Redemption

There's Beauty in Vulnerability

Robyn sighed, mulling over her piles of papers for the battle against Muspell. While they'd won the last battle, they'd not done so without sustaining serious burn injuries from the fiery kingdom. It had left several members of the army stuck in the infirmary and the healers with their hands full. Robyn was determined not to repeat that. Their next battle was to take place in a fiery field with some forest for cover. Robyn was considered an extraordinary tactician, but the the endless strings of battle were taking a serious toll on her mind, and the mental exhaustion was hard to ignore. A cup of warm tea plunking down in front of her startled her, and she looked up to see Takumi standing behind her scowling, his arms crossed.

"Have you taken a break at all?" he inquired sharply.

He'd made it clear before he disliked how hard she worked herself.

"Ah.."

"I'll take that as a no then."

A sigh escaped him as he sat beside her and his tone softened.

"You still blaming yourself for the last battle, huh? It wasn't your fault. How were you supposed to know they put fire traps in the ground?"

In the last fight, the majority of the injuries had been caused by fire traps that had been planted in the ground. Any one who's stepped on them was instantly surrounded by flames that burst from the ground. Robyn breathed in the comforting scent of the genmaicha tea the Hoshidan prince had brought her and shared dejectedly at it.

"But a tactician is supposed to predict all the possible outcomes!" she protested. "How can the army trust me if I can't keep them safe? If the enemy outsmarts me?"

"Because you can't predict every single outcome. Even the best tactician in the world can't." he retorted firmly. "Anyone in the army could see that you work harder than anyone here to ensure the army's safety. And if anyone takes an issue with you, they'll have me to deal with."

A sense of warmth enveloped her at the conviction in his voice. Even with her face hidden by her hood, Takumi had guessed exactly what was going on in her mind.

"Thank you, Takumi." she replied gratefully. "But you really don't have to go out of your way for my sake. You don't have to defend me from the other heroes. It would be unfair of me to expect you to."

"It's no trouble. Because you'd do the same for me, right?"

A smile made its way to her lips. She didn't even have to think about that one.

"Of course I would! Don't be silly."

"Heh.."

His hazel gaze turned to the papers scattered all over the table, his lips moving faintly as he read them over carefully.

"You know.." He picked up the quill and tapped the place where she'd put the fliers. "You shouldn't put so many fliers. They know that we know about the traps. So they'd be expecting that and planning accordingly."

The gears in Robyn's head were turning and she nodded quickly.

"You're right! Doing something bold like that would definitely catch them off guard as well as.."

She crossed out the fliers and redrew them near the forest.

"Since they're expecting us to use our fliers, we should hide them here. It'll confuse them."

Takumi was nodding in agreement, that competitive glint in his eyes.

"Yep! And knowing them, I bet they'll have their healers in the back. We can draw their army to the front with their backs to the forest and then-"