Chapter 3

Not long after leaving the throne room, Nathan was down in the armoury, polishing his sword and packing weapons into the caravan. Vaike had joined him, loading up crates with various axes, swords, lances and tomes.

"Ya sure we need all this crap, Nate?" Vaike asked, rubbing his back after setting another crate in the caravan.

Nathan nodded with a bit of a grunt, setting down a crate next to the man. "We're headed into another war, so I want our convoy stocked for one." He then turned to the man, raising an eyebrow. "…Shouldn't you be with Miriel, packing your things?"

Vaike laughed a bit. "Ha! I did that, already!" He proudly tapped his gold chest plate he wore. "This baby and my trusty axe are all the Vaike needs!"

Nathan gave the blonde-haired man an inquisitive look. "…Right. Soooo, you're saying you don't need anything other than those? Don't you wear anything other than that same outfit?"

"Don't you wear anything other than that black cloak?"

Nathan looked down at his robe, before shrugging nonchalantly. "Touché."

Vaike and Nathan both laughed for a moment as they hopped back out of the caravan to grab some more weapons. As they each picked up another box, Vaike grunted, "…So, uh, what about you? Shouldn't you be up with Lissa, packing your things?"

Nathan laughed. "Well, I did grab my things already, my tomes and other clothes and such are all packed away in our caravan, but then I went to try and help Lissa, and, well…helping someone pick out their clothes isn't really my style. Plus she kept going on about how this dress doesn't match that bow for her hair, and stuff like that…so I let her sort it out herself and came down here."

Vaike nodded. "Miriel doesn't worry too much about clothing and the like, but when it comes to her experiment materials…oh Naga…I stay far clear, cuz if I broke something, I'd be toast!"

The tactician grinned at the man. "Look at us, talking about our wives!" He joked. "We're getting old!"

"Yeah, we are, aren't we?" Another voice called out from the corner of the room, causing Nathan and Vaike to jump in surprise, nearly dropping their crates.

"…Oh, come on, you guys, I was walking with you and talking the whole time!" Kellam whined, carrying a crate next to them." Nathan and Vaike looked at each other for a moment before laughing.

"You're still lacking presence I guess, big guy!" Vaike called out, patting the black-haired Knight on the back. Kellam grinned at them sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

Nathan then turned back to the caravan. "Well then, let's keep this moving, shall we?" He declared, gesturing to the other crates. Kellam and Vaike nodded as they went back to work.

After a few hours of packing the convoy and getting all the shepherds in Ylisse together, the group had finally left Ylisse. Nathan and Lissa sat in a caravan with Chrom, Sumia, and Frederick. The five sat in silence for a while before the tactician finally spoke up.

"Well, this feels familiar…"

Chrom laughed. "Well, there are some minor differences from last time…" He squeezed Sumia's hand.

Lissa nodded, resting her head on Nathan's shoulder. "Hard to believe you were just a stranger back then, Natie!"

Frederick nodded in agreement. His eyes then lit up, quickly turning to the tactician.

"Oh! Sir-or rather, I should say Prince Nathan…I almost forgot!"

The brown haired man rolled his eyes. "We talked about this, Freddy…" He replied. "Lose the Prince, and the Sir if you're up for it. You calling me 'sir', I've gotten used to, but 'Prince is getting a bit excessive. After all, I'm just Nathan to anyone in the shepherds."

"But you're not! You're of royalty, since marrying milady Lissa!" The great knight pointed out. Nathan, Unamused, turned back to the man, raising a finger.

"If you want to get technical, yes. But, I prefer the title of tactician to prince. Much less messy that way, I think."

"As you wish, grand tactician Nathan, Prince of Ylisse!"

The 'grand tactician' raised an eyebrow at Frederick, sighing. "Well, if I can't stop you…that sounds like a bit of a mouthful, so how about we look for another name."

"Grandmaster?" Sumia suggested. The group turned to her. "Well, it was from a book. Katarina, one of the greatest tacticians from the Ylissean army long ago, had that title…"

Nathan smiled. "I'm fine with that. Makes me sound like a big shot!" He then turned to Chrom. "I don't know, Exalt doesn't sound like it's superior to Grandmaster, does it? I think I outrank you now!"

Chrom laughed. "If you want to run Ylisse, along with being the master tactician, be my guest…"

Nathan sat for a moment in silence before replying. "Yeah, I thought about it, and I'll stick to 'grandmaster that isn't grander than the exalt', thanks…"

The group shared a laugh, with even Frederick bearing a smile.

The tactician then turned back to the Great Knight. "Now then, I believe you wanted to talk to me about something?"

Frederick nodded. "Well, I thought you may need to learn the ways of Royalty now that you're a Prince (Nathan opened his mouth to cut him off before shrugging it off), so I thought Milord Chrom could take you under his wing, and teach you!"

The Grandmaster and the Exalt looked at each other, trying not to laugh. Nathan decided to make a show of it, getting down on one knee in the middle of the caravan, in front of Chrom.

"Oh great Exalt, Destroyer of training dummies and castle walls, could you please teach me the ways of Royalty that you have ever so clearly mastered?" Nathan mockingly pleaded. Chrom gave his best solemn look he could do, though still cracking a slight grin, and pulled Falchion from its sheath, tapping the tactician on each shoulder.

"I promise thee, oh Grandmaster Nathan, Prince of the realm and master of not eating with his mouth closed, that I will do my best to teach you which of the ten spoons you are given at a meal is used for soup, but no more! This war has made me a busy man!" Chrom replied. Lissa and Sumia were red in the face from containing their laughter, while Frederick had tears rolling down his face.

"Splendid, just splendid, Milords!" He cried out. "I'm sure, Exalt Chrom, you will teach him much more after allowing him to learn this integral skill to royal life!"

As Nathan stood up, he quickly whispered to the Blue-haired prince, "Theatrics must run in the family, doesn't it?"

Special thanks to the guest who left me the review with the idea I used in the second part of this chapter. You know who you are ;)

Nate