Block, swing and step aside, a simple routine when it came to teaching the sword, it was how he was taught after all and while it was not a way to teach two persons at the same time, well he didn't really know about a better way to teach, he never had to after all, but well life never really went according to plan did it?.

As he kept pondering his two apprentices kept trying to land a hit on their master, even if it was pointless, as one tried the front, the other tried the back, a solid strategy all things considered, but pointless if your opponent is just leagues above you, they both lunged at him at the same time, he just stepped aside.

The expected result came and they both fell having struck each other, they tried to rise only to fall back to the ground, he looked to the sky and saw the sun wanting to fall back down so he put his sword back on it's sheath, "Enough, both of you, we did enough for the day" at that the blonde one stood up defying his teacher command, trying to get in fighting stance only to be brought down by the sheath of his master, "Lower your weapon, for whenever you raise it i will accept the challenge, you search strength right? then you will need to realize what fight you can win and what fight you should run from" he was being harsh, he knew it but he couldn't fail him as well, not like he failed his father or his uncle and if it meant this child hating him then so be it.

He turned around and began walking away leaving the two children on the floor who began muttering something to each other but he paid it no mind, it's normal for starters and newbies to be too hard on themselves, he walked a few steps before feeling a blow in the back of his knees, making him fall to the floor as two weights landed on his back, realizing his mistake, he stood still, accepting his defeat.

"I cannot believe this dumb plan worked" the snappy voice was as recognizable to him as his blade, so that meant that the mastermind behind this was… "Of course it would work my dear companion on the long battle-fueled path of legend for it is one that I the chosen hero, born of Vaike the GREAT and Lissa the-" and that's enough.

In a moment the two children were thrown off their master, Severa, being the fastest of the two tried to put her practice sword in a defensive position, waiting for the strike of her father only to feel a hand caressing her head, "Good job, both of you, as i said the training was over, but instead of letting the warrior escape and try to defeat him at another time in a duel, you stabbed him in the back, and it was his fault for not seeing it, the only complain coming from me is that this plan was Owain's idea, weren't you trying to be a hero?" he said with a voice dripping of venom and praise.

"Of course, and I will be one, but you said so yourself sometimes you gotta run from the fight but what if the other guy cannot even fight you?" he answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and Lon'qu was reminded in that moment of who this kid was son of, the greatest idiot he ever met and the most malicious princess on this side of the world, so of course that their spawn would be the worst (and better) of both, so he did something unlike him at all.

"Hahahahaha" he laughed, hard and loud, because he heard something so stupid, but so smart that if Basilio was here, he would be laughing too, "Daddy are you alright?" he barely heard but he just couldn't answer, after a few seconds he finally calmed down, "Yes i'm fine, i just didn't expect such a simple solution and answer to the problem i wanted to pose in front of you two"

"Problem?" And now Severa was lost, wasn't he supposed to just teach them how to fight with a sword?, what does he mean about a problem, "Of course, i have been fighting for a long time now, and i learned that above all, a fair duel doesn't mean anything, whenever the chance presents itself you must be callous and strike the opponent with all your might, unless you want to be the one leaving on a casket, however if there is never a chance, you have to keep living, even if it means to swallow your pride and run" he hated saying those words, but they carried the whole truth after all it's what he himself had to do not so long ago.

He turned around walking away before stopping, "Severa as a reward tomorrow we are doing whatever you want, as a Father-Daughter day" he was going to regret this, or more accurately his coin pouch will, but seeing her smile at that made that realization hurt just a bit less.

Owain for his part realized that this wasn't something he was required for and began walking away, leaving the father and daughter alone, after all he was sure his own mother was worried for his own safety.

—-

As he walked through the halls Inigo was having the hardest time of his life so far, which was having to carry a sleeping Morgan on his back while using whatever strength was left on his body, oh well using wind magic to cheer her up was worth it even if it left him ragged for the rest of the day, after all, the older has to protect the younger, right?.

Opening the door to their room he smiled and put Morgan on the bed covering her up with a blanket and kissing her forehead, the smile left when he saw that the other bed was vacant, "Mom hasn't returned yet, i better go and search for her, she can return earlier of whatever she's doing if she has help" his rationale wasn't wrong per say, and that was good enough for him.

"I'll be back with mom soon Mor, sweet dreams" closing the door he began to walk again, thinking of where exactly could his mother be, fortunately there weren't a lot of options after all while his mother was beautiful her passions and things she exceeded at where few, very few, with those thoughts in mind and the situation at hand he realized that in reality there was only one option so he made his way to the smithy.

—-

"Are you sure that you want a Bow miss?, No offense but i remember that you fought with a sword in the very rare cases that you had to fight" the blacksmith was confused and it made sense all thinks considered, he made all the Shepherds weapons hers being no exception so a sudden interest in a new weapon was not something he expected.

"O-of course sir, i want to be as useful as possible and now that we need as much fighters as possible i have no right to sit back and expect others to do the fighting" she was resolute, she was not going to lose anyone else be it friend or family.

"I get that but I remember you use a sword not a now, and a dancer has never fought with a bow as far as I know".

"You are right sir, no dancer has, but assassins are a different story" those words shocked him more than he liked to admit, however looking into her eyes he realized she was not going to back down so he sighed.

"Very well then, what kind of bow do you want?"

"I will need 2, silver, however i want you to keep one" and there she goes throwing more unexpected requests his way, seeing the curiosity on his face she decided to clear it as quick as possible, "I don't know what will happen in the future so i need to make sure that in the worst case scenario comes to happen my family has something to fight with" she didn't want to ever leave her two treasures, but sometimes it's not your call, it wasn't for Robin nor Basilio, she knows that at any point she can fall and not get up, so if that happens she wants them ready.

"Very well, will that be all?" He knew it wasn't but It was courtesy, he saw that same visage on two people today already, so he knew what was next.

"No, i will also need two swords" and there It was, he hated those requests, because it meant that he should be ready to not see the people he had grown fond of, but his job was to forge those weapons even if he sometimes wished he didn't know why people asked for them.

"Very well, i'll make them to the best of my ability, one of the bows will be finished by the next week, i'll take my time on the rest" he truly hated his job sometimes.

"How much will it be?" She asked pulling her gold at the ready, it was gonna cost a lot but it was needed.

"On the house, i have made a small fortune with all the personal requests during that long ass war, so just this once i'll pay for it, after all if i had to guess, this is the last commision i'll get from you" so he knew, instead of asking the obvious she bowed.

"Thank you sir" hearing the man turned and started to work, so she decided to leave him to it. He always liked to work alone after all.

As she closed the door to the blacksmith she looked up and saw an unexpected appearance. In front of her Inigo looked at her eyes as if he was looking for something, "Hello dear, what are you doing here?" she hoped he didn't hear anything but she knew those eyes, his father had them whenever he figured something out.

"Well I was searching for you since you weren't in the room when me and Morgan came back and decided that the only place it made sense for you to be on was here, since we need all the fighters possible and well, you are a fighter, so you had to prepare yourself" he answered proud of himself for figuring out his mother's location at the first try.

"Well you caught me, i'm one of the few Shepherds left so i had to ask the blacksmith for a new sword so that i could help in the field" lying didn't feel right, specially to her son, but she couldn't exactly tell him she was preparing in the case of her death which now that she remembered, "Also Inigo, how interested are you in fighting with a sword?" no better time to ask this than now she supposed.

"Sure, magic is more of a Morgan thing, and I saw Owain and Severa training with Uncle Lon, i'm not gonna fall behind" this was unexpected but he needed a teacher, might as well let mom teach him how to fight right?.

"That's the attitude, but for now it's bedtime" and so she took his hand into hers and began walking to their room, until a thought crossed her mind, "Inigo, did you hear anything of what i said to the blacksmith?" She asked only to receive the answer in a very simple "No".

And so she smiled and decided to drop the subject for now her secret was that, a secret, a shame that if only she had turned to see him she would see the void expression on his face, even more so since when they reached the room, a fake smile was on his face.