Writer's Note: I do not know why it has taken so long to finish this. I mean I do know, but public policy demands faking knowledge of your dearest author taking her sweet-ass time to start on the Golden Deer route.
o.O.o.O.o
The dark of night had settled into Garreg Mach monastery, kept at bay only by the moon and a few torches. Ever so often, the sound of heels tapped against the stone floor, giving off a faint echo before disappearing into the courtyard. Byleth heaved a drawn out sigh as she approached the student dorms.
'Maybe I should have waited with introducing Emile until tomorrow.' She thought back to her earlier encounter with Rhea who had been none too pleased over the sudden appearance of the death Knight.
'Yes, that was an unbecomingly rash decision. Be happy the case was closed by telling her about me,' Sothis voice echoed in Byleth's mind.
'It sure didn't close her mouth, though. I thought it would break through the floor,' Byleth said letting loose a faint smile.
Sothis giggled for a moment before making a sound akin to clearing her throat. 'What will you do about that girl, though?'
Byleth stopped, lifting her head towards the night sky. 'Leonie…'
Images of the encounter flashed by her mind. Being fully convinced Emile was behind Jeralt's death, Leonie had at first refused to listen and yelled at Byleth as well as Edelgard. After a lot of back and forth, Leonie had sunk to the ground, rambling incoherently. It was strange to see the usually headstrong tomboy so shattered and thankfully Manuella had brought her to rest at the nurses office.
'I will need to find some type of therapy for her.'
'And better sooner than later, before another misinformed connection between Edelgard and your father shows its ugly head.'
'…father.' The glimmering sky felt almost mocking. How many times had she lost him now, whenever fate saw fit to lead her into the monastery? Byleth grit her teeth, fixing her eyes upon the brightest star, shining in its arrogance. Why could she not reverse time until before that one fated moment?
"Professor!" two familiar voices called.
Byleth gasped, taking a step forward and almost stumbling on her own feet before she turned around to greet a most unusual duo. Unknowingly, she had stopped next to Bernadetta's room and now found the sheltered girl accompanied by none other than Lysithea, the white-haired, sassy child and bane of all horse riders.
"Something wrong, professor?" Lysithea raised a hand against her own cheek. "Are you… crying?"
Byleth closed her eyes, pressing a sleeve against them. Tears? A light smile crept across her face. 'How ironic.' In wishing to prevent the first time she had shed tears, she caused it to happen again. Taking a deep breath, she looked at the pair. "No, something must have gotten into my eyes as I admired the stars. Now what brings you two together?"
They looked at each other before Bernadetta finally broke the silence.
"I-it's… I a-always felt a bit… w-wary of Lysithea. She felt i-imposing."
"Relevant facts!" Lysithea gave a faint sigh, nudging Bernadetta's forehead. "Classes got a bit scrambled up and we happened to get stuck together during one of Hanneman's crest studies. Turns out we have more in common than we thought."
"Like sweets." Bernadetta held up an emptied box of pastries.
"And carnivorous plants, apparently. She spoke so enthusiastically about them and before I knew it, my interest had grown."
"You're one to speak. This is the first time I've been interested in magic."
The pair began talking about various interests until Byleth interrupted them by clapping her hands.
"It's great that you have found common ground, but — do I need to remind you of what time it is?"
The girls froze; it was well past curfew.
Byleth lifted her index finger and gave them a wink. "I will overlook it this time, but you have to go to your room at once, okay?"
"O-of course!" Lysithea stammered, hurrying towards the dormitories. She stopped and looked back at Byleth. "Would you join us for tea tomorrow, professor?"
'This could be interesting.' Byleth made a light guffaw. "Okay, how about in the afternoon?"
"Yes!" Lysithea responded before bowing and running off.
As Bernadetta closed her door, Byleth continued her stroll, looking for any stray students.
"That seems to be all of them, nothing—" she stopped in her tracks. There was something. The sound of students talking. Normally, this would have been fine, but given she heard three voices when rooms only accommodated two students, she decided to follow the sound until she found the curfew breakers.
o.O.o.O.o
The sun was shining, birds were chirping; a fine morning marking the first day of the weekend. Or at least it should have been, Claude thought. The steel tip of a spear whistled past his face, slicing off a stray hair.
"Oi oi, don't get distracted now!" Leonie whined.
Claude gulped, lifting his own spear to block the next strike. Spears; why did it have to be spears? Barely blocking another attack, he fell back, gaining a moment's pause. To his left, at two tables, sat Edelgard and Dimitri staring into books and preparing magical incantations.
'And here I thought I'd gotten away rather easily since my least favoured subject is lances.'
Holding his thoughts, he focused on what was in front of him as Leonie charged in a flurry of blows. One hit; no two hits. The pain from the unblocked attacks jolted through his body. Landing on his behind in the grass, he was greeted by Leonie's spear stopping in front of his face.
"Another win for me!" Leonie shouted, raising a fist to the sky. "Aah — this feels so good! Professor Byleth was right when she said sparring would clear my head up."
"…that's an awful way to handle therapy," Claude sighed as he got up and walked towards Edelgard. "I should have suggested the meeting at a different time." A shiver ran up his spine as he recalled Byleth breaking his door.
"Well, well, well, it looks like a detention is in order," the professor had said, eyes almost glowing with a devilish grin manifesting across her face. The paleness of the two other lords had not prepared him for the torture the morning would bring.
A pat on his back brought him back to reality.
"Eh, it's fine isn't it? We get to have this really fun time sparring, don't we?"
Claude grumbled, staring at Leonie in defeat. Unlike him, Dimitri and Edelgard, Leonie was not here for punishment. Byleth had explicitly told her any wounds could be healed up and fatal wounds would be prevented. Claude couldn't tell whether this was a lie or not, and had no intentions of finding out.
The plan had been simple: pick a light spear to be more agile around Leonie who had chosen a steel spear. On paper, this was an excellent plan. In reality, Leonie made up for the heaviness of the spear twice over, forcing Claude to focus on defending his vitals.
"That's the fourth time now," Edelgard told him. She put her hands forward and shone a healing light on his wounds, closing them. "It would be great if you could lose faster, I am barely getting any practice with this."
"Well if a certain esteemed empress could learn long-distance healing, we would not have to walk over here after every battle now would we?" Claude shot back. "Besides, do I have to remind you this whole situation happened because you decided to send an army down the catacombs?"
"That may be so, but you are the one who suggested we meet in your room so late yesterday. Had we met at another time, mayhap we could have avoided this?"
"Ah, yes, of course. And then you could have had your alone time with the professor for your daily detention, I see how it is."
The sight of Edelgard looking speechless, with a slight frown on the now pouting face, was refreshing. Claude turned around, swinging his spear behind his shoulder and heading towards yet another match with Leonie.
'Now how do I win?' Various ideas on how to confuse or distract Leonie coursed through Claude's head. Would he bring up Jeralt? No, that's what caused her to be his sparring partner to begin with, that's too dangerous. Get her to make a mistake with overconfidence? No, that wouldn't work. She had been told the sparring ends if he wins after all. Maybe— ah, yes, that could work.
"So how is battling with me anyway?" Claude asked, doing his best to sound sincere.
"When you ask it like that, it's somewhere in between a fair fight and bullying?"
Claude felt a twinge of pride stabbing his heart but soon opened his mouth yet again. "Then, would it not be more fun to battle someone above your skill? Have you considered the professor? I am sure she would gladly accept some sparring as well, it's for your own good, is it not?"
Leonie's face lit up. "How great that you agree. Thanks Claude! Well then we better get back to sparring really quick."
Claude raised an eyebrow at her. "Huh?"
"I was told if I defeated you ten times in a row, she'd spar with me as well!"
Looking at the stars he could almost see popping out of Leonie's head, Claude cursed himself for adding fuel to the fire.
o.O.o.O.o
Freshly brewed tea. Byleth brought the cup up to her mouth. Fruity, with a slight taste of honey. After taking a sip, she put the cup down and looked at nearby clouds. It had been an eventful morning. Leonie's mood was back to normal and she had accepted Byleth's side of the story. Claude might have gotten a slightly bigger beating than she wanted him to, but it was most likely his own fault for scheming again. Now, she could finally enjoy a moment of respite before she inevitably had to bring up Those Who Slither In the Dark to Rhea and the rest.
"This is my favourite tea," Bernadetta hummed, wagging gently back and forth in her chair.
"Mine too." Lysithea added.
Byleth smiled at the pair. "I figured you would enjoy it, given your taste for sweets. I'm glad I hit the mark." She didn't have the heart to tell them the information was permanently burned into her memory after repeated lifetimes of tea drinking with all of her students. "So how are things getting along? Anything on your minds?"
Lysithea opened her mouth, then paused for a moment before continuing. "I have been wondering about Edelgard, actually. I recently told Bernadetta what I have mentioned to you before, professor. About my dual crest and how it has affected me." She paused again before continuing. "Would you know if Edelgard is the same? We recently learned she has more than one crest and she has the same white hair I do. However she has refused to answer my questions."
Byleth took another sip of her tea. "If she does not want to tell you, it is not my place to talk about it either."
"You are right… I was just hoping— no, that's perhaps cruel to hope— but I wanted to know if someone else like me existed." She shook her head. "No, let us talk about something else! Professor!"
"Yes?"
"How do you get seen as an adult?"
"Huh?"
"You're almost our age, aren't you? Yet people behave so differently around you! Teach us how!"
Byleth leaned back with a small sigh. "You know… What do you think being adult is about?"
"Having responsibilities and not falling for temptations!" Lysithea answered.
"S-spending your time absorbed into political affairs and boring tasks?" Bernadetta added.
Letting out an even bigger sigh, Byleth took another sip of her tea before responding. "Right, listen up. Being an adult is about not caring whether you are an adult. Sure, there are responsibilities and you need to understand the consequences of your actions." She finished her cup. "But being adult is mainly about being able to do whatever you want!"
"…like giving detention to members of the royal family?" Lysithea asked
Byleth felt like a dagger had stabbed her heart. "Ugh. W-well maybe not going that far."
"Forcing the generals of a huge army sit on their knees in reflection?" Bernadetta stabbed.
"Gh… No, maybe usually not that either."
"Telling an archbishop you will be speaking with her mother if she does not behave?" Lysithea turned the knife.
"H-hey, that one is completely valid. Do you have any ideas what a freely roaming archbishop can do if she has the wrong idea about matter?"
The three laughed.
"So I guess eating sweets whenever you want is not as childish as it sounds, then?" Lysithea picked up another cookie.
"If eating sweets meant you can't be an adult, I will never be an adult." Byleth said, grabbing a cookie for herself.
"B-by the way, Lysithea. I saw you sneaking a pastry to Felix the other day, what was that about?" Bernadetta continued. "A-are you two, you know?"
"W-what?! No, no! I-I was just making sure the dork understood the importance and deliciousness of sweets! He dared brush them off as mere calories! Besides I was using it to bri— anyway, I have seen you and Hubert together a lot, care to explain, hmm?"
"Wh— no, I-I am just training myself to not get scared!"
"Ooh? Really? Because you seemed awfully close when I saw you last time, almost as if—"
"F-forget you saw anythiiiiing!"
Byleth couldn't help but smile as she looked at the two squabbling over Bernadetta's potentially future love matters. She had indeed ended up marrying Hubert in most of the time lines Byleth had remembered.
'I wonder if this is what having children feels like.' She asked herself, wondering if the time line fusion had caused her to feel older. It was certainly a possibility, given how she had lived her life fully in many of them, although the current time line most likely had the biggest effect on her current age.
"A-and professor, what about you?!" a frantic Bernadetta half-screamed.
Byleth snapped out of her thoughts. "Huh, what?"
"You have clearly cast a spell on Edelgard. N-now go on, tell us all about it!"
"Oh, now that you mention it." Lysithea smirked. "She has been awfully flustered around you lately. What is up with that?"
This was not where the conversation was meant to head.
Byleth cleared her throat. "Now listen here. Edelgard, much like everyone else of you, is my student. I am your, and her, teacher."
"But you do not seem much older than us." Lysithea stood up and leaned over the table towards Byleth.
"B-besides, h-how old are you actually? Tell us!" Bernadetta too stood up.
'Go on, why do you not tell them your ripe age of 21?'
'Not you too, Sothis.'
"Did I just hear some juicy gossip? Is it true you're courting Edelgard then, professor?" a voice called behind Byleth.
Turning around, Dorothea came into sight, looking as if she'd just found a gold mine. No, it wasn't just Dorothea standing there; Flayn too stood there, completely flustered.
'Nope! No! I need someth— that's it!' Standing up, Byleth waited a moment for them all to become silent. When this didn't happen, she held a hand up as if to pause them. "Now see here. I am a teacher and I cannot be held responsible for individual feelings of students. However, this could potentially risk my job if it goes too far, so I would ask you all to refrain from making baseless fantasies about my love interests."
She grabbed a cookie from the tray. "Now if you continue this, I will have no choice but to put you all into detention. Understood? Good, dismissed." She said while hurrying off the scene.
"Eeh?! That's not fair!" the group said in unison, setting off after the soon sprinting Byleth.
