"Did you know that Robins are one of the few birds that love the rain?" Lissa said absently, staring out the back of the bumpy cart. The skies had turned a sudden shade of grey, followed by a torrential downpour. Most of the Shepherds were unlucky enough to not have a cloak on hand.

Robin groaned. "I'm...not a fan." The Shepherds were lucky enough, however, to have run across a caravan trading company, and with a little persuasion on Anna's part, managed to secure a dry mode of travel for all the unmounted units. Robin was quite happy he was no longer slogging through the muddy back roads of Roseanne.

"Cheer up!" Lissa grinned. "At least we're dry!"

"It's more than the weather that's on my mind..." Robin trailed off, shooting a glance at his two daughters. They were both leaning on each other, sleeping soundly at the front of the cart. It was no surprise, they had been assigned to patrol the campsite the night before.

"Still thinking about their mother?" Lissa said quietly, her eyebrows dancing.

"Hardly." Robin shot back. "It's more the fact that we lost in the future..."

"It's not your fault..." Lissa replied.

Robin shook his head "It's my job to keep us alive. If I can't do that..."

Lissa remained quiet, instead turning back to staring out the canvas flaps of the cart. Robin sighed tiredly. A little nap couldn't hurt.

()()()()

Robin found himself staring at the floor of the cart. A sudden spike of pain erupted on the back of his skull, making his eyes water. Blinking, Robin stood on shaky legs. He stood, bent over that the waist, in the centre of the toppled cart, frantically searching for his daughters.

Velvet and Morgan were both awake, rubbing bruises and looking around just as confused as Robin was. "Dad?" Morgan questioned, standing up.

The sounds of fighting surrounded them, and Robin withdrew his tome. "No time, prepare for battle." He ordered, pushing out the ripped flaps of the upside-down cart.

Bandits. There was no mistaking the simple trousers and mostly-shirtless men armed with rugged axes. They all seemed to look the same, even across the sea from Ylisse. Chrom and Vaike were fighting back-to-back, felling bandits left and right. Cherche, Sumia, Gerome, Cordelia, and the two manaketes swooped across the cliff-top, dispatching the bandits hidden up there.

Robin spun and hoisted himself on top of the toppled cart, wincing when he saw the horse corpses that pulled it hours ago. Rocks had fallen from high above, tipping the cart and bringing the merchant caravan to a stand-still.

The bandits seemed to have picked a decent place to ambush the merchant caravan, but they probably did not expect it to be guarded by the Shepherds. Robin glanced around, his elevated position giving him a great view of the battlefield.

The bandits were being routed easily by the Shepherds, in fact, Robin thought that he didn't even need to start sending out commands. That was until he spotted a group of bandits surrounding a singular person. He couldn't quite see the figure from his spot, but Robin guessed it must have been a merchant who was travelling with them.

"Morgan, Lon'qu!" Robin shouted, drawing his sword. "That way!" He pointed with his blade, receiving a nod in return. The Feroxi swordsman bolted off, Morgan at his heels. Robin glanced over his shoulder. "Velvet, protect Lissa!"

"Yes, father!" She said seriously, pounding the heel of her lance into the dirt.

Robin vaulted off the toppled cart, landing in the wet mud with a wet slap. He followed after Morgan, watching as the girl threw a fire spell into a bandit's face. Lon'qu was already cutting down his second bandit, the first lying still on the ground.

The person the bandits had surrounded seemed to hold their own, the cloaked figure firing off arrows into the remaining bandits. Robin wasted no time, sliding up beside Morgan and parrying an axe meant for her back. Robin elbowed the bandit roughly, using his free hand to fire a small wind spell into the bandit's face.

The man stumbled backwards, almost toppling over. Robin quickly struck with his sword, severing the bandit's head in a single sweep. A moment later, an arrow impacted the still-standing body of the bandit, feathered shaft sticking from the heart.

Robin shot a glance at the archer, raising his eyebrow. Who Robin had thought was just a simple merchant, turned out ot be the mystery archer. The archer shrugged, pulling another arrow from a quiver at his hip. Robin quickly sized up the person, noting their apparent abilities and weaknesses.

The person was short, quick, and deadly accurate with a bow. They wore a grey cloak, with plain pants as well as a hood drawn over their head. From the skin showing on his hands and lower face, Robin could tell the person was most likely from Plegia, due to the tanned skin.

A few moments later, a cheer erupted around Robin. It seemed in the brief span of time he had been examining the new archer, the bandits had been routed. He glanced down the path, spotting a few running with weapons discarded.

Robin walked up to the archer. "Hey, sorry for not spotting the bandits earlier. As Shepherds, we should have stopped this kind of thing." He said, offering a hand. "My name is Robin, tactician."

()()()()

Morgan giggled at Yarne's panicked face, arms outstretched for his ears. "Bunny!" She laughed, narrowly missing the taugel as he ducked away from the girl.

"Vel!" He called, bounding over to the lancer and hiding behind her tiny frame. "Tell your sister to leave me alone!"

Velvet groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Yarne, go...find your mother or something..."

The taugel nodded, scampering off to the rear of the half-destroyed caravan. Velvet looked up, grinning at the bright sky. "I love the smell after it rains." She said wistfully.

Morgan sniffed. "I can only smell blood..."

Velvet gently beat her fist off Morgan's shoulder. "You know what I mean." She deadpanned.

The taller, younger sister giggled. "So sis, any sign of mom? Do you think she's somewhere among the merchants?"

Velvet shrugged. "Like I told you, mom never really told us exactly where and how they met. I think she told Marc something though...he was older than me..."

"Who's Marc?" Morgan asked, but was cut off by Chrom shouting. "Shepherds!" The prince yelled. "Let's clear the path, move some rocks or help repair carts!" The Shepherds moved off to assist the merchants, leaving the two sisters standing beside the overturned cart.

"So...how are we gonna lift it?" Morgan asked, scratching her head.

()()()()

"I'm Sahiri." The archer said back, her voice soft and melodic.

Robin shook her hand. "Were you with these merchants?" He asked, slightly surprised the archer turned out to be a woman.

"No." Sahiri replied, slinging her bow over one shoulder and adjusting her cloak. Her hood remained over her face, blocking Robin's view of her eyes. "I was...following you."

Robin's eyes narrowed. "Why?" He asked, hand slowly moving towards his spellbook.

"Personal business. Now, if you don't mind..." She spun on her heel, marching down the path.

"Wait!" Robin called, jogging to her side. "I know this is sudden, but we could use your help. You're good with a bow, and we don't have a whole lot of archers..."

Sahiri kept walking. "Sorry, not interested." She said dismissively, waving him off.

"You could help us free these people!" Robin insisted.

Sahiri paused, if only for a moment. She shook her head, continuing down the path. Robin sighed. What a strange girl.

()()()()

Morgan grinned and cracked her knuckles. "All in a day's work!" She cheered, jumping a little.

Vaike groaned and leaned against the now-righted cart. "Easy for you to say kid..." He gasped.

"Hey, I supervised!" Morgan pouted, crossing her arms.

Velvet appeared at Morgan's side, Gerome, Brady, and Owain in tow. "Morgan I brought some to help us flip the..." She trailed off, noticing Vaike panting beside the cart. "Ah...I see you fixed the problem then..." Velvet chuckled.

"Hark!" Owain shouted, coming alongside Velvet. "My heroic father has already completed the task! As expected of the father of Owain-dark!"

Morgan rolled her eyes, chuckling idly. "Yeah..." Her eyes caught sight of her father, the man taking with Chrom. She skipped happily towards him, leaving Owain mid-rant. As she approached, she could hear a bit of the conversation.

"...I'm just saying, she was really good with a bow."

Chrom shrugged. "But she left?" Robin nodded, and Chrom continued. "Well, nothing we can do now. If we see her again, I'll talk to her." The prince said, clapping Robin on the shoulder.

"Are you talking about mom?" Morgan said with a giggled, bouncing on her heels. Robin shook his head with a sigh.

"No, Morgan. Just some girl who helped us kill the bandits..."

"Anyways, let's get these people back on their feet." Chrom continued. "Then we'll head to Steiger."

A/N:

So November happened. I can happily say I accomplished NaNoWriMo, 50k words in 30 days. Whew. Still not done that project, but I'm working on it. As always, now there's exams and final projects. Might be a bit closer to Christmas for the next update, till then Merry Holidays and such. :D