Author's note: This story takes place a bit over a year after the events of Awakening.
Valentia-day
It was a beautiful day in the capital of Ylisse. As the sun shined across the peaceful kingdom, the heart of the city was at its most lively. Hundreds of people crossed the streets of Ylisstol, the joyful laughs of playing children filled the air and many curious objects changed their owners on the market.
The war against the fell dragon, which has brought much suffering to all people of Ylisse in the past, was now nothing more than a distant memory.
It was on this very day that the tactician Robin wandered through the market in the search for a certain shop that he had recently heard of, all the while a mysterious hooded figure accompanied him.
"Gods, Robin how do you even manage to endure wearing this coat at all times? It's so stuffy and hot in this. Are you sure that this is necessary?" The cloaked figure asked. Hair as blue as sapphire glimmered from beneath the hood.
"Well, if you prefer being overrun by crazy fangirls who want to meet the exalt in person, then you can take it off whenever you want, I certainly won't stop you." Robin replied with a smirk, making the hooded figure sigh deeply. "No, you are right, Robin. I just miss the times when I could walk across my kingdom without wearing a ridiculous disguise."
"Hey! My coat is not ridiculous. It's maybe not your usual style, but I think it looks great on you." Robin remarked teasingly. "And as long as you wear it, nobody will be able to tell who you really are, meaning you can finally take a walk through the market without being stopped by your loyal subject every five seconds. I think even a prince like you needs a day out of the castle once in a while."
"I wish I could make it more than just a day." Chrom said slightly sulking. Ever since the Shepherds defeated Grima, Chrom's job as the leader of an entire country has become more tiring with each week.
Making plans for rebuilding towns that had been destroyed in the war, trying to strengthen the bonds with the new Plegian government to finally bring peace between the two countries, working on improving the trade-market with Chon'sin… It all put Chrom under a lot of stress.
Who would have thought that governing a country during peacetime would nag more at his mind, than fighting an evil dragon-god.
The worst part about Chrom's life after the war was that, even when he did manage to take a day off, he couldn't just go outside like a normal person, because that would only end in masses of excited Ylisseans surrounding him and preventing him from getting anywhere.
This is why when Robin came to him today, telling him that he had an idea on how they could spend some together at the market without the entire Ylissean population following them, he agreed immediately. Seeing the beauty of his kingdom during peacetime… It reminded him just what he was working for, when he was stuck in the castle for days.
"It's so nice to finally breathe some fresh air again. I missed smelling all of the scents and hearing all of the noises of the market. It's really nostalgic to me."
"I'm glad you are enjoying it." Robin said with a smile, yet he couldn't help but feel a little sorrow.
Knowing that his friend felt so much relief about just getting outside for once, something that should be a common occurrence for anyone, clouded Robin's mind with guilt.
Unlike Chrom's life, Robin's own life had become a lot easier since the war ended. While he of course still worked hard as Chrom's advisor, he felt much less stressed, now that he didn't have to worry about keeping his friends alive anymore. But while he didn't feel the immense pressure of great responsibility as strongly as before Grima's defeat, the pressure that still lingered over Chrom had become only worse with time. There must be some way for me to help Chrom out, Robin thought to himself.
"I'm sorry that you have been so occupied lately. I will try my best to take some of that work off your shoulders. I don't want you to stress yourself too much."
Hearing Robin's comforting words, Chrom started to chuckle.
"Hehe, interesting to hear you say that, seeing how I had to tell you the exact same thing so many times in the past. But of course, I appreciate your help. I know that you always do everything you can to help me out, though for today I think we should just relax and have some fun together. It's been a while since we just casually talked to each other. Tell me, why did you want to go to the market anyway?"
"Oh, I just wanted to buy a gift for my wife."
Robin answered truthfully. He knew that Chrom and Tharja didn't get along all that well, since Tharja was incredibly jealous about all the time that he and Chrom spent together and Chrom was a little disturbed by Tharja's odd behaviour (something Robin couldn't blame him for), but they also respected each other and Chrom has always been very supportive towards Robin's choice of mate.
Today was no exception, as the blue-haired prince showed his interest in his tactician's marriage.
"Is it for her birthday or do you just want to do something nice for Tharja?" He asked curiously.
Robin gave Chrom a judging look. "Chrom, don't tell me you forgot that tomorrow is Valentia-day."
Chrom's eyes widened. "Oh… I didn't have the time to… Gods, I would have faced Sumia without a gift tomorrow if you wouldn't have reminded me."
Given all the stress that Chrom was put under recently, Robin wasn't all that surprised that he forgot about tomorrow's special day. Valentia-day was a popular holiday in many countries all over the world. It originated from the continent of Valm, back when it was still called Valentia and was originally meant to be a reminder of the wedding of the two heroes who have brought peace to the continent over two-thousand years ago.
Nowadays barely anyone still cared about the royal couple from ancient times, but Valentia-day still existed and was seen as a celebration of love and romance.
It was a tradition for couples to give each other gifts on this day, which is why Chrom was freaking out a little bit over forgetting it.
"Seriously Robin, a thousand thanks for reminding me. You are a life-saver. But say, how come that you never forget any important dates? You aren't exactly known for your good memory."
"Well, that's pretty simple actually. I keep a well-organized calender with all of the important Ylissean holidays as well as everyone's birthdays. That way I never forget about anything." Robin exclaimed with an almost uncharacteristic amount of pride. Planning and organization have always been some of the tactician's greatest strengths.
"Of course you would have an organized calender." Chrom remarked, knowing exactly how exited Robin could get over making plans. "So, what do want to buy Tharja anyway?"
"Henry told me about a shop here at the market that sells amphibian-eyes. I know that Tharja frequently uses them for her curses and if I remember correctly, she just recently ran out of them, so I want to do her a favor and buy them for her."
Chrom looked a bit skeptical. "Amphibian-eyes? You mean like from frogs and stuff? That doesn't really sound like the most romantic gift to me."
"I get what you are saying, but in my opinion, it is much more romantic to give your partner something a bit more personal, something that suits them, rather than to just buy some generic Valentia-day-stuff like chocolate and flowers. It shows just how much you know the person who will receive the gift." Robin explained.
"That's an interesting way of looking at it. Though I am sure that Sumia would be a little disappointed if I gave her anything other than flowers as a gift. She loves getting flowers, because she always had a bit of a fixation on them and in the last few years I have always tried to come up with a new arrangement of flowers for her Valentia-day-bouquet. I will need to buy some while I'm here."
While Robin could tell that Chrom has been very stressed lately, he also knew that Chrom was very dedicated to his wife. There was no way Chrom wouldn't do anything in his power to bring Sumia as much happiness and joy as possible.
Robin soon interrupted his thoughts about his friend, as he saw a particular sign on a nearby building.
"This house up ahead should be the shop Henry told me about. It's the one with the sign that says House of magic and enchantment."
"I think I know where we are. There should be a flower-shop not far from here. I hope they aren't sold out yet. I could imagine that there are quite a lot of other people who want to buy flowers on the day before Valentia-day. Maybe I should quickly take a look and buy my gift for Sumia. We can meet here again in a few minutes."
"Okay, see you soon."
With that the two friends split up. Chrom hurried into the direction of the flower-shop, while Robin entered the mysterious so-called House of magic. It wasn't very big, about two to three times the size of Robin's own office, but despite its small size the shop was filled to the brim with many obscure objects, talismans and body-parts of various animals.
A short middle-aged man was giving the tactician a toothy grin from behind the counter and greeted him into his halls of wonder. At first glance the shopkeeper seemed rather friendly, but when Robin took a closer look into his eyes, he could see nothing but a greedy man trying to sell as much of his overpriced junk as he could. According to Henry the vast majority of his supposedly magical amulets and talismans were fake blunder for gullible customers, but in the hands of a real dark magician at least most of the body-parts could be used for curses and magical potions.
A part of his brain told Robin that it was wrong to support a fraud like this salesman, but it was the only place he knew where he could buy the amphibian-eyes that he needed for Tharja.
Though that made him think. He knew that even though Tharja would never admit it, she occasionally gave away some of her potions and talismans to people in need. Maybe he could convince her to open a magic shop where she could sell some of her less dangerous experiments.
But for now he should concentrate on buying Tharja her Valentia-day-gift. He noticed that the shop offered various jars of amphibian eyes, that varied from frog, to newt, to salamander. It has been a while, but he remembered Tharja mentioning that newteyes were the most reliable and versatile as an ingredient. To Robin displeasure he had to realize that it was also the most expensive one. But money should not be an issue when it comes to love, shouldn't it? He reluctantly payed the full price, ignored the vicious smirk of the shopkeeper and started looking for Chrom.
After a few minutes of searching he noticed a gigantic flower-bouquet made of purple and blue orchids and white roses approaching him. Behind the mass of petals Robin spotted the familiar brown color of his coat.
"Chrom is that you? Wow, this bouquet looks actually really beautiful. Did you pick those flowers out yourself or did the shopkeeper pick them out for you?"
"I actually picked them out myself. When it comes to flowers, I know Sumia's preferences really well by now and I tried to make her the most astounding flower-bouquets imaginable, so thanks for the compliment. If you think it looks beautiful, then I'm sure Sumia will love it." He looked down at the jar that Robin was holding and noticed the multiple eyes swimming in it, some of them still twitching a little. "Your gift for Tharja looks certainly very… uh… It looks like… Like something that Tharja would appreciate more than any other person would."
"Heh, that's one way of putting it." Robin smiled at the thought of how true Chrom's words were. It is undeniable that Tharja is very different from other people, but that only made her more special to him.
His mind wandered back to Chrom, who was still trying his best to keep the giant flower-bouquet from falling apart. "Well, now that we have what we need, how about we look for a nice café so that can relax for a while and have a long conversation. There are a lot of things that I would like to talk about with you. How is Lucina doing?"
"Oh, she is full of energy and she is getting better at talking. Sometimes she even manages to speak a full sentence. I hope you don't have any plans for today, because I have tons of Lucina-stories to tell you." A big smile shined across the face of the exalt as he thought about his daughter.
Chrom's happiness was very contagious, especially since it has been a while since Robin could have a normal conversation with his friend and was very much looking forward to it. He spent the rest of his noon listening to adorable toddler-stories about little Lucina, while drinking hot coffee, and while this may have seemed like a boring way to spent the day to some, Robin was just happy to see the feeling of pure joy in his best friend's eyes, rather than the tired expression of an overworked ruler. It was a moment of peace and the two friends could enjoy it fully without any stress or worries to bother them.
It was the morning of Valentia-day and Tharja was getting up unusually early. After spending a few minutes watching the still asleep Robin, she made her way towards their kitchen to make breakfast for the two of them. She felt the need to make this Valentia-day the most amazing day that Robin had ever experienced, especially since their last Valentia-day had been less than ideal.
Tharja had still no idea why Robin didn't like the special custom-made shirt, that she had ordered in Anna's shop for him. It was woven from a black material and had the words Tharja's husband written on it. The shirt was meant to represent their love and also be a reminder to everyone that Robin was hers, yet even though Robin tried his best to appear thankful, Tharja could tell from his expression, that he wasn't really all that excited about the idea of running around in clothing that would announce to the world that he was Tharja's property. And even though she failed to understand why Robin didn't like her last gift, the dark mage still felt the need to make up for it this year.
This is why she had been secretly selling some of her potions and talismans on the side for about ten months now. She had saved as much money as she could in order to buy the perfect gift for her husband. Luckily for her the Ylisseans weren't that familiar with dark magic and while some of the civilians were afraid of her dark arts and called her an evil witch, others were very curious about what she had to offer. There was a surprisingly high amount of people who were interested in her cursed items, despite them not being very powerful. Tharja was responsible enough to know that it would be a bad idea to get some of her more impressive dark creations on the market, where they could easily fall into the wrong hands.
Most of the stuff that she sold were just minor magical objects that almost any somewhat competent dark mage could easily create, meaning that in Plegia anyone would be able to buy them at basically every shop for very little money. But seeing how Ylisse lacked any dark magicians, she was able to sell her potions and talismans for about four-times the price.
With the extra money she had bought a very expensive strategy-book for her loved one. Since Robin talked about various ancient tacticians all the time, Tharja was able to memorize some of the names that he would often mention and she decided to use this information to find the perfect gift for him.
After she had finished making breakfast for the two of them, she went back to their bedroom to look for Robin. She was thinking about watching him sleep for a few more minutes, yet she had to realize, that he was already awake and was just about to get dressed. Tharja decided to keep quiet and observe her husband as he changed from his nightgown into his iconic coat.
Though, her spying did not go unnoticed for long. "There you are Tharja. I was wondering where you were. It's an odd feeling to wake up in bed and not have you clinging to my side." Robin walked up to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Well, now you know how I feel when you leave the bed early to go to work. Anyway, I made you breakfast for Valentia-day, my love."
the dark mage told him as he fastened his coat.
"Sounds great. I can't wait to taste what you made for me today. You are truly amazing in the kitchen." He said as he walked towards the kitchen-table and took a seat.
Tharja watched with great interest as Robin hungrily gobbled up the breakfast that she had prepared for him. She was very glad that her husband was so fond of her food, especially since she didn't really saw herself as a great cook. While she was by no means a catastrophe in the kitchen like Sully, during the war, she had noticed that whenever she was on kitchen-duty the other Shepherds were much less excited for lunch-break than usual. Even she herself wasn't that fond of her own dishes, yet for some reason Robin loved her cooking. Maybe this was another sign that she and Robin were fated for each other…
Or maybe Robin just had a very odd sense of taste. Personally, Tharja preferred to think that it was the former.
Robin hadn't felt this full in a long time. Tharja had spared no expenses in making this the best breakfast he had in months. She knew that he loved hearty food, which is why she had prepared meatloaf, omelets and salmon-sandwiches for him, among other things. She had clearly put a lot of effort into this breakfast and Robin enjoyed every bite. His love for his wife's cooking originated from long before they got married. He could still remember how she used to stuff his mouth with delicious liver-and-eel-pie against his will. Back then he had still found Tharja unnerving and now he couldn't even imagine to live without her. Life seemed to work in mysterious ways sometimes.
After they had cleaned up the kitchen, Robin decided that it was time to repay Tharja for this great meal.
He quickly disappeared into his office and reached behind a book on his shelf where he had hidden the gift that he had bought for his wife yesterday. With the jar of newt-eyes behind his back he returned into the kitchen.
"Happy Valentia-day Tharja. Here is a little gift for my little angel of darkness." He exclaimed cheerfully as he presented Tharja with her present. "It's the newt-eyes that you needed."
"Oh, you knew that I ran out of amphibian-eyes? Your observations-skills rival even my own." Tharja took the jar out of the tacticians' hands and inspected the still twitching newt-eyes. "Hehehe, these will make for some wicked curses. Thank you, my love. Now let me return the favor by bringing you your gift." With that she vanished like a shadow in the light, only to reappear half a minute later, now carrying an ancient-looking book pressed against her chest.
As soon as Robin realized that books were involved his curiosity peaked and he inspected his gift with great interest.
"Happy Valentia-day my dear. I have bought this rare old strategy-book for my favourite tactician." Tharja showed off her gift for him, clearly excited to see Robin's reaction. "It was apparently written by one of these old strategists that you constantly talk about."
"Wait, what?" Robin basically ripped the strategy-book out of Tharja's hands and inspected its cover. "Tharja, this was written by the legendary tactician Katarina! It is said that she advised King Marth in the war of heroes. There are only a few copies of her strategy-notes. How did you get your hands on this?" Robin's eyes were sparkling and he was giddy like a little kid unpacking their birthday present.
Tharja simply watched his excitement with great joy.
"Hehehe, I have my ways… Now, tell me Robin, what do you thi-Mmmpf!?" Before Tharja was able to finish her sentence, Robin pulled her closer to him and placed a kiss on her lips. Her face became red from Robin's sudden sign of affection, but he knew that she wouldn't dare to pull away from him, so he started caressing her left cheek with his hand as they continued to make out. Even though they had kissed many times before, each time their lips touched still felt like a special event.
When Robin broke the kiss, he kept his hand on her face, looking lovingly into the eyes of his precious dark mage. "Gods, I love you so much Tharja! This is more than I could ever ask for." He exclaimed cheerfully, while his wife simply smiled at him, then he took another look at her gift for him.
"I think will start reading it immediately. This book will probably keep me occupied for weeks."
As he turned his head back to his wife, he noticed that her happy expressions had very quickly turned into a menacing glare, one that made him a little uncomfortable. He took a moment to think about what the cause for her abrupt change in demeanor was, when he suddenly realized what he had just said.
"Uhh… I mean… I will start reading it tomorrow, after I have spent the rest of this special day with you and only you." He quickly corrected himself.
Hearing these words Tharja turned her glare back into a devilish smile. "Heh, that sounds a little better. I have been craving to spend the whole day with you for a long time now, so you better make all my waiting worthwhile. Though, I doubt that you could ever disappoint me."
"Now you are really putting some pressure on me. But I will still make sure that this will be the best day you had in years." Even more so than before Robin felt like he really needed to make this day perfect for Tharja. She had clearly put a lot of time and effort into getting this gift and making today's breakfast for him and all that he had done for her was getting a few newt-eyes from the market. And then he even temporally forgot that he wanted to spend the whole day with her. He really needed to make up for being so ignorant and unthankful today. Luckily for him, he knew exactly what he needed to do to make Tharja feel like she was in the seventh heaven.
"How about we pack a picnic-basket and get outside for the rest of the day. We can stay in the middle of nature, away from Ylisstol and its inhabitants, just you and me, all alone with no other human soul in sight." The tactician suggested, knowing exactly that Tharja would absolutely love the idea of the two of them being together in a secluded place, where no person would bother them.
"That sounds like paradise to me." Tharja said with a wide grin on her face, confirming Robin's assumption that his wife would not be able to resist his suggestion.
He walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her stomach from behind.
"We can even stay there until long after the sun has set, because I know how much you love the night. And then we can do whatever it is that you request. All of your deepest desires will be fulfilled by the end of tonight." He whispered into her ear, trying his best to come off as seductive.
It seemed to be working pretty well, since Robin felt how Tharja shivered just from the alluring sound of his voice. "I promise you that I will make you the happiest woman in the world. You can see it as me making up for having just such a pathetic gift for you, when you put so much more effort into making this an amazing day for me."
"Oh, Robin you don't need to make up for anything. Knowing that you love me enough to pay attention to my cursing-rituals and know which ingredients I need, makes me already feel like the happiest woman in the world, no, in the entire universe! Besides, those newt-eyes will really come in handy. You know how much I love experimenting with magic. I will make some of the most wicked curses and some of the nastiest potions the world has ever seen!"
The dark mage let out her signature sinister laugh, before calming down again. "But for now, we should just focus on having a fantastic time together. I already have a few ideas about what I want to do with you, but let's just follow your plan for now. I will let you know when you can start to fulfill my deepest desires, as you put it." she added with a smirk.
"Great, then it's settled. We shouldn't waste any time and start packing our stuff. I can't wait until we're finally alone." Robin said as he gave his wife an additional kiss on the cheek.
"Me neither." Tharja replied, confident that this would be the best Valentia-day the two of them have ever experienced.
Author's note: Robin x Tharja may be my OTP, but Robin x Chrom is my BrOTP and I wanted to write a little bit about their bromance as well, which is why the first half of the story is a lot about them interacting, rather than about Robin and Tharja.
Also, I always liked the idea that Tharja is a bad cook, but Robin will love her dishes regardless, which means she will sometimes (but probably not daily) cook for him, even though she doesn't actually like cooking all that much.
Originally, this chapter was called Valentine's day, but shortly before uploading it, I realized that Valentine's day wouldn't exist in the world of Fire Emblem. This is why I quickly came up with the similar sounding Valentia-day and included its origin-story in this chapter.
Thank you again for reading this story. If you liked it, please leave a review. Have a nice day. Bye.