The light of the rising sun greeted him when he opened his eyes in the morning. Clovis's head was pounding. He groaned as he looked around his surroundings. He wasn't in his room.

His arm felt heavy, he looked towards his side. Lissa was curled up underneath the blanket, holding his arm tightly in her grasp. How did he end up in her room? He couldn't recall.

Clovis gently pushed her arm aside, rising out of her bed. He didn't want to disturb her rest. He needed something to drink, his throat was far too parched. Clovis quietly shut Lissa's door, heading to his room to change.

What had happened? There was shattered glass on the floor of his inn room. He found a letter within his room. A letter that mentioned Nohrian Whiskey. Had he… Did he make a fool of himself?

He crumbled the letter in his hand, tossing it into a bin in the corner of the room. He'd have to inform the innkeeper of the broken glass. There wasn't a safe way for him to collect it himself.

Clovis ran his hands through his hair. He understood why his head was killing him now. When was the last time he had gotten drunk? Probably in Plegia.

Clovis quickly changed, donning black wool long pants and a stuffed black wool gambeson. He quickly headed down to the first floor of the inn. Kellam was seated at a small table by a warm fireplace. He had always been early to rise from what Clovis could recall of the knight. Clovis spotted him more than a few times jogging early in the morning in the castle grounds from his bedroom window. Kellam seemed far too distracted with his warm stew to take immediate notice of Clovis approaching him.

Clovis pulled out the chair across from Kellam and took a seat, "Is the stew good?"

Kellam glanced up from his stew, "I've had worse."

"Chrom?"

"Chrom."

Clovis chuckled before waving towards the innkeeper seated behind the desk by the entrance.

The innkeeper approached the table, "Yes?"

Clovis pointed at Kellam's stew, "I'll have one of those if that's alright. Some watered ale with two cups if you have it as well. Ah, I also shattered a liquor bottle in my room last night. My apologies, there is still glass…"

Clovis reached into his coin purse to pull out a generous amount of gold coins, more than what he expected the meal to be worth.

The innkeeper smiled as she gathered the gold coins, "Don't worry about it. I'll get everything cleaned up."

The innkeeper practically skipped away from the table. It didn't take her long to come back with the bowl of stew and watered ale. Clovis tossed her an extra gold coin, impressed by her speed. He watched her head upstairs, likely to deal with his mess.

Clovis sighed as he poured Kellam a cup of the watered down ale. He then filled up his own cup, taking a sip from it.

Clovis began to eat his stew, occasionally glancing at his towering companion. He didn't actually know Kellam all that well. Something he should fix since he dragged him all the way out to Ferox.

"Hey, Kellam…"

Kellam put his cup down, "Yes?"

"Is there anything you want to do while we're in Ferox? I know I want to fight in the arena. There's got to be something you want to do while we're out here. I want to make sure all of you who followed me out here have just as much fun as I do."

It's only fair after all. Ferox was freezing this time of the year. Clovis needed a way to repay the misery he subjected his companions to by dragging them out into the miserable north for an entire month.

Kellam took a sip of his ale before lowering the cup to respond, "The glass gardens, I'd like to visit them."

Clovis didn't expect that. He supposed he did see Kellam around the castle gardens a few times back in Ylisse, but he never struck him as the type to care for gardens.

"You want to visit Ferox's gardens? Why?"

He shrugged, "Curiosity, mostly. My family wasn't poor thanks to my father's position. I grew up with a small farm at home. Had to help my mother around the farm a bunch when my father was in Plegia. I've liked plants since. I'm curious to know what can even grow in a place this cold."

That certainly explained Kellam spending time around the gardens at the castle. Emmeryn had invested a decent amount of coin in planting a large variety of flowers throughout the years.

Clovis tapped the table with his cup, "Now you've got me curious too. The crops have to be worth the space they're taking up. Ferox still imports a bunch of food from us, so whatever they're growing isn't enough. Somehow the crops have to survive the horrible cold here too."

Kellam nodded, a smile on his face, "It's interesting isn't it? Whatever they're growing, it has to be unique. Vegetables, herbs, some types of fruits? I'd like to find out if we get a chance."

An easy enough promise to keep, especially since he managed to make Clovis just as curious.

"We'll take a look at some point, promise."

"Thanks, Clovis."

Clovis nodded, "Yep. Hey, you want to check out Anna's stock with me after we're done eating? I have a few words to say to her after last night."

Kellam looked at him strangely, "Last… night?"

Clovis nodded, "She left me a bottle of really strong alcohol. I don't even remember what I did last night. Woke up in Lissa's room."

Kellam awkwardly laughed, "That went in a different direction than I expected. Getting wasted in a new place, like Ferox, seems like a bad idea to me."

Clovis pointed his spoon at Kellam, "Speaking from experience?"

Kellam turned his head to the side, his face slightly red, "Uh, maybe?"

"Come on, spill it. I'll match your story with one of my own to make it fair."

Kellam was one of his knights now, he wouldn't screw him over.

Kellam hesitated for a few moments before downing his glass of ale, presumably for courage.

"Alright. This is kind of embarrassing, so please don't bring it up after this. You know how I trained alongside Stahl and Sully to earn the honor of serving the Exalt?"

Well, no Clovis didn't actually know Kellam trained with the two. They were all around the same age; it did make sense to him that they must have had the same instructors. Clovis didn't want to interrupt him, so he nodded.

Kellam continued his tale, "Well, part of our training took us all over Ylisse to get used to the land and fighting in new places. Our instructor was this stubborn old knight who got crippled in Plegia. I respected him, but I didn't like him. None of us did."

He continued, "Anyways, one day he was real hard on us and the others on the road towards one of the villages we were headed to for training. He put Sully in a really bad mood, enough that she went out and bought a bunch of alcohol in the village and smuggled it into our camp."

Oh? Now Kellam's story had the potential to be hilarious. Clovis knew Sully couldn't handle alcohol to save her life. It was a lesson burned into his memory from the one time Chrom brought Clovis out to drink at a tavern with the farmer's club.

Clovis took another sip from his ale.

Kellam hesitated before continuing, "Sully didn't want to drink alone, so she came to the tent I shared with Stahl. I tried to be the voice of reason, but the two got me to drink alongside them. The alcohol Sully bought was far more intense than what I was used to. We were drinking in the camp and the next moment I woke up in the forest at the side of a river naked. I was freezing cold and my clothes were missing."

Clovis hummed, "Stahl joined in? He didn't strike me as the type to really bend the rules."

Kellam shrugged, "Our instructor was really brutal that day. Anyways, when I woke up in the forest, it was just me. I was lying in the dirt next to a puddle of vomit. Saw some pig tracks in the dirt. Thought maybe we found a boar or something in the night and I killed it before taking a hop in the river to get the blood off."

"But that's not what happened, right?"

Kellam looked down at the table, his head hung low in shame, "I wish, Clovis. I really do. No, I followed the tracks with a pounding headache. Led me to a small little cave. Saw my clothes at the entrance of the cave. Three tiny boars were lying on top of the pile of clothes. You know the saying, never expect a baby to be alone in the wilderness. They weren't."

Clovis grimaced, "Oh no."

Kellam sounded defeated, "Their mom was there just a little deeper into the cave. Probably one of the biggest boars I've ever seen. She didn't take kindly to me being there. She chased me out all the way back to our campsite. Here I was, this tall guy completely nude, covered in mud and vomit. I ran into our campsite screaming. I woke up everyone, including our instructor. He was the one who had to put the angry boar down."

Clovis tried to keep his composure, but he ended up snickering at his knight, "That's rough buddy."

He sighed, "It was, it really was. To make matters worse, Sully and Stahl were in camp just fine. It was only me who ended up wandering off that night. Now do you get why I think drinking stuff you're not used to in a new location might be a bad idea?"

"Yeah, I can see why you might be concerned."

Poor guy. Clovis wanted to hear Stahl and Sully's perspective of that night at some point. Assuming they weren't just fucking in the tent all night.

Clovis did promise to tell his own story.

"Let me tell you about the first time I got drunk."

Kellam leaned back into his chair, the two enjoying the heat of the fireplace.

Clovis looked into the flame, "Something you have to understand first. Back in Plegia, we often raided supply lines or villages as we marched. Didn't want to leave things to waste since there was no one left when we were done."

Clovis momentarily glanced at Kellam, he didn't seem disturbed by that revelation. He was a good knight.

"We just finished clearing out a village. Turns out their food and alcohol stock was on the higher end, likely because they had a Grimleal stationed there."

Kellam interrupted him, "Grimleal? Is that a tile of some sort?"

Clovis swirled his cup of ale, "The worst of the worst. Horrible twisted dark mages tasked with corrupting the minds of the Plegian filth. Grimleal are cultists who would be more than happy to flay your skin just to heal you back up to do it again. Even worse, they had a tendency to sometimes leave surprises tucked away under the skin of Ylissean prisoners. We'd think we saved some of our own tucked away behind bars, only…"

Clovis looked down at his cup, "They'd explode. Hexes carved within their flesh. Could never tell when it would happen."

Kellam looked green, "That's horrific… Are the Grimleal still around?"

Anger filled Clovis's tone, "Plegians and Grimleal are one in the same. As long as a single Plegian remains, there might just be a Grimleal. Only the most arrogant of their order dawned their personal sigils. The smart ones were the worst to deal with, often blending in with the usual Plegian filth. It's why we didn't take prisoners."

Clovis took a deep breath, reeling in his rage, "Where was I? Ah, so there was a bunch of alcohol left behind at the village. We had our priests ensure it wasn't poisoned before it was distributed. I did well enough in that raid that my father wanted to reward me, so he decided to let me drink with the rest of the knights that night."

"I was.. Eleven I think? Ended up drinking a bunch of Plegian alcohol with some of our finest knights. Plegian spirits are a lot stronger than normal ale. I got caught up drinking with the knights and they were so happy to see me there that they kept filling my mug."

"To cut a long story short, I got beyond wasted. Vomited all over my father's armor because I tried to polish it in my drunken stupor. Drank even more, apparently passing out in the middle of the camp. A healer had to treat me that night or I would have died. Did you know that too much alcohol would kill you? It acts like a poison in the body. I didn't know that until then."

Kellam frowned, "Just how much did you drink to get to that point?"

Clovis shook his head, "Only ones who knew are the Knights of the Twilight Order who I drank with that night. They are long dead. We lost far too many knights in Plegia. Damn Grimleal."

Kellam rose his cup of ale, "We'll avenge them."

Clovis met his cup, "That we will."

After finishing their meals and ale, Clovis went to track down the innkeeper. He had no idea where to look for Anna. He hoped she might be able to direct him to her.

"Anna? She left super early with her wagon. She probably went to go speak with the Khans. She likely has a stall set up at the markets by now though."

Clovis turned to Kellam, "Shall we head to the markets? I actually know where that is, so we won't get lost."

Kellam agreed, "Sure, but we shouldn't stay out too long. The others might get worried if they wake up and we're not here."

Clovis didn't want to think about that. He had no idea what fallout he would be facing for whatever he did last night.

"Lissa's not going to wake up until the afternoon at least. Maribelle's probably the same. No idea about Cordelia though. I think she'd keep her mouth shut at least if she does notice we're gone."

Clovis directed Kellam outside of the building, his knight falling into step at his side. Kellam had apparently made the same wise decision to wear his own stuffed gambeson in the Feroxian cold.

Kellam spoke, "Cordelia, huh? I don't know her that well. We made small talk during the trip here, but I didn't really get a good read on the type of person she is. She was really quiet around me."

Clovis nodded, "Doesn't surprise me. She's one of those slow folk. She likes Chrom, like a lot. If you want to get her to talk, just mention him."

Her obsession was kind of gross.

Kellam grunted, "Ah, she's like that… Should I treat her like a child?"

"Might help."

Clovis didn't actually consider that. Huh, Kellam was a genius. If she tattled to Lissa, he'd just ground Cordelia from seeing Chrom or something.

The two eventually reached the market. It was filled to the brim with a bunch of different peddlers. It took a few minutes of roaming before Clovis spotted Anna's wagon within the market. It didn't surprise Clovis to see she settled in a spot near a major intersection of roads within the market district.

Clovis took a few minutes to check the surrounding stalls to see if they had anything interesting. Nothing really stood out, most Feroxian goods being rather dull. Carved fish bone knick knacks, furs, and plenty of liquor.

Clovis approached Anna's stall with Kellam. She had two distinct tables setup, similar to the mask salesman from the previous night. One table had more colorful goods, the other goods in a darker tone.

Anna looked smug as she stood in front of the tables, "Why if it isn't Cyrille! I'm so happy you managed to find your way to me. Did you enjoy the gift I left for you? Could I interest you in another bottle or two of Nohrian Whiskey?"

"You could have warned me how strong that whiskey of yours was. I didn't even wake up in my room last night," Clovis glared at her.

"How much of it did you drink?"

"The entire bottle I think," Clovis answered.

Anna looked awestruck, "How? I was playing a little prank on you! You weren't supposed to drink the entire bottle in a single night. You shouldn't have even been able to do that!"

"Well I did. It wasn't the first time I've had hard liquor, but that Nohrian type was far stronger than what I am used to."

Anna awkwardly laughed, "Well… Would you like to have a look at my other products?"

He accepted her change in topic, even if he wouldn't forget the "prank" she pulled on him.

She really did have a large collection of foreign goods. There was an assortment of sealed jars of foreign food, a bunch of foreign alcohol, countless weapons, a ton of gems, and a bunch of rolled up parchment.

Clovis pointed at an odd box near Anna, "What's that?"

Anna grinned at you, "Oh? Interested in taking a little risk? 250 gold to draw a single parchment from the box. Each parchment has a prize written on it. You're guaranteed to walk away with at least one prize!"

250 gold? That was almost enough gold to purchase a weapon made of bronze! What secrets did the box hold? Clovis needed to know.

He handed over 250 gold to Anna before drawing a piece of parchment from the box.

He opened the piece of parchment up. He was met with a strange drawing. It looked like someone drew a bunch of water and a crudely drawn skinny tree of some sort. The tree had giant brown balls next to its leaves. The ground was a solid yellow. A bunch of stick figure people were happily standing under what looked like some type of canvas hoisted by a pole.

Clovis showed Anna the drawing, "What did I win?"

She looked confused for a moment as she took the parchment to study it carefully. After a few moments, she broke out into laughter.

"Ah, it appears you won my youngest sister's prize. I forgot she slipped in a reward among the others. Congratulations Cyrille! You and any companions you deem to bring with you have won a trip to the most beautiful beach in the Outrealm. The price of the journey will be paid for, any expenses incurred while on the beach will be out of your own pocket."

The Outrealm, now that was interesting. He'd heard rumors of it from the Anna in Plegia. A gate to various realms you could not reach otherwise. Clovis could only assume the lands hidden away by the Outrealm had to be fragments or testing grounds from when Naga and the other dragons created the world.

It would be nice to go somewhere warm after spending time in Ferox.

"Is there a time limit to this prize?"

Anna shook her head, "I'll write down that you received this prize so my sister knows. It won't expire. One of my sisters or I can guide you to an Outrealm gate, for a small fee, whenever you feel like redeeming your trip."

Well, that worked for him. He looked back down at the box.

"Can I draw another?"

Anna's lip twitched as she avoided answering you, "Would you like to look at another one of my products?"

Clovis's coin purse was still heavy. He stared at Anna, challenging her.

"The box, hand it over. There is more to be won."

Her smile was starting to look forced, "Ah ha, okay. One more pull, 250 gold please."

Clovis happily handed over the 250 gold fee before drawing another parchment from the box. He looked at the drawing. It contained an elegant image of steaming water illuminated by foreign looking red lanterns.

He showed Anna the image, "What did I win this time?"

Anna's smile looked heavily strained as she took the parchment from him, "Ha… It seems you've won a trip to the Outrealm Hot Spring. Hosted by one of my older sisters…"

"The trip to the Hot Spring will be paid for, any expenses incurred inside the Outrealm will come out of your own pocket," Anna dully spoke.

She slowly shifted in front of the parchment box to try to block it from Clovis's view, "Can I interest you in any of my other products?"

Anna's left eye was twitching.

Clovis momentarily left the box alone to take a closer look at a collection of books Anna had on display. There were a few interesting books scattered within. However, the tempting nature of the box was far too much for him to ignore.

Anna seemed to be in despair as he pointed at the box again.

"I promise this will be the last time I draw from the box," for now.

He did need to ensure he had enough coins to last the entire month in Ferox.

Clovis drew a piece of parchment from the box. He looked down at the parchment to see a strange drawing of a blue book. There was an outline of what looked like someone raising their hand on the front of the book.

Clovis showed Anna the drawing. She froze.

"No…" She looked like she was in pain as she took a few steps back.

"It's worth so much gold… why?" Anna wailed.

Clovis brightly smiled, "My prize, please."

Anna took a deep breath to steady herself before turning to dig through her wagon. She brought out a blue book.

Her eyes darted around their surroundings, as if she were searching to see if anyone was watching them. She looked to be in pain as she handed the book over.

Her expression shifted into a serious one, "Be very careful with this manual. There are some who would be willing to kill for this."

Clovis read the title of the tome, "To Become a Paragon."

Well, the tome seemed neat at least. He'd have to read it later. For now, he handed the tome over to Kellam for safekeeping.

Kellam was staring at a strange star-shaped weapon on the colorful table.

Clovis pointed towards the strange star-shaped weapons, "What are those?"

Anna spoke dispassionately, "Shurikens, a type of throwing weapon commonly used in Hoshido."

Kellam rubbed his chin, "Hm, might work on people too stupid not to wear armor."

Anna nodded, "Dip the edges in poison and they can be rather nasty."

Kellam reached for his own coin purse, "I'll take a few."

How did Kellam expect to toss those in his usual armor? Well, it would at least work as a good backup weapon in his current gambeson.

Clovis questioned his companion, "Have you thrown knives before?"

Kellam shook his head, "Nope, I figure these shurikens will at least give me something to do. I'll try to learn in my free time."

Clovis couldn't fault him for trying to defeat boredom.

Clovis looked at the weapon on both tables. The spears on the colorful table caught his attention the most. They were strange in design. Some of the spears seemed more akin to lances in size, yet the heads of the weapons were clearly not designed for such use.

Clovis looked at the more dull table of weapons. While the weapons certainly were not as flashy, they looked more brutal in nature. Clovis looked down at a sharp dagger with a spiked knuckle attached to its handle. There were many usages for a weapon like that in close quarters.

Clovis turned his attention back to Anna, who looked quite depressed, "How much would it be to buy every single one of your products?"

If the price wasn't outrageous, he'd probably advise her to take her entire wagon off to see Emmeryn. Ylisse's armory could use extra variety.

Anna sighed, "You'd be crushed under the amount of gold you'd have to be carrying on you. Something around 200,000G for everything, including what I have in my wagon."

Clovis rubbed his chin in thought, a small scheme forming in his mind.

Anna = Wagon

Anna = Merchant

Anna = Profit

Clovis stood straighter, "How much for your hand?"

Chrom owed him a lot. The least he could do was take one for the team by marrying Anna for all her shiny weapons. Clovis just had to be… careful… with Cordelia.

It took a mere moment for Clovis to realize he had made a mistake.

The depression on Anna's face instantly disappeared, replaced with something… worrying. She slowly sauntered over to him.

"Oh my!~ Isn't that an interesting question?"

She was getting way too close to him.

She slowly circled him, "Hmm, not bad. Not bad at all."

She stopped behind him, grabbing his shoulders.

Clovis felt her breath against his neck as she leaned in close to his right ear. The entire weight of her body pressed against his back.

"For you? I'm willing to negotiate~"

Did… did he need an adult? Is that why Emmeryn told him to be careful around strangers?

Clovis stammered out a random amount, "50,000G?"

She squeezed his shoulder, "I'm hurt. Do you think my hand is worth so little?"

He messed up. He momentarily forgot he was dealing with an Anna.

"100,000G for your hand?" Clovis's earlier confidence was gone.

She slowly pulled herself away from him, moving to stand in front of him.

Anna slowly tapped her chin with her finger, "Hmm, 100,000G and a Prince. I could do worse…"

He was going to murder Chrom. Why didn't he have a wife already? It shouldn't be up to him to get his brother a good match!

"150,000G," Clovis hesitantly said.

Clovis wished he brought Lissa along. She was a far better negotiator.

Anna lightly pressed her hand up against his cheek, "Good boy. I know you don't have that amount of gold with you. I suppose I'll be visiting Ylisstol soon!~"

She leaned in far too close, their noses almost touching.

Clovis's heart was rapidly beating.

She smiled at him, her crimson eyes meeting his blue.

Without any warning, she kissed his cheek.

What.

What.

Huh?

Clovis stumbled back, nearly tripping. Kellam managed to catch him right before he did so.

Clovis's face was burning as Anna giggled.

Kellam squeezed Clovis's shoulder, directing him away from Anna. Anna gave them both a slow wave goodbye.

Clovis rubbed his cheek, "Not a word Kellam. Not a single word."

Kellam looked amused, but kept silent.

Clovis truly hated diplomacy.