Chapter 12
Chrom and the others had arrived back in Ylisse, where they learned of Maribelle's capture by the Plegians, and quickly made their way with Emmeryn to hopefully barley with King Gangrel and rescue the Troubadour. Lissa had gotten to know her bodyguard quite well at this point, and the two had slowly started to become friends, with Lon'qu even finally starting to warm up to her, not constantly flinching away when she sat next to him. However, she still worried about Nathan, as he still had yet to return or even send any word back to the group. Their marches had included many tough skirmishes with bandits over the past couple days without their master tactician.
Lissa snapped back to reality from a poke to her back. She turned around to see Lon'qu lightly tapping her shoulder to get her attention, a twinge of red appearing on his cheeks.
"W-we are here, Lissa. Prepare yourself." The swordsman told her. Lissa nodded to the man.
"Hey, you actually touched me!" She yelled to him as she realized, causing Lon'qu to blush an even deeper shade of red. She jumped over and hugged the man, causing him to quickly recoil and push his way out of the embrace, much to Lissa's disappointment.
"Y-yes…my fear of women is getting weaker as I spend more time with you." The man declared. He then quickly changed the subject. "But that is beside the point. Ready your things; bring your staff and tomes in case things go sour. I've been to enough negotiations to know that many can turn to battle in minutes."
Lon'qu was right for this situation. Gangrel made the unreasonable demand of the fire emblem in exchange for Maribelle. This caused Chrom to lose his temper, killing one of the Plegian men, and only the quick actions of the young mage Ricken, who had been hidden in the supply caravan, sneaking with the group, was able to save the life of the Troubadour. However, Gangrel quickly ordered his army to action afterwards, resulting in a full-scale tilt between the present Plegians and Shepherds. Lon'qu grunted as he deflected another arrow from hitting Lissa, who continued to cast her fire spell to ward off enemies. She turned around to notice a Plegian archer aiming for Lon'qu.
"Lon'qu! Over there!" She cried, but it was futile, as the archer unleashed his arrow, catching Lon'qu in the stomach, just as a bolt of lightning struck the archer down. Lissa ran over to the swordsman, catching him as he fell.
"Lon'qu! S-stay with me!" She cried out, tears welling up in her eyes as she grabbed her healing stave off of her back. Lon'qu grimaced and grunted, pulling the arrow out of his chest.
"I've…had worse, woman…" The swordsman panted.
"Damn, looks like my shot was too late…sorry Lon'qu, but you really should move to the back, go see Maribelle. I'll take care of Lissa from here." A familiar voice told him. The two looked up to see Nathan standing above them, who offered a hand to Lon'qu, who took it.
"You'll have to tell me about how you got on the shepherds after this battle …Donny! Take this guy to the caravans!" Nathan called, motioning to a young villager boy, wearing a rusty pot on his head and wielding a crudely made spear who ran over, taking Lon'qu from Nathan and helping the man off of the battlefield.
Nathan then turned around, avoiding eye contact with Lissa.
"Come on, let's move." He simply stated.
"But-" Lissa began, before Nathan sharply cut her off.
"No time, I'll explain everything later, Lon'qu will be fine. Let's just move." He told her through gritted teeth, before quickly dodging another arrow and firing a blast of Elfire back in return. Lissa nodded, strapping her staff to her back once again and pulling out her tome.
The battle ended quite shortly after Nathan's return, quickly changing the tide of the battle with his tactics. Nathan quickly slipped away from Lissa, before she could ask him about where he had gone, to go find Chrom. While riding the caravan back to Ylisstol, the princess went to look for Lon'qu, finding him being healed by Maribelle. The swordsman had passed out, but was going to be fine. She spent the ride home catching up with Maribelle, occasionally taking a peek at the caravan behind them, seeing Nathan talking and laughing with Donnel and Ricken. Maribelle raised an eyebrow when Lissa turned back to look at her.
"My goodness Lissa, have you seriously falling for that heathen?" Maribelle questioned, causing Lissa's face to turn a deep shade of red.
"I-I have not!" The princess quickly replied, to which Maribelle scoffed. She then turned to Lon'qu.
"What about this heathen, then?" She asked, causing Lissa's face to turn so red it looked as though she might burn up.
"I-I…okay, you might be right about both…" Lissa confessed. Maribelle clicked her tongue at her friend, wagging a finger at her playfully.
"Lissa, as your bosom buddy, I know all there is to be known about you, and I most certainly can tell when you have a crush on someone. Like Frederick, long ago!" The troubadour mentioned proudly. Lissa quickly tried to hush Maribelle, hoping that Nathan had heard none of that, and turning around to see the tactician still deeply engaged in conversation with Ricken and Donnel.
"D-don't tell him or anything, please? Both of them? And anyways, Nathan's still super mad at me right now…" Lissa pleaded to her friend. Maribelle let out a sly grin and nodded. She then frowned.
"Now, what reason would that strange man have to be mad at you, my beloved princess?" She questioned. Lissa sighed and looked at the ground.
"I…kind of got mad at him for saving my life, and, uh…everything didn't go too well after that." She confessed. Maribelle raised an eyebrow.
"Well…I suppose it's hard to fault him…" She mused. Lissa nodded.
"I still feel pretty bad about it, so I figured I should make it up to him…" She mentioned. Maribelle nodded in agreement.