Chapter 4: A Plan Is Set

Every time Chrom walked into the council room, he always found himself taken back to the first time he'd ever set foot in that grand hall. It had been less than a week after his tenth birthday when his father had brought him along to sit in on a strategy meeting. He'd been shown to a chair set along the wall next to Emmeryn, who'd already been attending those meetings for several years at that point as the eldest child and their father's heir apparent, and told to sit quietly and pay attention to everything that happened. He'd been too young to fully understand what all of those grizzled old men his father argued with were talking about at the time but as he grew, so too did his understanding of the politics of war.

He entered the grand council room, his sister a few steps behind. At a glance, it seemed they were the last ones to arrive as the rest of Emmeryn's council were lined up around the long oak table which was said to have been the same table that the Lodestar himself, King Marth, had organized the first meeting of his own council after being appointed as King of the United Kingdom of Archanea more than two thousand years ago. This was common, though, as arriving at a meeting after the Exalt was considered an insult to the crown unless you had a very, very good excuse.

He also noted, not for the first time, that none of the members of his father's council still held their seats at the table. Those who had lost their standing with the former Exalt had found themselves reassigned to the front lines in Plegia, fully expected never to return. Those who hadn't been unofficially executed before his father's passing had been weeded out in the early days of Emmeryn's reign to make room for a more trustworthy council that wasn't filled with warmongers, sycophants and greedy nobles only interested in filling their own pockets. Or at least, not as obviously so. Chrom was not so naive as to believe that they had fully managed to purge the corruption that had spread for countless generations.

Chrom rested his hands on the back of the chair to his sister's right while Phila headed to her chair with the other military leaders and Frederick took a place along the wall next to the other knights and others who weren't a part of the council but still had permission to attend the meeting for one reason or another. Once everyone had taken their place, Emmeryn took her seat, which was the signal for everyone else in the room to do the same. It had always seemed a pointless gesture to Chrom but tradition was tradition.

Emmeryn wasted no time in starting the meeting, but it would take some time before Chrom could raise his piece. It seemed that there was far more plaguing their country than Chrom had been aware of. The invasion by literal monsters that he had come to report on seemed almost trivial compared to everything that had risen in the last few days and he couldn't help but feel that it was all connected somehow. Perhaps some curse was placed upon them by the Plegians somehow, to bring about Ylisse's demise? No, that was just his paranoia getting the best of him. He couldn't go down that path. He couldn't let himself become his father.

"We've taken to calling this substance the Blight," one of the ministers said, reporting on a strange miasma that had begun spreading in the south. According to his report, the Blight took the form of a mirky purple or red sludge which was said to poison anything that got too close to it, though little else was known at this point. Perhaps not the most inspired name but an apt one. As far as we can tell, the Blight seems to have originated from the Outrealm Gate, suggesting that it may have spread from the Outrealms."

The thought made Chrom suppress a shiver running down his spine. Little was known about the Outrealm Gate or how it came to be but what was known was that it served as a bridge of sorts to other worlds beyond their own. Many travelers had brought back stories and myths from a few of those worlds over the centuries but travel to and from the Outrealms was heavily restricted for security concerns. If the Blight had spread from there, then it likely originated from a world they knew little of anything about. Though that could explain some of what else had been happening. Could Robin or that mysterious swordsman be from the Outrealms? Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing for sure if that was the case.

After some discussion regarding the miasma, it was decided to start evacuating the south for now until more could be learned of the Blight and how to combat it. With that sorted out for now, it finally came time for Chrom to present his report. He stood up and, once all eyes were on him, he repeated the story he had told his sister, including as many of the details that the others had provided earlier as he could. Chrom had been expecting ridicule and disbelief at the idea of strange, horned monsters falling from the sky in the middle of the woods, but compared to everything else that had been shared already, the idea seemed far less absurd than it would have even just a day before.

"This seems utterly preposterous," the Minister of Finances muttered as he stroked the ends of his orange mustache. Minister Cole was the closest exception to Chrom's earlier observation of none of his father's men remaining on the council, if only because he'd only been the former minister's assistant until Minister Malcom had been arrested for embezzling money from the crown. Chrom was also fairly certain that the only reason that the diminutive man didn't follow in his predecessor's footsteps was because of the heightened level of scrutiny he was held under because of that.

"Are you doubting the Prince's word?" Phila asked him, making a point of not raising her voice. It was only then that Chrom finally realized that she had been promoted since the last time he'd seen her. While previously just the captain of the pegasus knight division's elite Whitewings, named for a fabled group of riders said to have fought under the banners of both King Marth and the Valmese Emperor Alm, her position at the table suggested that she had replaced General Pallas as the General in charge of their entire pegasus knights division. Given that General Pallas had fallen deathly ill shortly before he left for his last mission, Chrom supposed that things must have taken a turn for the worse. Still, there were few soldiers as qualified for the position as his sister's personal guard.

"No, no, of course not," Minister Cole replied defensively, tugging on the color of his green robes. "I was merely stating the absurdity of the situation."

"I don't suppose that there's any chance that those monsters you faced were a one-off situation?" the Minister of Education, one of the oldest members of the council, asked hopefully. Minister Potho was perhaps one of the council members that Chrom was most fond of and an outspoken supporter of Emmeryn's rule, which likely had something to do with the fact that he had been the personal tutor of all three royal siblings when they were younger. "I mean, how many giant portals can randomly open up out of the sky?"

"This wasn't random," came the deep voice of General Byrne, head of the country's infantry. The grizzled knight leaned forward over the table, resting the empty gauntlet strapped to what was left of his left arm over his right hand. "This is Plegian sorcery! The Grimleal must have found a way to summon demons from another world to attack us!"

"We have no evidence that the Plegians are behind any of this," Duke Westley, the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, pointed out while absently twirling a finger through his mustache, which was almost as curly as his daughter's braids.

"Of course it's the Plegians!" General Byrne slammed his hand, the real one, onto the table. "What else could this possibly be?"

"Oh, yes, of course," the Duke stated as if it was obvious. "But we need proof before we can take action against them. I'm sure that none of us want another war if we can avoid one, not to mention the bad message that invading Plegia seemingly unprovoked would send to all of our other neighbors."

The bickering continued, as it always did, until Emmeryn cleared her throat to draw everyone's attention.

"Regardless of where these monsters may or may not come from, they present a clear and present danger to the people of Ylisse and beyond," she said. "We must be prepared in case more of them do arrive. Chrom, you're the only one here who's seen them and fought them with your own blade. What do you suggest we do?"

"The monsters we fought were tough," Chrom reiterated as he gathered his thoughts. "They can survive blows that would bring down a mortal man and continue fighting as if it were nothing. But they were also clumsy and wild. I'm not sure how else to say this other than that they fought like children playing with their fathers' old training swords. A strong enough soldier or skilled mage could be able to hold their own against one well enough but I cannot say the same for the villagers living out in the countryside, should these monsters attack when and where we're not prepared for them. And the main problem, as I see it, is their numbers. If these monsters continue to show up in groups as large as the one we fought last night, we may be in for trouble."

"We could try to marshal our forces to combat this threat but we're already spread thin enough as it is," General Byrne said. "We need more men."

"So, let's get the Feroxi in on this," Duke Westley suggested. "I'm sure they'd love a chance to test their mettle against beasts like these."

"Those barbarians?" Minister Cole recoiled as if he'd been physically struck. "You must me mad!"

"No, the acting minister has a point," Emmeryn spoke up, silencing Cole and any other potential naysayers. "Magna Ferox is home to the strongest warriors on the continent. If we can enlist their aid in combating these monsters, we should."

"But how will we get them to agree to help us?" General Phila asked. "The Feroxi only listen to strength."

"That is true." Emmeryn nodded before turning to Chrom. "Which is why the Shepherds will go."

"What?" Chrom asked, caught off-guard by the statement and more than a little confused at her decision.

"You will lead your men north to Ragna Ferox and meet with the Khan to request their aid in fighting these monsters," she instructed. "You may need to prove yourselves to them but I believe that you will be more than up to the task."

"If I may, Your Eminence," Duke Westley started, then continued when Emmeryn didn't object, "It may not be quite that simple. Unless I'm mistaken, the East and West Khans of Ferox are about to hold their tournament to determine which of the two holds power over the kingdom. Chances are that Prince Chrom and his Shepherds will arrive right when the tournament itself is about to start, meaning that they'll not only have to wait until the tournament is over to ask but we also have no idea which Khan they'll even need to ask."

"Thank you for your input, Duke Westley," Emmeryn said graciously. "But we should not delay. I am sure that things will work themselves out. Now, are there any other objections?"

There were a few discontent mumbled from around the table but no one spoke up, so Emmeryn turned back to Chrom.

"Very well, then. Tell the rest of the Shepherds to prepare for the trip tonight, you'll be setting out in the morning. From the sounds of it, you'll want to head straight to Arena Ferox."

"Yes, Your Eminence," Chrom bowed. He always felt awkward having to act so formally around his big sister but it was a formal meeting, which meant that he couldn't afford to be as casual as he would prefer. "At once."

The meeting was mostly done by that point but there were still a few more things that had to be taken care of before they could adjourn. Mostly resource allocations and doubling back to topics that had already been discussed. Chrom did his best to follow along but his input wasn't needed for most of it. Which was probably for the best, as his mind was elsewhere.

This would be the biggest mission that the Shepherds had ever faced. Meeting with foreign leaders to request the aid of an army was a big step up from the usual bandit raids they dealt with. He could only pray to Naga that they were ready.

By the time Chrom finally made his way back to the Shepherd's barracks, the sun was already falling low over the horizon. He understood the importance of taking the time to fully cover everything that they needed to in their council meetings but he felt that he had the right to be annoyed with how long they took. He was also becoming acutely aware of the fact that he hadn't eaten anything since his morning meal, which was itself rather light as they were in a hurry to make it back to the city. His hunger only got worse once he opened the front door to the old, run-down building they'd been given and found his nose immediately assaulted by the most wonderful, mouth-watering scent he'd ever smelled, beyond anything he ever expected to come from their less-than-humble kitchen.

"Welcome back, your highness." Frederick stood at attention as Chrom entered the common area, looking like he'd been waiting for him to arrive. Knowing the dutiful knight, he probably had been. "I trust that you bring news of the council's decision regarding last knight's events?"

"I do," Chrom nodded. "It seems things are even more dire than we thought. The Exalt has also given us our next assignment, which may be our most challenging yet."

"Then it seems fortuitous that everyone is present and accounted for," Frederick said. "Shall I gather everyone for a briefing?"

"Not yet," Chrom shook his head, feeling rather relieved. Despite only having fewer than a dozen members so far, it was unusual for all of the Shepherds to be gathered at once. It seemed the goddess herself was preparing them for this mission. "But first, I need to eat. I take it that heavenly scent coming from the kitchens is supper? But wait, wouldn't tonight be Vaike's turn to cook?"

"Indeed." Frederick nodded. "However, once our guest caught wind of the poor excuse of a stew that he was attempting to make, she kicked him out of the kitchens and not only managed to salvage the meal but somehow turned it into something that would catch the attention of even the finest chefs in the halidom. It would appear that Robin is as skilled in the kitchen as she is on the battlefield."

"A woman of many talents," Chrom mused. "Is she still in the kitchen, then?"

"No, last I saw, she was heading to the training yard with several of the others." Frederick shook his head. "I believe the other Shepherds wished to observe her skills with their own eyes after hearing tales of her exploits."

"An understandable notion. I would scarcely believe the stories myself if I hadn't witnessed her skill with my own eyes," Chrom said, turning towards the hallway leading out towards the open training yard behind the building. "I believe I'll check up on her, myself."

"Is that Chrom?" A familiar voice sounded from the kitchen, and Sumia poked her head out from the doorway. "Ah, your highness! Welcome back! You must be hungry!"

"Hello, Sumia," Chrom said with a smile as he stopped in his tracks. He was about to deny it so that he could continue on his way, but his stomach chose that moment to betray him with a loud grumble. "You could say that."

"Then take a seat and I'll bring you your dinner," Sumia said, ducking back into the kitchen.

Chrom let out a quiet sigh and grabbed a chair from the table in the common room. As much as he wanted to check on how Robin was settling in, he'd never been able to argue with the dependable knight ever since they'd been young, and it was also getting increasingly hard to ignore his empty stomach with that aroma in the air. So, he sat down and a moment later, Sumia walked out of the kitchen carrying a large steaming bowl with both hands.

"It wasn't easy making making sure that there would be enough left over with Stahl around but I was able to keep a bowl warm for you," she said as she walked over to him. "The new girl is quite the chef, I hope she doesn't- Whoa!"

Sumia managed to hook her right foot around her left ankle and literally tripped over herself. Chrom sprang to his feet at once but before he could reach her, she'd already managed to land flat on the ground while the bowl of stew flew up over their heads, summersaulting through the air before clattering on the old wooden floor. Chrom had to blink a few times to make sure that he'd seen what he'd thought he'd seen. The bowl had managed to land right-side-up and while she had spilled some of its contents, most of the stew had managed to fall straight back into the bowl.

"Are you okay?" Chrom asked.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," Sumia said dismissively, picking herself up off the floor and grabbing the bowl. She was so flustered over what had just happened, however, that she'd barely managed to take two more steps before tripping again. "Augh!"

The next thing he knew, Chrom was lying on his back, drenched in warm broth and with Sumia laid out on top of him, face buried in his chest. He let out a soft groan as he sat up and the clumsy knight pulled away from him.

"Oh, my goddess! I'm so sorry!" Sumia shouted, her face turning beet red. "I'm such a clutz!"

"No, no, it's alright!" Chrom tried to sound as casual as he could, as if it were nothing. Then he looked up at her and felt his own cheeks start to flush.

A few years earlier, Chrom would have (figuratively) killed to be in that position. Sumia had been the prettiest and sweetest girl he knew, and he'd be lying if he said that he hadn't been harboring a crush on her practically since the day they met. Unfortunately, the timing had never worked out, and ever since the incident had completely shattered her already fragile confidence, it had become clear that what she needed was a friend, not a suitor. So he'd pushed those feelings aside long ago.

But that didn't mean that being this close to her wasn't enough to make him flustered.

"Are you alright, you're highness?" Frederick stepped forward and helped both of them back to their feet.

"Yes, I'm fine," Chrom said dismissively before turning back to Sumia. "But I believe you now owe me a dinner."

She stiffened and Chrom realized at once that he must have said the wrong thing. So, he decided to backtrack and try to diffuse the situation.

"Why don't we head to the kitchen?" he suggested. "I'm sure we can whip something up together."

Her cheeks reddened again, likely because as much of the hot stew had managed to land on her as it had him, as she wrapped her arm around his. Chrom tried not to read too much into that, though.

"Um, yes, of course," she said. "But, shouldn't we clean up this mess first, though?"

"Don't worry about that," Frederick said with a slight smirk that Chrom rarely saw on the knight. "I'll take care of the mess. You both might want to get changed first, though."

Chrom looked down, finally realizing that his clothes were now soaked in beef broth. Sumia's, as well.

"Right, of course," he said.

"Oh, I hope this doesn't stain." Sumia pulled on her wet clothes, and Chrom suddenly found a very interesting spot on the ceiling to focus on. "This is my best tabard."

"I'll meet you in the kitchen in a few minutes," Chrom said. "And you should probably change your boots. I doubt those riding boots are easy to walk in."

"Huh?" Sumia looked down at her feet, realizing seemingly for the first time that she was in her high-heeled boots from her pegasus knight days instead of the more practical hiking boots that Chrom had insisted she get when he'd offered her a spot on the shepherds when she'd been kicked out. "Oh, right. I'm so used to wearing these old things that I don't even notice them."

She turned to leave but Chrom could see in her eyes that her mind was a million miles away, likely back to that unfortunate day. That was why he was prepared to catch her when she managed to trip again, this time over the fallen bowl, and stopped her from falling flat on her face.

"Perhaps I should walk you to your room," he said.

"Um, yes," Sumia said, then scrunched up her face. "Oh, I'm so useless! I can't even walk right!"

"You're not useless," he tried to reassure her, though he knew it was pointless. She never listened to reason on that point but he knew he had to at least try. "Anyone would have trouble walking in those things."

"Cordelia doesn't," Sumia pouted.

"She's had more practice," Chrom said, then immediately wished he hadn't. Those two had started their training on the same day, after all. "But let's talk about something else for now. How were things while I was gone?"

"There isn't much to report," Sumia said, looking like she was starting to calm down now that she had something else to focus on. "Repairs to the barracks have been going along smoothly, thanks in part to Vaike. I would never have guessed that he'd be so good at these kinds of things, considering, well…"

"I understand," Chrom nodded. He'd known Vaike even longer than most of the other Shepherds and was more than well aware of his usual antics. "But I suppose those are the kinds of skills you pick up when you grow up in a village. You can't just hire professionals to do that work for you like our family's do."

"I guess you're right," Sumia said softly, then stopped and turned to look him in the eyes. "Um, Chrom?"

"Yes?" he asked, curious as to what she had to say.

"I'm about to get changed."

That was when he realized that they had already reached the women's dorm room and were currently standing next to Sumia's bunk.

"Oh, right." Chrom turned on his heels, straightening up as he hurriedly rushed to the door. "I'll leave you to it, then."

"Interesting… And you say that this spell is called Din's Fire?" The woman in glasses, Miriel, continued writing down notes as she observed the smoking remains of the straw dummy that Link had just incinerated. "The fire part is obvious but who or what is Din?"

Din was, of course, one of the three Golden Goddesses who created the world of Hyrule and the sacred Triforce, which Link had spent most of his lifetimes trying to protect from falling into the wrong hands. It was said that she created the world through her domain of power before the Goddess Nayru used her wisdom to create the laws that governed it and the Goddess Farore used her courage to create life to lend to the land while being governed by those laws. Her piece of the Triforce was the one that Ganondorf had claimed for himself oh so long ago, which by extension meant that it could be said that she was the goddess that he had the most complicated relationship with.

Instead of telling Miriel any of that, however, Link just shrugged.

"Your lack of memory regarding even your own abilities is certainly most perplexing," the scholar sighed a sigh that Link knew well from one of his past lives. In fact, that had been the life where he had learned most of the magic spells he now knew, including the one they were currently discussing. "Perhaps I should open up that head of yours to take a closer look at your brain for answers?"

"You could try," Link said with a glare, surrounding himself with the blue aura of Nayru's Love, which would normally make him nearly impervious to nearly any harm, though in its reduced state would likely serve as little more than a magical suit of armor. He could tell from her tone that she was being rhetorical, of course, but still felt like playing along.

"Hm, and what is this spell?" Miriel said, leaning in closer and tapping Link's glowing shield with the tip of her feather quill.

It was a while before Link finally managed to sate the witch's curiosity for the moment, during which time he'd had to explain as much of his magic as he could without revealing anything of his past or the source of his abilities. Suddenly revealing that he was a man from another world sent to theirs in the body of a woman seemed like a poor idea under any circumstances. Their session wasn't a complete waste of time on Link's end, either.

Back in Hyrule, the Hylians were a people directly descended directly from Hylia herself, or rather, her mortal incarnation Zelda and, by extension, Link himself. Though that divine heritage, they were attuned to the power of the gods in a way that none of the other races could only imagine and through that power, along with the gifts of wisdom and courage, they were able to manipulate the world around them using what they referred to as magic. Of course, that bloodline diminished over time as Hylians were gradually replaced with the round-eared humans who lacked enough connection to the gods to perform such feats.

The humans of this world seemed to be somewhere between the humans he knew and the Hylians. While they were not so closed off that they could not cast magic at all, they were not attuned enough with this world's energies that they could use magic as freely as a trained Hylian mage could. That, combined with this world being physically further away from the divine realm, as Death had explained to him so long ago, meant that this world's mages required the use of physical catalysts and ingredients to perform all but the most basic of spells.

From what he'd learned from Miriel's ramblings while observing him, it seemed these catalysts primarily took the form of the tomes that he had kept hearing about since his ability to use magic inherently had been discovered. As the name suggested, these were thick books with elaborate spells written in their pages using specialized inks made from the ingredients traditionally used as the materials for those spells. However, since the ink and the pages they were written on were physically spent to cast the spells, that meant that unlike the spellbooks to be found in Hyrule Castle's library which contained precious research notes and records of scholarly study regarding magic, these tomes consisted merely of the same spell repeated over and over again for repeated use.

It was utterly fascinating how the people of this world had managed to so cleverly overcome what, from Link's perspective, seemed a natural handicap that should have prevented them from using magic efficiently at all. In fact, it almost sounded like the challenges involved had led these people to understanding their magic and the world it was so intricately tied to on a fundamental level far beyond the people of the world he had known. He was certainly going to want to spend more time looking into this later, though now was not the time for that.

"So, I hear you're pretty good with a sword, too," the muscular but clearly not very bright Vaike asked, walking up to Link with an ax slung over his shoulder. "Why don't you show ol' Teach what you've got?"

"Vaike!" Lissa yelled from where she was seated by the edge of the training field that Link had been practicing on. "You can't just challenge a lady to fight like that!"

"Agreed," Maribelle said calmly before taking a sip of tea from the delicate cup in her hands. "How uncouth. One could almost mistake you for one of the bandits we would normally dispose of."

"Say what?" Vaike asked, his shoulders slumping. "But I was just-"

"There is no need," Link said, cutting him off. "I'm perfectly fine sparing with anyone. Just let me get a sword first."

"Grab one from the rack over there," Sully said, pointing a thumb at the various weapon racks that had been set up in a covered area beside an old storage shed that seemed as worn down as everything else there. "We've got plenty to choose from."

Indeed, as Link approached the shed, he noticed that they did have quite the variety of different weapons of all makes, in iron, steel and even a few wooden training weapons. He supposed that it made sense. They weren't just a standardized military unit all trained in the same style of combat with the same weapons, after all, but seemed like something closer to a state-sponsored mercenary group of highly eclectic warriors from different backgrounds. While Link was confident in his ability to effectively wield any of the weapons he saw on display, swords had always been his preferred weapon and so he headed straight for their collection. Looking them over, he was just about to grab a basic iron sword when he caught a glimpse of a weapon unlike almost anything he'd even seen before.

"What's this?" he asked, walking back with the odd sword in hand. It was a sword, obviously, but wth a jagged steel blade with spikes jutting from the outer bends that reminded him of the dark sword once wielded by Demise during their final duel at the end of his first adventure, though zigzagging like a bolt of lightning striking down from the sky rather than flaring in and out the way that sword had. "I don't think I've ever seen a sword like this before."

"Oh, that's a Levin Sword," Sully said. "I didn't even realize we had one of those."

"Do you see that golden gemstone set into the guard?" Mirial asked, then waited for Link to take a closer look at the gem in question. Inside the translucent stone, Link could see sparks as if a bolt of lightning itself had somehow been trapped inside and was trying desperately to break free. "That is a levinstone, mined from the base of Mount Prism and infused with the power of the storms that often strike its peak. Those swords are designed to harness that energy so imbue the blade with lightning magic and can also be used as a catalyst for Arcthunder to attack from afar. They're not very common, both because of the scarcity of levinstones and because few swordsmen are capable of using them effectively. They're as dangerous to the wielder as to their opponents."

"Interesting," Link said, looking down at the sword in his hands as he turned back to the weapons rack. "Certainly not a training weapon, then. I'll grab something else."

Before setting down the Levin Sword, though, Link tried channeling magical energy into the blade. Sure enough, it didn't take much effort to draw out the elemental power from the gem into the sword, traveling along a golden lightning bolt in the center of the blade and spreading out from there. He felt an ache in his arm muscles, not so much a pain as a longing, and couldn't help but think back on that battle again. The image of Demise, calling down bolts of lightning from an endless stormy sky into his sword in a corrupt mimicry of the divine energy that Link himself could wield through the Master Sword.

"Something to look into later," Link said to himself as he reluctantly returned the peculiar sword to its hook and took the plain one he'd looked at earlier instead. "Something to look into later."

Chrom leaned against the large table in the center of the briefing room, which bore a large map of the continent meant for strategy meetings. The map may have been old but was still usable since the political landscape hadn't changed much since the barracks they were now using had been abandoned at the formal end of the Plegian War. His gaze settled on the spot marked Regna Ferox while he waited for Frederick to gather the others. Sumia was already seated in one of the many chairs that they'd moved into the room for these meetings and was picking petals off of a flower.

Frederick was the first to walk into the room, marching seriously to take a spot beside Chrom while the others filtered in after him. Lissa, Sully, Vaike, Miriel, Maribelle and Virion each took a seat one after another before…

"Robin?" It had only been a few hours since he had last seen her and yet the white-haired woman was almost unrecognizable. She had understandably taken off the heavy black coat that they'd found her in but had also swapped out her white tunic and black skirts for the rough-looking short green dress she'd been given by the merchant she'd helped earlier and a single steel pauldron worn on her left shoulder that he recognized from the armor stores that had been left in the barrack's storage room. None of that was what had immediately caught his attention, though. "What happened to your hair?"

"I cut it," she said as if it were as obvious as the sky being blue. But whatever she had done, it was more than a simple haircut. Before, her hair had been tied back in a pair of ponytails hanging down from the upper sides of her head, running past her shoulders, while her bangs had been parted above her left eye in a style admittedly not too dissimilar to Chrom's own. Now, her hair was parted down the middle, her bangs flared out from her face in a way that seemed to emphasize her sideburns. More noticeable, though, was that her earlier ponytails were completely gone, replaced by a short tail just above the back of her neck in a style that reminded Chrom of a style he often saw sailors sporting when they returned to shore after months of traveling the seas.

"Oh, well, it looks nice," Chrom said awkwardly, not really sure what else to say before he finally remembered why he'd gathered everyone there. "Anyway, now that everyone's here… Wait, where's Stahl?"

"Probably out stuffing his face somewhere," Sully said sarcastically. "The guy's stomach is bigger than Vaike's brain is small."

"Hey! My brain's big!"

"He said he was going to the pastry shop over on Butcher's Street," Kellam said from the front row, nearly causing Chrom to jump as he hadn't even noticed the heavily armored knight enter the room.

"Wait, why is there a pastry shop on Butcher's Street?" Vaike asked. "Isn't that where the butchers are supposed to be?"

"Oh, I know this one," Sully said. "It's actually right on the corner of Baker's Street and Butcher's Street. I think his uncle runs that shop, now that I think about it."

"Ew, why would anyone want to eat pastries from a shop surrounded by butchers?" Lissa squirmed at the thought. "Ugh, that smell would absolutely ruin anything you try to eat there."

"Eh, food's food," Robin shrugged.

Chrom cleared his throat loudly, bringing everyone's attention back to him. "I don't want to delay this meeting any longer, so someone's just going to have to catch Stahl up later. Is everyone else here?"

"Rickon is out tending the horses but I didn't think that you would want him here for this briefing," Frederick said, to which Chrom nodded. While he had allowed the boy to officially join their ranks after months of insistent pestering, Rickon's membership in the Shepherds was more of an honorary title. It would still be at least another year or two before Chrom would ever consider letting the student mage assist with anything beyond watching the barracks while they were gone. It was probably for the best that he wasn't informed of this mission so that he wouldn't raise a fuss insisting that he should go with them.

"Wait a minute, where's Kellam?" Sully asked, though for some reason Chrom couldn't see her anywhere in the room.

"I'm sitting right in front of you," Kellam pointed out, startling Chrom who hadn't even realized he was there.

"Okay, I'm going to take that as everyone's here," Chrom sighed. If he briefly wondered if the other captains and generals had to deal with what he did. At times, being the leader of the Shepherds made him feel more like he was herding cats than sheep. He could only imagine how much harder it would be once they finally managed to raise their membership to sufficient numbers.

Regardless of his personal frustrations, though, Chrom finally began his briefing. He did his best to pass along as much information as he could from his earlier meeting, though it was hard to tell what was relevant and what wasn't at times. And of course, all of that led to the actual topic of the meeting, their new assignment.

"Regna Ferox!?" Maribelle shouted, sounding furious. "You can't honestly expect us to march all the way up to where those… those barbarians go around fighting for sport!"

"This mission came directly from the Exalt," Chrom pointed out. "We don't really have a choice."

"Hell yeah!" Sully stood up, pumping her fist through the air. "They say the best warriors in the world gather in Regna Ferox to test their mettle against each other. This is going to be awesome!"

"Yeah!" Vaike joined in. "Let's go win that tournament!"

"We're not going to be fighting in the tournament," Chrom pointed out. "This is a duplicate mission. We just need to go there, try to stay on the good side of whichever Khan ends up in charge, then request military aid."

"That's all well and good but I'm more interested in this 'Blight' substance you mentioned," Miriel mused, walking around to look at the map and tracing her finger around where the Outrealm Gate was marked. "I've never heard of anything like it."

"Robin," Frederick spoke up. "You expressed familiarity with the monsters we encountered last night. Might you know anything of the blight, as well?"

"No." Robin shook her head, getting up to take a closer look at the map as well. "I have no idea what this 'Blight' may be."

Chrom could tell from Frederick's expression that he didn't believe her, but thankfully, he didn't press the issue.

"Our assignment shouldn't have anything to do with the blight," Chrom reiterated. "But we should be careful all the same. There's no telling what we might encounter out there, which is why I want everyone together for this mission."

"This should be interesting," Robin said. "I'd like to go with you on this, if you don't mind."

"Of course not," Chrom said hastily, not wanting to waste the opportunity to get her to officially join up.

"Thank you." Robin nodded, then turned back to the others. "So, who wants to bet that we end up fighting in the tournament?"

"You don't even have money!" Sully pointed out.

"So?"

It seemed that they were in for a long trip.

Author's Notes: I realized while writing this chapter that I accidentally gave Phila a promotion in the last chapter. For some reason, I had it in my head that her title was general when she's actually just a captain. Instead of just correcting that mistake when I went back and fixed a bunch of typos I missed earlier, though, I decided to just roll with it. How she can balance being in charge of the country's air force and being Emmeryn's bodyguard at the same time, though, I'm not entirely sure.

In case it wasn't obvious, Duke Westley is supposed to be Maribelle's father, who, to my knowledge, we don't know anything about in canon other than that he's a duke. For some reason, I picture him in my head as Cary Elwes with a mustach that looks like a mini version of Maribelle's ponytails, so I named him after Elwes' character in The Princess Bride.

Link's new haircut is meant to be his hair from Akira Himekawa's Ocarina of Time manga but for those who haven't had the pleasure of reading it (which I would highly recommend) you can imagine it as OoT Link's hair with BotW Link's ponytail. From this Link's perspective, it's the hairstyle he wore as the Link immediately after his OoT incarnation, who fought in the Imprisoning War. He chose that hairstyle because he's starting to get the sense that he may be getting dragged into a war soon because of what he's heard of the growing tensions between Ylisse and Plegia, and so he's starting to model himself after a past life that was a military leader. The single pauldron is also a reference to his look in Hyrule Warriors, which this Link hasn't gone through but his counterpart from the Child timeline did. In fact, the plotline from HW Legends where WW's Phantom Ganon invades the child timeline was the inciting incident for the Child and Adult timelines having merged, as mentioned by Death back in Chapter 1. For the record, Age of Calamity is not canon to the Ridley 'verse, mostly because I don't want to throw another timeline split into this already confusing mess of a timeline.

I should also note that this Link hasn't been through the events of Breath of the Wild, which is actually happening concurrently with the story. The reason Link the monsters showing up here even though they're based on that game's designs is that he's fought so many different iterations in the past that he can tell just from their general appearances and behaviors. In fact, I'll probably mention that the next time he fights them. Though there is a bit of a minor issue with that I didn't realize earlier, which is that Downfall timeline Link only ever fights Bokoblins in Skyword Sword and he'd mostly know Moblins as weaker footsoldiers instead of the more elite enemies they are in the other timelines. From his perspective, BotW's Bokoblins would seem more like the Moblins he's used to fighting.

The question I'm leaving you with this time is this: What version of Link's hair throughout the franchise is your favorite? From the games, spin-off material, concept art or even fan designs? I'm partial to OoT's adult Link, including variations of that design like SSB Melee, Soulcalibur II and the aforementioned manga adaptation. The Link from Akira Himekawa's Skyward Sword prequel is also up there, not to mention one of my favorite designs for Link in general.