Fire Emblem: Awakening - Call of The Wild

Chapter 32: Yulemas

Lissa told me to come to The Great Tree on Yulemas morning with all of my gifts. I wonder what she has planned.

My paws stung as I trod through the snow. Normally, I would have arrived in my human form, but there was no way I could carry all of my gifts in my arms. I may have been able to when I bought them, but that was when they were unwrapped. In my wolf form, I was able to attach a small cart to myself to carry the presents.

As I approached the entrance of The Great Tree, I noted that there were a surprisingly low number of guards. Emmeryn must have given them the day off. That's nice of her. The few guards that were present eyed my cart warily for a moment but soon recognized me, letting me enter.

I entered the main hallway. It was empty. But, Emmeryn and Phila came into the corridor, completely wrapped up in their own conversation. They were quick to notice me and my confusion, however.

"Oh, Anna, you must be here for the Shepherds' Yulemas Party," the Alpha giggled. "I'm guessing Lissa gave you little detail. They're in the Garrison."

I nodded my thanks to her. Shifting into a human to respond would be difficult as I was still attached to the cart. Before the Alpha could leave, I threw my head back to the cart; a gesture for her to look.

Emmeryn dug through the presents until she found one with her name. "Thank you very much, Anna. This was very kind of you."

I dipped my head as a way of saying you're welcome. With that, I was off to the Garrison.

"You're here!" Lissa exclaimed as I pushed the door open. "Come in! Come in! We're still waiting on a few people!"

"Lissa, she may need some help," Chrom chuckled, glancing at the cart.

I huffed, rolling my eyes. Just get this thing off of me. I moved further into the room before allowing Chrom to help me undo the harness. Once I stepped out of that damned thing, I shifted. "Why didn't you just tell me we were having a Yulemas party?"

"Wait, you didn't tell her what we were doing?" Cordelia stared in disbelief at Lissa.

The princess chuckled nervously. "Well...I may have been too excited that I forgot to talk about the details..."

"Clearly," I sighed, taking a seat. As I looked around the room, I noticed that the only people missing were Cherche and Libra. "Where are the others?"

"Libra is finishing setting up the Yulemas service. Cherche said that she wanted to help him," Stahl replied as he finished stuffing as many cookies as he could into his hands. Then, he timidly sat down next to Cordelia.

"Strange. Cherche is usually the first one to any event," Frederick hummed, draping his arm across Sumia's shoulders.

Just then, the door swung open. "You know, it's rude to talk about people behind their backs," Cherche winked, entering the room. Libra was not far behind. Something about them felt...different.

Sully squinted. "Did something happen?"

Libra cleared his throat. "We were going to wait until later, but I don't know why we should keep it a secret."

I raised an eyebrow. "What secret?"

Blush crept up Cherche's cheeks. "Well... We're mates."

The whole room erupted with cheers. "Congrats, you two!" Vaike whistled.

"When did this happen?" Sumia asked.

"Yesterday. We went out to dinner after finishing a Yulemas Eve event and it clicked into place," Cherche replied, entwining her hand with her new mate's.