Chapter Text
"Lucina?"
If he hadn't known better, he might have thought she was crying, seeing the way she abruptly turned her back and brought a hand to her eyes. Robin hesitated to go through the door. She hadn't invited him into her apartment, and he knew he couldn't allow himself to carry on regardless; even though he was a privileged guest at the castle. Yet she hasn't answered him.
And who could blame Robin for breaking etiquette if it was to help a friend, really?
“I was waiting for you in the gardens, but you didn't come,” he carried on, closing the door behind him. “I was starting to worry.”
He could see Lucina's fingers digging into the back of the sofa, knuckles white from the pressure, tendons tense. He could hear her let out a exhausted sigh, but with a weary movement she stood up, as if nothing had happened. She smiles at him.
“Excuse me, I did not see the time go by, I was caught up in…” She make a vague gesture of the hand, to represent whatever was bothering her. "Let me just take my hat and I am ready.”
“You sure you’re all right?”
It was a stupid question; everything in her demeanor screamed distress. Even her smile looked like a tired grimace, not reaching her eyes usually so lively. Above all, the anxious crease between her eyebrows didn't disappear, even as she rubbed her forehead absently. Lucina nodded, yet Robin wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince.
“I’m fine, if a little tired. There is nothing to worry about.”
And her hands were shaking as she grabbed her dark wide-brimmed hat. Robin knew that feverishness in her gestures, that darkened look in her eyes. He saw them on his sister's face when she came out of an all-nighter at the library -usually because their father had come assessing their progress in their studies- expecting all of her precise calculations to magically turn out to be wrong or that her carefully written formulas betray her at any moment. Between the two of them, Robin had the least to worry about, as their father’s heir. But Aversa had everything to lose just to get their father's approval.
In a way, Lucina was similar. Their abilities had been proven over and over again, and yet they went out of their way to prove it to the world again.
“Or we can stay here, if you prefer,” he offered softly. “I don’t mind and then it's not like we have anything important to do.”
Lucina stopped in her awkward agitation, dropping her eyes, looking defeated.
“I think I would prefer that, thank you,” she said quietly.
Her hand gripped her coat for a moment longer, as if she didn't really want to let go. Finally, Robin let himself fall beside her on one of the sofas. Under normal circumstances a silence would have settled comfortably. Not today. There was a screed of lead hanging over Lucina's shoulders. Well, Robin had survived his father's silent disapproval, he could handle this discomfort to help his friend.
' A friend'. Robin found it hard to remember at times, but he had only really known Lucina for a month at most. He had heard of her before -because as the son of one of Plegia’s most public figure he had received a good education- but there was a big difference between knowing one of the princesses of the Ylissiean kingdom was called Lucina, and knowing that said princess liked her coffee black.
And yet it was not a foregone conclusion. Neither Robin nor Lucina would have described themselves as outgoing. Being part of the nobility inevitably gave one a distrust of bonds too quickly formed (no king could know how many of his courtiers hid a knife behind their backs). And yet they were now sharing all of their available free time.
Their usual meeting point was in the gardens, more specifically under a beech grove: a wild apple tree had survived the almost military surveillance of the royal gardeners, an indescribable joy for Robin, child of the desert. He had never seen so much greenery in one go and intended to make the most of it (even if the cold of this early spring was creeping into his very bones). There was a second undeniable advantage: the thickets hid them from the Court’s nobles or at least avoided them prying eyes. They hadn’t been banned from spending time with each other, but Lucina like Robin knew that not everyone would see their innocent friendship for what it was. Many might imagine that there was more going on between them.
Which, honestly, made them laugh.
“Do you want to tell me what's bothering you?”
Lucina ran a hand over her forehead, her smile increasingly wavering. Whatever facade she was trying to maintain, it wouldn't last long.
“I told you, it is only fatigue. I have had a bit of a busy schedule lately, with my tutors, the Naga’s Adepts, my father… I have been a bit overwhelmed."
Robin frowned, because he didn't feel like he had seen her work any harder than usual. She had no doubt kept it from him, in the same way she could tell the royal librarian without blinking that, no, pinky promise, she had not helped the apprentices tidy up the messy shelves, that she had only been talking to them while they worked, and that she would not think of stooping below her rank that way anyway. Lucina did not know how to lie for her own benefit. Robin only hoped that she hadn’t sacrificed sleep in order to keep up with her obligations and devote time to him.
“You know how it is.” She had a small tense little laugh, supposed to reassure him. “A lot of expectations have been placed on me; I have to… live up to them. I want to live up to them, to be able... to be able to make my family proud! Even if it is hard sometimes. Especially with my brother's wedding coming up. There is so much work to do, work Marc can not do anymore because he is too busy with the organization of the ceremony. Besides… I think my father would like to give me more responsibilities.”
There was a lot to say, so much that Robin had to take a moment, at least to decide on an angle of attack to take.
"There's no shame in being overwhelmed, you know," he finally said, twisting the mid-length hair at the back of his neck to help him think. “Okay, you have a lot to do; and also everything seems so important and urgent, but why don't you take a little break? You have to be indulgent with yourself.”
She replied with an amused snort.
“Easy for you to say, you never do anything.”
Robin threw his hands in mock grief, which made her laugh a little.
“I plead guilty Your Highness!”
His father could confirm. Despite the years, despite the punishments and the efforts to get him to do something, Robin always preferred to stay locked in his room with his military tactics books. His relatives were in despair: how could they train the future hierophant of all the Grimleals if he didn’t attend the classes he was given? Even here, as he was brought to the largest religious gathering possible, when he had the opportunity to learn about all the Grimleal’s branches of Plegia, to interact with real Naga’s Adepts, Robin was running away as soon as possible. He ignored this unprecedented opportunity to spend more time with his friend. He wasn't interested in succeeding his father, choosing instead to do what he liked before getting caught up with his homework -which would inevitably happen.
A more comfortable silence surrounded them, as Lucina relaxed. This moment brought up an idea from the depths of Robin's thought. He couldn't help but see the bright smile on Lucina's face whenever her little sister hugged her or their older brother affectionately ruffled her hair. Robin himself was not so familiar with this kind of practice -it wasn't his father or Aversa who would come and give him a hug- but he wanted to comfort Lucina. She accepted displays of affection from those close to her and Robin fell into that category, didn’t he?
He decided to go for it before he twisted the idea in his head and never executed it. Some plans had to be carried out naturally. Taking Lucina's hand in his, he squeezed it as warmly as possible.
The hardest part of the maneuver was to keep eye contact, especially in front of Lucina's dumbfounded expression.
“Well, this is getting weird,” he finally let go through his teeth. “Don't you wanna say something?”
It finally got her out of shock.
“Me, to say something? But you are the one acting weird all of a sudden!”
“I was just trying to be nice! You didn't look well, I thought…"
The rest of his justifications disappeared in an indistinct whisper, leaving Robin looking down in shame. But all it took was for him to shyly meet Lucina's stare, for it all to disappear and for them both to burst out laughing. The creases on Lucina's forehead hadn't gone away, but her smile finally reached her eyes, so Robin counted it as a victory. Lucina's hand radiated warmth in his, making him smile too.
"What would my parents think," sighed Lucina, letting her perfectly straight posture twist until she was sprawled out on the sofa cushions, her head towards the window.
“About the fact it's completely against etiquette for us both to be here alone?”
She gave him a strange, almost worried look.
“No, I… I was talking about being locked in. Because it is so sunny and they are always telling me I don't spend enough time outside.”
Robin didn't have to turn to know the sky was perfectly blue. And now he'd made a fool of himself by passing for a pervert. Ah, if only he had a desert at hand to let the sand bury him! It was better not to try to justify either, to avoid sinking a little deeper.
"Although you are right, too," Lucina muttered in her corner.
Unfortunately yes, he was right. It wasn’t just out of paranoia that they avoided showing up too much in Court together; rumours had already been started for less than that. Ylisse's royal family couldn't let rumours about the princess spread around -and if Robin was honest, neither could the hierophant's lineage- even if it wasn't based on anything true.
(It wasn't based on anything true, Robin repeated to himself.)
Without warning, Lucina gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on Robin's hand, as if daring anyone to tell her she had no right to.
"So much for etiquette," she decreed firmly.
This made Robin smile, congratulating himself in his head for having such good instincts.
“So much for etiquette then!”
And he put his boots on the coffee table in front of them, deciding that if he was breaking the codes, he would have to do it all the way. Lucina laughed behind her free hand, then followed suit. Neither of them really minded spending an afternoon cooped up indoors anymore.