Chapter 3

Much later in the night, the Shepherds had all gathered around the campfire, sharing stories and jokes. The only one missing from the group was Nathan, who had gone off to his tent straight after dinner to plan out the next day's march, already behind schedule from dealing with Lissa. Not only did the Princess feel bad for making Nathan miss out on the fun the group was having, but she also felt somewhat lonely without him – she had grown quite attached to the brown-haired tactician over the past little while, and without him or Maribelle around to hang around with, she felt as though everything just wasn't as much fun. The two of them always seemed to know how to make her feel important.

"I'm gonna go talk to Nathan, okay?" Lissa told the others. "Just to, uh, see how he's doing." She quickly added, trying to make an excuse for herself as she felt her face start to heat up.

Chrom calmly smiled at his sister and nodded. "Just try not to annoy him, okay? We're going to need his plan for the march for tomorrow." He told her.

Lissa playfully winked at her brother, retorting, "No guarantees!" As she pranced off towards Nathan's tent.

"Heeeey Nathan! How are you?" Lissa asked as she entered the tent of the man. Instead of getting a response, she got a loud snort from the tactician, who was sound asleep. His Levin sword and Tomes had been set off beside his bedroll, and he was sound asleep, his head resting on a large map of the area and one of his strategy books, which was still left open.

"Well, I can't blame you for getting tired out from all this work…" Lissa stated, to no one in particular.

The Princess decided to take some time to look around Nathan's tent while she was there. The tent was mostly empty, save for the small portable desk and chair Nathan was sitting at, his bedroll, and a stack of books sitting next to his tomes and sword. She picked up one of the books from the pile and opened it, scanning the pages. She quickly realized that it was some sort of historical strategy book, not something she would ever enjoy reading. She saw the quill and ink sitting on Nathan's desk, and came up with an idea. She took the quill, setting the book down on the desk next to Nathan, and doodling a crude sketch of her friend on the front page of it. When she went to dip the quill back into the ink vial, she accidentally pushed it over with the quill, spilling the ink all onto the text and covering it in the liquid.

"Ah!" Lissa whispered frantically, picking back up the ink vial, but it was too late as most of it had emptied onto the book. Lissa cringed as she lifted the soggy book and saw the ink still dripping off of it. She took the book and quickly hid it behind the desk, out of Nathan's sight.

"Well, I guess it's better I tell him now than him finding out later…" Lissa sighed to herself. "Geez, I hope he'll still talk to me after this…"

Another idea formulated in Lissa's mind, as she formed a sly grin. She gently pinched Nathan's nose and held it for a few moments, until Nathan's eyes shot open and his head flew up, as he yelled, "BWAARGH! Risen! Risen riding wolves! They're all…" He frowned, as he looked frantically around, realizing it was all just a dream. He then heard a certain very familiar giggle from next to him, and realized what was going on.

"Lissa…" He groaned.

"That was hilarious!" Lissa yelled, on the ground, laughing uncontrollably. "Bwargh? Risen riding wolves? That must've been one wild dream!"

Nathan glared at his friend. "Was that really necessary?"

"No, but it was great to watch!" Lissa responded, still laughing but getting back on her feet.

Normally, Nathan was very good-natured, but being having a nice nap interrupted was an easy way to make him irritated.

"Who does such things? Is that really how your parents raised you?!" He shot back, cringing as he realized how rude of a statement that actually was. "Ugh, wow…for a tactician, I really need to plan out what I say to girls a lot better…" He thought to himself.

"…I…I don't know…I never really knew my parents…" Lissa told him, her mood quickly changing from amused to depressed.

"Oh…Oh, right…that was, er…" Nathan stuttered, sweat starting to drip down his face as he scratched his head in frustration.

Lissa weakly smiled back at him. "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm sure you didn't mean anything by it." She responded. "Oh right!" She added, having completely forgotten about the book of tactics. "Actually, there's something else that I should be apologizing for, the reason I woke you up in the first place…" She told him.

Nathan let out a sigh of relief. "Well, whatever it is, I'm sure I can forgive it after my heartless comment…" He told her.

"I'm not sure if you'll be saying that after you see this…" Lissa stated glumly, revealing the ink-stained book to the tactician.

Nathan's jaw dropped as he took the book and slowly opened it, seeing the pages covered in ink and ruined beyond what could possibly be salvageable.

"I was trying to doodle a picture of you, and I, uh…I accidentally spilled ink all over the pages…But Ireallyreallyreallydidn'tmeanto!" Lissa pleaded to her friend.

"It…it was a rare text…I had just started to…" Nathan started weakly, then sighed in defeat. "It's…fine. Accidents…happen."

Lissa let out a loud sigh in relief. "Oh, Phew!"

Nathan then rubbed his eyes and let out another long yawn. "So, was there any other reason you stopped by, or can I get back to my work?" He was still somewhat annoyed with Lissa, and he knew he had to complete the plans for the next day's march quite soon.

"Well, now that you mention it, I came to find you because I was getting kind of bored with hanging out with the others at the campfire. To be honest, I don't have as much fun without you or Maribelle around…" She told him, looking away to try and hide her blush. Lucky for her, Nathan didn't notice as he was doing the exact same thing as her from her compliment.

"Well, I need to finish the plans for this march unfortunately, so I don't think I'll be leaving this tent tonight, sorry." He told her glumly.

"Well, I'll just stay here and hang out with you then!" Lissa cheerfully declared, much to Nathan's surprise and amusement.

"…You sure? I'm going to be working all night…" He told her warily.

"Sure! I've already been around the others all night, and I've gotta get some time to spend with you, right Natie?" She responded with a playful wink.

"Well, if you say so…wait, what did you just call me?" He asked, a smile creeping up on his face as he let out a small chuckle.

Lissa blushed as she tried to defend herself. "Hey, you come up with your nicknames, so can't I use one for you? Geez!"

Nathan laughed. "Hey, I never said you couldn't!" He told her, adding, "I actually kind of like it to be honest…"

Lissa's smile grew even wider at Nathan's response. "Alright, that's good, because I think that nickname suits you perfectly!"

"Anyways, fill me in," Nathan asked, turning back to his papers and beginning to fill them out again, as Lissa took a seat down on the bedroll behind him. "What have I missed out at the campfire?"