"I bet you weren't expecting this."
"Shh!" Chrom tried to hush his companion.
"It's like she enjoys these exercises."
"I said, shh!" Chrom swiped at his companion's face as best he could while kneeling. He ran his fingers over his face and sighed. He wanted to outlast the other Shepherd's this time, it was humiliating when Robin caught up to him first, but then again it was Vaike's fault he always gets caught.
"I brought us some snacks while we wait." Vaike reached for a pouch on his belt and produced it in front of Chrom's face.
"Why do you always insist on training with me?" Chrom snatched it and started to help himself to the contents. "I've told you it's good to find fresh partners."
"And I told ya it's cause we're rivals! Teach always has your back! I've brought my new axe that's sure to-"
Chrom looked behind him to see Vaike scrabbling around.
"Will you keep it down? She could be close by!"
"My axe!" Vaike moaned.
Chrom punched Vaike on the shoulder.
"Ow! Hey what was that for?" Vaike rubbed where he had been hit.
"I don't need to be a genius to guess you forgot your weapon again." Chrom muttered.
"Geez, what's gotten you so angry today?" Vaike sighed and rested an elbow on his knee.
Before Chrom could reply a loud cry reverberated from their hiding place.
"That sounded close!" Vaike frantically looked around him.
"Keep low, and don't move! If we have to fight her, it looks like I'm the only one who can fend her off."
Chrom went through the plan in his head for the hundredth time. Keep low, move hiding places and outlast the other Shepherds. It was going well until Vaike found him. Although it didn't feel right to be hiding most of the time, it was best she wore herself out before he inevitably had to face her…
He peeked out from his spot to see what was happening, the shrubbery keeping him well hidden.
"Let me see!" Vaike whispered as he pushed Chrom to the side.
"Careful!" Chrom whispered angrily.
In front of them they saw Ricken running past, barely hanging onto his hat. Behind him, lighting magic zipped through the air and Chrom felt his hair stand on end through the static.
"Gods, she's close." He muttered.
Ricken turned round and Chrom noticed that he was preparing a tome. Ricken was cornered just as she had planned. His eyes widened at the sight of a hooded figure almost glide towards him.
"Ricken." Robin smirked.
"Robin, you enjoy these exercises way too much." Ricken returned the smirk and threw Elwind in her direction.
"I'm so happy to see how powerful you've gotten," Robin sidestepped and shot out Thunder, forcing Ricken to throw himself out of the way. "Wouldn't you say it's because of these training sessions?"
"Stand back, you brute!"
Robin looked behind her and had to step back to avoid being trampled by Maribelle's horse.
"Maribelle!"
"Don't think I'm doing this to be nice." Maribelle huffed as she helped Ricken onto her horse. "It's simply that we need as many people as possible to finish this exercise."
"Of course, of course." Ricken smiled as Maribelle's horse carried them both to safety.
"What do we do now?" Vaike whispered in Chrom's ear, almost startling him.
"Stay low." Chrom hunched as low as he could and stepped backwards, only for a hand to grab his shoulder causing Chrom to yell in a rather undignified manner.
"Ah, sorry!"
"Kellam?" Vaike yelled, "where did you come from?"
"I-I was here the whole time while you two were talking, didn't you hear me try to talk to you?"
"No." Vaike growled.
"Hello, boys." Chrom internally winced and looked up to see Robin smiling down on them.
"Kellam, let's go!" Chrom broke off and stood up to charge at Robin.
"Uhh what?" Kellam looked panicked.
"Go!" Vaike pushed Kellam towards the fight.
Chrom was seething, he didn't get much sleep last night because his baby daughter was teething and nothing was going his way today. As much as he'd like to, being reckless right now wasn't going to cut it. Robin was way too smart.
"Kellam, attack from this side!" He flashed Falchion to deflect an Elfire and brought it down on Robin's left, her weak side.
Robin, for all her worth, had to block an attack from Kellam's lance as well. She brought out her own sword to deflect Kellam's lance and in the same motion parry Falchion upwards. It was times like this that Chrom was both proud and annoyed for teaching her how to fight with a sword. She was getting good at covering all her bases.
Vaike could only watch from a distance, feeling left out. Something from above caught his eye, it appeared to be a pegasus knight. She circled above the fight, those below unaware of the newcomer.
"Hey! Guys!" Vaike cupped his hands to shout. He got closer, waving his arms.
"Vaike! Be careful!" Robin stopped her sword short of Vaike's face.
"S-sorry, but we got company." He pointed up.
Everyone looked to where he was pointing as the pegasus knight made one final circle and landed between where Chrom and Robin stood.
"Apologies, but I was sent to inform you that a messenger from Regna Ferox has arrived." She bowed to Chrom.
Robin watched on as Chrom called a halt to the day's activities and marched them all back to the castle to receive the messenger.
She had a pit in her stomach as Raimi announced the khan wished for Chrom's presence at a summit straight away. According to Raimi, a person who calls themselves 'The Conqueror' from Valm was not acting so friendly.
Olivia brought in baby Lucina, hugging her tightly to her chest. Chrom wanted her to stay with the baby while he went to Regna Ferox, so Lucina could grow up with her family. Robin watched from the sidelines as Olivia stroked Chrom's face and promised she'll be careful before planting a kiss on his face.
"I'm quite impressed, Chrom. You make a fine ruler." Robin smiled as Frederick was assembling an escort. "You've come a long way from tending sheep!"
"Ha! Have I truly changed so much?"
"Mmm… In a way, you haven't." Robin said softly, "But you've grown as a leader, and, of course, as a father."
Chrom looked at her and sighed, Lucina tried to get his attention by shouting as loud as she could.
"I've tried to do my best." He picked Lucina up and she immediately went silent. "My sister left a weighty legacy. I do all I can just to live up to it."
Robin looked at him while he was preoccupied with Lucina. A wave of emotions crashed through her. What were these emotions that could cause joy and pain at the same time? Perhaps now was a good time to say something…
She opened her mouth to draw in air but before anything could come out Chrom placed Lucina in her arms.
"Say goodbye before you depart, ok?" He smiled rather sadly and walked away.
She looked down at the bundle in her arms. The brand of the Exalt clearly visible in Lucina's left eye. Despite everything, she couldn't help but smile down at her.
Here was the future. Ylisse's future. Lucina did not realise it yet but she already carried an incredible legacy. And burden. If this 'conqueror' wanted Regna Ferox, he would also want Ylisse, and Robin would do everything in her power to stop that happening. Lucina deserved a future where she wouldn't have to worry about conquering madmen.
"I'll protect your father, little one." She planted a kiss on Lucina's forehead and hugged her one last time before departing for what she felt was another inevitable war.
"What did we learn today, class?"
Before her were all the Golden Deer, looking worse for wear and partially out of breath.
"That you're crazy?" Claude muttered as he tended to a sore knee.
Robin hit him on the head with one of her tomes and stood where they would all see her.
"No, it's that you're all one step closer to defeating the other two houses."
"With all due respect, professor." Ignatz raised his hand, "that was an intense exercise and it was slightly unorthodox."
"Unorthodox, yes." Robin nodded, "but it was the first time I saw Claude and Lorenz work together to outrun me."
Lorenz shot a disdainful look at Claude and huffed, "I was merely trying to help Claude when he tripped."
"Yeah! Because you got in my way!" Claude yelled.
"Either way, you all demonstrated to me that the bonds you all share have deepened. This is key to winning the upcoming battle."
"Being friends will defeat the enemy?" Lysithea scoffed.
"The only other person besides yourself you can trust in battle may be the people you share a bond with. It could be life or death." Robin leant against the wall and bit her thumb. Memories of previous battles where her friends helped save her life flashed and she found herself growing upset.
"Anyway," she shook memories of those friendly faces from her mind and scanned the room, memorising these new ones. "The battle is next week, from here on out we're training hard."
Hilda groaned loudly from her sitting place and flung herself backwards.
"Professor." Byleth nodded.
"Professor." Robin acted as cordial as possible. She couldn't see the little girl that hung around Byleth at present, but the feeling of uneasiness crept through her every time Byleth got near.
"Ah, professors! Good to see you!" Hanneman walked over to them and bowed. Robin returned the bow and Byleth merely nodded. "What brings you to the training grounds?" He smiled at both of them.
"I was just thinking that." Robin did her best not to sneer at Byleth.
"I booked us in for some afternoon training." Byleth deadpanned. Would it kill him to look even a little irked?
"I did too." Robin sighed through her nose. "Guess we double booked."
Behind him, Hannaman's class, the Black Eagles, were busy packing up to leave for a long afternoon off before a free day tomorrow. Hearing their words, Edelgard walked over, shadowed by Hubert.
Robin looked at her timetable that she had written down and felt a pressure on top of her head.
"Hey, your writing is really messy." Claude had his elbow on her head while looking down to read her scrawl.
"It's so no one understands it." She snapped her book shut. "And take your elbow off my head."
"What seems to be the problem, professor?" Dimitri walked up behind Byleth.
"We've double booked the training grounds without realising." Byleth scribbled in his journal without taking his eyes off it.
Dimitri eyed the Golden Deer who had also just arrived.
"If it's all the same, I don't mind sharing. The grounds are big enough, and there'll be more people to train with!"
"Aww, ever the sweet prince, aren't you?" Claude smirked.
"I don't mind either," Byleth finally landed his eyes on Robin, "if you feel that's appropriate, of course."
Robin looked over at the Black Eagles who did not appear to be packing away anymore, they seemed more interested in her and the other houses.
"Aye," she walked over to grab a sword, "we could do that."
She swung it in an arch to feel the weight of it, looking up when Dorothea laughed.
"Your accent is most interesting, professor! I love it."
"Uh, thanks." Robin signalled for the Golden Deer to enter the grounds. "Just treat this as any other day, you can spar with members of the other houses too."
"Yes!" Leonie cheered and jovially went over to collect a training lance.
"Aw!" Caspar huffed, "how come they get to train with other houses? I don't want to leave now!"
"Ahem, your lessons for the day have ended," Hanneman wiped his glasses, "that means you're free to spend your time however you wish."
"Yes!" Caspar matched Leonie's energy and went to pick up his axe, Lindhart behind him moaning about needing some sleep.
"Guess this will be a sort of reenactment of a reenactment of the Battle of Eagle and Lion, huh teach?" Claude winked at her and sauntered over to the back of the room.
"Guess it will." Robin muttered. She could not shake a feeling. It started out small but it was growing, and it got worse every time Byleth stared at her.
Pain suddenly shot through Robin's head for a second, feeling very similar to the one she felt while on a boat heading to Valm. Calming her breath, she looked down at her right hand.
"Why not take them off?"
"Huh?" Robin was pulled out of her thoughts.
"Your gloves," Lorenz pointed to them, "surely you'd be able to grip your sword better."
"No thanks, Lorenz." She quickly pulled her sleeves down far enough that only the sword she was holding peeked out. "Actually, see me after class, I need a word with you."
Shaking her head, she moved to observe where some of her students were training, giving helpful pointers and tips where she could. The grounds were certainly the busiest she's ever seen them, but then again, the students had the importance of the battle drilled into them enough times.
She saw a small, purple haired girl in the corner of the grounds, trying to remain unseen by everyone else. Robin walked up to her.
"Excuse me."
"Eek! D-don't kill me!" She flung herself away and tried to look as small as possible.
"Uh, I'm not here to kill you." Robin smiled and crouched down to the girls level. "Are you Bernadetta?"
"W-why do you want to know?" Bernadetta looked absolutely terrified to be in Robin's presence.
"I noticed you all by yourself and-"
"Ah! Don't come any closer, I don't want to be eaten!"
"Excuse me?"
"Those clothes! Everyone says they're the designs of a monster!"
At this point, Robin stalled. Who were 'they'? Did they guess at what her robes were? She never said it out loud but it was pretty obvious they were the eyes of Grima on her sleeve.
"I'm not a monster, Bernadetta. I came here to see if you needed help." She extended her hand.
Bernadetta finally looked at Robin's face and then to her hand and gulped.
"D-do you promise not to eat me?"
Robin gave a hearty laugh and helped Bernadetta up.
"The only thing I like to devour after a long day is some cake."
"Cake, you say?" Bernadetta's eyes lit up.
"Do you like cake too?"
"U-um well, yeah, sorta…"
"We should get some cake together one day! I haven't been into town yet. Maybe we can go shopping together!"
"Well, professor, I um." Bernadetta looked down at her shoes and scuffed them.
"It's a plan then." Robin quickly jotted something down in her journal. "Now, show me what you're like with a weapon."
It had been slow going at first, but she had thoroughly enjoyed herself. Bernadetta was looking more confident with a bow and arrow, for one thing. Robin's pointers had really helped. She felt so sorry for the small girl for some reason, she just wasn't sure why yet. There was something so distressing in Bernadetta's eyes, and the way she talks and carries herself. The only thing Robin felt she could do at the moment was show herself as an ally to Bernadetta, even if the things she learnt today would be used against the Golden Deer at the battle of the Eagle and Lion. Robin didn't mind, she wanted to help.
"You sure that's wise?"
She didn't have to turn around to see who's annoying voice that came from.
"Think what's wise?" She didn't bother looking at him, focusing on Bernadetta who was trying to hit a bullseye on a target.
"As much as she needs confidence, you're doing this just days before the battle."
"And I think she'll make the most out of what I've taught her and use it brilliantly."
"Hmph, well if you say so."
She finally turned round to glare at him.
"What do you need?" She asked.
He nodded towards Bernadetta, "I was observing your interactions with students."
She bristled, "like your little friend asked you to?"
"Perhaps." Was all he said after a moment of staring at her.
He really knew how to rub her the wrong way. Anger clouded her thoughts and some of it made no sense to her. Perhaps most of what she was feeling wasn't hers alone. She threw out a sigh to calm down and picked up her sword.
"If you'll excuse me."
He threw out a hand to block her path, and leaned in close.
"We need to talk." He whispered.
"About what?" She feigned ignorance. "Leave me alone."
She grabbed his arm and pushed it away.
"Is everything alright?" A concerned looking Dimitri looked to Byleth and then Robin.
"We were just discussing sword techniques." Robin huffed.
"Indeed?" Dimitri looked surprised.
"Nothing too advanced." Byleth expressed.
"Nothing too advanced?" Robin repeated. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Ooh, you got Teach mad." Claude made an appearance.
"Nothing, I just wasn't sure of your swordsmanship so-"
"So you think I'm a novice?" Robin glared. Keeping cool when the most irritating guy she's ever met and the whole class watching you wasn't going to be an easy task.
"You guys should TOTALLY duke it out!" Caspar cheered.
"No, I don't think that would be necessary." Robin rubbed her face and sighed.
"That would be fine by me." Byleth pulled out a training sword.
"W-what!?" Robin stared at him.
She almost saw the corners of his lips curl into a smile.
"You were interested in the sword of the creator the other day. Now I want to see what you got." He looked at her before walking to the near centre of the room and waited for her there.
What have you gotten yourself into? You know this guy's probably on par with Chrom. She thought frantically.
"Go get 'em, Teach!"
"Thanks, Claude."
"Are you actually going to do this, professor?" Hilda walked over to stand next to Claude, probably thankful to stop training for a while.
"Well, it seems I've been challenged." She rolled her shoulders and stood opposite Byleth, as the students made a circle around them. To them, this was probably the best thing ever.
She breathed deeply and slowly so as to steady herself. Byleth brandished his sword and held it out in front of him.
This is really happening, then? She thought. This will be great, pretty much everyone is here.
This guy's definitely no joke. He must have years of experience, so what if she also used some magic on the side. With her spare hand she brought out her most trusted tome, Arcthunder. Byleth said nothing on this but did raise an eyebrow. Most of the students looked confused at the sight of the book.
He's going to regret letting me use magic.
She took up her own battle pose and waited, letting him strike first.
Byleth ran towards her at a speed she had rarely seen even amongst the most experienced of Shepherds and swung right. She sidestepped and deflected the blade before it hit her shoulder. Grunting slightly, she swung her sword in an upright motion hoping to loosen his grip but he hit back and the sheer vibration of the two swords clashing together told her that wasn't going to happen.
He swung vertically, causing her to step backwards, and used that time to quickly strike her with her guard temporarily down. Robin thanked Naga for all the attention to detail training Chrom gave her as she blocked his move just in time, the force of it shunting her to the side.
She was less experienced than him with a sword, that was true. And he was bigger than her by a fair bit, in her mind these were two disadvantages she could do without. Although, how good was his resistance to magic? Now would be a good time to find out.
Dodging another attack, she flung out her tome in front of her.
"Arcthunder!"
Electricity filled the air and above the student's heads as it made its way to its intended target. Byleth's eyes widened as it hit him dead on and staggered backwards.
Now, she wasn't the type to use Arcthunder to its highest potential on the training grounds, but it felt good to gain the upper hand on a person she found as grating as him.
Before she let him recover completely, she attacked him once again, looking for an opening. He was on the defensive, which she wondered if he was used to. She thought she saw an opening, but in her haste Byleth struck her sword out of her hands, and pointed it directly under her chin before she could reach her tome. She glared at him, the room was silent.
"Nice one, professor!" Shouted Annette.
The other students clapped and handed out their congratulations to Byleth.
"Oh man, Teach, I thought you had him." Claude patted Robin on her shoulder.
"Thank you, Claude. It doesn't matter though, I battled an experienced person after all, and I gained experience from it. I call that a win in my book."
"Mm, I call that a loss in mine." Claude smiled.
She laughed and ordered the Golden Deer to pack up. What had she truly learnt from that fight? She didn't want to think about it if the burning she felt the whole time in her right hand was anything to go by.
"You wished to have a word with me, professor?" Lorenz walked up to her after the other classes had disbanded for the afternoon.
"Yes, thank you, Lorenz. Now, I need to talk to you about some complaints I've been hearing..."
"Well… I did find it a bit strange when she asked if there were other goddesses besides Sothis." Dorothea placed her hand under her chin in thought. "And I did overhear Hilda once say the professor used the term, 'Naga', but she thought it was just the professor's regional dialect. Does that help? Sorry, I can't think of much else."
Edelgard shook her head. "That's ok, it's enough. Thank you for telling me. I'll speak to you in class tomorrow."
Dorothea smiled and the two exchanged a hug before she left.
"This woman is certainly perplexing. The reports we have from our 'other' sources point to a very dangerous woman."
"Indeed, Hubert. Indeed." Edelgard sighed and started to walk back towards the dormitories.
"The question is," she continued, "will we end up having to destroy her?"