Seriocity

They arrived at the dorm room, all three of them, and Morgan sat on the bed, shaking his hair out. It wasn’t that long, granted, but even so… He saw Lucinaimmediatelystart to change out of the skirt and he smiled a bit, amused. She absolutelyabhorredskirts if she was forced to wear them. She didn’t mind dresses if shechosethem, but beingforcedinto them made herabhorthe things. Their childhood, even pre-Grima, had been filled with all sorts of activity, so looking pretty wasn’t something usually too high on Lucina’s docket. They wore pants and leggings in order to keep things practical for running around forests and to keep things as easy as possible for fighting. Lucina stillhadbeen forced to learn to fight in heavy dresses at least as a child. Once Grima had struck, though, that training had gonecompletelyto the wayside. He looked away from his sister and looked up at the ceiling, trying to give her privacy where possible. Rhea had beenmorethan a little confused when he’d told her that they only needed one dorm between the three of them. Granted, he had been confused as to why dorms housed two until she explained. With the school being co-ed between the sexes, there wasa lotof sex that could anddidhappen between them. Students had flings all the time. To him, that was a completely foreign concept in some regards. Ylisse was very traditional, one man, one woman, sex only after marriage. Of course, thatdidn’thappen especially once Grima had struck. But the teachings had still stuck with him as a kid. Regna Ferox was more in line with Adrestian and Alliance values from what he had come to understand. Ferox was neutral toward religion on the whole and people could andwouldsleep together if they found each other attractive. He’d heard of that while training in Ferox, but he’d never really witnessed it. They had mostly stuck to the wilds of Ferox or visiting the Khans. They were in a very small bubble when they’d visited Ferox… They weren’t entirely exposed to the broader culture of the nation. “You wanna change now, Morgan?” Lucina’s gentle voice roused him from his thoughts. He glanced over and saw both of his sisters had changed from their school-approved uniforms into something more comfortable for both of them. “Yeah, probably a good idea. I don’t like how restrictive these uniforms are.” He stood up and went over to the wardrobe, pulling out some clothes that he quickly changed into. He wasn’t used to button-up shirts and jackets. He had grown used to multiple layers while training in Ferox, but even so… Once Grima had settled over them, multiple layers were a thing of the past. People wore what they could. Coats and such wereextremeluxuries so people mostly stayed inside in Ylisstol during the colder months… It was nasty business. Switching into something more comfortable was definitely something he was going to look forward to everyday. The handbook said one had to stick to the uniform as long as they were outside of their dorm. Incredibly frustrating, but he had to abide by it… But, right now, he was in his dorm so he didn’t have to stick closely to it. He just wished he could go to the library in the middle of the night… They didn’t sleep more than a couple hours at a time. And a lot of library books couldn’t be taken out. He really needed to look and see what he could take out so he could have reading material during the night. After switching over, he sat on the bed and pulled Lucina into his arms. “How are you faring?” he asked. “Probably about as well as you are.” She sighed and shook her head. “I’m glad I had training in how to fight in heavy skirts when I was a kid… The skirts on the uniforms are an issue.” He looked at Miran. “How about you?” “I’m just glad I have a solid base in understanding magic theory evenifI refuse to use it to hurt people. Faith magic is proving a bit difficult for me… I’m not used to using anything but staves for healing.” Morgan nodded. “Thankfully, Logic magic isn’t too difficult for me… Logic is what I do best.” Yeah, that was easy. He wished he could say he waspurelylogical, but that wouldn’t be right. He was still as driven by emotion as anybody else was. If anything,fearwas what drove him the most… Fear of seeing Grima repeat. Fear of seeing people die. Fear of losing his sisters. He wasterrifiedof losing all of them. They were all he had left at this point. His family was the most important thing to him… He missed Chrom and Robinterriblybut it was best for them that the three of them (plus Owain and Seren) had left… He kissed Lucina’s head and hugged her. “Actually, I think I should visit Naye. Do you think you’ll be okay without me?” Lucina nodded and she squeezed his hand. “It’s fairly peaceful here, brigands and mercenaries notwithstanding. Nothing like Ylisse was. It’s notwar.We’ll be fine for the night. Right. Miran?” His younger twin nodded. “All right then. I’ll be back before sunrise.” Feh, getting out of Garreg Mach was going to be easy. He had enough stealth experience. The Risen, though stupid, could behighlyalert and pick out people. Between Gaius and Robin, he hadmorethan enough experience to sneak past somebody that had little to no active combat experience. Well. At least in comparison to them. Most of the people here weregreenhornscompared to the six of them. He left the dorm and found an easy escape route out of the monastery despite the encroaching darkness. He had spent so much time in pitch-black forests that the light of the moon almost hurt his eyes. Of course, there were the nights of the dark moon, but even then, the light of the stars helped to illuminate the way. As long as there was a bit of light, he could see without too much trouble. All of his experience with training with Robin and Gaius helped immensely but so did the excessive amount of time spent inrealcombat scenarios. Granted, finding his way around town wasn’t the easiest. He had only been down here once or twice before the school year had started and hadn’t quite memorised the layout during the day, let alone in the dark of the night. Thankfully, he found a second-story room with a light on and heimmediatelyrecognised Naye’s silhouette. He picked up some pebbles and started chucking them at the window. The sound was very slight, but in the still night, it sounded loud. At least to Morgan’s ears. He was so used to there beingzerowildlife during the night because of the forests being bereft of wildlife. They hunted pretty much anything and everything they could get their hands on including owls, deer, fish, and anything else with a decent amount of meat on its bones. This night wasn’t fully quiet with crickets and other nightly insects singing their songs. The window opened and Naye nimbly climbed down the trellis underneath the window, pressing into Morgan’s chest. “Morgan… I missed you!” She kept her voice quiet, obviously not wanting to rouse the suspicion of the people she boarded with. He felt awful dropping her off with random people, given her past at having been raised in a foster family. But she hadrefusedto come to Garreg Mach as she was tired of any and all conflicts. She had taken up residence with a paper-making family. As long as she was willing to learn and to work, they would keep her on. She had good work ethic and he knew that she wouldn’t let them down. He kissed her head and held her close. “I missed you too… I know it hasn’t been long but… Being away from you is rough.” He picked her up and kissed her gently. She wassomuch shorter than he was. She was absolutely minuscule in comparison. She was even tinier than Miran. Not quite as tiny as Elgar, though. That man looked like a child more than a teenager… “Do you want to take a walk?” She nodded. “Sure… I don’t think anybody is paying attention.” He offered her a hand and she took it. The moon wasincrediblybright tonight and it was almost too still for his liking. He was used to being in either Ylisstol or a war camp. Being in a small, still town… He at least had his sword on him. He doubted anything would happen here, but still, just to be safe, he had his sword. Nothing would prevent him from protecting Naye as long as he lived. He could andwouldprotect her to his last breath. If it came down to his life or hers, he wouldabsolutelysurrender it so she could continue to live. She deservedfarbetter than she’d been given early in life. “So what’s it like?” she asked. “Huh?” “Being in a proper school setting.” “Boring honestly. These kids are absolutegreenhornscompared to us. As far as I’ve seen, a lot of them haven’t known anyrealhardship a day in their life.” Elgar definitely seemed to be an exception as did Dimitri. They both moved and had the looks in their eyes of people that had been through a lot. They had seen their fair share of violence. He didn’t know what their backstories were, but they both had a very haunted look in their eyes. Dimitri was kind and warm, but something lurked beneath that. Elgar was hard and walled off. He clearly chose to walk whatever path he did alone. Dimitri was kind and warm and surrounded himself with others in a way Elgar didn’t… From there, it turned into a gnashing of teeth from Morgan’s end. He really wasn’t particularly happy with his new setting and how inexperienced these children were. A bunch of greenhorns without any combat experience. They treated it as if it was a game. War andlivesweren’t a game. They would probably get a little bit of real-world experience, but that was it. The noble brats would likely never know the true difficulty that came with war. The sacrifice. The heartbreak. The bitter anguish that came with having to see close friendsdie.They would likelyneverunderstand it. Eventually, he exhausted himself and looked over at Naye. “Sorry about the rant… This is just all getting under my skin.” She rested her head against his arm. “It’s okay. I can completely understand where you’re coming from… But you seem tired. You should head back and rest.” He nodded and sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. Sorry for just going on a rant. I’ll see you again tomorrow night.” He kissed her head and slipped his hand into hers. They headed back to where Naye was staying and she went back into her room. With a heavy sigh, he headed back up to Garreg Mach. Coming here wasn’t really the smartest idea they’d ever had, but it was better than roaming the Outrealms forever… Plus, if all else failed, they could go to Hoshido with Cami.