Chapter Text
True to her profession, Nina prefered to work under the shroud of low light. She often found that the low-burning wick of oil lamps and candles provided some of the best atmosphere, in fact - second only to the light of the moon. Every now and then, the faint flickering of candlelight can be observed from just beyond the door of the young thief’s room, which was often accompanied by sound of frenzied scrawling on parchment. Today was one such time. Within the dimly lit room sat the young rogue at her desk, with various pens, discarded inkwells, and a leather-bound journal as her only company. For now, this suits her just fine; inspiration always struck the hardest under such ambiance. After all, there were few things more romantic than the soft glint of low flame - the perfect environment for her self-proclaimed “creative endeavors.”
“The merciless raking of Ranulf’s claws down his bare chest only served to spur Ike’s arousal. Every last one of the laguz’s finely sharpened digits left a trail of fire in the wake of their descent - fires that threatened to engulf the mercenary’s entire being without a second thought. More and more, the distinction between pain and pleasure became blurred. Their lack of friction elsewhere was soon unbearable, maddening even, and with another thrust of his hips,-”
“Nina?”
“Wh- M-mom!?” In an instant, her momentum was shattered. Sudden exposure to the light of the outside world made Nina immediately slam her journal shut, as if it were a natural reflex (one likely born out of necessity, at that). In the doorway stood Oboro, who’s slight frown could just barely be made out through the inadequate lighting.
“Gods, it’s so dark in here. You’re gonna hurt your sight if you keep trying to write like this, you know.”
“C-could you please knock next time, mom? You nearly gave me a heart attack!” A subtle attempt at redirecting her mother’s attention, surely - one that did not go unnoticed. For the time being, however, Oboro chose to ignore the dramatic setup and go along with it.
“Sorry, kiddo,” Oboro opened the door further before pacing over to a curtain-covered window. “You said you’d let me help you organize your room today, but I wasn’t sure if you’d actually be in here given how you reacted last time. How about we start by letting in some light, eh?”
Several moments of fidgeting later, the midday sunlight streamed fully unrestrained by the now pulled back curtains into the room. Drat. Nina had forgot about today.
“Ngh...alright, give me a sec.”
Resigning herself to her fate, she blew out the remaining candles that occupied her desk, grabbed her journal and-
Oh no. Her journal. Memories of the last time her mother organized her belongings filled her mind; the sense of creeping dread, the plain anxiety of simply not knowing if Oboro had peeked inside her books. With her fears ultimately confirmed, who’s to say her mother won’t do it again? A mild urgency began to crawl up her back at the thought. With a glance over her shoulder, Nina noted the expectant look on her mother’s face; she should probably think fast.
In a few swift motions, Nina stood and gathered the various notebooks and loose papers sitting by the legs of her desk. She opted to stack them on top of her latest “work” - an under-the-nose approach would likely seem the least suspect, after all.
“Alright, what should I start with?”
Oboro, seeming pleased with her daughter’s initiative, redirected her attention toward a pile of torn outlaw capes crumpled miserably at the foot of Nina’s bed. Carefully inspecting the garments, she replied, “Why don't you start by finding a place for all those diaries? You could probably stand to toss a couple; it’s not like you've got much use for them now anyway.”
Nina visibly stiffened at Oboro’s words, and the well oiled gears within her devious mind began gradually turning. Could this...be her chance? She only had to find space for her journals, right? It’s not like she had to get rid of all of them, just make room for them…
At least for now anyway. While Oboro was still preoccupied with the capes, Nina seized the opportunity to grab a small stack of notebooks from the top of the pile, along with the most recent one from the very bottom. Now to get them out of here...
As casually as she could manage, she replied, “Okay, guess I’ll start with these, then. I’ll be back in a sec!” To this, Oboro gave a hum of acknowledgement, and the young thief was out the door.
Navigating the halls of her wing of the fort ultimately proved to be fairly uneventful, thankfully; the real problem, however, would lie in moving her cargo out in the open without rousing the curiosity of her fellow soldiers. But then what? Sure, it was unlikely that people would care enough to question her, but what would she even do with them once she was finally out of sight? Haphazardly stuff her precious literature in some dank, dirty crevice only to be manhandled by some random passer-by? Only to have her most intimate musings exposed to the judgemental leers of her comrades? Never. The very thought made Nina shudder. It seemed in that moment that there was still one viable option: begrudgingly place her trust in someone to hold her journals, at least for the time being.
Now making her way outside Corrin’s expansive astral fort, Nina began scanning her field of vision for friends she deemed unassuming, and more importantly, trustworthy enough. Ophelia, maybe? Nina certainly trusted her to be gentle with her possessions, but for all her verbal fanfare, Ophelia isn’t exactly good at lying. Soleil? Absolutely not. Asugi, then? No, no, no, it’s hard enough as it is just having a comfortable conversation with him. Taking stealth lessons from Asugi certainly have improved her awkwardness around him, but in the probable chance that he would sneak a glance at her journals’ contents? There was no way she would be able to look him in the eye again.
“Come on, who else, who else….”
As the seconds passed, Nina gradually grew more jittery. She needed to get back to her mother soon, lest she come looking for her. The thief’s heart leapt when salvation eventually arrived in the form of Caeldori, who was carrying a crate of rations to the mess hall. ‘Perfect,’ she thought. Since she had joined Corrin’s army, the two have come to develop somewhat of a mutual admiration of one another; one that Nina held a fairly solid confidence in. To her, it felt as if Caeldori was one of the most reliable people in the army - someone that she could safely relinquish this task to without fear of judgement. But...would she even be up for something like this? It wasn’t out of the ordinary to see Caeldori occupied with the occasional pulp romance, but being caught with such...intimate subject matter would definitely cause their comrades to see her in a different light. Unfortunately, Nina had little time to consider this further; for now, she decided to just risk it.
“Hey, Caeldori!” The rouge called out to her, and began to make her way to the other girl. With her attention now captured, Caeldori gently set down the crate and gave her friend a soft smile in greeting.
“Good afternoon, Nina. That’s quite a stack of books you’ve got there, I can help you out with those once I’m finished with these rations if you’d like!”
Nina flashed her a sly grin. “Heh, it’s funny you say that, because that’s just what I wanted to ask you about! I’m gonna be cleaning out my room today for a few hours, and I need someone to hold these for me until I’ve made space for them. Do you think you could do me a solid and hang onto these notebooks for a while?”
Caeldori considered her words for a brief moment. It wasn’t as if she was particularly busy today; she was nearly done with her errands, and surely she could afford to give a few hours to help her friend out.
“Hmm…Sure, no problem! You can just leave them on top of this crate, and I’ll take care of them once I get back from the mess hall.”
Nina resisted the sudden urge to pull Caeldori into a tight embrace.
“Whoa, thank you so much! You’re a total life-saver,” she said, moving in to gently set her books on top of the box of rations. “Oh! And one more thing before I scram.”
Caeldori lifted the rations once again before giving Nina a curious look. “Oh? And what would that be?”
The thief gestured for her to move closer. Caeldori complied, and Nina spoke in a somewhat hushed tone. Her expression only revealed a hint of desperation, but it was enough for Caeldori to take notice of.
“Could you make sure no one reads these? They’ve got a lot of...confidential information, and I really don’t want the wrong people seeing it. Do you think could manage?” Nina knew she was leaving out vital information, and she mentally scolded herself for withholding it. Should it come to the worst case scenario, she hoped her friend would forgive her.
Caeldori, however, only saw this as all the more reason to lend her assistance. With a confident smile, the knight replied, “Consider it done! It shouldn’t be too hard to keep an eye on them, and I doubt anyone would care enough to want to peek anyway.”
The desperation in her expression melted into relief, and Nina beamed at her. “Aw, you’re the best~” She then gave the sky knight a playful jab with her elbow. “I knew I could count on you! I guess I’ll leave you to it then, See you later! Thanks again!”
Nina was off before the other girl could even reply.
“Hey, no proble- and she’s gone...” What was that about? Could she be that passionate about the orderliness of her room? ‘Well, no matter,’ she thought, ‘I suppose I should be on my way as well…’
Caeldori mentally recounted today’s errands as she made her way through the astral camp’s Hoshidan glade and back to her quarters. It would seem that with the last of the army’s rations taken care of, all that remained was the stack of notebooks she cradled gently in her arms. Though the trip back up until now was relatively devoid of other people, she couldn’t help but be conscious of the stack for most of the way. Her mind darted from the quickness of Nina’s departure to the slight urgency of her tone in their last moments together; thinking of both only served to fuel her growing curiosity, unfortunately. What could be so confidential as to force her to seek aid, and just to keep them out from under the eyes of “the wrong people,” as she put it? Perhaps several detailed accounts of the enemy’s patrol routes? Or a list of possible spies, maybe? The more she thought about it, the harder it became to keep herself from looking.
Well...Nina didn’t exactly say she couldn’t look, right? She only said to keep others from reading them… ’Besides,’ she figured, ‘if it did happen to be strategically vital information, wouldn’t it be that much easier to contribute if I were to familiarize myself with its contents?’
Though still reluctant, her bargaining ultimately won out in the end. Taking one last glance at her surroundings, Caeldori paced towards the nearest tree in the glade and seated herself at its trunk, taking special care to softly lay the pile of notebooks at her side. She then took one off the top of the pile and examined the cover: it was leather-bound and slightly worn; the oldest of the group, Caeldori presumed. The title embedded on the front simply read, “ Appendix 1 .”
“Hmm. So this must be some kind of...supplementary information, then? To what, I wonder…” Caeldori softly brushed her fingers across the title before bending back the cover and flipping to a random page.
“The area of this particular Vallite fort is estimated to be approximately 850 acres (1.3 square miles). Though it is abnormally small, it is heavily fortified and houses primarily infantry soldiers, such as generals, snipers, and mages. Because of its small size, it is possible that this fort serves to house and equip backup forces to the branch of the main army located near the ancient ruins (see Appendix 2 for more details). The patrol times appear to be sporadic, but are consistent as far as the routes the soldiers take are concerned.”
“Ah, so it is enemy intel after all!” Caeldori felt a swell of pride at her friend; only Nina could be so skilled as to bring back such detailed information. “Heheh, it’s no wonder she didn’t want these to fall into the wrong hands. I should commend Nina for her scouting talents once she comes to take her notes back.”
That pride soon faded into more curiosity as her attention was brought back to the notebook in her hands. Caeldori gently thumbed at the next few pages, internally debating as to whether or not she should continue reading. Really, she should be satisfied with what she had already found, but not too far ahead of the current page were several dog-eared ones, the very tips of said pages creased in such a way that anyone just skimming would hardly notice them.
In the end, her interest once again distorted her good judgement, and Caeldori opted to turn a section near the very back. Ever so carefully, Caeldori pulled back the notebook’s pages, as if it would all but fall apart in her hands.
“...Huh?”
This was definitely not intel.
“Wrangling with the various straps and buckles keeping his armor together proved to be more of an ordeal than Chrom had initially thought. Every knot to untie, every plate to be removed, they all fell one by one under the intense gaze of the Great Knight. Though his expression betrayed nothing, Chrom could detect a certain dark heat behind Frederick’s eyes; one that made his hands tremble in anticipation for what was to come. The last garment finally fell, leaving the exalt now completely bare. Frederick took this as his signal. The knight dropped to his knees before his prince, and-”
Caeldori immediately slammed the book shut, any previous gentleness thrown out the window along with her composure.
“....Th-this is porn,” she nearly wheezed. Her face felt as if it might combust.
This had to be a mistake. Why would this of all things be in here? In the same notebook as vital strategic information no less! Did Nina know about this? She had to have…
Caeldori snatched another book from the stack, one titled “Abstract 1.” Her suspicions were all but confirmed once she had saw that this one had followed a similar pattern: details from previous scouting missions in the front, even more detailed romantic scenes towards the back.
The same could be said for the next journal in the stack. And the next, and next, and the next. Even after frantically scanning nearly all the books Nina had gave her, her incredulity did not wane. The only explanation Caeldori could think of was the intel serving as a ruse to any unwanted onlookers, but even then wouldn’t it make more sense to-
“Sister..?”
“H-Hisame!”
Caeldori started dramatically, with an almost comical yelp.
She tilted her head up to find Hisame, staring down at her with a rather inquisitive look. His eyes darted from the notebook in her lap and back to her; Caeldori silently prayed he wouldn’t question her. After a brief, somewhat awkward moment, Hisame spoke up.
“Father sent me to come get you. We’ve got a short war council scheduled in a couple hours and we need to get ready....And what are you doing just sitting around in the glade anyway? That’s not like you at all to be idle in the middle of the day like this.”
“Ah, well, that’s-”
“Well, whatever. It’s none of my business.” Hisame gave a slight shrug and turned to head back to camp. “Just make sure you’re there on time, alright? I mean, I don’t doubt you will, but I don’t want Dad and Father getting on my case if you’re late.”
“A-ah, yes, of course! Just go ahead and head back, I’ll be right behind you,” Caeldori said, perhaps just a tad louder than she intended. Hisame, who was by then already a good distance ahead of her, threw a vague, noncommittal gesture over his shoulder.
The sky knight then tossed one last glance at the once orderly pile of journals, now cast askew in her previous frenzy.
She had a feeling it was going to be a long day.