Since becoming one of the newest Shepherds, a few things had occurred to Robin on arrival. Many congratulated her with warm hugs and slaps on the back, while only a couple of people hung back to watch her. She had only noticed this when Chrom had announced it to everyone moments after she agreed. While everyone else was excited to welcome her, a few women gave her different looks. Only one man looked at her indifferently; the man peeling potatoes that night for dinner. He seemed to only turn away to retreat to his tent.
Robin found this small group to be perplexing. A dark, gloomy woman had given her a death glare, while another with long braided hair had simply just stared at her. The one that made Robin stop in her tracks was a child. She looked to be about in her teens with short black hair and eyes filled with wonder, but her eyes did not hold that wonder for Robin. She had stared at her with cold, sad eyes. She was lost in the crowd before she would see her again.
The group was forgotten in her mind for a couple days as she was preparing to get ready to march with them to Regna Foxx. She had little to bring with her, but Lissa insisted that they go out together with a few other women to look for supplies and warmer clothes.
They all headed to the town together, paired off to make sure no one was left behind. Robin's hands fidgeted under her long sleeves, remembering the man from before and the stares that the people had given her. What if someone recognized her and tried to report her to the head guards? No, it seemed unlikely as she was with the Shepherds and they stood right alongside with the royal guards at the palace. At the moment, she felt a hand on her arm. Jolting, she whipped her head to see Maribelle, the spunky healer she had met the day the golem had attacked.
"Are you alright dear?" She tugged at her parasol to open it, holding it over Robin's head to shade her from the sun. "You look positively dreadful! Are you not feeling well? Would you like to accompany me under the parasol?"
"Oh, thank you Maribelle, but," Robin gently took a step back, the sun warming her back against her coat. "I'm quite alright. The heat's a lot cooler here. I'm sure you'll need most of it to not burn your beautiful skin."
The words came out of her mouth, before she knew what she was going to say. What did she mean that the 'heat's cooler here'? Has she been somewhere even warmer than this? Before she had a chance to even think about it again, Maribelle hummed in agreement to her statement.
"Why, thank you dear. I try my best to look my best, even when associating myself with common folk." Her hair flipped up, when brushed back by her own hand.
"Common folk? I say we're better than common folk if we're fighting for their sake."
The pair turned towards a buff woman, her tomboy-ish look catching Robin off guard. Maribelle huffed before turning away, charging right for Lissa to stand beside.
"Don't boost her ego like that or it'll make her head swell." The red-head caught up to walk beside her. "The name's Sully, pleased to finally meetchya."
Robin nodded her head, vaguely remembering her face in the welcome crowd. "Likewise. I saw you training with the men earlier, did you decide to quit, to walk down with us...?"
"Nah, they took a break to do a poll and I needed to look for something in town before we went anyway." Sully stretched her arms above her head. "Mmhg...it always feels good to train before heading out-hng!"
Robin looked down to see Sully suddenly slouched over, clutching her side tightly.
"Sully? Are you alright? Should I get a healer?"
"N-no...I'm fine...it's nothing." She panted, before slowly straightening out. "There, see? Nothin' to worry about."
Robin studied Sully for a moment before frowning. "This doesn't look like 'nothing' to me. I'm going to grab Lissa."
"Hold on!" Sully grabbed Robin's arm, catching her off guard. Sully paused and her face scrunched up again, her face dusting a pure pink. "Aw hell, don't tell anyone ok? I've...put on weight. My muscle mass dropped."
Looking Sully up and down, she didn't see what the problem was. Sully had sported a training shirt, red to match her hair, with the sleeves crudely ripped off by the seams. Robin could see the defined muscles on her body and didn't see any of it sagging from her limbs.
"Are you sure?" Robin let out slowly, craning her neck to look around Sully to make sure again. "You look great! Better than usual."
Sully frowned and let go of Robin's arm, before stalking off. "Then you aren't looking hard enough."
Robin hurried to catch up to her. "Well, this is new."
"Whaddya mean?" Sully gave her a side-eye.
"Well, I've always thought that you didn't care what others thought about your figure and trained your arse off like crazy."
"What're you a ninny? I'm not talkin' about my looks and figure, my muscle mass is down and if that's what's costin' me on the field, it could get my arse KILLED!"
Her voice was rough and sounded like an agitated bear in the night, startling Robin.
"Eep! I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me!" Robin felt her torso fold in slightly and she drew away from Sully, keeping a few places behind her.
"Huh? Why would I hurt you?"
Before Robin could respond, a shout was heard from afar, Cordelia was waving her arm to get their attention.
"Ladies! Hurry on over, we don't want to get separated!"
The two women picked up their pace and hurried on over to the group, meeting them at the entrance of the town square.
"Alright, we have an hour and a half till we need to be back to camp." Cordelia instructed, a paper in hand as she read. "We need to divy up these supplies and have enough time to shop for ourselves."
The long list was soon divided between the groups, Cordelia making sure everyone had a partner (Robin swore Cordelia had winked at her for a second). Cordelia then announced that they would meet back up in the same spot and went off with another Pegasus knight, Sumia.
Robin felt a hard slap to the back as Sully hurried over to the woman named Muriel, whom Robin met after defeating the Stone golem.
"Have fun, kid. Don't get lost!"
Robin waved and turned to see the woman with the braids again. She stiffened as she stared at her for a little too long before turning away.
"Let's go. No time to dawdle."
She walked to the nearest fruit stand and began purchasing different selections. Robin hurried over, her own piece of paper tucked into her hand.
"Um…"
"This one too. It's better ripe this season."
"...excuse me?"
The woman spun to face Robin with a bag full of fruit.
"Panne. Here, carry these."
She dumped the bag of fruits into Robin's arms before walking away to another stand. Robin adjusted her weight and scurried to the next stand.
"I'm sorry?" Robin peered at the woman's face.
"Panne." The woman said once again. "My name is Panne."
"Oh! Well, it's nice to meet you, Panne." Robin untucked her hand from under the bag to extend it to her. Panne seemed put-off as she stared down at the gloved hand, making Robin nervous. After a moment, Panne then spun around, walking to the next stand.
"You need not to be so nervous around me, man-spawn. I have no reason to hurt you."
Robin felt her mouth go slack-jawed, catching herself before hurrying back to Panne's side.
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to seem off-putting towards you."
"Don't be, you're speeding heart tells me otherwise."
Robin's hand flew to her chest, her heart pumping slightly harder than usual. She stopped to stare at Panne. "Wait, you could hear my heartbeat?"
"Why of course, the Taguel have a keen sense of hearing."
"Wait, really?!" Robin almost dropped the bag with excitement. "What is a Taguel? Can you elaborate on that? What else can you do? Do you have other hidden talents that a human can not do?"
Panne raised her hand to silence her, Robin immediately shutting her mouth. Panne stared off into the distance for a while, her face set in a peaceful and still manner. Robin waited patiently until Panne began speaking again.
"How strange. You seem alike and yet, so different."
"Pardon?" Robin stepped forward without a thought towards Panne. Was she talking about the last tactician? It seemed everyone was eggshells when speaking about them around her and they would often act like nothing was wrong, but Robin was perceptive enough to tell that in each one of the Shepherds, there was something deep and underlying that cut at their hearts.
Panne turned to her, a soft smile reaching her lips. "If you must ask so many of your questions, let us do it in a quieter and less busy setting. Let us go." With that, Panne began walking towards another booth to survey more adequate ingredients. Robin trailed along behind her, putting her input on the various fruits she had knowledge of and asking questions little by little when they had time. In no time, they had gathered the needed supplies and had time to look at other surrounding shops as they waited for the others to get done. They both decided to shop around for themselves as Robin pointed out some books for sale. She had secured three old books, two of them tomes, before an old man had stopped her with his boisterous rave about his new improved form of seaweed that contains "insane quantities of fiber", doing a little dance at the end of his rave. Robin purchased the seaweed after some consideration, receiving an odd look from Panne before moving on to the next stall.
At the designated meet up spot, Cordelia and Sumia were already waiting for them with Cherche and a dark-haired woman, who Robin believed was Tharja. Robin recalled that Tharja seemed cold and uncaring towards her after joining the Shepherds and whenever they saw each other, Tharja would give her a scowl before stalking off in the other direction.
Robin was puzzled by her actions, but was reminded of how everyone else acted around her so differently and discarded it from her mind. The two met eyes and Tharja gave her another long frown and glare before turning her back to talk to the approaching duo of the youthful looking Nowi and timid Oliva.
Panne set down her share of bags and reached down to her toes to fully extend her body in a long stretch, letting out a soft growl from the back of her throat. Standing fully straight, she let out a yawn. "Hmm, dusk is breaking. I wonder…" Panne turned to Cordelia. "Do you think it would be more efficient for some of us to head back first? The others are taking too long and I fear we won't have much time left to make it back before the sun sets."
Cordelia thought for a moment, her eyes closed in concentration. "Oh dear, I should have deployed the pegasi for this trip, shouldn't I? I should have known that some of us take a little longer than others." Cordelia let out a sigh, a worried look coming onto her face. "I should have planned ahead more."
Robin gave each individual a glance, studying each body shape and conducting a fast calculation in her head. Turning to Panne, she remembered about the Tagual's body and shape.
"Panne, would it offend you to have you carry any of the heavy items in your beast form?" Robin chose her words slowly and carefully. "We can have a couple of us accompany Panne back to camp with the heavier loads and have the rest help the remaining stragglers. Sully, Cordelia, Sumia, Nowi, and Cherche can accompany Panne, while the rest of us wait for Maribelle and Lissa. Cordelia can come back with pegasi and we can go back to camp with the brought pegasi."
The woman stared at her, mouths agape, Robin's face heating up a little. Had she not made the right call? She is the new Chief Tactician, is this not how this works? Doubts began to creep into Robin's mind one by one. Sully was the first one to move, moving forward to pick up her supplies and giving her a cocky smile.
"You can leave it to me!" She looked around the group before knocking shoulders with Cordelia. "You heard the lady, let's get a move on!"
This snapped Cordelia out of her stupor, offering a small but confident smile to Robin. "Thank you Robin, we'll be back as soon as we are able."
Panne had her beast stone already out, before crouching low and jumped to flip right into her beast form. Robin had never seen anything so splendid. Her form looked as if someone had made a small rabbit into the size of a horse. Her armor had formed into the perfect size for the beast, making Robin wonder how that was accomplished. She was sure to ask Panne about that later. Panne had her way over to Robin, giving her a slow blink before gesturing her head to her empty satchels on her side. Robin let out a small, "Oh!", and placed most of the bags that they had bought that day inside the two empty bags. She wondered how they also became so big after transformation. Another flash sparkled in the corner of her eye, catching her attention once again. A dragon stood, stretching its wings with great ferocity, letting out a yawn. Its scales were bright and oh so colorful! It looked as if the rainbow was captured inside each scale. Robin starred in another slack jaw awe, approaching who she assumed was Nowi.
"Aren't I pretty, Robin? I always try to keep my scales nice and clean!"
Nowi's voice sounded misty and far-away, but Robin knew she was speaking out. She gave her a little pat on the shoulder. "Of course! A lady should keep up her appearance."
This made Nowi incredibly happy as she gave out a little huff and held her head higher. Nowi bent her head to both Sumia and Olivia, offering her back to ride on for the trip. Both had seemed hesitant, but agreed in the end.
With Panne's sides weighed down with food and supplies, Nowi ready for flight with Sumia and Olivia, and Sully, Cherche's, and Cordelia's arms full of other items, the small company waved everyone off before Panne started in front of them in a light trot, the three ladies following close behind in their own jog. Nowi also prepared herself as she jumped into the air, her wings leaving gusts of wind as a goodbye. The sky was already a beautiful hue of marmalade as Robin watched at the sky behind her. Lissa and Maribelle couldn't have gone too far, would they?
"Alright, let's wait a couple minutes for the ladies." Robin turned towards Miriel and Tharja, putting on a brave smile. "I'm sure they'll be here soon."
Tharja didn't pay any attention to Robin and seemed more interested in her hair and nails and Mirel only gave her a nod before pulling out a book. This made Robin nervous as they both didn't make any more contact with her. She knew that leaving them behind with her, she was well off in a fight if they were ambushed by bandits or enemies. They both carried exceptional skill in wielding magic and combat. Miriel has talent in skill, speed, and resistance and has incredible strength in magic. Her only downfall is her defense as she couldn't take as much damage as Tharja can. Tharja may not be proficient in the areas that Miriel has, but she can sure take a punch. Her tome, Nosferatu, can gain HP from her opponent, having them take damage in return.
Robin pulled out the tome that rested in her chest pocket and opened it up. Her eyes had rested on the Thoron spell she had fired for the first time. When she had first examined it, the page only consisted of the spell name and transmutation circle. But as she practiced more and more, little by little not to disturb everyone with another spectacular show, more words had begun to etch itself into the page. A brief description and the different classes of the thunder spells, listing each one from weakest to strongest. Thoron was listed as the strongest.
A small shout interrupted her reading as she looked up to see the last light of day disappearing from behind the surrounding mountain ranges. In the distance, Lissa was waving her arm while running with a couple bags crammed into her other arm. Maribelle followed soon after with more bags than Lissa was carrying. She seemed to be in no hurry as she proudly walked behind Lissa. Robin closed her book and hurried over to meet Lissa halfway. Miriel noticed the commotion and made her way after Robin, writing in her book as she went. Tharja made no move to follow the others as she waited, seating herself by the small fountain that was centered in the middle of the square.
Lissa's bags began to threaten to topple over the top as she kept running, some fruit falling out of the top. Robin hurried over to her side and caught some of the fruit, taking the bag from her arms before anymore could spill.
"Lissa! What is all this?" Robin gasped, out of breath from her short sprint to catch the fruit. "Panne and I already bought the needed fruit for the march."
Lissa bent down, wheezing out a small cough. "Don't worry! Maribelle found a cheap fruit stand and we bought a whole bag for 5 gold! We'll even eat all of it within the next two days!"
Robin let out a sigh, before helping Lissa up. "I appreciate the thought, although I hope you plan to share with Stahl and Nowi if you need help."
Maribelle finally caught up with the two and heaved down her bags. "Oh dear! Can you believe that we had to carry all of these? We ladies don't need to pull something before a long march."
Robin let out a small laugh. "I'm sure you did a good job from here to where you set off from. If you can carry men off the battlefield, you can carry a couple of bags."
This made Maribelle blush and she turned her head in a huff, Lissa letting out a small giggle. She made a move to grab some bags, leaving some at Robin's feet before stomping off towards Tharja.
"Don't worry, Maribelle just needs time to warm up to you or she burns out too easily." Lissa smiled.
"I certainly hope so," Robin laughed. "She seemed to be more hoity-toity towards me as of late."
The two laughed as Miriel approached and grabbed the remaining bags that Maribelle left. "How enlightening. You have seemed to have grown attached to the others surrounding you. Pray tell, has there been new updates in your life?"
Robin, taken aback by Miriel's sudden question, looked at her quizzically for a moment. "What do you mean, Miriel?"
"In the past week, I have observed how depressed you have been. You seemed wary to talk to others, having them approach you first before talking. The only other variable was Lissa, who made you more relaxed and delighted as you went about your day. By my current observation, you have spoken to three others and have alleviated yourself from anxiety and strain."
"Sooo, you're saying I've been feeling happier lately?"
"Correct."
Robin pondered Miriel's words. She had a point. The entire time she has been with the Shepherds, she felt like she was walking on glass as she watched the commotion happening around her. She had felt anxious when she knew a certain group of people didn't like her or accept her so easily. Her anxiety didn't cease when Chrom was around her either. She would remember her dream on how she had killed him and when she talked to him for only a moment, that night she would have dreams about killing him again. Only when Lissa was around, she felt at ease.
"Huh. You're right, Miriel. But, wait, you've been watching me?"
"Correct. You have piqued my interest to say the least. I wanted to collect data for further research."
"Miriel," Robin chuckled nervously. "You know you can ask me to help you. I don't think I'm comfortable with knowing you might watch me sleep."
"My apologies. I will ask your permission in the future, but know that you should wear a shirt when you sleep or you will welcome sickness into your body."
Robin felt her face heat up from Miriel's comment and moved to say something to her, but was stopped short as a shadow flew past her face. Looking up, she saw three white pegasi fly by and turn around to meet them in the square. Sumia beamed down at the group and waved.
"Sorry for the wait! Our newest member of the batch was a little too excited to go out and fly." One of the pegasi gave out a whine and shook his head roughly, making Sumia laugh and give it a pet on the snout.
Cordelia helped Miriel and Tharja with their bags and each hopped on with one of the two riders. Robin helped Lissa onto the empty pegasi, securing the rest of the bags in the proces.
"Will you be alright by yourselves, Robin?" Cordelia asked. She wore a confident face, but Robin could tell that she was nervous.
"Not to worry," Robin saddled herself in front of Lissa, grabbing the reins and a handful of the horse's mane. "I've read a book or two on riding horses and pegasi. They seem to be the same, fundamentally anyway."
Cordelia and Sumia shared a look, before turning the pegasi towards the camp's direction. "Alright, but to be safe, get a running head start before taking off into the air. We'll start first, but we'll wait for you."
Robin watched as the two knights gave a little kick into the side, causing the pagsi to start off in a trot before running and spreading its wings to be lifted into the air with grace. Robin steeled herself, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She felt arms snake around her waist, turning to look at Lissa. The younger woman looked at her with a shaky smile.
"I may not like heights, but I believe in you! Just please get this over with."
Encouraged by her friend, Robin turned back forward to see the pegasi looking at her. She gave its neck a hard rub and smiled at it. "We'll do great, I believe in us."
It turned back forward, starting off in a walk. Robin gripped the reins harder before giving the kick it needed to start off, letting out a 'hiya'. The wind began to pick up, looking down she saw the wings that were once folded, open up and begin flapping in the rhythm of the movement. In an instant, the wind whipped at her face and Lissa's scream resonated in her ears. The take off was scary, but the flight felt so...exhilarating! Robin looked around her to see the tops of the town and trees, the world seemed so small in comparison to the ground! Cordelia and Sumia sidled up to her sides, Tharja watching the scenery and Miriel writing frivolously in her book.
"How do you like it, Robin?" Cordelia did her best to shout into the wind, but Robin could only make out half of it.
"It's amazing!" She let out a laugh and closed her eyes to feel the wind and sun kiss her face, bitterly cold and warm at the same time. Lissa's arms tightened around Robin's waist again.
"Waaahh, let's hurry back! It's cold and scary!"
The rest of the ladies laughed or threw a glance at the princess, before dipping down to the camp. Upon touchdown, Lissa slid down the saddle slowly and folded into a crouch.
"T-that was scary…" She gasped.
Robin chuckled and jumped down from the perch. She extended her hand and helped Lissa up from her position. Lissa let out a sigh and shook off any more shivers that ran through her body.
Camp was already mostly cleared out, save for a couple of tents still pitched. One of them is hers. A small boy with a pot on his head approaches her, Donnel she remembers.
"Evenin' m'ladies! I can take yer supplies fer ya? Gotta load up the cart!"
Both ladies helped Donnel take the rest of the groceries they brought to a cart full of other supplies and rolled up tarps. While they were securing the supplies, Donnel kept praising the fruits and vegetables that they bought. Going on and on about how well it must have been grown. Lissa and Robin shared a laugh when Donnel blushed when he was done ranting.
"Oh! 'Fore I forget, Miss Lissa and Miss Robin,'' Donnel perked up, jerking his thumb in a direction. "Sir Chrom asked fer y'all when y'all got back! He's in the mess hall tent."
"Thank you Donnel," Robin placed her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. "We'll leave it to you to finish securing the supplies."
Robin recognized something in Donnel when he looked into her eyes, something almost sad and proud, but it was swept away when Donnel gave her a smile and turned back to the cart.
Robin and Lissa made their way to the mess tent, dusk finally turning to night. Some of the lanterns were being lit on their way, but only a fraction of the way could be seen. Thoughts swam in Robin's head about what Chrom wanted. It could be another check-up on the route they planned, but Lissa finds that extremely dull. What could be needed from both of them?
They reached the tent, Robin holding the tent flap open for Lissa. "After you, you grace."
Lissa giggled before entering, letting out a gasp before running deeper in. "Emm!"
Puzzled by the name, Robin entered in a panic. Her eyes rested on Chrom standing side by side with Frederick, a tall, elegant woman cloaked in dark robes standing by. Lissa had ran up to her and threw her arms around her, laughing and clinging tightly to her.
Slowly, Robin approached the group, unsure how to introduce herself. Thankfully Chrom had already spotted her and stretched his bare arm out for her.
"Em," He said with such gentleness and care. "This is who I was talking about earlier, Robin. Robin, this is my older sister, Emmeryn."
Emmeryn turned her full attention towards Robin now, her face hard to read. Her beauty was more radiant than she could have imagined. Texts and books do not do her justice.
"Your Grace," She curtsied as low as she could go.
"Please, rise." Emmeryn's voice was silken and smooth. Robin could only imagine that that is the voice of a leader and mother. "I do not wish for one to make notice that I am here."
Robin rose from her bent form, her upper back brushed against Chrom's hand, making her aware that his arm was around her the entire time. "Forgive me, but I do not understand."
"Emm, is joining us on our trek to Regna Foxx," Chrom answered. "We believe that she will be safer there and can become our diplomatic chip when push comes to shove."
"As much as I dislike the idea of leaving our people, I must do what is necessary to prevent another accident." Emmeryn cast her eyes down, long lashes covering any emotion that she held from Robin.
The room was silent for a brief moment, before Frederick cleared his throat. He handed Robin a parchment paper that was rolled and sealed. "Here are the details containing information about it. We did not wish to keep it from you, but we had planned this for a while." Robin gave a small nod, breaking the wax seal. Skimming over the paper, she felt mixed feelings.
"Is this safe? Won't your people worry and panic when they don't see you during public outings?"
"We've decided to focus on keeping everyone in a false security by leaving a double of me." Emmeryn explained. "A servant has willingly stepped forward to act as me when I usually go out to greet the people. We also have our militia heavily guarded and on standby if a dangerous act arises."
Robin checked the facts once again, thinking of different scenarios to see the outcome. Nothing prompted any danger, but she only had an uneasy feeling about leaving the kingdom without its Exalt. After some deep thinking, Robin looked up at Chrom.
"Are we sure we want to do this?" She kept her voice steady and eyes unwavering from his. His remained the same with hope and clarity, not wanting to back down from this plan. Robin searched his face and after some internal struggle, she let out a sigh and a smile.
"Alright, if this is what you want, then let it be so." She turned to Frederick. "When do we leave and how soon?"
The steward gave her a pointed look, before opening the nearest flap of the tent.
"Tonight. We leave as soon as we have all the tents and personnel are packed."