Chapter 19
Nathan and Lissa spent the entire afternoon out cloud watching, and were gone from the camp for so long that Chrom had to come find them to bring them back for dinner. As Lissa skipped happily ahead of the two, Chrom quickly turned to Nathan.
"I haven't had a chance to mention this, but this is my favour to you for what happened the other day, with that assassin." He told the man.
Nathan's brow furrowed. "You didn't have to do anything, that was an accident," He replied. "And besides, we don't even really know if he knew anything about me…"
Chrom shrugged. "I guess. But this was the only way to get you to talk to Lissa again, anyways."
Nathan scratched his head. "Now, there's something I don't get. Why are you so obsessed with getting us together?" He asked. Chrom laughed softly, putting his arm around his best friend so Lissa couldn't hear them, who was humming and skipping along ahead of them.
"Plenty of reasons." He replied. Nathan opened his mouth to protest, but Chrom continued. "Well, first off, she's your friend. I mean, we're friends too, but it's a different relationship between the two of us than it is between you two. You two are the same age, and, frankly, seem to have more in common, judging from how often I've been pranked over the last few days…"
Nathan laughed sheepishly. "Is it really our fault that you leave your tent without some sort of magic to keep it sealed? That's pretty much just asking to be pranked."
Chrom rolled his eyes and continued his talk. "Secondly, it's not like I can stop Lissa from finding a man forever. She's getting to that age, and I'd rather she pick someone I know and trust than anyone else."
Nathan nodded.
"Lastly, Lissa…. had a talk. With Frederick and I." Chrom told the tactician, who raised an eyebrow. Chrom scratched his head sheepishly. "Well, it was less of a talk and more of Lissa yelling at us. A lot about us being too protective of her. Her saying she can take care of herself just fine. And, at some point, Frederick, true to form, brought you up." Nathan groaned loudly.
"…And…?" He pressed.
"…He talked about us having to protect her from you 'stealing her purity'." Chrom told the man with a long sigh.
Nathan let out a loud raucous laugh. "I thought he said he was okay with us, as long as you were fine with it?" The tactician asked the prince.
Chrom sighed and shook his head. "He did. I asked him about it, and apparently he couldn't keep his silence any longer. He said it was his duty as a knight to protect us, or something like that."
Chrom continued. "Anyways, then the tables turned in our conversation. Lissa and I started arguing with him about being too protective of us, and I ended up saying that whatever makes us happy should make him happy. And if you make Lissa happy, then he should do his best to support her. After that, he came up with the idea of you and her sharing a tent after Lissa had left, and, that's that."
Nathan looked up at Chrom and gave him a solemn nod. "Thank you. I really mean it. I promise to never harm your sister." Chrom grinned back and nodded, before taking his arm off the tactician and looking up at the now setting sun.
"So…do I get some sort of payment in return for helping to set you two up?" He whispered to the man, elbowing him playfully.
Nathan groaned. "You sound like Gaius…" He muttered. Chrom laughed.
"Well, except he'd be asking for the finest lollipops in the land…anyways, you have asked her out already, right? Or something like that?" The prince prodded at the tactician, who sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
"Er…not exactly…thing is, I don't know how to ask…" Nathan replied. Chrom looked over at him for a minute, his brow furrowing as they both wondered about the same predicament.
"Yeah, I'm not really sure either." Chrom concluded. "I'm still trying to figure out how to propose to Sumia, but whenever I plan on doing it, the nerves get the better of me and I back out." He explained in frustration. The prince looked up in thought. "I don't suppose you have some sort of book somewhere that explains how to deal with girls, do you?" He asked the tactician, who snorted in surprise before letting out a raucous laugh.
"G-gods no, Chrom… I hope you weren't serious in asking that…" He retorted through laughter. Chrom gritted his teeth.
"Well, I was actually half serious…I'll take any advice I can get at this point…" He told the tactician, who nodded in agreement.
"Well, I hear Cordelia has a book called 'How to make men fall for you in a fortnight', you could always borrow it and practice on Frederi-OW!" Nathan told Chrom before the man whacked him on the back of the head. The two laughed before entering the camp again.
Much later in the night, Frederick had taken it upon himself to prepare a large campfire in the center of the camp, and pulled up logs, which he had also chopped down himself, for people to sit on around the fire. Different shepherds all made their way to the area, and were engaged in different conversations around the fire. Chrom was discussing some sort of fight with Vaike, with Nathan overhearing something about a "cooking challenge". He took a mental note not to accept any food from either of the two over the next while. He took the empty seat near Donnel, Lon'qu, and Maribelle, with the latter two, much to the tactician's surprise, sitting next to each other, holding hands, deep in conversation. Nathan quickly turned to Lon'qu, giving him a quizzical look. The swordsman turned to him, looking down at his hand, and back to Nathan, blushing deeply.
"Er…it's….part of an experiment…" He muttered.
Nathan grinned back at his friend, before patting his shoulder and turning to Donnel to talk about their day's events. He recalled that Lissa was off bathing with Sumia and Sully, so he took the chance to tell them about his time with her through the day.
"Huh." Donnel said. "So, ya really like that princess then?" Nathan nodded.
"How 'bout that!" Donnel yelled, puffing up his chest. "I'm friends with someone who's gonna marry Royalty!"
The others sitting around the fire all turned over to Donnel and Nathan. The tactician turned a deep shade of red.
"Er…" Nathan quickly scrambled to figure out an excuse. His face got redder with every second of people staring at him, all with huge grins plastered on their faces.
"Hey, why isn't anyone talking? Are you guys really that lost without us?" A familiar voice called from behind Nathan.
Nathan breathed a sigh of relief as Lissa, Sumia and Sully came up to the campfire. While Sumia quickly ran to sit next to Chrom, and Sully walked to talk with Virion, Stahl and Vaike, Lissa walked over to Nathan, with a sweet smile on her face, and, to the tactician's surprise, wrapped her arms around his shoulders before pulling him into a hug from behind, her cheeks brushing up against his own. Nathan slightly recoiled at first before leaning back and grinning back at the blonde cleric, his face now as bright red as the flames off the fire.
"Er, random hugs are nice Lissa, but now is not the best time…" He whispered to her, slightly nodding his head to the groups of people around the fire, now staring at them once again, with even bigger grins on their faces.
"HEY!" Donnel cried out, glaring at those watching them. "Didn't all yer parents ever teach any of ya some manners? Give the couple some privacy now, eh?"
Donnel turned to Nathan and Lissa, whose glares were nearly piercing through the country boy's skull. "I got yer back, Nater." Donnel replied with a wink.
The entire group sat in an awkward silence for a few moments, before bursting out in laughter. Nathan held his head in his hands, while Lissa's face turned the deepest shade of red, and Donnel simply sat with a confused look, wondering what was going on.
Nathan sighed deeply. "…You really have no clue as to what's going on here, do you…" He asked his friend.
Donnel sat for a moment and pondered, until he cried out, "OHHH, so you two AREN'T dating!"
Nathan nodded.
Donnel then turned to Lissa, getting down on all fours and groveling at her feet. "My dearest apologies, Princess Lissa, er, ah did not mean teh accuse you of having a relationship with such a lowborn man such as Nathan! M-my most sincere apologies!"
Nathan raised an eyebrow, before laughing. "Well, I don't think we can help you sort this situation out, Don-don." He told the man. He turned to Lissa. "We should go for a walk, and sort this all out." She nodded vigorously, eager to get away from all the watching eyes around the fire.