Fire Emblem: Awakening - Call of The Wild

Chapter 35: On Thin Ice

In the blink of an eye, January turned into February.

The worst of the snow storms were thankfully over, but winter wasn't finished, yet. I could hardly wait for spring. I wanted to see the full glory of the Ylissean Forest once more. I longed for something more; some action.

My days have fallen into a comfortable schedule: wake up, eat breakfast, go to the Garrison, train, stop for lunch (either at home or with others), free-time, private training, go home, do whatever, sleep, repeat. Once and a while, there would be a disruption to my schedule, but nothing too dramatically exciting.

Along with that, my relationship with Chrom was straining by the day; however, it felt like my affections for him only grew the more I saw him. I couldn't let that happen. I could barely look him in the eye anymore. It pained me beyond belief that I was this way.

I didn't want things to be awkward. I want to go back to my friend, love be damned. But some force was keeping me from him. The rare occasions that I'm able to actually talk to him without interference are ones I cherish. The only thing that remained normal were our training sessions.

"Anyway, I think that doing some exercises in the snow would be beneficial to everyone," Chrom spoke.

"Uh huh." I dully nodded, picking at my oatmeal with a spoon. A lack of appetite also came with my despair. Maribelle and Lissa were quick to notice and always forced me to eat something during the pre-training debriefings.

"Having the resistance of the snow will go a long way with building stronger muscles."

"Interesting."

"We have fought in the snow before, so this is nothing new to the Shepherds, but using it for things like basic exercise is an interesting thought. What do you think?"

"Whatever you think is best."

Then, he let out a guttural sigh. "Are you even listening to me?! It's like I'm talking to a tree!"

His sudden outburst caught the attention of a few Shepherds; turning their heads from their own conversations to us. I flushed red in embarrassment. I don't need this right now...

I drew in a breath. "I'm sorry. I'm just a little distracted this morning."

"You've been distracted for the past month," he frowned. "Anna, please, what's going on?"

I suddenly felt small. I really am going to have to talk to him soon... I can't keep this up... "...C-can we not talk about this right now? Everyone is staring."

His stormy blue eyes bored into mine. "But I-"

"Milord! Urgent news!" Frederick burst into the Garrison. I almost sighed in relief. "There's brigand trouble near Navis Lake and the Guard is requesting that we go to action!"

Annoyance flashed in Chrom's eyes, but he stood anyway. "Very well. We shall mobilize immediately. Gather every wolf whose willing to fight."

I pushed back my chair and stood with him. "You can count on me. I'll be with you."

A phantom smile painted his lips. "Thank you, Anna." At least our battle chemistry remains unscathed...

Our comrades rushed around the Garrison in preparation. My heart felt strangely giddy. It's been a while since our last mission. These brigands don't stand a chance!

...

Dammit! Who knew that these brigands would actually be smart!

I expected the battle to be near Navis Lake like Frederick said - not on the lake. The ice made it almost impossible to fight without slipping. To add insult to injury: we all had to fight in our human forms. No claws or extra leg support to hold us sturdy.