Severa was very irritated at the world in general.

If she wanted to take the time to think about why, she might have chalked it up to spending a day with her parents recently, or her awful night's sleep, or (if she was feeling especially honest) just the fact that she was still Severa, and the world was still the world.

But since she didn't want to spend time on that, she just muttered a curse and kept walking. She'd have specific things to be irritated about soon, and she wanted to bask in the general kind of irritation for a little longer.

"Ah! Fate has decreed another meeting! Cruel as the heavens may be, they present opportunities for heroism as well as despair!"

Case in point.

"Owain. Cut the crap. I'm not in the mood."

"Hark! The beast speaks!"

Severa's hand flicked to her sheath and her sword flicked to Owain's throat.

"Really not in the mood."

Owain gently pushed the sword away from his throat.

"Ah. Nice seeing you again?"

"Yeah. Fine. Same to you. I'm guessing you got a letter too? Really nice how the client doesn't trust either of us enough to handle whatever she's asking for alone."

To be fair, Severa wouldn't have trusted Owain on his own either. But her self esteem was bad enough without someone trusting him as much as they trusted her.

"Perhaps they sought… err, were looking for the best two mercenaries?"

"With our luck, they hired Inigo already. Ugh. You think that anyone writing personal letters would be screening, but no. They're just taking any riff-raff they can find."

She should have guessed it from the fact they wanted to hire Severa in the first place.

"Perhaps. Or perhaps this is a tournament of the fellest warriors, they that defied gods and demons alike to…"

Severa rolled her eyes.

"I thought you were going to try to stop. This is exactly why we broke up."

"I thought it was because I snored too loud."

"That's why we broke up the third time!"

"Are you sure it wasn't the fifth?"

"Are you daft? Because you are. The fifth was when you said that I was spending too much on that hairclip, so you…"

Severa let the argument drift into autopilot, and focused on the road. From the snatches of conversation she could remember, Owain followed suit. It was almost nice, falling back into the old patterns.

Alright. Fine. It was nice. Some days, Severa thought she only broke up with the idiot so she could get back together with him later.

She paused her feet, if not her mouth, at a small gate. A woman in a cloak with pointed ears was waiting in front of it.

"Morgan."

"Severa! Owain! Wow, didn't think I'd see you two back together so soon. Good thing I didn't take that bet, because, again, wow."

Severa rolled her eyes again and wondered if some day they'd get stuck that way.

"We're not."

"Oh. I probably should make a bet, then. How long do you think it will be this time?"

About a week, but there was no way on Earth she was going to tell Morgan that.

"It doesn't matter. Why are you even here?"

Severa paused. Knowing her luck, it seemed likely enough she knew the reason already. Still. Best to ask.

"You got a letter, didn't you?"

"Nope!"

Morgan smiled.

"I wrote one. Or more than one. Let's say two for now."

"I know your handwriting."

Morgan smiled wider and slowly held up her left hand with a quill in it.

"You know one of my styles of handwriting. Fortunately, I have two hands. I thought you might not want to come if you knew who was hiring. "

"Because I'd think it was a joke. Come on, Owain. She had her stupid fun."

"Not yet! You haven't gotten your stupid money yet! We need to balance everyone's stupid equally!"

"You're actually paying."

"Demigodess's honor."

Severa turned back to face Morgan.

"Alright. Fine. What do you want?"

"Well, first I'd like you to come inside. And I'd like Owain to cook something, but that might be kind of greedy to demand, even from my destined partner. Come on. If you think it's that bad an idea, you can leave once I've told you what you're doing."

Morgan opened the door and gestured for Severa to follow.

Severa did. Pay was pay, and she'd had much, much worse clients than Morgan. And she'd worked with people she liked a lot less than Owain.

Morgan babbled about the house and how she had helped her father design it with influences from someone from some year, gods only cared when. Severa just looked for any hint as to why she was hired in the first place. An infestation of rats, a hall of gladiators ready to fight to the death, a basement with a portal to hell. Severa hadn't had many clients who needed work done inside their homes, but every one of them was a story that guaranteed a few months of free drinks.

"And here's the job!"

Severa slammed into the archway and leaned into the corner. Sticking your head out meant some smart-arse archer could take it off before you could take the measure of things. Her sword, on the other hand, was relatively arrow resistant, and shiny enough to reflect any potential problems before they became real problems.

For example, her… whatever Owain was stepping right into the middle of the room. How was he still alive?

Morgan turned back.

"Uh, Severa? It's not that kind of job. It might work out better if you actually came into the room. Not that I'm telling you how to do your work."

Severa winced. Oh, good. More 'fun' for Morgan later. That was probably her psychotic little plan all along. Just showing how…

No point in getting paranoid.

Severa stepped away from the wall and into the room, where two small wyverns sat in a large cage.

On closer examination, the cage looked more like a playpen, of all things, and the wyverns didn't look quite like wyverns. The scales were too soft, and the fringes looked more like a newt's frill than a bull's horns. If Severa had to guess, the things in the cage might well be dragons.

"Mark! Lin! Say hello to the guests. The scary looking mercenary is Severa, and the man holding his hand in front of his face is Owain. They're old friends of mother and father."

The dragons tilted their heads to face Severa and Owain.

"Hey!"

"Hey!"

Severa took a step closer.

"...Hey. So, you're Robin's kids?"

"Yep!"

"Uh-huh!"

Morgan nodded.

"Mother and father wanted some time away, so I offered to take care of them. But then I considered things, and the mature and responsible adult to, well, me ratio was pretty bad. And since they'd been asking about everyone in the stories mother and father were talking about, this seemed like it would work best for everyone."

Severa shook her head.

"Mainly you."

"Well, fine. Mainly me. But things always seem to work out best for me. It's not my fault the universe plays favorites."

Severa could think of a few ways to blame Morgan anyway. And, for that matter, a few reasons. But she was probably paying. More importantly, Severa would be chewing Morgan out in front of her presumably adoring younger brother and sister. Abusing Morgan might be as harmless for both parties as punching a pillow, but with the little hellspawn in the playpen…

Not a good idea.

"Alright. What do they want?"

Both dragons bobbed in their impromptu cage, their voices a single piercing chorus.

"Stories!"

Severa looked over at Owain with "I am going to regret this" written all over her face. His eyes lit up.

"Ah! A tale for the ages! Of bold heroes and treacherous villains, of man and divinity locked in struggle for the very soul of all! Perhaps I could bring forward such an epic, but beware! It would carry a life of its own far beyond the abilities of mere mortals to contain it! Evan I would be forced to strain my might to its limits to prevent it from slaying all who listened! Do you dare?"

Marc nodded enthusiastically.

"We'll be okay. We're dummy-gods."

Lin snickered, then straightened her wings.

"Stories!"

Owain tensed his hand.

"Of course. Every fool believes they are able to withstand the true nature of the world. Then listen well, to the tale of the greatest Avenger, the hero of Ylisse, the..."

SCION OF LEGEND!

"The world has never been safe for heroes. Even the greatest can fall before cruel fate, and the bravest can have their very virtues turn against them. But once, in the world that was to come, the world was crueler still! For there, the death of heroes was not a possibility, but a certainty. There, even heroes like Chrom himself had already fallen. Can you even imagine such a place? Can such a place even be imagined by any who did not experience it?

Perhaps not, but you must try. Such a place was home to the most tragic of heroes, the Darkest of Avengers.

His legend would span the world! Nay! It would span the world ten times over! But…"

Owain paused. Severa was glaring, and Marc had his eyes closed.

"Err… I may have overstretched the introduction."

Severa was still glaring.

"MAYBE A BIT."

"Should I at least mention that the darkness of the world was mirrored by the dark tragedy in the soul of its hero?"

"Gods. No."

Lin's head bobbed.

"You should!"

Severa's head whipped away from her… whatever he was to glare at Morgan's little sister for a change.

"He just did, then! Would that make you happy?"

Lin's head bobbed again. Severa shook her head.

"Morgan, something is even more wrong with her than there is with you."

Owain cleared his throat.

"But none of this debate would have mattered in the deadly realm of our hero! The barest hint of his story will have to suffice. For on that day O… THE NAMELESS AVENGER was stalking the deadliest of all prey, a creature of the night… A DEADLORD!"

Lin tilted her head.

"Whas's a deadlord?"

"Kin to Risen, but more fiendish by far! For a deadlord still bears traces of a fighter's instincts and the mockery of the Avenger's greatest weapon, his brilliant mind!"

"Oh."

"Indeed!"

"Whas's a Risen?"

"It's... "

Owain paused. It was an odd question. He'd never passed more than a few months without seeing some of the fiends that he could remember. Asking what a Risen was would be like asking what the sky was, or what that painful orange thing on top of the sticks was all about.

"Err… have you ever seen any dead bodies?"

"Morgan and daddy say to tell mom that we haven't!"

Owain decided not to press the issue.

"Those, but walking and trying to eat people."

"Oh! Like when uncle Henry..."

"Yes! The creatures mine father has brought forth! Though they be a pale imitation of the true horror, perhaps you have gained a shadow of understanding. Yes. The Avenger sought to track the deadlord that day alongside some of his most trusted allies. But even they fell away!"

"We… they must have thought it was the stupidest idea they had ever heard. Because the "Avenger" had to run away from most regular Risen when they swarmed, because even he wasn't that much of an idiot."

Owain didn't slow.

"An idiot, or a hero. Hark! The difference is time. For there were many who would call the Avenger a fool for his quest! Many who fell away, for to hunt a deadlord was the nearest thing to hunting Grima himself ever dared by a mere human! The Avenger was a madman, or possessed of a drive and courage that the gods themselves must envy!"

Morgan smiled.

"I don't."

"Possessed of a drive and courage that the gods SHOULD envy."

Morgan skewed her face and slowly nodded.

"Okay, that one's fair."

Owain lifted his hand, skirting the diversions in the conversation.

"For days he pursued the fiendish beast that walked in the guise of a man! For nights he sat under the blood red stars, praying to the merciless heavens that his true desire be granted, that the blood of heroes could have eternal vengeance against the evils of the cruel Earth. But the gods were silent, save for the evils of Grima and the crashing terror of the void!"

Marc's eyes snapped open.

"Even grandma?"

"Aye! Even… your grandmother."

Owain almost sighed. Of course. He was doing the blood of heroes thing in front of Naga's brood, those who had the blood of the mightiest of gods and the most terrible of demons coursing through their veins. Truly…

Truly, if they asked too many questions, everything would fall apart. It was worse than dealing with Gerome. At least he only looked like the brooding hero descended from dark gods and things man was not meant to know. Morgan's family actually was.

At least Owain had picked the right destined partner.

Well, best to keep the story moving, before they started trying to upstage him. Owain had managed to survive on improvisation and enthusiasm against far worse odds, after all.

"Yes. This was the AVENGER'S world. A battlefield where he would face naught but the most monstrous of foes and the most dire of odds. And on that night, he would face perhaps his greatest challenge. He was alone in the desolate wasteland, stalking a demon more powerful than any he had yet encountered, a beast born from legend as much as dim reality. Perhaps in life it was a hero, the Marth or Alm of another era. Now it was naught but a weapon against the remnants of mankind, without honor or the soul of a hero."

Owain looked around the room.

"At least, that was what the Avenger assumed at the start of his pursuit. And he had no time to revise the theory, for while he was stalking the beast… the beast stalked him!"

"Oooh!"

Lin hopped on her tail and waggled her wings happily. Meanwhile, Marc was curled up, his wings shielding his eyes from whatever terror he imagined.

It was good to have a receptive audience.

"Yes! While the Avenger stood at a crossroads, the deadlord attacked! It was all the Avenger could do to parry its massive blade, and the battle was joined in earnest! Man and monster, hero and demon, in an epic struggle for the ages! Most would have fallen, broken and battered by the weight of cruel fate."

"Not the Avenger!"

Owain nodded at Lin. She caught on fast.

"Indeed not! For his blood was the blood of heroes, and his strength was not born of peace, but of conflict! The demon learned that to its peril. Or perhaps… to its relief? For the beast did not seek helpless prey, but instead the greatest of champions. It may have been a last shred of what it once was once heroism to seek out O...THE AVENGER, for only he could bring it to peaceful rest, with his mighty AVENGER MODE. Though a skill he could never deploy near his comrades for fear it would leave his bloodlust too great to be controlled, on that night it came to him unbidden, the terror and glory of a thousand years of death! Even the deadlord fell before it, and the hero claimed his prize."

Owain paused again for emphasis, before drawing Missiletainn.

"This very blade!"

"Wowww! Can I touch it?"

"Err… of... course?"

Morgan shrugged.

"I don't have a problem with…"

Severa dashed across the room, and snatched the sword from Owain's hands.

"No! You don't give swords to babies! Why I am the only responsible one here? Gawds, that should never happen! This is the worst idea ever and there's no way that anyone could even THINK you should..."

And then, on cue Lin started crying.

Severa winced.

"Look. When you're older you can see all of Owain's stupid swords. He'll probably even let you name them."

Lin was still crying. Severa gritted her teeth.

"AND you can get another story right now, alright?"

Lin stopped crying instantly.

"Story! Story! Story!"

Marc slowly poked his eyes out from under his wings.

"But not a scary one."

"Fine. I have a story. I just…"

Someone knocked on the door.

Severa stood up.

"Have to get the people who are going to tell it! Don't worry about a thing. Trust me, it's going to much better than whatever stupid story I'd tell you. Hold still."

Severa cleared the distance to the door in half a minute, and had it open even faster. A man in a mask was holding a letter up to his face.

"Is this the 'First International World's Most Adorable Wyvern Competition'? I have an invitation."

"No. But you're in the right place."

The man's letter fell to the ground.

"Severa?"

"Yes. Sorry you can't get anyone else. "

Gerome blinked under his mask.

"You're accredited by a panel of top wyvern breeders."

"No. But I think I know who claims she is. Just come inside. There's probably going to be a stupid trophy anyway, and I need you to talk to small children so I won't have to."

"There were signatures."

"I'm not surprised."

"Oh, hey! Perfect timing!"

Severa could feel Morgan's chin digging into her shoulder. If it was anyone else, she'd wonder how they'd cleared the distance without making any noise.

With Morgan, she'd just learned not to ask questions.

"Morgan. This was your doing?"

"It took months to set up. But since you and Minerva came all the way out here from Wyvern Valley, I'd say it worked. I think I left the trophy somewhere in the cellar. Until I can get it, you can meet Lin and Marc. I mean, they've asked about you already, so this should be great."

Gerome cleared his throat.

"I'm not sure spending time around small children…"

Morgan smiled.

"They already think Owain is cool. Trust me, they'll love you, even if you are shy. Just think of it as one of your shy people conventions. Like people always hold in your tent!"

"...In my tent."

"Yeah. We've talked about this. At least five times. I'm pretty sure I don't need to go over it again."

Gerome shook his head. As far as he could remember, he hadn't talked about this once. It would be wisest to vanish back into the night. His companions would do better without a shroud over their souls, and he would feel much better without…

*HRRMPH!*

Well, mostly he'd feel better without the shame of preventing the most adorable wyvern in the world from receiving her award.

"Fine. I can meet your… siblings. Briefly."

"That's the spirit!"

Gerome felt a chill run down his spine.

It didn't dissipate when he went down the hall. It didn't dissolve when Minerva's breath warmed his armor. And it froze his blood when he came into the playroom.

They may have been dragons, but he remembered the 'Wyvernman!' incident too well to ever trust small children again.

Severa was pulling a sword out of the playpen.

"I left you alone for thirty seconds, Owain! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

"She asked nicely…"

"THAT IS NOT A GOOD REASON TO GIVE A SMALL CHILD A SWORD! NOW TELL THEM TO SIT DOWN SO GEROME CAN TELL HIS STUPID STORY!"

The chill was obviously insufficient.

"I never agreed to tell them anything."

Severa just glared. A lesser man would have wilted, but Gerome was born a world of fire and blood.. He had faced the loss of his family, more death than most could imagine. He could endure a few stares.

Severa was still glaring.

Gerome considered. Perhaps he had thought of his past as a tad… more bleak than it was. That it prepared him better.

He could endure, of course. This phantasmal world could hold no new fears for a man such as him. But he did not expect there'd be glaring of this magnitude. At least, not from Severa.

She'd obviously been practicing on Owain since he met her last. It was amazing the man could still stand after taking that kind of thing day in and day out.

Gerome looked to his mask. He could still walk away. Even if it meant leaving Minerva without the prize she'd rightfully earned, it also meant preserving the shattered shards of his dignity. It might be a fair trade.

*Hrrmph*

Sadly, Minerva disagreed.

"Fine. What story was I going to tell?"

"Not a scary one, apparently. And Marc here was terrified by Owain, so he doesn't have the highest standards."

"Fine. I… could tell you a story my mother told me as a child."

Gerome pushed his mask tighter to his face. It would be better if he didn't show any of his face for something like this.

"It's about a little girl. Not much older than you two."

The smaller dragon tilted her head in interest.

"How not scary is this story?"

"Err…"

"Because Marc doesn't want anything scary, but I don't want it to be too not scary, like the book aunt Say'ri brought about the bears."

Marc's wings slid apart to stop shielding his body from threats in general, and tilted to shield against threats from his five minute older sister.

"That was a good story."

"No it wasn't. Especially not every night for three weeks."

"Father liked it…"

"Father…"

Lin took a breath. Let it out. Clenched her jaw.

"Father can be…"

Lin's draconic face skewed in a look of absolute concentration.

"Father can be wr…"

Finally, she sighed.

"Father was right. It is a good story. I just want a different one. One that's more like the ones he told Morgan."

"But not a scary one."

"...Not scary, but not too not scary."

Marc nodded.

"Deal!"

Gerome clenched his teeth.

"I only had one story. You can dissect it later."

Lin shrugged her wings.

"If it's good."

Marc smiled. Anyone who hadn't grown up with a Wyvern for a nanny might have noticed the many, many sharp teeth first.

Gerome just noticed how little the friendly eyes behind them wanted to use them.

"It will be good! We wouldn't have guests if it wasn't!"

Gerome glared a little more behind his mask.

"It won't be anything if you two don't stop interrupting."

Marc's wings folded up again.

"Sorry."

Lin nodded.

"Marc's really sorry. Story!"

Wyverns and where to find them

"Fine. There once was a girl not much older than the two of you."

He paused. There were no sounds in the room. Good.

"She wanted to be a cleric of Naga, and she loved all living things. The trees, the birds, and especially the bugs."

Marc smiled, but stayed silent.

Gerome continued.

"But she was afraid all the same. She loved the creatures Naga loved, but she didn't know if she could love Naga. After all, she was so far away, and so different from the trees and the birds and most of all the bugs. And what if it turned out, when Naga sent word, that the girl didn't love Naga as much as she should?"

Lin smiled.

"Like anyone could hate grandma."

"What did I say?"

"Marc's still sorry!"

Gerome glared again.

"I said be silent. I will not ask again."

Lin clamped her jaws shut.

"Good. As I was saying, the girl worried that she would not love Naga enough when the time came. But she would never dare disturb the Voice, even if she could reach her. And other dragons were too rare and too far away to ever expect to meet. Then the little girl had an idea."

*GRMPT!*

"Yes, Minerva. Exactly. The girl decided she would go see Wyvern Valley. After all, dragons and wyverns were kin."

Morgan didn't say anything, but she did raise an eyebrow. In their pen, Marc and Lin did the same.

Gerome turned to look back at Minerva. She looked… embarrassed.

*Hrm?*

Gerome lifted his hands.

"Dragons and Wyverns were closer to kin than anything else the girl could find. So, she went to find Wyvern Valley. There, perhaps, she could find a wyvern, and know if she could really love Naga like she should. The girl climbed mountains and crossed streams, until one day, she found it. The valley of the Wyverns."

Marc's eyes were wide. Lin's weren't much smaller.

Funny, for dragons. But there you were.

"She looked above her head, to see the skies filled with the magnificent creatures. Even from the ground, she could see that they were amazing, but she couldn't know if she loved them. Awe and love are not always the same thing. So, she went to look for a Wyvern she could see up close, to know if she was doing the right thing."

Silence again. Gerome hoped it was interest, as opposed to boredom.

"There was nothing for what felt like days. She searched and searched, but in the end, she never found a wyvern."

Gerome paused for effect.

*Hrrf.*

"I was getting to that, Minerva. She never found a wyvern… but a Wyvern found her."

Marc slowly moved his head even further behind his wings.

"It lept out of the dark! A young wyvern, scarred and scared from its past encounters with mankind. She charged at the girl like a demon. The girl turned. She could have cowered, and spent her last moment in ignorance. She could have tried to run, and died with a shred of hope for escape. But the girl was not the kind to shy away from harsh truths, and had never been the fastest runner. She had only one choice left to her. She lifted her cleric's staff, and with a mighty blow, she brought it down on the wyvern's head. It roared and stepped back! She struck it again..."

Lin blinked.

"And that was enough?"

"What?"

"I know Marc's really sorry that I have to interrupt, and I wouldn't if he wasn't scared so much of the time, but a little girl shouldn't be able to beat up a wyvern, right?"

"What?"

"I mean, you said a wyvern's like a dragon, and a little girl hitting mother or Morgan or even Aunt Nah with a stick wouldn't do much. Marc might cry, but he'd be mostly fine anyway. And I'd..."

Minerva glared at the little dragon.

*HRRM!*

"She was a very strong little girl."

Lin nodded.

"Okay."

Gerome shook his head. He should stop after another interruption, but… he was close to the end anyway. Too close not to finish things.

"The wyvern followed the girl out of the valley, and together they flew home. The girl wouldn't meet Naga for many years. But she was content to know that she had found something she could love on the Earth. And if Naga had given her a friend like this one, Naga must be worthy of praise. So the girl and the wyvern were best friends from that day forward."

Marc unfolded his wings and clapped.

Gerome smiled, against his better judgement. Perhaps it was a good thing he came here for Minerva's award, despite everything. It just felt like he'd forgotten something. Something important...

"Dear? Does Minerva have her award yet?"

Lucina stepped into the room and looked around.

"I'm sorry to intrude, but… this doesn't seem to be a Wyvern talent show."

Gerome frowned.

"It was not. And I lost track of time. I should have never dallied with such foolishness."

Morgan smiled.

"Well, we're all glad you did. And hey! It means we all get to see Lucina again, which is even better. Hello, Lucina."

"Hello, Morgan. I'm sorry to intrude like this. Your mother has done me more kindness than I can repay, and here I am getting mud all over your floor. We'll be leaving soon."

"Don't worry about it. Although, if you do want to repay me, well…"

"Yes?"

Morgan gestured to the playpen.

"Well, Naga has a couple more grandchildren who'd like to meet one of the greatest heroes Ylisse has ever known. I think, with the whole saving the world for her thing that makes you almost even already, this would just about square you."

The dragons in the pen bobbed their heads.

"Lucina!"

"Err… hello... Morgan?"

Morgan shook her head.

"Close, but nope. They're Marc and Lin. I suggested it. Don't want to risk giving them more amnesia than they'd get already. Plus, if I'm hanging around with mother and father all the time, it might get confusing."

"I can... imagine."

It was one of the reasons she'd spent so little time in Ylisse. None, if she could help it. Lucina the younger deserved a chance to grow outside of her older self's shadow.

"Yeah. There's a lot of trouble in the world that way. I'm lucky that I'm the oldest Morgan I know."

"I suppose so. Hello Lin. Hello Marc."

"Hello!"

Lin nudged Marc.

"...Hello."

Lin rolled her eyes.

"He's just shy. We met other Lucina and he thought she was pretty."

"...You're pretty too."

Lucina coughed.

"Thank you. I'm sure little Lucina would be happy to hear something like that as well."

It was hard to tell under the scales, but it almost looked like Marc was blushing.

Severa glanced down at the dragon, and took a step towards Lucina.

"Look, I'm sure you embarrassed him enough already. You and Gerome, huh? Can't say it's a bad fit."

"Well, he is… we've known each other for a long time. Are you and Owain still together?"

"We broke up."

"I'm sorry to hear that!"

"Fifteen or twenty times already."

Lucina felt like she should apologize for that as well, but in a very different sense. Still, she wasn't here to judge. She didn't know why she was here, but being judgemental was certainly at the bottom of the list.

Owain nodded.

"Aye. The destinies of heroes never run smooth, for like the tides of a great sea, so the path of the champions of the doomed world constantly breaks on the cruel rocks of fate."

Lucina smiled.

"I'm sure. Perhaps you could tell me…"

Severa waved her hands.

"No. No. No. We are NOT talking about our love lives in front of small children. Look. Just tell Lin and Marc whatever you were going to say to them so we can all just move on!"

Lucina frowned.

"I… didn't really have anything to say."

"You've been gone for years and they've never met you before. You should have something. Look, if nothing else, just tell them a stupid story. They love those."

"I'm afraid I don't think my past would be the best subject for conversation either."

"So just tell them a stupid Marth story. They might not be as sick of those as the rest of us are."

Lucina's eyes lit up for a moment.

"Well, if they insisted..."

Lin nodded.

"We do!"

"I could tell one or two old stories about the hero king. They gave me strength in my youth. I have every hope you won't have the same desperate need, but I'm sure you'll have difficult times as well. What kind of story would you like? The first battles of his reign? The clashes that first brought the name 'Marth' into the ranks of eternal glory? Or perhaps his most tragic..."

"That one!"

"Very well. I suppose it is the one I remembered best, and any Ylissean would know the prince well enough not to need much context."

Especially the children of Tiki herself! Lucina almost froze. She was telling the legend of Marth to the son and daughter of one of the man's closest friends. She was… gods, if she wouldn't be denying Naga's heirs to do it, she would be better off running out of the room right now as opposed to taking the burden on herself that the lady Tiki so thoughtfully chose to delay.

Still. Onward, for to fall back was to fail the grandchildren of Naga.

The Heroking's Legacy

"The story begins when Marth was still young, almost ready to take his throne. He was a man of blood, even then, with a dragon falling to his blade, and the dead a carpet across the lands of his enemies..."

Morgan cleared her throat and nodded down towards Marc and Lin.

Marc was trying to curl up into a ball.

Lucina coughed.

"Err… that is to say he defeated many enemies. Marth defeated them. Nothing more."

Marc looked less terrified. Lin looked disappointed.

"Are you sure?"

Lucina paused. She remembered when she heard the stories of Marth for the first time from her father, how all the blood vanished whenever her mother entered the room. Almost like there were two Marths, one her hero, and one a sop for a mother's fears for her daughter.

It would be wrong to frighten a friend's son. It would be cruel to deprive a friend's daughter of a her hero.

"I… forget parts of the story from time to time. Perhaps if we meet again, the details will be different. But, while your brother is here, I am certain Marth was not a bloodthirsty man."

"Ohhhhhh."

"I'm sure Lady Tiki would agree. If I make any… errors, she should be able to correct them, if you ask. But it might be best if I returned to the story. Altea was at peace under the harsh but fair rule of King Marth. But in distant Aurelis, there was no peace. Hardin, the Emperor of the land, was once one of Marth's closest friends. A kind and gentle man, he brought freedom and hope to his people."

Lucina paused at the point for effect, a trick she'd borrowed from Owain when retelling the story with friends, before they'd all grown very sick of hearing about the hero king.

"Once."

Marc meeped. There was no other word for it.

"Once?"

"Yes. He wished for a woman who could never love him. He couldn't have the only thing in the world that mattered, so he tried to take everything else. Through lies and treachery, he took the world, town by town and kingdom by kingdom. Turned friend against friend. Used children as weapons against those who might come to aid his foes. He even imprisoned royalty as a sacrifice to the demon dragon! In the end, there was only one person able to fight against him."

Lin's eyes lit up.

"The Avenger?"

"Err… no. I'm afraid Owain wasn't born yet. And wouldn't be born for over a thousand years. I meant Marth."

"Oh! That's almost as good, right?"

"Better. Marth was the greatest hero his world had ever known. No man was his equal, and no dark god his master. He plunged through new foe and former friend alike, forging a path that reshaped the continent. Even as his allies fell away, he was unshaken. Even with his former closest friend opposing him, he was unbowed. Marth was the sternest man ever to hold a sword, and the most noble king ever to hold a throne. I doubt any of us could live up to his example, no matter how we try. And when the dark gods returned to see their handiwork… Marth defied them again, bringing about a new age of peace."

Morgan smiled.

"All on his own?"

"Well, no, I suppose the legends say he had a few allies, but in the end, he was the king. The responsibilities, the weight of leadership, all fell on his shoulder. And in the end, he was the one who slew the demon dragon. All the legends agree on that!"

"And what do you think your legends will say?"

"...what?"

"Aw, come on. You're a mysterious stranger who shows up out of nowhere to save the world with a second Falchion! Trust me. You're going to be just as famous as Father and your father."

"I wasn't trying for fame."

"But you're getting it anyway. People love a mystery. Which means they're going to make all kinds of things up about you. Pretty sure you'll have won whole wars solo by the time the legends are done with you."

Lucina shook her head.

"I would never have accomplished what I did on my own."

"Well, no. But neither did Marth, to hear mother talk about it. People don't really live up to the stories about them most of the time. They're better and worse at once. It's how you simplify things so they can last for thousands of years. No-one lives up to their legend. Or I guess I won't be able to live down my legend, but it's basically the same thing."

"Well, I'm sure you'll correct any errors that accumulate about me."

"Where's the fun in that? I'll add to them! For future reference, do you want eyes that shoot fire, or do you want to see death himself when you remove your mask?"

"I would prefer to have neither."

"One or the other, Lucy. It's a better deal than Marth had. Most people don't have any influence on how history judges them. You'll have me in your corner. Trust me. It's a pretty good deal."

"It would be a better deal if she let someone with an ounce of maturity handle things."

Severa turned to see a small girl walk into the room. Well, a small girl, or a very small dragon. Either description would work. And either would excuse how long it took to notice the latest guest's arrival.

Morgan didn't even look up.

"Hello, Nah. Great to have you here. We're going to wind up best friends by default a few centuries down the line, so it's probably for the best we actually like each other. I know we're off to a good start already…"

Nah snorted, not quite unkindly.

"You hit me in the head with your fists, books, and anything else you could get your hands on."

"And thus, a friendship for the ages was born. It's funny just how reliable a draconic friendship starter that is. Almost foolproof. We really should teach Marc about it."

Marc's hands covered his head. Lin's eyes gleamed.

Nah looked down.

"We shouldn't teach Lin about it."

"Well, no. Knowledge like that is all too ripe for abuse in the hands of a younger pseudo me. We've probably said too much already. Did you bring a story?"

Nah looked into Marc and Lin's eyes. They were both staring at her, eager for whatever she had to offer.

Of course they were.

"I didn't have one in mind, Morgan."

Severa shrugged in Nah's general direction.

"Look, you can't do much worse than most of what they've liked already. It's turning into a thing, so you might as well go with it."

"You're having fun?"

"I never said that. I just said it's turning into a thing! Look, things don't have to be great to know they could get a lot worse. And if it makes some people you'll have to deal with for centuries happy, I think it's worth a shot. Besides, we've done much stupider things."

"I thought we weren't going to talk about that."

"We. Aren't. But nothing's going to be that bad, so we might as well try to enjoy ourselves, right?"

"Fine."

Nah turned to face Tiki's newest children again.

"You're just lucky your grandmother told me to watch out for you."

Lin nodded.

"You're proof dragons can be responsible!"

Nah sighed.

"Do you really need… don't answer that. You need to know more about being dragons. Which is why this story has a moral."

Marc's wings flapped.

"A moral and a happy ending?"

"Maybe. You'll just have to wait. It's called…"

The Very Rampaging Dragon

"Once upon a time, there was a little dragon girl, not much different from the two of you. She loved Naga, and tried to keep a level head even when other people didn't. A priest came to talk to her. She passed on the word of Naga. A taguel visited. She tried to help give him courage. And then a crazy person kept trying to play games with her, and a man in a mask wouldn't treat her like an adult, and a… mercenary visited, and acted like she was just a little girl and not a really important person, and he just kept flirting with all the other girls around, which drove the little manakete crazy! So crazy that she might..."

Severa took a step back. After a second, Morgan mimicked her.

Nah looked over and paused.

"So crazy that she might do something she'd regret. So, the little manakete girl went off into the woods to be by herself. There, she could be calm and at peace."

Nah sighed contentedly for emphasis. Then she opened her eyes.

"But it wasn't meant to last. Because then the birds started pecking at the little manakete. And the owls kept making noise. Finally, a bear attacked!"

"Oooh! Bears!"

Marc nodded excitedly.

"Did she eat it? Bears are the best! They're one of my favorite animals."

Nah blinked.

"Um, what do you think bears look like?"

Marc shrugged his wings.

"Well, Aunt Morgan says they're small and friendly and almost jump in your mouth since they love to be eaten so much."

"...Why did she tell you that?"

"Lin was trying to scare me with what bears would do to me after we had a big meal one night."

"Oh."

Nah glanced over to Morgan. She shrugged. Nah looked back down at Marc.

"Well, if you know the truth about bears already, that makes this story tougher to tell. It wasn't a bear. It was… Something Else. If the little manakete girl was just a little girl, she would have been eaten!"

"But she wasn't, right?"

"No. She was a manakete! She used her dragonstone, and attacked the b...ig creature! Soon, she'd burnt it to a crisp. But then the forest was on fire. And the manakete had lots of animals going after her. So she had to burn them too! Soon, the manakete was burning down the whole forest! And then she was so angry that she ripped through the trees with her teeth, and then she tossed trees at other trees! Soon, she was rampaging everywhere, with burning trees lighting other trees on fire, and a big dragon stomping on everything! All the forest animals had to flee before the manakete girl's wrath, and she kept on going! Nothing was safe from her!"

Nah noticed her feet were stomping along with the story. Well, it helped keep up the momentum. It was fine.

"Soon, the girl was tearing apart the countryside! Everything fled for miles around! Nothing could stop her rampage! Soon, nothing would dare to try!"

Nah took in a breath. Let it out. She was getting a little too into things. It would probably be a good idea to wrap it up before she went any further.

"Hours later, the dragon looked around the burning remains of the forest. She never imagined that she could do that kind of damage. She'd never even gotten close to that kind of rampage. Soon, the girl slipped back into town, and didn't mention anything about the forest. The next day, people asked about the forest, but the girl didn't say anything. And no-one else knew what really happened for years. The end."

Lucina cleared her throat.

"Err… you said there was a moral, Nah?"

"Oh, right."

"Perhaps that there are times you should talk? Or that the great power of dragon's blood comes with great responsibility? I'm sure you had something in mind."

"I did. Err… make sure to get your regular rampages in, so that you only completely destroy places no-one cares about. If you do, rampages are the best."

Lin nodded sagely.

Most of the room did not look quite as enthused.

Well, they weren't dragons. It made sense the moral wouldn't quite apply.

"Are you sure that's the right moral?"

Nah slowly turned to see a large…

A large something she didn't have the words for, and hoped to Naga she never would. If she was forced to describe it, she would say it looked a little like the Lady Tiki in dragon form. A little. If Tiki was drunk, whoever was viewing her was drunk, and both parties were mostly made of cheap cloth and foam.

Calling it a dragon would be an insult to everyone living, dead, and otherwise. Calling it a human would say sad things about how the race Naga sacrificed for had fallen. And just looking at it made Nah's eyes want to bleed.

"Who are you and why are you here?"

"Because today's a special day! I hear two good little children asked for a visit from a dragon! And boy…wait a minute."

The dragon(ish) thing's head popped off between its hands to reveal Cynthia's smaller, somewhat less terrifying face.

"This isn't a birthday party, is it? Why would someone invite a hero to play a dragon when they already had a real dragon? Unless..."

Cynthia tried to smack her head with her hand. As her hand was already holding her other head, she staggered a little in the process.

"You wanted to see what it was like to be the hero instead!"

Nah rolled her eyes.

"Is that what you think this is about?"

Apparently, Cynthia did, because the sarcasm flew high enough over her head to startle nearby birds.

"And I took off my head! I might have ruined everything already! Geeze, that's not very heroic of me at all."

Cynthia looked like she was either going to go into a mad rush to fix things or break down crying. Nah didn't much like either of the alternatives.

"It's fine."

"Really? So the kids…"

"Hi!"

Marc waved his front claws in the air.

Nah nodded.

"Are fine with everything. This was all a setup so Morgan could inflict them on more people."

"Ohhhh. Why did the request ask if I had a costume, then?"

Nah didn't give the question the dignity of a direct response. Instead, she shot Morgan a quick look, who staggered into a shrug by way of response.

"I thought you might like a chance to try it out on a receptive audience? That way, you could make sure it worked before testing it on strangers. I was trying to think ahead, so you wouldn't have to test the costume for the first time at someone's coronation. Again."

"Again?"

Morgan shook her head and her hands.

"Forgetting things again! It's not that important, not when you came all this way here to entertain small children who are remarkably easy to impress, even by my little sibling standards."

Lin turned her head to face Morgan, with a look that could not have read "Should I be insulted?" more clearly if she said it aloud.

Marc kept his eyes on Cynthia.

"How does your head come off?"

Cynthia could feel the sweat on her brow growing. Naga's grandchildren might be a tougher crowd than she was planning on.

"It's a secret. A heroic secret."

"Oh. Can you tell me?"

Cynthia nodded.

"Some day! It's…"

It's… another example of Cynthia running her mouth off because she didn't know what else to say. She looked around the room and paused briefly on Owain.

"It's…"

Owain nodded.

"It's a secret at the highest levels of the Justice Cabal itself! Only there, through great heroism and the boldest of adventures, may you earn the greatest and most terrible powers of the art."

Severa opened her mouth, and Cynthia frowned. Just as cousin Owain was about to save everything, his stupid… whatever Severa was, was about to step in and ruin it. That's what came of spending your time around villains. Villainy!

Really, Severa was worse than a villain. She was probably a villanelle, whatever that was! Laurent mentioned it once, and tried to explain it to Cynthia. She didn't remember all the details, but from the sound of the word, it was an extra-villainy villain. A fiend that could only be described in long, exhausting sentences where Cynthia didn't understand half the words.

Severa looked down at Marc's excited little face, and turned away.

"Yeah. Don't ask me how she does the stupid thing. I never could get into the club. You'll just have to find out for yourself."

Then she glanced over at Cynthia. It was probably meant to convey some emotion or other, but Cynthia couldn't figure out anything.

Villainous schemes were tricky like that. It was hard to be a hero sometimes.

"For now, Cynthia's probably got some stupid story to tell you about how amazing she is. Considering how much you've liked everything else so far, you should eat it with a spoon."

Cynthia shook her head.

"And this is why evil always loses. It seems our vile villain forgot that stories are for listening, not eating."

"It was a metaphor. Gawds."

Cynthia smiled down at the dragons. She knew that! Every hero would.

It was just… junior heroes in training might not. Cynthia, as always, was looking out for others. That's what heroes do!

"Right! What kind of stories do you want? Something with daring deeds and an exciting theme song?"

Marc nodded vigorously.

"Something where the hero never fails to save the day?"

Marc's head bounced like a ball. Lin's merely resembled a clock's pendulum, but it was still encouraging.

"Well then! Tonight, prepare for…"

Justice In Flight!

Cynthia smiled. This was a good one. Yes. This was a great story, and she felt great about it, and…

And Lucina was not looking excited. She was coughing.

"Err… Cynthia? Did you have a story?"

"Of course!"

"Perhaps it would be best if you stopped humming and continued?"

"I was humming? Oh, right. That was the theme song! I want to get it just right. How was it?"

"I'm sure I'm not the best judge of these things. Perhaps you could ask later, once the story is concluded?"

Cynthia nodded. Lucina was, as always, smart, and, as often was the case, right. Even if she didn't understand half the rules about proper heroic ambiance.

"Right! So, where was I?"

Marc opened and closed his mouth like he was chewing on his words. Lin scrambled for the front of the pen ahead of him.

"You hadn't started!"

Marc stepped back.

"She was going to…"

"But I made it happen faster! I'm such a thoughtful sister."

"She still hasn't."

"So I'm going to make it happen faster. Still thoughtful!"

Lucina turned to face Morgan and Nah.

"Are they always like this?"

Nah shook her head.

"No."

Lucina smiled.

"I knew Lady Tiki's children would seldom…"

Nah kept the same stony expression as she had before.

"Sometimes they're asleep."

"Ah."

Cynthia lifted her right foot onto a footstool. Right. Some people were already distracted. They needed something to draw their attention and raise their spirits. They needed… CYNTHIA!

"Once upon a time! DA DA DA!"

Cynthia could feel the attention shifting. All she needed now was to keep it.

"There was a great hero named… Musia. The most heroic pegasus knight in all of… somewhere that wasn't Ylisse."

Marc tilted his head.

"Where?"

"Not Ylisse, if that's what you were thinking. She tamed the greatest pegasus in the world, but even that wasn't enough to satisfy her heroic hunger for justice. Even her great talent at cooking was unable to satisfy that. So she went out into the world to seek out new adventures and, perhaps, someone who could be a heroic sidekick to her grandest quests!"

Cynthia looked to Lucina for approval. Lucina didn't actively look away. Good enough.

"First, she met a prince of the country she was in, which wasn't Ylisse. He was kind and great and also heroic, the kind of person who'd call any daughter he had his special pega-pony princess. They were happy together, but sadly, he just wasn't sidekick material! He couldn't fly on a pegasus, and being royalty meant he'd be spending a lot of time with boring paperwork instead of charging into battle. It was even worse when she met one of the prince's friends, who spent more time reading about being a hero than doing it! Musia was at a loss. How could she be the most heroic person in the world and not have someone to mentor heroically?"

"She couldn't?"

"Right! So she had to. And one day, when she was fighting with bandits, she saw something! A flash of bl… green hair! The same color of hair as the prince of the country she was from! It was a sign that this bandit was different. Despite her shady past, she had a heroic spirit. Although Musia was the greatest hero in the world, the bandit could almost match her. They fought for hours, learning through battle about the other's heroic hearts! And then, when Musia could have thrown the killing blow, she stopped. Because this was the sidekick she'd been searching for! Together, they would go on to be some of the greatest heroes the world had ever known!"

"When they weren't falling flat on their faces."

Cynthia looked up to see Severa examining her nails.

"That hardly ever happened!"

"Oh. I see. I'm sorry for making your story more realistic. I just thought…"

Severa looked back at the playpen and sighed.

"Oh, no. Cynthia's right. As always. I never should have doubted her."

Cynthia blinked. She'd never expected to hear those words. Not in that order.

It was going to take a lot to ruin her day after something like this.

As it turned out, against all normal laws of the universe, nothing did. The rest of the day passed quite pleasantly.

Or as pleasantly as it could given the… overcrowding that set in as the day went on. It seemed like everyone Cynthia knew from back in the future showed up as the day passed. And sooner or later, everyone had a story.

"And then he said that you wanted to go counter-clockwise when cleanin' fine glassware! If I wasn't in front'a ma, BAM. Might have broken my knuckles on his jaw, but it'd be worth it!"

"The worst part was, my dress was ruined from all the blood! Gag me, if you can't even be a good assassin, at least you can try not to ruin someone's entire evening!"

"The most fascinating aspect when contemplating irregular potion decanting is, I'm sure you guessed already, the percentile components!"

"Which is when mother put another hex on me."

"Of course, that was when I met her sister. And if I thought Elizabeth was lovely, I was a fool. Compared to the elder heiress…"

"I said that would be alright. I thought I'd get a nice, comfy posting! But if I knew then what I do now, I would have jumped in Grima's mouth instead of ever going to Valm."

"I stabbed him."

Morgan coughed.

"Err… is that the whole story, Kjelle?"

Kjelle scratched her chin.

"Then I… walked away? What more do you expect me to say?"

Morgan shrugged.

"I guess there wasn't anything. But sometimes you surprise me. And I don't often get to see everyone like this. It's usually not as bad as the first time, when it was just Lucina and me, but I thought we should keep this going as long as we could. You know. Since we're all here. Alive. Happy. Together. Enjoy it while you have it, right?"

Lucina smiled.

"Thanks to your father, I think we can have reasonable hope that it will continue for a long time to come. But thank you anyway, Morgan. Even if you brought some of us here under… questionable pretenses..."

Lucina paused to glare at Inigo, who inched slowly away.

"This has been a pleasant reunion."

"I knew you would all like it. I bagged up the gold and trophies by the door. Inigo, I'm really sorry, but I couldn't find a dozen of the most beautiful women in Valm on short notice. I mean, I'm sorry that I can't see you get shot down a dozen times in a row again, but that is still a kind of sorry. I hope we can see each other again before you die of old age, but for now I probably should force Marc and Lin to sleep."

A bubble by Lin's nose popped and she shook her head across the room.

"I'm not asleep!"

"Of course you aren't. But everyone has to leave so we don't have any witnesses to your not sleeping. Otherwise, father and mother might not trust us on our own authority. Also, Marc might want to sleep."

"He might."

"Great! So see you all later, don't be strangers, and…"

Severa grinned at Morgan with a smile she was more used to seeing in a mirror than on anyone else.

"Oh. I see what you're trying to do."

Morgan's smile faded in response.

"...What am I trying to do?"

"Nice innocent act. You're getting all the embarrassing stories you can out of us, and then we leave before you have to do anything. Or are you going to pretend that you only asked us about this because you're such a caring sister?"

"I am a caring sister."

"Fine. But you wouldn't be defending yourself there if you were actually half as innocent as you're pretending to be."

Morgan sighed.

"I'm getting old and predictable, aren't I? Well, I did have one story I was saving for later, when Lin and Marc are older. But if you all wanted to be here for it, I guess I might tell it now. I'm still not sure I have it exactly right, though. Still working on it. Err… I might have been working on it for a while, though. Maybe long enough?"

Lucina nodded.

"Of course. Whatever you feel is best."

Morgan's smile wobbled.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure telling it is best. I just don't know if it's best enough. Still. You've all earned this much, right? Then we're going to finish up with…"

The little found dragon

"Once upon a time…"

Morgan shook her head.

"See? That's wrong already. It doesn't get the tone I wanted, but I kind of felt like I shouldn't go away from the formula. It makes the story feel too self-important. It's a good opening, too. It's just not quite what I think it should…"

Morgan looked around the room. She didn't have long before a 'get on with it!' if she was any judge of the mood. Best to keep going, and hope the pieces fell into place just right.

"Once, before time, there were two dragons. If there was anyone else around to say anything, they might have been called gods. But there wasn't, and they weren't, not quite, so probably we shouldn't call them gods either. They were just… themselves."

No response yet. Morgan took a breath.

"One of them loved the sun and the sky. She flew far above the world, and when she slept, she could see the stars. The other loved the Earth and the little figures scrambling in the dirt, and when he slept he slept in a dingy cave. They were as different as they could be, but one day, the sky dragon met the one that slept in the Earth, and they loved each other as much as they loved the sky and the ground."

Still nothing. That was a good sign, right?

"They met every day, and their love only grew. It only made sense that they'd have a daughter together. Their daughter was as smart as her father and as pretty as her mother and generally just suspiciously great at everything. The kind of girl you'd hate if she wasn't so likable."

Severa's eyes rolled.

"For a while, they were all happy together. But then there were new small things crawling around on the Earth dragon's nice rock. The sky dragon liked them. She called them 'humans', and thought that they should stay around, since their cities looked so nice from the sky. The earth dragon didn't. He hated the way they spread over the world he liked to sleep in, breaking things and running around like they owned the place. The two dragons tried to talk it over, but neither would budge. Eventually, they decided to go to war.

The little dragon girl loved both her parents, and didn't know what to do. But, in the end, she loved her father more. And she was ready to do whatever her father wanted. Even… even things she knew she shouldn't do. And she just felt worse and worse, but she loved her father too much to stop."

Morgan was still barreling along. Best not to stop until she was done.

"It kept on like that for a long time. Probably too long. But one day, her father demanded too much and she ran away. Her father and mother… even then, they still loved her. Her mother loved her more than she deserved. So her mother and father agreed to send her far, far away, and to let her forget about everything she had done. Pretty soon, the girl couldn't remember anything, except the good times with her father."

Severa raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Amnesia?"

"Write what you know. Err, you know. Or tell what you know. I know something, at least, and this lets me use that to make things easier. Anyway, I probably should keep going before I forget anything else."

"Fine, fine. Just get on with it."

"Thanks for the permission! I was worried for a minute there. So, the dragon girl forgot everything except her father. And she woke up in a strange place. A cavern, filled with things that were kind of like humans, but not. They swarmed everywhere, and the girl was afraid. But when everything looked like it was going to go wrong, a man showed up to help. The girl looked at the man.

It was strange, but he looked like her father. He might be smaller, and more human looking, but she would still know her father anywhere. Her brilliant, lovable father, like he was before he and mother started fighting. Her father didn't remember her, but that was fine. She had her father again, and things would be alright.

In time, she met with her mother again, and made friends with her father's friends, and her mother's friends, and all their friends. They saved their world, despite some of them… dying, and the girl was very happy."

Cynthia nodded and smiled.

"And she lived happily ever after. The end!"

Morgan rubbed the back of her head.

"Err… no. See, the dragon girl… she was an ancient dragon, after all. I mean, she could look human well enough, but she was immortal-ish. And her friends… weren't. Neither was her father. Even her mother left. And one day, she found she was alone. The boy she liked was dead. Her parents were gone. Her great, great grandchildren didn't even remember her. The world had moved on. And the girl was sad again. She headed to the place she'd met with her father again to mourn him, and try to figure out what she was going to do with herself. But before she could decide, she vanished in a flash.

Suddenly, she was with her father again. Her father, asking her who she was. Her father, just like the last time. The girl worried. Pretended not to know anything else, so that her father wouldn't think she was trying to manipulate him, and her father believed her.

In time, she met her mother again. In time, she met her friends again, sometimes the same as before, sometimes different. And eventually, they saved the world. Again.

Her father would grow old and die, in time. Her friends and her mother would go away. And the girl would go back to the temple. Because no matter where she went, she was bound to have one father or another waiting on the other side. She'd always have a father. She'd always have a mother. She'd always have friends. And that would have to be enough."

Morgan smiled.

"And that's where the end goes. At least, for now."

Cynthia frowned.

"And then all her friends would die again? It's kind of a downer."

Morgan shrugged.

"I guess. It's still better than not having them around in the first place, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah. But it still needs a better ending."

"If I come up with something better, I'll make sure you know."

Severa looked from Morgan to her sleeping brother and sister. At the walls and the books and the old worn swords that, Naga willing, would never see another war. Around the room, at people she had to grudgingly admit she more or less liked. At all the things that were going away some day, even if she wouldn't be around to see it.

And Morgan was going to see them go. Severa gritted her teeth.

"It's not like this matters! She'll have plenty of time to work on it. She might have something better next time."

"Next time?"

"Of course there's going to be a next time. It's not like it's up to us. We just have to hope the stories are a little better."

(Author's notes: And that's all folks! For the story, for chapter, for the whole thing. Curtains drawn, lights out, and the room empties for the next show.

It's been a good year and a half-ish, hasn't it? Thirty one chapters, over 200,000 words, with at least something of a spotlight on almost the entire cast. I didn't manage to get everything in that I tried for, of course. I could talk about plans I never got around to finishing, like a story focusing on Phila, or a chapter where all the child characters got a shot at the Lucina role. More tie-ins to past games, or sequels to finished chapters, a half finished piece where Lucina met with Marth's einherjar. I could talk about a lot of things.

But that's just drawing out the goodbyes.

Fire Emblem Fates is getting an English release in a couple days, which seemed as good a marker for closing things down as any. One last big show before moving on. I only hope this chapter was relatively satisfying. Second longest in the whole fic, featuring half a dozen leads and cameos from several more major cast members. Admittedly, the first plans were about twice this size, but getting that to work before the deadline was a... questionable prospect. Lead to a little more focus in this draft.

As for Fates, well, I have every reasonable hope it's going to be good, and I might write something for it, but it'd be a while even if I do. I prefer to have something digested, so to speak, before writing about it. Better to be good than fast. I mean, if you can manage either.

So, yeah. Here we are. End of the road, at least for now. I might not have said it as much as I should, but I'm grateful for the audience I was lucky enough to have. You gave me a lot of good reviews, occasional ideas, and when there was nothing else, seeing the number of views tick up was a nice reminder that I wasn't just amusing myself. I only hope this was a satisfying closer. At least... for now.

No promises, of course. But I'd prefer not to say goodbye when au revoir's on the table. Might be something some day later. Might.

Until then, though, thanks for reading, and I only hope I didn't disappoint. Take care.)