma… I've told you. We've been married for over fifteen years."

Isaiah's Ma smiled back and nodded her head, but she was clearly feigning it. She really hadn't remembered. "Oh, oh of course dear. I just need some food is all."

"Yeah. Take it easy, Ma." Isaiah gently kissed her on the forehead and stood up. "Just let me know if you need anything else." Isaiah turned, his eyes widening as he saw Chrom. He slowly walked out and silently closed the door to the room. "Sorry. Didn't see you there. Need anything?"

"I just wanted to see if I could help in any way."

"Oh. Kind of you to offer. I don't think there's anything at the moment, but I'm sure my wife left me a list somewhere."

"Was that your mother?"

"Sure was. She's still hanging in there, strong as ever!"

"She… doesn't remember you got married?"

Isaiah became saddened. "She knows. Deep down she knows. She just… forgets is all. Her mind isn't what it used to be."

"Right. You told me how she can't remember your new name." Chrom felt the need to try and make Isaiah feel better. "It's good that you still take care of her."

"What is a son for?"

Isaiah reached for a cup on a nearby table and took a sip. Chrom looked into the cup to see a liquid that looked like thin mud. "What is that?"

"It's called coffee." Isaiah offered it to him. "Want a sip?"

Chrom cautiously drank from the cup, and his face scrunched up as he set it back on the table. "Oh! That's bitter! It could use cream or something like that."

Isaiah shrugged. "I guess it's an acquired taste. I can't explain it, but I swear it helps me get up in the morning."

"I've never heard of coffee."

Isaiah chuckled as he took the cup and swirled the liquid around. "You know they have all kinds of things you've probably never heard of at the city's market. Everytime I go there I see things from all over the world. Wine from Ylisse. Mead from Ferox. Rice and silk from Chon'sin." Isaiah seemed to look through Chrom, as if lost in thought. "And things from places I've never heard of like coffee, maize, rubber, cassava, yams, squash, turkeys, alpacas, ivory, strange fruits, and all different kinds of alcoholic drinks. All these strange goods from faraway continents. One time I was talking to one of the merchants and he showed me a globe of the world. The first thing I noticed was that this map was on a sphere! Those bookworm types think the world's spherical."

Chrom hadn't thought the world flat so much as he never thought it even had a shape. The world to him was everything that was, but he wondered if it was truly infinite or not. If it did have an end, that he supposed it had to have had a shape of some kind. "A sphere? Like a ball?"

"That's what they say. Ylisse and Valm were some of the larger continents, but there's so many others. You gotta get over some mighty bodies of water to find 'em. That's why we never learned about them before."

"So the Grimleal discovered these lands."

"Rediscovered. There were already folks living in these places. Some of them came over here. They sometimes have darker skin colors and strange hairstyles, and they speak languages I don't understand one bit of. I thought the world had opened up when I joined the Shepherds. I didn't know anything."

"So… the Grimleal truly has taken over the entire world." Chrom said quietly.

"They have. There's never been anything like it in history, and not just because they have a huge army. It's how they control people. How they keep people in line. They have these trading corporations that bring the trade goods from other lands. Most of the world is as barren as it is here, and the Grimleal controls all the areas that can still produce food. Cities need these corporations to get supplies. If a city tries to rebel, the Grimleal just lets it starve."

"What's a corporation? I've never heard that word."

"It's a big organization that exists to make money. As far as I can tell, it's an ingenious way to maximize individual profit while minimizing individual effort and responsibility."

"They exist to make money? You said they help the Grimleal control the world."

"Well… how'd that feller explain this to me. They're private organizations, but they aid the Grimleal. They're… uh… oh yeah, joint stock companies. They have these watchacallits… stocks! Yeah stocks. Different people can own stock in a corporation, and it's like they own a piece of it. The Grimleal itself owns a lot of stock in these trading corporations, but they're still private organizations. They serve the Grimleal, but they also make money for themselves. The Grimleal keeps them in line not by using force, but by making deals that are mutually beneficial. See the global economy runs on… aw shucks how'd that guy explain it to me… protectionism? Something like that? The Grimleal works to create favorable conditions for its corporations and industries. It doesn't allow other markets to get ahead. Basically the Grimleal makes it so that only their corporations can prosper and dominate the global desire for trade goods, and in exchange these trading corporations work to aid the interests of the Grimleal. They don't control the world just by using armies. They control the economy. How people can even put food on the table."

Chrom hadn't felt this way since he was a child and his tutors tried to explain algebra to him. "Uh… I'm not sure I really got all of that."

"So these trading corporations supply these trade goods to markets, and they make a lot of money."

"How much?"

"I don't know. Millions of gold every month?"

Chrom jerked in place. "Millions of gold every month?! The treasury of the Halidom of Ylisse in the palace wasn't worth that much!"

"The world's changing. People don't owe their allegiance to feudal lords anymore. They owe their allegiance to gold. To the invisible hand of commerce. You're uh…" Isaiah shrugged. "You ain't a lord of anything no more."

"The world is so different. I don't understand it anymore."

"I don't either." Isaiah looked back to his mother's room. "Maybe I can't understand the world… but I can be good to my wife. I can take care of my Ma. I can be a father to my children. The world may change, but a man can always have a family." Isaiah looked Chrom straight in the eye, and he gave Chrom the most understanding look he'd given him since they first saw each other again. "No matter what happened in the past… a man can always move on with his life."

"Can he?"

"You were saying how I'm not that excitable young man you first met thirty two years back last time we talked, but you're not the same either. You were so determined. So sure of yourself. You were determined to help the world, and you didn't think for a second that what you were doing was wrong in any way. Now there's a sadness to you. I can tell you care about these young women now, but I'm not sure you care about anything else. Not even yourself."

"I… I don't know what to say."

Isaiah patted Chrom on the shoulder and started to walk away. "You should have moved on. Had a new family. You'd be a lot happier."

Chrom didn't look back. He just stared down at the floor until Isaiah was gone. "H-how… how could I?"

Chrom sat on Isaiah's porch, resting his chin in his hands and staring blankly into the distance. Chrom had lost track of time, but the sun was already overhead, and he knew Matilda and Caeldori had already left for The Saltworks. Chrom never intended to be there so long, but he couldn't make himself move. He just became more and more lost in his sadness. Isaiah's words went through his head over and over, and he couldn't get over them. His trance was broken only by the touch of a woman's hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see a very familiar blue outfit, but the sight of it hadn't been friendly in recent weeks. This time it was being worn by the woman Chrom knew. "Father?" Lucina smiled down on Chrom. "Are you busy?"

"Gods." Chrom didn't entertain the idea of speaking to her. "I haven't even been drinking." He glanced over to see several of the Shepherds over his other shoulder. Some of them looked back at him and smiled. It only made him more panicked. "I'm losing my mind!"

Chrom stood up, but Lucina acted like it was a completely normal conversation. "I… I was wondering if we could train." Lucina held out a practice sword with one hand while holding another. "And I happen to have two practice swords right here." Lucina had a hopeful tone, and her voice almost disarmed Chrom, but he didn't fall for it. He backed away, and Lucina acted as if she was really there. "Oh. I… I see. You're busy. Maybe another time. I'm… sorry to bother you."

"You're not… you're gone. Did… did I fall asleep?"

Chrom looked back to see that the other Shepherds were now bodies on the ground. A blue figure stood over them with the Falchion, and Chrom thought it was himself at first, but it was yet another Lucina. Chrom could see it wasn't the one he'd once known. He could see from her clothes and the frozen expression of rage that this was his still living daughter. Gangrel's enforcer. "No. No, no I'm… I'm not going through this!"

"Ha ha ha!" Chrom turned to see Gangrel himself behind him. "How long, Chrom? How long will you keep hanging on? You have no place in this world. You know that."

Chrom couldn't suppress his emotions anymore. "You!"

"How does it feel? You were born into privilege. I was born in the SLUMS! You were groomed by your father to inherit his place. I watched my mother DIE in front of me! You had everything given to you. I had to seize the throne! Yet for all that, I have become so much more than you. You lead dozens of people. I lead hundreds of millions. I make more gold in a second than you did in a year. I have saved humanity from the Fell Dragon where you did not."

"I'm nothing like you, Mad King!"

"Of course not. I'm actually successful. Slink back to your kennel, little pup. You haven't the mettle for my world." E-13 walked over to Gangrel's side, and he put his hand on her shoulder. "Do you like my trophy? You made her for me."

"Shut up!" Chrom swung at Gangrel, but E-13 grabbed his fist, directed it out of the way, and quickly struck Chrom in the stomach. Gangrel laughed as he fell to the ground. "Medeus! Gharnef! Hardin! Gazzak! All the Plegians that have died by the hands of the Ylissean imperialists! Thou art avenged! Anri's accursed bloodline lies on the precipice of oblivion! Now, E-13, mete and dole punishment unto the last son of Naga! With one fell swoop the ground beneath you will be torn asunder and you will be sent to hell! You'll fit right in!"

E-13 raised her sword, and Chrom covered his face. "Agh!"

"Chrom?" Chrom panickedly looked up to see Soleil looking at him. Looking into her brown eyes instantly calmed Chrom, and he glanced back to see that the hallucinations were gone. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah." Chrom straightened himself. "Yeah, I'm fine. W-what do you need?"

"Umm." Soleil rubbed the back of her head and darted her eyes around. "Well I was talking to Caeldori earlier and… well… I should train more. Could you… if you aren't busy… could you give me some sword training?"

Chrom was stunned, but it was a pleasant feeling. He slowly smiled back, and the stress the visions caused him melted away. "I… I'd love to. Of course."

Soleil looked relieved, and she gave Chrom a cheery look he hadn't seen since before she learned the truth about what happened to the Shepherds. "Alright! Thanks a lot. Try and keep up, old man!" Soleil ran off towards the land, and Chrom just found himself smiling more and more as he watched her.

"Move on huh? Well… I guess this isn't so bad. There are always new generations. Maybe I lost my old life… but I can still live for something."