Since the landmass in Fates doesn't have an official continent name, I picked one that I've seen floating around on some forums that I liked. The Moirai were part of Ancient Greek mythology, three beings who directed the fate of every person from birth to death. They are also known simply as the "Fates."

Chapter 19: A Mother's Wish

The Dragon's Gate, The Kingdom of Nohr, Moirai

Year 625

Lightheadedness.

That was the first thing Byleth had felt the moment he had stepped through the mist. An airy pressure building in his skull like someone had stuffed his head full of cotton. It plugged up his ears, muffling the conversation his allies were having with the eccentric stranger and his slightly-less-eccentric companions; it roiled against his insides, nausea and pain churning his gut like the waves of a tumultuous sea.

To be honest, Byleth wasn't sure how he was still standing.

"…and that's how we found you!" Kana beamed up at his father—Silas, as the man had introduced himself—with the brightest smile Byleth had ever seen a human wear. "Miss Azura told us exactly where to go! I knew she was helping us, I just knew it!"

"I still can't believe you were able to talk to her…" Silas ran his fingers over Azura's pendant, smiling something both soft and sad, before handing it back to his son. "But I'm glad she was able to lead you here safely. Even when she's gone, she's still doing her best to help us."

"Definitely sounds like Azura…" the red-haired woman, Selena, muttered. A mercenary turned retainer for…someone important. Byleth couldn't really remember the details; he was too focused on trying to keep himself from falling on his face.

"This is so exciting!" Odin, the harbinger of darkness or the dark lord of chaos or something dramatic like that, was bouncing on the balls of his feet, grinning at them with stars in his eyes.

Scratch what Byleth had said about Kana. This guy was wearing the brightest smile he had ever seen.

"Far-flung heroes, summoned by the wings of fate and bestowed with divine purpose under the guidance of an ethereal water maiden! Their task: to restore the balance of the universe before it crumbles under the weight of—"

"I think you're overexaggerating a little bit," Alm interrupted, holding up his hands. "More than a little bit, actually. We're just trying to figure out what's going on with these invisible soldiers and stop them if we can. There's no divine purpose, no grand adventure, we're just doing our best to help."

"My aching blood begs to differ!" Odin flipped his cape and thrust his arm forward, fingers curling over his palm. Kana giggled at the show, and Mae listened along with an amused grin. At least some of them were enjoying this. "It thrums to the song of the heroes of legend, the song that echoes within your very souls."

"I am…I am having difficulty understanding his words," Petra whispered to Ashe. Her eyebrows were drawn close together, the indent between them deepening every time Odin opened his mouth.

Ashe just shrugged and whispered back, "I think we all are…"

"Especially you, my fellow master of the mystic arts!" Odin snapped then pointed to Merric. The mage startled, obviously not prepared to be roped into Odin's antics.

"…Me?"

"Of course! Those sleek robes, the tomes of ancient magic, the raw power that exudes from your mere presence…my blood quivers in recognition of your greatness." Odin leaned in close, studying Merric's face as though he was inspecting every pore in his skin. "Is this truly the first time the stars have seen our fates align?"

"Are you asking me if we've met before?" Merric took a few steps backward, attempting to regain his personal space, but Odin followed his every move. "The chances are slim to none, I'm afraid. We're from different worlds, so…what are you doing?"

His mouth twitched into a frown as Odin reached around his ears, tugging the hood hanging from Merric's shoulders up over his head. The blue fabric sat tall and slightly lopsided over the mage's mess of green hair.

"But…" A hint of seriousness took hold in Odin's face. "You look so…so…"

"Lay off him, will you?" Kris yanked Odin back by the arm, giving Merric some much-needed breathing room. "You can't just—"

"Ah, you have it too!"

Kris's shoulders coiled as Odin pressed a finger to the center of his forehead. "Yes…an enigmatic aura surrounds you…a hero who toils in the shadows of history. A new mystery lost to the annals of time, one whose glory is known to little few."

Without giving Kris a chance to respond to his cryptic words, Odin turned to Byleth and his students. Byleth suppressed a grimace as his head throbbed something fierce. From his ailment or from the man's incessant talking, he couldn't say.

"And you—"

Felix caught his wrist mid-air, voice low and dangerous. "Don't."

"…sound like my dad," Odin finished quickly, shaking his arm out of the swordsman's tight grip. His grand posture wilted, and he backed off without further comment.

"I guess that was our long-winded way of welcoming you to Nohr." Silas bowed his head with a hand on his chest. "I can't thank you enough for helping my children, especially after everything you've been through to get here." He scratched his cheek, looking between Kana and Sophie with a furrowed brow. "But there's…ah…there's one thing I still don't understand…"

"Oh no, it's about Avel, isn't it?" Sophie fiddled with her fingers, her figure hunching like she was expecting a scolding. "I'm taking good care of him, just like I promised! We couldn't bring him with us, but I've been training him every day like you told me to. I'm still not great at riding him but—"

"That's not it," Silas said, "though I'm glad he's been in good care. It's just that…" He placed a hand on each of their shoulders, gazing down at them with a competing mixture of pride and confusion.

"How did you…grow up so fast?"

"…Huh?"

"We've only been gone for two weeks, but now my little girl is almost an adult and my baby boy is—"

"Two weeks?!" Sophie and Kana said in unison. The former clung to Silas's plate armor until her knuckles turned white, water welling up in her eyes. "Daddy, you and Mother were gone for almost seven years!"

"Seven…years?" The color drained from his face. "Seven? Years?"

"Yeah, we missed you a lot but it's okay! Sophie got really good at using her lance while we were waiting. I tried to practice sword stuff and it wasn't great but look!" Kana grinned and showed off his dragonstone. "I can turn into a dragon with this! It was scary at first, but now that I can control myself it's actually pretty cool."

"…You take after your mother, then…" Silas said softly. There was a slight hitch to his voice that he tried to swallow down.

"Really? She can be a dragon too?" His father didn't respond; Kana seemed to take the silence as affirmation. "Wow, even cooler! Can we go see her now? I wanna show her so we can be dragon buddies together."

Again, Silas kept quiet. His jaw tightened as he ground down on his teeth.

"Papa?" Kana tried again. "Can we go see Mama?"

"…Maybe we should head back to camp," Selena said, her face hardening and her back perfectly straight. Too straight. "We shouldn't keep Prince Leo waiting much longer."

"Th-that's right!" Odin added, though his tone had lost most of its earlier vigor. "The Dark Prince, er…he awaits a sacred report from his loyal servants to—"

"Where is she?" The smile quickly fell from Kana's face. "Papa, where's Mama?"

Silas drew in a slow breath. A single tear slid down his cheek as he worked up the courage to look his children in the eyes.

"She's gone."

The boy flinched, looking as though he had just been slapped in the face. Sophie hugged herself and bit back a sob. The air grew tense and thick, the only sound between them the gentle rustling of grass against the wind.

"B-but…" Kana stammered. "Azura said…Azura said our parents are alive. Both of you! Papa and Mama!"

"I'm sorry…" Silas pulled him into a hug, running his fingers through the boy's silver hair in comfort. Kana sniffled into his chest and mumbled, "Why?"

"Your mother was very brave, and very selfless." A few more tears dropped onto Silas's cheeks. "Her one wish was to keep you and her people safe. So when an army of invisible soldiers came to attack Nohr, she did everything in her power to stop them…until the very end."

"Th-they hurt her like all those other dragons? All that blood…and pain…"

Silas paused for a long moment, contemplating the best way to explain the unimaginable to his son. "They didn't hurt her like that. She was protecting our friends and their children as they fled to safety, on the border of a place we call the Bottomless Canyon. She defeated many of them, more than anyone else on the field, but then their most powerful soldiers came for her and they—" he allowed himself another deep breath to steady his voice "—they pushed her into the canyon. All she left behind was her sword."

Canyon. Byleth's heart beat once at the word, short and quick. That had been the second part of Azura's instructions, hadn't it? The Dragon's Table, then the canyon. It couldn't be a coincidence.

"But whatever Corrin was doing before she fell," Silas continued, "it worked. Or at least, we thought it did. The invisible soldiers haven't tried attacking us again, but based on your story it seems like they just moved on to invading other—"

"Where is this canyon?" Byleth asked, the raspiness in his throat making the words sound harsher than he had intended. The kids glanced over to him, eyes red and puffy.

"Does it matter?" Silas frowned at him. He was probably a little annoyed at Byleth, a stranger, interrupting the emotional moment he was having with his children, but if what Byleth was thinking was true...

"It does matter," he said. "Azura said we would find their parents and the answers we're looking for at a canyon. Unless Nohr has several different canyons, it's probably the same one she was talking about."

Kana's expression lit up underneath the snot and tears. "Then m-maybe Mama is waiting there for us!"

"I would love nothing more than for that to be true, Kana," Silas murmured, fingers curling into tight fists, "but I saw her fall with my own eyes. It's called the Bottomless Canyon for a reason. I don't think it's possible for anyone to survive from such a height."

I have, Byleth wanted to say. Granted, he had spent the next five years afterward in a magically induced coma, but he had survived what should have been an impossible fall. Who's to say someone in a similar situation couldn't do the same?

"Can we at least go look, Papa?" Kana asked with wide, pleading eyes. "Azura told us to go there for a reason, too, just like Mr. Byleth said! She wouldn't lie to us, right?"

"Well, no, I don't think she would…but…"

"Azura might also be there," Sophie added, "and if we can find her—or her spirit, I guess—maybe she can tell us more about the invisible soldiers too? She seemed to know a lot, but she wouldn't tell us anything specific."

"Specific?" Selena asked, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Yeah…like, she knew about the Silent Dragon guy but wouldn't tell us his name. I think she said we would die if we tried to say it? I'm not sure."

Odin shot an alarmed glance to Selena, trying (and failing) to speak in a hushed whisper. "Hey, do you think it's—"

Her hand quickly clamped over his mouth.

"Don't you say it, idiot!"

Silas regarded them with a suspicious eye, crossing his arms. "You two know something I don't?"

"I…er…maybe." Selena lifted her hand away from Odin's face. He seemed to get the message, pretending to zip up his lips and throwing her a thumbs up. "It sounds crazy, I know, but I think they might be onto something."

"You were there, Selena. You saw Corrin fall."

"Sure, but if the canyon leads to…to…" Selena fumbled around her tongue as she carefully selected her next words. "T-to where I think it might lead, based on what Azura said…it's possible that Corrin is alive down there. Or survived the initial fall, at least."

Byleth nodded and immediately winced. The pain in his head flared up again, like someone was rattling his brain around the inside of his skull.

"If it's any consolation…" Celica spoke through a soft breath, clasping her hands in front of her body. "The invisible soldiers have gone to great lengths to capture your son alive because of, what we believe to be, his unique draconic abilities. And if those are abilities your wife and son share, it stands to reason that they would want to capture her too, not kill her."

"By shoving her off a cliff?" Silas asked bitterly.

"We won't know unless we check," Selena said, "but if it's connected to the place I'm thinking of, then it's a strong possibility."

"And you can't just tell me what this place is? Or why our enemies would want to send her there?"

Selena shook her head. "For the same reason Azura couldn't share the specifics, I can't either. But if we do manage to find it, we'll be able to talk more freely without worrying about the cur—consequences."

"And you couldn't have mentioned this sooner?"

Selena and Odin exchanged a quick sideways look. "It's complicated."

"So can we go, Papa?" Kana scrubbed the remaining tears from his eyes and grabbed his father's hand. "Please?"

After a moment of hesitation, Silas sighed and said, "All right, but we need to stop at our camp first. Prince Leo will want to hear about this."

"Then let us make haste to our secret lair of darkness!" Odin shouted, pumping his fist into the air and jogging toward the main road. "This will be a legend for the ages: Odin Dark and the Heirs of Fate, united as one against the creatures of the infernal abyss. Onward, my friends—destiny awaits!"

"Yeah! Onward!" The bright smile returned to Kana's face as he ran after him, dragging along a stumbling Silas within his strong grip.

"Wait, Kana! My horse—"

"I've got him, Daddy!" Sophie swung up into her father's saddle with a wide grin of her own, spurring the animal into a trot to catch up with them. The rest of their group followed one-by-one with varying degrees of enthusiasm, some running along with them, others taking on a more casual stroll…

But Byleth remained in place.

He glanced over his shoulder, eyes narrowing on the swirling portal they had stepped through earlier; the Dragon's Gate, the Nohrians had called it. The longer he stared at it, the more it made his head throb, his skin prickle, his hair stand on end.

"Something wrong?"

Alm's voice managed to pull his attention away from the gate. Byleth had to blink a few times to refocus his vision.

"Not sure," he mumbled. "Just a bit confused, I guess."

"Confused?"

"Marth, Edelgard, the rider and the others we saw at the Dragon's Table…we followed them through this portal, but they're not here. Why?"

"Maybe it can take you to multiple different places?" Alm guessed. "They probably know how to use its magic better than we do, maybe dropped themselves off somewhere else."

"…Perhaps…"

"We can think through it once we've reached the camp." Alm tapped his shoulder with a gentle fist. "Come on, we don't want to get left too far behind."

"Right..."

Byleth cast one final look at the portal. Something gnawed at his chest, something he couldn't place, and no matter how hard he tried to push it down, no matter how far they traveled down the road away from the Dragon's Gate…

The feeling refused to settle.

Character Bios:

Odin: Sorcerer

—Retainer of Prince Leo of Nohr. A lively mage with a penchant for exaggeration and purple prose. His theatrics can be grating to some, but he has one of the biggest hearts around. It is said that he hails from a land far outside of the borders of both Nohr and Hoshido.

—Relations: Unknown

Selena: Hero

—Retainer of Princess Camilla of Nohr. A snarky swordswoman who, despite her tendency to make rude and off-putting comments, wants to make the world a better place for everyone. It is said that she hails from a land far outside of the borders of both Nohr and Hoshido.

—Relations: Unknown

Silas: Paladin

—Captain of the Knights of Nohr. A loyal and dedicated man who trained night and day to become a knight in order to reunite with his best friend from childhood, a friend whom he eventually married.

—Relations: Father of Sophie and Kana. Husband of Corrin (current whereabouts unknown)

Odin is a lot of fun to write lol

Next chapter: Preparations for the Bottomless Canyon, and a comparison of swords.