Given the twenty-four party limit, Dimitri only selected a few people to accompany him: Dedue, Ingrid, Lord Rodrigue, and myself. Lord Rufus would stay at Fhirdiad to hold the fort. The rest were knights. We left at dawn for the monastery and spent a night at the Charon manor. We arrived at Garreg Mach around noon the next day.
The number of Empire soldiers had significantly decreased. There were maybe a dozen of them waiting at the entrance, and they bowed when we stopped in front of them. Edelgard and Hubert were waiting for us on the steps.
"Dimitri, long time no see," Edelgard said as we were dismounting.
"I admit I didn't expect us to see each other again like this," Dimitri said. Hubert stood behind Edelgard with his arms crossed, watching us like a hawk.
"If it makes you feel better, I agree," Edelgard said. We passed our reins to awaiting servants. The Kingdom knights were gazing suspiciously at the servants. "I see you've kept your party to twenty-four, as we agreed to. My group, including myself, has the eight Black Eagles students, four servants, and twelve guards."
Dimitri nodded. "Is Claude here?"
"He should be arriving soon. Come on in and join us for lunch." Edelgard turned and headed inside. Lord Rodrigue left half of our knights outside, while we led the rest in, trailing behind Hubert's heels.
The rest of the Black Eagles class were seated at the cafeteria and greeted us with smiles. We'd just started eating when a servant rushed in to inform us that Claude's group had arrived. Edelgard and Hubert left us to receive them, and they soon joined us at the table.
"Wow, this brings back old memories," Claude said, when he saw us. Behind him was Hilda, Lorenz, Raphael, Ignatz, and a middle-aged woman with black hair in a ponytail, who Claude introduced us to as Judith.
After lunch, we moved to the Great Hall to discuss. Edelgard took a look at our groups and said, "Let's limit this to just three people per nation."
Everyone exchanged looks, before Dimitri and Claude nodded. I wasn't sure if that meant I could join. I wanted to, but it'd make more sense if Dimitri chose Dedue and Lord Rodrigue.
"Should Byleth be exempt from the count?" Claude asked. "She is the one who brought us all together." Meanwhile, Lorenz was explaining to Hilda why he should be one of the three.
Edelgard looked at me. I shrugged and said, "I'd like to be a part of the discussions."
"Very well. If you stay neutral," Edelgard said.
I nodded. While the others shuffled out, Ferdinand spread a large sheet of parchment out on one of the tables. Dedue and Lord Rodrigue, along with Judith and Lorenz stayed. We took a seat around the paper.
"Let's begin," Edelgard said.
Edelgard shared the initial ideas that we'd discussed during my first visit. Dimitri didn't want to lower the Church's influence, and Claude wanted to open up Fodlan's borders - which Edelgard didn't agree to. There was a lot of tension in the air. Dedue was silent and kept one hand on his axe hilt. Everyone had their weapons on them but placing their weapons aside probably wouldn't help the atmosphere. It'd only make them feel unsafe.
Lorenz was vehement about ensuring that nobles would maintain their status, even if the Crest system was demolished, which irked Edelgard. "The nobles are only in power because of their Crests," Edelgard said.
"The nobles are in power because they know best," Lorenz said. "They look after the commoners." Ferdinand was nodding along but stopped when Hubert glared at him.
Edelgard sighed. "I can't guarantee that. We're working towards a merit-based society. If nobles want to stay in power, they'll have to prove their skills." Lord Rodrigue was worried about the backlash we'd face from the nobles, and Judith agreed.
"That's why we'll need the people's support," Dimitri said. When evening rolled around, people were still arguing about why we should remove the Crest system. At this rate, the two weeks we'd allotted wouldn't be enough. I needed to get everyone to cooperate better. It was clear from the terse tones and cold gazes that everyone still had their walls up.
Edelgard told us that we could stay in the dorm rooms overnight, so, after dinner, when the others had retired to their rooms, I snuck off to Abyss.
I found Yuri in the classroom, talking to two people. He glanced up and saw me enter. I smiled and waved at him. Yuri finished his sentence and waved the two people away. They brushed past me on their way out.
"Hey," I said.
"Good evening," Yuri said as we hugged.
"Did you have dinner?" I asked.
Yuri nodded. "You?"
"Same."
The day's fatigue was sinking into me. I dropped into a nearby chair. A dull pain throbbed at the back of my head.
"How'd it go?" Yuri sat down beside me.
I shook my head. "Not great. At this rate, it'll take a while."
Yuri rested his cheek in his hand. "Everyone has their own ideas and goals. It'd be hard to find a mutual compromise that everyone can agree to."
"And I haven't even gotten the Church onboard," I said, massaging the back of my head. It didn't help the headache. "I don't know how to get Lady Rhea to agree."
Yuri was staring at me. "Are you feeling okay?"
"I'm fine, just tired." I smiled at him and reached for his hand. He squeezed my hand. "How are you doing?"
"Good." Yuri smiled. He kissed the back of my hand. He was wearing the ring on his fourth finger, which reminded me that I'd left my hanging around my neck. "Do you want some dessert?"
"What do you have?"
"Constance has some tea cakes."
"Are you sure we can have some?"
"She won't mind." Yuri stood up, and I followed him out of the classroom, to what was once Rose's home. Yuri brewed us a cup of herbal tea and cut a few slices from the loaf of cake. We sat at the dining table, eating and drinking, catching up.
About an hour later, I was getting sleepy and stifled a yawn.
Yuri smirked. "It's getting late." He stood and cleared the table of the cups and plates, placing them in the washbasin. "Come on. I'll walk you back."
"It's okay. Can you even leave Abyss without Edelgard saying something?" I said.
"Then I'll just walk you to the end," Yuri said.
"How do you think I can get them to get along?" I asked. I scratched the back of my head with a quiet sigh. "There's not enough trust right now."
"Maybe they need to break the ice. Talk a bit about themselves and get to know each other."
"Hm… That's a good idea."
We arrived near the mouth of the tunnel. After a quick hug, we bid each other goodnight. "See you tomorrow?" Yuri said.
"Yes." I grinned. "See you."
My throat was hurting even more the next day, but there was ice to break. After breakfast, I sat down with the three house leaders over tea.
"Let's take a bit of time to get to know each other," I said. The leaders exchanged glances. I clasped my hands together. "Why don't we start with some simple facts?"
"Why are we doing this?" Dimitri asked.
"Because people are still on edge. If we want to be productive, we need to trust each other. Everyone looks ready for someone to stab them in the back," I said. People glanced around again. "Which isn't going to happen." I hoped not anyway. No, I had to trust them. "So, let's start with…" I tapped my chin, thinking. "How about hobbies and interests? I'll go first. I like sword training, reading novels, and eating sweets with tea." I turned to Claude, who was at my right, and raised an eyebrow.
"All right," Claude said with a small shrug. "I like scheming-" He cleared his throat. "I mean, thinking about tactical strategies, feasts, and long horseback rides."
Our gazes moved to Dimitri next. He looked at me and said, "I also enjoy strength training and long rides." He nodded at Claude.
I clapped my hands together and beamed. "See? Isn't that great? You two have so much in common!" Claude gave me a puzzled look before smirking. Dimitri was looking at Edelgard now.
"My turn?" Edelgard said. "I thought we had to list three things."
"Two or three, either's fine," I said.
"Okay. I like reading, going outside to enjoy nature, and debating history and strategies," Edelgard said.
"Great, thanks! Now, how about we all share one fear?" I asked.
"How long is this going to take?" Edelgard said, crossing her arms.
"Until we feel like we've opened up to each other," I said.
Claude chuckled. "That's going to take years then."
"Then, just another hour," I said. "I'll start again. These fears can be big or small. My fear…" I faltered, gazing down at my hands for a second. "Well, I'm afraid of being abandoned by people I like." I smiled at the others. "Who wants to go next?"
"I guess I will," Claude said. "I have a fear of being left out."
"Hmm... I suppose I'm afraid of breaking fragile things," Dimitri said.
"I'm afraid of rats," Edelgard said with a cool voice, but she looked pale.
"Really?" Claude raised an eyebrow. "They're rather cute-"
"We're not here to pass judgement on people's fears," I said to Claude.
"Sorry," he said. We continued with several other questions and topics that I'd prepared the night before. As we talked and shared anecdotes, the conversation flowed more smoothly. An hour passed quickly, and Hubert entered, breaking our chatter.
"Are we going to proceed with our discussion or not?" Hubert asked. The tea pot had long cooled.
"Yes, let's take a quick ten minute break before we begin," I said, standing. While the others poured into the room, I went to the bathroom. When I returned, I found Dimitri and Edelgard debating politics. A servant entered with a fresh pot of tea, and we surrounded the large sheet of parchment. We wrote down ideas as we talked, sometimes marking the number of people who approved.
The first week flew by like this. There were a few moments where I thought a fight might break out, but taking a short break was enough to defuse the anger. At the start of the second week, I woke up feeling even more dizzy than usual.
"Are you all right?" Dimitri asked me, when I'd entered the cafeteria to join everyone for breakfast. "You look flushed."
"I'm all right," I said, pressing my palm to my forehead. Was it warm? It was hard to tell when my hand was warm too.
Dimitri reached his hand out to touch my forehead. "You have a fever," he said.
"Oh," I said, sounding like an idiot. I sat down and smiled. "It's a small fever. I'll be fine."
"I'd recommend you rest, but do as you like," Dimitri said, taking a seat as well. After breakfast, we congregated in the Great Hall to continue. Now that our direction was more established, I suggested we invite the rest of the party to join in.
"It'd get crowded if we let everyone in," Edelgard said. "How about we increase to five people per group?"
"Works for me," Claude said. Hilda joined in, with Ignatz and Raphael opting to stay outside. Ingrid came to sit beside me, while Petra took a seat by Edelgard.
I gulped the tea down, almost scalding my throat, and said, "Let's try to settle on a law that we can all agree to pass, related to the Crest system."
I was dizzy, mildly nauseous, and my throat hurt. I tried to listen as people talked about what they wanted to see. Dimitri didn't want anything too extreme. I agreed that we should start with something simple, to work towards an easy goal for now, before tackling more challenging ones.
When lunch came, I wasn't feeling any better. We shuffled to the cafeteria.
"You look ill, Byleth," Edelgard told me.
"Why thank you," I said.
She shook her head. "If you aren't feeling well, you should rest. Everyone could use a longer break, after all."
"I agree," Claude said. "We've been talking nonstop this past week. We could take a day off."
They weren't wrong. I looked at Dimitri, who nodded. "All right. If everyone agrees, we can use the rest of the day as a break," I said.
"Do you need a doctor?" Edelgard asked.
I shook my head. Sleep would be enough. "No, thank you, though."
After lunch, I collapsed on my bed and fell asleep. I woke up to the sound of knocking, and when I opened the door, Ingrid was standing outside. "Hey, sorry, did I wake you? We're about to have dinner. Would you like to join us?" she said.
I rubbed my eye and nodded, stifling a yawn. "Yeah, thanks for waking me up."
"Do you feel better?" Ingrid asked as we crossed the lawn to the cafeteria.
"A bit," I said.
From the chatter during dinnertime, it sounded like the leaders had spent their afternoon catching up on news and correspondence from their nations. Ingrid told me that she'd sparred with Raphael.
After dinner, I checked in with Dimitri in his room, which was crowded due to Dedue's presence as well. "Is there anything I should know, Your Majesty?" I said.
Dimitri shook his head. There was a pile of papers on his bed. "Nothing of importance. You can read about it once we return. Are you feeling any better?"
"A little better."
Dimitri smiled. "You should rest some more."
"Yes, let me know if you need anything," I said with a bow. I nodded to Dedue, before seeing myself out.
For the past week, I'd visited Yuri in Abyss everyday, but today I dragged my feet down. What was I going to tell him? I wanted to go back to sleep. I needed to recover as fast as possible, and sleep was the best medicine.
Constance informed me that Yuri and Balthus were sparring at the arena. Yuri was using his sword, and Balthus had his axe. I watched them for a few minutes, before they took a break and greeted me.
"Hey, Byleth!" Balthus said with a wave. I waved back.
"Hey," Yuri said, lowering his sword.
"You guys can continue," I said. "I just came to say hi."
Yuri raised an eyebrow and stepped closer. Balthus sat down on a step to catch his breath and give us space. "What? You're not going to stay long?"
I nodded. Yuri was studying my face, which made me squirm. "I'm tired."
"I hope you get some rest then," Yuri said. He smiled. "See you tomorrow?"
"Yeah." I smiled back. He'd already turned around and was lifting his sword back up. "See you later, Balthus."
Balthus stood up, leaning on his axe. "See you, pal."
The sound of the clang of weapons and shuffling of footsteps faded as I walked back up to the surface.
The next day, I felt a bit more renewed. I put on a smile and tried to guide our conversation forward. We reached agreement on a law that'd make discrimination based on Crest status illegal - whether people had a Crest or what kind of Crest - but people had different thoughts on when that'd apply. Would choosing your second son as heir because he had a Crest be considered discrimination? Even if the second son was more capable than the first? The lines were blurry.
After dinner, I returned to Abyss. An ache was developing near my left temple, and I massaged the location as I walked. Was it because of stress? The peace discussions were going well, though, and I'd gotten plenty of sleep yesterday.
Yuri was in the library, flipping through a book by a dim light. I tiptoed behind him to wrap my arms around him. Yuri only blinked. He turned and smiled at me. "Hello," he said. Ah, I wasn't sneaky enough.
"What are you reading?" I asked, letting him go.
"Skimming to see if it's interesting." Yuri closed the book and placed it back on the shelf. "Unfortunately, it's not. Are you feeling better?"
I raised an eyebrow, before nodding. "Yeah." I rubbed my left arm. Why was I surprised?
He smirked. "Come on. A merchant came by today with some pastries, and I bought some."
"Yuri, is there anything you want to tell me?" I said, not moving. The library was empty and quiet. Our voices echoed in the vast chamber. Yuri looked me in the eye. "It's- I can't read you the way you can read me. And, it's a little nice, sometimes, that I don't have to say things, but- Well, it's a little scary when it feels like you know so much and I know so little."
Yuri's gaze lowered. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "There is something. Several things." He sighed, quietly, and raised his head again. "I have a hard time telling you though."
"Why?" I swallowed. My heart was hammering away.
A lady entered the library, glanced at us, and headed for one of the bookshelves. Yuri watched her for a second before saying, "Come on. Let's talk elsewhere."
Thanks for reading!