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23rd of the Harpstring Moon, Year 1180 Month 5
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"He promised he'd go shopping with me today!"
"Well, he promised me that he wouldn't tell anybody about us!"
"That bastard stole my girlfriend on our anniversary!"
"I was promised cake!"
Aster rounded the corner to the dorms and saw a small crowd in front of a certain redhead's room. Strangely, Aster saw blonde at the door instead of red. Ingrid was continually wincing at the onslaught. "Yes, I'm well aware of all of your problems, but Sylvain isn't feeling very well at the moment and-"
"He was fine yesterday!"
"W-well, that was yesterday. I'm very, very sorry about his behavior. You all deserve the world, I'm sure, but there are plenty of other people to place your trust in. So, if you could all leave, that would be-"
"No way, I'm not leaving until that bastard gets out here! I'm going to bash his face in so bad no girl will even want him!"
"Believe me, I wish I could let you do that, but-"
The small crowd was silenced with the sheen of a sword. Aster drew it and placed it in front of Ingrid, defending her from the advancing boyfriends. No one but the Galatea heir bore the uniform of the academy, meaning they were from the schools of the town below; not even a squire. It was true that they had at least limited access to the academy grounds, as an act of charity Aster had been told, but they shouldn't have been here this early. "You're disturbing the peace," she said, voice low. "Leave, or I'll have you collected. The guards won't be gentle."
The outsiders backed away, sufficiently intimidated. Within a few seconds, they all scurried off. Ingrid let out a sigh as Aster sheathed her sword. "Phew, thank you so much, Professor."
"Classes will start soon."
"Y-yes, I know. I would have been there already, but…" she stared at Sylvain's door. "I find myself in front of this door far too often lately."
"My students are excused from class today to prepare for the journey to Zanado. You aren't."
"I...I know, Professor. I'm sorry," Ingrid bowed her head and started to scurry away. Aster stared at the door for a second, debating whether she even wanted to ask about what all of that noise was earlier.
"Ingrid."
She stopped and turned back, attentive as a knight should be when speaking to an authority. "Yes, professor?"
"Walk with me," Aster ordered. The young girl hurried nodded and fell into step beside the mercenary. "Tell me about Sylvain."
"U-um...all due respect, but you said yourself that I-"
"I'll handle it," she said. Aster figured a cocktail like the Gautier Fix would placate Manuela as to Ingrid's tardiness. "Sylvain?"
"Well...I'm not sure what you want to know. I'm sure you've gotten a good feel for his personality this past month."
"I know his persona, yes. You've known him longer."
Ingrid fidgeted a bit. "...He was always a problem child. Him and Felix both, but both of them changed a lot over the years. Felix is, well, Felix. His change was at least caused by a singular event, but Sylvain. A lot of it was there, I suppose, but it never came across as him being so self-centered...I'm sorry. I'm not making a lot of sense, am I?"
"Start slow. What changed?"
"Well...I suppose he started pining after skirts. I don't remember when it started, but it must've been around when he turned thirteen or so. That was...around the time of the...massacre," Ingrid sighed and quickly moved on. "I don't know if it was because Felix and I weren't available to babysit him or what, but around then, he would flit from one halfwit to another...I'll admit, dealing with his stupidity helped me get out of my own funk, but that's no excuse!"
"Back there, is that kind of thing normal?"
"No, not even for Sylvain. He's usually careful to at least only commit to one halfwit at a time," Ingrid didn't even bother trying to hide her contempt. "I swear, I've been cleaning his messes all of this time, and what do I get? Nothing! Every time he gets into trouble, every time a girl rejects him, every time he needs something, I'm there to help. I don't know why I bother…"
"Did he come to you after our argument?"
"Hm?" Ingrid had completely forgotten that Aster was there. "Oh, um...yes, he did. Although, in your case, he was more ranting than bawling his eyes out like normal," she giggled. "As I recall, he never really figured out why he didn't like you. All he could come up with was that you 'see through' him."
"It's not that hard," Aster said.
"Oh, too true, professor!" Ingrid laughed. "...I think, deep down, he knows that what he does is wrong. One time, when we were alone and he was down—he must've had an argument with his father again—he asked what I would think if he settled down and 'got steady' with someone."
"I'll believe it when I see it."
"And that's exactly what I told him. In hindsight...maybe that was the wrong thing to say."
"He was asking you directly, I think."
"W-what?" Ingrid stopped, cheeks turning rosy immediately.
Aster thought back to the beginning of the month. "Sylvain seemed flirtatious in the beginning, but it was easy to dismiss him. After we had a single serious talk, he stopped flirting."
"It was...the same for me."
Aster paused, not expecting that response. That meant that, contrary to what Ingrid had told her, that Sylvain had been flirting with girls for far longer than a few years. Did...did Ingrid hide that on purpose? "Ingrid...would you like it if Sylvain flirted more with you?"
The question made the young girl's face redden like a tomato. "I-I, uh...I don't know where you got that, Professor! I-I, uh...l-look, we're near enough to the classroom. I should get going, and don't worry about Professor Manuela. Bye!" she dashed off before Aster could respond.
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24th of the Harpstring Moon, Year 1180 Month 5
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Aster stood in the center of the training yard, sword in hand, waiting. She waited for a while; it could've been a few minutes or an hour. Aster had learned not to count, as it made the process of waiting much harder. "Do you think that the sun sets red for a reason? Does it have something to do with the Red Canyon?"
Of course, dealing with the waiting was made much more strenuous due to the nagging voice in her head. It had decided on a whim to irritate her on this particular day.
"I am not irritating. I'm simply inquiring about the world, a prospect which happens to bore specifically you."
Aster had tested almost every one of her students. They had all passed, though some initially struggled, read Bernadetta, with the pressure of testing. Thankfully, though they were ornery and wild, most in the Black Eagles were exceptionally talented in at least one area and all of them picked up quickly on subjects that they put their mind to. Well, they picked things up at a reasonable pace, given that she was still giving basic, introductory exercises for various forms of weaponry and combat.
"You had that Ferdinand character practice magic, and that Dorothea girl fight in heavy armor," the voice mused. "Both looked quite funny," Aster chose not to respond in either voice nor thought. This lack of interaction seemed to upset whatever the voice was. "I can only assume that the emptiness I find in your head is indicative of nothing being up here at the moment. Tell me, do you often think of nothing, or have I just not found whatever category your thoughts actually reside in?"
It often spoke as if Aster's head was a library. The mercenary didn't understand how that could work.
"It works because I will it so. Now, either you will tell me why the sun sets red, or you will tell me why we are still waiting for the red-headed stepchild."
Strange...Aster didn't think she was treating Sylvain less favorably than she was her other students, other than that she had to reprimand him more often. Finally, Aster sheathed her sword and walked out, fearing the worst. Her first stop was Sylvain's room, only to find that no one was there. Thankfully, she caught Dimitri on his way back to his dorm. "Ah, Professor. It's strange to see you out and about on a Saturday. I'd have thought you were still testing your students."
"Been waiting for Sylvain," Aster said.
"Oh...I'd have thought he would tell you, of all people…" Dimitri rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Aster raised an eyebrow, waiting for the follow-up. "You see, Sylvain expressed interest in coming back into the Blue Lions house, citing, erm...conflicts of interest between you and him. He said he was going to personally ask Lady Rhea for the transfer today."
Aster blinked, turned on her heels, and walked away. She made her way to the cathedral and up to the second floor, where guards were posted as per usual in front of the Archbishop's quarters. Aster tried to go in, only to be blocked by the guards. "You must have an appointment in order to see Lady-" Aster didn't wait. She grabbed both of their spears and shoved them away, hard enough to knock them onto their rear ends, which was more than enough time to get past them.
She shoved the doors open, shocking everyone present; Rhea, Seteth, a dozen more guards, and Sylvain. "What are you doing here?!" Seteth demanded, face taut with anger. "You will leave at once or-" Rhea held up a hand, stopping him. Her face was equally taut; a rare sight for the normally relaxed Archbishop.
"P-Professor?!" Sylvain questioned, only able to stand there as the mercenary stomped up to him.
She raised a hand and pointed accusatorily at his face. "Mine," she announced. Sylvain just stared at her for a few brief seconds. Then, he turned to the Archbishop.
"Yeah, it's like I've been saying. She's become very possessive and—gah!" Aster grabbed him by the back of his collar and started pulling, dragging him swiftly off of his feet and moving fast enough to make it hard to regain them. "H-hey, someone stop her! What the hell is going on?!"
Aster didn't look back, and she wasn't stopped. No one even voiced concern. Good. They were learning that her methods brought results. It was a lesson that every new Blade Breaker needed to learn when they joined; Jeralt may have been the leader, but Aster was the one that you didn't want to make angry, because if you did, you got the Ashen Demon.
Sylvain stopped struggling about the time that his ankle bashed against one of the stairs from his thrashing on the way down. He wasn't flexible enough to get a good grip, and he knew that Aster was stronger than most of the men at the monastery anyway, so what chance would he have of overpowering her.
She dragged him all the way to the training yard, where she threw him into its center. "Stay," she ordered, and like a defeated puppy, he obeyed. She went and snatched two practice swords and threw one to Sylvain's feet. "Begin."
The boy stared at the wooden stick on the ground for a few seconds. Finally, he obeyed once again, picking it up and standing. His exercise this week was meant to build on his skills with a blade. He'd shown some proficiency with it during their bout, but his moves lacked power and control; he was clearly rusty if not just wholly unpracticed. So, Aster had devised a kata for him to either gain or regain that power and control.
Sylvain obviously hadn't taken the assignment seriously. He began clumsily. Aster had told him that, should he do it correctly, that she wouldn't fight back. But he didn't, so she fought, kicking him away in an opening. "Again," she ordered. He started, once again clumsy, not even doing the right strokes. She quickly disarmed him and then tossed the sword to him. "Again."
Sylvain's teeth clenched, form too tense to get even a single good swing, let alone a full kata. His eyes held nothing but contempt for Aster, and yet he said nothing.
"Again," she said, more forcefully. Sylvain just stared at her for a second.
"No," he said, letting his arms fall to his side. "What's the point? You know I didn't practice, so I'm not gonna pass. Let's just let bygones be bygones."
"So, you don't intend to show improvement at all? You did the work last week."
"Last week was last week," he shrugged, trying to smirk and wink as normal but failing. Each of his actions was laced with poison.
"I could have you kicked out, with one letter to Rhea."
"Please do. If you hadn't noticed, that was what I was trying to do."
"Out of the academy, not out of my house."
Sylvain tightened his jaw, reconsidering her statement. Then, he chuckled. "You know, that might be an even bigger boon," he said. Aster cocked her head to the side, confused. "If I get kicked out, my old man would disown me as a failure and try to have another child bearing a crest. Then, all of this crushing weight that's been put on my shoulders would be lifted, in an instant. I could finally live! I could live the life that I want to live, not the one that my father chose for me."
Aster almost scoffed at that. Instead, she just sent him a glare. "How much of your life has been chosen for you?"
"What kind of an idiotic question is that?" Sylvain laughed a humorless laugh. "I didn't choose to have this crest, or to be the son of Margrave Gautier. I didn't choose to be put in this Officer's Academy, and I didn't choose to watch my closest friends have their lives destroyed by people lurking in the shadows."
"But you chose how to deal with that. You ran away, blaming all of your problems on your crest," Aster bit back, becoming unusually heated by this petulant child's issues. "Maybe you didn't choose any of that, but Ingrid didn't choose to have her fiance killed. Felix didn't choose to have his brother killed. Dimitri didn't choose to have his father killed. None of them chose their crests or their family. But they are who they are, and they've chosen to deal with that, face it, and rise above it. You've just been side-stepping your whole life. Every time a girl rejects you, every time you get caught in the act, you just run away."
"Shut up," Sylvain snarled, throwing his sword away.
"Why do you do it? You whisper sweet nothings into these hapless girls' ears, you have them around your little finger, and then you crush their hearts into dust before casually flitting off to the next one. Your crest doesn't tell you to do that, does it?"
"Oh, you want to know why?" Sylvain grinned. "It's because it's fun. Playing with them, those idiots who only want my crest. It serves them right for being so shallow."
"Like that girl in the alley? She seemed genuine enough. Or was she not just because she mentioned your crest; that thing that allowed you to win that fight unscathed?"
"It did not!"
"Crests are powerful tools, Sylvain. Tools are given meaning by our humanity. Our humanity rules that crests come with a responsibility."
"I see you've been going behind my back. I guess I'm not the only one, then? Felix? Or that sounded a bit like his royal highness too."
Aster shook her head, annoyed. Still, she kept her cool, simply laying out the facts. "If you really didn't want the responsibility, you could leave right now. You could quit, and leave the academy and achieve the same result as if I kicked you out. But you won't do it, because that isn't what you want. You just want to wallow in your own self-loathing because that's the easy way out. You get all of the luxuries of the nobility and still get to whine about the responsibility."
"You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Sylvain snapped. Both of them became quiet, glaring at each other. Aster was about ready to kick him out and let him fend for himself; he would find out the hard way what life was like without a title. Finally, Sylvain spoke, quieter and a bit calmer than before. "When I turned fifteen, I entered into a javelin-throwing competition against soldiers and nobles alike from all three nations in Fódlan. I won, and it wasn't even close. I didn't use my crest, and I didn't enter with my real name, and for two hours, like being in the eye of a storm, not a single person mentioned my family name or my crest. They threw praise at me because of my ability, my accomplishment. It's...it's the happiest I've been in my whole life, and then those two hours ended. Someone recognized me, and the whole idea of it being my own victory vanished before my eyes."
"Why not chase that feeling?" she asked.
"Believe me, I've tried. You have no idea how hard it is to not be recognized. Every competition I entered, every public event, I was always Sylvain Jose Gautier. Never just 'Sylvain.' They only ever cared about my name, and my crest. And you know what, professor? I'm finally realizing that you're no different. You're just like the other skirts I've chased, only seeing me as that crest, and that duty as the heir to House Gautier. You don't care about me. You care about your approval, don't you? Well, don't expect mine anytime soon," he said, finally turning and storming away.
"We leave for Zanado tomorrow at dawn," Aster called after him. He didn't acknowledge her.
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25th of the Harpstring Moon, Year 1180 Month 5
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Aster waited as Edelgard talleyed the students, all still half-asleep as they weren't used to being up this early. Aster wanted to cover as much ground as possible in the early days of the march, so they could recuperate for the battle at the end. "Bernadetta," the girl squeaked her presence. "Petra," the foreign girl nodded. "Sylvain," no response. Aster looked up from the map, noting the missing streak of red. "Sylvain?" Edelgard sounded almost happy that he wasn't coming. News of his and Aster's argument spread fast. Even Aster started to think that it would be better for him to stay behind. And yet, they heard the pounding of footsteps approaching.
"Here," he forced out as he caught his breath. Aster didn't react in accordance to her satisfaction, just looked back down at the map as Edelgard finished role. She sensed the voice's amusement.
"So, it seems we were right after all; he doesn't want to leave. I suppose now all he needs is a final push in the right direction."
Author's Note:
And here we are, at the penultimate chapter of the first arc...technically the second. Hey, we made it to the first real mission before we hit twenty chapters! I'd call that an accomplishment!
In other news, I just posted a five-hour-long analysis of Kingdom Hearts II over on my 'Sight Avery' YouTube, so if you want to support me over there, then there's that.
Other than that, leave me a review, Discord in my profile for questions and suggestions, and I'll see you all tomorrow!
