Lucina made it to Southtown first. She dismounted and turned a corner just in time to see a brigand approach a man trying to defend his family. The poor local was shaking and wore a terrified expression, with a poor stance to boot. It was obviously his first time wielding any kind of weapon, and the bulkier assailant knew that. Lucina was disgusted at the sight.
"Leave him alone!" She interrupted.
The bandit turned to face the princess.
"What's a pretty lass like you doin' out here?" He said with a perverse grin. "This town's a sack a' crap, no place for a girl like you."
Lucina was disgusted, she clenched Parallel Falchion and readied herself. The brigand was smarter than he looked and did the same with his axe. Once she was ready, Lucina lunged forward aiming straight for his chest. Her opponent blocked, but was either weaker than he looked, or wasn't expecting such force to come from her blow. Judging by the look of anger on his face, it seemed like the former. As soon as he recovered he ran at her, raising his axe high. Lucina effortlessly blocked and maneuvered her sword to wrest the axe from her opponent's grip. His eyes went wide with fear as he fell to his knees defenseless.
"Please don't kill me! I swear I'll nev-"
Lucina brought the hilt of her sword down on his head hard enough to knock him out. Once she was confident he wasn't getting up again soon, she made her way deeper into the town.
Several more encounters like this came and went, each bandit providing little challenge. Compared to the likes of the Grimleal, Valmese, hell even Risen, these poor excuses for hostile combatants were a breeze. Barely more exerting than training. Eventually she made her way towards Owain, who was as flashy as ever. He spun and jumped, then brought his sword down on a brigand's axe, breaking it in two.
"No, sword hand! We mustn't take this man's life he must-"
"Owain!" Lucina cut him off before he could ramble on any further.
"Oh, Lucina! You're not hurt are you?" He said, having gathered his composure.
"Not a scratch, where's my father and Sir Frederick?"
"Dealing with the leader. Shouldn't be long until they've finished."
The two readied themselves as they saw another bandit approach, but saw that he was unarmed. Behind the man was Chrom, who held him at swordpoint. The attackers who saw this fled, leaving only a few stragglers who were being rounded up by Frederick. It wasn't long until all remaining bandits were gathered and crammed into Southtown's prison. With the amount of ruffians they apprehended, the jailer would be earning his pay tonight.
"Milord! I've finished my search, Southtown has been cleared of any and all invaders." Frederick said as he stood to attention.
"Good job Frederick the Wary. We were lucky to be close by. These dastards couldn't have picked a worse time to attack." Chrom replied.
"Indeed. Though I fear there will always be those who seek to take advantage of peace and prosperity." Frederick commented.
His loud and clear voice was easy to overhear, and Lucina couldn't help but think about that last part.
'People taking advantage of peace.' She thought to herself.
The very idea offended her. She learned in the first two years she spent in this timeline that many people took their lives and world for granted, but Lucina always thought that seeing the threat of Grima in the flesh would give them some perspective. Today's events seemed to prove otherwise though. People like these raiders couldn't be allowed to roam freely like this.
"Father, Sir Frederick. How common are occurrences like these?"
"Not too common, thankfully. But every now and then an attack like this occurs, and most of the time help doesn't arrive this quickly." explained her father.
"Surely there must be something we could do. Don't we have people to keep watch on these sorts of groups?" Lucina asked.
"We do, Milady. But there are far too many groups of bandits for them to handle, and the ones we know about have too many numbers for them to deal with. When we send in a large force, they see us coming and scatter, only to regroup elsewhere." Frederick answered.
"What if there was a small but skilled force that was too small to be detected easily? They could infiltrate and strike before the brigands had a chance to flee." Lucina suggested.
"Oh oh oh oh! We could give it a cool code name! The Silent Protectors!" Owain chimed in.
Chrom sighed "We already have a force like that Owain; The Shepherds."
"But most of them have left to continue their lives from before the last few wars. And those that are still in Ylisse have taken up other duties. Father, let me organize and lead a new group." Lucina petitioned.
"Let me think about it Lucina. It's been a long day, not to mention Lissa and Morgan will be arriving soon now that the fighting's stopped. Your daughter's going to need you after today's search." Chrom responded.
Lucina flinched. The battle had helped her escape the pain of Robin still being gone, and Morgan had no such distraction. It may have even made her day harder.
'Yet another failure as a mother.' Lucina thought bitterly.
Her father was right, this discussion had to wait. She had to at least give her daughter a token effort as a parent today. Chrom seemed to pick up on his daughter's mood and motioned for Frederick and Owain to give her some space. Morgan and Lissa would be here soon, and Lucina needed to be composed for Morgan's sake.
As if the universe knew what was going through the once Exalt's head, her daughter came into view from across the plaza. Gods, Lucina could see the worry on her face from there. The princess took a deep breath and made her way towards her daughter, hoping that the words she needed would come to her when she started talking. Lucina saw Morgan's head turn and the girl began to run towards her. Before she knew it, Morgan had already crossed most of the square to meet her mother.
"Mother! Thank Naga you're ok!" Morgan cried as she embraced Lucina. "I was so worried. I knew you could handle yourself but after father…"
That was all she could get out as she began sobbing again. Lucina returned the embrace, but couldn't help but feel like a failure. But she had to help the town. She had to do something, and there's still so much for her to do.
"How are you feeling sweetie? Is there anything I can do for you?" Lucina offered.
"Just stay next to me on the ride home. I wanna spend as much time with you as possible." Morgan answered.
Lucina nodded, but wasn't sure she'd be able to keep her promise.
Lucina found herself in a familiar field staring at her husband. Robin looked back at her in solemn understanding.
'I have to do this.' she thought to herself.
What right did she have to put her happiness before her mission?
Lucina woke up in a cold sweat. It had been an unremarkable trek back home. All Lucina could think about was how to address the bandit problem she had seen yesterday. The people of Ylisse needed to be protected. Today she'd begin her work to guard them as best she could. Robin had won them their future, and she'd make sure his sacrifice wasn't in vain.
'Robin…' she thought.
The princess missed her husband dearly, and his return was looking less and less likely now. But there was no use wallowing in misery, she had work to do, and bandits to stop. Lucina changed into her battle attire and started to make her way to the training grounds. She was sure she'd see at least a couple of her friends from her original world there, and they were just the people she needed for her new task.
As she walked out of her room Lucina immediately passed Morgan's. She wanted to make sure her daughter was ok, but she also didn't want to wake her up. Yesterday had taken its toll on Morgan as well, Lucina wanted her to have plenty of rest after such an ordeal.
'She needs this. She needs this.' Lucina thought to herself.
Within a few minutes she arrived at her destination. To her relief she wasn't the only one here. Owain was busy with his usual brand of practicing, Cynthia was going over lance techniques with Severa, and Laurent was sparring with Kjelle as practice against magic users. As Lucina closed the door behind her, Cynthia waved her down. She tried to return it, but was tacked into a hug from her younger sister.
"Oh Lucy! I'm so sorry about yesterday. If there's anything I can do for you, let me know big sis." Cynthia said.
"Actually, there's something I wanted to ask all of you." Lucina responded.
Cynthia's display of sisterly love had gathered the attention of their fellow time travelers. So once they heard Lucina's response they all made their way towards her. Lucina was surprised that they all came to her instantly, she had never seen Kjelle break off a training session so quickly.
"Lucina" Laurent began "our condolences for your search for Robin yesterday. How may we help?"
"Yesterday, there was an attack on a town nearby in our search for Robin." Lucina's voice quivered a little at mentioning her husband's name. "We repelled it, but learned that attacks like these aren't uncommon outside the capital. I want to organize a new group of Shepherds to combat the new issue Ylisse faces."
"And you want us to help you. Right?" Severa replied, bluntly.
"That's right Severa. Our parents have earned their rest, now we must do our part for Ylisse." Lucina declared.
"Haven't we already though? We fought the last two wars alongside them. When do we get our peace?" Severa asked.
"Then why are you here, practicing before anyone else in the castle does? Because you're ready to hang up your weapons?" Lucina questioned back.
The others went silent at that point. Despite living during a time of peace, they were still training as soldiers.
"Will you be asking any of the others?" Kjelle finally asked.
"Of course. If any of you know where to find them, it would be much appreciated." said Lucina.
"Yarne is with his parents making sure no act of Naga befalls them before this world's him is born. And Brady was starting a career as a violinist, so no luck with those two." Laurent explained.
"And since you mentioned him, last I heard from Noire she and Brady were closer than ever. Doubt she'll leave his side to dive head first into battle again." Severa added on.
"Oh oh oh! The specter of boredom had ensnared poor Inigo when last we spoke. I'm sure he'd join us in our noble pursuit!" Owain pitched in.
'At last, a stroke of luck.' Lucina thought.
"Cynthia, I believe you mentioned that Nah would be returning from her pilgrimage to Mount Prism soon. Do you think she would be interested in joining us?" Kjelle asked.
"I hope so, having her around would be a huge blow to enemy morale! Hopefully Gerome is with her too, they'd be a boon for us. Combine that with Morgan and we'll be unstoppable!" Cynthia declared.
"Morgan won't be joining us. She told me herself." Lucina quickly lied.
"Really? She loves heroic deeds, maybe I should talk to her." Cynthia said.
"I said she didn't want to." Lucina replied sharply.
Cynthia visibly flinched at the response, and the others were a little shocked to see such a display from Lucina.
"I'm sorry Cynthia. Morgan's… not taking it well. She needs time to herself right now." Lucina tried to explain, not sure if the others had bought it.
"O-okay then. Well if she needs cheering up, Auntie Cynthia's always around to help!" Cynthia said, quickly returning to her upbeat self.
"Glad to hear Cynthia." She turned to face the others "As for everyone else, contact those you can about their help as soon as you can. We'll need all we can get for this as the new Shepherds of Ylisse." Lucina stated.
Severa gave her a look, but she quickly nodded and went back to her training along with everyone else.
Seeing that she made her pitch to the others, Lucina turned to leave the training hall. As she exited, she heard Morgan's voice from down the hall. The princess ran in the opposite direction. She couldn't bear to tell her daughter what she was doing.
"I'm sorry, Robin. I'm s-so sorry!" Lucina sobbed.
"Don't worry Lucina, this is what you wanted." his voice replied.
"What do you mean? I could ne-" her voice was caught in her throat when she saw his face, that wicked smile could never belong to him.
"You killed me Lucina, just like you always wanted to."