"Gah missed again!" Morgan said frustrated. She stomped her foot on the dirt and groaned in the training grounds. Lucina happened to be outside and saw Morgan's discouraged expression. She also noticed that her daughter had a bow in her hand and a quiver on her left leg. It puzzled Lucina to see her carry one and she walked over to where Morgan was to try and figure out what was going on.
"Hey Morgan, is something wrong? Lucina asked tenderly.
"Huh? Oh hi mom! No, nothing is wrong." She sighed and stared at the circular ten ringed target about fifty feet away. "I just can't hit that stupid thing!" Morgan said angrily and pointed to the marker.
"You are trying to learn archery?" Lucina asked confused.
"Yeah, dad says that I should broaden my skills and try new things. He wasn't feeling well so he could not teach me tactics today so I thought I would give this a shot, but it is harder than it looks." She frowned and glared at the arched wooded weapon in her hand.
"Well you can't expect to be good at something right away. How long have you been practicing?"
"It's either been thirty minutes or an hour...I lost track. I started when we finished lunch."
"Morgan, lunch was three hours ago."
"Oh." Morgan thought it over. "Then I have practiced for three hours."
Lucina was shocked, but couldn't help chuckle thinking about it. Just like Robin, when Morgan was determined to do something she would give a 100% effort and lose track of time in the process."How has the archery lesson been going then?"
"Terrible!" She sighed. "I have only hit the target four times and I never shot anything passed the ninth ring." Morgan looked to the ground in despair
"It just takes practice." Lucina tried to cheer her up. "I am sure on your next shot you will hit the center of the target." Lucina smiled.
Morgan felt a little better with her mom's encouragement but knew she would miss regardless. "Thanks mom, but I am not that good... Here, watch this shot and you'll see." Morgan grabbed an arrow from her quiver and strung it up on her bow. She closed one eye and carefully aimed at the target. With immense concentration she pulled back on the bow and looked at the yellow bulls-eye. A few seconds later Morgan let go of the string and the arrow left the bow at full speed. Unfortunately, It passed over the target and hit the stone wall behind it.
"Augh!" Morgan groaned disheartened. Partly because she felt a sharp sting in her arm, but largely because she missed once again.
Lucina saw her cry in pain and looked at her daughter's arm in concern. "Morgan, where is your bracer?"
"My what?"
"Your bracer, the leather guard to protect your arm from the string after the shot."
"... You mean all this time I didn't have to deal with the pain of shooting?!" Morgan said exasperated. Her left arm was burning red and it had stung each time she drew the bow. She never even realized what was causing her appendage to hurt until Lucina brought it up.
Lucina took a closer look at her exposed crimson arm and gasped seeing how bad it looked. The string had scraped off the first layer of the skin and left a rash. "Dear Naga! Morgan we better get you inside and heal your arm!" She said worried and grabbed Morgan by her other hand.
...
They walked over to the infirmary to get her arm checked out. Normally they would have gone to Lissa, but this was not too serious, and Lucina could handle it herself. She grabbed a bottle from one of the shelves and asked Moran to sit on the chair.
"Relax Morgan, this might sting a little." Lucina poured a small bottle of liquid on the inflicted area.
"Augh! It hurts, AHHH!" Morgan cried in pain as Lucina put the vulnerary on the skin.
"I know dear, I promise it will be over soon."
"Erg..." Morgan tried to hold in the searing feeling.
Lucina grabbed a cloth bandage from the first aid kit and wrapped it around Morgan's arm. "There we go" Lucina said she finished. Morgan's extremity was now completely encased by the white dressing.
"Um mom, I think you over did it. My arm looks like a mummy now." Morgan said as she could barely bend her arm without the bandage stopping her.
"Yes, but if you accidentally rub your arm on anything then it will hurt worse than the vulnerary. This at least gives you some protection."
"How long do I have to wear this thing?"
"Only for the night, vulnerary is better at healing cuts and gashes compared to burns or scrapes, but it is still effective."
"Ugh." Morgan moaned knowing her arm would be stuck like this for twenty-four hours.
…
The rest of the day was largely uneventful. During the evening Morgan suffered from boredom, and there was no board game tonight because Robin said he was too tired and had trouble seeing. So she had to pass the time reading books and the seconds dragged by as she found it difficult to do daily tasks with only one good hand. Nevertheless, night-time finally came, and Morgan found herself tucked in her covers once again with her two parents next to her.
"I heard you tried archery today." Robin said as he sat down in his chair.
"Yea, it's hard than it looks." Morgan said disappointed and felt her arm sting.
"How does your arm feel?"
"Much better, but it's a little sweaty with the bandages and I still feel like a mummy"
Robin looked over to Lucina and chuckled. He nearly had a heart attack when he saw his daughter bandaged so badly, but luckily it was only his wife being over-cautious "Well, at least it will be off tomorrow."
"Yeah, and perhaps more of the story will help my arm heal too!" Morgan said cheerfully
"Heh, I am guessing that is my cue then?" Robin asked and Morgan nodded with a smile.
*Sigh* ...After that terrible fire, a grieving woman who lost her husband in the raid came to us and said that she would help take care of the little boy we found in the inferno. She already had a son named Donnel and they were poor themselves, but they wanted to help. At least Chrom was able to give them a few coins to help support them and the little boy. It was a shame though, I imagine that Donnel was not older than 16, and yet he was now the man of the house who had to take care of everything that his father did. Another blasted atrocity of this war.
However, the Shepherds and I could not fall into sorrow there. We had to save Emmeryn and end this war before this became a common theme. The Shephards and I marched across the border to Plegia with almost no resistance while the Feroxi force was bogged down by the enemy and traversed slower than us. We were behind enemy lines and completely alone, but nothing would stop us from saving the Exalt
"Robin how close are we to the Plegian capital?" Chrom asked anxiously as he looked to me with a map in my hands. The large scroll covered my face as I searched for our bearings while I blindly trudged through the sand.
"Hmm, we have to cross a small settlement first and then it should be a two-hour march."
Chrom raised his head and gazed at the glaring sun. He whispered under his breath and I barely heard him. "Hold on Emm, we are coming."
I hesitated to speak, but we needed to come up with a plan. "Chrom...you know that this is a trap right?"
"I know." He said apprehensive. "But is doesn't matter, we have to get to her immediately."
"Chrom, I know you are worried, but the risks of losing your life is-"
He looked at me straight in the eyes and I could feel his pain and suffering. "Robin, I will do anything to save my sister. Even if it costs me my own life. If this is a trap then I will walk into it if it means she can be safe."
"But-"
"AUGH! GET AWAY! Everyone just leave me ALONE!"
We heard a high-pitched scream and we immediately snapped our necks into the direction of the plea for help. The cry came from across the sand dunes and Chrom called out "Some one is in danger!" We ran as fast as we could in the sand with the rest of the party behind us.
"Please, be keeping down with the voice! You give away position! Very bad!"
"HELP! My throat is dry, my shoes are full of sand, and some big weirdo is trying to KILL ME!"
We reached the top of the sand hill and saw a large man holding on to the arm of small and defenseless girl. Chrom was enraged and yelled in anger, "Get your hands off of her!"
The girl struggled to move and the man's grip prevented her from running away. "Oy! Gregor cannot. Must prote-"
"Either you let go of her or we cut you down you pervert." Chrom unsheathed his weapon and pointed it at him.
"Pervert?! You wound Gregor like being hit several times in groin. Never in all the many years of Gregor's life has such a terrible word been accused against kind-hearted mercenary. "
"I will not say it again. Let go of her!" Chrom commanded.
"Gregor is not letting you hurt Nowi." He grabbed his weapon and challenged the sixteen of us. I gestured to hold our ground, and I knew something was wrong with the situation.
"Enough of your lies!" Chrom shouted in anger. "I will not let another innocent person fall to you wicked barbarians!"
"Oy! Young blue haired man continues to push dagger into Gregor's heart. Gregor is nice guy!
"EVERYONE just stop talking!" The little girl shouted "I just want to leave this damned place!"
Gregor turned to her is astonishment and said "Nowi should not use that language! Is bad for those words to leave tongue!"
"What, you mean damn?"
"Oy! Nowi should not say that unless she is referring to great body of water blocked by wood from beavers.
"We are in a damn desert! Why would there be a dam here?" Nowi yelled
"Nowi needs to stop saying that word! Is improper for age."
"I am 1109 years old... give or take a century, and I can say what I want!" the young girl said delirious. This heat had to be playing tricks on her mind.
"Is still not polite for lady to swear."
Everyone watched dumbfounded as the two argued in the middle of the barren desert. What the hell is going on?
...
"Gregor has no time for this. Gregor needs to get you out of here before-"
"There they are!" a man with an ax pointed at us from a distance with crowd of armed soldiers behind him.
Eek! They are back!" The girl cried.
"Oy, this is most terrible! Do you see now? They make with the catching of us!" He let go of the frightened girl and said. "Run Nowi. Gregor will make with buying the time for your escape."
"What about you?" The girl asked concerned
"Little lady need not worry about Gregor."
I saw at least thirty men heading towards us; many were mages and mercenaries. The wind was picking up and it only made it harder to see with the sand swirling through the air. I needed to come up with a plan in this harsh environment. "Everyone! You know the drill! Pair up with a partner and watch each others back! Frederick I need you to guard Nowi, and Sumia take my place to protect Chrom!" I drew my sword and felt his eyes stare at me, but I shook it off. "Gregor, it seems that you need help fighting off these scum and I am in need of a partner to watch my back. Would you care to help me fight off these vermin?"
"Aye, Gregor will teach former employees to respect women and not make with the selling of them!"
"Wait what?!" I cried shocked
"Long story, but no have time."
"R-right."
...
We fought bitterly to take on the enemy. Gregor was right besides and he cut down anyone that came his way. Everyone held their own, but we were slowed down by the sand. Only Sumia, Cordelia, and Miriel had an easy time crossing the sea of endless sand.
I tried to get into the action but Gregor was demolishing everyone in our way. "It's Gregor time!" He yelled as the enemy continued to fall under his sword. I had a hard time keeping up with him and realized we were getting ahead of everyone else. The battle was crazy, and some of our men were out of our rank, but it still looked good. I just needed to correct one problem and I yelled over the clashing of swords.
"Miriel and Vaike! Go that way" I pointed to a couple of thugs that were attacking Sully and Stahl. "They need your help, forget about holding that spot." They ran over to support and the battle continued to go smoothly.
Then after ten minutes of fighting, one of the enemy soldier got passed Gregor. I was about to take on my first opponent that Gregor did not rip apart, but before I could get to him an arrow whizzed passed me. I tried to see where it came from, but before I knew it, the foe in front of me fell flat on his back; dead with an arrow in his forehead. A noble blue arrow punctured into the man's skull. I turned around for a moment and yelled at a figure in the distance. "Hey Virion! He was mine!"
He replied faintly but even in the sandstorm I could see him smirk. "Gotta be quicker next time."
I shrugged it off and tried to catch up to Gregor who was a bit in front of me hacking away at another man. I barely managed to catch up to him, and when I finally did I noticed that the battle was almost over. There was just a few men left, and either Chrom or Gregor were already fighting with them.
Things were going great and then-
Robin felt a sharp pain in his chest and he found it hard to speak.
*cough* *cough* Robin leaned forward in his chair and gasped for breath as he wheezed in pain. Lucina pounded on his back, and Robin held on to his chest as he struggled to regain control of his body. His lungs were failing on him and he felt dead inside. He was burning up and sweating, but on the inside he was shivering. His hands were trembling and his vision was extremely blurry.
"Dad are you okay!?" Morgan asked panicked
*cough* *cough* "Y-yeah, I...*gasp* I am fine." He tried to give a warm smile, but he found it difficult to breathe. "Just choked on s-something is all."
"Dad!"
"S-sorry for worrying you" Robin heavily inhaled and exhaled. He tried to get up but he couldn't move. His limbs were frozen solid and numb. All he could feel was the warm hand of his wife.
"Dad what's wrong!?"
"I c-choked on something. No big deal" He felt a faint surge of life return and pounded on his chest a couple of more times.
"Saying it twice doesn't make it true! You have been tired all day, and now can barely say anything!" Morgan tried to get out of her linen restraints to hug him, but she could not break the sheets. "Are you sick?"
"Maybe." He took in another deep breath. "I will go ask Lissa about it tomorrow."
"Promise?" Morgan asked concerned
He smiled warmly and stuck his pinky finger in the air. "I promise."