Lady Tiki stared at the walls. Countless portraits stared back through layers of dust. Kings and queens of Ylisse, heroes and champions. The greatest men and women of the past centuries.
And all of them born and died while she slept. Nothing drove home the weight of her age like history. If she just talked to the living, it was easy for her to forget for a moment that they would be gone in an eyeblink. Talking to the dead never left her that luxury.
Her husband smiled next to her.
"It's amazing, isn't it?"
"Oh?"
"The styles. You can see the whole of Ylissean art history right before your eyes. Look! There's the decline of neo-realism! Right before the portrait of Dekun the third, you can see…"
He chuckled.
"Sorry. I just never had this much time for art history. Stop me if I bore you."
"I have little enough time with you to begin with. Why would I want less?"
Robin blushed.
"I'm honored, milady. And I can continue to bore you at your pleasure."
Tiki giggled.
Robin nodded.
"Honestly, that's probably why they're going to make me sit for one of these. There may be soldiers with more talent than I have, and my beloved mother-in-law knows that Morgan is going to be my better as a tactician within a month, but no-one can bore the enemies of Ylisse like I can."
Tiki giggled again.
"Is that how you killed Grima?"
"A tactician never reveals his secrets. I thought I made sure that was in the vows."
Robin paused, then slapped his head.
"But that was only until death. I can't believe I was that sloppy. Please don't ask me anything sensitive. I might have to answer it."
Tiki smiled.
"Like how you really feel about the portrait?"
Robin winced.
"Exactly like that."
Robin sighed.
"I'm honored Chrom thinks I deserve to be here. I'm honored the nobles agree, despite everything. And I'm sure that Ylisse won't suffer mass blindness from looking at me in generations to come…"
"But?"
"But I'd prefer to leave a more useful legacy. I know art has its place, and I'm impressed by anyone who can manage better than a stick figure. But…"
Robin shrugged.
"Well, whatever it is, it can wait. Come on. I have a feeling that I'm going to need all the moral support I can get."
"If it makes you feel any better, I've sat through hundreds of these."
"You slept through hundreds of these. I've looked up the old portraits. It's amazing how many of them show the voice with her eyes closed."
"That was a long time ago!"
"I'm sorry, but anyone older than five hundred can't call eighteen months a long time. It's not fair to the rest of us."
Robin shook his head and walked towards a door. After a second, he knocked.
"Sir Robin of Ylisse. I'm here about…"
WHOMP.
The door flew back and a girl in a coat matching Robin's smiled out the entryway.
"Mother! Father! Great timing! I just was putting some finishing touches on things!"
Robin jumped.
"Morgan? I thought you were…"
"Well, duh! If I let you know what I was doing, it wouldn't be a SECRET plan. You taught me that. Well, you're going to have taught me that. You should probably get to that as soon as possible. I'd hate to not get to see me being born. Anyway, come on! Everyone's waiting!"
Morgan grabbed her father's arm and ripped him through the door. Tiki followed after.
"See? Everyone!"
Well. Not quite everyone. 'Just' Libra behind an easel, Miriel, Henry, and Laurent looking through a pile of tomes, and Chrom smiling back from a small crowd of nobles.
Robin looked around, and back to his daughter.
"Morgan. I know this is a surprise. But is this a 'I'm so proud of you, Morgan' surprise, or the 'Cynthia had a great idea!' kind of surprise?"
"Daaaad! I only did that once!"
"Well, it sounded more polite than the 'My daughter is a psychotic sadist' kind of surprise."
"Less true, though. Anyway, don't worry. This is totally the 'I'm so proud of you Morgan' kind. You know how you've been worrying about the portrait? And how it wouldn't do Ylisse as much good as you wanted, and how you wanted your legacy to help people instead of just being a vanity project for another stuffed shirt noble?"
"I don't think I said…"
"You totally did! Anyway, I was thinking about it. And thinking. And sleeping. Okay. Mostly I was sleeping, but you said that half of your great ideas came to you in your sleep, so I think that totally counts as thinking."
"Morgan. The point?"
"Don't worry. I'm getting to it. Anyway, I remembered a picture of mom when she was younger than I am. The one on her Einherjar card. And that's when I got this idea."
Robin looked over to Henry and Laurent's magic circle on the ground.
"And you think that I would be a good hero for the ages to come."
"Well, yeah. We've already talked about how you're the best dad in the whole world. And Chrom agrees with me. Since it's his money, I think he gets the deciding vote."
Robin smiled.
"A good tactician knows how to accept defeat gracefully. What do you want me to do?"
"Just stand on that marker for the initial spell. I think we can work something out from there. Err… probably."
"Morgan, you remember what happened the last time you say '...probably'."
"Yep. It was a total success and everyone thought I did a great job. Buuutttttt…. you're thinking about the time before that. By the way, did you tell mom I was sorry like I asked? Because I'm still not sure I should mention that in front of you, mom."
Tiki looked uneasy.
"Mention what?"
"Exactly. It's best if we forget about the whole thing. Father, are you in position?"
"I think so."
"Great. Now… don't think about halibut for the next fifteen or so seconds…"
"Why would I think about halibut?"
"Well, ideally you won't."
Robin lifted a finger, and dropped it to adapt his usual look of total concentration. Tiki smiled. How hard could it be to stop thinking about halibut?
"Oh, and mom? You shouldn't think about them either. Just to be safe. Try to keep from doing that for the next couple minutes. We should be fine "
In the next few minutes, Lady Tiki realized it was quite difficult to stop thinking about halibut. In fact, she was having a hard time imagining how she spent so many years without focusing on the damned fish with how they haunted the borders of her mind now. They were so… fishy.
After what felt like years, even for someone as old as Tiki, Morgan threw her hand forward with a her thumb extended in the air.
"Perfect! Thanks, father. That could have gone really, really wrong."
"Of course. What did you really not want me to think about?"
"Father! What are you implying? You know how honest I am!"
"Yes. Which is why I'm asking. Don't get me wrong. It was a clever way to handle things, and much faster than any alternatives that come to mind. Even if I realized what you were really up to, I'd be too busy thinking of what you were after to bother with any details."
"Aww, dad! A good magician never reveals her secrets. Also, then mother might think she can stop trying to stop thinking of halibut, and it's too funny to watch to give up now."
Robin shook his head.
"Morgan, even aside from the normal respect you owe your mother, she is a major religious figure. I don't think it would look good if people found you pulling this kind of prank."
"But she said she doesn't want to be treated differently. Didn't you, mother?"
Tiki smiled.
"I did."
"And I need to make up for, like, hundreds of years of lost memory."
"Of course."
"So, trying to do the same things I must have done earlier is basically what everyone's best off with me doing. Right, father?"
"I taught you logic, so if you aren't right, it's still my fault."
"Exactly! I knew you'd understand."
"Or at least have the sense to know an argument wouldn't go anywhere. So, what next?"
Morgan took a few steps towards Libra and nodded in the priest's direction.
"Well, next we'll have to wait for Libra to finish the portrait on the card. Which will be somewhere between slow and agonizingly slow."
The priest didn't look up from his canvas.
"I can only paint as the work takes me."
"And I understand and am really, really impressed. It's just that I also get bored sometimes."
Robin sighed.
"Just… tell me what happens after that."
"Well, we SHOULD have an impression of you down on a card then, which, if everything went right, could be summoned again with just the standard rituals. I think."
"You think."
"Well, yeah. Usually, Einherjar are dead. If it wasn't for mom, I wouldn't even be sure they could work with people while they're still alive. But I looked into some things, and..."
Morgan nodded to Laurent. He opened a book.
" 'The forming of an Einherjar is drawn from the impact they made on the world, and the memories they left with those they touched. If an einherjar could be formed of one still living, it would hew closer to the soul than any yet known, but a man who could change the world so much in so short a time…'"
Morgan closed her hand. Laurent nodded and closed his mouth. After a second, he opened it again.
"I think further elocution on the topic might prove enlightening, Morgan. Perhaps your father would prefer to hear the entire passage rather than…"
Morgan glared and lifted her finger to her throat. Fire flitted from her mouth as her finger crossed the line of her neck.
Laurent shut his mouth. Morgan smiled.
Her father coughed.
"Morgan, what was Laurent going to say?"
"Nothing important. Trust me."
Robin looked to Tiki and mimed a deep, long gulp while Morgan wasn't looking. Tiki smiled.
"Why are you smiling, mother?"
Tiki straightened up immediately.
"I was just thinking of how we could benefit our friends to come. And how we could have something to remember Robin by after he's… gone."
Morgan narrowed her eyes.
"Uh-huh."
Robin coughed again.
"Morgan, I'm sure you had something for us to do while we wait for Libra to finish a portrait? The portrait you are never going to stop thanking him for, because he doesn't do requests."
Libra smiled.
"Think nothing of it. For a friend and the children of Naga, having this opportunity is a gift."
"Don't worry. I'm putting in a good word with grandma. Besides, what's the point of being a demigod if you don't get perks?"
"Morgan."
"I'm kidding, father. Don't worry. I promise not to create a terrifying and murderous cult to plunge the world into a new dark age. ...While you and mom are alive. And Libra basically begged me to let him do this once I brought it up."
"Just while we're alive?"
"Come on, dad. I'm basically going to live forever. I don't want to rule out any options early. Oh! Speaking of options, guess what we're doing next? Hint. It's lunch."
"You didn't leave me much room to guess, Morgan."
"Well, you probably had it figured out already, and were going to make a lot of bad guesses to have fun with me. It's what I would have done."
Robin rubbed Morgan's head.
"Sometimes, I'm reminded just how much my daughter you are."
Morgan moved from smiling to beaming in an instant.
"You mean when I'm not reminding you of mother, right?"
"Right. Come on."
It was a good meal even if you ignored the company. After the years of warfare, Chrom and Sully had finally reached an uneasy truce, with neither cooking anything without at least three supervisors. Now the royal chef was allowed to pace the kitchen unimpeded, and she seemed to take new pride in her work now that she could be guaranteed an unmarred canvas. With the company, the meal was excellent. Chrom and Robin chattered away about old times, Miriel argued with her son about finer points of magical theory, and Morgan egged Henry on through magic trick after magic trick, some of which seemed far too… graphic to engage in at a dinner table. Tiki soaked it all in with glee.
No standing on ceremony. No pausing to consult 'The Voice'. Just glorious chaos. Some day, everyone here but Morgan would be dust, but for now? Now she had friends. It was a good feeling.
Eventually, Libra interrupted.
"It's finished."
Robin nodded.
"As the subject I should take the first… gods."
"Dad, I thought you didn't want to use that kind of language around mom… gods. Mom! You have to see this!"
Tiki ran over to take a look. Morgan was right. Even by Libra's standards, it was amazing. The stitching on Robin's robes was even better than the real thing. Robin's stance reflected him perfectly, better than Tiki ever thought a painting could. And as a finishing touch, his eyes reflected the room. Tiki could see her face smiling back from one eye, and Morgan waved out of the other. She'd seen the greatest works of hundreds of the masters in her time. This was their equal.
"It's perfect."
Libra smiled.
"I'm honored, but this is only a rough..."
Robin shook his head.
"You had Naga's granddaughter swear on seeing it. The Voice is looking on in silent awe. I think we can go into compliments even at the rough draft stage."
Morgan bobbed in agreement.
"Plus, it's going to get all covered in magic… stuff. You're just providing the backbone for it. A really, really good backbone. Wow. I almost feel bad about using this in a ritual instead of just putting it up on a wall somewhere. Sadly, the progress of science has never cared too much for art. Miriel?"
"As prepared as presently required, accounting for pragmatic interpretations of certain vigorous…"
"Great! Hit it!"
Light and fire rushed from all corners of the room and everyone in it, illuminating the canvas with… life.
Tiki didn't have any other words to describe it. The light and the fire were alive, as energetic as a baby dragon, if somewhat less likely to singe off someone's…
"Ow!"
Robin swatted at his head amid a cloud of smoke.
Just like a baby dragon, then. Tiki chuckled. Morgan coughed in embarassment.
"Uh, that didn't happen in any of the test runs. I mean, if we had done test runs, that probably wouldn't have happened. Sorry, dad. But if it makes you feel any better…"
Morgan held up a card with Libra's portrait of Robin emblazoned over the front.
"Ta da! You're now one of the most legendary figures in Ylisse's history! In days to come, when you're long gone, a bored history student will STILL be able to ask you all the stupid questions I bothered you with when I was small!"
"I'm sure I wasn't bothered to answer my daughter's questions.
"Well, no. But they won't be as charming as I was. Want to test it out?"
"You mean do I feel up to crippling existential doubt and inflicting the same thing on my own double, only worse?"
"Err… yep!"
Robin smiled.
"Let's give it a go, Morgan. It's been much too normal a day to feel comfortable."
"Yesss! Okay, let's see. How did this work…"
Morgan twisted her hands through half a dozen elaborate gestures as she muttered through mnemonic devices.
"And Ike fights for his friends, bringing us to the end. Okay, fingers crossed…"
A second Robin appeared in a flash of light. Morgan grinned.
"Ta da!"
The first Robin nodded.
"Well, he certainly looks like me. Full marks for that. Well, other than the smirk. But shouldn't he be moving?"
"I read up on that. He'll take a little while to warm up. Just wait for it. This will be great."
The second Robin blinked and lifted his hands in front of his eyes.
Morgan tensed her fists.
"Wait for it…"
Then the second Robin started laughing.
"I RULE THIS LITTLE WORLD! ALL TREMBLE BEFORE…"
Morgan frowned and snapped her fingers.
Nothing happened.
She snapped again, and a third time until the other Robin vanished.
The remaining Robin glared.
Morgan coughed.
"Uh… looks like there's still a few kinks to work out. Don't worry. I'll keep working on it!"
Robin smiled.
"That's what I'm worried about."
"Okay, we're almost… done. Right."
Robin blinked. He was on the ground. Again.
He had no memory of how he got where he was. Again.
This was becoming a bad habit.
At least he wasn't outside this time. The roof above him looked solid. Even cheery. The ground below supported his back without fuss. All he needed was someone to help him up, and this might set a new record for pleasant awakenings, no idea how he got here edition.
A hand reached down, and Robin passed a silent prayer of thanks to Naga. Not many people could rely on their mother-in-law this much.
He looked up the arm to see his wife's face looking back at him. Robin smiled.
"Let me guess. I let Vaike talk me into a night on the town."
No, that couldn't be right. Tiki's eyes were not set to 'What did you do last night, you wonderful idiot?" Too sad and too happy all at once. She was on the verge of crying when she replied.
"No. Not after last time."
Robin tried not to break eye contact as he glanced around for context. There was something he missed, obviously. Either facts he missed when he was out, or social cues he was missing right at the moment.
There was a woman in the corner of the room in a robe, with a small girl tugging on it. She looked… well, a fair deal like Tiki. And the girl looked like the other woman.
Robin looked back to his wife, and the lines under her eyes. Oh. It was so simple.
"How long have I been dead?"
Tiki winced. Robin smiled.
"There's no shame in it. I've heard almost all of the best people take up the habit sooner or later. I'm just glad I can still do something for you and Morgan. That is Morgan, I trust? She's grown into a remarkable woman."
Morgan nodded.
"I just… I should have known you'd guess. I just wanted you and mom to have a little longer before I went and ruined it with the 'you died' thing. So, uh, I'll let you and mom catch up. Come on. Daddy and mommy have a lot to talk about."
Morgan and the young girl tugging at her coat slid out of the room, leaving Robin alone with Tiki.
Robin coughed.
"So, I suppose it's an awkward question, but it's going to just hover over the whole thing unless I ask. How long ago did I… die? The last thing I remember is heading off for a portrait session…"
Tiki sighed.
"A long time ago. I was sleeping until right before you… passed. You stayed just long enough to bid me goodbye."
"I'm glad I could at least do that. I'm guessing it's been a few centuries, which at least answers most of the questions I could ask. How's Nowi been doing?"
"Last time we talked, she seemed to be taking things as well as you could hope. I haven't seen her since the funeral, about three hundred years ago."
"Ricken? Well, I suppose she knew the risks going in, but that doesn't make things much easier."
"Nah."
"Well, who was… oh."
Robin winced and chuckled.
It was not a happy chuckle.
"I knew that name was going to be trouble. Gods. How did it happen? Or is it something that I'd rather not know?"
Tiki frowned.
Robin sighed.
"It's a story I'd rather not know."
"She died protecting me. I said I'd be her friend, that I would help her shoulder the burden of being alone, and I let her die. I failed her."
"No. I know you, and I knew her. Whatever happened, she would have done it again in a heartbeat. I know you might not think it was a good trade, but she did, and doubting it is an insult to her memory."
"Morgan named her daughter after her."
"Morgan… daughter."
"Yes, she…"
"Morgan. Daughter. I'm a… gods. I'm torn between being terrified at the thought of Morgan being a parent, and being terrified at the thought of being a grandfather. Neither feels natural right now. I mean, aside from my ghost somehow being here a few centuries after my death. You'll have to forgive me for a few jitters."
"She's a fine mother. You would be proud."
"I am proud. I know that the past tense is more appropriate, however I'm here, but it goes down smoother if I can at least pretend like I'm still… alive. In the most conventional sense. So. Morgan. Is there a second one? If so, how did Ylisse, no, the world survive?"
"We have three children."
"Three."
Robin smiled.
"Well, that explains everything, then. This is the afterlife. There's no way anything could survive prolonged exposure to three Morgans. Even two would be pushing it."
"You named our son Marc. He's… less rambunctious."
"I suppose he'd have to be. I can't imagine he'd be more trouble. Still, living in Morgan's shadow…"
"The last time I saw him, he was the most respected man in Ylisse. I suppose being the father of the queen would explain that."
Robin's face slowly broke into a massive grin.
"He… My son married Chrom's daughter? That's too perfect for words. ...In multiple senses. I suppose… well, it's good I died the first time. Fell blood on the throne would have too much potential for disaster. I'm sure Morgan consulted my notes on the..."
Robin lifted his hand to the back of his head.
"I suppose we had this conversation already."
Tiki smiled.
"More than once. But I missed it while you were gone."
Her eyes filled in the details. She missed everything.
Robin shook his head
"I'm sure I could go on for hours, but in most of these conversations you liked it less by the third hour, and you were asleep by the fourth, so we should probably do something else."
He sighed.
"If I don't miss my guess, we're far too low on time already. I'm grateful for it, but we should get to the point. What was I brought here for? I'm guessing it's not a battle, or Morgan would have mentioned it. Anything desperate enough to call me up is too desperate for this much alone time."
"No. The world is at peace. And I would never disturb your rest to plunge you into that again."
"I would, you know."
"I know. Which is why I would never dare ask you. It was my idea. Morgan mentioned..."
Robin shook his head.
"It was Morgan's idea."
"I came up with it on my own, my love. Morgan didn't..."
"I say this with all due respect to my wonderful, brilliant, and beautiful wife. If Morgan said something, she was manipulating you. I imagine she's gotten even more subtle in the time I've been gone, and five minutes of conversation would convince me that I came up with the brilliant and innovative tactic of just giving her whatever she wanted. But right now, I still see clearly enough to recognize a Morgan idea."
Tiki glared. Robin wasn't quite sure if it was a "Morgan and I are going to have a talk later" glare or a "Robin, if you were still alive that is the sort of talk that would leave you sleeping on the floor alone." glare. It passed too quickly to assign a real value.
"Whoever's idea it was, we thought it would be good if you could meet your grandchildren. They never had enough time with you before. They grew up so quickly, most of them, but not… quickly enough."
"Blink once, and Morgan's married. Blink twice, everyone is gone. I… can't say I understand, your mother knows well enough on that front, but I can get close to imagining it."
Robin and Tiki were both silent for a moment.
Then Morgan leaned around a corner.
"Uh, I know you're probably in the middle of a really emotionally delicate thing, but there's only so long I can hold the kids back. Sorry to rush you, but..."
Robin nodded.
"I think we could use the distraction."
"Good. By the way, just as a warning, and I have to make sure you know this is your fault somehow, your grandchildren are mostly immature and/or psychotic."
Robin smiled.
"Immature? I remember when you..."
"Hey! I'm a respected adult now! I've done ALL KINDS of mature things since then, as far as you know."
"Uh-huh."
"And, at bare minimum, I'm a bastion of maturity in comparison."
"I'll believe it when I…"
"GRANDPA!"
Three small blurrs knocked Robin into a wall. Robin tried to discern details from the rapidly moving forms.
Two girls and a boy, if he had to guess. One of the girls was a little older looking and wearing a cut down version of the family greatcoat. The other had blue hair and a number of cuts, bruises, and other signs of a childhood well wasted. The boy was even harder to track, ducking around to the edges of his sight, like Kellam. Well, like Kellam if Kellam had eaten far too much sugar every morning for three centuries or so.
"So, you're… OOF… my grandchildren?"
The taller girl stopped in her tracks and nodded.
"Yep! I'm Nah, that's Emm, and that's Bryce. You're Robin!"
"...I was fairly clear on my name."
"I wasn't sure. Mom said you forgot about that sometimes. And summoning a handjar…"
Morgan's voiced buzzed from the edge of the room.
"Einherjar!"
"Einherjar is old magic, so I wasn't sure it would work. I mean, mom's really smart…"
Emm nodded.
"Aunt Morgan's the smartest."
"But she couldn't be sure this would work, right?"
Robin shook his head.
"I've never been quite sure how much Morgan knows and is pretending not to because she thinks it's funny, and how much she's desperately covering up because she doesn't know."
"But mom said you always knew what she was thinking. That parents were pskik and knew when you'd been bad all the time."
"Maybe I picked it up later, then."
"Maybe? I had a bunch of questions for you, I took notes…"
Emm jumped in front of her cousin.
"Dad said you were a god are you a god great grandma is a god even though she says she isn't so whats it like being…"
Robin shook his head.
"No."
Nah glared at her cousin.
"I told you it was a bad question."
"That's why I didn't wait. And I got my answer so…"
Emm made a very good approximation of her grandmother's infamous raspberry,
Nah returned the favor in kind. After a few seconds, Bryce paused long enough to shoot a few sidelong "Ptthpts!" of his own into the melee. Robin sighed.
"You had questions?"
Nah stood straight again.
"Mother said you were the tactician for her first campaign! What was that like?"
"What was what like? Battle? Being responsible for the lives of all of my closest friends? Managing the affairs of an army?"
Nah shook her head.
"I was thinking of the difficulty of working with someone you knew to be your clear superior."
In the background, Morgan frantically shook her head. Robin looked from his daughter back to his granddaughters.
"What?"
"Well, mom is obviously the smartest, best strategist in the whole wide world, and she was already older than you were, by, like, centuries. So she had to be better than you, right? All the history books talking about you were just her being polite because…"
Morgan waved her arms and shook her head. Robin smiled.
"Do you really want to know what your mother was like when I first met her?"
"Of course. She says that information is the key to understanding your position and acting on it properly."
"Well, she once chased down a priest and force fed him bear gizzards."
In the background, Morgan lifted her hand to her face and sighed.
Nah opened her eyes wider.
"My mom did that?"
"Morgan did a lot of things back in the day. I mean, she's always been brilliant, but… she didn't always think things through."
"Really?"
Morgan leaned closer to the group.
"I'M NOT THE ONE WHO DECIDED TO START A BATTLE INSIDE A VOLCANO!"
"It worked, didn't it?"
"So did my plans!"
Robin raised an eyebrow. Morgan coughed.
"Most of my plans. Some of more plans. Enough of my plans that I felt good about the fact I had plans."
"I remember those plans. Some of them were brilliant."
"Thank you."
"And all of them were completely insane."
"Fatheeerrrr!"
Robin looked down at Nah. She was frozen in place. Robin knew that look. He'd seen it on Lucina's face a time or five, after all. Knowing your parents were human was always a huge shock.
Err… well, human wasn't exactly the right term in this case, and Robin's experience with his parents wasn't any kind of a match, but the basic principle was the same. He turned back towards his daughter, who was blushing red to compliment her green hair.
"It's a compliment, Morgan. I wouldn't have come up with half the ideas you made work. When Laurent tried to beat me in a game, he would study my patterns and try to execute them a little better. You studied my games just as much and studied how I thought even more, but you used that information in ways no one else would have risked. When you failed, you failed gloriously. I know that any daughter would be a gift worth celebrating, but I have a hard time imagining anyone I'd be more proud of."
"Aww."
"I should have said that when I was alive, shouldn't I?"
Morgan smiled.
"You said it, like, fifteen times, at least. But it's still sweet. I missed this. Also you. Also pickle based desserts."
"Pickle based…"
"They were really popular a couple centuries back, and I didn't stock up. Then everyone went back to thinking they were really gross, and now I can't get them anywhere."
Robin shook his head
"I'm glad I rank ahead of a novelty snack in your affections."
"Well, you were gone longer. But I had plenty of time with you. Probably best to focus on the new hellspawn."
Emm waved her hand in acknowledgement.
"Hellspawn!"
Robin nodded to her and turned back to Morgan.
"She seems… proud of that."
"She gets in a lot of fights. I blame Uncle Chrom."
"He's long dead, isn't he?"
"Well, yeah. But that makes him way, way easier to blame. It's what he would have wanted. And before you argue, I spoke to him more recently than you did."
Robin shook his head.
"I'll get back to grandfather duties, then?"
"Sounds good."
"So, which embarrassing stories should I lead with? I mean, there's so many good options!"
"I just wish we could find a dragon"
Matthew waited for a response. He knew it was coming. The same canned lines he'd heard a thousand times.
"Because you finally realized how stupid your theories are and you want to die in firey agony?"
Jess's ears flopped as she said it. The only sign she was paying attention instead of replying on autopilot.
Matthew went through his routine. No point in varying it up.
"Look, the legends say that dragons were nearly immortal. If one, even one, survived to the present, imagine what they could tell us! A dragon could have seen the Plegian wars, the rise and fall of New Altea, the Valmese political revolution!"
Jess smirked.
"The reign of the dark god Grima! Naga's last message to the world!"
"I know, I know. Dragons get mixed up in all kinds of religious nonsense. I'm not saying half of what people wrote is true. The Scouring is out, obviously. I doubt they had any kind of 'mass ascension' or that there was one with a wingspan wide enough to house an entire army. But they've found skeletons…"
"Of a massive, extinct predator species, and a variant humanoid. There's no concrete connection. And before you bring it up, no. A bunch of old myths don't count."
"I don't see why not. I mean, Lucina the Great was a myth until they found the tombs, and now she's in the history books. Myths are the memory of society."
"Myths are myths. Facts are facts. Sometimes people get them confused. And even IF I admitted your Manaketes were real, they'd just be another branch of the Taguel. We aren't exactly a rare and exotic species, Matt."
"But…"
"And the professor says you're full of it, so."
That was always the end of the argument. The Professor.
She was 'well preserved for forty', according to the first person he'd asked about her when he signed up for her class at the academy. Then he found out she'd been 'well preserved for forty' for better than a decade now, at minimum. No-one knew when she'd been first hired, no-one knew exactly how old she was, no-one even knew if the details on the paperwork matched her real name. Everyone had their theories, of course.
"I bet she's just trying to keep you from looking into her past. ELWIND!"
A massive burst blew away the first layer of sand from the dig. Other spells would come into play for the delicate work later, but initial access meant you could afford to get a little flashy.
"Looking into her past."
"I bet she worked for the government as a dark mage."
"Officially, they don't employ any dark mages."
Matthew rolled his eyes.
"Officially."
"I'm just saying, they haven't found proof…"
"Because anyone who gets close realizes they could be killed by dark mages. So, she was a dark mage, and sucked the life out of people for years, and now she's retired and using it to extend her life. Simple."
"And when she runs out?"
"Oh. She'll just suck the life out of students caught sleeping in her class. It should be obvious. I mean, she wants to do it already."
"She smiles at them! She thinks it's funny!"
"Exactly. Have you seen what else she thinks is funny? We are talking about a lunatic who takes sadistic glee in planning her retribution on… hello."
Matthew turned away from his friend and looked at the newly cleared section of the dig site.
"Do you see that?"
Jess squinted past Matthew's finger.
"A slight glint in the sand? It might be something. Another elixir, probably."
"Elixir's good. Varying decay rates help tell the age of the site, the exact blend tells us the culture we're dealing with…"
"And the fact there's elixir tells us we're on a dig, because every single site we've been to has had more. damn. elixirs. No-one ever seemed to use them. Just stockpiled in case of emergency."
"Don't be so cynical. It might be something else. I'm going to yank it out."
"And break it?"
"Look, I'll be careful. I'll write down where it was, put it back once I'm done. No problem."
Matthew walked across and shoved away dust to reveal a glittering piece of… paper? A scroll? No. That would have been torn apart by the ravages of time. It was in the shape of a card, but… oh.
Oh. Gods.
"Come over here!"
"What? A dragonstone?"
"No, also shut up, also I admitted those probably were metaphorical last month, no need to rub it in, because we just got 'A's in class for the rest of our natural lives. An einherjar."
Jess turned her ears towards Matthew.
"Just to be clear, I've given you the taguel speech, right?"
"More than once."
"How our instincts are refined to an extreme despite centuries of civilization? How our senses remain keen in the most challenging circumstances, how our hearing is much more accurate than any human's?"
"As I said, more than once. And it's not like you're the first taguel I've met."
"Good. Then you have proper context for me asking what in the name of all the gods you just said, because it cannot be what I think you just said."
"But it is."
Matthew held up the card in the sunlight. The text was obscured by dust and grime, the edges were battered by the centuries, and the old magic crackled around the rim, but none of it obscured the truth. They had just found some of the most potent and forgotten of the old magics, right below their feet.
"Gods."
"Gods. How many of these have been found, over the years? I mean, ones that still work."
"...About a dozen. Officially."
"And this isn't any of them. We're holding history. Well, I'm holding history. You're staring in entirely justified envy at history. "
Jess squinted and shrugged.
"I'm staring with envy at myth. But you're close."
"History, Jess."
"No. History would be one of your dragons. If they existed. This is myth."
Matthew shook his head.
"From here, it looks like jealousy."
Jess smiled.
"Oh, don't get me wrong. I am very, very jealous."
"I knew it."
"But Einherjar aren't history. They're a later era's memories of some long dead hero or monster. They're not the same as the original. Maybe, maybe, if they were made within a century or so of the actual person's death, you could get some valid insight."
"But…"
"Come on. You know that the two Marths are completely different. This will just be some later culture's stories of whoever this is."
Matthew shrugged.
"Okay. Fine. There's going to be some myth mixed in. But even myth tells us something about the culture that made it. Grima may not have existed, but there were massive magical disasters around that time, including necromancy on a scale that modern science is only beginning to match. The incestuous summoning of Loptr was myth, but it tells us a lot about cultural attitudes towards… that kind of thing."
"And dragons were a way to try to comprehend a megapredator by scapegoating a minority group and engaging in mass slaughter, allowing mass murder without the guilt."
"I'm still not giving you that one. But we can agree the principle is sound."
"I suppose. So, is there a name?"
"...Robin, master tactician. I think that was… middle Ylissean expansion, controversial figure, heavily tied into the Grima myth cycle."
Matthew paused.
"Or, at least that's what the text says."
"You aren't thinking about it."
"I'm just saying, Jess. There's some incidents of misfiled artifacts from old wars causing a lot of trouble down the line. Big scandals."
"You are not going to summon an ancient warrior in the middle of a dig site…"
"Can we really afford not to, though? Can we risk…"
Jess shook her head.
"Let me finish."
"Fine, fine."
"You are not going to summon an ancient warrior in the middle of a dig site, because I'm going to do it."
"Look, it's not that complicated a magic…"
"It's summoning. Elemental stuff, I trust you. Summoning, I don't."
"Is this about the thing with the Risen? Because that was one. time."
"I remember it as five times."
"Well, they all came from the same basic mistake…"
Before Matthew could say anything more, Jess had the card out of his hand.
"I've never had a chance to use one of these before, but you throw them on the ground, and…"
The card burst into an explosion of light and a man fell to the ground.
Jess smiled.
"Notice that? That's the undead not rising from the dead to devour the living."
"One. Undead. And it just stood around moaning for a few hours until the professor stabbed it through the eyes."
The figure on the ground stirred.
"Ugh."
Matthew looked down.
"It's talking. What do we do now?"
"Just a second, I know this…"
"You're looking at a cheat sheet, aren't you?"
Jess was too busy muttering to notice Matthew.
" 'The forming of an Einherjar is drawn from the impact they made on the world, and the memories they left with those they touched. If an einherjar could be formed of one still living, it would hew closer to the soul than any yet known, but a man who could change the world so much in so short a time would be more a god than a mortal.' Fine, but how did they WORK?"
The figure on the ground creaked.
"So, I'll get up myself, then. Thanks for being so helpful."
Matthew and Jess both stepped back.
"It's moving!"
The figure moved to his feet.
"Yes. I am. Most people do. Do either of you know where I am?"
Jess looked over at Matthew. He could read that look. It was the "You owe me, so you get to distract the historical figure while I try to find how we get it back in the card." look.
Amazing how many words you could fit into one glare. Matthew locked eyes with the figure. More depth in the eyes than you'd expect from a cheap magical facsimile. Then again, this was the magic that let one small kingdom challenge empires, and plunged the world into war. It being impressive was more or less what you'd expect.
"We should get your name first. Make sure we're all talking to each other like civilized people. Hi. I'm Matthew."
"Robin."
Robin smiled.
"Well, or Grima, but we're trying to be friendly."
"Grima? The dragon god that…"
"That nearly ended the world. I'm not proud of it either. But look at it this way. If I'm honest with you about that, I'm not going to hide much. Meanwhile, you still haven't told me where we are."
"Who can say, really? Which of us are really anywhere, in this grand scheme of things?"
"Oh. We're somewhere in the neighborhood of 'stalling for time since the plan is falling apart'. I can't say I'd give you top marks, but at least you're trying. So, where..."
"Why would I try to stall? I just think it's a complicated question. You might be a long way from home, and if you don't have any landmarks, I can't say anything that would really have meaning…"
"I've studied every map in circulation, and been around most of the world. I would know what you meant. Or I suppose I would. Your taguel friend throws some things into doubt. I'd say the weather feels like Ylisse, but..."
"Contineri?"
And Robin vanished back into the card.
Matthew looked down.
"Well. That was…"
"Yes."
"I think we both learned a lesson."
A voice echoed out from edge of the dig site.
"Oh, I wouldn't say you've really learned it yet."
A figure followed the voice. A woman in a cloak, frequently described as 'well preserved for forty', and smiling.
Matthew and Jess swiveled in unison.
"Professor?"
"No need to shout. I'm not deaf yet. Of course, I still might have heard you if I was. Not exactly subtle!"
Matthew slid the card under his foot.
"What wasn't subtle, ma'am?"
The professor smiled wide. Matthew thought of old stories of dragons, somehow. The smile looked like it could swallow someone whole.
"Don't treat me like an idiot, and I might return the favor some day. You just did something that's only not illegal because people assumed no-one would be that stupid. Pick the card up off the ground. Very carefully."
"What card?"
The smile inched wider. Matthew looked down at his foot.
"Oh, this! This is… huh! How did that get here?"
The smile could have devoured the world.
"Don't try it. It was old when I was your age, and I did it much better. Hand it over, and I might be able to forget this whole thing happened."
"What… what if I didn't?"
"Well, I wouldn't forget it. Guess it's kind of up to you to decide what that would mean."
Matthew looked at the smile. He had several contradictory ideas on what that would mean, but they all agreed on one thing.
He really would prefer if she forgot the whole thing, that he was here, and quite probably his name. He picked up the card. His professor's hand locked around it. He let go. She looked from Matthew to Jess.
"So, as far as I know, you were looking at something halfway across the dig site. Very, very quietly. So, if you start running there now, you might have something you can pretend to look at by the time I get back. Does that sound good?"
Jess nodded.
"Yes ma'am."
"Good. So let's look at…"
The professor looked at the face of the card and gasped.
Jess leaned closer.
"Look at what, ma'am?"
The professor straightened up. Her smile looked… different. Almost nostalgic.
"It's just really good art. Mostly magical artifacts had slapdash linework. No pride at all. This is totally different. I'll have to tell you about it when you see it. Because you aren't here."
"Err…"
"Or I lost a few students to a deathtrap. Again. You know, it's one of the hazards of archaeology these days. Deathtraps everywhere! I mean, I like it, because it shows how much pride the ancients took in their work, but…"
Jess was already loping away on all fours. Matthew turned to follow.
He glanced over his shoulder as he ran. The professor was looking at the card.
He almost heard her whispering as she vanished out of sight.
"Hi dad. It's been too long."
(Author's notes: I know. I know. It's been way too long. And I can't promise anything quicker next time, although I'll certainly try. Still, this update pushes the story over 150,000 words and to twenty chapters. That's something, at least. Wanted to do something special to mark the occasion, and I hope this managed to pass muster.
So, basic idea that kicked this off was thinking about Einherjar. I mean, Robin, Chrom, and company are at bare minimum on the hero level of past Fire Emblem casts, and get past most of them handily (Eliwood takes out one ordinary dragon. I'm not downplaying it, but compared to killing a god...) I figured Robin probably would qualify for the position. Of course, that left questions on both ends. How the card would get made, and what would happen with it after he was dead. This was the end product of all that thought.
As always, thanks for reading, hope you liked it, and be careful out there.)