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"Thanks again for the help, Lady Corrin!" Mozu said, putting away the weapon log.
"Of course, Mozu." The princess replied. The pair were finishing up on taking inventory after the seaside skirmish, and it was growing late within the Astral Plane. It was an important job, of course, but it was also a nice way to quietly decompress after the arduous travel and battling. Having to cross swords with her dear older sister Camilla, as well as her otherwise devoted servant Flora, made for a harsh enough ordeal, and while she was able to defeat both of them without it coming to bloodshed, the idea that it could with any misstep, be it by a wrong swing of the sword or the utterance of kingdom of Valla, made Corrin feel sick to her stomach all over again. Things would likely get harder from here on out, so she was all but glad to take the time out to help her friends and allies with chores. "I'll be sure to help you find some more books to read tomorrow, too," she continued.
"That would be mighty sweet, thank you!" And the two of them made their leave from the storehouse.
Not too long after, Corrin was climbing her way into her quarters. She had dismissed her servants for the day, but still needed to properly clean up after all the days events. A bath all to herself seemed pretty pleasant as an idea. Once she was inside however, she noticed the unusual sight of an unkempt pile of towels, none of which seemed to match in color or shape. It looked unusual, but the princess was too tired to care. They looked clean; maybe Gunter or Jakob had collected them and was distributing them until getting called off for some other errand. Corrin reached for the largest of the towels she could see, when—
"Waugh!" The pile shrieked and shifted upright. She could now see a few salmon-colored hairs poking out from underneath.
"Felicia!? What are you doing in there?!"
"Oh, I'm sorry milady! But I can't let you have any of these towels!" The maid won the tug-of-war, and the towel disappeared into the pile.
"Wait, why not? And weren't you supposed to be in the mess hall?"
"Well..." Felicia poked her head out from the fabric tower. Her eyes looked a tad red. "Promise you won't laugh?"
"Hey, it's okay Felicia. It can't be worse than burning down the hall again." She cupped the maid's face with her hands, taking a page out of Camilla's book. "I won't laugh this time. What happened?"
"Okay, I may have..." her voice trailed off. Corrin gave a reassuring smile; she's sure news of something truly disastrous would've reached her before now, even if she was locked in the armory the whole time. "I, uh, flooded the laundry house. I was going to wash the aprons since Lord Takumi did all the cooking, but then I tripped while carrying all the soap. And uh, one thing led to another—"
"Oh, well, that can't be too bad, right?" At least by Felicia's standards. "Who's handling the mess right now?"
"Jakob. He saw the suds spilling out, kicked me out, and locked the door." Felicia sunk back into the pile, her face growing more upset.
"Felicia." Corrin was still wondering why the pile of towels were here and not also being used for cleanup, but that could wait. "Are you okay?"
"N-no..."
The princess responded with only a hug.
"Milady, I—! I—!" Her tears didn't come all at once. It started with a stifled sniveling, and then fell into quiet sobs, only mustering out the occasional "I'm sorry." Through the hug, Corrin could feel her friend's slender frame, and realized she was likely just in smallclothes. Given the timing of the laundry incident, she likely drenched her last uniform in the laundry house. It would explain the towel pile, although the princess wouldn't acknowledge this information directly.
Eventually Felicia was able to recompose herself enough to continue, though she wasn't in any position to leave Corrin's embrace. "I still feel so frustrated that I can't even be a half decent servant, let alone a maid."
"What do you mean?"
"It's—" She cleared her throat. "It was bad, letting Jakob see me like that. Not him specifically—I know he cares more about the mess I made than me—but I didn't need that. When I'm in uniform, I can be a lot more sure of myself, but that moment, where he saw me out of it, was just too much. I don't even know if Jakob was going to clean up, but I needed to hide somewhere for awhile."
"I see." The princess tried to hold Felicia a little closer, though the maid was seemingly trying to get from out of her grasp.
"Ugh, Lady Corrin, you shouldn't have to deal with me like this. This war is too important for this to be your concern."
"Oh, Felicia, please don't say that." Corrin hugged her even harder. "You are incredibly important to this army, and to me."
"Wait, really?"
Corrin nodded and made a gesture to her dragonstone. "Ever since this war started, since I've been able to become a dragon, it's only added to my doubts. Why me? All my sisters, my brothers, Azura, all of them also have the blood of dragons, all of them can trigger the dragon veins across this continent too, but I don't understand why its different for them? At least with Lilith, we have some understanding of the Astral Plane and Moro, but I don't know what I'm supposed to be, other than a 'hero'."
Felicia flinched on that last word. "Ugh, I'm sorry I forgot about that old legend too."
"Don't be. At this point, knowing the full context might even lead to larger mysteries now. Regardless, I'm happy that everyone here has supported me through this whole thing, especially you."
"Me?"
"Yes. Despite how different its made me feel from everyone else, you've never let that affect our friendship, Felicia. I'm not sure I could even believe in myself without your aid."
"Oh, well of course milady! You've always done the same for me. Remember the first time I'd put on one of the maid uniforms in the Northern Fortress?"
"I do, because you were so excited and overjoyed. You've always been upbeat, but this was so much more."
"Yup!" Felicia was beaming at this point. "And even though the other fortress servants didn't want to treat me like a girl, you made such a big deal out of it that you even got Gunter to threaten some of them!"
"Oh. Oh yeah, I did, didn't I?" What Corrin remembered more was the lecture he gave afterward. Not that he disagreed with the actions she took, but more that it came across as an unladylike tantrum; it would set a bad look for Nohrian royalty to act so untactful. It was a bit embarrassing in retrospect, even if she was a child. "Didn't I try to make it a 'Royal Decree of Nohr' that you're to be called Felicia after that?"
"Mhm! I don't think any of it ever became official, but since Lord Xander was visiting that day no one wanted to end up getting in trouble with him."
Corrin held back a snicker. "Well it did work, and helping you was all that mattered to me."
"Hehe, I guess looking back on it now that's why I feel so much more confident in uniform now, if I have a princess on my side at all times."
She nodded. "Well, while I may no longer be a princess to either nation, if we end this war I could probably make it an official decree, if you wanted."
"Oh, milady you don't need to—"
"Felicia, please. If we're going to make our own path, that will always include you. And I know you were sworn to be my servant, but I want our concerns to be of equal importance. So please, let me continue to support you, as you have with me."
The maid burst back into tears, although the words between the sobs were much more cheerful in cadence. She gave her dear friend a squeeze. "Oh, Corrin! Thank you! Thank you!"
"Of course!" The dragon replied, before letting out a tired yawn. "Oh, I still needed to wash up. Well, good thing someone gathered up all these towels for me!"
Felicia blushed. "Aw, come on Lady Corrin! I didn't mean to—"
She held up a hand. "I know, I know, couldn't help it. Still, I think I want a hand with the bath right now, and I'm sure you could use one too. Care to join me with this?"
"Okay!"