The fresh blood in question was none other than the young man with the silver hair and the ornate cloak that Chrom's younger sister was showing to the various characters in the Shepherds' garrison.

"So what you're saying is that you found this poor bastard on the ground who helped you kill some people, and that now he's part of the Shepherds?" a tough looking woman asked, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Yep! We couldn't have driven away all those stupid brigands without Robin's genius tactics!"

The man smiled. "I'm honoured that you think that way, Lissa. I'm glad I could help."

A very serious looking lady stepped in, adjusting her glasses. "I must inquire, sir, how is it that you know nothing of your past, and yet you are still able to remember things such as your name and how to read? I'm not even sure whether to start with the apparent miracle that is you having the knowledge to defend yourself in battle. "

"Yeah, and I'm not really sure if I like the way his clothes look either. Those eyes give me the creeps." remarked the man in the green armour.

He decided to address the lady first. "Well, er, I'm not sure how to explain any of that, Madam. I'm sorry about-"

"Well! I dare say none of this sounds suspicious in the slightest!" It was the girl with the pink ribbons adorning her curly blonde hair. "Now just how do we know that you're not some filthy lowlife Plegian spy?" She held her parasol up to his throat like a knife.

"Uh... well, I..."

"Maribelle, I can see that you are as happy as everyone else may be to meet Robin, but I'd like you to at least be civil. Besides, I don't think we would have let him into the castle of all places if we thought he was a threat to us."

"Thank you, Chrom."

Robin was incredibly grateful to have the prince of Ylisse on his side. It was rather odd, the way he trusted him, especially given the circumstances, what with his country on the brink of war and all as he'd been told. "I can wholeheartedly assure you that I mean no harm to anybody here. After all, you and your sister were so kind to me, I figure that this is the only way I can pay you back."

Robin was also starting to feel mildly threatened by all of their interrogation; it'd been going on constantly ever since he was discovered in that field. The problem was that even Robin didn't know who he was. He had no last name, no history, no family, not even the slightest recollection of what he ate for dinner the night before he was found. Who knows, maybe he really had been a Plegian spy. Or worse.

"Enter the Vaike!"

His thoughts were interrupted, though, as Robin's glance shifted towards the opposite end of the short room. There he could see a rather tall muscular man who seemed to have misplaced his shirt, with a slim girl with pink armour and feather ornaments in her hair following right behind.

"Hey everybody! Chrom, Stahl, ladies, Miriel, random blue haired guy in the corner of the room drinking tea,"

"Bonjour."

"And the new guy! Pleasure to meet ya, Rob." He shook Robin's hand with an incredible force.

"Ow."

After Robin broke free, Vaike went over to annoy the others for a bit. " Good to see ya, Chrom! Where you been? I bet you had a rough time out there without ol' Teach and his trusty axe!"

Lissa chimed in. "Oh, so you're 'Teach' now, Vaike, is that it?" She giggled. "And here I thought people were just born lacking wits. It can be taught?"

"Hah! Never doubt the Vaike!" he retorted, laughing. "...Wait, was that an insult?"

Robin's focus turned to the girl at the back with the feathers in her hair. She looked up from her crouched position, and her crystal blue eyes widened.

"Oh Captain! Thank goodness you're all right! I was so... I mean... we were so..." She ran up to the captain in question, but slipped on some papers that were carelessly left on the ground. The poor girl landed on her face with a great thud.

"Oh gods..." Robin tried not to stare, but he couldn't help himself.

"Sumia, are you all right?" Chrom knelt down to help her up.

"Oh, heh, you know me, I'm... fine." she said, looking away and twirling a lock of her hair around with her fingers. In reality, she'd chipped her front tooth when falling onto the hard stone floor.

"Those boots of yours again?"

"Well, yes, er- no! I mean... sigh."

"Don't worry," he chuckled. "We won't have to march out to Ferox to carry out my sister's request for a few days, so I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to get yourself back on your feet before then."

The group continued to talk on about people Robin had never heard of. He stood with Chrom and Lissa, trying to find a way to insert himself into the conversation without being too blatant or rude. Then again, Vaike was with the rest of them, so maybe his advances wouldn't seem out of place at all compared to his. Until then, he was simply an observer.

The tough woman went up to Sumia. "Say, didn't you have a boyfriend? Louis or something?" she inquired with a provoking smirk.

"Oh, heh, we broke up. He was kind of a jerk anyway. Of course you think all men are jerks, Sully!" She chirped to her. Her voice had a naive quality to it. She seemed very sweet.

Sully let out a hearty laugh. "Hah! Not all of 'em. Stahl's pretty okay." She looked to her left where a pompous looking man was abut to make a move on her. "Ruffles on the other hand... he's a pretty big jerk."

Lissa started to talk to Vaike. "Hey, where's Cordelia today? You didn't scare her away again, did you?"

"Ooh, she couldn't come today." It was Sumia again. She had left her conversation with Sully, who was now chatting with the man in green as the aristocrat continually tried to grab her attention. Perhaps her old lover was a sore topic for her, Robin thought. "She said that she'd rather train or something." She combed one of her soft ringlets of light brown hair with her fingers.

Chrom responded to her. "Hey, she's working to benefit her squadron, I don't see anything wrong with what she's doing. She comes to see us all the time." A look of worry crossed his face. "Although, she always looks so tired and tense whenever I see her. It's like her mind's off in another place."

Sumia sighed. "Well, I keep telling her that she needs to take it easier on herself, but she never listens. The poor thing's going to end up all alone if she doesn't- woah!"

She tripped on a stray legendary magic axe left on the floor by an unknown accomplice as she fell right into the prince's arms.

"I should probably pick this up." said Robin. "It'd be pretty embarrassing having a soldier be injured because someone forgot to clean up their mess."

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Robin! It's okay, I'll pick it up! I'm the one who tripped on it!"

"Nonsense! This thing is as big as you are! Allow... me...!" Robin tried to pick it up, but he could barely do it either.

Sumia giggled. "Oh, thank you, Robin. You're the greatest!"

You got Titania's Axe.

Robin had no idea why that thought had suddenly crossed his mind, nor what it meant. Still, he decided that the most logical thing to do was to put it on the rack with all the other weapons. He ducked out of the conversation as Chrom, Sumia, Vaike, and Lissa all started to laugh about whatever odd thing Vaike was saying next, dragging the giant weapon behind him. He could have asked for help, but decided that he wanted to be alone for the time being. Everyone seemed to be deeply involved in the conversation as well, the last thing he wanted to do was interrupt them.

The weapons were all stored in the room next door. He lit the candle that was fixed to the wall to see inside, as the sunlight had already begun to fade. He lifted the large axe onto the rack. It was at least twice as heavy as a sword, he found it hard to believe that they would issue these to priests. It was a beautiful axe, though. He ran his hand across it. The sharp blades were carved with an intricate pattern, but the handle was made of a smooth red leather, a fitting design for the radiant paladin that it was named after.

He looked down at his hands. A mark decorated the back of his right hand, two twisted spirals creeping up to his fingers, while six eyes seemed to menacingly stare right back at him. It was too detailed to be a simple birthmark, but at the same time far too pale to be a tattoo. Robin knew that it had to have something to do with where he was from, which was probably the most terrifying thing of all. It was his identity. His destiny. His dilemma. His purpose. He threw his sleeve over it. The first thing he was doing after the welcome party was buying a pair of gloves.

Chrom opened the door. "Hey, Robin, do you need a hand with that axe? You've been in there for a while."

"Oh, hello Chrom." Robin turned around to see his silhouette in the doorway. He'd removed his cape and armour. "It's getting late. I should probably find an inn or somewhere to stay the night."

"Are you sure? The palace has guest rooms if you'd like to-"

"Chrom, all I've done for you so far is helped you kill some people and dragged an axe into another room. I was a vagabond with amnesia in a field just two days ago, who knows what I was before that?

"None of that matters now. All I know is that you were in need. So I helped you, like anyone would do."

"I don't think you understand. I think that you are far too trusting of stangers. What would happen if my memory was jogged in the middle of the night? What if it turned out I was sent here to kill you? Or worse, your sister?"

Chrom took a deep breath. "All right, then. Whatever you say, Robin. However, I'll give you some money and you can stay in the best inn in Ylisstol. How's that?" He smiled.

Robin nodded. "Thank you, Chrom. I appreciate your help."

Robin climbed up the ladder to his room at the inn. It was a small room with a wooden chair and table in the corner, and a narrow bed against the wall. perhaps it wasn't as luxurious as the palace would have been, but he decided that it'd be safer here for everyone.

"We serve breakfast at sunrise tomorrow, so don't be late! I'll assure you that my inn has some of the best service in the country! And it's better that you don't wake up in the middle of the night, my beauty sleep is very important." the innkeeper chimed from downstairs.

"Thank you very much, miss!" Robin called downstairs. "And now, what did you say your name was again?"

The red haired woman put her finger up to her chin. "You can call me Anna."

"Of course. Good night, Anna."

"'Night, handsome!"

Robin splashed some water onto his face. He was sweaty from all the travelling that he'd done that day. The room was lit by a candle on the table, but it was still dark. However, he always had a solution. He picked up a round drinking glass and his thunder tome. With a flick of his wrist he was able to trap a small bolt of lightning in the glass, creating a much brighter light source. He set it upside down on the table, blowing out the candle. It was a very specific and smart thing to do, he thought to himself. It was incredible that it had managed to survive his amnesia. Amnesia. He shuddered at the thought. If he was resourceful enough to do this, surely he could have been capable of more. The more he thought of his possible past life, the worse it became. The mark on his hand, the tactics and combat skills, it all had to add up to something but he couldn't figure out what. The thoughts raced around his head faster than a swordmaster's blade.

A sharp pain went through is forehead like an arrow, stopping his thinking in its tracks. He looked out the dark window. He needed sleep.

He took off his black cloak to reveal a golden armored jacket underneath. He went to drape the cloak over the chair, when he suddenly heard something small drop onto the floor. He looked behind him to see something shiny glistening in the light. The object must have fallen out of his pocket. Robin bent down and examined it. His eyes widened as he stared at it for some time, as though in a trance.

It was a ring.

Six eyes were forged into the gold band, bright amethysts forming the pupils. It was a motif not dissimilar to the one found on Robin's clothing, but his one had a different feel to it. The eyes were more rounded, and the amethysts on the gold gave off a curious glow. It didn't threaten, nor provoke. It was the most beautiful thing Robin had seen in his entire life.

Of course, logic took over. Robin gasped in shock. Had he been married before his memory was lost? Did he have some poor wife wandering the countryside helplessly looking for him? Or possibly an entire family? Maybe he hadn't actually been an assassin after all. Maybe once he found her he could go back and everything would be simple again. She'd hear his adventures, they'd have a good laugh, and he wouldn't have to worry anymore.

All these thoughts and more were quickly dashed as he tried to fit it over his left ring finger. He couldn't slip it on. It didn't go on any of his fingers. The ring wasn't made for him, it was a woman's ring. Robin didn't know whether to feel disappointed or relieved, all he felt was more confusion. If the ring wasn't his, why on earth did he have it? It seemed like a very valuable possession, and it also had those strange eyes that matched the pattern on his robes, as well as...

Robin's gaze shifted to the black leather glove on his right hand. No, this wasn't good. He couldn't learn about his past. It just wasn't possible.

Not if he was going to keep his new friends safe.

And yet still, his curiosity was piqued.

Chrom.

The poor naive prince.