Fire Emblem: White Leopards
Sorry for the late update, the only excuse I can offer is that classes ate up my creativity. Not my best chapter, but I have plans for the next already.
I do not own anything but the OC's.
Review:
Cheddar: The fifth is here! Not my best work, but It'll do for now.
Chapter 5: Knight's favor.
-0-
Tessa knocked back her chair, balancing herself by keeping her feet on the table. "That was good. But now what do we do?" No one was in the Dining hall, which was great for them, they get to eat the leftovers. Nothing better than a couple of leftovers.
Flayn wiped the remaining food over her mouth, "Well, we could ask my brother, but I would rather we don't." If he sees Rodney and Cyril, he may react unkindly. Ugh, her dumb f-brother.
"I would rather we get something done, I want to become stronger for Lady Rhea." Cyril brought the attention to him when he said that.
He continued, "If we represent the Church, who's to say the knights won't train us?"
They all mulled it over, before Rodney said, "That could work. I want to practice my magic."
Flayn jumped in, "I can protect all of you, I practiced my healing magic for so long, Too."
Tessa, taking all that in, finally made her choice in ordering them, "Alright, let's go to the training ground. Let's see if any of the knights are there to give us pointers."
Quickly cleaning themselves, they started their march towards the Training Grounds of Garreg Mach. They passed priests and knights who looked at them curiously, wondering what they're doing out of their classrooms.
Rodney sighed as he spoke to Cyril, "Cyril, can you stop your pointed stare at the workers."
"No, I want to know who worked on our building." Cyril continued his stare.
"Glaring at them won't help you."
"Then let's ask them."
"How 'bout we don't." Rodney grabbed Cyril and dragged him closer to the others. Tessa watched Cyril and Rodney bicker and thought something over her. Tessa hooked her arm around Rodney, dragging him to her.
"H-hey. What are you doing."
Tessa felt awkward, "I'm… Simply trying to form a closer bond to all of you?" The answer was unconvincing.
Flayn, again, took it in stride, "That's thoughtful, I shall join in too." She went around and clung to the other arm of Tessa.
"This looks stupid." Cyril could only let them guide him.
So, they walked with Rodney dragging Cyril, Tessa having her arm around Rodney, bring his face to her shoulder, and Flayn pulling all of them.
"H-hey, you're gonna rip my clothes!"
"T-Tessa, y-you're choking m-me!"
"Faster, let's go faster!"
It was stupid. They were getting looks everywhere, from the clergy to the knights. Some students stopped and stared, some pointed and laughed at them, others sneered her way.
Yet Tessa only gave a smile.
-0-
The Training Grounds itself was incredibly barren, with a wide-open space in the middle and weapon racks on the sides of the walls. Tessa, after a quick scan of the area, made a signal for the others to come in.
There were two people here.
A man with slicked brown hair and heavy armor, a bright smile as he talked to the lady with blue hair. She exuded a serious atmosphere around her. She had a small pauldron on her left shoulder.
Cyril lit up when he saw her, "Shamir!" He waved hello and trudged on. Tessa and the others walked after him.
The two knights stopped speaking and turned their attention to the group, which earned them an eyebrow from the women and a belly laugh from the man. Tessa still had Rodney in a semi-headlock and Flayn clung onto her.
"Hello, Cyril, and is this your class?" Shamir's voice sounded dead. Well, not dead, but very dull. Cyril looked back to them before turning back and nodding. Shamir's head followed to where he was looking.
"They don't look like much. Actually, they look like more trouble than their worth."
"Hey." Tessa's face returned to neutral.
"That's awfully rude of you!" Flayn puffed her cheeks.
"Well, we kind of are?" Rodney whispered, which he smiled a bit when Tessa gave him a half-lidded stare.
Cyril decided to ignore the peanut gallery and continue the talk, "I've been practicing with my bow. I think I'm getting better." He rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed at the lack of confidence.
The man butted in, "Don't worry about it, we all start from somewhere." The man talked loudly, and he had a big smile when he talked.
The man looked towards them and waved hello to them, "I haven't introduced myself, have I? Well, my name's Alois, and you can rely on me whenever you need to. The woman next to me is Shamir, but you guys already knew that."
Alois's head perked up as he remembered something, "Shouldn't you guys be in class now?" Tessa's face wrinkled in frustration. It wasn't like they didn't want to be in class.
"Our teacher is nowhere to be found." He looked dumbfounded. Shamir and Cyril were talking about his training and how to make him better. Alois was now paying attention to Tessa and the others.
"Really?"
"Yeah. To be fair, I woke up late by accident. She told the others to wait as she said that she'll look for me, but she didn't" Tessa was secretly glad she wasn't woken up by such a scary lady. Though, the others couldn't say the same.
Alois put his hand on his chin, "That doesn't sound like Jeralt's girl. I didn't think he would be so lax with discipline. Now that I think about it, that doesn't sound like him at all."
"Then, may I ask what you all are doing here?" Shamir finally intervened with her words. Cyril returned to their side. He and Tessa shared a look before them. If their teacher wouldn't train them, hopefully, they will.
Tessa let go of Rodney, which he stretched and stood to his full height. Flayn stopped clinging onto her and looked at the two hopefully.
"Since our teacher isn't around right now, we decided that we rather do something than nothing." That earned them a look of respect by Alois and a nod from Shamir. Okay, so it's going well.
"I wanted—to ask you guys a favor. Or rather the knights a favor."
"Alright, ask away! We always help the students."
"That's only you Alois." Shamir pointed out.
"Can—you guys help train us?" They both looked at her. She started to sweat, but she grits her teeth and took a deep breath before sighing.
"Look, we don't know if our teacher is going to take us seriously. And after getting ghosted by her for more than two hours, I don't want to take the chance she might come back. So, please?"
Cyril nodded his head and Flayn gave them a look of determination. Rodney had his hands clasped together and straight ad he bowed pleadingly and embarrassingly.
.
.
.
Alois looked towards Shamir as they both shared a conversation between their eyes. It went for about 5 minutes as the four stared at them, fidgety.
Shamir closed her eyes and sighed, "I can't. I have a mission soon that I need to do for Lady Rhea."
The four deflated at that, but they understood why she said no. That left Alo-
"But that's just for right now." They looked up, surprised. Shamir gave a look to Alois, to which he returned a smile to her. She muttered something under her breath.
"As knights, it's our duty to help out the students. And as students of the White Leopards, I don't think Lady Rhea would punish us for helping out the house of the church. Plus I am basically free on the weekends." Shamir didn't believe in what she said, but she would help out whenever they asked, maybe. Probably.
Tessa nodded quite vigorously, "Y-yes. That's fine, thank you for helping us out." She couldn't hide her smile, nor could the others. Especially Cyril.
Alois laughed boisterously, "And of course, I'll help you with anything you guys need! I can help out right now!"
That got them excited.
"Well, you train them first Alois. I got to go."
"Okay, you go and do your super-secret mission!" An eye roll from Shamir after that.
As she left, Alois turned to them, "Alright, students! Let's get started!" Tessa looked at him as he started to warm them up to train with him.
He was a kind and nice man; she didn't know if he would actually train them efficiently. But he was a knight. This day might just get better for all of them now.
-0-
50 minutes later
The day did not get better for them. At all. Not at all.
Tessa looked as Flayn heaved and looked close enough to throw up and oh she threw up. Cyril crawled away from her and almost slammed his body into the ground. Rodney leaned on a stone pillar as he breathed in and out and took off his black jacket.
Tessa was laying on the floor, mouth breathing and sweating profusely.
Pain. It was painful.
How can someone train with someone like Alois!? It was like working with a blunt axe trying to plow dirt for farming! It was like using a scythe to cut trees!? Tessa glared up at the sky. She didn't hate the sky, she just wanted something to glare at.
Maybe they shouldn't have asked this knight to train them.
The puns were painful…
The training was pretty hard too. By the sweating and sore muscles as could be seen by everyone except Alois.
"Haaaa-ACK!" Flayn was still throwing up.
Alois had the decency to look flustered and embarrassed. Good. "Hehe…Sorry? Well, I'll be easier on you guys next time. I forget that my regiment is a bit more intense than the usual knight regiment."
I stopped glaring at the sky and started to at him, which got him to flinch. That, honestly, made my day.
"Can you warn us next time? Seriously, I don't think my father would even like this type of 'workout'." Her dad, man, what a workaholic.
Alois turned the flustered knight into his normal cheery one in an instant, which made Tessa dread as she saw it. Alois patted his bicep, smiling wider, "Now, onto the main course."
"Ughhh."
"I wanted Shamir to train us…"
"This is a monster in the shell of a man."
Tessa gave him an 'are you kidding me.' She growled before getting up, dusting off the clumps of dust that clung onto her, she began stretching. Never taking her eyes off him, and then stood to her full height.
About four inches taller than him.
Alois only grinned at the acceptance of the challenge.
"Say, what weapon do you use?" Alois asked, taking on a questioning pose.
"I like the mace and shield," Tessa replied easily. The mace was always her go-to weapon when they just started. It just felt right in her hand.
Alois nodded, "wait here." He ran out of the Training Grounds to get their weapons. That…Confused Tessa since the weapon racks were right there. Wooden, of course.
Tessa turned her attention to the others. Cyril was finally getting up and helping Flayn to get to the shade, while Flayn kept on leaning on him. That didn't bode well for Cyril as he kept on trying to keep a safe enough distance away from her and not get food on his clothes.
Speaking of clothes, he still had on his brown staff clothes, she needed a uniform for him.
Rodney was still leaning on the pillar, but now in the shade and looking at the runes he brought with him. Tessa decided to check upon him.
"Hey."
"Hello."
"Can I ask what're you doing?" Tessa pointed to the runes he had. He decided it wasn't worth the trouble to come up with something.
"I'm deciding which ones would be the most useful in supporting you in battle." He laid them on the ground in front of him as he continued to explain, "I already explained them to you, so you understand how these help you in battle, right?"
She—did? A lot of the information went through one ear right out the other, but she also knew the gist of how they all work.
By 'linking' with Rodney, depending on the rune, he could boost your abilities, some come to have greater effects but come at a cost, while others were a net gain. There were also runes that were just plain harmful.
She didn't know why Rodney kept those. But he said they were key to some strategies.
After a few minutes of waiting, Alois came back, with some not-so-hidden objects.
Real steel weapons. Mace's and shields, a wooden bow and fake arrows, and a healing staff. He himself had a sheathed longsword.
Oh. Oh.
"Wait Alois, I don't think we're ready for these real weapons yet." Tessa walked up to him as he was setting them down.
"Nonsense! While, we haven't started to train you, students, yet. To even get into this Monastery and become a student, you need to at least know how to fight. Not every student has dealt with an actual skirmish or fight, but all students have used some kind of weapon, not counting mages of course."
He looked towards Rodney with a nod, but grew confused at the sight of the runes, he never saw something like those before.
"Besides, the other leaders got into an actual fight with bandits around two days ago. So, they're already ahead of you…They also killed during that time too." He whispered that last part, but Tessa caught.
Tessa cursed herself, man things were going too fast for her. She huffed.
"Fine. Give me my weapons." He nodded and handed her a round shield and a standard mace. She cracked some stiff bones and got loose.
Alois turned towards the others with a smile, "You guys don't have to fight, now. I just want Tessa to get strong enough to be on the level with the other house leaders." The others nodded negatively to that. Which—surprised him.
"No, we better start working together now, or we'll be behind everyone all the time. I don't feel like being behind everyone. So, I might as well try…Though a bed sounds nice right about now."
"Right. I don't want my f-brother to worry about me all the time, I want to show him that I can take care of myself and he doesn't have to worry about me.."
"I need to get stronger, and Lady Rhea gave me this chance to get stronger, so I will."
They weren't that connected, yet. But…it made me feel like I had people who had my back in a while. Fuzzy, too. Alois, on his part, looked surprised and a bit in awe. They had their own goals, but they decided to work together anyway.
It made her smile. Which looked vicious to anyone else.
"Well, what do you say, Mr. knight? Will you take us all on?"
Alois was taken out of his stupor and let out a boisterous belly laugh that they were sure everyone heard in Garreg Mach Monastery. "You kids…will do something special in the future, I just know it."
He began his stretching again, absolutely prepared to fight these kids, and teach them along the way.
The knight unsheathed his longsword and held it with both hands before getting into his stance.
Tessa, facing the full presence of a knight, gritted her teeth and grinned, and threw up her mace and grabbed it in a reverse grip. Using the momentum, she swung her arm outward, making the sheath fly off the weapon before she swings it again to hold the mace normally.
"Pretty unorthodox, I'll have to say."
"It is, but it's right as rain for me."
He smiled. "Hopefully, I don't 'Rain' on your parade." Alois winced, that was a really bad one.
Tessa's smile thinned; it wasn't the determining grin like just before. Simply just… more vicious than anything else. She really wasn't having it.
"Hopefully, this fight'll shut you up."
"Yeah… I figured that will be would be your reaction." He regained his upbeat mood immediately after. "This means that you'll give it your all! That's excellent!"
While we talked, the others got their gear and readied behind me. I was the only physically on the front, hopefully, those temporary students would round them out.
"Well, I'm ready. Are you guys ready?" Her peers all gave her a yell, it was filled with determination and readiness. It pumped her up.
"Start whenever you need to," Alois said with finality. Good. That meant she could start, now.
So, she blasted off to clash with Alois.
-0-
15 minutes later
Arrows lay strew across the floor. Multiple cracks spread among segments of the Training Grounds, magic being the catalyst for its destruction. The sound of healing spells and blunt arrows filled the room with adrenaline.
Crash-Bang-CLANK.
Longsword met shield and overpowered. Tessa was flung back and rolled backward, getting back to her feet. Alois was already in her face.
Quickstepping out his range, she messily swung her mace to his big pauldron. Blocking it without issue, he pivoted and let the mace slide off it, turning his entire body and driving his elbow into her gut.
Tessa reeled and fell to one knee, just in time for Alois to face her. Before he could do anything, a blunt arrow smacked the backside of his knee, stumbling him.
It was just a moment.
A flicker.
But it was enough.
Flayn slipped in and cast heal. Her gut already started to feel better. She sprung to her feet, putting her shield in front of her, and bashed into Alois. He didn't fall, but he backpedals, his back towards a pillar.
Tessa circled his position slowly, like a predator. Sweat dribbled from her headband-covered forehead. Her breathing uneven and heavy.
"Control your breathing."
"I'm—trying."
"Good. In times like these, where a stare-down is taking place, it's better to focus on yourself and your allies. Questions like are you fine, are your allies fine, where are your allies, things like this. Steady yourself. When your enemy is trapped, make sure they feel trapped. You could get a more—peaceful conclusion than a messy one."
"Got it."
"There we go. Now focus on what your enemy is doing. Are they jumpy, steady, aggressive at this time? Make your plan counting on what they do."
"Already have."
"Wait, wh-"
Fire spewed at his left side, unable to get out of the way, he held fast and powered through. Tessa closed the distance, even when the fire still covered the man, she trusted Rodney's abilities to know and stop his magic when she got close.
Now only but a few feet away from him, she reared her mace back, and sent it crashing down on his position. The fire stopped. Black smoke covered the small area.
Her eyes widen as a metal hand came out and grabbed her face. She couldn't choke nor say anything, as she was promptly lifted upward and slammed into the ground.
That… Ended the fight.
From the smoke appeared Alois, his armor covered in soot and pretty damaged. His hair was in disarray, and yet he kept his optimistic emotions plastered onto his face.
"Now…That was a workout."
Rodney jogged up to him. He put his hands behind his head, breathing deeply. "Yeah, it was—can you let go of my leader now."
Alois looked down and saw eyes swirling in between his fingers. "Oh! Sorry, Hahaha. Sorry about that." He let go, in which Tessa struggled to sit up. With the help of Rodney and Cyril, who came over quickly, they were able to stabilize her and not make her fall over immediately.
Soon Flayn caught up to where they were and began healing her. Rodney did too with the help of some of his stone runes. Though, Flayn did the heavy lifting.
After a few minutes passed by, Tessa was able to actually think straight. "Huh… thank you, guys."
"No problem. I should've been faster to boost you." Rodney replied.
"Apologies for not getting to you sooner." Flayn had her head down.
"It's alright."
Cyril sat by her; he blew air from his mouth after taking a long breath. Flayn looked a bit woozy and Rodney was still huffing and puffing. It seems this fight took out more than just her.
Alois sat in front of them, ignoring the destruction around them, "You kids did wonderfully! Never thought I would be caught off guard by a couple of students! Ha!"
They smiled at the praise.
"I hope I don't step over anything, but I can train you—probably the day after tomorrow?" Tessa nodded, good. They needed the reprieve after what they did today.
The knight then gave a curious stare at the sky, "Maybe you guys should wait for your professor tomorrow, you know, for just a moment." Tessa looked at the rest. How she sees it, they had more interactions with their professor than her.
All she got was a death stare from two days ago.
While Rodney and Cyril looked apprehensive, Flayn nodded at her, "I believe we should give another chance, after all. You were a bit late. Hehe." Flayn smiled at Tessa when her ears turned red.
Alois gave a comforting nod.
Tessa sighed. Okay. Tomorrow, she'll get up early, make sure she's ready. She'll make up for her tardiness from today. She'll show her professor that she's worthy.
She'll show it alright.
-0-
"And pray tell, why aren't you with your students, Professor?" Seteth pinched the bridge of his nose as he pointedly stared at the blue-haired woman.
Byleth only sipped her tea, looking at all the books in his office. Seteth was about to question her again when she finally answered.
"Did you not hear? Alois's laughter, that is. I sent them to him to train them on independence." She lied as easily as she breathed. Working as a mercenary and teacher for four lives already honed her sharp sense to its maximum.
"And the curriculum?"
"You said we could be flexible in any way we want, as long as it teaches them something valuable, and independence is valuable, is it not?"
Seteth wanted to get angry with her, but his anger wouldn't solve anything. "Look, Professor, I can see that you're capable of teaching. I've heard from a couple of…students, that you are quite capable of profound words and wisdom."
He looked at her, leveling his head to her level, "And, I feel—That it would be better for you to teach them that. While I can see the positive effects of teaching habits and such, but if you don't teach them, then they'll eventually resent you as a result, seeing your ways of teaching as neglect and not actual lessons. Besides that, it seems to me that you actually don't want to teach them."
Mhmm. Byleth inwardly nodded along. "No, it just feels that this is the right course of action right now, teaching Tessa to be a leader in times where guidance isn't always there. This will teach her great virtues about listening and making her own plans. And…Well, she was two hours late, wasn't she? Consider this a—punishment."
Seteth stared her down for 5 minutes, 5 long minutes. Byleth didn't seem cowed, perhaps she has grown accustomed to it.
Finally, Byleth sighed, "Very well, I'll teach them tomorrow, tactics and get them on a learning path that'll benefit them to their fullest potential."
Seteth sighed, "It would be grand for you to do so. See to it that you do."
Byleth nodded, but she bit her lip and cursed inwardly. She wanted to get more information on the two and Olberic, but Seteth clammed up when the conversation arrived at that point before he diverted it.
It would seem that this day was busted.
If only Sothis was with her right now, she would be able to turn back time now and start the conversation over. But she wasn't here right now. Where the hell was she?
Putting down her tea, she bid ado to the man. Mulling over her plans for the future.
Next update: Tales of Errantia.