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Chapter Text

White Clouds.

The Earth, Sun, and Stars i.

Great Tree Moon, 1180.

The first thing I saw in this world was darkness. Then there were streaks of purple, ripping through the shadows, and my eyes shot open to the sight of an army clashing. 

My head was throbbing a moment ago, I distantly remembered. I winced, touching my hand to my temples, only to find nothing. No ache.

Why would my head be aching? I couldn’t remember.

I couldn’t remember much of the past day before I got here, I realized with mounting horror, just the memory that I should remember something. That was troubling.

But, first things first: middle of a battle. I glanced around and tried to place the soldiers, taking advantage of the fact that none of them seemed to notice me. Red and silver armor, a group of ragtag bandits… the memory niggled at my mind. Where did I see that before?

Then I turned around and spotted the center of the battlefield. A woman with pristine white robes and golden hair ornaments shaped like wings, holding a jagged sword and a fancy buckler, facing down a scarred, grizzled man with a whip-sword that crackled with arcane energy. My tired brain whirred for a second, trying to figure it out, but I discarded all my alternate theories in favor of the obvious: it was Seiros and Nemesis, no doubt about it.

“Okay, I know I’ve been playing a lot of Three Houses, but this is a bit much,” I complained, dragging my fingers through my hair. “Really realistic, though,” I continued, less to hold a conversation and more to hear my own voice. “Wow, that’s… violent. Probably would throw up, if this weren’t a dream. God.”

There was a small cough and I glanced over to my right, only to cringe back as I found someone staring back at me with curious blue eyes and dark teal blue hair. Said cringing was less out of surprise and more out of sheer horror at the fashion disaster that Byleth wore. To clarify: yes, it absolutely was female Byleth, nobody else wore a coat like a cape and whatever the fuck that mixture of fanservice outfit and armor that she did.

“Who are you?” she asked, not unkindly but not politely. 

And wasn’t that the million dollar question? I mean, I was in a dream, that much was obvious, but what kind of dream was this? Lucid? Was I just following the plot of Three Houses? Do I throw out a cool but mysterious pseudonym and roll with that?

And then I realized that my mouth was already moving. “The name’s Merrick!” I heard myself say, sweeping into a fancy bow. “And you’re… Byleth, right?”

Or I could just use my real name and do that. 

Byleth frowned at me. “Yes. How did you know?”

“Be weirder if I didn’t know, eh?” I chuckled, crossing my arms. “Given that you’re a figment of my imagination and all that. Well, figment of my subconscious mind, anyways.”

She frowned at me but before she could say anything else the dream around us dissolved into a mess of flashing colors and images. I gave her a wave, watching the panels flash us by, and the dream flashed to black.

Time to wake up, right?

…

Time to wake up.

Someone yawned and I turned around to see a green haired girl on a throne, light shining from somewhere up above to illuminate her. She had pointy ears and an ornate outfit on, navy and gold mixing with the pink and white ribbons tied into her twin pigtails. On top of her head was a gold and silver crown, intricately carved with hearts and stars.

Sothis.

“Oh, my. What could have brought you two here?” she asked, yawning again.

I glanced to my right to see Byleth, the mercenary’s hand instinctively dropping to her side to reach for a missing sword.

“I wonder how you got in here…” she commented, sleepily, her head nodding down before she started awake. “It is most rude to interrupt a moment of repose,” she commented, after a moment, as I glanced around the room. It was completely dark, making it hard to make out any of the details of the chamber, but I recognized the stone throne anywhere. I peered into the darkness, trying to make out the further reaches of the room.

“Very rude indeed,” Sothis continued before she clapped her hands together, startling me as her face twisted into a scowl. “Hey! Do you not pay attention even when one is talking to you? How rude indeed!”

I rubbed a hand on the back of my neck, looking contrite. “Yeah, sorry, Sothis, not used to my dreams being this-” I gestured expansively to the room. “-advanced.”

“A dream! Do you truly see me as such?” Sothis asked, indignantly, and oh boy if that wasn’t a loaded question. The more that this went on, the harder it was becoming to convince myself that I was in a dream. But I was nothing if not stubborn!

“And what name are you calling me?” Sothis continued.

I scratched my head. “Sothis? The Beginning? The Progenitor Goddess? That’s… oh, right, you don’t remember your name right now. I think.”

I was also very much wishing I had spent more time memorizing the particulars of the story. I still had the broad strokes, but it was a lot harder to remember the little bits than you might think. Unfortunately for me.

“I’m more confused on how you seem to remember a name I do not! What do you mean when you say that I do not remember my name?”

“You’re amnesiac, at the moment,” I said, gesturing to the room. “Or do you remember where we are?”

“I… hmph,” Sothis harrumphed. “You haven’t introduced yourselves either! How do I know that you two aren’t forgetting things as well?”

Byleth put a hand to her chest. “I’m Byleth,” she said, stony faced.

I bent low into a sweeping bow just like the one I gave Byleth, a grin stretching across my face. “And I’m Merrick Ateman,” I said. “At your service.”

“Byleth Eisner, then,” Byleth added.

Sothis laughed. “I shall not ever grow accustomed to the ridiculousness of human names,” she said, letting out another giggle. “Merrick in particular is quite amusing,” she added. I had a feeling she was just jabbing at me for that one but, well, I couldn’t let that go unanswered.

“Hey, it’s a perfectly respectable name!” I protested, waving a finger around in the air. “It’s short for Meriadoc, which is in turn short for Kalimac, which has a lot of history behind it!”

So my parents were Tolkienists. Sue me!

“That name does sound more reasonable,” Sothis admitted. “Even if you seem to have an odd idea about what, exactly, a shortened name is.” 

Before I could respond to that, Sothis let out a mighty yawn as she sagged back into her throne. “Ah. I think it may be time for yet another… nap,” the girl said, sleepily, resting her head on her elbow and letting out another yawn. “It is almost… time to… begin…” she murmured.

I exchanged one more glance with Byleth before the dream faded from view and we fell into oblivion.

I woke up with a gasp inside an unfamiliar room, the first rays of dawn still just below the horizon. The room looked like it belonged to a cottage; plaster made up the walls, with wood paneling, and there was a whole host of what looked like hand-crafted furniture making up the rest of the room. I spotted a bookshelf against the wall and I walked over to it, my hand reaching out to touch the first book- something labeled The History of the Empire - when I heard a gasp behind me and I spun around as Byleth shot up in bed, her hand grabbing the sword under her blankets.

I laughed, walking over to the wooden chair next to the bookshelf and sitting down in it, crossing my legs. {Guess I’m not waking up yet, huh?} I asked, startling Byleth even further. My voice sounded… weird. Muffled. Fuzzy, somehow.

Byleth stared at me before throwing her (still sheathed) sword at me. It passed right through my chest, clattering to the wall on the other side.

I blinked.

{Well, that’s new. Also, rude !}

Byleth climbed out of bed and pulled on her coat before grabbing her boats and pulling them on, left one and then right.

{Hey, hey, just hold on!} I said, getting out of the chair and floating over to her (I could float! Awesome!). {Can we just talk this out? Where are you even planning on going?}

“Healer’s,” Byleth grunted back at me. “Need to get checked out if I’m seeing things.”

{Okay, first of all, rude, I’m not a thing,} I responded, crossing my ghostly arms. {Which brings me to my second point!}

Byleth raised an eyebrow at me and I took that as a cue to go on.

{I’m not a hallucination!} I protested, continuing my past life’s general habit of latching onto the exact wrong thing. {I’m a ghost at worst, and even that’s a bit questionable!}

Byleth scoffed. “Don’t care,” she said, offhandedly trying to shove me away, only for her hand to pass straight through my sorta translucent body. “Still getting you checked out.” 

There was a soft rap at the door and we both turned to it, watching as the door opened and a face peeked in. Said face had a beige beard attached to it and was grizzled, scars pockmarking the lines worn into the face by years of hardship and weather. “Hey, kid?” Jeralt Eisner asked, stepping more fully into the room as he glanced around, chainmail armor already draped over his bear-like form. “Who’re you talking to?”

“I’m hallucinating,” Byleth informed her father.

As Jeralt dealt with that mess- something that I wasn’t eager to step in- I continued poking around the bookshelf. Sure, I couldn’t touch the books right now, but I could probably badger Byleth into reading one for me, right? The titles were mostly what I expected- I spotted that history of the Empire book, there was another that was labeled Eastern Empire Maps , a Farmer’s Almanac of 1180 - my blood went cold.

{Wait, hold up. What day is it?} I asked, my voice filling with the tone of mounting horror. 

We haven’t been interrupted by a knight, which means that the lords weren’t here yet, and I would be damned if I would let us accidentally faceplant straight into the Three Hopes timeline without doing my level best to avert the war to begin with. And knowing my luck we absolutely were in Three Hopes. Wonderful. I wish I could have kept pretending I was in a dream a little while longer, too- but I couldn’t risk that any more. 

“20th of the Great Tree Moon,” Byleth said, eliciting a confused look from Jeralt.

Fucking hell, I hate being right.

“What?”

I stared at my hands as Byleth nodded at me, trying to focus on manifesting a physical body for myself. “Merrick was asking me about the date,” she explained.

“Kid, you… you really shouldn’t talk to your hallucinations,” Jeralt advised.

Failing to suddenly become corporal and affect the world, I tried plan B- attempting to shove Byleth out the door and towards the children. That also failed when instead of shoving Byleth’s body I just sort of… fell into it.

Jeralt tensed up as I shivered like I was struck by a bolt of lightning, dealing with suddenly having a body. A new body, too! A cool one! With muscles and everything that comes with being a trained mercenary!

{What?} Byleth asked in my head, dumbstruck, as she stepped back and out of her body.

“Woo, holy fuck, I can possess you, apparently,” I said. I caught sight of my new body in a nearby mirror and reveled in the fact that apparently Byleth’s eyes were a dull green when I was in control.

Hopefully that was fine? And not permanent?

I ran my tongue over Byleth’s teeth and tried to adjust to the subtle differences. Word of advice: suddenly being in a new body was weird. 

Jeralt whipped a hand to his back and drew his lance, leveling it at Byleth’s body. “What the fuck?” he asked. “Who the hell are you and what’ve you done with my kid?”

I considered my options for a moment. I could stay and explain, of course, but that ran the risk of missing the lord. I could fight, but hahahaha not even going to finish that plan. Thus, I did the smart thing when confronted with an angry expert mercenary and former knight: book it.

“Sorry, no time to explain!” I shouted as I scooped Byleth’s sword off the ground and sprinted out the door. “Fódlan’s future and your daughter’s love life are both in danger!”

“...What?” Jeralt yelled after me, but before he could do more than stare I was out of the building and sprinting through the main gates of the village.

Eventually, my headmate (and the rightful owner of the body) spoke up. {What are you doing with my body?} Byleth asked as I shoved through the underbrush, my ears peeled for the sounds of fighting. Honestly: I was winging it, a bit, but I trusted in fate and the goddess above to get me where I needed to go.

It got me through life thus far.

{Sorry, need to borrow it,} I responded, shrugging as I thought at her. {I’ll explain more once Sothis wakes up.}

Byleth frowned mentally. {Sothis? The girl from my dreams?}

{Yeah, exactly. It’s a long story. Hey, if I give you your body back, will you help me fight some bandits?} I asked as I tilted my head, trying to pick up something. 

There! 

I veered left towards the sound of metal on metal.

{What?}

I grinned. {Yeah, there’s some bandits that are harassing some kids. Trying to murder them and all that.}

{I…} Byleth said, still sounding uncertain.

{You might get true love out of it!} I cheekily suggested.

Byleth didn’t respond and I exhaled heavily, sobering up.

{Okay, cards on the table,} I said, dead serious. {Fódlan’s a powderkeg right now and on the tipping point of war. I want to stop that. To do that, I need your help- right here, right now. We get through this, I’ll explain everything to you and bring you in as an equal.}

Byleth paused for a moment, thinking my offer over, and all I could do was plead to any and all listening deities that she would accept. 

If she didn’t- well, that was a bridge I wasn’t excited to cross.

After a moment, she spoke back up. {I’ll help you for now,} she decided. {What are you suggesting?}

{Great!} I said, grinning. {Now, uh, how do we swap back?}

After a tiny bit of trial and error, we managed to get Byleth to shove me out of the metaphorical driver’s seat, which gave her a little stumble as she suddenly regained control over the body. My spirit appeared next to her and I did a little flip in the air. Once more, I had the power of ignoring gravity! {Hear the sounds of fighting up ahead?} I asked, pointing in the direction of the sound.

Byleth nodded. {Yeah,} she said, thinking the word at me.

I grinned. {Got the hang of that quickly, didn’t you? Now, those’re bandits. The ones trying to kill some kids. We need to take them down.}

Byleth nodded again and pushed ahead, breaking through the forest onto the precipice of a small embankment. Below her, various bandits were getting stabbed, shot, and slashed as four colorfully-adorned young adults fought their way through the horde. Taking in the situation, Byleth slid down the hill and leapt into the frey, sticking her sword through the nearest bandit. 

{I assume these are the people I’m meant to help out?} she asked me as she began fighting her way through the battlefield.

I nodded, floating over the battlefield to get a better view. {Got it in one,} I said, wincing as Byleth decapitated another enemy in a single swing. I glanced down at the field, trying to get a better picture of what was happening.

The field was a mess of chaos and blood, light glinting off of cold steel as the weapons bit into bandit after bandit. Looking down, I spotted a few familiar faces: Claude with his yellow cape and tanned skin, Edelgard with her red cape and white hair, and Dimitri with his blue cape and blond hair. And, of course, there was Shez- female Shez, surprisingly enough- making her way through the bandits as well, the light glinting off her dual swords and purple hair.

Looks like we were headed towards Three Hopes after all, huh? Probably a good thing we averted it. A lot less time to get the lords to work together, after all.

…That’s going to have some knock on effects, isn’t it? 

{Look out for the purple-haired girl- she’s on our side but she may be holding a grudge against you,} I called to Byleth. 

She frowned as she punched a bandit in the chest, knocking the wind out of them as her sword snaked through another bandit’s neck. {Grudge?} she asked.

I nodded. {She was a part of Berling’s Mercenaries before you… ah, kinda killed them all a few months ago,} I explained as Byleth neatly decapitated another bandit before parrying an axe to the side.

{Oh. Should I apologize?}

{Would probably be a good idea, yeah,} I said in the understatement of the century. {On your left!} I warned as another bandit took an overhead axe swing at my compatriot. Byleth nimbly ducked under their blow and stabbed them in the back, moving next to Edelgard.

The girl in question flicked her violet gaze over Byleth as she cleaved a bandit in half. With a smile, Edelgard nodded to Byleth as she sliced her axe horizontally, cutting into another bandit’s ribs as her red cloak billowed behind her. “Hello. Might I assume you’re willing to help us take out these bandits?” she asked, her black and gold uniform splattered with blood- none of it hers.

Byleth blocked a bandit’s attack on Edelgard and nodded, her face expressionless. “I am,” she said.

“The more the merrier!” Claude called out from a few yards away as he let loose an arrow, striking a bandit right between the eyes with a meaty thunk. He had darker skin than Edelgard but was wearing the same black with gold-accented uniform; instead of a red cape, however, he had a yellow cape and collar adorning his outfit. With the hum of his bowstring he shot another bandit before stepping out of the way of a enemy’s lance. “Don’t you think so, Your Princeliness?”

“This is no time for levity, Claude,” Dimitri admonished from next to Claude as he slammed his lance into a bandit hilt first, sending the villain flying away with a shout of pain. He wore the same style of uniform, this time with silver accents rather than gold, and with a blue cape. “Even if these ruffians are proving… rather lacking,” he added, almost as an afterthought, as he twirled his weapon around and speared another bandit through the chest and into the ground.

With a shout, Shez stabbed a bandit through the chest, both of her swords swinging in a maelstrom of sharp edges as she turned them immediately onto the bandit’s friends. She had on the silver and red combat dress I was expecting, long purple hair done up into a messy pun on one side and nothing on the other. “Almost done over here!” she shouted, hacking another bandit into pieces in a whirlwind.

“It seems we’re running out of enemies as well,” Edelgard called out.

{Keep it coming!} I congratulated as Byleth punched a bandit in the face, causing him to reflexively tear up and fall under her sword. Frowning, I glanced around the battlefield. Kostas- their leader- should be somewhere around here. But where? 

{Keep an eye on Edelgard,} I told Byleth, turning to her as I broke off my search. {There’s a good chance that now that you’ve popped up, their leader is going to-}

“Goddess dammit!” yelled a reasonably familiar voice as the bandit in front of him fell with an arrow through his throat. The owner of the voice stuck out like a sore thumb among the more average-looking grunts, in large part because he looked like a thumb- moreso than even I was expecting. I wasn’t quite sure what made him stick out more: his perfectly flat head, his copious amount of forehead, or his bulbous nose. Some people just lose the genetic lottery, huh?

“First that one brat shows up, and now another shitbag mercenary’s just wandering around? Just my fucking luck.” 

Edelgard leveled her axe at the bandit leader and I could only watch, Byleth too far away to get between the two. “Surrender now. You know that you cannot win.”

Kostas looked like he was taking the out for a moment as he turned his axe over in his hands and I let out a sigh of relief. If he wasn’t going to be stupid-

He shook his head, committing to a course of action. “No way. I ain’t going back to the boss empty handed!”

I facepalmed. Goddammit, Kostas, this is not the time to be showing loyalty to your employers!

With a roar, Kostas charged at Edelgard, and the house leader brandished her axe to stop him- only, when she raised the shaft to block, the axe shattered it in half from a lucky strike. A second blow and Edelgard’s axe head spun off into the underbrush, a third hit from the flat end of Kostas’s blade and she was staggering as Kostas raised his weapon high.

{BYLETH!} I roared, pushing my astral body to get there in time- for all the good a ghost would do.

Byleth was already in motion and she said nothing to me, pushing herself faster as she sprinted to Edelgard. She was almost there, her sword drawn.

One second. 

Byleth’s foot touched the dew-covered grass.

Two seconds.

Faster. I flew, she ran. Almost there and I reached out-

Three seconds.

I shoved Byleth out of the driver’s seat of her body- no, I joined her in the driver’s seat- as the axe came down, biting into our back with a pain I’d never felt before. I felt blood seeping out of the wound, sticking to my clothes, and I gasped in pain.

“Oh,” I said, my voice raspy, as Edelgard’s eyes widened. “Not yet.”

The world froze around us with the sound of something shattering.

I opened my eyes with a wordless shout, everything suddenly dim. I glanced about, my hand ghosting over my back- my back, not Byleth’s- only to find nothing there. No axe, no sticky blood, no gaping wound. We were back in the Holy Tomb, stone stairs stretching up towards a throne with Sothis on it, Byleth standing at the foot of the stairs and me a little ways away.

As Sothis started shouting at Byleth, I took a moment to recompose myself. Kostas didn’t get me. I’m safe. I survived! I laughed a bit hysterically, trying to bring my breathing back to normal. Thank god Sothis made it in time. Hah! Not yet, Death!

Eventually, though, I needed to get back into things, and I sobered up and stepped next to Byleth just in time to catch the middle of Sothis’s rant. “-what were you trying with that little stunt?” Sothis was shouting at Byleth as I jumped in. “It’s like you were trying to get us all killed, you fool!”

I shot Sothis a cheeky grin, putting my hands behind my neck lackadaisically. “Oh, am I included in this too?” I asked.

The goddess in question threw her hands up in exasperation. “Since your life is apparently attached to this moron’s as well, yes!”

I brought my hands down and grinned smugly at Byleth. “Guess you’re stuck with me then, eh?” I asked, elbowing her.

Sothis stood up from her throne and looked down upon the two of us. “Regardless, I suppose it is up to me to educate you two on the value of your life,” she explained. “You may call me Sothis… but I am also known as ‘The Beginning.’”

I let out a triumphant crow, pointing at Sothis. “Hah! I told you earlier!”

Sothis put her hands on her hips and stared down at me, her mouth twisting into a petulant frown. “You called me the Progenitor Goddess as well, and I do not recall that name ever leaving my lips!”

I let out one of my overdramatic gasps as I completely fell for her bait. “I got two out of three of your names right!” I yelled back.

“And even a broken clock is right twice a day,” Sothis said, serenely.

“Oh, come on!” I protested, getting ready to march right up the stairs and punch Sothis, goddess or not. Before I could, however, Byleth cleared her throat, pinning the two of us with a glare that had to have been copied from Jeralt.

I winced, looking away sheepishly, as Sothis coughed and refocused. “As I was saying,” she explained, “our life forces are now intertwined. And yet you threw yourself in front of an axe to save that girl! For the moment it is alright, however, as I have stopped the hands of time,” she finished, smiling proudly.

Byleth nodded, a tight almost-grin on her face that slipped as Sothis’s mouth twisted into a frown.

“Though, we now enter a conundrum,” Sothis admitted, “since this pause is only momentary, and I’m not quite sure how I accomplished it in the first place.”

Byleth paused. “So when time resumes?” she asked.

“The axe will tear further into your flesh, spilling your blood, and you shall surely perish,” Sothis explained, as casual as someone talking about the weather.

My hand unconsciously slipped to my back.

Shaking my head to dispel that thought, I raised my hand. “Can you, y’know-” I spun my two pointer fingers around each other in a circular motion. “‘Rewind the hands of time’ and all that jazz?” I asked.

“That is better than your usual ideas, at least,” Sothis said, contemplating the thought. “Perhaps I could… no, no, what if- yes, that just may well work.”

“Ha!” I laughed, pumping my fist. “Who’s useless now!”

“Yes, well done,” Sothis said, her hands weaving a complex motion through the air as a massive magical circle appeared before her, shining with golden light. “That’s three things you’ve gotten right today, so you’re just barely better than a broken clock,” she complimented as she began channeling energy through the circle.

I grinned proudly. “Thanks!”

Then I blinked and registered the rest of what Sothis said.

“Hey, wait-”

With a final flare of light, Sothis’s formation roared to life, and Byleth and I braced ourselves as wind began blowing us back, forcing our eyes close. “Now go!” Sothis shouted. “Both of you! I cannot wind time back very far, but that is alright. Go, you who bear the flames within. Drift through time, and find the answers that you seek!”

In a moment, I felt myself come undone as time ripped and teared around me. The strands of time that made up my life, my essence, twisted and clawed out of me and dragged me back to a moment I already left, to where I nearly died-

And then me and Byleth were standing there, in the cool morning air, but as our feet touched the dewey grass and our body entered the normal flow of time Byleth was already running towards Kostas and Edelgard.

She had as much ground to cover as before but now that Byleth knew Kostas’s angle of attack, she could block him, so long as she brought her sword up at just the right angle and swung at just the right time and-

Kostas’s axe flew through the air, away from him, as he was thrown backwards by the force of her parry, and I laughed breathlessly, the adrenaline still flooding my veins.

{Nice one!} I cheered as I jumped out of Byleth’s body, floating next to her. {Great work hitting that on the first try! Well, first retry.}

Kostas grunted, his backside hitting the ground, and he scrambled to his feet. “Not done yet-”

Dimitri and Claude stepped up to us, Shez trailing behind them. 

“You sure about that, buddy?” Claude asked, his hand patting his bow.

Tearing his gaze away from us, Kostas sprinted away, disappearing into the underbrush.

Claude nodded, letting his hand drop to his side, and I snorted as I realized his quiver was empty. Master trickster living up to his name, huh.

There was a rustling in the bushes and the six of us spun towards it, weapons at the ready. “Byleth!” Jeralt shouted from the crest of a nearby hill on his warhorse, his lance held at his side. “Are you alright?”

Byleth relaxed and gave a simple thumbs up, seemingly mollifying her father, as the rest of us sighed in relief.

“The Blade Breaker…” Shez muttered, staring up at Jeralt, before she spun to look at Byleth with newfound recognition.

Goddammit, Shez, we need you to be an idiot for just a little bit longer! Now’s not the time to be suddenly observant! 

“And the Ashen Demon!” she yelled, drawing her swords, only for Dimitri to stick his arm out in front of him.

“Shez, what are you doing?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her in a restraining hold as his arm proved ineffective at best.

I crinkled my nose. I doubt Byleth had the charisma chops- or metaknowledge- to talk her way out of this one without getting Shez even more riled up, which was absolutely not something that we needed. Without a word between us, I slipped into Byleth’s body with a rakish grin on my face as she slipped out. Okay, big brain time: how to figure this out.

Then Jeralt finally finished crashing down the hill and burst out of the brush on one side of the tableau like an angry bear, his armor scuffed and only half-on, his brows furrowed and his horse somewhere in the woods. On the other side of our group, a man in shining white armor charged out of the woods, his axe brandished above his head. There was a full company of knights in plate armor behind him, some part of my brain dimly noticed, but I was more focused on the magnificent mustache adorning Alois Rangeld’s face.

“The Knights of Seiros are here! We’ll cut you foul bandits down for terrorizing our students!” Alois yelled before pausing. “Wait, the thieves are… mostly dead, actually.”

Jeralt sighed heavily, a hand coming up to the bridge of his nose as Alois caught sight of him. “Why him?” he pleaded.

Claude raised a hand, looking over everyone. “I think I need some name tags, if nobody minds.”

Jeralt sighed again. “You and me both, kid,” he agreed.

...Well, at least nobody’s trying to kill each other yet.

Chapter Text

White Clouds.

The Earth, Sun, and Stars ii.

Great Tree Moon, 1180.

I will admit, my days as Garreg Mach’s most charismatic professor did not get off to an incredible start. Now, Merrick, you may be saying, you’re most definitely not Garreg Mach’s most charismatic professor, and I instead would like to point out to you that of course I am.

Also, I would like to point out that this moment in particular was not indicative of my teaching skills as a whole. Seriously, if you have a student holding back another student from trying to murder you, you’re doing something wrong with your professorship. Or something very cool, which is probably better than being boring.

I digress.

“Look, prince-guy, just let me go so I can stab the Ashen Demon!” Shez snarled as she tried in vain to struggle against Dimitri’s grip, the prince keeping her in an arm bar. I’d be a bit more concerned about that if I didn’t know that Dimitri was monstrously strong thanks to that crest of his.

Wait, shit, Shez can teleport. Back to being concerned again!

Dimitri crinkled his nose. “I’m not releasing you until you explain why, exactly, you want to stab her. She just assisted in saving our lives, if you didn’t notice,” he calmly responded.

Our little tableau was gathered in a loose shape that was a circle in the same way that I, Merrick, was a skilled mercenary- if someone told you that, then they would be lying. Regardless, Dimitri, Claude, Edelgard, Shez, Alois, Jeralt, and I could all see each other, and that was good enough for Shez to try and murder me.

“Yes, but I have a really really good reason to stab her!”

“And that reason is?”

“Vengeance!”

Claude held up a finger and let out an easy smile. “That’s not exactly a compelling reason,” he piped up. “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, as the saying goes.”

“Indeed!” Alois beamed boisterously, fluffing the ends of his mustache. Good god how did he grow that thing, it was both magnificent and horrible at the same time. “And eye have an offer to make to you, Captain Jeralt, and your other two compatriots!”

Yep. Somehow, some way, the puns were worse in person.

{He knows Jeralt?} Byleth asked.

I nodded. {Worked with him when Jeralt was part of the knights; if I recall, he was basically Jeralt’s right hand man, and was promoted when Jeralt left.}

Byleth paused. {Jeralt was part of the knights?}

Right, she barely knows anything about her dad’s past. {Yeah- it’s related to the other stuff. I’ll fill you in on it later.}

Turning back to reality, Jeralt shook his head fondly. “I see you haven’t changed, Alois,” he said. “At least, your jokes certainly haven’t. Anyways, the only one of ‘em that’s mine is the kid right there,” he put a hand on my shoulder protectively, “and we best be leaving. Goodbye, old friend.”

Alois sagged, his face looking like someone kicked a puppy as Jeralt started to drag me off. “Goodbye, Captain… wait, no!” he protested, gaining a spine (and Jeralt’s ire as he reluctantly turned back to Alois). “This isn’t how it ends! I insist that the two of you return to the monastery with me! And you, brave mercenary, must come as well, so we can properly reward you for your bravery!”

“I’m not going anywhere with The Ashen Demon,” Shez sulked, hanging in Dimitri’s grip, her arms hanging loose and a deep frown on her face. She kicked out her legs once and the blue-clad prince didn’t even budge.

Boar’s strength. Gotta love it.

Edelgard frowned, putting a hand to her chin. “Why, exactly, are you so unwilling to even travel with this mercenary?” she asked, indicating me.

I gave a little wave.

“She killed Captain Berling and all of my comrades!” Shez said, crossing her arms petulantly. “I’m going to avenge them by killing her!”

Alright! Rapid fire planning time. I can’t let Shez run off, or I’m going to be in hot water down the line once Arval asserts control. And I can’t give up on going to Garreg Mach. No way I’m defusing the situation completely, so that leaves me just making myself seem more important alive than dead. Think, brain! How do I convince Shez not to murder me without spilling the future! Something cool and suave, and-

Oh I was already doing finger guns.

“Point,” I said, shooting finger guns to Shez. “Let’s shelf the killing thing for now. After all, we’ve got a mutual friend in Arval, yeah?”

Shez frowned, her brow knotting as she processed that. “Arval? How do you…?”

I grinned, determined to absolutely not answer that question right now. “Great! We’ll work out the whole ‘murdering me’ thing later,” I continued. “Shall we actually do introductions, now, or should I keep referring to you guys by color codes in my head?”

Though I suppose I could excuse knowing most of them by the fact that they were all heirs to the major world powers. Byleth was the weird one for not knowing them in canon, after all.

“Ah, yes, of course!” The Blue One (Dimitri) agreed, letting Shez go now that she seemed to not be trying to stab me. “I’m Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd, the crown prince of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus.”

“I’m Claude von Reigan,” The Yellow One (Claude) introduced with a lazy wave and a charming smile. “The grandson of the leader of the Leicester Alliance. Nice to meet you.”

And last but not least, The Red One (Edelgard). “My name is Edelgard von Hresvelg, princess of the Adrestrian Empire,” Edelgard said next. “Thank you for saving me back there,” she added with a soft smile.

I grinned, giving a jaunty one-finger salute to everyone. “And my name is Byleth Eisner! Pleased to meet you!”

“The Ashen Demon, hm?” Edelgard asked. “And that makes you Jeralt, the Blade Breaker?” she added, turning to Jeralt. “Considered the greatest knight to ever live?”

Jeralt crossed his arms, but nodded. “Some call me that, yes,” he said.

Shez cleared her throat, staring at me. “My name is Shez. How the hell do you know Arval?” she asked, going straight for the jugular.

Having nary an answer to a question as blunt as that, I did what I do best: put it off for future-Merrick! “We’ll get to that later!” I declared.

Shez looked like she was going to push me on that- and I had no idea what to tell her- but before she could Alois stepped in. “And my name is Alois, a commander in the Knights of Seiros! Both of you, as I said before, I insist that we return with us to Garreg Mach Monastery so we can appropriately reward all of you,” he said with a smile. “Of course, that means that you and your kid must return with us, Captain.”

Jeralt let out a massive sigh in resignation. “Even I know better than to dare run from the Knights of Seiros,” he admitted. Turning to me, Jeralt caught my eye and jerked his head back towards camp. “Hey, kid. Walk back to the camp with me, will you? We need to pack everything up if we’re heading to the monastery.”

Claude raised a hand, a dare I say charming grin painting itself across his face. “Might we be able to walk back with you? I would love to bend the ear of a pair of famed mercenaries like yourselves, if you don’t mind.”

“Having a guide would certainly help with your abysmal map reading skills, Claude,” Dimitri noted, ignoring Claude’s melodramatic reaction to that barb, “lest us forget that you got us in this mess in the first place. But beyond that, I would love to speak with you as well, Ms. Eisner. The prowess you demonstrated in battle was spectacular!”

“Indeed, the Adrestrian Empire is in dire need of such talented individuals as yourselves,” Edelgard cut in. “Perhaps you might be willing to lend your services to-”

“Halt, Edelgard!” Dimitri said, holding up a hand. “Please allow me to at least finish my own proposition. The Holy Kingdom of Faerghus is in dire need of exceptional individuals such as yourself. Please, do consider returning to the Kingdom with me.”

Shez held a hand up. “I don’t care where you’re from if you can explain where you know Arval from,” she offered. “And also you’re willing to fight me. And lose.”

Claude grinned ruefully and leaned on his bow. “I was planning on waiting till we were heading back to the monastery and we formed a deep and lasting friendship before I began my recruitment spiel, actually, but now I’m curious. Where do you hail from, o humble mercenary?”

Alright, moment of truth: Adrestria, Faerghus, or Leicester? Each choice is going to push me further into one of the camps and away from the other ones. I know I want to ally with Edelgard, that much is sure, but I don’t want to just leave Dimitri and Claude to their canon fates either. Golden route or bust, which means that I’m thinking outside the box and should list a place that isn’t any of the three countries. 

“I’m from another world,” I said, deadpan. Perfect! Wait, no, I wanted to hide that. Whoops.

Everyone stared at me. I stared back at them.

“Really?” Shez asked.

I chuckled, rubbing the back of my neck and playing it off as a joke. “No, no, bad joke. For real- I can’t say I know, to be honest,” I admitted. “Never really came up and I’ve been on the road with Jeralt my entire life.”

Technically true, even if I did know the actual answer- but I doubted any of the lords would be excited to hear that “I” was from Garreg Mach, much less Jeralt knowing that I knew that.

Edelgard frowned. “How interesting,” she said, raising an eyebrow. “No one country you spent more time in than the others?”

I shook my head but before I could open my mouth, Alois clapped his hands and cut me off. All for the better, I supposed. “That’s enough with the small talk for now!” he said, his voice carrying over the rest of us. “Captain Jeralt and Byleth need to pack themselves up still and the four of us need to return to your classmates and the other knights. Captain, can we meet in an hour?”

“That should leave us enough time to get ready,” Jeralt decided. “And I’m not your captain anymore, Alois. Just call me by my name.”

“I could never do that!” Alois chuckled. “You’ll always be the captain to me, I’m afraid.”

Jeralt groaned but decided not to push on it- for the better, I supposed. God knows I still called my old sports teacher ‘coach’. “Could be worse. Well, c’mon, kid- we better get moving. Alois, we’re staying in Remire Village, if you know the way.”

“Oh, I’m sure we can manage!” Claude grinned. 

The other heirs gave him a stink eye and he made a show of looking around.

“What?”

The walk through the forest back to Remire gave me some time to think about… all of this, which was great. It had been quite the day already- barely past dawn, based on how the sun was filtering through the leaves, and I had already gotten flung into a video game, possessed the protagonist, met a goddess, and ran into not only the most influential teenagers on the planet but also someone else who was being haunted by the amnesiac ghost of a powerful archmage that would like nothing more than to kill everyone present.

And I guess Alois was there too.

Even if it looked like I was adjusting fine, I was winging it, completely and utterly. I mean, hell, I flung me and Byleth into a life and death fight against some child killing bandits when I barely know what side of the sword is the pointy end! I’m trying to play politics with the heirs of three different major nation states, two of which are renowned for being good at scheming and statecraft! Not to mention the third, who could physically put me on a stake!

“Hold up a minute, kid,” Jeralt said, and I nodded.

Alright, introspection over. Time to continue faking it until I made it or died horribly! One of the two would be fine.

“Probably want some answers, I suppose?” I asked, turning back towards him- only to halt as the tip of a silver lance pressed into my jugular. Guess he was a bit more angry than I thought he was. Oops!

“Yeah, I think I do,” Jeralt responded, calmly, his hands not even wavering.

He smiled predatorily. “Starting with who the hell are you and what the hell did you do to my kid?”

“Just a friendly neighborhood ghost!” I grinned.

Jeralt’s face hardened and he gripped the shaft of his spear harder. 

Now, many people will say that I don’t know how to shut up, but I can definitely know when to shut up when necessary. Like now, for example. This was a good time to maybe let someone else take a turn. {Hey, Byleth, you wanna take this one?} I asked. With a nod, she agreed, and we switched places. 

Returning to being a spirit was not an experience that I could recommend. You don’t realize how many unconscious sensations you get from being in a body until you lose them- the cool wind on the back of your neck, the sunlight filtering through the leaves, the sensation of sweat on your skin, the weight of clothes on your back. It’s freeing to be able to fly through the world, but not having to actually breath just feels wrong.

Refocusing on the material world, though, the first thing I noticed was Jeralt not wavering at all as Byleth’s body language completely changed. A different person in the body, I suppose- it made sense that there would be some differences in how we held ourselves.

“Kid?” he asked.

Byleth nodded.

Slowly, Jeralt lowered his lance, but he didn’t sheathe it. “What’s the first piece of advice I gave you as a mercenary?” he asked warily.

“Always follow your gut,” Byleth responded.

Jeralt nodded and finally sheathed his lance, sitting down on a nearby stump. “So. Want to explain to me what the fuck is going on here?”

Byleth waved her hand back and forth. “Merrick hasn’t explained it to me either,” she repeated, sending a side-long glance my way.

{I’ll do it on the way to the monastery,} I told her, nodding. {We haven’t really had a quiet moment yet and it’s a long story.}

Byleth nodded and relayed it back to her father. “He says he’ll tell me on the way to the monastery.”

Jeralt humphed- the slightly less meaty cousin of the harumph- and nodded. “You trust him?”

Byleth paused for a moment and mulled it over.

“I think so, yes. For now.”

Thanks for the vote of confidence, Byleth. 

“Then that’s good enough for me,” Jeralt decided. “I’ve taught you enough for you to trust your gut. Just let me know if he becomes a problem.”

It’s funny: despite knowing that I was an out of context problem that Jeralt had no way to solve, despite how quickly he just let me go, that threat still sent a chill up my back. Was it because Jeralt was an old man in a profession where people die often? Was it because he was just that intimidating?

Still, I resolved not to get on his bad side. I did not need to figure out if he was bluffing or not.

Byleth simply nodded to her father at that and the older mercenary got up, falling into line as we continued back towards Remire in a quiet silence. Two people who didn’t talk much and were emotionally stunted out the backside and a ghostly extrovert weren’t the best conversation starters, I supposed. 

As we approached Remire Village, I started to hear the sounds of the village stir to life; first the sounds of roosters crowing as they finally registered that the sun was returning, then the sounds of villagers moving through the town and starting their day. I could hear greetings tossed back and forth, doors and shutters opening, and I could imagine the scent of woodsmoke on the breeze as cooking fires began alighting once more.

The village itself was surprisingly defensible for its position in the middle of the woods; it was a frontier town, but one that a lord or two decided had too many bandit attacks. That’s why a great wooden palisade made of sharpened and stripped logs stretched along the outer side of the town, probably eight feet tall. Not enough to stop a determined demonic beast or a full scale assault, but enough to scare off any opportunistic bandits- probably why Claude chose to make tracks for it, and why Jeralt chose for us to stay in it.

Behind the great wooden gate was what looked like a simple village, burnt orange tiled roofs topping an assortment of plaster and wood houses. It wasn’t arranged in any particular order, just where each villager decided to plop down their home, but there was enough space that the whole village was able to comfortably fit in the town, even if they were rubbing elbows with their neighbors more than some would like.

“I’m going to go wake the rest of the men up and let the village head know we’re leaving early,” Jeralt said as we approached. “You head to the room and pack everything up.”

Byleth nodded silently and I shot an invisible thumbs up to Jeralt.

Satisfied, Jeralt turned towards the house next door to the one Byleth was staying in- temporary barracks for the majority of the company, I assumed- before he stopped and opened his mouth. “By the way, kid?” he asked.

Byleth hummed.

“Good work today,” Jeralt said. “Standing up for yourself, I mean.”

“Thanks.”

Jeralt nodded and started towards the barracks, his chainmail armor jangling as he strode towards the wooden door. Byleth, for her part, just turned towards the house and started back up the stairs towards the bedroom, not even saying a word back to her father.

God, these two were emotionally constipated, weren’t they?

Nearly an hour and a half later, Byleth was walking down the road towards Garreg Mach Monastery, the wagon holding Jeralt’s Mercenary’s supplies next to her. There were two old reliable work horses pulling the wagon and behind us stretched a veritable caravan of students, knights of Seiros, and the other mercenaries. I idly wondered what Marianne would say if I asked her to interpret for us what the old horses were saying- just for the novelty, if nothing else- but I ended up discarding that idea after catching myself looking around for her.

I did manage to catch a flash of light blue hair, but it was just outside of casual shouting distance; she was behind the rest of us with the rest of the Officer’s Academy students and Shez, the house leaders giving the gaggle of teenagers a brief debrief before the teachers could properly grade everyone’s crisis response results.

What I had managed to overhear so far, anyways, gave me the implication that the crisis response had mostly boiled down to “panic and wave weapons around in the dark,” given that the de facto leader (the old professor) had apparently bolted as soon as actual bandits showed up.

I wonder where Edelgard dug him out of- was it an actual coward, or just someone playing the role? Was he even Edelgard’s puppet or was I misremembering things? Interesting thought regardless.

{Merrick?} Byleth prompted me. 

I shook my ghostly head and nodded. {Right, right, where was I?}

{You just finished the Insurrection of the Seven,} Byleth prompted.

With not much to do while we waited for the house leaders to bug us, Byleth reminded me that I still needed to run down the plot of Three Houses and Three Hopes with her. To be honest, I was hoping for Sothis to make her triumphant reappearance before we got to that, but without the shrimp sized goddess- well, I could at least give Byleth the cliff notes.

{Right, right. Well, not much else happened leading up to the present day. To sum it all up, right now, we’ve got five big players on the continent: the Adrestian Empire, the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, the Leicester Alliance, the Church of Seiros, and of course, the Agarthians.}

{And four of the five factions will be at the Monastery,} Byleth said. She was taking to all of this like, well, some sort of sponge that was really good at absorbing knowledge. Sothis would probably have a lot more questions about her existence as a fictional character in my world but Byleth just sort of accepted it and moved on. It was like her not to get hung up on the philosophy of it, I supposed.

I nodded. {Exactamundo! Assuming everything goes according to plan, we’ll be teaching one of the houses- either Edelgard’s, Claude’s, or Dimitri’s. And whoever we pick- we’ll be making inroads with them, at the cost of everyone else.}

I sighed, trying to think about how to word my next statement.

{I think, more than anything else, I’d prefer to pick Edelgard,} I said. {Even if we’re aiming for a golden route, Edelgard’s the most closed off of the three- if we want to get on her good side, we’ll need to be close with her. And beyond that- her personal ambitions are more in line with my preferences.}

{Her ambitions?} Byleth asked.

{Edelgard’s trying to reform the societal systems we’ve got right now,} I explained. {The nobility is pretty biased towards people with crests- it’s getting better, especially in the Alliance, but the church isn’t helping speed things along. Edelgard’s dream is basically to tear down that system and replace it with something better- which includes tearing down the Church, since she views them as the root cause of most of it.}

Byleth frowned, scratching her head. {And the other two would support the church?}

{With full context? Probably not,} I admitted. {But in the short turn? Yes, especially if Dimitri isn’t brought on board slowly and carefully. If he finds out that Edelgard’s working with the people that caused the Tragedy of Duscur without Edelgard introducing it slowly… then he’d stop at nothing to make them pay. Claude’s easier to get on board, given that he needs the church to step back for his own goals, but he’s still a wild card- I don’t know if we can trust him, especially early on, to not jump ship if the church gives him a better offer.}

I paused for a moment, trying to think it over.

{I think that if we play our cards right, we could get Edelgard and Claude on the same side, and maybe Dimitri,} I decided. {Best-case, we can avert the war altogether. But… Edelgard’s pretty stubborn. Honestly, I doubt it.}

{I’ll follow your lead for now,} Byleth decided.

I shrugged. {We can take another vote once we meet the classes- if everything goes according to plan, we should have the chance to meet the students of each house before we need to make a final decision.}

“Hey there, my mercenary friend!” someone called from behind me. “What do you say to me bending your ear for a little bit?”

Without me even needing to say it, Byleth slipped out of our body and I slipped in, an easy smile crossing my face. “Of course,” I called, turning to Claude as he approached. Right behind him was Edelgard and Dimitri, the two looking mildly perturbed that the Alliance heir was again trying to steal a head start when it came to talking to the cool, mysterious mercenary. Hahaha their first impression was so wrong but I wasn’t going to correct it now!

Idly, I flexed my fingers as the three approached me. I ultimately wished that I had more time to work things out in my head before we got here; this was going to be one of the most important conversations I ever participated in, after all. This was going to cement my first impression in their minds and if I didn’t make a good one then I was going to fuck over the entirety of Fódlan.

Ah, what the hell was I saying- I was Merrick goddamn Ateman! Of course I had this under control! And if I kept repeating it, I might even start believing it!

“It’s unbecoming to try to get a head start on us, Claude,” Edelgard rebuked as she and Dimitri arrived.

“Early bird gets the worm!” Claude grinned, unabashed.

I grinned, waving a hand. “Well, even if Claude was being a bit sneaky about it- glad you three managed to sneak away and come see little ol’ me!”

“Of course,” Edelgard nodded. “We did say we would like to talk to you on the way to Garreg Mach, after all.”

The hairs on the back of my neck prickled and I turned, trying to figure out what caught my attention. There was me and the three lords, of course, but something felt off about it… who were we missing?

{Down!} Byleth called and some instincts I didn’t know I had fired into action as I lunged forward, nearly slamming into Edelgard as Shez appeared out of nowhere and thrust a sword at my squishy midsection, narrowly missing as I twisted out of the way.

“Ashen Demon!” she yelled, pointing a sword at me- but not going in for a second strike. “Tell me, now, how you know Arval! And then let me stab you!”

“I would really prefer not to do that!” I protested.

Shez narrowed her eyes and I shook my head, motioning for her to calm down. “Look, it’s not as exciting as you imagine, alright? Arval and I have a mutual acquaintance who told me what they were getting up to- I figured that would be enough for me to at least explain the situation again.”

Shez stared at me. “That’s it?”

“Do I look like the kind of person that would lie to you?” I asked, having just lied to her.

Shez frowned, looking me up and down, before crossing her arms. “I don’t believe you.”

“It’s the truth,” I insisted, crossing my own arms. “Believe it or not, I don’t care.”

I did care very much, given that I didn’t want to have to watch my back and I really did want Shez on my side, but there was only one thing to do if someone wanted to murder you: double down!

“I’m still going to kill you,” Shez promised. “After making you spill your secrets.”

Dimitri cleared his throat, stepping forward. “Shez- while I appreciate your help regarding the bandits, we owe Ms. Eisner a similar debt,” he warned. “If you try and kill her, we will have to stop you.”

Shez sighed, slumping over, before an idea crossed her mind. “So I just have to kill the Ashen Demon when you’re not around!”

“That’s not-”

“I’m alright with that.”

The three house leaders turned to me, a gamut of expressions ranging from barely concealed amusement (Claude) to resigned annoyance (Edelgard) to incredulous shock (Dimitri) on their faces, and it took a moment to realize that I was the one who said it. 

“Well, it’s a good way to hone her abilities, right?” I said, putting my hands behind my head as I doubled down even more. “I mean, we’ll have to set some ground rules, but it’s not a bad way to stay sharp. Maybe we should make it a competition?”

Edelgard sighed. “Please do not encourage students to try and murder you. It’s already hard enough to manage my housemates.”

“I doubt that many would be interested, either,” Dimitri added, just as wary. 

Claude grinned. “I don’t know, your princeliness,” he said, counting on his fingers. “Felix… Caspar… Petra… Lysithea… heck, I might even take a crack at your head, Byleth.” He turned to me and shrugged. “No offense or anything.”

I grinned. “No offense taken! Might be a fun little diversion for the school year, promote some interclass unity, that sort of stuff. I’ll figure out the actual rules later, but the first one-”

In a fluid instant I swapped with Byleth again and let her snap her palm out into Shez’s temple, the other hand slipping around to rap Shez’s wrists and cause her to drop her sword. With a spin, Byleth stepped back and drew her sword, touching it to the suddenly disarmed Shez’s throat.

“-let’s say one attempt per day, alright?” Byleth said, parroting the lines I fed her.

Shez nodded, locking eyes with me as a cocky smirk found its way onto her face. “Won’t even take a week!” she bragged.

“I invite you to try,” Byleth said. There was another moment of pause before Byleth stepped back and sheathed her sword, swapping places with me as she did so.

We stared at each other for another moment before Shez cautiously bent down and picked up her sword, returning it to its sheath without breaking eye contact.

“Your time resets at dawn tomorrow,” I said, nodding. “No attacking while I’m trying to teach or talk with church officials and no involving unrelated people without their knowing permission.”

Shez crossed her arms. “And if I fail?”

“Then you can try, try again!” I grinned. “May the best fighter win.”

We stared at each other for another moment before Claude let out a sharp clap, breaking the tension and our eye contact. “Well, that sounds like it’ll be fun!” he said, grinning ear to ear. “At least, until one of you gets killed doing it. But while we have both of our lovely mercenaries on this green earth,” he trucked on, “I did want to talk to you about the mercenary life! Let’s walk and talk, shall we?”

“As did we all, Claude,” Dimitri reminded him as we continued down the road. “I, personally, wanted to ask what combat art Byleth performed when they counter-attacked the bandit captain.”

Claude sighed, putting a frown on his face. “I’d say something about you stealing my thunder but that was one of the questions I wanted to ask,” he admitted. “I suppose that sort of training comes about because of the mercenary lifestyle?”

“Basically!” I said, tapping my sword. “Well, a lot of it’s all about wanting to grow and get stronger- I would be a lot weaker if I just coasted through versus actually pushing myself to grow. Jeralt’s pretty big about instilling the basics of each weapon in me, though, so I can handle myself pretty well no matter the situation.”

Hence why I- or me, after being fed through Byleth- was actually going to be an effective teacher. I was missing all the important bits of pedagogy, but hey, if you knew enough about the stuff you could overcome even the important things like that! That’s what I was banking on, anyways.

“That sounds similar to my own education,” Dimitri said. “I was always pushed to use the lance, even from a young age, but I daresay my sword and axe skills haven’t dulled past the point of unusability.”

Edelgard smiled. “We should test that some time, Dimitri,” she said, nodding to the prince. “I’ve been curious how one as strong as you would wield my weapon of choice.”

“I look forward to the opportunity,” Dimitri returned. “Though if you want a fight with a more experienced warrior, I can also speak to Dedue- he still uses the weapon, after all, so I’m sure he would be a more effective opponent.”

Edelgard nodded. “I would appreciate that.”

“Where are your shadows, anyways?” Claude asked, making a show of looking around. “I’m surprised you managed to slip away from the two of them.”

Dimitri chuckled. “It was difficult to convince Dedue, but I managed to convince him that I would be safe with Byleth.”

“And Hubert is able to keep an eye on me just as effectively from back there as up here,” Edelgard added. “Even if he would rather be closer to me just in case.”

“He does like to loom,” Claude admitted.

I cleared my throat. “I don’t think I’ve been able to meet either Dedue or Hubert?” I asked. “Your body guards, by the way you’re talking.”

“We’ll have to introduce you to our classes at the monastery,” Dimitri decided. “But yes, that is an apt description of their role- retainer is the more official terminology.”

“A combination of bodyguard and advisor,” Edelgard explained. “Hubert is both present to protect me and to serve as a diverse perspective if I need it.”

I nodded. “Got it. And you don’t have one, Claude?”

“I have someone who I want to be a retainer that doesn’t want to be one and someone who wants to be a retainer that I don’t want,” Claude sighed. “I think with both of them combined… well, I’ll have something approximating one Hubert. Minus the brooding and cackling, of course.”

“It’s not an official position,” Edelgard explained. “Traditionally, each house leader will have one, but it’s not required.”

“Makes sense to me,” I noted.

Claude snapped his fingers and shook his head. “Anyways, returning to the original topic- what combat art were you using back there?” he asked. 

{A Wrath Strike,} Byleth fed to me.

“Ah, it was just a Wrath Strike,” I explained, shaking my head. “Nothing particularly special. I’ve just had enough practice with it that it’s a little more powerful than normal.”

“It was quite impressive,” Edelgard admitted. “Do you know any others?”

I frowned, making a show of counting on my fingers as Byleth fed the answers to me. “Grounder and Flash Strike on the sword, plus Fire Sweep, though I’m less practiced with it,” I added. “I’m more of a quality over quantity gal, after all.”

“A wise way to approach the problem,” Edelgard approved. “Do you have any advice for learning our own combat arts?”

“Break them down into little steps and work on getting each movement complete separately,” I said. “Then worry about putting it all together.”

“I’ll have to try that,” Dimitri said. “It’s been a struggle to learn Shatter Slash, but I imagine that your advice may help.”

Edelgard nodded. “Yes, thank you for that. Have you taught students before?”

“From time to time,” I said, casting my mind back to my own younger siblings- back at home a world away. 

Fuck. I was trying not to think about them. I might never see them again, right? I mean, they were a world away from me, plus possibly even separated by time- and this wasn’t like Awakening. Portals just didn’t open up randomly, so there wasn’t even a guarantee that I could get into another world, much less my own.

I shook my head, refocusing on the lords and remembering that I in fact was Byleth Eisner, not Merrick Ateman. “It’s been a while, though,” I admitted, letting a smile return to my face. “Maybe I’d do it again if the opportunity presents itself to me, but until then…”

“Well, I, personally, would love to learn under you,” Claude offered, grinning. “I imagine a decorated mercenary like yourself has a lot to teach us!”

I grinned. “I can certainly try- for the moment, though, I’m mostly looking forward to getting to talk to the lot of you! I guess, to start with- any particular places I should visit at Garreg Mach?”

“We haven’t actually been there very long yet,” Dimitri admitted.

Claude grinned. “But there’s this one market stand that sells the best smoked meat, if you have the chance to visit,” he cut in. “I’ll point it out when we enter the monastery.”

“Why am I not surprised that you’re already familiar with the market,” Edelgard said, shaking her head.

“Hey, this one’s not on me!” Claude protested. “Raphael dragged the rest of us Deer out to check it out.”

“And yet, when it comes to the Eagles, it’s like I’m herding cats,” Edelgard sighed.

Dimitri nodded. “I suppose a team meal would be a nice bonding experience for the Lions- I’ll have to suggest that to everyone. Ingrid would be pleased, at the very least.”

I nodded. “Any recommendations for where I can fix my weapon, Claude?”

Claude grinned, tapping his temple. “I’ve got a few recommendations!”

As he began listing out the places- sorted by cost versus quality, of course- I started to tune him out a little and let Byleth keep notes while everyone else asked the follow up questions. The walk back was still a few hours long- thank god I was inside an actually fit body, not my old out of shape one- and that was enough time for me to continue to push away my apprehension at… well, all of this. I mean, I should probably find a time to mentally deal with it, but not now!

Edelgard caught my eye and shot me a questioning glance and I nodded back to her, giving her a quick smile. I’d be fine for the moment. I had to be.

“The monastery’s up ahead,” Edelgard commented after another few hours of light conversation on the road. “We should catch our first glimpse of it just after that bend,” she added, indicating the road ahead of us.

I nodded, my nerves setting themselves a-buzz again. “I’m excited to see it!” I said, cracking my neck. “Especially if we are going to be staying there for a bit.” I started craning my neck to catch a glimpse of the castle through the trees. It was up on a hill, right? Smack dab in the middle of Fódlan, right between all three nations.

“Surprised you’ve never been, what with your dad’s former position,” Claude commented, shrugging.

“It’s where Sitri died,” I said, half-paying attention to what I was saying as I kept craning my neck. “I’m not surprised that he never came back.”

And beyond that bit of trauma, his daughter was kinda creepily desired by Rhea for something and was technically supposed to be dead. I guess it’s not that surprising after all, was it?

“Sitri?” Edelgard asked.

I blinked, looking over at her as I replayed the last couple seconds of conversation. Did not mean to say that out loud, but as long as I did… “My mother,” I elaborated. “She died in a fire at the monastery a couple of decades ago. Back when I was a baby.”

“My condolences,” Edelgard responded. I shrugged, giving her a faint smile.

I waved her off. “It was a while ago,” I explained.

{...Was that really her name?} Byleth asked.

{Yeah, it was.}

She didn’t respond again and I tuned back in to the conversation outside of me just to hear Dimitri.

“My condolences as well,” Dimitri said, glancing to Shez and me and visibly unsure how to show the proper amount of contrition. “On a happier topic, this will be the first time in the monastery for both of you, will it not? I’d be happy to show either of you around, if you’d let me. It can be a bit confusing for visitors- I know that my first couple of days was quite chaotic.”

“It really is Fódlan in a nutshell,” Claude noted. “The good and the bad.”

We finally passed around the bend and I squinted, trying to catch sight of the castle that crested the hill above us. Several stories high and sitting atop a small mountain of a hill, the castle was made of solid stone, the sun glinting off of the top of the high towers. To the north was the great cathedral and I could see the massive stained glass windows from here, high towers dotted around the structure; on the southern side, I could spot the Officer’s Academy, tall walls enclosing the building. The path up to the building was dotted with walls and towers, defenses for if the monastery ever came under attack- not that it ever had. Products of Rhea’s paranoia, I supposed.

“There it is…” Edelgard said, gazing up at the structure with an unreadable expression on her face. “Garreg Mach Monastery.”

I smiled, trying to cover my nerves. Up ahead, I could almost imagine that I could see Rhea, waiting for us to return, playing the part of the holy archbishop. By this time in a year… either the monastery would have changed hands or I would be dead. So- one year. One year to get everyone to play nice with each other. One year to make everything better. One year to change the world.

Here we go.

Chapter Text

White Clouds.

The Earth, Sun, and Stars iii.

Great Tree Moon, 1180.

Garreg Mach Monastery, up close, was just as impressive as it was from a distance. Our procession had made itself through an outer gate and a full castle town before finally winding up an incline- what Claude called a hill, but what I would term a small mountain- towards Garreg Mach itself. Stretching high above us, each of the defensive walls of the monastery were at least thirty feet tall and made of solid stone. On top was a battlement wide enough to easily accommodate two men standing shoulder to shoulder- or maybe a little bit more. The gates that guarded our way were made up of two iron portcullises, a small tiled foyer room in between them, but the portcullises were up and a small stream of passerbys went between them. 

“This is the enclosed market- only sellers directing supplying the monastery are allowed through here,” Edelgard explained. “The stands are typically higher quality than outside but close on the days of major festivals.”

“That’s the meat stand I was talking about, by the way,” Claude added, pointing out a particular stall.

As we passed under the first iron portcullis of the gate, I caught sight of statues dotting the inside of the room: a woman in robes and a winged headdress on the very top of the archway, and four other statues clustered around her, two on each side. The far left had a tall man in romanesque armor and a bow in his hand, an arrow resting on the string; next to him stood a wizard, pointy hat and all, but with a sword in both his hands, the tip resting in the ground. On the other side was a man in bishop’s robe, a combination spear and double-sided axe in his hand, his other outstretched; next to him was a girl in healer’s robes with a caduceus staff, the feathered wings replaced with the leathery wings of a dragon.

The four saints, I guessed, only for it to be confirmed by Dimitri a moment later as he caught me glancing at the statues. “Saint Indech, Saint Macuil, Saint Seiros, Saint Cichol, and Saint Cethleann,” he named, pointing them out in order.

I nodded. The Immovable, the Wind Caller, the Immaculate One, the Hammer of Justice, and the Benevolent One: the last of the Nabateans.

Well, assuming the Apostles were humans. And that Byleth and Sitri didn’t count.

The last of the full-blooded Nabateans probably.

As we stepped into the grounds of Garreg Mach I gasped, a shock of pain over my chest. Next to me, Byleth let out a sharp exhale as she felt the same pain. My chest- the crest stone. What was happening-

And then, as soon as it started, it stopped, and I was standing in the middle of the entrance hall clutching my chest like an idiot.

“Are you okay?” Edelgard asked, her voice twinged with concern.

I nodded, taking my hand off of my chest as my eyes drifted back up to the saints- Seiros, in particular. Was this her fault? “I’m fine!” I said, absentmindedly, as I began walking again. “Just something that happens sometimes to me. Probably normal.”

{Quite the sight to see as I awake once more,} Sothis’s voice echoed out as the goddess manifested next to us. {A statue of me carved by mortal hands, hm?}

{Sothis?} I asked, more in surprise than anything else.

She rolled her eyes. {That is my name,} she said. 

{You’re here?}

{As opposed to where else? The three of us are tied together by fate, if you’ll recall.}

I blinked. {Yes, but… you weren’t around?}

{And now I’m here,} she said, slowly. {Do try to keep up, will you?}

{I- but- whatever,} I sighed. {You think that’s a statue of you?} 

{Yes, yes, they carved my likeness quite well, no?} Sothis asked, floating closer for a better look. {My regal bearing, my beauty…}

{That looks nothing like you,} Byleth said, bluntly.

I chuckled at her response as we started walking inside. {That’s the visage of Saint Seiros,} I said. {Sorry to say you aren’t included in a lot of the imagery of the church, and certainly not while looking like that.}

Sothis gasped, affronted. {Like what?}

{...Short,} I said, after a moment. {You’re short.}

{Hey!} Sothis shouted, putting her hands on her hips. {I am a perfectly average height!}

{Back in your day, maybe,} I teased, a smile finding its way to my face. {But nowadays…}

“Is something amusing?” Edelgard asked.

I shrugged, the smile still present on my face. “Just interested to be here!” I grinned. “I’ve heard about the monastery before, of course, but it’s different being in someplace with so much history behind it.”

Edelgard nodded, glancing about. “I suppose that’s one way to look at it.”

“Well, you’re speaking my language!” Claude chimed in. “I’m surprised to hear that you’re not interested in history, though, Edelgard.”

“I prefer to cast my gaze towards the future, not the past,” Edelgard said, shaking her head. “We can learn from the past, but it doesn’t do us well to dwell in it.”

I shrugged. “Too much of a good thing is always bad, but the history of these buildings is something special!” I grinned. “There’s something to be said for all of the history that these stones have seen.”

As we talked, the three of us passed through the market and up the limestone steps that led us into the Entrance Hall. Tiled floors spread over that building, great steps leading farther into the monastery and massive vaulted ceilings stretching high above our heads. At the top of the pillars were busts of knights and cloaked priests; I couldn’t say whether they were generic members of the classes or famous benefactors of the church. In front of us was a grand staircase leading into a landing, a pair of open massive wooden double doors on the far end.

“That’s the dining hall,” Claude said, pointing at a double door to our left, “and straight through that next building is the monastery.” He pointed at the double door in front of us.

“That building directly in front of us is the professor’s offices,” Edelgard added. “I believe the cardinals also meet there, along with the archbishop’s reception chambers.”

Claude grinned. “And, if you’re interested in books, it’s a really nice library,” he said, putting his hands behind his head lackadaisically. 

Dimitri nodded. “Even if you’re not, it’s still worth visiting,” he said. “The librarian, Tomas, has made sure to include any type of book that you could imagine.”

“Except those that are banned by the church,” Edelgard countered.

“Well, that goes without saying,” Dimitri admitted as we stepped out into the sunlight.

On either side of us was a walled courtyard- where tea parties were, I remembered, and the amiibo shrine- but high above us was a balcony, stretching out over the courtyard. And on the balcony, dressed in the ceremonial vestments of the archbishop of the church of Seiros, was Rhea, looking down upon our party.

“Lady Rhea,” I heard Claude introduce, nodding up at the archbishop. “She’s the head of the Church of Seiros.”

Slowly, Rhea’s eyes weaved through us- first Jeralt and Alois, then Dimitri, Claude, Edelgard, and finally, me. We made eye contact- my purple eyes with her emerald green- and her lips turned up into a soft smile.

{She seems familiar,} Sothis whispered. {But… I am not sure from where.}

I wonder… did the flow of time bring you here? I almost heard Rhea’s voice ask me.

I didn’t know how to respond to that, even in my own mind. 

As we continued on, our massive convoy finally split up; the knights and students (those already attending the Officer’s Academy, at least) were sent off to freshen up and change clothes before dinner, as were Jeralt’s mercenaries, but when Jeralt attempted to make the same move, well-

“Lady Rhea will be quite excited to see you, captain!” Alois cheerfully informed us as we followed him up the spiral staircase. “Why, I’m sure she still misses you after you went missing all those years ago! It took her years to stop searching for you.”

Jeralt sighed. “I’m sure it did,” he said, casting a quick glance back towards me.

The three of us were behind Alois, and I mean that both in the literal sense- me, Jeralt, and Shez- and the metaphorical sense- Merrick, Byleth, and Sothis were in a single body, following Alois. I guess the more accurate answer is that three of us were walking behind Alois and another two were floating behind him? Unimportant. I was distracting myself from the fact that Shez is behind me and still wanting to stab me- something that was not really working. At least she was respecting our little bet and she still hadn’t tried to kill me since we agreed on the once per day rule?

The staircase itself was longer than I would expect, and carved of the same limestone that the bulk of the monastery was made of- just in stair shaped wedges. It wasn’t a thin staircase, but it wasn’t large either- Alois in full armor was just thin enough to fit through the staircase, even though he was a bulky man.

Eventually, though, the staircase opened into a larger foyer- a brick and marble room with arched windows dotted along the walls. Behind us stretched a hallway with the professor’s offices but in front of us was a set of ornate wooden doors, two guards in plate armor standing on either side. Their faces were concealed behind big metal helmets, not even their eyes visible underneath the metal helms. 

“The archbishop is waiting just through here,” Alois said, stepping forward towards the elaborate doors and the guards flanking them on either side. “Rosencrantz! Guildenstern!” he said, flawlessly identifying both men by armor alone. “Is Lady Rhea ready to receive visitors?”

The one on the left- whoever it was- nodded. “She’ll be happy to see you, Alois- she’s been worried ever since you sent back news that the kids got attacked.”

“We fought those dirty bandits off, don’t you worry!” Alois grinned before turning to the three of us- or five, depending on how you counted- as his face dropped into a more serious expression. “Now, the three of you are going to have to leave your weapons out here before meeting with the archbishop,” he said, eyeing Jeralt’s lance and the swords strapped to my and Shez’s sides. “It’s the rules, I’m afraid. Even for you, Captain.”

Jeralt nodded, the lance already off his back and held out to whichever of the guards said their piece, but Shez bristled. “Whoa! These are important,” she said, her hands coming to rest on the hilts. “You’re the one who brought us here, knight dude. You didn’t say anything about weapons before now.”

My hand ghosted against the hilt of Byleth’s sword. I’d prefer not to give up my weapon, either, but if I had to in order to become a teacher here…

“It is okay, Alois,” a voice called from behind the doors.

Alois frowned, the tips of his mustache bristling. “Lady Rhea…” he said, echoing the sentiment said by someone else behind the door.

“We can trust them, Alois, Seteth. Please, enter, all of you.”

Accepting her words, Alois opened the door to the chamber and gestured for us all to enter, himself slipping in behind us.

The chamber was a great big thing with a stained glass window at the end. On either side of the hall was a great stone statue of a woman in priestly robes. On the right, her hands were clasped in prayer, and on the left, she was standing in a battle ready stance- the two sides of Seiros, I guessed. I glanced up at the vaulted ceilings of this room as we entered, towering pillars stretching high into the sky with windows along the edges of the wall and letting in the afternoon light. Ornate chandeliers hung from that same ceiling, bringing more light into the room, but I barely gave them a thought.

Most of my attention, however, was drawn before me. Standing below the great stained glass window was a man in a dark blue suit embroidered with golden thread. He had dark green hair and a goatee, a shade that was rarely seen among the humans of Fódlan, the length just long enough to cover his ears. Seteth, of course; he wouldn’t let Rhea conduct a meeting as important as this one without him present.

Next to him- and drawing much more attention- was Rhea, and I finally got a better look at her ornate priestly wear. Long flowing peach and blue robes decorated with beautiful golden thread made up the bulk of her clothing, and on her head was a golden semicircle headdress, three sculpted stars adorning it, each surrounded by a crystal the size of a plum. In her hair was a golden circlet, completing the ensemble, with a flower on either side of her head. Her hair was green as well, but just lighter than Seteth’s; I noticed with a glance that each of her ears was covered as well.

The window, finally, was a beautiful piece, the stained glass depicting a great white beast rising from the earth towards the heavens where a woman in ceremonial garb waited, a stylized star just above the woman; around the sides of the glass were a bow, a tome, a hammer, and a caduceus. 

“Beautiful…” I said, the words slipping out of my mouth as I gazed upon the window.

Rhea smiled genially at me. “Thank you, my child,” she said.

I blinked, shaking my head. “I meant the stained glass, not you- not that you’re not pretty as well- in a very respectful way, of course-”

She was a beautiful woman, but in a very unapproachable way. Like a marble statue fresh from a sculptor, not a human beauty. Even as she smiled, even as she laughed, she still felt detached from the world; like we were merely children running around her, or perhaps mayflies, one day here and then we were gone.

In the moment, however, she laughed- a high, tinkling, polite sort of laugh. “That’s what I meant as well, of course. Many trained craftsmen worked on it, or so the records say.”

Of course the records show it- there’s no way that she would know personally, after all, is there?

“Jeralt,” Seteth said, nodding to the man. “I’ve heard many things about you.”

Jeralt inclined his head towards the other man. “You seem to have me at a disadvantage…”

“My name is Seteth,” Seteth said, putting his hand on his chest and giving a slight- but neat- bow. “I am an advisor to the archbishop.”

Jeralt nodded. “Right. Hello,” he added, a tad awkwardly.

“It has been quite some time, Jeralt,” Rhea intoned, stepping into the conversation. “I wonder if it was the will of the goddess that we have another chance to speak like this once more?” 

Jeralt nodded. “Please, forgive my silence all these years,” he said, bowing slightly. “Many events have happened since we last spoke.” 

None too subtly, his eyes flickered to me- as if to give the impression that I was the many events. And, to be fair, Byleth was probably many events that would stop the two of them from speaking, even if she was also from before Jeralt split from the monastery.

“So I see,” Rhea commented, looking me up and down. “It appears that the blessing of fatherhood was bestowed upon you indeed. These are your children, are they not? I have heard that they assisted our students when the bandits attacked them.” 

“Yes, born-” Jeralt started, before Rhea’s words fully sank in. “Children?”

Shez put up her hands, shaking her head. “No way am I related to the Ashen Demon!”

“Just this one is mine, I’m afraid,” Jeralt said, putting a hand on my shoulder. I gave a little wave. “The other is a passing mercenary that I’m afraid I’m as unfamiliar with as you are.”

“My name’s Shez,” Shez said, bowing slightly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, your highn-”

Seteth’s eye twitched.

“Majes-”

Another eye twitch.

“Grand-”

Another one, deeper.

“Excellency,” she corrected, finally stumbling upon the correct answer.

Rhea smiled at her. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well,” she said. “Thank you once more for helping our students.”

Shez gave a thumbs up before realizing that was probably not appropriate and stowing it hastily. “It was no problem at all!”

“As for you, child?” Rhea asked, turning to me. “What is your name?”

I gave her a smile, dipping into a bow- a deeper one than Shez, at the very least. “My name is Byleth, your excellency,” I offered, drawing upon my etiquette knowledge. That being to “be polite” and “don’t shoot finger guns at them”. Truly, I was the model of a gentlewoman. Lorenz would be in awe.

“Byleth,” Rhea said, as though she was tasting the word, savoring it. “A fine name indeed. From the bottom of my heart, I must thank you- all of you,” she added, gesturing to Shez and Jeralt as well, “for saving our future leaders and students. Now, to business. Jeralt. You already know what I wish to request of you, do you not?” 

Jeralt sighed. “You want me to rejoin the Knights of Seiros, don’t you?” he asked, with all the excitement of a condemned man asking if he wanted to walk to his execution platform or be carted there. “I won’t say no, but…” 

Rhea’s smile turned into a frown. “Your apprehension stings,” she sighed back. “I had expected that Alois would have already requested this of you.”

Jeralt shrugged helplessly. “I have a lot of men that work under me,” he said, by way of explanation. “It will take some time to integrate them with the knights and offer severance pay to those who don’t want to join.”

“You will have Seteth’s support throughout the process,” Rhea said, nodding to the advisor- who gave his own, tight nod. “It will be nice to see you among these halls again, Jeralt.”

Jeralt sighed, looking around. “Can’t say I haven’t missed the place,” he said, his eyes lingering on the bricks and marble of the room. He shook his head, refocusing on the archbishop. “I’ll be ready to start a week from now. Sooner, if I’m able to use some of the church’s accountants.”

Rhea smiled. “That sounds wonderful,” she said. “There are dark times about, Jeralt. I pray that your return will be just what our knights need.”

Jeralt nodded again- tenser, this time- and Rhea nodded back. 

“And you, my child,” she asked, directing her attention to me. “Have you heard what I wish to request of you?”

I shook my head. “Not yet, but I can make an educated guess- you’re looking for a professor, aren’t you?”

Seteth frowned. “Rhea-”

“That is true, yes,” Rhea said, pushing past Seteth’s objection. “And your response?”

I grinned. “I’m happy to accept, if you’ll have me!”

Seteth frowned- no doubt not pleased about the rando taking on one of the most prestigious roles in all of Fódlan- but Rhea smiled and I counted that as a win. Man, I was the most underqualified professor imaginable, wasn’t I?

Wait, no, they hired Manuela. I was fine.

“And as for you, brave mercenary,” Rhea said, turning to Shez. “We wished to extend a similar offer to you. How would you like to attend the Officer’s Academy as a student?”

Shez blinked. “Um-”

“Know that this is not an offer made lightly,” Seteth lectured, a hand over his chest. “The Officer’s Academy is an elite school, made to train the brightest of the next generation of Fódlan.”

Shez frowned, about to say something- probably to turn them down- and I stepped in. “It’s certainly a generous offer,” I pointed out. “And if you join my class then it’s a good way to learn from me- know thy enemy, after all.”

That seemed to spark something in the other mercenary’s eyes- or something in Arval’s mind- and she nodded. “I’ll join, then- if I get to be in the Ashen Demon’s class.”

Seteth sighed. “I’m sure that can be arranged.”

“Now that we have discussed those matters, I must step away to attend to some other business, but I expect that your future colleagues will want a word with you, my child. Please, do listen closely to what they have to say,” she requested, her eyes locking with mine. “They may have eccentric personalities, but they are two of the best in their fields.”

“Return to these chambers tomorrow morning and we can finish going over the duties that the position of professor will take on,” Seteth added, similarly locking eyes with me.

I nodded, already expecting which two colleagues- there were only two other homeroom professors in this school, after all- and she departed with Seteth through a door to the left of the chamber. One that led to his office, if I recalled correctly.

{That was Seiros, hm?} Sothis asked, using Rhea’s saintly name. {She doesn’t look much like her statue.}

{You’d be surprised what a change of clothes can do for someone,} I added. {And besides, that’s intentional- it wouldn’t do for someone else to stumble upon the truth because she looked too similar to some artwork, right?}

Byleth frowned. {She looks too similar for nobody to have ever figured it out,} she said. 

I shrugged. {I’m sure people have figured it out, but they probably thought it was too outlandish to share or were treated as madmen. Who would ever seriously entertain the notion?}

{And not many commoners get to meet the archbishop,} Byleth added.

{That too.}

Next to us, Jeralt let out a heaving sigh, cracking his neck back and forth. “Forced back into the knights of Seiros after all, huh?” he said.

Alois grinned. “It’ll be just like old times, won’t it, captain? You’ve hardly aged a day, after all!”

“It’s a more steady job than being a mercenary, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t like being stuck here,” Jeralt admitted. “And it looks like they’ve got their own plans for you, too,” he added, gesturing to me.

“That’s what I recommended!” Alois laughed, putting his hands on his hips. “ But I am surprised you managed to figure it out- how did you know before Lady Rhea told you?”

I counted on my fingers. “Well, if I was just jumping into the knights, she wouldn’t have brought it up- I would have just been folded in with Jeralt- and at a school, there’s only so many jobs it can be. And, of course, I’m certainly no holy woman.”

“Well, one look at how you spoke with the students, and I was sure you would be perfect for the job!” Alois nodded. “And Lady Rhea agreed, given that our former third professor ran off during the incident with the bandits. Just another thing on the plate of the knights of Seiros. And with the knights already pulled thin over the unrest in the Empire and tracking down the bandit leader, it’s not a-” he sighed melodramatically, his eyes twinkling with merriment as he looked us over- “plate time for it.”

Jeralt pinched his brow. “By the goddess, Alois.”

Alois opened his mouth to say something out- following up that pun, I guessed, even if I wasn’t sure how he would manage it- but before he could the door in the back of the chamber opened and two adults came through, bickering while they walked.

On the left was an older man- late middle aged, if I had to guess, with his hair already long grey. He was wearing a monocle on top of a grey mustache and sideburns, a long taupe jacket worn over a similarly colored suit. His outfit was neat and crisp, like it was just ironed, and he held himself tall- even as he glared at his colleague.

Next to him was a similarly aged woman, her hair done up into a brown bob. She had on a teal dress with a fluffy white shawl over it, the dress clearly picked out with the intention of being enticing long before a general lack of care took over. She wasn’t slovenly, however, by any means, and she held herself just as tall as her compatriot.

Hanneman and Manuela, I presumed, and no prizes for guessing which was which.

“I’m telling you, you old goat-” the woman started.

“Old?” the man gasped.

“-my syllabus from last year is perfectly serviceable! Yes, I’ve read the new studies, but they hardly impact how I should be teaching a beginner level course.”

“Oh, I beg to differ, Maneula! Why, the implications alone-”

“The implications do not matter as much as the practical application, Hanneman!” the woman fires back as the two approach the group. And almost walk straight into Jeralt.

“Ahem,” Jeralt said, politely.

Manuela’s face immediately shifted into a coy smile as she (metaphorically) shoved Hanneman aside. “Our new professor!” she said, batting her eyelashes aggressively as she stepped even closer to Jeralt. “My, how stern and handsome you are. Perhaps you would like to go to the village for a meal with me someti-”

“Manuela!” Hanneman snapped. “Must you insist upon making overtures at every man or man shaped object you encounter? We are here to introduce ourselves, not flirt with our new colleague.”

Manuela rolled her eyes. “I don’t flirt with every man, you unromantic fool. Just the handsome ones. And never objects, obviously."

Hanneman snorted. “That coat rack from last month begs to differ.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Manuela laughed.

“Oh? It wasn’t ‘the most handsome man you’d laid eyes on that evening’,” Hanneman asked, putting air quotes around the word. “Or am I thinking of the time you tried to get with a grandfather clock?”

Manuela recoiled back to say something- some violent outrage, I imagine- but before she could, Jeralt decided to step in. Finally! Someone sane, who could bring the conversation back on track!

“Actually, I’m not the new professor, she is,” he said, clapping me on the back. “Good luck.”

He leaned in close, then, and muttered in my ear. “And watch out for Lady Rhea. She’s up to something, making you a professor like this. Stay on guard.”

With that, he exited the room without another look behind him, and it was just the professors, myself, Alois, and Shez.

Dammit, Jeralt, I was counting on you!

Hanneman, at least, cleared his throat and shook his head, looking appropriately contrite. “My apologies for that… unsightly bickering,” he offered, holding out a hand for me to shake. “My name is Hanneman and I serve as a crest scholar and professor here at Garreg Mach Monastery.” 

I took his hand and shook it firmly. “It’s nice to meet you,” I said. “I’m Byleth Eisner.”

Hanneman smiled. “The pleasure is all mine,” he said, releasing my hand and returning it to his side. “If you don’t mind me asking- do you have a crest of your own?”

“That’s not the sort of question you ask a beautiful young girl, now is it?” Manuela asked, pushing herself into the conversation. With a sparkling smile, she took my hand and gently shook it. “I’m Manuela. A songstress, professor, the physician, and quite available, if you know any handsome mercenaries that you can send my way.”

I nodded, taking my hand back. “It’s a pleasure to meet both of you. And I know I have a crest, though not what it is,” I directed to Hanneman, electing to ignore Manuela’s request. “Is there a way to tell?”

Hanneman’s eyebrows shot upwards and an excited smile spread across his face, his mustache twitching in joy. “Why, of course,” he said, rubbing his chin, seemingly lost in thought. “It wouldn’t take more than five minutes, even. The device is in my office, so drop by at any time, and I’ll happily take your readings.”

I nodded, giving a slight shrug. “It’s probably nothing special, but I’d be happy to. Better to know than not.”

“Believe me, every crest is special,” Hanneman laughed. “That’s why I’ve dedicated my life to studying them, after all.”

Shez raised her hand. “I also may have a crest?” she suggested. “Some sort of weird magic, anyways. It could be related?”

Hanneman nodded. “If it’s Reason magic, I’d be happy to give it a look. That’s not to say that I wouldn’t like to look at Faith or Dark magic, of course, but I’m less familiar with those schools.”

“Couldn’t hurt to have it looked at either way,” I chimed in. “It’s not like it’ll hurt you to get it studied.”

That is, unless Rhea recognizes it as Agarthian magic/tech. She probably won’t, and especially not if Hanneman doesn’t invite her. Hopefully that’s fine? Worst case scenario she finds out about the Agarthans early. And also Shez dies.

I might need to keep an eye on that.

“If you don’t mind, I’d love to be invited if you do look into it,” I requested. “I saw it in action briefly and it looks interesting- something to try and replicate, if nothing else.”

“I don’t see why not,” Hanneman agreed easily. “The more eyes the better, after all.”

Manuela coughed, dragging our attention to her. “Before the three of you get lost in your own little world, we did have something to tell you. Isn’t that right, Hanneman?”

Hanneman’s eyebrows shot up. “Yes, of course,” he said, shaking his head. “How could I have forgotten?”

“Old age,” Manuela muttered.

“Now, I expect that you’ve been told that you’re to lead a house, Byleth, and you’re to join a house, Shez?”

Shez nodded in the affirmative but I shook my head. “I was just told that I was going to be taking up a professorship, not leading a house- I imagine it’s one and the same here?”

“Close to it,” Hanneman said. “You’ll be teaching the core subjects to your students and two or three ‘elective’ courses, as approved by Seteth- optional classes that students of any house may attend. I teach crest studies and a course on archery, for example, and Manuela has a course on singing and one on sword fighting.”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself, Hanneman,” Manuela reminded him. “Do the two of you even know what the house system is?”

Shez shook her head emphatically and I waved a hand back and forth in a so-so gesture. “I have an idea of the basics?” I offered.

Hanneman’s eyes widened momentarily. “Oh! My apologies, then. The house system is a way of organizing students in the Officer’s Academy. Each house has eight students in it, for a total of twenty four students among all three. There’s also a larger number of students outside of the Officer’s Academy who use the same facilities, but are taught by members of the clergy- you won’t be responsible for teaching them.”

“And each house is for a different nation, right?” I asked. “Black Eagles for the Empire, Golden Deer for the Alliance, and Blue Lions for the Kingdom?”

Manuela nodded. “That’s correct. The Black Eagles this year are being led by Edelgard, the imperial princess. The Blue Lions are being led by Dimitri, the heir to the throne of the Faerghus, and Claude- the grandson of the current leader of the Alliance, Duke Riegan- is leading the Golden Deer.”

Hanneman stroked his goatee thoughtfully, a faraway expression on his face. “To think- the next emperor, king, and sovereign duke are all attending this year. It most certainly is a promising year for the academy,” he mused.

Shez’s eyes widened in my peripheral vision- as if it somehow hadn’t occurred to her until just now that all three of the house leaders were the future biggest of big shots. Ah, Shez. Never change.

“Certainly,” Manuela said. “So long as they don’t cause any trouble, anyways!”

The last year Garreg Mach may be in existence. The best of the best- the cream of the crop- for better or for worse. However this year shakes out, it’s going to affect the entire continent.

I can’t wait to see how it goes.

“You’re quite correct,” Hanneman agreed with Manuela. “It just makes it all the more important that we teach them well. Now, Byleth, Shez, I suggest that you take the time to wander the academy and familiarize yourself with the facilities and students that make up Garreg Mach. It would be prudent to learn about your future classmates and students, after all.”

“He has a point,” Manuela admitted. “But have fun! And keep in mind that I’ve only let the house leaders know that you’re both to be joining the Academy. That way you can get a more… informal introduction to the other students. There’s a few odd ducks among them, but they’re good kids.”

I nodded. “Seemed that way, from the way that the leaders talked about everyone.”

“Now,” Hanneman said, adjusting his monocle, “I believe that’s all the business we have for today. The three of us- and Shez- are to return here tomorrow afternoon to properly choose which houses we will be teaching this year, and tomorrow evening all professors have a mandatory staff meeting.”

“Seteth also asked that I come back by the morning so he can finish going over what being a professor will entail,” I added. “And I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some paperwork in the mix.”

“Well, if that’s everything- good luck with your new professorship, Professor,” Manuela said, smiling. “Trust me- with these kids, you’ll need it.”

I grinned, miming a toast. “Hear hear.”

It was a clear night when I stepped outside, my lungs inflating with the cold mountain air. Up above us were stars- pinpricks of light across an infinite curtain of black, stretching throughout the heavens above.

It didn’t take long to find a nice patch of grass, even in the night, and I laid down on it, hands under my head, my back on the grass and my head tilted towards the sky above us.

{What are you doing?} Byleth asked as her ghostly visage sat down to my left, Sothis on my other side.

I held up two hands and stretched them at the sky. {Stargazing!} I grinned, patting the grass next to me. {Lay down for a spell and look up!}

Sothis snorted. {You have a word for looking at the stars?} she asked, crossing her arms but not budging- even as Byleth laid down next to me, looking more like an uncomfortable sardine than a stargazer.

I raised an eyebrow. {You don’t?}

{No! They’re just… balls of fire. They’re nothing special.}

{Au contraire, my friend,} I riposted, sitting up and leaning on my elbows as I turned to her. {They’re as magical as you can get- magic excluded, of course. People all across the world have looked at these same heavens for centuries and made up their own stories about the stars. If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.}

Sothis raised an eyebrow. {Magic is magic,} she said, holding out a hand and conjuring the spectral image of a fireball for emphasis. {Stars are stars.}

{Yeah, well- you get what I mean, don’t you, Byleth?} I asked, turning to my other side.

Byleth frowned. {Not really,} she said, still looking straight up. {You said people told stories?}

{All about the constellations!} I said. {Here, let me-}

I craned my head, looking for something familiar. Great Tree Moon, so late spring, looking for Orion’s belt… nothing. Try as I might, the stars weren’t there.

Then Leo, right? Sickle, body underneath, the lion was a good enough thing so show beginners. Just look for the right pattern and- and nothing again.

I started breathing heavier. I should know these, right? I wasn’t fucking this up?

Ursa Major. The Big Dipper. Easy enough to find if it’s always there, and I can springboard off that to Ursa Minor- both of them are fine constellations and prove my point, if nothing else.

Nothing. No north star, no northern constellations.

I started looking harder. There’s got to be something, right? Some constellation I can show them, something I can riff on. Something familiar in all the stars above me.

{You can’t find any, can you?} Sothis crowed. {So much for finding the stars interesting, hm?}

Nothing. No familiar constellations. 

My breathing came heavier.

Where were they? There had to be- there had to be something. There had to-

It hit me, right then, with a weight I didn’t expect. Of course there weren’t any familiar stars. I was a world away, literally. The corners of my eyes started prickling and I gasped for another breath, trying to stay calm. I wouldn’t be seeing my family again- not my parents, not my sister. I wouldn’t be visiting that coffee shop on the corner by my apartment again. I wouldn’t be attending any more classes at my university.

Faster and faster my breaths came, even as I tried to disguise them. Even as I tried to get myself under control.

Where were the stars that I knew?

{Are you okay, Merrick?} Byleth asked quietly.

I waved her off. {Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, just… just looking for something. Give me a second. They’ve got to be here somewhere.}

{The constellations?} Sothis asked, her face growing serious.

{Yeah, yeah, there’s got to be one from back home, right? Something I can tell you guys about.}

I furiously rubbed the drops from my face and looked again. 

{I’m sure I can find it, just give me a second.}

Nothing. Nada. No constellations- no stars, even, that I recognized. None of the familiar planets were in the sky.

My breathing came even heavier. Something- had to be something.

{It’s not there, is it,} Byleth said. {The sky you recognize.}

{It’s almost the same,} I whispered raspily. {Just different enough to be unrecognizable.}

Byleth put a hand on my shoulder and I used that touch to ground me, forcing myself to get my breathing back under control even as the alien sky above taunted me. This wasn’t the time to be moping around- I was in Fódlan! A world of actual magic and swords and sorcery! Just because the stars were a little different- well, that was no reason to be complaining!

…Right?

{I used to study the stars, back home,} I said, eventually. {We called it Astronomy.}

I reached out, as if I could brush away this alien sky and see the familiar shapes of home underneath it.

{But now I don’t recognize any of the stars. Ironic, huh? The one skill I have that might have been useful here- gone in an instant.}

I paused for another second and the hand wavered before falling back to the grass.

{I’m never going home, am I?} I asked, my eyesight black under the weight of my arm.

Byleth and Sothis shared a glance at each other over my head before Sothis sighed, running a finger through her hair.

{It is… not likely, no,} she said. {But magic can do many great things. And I vow you’ll have us, for as long as you’re here.}

{And you’ll have the students,} Byleth added. {And Jeralt. And Hanneman and Manuela and Seteth and Alois, if you can stand his puns.}

I started laughing, desperately, at that- even though it wasn’t very funny, but it was better than crying. {Byleth Eisner!} I said, grinning as I took the arm off my face and looked over at her. {Was that a joke I heard?}

{I have no idea what you’re talking about,} Byleth responded, straight faced, still laying in the grass next to me.

I shook my head and smiled. Slowly, I took a shaky breath, then another. {Thanks, guys,} I said. {Both of you. I’m lucky to have you.}

{Of course you are, you fool,} Sothis sighed. {Now, get up. We have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow, don’t we?}

I laughed, slapping my cheeks and wiping away the last couple of tears from my face. {Sure is, my friend. Busy day after busy day, isn’t it?}

{Better than boring days,} Byleth chipped in.

I grinned. {You said it. Let’s go face the unknown, shall we?}

Above us, a shooting star flashed by, and beyond it, the night sky twinkled on.

Chapter Text

White Clouds.

The Earth, Sun, and Stars a.

Great Tree Moon, 1180.

The heavy oak door to the reception chamber had scarcely closed behind Seteth and Rhea before the younger Nabatean was rounding upon the archbishop, his feet echoing upon the hardwood floor of the archbishop’s office.

“Are you insane, Rhea?” Seteth hissed, throwing his hands in the air. The fact that Garreg Mach’s newest professor might still linger in the audience chamber was the only reason that he didn’t raise his voice further. “Choosing a stranger as our new professor- one not even twenty years of age, and on the recommendation of Alois alone- to lead one of the houses of our esteemed academy?”

The question, though harsh, was a burning sentiment- why, Seteth wasn’t sure that Byleth herself had even been informed that she was being eyed for the teachership position! And beyond the massive risk that hiring a complete stranger was for the Officer’s Academy, there was also the paperwork, a background check that needed to be run, inquiries to be made into the old professor that abandoned their students, and all of that on top of the general start of term business… Seteth knew that he would not be getting much sleep for the next few weeks. Or months.

Rhea smiled that infuriating smile she had, as though she was someone beyond the earthly concerns that you were making, as though she and she alone had seen the future and was just waiting for you to catch up. “I understand your concern, Seteth, and I understand that worrying comes naturally to you,” Rhea calmly replied as she sat down in her chair and stared at Seteth across her oaken desk. “But believe in me. There is no cause for concern- this ‘stranger’ that you speak of is no stranger, after all; they are Jeralt’s flesh and blood.”

Seteth laughed hysterically, his voice reaching higher and higher pitches as he paced. “And is this Jeralt character really as trustworthy as you seem to feel he is? He disappeared twenty one years ago- after a devastating fire, no less, when the monastery needed him! Can you really trust him not to abandon us again? Let me remind you: Flayn is here with us now. Is this truly a necessary risk?” 

“I trust him, Seteth, and I trust his child. Let that be enough for you,” Rhea responded, shutting down the conversation. 

“And their compatriot?” Seteth asked, turning to Rhea. “The mercenary, the one called Shez? The one not at all related to Jeralt?”

Rhea smiled. “Is it not our wont to do good deeds, Seteth? And besides, I believe that they will be quite the asset to the Academy, if the way that Alois sang praises about them is any indication.”

Seteth sighed, finally taking the seat across from Rhea and sitting in it heavily. “That man sings praises about everyone, Rhea,” he said, massaging his brow. “He told me that Jertiza was a hilarious man, once you got to know him.”

Rhea concealed a smile behind her hand. “Is that a hint of annoyance I sense, Seteth?”

“Just the man being as unpersonable as usual,” Seteth responded. “He had scarcely heard that our third professor had run off before he was at my door requesting the position- in his usual blunt fashion, of course.”

Rhea frowned. “That is quite out of character for him, is it not?” she asked. “I am surprised that he would desire the position.”

Seteth shrugged helplessly. “Perhaps he believed it would give him the chance to regularly spar with some students?” he asked. “It appears he’ll be getting that chance regardless, given the nature of some of our students this year.”

“The students are quite exciting this year, are they not?” Rhea asked. “The three heirs to the thrones of Fódlan, all at this fine academy…”

Seteth nodded. “And with the millennium festival in half a decade… it will be quite the exciting year. And the busy one.”

“Speaking of the year in front of us, I have received a report from Shamir,” Rhea said, clasping her hands in front of her.

Seteth nodded. “About our suspicious individual?” he asked, leafing through some paperwork and pulling out the report in question. “Unfortunately, our malefactor seems to be quite adept in hiding their tracks. My investigations haven’t returned any new information yet beyond what we’ve already discussed.” 

“We must get to the bottom of this soon,” Rhea reminded Seteth. “We cannot allow people to harbor ill will towards the Church, especially if they frequent Garreg Mach.” 

Seteth sighed heavily. “I agree,” he said, standing from his seat. “I shall continue my investigation as quickly as I can- perhaps Alois or Catherine will be an asset to the search, now that Jeralt’s returned and they have more time.” 

“Remember to request that they keep it quiet,” Rhea warned. “We do not need rumors spreading throughout the monastery.”

“They’ll keep it discreet if I remind them,” Seteth said, before pausing. “Well, they’ll attempt to.”

Rhea grabbed his wrist with a harsh grip, and for a moment, there was a hint of the woman that saw the Massacre behind her eyes. “Remind them, Seteth. Remember that we cannot tolerate dangerous individuals like this within our walls.”

“I remember, Rhea,” Seteth responded, his gaze hardening as he met her eyes. “I will not put Flayn at risk by letting them live.”

They held each other’s gaze for a moment before Rhea looked away, her gaze returning to the desk. “Good… good,” she said her voice a million miles away. “And now that Byleth has returned to us… and Jeralt, of course…”

Seteth turned to the door, his hand touching the doorknob. How long had it been since Rhea said anything that wasn’t supremely confident? She always was a pillar of support for the other survivors, the other Saints, but now Seteth wonders… when was the last time she confided in another? Wilhelm, certainly, but after that?

Was it Jeralt? Was that why she was blinded to the danger? Too many questions, and all the answers have been lost in that haze of grief and fear he spent so many centuries in, hiding away in Zanado with Flayn.

He took his hand off the doorknob and sighed, turning back to Rhea. “Jeralt… you have not seen him in many years, correct? Are you sure he’s still the same man that you once knew?”

“I gave my blood to him, Seteth,” Rhea responded, her gaze hardening. “He is the same man he has always been.”

Seteth pursed his lips. “For now, I shall trust in the faith that you’re putting in them,” he decided, finally. “I pray that nothing shall shake that trust.” 

Perhaps it will be nothing. Perhaps Jeralt truly will be better for Rhea. And perhaps Seteth the worrywart will be worrying over nothing and he’ll be able to shake this feeling that the Officer’s Academy itself is dangling on the edge of some enormous precipice that he is too blind to see.

And as he swung open the door- as he left the office behind him, and Rhea with it- he failed to hear her whispered response.

“As do I…”

“Flayn, I have returned,” Seteth called, opening the door to the quarters he shared with his daughter and hanging his outer robe on the coatrack. “Have you eaten dinner?”

The quarters were small- barely an apartment, and certainly not suitable for more than two or three people. There were their bedrooms, of course, and a small common area that they shared with a couch and a table, two chairs around it. A fire roared merrily in the fireplace, candles lit around the room and indicating that his daughter had been reading for quite some time, if the amount that they had burned down meant anything.

Flayn nodded, barely looking up from the book she had spread on the table. “I have, father,” she called back.

“Brother,” Seteth reminded her. “Even when we are alone.”

Flayn’s nose crinkled up in disgust. “But-”

“The walls may very well have ears,” Seteth reminded her. “I have not gone through so much to lose you like I lost your mother.”

There was a tense moment- there always was, when the topic of Elatha came up- but eventually Flayn gave a nod and returned to her story.

“What are you reading?” Seteth asked, sitting next to her at the table.

Flayn smiled, holding her book shut to show the title. “A collection of chivalric tales!” she said. “One of the incoming students was kind enough to recommend it to me.”

Seteth frowned suspiciously. “What was their name?”

“Ashe.”

Seteth placed the name immediately- he knew the roster better than the back of his own hand, at this point. “Ashe Ubert? Flayn, what have I told you about socializing with boys?” Seteth asked, crossing his arms.

Flayn frowned. “And what have I told you, Father-”

“-Brother!” Seteth hissed. “Do not forget again-”

“Brother,” Flayn stressed. “I am old enough to make my own choices! And he was very kind, if you must know. Exactly the kind of student that I would hope to have as my peer when I join the Officer’s Academy.”

Seteth scoffed. “Flayn, we have talked about this before, many times. I do not wish to retread old arguments-”

“And neither do I, but you’ve never given me an answer, Brother,” Flayn growled, again stressing the word. “When will I be old enough to join the Officer’s Academy? You know how old Lysithea is; it would not be odd for me to join with her!”

“Lysithea is a special case-”

“And I am not?” Flayn shouted, tiny pricks of moisture in the corner of her eyes. “I cannot be hidden away like this forever as if I was some sort of- some sort of princess in an ivory tower!”

Seteth looked away from his daughter, his eyes alighting upon one of the few pieces of furniture in the room- a statuette, above the mantle, of the four saints. He found his eyes tracing over the form of Cethlean, her caduceus held high, and he deflated in his chair.

Her face was youthful, full of childlike innocence and a wide eyed look at the world. What would she have done, had she been allowed to attend Garreg Mach? What kind of a woman would she be, had she not taken that last hit for him from that mage?

His eyes traced over Cichol next to her- so young, so brave. He wondered what that man would have thought, just after he lost his wife, before he almost lost Flayn to his own carelessness. To his own foolhardiness. 

“My opinion on the matter is final, Flayn,” he said, quietly, not meeting her eyes. “You will not be joining the Officer’s Academy this year, or perhaps any year after.”

With a harsh clattering, Flayn stood up from her chair and stormed towards her room, the door slamming shut behind her.

And Seteth merely stayed in his chair, his hand on his forehead, and he wondered why- despite their many long years- his daughter could not see that he was protecting her for her own good.

Chapter Text

White Clouds.

Here Be Dragons i.

Great Tree Moon, 1180.

{And they all just turn into dust,} I finished, crossing my ghostly arms.

Sothis hummed. {A better fate than Nemesis deserved,} she said.

The morning after we arrived at the monastery dawned far too early for me or Sothis to deal with, but Byleth was a morning person, luckily enough, so we were halfway through breakfast by the time I actually needed to be conscious. After that, with Sothis now around and present, we took the time to fake-read a book in the dining hall while I ran down the plot of Three Houses.

The dining hall was mostly empty- it was that weird between-time after breakfast but too early for lunch- which meant that me and Sothis had mostly free reign to float around without accidentally flying through people. The room itself was quite spacious, three long wooden tables lined parallel with each other serving as the main eating spaces, with big bay windows on either side letting in streams of sunlight and keeping the room well illuminated.

For the moment, though, we had a conversation to finish. {I’m not going to disagree with that,} I said, crossing my legs under me and glancing towards Sothis. {He was definitely a right bastard.}

Byleth turned the page in her book- some sort of treatise on magic, diagrams and all- and frowned. {And that was it?} she asked.

{Mostly,} I shrugged. {Claude gets all excited, relationships between Fódlan and Almyra are never better, and that’s the end of what we see.}

{And that makes seven paths that you have taken us down, does it not?} Sothis asked. 

I nodded. {Four if we finish the school year, three if we don’t. We want to aim for the end of year ones.}

The longer the students spent together, after all, the more they’d have to interact with each other. If we can get some class exchanges together then at the very least each house is going to have some pause when they fight their former classmates during the war; ideally, we get the house leaders talking and then they decide to work together to save Fódlan. After all, most of their goals fundamentally align.

{What about Shez?} Byleth asked. {She’s not in those, is she?}

I crossed my arms and let myself rotate in a vertical circle. {I’m not sure,} I admitted. {She’s a bit of a wild card for us. I’m hoping she’ll be a force to help us- well, assuming she doesn’t start seriously trying to kill us any time soon.}

{Yes, and what’s our timeline before our student turns into a ticking time bomb dedicated to killing me?} Sothis asked. {I’d rather like to know that one.}

I shrugged, fully upside down by now. {Originally, Arval regains their memories around four months after Shez and Byleth formally ally… which should be two years from now. I don’t think we can count on that.}

{Something to watch out for?} Byleth asked.

{Yeah- given that the strategy they leaned towards was “stab but more” before throwing us into Zahras- something that’s definitely escapable between the three of us- we should be able to get out no problem.}

I did wonder if my presence would make it easier or harder to escape from Zahras, and besides that, if Arval would even be able to find an Agarthian to sacrifice to cast the spell. Did it need to be Agarthian? Or was it a coincidence that they kept sacrificing each other? Interesting question.

Sothis opened her mouth to say something else but before she could, the bells above the cathedral began ringing.

{Tenth hour,} Byleth noted, counting the bells.

I nodded. {Meeting time. Want me to handle this one?}

Wordlessly, Byleth slipped out of her body and I slipped in, wiggling first my fingers, then my ears, before finally cracking my neck back and forth. The feeling of weightfulness was staggering, as was the difference in body shape, but it wasn’t something I would trade. Much better than being a ghost and more than worth the flying trade off. Well, mostly worth the flying trade off.

I got out of my seat and closed the book with a sense of finality, stowing it in the interior of Byleth’s jacket. {Let’s do this, shall we?}

The staircase to the archbishop’s audience chamber was just as long and cramped as yesterday and I found myself running a hand along the limestone as I climbed. It was mined from somewhere nearby, that much was obvious- the entire monastery was made of the stuff- but it wasn’t obvious where. Did they transport it mundanely?

An image popped into my mind of the Immaculate One flying over the mountains, a load of bricks clutched in its claws, and I stifled a chuckle. Probably not how it actually happened, though I supposed a holy beast helping to build Garreg Mach would lend credence to it being the central authority for the Church.

At the top of the stairs, the cramped corridor opened into a wider room, the archbishop’s private chambers just next to it. The meeting room itself was nearly exactly the same as yesterday, including the statues of Seiros and the beautiful stained glass in the back, morning light shining through it. To my untrained eye, the only difference was that the doors to the room were open instead of closed- the archbishop was taking visitors now- and there were half a dozen clergy members milling around and talking in hushed tones. 

As with yesterday, Rhea stood at the end of the room with Seteth to her right and she smiled as she recognized me coming up the stairs. I smiled back and started towards her, nodding to Guildenstern and Rosencrantz- or someone else, because the guards probably changed- as I stepped through the doorway. With a feeling of heady anticipation, I walked down the length of the room towards Rhea, a smile on my face. “Good morning, your excellency,” I said, giving a slight bow as I did so.

Rhea nodded in return. “Good morning to you as well, Professor,” she said calmly, even as Seteth glowered at my, well, probably incorrect formalities.

I had a sneaking suspicion that the man would corner me and drill the actual manners I was supposed to be using into my head at some point. I mean, I wasn’t being overtly informal, but there were surely half a dozen little rules I was breaking just by waltzing in here being me. No ghosts in the church was probably one of them, even.

“I trust that you slept well?” Rhea continued, dragging me back into the present.

I chuckled slightly, rubbing the back of my neck. “Pretty well for a new place, your excellency,” I responded. “I’m mostly used to sleeping outside- the hazard of a mercenary lifestyle- so having a bed was different, but I’m sure I’ll adjust quickly.”

Rhea nodded. “I’m quite sorry to hear that your life has been so difficult,” she said. “I hope that in time this academy will truly start to feel like a home to you. Now-” she began, but before she could continue, my big mouth opened.

“Did you sleep well?” I asked, the words slipping out of my mouth before I could really examine them.

“I did,” Rhea said, slightly taken aback by that question. There probably weren’t a lot of people interrupting the archbishop. Or asking her how she slept, come to think of it. “Thank you for asking.”

I nodded. 

“Now, I trust that both of your colleagues informed you about your duties as you begin teaching at the Officer’s Academy?”

“They did,” I confirmed. “Well, the basics- I may have some questions for you, Seteth, about the specifics that I’m supposed to teach.”

Seteth nodded once sharply. “I’ll prepare a syllabus for you, professor,” he said. “It isn’t an incredibly taxing curriculum, though I do trust that you will educate your students up to our standards.”

“I’ll do my best!” I grinned.

“Before you concern yourself with that, professor, your first task will be choosing which house you wish to lead,” Rhea reminded. “Today, I ask that you familiarize yourself with your new home here at Garreg Mach and the students currently attending the Officer’s Academy.”

I nodded. Garreg Mach was already a much more detailed place than the representation in the video game, and I imagine the cast of students will be similarly enriched by being real- it’d be interesting to get to know them before they have that baggage of me being the professor. Well, except for the house leaders, but I’m willing to bet that all three of them would be able to figure that I was their new teacher even without Rhea telling them.

“At three o’clock this afternoon, return to this chamber and you shall pick which house you wish to lead, alongside Professor Hanneman and Manuela,” Rhea finished.

I nodded one last time. “Meet the students, learn the monastery grounds, return here at three,” I repeated back. “I think I’ve got it.”

“Then you are dismissed.”

I turned to leave the room through the way I came but I had scarcely made it more than three steps before Rhea’s voice called my name again.

“Professor?” she asked. “Before you leave- please, take in the grounds to the fullest. I pray that you enjoy your time here at Garreg Mach.”

I shot a grin back at her over my shoulder. “Thanks, Lady Rhea,” I said, dropping the formality just a little. “I’m sure it’ll be quite the experience.”

I ambled my way back out of the reception chamber and towards the dining hall with anticipation buzzing in my chest. I’d already met some of the students I’d be working with this year- the lords and Shez, of course- but that didn’t mean I wasn’t interested to meet the rest.

{So! First order of business is meeting up with the house leaders, I suppose,} I wondered. {We can figure out where the other students are from there.}

{And how do you plan to find them, exactly?} she asked.

I shrugged. {Wandering around until we bump into them!} I grinned, pushing open the doors to the courtyard that looked out on the classrooms. {They’ll show up eventually.}

{Eventually is a strong word,} Sothis countered. {Surely there’s a better way-}

“Well, what have we here?” a rather familiar voice rang out. “Is that a familiar face I spot?”

With an easygoing smile on his face and the light thud of his feet hitting the grass, Claude slipped out of a tree and landed next to us, quickly popping back up to his full height. “How’s it going, my friend?” he asked.

I nodded to him with a smile. “Pretty good! Going around meeting the rest of the attendees of the Officer’s Academy. How’s your morning been?”

“Pretty pleasant, actually,” Claude said, putting his hands behind the back of his head and grinning. “More so now that I’ve run into you, Teach.”

I raised an eyebrow. “‘Teach’, huh?”

Claude held up his hands shamelessly. “Hey, if you’re going to  be a professor, might as well call you the part. So, tell me, what brings you around to the academic side of the monastery?"

“Looking for you, actually,” I said, smiling. “Well, you and the other two house leaders- I’m trying to get a feel for your classmates.”

Claude’s smile widened. “Scoping out your students, huh?” he asked, nodding. “Not a half bad plan. I suppose I should reintroduce myself, then,” he added as we started to walk towards the classrooms. “Like I mentioned earlier, I’m Claude von Riegan, heir to the ruling house of the Leicester Alliance, but don’t worry too much about that pomp and circumstance around us Alliance folk.” 

He paused for a second before shaking his head. “Well, except for Lorenz,” he amended.

“He stands on ceremony?” I asked.

Claude laughed. “That’s one word for it,” he said. “If you want to know precisely what manner to use when, that’s your guy. He can be a bit off putting on first meeting, but he’s a good guy underneath it all. Deep, deep underneath it.”

I hummed in assent- that sounded like Lorenz, alright- and we walked in silence before Claude started talking again.

“Actually, tell me, Teach- do you know what house you’re going to teach yet?”

I gave him a light shrug. “Not quite yet- I think Lady Rhea said that I’ll know tonight,” I said, carefully picking my words. I wasn’t sure if Claude was familiar with the selection process- specifically, the selection portion of it- but picking one house over the others wasn’t something I wanted to share around.

“That’s when our purple haired friend- Shez- said that she’ll learn her house, too,” Claude remarked, walking along. “Think she wanted to be in your house. Speaking of: any idea what’s up with your ‘mutual friend Arval’?” he asked, signing the air quotes. “It’s a pretty uncommon name for this part of Fódlan, isn’t it?”

I chuckled lightly- so that’s what Claude was angling the conversation to, huh?- and shrugged my shoulders. “Nothing Shez won’t tell you herself, and she’s being tight lipped about it, isn’t she?”

“She doesn’t know anything, more like,” Claude complained. 

I shrugged. “I’m in the same boat,” I lied, “but you’ll be the second to learn if I figure anything out. After Shez, of course,” I added.

Claude elbowed me. “C’mon, Teach- give me something. You have any theories, at least?”

I held my hands up helplessly as we reached the classrooms. “Nothing.”

“I’ll just keep asking until you give me something…” Claude threatened. He opened his mouth to add even more, but before he could, a voice called his name.

“Claude!” a, well, rather snobbish voice called out. Immediately, Claude clocked where the voice was coming from and did the only logical thing: try to hide behind me. “Claude, I can see you,” Lorenz continued, striding up to Claude, an orange haired boy with tousled curls just behind him. “There’s no point in hiding from me.”

“I just dropped something, Lorenz,” Claude returned, standing up with a casual grin. “What’s up?”

Lorenz’s haircut was, somehow, worse in person than through a screen. Purple in color, the boy’s angular face was framed with a middle part on almost a bowl cut, leading to a travesty that really should have gotten a hairdresser fired. On the whole, Lorenz wasn’t an ugly teenager- high cheekbones and a long face made him seem a little bit stretched out, sure, but it worked for him.

At least, until he smiled at me in the most snobbish way I had ever seen and I immediately hated him. Goddammit, Lorenz.

“Oh! I didn’t see you there. You must be the renowned mercenary that rescued Claude, yes?” Lorenz asked, holding out his hand. “My name is Lorenz Hellman Gloucester. You will want to remember it.”

I gave a tight smile. “Byleth Eisner,” I responded, trying to not make it obvious how much his general vibes were putting me off. I’m not sure if I was succeeding, but it certainly seemed like he hadn’t noticed. I took his hand with the intention of shaking it and instead shivered as Lorenz brought my hand up and kissed it.

Goddammit, Lorenz.

“And I am Ferdinand von Aegir,” Ferdinand beamed, his voice booming as he smiled widely. “The legitimate son of the Aegir family, the Empire’s foremost house! The Black Eagle house as a whole owes you a great debt for rescuing our house leader from those bandits. Please, let me know if there’s anything I can do to repay your assistance.”

I waved him off with a more genuine smile. “It was nothing,” I said. “I’m just glad I could help.”

“It was not nothing!” Ferdinand protested, putting his hands on his hips. “That took a great deal of strength and courage! Speaking of, the Empire could use more talented people like you. Have you ever considered-”

“Edelgard already tried recruiting me to the Empire, I’m afraid,” I cut him off. “Unfortunately, I have some other obligations at the moment, but I appreciate the offer.”

Ferdinand nodded, trying not to let the disappointment show on his face. “Well! Thank you for considering it, at the very least.”

Lorenz crossed his arms. “House Gloucester is also looking for talented people,” he said, quite bluntly. “If you are interested, do not hesitate to let me know.”

I nodded to him for that but didn’t deign it with a further response. If I wasn’t going to go to the Alliance for Claude, I definitely wasn’t going to go for Lorenz. There was a reason he wasn’t the house leader.

Okay, no, that was starting to get too mean. Lorenz was a bit of a douche right now, but that just meant we needed to kickstart his character development! Sooner rather than later, preferably. Eugh.

“If that’s all, we really need to get going,” Claude said, gesturing with his hands a vague concept of ‘away’. “Places to meet, people to see…”

Lorenz shook his head. “Not this time, Claude. I have need of you.”

“Of moi?” Claude asked, putting a hand above his heart.

“Yes, Lorenz has informed me that you are lacking in noble etiquette!” Ferdinand said, putting his hands on his hips. “Something we must remedy immediately, if you are to be representing the Alliance at this Academy!”

“Ah, well, I wish I could,” Claude said, glancing around, “but Byleth has already asked for my help with learning her way around!”

I considered Claude. And then I considered the fact that he threatened to annoy me into revealing what I knew about Arval to him and decided that I didn’t like him that much.

“No, no, I think I can let him go,” I said, my tone making it very clear why I was doing this to him. “You guys have fun!”

Ferdinand beamed. “Oh, we shall!” he said, grabbing Claude’s arm and hoisting him to his feet. “Come now! It is time to learn the duties of being a noble!”

“But I already know the duties…” Claude weakly protested as the two started to drag him off and I gave him a little wave.

{...Will he be okay?} Byleth asked.

I shrugged. {Probably!} I decided, turning my attention to the classrooms. 

The first two classrooms- the Golden Deer and the Blue Lions- were both empty of students, though inspection showed that the rooms were practically identical. Each room had a big bay window in the back, a raised desk behind it for the professor. Fireplaces roared merrily in each wall, keeping the room pleasantly warm despite the cool mountain air, and I counted at least four Lion or Deer banners in each room.

{Something something house pride,} I offered to Byleth and Sothis, getting faint senses of amusement in return.

As I exited the Blue Lions classroom, I had to dodge out of the way of a couple of brown haired students as they tried to enter and I frowned. I’d been seeing them around the monastery, but I assumed (for some reason) that they were just junior members of the clergy. Were they those people that Manuela was lecturing during the opening CGs? Who were they, anyways?

I frowned, deep in thought as I entered the third and final classroom. It was the same as the first two- Black Eagle banners and all- but unlike them, had two occupants. In the far corner of the room, conversing in hushed tones, was Edelgard and Hubert, the two bent over some sort of parchment.

“Good morning!” I called, strolling up to the two of them and banishing my questions aside. “I hope the two of you slept well?”

“Ah, Professor,” Edelgard greeted me as I walked up. “I heard that you’re accepting a teaching position here. More’s the pity; I was hoping I might tempt you to lend your strength to the Empire, after all.” 

I chuckled at that, my eyes taking note of how Hubert repositioned himself in an obviously practiced way to block my view of what was on the map- had I not been looking out for it, I wouldn’t have even noticed.

“I kinda got dragged into this one,” I explained, rubbing the back of my neck. “Still, I wouldn’t be too upset about forging connections. You never know, I might take you up on that offer once my contract here runs out,” I added. “But keep the whole professorship on the down low, yeah? Not sure you’re supposed to go around telling everyone.”

Hubert bristled at the accusation, his sallow face twisting at the implication. “There is no need to worry,” he said. “I would never dream of sharing Her Highness’s secrets.” 

I nodded to him. “I’m sure you wouldn’t,” I said, trailing off to request his name. 

He dipped into a rigid bow- precisely the angle that courtesy said he must be at, I would wager. “Hubert von Vestra,” he introduced himself, straightening up. “I am a humble servant of Lady Edelgard. You have my sincere thanks for coming to the aid of Her Highness.” 

I grinned, waving off Hubert. “Ah, don’t worry about that,” I said with a smile. “Right time, right place, and all that. And I’m sure you wouldn’t share her secrets, of course, but you know what they say- three can keep a secret if two of them are dead.” 

A low chuckle escaped Hubert at that, his face twisting into a mirthless smile. “I don’t believe I’ve heard that one before, Professor,” he said.

I shrugged, giving him a brilliant smile. “I’m sure I picked it up somewhere.”

“Yes, of course,” Hubert said, still pinning me with that same gaze. 

Did he think I was a member of Those Who Slither? It would explain why I had that knowledge I did of Arval, of course, but I don’t think that Edelgard and Hubert were able to piece together Shez’s origins in canon even after the war started. It could also just be that he’s a paranoid kid- that was his job to contrast Edelgard, after all, and I’ve already (hopefully) made her a fan of me.

“Now, did you need something, Professor?” Edelgard asked. “Do you want to know any more about any of the Black Eagles?” 

Right, back on topic.

I nodded, refocusing on Edelgard. “I was mostly here to see if there were any Eagles around- Rhea told me to go visit the students, after all- but I did actually have a question about how this professor-ship thing works. Who all am I going to be teaching? I’ve heard there’s people in each house but there’s also other students running around the place?” 

“You’ll only be responsible for the eight members of your house,” Edelgard explained. “The house is made up of students from each nation, but those aren’t the only students at the academy. The other students- which you may have seen around- still use the same classrooms and facilities, but are taught by members of the clergy, rather than professors that are particularly suited to individual topics such as leadership.” 

I scratched my chin, mulling that over. “Makes sense, I suppose,” I said out loud- more for Edelgard’s benefit than my own- “since Fodlan’s big enough that there’re plenty of students that need an education beyond the twenty four officially enrolled.”

I shook my head at that, trying to refocus. 

“Anyways, time enough to ponder that when I’m sleeping and/or dead- there’s stuff to get done right now. Do you know where the rest of the students have gotten off to?”

Edelgard frowned. “I believe that Dorothea, Petra, and Bernadetta went to visit the greenhouses,” she offered. “Hubert?”

“Many of the Blue Lions went to visit the Training Grounds earlier,” he offered. “And I would not be surprised if you found Caspar and Shez there with them.”

The way he worded it made it sound like that was just a guess, but knowing Hubert, it was likely as good as gospel. Unless he needed to hide one of them from me for some nefarious reason.

I nodded to both of them. “Then I’ll check those spots. Thanks!”

“Do you need any assistance with navigating the monastery?” Edelgard asked.

I frowned, considering that, before shaking my head. “I’ve got a general idea of the location of things and there’s no better way to commit it to memory than exploring. I appreciate the offer, though.”

Edelgard smiled. “Then I’ll see you around, my teacher,” she smiled.

I grinned back at her and gave a jaunty wave as I left the classroom. “See you around!”

{So? Which way will you choose first?} Sothis asked, swirling around me as her ghostly self.

I frowned, examining both directions. {Only one way to decide!}

{And that is…}

{Eeiny meeny mieny moe…} I began counting.

I got the impression that Sothis was rolling her eyes. {Of course,} she said. 

{...the very best one and you… are… it!} I finished with a flourish, pointing towards the greenhouses. “That way!” I said, crossing my arms.

Sothis sighed. {Then let’s finally get moving, shall we?}

{Hey, you didn’t have any better ideas,} I countered. 

{I could have picked a direction on my own and not relied on some childish game!} Sothis countered.

{Nuh-uh!} I fired back.

The two of us continued bickering good naturedly as I walked towards the greenhouses, the great stones of Garreg Mach around me and behind me. Every step that I took was steeped in history, I reminded myself as I walked through the grassy quad in front of the classrooms. Almost a thousand years of it, in fact- by far the oldest structure that I’d ever been in.

I took a right after I passed the end of the classrooms and then a left, walking alongside the student dormitories towards the lake and the greenhouses, the stones steady on my shoes. They were weathered, each and every one of them, but clearly well-maintained; I would wager that they were replaced every so often by some of the knights.

{Students up ahead,} Byleth located, pointing. {There.}

Reclined on one of the benches that dotted the monastery grounds was a pink haired girl, her hair was done up into two big pigtails, one on either side of her head, and she lifted her head as I approached. Sitting in front of her was a boy with olive hair and big round glasses, a sketch pad held in front of him as he tried to draw the girl in front of him.

“Good afternoon!” I called, approaching the two with a grin. “How are you two doing?”

“Oh!” Ignatz said, jumping a little bit before his head spun around to see me. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you approaching.”

Hilda sat up, stretching a little bit as she did so. “Hey, you’re the mercenary that everyone’s buzzing about, right?” she asked, looking me over. “The one that saved Claude.”

“I heard about that!” Ignatz said, standing up and holding out a hand for me to shake. “It’s such an honor to meet you! My name’s Ignatz Victor. My parents are merchants from the Alliance.” 

I shook Ignatz’s hand and then turned to Hilda, who nodded. “I’m Hilda Valentine Goneril,” she said, giving a lazy wave but making no move to get up from her bench. “Are you joining the Knights of Seiros or something?”

“Something like that,” I returned, giving my best approximation of a mysterious smile. “Right now, I’m just going around and meeting all of the students in the Officer’s Academy.”

Hilda nodded. “Well, you’ve met us,” she said. 

“I have! What are you guys up to?”

Hilda glanced at Ignatz, who smiled nervously. “I asked Hilda to, well, model for me,” he explained. “I’m a painter, you see- as a hobby, of course- and she agreed as long as I did some chores for her.”

“It’s a pretty good gig!” Hilda added, putting her hands behind her head and laying back down on the bench. “All I need to do is lay here for a couple of hours doing nothing.”

“I really do appreciate it, Hilda,” Ignatz added. “Thank you.”

I nodded to the two of them. “Well, I’ll leave you two to it. Hope the picture turns out well, Ignatz!”

“Thank you!” Ignatz returned.

“See you around the monastery!” Hilda chimed in.

I grinned. “Count on it!” I called as I backed away and continued onwards, aiming for the greenhouses.

They were already in sight- great glass buildings just outside of the lake- and I couldn’t help but wonder how expensive they were. Glass was expensive in pre-industrial society, right? Was that still the case in Fódlan and Garreg Mach was absolutely loaded- which, to be fair, it was either way- or was glass cheaper around here?

{Do you guys know how expensive glass is?}

{No,} Byleth returned immediately

{I’ve been asleep for several centuries!} Sothis returned.

I frowned. {And?}

{Of course not, you dunce!}

I shrugged. {Okay, yeah, not sure what I was thinking.}

With those friendly thoughts in my mind I stepped into the greenhouse, the glass building full of plants and foliage with cobblestone paths running between the large planters. The air was hot and a little bit humid, despite the crisp chill outside- better for taking care of plants, I supposed- and I made sure to close the door firmly behind me.

{It will be difficult to find students in here,} Sothis commented, peering around as she manifested her ghostly body.

I shrugged. {Best way to begin is by beginning!} I grinned, before picking a direction at random and ambling that way. Statistically speaking, the greenhouse couldn’t be that big; I could see all four walls from the entrance, after all. So long as the plants weren’t too large it wouldn’t be hard to stumble upon people.

That hunch paid out soon enough and I rounded a rather large elephant ear plant to encounter a trio of students: a girl with purple hair crouching by a set of pitcher plants, an older girl with a hat and long brown hair talking to her in hushed tones, and a girl with darker skin and magenta hair standing up awkwardly like she didn’t know how to join in.

“Hello!” I called, making enough noise to intentionally not startle Bernadetta. For all the good that that was going to do, anyways, when it came to the skittish girl.

As expected, she startled at my voice and threw up her arms up over her face to try and shield herself. Dorothea and Petra looked at me curiously, and then back at Bernadetta, and then back at me.

“Well, you don’t look familiar,” Dorothea noted with an interested smile. “My name is Dorothea. And this is…” 

“I-I don’t talk to strangers!” Bernadetta yelped, practically shaking in her boots.

Petra nodded to me. “And my name is being Petra!” she said, putting a hand over her heart and bowing slightly. “I am pleased to be meeting you- no, I am pleased to have met you,” she corrected herself.

“D-don’t hurt me…” Bernadetta whimpered.

Dorothea sighed. “Bern, she’s not going to hurt you,” she said, crouching down and rubbing the smaller girl’s back reassuringly. “This is the mercenary that saved Edelgard’s life!”

Bernadetta just shook her head back and forth.

With a sigh, Dorothea stood back up and indicated Bernadetta. “This is Bernadetta von Varley,” Dorothea said, apparently giving up on trying to get her to introduce herself. “She’s a little bit… skittish.”

“Well, don’t worry, I don’t plan to hurt anyone,” I chuckled. “My name’s Byleth Eisner. The archbishop told me go around and introduce myself to all the students.”

Bernadetta poked her head up, her eyes wide and almost watering with tears. “R-really?” she asked.

I nodded.

“No! You’re lying!” Bernadetta shouted, suddenly full of energy as she shot up ramrod straight. “You’re trying to lull me into a false sense of security! I won’t be fooled!” 

I blinked, trying to figure out she got that out of a single nod. “What?” 

“You’ll never trick me!” she shouted as she went from standing still to a sprint in a single movement, shoving past me and disappearing into the foliage in the vague direction of the entrance.

I blinked again, staring at where she just was before slowly rotating my head in the direction she went.

“Eh?” I said, dumbly. Wow, she had a strong set of legs on her for a shut-in.

Dorothea sighed, shaking her head. “I should probably go after her,” she decided, giving me a dazzling smile. “Nice to meet you, Byleth. I’ll see you around the monastery!"

“I will be going too,” Petra decided, giving a nod. “Chasing Bernadetta is- will be an interesting challenge.”

I nodded and grinned. “You two have fun with that! I’d join in, but I still have… far too many students to meet.”

Dorothea giggled at that. “I don’t envy you, Byleth. Good luck with that!” she offered before jogging out of the greenhouse, Petra hot on her heels. 

“Goodbye!” I called after them.

{So, where do we check now?} Sothis asked.

I frowned. “We could search the greenhouse more, or check the training grounds…}

There was a soft snort from underneath a nearby plant and I brushed aside one of the elephant ear leaves to see Linhardt, the green-haired boy blinking about.

“Is something going on?” he asked, voice thick with sleep.

I shrugged. “Just Bernadetta fleeing,” I told him.

Linhardt nodded, sleepily, before letting out a yawn. “So nothing new.”

“Indeed.”

There was a brief pause as Linhardt examined me before frowning. “Do I know you?” he asked bluntly.

I laughed. “Nah, not yet. My name’s Byleth Eisner- I’m just going around and introducing myself to everyone.” 

“Oh. Linhardt,” he said, giving me a tiny wave. “Goodbye,” he added, before the wave drooped with his head and he fell back asleep.

I brushed the leaf back into place and left him to it. {That’s… what, how many students so far?}

{Ten, by my count,} Sothis responded.

{Then that’s fourteen left,} I returned as I pushed the doors to the greenhouse open, savoring the much cooler air. {To the training grounds!}

The walk back towards the training grounds was different. On the way to the greenhouses, we saw the open landscape and peaks of the Oghma Mountains around us. On the way to the training grounds, though, the skyline was dominated by a single structure: the Garreg Mach cathedral.

Stretching towards the very heavens itself, the monastery was easily the highest point of all of Fodlan. The building resembled a three-layer cake, with the very center of the building coming to a massive dome set in the very center. Each corner of the first two layers had a tower on it- watchtowers, I assumed- but none of them were quite as tall as the very top.

{Careful,} Byleth warned me, and I snapped out of my daydreams just in time to avoid almost running over a girl with braided blue hair and eyebags. She was crouched next to a flower bed, whispering to something in the bushes. A small sparrow, I saw on closer inspection.

“Hello!” I whispered, doing my best not to startle either the girl or the bird. Alas, my unexpected intrusion caused Marianne to let out a squeak of surprise as she startled and in an instant the bird was flying away into the sky. “Sorry!” I called after it.

Marianne blinked, looking at me owlishly, and I waved that off. 

“Sorry about that. You must be… Marianne von Edmund, right?” I asked.

Marianne’s face fell and she let out a sigh. “O-oh, you’ve heard of me?” she asked, straightening up and brushing off her skirt but not meeting my eyes.

I nodded before reconsidering and waving a hand back and forth. “I know who the students at the Officer’s Academy are, and you’re one of the last Deer for me to meet.”

Technically, that was demonstrably false, but I doubted anyone would care enough to interrogate everyone when I met them, nor did I think that everyone would care to remember when I said hi to them.

“Sorry about that…” Marianne muttered.

I blinked, returning to the conversation at hand. “Oh, no, it’s no problem at all!” I said. “Someone always has to be last.”

“...Of course it was me.”

“No, I don’t- ah, forget it. Just to confirm: you are Marianne, yes?”

Marianne nodded. “Y-yes, that’s me.”

I nodded back at her and the conversation ground to a halt. Hell, what do I talk to Marianne about? How do I convince her that I’m a wonderful professor that she should open up to regarding her deep trauma? Is that even possible without the superhuman charisma of Byleth?

“W-well, if that’s all…”

Ah, what the hell, winging it’s worked so far!

“What are you doing over here?” I asked her.

She startled again. “Oh, u-um… feeding the birds.”

“Sparrows?” I asked, trying to sound as interested as possible. That wasn’t too hard, surprisingly enough. Even if I didn’t pay much attention to birds, birdwatching was one of those hobbies I always planned on picking up once I retired and had unlimited time on my hands.

“Kupalan Sparrows,” she said. “They’re not native to around here.”

The region didn’t spark a memory, but I nodded. “Guess the little guy got lost, huh?”

Marianne let out a slight giggle. “I suppose so, yes!” she said, before suddenly cutting herself off. “O-oh. I should go,” she said, suddenly, as if something had just occurred to her.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “I have some more time to chat, if you’d like.”

“No, no, that’s okay,” Marianne said, giving me a poor approximation of a smile. “Thank you.”

And then she rushed off towards the dorms and I frowned, watching her go. “See you later, Marianne!” I called after her to no response.

I really needed to spend some time with her and Bernie, huh? Maybe even get her and Hapi talking. 

As I turned that over in my head- and turned over how I could confirm if the Ashen Wolves even existed- I continued towards the training grounds.

Similar to the greenhouses, the training grounds were in an enclosed portion of Garreg Mach. Unlike the expensive and relatively fragile glass of the greenhouses, however, the training grounds were constructed of thick stone walls, big wooden doors serving as the only entrance and exit- minus the open ceiling, of course. 

As I pushed open the heavy wooden doors and stepped through them, I had just enough presence of mind to dodge out of the way as a figure crashed into the ground in front of me and slid forward, coming to rest at my feet.

“Shez?” I asked, staring down at the purple haired mercenary.

Shez cracked her eyes open. “The Ashen Demon,” she said, sitting up quickly. “What’re you doing here?”

“Just introducing myself to everyone,” I said. “What are you doing here?”

Shez pointed one of her wooden swords towards the middle of the training grounds. “Trying to beat Professor Jeritza.”

Indeed, in the middle of the packed dirt arena was Professor Jeritza. He was dueling a muscular blond haired boy, a spear wielding orange haired girl, and a short blue haired boy all at once.

…Did it say something about me that I was able to identify people in Fódlan almost exclusively by hair color?

Regardless, Raphael, Leonie, and Caspar were all dueling Jeritza, and it was not going well for them. I winced as Jeritza swung his sword backwards, smacking into Raphael with a meaty thwack before blocking an axe swing from Caspar with contemptuous ease. Leonie ducked behind the professor, thrusting a spear at him, and without even looking Jertiza twisted out of the way of the strike and rapped Leonie’s head with the flat end of his sword.

“I see,” I said, before pausing. “And how’s that going?”

“Not well yet,” Shez admitted. “But we’re getting there!”

With a shout of challenge she charged back into the fray, swinging both swords at Jeritza, only for the man to parry them with blinding speed.

{He’s good,} Byleth commented quietly. {Very good.}

{Jertiza?}

{Yes. Very clinical, not much wasted movement. But he’s missing some easy strikes- like he’s expecting his blade to be longer.}

{He’s more practiced with a scythe than a broadsword,} I informed Byleth. {That’s probably why.}

{That would explain the angle of his swings, too. Still, even with a sword, he’s nearly a master.}

{Do you not think that you would win?} Sothis chimed in.

{In a spar? Possibly. On the battlefield? Probably.}

I nodded. {Different types of battles, hm?} I asked, watching Jertiza trip Leonie and use her falling body as cover to stymie a counter attack from Caspar.

{Exactly.}

After another few minutes of battle, Jertiza finally tired of the fight and sliced his sword forward, the long skinny blade catching on the rim of Caspar’s axe and dragging it into Raphael’s attack, disarming Caspar and tripping Raphael. As the Deer fell to the ground, Jertiza stepped deftly out of the way, forcing Leonie to abort an overhead piercing strike and throwing her off balance. 

With the flash of her teleportation, Shez teleported above Raphael, swinging both swords down at Jertiza and striking his blade with a dull crash as she almost hung in the air. In an instant, she shoved off of the professor, leaping backwards and then teleporting back into the fray almost immediately. Her sudden speed and ferocity threw Jeritza off balance as she began matching the professor blow-for-blow, forcing him on the defense, if only for a minute. Eventually, however, Jeritza managed to sneak a blade between her guard and disarmed her, forcing her into a retreat that ended as she tripped over a still prone Raphael.

From there, it was only a moment’s more work for Jeritza to disarm Caspar and Leonie in a blinding flurry of strikes, Jeritza’s blade swinging up and down in his hands like the grim reaper’s scythe as the two students were systematically disarmed and knocked to the ground.

And then there was a pause as Jeritza regarded his four opponents, the dust not even settled on the battlefield. “Adequate work,” he said, simply, before turning and leaving the training grounds, not even bothering to pause in his stride as he passed me.

I, on the other hand, stepped forward to meet the students, a grin breaking out over my face. “Going horribly, huh?” I asked Shez as I extended a hand to help Leonie back up.

“Yeah, Professor Jertiza is super strong!” Caspar grinned, dropping his axe to the ground and rolling his right shoulder. “I gotta get better at reading his moves!”

Raphael beamed in return, starting to unstrap his leather gauntlets. “You said it, Caspar! And, um-” he turned to me, an embarrassed smile on his face. “Who are you again?”

“She’s Captain Jeralt’s daughter!” Leonie informed him, placing her hands on her hips. “Byleth, right? I’m Leonie- Leonie Pinelli. Captain Jeralt’s first and greatest apprentice. He’s mentioned me, right?”

I opened my mouth to respond but before I could I was cut off by a mental shout. 

{Swap!} Byleth warned and I traded places with her just in time for her to slide her sword out of her sheathe and intercept an overhand strike from Shez, sharp steel swords in the mercenary’s hands.

“Whoa! Are we fighting Byleth now?” Caspar asked as he snatched his blunted axe back off the ground.

Byleth repelled Shez with a powerful push and the other mercenary slid backwards in the hard dirt with a snarl on her face, her posture low to the ground as she looked for an opening. Byleth merely held her sword in front of her in a one-handed guard, wordlessly daring Shez to attack her.

“She wants to kill me for revenge,” Byleth explained, not taking her eyes off of Shez. “Feel free to join her, if you’d like to.”

Leonie picked her spear off the ground warily, considering her options, but Caspar and Raphael seemed a lot more enthusiastic about it.

“So long as we’re not actually trying to kill her, right?” Raphael said, cracking his knuckles.

Shez blinked and finally took her eyes off of us, staring at Raphael like he was the crazy one. 

“No, she is actually trying to kill me,” Byleth said.

Caspar blinked. “And you’re letting her?”

“She won’t succeed.”

Leonie barked out a laugh and raised her spear, having come to a decision. “You’re certainly the captain’s daughter!” she grinned, before she registered what she just said as her face fell. “Just not his favorite apprentice!” she hastily corrected.

“You each have one attempt. If I touch my sword to a fatal position and tell you you’re eliminated, you aren’t allowed to continue further. Any questions?”

“Let’s do this!” Caspar shouted, in lieu of any questions, and immediately charged forward, Raphael just a step behind him. Behind them, Leonie and Shez began circling, the two of them looking for openings to exploit- not that Byleth planned to give them any.

With the harsh swoosh of a weapon flying through the air, Caspar’s axe came down at Byleth and her sword flickered out, deflecting the blade and sending it into the packed dirt floor of the arena. Raphael stepped between Caspar and Byleth before the latter could eliminate his teammate and began throwing jabs, keeping Byleth’s attention on dodging as Leonie spotted an opening.

{Leonie behind, stabbing on your right!} I called to Byleth before Leonie could strike and she twisted out of the way of Leonie’s spearhead, the pointed- but blunt- end almost skewering Rapahel.

“Shit! Sorry, Raphael!” Leonie called, yanking her spear back.

Raphael just grinned and rubbed the back of his neck- “It’s okay!” he called before freezing up as Byleth’s sword touched the base of his neck.

“Eliminated,” she said, simply, before leaping back as Shez flashed in front of her, taking advantage of the lapse in guard. 

With surprising nimbleness, Byleth dodged strike after strike, her sword still out of position as she ducked and weaved over Shez’s attacks. Even to the untrained eye, I could tell the difference in the way they fought: Shez was all about powerful attacks and wild swings, using two blades to cover for each other. Byleth, on the other hand, was all about precision and perfect form, her every movement economical and precise.

But it was a three versus one- Raphael, being eliminated, was hamming it up by lying on the ground and pretending to be a corpse- and Shez didn’t forget that.

{Caspar, coming in at five o’clock!} I called, and Byleth ducked under an overhead axe swing that almost hit her upper torso. With a soft grunt she rolled under the next strike from Caspar, an overhead axe swing that slammed into the arena floor, and rose to a crouched position, warily regarding all three of her remaining opponents.

“We don’t have all day,” she said, almost taunting- if it wasn’t coming from Byleth.

Caspar was the first to break, charging into combat with a single-minded determination that characterized the boy. Shez followed behind him, almost as hot-headed, and Leonie came in as the rear.

Byleth grinned, a smile that was all teeth, and set to work on dismantling the three of them.

To their credit, each fought individually well, but their downfall was the same as it was when they fought Jeritza: they weren’t used to fighting in a group. Leonie would thrust in with a spear that hindered Caspar’s attack, Caspar’s axe swings would go wide and almost hit Shez, and Shez would unintentionally block Leonie’s strikes when she managed to face Byleth head-on. Even with an untrained eye, I could tell that they were a mess.

{Something to work on,} I mused.

{Hm?} Sothis asked.

I waved her off in the interest of focusing on the fight. Caspar was the first to fall- his strategy of charging in bullheadedly certainly kept the pressure on his opponents, but without any defensive staying power, it only led to his elimination. Shez was next, her wild swings fairly easy for Byleth to slip between with a single sword and take down. And Leonie was the final opponent, her spear disadvantageous for Byleth to charge with a sword.

At least, until Byleth chucked her sword at Leonie, panicking the girl and allowing Byleth to close in. From there, she threw an open palm strike to Leonie’s forearm, forcing the student to drop her spear. After it was a quick whirl of steel and in an instant Leonie was staring down the pointy end of her own weapon.

“Eliminated,” Byleth finished.

Leonie chuckled ruefully, holding up her hands. “That was pretty impressive, Byleth,” she admitted, accepting the shaft of her spear as Byleth spun it around and gave it to her. “Guess the four of us need to work on our teamwork, huh?”

Byleth nodded. “That would be wise. I was able to exploit that disadvantage to great effect during our battle.”

“Yeah, that was super cool!” Raphael chimed in. “The four of us will do some team bonding and take you down, don’t you worry!”

{Training arc! Training arc!} I chanted.

Shez nodded. “I’ll get you tomorrow, Ashen Demon,” she vowed.

“Wait, wait, I’m still confused,” Caspar said, holding up his hands. “Are you actually trying to kill Byleth, or is this just part of the game?”

Before anyone could inform him of Shez’s very real desires to kill me and Byleth, Raphael’s stomach interrupted. “Whoa! Sorry about that! Exercising always works up my appetite.”

Shez eyed Raphael’s considerable size with some trepidation- even if, to be fair, it was mostly muscle. “Does anything not work up your appetite?”

Raphael considered that before shrugging, a goofy grin on his face. “I guess not! You gotta eat to train, after all!”

Shez considered that for a moment before shrugging. “Fair enough.”

“Wait, shoot- I forgot to introduce myself!” Caspar realized. “The name’s Caspar!”

Raphael grinned. “And I’m Raphael Kirsten! Nice to meet you!” he said, jerking his thumb to his chest.

“And you’re Leonie and Shez, of course,” I named the last two, having swapped back with Byleth during their conversation. “My name’s Byleth Eisner. It’s a pleasure to meet all of you!”

Raphael grinned, about to say something, before his stomach growled even more insistently. “Oops! Guess I should go get lunch after all, huh? See you around, Byleth!”

“Ooh, I’ll come to!” Caspar added, jogging after Raphael. “I bet they still have some of the Beast Meat Teppanyaki left!” he said, his voice carrying as they exited the training hall.

Leonie’s eyes widened. “That’s today? I better make sure they don’t finish it off before I get some!”

Taking off at a sprint, she called back a “see you later!” over her shoulder as she ran after them, Shez following behind her with her own “Bye, Ashen Demon!”

I watched through the gate of the training hall as the two girls ran past the boys, causing them to speed up in turn until all four were outright sprinting towards the dining hall.

{Should we do something about that?} Byleth asked.

{Eh, they’ll be fine,} I responded, shrugging as I turned towards the remaining occupants of the training ground. {Technically speaking, they only become our responsibility once I’m a professor!}

In the far corner of the room was a blonde princely looking boy, a bear-sized dark skinned man next to him and the ever-present Sylvain with the two. A sour looking boy trained two dummies away from them, hacking away at the wooden post with his sword, and a few more dummies down was a white haired girl lobbing small fireballs as she studied a book.

Deciding to pick up with the end of the line and working my way down, my first stop was Lysithea. She looked frustrated as she glared a hole into the book, her hand twisting in the air as she tried to cast something to no avail.

“Not much luck?” I asked her as I walked up.

“Why do you care?” she snapped at me, before actually recognizing who I was and letting her face mellow out. “My apologies, I’m just-”

I gave her a light smile. “Frustrated?” I asked.

Lysithea sighed, making a dedicated effort to be nice- which I appreciated. “This spell just isn’t coming out how I want it to,” she explained, biting back her frustration.

{Offer to help her,} Sothis said, imperiously.

“I can help, if you’d like?” I offered, crossing my arms. “I know a little bit of magic, at least.”

Lysithea regarded me with a little suspicion but ultimately shrugged, calling up a glowing magic circle with her right hand as she traced the book.

{She’s putting too much power into the spell,} Sothis said, and I relayed it.

Lysithea frowned, looking down at the book. “If I do that, the spell fizzles out.”

I opened my mouth to say something but before I could, Sothis flew into Byleth’s body and forcibly elbowed me out of the driver’s seat.

{...Guess we’re doing this, then,} I said, somewhat dumbly. Swapping without notice like that might be a problem down the line, but for now, I was perfectly content to just watch the show.

“You must refine your magic power!” Sothis ordered, putting her hands on her hips. “Focus, do not just simply substitute quality for quantity!”

Lysithea stared at her, presumably trying to figure out who the fuck was suddenly standing in front of her.

Sothis gestured waspishly. “Well?”

Shaking her head to clear it, Lysithea did as Sothis asked, the spell taking even longer to activate- but as the magic circle appeared, I could tell that it was even brighter than before, and the fireball that came out was just a bit bigger.

“That worked,” Lysithea said, slightly amazed.

Sothis snorted. “Of course it did!” she boasted, crossing her arms. “I would be a poor excuse for an Archsage if I could not cast a simple Fire!”

Lysithea frowned. “Archsage?” 

With a snap of her left hand, a magical circle flared to life around Sothis’s open palm; another snap and a fireball as bright as a small sun flew forward, slamming into the training dummy with the force of a cannonball.

There was a brief pause as Lysithea stared at the dummy dumbly, her mouth agape, and Sothis crossed her arms proudly.

{Wait for it…}

With a flash of light, the Fire spell detonated, sending a gust of wind across the training ground.

“Archsage,” Sothis repeated, proudly, before her knees buckled. With all the haste of a ghost in peril, I shoved my way back into the driver’s seat, straightening up before a wave of exhaustion struck me.

{What the hell, Sothis?} I cursed.

Sothis let out a weak groan from somewhere in the back of our minds and I shook my (mental) head, resolving to interrogate her later.

“Anyways, that’s how you do it!” I said, grinning a slightly more tired grin than I was anticipating. “Hope that helps!”

Lysithea closed her mouth and gulped before nodding. “Yes, it does, thank you.”

I nodded again to her before strolling off, trying to conceal my exhaustion. {Seriously, Sothis, what the heck?}

{This was not my fault!} Sothis’s voice complained weakly. {Byleth has not the magical skills needed to support my full power! Blame her!}

Byleth frowned. {I don’t use magic,} she said.

{Exactly!}

I mentally shook my head. {You know what, we can play the blame game later and figure out how to remedy this,} I said. {Look alive, people- it’s time to meet the Blue Lions.} 

Unlike the scattered forces of the Deers and the Eagles, the Lions were a unified front within the training grounds- unified, of course, being a term I applied loosely. Although all the Lions were present, there was a clear separation in fronts. Ashe was off to the side as he worked on his bow skills, Mercedes and Annette were standing a little ways away from the group as they practiced magic and also nervously eyed the training dummy Sothis blew up, and Ingrid and Sylvain were very clearly stationed as a buffer zone between Felix and Dimitri, with Dedue working with his prince.

“Hello, Prof- Bylt- Ms. Eisner!” Dimitri called, raising a hand in greeting as he saw me approach.

The rest of the Lions reacted in curiosity, ceasing their drills as they clustered in a loose semicircle to greet me.

I gave a jaunty little wave-salute. “Hullo, Dimitri. Hope you’ve been well this morning?”

Dimitri nodded and gave a brilliant smile. “Indeed! It’s a good morning to get some training in.”

“You’re one of the mercenaries that saved Prince Dimitri, right?” the girl with blonde hair- Ingrid- said, and before I could respond, she dipped into a bow. “My name is Ingrid Brandl Galatea. As a citizen of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, I thank you.”

Around the circle, the other Lions murmured assent- again, except for Felix- but the only one to follow suit with a proper bow was Dedue.

“Yeah, who knows what we would’ve done without His Highness,” Sylvain added, shooting me a wink. At my curious glance, he smiled. “Sylvain Jose Gautier. Come say hi whenever you like.”

“Sylvain-” Ingrid warned, a low undercurrent to her voice. “This isn’t the time for your… youness.”

Sylvain laughed. “It’s always the time for a handsome bastard like me, don’t you know?”

Ingrid growled and swiped at the red-haired boy, Sylvain dancing out of her reach as she did.

“My apologies for the two of them,” Dimitri said, giving me an exasperated- but fond- smile. “They can be a bit much, I know.”

I brushed him off. “It’s fine, I get it. It’s nice to meet all of you!”

Annette smiled widely, her eyes sparkling in the sunlight. “It’s nice to meet you too, um…”

I snapped my fingers. “Right! Byleth Eisner,” I said with a grin. “And you are…?”

“My name’s Annette!” she returned. “And this is Mercedes, but I call her Mercie!”

“Hello,” Mercedes said, an inscrutable sort of smile crossing her face.

Ashe gave me a nod and a pleasant smile. “I’m Ashe,” he said. “It’s great to meet you!”

“My name is Dedue,” Dedue said, his voice pleasantly deep as he nodded to me. “Words cannot express my gratitude for rescuing His Highness. Should you ever require my strength, please, know that I would be grateful for the opportunity to repay this debt.”

I nodded back to him. “I’ll keep that in mind- thank you.”

“And our last member is Felix,” Dimitri said, nodding to the raven haired boy.

At the sound of his name, Felix finally stopped slashing at the training dummy and walked over, regarding me with an appraising eye. “So you’re the mercenary that saved the Boar, hm?” he asked, before letting out a soft snort. “He said you were strong. I look forward to beating you when we spar.”

“Felix, must you speak of me and our new friend like that?” Dimitri asked, his voice exasperated.

Felix scoffed and turned away, refusing to meet Dimitri’s eyes. “I’m going to get something to eat,” he said, his voice steady. “Come and find me when you’re ready to fight.”

With that, he departed, not even glancing back once as he did so.

“I must apologize for him,” Dimitri said, glancing at me as we watched Felix’s retreating back. “He has a bit of a sharp tongue, but he truly is a good person under the surface.”

“Way, way, under the surface,” Sylvain chimed in, rubbing his shoulder where Ingrid finally managed to tag him.

I nodded to that, giving Dimitri a smile. “I get it- I’ve had friends like that before.”

There was a brief lull in the conversation before church bells rang and I frowned, glancing up as I counted them. One, two, three…

“I better get going and meet back up with Lady Rhea,” I said, giving all the Lions a wave. “And you lot ought to get back to your training.”

Dimitri nodded. “Indeed. See you around, Ms. Eisner.”

“Don’t be a stranger!” I grinned back, giving one last wave to the Lions- and to Lysithea, on my way out, who was still hard at work trying to replicate the spell.

{So, your thoughts on the houses?}

{All three seem like interesting choices,} Byleth said, turning them over.

I nodded. {They’re all good kids,} I agreed. {And if we play our cards right, we’ll hopefully be teaching more than just one group of them.}

{Are you sure we cannot pick the Deer?} Sothis asked. {They seemed quite amusing- Lysithea in particular.}

{You just want to teach Lysithea because she uses magic,} I accused.

Sothis gasped. {Of course not! I have only the fate of the continent in mind. I do not only want to teach… whatever her name is.}

{You just used her name!} I shot back.

{Accidentally!}

Chapter Text

White Clouds.

Here Be Dragons ii.

Great Tree Moon, 1180.

The three of us walked up the stairs to the reception chamber with no small amount of trepidation. At least, I had no small amount of trepidation. This was about to be the deciding factor in how the future played out, after all; which house we chose would, theoretically, lock us into a path. The path.

It wasn’t how real life worked, of course, and if I had my way I’d be able to influence all three house leaders, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a very real concern. Who’s to say that the rules of this world wouldn’t assert themselves at the worst possible time? I had yet to see GUIs and menus, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there, lurking out of eyesight.

{You don’t need to worry,} Byleth said in what was supposed to be a comforting tone. {We’ll have your back.}

I smiled weakly, focused on climbing the stairs. {Not exactly what I was worried about, but… thanks.}

Sothis- still uncharacteristically silent after her stunt with Lysithea in the training ground- sent the mental impression of a smile but didn’t remanifest.

{You need anything from us, Sothis?} I asked, starting to get concerned. It wasn’t like her to not chip in when she had something to say- and hoo boy did she have things to say, normally. 

{Time alone shall suffice,} Sothis said, before letting out a yawn. {Perhaps… a rest…} she whispered, her voice trailing off.

I nodded and finished climbing the steps. Hopefully we wouldn’t need to rewind time before Sothis woke back up. I couldn’t imagine us needing to use it here but lacking even one of the tools from our toolkit concerned me.

But now’s not the time! Mentally slapping my cheeks, I nodded to the guards on either side of the massive doorway and stepped in, striding towards the back of the room. 

As usual, Lady Rhea stood in the back of the room, the light from the stained glass windows shining off of her golden regalia and making her look almost divine. Seteth stood to her right, his appearance as immaculate as ever. In front of the two of them was Hanneman, the professor stroking his beard as I entered.

“Professor,” Seteth said with a curt nod as I reached the three of them. “You are on time- if barely. Do endeavor to be more punctual in the future.”

I grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck. “Sorry about that, everyone, I got bit tied up trying to track everyone down. It was a little tricky to find my way around the monastery- it’s big, as it turns out.”

“It is okay, my child,” Rhea said, smiling regally. “We are still waiting on one of our own esteemed professors, after all. While we wait for her to arrive, I must ask you: how did you enjoy your time exploring the halls of our fine academy? I hope you did succeed in meeting all of the bright souls that populate this sacred place.”

I grinned at her. “It seems like a wonderful place to learn,” I said, “and all of the students are absolutely wonderful. I’m looking forward to teaching here for sure.”

“It brings me great joy to hear you say that,” Rhea said. She looked like she wanted to say something more but before she could, there was a great clatter, and Manuela ran up the stairs and into the chamber.

“I’m here, I’m here!” she called, desperately straightening her hair as she ran up to us. “My apologies, I was quite busy today and lost track of the hour.”

Hanneman scoffed at that. “Busy being an insufferable flirt, I’m sure,” he muttered, a little bit louder than he meant to.

With a scandalized gasp, Manuela turned to him and took a deep breath, ready to argue the point- and I had no doubt they’d actually get into it- before Seteth cleared his throat and they remembered where they were.

“I trust that the three of you are ready to begin?” Rhea asked, studiously ignoring the embarrassment crossing Hanneman and Manuela’s faces. When nobody objected, she nodded. “Then we may start this time-honored process. Seteth?”

Seteth nodded. “As the new school year begins, one of Garreg Mach’s most important ceremonies is the time time for our three professors taking charge of one of the houses of students,” he said. “I, personally, am against entrusting someone as lacking as trackable history as yourself,” he added, addressing me in particular.

I gave a sheepish grin at that and Seteth sighed.

“But, as the archbishop wishes, here we are.” 

“The Black Eagles, the Blue Lions, the Golden Deer… all brimming with such potential,” Rhea added. “It will be up to you to shepherd them, professors. Please, each of you, open your mind to the goddess and let her guide your decision.”

Hanneman crossed his arms. “As the new professor, Manuela and I have decided to allow you to pick your house first,” he said. “The two of us will then take charge of one of the remaining houses.”

“He got to pick first last year, so I’ll be right after you,” Manuela stage-whispered to me. “So? Who will it be?”

I frowned, turning over the options in my head one more time. Dimitri would isolate me from Edelgard far too much, especially since he would be nearly impossible to get to work with TWISTD, and without me Edelgard would never break free from them. Claude would be willing to compromise, I would bet, but Edelgard would always keep me at arm’s length if I didn’t pick her.

If I wanted to avert this war, or at the very least bring the students together during it, I only had one choice.

“If my colleagues are so graciously letting me go first, I’m going to pick the Black Eagles,” I said, a grin stretching across my face. “They seem like a good gaggle of kids.”

Rhea smiled. “A wonderful choice,” she said. “All I ask of you is that you guide these young souls with virtue, care, and sincerity.”

“Please, guide them well, Professor,” Seteth added. “They are all promising children that bear the burden of Fódlan’s future. I hope you truly appreciate what an honor it is to shape their future.” 

I nodded again, schooling my face into a more… serious expression. Seteth was right that I had no idea what the hell I was doing, but I didn’t intend to clown around my entire professorship. Fódlan’s future was in my hands, after all!

“Now. Manuela, Hanneman, which of our remaining two classes would you like to teach?” Seteth asked.

Manuela frowned before nodding, seemingly coming to a decision. “I’ll take the Golden Deer,” she said, a smile crossing her face. “They should be a fun bunch.”

“Then I suppose I shall be taking the Blue Lions under my wing,” Hanneman said, crossing his arms and nodding. “At least they’ll be polite enough to offer me some measure of peace and quiet- unlike some other people I know.”

Manuela elbowed Hanneman for that one but before she could open her mouth to respond to the dig, Rhea cleared her throat. “Wonderful,” the archbishop said, smiling at all of us. “Once again, I truly hope that you all guide these children through the next year with all the knowledge you may impart upon them. I look forward to seeing you teach in these hallowed halls.”

“Indeed,” Seteth said. “Now, if the three of you will follow me, we can go and join the rest of our professors for the weekly staff meeting.”

I gave a final wave to Rhea as the three of us exited the reception area and followed Seteth through the building. I vaguely remembered where the meeting room was- it was on this floor, a few doors away, right?- but not enough to navigate myself there.

“We have weekly meetings?” I asked Hanneman, falling back to the older man as Seteth strode quickly ahead. Out of earshot for a normal human, I would say, but given his Nabatean heritage I wasn’t positive.

He nodded. “Every Sunday, at precisely four o’clock,” he said. “I believe that it’s Seteth’s attempt to keep the school and knights running in sync.”

I hummed, my interest piqued. “Will the knights be there?” I asked, suddenly much more interested. Seeing Jeralt acting as the captain would be interesting, if nothing else.

“Typically, a few of the senior knights and Alois will attend,” he explained. “I imagine that that won’t change much, even with your father returning to his captainship.”

{Jeralt will probably just send Alois and not attend,} Byleth admitted. {Especially if he thinks he can get away with it.}

{...Yeah, sounds like Jeralt.}

“That sounds like my father,” I said out loud for Hanneman’s benefit. “Though I imagine that Seteth will drag him to future meetings?”

Manuela snorted. “I’d count on it,” she said, crossing her arms. “He drags everyone that he can to these things, even when nobody has anything to say.”

“It does promote cohesion,” Hanneman countered. “Before Seteth joined us-”

“We’re here,” Seteth announced curtly, cutting the conversation short as he pushed open the doors to the meeting room. Definitely could hear us then.

As I expected, it was the same room that was used after the timeskip for the war tactic councils. Most of the faculty was unrecognizable at a glance- just generic priests and monks, both male and female- but I did recognize a few of them, including an incredibly bored looking Jertiza sitting in the corner with his arms crossed.

Beyond Jeritza, though, there were a few more recognizable faculty members. Alois, of course, was easy to pick out in a crowd. He had on his massive white armor, the metal gleaming in the light of the room, and his mustache was as magnificent as ever. And, of course, he was waving to me excitedly, a smile splitting his face as he indicated the empty seat on his right.

Subtle as ever, Alois.

To Alois’s left was an older man with orange hair the same shade as his daughter’s, grey streaks through it, and I placed him in an instant: Gustave Dominic, or as he was going by now, Gilbert. He wore a stern expression on his face, deep wrinkles etched into his skin, and he regarded me with a nod. He had much more subdued armor than Alois- grey and a dark turquoise, with burnt orange accents- and the only decoration was a small silver crest of Seiros over the center of his chest. 

It was funny: even despite the age, it was obvious that his features were a dead ringer for Annette. I wondered how long it took her to track down her father in the monastery, and I wondered even more if any of the knights had pointed it out to Gilbert.

On the other side of the empty seat were two more instantly recognizable knights. Sitting directly next to the chair was a tan woman with strawberry blonde hair cut into a bob, her armor the same shade of white as Alois and with a massive sword by her side: the one and only Thunder Catherine, in the flesh. 

To Catherine’s right was a woman with raven hair and black leather underneath a turquoise jacket. The woman’s belt had a quiver of arrows attached to it; there was also a longbow leaning next to the woman’s seat and I would bet that the woman had at least half a dozen knives hidden on her person. Shamir was a pragmatic sort of person, after all.

With a smile on my face I made my way over to the four of them, taking some degree of comfort in the way Alois’s smile widened even further at the rare sight of an Eisner not turning around and leaving when he saved them a seat. Catherine matched Alois’s energy- or approached it, anyways- and gave me a wide smile; Gilbert and Shamir merely gave practiced nods and either kept their eyes on me (Shamir) or turned back to their conversation with the older knight on their other side (Gilbert).

“You’re the new professor, right?” Catherine asked, leaning forward as I plopped myself into the seat between her and Alois. She didn’t wait for me to even confirm that before she continued. “So, how’s the monastery been treating you?”

I grinned. “It’s been good so far! Mostly been busy running around meeting all the kids today.”

Catherine raised an eyebrow. “All of them, huh? Must be pretty tiring.”

“You can say that again,” I laughed. “Once I finish this up, I’m planning to head straight to bed. But before that: I don’t believe we’ve met yet?”

“Oh, of course!” Alois realized, stepping in with a smile. “Where are my manners? Byleth, this is Catherine and Shamir. Catherine and Shamir, this is Byleth- the captain’s daughter and the Officer Academy’s newest professor!”

Shamir nodded to that- she had already heard about it, I wagered- but Catherine let out a low whistle. “Newest professor, huh? How’d you snag that position?”

I shrugged. “The old professor abandoned the kids when those bandits attacked them. I helped them out. Other than that, right place, right time.”

“You don’t look like much of a teacher,” Shamir commented bluntly.

I nodded. “I’m not,” I said, meeting her lilac eyes. “I’ve helped a few of the company with learning weapons, sure, but otherwise completely in the dark. Not sure what Lady Rhea was thinking.”

“I’m sure Lady Rhea had some idea,” Catherine reminded us, a steely undercurrent under her words.

I shrugged again but didn’t argue the point. I doubted that I would be convincing Catherine with anything short of the full truth, after all, and I didn’t quite think that the first staff meeting of the year was the right time to drop the bombshell that Rhea was actually an immortal dragon-lady with extreme PTSD.

“Well, I know there’s one question on everyone’s mind,” Alois said, stepping in and doing his best to salvage the conversation. “Professor, which house did you choose to teach?”

Catherine’s eyes lit up with interest. “The Lions, right? They were my house when I attended here,” she said, crossing her arms.

I shook my head with a laugh. “The Black Eagles, actually. Hanneman took the Lions this year.”

“Really? Boo,” Catherine pouted. “Guess we can’t be friends any more, professor.”

I waved her off. “I don’t mind you rooting against me during the mock battles. So long as you keep it respectful, anyways.”

Catherine laughed. “No promises!”

At the front of the room, Seteth cleared his throat and a hush spread over the crowd. “Let us get started. Our first order of business: as all of you have no doubt heard, we have a new professor joining our staff this year. Byleth?”

All eyes in the room turned to me and I pasted a smile onto my face, mentally panicking a little bit. Seteth, dammit, you never told me I would need to give a speech!

“Nice to meet you, everyone,” I said, giving a little wave as I stood up. “I’m Byleth Eisner, though you may know me better as my epithet of the Ashen Demon. I’ll be teaching the Black Eagles house this year and I’m excited to work with all of you!”

There was a smattering of applause as I sat back down and Seteth cleared his throat. 

“For our second order of business, Alois will be stepping down as Captain of the Knights of Seiros and our former captain- Jeralt Eisner, also known as the Blade Breaker- will be returning to the position. Jeralt?”

Jeralt did not, in fact, stand up. As a matter of fact, glancing around the room made it even more clear that Jeralt was not in the room with us.

Alois held up a hand.

“Alois?” Seteth asked, his tone of voice the sort of tone that indicated he knew that he wasn’t about to like the answer.

“The captain couldn’t make it today,” Alois said with an apologetic grin. “He sent me instead.”

Seteth facepalmed and muttered something along the lines of, “of course.”

“Well, everyone, make sure to greet the new captain if you see him around,” Seteth decided. “And please, tell him that you missed seeing him this evening. Now, our next order of business:  The Iron King Thieves.”

Alois leaned in. “That’s the group that Kostas led,” he stage-whispered to me.

“Alois, please inform Jeralt that the knights are in charge of locating where the bandits have holed up,” Seteth commanded. “Once you locate them, please report back to the Church and we can organize a group of knights to dispose of them.”

I held up a hand. “Given how the thieves are crippled, it might be a good opportunity for the students to get involved,” I pointed out. “Give them a chance to get used to real combat in a reasonably safe environment.”

“I’ll take that into consideration,” Seteth agreed. “For our next order of business, the mock battle will take place in two weeks’ time, as you are all no doubt aware. This battle will ascertain both the abilities of our students and the skills of our teaching staff- particularly the newer members,” he added, sending a meaningful look my way. “Please, do not disappoint the archbishop. Any of you. The battle will take place just outside of the monastery,” he continued, “near Potter’s Field…”

{Anyone you recognize?} Byleth asked, mentally interrupting Seteth as he continued running down the logistics of the mock battle.

I frowned before deciding that I really didn’t need to listen to Seteth drone on about who would do maintenance on the practice weapons before the battle. {You know Jeritza, the other professors, and Seteth, of course,} I said, mentally pointing them out in turn.

{Right.}

{Next to Alois is Gilbert- Annette’s estranged father. She’s been looking for him, but he ran away from his family since he blamed himself for the death of Dimitri’s father, the last king of Faerghus.}

Byleth frowned. {Was it his fault?} she asked.

I responded with a shrug. {Fuck no, but Faerghus has a really strong honor system. Gilbert’s way of atoning was joining the knights. In a pinch, he’s probably loyal to Dimitri over the church, but hard to say.}

{And the others?}

{Well, Alois, of course, is next to Gilbert. To our right, Catherine and Shamir are reasonably important,} I said, mentally nodding to the two of them. {They’re both powerful knights. Catherine, in particular, goes by Thunder Catherine- mostly thanks to the relic she has.}

{That sword?} Byleth asked.

I nodded. {Remember how I told you about the Agarthans stealing the bones of the dead Nabateans to make powerful weapons? That’s one of them. Thunderbrand, wielded by those with the Crest of Charon.}

Byleth nodded. 

{...That sword is wrong,} Sothis pitched in, her voice weighed down with sleep. {‘S an abomination.}

I nodded. {Won’t see me arguing with that.}

{Sad, too. Like someone crying,} Sothis added.

She yawned and her voice faded out again as she whispered.

{O proud Rhadamanthus… what have they done to you?}

“That concludes our last item of business,” Seteth said, finally. The meeting was information dense to the extreme- Seteth did not do things by half- but it was important information. Important for those of us who were new to the academy, anyways. Mileage varied on those who had already been working here, if the glazed looks on their faces were any indication. “The floor is now open to all of you.”

A quick glance around the functioning adults in the room- Jeritza had left ages ago, citing the meeting as ‘a waste of time’ and Manuela was almost asleep in her chair- revealed that no, there weren’t any questions.

“Professor Byleth,” Seteth said, nodding to my raised hand.

Well, except for my questions, of course.

“I was thinking, perhaps we could implement some systems to promote more interhouse unity?” I asked, lowering my hand.

Seteth frowned. “Why is that? This system has worked as long as the academy has been open.”

“It’s worked to promote house unity, but this year interhouse unity is even more important,” I argued. “Can you imagine the peace that could be brought to Fódlan if all three house leaders could truly trust each other with their lives? If all three could enjoy those same bonds that houses generally enjoy only within themselves in normal years?”

Seteth frowned again as he rubbed his goatee. I could imagine how it looked- the new professor strolling in and demanding changes- but if I could get this going… it would be perfect. At the very least, getting Claude and Edelgard in conversation would be incredible.

Seteth frowned. “I see your point,” he admitted. “What would you suggest we implement?”

“A sign up system for monthly missions,” I said, immediately. “Maybe after this first month. Let the students pick which mission they would prefer to go on. If there’s two many students on one mission, we can shuffle them around so all the students have the chance to learn under each professor and learn how to fight with each other as allies.”

Seteth frowned again but he was nodding. One more push and I would convince him, I could tell.

“Even beyond the connections that the students would form across borders, think about how valuable it would be to teach them to fight alongside complete strangers,” I pointed out. “That adaptability could save their life one day. And missions will be completed even more safely than usual if we take students along that care about the mission and can specialize in the necessary skills.”

Seteth nodded. “I see your point, Professor, and I am inclined to agree with you,” he admitted, a near-pained look plastered to his face.

My face lit up into a smile. The biggest hurdle was cleared!

“However,” Seteth continued, and I frowned. “This will, of course, cause more difficulties for your colleagues, so it is only fair if they get a say in it.”

“I’ll let Hanneman study my crest if he says yes,” I immediately offered.

Hanneman nodded. “Done.”

Seteth blinked. “Very well,” he said, trying to readjust. “And Maneula?”

“I’ll take the first three months of overnight duty in the dorms,” I added to the pot.

Manuela smiled sweetly. “Make that five months, professor, and you have yourself a deal.”

I pointed at her. “Works for me.”

I planned to trade off with Byleth and Sothis for that, after all; it wasn’t like all three of us had to sleep at the same time. If we rotated properly, we could all get a full night’s sleep and still have someone awake the whole night. Possession powers for the win! 

There was a brief pause as Seteth tried to process how quickly the other professors folded before he sighed. “If you’re all in agreement,” he said, letting us have one more chance to back out- not that anyone did. “Professor, I’ll expect you to submit the rosters for each mission at least two weeks before it takes place to me.”

I nodded. That was fairly easy, after all; so long as I kept the missions balanced in terms of students, making mission rosters would be a piece of cake and it would give me a chance to set up the house leaders to work together. It was a better deal than just having Manuela and Hanneman do it, even.

“I must ask, however: do you have a plan to implement this?” Seteth continued.

I nodded before pausing and considering. “Well, I figured I could just hang sign up sheets on the bulletin board outside of classes after we get our missions assigned for the month,” I said. “After two weeks, I take the sheets down, and even out the rosters- including signing up any students that failed to sign up- and then submit it to you.”

Seteth nodded. “That sounds reasonable,” he decided. “Very well, we’ll implement your suggestion beginning in the Garland Moon. But should there be any major problems…”

“You’ll pull the plug?” I asked, cracking a smile.

Seteth frowned at me and after a second I blinked. Right, no electricity means that saying probably doesn’t exist. Okay, time to recover. Plugs, plugs, plugs…

“Pull the plug? Like the drain on a bathtub?” I suggested.

Seteth frowned again but nodded. “Exactly. My apologies, I was… unfamiliar with that turn of phrase.”

I waved him off, hoping my face concealed any of my own worry. “Don’t worry about it; it’s not incredibly common. Anything else for us?”

As it turned out, yes, there did end up being a few more concerns. They were minor things- the knights were running low on whetstones, and nighttime patrols needed to be increased around the monastery thanks to a rising number of Demonic Beast attacks- but before too long, we were dismissed.

“So, professor, you have any plans for the evening?” Catherine asked, standing up as I did. “Shamir and I are off duty tonight and we might drop by the cafeteria before heading to town. There’s this bar that I’ve been telling Shamir she needs to try.”

I considered that before ultimately shaking my head. “I need to get some work done tonight if classes start in the next few days,” I told them. “First day is Wednesday, right?”

“Aw, c’mon, professor,” Catherine grinned. “I bet Hanneman will let you borrow his lesson plans!” Before I could say anything about that, she steamrolled over me, holding up a hand. “Hey, Hanneman!” she called, getting the older professor’s attention. “You’ll let our one and only new professor borrow some of your lesson plans, right?”

Hanneman blinked, perhaps not expecting to be called, before nodding as he walked over to our little group. “Of course I will,” he said. “Especially given that the professor has offered to let me examine her crest. A mysterious new crest? Oh, it gets an old man excited!”

I laughed. “You’re doing me a favor with that one,” I smiled, shaking my head. “But I can’t go out tonight- I need to make sure I’m up to snuff with the subjects we need to teach. And also talk to Seteth about what standards our students are supposed to be at.”

“My lesson plans will no doubt assist with ascertaining that standard,” Hanneman said, stroking his goatee. “In terms of subjects, we are expected to educate our students on a variety of fields,” he added, counting them down on his fingers. “The primary subjects being basic weapon training, basic magic theory, the history of Fódlan, tactics, mathematics and sciences, and literature.”

I nodded. “Nothing about the church and religion?”

“While some of that will no doubt bleed through into your lectures- particularly on history and on faith magic- the majority of their religious studies will take place with the archbishop and the church itself,” Hanneman explained.

I nodded again. It made sense; if the entire headquarters of the Church of Seiros was right here, they could surely spare some staff to explain the church’s propaganda- ahem, sorry- to educate the brilliant young minds of the Officer’s Academy on the teachings of Saint Seiros.

Come to think of it, my headmates and I should probably take a look at what Saint Seiros had to say soon. Wouldn’t be a good look for a teacher at the Garreg Mach to have no idea what the religion was even about.

“Quick, professor, who was the King of Faerghus during the War of the Eagle and Lion?” Catherine cut in, interrupting my thoughts.

I blanked on the name before quickly trying to recover. Named after someone in Irish mythology… probably got Agarthan support to beat the Empire…

“Lugh?” I suggested, trying to remember the spelling. No, wait, that wasn’t it.

“Loog,” Catherine agreed, grinning, even if I was fairly certain that I had the spelling wrong. “See, you’ve got it covered! Now, you have to come drinking with us- we have to get to know our newest professor! Hanneman, you’ll come out with us, right?”

Hanneman frowned. “There were some studies I planned to read tonight…”

Catherine laughed heartily. “There’s time enough for that tomorrow! Alois, come on down to Cai’s with us. First round’s on me!”

“Of course!” Alois called, giving us a massive grin and a thumbs up before returning to his conversation with Gilbert, the two animatedly pouring over a map of the area between Garreg Mach and Remire.

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to, professor,” Shamir said to me quietly as Catherine started trying to shout to Seteth and Manuela. “I can always distract Catherine if you need to get your work done.”

I shrugged. “Eh, she’s convinced me, but thanks,” I said with a smile. “She’s right that this is a one time opportunity and it’ll be nice to meet everyone in a more casual setting. I can put off my work until tomorrow.”

Shamir gave me a nod and returned to the conversation at hand as Catherine clapped her hands together. “I think that’s the usual gang, right?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Seteth’s included in your usual gang?”

“Well, when we can get him to come out with us,” Catherine admitted. “Normally he leaves early so he can eat a late supper with his sister and he hardly ever actually drinks. Something about it being improper for his station, even if the church has no rule against it.”

Sounds like Seteth- though I imagine that being a Nabatean means that he also is the heavy weight among heavy weights, and I doubt Flayn would ever live him down being exposed as a dragon because he didn’t get drunk. I would never let him live down being exposed as a dragon because he couldn’t get drunk.

“Then let’s do it!” I said, grinning. “Sounds fun to me.”

Cai’s was a roaring bar, even this early on a Sunday evening. Between the auxiliary church staff, the knights, and now the influx of mercenaries from Jeralt’s crew, the place was packed and it was lucky that we were able to sneak in to grab a table in the back corner. Catherine, Shamir, and Alois were all there, of course, as was Hanneman and Manuela. Seteth too, Catherine had managed to convince- how, I’m not sure- but he did warn us that he would need to slip out early so he could eat a proper supper with Flayn.

“So! Question time, professor!” Catherine grinned, a mug of ale in her hand. I was never a particularly heavy drinker, and neither was Byleth, but given that Catherine was paying… well, we had our own mug in our hands, as did Shamir, Alois, and Manuela. Seteth had passed on ordering anything alcoholic and Hanneman had deferred Catherine’s offer, instead ordering some sort of wine that I was fairly certain the bar kept just for him.

I nodded to Catherine. “What’s up?” I asked, mentally queuing up Byleth in my mind. Sothis would be no help as she was amnesiac and also several centuries behind the times.

{Hey!} Sothis protested, her voice still tinged with sleepiness.

I mentally chuckled at her indignant response into my mug as I took a deep sip, letting the pretty strong alcohol sit on my tongue. Stronger than I expected, actually; I could see why Hanneman and Seteth chose to abstain from this one.

“Question time,” Catherine repeated. “First one: where are you from?”

I opened my mouth to respond but Manuela shook her head, cutting me off. “Don’t you dare say, ‘I traveled around Fódlan my whole life so I’m not sure,’ hon,” she said, waving a finger.

I blinked. “That’s, uh… exactly what I was going to tell you guys.”

“That’s what you told the house leaders, sure,” Manuela said, leaning in closer. “But we want to hear about where you’re really from.”

I frowned, trying to think of where I could tell her. Either of the three nations would be difficult- especially if she asked me questions. We had two Empire natives here and Catherine was from Faerghus, so maybe the Alliance?

“You’re thinking too hard about it,” Catherine said, crossing her arms. “No bullshitting us, professor. Tell the truth.”

{Tell the truth,} Byleth suggested.

I blinked. {If you’re sure,} I said, the alcohol starting to buzz pleasantly along the decision making parts of my brain.

{Do it.}

“I’m from another world,” I said.

They all stared at me.

{...I meant where I was from,} Byleth said.

{That makes more sense.}

“Hah! Just kidding. I’m from somewhere around here,” I said, gesturing expansively. “Not sure exactly where.”

Seteth frowned, idly scratching his beard. “One of the villages around Garreg Mach, hm?” he mused out loud. “It probably wouldn’t be too hard to track down your birth record, professor.”

“I might take you up on that at some point,” I said, nodding gratefully. “Where, exactly, never ended up coming up. Always more important things to worry about for me and my father and I’d wager that by now he doesn’t even remember.”

Alois laughed. “That sounds like the captain!” he agreed, nodding. “Why, I don’t believe that he remembers my last name, and we’ve worked together for decades!”

“I’m surprised that Lady Rhea would be interested in Captain Jeralt returning to his old position if that’s the case,” Seteth said, frowning. “With a memory that bad…”

I shook my head. “He’s as sharp as a whip, even as old as he is, and his combat skills are second to none. It’s the interpersonal stuff he struggles with.”

“That’s what I’m for!” Alois added, smiling widely. “The captain focuses on the mission, I focus on the troops, and together we make an unstoppable team!”

Shamir frowned, the gears of her mind turning. “How old is Captain Jeralt?” she asked. “If he was the captain before you were born…”

I exchanged a glance with Alois. “I’m twenty one years old, so at least that long, probably more,” I said, shrugging. “Crests can extend a life by a lot.”

“Careful, you’ll only get him going,” Manuela muttered to me as she gestured to Hanneman.

“Captain Jeralt’s been a knight for as long as I remember!” Alois added. “And he’s hardly changed since I last saw him, too.”

Hanneman nodded. “Crests have been known to extend the human lifespan quite significantly,” he added. “Lady Rhea has a Crest of Seiros that has extended her lifespan for many decades, for example, as with many of the archbishops in the past.”

“That’s what my father has, too,” I said, nodding like this was some new information. “I suppose it makes sense.”

“Then that’s likely the Crest you have as well!” Hanneman said. “Crests are typically passed down through bloodlines, after all. Unless your mother had a different crest?”

I frowned. “I’m not sure what she had,” I lied, thinking of Sitri’s face. “I think she had one?” With a final swig out of my mug I finished off my drink and stared at it, trying to figure out if I should get another one. It was getting late, after all, and I wasn’t sure how well Byleth could hold her alcohol…

“Another drink for the new professor!” Catherine called, flagging over a server and getting me another mug of ale.

I stared at it before sipping it. Ah, what the hell- we didn’t have classes tomorrow, I could sleep off any hangovers and get my work done afterwards.

“Alright, your turn to ask a question, professor!” Catherine grinned. “Give us something good?”

I frowned, trying to think it over, before pointing to her sword. “What sort of weapon is that?” I asked, trying for all the world to sound like someone who had never seen a dragon-bone sword before.

Catherine grinned, taking out the weapon, and I tried to ignore how Seteth shuddered imperceptibly as he beheld it. Imperceptibly if you weren’t looking for it, anyways. “This is one of the Heroes’ Relics,” Catherine said, setting it down on the table. “Behold! The mighty Thunderbrand!”

I looked the weapon over with an appreciative glance. It was a big weapon, the size of a bastard sword, but instead of a single blade it had three sets of prongs intermittently along the blade. Inside the hilt of the sword was an intricately carved rock- or what looked like one- and I saw red lightning spark as Catherine ran a finger along it.

“A Heroes’ Relic?” I asked, looking it over. “What’s it made of?”

Catherine shrugged. “Nobody knows,” she said, leaning in conspiratorily. “All the scripture tells us is that they were gifts to Nemesis and the Ten Elites from the goddess. And, of course, that once Nemesis became corrupted, he used the weapons for evil before Saint Seiros killed him on the Tailtean Plains.”

“Nobody’s investigated any further?” I asked, examining the weapon. I mean, it looks like fossilized bone, right? Surely someone had made that connection before?

Seteth cleared his throat, stepping into the conversation. “You can put that away, Catherine. And yes, professor, scholars from all over Fódlan have investigated the relics,” he continued as Catherine sheathed the sword, “but to no avail. I believe Professor Hanneman is one of them?”

“My studies have always been more focused on the crest than the relics, but I have dabbled, yes,” Hanneman said, leaning forward. “You must understand, professor, that the only thing able to cut the Heroes’ Relics is Umbral Steel and sacred weapons. In addition to that, very few nobles are willing to part with a Heroes’ Relic for extended periods of study, not the least of which is because of the danger that befalls those who try to use it without a crest.”

“That being that they turn into a giant monster, similar to a demonic beast,” Alois filled in.

I nodded, my mind awhirl with thoughts. “Jeez. And if you have an unsuitable crest?”

“You aren’t going to turn into a giant monster, but you’re also unable to access the full power of the relic,” Catherine chimed in.

Seteth nodded. “And that’s why the study of relics and crests is highly regulated by the Church of Seiros. It’s a dangerous field that we know very little about.”

The humans around us know very little about it, anyways. I’d wager that Seteth and Rhea, if not Flayn as well, were well aware of the hidden history behind crests and relics. Unless Rhea kept it secret from Seteth as well? He was in hiding with Flayn right after the end of the war, right? Did she tell him about the massive rewrite of history she carried out?

“Alright, next question from us,” Catherine said before taking a big swig of her drink, finishing it off. “What weapons do you use?”

{This one’s for you, Byleth,} I said, calling her attention to the conversation before parroting back what she said. “The sword, primarily, but I can use most other regular weapons at a C or B level. Enough to counter them and teach them, at least.”

Catherine nodded. “That’s pretty good, professor.”

“My turn for a question,” I said, frowning. What to ask? “How long have you been with the knights?” I settled on.

Catherine grinned and leaned forward and I noticed her face was starting to get flushed. “I’ve been with the knights for eight proud years, now,” she said. “Greatest choice I ever made.”

“And you, Shamir?” I asked.

Shamir cocked her head at me. “Isn’t that two questions?” she asked, but before I could respond, she shrugged. “And I’ve been with the knights for five years. I was wandering Fódlan until Lady Rhea took me in and I ended up staying to repay my debt to her.”

I nodded at that.

“And,” Shamir continued, “I suppose being partners with Catherine is… tolerable. Most of the time.”

Catherine’s face broke out into a massive smile and she swept Shamir into a hug. “I know you cared!”

“She gets like this when she’s tipsy,” Shamir said, giving me a shrug and making no attempt to escape the bear hug. “Better to just ride it out.”

I grinned. “I’ve seen that before,” I admitted, the alcohol buzzing through my system. “Alright, your turn to ask me a question.”

Catherine frowned, lost in thought. “What kind of crest do you believe you have?” Hanneman asked, leaning in close. “I’m curious, professor.”

Before I could answer there was a clattering of wood as Seteth pushed his chair back from his seat, and I saw a look of consternation cross his face before he quickly schooled his expression. “I must get back to Flayn,” he said, standing up abruptly. “It was good to see all of you.”

Ah, right. Crests. Probably a sore topic for the man.

“No no no, not yet!” Catherine protested, pushing herself off of Shamir. “Before you leave! We need a toast!”

Seteth raised an eyebrow. “A toast?”

“To the captain’s daughter!” Alois cheered.

“And to our new professor!” Catherine added.

Seteth sighed before sitting back down. “If you insist,” he said, taking his cup of water in hand and holding it up, but I saw the slight smile on his face.

Alois raised his glass with a beaming grin. “To the newest staff member of Garreg Mach!” he called, and we all raised our cups.

{You too, Byleth!} I called and the mercenary reluctantly manifested next to me, a ghostly cup in hand.

{I don’t see the point,} Byleth admitted.

I grinned at her mentally. {These are our new coworkers and friends! The top team of Garreg Mach!} I shot back to her.

“Ready, everyone?” Alois asked, looking around. 

Catherine rolled her eyes. “Let’s just call it already!”

Byleth held her cup up with the rest of us and I grinned. 

“Shall we?” I asked, and the smiles grew on everyone’s faces as we shouted together- even Seteth.

“Cheers!”