"Alright. Bags packed, map in hand, and everyone's in the cart. Anyone forgetting anything?" Robin asked as he stood outside the wagon.

It was their first family vacation together and the former tactician wanted to make sure everything was perfect. He had booked a weekend at the nicest villa in the Hotrealms thanks to Chrom's generous "severance pay" from his time as an advisor and tactician to the Shepherds. Robin had heard only silence in return so he entered the cart to make sure they had heard him.

"Last chance if anyone forgot anything."

"We heard you Dad and we're good. Now let's get going, I wanna get a tan!" Morgan yelled before the other two could speak up.

"Morgan you shouldn't answer for other people, but I'm all set Robin. Marc?" Lucina said next.

"I'm good. Can't wait to spend some time together when we're not all fighting a war."

"Ok. I'll tell the driver we're ready to depart." Robin said before announcing their trip had begun.

—

It only took thirty minutes for Morgan to start getting antsy. The young woman was either asking how much longer until they were there or whining about how they weren't at the Hotrealms yet every few minutes. The other three tried telling her that it would be half a day's journey at least, but that didn't stop Morgan from expressing how eager she was to finally arrive. Robin was convinced his daughter was doing it out of boredom so he did his best to tune her out, only for another problem to arise a while after. Marc had begun feeling ill, saying he felt nauseous and was coming down with a headache. Lucina checked for a fever but found that he didn't feel hot.

"Would you like us to stop for a little Marc? Maybe it would help you feel better." his mother asked him.

"Ngh. No thanks Mother, I can manage. Also I think Morgan's going to explode if the journey to the Hotrealms takes any longer." Marc replied with a brave face.

"Ok… Just promise me you let us know if it becomes too much for you to handle. We'll even turn the carriage around if it's that bad." Lucina said with a look of concern.

Morgan nearly butted in with displeasure at the idea but her father shot her a look that made her reconsider and stay quiet. Robin quickly checked in with the driver to see how far along they were and found that they had only made it a fraction of the distance. It was going to be a long ride.

Four hours after they had left the whole family was jolted from whatever they were doing to pass the time when one side of the cart dropped and briefly bounced them all from their seats. Marc did his best not to vomit, Morgan was relieved to have something finally happen, and the two parents jumped outside to see what had happened. To all four's dismay, one of the wheels had split down the middle and laid a few feet behind them in two pieces.

"Driver, how far are we from the nearest town?" Robin called out.

"It looks to be a several hours walk. I could ride ahead and be back with help in just an hour if you'd all like." replied the man.

"Several HOURS! Mom, Dad, we have to let him go!" Morgan begged.

"Relax Morgan, that's what we were going to do." Robin replied while rubbing his forehead. "We'll wait here with the wagon and our belongings. Thank you for your assistance." he handed their driver a small pouch of coins as he finished.

"Right away sir! I'll have your family and belongings a ride to the town as soon as possible!" he bowed and mounted his horse before taking off.

"We should stay vigilant for brigands looking to make an easy coin off us." Lucina said with a hand on Robin's shoulder.

"Of course." he replied.

They turned around to see Morgan trying to somehow force the two halves of the wheel together again while Marc thankfully seemed to be coming around after the past few hours of whatever was bothering him. Their son wasted no time in trying to make himself useful.

"Anything I can do?" Marc asked.

"Just don't let your guard down, we don't know who could be out there." Robin answered.

And keep watch the four did… nothing happened. Morgan gave up on the wheel and tried climbing a few trees but she got bored of that too after a while. About two thirds into the wait Robin almost wished some bandits stumbled upon them to kill some time but it was his 'lucky day'. Morgan was in the middle of asking her mother if some mushrooms she found looked edible when help finally arrived. Their driver approached them first with a few horses following.

"Good news sirs and madams! They can take our carriage to their town and have it ready to go first thing tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow morning? Our reservations have our arrival for today." Robin exclaimed.

"It's ok if we're late sweetie, we'll still have a lot of time there for all of us." Lucina tried to ease her husband's mind."

"Lucina, this is an Anna we're talking about. What's to stop her from assuming we canceled, renting the rooms to other people, and charging us for not giving her notice anyways?"

Lucina fell silent at those points. While Anna was always willing to help the Shepherds she also never turned down an opportunity to make some extra money when one arose. Weighing her options for a moment Lucina came up with a plan.

"Ok. I'll take one of the horses and head to the Outrealm Gate to check us in and assure her that you three will be there tomorrow, while you take the twins and spend the night in town until our wagon's ready tomorrow, then you'll all meet me at the resort by the afternoon."

Robin sighed. As inconvenient as the plan was, it was the best they could do given the hand they'd been dealt.

"Ok, and if anyone deserves getting the whole trip's worth of time there it's you." said Robin.

"I only put myself forward because I have experience riding on horseback, not because I wanted extra time there."

"I know, and I'm glad because that means you won't try and make yourself stay behind instead of me." Robin kissed his wife on the cheek. "I'll take care of things here with the kids and our stuff, you go and enjoy yourself."

Lucina pulled Robin in for a kiss on the lips before she hopped on her steed.

"I'll only enjoy myself when I see you three again tomorrow. Morgan! Marc!" she turned to her children. "I'm going to check us in at the Bathrealm, you two are spending the night with your father while the wagon gets fixed. I'll see you all tomorrow, and I love you my darlings!" and with that Lucina took off on the path while the other three remained behind.

"MOM! No fair! Why couldn't I go with her?" Morgan pouted.

"Because just like Dad and I, you barely have experience riding a horse by yourself. We really should have asked Mom to teach us." Marc answered.

Morgan stuck her tongue out and crossed her arms but couldn't argue with her twin. Thankfully there weren't any other issues getting the rest of them saddled up and escorted to the nearby settlement while their driver stayed behind with the carriage. Robin was able to find an inn for the three of them and the rest of the night went by without incident as the three rested up for the rest of their journey tomorrow.

—

Unfortunately things wouldn't be that simple. When Robin and the twins made it down to the shop where their carriage was being fixed, the person in charge wasn't making their quick stop before leaving a quick one.

"Look sir, we got a new wheel on it but you got a whole bunch 'a other problems. The other three wheels are grinding on the woodwork their spinin' on so it's only a matter of time before they go, some of the metal's lookin' a bit worn, and between you and me I'm not sure your driver's the man you wanna go with the rest of the way. I know a few guys who could take you the rest of the way with a better wagon." said the woman who ran the place.

"I appreciate the concern" Robin didn't, he knew she was just trying to make some extra money off of him but he remained polite towards her "but I can't afford any of that right now. We just finished up a trip we planned months in advance and we're a little tight on cash at the moment." he lied.

"Well I can't make ya' get any of it, but don't say I didn't tell you so if something breaks again."

Robin didn't care. They'd likely get another cart to take them back and he would make sure his driver was well compensated for the extra time and work he'd gone through setting all this up. He paid the woman her coin and after an hour of waiting they finally brought out the carriage.

"Let's go Morgan and Marc, we don't want to keep your mother waiting."

The three piled in and Robin didn't have to ask the driver to get them on their way. Morgan was just as impatient and Marc as under the weather as yesterday, but Robin powered through with his nose in his book and found some comfort in knowing they would finally arrive in a matter of hours.

—

Thankfully the last leg of the journey went without incident for a change. Neither of the twins exploded (Morgan metaphorically and Marc literally) as their wagon finally pulled up to the Outrealm Gate where they found Lucina waiting for them. Robin's heart stopped and he thought they'd lost their reservations, but it turned out Lucina just wanted to meet her family at the gate so they could all be reunited as soon as possible. Marc took a moment to recompose himself after what Morgan dubbed being 'wagonsick' before helping Robin and Morgan unpack while Lucina settled things with their driver.

"Oh! I cannot accept this extra payment madam, I had you all running late for your lovely vacation." the polite man who'd stuck with them all this way exclaimed.

"It's the least we could do after all your work. And we planned on leaving you a good tip regardless, it would have been quite the long journey even without all the excitement." the eldest blunette insisted.

"Thank you so much madam!" he said while bowing "If you and your family ever need our services again, I promise you the best transport and service we can provide."

Lucina thanked the driver once again before grabbing the last of their luggage, said driver gave them his farewell and departed for his next job. Now her family were all back together and ready for their week at the beach.

"It took a while, but we're finally here." Robin motioned to his daughter "Morgan, would you do the honors of leading us in?"

"Absolutely! Last one through has to set up the umbrella!"

Morgan pulled the rest of her family in as their first vacation of many finally began.