The silence had gone far past just being awkward.
On one side of the table sat Leonie, Byleth standing beside her. At the other end of the table was Byleth's father, Jeralt.
After the revelation of Jeralt being the father of the new professor, Leonie's mind was frenzied. How was he here? Why was he here? But the most important thing to her then was the question of where. Where is he? Take me to him, or you're a damn liar! All that and more, Leonie had shouted at Byleth. She couldn't remember what else she had said, though she hoped it hadn't been anything hurtful. Jeralt was returning from the cemetery when Byleth wordlessly pulled him aside and led him to the dining hall. Leonie struggled to control all the myriad of emotions going through her, but she managed to sit down across from him nonetheless.
She'd had several years to plan out what she would say when she saw her idol again, and here he was right across the table from her, and neither of them could say a word or even look at each other.
Byleth wondered about this strange girl. She seemed to know Jeralt well, but her father had never once mentioned her before. It was unlike him to keep something from her, she thought.
Byleth spoke up, breaking the silence with her monotonous voice.
"I hate to interrupt such a lively conversation, but I still haven't spoken to the last house leader. Give yourselves plenty of time to catch up, don't worry about me."
She had questions to ask both of them, but the sun was hanging low in the sky by now, and still, she hadn't gotten back to the Archbishop and the other professors about which class she'd like to teach. It didn't look like she was going to leave Garreg Mach any time soon, and neither was her father. There would be free time later where she could freely interrogate this Leonie and her father as well.
"Will the day's excitement never end?" came a voice from behind Byleth. She looked around, but no one was in sight.
Then without warning, Sothis, the mysterious girl from Byleth's dreams, faded into view, hovering in the air weightlessly. Byleth's eyes widened, and she was surprised, nowhere near used to the fact that a whole other person existed inside of her mind.
"Come now; I won't have you being so shocked each time we speak together. You'll have to accustom yourself with my presence or risk people thinking you're insane. You aren't insane, right?"
Byleth nodded.
"So, all that aside, are you prepared to make your decision yet?"
(Not quite yet) thought Byleth, to which Sothis responded.
"Well, why are you just standing around? Find this Claude person. I'm going to take another nap. I'll wake up if you do anything stupid or require my wisdom. But, honestly, try to be smart and think for yourself? I'm reeeally sleepy..." and she disappeared, snoring quietly before Byleth stopped hearing or feeling her presence altogether.
Getting her footing, Byleth took off in a sprint across the monastery, searching for Claude von Riegen.
"If you don't feel like talking, I guess it'll have to be me then," muttered Leonie, who stared down at the table in front of her.
"I have spent the last six years trying to keep up with my training, training that you taught me to do. I lost hope of you ever coming back around two years ago. I didn't think I held anything against you until now. I got it, you know? You didn't want to have to bring around this hopeless, barely useful little girl, especially when everywhere you went would be dangerous, and there were no guarantees you could always be looking out for me. I understood that. Made my peace with it."
"Kid, I can't even begin to explain why I had to leave you behind," interjected Jeralt, who spoke as seriously as he could manage. But Leonie started talking again before he could bring himself to continue.
"My name is Leonie. Did you remember that? You know, I think you purposely never referred to me by name during the time you trained me. It kept you safe from getting attached, didn't it? If you bothered to acknowledge me as anything other than an orphaned village girl, you might actually feel bad for abandoning me, right?"
Jeralt's anger welled, but he couldn't deny what Leonie was accusing him of.
"Leonie," he said, maintaining his calmness. "I didn't mean to abandon you. I trained you so that you would be able to care for yourself, didn't I? I taught you everything I thought you needed."
"What I needed? What I needed then was someone who cared. You couldn't possibly know all the pain I was going through after those poachers killed my papa. I never expected you to, either. But what you gave me, in the absence of a family, was hope. You gave me hope that it might one day be all right again, that I wouldn't have to suffer alone with the nightmares of that day. I thought that if you trained me as your apprentice, maybe you would stick around, or at least take me with you. I had lost everything in that place. There was nothing there for me." she balled her hands into fists, eyes clenched tightly to keep her tears hidden.
"I didn't know what I'd done wrong after you left. You never told anyone you were leaving. I made up so many excuses. I was trying to rationalize it. Do you know that I blamed myself? At least for the first while, anyway. Maybe I was too weak, or perhaps I was just unworthy. So I kept training. I poured myself into it. While the other girls in the village learned to sew, I honed my body in exercise. I told myself that if I kept getting stronger, more skillful, that you would return one day proud of me, and I would resume my apprenticeship under you. I believed that with my whole heart, every minute of every day for years."
Jeralt looked away uncomfortably. He wished he had the words to say that would make all of this right; that would make up for his actions. He couldn't apologize; that would seem shallow and dismissive. Oh, how much simpler things would've been if he had never come back to this place! But that was what he always did. Looked for ways to run away when things got complicated.
"K-, er, Leonie, I'm just as disappointed with myself as you are. And if I knew what to say or do that would make it up to you, I would. I've lived a long time and made a lot of mistakes. I've done things I'm not proud of, and I don't consider myself a role model. I never expected you to be so persistent in your training. It looks like I was the unworthy one. I do not deserve an apprentice like you, Leonie. I can't wipe away my failures by asking for your forgiveness, but I can offer you something better. Allow me to take you as my apprentice once more. I'm not going to leave you again. I give you my word. I will watch over you and help you become a better person than I could ever hope to be. It's not even remotely as much as you deserve for the hurt that I've caused, but it's all I can offer."
Leonie stood up, walked around the table to where Jeralt sat, and hugged him tightly.
"Hey, hey. That's enough of that. You take me for some sentimental sap?"
Leonie released her hold and chuckled softly.
"I have been carrying those burdens for years. It's good to get them out finally. What I haven't done yet is thank you. Because of what you taught me, I've become a dedicated, resourceful person who's fiercely independent. The reason I've been doing the same training after all these years, is because I wanted to meet up with you again someday, a stronger and more confident person than the girl you forgot back in Sauin Village. I'm just sorry that I haven't gotten there quite yet. But now, I will accept your offer. I will be your apprentice again, so that one day I, Leonie Pinelli, am just as legendary of a mercenary as the great Blade Breaker. You saved our village, and indeed, you saved me. Might've messed me up emotionally, but I can't deny you saved my life. Thank you, Jeralt."
She smiled, and left the dining hall, returning to her dorm room, where she collapsed into her pillow. She cried into it, then felt relieved, excited even. It took her several minutes before she started crying again, for no reason other than she was emotionally exhausted. When she finally managed to give in to sleep, for the first time in years, she didn't have any nightmares.
Byleth tossed and turned in her bedsheets, trying to get into a comfortable position. She couldn't find one. Her day had been stressful and full of newness, new people, and a new job. She hated it. She hated feeling helpless and at the mercy of everyone else's whims. But still, she had basically accepted it. After all, she had decided which class she was to teach. Her choice had been made, and she would stay awake most of the night, wondering if she had made the right one.
