Age:
Byleth: 17
Pegasus Moon 1178:
For the past two years Jeralt kept an incredibly close eye on his daughter. He never wanted to experience the fear of not knowing where she was or if she was safe or not; that time two years ago was absolute hell and he had no idea he was capable of feeling such fear. If the Kingdom's Regent hadn't been so kind as to inform Jeralt when and where Byleth would have been let out of the castle, he would have lost her that day; and that thought still haunts him to this day.
The doctor that had treated her, after that horrible event, said it was nothing short of a miracle that Byleth had survived. The dagger had nicked an important artery and Faith magic was having no effect on her. She should have died that day, he knew that, and he knew that it was only by the mercy of the goddess that she lived. Despite his major distrust of the church he found himself believing in the goddess again, though he never outwardly showed it.
He had asked Byleth about her experience and it was interesting, despite the horrible feeling it left him. For all the near-death experiences he had and from the ones he heard from others it was usually their lives flashing before their eyes but not for her. She said it was just like her dreams; she was in a dark void, standing before a large throne with a little girl sleeping upon it. She did say something had been slightly different about it at that time and that was that the girl had stirred a little.
Byleth might have survived that horrific situation but her emotions didn't. They had muted greatly but they had been still there, and he had chalked it up to depression and trauma. But after Muharib passed a few months later after a dangerous mission, all her emotions went with him. When she was a child, he could read what she had been feeling in her eyes but now…now there was nothing in them. She was like a living corpse and that devastated him.
Despite everything, Jeralt was happy to know that his daughter still held a strong desire to help people, even if her lack of emotions were frightening to many. That had brought him joy as well as fear, he knew she wasn't the type to hesitate to jump in front of an axe to save someone but she at least had the forethought to at least defend herself while doing so but she no longer did, or it seemed like she no longer cared to do so. She fought with little regard for her own life and while it made her a ferocious warrior, earning her, her own epithet, the Ashen Demon; it was a horrifying quirk she developed and her father would never stray to far from her during battles.
"Kid, the blood," Jeralt called out, when he saw that the kid, they had just saved, flinch away from the bloody hand that Byleth had extended out to him. It was only at her father's words that she noticed the blood and he sighed. He could vividly recall the day when she first had to kill someone and how the sight of blood had repulsed her; and though it was a painful memory to him he could not help but wish for Byleth to return to that old self.
He handed her a towel and she went about wiping herself off as he attended to the child. The child was a Duscurian boy that couldn't have been no older than eleven. Jeralt had to admit that he always liked the Duscurian's white hair and tanned skin, it made them to be some of the most unique looking people in all of Fodlan and it was a shame what had become of their lands and people. The bandits that they had just taken care of were probably planning on selling off the boy to some Kingdom's noble and he felt his blood boil at the thought. King Lambert might have gotten a little to familiar with Byleth for Jeralt's liking but he knew that the king was a good man and only wanted the best for his people and to see how far the Kingdom had fallen without him was a terrible sight.
Pushing his bitter feelings aside, he tried to comfort the boy with a head pat and some soft words, but the boy was understandably terrified of him. "Sha," Byleth said as she crouched down to be eye level with the boy and waved one of her hands. The boy perked up at hearing a word in his native tongue. It wasn't the first time that he heard her speak Duscurian but it was always a surprise. She had apparently learned a few words from the Duscur boy living with the prince during her imprisonment at the castle.
"Tia Byleth." The boy nodded when she pointed to herself. "Shala?"
"Salu." With a small nod Byleth repeated the boy's name and he gave her a small smile.
It was slow going but the boy started to trust Byleth and clung to her. They might have looked nothing alike but one might have thought that they were brother and sister or even mother and son with how Byleth doted on the boy; the latter thought did not sit well with Jeralt because even though she was getting close to marriable age, it was far to soon for his daughter to be thinking of having children. Salu's presence did help endear Byleth to the newer members of the mercenary company that had found her terrifying.
After a few days Salu felt comfortable enough to let Byleth know in his broken Fodlanese that he and his family were on their way to Almyra to escape Fodlan when they had been attacked by a different bandit group and were separated. He then proceeded to beg her to take him to Almyra as he was sure he would meet his family there and she had agreed without a second thought, complicating things for her father. Ever since the Tragedy of Duscur, the Alliance's relationship with Alymra had been strained in fear of a similar tragedy happening to them, which meant crossing the border was going to be incredibly difficult.
Byleth was not going to budge and had even threaten to take Salu to the border by herself and there was no way in hell that he was going to allow her out of his sights, again. Despite his better judgement, Jeralt had agreed to escort the boy, under the disguise of seeking work in Alliance's territory. Just before the mercenary company could leave Remire Village, they had received an urgent request for protection from a small village in the Kingdom's territory.
The letter had been read out loud by Jeralt's second in command and the leader pressed his lips tightly together and closed his eyes. He knew the Kingdom was in chaos and such request were common and he really wanted to answer them but Byleth wasn't allowed in Kingdom territory. The Regent had made it perfectly clear to the father that if she was discovered in the Kingdom's lands then House Blaiddyd would not protect her and would give into the nobles' demands, no matter what they might be. Gritting his teeth, Jeralt remained quiet while the company waited for his orders.
"Please, help the Kingdom," Byleth said and his eyes snapped open to look at her. "I will take Salu to the borders by myself."
"Absolutely not," he said through his teeth.
"Please." His eyes widen at the sight of her eyes becoming misty. It was the first time he had seen an emotion from her in nearly two years. "Please. I-I can't help Aster, but you can. I know he must be torn at all of the chaos in the Kingdom. Please, help them."
Her pleas stabbed at his heart. To hear such emotions again was a great joy but her request was too much. He couldn't just leave her alone, not after nearly losing her.
"Those people…," he started and clenched his fists at the memory of the dagger being ripped from his daughter's chest. "Those people will attack you again." They had tried several other times to attack her in the past two years, he couldn't risk leaving her alone.
"I can defend myself." He scowled at that. Yes, she had become must stronger in the last two years, and no one else in his company besides him could challenge her, but she also had become incredibly reckless. She also wasn't even taking into account how difficult it would be to protect someone as well as defend herself.
"It's…it's to dangerous." She frowned at that. "At least to go alone." She pressed her lips together. "I will go with you." He ignored all the gasps and protest as he walked over to her and she simply shook her head.
"The company will need you. Besides, we don't know how hectic the Kingdom is in. Not having you would be foolish." He continued to ignore the other voices that agreed with her.
"Byleth, I am not allowing you to travel alone. I can't…" his voice dropped to a low whisper and he looked at the floor before them, "I can't lose you."
"You won't. I will come back to you, I promise." She rubbed his arms as a way to coax him to look at her. He looked into her eyes and there was a small fire in them; a fire that he had feared was long since extinguished.
With Muharib gone, he had no one else in his company that he could trust to leave Byleth with. He didn't want to let her go alone but didn't want to be the one to snuff out the newly rekindled fire in her. Gritting his teeth, he pulled her in for a bear hug.
"You are to follow the paths with the most towns. Those vile people always send a manageable number of people to deal with, when you are in a village." She nodded against his chest. "If they attack while traveling you are to run away, do you hear me? There is no shame in retreating." She nodded.
He then proceeded to go over basic travel and survival tips, everything she was already well informed on, but she never interrupted him. Satisfied that he shared all the important information he finally let her go but still kept his arms on her shoulders. Lady Patricia had once told him that he needed to see Byleth for the young woman she was becoming but that was just too hard. He wished she could just stop growing up and remain his little girl.
"You are not allowed to go into Almyra, alright? You can go as far as to the border but after that Salu will have to be on his own." He did like phrasing it like that and he was happy that he could tell that she wasn't pleased with that phrasing as well; but he had to say it as he knew she would be tempted to continue traveling with Salu until he found his family. He narrowed his eyes and increased his grip on her until she nodded, and he let her go.
"After you escorted him, head over to Derdriu and wait for use there." She nodded and he sighed. He threw his arms around her in another tight hug before he allowed her and Salu to depart. Once, she was at the door, he spoke up again, "Oh kid," he wanted until she looked at him, "no other boys, do you hear me?" She tilted her head at him but eventually nodded. "I mean it. No. Boys."
Lone Moon 1178: (warning there is some harsh language in this month.)
Byleth may have confidently declared to her father that she would take Salu to the Almyra border alone, but she didn't take into consideration just how difficult it would be to just decide on which path to take. The quickest and most likely easiest path to take would be to go through Garreg Mach Monastery but that wasn't a possibility to consider. He father had made that place forbidden and though she might have gotten used to churches that was still the one place that she was banned from ever going. Her father's fear of that place had been so intense that she had no intentions of ever laying her eyes on that place.
The next option was to go around the mountain range and travel through the Empire. That path would be by far the longest and possibly the most dangerous. To follow that path would mean she would have to travel through Lord Arundel's territory, and she did not want to do that alone; she didn't even want to do that with her father and mercenary company by her side. She could always go around the territory but that would just add at least another month to her travels, and she wasn't comfortable with staying that long in the Empire, alone.
The final path and the one that she decided on was to cut through the Kingdom's territory. It was an incredibly risky path for not just her but her companion, Salu, as well. She didn't know what would happen to her if she was discovered but she had several ideas of what would happen to Salu if he was found; killed or possible sold into some kind of slavery. During the month that they had to travel through the Kingdom, she made sure that Salu had kept himself covered at all times and avoided towns unless they were absolutely necessary.
Traveling through the Kingdom had been easy and uneventful as they had hugged the mountain range that Garreg Mach was in as there would be less people to worry about. It was going perfectly and in just a few days they would finally be in Alliance territory and would be able to breath easy there. She had tried to not think about it but it was painful to travel through the Kingdom and not be able to reach out to her friends, especially when she was passing through the Galatea's territory; she kept thinking about Ingrid and if her friend had managed to get over the death of Glenn because she couldn't.
With such uneventful travels, she had started to teach Salu some Fodlanese. She didn't know if it was cruel to teach him the language of the people that ostracized his people, but they did need to better communicate with each other. She had thought about teaching him some Almyrian but when she thought about it, all she really knew were curse words. Thinking about Almyra couldn't help but bring up memories of Muharib and it was painful; she hoped once she was out of the Kingdom the pain would stop or at least she would go back to being numb about it.
The Alliance's border was nearly in sight and traveling through the Kingdom was going to end off as uneventful, until one night when the peace came to an end. A few men had circle on their little camp and she immediately stood protectively in front of Salu. When the leader of the men, came out of the shadows, her eyes widen at the familiar sight.
"I certainly wasn't ever expecting to see you again," the leader with such a familiar red hair and glare said, and her eyes narrowed on him. "How far the royal family's whore has fallen."
"Miklan," she said his name plainly as she reached for her sword that had been lying next to her. "What are you doing here and with these men?" She only allowed herself a quick glance at the two men to the sides of her. "Aren't you a little far from Gautier's lands?"
"Everything had been going well that little shit that I had to call a brother," she gripped her sword, "was growing weak and afraid. I would have been able to get rid of him, if my shit father never saw how much better I am." She said nothing and glared at him.
"But then you came along and ruined everything! He started gaining confidence and would even stand up to me and once again I had lost everything. And it was all because of you!" She remained silent.
"But you can make it up to me. That Duscurian brat will fetch a pretty gold coin but you, you are the real prize." She continued to say nothing as she blocked Salu from Miklan's sights. "I wonder what kind of price I will get for presenting you?" Her stare remained even, and he sneered at her for that.
"Of course, I am a kind man." She wanted to say several things to that but chose to remain silent instead. "If you can please me. Show me how a whore like you was able to remain in the royal family's good graces then I might let you stay with me."
Byleth continued to say nothing. Never taking her eyes off of Miklan, she unsheathed her dagger and handed it to Salu. Salu had been hesitant to take the dagger and so she awkwardly patted him on the head, while her eyes were still glued to the threat.
Miklan took a step forward and she maneuvered her sheath so that it would be easier to remove her sword when needed. She also maneuvered her other hand behind her back to hide it from the bandits' leader's sight as she channeled energy into it. He arched an eyebrow at her and two of the other men chose to close the distance a little more. It was her turn to take a step forward so that it would be easier to reach if needed.
"We can do this the easy way," Miklan paused to smirk, "or my favorite way, the hard way."
"Hard way!" She shouted as she blasted a fire ball behind her to attack the man closest to Salu. The man cried out in agony as he rolled around on the ground in a desperate attempt to put out the magical flames.
When a warlock joined the Jeralt Mercenaries last year, Byleth finally had an instructor to teach her offensive spells. She had taken to magic just as quickly as she took to any martial weapons. The warlock had only stayed in the company for a few months but in that short time Byleth was able to master the spells Fire and Noseferatu and was on her way to mastering Thunder as well.
Curses were slung at her as the two remaining men charged her, while Miklan stood back watching. Her sword was removed from its confines just in time to block the first strike and she had to sidestep the other one. She danced around the men with ease and slowly drew them away from Salu, without either one of them realizing her intentions, however Miklan did.
She watched in horror as Miklan rushed forward with his lance drawn. Her tactics had been quickly used against her as she had separated herself to far from Salu to be able to reach him in time, even if she didn't have to deal with two other bandits. She shouted for Salu to run but he was petrified in place.
Just short of being in striking distance did Miklan fell a large portion of his energy being drained. He stopped to glance back at her and smirked. She might have managed to kill off one of his men, but she allowed her side to be pierced in order to cast that spell and she was no where close to stopping him.
His smirk grew and he took satisfying slow steps towards the Duscurian boy. He raised his lance high; he had planned to sell the boy but the satisfaction of killing him before the bitch's eyes was far to good to pass up. Laughter ripped through him right when he was about to plunge his lance, but his instincts halted him and forced him to step back, just in time to narrowly avoid a bolt of lightning. Growling, he ripped his eyes away from the boy to see her and his last man rushing towards him and he had to admit that even he was impressed, to see her run with that wound.
Miklan swung his lance wide when she reached him and she would have parried it with ease but with her wound she ended up struggling against him. Thanks to Dimitri she had plenty of experience of combatting lance users and because of Sylvain she was familiar with the Gautier's lance style so her little skirmish with Miklan would have been over quickly, if it wasn't for the other bandit.
Neither of the men would have been a challenge on their own but together they proved to be a frustratingly difficult. The pain in her side made it difficult to concentrate so she was unable to cast spells. She was forced to play defensively but knew that it would only be a matter of time before she gave in.
She gave in sooner than she was expecting and with a sick satisfaction Miklan drove his lance through her upper left arm, but she did not cry out. It took all of her focus to block the second attack from the other man, who had tried to jam his sword into her abdomen. A small gasp escaped her when Miklan pulled out his lance and both men were ready to strike again.
The bandit cried out when a dagger was plunged into his back by Salu, who looked on horrified. In a fierce rage the bandit tried to retaliate but Byleth had intervened with a powerful blow to the back of his head with the hilt of her sword and he collapsed onto the ground. She gave Salu a small nod before positioning herself between him and Miklan.
"Stand down," the mercenary ordered, "your men are down. You don't stand a chance anymore."
The bandit leader broke out into a deranged laughter before giving her an intense glare. "You sure do talk highly for someone who's struggling to stand." He gripped his lance and sneered at her. "Your confidence really pisses me off. You act like you are something grand, when you are nothing more than trash!"
With a large cry he thrusted his lance forward and using the flat side of her sword she redirected the attack to left, avoiding her and Salu. He yelled out another battle cry and slammed the lance downward to which she sidestepped with ease. She had always believed that to be a foolish and reckless move and she couldn't understand why Sylvain used it, until she saw a picture of the Lance of Ruin and understood why. To a normal lance it was an idiotic move but if the Hero Relic was used instead, then it could prove to be a devastating move. But Miklan didn't have the Lance of Ruin and so that move was foolish as it allowed her to close the little distance and jab her sword's hilt into his stomach, forcing him to stumble back.
"I was born a noble! I am better than you! Better than that shit garbage that took everything away from me and all because he was born with a crest!" He roared out at the top of his lungs. He thrusted his lance forward wildly again and again and he created distance as well as preventing her from counteracting.
His assault had pushed her back to where Salu stood and she planted her feet firmly on the ground to brace herself. She blocked each strike until one of his rush attacks was low and she slammed her sword down on it weakening his grip and then she slammed her foot down on the lance and it slipped through his fingers. Expecting that to be the end of the fight, she ended up overacting a little when he lunged for her and she slashed upwards and sliced across his face, while her crest activated at the same time.
Screaming out, he collapsed onto his back and shielded his face with his hands. She only spared him a small glance before checking on Salu. Satisfied that Salu was okay, she retrieved her dagger as well as began to pack up her stuff.
"You bitch!" Miklan cried out and was still on the ground with his hands covering his face. "You have a crest!"
"Yes," she simply said as she walked over to him. She pulled his hands away and shoved hers into his face.
He shut his eyes expecting a knockout blow that never came. His eyes snapped open when he felt the comforting feeling of healing magic. Gripping her wrist tightly, he tossed her hand aside.
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"Healing you." He glared at her and she backed off. "I know Poppy, would have asked me to do so." He scoffed at her and looked away.
When she got the signal from Salu that all their stuff was packed, she slashed across one of Miklan's legs; it was a shallow cut. "Sorry, I don't like hitting someone when they are down." He gave her a weak glare. "But I have to see to it that you don't follow us."
With that done, she ordered for Salu to follow and they took off. They weren't able to get very far before her adrenaline dried up and her wounds got the better of her. Her world soon went dark.
Slowly, she awoke and stared up at a ceiling she did not recognize and once that fact registered, she sat up in an alarm, only for her wounds to cry out. Salu was quick to lay her back down and his presence comforted her enough for her to recognize that they were hidden away in a cave. Her wounds had been expertly treated and a strong scent of a medicine she didn't recognized filled the air.
When Salu was sure that she wouldn't try to get up again he went back to what he was doing earlier, and she watched him. He was grinding some herbs against the floor and she vaguely wondered how much more difficult that task had to be without a mortar. He had all their utensils spewed about in a nice and order fashion and each seemed to be filled with different kinds of herbs, and he would barely glance at them before taking what he needed and tossed them in a little pile to grind.
Noticing her gaze, he stopped to look at her. "I…," he furrowed his brows, "you…" he furrowed his brows even more and tilted his head a little, "okay…?" He ended his little sentence with a frown. He might not have known the words to articulate what he was doing but she understood enough.
She nodded, "I okay." He beamed at her and went about fetching some water for her. The water was full of herbs and she was a bit reluctant to drink it but at his instance she did, and her face scrunched up at the taste.
"Bad…" Unaware of the word to use he just opened his mouth and pointed at his tongue.
She nodded. "Taste," she said, and he nodded in return.
"Bad…tas..te…" He said the new word slowly and looked to her for confirmation to which she nodded. "It helps! Bad taste is good!"
She had her doubts. How could something so bitter be good? She didn't say anything as she had no real way to communicate it, but she did drink it all, at least.
Seemingly satisfied, Salu went back to doing whatever he was doing. She glanced back at their bags that were leaning against the cave walls behind him. She had packed a few vulneraries and she had made sure that he was aware of them, but she didn't feel the tingling, numbness from the salve. Muharib had explained it to her once that in Almyra they didn't have such magical healing items and she wondered if that was the same for Duscur and if Salu even knew what a vulnerary was. She wanted to use the vulneraries as they would speed up hear healing process enough to allow her to get to a town for help but seeing the first, real smile from Salu she decided that she would do it his way.
Great Tree Moon 1178:
Traveling through the Leicester Alliance was easy and uneventful and neither of the travelers complained to that. Byleth's unplanned wounds had slowed them down by a week, much to her annoyance but at least Miklan had never caught up to them, if he was pursing them. Salu's treatment had been the main reason as to why her recovery had been slow. His work actually healed her wounds better than if she did use a vulnerary as there was little lingering pain and her scars were much more minimal but it was far to slow for her liking and once she was able to walk without to much trouble they headed for a town, so that she could receive treatment from a priest. Under less stressful times, she would have preferred his treatment, but it was a truly frustrating thing when she was in a rush.
Just a few days before the end of the Great Tree Moon, they had arrived at the Almyra border as well as a problem. The only known route to cross the border was to go through Fodlan's Locket but in order to pass through it, travelers had to present papers, papers that neither one of them possessed. Trying to secure the needed papers in Derdriu would be risky. She never had any real interest in politics but from the few lessons she had to attend with Dimitri, she learned enough to know that it would be idiotic for the Alliance to help fleeing Duscurians if they wanted to maintain a positive relationship with the Kingdom.
They had spent a few days walking along the mountain range on the border, hoping to find a path. Salu had been close to giving up, when they heard a cry. The source of the cry had been a tanned skin boy, with curly black hair dressed in colorful clothes; he had been cornered by a Giant Bird.
She briefly watched him shout an Almyrian curse as he shot an arrow at the great, winged beast. The arrow pierced the monster's chest and it roared out right before it slammed its beak down on the boy but narrowly missed as she had tackled the boy out of the way. He stared up at her with wide eyes but was given no chance to even voice his surprise before she rushed for the beast. Unsheathing her sword, she positioned herself to face a difficult opponent.
Fighting monsters were already difficult to fight with in a company of warriors and to fight one by oneself was nearly impossibly; even her father would struggle against a Giant Wolf alone. For her to fight a monster alone that was out of her reach was almost a laughable idea.
Just as she expected fighting the Giant Bird was going horribly as all she could really do was at least keep its attention on her. It continued to remain out of her swords reach and whenever she cast fire it was quick to blow out the flames with a powerful gust. She was sure that the beast was just mocking her with just how low it stayed to the ground and would only do the gust when she casted the spell. Without any knowledge of wind magic or a ranged martial weapon in her possession she had been half tempted to throw her sword at it and hope for the best.
When her third fire ball had been extinguished, she was at a complete loss, until an arrow pierced the creature's left wing and it cried out. Swiftly she spun around and noticed that the boy was the one to fire it. Their eyes locked and he gave her a small nod and she returned it with one of her own.
"Fire at the wing!" She shouted as she went about to try and gain the beast's attention. She had no idea if the boy spoke Fodlanese or not, but she hoped that he would understand the order with her gesture. He did not disappoint, as he launched three more arrows into the creature's left wing; though they were not as centered as she would have liked but it did at least succeed in slowing down the monster.
The spell, Thunder, was just out of her reach of mastery and such she was uable to cast it as fast enough as she could with fire and because of the speed of the monster she had avoided wasting energy with casting it and missing or leaving herself vulnerable for a moment, but now that the monster was slower she had a chance. She focused her attack onto the arrows hopping that the metal tip might amplify the magic's power or at the very least guarantee a hit as acting as a lure. It went better than she planned as her magic jumped between all the arrows, spreading the damage as well as lighting the arrows on fire. The Giant Bird cried out and began to retreat and everyone released a collective sigh of relief.
With the battle, finally over she made her way over to the boy. He looked at her briefly before bowing. When she assured him that such a gesture wasn't necessary, he stood straight and watched her carefully.
Finally, up close to him without a threat of an attack, she was able to notice his eyes and she took a deep breath. She didn't think it was possible for anyone's eyes to rival the beauty of Dimitri's but there she was looking a brilliant shade of green eyes. Dimitri's eyes used to be calm and relaxing shade of blue but this boy's were an energetic green and both were so appealing to her.
Thinking of Dimitri reinvigorated the ache in her chest that had once numbed away. The ache did cause her to realize that she was staring, and she was amazed to see that he once never looked away and instead matched her stare. He was the first to do such a thing and it sparked her curiosity of him more.
"Than-" the boy started but quickly stopped to lightly cough into his hands, "thank you for helping me." When he had spoken again his accent changed, it was like he was trying to imitate a native Fodlan speaker.
"Your welcome," Byleth said and chose to ignore his accent. Salu quickly ran to her side and began to fret about over her wounds that she had tried to assure him that they were healed a month ago, when she stopped at a church.
Not moving from his spot, the boy, stood there watching her and she noticed that he had a cut on his cheek. Wordlessly, she walked over to him and placed a hand on his injured face, and he flinched away from her touch. Nervously, he watched her reach out to him again but more slowly that time and he allowed her to place a hand on his cheek; she healed the cut, without ever saying anything.
His hands flew to his cheek for a second before he pulled his hand away to inspect the lack of blood on his fingers. His wide eyes flew to hers. "Do you have any other injuries?" Slowly he pulled up his tunic and she could see the formation of a nasty bruise and briefly she wondered how the monster could have inflected such injury without cutting him in the process. Gently, she placed her hand on his stomach and waited for his reaction and he did nothing besides watching her and so she healed his stomach. His eyes widen again as he tentatively patted his stomach.
"Any more?"
"No, I am fine. Thank you." She noticed that in his surprise that he forgot to try and hide his accent. His eyes drifted back to his stomach and he mumbled so quietly that she would have missed it if it wasn't for her good hearing, "So, that is Faith magic?"
She remained quiet for a bit before her curiosity got the better of her. "What is an Almyrian doing on this side of the border?" His eyes snapped back to her and the surprise that was once in them were replaced with fear.
"I-I am not Almyrian," he stuttered and tried to mask his accent again.
"First," she held up one finger, "you have an accent."
"I do not have an accent," he mumbled and in doing so revealed his accent more.
"Second," she held up two fingers, "your clothes are far to bright for typical Fodlan style."
He stretched out his out his bright, yellow tunic to look at it better. "But this was the dimmest outfit I could find." If that was dim, she wanted to see what his other clothes looked like.
"And lastly," she held up a third finger and his eyes flew back to her, "I heard you shout an Almyrian curse."
"I did not."
"Alqarf," she repeated, and she didn't know it was possible for his eyes to widen even more.
His shock soon gave away to a glare and he backed away from her. She noticed his grip on his bow increased and his other hand's fingers were twitching over his arrows. Without saying anything she sheathed her sword and watched his confusion return.
"Relax," she said but he didn't, "I don't care if you are Almyrian." His eyes narrowed. "I just want to know how you crossed the border." He said nothing so she beckoned for Salu to come to her side.
She positioned Salu to stand between the two and removed his hood. The Almyrian looked at the two people before him and said nothing. Salu's fingers twitched, holding his hood but she calmed him down some by patting his head.
"I want to help Salu cross the border, but we can't get passed Fodlan's Locket." He continued to say nothing and just watched them. Sighing she allowed Salu to cover his head again.
Byleth looked back at the older boy, who matched her stare. She didn't know anything about him, but she at least could tell that he was in Fodlan with a mission. Motioning for Salu to step aside, she stood before the Almyrain.
"I will make you a deal," she started, and she noticed that he arched an eyebrow. "If you tell us how you crossed the border, I will help you with whatever your goal in Fodlan is."
He said nothing for a bit as he watched her carefully. "And what if I say my quest is to kill the Leicester Alliance's leader?" Now it was her turn to watch him carefully.
"No, it's no." His eyes widen just a tiny bit, but his expression remained serious. "You would make a terrible assassin."
"Oh," he couldn't help but voice his surprise, "and why is that?"
"You don't have much skill with a that bow of yours to be one."
"What if my talents lied elsewhere?" He leaned in slightly towards her and arched an eyebrow.
"Perhaps, but your nature would prevent you from doing such a thing." He stood straight and narrowed his eyes.
"And what if it is all an act?" It was her turn to lean towards him and their eyes locked, and he couldn't look away.
"You can't full me. You've never killed anyone."
They stared at each other for a bit before he threw his hands up in the air. "Fine, I will make this deal with you."
The Almyrain silently lead them over to a small section of a mountain that was covered in some ivy. He pulled the ivy away to reveal a small cave, he gestured towards it and she hesitantly stepped in. She was sure once the vines covered the entrance it would be pitched black inside and she didn't feel to comfortable with having Salu travel alone in there, but she also had a feeling that there was, no other options.
After exploring further into the cave for a few more minutes she had discovered that there were no animals living in it (or at least in the areas she could see) and she returned to the entrance. She looked at the Almyrian who just gestured that that was it. Pressing her lips together she looked at Salu, who had been staring at the cave.
"Does this cave lead all the way to Almyra?" she asked and the Almyrian nodded.
"I just took this cave to get here, yesterday," he answered back. "I will admit it is not the most easiest of paths to take but you said your options were limited, so…"
"How did you know about it?" He said nothing but gave her a wary smile. It didn't sit well with her, but she didn't get the feeling that he was lying to her at least. Sighing, she dug into her bag and pulled out the two torches that she had packed in it. "How long did it take you to cross it?"
"Three days, I think. I must admit, it was hard to keep track of time in there."
She pressed her lips tightly together as she walked over to Salu, who only then looked at her. Taking his bag, she added her torches as well as the little food supply she had in hers; she could make do with hunting until she arrived at a town. Salu did not take his bag back, when she handed it to him.
"Salu, you go." She pointed to the ivy and he shook his head vigorously. "Almyra over there."
"No!" He shouted and squeezed her in a tight bear hug. "I no go alone. You come with!"
It was a bit of a struggle for her to pull one of her hands free and patted the top of his head. "I stay." He squeezed her tighter and buried his face into her chest.
"I want you come with!"
"I can not go. I stay." Despite her light coaxing he refused to let her go. "Your family is waiting." She had no proof that they were in Almyra but she hopped that they were and that he would find them soon.
Salu didn't say anything and didn't budge. "Salu, you are strong. You will be okay. No need me." He stiffened at the last part.
He pulled his face away to look up at her. "I need Byleth! Byleth come, please!" She shook her head and he looked away. "Come…please…"
Briefly she glanced at the Almyrian teen, who was looking everywhere but at them. Her attention slowly drifted back to Salu and she continued to pat his head. "I can not. My father here. I stay." Gritting his teeth, he finally let her go as well as took a few steps back. He couldn't bring himself to look at her and chose to stare at the ground.
It was quiet except for the few chocked back sobs that were coming from Salu. Clenching his fists, he looked up at her and she was able to see the tears that he was refusing to let fall. Taking a deep breath, he stood straight and looked her in the eye.
"I go." She nodded and his frown deepened. "But I want see Byleth again. I see you again?"
"Yes, I will see you again." She did know how she would do it, but she swore to herself that she would do so one day. Her father had been reluctant to leave Fodlan but she was sure that someday she could convince him to let her leave and she would go look for Salu then.
He tackled her again in a tight embrace before taking his things and walking into the cave. Yes, she was sure that they would see each other again so she didn't say goodbye.
Head cannon notes:
I imagined the people of Duscur to be like the Native American tribes in Northern Canada, like the Inuit. I couldn't find a way to translate words from Native American tribes so I decided to make up a few words for a language that I will probably not be adding to much too because holy cow will that be a lot of work.
Fodlan is a land rich in magic and so items like vulneraries and concoctions are mostly made with medicine but a have a bit of magic infused into them to help speed up the healing process. Because they are crude healing items, they don't offer that much in healing scars or dulling the pain. Their focus is usually just to speed up the healing process so that the person can move on faster.
Duscur and Almyra don't have that much magic and so they rely on it a lot less than Fodlan and so they tend to use herbs and medicine to heal wounds. It is slower but is much more effective at treating wounds and dealing with pain. Because of the lack of reliance on medicine, both Duscur and Almyra have better doctors and are better able to handle plagues better.