Snow-Kissed Swords | Fire Emblem Awakening (Holiday Shepherds Book 3)

Chapter 2: The Simple Life

Robin: 22nd December

The smell of even more food woke me up the next morning. I lay still next to Chrom, staring into the darkness above us. I thought it was perhaps the scent of bread.

I sat up and lit a candle, then turned and shone it near Chrom. His face was hidden beneath his upper arm, and I smiled. "Chrom. It's breakfast time."

He grunted and slowly lifted his head. Then he ducked down again. "Gods, that's bright!"

I placed the candle back on the bedside table and stood up with a shiver. "My apologies. Hurry -- it's freezing."

Chrom sat up, the blankets clutched around him. "Get back in, then."

I looked at the warm bed longingly. "We have a lot of ground to cover today. If we go fast enough, we might get back by tomorrow afternoon."

"All right." Chrom stood up reluctantly, taking the blankets with him. He wrapped the ends around my shoulders so that we were huddled together. "Did you get a good night's sleep?"

"Yes." As good as I ever got these days, anyway.

"So you're ready to travel?"

"Yes." I pictured my perfect Divine Day in my mind again. "I am more than ready to travel."

***

When we were dressed, we went downstairs and found some of the Shepherds at the windows. Sully and Miriel were standing by one, and Frederick and Sumia were at the other. We joined our bodyguards and peered out at the snow. It had grown by at least three feet overnight so that there was more than I had ever seen in Ylisse.

Chrom sighed. "We won't be able to ride the horses through that."

My heart sunk.

"What's going on?" Lissa asked from behind.

I moved out of the way to let her see the snow.

"It was coming down all night," Lyle said, emerging from the backroom to join us. "Don't think you'll be able to ride in that for several days."

"We won't even reach Ylisstol before Divine Day," I whispered, hanging my head.

"Hey, cheer up!" Lissa touched my arm. "You've had a Divine Day in Ylisstol before. You always want to make new memories, right?" She turned to my husband, who was still staring glumly out of the window. "And, Chrom, when have we ever celebrated Divine Day away from home?"

"Well...never." Chrom looked back at us. "It's such an important event that time is always made in the royal calendar for it."

"That's right! So don't stand there looking all miserable. Spending Divine Day in Whiteholt is going to be different, but it will be fun!"

"You're right, lass," Lyle said. "If you're staying here for a few days, I might as well invite you to the Divine Fair. We hold it on the village green every year, and the turnout is good. My wife and I was actually going to be lending a hand to some folks who need it today, soon as we'd served you breakfast. It's tomorrow, you see, and there's still lots to be done. If you have nothing better to do..."

"Oh, yes!" Lissa perked up like a sunflower. "Chrom, we could help prepare, couldn't we?"

Chrom frowned. "I would like to, but we'll draw a lot of attention to ourselves, and that means we'll get no rest. Robin needs it."

I blushed. "Chrom!"

"Well, we just won't tell people you're here," Lyle said.

Chrom glanced down at himself, swathed in a blue cloak with Falchion at his side. "I'm hardly inconspicuous. People know what I look like."