Author's Note: Whew! This one took a while. It's not perfect and I could spend days rewriting it but, as they say, perfect is the enemy of done.
A bit of a disclaimer. Several times throughout this chapter I say spears where I should say lances. This is not a deliberate choice but it's not something I plan on changing any time soon either. They're long shafts with a pointy thing on top that you use to stab people. They're spears.
Part One
White Clouds
Mists of Tragedy
"...And that's what happened."
Almost immediately after the Black Eagles returned from their mission on pegasus back, Byleth went to report to Rhea and Seteth. She left out certain parts, like her conversation with Sothis or the fact that Hubert completely and hilariously freaked out once the pegasus he was riding took to the sky, begging to be let off but otherwise she gave a pretty faithful report.
"This is… most concerning." Rhea said. "It has been a long, long time since something like this has happened."
"This has happened before?" Byleth asked.
"Yes, but it is nothing for you to be concerned about." Rhea said. "Seteth and I will look into this incident, you are to continue training your students and prepare them for their next mission."
"A new mission already?" Byleth asked. "We just got back."
"Do not worry, you and your class will have time to recover." Rhea said. "Seteth, if you would."
Seteth stepped forward and nodded. "Yes, Lady Rhea. We have received reports that Lord Lonato has rallied troops against the Holy Church of Seiros. A vanguard unit from the Knights of Seiros is already on its way to his stronghold, Castle Gaspard. Lord Lonato's army is nothing compared to the knights. It's quite possible the rebellion has already been suppressed."
"Why do you need my class, then?" Byleth asked.
"Just to be safe we would like your class to travel with the next unit to be deployed in order to deal with the aftermath." Rhea said.
"War zones are unpredictable." Seteth said, stating the obvious. "We do not expect you will have cause to battle, but be prepared for the worst."
"Excuse me." A voice said. "You sent for me, Lady Rhea?"
Byleth turned around to find the source of the voice. It was Catherine.
"This is Catherine." Rhea said. "She will be leading the knights whom you will be accompanying."
"Nice to meet you." Catherine said, holding out her hand. Byleth shook it.
"Likewise." She said. She turned back to Rhea. "When should we expect to leave?"
"The end of this month." Rhea said. "In the meantime, train your students well."
"Understood." Byleth said. "I guess I'll see you around." She said to Catherine.
She turned to leave but before she could Ashe ran into the room, looking very distressed. "Professor Byleth! Lady Rhea! Is it true!" He shouted.
"Ashe?" Byleth asked. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in class?"
"I was grabbing a book from the library for Professor Hanneman when I passed by." Ashe explained. "Has Lord Lonato really raised an army to attack the Church?"
"I'm afraid so." Rhea replied.
"No, that can't be right. There must be some sort of mistake." Ashe protested. "Lonato is a kind man. Why would he do something like this?"
"I do not know." Rhea said. Byleth had to wonder if she was actually telling the truth. Given that she was the one who ordered the execution of Lonato's son, Christoph, there was no way that she could have forgotten it.
Ashe turned to Byleth. "Please let me come with you!" He pleaded. "Maybe I can talk to Lonato! Find out why he's doing this!"
"Ashe, this is not your mission." Rhea chided. "This mission is for the Black Eagles only. The Blue Lions will have their own mission to undertake."
"But…" Ashe began but Rhea cut him off.
"No buts, you will not be going on this mission and that is final." She said sternly. "Professor, please escort Ashe back to his class."
"Yes, Lady Rhea." Byleth said.
Ashe bowed his head but did not say anything as he Byleth led him out of the chamber and down the stairs. Once the two got to the bottom of the stairwell and Byleth was sure they were out of earshot of Rhea and Seteth, she lowered her voice and asked the dejected Blue Lion a question.
"Do you really want to go on this mission?"
"Yes." Ashe said. "I really, really want to go. Lonato is such a nice man, I'm sure that if we just talk to him we can find out what's wrong and stop any further violence."
Byleth nodded. She was starting to get an inkling of an idea. "Alright, I'll talk to Professor Hanneman and see if I can get the Blue Lions permission to go."
"You would go against a direct order from Lady Rhea?" Ashe asked, stunned.
"I'm not going against her orders." Byleth replied. "She specifically said that you couldn't come but she never said the Blue Lion House, which you are a member of, couldn't come."
"I'm… not sure I understand your logic." Ashe said. "But thank you."
"No problem. I think you might be right. And if you aren't, well, I might have a nonlethal plan B." An inkling of an idea was forming in her head. She would prefer to capture Lonato as opposed to killing him and she didn't want another Kostas debacle (though Lonato probably wouldn't turn into a Demonic Beast). But Ashe was an archer and that reminded Byleth of another archer who had some pretty neat trick arrows.
On the day of the mission Byleth and the students gathered at the outskirts of the town around Garreg Mach to meet up with Catherine and the Knights of Seiros. Byleth had gotten permission from Hanneman and Manuela to take three students each from the other two houses on this mission, counting the house leaders. Likewise, Byleth had only bought three of her own students to keep the group around the size of a standard students from the Golden Deer house were Claude, Hilda, and Leonie. The students from the Blue Lion house were Dimitri, Ashe, and Felix. And the students from the Black Eagle house were Edelgard, Bernadetta, and Caspar. In addition to the students, Byleth had also brought a bundle of what looked like wood, which she had slung over her shoulder.
When the Knights showed up, Catherine had a very disapproving look on her face.
"What is going on here?" She asked.
"I have no idea what you mean." Byleth said, knowing exactly what she meant.
"Ashe, what are you doing here?" Catherine asked. "Lady Rhea banned you from going on this mission. And I'm pretty sure it was implied that that applied to all the Blue Lions. And the Golden Deer too, for that matter."
Byleth kicked herself internally. She forgot that Catherine was a diehard Rhea fan. She would not be happy about Byleth, and by extension the students, disobeying the Archbishop.
"I brought them." Byleth said. "Because I think Ashe's plan might work and because I need them for my backup plan."
"I'm not entirely sure I understand." Catherine said. "We're just cleaning up the aftermath. Lonato's probably dead or captured by now."
That's what you think. Byleth thought.
"Look, it's too late for me to change up the team now." Byleth said. "If you want you can scold me all the way to Castle Gaspard and I'll accept any punishment when we get back."
"Alright." Catherine grumbled. "But don't ever disobey an order from Lady Rhea again or I'll strike you down where you stand!" Byleth had no doubt she meant it. And there was no way she could stand up to her and Thunderbrand without the Sword of the Creator. She'd have to be careful. She missed her sword more every day.
"Woah, intense." Claude said.
The contingent headed off towards Castle Gaspard. As they walked Ashe hurried up to Byleth.
"Thank you for convincing Professor Hanneman to let me come." He said.
"I told you I would." Byleth said. "I always keep my word."
"Still, thank you." Ashe said. "I know that Lord Lonato will see reason. I just know it."
"I hope you're right." Byleth said.
Meanwhile, a little farther behind Byleth and Ashe, the three house leaders were catching up. It had been two months since they'd last spoken, just before the Mock Battle. Of course, catching up was a loose choice of words.
"Look at us, working together again." Claude said, reaching to put his arms around Dimitri and Edelgard. "Just like that bandit attack."
The other two house leaders pulled away from his grasp. Edelgard gave him a scathing look.
"Don't touch me." She growled.
Claude held up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. Di Immortales, mi gínese malákas."
"I also request that you refrain from touching me." Dimitri said.
Claude looked at Edelgard and gestured at Dimitri. "See, Dimitri is polite."
Edelgard crossed her arms and hmph'd.
After another moment of silence Claude once again tried to engage in conversation. "So how have you all been, my friends?" He asked, spreading his arms.
Edelgard shook her head. "Don't take this the wrong way, Claude, but we're not friends."
"What?" Claude asked. "Of course we are."
"No, we're really not." Edelgard reiterated.
"She's right." Dimitri said. "We're more like acquaintances."
"Even that might be pushing it." Edelgard countered. "I'd say we're associates."
"Wow, I feel kind of spurned." Claude said. "I thought we were closer than that."
"What in Fodlan would make you think that?" Edelgard asked.
"Stop!" Catherine said up ahead, holding up her hand. "We're here, the outskirts of Castle Gaspard."
Everyone squinted. They were at the edge of a large fog bank and couldn't see anything. Catherine scowled.
"Magical fog." She said distastefully. "A dirty trick."
Suddenly, a battered looking Knight ran out of the fog, panting.
"Report." Catherine said.
"The militia… they've… they've overrun us!" The Knight said in between breaths.
"Seriously?" Claude asked incredulously. "Aren't you supposed to be an elite fighting force? The most powerful and skilled warriors in Fodlan?"
"I must agree." Edelgard said. "This is quite pathetic."
"Looks like you kids will be seeing some real combat today, after all." Catherine said, ignoring the insults. She drew Thunderbrand. "Knights of Seiros! Charge!" The Knights of Seiros charged into the fog.
"You want us to just charge into the fog?" Hilda asked.
"Do you have a better idea?" Leonie asked.
"I do." Bernadetta said, raising her hand. "Run in the other direction."
"Don't act like that!" Caspar shouted. "We're students of the Garreg Mach Officer's Academy! We don't run from anything!" He pumped his fist in the air.
"See, Caspar gets it!" Leonie said.
"Listen, all we need to do to get rid of the fog is find the mage generating it." Byleth said, repeating what Annette had explained to her in the original timeline. "We just have to find where the fog is thickest and that's where he'll be."
"All the fog is thick." Hilda pointed out.
"It's a good thing I brought these, then." Byleth said. She slung the bundle of wood off her shoulder and unwrapped it. It was actually a bundle of torches. She tossed one to each student except the archers, Leonie, and Dimitri, along with flint and steel to light it.
"Why did you-" Edelgard began to ask before Byleth cut her off.
"I had a lot of torches." Byleth said. It actually was the truth. She'd already had a bunch of torches at the beginning of the year from mercenary work. "Don't ask why. Anyway, you can use these to light your way."
"What about Cinders, Dory, Fanatic, His Princeliness, and I?" Claude asked. "You didn't give us any torches, Teach."
"You all use two handed weapons." Byleth explained. "You can't hold the torch and fight at the same time. You'll have to stick close to someone who can, instead. Those who have torches, I suggest lighting them now while you can still see them."
Byleth waited for everyone to light their torches. "Everyone ready?"
Everyone but Bernadetta and Hilda affirmed that they were ready. But that was to be expected.
"Good." Byleth said. " And one more thing, these are civilians so use non-lethal force whenever possible, got it? Great. Let's go!"
Byleth and her group of nine students charged into the fog, most of them holding torches to light their way. It was time to begin the battle. Well, for them anyway. The Knights were already in there.
Felix was simultaneously annoyed and intrigued by his situation. On one hand he was holding a torch leaving him with only one free hand and he had minimal visibility which really limited his attack options. On the other hand, this was a new challenge for him and he very much liked new challenges.
And it wasn't like he hadn't fought in low visibility before. Several times he had trained while wearing a blindfold. Compared to the complete darkness of the blindfold the fog illuminated by torchlight was much easier to see through.
There was a small problem, though. He was working with others. He hated working with others. They always got in the way. Especially this annoying Leonie. Felix had never even talked to her so all he knew was that she was obnoxiously loud, extremely competitive, and idolized the Captain of the Knights of Seiros, Jeralt. In this particular case the competitive streak was a big problem.
She'd apparently decided to make a game out of the battle, to see who could KO the most opponents. She was constantly getting in his way, forcing him to stop mid-swing to avoid hitting her. And since she was one of the warriors (if you could call them that) that didn't get a torch, she had to stick close to him to see.
"And that's eight!" Leonie shouted, jumping in Felix's way yet again in order to whack an enemy on the head with the butt of her spear. "You better hurry to catch up, Felix!"
"This isn't a game!" Felix shouted, annoyed. "Treat this seriously!" He knocked out a Militia Soldier who tried to sneak up behind him.
"I am treating this seriously!" Leonie protested, knocking out two more soldiers and excitedly shouting. "Ten!"
If he had a free hand Felix would have massaged his temples in exasperation. Instead he resorted to his signature "hmph" and a simple sigh.
Caspar and Hilda were a match made in… nowhere. In no place or time was it a good idea to pair the two together. One was loud and boisterous and not a fan of laziness, the other was lazy and liked to get other people to do things for her.
Caspar was one of the few people who Hilda had trouble getting to do things for her, especially since he was always hanging out with Leonie and/or Linhardt, two other people who were impossible to trick into doing things she doesn't want to do.
There was one additional problem. Caspar was still a bit bitter about the Black Eagles losing the Mock Battle to the Golden Deer. He hung out with Leonie because they were friends but he was annoyed any time he saw any other Golden Deer. He was eager to prove that the Black Eagles was the best house, and that he was the best fighter. As such he made a point to be as noticeable and dramatic as possible. Normally Hilda would be fine with letting him do everything but his taunts were insufferable.
Caspar threw his torch in the air and slammed the heads of two soldiers together, knocking them out. He caught the torch again and smirked. "Bet you can't do that."
"Oh yeah!" Hilda shouted. "Well I bet you can't do this!" She threw her axe and it whacked several soldiers in the head before coming back to her boomerang style.
"Show off." Caspar grumbled hypocritically.
Suddenly an arrow embedded itself into the ground next to him, just barely missing. "What the!"
He followed the path of the arrow with his eyes, up to the branches of a barely visible tree where Bernadetta was nested. Ever since their last mission, Bernadetta had taken a liking to high places.
"Sorry!" Bernadetta squeaked.
"It's fine!" Caspar called. "You didn't hit me!"
"But I could have." Bernadetta squeaked.
Caspar shook his head and returned to fighting.
"Why are you following me, again?" Edelgard asked her companions, Dimitri and Claude.
"Because you have a torch and we don't." Claude explained.
"So do Caspar, Hilda, Felix, and the Professor." Edelgard pointed out. A soldier burst out of the fog and she knocked him out. "Why don't you follow one of them."
"The professor actually doesn't have a torch." Dimitri said, hitting a soldier trying to sneak up behind him in the stomach. "Something about "another set of eyes.""
"My point still stands." Edelgard said, turning to face the two.
"Duck!" Claude shouted.
"What? Where?" Dimitri said, looking around.
By the time Claude had called out, the arrow had already left his bow. Edelgard barely had time to dodge out of the way before the arrow hit her, letting it hit a militia soldier behind her. The arrows Claude had brought on this mission were rubber tipped but they were still enough to knock the soldier out.
"Perhaps you could warn me a little earlier next time." Edelgard said indignantly.
"That was the earliest warning I could give." Claude defended.
"So, there is no duck?" Dimitri asked.
"Seriously, Dimitri?" Claude asked. "You know that's not the kind of duck I meant!"
"My apologies." Dimtri said. "I was trying to be humorous. Clearly it did not work."
"Clearly." Edelgard said haughtily.
"Better luck next time, buddy." Claude said, patting Dimitri on the back.
The big problem with torches is that you were advertising your location. That's why Byleth wasn't using one. While she had no doubt that her students would be fine using torches and she probably would have been fine as well but she'd rather have the full advantage of being able to see and keep her location hidden. Well, technically it wasn't her who was able to see. It was the little voice in her head who could see through the magic fog. Perks of being a goddess.
"Watch your six!" Sothis called out, floating above Byleth.
Byleth spun around and knocked her opponent on the head with the hilt of her sword. He crumpled to the ground.
"Nine O'Clock!" Sothis called.
Byleth punched the approaching Militia Soldier in the face with her free hand, knocking him down.
"I don't suppose you can see the mage responsible for this?" Byleth asked Sothis.
Sothis flew higher so as to survey the battlefield better. "I see them!"
"Them as in multiple mages or them as in the gender-neutral pronoun?" Byleth asked.
"The gender-neutral pronoun. They're standing in the middle of a clear circle in the fog." Sothis replied. "Twelve O'Clock!"
"Gotcha." Byleth said, kneeing a Militia Soldier where you really don't want to be kneed. "So what direction am I going in?" There was a beat as Byleth realized how stupid that question was while she was surrounded by fog in every direction. "RIght, never mind. Just, tell me how to get to the mage."
"No need." Sothis said. "The squabbling royals seem to be heading straight for them, though whether or not they're doing it on purpose or just bumbling around is up for debate. Duck!"
"You know Claude's not a royal." Byleth pointed out, ducking an arrow that flew out of the fog.
"Does that really matter?" Sothis asked.
"Not really." Byleth admitted, rubbing the back of her head.
"One more thing." Sothis said. "The mage isn't dressed like the rest of the militia. They're wearing all black, with some gold highlights."
"Uh oh." Byleth said. "I only know one organization that wears those colors. But why are they working with Lonato?"
"You two are a mess." Claude said as Edelgard nearly hit Dimitri over the head with the handle of her axe. Likewise, Dimitri almost jabbed her in the gut with the end of his spear.
"You're one to talk." Edelgard shot back. "You have no idea how to warn someone properly."
"You're still on about that!" Claude protested. "It was one time, get over it!"
Dimitri swung his spear at Edelgard and she ducked. She turned to glare at him but found that she couldn't find him. "Dimitri, where are you?"
"I'm standing right in front of you." Dimitri replied. "I… think. All I can see is a blurry light."
"Strange." Edelgard said. "If you're standing right in front of me the torch should illuminate you. Claude, what do you think?" She turned towards Claude to find him gone as well. Of course.
"I can't see you two either." Said Claude's voice from the fog.
"That doesn't make any sense." Edelgard said. "Even with the fog we should still be able to see each other by torchlight."
"Maybe…" Claude said.
"Maybe what?" Edelgard asked.
"Remember what Teach said before we charged into the fog?" Claude asked.
"We're not allowed to use lethal force?" Dimitri said.
"No, before that." Claude said. "About how to find the mage in the fog."
"Oh… I see where you're going with this." Edelgard and Dimitri said at the same time. Were it not for the fact that she couldn't see him, Edelgard would have glared at Dimitri.
"We needed to find where the fog was thickest." Claude said, reiterating what Byleth had said. "The fog is so thick here that we can barely see even with torches. We must be close. If we can find whoever's doing this and take them out, the fog clears up."
"A slight problem." Edelgard said. "How exactly are we supposed to find the mage when we can't see through the fog ourselves."
"I'm… still working on that." Claude admitted.
"Finding the mage might be easier than we thought." Dimitri interjected. "Look."
"Uh… Your Princeliness." Claude said. "Are you pointing, because neither of us can see it?"
"Oh, right." Dimitri said. "There's a red light… somewhere. Just look around a bit and you'll see it."
The two other house leaders peered around. After a few seconds, they spotted what Dimitri was talking about. A faint red glow.
"I see it." Edelgard said.
"Me too." Claude said.
"I think that's the mage." Dimitri explained.
"Well what are we waiting for then?" Claude asked. "Let's get em!"
The three house leaders rushed forward only to promptly trip over each other, first Edelgard tripping over Dimitri and then Claude tripping over Edelgard. The three tumbled over one another and burst out of the fog and into the clearing where the mage was, landing in a pile on top of eachother.
The Mage looked over to see what the commotion was and stumbled backwards when they saw the three house leaders in a pile. Despite this, they kept his hands up in the air, glowing red.
"What in the world!" The Mage exclaimed.
The three house leaders slowly untangled themselves, the Mage not doing anything. The three of them stood up and pointed their weapons at the mage.
"Your Princeliness, would you like to do the honors?" Claude asked Dimitri. "You did find them after all."
"Gladly." Dimitri said, rotating his spear from the pointy side to the blunt end and shoving it into his gut, pushing him backwards and forcing him to lower his hands. Then for the finishing blow, he whacked the mage over the head, completely knocking him out.
Finally, the fog cleared and restored sight to all that it had once encompassed. Now that they could see, the students extinguished their torches and were now able to operate at full capacity. Now the battle could really begin.
With the fog cleared, the leader of the rebellion, Lord Lonato, was revealed. Byleth gestured to Claude, Ashe, and Bernadetta. The message was clear: "take your positions."
Two figures approached Lonato from different sides. One brandished a massive sword and the other was unarmed. Lonato scowled.
"Thunder Cassandra." He spat.
"It's Catherine now." Thunderbrand's welder replied.
"And who do you have with you?" Lonato asked. "Is that…" His expression changed from furious to surprised. "Ashe? What are you doing here?"
"I want to talk." Ashe said.
"Ashe, what are you doing?" Catherine asked.
"Please surrender, Lonato." Ashe said, ignoring Catherine. He held out his hand in a stopping motion. "Whatever is going on we can talk it out. We don't have to fight."
"Ashe, I do not wish to kill you, but if you get in my way I will do what I must." Lonato said remorsefully.
"But why?" Ashe asked. "Why would you do this?"
"Rhea is an infidel who has deceived the people and desecrated the goddess! We have virtue and the goddess herself on our side!" Lonato spat.
"Even if that's true, you shouldn't drag the townsfolk into this." Ashe said. "It's not right."
Lonato sighed. "I'm sorry you feel that way." He raised his lance and his horse reared. "Prepare yourself! I'm putting an end to this!"
Ashe sighed "I guess you leave me no choice." He said. Then he raised his voice and shouted. "Now!"
Before Lonato could react, Ashe drew his bow and fired an arrow. At the same time two other arrows came flying out of a tree and a bush respectively. All three arrows split in two, revealing the ropes inside. The ropes tied themselves around Lonato, binding him and knocking him off his horse.
Lonato lay there on his back and struggled against his bonds but they were inescapable. "What is this!"
Claude stepped out of the bushes and Bernadetta leaped down from her tree.
"My extra strength rope arrows." Claude said proudly. "It's hard enough to get out of one but it should be nigh impossible to break through three." He turned to the militia still conscious. "Alright, ladies and gents, your leader has been captured. How about you all surrender now?"
Most of the militia dropped their weapons and raised their hands in the air with the exception of one guy who ran at Claude, weapon raised and got his lights knocked out by Leonie, who was holding her spear out like a limbo pole..
Byleth stepped forward. "We were hoping you'd surrender willingly." She said to Lonato. "Ashe especially. I guess this works too."
"Are you going to kill me now?" Lonato asked.
"Yes." Catherine said, raising her sword.
Byleth put her arm out to stop her and shook her head. "No, we're not. We're going to take you to Rhea," Catherine shot her a glare and Byleth corrected herself. "I mean, Lady Rhea and she'll interrogate you."
"No!" Lonato shouted. "I refuse to speak to that heretic!"
"You're the heretic here." Catherine growled, pointing her sword at him.
Byleth pulled Lonato to his feet and away from Catherine. "Alright, lets go. We should be able to get back to Garreg Mach before-'' Byleth's sentence was cut off by a fourth arrow, this one of the regular pointy type. It came flying out of nowhere and pierced Lonato's skull like a bad costume. The Kingdom Lord fell forward and face planted, dead.
"No!" Ashe shouted, falling to his knees in horror.
Everyone else followed the path of the arrow with their eyes. Atop a hill stood a lone archer clad in pure black and red armor. He wasn't a Knight of Seiros or a Militia soldier.
"Who is that?" Catherine asked.
The black and red clad archer turned and bolted down the hill, disappearing. Catherine turned to two Knights.
"After him!" She ordered, pointing towards where the archer had been. The Knights obeyed and disappeared over the hill themselves.
Ashe was devastated. He kneeled over Lonato's body, tears welling in his eyes. "No. no." He murmured to himself. "How could this happen?"
As Ashe mourned, Catherine was all business, barking orders to the Knights of Seiros. "Arrest everyone still alive and assess the injuries and casualties."
"Casualties?" Byleth asked in horror. "You didn't actually kill anyone did you?"
"As far as I can tell from here, we didn't kill that many." Catherine said.
Byleth shook her head. "That really doesn't make me feel better."
"I thought you were the infamous Ashen Demon." Catherine said. "The mercenary who kills without a hint of emotion on her face."
"Don't believe everything you hear." Byleth replied.
Catherine Shrugged. "Fair enough. Now come on, let's round up the students and head back to Garreg Mach. We've done what we came to do."
Byleth entered Rhea's Audience Chamber with her head hanging. She didn't really want to give a report. She'd had a lot of time to ruminate on the trip back to the Monastery and she had decided that the mission was a failure. Lonato was dead and the Knights were unable to find the unknown archer, though Byleth was pretty sure she knew who he worked for.
"Welcome back, Byleth." Rhea greeted. "How was the mission? Catherine said it was a resounding success, despite a few troubles."
"Lonato is dead and Ashe is devastated." Byleth said glumly. "My plan failed."
"A plan you concocted against my orders." Rhea reminded her.
"You only said Ashe couldn't come, not the whole Blue Lion House, which Ashe is a part of." Byleth said.
"I fail to understand your logic." Rhea replied. "But regardless, it was implied that the entire Blue Lion House was banned from that mission. And the Golden Deer house for that matter."
"Well it's too late now." Byleth said. "I promise I won't disobey an order again." She lied. "Catherine threatened to cut me down if I did and I don't fancy my chances against that relic of hers." Not yet, at least.
"While we're on the subject, I heard that the students had difficulties working together." Rhea said.
"Yeah, I think it was house pride." Byleth said, rubbing the back of her head. "Caspar was especially interested in getting back at the Golden Deer for winning the Mock Battle."
Rhea sighed. "This was not the intention of the Officer's Academy. It was supposed to bring the three nations of Fodlan together, not push them apart."
Bring the three nations of Fodlan together... Byleth echoed in her head. Wait a minute!
"That's it!" She shouted aloud. "Don't tell anybody I said this but Rhea you're a genius! I have to tell Manuela and Hanneman!"
Before Rhea could object, Byleth was out the door. She stopped by Manuela's and Hanneman's offices and asked them to meet her in the library in five minutes. Six minutes later the library was cleared out except for Byleth and her two colleagues, who had gathered around one of the library's tables.
"Alright, Byleth, why did you call us here?" Hanneman asked.
"Just a few moments ago I had the greatest idea ever!" Byleth said excitedly. "You know how the three houses are super competitive against each other?"
"Yes." Manuela and Hanneman said at the same time.
"Well I think we need to curb some of that." Byleth said. "Sure it's fine for the three houses to be competitive, but not to the extent that they are now. House members barely interact with each other, and when they do it's usually when they get into a fight. As such, I propose that we encourage inter-house interactions."
"I fail to see what's so exciting about this idea." Hanneman said.
"Okay, fine, on paper it doesn't sound so exciting." Byleth admitted. "But think about it, we have students from all three of Fodlan's nations, including the next Emperor, King, and Sovereign Duke. If they get to know each other, maybe even become friends, we might usher in a new age of prosperity and peace for Fodlan. These kids are our future, after all."
"That's all well and good." Manuela said. "But how exactly do you plan to do that?
"It's simple." Byleth said, placing her hand on the table. "We lead by example."
Author's Note: Byleth not saying Those Who Slither's name isn't me being cagey, she genuinely has no idea what they're called. Azure Moon is the only path on which you don't learn their name, either from Hubert himself or his posthumous letter. Hilariously, you severely cripple them purely by accident, taking out pretty much their entire leadership and cutting off any help they might get from the Empire by absorbing it into the Kingdom after killing Edelgard, not necessarily in that order.