Comms and Other Long FE Oneshots

Family Trees With Tangled Branches

*Commission for the mighty BaneofLoslorien on Deviantart!

    Shigure, after wandering around the grand hall for about an hour, speaking to some people who looked Ylissean and getting some highly entertaining stories about them, and then eating some of the delicious food on the tables, found himself watching Lady Morgan playing with the twins again. Laslow and Aunt Camilla were each holding one to give Mother's arms a break. Both of the babies watched with matching wide silver eyes as the self-styled tactician-princess (or princess-tactician, Shigure swore she flipped the title around every minute) pulled her face into downright unnatural shapes, and Shigure, after a moment of morbid fascination, edged himself back into the crowd.

He threaded through the crowd, looking for his father but, oddly enough, couldn't find him. Where had he gone?

"Why the frown, young prince?" a quiet voice asked, and Shigure blinked, turning to see an older man with a slight hunch and a slightly curly white beard that reached his chest gazing down at him with serious green eyes. "It's a joyous occasion, after all."

"It is, Master Valerius," Shigure agreed, dipping his head slightly to his father's Minister of Culture. "Just looking for my father is all, and I can't seem to find him."

"I would assume that would be difficult to pull aside from the guests at a party such as this." Valerius nodded thoughtfully. "Unless one happens to be Lilith. I believe I saw him duck into the west side hall with her hovering at his shoulder a few minutes ago."

"Thank you." Shigure smiled up at him. "I'll go to see him, then."

"Of course, young prince. I will be seeing you tomorrow afternoon for a lesson, yes?"

"Yes, of course." Shigure nodded and waved his goodbye as he headed through the crowd once again, glad to see a warm smile on the elderly man's face. It was supposed to be a joyous occasion for everyone, after all, not just his family.

He ducked into the half-open door of the west side hall, immediately catching sight of his father and Auntie Lilith seated on the floor, Corrin slumped against the wall with his eyes closed and Lilith in her human form with her hands folded in her lap. Shigure noted with a bit of wry humor that this sight would make most of his tutors have conniptions before both of their heads turned to face him, Lilith relaxing a bit when her golden gaze met his. "Hello, Shigure," she greeted him.

"Tired of the party already, kiddo?" His father asked with a small wink.

"No, just looking for you," Shigure replied. "Master Valerius was kind enough to tell me where you'd gone."

"Ah, I remember Valerius," Lilith remarked softly, causing Shigure to blink.

"He's my Minister of Culture now." Corrin gave a slight, but somewhat subdued smile. "He has talked about you before- all good things, though, concern towards how comfortable you are in this castle. He's very perceptive."

"You know him, Auntie Lilith?" Shigure asked, tilting his head towards her.

"Only by name and face, really," she replied with a faint smile.

"Valerius is one of the survivors of Old Valla, son," Corrin explained, drawing Shigure's gaze to him. "We found him in one of Anankos's prison camps just after defeating the dragon. He was old, even back then, and he'd become very ill during his imprisonment, as many of the others had. He asked me to allow him to pass on, saying that others needed healing more than he did and that he could die happy knowing that Anankos was gone." His smile grew less subdued. "I'll admit, I almost considered obliging him. But, I'm glad I decided not to."

"So am I," Shigure agreed with a small nod. "He knows so much about Old Valla."

"And it's old art besides." Shigure grinned at his aunt's correct guess as to why he enjoyed Valerius's company and she gave him a real smile back before there was a flash of white light and she was a small, floating dragon once again. "I'll leave you two to talk."

"Of course, enjoy yourself." Corrin gave a slight wave as Lilith floated back through the door, and then sighed softly, sitting up a bit straighter. "Okay, kiddo, you've got me cornered."

"You just don't want to go back in there, do you?" Shigure asked, his grin remaining on his face. "I mean, I'm not objecting to more stories if you have them, but this is your party that you're hosting."

"Don't you dare give me a lecture on responsibility, your mother does enough of that," Corrin replied, but his tone was dry instead of scolding before he seemed to consider something. "Hmm. I suppose that a small story would help me gauge how long I should spend avoiding people."

Shigure doubted that Mother had ever scolded Father about taking a break from a party or other social gathering. She'd been the one to explain to him why Corrin did it, after all. Despite being a people person, the many years of isolation he'd spent in the Northern Fortress made him prone to social exhaustion after long periods of dealing with a lot of people. Shigure figured this must be one of those short breaks that he needed before going back out to talk to people who weren't family. "Anything interesting on your mind?" he asked, figuring that it probably would be best to not ask for anything specific.

"Well." A slow smile crept his father's face, and he leaned back against the wall once again. "There is a story concerning Laslow and Hana as well as the rest of the army that you might find amusing."

Shigure came over to sit next to him by the wall. "Did it take place during the war?"

"Just a little while afterwards," Corrin replied. "While we were still together and wiping out what remained of those who opposed peace with their swords and attempting to stamp out the Faceless. Hana and Laslow were still a bit awkward and somewhat cautious about their relationship back then. With this incident, however, everyone immediately thought that the relationship between the two was serious and they nearly broke it off afterwards because of all the attention it garnered."

"What did Laslow do?" Shigure asked.

Corrin actually huffed a laugh at that, the small smile on his face immediately turning into his sharp grin. "Oh, he actually didn't do anything other than win a bet and insist on collecting his winnings- which was taking Hana to dinner. It was Sakura's reaction to a man taking her best friend to dinner that caused this entire thing to start spiraling out of control..."

------------

"Milady, it's really not that big of a deal-" Hana protested, gently waving away the necklace that Sakura was offering. She'd already been given a couple of bracelets and had her normally loose long brown hair pinned up into a lovely loose bun already.

"I'm j-just really excited for y-you!" The brightness in Sakura's voice caused more than a few heads to turn, Charlotte and Effie in particular seeming surprised. Hana pressed her lips together. She was beginning to think that telling the princess why exactly she was going to be absent from her duties tonight had been a big mistake, but she'd never expected Sakura to react like this.

She was almost grateful to see the idiot who had caused all of this walking up. Laslow blinked at her and her getup and then gave a slight bow to Sakura. "Hello, Lady Sakura."

"H-hello, Laslow," Sakura replied, stashing the necklace in her skirt and waving her hands. "I s-suppose that means you'll b-be taking her." She beamed at Hana. "H-Have fun on your date!"

The entire courtyard of the castle went silent and every one of the many heads present swung towards them. Odin's and Selena's jaws actually dropped, and Laslow's face turned bright red. "U-um-" he began.

"Wait." Charlotte stared at them, pointing each of them. "You and... you? Together?"

"Oh my gods, when did this become a thing?" Effie asked.

"Iiiiiinteresting," Niles remarked with a low chuckle.

"Hana?" Oboro's face had gone slack with shock.

"Laslow-" Odin's voice was a near squawk.

"W-w-w-wait," Laslow stammered, waving his hands. "Y-you don't need to- it's not what- this isn't-"

Hana whipped out her sword, swirling it up and over her head before slashing at the nearest tree. The mighty trunk creaked for moment. The creak was followed by a horrible grating sound as it rumbled, tipped, and crashed to the ground, leaving only deafening silence in it's wake as the dust rose around it.

Everyone stared at the scene in shock for a moment and then a voice rose up. "Hana, Hana, Hana," Azama shook his head at her from the back of the army, an exaggerated affronted look on his face. "I understand the ire towards the gawking ladies with no better way to fritter away their time, but what did the tree do?"

"We should g-go this way now," Laslow said quickly, gesturing for Hana to follow him towards the gate of the courtyard that opened up to the shops.

"Yes, yes we should," Hana growled, scowling as she followed.

"Azama," Corrin called from his place in the doorway of the castle where he was watching the entire scene play out. "What have I said about encouraging inter-party murder?"

"Don't do it outright! My bad, Commander," Azama chuckled. "I'll be more careful."

Corrin rolled his eyes, beckoning for the healer to come over to have a more private discussion while the rest of the people in the courtyard watched Hana and Laslow disappear, and then immediately turn their attention to Sakura. Sakura stared back, promptly giving a terrified "Eep!" when they began approaching her.

--------

"We learned several things that day," Corrin continued, raising a hand with a finger raised. "First, Sakura is a natural sprinter; she can run really fast, but not very far." He lifted another finger. "Second, Sakura learned how to ride horses somewhere, likely from Leo. Third, that Elise's horse really doesn't like being ridden by strangers, no matter if said stranger is a good friend of said horse's rider. Fourth-" He gave a heavy sigh, waving his now four lifted fingers in the air. "That piling up your supplies behind the paddock's back fence isn't as good an idea as you might think. And, fifth, when you go to the item merchant and say that all the stuff you just bought was trampled by an escaped horse and needs to be replaced, the price goes up by ten percent. That was easily the most expensive purchase of the entire war, and I'm glad it happened after we defeated Anankos."

Shigure brought his hand up to the bridge of his nose. "I'm almost afraid to ask..." he began, lowering his hand again. "But where was Aunt Elise when her horse was being stolen?"

"Oh, she and Uncle Takumi were in jail," Corrin replied with a slight shrug.

Shigure blinked, shaking his head slightly. "Whuh?"

"Oh, right." Corrin snorted, giving a slight grin. "I've never told you this story. See, earlier that day, the two of them snuck into Camilla's room and ate every single one of her bon-bons. Knowing they'd be in trouble for it, but they still did it because neither of them had any impulse control back then." He took a breath and then seemed to consider that statement, brow creasing for a moment. "Actually, they still don't. Anyways, they decided to hide, and Elise had the brilliant idea of hiding in the dungeon because she figured that was the last place that anyone would look."

"That's silly," Shigure replied flatly.

"What makes it sillier is that Camilla found them in twenty minutes flat, locked them in, and said she'd consider letting them out if she had fun when she and Hinoka went on their double-date with Ryoma and Xander respectively. Takumi was so shocked at hearing this that he fainted and Elise nearly died of boredom in there while Leo, Azura, and I were focused on rescuing poor Sakura from all the ladies' incessant questions and trying to figure out how to go about killing Faceless. So, we had no idea what was going on with the rest of our siblings."

Shigure actually smacked his forehead this time, the thought coming to him once again that he was the least weird person in his family. "I'm honestly surprised that people thought that Laslow and Hana were dating seriously at the very mention of him taking her out to dinner. Didn't he have a reputation as a giant flirt?" he asked.

"With all the other couples in the army, it wasn't that much of a stretch to think of them as a plausible match," Corrin replied dryly. "I mean, just look at our family."

"All my aunts and uncles love each other, and there were political reasons for that too," Shigure refuted with a slight shake of his head.

"True enough." Corrin grinned. "Well, there are plenty of other weird couples for me to list. You already know that Niles and Oboro, Saizo and Charlotte, and Silas and Mozu are married. Now, that may not seem weird to you because they have been that way for the majority of your young life, but for us in the army, it was quite the shock. Hayato and Nyx recently got married... I'm still sad I missed that wedding," Shigure blinked. "But then, they didn't really want anything huge, and so a lot of people missed it. Anyhow, Peri and Hinata have been dating for awhile, as well as Benny and Rinkah and Arthur and Kagero. Felicia told me a few days ago- all a-fluster- that she and Kaze are dating now too."

"They are?" Shigure exclaimed. That would be interesting to see take place in the castle- and his father was right. "Those all do sound weirder than Hana and Laslow," he admitted. "Not sure which one is the weirdest, though."

"That's because you didn't let me mention Azama and Effie," Corrin replied, tone dry once again.

What? "That wins," Shigure agreed immediately, shaking his head.

They both looked up as the door creaked open slightly once again. A young boy who looked only to be a few years older than Shigure peered in, and then froze up, indigo eyes wide under his white hair. "Ah, hello Inigo," Corrin greeted the boy with a soft chuckle. "Did you lose your parents?"

Shigure gave a slight double take as the boy nodded shyly. He knew that there were small children duplicates of all of the Shepherds' children running about... and could actually somewhat see the resemblance. It was the same eyes, somewhat the same face shape and hairstyle as well. Laslow's hair had recently gone back to it's original white, so the young boy had the same hair color, too. "Well, Shigure and I should be getting back out there anyways, so we can help you look, alright?" Corrin told him, standing and stretching.

"A-alright," Inigo replied, fidgeting and looking down at his hands. "My apologies, Your Majesty."

"There's nothing to apologize about," Corrin assured him while Shigure got to his feet as well. "Have you met Henry and Olivia yet, Shigure?" he asked.

"No," Shigure replied as they moved to the door and he gave Inigo a slight nod, which to his delight was shyly returned. "I mostly talked with the older Gerome and Brady, as well as Captain Stahl. I got a lot of stories about the rest of the Shepherds, though."

"The Viridian Knight, huh?" They moved back out into the hall, Corrin scanning the crowd. "So did they satisfy your curiosity about the Shepherds and the odd family trees?"

"No, no they didn't." Shigure shook his head.

"That's impossible," Inigo spoke up softly. "Even the people in those weird family trees don't really understand them."

Corrin barked a laugh at that. "Alright, that's fair. Ah, there's Exalt Chrom." He pointed to a man that was fairly close to them with blue hair, a white cape, and... only one sleeve? He was talking quietly to a woman with curly brown hair in a beautiful pink dress, and she had a gentle hand on his arm. There was a pair of blue haired girls in the crowd not that far from the exalt as well, the far older of the two talking to Uncle Leo while the smaller one was staring up at Auntie Lilith in the rafters, awe on her face. Despite the difference in their expressions and the obvious age gap, they looked eerily similar, so that must be the future and present versions of Lucina.

Shigure watched as Exalt Chrom lifted his head, frowning until his eyes found the two girls. "Lucina!"

Both immediately turned. "Yes, father?" the woman asked.

"Yes, daddy?" the girl asked at the same time.

The exalt sighed, massaging his forehead while the woman next to him gave a sympathetic smile and Uncle Leo pressed his lips together in his best too-polite-to-laugh smile. "Let's try that again."

Corrin snorted. "You haven't had to deal with that yet, have you Inigo?"

"No," Inigo confirmed with a small smile while Shigure continued watching those with navy hair interact with each other and began considering the possibilities of having two of you at once running about, especially where Exalt Chrom's family was concerned. "Going to have to though, unless Mother and Father keep calling other me Laslow."

This talk, naturally, piqued Shigure's curiosity, so the little artist's mind began to paint a picture...and it was a very confusing picture indeed. If Chrom was a grandfather now, with one or even both Morgans around, and would be a great-grandfather when future Morgan gives birth, then he might be a great-great-great grandfather by the time he's in his sixties. Also, since there were technically two Lucinas, two Morgans, and two of each of their time travelling companions, did that mean that they'd be a lot alike or not-so-much? It seemed like they were a lot alike, Inigo was definitely as shy as his counterpart, and though Lucina seemed very different, that could be just because she hadn't been born into a war and spent most of her life fighting.

If they were alike fundamentally, then Odin could be doing his theatrics with a little Owain by his side, and Selena would be taking a little Severa to clean out boutiques. Two Bradys would be playing strangely terrifying violin music, two Geromes would have an obsession with masks and be masters of sewing, and that woman that had been mentioned, Noire, would have an echo of her furious call of blood and thunder should both she and her little self... snap... at the same time.

Not to mention how weird it would be to have a younger version of yourself. A mental image of Exalt Chrom handing baby Lucina over to adult Lucina and saying "Lucina, be a dear and watch yourself for a minute, would you?" appeared and continued as Chrom left Lucina to just stare at...Lucina, and say, "Hello, Baby Me" The exalt could also sternly tell Lucina to go to her room, and Lucina would end up pouting next to a crib while baby Lucina whacked her with a rattle...which, paradoxically, meant that Lucina would already be in her room before big Lucina ever arrived. He had to wonder if little Lucina ever greeted big Lucina by saying "Hello, Me", which would then prompt big Lucina to affirm that the two of them are different people while little Lucina insisted that "you were me, and I will be you". That would prompt an existential crisis like nothing else.

For that matter, since older Lucina was married to Robin, then did that mean younger Lucina was married to him too? How would that even work? For that matter, would little Lucina's children be half-siblings to older Lucina's children? He'd heard that all of his aunts and uncles on the Nohrian side were half-siblings from the palace gossips before, had an idea of what his grandfather had been like when it came to women. If Robin had children with little Lucina, then would they make a third Morgan? If they made the downright ridiculous decision to have the older and younger versions share the same name, then how did one address one or the other rather than both? And-

Shigure shook his head with a groan, stopping himself and putting his hands over his eyes and pressing down. "Easy there, kiddo," Corrin chuckled. "Don't think too much about the family tree."

"If I think about it anymore, I'm going to be putting my shoes on my head instead of my feet, this is ridiculous," Shigure muttered.

Inigo gave a soft, amused huff and Corrin's chuckle grew into a laugh. "I don't know who to pity more in Ylisse's court, the royal family therapist or the royal genealogist," he remarked, waving to a pink haired woman in the crowd who was dressed in white, immediately catching her attention along with the white-haired man next to her that was dressed in black dress robes.

"If someone could take Exalt Chrom's family tree and combine it with your dorkiness to create a weapon, they'd conquer the world, Father," Shigure remarked, and Inigo made a strangled noise that sounded suspiciously like he was trying not to laugh.

"Huh." Corrin lowered his hand thoughtfully. "I wonder if scroll or tome magic would work better for that... hey!"

Shigure ducked his head at the belated shout to hide his grin, and a laugh pealed out. "The teasing only gets worse, Your Majesty, but a boy with an early sense of humor is better than one with no sense of humor at all," the white haired man in black remarked with a grin, clapping Corrin on the shoulder with an easy friendliness.

"Can't really argue with that," Corrin admitted, giving the man a grin, which grew when Inigo ran up to them and hugged the stranger. "Your son missed you, Henry."

"Nya ha! I can see that." Henry scooped up Inigo, who instantly seemed more comfortable. "Sorry about that, buddy, but you've got to pay more attention to where we are."

"Sorry, Father," Inigo replied with a small, embarrassed smile.

"You must be Prince Shigure." Shigure blinked, looking up to see the beautiful pink-haired woman smiling down with him. She had Inigo's eyes... or rather he had hers.

"Yeah," he replied. "And you must be Olivia."

"Corrin!" Queen Hinoka's voice called from across the hall.

"Ah, I'll leave you to get acquainted, excuse me." Corrin flashed them all a smile and headed off across the hall.

"You should probably go find small Brady, love," Olivia told her husband. "I believe Maribelle and Gaius have been talking with that one nobleman for the past twenty minutes and I don't see him anywhere."

"I'd like to see Brady," Inigo chimed in.

"Nyeh heh, Looks like I'm going." Henry waggled his fingers at Shigure and then turned around and headed away as well with Inigo still in his arms.

Olivia smiled down at Shigure after both of them waved after her husband, and then crouched down so that she was on his level. "King Xander mentioned to me that you're fond of stories."

"You've spoken to my uncle?" Shigure asked, blinking.

"Yes, about my son mostly." Olivia gave a soft, almost resigned huff of laughter. "He's a good man, your uncle. I assume you heard about Laslow's latest escapade, and hopefully his last?"

"Yeah, I did." Shigure grinned.

"Well, when I heard that Inigo, or Laslow as you call him, had been found at last, I came here straightaway. I arrived the day before Xander sent him on his "date", actually."

--------

"So you're Laslow's mother. Morgan has told me much about you."

Olivia tugged at her hair nervously, unable to not feel self-conscious under King Xander's steady gaze. Nohr was... very different from Ylisse, in more ways than one. The people here were like those in Plegia and Ferox, survivors and warriors first and foremost, while those in Ylisse had more breathing room due to the bountiful land there. Her son had been part of a very different walk of life once again. "Yes, Your Majesty. I'm Olivia. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me on such short notice."

"Of course." He nodded. "I assume you're here because of what happened with Laslow."

"Yes, though I wanted... to... to meet you anyways. He's been working with you for so long, so I... so I should get to- oh gods this is mortifying." She fidgeted with her hands, she couldn't bring herself to meet his mahogany eyes again. "He has gotten into trouble because of his... tendencies... with women before, but nothing quite of this scale. And well... oh, I'm making a mess of this-"

"You must be the one he gets his timidity from." Olivia flushed a deep pink at the King's remark, glancing up to see a look of... curiosity on his face. It was very slight- he was no open-book Exalt Chrom- but so many years of being forced to read which smile Henry was wearing had given her ample opportunity to learn to read expressions. He gave her a slight, encouraging smile, and she gave him a small smile in return, shoulders hunching. "I've been wanting to meet you as well, if we're being completely honest, you and your husband both. Laslow...you'll forgive me if I refer to him as such? I'd rather not try your patience struggling to break a decade old habit."

Olivia shook her head, perhaps a bit too energetically. She could practically smell Maribelle's displeasure, and she was back in Ylisse!

"You son has been a wonderful friend and confidant to me for the past ten years, and I cannot pretend I wasn't curious about his roots. Not long ago, he, Odin, and Selena told me, Leo, and Camilla about their adventures with the Shepherds. Odd as this may sound, having seen those three in action, I can believe their story."

Olivia managed, barely, to quash the idea that Xander believed it because Laslow's "mother" looked like she could pass as his older sister. As Exalt Chrom put it, (very) loudly and (very) often, time travel made everything weird.

"When the three of them became our retainers, they proved skilled beyond their years, easily prevailing over even the best of their contemporaries," Xander added.

"I'm sure Sir Frederick and Sir Lon'qu would be thrilled to hear that," Olivia choked out.

"I wager you would've been too." Here, a hint of concern stole over Xander's face. "I just wish this all could have been under better circumstances."

He had just said everything that she wanted to say and had done it in an extremely concise manner. Whether he'd done it on purpose or not, she seized the opening, nodding fervently. "Y-yes. I know it's not really his fault... well, it is kind of his fault, but he and Morgan had something very special and she has been a part of our family for over a decade now. I'm just... worried he may have unwittingly lost that."

King Xander gave a soft, thoughtful hum at that. "It's a possibility that cannot be denied," he admitted. "I've spoken to both Hana and Morgan, however, so I believe there's a chance for him to redeem himself. That is up to him to do the legwork, however. Such things are not mine to order about."

"O-of course not," Olivia agreed softly with a dip of her head.

"I do have faith in him, though, so don't give up on him." He gave another slight smile. "I do suggest that he spend some time in Ylisse when all is said and done, though. With both of my sisters in Hoshido, I've gained a keen appreciation of how hard it is to be away from those one loves."

"We would love to have him back, thank you." She gave him a grateful smile in return.

There was an awkward pause for a moment, and then King Xander cleared his throat, looking down at his desk. "Well, while I have you here, I don't suppose I could hear some things about my retainer when he was younger? I'm not sure there's anything more embarrassing than this, but I have been wrong before."

Olivia surprised herself by giggling softly. "Well, you say you already know that that he's my son from a future timeline?"

"Yes, he gave me the gist of it after the...ahem...incident" King Xander replied. "Lady Morgan provided some further details when I spoke to her not long ago, and I couldn't help but overhear Leo meeting small Owain earlier today. It was... interesting to say the least."

"You know full well then. Well, apparently future me is the one who set him on the womanizing path." King Xander arched both eyebrows. "I know exactly how this happened after several years of reflection and knowing to keep a closer eye on my own son," Olivia admitted. "My friend, Lady Maribelle, once took it upon herself to cure me of my shyness. Flirting with the opposite gender was the quickest way we discovered to do just that, and when future me's small son came to her with tears in his eyes, asking how to talk to people..."

The king actually gave a small huff of laughter at that. "Oh, I can see that going over well."

"I just keep imagining a young girl's reaction when Inigo told her that his mother sent him to talk to her," Olivia giggled. "He's stopped since, of course, but-"

"It is quite the amusing image. Did he tell you this?"

"He did... he didn't want me to see him practicing his dancing. But, I was so curious! So, when I figured out when he'd slip away to practice, I'd follow him. Climbed a tree here, hid under a bridge there, lugged along a barrel to hide inside once and..." Olivia paused when she saw that rare sort of expression on Xander's normally composed face which, on anyone else, would mean they were straining not to burst into hysterical laughter.

"But, I digress!" she blurted out, mentally quaking at Maribelle's "No, no, NO!" "Anyway, he kept insisting that I should understand since I'm shy. I asked how he could flirt with every girl he saw when he was so shy, and he explained." Olivia shrugged. "With my own small son's shyness being almost a debilitation and his father likely not around to break him out of that shell, I'm honestly not surprised that future me did what she did. Though it did more harm than help... has he ever let an arsonist into a war camp while serving under you?"

"What?!" he exclaimed. "Gods, no. That's happened?"

"He let an entire band in once. It was a disaster."

"I'd imagine! How did you pick everything up from that?"

"Oh, it wasn't the first time half the camp burned down," Olivia replied with a slight shake of her head and a sigh, looking down at her sash and toying with it. "And not the first time Inigo brought back a questionable girl. There was the cutpurse with the glass eye, and after the arsonists, he brought a thief into camp that stole half our gear. We managed to get it back- after some serious sprinting on Gaius's and Lon'qu's part after the former recognized the description of the woman Inigo brought in."

"I am a more fortunate man than I thought." Olivia blinked at the slight waver to his voice that had been at practically the same tone until his exclamation earlier this entire meeting, and looked up to see him leaning against the desk slightly, hand up near his eyes and shaking from silent laughter. He grinned at her. "He sounds like he was more of a handful than he ever was to me."

"I'm very grateful for that," Olivia admitted.

"I... ahem... remembering him mentioning to King Ryoma's retainer that he had gone on little excursions with a wingman before."

"Oh those." She giggled again at the memory, flushing slightly. "I... I shouldn't be laughing, but it was quite funny. See, my friend Lady Maribelle's son, Brady, looks rather like a thug, with a scar over one eye and everything." The king gave a faint snort of laughter at that but waved at her to go on when she tilted her head. "He's actually the sweetest boy you'll ever meet despite his grumpiness- the scar's from getting hit with a snapped violin string. Anyways, Inigo blackmailed him into being his wingman, but the moment the ladies got an inkling of the sort of person Brady was, they were all over him instead of Inigo. He came home bewildered and my son came home angry and crying."

"Heh..." King Xander had been overtaken by another silent laughing fit that Olivia was actually quite happy to be the cause of. "And... a masked man?"

"Oh Gerome. Poor Gerome." Olivia put a hand up next to her mouth, still giggling. "Cherche's boy was terribly antisocial, you see, and always wore a mask. He took particular exception to Inigo and Inigo took exception to his attitude. He literally carried him to a town to be his wingman once he'd decided that enough was enough."

"Oh dear gods..."

"The girls were delighted at least. And Gerome and Inigo were very good friends ten years ago because of it." Olivia shrugged, finally able to stop giggling. "Gerome was very happy when Inigo got married and he could stop being his wingman, though. Girls were exhausting to him."

"They... ha... generally are when they're flocking to you." King Xander straightened, wiping a tear from his eye. "Thank you- it's good to hear that Laslow was happy, in spite of everything."

"I'm always happy to talk about him. But what of his time with you?"

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"That's amazing!" Shigure choked out, overtaken by his own laughing fit. Olivia smiled gently, and Shigure coughed, taking a deep breath and regaining his composure before grinning up at her. "But why did the camp burn down the first time?"

"Eeeeeeeeek!" Came from across the hall, and they both turned to see a young woman with blue pigtails crash into the banquet table, almost tipping it over. Adult Lucina, Odin, Selena, Exalt Chrom, and a woman with red hair and a stern-looking man with brown hair immediately latched onto the table though, setting it to rights within seconds with minimal damage to the food. They worked quite efficiently at this. In fact, between that and the girl's much-too-flippant "Hooo, thanks!" Shigure suddenly found himself wondering just how often these near-disastrous stumbles happened.

"What the..." Shigure stared.

"This is why we can't have nice things," Olivia sighed. "You asked about the camp burning down the first time? Queen Sumia was walking around the camp with a lantern, unsupervised, and tripped. That girl you see there, Cynthia? She's Queen Sumia's younger daughter from the future. And...well, like mother, like daughter."