It was a quiet trip back to Ylisstol. The Shepherds never lost one of their own before. While casualties were a part of any battle, Robin's plans never exposed them to unnecessary risk. They had close calls, injuries and the occasional scare, but none of them had ever died. How ironic that the man most accredited their perfect survival to was the first and only death in their final battle together. Robin, the High Deliverer was gone, and his absence left a void in its wake. Everyone had a different reaction to his sacrifice, some were sure he'd return, those who weren't had differing reactions. Some vowed to celebrate his life and the peace he had won, while others mourned the loss of their comrade. One thing they all had in common however, were their sympathies for his family.
Lucina and Morgan had regrouped with the others in a short time, and were met with nothing but condolences from their friends and allies. The circumstances of Robin and Lucina's relationship was a strange one, even amongst the Shepherds, but they were accepted by all (even Chrom after some convincing from his wife). It warmed her heart to see such kindness from so many people, even Tharja seemed uncharacteristically kindhearted towards Lucina. Seeing so many people that her husband's life had touched brought tears to her eyes once again. Lucina felt that all of this along with her family's support would see her through this trying time.
As soon as they got back Lucina began coordinating with her father to search for Robin. Sumia and Cordelia would lead the parties traveling furthest due to their pegasus' superior mobility, Chrom and Lissa would take charge of the areas closest to the capital, and Frederick would sweep the areas in between with the fastest horses house Ylisse had at its disposal. Lucina went with her father for the first few weeks, but was convinced to remain in the capital as the search parties grew less frequent in occurrence. Lucina wasn't bothered too much though, she had a feeling Robin would reappear in a couple months time, on the anniversary when Chrom found him lying in a field almost three years prior.
In the meantime, Lucina wanted to try her hand at something less destructive than sparring or training. She had been fighting for so long, she never stopped to think what she would do when the war was over. Thanks to Robin, Lucina had won her future, and she was looking forward to enjoying the peace that entailed. Today Lucina was going to try and take up baking with her mother's help. Sumia's baking skills were legendary among the Shepherds, so much that there were rumors that they were how she was able to win Chrom's heart. Lucina knew how ridiculous they were, but it was a testament to how good of a baker her mother was.
Morgan was already waiting with Sumia by the time Lucina arrived. It was still strange how three generations of her family were together yet there wasn't more than seven years difference between them. Morgan had boundless energy as usual, almost jumping in place out of excitement. Sumia was happy to spend time with her daughter and granddaughter, and unlike Chrom she enjoyed being a grandparent at such a young age.
"Mom's finally here Grandma, so can we finally start now?"
"Yes Morgan. It's a good thing you're always early Lucina, your daughter's been practically begging to start for almost ten minutes now."
"Morgan, while I'm looking forward to this family time as much as you are, it's no excuse to be so impatient." Lucina scolded her daughter.
Morgan pouted and folded her arms as a mock show of annoyance. Then quickly dropped the act when she realized something.
"Um… is Aunt Cynthia going to be joining us?" Morgan asked. "I don't see her anywhere."
"Cynthia had plans today to begin training Severa to become a pegasus knight, so she couldn't make it. It'll just be the three of us." Sumia replied.
"What did you have in mind for us to make for our first lesson Mother?" asked Lucina.
She was nervous about trying, but this was something she wanted to do. She imagined what Robin would think upon seeing how much she would be able to make by the time he returned. Baking was also one of the few things she remembered doing with the Sumia from her own world before Grima returned; she felt that finally learning to bake was a way to honor her original mother. Sumia's response shook her from her thoughts.
"I was thinking we'd start simple with some muffins, whichever kind you two want to make."
Before Lucina could say anything, Morgan immediately voiced her opinion,
"Oh oh oh! Can we make blueberry muffins? Please pretty please Mom?"
Lucina couldn't help but lovingly shake her head "Sure Morgan, we can make as many as you want."
She couldn't get annoyed with her daughter, it warmed her heart to see Morgan so joyously happy with such simple things. Even if Lucina would rather have started with chocolate chip muffins instead.
So far everything was going well. Aside from having to share some ingredients between the three of them there were no problems. Lucina was just waiting for Morgan to finish with the flour so she could add it to her mixture, it was the last ingredient she needed before they moved on to the next step. Morgan finished and handed the flour to her mother while receiving the baking powder from her grandmother. Lucina quickly started measuring the flour while thinking about how her muffins would come out once they were done.
"Be careful that you don't use too much Mother." Morgan said, snapping Lucina back to reality.
"Don't worry Morgan, I measured everything carefully." Lucina replied.
She wanted this to come out perfectly, this had been a wonderful time with her mother and daughter and Lucina wanted it to stay that way.
The trio had put their muffins in the oven almost twenty minutes ago and the time had come to take them out. Sumia, Lucina, and Morgan each opened their respective ovens to take out their baked goods.
"Damnit!" Lucina yelled upon seeing her pastries.
"Are you ok sweetie?!" her mother said in alarm.
"I'm fine," Lucina grumbled "but my muffins aren't."
Rather than fluffing upwards like they were supposed to, they had begun to sink downwards in the middle. Lucina didn't know how this happened, she followed the recipe exactly how her mother told them to.
"How much baking powder did you use Lucina?" asked her mother.
"I used two teaspoons, right before I handed it to you."
"Uh Mom…" Morgan interjected "You handed Grandma the flour, not the baking powder, I think you mixed up your ingredients."
That couldn't have been right, she had the baking powder first, Lucina was sure of it. But then what could've caused her muffins to come out this way? Looking over at the rest of them, her mother and daughter's pastries looked normal. Could she really have made such a simple mistake?
"It's fine Lucina, these things happen when you're starting out." her mother tried to assure her.
But Lucina couldn't wrap her head around it.
"Are you ok Mom?" asked Morgan "Why are you walking towards the door?"
Lucina hadn't noticed that she was about to leave the room, she was still so confused about the mix up. She didn't know what she was doing, but she felt that some fresh air would do her good.
"I'm going to take a quick walk while the muffins cool down. Even if mine didn't come out right I'd be happy to try yours." She replied.
Lucina wasn't sure how long she'd be gone, but she needed to clear her head. Something was off and she didn't want to be a burden to her family. Lucina couldn't stop thinking about what went wrong. It was so simple, yet it happened. She kept going through it in her head that she didn't even realize where she was going.
By the time she came to, Lucina realized she was in the barracks. Upon realizing this, she wanted to leave. The princess was trying to enjoy herself with her loved ones, not train for a war that had already been won. But the more she thought about it, the more she wanted to run through a few motions, maybe it would help clear her head. She grabbed a sword and began to practice, and as she did Lucina began reminiscing on the last time she did this.
It was shortly before they left for the Dragon's Table, everything moved so quickly after that. Robin was with her, the two trained together often to improve Robin's swordsmanship. He never was satisfied with his ability, despite the fact he often gave Lucina a challenge in their practice matches. She missed him, but being back here felt natural. Even without Robin, the familiarity helped her calm down. She couldn't wait to see him again, and she'd be able to bake a decent batch of muffins by then for sure. All she could think about was when she'd see him again. Her thoughts dwelled on that day for so long she didn't realize how much time had passed.
"Mom, is everything fine?" a concerned voice rang out from the sideline.
It took Lucina a second to realize that her daughter had arrived and was trying to get her attention.
"Yes Morgan," Lucina answered, "just wanted to focus myself by practicing some basic movements for a few minutes."
Morgan gave her mother a nervous look and replied "It's been almost forty-five minutes. We were getting worried about you."
Forty-five minutes? That couldn't have been right, but after calming down Lucina noticed how she had been sweating quite a bit. That wasn't the result of a few minutes worth of training. Morgan looked worried about her mother, but Lucina wasn't going to let her daughter get herself worked up over nothing.
"I'm sorry, I must have lost track of time. Let me have a quick wash and I'll be right there to try some of what you made." Lucina tried to assure Morgan.
Morgan didn't seem completely convinced, but she was willing to give her mother the benefit of the doubt.
"Okay, I'll tell grandma you'll be there soon. See you in a few."
Once her daughter had left, Lucina began to make her way towards her room. Once she had cleaned herself up a bit, she'd be back on schedule and on her way to enjoying the abundant time she had with her family.
At least she thought. For the past month, Lucina kept experiencing similar mishaps as the ingredient mix up earlier. Not just with baking either, she'd prick herself sewing or overwater the flowers in the garden. Screw ups like these made her hesitant to try other new hobbies in her free time, and because of this the paradoxical princess found it hard to make conversation with her family when they spent time together. Lucina enjoyed the time spent with them for sure, but she felt like she didn't have anything to contribute. These feelings often led her towards the training grounds to vent her frustrations.
In the past Lucina had dreamt about when she wouldn't have to use her sword anymore, now it seemed like the only thing that could ease her mind. The blue haired woman could spend hours at a time at the training grounds just running through the motions. At this point, it felt like the only thing familiar to her. She would tell herself she would ease up soon and make more of an effort to spend time trying new things, but she kept coming back to train each time. Lucina felt guilty, she wanted to make so many memories with the others, Morgan especially. She wanted to be a better mother for her, but she didn't know how. All of this was so strange to her, and the man she planned on sharing the journey of parenthood with was gone.
'Just another month and a half.' Lucina would think to herself every time these thoughts would creep into her mind.
Peace had been won, her father lived, and Grima was dead, yet in spite of these facts home just didn't feel like home to her.