The Broken Tactician

A Discovery

Lucina had been searching for Robin for eight months. In those eight months she had not found a single trace of the tactician...until now. Lucina had spent months travelling the Ylissean countryside with little more than herself and couple of horses pulling a cart (at Chrom's insistence complete with the supplies she needed for such a journey) asking everyone she met on the road and in towns that she passed through if they had seen Robin. She would show them the portrait that her father had given her and they would shake their heads and say, "No ma'am we haven't seen a man like him." It was depressing and Lucina knew she had to complete this self given mission as it was all she could do at present. She owed Robin that much as she felt that it was her fault that all of this had happened; she was the one that likely put Robin up to killing Grima. She pushed the thought out of her mind as she came to the last village on her search of Ylisse. If they hadn't seen Robin then Lucina would move on to Plegia. A trip that wasn't going to be easy on her as she was certain the people had enough of Ylisseans in their country and of war in general to last them several lifetimes.

Lucina was however likely going to have to stay in the small town for a while while they went through the winter months as reaching the border would be made harder by the snowfalls of winter that were fast approaching. It was also because she wasn't exactly a skilled magic user and couldn't really cast fire magic to melt the snows to clear the way to help her travels. She came to stop at the gate where an old man was resting against. He did look up from his post when he saw the small cart and spoke, "Hullo there. Is there anythin' I can help ya with stranger?" He ran a hand over his pepper coloured beard and seemed calm enough. Lucina carefully got out of the cart with the portrait in hand,

"I'm hoping you might sir," She said and the old man came over to her, "Have you possibly seen this man?" Lucina asked as politely as she could, "He's a dear friend of mine who has been missing from his home for quite some time." He (to Lucina's complete surprise) said,

"Well I'll be...me wife's looking after a young lad that matches yer picture. We found the poor lad las' night an' he wasn't lookin' too good. Me wife's a healer but he's jest beyond her abilities. I was jest guardin' the gate...lemme see if I can git Raulf to for a bit an' I'll take yer to me home."

"Th-thank you!" Lucina tried to keep her surprise hidden but it was difficult. The old man hobbled off and Lucina uttered a small prayer of thanks to Naga. Followed by a prayer that Robin would be alright.

When the old man came back with a young man he came to sit alongside the princess (at her insistence) and pointed out the way to his home. On the way he offered to let her stay should she need to ("No need to thank me," he'd said with a smile, "I knows how heavy the snowfalls git here.") and helped her get the horses into the stables and stowed the cart as well. She followed him as he opened the door and called out to his wife who turned out to be a rather sweet looking woman who wore her greying hair in a rather large bun at the base of her head. She wore a faded cleric uniform that was busted in a couple of places and carried an old staff that looked like it was more for decoration than actual use. Kindly brown eyes fell upon Lucina and the woman gave a slight look of concern, "Roy love, yer home early. Somethin' wrong?" She asked as she tucked the staff into the holder,

"Naw Lilian, everythin's fine. I jest found a lass who was lookin' fer tha' young lad we found yesterday."

"Oh! I see...well tha's good news! Th' lad needs a familiar face. Th' poor thin' was lookin' mighty scared at me this mornin' he was."

"Still?" Roy asked concerned,

"Yah, he was very scared like. I managed to give him some sleepin' medicine to settle him down. Say young lass yer look like yer been on a long trip. Why don't we git yer somethin' to eat or would yer like somethin' to drink?"

"Love, I hope yer don' mind but I offered to let her stay since she's gotta make a return trip to Ylisstol an' winters' abou' here."

"She still needs somethin' Roy. We can't jest not give her anythin'!" Lilian chided her well meaning husband in a way that Lucina couldn't help but smile at a little.

"Thank you," Lucina said, "I appreciate the offer but I am fine."

"If ya says so lass." Lilian added with a wink, "'sides more likely yer wanna see yer handsome lad."

"He's a friend of mine." Lucina said trying not to blush but failing to as she ended up with a rather pink hue across her cheeks,

"Of course lass," Lilian smiled with a mischievous glint in her eyes as if she was able to read the princess like an open book and perhaps expected such a reply as the feeble one that Lucina had made, "All the lasses here say tha' about th' lads they like. However as a grandmother I know a thin' or two about love." She then lead Lucina to the small kitchen and spoke to her husband, "Roy any word on Raulf's daughter Emily?"

"She's bin gitting better thanks to th' tonic yer sent them."

"Good news indeed I was gitting worried abou' th' lil' lass." Lilian smiled as she checked on a pot on the stove that smelled to Lucina like a warm soup. "Let's see how our lad's holdin' up. He must be starvin'." she said as she poured the soup into a rather large mug. "Tha' should be enough to start him on at least."

Lucina noticed that just beyond the kitchen was a door that was half open. She noticed that the room beyond seemed to be dimly lit and Lilian motioned to her husband to keep come with her and Roy understood what she wanted. Lucina cautiously followed them unsure of what was awaiting her but hoping it really was Robin.

~

I tried to make my body move and flinched when the door opened. An older looking woman came in and she spoke gently, "Easy now lad, no one is gonna hurt yer." I flinched and tried to move away from her. I almost wondered if she was a cruel illusion that was about to hurt me despite saying words the the contrary. I couldn't keep the fear from surfacing again as she came to a standstill and didn't seem to take another step.

"Robin..." I froze as I knew that voice for certain. I looked in the direction of that voice and the woman that stood there turned in surprise as the one who spoke came calmly into my view. She came to stand within my line of sight and I looked at her for several seconds. I knew who she was and I tried to move my body refusing to.

"Well now ain't tha' a surprise an' a half. He certainly don' seem to be the least bit scared o' ya lass." The other woman spoke softly and now that I had a proper look at her she appeared to be a cleric. I frowned in confusion and tried to move again, possibly in a panicked way as the younger woman spoke gently,

"Easy now Robin. You're safe. Grima can't hurt you any more." The blue haired princess told me,

"..." I tried to tell her I knew her name I knew who she was and that I was glad to see her but my body just wouldn't comply. It wasn't a total loss however as my right hand managed to reach towards her. The princess (and for the life of me I knew her name somewhere in my head) seemed to understand as she gently held it in her own. I felt the warmth of her hands and the cleric smiled,

"See I told ya Roy...all he needs is a familiar face."

"Yeah ya did say that Lilian..." A man stood back a bit but he seemed happy, "At least he knows he's safe. That's jest as important to him as a familiar face."

The cleric came forwards with a cup, "Well let's see about gitting him some nourishment, Roy can ya help th' young lass git him sat up a bit more?"

"Of course love." The man said and came over. I tensed and he spoke gently, "Easy now lad, we're only here to help ya. An' we don' bite none either." He promised and I hesitantly relaxed as firm hands helped me to sit up.

"Here ya are," the cleric offered the cup to me and I did my best to drink the obvious soup it contained hungrily as I felt like I hadn't eaten in days. "There's a lad," she said gently, "ya jest need to rest for now alright."

I felt tired after drinking the soup and I couldn't help but doze a little against the arms that were supporting me. I eventually must have fallen asleep as I didn't remember what happened next.