"You have answers, please make them appropriate for our questions," Byleth said as she dug her sword into the man in black's foot.
"Agh! Dammit, how about you ask something?!" the man in black asked. It took a second for Byleth to realize that she forgot that part.
"Okay, give me a second. We already know where we are, but we do need an answer for how we got here, since that was confusing. Do you know about that?"
"What? Didn't you just use the Bifrost to get here? How else do you go to the World Tree?"
"The Bifrost? Is that what that rainbow is called? Everyone, the rainbow that brought us here is called the Bifrost."
"We heard. We're standing right here," the little girl said. Without Byleth realizing it, her, Edelgard, Dimitri and Claude had moved away from their original locations and were standing behind her.
"It's good to have a name for it, but what's more important is learning how it works," Edelgard said.
"And while we're at it, maybe get an answer about what that thing is?" Claude asked, pointing at Freydis as she floated above Byleth.
"It's Freydis," Byleth said.
"Yes, but what is she?" Dimitri asked.
"My Persona."
"Okay, but what is that?" Byleth stared at Dimitri in silence for a few seconds before shrugging her shoulders.
"Should I ask him that?"
"Probably!" the little girl said.
"Okay, then. Can you tell us what a Persona—" At that moment, the man in black ripped his foot away from Byleth's sword, a small pool of blood forming around his foot. "Oh."
"You little ingrates! I'll teach you not to mess with me! All of you, get out here and help me kill them!" The same black doorway from a moment ago reappeared in the air, along with several copies of equal darkness. Byleth could already see the masks that those creatures were wearing peeking out of them, and there were far more than in the group from before. While Byleth ended up disposing of the last ones with relative ease, she had no way of knowing if it would be as easy the second time around; increased numbers aside, the masked creatures could easily transform into things far more powerful than the ones she killed, and she still didn't know the full capabilities of the new powers and abilities at her disposal. There was only one thing that could be done if everyone's safety were to be assured.
"Let's run away."
"You don't have to tell me twice!" The little girl shouted as she flew off in the direction they came from. Freydis fired another beam of light towards the black doorways and made a small explosion in front of them, the last action she took before disappearing in a burst of green fire.
"Let's go." The statement that time was directed at Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude; judging by how quickly they joined Byleth in running away, they seemed to have gotten the message rather easily. The man in black cursed at them as they ran, but Byleth didn't pay much attention to it beyond that.
There was just a lot going on.
After running away for about ten minutes, Byleth could no longer hear the sounds of the creatures, so she took that as a sign to stop and take a breath, her companions seemingly doing the same.
"It sounds like those monsters won't be catching up anytime soon. Good. The less time around those hideous things, the better," Edelgard said.
"Shadows. They're called Shadows, so you should call them as such," the little girl said, her face quickly contorting into one of confusion.
"Those things have a name? Why didn't you say that—this is another thing you didn't remember until now, isn't it?" Claude asked.
"Weird habit," Byleth said.
"I think it's beyond that, Byleth," Dimitri said. "Little girl, Byleth just said you were an amnesiac, but it's clearly not as straightforward as that. Has this happened before?"
"No, it hasn't," the little girl said. "Before you all came here, I simply didn't know anything, but now I find myself remembering things at random intervals and in random-sized chunks, and only things that relate to the foundation of Yggdrasil. Also, before you ask, I can't remember any of the finer details about Shadows, at the moment."
"Do you know anything about Freydis? About my Persona? Or this thing?" Byleth asked, holding up the strange device she used to attack the giant bird from earlier. It disappeared a second later, but she paid it little mind.
"No, I don't—wait, something's coming to me. Yes, yes, it's a little inkling of something. A Persona, that weird power you awakened to, it's supposed to be a manifestation of your psyche, the part of you that the world gets to see and is capable of fighting the Shadows, which are the opposite of a Persona, I think?"
"I see." If that's what a Persona was, then Freydis saying that she and Byleth were the same person—at least something along those lines—made a lot of sense. It still didn't explain everything, though, like why Byleth was able to summon her when she did, or how the man in black and the strange thing he did with the Shadows fit into all of it, or the specific way it connected to Yggdrasil, at all.
The only thing that came to mind was how Freydis looking like a warrior reminded Byleth of what Igor said about the Velvet Room resembling a battlefield. It was either astonishingly appropriate or another strange coincidence.
"This truly is strange. Besides the Crest connection, there's too little we know about any of this," Dimitri said.
"What Crest connection?" Byleth asked.
"You summoned that Persona thing by summoning an image of your Crest, so there's clearly a connection between the two," Claude said.
"That doesn't sound right."
"Agreed. Let's not be so quick to add even more importance to them," Edelgard said.
"No, it doesn't sound right because I don't have a Crest." Everyone save for the little girl looked at Byleth as if she had grown a second head, and she was pretty sure that she hadn't.
"You're kidding, right?" Claude asked.
"I don't think I know how to do that."
"You sure? Because that sounds like a pretty weird joke to me," Dimitri said. "You have to have a Crest; it's impossible for you not to have one."
"Is it, though? I'm seriously asking because I don't know," the little girl said.
"Of course it is! I can't recognize it, myself, but what else could that symbol you drew in the air be if not a Crest?" Byleth merely shrugged her shoulders.
"It does bear some resemblance to our own Crests, if only from a design standpoint," Edelgard said. She, Dimitri, and Claude all held out their hands, and in front of each of them appeared a distinctly-shaped symbol of red light. It took Byleth a second, but she recognized them from a history book her father bought her some time ago; Edelgard's was the Crest of Seiros, Dimitri's the Crest of Blaiddyd, and Claude's the Crest of Riegan.
"Huh. There is a bit of a resemblance," the little girl said.
"I never knew I had a Crest, though," Byleth said as the three of them made the lights vanish.
"So nothing out of the ordinary has never happened to you? Nothing that couldn't be explained away through normal means?" Edelgard asked. "Even if it was just a minor thing like finding yourself feeling less tired than you should or—"
"Sometimes, when I'm fighting someone, my wounds will heal themselves a little, even though no one used any Faith magic on me," Byleth cut in. "Would that count as a Crest?"
"Yeah, and you probably should have assumed that a while ago," Claude said. "Obliviousness aside, why did you summon your Persona by drawing something you've never even seen before?"
Byleth shrugged her shoulders again. Claude gave a face that probably meant he was growing frustrated, but she honestly had no idea why she drew what was apparently a Crest. If she had to guess, however, she'd say it was done on instinct, though that hardly felt like a satisfying answer.
"This is all confusing, right? It is for me, anyway; I can barely wrap my empty head around any of this," the little girl said.
"It really is strange, but even if we found answers to all of it, they'll end up meaningless if we can't get out of here," Edelgard said.
"The Bifrost," Byleth stated.
"Yes, that was the name that man gave it, but it doesn't exactly help us."
"True. It'd be one thing if one of us could simply summon that rainbow at will, but that is simply not the case," the little girl said.
"You're glowing," Byleth stated.
"Yes, I do feel rather good about myself, right now."
"You're glowing."
"We've been over that. Why repeat yourself?"
"Because she's being literal!" Dimitri said, his voice conveying what Byleth assumed to be shock. It was only then that the little girl seemed to be aware of what Byleth was trying to tell. Of how her body was glowing a rainbow-colored light that perfectly matched the light of the Bifrost.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what?! What is this?!" the little girl asked.
"You're glowing," Byleth said.
"That's not helping!"
"No, but you're about to be, little girl," Claude said.
"I am not a child, and what do you mean?"
"I believe he's saying that your body glowing like the Bifrost must mean you have the ability to harness its power, which means you can send us back home," Edelgard said.
"She can?" Dimitri asked.
"I can?" the little girl asked. She mumbled something under her breath before pointing her hands out in front of her. Nothing happened for a few seconds, but then out of nowhere, all of the rainbow light left her body and was fired out into a beam that turned into a pillar of rainbow light in front of everyone.
"You're not glowing," Byleth said.
"What an astute observation." Byleth nodded her head in agreement.
"This pillar of light certainly does look like the Bifrost. Is it safe, though?" Dimitri asked.
"Not like we have a lot of other options. Besides, this thing didn't kill us bringing us here, so it shouldn't kill us bringing us home," Claude said.
"Yeah, so you guys go in and go back home," the little girl said.
"You'll be all alone here."
"We can't worry about that, right now," Edelgard said.
"That's right. You can't just stay here, not when you actually have people who will worry about you." The tone in the little girl's voice briefly shifted in a way Byleth didn't recognize. "I'll try and stay away from the Shadows and that guy in black until we have a chance to meet up again. My hide-and-seek skills are top-notch, so you have nothing to worry about!"
"Okay, we'll leave for now, but we'll come back as soon as we can!" Dimitri said. He stepped into the Bifrost, and after the light fluctuated for a second, he completely vanished.
"Try to remember a few more things before. Really looking forward to picking your brain!" Claude said before jumping into the Bifrost and vanishing, as well. Edelgard remained silent as she stepped in and disappeared, as well.
"Don't die," Byleth said.
"And leave you all alone in the world? As if," the little girl said with a smile. Byleth nodded her head and stepped into the Bifrost, the rainbow light washing over her in an instant.
She really did want to see her again.
Entering the Bifrost the second time had the same blinding effect it did the first time, and for about the same duration of time. When Byleth's vision returned to her that time, however, neither she nor her companions were being propelled through the air like they were before. Instead, they were standing back in the outskirts of Remire where the Bifrost first took them, only now there was a large, intricate symbol burned into the grass beneath their feet. Members of Jeralt's company were scattered about with their horses and some carriages, but none took notice of them as their attention was taken by some people dressed in white.
All of a sudden, she felt rather tired.
"Yes, we're back! Man, I'm so glad that worked," Claude said.
"This is exactly where we were when we were taken, though it looks a little closer to dawn now," Dimitri said. "That reminds me, we were in the middle of fighting those bandits when all of this started. Did everything turn out all right?"
"Let's find Byleth's father and ask him," Edelgard said.
The search for Jeralt ended up a short one, for within seconds of their return, he rode up to them on Gamigin; the look on his face was one Byleth couldn't perfectly decipher, but she knew it meant that he was either angry or constipated.
"Hi, Dad," Byleth said.
"Don't 'Hi, Dad' me!" Jeralt said. It appeared that Byleth had guessed wrong. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? I thought this whole place was going to end up like Ailell, and even when that was wrong, you just vanished into thin air! I didn't know what to think!"
"We didn't die."
"That's not the point! And worst of all, because of all of that, you left me all alone with—"
"Captain Jeralt, please stop running off!" Jeralt let out a groan as heavy footsteps sounded off in their direction. Byleth turned to see a stocky, mustachioed man running towards them who was dressed in white armor and a cape that bore the Crest of Seiros. Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude looked at him as if he were familiar, so that plus the cape and the armor led Byleth to assume that he was a Knight of Seiros. "Every time I turn my back, you try and disappear on me. I'd almost think you were running away from me if we weren't such good friends—hey, the children are back!"
"Alois! It's good to see you again. Sorry for making you worry," Dimitri said.
"Think nothing of it; it's our fault for taking so long to get here and making you fend for yourselves!" Alois said with a big grin. "Speaking of which, what happened to Professor Kamoshida? He was supposed to be supervising you, yes?"
"And he did a great job of it for about five minutes before hightailing it out of there at the first sign of trouble. Seriously, if you're going to run away, at least have a plan in mind," Claude said.
"Well, that's not good at all! He better have a good excuse if he wants to keep his job."
"I hope he doesn't. The man made a lot of the girls at the monastery feel uncomfortable, myself included, and we don't need a teacher like that," Edelgard said.
"Well, in any case, it's good that you three were able to stay safe for as long as you did. Then again, that must have been an easy task with Captain Jeralt assisting you!"
"I told you to stop calling me that," Jeralt said.
"You are a captain, though," Byleth said.
"This is something else."
"And you must be his daughter, Byleth! What a pleasure to meet you!" Alois stopped smiling for a second as he stepped closer to Byleth. "I swear, you look just like—no, that's impossible, the dates don't add up. How peculiar, though." Jeralt groaned again, for some reason.
"You're making Dad uncomfortable," Byleth said.
"Am I? Hah! Overprotective of his little girl, eh? Boy, do I know the feeling! I tell you, he was shaking like a leaf waiting for you all to come back. Did a giant rainbow really swallow you whole?"
"It took us into another world filled with monsters."
"Another world, you say? How incredibly surreal!" Edelgard wore a worried look for a brief moment before adopting one of relief. At the same time, Alois patted Byleth on the back once, and when he moved for a second part, Byleth stepped out of the way in time, the miss making him stumble a little.
"Personal space."
"Ha! A real chip off the old block!" Alois let out a hearty laugh. Byleth didn't know what was funny, but she wouldn't have been surprised if a joke flew over her head. "Speaking of which, Captain—"
"You want me to come back to the monastery, don't you?" Jeralt asked. "Well, if she's going to know I'm still alive, I don't really have a choice here."
"You make meeting the Archbishop sound like a death sentence!" Jeralt simply shrugged his shoulders. "Well, no matter! Let us return to Garreg Mach at once. The children need to check in with the staff, and I'm sure the Archbishop would like to be the first to hear more about what exactly went on here!"
"Lead the way, then," Jeralt said. Alois stepped away from the group and went back to the other Knights.
"Is he why you hate the Church?" Byleth asked. Dimitri raised an eyebrow, for some reason.
"If Alois was the only problem I had with them, then it wouldn't be worth the trouble."
"How do you know him?"
"I'll tell you later. Let's just go." Byleth nodded her head. She supposed that this meant their next mission was cancelled. That was fine. She had been to the Kingdom plenty of times already, but she had never even been within walking distance of Garreg Mach. It would be nice to see what kind of food they served there once she was done talking about what happened earlier.
"First, sleep," Byleth said before jumping onto an unmanned carriage and lying down on her back.
"You're tired? I've seen you go for three days without sleep and be perfectly fine."
"It must be a side effect of obtaining that new power," Edelgard said. Jeralt opened his mouth for a second before shutting it and shaking his head.
"Sleepy." Byleth took off her jacket and folded it into a makeshift pillow that she rested her head upon.
"Fine, I'll give you a ride, kid. You three might as well get in, too," Jeralt said. He hooked the carriage up to Gamigin as Edelgard, Dimitri, and Claude stepped on.
"Sleepy."
"Not gonna lie, you probably have the right idea here," Claude said, propping his quiver up like a pillow and resting his head upon it.
"You can honestly sleep at a time after everything that's happened?" Dimitri asked.
"I'd certainly like to." Jeralt started riding off as the two of them continued their back and forth.
Just as the ride started to get going, Edelgard scooted over to Byleth's side.
"Sleepy," Byleth said.
"I won't keep for long, I swear," Edelgard said. "I know that a lot has happened today, but at the very least, I want to thank you for protecting me twice today, especially since one instance happened when I allowed such an unsightly side of myself to surface."
"Are you sad?" Edelgard looked taken back. "I'm not good with faces or tones of voice, but you look like how my Dad gets once a year during the Horsebow Moon, and I think he's sad when that happens."
"I suppose that's part of it," Edelgard eventually said.
"Don't be. You did nothing wrong. You're fine."
"I—Thank you, Byleth." If Byleth had to guess, Edelgard was probably happy now.
"Sleepy." She would guess about it later, though. For now, it was time to sleep.
Byleth was only asleep for a few seconds before her eyes shot open. She wasn't in her father's carriage, and none of her companions were around her.
Once again, she was sitting in the blue tent pitched in the middle of a war zone known as the Velvet Room, with Igor and Adam right in front of her.
"Welcome back," Igor said. "I have summoned you here within your dreams, so do not be alarmed."
"I wasn't," Byleth said.
"Of course you weren't," Adam said, grinning a little.
"Congratulations on awakening to your powers," Igor said. "With this, we can now begin to provide you assistance, so long as you make sure to abide by the contract and take responsibility for your actions."
"Okay." Igor let out a small laugh. "Do you know anything about Personas?"
"Indeed I do, though your little friend already covered most of the basics. As she said, a Persona is a mask one wears to deal with the hardships of reality and protect their hearts from others. Your Persona, however, is unique even amongst others, for it grants you the power of the Wild Card."
"What's that?"
"It is a power only a select few can obtain. Think of it as the number zero: empty, yet holding infinite potential within itself," Adam said.
"I don't get it."
"Fear not, it will all make sense in due time," Igor said. "For now, take this." Igor pulled out a small key colored the same blue as the Velvet Room and handed it to Byleth. "With this key, you can enter this room at your leisure without needing to be asleep. I predict we'll have much more to talk about by the first time you decide to use it."
"If you say so." She wanted that to be it, but then she remembered something Igor said. "Other people can use Personas?"
"But of course. It might be a special power, but it's not so special that only you can use it," Adam said.
"Where are they?"
"Adam and I aren't in a position to tell you something like that, but with any luck, you'll see new Persona users be born before your very eyes. You seem to be around the right people for it."
Byleth blinked in succession. He was saying that she knew people who could become Persona users. She didn't know a lot of people, so the list of people it could be was small. It'd be nice if the little girl ended up one, she probably wouldn't like it if someone from the company had it happen to them, and she didn't know how to feel about the idea of her father getting a Persona.
It was also possible that he meant the three people she just went through her ordeal with.
"Your body is awakening in the real world. Until we meet again." Byleth wanted to say something, but it was just as Igor said.
She was awake.
When Byleth opened her eyes, the sun had completely risen; that, combined with the sprawling cityscape around her, told her that they had arrived at Garreg Mach. The carriage was parked in front of a bar, and not at all to her surprise, Jeralt was walking towards the door.
"With what's happened and what's going to happen, I don't want a word out of you," Jeralt said.
"Fine," Byleth said, though as he entered the bar, she felt that she would have liked at least one. Byleth sat up, and as she was putting her jacket back on, something soft fell off of her body. It was Edelgard's cape. She was probably missing it, so she needed to get it back to her. Fortunately, Edelgard was easy to find, but for some reason, she was outside of the carriage and giving her an intense glare, along with one other peculiar factoid.
"Edelgard, you've shrunk."
"Excuse me?" Edelgard asked in an odd tone and voice. Byleth jumped out of the carriage and landed right in front of Edelgard. With that, she confirmed that Edelgard really did shrink; Byleth was already taller than her, but now the height difference appeared to have doubled, at least.
"Why are you so small, Edelgard?"
"I'm not—you're not so tall either, you know!"
"Taller than you. Now even more than before."
"Size isn't every—Hey!" Byleth cut Edelgard off when she picked her up by her waist.
"You look like a little kid. What happened? Is this because of the World Tree?"
"Unhand me, you psycho! I have Dark Spikes, and I'm not afraid to use them!"
"What is going on here?" Byleth heard a familiar voice. She turned her head to see that it was, in fact, Dimitri walking over to her with Claude—who was laughing, for some reason—and what appeared to be a second Edelgard holding a paper bag.
"Why are there two Edelgards?"
"There aren't! Now put me down, already!" Tiny Edelgard said. Byleth was still confused, but she did as she was told, and Tiny Edelgard quickly ran over to Not as Tiny Edelgard's side.
"Byleth Eisner, Lysithea von Ordelia. Lysithea, Byleth. Are we all on the same page now?" Edelgard asked.
"Oh," was all Byleth said. Upon closer inspection, Lysithea's eyes had a pinkish hue to them whereas Edelgard's leaned more towards purple or lavender.
"Man I wish that had lasted longer. That was hilarious!" Claude said, earning him a glare from Lysithea.
"Sorry. You two look alike," Byleth said. "Your eyes are different, but your hair, your face, and…" Byleth's eyes ran up and down Edelgard and Lysithea's bodies, her focus drawn to a couple of specific areas of focus. "Nice to meet you."
"Wait, what were you looking at, just now?" Lysithea asked.
"More importantly, why were you watching her sleep, Lysithea?" Dimitri asked.
"I wasn't doing that, I was simply trying to analyze her," Lysithea said. "A knight flew into the monastery on pegasus saying that Edelgard had her life saved by a mercenary woman, so I came into town hoping to find her and see what kind of person she was. As it turns out, she's nothing but a nut."
"Peanut or cashew?" Byleth asked.
"Why does that matter?"
"I like one more than the other."
"Edelgard, I sincerely worry for your safety around her."
"I think I'll be fine, thank you," Edelgard said with a smile that was quickly mirrored by Lysithea.
"So no worry for my safety, then?" Claude asked. "I get why you wouldn't bother putting Dimitri on your radar—"
"Hey!" Dimitri cut in.
"—but I'm your house leader, aren't I? It's always Edelgard who gets your attention. Where's the love for little old Claude?"
"You're taller than her," Byleth said.
"Stop saying that! And as for you, Claude, it's not my fault that Edelgard's just better than you, now is it?"
"Agree to disagree." Claude and Lysithea went into a back and forth about that as Edelgard and Dimitri walked over to Byleth.
"I'm sorry about Lysithea. We've been friends since before coming to Garreg Mach, and she sometimes gets too attached to me," Edelgard said.
"Then again, she's hardly the worst of your friends Byleth could have woken up to," Dimitri said.
"What's in the bag?" Byleth asked.
"This? I thought you might be hungry after you woke up, so I went to a nearby shop to buy you a sandwich," Edelgard said. "I didn't know what you liked, so I just got one of everything."
"I'm okay with that," Byleth said as she took the bag from Edelgard. The first one she unwrapped was a grilled cheese that ended up devoured in seconds. The second one was a tuna fish sandwich that was consumed equally fast.
"You should probably wait until later to eat those," Dimitri said. "We're about to meet with the Archbishop, so—"
"Not all of us, just me and the kid." Out of nowhere, Jeralt reappeared on the scene. Byleth could tell just by looking at him that he had had a few, though surprisingly, it seemed like he had less than he usually did in these kinds of situations.
"But they went to the World Tree, too," Byleth said in-between bites of a peanut butter sandwich.
"The what? Where did you guys go?" Lysithea asked.
"I'll explain later," Edelgard said. "Back to the matter at hand, it would seem that the Church thinks that Byleth and her father's perspective is the only one that matters. Either that or they want the two of them alone when they say whatever they plan to say, as if they fear we could instill some form of bias within them."
"Come now, I'm sure there's no ill will at play here. They probably feel that we need a break before asking us about it, is all," Dimitri said. Dimitri looked rather assured of his hypothesis, but Edelgard's face didn't seem to match his.
"Well, not much we can do about it. Meet us in the dining hall when you're done, okay?" Claude asked. Byleth liked the sound of that. "All righty, then. Don't wanna hold you up by making you drop us off, so we'll head back on our own. See ya!" The four turned away from Byleth—Lysithea being the quickest to do so—and headed off towards the monastery.
"Come on, kid, let's get this done," Jeralt said as he hopped into Gamigin. Byleth moved towards the carriage, but stopped, grabbed something she nearly forgot about, and ran over to Edelgard.
"Your cape," Byleth said. "You dropped it and it fell on me during the ride here." Edelgard blinked a few times in rapid succession, and all of a sudden, she looked like she was coming down with a fever.
"Yes. That's right. That's what happened, and I thank you for returning this to me. Goodbye," Edelgard said with great haste as she took her cape out of Byleth's hands and walked ahead of her group. The other three did their best to keep up, and Byleth shrugged her shoulders before hopping into the carriage and letting her father ride off.
"Oh boy. This is going to be hard to watch. Downright painful, even." Byleth turned her head to see the little girl floating in the air next to her.
"You didn't die," Byleth said.
"Of course not. I told you that I couldn't leave you all alone, didn't I?"
"Thank you."
"Huh? What are you thanking me for?" Jeralt asked.
"Not you," Byleth said. Jeralt turned away from her and went back to looking at the road, mumbling something about having too much to drink.
"Yes, it would seem that you're the only one who can see or hear me. How strange," the little girl said.
"Indeed."
"Well, we can figure it out later. For now, let's see how things go with this Archbishop person. It could certainly be interesting."
"Maybe," Byleth said as she started eating a chicken sandwich. "Want some?"
"Of course! Food is all you think about when you're not thinking about fighting, so it'll be nice to see what all the fuss is about." Byleth broke her sandwich in half and handed one half to the little girl.
The half of the sandwich phased through her hands and fell to the floor of the carriage, a mess of its former self.
"Are you sure you didn't die?" Byleth asked.
"I'd remember if I died, you know!" That was probably true, but it did little to solve the issue of the ruined sandwich.
Within no time at all, Byleth and Jeralt had arrived at Garreg Mach Monastery. Jeralt left Gamigin in a stable he located with ease and directed her through the main building without skipping a beat, like he knew the layout like the back of his hand. It seemed like there was some truth to what Alois said about him once working for the Church.
She'd worry about that more once she was done eating.
"Must be nice, being able to eat food," the little girl said as they climbed the stairs. "I wonder what the last thing I ate was. Something spicy, maybe? Or sweet? Sweet and sour?"
"Like the pork?" Byleth asked in-between bites of an egg salad sandwich.
"Is that a thing? Is it good?" Byleth nodded her head as she unwrapped her last sandwich. "Okay, then! Let's make that the first thing I eat once all of this stuff is worked out."
"Okay."
"What's okay?" Jeralt asked. Byleth simply stared at him and shrugged her shoulders. Jeralt just shook his head as they kept walking.
"Going forward, we need to come up with a way of communicating that doesn't make you look like a mental patient to any onlookers." Byleth agreed with that, but she was too busy with her sandwich to say anything.
As she and Jeralt made their way to the second floor, Byleth finished eating her sandwich, though a piece of cucumber ended up falling onto her chest.
"I know what you're thinking, and the answer is no. Whatever you do, do not eat that cleavage cucumber," the little girl said.
"Fine," Byleth said, fishing it out and tossing it onto the floor somewhere.
"Goddess, I wish we weren't doing this," Jeralt said.
"We could leave."
"If only it were that easy." It seemed easy to Byleth. They just needed to go back to Gamigin and leave the monastery, plain and simple. It could be that easy if they wanted it to be, yet her father was still opening the door to the Archbishop's chamber and walking her inside.
The room they entered was as large as Byleth imagined it would be and almost as fancy—it would have been exactly as fancy if there was a fountain somewhere. Standing near the back was a man in dark blue robes and a cape with a head and a small beard of dark green hair. Sitting in the throne next to him was a woman in fanciful white robes, a golden cape and headdress, and long, green hair of a lighter shade than the man's. Her eyes met Byleth's, and her stoic expression became a smile that seemed a little too big to wear on a first meeting with someone.
This was Byleth's first time seeing the Archbishop, and if she was being honest, she didn't know what to make of it.
"So Alois' report was true," the Archbishop said. "When you disappeared in that fire twenty-one years ago, most had assumed the worst, but I knew better. I knew you were still alive and would find your way back to us one way or another, and here you are. It truly is wonderful to see you again, Jeralt."
"Likewise, Lady Rhea," Jeralt said, the words sounding a bit forced. "Apologies for disappearing the way I did. With everything that had happened with, well, you know, I wanted to get away from everything for a while, and I just jumped on the first chance I saw."
"All is forgiven, now that you have returned to me," Rhea said. "Oh, where are my manners? Please, allow me to introduce you to my advisor, Seteth."
"A pleasure to meet you, Jeralt," Seteth said. The entire conversation was giving Byleth an odd feeling of deja vu. "Lady Rhea has told me much about the legendary Blade Breaker, so it's nice to finally put a face to the name."
"You know about him being a mercenary?" Byleth asked. Both Jeralt and the little girl shook their heads, for some reason.
"We've been informed of Jeralt's current line of work, but Blade Breaker was also the moniker he bore when he was captain of the Knights of Seiros. Did you not know about that?"
"But Dad hates the Church." Rhea's head almost seemed to snap forward. The little girl jumped back a bit while muttering something about Byleth's intelligence.
"Hate's a strong word. I know I didn't leave here on the best of terms, but I'm too old to hate anything, really," Jeralt said. Byleth didn't believe that. She felt she understood her father just enough to tell when he was lying, and she felt that this was one of those instances. However, at the behest of the little girl, she kept quiet about it.
"You don't know how happy it makes me to hear that, Jeralt," Rhea said. "If there truly is no ill will between us, would you care to take up your old position? Our last captain just retired, and an experienced hand such as yours would go a long way."
"Well, now that you've found me, I guess it's not the kind of thing I can run away from. I'm sure the gang will appreciate having a more steady cash flow, at least."
"Splendid. Now that everything is taken care of with you…" Rhea turned her attention back to Byleth. At that time, she finally stood up from her throne and walked over to Byleth until she was standing right in front of her; the sudden closeness made the little girl jump back a bit. Byleth could almost feel her breath on her face; it was a strange sort of something. "You're Jeralt's child, yes?"
"Byleth Eisner," Byleth said.
"A fine name, indeed. Jeralt, was she born after you left us?"
"A few years after, yes. Unfortunately, her mother died of illness while she was an infant, and she was separated from her family at the time, so this is it," Jeralt said.
"I see. How unfortunate." Rhea's eyes moved up and down, almost as if they were analyzing Byleth to discern some unknown truth. It was similar to what Alois had done, and while it was good that she wasn't being touched, Rhea was still a little too close for comfort.
"Lady Rhea, if we may get back on track, please," Seteth said.
"Yes, of course. My apologies." Rhea stopped looking at her in that way and stepped back a little.
"At least someone here has a basic understanding of boundaries," the little girl said as she floated near the ceiling. Byleth nodded her head, but it appeared to go unnoticed.
"I'm told that you were the one who protected the students of the Officers Academy, and for that I thank you," Rhea said. "I was also told that a rainbow sent the four of you into another world? Care to explain that?"
"It was the Bifrost," Byleth said.
"The Bifrost? What is that?" Seteth asked.
"It takes you to Yggdrasil."
"And what is that?"
"The World Tree. It's full of Shadows that bad people use to do bad things with." Seteth gave her a look that she didn't quite understand, but had a feeling wasn't meant to be positive.
"That's not helping them, kid," Jeralt said.
"Just do the thing," the little girl said. Byleth nodded her head and traced her mystery Crest in the air, a copy of it in green light forming in front of her.
"Persona." Byleth slammed her hand against the light, summoning a pillar of green fire that Freydis quickly emerged from.
"Huh. I didn't actually think that would work here."
"Same." Byleth realized a little too late that she probably shouldn't have said that, but no one in the room seemed to notice. They were all busy with their own variety of expressions; Jeralt looked confused, Seteth looked shocked, and Rhea looked happy, but at the same time, tears were welling up in her eyes, so she should have been sad; hers was the most confusing of the bunch.
"What the hell?" Jeralt asked.
"I don't believe it! How is this possible?!" Seteth asked.
"It's a miracle, Seteth. It's a blessing from the Goddess, nothing more, nothing less. That is the only answer for such a blessed sight as a Persona!" Rhea said, tears fully dripping down her face.
"You know about Personas," Byleth said, failing to convey the legitimate amount of surprise she was feeling.
"Yes. It's a divine power that has controlled the fate of the world since before the Goddess descended upon Fodlan. It is a power of miracles, and when one who wields a Persona manages to nurture it to its peak, that is the sign that the world will enter a new age of providence. I had only been fortunate enough to meet a few Persona users over the years, but none could hone their abilities before passing on, and after what happened to the last one I had encountered, I had given up hope of ever meeting one again. But now you stand before me with this blessed power, and thanks to this, my hope springs eternal, once more!"
"No pressure, or anything," the little girl said. Byleth didn't know why she said that when there was clearly a lot of pressure to be found.
Nor did she understand the face her father was making at that moment.
"This is absurd. Truly absurd!" Seteth said. "How could a random woman like you be blessed with a Persona? It's not the kind of power that just anyone can obtain, so how does an ordinary person like yourself end up with it?"
"There was a man in a mask…" Byleth stopped herself at once, for she had no idea where she wanted to go with that. "It was the World Tree."
"That is not an answer!"
"Whatever the case, this is proof that my decision was the right one," Rhea said, wiping the tears away from her face. "Byleth, your father isn't the only one I want to stay here. I want you to be here, as well."
"I'm in the company," Byleth said.
"I don't mean for you to be a Knight, I mean for you to be a teacher at the Officers Academy." Everyone else I'm the room, save for Byleth, let out a collective "What?"
"You want her to teach?" Jeralt asked.
"Of course. I'm sure you already heard it from Alois or one of the students, but one of our professors, Professor Kamoshida, abandoned the children he was in charge of at the first sign of trouble and ran off to protect himself; he has yet to return to the monastery, but I see no reason to not treat such cowardice as a letter of resignation. Your daughter, on the other hand, didn't hesitate to protect them with her life, and that is the kind of person we need in our employ."
"Am I qualified to be a teacher?" Byleth asked.
"My thoughts, exactly," Seteth said. "Lady Rhea, I must object to this decision. We know nothing about this woman other than the fact that she can't hold a conversation to save her life! Even if she is Jeralt's daughter, even if she is a Persona user, there are too many unknowns for us to put our trust in her!"
"You needn't worry, Seteth," Rhea said. "If she is even half the soldier her father is, her credentials need not be questioned and her loyalty can be counted upon. Not only that, but the fact that she is a Persona user means that we have a duty to observe her growth."
"So me having a Persona is all you care about?" Rhea stopped looking as happy as she did before. The little girl seemed to find it funny, but Byleth didn't know why; she was just asking a question.
"It is certainly something that has captured our interest, but it's hardly the only thing. Still, if you agree to teach here, then I, and all other members of the Church of Seiros, will do all that we can to assist you in whatever journey you are fated to walk."
"I see." Was that something that would even happen, though?
"Becoming a professor entitles you to a monthly stipend of three thousand gold pieces." Igor and Adam also acted like there was something big in store for her, but it didn't go further than implications. "You'll have full access to the training grounds and library to hone your strength and knowledge." She had spent her whole life just following after her father, so who was she to become anything important? "There are some general guidelines to follow, but beyond them, you're free to teach however you see fit." More importantly, if she truly did have some sort of important destiny to be following, was it one that required her to be in a place that confused her so much? A place that had people she seemed to get along with, yet was also a place that sparked so much tension within her father? "Oh, speaking of facilities, you also have unlimited access to the greenhouse, the sauna, the kitchen—"
"I'll do it."
"She'll do it!" the little girl said. Byleth didn't know what she was responding to, but that, along with the exact nature of Rhea's current smile, could be dealt with later.
For now, she knew exactly where she needed to be.