The future children stared up at the tree.
"Woah." Kjella shielded her eyes with her hand. "Those branches have to be thick enough to support an entire army of wyverns."
Brady groaned beside her. "We have to climb that?"
"It'll be a great training experience for all of us. Naga knows some of you need it." She eyed some of her companions.
Yarne's ears seemed to droop lower. One slip and he'd fall to his doom. He was a great climber, sure, but even the best could make a fateful error. "Maybe I'll just stay down here, where it's safe."
"Awww, don't be like that." Cynthia gave a gentle tug on his big ear. "None of us would let you go splat."
Lucina pinched the bridge of her nose. "We're not climbing the outside of the tree. There's a stair case inside. You were all there when Say'ri explained it."
Severa didn't get why everyone had to climb the stupid tree in the first place. Why couldn't the fliers just fly stupid Chrom and Mr. Know it all Robin to the top? Climbing all the way up there would be a stupid plan and then they'd have to climb all the way back down! Ugh! This whole thing was so stupid!
Nah glanced from the imposing tree to her mother whom was hanging on her father's arm back to the tree. "I wonder what Tiki's like?" Aside from her mother, she'd never seen another manakete let alone talked to one. Only Lucina had interacted with Naga. She may have been a little jealous of that.
"I have a question." Morgan raised his arm. "Are there no boy manakete?"
Everyone turned to him.
"There's Naga, Tiki, Nowi, and Nah. How is it that we know four manakete and they all happen to be girls? And if my mother is one of them, then I'm a girl manakete Morgan."
Lucina made several spluttering noises.
"My mother met a male manakete once." Nah decided to step in. "She can't remember his name, but it started with a 'B'."
"That's one lucky man." Inigo rubbed his chin. "He gets all the lovely lady manatekes."
Severa punched him hard in the arm. "Can you not be a pig for five minutes?"
"You bruise me, beautiful Severa."
Laurent sighed heavily. "Obviously a manatake can reproduce with a human." He gestured to Nah. "Case in point."
Nah frowned. According to her mother, she was the first known hybrid.
Lucina shook her head. Her little brother said and asked the weirdest things. She wondered if her mothers did the same. Both fathers had told her identical stories of a beach trip and her mothers 'coo'ing over some bizarre looking aquatic creature.
It seemed Morgan came by his…uniqueness honestly.
"I have another question and it's been bugging me the whole way here. Why does Naga's voice live here when Naga's temple thingy is back home?"
They all exchanged looks before turning to Laurent.
"What?" He pushed up his glasses. "Contrary to popular belief, I don't know everything and honestly, why would I care about something like that?"
"Ooo, I know! To spread the word of justice farther and wider!" Cynthia punched the air. "Naga's the good guy…er, lady. She is the ultimate symbol of goodness and righteousness!"
"That's what priests and priestesses are for." Severa said with a dramatic eye roll. "To bore us to death with their blathering."
Morgan clapped his hands. "That's a great idea! I'll ask Libra! Thanks, Severa!" He gave her a quick hug before darting off presumably to find the priest.
"Where the hell does he even come up with these questions?!"
Owain appeared seemingly out of nowhere, posing. "The mind of hero runs at a never-ending pace in the pursuit of."
"Justice!" Cynthia shouting incorporating her pose with Owain's.
Brady was unimpressed. "It doesn't look right without Morgan."
As if hearing his name, Morgan came running back waving his arms. "Walrus man! Walrus man!"
Lucina furrowed her brown. "Walrus man?"
Morgan nodded vigorously trying to catch his breath. "There's a walrus man and an army guarding the base of the stairs. Mother and Father are rallying ours."
"You heard him." The Ylissen princess raised her voice. "It's time for battle!" She unsheathed Falchion. "For Naga's voice!"