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I leaned over the table, tracing a likely route across the map with small, precise quill strokes. With a few hard days of marching, and if there were no ambushes along our path, we could be arriving at -
“Robin!” someone called from behind me, breaking my concentration. I jumped, leaving an angry red slash across the mountain range.
Lissa was standing at the entrance to my tent. Her eyes were wide and her movements quick as she beckoned me toward her. Something was wrong.
“Come quick, Robin! It’s Chrom,” she said, and swept back through the flap.
At that, I was out of my chair and following her. My heart raced in my chest, the world looking brighter and sharper as we jogged swiftly through camp. I felt for the tome at my side, finding its presence reassuring.
Scenarios played through my mind, each more desperate than the last - had he fallen and broken something? Was he hurt while out hunting? Ambushed by Risen? My mind conjured up an image of him lying dead, blood pooled around him, and I lengthened my stride.
We ran into the practice clearing, and I gravitated toward the clashing sounds of swords and shields. Were we being ambushed in our own camp?
No one else seemed concerned or panicked, though, and Lissa slowed our pace as we approached the gathered crowd.
“Lissa,” I said, wondering for the first time if this was another trick. I’d had enough frogs and snakes and creepy-crawlies for a lifetime. “I thought there was a problem-”
“There is. Robin, look!” She pushed her way through the small crowd that had gathered, and then pulled me to the front beside her.
At first I couldn’t tell what she was frantic about, but she motioned into the center of the ring and said, “See?”
Chrom was wiping the practice square with Vaike. By their heavy breathing it seemed they had been going at it for a time. With a spinning slash, Chrom leapt toward Vaike, who barely fended him off. They broke apart, Chrom with a little showy flourish of his blade, Vaike’s axe a heavy weight gripped in both hands. I studied the duo for a few moments, but my eyes kept straying to Chrom.
Seeing him like this made me painfully aware that we hadn’t spent much time together over the past few days. If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think he was ignoring me.
Unbidden, my mind darted back to the… incident last week. In particular, his glistening, soapy torso and all that skin… As far as I could tell, his body was still unclaimed by a lover’s mark. I shook my head, trying to dislodge those thoughts, and then I saw it.
Chrom was wearing two sleeves.
I had no idea he even owned an outfit with two sleeves. The shirt was his signature midnight blue color, accented with gold details, but his pants and boots were black.
Lissa turned to me, and asked, “What do you think is wrong with him?”
I stared at her in shock, and the adrenaline rushing through my body made a shaky little laugh burble out of me. “‘Wrong with him’? Lissa, he’s allowed to change his clothing. You dragged me out of my tent for this? I thought it was a matter of life or death.”
“You don’t understand!” she squealed, which only made me shake my head and turn back to watch Chrom.
The asymmetry of his normal outfit apparently distracted from his good looks, because today, it was all I could think about. I felt my cheeks warm, and casually put a hand up to my face, disguising the flush of my skin. I didn’t need this distraction right now… my strategies were calling me back. The threads of the plan I’d been formulating were starting to unravel, the more I stayed away from it. Keeping everyone safe was more important than Chrom’s dubious clothing choices.
Although that shirt did make him look more princely...
Chrom twisted away from Vaike’s overhead slash, a fierce grin on his face. I tugged my eyes back to Lissa and glared disapprovingly.
“Robin, this is serious!” Lissa said, realizing she was losing my attention. She grabbed my arm. “None of us want to ask him why, but he trusts you. You have to ask him what is going on.”
“Okay, fine,” I sighed, patting her hand. “I’ll ask him about it… later.”
She scowled. “Later? When?”
Vaike probably wasn’t going to admit defeat until he couldn’t physically rise again, so this match was going to be a while. I would try to find Chrom later, after dinner… when he wasn’t so sweaty. That was, if I could actually corner him.
The more I thought about it, the more I was certain he was actively avoiding me. There’d been that time I swore we locked eyes across the dining tent, but then when I moved toward him, he’d found the nearest exit. And he had stayed beside Frederick in our last skirmish against the Risen, rather than seeking me out as he usually did.
“Later,” I repeated firmly, and turned from Lissa’s disappointed look.
~*~
It was a few hours later, as the sun was setting, that I remembered what I’d promised Lissa. Putting aside my maps, I felt reasonably certain I’d picked the best path through the wilderness for the next few days. I set out across camp, looking for Chrom, but I didn’t find him amongst the campfires that were sprouting up. My stomach flipped as I thought up ways to broach the subject, spending more and more time worrying about it.
Eventually, I went down to the stream at the edge of our camp. I didn’t think he would be there, but short of poking my head into every tent, there was nowhere else to look.
He had better not be going on patrols outside of camp, again. My heart beat faster at the thought.
After verifying I was indeed alone at the stream, I stripped off my vambraces and dunked my hands in the clear, cold water. The sunset danced off the ripples, setting my skin in gold. I rinsed off some of the dirt and grime that had accumulated. The ink stains on my left-hand fingers wouldn’t go away completely - like a scholar, I’d spent too much time writing, and the ink was mostly permanent. The familiar purple mark on my right hand stared back with those six eyes.
There was a different mark on my left hand, and I stared at it for a few seconds. My stomach tightened. It had been there since we battled at the Longfort in Regna Ferox, but I’d refused to acknowledge it so far. We were at war, and what it represented… Well, some things were easier to leave alone.
The water was icy cold, but it felt good as I splashed it up to my face. I wished once again for a real bath, but luxuries like that were unavailable while we were out in the wilderness, hunting Risen.
I wiped my hands dry on my thighs and slipped the padded vambraces back on.
As I was buckling the left one in place, I heard the rustle and crash of someone - or something - walking through the underbrush.
I pulled out my tome and readied a cast, ducking down low behind some shrubbery. The sounds came closer, and I raised my casting hand, magic circling my fingers. It sounded like a single person or creature, and I waited to see what it was.
It rounded the tree into the little clearing, and I leapt out from cover. I met Chrom’s startled eyes, and faltered. Chrom reached for Falchion as I jumped out. We both froze.
“Robin?”
With a heavy snap I closed the tome, and the magic faded from around me. “Chrom! What are you doing out here alone? It’s dangerous!” I'd nearly set him afire.
“I could ask you the same thing,” he said, releasing Falchion’s hilt at his side.
I waved his concern away. “I’m just the tactician; I’m much less important than you. You’re our prince, our commander.”
“You’re very important,” he said, and then hurriedly added, “Our army needs our tactician, I mean! We would all be lost without you.”
I eyed him, not certain what to make of his statement. Flattery wouldn’t get him very far with me. Could he be hiding the fact that he was going out on patrols again?
He plunged forward with a stammer, “A-anyway, I was just out here, thinking.”
“By yourself?” I demanded. “It’s dangerous out here, if you haven’t noticed all the Risen we’ve come across on our marches. What are you thinking about, that you can’t contemplate in the safety of camp?”
“Things.” He looked even more uncomfortable, scuffing at the ground with the toe of his boot. Up close like this, I noticed the little details: the way his hair looked soft and touchable, the bunching of muscles beneath that fitted shirt, the sweat that glistened at his brow, despite the cool breeze. The leaves on the trees rustled overhead. The silence between us stretched on for a few moments.
With a sigh, I folded my arms. It was as I’d feared… he was avoiding me. Had I done or said something that had scared him away? I pushed through the disappointment, squeezing my left hand into a fist. Part of me wanted to demand answers, to force him into telling me why, but I turned instead to the question Lissa had wanted me to ask.
“I was actually looking for you earlier. People around camp are talking about your sudden wardrobe change." I gestured to his sleeve. "It’s a little strange, and confusing.”
He shifted, and wouldn’t look at me. “I felt like changing it, is all.”
“Are you sure?” I pressed. “Lissa is very concerned, and you’ve worn that other outfit for as long as I’ve known you. It’s a very sudden change.”
“Robin,” he pleaded, turning deep blue eyes toward me. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Didn’t you say that we’re close friends, with no secrets between us? Didn’t you mean that?”
“I did say that. But…” He looked a little wild-eyed, and I stepped closer. He backed away, tripping on a tree root. A soft sound burst from him as he fell back against the tree, catching one of the branches for balance.
“‘But’, what, Chrom?” I felt tears pricking my eyes, but blinked them down. I wouldn’t show weakness, not now, not to him. “Did… did I say something that offended you?”
“No! You can always speak your mind with me - nothing you say will offend me.”
“Then what is it?”
He looked down and drew in a deep breath. “Robin… Fine, I’ll show you.”
With shaking hands, he slowly unbuttoned his shirt. I watched with wide eyes, worried that he was hiding an injury.
“We’ve been fighting a lot together, over these long months,” Chrom said, his voice hesitant at first. “I consider you a close friend, and I value your opinions and your strategies over anyone else’s. I’ve felt the bonds of trust grow between us, stronger and stronger.”
As he worked his way down, the fabric gapped away from his chest. As he undid the last button, my heart beat a bit faster. “And then, I realized I thought of you as… more than a friend.”
More than a friend. My body zinged with awareness at that - was he saying… did he mean… In spite of my reservations, I wanted it to be true. I stared up at him. I didn’t know what expression Chrom saw on my face, but whatever it was, it convinced him to continue forward.
Chrom shrugged his right arm out of its sleeve, and turned it toward me. “I found this on my arm this morning.”
A soft sound burst out of me as I stared.
There on his bicep, right beneath his mark, sat my own. The purple eyes curved around the soft blue point of his symbol. A lover's mark.
To find my mark on someone else’s body… meant that they had fallen in love with me.
I traced a finger down the symbols on his bicep, and then looked up. In the light of the setting sun, his eyes popped with blue, as if they were the only color left in a wash of gold. We were standing so close together that it wouldn’t take much effort to kiss him. His eyebrows were scrunched, and he stared at me like I was holding a sword to his throat, and with one movement I could end him.
“Chrom?” I whispered, hardly daring to breathe. He blushed, and I could feel my own cheeks burning too. I withdrew my hand from his arm and stepped back.
He rubbed the back of his head, his motions jagged and awkward. “I’m sorry. I know this is really strange. But you asked. I promise I’ll never mention it again, I’ll stay away from you, if that’s what you… Robin?”
While he spoke, I unbuckled my padded leather vambrace and slipped it off. Trembling, I held my left hand out, palm down.
He stared at my extended hand for a few moments, his mouth repeatedly opening like a fish out of water. His wide eyes leapt up to my face as he gripped my hand. The leather of his gloves smoothed across my skin.
Chrom’s symbol was imprinted on my hand.
“Robin… does this mean…?”
I nodded, and I couldn’t contain the shy smile that darted across my face. “Yes. I’m in love with you, too.”
He raised his other hand to his mouth and tugged the glove off with his teeth. His bare fingers were rough and calloused against my cheek, but his touch was tender and soft.
Chrom leaned in, his eyelashes coming down and partially shading his eyes. I drew in a quick breath, then another. My heart beat out a fast, erratic tempo in my chest. His nose slid alongside mine, and our lips brushed together. His mouth was soft and hesitant, but something like lightning was burning its way through me at their touch.
“Chrom,” I moaned against him, my hands sliding along his bare chest. At that, he kissed me harder, deeper, until I was blind to the sunset, and my world had narrowed down to the space between us.
We broke apart, gasping for air, and then he pressed his forehead against mine and twined our fingers together. His other hand snaked back around me and pulled me close. “This is the best day of my life.” His eyes fluttered open, and I got to see the smile dance across them. “Robin…” He whispered my name like a prayer. “I never thought you felt the same way. How long have you-?”
“Since you were nearly skewered at the Longfort,” I admitted.
He smiled fondly at me for another moment, and then wrapped his arms around me and lifted me into the air.
“C-chrom!” I yelped, as he spun me.
When he set me back down and leaned in for another kiss, I reluctantly said, “We really should go back to camp now. It’s not safe.”
“Okay.” He frowned but stood still as I adjusted his shirt and fastened the buttons. “When do you want to tell the others?”
I looked up at him, and smiled, thinking of Lissa’s reaction. It was the perfect opportunity to get back at her for all the tricks. “I have an idea.”
~*~
“So?” Lissa asked me the next morning, plopping down beside me on the bench and nearly spilling my coffee down my front. I gasped and set the mug on the table hastily, then composed myself.
“So, what?” I asked her.
“Did you ask him?” she demanded.
I dragged it out for a bit, shifting and not looking at her. “I did.”
“Aaaand?” She practically vibrated with impatience. “What did he say?”
“Not much,” I said, thinking about the kissing. I set my uncovered left hand on the table, waiting for her to spot it.
“There has to be something wrong,” she said, frowning. “I don’t believe Chrom would just change...” She trailed off, her eyes gone wide as she noticed my hand. “Robin! You… and Chrom...”
“Good morning, Lissa.” Chrom spoke from behind us, and she spun. “What about me?”
Lissa went for my hand almost instantly, tugging the sleeve down as if to save me from embarrassment. I bit back a chuckle as she flushed on my behalf.
Chrom was back to wearing his one-sleeved uniform, and Lissa was at the perfect angle to see our entwined marks on his arm. Chrom put his hand on my shoulder and then kissed me, a light, chaste brush of lips.
When Chrom pulled back, Lissa’s eyes lit up and she squealed. “You…?” she said, looking back and forth between us. “You tricked me!”
The princess leapt to her feet and flung her arms around both of our necks, nearly knocking our heads together. I held on to both of them for balance, afraid we were about to tip off the bench. Chrom laughed, his eyes crinkling charmingly.
Lissa let go and stood up, a familiar gleam in her eye. “We have to tell Frederick.” She tugged me to my feet. “He was worried sick about you, Chrom!”
“Lissa, wait,” Chrom protested, still smiling.
With her pigtails bouncing behind her, she moved for the exit.
Chrom pulled me to him as I went to follow her. He ignored the stares of the nearby Shepherds, all his focus on me. I could get used to his undivided attention, although I had the feeling I would be competing with his royal duties more often than not. We both had responsibilities, but we were working towards the same goals.
“Now we’ve done it,” he teased softly. “No going back now. The whole camp will know in an hour.”
My fingers touched his bicep, tracing our joined symbols along his skin. “Good.”
“Come on!” Lissa called. Chrom kissed my cheek and then we turned to follow her, together.