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“Robin, can I talk to you?”Sumia’s hair was down, parted onto either side of her shoulders, she wore a lavender nightgown and a long coat, her hands were twisting nervously. Robin smiled and laid a bookmark in his tome, carefully closing it and setting it aside, “Of course, what do you need?”“No, I,” She frowned, looking at her feet anxiously, “It, it needs to be somewhere private. Maybe... Maybe we could take a walk?”A sudden paranoia shot through Robin. A walk? Away from camp? What did she want? What could Sumia want from him? What to steal? To take? To kill? No, no Sumia wasn’t quite like that... She was much kinder than Robin gave her credit for in his previous mistakes when learning to guide pegasus riders. He thought about how many times he had saved her life, and wondered if now would be another one of the countless times he will have regretted it. Seeing his face Sumia jumped forward, shaking her head and hands furiously, “No no it’s nothing bad! I’m not mad or anything I just, I need to,” She lost momentum again, before taking a steadying breath, Robin couldn’t remember who had taught her that, and narrowing her eyes in determination. “I just need to speak with you about some personal topics.”———The woods around them were pine, snow had not yet had the chance to fall, but it would soon, the howling winds and silvery moon assured them. Sumia was silent beside him as they climbed a small hill a couple meters away from camp. The lights of the fire shown like beacons in the darkness. Robin considered something dimmer, perhaps a magical means of fire? or even camouflage? But how to hide the rest of army? Just because you can’t see their fires doesn’t mean you can’t seem them at all, perhaps it was best to-“It’s a nice night, huh?”“Huh?”Sumia giggled, a hand over her mouth. Her eyes twinkled like stars in the low light and Robin was hit with a sudden sense of loss. For everything, for anything, for nothing at all. Sumia felt the grass beneath her hands for a moment, before speaking again, “I wanted to talk about Chrom.”Robin felt his blood freeze. Oh. She was going to ask him how to best confess. Robin had seen it for months now. Hell, he had allowed it to happen, he never expected them to grow as anything more, he just wanted Sumia to be stronger, to stand her own ground. Chrom was perfect for that. Teaching someone to stand their own ground...He felt Sumia’s eyes on him, but refused to look at her. He knew his heart was beating stupidly fast and that it was stupid so stupid but the moon was beautiful and bright and bulbous and Robin didn’t want to look at Sumia. He didn’t. He didn’t want to see anything there.Sumia took a deep breath, “Robin... You love him, don’t you?” He choked, one hand over his throat and the one braced against the ground, “What?” he asked weakly Sumia cast gaze downwards, twisting her hands together, they were scarred and calloused. Beautiful hands really. really.“I’ve seen the way he looks at you. Like you’ve hung the moon. And every time you give a suggestion or move a troop even a millimeter he acts like that’s just another star you’ve strung up, across an endless sky of battles. He likes that, you know.”“Endless battles?” Robin thought his voice sounded oddly hollow.She smiled, tightly, hands still clenched. “No, likes your input. Likes your ideas. Likes your thoughts.”“Oh.” silence lapsed between them for a moment, then two. “And how do I look at him?”Sumia doesn’t hesitate. “Like you’d kill for him.”Robin snorted, “I have, we all have.”“No! that’s not what I meant,” she stays quiet for another moment, searching for the correct turn of phrase. Robin is impressed she’s gotten this far. Perhaps she wasn’t as much of a pushover as he originally assumed. She was a good soldier on the field but not in conversation. At least, not until now. Distantly, beyond the his rapid heartbeat and the cool air and the grass beneath his hands he wondered if she had leveled up somehow, without his knowledge.“What I mean” Said Sumia, drawing him back to the present where they were both soldiers and life was an endless struggle. “I meant that you look like you would do anything to stay by his side. You look like you would take on armies, like you would kill any one of us, like you would uncover some old secret or go on some magic quest or do something horrible and secretive and scary. Just for him, just to keep him alive and healthy and ignorant. You look dangerous, Robin. You look like you’re in love. Sad love. You look pained and resigned and, and-”Sumia seemed to run out of words then, she finally looked at him and Robin was surprised to see tears illuminated in the moonlight. “I know you’re in love with him, and I know you would do so much for him, And I know that you, that you are dangerous,” She took a shuddering breath, “I don’t know what kind of magic you use but I know that you always know all these things that are impossible to know and, and,”She took a steadying breath, “He’s all yours, I won’t, I won’t get in your way or anything.”Robin stared, eyes wide. He had not expected that. “Sumia... that’s, that’s not.. you don’t have to do that. You...”You don’t have to sacrifice your happiness for my hopeless endeavors. You don’t have to give up on your hopes because I have similar ones. You don’t have to-She rubbed at her eyes with the heel of one hand, “Robin, I like Chrom, it’s true, but not as much as you. You make him so happy. Just by being around, I, I could never compete with that even if I wanted to.” “Sumia...”“I can get over some stupid crush, Robin, I know I’m weak but you don’t need to patronize me.” She glanced back at him, her eyes were soft and red. Kind. Resigned. Wise. Robin felt a sudden and acute loss. “It... it doesn’t matter how we feel. It matters how he does.”“Yes well, we’ll just have to see, huh?” She smiled then, a small laugh leaving her lips like a sigh. A moment of silence lapsed between them, “At least the moon is beautiful, huh?”“Yeah,” Robin put a hand under his hand, and felt muted surprise when he felt tears."Yeah, it is."