To the Guest that recommended the story "The Winter Lady of Fraldarius" by teecup_angel. Thank you, the story is great! I highly recommend it as well. You can find it on Archive of Our Own.
Ethereal Moon 1170:
Byleth expected to learn many things from Dimitri, like what to expect from a friend and such, sitting in a "classroom" and learning about how to be a proper lady and whatnot wasn't something she was expecting. Because her father had to leave early in the morning for work and since she had nothing better to do, Byleth would arrive at the castle early in the day; she was perfectly content with just wondering around as she waited for Dimitri to finish whatever he had to do, but when he learned that she was waiting for him he had started to skip his lessons to play with her. Eventually it was decided that she would attend the lessons with him. She didn't mind but she wasn't sure how etiquette lessons would help her as a mercenary.
On Mondays, an etiquette class about proper posture and walking was taught. She didn't know there was a proper way to walk, let alone that she had been doing it wrong her whole life. After her first class on the subject she complained to her father about improperly teaching her to walk and he just laughed at her. She absolutely hated that class but so did the prince, so she took some comfort in not being alone in that regard.
On Tuesdays another etiquette class was taught, and it was about proper dinning etiquette, another class she hated. If they were going to teach her how to eat properly, they could at least feed her when doing so. The class did have at least one good thing going for it and that was it helped her discover love for tea. When she learned that tea parties were a thing, she would ask to have one tea party a week and the prince obliged even if he found them boring.
Wednesdays had the pleasure of being the last etiquette class for the week and it was all about writing and speaking. Despite her not liking the class either, she felt it was the class she most needed. She had never been good with speaking, so it helped her find the words she needed to better communicate with, outside of the words she was not allowed to say that she heard other mercenaries and her father say. Even though she knew she needed the lesson, she found it quite annoying at how proper speaking used to many useless words when she could just get to the point, she with so few.
Thursdays had the pleasure of being the longest class periods as several subjects were taught on those days, from history all the way to math. She had expected to hate learning all kinds of stuff as it wasn't something a mercenary needed to know but she had discovered that she had a love for learning, and it became the second most anticipated class for her. Dimitri was all too eager to share his knowledge and to help her in class.
Fridays had been a free day for Dimitri as they would be reserved for sword training and such, but he wouldn't start those lessons until he was older. Since Byleth has already started her own training, Fridays became a solo class for her, but Dimitri would happily watch, amazed how strong his friend was. Many of the castle's knights were curious to see how skilled the daughter of the Blade Breaker was so she often would draw a crowd when she would practice. So many were amazed at how quickly she was able to adapt to several different weapons or opponents. Despite her only wanting to focus on her swordsmanship she had been given many weapons to practice. At her friend's request she had practiced the lance a lot as he wanted to have proper duals with her when he was older and because she liked using the weapon her father preferred. Fridays had become her favorite days of the week because it was the only time, she was welcomed in the castle outside of Dimitri and King Lambert.
The young girl knew she wasn't popular in the castle. She understood that she was getting special treatment without everyone pointing it out to her, whenever they got the chance. On the rare occasions when Dimitri wasn't at her side, she would be openly mocked or harassed by someone spilling water or "accidently" hitting her. The etiquette teacher had refused to teach her until King Lambert stepped in. The glares from the servants had been hard to deal with but the look of disgust from the few nobles that visited were, especially annoying to deal with. For the sake of her first friend, she put up with it, it wasn't that hard to deal with as she was already used to being disliked.
So, when she learned that she wasn't allowed to attend Dimitri's seventh birthday party it wasn't a surprise to her; Dimitri on the other hand… "I want By at my party!" he demanded as loudly as he could and crossed his arms across his chest to further his point.
Maintaining a strained smile, King Lambert spoke, "I know but she can't. I'm sorry but several nobles have made their arguments clear on this matter." The king was an incredibly busy man but despite that he always made time during the day to see the children; usually it was just a stop by to say hello but sometimes he would join in whatever game they were playing or their tea party. For that day he joined a tea party, but it was clear to her that his purpose was just to share the bad news.
"It is my party and I want my friend there!"
"Felix, Sylvain, and Ingrid will be there."
"I want By there too! I need to introduce her to my other friends!"
Despite the king's best efforts, a sigh escaped him. "Look how about we have a smaller party for just the two of you?"
"No!" huffed the prince and he turned away. A few seconds a silence passed before he turned his sights onto her. "By wants to come to my party, right?"
The king's eye soon joined in his son's at staring at her. Dimitri was looking at her expectantly while his father looked at her tiredly and apologetically. She wanted to help the king, as she liked him very much, but if she said no, she knew she would only just be lying and hurt her friend's feelings. She silently wished that they had, had that conversation after she had left for the day.
The longer she went without saying anything the more she feared she would be swallowed by their gazes. She loved how pretty their eyes were and how she could just stare into them and be content but that was only on her terms, and at that moment it was just too much for her. In a panic to draw the attention to anything that wasn't her she pulled out a small, wrapped package from her pocket and held it up for them to see. She had no intention of showing it to Dimitri before his birthday, but desperate times called for desperate measures. She was glad that she had brought it with her.
"Dimitri, do you want to see what I made you for your birthday?" she asked and held out the gift for him. The pout left his face as he began to bounce in his seats as he took the gift. King Lambert raised an eyebrow at her briefly before giving her smile and a small apologetic nod.
Impatiently, the young boy pulled the cloth away to reveal a small piece of leather with the Crest of Blaiddyd engraved on it. He looked at it a bit before looking at her and she felt too self-conscious to look at him. Since she didn't have a lot of money, her father had suggested she make something, and since she liked working with leather and it was something mercenaries had a lot of for repairs, she decided to make something for him with it; unfortunately her skills were still limited. For the past two weeks she had excitedly worked on the gift but it was right at that moment that she remembered that he was a prince and that little patch of leather wouldn't be able to compare to all the extravagant gifts he was sure to receive.
"You made this?" he asked, and she nodded but still refused to meet his gaze. "Dad, look what By made me!" She glanced up to see the prince smiling widely and was shoving the leader patch into his father's face, who was laughing.
"This is nicely made," the king commented as he took the patch.
"Mercenaries have a lot of scraps and I like to make designs on them," she said now that she was feeling more confident, "I can't make anything too difficult though."
"Still this is quite impressive. Hey, you even managed to spell Dimitri's name right." She had spent a lot of time learning to spell her friend's name, without letting him find out. He took his gift back to look at it, above the crest was his full name. Standing up in his chair, he pointed to his last name.
"Blaidimd."
He slumped into his chair. "You spelled it right, how are you still pronouncing it wrong."
"It's hard to pronounce," she defended, and the king laughed. He rubbed his son's head, who was smiling as he looked at his gift.
"What does aster mean?" the king asked as he looked at the gift over his son's shoulders. Under the crest was that simple word.
"Aster is a pretty blue flower that blooms at the end of the summer and I thought I could use that as Dimitri's nickname."
The prince's faced scrunched up and he was about to say something when his father beat him to it, "are those flowers special?"
She nodded yes. "Your eyes remind me of their color, and they are my favorite flowers. While other flowers are wilting away at the end of summer, the asters bloom, and they stand strong and proud. I really like looking at them when I travel."
Nodding King Lambert ruffled up his son's hair. "Look at that she gave you a very special name. You are really lucky." Dimitri's scrunched up face, quickly became a smile.
"I am Aster!" the prince proclaimed loudly and proudly.
Guardian Moon 1170:
The ending of the Guardian Moon meant the end of the Great Wolf season, which also meant the end of the Jeralt Mercenaries' contract. Byleth did not want to leave but she was handling it well as goodbyes were said at the castle's gates. Dimitri was not having any of it and clung to his friend and smacked away his father's hand away, when he tried to separate them.
"I want to be a mercenary too!" Dimitri cried clinging to her even harder and nearly knocked the wind out of her. King Lambert hovered over the children trying to find a way to free Byleth. Jeralt stood silently behind, watching.
"You can't," she said as she tried to pull at least one arm free. "You are a prince."
"I do not want to be a prince anymore!" Finally, she was able to pull a hand free and rubbed Dimitri's head, mirroring the action she saw the king often do. Momentarily the prince's crying stopped at he looked up at her. Seizing the opportunity, King Lambert tried to pull his son away and failed. In retaliation the prince gripped her even harder causing a strangled cry to escape her and now Jeralt joined in the hovering.
"I want to go with By!"
"You cannot. Now please let go of her," the king pleaded.
"If I cannot go than By can live with me!"
The adults froze and looked at each other. The king was the first to come to his senses and spoke, "My offer still stands." Jeralt pressed his lips into a thin line and said nothing. Byleth looked between the two as she fought with all her strength to keep her friend from knocking her to the floor.
"Your Majesty," Jeralt finally said but his voice was incredibly stressed. She didn't know what was going on, but she wanted to help her father so with an immense difficult she waddled over to him, with Dimitri in tow. Some of the tension left Jeralt as he smiled at her, while King Lambert openly laughed at her struggle. As soon as she could reach, she gripped her father's pants.
"I want to be a mercenary," she said. She would have liked to stay in one place, especially if that place allowed her to continue to play with her friend but if it made her father sad than she didn't need it.
"Kid," Jeralt said so quietly that it was nearly a whisper.
"No!" Dimitri screamed and he increased his grip way too tightly on her. She started to pull at her father's leg for help as she couldn't speak, and it was King Lambert that quickly got the message.
"Dimitri! Let her go right now! She cannot breathe!" At his father's command, the prince finally let go and was pulled away. She started taking large breaths to get back some air into her lungs and her father picked her up.
"By! I am so sorry!" Dimitri cried from his father's arms.
"It's okay," she said after a few seconds.
"I do not want you to go!"
"Your Highness, it won't be forever," Jeralt said after a few moments of listening to the boy cry and he put Byleth down. "We will come back during the Wyvern Moon."
Dimitri finally stopped crying. Byleth looked at her father, his lips were pressed tightly together but he didn't seem as tensed as before. She then looked at the king, who was staring at her father and nodded slightly.
"Yes," King Lambert said, and it drew his son's attention to him, "we will need their help again." For the first time that day, the prince smiled but it wasn't one of the large ones that she liked but she decided that it would have to do for now.
"By, you will come back, right?" The prince asked quietly, and she looked up at her father that gave her a small nod before she returned the gesture to the prince.
"Bladidd."
"Blaiddyd." He shook his head, but his smile grew a little. "You have to come back, okay? I am going to be waiting!"
She looked at her father, who gave her the small nod again. "I will be back, I promise!"
The final goodbyes were said and Jeralt and his daughter left the castle to head back to their hotel where the rest of his mercenary company was waiting. They walked quietly for a bit before Jeralt suddenly stopped, causing Byleth to do the same. They stayed silent for a moment before a sigh escaped him and he bent down to look her in the eye.
"Are you really okay with this?" he asked, and she tilted her head. "The king offered me a position as a knight, you can live in the castle and always be with the prince." When he mentioned playing with the prince his eyes narrowed briefly.
She rested her head on her knuckles. That sounded like a really good thing. She liked sleeping on beds way more than she did on the ground. The castle also had really good food and she would get to drink a lot of tea. And of course, getting to play with Dimitri everyday would be incredible, but when she looked at her father, she believed he felt differently.
"You don't want that, do you?" she finally asked, and he looked away from her.
"I don't know if I can keep you safe, if I were to be a knight." She titled her head, even though she was only there for a few months the castle seemed way safer than their life on the road. She wanted to ask but when she saw the guilt on her father's face, she decided against it.
"If you are not happy than I don't want it."
"Kid," he breathed, and she could see his eyes getting misty. He pulled her into a hug and squeezed her tightly, but nowhere near as tight as Dimitri had done. After a few seconds he finally broke the hug to look at her. "I promise you will see your friend again." She nodded at him before giving him her own small hug.