Invisible Ties | Fire Emblem Awakening (Novelization)

Chapter 31: Calm Before the Storm

Robin

We finally reached Ylisstol almost two weeks after the fall of Walhart's empire. Say'ri stayed behind in Valm as the leader of her recently recovered country, but Virion, Cherche, and Flavia were adamant that they would continue to fight for the Shepherds, and so they came back with us to Castle Ylisse.

We had a week of life that was somewhat normal. Chrom sent soldiers across the continent to look for the final Gemstone while the rest of us tried to rest and heal. Our leader spent every spare minute he could find in the castle's library, reading everything that said anything about the Awakening.

As royals don't often get spare minutes, his progress was slow. He was still doing it by the end of the week.

Eventually, he decided to take a proper day off. On the morning of that day, I woke up before him and wondered what I was going to do with myself while he was holed up with his books. If he was having the day off, then so was I, because my own involvement in the realm's arrangements inevitably meant asking the ruler questions.

Perhaps, after we had said good morning to baby Lucy, I would join him in the library and brush up on my tactics. It depended on what the wet nurses were doing. If they were running behind in their routine, I liked to take over and settle Lucy in her cot after she had been fed. Then I'd talk to her until she fell asleep, and sometimes afterwards, too. I knew that Chrom would occasionally visit her between errands and tell her stories, and each night when we visited together, he would hold her tight against his chest and make a terrible hash of an old war song.

Lucina had once caught him doing that, and she'd looked just as enamoured as her younger self. Apparently, he had sung it to her all throughout her childhood – I was going to have to put up with it for years to come. At least it had encouraged her to visit the baby more often. Both she and Morgan found it incredibly uncomfortable, but I was trying to make them simply think of Lucy as a sibling. After all, according to Lucina, the two timelines were completely separate now. If we secured a better future for the children of this time, they would grow up as very different people.

I just hoped that we could.

Chrom shifted in his sleep, snuggling further into his pillows. His brow creased as his injured shoulder moved with him. His right arm was on top of the blankets, baring the large scar from Valm for me to see. I wanted to run my fingers over the red skin and kiss it better, but I knew that it was still sore.

I traced his Brand of the Exalt with my left hand instead, keeping my own brand under the sheets. I could admire the pattern on Chrom's bicep all day, but I hated to let him see mine. Even after all these years, there was still something unsettling about it.

Chrom opened his eyes after I'd been running my fingers over his arm for a while. He smiled sleepily at me, his expression content and warming.

Butterflies fluttered around my stomach as I smiled back. "Good morning."

"Good morning," he murmured, his voice husky. He pushed himself up against the pillows and took me with him, cocooning me in his arms. "Mm, this is nice. There's no rush to get up now and go anywhere. We should have days off all the time."

"But it's not really a day off for you, is it? You'll be thinking about Naga and the Awakening."

"In part. I'll also be thinking about you. I took this day off for two reasons. I need more time to research the Awakening, though in truth I think there is little information left to be learned. I also need to spend more time with you. I've barely seen you all week. I wondered if you would like to do something with me this afternoon? Something that's about us and not the end of the world?"