Chapter 33: Don't Speak Her Name

Ylisstol, The Halidom of Ylisse, Archanea

Arch. Year 2612

"Are you sure this is a wise decision, sire?"

"Come on, Frederick, have a little faith," Chrom said, grinning at the disgruntled knight as he tossed a pack of traveling supplies and rations to Kris. "I'm the Exalt. When have I ever not made a wise decision?"

Frederick's frown deepened. His eyes narrowed into suspicious slits as he watched Kris tie and secure the supply bag to a pegasus knight's saddle. "I don't believe I'm allowed to answer that question honestly."

Kris kept steadfast and silent as he worked the knots, refusing to wither under the knight's critical gaze. As a royal knight himself, Kris understood Frederick's reservations about allowing his liege to journey across the sea with a stranger he had just met, especially with an unknown danger lurking around the corner…

But the man's stubborn, persistent distrust in Kris was starting to become tiresome.

Already, Kris had been subjected to five pat-downs to check for concealed weapons, a lengthy (and intrusive) interview about every detail of his life from childhood to knighthood, and a test of strength and swordplay to ensure he was "worthy" enough to be entrusted with the Exalt's life.

And Kris had only been introduced to Frederick an hour ago!

"I understand your concern, Sir Frederick," Tiki said, squeezing her hands around a blue dragonstone that glittered under the sun's soft rays, "but this is a matter of the utmost urgency. As the resting place of the Earth Mother and the War Father—and home to the shrine that has protected me for millennia—the Mila Tree is one of the only centers of power for the Divine Dragons left in this world."

She brought the stone close to her chest, closing her eyes in silent prayer. "But the tree grows weaker with every day that passes. If we don't hurry to heal it, I fear we may permanently lose our last connection to the Earth Mother, Naga, and all the spirits of the Divine Dragon tribe."

"Of course, milady," Frederick sighed. "Protecting the Mila Tree is a priority for us all, but so is safeguarding the Exalt. Is it truly necessary for him to accompany you on this expedition? We could send other capable warriors and priests to aid you."

"She doesn't need warriors and priests," Chrom said. He held up the golden shield fastened to his arm, tracing the deep, intricate carvings sculpted into its surface with his forefinger. "She needs the Fire Emblem. And wherever the Emblem goes, I go. I made a promise to Emm."

Tiki nodded, placing her own hand over the shield's face. The ethereal light emanating from it shimmered beneath her touch.

"As the Mila Tree withers away, so too are my powers as Naga's Voice. But with the combined might of the Fire Emblem, the two Falchions, and the remnants of the Earth Mother, I believe I can draw enough divine energy into myself to channel Naga's spirit—or, at the very least, glimpse into the spiritual world to speak to her myself."

"And if anyone knows how to heal a magical tree, and how to defend against an incursion by an army of undead soldiers," Chrom added, "it's going to be Naga. We need her guidance, now more than ever."

"Before it's too late…" Kris muttered. He cast a nervous glance over his shoulder, scanning the horizon line for any sign of danger or the enemy's signature flickering purple energy…but found nothing. Nothing but calm, peaceful hills and pretty skies as far as the eye could see.

None of Anankos's army was anywhere in sight.

Kris should have been relieved. The absence of the invisible soldiers in this world so far was a good thing; it meant more time for them to plan, more time to prepare their defenses, more time for Tiki to try to communicate with her mother. And yet…

He couldn't shake the unsettling feeling that something was off.

In his own time, the invisible soldiers had been relentless, brutal, and swift in their pursuit of the dragon princess, but in this world, at this point in the future, they hadn't bothered to send even one soldier to capture her?

It didn't sit right with him.

"I suppose we have no other choice, then." Frederick's shoulders sagged as he released a relenting sigh. "Though I still think you should at least take the rest of the Shepherds with you, sire, milady, and not rely on"—his hard gaze snapped back to Kris—"the protection of some random stranger."

Tiki smiled and shook her head. "I assure you: Sir Kris is no simple stranger. He was one of my first friends, and one of the Hero-King's most trusted brother-in-arms. There are few better suited to serve as our defender on this mission." She gave the back of Kris's hand a few light taps as he finished securing the last supply bag.

(A gesture, Kris couldn't help but recall, the younger version of herself had often used with him or his platoon when she was looking for attention, comfort, or fried apples—though Kris had a sneaking suspicion that, at this moment, she was not in need of the latter.)

"If we keep close and work together, everything will be fine," Tiki said. The smile on her face was still bright, but her pale fingers, still hovering near Kris's hand, shook with a slight tremble. "Right? Just like with Mar-Ma—I mean, Prince Marth and all our friends?"

A stab of pain surged through his chest, but he didn't let it show. Instead, he returned the smile, patted her hand, and said, "Right. We'll keep each other safe, like we always have."

This time, I'll protect you from them, he promised silently. I swear it on my life.

"See, Frederick? An endorsement from Naga's Voice herself. You can't get much more trustworthy than that." Chrom tightened the fastening of his cape, preparing himself for the rough winds of air travel. "We'll be fine—we won't even be gone for that long. We'll have Lucina's sword arm, Morgan's mind, and our best squadron of pegasus fliers escorting us. Don't tell me you don't trust Cordelia and Sumia to get us there safely?"

Chrom waved to two pegasus riders positioned at the front of the battalion. One of them, a woman with red hair and a grumbling Severa sitting in the saddle behind her, threw a thumbs up to the Exalt, indicating they were ready to take flight. The other rider offered a meek wave back to them, then regarded Frederick with a shy but loving smile.

The slightest hint of a blush colored Frederick's cheeks, and his posture finally began to relax.

"No, they are…" The knight cleared his throat. "More than capable."

"So, we'll be in good hands." Chrom clapped Frederick on the back. Slowly, he pulled the knight in closer, and his voice took on a lower, more serious tone. "Which is why I need you and the rest of the Shepherds here, protecting our people, protecting Nowi and Nah, and…"

Chrom glanced up to one of the marble towers protruding from the palace. Through the window, a young girl clutching a wooden sword to her chest was looking down on them with a mixture of worry and awe. On either side of her were two boys sitting on the window's inner sill, one with black hair and one with blue, both exchanging silly faces with the older Lucina and Morgan down below.

"…Protecting my family," Chrom finished.

"You can count on us, Your Grace." Frederick bowed his head and tapped his fist against his armor plate. "We will be eagerly awaiting your return."

"Thank you, old friend."

Chrom returned the salute, waved to the kids one last time, then turned to Tiki, expression set with determination. "Whenever you're ready."

Tiki nodded and slowly, purposefully, tilted her head toward the sky. Eyes closed, breath steady, she raised her glowing dragonstone up to the sun. Heat and light erupted around her body, bathing Ylisstol with the radiance only a daughter of Naga could possess, then…

A dragon as sleek and white as untouched snow roared to life before them. Green scales rippled along the border of her wings as she beat them once, twice, three times to test their strength, whipping up dirt and blades of grass with each flex. Satisfied, Tiki crouched down on all fours, lowering one wing to create a path up onto her back.

Her piercing, thin-slitted eyes looked to Kris, Chrom, and his children expectantly, and she rumbled:

"Climb aboard."

—

Flying on dragonback was a surprisingly peaceful pastime. There was something serene about being so high up in the sky, soaring freely through the air with the clouds just within your reach. Nothing but the vast, glittering sea below you, the warmth of the sun on your neck, the wind coursing through your hair, and—

Crunch!

"Morgan!"

Lucina whipped her head around to glare at her brother as he munched away at an apple. Kris sighed, silently mourning the short-lived peace and quiet. Back in his own time, such calm, relaxing moments were few-and-far between for a knight of Altea.

The same, he was quickly learning, seemed to be true of those in service to Ylisse. Especially when it came to watching over the younger royals of the Lowell family.

"What do you think you're doing?" Lucina asked tersely.

"Eating," Morgan said mid-chew.

"Why?"

"Uh, because I'm hungry?" Morgan shrugged and took another bite. "A tactician can't strategize on an empty stomach."

"That's why we ate before we left Ylisstol." Lucina's chastising glare narrowed on the apple and the bag Morgan had pulled it from. "Our rations aren't going to last very long if you decide to snack on something every time you feel a little peckish."

Morgan wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve and burned the apple's core with fire magic, throwing the ashes into the wind. "If you wanted some, you could have just asked."

"That's not what I—"

"All right, that's enough, you two," Chrom said, twisting around to face them both from the front of the line. "Let's save the bickering for after the mission, when we're not on the back of a dragon and not in the presence of one of the Hero-King's knights, okay?"

Lucina nodded, bowing her head in a brief moment of shame. "Of course. I'm sorry, Father."

"Sorry," Morgan mumbled. He drummed his fingers along the white and green scales lining Tiki's spine, humming to himself. Then, grinning, he glanced over his shoulder to Kris and asked, "Hey, did the Hero-King ever use Falchion to cut fruit?"

Kris blinked down at him for a good few seconds. Had he heard the question right? "I…beg your pardon?"

"Morgan," Lucina said, exasperated.

"What? I want to know—for tactical reasons, of course." Morgan gestured to the sheathed swords in his father's and sister's possession. "Falchion is good for cutting down enemies and slaying dragons, to be sure, but why stop there? There are so many other practical uses for an impossibly sharp, unbreakable divine sword! Like cutting the perfect fruit slices, or chopping wood, or engraving messages into stone, or…anything! Surely the Hero-King would have found some ingenious uses for it."

"…I don't believe he ever used it for anything other than fighting, Your Highness," Kris said. "He didn't carry it on his person unless we were at war, and even then he didn't always have it by his side. There was no time to test its utility as a…" He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "As a fruit knife."

Morgan's enthusiasm deflated. "Oh…"

"But he did use the Fire Emblem in some interesting ways," Kris added quickly. "Besides its function as a magical shield, we learned it could also be used to dispel dark magic and open any locked chest our army came across."

All three royals snapped their heads around to him in shock. "It can what?"

"…Open locked chests," Kris repeated. "You didn't know that?"

Chrom slowly shook his head, bringing the shield to eye-level and inspecting every golden corner, every golden edge. "How would that even work? There's nothing that even remotely resembles a key or lock pick anywhere on this thing."

Kris shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. Whenever we came across an abandoned treasury or a lone chest hidden away in a castle's halls, Prince Marth would just tap the shield to the chest's lid and it would unlock-every time, without fail. No keys or lock picks or crowbars necessary."

"It's true!" Tiki piped in, her voice a happy rumble from deep within her throat. "I would use my dragon senses to sniff out the contents of the chests and check for traps, then Mar-Mar would open them, and we would find all sorts of wonderful things!"

Morgan's curious and gleeful grin returned. "That's amazing! Does it have any other super-secret, super-awesome functions we can try out?"

"It's good for frying eggs," Chrom chuckled to himself.

Lucina smacked her forehead and groaned. "Father, not you too."

"What? It's a durable surface that was created to absorb and retain the power of a divine dragon. Which means it also serves as a good hot plate for when you're traveling on the road and have to cook over a campfire."

"Yes! Exactly!" Morgan laughed and pumped his fists, wearing the same bright, contagious smile that Chrom had plastered on his own face. Like father, like son, Kris supposed. "That's the kind of creative thinking we need from the Exalt if we…want to…"

Morgan's grin slowly faded away. He shielded his eyes from the sun and squinted at something in the distance. "Uh, what's that? Smoke?"

Smoke? Immediately on edge, Kris leaned to the side as far as he dared off Tiki's back to look past Morgan's shoulder. There was very little to see besides the sky and the ocean on first glance, but if he focused hard enough…

Where the soft, white clouds met the rolling waves, small patches of black stained the horizon line.

Tiki rumbled nervously, sending light vibrations through their legs. The muscles and scales of her back shifted beneath them as her wings began to beat harder, faster, in the direction of the strange phenomenon. Distant wisps of ash soon turned into raging plumes of smoke, blackening the sky and the first signs of land ahead of them. And through the haze….

A great tree—the tallest, thickest, proudest tree Kris had ever seen—was shrouded in flames and smoke.

"…No…" Lucina whispered, almost inaudibly. Tiki growled, low and dangerous. Morgan just stared wide-eyed, a hand clasped over his mouth, and Chrom's shoulders tensed as though he were preparing for a fight. Kris felt his do the same.

"Sire!" Cordelia swooped down on her black pegasus, hovering a safe distance away from Tiki's massive wings. "The Mila Tree and its sacred grounds have been set aflame! Queen Say'ri and the Valmese Coalition on the tree's outskirts have been trying to extinguish the fires on their own, but the flames are only growing hotter and stronger with every second that passes!"

"Gods, damn it!" Chrom cursed. "Any sign of who—or what—caused it?"

Sumia floated down next to Cordelia's pegasus, her white mare standing out against the ashy air. "No, Captain—I mean, Your Grace. We can't see much through all the smoke, but there are no obvious indications of the fire's catalyst. There doesn't appear to be anyone on the tree, either. Thank goodness."

"Or they could just be invisible," Kris said, jaw stiffening with restrained anger and bitterness.

It seemed Anankos or Lilith had already sent their soldiers to this world, after all—right to the place where Tiki and the Exalt needed to go, and interfering with their plan before they could even attempt to carry it out.

Kris dug a fist into his trousers, fuming silently to himself. Why was their enemy always one step ahead of them?!

"Whether the dastards are still here or not," Chrom said, "we still need to try to put the flames out and save what we can of the Earth Mother. Sumia, take your knights down to ground level and coordinate our support efforts with Say'ri. Cordelia, you and the dark fliers use the strongest wind magic you can conjure to suffocate those flames."

"Or even better," Morgan added, gesturing to the ocean below, "synchronize some of that spell casting on the sea and use the wind to douse the tree with wave after wave of water. Start with the base, work your way up."

Chrom nodded, a glimmer of pride—and something akin to nostalgia—flashing across his face . "What the tactician said. Now go!"

"Yes, sir!"

As Cordelia and Sumia soared off to carry out the orders, Chrom asked Morgan, "Any ideas on how we can put our skills to use here?"

"I've got my wind tomes," Morgan said, frowning, "but you and Lucina and Sir Kris only have—"

"I need to get to my shrine!"

Wings pushing hard against the air, Tiki lurched forward and dove through a thick cloud of smoke, straight toward the top of the blazing tree.

"T-Tiki, wait!" Kris coughed, eyes and throat burning under the ash-laden, sweltering air. "Why are you—"

"I can still try to channel Naga through the Earth Mother!" Tiki said hurriedly. She did not slow down, and instead flew deeper into the black smoke, gliding directly over the tree's brittle, burning branches. A flat, grassy grove had grown across the treetop, housing a small stone shrine in its center, but both grove and shrine were also up in flames.

"Until the Mila Tree succumbs to the fire completely, the power of the Divine Dragons still flows through her roots, her trunk, her leaves. For the sake of the world, I must try! We might not have another chance!"

"A dragon might be resistant to fire," Lucina said, her voice muffled by the crook of her elbow against her mouth and nose, "but we're not! Unless we put out the flames and get rid of the smoke, we're not going to survive down there!"

"I—" Morgan coughed. He rubbed the sting of the air out of his eyes and reached a hand into his satchel. "I think I can try to redirect the fire and smoke away from the shrine with some combined elemental magic, but I'll probably only be able to buy you a few minutes."

"A few minutes is all I need."

"Then let's not waste any more time and move in!" Chrom unsheathed Falchion and raised the Fire Emblem to shield the rest of them from whatever smoke he could. He quickly (and protectively) added, "Don't strain yourself, son. If it starts becoming too much for you—"

"Mother could do it," Morgan said, resolute, "and so can I."

Two tomes shot out of the boy's satchel, one green and one red, each floating around his head without regard for gravity. He thrust his scarred hand toward the treetop and shouted, "Rexcalibur!"

A spiral column of wind burst up around the stone shrine, sucking up the black smoke and wisps of fire within a swirling vortex. Morgan raised his hands up and the wind followed, stretching high into the sky and funneling the dangerous fumes up above the clouds.

As Tiki swooped down into the treetop, Morgan lowered his Branded hand and cast Arcfire. A ball of fire of his own creation spun to life and, along with his hand movements, began to slither through the air across the length of the grove, swallowing up the remaining flames caught in its path.

Tiki landed on all fours next to the shrine. Kris wrapped an arm around Morgan and helped him slide off the dragon's back, careful not to bump his hands and interrupt his spell casting. Scorched grass crunched under him as they touched the ground, singeing the soles of his boots and burning his toes.

The flames had been swept away from the grove thanks to Morgan's efforts, but the ground and the rest of the tree beneath them were still very, very hot.

"Place the Fire Emblem in the center of the shrine," Tiki instructed. Chrom quickly obliged, dropping down to one knee to put the Emblem in place. "Morgan, continue redirecting the fire and smoke from below away from the grove."

Morgan nodded, summoning a new gale of wind to suffocate and repel any encroaching fire.

A flash of shimmering light enveloped Tiki as she reverted back into her human form. "Keep yourselves and the parallel Falchions close to me. All I need are a few minutes of meditation to—"

Kris felt it before he saw it. A palpable—and familiar—ripple of potent magic disturbing the ashy air, making his body tense and shiver all at once. A stench of sulfur distinct from that of the fire below them hit his nose, a flash of azure light hit the corner of his eye…

And the pit in his stomach hit the floor.

"GET DOWN!"

Kris launched himself at Tiki and the Ylissean royals. He tackled all four of them to the ground just as an explosion of blinding Starlight exploded over their heads and rocked the tree's very foundation. Azure rings of light seared through his uniform and burned his back. He bit back a cry of pain but held the protective position.

"Gods, what was that?!" Chrom began to ask. "What manner of sorcery—"

"A…selfless…act…" a softer, feminine voice spoke behind them, each word crackling like the flames slithering across the branches of the Mila Tree, "to change…the world…"

Kris reached back for his broadsword and rolled up to his feet, wincing. The others scrambled to follow and took defensive positions at each other's sides, though Morgan immediately went back to keeping the fire and smoke at bay with his elemental tomes.

Slowly, a shadowy woman enveloped in flickering, purple energy limped through the haze of the grove toward them, carrying the Starlight tome in one hand and a silver staff in the other. Her golden headdress hung crooked off the back of her head; one knee and both arms were twisted at painful, unnatural angles.

Chrom looked like he was about to vomit.

"Emm…?"

Soulless pink eyes locked onto the Exalt. "You are…in the way…of peace and order…brother." She took another awkward step toward them. Kris tightened his grip on his sword. "You and…your…Fellblood spawn."

Her empty gaze slid to Morgan. He held out his scarred hand in warning, preparing to redirect his spell casting at her, and she hissed at him. The sound was like steam bursting from a frozen lake.

"Emmeryn, wake up!" Chrom pleaded. "This isn't you! We don't want to fight—"

"Then lay down…Falchion…" Emmeryn said. She glanced between Chrom and Lucina, and the Starlight tome began to glow in her twisted hand. "Lay down…the Fire Emblem. Free yourselves from…the cycle of…pain and vengeance…and accept…His judgment…Their judgment."

"Father…" Lucina started, sword arm raised to strike but hesitant to do so.

Chrom swallowed hard. His eyes were watery, but his face was tight with determination. Resolve. "I can't do that, Emm. If you were truly my sister, you would know why."

Emmeryn tilted her head, almost mockingly. "So…once again…you choose the Emblem…over your sister."

Chrom recoiled as though he had been slapped across the face.

"So be it." The Starlight tome floated out of Emmeryn's hand and settled at her side. Azure light, powerful and bright, began building beneath her fingers. "You will burn…with Mila. But know…that I love you. All of this…is out of love for—"

"Thoron!"

Lightning shot out of Morgan's scarred hand and struck the ground in front of Emmeryn's feet. Sparks and wisps of flame coursed through the grass around her, beneath her, behind her, the magical force behind the spell causing the entire treetop to quake. The branches holding up the grove below them audibly splintered and cracked.

Tiki quickly transformed and roared into action. She lunged for the Vallite shadow with two swipes of her deadly claws. Despite the limp in her step, Emmeryn was able to deftly dodge and duck out of the dragon's path. She flicked her wrist up as Tiki's claw passed over her head, blasting another explosive round of Starlight directly into the dragon's face.

Tiki yelped in pain. The dragon reeled back, whipping a wing around to shield her eyes from any further damage. Her front legs lost their footing on the scorched grass and her massive body slammed into the ground, further destabilizing the area between the shrine and the edge of the grove.

Fire and smoke erupted from the lower levels of the Mila Tree as the grove's floor fractured and split. Pieces of the grove along the border fell away, plummeting into the ocean inch by inch and stopping only a few feet short of Emmeryn's feet, then—

Emmeryn glanced behind herself and screeched.

A piercing, ear-splitting screech that shattered the air. A scream of fear and horror and anger all wrapped into a single, bone-chilling sound that unsettled Kris to his very core.

He had heard it once before—in Valla, when Byleth had warded off the fearsome Vallite rider with fire magic—and now…

"Oh, Gods," Chrom's voice was choked up, wavering. Emmeryn was still screeching those terrible, inhuman noises, clawing at her scalp, bent fingers and broken nails tangling into her hair. "She's…she's scared."

Kris cast him a quick, nervous glance. "Scared? Scared of what?"

"The ledge—or, falling off it. That's…how she died." Despite her attempts to kill them all, Chrom reached a hand out to the Vallite shadow. "Emm—"

"SILENCE!"

Emmeryn slammed her staff into the remaining ground. White light burst from the top of the staff and raced across the sky in every direction, covering the entire length of the Mila Tree. And then…

Silence. Complete and utter silence. Kris couldn't hear anything—not Emmeryn's screeching, not the roaring flames below, not even his own breathing. He tried to call out to the Exalt and Tiki, but no words passed through his lips. The elemental tomes Morgan had been using to protect them from the fires dropped to the grass silently, uselessly, now that he could no longer voice his spells.

An Archanean Silence Staff, Kris quickly realized. The Vallite shadow had completely wiped sound from the battlefield. That meant no speaking, no magical incantations for anyone within the staff's field of influence.

Which included Emmeryn herself.

She can't use the Starlight tome anymore! Kris spun on his heel, sword poised to strike her down while she was vulnerable…

But as soon as he turned around, she was already disappearing through a portal of the fight…but also…

Leaving them and the Mila Tree to burn to death. With Silence inflicted on the area around the Mila Tree, Morgan could no longer redirect the flames, and neither could any of Cordelia's dark fliers.

Emmeryn had doomed the Mila Tree to smoke and ashes. And if Kris and the others didn't get out quickly, they were sure to follow.

Kris tugged urgently on Chrom's arm, gesturing to everyone then pointing to the sky. A silent warning that they needed to go. Now. Solemnly, Chrom nodded in agreement and ran to collect his son.

Kris joined Lucina in helping Tiki back to her feet. She had reverted back into her human form sometime after her fall, though the damage the Starlight spell had done to her face still remained. The pale skin across her forehead and cheeks had been scorched black, and her eyes were shut tight. Either from intense pain, or loss of function, or both.

Hurriedly, Lucina moved to sheathe her version of Falchion to free up her hands—

Tiki grabbed her arm and shook her head. She felt around the air for a few moments, grasping and fumbling around frantically until her hand landed on the walls of her shrine. She tapped the stone furiously and jerked Lucina closer.

Lucina shared a worried look with Kris. Tiki's message was clear to both of them: she still wanted to try the ritual to contact Naga. But…

Kris gulped, uncertainty sticking to the back of his throat. It would not take long for the flames to spread back up to the top of the Mila Tree—they were already beginning to slither up the branches now—and there was no guarantee that the ground around the shrine would continue to hold, but…

For the sake of the world, Tiki had said, I must try.

Gritting his teeth and wiping the ash and sweat off his forehead, he pulled Tiki into the shrine. At his gesturing, Chrom and Lucina ran over to join them. After one last hesitant glance, Chrom unclasped the Fire Emblem from his arm and set it within the shrine's center. He and Lucina took to either side of Tiki, swords drawn, as she lowered herself onto the stone floor. Legs crossed, eyes still squeezed closed, chest rising and falling sporadically from panic, pain, and nerves.

Kris knelt in front of her and offered her his hand. She accepted it eagerly, tapping it out of habit then gripping it in her own like she was using him as an anchor.

Tiki took a slow breath in. The golden, ethereal light enshrouding the two Falchions and the Fire Emblem drew in closer to her, swirling around her body like a mystical vortex. Strands of light brushed against her arms, her back, her burned face. She squeezed Kris's hand

Kris squeezed back. You can do this.

She breathed in, long and steady, one last time. Then, she finally opened her eyes.

They glowed golden and bright with the power of the Divine Dragons.

Character Bios:

Cordelia: Dark Flier

—Captain of the Dark Flier division of the Ylissean Pegasus Knights. A proud, talented woman in several areas of expertise, considered to be a prodigy by many in the Ylissean army. She works hard to live up to her reputation and has been serving her home country since the first day she picked up lance, from helping Chrom and the Shepherds win the wars against Plegia and Valm, to helping save the world from the Fell Dragon's malice.

—Relations: Mother of Severa. Wife of Stahl.

Emmeryn: Sage

—Former Exalt of Ylisse and descendant of the Hero-King. A kind, wise, and patient woman who loved her family and her people above all else. Having been crowned Exalt at a very young age after her father's sudden death, she worked tirelessly to make up for her family's wrongdoings in the Crusades against Plegia and did everything in her power to restore peace to the world—even sacrificing her own life to do so. Died in 2609 by her own accord, to keep the Fire Emblem out of Mad King Gangrel's hands.

—Relations: Sister of Chrom and Lissa. Aunt of Lucina, Morgan, and Owain.

Frederick: Great Knight

—Captain of the Ylissean Knights and advisor to the Exalt. A skeptical, and of overbearing, man who takes his role as a servant to the royal family extremely seriously. Whether its brigands or monsters or uneven terrain that threatens his liege lord, Frederick "The Wary" will be there to keep the Exalt and his family safe. He has lightened up his overprotective mannerisms a bit since Chrom's crowning as Exalt…but not by much.

—Relations: Father of Cynthia. Husband of Sumia.

Sumia: Falcon Knight

—Captain of the Ylissean Pegasus Knights. A clumsy but well-meaning woman who is said to have a special connection to animals, especially of the equestrian variety. As a young woman, she was always very shy and often read books to escape her perceived flaws, but is now a more confident and capable fighter in the Ylissean army after surviving two wars and a world-threatening dragon. Though, she still enjoys reading.

—Relations: Mother of Cynthia. Wife of Frederick.

While researching for this chapter, I learned that the Silence Staff in FE3/FE12 actually targets everyone on the battlefield—mainly magic users—on either side of the fight, as opposed to targeting a particular person like most iterations. Pretty neat, but not for Kris and the gang lol.

Next chapter: Searching for divinity