After splitting off from her father Byleth seemed to get rushed by the three lordlings. Almost as though they'd been waiting for her. "We heard from Alois that he recommended you to Lady Rhea to take over the position teaching since our would-be teacher abandoned us during the attack. Are you actually going to be one of our teachers?" Dimitri was the first to speak up regarding why they'd assailed her. All three were standing uncomfortably close if she was being honest.
"Ah, not exactly but kind of. I'm going to be a teaching assistant since I have exactly zero experience," she said, quietly ignoring the lie that slipped past her own lips.
None of them noticed, simply nodding their heads. "I look forward to the chance to work with the esteemed daughter of the Blade Breaker," Edelgard said, dipping her head slightly as a means to show respect. That was all that Byleth was known for in this region, wasn't it? Not what she'd done, but whose child she was. It didn't matter though. It wasn't the praise of others she sought to achieve, it was their happiness.
"Ah, but that would mean someone has to take over as the main teacher for one of the houses. Maybe your father? Who knows though. If he is going to be the new teacher I'm sure some little bird will whisper in his ear and tell him, oh, I don't know, that the Golden Deer is the best house to pick." Claude strolled over and slung an arm across Byleth's shoulder. "Come on Teach, how well do you cheep," Claude winked as enticingly as he could. Which as sultry as the expression was didn't make Byleth any less gay.
"Claude, please control yourself! She might be acting as an assistant, but this is still one of our professors," Dimitri's expression wrinkled up with distaste at Claude's attempts to seduce Byleth into convincing her father to pick the Golden Deer.
Byleth just casually plucked Claude's arm off of her shoulder without even batting an eyelash. "It's fine. There's no need to be professional with me. We aren't even that different then age, for all I know there might even be some students here who are older than me. You don't have to call me professor either if you don't want. Using my name is fine." Her name wasn't actually fine. Byleth would probably feel deeply uncomfortable if everyone started calling her that since the nickname of 'Professor' had been so deeply ingrained. She felt it was worth offering.
If Byleth was being honest, she remembered only a rare few precious times and people who didn't refer to her by some kind of title. Only her own magic teachers, her father on occasion, and some of her closest off region friends called her Byleth.
The offer, luckily, made Dimitri look uncomfortable while Claude outright wrinkled up his nose. Edelgard didn't look as affronted as the boys, but her expression became contemplative for a moment. A little hesitant perhaps. "I'm sorry, but for some reason trying to call you by your name would just feel wrong," Claude said with a quick shrug.
"Then call me whatever you feel comfortable with as long as you drop the formalities," she amended which seemed to appease the three lordlings. "In all seriousness, my father is going to be the new professor for one of the houses and he's tasked me with helping him pick which. That being said, I'm going to pick the house where I feel he and his particular skill set would be the most helpful," Byleth narrowed her eyes at Claude and he didn't complain.
"Sure, sure, fine. In that case, I guess the three of us should split to start best preparing our speeches! You two better start thinking and start thinking hard because I plan to poach this new teacher. For Leonie!" Claude made an exaggerated gesture (the secret sign of the Golden Deer, complete with a pose) before sprinting off like a mad man. "Come find me when you want to talk," he gave one last shout behind him directed at Byleth before he disappeared Goddess knows where.
"Not sure how my father would feel about teaching a sentient chaos entity, but sure, let's keep him on the table for right now," she muttered to herself quietly before turning back to the other two lords. Who had conveniently disappeared somewhere? More than likely they'd run off to prepare their 'this is why you should join me' speeches like Claude had advised them. This was going to be a pain, especially considering how torn she already felt.
"Where did they even go?" Sothis asked, her presence suddenly looming over Byleth. She could feel a light pressure on her right shoulder. Upon glancing over she could see Sothis casually resting her chin on the spot. While Sothis couldn't physically interact with other people, she could interact with Byleth as well as objects and animals. She was completely tangible to Byleth. It was a comfort at times and a pain at others. Now her head was pressing itself into the crook of Byleth's neck while she hovered obnoxiously.
Byleth could feel a small burst of annoyance in the pit of her stomach. "They probably ran off to their own classrooms so each class could ambush me separately," she pretended to mutter to herself. Sothis took the hint with a sigh and removed herself from Byleth, returning to her intangible and invisible form inside of Byleth's head to speed the journey along.
Sometimes Sothis liked to take walks with Byleth, walking instead of floating and remaining both visible and tangible. At least to Byleth. Sothis was unfortunately also slow, which meant that when there were important things to be done she returned to their shared form so that Byleth could get places in a reasonable amount of time.
She guessed even without being a teacher she was still stuck going around to each house and learning more about them so she could plead their case to her father for them. Even though they'd likely get the chance to plead their own case since her father was in fact also going around to each of the classes. She just had to get attached to problem children.
Her first stop was the Golden Deer. Which ended up going about as well as anyone would have expected.
"Please, please, please, you have to convince Captain Jeralt to teach us," Leonie all but begged on her hands and knees while Claude stood behind her making a pouty face.
"For one dollar a day you can help this child..." Sothis quietly muttered while the pair continued to make the saddest expressions possible. Byleth almost expected sad background music, but apparently Claude couldn't get the resources together fast enough to hire Dorothea.
"You wouldn't say no to these cheeks, would you," Claude asked. Byleth knew from experience the only reason Leonie was so much as tolerating Claude actually pinching her cheeks was for the sake of the act the two were putting on. Then again, with Leonie, she wasn't sure if it was an act or not. The pleading expression seemed pretty genuine.
Byleth never got to meet Leonie before coming here so the initial meeting had been... well, a shell shock for Byleth. To learn about the hero worship the other girl showed her father.
If Byleth remembered right she was either in Tellius or Valla when her father first met Leonie, Byleth herself was a bit rough on the details when it came to years and such. She knew for certain that she'd just come from one or was heading for the other. She knew it was at the tail end of trying to rebuild Valla itself, her band had been commissioned by the present queen (at the time little more than a runaway princess) to help stop a war between two of the other countries on the continent while killing as few as possible. She also gave Byleth free reign to do as she pleased as long as it cut casualties.
It had been... an interesting experience and she'd stuck around for a couple of months longer while the kingdom was properly building itself up into an actual kingdom. Of course, she could have also been just starting to make her way in Tellius at the time. Tellius was just as much of a mess even after the "Radiant Hero" put so much work into fixing it and the two Goddesses of the region merged into one. Except it was a mess for an entirely different reason.
It was a bit ironic thinking back, how similar Sothis and Byleth were to the Goddess of that region.
Despite Claude and Leonie's best attempts, Byleth was able to give them a vague noncommittal answer. She herself was leaning towards the Golden Deer for obvious reasons. They were a pain in the ass, but also the path of least resistance once you whipped them into shape. Which wouldn't be hard for her father. She also had plenty of time to work with the other two classes in that case. It's not like she was locking herself off.
The next class to visit was the Blue Lions. Again, went about as well as one would expect.
"Hello pretty-" Ingrid didn't let Sylvain finish the sentence. Byleth wasn't sure if it was pity or fear that almost tugged a nervous laugh from her throat, but she managed to keep her poker face up while Dimitri put his head so far into his hands she thought it might get stuck there.
"As you can see our house is a very skilled house if not in need of some... guidance. Truly, everyone here is a wonderful person and could become a very successful warrior if some people would apply themselves a little more and try to act more mature," Dimitri's disappointment was palpable and yet even still he did his best to try and compliment the other members of the house. They were all good kids, but Byleth didn't think it would be the best choice for her father. Dimitri's trauma... was something best left to Byleth.
Her father was a good person, but his nature was one of force and steel. He wasn't good at touchy-feely. Those skills would be better applied to the other two houses. The Blue Lions (especially post-war) needed someone gentle but firm, and Byleth had learned how to pretend to be that.
Also, for the most part aside from personality, the Blue Lions kind of had their shit together between Dedue, Felix, Ingrid, and Mercedes. Annette and Ashe weren't big messes either. It was mostly Sylvain. Dimitri and Sylvain. Still mostly Sylvain.
The final house on the list was the Black Eagles. Which didn't go how Byleth was expecting because she walked in without any discernible expectations. Whatever they had been though, they certainly weren't anything close to what she ended up walking in on.
No one really wanted to help Edelgard apparently. Of course, Dorothea and Petra tried, but they didn't make the most convincing pair while Edelgard rattled off some generic "The Empire Needs You"(™) speech. Hubert just slunk around in the background ominously, pretending that he was the most threatening thing in the room. Obviously Bernie couldn't even be seen and the collective forces of Caspar and Ferdinand couldn't so much as rouse Linhardt.
It was a mess. A mess she didn't want to let her father near.
If Byleth was being completely honest with herself, she didn't really trust the Black Eagles with her father. She loved and adored all of them, but old wounds tended to scar. Ultimately it was Edelgard's fault that Jeralt had to die for a shotty plan that Byleth still couldn't wrap her head around. So suffice to say she wasn't all too keen on throwing her father into this mess, even if his personality could be an exceptionally positive impact on some of the members of the house. A lot of the members of the house... Maybe she was just being overprotective?
"It's not worth fretting over when you haven't even gotten the chance to speak with dad yet," Sothis said before catching her slip of the tongue. "Ah, I mean, Captain Jeralt. Your father. You haven't spoken with Captain Jeralt." Byleth tried to suppress the smile that snuck onto her features as she made her way back towards the second floor of the monastery. it was okay if Sothis wanted to be her sister. It would be even easier to share her dad with Sothis than it would be with Leonie since they were already so close. "I wouldn't want to be your sister in a million years!" Sothis snapped, flitting off in something of a huff.
It was rude to slam your bedroom door on your older sister. "Who made you the older sister? I would obviously be the older sister! That is if we were to be sisters, which again, I must reiterate, we aren't. You can keep your family to yourself," Sothis said with a continued indignance.
The moment Byleth came up the stairs she caught sight of her father with Hanneman and Manuela. The three were chatting away rather amicably, likely about houses. Rhea was stood in her usual spot, watching the three carefully and waiting for them to approach her. Byleth's father instantly took note of Byleth's presence, his senses sharpened far past that of the average person. Which is to say, after Byleth accidentally snuck up on him 10... 20... 200 times he developed something of a "Byleth Radar".
It wasn't something she did on purpose! Unlike Hubert. It was just a thing that kinda happened over time. Her stoic personality combined with a general need to step lightly as a mercenary. She couldn't even count on her fingers and toes the number of times she'd accidentally snuck up on a student. She'd specifically started humming whenever she tried to approach Bernadetta out of pity for the number of times she'd startled the poor anxiety-ridden creature. A dark thought possessed her, claiming that if she ever meets Count Varley she'd string him up by his own intestines. Which even for the Ashen Demon was a bit dark and out of character so she assumed it was Sothis or something else she wasn't yet aware of.
This new reset left her feeling a bit in the dark and almost a touch uncomfortable in her own skin. Between having to now figure out the best way to hide her ears and the constant thumping occupying her chest, it almost felt unnatural. Like she wasn't herself. And yet at the same time, she felt more like herself than she ever had in the entire rest of her life. It was an odd feeling, so she took every errant thought and tried to analyze it before coming to the conclusion that some of them might just be intrusive thoughts born of overprotective zeal for her poor little fledgling.
She still filed away it's existence for later in case something important did come of it and it was more than a stray musing. She'd had a Goddess trapped inside the back of her head for 20 plus years so at this point she was damn well going to be over cautious when she did or thought things that seemed out of character even to herself.
"Hey kiddo," her father gave his typical greeting to her presence and the other two professors perked up in intrigue. To them, this was their first time meeting the daughter of Captain Jeralt, so they would be interested. To Byleth, this was her first time in a while seeing two of her own dear friends and colleagues. Being they were all teachers, Byleth tended to grow attached to the bickering pair who regardless of reset always returned to the monastery to help teach the future generations after the way. As well as fight with one another in the loving but loud way that was such a beautiful cornerstone of their relationship.
Hanneman with a focus on Crests (specifically their removal at Byleth's request) and with Manuela's work as the school nurse going further and further into the study of new medical technology (again, typically at Byleth's request) the two were a force to be reckoned with as well as two of her greatest allies and constant friends.
The first time she came here, she never saw herself getting along with the pair. She never saw a lot of things coming though, so it really wasn't saying all that much.
She gave a quick nod as ways of greeting before finding a spot for herself standing next to her father, carefully re-evaluating her decision in her head. She'd come to the decision she'd push him to pick the Golden Deer. Now it just came down to convincing him she was right. Something that usually wasn't too difficult to do, but he could surprise her when he felt it was necessary.
"Have the pair of you decided on which house the Captain is best suited to instruct?" Hanneman asked, turning his attention towards the most important question at hand. Jeralt tilted his head towards Byleth, encouraging her to speak first.
"I think you should pick the Golden Deer," she directed her words more at her father than the other two teachers who were standing by. It was discreet, but the moment the words were out of her mouth she took note of the corners of her father's mouth tipping downwards. So he disagreed. Very well, as long as he didn't want to teach-
"I want to teach the Black Eagles."
Sothis damn it, Jeralt, you stubborn old fuck!
"The Golden Deer is much more your style though," Byleth's agitation was noticeable only to Jeralt who's expression hardened in a way that was, in turn, only noticeable to Byleth. The two threw themselves in an unspoken battle, their wits acting as their blades. It wasn't an unfamiliar dance, one she could typically win with ease and grace as their biggest arguments settled themselves around business matters. Business matters that Byleth was typically more familiar with like the current funds they had accessible to them, the jobs they could potentially take on, or the power they held in any given area.
She handled the expenses, the people, and sometimes it was even her job to handle not just the statistics of supplies but the number of heads in any given battalion. Usually, it was an exercise in leadership or a major splitting of the company to temporarily take on other jobs.
This was something entirely different. This was a battle of emotion more than it was facts and numbers and variables. It was also a battle where she didn't have the advantage, which when she was pitted up against her father made her feel uncomfortable. There was something about him that still even now made him almost impossible for her to beat. Maybe it was the number of years he had on her, or maybe it was some kind of restriction she subconsciously pushed on herself, either way, she felt a sense of insecurity as her mind rushed through options.
"Maybe it's time I branched out and experimented," he shot back without a second's hesitation.
"As a teacher, you shouldn't really be 'experimenting' as you so put it," she kept her tone even despite the small wobble in her chest. "I feel as though you'd get along with the Golden Deer the best, given their personalities. Not to mention, Leonie. The poor apprentice you never mentioned having," she allowed the last sentence to drawl from the back of her throat in audible annoyance. Well, to Jeralt anyway. The slight warble of her tone wouldn't even cause a diva like Manuela to bat an eye. Despite her being extremely sensitive to tone of voice. Her tone was mostly an attempt at trying to guilt him. She'd long gotten over it and in truth, she could understand what had happened. Leonie was an apprentice he took after the two got... separated to put it nicely.
Byleth was lost Goddess knows where at the time, getting dragged into wars she never signed up for while her father was playing the "Don't catch Rhea's attention while I do enough work to buy passage off this hell continent" game. Byleth didn't envy him for having to spend months playing that game and then months more just trying to figure out which damn continent Byleth ended up on.
She would have gone back to Plegia or Ylisse (their designated meeting spot since it held the strongest memories and personal attachments for both of them) but she got lost more times than she could count on one hand. Which led to Byleth maybe having set up a couple of company branches she wasn't sure if her father was aware of or not yet. She told him about Tellius since Tellius was a mess of a story she loved revisiting, but she didn't think she ever mentioned ending up on Jugdral or Elibe.
Did her father even know those continents so much as exist? Maybe not... There was a whole time gap where the two were separated? A lot had happened during that time that even he was unaware of.
Her father gave a heavy sigh, leveling his gaze with her. His features were set in stone, but his eyes were gentle. She'd lost... She didn't need to hear whatever speech he was about to pull, she knew that look. She knew well enough she'd already lost. "Kid, I know that you think the Golden Deer would be easy for us. They would be. But those kids in Black Eagle? I think they need me, the same way you used to need me."
That... actually hit a little closer to home than Byleth was expecting. She suddenly felt out of breath, like she'd gotten punched in the gut when she wasn't prepared for a brawl. The thing is, he wasn't all that wrong.
She chewed on her bottom lip, refusing to break eye contact first. She didn't want to, but she had to. After a long overbearingly silent moment, she finally let her eyes dart to the side for a half-second, the international sign she acquiesced. "Very well. Black Eagles it is," she muttered, motioning towards where Rhea was patiently waiting. Discreetly pretending she wasn't listening in on the entire conversation.
Jeralt nodded, turning on his heels and carrying himself a little taller. Puffing out his chest and trying to pretend Rhea didn't scare him. Byleth wasn't going to judge since the stony expression on her face was pretty much an attempt at the same thing.
"Maybe this'll be good. Who knows. He might have less of a chance of getting stabbed if he gets closer to Edelgard," Sothis said. Sothis did her best to console Byleth, and to a degree, it worked. There were advantages and disadvantages to each house. Perhaps, just perhaps, this would be her lucky break.
She refused to call her father's death something as intolerable to her as 'fate'. Byleth hated the idea of fate. That there were invisible strings chaining everyone together like plot points on a writer's corkboard. The gods could keep their fate, first and foremost Byleth was human no matter how much divinity had been printed onto her soul when she first met Sothis and was forever bonded to her. She knew deep down that she always had, always was, and always was meant to be a mortal. And there was some degree of pride in that statement. Where the gods like Rhea had their fate and control, Byleth had chaos and disorder which led to change and second chances. The fire of rebellion burning the inside of her chest was the only flames she ever needed.
"I think that's what I adore about you most, dear other half," Sothis' spoke quietly, almost as though she didn't want Byleth to hear. But they shared a heart and a body and a soul and most importantly a headspace so of course she heard. She didn't internally bring it up.
Different halves of a single coin.
She supposed sometimes there was a need for fate. But that wasn't her half to deal with.
"Have the three of you decided on which houses you'd like to instruct?" Rhea asked, Seteth standing at her side attentively as always. This time with a clipboard and quill to note the decisions. Was it her imagination, or was he acting less cold? Calmer, his expression not a visible menagerie of different concerns.
"Perhaps the fact that you aren't going to be directly leading a house has set him at ease slightly? While the rest of the world might know your name and accomplishments, Fodlan is distinctly cut off from the rest of the world. It's a wonder they even managed to pick up 'Ashen Demon' but that might be through the merit of your company and Hanneman's studying leading him to outside sources. It is, after all, the only nickname they have for you." It being far from the only moniker she'd earned was left unsaid.
"I'll be instructing the Black Eagles," her father said with an air of finality. Rhea nodded and Seteth scribbled.
"And I'll be taking the Golden Deer house this year," Manuela cut in before Hanneman was so much as given the chance.
He looked absolutely scandalized. "Manuela, it was my turn to pick first this year."
She smirked, tilting her head slightly, expression both teasing and boy. "It was. And then Jeralt showed up. It was also my turn to pick second this year. So you have been moved to third. Enjoy the Blue Lions!"
"Professors please," Seteth cut in before the arguing could escalate to the level of their typical bickering. He glanced at Rhea who only lightly giggled at the pair as though she found it cute or perhaps charming. "If all of you have picked your houses, that will be all for today. We'll give the students a couple more days to get settled in and then regular instruction will begin. As they are your colleagues, I'll be leaving it to the pair of you to get our new professors situated in a timely manner so they can begin instruction properly after the allotted time is up."
"Of course. We'll make sure to take them under our wings and be very thorough," Manuela couldn't help grinning like a cat eyeing up a plump fish whenever she looked at Byleth or Jeralt. Byleth wasn't sure why she was worth attention when Manuela was quite abysmally straight. And abysmally bad at romance. Maybe she just enjoyed the practice. Or the game.
"Now that that's settled... would the three of you care to actually come in?" Rhea's attention turned towards the door and Byleth became sharply aware of the 'guests' who'd decided to curiously stop by. Three heads popped out of hiding from behind the door of the reception room, cloaked in red, blue, and yellow.
None of them wanted to look Rhea in the eye. Probably for deeply varying reasons. She sighed, shaking her head. "Since the three of you are so curious about your newest professors, perhaps you'd be willing to give the one less acquainted with the campus a quick tour?" It sounded more like a demand than a question, even though she phrased it like they had the right to refuse.
Claude very much took it as them having the right to refuse. He suddenly got a very dangerous look in his eyes that made Byleth very uncomfortable. It was a look she saw much, much, much later on after sparing him during the tale of the Crimson Flowers for a reason she didn't care to divulge. To see it on the face of young Claude gave her whiplash. Did he...
"Dimitri and I actually gotta go check on our houses. We were doing a joined training today and we really shouldn't have left in the first place. You know our houses, or more accurately, mine. If we leave them all alone for too much longer they might kill each other. Especially Felix. I'm pretty sure he's already planning the murder of Lorenz so we should really get back, right Dimitri," Claude winked at the little lion prince, looping their arms together and making a break for it. "I'm sure Edelgard'll love to give you a tour though Teach! Have fun!"
Edelgard wasn't prepared for such a display and there was no time to make a grab at either boy. Dimitri, also unprepared, just choked out confused attempts at words that never actually became more than syllables. Given his expression, he had no idea what Claude was on about.
That lying...
What did Byleth do wrong to elicit that kind of reaction? Was it something she did? Something she said to Edelgard? Was it instinct? Claude once said that he could sense useless lesbians and their crushes, but she hadn't taken that seriously! It sounded like a bad attempt at a joke. The only other option besides Byleth fucking up and someone implying she had a crush on Edelgard was that Claude somehow remembered the last reset. Which was an entirely different slew of problems she'd have to deal with aside from him trying to valiantly set her up with Edelgard. Not to mention she was admittedly still a little tiny smidgen of a bit peeved at Edelgard for another set of problems and-
Byleth was working herself up on emotions that weren't hers. She recognized this chaotic line of thinking, it belonged to Sothis. The likes of which didn't even attempt to deny it. She either did something small or Claude was just messing with her. She didn't allow herself to get her hopes up that it was something Edelgard did.
Edelgard wouldn't. She couldn't.
"Oblivious~" Sothis said ina sweet sing-songy tone while Edelgard looked between Rhea and Byleth in a panic. Who was oblivious? And Oblivious to what exactly? Sothis sighed quite loudly, almost loud enough for Byleth to flinch as she tried to tune back into the conversation.
"Very well," Rhea said, watching Claude and Dimitri disappear with thinly veiled disappointment in her gaze. "Edelgard will show you around the campus, professor. Fitting, considering your father has agreed to instruct her House. I have no doubt the two of you will spend quite a bit of time together, so please try to get acquainted properly." The request was directed at both Byleth and Edelgard, though once again, it didn't sound like a request as much as it sounded like a poorly veiled order.
"Of course, Your Grace," Edelgard said with a nod as she turned to Byleth. "I'll show you around the most important spots and give you a secondary introduction to the members of the Black Eagles, as well as anyone else we come across. I'm sure you've met a lot of people today and could use the refresher. Feel free to ask me any questions that come up. Shall we?" Edelgard motioned towards the door as if she was trying to escape as quickly as possible.
How ironic. Not for the first time, Byleth found their goals aligning.
"We shall," she said, walking after Edelgard who tried not to speed walk out of the reception room. Out of the frying pan and into the flames, as the saying went. Away from the fires of Rhea, but also the safety and protection of her father, and into the terrifying unknown that was this new reset.
"And your chaotic gay crush," Sothis just had to remind her.
Yes, also that. That was also part of the fire that was Edelgard giving her a tour. She didn't even need a tour! So many things had gone right already and so many things had gone wrong. At least the rest of the day hopefully couldn't get worse. Right?
(-)(-)(-)(-)
It was really kind of amazing how many comments I got on the last chapter. Comments do seriously help writers like myself. Not only do they sometimes spark new ideas which can get incorporated into a story, but they also point out important ways for authors to improve. Even short or silly comments help when it comes to remaining motivated, so please, continue to comment and tell me your thoughts, whatever they might be. Compliments, criticisms, scenes or ships you'd like to see. Anything constructive is deeply appreciated.
Massive thanks to everyone who gave recommendations on which house to pick. Things were pretty evenly split between Golden Deer and Black Eagles, but ultimately it was the arguments for the Black Eagles that won me over. They need Jeralt in a way the Golden Deer don't, not to mention I think it would be in line with Jeralt's character to pick the 'trouble children'. Look at Byleth and tell me he isn't already prepared.