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"Robin!" Chrom says, his smile infectious and fresh as the summer sun. "You've been studying since the noon meal. Can I not tempt you out to spar?"
Robin rubs at their eyes, trying to make them focus the rest of the way. They lift off the map weights and the left edge of Ylisse begins to curl up away from the table. "Gods, sorry, Chrom. I don't think I'm good for-- are you hurt?"
"What?" Chrom touches his cheek in response to their motion, finds the cut. He laughs and flicks blood off his fingers. "Hah! This? No, no, Lucina was just showing me how she uses our sword. It's a heavier weight for her to carry, of course, so she tends to--" He gives a demonstrative back-handed thrust. "You know. It's light enough for me to use to parry, but naturally she hasn't developed that technique. I was wondering if perhaps with a lighter cloak or less armor, even only on the arms--"
"It's a thought," Robin says, forcibly suppressing the urge to ask Chrom if he's thought of any other ways to pretend his outfit is a tactical choice. They frown. "She does take forehanded strikes, I've seen her-- mostly overhand, I suppose--"
"Yes, or with a great deal of speed behind them. Which she can summon on command. Robin, you should have seen it, I set her up in front of the dummies and she went through them like a whirlwind.Her enemies have much to fear!" He scrubs at his bloody cheek again. "So of course we had to train against each other. She threw the first fight, you know, but she's got the match of this on her wrist after the second. I don't think it shall inconvenience her too much."
"It doesn't seem that anything could," Robin agrees, their mouth turning up to match his. "It's good to see you enjoying yourself."
"Has it been so long?" He laughs a little ruefully and sits in the folding chair, sprawled like a boy at play. "I shouldn't think so. My life is complicated, that's all. Nor half as complicated as yours."
"I enjoy myself," Robin protests. "I practice, I plan… Don't look at me like that. I have your company."
"You do," Chrom says. He blushes. It is amazing the way he always blushes. "You have as much of that as you could seek."