And we're back with another one!I read a review stating interest in a continuation of the previous oneshot and while the idea does intrigue me, I think I'll leave it as it is for now. I definitely will revisit the idea though if people want me to; I can see a couple of ways it could end up going. Anyway, let's go!

Summary: Lysithea has made an attempt to enter the world of tutoring, only to find her efforts fall flat. Who else can she turn to in her moment of need than one of the best teachers she knows?


"If you look to the history books of Fodlan, you'll see that those who demonstrate relative skill in both physical and magical combat in equal measure will often be classed as a Mortal Savant. For people more heavily specialised in white magic however, who are relatively lacking in stamina and physical strength, it is instead recommended that you take the form of a Holy Knight. This means you can counter your low-speed and lack of strength with the momentum and power of the horse, making lance-based attacks much more viable so you can conserve your energy for healing."

Marianne stared down at the textbook hopelessly, absently listening to Lysithea's seemingly unending lecture.

The blue haired girl knew full well that it was a lecture she needed; with all that plagued her mind, concentration was a grave issue and her grades weren't exactly where they could have been. Marianne had been the one to ask Lysithea to help, it would have been needlessly selfish to not listen.

It just didn't help that no matter how it was explained by Lysithea, it seemed not to stick in her mind. Too often did Marianne find herself distracted or simply unable to grasp the ideas presented to her. It was the reason why they were currently in Lysithea's room rather than her own, for the white haired girl had taken one look at the mess within and declared it unsuitable for teaching.

"… Marianne? Marianne, are you even listening?" Lysithea's exasperated voice called out to her, Marianne startling slightly as she straightened up her posture as best she could. It did little to stop the weathering side that escaped her pseudo-teacher. "Right then, it's clear that this tutoring session isn't going to work. Let's stop for now, I should have some treats stashed away in here somewhere."

Of course Lysithea had sweets, there wasn't a moment where Lysithea didn't have sweets, Marianne fought to a self. Well, there were moments, but it was fairly obvious when they came around, for the youngest student of Garreg Mach became far more easily annoyed until her stocks were restored.

Before too long, a wide array of biscuits and desserts were spread out between them. Marianne's eyes opened wide – though she wasn't exactly someone well versed in her sweets, the cakes that came from Enbarr were infamous for both their incredible price and incredible amount of sugar. For Lysithea to have attained them, she must have spent a pretty penny.

"Aren't you going to eat, Marianne? I didn't put them out just so I can eat them all." Lysithea asked, though anyone who walked in at that moment could have been easily fooled. Barely a moment had passed since they had even begun, yet Lysithea had somehow already devoured half of her slice and though she hid it well, was already searching for more.

"… This is all so expensive… I couldn't eat something that cost you so much." Marianne weakly protested, continuously glancing down at the sugary delights. "I asked you to help me and I wasn't even able to absorb what you told me. To be such a bad student and then eat your expensive sweets just isn't right."

"So, you're still talking like that…" Lysithea muttered with a shake of her head. Marianne was a close friend, but that didn't stop Lysithea from occasionally being exasperated by her personality. "Don't worry about the price, the price doesn't matter. Besides, I got this cake from Edelgarde; it's free, eat away."

"You got these cakes from Edelgarde? Then I really shouldn't be eating them, they are gifts specifically for you!" Came the immediate retort, Lysithea having to hold back her hand from palming her face.

"And I'm gifting it to you right now. Come on, just eat one at least! Once you've eaten one, you won't be able to stop yourself from eating more!" The white haired girl urged, one step away from shoving the forkful of cake into Marianne's mouth herself.

Fortunately, before any accidents could occur through misuse of cutlery, Marianne sheepishly parted her lips and let the dessert pass through.

Almost immediately, the implements rush of nearly pure sugar entering her mouth hit Marianne like a truck, the girl recoiling slightly in surprise as her tongue tried to get used to the sweetness. Still, through the haze of the heavy sweetness, the slightest hints of fresh fruit burst forth for an explosion of refreshing flavour. The cake itself was sweet beyond anything, the fruits worked hard and sharp; together they bounced into a beautiful medley well deserving of the title 'best cake in the Empire.'

Lysithea's prediction was correct – after that first mouthful, it didn't take long for the rest to be devoured.


Lysithea was deep in thought as she strolled around the grounds of Garreg Mach; it wasn't an unfamiliar sight and those which bumped into her before knew full well it was easier to just walk around her than try to face her wrath. It wasn't as if she had a particular destination in mind, having passed the pond and stables until she found herself standing in the gardens.

The only reason Lysithea noticed that was because she got a good look at her surroundings as she fell, the man she had bumped into being the only reason her head hadn't smacked against the cold stone.

"Lysithea, constant vigilance. With the potential for traitors in Garreg Mach, do not let your guard down." Byleth warned as he helped his student up, the professor dusting off her clothes like a concerned parent. The act brought a petulant pout to Lysithea's face, but I didn't stop her from standing still while Byleth doted over her. "You seem concerned. What ails you?"

"Ah, Professor. I was actually hoping I would come across you on my travels." Lysithea explained as the pair seated themselves at one of the open tables. Byleth didn't seem to care, but Lysithea had to make a pointed effort to ignore the gentle whispers that picked up in the surrounding groups. For some reason, they always seem to start up whenever Lysithea was with Byleth. "You see, I've been trying to help teach Marianne, tutor her, but I just can't seem to get the information across in a way that she understands. You're the most unorthodox teacher I know, so if there's anyone who can come up with some weird eccentric method, it has to be you."

Byleth let a single eyebrow raise at Lysithea's terminology, but it must be noted that he didn't deny anything. Instead, the blue haired man allowed his eyes to flutter shut for the briefest of moments, only for them snap wide open.

"What kind of learner is Marianne?" he suddenly said.

"…I'm not quite sure what it is you mean, Professor." Lysithea answered, tilting her head slightly in confusion. It was a wise decision too, for she would've been met with a face-full of wind that ruffled the flowers behind her. The tiny movement wasn't enough to entirely avoid the attack however, Lysithea forced to spit out strands of her now heavily messed up hair. "Professor, this is becoming a disturbingly recurrent thing and I don't like it."

"Everyone has different ways of learning. Some people prosper in classrooms, others do better on the battlefield." Byleth stated in answer. "You learn better from books. Raphael learns better in combat. Ignatz learns better through set exercises. Leonie learns better through mimicking instructors. To be an appropriate teacher, you must understand your student."


And with a flick of the man's hands, the many sheets of paper upon his desk went flying through the air, landing perfectly on each student's desk. Lysithea only had to pick up her own work to realise just how much of an impressive move it was; each person had been given a specific combination of work tailored to their abilities, all organised simply through the use of wind magic. If one or two had been right, then it could be a fluke, but everyone had received the appropriate difficulty for their current skillset.


"I see… so you're saying that because I didn't tailor my work to Marianne as an individual I wasn't working to her strengths. That seems reasonable enough." Lysithea concluded with a nod, a curious energy entering her pose as she leant forward on the table. "So what kind of learner is she Professor? Maybe I can start working on a better tutoring session."

"…If you wish to be a teacher, figure it out yourself. You have all the clues already." Came the blue haired man's blunt reply, watching stoically as a grumpiness took place on Lysithea's face. "You sit next to her and have seen her work. You should be able to distinguish the differences to your own. I trust you to make the right decision."

Lysithea was left to splutter in confusion as Byleth abruptly began to make his leave, the comments of the surrounding gossip girls being the only reminder that he had been there at all.

It was an answer she should've expected; while Byleth was fully aware that she learned better through texts, it didn't stop him from much preferring practical exercises. Besides, the professor had been correct in his assumptions – Marianne often came to Lysithea in order to ensure a certain level of quality to her work and there had been certain differences she occasionally noted.

"Clues you say Professor? Let's see… why don't we give this a try then?"


Marianne cautiously approached Lysithea's door, head held low as she rapped against the wood. She wasn't entirely sure why she had been summoned by her fellow Golden deer, but there had been an inexplicable aura of confidence and excitement to the girl that Marianne simply couldn't deny. If Lysithea was so excited, there had to be good reason, right?

It was only natural then that Marianne grew apprehensive when she saw all of the lecture material sitting upon Lysithea's desk, said girl practically bouncing on the spot as she opened the door to greet her guest.

"Marianne, just in time! I think I've made a major breakthrough!" the white haired girl excitedly declared as she hurried Marianne to the bed. With how eager her movements were, Marianne bed he had a second to breathe before she was practically bombarded with tome after tome.

"Ah, I see…" Marianne answered, trying her best to hide her apprehension. She had struggled before, but the sheer volume of knowledge that Lysithea was pulling out was too much for anyone to handle. Even someone like Annette would be hard struck to read so much, that alone someone struggling as Marianne was. "I think you might have to explain this to me. I doubt that I could comprehend this much."

"No, not if I've done this right." Lysithea immediately denied, Marianne taken aback briefly. There was friendly encouragement, and then there was Lysithea's level of confidence in the blue haired girl's ability. "If this works out as I've intended, then you'll be able to explain to me everything you struggled with last time!"

"Really? I struggled with quite a lot…" Marianne dejectedly said, her hands awkwardly fidgeting as her head fell. If one book hadn't been able to make Marianne understand, piling what seemed like one hundred more onto her surely was not going to help matters.

"Don't worry, these aren't your typical textbooks. Open them up, have a look!"

It was clear that Marianne wasn't going to persuade Lysithea otherwise, leading to the blue haired girl hesitantly taking one of the books and taking a peek inside.

Imagine her surprise when, rather than be met with a wall of text just waiting to boggle Marianne's mind, she was met by a series of intricately detailed diagrams. The word count had been slashed ruthlessly, the largest amount of text that could be found being a mere introductory paragraph for each chapter. Otherwise, the only words were precise and concise annotations dotted around each diagram.

"This is…! Lysithea, where did you get this?" Marianne asked in wonder as she found herself flicking through the pages, concepts that were once alien now displayed in a much more digestible manner.

"It wasn't exactly the easiest to get. I don't how the Professor does it… "Lysithea sighed in response, quickly shaking her head of any thoughts of the blue haired man. "I tried checking all the vendors in the market, but they only seem to sell the typical textbooks. Luckily for me, they did have a lot of paper I could buy bulk and Ignatz wasn't doing anything, so we ended up just making all these ourselves."

"That's amazing. I don't think I could ever do anything like this." Marianne said, a smile appearing on her face as she slowly closed the book. "So you wrote all of the notes then? They're a lot easier to understand than the textbook. Maybe you should think about becoming a textbook writer Lysithea."

"I… Really shouldn't." Lysithea's response came out as little more than a disgruntled mutter, a tinge of crimson embarrassment appearing on her pale skin as Marianne made a sound of confusion. "… I figured that if I was going to write a new textbook rather than use one of the old ones, I might as well try and reduce all of the more technical language to something a bit more manageable. Anytime I wanted to explain something, I basically tried to explain it to Ignatz and cut it down any time he didn't understand. I… had to do quite a lot of cutting."

Marianne couldn't help it; the giggles came to her without warning and she had no intention of stopping them. It was a sound decidedly rare, but certainly not unwelcome as the sweet noise echoed around Lysithea's room.

A pout may have come to Lysithea's face, but that didn't mean she was going to cut Marianne's mirth short. In fact, before long, the white-haired girl was laughing right alongside her friend.

"I-I, I'm sorry Lysithea. I just couldn't help myself." Marianne eventually managed to speak, her chuckles fading away to be replaced by a sense of embarrassment. "It sounds like you had a lot of fun making these. I still can't really believe that you made them for me though. You definitely went through way too much work for someone like me."

"Of course I didn't. Marianne, you're my friend; you're one of the few people I would go through all of this effort for." Lysithea immediately stated in return with a dismissive wave, Marianne lost for words as the younger gave a firm nod. "I would be a fairly bad friend if I said I would help you with your education and then left you even more confused, right?"

"…Thank you Lysithea. I-I'll try my best to make it up to you somehow!"

"Don't worry about it Marianne. If you want to make it up to me, ace the exam."

Needless to say, the lesson went far more successfully than their first, a combination of Lysithea's newly developed skill for teaching combined with the artistic talents of Ignatz allowing Marianne to practically blossom as well as any other student. Perhaps it was a little vain of her, but Lysithea couldn't help but feel a swell of pride at that – Marianne wouldn't have any problem with the coming exams if she kept up this kind of pace.

"Heh, the Professor was right after all." Lysithea mused to herself while her pupil was busy with her practice. Not that she ever doubted the man; Byleth had proven himself far too many times for any student of Garreg Mach to doubt his credibility. "With the way he spelled the clues out for me all those times, it was like he expected me to do something like this."


"Lysithea, your assistance." Byleth called, the white haired girl pausing from her return trip to the library to greet her superior.

"Yes Professor?"

"Your work is entirely correct. I will assign a more difficult set of tasks next time. This means you're in the best position to help me grade your classmates' work." He spoke, swiftly turning on his foot before any answer could be given.

A sarcastic answer threatened to burst forth, only for Lysithea to swiftly swallow it and follow along behind. It wasn't as if she was doing anything and she could use treat it like a sort of revision session of sorts. Maybe even pester the Professor for any questions that could pop into her head.


"Tell me Lysithea. Are these questions suitable?" Lysithea looked up from the notes she had scrawled down during their tutoring session, faced with several pieces of paper that she quickly took and scanned. "These are intended for Hilda, Lorenz and Marianne."

"…Professor they're good but they're all the same question phrased in different ways. You really should only use one of them." Lysithea warned as she leafed through the paper, handing them back to see the blue haired man give a swift shake of his head.

"I have more prepared for other topics. I intend to use all of these."

"Issues tended to appear on question eight and I will personally be going over the solutions with you individually." Byleth declared as he scribbled upon the blackboard, pointedly ignoring the sound of flesh hitting wood.


"Urgh, question eight was so stupid!" Hilda groaned as her face met the desk, Lysithea tilting her head slightly as her fellow Golden Deer complained. "Why am I going to need to know to properly navigate a wooded area/ my darling wyvern isn't going to just smack into the trees like an idiot!"

"What? That wasn't question eight. Question eight as about how to avod close combat encounters with heavy armours." Lysithea objected, only to be met by Hilda's confusion as well.

"… Lysithea, that wasn't even a question. Marianne, what did you have for question eight?"

"Um, I just had to point out the mistakes in a lancer's stance…"


"Heh. Thanks Professor. Maybe one day, I could be as good a tutor as you."


And that's it for now! I wanted to portray Lysithea as the kind of person who sucks at explaining stuff because she just assumes people will know what she considers the 'basics' and skips into difficult concepts without foundations. I had a physics teacher like that (the only Doctor in any of my hometown's schools) and it made trying to learn so difficult I actually quit. I really liked physics and all...

Um, anyway, please look forward to the next one!

Super hero time! See you next time!