"Of course Lady Emmeryn…" Corrin couldn't shake the feeling of fear that had grasped her heart.
"Do not fear, I am more than aware that you have some… interesting quirks… I was simply wondering how you were feeling." The Exalt smiled in a fashion that reminded Corrin of her mother.
"Oh… I'm fine, although I feel as though I've been trampled by a heard of Pegasi." Corrin smiled doing her best to reassure the Exalt.
"Might I ask what happened? You just seemed to stop before telling me to run… I have never felt such fear, not only for my life but for yours…" As Emmeryn spoke Corrin couldn't help but feel guilty, if this is what Emmeryn had felt then what had she put the others through? What had Chrom gone through? Her heart hurt the more she thought about it.
"I- I'm sorry lady Emmeryn…" As Corrin began speaking Emmeryn cut her off.
"Do not apologize I feel as though this experience brought us closer, Chrom always said that fighting alongside one another strengthens the bonds between us, I believe I can see what he meant now." Emmeryn smiled as she spoke which only reassured Corrin.
"Hey, Corrin could have told you that, it was her entire matchmaking strategy during our conflicts" Anna gave Corrin a sly look over her shoulder as she spoke and was quite pleased to see Corrin shoot her a return look that told her to shut up.
Emmeryn chuckled "A matchmaking strategy? My that's quite a way to get your friends to start a relationship."
"Well… they say that war makes for strange bedfellows I may have just hurried along the 'bed' part of that" Corrin smiled sheepishly.
"Well it worked I'm guessing that you haven't mentioned the Outrealm children yet?" Anna's smile only widened as Corrin now shot her a look that said she was going to pay for this later.
"Outrealm Children?" Emmeryn looked between the two women waiting one for them to give her an answer.
Corrin sighed heavily "Well... my plan worked a little too well and the relationships I had helped flourish bore fruit, we couldn't have soldiers unable to fight due to having to care for their children and we couldn't have them in camp in case it got attacked, so our solution was to place them in the care of families within the Outrealms a series of otherworld's where time moved differently and they were safe enough for a time, but around the children's eighteenth birthdays the Vallan soldiers found them so we went and did the responsible thing; we saved them and allowed them to join our forces" If Corrin's body didn't rebel against every action bar talking she would have shrugged nonchalantly .
Emmeryn looked between Anna and Corrin trying to figure out if they were joking or not, as the caravan slowly made its way back to Ylisse the royal cart was filled with friendly conversation between the three women, while they made polite conversation the shepherds were having conversations of their own.
Sully grimaced slightly as she rode near the back of the caravan, her wounds had been healed but in her regular fashion she had concealed some of them, Stahl had expressed his concerns however she had brushed them off as she always had all she wanted was something to distract her from her recent revelation about her mentor and commanding officer.
As she did her best to focus on her duty she suddenly noticed Stahl's absence and heard the all too familiar sound of armoured barding that she had come to associate with Fredrick's presence that sly little… She didn't finish the thought as she saw Fredrick looking at her "Are you sure you should be riding Sully? You wounds seem to be causing you some irritation" Fredrick's stern gaze caused her heart to flutter, a strange sensation.
"I-I'm fine there's nothing for you to worry about" Sully had no idea why she was acting like this it was out of character for her.
"Are you sure? You're slightly red in the face and holding your side" Fredrick was genuinely concerned for Sully's health she had taken quite a few hits in the fight and he had always known her to be a frustratingly reckless fighter, when she had asked him not to die she had revitalised him in a way that fighting for his lord couldn't.
"W-when did you start concerning yourself with people other than Chrom?" Sully was touched by his concern and was regretting her statement, she had come off as harsh and aggressive and that wasn't her intention at all.
Fredrick sighed; he had dealt with his lord and lady being stubborn before so he was well prepared for this, he approached her horse and with minimal effort pulled sully onto his horse and then placed her on the nearby cart "I would hate to have to pull rank on you Sully so please just rest and let me worry about everything" He smiled as he quickly grabbed the reigns of Sully's horse before staying close, something inside him longed to hold her again but he pushed the feeling down it wasn't appropriate.
Sully hated feeling weak however when Fredrick had grabbed her she had felt strong and safe, she was coming to hate the confusing feelings swirling within her chest she just wanted him to hold her and tell her that there was nothing wrong with these feelings and that they only made her stronger as she couldn't convince herself of those thoughts.
As Sully battled her inner emotions the other shepherds were experiencing similar feelings, Lissa found herself walking close to Lon'qu, since the battle the princess had been thinking over what the swordsman had said every time she had tried to make sense of it she found her heart racing, it was such a simple statement but when he had said it she had felt as though she could take on the world with him by her side.
Maribelle also found herself questioning what had happened, Ricken had asked her out for tea which was surprising since he had shown little interest in people other than Miriel which most had assumed was because of their joint interest in the arcane, but they both came from somewhat esteemed noble families so it wouldn't be so bad if she said yes would it?
By the time the shepherds were coming close to Ylisstol Corrin was capable of moving again and as she had been traveling with Chrom and Emmeryn she had noticed the little interactions that the shepherds were having and decided that maybe it was time to get back to her old matchmaking ways whilst trying to save the world and keep her own relationship on track… well if anyone could do it, it would be her after all she'd defeated a god once and managed to get her family's unified.