Edelgard,

This is a mission brief, it's what I meant last night.

Surely you had a plan too, so let's collaborate.

Post a reply with your thoughts.

We'll win, together.

-Byleth


Operation: [Edelgard, do you want to name it?]

Situation

1. Pre-brief:

a. Roll Call at 9AM sharp

b. Health and Safety check

2. Start of Brief

a. Presenter: Edelgard

b. Mission Goal: Victory at the St. Macuil's Day Festival

3. Organization:

a. Command: Byleth (CO), Edelgard (XO)

b. Acquisition Team: Dorothea, Ferdinand

c. Labor Team: Petra, Caspar

d. Kitchen Team: Bernadetta, Linhardt

4. Extenuating Factors

a. Almanac Forecast: 5/19 – Afternoon Rain – 5/20, 5/21 – Partly Cloudy, Windy

b. Area of Operation: Garegg Mach Monastery & Town

c. Staging Base: Black Eagle Classroom

d. Timeframe: 5/19/1180 at 9AM – 5/21/1180 at 12PM

5. Command Tasks

a. Provide support to subordinate teams as-needed

b. Organize materials upon completion of task

c. Logistical support and security

d. Ad-hoc financial support from personal accounts (shared)

e. Posting of advertising flyers throughout town

6. Acquisition Team Tasks

a. Purchase of 50lbs, Unpacked Tea from Grocer (20lb Green, 20lb Black, 10lb Tef)

b. Purchase of 20lbs, sugar (10lb brown, 10lb white)

c. Purchase of tablecloths, hand-towels, & trays from dry goods store (buy everything)

d. Purchase of 30 tea sets from ceramic shop – make multiple trips (fragile)

e. Purchase of 30 silverware sets from silversmith

7. Labor Team Tasks

a. As-needed support of acquisition team for fragile material handling (PETRA ONLY)

b. Grinding of Vestra Heirloom Coffee Beans (per Hubert directive to Caspar)

c. Table Dressage in classroom following matériel acquisition by acquisition team

d. Logistical support in carrying finished baked goods from kitchen team to classroom

e. Logistical support for command team in advertisement

8. Kitchen Team Tasks

a. Roasting of coffee beans per Hubert directives (Linhardt, support from Byleth)

b. Preparation of Saghert and Cream trays as dessert dish (Bernie, Edelgard taste-tester)

c. Preparation of herbal tea infusions (Bernie, Ferdinand support)

d. Regular consumption of roasted coffee (Linhardt)

e. Bi-Hourly warping of peach sorbet to Bernadetta from Celica's (Linhardt)

Enemy Force

1. Blue Lions:

a. Dimitri (Edelgard, disengage)

b. Sylvain (females, disengage)

c. Felix (all, disengage)

2. Golden Deer:

a. Hilda (Edelgard, disengage)

b. Claude (Edelgard, disengage)

c. Lysithea (disengage from sweets)

3. Faculty:

a. Manuela (Dorothea, Disengage - Ferdinand, disengage, do not accept further sedatives)

b. Hanneman (Linhardt, disengage)

4. Civilians

a. Maya Kirsten (Edelgard, disengage)

Goals

Victory Conditions:

a. Completion of all tasks per Edelgard's approval before 9am on 5/21/1180

b. Assembly at Black Eagle Classroom at 9am on 5/21/1180

c. Changing into maid & butler outfits at 9am on 5/21/1180

d. Successful participation in maid cafe activity from 12pm-6pm on 5/21/1180

e. Townsfolk awarding the Black Eagle House with Best Activity, 6pm on 5/21/1180


My Teacher,

With this, we will prevail~!

And… Thank You.

As for the operation name… perhaps:

"Operation Claim Final Victory Over Our Enemies in the Name of the Ever-Ascendant Black Eagle House of Adrestia?"

Yours truly,

Edelgard


Edelgard,

Four words or less.

-Byleth.


My Teacher,

What about "Operation: Black Eagle Maid Force?"

Please respond.

Yours Truly,

Edelgard


Edelgard,

OK.

-Byleth.


Author's Note

200K words and 40 chapters – and we haven't beaten the bandits yet, PRT Numerical Reply King. Why are you so worked up about what's going to happen 1.3 million words from now?

And thanks as always to Akosii, Dr. Dragon, Winter (made an account I see?), Mr. Clutch, and Falzyker, Skyh1gh, & Bunun for the input. I'm always curious to see how you guys interpret my own takes, because there never seems to be any agreement on any one Lord's "discourse", if fandom spaces are any evidence.

I hear everyone on Claude.

But I like Claude, and I like Hilda – and they deserve their own arc in White Clouds, so I'm going to give them one. It may or may not involve a prison break, shotgun marriage, bank heist, Balthus in assless chaps, and include the Holst cameo we never got.

But before that, we need to clear St. Macuil's Day & the Red Canyon. Following that, I'm starting "Paralogue Season" 3 in-game chapters early. Every student who can be paralogue'd will be paralogue'd regardless of recruitment status over the breadth of White Clouds. These paralogues will be consensual and use protection – the latter of which Byleth and Edelgard have never heard of.

Manuela and Hanneman also have rich social lives (unlike Bylad, Stalkergard, and their band of NEETs) (Lectures Given: 0) and have no desire to escort these kids on trips home to resolve their daddy issues (eyes cast in general direction of Lorenz and Felix)

Most importantly, the actions within those paralogues will carry real political consequences in Crimson Flower, which will be a reason why El accompanies her teacher on these for days and weeks at a time – at least narratively speaking. Those narratives will also be great trust-building exercises. Because, naturally, this is a story about El reaching her hand out a little earlier.

In any event, the Ashen Femboy, Codependent Princess, and their Hikikomori A-Team also can't just warp from Gloucester to County Fraldarius on a single Sunday in my re-telling. They'll be skipping days here and there, starting soon, to account for travel. The pace, as it must, will quicken.