The first night of camping on their mission passed serenely and without incident; everyone was tired after the long day of travel and settled easily and quickly once the evening meal had been eaten.

Byleth stretched herself out beside the campfire as soon as the watch rota was set and agreed upon. She planned to personally oversee the switches in personnel at each exchange and wanted to be readily available if any issues arose.

'Do you ever sleep, Professor?' Dimitri asked Byleth somewhat sternly when he and Mercedes relieved Ashe and Felix from the first watch.

'I suppose I have never developed a proper sleeping pattern.' Byleth admitted. 'It's usually more of a case of grab sleep when you can, on the road. Of course, the kind of work that we did wasn't all planned out like this trip. I seriously doubt we will have any problems en-route.'

'Are you becoming acclimatised to the daily Monastery routine or is being back outside a relief to you?' Mercedes asked curiously. 'I recall you saying that you rarely had the opportunity to sleep in an actual room more than a few nights at any one time.'

Byleth stretched and yawned. 'I don't mind either way, really.' She said. 'I guess I'm not particularly fussy.'

'Well, I prefer a room.' Sothis grumbled.

'What earthly difference can it make to you?' Byleth queried when Mercedes's attention diverted from her to pour a mug of fresh tea for all of them.

'You are so alert and observational when you have the kids out of doors and feel all responsible for their wellbeing.' Sothis moaned. 'It makes it hard for ME to sleep with all the worry crashing round in your head. I rather enjoy my slumber, you know!'

Byleth's attention snapped back to Dimitri, who had started talking to her again, asking about the silver sword that she had laid out by her side when she had settled down.

'That blade is extremely fine…' The Prince was saying. 'Might I take a closer look?'

Byleth handed it over to him. 'I'm not all that knowledgable.' Byleth admitted. 'My dad always took care of selling spoils… so honestly, I only recognise that its weight and balance are excellent.'

'Don't you dare admit that to Felix, he would probably have a fit!' Dimitri chuckled as he drew the sword from the scabbard. 'I'm guessing that he hasn't spotted you carrying this beauty yet, or we would have all heard about it already!'

Mercedes sat down next to Byleth and leaned in close, her breath sweet against the Professor's ear while Dimitri was looking over the weapon appraisingly. 'Is that the one from Jeritza?' She whispered. 'He caught me really early in the morning after our first meeting to ask if I thought it was appropriate for him to gift it to you.'

'You said yes?' Byleth queried.

'Well, of course, I did! He was extremely keen on the idea. I was a little perturbed that he knocked on my door just after dawn, alone… but he was in so cheerful a mood…'

'Ahh, so that was right after he left me then.' Byleth nodded thoughtfully.

'Professor!' Mercedes's eyes had lit up. 'Are you telling me that he stayed the night with you?'

'He fell asleep not long after you left.' Byleth said stoically. 'He was enjoying Colin's company.'

'Hmm, did he now...' Mercedes took Byleth's hand, her chin resting on the Professor's shoulder. 'Isn't that an interesting development!'

Byleth felt warm heat rise to her face, although it was fuelled by Mercedes's sudden closeness and the gentle softness of her hand, rather than by the girl's impish suggestion. She tried to formulate a reply, but her mouth was strangely dry. Thankfully, Dimitri came to the rescue.

'This blade will serve you well.' He said solemnly, squinting at the ladies, seemingly aware that he had missed something. 'Is… everything okay?'

'Of course it is, Dimitri!' Mercedes smiled at him. 'We should probably get to work and walk the camp perimeter. We need to allow the Professor a chance to steal some sleep after all!'

'Oh, yes, you are right! Apologies, Professor.' Dimitri returned the sword to Byleth, then stood up, offering a hand to Mercedes.

Byleth watched the two of them as they stashed their mugs, then moved out together in the darkness before settling herself back down.

'I would have thought you would have been used to that girl's tactile nature by now.' Sothis murmured softly in Byleth's mind. 'You do spend a fair amount of time in her company, after all.'

Byleth was annoyed when she felt a blush return to her cheeks. 'She still takes me by surprise sometimes.' She grunted in reply.

'Yes, I felt that.' Sothis sounded amused.

'She is just so composed.' Byleth suddenly felt the need to explain. 'You would think that the compassion that she has for everyone would make her soft and weak, but she isn't. Not at all! How does she manage that?'

'You think compassion is a weakness?' Sothis asked in surprise.

'No, not exactly.' Byleth thought for a second. 'I am discovering that emotions and feelings are tricky to manage. Many of the students have a whole raft of them and can become tied up in knots and suffer because of them. I never used to have any at all, and things were definitely simpler without them. Mercedes can connect with just about anyone and remain confident though, exactly like how she was when she met with Jeritza. It must have been difficult for her, but she was able to comfort him while managing herself in such a way that her own feelings didn't impact on him.'

'You admire that then.' Sothis deduced.

'Yes.' Byleth agreed. 'I would love to be more like that instead of fearing that I am putting my foot in my mouth all the time. Aside from her compassion and composure, Mercedes is observant and clever, a very skilled healer and manages to have a wicked wisdom and wit.' Byleth sighed heavily. 'Who wouldn't be envious of those skills.'

'I'm not sure that it's envy that you're feeling exactly.' Sothis sounded amused.

'Oh?' Byleth queried. 'What then?'

'I think that's a question you need to answer for yourself.' Sothis laughed gently. 'Maybe if it's still relevant and continues to elude you in a few months, we will chat again.'

'Now you are just being annoying.' Byleth huffed.

'Time to sleep.' Sothis replied firmly.

'Yes, but…'

'Goodnight, Byleth…' Sothis chuckled.

.

Morning brought brilliant sunshine and a decent amount of meat caught in the traps that had been set out the night before.

'Strawberries!' Mercedes exclaimed when Sylvain returned to camp with a bowlful of the flavorsome fruit. She caught Dedue's eye, and he smiled at her, chuckling.

Sylvain brought his bowl over to Byleth who was storing the foodstuffs away, ready for later.

'It's good to see a smile on Ashe's face.' He murmured to her, motioning discretely over to where Ashe, Ignatz and Dedue were busy deconstructing the tents. 'I guess being away from the Monastery is a bit of a relief for him after all of the rumors he had to face there.'

Byleth nodded. 'I just hope everything is resolved quickly. Once he knows that his siblings are safe, I think it will be a huge weight off his mind.' She muttered back.

'Ah, Byleth.' Catherine was striding towards them. 'A good day's travel yesterday. I hope we can make similar time today.'

'Lady Catherine.' Sylvain bowed deeply to her. 'How can you possibly look so very lovely after a night roughing it under canvas?'

'Save it for someone who gives a crap Gautier.' She smirked at him as she moved on towards her own mount.

'Nice try.' Byleth shook her head, amused. 'Do those lines really work on anyone?'

'You'd be surprised.' Sylvain looked completely unruffled.

'I would be!' Byleth agreed.

'You must have had blokes hitting on you, Professor. Surely something managed to pierce through your skepticism at some point?'

'Not really. Most people avoided me or wanted to fight me. Just lately, there have been a few merely interested in killing me. Hubert pointed out that I'm just not the sort of girl made for romancing.'

'How dare he!' Sylvain exclaimed dramatically. 'I would romance you in a heartbeat…'

'That's because you are an idiot.' Felix grumbled, joining them. 'Personally, I would much rather hold a sword than a girl's hand. Speaking of which… may I?' His eyes were shining as he gazed longingly at the sword resting at Byleth's hip.

She nodded and handed it over to him.

'What a waste.' Sylvain sighed. 'I would much rather hold a girl's hand than a sword…' He mimicked Felix rather well. 'May I?' He knelt and offered his hand to the Professor with a beaming grin on his face.

'Why would I want something that pretty much any girl could have?' She challenged him, patting his head fondly. 'No fun in that.'

'It seems the Professor has you all worked out.' Ingrid observed frowning at Sylvain as she came by to pick up the heavy saddle for her Pegasus.

'Unfortunately so.' Sylvain mourned.

'Are you going to scout before we set off?' Byleth turned to Ingrid.

'Catherine asked me to, yes.' Ingrid agreed. 'I won't have to go too far though, the terrain is much flatter on this stage of the journey so I can see further. Dimitri lent me his spyglass too. It's a little more powerful than the academy issue ones.'

'We have a little time before we leave then.' Byleth said thoughtfully. 'You fancy sparring Felix? You can use my blade if I can borrow yours.'

'You seriously need to ask me that?' Felix huffed. 'Obviously…'

'It would be good for all of us to get in a little weapon work each day, and we will likely be too tired again later.' Byleth looked over to Catherine. 'Would you like to join us in a few spars before we set out?' She asked.

'I think I'll just watch.' Catherine replied. 'I wouldn't mind seeing your form.'

'I would love to see you and your relic in action, Catherine.' Dimitri had overheard and joined the group. Felix nodded, in agreement with the Prince for a change.

'I wouldn't want to be the one fighting her though.' Sylvain muttered, getting back to his feet.'

'Tomorrow.' Catherine promised, finishing off her work and moving to the middle of the clearing. 'I would like to see what you all have. We are unlikely to become engaged in a fight, but it is always useful to know what talent you have on your side. Or the lack of it.'

There was a general scrambling to get the camp fully packed up, and while Ingrid took to the skies, the others formed into pairings and ran through a training session, starting out as usual with Byleth's promised spar with Felix. After the lad had been dropped a few times, he handed Byleth back her sword.

'I'd like to see you using it.' He explained.

'Not bad. Not bad at all.' Catherine admitted once the session was wound up after Ingrid returned and had plowed down gracefully on her mount, her lance in hand and knocked a fair number of the students from their feet, laughing as she did. 'We need to wind up and get ourselves on the move now though.' Catherine continued. 'Look smart students!' She commanded.

Byleth was held back by Catherine's hand on her shoulder.

'You work well with the kids.' Catherine admitted easily. 'I have rarely seen such a motivated bunch so early in the academic year.'

'Most were very well skilled before they came to the academy.' Byleth objected.

'Well, obviously having the crown prince and the heirs to some of the major houses means they would have had rigorous training already.' Catherine agreed. 'Doesn't take away from the fact they have come together rather efficiently. Just accept the compliment Byleth. You won't get that many from me, I assure you.' She smiled, genuinely at the Professor.

'I'd already worked that one out for myself.' Byleth replied and smiled in return at Catherine's booming laugh.