Azura blinked after listening to her new retainer's words, slowly lowering her cup of tea as she regarded Cynthia quizzically, "You don't sound very convincing... Is there something I should know about her?" She asked, tilting her head.
Perhaps this Tharja shared much in common with Nohrian dark mages that she might've expected...
Cynthia made a small swallow and tried to choose her words carefully. She didn't want to completely throw Queen Tharja under the carriage and just make her sound as bad as possible. However, she didn't want to lie to Lady Azura and completely make up everything about Tharja. For Cynthia, this was a bit difficult. She had to both make Tharja sound good and a bit bad at the same time...
The blue-haired pegasus knight slowly started explaining, "Queen Tharja... likes making and casting hexes... You should be careful around her, but... you shouldn't be too much on your guard or else you'll make her mad."
Was that good? That was the best that Cynthia could do without talking about all the things that Tharja did to her family and the Shepherds while working on brand-new hexes and curses or refining her already existing hexes and curses.
Cnythia looked up into the sky and noticed that it was starting to get late. The two of them had to get back to the castle as soon as possible and prepare for the trip to Plegia. There was only a specific time window where it would be easy for Cynthia and her group to escape the castle with minimum security. If they left any later, then trying to sneak out of Castle Ylisstol and crossing the border would be way harder. In addition Cynthia still owed a duel to Hana. She couldn't break that promise to the samurai!
Cynthia quickly finished her cup of tea and told Azura, while grabbed Azura's hand tightly, "Oh pegasus plop! We better get back to the castle soon!"
Cynthia quickly left the gold on the table and forcibly pulled her lady out of the cafe and into the streets while still holding Azura's hands.
"... Lady Peri has a soft voice, a bit scatchy," Odin supplied, "and is prone to acts of sudden violence."
Lissa looked away slightly and commented, "Sudden acts of violence, huh...? She seems scary, but... maybe... just maybe... We might be able to get along, believe it or not."
It sounded to Lissa like Peri was a more physically violent version of Tharja. Just like this Peri girl, Tharja also had a soft voice, but hers was a bit deeper rather than scratchy like Peri's. The biggest similiarity with Tharja would be the sudden acts of violence, since Tharja would frequently hex people for no reason at all. She just threw around hexes and curses at pretty much the slightest provocation back when she was an active Shepherd.
A stray thought of Peri and Tharja meeting made a chill run down Lissa's spine. She shivered slightly as she thought about what would happen if she had to deal with having a tea party with Tharja's hexes and Peri's blade ready to start flying when Lissa accidently served them the wrong kind of tea.
Kagerou chuckled softly at Lissa's innocent question and the pose she made, "Well, Princess Sakura is the youngest of Hoshido's royalty. A kind and gentle girl with a compassionate heart. You and her share many similarities except your much more...theatrical than her."
"And stronger as well," Saizo added.
"Hm, give her some time."
Lissa smirked and told Saizo and Kagerou, "If Princess Sakura need some physical training, then I'll gladly give her a hand."
She whipped out her axe and slung it over her shoulder and told the two ninjas, "Give me some time and I'll have her knocking down pegasi from the skies with a single throwing axe."
Ricken muttered to Kagerou, telling her quietly so that Lissa wouldn't hear him, "Lissa's not the greatest teacher if you ask me... She's strong, but she doesn't have any endurance. Also, she slacks off way too much. After a bit of training, she'll probably force Sakura to take a nap while watching clouds and then forget about training for the rest of the day."
It was true, Lissa, like her brother Chrom, had higher than average physical strength for a mage. That's why she trained as a War Cleric instead of becoming a Sage like everyone expected her to. Lissa's magic potential was high, but thanks to the Exalted blood running through her, it just so happened that her physical strength was just as high, if not a little bit more. However, that didn't mean that Lissa could easily fight off 6 enemies soldiers on her own without any repercussion whatsoever. In the end, she was still a spellcaster, even if her primary weapon of attack was an Axe rather than tomes. She still couldn't take as much punishment from blades and lances and other pointy and sharp weapons. However, she could still easily take abuse from any magic-based attacks thanks to her long-running magical training.
Maribelle sighed and said, "It's starting to get late. We all should head back to the base camp for food and rest. I could go for a bath myself..."
Lissa sighed happily and asked, "Phew! I'm starting to get hungry! What's on the menu for tonight, Frederick?"
Frederick smiled and replied back to the princess, sounding proud, "Bear. I hunted a few while you were moving up with the vanguard. It should be ready to eat by then time we come back."
Without missing a beat, Lissa replied, "Well, I guess I'm going hungry tonight. Either that or I'll eat some grass."
Ricken frowned and commented, "You still don't like eating bear, Lissa?"
Lissa yelled back, "I don't like eating things that taste like roasted leather boots!"
"They're fine," Tharja shrugged a bit, "But as Miriel will tell you, experiments work well when you have similar subjects."
Chrom could only smile nervously when Tharja gave him that somewhat expected response. If there's one thing that Miriel and Tharja both had was their love of experimentation, according to Chrom. While Miriel was mainly a number cruncher and looking towards the results, Tharja looked more at the actual process of the experimentation. If there ever was a Ylissean-Plegian magical collaberation research project with each other, then Chrom might have to use his executive power as the Exalt to prevent Miriel from working together with Tharja. There might be some serious troubles in the making if the two of them worked on anything large scale..
Chrom turned over to Prince Kamui and Princess Kamui and gave them a dry smile as well. If the two of them were ever going to Plegia, they should probably sleep with one eye open. Who knows what Tharja would do to them while they're sleeping. Then again, that wouldn't be an issue if they couldn't go to Plegia in the first place. The borders were basically completely locked down after all, even if there were some "violations" earlier.
"...I'll have to look into that," Tharja replied seriously, with a scarily considerate look on her face.
A small shiver went down Chrom's spine when she said that with such a straight face. Tharja already was very... interesting around the regular Robin. If someone threw in a female Robin into the mix, the entire foundation of Plegia might start to shake. Who knows what kind of experiments that Tharja would run with her husband and his female counterpart.
Hm...
A small thought went around in Chrom's mind about a female version of Robin. The regular Robin of this world was already Chrom's best friend, so what would life be like if there was a female Robin thrown into the mix?
Raimi glanced back at Cordelia and nodded, "We'd be more than happy to have your assistance, Captain Cordelia! Let's show these Plegian filth some real strength!"
"It would be rude of me as a guest not to offer my aid as well," Flora remarked, heading up to the wall herself with a couple of knives coming out of her sleeves. A Nohrian maid must always be prepared.
Just then, the female Wyvern Lord flew up above the wall, just barely out of arrow range, "Hey! I'm giving you all one chance to lay down your arms and talk with us properly! Otherwise, my men and I won't show you any mercy!" She yelled, pointing her killer axe directly at the Feroxi troops.
"As if Regna Ferox would ever surrender to the likes of dirty Plegians like you!" Raimi roared in response, prompting her warriors of Ferox to cheer in agreement.
"Plegians?" Scarlet repeated, seeming genuinely confused, "Never heard of that insult before..." She muttered to herself. As a Nohrian commander, she had been assaulted with insults from various types of people and languages.
As Cordelia took to the skies, she noticed that there definitely were two people being held captive by the Wyvern rider in very Chon'sin style clothing. However... one of the hostages looked very familiar. He may had been in Chon'sin style clothing, but he very obviously looked looked like a citizen of Ylisse. In fact, he looked like someone that Cordelia knew. She was looking straight at someone who was pretty much looked 99 percent like the Shephard Ricken!
With a nudge on her pegasus, she charged straight ahead with her Steel Lance at high speeds. She may be bringing a Lance to an Axe fight, but there was no time for her to dismount and grab a sword. She needed to rescue her friend now!
As she charged forward, she yelled at the wyvern rider, "You dare take one of my friends hostage!? Hang on, Ricken! I'm coming!"
