Chapter 12: Beacon
Emmeryn lead the way into the tower, standing strong against the rains and wind. In one hand she held a lantern aloft, the wane light of its flame shining against the stormy sky. The clouds themselves had grown thick and sunlight had become a distant memory. Chrom followed at her side, while Robin brought up the rear, still glancing around.
Robin peered from underneath her hood, squinting as the rain drummed down on her. The gate to the lighthouse was a crumbled ruin, which didn't inspire much confidence for whatever was inside. There were only echoes of former, graceful stone work, outnumbered by rents and breaks. Columns were collapsed, and a set of metal, worn doors hung at an angle, almost falling off at the hinges. The ruined state forced caution, and left them ducking under the crumbled arches, picking their way inside.
The constant patter of rain on her head cut out, replaced by faint splashes as condensation dripped off the tower ledges. Emmeryn's lantern cloaked the group in a circle of faint orange light. Bits of metal set into the walls glinted in the glow, almost pulsing with each waver of the lantern flame.
Robin pushed her hood back, taking in the interior. White stone stretched around them in a giant cylinder, and no matter how far she craned her neck, there was no end to it.
"It seems we're the first to come here in a very long time," Robin said. The pressing shadows and echo of rain hushed her voice into a low whisper.
"The summit is shrouded," Emmeryn murmured. The lantern's light didn't have a hope of reaching the top of the tower, content with only casting a faint glow at her feet.
-o-o-o-
"Well, what else can we look at, before we reach the summit?" Chrom's voice echoed back to him. The white stone almost vibrated, like a sleeping giant stirring against the sounds, rousing from a decade long slumber.
He stepped out, to the edge of the lantern light... and pitched forward as the stone crumbled beneath him. The bricks underfoot dropped, right as his balance cut out. Before he followed the stones, Robin's hand snaked out and grabbed him by the shoulder.
Her hand clapped over his shoulder, the violet lines of her mark eclipsing his own Brand. He swore for an instant that the stones hummed louder, almost in answer to Robin's touch. Or maybe that was just the sound of his own frantic heart beats, while his feet plunged into nothingness.
Robin yanked him back onto solid ground, leaving the stones and crumbling bricks to plink against the sides of the tower. A distant splash followed.
"Chrom-!?" Emmeryn's voice cut off in a gasp, and when Chrom lifted his eyes he could see why.
A great staircase wound up the tower. As they watched, globes of light flickered on. Not ones lit by torch, but some strange, unburning light that bathed the tower in soft blues. They seemed to flare and pulse in time to his breath. His shoulder twinged with the rise and fall of each beat.
On the sides of the stone stairway, Chrom picked out gilded engravings. Fish jumped through carved waves, and figures swimming beneath were all beautifully rendered in stone.
"...Any idea what caused that?" Robin asked. Chrom could only shake his head, as did Emm. "Well, whatever it was, it at least gives us room to see-"
Robin trailed off, her eyes downcast and glued to a spot below them. He risked a glimpse over the stair.
A few feet below, water churned at the base of the lighthouse, forming a now glowing whirlpool.
"...Right. I suggest against falling in." Robin managed, her hand falling away from his shoulder. The ringing in his ears stopped from the loss of contact, and his heart beat slowed. The only thing left was the fading heat from her palm, still lingering on his skin.
That was a curiosity he'd have to dwell on later.
"Thanks," he said. Chrom tested his balance by taking the lead, and climbing the stairs. With each step, the carvings grew in detail.
"Who is that, exactly?" Robin pointed to a carving, one that looked more refined and detailed than the others. The figure stood on the precipice between land and devouring waves, holding a sword to the sky as though to fight off the ocean.
"Good eyes." Emmeryn commented. Her hand ghosted over the carving, pausing at the symbol at the bottom. It had echoes of the brand on her forehead, and on Chrom's arm. "This… Is a carving of the first Exalt. And-"
She paused, looking over it again. The globes put out a little more light, showing the faint scraps of paint still clinging to the carving. Robin's eyes fixed on the hair, and the fragments of blue left on the stone. Chrom froze, staring at the hints of color.
"Chrom…?" In answer, his fingers nervously scratched at the back of his neck, tangling in his own hair.
"…It seems the scholars had the right of it." Emmeryn finally said. "That the first Exalt was also Tide Touched."
The three picked their way up the steps, approaching the first globe of light. The tiny orbs formed a pattern, spaced at intervals. As they approached, the light turned to green and azure, like looking up at the sun from underwater.
"Mind your footing, everyone." Emmeryn said. "This place isn't proof against cold weather; most of the steps have iced over."
Almost on cue, Robin's leg buckled beneath her on the next step. Her hands flew out and scrambled at the steps, barely managing to keep her from tumbling down the entire flight.
"Robin-?" She fell to one knee, cradling her head in her head in her palm. "Robin! What's wrong?"
"I... this all feels... familiar, somehow." She whispered. "Those carvings, and the lights changing colors, glowing without any fuel." Her eyebrows scrunched together, like the information hurt to pull out from her head. "I... I swear I've seen something like this before, but I don't-"
"Don't rush yourself," Chrom urged. He knelt next to her. "Not if you're hurting like this."
"But- but I almost-" she trailed off, a pair of hands closing around hers and stilling her words. At first Chrom thought it was Emm comforting her... but then he saw his own glove closed around her hands, the other hand lifting her face up.
'I can't just stand back when someone's hurting.'
Emm's hand reached out and settled on the top of Robin's head. But he wondered if there was something more... nurturing, for lack of better word, to Emm's touch. His own felt desperate, and with a start he realized he was almost crushing Robin's fingers in his grasp.
"S-sorry," he murmured, easing his grip and letting them fall away.
"Robin, can you stand?" Emmeryn asked. In answer, Robin lurched to her feet-
But by now, Chrom was used to the way she moved. And knew when her balance was about to go out. He stepped in, looping an arm around her shoulders.
"I- I'm sorry. Something happened to my balance-"
"It's alright," Emmeryn said. "What we need right now is your wits, more than anything. Chrom... you can help her walk, can't you?"
"Of course."
-o-o-o-
For each light they passed, her head gave another pained pulse. Her skin itched, and her legs grew heavy. If Chrom hadn't been holding her up, she wasn't sure how she would've made it to the top.
'I've seen these lights somewhere before.' She'd traveled through hallways and rooms filled with them, glass bubbles that gave off their own glow. 'There was some reason for them. Because fire would never work where they were- because fire was so RARE, but how can that be?'
Her head offered no ideas; just the certainty that this was something from her past.
'And that isn't the only thing. I've... I've done this before. Rising up, the lights getting brighter and brighter...' Except before, there had been water roaring in her ears. She'd been desperately swimming for the surface-
At her neck, the compass gave a pulse. Even with her eyes shut, the blackness lessened. When she opened them again, Robin saw that they'd climbed to the summit, or near enough. There were only a few steps to go, before the tower interior became enclosed, turning into a room. The entrance gleamed gold, shining from something within.
The needle of the compass was whirling about inside its chamber, from how the jewelry hummed against her skin.
Rain seeped through the cracks in the stone, turning the lighthouse walls into waterfalls. The stairs were coated with a layer of frost. Cracks threaded their way into the steps, ice following and creating fragile, diamond-like veins in the tower.
"We're almost there," said Emmeryn.
Robin kept her head down, minding each step she took. The stairs were only growing more slippery-
Something shifted beneath them both, and whatever it was, it wasn't her balance.
"WATCH OUT!" She shouted. Her hand jumped out, grabbing Emmeryn by the shoulder. Robin's balance wavered again, and so she decided to fall forward. She lurched away from Chrom and put all of her momentum into shoving Emmeryn up the steps. The Exalt tumbled upwards, landing hard on her elbows; the lantern shattered next to her.
But she was out of the way, right as a crackling noise split the air.
A heartbeat later the halls echoed with a loud crackling noise. All around Robin, the steps shattered like ice on a lake under too much pressure. An entire section of the stair gave way, turning to shards of ice and stone.
And she was falling with it. Air rushed around her ears, and her stomach nearly climbed into her throat.
Her fall was cut short as soon as it began, halted with a snap. The stitch lines of her robe dug into her arms, struggling to keep her full weight hanging in the air. Robin chanced a glance up, staring in disbelief when she saw Chrom. He leaned half over the crumbled edge, his fingers digging into her sleeve.
'Don't look-' she tried to order herself not to look down, but her eyes were already straying. Down to where the whirlpool was, now yawning open. Hungry, almost beckoning her to fall all the way-
Strone crumbled above her, a few pebbles bouncing against her head in sharp little bolts of pain. Robin forced her head up, to see the steps under Chrom going as well.
"Gods!" He cursed... but didn't let go. No matter how much Robin weighed against him, dragging him down. His feet skidded against the steps with a rasp, as her body pulled him towards the edge.
"L-let go-!" She tried to whisper out. But Chrom shook his head, a stubborn set to his mouth.
"...Elwind." Emmeryn's words were almost a prayer, and the breeze lifted Robin upwards. The weight lifted off Chrom's arm as she floated in the spell. Now that he had room to move, Chrom wrenched himself upright.
Chrom paused only long enough to gather his breath and strength, and then leaped across the chasm between steps. His arms stretched out and grabbed her as the wind lifted Robin into his path. They both crashed onto the steps, right at Emmeryn's feet.
"W-well..." Chrom panted out, trying to gather his breath. "I... I think that makes us even for saving each other? That or we both owe Emmeryn our lives now-"
"Perhaps we can tally that up later," Emmeryn assured them, folding her spell book back into the sleeve of her robe. "But first... I want to get us away before anymore of these steps go. And see what this chamber holds for us."
-o-o-o-
"Are you sure you're okay?" Morgan asked. In answer, the girl forced herself to swim a little faster, carried along by the current. Morgan pushed himself to catch up with her, the gills in his neck struggling to pull more air from the ocean.
And yet the girl herself didn't look at all winded.
"G-guess that answers that," he managed, doing his best to follow. They kept the sinking ships to their backs, not dwelling on the broken vessels. At last they reached the surface.
Morgan blinked at their surroundings, wondering at the blurry and warped quality to everything. His eyes didn't want to work, now that he didn't have a layer of water to see through.
His companion hesitated, staring up at a bright tower standing defiant against the clouds.
"This way." She motioned to him to follow, sinking beneath the waves and shooting straight towards the tower. Somehow she'd managed to put on even more speed, heedless of how it drew threads of dark, clouded blood from her wounds.
"Hey! Wait up a second!" Morgan tried to call out, his lungs burning from the effort and raw quality of the surface air. "What are you trying to do, anyway?"
She paused at that, giving him a confused blink, before shaking her head.
"I… I need to get there." He wanted to question why that was so important… but when his eyes darted back to the tower, there was a pull at his heart. Something that drove him to surge closer as well.
Maybe it had something to do with why he stuck to the girl's side. He still couldn't figure out who she was, or why she was so important.
"Well, you're not going alone..." He managed, before trailing off. The tower loomed closer. Through the churning currents he glimpsed a white stone base, submerged underwater.
The carved blocks stood strong despite the countless waves tearing at them, but they still had their share of scars. Glints of gold flickered through, forming hints of symbols and vague impressions of… Something. It could have been script or pictures, with how the lines twisted together.
Those rings of gold were concentrated around one point in the tower, drawing the eye to a carefully rounded chamber that bit deep into the white rock. Nestled in that was something that glowed and stained the surrounding stones red.
-o-o-o-
A vicious blow shook the tower, trying to tear the walls apart brick by brick. White flooded Chrom's eyes, the lightning almost painful. Robin flinched from the roar of thunder. Her hands reflexively clapped over her ears, and Emmeryn paused as well.
"Gods, the tower feels like it's about to fall over from this storm!" Chrom snapped, hating how his heart pounded.
"Peace, Chrom. This tower has been standing for centuries. It won't topple," Emmeryn paused as the lightning flashed again. "...However, I'm not all that interested in testing the idea. We should be on our way."
Chrom nodded, tugging Robin forward. His hand went easily around her shoulders.
"Robin... I think I owe you some extra thanks, too." He said as they walked. "You saved Emm back there-"
"And almost threw both of us into the vortex," Robin finished.
He snorted at that.
"You give yourself too little credit. We got out of it, and it would've been much worse if you hadn't acted..." Chrom trailed off as they reached the summit of the tower.
A circular room awaited them, the stones perfectly smoothed out. Gold was etched in patterns along the floor, the source of the brightness that had first drawn them upwards. The weave and curve of the lines was almost readable in Chrom's eyes, the meaning teasing his brain.
Emm however was quicker to understand; her lips moved, silently trying out the words. Chrom retraced the patterns. Instead of letters or words he found vague forms of sea creatures carved into the floor. The danced in the glow, moving in circles towards the center of the room.
It was a mesmerizing sight.
His eyes followed their path, and slowly adjusted and saw past the glare.
-o-o-o-
Robin blinked against the glare, forcing her eyes to adjust. The siblings beside her were already used to the light, and studied the designs that blanketed the floor.
Something about this room was familiar, and called out to her memory. The images at her feet were set with fishlike scales, and each glimmer echoed a dim light in the back of her mind. Those carved scales gradually shifted, forming into glyphs in the center of the chamber.
And when strung all together, formed a larger pattern.
"That's the brand of the Exalt!" Emmeryn raised her hand, pointing out the curve of the teardrop symbol, barely distinguishable in the bright light. It was emblazoned above a creature with wave-like wings, rising above the swirling lines of ocean.
'Dragon.' Robin's thoughts finally provided. 'That's a dragon.'
Robin could barely make out a dark, sinister shape beneath the waves. Something equal in size and power to the dragon.
"I've heard stories like this…" Chrom said, drawing her from the carvings. "You used to tell us them, Emm-"
Emmeryn's answer was a slight hum. Something seemed to have captured her eye… and whatever it was, it had stained her hair and robes a red, even though she'd taken no wounds.
"What's-?" Chrom gave a hiss of alarm all the same, stepping forward to try and shield Robin and Emm. Over his shoulder, Robin glimpsed the center of the room. The biting light finally receded, enough that she could pick out the last details. The roof and floor sloped together to form a glass veined pillar.
In the center of the pillar was a globe of red light. Robin saw it at the same time Chrom did, with her clue being the way his sides shivered against her. Emmeryn weaved past him, eyes scanning the column.
"Oh..." Emmeryn breathed out, walking closer. Her hand reached out to the scarlet surface, stopping short of touching it. Chrom moved closer as well, pulling Robin with him and squinting at the column. The pillar was so polished it reflected the glowing script like a mirror, forming the words into nearly legible sentences. Chrom murmured as he looked over them, trying to mouth the symbols.
"...Emm?" He asked. "What is this? I feel as though I can almost read this-"
"I can." Emmeryn drew her hand back. "This is old script, said to be written by heron and bird emissaries of Naga. It's only used in sacred prayers of Ylisse. I studied it, once."
"Prayers?" Robin lifted her head, still squinting against the glow. "For what?"
"To... to bring back light. To bring back hope," Emmeryn's voice fell into a soft chant, her words becoming a gentle murmur. Her eyes slid shut, and her words shifted from prayer to-
'Song. She's singing.' Robin's eyes had shut as well, and the song coaxed something out of her heart. Something that shifted between pained and serene. Robin tilted her head to try and better hear, her hair brushing against Chrom's face.
She raised her head and tried to apologize… only to still when Chrom gave a soft hum, matching his voice to Emmeryn's. But where Emmeryn's voice was certain, his wavered and hitched on every other note. He seemed almost as lost as her.
Suddenly, heat bit at her neck. The chain of her compass seared her skin, like it was freshly pulled from the forge. The golden links seemed to close around her throat, stifling her breath and words.
It burned at her focus and scattered her thoughts, to the point that she didn't question when a new image played behind her closed eyelids.
"It's something that binds us." Whispered a voice in her ears, finishing the last notes of a song. Fingers brushed her hair free from her face, letting it drift around her. The touch was something gentle, almost motherly-
The woman's face was a blur in Robin's memory, time stealing her features.
"A verse that runs through everything. Whether they are Mer or land dwellers, gods or mortals."
"Or if they're birds?" Her voice was younger, and almost squeaked from eagerness. It tugged laughter from the woman.
"Yes, birds as well. And whales, and everything else that sings. It's part of why I named you Robin. To always remind you of the song that links sea and sky…" The laughter faded, and the touch fell away from her hair.
"It's something I hope your father will understand, someday…"
The memory flickered out, leaving Robin short of breath.
-o-o-o-
Lucina blinked at the underwater chamber. Bright patterns ran down the tower… And those same patches of light were echoed along her arms. Patches of her skin glowed, fighting for Lucina's attention.
"Bioluminescence? I think that's the word for it." The boy said, going quiet when they drew closer.
A gemstone was cradled in the chamber, red as blood and bringing to mind an exposed heart. The tower stones meant to seal the gem had been ripped free by the tides; possibly even by the same tides they'd fought their way through to get here.
"Well! Guess that was worth swimming all the way to see… but what exactly IS it, and who put it there?"
"I think…" Lucina trailed off, stretching a hand out. As if having the same thought, her companion did the same. It seemed he wasn't content to leave all the discovering and poking just to her.
The tips of their fingers both brushed the surface of the gemstone-
And the world turned red, the water spiking in temperature.
Lucina swore the ocean boiled around them, and she fell through fire instead of water.
The pulse of the ocean was replaced by screams, a land bound, burning city… and beyond that, rising tides slowly eating away at the land. Terror gripped her by the throat, stilling any cries.
"Wh-what is this?" The boy's voice seemed to push back against the vision… and left room for something else to take their place. A strained song filtered through the roar of ocean and the crackle of flames, dimming the horrifying images.
There was something familiar to those voices.
She thought she glimpsed two figures, standing against the ruins and calamities. Two that she'd seen on board the ship she'd tried to follow.
Out of the corner of her eye, Lucina saw the boy stiffen, head tilted as he intently listened to the voices. His hand rose and bumped against his face, before rubbing at his temple. His brow was drawn tight in either pain or confusion.
But that wasn't what kept her gaze.
With each movement, patterns flickered across the boy's skin. They ran from the tips of his fingers all the way to his tail fin. Symbols of light pulsed; words that his throat and tongue both failed at expressing.
Something in Lucina still recognized that language.
The waters dimmed out around them, the bubbles and ripples fading. In their place was a memory; an image playing in her eyes and bursting out of the cloudy corners of her mind, into clarity. Flashes of images featuring the two strangers… who were feeling less and less strange, the more she saw them.
The stranglehold on her throat relaxed, and a pair of words spilled out of her mouth. The same words that had flickered in light patterns along her companion.
"F-father? Mother-?" At the same moment, the boy next to her whispered the same words. A name flared up in her mind at his voice.
'Morgan.'
Lucina wrenched back-
And slammed shoulder first into Morgan, who gave a similar gasp.
'Morgan! His name is Morgan, and-'
A set of mental floodgates opened, at least for a moment. The two figures in her mind weren't confined to the burning vision, and she caught a glimpse of them in a different setting.
One far more calm, set upon a quiet shore. They both stood together, while Lucina watched them from the shallows. They waded out to meet her, easily taking to the water.
Her father carried a shield, set with five gemstones. He left it resting in the sand as he swam out to her, letting the wave reflections play across the surface. Her eyes fell on the crimson gemstone-
A roar of waves greeted her ears. The salt spray was her only warning, before a wave slammed into her and pulled her under in a whirl of limbs. Her family vanished, and the waves yanked at her, carrying Lucina towards the sea.
Away from them.
Lucina lashed out against the tide, arms outstretched. She scrambled for a handhold, a grip in the rocks or another's arm to hang onto-
Her fingers snapped around something smooth, that easily fit into the palm of her hand. The vision washed out like footprints in the sand. Leaving her back in the present.
"M-morgan!" She gasped out, staring at the boy.
"Your name is Morgan. And you're..." Where these memories were coming from, she didn't know. But she'd lead him around by the hand before. More than once, at that. Eaten dinner with him, read books together. And called him her brother.
"I-I'm your brother?" Morgan whispered, blinking over her. It was like he was seeing her again for the first time, with how he stared. "Well, I guess that explains why I wanted to look after you."
A heavy clunk wrenched through her arm, something giving way in her grip. Lucina drew her arm back, and found the red gem in her hand.
"Is… is that a normal thing? Do rocks underwater just DO that if you touch them? Give you spontaneous visions and surprise family reveals?" Morgan asked. That had been the first time her dreams had intruded on reality… but they'd brought more than terror. The vision of five gemstones lingered in her mind.
A red glow caught her eyes. It came from the gem clutched in her hand, lighting her and Morgan's hair and scales in a faint crimson light.
They watched as the red orb in her hand dissolved, forming into a stream of bubbles that flowed onto her tail.
The bubbles popped against her scales, their edges stained into a faint ruby color.
"I think… Morgan, I'm sorry. I'd like to give you some concrete answers, but I don't know what's going on. Or WHY any of this is happening. I think there's something I need to be doing; people I need to be helping." She wouldn't blame him for getting frustrated by that… but instead, a laugh bubbled out of him.
"Great! Because the same is going on with me. Vague feelings of 'go take care of this person' or 'stop something bad from happening.' At least this way, we can be confused together! Besides… At least now I know your name, Luci. That's got to count for something." Lucina blinked as Morgan shot her a sincere grin and clasped her hands, lightly pulling at them.
"So let's go! The present waits for no one… At least I think that's what they say. And I doubt that those two people from the vision will either!"
-o-o-o-
A heavy, deep pulse of sound slammed into his chest like merciless ocean waters, the echo of them rattling his ribs. The bombardment had come out of nowhere, his ears unable to pick up the low tone of the tremors that shook the tower's base and ripples through the air. It stopped Chrom short, muting the hum in his thoughts.
He blinked, wondering at the sleepy weight to his eyelids. Emmeryn's song echoed off the stones, the rhythm matching the strange pulse.
Robin stirred next to him, slumped against his shoulder. Chrom froze, trying to figure out how she'd ended up there, and why her eyes were shut. Surprise shocked him all the way out of the trance that song had placed him in. Robin muttered in a fitful sleep, only to wake up with a gasp of breath.
"I-I think I just remembered-" Robin tried to say, but her words were stolen by a flash of lightning. Whatever she was about to say vanished in an instant.
Outside, the wind cried. The thunder blended with it, as though Naga's own voice echoed down from the heavens.
The crystal flared bright under Emm's voice, giving a massive pulse of red light. Outside, the storm went silent. Chrom peered towards one of the windows, watching in disbelief as the veil of dark clouds pulled back to reveal a brilliant sky.
"What exactly happened?" Chrom finally found his voice.
"…Would that I could tell you." Emmeryn drew herself away from the column. "I tried to recite the prayers as best I could… though I had no idea doing so would have such an effect on you and Robin."
"What do you mean?" Chrom asked, only to realize he was staring up at Emm from his spot on the floor, propped against the wall.
'Must've collapsed at some point.' Snatches of dream came to him, of standing on a coastline and seeing a girl clad in purple scales… one who looked oddly like Robin.
Robin herself slumped against him, her eyes darting over her legs and feet, studying them intently. Almost as though she'd shared the same dream.
"Captain!" A voice echoed from outside, and cut off any attempts at questions.
"S-Sumia?" Robin said, yanking her head up. She tried to find her feet, but her knees buckled and shook. He surged up before she had a chance to crash into the floor, helping to hold her up. The motion brought them both closer to the window… And there was Sumia, astride Phila's pegasus.
"I don't know if you did this or if Naga heard our prayers, but the storm cleared! We can fly free in the sky and sail now... and hopefully get you down?"
"Indeed," Emmeryn answered. "And the sooner we get back to the Shepherd, the better. We have a great deal to discuss."
-o-o-o-
Emmeryn leaned back against the Shepherd's bench. She nursed a cup of warm tea, brewed fresh from the galley courtesy of Virion. She'd given a raspy thanks when he first brought it out, before spending the next candle mark savoring the warm brew, easing the roughness in her throat.
'Not too used to singing… though I may need to grow more comfortable with it, if today was any indication.'
Robin collapsed on the seat next to her, finally breathing easy once the Shepherd cleared the rocks. There was no sign of the ghostly ships; the phantoms had seemingly evaporated with the storms. That left the Shepherd to thread its way through the passages.
"Well, we did it." Chrom said from his spot at the wheel, taking in the open ocean with a deep sigh. "Not exactly sure WHAT it is we accomplished… but maybe you can shed some light on that, Emm?"
"Yes." Emmeryn took one last sip of tea, willing her throat to relax. "To begin, you were right about coming here; that ruin had some sort of connection to Ylisse."
"Like in the stories…?" Chrom ventured. Robin perked up at that, and Emmeryn knew that Sumia was leaning in as well. The new pegasus rider stilled in her conversation with Phila, who was also keeping a close eye on the helm.
"Yes. And those inscriptions were prayers, to keep such a disaster from befalling us again. They've lost none of their potency." She glanced up to the clear sky for proof.
"And beyond being in Ylisse's own script… They prompted something from all of us. I heard you hum and even sing a few words, before you faded out."
"Ah right... you saw me faint in front of you. Not one of my proudest moments." Chrom mumbled. Emmeryn shook her head.
"That's the thing, Chrom. What you sang... it wasn't just isolated words. Those were verses to Naga's scriptures, songs I've only heard once when I took the crown of the Exalt. I want to find out how you know any of that."
Her eyes lingered on his face.
"Before you jested about being Tide Touched... but now I wonder if there's some truth to that. If you're blessed in some way." Chrom only ducked his head, his face going pink.
"Come on, Emm. You're the Exalt. If anyone in the bloodline has a blessing, it'd be you."
It wasn't often she let herself frown that deeply. Chrom still wouldn't meet her eyes, and a telltale twitch moved along his shoulders, betraying just how uncomfortable he was. It echoed how he'd been in front of the carving of the first Exalt.
Emmeryn wanted to press the matter. Wanted to insist that he was being either humble or blind… but Robin made an uncertain sound in the back of her throat, prompting Emm to focus on her.
"But, there's something I don't understand." Robin said. "Where exactly do I fit into this? I'm not of the same bloodline as you are. So why did it stir something in me, too?"
"I wish I could tell you, but I'm afraid I don't know." Emmeryn gave Robin a sympathetic look. "But, you must have ties to the water as well; that much is clear in how you can read the waves."
"Are you sure that doesn't make me a threat?" Now it was Robin's turn to be downcast, doubt creeping into her voice.
Chrom was already tensing at that question, his face losing that embarrassed flush as he tried to speak up.
"No," Emmeryn put some resolve into her words, to make up for Robin's hesitation. "It makes you an enigma, true.. but also a much needed ally, against whatever we're facing. And we need help from every corner, if we want to survive this threat."
"Y-yeah. Exactly." Chrom followed up. He looked like he wanted to say more, but the prior conversation still hung heavy on him. The best Chrom could do was sputter out a handful of words, and then go back to minding the wheel.
Emmeryn only wished that those around her would give themselves a little more credit. That thought lingered as she glanced between Robin, Phila, and Chrom. All gifted people, who didn't seem to realize what they were capable of.
-o-o-o-
Emm's words lingered in the back of Chrom's thoughts. They followed him late into the evening, and the night's meal.
"I haven't seen your face scrunch up like that in a while." Sully set her plate down next to him, dragging him out of his thoughts. Robin followed behind her, mirroring Sully's motions. "You only do that when you're worried- Wait. Is Vaike talking trash again? Do I need to go have a discussion with him?"
"N-No!" This time it was Chrom's turn to sputter. "It wasn't him this time!"
"This time?" Robin asked before she could stop herself. Sully and Chrom both gave her a glance.
"Ah, right. Amnesia, sorry." Sully offered. "It happened years ago, back when Chrom was around Ricken's age. Maybe a little younger. We were doing a tour of fishing villages to make sure everything was right… and a certain punk took notice of Chrom's hair, and decided that made him bad luck. Called him a fish lover and 'Tide Touched' like it was a curse. I saw to it he stopped."
"What Sully ISN'T mentioning is that she got into a fight with Vaike… and I got dragged into it too." Chrom offered, a wry grin spreading across his face and chasing the unease away. "All three of us ended up with some prize black eyes, and the town watch AND royal escort got involved. And since Sully and I were involved, we managed to keep Vaike from losing his hands or his life."
"You must have knocked some sense into his head, because he's been friends with you… and never brought up Tide Touched as a curse since then."
"And that hasn't changed." Chrom reminded Sully. "I just… Emm gave me a lot to think about. That's all."
"…Oh. Yeah, I can see how that would be a problem. I can't exactly go around picking fights with an Exalt. Assuming Frederick or Phila wouldn't kick the crap out of me first."
"I appreciate the thought all the same." Chrom found himself laughing. "Though yes, please don't pick fights. It sounds like the storm blew Emmeryn's main ships a bit off course, and we'll need to catch up with them. So we might as well make good company for each other, while we wait."
After that, the conversation between the three returned to normal. Chrom watched Robin for any signs of worry, but it seemed she'd pushed any unsettling thoughts about the day's events to the back of her mind. With a swig from his drink, Chrom vowed to do the same.