By the time we left the Great Hall, my backside was numb and I was about ready to climb the walls. Ordinarily, it would have been time for me to train a group of pegasus knights, but I was still in no shape to be doing it. Thankfully, Cordelia had been standing in for me.

While everyone else dispersed to carry out their own duties, we hovered outside the doors of the hall together. I handed her a few sheets of parchment. "This is what I want our knight-sisters to be working on in a few days' time."

"Of course, Commander."

"No -- look at them before you agree. You are currently in charge of their training, after all. What do you think?"

She glanced over the notes. Then she looked up and smiled. "All right, I'll take your suggestions. Is that better?"

"Yes. No matter how close you are with any of your knight-sisters, you must always be authoritative. Otherwise, orders may not be carried out with the utmost obedience when it's imperative."

"Yes, Commander."

"Do you know what you're doing with them today?"

"I..." She looked away. "I thought of a training exercise of my own. If that's all right?"

"Of course. I'm glad to see you've grown into your new duties. You'll be a fine commander someday."

Her shoulders slumped in relief as she looked back at me. "Thank you. But I'm glad that you're almost fixed again. We miss you in training."

"Really?" I raised my eyebrows. "Have you been working our knight-sisters even harder than me?"

"No. We miss you because we look up to you."

"That's sweet," I said dismissively. "Tell them that I should be back in a week. In the meantime...well, I suppose I should catch up on more paperwork now. But without my crutches, I feel more desperate to go and train than ever."

"Why don't you have a walk before you shut yourself up in the study?" Cordelia raised her chin. "That's what I'll do before paperwork when I'm a commander."

I smiled. "No, you'll be too busy training everyone and pulling your hair out at their progress. But I might take your advice while it's your job and not mine."

We walked together -- slowly -- until we were outside, and then Cordelia branched right to the inner courtyard while I limped left to the royal gardens.

I visited the gardens more than I would have anyone believe. Staying inside for longer than a few hours always made my skin feel as if it was shrivelled and sun-deprived, a sensation which had lead to my mother calling me Little Sunflower when I'd been a child. I wondered what my fellow knight-sisters would make of that if they ever found out.

The summer sun was already fierce, so I tugged my ginger hair out of its ponytail and let it hang across my neck like a protective curtain. Then I wove between patches of my favourite flowers, stopping to cup their heads and smell them when I was certain that no one could see me.

The sunflowers were the plants closest to my favourite bench. I halted next to them and ran my forefinger across their happy yellow petals with a smile. I was never certain what my mother would have made of the cold soldier I'd become, but it did not stop me from always wishing that she could be here when I was admiring the flowers. From the moment I'd arrived at Castle Ylisse, they'd grounded me.

I sat down on the bench and tilted my head to look at the clear sky. Blue jays, chickadees, and blackbirds sang as they flitted between the branches of the nearby trees. A breeze drifted along the pathway, cooling my skin.

"Calla!"

I looked back down. Prince Morgan was trotting along the path, a tactical book tucked under one arm. He grinned. "You don't have your crutches anymore!"

By the time I'd opened my mouth to ask if he'd like to join me, he was parking himself on the bench. I changed tracks. "Good morning, Prince Morgan. Did you come out here to study?"

He glanced at his book. "Yeah, I can't stay cooped up inside when the weather's like this. And I was hoping that I might be able to catch some bugs."

"Bugs?"

"Of course!" He looked up, eyes wide. "I love bugs! Don't you know that yet?"

"I suppose I do now."

He shrugged. "I keep forgetting what you know and don't know about me compared to the Calla of the other timeline. But it just gives us an excuse to talk! From now on, you'll know that my favourite bugs are ladybirds. And I hate roaches. What bugs do you like?"

"Bees and butterflies." I was surprised to find the words coming out of my mouth before I'd given them any thought.

"Why?"

"Because they pollinate and help us to grow all these lovely flowers."

Morgan stared at me for a long moment. "The more I talk to you, the more different you are from the other Calla."

"How so?"

"I asked you that question once when I was younger, and you didn't give me a proper reply. You were all closed off, like giving out information about your favourite bugs was going to damage your reputation. Even if you only told me." His expression deflated. "And I was closer to you than anyone."

"Would I have sat here with you?"

"No." He smiled again. "I'm not going to say that I like you better, because that would be kind of rude to the other Calla. But I'm glad you're different."

"I wish your sister would see it that way," I said. "I worry about the difficulty she's having accepting that I am not the same."

"Me, too. But I think that one day, she'll be even closer to you than she was in our time. You're much...warmer." A thoughtful look passed over his face, making him look strikingly similar to Princess Robin. "I wonder why?"

I thought of the joy in Merton's eyes when I had survived the night of the Risen, and I almost blushed. "I wonder."

***

Word was soon returned to Prince Chrom that we would be more than welcome to stay with Earl Mathis at Graceview Manor when we arrived in Arcton. However, it would be preferable for us to arrive in the evening. As such, on the day of our departure a week later, I had the whole morning to tackle my never-ending mountain of paperwork.

My study was on the ground floor, tucked away at the rear of the castle. I shared it with Merton, but there was hardly enough space for one of us. Our desks were crammed back-to-back beside a tiny fireplace that could quickly turn the room into a furnace. In the winter, I escaped it by taking my paperwork to my quarters. In the summer, I usually worked outside...until this one. Since I'd been shot, something had kept drawing me to the unbearably stuffy room.

Merton was there when I arrived, methodically sorting through one mountain of papers. He looked up as I entered. "Good morning, Calla."

"Good morning." I took my seat behind my desk.

His own workspace looked as if it might cave under the weight of the neatly stacked parchments, but his letter opener, quills, and ink pot were all lined up carefully at the edge of the workspace. My desk was the polar opposite: a whirlwind of papers and books. The only things I kept tidy were the parchments lucky enough to be snagged under a jade paperweight that Cordelia had bought.

We got on with our paperwork, and the morning crawled by. When the bell for our midday meal finally rang, Merton laid down his papers and stood up. He did not need to ask if I was coming with him anymore.

I rose to my feet with caution. "Before we go, I have a few papers that I need to deliver to Princess Robin. If you don't want to make the detour, I can catch up with you in the dining hall."

"That won't be necessary. I'll come with you."

I gathered up the papers I needed and stepped outside. Once Merton had locked the door after us, we walked in the direction of the nearest set of backstairs.

"I hear you've been taking regular walks in the royal gardens," Merton said as we entered part of the servants' quarters.

"Who told you that?"

"Prince Morgan. He said he's run into you a few times and showed you...bugs?"

I smiled. "Ah, yes. He seems to have amassed a collection. Sometimes he does the whole walk with me and names all the different types of butterflies we see. I never realised that he had such extensive knowledge of anything other than warfare."

"Neither did I. Is your leg taking well to these walks?"

We reached the backstairs, and I slowed my hobble to tackle them. "It is. But I can't wait for it to be strong enough for me to run, and train, and fly. At least I'll have the opportunity to ride tomorrow when we look around Arcton."

Merton's lips curved into an easy smile. "I never realised you enjoyed being outside so much. Does this mean that all the time you've spent barely using the study was not to avoid me?"

"Of course I wasn't avoiding you! I didn't know you well enough to avoid you."

We reached the top of the staircase and followed a narrow corridor. He glanced at me. "Are you certain? When you're working on something that seems to be especially taxing, you have a tendency to glare at me if I move a muscle."

"I...do?"

He laughed. "I thought it was intentional. Obviously not."

"No. I must admit, I do usually prefer working in isolation, but the real reason why I haven't used the study much is that I love working outside."

We paused to go single file through a little door that would take us back to the main part of the castle. I wet my lips hesitantly, then ploughed on. "My parents loved being outdoors, too, so that's probably where I got it from. They were travelling merchants. Until I was ten, home just meant wherever I was standing. Since then, I've never been able to sit around in one place for very long. I feel like I should always be moving."

Merton looked at me again, this time with intrigue. "I didn't know you'd travelled. You must have seen some amazing things."

"It depends on your definition of amazing. We only traded in Ylisse, so there is nothing I saw as a child that I have not seen again since joining the army. Still, I suppose my travels were more pleasurable then."

"I should expect they were." He turned away. "I wish I'd done something like that when I was younger."

On the night of the Risen infestation, he'd mentioned that he came from a vaguely noble background. Of course, as a commander, that was the norm. I was the odd one out.

We stopped beside the door to Princess Robin's study, and I knocked. "It's Calla and Merton, milady."

The princess' voice was scratchy. "Come in."

I opened the door, and we entered a room identical to Princess Lucina's in style but much more chaotic. Princess Robin was sitting at her desk, her head resting in her arms as she wrote. She glanced up. After a long moment, she lifted her head.

I offered her the papers. "Milady, are you all right?"

"Yes, just a little tired." She squinted at the papers, then slapped them down on top of several more. "Thank you for these. Can I help with -- damn!"

She'd reached across the desk for another parchment, but she knocked an ink pot to the floor instead. It smashed. She rose, presumably intending to clean her mess, but swayed and caught hold of her desk.

I grabbed her arms and pushed her back down. "Sit, milady."

Worryingly, she didn't argue.

Merton crouched down and began to pick up the glass. I turned to him with my hands on my hips. "What are you doing? You're going to cut yourself."

"I'm removing the glass before Princess Robin is hurt. There isn't a brush to sweep it up, so this will have to do." He swatted me away as I tried to help. "No -- let me."

"Fine." I turned to Princess Robin. "Milady, I think you should rest."

"I will." She rubbed her forehead. "I just need to finish this work first."

"No, you need a meal, milady." Merton stood up with his hands cupped together. "If you don't come with us now, I will have to fetch Prince Chrom."

She frowned at him. "Don't. I'm just a little tired."

"Which is precisely why you need a break," I said. "And surely you'll work faster after you've eaten?"

"I only have a bit left to do." She pulled a different pot of ink towards her and dipped her quill in. "But thank you for your concern. I'm sure you want food yourselves. You may go."

I exchanged a glance with Merton. He started towards the door. "I'll fetch Prince Chrom."

"No!" Princess Robin looked up. "That isn't necessary."

Merton walked out.

Her mouth fell open. I almost mirrored her expression before remembering myself. There was a long silence.

"He means well," I said eventually.

"I've never known him disobey an order in all my life." She looked guilt-stricken. "Am I really causing you that much concern?"

I slowly lowered myself into the chair on the other side of the desk. "We're worried that you're going to work yourself into a state that causes us more concern, milady. If you push yourself too hard, you may fall ill."

And I didn't hold out much hope that she would recover when she was already recovering from death.

She put her quill down. "I feel so much more energised with every passing day that I thought I was almost normal again. But I forgot how tiring this work can be."

"It would be manageable if you gave yourself breaks when you started feeling exhausted. You did die, milady. It's going to take a while for you to feel yourself again."

She smiled. "When you put it like that, you make it sound like I'm being very unreasonable."

"You are being very unreasonable."

She stared at me for a moment. Then she laughed. "Maybe I am. Gods, I can't cope with both you and Merton being so blunt and stubborn. You're rubbing off on him."

I thought of the way he had stormed out the door. "Perhaps. Then again, he can be very protective without my influence."

She groaned. "I already have one protective man in my life."

"I think I'm starting to understand the feeling."

"Yes: Merton is very protective of you, isn't he?" She looked at me keenly. "Still, I suppose we should be grateful they care. But I'm certain Chrom wouldn't have taken a break himself if Merton hadn't gone to fetch him!"

"I can believe it."

We went to the door, and while Princess Robin locked up, Merton and Prince Chrom appeared around the corner. Both of them looked surprised to see us ready to go with no further persuasion needed.

Princess Robin and Prince Chrom walked ahead of us, hand in hand, while Merton waited for me to fall into step with him. "What did you do?"

"It was mostly your actions that persuaded her to have a rest," I said.

He ran a hand through his hair, looking strangely uncertain. "Sometimes drastic measures are needed when dealing with people as stubborn as Princess Robin and you."

"How do I come into this?"

"You're stubborn. That's why I'm coming with you to Arcton."

"I told you -- I don't need a minder!"

He smiled. "What would you do if I left you and caught up with Prince Chrom and Princess Robin?"

I was limping so slowly that our leaders had already vanished around the corner. "Walk faster."

"Which you're not supposed to be doing, because it hurts your leg." He raised a maddening brow. "See? That's why you need someone to keep an eye on you."

I glared at him.

***

After our meal, Merton and I separated to fetch our bags from our rooms. I'd only packed one, but by the time I'd limped back downstairs and into the courtyard again, Merton, Yukio, and Cordelia had assembled.

So had Ezri.

I came to a halt by our group and stared at Merton. He looked back at me coolly.

"Okay, I'll bite," I said. "Ezri, why are you here?"

He glanced between Merton and me anxiously. "Commander Merton requested my presence on this trip should you be in need of any medical assistance."

"Gods help me, I thought you'd say that." I turned to Merton. "Why have you now decided that I need four minders? I'm not infirm!"

"I haven't decided that you're infirm," he said. "But I thought it would do no harm to bring a healer on this trip just in case you -- or anyone else -- should need him."

I pummelled him with a glare that usually made my pegasus knights sweat. Ezri and Yukio lowered their eyes to the floor. Even Cordelia eventually averted hers.

Merton held my gaze until carriage wheels rattled over the stones behind us. "Shall we be off?"