Holiday obligations and my contributions to this year's Azurrin Week (which I encourage you to check out) weighed heavily on my regularly scheduled updates, but we should be back on track now. Thank you for your patience and continued support.
Word count: 319 words.
.82 - Byleth and Sothis and Mail
They leave the shop stone broke and with more fanciful frivolities than they know what to do with.
"Come back soon!" Anna waves, smiling ear to ear.
"I don't see why I have to carry everything," Byleth grunts, lugging a king's ransom in clothes.
"Phooey," says Sothis with a wink, her hands tied behind her back as she moseys beside him. "Because they cannot see me, of course! 'I don't see'? Hmph! Whatever do you mean by that? If anything, you are the only one that can see! See?"
"My head hurts," says the professor before adding. "My arms hurt too."
"Perhaps if you did not allow yourself to get so needlessly carried away back there, you would not need to carry so many things," Sothis chides. "Hah! I'm on a roll this evening, as they say!"
"Professor!"
A smile blooms on Byleth's face at the sight of the gatekeeper, stumbling every which way and profusely apologizing to everyone in his path as he weaves his way through the merciless hustle and bustle of the marketplace. "Hah... Haaah... I've finally found you! And not a moment too soon... er, sort-of. I certainly was not hopelessly scrambling about the monastery, bellowing the great 'Professor Eisner' name to the heavens, i-if that was your suspicion!"
"Uh.."
"Goodness, is this not the gatekeeper?" whispers Sothis, as though she can be overheard. "Whatever is he doing here, not keeping the gate? Itching for a tongue lashing from upstairs, do you think?"
"O-oh!" the gatekeeper stammers. "M-my apologies! Ahem! 'Greetings, professor!' And yes, as you've undoubtedly deducted by now, I do in fact have something to report! Give me just one moment!"
The guard removes his helmet, revealing his hair to be a frumpish bowl cut molded from wearing it so often. "It's this letter," he says as he fishes it out. "It came for you this morning!"
"A letter...?" Byleth pauses. "For me?"