(1156)
Day 4 of the Blue Sea Moon. Sunshowers.
I should be furious. Three weeks of rations gone! Three weeks!
By the roadside this morning was a patch of Valerian. I'm surprised I even recognised it.
Suddenly, I'm thinking only of her smile.
I may be in trouble.
1183
Wyvern Moon
Byleth was not the kind of person who could simply rest. Even on a rest-day she needed some sort of activity. Happily for her, the first day she was excused from the ongoing negotiations, Petra was also on hand; to spar and then to show her the best fishing spots. As they walked Byleth learned a good deal about the customs of Brigid; the spirits they called on, the tattoos they imbued with protective charms, the sacred trinity between earth, sea and sky, and the balance of each to be found within a person's soul.
"I would claim… would guess, that you are a sea-person." Petra told her.
"Have you been speaking with Flayn?" Byleth asked, even as in her head she could so clearly hear a memory of Sothis speaking; "All things in threes." -though for Sothis the three aspects had been birth, life and death.
"Not recently?" Petra answered, and brushed the question aside to continue, "We do not meet cold spirits in Brigid. Not like in Fódlan, but there are many we share, and even… some that we have no calling for at all." She concluded slowly, giving Byleth a thoughtful glance. "Maybe you will know it. Would you like to be seeing?"
"I'm happy to see whatever you want to show me." Byleth answered, not really understanding, but Petra grinned and took her arm to pull her along. They came close to the edge of the tree-line nearest the settlement, where a waterfall crashed thunderously down from smooth black stone into a deep pool that then ran out to the sea. A natural shelf had formed in the rock and Petra indicated for her to leave her sword and armour there, divesting herself of her own weapons. Byleth followed suit and soon saw why; a natural stair had formed in the rock, but it was a narrow climb. Even without her sword to navigate around there were some points she had to take slowly and practically side-on. Mercifully the stair cut backward, sheltered from the spray of the waterfall so they didn't also have slick stone to contend with.
Petra awaited her at the top, where the walls gave way to an abundantly verdant bower. Massive ferns and climbing vines covered the area so thickly that even the light felt green. The source of the waterfall was revealed to be a swiftly-flowing spring that dominated what ground there was between the trees and the cliff.
And,
And…
There was… a presence. At once familiar and terrifying. Benign and aware. Assuring and charged.
"I was missing this place terribly when I was at Garreg Mach and the Empire."
"I- …Yes." Byleth agreed, when she could find the breath to speak. Petra met her eye with a smile and perfect understanding.
The moment was broken by a voice calling for them in a worried tone.
"Claude?" Byleth answered, moving back toward the stair again when Petra caught her wrist.
"There is a way with more fastness."
~o~*~o~
A gracious and welcoming host, Chief Macneary had seen to it that the party from Fódlan were suitably housed for the duration of their stay on the islands. Claude was one of the better situated; surrounded on all sides by his own people in a lodge raised on stilts above the ground. Shaded from the worst of the sun, positioned just so the prevailing winds kept the air fresh and furnished with the best his hosts could offer.
The bed, for example, was woven from flexible sticks, set into a shallow bowl-like form and suspended from opposite sides by rope attached to hooks in the wall. Filled with cushions, like a nest, it swung gently as Claude settled into it, rocking back and forth under his weight.
It was the most comfortable bed he'd ever slept in.
He hated it.
Between the lattice-work of the weave and the pile of cushions in place of a mattress there was no place for a knife to lie concealed and not fall to the floor, out of reach. Between the gentle swaying and the cushions conforming around him in just precisely the right way, his usual light sleep sank into something of greater significance.
His body woke him at dawn as usual, but slowly, groggily.
It was terrifying.
The chances that an assassin had cleared every one of their checks and followed him all the way out here were slim to none, but even so he couldn't allow himself to loosen his guard. Returning to a light sleeping pattern was always difficult enough after an injury or illness; he couldn't let a bed that was too good be the end of him either.
All told he wasn't in the best of moods when the remaining negotiators finally set aside their work for the day to join the others. His eyes scanned around their group as he tried to decide what to do with himself for the rest of the day. Caspar was training, Leonie was learning the art of spear-fishing from the locals with Dorothea's translations, Ignatz was experimenting with the local pigments, Ignacius had retreated to his own lodging for a restorative cup of tea… what he wanted was a good horse and a long ride to clear his mind of Coalition trade terms and Adrestian complications, but failing that…
Hilda sidled up to him, but stopped short a few feet away when she caught the look on his face.
"Byleth and Petra went that way." She said, pointing out the direction.
"Why would you suppose-" Claude began, but cut himself off as Hilda raised one perfectly maintained pink eyebrow and levelled an unimpressed look towards him. " -I should go see what they're up to." He concluded, turning on his heel. He heaved a sigh, running a hand through his hair as he followed the trail Hilda had pointed out. His discontent turned to concern when he came to the waterfall and found the stashed weapons, looking around he saw no trace of either girl, he moved to the waters edge, peering in with his heart slowly climbing its way up his throat. He called out.
He thought he heard an answer, but couldn't place where from. A moment later Byleth's form fell past him, jumping as far clear of the waterfall as she had been able to, and splashed into the water. For long anxious moments she didn't appear again and Claude stepped closer still, scanning the water restlessly until she surfaced not too far out, swimming strongly to a shallow gradient where she could get her feet on the riverbed and wade out.
It was no longer anxiety that thrummed through his heart as she came towards him, wringing her hair out to one side, already well-fitted clothes plastered against her by the water.
She looked up and smiled at him.
His brain restarted only when Petra executed a much cleaner dive into the water, pulling their attention that way.
~o~*~o~
Hilda wasn't smug. That was beneath her. She was however, most satisfied, when she saw Claude, Byleth and Petra returning, with the former in a notably better mood than he had been before. Claude was in so deep she hadn't even had to invent some reason for him to fetch Byleth, just pointed him in her direction. Byleth was the unknown quantity she had to be concerned about; Hilda was certain something was there, Leonie thought so too, but the General wasn't the kind to give anything away in subtext and innuendo where Hilda was accustomed to looking for such things -she was too straight and direct.
But if that were the case, why hadn't she acted already?
That was the point that gave Hilda pause. It was one thing to push Claude towards a friend to cheer him up; it was another to potentially cause the heartbreak of the leader of the Leicester Alliance. That would be far too much work to clean up.
She moved to stand alongside Leonie as Claude and Byleth settled near the troops who were still training, her eyes narrowed on the pair, was that… was he?
"That is flirting." Hilda stated. "Three years, and now, when I come all the way out to Brigid, now he starts flirting!" She watched as Claude and Byleth ignored the rest of the world around them to speak to each other. "Does she know they're flirting?"
"Nope." Leonie answered with a pop. "Not a chance."
Byleth bit her lip and Claude leaned in, eyes alight, to say something lowly to her ear. Whatever it was Byleth snorted and pushed him away with her shoulder, somehow settling closer to him than before.
"How do you have that much chemistry with a person and not know it!?" Hilda demanded.
Leonie shrugged "Growing up with the ability to summon a Goddess screws your emotional understanding? You remember what she was like when we first met, right?"
Hilda blinked. She did remember. She'd complained about having to work with the stone-faced killer a couple of times before, slowly, Byleth had revealed her inner self to them. She remembered Byleth asking if she could consider them friends long after Hilda had assumed they already were.
Claude could not have missed that. Was that why he wasn't making any serious moves now? Why he'd waited so long to even test the water?
Did he not realise he would have to take the lead to get anywhere? It would take Byleth years to figure it out herself!
Well… It would, unless Hilda nudged her.
~o~*~o~
There being no wyverns in Brigid, Petra was very enthusiastic to see the Immortals training. Of course, Claude wasn't above a little showboating -by the time the Immortals took to the air it was less a training exercise and more an exhibition. Targets had been set up across a high cliff-face and, leading the way, Claude directed his wyvern into a roll so man and beast both were fully upside-down when he made his shots.
Byleth sighed and shook her head as the rest of the crowd around her cheered. She couldn't fault Claude's form -nor his results- but she could never fight as flashily as he did. Still, she stood and admired the display until the riders took to jumping across to each other's mounts mid-air, falling some considerable distance in the process. She turned, and catching Leonie's attention let her apprentice know she was escaping the crowd for a bit and which direction she'd go.
Leonie nodded and gave it no thought until the wyverns landed as the sun started to sink towards the horizon. The local children, and not a few of the adults, surged forth around her to offer the wyverns treats and pets. Claude's eyes met hers as he scanned the crowd, a small pout of disappointment marring his face when he didn't find Byleth next to her. For a brief moment, Leonie considered testing to see if he'd admit his feelings now, but it had looked like he was starting to move on his own…
She tipped her head and rolled her eyes significantly in the direction Byleth had gone. At the very least she could expect he'd be practical and bring her back down for the evening meal.
~o~*~o~
Byleth had found an excellent view from a bluff that faced towards the sunset, a high ridge rising behind it offering protection from the wind. It was evidently the favourite spot of some kind soul or other, as a log had been secured in place not far from the cliff-edge as a seat; worn smooth with time. Here in Brigid, the sunset seemed to last longer than in Fódlan, and Byleth could easily trace the shifting colours through the sky.
"My Friend, what are you doing all the way over here? You missed the show."
Byleth hummed but kept her gaze on the horizon, while Claude eased into the space beside her on the log, purposely nudging her shoulder with his. "I'm sure you were spectacular." She attempted to pacify, but Claude only nudged her again.
"Maybe so, but there's no fun in showing off if you're not around to see it."
"Was your ego not satisfied with the audience you had, My Friend?" she asked, a teasing reprimand in her voice.
"Perfectly." Claude answered, affecting to appear unbothered "As a matter of fact, I am so pleased with myself that I have to wonder how my performance could possibly have lost your interest?"
Byleth shook her head, a smile that was both exasperated and fond stealing across her face. She didn't answer straight away, but Claude marked the slight tells that told him she was putting her words together; the light tapping of one finger against the edge of her bracers and -adjusting the bracelet he'd given her. That was new, had it become a touchstone for her? He smiled at the thought and let the silence sit, inviting, until she was ready.
"I had never felt… No, I had never physically experienced my emotions fully until, well… Sothis." She said with a shrug, turning her gaze to him then back out over the horizon when he nodded his understanding "Battle is one thing. Then I have a plan and action and more to think about than what my heart is doing, it's… the small anxieties. Bernadetta tripped in front of me one time and suddenly my heart was pounding -I didn't understand it." She huffed out a chuckle at herself "Leonie's been helping me distinguish what are normal reactions to such things and to not be alarmed, but… well, the day hasn't yet come that I'm able to watch my friends fall through the sky with equanimity." She concluded with a side glance towards him, eyebrow raised.
There was a corner of Claude's mind (rather, an entire room in Claude's mind) that preened under the realisation that Byleth had been unable to watch because she was anxious for him, even while acknowledging to himself that he didn't precisely want her to be anxious. "I was quite safe, y'know." Her eyebrow rose higher and he grinned, holding his hands up as though in surrender "Really! Learning to fly is a very important tradition back in Almyra, I know what I'm doing, buuuuuuuuut-" he dragged the syllable out, leaning in until he could look up at her from under his eyelashes with his most charming smile in place "I can promise to at least keep myself in the saddle if I know you're watching."
Byleth snorted and pushed him away, though she was smiling and her shoulder pressed comfortably against his arm when they had settled.
"I do get it." He continued after a moment, as the sun dipped lower over the horizon "I felt the same when I saw you come down that waterfall. That anything could go wrong and I wouldn't be able to help."
She turned to frown at him "You live in Derdriu. You once sent me a twelve page letter complaining because your Grandfather wouldn't let you be in the midsummer festival even though you'd already taken over all the other Ducal responsibilities."
"Hey, letting adorable five-year-olds push me into a closed-off canal so I can help dredge up "treasure" with them is in no way comparable to what you were doing." He shot back, grinning "I can swim, but I can't swim."
"…I can fly, but I can't fly." Byleth mused "Perhaps Petra has it right, there are Sky-people and there are Sea-people… You and I will just have to meet on the land." She concluded, smiling up at him.
"So we shall." Claude agreed, before turning his face back to the horizon, hoping the sunset was disguising the blush he could feel creeping up his neck and over the tops of his ears. He was about to turn back to her, to suggest that they wend their way back down the bluff, when from the corner of his eye he saw Byleth's hair suddenly blaze green.
It began to fade within seconds. Her eyes met his, some unsettling shade between jade and her usual lapis. He had barely a moment to think that Leonie had told him about this before when she grabbed his collar and pulled them both flat against the ground as a giant bolas- large enough to entangle a wyvern- sliced through the space they'd been occupying and smashed into the cliff behind them with skull-shattering force.
Claude rolled clear and crawled arm over arm to peer over the cliff edge. Beneath, barely rounding the curve of the island, one of pirate ships -one he was sure he'd seen Hilda cut a gaping hole into- was tacking back towards the bay. Over the howl of the wind and the blood in his ears he could hear the arms on the deck winching inexorably back for another volley.
The first shot had already been far too accurate for his liking.
Keeping low he scrambled back to Byleth, they needed to get back to the others and form up their defence, immediately.
Byleth had propped herself on one elbow, the other hand pinching the bridge of her nose. As he came near again she set unfocused eyes on him before blinking, holding them shut for a long moment before she looked at him again.
"Can you stand?" Claude asked, hand hovering over her ready to help her up.
"One moment more," she answered, around a grimace "it's been a while since I moved time."
Claude's gaze darted up to the cliff behind them where the bolas had left deep impact craters in the rock-face, his clever mind putting together the sequence of events as Byleth sat up more fully. "Thank you." He breathed, determined to do all he could so she never needed to call on that power again.
Byleth only squeezed his arm in response as he pulled her up.
~o~*~o~
The sunset had seemed to last longer; but not long enough. Two ships had made landfall, the other prowled the coast not far off. The flickering lights of the town were at the defender's back rather than in their eyes which was a boon, but the moon was new, casting very little light where they would need it. Before them lay darkness and shifting sands -and the Immortals were grounded. Requiring a wyvern to navigate the dark when it's rider couldn't was one thing. Requiring a tired wyvern, that hadn't eaten yet, to navigate in the dark on behalf of a rider who couldn't, into battle was another matter entirely.
As Byleth saw it they had two goals; to defend the entrance to the village and capture the ships that had landed, or drive them off. She had no time to talk with Petra and the warriors of Brigid; there was barely enough time to position her own commanders, though Leonie had done admirably in scrambling them to the beach even as she and Claude had been racing back down from the cliffs.
"Hilda, guard the path to the village, Caspar, advance to the near ship, Dorothea go with him. Leonie, Claude, hold the centre beach and set up torches when you can, stop anyone from flanking around. Ignatz cover me, we'll take the far ship. The warriors of Brigid know this terrain better, keep out of their way as you can. Go."
The excellent training of the Officer's Academy was immediately apparent as a sharp series of commands and gestures rallied the assigned battalion to each leader and they set out to the positions Byleth had ordered. Leonie kept pace with her; Claude and Ignatz just behind as they followed the line of the beach together to the position Claude and Leonie would hold. They hadn't quite reached their mark when Byleth all but stumbled upon the first of the corsairs sneaking up the beach under cover of darkness.
Two arrows thudded into the pirate before either he or Byleth could draw steel, but she recovered quickly enough to catch the corpse and lower it gently to the sand without a sound. She paused listening carefully for any tale-tell shifts around them revealing more opponents. With the ocean waves, the breeze and the softness of the sand to disguise footsteps it was impossible for her to tell. As she rose again she nodded thanks to Claude and Ignatz before signalling Leonie to start her torch.
The battle began in earnest.
~o~*~o~
Under Dorothea's heel the sand was firm. It wasn't a spell, she didn't cast it, didn't even really have to think about it. It was a natural phenomenon when one was channelling magic; and in battle a mage always had a spell in readiness, under their fingers, on the tip of their tongue.
Dorothea was no mere mage though. She was the White Heron Champion.
Caspar and his battalion flew forwards, the simple formation the pirates had set up breaking apart under the continued onslaught of axe and fist. They weren't so much rattled as shattered. The warriors of Brigid moved in, pushing the forces from the first boat back towards it -but there they stalled. The pirates had bows and light throwing axes enough among them to harry those in pursuit. Dorothea cast her eye quickly over the beach; Caspar was in his element, battling his way forward and snickering at arrows that glanced off his armour with no ill effect, yelling taunts and challenges to all before him. Petra and her fighters were sieging the ship, not waiting for Caspar to clear the gangway but scaling the side of the boat as if it were a familiar tree. Further out, away from the village lights, the fighting seemed fiercer. Byleth and Ignatz had been unable to advance and had fallen back into the protection offered by Claude and Leonie's beachhead -but -she looked again -even grounded a rain of deadly arrows still flew from the Immortals and under their cover Leonie had moved up! Now she and Byleth were pressing forward!
A cry called her attention back to the fight at hand; A lucky tomahawk slicing through the air had cut a merciless line along Petra's leg.
A blast of Thoron gave the offending pirate to understand that this rose had thorns.
~o~*~o~
Something was off with this battle, and Byleth couldn't place what it was.
Since she and Leonie had gained momentum the pirates seemed more inclined to retreat, but it was… she couldn't quite finish the thought as an axe flew at her from the side. She cut it from the air and bore down on the unfortunate soul who had thrown it.
When she pushed him off her blade she realised she had made it to the ship, but there was no ring of steel unsheathed. No shadow of an archer above her.
She signalled Leonie back to Claude, with Failnaught in hand his range likely covered her even here, and they could now concentrate on ensuring no straggling corsair snuck up behind their troops on either ship. Ignatz kept back a cautious length behind her as she slowly climbed the gangway, alert for any attack.
Byleth's head came level with the deck and her eyes widened as she found it empty. Or, not quite. While they were fighting the third ship that had been patrolling the coast had come in alongside and the pirates were retreating across! Two gangways had been lowered to give them a path to safety, Byleth charged across the deck to the one nearest in pursuit, but was met by a quick sword flicking out to check her. Her opponent took a stance to prevent her progress and she raised her own sword to the ready. A heartbeat passed in breathless anticipation before they clashed.
She was not met with hacking swings, but with a duellist's precision. The corsair's cutlass was not dull or chipped, his blade was as well tended as hers. She parried, but barely, fell back a step, another, before she adjusted to the shift in swordplay. She pushed forwards with the unnerving sensation that he was letting her regain the ground. He backed away until they were on the gangway and then pressed back; his cutlass more nimble than Byleth's broadsword, his footing more stable.
The third ship was not anchored or tethered, a high wave lifted it, shifting the plank beneath Byleth's feet. She staggered, she stumbled back towards the solid perch of the beached ship but the cutlass swung forth.
Several strands of blue hair fell away at neck level.
The wave receded, the light of a lantern swinging back into position flashed across them. Byleth had a moment to note that there was gold braiding on the duellist's coat; it was torn and dirty, but-
-He engaged her again. She was not going to win this fight. She had spent too long fighting along the beach and he was too skilled. Had she not needed to rewind time before the battle, even if she had been completely fresh to the fight this would be a difficult match. She slowed her pace, locking his blade with hers to keep the flashing steel still as she began a cautious retreat. Various calls in Dagdan echoed from the third boat, jeers or warnings Byleth couldn't tell, but at one of them her enemy disengaged her forcefully, throwing her sword sharply up. She kept her grip and followed the motion, jumping back to be out of his reach while she recovered her guard -but he had not pressed the attack, had instead fallen back himself. With his sword he saluted her, and Byleth felt the gangway fall away beneath her as the third ship heaved off.
In a desperate lunge she managed to get her off-arm through the railing of the beached ship, her side impacting heavily against the wood as the corsairs pulled away. She hung from the side, the duellist's eyes still meeting hers as they moved further into the darkness. A motion at his side alerted her to a sniper, and she heaved herself up onto the deck, rolling away just as an arrow thudded deep into the space she had hung against, the last shot of the battle.
~o~*~o~
During her duel, a well-placed arrow had chipped and fractured Ignatz's collarbone, and they retreated up to the tree-line so she could heal it while the other commanders rounded up the troops and reported in. The Immortals had no injuries to report, so Claude had taken a torch and quickly inspected the ships abandoned on the beach. He lingered over the hull of one, eyeing a section that seemed to be of newer wood than everything around it, considering…
Dorothea was lending her healing magics to Petra and the warriors of Brigid, Caspar plunked down solidly in the middle of them, awaiting his turn. Having done as much as she could for Ignatz and the Coalition forces, Byleth moved to help, but was stalled by Claude rushing up the sands towards her.
"Milady-" he said, quickly, too quickly, almost stumbling in his enthusiasm. He took her hand in a warrior's clasp, pulling her close, her armoured forearm pressed against the line of his chest as his eyes shone "Milady, will you infiltrate a pirate stronghold with me?"