At breakfast the letters arrived. Various assortments of parcels and packages bearing gifts filled the tables. Bernadetta would normally open hers in the confines of the room, but today was an important announcement that was mandatory for all students to attend. Tentatively she opened the letter;

'Dearest Bernadetta, I trust that you are focusing on your studies thus far at the academy, use this as an opportunity to branch out and make some friends. Once again I apologise for the manner in which I sent you to the academy but it was the only way I could achieve doing so. I look forward to hearing about your friends and the activities you have gotten to do so far. I've enclosed a tin of sweet buns for you, and a new hoodie. If you run out of art and craft supplies, or perhaps books or you need some warmer clothing, please write and I'll sed the to you as soon as possible. Love Mum.'

Her stepmother had always been kind in the gifts she sent her. For as long as she could remember her stepmother had been there. The epitome of what a noblewoman should be. Despite her efforts, she could never appear as noble or ladylike in Father's eyes.

The second letter she had received fell in her lap, the wax seal on the back was immediately recognisable. For Father to write she must have done something truely horrendous.

'Bernadetta, you have been associating with students of inferior status to yourself, Grace and I didn't send you to the academy to associate with commoners. You were sent to find a husband. And even now after 3 months, there is no word of you even associating with males, aside from the second son of house Bergliez, and Duke Vestra's son. You are an ungrateful worthless girl, you take my hard work and sacrifice to raise you to be a proper noble lady and you repay me with this. When your sisters were your age they had successfully been arranged to marry nobles of high status and class, but not you, you can't even do such a simple task. If your mother were alive today she would not stand for such behaviour. But I am a kind man, I will give you one more chance to prove your worth as a daughter and bride. To assist you with these activities, I have funded the academy to finish repairing the dormitory buildings, you will no longer have to share rooms with students of inferior class and rank. From now until graduation, I expect to only hear of you associating with people of significant noble rank. - Father.'

Now she'd done it, she'd angered Father. Once again she had socialised with the wrong people in his eyes. And now she'd have to leave the room she shared with Dorothea and Petra. They were her friends, her first friends since Yuri.

"Oh Bernie you stupid girl, now they're gonna hate you." Someone tapped her shoulder. "Eek. Please don't hurt me I'm sorry."

"Miss Von Varley is everything alright?"

"Oh uh yeah professor Jeritza, just some letters from my parents."

"You said something about people hating you."

"That was audible? Ohh no."

"Is this everyone, in the senior class at the officers academy?"

"Have you not done the roll call?"

"I thought you had done it you old geezer."

"If you weren't such a drunk, you'd know that you were tasked with the roll call."

"Hanneman, Manuela. Quit your childish behaviour, I've already done the roll call, now I have an important church related meeting so can you two handle this without killing each other."

"I can work with the uptight rich old geezer."

"I'll try not to kill the alcoholic."

"Just get the students moved into the new dorms." Seteth sighed as he left the room.

Sylvain raised his hand, "Why are we all gathered in here?"

Manuela, taking a swig from her not so discreet wine bottle, turned to face the gathered students.

"After several months of waiting we finally got your dormitories fixed so you can all have individual rooms. We managed to secure funding and workers to finalise the process due to a generous donation from the Duke Varley. You are also moving dormitories due to the highly inappropriate behaviour a few weeks ago that resulted from the party that was thrown."

Dorothea called out, "Inappropriate behaviour? What about the party was inappropriate?"

Hanneman stepped forward, "According to my niece, large amounts of alcohol were being consumed, various couplings of students were engaged in borderline sexual activities, and students were forced to kiss to each other against their will."

"You have a niece?" Linhardt yawned.

"I was nearly forced to marry his niece." Ferdinand responded, setting down his portable tea cup.

Ingrid turned to face Hanneman, "What about our behaviour was borderline sexual?"

"From what information I have been given, you were among the students that invited a student of the opposite sex back to your dorms."

"In my defence, we were both highly drunk."

Felix turned to Ingrid, "Sylvain didn't look too drunk to me."

"It wasn't Sylvain."

"Then who the fuck was it?"

"Who cares who the infracting students were, it won't happen again. You are all getting new dormitories today." Manuela yelled at the students, before taking the now empty wine bottle from her hip and attempting to take a sip.

"Now I want the girls to return to your current dormitories and pack up your things and bring them to the Black Eagles classroom, boys you are to go directly to the Blue Lions classroom. If you are not all gathered in the Blue Lions classroom by the time Hanneman gets there, I will send the late students to assist the cleaning staff in polishing the floors in the entrance hall."

"I can't believe we are changing rooms, I was beginning to enjoy sharing a dormitory with you girls."

"You were not already of enjoyment of sharing a room, Dorothea?"

"I enjoy sharing a room with you guys, initially I had my reserves, last time I lived with someone I was paid to clean their house when I wasn't at the Mittelfrank Opera company."

"Maybe the person you lived with is your mystery benefactor."

"He isn't, I used to manage his financial books, he is only paying one tuition at Garreg Mach and that is of his sister."

"It is of shame that we are not able to have found your person of benefactoring."

"How about on Thursday nights we all go into town and get dinner, we can discuss it then."

"Do we have to leave our dormitories?"

"Oh Bernie it's not that bad, at least you'll have your own room now, no more freaking out when I accidentally get locked out and am banging on the door to be let in."

"But if it happens again who will let you in?"

"I'll just knock on Ferdie's door."

Annette combined the rice, eggs and vegetables in the pan. At first it seemed as though the food was going to cook properly. She picked up a clove of garlic and threw it in the pan. Having not realised she needed to stir the mix, annette sat at the other bench and started her two thousand word essay on the structure of the knights of Seiros.

Minutes later smoke started coming from the pan.

"Is something on fire?" Annette glanced around the kitchen, her eyes fell on the pan, "Oh no my fried egg and rice!"

It was rather late at night and Hubert was in desperate need of coffee. Since they had been placed into individual dormitories, he no longer had access to a fireplace to boil the water needed to make a cup of coffee. Instead he would have to make his way into the kitchens undiscovered to satiate his needs.

Smoke was coming out of the dining hall windows when he approached. Through the haze of the smoke he could see a petite orange haired girl attempting to put out the flames.

Not wanting to be blamed for the death of a fellow student, especially one he didn't cause, he rushed into the kitchen to help her. Within seconds he had put out the flames.

"Thank you so much I didn't mean for this to happen."

"Annette right?" She nodded. "I'm all for burning down the monastery, but there is no need to waste perfectly good food to do so."

"What? I was trying to cook rice. Why would I be burning down the monastery?"

Hubert paid her remark no heed and instead the charcoal mess that was the pan, "You do know that when you make fried rice, you have to cook the rice separately first. Right?"

"I tried that but all the grins split."

"Was it in water?"

"No."

"I do not have the patience for this."

"Why are you even in here?"

"I was going to make a cup of coffee."

"Oh. Well I uh think the kettle is in," she walked over to a cupboard and pulled open the door, "Here."

"Thank you."

"No problem. Now I'm just going to clean up this pan. Then I'll attempt to make fried rice again. This time I won't light it on fire by accident."

Hubert sighed, "let me help you."

"I'm right thanks."

"From what I gather," he pointed to the soot stains on the back of the stove, and the pan, "you aren't."

Hubert walked over to the racks in which the vegetables were stored. Practiced hands reached for carrots, potatoes, corn and cabbage. A knife was pulled from the block and a chopping board placed on the bench. He turned to Annette, "Can you chop the vegetables, I'll slice up some beef strips."

"Beef strips?"

"You used all the rice, there are some noodles, we'll improvise, cooked properly the beef will add a bit of flavour."

"Well ok then."

The pair set to work in relative silence, with the only sound coming in the form of crickets, Annette's humming and the sound of crickets.

Dimitri was walking down the hall when he heard it. A faint sob from behind Edelgard's door. For several moments he stood at her door, his head resting against it. Another sob came through the door, and with his head resting against the door he was able to hear the faint whimper of pain.

He glanced down both directions of the hallway, with the recent relocation of the dormitories, Dimitri, like many other students, had found that whilst the new location increased interaction of students between houses it had decreased the ability for students to enter each other's rooms without everyone finding out.

Lifting his hand to the door he asked, "El-Edelgard are you in here?"

"Yes."

"Is everything alright?"

"Perfectly," another whimper of pain came from behind the door.

"It doesn't seem that way, I'm coming in," Dimitri, unable to open the door due to it having been locked, activated his crest and broke the lock.

Edelgard lifted her head to face him, "I told you I was fine. You didn't have to break my door."

"Well it's just that,"

"That you're my stepbrother and you're concerned for me, well I have news for you, you aren't my stepbrother anymore, your father and my mother were killed in Duscur, therefore nullifying your status as my stepbrother, so if you'd leave my room I'd appreciate it."

"I'm not checking if you are ok because you were my stepsister, I'm checking on you as a concerned classmate," Dimtri looked down at Edelgard, who he had only now realised was huddled on the ground in just a mere nightgown. Faint white scars clung to her arms and legs. He knelt down and took her glove free hands in his.

"Who did this to you?"

"It doesn't matter and I'd appreciate it if you didn't ask again?"

"El-Edelgard you are covered in scars, whatever the cause let me help you."

"What's done is done. You can't change the past, only fix the future."

"Please, I can't stand to see you like this."

"Well it's a good thing that you are kneeling."

"If you won't tell me about the scars, at least tell me what you are doing awake in the middle of the night."

"The slight inconvenience in that of a nightmarish memory, what of you? The crown prince of Faerghus shouldn't be wandering the halls at night, what were you up to?"

"I was on my way to the training grounds."

She raised her eyebrow, "in the middle of the night?"

"Yes."

"Is this a one off occurrence or do you disregard your physical health often?"

"I train at night more often than not, it helps me to forget for a few hours what I had endured in Duscur."

"Oh I forgot you had been there, you were the sole survivor. Just as I was of my siblings."

"What became of them? I heard there was an illness but no specific detail was ever given, or if it had, my uncle and lord Rodrigue had spared me of it."

"The circumstances in which my siblings died is not a topic I can so easily talk about, especially in the middle of the night with a person I hardly know. If you were on your way to the training grounds, you'd be best to leave now, don't want one of the professor's catching you."

"Would you like to join me?"

"It's not like I'm going to get any sleep anyway, I may aswell."

A crescent moon hung on a blanket of stars over the roof of Garreg Mach. A small picnic had been set up on one of the more flat sections of roof. It was quaint and romantic.

"Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise."

"Claude I know we are on the roof."

Claude guided Hilda to a set of pillows and helped her to sit down, "You can open your eyes now."

"You set this all up?"

"Yeah."

"What's the occasion?"

"How about we eat first?"

"The suspense is killing me."

"Well I'm not feeding you."

Hilda batted her eyelids at Claude, he shook his head before loading her fork with food and bringing it to her lips. Hilda took a bite, and proceeded to pick up Claude's fork and return the gesture to him.

Upon finishing their meal, Claude cleared both his and Hilda's plates away to the side.

"So are you going to tell me why we are up here?"

"I love you."

"I love you too, but what's that have to do with anything?"

"Hilda, will you shut up for one bloody minute and let me speak, we've been together for a few months now, and obviously we have a baby on the way, and even if that were not the case, I don't picture myself with anyone else, but you, and I guess what I'm trying to say is that I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Hang on are you trying to propose?"

He took her hand in his and pulled a small golden box out of his pocket with his other hand.

"Hilda Valentine Goneril, will you marry me? I understand if you say no, and I probably should've asked Holst and your father's permission first-" his words were cut off by Hilda's lips coming into contact with his.

"You thought I'd say no?"

"Yeah well I mean who knows maybe you like Lorenz."

"If you ever suggest that I would pick Lorenz over you again I will not hesitate to throw you across the border and into Almyra."

"Why Almyra of all places?"

"Everywhere else takes additional effort."

Claude placed both hands behind his head, "so it's a yes then?"

"Yes, I'll marry you, but if you don't want my brother to kill you we should probably do so before the baby is born."

"I love you."

"Aww babe you're so sweet come here."

(What happened next was not pg)

"Where did you learn to cook like that? Cause this is really good."

"As Edelgard's retainer I must be able to cook anything she would desire to eat."

"You sound like Dedue, but even then where did you learn?"

"My mother taught me."

"Your mother? Well she must be a pretty great cook if she taught you all this."

"She was."

"What happened?"

"She was killed during the insurrection."

"Oh,the insurrection was when the nobles rebelled against the Emperor wasn't it? Mercedes told me about it, her aunt had been killed as a result. Was your mother one of the ones who went against the emperor?"

"No, she was one of the few who sided with him, she was killed defending the youngest of the imperial children."

"But your father was among the rebelling nobles."

"He was selfish and went against his imperial duties."

"I can't exactly relate to your situation, my father was so loyal to the king, he left when Lambert was killed, leaving me to live with my uncle."

Hubert lifted his coffee as though to toast, "to shitty fathers."

"To shitty fathers," Annette clinked her cup of tea against his coffee.

Axe crashed against lance as Dimitri and Edelgard threw themselves into more intense training methods. Whilst he held the advantage of strength and size, she had speed and agility on her side.

"You're rather forceful with your axe."

"Says the person who has broken six lances since we started."

"I can't help my strength."

"Is that so," Edelgard flipped Dimitri onto the ground, "try me."

Dimitri hooked his foot around her ankle bringing her toppling down on top of him. Separated by a thin layer of clothing and panting heavily the pair were dangerously close to having their training session change its direction.

"Well, I'd hardly quantify that action as fair."

"You pushed me first."

"I didn't push you, I flipped you," Edelgard leaned over Dimitri, their noses millimetres apartment.

"Edelgard," he groaned, "Can you get up?"

"I thought the crest of Blaiddyd made you strong."

"It's not that. Just please get up."

"Not until you admit that your action was unfair."

"El," Dimitri managed to roll himself so that Edelgard was the one on the ground, and he was leaning over her, "if anyone is pulling unfair actions tonight it's you."

"I've followed all the rules of training, how have I been unfair."

"You are still in your nightgown."

"And?"

"It's distracting."

"How so?"

"Just take this," he removed his cloak and draped it over her shoulders.

"Quite the gentleman, aren't you?"

"It's almost as though you want something to happen."

"How do I explain it, call me a romantic if you may, but ever since that party Sylvain and Hubert hosted, I've felt a desire to be close with you."

"We kissed because of one of Claude's games, but if that's why you believe you have a desire to be close with me then I'll point out you kissed Sylvain for far longer."

"I kissed Sylvain?"

"Yes."

"That son of a bitch."

"You have had a long night, perhaps I should walk you to your room."

"I'm right, to walk back to my room by myself thanks."

"Are you sure because I can escort you back." A loud cough erupted in the room.

"Edelgard if the boar is bothering you feel free to punch him in the face."

………………..3 weeks later………….

Sylvain sat on the steps of Conand tower, the lance of ruin at his feet. Rain had been falling for the past hour and he couldn't care less. The Black Eagles students had approached him multiple times, to get him out of the cold. But he didn't leave his seat. As cruel as Miklan was, he was his brother and he loved him. The same crests that lead him into his foray of flirting with random women, brought upon the destruction of his brother.

"Sylvain."

"Leave me alone. I'm not coming inside"

"I wasn't asking you to come inside."

"Then what do you want," he looked up to see who had approached him this time, "Edelgard."

"Your brother and you weren't particularly close I take it."

"He hated me, he tried to kill me when we were kids because I had a crest and he didn't. We may not have been close but I still care about him. There's not really much you can do about it."

"I know what it's like to lose brothers to the destruction of crests,"

"Didn't your siblings all get sick and die?"

"Not exactly, a group of nobles decided they wanted an emperor with a major crest, so myself and my siblings were subjected to cruel experiments to give us a major crest, those that weren't already in possession of a crest died instantly, the three of us who had them went mad, except for me. My eldest brother hated that I had a crest and he didn't, but from what I understand his actions were nowhere near as cruel as that of Miklan's."

"You have two crests?"

"That's not the point. Sitting around out here in the freezing rain isn't going to achieve anything."

"Yeah well it's not like you can get rid of the influence of crests, as long as they determine an individual's worth, people like my brother will continue to exist."

"But what if you could get rid of the influence of crests, if you had the opportunity would you take it?"

"For Miklan I would"

"Well Sylvain, when I become empress, I plan to focus on eliminating the influence crests have on society. I will implement a system in which power is determined by the choice of the people rather than the absence or presence of a crest. I would love for you to give me a kingdom perspective on the issue."

"Really? Why me?"

"Unlike most people you understand the negative effects a crest has, I can request Manuela have you transferred to the Black Eagles class, it would make it easier for us to have these discussions."

Sylvain took Edelgard's hand to his lips, "it would be an honour your highness."