When the mist rolled in it came thick and fast - the previously crisp sunlight dissolving from view with excessive speed. Catherine, who was pathfinding at the head of the procession, held up her hand to slow the pace, and then after only a few minutes, she brought her horse to a standstill and dismounted, gathering the rest of the company around her.

'We are going to need to proceed with caution.' She warned. 'I think we would be wise to lead our mounts on foot until we have some better visibility. Light up your lanterns and stay aware.'

'Will Ingrid be able to find us in this? Surely she should have come back by now if she had seen this building up ahead.' Byleth worried. The girl had set off an hour or so earlier to scout ahead by air.

'Ingrid is a sensible girl. She will have received training on weather anomalies.' Catherine replied. 'I don't expect she will take any risks.'

There was a general scramble as the students arranged themselves and got their lights lit.

'I'm going to struggle with this.' Ignatz sighed unhappily, wiping at his glasses that were already beaded in moisture.

'Don't worry, Iggy. Take hold of your saddle, and I'll take the reigns and lead your horse as well as mine.' Ashe offered. 'Just keep talking to me, please… this mist is kinda scary!'

'Professor…' Annette had come up behind Byleth and tugged at her arm. 'It will probably sound odd but… I think I can feel magic use. Lots of it.'

'You feel it?' Byleth queried with a frown.

'Yes, it's like a strange crawling sensation on my skin.' Annette nodded unhappily.

'That could just be chills from the sudden dampness.' Felix observed flatly.

'Actually, I can feel it too, although in my case, it's more of a smell than a physical sense.' Mercedes interceded, putting a hand on Annette's shoulder. 'At the School of Sorcery, we were trained in developing our natural sensitivity to others using arcane arts. Anyone can be receptive to it, but it's more common if you use the arts yourself.'

'They are correct. I am also aware of something that is not quite right in the air.' Sothis murmured thoughtfully. 'You don't feel it at all?'

'I have no magical ability.' Byleth thought back as she narrowed her eyes, peering out to see if she could spy anything unusual.

'You could have if you trained in it.' Sothis noted absently. 'Be vigilant child. I am ill at ease with this situation.'

'Catherine, might it be an idea to turn back and wait until this weather has passed?' Byleth called to the Knight.

'Pointless.' Catherine responded. 'It will be just as troublesome finding a safe path if we retreat, and the gloom seems to be moving forward over us, even though there isn't a great deal of wind to propel it. We would probably just stay in its grip longer if we move along with it.'

'All the same, I'm not entirely happy with plowing forward blindly.' Byleth insisted.

Catherine paused for a moment considering their options. 'It might be a better plan just to dig in here and wait for it to pass.' She conceded regretfully. 'Our progress will be negligible anyway. I suppose it's not actually worth the risk.'

'The horses are restless.' Dimitri noted quietly his hand rubbing circles on the neck of his mount to soothe the beast.

'Okay then…' Byleth said crisply. 'Let's take up a defensive formation and keep alert.' She started to maneuver her students around into a tight, rough circle.

'I think you are overreacting somewhat.' Catherine murmured, but she followed Byleth's direction and took the place assigned to her without further comment.

'I dunno about the rest of you, but I know that I'd rather not have to dig anyone out of a bog.' Byleth said, trying to keep her tone light. 'I'm also pretty sure that the paperwork would be totally horrendous if we actually managed to lose a student altogether!'

Catherine chuckled in acknowledgment. 'There is that!' She agreed cheerfully. 'Sothis save us from unwanted paperwork!'

'What was that?' Sothis squealed in Byleth's head. 'Does she KNOW about me? Did you say something when you were drunk?' She demanded with scathing accusation.

Byleth had frozen where she stood. 'Sothis?' She queried quietly. Catherine turned to look at her in amazement.

'You know… Sothis… The Goddess…' Catherine supplied, speaking as if Byleth was a child. 'Bloody hell Byleth! The Archbishop mentioned that you had little knowledge of the church… but seriously?'

The students were looking at the Professor curiously now as well. Byleth blanched. 'I'd just never heard her named before.' Byleth muttered, looking sharply away as Sothis screeched amazement in her head.

'A Goddess…' Sothis crowed happily and Byleth could feel the presence in her mind bouncing around buoyantly. 'That would explain a few things!'

'It's probably just a name.' Byleth disagreed. 'You know, as in you were named after the Goddess…'

'Then explain to me why the ONLY place you can physically see me manifest is in the grounds of MY Monastery?' Sothis demanded.

'Actually, it's the home of the church of Seiros, NOT the church of Sothis.' Byleth pointed out.

'Pfft! Semantics. How about my divine ability to turn back time.' Sothis challenged.

'This is likely all my fault.' Byleth groaned. 'I reckon I probably looted a cursed amulet or rubbed the wrong lamp after some battle or another… then PUFF, there you were...'

'I definitely don't ''puff'' anywhere, but I am inclined to agree that you probably made some kind of fatal error.' Sothis huffed. 'I can't see any other reason that a Goddess like ME would lumber myself with a useless lump like you.'

'Say's the deluded deity who looks like she's twelve and can't actually remember anything about who or what she is…' Byleth retorted. 'Can we talk about this later?' She added with a groan. 'I don't know if your Holiness has noticed, but we are currently stuck in a boggy marsh covered by thick fog, with some kind of magic potentially being cast nearby, and I have nine students that I'm responsible for. I could do without any other distractions right now…'

'You attract trouble like dung attracts flies.' Sothis grouched. 'Fine. We will talk later.'

'I can't wait.' Byleth lied.

~0~

When Ingrid caught sight of the Knights that were riding full pelt towards the strange fog, her heart stuttered in relief. She recognised Captain Jeralt immediately and swooped down low to hail him.

'Girl? You are one of the Blue Lion Kids…' Jeralt shouted, only marginally slowing his pace as she brought her Pegasus alongside his steed as closely as she could.

'Yes!' Ingrid shouted back. 'I was scouting this morning before the fog came, and couldn't get back to the others. Captain… It's not natural… the fog is like a precise dome, and it's moving… The others are caught in it!'

Jeralt let loose a string of curses. 'Is there anywhere close by that might have fighting men that could help us?' He barked at her.

'Not that I can think of. The Western Church would be the nearest settlement.'

'Nah, no good. Get yourself back to the Monastery kid.' Jeralt considered his options quickly. 'Grab Alois and speak to Seteth.' He decided. 'Tell him we need help as quickly as possible. Lonato escaped and has mages covering him and his army in this fog. Dunno what his plan is, but he's gathered up a load of villagers too. They are heading towards your classmates as we speak.'

Ingrid had gone white. 'Shouldn't I try and warn them?' She shouted.

'Too dangerous.' Jerlat shook his head. 'Get a message through. Quickly now!'

Ingrid urged her mount onwards and up, doing as he bid.

~0~

The tension was high as the group waited, huddled together, hoping that the fog would eventually release them. After a while had passed, Catherine began to get impatient and tetchy at their inertia.

'I'm going to take a look ahead of us a little.' She decided decisively. 'Byleth, you cover the ground behind us – I hear your scouting skills are exceptional. I'm am completely sick of sitting here and waiting for the weather to pass; any direction we can safely head off in will be better than not going anywhere.'

'I'm not sure…' Byleth began, but Catherine's growl of frustration stopped her. 'Okay.' She agreed cautiously. 'I'm not going to move too far behind, though. Dimitri, shout if there is anything… and I mean anything that concerns you.'

'I'm leaving the Knight with them.' Catherine sighed. 'The kids will be fine.'

'Don't worry, Professor. We will all remain vigilant.' Dimitri promised.

'Right.' Byleth handed the reins of her horse to Sylvain, who was next to her and lifted her lantern to try and get some light on the path they had followed earlier. 'I won't be long.' She promised quietly.

Unencumbered Byleth was able to move fairly swiftly, her memory of the way they had come still fresh in her mind. Her ears and her eyes strained for anything unusual, and her hackles were up at the silence and stillness that met her.

'We shouldn't be leaving the kids.' Sothis observed grouchily.

'Catherine made it clear to me before we left that she was leading this mission. I have a feeling this task was given as an assertion of her authority.' Byleth grumbled in reply.

'All the same…'

Sothis's voice was cut off from her mind as Byleth was roughly grabbed from behind, an arm looping her waist tightly, pulling her taunt against the hard body of her assailant and a hand coming swiftly up to cover her mouth and prevent her from calling out. Byleth immediately began twisting herself hard, trying to break free and reach for her weapon.

'Byleth, stop. It's me!' A familiar voice whispered urgently next to her ear.

She jerked her head sharply and bit down fiercely on the hand over her mouth.

'Ouch! Shit!' The arm around her pulled her tighter. 'I'm not going hurt you stupid.' The man grunted. 'Just stop flailing for a second and… Ouch!' She had stamped heavily on his foot. 'Seriously! Stop it now.' He growled. She stilled in his arms. 'Good.' He huffed. 'I'm going to take my hand away now. Please don't scream…' He slowly did as he said.

'Jeritza! What the bloody…' His hand shot back to her mouth.

'Quiet.' He warned before moving his hand back a fraction, ready to gag her again if he needed to.

'Why are you here?' She demanded angrily, fighting against his hold to test his grip on her.

'Listen to me, Byleth. There isn't much time.' His voice was low and right next to her ear. 'You are in all kinds of trouble right now. Lonato has escaped his castle with his troops, and mages are conjuring this fog to provide cover for them. They are currently marching directly at you and the students.'

'How do you know this? Why in the hell are you here? How are you here?' Byleth's head was spinning.

'I… can't tell you that, just take it on faith that I learned of Lonato's plans after you had left and I followed you.' Jeritza replied with a tinge of apology to his voice. 'That's not what's important right now. Captain Jeralt knows the score and is in pursuit of Lonato but he is quite a way behind him, and there are way too many hostiles for your team to engage with alone… Lonato recruited a load of his villagers along as they travelled.'

'Shit.' Byleth swore and tried to pull away from him again, but his arm tightened, pulling her even closer against him.

'I am going to stay behind you all, and protect your rear as best I can, but I can't be seen here and… it may not be safe to engage with me anyway. You understand what I'm saying?'

'Yes.' Byleth grunted. 'Why don't you just get the hell out of the way then?'

'I am not leaving my sister in this kind of danger.' He snapped.

'If you can't control yourself, aren't you risking her safety anyway?' Byleth challenged.

'Let me worry about that… I can manage it.'

'You'd better!'

'I will!' He promised. 'It would be far worse if I didn't try and help.'

'You don't have to take this risk, Jeritza.' Byleth told him softly. 'You must know that I won't let any harm come to Mercedes, I swear I would die before I allowed that to happen.'

'Yes, of course that's all well and good, but I don't want that to happen either.' He roughly squeezed her waist. 'Don't you dare do anything stupid, Byleth… I know that will be a challenge for you but… Just get Catherine to agree to a retreat, and please, don't mention me, don't tell anyone I was here.'

'We will be speaking about this later!' She warned him as he finally let go of her.

'Better hope there is a later.' Jeritza replied sadly, before disappearing into the mist.