Robin woke up, a bit sore from his recovering injuries but otherwise fine. Standing up from his bedroll, he headed over to his desk, slipping his robes back on. Taking a peek outside his tent flap, seeing the sun rising in the distance. Figuring that most of the Shepards were still sleeping this early. The tactician planned his schedule for the morning. He would need to take inventory at the storage tent with new weapons acquired after the last battle. Afterwards, he would clean himself up at the bathing tent before heading off to breakfast. Finally, he would join the Shepards for a quick training session before they start marching back to Regna Ferox.
With his plan set, Robin left his tent, making his way towards the storage tent. It was not too far away, being towards the center of camp. It was larger than the other tents and light brown in color. Entering the tent, it was exactly how he left it during his last visit. Weapons were laid out across different racks with armor and other supplies packed into crates. There was a desk in a corner where the tactician would keep notes on the Shepard's inventory in a journal. Walking over to the desk, he heard movement from behind an open crate and turned his head to the noise. To his surprise, he realized that he was not alone.
"Cordelia?" Robin said, astonished.
"Oh, good morning, Robin," Cordelia greeted, standing up. "What're you doing this early?"
"I'm here to take inventory of our spoils from the last battle," Robin answered, scratching his head in confusion. "But I should be the one asking you what you're doing this early."
"Well, I thought that I could take inventory," Cordelia replied. "I'm just trying to find a way to help out in the Shepards and figured that after the battle, you would want some time to rest. You don't mind, do you?"
"Not at all," Robin nodded. "Yet, after that battle, you probably need rest more than I do."
"Chrom will need all of us for this war," Cordelia reminded him. "My injuries are healed so I'm more than ready to get back into action."
"Well, it's good to hear that you're recovering, but don't push yourself too hard," Robin told her. "Now, if you can tell me what you have down already, I can work on finishing up the work here."
"Oh, I finished actually," Cordelia said with a smile. "After the battle, we recovered a steel axes, three iron axes and two iron swords along with three flasks of vulneraries. We should be done here now."
Robin quickly went to work, opening the journal and pulling the quill from the bottle of ink. Quickly, he started to scribble down the items the Shepards acquired after the battle. Although the supplies were few, the tactician was amazed by Cordelia's performance. Without anyone asking, she was one of the first Shepards to wake up and went straight to work. Her work method might be different than his own but it was clearly more efficient. For a moment, he considered if it would be best to have her help with his duties as quartermaster.
Yet, Robin reminded himself that this could be how Cordelia was coping with the loss of her fellow Pegasus Knights. The tactician was certain that if most of the Shepards were wiped in a battle, working harder would be his way of dealing with his pain at first. It would distract himself from his emotions but was a temporary method at best. At least for now her emotions were not affecting her performance.
"And done," Robin declared out loud, resting the quill back in the ink bottle before scanning through the journal. "Thank you for your help, Cordelia."
"No problem at all, Robin," Cordelia replied. "Are you still looking for something? You haven't set that journal down. Which isn't really neces-"
"I'm just double checking on how many magical tomes we have," Robin interrupted by answering her question.
"We have two tomes remaining," Cordelia reported. "An Elfire and Elwind."
"Again, thank you," Robin said, finding the page on tomes in his journal after she answered him.
Walking over to a small, wooden chest and opened it. Inside were twot omes each used for mages to cast spells. The remaining tomes belonged to Miriel and Ricken, the two resident mages of the Shepards. Although he was sure that they would not mind if he borrowed one of their back ups until he could get his own, he decided it was a risk not to take. Unlike them, he could supposedly fend for himself with his sword. With that in mind, he slammed the chest closed.
"If you don't mind me asking, but do you really need to carry a sword with you when you can cast spells?" Cordelia asked.
"Honestly, I only carry it with me because I had it when I first woke up," Robin admitted, turning to face Cordelia.
"When you woke up?" Cordelia raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, you don't know that story yet," Robin commented. "Well, Chrom first found me out cold in the middle of a field. I had no memory of who I was except for my name but I had this same sword with me at the time. So, I guess in a way, it's kind of sentimental to me."
"Well, if you're going to carry it out into the battlefield, you will need to learn how to fight with it," Cordelia told him. "From what I saw, you're very inexperienced when it comes to fighting with a sword. You almost got yourself killed fighting the commander."
"Well, I made a bunch of mistakes that day," Robin confessed. "I underestimated my opponent and didn't check for flanking enemies. If it wasn't for Chrom, I would be dead right now."
"You are lucky that Chrom was there," Cordelia agreed, turning her head away from Robin briefly. "Still, he won't always be there for you."
Mentally, Robin realized that she was right about him needing to train. Ever since his first battle, he preferred fighting with magic over his sword. He focused on that, and any skill he had with a blade grew rusty. Maybe if he kept at his training, he could of stood his ground better again that Plegian. There was nothing stopping him from leaving Ricken and Miriel to join the others for practice sparring sessions. Yet, there was a one problem he would need to solve.
"Well, I suppose today, I shall start learning how to fight with my sword," Robin declared. "I just need to find someone who can help instruct me. I'd rather not endure Frederick's training.
"Yes, I heard from Sumia how strict he is," Cordelia turned her head back to Robin. "You could always ask Chrom. He's quite skilled and you're friend."
"Yes, he is, but with what happened yesterday, I may need to wait a day or two before I ask him to train me," Robin replied. "Of course, if I was looking for someone to train me based on skill, I would go to Lon'qu."
"Lon'qu? Is he better than Chrom?" Cordelia asked with a hint of disbelief in her voice.
"Well, they never sparred together, but I think so," Robin answered truthfully. "Don't get me wrong. Chrom is an amazing swordsman, but based on what I've seen in the field, I'd say Lon'qu barely surpasses him. Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to talk to him about training."
"Well, if you think that'll work for you," Cordelia shrugged. "I should get to cleaning up around here."
"Of course, I'll leave you be," Robin said. "See you later."
For a second, Robin hesitated to leave the tent, although he was unsure why. A thought in his mind told him that maybe he should help Cordelia clean up, but he figured that if she needed the help, she would have asked. Besides, with what the tactician just saw, he knew she was more than capable enough of handling herself. He looked forward to fighting with her in the upcoming days, already thinking of ways a second flyer can help the Shepards in battle.
Robin left the tent, stretching lightly while taking in a breath of fresh air. The tactician made a quick change to his schedule. Without a spell tome, he would not be able to train with Ricken and Miriel at all. Instead, he would work with Lon'qu for today and improve his swordsmanship. Like Cordelia said, if he was going to carry his sword around with him, he should know how to fight with it. With the plan now set, Robin headed off, ready to follow the rest of his schedule.
A/N: Well, a bit sorry for the delay on this chapter. Long story short, I was sick for awhile, and after writing the first draft for it, I again realized the story was a bit rushed, so we have this instead (the original plan was to do Robin/Cordelia's C-Support). With that out of the way, I'll take some time to give a reply to the reviews.
Gallian Squad 7: Yeah, I figured by taking my time with the canon characters, I can stay true to their character. This is my first major work with a cast of only canon characters so this is a huge priority. And as you can see, the scheduling is more of a goal. I try to work on writing whenever I have free time and hope to have a chapter done by a week. Yet, if something comes up, like being sick, then of course I'll take a delay. So don't worry about me staying too attached to that schedule.
Warrior of Six Blades: Good eye picking out Cordelia reliving that memory in chapter 1. That's what I was aiming for and due plan on bringing back up again at the perfect moment (again, not trying to rush the story). As for the town coming up, I think I have something different in mind based on your description, but for the sake of the story, I will not spoil it.
pkmn2112: I do try my best to reread through each chapter for mistakes, but I'll admit that I do miss some. I hope to one day go back through this story, pick out the mistakes I made, and fix them, which I believe will show my improvement as a writer in the upcoming future.
While this was a bit of a short chapter, that's because I had to change a few things to make the plot better. As mentioned last chapter, I already have something planned for chapter 4, which is still going to happen despite this change. I left a small hint regarding how it may start that some of the more observant readers with the necessary knowledge may pick out.
Until next time.