-1170 Wyvern Moon-

._._._._._.

"How long are you supposed to stand here?"

Beles peeked through a narrowed eye. His head was bowed and his hands were clasped in a prayer - obviously he wasn't finished with his morning routine at the Cathedral.

He didn't dare to move as he closed his eye. There was a huff.

"Fine. I'll let you be."

He didn't believe her for a second.

"Beles, that child has been watching you since you began."

Beles did his absolute best not to move from his spot.

"Hm? His eyes are strange. I wonder what made them that way."

If Beles knew how to curse, he probably would've.

"He must be waiting for you. Did something happen while I was away?"

Nothing. Nothing happened, Beles wanted to tell her.

"Come now, I would not tease you for making a friend."

Friend.

He still didn't know what that meant.

Beles tuned her out the best he could. He really wanted to finish his morning prayers before dealing with anything else.

That included Sothis.

When he finally finished, he dropped his hands and turned to leave. What he didn't expect was the mismatched eyes that caught his own.

"Hm? Beles, we must move if you want anything done today."

Beles glanced away from the green and blue and turned the opposite direction. There were more ways to exit the Cathedral.

But then he remembered the massive bridge.

There was only one way to get back to the monastery.

"Honestly, you aren't afraid of a child that is your age, are you?"

He was not.

"Byleth would've terrorized them with her own game already."

Of course she would. She was a literal force to be reckoned with. Beles knew it first hand.

Byleth flipped him on his back when he caught her off guard in their little world. He never wanted to do that again.

Beles took a tiny breath and slowly exhaled. He certainly didn't have the time to fret pointlessly. Resolutely, he took a step toward Carrol.

No, he did not frown when he saw the other boy light up like a daisy in the sun. It was so strange.

"Hey, Beles!" Carrol greeted with a happy wave.

"Oh? How cheery he is in the morning. You could learn a thing or two from him."

Beles did not subtly turn to give her a flat gaze. He did not.

"Did you eat yet?" Carrol plowed on as he placed his hands on his hip, "I haven't! We should go to the dining hall together."

Beles raised his hand to refuse, but he couldn't.

Instead, his hand was hijacked by the boy and Beles quickly found himself being half-dragged, half-escorted across the giant bridge.

He absolutely ignored the way that Sothis giggled behind him the whole way.

"I heard that they were serving pastries today! I hope there's apple strudels or blueberry—"

More than half the things that sprouted from Carrol's mouth left Beles struggling to keep up, both physically and mentally.

How could the other boy be so energetic at this hour?

They only stopped when Beles accidentally (if not purposely) tripped over his own feet and literally face planted the ground. Carrol cried out when he was suddenly pulled to the ground. The grip he had on Beles was pretty tight.

"Ohhh, you did that on purpose, didn't you."

He could definitely hear the amusement in her voice. Beles frowned a little deeper at the stray rocks that dug in his palms and knees, but he did not cry out, only huffing a bit to catch his breath. He didn't know when it started, but it had gotten harder to breathe recently. Maybe it had something to do with the odd aches in his body.

Nevertheless, he sat up as he always did, and didn't dare to deny Sothis' statement (he knew it wasn't a question).

"That was not nice, Bel," Sothis scolded. She crossed her arms and stayed in his direct line of sight, "You could have badly injured the other boy—"

Carrol, on the other hand, didn't get up. He was loudly hissing as he rubbed the back of his head and laid on the ground. He peered up at Beles, who only stared at him with his blank face, and broke into a grin.

"Hey! You look okay," he said. He took a moment longer on the ground before he sat up. Beles watched the boy stand and dust himself off. "I must've been going to fast, huh? Sorry about that! I just don't you to miss out on the pastries."

Beles stared at him.

What?

"I mean, I heard you like sweets from the chef, so I couldn't pass this up."

Carrol held no reservations as he reached down to grab Beles' hands to pull him to his feet. He even dusted off Beles' clothes and face.

"There we go! I'll go slower this time," he said as he held a hand and nodded.

Beles didn't move his feet when Carrol tugged him. He glanced at a random direction, effectively causing the other boy turn his head to look. He took the opportunity to slip his hand out of his grip, and touch the back of Carrol's head.

"Ow!"

Beles felt it.

Wow, that was a sizable bump. He would apologize (as Sothis gave him a very, very pointed look), but he didn't think Carrol would understand at all.

"Maybe you may not be able to apologize yet, but you have your own way of doing so, yes?"

Sothis was right. He did have his own way of doing this.

Beles didn't have to close his eyes to concentrate as he cast a simple heal. He didn't move his hand until he felt the bump ease away. He nodded to himself and dropped his arm.

Carrol stared at him with wide eyes.

He stared back.

"Why..." Beles waited patiently for the other boy to finish, but Carrol shook his head with his bright smile, "I mean - Thanks! You didn't have to— I can handle a lot of pain."

Yeah, okay, sure. Beles won't heal him if he gets hurt again.

Sothis huffed, "With all that laying on the ground, it didn't seem like it."

"But, wow! I feel completely energized," Carrol said. He hopped in place and waved his arms to emphasize his point, "You're really amazing!"

Beles didn't know how to take that, so he just shrugged and stepped around him.

Carrol did say that there were pastries waiting at the dining hall.

The said boy spluttered for a second, "wait for me!"

._._._._._.

When she first heard about Beles' new friend, she heard it from Sothis.

Byleth was not jealous. At least, she hoped she wasn't.

This Carrol seemed like a decent kid, according to Sothis. Apparently, he had been actively hanging out with Beles that their guardian found it highly amusing.

But…

Beles seemed rather distressed about the whole thing instead of happy about it.

"He is like a needle I cannot remove."

His hands moved slowly enough for Byleth to easily read them as she lazily walked back and forth.

"Why a needle?" she asked him. She did a little twirl to keep herself from getting too bored. She wanted to play again, but Sothis was asleep, and Beles barely moved from the step he rooted himself on. She noticed how oddly exhausted he was; especially with the way he breathed a little heavier than usual.

"He keeps saying nice things. It is strange."

Byleth snorted, "Really? I say nice things to you."

"I know you."

She stopped her little lazy pace in front of the steps to look at Beles. It was very subtle, but she could tell that he pouted with the little jut of his bottom lip. It was almost funny to watch him drop his shoulders.

Oh, he was definitely frowning now.

"Then why don't you know him?" Byleth asked him. He blinked at her, a high sign that he didn't understand her. She continued, "Maybe that will help you get used to it."

"Does it work for you?"

Byleth stared at him.

She didn't know how to answer.

The floor beneath her feet grew cold and she could already feel the familiar pull of waking up. She settled with a shrug and a flat stare.

"I don't know. I don't have friends like you."

._._._._._.

Byleth found that she liked swords a lot. She hoped that this year her dad will give her a dagger, or a short sword for her birthday. She had been diligently practicing all the moves Jeralt had her practice. Well, maybe she had practiced a bit too much to accidentally hit some other kid by utter accident.

To be fair, it was the other boy's fault for running so fast.

"Come on, Yura! Don't let her beat you!"

The cheers around her weren't at all for Byleth, but she didn't care. She could honestly imagine Sothis cheering her on instead - maybe even Beles in his own little way.

Byleth did not smirk, but she straightened her stance. The wooden sword in her hand was crudely made by the other kids, and awfully off balanced. As much as she wanted to use her own (it stayed strapped to her waist), she knew the other kids would probably hate her or something.

She had only been in this town for two hours, and she already got in a fight.

Again.

It hadn't even been a moon since her last one.

It was all for some dumb reason, too. She already apologized, but the older sister wouldn't let it go by saying that she did it on purpose - which led to some other kid stepping up to challenge Byleth. After Byleth kicked his arse, the other kids jumped to the challenge.

Jeralt should've just brought her along for that new job.

Her opponent was the older sister of the boy she hit. Clearly, she was still upset with that. She seemed about Byleth's age, maybe a year older give or take. She held her own wooden sword in a horrible grip - way too tight to do anything with both hands. She got into a strange stance, no actually, it was just a very amateur stance - and she rushed at Byleth with a cry.

Byleth didn't move until the last second, easily dodging the tip of the wood with a simple twirl to the side. She ended up behind the girl and she whacked her from behind. The girl stumbled forward with a curse and crashed to the ground.

The cheering stopped, only to be replaced with groans of disappointment or something along those lines. She didn't sigh as she turned her gaze to the other kids that surrounded them.

She tilted her head to the side with the flattest look on her face, "Next."

"Not fair! You're not supposed to dodge like that!" said another boy. While Byleth would love to go for another round, she knew she would get bored quickly. She had already faced half of these kids. They weren't a challenge at all.

Still, despite the accusations, no one stepped up. Apparently, they learned their lesson.

"Ugh, let's just give it up, guys - She ain't gonna budge," came a voice behind her. Byleth turned to see the girl dusting herself off with a scowl on her face.

"I did say that I was sorry," Byleth said for the umpteenth time. The girl just waved her hand and placed a hand on her hip.

"Right. Like I can believe you with that look on your face," she snapped. Byleth decided that she had enough.

She dropped her borrowed wooden sword, turned on her heel and walked in a random direction. The other kids quickly parted out of her way to let her leave.

"Hey, wait!" cried someone.

"Let her go - she obviously doesn't care."

Well, someone was sore about losing to her.

Byleth did her best not to turn around. If that was what they thought of her, then fine. She had Jeralt to wait for, and Sothis to scold her.

She had Beles.

She had Beles to be her friend.

And he was all she needed.