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Chapter 5: A Brief Respite
"Morgan! You're here pretty early," Anna waved as her favorite helper began walking towards her quaint armory in the Shepherd Barracks. But before the Shepherd's strategist-in-training could open her mouth to respond, Anna immediately ducked below the counter. She began to rattle the boxes and metal underneath, a mix of sharp and muffled clanging with a few thuds accompanied her hurried search for something.
Unbeknownst to the redheaded secret seller, Morgan did not act in her usual bombastic way. Instead of running to the counter and egging Anna on what she was doing, she walked towards it with no haste and with a hint of reluctance. A very uncharacteristic frown replaced her usual smile.
"Tharja wanted me to let you know of a new tome that she wanted you to start using for your—ooof—next lesson," Anna finally surfaced and struggled to nestle the ebony book in her arms. Morgan saw that the tome was just as wide yet twice as thick as her Aunt Emmeryn's Book of Naga. "Heard of the Carreau before? It's a bit heavy at the beginning, but you'd probably get used to it."
"I…uh…t-that's not what I'm here for," Morgan said, completely phasing through the merchant's subtle joke. Anna set the very imposing book down with a thud. She leaned over it with her brow raised; treating it more like a pillow than a dangerous tome. "I'm not really in the mood to start practicing today…"
"Oh? What's troubling you, mon chéri?" Anna asked with a strange accent. She rolled up her sleeves and flexed her arm. An intimidating, yet funny look appeared on her face. Morgan usually laughed whenever she spoke like that. "Is le teecher being ze rood woo-man? I'll show her why Anna ees très magnifique and she should not be of ze messing wiz my helper!"
"N-No…" Morgan slumped over the counter and a very Cordelia-like sigh immediately followed.
"Did you and Mr. Tall, Dark, and Incredibly Grouchy have a fight?" Anna teased and again Morgan did not smile.
"No…" Not even a chuckle or a smirk. Anna thought it was odd; usually talking about her potential love interest immediately gets her flustered. It was really uncharacteristic of Morgan to be downcast at all. Anna reverted back to her normal speech and guessed.
"Is it because your mom and pop are gone?" Morgan sighed and rested her head on the counter, nodding to confirm.
"Y-Yeah…" Morgan muttered while Anna only aahed in understanding.
If their "vacation" had taken place in Valm or Plegia instead, she knew Morgan would have been at ease. Elibe was a massive unknown to most of the Shepherds barring her. Whatever information Ylisse had had about the continent, only a book or two about it was stored within Ylisstol's libraries.
Morgan started to open up a little bit to her merchant friend. Though her father assured her that he was still well-versed with the lands he once travelled and promised that they would be home sooner than she would expect, Morgan could not get the ominous feeling that something bad might have happened to them. Anna leaned forward and ruffled Morgan's already messy hair.
"It's only been a week," Anna tried to rationalize and ease Morgan's worry. "Wait, not even! More like five days. Well, okay. Judging from Archmage Lute's time accelerated multiverse theory…a week and a half for them since dilation and all of that but they're almost home! One more week here."
Unfortunately, Anna's words were of little comfort to the young woman.
"S-See! They're there longer and so many things could happen in a short span of time!" Morgan twiddled her thumbs. "It's just that, I-I have no idea how they are doing and I'm really worried."
"I mean, isn't big Owain gone, too? And he's been gone for weeks on end."
"But at least I can keep talking to him using Mr. Gaius' carrier pigeon network," Morgan said with an expression of genuine concern. "I can't even sense Father or Mother's magic in this world! I-It's like they don't exist!"
"How about you check up on them instead?" The merchant smiled, her cheek gently resting on a raised finger.
"Huh?" Morgan immediately leaned far forward on the counter, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. "You have something I can use to know where they are!? Gimme! Gimme!"
Morgan quickly pounced on the red-headed merchant with wild, grabby hands. But with Morgan's small frame and Anna's constant tending to her nest egg, the merchant easily held her at bay with an outstretched arm. She could only sigh as she began to search for the elusive stone within her coat pockets.
"Hold on. Hold on!" She said with mild irritation. Anna grew fond of her over the years; Morgan's sprightly demeanor often reminded her of what she was like in her age. Even though she likened Morgan to one of her little sisters, her impatience was annoying. Honestly, she was surprised that the young girl seemed to be more attached to her than either Chrom or Maribelle.
Anna was always hesitant to trifle with a matter that does not concern her store, her sisters, or her ever growing savings account. But when it came to the second Royal Family, they were a clear exception. She took out the bright blue stone and began imbuing a little magic into it.
"Lissa? Mark? You guys there?" Morgan was thoroughly confused once Anna began talking to the rock. And there was a short pause that felt like hours. Morgan quickly assumed it was another of Anna's elaborate marketing schemes. Or a very tasteless prank.
"Oh hi, Anna!" Lissa replied through the sending stone with Anna as her only audience. "How are you?"
"Doing fine-ish. Just a bunch of sales, bunch of extra gold. Yada-yada," Anna sighed. "Judging from the time, I bet you guys are in Pherae?"
"Yup!" Lissa replied. "We kind of had to take a little detour from your inn, though—"
"WE ARE NOT LOST," Mark shouted as he looked over the itinerary, twisting and turning the once neat parchment around. Lissa looked around the forest and began looking for any signs of human activity: a beaten path, a semblance of a cobblestone road. Something.
After minutes of looking, she leaned on a tree and began smashing her head on it.
"We are totally lost," She deadpanned. Mark, on the other hand, was beginning to grow nervous. Not only did Lissa begin to emulate Morgan's memory experiments, he noticed Lissa's hands closed into a fist, her veins pumping every single muscle in her hand.
All he wanted was to get to their destination in the shortest possible route. It didn't help that he willfully decided against following their planned route. For the first time in his life, his very memory became his downfall. Mark, in his shattered pride, then uttered:
"PSHH. WE ARE NOT."
Lissa, on the other hand, did not take too kindly on his comment. She took hold of a fallen branch and raised it above her head.
"DO YOU SEE A ROAD? OR AM I SEEING TREES? I'M TOTALLY SEEING TREES."
Meanwhile, Morgan eyed the merchant suspiciously as they talked about something about a booking at an inn and Anna's constant laughter. Cackle was a better word to describe it, Morgan thought. She also had the right mind to assume so: Anna played tricks on her more times than the amount of books in her library. But Anna was not one to miss Morgan's scrutinizing eyes. She looked at the young girl and saw her pursed brow. Her grip tightened around the stone and suddenly, it began to shine a little brighter. And to her surprise, Morgan could now clearly hear her mother's voice in her head.
"— mishap, we're pretty much on schedule. Is there anything you need?"
"Mother! I-Is that really you talking from Elibe?" She shouted to the stone in Anna's grasp. But by not touching it, Morgan's words fell on deaf ears. Despite being startled by Morgan's sudden burst of positive energy, Anna could not help but crease her lips upward.
"Actually, there's a little girl here that wants to talk to you."
"Hey! I am not little!" Morgan cut in, prompting a sigh from Anna as she passed the sending stone to the young tactician-in-training. Morgan hastily, but cautiously took the stone from Anna's open palm. Once she had a firm hold on it, she pulled it close to her chest. She felt a strong power yet warm sensation emanating from the stone. The sending stone felt like a miniaturized tome and it begged to be filled with magic. Morgan imbued a little bit of her mana to power it up.
"M-Mother?!" Morgan shouted loudly at the glowing stone.
"Oh, Morgan? Hey honey! It's your one and only super mommy!" Morgan heard her mother laugh. "How are you doing? Miss us already?"
"How am I doing? How are you doing?" Morgan bounced the question back and began bombarding her mother with questions. "How's Father? Are you guys okay? Did you guys go anywhere fancy after Sacae? Ooh, where are you guys in Pherae? Wainy and I reaaaaaaaaaly miss you guys! "
"Awwh, it's really nice to hear your voice, Morgan! And we miss you and your brother too," Lissa giggled as she held her sending stone close to her chest. "Your father and I are doing perfectly fine—right now we're in Pherae as guests of Lord Eliwood and Lady Ninian."
"Oh! Eliwood the Great?" The young girl's eyes glimmered while Anna raised a brow. Then she heard Morgan quickly began spouting a language that she could never understand: random facts. "The Last Marquess of Pherae? The true chosen one of the Blazing Sword, Durandal?! Can I talk to him, please Mother? Pretty pleaaaaaaaaase?"
"I'm sorry dear, but you're not going to be able to. Anna did give us instructions to not let the Elibeans know about where we're actually from Ylisse or anything about the sending stones," Morgan let off a childish groan following her mother's answer. Meanwhile, Lissa's ears caught the hearty laughter coming from the front courtyard. "That and your father and the Marquess are catching up and it looks like neither his wife nor I could separate them…"
With a certain finesse that he took from Maribelle's forced etiquette lessons, Mark sipped his tea and recounted his tales of adventure to the Marquess of Pherae. He knew Eliwood to be a good man and a good secret keeper at that. He never omitted a single detail of his adventures in Ylisse and the events that transpired for the past eight years since he left Elibe.
"By the divines, Mark. You've been on quite an adventure since the last time we saw you," Eliwood said after setting his cup of tea down, all the while Mark scrutinized his old friend. His once youthful eyes were now worn with lightly defined wrinkles under and around them. Mark even noted that it looked like he was trying to sport a mustache, just like his father Elbert. "Who knew that our little tactician finally became a man on his own."
"Well, I can't just be quiet about it. Especially to good friends like our companions we fought with all those years ago," Mark said, following up with a relieved smile. "I'm surprised you believe me. From the amnesia to the whole Grima thing. That and the three –and going on four— kids."
"Ninian told me about the Dragon's Gate and how it allows one to travel across other worlds," Eliwood admitted and Mark was clearly surprised at that tidbit of information. "Your stories are very farfetched but so was our fighting the fire dragon."
A short moment later, a woman in purple hair and white armor arrived. She bowed to Eliwood and Mark and said:
"Milord, Sir Mark, Marquess Ostia's wife has arrived."
"Thank you, Isadora," With that, Eliwood stood up and beckoned Mark to follow.
"Florina's come to visit?" The tactician asked. Eliwood nodded. "For what occasion? And what about Hector?"
"Hector has been very busy since Uther's passing. Florina personally took the role of becoming his personal envoy on certain political matters throughout Lycia," Eliwood said. "More or less for diplomacy's sake but won't that oaf be surprised to see you if he came."
Mark only groaned, recalling Hector's overly brutish way of greeting him. As if on instinct, the former Elibean tactician rubbed his shoulder like something strong struck it.
"It's disappointing that there's no Hector around but I'm definitely okay with seeing a few familiar faces. Now if only Lyndis would visit us while Lissa and I are here," Mark chuckled, taking one big mouthful of the now cooled down tea.
"Though if I may be so blunt, old friend," Eliwood began the one sentence to Mark that had dire consequences: "I truly expected you and Lyndis to end up together."
And so Mark, the Grandmaster of Ylisse and slayer of the Fell Dragon, Grima spat freshly brewed earl grey onto Eliwood of Pherae, the Last Marquess of its canton and the Chosen One for the Blazing Sword, Durandal.
"Aaand I think your father needs me to come downstairs," Lissa sighed as she looked over the balcony. She looked down and saw her husband wave at her, beckoning her to come down to meet his friends while Eliwood graciously wiped his face with a cloth. "I'll be right back, alright honey?"
"O-okay," Morgan quickly covered up the stone, as if trying to prevent her mother from listening to their conversation, and turned to Anna.
"I-is it alright if I can borrow the stone for a little bit?" She asked.
"Sure you can. Just bring it back when you're done," Anna winked. "And if you lose it, your old man has to pay for it."
"Yes, ma'am!" Morgan pulled the stone back to her chest and while she skipped excitedly from Anna's little shop.
"Oh! Do you need me for anything, dear?" Lissa said as she descended down the stairs to the central courtyard. "And why is Eliwood soaked?"
While Mark chuckled nervously as Eliwood wiped the tea from his brow, the latter simply sighed and let off a lighthearted laugh.
"Do not worry of it, Princess Lissa," Eliwood said calmly, but with a chuckle. "It just seems like old japes can still have an effect, even with eight years passing by."
Mark only sighed in resignation. Meanwhile, a lavender-haired knight stepped into the courtyard escorted by her retainer and Isadora. As the two escorts left to guard the only entrance way to the lavish garden, Florina's eyes did not zero in to her husband's best friend but rather to a familiar face that she never expected to see in a very long time.
"S-Sir Mark?!" Florina shouted as she approached the group and gave him a very welcoming hug. Mark was taken aback by her newfound directness, but nevertheless returned the gesture. "We thought we'd never see you again!"
"Florina!" He said ecstatically at his old friend. He remembered that when the two were married, the timid Illian knight could barely say her vows in front of the Bishop of Reglay without stuttering. Lyn had to continuously calm her down. "Long time, no see!"
"How have you been all this time?" She said with confidence, lacking her once nervous stutter. Now with eight years of living with Hector under her belt, Florina was bound to pick up Hector's very direct and sometimes blunt mannerisms.
A lot can happen in eight years, after all, Mark thought.
Florina then turned to an unfamiliar face and smiled. "And may I ask who you are, madam?"
"Oh," She began with her proper tone and curtsied. "I am Lissa, Princess of Ylisse and Mark's wife."
"Princess? Ylisse? I don't believe I've heard of those countries before," Florina returned the gesture with her gentle smile. "But I speak out of turn. It's an honor to meet you, Princess Lissa. I am Florina, special envoy of House Ostia and wife of its marquess, Lord Hector."
"Oh! You're that Florina! I've heard a lot about you from Mark!" Lissa turned to Mark. "So it was you, Lyn, and Florina all the time right?"
The Illian nodded. "Yup! Usually it's just us three of us who were stuck like glue on our travels to Caelin. And it resumed shortly after we met Eliwood and Hector a year later."
"Thank you for taking care of my husband." She humbly bowed. "It means a lot that he had friends like you!"
"O-Oh please. I don't deserve much praise." Florina blushed and fumbled her words compliment, but quickly regained her posture. "I'd rather thank your husband for keeping our friends, my husband, and myself safe in our battles together."
"But I'm very surprised Lady Ostia," Mark teased, capitalizing on the blushing woman. "It seems that with you being with Hector for so long, your fear of men is gone now, huh?"
"I-I'd like to hope so too," Florina said, embarrassed. "But I still get very uneasy when it comes to meeting with all the marquesses for the council. There are a lot of unfamiliar faces and it takes a while for me to prepare myself…"
"Oh she's just like Lon'qu!" Lissa added. Mark could only laugh. "That's pretty neat, actually."
"L-Lon'qu?" Florina raised her brow.
"Oh, one of my closest friends and Lissa's unofficial retainer. He has a crippling fear of women off-battle and for some inexplicable reason, he married the most timid and shy girl in our entire army."
Florina could only laugh that she was not the only one in the world to have such problems. "It seems that I have a lot of stories to hear?"
"I mean if it's important Lycian business, I'm quite fine with business taking precedence and we can hold off on stories for the time being."
"Oh, nonsense!" Eliwood said. "Florina is here to give us a heads up on an upcoming gathering for the nobility and a treatise between Laus and Ostia. Nothing important."
"Awesome!" Lissa said with absolute enthusiasm, earning a strange look from both Eliwood and Florina. "Florina, tell me everything embarrassing that my husband did!"
She's a princess, right? The pair thought at the same time.
"Alright, grab a chair and I think this is going to be another long story. I'm going to put it out there now: Lissa is not from Bern, okay?" Mark pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's the very same thing Rath said."
"Believe me, Florina," Eliwood added. "That was what I thought at first, but there's something unique about her that tells me she's not from Bern at all," Eliwood noted. "Nobility from King Desmond's court has a tendency to appear similar, almost related, but she bears no resemblance to any of the ones I've met."
"Because of my apparent Bernese looks, my dear husband got really jealous when some of the men in Bulgar took notice of me."
"Mark is still the jealous type?" Florina squealed. Lissa's eyes opened wide with excitement
"Mark's always been a jealous type?" Lissa squealed in turn.
"And so the gossip begins." Eliwood could only laugh at the stories that Florina shared with Mark and the embarrassing stories Lissa shared to the Elibeans, much to the tactician's chagrin.
After a long chat with Mark's former companions, Lissa excused herself from the group, promising to tend to her daughter, who was eagerly waiting for her mother to return. Meanwhile in Ylisse, Morgan lay on her bed in the Shepherd barracks as she fiddled with her personal map of Ylisse and its pieces for tactics, all the while never letting go of the sending stone.
"Okay, Morgan. I'm back! What's up?" Lissa asked as she sat down on a chair within the manor that was a little too big for a woman of her stature. But she was unprepared for the torrent of questions that Morgan had in store for her.
"Mommy! Let's totally talk about everything! Did you prank father during your trip? Did he engage in Prank War Smackdown as a counter attack? How were the animals? Is the sky blue there? What do the soldiers look like? Can I get a board game there? Did you meet Father's old friends? Do we have more ammunition for Operation: Make Dad Extra Embarassed? Please tell me about your journeys so far! Tell me everything!"
"Gotcha, honey!" Lissa looked around and sat down on one of the chairs in the room, though it seemed like it was a little too big for a woman of her size. "Well, where should I start…Oh! A few days ago, your father and I arrived in Pherae. But on our way here, we got lost for a good couple of hours."
"You and Father got lost on your way to Pherae?! B-but Father said that he still remembers every path he went around in Elibe!"
"Your father also completely forgot that a lot can happen in almost a decade." Lissa sighed and began talking aloud, venting her frustration. Morgan even felt as if she was being lectured by her own mother. The stone that Lissa held began to glow a little bit brighter. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, the door behind her opened up and a woman with teal hair walked in. A curious look appeared on her face.
"The shortcut your father 'remembered' had been riddled with overgrowth and large fallen trees for years. That's why they diverted the road around it. My feet and my face fell on pond holes looking for an exit, Morgan. PONDS AND HOLES. I don't even know why your father would think of shying away from the itinerary—"
"A-Am I intruding, Lady Lissa?" The woman asked, her voice was soft and a tone of weakness was evident. Her movements were meticulous and graceful, yet slow. Time in this world did not spare the once powerful ice dragon, Ninian. Her laugh lines began to show. The color of her face was a little paler. Though Lissa only attributed that the wife of Marquess Pherae was said to be "mildly ill".
"N-not at all, Ninian." Lissa smiled, still holding the sending stone close to her chest. "And please, it's just Lissa."
"Ninian? One of the 'Children of Destiny'?" Morgan exclaimed. "I'm kind of jealous of you guys—meeting all of these legendary people from books! It's like a dream!"
"I guess so. Your father's basically a part of the legend, too." Lissa giggled and Ninian raised a brow. Hoping that Ninian wouldn't be too suspicious about her or the stone, she began uttering an excuse. "O-oh, don't worry. I'm just…uh…thinking of a funny thought! Y-yeah, that's it."
"I don't think 'being pretty frustrated' at Mark was a funny thought." Ninian giggled and reached for the door to close it. "But pay me no heed; please continue on with your conversation with your daughter."
"Oh, thank you so—wait! How did you know?" Lissa appeared concerned and cautious. Ninian smiled and approached Lissa, touching the small stone she held.
"Your frustration with your husband put a little too much energy on the sending stone." Ninian nonchalantly pointed out to the stone Lissa held, forcing the princess to blush and sigh.
"Well, it was his fault," Lissa muttered.
"Mother? Did you say that was Lady Ninian?" Morgan asked. "How come I heard her talk?"
"Well, if you put too much magic in the stone, the number of people you can hear will increase." Lissa sighed, finally talking aloud. Ninian found humor in Lissa's predicament. The old ice dragon walked towards and touched the stone. "Seems like I was a little too…uh…well angry."
"Hello, little one," Ninian said with a soft and gentle tone. "May I ask for your name?"
Morgan aahed and kept quiet for a moment until she realized that Ninian began talking to her.
"Uh…wait. THE NINIAN? WHOA. WHOAAAAAAAAA. SHESTALKINGTOMEOHMYGODS. UH...UH...h-h-hi?"
Author's Note:
Soooo, although SSD's are pretty much indestructible after several rewrites, it's still not immune to the power of two four-year olds and one daughter. I guess if it looks cool it can be touched, but not tossed from flights of stairs against a pile of toy cars. And by flights of stairs I mean, SEVERAL. But mostly, shame on me for carelessly leaving it on my desk instead of on a higher shelf.
Story based updates:
Just generic filler and created a scene where I can make Lissa and Mark interact with the Elibeans on a grander scale. It's not as in-depth as I'd like it to be since I planned that the last Elibe arc is a lot more couple-centric and you'll hear more of the stories that chapter. I'll conjure up the A-support convos for Lissa and Mark after this and then after that, the conclusion of the Elibe arc! I just don't have as much time to write nowadays, because of parenting, work, doing this Beta Reader stuff (while I can't even proofread my own stuff), and Overwatch.
Also, a piece of shameless advertising:
Please read Natzo's Shattered Reflection. It's really good. I probably began beta-ing it just so I get to read it before anyone else. #winkyface
Please leave a review so I know how my progress goes! Thanks and see you next time!
- SRA