Byleth and I were fishing together, the first Saturday of the new month. There were lots of large fish today, so Byleth kept reeling in fish after fish. My legs hung off the pier, and I stared at the murky turquoise water.

"Will you join my class for this month's mission?" Byleth asked.

"What is it?" I kept my eyes on the hook.

"We're saving students in an old church."

I frowned at him. "What? Shouldn't people be going now?"

"No, they're not in danger right now." Byleth shook his head. I didn't get it. "I'll need your help," he said. "With something specific." A fish bit his line and he pulled. A trout flew through the air, splattering us with water, before landing on the deck between Byleth and me.

"Okay." I shrugged. "Why me, though?" I glanced at Byleth. He looked up at me and then back at the fish he'd caught. "It's not like you can't trust your students, right?"

"You're different," Byleth said, quietly. "Only you can do it."

"Why?" What did that mean?

Byleth shook his head. "I don't know." Another lie, probably. I turned back to my line. A fish was nibbling. "I'm still figuring it out," Byleth said. "I'll tell you when I do, okay?"

I met his eyes, so blue and clear. I nodded. "Okay."

The fish bit. I yanked hard on the pole and brought the fish out of the pond. Byleth smiled and clapped his hands together. The fish dropped beside me.

"I have another favor," Byleth said, as I was gutting and cleaning the fish. I nodded for him to continue. He was just full of favors today. "For the ball, I want Dimitri and Edelgard to dance together."

I tossed the fish into the ice bucket. It was almost full. "What? Do you want them to become a couple?"

Byleth shook his head. "Just friends."

"How are we going to do that? You do know that those two are really popular, right? I bet there will be a line out the door to dance with them." I flung my line back into the ponds.

"You dance with Dimitri, and I'll dance with Edelgard," Byleth said. "We meet at the middle of the room when the song ends. Then we'll dance together. Dimitri and Edelgard will naturally dance together."

I raised an eyebrow at the water. "All right." I wasn't sure if that'd work.

"You'll do it?"

I nodded, smiling at him. "Yeah. That actually sounds a bit fun."

Byleth grinned, for a split second. Then it was gone. "Thanks."

I pulled my line back up. "I think I'm done for the day," I said.

Byleth nodded and stood too. He picked up the bucket. "Thanks, really." He smiled at me. We returned our fishing poles. I went back to my room to grab my books and assignments. There was the White Heron Cup and ball this month, but there were also exams coming up. I had lots to study.

I went to Abyss the following weekend to see Rose, only to find Yuri at home instead. He was sitting with his feet propped up on the table, reading a book. He glanced up when I entered.

"Byleth!" Yuri's eyes lit up, and he drew his feet off the table. I shifted my weight on my feet. Good thing I'd brought my study materials.

"Hey, where's Rose?"

"Out getting groceries," Yuri said. "I offered to go with her, but she said that I'd just get in the way."

I sat down across from him and pulled my books and papers out. It wouldn't take Rose too long to be back, I hoped.

"What are you reading?" I asked, just to keep some kind of conversation going and the focus off of me.

"A novel." Yuri showed me the blue cover.

"About?" I brought a quill out and a bottle of ink.

"A world where there's no magic. Can you imagine that?" Yuri chuckled.

I smiled. "That sounds like a boring world."

"Well, there's a lot of drama in it," Yuri said. "And terrible people."

My quill hovered above the blank page. Think, Byleth. I need a topic sentence. I wasn't sure what I was doing. Something was gnawing the insides of my stomach. It was easier when Rose was around, easier to just focus on Rose and not on… on us.

"Byleth, relax," Yuri said, softly.

"What?" I leaned back in my chair and gave Yuri a weird look. "I'm totally relaxed."

He raised an eyebrow. "You're also a terrible actor." I sighed and set the quill down. Yuri let his book fall shut. "What's wrong?"

What's wrong? What's wrong? I couldn't look him in the eye, staring at the off-white wall. "Yuri, I-I don't know. Things are just weird. And awkward."

"What do you mean?"

"Between us, I mean." I looked at him, then away again. "I don't know. It feels like things are supposed to change between us, and I don't want them to change, or, like, you expect something from me-"

"Byleth, just be yourself," Yuri said. His hand reached across the table for mine. I let him take it. "That's all you have to do. Nothing has to change."

"You won't expect anything new from me?"

Yuri shook his head. "I just want you, Byleth, as you are, because that's who I love. You don't have to change anything." His ears were tinted red and his cheeks flushing pink. Yuri turned away. I was blushing too.

"Th-Thanks." I squeezed his hand, then dropped my head down on the table. "Ahh, it's not fair. It's like you can still read me like a book, but I can't read your mind anymore."

He laughed and squeezed my hand back. "That's not true." Yes, it was. Ever since Yuri was adopted, he only got harder and harder to read. He got better at hiding his emotions, controlling his facial expressions and tone. "Come on. Look at me. Tell me what I'm thinking right now."

I lifted my head and looked at him. Yuri's mouth was closed, lips curving up in a small smile. His eyes were light. I sat up and placed my other hand over his. Then I let out a breath. "I don't know."

"At least try," Yuri said.

I stared at his face again. I tried to imagine. What would Yuri be thinking about right now? Sitting across from me, waiting for Rose to come home with groceries to cook us dinner… "I'm hungry," I said, because I was.

Yuri grinned. "Spot on."

I drew my hands away. "Oh, please, you don't have to humor me."

"But I am hungry." Yuri stood up and went to the cabinets. I picked up my quill again. "Hm, want some biscuits?"

"No, thanks." I picked up one of my books, opened it where I'd left off, and started reading.

"All right." Yuri sat back down and munched on the biscuits. It was quiet for a few moments. I managed to read a page before Yuri was talking again. "You've heard of the Goddess Tower rumor, right?" He leaned back in his chair, the two front legs lifting off the floor.

"What about it?" My study materials were going to look like decorations at this point. It was hard to study when Yuri kept chatting.

Yuri dropped his chair back down to the floor and leaned an elbow on the table, resting his cheek in his hand. "Are you going to go to the Goddess Tower during the ball?"

"Why would I do that?" I scratched my head and stared at the research paper I was supposed to be writing. "Ugh, Yuri, just help me with this. I know nothing about flying or riding." Yuri stood up and slid into the seat next to mine.

"What is this?"

"A research paper, about different transportation methods to and from battle and in battle. We're supposed to research the pros and cons of both and how to determine which units are better suited for what. How am I supposed to know that?" I threw my hands in the air. "Just let the people pick what they want to ride."

Yuri chuckled. He flipped through the books I'd borrowed from the library. "I remember something like this. Here, try this book." He handed me one with a red cover and gold text.

"I read like a snail." I took the book anyway and opened it to the first page. "Anyway, I thought you weren't the superstitious type. Do you actually believe in the Goddess Tower myth?"

Yuri shrugged. "I suppose it'd be worth trying it out." He smirked. "Shall we try it out? I'm a free man now."

I glanced at Yuri and shifted in my seat. "I don't believe in that stuff, so…"

"Hmm."

"Stop distracting me," I said. I hadn't read a single word.

Yuri leaned towards me then kissed me on the cheek. "Okay." He picked up his novel again and opened it. I watched him for a second. His eyes darted across the page. I turned back to my own book. I wished I could read as fast as him.

Rose returned an hour later with a large box in her arms. Yuri rushed to help her with the groceries. I cleared the dining table of my books. I was almost done with my paper.

"I got some fresh rabbit!" Rose grinned at me. "Let's eat it for dinner tonight. It'll be delicious!" Rose hummed to herself as she began cooking.

For the White Heron Cup, Professor Manuela asked for volunteers to enter the competition. Everyone was quiet. I glanced around. I definitely did not want to be picked. Surely, someone wanted to dance in our class, right?

"No volunteers?" Manuela scanned the room. "Hm, should we just do a lottery system then?"

I nudged Annette with my elbow. "Hey, I think you'd do a great job, Annette," I whispered. Annette looked at me with wide eyes and shook her head.

"No way! You know I'm super clumsy. I'll probably just trip over myself." Annette frowned. Okay, she was right. I glanced at Mercedes next and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Hmm, I don't know much about dancing," Mercedes said.

"I'll put everyone's names in this box and draw someone," Manuela said, writing on small strips of paper.

"Ashe! Sylvain." I called the two boys sitting in front of us. Ashe glanced back. "I think you'd both do a great job."

Ashe blushed. "Wh-What?"

Sylvain smiled and pushed his bangs up. "You're not wrong, Byleth. Want to dance with me?"

Ingrid sighed, then raised her hand. "Professor, I'll do it."

Manuela looked up and smiled. "Great! Thanks, Ingrid." She shoved the scrap pieces of paper to the side. "Then, let's get started with class."

Phew. "Thanks, Ingrid!" I whispered towards her. Annette was nodding beside me. Ingrid smiled at me.

"This is going to be so much fun," Annette said with a giggle. She and Mercedes exchanged looks. I wasn't sure what that meant, but as long as I wasn't at risk of ending up in the competition, then everything was fine.

The ball was on the second to last Saturday of the month. It was set to start in the early evening. There'd be food, after the competition, and the great hall was cleared of its tables to create a ballroom.

I was walking to the great hall when Mercedes ran over to me. "There you are, Bylie! We've been looking for you." She took my arm.

"What? Why? Who?"

Mercedes smiled, while turning me away from the great hall and back towards the dorms. "Annette, Ingrid, and me. Come on. You wouldn't want to show up to the ball like that right?"

Like what? I was just wearing my school uniform, the simple skirt reaching my knees. "But I thought we didn't have to dress up," I said. Mercedes was wearing her school uniform too. We were in front of Annette's room now. Mercedes knocked then opened the door.

Ingrid and Annette were sitting across from each other. Ingrid's eyes were closed while Annette applied eyeshadow. I stepped backwards, but Mercedes had closed the door.

"Umm," I said, biting my bottom lip. Mercedes led me to Annette's bed and we sat down. Mercedes released my arm to grab some makeup supplies that were on Annette's bed. I shook my head, holding my arms up. "No, no, thanks."

"It'll just be a little bit," Annette said. Her eyes were sparkling. I looked at Ingrid. Her cheeks were pink, her eyelashes darker.

"That, uh, doesn't look like a little bit," I said.

Ingrid's eyes flashed open. "Annette! You said it was only a little."

"It is," Annette said, smiling. "I'm almost done." She tilted Ingrid's chin up. "Besides, you're our class's representative. A little bit extra just might help you win."

"It's a dance competition, Annette, not a… makeup competition," Ingrid said.

Mercedes giggled. She was holding a tiny brush in her hands. "So, Byleth? Can I put some makeup on you?"

I wiggled in my seat. "Umm." Rose had put makeup on me once. For my first date, when I was fifteen or so. "I don't know."

"It's just for fun," Annette said. "You're already gorgeous, Byleth. Imagine if you had makeup on! You'd be, like, ten times more pretty."

Well… I suppose it was just this once. "Okay," I said. "But just a little bit." Mercedes beamed. Annette flashed her a thumbs up and a grin. That made me a little nervous. "A little bit," I said again.

"Of course," Mercedes said. She leaned forward with the brush. I swallowed. Oh Goddess.

About twenty minutes later, Mercedes leaned back with a smile. "Done!"

Annette looked at me and grinned, clapping her hands together. "Ooh, you look amazing, Bylie!"

Ingrid smiled, too, and passed me a hand mirror. I brought it up to eye-level. My lips were rosy pink, my cheeks a light pink, and my eyelashes dark with mascara and eyeliner. When I took a closer look, I could see sparkly blue eyeshadow.

"Thanks, Mercedes," I said.

"Anytime!" Mercedes grinned.

We walked together to the Great Hall for the White Heron Cup. The other contestants were Lorenz from the Golden Deer and Dorothea from the Black Eagles. Ingrid got one vote, and Dorothea won the other two. The Black Eagles won. I didn't think anyone was too surprised.

Then the orchestra kicked off the music. I was scanning the room, trying to find Byleth. He'd said he would signal me when we should go and dance with the house leaders. There was one problem, which was that I didn't really know how to dance. Not these kinds of fancy noble dances anyway. Byleth was talking with Dorothea. Edelgard and Dimitri were both dancing with other people. I guess it wasn't right now.

"Hey, Byleth." Claude stepped into view, smiling. "Care to dance with me?" He didn't wait for my response, taking my hand and pulling me into the middle of the room.

"W-Wait, I don't know how to dance," I said. He placed my left hand on his shoulder, then wrapped his own hand around my waist.

"Don't worry. It's not that hard," he said. "Just follow my lead."

We stepped forward, to the right, backwards, then to the left.

"If you're not from Fodlan, do you know other dances?" I asked. I tried to find Byleth amongst the crowd, but we were spinning around and around the room. Trying to not trip over my feet or Claude's feet was already taking up most of my attention.

"Yeah, we don't really do these kinds of formal dances," Claude said. "Our parties have a lot more alcohol involved. People end up dancing on tables."

I laughed, and Claude smiled. "That sounds funny."

"See? You've got the hang of it," he said. We followed the slow beat of the music. "And now." Claude pushed my left hand off his shoulder and sent me spinning through the air. My eyes widened. I was getting dizzy from the spinning. When Claude caught my hand again, I gripped his hand with extra strength.

"Don't do that," I said, out of breath. I leaned against him. "My head-ugh."

Claude laughed. "Okay."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'm serious."

"I got it," he said. "You look pretty."

"Thanks," I said.

Claude looked at my left hand. "No ring?"

"Huh?"

"You don't wear an engagement ring?" Claude asked, then chuckled. "Nevermind. It's none of my business."

"Oh." I glanced at my hand too. "Um, jewelry's not my thing."

"Fair enough."

When the song ended, he kissed my hand. "Thanks for the dance, Byleth." He winked at me then walked away to dance with someone else.

Someone's shoulder bumped into mine. I glanced over to find Byleth. He nodded at me. Edelgard was standing beside him. I nodded back then searched the room. I had to maneuver around a few people before I reached Dimitri.

"Your Highness," I said, a bit louder than I'd intended. I waved hi to Dedue who was standing behind Dimitri. Dedue nodded back at me.

Dimitri smiled. "Good evening, Byleth."

"Would you like to dance?" I said. I wondered if I was supposed to curtsy or something. "Am I cutting in line?"

"In what line?" Dimitri's mouth opened in confusion. He took my hand, though, and we walked towards the center of the room.

"A line to dance with you," I said. I hoped my palms weren't too sweaty as the music picked up.

Dimitri smiled. "There's no such line like that."

Huh. I would have thought there'd be people clamoring to dance with the three house leaders. They were the future leaders of Fodlan, after all. Not to mention, they were all very good-looking.

Behind Dimitri's shoulder, I could just see the red of Edelgard's cape sweeping in the air. They weren't too far then. It was Byleth's plan, so he'd find a way for this to work. Right?

"Nice makeup," Dimitri said.

"Oh, thanks. Mercedes did it for me," I said. I cleared my throat, trying to think of what to say. "How's your evening going?"

"Good. It's a fun event." There was something about Dimitri's smile that I couldn't place.

"Yeah." I agreed. I was out of conversation topics, and we were maybe half way through the dance. A song is only three or four minutes, right?

"I heard you're joining the Black Eagles for this month's mission," Dimitri said. I nodded. "That sounds like a great opportunity to learn from the Professor."

"Yeah, it'll be nice to be fighting on the same side for once." I chuckled.

Dimitri did too. "Indeed. I don't think I'd want to be on the Professor's bad side either."

"But you're really strong, too, Your Highness. At least you'd stand a chance against him," I said, though the idea of them fighting - really, fighting - wasn't great.

"Maybe," Dimitri said. "I still have a lot to learn."

The song was ending. I searched for Byleth behind Dimitri's shoulders but couldn't see him. Was he behind me? I released Dimitri's hand, taking a step back. Someone tapped my shoulder.

Byleth nodded at me. Edelgard was beside him. Perfect.

"Oh, hi," I said and tried to smile naturally. What happened now? Byleth extended a hand out towards me. I took it. The next song was starting. Edelgard and Dimitri were looking at each other.

"Shall we?" Dimitri said, holding his hand out.

Edelgard placed her hand in his. "I suppose."

That worked? That worked! I grinned at Byleth as we danced away from the two house leaders. "Crazy," I said. "That actually worked."

Byleth smiled. "I wasn't sure, either."

"Really? But I thought you, you know, know a lot of stuff."

He shook his head. "Not this."

Interesting. Dancing with Claude and Dimitri had been smooth and simple. If I stumbled, they'd support my weight for a few seconds while I regained my balance. But dancing with Byleth was different. He was slow, and he kept glancing down at his feet. We tripped together a few times, flailing a bit before finding our balance again.

"You haven't danced before either, have you?" I asked. Byleth shook his head. "No wonder." I laughed, then stopped when I realized that I wasn't any better than him. "I haven't either."

Byleth smiled.

The third song ended. Dimitri and Edelgard were still talking to each other. I went to find Annette and Mercedes. Sylvain and Felix were dancing together. Felix was blushing, while Sylvain had the biggest grin on his face. Ingrid and Dorothea were chatting.

I recruited Annette and Mercedes to get food with me. We went to the cafeteria, where platters of food were laid across the tables. I stocked my plate up with roasted fish, mashed potatoes, grilled vegetables, and pasta. We sat down to eat and talk.

"Should we go check out the Goddess Tower later?" Annette asked with a smile.

"Are we going to make a promise?" Mercedes giggled.

"A promise to be friends." Annette grinned. "We can get Ingrid and everyone else too."

"That might get crowded," I said. I laughed with Mercedes when I imagined everyone packed in a tower that was supposed to be a romantic place. We'd be ruining the mood for all the couples.

"Then we'll just go ourselves," Annette said.

"That's okay," I said. "I'm good. You two can go."

Annette glanced at Mercedes. "Should we?"

Mercedes shrugged, still giggling. "I don't mind."

After we returned our dishes, we walked back to the great hall. I was stuffed full, much too full to dance. I sat down on a bench near the wall to watch everyone else dance. Caspar and Hilda were laughing together. Bernadetta was sitting on the bench beside mine, eating a slice of cake. She caught me staring at her and shrunk even more into herself. Byleth was dancing with Petra. Edelgard, Lysithea, and Lindhardt were talking on the other side of the room.

Felix and Ingrid, Sylvain and Leonie, Ferdinand and Dorothea were all dancing. I stretched my arms over my head. The room was warm, and I was getting sleepy. Maybe now would be a good time to sneak off to Abyss.

Thanks for reading!