"Want one?" Professor Parvati proffered one of the pamphlets she had just purchased from the wood kiosk just inside of Saleh Mach's entrance.

Dedue declined. He didn't like reading in Anglais, the common language across Fódlan.

Dimitri accepted on his behalf, and promptly began reading it out loud for Dedue's benefit. "Welcome to Saleh Mach, the trade central of Oghma Mountains, crossroads of armies, merchants and caravans. Along the south face of the mountains, the flowered prairies…"

"St. Cichol Inn…it seems to be five streets down from here. This way," said Professor Parvati. She led them down the packed road, skirting along the sidewalk as she consulted the map. Her long silver braid, even longer than Dedue's sister's had been, swung like a hypnotist's pendulum behind her green cloak.

"…scenic views of the sonorous city at the center of Fódlan, with green gabled roofs to shed snow into March…"

Back and forth, back and forth, with a little clink at every step. Dedue couldn't understand what was clinking until they took a right at the end of the street and it came out of her shadow and into sunlight. The metallic hairpiece securing her braid — Dedue strained his eyes to determine — was that gold?

"…Garreg Mach Monastery, the endpoint of pilgrimage at the pinnacle of the mountain, is a locale beyond exclusive to non-passersby…"

Parvati came to a stop where it seemed they needed to cross the road, but traffic was bunched into a slow-moving circle that expanded out onto the sidewalks.

"…with less than a hundred students, less than one hundred clergy personnel, and the exclusive Knights of Seiros and monastery staff as its only inhabita — oh! Sorry, Professor!" Dimitri, reading the pamphlet, had walked into Parvati.

She frowned over her shoulder at him. Then she looked at Dedue and said, "What is happening?"

She was too short to see it, but a farmer's cart was tilted into the middle of the road. The traffic diverted itself around the cursing farmer, horse hooves smashing tomatoes spilled out over the road into a blood-like pulp. Dedue spotted the runaway wheel some thirty feet up the street, lying next to the sweets vendor.

Dedue reported the cause of the traffic jam on the road and she frowned. "We'll have to find some other way around."

Dedue nodded, watching a three-legged dog lick at the pulp next to the downed cart. That must have been why it was three-legged; it was too dense to stay out of the road.

He felt the Prince tense up beside him. Before Dedue could ask what had happened, Dimitri was weaving through the sidewalks and charging towards Professor Parvati. The men she had been talking to were walking away.

Dimitri's voice was rising out above the din. "Did you not hear her? It's a small courtesy to answer the question."

People glanced Dimitri's way. The men he addressed had stopped, turned around and were actively sizing him. They had axes upon their belts.

Dedue hurried after the Prince. There were too many people between him and his liege. Any one of them could pull out a blade or a dagger. In a congestion of people like this, if they turned on him…he would become the three-legged dog. Why didn't he, the Prince and the professor come on horses instead?

The men had wandered back to the Prince and the professor, and were saying something to them both, giving the professor a look of disdain. It wasn't until Dedue joined them that the men looked up his way, factored in Dedue's added size to the Prince's, then chose to turn and walk away.

Dimitri turned to the professor, furious. "Why did you stop me, Professor? Why didn't you let me declare myself the Prince?"

Dedue noticed that the professor had an arm flung out across Dimitri. She said, "Because the next time I come down here, I won't be with the Prince, and then I am going to get it." The professor crossed her arms. "You can't save me, Prince Dimitri. Please don't make things worse."

Dimitri stared at her, jaw-dropped and taken aback.

Dedue looked at the Prince. "She's right, Your Highness."

Dimitri sulked. "Be quiet."

Twenty minutes later, Professor Parvati pointed to the biggest building on the east end of Saleh Mach. "That must be the one," she said. "And if it's not, but it has food, I am eating there. My stomach is digesting itself."

Dedue chuckled. The Prince, still surly, glowered at him.

Lanterns hung up and down the gabled roof. They came alight as the three approached. The mage responsible for lighting the lanterns nodded at them as they passed. Above her, the Crest of Cichol was carved into a grand hanging wooden placard. A series of tinkling wind chimes dropped out under it.

"Oh, Hanneman had said follow the wind chimes," Parvati intoned as she followed them into the establishment.

Dedue had to pinch the cloth of fabric at Dimitri's elbow to force him to stop in the lobby for a moment. They needed to wait for their eyes to adjust to the dark. Dimitri needed to be wary about what people were doing around him.

The St. Cichol Inn seemed to be a gigantic octagon, over six stories tall, the first two floors a tavern. On the first floor, a large stage occupied the center, and every table was set into an intimate alcove along the circumference. The second floor too hosted tables in a ring over those alcoves, ensuring the second-floor occupants could view the stage as well. There was no one on the stage right now.

"I have fond memories of this place," said Prince Dimitri as they were led to one of the first floor tables in the alcoves. Professor Parvati slid into the bench on one side of it. Dedue led Dimitri into the other. The light filtering through the windows were quite dim. Dedue realized this was because the windows were textured with an opaque cube mosaic. He couldn't see outside, and those outside could not see in.

It was private.

"I once came here with my childhood friends," said the Prince. "Glenn was watching over us. The first time we were out without our parents! It was so exciting then."

A silence befell them. All three of them slipped unconsciously to the same thought: without parents. How strange it was, how funny, just how excited they had been as children, on the chance to do anything without their parents.

Now all three would spend the rest of their lives doing everything without their parents.

A server came by to ask what they would like to drink. Dedue stirred, and with Dimitri, said, "Vodka."

The server started writing it down as the professor burst, "Scratch that. I need to teach at least one class at the Officer's Academy before I get fired for giving drinks to minors."

"We're not minors," said Dedue.

"In Faerghus, drinking age is seventeen," added Dimitri.

Professor Parvati said, "Welcome to — Not-Faerghus. If you're not nineteen, you're minors."

It was the first time Dedue was genuinely irritated by the professor. He wouldn't have minded being warmer, or less sober, with how the day was going. Dimitri grow even more surly beside him. It looked like it was just occurring to the Prince that that he was no longer the top of the chain of command. He was no longer in his castle in Fhirdiad.

The server took their orders, looked hard at the students to memorize their faces, then left the three simmering in a unanimous state of dissatisfaction as they waited.

Sounds from above startled Dedue and Professor Parvati. They looked up at the low ceiling. There were thuds and scrapes of wooden chairs being rearranged by second-floor patrons. When they went back to staring at each other's mugs again, Professor Parvati decided to fill the silence.

"Hey, Dedue, what's with the Dagdan name?"

Dedue started to fill with a sense of dread. "My mother's adoptive mother was Dagdan," he said. To Dimitri, he explained, "In Duscur, the family name runs down the maternal line."

Dimitri raised his brows. "That's something I didn't know."

"So what is your Duscuri name?" Parvati asked. "No way your friends and family called you Dedue."

"They did," he insisted. He knew where this was going.

"Okay, Dedue Molinaro, but what is your Duscuri name?"

When Dedue told her, Parvati's hands came down with a slap upon the table. "DevDAS?" She fairly exploded.

People sent startled glances their way. Even second-floor patrons scooted to the ends of their tables to peek over the railing. Dedue shushed the professor, mortified. He was so glad he was on this side of Dimitri. Parvati put her hands together in a prayer position, sending sheepish apologies to patrons staring at them from alcoves on the other side of the stage.

"What? What does that mean?" Dimitri asked, seeing the grin upon her face.

"It means Servant of God," Dedue tried to intercept, but Parvati dismissed his explanation with a wave.

"That's not the important part. Devdas is only the starring role of the most famous romantic opera of all of Duskar!"

Dimitri looked at him with new eyes. "Is that right?"

The Professor Parvati from the first minute they had met her was back. She gushed animatedly with her hands. "It's a love triangle! And a classic. Devdas goes abroad. He comes back after university. At home awaits Paro, his childhood friend and first love. And then — " She quickly ran the Prince through a brief synopsis, complete with re-enactments of direct lines. "And she says, Liar! Ten years and five letters? — which, I have to say, I'm unimpressed — "

Prince Dimitri glanced at Dedue with a grin. It was a relief to return to this former Parvati. He was clearly enjoying this.

" — and her mother was so offended that she married her off to someone else — "

This is bad, thought Dedue. The Prince would no doubt use this against him. Just like every single girl in Duscur that Dedue had ever met.

" — so he is pining away, when he meets Chandramukhi — a dancer — "

The food arrived in the middle of her telling the story. The moment it came, she seemed to have broken out of a trance. She remembered them. "Oh. I must be boring you."

"No at all, Professor! Keep telling the story," said Dimitri, swirling the ramen in his Morfisine tan tan men with his chopsticks.

But Parvati was already getting cold again.

"Oh, Professor, don't be that way," said Dimitri. "I love seeing you like this. It's downright mesmerizing. I suppose that look on your face is just another boon from this glorious day. Perhaps the best one of all."

Parvati gave Dedue another look on her face. This look said, Help.

Dedue looked away and dug into his soup. His Highness had the embarrassing habit of being much too earnest. It had already confused a couple girls. And as He was coming of age, those instances were bound to get worse…

Parvati went back to telling the story, albeit with nowhere near the animation she had a few minutes ago. Dedue wondered if this was going to be the professor's dynamic. It was clear she hadn't wanted to be with them. They made Professor Parvati uneasy. The Prince of Faerghus, with a vassal from the country Faerghus had butchered? Why was Dedue with him? Was Dedue a traitor to Duscur then? He knew these thoughts were running through her head. It was obvious in their thirty minutes of silence as they walked to Saleh Mach from the Monastery. By the end, all three of them had been cursing Professor Aelfric. And now, she had remembered them, remembered who they were, and had gone back to being defensive and cold, with barely a light veil over her animosity.

But then he saw the animated Parvati was coming back again. When she finished telling the story, Professor Parvati leaned over the table. "So, Dedue…have you found Paro yet?" She wiggled her brows.

She seemed to have been custom-made for his torture. For the second time in one day, she had made Dedue the center of attention. Where is Professor Aelfric? he wondered, desperate for the Duscuri professor to stop compromising him. The professor and the Prince looked at him until Dedue cleared his throat and said, "No."

"Are you sure, though? What if she found you?"

Another, emphatic "No."

The professor clucked her tongue, dissatisfied.

Dedue couldn't keep up. He already had enough on his plate with His Highness. Dimitri had — moods, and Dedue could tell right away. One look at his face in the morning spelled the weather forecast of The Day According To Dimitri.

But Professor Parvati was something else. At least with the Prince, Dedue could expect growls and grumpiness for the whole day. Professor Parvati had the propensity to ricochet off both ends of the Happy-Mad spectrum in the same minute. And her vibrancy, Dedue was learning, went in both directions. Her emotions were a pulsating energy that set the stage for everyone else. Her mood was a part of the setting.

Prince Dimitri turned to Dedue. "Why didn't you tell me any of this…Devdas?"

"Don't call me that."

"I am only calling you by your name," said Dimitri.

"You don't get to call me that."

Dimitri gave a sly grin. "But I am your family, and friend."

Dedue opened his mouth, then closed it, glaring. From across the table, Parvati's shoulders shook silently. Dedue directed attention away from himself. "How did you come here, Professor?"

Professor Parvati shrugged. "Seteth invited me."

Dimitri, who was about to take a drink of water, put his glass back down. "Seteth?" he said. "You mean the Viceroy, Seteth?"

She paused. "There are more Seteths?"

"No!" said Dimitri. He exchanged a glance with Dedue. "Are you to tell me you were requested directly by the Viceroy himself?"

She had just stuffed her mouth full, so she nodded. "Five years ago, actually. It's a surprise they still let me have this position."

Prince Dimitri regarded her, agape. "You made Seteth wait five years."

Dedue, too, had stopped eating to process this. She received an invitation? From the Officer's Academy? From the Church of Seiros? And then she tested the patience of the powers that be? For the Archbishop and Viceroy were the powers that be.

"Why didn't you come earlier?" Dimitri asked.

Parvati hesitated. "Things…happened." She glanced at Dedue.

Dedue and Dimitri immediately understood exactly what she meant.

Then she said, "What about you two? How are you here, Dedue? And how did you two meet?"

And so they came to it, the inevitable question. From the way His Highness was looking at him, Dedue knew it would be up to him to answer it. And so he did.


"It was during the pogroms," Dedue responded.

Parvati looked up.

"He risked his life to save a foreigner he had never met," he continued. "The moment he extended his hand, I decided that only for his sake would I live the remainder of my life. And I would cast it aside in an instant if my death were to his benefit."

Someone somewhere moved their drink. The sound of the ice shifting clacked like bones.

Parvati set her fork down and stared at Dedue. Someone opened the inn door. She could hear the it groaning. She could hear it squeak. The chimes tinkled outside. The woman at the counter was chuckling.

Pogroms. Her brain had slowed to a halt, unable to take more than one word at a time.

Pogroms. The wind had come to whisper in her ear. Her skin erupted in gooseflesh.

He was there, the words wheeled in her head. He was there. Dedue was there.

She opened her mouth. She wanted to ask clarifying questions. Did she… Did she hear him correctly?

…foreigner he had never met…only for his sake would I…remainder of my life…

She felt like she was swimming in his words. Did she hear him correctly? These concepts, these ideas — she couldn't imagine them. She couldn't have made them up. Even a mishearing would not have formed these sentences in her head.

…if my death were to his benefit…cast it aside…

Dedue looked at the Prince, then looked back. He had wide-set eyes. He had downturned lips. He had a severe face. He looked…so much…older than eighteen years old. This was a…student?

Parvati was falling inside of herself. How could Dedue say such a thing? Why would he throw away his life? Especially when they had taken away all other life — everybody else —

…foreigner he had never met…the moment he extended his hand…

Someone choosing not to kill Dedue was not equivalent to saving his life. It didn't merit a reward, performing such a basic act of human decency. It made no sense! He shouldn't be —

…I decided that only for his sake…remainder of my life… Dedue didn't owe him anything! Certainly not his life!

…extended his hand…cast it aside… Why… Why was Dedue thinking this way? Did it mean nothing that they took away every part of his life?

That they took away every part of hers

Why would he serve —

The questions raced through her head. She was drowning.

…if my death were to his benefit…

Parvati wanted to throw up.

He was the first Duscuri she would be seeing in years, for more than a few hours or a few minutes. Everyone else, they always came and went. Here, at the Officer's Academy, was one Duscuri student. She was going to have the chance to spend a full year with a Duscuri student. She'd had high hopes. She'd wanted so much from him — from — someone who could understand her grief and sorrow, to remember or regain the things they had lost. She didn't know until now how much she had wanted from him. But he…he wasn't…

They were still waiting for her to say something, so she said, "Is that so?"

It came off too much as a challenge. She saw Dedue frown and marked him as a loss for the people of Duscur. She didn't know what Faerghus had done to him, but he wasn't her people now. She could feel her heart claw itself out of its place.

Prince Dimitri deflated. He said, "Forgive me…I do not want to bring up foul memories. …But, would you hear what I have to say?"

She couldn't imagine that she could just up and leave. She especially could not just stand up a prince. And, she was paying for the meal.

Prince Dimitri went on ahead in the ensuing silence. "Professor Parvati… The day my father was killed…I saw the people who did it."

Parvati's breath caught.

"They were not of Duscur. I saw that. Knew it, beyond a doubt. The people of Duscur did not commit this atrocity."

She could feel her windpipe closing.

He said, "It was a third party. …And yet…I was unable to prevent the massacre that followed. Nor could I clear away the dishonor of regicide that has unjustly clung to you and your people! I will not rest until I make up for that. I owe you, just as I owe the spirits of those I let die."

Parvati stared at him. Her appetite had vanished. Dedue was no longer eating either.

Dimitri looked at her, searching her face. Then he said, "You seem quite unaffected."

Parvati popped up a brow. "What do you expect me to say?"

"I mean…something. Surprise. Shock. Agreement. Disbelief. I have to say professor…you are very hard to read."

"Nothing you've said is shocking, Your Highness."

Dimitri looked at her, a question on his face.

She put down the fork and knife. "I am a woman of science, Prince Dimitri. I rely on evidence and facts. So I did my own investigation. That's what I was doing when the Viceroy…" She trailed off, feeling herself falling back into a person that she used to be… She shook her head. "I knew four years ago that there were no Duscuri there, at the time of the incident. The only people there were your people."

Prince Dimitri's face clouded over. "Are you suggesting…that someone from Faerghus…"

An alarm fired in her head and her heart. She had just glimpsed something ugly on his face. Tread carefully, Parvati, said the voice in the back of her head. So she said, "No, Your Highness. That is not what I am saying."

"Then what are you saying?" This time, this was asked by Dedue. He had the same look he always did, but his eyes were alive. Intensely.

"I am saying that we both had evidence. That didn't work out for either one of us, did it?"

Dimitri looked down and began pushing around the egg halves he'd left floating in the broth of his ramen.

Dedue, on the other hand, kept watching her. He wasn't going to miss a single thing. He tracked her every expression, his impassive face a stone wall.

Parvati stood no chance trying to match his gaze. She looked down. She said, "I sorely wanted to believe…if only I had evidence… I wanted to believe, No one can argue with the evidence." She looked back up to Prince Dimitri. "But that never mattered. That didn't matter to the people of Faerghus. Look what your people did to us anyway. Do you know what we are?"

The heat was rising in the small of her back as she said the words: "Collateral damage."

Dedue's eyes widened. Dimitri's chopsticks stopped swirling in the bowl. He looked up.

Parvati swallowed, her eyes glistening. "We were just collateral damage. We weren't even part of the game."

Dimitri stared at her silently until he had to blink unbidden tears. He leaned back against the bench, taking a shuddering breath. Beside him, something was happening inside Dedue. He could no longer look at her face. His eyes had fallen down to her hand, where the cup in her hand was shaking.

Dedue took the cup out of her hand. Then, gently, he set it back onto the table.

Parvati laughed softly. What a cool guy. The stone wall provides wordless comfort.

Parvati put her two hands on top of each other, to stop them from shaking. An attempt. She said, "The truth doesn't matter, Prince Dimitri. Prove me otherwise."

Dimitri stared into his ramen bowl as Parvati called to the server for the check.